Football giants

Chapter 536 The real battle has just begun!

For Southampton sitting at home and beating Arsenal [-]-[-], the English media were shocked, but they also expressed normal.

Arsenal's competitiveness in the Premier League is like Wang Xiaoer's New Year's Eve, which is not as good as every year, which is obvious.

Last season, they lost [-]-[-] away to Manchester United. This is no longer the score that should appear between rich teams.

No matter how many reasons and excuses the fans find for this game, they can't cover up a fact.

That is, Arsenal's strength in the Premier League is no longer at the same level as Manchester United and Manchester City!

This is an indisputable fact!

But now, Southampton beat Arsenal [-]-[-] at home, which once again sounded a wake-up call for the Gunners.

With the strong rise of teams such as Saints and Tottenham Hotspur, if the Gunners do not change their style in the transfer market, it may not be long before they even lose the top four in the league!
For Southampton, who won the Gunners and won nine consecutive victories, the English media gave overwhelming praise and praise.

Especially Toni Kroos, who was elected as the best player in the game, almost wants to crown him the title of the world's top midfielder.

After this round, Southampton scored 42 points in the standings with [-] wins, [-] draws and [-] losses, [-] points behind Manchester United and [-] points behind Manchester City, ranking third in the Premier League standings.

Following Southampton are Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur, Arsenal, Everton and West Bromwich Albion.

Among them, the Gunners have the same points as Everton and West Bromwich Albion.

It can be said that the emergence of Southampton has broken the traditional semi-finals of the Premier League in one fell swoop, making almost all media people believe that the Saints' qualification for the Champions League is already guaranteed.

But in the face of the media's exaggeration, the saints seemed very rational.

From the top to the bottom of the club, everyone knows that although the team has carried out a scientific rotation, the team's consumption is still quite large. Coupled with the problem of injuries, Southampton dare not be careless.

Everyone knows that the real test for the team has not yet come!

Especially compared to other teams, Southampton also reached the semi-finals of the League Cup.

In January, when they just survived the test of the devil's schedule, Southampton played two more games than other teams such as Manchester United and Manchester City. It is conceivable that the difficulty is great.

But give up?
Neither Yang Huan nor Bielsa could say such words!
It's not like the style Southampton should have!

After playing Arsenal, the team immediately ushered in the third round of the FA Cup. The opponent is Bournemouth from the third tier league. The latter ranks second in the League One, and its strength is quite good.

Southampton is doing its best to send off the bench to play.

Sturridge played the central role, forming a front three with Isco and Ravel Morrison.

The midfielder is Kovacic, Pogba and Matic to form a three-midfielder.

The defense is Alex Sandro, Nastasic, Laporte and Danilo.

The goalkeeper is Brazilian international Julio Cesar.

Such a set of full substitutes to play in the FA Cup is really a last resort.

Because next Southampton will face Swansea, their League Cup semi-final opponent, on the one hand.

Laudrup's team is not ambiguous at all, and it is also quite competitive in the Premier League this season.

Before and after the two League Cup semi-finals, Southampton's league opponents were Aston Villa, Everton and Manchester United.

In just two weeks, five games, each of which has to face a tough opponent, which is also a huge test for the Saints.

Therefore, Bielsa arranged for a full substitute lineup to play, and he had to strategically abandon the idea of ​​​​the FA Cup.

But who would have thought that this group of Saints teenagers performed well. With Lavelle Morrison assisting Sturridge's goal, they beat Bournemouth [-]-[-] and successfully advanced to the next round.

This is somewhat gratifying to the coaching staff. At least, the group of teenagers and substitutes in the team have shown quite good strength.

Especially young players such as Januzaj and Kovacic who came off the bench are even more eye-catching.

You know, these boys are now training with the first team. Kovacic even jokingly worshiped his compatriot Modric as a teacher, and took the initiative to learn how to play football from him. This is very helpful for the progress of young players.

After returning to Southampton, the Saints went north non-stop to Birmingham to challenge Aston Villa away.

Aston Villa has performed poorly in the Premier League this season and is currently ranked No.17, only one step away from the relegation zone.

But even with such a team, Southampton still played very hard.

In the end, Ibrahimovic assisted Vidal to score at a critical moment, scoring a valuable three-pointer for Southampton!

Although the Saints won this battle, they were exhausted!
Also in this round, Manchester United defeated Liverpool [-]-[-] at home, Manchester City won Arsenal [-]-[-] away, and the top three rankings and points gap in the league have not changed at all.

But in the middle of the week, the first leg of the League Cup semi-final was ushered in, and Southampton challenged Swansea away.

Bielsa arranged the rotation and the team also played equally against Swansea away.

But when the game progressed to No. 801 minutes, the midfield pass was interrupted, Swansea counterattacked, and there was a scuffle in the Southampton penalty area. Varane was caught off guard and scored an own goal.

Because of this conceded goal, Southampton lost to Swansea!
As a result, Varane was under tremendous pressure from the outside media.

Back to the Premier League, No.20 three rounds will soon be ushered in.

Southampton sits at home and ushered in Everton.

As a result, after Bielsa's team had an overwhelming field advantage, they were tied by Moyes with a score of [-]-[-], and the ten-game winning streak in the league came to an end.

Coincidentally, Manchester United also suffered a [-]-[-] draw away to Tottenham Hotspur in this game, while Arsenal suffered a three-game losing streak and lost [-]-[-] to Chelsea in the away game.

Manchester City beat Fulham [-]-[-].

As a result, the Premier League standings ranking has not changed.

Southampton still ranks third with 46 points, followed by Manchester United with 56 points and Manchester City with 51 points, followed by Chelsea with 45 points and Tottenham Hotspur with 41 points.

As for Arsenal, which has lost three games in a row, it has fallen to sixth place, and the ranking is still behind Everton.

The intensity of the Premier League can be seen from the past few rounds.

Even a relegation team like Aston Villa is quite strong.

And in the league standings, every higher position represents an extremely brutal and brutal competition.

After three rounds of Premier League No.20, Southampton once again ushered in the League Cup semi-final opponent Swansea with a rotation lineup.

As a result, the two sides once again scored a zero to zero.

In the end, Southampton was eliminated with an aggregate score of [-]-[-].

On the weekend, the fourth round of the FA Cup ushered in, and Bielsa still played with a full substitute lineup.

This time, even Kovacic, Januzaj and other players got the starting lineup.

As a result, the Saints defeated the amateur team Magsfield [-]-[-] in an away game. Sturridge scored a hat-trick, which was impressive and also showed a very good competitive state.

In the middle of the week, we ushered in the No. 20 round of the Premier League, and Southampton challenged Manchester United away.

The two sides launched a fierce battle of life and death at Old Trafford.

First, the Saints in the away game were the first to break through the goal guarded by De Gea by Gareth Bale and opened the scoring for Southampton. At this time, the game had just started 3 minutes.

But soon, United turned the tables and Rooney equalized after receiving a pass from Shinji Kagawa.

In the No. 207 minute, it was Rooney again, who received an assist from Evra at the critical moment, broke through Neuer's goal again, and reversed the score to [-]-[-].

Southampton's young central defender Varane has been criticized by the media and pressured by fans since he scored an own goal in the League Cup semi-finals and caused the team to be eliminated. This has also led to his poor performance in recent times.

In this battle against Manchester United, both conceded goals have nothing to do with him!
Sitting in the stands of Old Trafford, Yang Huan was quite helpless.

There is no doubt about Varane's potential and talent, and even his strength is quite good, but he is still a young player and lacks the self-regulation ability of a mature and experienced professional player.

However, no one can help him with this kind of thing, he can only get out of the shadows by himself.

If he gets out, he can go one step further, if he can't get out, maybe he will be like this in the future!
In the second half, Bielsa showed the courage and determination to win. He replaced Hazard and Isco in the midfield in one breath.

As a result, at the beginning of the second half, there was a sudden panic in front of Manchester United.

Ferguson made a prompt decision and immediately replaced the outstretched Smalling with veteran Ferdinand, stabilizing the defense.

Afterwards, Southampton bombed indiscriminately, Bielsa even replaced Drogba again, and put on a twin tower tactic.

But no matter how Southampton attacks, Manchester United's tight defensive goal seems to be precarious, but it is just a little bit off.

Until the No.803 minute of the game, when Southampton, who had been unable to attack for a long time, seemed a little impatient, Toni Kroos returned a pass to Harvey Martinez, and the latter made a long pass and accurately found Drogba.

The Ivorian headed to Zlatan Ibrahimovic. The Swede made a wonderful pass and passed behind the Manchester United defense. Neymar penetrated the Manchester United defense like a bolt of lightning. After receiving the ball, he entered the penalty area and passed goalkeeper De Gea.

Two to two!
The lore goal at the critical moment won Neymar a lot of praise and applause after the game!
It was also this goal that helped Southampton retreat from the away game and scored a point!
The No.20 four rounds of the league can also be called the darkest round of the Premier League team.

Of the ten games, only two were decided, and all the others were draws.

Manchester United tied Southampton, Arsenal tied Liverpool, Manchester City, Chelsea, Everton all tied!

From this, it is not difficult to see that after the Christmas devil's schedule and the hardships of January, the consumption of all Premier League teams has reached a bottleneck.

But you must know that the real battle for the Premier League title has just begun.

On another battlefield, the European giants are also recruiting troops for the second half of the league.

During the winter break transfer, Manchester United won the African player Zaha of the Crystal Palace team at a price of 500 million pounds, and then loaned Zaha to the Crystal Palace.

Chelsea brought in Demba Ba from Newcastle for £750 million.

After the latter fell out with Alan Pardew, he decided to transfer during the winter break.

Arsenal, at the last moment of the transfer market, introduced Spain's new international Monreal from Malaga at a price of 1000 million pounds. This full-back is an important piece for Wenger to improve the team's wing.

In addition, teams such as Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur have also successively strengthened their midfielders.

The former introduced Coutinho, while the latter introduced Kenyan midfielder Wanyama from the Celtics.

Tottenham Hotspur's introduction of Wanyama is still the opinion obtained by Daniel Levy from Yang Huan's consultation. The Southampton scout system has a very high evaluation of Wanyama, especially his physical fitness.

It's a pity that the Saints currently don't respect the body, and Wanyama is not suitable for the Saints, so Tottenham is cheaper.

In the Premier League, the giants have made moves one after another, either making great efforts to sign in, or clearing up redundant players in the team.

Only Southampton, the transfer during the winter break, did not move at all.

This also caused a lot of discussion from the outside world.

At this time, Southampton's January core high-level meeting was quietly held in Stapletwood!
(End of this chapter)