i am beckham

Chapter 9
As the league approached, Beckham found that the old man might not even be able to make up the rotation lineup from last season.

Manchester United sent away the three core members of the team in the summer, and the main striker Cantona was suspended again, so the strength of the team was obviously greatly weakened.

At the same time, Giggs, Cole, and Bruce couldn't catch up with the first round of the league due to injuries, which made the already not very strong lineup look stretched.

To make matters worse, Ferguson did not finalize any strong foreign aid for the team.

Not only did strong players like Anderton not come to vote, but several French players introduced by Cantona were also not interested in Manchester, which is often cold and rainy. Until the start of the new season, Manchester United did not have any strong support to join.

It would be wrong to say that Ferguson didn't buy anyone at all, he bought a bunch of children.

Of course, these youth team seedlings can't play in the first team. Only one adult player, Nicky Culkin, joined, which cost Manchester United 25 pounds.

This name is also very strange?That's right, even the authoritative media in the transfer market didn't figure out which crotch this great god came from.

"Sabby Ferguson bought a parallel import, and he doesn't even know how to spend money on lottery tickets!" The media ridiculed, this is the embarrassment of Manchester United.

In contrast to Manchester United, the success of Blackburn Rovers has stimulated the ambitions of various club owners.Outside of Manchester United, the Premier League began to attract more stars to join.

Chelsea poached Gullit from AC Milan, and Linksman joined Tottenham. The two transfers indicate that the Premier League has been able to attract more and more stars.

In addition to the defending champion Blackburn, last season's rookie blowout Liverpool and Newcastle United's big purchases of stars are also a serious problem for Manchester United.

Especially Newcastle United, driven by head coach Keegan's crazy team building plan, they bought up stars and created a super lineup.

Gaming companies no longer list Manchester United as the number one favorite to win the title this season, they are not even second or third.

In the handicap of many gambling companies, Manchester United can only stay pitifully in the fourth or even fifth place in the odds of winning the championship.

Even the die-hard fans of Manchester United have no way to convince themselves that Manchester United will definitely win the championship.

When announcing the starting lineup, the old man arranged a 3-5-2 formation that everyone is not familiar with, and let Gary Neville, who is impressive in height, stand in the middle of the three central defenders.

"David, I think I'm a little guilty."

On the bus to the away game, Gary Neville leaned his head to Beckham and said with his hands over his mouth.

When the starting lineup was announced in the morning, you were the one who jumped the highest. Now tell me that I can't nourish my kidneys.
"Whether you are false or not, the opponent will treat you in the same way."

Beckham thinks that Gary Neville is doomed today, which is a bit pitiful.

But I am even more pitiful, I don't even have the chance to be abused.
Gary Neville shrugged: "The boss has already arranged it for me. It's better for me to stand between two old guys than to be blown up from the side."

Beckham said with a smile: "Then you have nothing to worry about. You have Roy and Phil in front of you, and Nicky can also help. The scene may be ugly. As long as we hold on in the first half, the pressure will turn to them."

"You've got a point, but I don't count on Nicky, as long as he doesn't help, thank God."

Seeing Gary Neville stepping on his own steps and gradually regaining some confidence, Beckham felt that his job was in place.

It's just that today's game can't be done with a little confidence.

Everyone knows very well that for the current Manchester United, the first-round opponent Aston Villa will not give them any chance to run in.

Aston Villa are also one of the many clubs to spend big money on players this season, although their shots are not as eye-catching as Chelsea, nor as luxurious as Newcastle United's lineup.

But judging from the winning odds offered by major bookmakers, the support they get is only second to Manchester United.

Such odds show that even if Aston Villa have little hope of winning the championship, by the end of the season, the gap between them and Manchester United will not be too large.

In other words, the overall strength of the two teams is comparable.

But taking the odds of winning the championship and saying that the two teams are equally strong in this game, that is lying to yourself.

After Ferguson cleaned the main lineup, he did not reinforce it. The team's soul was suspended, many main players were injured, and there were not enough strong players to make up a starting lineup.

He can only put 4 youth training players in their 20s into the starting lineup, and the 3 players on the bench are also youth training melons.

Manchester United's book strength is obviously weaker than its opponents.

Even if Manchester United plays with the strongest lineup, they may not be able to win their opponents at Villa Park. What's more, there are 4 missing main players. In addition, Cantona is still in suspension, and Manchester United's starting lineup has lost nearly half of the main players.

The worried Manchester United team had nothing to say on the bus. After arriving in Birmingham, they only had an hour to adapt to the field. This is enough for a professional team, but the whole team seems a little insecure.

After dinner, the Manchester United players all returned to their hotel rooms. They dared to go out and wander around at this time. If they lost tomorrow's game, they would be ridiculed by the media.

Beckham shared a room with Gary Neville, who kicked the others out early on.

At this time, he wanted to be quiet.

The two were lying on the bed, chatting one after another, neither paying attention to what was playing on the TV.

The only function of the TV is to make the atmosphere look a little lively.

Just after 10:30, the lights in the room are turned off, and sleeping is the best way to decompress.

But the premise is to fall asleep.

Gary Neville, who has always been nervous, has been tossing and turning, and has not fallen asleep until 12 o'clock.

He heard Beckham's even breathing not far away, and suddenly had a bad taste of "I can't sleep, and you can't sleep either".

So he threw the pillow over Beckham's head.

not awake
"David, why are you asleep, can we talk?"

no respond.

So he picked up the pillow and continued to throw it at the other party.

"Are you sick in your head? Why are you torturing me?"

"Ahem, let me say, dear Mr. David, don't be so heartless, okay?"

"Is there anything we can't talk about tomorrow?"

Beckham was woken up, still looking like he was getting up, and his tone was very unfriendly.

"It is already tomorrow, my lord!"

Gary Neville said flatteringly.

Beckham had no choice but to chat with him through sleepiness.

"David, do you remember the Cup of Toulon?"

"Nonsense, this happened a few months ago, and I haven't lost my memory!"

"You can't be nice and be gentle. By the way, how many places did we get?"

"...we got No.4, we were knocked out by France in the semi-finals, you were irritated by the opponent's arrogant attitude at the end of the game, and you encouraged us to fight that kid named Pires in the player tunnel."

Seeing that Beckham's thoughts were coherent, Gary Neville turned on the light and took out a bottle of whiskey from the suitcase: "Why don't you accompany me to have a drink, I swear, just one glass, drinking some wine is better than not being able to sleep."

Beckham blocked the light with his hands, and said fiercely to Neville: "If you dare to touch alcohol, I will expose you tomorrow!"

At the regular press conference before the game, the media's questions were thrown at Ferguson like javelins. The reporters had no respect for the champion coach who had won two Premier League trophies in a row.

"Manchester United did nothing before the season, are they planning to give up the championship this season?"

"Has Manchester United encountered a club crisis? Why didn't they invest?"

"Ferguson, have you lost the support and trust of the club's top management, so you have no money to buy people?"

The management of the Manchester United club did not help the coach to share the pressure. They threw all these problems to Ferguson.

Ferguson was so angry at these idiotic questions that he laughed back: "Why can't Manchester United win the championship? Is it up to you to decide the championship?
Instead of discussing football with you idiots, watch the best of horse racing.Champion out of play?Let's see then!
Why are there no additional players?That's because Manchester United has a group of outstanding young players, and the strongest players are in the team, so why buy them?

Well, ladies, I'm leaving, you're the ones doing the bullshit! "

On August 1995, 8, in the Sky Sports studio, football commentators were laughing at Manchester United's starting lineup unscrupulously.

"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the new season of the Premier League, I am your old friend, Martin Taylor.

Allow me to announce the starting lineups for both sides, let's look at Manchester United's starting lineup first, their formation is 3-5-2, I wonder what century was the last time they used this lineup in the league?

aha!The more interesting stuff is yet to come, let's look at Manchester United's line-up, their three centre-backs are Pallister, Gary Neville and Paul Parker, I think putting me in Villa's centre-forward position, I can score two headers, come on, this little guy is too short!
Their five midfielders are Philip Neville, Nicky Butt, Roy Keane, Lee Sharp and Irvine.

The two strikers are McClell and Scholes, God they put Scholes at the top!

Can anyone tell me what kind of lineup Manchester United have lined up? "

(End of this chapter)