i don't want to be king

Chapter 815 Battle of the Saints
Faria announced Mkhitaryan's return to the starting lineup in the tactical class before the "Saints" Southampton game.

Li Liang was still placed on the substitute list.

He and the whole team rushed to this port city in Hampshire, southeast England, the day before the game.

Before that, apart from football, what he knew about this city was that the famous "Mayflower" and "Titanic" set sail from here.

From a football point of view, the Southampton team nicknamed the "Saints" is famous for its outstanding youth training results. Li Liang is very familiar with Bell, Walcott and Chamberlain, as well as his teammate Luke- Xiao Quan all came from the Saints' youth training camp.

At the press conference before the game, a reporter asked about the core of Manchester United's offense. Mourinho simply replied: "Henrik (Mkhitaryan) is in very good condition in training, and the other players are also very good. It's all ready."

On the day of the game, St. Mary's Stadium was full of people. During the warm-up, Li Liang saw a familiar face unexpectedly.

He saw Gabbiadini, who had left a shocking impression on himself at the San Paolo Stadium.

Since he came to the Premier League last season, Gabbiadini has played brilliant performances in a row, but with the research and understanding of him by the Premier League teams, the Italian striker's fiery state is difficult to continue, and even gradually faded out of the Saints' starting lineup.

During the warm-up period, Li Liang took the initiative to greet Gabbiadini, and after some chatting, the Italian opened up the conversation: "...Li, this may be the most difficult league in the world.

They're always quick to find your flaws and put you under a magnifying glass..."

The Saints' Japanese central defender Yoshida Asaya also chatted enthusiastically with Li Liang, and finally said: "...Li, I wish your national team can beat Australia, and I hope you can also go to Russia!"

At the beginning of the game, the Saints, who were playing at home, had no fear against Manchester United, which temporarily ranked second in the standings. Their active running and fighting made the home team not lose the wind.

Carrick, who sat on the bench together, told Li Liang: "In the league, we have not lost here in 6 consecutive games, and we have won 4 of them!"

Li Liang was a little worried in his heart. As the game progressed, what he was most worried about happened.

Facing the tough defense of Lemina and Romeu's two midfielders, Mkhitaryan's performance was obviously curbed.

Fellaini and Matic, who replaced the injured Pogba, protected the Armenian well behind him, but it was difficult for these two to help the frontcourt teammates disperse the defensive pressure in the offense. In this way, Mkhita was not good The weakness of countering and organizing positional attacks became more and more obvious.

Li Liang immediately remembered Gabbiadini's words. The Saints obviously studied Manchester United's recent games carefully and used well-prepared tactics to take advantage of the impact of Pogba's absence on Manchester United.

Faria was also a little anxious: "Jose, we must speed up, otherwise Henrik will completely sink into the quagmire!"

Magic Bird stared at the field: "This is our most reliable system now.

Unless there's someone else worthy of tearing it all down and rebuilding..."

After finishing speaking, the two turned their heads to look at Li Liang at the same time.

At the end of the first half, it was surprising that the Saints overwhelmed Manchester United in many statistics.

The atmosphere in the locker room of the visiting team was dignified, and Faria specially held Mkhitaryan to communicate alone.

Lukaku spread his hands a little dissatisfied: "Head, I really need more space, Henrik and Juan are too far away from me!"

Everyone knows that Little Warcraft, who has scored in 5 consecutive league games, is very eager to break the record of scoring consecutive goals in Manchester United's first six league games held by French striker Saha.

Mourinho said nothing, and Faria continued to set things up.

In the second half of the game, Manchester United's offensive still did not improve. Amid the louder and louder shouts in the stands of St. Mary's Stadium, the Saints became more confident and began to move forward.

Li Liang saw Gabbiadini and another Saints forward big man Austin start to move, and it seemed that the opponent was preparing to further increase the offensive firepower.

Mourinho finally made an adjustment in the 65th minute, and Herrera went into battle to replace the mediocre Mkhitaryan.

The Armenian's face was extremely ugly, and he sat down on the bench sullenly after lightly high-fiving Magic Bird very reluctantly.

Because he saw that Li Liang had started to warm up.

The Saints replaced midfielder Davies with Gabbiadini and began to increase their offensive efforts.

In the 72nd minute, Li Liang came on to replace Rashford. According to the arrangement of Magic Bird, he appeared on the left.

Although Romeu began to focus on taking care of Li Liang, Manchester United's No. 7 brought significant changes immediately after he came on the field.

Li Liang showed a strong ability to control the ball on the left. Even in the face of the opponent's fierce press and collision, he can protect the ball and win valuable time for his teammates to run through.

Magic Bird covered his mouth and said to Faria: "This is the difference between Li, Henrik and Juan. Of course, this is not his biggest characteristic."

After establishing a strong point on the left to hold the ball, Ashley Young, who replaced Blind in the starting lineup, quickly became active, and his continuous assists on the wing finally received a huge return.

In the 79th minute, Li Liang passed the ball obliquely to Yang in time after crossing the frontcourt. The latter used his speed to get rid of the defense and sent an inverted triangle pass back near the bottom line. Lukaku overwhelmed Yoshida Maya and shot forward break!
1:0!With the audience passive, Manchester United finally broke the deadlock!

Little Warcraft, who tied Saha's scoring record in consecutive games, was extremely excited. He desperately took off his jersey to celebrate wildly, and St. Mary's Stadium was booed.

"Li——" Magic Bird yelled, and then clapped vigorously at Li Liang, who was surrounded by his teammates.

The Saints immediately replaced high center forward Austin and attacking midfielder Ward-Prowse in an attempt to save the defeat, but the situation was over, and the Red Devils firmly held the lead until the end.

The game finally ended, and the Red Devils scored valuable 3 points in the away game with Lukaku's goal.

Gabbiadini and Li Liang shook hands and hugged: "You played really well, Li! Congratulations!"

Yoshida Asaya also said: "Lee, you must be Manchester United's starter!"

The people celebrating happily in the locker room suddenly fell silent. Rojo held up his mobile phone and told everyone loudly: "...Yes, 5 goals, they scored 5 goals at the Etihad!"

Li Liang was surprised to learn that Manchester City continued their frightening form and beat Crystal Palace 5-0 at home, thus continuing to occupy the first place in the standings against Manchester United with the same score, and further expanding their lead.

Rojo continued: "But they also encountered a lot of trouble. Mendy was seriously injured and replaced in the first half, which will make it difficult for them on the left..."

Li Liang was secretly surprised. On the way back, he dialed the number of his former teammate Mendy, and a frustrated voice came through the receiver: "...the team doctor said it was probably a cruciate ligament, and they have arranged for me a specialist from Barcelona...

Good luck Lee! "

Martial on the side sighed: "This is English football."

After the whole team returned to Manchester to rest, they flew to Moscow two days in advance to start preparations for the UEFA Champions League group stage in the middle of the week.

(End of this chapter)