Array football

Chapter 92 The coldest start
In the 2007-2008 season, the first round of the Premier League made people smell the breath of winter.

Upset has become the theme of this round of the league.

Except for Manchester City's 0:1 upset loss to West Ham United, other games were also upset.

Chelsea lost 0:2 to Birmingham!
Liverpool lost 1:2 to Aston Villa!
Manchester United was tied 1:1 by Reading at home!

Tottenham drew 0:0 with newly promoted Sunderland!

Such a "cold" result surprised the critics.They didn't expect that the major giants who had recruited troops before the season and prepared to show their ambitions had suffered defeats one after another.

Is this accidental, is it some kind of necessity?
Correspondingly, among the major teams, Arsenal's 2:1 victory over Fulham is the most eye-catching.Although the score was mediocre, the process was astonishing. The two teams drew at 90 minutes. Arsenal relied on Cesc Fabregas' final lore to give the team a good start!

This soul-stirring victory announced to people: Arsenal, which let go of Henry and Ljungberg, is still a strong team!
After the first round, the small team Portsmouth ranked first in the standings.They defeated Derby County 4:0 in the away game, relying on the advantage of goal difference, they ranked first in the standings, which surprised many critics!
In a series of upsets, the Manchester City duo drew one and lost one, which was very embarrassing.During the summer transfer period, the transfer funds invested by the two teams combined exceeded 1.3 million pounds, but they failed to win a single game, which put both clubs under tremendous pressure.

Of course, one game means nothing, and no team is always victorious.The league sees the effect of 38 games, not a certain game.

All eyes are on the opponents of the Manchester City duo in the next round of the league.

Coincidentally, Manchester United's opponent is a 4-0 victory over the leader of Derby County, Portsmouth.

Manchester City's opponent is the deputy squad leader, Derby County, who was defeated by Portsmouth.

Of course, what's even more coincidental is that the third round of the league is the Manchester City Stderby in the first round of this season, Manchester City vs. Manchester United!
How to regain face before the derby is the top priority for both sides!
But the fact is very unfortunate. The second round of the match between the two sides still continued the record of the first round.

Manchester United 1:1 draw with Portsmouth!

Manchester City lost 1:2 to Derby County!
It is very similar to the record in the first round. If there is any difference, then Manchester City scored their first goal, and the scorer was Samaras.

The Greek artillery continued his good form last season and scored the first goal of the season.But in an interview after the game, Samaras was unhappy. Compared with this goal, he cared more about the team's loss.

It's normal to lose. This time, Button was refrigerated by Duncan, and Elano and Hargreaves were two rookie partners in midfield.

There are two problems with losing. In terms of offense, Bianchi's formation fit is only 40%, which makes the four-element formation useless.

If Cordella's 70% formation fit can still make the formation play a role; then Bianchi's 40% formation fit directly makes the formation a shackle on Manchester City's feet.

But there is no way not to use it, because Bianchi is the only player who is not on Duncan's signing list.

In other words, the introduction of Bianchi was actually Thaksin's intention. It was Thaksin who forced him into the Manchester City team and then forced him to start.

Otherwise, Duncan would not let the combination of Samaras + Vassell, which was invincible last season, insist on Bianchi.

To be honest, Bianchi has the ability, but he is not very adaptable to the Premier League.

Joining as the fourth top scorer in the Premier League season, the team also has a star like Samaras and a world-class striker like Andriy Shevchenko. The pressure on Bianchi can be imagined.

But he fell into a dead end: the more he tried to prove himself, the less he could prove himself.

So in the end he didn't score.

Another reason for the loss was goalkeeper Weaver.He easily abandoned the goal in the 66th minute, allowing the opponent to find a chance, directly hanging the goal and scoring a goal to overtake the score.

After the game, Weaver was frustrated.If it wasn't for the heat in his head, then this conceded goal could have been completely avoided.

He originally wanted to prove himself, but when it came to the game, he proved the truth of "I am not suitable for the Premier League".

With two consecutive losses, Duncan has fallen into a coaching crisis.

If Duncan is just an ordinary mid-range team coach, then although the two-game losing streak is not glorious, it will not be difficult for the club to accept.

However, Duncan's brilliant victory last season and the new chairman, Thaksin Shinawatra, suddenly put a lot of pressure on Duncan.

Duncan's winning streak is not news, but losing is news!
As Thaksin wished, Manchester City did attract some attention for him; but most of this attention was mocking Thaksin for "many people are stupid with money", spending more than 1 million pounds, but in exchange for two losing streak.

In the media, Thaksin's name has been equated with "stupid".

This is what Thaksin cannot tolerate.

As a businessman prime minister, Thaksin cherishes his reputation very much.Otherwise, he would not have won the title of "Prime Minister Aimin" during his tenure as prime minister.

In today's Premier League standings, Manchester City has lost both games, scoring one goal and conceding three goals, ranking last in the standings.Such a ranking made Thaksin unable to sit still.

On the second day after the game, Duncan was invited by Thaksin to have afternoon tea.

When he came to the UK, although he spoke English intermittently, Thaksin quickly accepted the British tradition of afternoon tea.

But to invite Duncan to come, it is definitely not to spend this wonderful afternoon with Duncan.

In front of Duncan, Thaksin euphemistically expressed his concerns about the team's situation.As a politician, Thaksin prefers to express his attitude in a tactful tone.Judging by Duncan's expression, he already understood what he said.

"If I can have a team that is completely under my command and planned by me, then I can naturally control the team's results, but now this team is not completely in my hands."

Regarding the issue of Thaksin, Duncan decided to cut to the chase.

"Oh? You mean Bassoon?" Thaksin raised his eyebrows, realizing what Duncan said.

After the acquisition of Manchester City, Thaksin seldom intervened in the internal affairs of the team. His ideas were generally left to the general manager Bassong. Bassong is Thaksin's diehard loyalist.

Thaksin gave Duncan a lot of power, but Bassoon's power is also not small.Especially in the summer transfer, the players on Duncan's list did join Manchester City, but Bassong also has the right to sign in. The arrival of Bianchi is Bassong's masterpiece.

And it was done completely bypassing Duncan.

When he first wanted to introduce Bianchi, Bassong did ask Thaksin for instructions, but Thaksin felt that it was not a bad thing for the team to have an extra good striker, so he agreed to Bassun's request.

Now it seems that the matter is that he believes that he wants to be simple.

He wants to create a political check and balance in the club, and then sit on the Diaoyutai by himself, but ignores the laws of football itself.

"I guarantee that all the power of the team is concentrated in your hands, and it is up to you to decide whether any player will play or not!" After thinking about everything, Thaksin made his own decision.

"I also promise that if I can't win the next game, then I will take the initiative to resign." Duncan smiled and held hands with him.

(End of this chapter)