long live football

2004年1月7日，No.20轮英超联赛，博尔顿主场迎战曼联的比赛里，双方打成了1:1平手。

On January 1, in the No.11 round of the league, Manchester United drew with the Magpies Newcastle at home.

On January 1th, in the No.17 second round of the league, Manchester United lost to Wolves in an away game, losing the game 20:0.

After the new year, the Premier League played a total of three rounds. Manchester United actually drew two and lost one. It is the sworn enemy Liverpool.

Dissatisfaction began to spread in the hearts of fans.

At the end of January, Manchester United was upset again.In the semi-finals of the English League Cup, the Red Devils were eliminated by the Championship team Cardiff City by one point!As soon as the game ended, it immediately shocked the English football world!

The English football league can be roughly divided into 9 levels, which are in the shape of a pyramid. From top to bottom, they are the English Premier League, Champions League, First Division, Second Division, National League, North-South and lower-level regional leagues.There is a qualitative gap between most leagues at different levels. Among them, the strength of the Premier League teams and the English Championship teams is the worst. If you want to ask why?That's because there is a huge income gap between the Premier League and lower-level clubs!

Since the establishment of the English Premier League in 1992, the competition has become better and better. It can generate a turnover of more than one billion pounds every year, and each Premier League club can get tens of millions of pounds in TV dividends. .And what about the Championship team?They get a meager amount of television money, just a few million pounds a year.

For example, last season, Manchester United, as the Premier League champions, received about 3200 million pounds in TV broadcasting share, while Cardiff City should be laughing if they can start with 300 million pounds.Teams in the top league can spend tens of millions of pounds more than teams in the lower leagues for team building every year, but their opponents have no money, and the gap in strength between the two sides will widen.

How important is money to a club?With money, the head coach of the team can buy strong players, increase the thickness of the team's bench to avoid injuries during the season, improve the training facilities and living conditions of the players, and save most of the main players. Every season, the main team is retrained due to the loss of talent.But what if there is no money?All of the above will come to naught.

Now that Premier League football has entered the "Golden Dollar Era", money is everything to the team.

More than ten years ago, in various cup competitions in England, it was common for low-level league teams to eliminate top-level league teams, but in recent years, this situation has become less and less frequent.The Championship team's victory over the Premier League team was originally an upset, not to mention that Cardiff City defeated the Premier League overlord Manchester United!

Commentators from major newspapers spoke out one after another. They criticized Manchester United’s tactics for being too bad, and criticized Manchester United’s players for their terrific performance on the court. look good.The most venomous "Sun" even said that he "is only a few days away from get out of class."

It would be fine if it was just opposition from the outside. Walter Smith is not a freshman in football. He has seen the world for decades, and he passed it.The point is, there is agitation within the club.

Fans have always been one of the most fickle people in football. Their loyalty is only to the team. Those who can bring victory to the team will naturally be praised by them, otherwise they will be stepped on to hell.In the past few days, fans holding signs and slogans can often be seen outside the Manchester United club building. They gather in groups at the gate. Words: "We need victory!"

The bad results of the team in these rounds and the attitude of the fans have also affected the players. They are more silent during training, and there is less laughter in the locker room. I will definitely score them a few more goals this time!", and now even these words have disappeared.The consequences of not winning are not terrible, but they are enough to worry about-if they can't even maintain their morale, how can they guarantee victory in the next game?

……

By early February, United were winless in five games.

The tremendous pressure made Smith suffer from insomnia for several days, and he was sure that in this short period of more than a month, he had at least dozens of more gray hairs.

He badly needed a win to save his bad scalp.

But there are still people who don't let go of poor old Smith, and they always like to sprinkle salt water on people's wounds.

For example, David, the commentator of the British independent television station ITV.

ITV is the earliest commercial TV station in the UK, and it is also the biggest competitor of the BBC. The rights to broadcast British football matches are generally controlled by ITV and Sky, and occasionally the BBC will intervene.

"Manchester United's acting coach has been devastated by the team's results for a while, but the worst is yet to come. The latest news just released on the "Sun" website, Ferguson's doctor has banned him from watching Manchester United since yesterday. The football game of the reason is too exciting, and the Jazz likes to lose their temper when the team encounters adversity, which will make his heart heavier."

"I don't know if Smith knows the news at this moment, but it is undoubtedly bad news-the fans originally expected Ferguson, who is in the hospital, to pass on some coaching experience to Smith by phone, but if Ferguson is banned from football, who Come and tell Mr. Walter Smith how the game should be played?"

David's tone was humorous and sarcastic. He didn't deliberately target Manchester United, but his commentary has always been like this.Davis' words may seem a little unreasonable to Smith, but in order to increase ratings, European commentators like to shape their commentary style with a very personal style, so as to keep their jobs on TV stations.

At this time, on the Goodison Park Stadium, Manchester United and Everton players are warming up before the game. This is the No. 20 fourth round of the league, and Everton is playing against Manchester United at home.

Everton is located in Liverpool, and Liverpool is a sworn enemy.Manchester United and Liverpool are also mortal enemies-their jerseys are all red, one is nicknamed the Red Devils and the other is the Red Army. They are both England's traditional giants and opponents of the national derby. In the past few decades, it was Liverpool who ruled English football. In recent years, when it was replaced by Manchester United, the competition between the king and the king was extremely cruel. Ferguson once said that the greatest achievement in his life was not the unprecedented triple crown, but "to completely remove the fucking Liverpool from cast down from the throne."

It stands to reason that the enemy of an enemy should be a friend.

But this game was not like this at all. The atmosphere between the warm-up Manchester United and Liverpool players was very tense. Before the game started, the fighting spirit was already burning.

There is also a saying in the city of Liverpool: When you want to associate with a Liverpool person, but you don't know whether the other person is a Liverpool fan or an Everton fan, what do you do not make a mistake?It's very simple, just scold Manchester United.

Although Everton fans hate Liverpool, but to Manchester United?They didn't like it either.

Manchester United has attracted a lot of hatred in the UK. Liverpool, Manchester City, and Arsenal are the top three rivals of the Red Devils. Behind them are Leeds United, Bolton, Everton, Chelsea and other teams. They can all be called Manchester United. enemy.

Why are the Red Devils so hated in the UK?On the one hand, it is because British football has a strong regional cultural color. Most fans support local teams, and few people have a good impression of foreign teams.The second is because Manchester United has been very strong in recent years, and the strong are always hated.Three, it has a lot to do with Ferguson. Ferguson has a tough personality and often likes to play psychological warfare to provoke opponents. People with too unique personalities always have more opponents than supporters. It is not surprising that fans hate Manchester United. .

Everton's hostility to Manchester United made them play desperately from the beginning of the game. Everton striker Wayne Rooney, who is just 18 years old this year and is recognized by all the British media as "England's future football superstar", relied on his Brute physical strength, leading the football to rampage in the frontcourt, Manchester United's defense line composed of the famous Neville brothers couldn't stop him for a while.

"Rooney took the ball, he ran to the left side of the penalty area...Blanco stepped up to defend him...Rooney suddenly turned and volleyed!"

"Oh, what a pity! Because of Blanco's blocking, the angle of the ball was too wide, and it didn't even touch the side of the goal. There was a look of frustration on Rooney's face. The popular Liverpool man's 18-year-old prodigy is destined for the future of English football and look how well he does against Manchester United!"

Wayne Rooney contributed a shot in the first 6 minutes of the game. His performance amazed the fans in the audience, and even the Manchester United fans gave him applause. Although the Premier League is getting more and more prosperous, but England is not rich in famous coaches and superstars, which is really an embarrassing situation.And Wayne Rooney is nationally recognized as the most talented player of his generation. He was called up to the England national team at the age of 17. The whole of the UK has high hopes for him and eagerly hopes that Wayne Rooney can become a brighter addition to English football. top striker.

In the 13th minute, Manchester United tried to launch an attack.Giggs passed the ball from the middle, and Ruud van Nistelrooy dribbled the ball along the middle to push into the penalty area. When he was about to lift his foot to take a long shot, he was intercepted fiercely by Everton defender Gravesen. Lost.

The referee came over and only gave Gravesen a verbal warning, let alone a free kick, not even a yellow card.

Manchester United fans immediately made noise in the stadium, but the referee ignored everyone.Not long after, the Manchester United fans remained silent, because this is Everton's home court, and it is a default rule in football to have a biased home game. If Everton visits Old Trafford someday in the future, Maybe the referee will do the same to them.

The referee signaled for the restart of the game.

The Everton defender's steal just now seems to have affected Ruud van Nistelrooy's state. In Manchester United's next attack, he failed to display his skills well. He volleyed, but the football flew far above the crossbar. bottom line.

Everton gradually took the initiative, but there were not many threatening shots, and finally in the 31st minute of the game...

"Rooney! He received a pass from teammate Radzinski!"

The Everton striker, who is not tall but extremely strong, stepped on the ball and drove towards the Manchester United penalty area like a bulldozer.

Manchester United central defenders Brown and Butt flanked Rooney from left to right, but Rooney, who was extremely strong, actually took the ball and squeezed through the two of them abruptly!

Even Brown, who was half a head taller than him, staggered under his feet!

Carl, who saw this scene outside the court, was amazed: Wayne Rooney's body is as strong as a calf!

When breaking through 30 meters in front of the goal, Rooney suddenly raised his foot and volleyed the football vigorously!

The football flies to the goal like a cannonball!

Manchester United goalkeeper Howard quickly jumped up to save the ball. His ten fingers reached the edge of the football, but the ball was so powerful that Howard's fingertips couldn't stop it at all. The football got into the net after all!

"GOAL! Wayne Rooney! Beautiful long shot! Manchester United's defenders are quite out of shape, they can't stop the young Rooney!"

"Everton is off to a fantastic start, leading Manchester United at home!"

……

At the end of the first half, Manchester United failed to equalize the score.

During the half-time break, the Everton fans cheered in the stands, as if they had won the game.

Manchester United fans were very angry about this. Some of them chose to fight back against Everton fans immediately, while others began to vent their emotions towards the team: "What kind of shit formation did Smith discharge! Against Everton It's useless to pause at all, but let them take the lead!"

"I don't know when Ferguson will be discharged from the hospital? I've seen enough of this guy commanding the game!"

"He will lead Manchester United into the abyss!"

"If Sir Alex Ferguson comes back, we are already outside the top ten in the league... God, I can't imagine this situation!"

"Beyond ten? Are you kidding me! We were the Premier League champions last season!"

Seeing a group of young fans cursing Walter Smith crazily, an old fan who looked about 60 or [-] years old said, "Oh, young man, be more polite, Smith is still a good coach."

The young fans immediately retorted: "A good coach only brought us one or two victories in ten games?"

"I mean he is a good assistant coach." The old fans said: "When Sir Alex Ferguson was not hospitalized, he did a good job in this position, right? Smith is very good at training players and setting up tactics. You have to admit that in the past two months, the tactical arrangement of the games he coached was not wrong at all, and they all continued the same set when Sir Alex Ferguson was there."

The young fans muttered in dissatisfaction: "But he is just terrible, look at his current results!"

The old fans spread their hands and said: "Smith has a fatal flaw, which prevents him from being a good coach."

Others asked curiously, "What's the shortcoming?"

"On-the-spot command." Seeing that a few young people didn't understand, the old fans repeated it, and continued: "On-the-spot command is the best test of a head coach's skill. The game situation is changing rapidly, and it may be necessary to attack now. You have to switch to defense. Have you ever seen a team that is attacking or defending for the entire 1 minutes? No, and it is impossible. Only a head coach who adjusts tactics reasonably according to the game situation is qualified Only the head coach can win."

"Walter Smith's biggest shortcoming is that he doesn't know how to grasp the situation during the game, and he doesn't know when to make the team change tactics. And sometimes even if he sees problems on the field, he doesn't know how to solve them. "

"For example, in the last round of the league, when we played against Newcastle, we led them by one point until No. 205 minutes in the second half, and the physical strength of the players began to fail. Smith should have used the exhausted players at that time. Substituted, and then sent defensive players to consolidate our victory. But you see what Smith did? He actually replaced Keane, and put a forward on the field, ready to continue to attack! Finally We had to let Newcastle's forwards take advantage of the deficiencies of the team's defence, and they sadly equalized and dropped another place in the league table."

The younger fans, now completely convinced by the older ones, stopped attacking Smith and just said: "God bless Sir Alex Ferguson, let him come back soon."