host must win

Chapter 431
At Old Trafford, the Premier League overlord Red Devils Manchester United played at home against Arsenal, who have been unbeaten in 49 Premier League games and are now at the top of the standings.

The big screen in the stadium displayed the starting lineups of both sides, and the commentator was also commenting on the lineups of both sides.

Home team Manchester United lineup: goalkeeper No. 13 Carroll; defense No. 2 Gary Neville, No. 5 Rio Ferdinand, No. 15 Nemanja Vidic, No. 21 Evra; midfielder No. 7 Christie Jarno Ronaldo, No. 3 Phil Neville, No. 8 Yin Jun, No. 11 Giggs; striker No. 9 Rooney, No. 10 Van Nistelrooy.

Manchester United has changed a lot in this game. At the left-back position, the young French left-back Evra overwhelmed the experienced Heinze and won the starting position.In the midfield position, captain Roy Keane was absent due to flu, and Scholes also had minor injuries. Ferguson had no choice but to send Phil Neville, who had not played this season, as a midfielder.

Because taking into account the special situation of Phil Neville, Manchester United's midfield four today is not the usual diamond-shaped position, but a parallel position, with Yin Jun and Phil Neville in the middle, Ronaldo and Giggs as the avant-garde.

On the front line is Ruud van Nistelrooy and Rooney's double combination. After the arrival of Rooney, who was transferred to Manchester United at a sky-high price, he quickly occupied the main position, while Alan Smith, who had performed well before, had to sit on the bench.

Arsenal starting lineup: Goalkeeper No. 1 Lehmann; defender No. 12 Lauren, No. 23 Campbell, No. 28 Kolo Toure, No. 3 Ashley Cole; midfielder No. 8 Ljungberg, No. 4 Vier La, No. 17 Edu, No. 9 Reyes; forward No. 10 Bergkamp, ​​No. 14 Henry;
Compared with Manchester United who had to change on the spot due to injuries, Arsenal has a fairly stable starting configuration recently.

The recent state of the Arsenal is good, and the team has not had any major injuries. Even the captain Vieira, who was injured before, has returned from injury. In today's game, Wenger ranked the strongest he can The lineup is up.This is also the confidence Wenger has to fight Manchester United at Old Trafford.

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After the game started, Wenger sat on the coach seat, and he has been thinking about Manchester United's starting lineup today.

There is nothing unexpected about the partnership of striker Van Nistelrooy and teenager Rooney. As Manchester United's leading striker, Ruud van Nistelrooy has been a strong guarantee for Manchester United's offensive firepower in the past two seasons, and there is no surprise in the starting lineup.And Rooney joined Manchester United at a record price of nearly 3000 million pounds at the last moment of the summer transfer window. Ferguson will naturally not let him sit on the bench.

The midfield is a combination of Giggs, Yin Jun, Neville Jr. and Ronaldo. This is the choice Ferguson had to make when Keane and Scholes were injured.Although Phil Neville used to be an offensive and defensive midfielder, he has had fewer and fewer opportunities to play in the past two years, and it is really hard to say how much he is still in.And Yin Jun, Giggs and Ronaldo are basically pure offensive players.

Such a midfielder has unquestionable offensive power, but there are not small problems in defense.It seems that Ferguson is planning to fight Arsenal at home.

This is also in Wenger's estimation. Manchester United, who sit at home, will definitely not be too conservative, and the core captain of the defense, Roy Keane, suffered from the flu again. For the rest of the lineup, Manchester United wants to give consideration to both offense and defense. , it is a little powerless.

Under such circumstances, Ferguson fought against himself, that is, he had no choice.

Wenger smiled. If the old Scottish man thought he could take advantage of Arsenal with this trick, he would regret it.

Wenger's greatest confidence lies in Arsenal's offense.Arsenal is currently the team with the most goals in the Premier League. In the first 9 rounds, Arsenal scored 29 goals, 12 more than Newcastle who scored the second most goals.

Manchester United's offensive performance this season is very average. They only scored 9 goals in the first 16 rounds, tied for third with Middlesbrough. Compared with Arsenal, which scored the most goals, they missed a full 13 goals, almost Less than half!
In this game, Wenger's strategy for the team was to score as many goals as possible and destroy Manchester United with goals.

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On Manchester United's bench, Ferguson sat quietly in his seat, watching the game intently.

Arsenal had just tried to play an attack, but in the end when Ljungberg tried to play a wall with Henry, Evra came up early and destroyed the football.

Ferguson nodded with satisfaction and applauded Evra's prediction and attack. It's really a good idea to get this French kid for £500 million.This is thanks to Wenger for not robbing Manchester United, otherwise Manchester United may not be able to win at such a price.

Thinking of this, Ferguson set his sights on the visiting team's bench not far away.

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On the visiting team's bench at Old Trafford, Wenger shook his head regretfully, as Arsenal just made consecutive kicks.Vieira picks a pass, Edu responds and then splits, Ashley Cole wide and Reyes hit the wall, then Ashley Cole returns to the center, Bergkamp misses, Reyes Trying to play with Henry.

They were all one-footed passes, and almost all Arsenal players participated in it. It was a very beautiful continuous cooperation, but it was a pity that the last pass did not succeed.

In addition, Evra's outstanding performance made Wenger inevitably sour.

As a Frenchman, and even the former coach of Monaco, Wenger has long noticed Evra's outstanding performance, and has been sending scouts to track Evra's performance.

However, when Manchester United decided to introduce Evra in the summer, Wenger took almost no action.On the one hand, he believes that Arsenal has Ashley Cole who is better than Evra and does not need Evra.On the other hand, Wenger believes that Evra is not worth as much as £500 million at this time.

At present, Arsenal is actively raising money to prepare for the construction of the stadium, so every penny is very important. Wenger does not want to spend money to hoard players in a position where there is no shortage of people.

As a result, Manchester United easily won Evra for 500 million pounds, and after Evra came to Manchester United, he quickly showed outstanding performance, making Argentine left-back Heinze, who is more experienced and worth more than him, all Pressed on the bench.

It can be said that every time he sees the praise of Evra in the media, Wenger feels sour and annoyed.

Now, Evra appeared in the match against Arsenal as an opponent, and has excellent state and performance, which is the most direct stimulus to Wenger.

Without Evra's timely prediction, Arsenal's offense would have been completed this time!

Wenger was annoyed and regretful, but the game had just started and it was still early, Wenger was not in a hurry, he had confidence in his team.

(End of this chapter)