Chapter 16: A Happy August

So far in the new season, three games have been played, and United have won all of them by a big margin. And in the Champions League qualifying round, relying on most of the substitutes to achieve an unprecedented victory, Ancelotti is extremely satisfied.

The midweek fixture did not put any physical burden on the Reds, and at the weekend, Ancelotti continued to start the first two league games when Newcastle were challenged at home.

It is an eternal truth that the winning team does not change.

In the midfield, Fellaini and Kramer, the two players who are more than 190 centimeters tall are like two door panels, blocking the front of the backline, plus the flexible Spanish player Herrera, this combination of midfield is quite flawed in terms of offensive creativity, but in defense, the midfield defense of these three is enough to give the Premier League opponents a headache.

Although Herrera is a player from the Basque Country, he has the characteristics of a Spanish player who is good at receiving passes, and he also has the fighting spirit of this Basque bulldog, so in defense, Herrera, who is skinny, is not soft at all when facing opponents!

In addition to contributing defensively, Herrera is also the commander of the midfield.

Of course, he's not the type of pitch commander like Pirlo Alonso, but he's a real commander – he's a talker.

Kramer's English accent is off, you can tell how talkative Herrera is - as a German, Kramer's English accent actually has a bit of a Spanish flavor, all thanks to Herrera's constant balabala.

"Chris! Pass the ball forward! ”

"Juan, I'm here!!"

"Lee!! Plum!! Forward!! ”

The same was true against Newcastle, whose players are used to the talkative Spaniard.

The same is true for Li Qingshan.

Herrera and Marouane Fellaini had previously broken Newcastle's forward pass, and after a couple of passes, the ball was at the feet of Di Maria.

Di Maria drove forward with the ball and was blocked by a Newcastle defender.

It was already the forty-third minute of the first half, less than three minutes before the end of the half, and the score was still 0-0.

If they can't score in the first half, it will be the first time since the start of the season that United have failed to score in the first half.

Newcastle's stubborn resistance did cause problems for Manchester United.

But that's all there is to it.

Di Maria dribbled forward to attract the defenders and then passed the ball to the middle.

Mata had already come to the middle to answer, and he met the ball and went straight to the middle and found Li Qingshan's feet.

Li Qingshan turned around and shot after protecting the ball with his back.

Standard centre-forward work, with midfielders and wingers creating space for centre-forwards to shoot.

However, the shot was saved by Newcastle's Dutch goalkeeper Krul.

Judging from the performance in the first half of this game, Krul was definitely the best player on the field, and if it weren't for him, Newcastle would have surrendered under the onslaught of Manchester United.

Fortunately, Li Qingshan's reaction after the gate was quite quick, with his strong body, he squeezed out two Newcastle central defenders who were only more than 180 centimeters tall, Stephen Taylor and Coloccini, and re-protected the football that Krull pounced on after seizing the position.

Li Qingshan then waited for a short while, and then knocked his heel directly, and the football passed between the two central defenders.

Herrera has inserted into the box and pushes the ball away!

This time, despite his reaction, Krull did not prevent the ball from entering the net.

As the tacit understanding of the players on the field increased, Fellaini and Herrera took turns to insert and bring different attacking rhythms, Fellaini was more of a header, while Herrera was more advantageous in handling ground balls.

With this goal, Newcastle's resistance collapsed.

In the second half, Newcastle once wanted to fight back, but Li Qingshan's long-range shot in the counterattack rewrote the score to 2-0.

At Old Trafford, two goals down, with Newcastle's quality, it was too difficult to get back on the scoresheet.

In the end, Newcastle had no choice but to swallow the score of 2-0 and lose to the Theatre of Dreams.

After this game, in the second leg of the Champions League qualifying match in midweek, Ancelotti brought a group of substitutes to Belgium, including Li Qingshan, the main players stayed in Manchester, even De Gea did not travel with the team, and he was replaced by young goalkeeper Johnstone.

The five-0 advantage built up in the first leg was simply too great, and Ancelotti was comfortable and bold enough to play on the bench.

However, despite being a second-tier squad for Manchester United, they still managed to win on the road.

With goals from Wayne Rooney and Hernandez, Manchester United defeated Club Brugge 2-1 away and successfully entered the Champions League!

And this goal is also the first goal conceded by Manchester United since the new season!

United are on a five-game winning streak in all competitions so far.

Soon, in the Premier League at the weekend, Manchester United won 3-1 against Swan Heswansea at the Liberty Stadium in Wales. Lee opened the scoring before Swansea's South Korean defender Ji Seong-yong equalised for Swansea. It was also the first goal United conceded in the Premier League in the new season.

The first half ended with a 1-1 scoreline, but in the second half, United quickly played an attacking advantage, Li Qingshan won the ball in the penalty area and played it to Mata, who fired a left-footed shot to help the team exceed the score again.

In the final stage of the game, Rooney, who came off the bench, scored another goal for Manchester United, 3-1!

Manchester United took all three points at the Liberty Stadium and made it six wins in a row in all competitions since the start of the season, four wins in a row in the Premier League, and 12 points to sit at the top of the league table.

The reason why it is weak is because Manchester City, who are in second place, also have won four consecutive Premier League games, and are only in second place with a goal difference of one goal.

City have scored 10 goals and not conceded a single goal in their first four games, including 3-0 wins over West Bromwich Albion, 3-0 against Chelsea, 2-0 against Everton and 2-0 against Wadford. Manchester United, on the other hand, have scored 11 goals and conceded one goal in four games, and both sides have a goal difference of 10, which in this case is a comparison of goals, and Manchester United has a slight advantage in the number of goals, so they are at the top of the table.

Defending champions Chelsea, on the other hand, suffered a surprise fourth-round defeat to Crystal Palace, picking up just four points from four games. An eight-point gap was opened by two teams from Manchester.

After the August game, almost all the media expressed the same opinion: this season's Premier League title will definitely be between Manchester United and Manchester City! There are absolutely no surprises.

But the managers of both teams are very cautious.

Manchester City manager Manuel Pellegrini said. "The season has just started and we have only played four games. It must be remembered that we ended up eight points behind Chelsea last season. In January we were the same number of points and we were at the top of the table. ”

Carlo Ancelotti also said: "This is the Premier League, one of the most difficult leagues in the world, and the important thing is to study the game one by one and not think about the opponent's situation! ”

The head coach has been extra cautious, but it has undoubtedly been a blissful one month for Manchester United fans.