Chapter 125: The Positive Significance of Losing a Ball

Manchester United's defeat at Sunderland got the English press excited. Manchester United currently has 21 wins, three draws and two losses in 26 league games, with 66 points, and Leicester City, who are now second in the league, have 53 points with one less game, 13 points behind Manchester United, and if Leicester City wins this round, then the difference between the two sides will be narrowed to 10 points.

Ten points, although it seems like a huge difference, at least it proves that the suspense of this season's Premier League will continue to be here - who knows if Carlo Ancelotti's side will suddenly have a three-game losing streak or something.

Of course, the premise of all this is that the teams behind cannot drop the chain and can continue to create pressure on Manchester United behind their backs.

The league is like a marathon, and the athlete at the front of the race is the most stressed.

However, the Leicester manager did not cater to the excited media, and Ranieri remained as low-key as ever after the game: "We are not aiming to catch up with Manchester United, and the only goal for Leicester City is to remain in the top four at the end of the season. And now we are more focused on our opponents in this round of the league. ”

Leicester City's opponents in this round are Arsenal, who currently sit fourth in the league with 48 points, while Manchester City are just one point behind them. Leicester City will be a challenge if they want to beat Arsenal.

Speaking of which, Manchester United's defeat in this round looks like a loss is also timely, as the four teams behind Manchester United in second to fifth place will be battling it out in this round, with Tottenham Hotspur now climbing to third place in the league after winning five consecutive league games, while they face Manchester City, who are currently one point behind Tottenham.

Therefore, regardless of the final outcome of these games, the adverse impact of Manchester United's defeat can be minimized.

The final result of these two games was that Leicester City lost away to Arsenal, and although they failed to lose their second place in the league, they are still 13 points away from the top of the table, and the gap is still so wide.

Tottenham, on the other hand, beat Manchester City away to take 51 points. The Premier League can now basically be divided into five groups.

First of all, the first group is, of course, the championship group. However, there is only one team in this title contender, and Manchester United are almost out of the box with a 13-point lead, and unless Manchester United suddenly dies in the next game, this advantage has allowed United to see the light of the Premier League trophy.

The second group is the "Group Four", which includes Leicester City, Tottenham Hotspur, Arsenal and Manchester City, which will compete for second to fourth place and fight for Champions League qualification.

The third group is competing for Europa League qualification, but the Premier League teams have never been too concerned about the Europa League, so the competition in this group is actually not much. In the Premier League, there are generally three teams competing in the Europa League. Fifth place in the league goes straight to the Europa League. The winner of the FA Cup goes directly to the Europa League, and if the winner of the FA Cup participates in the Champions League or is otherwise unable to participate, the runners-up will enter the Europa League. If the runner-up is unable to participate, the sixth place in the league will participate. The winner of the English League Cup will also receive a ticket to the Europa League, with sixth place in the league if the winner is unable to participate and seventh place in the league if sixth place is unable to play or has already participated. As a result, the top seven teams in the league could qualify for the Europa League.

The fourth group belongs to the "soy sauce" group, they are basically relegated without worry, and the motivation to get a better ranking is not too much.

The fifth group is a brutal and fierce relegation zone. In addition to Aston Villa, who basically locked in a relegation place, the other two relegation places will be between Bournemouth, Swansea, Norwich, Newcastle and Sunderland, and the maximum point difference between these five teams is only four points, and the competition can be described as quite fierce.

Although Manchester United did not get close to their opponents because of the loss after this round of league games, it is always unpleasant to lose anyway.

There seems to have been a lot of silence on United's training ground these days, and the Manchester United players are clearly resentful of losing to a relegation team.

Carlo Ancelotti didn't take this defeat too seriously. Now that the league has played 26 rounds, Manchester United have only lost two games, and in such a competitive Premier League, such a result is already a disappointment for many people. Even in the La Liga dominated by Real Madrid and Barcelona, Real Madrid and Barcelona have to lose a few games in a season.

And in a way, the defeat was a relief for Ancelotti. Over this period of time, with a steady stream of wins and a huge advantage in the table, it is clear that United's players are a little too confident, and even against a team like Chelsea, the Reds initially showed a tendency to underdog.

If this continues, the league may be worry-free, but in the Champions League, I am afraid that it will suffer. And with a league defeat, United at least have time to adjust and have enough lead for them to afford to lose. But if they lose in the Champions League, which has already reached the knockout stages, there will be no room for United to make adjustments.

Manchester United have been on a high pitch in the Premier League this season, which has made Carlo Ancelotti's ambitions grow. Since there is not much pressure in the league, why not put more effort into the Champions League?

Carlo Ancelotti coached Milan to three Champions League finals and won the title twice, and he is also a coach with Champions League genes. Although there are still some problems with United's current squad, the defensive solidity gives Carlo Ancelotti the confidence to go far in the Champions League.

Losing in the league now isn't entirely bad for Carlo Ancelotti, after all, it's better to lose in the league than in the Champions League, right?

Once in the knockout rounds, there is no room for mistakes in this format. So, while the defeat was upsetting for United's players, it was better than their pride and defeat in the Champions League.

Of course, Manchester United's opponents in the Champions League are Gent from the Belgian league, and this little-known team may not seem to pose much of a threat to the mighty Manchester United, but who can reach the last 16 of the Champions League.

In a game of this level in the Champions League, there are few real fish bellyes. If United had gone to Belgium with the mentality of underdogging, it would not have been a surprise to lose.