Chapter 21: Captain Lee

The summer transfer window is not closed yet.

Even though the Premier League has already been played for a round, there are endless rumours of various transfers. Soon, after the first round of the Premier League, Manchester United announced the introduction of Ivory Coast central defender Eric Bailly from the yellow submarine Villarrelal for 30 million pounds!

As a result, United have hoarded five players in the centre-back position: Hummels, Eric Bailly, Marcos Rojo, Chris Smalling, and Phil Jones.

If nothing else, Hummels and Eric Bailly will be the main centre-back pairing, while Marcos Rojo will be a regular substitute – the Argentine can play at left-back in addition to centre-back.

However, Ancelotti does not intend to sell Smalling and Phil Jones, first of all, of course, in terms of bench thickness, and now on the bench of Manchester United, most of the players who do not meet Ancelotti's requirements have also been cleared, in addition to the new players promoted from the academy, Ancelotti must also put a few players who can be used as regular rotations.

A full-fledged team needs at least twenty players, so why do you need so many substitutes? Because if you just rely on thirteen or fourteen players to play on multiple fronts, it is impossible to play more than 50 games per person in a season without attrition due to injuries – a season as smooth as last season, and Ancelotti has not experienced it a few times.

If you wait until the end of the season to have a massive injury or a fitness crisis and collapse, it would be too unjust.

European football is becoming more competitive every season, and the demands on the best teams are quite high. Even if United won the treble last season, that doesn't mean they can rest on their laurels – if there is no fresh blood, they will sooner or later be left behind by teams that are looking for improvement.

So Ancelotti doesn't plan to sell any more after the removal of a group of players, and he also wants to see what suitable players can be brought in in in the transfer market before the transfer window closes - if necessary, Ancelotti certainly wants to use those mature players rather than inconsistent academy players.

Carlo Ancelotti has had a comfortable time at Manchester United, but the Italian coach, who has been in many leagues, also understands that even if he brings three titles to Manchester United this season, fans will soon forget his credit if the team's performance falls into a slump in the next season - Ancelotti is not Ferguson after all.

That's why Carlo Ancelotti was so happy when he knew there was an opportunity to bring in Pogba, which shows that the club's hierarchy are still willing to spend a lot of money on signings – two seasons in a row, the transfer record has been set by Manchester United, which speaks volumes about the club's ambitions.

In this season's tactical planning, Li Qingshan and Pogba are the core of Ancelotti's reliance. Last season, the team relied more on Li Qingshan's play and gave full play to Li Qingshan's power on the front line, so the team's tactics were simple and direct, and even a little rough.

Carlo Ancelotti certainly knows that if you continue to follow the old routine after your great success, sooner or later it will be thoroughly studied – all the coaches in European football are staring at Manchester United, who reached the top last season. A few years ago, Barcelona won an unprecedented six crowns, but they were at the top of their game when they were knocked out by Jose Mourinho's Inter Milan – who would have thought?

In the same way, if United do not actively seek improvement, it will be very costly when someone is researched to deal with Manchester United.

Unlike last season's simple and brutal attacking model, this season Carlo Ancelotti decided to establish Pogba's position in the midfield, when encountering a bucket formation and dense defense, when Li Qingshan is difficult to get support in the forward line, then Pogba's creativity in the midfield can be brought into play.

Manchester United fans have not seen Pogba's creativity on the football pitch yet, but they have seen Pogba's creativity in hairstyling first.

When Pogba stared at a Manchester United red hairstyle, and a Manchester United logo was cut out of the back of his head and appeared in the dressing room, it was unanimously praised by Manchester United players.

The active Frenchman has a high emotional intelligence and gets along well with every player in the dressing room.

Today will be the second round of the 2016-2017 Premier League season, with Manchester United hosting the Saints Southampton!

Southampton is not a formidable opponent, the Saints have sold top scorers Mane and Pelle this season, as well as the "beast waist" Wanyama, plus the main fullback Portland who continues to miss this game, Southampton's combat effectiveness this season has been reduced to a "beggar's version". Recently, it has also been rumored that Wundt is inextricably linked with many giants, which makes this team even more stormy. Southampton were held to a 1-1 draw at home by Watford in the absence of captain Fonte in the last round, and the team fired 24 shots on goal but only one goal, and the inefficiency of scoring caused by brain drain was particularly obvious.

For Manchester United, a home win over Southampton is almost a foregone conclusion – last season's success has given the players plenty of confidence.

Therefore, in the Manchester United dressing room at the moment, the music is very loud, Pogba, Lingard and other players use the open space in the middle of the dressing room as a dance floor, where they dance elusively, although the dance is definitely not graceful, but under the background of the music and the cheers of the surrounding players, Pogba and others dance quite hard, and the atmosphere in the dressing room is warm for a while.

Li Qingshan didn't get involved, he couldn't dance, and of course he couldn't appreciate this strange dance, he sat on the stool with a smile and didn't discourage his teammates.

After checking the equipment he was wearing, Li Qingshan sorted out the captain's armband on his left arm, and then looked up at the electronic watch hanging in the locker room.

He stood up and clapped his palms vigorously.

"Alright guys!! Get ready, and the game will start right away!! ”

This is the first time Li Qingshan has taken his job as Manchester United captain.

The players quickly quieted down and the music in the dressing room stopped.

When Li Qingshan led the Manchester United players into the stadium with the captain's armband, countless fans in the stands began to cheer.

"Li Qingshan wore the captain's armband of Manchester United for the first time!! The 23-year-old Manchester United captain will be the second Asian to wear the captain's armband of Manchester United - the last one was South Korean star Park Ji-sung, but the difference with Park Ji-sung is that Lee Ao-san wears the armband as the vice-captain of the team, let's look forward to it, under the leadership of Captain Lee, the team can go to that point this season!! ”