The two sides met four times last season, with United unbeaten with four wins and four draws. Reading's only ever win over Manchester United was in the second replay of the third round of the FA Cup in January 1927, and the Reds went unbeaten in nine meetings with six wins and three draws. The two sides have met 14 times in history, with Manchester United holding the advantage with 7 wins, 6 draws and 1 loss. New signing Nani was on the bench, while Hargreaves, Anderson and Tevez were in the stands.

The only new signing of the season, Jonker, who started this season, was heavily defended by the opponent!

In the 22nd minute, Xue Qixuan was yellow carded for a foul on Silvestre. Ryan Giggs took a free-kick and Ronaldo broke through the middle, but a low shot from 20 yards found Hahnemann.

In the 24th minute, C-Ronaldo crossed from the right after breaking through Hunt, and Jonker's shot from a small angle on the left side of the penalty area hit the outside of the near corner post and popped up. In the 28th minute, C-Ronaldo crossed from the left, and Rooney's header from 11 yards went wide.

United were in control of the situation but struggled to find the back of the net.

The turning point came in the 37th minute, when Carrick's cross from the right was met by Rooney who shot high from eight yards after Duberry's interference, after which Rooney went down injured but returned to play after a makeshift treatment.

But at halftime, Rooney was no longer able to play, Manchester United officially announced that after further examination, Rooney's injury was confirmed to be a fractured left foot, so Rooney will be out of the field for 2 months.

Although Manchester United controlled the whole game and attacked like a tide, Old Trafford still failed to knock on Reading's door, so that the British media did not expect that Manchester United was 0:0 by Reading at Old Trafford in the first round. Flattened!

Reading was not a good come, with former Manchester United winger Koper demonstrating to his old club before the game, "Manchester United want to beat us. We want to start well as well, and let's not forget that Reading showed everyone last season that we are not soft persimmons. But few believed Koper's side could hold the defending champions to a draw at Old Trafford. This time last year, Fulham, who were also in a menaceous position, suffered a 5-1 defeat here.

The signs before the game were similar to last year's, with a series of big wins in the warm-up games, several star players in good form, and Scholes's miraculous comeback, which seemed to be another good start.

But it's different from last season. From the day of the triumph, an invisible pressure hung over Old Trafford. Mourinho said: 'Don't hold on to Chelsea for the new season, the biggest spenders this summer are Manchester United, who are the defending champions. The pressure is on Manchester United. ”

Mourinho is right, after playing for three years, Manchester United's identity has suddenly become the one who protects Jiangshan, although he has won the championship 9 times. But this group of newcomers had a hard time adapting for a while.

Face Reading's Iron Bucket Formation. The Red Devils just couldn't play their offensive power, shooting 23 to 3, shooting on target 10 to 2, shooting off target 13 to 1, corner kick 12 to 3, and hitting the opponent's 30-meter area 44% of the time. It's hard to say which player is out of whack. United have been sluggish in general, especially in attack. Gone are the sharp passing combinations from last season. There were no heroes who burst out suddenly, and Manchester United had no choice but to accept a draw after regrets.

Ferguson was still stubborn after the game, "There was no sense of crisis in today's game. We did what we could, with a strong desire to attack, a good rhythm and a good kick. What you need to achieve in the first game, it's basically all about it, just one goal away. ”

However, in fact, the crisis has come, last season Manchester United rushed to the top with a breath of "gas", only momentum and few ups and downs in mentality, and now wearing the hat of the defending champion, carrying the burden of "70 million huge investment", there will inevitably be some "distractions".

In addition, last season's all-out attacking tide covered up the holes of the lack of a center forward in the lineup, this problem is still in the team, Tevez is not Vanney, and now Rooney is injured, Ronaldo will face the key defense of each team, who is the next hero to stand up and pick the lead, I'm afraid Ferguson has no bottom in his heart. Also, a group of veterans have collectively grown by a year......

Jonck's performance was originally expected by everyone, but it turned out that this summer's standard king, who left Serie A for a season, has to regain the feeling of scoring in the Premier League, and the cooperation with his teammates is not tacit, and the only thing that can form a tacit understanding is Ronaldo Ronaldo.

Many believe that Manchester United should stay in Europe this summer to get a good run-in, because there has never been a year when Manchester United have brought in so many new signings, and too many pre-season commercial games have prevented United from completing the necessary run-in before the start of the Premier League season.

Jonk is the best example, in the game, the midfield transmission is still as before, directly to Ronaldo, Jonker, the fulcrum of the front court, can not get the effective support of his teammates, there are few shooting opportunities, and Ronaldo is also constantly squandering the opportunities sent by his teammates, a 0:0 is not surprising!

Many commentators in the summer have said that Manchester United are close to perfection, but this is only on paper, Nani and Anderson are not able to play the role of Jonker, Cristiano Ronaldo and Ryan Giggs in the short term, Hargreaves is still struggling to make his debut, and how much better can his new combination with Paul Scholes or Carrick be than these two?

Tevez can temporarily make up for Rooney's injury, and the future cooperation between the two is also hoped, but the good and the bad themselves are a pair, and Sheva and Drogba were also the horrors of last summer, and a year later, they still can't find the feeling.

In short, there is no need to be alarmed by a draw, the hidden dangers that are gradually exposed after the draw are worth noting, Chelsea and Arsenal have had the experience of defending the title season and going high and low, Ferguson must do everything possible to find a solution, first of all, mentality.

After the game, the media scored, and Jonk was the lowest score in the team.

The old mistake of the British media has been made again, a theory!

Jonker's voice of being sorry for the king's value immediately appeared in the media, but Ferguson repeatedly emphasized in the face of the media that since Jonk joined Manchester United, his performance has been good, and the players' state has been up and down, Manchester United will give him time, and Jonk will appear in the starting lineup in the next game.

Alex Ferguson is well known in the British media, but Jonk still has to thank the head coach for his support.

That game is now recalled. It's a nightmare, and Jonker himself doesn't know what's wrong, not that he hasn't played for Manchester United. But in the first round of the game, he will be nervous inexplicably, how can he not control such a mood, the director zhì body is a little disobedient, and his teammates always can't keep up with the rhythm of passing, he thinks he is not a player who passes the ball very high to his teammates, but the game is really awkward. The responsibility for this lies with Jonk himself, who does not give himself a reason.

In the first league game, he was nervous and played abnormally, and the nerves that used to be thick have become smaller?

Inexplicable thing. Maybe it's excited, but it's abnormal, the kind that I don't understand when I'm stupid.

These days, Jonk has been trying to forget about that game. It's the first time I've ever played football. I've never been so nervous, I've never been under pressure.

Unable to find a reason, Jonk tried to find out to Ferguson to see if the old man could find out why.

Who knew that after meeting Ferguson, the old man would say such a thing.

"When I came to Manchester United, I was a little too strict with you and didn't listen to your advice. Start working out the training, what do you have to do at Manchester United. Can be raised! ”

Dumbfounded, Jonker originally wanted to start apologizing at the first sentence, and the image of the angry old man in his imagination did not appear, "I didn't feel uncomfortable, I just felt that the game was not played well, but I couldn't find the reason, so I will talk to you!" ”

"Lad, a game doesn't matter, can't find a reason? Let me tell you, you're in a hurry! Ferguson immediately motioned for Jonk to turn on the TV, and the old man took out a disc and handed it to Jonk for him to show the picture.

Oh my God, this is all the game footage in my first round game, especially when it comes to team-mates, the screen is more divided into two kinds of playing, passing and running.

"You can see it all, you want to show Xiàn so much in the game, the little tacit understanding you just formed has been broken by yourself!"

"This ball, Jonker! Pay attention, your running position is too early, the speed is too fast, your teammates have not formed a good tacit understanding with you, I suggest that you are in the game, you can shout to the passer or use gestures to indicate how the ball should be given, you are in the game, completely ignore the effective communication with your teammates, the pass and run is not at a point at all, it is strange to be a threat! ”

"Is it that Ronaldo didn't give you more passes on the field, so that you can't find the feeling of a goalscorer, in the game of Manchester United, Ronaldo that kid has always been very unique, and the media has been saying that I hope you can change him after you come, if the two of you can achieve the close connection in the Portuguese national team, no one can stop us from moving forward!"

After listening to Ferguson's words, Jonker instantly understood a lot, he was still too anxious, AC Milan was alone on the front line during the period, and his dependence on teammates was not very great, but now it is different, Manchester United's offensive system is like this, all of them are fast balls, and there can be no mistakes in every link.

In the game, you have to have a sense of normalcy, and the only thing that Junk lacked in that game was a sense of normalcy.

Then there is the lack of necessary communication when passing, and communication is necessary when there is no tacit understanding.

It is always believed that Manchester United has a fast passing speed, there is no time to communicate, sometimes a look is enough, and Jonker often did this with midfielders during his time at AC Milan, and he also played a lot of good balls.

"Oops, I forgot all this!" Finally figured out what the problem was, Jonke gave himself a hard look at the head, "Boss, I know, now you can look at my watch, I will not let you down!" ”

Ferguson nodded, "Young man, come on, you are the most talented person I have ever met, you are only a little short of the superstar stage, much better than the young chicks at the beginning!" ”

What a young chick, Jonk heard the old man say that Ronaldo was a chick, and immediately laughed.

"That's right, enjoy the game, think too much on the field, you tend to lose more, a firm normal heart is enough!"

"Boss, I got it!" Jonk stood up, helped the old man out of the CD, turned off the TV, and walked out of Ferguson's office.

In the past, at AC Milan, Ancelotti only asked himself to be a threat in attack, and also taught himself how to attack, Ancelotti gave Jonker more confidence in attack. Coming to Manchester United, now he has to learn the coordination and mentality in the game!

It doesn't matter if something goes wrong, you can quickly get to the root of the error. That's all that matters, and Jonk is fortunate that when he needs it, there will always be someone who will step up at the right moment to help him find the right way to move forward.

In practice the next day, Jonker would always use various methods to signal to his teammates before taking the ball out of the field. At first, the United team-mates were still wondering, but when they saw the wonderful performance of Jonker throughout the training session, it dawned on him. It turns out that there is a master behind the guidance!

Ferguson looked at Jonker on the training ground with satisfaction, "Little guy, Manchester United's tomorrow is at your feet!" ”

Since receiving guidance from Alex Ferguson, Jonk has maintained the habit of communicating with his teammates before taking the ball. The rest of the United squad has grown accustomed to Jork's unique way of asking for the ball. They found that they didn't have to worry about giving the ball too big to pass the ball to Jonker, but they couldn't be too slow, Jonk's speed was too fast, he could catch up with the big pass, and he was offside if the pass was slow!

A week later, in the second round of the league, Ferguson fielded a striker with Jork and Tevez, and Rooney was injured. Cristiano Ronaldo also continued to start.

The match was against Portsmouth, with Manchester United battling it out at Fratton Park. At the beginning of the game, the two teams did not want to test the opponent again, and directly launched the attack, Portsmouth's tactic today is to come up and take the initiative at home, and Manchester United also want to play in their own way.

Both teams wanted to establish an advantage from the beginning, and first launched a fierce battle in midfield, especially Joanke, who was said by the media to be unsuitable for Manchester United's tactical play.

If the media came to interview Portsmouth's manager Redknapp, the old man would probably open the book directly, "TMD, idiot, what can a game say!" ”

Redknapp has learned the power of Jonker, first of all, to strengthen the midfield scramble is to cut off Manchester United's midfield's support for the forward, this is not enough, Jonk himself can break through, then send a back to take care of it in the midfield.

What Portsmouth can think of, what can be done, has been used in the game, after Manchester United has Jonker, people feel a little careless, and I don't know when Jonk will suddenly break out, come to a personal show, have to defend, but also to prevent Manchester United as a whole, Tevez is not a vegetarian, in fact, on the field, Portsmouth is completely fighting, and it is still very hard to fight, as long as it can be exchanged for the lead, this qiē is also worth it.

But the game was not at all as Portsmouth conceived, after Jonker retreated, he was completely like a defensive player in the midfield, and the back that was taken away by Jonk had nothing to do, and Jonk was on defense, and Manchester United's midfield advantage was even greater!

In less than 10 minutes into the game, Portsmouth gradually lost control of the midfield and the game returned to a state that United was more familiar with, breaking down the opposition's dense defence.

Redknapp was very clever and found that his change of tactics did not work, so he immediately waved his hand and switched to the old way of dealing with Manchester United, defending intensively.

You attack me and I counterattack, almost all Premier League teams will use this trick against Manchester United, and only a few heroes dare to attack Manchester United.

With the change on the field, Jonker began to press forward continuously, he pushed in front of Tevez, both of them were in the middle one after the other, leaving the two teams to Manchester United's two wide talents, Cristiano Ronaldo and Ryan Giggs, Scholes combed back and forth in the middle, and was not in a hurry to attack.

The old style, as in the past Manchester United games, is now the turn of Manchester United to pry open the doors of the players and bring the game into their own rhythm.

It's a bit dreary, but that's when the real strength of a team is shown, with United's attack in an orderly manner, with a wide range of movements on both flanks, while Jonker stays in the middle, occasionally making a ball for his team-mates, and the rest of the time is ready to grab points, and Tevez is occasionally taking the ball to mess around in the middle and make a long-range shot or two.

In fact, Tevez's job is the most suitable for Jonker, but Ferguson is to let Jonk stay at the front, exercise Jonk's all-round ability, and serve the future, and only Ferguson dares to make such an arrangement in the game, and exercising Jonk's ability in actual combat is not something that ordinary coaches dare to do, not to mention that this is still among the Premier League giants.

Believing in young people and using young people has always been a major characteristic of Ferguson, and Jonk is also strictly following the manager's pre-match plan for the game.

He finally got a header in the middle of the box, and Cristiano Ronaldo broke through on the wing. Suddenly, he volleyed the ball, seemed to pass and shoot, and the ball speed was very fast.

In the crowd of people in the restricted area. Jonk flew to the top, but unfortunately the football just hit the arms of Portsmouth goalkeeper James, who was still stunned just now, held the ball and immediately stood up, waved one arm to let his teammates attack quickly, and then threw the ball to his midfield teammate Sean. Davis let the latter launch a quick attack.

Danger, while Jonk was still holding his head in frustration, Portsmouth's attack had already pushed past his own half. Seeing that the shape on the field was a threat to Manchester United, Jonker hurriedly chased back.

Football matches are like that, often the best offense doesn't result in a goal. The opponent's quick counter-attack is the most threatening attack.

Portsmouth's attacking speed played, but when the ball reached the feet of the team's strikers, it reluctantly slowed down and had to slow down. It was Nugent who took the ball.

After the tall Nugent gets the ball. I always like to take a few steps to show off my outstanding foot skills among the tall team members.

"Hurry up and pass the ball, FK!" Portsmouth manager Redknapp watched from the sidelines and could only curse.

Portsmouth's other striker is the speed-type Utaka, who can't get the ball if he can't get up with speed, and he can only lead blindly without speed.

The idea was to get through the midfield quickly and let Nugent pose a threat with Utaka's pass.

Now the attack stopped when it reached Nugent. Where Vidic stood and watched, don't you like to show. You show it slowly, and when your Manchester United team-mates come back to the defense, it's too late to grab again.

Nugent finally realized his mistake and was about to make a beautiful pass, he thought it well, looked at Vidic, didn't look at the ball, didn't look at the person, and went straight to the ball, a bit like a common action in basketball, looking at one side but passing the ball to the other.

The idea was good, he picked up his thigh, but he didn't kick the ball, and then Nugent looked at his feet, where is the ball?

The ball has long been taken away by Scholes who has returned to the defense!

Manchester United switched from defending to attacking in an instant, and Jonk was still on the way back, so he immediately turned around and raised his hand to signal Scholes to pass the ball to him.

The ginger head immediately hit the ball, as for the strength of the feet, it doesn't matter if it's bigger, that kid can chase it anyway!

In a blink of an eye, the figure of Manchester United's No. 25, as if like a red lightning, passed through Portsmouth's defensive teammates, and they were still looking at the red back, only then did they react, "Hurry back!" ”

It was already too late to speak, and Portsmouth's goalkeeper James had already dropped out of the net to try to stop United's attack.

Jonk glanced up at the ball in the air, he found that this time James's attack and he should be 50% to 50% chance, anyone can get the ball, fortunately the landing point is outside the big penalty area, the goalkeeper can not touch the ball with his hands, only with his head, so he has a better chance of getting the ball.

Both of them rushed forward to grab the landing point, James didn't expect Jonk to be so fast, it was estimated that he made a mistake, and James, who was a little unconfident, when he got up, the knee of his foot was naturally raised.

No one could touch the ball, and Jonk was hit directly by James' iron knee to the waist and fell out of the air.

“FK！ Red! Ferguson was sitting calmly in the coach's seat chewing gum, but when he saw Jonker being knocked down in the air, he immediately rushed to the sidelines, scolded as soon as he started, and the gum in his mouth almost didn't swallow directly, or he had to say a few words below.

The referee arrived at the scene of the incident, first inquired about Jonker's injury, signaled for the Manchester United team doctor to come in, and then took out a yellow card to warn James directly.

"Hell, you're blind!"

Ferguson was really angry enough, the opportunity to score was not not to mention, if Jonk is injured again, Manchester United really has no strikers, an Argentine facing multiple lines, it's a joke.

Of course, the yellow card can't calm the anger of the old man, try another person, it's no wonder that the referee doesn't ask him to leave.

That is, the old man, standing on the sidelines and still talking to the fourth official who arrived, what can the innocent fourth official say, he can only nod his head and keep silent, and the old man's anger will be extinguished first.

The team doctor wanted Jonk to go to the field for a check-up, but he kept thinking about taking a free kick and didn't agree, "Spray some pain relief, you don't need to go on a stretcher!" ”

The team doctor lifted Jonker's jersey, shook the bottle, and immediately started spraying.

After cooling, it was knocked into the place, and a large purple dot immediately appeared.

It wasn't a light hit.

Jonk stood up and moved his waist to signal for the team medic to leave.

There was a huge boo from the Portsmouth fans at the scene, and they all thought that Jonk was playing garlic, deliberately cheating on a free kick, and getting injured so quickly.

Cristiano Ronaldo was already standing in front of the ball at this time and discussed with Carrick how to take the penalty, "Can I try? (To be continued......)