The FIFA match day in November arrived, and the qualifiers for the 2010 World Cup across the continents entered the final stage. Whether it was the final qualifier for the European region or the competition for half a place between the continents for a ticket, it would all come to an end this month.
The China team had advanced to the 2010 World Cup in advance, so the current FIFA match day would be mainly a warm-up.
Qin Xiong stayed in Liverpool and appeared alone at the Melwood Training Ground. Assistant manager Sammy Lee supervised his recovery training.
At the end of every day's training, Qin Xiong would spend about half an hour outside the training ground to sign autographs for the fans who came to cheer him on.
The Liverpool fans would always ask about Qin Xiong's well-being or express their support when they asked him to sign autographs.
"Qin Xiong, you've been on the substitutes' bench for two consecutive rounds, but why didn't Comain let you play? We've seen you train now. You're already doing very well. Liverpool needs you now. "
"If you have any problems with Comain, we hope you understand that we'll stand by your side."
"When you can play, we can win a lot of games. Now it's hard for us to win. Qin Xiong, you're too important to Liverpool. Please take care of your body. A healthy you is Liverpool's greatest asset."
.....
Qin Xiong had just started training with the ball. He was listed as a substitute by Comain as soon as he removed his cast. But he had difficulty even running. He only officially started training during this month's FIFA match day.
After the end of the FIFA match day, another Liverpool player fell.
Torres returned to the Melwood Training Ground with an injury. Comain did not see a smile on his face for several days.
The 13th round of the Premier League began.
Liverpool's Anfield welcomed the challenge of Jinyuan Manchester City.
Mark Hughes's lineup was already very strong, but the team's results lacked stability, which was directly related to the team's construction and the manager's ability.
Manchester City could beat Arsenal to a pulp, but they could also be killed by Manchester United. When they came to Anfield, Liverpool and Manchester City, who were stretched thin in terms of their line-up, presented a big opening game.
In the end, the Red Army fans were extremely disappointed.
2:2.
Since the end of the eighth round of the league tournament, Liverpool had a record of three draws and two losses in five league games, and one draw and one loss in the Champions League.
Liverpool's seven-game winless streak meant that they were no longer regarded as the hot favorite to win the league title.
In the same round of the league, Chelsea defeated Wolverhampton Wanderers 4: 0, leading Liverpool by three points.
Arsenal unexpectedly lost 0: 1 in the away game to Sunderland, which was known as the BIG4's nemesis in the first half of the season, thus giving up the top spot to Chelsea. However, the Arsenal still led the Red Army by one point.
Manchester United defeated Everton at Old Trafford with a score of 3: 0, leading Liverpool by two points and rushing to second place in the table.
Starting from the ninth round of the league tournament, the BIG4 group completed the rotation of the top spot in the table.
First, it was Liverpool, then Manchester United, then Arsenal, and now Chelsea of the Blues were at the top of the table.
The gathering haze over Anfield made people's hearts waver. The fans were uneasy, fearing that this would be another season where all four big leagues were empty.
The fifth round of the Champions League group stage followed. This was a life-and-death battle for Liverpool, even if the opponent was Di Bissani, who was massacred by Liverpool 8: 0 in the first round.
But considering that Fiorentina came from behind and Lyon left them in the dust, Liverpool had no room to lose any more points and no way out.
Liverpool did not play a very shocking game in the away game, but with an economical 1: 0 win over Di Bissani in the away game, they finally ushered in a victory after seven consecutive games without a win.
In the other game in the same group, Fiorentina defeated Lyon 1: 0 at home!
Fleet Street praised Fiorentina's tenacity. After the fifth round of the game, the points of each group became as follows.
Lyon won three out of five games, drew one and lost one, with 10 points.
Liverpool won three out of five games, drew one and lost one, with 10 points.
Fiorentina won three out of five games, with 9 points.
Di Bissani lost five out of five games, with 0 points.
As Liverpool and Lyon's head-to-head record was one draw and one loss, Liverpool was in second place with the same number of points.
The last round of the game would be a confrontation between Lyon and Di Bissani, while Liverpool and Fiorentina would fight to the death.
In this way, Lyon could actually advance to the knockout stage as long as they win, and whoever got the other ticket would be determined by the results of the game between Liverpool and Fiorentina!
Of course, the possibility of Lyon capsizing in the gutter could not be ruled out, but the probability of that was minimal.
"Liverpool have forced themselves into a dead end!"
The Echo's ace reporter, Tony Barrett, wrote a column with a shocking title before the Merseyside derby.
"From the beginning of August to the end of September in the new season, Liverpool's record was fantastic. Even if they were eliminated in the first round of the EFL Cup, it could not make the Liverpool people lose their ambition for the title because the EFL Cup was really insignificant. The contempt of the powerhouses for the EFL Cup had long been known to everyone, and the fans deeply agreed.
But after the start of October, Liverpool entered an extremely dark period!
Without a win in seven consecutive games in various competitions, there was a crisis of not being able to qualify for the Champions League. Even if Liverpool still had the initiative to qualify for the next round, and the last Champions League group stage game would be played at Anfield, the ambitious Fiorentina would definitely create huge difficulties for Liverpool. They would not let their efforts of the past month or so be easily ruined in Anfield.
What went wrong?
In the Premier League table, Liverpool led Chelsea by six points at the end of September to three points behind Chelsea at the top of the table. In contrast to Chelsea's achievements in expanding their territory in the past month and a half, it also showed how much of an advantage Liverpool had lost in the dark seven weeks!
At the end of last season, we said that when Gerard and Torres played together, Liverpool could win most of the games. They were more like recognized winners before the game.
But this only made Liverpool better and better than the 17 or so teams in the Premier League. They were still a step away from the title.
And when Qin Xiong joined Liverpool, this difficult step seemed to have been taken by Liverpool.
After Qin Xiong's injury, Liverpool not only returned to their original state, but also showed a shocking decline.
Gerard and Torres did not carry the team forward. Not only did they fail to stabilize their advantage, but they also let Liverpool slip from the top of the table to fourth in the league, a position with three leaders in front of the title.
Now Torres was injured!
If Liverpool could not regain their advantage before the winter break, then when the second half of the league tournament began, Liverpool might really lose the opportunity to compete for the title.
The good news is that Comain has confirmed that Qin Xiong will start in the Merseyside derby!
I think this is Liverpool's last chance. Do they stop the decline and restart their attack for the title, or do they just sink and have a different story from the previous years, but usher in the same ending?
If Qin Xiong can't restore Liverpool's fighting power to a title contender, then no one knows where Liverpool's road will be tomorrow.
.....”
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