Ferguson hated Manchester City!
When Manchester United's visit to Anfield to challenge Liverpool in the FA Cup and the EFL Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Manchester City appeared only three days apart.
Ferguson naturally hoped that Manchester City could deplete Liverpool to the maximum!
And the result?
Alonso, Gerard, and Qin Xiong, none of them played. Liverpool still looked like they won a game that did not burn their bridges and passed smoothly.
This made Ferguson furious. On the eve of the fourth round of the FA Cup, he mocked Manchester City for inexplicably losing the game at Anfield.
Comain, on the other hand, adjusted Liverpool's overall state well in his strategizing and arranged the players' appearances reasonably.
Maximizing the use of the resources at hand.
When the fourth round of the FA Cup began, Manchester United arrived at Anfield.
Liverpool was still in the formation of 4312, but the starting lineup looked completely different from the previous game.
Goalkeeper: Reina.
Defenders: Baines, Thiago Silva, Agger, Baines.
Midfielders: Diote, Alonso, Gerard, Mascherano.
Forwards: Raúl, Qin Xiong.
The defense of the midfield line was handed over to Diote and Mascherano. The central axis of the front and back offensive organization was Alonso and Gerard. Qin Xiong partnered with Raúl on the front line to attack. The attacks on the flanks were naturally handed over to the full-backs.
Manchester United's rear defensive line was naturally disrupted by the collapse of the center-back duo of Rio Ferdinand and Vidic. The defensive quality was getting worse and worse. In addition, the midfield's weak waist was also a clear weakness at a glance.
Liverpool had the advantage of being on their home ground, and they were on a killing spree at Anfield!
Before the game, Ferguson was expecting Liverpool to have problems in terms of stamina and energy. But after Manchester City's inability to wear down Liverpool, or rather, Liverpool got through the difficulties with a reasonable rotation, the Red Army was placed in front of the Red Devils.
In the 21st minute of the game, Alonso made an exquisite straight pass in the backfield. Raúl passed the ball to Gerard, who had cut diagonally into the penalty area from the back. In the penalty area, Gerard swept the ball to the back of the goal.
Qin Xiong, who got rid of Evans' defense, pushed the ball into the half-empty goal from the back.
Liverpool opened the scoring and Qin Xiong, who opened the scoring account, could not stop.
Before the end of the first half, he made a cross cut on the left side of the penalty area, followed by a volley shot. The football did not have a trace of rotation, and like a cannonball, it shot into the top corner of the Manchester United goal near the near post.
De Gea could only look at the ball and sigh.
Manchester United fought back in the second half, which gave Liverpool more opportunities to attack quickly and counterattack.
In the 63rd minute of the game, Qin Xiong retreated to the midfield line to receive Baines' pass, and he began a long-distance attack.
First, he got rid of Park Ji-sung's pressing on the spot. Then, he accelerated and changed the direction of the ball, causing Carrick to slide to the ground. Then, he cycled past Evans in front of the penalty area, causing Evans to shift his center of gravity wrongly. After charging into the penalty area, Qin Xiong deftly pushed the ball into the bottom right corner of the goal.
De Gea roared at the rear defensive line players!
The Spanish goalkeeper, who had been performing better and better this season, could not accept that his team's defensive line was so vulnerable!
Ferguson sighed helplessly on the sidelines.
In the past, Manchester United also had a player who could do this, and that was Ronaldo.
But now, Manchester United no longer had a player like that.
Qin Xiong, who performed a long-distance attack and scored three goals, was worshipped by the Red Army fans in Anfield.
Considering that there was still a league game in three days, Liverpool slowed down the pace of the game after taking a three-goal lead. Manchester United also did not resist in Anfield.
Ferguson knew that Liverpool had reached such a level that it would be difficult for them to be defeated by their opponents if they let down their guard after shrinking their defense.
After the game ended, the Anfield fans cheered.
Liverpool stepped on Manchester United's corpse and advanced into the FA Cup's top 16!
Stepping into February, Liverpool would really be fighting on four fronts this month!
The Premier League, Champions League, FA Cup, and EFL Cup finals would be held at the same time this month!
The task was unimaginably heavy, with a total of seven games!
That meant that there would be one game every four days!
Before the Champions League reignited in the middle of the month, Liverpool had to make certain adjustments.
The first game of the 23rd round of the Premier League was Liverpool's away game against Wolverhampton Wanderers.
In this game, Comain sent out Qin Xiong and Suárez, with Kuyt's trident.
The team showed its prowess in the away game. Qin Xiong played with a cap and was in an insufferably hot state.
5:0！
Liverpool played a triumphant song in the away game!
The second player to play was Chelsea. Di Matteo's Chelsea only made the Blues fans happy for a while. They went on an expedition to Swansea City in Wales and drew 1: 1 with Swansea City in the away game.
Chelsea's difficulties in the league were unimaginable. A big reason was that the Spanish striker Torres, who came to Stamford Bridge with a £50 million price tag last year, had not been able to find his form!
This made Chelsea's offensive efforts come to nothing.
At Swansea City's home ground, Chelsea did not play like a strong team at all.
After falling behind 1: 0 and Cole was sent off, Chelsea even "broke the pot" at one point. The players committed unnecessary fouls and kicked to vent their frustrations. This kind of loss of control was jaw-dropping.
In the 87th minute, Meireles was given a yellow card for a malicious foul. Shortly after, David Luiz came up and kicked his opponent over unnecessarily. What's more, when the referee whistled for a foul, Torres on the side looked very angry. He used all his strength to kick the ball in the direction of the referee to vent his dissatisfaction.
Fleet Street blamed Liverpool for part of the "disaster" that happened to Chelsea.
The joke was that Kerman had played a huge game of chess.
Sending Torres to Chelsea that year was like sending a sweetheart bomb to Stamford Bridge!
After the game, Di Matteo admitted that there was no hope of winning the title and pointed out that the goal in this season's league was to ensure the top four and qualify for the Champions League. This was the "lowest goal."
However, with the current point situation, Chelsea was not optimistic with 42 points. Tottenham Hotspur made a strong comeback after the New Year and occupied fourth place in the table. They were seven points ahead of the Blues and had a strong momentum. Among the pursuers, if Arsenal won one of the games they missed, their points would only be three points less than Chelsea.
The most worrying thing was, of course, Chelsea's current momentum. In the last two rounds of the league tournament, they had not won against the newly promoted Norwich 0: 0 and Swansea 1: 1. The problem of the lack of offensive strength was undoubtedly exposed. On Sunday, they would play Manchester United at home. Cole was suspended with a red card, Lampard de la Mirez and others were injured, and Drogba could not come back. The difficulty could be imagined.
However, what could comfort Chelsea was that London's fellow sufferer, Arsenal, also did not win this round of the game!
Arsenal and Bolton Wanderers drew a goalless draw at the Reebok Stadium and made up with 0: 0!
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