Football giants

Chapter 999 The Plan Can't Keep Up With Changes

Southampton scored four goals in the first half, but after the restart of the second half, the performance was still unabated.

However, although Manchester United was defeated like a mountain, Giggs changed two defensive players during the halftime break. In addition, the Saints had already secured the victory, slowed down the offensive and strengthened control, so the score was finally locked at [-]-[-].

In the second half, the Saints didn't score a single goal.

But just for the indiscriminate bombing in the first half and Messi's hat-trick, this game is worth the ticket price!
It turned out that according to the British arrangement, on the third night, a Chinese-English version of the manor meeting should be held at the Checkers Prime Minister's villa in Aylesbury, northwest of London.

But later, he temporarily changed his mind and chose the underwater hotel in Southampton as the venue for the meeting.

This is not a meeting at the manor, but a meeting at the bottom of the sea.

With this meeting, the media all over the world immediately reported and paid attention to it. The name of the Southampton Undersea Hotel is bound to become world famous because of this meeting.

The time for the meeting was arranged after the game between the Saints and Manchester United.

As the host, Yang Huan participated in the dinner meeting of the leaders of the two countries, and in the early morning of the next day, he sent the leaders of the two countries away from Southampton, and then boarded a plane at Southampton Airport to Manchester.

The originally planned visit to the football club in Manchester has now been cancelled.

Staying at the underwater hotel, coupled with the fact that the Saints beat Manchester United [-]-[-] at home and won nine consecutive Premier League victories, this meal became the focus of reports from major media around the world the next day.

Such a meeting brought Southampton, a seaport city on the south coast of England, into the eyes of the world again. All the talents discovered that there was such a dreamlike building in the place where the Titanic set sail.

So, all of a sudden, Southampton's underwater hotel has become a hot spot for tourists from all over the world.

In the Premier League, the Saints relied on this [-]-[-] victory over Manchester United to consolidate their position as the leader in the Premier League standings with nine consecutive victories. However, because Tottenham Hotspur, Manchester City and Arsenal all won this round, the Saints' lead did not further widen.

Louis van Gaal's north London side were at home, and thanks to a goal from Cristiano Ronaldo, Liverpool beat Liverpool [-]-[-], and the Portuguese was unstoppable in the Premier League.

In this year's Premier League scorer list, two players, Cristiano Ronaldo and Suarez, can be said to be in the lead, but because Suarez did not score this round, the Portuguese temporarily ranks first in the scorer list.

But there are also many media who believe that Messi's strong comeback will bring more suspense to the Premier League scorer list.

At home, Manchester City, relying on Abu Bakar's two shots and one pass, Sterling's hat-trick, beat Bournemouth [-]-[-], which also allowed Manchester City to surpass Tottenham Hotspur and boarded the second place in the league standings, second only to Southampton.

Arsenal defeated Watford [-]-[-] and ranked fourth in the league. La Nieli's Leicester City team jumped to fifth in the league, Crystal Palace ranked sixth in the league, and Manchester United lost a disastrous defeat.

The situation of the Red Army Liverpool is even worse, directly ranking tenth in the league.

Although Chelsea won this round, they still rank No. 16 in the league and are only one step away from the relegation zone.

This also made many fans ridicule Chelsea. The main goal of this season should be relegation.

Judging from the current Premier League standings, it is entirely foreseeable that it should be difficult for Leicester City and Crystal Palace to maintain this momentum until the end of the season, and their rankings will decline as the season progresses.

Inadequate strength and weak lineup are their biggest weakness.

After the winter break and dialogues with more strong teams, they will have a weak follow-up.

But in any case, the outstanding performance in the first nine rounds of this season has brought great attention and influence to the two teams.

The number one favorite to win this season is still Southampton, but Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur also have a chance, while Arsenal and Manchester United are fighting for the top four in the league.

The only thing that is more regrettable is the fall of the two traditional strong teams, Liverpool and Chelsea, but with teams like Leicester City, Crystal Palace, and West Ham United coming from behind, it is also a good thing for the Premier League.

At least, add some suspense and cold surprises, no?

After finishing the ninth round of the Premier League, the Saints set off for Paris, France, to participate in the third round of the UEFA Champions League group stage.

Paris Saint-Germain is in full swing with Monaco for the league title in Ligue [-] this season.

Ronald Koeman's team has not changed much in defense this summer, that is, after Costa Rican goalkeeper Keylor Navas switched to Real Madrid, the team introduced Timo Horn from Bundesliga Cologne heavily.

The entire back line still maintains the level of last season, but the midfielder has sold older players such as Biglia, Toulalan, and Capoue, and introduced Schneiderlin, Sanson, and Wanyama, three young players who are more moldable in their prime.

In addition, Hernandez and Mbappe were introduced on the front line, and the disappointing Benzia was sold.

This is also impossible.

Originally, the team paid a lot of money to dig Benzia from Lyon, thinking that this young player had great potential for Benzema, but in the end, his progress was limited, coupled with the player's own problems, eventually Monaco had to give up and send him away.

At the beginning of this season, Monaco won three consecutive victories. Although the team had many problems, they won steadily.

But in the fourth round of the league, Monaco lost to Paris Saint-Germain [-]-[-] at home, giving up their position as the league leader in vain.

This battle caused Monaco and Ronald Koeman to be criticized and under a lot of pressure.

However, the Monaco management headed by Michael Bolingbroke and Jean-Luc Bissin have successively expressed their support for Ronald Koeman in a high-profile manner, and believe that he can lead the team out of the shadows.

Although in the next two rounds, Monaco's performance was not ideal, with one win and one loss, widening the gap with Paris Saint-Germain.

But after learning from the pain, Ronald Koeman quickly found the key to the team's victory. In the next four rounds, the team won four consecutive victories, including a [-]-[-] away game against Guingamp, a [-]-[-] home game against Rennes, and a [-]-[-] victory over Lyon at home.

However, despite Monaco's successive victories, Paris Saint-Germain's performance is not bad.

Although Bordeaux and Lens were tied in the fourth and fifth rounds of the league, Paris Saint-Germain won all the subsequent games.

Therefore, in the current Ligue [-] standings, Paris Saint-Germain is still ahead, and Monaco is two points behind, ranking second.

But there is no doubt that the championship battle between the two teams has completely heated up.

At this time, Southampton is a guest at the Parc des Princes. In addition to winning the third victory in the Champions League group stage and defending the top spot in the group, it also bears the heavy burden of breaking Paris Saint-Germain's unbeaten golden status for Monaco.

At the beginning of the game, the Saints attacked with all their strength and attacked frantically.

In this game, Sanchez replaced Suarez in the starting lineup. The latter had to take a break because he participated in consecutive national team games and then played non-stop against Manchester United after returning.

As a result, in the No. 16 minute, after Sanchez forced a breakthrough on the right, he made a low pass, and Hazard followed up with a push from the left, piercing the goal of Paris Saint-Germain.

Paris Saint-Germain has consciously strengthened its defense. The defense led by Thiago Silva and David Luiz has arranged the defense very tightly. Southampton will not find a chance for a while.

In the second half, Kovacic replaced the injured Toni Kroos, and Ancelotti had to slow down the team's offensive.

Paris Saint-Germain seized the opportunity to press hard and strengthen their offense.

But in the No. 607 minute, the right winger Chambers made a wonderful pass. Messi relied on his strong personal ability to forcefully break through David Luiz and scored a single-handed goal, [-]-[-].

After that, Paris Saint-Germain was not to be outdone, and pressed again, but Varane made a long pass from the backcourt in the No. 708 minute. Messi easily succeeded in countering offside and scored again, [-]-[-]!
This goal also completely sentenced Paris Saint-Germain to death!
There was a deadly silence at the Parc des Princes. Everyone looked at the score on the field in disbelief, and saw that the team they thought was already superior was beaten into a sieve by the Saints from England at their doorstep.

The score of three to zero showed the strength gap between the two teams.

In the end, the Saints successfully retreated from the Parc des Princes with [-]-[-], leaving behind the depression and melancholy of Paris Saint-Germain, and even a little reflection.

The French media even stated after the game that between Paris Saint-Germain and Southampton, there is only one Messi!
But just one Messi away?

Returning to the Premier League from the European arena, the Saints quickly went north. At Liverpool's Anfield Stadium, with the goals of Messi and Suarez, they defeated the Red Army Liverpool [-]-[-].

Although after this game, Liverpool's league ranking is still tenth, but the two-goal defeat to Southampton still makes the Red Army feel depressed.

Coincidentally, Chelsea lost [-]-[-] away to West Ham United in this round, and the ranking fell again.

But Tottenham Hotspur in north London beat Bournemouth [-]-[-] away, with Cristiano Ronaldo scoring a hat-trick to top the table.

This also surprised the British media one after another, and they were all hyping up, thinking that the combination of Messi and Suarez is barely comparable to a Cristiano Ronaldo.

That's right, if you look at the current number of goals scored by both sides, this is indeed the case.

However, in an exclusive interview with Charlene Lahiri, Messi responded publicly, saying that he is in very good condition and will definitely score goals.

"The competition between me and Cristiano has just begun!"

Suarez also publicly expressed his unwillingness to be outdone in an interview with The Times.

"Everyone thinks that the top scorer should be Cristiano or Leo, but why no one said it was me?"

"I hope to break this perception of others!"

However, some media analysts believe that since Messi's comeback, Suarez's goals have been curbed, and he no longer enjoys the opportunities created by Saints players exclusively as before.

Therefore, many media believe that whether it is Messi or Suarez, if they want to catch up with Cristiano Ronaldo, they have to have unlimited firepower in the team like the Portuguese.

But coach Ancelotti obviously doesn't think so.

When the British media, and even the media and fans all over the world, were hyping and paying attention to the goal battle between Messi, Suarez and Cristiano Ronaldo, Sun Yue suddenly came to Southampton.

He also brought a very important piece of news, causing Yang Huan to sigh helplessly.

It's really a plan that can't keep up with the changes!

(End of this chapter)