On the morning of January 14, Zhang Kuang flew back to Manchester.
In the parking lot of Carrington Training Ground, Rooney's car is already parked there.
When Zhang Kuang pushed the door and walked into the dressing room, Rooney was tying his shoes. When he looked up and saw him, he shouted, "You are back! Hong Kong, isn't she pretty?"
Zhang Kuang threw the bag into the cabinet and threw him a bottle of water. "Beautiful, we Eastern girls are the prettiest, but in terms of sexiness and playability, we still have Western girls."
"Xie Te, you boy, don't bring all the trouble to our beautiful Western girls, leave some for our Western guys." Rooney laughed and cursed, unscrewed the cap and took two sips. "The Lord is waiting for you. He told you to come to his office."
"I'm just one person every hour, even if I stop working 24 hours a day, it will cause endless troubles. You are really unfounded."
"Huh? What are you worried about?"
"Oh, I shouldn't tell you the China idiom, you can't understand it..."
Ferguson's office is very heated.
The old man was sitting on a chair, and the video of Wolverhampton Wanderers's game from the previous few days was playing on the computer screen in front of him.
Zhang Kuang knocked on the door and went in. Ferguson didn't even raise his head and only said one word, "Sit."
The video was paused.
Ferguson turned the chair to look at him. The eyes behind the lenses were as sharp as ever. "Football Association Cup If you can't come, I'll give you two more days off. We will play Tottenham Hotspur in an away game on the 16th. Let me know your status."
Zhang Kuang leaned on the back of the chair and put his hands behind his head. "Don't worry, sir, when did I ever drop my chain?"
Ferguson snorted, took out a few files from the drawer and threw them on the table.
Zhang Kuang looked down and saw that it was the official quotation of 100 million pounds from Manchester City, as well as Chelsea, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, Inter Milan, Juventus and other clubs.
"Do you want to leave?" the old man asked.
"I've known about these quotes for a long time, and I don't want to leave just yet." Zhang Kuang answered quickly.
Ferguson stared at him for three seconds, and then said, "Okay, this is also our obligation. You must have the right to know. If you don't leave, it proves that you are enjoying your stay at Manchester United. If you have any needs, please report to the club in a timely manner."
Zhang Kuang pushed the quotation back. "I won't be polite. I am the most contract-minded person. According to what we have discussed before, I am not a person who likes to cause trouble. I will wait until you retire before considering whether to stay or leave."
Ferguson's mouth seemed to move, and the amplitude was so small that it was almost invisible. He waved his hand. "Go and train."
Zhang Kuang stood up and walked to the door, turned around and said, "Sire, Manchester City, the club is really not interested in that 100 million?"
"Get lost."
Zhang Kuang smiled and closed the door.
--
On the afternoon of January 16th, White Hart Lane Stadium.
There are still ten minutes left before the start of the game, and the stadium radio is announcing the starting lineups of both sides.
In Sky Sports's broadcast room, Martin·Tyler and Rob·Hawthorn have already sat down in front of the camera, with the standings scrolling on the big screen behind them.
Martin·Tyler opened the information. "Viewers, welcome to the 23rd round of the 2010-11 season Premier League, Tottenham Hotspur vs. Manchester United.
Let's look at the standings first. Manchester United has 20 wins, 2 draws and 62 points in 22 rounds (author's note, there were two draws. If there is any error in the previous data, this shall prevail). Premier League is undefeated in the season and is in second place. Arsenal accumulated 42 points in 22 rounds, and Manchester United leads the second place Arsenal by a full 20 points. This point difference has never been seen in the history of Premier League."
Rob·Hawthorn answered, "Tottenham Hotspur ranked fifth with 37 points in 22 rounds with 10 wins, 7 draws and 5 losses. It is only 1 point away from Chelsea in the UEFA Champions League district.
If they can beat Manchester United today, they can break into the top four. Redknapp said before the game that the goal is not just one point, but three points.
The last three home games against Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur were all draws. The last time we lost here was in 2007."
Martin·Tyler smiled, "Tottenham Hotspur is holding back his energy to end that embarrassing record: Manchester United has not won against Manchester United 23 times in various competitions.
Ber started with an injury today. This young man had a back injury and took two days off training, but he was still on the roster, which means Redknapp will play wide speed today."
Rob·Hawthorn turned to the list of Manchester United: "Manchester United ranked 4-3-3 today. Goalkeeper No. 1 Van der Sar, Van der Sar missed the last round with the flu and is back today.
The defense... Giggs celebrates his 600th game today Premier League, a remarkable milestone, the front trident is still the same three."
(Author's note: Some book friends think that my writing about the starting lineup and player information is suspected of being filled with water, so I will not write it in the future.)
Martin·Tyler: "Sitting on the bench..., Manchester United has a pretty good lineup today. Except for Scholes who has a minor injury and is not on the roster, everyone else is here."
Rob·Hawthorn: "Tottenham Hotspur is also the main force here, namely: goalkeeper No. 1... This frontcourt attack line is also top-notch when placed in Premier League, Ber's speed Speed, Lennon's breakthrough, Van der Vaart's long shot, Crouch's header, and Modrić's organizational ability, Manchester United's defense is under a lot of pressure today."
Martin: "Speaking of headers, Crouch's headers are really powerful. His height of 2.01 meters is his advantage. He has scored 5 headers this season.
However, his header information is nothing compared to Zhang Kuang. Zhang Kuang has already scored 12 headers in various competitions, so..."
CCTV-5, He Wei and Xu Yang are also warming up.
He Wei: "Friends from the audience, today's focus match between Premier League is Tottenham Hotspur vs. Manchester United at home. Manchester United is undefeated so far this season and has won 22 rounds..."
He Wei and Xu Yang basically have similar information to Martin and Rob. After all, there cannot be any difference in the information, they are all the same.
"..."
Under the active explanations of the commentators, time is passing by minute by second. The fans are very anxious. After all, they are like a man and a woman who are dating now. They wish they could skip all the messy processes and go directly to the battlefield. That would be great.
In the players' tunnel, the heating was turned on at full speed, but the cold air seeping in through the cracks in the door still gave people goosebumps.
Berbatov stood in the queue, stamping his feet and moving his ankles, and the white air he exhaled drifted away under the light.
Zhang Kuang is wearing a thin jersey, he doesn't look cold at all, and his expression is as lazy as if he were visiting London's weekend market.
Berbatov cast an envious look, while Zhang Kuang smiled sinisterly.
"You are only 8 years older than me. Look how weak you are. You are so weak when dealing with a woman. What would you be like if there were more women?"
"Boy, don't be so proud just because you can seduce a lot of women, don't you just have a pair of good kidneys? I heard that you Asia have a gang that cuts their waists, so be careful and don't get targeted."
"Bah, ivory can't come out of a dog's mouth."
"..."
The members of the Manchester United team looked at the two people stumbling over each other, and everyone showed a relaxed smile.
This made the members of the Tottenham Hotspur team very envious. Everyone looked solemn and didn't know what they were thinking.
The chief referee Mike·Dean stood at the front. After confirming that the two teams were in place, he led the team out of the channel.
White Hart Lane exploded instantly.
The roars of 35,828 people collided together, and the sound was like a solid wall pressing down from the stands.
Tottenham Hotspur die-hard fans held a huge banner. "23 games without a win, today is the end!"
As mentioned before, Tottenham Hotspur has lost 23 games to Manchester United, so they put up such a banner.
Underneath the banner were densely waving scarves and flags, white and blue, mixed together like a tidal wave.
Manchester United Expeditionary Force was suppressed in a corner of the visiting team's stands. There were about three thousand people, but their voices were forced out of the din of the home field.
Giggs's name was sung repeatedly by them. In the 600th game, Premier League and Red Devils fans paid tribute to him in the most direct way.
Zhang Kuang stepped on the turf of White Hart Lane. The temperature on the winter night was close to zero, and there was a thin layer of frost on the grass. It was a bit slippery when stepped on, but the smoothness was very good.
He looked up and looked around the stands. Tottenham Hotspur fans were giving him the middle finger gesture. Some of them held signs that read "Chinese Zhang misfiring today."
Zhang Kuang grinned, turned around and walked back to his seat.
Ferguson was sitting on the visiting team's coaching bench, with his hands crossed on his knees, chewing gum in his mouth, and his expression showed no emotion or anger.
Redknapp stood on the sidelines, his coat buttoned tightly, his hands in his pockets, his face serious as if he was going to a funeral.
Van der Sar stood in front of the goal, patted the goal post with his gloves on, and made a dull "bang bang" sound. He turned around and shouted something to Ferdinand, and Ferdinand gave a thumbs up.
Mike·Dean looked at his watch and held the whistle in his mouth.
"Beep!"
"Zhuang'er mattress platform, Zhuang'er mattress platform..."
Crouch dialed the ball to Van der Vaart, who knocked back Modrić. White Hart Lane's sound never dropped from the first second, and the chorus of 35,000 people shook the turf.
The game has begun.
After the opening whistle, Tottenham Hotspur quickly entered the rhythm of the game.
Modrić took the ball in the midfield and controlled the rhythm. Croatia had a wide field of vision and shot the ball cleanly. Several lateral transfers stretched Manchester United's midfield defense wide.
Van der Vaart is cruising behind Crouch, constantly raising his hand for the ball. His movement is very smart, always getting in the gap between Carrick and Fletcher.
Zhang Kuang stood on the left wing, taking small steps with his feet and staring at the direction of the ball.
Ekotto had already moved up to him, with his left hand on his waist. It wasn't heavy, but he never left. Palacios stood at a later position, about five steps away from him, like a hunter ready to close his net at any time.
In the 2nd minute, Carrick picked up the ball in midfield and glanced in the direction of Zhang Kuang when he raised his head.
Ekotto immediately tightened his body and pressed against Zhang Kuang. Palacios took two steps forward. The two people blocked the receiving line one after the other.
Carrick hesitated and passed the ball to Fletcher.
Zhang Kuang frowned, and he roughly understood Tottenham Hotspur's strategy to defend him today, which was to have one person guard him personally, and another person to block Manchester United's teammates about fifty centimeters to one meter in front of them to pass the ball to him.
He took a step back, retreated to the position between the midfield line and the left rib, and raised his hand to ask for the ball.
Ekotto followed, and so did Palacios, immediately standing in front of him.
Fletcher still pushed the ball to him, Zhang Kuang rushed forward and knocked it away. Palacios received the ball, stopped with his left foot, and acted to protect the ball with his right foot.
Ekotto pushed against his waist from behind. Palacios shook him for a moment, quickly stabilized his body and then pinched him from the left.
Two people exert force at the same time, like two door panels closing.
Zhang Kuang turned around and sank his left shoulder, trying to squeeze through the gap between the two walls of flesh. Unexpectedly, Ekotto took advantage of it and directly hugged his waist, stuck him in the gap and squeezed him back and forth.
He had no choice but to knock the ball back to Fletcher, and then ran two steps forward to try to open up the gap.
Ekotto is very tight, and Palacios is also very close.
Zhang Kuang looked back and understood. Tottenham Hotspur's defensive strategy was to draw an invisible cage on White Hart Lane's left rib.
Zhang Kuang As long as you step out, the cage will be closed.
He gestured in the direction of Giggs, raised his index finger and drew a circle in front of him.
Giggs saw it and nodded slightly.
In the 4th minute, Rafael stole Ber in the backcourt.
Wales just got the ball and was about to start, but Rafael made a clean move and stole the ball away.
Ber staggered and raised his hand to signal a foul to the referee, but Mike·Dean ignored it.
The ball rolled to Carrick's feet. Modrić rushed to block it. Carrick sidestepped and kicked Giggs.
Giggs did not stop the ball. With a flick of the outside instep, the ball flew in the direction of Zhang Kuang.
But this time he did not send the kick to the left rib, but to a further back position. Zhang Kuang quickly accelerated, then shook off the two meat balls to catch the ball.
Ekotto and Palacios can indeed defend Zhang Kuang in a static position, but they cannot guard against the dynamic Zhang Kuang. As soon as Zhang Kuang runs away, they will be blinded and unable to keep up.
In addition, they were unprepared and did not catch Zhang Kuang, which gave Zhang Kuang a chance.
Zhang Kuang The moment he catches the ball, his feet are already ready.
He moved his left foot and turned his body to face the direction of attack.
Ekotto directly threw his body out and made a sliding tackle. Zhang Kuang sent his right foot forward before Ekotto's sliding tackle could be reached, and made a long diagonal pass that drew an arc and flew to the right.
Then he jumped again, dodged Ekotto's sliding tackle, and continued running towards the penalty area.
From the right, Rooney rushed over.
The ball bounced when it hit the ground and landed right on the running path of Rooney.
As soon as his chest stopped, the ball bounced in front of him, he adjusted his steps and volleyed with his right foot.
The ball stuck to the turf like a cannonball and penetrated into the far corner. Gómez flew to save and touched the ball with his fingertips, but the force of the ball was too great and it still rolled over the goal line.
0:1.
"GOOOOOOOOOOOAL! Rooney! Only 4 minutes into the game, Manchester United took the lead!" Martin·Tyler's voice exploded," Giggs's transfer, Zhang Kuang's diagonal pass, Rooney's volley, this is a textbook-level quick counterattack! Tottenham Hotspur conceded the ball before the defense could stand firm!"
Rob Hawthorn answered from the side, "The key is this transfer. Zhang Kuang was surrounded by two people, but after he retreated to catch the ball, he kicked the ball directly to Rooney on the right. The field of view was too wide.
Rooney This kick was so clean in the air that Gómez even hit the fingertips to no avail."
He Wei: "It's in, it's in, it's in, the ball is in. In just four minutes, Zhang Kuang assisted, Rooney scored, Manchester United's seamless connection with the trident is so beautiful."
Xu Yang: "Ah, I was just saying that Tottenham Hotspur might really cause big trouble for Zhang Kuang this time. Didn't you expect that this would break Zhang Kuang?"
He Wei: "Haha, all moves are in vain in the face of speed. Isn't there a saying that all martial arts in the world are invincible, only speed can't be broken!"
Rooney rushed towards the corner flag area, punched and roared, then turned and pointed in the direction of Zhang Kuang and ran over. Zhang Kuang smiled and opened his arms to meet him, and the two collided.
Rooney patted him hard on the back. "Beautiful pass! Beautiful pass!"
Giggs ran over slowly and patted Rooney on the head.
Zhang Kuang said to him, "I said I would give you an assist, but I gave it to Little Fatty Rooney. I'm sorry."
Giggs laughed, "Then you owe me one."
Zhang Kuang gave a thumbs up. "I'll make up for it later."
Ferguson was sitting on the coaching bench, chewing gum at the same pace, and just nodded slightly.
Redknapp stood on the sidelines and rubbed his chin, his expression not very good. He turned his head and shouted something to Modrić on the court. Modrić nodded and made a "tighten up" gesture.
White Hart Lane was quiet for about three seconds, and then Tottenham Hotspur fans roared again, louder than before.
Falling behind by one goal infuriated the home fans, whose songs, boos and whistles mixed together to make people's eardrums swell.
When Zhang Kuang ran back to his position, he glanced at Ekotto from the corner of his eye.
Tottenham Hotspur's left back was talking in a low voice to Palacios, both of them's expressions were tense. Zhang Kuang's mouth corners curled up but he didn't speak.
At the 9th minute, Tottenham Hotspur's response came.
Modrić got the ball in the backcourt, Carrick stepped forward to press for it, Croatia made a deft turn to escape, then raised his head and passed the ball long, and the ball flew to the left.
Ber had already started, and Rafael was running beside him, but Wales's explosive power was so terrifying that he was able to pull away in two steps.
The ball bounced off the ground, and Ber stopped with his chest near the sideline. Without slowing down, he cut directly in the direction of the penalty area.
Rafael desperately chased back and reached out to grab Ber's jersey. Ber staggered but did not fall down and still completed the shot.
However, the ball was hit high and flew over the crossbar.
"Ber! His speed makes it impossible for Rafael to keep up!" Martin·Tyler shouted, "Although the ball is high, Tottenham Hotspur's side threat has emerged. Manchester United must find a way to limit Ber's sprinting space."
Rob·Hawthorn: "Redknapp's tactical idea is very clear: Ber rushes hard from the left, and Lennon pulls repeatedly from the right.
The two full-backs stepped in and Van der Vaart met the long shot in the middle! The pressure on Manchester United's defense will not be low today."
Van der Sar picked up the ball and shouted at Rafael, "Don't let him cut inside! Force him to go outside!"
Rafael panted and nodded, wiped the sweat from his face, and then gave Ber a hard look. This guy is too strong, only a little worse than Zhang Kuang. If he continues to grow, will he still get it in the future?
However, he is the same as Zhang Kuang. If he doesn't make it to the national team, he has to make it to some regional team. Let's see how his performance in the national team improves in the future.
Zhang Kuang didn't know that his teammates would complain about him in their hearts about the national team. However, even if he knew, he could only shrug helplessly and not be angry.