Chapter 569: Manchester United Needs to Extend Their Lead Over Liwupu Before the End of January

Dongqiu Di hot discussion: 20 matches, 17 wins, 3 draws, ranked first—is Manchester United's momentum for a second consecutive title unstoppable?

Attached: 2019-2020 Premier League standings (as of the end of round 20):

1. Manchester United, 54 points.

2. Liwupu, 51 points.

3. Mancheng, 46 points.

4. Chelsea, 43 points.

5. Leicester City, 37 points.

The gap between Manchester United and Liwupu has changed from an original 1 point to the current 3 points; this is the result of Manchester United's efforts in the league throughout December.

One point means little, but three points are significant.

Regarding this result, Manchester United is naturally very satisfied; in the fan opinion poll, 96% of fans gave Manchester United five stars for December.

Premier League official announcement: The Premier League Player of the Month for December is Manchester United midfielder Tang Ye.

Laureus World Sports Academy, 2020 Laureus World Sportsman of the Year nominee list (in no particular order):

1. Lewis Hamilton (F1, United Kingdom)

2. Tang Ye (Football, China)

3. Marc Marquez (Motorcycle Racing, Spain)

4. Eliud Kipchoge (Marathon, Kenya)

5. Rafael Nadal (Tennis, Spain)

6. Tiger Woods (Golf, United States)

7. Leo Messi (Football, Argentina)

Regarding the Laureus Awards, in fact, most football fans pay little attention to them.

The reason is simple: this award favors F1 and tennis athletes, followed by track and field; football and basketball athletes basically have no chance.

However, this year we must pay close attention, as Tang Ye and Messi are both selected, making football the sport with the most nominees on the list.

As time entered 2020, Tang Ye arrived at the training base wearing a down jacket.

It rained a little today, but this slight rain meant nothing to Tang Ye, who was already accustomed to it.

Time passed quickly; before he knew it, he had already played professional football for nearly five years, from his previous stint at Utrecht in the Eredivisie to his current position at Manchester United in the Premier League...

At this, GGBond couldn't help but sigh with emotion.

Time flies like an arrow!

The years flow like...

Well, he didn't know how to finish the second sentence.

Bang!

Something suddenly hit him from behind; Tang Ye turned around and discovered Ashley Young had pelted him with a snowball: "Hey, Young, what are you doing!"

"Where did you get that snowball?"

Ashley Young pointed to the entrance of Daoshitang: "It's been here since last week and hasn't melted yet."

"Wow."

Tang Ye looked at the snow pile Ashley Young was pointing to: "It hasn't melted even after this long?"

Individual snow chunks had already melted into water, but the family of snow chunks huddled together managed to survive just fine.

"Wow!"

Dembele jumped onto Tang Ye; the latter didn't react in time, and they both tumbled to the ground together.

"Damn it."

"Ousmane!"

Fortunately, Tang Ye was dressed thickly; otherwise, that fall would have hurt quite a bit.

"Haha, why can't you stand steady, Tom!"

Dembele and Tang Ye began bickering as the players slowly made their way to Daoshitang.

Daoshitang was very warm inside; the first thing upon entering was to take off the down jacket, then drink a cup of warm hot milk.

"You're always drinking hot things."

Rashford placed his hand on Tang Ye's shoulder: "It's already very hot inside; drinking something cold is fine."

"Screw you."

Tang Ye turned away, not letting Rashford see his hot milk: "That fruit juice of yours will make your stomach freezing cold; doesn't your stomach hurt when you drink it?"

"Of course not."

The Manchester United players were eating breakfast, and it was at this moment that Tang Ye brought up a topic.

That topic was Manchester United's transfer plan for the winter window this season.

What new friends would Manchester United welcome again?

"I feel like we aren't planning to buy anything at all."

Rodri lowered his head, acting extremely secretive, which attracted Tang Ye to lean in closer.

"Why do we need to whisper?"

Tang Ye and Dembele looked into Rodri's eyes.

"Uh... no need to whisper."

The three of them lifted their heads again.

"I haven't heard any rumors; they probably aren't buying anyone,"

Rodri voiced his speculation.

As Manchester United players, if the club had any plans for the winter window, they ought to know about them.

"Tom, don't you know?"

Mata turned to Tang Ye.

Among the players present, Tang Ye had known Ten Hag the longest.

"Ah, me?"

Tang Ye pointed at his own nose: "I definitely don't know... but if you ask me, we should buy a full-back or a center-back, since Rojo is injured and hasn't recovered yet."

"Rojo is likely leaving,"

Mata said, telling his teammates something they didn't know.

Rojo, Manchester United's injured center-back, would be loaned out during this winter window.

And then there was...

"I'm probably leaving too."

Ashley Young's single sentence silenced all the teammates seated around; Tang Ye immediately knelt on his chair, pressing both hands down on Dembélé's shoulders, all to get closer to Ashley Young so he could hear more clearly: "What's the situation, Young?"

"Hmm..."

Tang Ye looked left and right, realizing that Mata and Smalling already knew the news about Ashley Young's departure.

"I told Mata yesterday..."

Ashley Young sighed: "I'm likely going to Inter Milan."

"Why?"

Tang Ye pressed further: "Surely we're stronger than Inter Milan right now? Young, believe me, if we draw Inter Milan instead of Real Madrid in the Round of 16, we'll crush them easily."

"No, no, it's not that; it's not a team issue."

"It's my problem."

Ashley Young sighed.

His departure wasn't because Manchester United was weak; on the contrary, it was because Manchester United was too strong.

Like Valencia before him, Ashley Young's current ability could no longer support him continuing to play for Manchester United.

"This..."

The Manchester United players at the dining table fell silent; Tang Ye didn't know what to say.

"..."

As per custom, the team's morning meeting followed breakfast.

Morning meetings were held nearly every day, but the one on the first of each month was the most important.

The Manchester United coaching staff needed to synchronize the month's match objectives and plans with the players.

"We will gradually shift toward a three-defender system because our focus is the championship; this means we need to take points off strong teams, and against Premier League and Champions League powerhouses, a three-defender setup will suit us better..."

Ten Hag spoke from the podium while Tang Ye sat in his seat, a small notebook and a ballpoint pen resting on the table before him.

The notebook and pen were meant for recording the meeting's contents, yet Tang Ye hadn't written a single word; he was reading the news instead.

Scrolling through football news to see what transfer moves rival league teams were making.

After finishing the football news, he checked basketball news, then went to Baidu.

"Yicai Global" (December 31 headline) — China reported to the World Health Organization (WHO) twenty-seven cases of pneumonia of unknown cause emerging in Wuhan, the capital city of Hubei Province; experts from the National Health Commission have already rushed to Wuhan to conduct investigations.

"..."

Often seeing something or other about infectious diseases online, and now another one arrives before December ends.

This time the number of infected is a bit high; there are actually twenty-seven cases...

The SARS outbreak in November 2002 had appeared in his hometown, Foshan; back then Tang Ye was only three years old and knew nothing of the specifics.

But now it was 2020, not 2003; treating an infectious disease shouldn't be a major problem.

Tang Ye chewed on the pen cap, pondering the matter of viruses and bacteria. Why were there these two terms, virus and bacteria?

What was the difference between them?

Which one was more dangerous?

When it was evening in China, Manchester United's official accounts on Twitter and Bilibili simultaneously released a video in which over twenty Manchester United players sequentially wished Chinese fans a Happy New Year.

【#HappyNewYear, let's see whose Chinese sounds the best?】

Only four characters, yet for most Manchester United players this was very difficult.

Wan-Bissaka's brain was already scrambled; Rashford and Rodri, gifted as they were, spoke very well.

Of course, the grand finale belonged to Tang Ye!

The man with the strongest Chinese in the Manchester United squad, bar none!

"Wishing all Manchester United fans a Happy New Year 2020, may everything go smoothly!"

"Yundangfailo (Happy New Year in Cantonese), gong hei fat choy!"

"Haha."

After speaking, the video hadn't ended yet; Tang Ye and the teammates beside him clapped together.

Tang Ye produced a Zippo lighter from who-knows-where and lit a firecracker.

"Ousmane!"

Tang Ye told Dembélé to hold out his hand, then stuffed the firecracker into Dembélé's palm: "It's yours, Ousmane."

"What the fuck!"

Dembélé quickly tossed the firecracker out of his hand.

Pop!

"Haha!"

……

Manchester United Official: McTominay has suffered a muscle strain and will miss the next Premier League match against Arsenal.

Manchester United Beat Reporter: Ashley Young may transfer away during the winter transfer window; a three-defender formation could become Manchester United's choice for the second half of the league season.

Emirates Stadium.

"Come on, Arsenal—yeah, you are the hot stuff! (Go Arsenal—ah, you are the title favorites!)"

"Keep telling us we are boring—we will just keep on scoring now! (You've been telling us until we're sick of hearing it—'We will start scoring goals from now on'!)"

"The Arsenal! Go, the Arsenal! The Arsenal! (Arsenal... Go Arsenal... Arsenal!)"

"……"

The weather was very cold today, yet fans had gathered outside the Emirates Stadium several hours before kickoff.

"We Arsenal are invincible!"

"We Arsenal are invincible!"

Beep!!!!

Arsenal (4-2-3-1)

Goalkeeper: Leno

Defenders: Niles, Papastathopoulos, David Luiz, Kolašinac

Midfielders: Torreira, Özil, Xhaka

Forwards: Nicolas Pépé, Lacazette, Aubameyang

Head Coach: Arteta

Guardiola and Ten Hag are the two most formidable bald men in the Premier League, and Arteta happens to be Guardiola's disciple.

Guardiola and Ten Hag are considered arch-rivals.

And now Ten Hag is facing his arch-rival's disciple.

Thus, this match promises to be very interesting.

"Disciple!"

"Disciple!"

Manchester United fans used this to taunt Arteta.

Pop!

Tang Ye and Torreira collided, with Tang Ye ultimately coming out on top.

He held his ground!

Torreira, already on the ground, tried to pull Tang Ye down with his hand, but unfortunately, Tang Ye cleverly lifted his left leg, causing Torreira to fail.

Haha!

Driving forward with the ball!

Manchester United attacked while Arsenal retreated to defend.

Tang Ye's dribbling prowess wasn't as outstanding as De Jong's, but Manchester United's number 10 was special; given even half a second of space, he could deliver a long-range pass.

Precisely because of this concern, Arsenal's defenders had to be extremely cautious.

Fearing Manchester United would pass directly behind their defense, Arsenal dared not rush up to tackle, thereby granting Tang Ye seemingly excellent dribbling capability.

Of course, this dribbling capability was an illusion.

Dribbling slightly toward the left flank near the byline, Tang Ye passed the ball to Ashley Young.

Ashley Young crossed the ball!

Chaos erupted inside the penalty area.

Boom!

Luiz headed the ball clear.

The flying ball was collected by Rodri.

"Here!"

Tang Ye pointed with both fingers to the open space ahead, then received Rodri's pass.

Adjusting slightly...

Finding a suitable opportunity, Tang Ye prepared to pass, but the next second he was fouled down by Özil.

"Beep beep beep beep!!!"

Only fifteen minutes into the match, Tang Ye had already fallen three times.

One could only say that, true to being Guardiola's disciple, Arteta was also targeting Tang Ye relentlessly.

"Here!"

Rodri helped Tang Ye up as Manchester United began preparing for this set-piece opportunity.

"Huff... Get in, get in. I'll take it directly; help me shove Aubameyang aside."

After whispering instructions to Rodri, Tang Ye immediately began regulating his breathing.

"Actually, I feel Arsenal didn't handle this foul very well; giving Tang Ye a free kick from this position could be somewhat dangerous..."

"However, Tang Ye's free-kick form this season isn't as good as last season's; it's unclear how he'll handle this shot. If he shoots directly, this will be Manchester United's third shot of the match."

"Tang Ye..."

He began his run-up, while simultaneously, players from both sides erupted into physical clashes inside the penalty area.

Following Tang Ye's instructions, Rodri and Alai together pushed Aubameyang aside.

Slap!

His right foot struck the shot, a curling ball.

Tang Ye's shot flew over Aubameyang's head, tracing a small arc before rushing toward the goal.

The arc was slight, but the ball speed was sufficient, leaving Leno no time to react and make a save.

Goal!

"Goal! Tang Ye!"

"A direct free-kick goal."

"Oh my god, haha!"

Tang Ye's free-kick was like a combination of Son Heung-min and Cristiano Ronaldo.

It lacked the large arc of Son Heung-min's, yet possessed nearly Cristiano Ronaldo's ball speed.

Check Dongqiu Di live match report: In the 17th minute, Tang Ye scored directly from a free-kick; Manchester United leads 1:0.

【Haha, he's back, he's truly back.】

【This is what a complete midfielder looks like!】

【Please, give us a way out.】

【Why does Ozil have to pull him down? I'm really fed up.】

【Ten Hag: Arteta, call him Master!】

The Manchester United players celebrated at the corner flag, and Tang Ye even high-fived the home fans.

"Tom!!!"

Ashley Young shouted at Tang Ye.

If this scoreline held, Manchester United would secure their 19th victory of the season.

"Why did you pull him!"

Leno argued with Ozil: "Our penalty area was full of people; you should have just let him pass. Why give away a free-kick?"

Ozil was helpless, as this foul had been emphasized by the coach before the match.

"TY isn't in good form for free-kicks; if you get a chance, just take him down directly." These were Arteta's exact words in the locker room.

However, judging by the situation on the pitch, Arteta's prediction had clearly gone awry.

The match continued!

(End of chapter)