Liverpool and Manchester United, even a weakened Manchester United, still commanded the attention of all of England.

In truth, Manchester United's decline was relative to their former glory and Liverpool's current form. Any other team that thought Manchester United's decline meant they could simply come and take a bite would likely suffer a harsh lesson. Eight league games into the season, Manchester United had seventeen points, ranking third, a testament to their continued strength.

So this remained a heavyweight clash.

But such heavyweight clashes might soon be a thing of the past.

During preseason preparations, Ferguson was hospitalized due to health issues. Rumors of his critical condition circulated widely.

In reality, Ferguson was discharged from the hospital after only three days and immediately returned to preparing for the new season.

However, the incident did have an impact on Manchester United and Ferguson himself.

Shortly before the season began, Ferguson announced that this season would be his last as manager of Manchester United.

"Making this decision was difficult; I would rather die on the bench. But my family won't allow me to do that. So, what I want to say is that this season, the 2015-2016 season, will be my last season managing Manchester United, and my last season in football. After this season, regardless of the outcome, I will retire."

This is what Ferguson said at the press conference.

The news caused quite a stir at the time.

Ferguson had been managing Manchester United for twenty-nine years; this season would be his thirtieth.

Thirty years is enough time for a newborn to grow into a capable father or mother. Yet he had dedicated that much time to this position.

After the Premier League was established, television broadcasts boomed, and the Premier League's influence spread globally. During this period, Ferguson's Manchester United played a pivotal role. People had grown accustomed to seeing the old Scottish man chewing gum, sitting on the Manchester United bench. Some even felt that Ferguson represented Manchester United; they might not know who Manchester United's owner was, who the general manager was, or who the star players were, but they couldn't not know who Manchester United's manager was.

This powerhouse had weathered many storms, ushering in their most glorious years in the Premier League era. Time passed, the roster changed, and even the assistant coaches around him were replaced one after another, but the only constant was him.

He witnessed the first year of the Premier League, and also experienced the pain of Blackburn Rovers snatching the title. He endured endless verbal battles and struggles with Wenger, and was challenged by Premier League novices like Mourinho. He witnessed Murdoch's takeover turmoil of Manchester United, and also experienced the change of hands from Edwards to the Glazer family. He cultivated the Class of '92 and personally saw Beckham off. He nurtured Cristiano Ronaldo and sold him to Real Madrid for eighty million pounds. He opposed everyone, yet everyone respected him.

He was no longer just a symbol of Manchester United; he had become a landmark of the Premier League, leaving an indelible mark on the Premier League's thirty-year timeline.

Such an old man, who had a profound impact on modern football and English football, was finally succumbing to the erosion of time and about to leave.

When he spoke the above words at the press conference, his eyes were filled with tears, and his eye sockets were red.

People rarely saw Ferguson so emotional.

Even when he lost the league title to his arch-rivals Liverpool, he hadn't been so distraught.

In public, he was always the "bulldog" who held his head high, fighting with his players, fighting with other teams' coaches, fighting with media reporters, fighting with the owner, fighting with the English Football Association, and fighting with UEFA.

People had even forgotten that Ferguson was also human and could cry.

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Perhaps stimulated by Ferguson's announcement of his retirement, Manchester United, which had already shown signs of decline, continued to perform strongly this season. They were currently in third place with seventeen points. However, they were not far from second-placed Chelsea, only two points behind.

It was just that Liverpool was too strong, which made this Manchester United seem to have declined. In reality, their strength was still very strong. At least in English football, if there were no Liverpool, they would certainly still be dominant.

As the saying goes, a dying man's words are good.

Although Ferguson wasn't going to die, the situation was similar; he was about to leave. When many people are about to leave, they choose to say many pleasant things. For example, when a player is about to retire, he will thank many people, even former rivals.

Ferguson had made countless enemies in his coaching career. Logically speaking, he should have been more low-key in his last season, offering more blessings and praise to his opponents. That would have been the image of a kind old man.

But Ferguson seemed to have no interest in this image at all.

Before the game against Liverpool, his big mouth started spewing again.

"Yes, I will retire this season. But the war between us and Liverpool will continue, and will not be slowed down by my retirement… Will we shake hands and make peace with Liverpool? No, never!"

"Hero is very powerful? I don't think so. He just arrived in an environment that suits him. I don't envy Liverpool having him at all. In my opinion, we don't have him, but we can still win the championship. Football is not a one-man game; football is a team effort..."

"Martin O'Neill? I won't have a drink with him after the game. Absolutely not. I have nothing against him personally, but when his identity is the Liverpool manager, I don't like him."

Ferguson spoke eloquently at the pre-match press conference, expressing his views on Liverpool, Martin O'Neill, and Chen Hero.

Of course, none of them were good words.

In fact, this was normal, just like last season, like the season before, like any season before that.

The game between Liverpool and Manchester United was always like this.

But this season, everyone felt strange—it's his last season, is there any point in Ferguson doing this?

"I just want to tell my players that this season is no different from any other season, and not to let my affairs affect their state. So, I have to make this game look the same as any previous game." Ferguson said to his assistant coach, Whelan, who had the same doubts.

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Since Ferguson had already provoked, would Liverpool be lenient because Ferguson was about to retire?

Of course not.

Chen Hero has always believed that going all out is the greatest respect for the opponent.

Ferguson was an old coach worthy of respect. In order to express his respect, in order to ensure that he had no regrets in his last season of his career… Of course, he had to show his best side—this idea would definitely bring tears to many people's eyes, right?

Based on this principle, Chen Hero gave a very stern and merciless response to Ferguson's provocation.

"Only the weak and those who are guilty will chatter before this game. Saying so much nonsense, we never do that. We will only use the actual game to slap the other person in the face!"

Chen Hero's response drew a lot of criticism and dissatisfaction from Manchester United fans. They felt that Ferguson was about to retire, so what was the point of arguing with him?

Some Manchester United fans even went to Chen Hero's Twitter to question him: "Why don't you just let the old gaffer win once?"

Chen Hero's response also aroused the indignation of Manchester United players, who also felt that Chen Hero lacked respect for the retiring veteran coach Ferguson.

This aroused their fighting spirit.

Ferguson watched coldly from the sidelines, watching Chen Hero successfully provoke the fighting spirit of his players, and then he smiled.

No one would know that Ferguson took the initiative to start the war, and then let Chen Hero ridicule him to his heart's content, which was actually all his plan.

This national derby was at his home stadium, and a good home atmosphere would help his team play well.

Then, if his players fought bravely, they might be able to defeat Liverpool at home.

Now it seemed that his plan was proceeding smoothly…

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When Chen Hero followed the players onto the field, he noticed that there were many banners with his name on the stage.

These banners were not to cheer him on, but all to scold him.

Manchester United fans made full use of their ingenuity to scold Chen Hero in various ways.

Chen Hero had long been accustomed to this.

If the fans' scolding could make his condition less than ideal, he would have disappeared from the international football scene long ago.

He didn't take the fans' boos to heart.

But after the game started, he found that the situation was different from the past.

This time, Manchester United was quite tenacious and very difficult to deal with at their home stadium.

In the twenty-fourth minute of the first half, Chen Hero scored a goal for Liverpool, just like in any previous game; they took the lead.

Logically speaking, the rhythm of this game should have fallen into their hands, and Manchester United could only be led by the nose by Liverpool.

But the development of the matter was completely different.

Just five minutes after Liverpool scored, Manchester United equalized. The goal was scored by Rooney.

This Manchester United's number one star stopped Manchester United from falling into the abyss.

But Liverpool's overall strength was stronger than Manchester United after all, so they took the lead again before the end of the first half. This time, the goal was scored by Gareth Bale.

But the cheers for Manchester United on the stands never stopped.

Perhaps because this was Ferguson's last national derby at Old Trafford, the fans in the stands were particularly energetic.

And under their encouragement, Manchester United's performance was also very good.

Even though Liverpool had taken the lead, they still felt tremendous pressure, and this pressure was passed on to them by the tenacious Manchester United players.