<p></p><p>United must fear it will all blow up in their face<br/>By Alan Hansen<br/>曼联面对崩盘的恐惧<br/>阿兰·汉森</p><p><br/>新闻来源：<a href=\"http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.jhtml?xml=/sport/2007/04/09/sfnhan09.xml\">http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.jhtml?xml=/sport/2007/04/09/sfnhan09.xml</a><br/>新闻翻译：fall_ark<br/>版权声明：切尔西中文网 <a href=\"http://www.chelseafc.net.cn/\">http://www.chelseafc.net.cn/</a></p><p>Sooner or later one of them had to crack. The sequence of victories achieved by Chelsea and Manchester United was so unusual that it simply couldn\'t last.<br/>迟早总有一个会突然崩溃的——曼联和切尔西所取得的连胜是如此反常以至于不可能长久。<br/></p><p>Manchester United had gone desperately close to dropping points at Fulham and Liverpool; Chelsea very nearly did the same at Watford. It was only a matter of time before one of them had the adverse result Manchester United experienced at Portsmouth. How they react to it will decide the title.<br/>曼联在对富勒姆与利物浦时曾离失分如此之近，而切尔西也差点在沃特福德面前功亏一篑，这两支球队中再次经历曼联败走朴茨茅斯的情形将只是时间问题，而他们对失利的反应将会决定这个赛季的最终归属。<br/></p><p>Defeat will hit United hard. They are the team that is being chased; they have been in front for so long that there will be a natural fear that everything is going to blow up in their face. Always you look around a dressing room and ask yourself who has done the course and the distance? Of the Manchester United team that started at Fratton Park on Saturday, only four had won a title before while Chelsea have been relentless in their pursuit. With the results Manchester United have piled up over the past two months, Sir Alex Ferguson could have expected to be anything up to 12 points clear.<br/>败仗无疑会给曼联带来极大打击——他们是被追赶者，他们已领跑了这么长时间，在最后关头崩盘的恐惧将油然而生。每次回到更衣室你都会问自己，双方是不是都拿分了？两队之间的差距现在是多少？曼联在周六弗拉顿公园的首发阵容中只有四名球员曾有过夺冠的经历，而身后紧追不舍的切尔西显得如此冷酷凶残，以曼联前两个月的战绩，弗爵爷本可以期待在下一场比赛结束后甩开对手多达12分的差距（即：此轮切尔西败曼联胜，下轮曼联先赛并取胜，则差距为12分）。<br/></p><p>In some ways, what happened on Saturday was predictable. Manchester United flew to Portsmouth from Rome; Chelsea remained at Stamford Bridge for both their games. But it may be significant that the away defeats United have suffered - at West Ham, Arsenal and now Portsmouth - have come in games after Chelsea have already played. What is remarkable about Jose Mourinho\'s side is that they have watched Manchester United pull games out of the fire at Fulham and Liverpool and then had to go out and win themselves. Even if Chelsea do not retain their crown, they have still been magnificent.<br/>当然，从某种角度来看，周六的结果并不令人意外。曼联要从罗马飞到朴茨茅斯，而切尔西的欧战与联赛则都安坐自己的主场，但有一个事实让人无法忽略，曼联所遭遇的几场客场失利——西汉姆、阿森纳和朴茨茅斯——都是在切尔西先赛一场后发生的。穆里尼奥的队伍在这一点上的表现则令人侧目，他们在目睹富勒姆和利物浦于曼联面前痛失好局的情况下，仍能承担这份压力、赢下自己的比赛。在这一层面上，即使切尔西本赛季未能成功卫冕，他们也已表现得十分出色。<br/></p><p>In 1984 I was part of a Liverpool side that won a treble of League Cup, Championship and European Cup, and at this stage of the season your greatest enemy is exhaustion.<br/>1984年利物浦加冕联赛、联赛杯和欧洲杯三冠王时我就在阵中效力，在赛季的收官阶段，球队最大的敌人是疲劳。<br/></p><p>It is not so much physical but mental tiredness that hits you. You start playing from memory. You ask yourself not just who you are playing but what competition it\'s in and there\'s always the fear that everything will fall apart. Some people in the dressing room embraced the challenge but I could never escape the fear of the bad result, the knowledge that you might end up with nothing. What keeps you going is the prospect of winning.<br/>在很大程度上侵袭而来的疲劳不是身体上的而是精神上的，你开始分不清现状、打一场是一场，你被不停变换的对手和纷繁的赛事弄得头昏脑胀，而突然崩盘的恐惧则一直缠绕着你。有些球员敢于面对和接受这种挑战，但我却怎么也不能不去担心要是万一输了球该怎么办，以及整个赛季有可能两手空空的结局，毕竟驱使你前进的是可能赢得这些奖杯的信念。<br/></p><p>International breaks should act as a safety valve to lessen the pressure but not this time for those who have gone away with England. They have found themselves slaughtered in the press and by their own fans. Then they come back to their clubs to face a campaign on three fronts.<br/>本来国际比赛日可以作为一个缓解压力的安全阀，但对于那些将要随英格兰出征的球员来说，这次可没有那么轻松了，他们正处于媒体与国内球迷的口诛笔伐之下，而回到俱乐部后，还得继续在三条战线上努力拼搏。<br/></p><p>At Anfield, we were told categorically that you never celebrated anything before you had the medal in your hand. But we have all been guilty of looking at the fixture list and deciding results before they happen. You tell yourself you would rather not face a team fighting for their lives or one chasing a European place.<br/>当年在安菲尔德，我们被明确告知“绝不能在冠军未到手时就开始提前庆祝（而产生松懈）”，但没有人能真正遵守这条规定而不去偷偷看着赛程表、暗自在心里定下每场比赛可能的结果，你会告诉自己：“最好别碰上那些拼了命的保级队和争夺欧洲杯赛席位的队伍。”<br/></p><p>The ideal is a side with nothing to play for and which is mentally ready for the beach but then, as Sheffield United discovered against Newcastle, there are no guarantees there either. Nobody knows where the next slip will come.<br/>最理想的对手应该是支无欲无求、球员已经开始准备如何享受假期的球队，但正如谢菲尔德联队在纽卡斯尔面前发现的一样，这种球队未必就不可怕，没有人会知道你的下一分会丢在哪里。<br/></p><p>What may be significant is that Chelsea have begun to look defensively very impressive with the return of Petr Cech while Edwin van der Sar, who has had a very good season at Old Trafford, has started to make errors. There were two unconvincing parries in Rome and Portsmouth that led to goals and the mix-up with Rio Ferdinand, who is badly missing Nemanja Vidic alongside him in central defence.<br/>值得注意的是，切尔西在迎来了伤愈的彼得·切赫后防守表现好得令人称奇，而在曼联度过大半个漂亮赛季的范德萨却开始频频失误：在罗马和在朴茨茅斯两次糟糕的扑救都导致了失球，还和身边失去维迪奇独力难支的费迪南德送出了一份毫无默契的乌龙大餐。<br/></p><p>One of the great things about fighting on so many fronts is that you have big games to pick yourself up for - which, in the case of both United and Chelsea, are a European Cup quarter-final and an FA Cup semi-final. For the first of those matches, I\'d rather be in Manchester United\'s shoes. Ferguson would probably have taken a 2-1 defeat in Rome but Mourinho certainly would not have settled for a 1-1 draw at home. United have to win 1-0 at Old Trafford while Chelsea will probably have to win in Valencia. The odds are tilted in United\'s favour, just as they are in the Premiership, but that by itself guarantees no medals.<br/>球队们多线作战也有一个很大的好处，那就是作为一名观众，将有许多精彩的赛事可供我们挑选——而切尔西和曼联也都正身处冠军杯的四分之一决赛和足总杯的半决赛。对于欧洲赛场，我个人觉得曼联的机会更大一些，客场对罗马1比2的失利对弗格森来说并非不可接受，而主场收获1-1的平局则很难让穆里尼奥安心。曼联只需在老特拉福德打出1-0就能晋级，而切尔西则很可能需要在瓦伦西亚的主场获胜，公里的天平向曼联倾斜着，正如在联赛中他们也手握优势——但优势本身可并不能带来最后的冠军。 |
