Chapter 940 939 Hard-fought battle at Anfield

Manchester City defeated Newcastle 3-0 at home and survived the first stage of the devil's schedule.

This became the focus of major media reports the next day.

Before this game, Newcastle was ranked third in the Premier League standings, beating teams such as Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur. Its performance was outstanding and won unanimous praise from Magpies fans.

Even many Magpies fans believe that Newcastle has a chance of an upset away from home.

But at the Etihad Stadium, Newcastle never took the initiative in the game from start to finish, and a mere 23 percent possession rate dealt a heavy blow to Padru's team.

The Magpies head coach admitted in the post-match press conference that Newcastle is indeed not as strong as Manchester City.

"A great team can always find effective ways to deal with the opponent's different strategies, whether it is an offensive battle or an unbreakable iron bucket formation, they are not afraid. Manchester City is such a team."

Padru gave a very high evaluation of Guardiola's team, and also expressed his praise for Sudong, who was selected as the best player of the game. He believed that Sudong was the most critical core player of Manchester City.

"In fact, patience is very important for a passing and controlling team like Manchester City. They have a superb passing and controlling ability. While consuming opponents and putting pressure on them, they are also creating a huge psychological burden for themselves."

"That is, what if I don't score again?"

"It's unacceptable to have so much possession but still not be able to score."

Padru believes that Manchester City encountered such a problem in the 2009-2010 season. They were always able to control the ball, but they were easily impatient, which led to them losing points in many unnecessary games.

But this phenomenon was completely changed after Su Dong joined.

"Su Dong is the most powerful and terrifying scorer in the world, and also the most perfect center forward. His presence makes everyone in Manchester City always believe that he can score goals."

"This is not something that can be said, nor is it something that can be given by the head coach, nor is it something that can be granted by fame or influence. Instead, it is something that Su Dong instilled in the players through game after game, goal after goal, making everyone believe that he can do it."

"So, every time Su Dong comes on the field, Manchester City will play more smoothly because they play more patiently and calmly, which makes it less likely for them to make mistakes."

"When a team with superb ball control ability is patiently fighting with the opponent and never makes mistakes easily, it is often the opponent who makes mistakes, and Su Dong can keenly grasp the opponent's mistakes and score goals."

Padru believes that this is a virtuous cycle that complements each other.

If this cycle is to be broken, either there is something wrong with Su Dong or there is something wrong with Manchester City's passing and controlling system.

"But from the current perspective, in the foreseeable short term, unless Manchester City itself encounters a major change, other teams will basically have no way to deal with Manchester City's style of play and personnel configuration."

Padru expressed the voices of many Premier League and even European football teams.

You know, Manchester City is not only invincible in the Premier League, but also in the Champions League.

Four consecutive wins and qualifying as the group leader two rounds in advance, such results would be eye-catching in other groups, not to mention being placed in the group of death. This is definitely the most amazing thing for Manchester City, which is participating in the Champions League for the first time in history.

Amidst the media's praise, Manchester City soon entered the fifth round of the Champions League group stage.

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The away game against Dortmund is a rare breathing opportunity for Manchester City, which has already qualified.

Guardiola didn't even arrange the main lineup to play, but instead used a rotation and substitute lineup, more to give the main players more preparation time to deal with the 13th round of the Premier League at the weekend.

Manchester City also performed well away from home. Aguero scored the first goal for Manchester City in the 42nd minute, but at the last minute of the second half, Lewandowski scored a goal for Dortmund.

In the end, the two sides shook hands and made peace with the score at one to one.

…

Inter Milan defeated Villarreal 3-1 at home.

This is not surprising. The Yellow Submarine had little chance of qualifying from the group, so they simply gave up the Champions League and focused on playing in the domestic league, which naturally allowed Inter Milan to grab the valuable three points.

With these three points, Inter Milan surpassed Dortmund and ranked second in the group.

As a result, the final round of group matches for both sides becomes crucial.

Manchester City will face Inter Milan at home, while Dortmund will challenge Villarreal away.

This is undoubtedly a very suspenseful round of competition.

But for Manchester City, they have long stopped taking this round seriously.

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November 27th, Anfield, Liverpool.

Amid the roar of 45,000 fanatical Liverpool fans throughout the entire game, the Reds relied on strict defense and managed to withstand Manchester City's wave after wave of attacks.

Dalglish is currently ranked sixth in the standings, which does not look outstanding, but in the scores against the top seven teams in the league, Liverpool is only ranked behind Manchester City and Manchester United. It can be said that it is one of the best performing Premier League teams in the strong dialogue.

The outstanding performance in the strong dialogue comes from Liverpool's own outstanding strength, especially the team's defense.

In the first twelve games, Liverpool conceded only eleven goals. In the Premier League, they only lost to Manchester City and were on par with Newcastle. They can be said to be the best defensive team in the Premier League.

Facing the powerful offensive Manchester City, Dalglish arranged two strong central defenders, Daniel Agger and Skrtel, to mark Sudon full-time. At the same time, Lucas and Charlie Adam were arranged to form a double defensive midfielder in front of the defense line.

Charlie Adam is not well-known, but he is very effective and has won the trust of Dalglish. In the last round when Liverpool defeated Chelsea 2-1 away, Charlie Adam performed very bravely and won the best player of the game.

Lucas came to Liverpool as Xabi Alonso's successor, but after joining Liverpool, his performance has not met the expectations of the outside world. However, in recent times, his performance gives people the feeling that he is gradually getting the hang of it.

Today's Brazilian midfielder is no longer the organizational core of the past, but has gradually transformed into a defensive midfielder.

So far this season, Lucas is the midfielder with the most interceptions and steals in the Premier League, and is also one of the players with the longest running distance. It can be said that he is already an outstanding midfield defender.

This is indeed very sad.

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The organizing midfielder of the past has become the defensive engineer of today. Lucas is not the first and will not be the last.

Ferguson's transformation of Anderson and Mourinho's transformation of Mikel are basically the same.

In this battle, Dalglish let Lucas and Charlie Adam form a double defensive midfielder in the midfield, with Jordan Henderson, the English midfielder who was once valued by Guardiola, in front.

Liverpool's defense this season has been excellent, but their offense has had big problems.

Suarez's performance was mediocre, not as stunning as he was in the Eredivisie; after Carroll joined Liverpool, he was no longer as dazzling as he was in Newcastle; after Downing came to Liverpool, he exposed problems such as weak scoring ability and lack of confidence in one-on-one combat.

As for Henderson, it is difficult for him to bear the burden of passing the ball forward for the team.

It is precisely because of this that although Liverpool's defense is solid, its offense is a mess, which is why it ranks sixth in the Premier League.

Otherwise, with a defense like Liverpool's, as long as the offense is stronger, they can definitely be in the top four.

It is a problem that they cannot win against weak teams, but when they meet strong teams, Liverpool shows its power.

At least when facing Manchester City, the Reds defended more solidly and better than Newcastle.

…

From the first minute of the game, Manchester City organized wave after wave of attacks.

Although Liverpool was playing at home, they did not fight to the death with Manchester City. They played steadily and firmly on defense, not caring about the gains and losses of space on the field, but focusing on ensuring that their own goal was not lost.

Under Dalglish's coaching, the three Liverpool teams fought hard, the tactical execution was very high, the players were very active in running, and with Daniel Agger and Skrtel's close care of Sudon, Manchester City's attack was curbed.

Dalglish obviously learned from Newcastle's experience, so he played more conservatively than the Magpies.

You know, Newcastle is playing away, while Liverpool is at Anfield.

But it doesn't matter, Dalglish is determined to swallow his pride and defend closely.

Even before the game, he threatened that he would be satisfied as long as he could get one point.

This may be psychological warfare, but it may not be what he has in mind.

After all, it is quite difficult to get one point against Manchester City.

Manchester City's twelve-game winning streak so far this season is not fake.

It was under this pragmatic and conservative thinking that Liverpool, through strict defense and the concerted efforts of the players, managed to ensure that the goal was not lost despite Manchester City's wave after wave of attacks.

From the start to the end of the first half, from the start of the second half to substitutions, and then to the 80th minute of the game, Liverpool never left Manchester City with good scoring opportunities.

Su Dong also created shots, but none of them posed a threat.

Both central defenders Daniel Agger and Skrtel are strong enough and have excellent sense of cooperation. In addition, they followed Su Dong closely throughout the entire court, making it difficult for him to have a chance to perform.

The game came to a stalemate.

Time passed by little by little, Manchester City was unable to break the deadlock, while Liverpool continued to defend tightly.

From the first minute of the game, Liverpool fans in the stands kept singing the team song, calling on the team and cheering for their team, as if they would never get tired and they could shout until tomorrow morning.

Su Dong was not discouraged. He continued to run and play actively on the court, shouting constantly and cheering for his teammates.

He just didn't believe it!

Even if Liverpool really defended until the last second of the game, he would try his best to score!

(End of this chapter)