Chapter 176 The Premier League officially begins!
"Arsenal tried to set an offside trap, but it was a good goal and the linesman didn't raise his flag!"
The commentator on the scene described Manchester City's attack at a very fast speed.
"Aguero entered the box and Szczesny chose to attack.
Aguero shot the ball into the far corner, and the ball hit the post and bounced into the net. 3:3, the score between the two teams was tied again! "
After seeing the long-distance cooperation between Lin Quan and Aguero, the Manchester City fans at the scene stood up excitedly, staring at Aguero who was dribbling the ball straight towards the opponent's goal.
They only breathed a sigh of relief when they saw Aguero seize the opportunity and score the ball into the opponent's goal.
Immediately afterwards, warm applause and cheers resounded throughout the Etihad Stadium.
For the fans who bought tickets, this game was completely worth the price of the ticket.
Although this was just a friendly match, it was precisely because it was a friendly match that the tactics of both teams were very aggressive.
Both teams played offensive football in the first half, with the ball going back and forth, making it very lively.
Although the offensive in the second half was not as strong as before, the fierce fighting between the two teams in the midfield and the high-quality long-distance pass just made by Lin Quan made the fans very excited.
Perhaps they should be thankful that this is a friendly match. The two teams are not affected by the league points and are in a very relaxed state of mind, so they can play such a high-quality game! Once entering the league, with the concern of scoring points, the tactics of both teams will become conservative, and the football played may become utilitarian, which may not be as entertaining as a friendly match.
Although it is just a friendly match, winning or losing the game is not actually important.
But whether it is Arsenal or Manchester City, neither team wants to lose.
So, in the remaining time, both teams tried their best to defeat their opponents.
But they all seemed to lack a little luck.
In the 67th minute of the second half, Manchester City striker Aguero missed a one-on-one opportunity.
On the Arsenal side, Giroud's header hit the crossbar and missed the chance to change the score.
In the end, at the end of the game, neither team was able to change the score. After 90 minutes of play, the two teams ended this friendly match with a score of 3:3.
After the game, Wenger took the initiative to walk towards Pellegrini, hugged his opponent, and said to him: "I really envy you for having such a group of excellent players!"
Pellegrini also responded with a smile: "The talented players at Arsenal are also enviable, and your position in the Arsenal team is not comparable to that of a coach like me!"
Wenger smiled and didn't respond.
He is different from coaches like Pellegrini, he is an old-school football manager.
His responsibilities at Arsenal are not just coaching on the field, he can also get involved in the team's operations.
But Pellegrini is different. Like other coaches in the top five leagues, his main responsibility is to lead the team in training and games. The team operations are the responsibility of the team's football director.
So his authority is far less than Wenger's.
The position of football manager is a product of the old era of the Premier League.
With Ferguson's retirement, there are fewer and fewer coaches holding this position.
Now, Wenger is probably the only real football manager left.
For a coach, they naturally want to have as much power as possible.
So football manager is a position they aspire to very much.
But for the club, they don't want a head coach to have too much power.
Especially at this moment, when teams are changing coaches more and more frequently, giving the head coach too much power is not a good thing for the club.
So they will set up the position of football director, participate in team management, and take away some of the coach's authority.
This trend has become increasingly obvious and cannot even be reversed.
After hearing Pellegrini's words, Wenger didn't know how to respond.
Even he himself feels that he is a remnant of the old era. Once he retires, the position of football manager is likely to disappear completely and become a historical term.
…
On the court, Cazorla walked up to Lin Quan and apologized to him:
"Sorry, Lin, I tackled you a few times while defending. Don't take it personally."
Lin Quan smiled and said:
"Okay, everyone serves their own boss on the field. If you show mercy, it would be a shame for your salary!"
Cazorla nodded repeatedly, look at this pattern, this breadth of mind!
No wonder coaches like Bosque and Wenger like Lin Quan so much!
His vision is not something that ordinary people can have.
"But we are teammates in the national team after all. You hit me so hard. I, as a teammate, feel very disappointed!"
"Haha, that's easy. I'll treat you to hotpot when we get to London someday. I know an authentic Chongqing hotpot restaurant. I guarantee that eating there will help you keep away the cold!"
"That's good enough. Next time you come to Manchester City as a guest, I'll treat you to a meal!"
"Okay, it's a deal!"
…
After the warm-up match, Pellegrini gave the whole team a day off.
This is almost their last holiday before the start of the new Premier League season. Once the new season begins, Manchester City will immediately enter the fast lane.
On August 17, the Premier League officially kicked off.
The opening match will be played by Liverpool at Anfield, home to Stoke City, which ranked 13th in the Premier League last season.
Just by hearing the names of the two teams, ordinary people might think that Liverpool has a great chance of winning.
But that may not be the case.
Liverpool's record has not been very good in recent seasons.
Although they are one of the traditional giants in the Premier League, they have missed the Champions League for four consecutive seasons since Benítez left Liverpool.
The Red Army, which was once invincible in the Premier League and the Champions League, has had a dismal record in recent seasons.
Liverpool, playing at home, played extremely dull in the first half. They seemed to want to launch an attack, but the team couldn't find the direction to attack.
Suarez, who helped them capture the city last season, was banned for 10 games by the FA because of a biting incident at the end of last season.
This means that he will not be able to play for Liverpool in the first six games of this season.
Without Suarez, Liverpool's attack in the frontcourt was a mess.
This made the Red Army fans at Anfield extremely distressed.
Liverpool's record in the opening games of the past four seasons has been very poor, with two losses and two draws, and no wins.
They all felt worried: Could it be that the team still couldn't win the opening match of this year? The Red Army fans couldn't accept such a cruel reality. They sang the famous team song "You'll Never Walk Alone" loudly to cheer for the team.
Accompanied by the singing of the fans, Liverpool players seemed to find their form little by little.
In the 37th minute of the first half, Sturridge stood up. He received a pass from Aspas 22 meters away from the goal and scored a long shot. This was the first goal of the Premier League this season.
It was also the only goal of the game.
In the end, thanks to Sturridge's golden goal, the Reds got rid of four consecutive years of bad luck and finally won the opening game.
It is worth mentioning that Hawkeye technology was introduced in the Premier League for the first time this season.
In the second half, Liverpool had a shot that hit the goal frame and bounced onto the goal line. After the on-site camera used Hawkeye technology to confirm, it was determined that the ball did not cross the goal line as a whole, so it was not counted as a goal.
After the opening match between Liverpool and Stoke City, the curtain of the Premier League officially opened.
In the five games that were held simultaneously afterwards, Arsenal, who had just finished a warm-up match with Manchester City, was the first to suffer an upset.
They lost 1:3 to Aston Villa at home.
Arsenal lost this game unfairly as they scored the first goal in the sixth minute of the game.
As a result, the referee awarded two penalties in the 21st and 61st minutes respectively.
If the decision on the first penalty was not controversial, then the one in the 61st minute was very controversial.
In the 61st minute, Aston Villa striker Agbonlahor dribbled into the penalty area and was tripped by Koscielny.
Slow motion showed that Koscielny first touched the ball and then tripped the player. This should have been a beautiful tackle.
However, the referee believed it was a foul and not only gave Koscielny a yellow card, but also gave Aston Villa the second penalty of the game.
Aston Villa's Benteke seized the opportunity and scored the penalty, helping the team lead Arsenal 2:1.
Arsenal actually still had a chance at this time, with 30 minutes left in the game.
With their offensive strength, if they adjust their mentality, they have a chance to equalize or even reverse the situation.
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However, Arsenal's players are generally young, and the mentality of young players is easily affected.
Especially Koscielny who was misjudged. He could not accept the result that he was misjudged and caused the team to fall behind. He was obviously unbalanced in his mentality.
Wenger's lack of decisiveness in on-the-spot adjustments was exposed. He knew that his central defender was in a bad mood, but he did not make a timely substitution.
So, just five minutes later, Koscielny committed another foul and was shown a second yellow card by the referee.
Two yellow cards turned into one red card, and Arsenal was not only one goal behind, but also one man short.
In the 85th minute of the game, Aston Villa seized on Arsenal's eagerness to attack and used a counterattack opportunity to score another goal.
This time, Arsenal was completely powerless to recover.
This is the first time in 13 seasons that Arsenal has lost in the first round of the Premier League.
The Gunners, who are extremely ferocious at the beginning of every season, seem to have lost their magic this season.
Apart from Arsenal's failure, the games of other top clubs were relatively uneventful.
Tottenham Hotspur beat newly promoted Crystal Palace 1-0.
Chelsea beat Hull City 2-0 at home.
Another highly anticipated team, Manchester United, defeated Swansea 4-1 away in the first round.
This was Moyes' first game after taking over Manchester United. Manchester United's performance was a good one for the time being.
However, the outside world still has doubts about whether Moyes can continue the dominance of Manchester United in the Ferguson era.
Not many people are optimistic that Moyes can continue Manchester United's past success. Although Manchester United defeated Swansea, the opponent was not a top club.
If he wants to prove Manchester United's strength, he needs to show his strength in strong dialogues.
Coincidentally, Manchester United will face Chelsea in the second round.
Moyes' coaching ability should be tested through this game.
…
The final battle of the first round of the league was between Manchester City and Newcastle.
Due to the schedule, this game was held 3 days later than the opening game.
So when Manchester City's game started, the games of other Premier League teams had all ended.
All of Manchester City's competitors who are paying attention to them will have enough time to come to the scene to observe and evaluate their competitive state.
Manchester City has been spending lavishly in the transfer market this season, continuing the tradition of crazy buying in the previous seasons.
In addition, they also signed a phenomenal player like Lin Quan, which made the outside world very curious about Manchester City's strength.
People can't wait to know, outside of the traditional giants, can Manchester City, a wealthy club, transform from a nouveau riche into a new giant in the Premier League like Chelsea did in the past?
During this game, the Etihad Stadium was particularly lively.
City rivals Manchester United, as well as the BIG4 - Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool - all sent scouts to observe the game.
Manchester United will be playing a derby with Manchester City in the fifth round of the league, and even head coach Moyes will be there in person.
For Moyes, a draw or even a loss for Chelsea is acceptable.
Because Chelsea is very strong, it is not shameful to lose to them.
But Manchester City is different. It is a team that has been suppressed by Manchester United for decades.
Although they have now turned from a country chicken into a phoenix, and from a poor family, they are gradually showing a trend of transforming into nouveau riche or even a wealthy family.
But in the end, they were still one step short of becoming a wealthy and powerful club.
Therefore, Moyes' Manchester United must suppress them and must not lose to Manchester City.
If he loses to Manchester City, Manchester United fans will definitely criticize him.
The outside world will be extremely pessimistic about him, and his days at Manchester United will be very difficult!
Manchester City head coach Pellegrini also attached great importance to this game.
He fielded what he believed to be Manchester City's strongest lineup for the game.
In this game, Manchester City's formation is 442 parallel position:
No. 1 goalkeeper Joe Hart; No. 5 right back Zabaleta, No. 4 center back Kompany, No. 6 center back Lescott, No. 22 left back Clichy; No. 15 left midfielder Navas, No. 25 defensive midfielder Fernandinho, No. 42 defensive midfielder Yaya Toure, No. 21 right midfielder David Silva; No. 10 Lin Quan, No. 16 Aguero.
Lin Quan and Aguero were the two forwards at the front, but after the start of the game, Lin Quan's position retreated and he became a shadow forward, but he took on the responsibilities of an attacking midfielder.
The 442 formation is an old formation that Premier League teams like to use very much. This formation is balanced in offense and defense.
When defending, the four players in the midfield can retreat and shorten the distance between them and the back line, thereby compressing the opponent's offensive space, increasing the tolerance of their own defense, and making it difficult for the opponent to penetrate their defense.
Moreover, when attacking, the two wingers can become wingers at any time, assisting and forming a connection with the two forwards in front, doubling the offensive personnel in the frontcourt, increasing the ball outlet points and offensive surface, making it difficult for the opponent to defend.
However, this formation also has a disadvantage, which is that it places high demands on midfielders.
It is difficult for players with average abilities to maximize the advantages of this formation.
But for Manchester City, this problem does not exist at all.
Their midfield is luxurious enough, especially Navas and Silva on the two flanks.
Their defensive ability may be a little bit poor, but their offensive ability is definitely trustworthy! At 18:00 in the evening, with the referee's whistle, Manchester City's home game against Newcastle officially kicked off.
Amid the enthusiastic cheers from the audience, Manchester City players launched a fierce attack on their opponents from the first second of the game.
Newcastle seemed unaware that the opponent's attack would be so crazy. After the start, they were beaten back step by step and there were dangers lurking in front of the goal.
In the first minute of the game, Manchester City completed the first shot.
Lin Quan received a pass from Silva at the front of the penalty area, shook off the interference of the opponent's midfielder, and made a long shot outside the penalty area.
The football was not controlled well and went slightly over the crossbar.
Although the ball did not go in, the fans at the scene still gave Lin Quan a warm round of applause.
The fans have obviously discovered that Lin Quan's desire to attack in this game is very strong.
This makes them very much looking forward to seeing Lin Quan's performance at the Etihad Stadium!
And Lin Quan obviously did not disappoint the fans. In the 6th minute of the game, it was Silva who made an assist after breaking through the wing.
After Lin Quan received the ball, he did not try to shoot from a distance. Instead, he rushed into the penalty area, dribbled the ball continuously and changed direction in a small area. After passing the opponent's two defenders, he calmly shot and scored his first goal in the Premier League! (End of this chapter)