Chapter 431 Manchester City Dynasty
Every year after the national team match day, many players’ conditions are affected by the national team matches.
Especially those areas that are very far away from Europe, such as South America.
In the fifth round of the Premier League that started on September 12, Aguero, who had just returned to the club from afar after participating in the Argentina national team's game, was injured and left the field in the 20th minute of the first half, casting a shadow on the game.
Aguero is not the only one affected by the FIFA virus. Many players in Manchester City were not in good shape in this game.
And their opponent happened to be Crystal Palace, which ranked second in the league. In this game, Crystal Palace played at home. They continued the good momentum since the start of the new season and played very decisively at their home ground.
At the end of the first half, Crystal Palace had 45% possession and 6 shots.
For a strong team like Manchester City that plays passing and controlling football, the opponent's possession rate exceeded 40%, which proved that they were not able to completely suppress the opponent.
So at the end of the first half, Manchester City was rarely silent and failed to take the lead.
This situation remained unchanged in the second half. As the game time passed, the Manchester City fans who came to the scene to cheer for the team began to worry.
Would the winning streak of our team end here?
Although Crystal Palace fans would like to see their team defeat Manchester City at home, they know very well that the possibility of this is very low.
Even when Manchester City is in poor form, they are still difficult to deal with.
If they met Manchester City in its prime, they would probably be in big trouble even if they were playing at home.
So, Crystal Palace fans can accept a draw.
With their lineup and strength, drawing with the powerful Manchester City is not only not shameful, but something to be proud of.
The 90 minutes of regular time was about to end and both teams still failed to score a goal.
The expectations of Crystal Palace fans seemed to be coming true soon! Although in the second half, Manchester City increased the ball possession rate to 58%, gained control of the field, and formed a siege on the Crystal Palace goal in the second half.
But they fired 20 shots but didn't score a single goal! In this game, Crystal Palace's goalkeeper McCarthy, who spent 4.9 million pounds to buy from Queens Park Rangers this summer, performed very well. He made 6 effective saves and saved his team again and again.
If it weren't for his god-like performance, Crystal Palace's goal would have been breached long ago.
On the sidelines, Guardiola could no longer sit still.
He withdrew his gaze and glanced at his team's bench, as if preparing to make the final substitution.
The reason why Manchester City found it difficult to score in this game was mainly because after Aguero was injured, Lin Quan was the target of the opponent.
The lack of support on the front line made it easy for Lin Quan to be isolated and helpless.
The poor condition of his teammates meant that no one was able to step up and share the pressure with him.
As a result, the opponent's targeting had a very good effect, silencing Manchester City's offensive firepower.
The best way to change this situation is to replace a forward to share the pressure with Lin Quan.
It's a pity that no one expected Aguero to be injured before the game, so the substitute striker Guardiola brought was not Jovetic, but Iheanacho, who was trained by Manchester City's own youth training and is not yet 19 years old.
At such a moment and in such an occasion, is it really possible to let a young player who is less than 19 years old play?
Seeing that the game was about to end and the score was still 0:0, Guardiola gritted his teeth, made up his mind, and substituted Iheanacho.
Iheanacho jumped up from his seat and immediately ran to Guardiola, looking like he was listening to his instructions.
"Boss, what do you want me to do?"
"Listen, Klech, rush into the penalty area after you go up and help Lin Quan create space. If Lin Quan passes the ball to you, then shoot boldly and help me send that damn ball into the opponent's goal!"
Hearing that Guardiola had entrusted him with such an important task as scoring a goal, Iheanacho felt dizzy, as if he had been hit by happiness! The boss actually valued him so much that he replaced him with the savior at this time? "Klech, did you hear me clearly?"
Seeing that the other party seemed to be distracted, Guardiola asked in a stern tone.
"No problem, leave it to me!"
Iheanacho is now overflowing with confidence. He feels like he has been given a hundred shots of stimulants. He can't wait to go on the court and use the 108 ancestral methods to send the ball into the Crystal Palace goal.
"Well, go ahead!"
Guardiola patted him on the shoulder and sent him on the field.
Manchester City's last-minute substitution caught the attention of Crystal Palace players, but when they saw that the player being substituted was just an unknown young player, they immediately looked down on him.
"Haha, Guardiola is desperate and trying all kinds of tricks. Even Lin Quan couldn't break the goal, so how can a young player like this break it?"
"I think he is planning to give up, so he is trying to save the situation by piling up forwards in the frontcourt. This is too naive!"
"Haha, I've heard of Guardiola's great reputation for a long time, but after seeing him today, I can't believe how good he is!"
The fans of Crystal Palace were already extremely excited at this point!
What a shitty Premier League champion, what a shitty Champions League champion, they are all useless in front of our great Crystal Palace.
So what if your value at Manchester City is high?
What does it matter if there are many stars in the team? Won't they still be unable to break through our goal? Our Crystal Palace is invincible! As if to confirm the thoughts of Crystal Palace fans, Iheanacho made a mistake with his first touch after coming on the court.
He failed to form a tacit understanding with his teammates. When his teammates passed the ball to him, he made a mistake in stopping the ball due to lack of preparation. The Crystal Palace player successfully intercepted the ball and almost launched a counterattack on the spot.
Fortunately, Kante appeared in time and completed the counter-attack, thus resolving the crisis in time.
"Focus and don't let your mind wander!"
When retreating to receive the ball, Lin Quan passed by Iheanacho and reminded him.
"Okay, Boss!"
Iheanacho nodded heavily. Although the mistake just now made him a little embarrassed, he quickly put it behind him.
He fantasized about being the team's savior, and he ran and pulled very hard in the frontcourt, trying to find space.
Although the Crystal Palace players looked down on him in their hearts, they did not dare to really leave him alone, so his seemingly random running around actually had a certain effect.
At least when Lin Quan dribbled the ball again, the number of defensive players coming to double-team him decreased.
Good opportunity! The opponent reduced the number of troops surrounding him, giving Lin Quan a chance to break through.
So when De Bruyne was approaching him, he pretended to pass the ball to De Bruyne, but when the opponent let down his guard, he dribbled the ball and turned around, passing the first defensive player.
The second player who was double-teaming saw Lin Quan pass his teammate, and subconsciously stretched out his foot to intercept, trying to steal the ball.
However, the frequency of Lin Quan's feet was much faster than he had imagined. Although he kicked the ball first, the ball was not intercepted by him as he expected, but was taken away by Lin Quan, like a fried meatball, and passed one more person.
The third person also rushed over at this time, but he had no teammates to help him, so he could only defend Lin Quan one-on-one.
In the football world, some defenders who have suffered at the hands of Lin Quan have summed up a lesson: Don't try to challenge Lin Quan one-on-one! The outcome of a one-on-one challenge with him will be disastrous!
The Crystal Palace player may know this, but he has no choice at this point.
He can only block as much as possible before being passed and create conditions for his teammates to make up for the defense.
However, Lin Quan only used two extremely fast spikes and changes of direction to get past him.
However, the defender's efforts did pay off. In order to get past the opponent's defensive player, Lin Quan took a diagonal line when dribbling into the penalty area. At this time, his position was close to the bottom line near the goal, and the shooting angle was very small.
Crystal Palace goalkeeper McCarthy had already blocked the near corner at this time, blocking almost all of Lin Quan's shooting angles.
In this situation, unless Lin Quan learns the tiger shot and shoots the goalkeeper into the goal together with the ball, his shot will not be able to get past McCarthy.
However, football has never been an individual sport, but a team sport.
When Lin Quan dribbled the ball, Iheanacho kept Guardiola's instructions in mind and worked hard to move and pull.
The opponent invested so many troops to encircle Lin Quan, resulting in Iheanacho being left unguarded - he was in an open position! As long as he could get the ball into the goal, what did it matter whether he scored it himself?
When the Crystal Palace goalkeeper rushed towards him with his teeth bared, Lin Quan immediately passed the ball back to Iheanacho in the open space.
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Iheanacho watched closely as Lin Quan dribbled past one opposing player after another, his mind full of thoughts about how awesome Brother Lin was. Then, in a trance, he saw that Brother Lin seemed to pass the ball to him.
Before his brain could react, his body subconsciously stretched out his foot and kicked the ball out as if it was a conditioned reflex.
Bang! With a loud bang, the football flew high and quickly flew into the Crystal Palace goal.
The quality of this kick was not high and the height was obviously too high.
Fortunately, Iheanacho was relatively close to the goal when he shot, otherwise the ball would probably have been hit by a cannon.
When Guardiola on the sidelines saw Iheanacho's shot, his heart almost jumped out of his chest.
This damn guy, the distance is so close and the goal is empty, can't you just use a push shot?
He had to take a powerful shot, but it was too high!
Fortunately, the ball went in in the end. If it hadn't, he would have had to give Iheanacho a two-hour lesson with a hair dryer.
When Iheanacho scored the goal, the Crystal Palace stadium was in complete silence.
The fans were all dumbfounded!
They never imagined that the person who scored the goal in the end would be that unknown person whom they looked down upon!
Iheanacho himself did not expect that scoring a goal would come so easily. The script he imagined in his mind was to be like Lin Quan, overcoming all obstacles and defeating the opponent's entire defense line by himself, and then sending the ball into the opponent's goal with ease.
Although the process is slightly different, the result is ultimately the same.
So he celebrated as he had imagined, putting his palms next to his ears and running towards the sidelines, asking for applause from the fans in the stands.
However, maybe this silly boy had poor eyesight, he ran to the wrong stand and ran to the stand where Crystal Palace fans gathered.
So, what greeted him was not thunderous cheers and applause, but boos and a rain of coins including coins and lighters.
Crystal Palace fans thought this guy was here to provoke them, and some angry fans even wanted to climb over the railings and rush onto the pitch to beat people up.
Iheanacho was shocked and quickly ran back to the field, celebrating with his teammates heartlessly.
"Good boy, you almost lost the ball with that last kick!"
Captain Kompany rubbed Iheanacho's head affectionately and said to him with a smile.
As the captain and veteran, Kompany was extremely pleased to see such outstanding young people emerging from the team's own youth training camp.
Kompany came to Manchester City at the age of 22 and has played for Manchester City for 8 years so far. He is one of the oldest players in the team.
When he first came, Manchester City was just a very ordinary mid-to-lower-level team with almost nothing.
But now, Manchester City has won three Premier League titles and two Champions League titles, and is the most successful club in Europe in the past five years, bar none.
A Manchester City dynasty is gradually taking shape thanks to the hard work of these players.
But the camp remains permanent, but the soldiers remain transient.
Kompany is about to turn 30, and his days in Manchester City may not last long.
One day, these veterans will leave Manchester City, either retiring here or leaving the team to live out their lives elsewhere.
After they leave, the team needs young people to step up and take over.
Therefore, Kompany appreciates and cares for these young people in the team very much.
He hopes that these people can thrive in Manchester City, carry the banner of Manchester City in the future, and lead Manchester City to greater glory.
Iheanacho didn’t know what Kompany was thinking. He chuckled and explained: “Hey, my body had already taken action before my brain could react.”
"Then you need to learn more and practice more, and try to make your subconscious shooting movements standard, just like Lin!"
Another team veteran, David Silva, spoke up.
Iheanacho nodded vigorously. Lin Quan was his idol, and learning from his idol was what he wanted most.
Iheanacho's goal came in the second minute of injury time. By the time Manchester City finished celebrating, the injury time had almost been used up.
So when the game resumed, the referee quickly blew the whistle to end the game.
In the end, Manchester City won 1-0 against Crystal Palace away from home, achieving a perfect start of five consecutive league wins.
The focus of the fifth round of matches is the Red Derby between Manchester United and Liverpool at home.
Mourinho's team performed well in this game, defeating Liverpool 3:1 at home, which not only stopped the team's decline, but also further won the favor of the Red Devils fans.
In the hearts of Manchester United fans, Liverpool is an even more hateful opponent than Manchester City.
Therefore, every year's Manchester United derby is extremely important to Manchester United fans.
On the other hand, Arsenal beat Stoke City 2:0 at home, and Chelsea lost 1:3 to Everton away.
Ranieri's Leicester City staged a stunning comeback at home.
They were trailing 0:2, but they scored consecutive goals in the final stage of the second half and eventually defeated Aston Villa 3:2. They are one point ahead of Manchester United in the standings and are currently ranked second in the standings with a difference of four points!
Being able to stand out among a group of strong teams, Leicester City's dark horse nature finally attracted attention from all parties after this battle.
(End of this chapter)