Chapter 445 Guardiola: Lin Quan is a genius!
In fact, Mourinho was overthinking it. Guardiola's tactic was not aimed at anyone.
He arranged his troops this way for two reasons:
1. Manchester City's main striker Aguero has not yet fully recovered from the injury he suffered in the national team. Aguero's thigh strain will take at least three to four weeks to fully heal.
In order to avoid further aggravating his injury, Guardiola arranged for him to rest.
After all, the game against Manchester United will definitely be a tough battle. If the injury is aggravated, it will not be a good thing for Aguero himself and the entire Manchester City team.
2. He wants to test his new tactics and further develop Manchester City's overall attacking capabilities.
Judging from Kroos’ previous goal, the effect he wanted to achieve has appeared.
Now that Manchester United has attacked, they have a greater chance. Guardiola is looking forward to whether other players can surprise him.
The first half of the game ended, and Mourinho made substitutions after the halftime break.
In the second half, he replaced Mata, who was performing poorly, with Jesse Lingard, a player from Manchester United's own youth training system!
That is the famous Lin Huang!
Although he is not a top star, Lin Huang enjoys the treatment of a top star. Countless fans have written a large number of jokes for him, making his popularity far exceed his actual strength.
With the help of these memes, Lin Huang's name has spread all over the world. It is not known whether this is a good thing or a bad thing!
The fact that Lingard is so popular that people even write so many jokes for him shows that he is very capable.
Players who are too weak can't even play on the field, let alone get the attention of the fans.
Although Lingard has been criticized a lot, his strengths are still very prominent.
This kid has a positive attitude on the field, likes to run, and is good at running.
Such players are very much liked by Mourinho. Otherwise, Mourinho would not have substituted him at this time.
Isn’t Manchester City’s midfield very capable of sweeping?
Then I will replace him with a young player who is full of energy and good at running to outrun you to death!
If Lingard could seize one or two opportunities to score a goal, he would be a god.
Of course, for a young player who is less than 23 years old, Mourinho has not yet had such high expectations for him.
Lingard looked very excited after coming on the pitch, and there was no trace of pressure or tension on his face as the team was already two goals behind.
On the contrary, a pure and bright smile appeared on his face, like the sunshine! When Manchester United fans saw this young player so fearless and confident, they all had high expectations for him.
When Lin Quan saw Lingard being substituted on, he couldn't help but look at him more.
When Lingard felt Lin Quan's gaze, he responded with a bright smile.
As the rumors say, he still loves to laugh! I just don't know if he can still laugh after the game! After Lingard came on the court, Manchester United's offense changed a bit. Without Mata's organization and passing, their offense became more direct and they began to try to open a breakthrough from the wing.
Lingard, who was full of energy, naturally won many attacking opportunities.
In the 55th minute of the second half, Schweini made a wonderful pass to Lingard, who took the ball and ran towards Manchester City's half at lightning speed.
It was as if Lingard was stepping on Hot Wheels, running very fast, and faster and faster.
Seeing the new player dribbling across the half court, Manchester United fans were all excited:
Is this guy going to perform a solo performance on his debut? Lingard is so fast that not only his teammates can't catch up with him, but even the Manchester City players nearby can't catch up with him.
On the sidelines, Mourinho and Guardiola both stood up at the same time, staring intently at the Manchester United player wearing the No. 35 jersey on the field.
At this point, Lingard has become the focus of the entire stadium and even of the billions of fans who are watching this game.
However, Lingard knew nothing about this, he was just running happily, running carefree.
Seeing that the opponent was approaching our penalty area and was about to break into the penalty area.
Van Dijk took the lead and rushed towards Lingard.
Lingard didn't take Van Dijk seriously at all. With his speed fully activated, he felt like a gust of wind and could do anything on the court.
To get past this guy, all you need to do is do this and then that, that's all! So he continued to run forward, and Van Dijk seemed to be afraid of him, and did not confront him head-on, but chose to retreat actively.
Lingard continued to run and Van Dijk continued to retreat without making any rash kicks.
The distance between the two men was rapidly narrowing, but as the distance got closer, Lingard felt more and more uncomfortable.
The opponent blocked his forward position. If he didn't want to collide directly with the opponent, he had to change the rhythm and route of dribbling the ball.
Lingard has such awareness, which shows that he is indeed capable. At least he is aware of what defensive strategies the opponent is using to limit his offense.
However, he is still too young and lacks some experience.
When he tried to speed up and change direction to pass him by Van Dijk, Van Dijk suddenly stepped forward, still without moving his feet, but leaned towards Lingard with his body.
After being hit like this, Lingard suddenly felt like there was a wall sticking to his body, almost making him lose balance. His speed also dropped suddenly, and he lost control of the football under his feet. It rolled into the opponent's penalty area and was caught by Manchester City captain Kompany.
Manchester United's massive attack started off well but ended abruptly.
On the sidelines, seeing Van Dijk blocking the opponent's attack, Guardiola showed a satisfied smile on his face and applauded him.
"Well done! Virgil!"
After Kompany passed the ball, he took the initiative to step forward and high-fived Van Dijk.
Van Dijk has made rapid progress in the past two seasons. Although he does not have as much experience as the veteran, Kompany feels that in terms of strength, Van Dijk is definitely not inferior to himself, and may even be better than him.
He has reached his limit, but Van Dijk is still young and far from it.
He still has a lot of room for growth and his future is limitless! Seeing Lingard's attack being easily resolved by the opponent, Manchester United fans were frustrated.
"It doesn't matter. It's just a waste of an opportunity. This kid is so fast and so active. There are plenty of opportunities like this. Don't be afraid of wasting them!"
Manchester United fans are right. Even Mourinho himself didn't care too much about Lingard's missed opportunity.
After all, he created this opportunity himself!
Since he is so fast, we should make good use of this and make this the main attack direction of Manchester United.
So Mourinho called Schweinsteiger over and gave him some instructions, asking him to pass the ball to Lingard more often.
The little pig understood what he meant and passed the ball to Lingard whenever he had the chance after coming on the court.
It’s just that Manchester United’s intentions were too obvious, and Manchester City was on guard, so their tactics were difficult to work.
In the 72nd minute of the second half, Lingard finally got another chance.
Still the familiar recipe, still the familiar taste.
Lingard once again dribbled towards Manchester City's goal, but this time, it was Kante who was defending him.
Lingard's attention was always on Manchester City's goal and the big defender who had defended him before, and he didn't notice that Kante was staring at him.
When he noticed Kante suddenly appearing beside him, he was shocked! This black guy was so fast! When did he surpass him? How come he didn't notice it at all? Seeing that he was about to miss the chance to score, Lingard didn't even think about it and just raised his foot to shoot.
However, his action made Kante feel offended. You are so close to me, and you dare to shoot in front of me. Do you treat me as air? He poked the ball at Lingard's feet and destroyed it.
Lingard's kick missed, he lost his balance and fell flat on his back, looking extremely funny.
There was a sudden burst of laughter at the scene. Even Manchester United fans couldn't hold back their laughter at Lingard's funny action.
"Is this kid here to make people laugh?"
"Oh my, I am dying of laughter. This kid is definitely a funny guy hired by the monkey!"
Manchester City fans and some neutral fans were almost laughing to death. How could there be such a funny player?
That's Kante, a famous defensive midfielder in the entire Premier League and even the entire football world. How dare you ignore him like this? After missing two chances in a row, the fans also realized that this guy was unreliable.
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In the following time, although Lingard was still running all over the field, he seemed to be everywhere.
But most of his running was ineffective and had no effect.
After Manchester City stepped up their defence against him, he never got such an opportunity again.
Especially after Kante targeted him, Lingard was completely helpless and had no way to deal with the opponent.
Every time, the little pig tried his best to pass the ball to his feet, the ball would be blocked or intercepted by Kante in the blink of an eye.
It could even turn into a counterattack by Manchester City if we are not careful, which made the Manchester United players almost curse.
This kid is such a jerk! Seeing that he couldn't even hold the ball, his teammates gradually reduced the number of passes to him, so Lingard gradually disappeared.
After suppressing Manchester United's offensive wave, Manchester City's attack was at full speed.
In the 79th minute, Manchester City made seven or eight consecutive passes in the frontcourt, fully mobilizing Manchester United's players.
Their attention was focused on the ball, and they subconsciously moved towards whoever had the ball.
Seeing this, Lin Quan and David Silva switched positions again. Lin Quan took the ball to the wing and suddenly passed it across to the gap in Manchester United's defense in front of the penalty area.
De Bruyne, who was lying in ambush behind, suddenly made a forward run and shot a cold arrow from outside the penalty area, once again penetrating Manchester United's goal.
3:0!
This goal basically killed all the suspense of the game. Unless the Red Devils in their heyday were resurrected, they would not be able to reverse the game.
Obviously, this was impossible, so there were no surprises and the score of 3:0 continued until the end of the game.
Manchester City once again conquered the Theatre of Dreams, Old Trafford.
After the game, Guardiola took the initiative to walk towards Mourinho and wanted to shake hands with him.
Mourinho was upset after losing the game. He wanted to ask Guardiola in person, what do you mean? But in the end, he didn't say it. He couldn't admit that he was not as good as Guardiola.
After the game, Manchester City players, including those on the bench, rushed onto the field and celebrated wildly at Manchester United's home ground.
Not only were they celebrating their victory in the Manchester derby, but they were also celebrating their 10th consecutive league win, the best start in team history.
This is not only the best record in Manchester City's history, but also the best start record in the entire Premier League.
The record of 10 consecutive victories is quite impressive in the whole of Europe.
For a time, major media rushed to report Manchester City's achievement.
At the press conference after the game, Guardiola brought Lin Quan, who won the MVP of the game, to attend the press conference.
The Times reporter began by asking:
"Coach Guardiola, what do you think of this game?"
Guardiola answered seriously: "This was a wonderful game. The opponent was very strong. It was a pity that their team's midfield core failed to play, otherwise we would not have won so easily!"
Paul Pogba had a severe cold before the game and was diagnosed with the virus at short notice, which made Mourinho a little stretched when deploying his troops.
Pogba's value and ability are there. If he is on the field, it may not be so easy for Manchester City to control the midfield.
So Guardiola's words were not modesty or compliments to his opponents, but the truth.
"So how did you come up with the idea of using a tactic without a striker at all?"
The Guardian reporter asked the second question.
Reporters and fans have too many questions about Guardiola's strange formation.
At the beginning of the game, when they saw Manchester City's lineup, they only had one thought in their minds: Without a 10-year cerebral hemorrhage, they couldn't have such a formation! But after the game, they really started to smell good.
Guardiola is worthy of his name, as he can come up with such a genius tactic.
The 3:0 result is enough to prove that Guardiola's lineup is not only not problematic, but is even very successful.
Thanks to the strong control ability of the three-midfielder system, Manchester City's ball possession rate remained high and its offensive opportunities were several times that of its opponents.
Throughout the game, Manchester City players passed the ball, shot and shot, and then scored goals one after another.
Mourinho's defensive counterattack failed to play a big role. Martial was almost invisible throughout the game. Although Lingard had two highlights, he was soon completely restricted.
Every offensive point of Manchester United was suppressed by Manchester City.
As a result, Manchester United was unable to launch a counterattack and could not defend, so they were naturally defeated.
"Haha, Aguero's injury hasn't fully recovered yet, and I don't have a particularly suitable center forward in my team."
After hearing Guardiola's answer, everyone nodded slightly. Perhaps it was true.
So, was Guardiola forced to do this? However, they heard Guardiola say: "Of course, the reason for this arrangement is that I want to give Lin more tasks to see where his limit is and whether he can surprise me!"
"Did Lin Quan's performance meet your expectations?"
The BBC reporter couldn't wait to ask.
Guardiola nodded with satisfaction and said with some pride: "Of course, Lin is a true genius, you never know where his limit is!"
"How does it compare to Messi?"
I don't know which blind guy suddenly asked this question, which made Guardiola speechless instantly.
(End of this chapter)