Chapter 466 Kroos + Kante + De Bruyne, Manchester City's ceremonial three midfielders!
Seeing that the opponent strengthened the defense on the wing, Manchester City immediately made changes. When Lin Quan was dribbling the ball, he began to move more to the middle, seeking cooperation with his teammates, using passing, cutting and running to pull the opponent's defense line, waiting for opportunities.
Leicester City withdrew Water Brother from the position of defensive midfielder to the back line, which greatly weakened the protective force in front of the back line.
The consequence of this weakening is that their overall formation has to move back and let others fill the vacancy caused by his departure.
However, the result of the overall formation moving backwards was Manchester City's all-out siege, and the game turned into a half-time offense and defense drill between the two teams.
Although this is Leicester City's home ground, the situation on the field made the home team's fans nervous.
Although they knew that there was a gap between their team and Manchester City, they did not expect the gap to be so big.
Judging from the field, they had been completely suppressed and could hardly pose a threat to the opponent. On the contrary, every attack and even every pass of Manchester City made them feel nervous, fearing that the opponent would score again in the next second.
Fortunately, what they worried about did not happen. Under the tenacious defense of Leicester City players, Manchester City failed to continue to expand the score.
But because they put most of their forces into defense, it was difficult for Leicester City to pose a threat when counterattacking. If the midfielders did not follow up, the forwards could only fight on their own.
When it comes to his ability to fight alone, Van Dijk has never been afraid of anyone.
As a result, Leicester City's few counterattacks in the first half were almost all resolved by Van Dijk's defense.
The score remained at 0:1 until the end of the first half. Players from both sides stopped playing and returned to the locker room to rest for fifteen minutes in preparation for the next game.
In the visiting team's locker room, Guardiola looked very relaxed.
He praised the players' performance in the first half and made some tactical arrangements for the second half.
Manchester City is now in the lead, although the lead is not big, but Leicester City's attack poses no threat to them.
Even if Manchester City does not score more goals in subsequent games, they can still win the three points with the economical score of 1:0.
After this victory, Manchester City's lead expanded to 12 points.
Leading by 12 points at the first half, with such a huge lead, the possibility of a crash in the second half is very small, and Manchester City can also devote more energy to European wars.
Thanks to the collective collapse of traditional Premier League giants, Manchester City does not face much competition in the Premier League, but the situation in European competitions is still unclear.
The current situation in European football is very chaotic. Traditional giants are still strong, while emerging forces are also gaining momentum.
There are five or six opponents that Guardiola considers threatening, including the three giants of La Liga, the Bundesliga giants and Paris Saint-Germain of Ligue 1. If Manchester City meets these teams in the knockout stage, even they cannot guarantee that they will advance.
Of course, before that, they first have to face their quarter-final opponent - Dynamo Kyiv.
This team is not particularly strong, but due to the match time, it may be difficult for them to play at home.
According to the UEFA Champions League competition system, in the knockout stage, the group winners will play away first and then at home.
The system of playing away first and then at home is originally beneficial to the group winner, and can be regarded as a little benefit for the group winners.
However, it is still very cold in Kiev in February, and if we are unlucky enough to encounter snowy weather, the game will definitely become more difficult to play.
What is more worrying is that the artificial turf and the icy and snowy weather can easily cause players to get injured.
It would be a big loss if several key players were injured because of a weak knockout opponent.
So Guardiola is considering how to play the first away game to avoid injuries and not affect promotion?
He considered strategically giving up the first game, but this was playing with fire. If he messed up, he would definitely become the object of everyone's joke! Guardiola's thoughts drifted to the game two months later, while Ranieri, on the other hand, was a little worried.
For Leicester City, they are in urgent need of scoring goals now. Defense can only prevent the opponent from expanding their lead, but cannot allow them to equalize or even reverse the score.
Therefore, he must focus on offense.
"Vardy, you don't need to retreat to defend in the second half, just stay in front, we need your goals."
Vardy nodded heavily. As Leicester City's top scorer, he had a heavy burden on his shoulders.
If he couldn't stand up, the team would be in big trouble in this game.
"Mahrez, you have two main tasks in the second half. Mark the opponent's No. 12 and don't let him organize and pass the ball so comfortably. Once you steal the ball from him, don't hesitate, pass it forward immediately to find Vardy.
Our counterattack must be fast and we can’t give the opponent time to get into position! ”
Mahrez nodded expressionlessly, grabbed a bottle of water, unscrewed it and took a sip.
In this game, he was one of the hardest-working players on the field.
The reason why he worked so hard was because he was eager to prove himself to Guardiola.
Manchester City had made an offer for him during the summer transfer window, but the offer was rejected by the club because it was too low.
Like many midfielders, Mahrez also aspires to play under Guardiola.
But he felt that he did not get the respect he deserved. If Manchester City and Guardiola really valued him that much, they would not have offered only 30 million pounds!
Therefore, Mahrez hopes that through this game, Guardiola will get to know him better and let him know that he is much stronger than he imagined. If he wants to take him away, 30 million is not enough, at least 40 million or even 50 million will be required.
Mahrez has a high opinion of himself and does not think he is worse than anyone else.
However, it is very difficult for him to live up to his value in this position. If he follows the original trajectory, performs well in Leicester City, and completes the dark horse miracle with his teammates and successfully wins the championship, then there is still some hope.
But if Leicester City fails to win the Premier League title this season, it will be difficult to reach a value of 40 million or even 50 million pounds.
After all, this is the value of a player of Modric's level, and now he is still far from Modric, and will not be able to reach Modric's level in the future.
The fifteen-minute halftime break ended quickly and the two sides changed sides to continue the fight.
Five minutes into the second half, Guardiola noticed the adjustments the opponent made during the half-time break.
"Leicester City has arranged a special person to mark Kroos. It seems that they have also seen the huge threat that Kroos poses to them!"
The commentators also noticed that when Mahrez was defending, he stuck to Kroos like a piece of taffy and hardly left his side.
"This move seems to have some effect. Kroos is not feeling well. He passes the ball less than before and it is difficult for him to make threatening passes like before."
What the commentators can see, the coaches of both teams can naturally see as well.
"Uh? Are we going to block Cross?"
Guardiola held his chin and analyzed carefully.
Kroos's position is now very far back. The opponent is willing to arrange someone to guard him at the cost of destroying the overall formation. It is obvious that they are scared of Kroos.
Guardiola admitted that this did work, but at a cost! The disjointed formation meant Manchester City had more chances!
As expected, although Kroos was restricted in this regard, Manchester City actually had more than one organizational core on the field.
Kroos was restricted and De Bruyne quickly stepped up.
And because his position is closer to the frontcourt, his passes create greater threats.
In a short period of time, De Bruyne made two passes that penetrated Leicester City's defense, one of which was promptly resolved by Schmeichel.
It was a goal, but unfortunately, it was invalid because Aguero was called offside.
On the sidelines, Ranieri broke out in a cold sweat.
The opponent's midfield configuration is really enviable. The midfield combination of Kroos, Kante and De Bruyne is considered to be the strongest combination in today's football.
It's not enough to just hold down one person, you have to hold them all down.
But even if they pinned down all three of them, they still had Lin Quan in the frontcourt.
Lin Quan can also act as an organizer, providing assists to his teammates and helping them score goals.
In other words, it is almost an impossible task to limit Manchester City's midfield organizing core.
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Damn, why can Manchester City recruit so many talents?
If I had such a good configuration, uh, I would probably have to quit the get out of class...
Ranieri was envious and jealous, but there was nothing he could do. He was not good at socializing and it was difficult for him to get along well with the players, especially the big-name stars.
The top clubs are full of stars and the locker rooms are already chaotic. If the head coach is unable to control the locker room, he will be fired sooner or later.
It’s not that Ranieri has never coached a top club, but it’s difficult for him to stay in a top club for too long.
He is only suitable for those mid- and lower-level teams. These teams are relatively simple, have few big-name stars, and have relatively stable locker rooms, so he has no worries and can give full play to his strengths.
There is no time to think about these things now. What he is worried about now is the game on the court.
I wonder if Guardiola will see through my arrangement?
At the moment, it seems that it has not been discovered, so Leicester City still has a chance.
…
“How strange!”
In the Sky Sports commentary booth, Martin Taylor felt something was strange after watching the game for a while, but he couldn't tell what was strange.
"What's wrong? What's strange?"
His partner Andy Gray immediately chimed in.
"Do you feel that Mahrez is a bit too rigid on the court?"
"Why do you say that? Ranieri's task for him should be to limit Kroos. Judging from his performance in the second half, he did a good job. Didn't you see that Kroos's frequency of touching the ball decreased?"
"That's right, but after Manchester City moved the core of the organization, shouldn't he retreat a little bit to better maintain the midfield position and avoid losing the balance of the formation?"
"It seems to be true. Kroos' teammates no longer pass the ball to him. It doesn't seem to make much sense to continue to press Kroos, especially when he doesn't have the ball at his feet."
After hearing what Martin Taylor said, Andy Gray also felt a little strange.
"Haha, Ranieri wants to launch a sneak attack!"
In the stands, Zidane saw through Ranieri's plan at a glance.
Why did Mahrez still keep his eyes on Kroos? On the surface, it seemed that this was a task assigned to him by the head coach, and he was faithfully carrying out the task.
But in fact, his marking of Kroos was just a cover. He used this cover to put himself in this position. Once Leicester City launched a counterattack, he could be in the position closest to the striker and pass the ball to the striker, creating the best scoring opportunity for his teammates.
The reason why Leicester City's counterattack in the first half was not threatening was that after they were suppressed, the forwards were out of touch with the players behind them and it was difficult for them to get support. They could only rely on their own personal strength to fight alone.
Manchester City has one of the top central defenders in football and is not afraid of the opponent's one-on-one attack. In this case, their counterattack will naturally fail.
Now, Ranieri has buried Mahrez behind Vardy. Mahrez can pass the ball to Vardy and complete the attack with his own breakthrough ability.
Manchester City's formation was too forward, and the backcourt defense was actually very empty.
If there is only one person in the counterattack, it cannot pose a fatal threat.
But once Leicester City deploys two or even more men in the counterattack, Manchester City's defense will face severe tests.
In this way, it is much easier for Leicester City to score.
The opportunity Ranieri had been waiting for soon came. In the 65th minute of the second half, Manchester City's offensive round ended. After Schmeichel completed the save, he quickly stood up holding the ball, rushed to the penalty area, and swung the ball to the front court with a strong arm.
Mahrez headed the ball to Vardy, who received it and rushed towards Manchester City's goal like a high-speed sports car.
But unfortunately, he still couldn't get rid of Van Dijk.
Van Dijk's awareness was excellent. When the opponent's goalkeeper got the ball, he started to retreat. Seeing that his teammates failed to compete for the header, he rushed towards Vardy.
As soon as Vardy received the ball, Van Dijk appeared in front of him.
Just like before, Van Dijk did not rush forward blindly. He turned sideways and stared at the ball at the opponent's feet. He stepped back and blocked the opponent's dribbling route, forcing Vardy to slow down.
This defensive style made Vardy very uncomfortable, and his speed inevitably dropped.
Although his speed slowed down, the Manchester City players chasing him did not slow down.
He saw that the defensive player was about to catch up with him and double-team him.
In the end, Vardy had to take a hasty shot when he had no more room to carry the ball.
The quality of this shot was average and was easily resolved by Navas.
After Navas passed the ball to Zabaleta, he fist-bumped with Van Dijk.
The two had performed this kind of cooperation countless times in training and games, and they had already understood each other very well! Seeing Vardy's shot miss, the Leicester City fans at the scene sighed.
When Mahrez headed the ball, they all thought the ball was in.
Unexpectedly, the team failed in the end! The most regretful person was the head coach Ranieri. He was a little worried that this attack had exposed his intentions and made Guardiola aware of the problem.
(End of this chapter)