Chapter 477 League Cup final, Lin Quan wears the captain's armband!

Even if Manchester City becomes the last hope of the Premier League, it does not mean that they will receive preferential treatment in the league.

After finishing the away game, Manchester City immediately rushed to another away game to challenge Newcastle United.

In this game, Manchester City's main players were affected by the long journey and the fatigue from traveling, and their condition was relatively average.

But several substitutes in their team stood up at the right time. In the 5th minute of the first half, Sane received a pass from De Bruyne and scored his first goal for Manchester City.

Although the opponent equalized the game with a header in the 31st minute, it still failed to stop the madness of Manchester City's substitutes.

In the 52nd minute of the second half, Jesus made a smart move, successfully beat the offside and scored a goal, changing the score to 2:1. The performance of the two new players, Sane and Jesus, made Manchester City fans shine.

The players the team introduced during the winter break are quite strong!

Sane has strong personal strength. He is outstanding in dribbling, breakthrough and shooting. He is a strong scorer.

Jesus played very well as a team player, worked hard in the frontcourt and ran desperately to find shooting space when attacking.

When defending, he is very active in returning to defense, and can even harass the opponent's ball handler on the spot, slowing down the opponent's offensive rhythm.

Of course, this does not mean that these two people are completely without shortcomings.

Sane's shortcomings are obvious. He plays alone. Sometimes his teammates are in a more advantageous position and passing the ball is a more reasonable choice. However, he still chooses to work alone and has no intention of giving up the ball.

As for Jesus, he is not very tall and his ability to stand still is relatively weak, so he cannot fully play the role of a genuine center forward.

Fortunately, Manchester City does not need a traditional center forward, which conceals Jesus' shortcomings in this regard.

Guardiola has observed the two for so long and has a very good understanding of their strengths and playing styles.

Therefore, he plans to train the two of them in a targeted manner in the future, change Sane's habit of being alone, and make him become more team-oriented.

As for Jesus, it is a good thing to improve his scoring ability and actively defend, but as a striker, he still needs to do his job well.

Of course, putting Jesus in the forward position may not be the most appropriate. We need to continue to explore and see where to put him to maximize his talents.

…

After winning the game against Newcastle, Manchester City still couldn't stop and rest.

They rushed to London without stopping, preparing to go to Wembley Stadium to participate in the League Cup final.

This League Cup match is much more difficult than the league match because their opponent is Liverpool, who has been well-rested and prepared for a long time.

Liverpool fans care very much about this championship, and head coach Klopp has stated that he will go all out to win the championship.

Liverpool has been unable to advance further in the league this season for various reasons, so cup competitions such as the League Cup have become their last hope.

This game is very close to the league that just ended, which is quite unfavorable for Manchester City.

Liverpool was obviously well aware of this, so after the start they tried to speed up the pace of the game in an attempt to consume the physical strength of Manchester City players in this way.

After more than half a year of coaching, Klopp has already imprinted his own style on Liverpool.

After his transformation, the team's playing style and tactics are completely different from those of Liverpool in the Rogers era.

Under his coaching, Liverpool is like a young guard, playing with passion and force, making it hard to resist.

In the first half, Manchester City was suppressed by their opponents and was rarely at a disadvantage in ball possession.

However, fifteen minutes later, Manchester City adapted to the opponent's rhythm, and after adjusting, began to gradually take the initiative in the game!

"This match felt exactly like the one between Liverpool and Manchester City in the league. Liverpool always suppressed Manchester City at the beginning and then took the initiative after Manchester City adapted.

Then Manchester City will gradually gain momentum and build up a score advantage! ”

As soon as Martin Taylor finished speaking in the commentary booth, Manchester City scored a goal.

Surprisingly, the goal was scored by neither Lin Quan, nor Sun Xingmin, Jesus or other forwards, but by Manchester City's midfielder, Kante! Kante saw that the opponent's defense was very tight and thought there was no good chance, so he thought of a blind kick. Unexpectedly, this kick turned out to be a world wave, with very high quality. The opponent's goalkeeper had no choice but to watch the ball go into the net.

This goal was very crucial. The first half was about to end, and the Manchester City team had consumed a lot of physical energy due to the opponent's tactics. When the second half started, as their physical strength declined, they would sooner or later fall into a passive position.

But if Manchester City had taken the lead before the start of the second half, the situation would have been completely different.

After taking the initiative, they have more tactics to choose from, and can even retreat and launch a defensive counterattack as before.

No matter how useless the League Cup championship is, it is still a championship. In order to get this championship trophy, it is completely fine to play half a game of defense and counterattack.

Klopp obviously thought of this, so after seeing Kante score a goal, his brows immediately frowned.

Being behind by one goal may not seem like a lot, but since ancient times, there has never been a nameless final, and it is very difficult to score a goal in a stage like the final.

However, Liverpool is not completely without chance. They are not bound by European wars and do not have to travel as long as Manchester City.

Therefore, Liverpool has an absolute advantage in terms of players' physical reserves.

In the last league game, they were tragically reversed by Manchester City. The main reason was that the players consumed too much physical energy. They could not run well in the second half and were caught up by Manchester City.

But in this game, Manchester City will definitely not be in such a good state in the second half, and Liverpool is likely to always take the initiative in the second half!

Therefore, he asked the team to press forward, press and attack Manchester City more fiercely, give full play to their physical advantages, and play more proactively and resolutely.

I don’t know how the Liverpool players understood the head coach’s intention. After the start of the second half, their pressing and running did become more aggressive.

But the movements in offense and defense also become bigger!

The result was that their number of fouls soared and they received two yellow cards within a few minutes of the start of the second half.

Klopp's mouth twitched as he watched from the sidelines. You guys, did I let you play like this? There was no other way. The two positions where the fouls were committed were very critical. He had to use the substitution quota to replace these people and continue to strengthen the attack.

The main purpose of Klopp's move was to avoid team reductions. He was worried that the players who received cards would become impatient and behave irrationally, leading to a second yellow card.

However, he made substitutions before the 60th minute of the game, which further strengthened Liverpool's offensive threat and increased Manchester City's defensive pressure.

After these two new forces came on the court, they were extremely active on the field. The Manchester City players, who were already lacking in physical strength, were made very uncomfortable by them. They even made several mistakes and almost caused a disaster.

Seeing this, Guardiola immediately made a substitution, replacing two new players, Zabaleta and Kroos, who were approaching the limit of their physical strength.

The appearance of Sagna and Fernandinho temporarily stabilized Manchester City's back line, and the opponent's attack could not threaten their goal in the short term.

However, the defensive counterattack effect that Manchester City wanted was not achieved.

The opponent's pressing was too crazy, and after spending most of the game, Son Heung-min and Jesus were almost unable to run.

The only person with sufficient energy in the frontcourt was Lin Quan! Thanks to Lin Quan's involvement in the frontcourt, the opponent did not dare to put all their forces into the attack. Otherwise, Manchester City might have been crushed by Liverpool's wave after wave of attacks in the second half.

In the first half, both teams had similar ball possession rates, with Manchester City slightly ahead.

But after the second half, especially after fifty-five minutes, there was a very obvious change in ball possession.

Manchester City's ball possession rate dropped rapidly, while Liverpool's ball possession rate increased rapidly.

Manchester City's attack could not be launched, and they did not dare to pass the ball too much in their own backcourt under the opponent's crazy pressing. Such a pass could easily lead to disaster.

So it is normal that they are lagging behind in ball possession!

However, such a result is still shocking. You know, Guardiola has always paid great attention to ball control since his time at Barcelona.

Read the error-free version on 6Ⅹ9Ⅹ bookⅩ bar! 6Ⅹ9 book bar first publishes a novel.

The teams he coached lost many games, but they rarely lost in terms of ball possession.

This shows how much suppression Liverpool showed in this game.

The Red Army fans were very excited to see their team completely suppressing their opponents on the field. They sang the team song "You'll Never Walk Alone" and looked forward to Liverpool's goal.

Liverpool still needs two more goals to bring back the League Cup trophy.

With about 30 minutes left in the second half, it might be a bit difficult to score two goals.

But it doesn't matter, they just need to score a goal first, tie the score, and then drag the game into overtime.

Manchester City players' physical fitness has obviously declined seriously. They can't hold on during the regular time. If they are really dragged into overtime, won't they be at the mercy of Liverpool? Liverpool players obviously know this, so even if they are behind in the score, their morale is still very high. People who don't know would think they are ahead in the score!

However, unexpectedly, facing Liverpool's crazy attack, Manchester City's defense was very tenacious and did not allow the opponent to be completely crushed.

In the 70th minute of the game, the score was still 1:0 and Liverpool still failed to score a goal.

In the 80th minute, the score remained unchanged. Even though Liverpool had formed an siege on Manchester City's goal during this period, they still failed again and again.

Although they defended against the opponent's fierce attack, Manchester City was obviously in a very uncomfortable situation.

Their players began to suffer from cramps frequently, and captain Kompany was also injured in a scramble.

Guardiola was forced to use his last substitution, replacing Kompany with veteran Demichelis.

When Kompany left the field, he handed the captain's armband to Lin Quan:

"Lin, you must win this championship. Please!"

"Don't worry, Captain. I won't let anyone take it away from me!"

Lin Quan nodded heavily to Kompany and then put the captain's armband on his arm.

In this game, he was madly targeted by Liverpool. As soon as he got the ball, the opponent would immediately send multiple people to double-team him. If the double-team failed, the opponent would foul decisively and would never give Lin Quan a chance to speed up.

Klein, Moreno, Emre, Lallana and even Coutinho were all given cards for tactical fouls against him.

In other words, in this game, Lin Quan alone caused 5 yellow cards! These are only the fouls that resulted in cards, and there are countless fouls that did not result in cards!

In order to stop him, Liverpool did not hesitate to use such a lethal foul tactic, risking the whole team getting a card, in order to stop him. Klopp or the entire Liverpool was afraid of Lin Quan! However, under the crazy targeting of the opponent, Lin Quan was like an indestructible cockroach. He was knocked down again and again, but stood up again and again, and never entangled, and immediately threw himself into the game!

This indomitable spirit makes even Liverpool fans admire it!

"Why can't this guy be defeated?"

"He's so damn tenacious. To be honest, I kind of admire him!"

"This guy, why is he not from Liverpool? It would be great if he could come to Anfield."

Liverpool fans appreciate and even admire Lin Quan's indomitable spirit, and this temperament is very much in line with Liverpool's style.

It's a pity that the opponent may find it difficult to wear Liverpool's red jersey and fight for the Red Army! Although Lin Quan is the only one who can threaten Liverpool in Manchester City's frontcourt, Liverpool still can't sleep well even if there is only Lin Quan.

This is one of the reasons why they have been unable to score goals.

The game had already exceeded 80 minutes at this point, and time was slipping away little by little, but the team still failed to score a goal.

The Liverpool fans who were originally eating hot pot and singing songs in a happy mood couldn't help but start to panic at this time.

Although their idea is good, the prerequisite is that they have to score a goal!

They still haven’t scored a goal yet, let alone a championship or overtime. If they keep going this long, they’ll lose the final! “Score one!”

"One goal!"

Liverpool fans, unable to contain their inner anxiety, have begun to shout in unison, calling for a hero to step forward and help the team out of the desperate situation.

Coutinho heard the fans' call and was eager to stand up and be the hero! He dribbled past the exhausted De Bruyne, then played a wonderful wall pass with his teammates and successfully received the ball near the penalty area line.

However, just as he was about to shoot, a foot suddenly flew from the side, and with a sliding tackle, the ball was shoveled away from his feet! Coutinho was shocked and subconsciously looked at the person who made the tackle, but saw that the jersey number behind the other person was the same as his, both No. 10! It was Lin Quan! Coutinho was shocked, wasn't this guy in the front court?

How did we get back to the penalty area?

Is this what a striker should do?

The exclamations of the fans at the scene interrupted Coutinho's thoughts, and he saw the blue figure rushing in the opposite direction with the ball.

And that direction is exactly where Liverpool's goal is!

(End of this chapter)