Chapter 562 De Bruyne returns, the power of Manchester City's twin stars
Guardiola's adjustments had a certain effect. In the 10th round of the Premier League, Manchester City defeated West Bromwich Albion 4:0 away.
With the advantage of goal difference, they temporarily regained the top spot from Arsenal.
However, Manchester City's lead is very slight. There are already two teams with the same points as them in the standings, namely Arsenal and Liverpool.
With the momentum of a big victory, in the Champions League group stage, Manchester City defeated Barcelona 4:1 at home, avenging the defeat in the previous round.
In this game, Lin Quan completed a hat-trick and Aguero also scored a goal.
Gundogan also performed very well. He provided two very crucial assists. His score after the game was second only to Lin Quan, making him the second highest player in Manchester City.
Even experts have to admit that Gundogan is quickly integrating into Manchester City's team and his performance is getting better and better.
However, just when the outside world thought that Manchester City had regained its form with two big wins in the league and the Champions League, in the league three days later, Manchester City suffered another upset and was tied 1:1 at home by Milderboro.
It was a pity in this game that Manchester City took the lead early in the opening but failed to expand their lead.
Seeing that the opponent had no fighting spirit, Guardiola replaced Lin Quan, who had been almost present during this period, for a rest in the second half.
As a result, in the injury time, the opponent took advantage of a set-piece opportunity to equalize the score, making Manchester City's lead that had lasted almost the entire game disappear.
After the game, there were many criticisms of Guardiola from the outside world.
Many experts believe that Guardiola should not have replaced Lin Quan so early.
In the absence of good passers such as De Bruyne and David Silva, Lin Quan is not only a scorer but also an offensive organizer in Manchester City's frontcourt.
Once he left the court, it was difficult for other players to get support from their teammates and they were unable to threaten the opponent's goal, which gave Millsburg a chance to counterattack.
The criticism from outside is actually not without reason. Under the current circumstances, Lin Quan’s importance to the entire team has greatly increased.
He took on the responsibilities of several people at once. When his teammates were unable to open up the situation, he had to transform himself into a siege cone and knock down the opponent's goal.
He also has to take on the role of an organizer, delivering ammunition to his teammates and providing them with support.
More importantly, after Kroos left the team, Lin Quan was the only one in Manchester City who could control the pace of the game.
Therefore, he also has to take on the role of the commander on the field, observing the dynamics of both sides on the field at any time, and controlling the timing of offense and defense.
It is already very difficult to do one job well, let alone shouldering three burdens at the same time. One can imagine the pressure Lin Quan was under.
It is for this reason that Guardiola replaced him in the second half to let him rest.
Because according to common sense, no one can complete the game with such huge consumption.
It cannot be said that Guardiola's approach was wrong, but he was unlucky. After the substitution, he was ambushed by the opponent.
If Manchester City had won this game smoothly, the outside world's evaluation would definitely be completely different.
After being tied at home, Manchester City's ranking quickly dropped to third.
Liverpool, who have been in hot form recently, beat their opponents 6:1 in this round and lead the Premier League standings with 26 points.
Behind them was Chelsea, who had fallen behind at one point but then quietly caught up.
Chelsea currently has 25 points, 1 point more than Manchester City, and is temporarily ahead of Manchester City.
In this round of the North London derby, Arsenal was tied 1:1 by Tottenham at home. They only maintained the top position for one round before falling to the familiar position of fourth place.
…
After finishing this round of the league, Lin Quan and his teammates packed their luggage, went their separate ways, and returned to their respective national teams to report.
The World Cup qualifiers are in full swing, and as the competition progresses, the competition for qualifying in each region is becoming more and more brutal.
On November 13, Spain defeated North Macedonia 4:0 at home.
Due to the weaker opponent, Lin Quan did not play in this match.
Originally, Bosque planned to let him play when the team was not able to attack effectively, but he did not expect the opponent to give him a big gift at the beginning, using an own goal to help Spain open the situation.
After taking the lead, the young Spanish players on the field immediately let go and played in a way that was pleasing to the eye and smooth.
Victor, Monreal, Aduriz and other substitutes who rarely have the opportunity to play in normal days all scored in this game and harvested valuable goals in their national team career.
There is only one official match in this round of FIFA international match days, but the national team time is as long as two weeks. So after Spain finished the game with North Macedonia, they took time out to arrange a friendly match with England.
It's strange to say, but the British team is notoriously weak in major competitions.
But in friendly matches, the British team's performance was not bad.
In the last match between the two teams, the British team won and broke Spain's unbeaten streak.
In this game, the performance of the British team was also remarkable.
Although they were far behind Spain in terms of ball possession rate and number of passes, they took advantage of their height and strength and adopted an impact tactic, constantly launching high balls and then competing for headers. After winning the balls, they passed the balls to the players at the back and let them shoot directly.
If you fail to win, retreat and defend, and try again when you get the chance.
The physical advantages of the players on the British team are still very obvious. In addition, they have experience in the Premier League and are obviously stronger than the Spanish team in physical confrontation.
Therefore, this seemingly simple tactic showed great power, and the British team even led 2:0 in the first half.
The British fans in the stands clapped their hands with joy until they were red. They were extremely surprised. They didn't expect their national team to be so good and beat the Spanish team so badly! If the British team could always maintain this level, why couldn't they even qualify for the World Cup group stage? During the Brazil World Cup, the British team and the Italian team were in the same group.
Before the game, everyone thought that Group D would be a fierce battle between these two teams. Unexpectedly, in the end, the two South American teams advanced together, while England and Italy were eliminated and both went home.
The team was leading by a large margin and had the initiative.
Logically the match should have been a sure win, but the British had their old problem again.
After taking the lead, they didn’t even know how to play!
Bosque replaced eight players in a row. These players on the field are not as physical as you, right?
Then I will send another group of people up to continue fighting with you.
This trick really worked. The British players who had already played for half the game found it difficult to crush the Spanish players by relying on their physical advantage due to their declining physical strength, especially when they were facing a group of players who had just come on the field, were full of energy and high morale.
The British coach saw this and thought, this won’t work, you use this trick, I can use it too! So he also made substitutions, replacing five new players.
However, the same move has different power in the hands of different people.
Although these new British players still have advantages in physical confrontation, their skills and experience are not as good as the previous players. Therefore, when using the same tactics, the power they exert is far less than that of their teammates.
As a result, the situation of the game reversed and Spain began to gradually take the initiative.
In the 89th and 92nd minutes of the second half, Spain scored two goals in a row. Morata and Isco each scored a goal to help the team equalize the score.
This result is acceptable to both parties!
The British regained their confidence in the Spanish team, which laid the foundation for their future rise.
Through this game, Spain tested the strength of many young players in the team, and also enriched their experience in dealing with this kind of physical impact style team.
When returning to the club from the national team, Lin Quan received good news: De Bruyne, who was injured in the match between Camp Nou and Barcelona, has now recovered and returned to the team and is undergoing adaptive training.
If his condition recovers well, he may play for the team in the next round of the league.
Of course, there is no need to think about starting. No matter how short-handed the team is, Guardiola will not put someone who has just returned from injury into the starting roster.
The next day, Lin Quan indeed saw De Bruyne on the training ground.
Read the error-free version on 6Ⅹ9Ⅹ bookⅩ bar! 6Ⅹ9 book bar first publishes a novel.
This guy seems to be in good shape, unlike some players who are left with psychological trauma due to injuries.
Looking at his carefree look, he seems like nothing has happened.
De Bruyne's return has made the atmosphere in the team much more relaxed.
During this period, Manchester City suffered a lot due to the lack of attacking midfielder.
Everyone is fully aware of the importance of De Bruyne. His return means that Manchester City’s weakest link will be filled, and the invincible Manchester City is about to return.
Two days later, in the 12th round of the Premier League, Guardiola indeed included De Bruyne in the 18-man squad.
Seeing De Bruyne's name on the roster, the Manchester City fans who traveled with the team were very excited. Even though De Bruyne had not yet appeared on the court, they were still calling out De Bruyne's name loudly.
"Haha, it seems that I am quite popular among the fans!"
De Bruyne felt a little smug when he saw this. Normally, it was Lin Quan who enjoyed such treatment, but he didn't expect that after getting injured, he would receive such treatment.
"You can get hurt more often if you like!"
Lin Quan glanced at him and teased.
"Ahem, let's not do that. It feels terrible to lie in bed and be unable to move after being injured!"
Lying in bed like a useless person, he couldn't even take the initiative when it came to doing that. De Bruyne never wanted to experience it again.
…
I don’t know whether it’s because the team’s condition is starting to improve or because De Bruyne boosted the team’s morale on the bench.
Manchester City's overall form in this game was pretty good. They scored a goal not long after the first half, assisted by Lin Quan and Son Heung-min.
At the end of the first half, Manchester City extended their lead, this time it was Lin Quan who scored directly from a free kick.
Watching his teammates killing it on the field, De Bruyne on the bench became a little restless.
These guys played so well and had such a big lead, wouldn't they have no chance to play in the second half? Based on his understanding of Guardiola, if Manchester City's advantage was still so big in the second half, Guardiola would probably not arrange for him to play and delay his playing time for another round.
Sure enough, during the half-time break, in the locker room, Guardiola did not mention De Bruyne's appearance in the second half.
Even when it started raining over the stadium in the second half, Guardiola asked someone to send a down jacket to De Bruyne, fearing that he would catch a cold.
It can be said that he is the center of everyone's love, and even De Bruyne himself is a little flattered.
However, at this moment, the situation on the field changed.
The opponent took advantage of the rain that caused Manchester City players to make mistakes in their coordination and successfully completed a counterattack, equalizing the score.
Guardiola frowned, was the team going to be equalized again?
He glanced at De Bruyne, hesitated for a long time, and finally let De Bruyne go to the sidelines to warm up.
This means that you want to make an appearance!
De Bruyne was overjoyed when he saw this. He took off his down jacket and coat, ran to the sidelines and started to warm up meticulously.
When the fans in the stands saw De Bruyne warming up, they stopped looking at the ball and locked their eyes on him, waiting to see the moment he came on the court.
Five minutes later, De Bruyne, who had finished warming up, came on the field.
And he did not disappoint the expectations of the head coach and the fans. It took De Bruyne only 8 minutes after he came on the court to find Lin Quan who ran out of the open space with a very penetrating pass. After receiving the ball, Lin Quan dribbled, changed direction and accelerated, dribbled past the defender and entered the penalty area, and sent the ball into the opponent's goal again.
The two of them completed a very wonderful and tacit cooperation.
Just like they have done many times in Werder Bremen and Manchester City.
Only De Bruyne can complete such a pass, and only Lin Quan can do such a movement and breakthrough shot.
The twin stars that have continued from the Werder Bremen era to the present day are undoubtedly the best offensive combination of this era, without a doubt.
Lin Quan's goal also killed the suspense of the game, and Manchester City would not be reversed by their opponents again.
In the end, thanks to Lin Quan's two goals, Manchester City defeated Crystal Palace 3:1 away and won a valuable victory.
With this victory, Manchester City moved up one place to second place in the league.
Liverpool is no longer the team at the top of the list. The Reds were unexpectedly tied by Southampton and overtaken by Manchester City, falling to third place.
Currently at the top of the list is a team that no one expected - the Blues Chelsea.
Chelsea, who won 1:0 away from home, have achieved a terrifying six-game winning streak.
If they can maintain this winning streak, no one will be able to snatch the league title from them.
The Blues, who have been silent for many years, seem to finally have a chance to win the league title again!
(End of this chapter)