Chapter 813 Manchester City's Key Man
Manchester City drew with the Gunners on a disastrous night. The new upstarts in the Premier League will surely make the Premier League tremble!
This was the report given by Sky Sports after the ninth round of the Premier League focus game. It gave a very high evaluation of Manchester City's 3-3 draw with Arsenal, believing that this was the best game Manchester City played this season.
In Sky Sports' technical statistics after the game, Manchester City's possession rate was only 35%, while Arsenal's was as high as 65%. This is the first time this season that Manchester City has had such a low possession rate.
The reason lies in the red card.
But Sky Sports believes that Manchester City and Arsenal were still evenly matched in the first half. Although they were at a disadvantage in terms of ball possession, the gap was not obvious and the two teams were on par with each other. In terms of number of shots and pass success rate, Manchester City was also not inferior and it seemed that they were not affected by the red card.
"The result in the first half was 2-2. Arsenal tied with Manchester City thanks to a penalty kick."
Sky Sports believes that judging from the first half alone, Arsenal did not even have much of an advantage.
But in the second half, the situation took a turn for the better.
As the game progressed, the players' physical energy was greatly consumed. Manchester City gradually began to fail to keep up with Arsenal's rhythm, constantly losing possession of the ball, and the pass success rate continued to decline. In the end, the pass success rate for the entire game was only about 80%, and the final possession rate for the whole game was only 35%.
Sky Sports believes that from the data of the first half and the full game, it can be seen how obvious Manchester City's disadvantage was in the second half, and how passive and embarrassing the team was on the field.
"They got a red card in the fourth minute and fought with one man less throughout the game. Manchester City took the lead three times, were tied by Arsenal three times, and even conceded two goals in the last two games, all in the first half and the final stages of the game."
"This Manchester City team tonight impressed everyone. This is the first time they have truly shown that they are capable of winning the Premier League championship. It is also the first time they have forced everyone to admit that they are no longer a mercenary team!"
Sky Sports believes that Su Dong, who was elected the best player of the game, is the undisputed soul of Manchester City.
This is not only because Su Dong performed a hat trick, but also because when the team was repeatedly in trouble, Su Dong always stood up and always managed to seize opportunities and score goals for the team.
"In this key match between two strong teams, Su Dong showed the strength and role of a world-class superstar at least three times. His three goals greatly inspired the fighting spirit of Manchester City players and hit the morale of Arsenal in the cruel adversity."
Sky Sports said that as the captain of Manchester City, Sudong is playing an increasingly important role. He is no longer just the team's number one center forward or the team's captain, but has gradually become the team's spiritual leader and soul core.
Guardiola has always been calm and rational, which is known to the whole world. He rarely shows emotions in public and is always elegant. However, the Manchester City team coached by Guardiola last season is not good at playing against the wind, which is also known to the whole Premier League.
In the strong dialogues, Manchester City lost almost all of them, which is why so many people laugh at them as mercenaries.
This is really a mess.
Guardiola's tactical ideas are undoubtedly ahead of their time. Even Cruyff believes that Barcelona's orthodoxy lies in Manchester City. This shows the respect for Guardiola's tactical ideas, but his shaping of the team's spiritual level is also a major weakness.
The team he coached was like a literary youth, delicate and methodical, but lacking the determination to fight to the death in adversity, and the courage to draw the sword and roar when encountering difficulties.
"Sudon is gradually playing the role that Guardiola lacks. He is becoming the key man for Manchester City, not only in terms of his goals, not only in terms of his captaincy, but also in terms of his status in the minds of the players."
Sky Sports believes that this battle against Arsenal may very well be a watershed for Manchester City this season.
"For the first time, Manchester City is showing their strong qualities in their bid to win the Premier League title!"
"As long as Manchester City keeps up this momentum, I believe that in the near future, the Premier League's situation will be completely broken by them!"
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The Times analyzed the red card and believed that Clattenburg's control of the game was indeed somewhat disappointing.
Manchester City was given a red card four minutes into the game, which was tantamount to destroying an exciting dialogue between two strong teams.
"I guess that the moment he reached out to take out the red card, countless fans in front of TVs around the world had already sentenced Manchester City to death in their hearts, because no team can survive such adversity."
The Times also believes that from a post-match perspective, "we should thank Clattenburg."
This authoritative media believes that it was because of Clattenburg's red card that the whole world saw a classic confrontation.
"This is the most exciting game in the Premier League so far this season!"
This was not the game with the most goals, nor the most fluent and beautiful play, nor the game with the highest technical and tactical content, but it was the most inspiring and touching game.
In this game, Manchester City completely conquered his fans and showed them his brand new mental outlook.
The Times reported Guardiola's remarks at the post-match press conference.
The Spaniard believes that the red card changed everything.
"We scored the lead in the 45th second. We have done everything we can. We are confident that we can beat our opponents at home and win a big victory to defend our position as the league leader."
"But unfortunately, the red card completely ruined everything we had prepared so carefully."
But Guardiola further stated that in the first half, after one player had been sent off, the referee Clattenburg actually awarded Arsenal a penalty when Manchester City was leading 2-1.
"I haven't watched the replay yet, so I can't say whether the penalty was accurate or not. I can only look at it from a personal perspective, and I think it's extremely unfair to us."
"We were given a red card after four minutes, and then we were awarded a penalty when we were leading 2-1. Has this kind of game ever happened before?"
Guardiola said angrily, "If it's eleven against eleven, we will definitely beat our opponents!"
Then, the Spaniard changed the subject and mentioned Su Dong who was selected as the best player of the game.
Guardiola first expressed his admiration for Manchester City players, believing that everyone had tried their best and played their best and most hard-working side, and he could not ask for more from them.
"I have always said that Su Dong is a natural leader and a winner in life. He always wants to win. Even the 3-3 result made him very unwilling. He said that the team will definitely take revenge in the second round at the Emirates Stadium."
"His spirit inspired everyone in the team, even our ball boys on the sidelines were infected. His words in the locker room during halftime re-inspired the team's morale and fighting spirit."
"In this game, he fully demonstrated everything a great player and a great captain should do. He led the team to persevere in adversity. Even in the final stage of the game, he turned into a defender and appeared in our penalty area to defend. He is a model of a professional player!"
Not only Guardiola, but Wenger also mentioned Su Dong in the post-match press conference.
On the one hand, Wenger was not satisfied with his team's performance, thinking that the team should have won the game, but in the end it was only a 3-3 draw, which was really unsatisfactory.
After all, in the game, Arsenal had one more player than their opponents throughout the game.
On the other hand, Wenger felt that the players had done their best.
"It's hard for me to say anything else. I can only say congratulations to Manchester City for holding on to their home ground."
"This is a collective victory. Manchester City showed a positive attitude and fighting spirit in the game, which left a deep impression on me. Su Dong is their leader. He did everything a leader should do."
Wenger believes that Arsenal had all the conditions to win, but were ultimately undermined by Su Dong's goals.
"It was a very difficult game and we showed our quality but we couldn't win in the end."
"Football matches are like this sometimes. When we play with eleven players against ten, we may not always win. Just like tonight, playing with ten players made Manchester City work together and become more united than ever before."
Finally, Wenger believes that Su Dong is the undisputed number one in world football and has demonstrated everything a professional player can do in the Premier League.
At the same time, Wenger also believes that this season's Premier League championship battle will be full of suspense and Manchester City will have a chance to win the championship.
As for Arsenal, they are currently eight points behind Manchester City, which is indeed a considerable gap.
"The league has only started nine rounds, and everything is still unknown."
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The Sun, the Guardian, the Daily Mail, and even the Independent, which is close to Arsenal, all gave high praise to Manchester City's performance in this game in their front-page headlines, especially to Su Dong, who was praised lavishly.
Among the three major bookmakers, Manchester City's odds have further increased.
All the gamblers who placed bets have used practical actions to prove their change of opinion and support for Manchester City, believing that the Blue Moon is likely to become a dark horse in the Premier League this season, completely shattering the pattern of the traditional top four dominating the Premier League in the past few years.
However, some media believe that behind Manchester City's strength is the sluggishness of English local players.
Micah Richards, who gave the red card, was considered the culprit that put Manchester City in a desperate situation, while Bridge, who came on as a substitute for Marcelo in the second half, was the "hero" who helped Arsenal equalize the score in stoppage time.
All this shows that while Manchester City's performance is getting better and better, the Premier League's local players are gradually unable to keep up with Manchester City's pace and are even starting to drag the team down.
As a result, calls for youth training reform are growing louder.
More and more knowledgeable people believe that England should learn from Germany and commit to youth training reform, hoping that one day England will also be able to cultivate a superstar like Su Dong.
(End of this chapter)
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