Chapter 822: Su Dong is on the court!
When the game reached the 72nd minute, there was a dead ball opportunity, and the referee Chris Foy blew the whistle to suspend the play.
Su Dong, who had been standing on the sidelines waiting, stretched out his hand to applaud his teammates who were about to leave the field.
The broadcast in the stadium announced the news of the substitution.
No. 9 player Su Dong came on, replacing No. 14 player Santa Cruz.
This substitution decision was immediately met with warm cheers from Manchester City fans in the Etihad Stadium. The entire stadium was filled with thunderous applause. This was Manchester City fans cheering for Su Dong.
Santa Cruz walked off the field with a frustrated look on his face, obviously not satisfied with his performance after playing for more than 70 minutes.
After arriving at the sidelines, he gave Su Dong a polite hug.
Su Dong expressed his gratitude for his performance, and he cheered for Su Dong.
The two passed each other by, just like their fate at Manchester City.
Anyone can see that in today's Manchester City, Su Dong is the most unshakable player. It would be a tragedy for anyone to be a substitute for Su Dong, and Santa Cruz is a tragedy among tragedies.
Because even head coach Guardiola doesn't like him very much.
He was the favorite of Manchester City's former coach Mark Hughes. It was when Mark Hughes coached Blackburn that he successfully activated Santa Cruz, bringing his career to the peak, and the Paraguayan player was able to join Manchester City.
But Guardiola doesn't like this type of player, so Santa Cruz has had a miserable time at Manchester City in the past two seasons.
From the current perspective, it is only a matter of time before the Paraguayan striker leaves the team.
He may even leave the team during the winter transfer window.
…
Su Dong ran into the court, raised his hands high above his head, responding to the applause of the fans.
His right foot has not fully recovered yet, but he still took the initiative to apply to play in the game.
He knew clearly the importance of this game to Manchester City.
More importantly, he knows his body.
After running into the court, the first thing Su Dong did was to pull together several teammates in the frontcourt.
"Angel, Alexis, the two of you should pay attention to stretching the defense line and don't let the two wingers retreat into the penalty area. Can you do it?" Su Dong asked in a deep voice, his tone full of unquestionable firmness.
"no problem."
"That's fine with me."
The two Manchester City wingers didn't say anything and agreed directly.
"David, Tony, you two should pay attention to my position and make more direct passes." Su Dong paused for a moment and added, "My right foot hasn't fully recovered yet, so I can't run too much. Thank you for your hard work!"
Everyone was aware of Su Dong's situation and they all nodded in agreement immediately.
"It's okay, leave the pressing of the defense to me," Sanchez assured.
"I still have strength now, leave the left side to me." Di Maria also expressed his opinion.
"And me and Tony, we can all move forward."
After David Silva finished speaking, Toni Kroos kept nodding.
Su Dong nodded heavily.
"Okay, then don't say too much, just perform well!"
…
Ferguson was on the sidelines, watching several Manchester City midfielders and forwards take time to get together, as if plotting something. He immediately walked to the sidelines, calling out to Ferdinand and Vidic, signaling them to keep an eye on Su Dong.
At the same time, we also need to pay attention to the two wingers to prevent crosses from the wingers.
Carrick, Fletcher and Scholes need to pay attention to City's midfield and try to cut off the pass to Sudon.
After completing the arrangements, he was still not very reassured, and immediately asked Wes Brown and O'Shea to warm up and be ready to substitute at any time. Nani and Hernandez were also actively preparing.
Ferguson has been waiting, waiting for Guardiola's trump card.
He knew that Su Dong's inclusion in the list was definitely not without purpose.
If Manchester City wins, Su Dong will basically not play, but once Manchester City falls into a passive position or falls behind in the score, Guardiola will arrange for Su Dong to play.
It was like a sword of Damocles hanging over Ferguson's head, bringing him tremendous pressure.
So Ferguson has been waiting for Su Dong to come on the court.
And now, Su Dong is on the court, and the real test has come.
…
The game starts again.
Manchester City still did the same as before, controlling the ball, passing the ball patiently and organizing the attack.
Manchester United was focused on maintaining stability in defense and patiently waiting for the opportunity to counterattack.
The game was still relatively stalemate, but after Su Dong came on the field, Manchester City played more actively and resolutely on both sides.
In the 75th minute, Marcelo quickly moved forward on the left, completed a cooperation with David Silva and Di Maria, and made a low cross into the penalty area in front of the left baseline, but Ferdinand blocked the ball out of the baseline.
Su Dong was obviously a beat slower in catching up.
"It can be seen that Su Dong is still affected by his injury and is still somewhat avoiding confrontation with his opponent."
"But his deterrent power is still there. He exerted enough pressure on Manchester United's defense to make Manchester City's two flanks threatening. This should be regarded as a very obvious change from when Santa Cruz was here just now."
"Look at this corner kick opportunity."
"David Silva took a corner kick and it landed in the middle of the box."
"In the penalty area, players from both teams are fighting for it!"
"Su Dong got the ball and headed it into the goal!"
The entire Etihad Stadium was filled with cries of regret.
Su Dong's header just hit the crossbar and went out of the bottom line, failing to score.
This made him feel very depressed.
When he jumped just now, he was still a little hesitant with his right foot and had some problems exerting force, which resulted in him not jumping well. As a result, he made a mistake when heading the ball and did not get the angle and strength right.
This was actually something he had no control over.
If your right foot is injured, your body will instinctively avoid using your right foot.
Just a little bit!
"This corner kick by Manchester City was very threatening. Su Dong got the ball and headed it, almost breaking through Manchester United's goal. This was also the most threatening attack by Manchester City so far in the second half."
"We saw that Ferguson was very anxious on the sidelines and he was ready to make a substitution."
"Wes Brown is going to come on as a substitute. The one who should be replaced is Rafael. Just now, when the Brazilian was defending Di Maria and Marcelo, he failed to block the ball to the wing, and Marcelo made a successful cross, which led to the corner kick."
"For Manchester United, if the score remains 0-0, it would also be a very good result."
"At least Manchester City didn't continue to widen the gap."
"Ferguson said before the game that he was confident of a comeback during Christmas and the winter break. Now, what Manchester United wants to do is to shorten the gap with Manchester City as much as possible and create more favorable conditions for a comeback during Christmas and the winter break."
…
"Su."
When walking back, David Silva deliberately fell behind and walked side by side with Su Dong.
"Pay attention to running into open space later. I'll dribble the ball more and then pass it to you, trying to create a one-on-one opportunity for you."
Su Dong reached out, touched David Silva's head, which was already soaked with sweat, and laughed.
He was really happy because he felt that David Silva was no longer the little brother who followed him around, but his comrade-in-arms who could provide him with maximum support when necessary.
Being able to say such things proves that David Silva has great confidence in his abilities.
Facts have also proved that David Silva has performed better and better this season and is one of the best players in Manchester City after Sudon and Kompany.
Speaking of Kompany and Pepe, these two players also completely restricted Berbatov and Rooney.
If Manchester City was restricted by Santa Cruz, then the situation at Manchester United was not much better. Berbatov was also restricted by Pepe and Kompany.
Rooney was out because of some of the troubles he had before, first the recruitment of J goalkeeper and then the contract renewal dispute. He finally renewed his contract but was injured again. After returning from injury, he is recovering his form. He did not perform very well tonight, with only a few bright spots when he attacked from behind Marcelo during counterattacks, but he was not much of a threat.
In comparison, Manchester City's performance is still pretty good.
…
The game starts again.
Su Dong followed David Silva's advice and spent more time running into the open space rather than receiving passes from his teammates.
His right foot is injured, so he tends to run in spaces that are convenient for kicking the ball with his left foot, such as the left side of the penalty area.
Ferguson must have had this guess early on, so he arranged for Wes Brown to replace Rafael, in order to work with Ferdinand to restrict Su Dong's left foot.
Since the right foot injury has not healed, the left foot is naturally the key.
After trying several times, Su Dong failed to catch the ball.
Manchester United was well prepared for this and would not let Su Dong receive the ball with his left foot easily.
Time passed by little by little, and soon it was eighty minutes.
David Silva and Toni Kroos tried to pass the ball forward several times, and even Marcelo and Di Maria tried to pass the ball, but the results were not ideal.
Ferguson made his final substitution in the 80th minute, replacing Berbatov with Nani and pushing Rooney to the front line, which created a very interesting situation.
Both Manchester United and Manchester City are betting big on their star players, and on which of these two players who have just returned from injuries can better seize opportunities and create deadly killing opportunities in the game.
Manchester City fans at the Etihad Stadium began to get a little restless.
Especially after the game entered the 85th minute, they began to get anxious.
Su Dong had been on the field for more than ten minutes, but apart from that one header, he did not create any threat.
Is it true that we will end up in a 0-0 draw with Manchester United at the Etihad Stadium tonight?
The team is so strong this season, can't they deal with Manchester United?
Manchester City fans refused to give up and they cheered for their team even harder and louder.
They hope the team can hold on until the last minute, the last second.
In the 86th minute, after Carrick completed a long shot from outside Manchester City's penalty area, Manchester United basically adopted a defensive posture and obviously began to be satisfied with a draw.
0-0 is pretty good for Manchester United playing away.
But not for Manchester City.
Therefore, Manchester City players are still organizing the attack.
(End of this chapter)
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