Chapter 868 Su Dong, did you see it?
When the game was in the twelfth minute, Stoke City got a chance for a throw-in on the right side of the frontcourt.
When Marcelo was returning to defense, he shoveled the ball out of bounds.
Stoke City's right-back Wilkinson quickly ran forward, picked up a football from the ground, put it inside his jersey on his chest, and wiped it carefully to remove the water stains on it.
The visiting team's players pressed forward quickly, especially center forward John Carew, who went straight to the bottom line on the left side of the penalty area and used his burly body to block Pepe behind him.
This is Stoke City's signature tactic, the throw-in grenade tactic.
As the referee blew the whistle, Wilkinson quickly raised the ball over his head and threw it into the penalty area with all his strength.
Both of Stoke City's full-backs have practiced this set of skills and can throw the ball far and accurately.
John Carew leaned on Pepe and kept leaning back.
Pepe's physique is considered to be very outstanding among central defenders, but he is shorter than John Carew and has no advantage in strength. He has to stand between him and the goal, so Pepe can only retreat.
Although John Carew is a center forward, he also has good footwork.
Wilkinson's hand-thrown ball directly into the left side of Manchester City's penalty area. After landing in front of John Carew, the Norwegian center kicked the ball to the bottom line. Pepe behind him tried his best to block the position and prevent Carew from turning around.
But when the two were engaged in physical confrontation, Joe Hart, for some reason, abandoned the goal and attacked.
If you really want to attack, you can attack before the hand-thrown ball enters the penalty area and grab the ball out of the air, that's no problem, but you wait until the ball lands before you arrive, and then you miss it. What's going on?
You're attacking in vain! Pepe was horrified and tried desperately to stop John Carew from kicking the ball.
But the Norwegian center forward had already turned sideways and saw Joe Hart, and immediately used his height and long legs to poke the ball directly.
Although Carew lost his balance and fell in the penalty area, the ball passed between Joe Hart's legs and headed straight for the goal.
Kompany behind him kept chasing back, trying to clear the ball in front of the goal, but he ended up shoveling the ball into his own goal.
There was a cry of surprise mixed with disappointment throughout the Etihad Stadium.
Zero to one!
John Carew jumped up from the ground, roared, and rushed out of Manchester City's penalty area excitedly, running all the way, roaring continuously, as if telling everyone that he scored a goal! Su Dong, did you see that? I scored a goal! !
"It's very surprising that Stoke City scored the first goal!"
"Manchester City once again exposed problems in defending the throw-in, especially goalkeeper Joe Hart, who had a very bad grasp of the timing of his attack. Even if he had simply stayed in front of the goal, I believe Pepe would have been able to stop Carew, after all, Carew's shooting angle was not very large at the time."
"But who would have thought that Joe Hart would leave the goal and fail to catch the ball. This is simply incomprehensible."
"One to zero! Thanks to the goal scored by Norwegian center forward Kalou, Stoke City is temporarily leading away from home."
Amid the boos from the stadium, Pepe looked at Joe Hart, who was lying in the penalty area, unable to retract his legs in time and was penetrated by Carew. He really wanted to curse at him in his heart.
With such a small shooting angle, you should just defend the near post. Why did you attack? Attacking is fine, at least you caught the ball!
In terms of physical confrontation, Pepe really couldn't gain any advantage against Kalou, but he tried his best and was able to force Kalou to the baseline, so that Kalou didn't have many shooting angles and his shots basically hit the goalkeeper's arms.
But now, my crotch has been penetrated.
…………
…………
While Manchester City was temporarily trailing Stoke City 0-1 at the Etihad Stadium, Manchester United was away to Blackburn at Ewood Park in north Manchester.
The two games are taking place almost at the same time, and now Manchester United and Blackburn are tied at 0-0.
Ferguson stood in the command area in front of the visiting team's coaching bench, chewing gum and watching the progress of the game intently.
Blackburn's 19-year-old central defender Phil Jones performed very well, impressed Ferguson, and resolved Manchester United's attacks several times, looking promising.
Assistant coach Mike Phelan had just received a phone call and immediately walked over to Ferguson's side.
"There's a goal over there!"
Ferguson's eyelids jumped. So fast? "Su Dong?" Ferguson asked without thinking.
"No, it's John Carew," the assistant coach chuckled, "using their signature out-of-bounds grenade tactic."
Ferguson was immediately delighted and laughed out loud.
It really is what you think! He had been waiting for the news that Stoke City would score a goal, but he didn't expect it to come true.
"Tony Pulis is quite capable. He can lead Stoke City to eighth place in the league. If they can beat Manchester City tonight, they may be able to advance further." Ferguson was in a very good mood. "By the way, didn't Manchester City defend against this tactic?"
"It was defended, but Joe Hart took the initiative and failed to save the ball, but his crotch was exposed instead."
After saying this, the assistant coach couldn't help but laugh.
No matter who scores or loses the ball, Manchester United will be happy as long as Stoke City scores.
As long as Manchester City loses this round, Manchester United will have a chance to turn the tables in the last round.
More importantly, Manchester United is also fighting on three fronts this season. On one hand, they reached the final of the Champions League against Mourinho's Barcelona, and on the other hand, they also reached the final of the FA Cup against Guardiola's Manchester City.
If they can reverse the situation in the league first, it will be a great help to Manchester United.
After hearing the good news, Ferguson was refreshed and said in a very instructive way: "Manchester City's biggest problem now is the goalkeeper. Their frontcourt is at best weak in the bench, but the goalkeeper makes too many mistakes, which is too demoralizing."
"A lot of people say we need a goalkeeper, but that's because Van der Sar is going to retire. Even so, Van der Sar is still very reliable. But Manchester City is different. No one knows when Joe Hart will have a brain tic and something bad will happen."
Mike Phelan also laughed and agreed with Ferguson's statement.
Introducing a high-level goalkeeper has become the most common suggestion from the outside world to Manchester City.
Joe Hart has made enough mistakes this season and is totally unworthy of being the main goalkeeper for a Premier League title-chasing team.
Of course, this is also related to Guardiola's tactics.
"Manchester City is behind, we should work harder!"
At this point, Ferguson walked to the sidelines and shouted loudly to the Manchester United players on the field: "Come on, everyone, cheer up, we need to score a goal, attack!"
When the Manchester United players on the field heard Ferguson's roar, they immediately perked up. Many players also got the information they wanted to know from Mike Phelan's gestures on the sidelines.
Manchester City lost the ball! As long as Manchester United beat their opponent, the ownership of the Premier League championship will still be in suspense.
Thinking of this, the Manchester United players on the field immediately played more vigorously.
Rooney even called on the entire team to press forward and madly beat Blackburn in the half.
Poor violent Ben, they are usually the ones who are violent to others, when have they ever been so violent to others? But the players of Manchester United are like wolves and tigers, and they look ferocious beyond words.
Finally, in the 20th minute, Rooney got the ball on the right, broke through and made a cross. Hernandez ran to the front of the goal smartly and headed the ball from close range, breaking Blackburn's goal for Manchester United.
In an instant, the shouts of Manchester United players could be heard throughout the stadium.
Head coach Ferguson on the sidelines raised his arms high, his face flushed with excitement, and he kept roaring.
Finally a goal! As long as they score one goal, Manchester United will have the initiative in their hands!
"Keep the momentum and pursue the victory!"
This thought popped into Ferguson's mind.
…………
…………
In Blackburn in the north, Manchester United scored!
The news soon reached the Etihad Stadium.
The players on the field were still passing the ball patiently, controlling the ball and the game, and patiently organizing penetration. They were not aware of what was happening in Blackburn in the north, but the coaching staff on the sidelines and the fans in the stands knew it.
They all made a restless sound.
The movement naturally spread to the court.
The players are not stupid. They are all paying attention to the movements in the stands and on the sidelines of the court, and naturally they are aware of the problem.
They guessed that Manchester United was leading.
Manchester City is behind here, and Manchester United is leading there. Could the situation be worse than this?
Will the scenario that Ferguson sketched out before the game really become a reality? With such a messy mind, the passing and controlling of the ball by Manchester City players on the field also had problems.
Some players began to get anxious.
He should have passed the ball again and then dropped it, but in his haste, he just hit it directly.
Needless to say, if the time was not right, not only would one be frustrated, but one would also be counterattacked by the opponent.
Guardiola also realized the problem on the sidelines and kept calling on the players to stay calm and not to be anxious.
But emotions are not something that can be controlled casually.
Even as a professional player, it concerns his own personal interests and the success or failure of a season's efforts. Who can not care?
Manchester City's players became anxious, but Stoke City continued to defend and counterattack.
Tony Pulis also learned about the results of the battle in the north, and immediately defended more firmly.
The cunning man was waiting for Manchester City to make a mistake before launching a fatal attack.
Su Dong also realized the problem. After an unsuccessful attack, he loudly called on his teammates to calm down and not to be anxious, as there was still a lot of time as it was only the first half.
He normally enjoys a high reputation within the team, but in a rapidly changing game, such appeals are not very effective.
Once the attack started, the players began to get anxious again.
Everyone knows that Manchester United is leading and Manchester City needs to score at least two goals to maintain its advantage.
Can Manchester City score two goals against the defensive Stoke City?
There is one drawback to Guardiola’s tactics. They require a very high mentality from the players and they need to be patient. Impatience can easily lead to mistakes.
So, to some extent, Guardiola's passing and controlling style of play is more suitable for long-term league games rather than one or two cup matches that decide the outcome.
But now, Manchester City is playing in the league, but has been forced into a desperate situation of falling behind in the knockout stage.
(End of this chapter)
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
