Chapter 916: Su, he is threatening you!
Su Dong saw Klopp again at the entrance of the player tunnel before the game.
The players of the two teams were lined up in two lines, and the referee Frank De Blekele from Belgium and his assistants were ready and could enter the field at any time.
As the captain of the team, Su Dong stood at the front of the queue, right at the entrance.
Klopp was about to enter the stadium and happened to pass by Su Dong. When the two met, Su Dong didn't quite recognize him.
This German man, who usually has a full beard and looks sloppy, shaved his beard and put on a suit tonight, which is rare. He looked completely renewed, like a completely different person.
"What? Don't you know him?" Klopp asked with a grin.
When Su Dong saw his yellow teeth caused by smoking and smelled the smell of cigarettes on his body, he immediately understood.
It’s Klopp!
Su Dong has a very deep impression of this German head coach, with whom he almost worked at Bayern, because the Mainz and Dortmund teams he coached are hard to forget and their styles are very unique.
"I almost didn't recognize you." Su Dong smiled and stretched out his hand.
Klopp shook Su Dong's hand vigorously, "Be careful tonight."
"Okay." Su Dong nodded.
Klopp waved goodbye and walked straight out of the player tunnel.
Looking at his tall and majestic back, Su Dong really wanted to have a good talk with him and told him to get his teeth fixed and whitened as soon as possible.
After all, he is a famous coach in the Bundesliga. Can't he take his image into consideration? Of course, it is not ruled out that he deliberately maintains this sloppy uncle image to gain some alternative attention.
…
"Su, he's threatening you!"
The little ball boy Foden beside him looked at Klopp, who had disappeared from the player tunnel, with disgust on his face and said.
"Then what?" Su Dong laughed.
"Teach him a lesson! Teach him a lesson hard!" Foden made a chopping gesture with his little hand.
Haha, I didn’t expect that this guy is such a cruel and ruthless guy.
"I can't beat him. Look at his height and size. He looks like a boxer. He used to be a center back."
Foden raised his head, looked up at Su Dong, and asked, "Aren't you just here to abuse those central defenders?"
Su Dong was so amused that he didn't know what to do next.
Just then, he suddenly remembered something.
"I noticed that you've been around me all the time lately?" Su Dong was a little puzzled.
When Foden heard this, he immediately scratched his head in embarrassment.
Another caddie next to him immediately shouted: "He bribed us with pocket money."
"Yes, yes, he promised to buy us drinks, so we gave it to him."
"Phil, you can't break your promise."
The children became excited and started to make a noise.
Foden was very embarrassed and immediately waved his hand, signaling his teammates to shut up.
"I know, what are you arguing about?"
You know what, this kid is probably doing pretty well in the youth team. When he shouts, the others really don't dare to say anything.
Su Dong reached out and scratched Foden's head, thinking that this kid was very interesting despite his cleverness.
In fact, Manchester City's youth training is still pretty good. They have participated in the Youth Champions League before and achieved decent results. A group of young players headed by Sterling, Bellerin and others will definitely take over the team in the future.
More importantly, Manchester City has been increasing its investment.
In terms of hardware, the training base in the center of Manchester is under construction. In terms of software, high-level youth training experts have been introduced in recent years to increase the attention and investment in youth training. In terms of players, the team is also scouting for young talents to enrich the club's youth training camp.
Soriano and Begiristain are both managers who understand football very well. With the financial backing of the Abu Dhabi consortium, they can definitely do what they want.
And youth training is the future of Manchester City.
…………
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Led by Frank De Blekeley, the two teams walked onto the field one after another.
Manchester City will still play in a 4-3-3 formation tonight.
The goalkeeper is Courtois, the defense is Marcelo, Pepe, Kompany and Zabaleta, the midfielder is Busquets, David Silva and Toni Kroos are forward, and the front trident is a combination of Di Maria, Sudon and Sanchez.
All the main players are basically Manchester City's regular starting lineup. What is special is that Courtois replaced Joe Hart in the starting lineup.
After the European Super Cup, there were a lot of voices coming from the outside world, especially when Joe Hart performed poorly and did not play well in the national team, which led to more and more doubts about him from the outside world.
Guardiola has been somewhat dissatisfied with Joe Hart for a long time. In this crucial battle against Dortmund, he simply promoted Courtois to the position and let Joe Hart sit on the bench. His attitude was obvious.
From the beginning of the season to now, the two goalkeepers have played one game each. Judging from their performance, Courtois is indeed slightly better, and his performance is showing an overall upward trend. Although Joe Hart also tried hard, he was not very adaptable after all.
Tonight is also a big test for Courtois.
So, after coming on the court, Su Dong high-fived all his teammates one by one and gave encouragement. He especially patted Courtois on the shoulder, indicating that he should work harder, but not to feel pressured and just do his best.
Dortmund adopted a 4-2-3-1 formation.
The goalkeeper is Weidenfeller, the defense is Schmelzer, Felipe Santana, Subotic and Piszczek, the double defensive midfielders are Sven Bender and captain Kehl, the front is Grosskreutz, Shinji Kagawa and Gotze, and the single striker is Lewandowski.
Perisic, who Klopp attaches great importance to, was placed on the bench. Gundogan, who was introduced this summer, did not start in this game. It is obvious that they are still being given time to help them integrate into the team.
Manchester City played against Lech Poznan of Poland in the Europa League last season. This team is very strong and even beat Juventus to qualify. At that time, many people said when analyzing this team that if the main center forward Lewandowski had not left the team, Lech Poznan would be even stronger.
Lewandowski transferred to Dortmund.
Although the team did not perform well last season, its strength is unquestionable.
When guessing the side, Dortmund chose to give priority to the free throw.
Lewandowski and Gotze stood at the penalty spot in the center circle, while Su Dong headed to the right side of the center circle.
Referee De Bleaker kept looking at the clock.
After a crisp whistle, the game officially began.
…
After Dortmund kicked off, Gotze immediately passed the ball back to center back Subotic.
Su Dong also pressed forward as soon as possible, and when Subotic received the ball, he had already rushed nearby.
The Croatian center back chose to pass the ball to the right and passed it to his partner Santana.
At this time, Dortmund's two full-backs were already pressing forward.
Santana was under pressure from Di Maria and kicked forward with a big foot, trying to pass the ball to the front right to find Gotze, but Marcelo got there first and headed the ball back.
David Silva retreated to receive the ball, turned around and dribbled forward. As a result, Dortmund's midfielder Kyle grabbed David Silva in time, and after a lot of hard work, he forced David Silva to lose his balance and fall to the ground.
The ball was lost.
After grabbing the ball, Dortmund made consecutive passes.
Sven Bender passed the ball to Grosskreutz, who passed it horizontally to Shinji Kagawa.
The Japanese player, nicknamed Asian Tsubasa, rushed forward with the ball, attracted Busquets' attention, and passed the ball to Götze.
Götze didn't stop the ball, but pushed it forward and into the penalty area.
Lewandowski broke free from Kompany's entanglement and rushed directly into the penalty area.
Courtois decisively left the goal and rushed directly to the penalty spot, fell to the ground and hugged the ball, making Lewandowski a step late. The Polish center had no choice but to jump over Courtois and returned disappointed.
Although it was just a quick counterattack, it was clear how difficult Dortmund was.
When defending, this team is very skilled and methodical whether it is high-pressure pressing, persistent fighting, or positional defense. Once the ball is snatched away, their counterattack is very fast, and the players' cooperation with each other is very concise and swift, making it easy to be caught off guard.
Guardiola had reminded the team before the game to remain patient no matter what.
We must not be impatient, we must control the ball, control the tempo, and not be led by Dortmund.
All the Manchester City fans in the stadium gave warm applause to Courtois for his decisive attack.
The Belgian goalkeeper is winning the trust of Manchester City players and fans step by step.
…
After the game started, both teams basically did not hold back and fought very fiercely.
Dortmund played very aggressively.
For example, Santana could push Di Maria away when he was making a forward run and competing for a header with Di Maria, Toni Kroos could be knocked to the ground by Sven Bender just as he stopped the ball, and Su Dong was often violated by his opponents.
There were a lot of small moves, but they were all done in moderation, and the main focus was on harassment. Coupled with Klopp's aggressive tactics, Dortmund, after the start, although mainly focused on defense, fought evenly with Manchester City and did not lose the upper hand at all.
Su Dong can clearly feel that compared with the Dortmund he met in the Bundesliga two years ago, the current Hornets are obviously more mature, the players cooperate better, and Klopp's tactics have obviously been polished.
The overall strength of this team is better than that of Mainz when he coached.
But the current Manchester City is also very strong.
Especially at Manchester City’s own home ground.
Although Dortmund played very actively after the opening, Manchester City was also very patient, controlling the ball slowly and waiting for opportunities.
Once a loophole is discovered, counterattack will be launched immediately.
In the fourth minute of the game, after Manchester City's midfielder intercepted the ball, David Silva took a step forward, and without waiting for the defender to get close, he sent an over-the-top pass with his left foot directly into the penalty area.
Su Dong quickly joined in, and Santana followed closely behind him, both chasing the ball.
(End of this chapter)
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