Chapter 920 It’s all Su Dong’s fault
Three days after playing against Dortmund, the team went south to London to challenge Fulham away.
This is the fifth round of the Premier League this season.
Although Courtois' outstanding performance won unanimous praise after the match against Dortmund, Guardiola, Begiristain and others decided after research that Joe Hart should still start in this game.
On the one hand, it is for rotation, and on the other hand, it is to appease the players and fans.
No matter what, Joe Hart is England's goalkeeper. It is really unreasonable for him to lose his starting position after just a few games. In addition, the emotions of local fans are also something the team needs to consider.
After communication and coordination, it was finally decided to let Joe Hart start.
After the Champions League match against Dortmund, the team was exhausted, so Guardiola decided to make a lot of rotations in this game, even fielding a trident combination of Hazard, Dzeko and Aguero in the frontcourt, and letting Douglas Costa sit on the bench.
Also sitting on the bench was Su Dong, who performed well in the match against Dortmund and was rotated in this game.
At Craven Cottage, Manchester City still insisted on playing in a 4-3-3 formation.
The goalkeeper is Joe Hart, the back line is Leighton Baines, Javi Martinez, David Luiz and Zabaleta, the midfield is Busquets in the back, Moutinho and Toni Kroos in the front, and the front trident is a combination of Hazard, Dzeko and Aguero.
Toni Kroos is highly valued by Guardiola and has made many consecutive appearances, which also shows Guardiola's reliance on this German midfielder. Toni Kroos' performance has become more and more stable, and he has become an indispensable and important passer in Manchester City.
According to media statistics, Toni Kroos and Busquets are the players with the most passes and the highest success rate in the Premier League this season. Even in the top five leagues, they are only inferior to Xavi of Barcelona, and are similar to Iniesta and Messi.
…
Su Dong sat in the visiting team's bench, watching the game attentively and analyzing the situation of both sides.
Manchester City pressed forward aggressively from the start and suppressed Fulham. Relying on skillful passing and controlling the ball, they firmly secured the initiative of the game, frequently created threats, and created several consecutive shooting opportunities into the penalty area.
It wasn't until the 15th minute that Dempsey, the home team Fulham, made his first shot, a long shot from the left side of the penalty area.
Joe Hart was very steady this time and caught the ball firmly.
Just two minutes later, Toni Kroos made a straight pass from the front of the penalty area, Moutinho pushed it to the right near the penalty spot, Aguero ran into the open space, received the ball and had a single shot, and easily pushed the ball into the goal, opening the scoring for Manchester City.
One to zero!
Su Dong, along with all the players on the bench, stood up from their seats and applauded Aguero's goal.
Since joining Manchester City, Aguero has scored quite a few goals. His goal efficiency is even higher than when he was at Atletico Madrid, and his demonstrated strength is also stronger, which has won him more and more recognition.
His father-in-law, the football king Maradona, said that Aguero received more support in Manchester City, but he had to be inferior to Su Dong. The implication was somewhat interesting, probably because he felt that his son-in-law was no worse than Su Dong.
For this matter, Aguero even explained a few words to Su Dong in private, but Su Dong didn't take it to heart.
Su Dong still admires Aguero very much.
Who made them both have a common best friend? ...
After the goal, Fulham tried to counterattack.
Martin Jol is a Dutch referee who is more offensive by nature.
But Manchester City quickly launched a counterattack. Hazard got the ball on the left and broke through, attracting the attention of two defenders. The ball was then passed to Leighton Baines who made a long shot that was slightly higher than the goal.
There was no goal, but the warning was enough to scare Fulham into a cold sweat.
Manchester City continued to stabilize the situation and adopted a high-pressure tactic against Fulham, frequently exerting pressure and creating threats.
Although Fulham was in a very awkward situation under heavy pressure, they were patiently waiting for the opportunity to launch a counterattack. However, they could only threaten Manchester City's goal through long shots.
Joe Hart's performance tonight was relatively stable. He did not give his opponent any chances and did not make any mistakes.
Manchester City took the lead 1-0 in the first half.
After the halftime break, the second half started. After only ten minutes, the ball was passed back to the backcourt after the frontcourt kicked off. Javi Martinez passed it to the left. Leighton Baines made a long pass, Dzeko headed the ball to Aguero. After the Argentine took the ball, he rushed to the outside of the penalty area and suddenly shot.
The shot was so fast and sharp that even though goalkeeper Schwarzer tried to save it, he was unable to stop the ball from going into the net.
Two to zero! …
After scoring two goals in a row, everyone basically believed that Manchester City had already won.
Even Guardiola was signaling to the players on the field to be a little more stable. On the contrary, Fulham, when they were two goals behind, were more relaxed, frequently launching counterattacks and being more determined in the counterattacks.
This basically conforms to the characteristics of Premier League teams.
Away games can be lost, but at home, especially in front of home fans, you must show aggressiveness and desire to win. Otherwise, how can you convince home fans to continue to buy tickets and support? Under Fulham's increasingly strong counterattack, Manchester City lost the goal in the 55th minute.
After a backcourt interception, Dembele and Dempsey passed the ball in succession, tearing open Manchester City's defense. Zamora blocked Javi Martinez with his body in the penalty area, turned around and forced a shot, scoring a goal for Fulham.
One to two!
This goal boosted Fulham's morale.
Just two minutes later, there was another long pass from the center circle, and Dempsey rushed into the penalty area at high speed, intending to shoot directly.
At the critical moment, Sabaletta, wearing the captain's armband on the field, returned to defense in time, blocked Dempsey's shot and resolved a crisis.
But then Fulham played more and more vigorously, launching frequent counterattacks. The players were also affected and became more aggressive, which caused Manchester City to make mistakes in passing and controlling the ball, and Fulham launched counterattacks again and again.
Guardiola made a decisive substitution, replacing Moutinho with Gareth Barry. Obviously, he also wanted to strengthen the defense in the midfield and curb Fulham's counterattack as soon as possible.
But in the 68th minute, Sidwell passed the ball and Murphy shot directly from outside the penalty area. When the ball flew into the penalty area, it hit David Luiz's leg and changed direction and hit Manchester City's goal.
Joe Hart was frozen on the goal line.
Damn, even this is possible? The referee immediately blew the whistle, indicating that the goal was valid, but it was not an own goal, but Murphy scored with a long shot.
Manchester City is now in an awkward situation.
Joe Hart was so depressed that he almost wanted to tear down the goal in front of him.
His performance tonight was not bad, it could even be said to be quite good, but in the end he still conceded two goals.
Damn, stop bullying me like this, okay? He is now at the critical moment of competing with Courtois for the starting goalkeeper, and he is playing this kind of game at this time?
It seemed as if even God was playing a joke on him! …
Su Dong was on the sidelines and witnessed his team go from leading 2-0 to being chased by Fulham with two goals.
Joe Hart really can't be blamed for these two goals.
The problem with the first goal was that Javi Martinez was not a central defender. When defending, a midfielder considers issues from a different angle than a central defender because there are defenders behind him.
But it’s different for the central defender. If the opponent turns around and shoots directly at the goal, it would be extremely fatal.
The first goal was conceded due to Javi Martinez's defensive habits. If we really want to blame someone, we can only blame Guardiola. Why did he let Javi Martinez play as a central defender? As for the second goal, it was purely a matter of luck.
Sometimes football games are like that.
It was just like Murphy's long shot. If David Luiz hadn't blocked it or touched it, it might not have gone in. But it was precisely because of David Luiz's touch that the ball changed direction, so it went in.
Su Dong saw that Guardiola was obviously very depressed. He kept shaking his head in anger on the sidelines and was obviously very dissatisfied with the result.
It would be the same no matter who it was. From 2-0 to 2-2, who could accept that? I'm afraid the happiest people were the tens of thousands of fans at the scene and the people of Fulham.
In fact, they played even more vigorously, as if they were going to reverse the situation of Manchester City on the spot.
Especially in the 74th minute, Murphy made another run from behind, feinted a shot outside the penalty area, and suddenly passed the ball directly into the penalty area, assisting Riise to shoot in the penalty area, but the shot was slightly higher.
Fulham really got more and more excited as the game went on, while Manchester City seemed a little flustered.
Guardiola finally lost his patience and made substitutions immediately.
…
"Su, we need you!"
Guardiola came to the bench with a stern face and shouted at Su Dong.
The noise at the scene was too loud, and he was afraid that Su Dong wouldn't be able to hear him if he didn't shout louder.
Su Dong stood up from the bench and nodded, "Don't worry, it's okay."
After saying that, Su Dong ran out to warm up for a while, then ran back to the coaching seat.
At this time, Fulham's head coach Martin Jol had noticed the movements on Manchester City's side. Especially when he saw Su Dong warming up, he immediately nervously reminded his players to pay attention, especially Hangeland.
But he still seemed a little worried and immediately looked at the bench.
At this moment, Felipe Senderos, the Swiss central defender who was loaned from Arsenal this summer, was sitting on the bench. When he noticed the look in the coach's eyes, his heart trembled for no reason.
Especially when he felt Martin Yol's burning gaze, he couldn't help but look away.
When Martin Jol saw this, he immediately let out a helpless sigh in his heart.
He was such a good central defender back then, how come he was so abused by Su Dong that he suffered psychological trauma?
What a tragic and sad story this is!
(End of this chapter)
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