Chapter 926: The Battle between the Old and New Captains
After two weeks of national team matches, the players returned to Carrington one after another.
International players playing in Europe will arrive earlier, while international players from South America will not arrive until the day before the game.
This is because Manchester City specially chartered a plane for pick-up. If they were to take the plane by themselves, it would take even longer.
This is also the biggest problem brought about by national team competitions.
There is really nothing much to say about the race itself, the most important thing is the distance.
Some national team players even fly back and play a game without resting, and then return directly after the game. Almost all the players' energy is consumed in the long journey.
On the afternoon before the game, after the team training session, Su Dong specially kept all the first-team players.
At this time, the staff of Mendes Company had already delivered the gifts that Su Dong had carefully prepared for his teammates.
With the annual salary of Manchester City players, even the young players of the first team, they are considered high-income earners in society and do not need any gifts at all. The key lies in who gives the gift and why.
This time, Su Dong gave a set of three new items launched by Apple, including a mobile phone, a tablet and a laptop, all of which are of the highest configuration and are not cheap. It is nothing for some famous stars, but it is quite rare for a young player like Trippier.
One reason why everyone took it seriously was that the gift was given by Su Dong.
"Captain, the festival hasn't arrived yet, why are you suddenly giving us gifts?" David Luiz is also a carefree guy. After receiving the gift, he smiled from ear to ear and asked curiously.
Su Dong smiled and said without hiding anything, "I'm getting married!"
"Get married?" David Luiz was stunned. "Who?"
"Nonsense." Marcelo next to him slapped him on the back of the head, "Who do you think our captain is? Who else can he marry except that man?"
David Luiz immediately realized what was going on. He had also seen Wang Chuqing at the party and was struck by her beauty.
Everyone laughed and thought these two Brazilian comedians were really funny.
"When is that scheduled?" Gareth Barry asked more maturely.
"The time has not been determined yet, but it is initially expected to be after the end of next year's season."
Everyone understood immediately.
In fact, for professional players, the rest period between two seasons has always been the peak period for marriage. Almost all players get married during this period. Some national team players have to sacrifice their pre-season training time and take leave to get married when they encounter major competitions such as the World Cup and the European Cup, otherwise they will not have time.
Su Dong is different from other players. He has never had any national team competition missions, so naturally he doesn't have to worry about anything. As long as the league is suspended, he has plenty of time to prepare for the wedding.
His announcement now is actually equivalent to telling everyone that when the time comes, he will not notify anyone else except those he invites. As for who he will invite, the answer does not need to be explained.
Such as Pepe, David Silva, Marcelo and Toni Kroos, they are all Su Dong's close friends.
Only those with the closest relationship will receive the invitation. As for the others, they have been notified today.
Everyone knew this, so they all went over to congratulate Su Dong and wish him a happy marriage in advance.
"Then let's all work harder this season and strive to get good results to congratulate Su on his wedding!" Pepe suggested.
Both vice-captains Kompany and Zabaleta also spoke out in support of Pepe's suggestion.
Having just received this generous gift from Su Dong, the players naturally responded.
More importantly, Manchester City has performed very well this season, maintaining a seven-game winning streak in the Premier League so far.
However, the opponent in the next round, which is tomorrow night's game, is also quite strong.
So far, seven rounds of the Premier League have been played, and four teams have not lost a game, namely Manchester City at the top, Manchester United at second, and Newcastle and Aston Villa behind them.
Newcastle has remained unbeaten with four wins and three draws and is currently ranked fourth in the Premier League. It seems that the Magpies are about to regroup.
Whether Newcastle can emerge as a dark horse this season or regain its former glory as a Premier League giant depends on their performance in the future.
As for Aston Villa, it is actually quite embarrassing, because in the first seven rounds of games, they only won two games, and the remaining five games were all draws, ranking seventh in the Premier League standings.
From this point it is not difficult to see that Aston Villa may not be very strong, but they are very difficult to deal with.
If we were to name the most surprising team in the first seven rounds, it would definitely be Arsenal.
The Gunners have played seven games, with two wins, one draw and four losses. They are currently ranked 15th, only two points away from the relegation zone.
If Wenger was not in a highly respected position in the Gunners, he would normally have initiated a coaching change at this point.
No one really thinks that Arsenal will sink, but it is also a fact that the Gunners played terribly in the first seven rounds. The key lies in whether Wenger can lead the team to turn the situation around in the next few games.
As for Manchester City, the pressure of the upcoming schedule is also particularly great.
After playing Aston Villa, they will face Villarreal in the third round of the Champions League group stage, and the Manchester derby will be held at the weekend.
Last season, Manchester City slaughtered Manchester United at Old Trafford, and now Ferguson has threatened to take revenge at home.
This battle is considered to be the most important battle for Manchester City so far this season.
…………
…………
On the afternoon of October 15th, in the eighth round of the Premier League, Manchester City faced Aston Villa at home.
As the upcoming matches are quite busy, Guardiola still made rotations in today's game.
All the players who traveled a long distance back to participate in the war and those who played the full game for the national team were rested in this round of games.
This resulted in Manchester City having to field a severely incomplete lineup.
The goalkeeper is Courtois, the defense is Leighton Baines, Javi Martinez, Pepe and Trippier, the midfield is Thiago, Milner and Gareth Barry are forward, and the front court is Hazard, Sudon and Douglas Costa.
All South American internationals were excluded from the squad, as Guardiola obviously hopes they will save their energy for the Champions League.
Aston Villa coach McLeish deployed a 4-2-3-1 double defensive midfielder tactic away from home, defending tightly and not intending to leave any room for Manchester City to pass the ball.
After the game started, the situation was basically as expected by the outside world. Although Manchester City's midfield was composed of Milner and Gareth Barry, it still had a clear advantage in passing and controlling the ball.
The biggest difference is that Manchester City's midfield is not actually smooth, especially in terms of creating opportunities.
But even so, Manchester City still seized an opportunity in the 15th minute.
Douglas Costa dribbled the ball on the right and passed it to Milner, who broke into the right side of the penalty area and passed it to the penalty spot. Su Dong, who was following up in the middle, rushed over and shot without stopping the ball.
The ball almost stuck to the grass and flew swiftly into the lower right corner of Aston Villa's goal, one to zero!
After taking the lead, Manchester City continued to launch wave after wave of attacks on Aston Villa.
In the 28th minute, left-back Hutton was pressed by Manchester City when he got the ball. After Hazard intercepted the ball, the Belgian launched a counterattack on the spot and rushed into the left side of Aston Villa's penalty area with the ball. He calmly pushed the ball into the far corner and scored another goal for Manchester City, 2-0! After scoring two goals in a row, Manchester City's morale was greatly boosted.
The team ended the first half with a two-goal lead. Just two minutes into the second half, Trippier dribbled the ball from the right and just after crossing the center line, he spotted an opportunity and sent a long diagonal pass with his right foot, directly over the heads of Aston Villa's defense.
Su Dong made a high-speed run from behind, jumped up one step ahead of former Manchester City captain Dunne, headed the ball in front of himself, and after landing, he quickly chased forward and poked the ball into the penalty area before another central defender Clark.
Before the goalkeeper could get into position, Su Dong took the lead and shot the ball into the goal behind him, making it three to zero!
“Score twice!!!”
"It was a direct contest between the new and old captains of Manchester City. Dunn had no temper at all with Su Dong. He watched him grab the ball and then walk away in a cloud of dust."
"We have to sigh that Su Dong is indeed more outstanding in terms of physical fitness, jumping ability, speed and explosiveness, which is fully reflected in this goal."
"Three to zero, Manchester City has basically won the victory in advance!"
…
Just five minutes later, Manchester City created a threat again.
This time, Milner made a straight pass from outside the penalty area, accurately delivering it to Su Dong's feet in the penalty area.
After Su Dong blocked Dunn with his body, he kicked directly.
Aston Villa goalkeeper reacted quickly and made a desperate save to block Su Dong's shot.
But just when everyone was about to breathe a sigh of relief, Gareth Barry suddenly appeared in the penalty area, met the flying football with his left foot, and volleyed the ball into the Aston Villa goal.
After scoring the goal, Gareth Barry did not celebrate.
He was from Aston Villa and was the captain of the team at the time and was deeply loved by Aston Villa fans.
Now, as a Manchester City player, he faced Aston Villa and was very excited, but after scoring the goal, he did not intend to celebrate, but walked back silently.
Despite this, Gareth Barry's move received warm applause from Manchester City fans at the scene.
…
With the outcome already decided, Su Dong was replaced by Dzeko.
Interestingly, just five minutes after he left the field, Dzeko's shot created a corner kick opportunity. Pepe received a pass from his teammate and headed the ball into the goal in the penalty area, scoring another goal for Manchester City, 5-0! This was also the last goal of the game.
Manchester City eventually defeated Aston Villa 5-0 at home and won three points again.
…………
…………
Three days later, in the third round of the Champions League group stage, Manchester City faced Villarreal at home.
Just four minutes into the game, David Luiz's dribbling breakthrough in the backcourt was intercepted. Italian striker Rossi shot from the top of the penalty area, but Courtois made a desperate save. Then Cani broke into the penalty area and calmly shot into the empty goal.
Zero to one!
Manchester City fell behind for the first time this season.
(End of this chapter)
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
No comments yet.