Chapter 979: Replace Su Dong
Today's Manchester City proves the saying: If you stand in the right place, even pigs can fly.
As the team smoothly passed through the tough schedule of Christmas and winter break, and as the team defeated AC Milan 4-0 at home, Manchester City was in high spirits. Everyone was full of expectations for the future and full of confidence in the upcoming games.
This good mental outlook is reflected not only in the team's daily training, but also in the games.
For example, the FA Cup quarter-final match at home against Leicester City.
Manchester City played with a full substitute lineup, all the main players were rested, and as a result, the substitute players exploded.
David Luiz opened the scoring, followed by Hazard scoring a goal, Dzeko scoring twice, and finally Gareth Barry added the icing on the cake, as Manchester City beat Leicester City 5-1 at home.
The collective outbreak of substitute players not only showed Manchester City's strong strength, but also the excellent condition of the players.
If you stand in the right place, even a pig can fly.
This statement certainly makes sense, but there is another saying that goes something like this: When the wind is over, the ones who fall to death are the flying pigs.
But Manchester City did not fall to the ground, but flew higher and higher.
All this comes from the team's strong overall strength and the unity of the locker room.
According to the analysis of the British Times, Manchester City now has the most powerful lineup in European football. What's more frightening is that they are still working hard to strengthen the team's strength, such as introducing Paul Pogba this summer and recalling De Bruyne from Belgium this summer.
These two young talents will greatly enhance Manchester City's overall strength.
In addition, Manchester City is the Premier League team that has invested the most in youth training in the past few years. Currently, Manchester City's youth team is full of talents, which will provide an endless supply of talents for Manchester City's first team.
The Manchester City locker room is closely united around Su Dong and supports head coach Guardiola unreservedly, which allows Guardiola's tactics to be thoroughly implemented in Manchester City and become a unique landscape in the European arena.
Today, Manchester City's passing and controlling style is unique and amazing not only in the Premier League, but also in the entire European football.
Especially when Barcelona's doubts about Mourinho are growing louder, Manchester City's passing and controlling the ball are even more pleasing to the eye, winning more and more praise from the media and fans.
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Due to the FA Cup, some matches in the 29th round of the Premier League were postponed to midweek.
Manchester City will host Chelsea at home.
New coach Di Matteo chose Torres to start instead of Drogba, obviously wanting to increase the speed of counterattacks, but in the actual game, the effect was not ideal, and Torres continued his slump since joining Chelsea.
Manchester City took advantage of their home advantage, firmly controlling the ball and the tempo from the start, passing the ball slowly and methodically.
Just nine minutes into the game, Toni Kroos made a long pass from the backcourt, accurately sending the ball behind the defense line. Su Dong quickly came back and got rid of Gary Cahill's defense when receiving the ball. He then lobbed the ball in front of the penalty area. The ball went over Cech's head and just hit the crossbar and fell into Chelsea's goal, one to zero!
After taking the lead, Manchester City continued to intensify their attack.
In the 29th minute, Lampard made a mistake in his cross pass near the midline. Su Dong suddenly rushed forward and stole the ball. He ran all the way with the ball, approaching Chelsea's defense. When facing Terry, he passed the ball alone and used his speed to overtake. He had a single shot in the penalty area and broke through Cech's goal again. 2-0! Scored twice!
Before the end of the first half, Su Dong had another chance.
It was a cross from Zabaleta on the right. Su Dong was near the penalty spot in the penalty area. He did not stop the ball and volleyed it sideways. It was a powerful world wave. However, the ball hit the crossbar and bounced out.
Su Dong felt quite regretful that he failed to perform a hat trick.
Not long after the start of the second half, David Silva made a lob pass.
Su Dong was at the front of the penalty area, with his back to Gary Cahill. Facing the pass from David Silva, he made a light lob pass behind him, then turned and rushed into the penalty area. When he was about to catch up with the ball, Cech decisively left the goal and snatched the ball with both hands before Su Dong, defusing another crisis for Chelsea.
Facing the alert Czech goalkeeper, Su Dong shrugged helplessly, and when he passed by Cech, he even gave him a thumbs up.
If Cech hadn't acted decisively, the ball would have been in the bag again.
Being continuously suppressed by Manchester City, Chelsea finally had to choose to defend.
Not long after, Guardiola replaced Su Dong with Dzeko to allow him to have a good rest.
Until the end of the game, neither side was able to score any more goals.
In the end, Manchester City defeated Chelsea 2-0 thanks to Su Dong's two goals.
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After the change of coach, Chelsea, under the leadership of Di Matteo, won consecutive victories and performed well, especially the reversal against Napoli in the Champions League knockout round to advance, which won applause from the audience.
But this time losing to Manchester City made Di Matteo quite frustrated.
In the post-match press conference, Di Matteo said that the responsibility for the defeat lies with him.
"The game was tough and our players fought very hard, but our opponents were indeed stronger. As the head coach of the team, I did not have a clear enough understanding of this and I am willing to take responsibility for this defeat."
Di Matteo also explained why he arranged Torres to start, he thought it was because Drogba needed a rest.
"Against Manchester City, I felt our team needed flexibility and Torres was in good form recently, so I made the decision."
"I have no problems with Drogba. We have a good relationship. He is still one of the most important players in the team. I believe that he will continue to contribute to the team in the next games."
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Three days later, in the 30th round of the Premier League, Manchester City challenged Stoke City away.
Stoke City, playing at home, showed great tenacity. Even at their home ground, they deployed a 4-5-1 formation to deal with Manchester City with tight defense, and the players made quite a lot of movements.
Crouch was left as the center forward, Shawcross and Robert Huth were the central defenders, and goalkeeper Begovic performed well. This central axis brought great trouble to Manchester City.
Throughout the first half, the two sides were tied at 0-0, and Manchester City failed to break Stoke City's goal.
But not long after the start of the second half, Manchester City's attack entered Stoke City's penalty area and was saved by goalkeeper Begovic.
Just when Manchester City was about to press in the frontcourt, Begovic suddenly made a long pass directly to the frontcourt.
Crouch fought for the first point and headed the ball to Pennant, who got the second point on the right and headed the ball back behind the Manchester City defense. Crouch came in from behind and volleyed the ball.
The ball flew into Manchester City's goal at an extremely fast speed, one to zero!
Joe Hart turned around and looked at the football on the goal line with helplessness in his eyes. He lost the ball again!
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After conceding the goal, Manchester City launched a fierce attack on Stoke City, threatening Stoke City's goal continuously, but failed to score, which made Guardiola on the sidelines very anxious.
With no other options left, he could only use his last weapon again.
Substitute Su Dong! In the 70th minute, Su Dong replaced Gareth Barry.
At this time, Dzeko and Aguero were still on the field, and Manchester City pushed all the forwards up at once.
Obviously, Guardiola does not want to suffer his first defeat of the season here.
After coming on the pitch, Sudon was more likely to move freely and retreat actively, looking more like he was falling behind, while Aguero and Dzeko were still at the front, suppressing Stoke City's defense.
Just four minutes into the game, Leighton Baines made a cross pass from the left, Su Dong stopped the ball and turned around, got rid of the entanglement of the defensive midfielder, and before Shawcross came up, he shot a powerful shot with his right foot, a long shot that was 32 meters away from the goal.
This long shot with an obvious arc made goalkeeper Begovic fly to save the ball, but his fingertips only touched the ball slightly, but he still couldn't stop the ball from entering the net.
One to one!
World wave!!!!
But Su Dong had no time to celebrate. He ran straight back to his own half and signaled his teammates to get into position quickly, seize the time, and start the game again.
Su Dong's momentum greatly boosted the morale of Manchester City players.
Afterwards, Dzeko, Aguero, Hazard and other players continuously threatened Stoke City's goal. Manchester City almost pressed forward on all fronts, suppressing Stoke City in the first half, but they were still unable to break through Stoke City's defense.
Manchester City has not been able to break the deadlock on the field. Stoke City defended the goal tightly and never left Manchester City any chance, which made the Manchester City players on the field more and more anxious.
In fact, many people have already prepared themselves mentally for a draw.
Especially after entering the overtime, seeing that the deadlock could not be broken, Guardiola shook his head helplessly on the sidelines, and obviously began to accept the result of a draw.
After all, Manchester City's unbeaten season remains intact.
But at this moment, in the third minute of stoppage time, Hazard got the ball on the left, suddenly shook off the defender, made a low cross in front of the left baseline, and sent the ball to the left corner of the small penalty area.
Aguero was more alert. He ran over and shot with his left foot without stopping the ball, but the shot lacked power and was saved by the quick-reacting goalkeeper Begovic.
Because the shot came so quickly and suddenly, Begovic was unable to hold the ball and it slipped out of his hands.
Dzeko and Robert Huth both chased after him at the same time, but the German central defender kicked the ball out first, but he failed to kick it far and it landed near the top of the penalty area.
Just when everyone in Stoke City breathed a sigh of relief and thought the ball had been cleared, a strong figure appeared at the top of the arc. He stopped Robert Huth's clearance with his foot, and without waiting for the surrounding defensive players to react, he shot again with his left foot.
There was only a bang heard at the scene, and then the ball was seen flying out like a cannonball, passing through the gaps between the people in the penalty area, and going into the right side of Stoke City's goal.
Goalkeeper Begovic had just stood up from the ground at this time, how could he have time to save the shot?
At the last moment of extra time, the referee blew the whistle suddenly to indicate that the goal was valid.
2-1, Manchester City reversed!
(End of this chapter)
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