Chapter 545 Good luck to you, brother!
"It looks like you guys are really well prepared for this game!"
In the middle of the chairman's stand at St. Mary's Stadium, Yang Huan saw the two opposing teams walking out of the player tunnel and immediately said to Mubarak with a smile.
"Of course!" Mubarak did not sit in his seat, but stood upright, as if he was waiting for the game to start and the team to score a goal so that he could celebrate more conveniently.
Judging from his expression, he is indeed full of confidence.
"You guys, Southampton, are chasing us so hard. In the last round, the team made mistakes at home and lost points. Tell me, if we don't perform well this round and beat Southampton away, we won't be able to keep our second place in the league!"
Yang Huan laughed out loud when he heard this.
In the last round, Southampton defeated Wigan Athletic away, but Manchester City drew 2-2 with Liverpool at home, which directly led to the Saints successfully catching up with Manchester City. Both teams currently have 50 points.
Therefore, this round, Manchester City's visit to St. Mary's Stadium is also seen by the outside world as a battle for the runner-up of the Premier League.
As for Manchester United, Ferguson's team defeated Everton early and has 63 points, far ahead of the standings.
It can even be said that the league championship has been won ahead of schedule!
"If you have the talent, you're welcome to come to St. Mary's Stadium to score some points!"
Master Huan also spoke in a very heroic manner.
The opponents have come to us, and it would be a shame to the team if we were to show weakness.
Besides, although Southampton is a newly promoted team, they are now in the Premier League with the same points as Manchester City. What is there to be afraid of?
Moreover, Master Huan is quite confident about Southampton’s home record.
From Manchester City's starting lineup, we can see Mancini's ambition for this game.
He changed his formation!
The league has been played for several months, and after enduring the devilish Christmas schedule and January, entering February, all teams have encountered problems of one kind or another, and rotations and lineup changes are no longer worth making a fuss about.
In fact, if you don't rotate or change your formation, people might even criticize you for not being able to adapt.
In the last round, Manchester City played against Liverpool. When they fell behind in the first half, they changed their formation in the second half and started playing with three defenders, and eventually caught up with the Reds.
Perhaps Mancini has tasted the sweetness, and this time he still plays with three defenders.
But Manchester City's three defenders can also be seen as five defenders.
The goalkeeper is Joe Hart, the three defenders on the back line are Lescott, Kompany and Zabaleta, Kolarov and Maicon are on the two flanks, Yaya Toure is in the back midfield, Strootman is in the middle, and David Silva is in the front.
The two forwards in front are Dzeko at the front and Aguero behind.
This is a formation that can be used for both attack and defense.
The whole world knows that Southampton has a pair of devilish wings in Neymar and Gareth Bale.
Mancini adopted this tactic. When retreating, Maicon and Zabaleta could restrict Neymar on the left side of the Saints, while Kolarov could mark Gareth Bale.
Lescott and Kompany in the middle worked together to restrict Ibrahimovic.
The midfield duel is also three on three. The combination of Stroman, Yaya Toure and David Silva can ensure that no matter what midfield combination Southampton arranges, Manchester City can at least remain invincible.
From this point of view, Mancini treats Southampton as a team of equal strength.
Bielsa's lineup also changed in this game.
The goalkeeper is Neuer, the defense is a combination of David Alaba, Javi Martinez, Varane and Azpilicueta, the midfield is Modric, Matic and Vidal, and the front trident is Neymar, Ibrahimovic and Gareth Bale.
It should be said that there was nothing too surprising about Southampton's starting lineup, but the interesting part was in the details.
Bielsa seemed to have guessed from the beginning that Manchester City would focus its defense on its own trident, so he adjusted the responsibilities of the trident. Ibrahimovic still held up the opponent's central defender, Neymar pressed forward, but Gareth Bale's position was lagging behind.
In the midfield, Modric's responsibility is still to connect and organize the midfield, and to entangle Yaya Toure when defending. Vidal was given more freedom in this game, pressing forward when attacking and targeting Stroman when retreating.
Matic stood firmly in front of the defense line to protect the back line and freeze David Silva.
Southampton also stuck to its usual style of play as always. At the start of the game, they launched a fierce pressing attack on Manchester City and organized and planned many attacks, but Manchester City's defense was very good and did not give Southampton any effective scoring opportunities.
But once the ball fell into Manchester City's feet, the Blue Moon still couldn't create any threat.
Under Southampton's high-intensity pressing and targeted oppression, Manchester City found it difficult to move the ball effectively and could not pass the ball quickly through the midfield.
David Silva saw that his teammates behind him were unable to pass the ball to him effectively. In order to get rid of Matic's defense, he had to choose to leave Matic's defense area and retreat deeper to receive the ball.
But in this way, the midfield and the front court were torn apart.
Therefore, once the ball reached Manchester City, Manchester City tried desperately to slow down the pace, but as Southampton pressed and attacked, Manchester City easily lost the ball and was very passive on the scene.
In fact, from the opening point of the game, Southampton had an overwhelming advantage.
Seeing this scene, Mubarak looked embarrassed and depressed.
We agreed to create some trouble for Southampton, but why did they get into such a mess right from the start?
Southampton played so aggressively after the opening, but what about Manchester City?
It's been several minutes and there's not even a chance to break into the penalty area. What's going on?
"Don't be nervous, don't be anxious, take your time!" Yang Huan said with a smile.
Manchester City's pace is really slow!
For Southampton, their favorite thing to do is to beat the slow team with the fast one.
"Master Huan, it's useless to have the advantage. Only scoring goals counts!" Mubarak was depressed, but he was very tough.
Just kidding, we are passive, but we can defend ourselves.
It was an away game, and at St. Mary's Stadium, so if we could hold on we would be considered to have escaped unscathed.
But as soon as Mubarak said this, Javi Martinez and Neuer were seen shouting and making gestures to their teammates, as if calling on their teammates to move around and not go down a dead end.
The ball fell to Javi Martinez's feet again, who raised his right hand high, signaling his teammates to keep steady.
Seeing Dzeko coming up to press, the Spaniard passed the ball to Matic.
Matic passed the ball to the right without waiting for Aguero to get close.
Varane moved forward, and after receiving the ball, he moved forward again. Naturally, right-back Azpilicueta moved into the middle to fill in for him.
As Varane moved forward, Vidal followed suit, while Modric retreated to support him.
As soon as the ball reached Modric's feet, the Croatian took two steps back to get rid of Stroman and passed it to the right.
As soon as he saw Gareth Bale receive the ball, Kolarov moved forward immediately.
But at this time the Welshman was close to the wing, far from the penalty area, and could not threaten the goal at all, so Kolarov did not stick to him, for fear that he would be outmaneuvered by Gareth Bale's speed.
Who doesn’t know that the Welsh winger’s speed is the nightmare of all Premier League defenders?
But when Gareth Bale saw that he was not pressing, he stopped the ball and glanced at the penalty area.
Damn, it's all black, all wearing sky blue jerseys.
Vidal was running in from the front and Neymar was near the penalty spot. The two players attracted the attention of the defensive players.
Hey, where's Ibrahimovic?
Back point!
Gareth Bale swung his left foot and made a left-foot cross.
The ball drew an arc and fell into the penalty area.
Mubarak still appeared very calm in the stands. He took a quick look and found that there were at least seven Manchester City defensive players inside and outside the penalty area, while there were only four Southampton offensive players.
Seven against four, an absolute numerical advantage. If they can't hold on, there will be a problem!
But when Gareth Bale's cross fell into the penalty area, Mubarak's eyelids jumped.
"Damn it, why did they miss Ibrahimovic?"
Yang Huan laughed at the side.
On the court, players often cannot see the overall situation and can only respond according to their instincts.
When they saw Gareth Bale was about to pass the ball and Vidal and Neymar were in the two dangerous areas of the front point and the middle, the first reaction of the defensive players who had no clear marking tasks was to follow up and defend!
At that moment, none of them cared to think about it, instead of considering who they had missed.
Because when the head coach assigns defensive tasks, he will arrange someone to guard a certain player of the opposing team.
For example, Kolarov goes to watch Gareth Bale, or Kompany goes to keep an eye on Ibrahimovic.
Theoretically speaking, as long as everyone fulfills their defensive tasks, basically no one will be missed.
But this is just a theory and cannot withstand the rapidly changing situation.
When Gareth Bale's cross passed the front point, crossed the middle and fell to the back point, Kompany, Lescott and others turned around and looked at Ibrahimovic with a sly smile in shock.
At this moment, they must be thinking in their hearts, it’s over, we’ve been cheated!
Ibrahimovic was smiling triumphantly, hehe, as soon as we change positions, you will be dizzy!
I accept this goal with a smile!
Behind Ibrahimovic, Maicon looked desperate as he tried to stop the Swedish center, even committing a foul and hugging him.
But once the Swedes started, they were like an unstoppable heavy tank. They rushed to the front of the small penalty area, aimed at the landing point of the ball, and gently pushed it with their right foot.
The ball passed Joe Hart and went into the goal!
In an instant, the entire St. Mary's Stadium erupted!
The cheers of more than 30,000 fans burst out in an instant, sweeping the entire stadium!
Mubarak slapped his forehead hard, "What happened? How could this happen?"
With seven people defending four and an absolute numerical advantage, how could such a low-level mistake as missing a man occur?
Could it be that these defenders of Manchester City are just there to do nothing?
Yang Huan laughed and clapped his hands, cheering for Ibrahimovic's goal. At the same time, he also praised Gareth Bale's precise left-foot cross.
Who says the Welsh can only score and have speed?
At the very least, his left-foot free kicks and his left-foot crosses are still quite powerful!
"Do you know why?" Yang Huan smiled and looked at Mubarak who had a sad face.
"Because your tactics are too mechanical, even the players' positions and movements lack variety, so it's easy for others to figure it out and take advantage of it!"
In the goal just now, Gareth Bale's precise cross did play a key role, but Ibrahimovic, Vidal and Neymar's off-ball movements were also crucial.
Before the Welshman could pass the ball, Neymar ran towards the middle, Vidal rushed forward, and the Swede deliberately fell behind and ran to the back post.
This caused trouble for Manchester City's defense.
If the original arrangement had been followed, Kompany and Lescott would definitely have followed the Swede to the back point, Zabaleta would have followed Neymar to the middle, and Yaya Toure would have followed Vidal back to the penalty area to guard the front point.
But the problem was that Kolarov was worried about being broken through, so he didn't get close. This made Yaya Toure worry that Gareth Bale would cut inside with the ball, so he guarded the front of the penalty area. Zabaleta followed Neymar, but could only follow behind the Brazilian and couldn't stop Neymar from receiving the ball.
Kompany and Lescott didn't even keep up with Ibrahimovic.
Because the situation at the time was that Southampton's most threatening offensive method was for Gareth Bale to dribble the ball horizontally to find Neymar for cooperation, which was a very threatening offensive routine.
After all, Gareth Bale dribbled the ball from the right and suddenly shot, which is his killer move this season!
Especially considering Neymar, once he gets the ball in the penalty area, Manchester City will be finished.
In addition, Yaya Toure did not follow Vidal, so Kompany and Lescott's first reaction was to freeze Neymar and Vidal, so they could not split themselves to follow Ibrahimovic.
The Swede got to the back post and easily suppressed Maicon with his body, completing the goal.
The whole process of scoring a goal may sound complicated and tedious, but in fact it is ever-changing and full of changes.
Southampton was the active attacking side and had practiced this kind of coordination before the game, so they were more adept at implementing it.
Manchester City, on the other hand, was on the defensive, unable to anticipate the enemy's moves and could only be passive everywhere.
But a very important point lies in the head coach.
As an Italian head coach, Mancini has no problem with tactical qualities, but he is too mechanical, and his overall tactics are inflexible and lack the ability to adapt.
Therefore, the teams he coached often found it difficult to achieve good results in European competitions, which were more tactically targeted.
There is a reason for this.
When Yang Huan thought of this, he looked at the sidelines and found that Bielsa, who had been squatting to direct the game, suddenly stood up, shouted at the players on the field, gestured wildly, and immediately laughed.
It is obvious that the Argentine madman has seen Manchester City’s loopholes and weaknesses!
"May the best of luck to you, brother!"