Football: The king of midfield, Guardiola is crying with envy

Chapter 242

"The double defensive midfielders are Saul and Jorginho."

"In front of them are Havertz, Mount and Ziyech."

"The forward is the Belgian Lukaku."

"Werner and Kovacic have not been reused by Tuchel. They are sitting on the bench waiting for orders."

"In addition, the recent performance of American captain Pulisic is very average. He has not played for a minute in three consecutive rounds."

"In this situation where Chelsea lacks excellent strikers, the 25-year-old Kennedy will stay in Chelsea after returning from the loan period."

"It is worth mentioning that there are now four people in Chelsea who are not included in the team's roster due to injuries. They are Reece James, who has been absent for several months, Christensen and Chilwell who were recently injured, and Chalobah who suddenly felt discomfort in his feet during pre-match training."

"On the other hand, Manchester City only has Stones in their team who is undergoing further training. The rest of the players can enter the team's starting lineup. "

"Guardiola arranged a 433 formation today."

"The goalkeeper is Ederson."

"The four defenders are Cancelo, Laporte, Ruben Dias and Kyle Walker who has returned from injury."

"Three midfielders, Chen Chen on the left, Fernandinho, the captain of the team, in the middle, and De Bruyne on the right."

"The cup competition is generally the main position for the team to rotate the main players and substitutes. It is no surprise that Fernandinho started."

"The three forwards are Sterling, Mahrez and Bernardo Silva, who played as a right winger."

"Both teams can be said to have elite players! I believe that today's game will be a focus battle that fans are looking forward to! "

"I want to ask Coach Zhang, who do you think will win this game?"

Zhan Jun turned his head and looked at Zhang Lu. After introducing the lineup, he immediately gave Coach Zhang a difficult question.

Zhang Lu thought for a moment and said,

"Today is Chelsea's home game, and Manchester City's recent schedule is very full, plus this is a two-round match. So, I am more optimistic about Chelsea."

"Oh?"

This time it was Zhan Jun's turn to be the main actor.

"So you mean Manchester City will lose at Stamford Bridge today?"

"Not really. Chelsea should fight for a draw. After all, this is a two-round match. Manchester City still has the FA Cup and the league to play. I guess they won't fight too hard away from home."

Zhan Jun nodded. Zhang Lu's words really made sense.

It is normal and correct to save strength and return to the home court to give Chelsea a fatal blow.

But.

Is Manchester City really willing to draw?

At Stamford Bridge, the broadcast camera switched to a close-up.

The camera first gave the two coaches, and then the substitutes of both sides.

"Oh? Hahaha!"

Zhan Jun laughed.

"We can see that the director has pointed the camera at Grealish sitting on the bench. This is a public execution!"

"Hehehe! Oh?"

Zhang Lu laughed and made fun of him.

Zhan Jun replied,

"It's about Grealish causing a scandal a few days ago. The details are a bit shocking!"

Zhang Lu suddenly realized something.

"Ah!"

The broadcast camera immediately turned to Manchester City's new signing Alvarez.

"Hey! We can see that the first signing of Manchester City in the winter transfer window, the young talent of River Plate, is sitting on the bench. The Argentine is expected to get a chance to be a substitute today!"

"The winter transfer window will last until February 1, and the Blue Moon Army should have more transfer candidates in the future."

"According to the news from well-known transfer experts Di Marzio and Romano, Manchester City has been linked with Ajax midfielder Gravenberch and Udinese left back Udoki."

"The Dutch and Italians are likely to join Manchester City!"

"Okay! We can see that the referee has blown the whistle to start the game! Let's turn our attention back to the court! Let's look forward to the wonderful performance of the two teams!"

On the court.

"Beep!"

Craig Pawson blew the whistle to start the game.

The visiting team Manchester City kicked off.

The Blue Moon did not attack in a big way at the beginning. Under Guardiola's tactical arrangement, Manchester City poured the ball to the back line and the backcourt players led the offensive rhythm.

The second minute of the game.

Cancelo's sudden through pass was blocked by Saul, and Manchester City got a chance for a throw-in in the frontcourt.

Chen Chen came to throw the ball.

He threw the ball to Fernandinho, and then ran forward.

Fernandinho immediately understood.

The old captain quickly made a lob pass.

Unfortunately, the accuracy was a little lacking, and the ball was cleared by Azpilicueta who rushed up with his head.

The ball was caught by Mount.

Mount was not in a hurry, he turned a corner and avoidedDe Bruyne and Mahrez double-teamed, passing the ball to Marcos Alonso who was advancing quickly on the left.

Havertz walked in, and Alonso challenged Kyle Walker.

Just as Walker was staring at Alonso, Long Ge suddenly cut inside and pushed the ball sideways!

Marcos Alonso passed the ball to Ziyech who was diagonally inserted into the top of the penalty area!

Ziyech did not shoot immediately after receiving the ball, but took a step forward.

He wanted to trick Laporte into kicking.

Unfortunately, his little trick was seen through by Laporte.

Laporte was not in a hurry.

After Fernandez landed in place, he rushed over to cooperate with the double-teaming, and the Moroccan international could only pass the ball hastily.

The ball came to Lukaku's feet.

In the penalty area, the Belgian received the ball and shot it directly without stopping!

The ball! It flew directly!

Lukaku held the back of his head with a look of regret.

Then the Belgian recovered and gave Ziyech a thumbs up.

Ziyech turned around and walked back silently.

He was used to Lukaku's "close-range miss".

Chelsea's sudden counterattack made the Blue Moon a little overwhelmed. After all, no one expected that their ball transfer was so good and so fast.

Guardiola on the sidelines quickly signaled the Blue Moon players on the field to do a good job of defense first. Today, they can't play high and high like before, and they have to move forward steadily.

As a result, the two teams suddenly fell into a certain balance, and neither side's offensive end was particularly good.

In the first ten minutes, Chelsea and Manchester City both had one shot.

Chelsea's one was Lukaku's miss, and Manchester City's side was Chen Chen's set-piece attempt in the frontcourt. Ruben Dias didn't get the header right and headed the ball off.

13th minute of the game.

Near the center circle, the ball was headed high into the air by both teams, and neither side completely gained full control of the high-altitude ball.

After three or two headed balls, the ball was finally headed to De Bruyne on the side by Fernandez.

The Belgian midfielder immediately moved forward after getting the ball!

Bernardo Silva in front immediately gave up his position, and at the same time, B 席 quickly inserted diagonally in and took away the defensive player Havertz!

Some people may ask, isn't Havertz a forward? How can he be a defensive player?

Yes, Havertz is a defensive player.

But football games are ever-changing. Defenders can move forward to participate in the penalty area attack, and the frontcourt players can naturally return to the backcourt to participate in the defense.

Modern football has higher and higher requirements for players. In the past, forwards rarely returned to the backcourt to defend.

What about now? Pay attention to the overallness.

Guardiola once said that there was only one person in Manchester City who had no defensive requirements, and that was the Belgian De Bruyne.

Later, it didn't work. The defensive pressure increased, and De Bruyne had to come back to defend.

The most unimaginable thing is that after the Belgian national team showed signs of fatigue, De Bruyne's task became even more difficult.

On the one hand, he had to take on the task of an offensive midfielder, distributing the ball and organizing the attack.

On the other hand, he had to take a position on the back line to participate in the defense, which was simply a sprint in the front, middle and back fields!