i want to be king

Chapter 902 When "Guardiola" meets Guardiola

On the evening of August [-]th, Manchester's Etihad Stadium.

The players have already held the ball boy's hand, and under the leadership of the referee Mike Dean, they walked into the stadium amidst the noise of the fans, and the curtain of the first game of the new Premier League season will begin.

The 38-year-old Brendan Rogers stood on the inside of the player tunnel with a stern face, his eyes fixed on the exit ahead, trying to calm himself down.

Tonight, he was dressed very formally, with a black suit and tie, and a pocket square in the breast pocket of the suit. He had a high hairline, and his hair was combed meticulously. He looked very ceremonial.

This is the Premier League he has been waiting for for many years!

It was also a game he had been looking forward to for a long time!
……

Although only 38 years old, Rodgers has 17 years of coaching career.

He was 20 years old that year, and he had to retire early because of injuries, so he went to a coaching course.

In [-], he entered the Reading youth team and rose step by step to the position of youth training director and first-team assistant coach.

That was the pinnacle moment of La Liga football.

At the turn of the century, Bosque's Real Madrid, Irueta's Super Deportivo, Cooper and Benitez's Valencia, and later Rijkaard's Barcelona, ​​these teams have all achieved great fame in European football.

All people of insight basically agree that the strength of Spanish football is not lost to Serie A in the small World Cup.

It was also during that period of time that Rogers often traveled to Spain in the name of learning Spanish. The most important thing was to learn and understand Spanish football, which opened up a new world for him.

Because he is proficient in Spanish and is familiar with football in Spain and the Iberian Peninsula, in [-], when Mourinho took over Chelsea and Chelsea launched a vigorous youth training reform, Rogers was recruited to Chelsea and served as the head coach of the youth team. Two years later, he was promoted to head coach of the reserve team.

In November [-], the British Championship team Watford did not perform well. After the head coach Boothroyd got out of class, he was coached by assistant coach Malky McKay for five games. The results were still not satisfactory, so they found Rogers of the Chelsea reserve team.

The results of coaching Watford were not bad, but after the end of the season, Rodgers was replaced by assistant coach Malky McKay, and Rodgers came back to coach his old club Reading, who was aiming to hit the Premier League, but before the winter break, he was fired.

It took half a year for Rogers to find his next job after sacking get out of class from Reading.

Unlike Reading, the strong Premier League team that created the Super League, Swansea is a mid-range team that has only been promoted from the third level to the British Championship for two years.

These two head coaches not only led Swansea to perform well in the League One and the English Championship, but also injected the football genes of the Iberian Peninsula into the team. Therefore, after sending these two head coaches away, Swansea decisively chose Rogers.

This time, the two hit it off.

No one expected that after coaching Swansea for one year, Rodgers successfully led the team to a further step, entered the promotion zone, and defeated Nottingham Forest and his old club Reading in the play-offs, and successfully promoted to the Premier League.

It can be said that, so far, Rogers' coaching career is a well-accumulated inspirational novel.

Deeply influenced by Spanish football, Rodgers especially admired Barcelona's football style.

Possessing the ball, moving, opening up the space...

This set of football philosophy of Barcelona has profoundly influenced Rogers.

Even as early as last season, when Guardiola led Manchester City to success, Rogers made no secret that he was a Guardiola fan and he liked Guardiola's football very much.

It's just that no one thought at the time that Rodgers' first game after leading the team to the Premier League was to face Guardiola's Manchester City.

……

Rogers reached out to adjust his suit, took a deep breath, and walked towards the player tunnel.

With the improvement of the team's performance, Manchester City's home attendance rate is extremely high, especially after the expansion of the stadium, the home field capacity is close to 5 people, and now it is full of seats.

Rodgers was not popular with City fans, and he was booed as soon as he walked out.

He's used to it.

No home fan of any English team likes the visiting manager.

After walking out of the player tunnel, Rogers quickly turned his head to look at the home team's coaching bench, only to find that Guardiola had already walked towards him, and he immediately greeted him with a smile.

"Hi, Brendan."

"Nice to meet you, Josep."

The two greeted each other at the same time, but interestingly, Guardiola said hello in English and Rodgers in Spanish.

This made both teams laugh in unison.

The same football philosophy allowed the two to discuss each other's tactics on the sidelines, which was somewhat tit-for-tat.

The resources and support that Guardiola can get in Manchester City are impossible for Rodgers to get in Swansea.

For example, he doesn't have a super center like Su Dong, so he can only choose a shooter like Daniel Graham, an assaulter on the wing, a player like David Silva, and a role like Toni Kroos.

All of these things are impossible for Swansea to have.

As the head coach, Rogers can only make compromises at the tactical level, and there is no way to fully realize his ideas.

Guardiola also expressed his approval and respect. After all, it is not easy to lead a team like Swansea to the Premier League. You must know that four years ago, this team was still in the third level. This is the first time in the history of Swansea.

"However, when it comes to the game, we won't hold back."

Rogers smiled awkwardly. When he came to Manchester, he was actually mentally prepared to lose.

"Last season in the British Championship, you had a very fatal problem, that is, you played very well at home, but you played very badly away. This has a lot to do with your tactics. I hope you have made up for this shortcoming this summer, otherwise..."

Guardiola didn't finish his sentence, but the tit-for-tat was already very obvious.

Rodgers can only smile bitterly, because his players are limited. Even in the British Championship, it is difficult to maintain a high level of passing and possession at home and away like Manchester City, because it is always more difficult for all teams to play away games.

"We came here with a learning attitude." Rogers laughed.

Guardiola took a deep look at Rogers, nodded politely, "Good luck."

"You too."

The two head coaches separated on the sidelines and each returned to the coaching area.

…………

…………

Rogers said Swansea came with a learning attitude.

This is obviously cheating.

From the very start of the game, Swansea made a good case for why they were dubbed the Manchester City of the Championship last season.

The high-position press and oppression were used relentlessly, launching a violent impact on Manchester City.

Manchester City also attaches great importance to the premiere of the new season. Except for the goalkeeper changing from Joe Hart to Courtois, every other position is the main force continuing from last season, basically unchanged.

But even so, Swansea's high-position pressing and oppression still brought a lot of trouble to Manchester City.

It's not that Manchester City's players lack tacit understanding, but that in the first match of the new season, the players are generally not in the state yet, and Swansea's high-intensity pressing and oppression have had an impact on Manchester City, causing the team to make a lot of mistakes in passing and receiving.

Especially from the 6th minute, Swansea launched consecutive attacks.

In the four-two-three formation, the shadow striker Dobby, who was ambushing behind center forward Graham, took a sudden long shot and went straight to Manchester City's goal, but was blocked by the goalkeeper Courtois from the outside of the small penalty area.

This wonderful save won warm applause from the fans for Courtois.

No.12 minutes, it was another counterattack from Swansea. The left back Tate quickly stepped in and sent a cross. Dobby volleyed from the front of the penalty area.

The Belgian goalkeeper received a second round of applause from the audience.

Guardiola also applauded him from the sidelines, but was also dissatisfied with the performance of the players on the court.

Everyone can see that Swansea's players entered the rhythm and state earlier than Manchester City.

In the first 15 minutes, Manchester City's possession rate was only a poor 40.00%.

After experiencing Swansea's two attacks, especially the two shots, Manchester City's players gradually entered the state of the game and found the rhythm of the game.

Especially the midfield.

The team began to find the rhythm of passing and controlling the ball under the high pressure of Swansea, and played very patiently.

Through this continuous back and forth, and even back passes, patiently control the ball and pull the Swansea players to run.

Especially after 10 minutes, Swansea's high-intensity and fast-paced pressing and pressing consume too much, and they obviously can't keep up, because they also need to allocate their physical energy reasonably for the whole game, and it is impossible to consume all their physical energy in one go.
Stand still and let your opponent slaughter you?
But just when Swansea was about to slow down and try to take a breather, Manchester City gradually took the initiative, and the defense line pressed forward, especially in the possession area. Busquets even pressed the center line and directly controlled the ball outside the 30-meter area of ​​Swansea.

No. In the 203rd minute, Busquets received a pass back from his teammate, suddenly saw the right moment, and sent a deadly mid-length pass, which hit the ground on the right side of the front of the penalty area.

Su Dong blocked Swansea's central defender Cocker with his body, stopped the ball firmly, then turned around suddenly, shook off Cocker, and cut inward with the ball.

Without waiting for another central defender Williams to step forward to make up for it, Su Dong suddenly shot with his left foot on the right side of the top of the penalty area, and kicked a powerful curved ball, which went directly to the upper left corner of the goal.

This sudden shot shocked everyone.

Swansea goalkeeper Walm even jumped directly to the side, trying to hit the ball.

(End of this chapter)