i want to be king

Chapter 940 939 Hard Battle at Anfield
Manchester City defeated Newcastle [-]-[-] at home and passed the first hurdle of the devil's schedule.

This became the focus of major media coverage the next day.

Before this game, Newcastle beat Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur and ranked third in the Premier League standings.

Many Magpies fans even believe that Newcastle has a chance of an away upset.

But at the Etihad Stadium, Newcastle did not take the initiative in the game from the beginning to the end, with a mere 20.00% three-ball possession rate, which caused Padrew's team to suffer a painful blow.

The head coach of the Magpies admitted frankly at the press conference after the game that Newcastle's strength is indeed not as good as Manchester City.

"A great team can always find an effective way to deal with the opponent's different strategies. Whether it is taking a confrontation or facing an unbreakable iron barrel, they are not afraid. Manchester City is such a team."

Padrew gave a very high evaluation to Guardiola's team, and at the same time gave his appreciation to Su Dong, who was elected as the best player in the game. He believes that Su Dong is the most critical core player of Manchester City.

"In fact, for a pass-and-control team like Manchester City, patience is very important. They have a super ability to pass and control the ball. While consuming their opponents and creating pressure on their opponents, they are also creating a huge psychological burden on themselves."

"That is, what if I don't break the opponent's goal again?"

"It just doesn't make sense to have so much possession and not score the goal."

Padrew believes that Manchester City encountered such a problem in the [-]-[-] season. They were always able to control the ball, but it was easy to play impatiently, which caused them to lose points in many unnecessary games.

But this phenomenon has been completely changed after Su Dong joined.

"Su Dong is the most powerful and terrifying scorer in the world, and he is also the most perfect center forward. His existence makes everyone in Manchester City firmly believe that he can score goals."

"This is not something that is said by mouth, nor by the head coach, nor by fame or influence. It is something that Su Dong instills in the players through game after game, goal after goal, and makes everyone believe that he can do it."

"So, every time Sudong plays, Manchester City will play more smoothly, because they play more patiently and calmly, which makes them less prone to mistakes."

"When a team with super ball-handling ability patiently struggles with the opponent and never makes mistakes easily, it is often the opponent who makes mistakes, and Su Dong can keenly grasp the opponent's mistakes and score goals."

Padrew believes that this is a virtuous circle that complements each other.

If this cycle is to be cut off, either there is a problem with Su Dong, or there is a problem with Manchester City's passing and possession system.

"But from the current point of view, in the foreseeable short term, unless there are major changes in Manchester City itself, otherwise, other teams basically have no way to deal with Manchester City's style of play and staffing."

Padrew expressed the aspirations of many Premier League and even European football teams.

You know, Manchester City is not only unsolvable in the Premier League, but also unsolvable in the Champions League.

Four consecutive victories, two rounds ahead of schedule to qualify as the top of the group, such a result is eye-catching in other groups, not to mention being placed in the death group, this is definitely the most amazing for Manchester City who participated in the Champions League for the first time in history.

Amidst the praise from the media, Manchester City soon ushered in the fifth round of the Champions League group stage.

…………

…………

The away game against Dortmund is a rare respite for Manchester City, which has already qualified ahead of schedule.

Guardiola didn't even arrange for the main lineup to play, but played with a rotation and a substitute lineup, more to allow more preparation time for the main players to cope with the Premier League No. 13 round on the weekend.

And Manchester City also performed well in the away game. Aguero opened the scoring for Manchester City in No. 40 two minutes, but at the last moment of the second half, Lewandowski's goal scored a goal for Dortmund.

In the end, the two sides shook hands and made peace.

……

Inter Milan defeated Villarreal [-]-[-] at home.

This is not surprising, the Yellow Submarine team is unlikely to qualify, so they simply gave up the Champions League and focused on playing in the domestic league, which naturally allowed Inter Milan to grab a precious three points.

With these three points, Inter Milan beat Dortmund and ranked second in the group.

As a result, the last round of the group match between the two sides has become crucial.

Manchester City hosts Inter Milan and Dortmund travels to Villarreal.

This is undoubtedly a very suspenseful round of the game.

It's just that for Manchester City, they have long ignored this round.

…………

…………

November 27, Liverpool Anfield.

Among the [-] fanatical Liverpool fans, who continued the whole game, the Red Army relied on strict defense to hold back waves of Manchester City's offensive.

Dalglish is currently ranked sixth in the standings. It doesn't look good, but in the score against the top seven teams in the league, Liverpool is only ranked behind Manchester City and Manchester United. It can be said that it is one of the best performing Premier League teams in the strong dialogue.

The outstanding performance in the strong dialogue comes from Liverpool's own good strength, especially the team's defense.

In the first twelve rounds, Liverpool conceded only eleven goals. In the Premier League, they only lost to Manchester City and kept pace with Newcastle. It can be said that they are the best defensive team in the Premier League.

Facing the powerful Manchester City offensive, Dalglish arranged for two powerful central defenders, Daniel Agger and Skrtel, to mark Sudong full-time. At the same time, he arranged for Lucas and Charlie Adam to form a double midfielder in front of the defense.

Charlie Adam doesn't have a big name, but it works very well. He has been trusted by Dalglish. In the last round of Liverpool's [-]-[-] away game against Chelsea, Charlie Adam performed very bravely and won the best player of the game.

Lucas came to Liverpool as the successor of Harvey Alonso, but after joining Liverpool, his performance has not met the expectations of the outside world, but in recent times, his performance seems to be gradually enlightened.

Today's Brazilian midfielder is no longer the organization core of the year, but has gradually transformed into a defensive midfielder.

Since the beginning of this season, Lucas is the midfielder with the most interceptions and steals in the Premier League, and he is also one of the players with the longest running distance. It can be said that he is already an outstanding midfield defender.

This is indeed very embarrassing.

The organizational midfielder of the year has become the current defensive engineer. Lucas is not the first and will not be the last.

Ferguson transformed Anderson, and Mourinho transformed Mikel, basically the same.

In this battle, Dalglish let Lucas and Charlie Adam form a midfield double midfielder, in front of Guardiola's once valued England native midfielder Jordan Henderson.

Liverpool's defense this season is very good, but the offense is very problematic.

Suarez's performance was quite satisfactory, not as stunning as when he was in the Eredivisie; after Carroll joined Liverpool, he was no longer as dazzling as he was in Newcastle before; after Downing came to Liverpool, he revealed that his scoring ability was not strong, and he was not confident enough in one-on-one combat.

As for Henderson, it is also difficult for him to bear the burden of the team passing the ball forward.

It is precisely because of this that although Liverpool's defense is solid, their offense is a mess, so they rank sixth in the Premier League.

Otherwise, with Liverpool's defense, as long as the offense is stronger, it can be ranked in the top four.

It is a problem to be invincible against weak teams, but Liverpool has shown its power when it comes to strong teams.

At least when facing Manchester City, the Red Army defended stronger and better than Newcastle.

……

From the first minute of the game, Manchester City organized wave after wave of offensives.

Although Liverpool is playing at home, they don't fight against Manchester City. They defend steadily and don't care about the gain or loss of space on the field, but are committed to ensuring that their own goals are not lost.

Under the guidance of Dalglish, this Liverpool team worked hard, with very high tactical execution, and the players were also very active in running. In addition, Daniel Agger and Skrtel took care of Su Dong every step of the way, so that Manchester City's offense was contained.

Dalglish obviously learned from Newcastle's experience and lessons, so he played more conservatively than the Magpies.

You know, Newcastle is playing away, while Liverpool is at Anfield.

But it doesn't matter, Dalglish is determined to pull his face down and guard against death.

Even before the game, he uttered harsh words, as long as he scored one point, he would be satisfied.

This may be psychological warfare, but it may not be what he has in mind.

After all, facing Manchester City, it is quite difficult to score a point.

Manchester City's [-]-game winning streak so far this season is not fake.

It is under this kind of pragmatic and conservative thinking that Liverpool, through strict defense and the concerted efforts of the players, managed to ensure that the goal was not conceded under the waves of Manchester City's offensive.

From the start to the end of the first half, from the start of the second half to substitutions, and then to the 10 minutes of the game, Liverpool never gave Manchester City a good chance to score.

Su Dong also created shots, but they failed to pose a threat.

The two central defenders, Daniel Agger and Skrtel, both have a strong enough body and an excellent sense of cooperation. In addition, they followed Su Dong closely all over the court, making it difficult for him to have a chance to perform.

The game was deadlocked like this.

Time is ticking by, Manchester City has never been able to break the deadlock, while Liverpool continues to guard against death.

From the first minute of the game, the Liverpool fans in the stands kept singing the team song, calling for the team, cheering for their team, as if they would never get tired, they could shout until tomorrow morning.

Su Dong was not discouraged either, he was still actively running and pulling on the court, shouting non-stop to cheer for his teammates.

He can't believe it!
Even if Liverpool really defend to the last second of the game, he will try his best to score!
(End of this chapter)