Fengba Greenery

Chapter 468 Manchester City's Fighting Spirit

Chapter 48 Manchester City's fighting spirit
The whole of England is restless because of the Manchester Derby in the upcoming tenth round of the league.

This season, Manchester United has put too much pressure on other teams in the Premier League. In the first nine rounds of the league, they won nine consecutive games. They scored 28 goals in the nine rounds of the league, only conceding five goals, and averaged more than three goals per game. !If that's the case, it's not a big deal, because the Premier League has a long season of 38 league rounds, and only nine league rounds can't make people come to the conclusion that Manchester United is the champion.But compared with Manchester United, the other Premier League powerhouses have not started the season so well.

The first to bear the brunt is of course the defending champion Chelsea. Mourinho's team did not see that they had won the Premier League last season. are in turbulent times.And this is of course reflected in their results - nine league rounds, Chelsea only won three games and lost four games.This kind of performance is completely inconsistent with their status as defending champions. Compared with the top of the list, Chelsea is closer to the relegation zone-they only scored 3 points, which is only worse than the bottom No.[-] Umbrella Delando. Only three points.

For Chelsea, let alone the Premier League champions this season, the first thing they need to ensure is whether they can enter the European theater.

As for the other Premier League giants Liverpool, their situation is not much better than Chelsea.After Liverpool drew away with their derby opponent Everton in the eighth round of the league, Liverpool ended the contract with Rodgers, and then the former Dortmund coach Klopp took office and took over Liverpool's coach.Klopp's first game after taking office was an away game against Tottenham. As a result, Liverpool only scored a zero-to-zero draw at White Hart Lane.At present, Liverpool has scored [-] points, ranking in the middle of the standings, and the gap from the top Manchester United is as much as [-] points.

The record of the Premier League's biggest difference in overtaking and winning the championship is a gap of [-] points. For the current Liverpool, they want to break this record and win the championship... Well, let's think about whether they can play in the Champions League next season.

Due to Arsenal's loss to Manchester United, their points only scored [-] points, ranking fifth after Leicester City.

At this time, the top four in the Premier League are Manchester United at the top of the list, No.2 Manchester City, No.3 West Ham United, and No.4 Leicester City.

West Ham and Leicester City are off to a good start in the league, but no one thinks these two teams will pose any threat to the title.

Among the traditional tycoons, the only normal performance is Manchester City.Therefore, this Manchester Derby has received even more attention.Because now other teams in the Premier League are counting on Manchester City to hold back Manchester United.

…………

Unlike the grievances between Manchester United and Liverpool, Manchester United and Manchester City are teams in the same city. The antagonism between them is related to their fan class.

In fact, both Manchester United and Manchester City were teams formed by workers, but with the development of the team, the composition of fans of Manchester United and Manchester City in Manchester gradually became divided.The composition of players is also closely related to geography.

Despite what Manchester City fans call themselves "in the city", the old Main Road Stadium in south Manchester is the poorest part of the city.The working class who have lived here for generations is the foundation of the industrial system of the empire on which the sun never sets. They work hard on weekdays and come to the stadium to cheer for Blue Moon on their off days.Some people have become fans of Manchester United because they love the Red Devils' quick-moving offense and undisguised pride. They have won more than 20 top league titles, which gives them reason to be obsessed.However, the support of the old Manchester City fans for the team only comes from the utter loyalty of their ancestors to their hometown team.Before the Abu Dhabi Group invested in Blue Moon in 2008, the team's business model had been adjusted to the "survival archive".

There is no love for no reason in the world, and there is no hate for no reason.Manchester City and Manchester United became rivals in the same city, although there is a geographical and cultural necessity, there is also the accident of historical events. 100 years ago, professional football was still in its infancy, and Welshman Billy Meredith, known as "the first star in British history", played for Manchester City.According to the salary limit order of the Football Association at the time, the maximum weekly salary of players in the season period shall not exceed 4 pounds, and the maximum salary during the offseason shall not exceed 3 pounds.In order to keep Meredith, Manchester City privately awarded the extra income in "brown envelopes".

However, this inside story was exposed by a Birmingham newspaper. The Football Association found Manchester City and Meredith guilty, the players were suspended for 9 months, and Manchester City was forced to sell all 17 players in the first team.And Newtonsis, the predecessor of Manchester United, took the opportunity to buy 6 Manchester City players including Meredith in one fell swoop.In the following years, the fiery actions in the stadium and the cursing in the stands never stopped.

Of course, Blue Moon and Red Devil also have occasional scenes of warmth.During World War II, Old Trafford was bombed into ruins by the Germans, and Maine Road also accommodated Manchester United until Old Trafford was put into use again in 1949.In the face of the rise and fall of the country, the grievances and grievances on the court were put aside.

Before this derby, Manchester City coach Manuel Pellegrini said in an interview: "We all know what this derby means. Both teams want to perform well and win games. We hope to get closer. The gap between them and Manchester United, who want to continue their winning streak! We will rise to the challenge."

For Chilean engineer Manuel Pellegrini, this game was indeed a very serious challenge.

In the past few days, Pellegrini has almost revolved around Manchester United, to be precise, around Li Qingshan.

The desk in his office is full of statistics, videos and other materials about Li Qingshan.

Pellegrini is very clear that the biggest difference between Manchester United this season and last season is Li Qingshan - to study Manchester United, you have to study Li Qingshan.

The data before Pellegrini is very clear. Manchester United scored 28 goals in the first nine rounds of the Premier League, and Li Qingshan scored 15 goals, accounting for more than 50.00% of Manchester United's total goals in the league.If you count Li Qingshan's assists, Li Qingshan's direct participation in the goals accounted for more than [-]% of Manchester United's total goals!
It can be said that this is Li Qingshan's team!
To deal with Manchester United, it is necessary to deal with Li Qingshan.The meaning of both is the same.

How to deal with such a fierce center?
Pellegrini's frown has not been relaxed these days.

Facing such a center forward with excellent scoring ability, there is really no good way to stop him.

Unless... he himself is in a slump.

But this kind of situation rarely happens to Li Qingshan.In the past two seasons, Li Qingshan has maintained a very good state, and there are almost no injuries.

From Li Qingshan, it seems that there is no unstable state of young players. If it weren't for his huge progress in the past two seasons to remind people, Li Qingshan has not yet reached the peak of his career!

Although Li Qingshan did not score a goal in the last Champions League, which interrupted his continuous scoring, but this was due to the long-distance flight and the low temperature in Russia, so Pellegrini did not dare to expect Li Qingshan to suddenly be in a slump when facing Manchester City .I'm afraid that now Li Qingshan is holding back his breath, waiting to explode against Manchester City.

How to deal with Li Qingshan?
This problem is really a headache.

..........
Pellegrini was thinking about how to deal with Li Qingshan, while Ancelotti was thinking about how to deal with Manchester City.

Ancelotti is quite confident in the Manchester United system he has built.In the absence of injuries, Ancelotti is confident that he can rely on this main lineup to be very competitive throughout Europe.

For the current Manchester United, the only thing that worries Ancelotti is that the substitute lineup does not match the main force.

It seems that Manchester United has Rooney on the bench, Carrick, Ashley Young, Nani, Hernandez and others. At first glance, this kind of bench lineup is not bad.But the bench that Manchester United needs most is a substitute who can replace the three midfielders.

Cramer, Fellaini, and Herrera have brought Manchester United a solid defense, but if any of these three are injured, it is difficult to have a plug-and-play substitute. Every time the three midfielders In the event of an injury, Ancelotti had to be forced to change his formation and play in another formation.

Fortunately, all three defensive midfielders can start in Manchester City's game now. Otherwise, Ancelotti is really not at ease if they change their formation to deal with Manchester City.

Manchester City's lineup is quite luxurious. This summer, Manchester City invested a lot of money to introduce two offensive weapons, Sterling and De Bruyne. These two are plug-and-play, plus Silva and Aguero. The offensive firepower is quite sufficient.They swept defending champions Chelsea [-]-[-] in August.

The offensive dual core composed of Silva and De Bruyne is quite powerful, making opponents hard to defend.De Bruyne just beat Sevilla in the Champions League, scoring ten goals in eight games, and scored three goals and three assists in five Premier League games.

Silva, who missed the previous two games with an ankle injury, was on the bench for City's Champions League win over Sevilla on Wednesday and could, if nothing else, catch up to the Manchester derby.

And Aguero had been recovering from his injury for nearly four weeks before, and there is a high probability that he can pay for this game.

Manchester City's luxurious offensive lineup is all in place in the derby.

Manchester United's defense did not dare to be careless in the face of such an offensive combination.

Overall, both Manchester United and City have taken advantage of the summer transfer window to upgrade their squads.Manchester United introduced Li Qingshan, while Manchester City brought Sterling and De Bruyne.

What will the first round of the season between the two sides be like?

...........
On October 2015, 10, at Old Trafford, Manchester United played at home against rivals Manchester City.

The red bus carrying Manchester United slowly drove towards Old Trafford. On the streets on both sides of the bus, there were also Manchester United fans flocking towards the stadium.

At the same time, Manchester City's players have also arrived in the visiting dressing room at Old Trafford.

Pellegrini's research on Li Qingshan has been very in-depth.

Li Qingshan's progress in the past two years surprised Pellegrini.Two years ago, Li Qingshan was still a classical center forward, he was very focused on his body and header.But in the past two years, he has gradually expanded his abilities to meet the characteristics of modern football.

Modern football has high requirements for running positions. In addition to scoring goals, the center forward also has other tasks.In this regard, Li Qingshan is also doing better and better.

The current Li Qingshan not only conforms to the characteristics of modern football, but also has the ability of a classical center forward.He can run flexibly and has a certain ability with his feet.At the same time, he is physically strong, has an excellent header, likes to move in front of the goal, and is not afraid of confrontation.

There are fewer and fewer such centers in modern football.

However, after Pellegrini carefully studied Li Qingshan's penalty area, he found that Li Qingshan scored most of his goals with headers, which shows that Li Qingshan still needs the support of crosses from the side.

If you want to freeze Li Qingshan, you must cut off Li Qingshan's connection with the midfielder, and it is best to isolate him.

But anyone can think of such an idea. In fact, many teams have tried to use this trick to deal with Manchester United, but Manchester United also has a way to deal with it.Manchester United can support Li Qingshan with a direct long pass from the backcourt to Li Qingshan. It is not so easy to cut off the connection between Li Qingshan and his teammates.

What inspired Pellegrini was Manchester United's away game against Arsenal.

Arsenal scored two goals in 10 minutes in that game. Although it was reversed by Manchester United in the end, there is no doubt that it was the closest Manchester United lost points this season.

When the average team faces Manchester United, they always think of defense first, and Li Qingshan first.But why not do the opposite?

Pellegrini told his players in the dressing room: "There are holes in their defense! There is no doubt about it!"

"This is Old Trafford, Manchester United's home ground, they must be thinking that the first thought of all teams coming here is to defend. But we are not! Look at our attacking lineup, Aguero! De Bruyne! Silva!"

"Other teams are afraid of Manchester United, but we are not! Our game is to attack!"

"Attack from the beginning of the game! Give the ball to De Bruyne, give the ball to Silva, give the ball to Aguero, put the ball in their goddamn goal!!!"

Speaking of excitement, Pellegrini almost roared out.

For Pellegrini, who has always been known for his calm and wise, such a passionate speech is very rare.

There is no doubt that Manchester City's players are paying a lot. Of course, they don't think they are worse than Manchester United. They like the head coach to say "we want to attack".

The Manchester City players screamed and pushed away the people in the locker room and walked out of the player tunnel.

(End of this chapter)