Chapter 545 Seek Blessings for Yourself, Brother!
"It seems that you are really prepared for this game!"
In the middle of the chairman's stand at St. Mary's Stadium, Yang Huan immediately smiled and said to Mubarak when he saw the opponents walking out of the player tunnel.
"That's natural!" Mubarak didn't sit on the seat, but stood upright, as if he was waiting for the game to start, and it would be more convenient for the team to celebrate after the team scored a goal.
Judging from his expression, he was indeed confident.
"You Southampton are chasing so fiercely. In the last round, the team made a mistake at home and lost points. You say, if you don't live up to this round and win your Southampton away, our second place in the league will be lost. I can't keep it!"
Yang Huan laughed out loud.
In the last round, Southampton defeated Wigan Athletic in an away game, but Manchester City drew Liverpool 2-2 at home, which directly led to the Saints successfully catching up with Manchester City. Both teams currently have 50 points.
Therefore, in this round, Manchester City's visit to St. Mary's Stadium is also regarded by the outside world as a battle for the Premier League runner-up.
As for Manchester United, after Ferguson's team won Everton early, they accumulated 63 points, far ahead of the standings.
It can even be said that they won the league championship ahead of schedule!
"If you have the ability, welcome to St. Mary's Stadium to score points!"
Young Master Huan also spoke very proudly.
The opponents are coming to the door. If you are timid and show weakness, you will be really sorry for the team.
Furthermore, 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 has changed!
The league has been playing for several months, survived the Christmas devil's schedule and January, and entered February, all teams have encountered problems of one kind or another. Rotation and formation changes are no longer worth making a fuss about.
Even, if you don't rotate and stay in formation, maybe people will still scold you because you don't know how to adapt.
Manchester City played Liverpool last round.
When falling behind in the first half, he changed his formation in the second half and started playing three backs, and finally tied the Red Army.
Perhaps, Mancini has tasted the sweetness, and this time he is still playing three defenders.
But Manchester City's three backs can also be regarded as five backs.
The goalkeeper is Joe Hart, the three backs in the defense are Lescott, Kompany and Zabaleta, the two wingers are Kolarov and Maicon, and the midfielder Yaya Toure is behind. Strowman is in the middle and David Silva goes forward.
In front of the double forwards, Dzeko is at the top, and Aguero is behind.
This is a set of offensive and defensive formations.
The whole world knows that Southampton is sitting on the devil wings of Neymar and Gareth Bale.
Mancini put up such a tactic. When retreating, Maicon and Zabaleta can limit Neymar on the left side of the Saints, and Kolarov can mark Gareth Bale.
Lescott and Kompany in the middle teamed up to limit Ibrahimovic.
The midfield duel is also three-on-three. The combination of Strowman, Yaya Toure and David Silva can ensure that no matter what kind of midfield combination Southampton plays, Manchester City can at least be undefeated land.
From this point of view, Mancini treats Southampton as a well-matched team.
Bielsa's formation in this game has also changed.
Neuer in goal, David Alaba, Javi Martinez, Varane and Azpilicueta in defense, Modric, Matic and Vidal in midfield , The front trident is Neymar, Ibrahimovic and Gareth Bale.
It should be said that Southampton's starting lineup is not too surprising, but the interesting thing is in the details.
Bielsa seems to have guessed from the beginning that Manchester City will focus on their own trident, so the duties of the trident have been adjusted. Zlatan Ibrahimovic is still the central defender who withstands the opponent. It's pretty far up front, but Gareth Bale's position is trailing behind.
In the midfield, Modric's duty is still to connect and organize the midfield. When defending, he entangles Yaya Toure. Vidal gained more degrees of freedom in this game. Stroman.
On the other hand, Matic stood firmly in front of the defense line to protect the back line and freeze David Silva.
Southampton also insisted on their usual style of play as always. At the beginning of the game, they launched a fierce press against Manchester City and organized and planned many attacks. However, Manchester City's defense was in place and Southampton did not give Southampton an effective chance to score. .
But once the ball fell to Manchester City's feet, Blue Moon still couldn't create a threat.
Under Southampton's high-intensity pressing and targeted pressure, it was difficult for Manchester City's ball to move effectively and it was impossible to pass the ball quickly through the midfield.
David Silva saw that the teammates behind him could not pass the ball to his feet effectively. In order to get rid of Matic's defense, he had to choose to leave Matic's defense zone and retreat deeper to catch the ball.
But in this way, the midfield and the frontcourt are torn apart.
Therefore, once the ball reaches Manchester City's feet, Manchester City desperately wants to slow down the rhythm, but when Southampton presses and hits, Manchester City can easily lose the ball, and the scene is very passive.
Even, from the perspective of the opening, Southampton has an overwhelming advantage.
Seeing this scene, Mubarak looked embarrassed and depressed.
It was agreed to cause some trouble for Southampton, but why was he forced into such a mess as soon as he came up?
Southampton played so aggressively after the start, but what about Manchester City?
It's been a few minutes, and there's not even a chance to enter the restricted area, what's wrong?
"Don't be nervous, don't worry, take your time!" Yang Huan said with a smile.
The rhythm of Manchester City is really slow enough!
For Southampton, what I like to do most is to beat the slow with the fast.
"Master Huan, it's useless to have an advantage, you have to score goals!" Mubarak was depressed, but his mouth was firm.
Just kidding, we are passive, but we can hold on.
In the away game, it was St. Mary's Stadium again, and it was considered safe to defend.
But as soon as Mubarak said this, I saw Harvey Martinez and Neuer shouting at their teammates and making gestures, as if they were calling on their teammates to circulate and not go to the end in a dead end .
The ball fell to the feet of Javi Martinez again, who raised his right hand high and signaled his teammates to hold on.
Seeing Dzeko come up to press, the Spaniard passed the ball to Matic.
Matic didn't wait for Aguero to get close, and immediately passed to the right.
Varane moved forward, and after receiving the ball, he took advantage of the situation and moved forward. Naturally, right back Azpilicueta retracted into the middle to make up for him.
As soon as Varane moved forward, Vidal also rushed forward, and Modric retreated to respond.
As soon as the ball came to Modric's feet, the Croatian took two steps back in order to get rid of Strowman and split to the right.
As soon as he saw Gareth Bale receive the ball, Kolarov leaned forward immediately.
But at this time, the Welshman's position is close to the wing, far from the penalty area, and can't threaten the goal at all, so Kolarov doesn't stick close, for fear of being overwhelmed by Gareth Bell's speed.
Who doesn't know that the speed of the Welsh wing is the nightmare of all defensive players in the Premier League?
But as soon as Gareth Bell saw that he was not pressing, he stopped the ball and glanced at the penalty area.
I wiped it, and it was black and dense, all of which were sky blue jerseys.
There was Vidal who came in from the front point, and Neymar was near the penalty point. The two players attracted the attention of the defensive players.
Hey, where is Ibrahimovic?
Later!
Gareth Bale swung his left foot and made a left-footed cross.
The ball crossed an arc and fell towards the penalty area.
Mubarak still looked very calm in the stands. He glanced and found that there were at least seven Manchester City defensive players inside and outside the penalty area, while Southampton's offensive players were only four.
Seven defenses and four defenses, an absolute numerical advantage, if you can't defend it, there will be a problem!
However, when Gareth Bale's cross fell into the penalty area, Mubarak's eyelids jumped.
"Damn it, why did you miss Zlatan Ibrahimovic?"
Yang Huan laughed at the side.
On the court, players often have no way to see the overall situation and can only respond according to their instincts.
When they saw that Gareth Bale was going to pass the ball, and Vidal and Neymar were both in the two dangerous areas of the front and the center, the first reaction of the defensive players who did not clearly arrange the marking task was to follow up and hold!
At that moment, they didn't bother to think about it, instead of thinking about who they missed.
Because when the head coach assigns defensive tasks, he will arrange a special person to mark a certain player of the opponent.
For example, Kolarov went to check on Gareth Bale, or Kompany went to check on Ibrahimovic.
Theoretically speaking, as long as everyone fulfills the defensive task, basically no one will be missed.
But this is just a theory, and it cannot stand the ever-changing situation.
When Gareth Bale's pass crossed the front point, crossed the middle, and fell to the back point, Kompany, Lescott and others turned their heads and looked at the thief with a shocked face and smiled Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
At this moment, they must be saying in their hearts, it's over, they were cheated!
And Ibrahimovic is smiling proudly, hey, as long as we change positions, you will be dizzy!
This goal, my brother accepted it with a smile!
Behind Ibrahimovic, Maicon desperately wanted to stop the Swedish center, and even hugged him at the expense of a foul.
But once the Swede started, he was like a heavy tank that couldn't be stopped. He rushed to the front of the small penalty area, aimed at the ball's landing point, and pushed his right foot lightly.
The ball went over Joe Hart and into the goal!
In an instant, the entire St. Mary's Stadium erupted!
The passion of more than 30,000 fans burst out in an instant, sweeping the entire stadium!
Mubarak patted his forehead hard, "What happened? How did this happen?"
In the case of seven defenses and four, and the number of people occupying an absolute advantage, there was such a low-level mistake as missing people?
Could it be that this group of guards in Manchester City are all dry food?
Yang Huan laughed and applauded vigorously, applauding Zlatan Ibrahimovic's goal, and at the same time applauding Gareth Bale's precise left-footed cross.
Who said the Welshman can only score, only speed?
At the very least, his free kick with his left foot and his pass with his left foot are quite powerful!
"Do you know why?" Yang Huan smiled and looked at Mubarak with a sad face.
"Because your tactics are too mechanical, and even the player's position and running are lack of changes, it is easy to be figured out and used by others!"
The goal just now, Gareth Bale's precise pass, did play a key role, but the off-ball running of Ibrahimovic, Vidal and Neymar was also crucial.
Before the Welshman was about to pass, Neymar ran down the middle, Vidal charged forward, and the Swede deliberately stayed behind and ran back.
This caused trouble for Manchester City's defense.
If the original arrangement is followed, Kompany and Lescott will definitely follow the Swede to the back point, Zabaleta will follow Neymar to the middle, and Yaya Toure will follow Vidal to withdraw from the penalty area and hold the front ordered.
But when there was a problem, Kolarov was worried about being forced to break through and didn't get close, which made Yaya Toure worry about Gareth Bell dribbling the ball inward, so he guarded the front of the penalty area to protect, while Sabaletta followed inside Marr went, but he could only follow the Brazilian, unable to stop Neymar from receiving the ball.
And Kompany and Lescott didn't even follow Ibrahimovic at all.
Because the situation at the time was that Southampton's most threatening offensive method was Gareth Bale dribbling the ball laterally to find Neymar to cooperate. This is a very threatening offensive routine.
After all, Gareth Bale dribbled the ball in from the right and then hit the goal suddenly, which is his nirvana this season!
Especially considering Neymar, once he gets the ball in the penalty area, it will be over for Manchester City.
In addition, Yaya Toure did not follow Vidal, so the first reaction of Kompany and Lescott was to freeze Neymar and Vidal, so there was no way to separate to follow Ibrahimovi strange.
When the Swede reached the back point, he easily suppressed Maicon with his body and scored the goal.
The whole scoring process sounds complicated and cumbersome, but in fact it changes rapidly and is full of many changes.
Southampton is the active offensive side. They have practiced this kind of coordination routine before the game, so they are more skilled in implementing it.
On the other hand, Manchester City is passive defense, unable to predict the enemy's opportunities, and can only be passive everywhere.
But the most important point is the head coach.
As an Italian coach, Mancini's tactical literacy is not a problem, but he is too mechanical, the overall tactics are not flexible, and he lacks adaptability.
Therefore, it is often difficult for the teams he coaches to achieve good results in the European arena with more targeted tactics.
This is not without reason.
Yang Huan thought of this, and then looked at the sidelines, and found that Bielsa, who had been squatting to direct the game, suddenly stood up, shouted at the players in the field, gestured wildly, and immediately laughed.
Obviously, the Argentine lunatic saw the loopholes and weaknesses of Manchester City!
"Bless yourselves, brother!"
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