Eight Hundred and Twenty-Six Manchester City Survived!

January 25, Manchester Etihad Stadium.

Manchester City hosts Liverpool in the second leg of the League Cup semi-final.

As a guest at the Etihad, Liverpool set up an iron barrel formation throughout the game, which made Manchester City's offense return without success again and again, but the home team still patiently controlled the ball and the situation.

Until the fifty-sixth minute of the second half.

Liverpool made a tackle at the front of their own box and passed the ball into midfield, handing it to Mascherano.

Argentina's midfielder passed to Biglia, but Manchester City's on-the-spot counter-robber forced Biglia to pass back to Mascherano again, and then assigned to the right.

Tonight, Liverpool's right back is Martin Kelly, who is only 21 years old. He is 1.91 meters tall and not very flexible.

When Martin Kelly turned around to catch up to the sideline and stopped the ball, Gareth Bale, the left winger who started tonight, had already rushed to him and blocked his front, forcing the Liverpool teenager to quickly move The ball is dialed back.

The ball was almost poked away by Gareth Bale's foot.

Martin Kelly was a little lucky, turned around immediately, and blocked Gareth Bale with his body.

There is a characteristic of Manchester City's frontcourt pressing, that is, when the ball reaches the narrow area on the wing, which is most conducive to pressing, once the opportunity is created, everyone around will be dispatched at the same time.

When Martin Kelly turned around, protected the ball, and wanted to pass back to Skrtel, he found that David Silva had quietly rushed forward, threatening this passing line.

The reason why the teenager is a teenager is that he is inexperienced and easily nervous.

The originally imagined passing line was stuck, and Martin Kelly was a little frightened. Gareth Bale posted it again behind him, and he might form a siege with David Silva at any time.

This immediately made the young Liverpool player very anxious, he did not dare to let the ball stay under his feet, and directly passed it back from a long distance.

The ball passed Skrtel and passed directly back to the penalty area, going to the goalkeeper Reina.

And all experienced defenders know that this kind of long-range return pass is bad for goalkeepers because it is dangerous.

The return pass should not be strong.

The speed of the ball cannot be too fast, otherwise, a little carelessness will be an own goal.

Once the distance is extended, passing the ball with low strength and slow speed often means that the uncontrolled time is prolonged.

At this time, as long as someone in the middle suddenly rushes out, he may grab the ball before the goalkeeper every minute.

Just like Van Persie in Manchester City.

He has been ambushing between the two Liverpool central defenders Skrtel and Agger. When Skrtel pulled to the left of Manchester City to meet Martin Kelly, Van Persie also leaned over. Silva flanks Skrtel.

But he has always paid attention to maintaining the balance with Skrtel, for fear of offside.

The experienced Dutch center saw an opportunity right away when he saw David Silva threatening Skrtel and Martin Kelly forced back.

In this case, Martin Kelly has only one line out of the ball, and that is the goalkeeper.

So he stepped forward decisively.

Intercepting the opponent's return pass does not need to consider whether it is offside!

When Martin Kelly was in a hurry and his mind was full of thoughts of passing back to the goalkeeper, how could he care about observing the opponent's running position in private?

He kicked it out with a pass back.

But as soon as the ball was kicked, he felt as if he had fallen into an ice cellar.

He saw the silhouette of a Manchester City player wearing a sky blue jersey, who had already rushed into the penalty area quickly.

Goalkeeper Reina also realized the danger, abandoned the goal and rushed out.

However, Martin Kelly's return pass was not fast and strong. As soon as the ball entered the penalty area, it was immediately intercepted by Van Persie, and the instep of his left foot stopped lightly. An obedient baby, Reina who was stopped by Van Persie and fell to the bottom line behind him.

Reina rushed to nothing, facing such a threat, there was only one choice that was not an option.

foul!

But a foul at this time is a red card and a penalty kick!

The Spanish goalkeeper chose an emergency stop, turned around and chased back.

After Van Persie crossed Reina, he quickly rushed to the left side of the small penalty area. At a position near the baseline, he caught up with the football he stopped just now and shot with his left foot.

The ball rolled towards Liverpool's goal almost in a straight line.

Reina tried his best to make a save, but where could he get it?

When Agger returned to the small penalty area, the whole person fell to the ground and slid, trying to destroy the shot, but the shovel was empty. The ball almost brushed the left post and got into Liverpool's goal.

"GOALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!"

"In the fifty-sixth minute, Liverpool's iron wall finally exposed a fatal crack under Manchester City's high pressure!"

"Martin Kelly's return pass gave Van Persie an excellent opportunity. The Dutch center waded through the goalkeeper Reina and opened the scoring for Manchester City, 1-0!"

"Van Persie! Manchester City's goalkeeper tonight!"

After the Dutchman scored, he quickly turned around and rushed out of the field.

The whole Etihad Stadium is shouting his name.

One to zero!

Liverpool's iron barrel formation is finally broken!

...

At noon on January 28, Liverpool's Anfield Stadium.

Liverpool host Manchester City in the fourth round of the FA Cup.

The atmosphere of the whole game was extremely strong.

The two sides played a total of four games in January 2012, one in the league, two in the League Cup and one in the FA Cup.

In the previous three games, Manchester City had two wins and one draw, remaining unbeaten.

And this battle is related to the right to qualify for the FA Cup. With both the League and the League Cup defeated, the FA Cup is already Liverpool's only hope, so Benitez is also doing his best in this game.

Both sides scored a goal in the first half.

The two teams remained stalemate for most of the rest of the game.

Manchester City has the advantage of passing and possession, but Liverpool's defense is very careful.

Gao Shen also made consecutive substitutions in the second half, trying to play a threat.

When the game progressed to the eighty-eighth minute, the score was still one to one, and no one could break the opponent's goal.

Manchester City once again took possession of the ball and advanced to Liverpool's 30-meter area.

When Yaya Toure took the ball from the outside of the top of the arc, he used his body to support Mascherano, then skillfully protected the ball with his right foot, and when Bigglia robbed, he chose to pick a pass to the penalty area arc top.

Substitute France centre-forward Olivier Giroud stepped back from the front, with his back to goal, body-carrying Daniel Agger behind him, opting to use his left foot in the face of Yaya Touré's pick. On the inside, another pick pass was made directly.

After being picked up by Giroud, the football passed Skrtel and fell to the left side of the small penalty area behind the Liverpool defense.

Sturridge went straight behind Skrtel at a very fast speed, grabbed the ball before it landed, and made a volley shot with his left foot, pumping the ball straight to the right side of the goal, hitting the right side net of the Liverpool goal .

"GOALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!"

"Man City! It's Manchester City's lore again!"

"This time it's Sturridge!"

"The local young player from Manchester City's youth training took over from substitute center Giroud's pinball assist and scored the winning goal for Manchester City!"

"Two to one!"

"At the critical moment, when the team's schedule was dense and difficult, Manchester City's solid bench thickness played a key role. Sturridge volleyed with his left foot and scored a key goal for Manchester City."

"Martin Kelly, the young Liverpool full-back, three days ago in the Carabao Cup semi-final, the back pass caused the team to lose the ball, and tonight, he missed Sturridge again."

"But it must be said that Martin Kelly cannot be blamed for this ball. After all, he is 1.91 meters tall. It is really difficult for him to compete with Sturridge in speed!"

"Manchester City's tactical options are very rich. At critical moments, Gao Shen can always deploy impressive players to change the trend of the game and break the deadlock."

"Giroud and Sturridge became Manchester City's weight to win tonight!"

...

Before Christmas and the devil's game in the winter break, countless people sang dirges to Manchester City, thinking that it is difficult for this team to keep pace on multiple fronts because it is too difficult.

How difficult is it?

From December 26 to January 28, in 34 days, Manchester City played nine games.

These include five league games against West Bromwich Albion away, Sunderland away, Liverpool at home, Wigan Athletic away and Tottenham Hotspur at home.

Two League Cup semi-finals against Liverpool.

Two FA Cup games against Manchester United and Liverpool.

In other words, in these nine games, except for West Bromwich Albion, Wigan Athletic and Sunderland, all of them were the top five teams in the league. Such a devilish schedule is almost fatal!

This was hailed by The Sun as the most difficult schedule in the history of the Premier League.

Before, some media even believed that Manchester City would not be able to get out of this devil's schedule anyway, and would definitely lose.

There must be a trade-off between the three fronts.

But a month later, people discovered that Manchester City survived!

In the semi-finals of the League Cup, with one win and one draw in two rounds, Liverpool was eliminated and successfully reached the final.

The opponent in the final was Leeds United, who double-killed Cardiff in two rounds.

This has been hailed as a duel between Gao Shen and Gao Shen disciples.

The Sun even believed that this was a civil war between Gao Shen and his wife!

But in any case, Manchester City entered the final and can be called the number one favorite. No matter from which angle, Leeds United can hardly threaten Manchester City.

In the FA Cup, Manchester City defeated Manchester United and Liverpool successively and successfully advanced to the round of 16.

After surviving the torment of the painful devil's schedule, Manchester City finally turned around and drew Brighton in the British Championship.

This is known as a duel between the local tyrants of the Premier League and the local tyrants of the British Championship.

Let's see who is more aggressive.

After defeating Arsenal in an upset, Leeds United lost 2-3 at home to Aston Villa in the fourth round of the FA Cup.

After all, this dark horse in the League Cup failed to continue to create surprises in the FA Cup.

But to be able to upset Arsenal and reach the final in the League Cup, Leeds United's performance is already eye-catching and amazing enough, especially the aggressive style of play adopted by this team, and the emergence of Many players in the team are very attractive.

Many people are also beginning to look forward to Leeds United's performance after being promoted to the Premier League.

But it's more of a worry.

Because more and more Premier League teams have begun to target Leeds United players.