Chapter 361 Manchester City’s Counterattack

After leaving Barcelona's coaching position, Guardiola took over the coaching job of Bundesliga hegemon Bayern Munich. In the already dominant Bundesliga, Guardiola allowed Bayern to stabilize its hegemony in the Bundesliga and achieve an unprecedented four consecutive Bundesliga titles. In the Champions League, Bayern Munich has also entered the semi-finals for three consecutive years.

This season, Guardiola came to the highly competitive Premier League and led Manchester City, which performed poorly last season, to three consecutive wins in the opening season, scoring the most goals among all Premier League teams.

Such results make Guardiola and his soldiers very confident. They believe that they can defeat any opponent as long as the opponent does not set up an iron barrel formation.

In this game, Manchester United has no intention of setting up an iron barrel formation, even if the opponent's head coach is Mourinho, who is famous for his iron barrel formation.

In this case, the current backwardness is just a small episode. With their strong strength, this goal difference is nothing at all.

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However, this lost ball made Guardiola see something wrong. He walked to the sidelines, shouted Stones' name, and then motioned for him to stay in the backcourt as much as possible and not to attack rashly like before.

There are still dozens of minutes left in the game. At this time, it is a deadlock and nothing can be explained. It’s not time to burn the boat yet.

Stones nodded, he must be careful in the next game.

Fernandinho lowered his head and blamed himself. If he hadn't been so excited when he saw Bruno, he wouldn't have so many problems.

Otamendi came up and patted him on the back, telling him not to blame himself too much.

... Sterling stood near the midfield, looking back at the Manchester United players who were celebrating the goal.

He thought that Bruno was nothing special and that his team would definitely win this game. There was no fun in the game. Now it seems he was wrong, the game was fun, very fun.

He no longer thinks about the duel with Bruno. He feels that leading the team to defeat Manchester United is also a very fulfilling thing.

The celebrations of the Manchester United fans were wild, but the celebrations of the Manchester United players were short-lived. Everyone quickly dispersed, ready to resume the game.

Manchester City's goalkeeper Bravo kicked the football out and it fell to Iheanacho. Manchester City quickly recovered and prepared to play again.

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The referee blew his whistle and the game started again.

Manchester City rushed forward with murderous intent and wanted to score as soon as possible. They didn't even pass the ball back, they just started going forward.

Manchester City's attack surged up like a rising tide.

Bruno directed his teammates to return to defense. He didn't want his team to score a goal only to be pulled back by the opponent in less than a minute. At the same time, Bruno was still thinking, could he take advantage of Manchester City's pressing attack to equalize the score and score another one?

This is Bruno. If it were other players, he might be satisfied with being able to lead Manchester City by one goal, but Bruno is never satisfied, and he does not think that leading Manchester City by one goal is such a great thing. Let's talk about winning Manchester City.

It's a pity that Manchester City did not give Manchester United any chance this time. The two central defenders, Stones and Otamendi, resolutely refused to press forward. The two full-backs quickly returned to defense after assisting. They were obviously frightened by Manchester United's fast attack.

In these few minutes, Manchester United defended with all their strength and Manchester City attacked with all their strength.

Sterling became active again, and the one-on-one confrontation between him and Bruno became the focus of everyone's attention.

In the previous one-on-one encounters, it was Sterling who ultimately won, but Bruno got tighter every time.

This time when Sterling got the ball and planned to use his skills with his feet and dribbling laterally to tear apart Manchester United's defense, as soon as he started, Bruno took the first kick and destroyed the football!

"Oh!!" There was an exclamation from the stands.

This is the first time Bruno has won a one-on-one match with Sterling. He didn't expect it to come so easily and suddenly.

Sterling himself didn't expect it. He was stunned for a moment, and then tried to control the ball. Gundogan had already received the ball, and the offense ended here.

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Soon Sterling made a comeback. This time he received the ball on the wing, first passed Rooney, and then took it to the ribs.

Seeing Bruno rushing forward, Sterling stopped suddenly, pushed the football to the outside, and then started again. The pause was so short that Bruno didn't even react.

But Bruno's explosive power was really amazing. When he saw Sterling starting up again, he tackled him directly from the side.

Even if it's a foul, Sterling must be blocked.

He got what he wanted. Sterling was shoveled to the ground by Bruno just as he started. The ball was lost and the man fell.

The referee's whistle sounded. This was indeed a foul.

The Manchester City players surrounded the referee and asked him to play a card, but the referee did not seem to intend to do so. He kept shaking his head and rejecting the suggestions of the Manchester City players.

The commentator supporting Manchester City quit, and someone shouted: "What is this? This is murder! Why did the referee do nothing when faced with this kind of foul and just stopped the game?! If I were the referee, I would give The Portuguese got a red card! Because he hurt Sterling, he hurt the wizard of football, and he hurt all the fans who love beautiful football!”

He couldn't wait to accuse Bruno of crimes, but his saliva could not help Sterling's revenge at all.

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Bruno got up from the ground, spread his hands and ran back, without even a friendly gesture of pulling up Sterling to apologize.

His actions aroused the disgust of Manchester City fans, and for the first time, Manchester City fans booed in the stands.

The previous game was very exciting. Fans from both sides only cared about cheering for their own teams and did not point the finger at the opposing players.

Things are different now. Seeing players in their team being treated like this by Bruno, Manchester City fans gave up.

The commentator supporting Bruno said: "This is a foul, but the circumstances are not serious. Bruno went for the football. He did not lift his feet or show the soles of his shoes. This was an ordinary foul and the referee did not show a yellow card." is correct!"

In fact, Bruno used this foul to tell Sterling, don't think that you can break through casually, and think carefully next time you pass in front of me. So running back, he kept staring at Sterling's, which was a silent demonstration.

Sterling did not see Bruno's silent demonstration, but he was not a fool. He could feel something from this foul: This Bruno was definitely not friendly to him.

He got up from the ground, and his ankle still hurt a little. Although the bones were not injured, the head-on collision was enough for him to bear.

Manchester City received a free kick that was 38 meters away from the goal and was quite off-position. This free kick was obviously not a threat to Manchester United and could only be passed in.

However, after De Bruyne's free kick was passed in, Maguire pushed it out, and Manchester City's attack failed.

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Now Manchester United is in the lead, but the Manchester United fans were not happy for long. They were only excited for a while after the goal, and then fell into a deep worry: a one-goal lead is not safe!

Manchester United fans are worried about being equalized by Manchester City. Although Manchester City's equalizer only brought the two sides back to the same starting line, the reality that they are already ahead will make Manchester United fans worry about gains and losses. They will think: "Since we are already ahead, why should we be satisfied?" What about being equalized by the opponent? "

Yes, since we are already ahead, why should we be satisfied with being equalized by the opponent? Why can we still take it calmly when the opponent equalizes?

Not only Manchester United fans have this idea, but Manchester United players also have similar ideas.

Although the opinion within the team is relatively unified, that is, after taking the lead, continue to attack and strive to expand the lead. But everyone is always worried about possible situations. They are worried about being equalized by Manchester City, worried that Manchester City's morale will be boosted because of the equalized score, worried that they will take the opportunity to go ahead...

These worries slowly accumulate in everyone's mind. They may not show any impact at first, but over time, they will become a heavy burden that accumulates in the hearts of the players, affecting their thoughts and actions.

This is pressure.

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The pressure of leading makes players think too much, and in a game like this, overthinking is not a good thing.

Manchester United, who have just started the game, have a "barefoot and not afraid of wearing shoes" momentum, so they can play freely and show their best side. But now they are wearing shoes and Manchester City are going barefoot.

The roles of the two parties are reversed, and their respective mentality is naturally different.

Now Manchester City has no other way but to score goals, and Manchester United has a burden.

After all, this Manchester United still lacks confidence. Not only the young players in the team lack confidence, but even veterans like Rooney also lack confidence.

Because in the past few seasons, Manchester United has always been at a disadvantage in games against Manchester City. They have only won once in 5 home games against Manchester City, and even suffered a disastrous defeat of 1:6.

Every Manchester United player still knows that they have to attack and work hard to score goals, but now they are very afraid of conceding the ball. It is not conceding the ball when the opponent scores, but conceding the ball when the football is cut off under their feet.

This kind of mental burden makes their performance in the game obviously not as relaxed as before.

Rashford originally planned to break through, but when he saw that Sagna was very close to him, he temporarily changed his mind and chose to pass the ball. As a result, it was a hasty pass and the intention was too obvious, which De Bruyne saw through. Cut off halfway.

Manchester City took the opportunity to counterattack. If Bruno hadn't returned to defense in time, the loss of the ball would have had serious consequences.

What kind of person is Guardiola? He has experienced countless major battles over the years. What opponents and situations have he never seen before? After observing a few rounds, he knew something was wrong with Manchester United themselves. So they stepped up their offensive, trying to put more pressure on Manchester United when they were hesitant.

During this period, Manchester United was in a bit of a mess, but Manchester City was playing well.

Their powerful offense was on display.