In his press conference ahead of the midweek Premier League tie, Pep Guardiola answered questions about Gabriel Jesus.

"Yes, I think Gabriel is the best player in football today and I'm delighted that he won the Player of the Season award from the PFA, which is a great honour for Manchester City. ”

"Patrick Amber is out of the league anymore and I don't know if he would win the award if he did, but I'm pretty sure Gabriel is on the same level as Amber. ”

The Catalans hastily ended the press conference.

He has been in a bad mood lately, six points behind QPR and Manchester United with two games in hand, and nine points behind Everton. He may be able to use the opportunity to catch up with or even surpass QPR and Manchester United, but it still takes a lot of luck to win the title as the season is coming to an end.

In the Premier League replay on Wednesday night, Manchester City beat West Brom 3-1 without much suspense. The difference between Manchester City and QPR and Manchester United has shrunk to three points.

Gabriel Jesus scored his 33rd and 34th Premier League goals of the season in that game. The Brazilian, who has just won the PFA Season Double, only needs one more goal to break Alan Shearer's and Andy Cole's multi-year record of 34 goals and become the Premier League's all-time top scorer in a single season.

Gabriel has been in a good mood lately and has posted a video of himself dancing samba on Instagram. Like many Brazilian boys his age, he is full of optimism.

Pep thought about it, but it was only the matchup with Patrick Amber in the first half of the season that really activated his 100 percent fighting spirit. Even in the previous two-legged Champions League knockout game against Barcelona, Gabriel's performance on the pitch was a bit too personal. He was criticised in the dressing room after the game.

Pep looked at his watch, and it was almost twelve o'clock. He glanced at the BBC page on the computer screen. In addition to reporting this Manchester City victory, it was also mentioned that Arsenal officially announced their withdrawal from the race for the top four after drawing 2-2 away to Newcastle.

He still has two more QPR recordings to watch. The video analyst has done the analysis, but Pep will always analyze the game himself first and then look at the rest.

In the next game, there can't be any mistakes, Pep thought. Facing QPR at home and winning three points, you are qualified to talk about the possibility of further championships.

However, this opponent is cunning.

He's not quite sure what kind of play Kristen Lue will play without Patrick Amber. But in fact, it doesn't bother Pep too much, because no matter what strategy the opponent takes, he will still focus on me. Of course, there will be targeted arrangements, but the consistent football philosophy will definitely not change.

There are also rumours on the BBC page that he could leave Manchester City at the end of the season.

Invitation to Barcelona...... Pep didn't want to think about it. Begiristain (Manchester City's director of football) has spoken to him twice recently, suggesting that the Middle East boss is unhappy with City's results in the past two seasons.

The Manchester City boss closed the webpage and opened the video of the QPR game.

****

The stands at the Etihad were already sparsely populated with fans. The Manchester City boss arrived early on the pitch to check the length and wetness of the grass. Some fans looked at him from afar and gave him some scattered applause.

Pep didn't care, he was thinking about something else.

He leaned over and touched the blades of grass. Very good. On our home turf everything has to be perfect. In just over an hour, the ball will be rolling on such turf, and we have to make sure our pass is as smooth as the finest chocolate.

He always rehearses the game in his head before the game.

He could see eleven City players spread out in space, encroaching on opposition positions, and every key position was occupied by players dressed in sky blue. The trajectory of the ball is as if it had been precisely calculated, and it keeps coming down at the feet of his players, and each pass confuses the opponent, tricks the opponent, drives the opponent's line to move, and finally opens the gap.

Then there's the fatal blow, maybe just a few seconds, but you have to get the ball flowing to the best of your ability to get ready for those seconds.

Possession is never an end, it's a means.

The Catalans looked up at the clear blue sky. Actually, my football philosophy is very simple, but the simple things are sometimes the most difficult to understand. There are so many clumsy imitators, and no one can grasp the essence of them, so they all fail. So people say that Pep has won so many championships because he has the best players, and his system is not universal.

He was confused, did he really crave people's understanding?

He walked to the sidelines and stomped his feet, it was unbelievable that the country was still so cold at the end of April.

Maybe it's time to go back to that warm place...... But I'm going to leave here victorious, not a pathetic loser.

****

Lu Ling made an exception before the game and followed Tim to the stadium to watch the warm-up of the players. In the past two days, the weather has suddenly turned a little colder, and she has put on a thick down jacket again. Despite the sunshine today.

In fact, Manchester, located in the north of England, is always icy. The industrial city sometimes has a rampaging bandit atmosphere that is at odds with Catalan football.

But is it really out of place? Maybe a smart person can find a wonderful incision. She just didn't know, did Pep find it? Or would it find it?

She glanced at the venue on the other side. City's players huddled in a 15x15 box and doing extremely fast multi-player passing exercises, no different from what I remembered.

She walked over to Tim and whispered a discussion with him.

They already have a very detailed plan for the pre-match plan for this match. However, she still has some worries, so she still wants to supervise the warm-up.

The players will have a final walk-through of some of the combinations. Of course, she won't show all her plans in front of her opponents, but she needs her players to be more tacit, and one more cooperation will make her more proficient.

There were few voices of mockery and abuse of QPR and her from the stands, and most of the British fans still think that such behavior is unseemly.

Lu Ling didn't care. She needs to be 100 per cent focused in this game.

****

Clattenburg blew the opening whistle.

In the common room at the Vinci Farm training base, most of Everton's first-team players and coaching staff were already sitting in front of the television. The result of this fixture, which is being broadcast live, will have a direct impact on how secure Everton's top spot is. Nicholas took a sip of coffee and the TV footage briefly cut to the handshake between the two managers, who was now back in the game.

In Catalonia, in a villa on the outskirts of Barcelona, Patrick sits alone in front of his television. But the doorbell rang suddenly. He looked at his watch, he wasn't a chef, and he didn't ask out teammates. He didn't know who it was, which irritated him. He stared at the TV and asked over the loudspeaker who it was.

"It's me, Pat. ”

Jack Amber. His father. Patrick froze for a moment, and Zoe called twice. He opened the door.

On the TV, the voice of the commentary came-

"The coach of the England national team, Sam Allardyce, was also in the stands. Among the QPR players on the pitch, Yu Zixiang and Glenn Mitchell are both current national team players, and Sam Allardyce is also said to be interested in Jacob Harding. Manchester City, for their part, also started with John Stones and Raheem Sterling on the pitch today. ”

Nicholas stared at the screen as the two teams were in their first offensive and defensive rounds.

QPR's opening strategy doesn't look any different from the previous round against Liverpool. Tighten the front and protect your penalty area. This is the approach that most teams will take when facing Manchester City.

However, Manchester City's attacking system is very different from Liverpool's.

Kristen should know these two opponents very well.

Pep Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp both like to press high and do everything they can to get the ball back the moment they concede the ball. Nicholas himself likes it, and it's the basis of the team's control.

The difference is that Klopp's attack is based on physical running, and the offensive routine built is also based on the continuous interspersing and impact of the players. Although Pep Guardiola also attaches great importance to tacit understanding in running, he attaches more importance to the fundamental role of precise technique in attack.

In this game, Manchester City presented Pep Guardiola's integrated system: 3241 play.

Three centre-backs and two midfielders make up a five-man group at the back. This five-a-side team is responsible for maintaining the flow of possession in the centre circle, the initiation of attacks, and the defense at the back.

The four attacking midfielders open up space: two on the side and two on the flanks. The centre-forward is constantly moving between the opposition's back line and the midfield line. At any point in time, a triangular position can be formed locally.

Today's centre-forward is Gabriel Jesus. He has gradually moved from an attacking midfield position to a so-called "false nine" position this season. This is a bright spot in Pep Guardiola's system, and although it was not a concept pioneered by him, it is widely known for his past transformation of Messi at Barcelona, and even became a trend of the period.

This false No. 9, or pseudo-center role, is to retreat in the attack, leaving the opposition defender in a dilemma: follow, you may lose your position, and if you don't, you will give the false 9 and other midfielders a numerical advantage.

And this position will be surrounded by a lot of suppression, once the ball is taken, the space around him is often very narrow, and it really needs a superstar like Messi or Jesus to fill it.

In addition, in this system, almost all positions are flexible. It's a practice of the 'all-attack, all-defending' philosophy, and you can see the City players changing positions in a dazzling array but still being able to maintain the formation without messing up.

Manchester City went on the attack.

Nicholas looked at City's formation, and he thought that in the last epic battle they lost to the QPR, they didn't dare to press all the time because of Patrick's pinning. But now, they can hold down the qpr and play it to their heart's content.

And although this QPR uses the same strategy of sticking to the low post as the previous game, the formation is different: Christine uses a formation of 343, which becomes 541 when retreating.

Jamming each rib to the core, the team switches between zone and man to man, with the entire five-man line and four-man midfield line acting like two staggered chains that can be bent at will, covering the area around the penalty area.

Nicholas looked at QPR's defensive line: QPR's defense was excellent in the first two meetings of the season, but by no means as tacit and well-organized as it is now.

Juan was amazed and rejoiced in Spanish in his ear: "If the QPR had been honed two months earlier, we would have ......" Even though it was Spanish, the teaching assistant kept his voice down, "It may not be us who will stay at the top of the list." ”

The Everton manager closed his lips and nodded.

Juan felt that what was in Nick's eyes was complicated. Nick was undoubtedly proud, he had discovered her, she was half his student, and she had been his close lover, and besides, Nick had some ......

Juan didn't know.

Nicholas was still staring at the screen, and he knew he had never missed it.

If Patrick was destined to become a legend, then Christine was not.

After he left QPR, she learned a lot, grew a lot, and is still trying to improve. It is clear that she has learned from him and Bielsa as well as from many other famous coaches.

In fact, Lu Ling did learn from some of the Italian managers she has played against, such as Antonio Conte and Allegri, and her assistant Tim Luiz has been teaching in Italy for many years and has a deep understanding of Italian defence.

****

Jack Amber looked at the temperature in Manchester on his phone today, pouted and sighed: "No wonder Christine wears so thick, that city is always so cold." I remember one summer I ...... your mother."

"Dad, I'm watching the game. This game is important. Patrick interrupted his father staring at the TV.

Jack said sorry. He got up again and went to the kitchen, and there were no alcoholic beverages in the fridge, which made Jack a little depressed. He walked back to the couch and sat down next to his son again. He looked at Patrick's face and sighed inwardly.

Then, Jack's attention gradually turned to Manchester City's match against QPR. 166 Reading Network