Chapter 55: The Giant Slayer
In League Two, Notts County are the biggest winners, with Hubnell and Villa taking the top two spots, while Di Natale, who has not played much due to injury, also finished fifth after a strong comeback.
Other teams are simply envious of Notts County's forward line, and the number of goals scored by these three strikers alone has exceeded the overall league goals of many teams, which is an embarrassing thing for them.
Notts County's excellent performance in the league has fans looking forward to the team making a difference in the cup competition, and the club has this in mind.
As a result, in the fourth round of the League Cup home match against League One team Manchester City, the Meadow Lane stadium was once again full, and countless fans who could not buy tickets could only watch the real-time picture on the big screen outside the stadium, cheering for the team with the fans in the stands.
For Manchester City, David couldn't be more familiar, although he was familiar with the local tyrant Manchester City in his previous life, so it was useless!
Manchester City, who finished 17th last season and were sadly relegated from the Premier League, are destined to be re-promoted to the Premier League for the next season, but they are also unique in League One, and they are currently at the top of the League One table with an excellent record.
David knows that at the end of the season, they will be back in the Premier League, and even if Manchester City are not a Premier League giant, they have the quality to establish themselves in the Premier League.
And if David is not mistaken, **** player Sun Jihai will transfer to Manchester City in this winter transfer period and become the banner of Chinese foreign players.
No one knows how much effort Manchester City will put into the Carabao Cup, which is currently aiming for league promotion, and even if they want to draw conclusions from the first two rounds, because Manchester City's opponents in the second and third rounds of the League Cup are all lower-division teams, even if they send out their reserves and youth teams, they can easily qualify.
In any case, Notts County, which aims to win the title, must aim to defeat their opponents, after all, even two Premier League teams have been killed, and they are afraid of a quasi-Premier League team that may not be able to fight to the death with themselves?
But it seems that God can't get along with Notts County, and it's just a matter of drawing strong teams in a row in the League Cup, but what does it mean to let these strong teams play to the death.
Whether it is Middlesbrough or Blackburn Rovers who met earlier, they are full of energy, and it doesn't look like they don't pay attention to the League Cup at all, and God knows why these guys are still so lively when they play three games a week.
The same seems to be true of this game, even though Manchester City played a league game four days ago and a league game three days later, they still sent out their full squad to fight Notts County.
Manchester City will not be unaware of the strength of Notts County, but they have done it anyway, is it just to avenge Middlesbrough and Blackburn, who were eliminated by Notts County?
That's a bit too much to say!
Maybe they think that the team that the Premier League team can't beat has been defeated by them, and from another point of view, it is declared that Manchester City should establish themselves in the Premier League.
Other than that, David couldn't think of any other reason.
However, it is also good that playing a strong team in a row can make the team grow rapidly, which is extremely beneficial for the club and the players.
As soon as the game started, Notts County took advantage of the home advantage to launch a fierce attack, crushing the originally somewhat careless Manchester City main line-up, and scored a goal in the 15th minute by Di Natale.
Although Manchester City was attached great importance before the game, coach Keegan still stubbornly believed that there were many reasons why two Premier League teams were eliminated by Notts County in a row, one is that Notts County does have a certain strength, and the other is that the two Premier League teams do not pay attention to the cup and do not pay attention to Notts County, and the third is the factor of luck.
It is precisely because of Keegan's attitude between importance and contempt that Manchester City are in a bad situation on the pitch, perhaps they forget that they are not as good as the two Premier League teams.
After being led by Notts County, Keegan erupted on the sidelines, shouting at the players on the pitch, if not to the point of scolding, and he felt the humiliation of Souness and McClaren's defeat at the hands of Notts County.
But Manchester City's own strength is not necessarily much higher than that of Notts County, and the state of Notts County, which is playing at home, has always been bursting, and the offensive wave after wave has been high, suppressing Manchester City is about to be out of breath.
Although neither side scored in the first half, as long as anyone who understands the ball can see, in fact, Manchester City has not much to do with Notts County, and it is more thanks to the brave performance of the Manchester City goalkeeper to concede only one goal in the first half.
At half-time, Keegan scolded the City players in the dressing room, not caring about the players' feelings, of course, he has the right to do so, but the question is, what does it do?
In the second half, Notts County still took the initiative, and Loew had already explained at halftime that he should continue to speed up the pace of attack, because under the repeated battles, Manchester City's physical fitness will definitely have problems, as long as Notts County has another city, the game will not have too much suspense, and Notts County also needs to prepare for the next game.
Some may say that Loew is too arrogant to even look at a quasi-Premier League side like Manchester City who are at the top of the League One table, but in fact, Notts County do perform better than Manchester City.
With City's fitness declining, Notts County seized the opportunity and scored the winning goal.
Keegan sat back in the dugout, knowing that the suspense of the game had been killed and that perhaps sooner had lost hope of progression.
Next, the two sides coincidentally adjusted the lineup to save strength for the later games.
After the game, Keegan said in an interview that the strength of Notts County really shouldn't be measured by league level, and he was glad that Notts County were not in League One this season, otherwise the team that is now in the League One table may not be Manchester City.
Keegan was a little frustrated when he said this, how difficult it is to make a very arrogant person say the words of defeat, once upon a time, Keegan, who led Newcastle, didn't even pay attention to Manchester United.
After this game, Notts County officially earned a nickname - the Giant Killer.
Having eliminated three Premier League teams in a row in the Carabao Cup, well, Manchester City is barely at that level, and that title is not too much.
Some people may say that the three teams are not giants, but this is to be seen in comparison.
Aren't three Premier League-level teams giants for a League Two team?