Chapter 491: Volley
In the league away to the Saints Southampton, Pep Guardiola finally brought Wang Dalong and put him on the bench for the time being.
Southampton, who were relegated from last season, have clearly regained their confidence this season and are not struggling in the relegation zone. The league started well and finished in the middle of the table. In this game against Manchester City, they lined up with a 433 formation, and it can be said that they were not afraid of Manchester City at all.
However, the Saints themselves have not been conservative at home, and any team will be afraid of three points when they come to play, and Manchester City is no exception.
Guardiola considered the difficulty of this game before the game, for which he still discharged the 4231 formation, but Jesus and Sanella came back and became the left and right wingers, in the absence of Wang Dalong, he has to be more conservative, to be stable, if Wang Dalong is on the field, he will definitely change the formation into an offensive 433.
As soon as the Manchester City players walked onto the pitch, there was a huge boo in the stadium.
"Cowards, cowards of England."
"Welcome to St. Mary's Stadium and continue to be baptized in defeat!"
"You won't get out alive, you'll die here!"
The Saints fans shouted at them, and it seems that it has become the main theme of the England stadium lately, and whenever it is a Manchester City game, the opposing fans will insult the Manchester City team in this way.
"It's too much. Many of the team's fans have lost their minds, and they love to torture Manchester City with such insulting words, which in itself is a lack of respect for their opponents. Whoever can win the game is the winner, and not solve the problem with one mouth. ”
'It's a bad thing to do and at the end of the game, they have to keep laughing and don't get beaten by Manchester City.'
Wang Dalong, who was sitting on the bench just now, heard a large wave of fans laughing at him behind him, but he was still not moved. He has spoken to Pep Guardiola before and he will play in the second half.
Despite Manchester City's poor recent form, Spinach are still bullish on them to win Southampton away from home and have opened a handicap of one goal at 2. 5 balls.
It's normal to concede the ball, this season Manchester City and any opponent play is a handicap, just how much, but in recent days, Manchester City can't afford to let go, everyone is watching to see when Manchester City will bottom out.
Is it this game?
Many England pundits had predicted this before the game that this would be the case, with Manchester City winning away from home and Wang Dalong returning.
But they were only half right in their predictions, Wang Dalong returned, but did not start.
The game was also clearly quite different from what was guessed before the game, with Southampton not conceding goals anytime soon. Manchester City's attack, although impressive, only blossomed and did not bear fruit, and they struggled to get good shots on goal.
Manchester City's attacking group could only roam in Southampton's penalty area, but Southampton's counter-attack was vigorous.
In the 8th minute, Tadic crossed from a corner and Hott's header hit the crossbar and bounced. In the 11th minute, Raymond passed the ball and Austin fired a right-footed shot high from inside the box.
In just 11 minutes, Southampton almost rewrote the score twice, but unfortunately it was just a little bit worse, and if the striker's ability to grasp the opportunity was a little better, Manchester City would cry again on the road.
It wasn't until the 21st minute that City had a good chance to shoot when Leroy Sane, who had returned from injury, had a left-footed shot blocked by De Bruyne in the box, and then Danilo's left-footed shot from distance was only slightly wide.
Pep Guardiola kept shaking his head off the field, once again he didn't expect the team's attack to be so bad, it felt like it was weak, not at all like everything a team with a championship heart has.
Then there was another terrifying attack from Southampton, and in the 32nd minute, Hult's cross was deflected wide by Austin's right-footed effort from inside the box. Bertrand then passed the ball and Romeu fired a powerful right-footed shot high from the outside. Southampton missed two great chances again.
If they had taken even one of those chances, they could have taken the lead at home, but they didn't. Didn't take advantage of the fact that the Manchester City team was sick now and took their lives by the way.
The second half ended in a draw, with neither side scored. City's formidable attacking group was once again dumb and did not show their true quality, not even scoring a single goal.
Pep Guardiola didn't say much in the dressing room, only told everyone to continue to attack boldly and drag Southampton to death through possession and passing.
But Southampton is really not a soft persimmon, not everyone can pinch it casually, even the Manchester City team is no exception.
Wang Dalong began to warm up on the sidelines, and when he walked slowly on the sidelines, it immediately caused huge boos.
But he didn't play immediately as City still controlled possession in central midfield and rarely allowed Southampton to play. It's just that this kind of possession sometimes doesn't mean much, and it doesn't play the effect that the team wants.
From the perspective of the situation, Manchester City still have a lot of initiative, but Lineker does not see it that way.
"Pep Guardiola should make adjustments as soon as possible, Manchester City's current scene has no effect, they can't score, but they are attacked and shot by opponents from time to time, which is very dangerous, in case Southampton score first, Manchester City will be more difficult to play, so now it's time to let Wang Deng play."
"Replace Aguero, he really doesn't have any use on the field, there's no need to make it so complicated to balance each player, just the king is in front, and it's enough for others to pass the ball to him."
"While there's still time, hurry up and adjust!"
But Guardiola obviously couldn't hear what Lineker said, and there was no action.
In the 53rd minute, Fernandinho passed the ball and Aguero tried to shoot from distance but was blocked. In the 56th minute, Silva crossed, and Fernandinho hit high with his right foot in the penalty area. This reinforces Guardiola's idea of continuing not to make substitutions.
Then, in the 60th minute, Raheem Sterling's shot in the box was blocked by a defender and hit the post, and then Silva passed the ball again, and De Bruyne's left-footed long-range shot from the outside was just a fraction of a second.
It was City's turn to miss chances in quick succession, and still no one was able to get the ball into the Southampton goal.
In a hurry?
Guardiola finally looked at Wang Dalong, and the glance seemed to get the answer from Wang Dalong's eyes.
He hopes that Wang Dalong will be more anxious than him and play more.
However, he couldn't see the fighting spirit and desire displayed by Wang Dalong.
But in the end, he still replaced Wang Dalong on the field.
Wang Dalong replaced Aguero, and the formation still did not change in any way, but Southampton's style of play changed, the team quickly retreated, except for one striker, everyone else ran back, proper bus tactics, in front of Southampton's big penalty area, they built a sophisticated and rigorous defensive line.
At this time, it is very difficult for anyone to rush into their big penalty area, even Wang Dalong is difficult to play with the ball at his feet.
Manchester City tried to break down Southampton's defense by constantly moving the ball quickly, but the Southampton players' physical strength did not seem to have been lost until now, running fast, Manchester City played so many games more than them, and they must have suffered a little physically, but Southampton defended passively and was physically equal.
Time is getting less and less, and it has directly entered the stage of not being a goal, but the Manchester City team still has no way to break the goal, and the ball keeps passing to Wang Dalong's feet, and Wang Dalong also keeps dividing the ball.
Gradually, Southampton continued to infringe on Manchester City's players on the flanks, trying to stop the consistency of Manchester City's players, and also delayed the game.
'It looks like Manchester City are going to get a draw here.'
"They don't have any way to score, not even the king, he's surrounded by opponents, the opponents are tightly surrounded, trying to pass the ball to him to make him break through, it's difficult! It's time for Pep Guardiola to think differently. ”
More than a minute was gone, and City still didn't get a chance.
Then, Hernandez made a mistake in the pass, and the ball reached the feet of the opposing player, who immediately organized an attack, and quickly passed through the Manchester City midfield through four feet to the front of the Manchester City team's big penalty area.
Manchester City's defence was not well organized, and I didn't expect that at this time, Southampton's players would still be able to attack here.
Luckily, the Southampton striker messed up again and his shot was saved in the arms of goalkeeper Ederson.
Without any hesitation, Ederson got up and immediately threw the ball into the midfield.
The goal is very clear, that is, to find De Bruyne or Wang Dalong, when he wants to throw out, as long as De Bruyne, Wang Dalong has already rushed up.
De Bruyne unloads the ball with his right foot and moves it in front of his left foot. Before the opposition could rush over to contain himself, he played a long ball with his left foot.
Like Edson's thoughts, his long passes are also to find people, and there is only one goal, that is, Wang Dalong.
The moment he was asked to catch the ball just now, he knew that he could only find Wang Dalong, not even Jesus on the left, because Wang Dalong was faster, and the ball passed by De Bruyne landed accurately in front of Wang Dalong.
Wang Dalong stared at the ball, not caring about the opponent who was about to rush over him. He didn't unload the ball either, and seeing that the ball was about to fall halfway up, he immediately got up and shot with his left foot without a hint of hesitation!
In the 95th minute, De Bruyne sent a precise long pass, and Wang Dalong inserted it into the penalty area and volleyed to complete the stunner, 0:1!
During the run, he unloaded the ball directly on the inside of his left leg and pushed the ball forward by more than a meter, and during the run, he adjusted his shot, and then followed the trend with his left foot to blast the far corner of the goal.
The ball ended up obediently in the net, and there was nothing Southampton's goalkeeper could do about it.
“Goooooooooal!”
“Gooooooooal!”
Southampton, who worked hard for more than 90 minutes, finally couldn't bear it.
'Manchester City finally took the lead on the road, the King of Manchester City scored a stunning goal, this time Southampton's players were stupid, their defenders shouldn't have conceded that goal, how could they have lost the king? It's incredible. ”
"Knowing that Wang is the most dangerous person on the field, they can still give Wang space to run, haven't they watched the ball at all, unless they are drugged!"
"There's not much left, there's only one minute left for Southampton!"
But City's celebration wasn't over, with Wang standing almost in place, waiting for their team-mates to come up and hug him.
It wasn't a difficult goal for him, and as long as he was calm enough, he could take advantage of the shot.
"This goal is very beautiful, what goal process, we saw Wang's skillful stopping skills, stopping the ball and shooting in one go, without any flaws at all, such dribbling and shooting, it is estimated that there is nothing to compare with him, other players may not be able to do it."
Time finally came to an end, and the game was over. Even if they hold on for a little longer, they will usually wave to them.
It's a pity they didn't hold it up, like the other England defenders sent me, always stupid at the last minute.
Although the score of 1:0 was not glorious, it won the final victory, not to mention that Manchester City has come out of the trough, but victory is always the most important thing.
Saints fans were naturally disappointed, and at the end of the game, they frantically threw things from the stadium to vent their frustration. At this time, they don't care who is standing below.
Then when they saw Wang Dalong, they scolded even more ugly, and even the exit of the country's scolding came out.
"Coward!"
"You're only going to score such dirty goals!"
"You are nothing, or go back to Turkey to die, that is the most suitable country for you!"
Again, Wang Dalong heard such a voice, and when he slowly walked down from the field, he had 10,000 impulses.
It would be a joy if I could give a few kicks to the fans on the sidelines like Cantona. It's a pity that he doesn't dare, this time is different from the past, any impulsive behavior will be punished, and he is not stupid enough to that extent.
It's enough to be able to make the Saints fans angry again......
In his press conference, Pep Guardiola once again clarified the difficulty of the game, even arguing that it was a reasonable draw.
'The team is still weak but luckily we got the win, a draw is a more reasonable result, Southampton's players are playing really well and I think they have now set an example for every team in the Premier League.
"But if it was 20 minutes in the morning, I think the game would have ended early, there wouldn't have been so many twists and turns...... "Guardiola has been stiff-mouthed.
No matter when and where, he will be on Manchester City's side and Wang Dalong's side.
'If the game continues like this, we will be the last to win and Southampton will not have another chance. And now, I can finally think about the Champions League......"