There's been a lot of pressure on Pellegrini lately.

Last season, Manchester City finished second in the Premier League behind Chelsea and were in the last 16 of the Champions League, a result that clearly did not satisfy President Mubarak and boss Mansour.

Therefore, the matter of changing the coach was also put on the agenda of Manchester City's top management early.

There are some rumours that have already pointed out that Mubarak has had in-depth discussions with Bayern boss Pep Guardiola, and many of the contract details have even been finalised.

But with Pep Guardiola insisting that he would leave after completing his new contract with Bayern, the deal didn't go ahead immediately.

And after this season, Pep Guardiola's contract at Bayern will expire.

If this rumor is true, then it means that Pellegrini's days at Manchester City are coming to an end.

At this time, there is only one way to make Manchester City's top management change their minds: that is, to prove themselves in the Premier League and the Champions League!

Clearly, the second round at home to Chelsea is the most important thing.

It was a clash between last season's Premier League champions and runners-up, and it could be seen as a pivotal battle that could determine the outcome of the Premier League this season.

Whoever can win this game will undoubtedly be able to occupy a psychological advantage in the next game, so as to sing all the way, and maybe he can really win the championship in one fell swoop.

But on the other hand, if you lose the game against a direct title rival, it will undoubtedly be a fatal blow to the morale of the whole team, and then you will collapse and withdraw from the title race, which is not alarmist.

In addition, there are two more focal points in this game.

One is that Pan Yi's Chelsea are now unbeaten in 39 Premier League games.

Chelsea's all-time unbeaten run was set by the Muslim Blues between 23 October 2004 and 29 October 2005, when the record was 40 games unbeaten.

In other words, as long as Chelsea can get out of the way at the Intihad Stadium, it will be able to equal Jose Mourinho's record.

Second, of course, it is the transfer champion in Manchester City's history, De Bruyne, who is worth 80 million euros.

His matchup with Chelsea's all-time champion, Harry Kane, who is worth 85 million euros, is naturally eye-catching.

Moreover, De Bruyne will also meet his old friend and mentor Pan Yi again when he arrives in the Premier League, as well as his Belgian national team teammates Romelu Lukaku, Eden Hazard, and ...... Meeting in Courtois.

In addition, with Chelsea beating Swansea by four goals in the first round and Manchester City beating West Bromwich Albion 3-0 away, the two teams are in the top two of the Premier League table on goal difference.

Therefore, this showdown of giants that was staged early in the second round of the game is really an out-and-out battle of Tianwang Mountain!

The match undoubtedly attracted the attention of media and fans around the world.

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At this time, in the visiting team's locker room, Pan Yi has also got the starting lineup list of Manchester City.

Pellegrini continued to line up his usual 4-2-3-1 formation.

Manchester City have all made up several new signings in the summer window, with Argentine Otamendi from Valencia partnering captain Vincent Kompany in a two-man centre-back, flanked by Kolarov and Sagna.

Today's midfielders are Yaya Toure and Fernandinho, while in front of them, Raheem Sterling is bought from Liverpool on the left, De Bruyne is bought from Bayern Munich on the right, and David Silva is standing in the midfield position.

At the top of the field was Argentine striker Sergio Aguero, with Joe Hart at the back of the net.

It can be said that this is indeed the strongest squad of Manchester City at present, and each position is the number one star in the world, and there are no obvious shortcomings.

Pellegrini is going to finish his job in this game and set the tone for this season's championship in one fell swoop!

And Pan Yi, of course, did not dare to slack off.

He also knows the impact of this game on this season's Premier League journey.

Didn't he rotate in the UEFA Super Cup just for today?

That's why Chelsea are also strong.

The goalkeeper is Thibaut Courtois and the three centre-backs at the back are John Terry, Virgil van Dijk and David Luiz.

The midfield five are Marcos Alonso, N'Golo Kante, Eden Hazard, Azpilicueta and Azpilicueta.

This arrangement is all about maximizing the control of the midfield.

Keeping the ball at your feet and compressing the formation will naturally reduce the threat of Kevin De Bruyne, David Silva and others.

Up front, Romelu Lukaku and Harry Kane remain the same.

Although these two main strikers have been fighting continuously, they both belong to the type with good physique and fast recovery, and the interval between the two games this time is four days, which is not a big problem.

After consulting with strength and conditioning coach Pintus and chief team doctor Wolfat, Pan Yi decided to let them start.

It can be said that this lineup is also the strongest lineup of Chelsea in Pan Yi's mind at present!

The strongest is the strongest, it depends on who is stronger!

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As the referee's whistle blew, the packed Yin Tihad was screaming.

With the support of the home fans, Manchester City took the lead in attacking Chelsea.

That's Pellegrini's main strategy today, which is to attack!

With attacking players like Sergio Aguero, David Silva, Kevin De Bruyne and Raheem Sterling in the frontcourt, is it still a big bus if you don't attack?

Even Yaya Toure in the midfield position is a character who can be used at his feet, and he can score with the ball and shoot.

On the other hand, the visitors, Chelsea neither retreated nor pressed forward.

They played at their own pace from the start.

The backfield is methodically arranged, taking on the attack from Manchester City; The midfield is to carry out active scrambling, and use the excellent ball control ability of Hazard, B Xi and others to compete with Manchester City for control of the midfield.

The first threatening attack of the game came in the fifth minute, when Raheem Sterling on the left twisted his ass to form a breakthrough and sent a cross to Sergio Aguero in the middle.

】

Aguero didn't take credit and gave Sterling another knockback, but the Happy Boys kicked the hat of an old man watching the ball in the stands away.

Then City's attack shifted to the right.

Right wing-back Sagna stepped in with the assist and fired a high ball that looked like a cross in front of goal and was saved by Courtois.

"It's one of his characteristics, solid defensively, but he lacks the accuracy of his crosses and his ability to shoot."

Arteta, who was standing next to Pan Yi, said.

Sagna is a former Arsenal player, known as the "factory flower", and Arteta, who is the former captain of Arsenal, is certainly familiar with him.

Pan Yi nodded slightly.

Sagna had already rushed to Chelsea's left rib with his speed, but he didn't have much confidence in his shots, so he didn't choose to cut inside and cross.

However, the footwork of the cross was not well controlled, which caused the ball to go straight to the goal, and was easily confiscated by Courtois because of the lack of power.

Pan Yi pointed to the other side of the field: "And Kolarov on the other side is strong in attack and weak in defense." ”

This Serbian can also be said to be Pan Yi's old opponent, and his skills in set-pieces and crosses are also impressive.

It's just that he's slow and doesn't really do well in marking, tackles and defensive positioning, which is really the opposite of Sagna.

It is precisely because of this that Manchester City's main attack direction today is still on the left side where Kolarov is located, and cooperate with Sterling's breakthrough here to make a fuss.

On the right, Sagna defended solidly, then waited for the ball to be handed to Kevin De Bruyne, allowing Tintin to use his superb vision and precise passing to play across the pitch and tear down the Chelsea defence.

"So...... Are we still going to focus on Kolarov's side today? Take advantage of his assists to hit him in the back? Arteta thought for a moment.

"No," Pan Yi shook his head slightly, "We can see such an obvious vacancy, and of course Pellegrini can imagine it." ”

In fact, when Pan Yi played against Manchester City at the earliest, he took advantage of the defensive holes on Kolarov's side to attack.

Later, when he met Pan Yi again, Pellegrini even gave up using Kolarov, and instead used Klich, who was more balanced in attack and defense, as a left-back.

But today, Pei Gong used Kolarov to face Pan Yi again, and he must have thought of some foolproof strategy.

Pan Yi also noticed that in today's game, when Kolarov pressed for an assist, Manchester City's double back, whether Yaya Toure or Fernandinho, would consciously move closer to the left side to make up for the vacancy behind the Serbian.

Because of this, if you forcibly attack this way, the effect will not be good.

"I suggest you take a look at De Bruyne's side." Pan Yi pointed to the right side of Manchester City.

Pan Yi's words immediately made the surrounding coaching staff members look at De Bruyne on the field.

"What's wrong with him?" Arteta was a little confused, "He looked in good form today and stopping the ball to get rid of it showed the level of a world-class midfielder. ”

"But have you noticed that his new team-mates aren't quite comfortable with his passing?"

Arteta watched intently for a moment: "It does seem to be a little. ”

Kevin De Bruyne is a big-picture player, arguably in control on the pitch, someone with God's perspective.

He is always able to get the ball to the best position at the best time, which is commonly known as the empty space.

At this time, the cooperation with teammates is very important.

A player of De Bruyne's level, when he's passing, there's a lot to think about.

For example, what are the characteristics of a teammate's kick, whether it is left or right, and what kind of pass they like to use the most;

If the ball used to hit a neutral position and speed up, what was the speed of the teammate, and even the physical exertion;

And then calculate how much advance should be given so that they can sprint and receive the ball comfortably.

But the problem now is that De Bruyne's passing thinking is a bit too rebellious, and it is difficult for his team-mates to understand his intentions in a short period of time.

Take, for example, Raheem Sterling, who is most often found when De Bruyne passes diagonally.

A lot of the time, Raheem Sterling wants the ball to get to his feet and let him dribble again to bring a breakthrough;

But De Bruyne helps you think more, his pass is to help you skip the defender in front of you, you just cut in and catch the ball.

It was this difference in philosophy that led to a couple of failures between the two and failed to pose a threat to Chelsea's defence.

This is not to blame for Sterling, after all, he has only just arrived in the team, and it is normal for him to be unfamiliar with the habits of his teammates.

That's why new signings need more games to get used to when they arrive.

As for why Pan Yi's team members don't seem to need it much?

That's because Pan Yi knows the characteristics of his players too well! Even before these players arrived, they already knew it clearly.

Therefore, whether it is in the usual training or summary, Pan Yi will explain the habits of each player and what kind of cooperation his teammates need to be very clear, which also greatly reduces the time required for teammates to understand each other.

For example, when Pan Yi bought De Bruyne in Hamburg, he directly formulated a very direct and straightforward tactical routine of De Bruyne-Vardy, so that the chemistry between the two could quickly occur, and then it would be effective immediately in actual combat.

The plug-in of the traversal+ system is not something that everyone can have!

So other coaches, like Pellegrini, it's very difficult for him to do that.

Of course, he knows that De Bruyne is a player with a wide vision and good passing, but it is difficult to take care of how to pass each of Tintin's balls, how to run the striker, including the follow-up remedy if the pass is wrong.

Maybe later, but never at the beginning of the season.

Because as a manager, he has more important work to do.

That is to determine the main formation and play in the new season, and then knead the players, especially the new players, into this tactical system to form a whole.

In other words, it is necessary to come first with the coarse and then the fine.

Without a coherent tactical framework, it doesn't make much sense to fine-tune it first.

This is also Pan Yi's biggest advantage compared with ordinary coaches: he understands the players thoroughly and is extremely efficient in kneading!

"So we're going to take advantage of that." Pan Yi continued:

"Although Manchester City's main attack is on the left, when the ball is in the middle, it often goes to De Bruyne's side and asks him to organize the final pass."

'But because De Bruyne is still relatively unfamiliar with his team-mates, it means that he has the ball and is a little slower than usual because he needs to watch a little longer.

"And that extra time is the key to us making a tackle and launching a counter-attack. It is important to remember that De Bruyne is not technically an all-round midfielder, and his counter-attacking ability is not outstanding. ”

'In addition, as City's back two have been more focused on filling in for left-back Kolarov in recent times, they have rarely taken care of De Bruyne's side.

"Therefore ......"

Arteta was a little excited: "That's why we have to press more on De Bruyne's side and try to break the ball at his feet!" ”

Pan Yi nodded lightly: "Well, you go and give orders." ”

"Yes, sir!" Tazigole squeaked and ran to the sidelines.

When Pan Yi looked at the arena again, a smile appeared between the corners of his mouth.

Ding Ding, Ding Ding, of course, you are my favorite general, but since you have become an opponent today, then I'm sorry!

-----------------

'We've noticed that in the last few minutes, Chelsea seem to have started to press more in midfield.

'If I'm not mistaken, this increase in intensity probably came after Chelsea's new assistant coach Mikel Arteta made some verbal exchanges on the sidelines.

'This is probably Arteta who has brought the latest instructions from manager Pan Yi to the Chelsea players.

And I believe that all fans who often watch Chelsea games know that this is often a signal after Pan Yi discovered the weakness of the opponent. This means that Chelsea will have to focus on attacking the opponent's soft underbelly! Manchester City need to be careful. ”

'Now it's De Bruyne who has the ball. He wanted to get the ball in front of him after getting rid of Marcos Alonso in front of him, but with his old friend N'Golo Kante distracting from behind, he had to regroup by passing the ball back to Fernandinho in the back. ”

"Strictly speaking, De Bruyne is also facing his old club this time."

"Because back in the winter of 2012, Chelsea bought Kevin De Bruyne from Belgian club Genk, only to immediately return to Genk on loan for half a season. So, although De Bruyne hasn't played a game for Chelsea, he is still a former Chelsea player. ”

"The story that happened after that is clear to everyone, Pan Yi spent 12 million from Chelsea to buy De Bruyne, and made him the Bundesliga assist king, won the Champions League, became a world-class midfielder, and successively transferred to Bayern, Manchester City and other giants."

"At international level, Kevin De Bruyne has also become the absolute heart of the Belgian national team, making 33 appearances for the national team and scoring eight goals."

"Now, such a world-class midfielder must want to perform better when facing the coach who discovered and cultivated him, Pan Yi, as well as his old teammates N'Golo Kante and Virgil van Dijk......

'We saw that the ball was still in the middle of the field and handed to Kevin De Bruyne. It seems that Pellegrini still has high hopes for this high-priced new signing, and he handles a lot of the ball up front. It's just that De Bruyne seems to be a bit of a siege now......"

"Look at this ball! De Bruyne had just stopped the ball, and Kante and Hazard behind him had already gone straight to the grab! ”

"Nice getaway! It was De Bruyne who fooled the two Chelsea defenders with a nimble ball pull and then looked up at the ...... ahead"

"Ah, wait! He was a little slower to pass the ball and Bernardo Silva scrambled to reach out and break his foot! When De Bruyne got the ball this time, Chelsea's three midfielders actually came up to surround him, which shows that they are still very afraid of De Bruyne's passing skills. ”

'But that strategy has obviously worked, and now Chelsea have the ball and are starting to launch quick counter-attacks!'

Bernardo Silva gave the ball straight to Marcos Alonso on the left, and the Spanish left wing-back didn't carry the ball and pushed it straight to Lukaku in front of him.

"Lukaku is up! He's fast......"

'At this point, Manchester City were also quick to return to the defence, and Sagna also followed Lukaku, at any time to prevent his in-cut shot.

"Okay, Lukaku really cut inside! He dribbled sideways and cut inside, but there was no shot. He suddenly plugged straight behind him and passed into the forbidden area! ”

Harry Kane plugged in from the other side! Good chance, no offside, it's a one-on-one goal! ……”

There was an exclamation from the entire Yotihad Stadium as Harry Kane sprinted past Otamendi and Kompany towards the ball in front of goal.

All Manchester City fans are worried about this.

However, just as the dark blue figure swept past a group of sky-blue players and rushed into the Manchester City penalty area, and as he was about to receive the ball, Manchester City goalkeeper Joe Hart slammed into the goal!

This also made the fans of the Yin Tihad Stadium have their hearts hung on their voices and watched with their eyes wide open.

Now it's just a matter of looking at the goalkeeper!

In the midst of this lightning, Harry Kane took the lead, reached the ball with his foot, and with a light stab, the ball changed direction.

But at that moment, Joe Hart fell to the ground and pounced.

It was because of Kane's timely stab that Joe Hart failed to save the ball and tripped Harry Kane to the ground.

The Chelsea striker fell off the ground and rolled twice on the grass before falling to the ground.

Beep!

！

The referee's whistle blew quickly!

The scene suddenly sounded a sparse "red card!" "Red card!" It was the shout of the Chelsea fans who had followed the team to the away road.

But soon, the City fans launched an overwhelming wave of boos that completely drowned them out.

After all, this is Yoon Tihad. Here, they have an overwhelming numerical advantage.

Amid the boos, the referee only awarded a yellow card and a penalty.

At this time, Harry Kane climbed up from the grass with the help of Lukaku and Azpili Brickqueta.

This immediately brought him another round of boos from the crowd, as the City fans thought he was faking the fall.

"Judging from the slow-motion replay, Harry Kane didn't fake a fall."

"Joe Hart's attack wasn't really a big problem, but Harry Kane was very alert to poke the ball away, which allowed Joe Hart to not save the ball at all, but touched Kane's support foot, causing it to fall to the ground."

"Therefore, this penalty is certain, and only getting a yellow card can be regarded as the referee's mercy."

'We saw that Harry Kane seemed to be safe and sound, standing on the penalty spot.

'We know that Chelsea's first penalty taker has always been Eden Hazard, but Hazard has just signalled for Harry Kane to take the penalty himself. It's a great atmosphere in the Chelsea squad! ”

Harry Kane thanked his team-mates and didn't give in too much. He was also the first penalty taker at Tottenham before, so there wasn't much pressure on that. ”

'It's the 35th minute and if Harry Kane can score that penalty, it will undoubtedly open up for Chelsea.'

As a result, Kane will have to face his team-mate Joe Hart. Okay, Harry Kane runs, ...... shot"

"The ball is in!

！

！

”

“goalllllllllllllllllllllllllllll！

！

！ ”

"Harry Kane calmly scored the penalty!"

"Although Joe Hart was well prepared and even guessed the right direction, Harry Kane's usual way of taking a penalty is to hit the corner vigorously, and the ball is so fast, even if he guesses the right direction, it is useless!"

'1-0, Chelsea are ahead!'