Club World Cup semi-finals, Manchester City vs. Al Sadd.
Al Sadd's head coach is Uruguayan Jorge Fossati, who deployed a 4-5-1 lineup in the game and adopted a three-midfield position. He was obviously wary of Manchester City.
There was Mamadou Niang left in front, preparing to counterattack.
After Manchester City came to Abu Dhabi, it was very easy to prepare for the game. Not only did they have a holiday for the players to travel around, but the training was also open to all fans and media, which made it particularly relaxed.
But when it came to the game, Manchester City was not careless at all.
FIFA will have very clear requirements for playing players for all teams participating in the Club World Cup. For example, several big-name stars in the team must play. This is because many teams that participated in the Club World Cup previously played with substitute lineups.
, seriously affecting the revenue and influence of the cup.
But Manchester City is different from other teams. Blue Moon's lineup is too thick.
Gao Shen saved several of his core players for the Club World Cup final three days later.
After the start, Manchester City fell into the offside trap continuously.
The game was completely controlled by Manchester City, but they were unable to break the deadlock.
Until the seventeenth minute, Manchester City seized an opportunity and sent the ball into the penalty area.
When Al Sadd's defensive player made a clearance, Yaya Toure rushed up and blocked the ball with his body.
Robin van Persie reacted faster, cleverly seized the spot, and fired a low shot directly near the penalty spot, which penetrated Al Sadd's goal and opened the scoring for Manchester City.
Just eight minutes later, Hazard sent a pass on the left side of the penalty area. The ball was blocked by an Al Sadd player. After Zabaleta got the ball on the right side of the penalty area, he entered the penalty area and hit a volley.
, expanded the score for Manchester City, 2-0!
Then in the 34th minute, Leighton Baines made an offensive cooperation after a forward breakthrough. Under the double-teaming of four defensive players, Hazard dribbled the ball through the siege and sent the ball to Robin van Persie's feet. The Dutchman
Achieved in one fell swoop and won another victory for Manchester City.
Three to zero!
The most interesting thing is that Al Sadd did not take a shot in the entire first half.
Yes, not even the least threatening long-range shot.
After changing sides in the second half, Manchester City still controlled the game and created consecutive opportunities.
In the 64th minute, Hazard sent a direct pass, and Yaya Toure pushed the ball from the front of the penalty area and scored, 4-0!
In the 71st minute, Henderson sent a through ball. Leighton Bynes suddenly rushed into the left side of the penalty area and scored with a low shot, expanding the score to 5-0!
At this moment, Manchester City began to save their efforts and gave up when the situation was good.
Al Sadd didn't take the first shot of the game until the 76th minute.
This actually reflects the huge gap between Asian professional football and European professional football.
The AFC Champions League really couldn't even shoot in front of Manchester City.
…
Three days later, Manchester City faced Santos in the Club World Cup final.
After the start, Manchester City took the initiative.
Gao Shen played with the full lineup this time, which is also a mandatory requirement of FIFA.
The players are also very active, after all, this is a world championship.
Gao Shen asked the defensive players to pay more attention to Neymar, but when it came to the game, he found that it seemed unnecessary.
Because Manchester City's advantage is too obvious.
In the first ten minutes, Manchester City was all about controlling the ball, organizing and attacking, while Santos could only defend passively.
It wasn't until the eleventh minute that the Brazilian team seized an opportunity and tried to counterattack.
Ganso passes the ball to Neymar.
The Brazilian genius dribbled the ball to the top of the penalty area. When facing Javi Martinez, he did not pass the ball, but wanted to break through one-on-one. Needless to say, Javi Martinez cut in decisively.
He used his body to force Neymar away, successfully intercepted the ball, and instigated a quick counterattack by Manchester City.
Is this a coincidence?
No, in the fifteenth minute, Santos made another counterattack.
Ganso sent a through ball, trying to get Neymar to play behind Manchester City centre-back Jerome Boateng.
Obviously, Santos has also worked hard and knows that Jerome Boateng is a major weakness in Manchester City's defense.
But they forget that weaknesses vary from person to person.
For the top European teams, Boateng is indeed a weakness, but for Santos...
Neymar chased after him to grab the ball, but he found that Boateng, who was taller and stronger than him, was not slow at all and was very flexible. After blocking the position with his body, he relied on his height to
With long legs, he intercepted the ball first, turned around flexibly, protected the ball, and then passed it to David Silva in front.
I guess the Brazilian players were a little stunned.
Are all European central defenders this slippery?
This time David Silva did not miss the opportunity and passed the ball to Robben on the right.
After Robben cut in from the right, he threw away the defender and volleyed a curved ball with his left foot, which penetrated Santos' goal, one to zero!
Just four minutes later, there was another quick counterattack by Manchester City. Lichtsteiner passed the ball to Robben. The latter dribbled the ball wildly, crossed into the penalty area from the right, and kicked the goal.
But this time the shot was thrown to the left by the goalkeeper. Gareth Bale followed up and fired with his left foot, breaking Santos' goal again!
Two to zero!
…
Stable!
Gao Shen applauded vigorously on the sidelines and applauded his players.
The same was true for Carlo and others, and the audience also burst into applause.
This is the strength of the Champions League champion!
"Is he really worth 45 million euros?" Brian Kidd felt puzzled.
Neymar has not shown a decent performance so far. Several dribblings and breakthroughs have failed to achieve results, and he has not even had a shot. How can this be worth 45 million euros?
What's more, his mohawk looks really cool.
Gao Shen and Carlo looked at each other and laughed.
In fact, I really can’t blame Brian Kidd for being skeptical, because the success rate of Brazilian players in the Premier League is not high. For a long time, the Premier League was known as the Waterloo for Brazilian players, until Juninho (who is good at
The free kick was the success of Juninho and Gilberto Silva and others.
Therefore, the Premier League is not very familiar with Brazilian players.
"Don't think it's expensive, you can't buy Neymar for 45 million euros," Gao Shen said with a smile.
"Really or not? Just his performance?" Brian Kidd looked very doubtful.
There is nothing Gao Shen can do. It cannot be said that Neymar is not in good condition in the crucial decisive battle, right?
In fact, he doesn't think Neymar's condition is bad, it's mainly because he's not adapting.
It's not just Neymar, many Brazilian players are like this, and even many players in the Eredivisie are like this now.
Many people wonder why players who perform well in competitions can often be sold for good prices.
The reason is actually very simple. Major competitions and cup competitions, especially events at the World Cup, European Cup and Champions League, test the strength of players very much.
Whether it's a mule or a horse, you'll know after getting on the court and kicking a few feet.
Like Neymar, his performance tonight was very bad.
But this badness is mainly because he is not adapted to Manchester City's rhythm and defensive meticulousness.
Brazil's domestic league is very loose on defense. This is related to Brazil's emphasis on offensive football, so many defensive players are not welcome in Brazil.
But this will bring about a problem, that is, in a slow-paced and loose-defensive league like Brazil, players who perform very well will not adapt immediately to the European leagues, and their performance will also shrink significantly.
Is this a coincidence?
Really not!
What many fans are most familiar with are the many top scorers in the Eredivisie. Every one of them, with the exception of Suarez, is basically useless.
Players such as Kežman and Alfonso Alves were able to dominate in the Eredivisie, but when they arrived in Europe's top leagues, they immediately withered away. And players like Kuyt, who scored a lot of goals in the Eredivisie, arrived at Liverpool
It is not uncommon for him to become a labor player immediately.
This is mainly because the Eredivisie league has a slow pace and loose defense, which gives many players time and space to handle the ball.
But when it comes to the top leagues, especially the Premier League, sorry, there is no such treatment.
In Wenger's words, every time you receive the ball, if you hesitate for a moment, the defensive player will already be in front of you.
This is why even someone as strong as Neymar cannot hold the ball in front of Manchester City.
Of course, with Neymar's strength and talent, as long as he gets used to it, I believe he will be able to perform at his best soon.
But Manchester City has no intention of giving him such time to adapt.
Before the end of the first half, Lichtsteiner made a pass from the right. Suarez stopped the ball and passed center defender Bruno before hitting the goal, expanding the score to 3-0.
After changing sides in the second half, Manchester City continued to launch a fierce attack on Santos.
In the 72nd minute, Gareth Bale dribbled the ball from the left and sent a pass. After Suarez passed the goalkeeper with one hand, he pushed the ball into the empty goal and succeeded, 4-0!
This is also Manchester City's last goal of the game.
…
Neymar still performed well, but after Manchester City took a four-goal lead, he slightly slowed down the pressure and offensive, and he began to get some opportunities. First he tried to hit the goal, and then he took a direct free kick, but he failed.
Form a broken door.
This made the Brazilian genius look extremely depressed.
He obviously regarded this game against Manchester City as an opportunity to prove himself, especially in front of the wealthy Manchester City.
The whole world knows that Manchester City now wants people, money, and championships. It is definitely a model of an ideal team.
But now, with the game playing like this, Neymar was too embarrassed to come over to talk to Gao Shen after the game, and just left in despair.
Gao Shen didn't even think about dealing with Neymar, he didn't want to find an uncle for himself.
With his current identity and status, does he still need to look at the player's face?
On the contrary, Felipe Anderson, who had been sitting on the bench for the whole game, greeted Gao Shen from a distance, but did not dare to get close. Instead, Gao Shen took the initiative to walk over and chat with him.
When former Manchester City player Elano came over to talk to Gao Shen, the conversation between the two was interrupted.
Elano came on as a substitute in the 30th minute of the first half, just to strengthen the attack, but unfortunately, he did not show any threat.
Speaking of which, he was sent out of Manchester City by Gao Shen, but now he seems to be quite close to Gao Shen and Manchester City.
