After the start of the second half, Manchester City's wing attack did become more active.
It is normal for them to have the upper hand. After all, they have both full-backs and wide midfielders. Southampton actually only has two full-backs, and most of the time they rely on the center to fill in. In this way, they have an advantage on the wing.
However, they had the advantage but were unable to make a good breakthrough. As for the cross, with Otamendi on the ground and Wundt in the air, it was still difficult to score a goal through the cross.
When their offense was in trouble, Southampton's offense became more and more fierce.
Relying on their physical advantages, they kept running, driving the pace of the game to become extremely fast. The two sides began to rush and fight more, making Manchester City's performance gradually become chaotic.
You must know that after Pellegrini came to Manchester City, he paid attention to technical transmission and cooperation, and played more ball control.
In this game, he originally wanted to compete with Southampton in controlling the ball. However, Southampton did not follow the routine and did not play the ball control they were accustomed to. Instead, they accelerated the tempo even more and continued to launch quick attacks.
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Of course, this style of play was chosen because Southampton players have better physical fitness.
So in this tug-of-war, Manchester City's formation began to gradually get out of touch. Originally, they shifted their focus to the wings, but now that the rhythm is fast, they are getting out of touch faster.
After there began to be more gaps, Southampton's frontcourt players began to perform even better.
Seven minutes into the second half, Southampton scored again in an attack!
Ronaldo received the ball on the wing, and then he made a beautiful breakthrough into the penalty area and faced the goalkeeper directly. This time Pantilimon struck out in time. Unexpectedly, the opponent attacked so quickly. Ronaldo took a shot in a hurry, and the ball hit Pantilimon.
The ball bounced into the middle of the penalty area. Suarez cleverly appeared on the flight path of the ball. Facing the mostly empty goal, he only used his volley to shoot...
The ball hits the net for the second time!
"Goal! Twice! Suarez! This is his tenth goal of the season! Fifteen games, ten goals, don't forget, he has six more games suspended...actually
Ten goals in nine games, but he only played in eight of them! In addition, he scored four goals in five games in the Champions League, which is really a surprising goal efficiency! How many goals can the Uruguayan score this season? It is really disappointing.
People look forward to it..."
Suarez started his celebration again, and Southampton fans responded with warm applause. They liked the Uruguayan striker more and more. Not only could he score goals, but he didn't occupy the ball very much, but when he got the ball
, he can always create a threat.
In terms of efficiency and cost-effectiveness, such a striker is extremely useful.
Seeing that the opponent had taken the lead, Pellegrini couldn't sit still. If he continued like this, it would only become more chaotic, so he had no choice but to make substitutions.
Navas (the one from Spain) comes on and replaces Milner, Xavi Garcia comes on and replaces Negredo.
Pellegrini saw it very accurately. Now Manchester City's problem is not the forwards, but the midfielder has been suppressed by the opponent. And if Southampton wants to play fast, then there is no need for a center like Negredo.
Quero is very useful.
The purpose of replacing Navas is to strengthen the breakthrough ability on the wing, and the purpose of replacing Xavi Garcia is to liberate Yaya Toure, allowing him to move forward and create more threat opportunities.
It has to be said that the two substitutions made by the Chilean engineer were very in place and quite targeted. However, shortly after his substitution, Southampton's tactics changed...
They began to no longer play fast breaks, but began to control the ball in the midfield, and the friction with Manchester City began.
As a result, the space in their defense becomes smaller. No matter how hard Aguero grabs points, it will be difficult to score in such circumstances.
Pellegrini glanced at the home team's coaching bench with an extremely depressed look. He really didn't expect that Ji Ya's tactical arrangement would eat him up, as if David Silva, who bullied him, could not play.
In the entanglement between the two sides, although Manchester City gradually stabilized their defense, their lagging situation forced them to attack. So in the 76th minute, Southampton naturally used a counterattack to score the third goal.
A ball...
Otamendi made a clearance midway. Casemiro immediately passed the ball to De Bruyne in front. De Bruyne passed the ball straight to the front. Suarez took the ball and turned around and sent a through pass. Lukaku started from the wing.
Slash dash.
Kolarov wanted to defend Lukaku, but although he was only a little taller, his strength and speed were far different. He barely followed a few steps before losing his balance in the collision, and Lukaku got away.
He broke into the penalty area after receiving the ball, first made Pantilimon fall to the ground with a fake shot, and then scored the ball into the empty goal.
Three to one, Southampton wins!
Although Pellegrini later replaced Yaya Toure with Dzeko to strengthen the impact in the penalty area, it was too late. In the end, Southampton defeated Manchester City 3-1 at home. After two consecutive draws,
Won two consecutive victories in one breath!
"Southampton continues to advance! The only regret is that Arsenal won again. They are now one point ahead of Southampton with 35 points! However, there is good news for Southampton and Arsenal in other games, except for Manchester City who were defeated by Southampton.
In addition to the defeat at Newcastle, Manchester United lost 0-1 at home to Newcastle, losing their fifth league game this season and falling to ninth place. Chelsea unexpectedly lost to Stoke City and are now ranked with Liverpool with 30 points.
Third, Manchester City slipped to fifth place! Now the top two teams have temporarily opened a gap with other teams!"
A four-point advantage is indeed not low. After all, the league has only passed a little more than a third of the time. It is indeed not easy to accumulate a points advantage over the opponent by one game at this time.
Southampton fans are very happy. In their opinion, the league now has an advantage, and the Champions League has basically qualified for the group stage. They seem to be able to consider better results this season.
Last season we won the domestic treble and three consecutive Europa League titles. This season, can we dream of the Champions League?
Or even a true Triple Crown winner?
I have to say that although this idea seems a bit exaggerated, as long as you are a fan who loves the club, why not think like this?
After all, they have lived a dream-like life in the past few years, watching the team's continuous victories and occasional setbacks, but they have not stopped their progress!
Their confidence in the club has now reached a peak.
Our current performance is stronger than last season, so of course we need to perform even better than last season!
This kind of thinking is not wrong, it is even correct.
