Manchester City's main lineup is actually quite outstanding in terms of strength. Whether it is midfield, defense, or forward, there are excellent players, and they also cooperate well with each other.
Especially after adding Fernandinho to the defensive midfielder position, they finally have a top-notch and useful player in this position. In the past, whether it was Joey Barton or Gareth Barry, they were all inferior.
What.
Now, Yaya Toure can finally be completely liberated. He does not need to expend too much energy and physical energy on defense, but devotes more to offense.
However, this lineup is not without its flaws.
First of all, the frontcourt offense is a bit weak. Although Dzeko is a high center, he is a technical center. Under such circumstances, their performance is prone to problems. If they are opposed by a tough defense, it will be difficult to score.
Chance.
Ji Ya used Bailly in this game to make the central defender position stronger. Bailly's speed and confrontation are excellent. In other words, he is young and lacks experience, but that can be made up for through running and confrontation.
Originally, Bailly didn't play many games this season, but he got the chance to start in such an important situation, which was enough to make him feel excited.
Another problem is that on the defensive line, Kompany has always been a reliable central defender, but he has never had a reliable partner. Demichelis was a big colander in his peak period. Now that he is older, he is more stable.
However, the momentum and confrontation have declined. Such a central defender can still obtain a stable main position in Manchester City. Indeed, it can only be said that Manchester City has not been good at recruiting in the central defender position.
When playing with Manchester City before, Ji Ya liked to take advantage of Lescott's flaw, and now, Demichelis also has a good flaw.
After the game started, Manchester City began to control the ball in the midfield and launch an attack, while Southampton started a running press in the midfield to speed up the tempo of the game.
This surprised Pellegrini. Originally, what he was most worried about was that Southampton would continue to use the tactics used in the last away game against Barcelona, and this tactic was also very reasonable. This tactic is most suitable for dealing with ball-possession offenses.
But there is no team with a high forward to attack the defense. Even Barcelona can resist it, let alone Manchester City.
So he sent Dzeko in this game, just to use his height to create opportunities. Although he is not a strong center, he has good height and header skills.
As a result, Southampton did not use this effective tactic. Instead, they began to restore their previous offensive tactics. Didn't this give Manchester City a chance?
Southampton's midfield presses, and Manchester City's attack naturally speeds up.
Press quickly through the midfield and then attack.
Yaya Toure quickly passed the ball to Navas on the right. Navas was about to attack slowly, but was immediately entangled by Luke Shaw.
Compared with Luke Shaw, although Navas is much older, his confrontation and reaction are lagging behind. If he hadn't been good with his feet, he would have easily been intercepted by the opponent.
So he could only quickly pass it to Zabaleta who was advancing to assist. Zabaleta did not stop the ball more, but directly kicked the ball to the edge of the penalty area.
Dzeko, who had pulled out of the penalty area, stopped the ball and was about to turn around when Bailly came up fiercely from behind. Although Bailly was only nineteen years old, he was 1.87 meters tall and weighed more than 80 kilograms.
Thanks to the young man's drive and hard work, Dzeko immediately felt a huge force as soon as he came up from behind...
I muttered in my heart that today's young people are really fierce. Dzeko controlled the ball securely and then passed it to Nasri who came up to meet him. Nasri passed it to David Silva on the left, and Silva took it horizontally.
The ball, under Klein's defense, still started to shoot. The ball flew straight into the dead center of the goal. Navas flew to make a save and saved the ball with one hand.
Seeing that the ball was controlled by Wundt, Manchester City's players did not press in the frontcourt. Southampton's counterattack was too sharp. If the frontcourt was delayed, there might be problems in the backcourt.
Seeing that Manchester City's players began to return to defense, Southampton did not launch an attack slowly, but passed the midfield relatively safely, and then quickly launched an attack!
Mkhitaryan received a pass from De Bruyne in the middle. Lukaku and Suarez moved in the penalty area. He immediately made a long-range shot. Fernandinho rushed up from the side and prepared to use his body.
To block his long shot, Mkhitaryan raised his foot and passed the ball diagonally to Coutinho on the left side of the penalty area...
All Manchester City fans who are familiar with Southampton's offense were immediately shocked.
Coutinho didn't play many games this year, but he scored five goals, all of which were long-range shots in this area. This area can be called the Coutinho area!
And this time, it's no exception.
After a slight adjustment, Coutinho bent his bow and nocked an arrow, raised his right foot, and fired a powerful volley!
Coutinho took a long shot in an area he is familiar with, but the target was Hart...
Such a long-range shot cannot be scored, which is a shame for these two settings!
Whether it's Coutinho's cloud-piercing arrow or Hart's kick, it perfectly fits the current offense!
Hart jumped up, his reaction was already very fast, and he stretched his arms as much as possible in the air, but the ball still flew past his hand, and then plunged into the junction of the goal post and the crossbar!
Beautiful world waves!
"The goal is scored! Coutinho! What a wonderful world wave! Ji Ya used him to replace Ronaldo in the starting lineup in this game, instead of the previous main substitute Nolito, and he quickly showed his value! This
The long-range shot was so exciting, Hart was so unlucky, his save was also impeccable, but he encountered an even more impeccable long-range shot!"
After scoring the goal, Coutinho opened his arms and ran out. Although he was a substitute after joining Southampton this season, he can play very comfortably as long as he plays. Jiya will arrange the best environment for him and let him do what he does best.
The place is fully displayed...
This is much more comfortable than playing at Inter Milan!
Sometimes in a good team, playing games seems much easier.
Pellegrini shook his head and smiled bitterly, what would he do if he encountered such a world wave?
I can only blame my bad luck.
But then, we just launch the attack. Since it is an open attack, our total number of goals is similar to yours. Can we still win against us in the attack?
Pellegrini, who thought this way, ignored one thing. This conceding of the ball was not a matter of luck, but a series of tactical arrangements and arrangements that could achieve such an effect.
Since Noriya can use confrontation tactics, of course he is very confident in the results!
