Defeating Bolton in an away game, Manchester City quickly eliminated the shadow of the previous defeat with a victory. However, in this round, Arsenal and Manchester United both performed very tough. Arsenal beat Chelsea, who had just changed coaches, with one goal.
, consolidating their first position in the league, while Manchester United also defeated Liverpool with a score of 1 to 0 and continued to chase Manchester United with the same points. Chelsea and Liverpool began to fall behind. Now Chelsea's points are 34 points.
Already five points behind Manchester City, Liverpool has one point less than Chelsea. If this continues, these two teams may have to compete for fourth place in the league...
After winning against Bolton, Manchester City ushered in the League Cup quarter-finals, and their opponent was Tottenham, who had defeated them before.
Tottenham did not play very well before the start of the season, but their strength is not such that they will be relegated. Under such circumstances, they are more enthusiastic about competitions such as the League Cup. After all, this is a shortcut to participate in European competitions.
Tottenham are currently ranked twelfth, with points neither above nor below, so in this game, almost all of their main players will play, and Dick will not be able to let the main players consume too much in this game.
Due to the tightness of the upcoming Christmas schedule, Dick started his rotation at this time.
Rotation requires a basic foundation. The reason why Dick didn't rotate before was because the team had just pulled together. The coordination is exactly when games are needed to gradually increase. Disrupting the main lineup will only be counterproductive. At this time, after nearly twenty games of running-in,
The coordination between the main players has basically been worked out, so there is a feasible place to use rotation.
What's more, one characteristic of rotation is that some key players cannot be rotated - Dick also has such key players. Although Torres is injured, Samuel on the defense and Yaya Toure in the midfield can all
If such players are able to play all the games and are not rotated, the overall framework will not change much.
In this League Cup match, Dick fielded a mixed lineup.
The goalkeeper is still Hart. Dick will basically not be rotated at the goalkeeper position, and Hart now needs games to improve. On the back line, Sun Jihai is deployed at right back, and Irish Hart is deployed at left back. The center back position is
Samuel and Joel Luca partnered, Haman, Yaya Toure and Vidal were deployed in the midfield. Di Natale was hidden in the forward line, but Ribery, Ashley?
Young and Sturridge partner up front.
Such a lineup is tactically simpler than usual. Sturridge is at the forefront, and the two wingers become the main force of the offense. Their dribbling and cross-cutting are the biggest guarantee for Manchester City's offense.
Yatoure and Vidal take turns to attack forward, including Haman, who has a certain ability to attack forward. This tactic seems to be more reliable against Premier League teams.
Tottenham's fluctuating performance this season is actually related to the fact that they have a large number of young players. Lennon, Defoe, Darren Bent, Janas and other strong local players make them play very energetically. In addition, they have previously
They had just defeated Manchester City once, so this time at Manchester City's home court, they were still not afraid at all and launched a fast attack from the beginning!
Such a bold attack achieved good results soon after the start of the game. Only seven minutes into the game, Janus passed directly to the right side of the penalty area. Lennon used his speed to break through Hart's defense and then sent the ball into the penalty area. Dee
Fu also used his speed to get rid of Joel Luca's defense and hit the far corner from close to the small penalty area!
Speed, this Tottenham team is quite fast. Although Bell was intercepted by Dick midway, the other players are all fast and agile players, which happen to be somewhat incompatible with Manchester City's defense...
Dick shook his head. This defense line is still not good enough. Sun Jihai is old and slightly weaker. Joel Luca still needs to grow up. Although Samuel has rich experience and excellent strength, it is difficult to deal with this guy.
After a quick attack, we still need to slowly build this back line of defense.
However, although they lost the ball, Manchester City will not panic about it. Tottenham's offense is fast, but this also prevents them from slowing down. Compared with the speed, Manchester City's offense will not be much worse than the opponent!
Ten minutes after Tottenham scored, Manchester City immediately relied on a quick counterattack to score. Hart made a long pass from the backcourt. Sturridge grabbed the ball in front of the opponent's central defender and pushed it down. Vidal did not receive the ball after receiving the ball.
The ball was passed to the feet of Franck Ribery, who was being heavily defended by the opponent, but to Ashley Young. Ashley Young started running wildly with the ball from the right, breaking through to the bottom line before passing the ball into the penalty area.
Turic dragged the opponent's defender to the back point, and Yaya Toure followed up in the middle to meet the ball and directly hit the top, equalizing the score!
After equalizing the score, Manchester City's offense became faster and faster. The two sides sprinted back and forth, and the game was extremely lively.
Manchester City's current basic offensive routine is to divide the sides and hand them over to the two wingers. They create opportunities through breakthroughs and then pass the ball to the center, allowing Sturridge or Yaya Toure and Vidal to complete the final step.
's shot.
Mourinho, who returned to Portugal, was also watching the game. He couldn't help but burst out laughing after seeing this - wasn't this the tactic he first used at Chelsea? Dick was really rude and used it.
Can be used...
But having said that, there is no sure-win tactic, only tactics that suit you. Manchester City’s lineup has wingers with excellent skills who can break through, a center who can hold up in front, and two centers with very good forward penetration ability.
On the field, this tactic is indeed very suitable. Although it is only a weakened version of Chelsea's offensive mode, it also has considerable power!
What made Tottenham's situation worse was that in the 28th minute of the game, Tottenham defender Zokola fiercely tackled Vidal in the midfield and was directly sent off with a red card by the referee. Ten men against ten.
One-man Tottenham began to be forced to retreat to defend, and the gap at the front of the penalty area began to become larger...
In the 39th minute, Manchester City took the lead after continuous attacks. It was another beautiful midfielder. After Ribery broke through, he passed the ball to Hart who stepped forward to assist. Hart passed the curved ball with his left foot.
Arriving at the edge of the penalty area, Vidal, who followed up, took the ball into the penalty area, and then kicked off the goal immediately, giving Manchester City the lead!
With the numerical advantage and the score advantage, Manchester City seemed much easier to play in the second half. Dick replaced Ribery with Ireland, which increased the midfielder's possession of the ball. When the game reached the 82nd minute
, Manchester City played a beautiful counterattack. Ireland went straight behind Tottenham's defense. Ashley Young successfully reversed the offside, dunked the ball past the attacking goalkeeper Robinson and then pushed the shot into the empty goal. Three to one, Manchester City defeated Tottenham.
, head high and enter the semi-finals of the League Cup!
"I am very satisfied with the effect of the rotation system. Manchester City's players have proven that they are all top players. In a game with a dense schedule like the Premier League, I need to mobilize the abilities of all players... But I still have an opinion. England
Only five substitutes can be used in a game, which is too few. After all, in modern football, with so many games, there are naturally more substitutes. Only sixteen people can be brought into the squad. This is a waste. I
I hope that the bench can be expanded to seven or more, after all, there is no need to follow that ancient and meaningless rule."
After leading the team to the semi-finals, Dick began to make a fuss, but in fact his proposal could be said to be proposed by all head coaches. Many coaches in the Premier League had already made such a request before him, but
The Football Association, which has been dragging its feet, has always said that it wants to study it, but it has never been able to produce any results.
This time the Football Association once again expressed its intention to study it. At this time, the League Cup semi-final matchups were also announced. After Chelsea eliminated Liverpool, they ushered in a weaker opponent. Their opponent in the semi-finals was Everton.
, and Manchester City led by Dick met Arsenal. The League Cup semi-finals were a two-leg contest. This was also the most powerful opponent Manchester City encountered in the League Cup this time. If they want to win a championship, then
At this time, we must defeat Arsenal in order to win the League Cup.
The League Cup championship is not that easy to win, especially when the strong teams have basically not been eliminated this season...
Dick continued to use his rotation system. In the next eighteenth round of the away game against Aston Villa, the main lineup he sent had a huge change compared to the previous game. Goalkeeper Hart, defender
Richards, Kompany, Cahill and Barnes, midfielder Button, Yaya Toure, Parker, and the strike partner was replaced by Ribery, Sturridge and Di Natale.
In this game, Parker, who had rested for a week, performed very well. He took over the entire Manchester City offense in the midfield. When Yaya Toure and Ribery were both a little tired, his performance allowed
Manchester City's offense became stronger, and Sturridge received a cross from Barnes who provided an assist in the 11th minute and scored with a header in the penalty area, breaking the deadlock for Manchester City first!
"Sturidge's second goal! Two goals in two consecutive league rounds! I don't know if Sturridge will become Manchester City's main force in the next games, but for the young Sturridge
To me, things are wonderful now! Keep going, Daniel! You will definitely have bright prospects in the future!"
The commentator shouted in a voice full of emotion. It has to be said that they still prefer local players...
However, at this time, Sturridge did show his value. In terms of tactical role, he can largely make up for the losses caused by Torres' absence. At this time, he is extremely important to Manchester City!
Aston Villa wanted to equalize the score at home, but Manchester City's defense in this game was much stronger than in the previous game. Although Samuel was put into the rotation by Dick, Kompany and
Cahill's two tall central defenders are still very strong in head-on confrontation. Aston Villa doesn't have any outstanding fast forwards. There is no problem behind them. If they defend them head-on, there will be no problem.
Shortly after the start of the second half, Parker used a forward move to score Manchester City's second goal. Manchester City defeated their opponent 2-0 at home. After losing to Tottenham, they quickly won two consecutive games and continued to be closely behind Arsenal.
to catch up - and after the New Year, these two teams will take the lead in playing against each other in the League Cup. Everyone is looking forward to this game.
When the final whistle sounded, Dick waved his fist. He was very satisfied with these two rounds of the league, because most of the players showed a very good state when rotation began. Such performance,
