In the fourth round of the FA Cup, Manchester City challenged Notts County away from home.
This was originally a duel between two teams with completely different strengths, but as the oldest football club in the world, Notts County showed a very tenacious side at its home court.
Although Manchester City controlled the ball and the rhythm of the game, they were never able to break through Notts County's goal. Instead, in the 59th minute, Notts County used a corner kick to score.
But this goal also completely woke up Manchester City.
Then, first Dzeko scored with a header, and then Adam Johnson seized the opportunity to score a goal, reversing the score for Manchester City.
In the end, Manchester City reversed Notts County 2-1 away from home and advanced to the fifth round.
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Back in Manchester, Manchester City headed to Birmingham without stopping.
In the twenty-fifth round of the Premier League, Manchester City challenged Birmingham away from home.
Only four minutes into the game, David Silva sent a through ball from the front of the penalty area. Su Dong countered offside and scored a single goal, opening the scoring for Manchester City.
But in the 23rd minute, Birmingham took advantage of a free kick in the frontcourt. Former Arsenal player Bentley sent a cross, and high center forward Zikic scored with a header, leveling the score for Birmingham.
Joe Hart once again made a mistake during his goalkeeping.
But in the 39th minute, after receiving a pass from his teammate, Su Dong drove the ball straight in. After passing three opponents' players, and just as he was about to enter the shooting range, he was fouled by the opponent and won a free kick in the frontcourt.
Chance.
This time Su Dong personally took the penalty, and the precise falling leaf ball went around the wall and hit the dead corner of the goal, two to one!
This score was maintained until the end of the game.
Manchester City narrowly defeated Birmingham 2-1 away from home.
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After the Birmingham game, the Manchester City team returned to Manchester Carrington. It was already past ten o'clock in the evening.
What is surprising is that both Soriano and Begiristain greeted the team at the training base.
To say that the game against Birmingham is not an important game, it won't be such a big battle, right?
Soriano and Begiristain first said a few words to the players, nothing more than affirming their performance in the away game, and at the same time encouraging them to continue to grit their teeth in the next league, survive the winter break and fight on multiple fronts.
difficult times.
After the lessons learned last season, Manchester City management also basically understands that after Christmas and the winter break, multi-front operations in February, March and April are also the most difficult periods for the Premier League.
After talking to the players, Soriano and Begiristain gave Guardiola, Estiarte, Torrent and other coaching staff, Sudong, Kompany and Zabaleta to the three players.
Please come to the conference room.
Seeing Su Dong and others leaving, Pepe and other players suddenly looked at each other.
Something big happened!
After everyone checked, it was true!
When they were fighting fiercely in Birmingham, Chelsea successfully introduced Torres from Liverpool in the final stage of the transfer market.
The transfer fee is as high as 50 million pounds.
…
"No one expected that in the final stage of the transfer market, such violent news suddenly broke out."
“After Chelsea spent 50 million pounds to buy Torres, Liverpool turned around and brought in Andy Carroll from Newcastle, spending 35 million pounds, and spent two years to bring in Suarez from Ajax.
Sixteen and a half million pounds."
"What do you think?"
In the conference room, Begiristain introduced to everyone the latest information the team had just obtained. Many of the information will not be published in the media until early tomorrow morning, and may not even be reported until the day after tomorrow, but Manchester City management is still concerned about this.
Rather nervous.
Being the league leader is not so easy.
Manchester United is chasing after them and may overturn at any time. Arsenal is tepid, but Chelsea, which has fallen out of the top four in the league, is starting to recruit. The addition of Torres will undoubtedly greatly enhance Chelsea's competitiveness, especially in attack.
Firepower.
"What does the technical team's assessment say?" Guardiola asked with concern.
Begiristain shook his head, "We currently don't have the specific situation of Torres, so we can't make a judgment. If he can return to Liverpool's early peak form, it will undoubtedly be quite amazing. This deal for Chelsea will be a good deal."
, but if it can’t be done, we will be less optimistic about it.”
"This is a big gamble!" Assistant coach Manel Estiarte analyzed. "Chelsea must strive to stay in the top four, and they must also make signings. Our goal of signing David Luiz at central defender was eliminated by us.
After taking the first step, introducing a powerful scorer is very in line with Chelsea's requirements."
Everyone also nodded, this analysis is reasonable and reasonable.
Many people know that the Premier League's huge share of broadcast fees has led many teams to focus on domestic leagues and ignore European competitions. Even thankless competitions like the Europa League, basically no team is willing to play.
The reason is simple, it is very laborious and may even be a loss-making business.
But there is one thing that no Premier League team will ignore, and that is qualification for the Champions League.
Participating in the Champions League is not just a league ranking, nor is it just a Champions League participation bonus, but having the right to distribute the huge sum of money in the Champions League's bonus pool in England.
In other words, only teams participating in the Champions League are eligible to receive this part of the Champions League bonus pool.
This is also quite tempting.
The calculating Wenger and his Arsenal have set the best example, that is, the way to maximize the interests of a Premier League team is to reach the top four in the league and reach the knockout round of 16 in the Champions League.
In other words, the top four in the Premier League and the top 16 in the Champions League are both very rewarding.
So over the years, Arsenal's strategy has been centered around these two points. Whether they can achieve better results depends on fate.
In the past, the competition for the top four in the Premier League was not so fierce. Even if Arsenal sold their captain every year, they could still reach the top four. But now it is no longer possible. With the strong rise of teams such as Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur, the league has
The competition for the top four has become unprecedentedly fierce. Liverpool's current ranking and Chelsea's fall out of the top four are the best proof.
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! Because of this, Chelsea and Liverpool must return to the top four no matter what.
Chelsea tried their best to dig up Torres. After Liverpool cashed out Torres at a high price, they turned around and introduced Andy Carroll and Suarez. This is undoubtedly an attempt to further improve the team's strength.
"Liverpool must have been well prepared, otherwise they would not be so efficient. After selling Torres, they immediately secured Andy Carroll and Suarez, and the most likely thing is..."
When Su Dong said this, he deliberately paused and looked at everyone present.
The people who can sit in this conference room are basically all human beings. Zabaleta and Kompany are also the vice-captains of the team and play certain management roles. At this time, they can also think of what Su Dong said.
the meaning of.
"Yes, we also suspect that Liverpool gave in half-heartedly, or even took the initiative to sell Torres, so they negotiated Andy Carroll and Suarez early, and the reason why Liverpool decided to sell Torres, we guess, is very
Maybe it's because Liverpool feel that Torres can't return to his peak."
This makes sense.
"Tottenham Hotspur are still lacking momentum and are not particularly stable. If Chelsea regroups, there is still a good chance of getting back into the top four, while Liverpool is only in the European theater at best, and it is basically impossible to get into the top four." Guardiola
Have clear judgment.
After seeing this clearly, the next situation in the Premier League is basically still a competition between Manchester City and Manchester United.
What Manchester City needs to do is still try its best to ensure its competitiveness, especially after the winter break.
Not long ago, Manchester City management gave the team bonuses, including a bonus for winning the Europa League, which is not inferior to the Premier League. It is not difficult to see that Manchester City management is eager for championship honors.
In fact, there is really no money to be made by playing in the Europa League. If high bonuses are given, the club may even lose money and make a profit, but there is no way. Manchester City has no foundation and is in desperate need of a European-level player.
Tournament champions to add confidence.
To give the simplest example, Manchester City's opponent in the Europa League knockout round is Aris from Greece.
The team is located in Kalamaria, a southeastern suburb of Thessaloniki, a city in northern Greece.
This is a small city.
Not to mention Kalamariya, even Thessaloniki and Manchester do not have direct flights.
How to get there?
The straight-line distance from Manchester to Thessaloniki is more than 2,000 kilometers. If chartered, the flight will take more than three hours, which does not include the time outside the flight. Therefore, the team must arrive in Thessaloniki one day in advance and
Choose a hotel to stay at.
This is very troublesome.
The club not only needs to charter a round trip flight, but also needs hotel room and board, which will be a huge expense for the club.
Of course, the team can also choose not to charter a flight, but to go from Manchester to Thessaloniki, or to fly from London, there is only one flight a day. If you fly from Manchester to London first and then transfer, it is expected to take 19 hours.
If you are connecting from Istanbul, it will take 24 hours.
This is the reason why many teams are unwilling to play in the Europa League. They cannot make money and also lose money.
In fact, this is not a problem unique to the Europa League. As far as Su Dong knows, China is a vast country and domestic leagues also have such problems.
Manchester City is not short of money and is willing to invest in the Europa League, so the club has given a large bonus in the hope that the players can work harder in the Europa League and strive to make a difference.
As for Aris, according to the Greek media, this team has not been attacked at its home court for 40 years, and it can almost be said to be the strongest home court in Europe.
When Su Dong heard this report from Begiristan, his first reaction was holy shit.
This is just like domestic fans making fun of the national football team, which is a strong team in the World Cup and has only lost three games in the World Cup finals in decades. Is it the same?
The reason why Greece is called one of the five European pig countries and why it is so poor and bankrupt is probably because they do not collect cowhide tax.
Look at the bragging skills of their domestic media. If they really need to collect a cowhide tax, will Greece go bankrupt?
