When the game reached the twelfth minute, Stoke City got a throw-in opportunity on the right side of the frontcourt.
When Marcelo returned to defense, he shoveled the ball out of bounds.
Stoke City's right back Wilkinson quickly ran forward, picked up a football from the ground, put it in the jersey on his chest, and wiped it carefully to remove the water stains.
The visiting team's players pressed forward quickly, especially high center forward John Carew. He went directly to the bottom line on the left side of the penalty area and used his burly body to block Pepe behind him.
This is Stoke City's signature tactic, the throw-in grenade tactic.
As the referee blew his whistle, Wilkinson quickly raised the ball over his head and threw it with all his strength into the penalty area.
Both Stoke City's full-backs have practiced this trick, and they can throw it far and accurately.
John Carew leaned on Pepe and kept leaning back.
To say that Pepe's body is very good among central defenders, but he is a little shorter than John Carew, and he does not have the advantage in strength, and he has to stand between him and the goal, so Pepe can only
Can go back.
Although John Carew is a high center forward, he also has very good footwork.
Wilkinson threw the ball directly into the left side of Manchester City's penalty area. After it landed in front of John Carew, the Norwegian center stopped the ball towards the baseline. Pepe behind him tried his best to try to
The position must be blocked to prevent Karu from turning around.
But while the two were engaging in a physical confrontation, Joe Hart didn't know what he was thinking, but he actually abandoned the goal and attacked.
If you really want to attack, you attack when the ball is thrown into the penalty area and pluck the ball out of the air. That's no problem. But you wait until the ball hits the ground and then directly miss it. What's going on?
?
You are so lonely!
Pepe was shocked and tried desperately to stop John Carew from taking off.
But the Norwegian center had already turned sideways, saw Joe Hart, and immediately used his height and long legs to poke the ball directly.
Although Carew lost his balance and fell in the penalty area, the ball passed through Joe Hart's crotch and went straight to the goal.
Kompany kept chasing behind him, trying to clear the ball in front of the goal, but he ended up dribbling the ball into his own goal.
There was a burst of exclamations mixed with disappointment throughout the Etihad Stadium.
Zero to one!
John Carew jumped up from the ground, roared, and excitedly rushed out of Manchester City's penalty area. He ran all the way and kept roaring, as if to tell everyone that he had scored!
Su Dong, did you see it? I scored a goal!!
"It's very surprising that the first goal scored was Stoke City!"
"Manchester City once again had problems in defending the throw-in, especially goalkeeper Joe Hart. His timing of the attack was very poor. Even if he had simply stayed in front of the goal at that time, I believe Pepe would have been able to stop Card.
It was reckless, after all, Carew's shooting angle was not very wide at that time."
"But who would have thought that Joe Hart would give up the ball and not save the ball. This is simply incomprehensible."
"One to zero! With the goal of Norwegian high center Kalu, Stoke City temporarily takes the lead in the away game."
Amid the boos from the audience, Pepe looked at Joe Hart, who fell in the penalty area, failed to close his legs in time, and was penetrated by Carew, and he really wanted to yell at him.
With such a small shooting angle, you can just stay near the goal post. Why are you attacking?
Forget about attacking, you caught the ball anyway!
In terms of physical confrontation, Pepe really couldn't take advantage of Carew, but he tried his best to push Carew to the bottom line, so Carew didn't have many shooting angles, and his shot basically hit the goalkeeper's arms.
situation here.
But now I'm fine, I'm being crotched.
…………
…………
While Manchester City was temporarily trailing Stoke City 0-1 at the Etihad Stadium, in Blackburn in the north of Manchester, at Ewood Park, Manchester United was challenging Blackburn away.
The two games are almost at the same time, and now Manchester United and Blackburn are zero to zero.
Ferguson stood in the command area in front of the visiting team's coaching bench, chewing gum and watching the game intently.
Blackburn's 19-year-old central defender Phil Jones performed very well and left a deep impression on Ferguson. He defused Manchester United's attacks several times and looked very promising.
Assistant coach Mike Phelan had just received a phone call and immediately walked to Ferguson's side.
"That's a goal over there!"
Ferguson's eyelids twitched, so fast?
"Su Dong?" Ferguson blurted out.
"No, it's John Carew." The assistant coach chuckled, "using their signature throw-in grenade tactic."
Ferguson was immediately overjoyed and laughed out loud.
You really can come up with whatever you want!
He had been waiting for the news of Stoke City's goal, but he didn't expect it to come.
"Tony Pulis is still very good. He can take a lineup like Stoke City to eighth place in the league. If he can upset Manchester City tonight, there may not be any possibility of going further." Ferguson was in a very beautiful mood.
, "By the way, didn't Manchester City defend this tactic?"
"It was on guard, but Joe Hart took the initiative and missed the ball. Instead, his crotch was exposed."
After he finished speaking, the assistant coach couldn't help laughing.
No matter who scores the goal or concedes the goal, Manchester United will be happy as long as Stoke City scores the goal.
As long as Manchester City loses this round, Manchester United will have a chance to make a comeback in the final round.
More importantly, Manchester United is also fighting on three fronts this season. On one side, it has reached the final of the Champions League and its opponent is Mourinho's Barcelona. On the other side, it has also reached the final of the FA Cup and its opponent is Guardiola's Manchester City.
.
If they can reverse the situation first in the league, it will be a great help to Manchester United.
After hearing the good news, Ferguson felt refreshed and said with some guidance: "Manchester City's biggest problem now is the goalkeeper. Their frontcourt is weak at best, but the goalkeeper position makes too many mistakes.
It’s very demoralizing.”
"Many people say that we need a goalkeeper, but that is because Edwin van der Sar is retiring, but even so, van der Sar is very reliable, but Manchester City is different. No one knows when Joe Hart will retire.
My brain twitched, something bad happened."
Mike Phelan also laughed out loud and agreed with Ferguson's statement.
The introduction of a high-level goalkeeper has become the most popular proposal for Manchester City from the outside world.
Joe Hart has indeed made enough mistakes this season, and is completely unworthy of being the main goalkeeper of a Premier League championship-winning team.
Of course, this also has something to do with Guardiola's tactics.
"Manchester City is lagging behind, we should work harder!"
Having said this, Ferguson walked to the sidelines and shouted loudly at the Manchester United players on the court: "Cheer up, we need to score goals, attack them!"
The Manchester United players on the pitch heard Ferguson's roar and immediately cheered up. Many players also got the information they wanted to know from Mike Phelan's gestures on the sidelines.
Manchester City lost the ball!
As long as Manchester United defeats its opponent, there will still be suspense about who will win the Premier League championship.
Thinking of this, the Manchester United players on the field suddenly played more energetically.
Rooney even called on everyone in the team to press forward, crazily pressing Blackburn into the half and beating him up.
Unlucky violent people, they usually hurt others, but when have they ever been so cruel?
But Manchester United's players are all like wolves and tigers, and they look incredibly ferocious.
Finally, in the 20th minute, Rooney got the ball from the right, forced a breakthrough and passed in. Hernandez shrewdly ran to the goal and headed the ball from close range, breaking the Blackburn goal for Manchester United.
.
In an instant, the entire stadium was filled with the cheers of Manchester United players.
The head coach Ferguson on the sidelines even raised his arms, his face flushed with excitement, and kept roaring.
Finally scored!
As long as one goal is scored, Manchester United will seize the initiative!
"Work hard and pursue the victory!"
An idea popped into Ferguson's mind.
…………
…………
Up north in Blackburn, Manchester United scored!
News quickly reached the Etihad Stadium.
The players on the field were still passing the ball patiently, controlling the ball and the game, and patiently organizing and penetrating. They didn't know what was happening at Blackburn in the north, but the coaching staff on the sidelines and the fans in the stands knew.
They all made a restless noise.
The movement naturally spread to the court.
The players are not stupid. They are also paying attention to the movements in the stands and on the sidelines of the court, and naturally they are aware of the problem.
They guessed that Manchester United should be in the lead.
Manchester City is lagging behind here and Manchester United is leading there. Is there a worse situation than this?
Will the scenario Ferguson sketched out before the game really become a reality?
With this messy mind, there were also problems with the passing and ball-control coordination of Manchester City players on the field.
Some players started to get anxious.
It was supposed to be another pass, but it fell down, but in the end, I was eager for success and hit it directly.
Needless to say, the heat was not there yet, so I was definitely frustrated, and even got a counterattack from my opponent.
Guardiola was also aware of the problem on the sidelines and kept calling on the players to calm down, stay calm and not to rush.
But emotions are something that cannot be controlled casually.
Even if you are a professional player, it is related to your own personal interests and the success or failure of a season's hard work. Who can not care?
Manchester City's players were anxious, but Stoke City continued to defend and counterattack.
Tony Pulis also learned about the results of the battle in the north, and immediately defended his position even more securely.
The cunning man is waiting for Manchester City to make a mistake before sending a fatal attack.
Su Dong also realized the problem. After an attack failed, he loudly called on his teammates to calm down and not to worry. There was still a lot of time. It was only the first half.
He usually has a high prestige in the team, but in the fast-changing game, such appeals are not very effective.
Once the attack starts, the players become anxious again.
Everyone knows that Manchester United is in the lead and Manchester City needs to score at least two goals to maintain the advantage.
Facing the defensive Stoke City, can Manchester City score two goals?
Guardiola's tactics are a bit bad. They require a lot of players' mentality. They need to be patient. Being impatient can make mistakes easily.
Therefore, to a certain extent, Guardiola's passing and possession style of play is more suitable for a long-term league, rather than one or two cup games that determine the outcome.
But now, Manchester City is playing in the league, but they are forced to fall behind in the knockout rounds.
