When the game reached fifty-eight minutes, Guardiola made the first substitution of the game.
He replaced Milner with Aguero.
This is a signal to strengthen the team's frontcourt attack.
Hodgson on the opposite side also responded quickly, replacing forward Odemwingie with No. 17 midfielder Graham Dorrance. Although Dorrance was both offensive and defensive, he replaced him with a midfielder.
Forward, this in itself is a signal for defense.
The two head coaches are also using their own methods. Guardiola wants to attack, while Hodgson wants to stabilize the defense.
The game continued to be deadlocked.
In any regular football game, defense is always easier than offense, and the requirements for players are lower. This is why almost all weak teams will adopt defensive counterattack tactics instead of taking the initiative to attack.
Goals need to be created, defense only needs to destroy.
This is why football reforms have always encouraged offense and goals.
Some people say that football tactics are an upward spiral.
In fact, it can be seen this way, that is, with the development of science and technology and the advent of the information age, the means and abilities of training players are also constantly improving. From diet to physical training, and various data analysis, these have greatly improved the players' ability.
Training has changed dramatically.
The result of this is that the player's body becomes faster and stronger.
So the question is, will the control of the ball improve with the progress of the times?
The answer is, no!
Geniuses like Pele and Maradona, who have never been born in the world, have changed their style of play, their playing styles, and their bodies, but they are still great talents that have never been born in the world.
There will always be a handful of players who can skillfully control the football on the football field like these geniuses.
As the times progress, the defense will become stronger and stronger, the pressure will become tighter and tighter, and the space left for offensive players will become smaller and smaller. Everything will always develop towards the side that is more conducive to defense.
Therefore, reforms are needed to encourage offense.
By the same token, in a football match, especially a Boxing Day football match, when both sides are in poor condition and fail to score, the defensive side actually has the advantage.
But after Manchester City replaced Aguero, their performance still did not improve much.
Aguero was placed in a position similar to midfielder and attacking midfielder by Guardiola, hoping that he could play from the back and hang around behind and around Sudong, ready to seize opportunities at any time, but his performance was not ideal.
After playing for about ten minutes, Su Dong communicated with Guardiola on the sidelines, found Aguero, and exchanged positions with him.
"You push forward, I'll pull back."
After saying that, Su Dong ran back to the midfielder without waiting for Aguero to agree.
The Argentinian forward couldn't believe it. Is Su Dong going to set the pace for himself?
He felt flattered, which made him more powerful in the frontcourt.
But soon, Aguero discovered that he had thought too much.
…
When the game reached the 77th minute, when Manchester City fell slowly in midfield, West Bromwich Albion had organized a tight defensive formation, and the pace of the game slowed down.
Just when Thiago, who was lagging behind, was holding the ball and looking for the ball's release point, he saw Su Dong running back and raising his hand to ask for the ball.
Thiago passed the ball to Su Dong almost without thinking.
Behind Su Dong is Dorrance, who has just come on as a substitute and is very energetic and active in running.
But before Dorrance could get closer, Su Dong pulled the ball directly, stopped and turned around, immediately blocked Dorrance to his side, and passed the ball to Aguero in front.
"Stop, let me come!" Su Dong shouted.
Aguero ran over to catch the ball. After hearing Su Dong's shout, he subconsciously stepped on the ball. Then he felt a majestic figure flying towards him like the wind.
This overwhelming pressure made him feel suffocated.
As soon as he stepped lightly, he felt that the ball he had just stepped on was poked away by Su Dong.
Su Dong's explosive power is so fast!
By the time Aguero reacted and looked over, his speed had already increased. He took the ball and drove straight towards West Bromwich Albion's defense. He faced the Knickerbockers central defender Orr at the top of the penalty area.
Sen, suddenly made an emergency stop and moved the ball to the right. After avoiding Olson, another central defender, McCauley, blocked the ball and fired with his right foot.
From starting to emergency stop and changing direction, to kicking and hitting the door, everything happens in an instant.
By the time everyone reacted, the ball had already penetrated West Bromwich Albion's defense like a bolt of lightning, flew between the two central defenders, and penetrated into the lower right corner of the goal.
Goalkeeper Foster made a sideways dive, but it was too late.
The ball hit the net!
"GOALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!"
"Another heavy long-range shot from Su Dong!"
"At the top of the penalty area, Su Dong hit West Bromwich Albion's goal with a heavy shot!"
"So beautiful! So hearty!"
"Manchester City finally took the lead in breaking the deadlock in the 77th minute, one to zero!"
After Su Dong scored, he clenched his fists with both hands, raised them high above his head, and roared angrily.
The surrounding Manchester City players also chased after him.
Aguero stood there, looking at Su Dong blankly, as if he was looking at God.
Now he finally understood why Su Dong took the initiative to ask for a retreat.
It turned out that the purpose was not to give him the ball, but because he couldn't see it and felt that he failed to change the trend of the game after coming on as a substitute and share the defensive pressure for him, so he simply did it by himself and let himself take the lead.
When thinking of this, Aguero was really a little ashamed, but more of it was admiration.
He had always known that Su Dong was very strong, but this time he was so strong that he couldn't help but admire him.
Just as a teammate rushed up from Aguero's side, the Argentine forward woke up, and he immediately ran towards Su Dong.
…………
…………
Su Dong's goal opened the door to victory for Manchester City.
West Bromwich Albion did not think about counterattack after conceding the ball, but Hodgson obviously knew very well that it was impossible for his team to counterattack and still defend their own goal.
So in the end, the Knickerbockers gave up their counterattack and continued to concentrate on defending, waiting for Manchester City to make mistakes.
In the end, Manchester City relied on Su Dong's goal to defeat West Bromwich Albion 1-0 away from home.
As the team's goal scorer, Su Dong took the initiative to accept interviews with the media after the game and defended many teammates who did not perform satisfactorily in this game. He said that many Manchester City players were not used to the intensive work during the winter break.
Due to the schedule and the fact that it was Boxing Day, the team's overall performance was not particularly ideal, which is understandable.
"Anyway, we finally got the precious three points." Su Dong said with a smile.
These three points allowed Manchester City's winning streak to continue, reaching 18 consecutive wins.
It is no longer news that Manchester City has won the half-time championship. The real news is whether Manchester City can win this half-time championship with 19 consecutive victories, that is, a complete victory record.
You know, no matter in the history of the Premier League or England's top league, no team has ever won the half-season championship with a complete victory record. This is even unique in other top leagues.
When asked by reporters, Su Dong said he was looking forward to the team's nineteenth game.
Unfortunately, Manchester City has consecutive away games, which is indeed very detrimental to Manchester City.
In the nineteenth round, the opponent was Black Cat Sunderland coached by Martin O'Neill, which was also a tough match.
Su Dong jokingly said that he didn't even expect Manchester City to win the half-season championship with a complete victory record, but Manchester City was full of expectations and desires for this.
"This is a rare honor for all of us."
But Su Dong also reminded everyone time and again that Sunderland is not a simple team.
Don't look at the fact that Black Cat Sunderland is currently ranked fifteenth in the Premier League. Facing the top seven teams in the league, except for Manchester City, they only got one draw against Liverpool. Without exception, they all fell behind.
defeat.
But it would be a big mistake to underestimate Sunderland because of this.
The team coached by Martin O'Neill also has famous stars such as Wes Brown, O'Shea and Bendtner. This makes Black Cat Sunderland not weak, and even if they face Chelsea, Manchester United, Arsenal
Sunderland can play well against teams such as Namibia, which shows that its own strength is good.
…
In this game on Boxing Day, many Premier League teams dropped points one after another.
Chelsea drew with Fulham one to one at home, Liverpool drew with Blackburn Rovers one to one at home, and Arsenal drew with Wolves at home one to one. All three games were one to one, which allowed people to see the excitement of this Boxing Day battle.
difficult.
But the biggest surprise was Manchester United.
The Red Devils faced Wigan Athletic at home. With Rooney as a substitute, they defeated their opponents 5-0 with Berbatov's hat-trick and goals from Park Ji-sung and Valencia.
This is already the second consecutive round of games for the Red Devils, defeating their opponents 5-0. The last round was against Fulham away from home.
What makes Ferguson most happy is that the dashing Berbatov actually regained his best form during the Christmas Devils schedule. This greatly improved Manchester United's originally weak offense and defeated their opponents in two consecutive rounds.
More importantly, five attackers scored goals in the last game, while Berbatov, Park Ji-sung and Valencia scored in this game. This makes Manchester United's offensive lineup look like it is in full bloom.
Manchester City relies on Su Dong, Arsenal relies on Robin van Persie, and Chelsea rely on Drogba. The situation is completely different.
The team's victory gave Ferguson confidence, and also allowed him to regain his ambition to win the league championship and reverse Manchester City.
Ferguson said that Manchester United is an extremely experienced team and has a fine tradition of reversal, so he is not worried about how far behind Manchester City is now, because no matter how many points behind, he will find a way to reverse.
The British media also spoke highly of Manchester United's strong recovery.
But just as the Red Devils were being showered with praise outside, Manchester United's secret was revealed three days later in the 19th round of the Premier League.
