This was the focus of coverage by major media outlets around the world on the day of the match.
No one expected that Mourinho would directly announce his lineup one day in advance.
Is he crazy?
Or is he deliberately releasing smoke bombs?
No one knows why, but major media outlets are studying the authenticity of this list.
Judging from the list, the authenticity is quite high, because they are basically players reused by Mourinho, such as Seydou Keita and Yaya Toure, all the players who should be included.
But there is also a problem, that is, the lack of left back.
After Abidal started the liver transplant operation, Adriano was Mourinho's heavy-use left back, but he was not included in the squad for this game. So who does Mourinho plan to arrange to play this position?
Will Puyol make a cameo appearance?
This is indeed a possibility, because Puyol has never played the left back position.
In this way, it makes sense for Pique and Mascherano to partner as central defenders in the middle.
Barcelona's defense can be said to be strong or weak, the key depends on what kind of opponent it encounters.
Su Dong often scored goals from Barcelona in the past. Now that they meet again, everyone is very curious. Can Barcelona's defense be able to freeze Su Dong?
Mourinho suddenly announced the lineup before the game. What was his intention?
…………
…………
Manchester City came to Barcelona one day early.
I asked the Spaniard to borrow a training ground before, and yesterday I went to Camp Nou for familiarization training.
After working hard for a while, I rested overnight. When I woke up the next day, there was such a wave of blockbuster news, like a thunderstorm, which made everyone unbelievable. Who would have thought that such an operation could exist.
Early in the morning, technical director Begiristain, who led the team to Barcelona, was called to a meeting by Guardiola and other coaching staff. Su Dong also participated, and the content was nothing more than Mourinho's list.
Unlike outside speculation, Manchester City has real stuff.
In fact, the team has been deducing Mourinho's lineup for a long time, and they have come up with more than one set.
But I have to say, this lineup is really unexpected.
The meeting lasted for a full hour before ending.
After the meeting, Su Dong went directly to the hotel conference room to prepare for the team's regular pre-game preparation meeting.
Before the coaching staff arrived, the players were all discussing the list enthusiastically in the conference room. They also got news from newspapers, websites and familiar media, and were aware of various analytical reports.
After seeing Su Dong come in, everyone immediately gathered around.
…
"Boss, what is Mourinho planning to do?"
"Su, how authentic is the list? Is Mourinho trying to trick us?"
"Without the left back, it doesn't look real."
"I guess this is Mourinho's smoke bomb. This old boy has learned nothing else, but he has learned 100% of Ferguson's tricks."
"Is it possible that he will really play with this lineup?"
"Didn't I just say that? Our winger is not an inverse winger. Let Puyol play as a left back. Can he stop Sanchez?"
"Mourinho would never leave us such an obvious loophole."
"I agree, he must have a conspiracy."
"I have known Mourinho for so many years, but this old boy has never had a good heart."
The last person to speak was Pepe, who was obviously not interested in Mourinho either.
Everyone expressed their opinions one by one, but in the end they found that they were the ones talking, and Su Dong had no chance to speak at all.
Suddenly, everyone fell silent again, looking at Su Dong, waiting for him to speak.
"We just studied for an hour and finally came to the conclusion that..."
Everyone immediately paid attention.
Su Dong grinned happily, "We don't know either."
Everyone was disappointed. Is this the answer?
"Actually, no one except Mourinho and the Barcelona coaching staff knows whether this list is true or false, and no one stipulates that Mourinho must use this list to arrange the lineup, right?
?”
When everyone thought about it, it was indeed such a truth.
This is also where everyone is controversial.
"This list is a little different from our previous deduction, but in general it is very close. What does he want to do when he releases it now? Tell us what he thinks? Or does he want to distract us? Or wants us to go
Guess what he is thinking? Another possibility is that it makes us think too much and get into trouble."
Everyone was stunned for a moment, as if it was true.
This list is fine for bluffing the outside media and fans, but it is a mystery how useful it is to Manchester City.
Based on this alone, people have to question Mourinho's intentions.
Of course, Manchester City has deduced several lists for Barcelona, but none of them is the same as the one announced by Mourinho, so if it is said to be useless, that is not entirely true, it is just that the usefulness is very limited.
At this point in the game, it is impossible for Manchester City to change their tactics specifically to target Barcelona.
If you really say this, you may lose more than you gain.
"You mean, we don't look at this list?" Zabaleta asked with concern.
Su Dong shook his head, "Just take a look, there's no need to take it seriously."
Seeing the confused look in his teammates' eyes, Su Dong smiled and said: "No matter what Mourinho's intention is in releasing this list, or even what kind of lineup Barcelona plans to put in place and what kind of tactics it will adopt, it will not matter to us.
Said, the process and results are the same, we will use our best method to defeat our opponents."
"We have always been like this. We don't consider our opponents' ideas, tactics and attitudes. We only care about ourselves, because as long as we do well enough and are outstanding enough, no team can stop us."
When everyone heard this, they all nodded. This is indeed the attitude that Manchester City has always adhered to in the past two seasons, even since Guardiola took charge.
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! The only difference is that in Guardiola's first season in charge, the results were indeed a bit bad, but after Su Dong joined, Manchester City's results have improved by leaps and bounds.
Now it has become the top team in Europe.
"Instead of blindly guessing the opponent's intentions, we should concentrate on doing our job well and think about how to perform better and better in the game. This is what we should be thinking about now."
Is there any use for Mourinho to announce this list in advance?
Su Dong can't say that there is no such thing at all.
For example Guardiola.
The head coach of Manchester City is famous as [Mr. George].
What does it mean?
George, it means entangled.
Guardiola is so entangled that he likes to get into trouble. He is the kind of person who likes to figure out everything before the game and think through all possibilities.
The more such a person is, the easier it is for him to make some sudden and unbelievable decisions before major competitions, and the more susceptible he is to the influence and interference of his opponent's strategy.
Why have the meeting so early in the morning?
Because Guardiola didn't sleep much last night because he was struggling with this issue.
To some extent, this kind of personality makes Guardiola what he is today, but it also makes him easy to become obsessed.
During the meeting just now, Su Dong and Begiristan were both very persuasive, but they were really afraid that he would change his tune on the spot.
Judging from the current Barcelona lineup, Mourinho is likely to take a defensive stance.
This is actually not difficult to guess, because in the European Super Cup defeat, especially during the game, Mourinho was obviously conservative. With his character, he is likely to go on the defensive and use quick counterattacks to attack Manchester City.
If he wins, he can feel proud.
Another point is that he may not be very confident in the team's defense, especially when playing against Manchester City.
With Barcelona on the defensive, Manchester City should stick to their own style of play.
…
Guardiola, accompanied by Begiristain, Torrent and Estiarte, entered the conference room.
He still looked solemn, and everyone was used to his expression.
He is serious about football!
Guardiola first discussed with everyone the lineup announced by Mourinho, which was similar to what Su Dong just said. Obviously, during the one-hour meeting, he was convinced by Su Dong and others and decided to stick to it.
His own style of play remains unchanged.
In the subsequent targeted tactical arrangements, Guardiola did not make any new arrangements. He just asked the two wings to pay more attention and increase offensive firepower when necessary.
As the player just said, if Puyol is allowed to play as left back, Sanchez will have the advantage on the right.
As the name suggests, Puyol is a right-footed player. If he plays on the left, he has the advantage of defending against the inverted winger. However, Sanchez is a right-footed player and can forcefully break through the base or penetrate from the bottom line. This makes Puyol
Very disadvantaged.
"Another possibility is Seydou Keita. He is a left-footed player. Mourinho often uses him to play on the left side of the midfield and has also played as a left back. If he is allowed to play as a left back, the possibility is quite good.
Big." Guardiola made his own guess.
This guess is also very likely.
But as a result, Mourinho's midfield arrangement will be more conservative.
Mascherano will be pushed to the midfield to serve as a backstop, and Yaya Toure and Xavi will be released.
Iniesta, Cesc Fabregas and Messi form the front three.
Such a possibility does exist, and it is not small.
Guardiola emphasized that no matter how the opponent adjusts and arranges during the game, Manchester City's tactics will basically remain unchanged, and they will still follow the original plan, and the offensive routines will basically remain what Manchester City is most familiar with.
This is mainly because the team's schedule is too intensive. With double matches in a row, there is no time for Manchester City to carry out targeted tactical drills. They can only adopt the offensive routines that everyone is familiar with on weekdays.
Sometimes, the old routines seem clichéd and old-fashioned, but the problem is that they work, and they are tried and true.
Because there are some things that are unique to Manchester City and cannot be defended by opponents.
