The Champions League games won’t start until mid-April, so we’ll focus on the league for the time being.
On March 19, in the 29th round of the Premier League, Liverpool visited the Etihad Stadium to challenge Manchester City.
Manchester City is currently ranked fourth in the standings, but is more than 20 points behind Liverpool. The point difference is a bit large and it is no longer a threat to Liverpool's championship.
However, now Liverpool is not competing with Manchester City, but with Chelsea. The point difference between Chelsea and Liverpool is less than ten points. The Red Army still needs to continue to fight and strive to win and score points in every game.
Of course, for Manchester City, this game must be won with all their strength. Even if they don't compete with Liverpool for the Premier League title, they still have to compete for Champions League qualification. Fourth place is a very delicate ranking. If you cannot keep the top four, you may not even be able to play in the Champions League next season. This is not only a matter of game bonuses. Teams that do not play in the Champions League will also have problems in the transfer market. Will be at a disadvantage and not attractive to top stars.
It just so happens that Arsenal is currently ranked fifth. As we all know, when Arsenal falls out of the top four, their combat effectiveness will explode. Manchester City may be overtaken by Arsenal if they are not careful.
At 19:30 in the evening, the game officially started.
Although Manchester City fielded a 4321 three-midfielder formation, De Bruyne and David Silva in the defensive midfielder positions are both strong in offense and weak in defense. The two full-backs Sane and Sterling can also be regarded as forwards, so both sides actually play similar 433 formations.
After the game started, the two sides started to attack. Manchester City was just afraid of Willard's offensive power, so De Bruyne, David Silva, Sterling, and Sane retreated slightly. That’s all.
It has to be said that Guardiola's strategy of letting all midfielders retreat collectively gave him a certain advantage in numbers and did not allow Velarde to easily break through from the center.
In the 13th minute, Willard took the ball in the backcourt and broke through the interceptions of Sane and David Silva. He was interfered by Yaya Toure with the help of De Bruyne and made a quick slide. Shoveled the ball away from Willard's feet.
Because in the process of breaking through Sane and David Silva, after all, they were in physical contact with the opponent and could not control the ball so accurately.
This is the positive effect of Manchester City's accumulation of numbers in the midfield.
However, correspondingly, Manchester City's defense threat to Liverpool is not that great. As time went by, Wijnaldum, Emre Can, and even the two full-backs Milner and Klein began to provide assists.
In the 17th minute, Liverpool created a threatening shot. Willard's midfielder dribbled the ball past Sterling and attracted three men from Manchester City to surround him. However, Willard passed the ball to the side before they closed the circle. Wijnaldum on.
Wijnaldum received the ball and sent it to Coutinho on the wing. Coutinho made a pass. Firmino leaned on Manchester City center back Stones and volleyed with his left foot. Shot and hit the ball within the goal frame.
Firmino's shot was less than 10 meters away from the goal, and it was another solid volley. Everyone thought the goal was going to go in, but unfortunately Firmino's shot just hit the goalkeeper Caballero's body. Within the range, Caballero subconsciously stretched out his hand and blocked the ball with his palm. Then, before Mane rushed into the small penalty area to shoot a supplementary shot, he held the ball under his body.
Liverpool missed an opportunity to score a goal to break the deadlock.
A few minutes later, Manchester City also threatened Liverpool's goal with a good ball from De Bruyne. It's a pity that Sterling wasted De Bruyne's wonderful pass and knocked the ball away in the penalty area only ten meters away from the goal.
Guardiola's idea of using numerical superiority to block Velarde's attack failed to come true in the end, because Velarde's personal ability is too superior and his offensive methods are too diverse. Even if Velard's personal goal is contained, it cannot prevent Velard from creating opportunities for his teammates.
In the 28th minute, Willard dribbled the ball through the left wing and then cut inside to shoot. After attracting the interception and encirclement of three Manchester City defenders, he passed the ball to Mane on the right side of the penalty area.
Mane rushed into the penalty area, jumped ahead of defender Clichy, and successfully headed the ball into the Manchester City goal.
Willard assisted Mane to open the scoring, and Liverpool led 1-0 away from home.
After the score changed, Liverpool's defensive counterattack could no longer continue, and they could only be forced to attack.
But Liverpool's defense also left Manchester City helpless. The presence of Willard made Liverpool seem to have one more person fighting. Not only was the defense extremely strong, but even the occasional loopholes would be filled by Willard.
In the 38th minute, David Silva finally hit a powerful long-range shot from outside the penalty area that went straight to the dead corner of the goal. He met goalkeeper Mignolet and made a world-class save, which was dangerous. Then it almost lifted Silva's world wave off the crossbar.
Before the end of the first half, Liverpool even had a chance to expand the score. Unfortunately, Willard's direct free kick into the dead corner was accurately predicted by Caballero, who also made a wonderful world-class save. After predicting and shifting in advance, Willard's free kick was saved from the bottom line.
Soon, the first half ended, and the two sides entered the halftime break with a score of 0-1. Liverpool, playing away, temporarily took a one-goal lead.
After the 15-minute intermission, the two sides changed sides in the second half. Maybe Guardiola made tactical changes in the locker room. Manchester City's overall formation improved in the second half, whether it was Sane or Sterling or David. The positions of Silva and De Bruyne have both moved forward significantly.
However, Manchester City's 4321 has become a 433, or 4123 three-forward formation, and then launched a strong passing and cutting cooperation.
Although Guardiola has just arrived at Blue Moon, after more than half a season of training, Manchester City has already had some of the shadows of Guardiola in Barcelona and Bayern, and occasionally can produce some amazing passing and control coordination.
In the 52nd minute, Manchester City played a wonderful teamwork with 6 people participating and a total of 9 passes without allowing Liverpool to touch the ball. In the end, Aguero completed the final blow on the left rib of the penalty area.
Unfortunately, although Aguero's shot hit the door frame, the angle was not tricky enough. Goalkeeper Mignolet blocked the ball with his outstretched foot, and then was kicked out of the penalty area by center back Klavan to clear the ball.
It seems that Manchester City has given up on the defensive counterattack strategy and started to play its own football with itself as the center, passing and controlling as the main style of play.
The teamwork just now was the threat that Manchester City created through teamwork, but the last kick was not completed well.
That's the difference in finishing.
Liverpool does not have such a problem. As long as the last kick is given to Willard, the threat will be leveraged and the scoring rate is quite high.
After Manchester City gave up its defensive counterattack strategy and began to play its own pass-and-control football, the defensive intensity naturally declined, and Willard's threat in counterattacks naturally increased.
In the 64th minute, Villard once again passed two people in the counterattack and then separated, passed the ball to Coutinho on the left, and then rushed forward into the penalty area.
Coutinho understood the idea and made a pass from the left, sending the ball into the penalty area. Villard broke through the siege surrounded by Otamendi, Stones, and Yaya Toure, leaping high. Starting from the start, he grabbed the first point and hit the goal with a powerful header, pushing the ball into Manchester City's gate.
"Goooooooooooooooooooooooal..."
"The ball goes in again!!!"
"2-0, Liverpool expanded the score."
"It was a header from Willard."
"Manchester City had nothing to do against Velarde. Otamendi, Stones, and Yaya Toure, the three players with the strongest defensive abilities in the middle, did not lose their position and kept up with Velarde."
"However, Willard's running position, physique, jumping and heading ability are too strong."
"It's useless to follow up unless there's a foul. Otherwise, you can only watch Villard take off and score with a header."
"But it's useless to commit a foul. Not only will it give Velarde a penalty that is 100% sure to score, but he may also get a card."
"So, there is no way to face Willard, Manchester City, or even most teams."
"I can only watch him score."
Indeed, facing an all-around attacker like Willard, Manchester City simply cannot defend him.
Seeing this, Guardiola had no regrets and directly ordered the team to return to the center circle to kick off and restart the attack.
If you can't defend, let's attack and see who can score more goals.
It has to be said that under the guidance of Guardiola, Manchester City has gained some momentum in passing and controlling football.
In the 72nd minute, Manchester City really used teamwork to tear apart Liverpool's defense again.
This time, even Willard failed to stop Manchester City's attack. He himself was broken through by a wall-to-wall cooperation between De Bruyne and Sterling.
In the end, Manchester City's attack was completed by Sane in the penalty area. Although Sane's shot was at a right angle and was saved by goalkeeper Mignolet, the force was too great and Mignolet did not dare to hold the ball directly. He just blocked the ball out of the goal, but the ball did not go out of bounds. It fell into the small restricted area.
Aguero, who rushed into the penalty area, had quick eyes and quick feet. Before defender Matip could make a clearance, he rushed forward and tackled the ball, then re-shot the ball into the goal.
Manchester City finally scored, regained a point, and rewritten the score to 1-2, only one goal behind Liverpool.
This goal gave Manchester City hope and proved that Guardiola's tactics were correct. Defending cannot stop Liverpool's attack, so let's all attack and see who can score more goals!
In addition to using pass and control football to attack, Manchester City also tried to use pass and control to control the ball more at their feet in order to delay time.
This tactic is called pass defense, which means controlling ball possession. As long as the ball possession rate is high enough and the opponent cannot get the ball, they will naturally not be able to score.
It is a pity that Manchester City's current passing and control cooperation has not reached its peak state, and the frequency of mistakes made by Liverpool's high press is a bit high. Even if Liverpool can't steal the ball or take advantage every time, as long as they successfully take advantage of it once, it will be enough to seal the victory.
