On the evening of September 21st, Manchester City, Etihad Stadium.
The focus of Manchester City's home game against Chelsea has entered the halftime break.
The scoreboard shows the score of the two teams at this moment: 1:1.
In the 25th minute of the first half, Chelsea caught Yaya Toure's midfield dribbling error, and Hazard dribbled the ball into the penalty area and scored with a powerful shot, helping Chelsea take the away lead.
But the Chelsea fans' celebrations didn't last long.
Just five minutes later, Kante also made a pass error and was seized by Manchester City. Nasri broke through and crossed the middle. Aguero stopped the ball, turned around, and shot accurately, sending the ball to Chelsea. The goal corner.
"Just as Pan Yi hoped at the pre-match press conference, the confrontation between the two sides in the first half today was really exciting."
In the Sky Sports studio hall, host Lineker praised.
In this game, Pellegrini sent out his strongest attacking lineup:
Forward: Aguero.
Frontcourt: Nasri, Silva, Navas.
Midfielder: Fernandinho, Yaya Toure.
Defenders: Kolarov, Kompany, Demichelis, Zabaleta.
Goalkeeper: Joe Hart.
The Chelsea side is similar, and Pan Yi also has the strongest lineup to challenge:
Forward: Hazard, Lukaku, Seat B.
Midfielder: Marcos Alonso, Matic, Kante, Azpilicueta.
Defenders: John Terry, David Luiz, Gary Cahill.
Goalkeeper: Courtois.
After the opening, Manchester City took advantage of their home court to launch a ferocious attack on Chelsea.
But Chelsea are not timid at all. They are engaged in a fierce midfield competition with Manchester City, and have been using sharp attacks from the two wings to harass Manchester City's defense.
Although both sides only scored one goal each in the first half, there were constant exciting scenes.
The goalkeepers of both sides also became the busiest people on the field, Joe Hart made four wonderful saves, and Courtois also made three.
However, after Lineker began to summarize the first half, Sky Sports' regular guests Gary Neville and Carragher did not respond.
The reason is simple. In the two Premier League games that just ended, their home teams both lost!
Liverpool was defeated by West Ham United 3:1 in an away game, while Manchester United had a goal battle with Leicester City, and Leicester City won 5:3.
This made the pair of "brothers" who had always been in love with each other no longer interested in talking or even commenting on the game between Chelsea and Manchester City.
Especially Gary Neville.
After all, Leicester City is the team that Chelsea scored four goals against!
But now they turned around and bit Manchester United hard.
Moreover, Manchester United played all the main players in this game, with Robin van Persie, Falcao, Rooney, Di Maria and other stars appearing one after another, but they still lost to the newly promoted team.
For Leicester City, Vardy showed off his power and scored a hat trick, while Cambiasso and Hammond also scored.
In other words, these players who were "submissive" when playing at Chelsea hit hard when facing Manchester United, as if Leicester City was the real strong team.
Such a comparison makes Gary Neville even more shameless to point fingers at Chelsea.
In fact, it is not just the "double red clubs" of Manchester United and Liverpool that have capsized in this round of competition.
Tottenham even lost to West Bromwich Albion 0:1 at home!
Only Arsenal passed the test. They defeated Aston Villa 3:0 in the away game and continued to become the only team with Chelsea to remain undefeated in the Premier League this season.
The results of this round also mean that Liverpool and Manchester United are now close to each other in the standings, one is 11th and the other is 12th. It is really better for the two brothers.
Of course, Lineker understood the paddling behavior of Carragher and Neville.
This is not the first time he has seen this happen!
So, he turned his face to another guest:
"So, Sun, how do you think this game will go in the second half?"
This guest is none other than the famous Manchester City player, Sun Jihai, a Dragon Country player!
In 2002, he transferred from Dalian Shide to Manchester City for 2 million pounds and played here for seven seasons.
During this period, he mostly played as the main player or in the main rotation. It is not too much to call him "famous".
Manchester City fans also affectionately call it the "Sun of Dragon Country"!
In fact, he later became Manchester City's image ambassador in Dragon Country and was elected to the English Football Hall of Fame. This also proves the recognition of him by English football and Manchester City.
At this time, he was 37 years old and had not yet retired, but he still took the time to be invited to participate in this Sky Sports viewing program.
After all, this match between Manchester City and Chelsea has quite a lot to do with Sun Jihai.
On one side is the team he once played for, and on the other side is the team led by coach Long Guo.
"Well...hehe, the game is very interesting. Of course I hope that both sides can play more exciting in the second half and score a few more beautiful goals. But I also hope that the two sides can tie." Sun Jihai said with a smile.
Since he has played in the Premier League for a long time, Sun Jihai's English level is still very good.
"Indeed, it is difficult to predict the direction of the game now." Chelsea star Zola also said, "Both sides are attacking very hard. It feels like a goal may be scored at any time. It depends on the ability of the forwards on both sides to seize the opportunity."
Lineker smiled and said: "Pan Yi's team played quite well today. There was nothing special about the starting lineup. There was no special adjustment in tactics. This is quite surprising."
Indeed, for many ordinary coaches, the lineup and playing style of the game generally do not change much. This is the normal state.
But it's different for Pan Yi.
In almost every game, he has some special tactics aimed at his opponents, which makes him hard to guard against.
In other words, if there were no surprises in Pan Yi's layout and style of play, it would have become a surprise.
"Perhaps we will see effective adjustments from him in the second half of the game." Zola said with confidence, "He is a coach who will never disappoint."
——
The second half of the game has reached 60 minutes.
Pellegrini stood on the sidelines, turning his head from time to time to glance at the visiting team Chelsea's bench.
There, players often come out to warm up, but they are never substituted.
Pellegrini still couldn't figure out what Pan Yi was thinking.
But he firmly believed that Pan Yi must be planning something!
This is not unfounded.
After all, he is a man who suffered two losses under Pan Yi!
But the problem is, we have played for 60 minutes now, and when the situation is still deadlocked, Pan Yi can still sit still?
Could it be that he really just brought Chelsea to play a beautiful offensive battle with Manchester City to please the fans, and did not care about the outcome of the game?
Or is he in awe of the Etihad Stadium and just wants to get away with one point?
"No, this is not what Pan Yi would do."
Pellegrini shook his head and couldn't help but frown.
The more Pan Yi remained silent, the more unsure he felt.
After all, in such a high-level competition, the head coaches of both teams are actually plotting against each other, and if anyone makes a wrong move, the outcome may not be good.
After another two minutes, Pellegrini gritted his teeth: "No matter what he thinks, we must win at home tonight!"
Thinking of this, Pellegrini turned to look at the bench and shouted "Frank".
Then Frank Lampard stood up from his seat, got up and ran over to warm up.
If you want to use Lampard, you want to use his powerful long-range shooting ability to blast Chelsea's goal.
Now the competition between the two sides on the court is becoming more and more fierce, and it is difficult for both sides to hit the ball into the penalty area, whether it is the center or the wing.
If you have a heavy cannon at this time, it will be an additional means of scoring.
Originally, Yaya Toure on the Manchester City field actually had such ability, but his condition was obviously not good today. The goal conceded in the first half was due to his mistake in dribbling.
So let’s replace him first.
Pellegrini also wants to change one person, that is, left back Kolarov, so that Clichy can play.
Clichy is faster, so he may be able to cope with the surprise attack of Chelsea's B seat and Azpilicueta on the wing, and find opportunities to provide assists.
In short, through such adjustments, Manchester City's offensive firepower can be enhanced, and they can strive to score at least one more goal and take all three points at the Etihad Stadium! ——
"Hey, Mr. Pei has finally been replaced?"
Pan Yi, who was on the visiting team's coaching bench, looked toward the midline.
With the audience at the Etihad Stadium erupting in applause, Lampard and Clichy came on together, replacing Yaya Toure and Kolarov.
This applause is mainly dedicated to Lampard.
Because not only Manchester City fans, but also Chelsea fans from the visiting team also gave their own applause to this club's meritorious player!
And this applause is more like a "starting gun" for Pan Yi.
This means that he can also start to use the real killer move in this game!
"It's almost there. Their physical strength began to decline, and the high point dropped by two more." Pan Yi turned to Scaloni and said, "Let a few of them come over and prepare to replace them."
Scaloni responded and left.
He didn't ask who "them" were because Pan Yi had already given him instructions.
That is to play until sixty or seventy minutes, and when Manchester City's physical strength is declining, directly change to three high points to bombard the opponent!
What Pan Yi and others didn't expect was that Pellegrini also "assisted" over there.
Not to mention Lampard's replacement for Yaya Toure, his physical fitness has dropped a lot.
And Klich is faster than Kolarov, which means that his height and weight are lower.
Even though Kolarov is a full-back, he is also 187cm tall and weighs 83kg. His jumping and heading abilities are also very good, at least he is much stronger than the more standard full-back attributes of Clichy.
In this way, Chelsea's "Plan B" seems to be easier to implement!
——
"After Lampard came on, Manchester City seemed to step up their long-range shooting from outside the penalty area."
"Look at this attack. Navas got the ball on the wing, played a one-two with David Silva and then went to the baseline."
"But he didn't sweep across the penalty area like before, but kicked the ball to the top of the penalty area."
"At this time, Lampard also rushed over and hit a heavy shot with his right foot!"
"But Courtois reacted very quickly and his body was very stretched. He just threw his arms and saved the ball from the bottom line."
"It was a corner kick for City. David Silva went towards the corner and he is City's main penalty taker."
"Oh, now the referee signals not to take a penalty kick because Chelsea is going to make a substitution."
"We saw... ah, Chelsea just changed three people at once?"
"Bamford, Loftus-Cheek and Ivanovic are going to come on, ready to replace Bernardo Silva, Kante and Azpilicueta."
"This is really a strange substitution. Bamford and Bernardo Silva are not in a matching relationship, and Kanter has always been the midfield ball-grabbing machine that Pan Yi relies on most, and he should also be physically fit. no problem……"
After the three people came on the field, they also brought the latest instructions from head coach Pan Yi.
That is to start giving up the entanglement with Manchester City in the midfield and launch forward high-altitude passes directly from the wing or backcourt.
When attacking in the frontcourt, if you can create a set-piece opportunity, whether it is a corner kick or a free kick, try to create it!
This is the trump card that Pan Yi has been preparing for before the game.
It can be said that there are many players on the court at Chelsea now!
Matic, 194cm, 86kg.
Lukaku, 191cm, 97kg.
Gary Cahill, 190cm, 88kg.
Chick, 189cm, 79kg.
Bamford, 189cm, 81kg.
David Luiz, 188cm, 84kg.
Akos Alonso, 188cm, 85kg.
Terry, 187cm, 91kg.
Ivanovic, 185cm, 89kg.
This does not include goalkeeper Courtois, 199cm, 87kg.
In other words, the current Chelsea players, except for poor Hazard, who is 172cm and 74kg "cute", are all strong men around 190cm!
In fact, Hazard is the second or third-lowest player in the Chelsea team, only a little higher than Kante, who was just replaced, and almost the same as the B seat.
But the problem is that most of the players from Manchester City opposite are of similar stature to Hazard.
What Navas, David Silva, Aguero, Clichy, Zabaleta, Nasri...
There is no one above 180cm!
So the question is, why didn't Pan Yi replace Hazard?
For example, replace with Mikel who is 188cm tall and 85kg...
But with so many big men, someone has to pass the ball to their heads!
Whether it's a corner kick, a free kick, or a cross from the wing, Hazard is still very useful.
At this time, Chelsea's formation also changed into a formation that was a bit unclear.
Lukaku and Bamford are at the front, and Hazard is behind them, but he does not have a fixed position. Instead, he often wanders to the two wings to support Marcos Alonso and Ivanovic. Breakthroughs and crosses.
There are no structural changes in the midfield and backfield. Chik and Matic still play as double midfielders, Marcos Alonso and Ivanovic as two wing-backs, Terry, David Luiz, Gary ·Cahill's three central defenders.
This may be regarded as a 3412 formation.
At this time, Pellegrini has not yet realized the seriousness of the problem...
——
After the substitution, Chelsea quickly launched an attack.
Hazard and Marcos Alonso linked up on the left side of Chelsea's half.
Marcos Alonso passed the ball to Hazard. The latter did not choose to dribble as in the first half. Instead, he glanced at the penalty area and made a pass.
At this time, in Manchester City's penalty area, Lukaku was at the front point and Bamford was at the back point, and the ball was passed to the back point.
Because it was the equally thin Clichy who was originally guarding Seat B, but now he suddenly became Bamford, he didn't get used to it for a while, and even stretched out his hand to pull Bamford without holding him back.
Bamford grabbed the point and headed towards the goal!
But Joe Hart was very focused, jumped up, and saved the ball that flew to the upper right corner!
Although they didn't score, Chelsea's offense still shocked all the Manchester City fans at the Etihad Stadium.
Then there’s Chelsea’s corner kick.
Hazard ran towards the corner flag area, and other Chelsea players also moved and entered Manchester City's penalty area one after another.
Near the small penalty area, Lukaku points forward, Bamford points behind, and David Luiz interferes with the goalkeeper in the middle.
Near the penalty spot, there are two central defenders, Gary Cahill and Terry.
On either side of them is Marcos Alonso on one side and Ivanovic on the other.
At the top of the penalty area, Matic and Loftus-Cheek were watching eagerly, ready to rush forward into the penalty area at any time.
At the same time, they will also note that if the first point is blocked by Manchester City players, then they will take on the responsibility of defense and destroy Manchester City's counterattack.
This is the corner kick tactic Chelsea practiced before.
Although it is not a more sophisticated tactic of using coordination, so many "experts" are crowded in the penalty area, which is full of oppression!
As a result, Manchester City doesn't know how to deal with it.
First of all, they can only withdraw everyone into the penalty area to help defend, but Navas and David Silva, who are 170cm tall, really feel like they have no presence in front of opponents who are about 190cm tall.
At this time, Hazard raised his right hand high, which also represented one of Chelsea's corner kick tactics.
Then, with all the fans watching, the ball was served!
I'm looking for the front spot! Looking for Lukaku!
It is Lampard who defends Lukaku.
Although Lampard is not as tall as Lukaku, he is still 184cm after all, so he can still barely guard him.
At this time, Lukaku didn't look back, turned his back to the goal, and used his body to suppress Lampard behind him.
Lampard tried his best to hold Lukaku from behind, preventing him from taking off and threatening the goal.
After seeing the ball flying forward, Demichelis, who was originally defending at the back point, also hurriedly stepped forward to assist Lampard against Lukaku.
After all, one more person means more power!
But Lukaku's strong body still has a very obvious advantage at this time.
After squeezing Lampard behind him, he saw the ball flying over. He calculated the right moment and suddenly took a step forward, leaping high into the air.
Lampard and Demichelis were also surprised and rushed forward, with Lampard even jumping up.
But Lukaku did not think about heading the goal, but headed Hazard's pass to the other side of the small penalty area.
It’s the last position!
There stood another Chelsea striker, Bamford!
And because Demichelis has lost his position to help defend Lukaku, there is no corresponding defender next to him!
After Lukaku's header passed, Demichelis realized the danger, quickly turned around, rushed towards Bamford, and jumped directly to block Bamford's attack.
But it's too late.
Faced with this opportunity that was close at hand, Bamford just stood on the spot and pushed forward hard, and the ball flew directly into the top of Manchester City's goal.
Manchester City goalkeeper Joe Hart had been focusing on Lukaku at the front point when the corner kick was taken. When the ball flew to the back point, how could he react in time?
All he could do was watch the ball go into the goal.
"GOALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!"
As the commentator made a long tone, the Chelsea fans' stands were filled with excitement!
They were all cheering crazily for this goal.
"Bamford!!!"
"In the 68th minute, Bamford scored a goal for Chelsea, rewriting the score to 1:2! The visiting team took the lead!"
"This is Bamford's second goal for Chelsea this season, but it is also the most critical goal!"
"This is a connection between two Chelsea centers. Lukaku grabbed the header from the front point and passed it to Bamford from the back point. Then Bamford, who came on the bench, scored with a header!"
"This ball broke the deadlock on the court. After both sides made substitution adjustments, it seemed that Pan Yi's adjustment had a better effect."
"So, can Chelsea really take three points at the Etihad Stadium? Can City return the favor, as they did in the first half?"
After Bamford scored, he quickly rushed to the home team's coaching bench, faced head coach Pan Yi, and rushed over to pick him up.
This action shocked Pan Yi.
"Put it down, put it down, don't get excited, it's still early." Pan Yi quickly reminded Bamford.
Of course, more importantly, he was really afraid of being thrown to the ground again.
This old waist really can't stand the torment!
Bamford obediently put Pan Yi down. At this time, the Chelsea players on the field had also rushed over to celebrate together.
Pan Yi took the opportunity and ordered again: "Keep playing like this. Make more passes, take more opportunities from set kicks, let us smash them to death!"
When he said this, Pan Yi also made a gesture of hitting his palm with his fist.
Chelsea's players responded in unison: "Okay!"
Such neat sounds were also captured by TV cameras, allowing all fans watching the live broadcast of the game to feel the unity and fighting spirit of this team!
Pan Yi's actions were also seen by Pellegrini on the home team's bench.
Coupled with the goal just now, including the entire process of creating this corner kick, he finally realized the seriousness of the problem.
But now, Pellegrini finally understood what Pan Yi had been planning...
Now Chelsea is going to be "Second in the Sky City" in love?
Like Stoke City smashing us with aerial balls?
No, with the comprehensive abilities of Chelsea players, this is the "Sky City Plus Edition"!
What about the promised competition in ball control?
Pan Yi, you kid doesn’t have martial ethics!
(End of chapter)
