Green Journey

Chapter 348 Four consecutive victories!
For Manchester City, after winning a good start to the new season, Guardiola took Chu Zheng and the others to start a new round of training.

No way, although it is the beginning of the season, Manchester City still has a Champions League play-off to play, so their schedule is relatively dense.

And through the game against Sunderland, Guardiola also saw that the players have not fully integrated into his tactical system.

Although they won the match against Sunderland, Guardiola knew very well that if it hadn't been for Chu Zheng's sudden outburst, they would not have won so easily, and it was likely to be a draw in the end.

Of the three goals in the game, Chu Zheng himself scored one, and he also assisted the other two. It can be said that this victory was won by Chu Zheng's personal ability.

Therefore, what Guardiola most urgently needs at present is not victory, but the players fully understand his various tactical requirements.

As long as Chu Zheng and the others are fully integrated into his tactical system, Manchester City will not lack of victories.

Guardiola has plenty of confidence in his tactics.

And now he has two world-class midfielders in his hands, Chu Zheng is the core of the midfield, and De Bruyne is a free man in the frontcourt, which can also be regarded as an offensive core.

Once the two are fully in shape, it will definitely be a nightmare for all teams in the Premier League and even Europe.

In Guardiola's office, the main building of Manchester City's training base, the window is filled with cigar smoke, and the green training ground can be seen outside the window, and there are faint sounds of players shouting and fighting during training.

The sky in Manchester is rare and clear today, with rare white clouds floating in the blue sky, and the sun is exceptionally bright.

"Pep, I suggest you put Chu back in the midfield!"

On the sofa in the office, Guardiola looked at Guardiola who was helpless across the sofa from Domenech Torrent who had been with him since Barcelona.

Hearing this, Guardiola looked up at this friend who was hailed by the media as his adjutant, and shook his head in silence.

"Hehe!" After years of cooperation, Domenech Torrente guessed what Guardiola was thinking at once, shook his head with a rather helpless expression, "This is really a happy trouble!"

Guardiola suddenly laughed when he heard this.

Manchester City's current midfield lineup is definitely luxurious.

But therein lies the problem.

In the midfield position, in addition to De Bruyne and Chu Zheng, there are David Silva, Fernandinho and Yaya Toure.

De Bruyne and Chu Zheng must occupy a position.

That's where the problem comes out.

So who are the two veteran players David Silva and Fernandinho?

On Fernandinho?
No!

In Guardiola's current tactical system, Chu Zheng needs to frequently press inside and outside the opponent's penalty area to participate in the offense even if he plays in the midfielder position.

With Manchester City's current defensive player configuration, Fernandinho, a single midfielder, cannot bear the defensive burden of the entire defense.

After all, Fernandinho is 31 years old. Although his condition is still very good, it is also true that his physical condition has declined. He can no longer run for 90 minutes like a young player.

Therefore, when Chu Zheng and Fernandinho partner, the defensive end will inevitably involve part of Chu Zheng's energy.

As for David Silva, the problem is even bigger. This guy's defensive ability is not as good as Fernandinho.

Although there is no lack of offensive organization ability in this way, the defensive end is unstable.

Kolarov, Sagna, Delph and others retracted the midfielder, and added a weak David Silva, Guardiola panicked thinking about it.

Therefore, David Silva will be a greater drag on Chu Zheng than Fernandinho.

As for Yaya Toure, Guardiola will not consider it for the time being.

This guy is getting lazy on the court, and his physical condition has declined very badly. He no longer meets his starting requirements.

And Chu Zheng.

Guardiola really wants to make Chu Zheng a free man in the true sense, and let Chu Zheng use his offensive talent.

The breakthrough and scoring ability that Chu Zheng is showing now, if it is only placed in the midfield, it will undoubtedly be a huge waste.

In Guardiola's tactical vision, Chu Zheng should participate more in the offense, use breakthroughs and passes to create more opportunities for the team, and not be dragged down by the defense.

Therefore, it is really troublesome to solve this problem.

Although troublesome, it is not difficult for Guardiola, a master tactician.

He really thought of two ways.

One is to abandon David Silva and Fernandinho and find a strong enough partner for Chu Zheng.

Like Kanter!

The new French Makelele has proved his ability to play a single midfielder in Leicester City. It is not powerful, it is simply terrifying.

However, it is a pity that Guardiola missed Kanter in the summer transfer window.

At that time, Guardiola was going to deal with Chu Zheng first, and then go back and deal with Kanter.

As a result, Guardiola never expected that Chelsea's Kong Er fool would attack Temeow too quickly, and he turned his face and even negotiated Kanter's personal contract.

The second way is to find two top full-backs, who must be young enough and physically fit to assist Fernandinho.

It's also hard.

With the rapid development of football skills and tactics in recent years, excellent full-backs have become more and more comprehensive, which has led to the fact that top-level full-backs are also scarce resources in football.

On August 8, Manchester City came to the Britannia Stadium as a guest to challenge Stoke City.

In this game, Guardiola's formation has undergone tremendous changes.

He lined up a 433 starting lineup.

In this lineup, Sterling returned to his familiar left wing, and Navas started the right winger position.

In the midfield, Chu Zheng played as a left central midfielder, De Bruyne played as a right central midfielder, and Fernandinho was in the center, with a slightly delayed position, not a parallel three midfielders 433.

On the defensive line, the starting players are also different from the previous game.

Stones and Otamendi partnered at center back, with Kolarov at left back and Zabaleta at right back.

It's clear that Guardiola is still looking for the player that best suits his tactical system.

In the 6th minute of the opening, Manchester City scored a goal.

Otamendi made a direct long pass from the backcourt to find De Bruyne on the side of the frontcourt.

Surrounded by two players from Stoke City, De Bruyne stopped the ball lightly behind him, then quickly turned around and passed the ball across the ribs to Aguero.

After Aguero got the ball, he deliberately stayed 30 meters ahead of the right rib area at the top of the arc for a moment, attracting the Stoke City defenders before suddenly risking a cross pass.

At the front of the arc in the middle, Chu Zheng followed up.

The moment Chu Zheng touched the ball, his back was facing Sterling in the left rib area at the top of the arc.

But he seemed to know that Sterling was in place. When the ball came to the front and back, he rubbed his left foot, and the ball changed slightly and rolled towards Sterling behind him.

Chu Zheng's seemingly missed pass caught Stoke City's right back Bardsley off guard and let the ball roll smoothly to Sterling's feet.

After the ball came over, Sterling took advantage of the situation and directly accelerated into the left rib area of ​​​​the penalty area.

Coming to the top corner of the small penalty area on the left, Sterling smashed the ball to the brakes and faced two Stoke City defenders.

Seeing that Chu Zheng, who had passed the ball into the penalty area, ran directly to the forward point behind the Stoke City defender in front of him, Sterling suddenly took the risk of stuffing the ball through his crotch.

In the next second, Chu Zheng was in place!

But Stoke City goalkeeper Shay was not slow, and quickly fell to the ground and stretched his hands towards the ball.

But Chu Zheng's speed and movement frequency were faster, he touched the ball first, and with a light tap of his toes, the ball jumped up, flew over Ji Wen, and jumped directly into the goal.

At the moment of the goal, Guardiola jumped up from the coach's bench with an excited expression when he saw that De Bruyne and Chu Zheng passed the ball directly into the Stoke City goal.

This is the attack he wanted, deadly yet elegant!
Immediately after Manchester City's goals came one after another.

City's second goal came from a set-piece cross from De Bruyne 40 meters down the right.

Aguero gave full play to his characteristics, and hit the goal with a head shake before the point.

The third goal occurred in the 86th minute of the second half, and it was another masterpiece by Chu Zheng.

Ishinacho made a cross from the top right of the arc, and then quickly advanced.

Chu Zheng didn't stop the ball, and he threw a scalpel straight in. The ball brushed the heels of the Stoke City players and entered the penalty area.

After Ishinacho got the ball, he passed Stoke City goalkeeper Given, and then crossed near the baseline and then outflanked Nolito.

Nolito easily pushed the empty goal and the score was 3-0.

But it's not over yet.

After Chu Zheng was replaced in the 87th minute, De Bruyne made a relay and made a cross from the wing. Nolito successfully grabbed the point and scored twice.

Although the game was won heartily with a score of 4-0.

But Manchester City's defense problems are still extremely exposed.

If it weren't for Manchester City's good luck in this game, the score might be 4-1 or 4-2.

But the victory dazzled the minds of Manchester City fans, and they selectively forgot the hidden dangers in the team's defense.

On August 8, Manchester City ushered in the second round of the Champions League play-offs at the Etihad Stadium.

In this game, Chu Zheng and De Bruyne rotated directly, and Guardiola almost changed a lineup.

But in the end Manchester City still kicked Steaua Bucharest 2-0.

While Manchester City advanced to the Champions League group stage, they also ushered in a four-game winning streak in the new season. For a while, Guardiola was in the limelight!

The European media are all trumpeting the changes that Guardiola has brought to Manchester City, claiming that this is another technical innovation of Guardiola, which may lead to a new storm of technical and tactical innovation.

(End of this chapter)