Green Journey

Chapter 352 One step too late!
Soon, the game continued, and West Ham United took advantage of the kick-off opportunity to directly press to the front of Manchester City's penalty area to attack.

But the lack of frontcourt attackers such as Payet, Carroll, Lancini, etc., it can be clearly seen that West Ham's current players on the field are not very good.

Several attempts were made to carry out high-altitude bombing with crosses from the side, but they were all blocked by Zabaleta, Clichy and others.

Even the long shot from outside the penalty area at the top of the arc was blocked by Chu Zheng and Fernandinho.

Less than 3 minutes after holding the ball, West Ham United, which had a poor ball possession rate of only 24%, quickly lost the ball again, ushering in a new round of siege by Manchester City.

With West Ham's rapid penetration and passing in Manchester City's frontcourt, the defense looked shaky.

Soon, the second goal came.

In the 31st minute of the game, Fernandinho scored from the right side of the front field in the middle circle.

After Sterling took the ball from the wing 30 meters away from the West Ham United goal, he directly started cutting inside while the West Ham United players did not fully retreat.

But he didn't get rid of Masuaku, who was marking around him, and was forced to take it back diagonally after entering the ribs.

But he was tripped by Ashley Fletcher, who was returning to the defense, before running far, allowing Manchester City to get a free kick to the right of the center, about 35 meters away from the goal.

On the line of West Ham United's penalty area, there were 5 players from Manchester City who came up to participate in the set-kick attack, including Chu Zheng.

West Ham United has 6 players, and it seems to be determined that Manchester City, who is not good at working at heights, cannot threaten their goal.

In the area at the top of the arc, Chu Zheng and Aguero stood side by side, surrounded by Kuyate, Winston Reed and Obonna.

Stones, Fernandinho, and Otamendi in the left rib area at the top of the arc were also closely guarded by West Ham United.

De Bruyne sets the ball up, then measures his steps back.

I thought he wanted to give the back point, looking for the two high points of Stones and Otamendi.

But after the referee Marina blew his whistle, he suddenly saw Chu Zheng retreat to the middle area between the two crowds, and none of Aobang's three people went to defend Chu Zheng immediately.

Immediately, De Bruyne changed his previous mind, and after a run-up, he slammed the ball into the middle of the penalty area.

In the next second, Chu Zheng, who was like a runaway horse, rushed to the left side of the penalty spot and soared forward, his forehead precisely met the ball from De Bruyne in the air.

boom!
A muffled sound!
The ball turned into a white light and went straight to the left side of the goal.

Adrian soars to the right and reaches out to block the ball.

But the distance of the ball was too close, Chu Zheng was fully exerting his strength, and the speed of the ball was as fast as lightning.

When Adrian reached out his hand to the flight line of the ball, the ball was already behind his palm, and then stuck to the lower edge of the crossbar and plunged into West Ham United's goal!
"Goal!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" The moment the goal was scored, Martin and Smith jumped up from their seats for the second time.

"Chu Zheng!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

"pretty!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

"2-0!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

"Chu Zheng's third Premier League goal this season!!!"

"The Dapeng spreads its wings and soars upwards. Even if there are people around Chu Zheng, he can't compete with this kind of bounce!"

In the LeTV live broadcast room, Zhan Jun, Zhang Lu, and Fan Zhiyi also instantly became excited and shouted.

On the field, after Chu Zheng scored a goal, he ran to the right and turned towards De Bruyne who was rushing over.

After getting close, Chu Zheng jumped on De Bruyne's body and hugged De Bruyne's head to express his gratitude.

De Bruyne was also smiling at this time.

Although his biography was beautiful, Chu Zheng's running was even more beautiful, and his top was even more beautiful.

Looking at Chu Zheng with a bright smile on the camera screen, Zhan Jun smiled and said, "One goal per game, one assist per game, Chu Zheng's state is just as terrible as when he was in Leicester City!"

"In terms of height, West Ham United has an absolute advantage!"

"But Manchester City's all-round dwarfs lined up in this set-piece attack. It seems that there is no high point, but in fact there are support points during the interspersed process."

"Yes! There are so many omissions in the middle! No one pays attention to Chu Zheng at all!"

"And De Bruyne's 45-degree inswing arc kick is so accurate that it's outrageous!"

Fan Zhiyi nodded and said with a smile: "The pass was accurate, but Stones, Otamendi, and Aguero's fake runs back and forth also stunned several big and tall players from West Ham United."

"Totally bewitched!"

"Ha ha!"

"It's time for Bilic to think about it. Manchester City have already played West Ham United to the point of collapse before they played much of the backcourt's shape-shifting tactics!"

On the field, Bilic in the coaching area pinched the bridge of his nose, then shook his head, not knowing what he was thinking.

But after standing for a while, he went back to the coach's bench and whispered to his assistant, as if discussing how to adjust the team's offense during the intermission.

Chu Zheng's goal was also the last goal of the first half.

In the rest of the first half, although Manchester City's offense was fierce, West Ham United relied on good luck to prevent Manchester City from continuing to expand the score.

After the 15-minute halftime break, players from both sides returned to the field through the player channel one after another.

Soon the fourth official on the sidelines held up the substitution sign, and No. 22 Sam Byram replaced No. 17 Gokhan Trey.

"Oh! Bilic took the lead in making substitution adjustments!"

"Replacing a midfielder with a right back, it seems that there is no change, and we still have to stick to the five-back system!"

After Zhan Jun finished speaking, Zhang Lu smiled and said, "Bilić should be pushing Antonio to the position of full-back."

"Antonio has body, speed, and strong offensive ability."

"In the first half, although West Ham United was beaten by Manchester City, Antonio still caused Manchester City a few troubles on the wing. With Clichy's state today, it should be difficult to keep an eye on him!"

But after the whistle sounded in the second half, Bilic's substitution adjustment did not show the effect.

Manchester City is still playing against West Ham United.

In the 47th minute of the game, Sterling made a breakthrough from the wing, and the tortured Masuat made a helpless move. He directly hugged Sterling to prevent him from running, and sent another position to Manchester City to make the second goal. Almost a free kick.

It was still De Bruyne who took the penalty.

But this time, the West Ham United players guarded Chu Zheng strictly.

De Bruyne drove directly in the middle, and it was still an inward arc.

Aguero grabbed the first spot in the middle, but missed the target, and rubbed the ball to the back point.

Nolito followed up with a shot from the near corner, but unfortunately the linesman's eyes were bright and he raised the flag to indicate that Aguero and Nolito were all offside.

In the 53rd minute of the game, Sterling broke through from the wing, and the tortured Masuat was once again forced to choose a tactical foul.

This time the referee was not polite and directly gave Masuat a yellow card.

Outside the upper right corner of the penalty area, De Bruyne came again with his right foot.

At the first point, Chu Zheng was in place, but after the jump, Chu Zheng was squeezed with his back to the goal, his center of gravity was out of balance, and he could not directly attack the goal.

In desperation, Chu Zheng acted accordingly and directly slid the ball to the upper left corner of the small penalty area.

Nolito outflanked from the back and was unguarded. He raised his foot and hit the close corner.

But it was still a little short, and the ball went straight into the side netting.

In the 59th minute of the game, West Ham United rarely advanced smoothly from the backcourt to the front of Manchester City's penalty area.

However, when the ball developed from the left to the center, it was grabbed by Fernanio in the left rib area at the top of the arc and successfully intercepted the ball.

After Nolitone received the ball in the middle, he failed to rush up and was stuck to death by Antonio. He didn't even have a chance to find Aguero with the forward pass.

Helpless, Nolito had to call back with the outside of his right foot and push the ball to Chu Zheng in the front area of ​​the left rib at the top of the arc.

Chu Zheng didn't stop the ball, raised his left foot and sent it forward, bringing Manchester City's counterattack to full speed.

Before the arc of the middle circle, De Bruyne took the ball with his back.

But Antonio's ghost lingered, and he came back quickly.

De Bruyne turned around with the ball, and was about to start it when he saw Antonio approaching from the left.

De Bruyne knew that he couldn't run Antonio, so he had to call back the outside of his right foot, turn around 360 degrees on the spot, and then quickly hit the ball across the middle to Nolito who followed up.

At the same time, Aguero on the penalty spot smelled the breath of a single-handed goal, and ran between Winston Reed and James Collins in front of him at a high speed.

Seeing that Nolito was unmarked, Winston Reid quickly went to the top, passing Aguero and running in the opposite direction.

Chu Zheng could see clearly behind Nolito.

Seeing that Nolito crossed the center line and passed again, he stopped immediately, stopped running, and was almost out of breath.

Sure enough, the next second the linesman raised the yellow flag again, realizing that Aguero was offside when Nolito passed the ball.

"Today, the line referee is really sharp-eyed. From the beginning of the game to now, all the offside calls are extremely accurate!" Zhan Jun laughed after watching the replay.

"So if you want to seize the fleeting passing opportunity like Chu Zheng in the ever-changing game, you really need talent and super game reading ability!"

"Yes! If Chu Zheng were to pass the ball, he would never take that extra step!" Fan Zhiyi quite agreed with Zhang Lu's words.

"In fact, the problem with West Ham United is not that there is no one on the front line, but that the midfield is completely crushed by Manchester City, and they can't handle it at all!"

"The way Manchester City is playing now, his speed up when he goes forward in the midfield is extremely fast."

"If this area is not penetrated, it will quickly pass back or transfer, but the rotation of the ball is also extremely fast, which is completely different from the previous Pellegrini period.

"Yes, most of Manchester City's start-up and brewing stages of attack are completed by Chu Zheng in the midfield, and once the start-up speed reaches the West Ham United's back line, you can't hold him at all."

"It's like if you block this car after getting used to it, you will definitely get hit and fly." Fan Zhiyi patted the table lightly, smiling happily, "So if you want to control Manchester City, you can only invest in the midfield. Restrict at the starting point of the attack. Just like running a race, at the moment the starting gun is fired, you reach out and take off the opponent's spikes, so that when Bolt comes, he has to kneel and call Dad!"

"Haha!!" The image metaphor of Fan Zhiyi instantly teased Zhan Jun, Zhang Lu and countless domestic fans.

However, the three of Zhan Jun were soon slapped in the face, and the effect of Bilic's substitution was unexpected.

In the 63rd minute of the game, West Ham United's central attack was cleared, and the ball returned to Collins on the right side of the central circle.

After Collins got the ball, he quickly moved to the other side of the half.

Masuaku took the ball from the left side of the penalty area and faced Sabaletta and Sterling at the same time.

Especially Zabaleta, who stared at his left foot, made him unable to find a chance to kick the cross, so he had an idea and passed back along the wing.

After this pass, Sterling followed, leaving Zabaleta alone.

Soon, the ball returned to Masuaku's feet.

Taking the ball again, Masuaku dribbled the ball diagonally close to the penalty area, feinting left and right along the way, and his figure was extremely flexible.

Before coming to the bottom line, he finally found a chance to kick the ball and quickly passed the ball to the back.

Before the goal post, Antonio was in position, jumped in front of Chrissy in front of him, hit his forehead, and the ball flew into Manchester City's goal against the post.

"pretty!!!"

"West Ham United recovered a goal!!! The suspense of the game is back!!!!"

"This is the Premier League, you never know what will happen in the next second!"

"This is Bilic's best move. Go down there, and send a big and tall guy to hit the opponent's smaller full-back!"

Guardiola, who was explaining the tactical requirements to Kolarov in front of the sideline coach's bench, saw the goal, turned around, kicked the air hard, and looked extremely angry and dissatisfied with his expression and demeanor.

"Guardiola was one step too late. It seems that he has guessed that Chrissy will be targeted and is going to replace Kolarov, but unfortunately it is too late!" Zhan Jun shook his head and smiled.

(End of this chapter)