Green Journey

Chapter 414 The old, weak, sick and disabled in Manchester City!

After the game, although Manchester City tied Chelsea at the last moment, fans on both sides said it was a wonderful game.

But the media still failed to let Manchester City and Guardiola go.

It's still the same old question, Manchester City's state is ups and downs, and the hidden dangers of the defense still exist.

"Kicker" even claimed in the report that Manchester City did not rely on the team's ability to score a point today, but on Chu Zheng's personal ability.

Some other authoritative football media in Europe also quite agree with the views of "Kicker".

Because it is a fact.

After Chelsea switched to defensive counterattack in the second half, those two goals fully exposed how weak Manchester City's defense is.

It's just that Guardiola, a tactical master, is very good at covering up problems. He used Manchester City's powerful offensive to cover up this fragile defense line.

But once it is directly targeted by a strong enemy, Manchester City's defense line will be exposed.

The "Daily Mail" skipped Manchester City's performance and directly attacked Guardiola, criticizing Guardiola for always treating strong dialogue with an experimental attitude, and I am sorry for the unconditional support of Manchester City club executives.

For example, in today's game against Chelsea, Guardiola set up an unprecedented new formation of three central defenders. This kind of change before the battle is a gamble if it is light, and it is child's play if it is serious.

And how could the "Manchester Evening News", which is the mouthpiece of Manchester United, miss this rare opportunity to attack Manchester City.

The "Manchester Evening News" sent a long report directly to Manchester City and Guardiola.

According to the report, Manchester City's players suffered from the frontcourt to the backcourt. Aguero and De Bruyne who missed opportunities in a row, as well as Fernandinho and Kolarov who made small mistakes in the game all suffered. He was pulled out and executed publicly.

Although the "Manchester Evening News" report was extremely harsh, it made Manchester City fans very upset.

But Manchester City fans have to admit that what they say is also true.

Aguero was indeed out of form in the frontcourt, and he was unable to score goals. De Bruyne did waste the opportunity to kill the game.

But compared with the few players on the back line, this is still in the forgivable range.

After all, Aguero's recent state has been ups and downs, and it is normal for a ghost to be a ghost.De Bruyne himself is not a shooter, he is better at assists, so missed opportunities can be forgiven.

But Otamendi, Stones, and Kolarov on the defense line made it difficult for Manchester City fans to forgive.

Today, these three players are obviously not concentrated enough.

Not long after the start of the game, Kolarov committed an old problem. He made a series of clearance mistakes in the backcourt, which made the team's goal jittery and full of murderous intentions.

Later, Manchester City gradually took the initiative, and this murderous intention was overshadowed by Manchester City's powerful offensive.

But after Chelsea switched to defensive counterattack in the second half, no matter whether it was Kolarov, Otamendi or Stones, they were helpless against Chelsea's quick counterattack.

A few simple passes from Hazard, Costa, and William can tear apart their seemingly strong and expensive defense line.

Although Guardiola is responsible for the three central defenders, it is difficult to cover up the weakness of Otamendi, Stones and Kolarov that they do not have an advantage in pursuit speed.

Especially Kolarov, Manchester City fans can't bear it anymore.

In the eyes of Manchester City fans, the problem of unstable defense has been revealed since the beginning of the season. Among the defensive players that Guardiola has been relying on, except for Otamendi, who is relatively stable, the rest are in the Manchester City fans are old and sick.

'Old', the representative character Kolarov.

Kolarov, who received Guardiola's transformation this season, did shine brightly from the very beginning, but unfortunately that was just an illusion.

Once Kolarov plays as a central defender, then this full-back, who is not known for his speed, will be in the position of a central defender, and his shortcomings will be infinitely magnified and become a fatal weakness of the team.

But now as he grows older, although his skills in handling the ball at his feet are considered excellent, Kolarov's speed is getting slower and slower, and he can no longer meet the team's requirements for speed in the game.

In this game, as soon as William replaced Pedro, Kolarov showed his true colors under William's speed. He was eaten raw by William's speed many times, which was simply horrible.

Aside from Kolarov, and look at Zabaleta and Sagna, who are also over 30 full-backs, perhaps Manchester City's future defense situation will get worse and worse.

The second is "weakness", and the representative is none other than Bravo.

Guardiola introduced Bravo to appreciate the Chilean goalkeeper's foot skills. For this reason, Guardiola even exiled Joe Hart.

However, in the eyes of many people, Bravo's performance has failed Guardiola's value and trust in him.

From the beginning of the season to now, Bravo has not had a game where he can save the team by himself.

Manchester City fans have not been impressed by Bravo's saves in front of the goal so far.

On the contrary, it was a mistake in the attack, the scene of playing with fire in the penalty area and almost setting himself on fire, and being sent off for a red card foul remained in the minds of Manchester City fans.

Facing Chelsea's fierce counterattack today, there is nothing to do. Bravo's weakness has made countless Manchester City fans miss Joe Hart, who has left the Apennines.

Next is 'illness', none other than Stones.

This disease does not refer to a physical disease or injury, but refers to Stones' brain disease.

With the aura of "the most expensive central defender", the talented central defender who is regarded as the future hope of Manchester City and the England national team has come to Manchester City this season.

Guardiola likes him because Stones has good foot skills and can handle the ball calmly in the penalty area.

However, Stones used his morbid performance to continuously slap Guardiola's mouth severely.

From the beginning of the season to the present, Manchester City fans can't remember how many times Stones has repeatedly committed axis problems because he believes too much in his skills, which eventually leads to the scene of failing to control the ball and being humiliated.

This kind of performance is undoubtedly sorry for his high transfer value and Guardiola's trust in him.

In the end, it's 'disabled', the representative of Manchester City captain Kompany.

Their old captain has either been recuperating or on his way to recuperating for the past two years.

Every time he just came back from injury, the fans looked forward to it, and Kompany went to the hospital again in a blink of an eye, which was really speechless.

But in any case, Kompany's strength is indeed the top of the Premier League.

Guardiola has repeatedly mentioned in interviews with the media that a healthy Kompany is crucial to the team.

Unfortunately, since the start of the season, the number of times Guardiola has been able to put Kompany into the starting lineup can be counted on the fingers, only a pitiful four times.

Guardiola is also very troubled here.

Driving back downstairs, Guardiola lowered the car window, lit a cigar and smoked, and did not get out of the car for a long time.

Today's game made Guardiola realize that the team's defensive problems have become more and more serious.

At the beginning of the season, he loaned out Mangala, who was known as the big colander last season, but the performance of Kolarov and others so far has disappointed him.

If no high-quality central defender can be bought in the winter transfer window in January next year, then he may need to recall Mangala.

As much as he hated it, he would have to if the worst ever happened.

If Manchester City does not want to be empty-handed this season, then they must take action in this winter transfer window, and strengthening the defense is his next priority.

(End of this chapter)