Green Journey

Chapter 452 Guardiola's ridiculous remarks?
"With regard to the performance of Manchester City players, people have reached a consensus after half a season. Perhaps even Guardiola himself cannot deny that this defense is far from reaching the qualified standard. "—— Marca
"Although the process of the game was a bit dangerous, we played well, it was an outstanding performance, and we created more chances.I love good football, Chu was great today, no he's always been great! "-Guardiola

"Bravo has created a whole new type of goalkeeper, the holographic goalkeeper.In the two games between Manchester City and Everton Tottenham, the opponent had 6 shots on target and scored 6 goals. His save success rate was zero. - The Sun
"We played very well in the second half. Although the process was very difficult, the players still showed a tenacious competitive spirit. - Pochettino

"Fuck off Bravo!Manchester City fans can't bear it anymore for Bravo. His poor performance almost pushed Manchester City into the abyss again. The Chilean may have no future in Manchester City. "——BT sport
Although the game was won, the plot made people feel extremely familiar. Manchester City had the advantage of the whole game, but was pierced by two feet again, and almost lost the three points they got.

Therefore, the media did not let go of Manchester City and Guardiola after the game. The public opinion after the game was more fierce than after the last 0-4 defeat to Everton.

The reason is because Guardiola fired a cannonball at the post-match interview meeting, and the media on the scene were collectively confused.

"The key to not conceding the ball and not losing the ball depends on the striker! "-Guardiola

It was this sentence that once again brought Manchester City and Guardiola to the forefront of public opinion.

This sentence stunned countless media and fans, and was then questioned as Guardiola's divine logic and fallacy.

Blame the striker for losing the ball, blame the striker for losing the ball, what kind of brain circuit is this?

I've seen people throwing pots, but I've never seen such ones.

Even Manchester City fans were stunned by Guardiola's remarks, and felt a little ashamed on their faces.

However, some European football stars did not regard Guardiola's remarks as strange talk, but began to analyze the deep meaning of these words.

Soon, someone combined Guardiola's tactical system and Manchester City's staffing to analyze the true meaning of Guardiola's words.

Let's start with a superficial analysis and look at Manchester City's staffing.

Not to mention the depth of Manchester City's striker, it is not even enough.

Aguero is the only top striker in Manchester City's current team.

But Aguero's recent performance is really unbearable.

Among all the top strikers in European football, Aguero's recent scoring efficiency is at the bottom of the Premier League and the other four major European leagues.

According to the "Daily Mail" statistics, since mid-November last year, Aguero's scoring efficiency in the past three months has been pitifully low.

Although Aguero had suffered injuries and red card suspensions before, this weak performance is still very abnormal.

Not to mention that it can't be compared with Ibrahimovic, Suarez, Ronaldo and other thigh-level performances, even Giroud, who has just renewed his contract with Arsenal and returned to Wenger's starting lineup, is much better than him.

The current predicament that Guardiola and Manchester City are facing is actually caused by the low offensive efficiency of the striker.

The evidence is the past games of Manchester City.

In Manchester City's past games, whether they win or lose the game, Manchester City can maintain the advantage in pass control.

However, the data met Guardiola's requirements, but they failed to win the victory in the end.

For example, in the games against Chelsea and Everton, Manchester City did not lose the wind on the field, and it can even be said to have a certain advantage.

But in the end, they all lost because of low offensive efficiency and insufficient grasping ability, or even failed miserably.

Anyone who is familiar with Guardiola knows that the midfielder's passing organization and control over the scene are the soul core of his football philosophy.

But this by no means means that Guardiola does not need a striker who can charge up front.

When Guardiola coached Barcelona for a few years, he had Henry, Eto'o, Ibrahimovic and other veritable top forwards, and everyone's scoring efficiency was quite impressive.

Even after he went to Bayern, he also had a striker combination like Lewandowski and Mandzukic who once went hand in hand in the Bundesliga scorer list.

In terms of midfield, in fact, for Guardiola's tactical system, the connecting role between the midfielder and the central midfielder on the central axis is extremely important.

During the Barcelona period, he had Harvey, Busquets, and Iniesta, the Habaibu combination that was invincible all over the world.

During the coaching period of Bayern, there were also midfield combinations such as Martinez, Thiago, Alonso, and Vidal, and they were also successful.

Frontcourt playmaker, metronome, defensive midfielder, this midfield combination is enough for his team to complete the overall control of the midfield.

Now Guardiola's puzzle piece in Manchester City's midfield has also been pieced together.

Chu Zheng, a monster!
The frontcourt playmaker, metronome, defensive midfielder, in addition to the goalkeeper, he can play defenders, fullbacks, and wingers, which greatly enriches Guardiola's tactical options.

David Silva is mature and prudent. Although he is too old, his rich experience and strong personal ability can also bring great help to Manchester City.

De Bruyne, like Chu Zheng, is a talented midfielder, a rare world-class midfielder in football, and also a little monster, with super high potential to become a master midfielder.

Although Brazil's double fee is a notch behind, it is also a world-class midfielder in world football.

So Guardiola's blueprint for Manchester City's midfield has been drawn.

He already has a luxurious midfield lineup stronger than Barcelona and Bayern.

Can guarantee the control of the team's midfield when facing any opponent, and even completely dominate the opponent.

On the defensive line, there are also a series of fierce players in the teams that Guardiola has managed.

Puyol and Pique in the Barcelona period, Ram, Alaba and others in the Bayern period are also top-notch.

Now Manchester City also has Kompany, a top central defender, on the defense line, but there are a lot of injuries.

Although Otamendi and Stones are worse, they are definitely the top central defenders in Europe.

But compared to the configuration in the midfield, Manchester City's offensive configuration is undoubtedly more luxurious.

This is not to say that Guardiola's tactical system does not pay attention to defense.

But his defensive philosophy itself is different from other coaches.

Guardiola is not the kind of pragmatist who reaches out for whatever is easy to use. He has his own football concepts and philosophies.

Although the tactic of putting the bus on the defensive may not be easy to lose the ball, but not losing the ball does not guarantee that the final victory will be won.

As far as Guardiola is concerned, he has lost the traditional defensive manual.

What he needs is to combine defense and offense into one, a thorough blend.

Therefore, in Guardiola's tactical system, the central defender has become an important role in charge of playing the ball in the backcourt and intercepting the opponent's offensive terminator and the initiator of his own offensive.

This was the case with Puyol and Pique back then.

In the previous games under Guardiola's coaching team, when his team adopted zone marking combined with strong pressing tactics, the defense became smooth sailing for his team.

Whether it was in Barcelona or Bayern that year, Guardiola had created the best defensive record in the league at that time.

Although the defense of the team coached by Guardiola does not build a reinforced concrete wall like the Italians, under their strong control, opponents often cannot even get the ball, let alone attack.

But in the Premier League, this tactical strategy has become unacceptable.

The first is that the Premier League advocates physical confrontation. This league style means that Manchester City will face huge risks after losing the ball when they are in possession.

The second is the fast offensive and defensive switching mode of the Premier League teams. In the game, they often drive to the frontcourt with a big foot and wait for an opportunity to launch an attack.

This simple and crude British style of play can quickly form a threatening attack as long as it is played once out of ten times, which is enough for Manchester City to drink a pot.

However, if Manchester City wants to achieve ball possession and defense, the tactical strategy of using offense instead of defense is not mature enough.

Therefore, these famous football stars who have experienced many battles and some have even become a head coach quickly came to a conclusion.

Guardiola wants the same defense as before.

He doesn't necessarily want the defenders to stand up and become the last iron wall to block the opponent, but to use the frontcourt players to work together to resolve the defensive pressure that the opponent is trying to bring to them in the opponent's half.

The process of resolving this pressure includes the scoring efficiency of the forwards.

Therefore, in the view of Guardiola, a tactical master, the problems of forwards and defenders affect each other, and the solution must start from both ends.

Combining these analyzes, Guardiola's remarks about blaming the striker for losing the ball are not absurd, but a fact.

(End of this chapter)