Green Journey

Chapter 463 Happiness Comes Suddenly!

After conceding a goal first, Monaco did not retreat, and insisted on pressing Manchester City in a high position.

After the game restarted, Manchester City soon launched a wave of three-on-three quick counterattacks relying on Chu Zheng's midfield interception.

But alas Sterling was a little too selfless.

After entering the penalty area from the right rib of the top of the Monaco arc, he did not hit the goal with his left foot, but wanted to cross Aguero in the middle, which eventually caused the ball to be intercepted by Raj and made a clearance.

On the sidelines, Monaco coach Jardim stood in the coaching area with his arms folded, frowning, silently observing the situation on the field.

He didn't take it too seriously when he fell behind by one goal, it was not a big problem.

For them, the second round at home is the highlight.

But today, Jardim actually wanted to try his best to score away goals.

In the knockout stage of the Champions League, the advantage of away goals is worth a thousand dollars. Sometimes an away goal may play a key role in advancing.

That's why he pushed his formation up to press Manchester City in a high position today.

But the question now is whether this tactic should continue?

Is it necessary to retreat the formation?To build a more solid defense?

At this moment, Jardim felt a little troubled.

There is no way, the five-man attacking team in the frontcourt of Manchester City is too strong. Once they invest too much force on the offensive end, it will inevitably lead to a weak defensive end.

If the high pressure in the front court is not effective, then Jardim will directly change the tactical strategy and switch to defensive counterattack.

But the problem is that the players on the field are doing a very good job right now.

So far in this game, Jardim's strategic intention has been very obvious, which is to lock Manchester City's Yaya Toure as a single midfielder and limit Manchester City's offense from the source.

Although Jardim has not played against Guardiola, he has done a lot of homework before the game.

Manchester City's offense is often a complete system.

Starting from the goalkeeper, the position of the two full-backs is premised, and the distance between the central defenders is widened to create opportunities for the central midfielder to receive the ball.

But 'Bring the ball out' is only the first step in Guardiola's attacking system, and successfully running the ball across half-court is the second step.

So today, while he set up a high-position pressing tactic in the frontcourt, he let two forwards rotate against Toure, and then cooperated with one of the two midfielders, Fabinho and Bakayoko, to attack Yaya Toure front and back. .

In addition, there are 3-4 players in the frontcourt staring at the various points of Manchester City's backcourt, so as to force Manchester City to try to transfer to the full-backs on the wing in a wide range.

The large-scale transfer has a characteristic, that is, the speed of the ball is not fast enough, so that they have the opportunity to compete for the top and intercept, and then create opportunities for a quick counterattack in the frontcourt.

Judging from the more than 20 minutes of the game, Mbappe, Falcao, Fabinho and Bakayoko did a good job.

In the face of the strong physical fitness of the young Fabinho and Bakayoko, Yaya Toure, the all-round fighter back then, did not have outstanding advantages in physical confrontation.

The repeated harassment of Mbappe and Falcao caused Yaya Toure's ball to slow down, which to a certain extent interfered with Manchester City's offensive advancement.

So now there are only two choices before Jardim.

One is to maintain the current tactical strategy, betting that Mbappe and Falcao, the old and the young, can score for Monaco and establish an advantage in away goals.

Once two or more away goals can be scored, it will be a huge advantage for Monaco and lay a solid foundation for advancing to the quarter-finals.

The other is to quickly shrink the formation and play a defensive counterattack. Even if you lose by a score of 1-0, it’s okay, and you will return to the home court in the second round to deal with Manchester City.

After hesitating for a while, the balance in Yadir's heart was tilted towards maintaining the status quo. The temptation of away goals was too great, and he was reluctant.

Beside, Guardiola is also brainstorming at this time.

As far as the previous period was concerned, Guardiola could see that their tactical strategy of dribbling the ball from the back into the opponent's half was not working smoothly.

Even if Fernandinho and Walker follow his arrangement, they will take turns to come to the midfield and Toure to form a double midfielder to establish two outlet points during the team's attacking stage with the ball. As you wish.

The reason for this situation is Monaco's 442 formation.

In Guardiola's view, Jardim is really smart, and he deserves to be called Mourinho Jr. He is very good at it.

In the midfield, the four of Monaco formed a circular defensive position, directly enclosing Yaya Toure and Fernandinho in the middle, so that these two shooting points were repeatedly restricted, becoming The battle of trapped beasts.

Looking at the field silently, Guardiola temporarily pressed his mind to adjust after a while.

Because it is a bit difficult to play the ball on the spot in the midfield and backcourt, but Chu Zheng and his five attack groups in the midfield and frontcourt performed very well, full of mobility and threat.

In Guardiola's view, Monaco has more than 5 high-position presses in the frontcourt, which has disadvantages and advantages.

The disadvantage is that it is slightly difficult for them to play the ball in the backcourt.

But the advantage is that once Monaco's 5 high-position presses are pierced, the Monaco defensive players behind will face Manchester City's luxurious 5-man attacking group.

Therefore, considering that the advantages outweigh the disadvantages, Guardiola also pressed the idea of ​​​​making adjustments on the spot.

And the presence of Edson, a goalkeeper with precise footwork, can also alleviate the dilemma of getting the ball to a certain extent.

As soon as the idea fell, Edson on the field showed off his footwork.

In the midfield of Manchester City, Yaya Toure was robbed by Bakayoko and was unable to go forward, so he had to bring it back and pass it back to the top of the arc.

Ederson came out quickly and stopped the ball with his right foot.

At the same time, Falcao, on the left side of Manchester City's top arc, started to attack Edson.

But this buddy Edson is really fat.

Facing Falcao's oppression, he calmly adjusted, and then he didn't even run up, turned sideways, kicked his right foot on the right front of the ball, and then swung his left foot directly on the ball.

Immediately, the pleasing precision guidance came.

The ball spans both halves.

At the moment of passing the ball, Sane in the right rib area of ​​the middle circle of Monaco's half suddenly started, and with a speed advantage, Sidibe was left behind, and he inserted along the ribs at high speed.

Two or three seconds later, Sane received precise guidance from Ederson outside the penalty area on the right side of the top of the arc in Monaco.

"Wow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Seeing this precise long pass with great visual impact, the Etihad Stadium was full of uproar, and all of them were shown.

However, in the next second, the Etihad fans collectively expressed their regrets again!
Because Edson's ball caught up with Sane's right foot on the field, not his dominant foot.

Therefore, the ball jumped to the right while Sane stopped the ball with his right foot, and Sidibe, who was chasing back from his right back, just caught the opportunity to grab it.

Sidibe slammed forward, stretched out his left foot and kicked the ball to the left small penalty area line.

But still in front of Sane.

When Sane controlled the ball under his feet again, he was already near the baseline and had no shooting angle at all.

Facing Subasic who was close at hand, Sane shot with his left foot.

However, although the ball flew under Subasic's armpit, it hit the side netting.

"fool!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Immediately, the audience was full of rapid exclamations, followed by violent applause, both for Sane and for Ederson who almost got an assist.

On the sidelines, Guardiola was also shown with a smile on his face by Ederson. This is the goalkeeper he is looking for.

Beside, the frightened look of the Jardim League has not completely dissipated.

It's too scary, this kind of long pass is too accurate.

At the same time, Jardim is also very envious of Manchester City and Guardiola.

This is what it means to be full of talents.

A little-known goalkeeper actually has this kind of footwork.

"Oh!!!!!!!" Zhan Jun and Zhang Lu kept screaming in the live broadcast room.

"If the ball catches up to Sane's left foot, Sane's ability to get rid of it will probably be there!" Zhang Lu looked regretful.

"Edson! A goalkeeper with the ball! His passing is very unique, very fast, like shooting, but the accuracy is also surprisingly high." Zhan Jun laughed.

"It is no exaggeration to say that Ederson's ball and vision are even better than many midfielders!"

Zhang Lu nodded, "So the players that Guardiola likes basically have their own characteristics."

"Gua Shuai likes this kind of goalkeeper who is active at his feet. This kind of ball is an effective way to launch an attack when Manchester City's backcourt is restricted."

"Yes, Monaco gave Manchester City enough depth behind them because of this aggressive pressing style of play..."

In the stands, the Manchester City fans were very excited.

They feel that it should be no problem to win the game according to the current situation, and maybe they can still get a clean sheet from Monaco, which came from afar, to lay a solid foundation for advancing to the quarter-finals of the Champions League.

Previously, the outside world said that their newly formed defense line has not passed the test of time and strong teams, but now after the Monaco Group's impact during the first half, it has been able to prove that this line of defense is stable and reliable. Stand the test.

However, the slap in the face came too fast, just like Jingdong who left.

In the 36th minute of the game, Jiang Lai took the ball in the left rib area of ​​the middle circle of Monaco's half, and made a fake pass to the center to shake past Yaya Toure who was grabbing up.

Immediately afterwards, Jiang Lai quickly dribbled the ball in along the ribs and leaned towards the middle.

But when he came to the front of the 30-meter area, he was surrounded by Manchester City players.

Out of the corner of his eye, he flicked back to the right, and found that Chu Zheng had already chased him back, and his heart tightened immediately.

Like the Manchester City players, Jiang Lai also knows his big brother very well.

For Jiang Lai, Chu Zheng's physical fitness was simply abnormal.

He knew that once Chu Zheng got close, he might not be able to keep the ball.

Therefore, Jiang Lai quickly slowed down, and then moved the ball forward to the left, obliquely from the middle of Kompany and Walker on the ribs to the side.

But it's a pity that he and Mbappé's passing and running did not form a tacit understanding.

At the moment of passing the ball, Mbappe on the wing was in an offside position.

Soon, Walker took the ball and passed it directly back to Kompany in front of the baseline on the wing.

Mbappe quickly stepped forward to press.

Kompany, who has experienced many battles, did not panic at all, and calmly crossed Ederson in the penalty area.

Mbappe didn't stop, turned into the penalty area and went straight to Ederson.

At this time, Monaco's unmanned oppression in the frontcourt was very clear, so that Edson had no choice but to take the ball to the two sides about 20 meters away, or drive directly to the frontcourt to find Aguero.

Ederson took his time and looked forward to the left before kicking the ball in front of Mbappé.

The ball landed on the outside of the area 30 meters from the left of Manchester City.

It was at this moment that a fatal mistake occurred.

Ederson and Fernandinho, who had a good position, made a mistake in passing and running.

Fernandinho thought Ederson's ball was long and ran forward.

As a result, the ball was behind him, and Fabinho, who advanced in time, unloaded it directly to Bernardo Silva in front of him with his chest.

After taking the ball, Bernardo Silva quickly brought it back before turning into the rib area.

Turning around to face the penalty area, Bernardo Silva quickly split the side when he saw Fernan drop the inside and receive it near the upper corner of the penalty area.

After Fabinho took the ball, before Fernandinho moved across, he quickly made a cross.

At the moment of passing the ball, Rimbappe is located between Kyle Walker and Kompany in the top area of ​​the arc.

Monaco's attack from this wide cross turned into a duel between Walker and Mbappe again.

Two seconds later, Mbappe successfully seized his position with his super starting speed, stuck Kyle Walker behind him and went straight to the back point, aiming at the incoming ball and diving directly to the top.

Swish!
The ball got into the goal after rubbing the inside of the post, making Edson, who was flying, helpless.

"The ball went in!!!!!!!!!"

"Mbappe!!!"

"In the 37th minute of the game, Monaco equalized and scored a valuable away goal!" Zhan Jun suddenly shouted in the LeTV live broadcast room.

"The ball was passed well, and the top was also good. It jumped to the top, like a torpedo out of the warehouse, and hit the target directly!" The cheerful Zhang Lu followed up.

At the scene, witnessing the birth of this goal, more than 2000 fans who came to the Etihad with the team jumped wildly in the stands, and began to enjoy their exclusive moment of celebration.

On the sidelines, Monaco coach Jardim made three consecutive swings to vent his excitement after the equalizer.

Guardiola next to Jardim shook his head.

He doesn't blame Walker for this ball.

If it is a long-distance follow-up defense, Walker will definitely be able to follow Mbappe, but this kind of sudden acceleration, Walker is indeed a bit inferior.

In Guardiola's view, only Chu Zheng in the Manchester City team can keep up with Mbappe's starting speed.

On the field, Chu Zheng put his hands on his hips, looking out of breath at the Monaco players who gathered together to celebrate.

This conceded goal really needs to be held accountable, and both Fernandinho and Ederson are responsible.

It is precisely because of the lack of tacit pass between the two of them that it caused a series of chain reactions, and Walker on the other side was caught off guard by the sudden activation of Mbappe.

But in football, accountability doesn't make any sense.

Soon, Manchester City kicked the ball, Chu Zheng and the Manchester City fans in the stands chose to forget about the goal and focus on the next game.

Then accidents always come unexpectedly.

Just 5 minutes later, in the 42nd minute of the game, near the end of halftime, Fabinho suddenly launched a strong attack from his right rib.

Yaya Toure on the free throw arc in the middle quickly leaned over, but couldn't squeeze Fabinho.

At this time, Fernandinho also moved laterally from the wing, seeing that Binho was about to rush over, he stretched out his foot for a tactical foul and tripped Fabinho.

The referee blew his whistle and gave Fernandio a yellow card.

At this moment, Fabinho saw that the referee Laos did not say anything, so he quickly got up and straightened the ball, and took a quick free kick.

At the moment of passing the ball, Falcao and Mbappe, who were in front of Otamendi and Kompany in the middle, started a crossover.

Otamendi and Kompany were not confused either. The two moved surprisingly in unison and quickly retreated along the original route.

However, in a blink of an eye, the two were overtaken by Mbappe in the middle, and the distance was still opening rapidly.

Against the backdrop of Mbappe's speed, Otamendi and Kompany give the illusion of being very slow.

But in fact, any central defender will become a slow tortoise under the impact of Mbappe's speed.

Three seconds later, Mbappe came to the top corner on the right side of the small penalty area. Facing the ball falling in front of him, without any hesitation, he lifted his right foot and volleyed directly.

In front of the near goal post, facing Mbappe's close range and surprisingly high-quality volley, Ederson was helpless.

The ball flew past his left head and went straight into the goal from the upper corner of the goal.

"Oh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" For a while, the Etihad Stadium wailed one after another.

"Mbappe!!!!!!!!!"

"Twice scored!!!"

"The amazing French teenager!!!!" Zhan Jun spoke very fast.

In the stands, the Manchester City fans held their heads again, and everyone had incredible expressions on their faces.

What happened, how did he concede the ball again.

When the coach went to the sidelines, Jardim was stupefied for a short time, then jumped up on the spot with joy, and then kept stroking the bare Mediterranean Sea. This happiness came a bit bald.

(End of this chapter)