Green Journey

Chapter 493 No.30 Eight Ball!
In the 5th minute of the game, Liverpool quickly returned to the backcourt after stealing the ball from the midfielder, and then moved to the right side continuously.

Klein plugged in and got the ball.

Yaya Toulei saw that Chu Zheng had retreated along the middle lane, and he quickly moved across from his ribs, blocking Klein on the side lane in time.

Klein turned a blind eye to Yaya Toure.

Seeing that Mane on the left front rib has started to pull from the inside to the outside, he made a straight pass along the sidewalk, making Yaya Toure who had just rushed over empty.

In a blink of an eye, starting from the ribs, Otamendi, who followed the defense along the inside line, blocked Mane on the side from the upper corner of the penalty area.

Mane slid the ball continuously under his feet, slowly approaching, and forced Otamendi back to the sideline of the penalty area. His right foot suddenly slammed to the right, and the ball rolled obliquely to the baseline.

Seeing that Mane was going to force him to explode, Otamendi quickly took a step forward, inserted his right foot between Mane's legs, and also moved his hand. The whole forearm of his right hand was directly pushed horizontally under Mane's collarbone.

In the next second, Mane was brought down directly, and the ball rolled directly out of the baseline.

"Beep!..." The referee Oliver whistled quickly, indicating that Otamendi fouled and gave Liverpool a free kick from the right outside the penalty area.

On the sidelines, after seeing this scene, Guardiola reached into his coat and hat with his hands and rubbed his face, which looked a little dark no matter what.

Guardiola could see that Otamendi fouled out of helplessness, otherwise Mane would forcefully rush over and cut inward along the baseline.

But it also exposed Otamendi's shortcomings.

In the live broadcast room of LeTV Sports, Zhan Jun said: "Manchester City has invested a lot of money in the defense line, but judging from the performance of Manchester City's defense this season, the situation is still not optimistic. It is difficult to satisfy the fans. Only when Walker came and Kompany came back from injury did he get better."

"As for the player Otamendi, to be honest, his ability is not top-level. Although he performed very well in a few games, most of the games were mediocre. Poor awareness in location selection.”

"It's like defending Mane just now. His defensive position should actually be more forward, but he stood with Mane and gave Mane the line of cutting inside. As a result, Mane suddenly stepped forward. After the ball picked up speed, he couldn't keep up a bit, and in the end he could only use a tactical foul to stop Mane."

Soon, Oliver's whistle sounded, and Milner ran up from the outside of the penalty area with his right foot and directly pumped the ball over the Manchester City penalty area.

But the ball was not passed well, the height was too high, and it flew directly out of the sideline from the side of the penalty area on the other side.

After Klopp witnessed the ball going out, his eyes turned to Otamendi, touching his unshaven chin, thoughtful.

As time passed, Manchester City and Liverpool entered the wrestling stage.

On Liverpool's side, the high pressure is very fierce, and a large number of troops are often invested in the frontcourt.

This caused Manchester City's backcourt to go forward and the ball was not very smooth.

But no problem.

Guardiola was obviously prepared for this situation before the game.

Guardiola's coping strategy is to let Chu Zheng or Yaya Toure slow down the rhythm in the backcourt possession stage, and control the rhythm of passing and controlling.

When Liverpool implements high pressure, it suddenly speeds up, and then through rapid and continuous forward passes, it directly hits behind Liverpool.

And the fast and slow switch of this rhythm is in Chu Zheng's hands.

When to be fast and when to be slow, it is all decided by Chu Zheng, the card dealer.

In the 16th minute of the game, Kompany, Walker who came in from the wing, and Sterling who retreated along the ribs formed a 3-on-2 situation against Liverpool in the right rib area at the top of the arc.

Coutinho made a strong pass to Lallana on the penalty area line in front of him, and then quickly slanted to the front right side, trying to cooperate with Lallana in a collision with the wall.

Lallana, who was sandwiched between Walker and Kompany, wanted to use his heel to make the ball the moment he touched the ball, but today it was Kompany standing beside him.

So the ball was intercepted directly, hit Kompany's feet and rebounded to Toure's feet outside the penalty area.

Toure quickly turned around after taking the ball and passed the ball forward to De Bruyne, who was about three meters in front of him.

At this time, Emrejan behind De Bruyne quickly started to rush up from the right back, quickly cutting off the connection between De Bruyne and Chu Zheng in the middle.

After taking the ball, De Bruyne had to take it to the right rib area.

But Emrejan is like a dog skin plaster, always on his left side to prevent harassment.

After running less than four meters, he was about to bump into Wijnaldum who was waiting in front of him.

At this moment, Sterling followed up in the backcourt and took away Wijnaldum in an instant.

But De Bruyne still couldn't get rid of Emrejan's entanglement.

In desperation, he had to score the ball to the right front.

This scene made Klopp, who stood in the coaching area watching the game in the rain, very satisfied.

This is De Bruyne. As long as the defensive players are sticky, there will be few options for him to play the ball, and the threat will be greatly weakened.

Unlike that monster, there is a high probability that a player will get rid of it if he goes up to defend alone.

Sometimes you just can't hold him in the past two defenders.

On the field, after Sterling got the ball on the right side of the center circle, he saw that Wijnaldum on the left had followed along the inside line, and further ahead was Klavan. Liverpool had formed a layered defense , he knew that if he continued to take it down, he would be besieged by these two people on the sidewalk.

At this moment, he saw Chu Zheng, who had followed up in the middle circle area from the middle, raising his hand to ask for the ball, and there was no one around him, so Sterling immediately had an idea.

Soon, after Sterling crossed the center line, he suddenly slowed down.

Inside, Wijnaldum didn't know what Sterling's idea was. To be on the safe side, he ran two extra steps forward.

The next second, Sterling kicked up suddenly and crossed the ball from the space suddenly opened between Wijnaldum and Emrejan behind him.

For a while, the main force of the four players in the left rib and wing area of ​​Liverpool's half were collectively transferred.

Taking advantage of the moment Wijnaldum turned his head to watch the ball, Sterling suddenly started to hurl along the wing.

Chu Zheng crossed the center line and came to the arc of the center circle on the right. Facing the incoming ball and Klavan who was coming up in front of him, he didn't stop the ball and met the ball diagonally.

Immediately, the ball shot out obliquely towards the left rib area of ​​Liverpool's top of the arc like an off-string arrow, and the rhythm of Manchester City's attack was almost instantly filled by Chu Zheng.

Outside the upper corner of the penalty area, Sterling followed up and passed the ball directly with his right foot.

At the moment of passing the ball, Aguero in the top area of ​​the arc suddenly speeds up and suddenly bursts out from between Klein and Matip.

On the left side of the penalty spot, Aguero shot at the ball, and the ball went straight to the upper left corner of the goal.

Behind the small restricted area line in the middle, Mignolet reacted brilliantly, swooped to the right, stretched his body to the extreme in mid-air, flicked his right fingertips, the ball changed its line, and then flew off the outside of the left post bottom line.

"HO!!!!!!!!!"

"Simon!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

"Amazing! My God! Simon saved us!"

"Yes, he successfully predicted Aguero's shot line and made a timely save!!"

In the live commentary booth, the two Liverpool official commentators began to vent their inner excitement in an excited tone after being frightened.

Martin and Smith next to each other looked a little constipated.

Sterling passed the ball well, and Aguero shot well.

But it just failed to pass Mignolet's ten fingers, which makes people very helpless.

"What are you doing?!!"

"Why is no one staring at Chu?!!!"

"Don't let him take the ball easily, cut off his connection with other people!!!" On the sidelines, Klopp almost leaked his bladder from the thrilling scene just now.

He stood in the coach's area and yelled at the players not far in front of him on the field. The two thick lenses on the bridge of his nose were covered with water droplets, and he didn't know if he could see who was who.

Hearing Klopp's questioning, the Liverpool players were also a little aggrieved.

This kind of sudden and rapid transfer to the center, and then the ball back to the wing is really hard for them to guard against.

The speed of Manchester City's pass is too fast, and the attack speed is pulled up at once, without giving them time to react.

But Klopp was right in scolding, and they did make a mistake in switching from offense to defense this time.

From Manchester City's backcourt to midfield, no one went to talk to Chu Zheng.

In fact, the Liverpool players knew in their hearts that even if someone followed Chu Zheng at the time, they probably couldn't stop him from playing the ball, at most they interfered a few times.

Up to now, they have a very thorough understanding of Chu Zheng.

Chu Zheng's body, tsk tsk, is harder than a central defender.

A strong body is the most powerful weapon of a central defender, but in Chu Zheng's case, it is only one of his many powerful weapons.

You want to compete with him, but he plays with you, and he can use ghost-like dribbling skills to make you turn around, as slippery as a loach.

As a result, many players in Liverpool's current team panic when they see Chu Zheng holding the ball, because there is really no way to restrict him, and they will be hit every time they go up.

It doesn't matter once or twice, but if there are too many times, players can feel that their self-confidence has been destroyed by nuclear weapons.

"Manchester City played really fast today. This sudden attack is like an off-string bow and arrow, and everyone's minds are in one place. It's very tacit and united." In the live broadcast room of LeTV, Zhang Lu praised again and again , "Look at Sterling and Chu Zheng, Sterling knows that as long as he runs, Chu Zheng will pass, and Chu Zheng also knows that as long as he passes, Sterling will definitely run."

"Yes, Sterling's cross pass is also quite beautiful, and Aguero's shot is also beautiful. It's a pity that we met Mignolet who is also in excellent form!"

Zhang Lu didn't follow the words, but said: "Although Liverpool did a good job of pressing in high positions today, after they attacked outside the penalty area of ​​Manchester City, they didn't seem to have a clear idea."

"Liverpool players seem to have to think about the ball after receiving the ball, but most of these passes are crosses or back passes, and there are very few forward passes."

"As for Manchester City, once they rely on Chu Zheng or Yaya Toure to pour the ball out of the backcourt, Papa Papa quickly speeds up and the players don't hesitate at all. They are very purposeful. I'm going to hit you in the back."

"Although this kind of fast passing will lead to an increase in the turnover rate and even frequent offsides, but he only needs to score once to be fatal!"

After Manchester City's attack, the two teams fell into a stalemate again.

As time passed, the mentality of the fans at the scene became a little anxious.

Especially the Liverpool fans who came to the Etihad with the team, they can see the situation on the field.

Although Liverpool caused a lot of trouble for Manchester City through high pressure, and the defense did a decent job today, they never threatened Manchester City's goal.

On the other hand, Manchester City is just the opposite. Although there have been 6 offsides, the fast counterattack has repeatedly threatened the goal guarded by Mignolet.

Therefore, although the situation seems to be at a stalemate, in fact Manchester City still has a slight advantage in offensive and other statistics.

While Liverpool fans were worried, Manchester City's extremely threatening offense came again.

In the 29th minute of the game, Liverpool sent a throw-in near the left center line.

Seeing Sterling, Walker, Toure, De Bruyne, and Chu Zheng staring at all the teammates in front of them, Milner, holding the ball behind his head, hesitated a little.

At this moment, Lallana in front of Toure on the rib suddenly started to run behind Walker on the wing, and Milner immediately threw the ball over.

On the ribs in the 30-meter area, in order to make up for Walker, Kompany quickly leaned out to the outside line to prevent Lallana from dribbling the ball along the side and no one followed.

But Stones' reaction was a little slow and he didn't adjust his position in time, which caused the distance between him and Kompany to widen.

After Coutinho saw it, he quickly started to drill the gap, forming a two-on-one situation with Lallana and Kompany.

When Coutinho was level with Kompany and Stones, Lallana tucked the ball forward left.

Although Kompany, who was hit by a two-on-one, was helpless, he didn't even try to intercept the ball with his rich defensive experience, but turned around and followed Lallana to the inside.

Soon he ran a cross with Stones and managed to keep an eye on Lallana.

Stones pulled out and blocked Coutinho from the sideline of the penalty area.

Seeing that Lallana slowed down suddenly after entering the left rib of the penalty area, allowing Kompany to run ahead, Coutinho immediately passed the ball across the right outside instep.

But in the next second, Toure came back, intercepted the ball on the left side of Lallana, and kicked it to Walker in the upper corner of the penalty area on the left side of him.

Walker took the ball and turned around in an instant, bent over and pouted his butt backwards, and Coutinho, who was robbed, raised his hands and surrendered.

Immediately afterwards, he quickly picked up the ball and passed it to Chu Zheng, who was 30 meters in front of his ribs.

Seeing Chu Zheng quickly turn his back to seize his position, Emrejan, who was right behind Chu Zheng, quickly stepped up.

Emrejan was already prepared to bring Chu Zheng down if he couldn't make a steal, and he was even mentally prepared to take the card.

However, after all the calculations, he still miscalculated.

Seeing the ball fall in front of him, Sterling ran to the left, which is to his right, Chu Zheng immediately knew what Sterling was thinking.

So the moment the ball fell in front of him, he pressed his back against Emrejan behind him, stretched out his right foot to rub against the outside of the instep, and the ball lost most of its strength, obediently moved to the right side jumped out.

In the next second, Sterling took advantage of the situation and waded away the ball that rolled in front of him.

For a while, Liverpool was miserable.

Chu Zheng's simple stop and pass made Liverpool's two central defenders behind directly face the thrilling four-on-two situation of Sterling, Aguero, Sane and De Bruyne.

In the middle, seeing Sterling dribbling the ball all the way, De Bruyne did not continue forward, fearing to squeeze Sterling's position, he chose to drag behind Sterling.

On the left rib, Sane has completely sped up his speed, making Matip on the inside on his right have to defend desperately.

Aguero on the right side was not idle either, and was running from the inside to the outside, trying to take Klavan away.

But Krawan wasn't fooled.

Taking the ball out of the center circle of Liverpool's half, Sterling also made a choice and passed the ball directly with the inside of his right foot.

The ball went around in front of Matip and it was a through ball behind him.

But Sterling's pass was not very good, it was a bit strong.

And with a strong rotation, the ball passed Matip and went straight to the left front outside of Sane.

This forced Sane to slow down and follow up to the outside.

Soon, Sane stopped the ball on the left side of the penalty area, but Matip also took the opportunity to block in front of Sane.

Seeing that Sterling, who was following up in the middle, and Aguero, who was outflanking from the back, had Liverpool players following up at this time, Sane knew he couldn't wait any longer.

Otherwise, the more Liverpool players get back in the box, the less chance he has.

Facing Matip in front of him, Sane shook left and right continuously.

Sane's large fake movement also forced Matip's center of gravity to constantly change from left to right.

Suddenly, Sane swung the ball forward to the left with the help of a bicycle feint on the outside of his left foot, and then followed up quickly.

Faced with this level of start, the tall Matip suffered a disadvantage and turned slowly, allowing Sane to follow up to the bottom line and complete the goal on his left.

But Sane's kick seems to pass and shoot, making it difficult to tell whether he is going to hit the close corner or cross Sterling in the middle, or Aguero who is outflanking from the back.

Before approaching the goal post, Mignolet didn't have time to think so much. He was in excellent condition and quickly sat down on the ground when Sane kicked up.

Immediately, the ball bounced high on Mignolet's left foot and fell straight to the right side of the penalty spot.

On the sidelines, after seeing Chu Zheng, he plugged in and went straight to the landing point, and Klopp's face instantly turned into a liver color.

At this time, near the landing point, there were no Liverpool players at all, and they were all brought into the small penalty area by Sterling and Aguero.

Facing the ball falling in front of him, Chu Zheng fell to the right.

In the next second, a taekwondo volley side kick appeared in everyone's sight.

Under the watchful eyes of everyone, the ball drawn by Chu Zheng turned into a white lightning and went straight to the upper left corner of the goal, and slammed into it from the inside of the goal post and the lower edge of the crossbar.

"boom!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Immediately, Ittihad was detonated by Chu Zheng's sideways volley shot that flaunted the sky!
"Chu!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

"Chu!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

In the commentary seat, Martin and Smith raised their heads and cheered hoarsely, their necks were stiffly yelled.

On the sidelines, seeing the goal appear, Guardiola jumped up from the coach's bench in an instant, and rushed to the sidelines to celebrate with a big happy leap.

In the LeTV live broadcast room, Zhang Lu and Zhan Jun also raised their arms and cheered.

"Liverpool's players are all staring at Sane, Sterling and Aguero, which makes them completely empty in the area inside and outside the gourd top." Zhan Jun explained.

"This is Chu Zheng's 38th goal for Manchester City in all competitions this season!! He is only two goals away from 40."

"And Chu Zheng's personal Premier League goals have reached 24."

"This is the efficiency of the Premier League's No. [-] midfielder. Not only can he assist, but he can even make countless forwards in the five major leagues feel ashamed of this in terms of scoring efficiency!!!"

(End of this chapter)