Green Journey

Chapter 523 Although the bus is shameful, it is useful!

After the UEFA Champions League draw, fans of the major leagues also turned their attention to domestic competitions.

But for Manchester City, it is not a good thing that they have just played a high-intensity Champions League game and will play the FA Cup semi-finals with Arsenal when they come back.

Guardiola is having a meeting with members of the coaching staff in the meeting room of the coaching staff at the Manchester City training base.

"David! Is the player in good health?" Guardiola looked at the head of the team doctor after spitting out his cigar.

David nodded, adjusted his glasses, then opened the document on the desk in front of him, and read according to the red font on it: "Sergio, Leroy, Rahim, Kevin, and Phil Nandinho's physical fatigue is high, they need to rest!"

Hearing this, Guardiola frowned and continued to ask: "How high is the risk of injury?"

"Sergio 35%, Leroy 37%, Raheem 31%, Kevin 33%..." David reported another series of data.

"Where is Chu! How high is his injury risk?"

Hearing Guardiola's words, David's face suddenly became a little weird, and then he said with a smile: "Chu's physical fatigue value is not high, and his injury risk assessment is only 18%, which is the lowest among all players."

Guardiola looked at David with some astonishment on his face, and said, "Are you sure?"

David's smiling face froze directly, and said: "I'm sure, if you doubt my professionalism, you can ask Dr. Deke Lawson to make another assessment based on the data given by the technical team!"

After the words fell, David didn't speak directly, feeling very upset at Guardiola's questioning his ability to work.

"Sorry, David!" Guardiola laughed immediately, "I was just a little surprised by Chu, and didn't mean to doubt your ability to work!"

Hearing this, David's face looked a little better.

At the later stage of each season, the physical fatigue value of players is generally high.

Therefore, in order to evaluate whether the players are suitable for continuing to play, they all establish statistical models based on the players' long-term physical data, fatigue index, sports biomechanics data, physiological data, training data, game data, rest and recovery data, etc. to make estimates.

But because the assessment of injury risk is a predictive job, they cannot accurately predict whether a player will be injured in the future.

The percentage he gave just now is just a probability expression.

Half an hour later, the meeting ended. As soon as Guardiola returned to the office, he closed the doors and windows tightly, and then opened the starting list for the FA Cup and Arsenal games drawn up at the meeting.

For the FA Cup, Guardiola previously played with the mentality of resignation.
But now that he has entered the semi-finals and may win the championship, he can no longer treat it so casually.

Otherwise, it would be difficult for him to explain to Manchester City club executives and fans.

But the problem is that the core players such as Jesus, Sane, and De Bruyne have high physical fatigue and need to rest, otherwise the risk of injury may increase.

This is what Guardiola has been hesitating in recent days.

Although promotion is important, he cannot ignore the physical condition of the players.

But if these players are not used, he cannot guarantee that the substitute players in the team can complete the goal of promotion, after all, the opponent is Arsenal.

So after thinking about it, he can only find a balance point.

That is moderate rotation.

In this way, it can not only ensure the health of the players, but also ensure a certain level of competition for the team, and at the same time give the substitute players some playing time.

After all, compared with the Champions League and the Premier League, the weight of the FA Cup is still much worse.

At this point, Guardiola has been very sober.

Unless the situation does not permit, he will not give up any championship, and the players will not agree, because chasing honor is the driving force of the players.

……

On April 4, Manchester City embarked on a journey again to Wembley Stadium in London.

One hour before the game, Manchester City's starting lineup was announced.

Manchester City: 4231
Forward: Gabriel Jesus
Front midfielder: Chu Zheng, David Silva, De Bruyne
Defenders: Yaya Toure, Fernandinho
Defenders: Clichy, Otamendi, Kompany, Keylor

Goalkeeper: Bravo
Seeing that Bravo was once again included in this list, the faces of Manchester City fans turned green and green, and some fans even laughed angrily at Guardiola.

Why are you so stubborn, you have to use Bravo.

In fact, for this game, due to the consideration of the Champions League and Premier League championship situation, many Manchester City fans feel that Guardiola may be able to give up the FA Cup.

In this way, more energy can be reserved for the Premier League championship and the Champions League championship.

Of course, if Manchester City's bench is deep enough, they are not willing to do this.

Although Manchester City already has 5 FA Cup titles, no one thinks there are too many titles.

But the problem is that the players on Manchester City's bench are aging too badly.

With these old players, there is indeed no big problem in terms of championship experience, but it is difficult to guarantee competitiveness.

As for Arsenal, Wenger's starting lineup today is really surprising.

Arsenal:
Forwards: Sanchez, Giroud, Ozil
Midfielders: Monreal, Ramsey, Xhaka, Chamberlain
Defenders: Holding, Koscielny, Gabriel
Goalkeeper: Petr Cech

Seeing Wenger's 343 set, many gun fans were a little speechless. They didn't think it was a good thing for Wenger to play a new formation in such an important event.

In the past 21 years of Arsenal's coaching career, Wenger has always insisted on a four-back strategy.

However, Wenger made an unprecedented change in the last game against Middlesbrough recently. He even learned from Conte and let Arsenal play a 343 formation.

In the end, Arsenal defeated Middlesbrough 2-1.

Although this score is unremarkable, the signal sent to the outside world is that Wenger seems to be starting a new innovation for Arsenal.

This change also made some insulation parties have high hopes for Wenger.

Conte's 343 tactics tailored for Chelsea this season can be said to be a great success in the Premier League.

The Blues, who were almost relegated last season, once led the Premier League teams this season with Conte's system, and they were inextricably tied to Manchester City. Now they are very close to the Premier League champions.

If Wenger can also get new inspiration from Conte's tactical system, then the Gunners may not be able to get out of trouble as quickly as Chelsea.

However, after the game started, everyone who watched the game was dumbfounded, even Guardiola on the sidelines was shocked.

In people's previous impressions, Arsenal is a team that pays attention to pass control and cooperation, and kills opponents with delicate skills.

Today, however, Wenger's tactical choice has subverted everyone's perception and impression of the Gunners.

On the field, Arsenal set up an iron barrel formation in the penalty area at the beginning of the game. The midfielder basically gave up passing forward, and the offense mainly relied on big feet to drive to the frontcourt to find Giroud.

In the Wembley stands, countless gun fans felt their faces were hot, and there was a trace of shame in their hearts. This is clearly the way the Premier League relegation team plays.

But with the passage of time, it became clear that Wenger's tactics were not as simple as placing a bus.

In addition to surrounding their own penalty area like an iron barrel when defending without the ball, Arsenal's pressing will be particularly strong whenever Manchester City runs the ball into midfield.

In addition, in terms of possession in the midfield after gaining the ball, facing the siege of the Manchester City midfielder, the Arsenal players also controlled it well today.

As for Manchester City, Chu Zheng also cooperated with Yaya Toure to firmly control the rhythm, and everyone played patiently and tacitly.

What is needed for a cup game to reach this stage is stability, not speed.

The fight is also about who has higher efficiency and fewer mistakes.

Sometimes a goal can often determine the final outcome of a game.

In the 8th minute of the game, after Fernandinho dribbled the ball from the backcourt to the midfield along the right rib, he saw almost all Arsenal players in front of him, waiting for him to lead into the trap, so he went directly to the Arsenal sent a long pass over the top from behind.

However, Holding, who was closely following Jesus in the right-hand area of ​​the center, was very focused. He caught up behind Jesus in time, turned and jumped, and returned the ball to Xhaka who had withdrawn before him.

The ball was lost, and Manchester City immediately launched a high-position press in the frontcourt.

Chu Zheng, David Silva, and De Bruyne rushed up consecutively, forcing Arsenal to be unable to stop the ball in the middle, and had to hastily shift to the left of the middle circle.

After Monreal plugged in and got the ball, the ball was blocked by Navas before it stopped.

At the same time, De Bruyne also quickly chased back along the ribs.

In a blink of an eye, Monreal was flanked by Navas and De Bruyne back and forth, and was forced to make a forward pass, but was successfully blocked by Navas.

The ball rolled back along the sidewalk, and Holding quickly moved from the ribs to the sidewalk, ahead of De Bruyne, and passed forward again along the sidewalk.

In front of the halfway line, Sanchez faced Holding's strong pass in the form of a clearance. Under the attack of Fernandinho and Navas, he unloaded the ball with his left foot, and tried to return the ball with his right foot to the side behind Navas. Monreal.

As a result, Fernandinho, who was robbed, hit him, and he kicked the ball to Chu Zheng directly to the left.

Seeing the ball coming, Chu Zheng turned the ball around in one go.

Seeing Jesus, who was next to Koscielny in the middle, start to advance, he immediately pushed a through ball with his left foot.

At the same time, Jesus, on the left of Koscielny, immediately accelerated, and in a blink of an eye he was beyond one position.

On the free throw arc on the right, at the moment Jesus meets the ball, he directly uses the instep of his right outer foot to pass the ball forward.

But maybe it was because he didn't step on the foot well, which caused the ball he waded out to be not strong enough, allowing Koscielny on the right to poke the ball directly out of the baseline.

Chu Zheng's through pass, which almost created a one-handed goal, also scared the tens of thousands of gun fans in the Wembley stands.

The timing of the ball, the choice of the line, and the timing are extremely precise, which makes gun fans feel pleasing to the eye while being frightened.

This kind of high-precision through ball is not so easy to see even in high-level games.

After this attack, Manchester City continued to hold the ball and pass it patiently.

On Arsenal's side, although the defense is still solid, there are few opportunities to hit the front of Manchester City's penalty area. Most of the time, Manchester City is in possession of the ball.

This made gun fans secretly anxious.

It is indeed not easy to lose the ball by playing like this, but it is also difficult to score goals.

In the 14th minute of the game, Arsenal finally completed their first goal.

After the ball went to the front court along the left side, it was transferred laterally to the right rib by Sanchez, Manchester City defended the weak side, and then split the side through Ozil.

Chamberlain came along the side, and after getting the ball, he braked sharply to trick Chrissy into slowing down, and then suddenly burst forward, and forced a cross pass to the middle of the penalty area.

On the penalty kick, Giroud appeared in the camera for the first time after the opening.

Even in the face of Kompany, Yaya Toure and Otamendi, Giroud was the first to hit the ball with his height and accurate judgment of the landing point.

But it's a pity that he didn't exert any force, and the ball was directly pushed towards Bravo standing in the middle of the goal line.

As a result, Bravo seemed to be a little distracted, and he didn't catch the ball immediately.

Seeing the ball jump mischievously between Bravo's hands before being hugged to death, countless Manchester City fans were so frightened that their hearts almost jumped out.

At this moment, countless Manchester City fans were so frightened by Bravo that they wanted to run to the sidelines and hold Guardiola's marinated egg as a wooden fish to beat them. If they don't play with their hearts, they will die!
The gun fans booed after seeing Bravo's clumsy performance.

But soon they shut up.

In the 18th minute of the game, Jesus ran across from the middle circle to the side to respond, got the ball brought by Navas from the backcourt, and quickly started to move forward at high speed.

De Bruyne on the left side of Jesus also quickly inserted along the ribs to contain Koscielny and Holding in the rib area.

But Holding, who was outside the ribs, ignored De Bruyne and stood parallel to Koscielny, blocking the ribs tightly.

Jesus saw that there was not a good opportunity for cooperation and breakthrough, so he looked back.

Seeing Chu Zheng sprinting into the penalty area with his right hand raised on the other side of the top of the arc, Jesus immediately used the inside of his right foot to sprint the ball towards the back of the penalty area after a false kick.

After pointing to the front of the small restricted area, Chu Zheng quickly got in place and successfully stuck Chamberlain behind him.

However, just as Chu Zheng was about to take off, David Silva, who followed the ball from the penalty spot to the landing point and backed up, didn't see Chu Zheng and bumped into Chu Zheng.

The impact immediately caused Chu Zheng's center of gravity to fall back after the jump.

In the next second, relying on enough jumping height and ability to stay in the air, Chu Zheng still hit the ball, but he couldn't completely hold the ball down.

Immediately, the ball fell in a low arc to the upper corner of the near-point goal.

In front of the goal, this kind of ball is completely a piece of cake for the famous Cech.

But to be on the safe side, after Cech jumped to the right, he still chose to lift the ball over the crossbar with one hand.

This was also Manchester City's last threatening attack in the first half.

In the following time, although Manchester City held the ball for a long time and besieged the Gunners penalty area.

But whether it is a pass from the ribs, a cross from the wing, or a direct pass from the top and a long shot, they have never been able to threaten Cech's Arsenal goal.

Wenger's iron barrel formation is really decisive today.

As for Arsenal, although they didn't simply put on the bus, their counterattack was also not kicked out under the tacit siege of Manchester City's frontcourt.

In the live broadcast room of LeTV Sports, Zhang Lu and Zhan Jun couldn't laugh or cry when they saw the game statistics of the two sides in the first half.

I have never seen Arsenal's statistics look like this.

In the 45 minutes of the first half, Arsenal had only one shot, while Manchester City had 9 shots and 2 shots on goal.

In terms of possession rate, Arsenal only has a poor 25%, and other passing data are also completely crushed by Manchester City.

Although the game was ugly, what people have to admit is that Manchester City really didn't get too many opportunities in the face of Wenger's iron barrel formation.

Although the tactical strategy of placing the bus is very strange for Arsenal, and even makes many gun fans feel ashamed and ashamed, it is really useful!
(End of this chapter)