I started with Torres, to revive German football

Chapter 352 European war resumes
However, Manchester City also fell into the center of public opinion after losing to Sunderland. Although the Manchester City club subsequently dealt with it coldly and more than a week has passed, there are still many good people who are still doing it. Make fun of this game.

Naturally, they want to see Manchester City collapse and continue to lose during this period, so today's league game is also a good battle for Manchester City to fight back against doubts.

Simply winning is not enough. A suppressive victory requires both a good-looking appearance and a good-looking final score. Only in this way can all those rumors be dispelled.

Guardiola did not set too high standards for the players. He meant that winning by two goals would meet the standards. However, it is also a good thing for the players to have greater pursuits. He did not interfere too much, but only emphasized that they should be careful not to get injured.

After all, Trippier was not able to play until now after being injured. Today, he can only stand by as a substitute and get a feel for it in the second half. Guardiola really does not want to see any main players injured again.

At three o'clock in the afternoon, amidst the expectations of countless fans, this eight-round match of Premier League No. 20 officially started at Vicarage Road Stadium.

Dzeko's physical condition is quite good, so today Guardiola continued to send him and Zhao Jinge to form a double forward.

Among the four midfielders, Mane and David Silva occupy the two sides, and Yaya Toure and Kanter form a high and fast combination in the backcourt.

De Bruyne had a rare moment as a substitute and was on standby off the pitch.

On the defense line, Laporte is also on standby today. Stones and Otamendi partner as central defenders, with Korolaf on the left and Walker, who has just returned from injury, on the right.

The goalkeeper position is Caballero, who has been in quite good training form recently. Guardiola, considering the third-line battle later, plans to let Caballero play a few more rounds of the league to get a feel for it.

Watford has a four-five-one formation.

But what is strange is that Watford only used one defensive midfielder today, and continued to use the double central midfielder combination of Roberto and Nourdin, who have worked well together recently, on the two wings.

Ighalo is still behind striker Deeney, acting as a tactical surprise for Watford coach Mazzarri. The single defensive midfielder Capoue is behind, and Behrami is the core organizer. At first glance, the formation looks pretty good. Reliable, but if you think about it carefully, you don't know how Mazzarri came up with this lineup.

The two midfielders, Roberto and Nourdin, are both physically injured and have psychological shadows when the intensity of the confrontation increases. Moreover, they are not very fast, and only Kyle Walker, Mane, and David Silva are impacting on the wing. With their strength, Watford's two full midfielders were completely unable to stop them.

It's okay to have Ighalo Ken pull in to help with defense. Although he probably can't stop it, he can at least suppress Manchester City's advance a little.

But if Ighalo goes to help the wing, what about the center?The double center tactic of Zhao Jinge and Dzeko directly clashed head-on with Watford in the middle, and Capoue was just a messenger.

It is estimated that Mazzarri may have figured it out. Since the defense cannot stop Manchester City, it is better to strengthen the passing ability on the offensive end and have a mutual explosion.

But he had better think so, because this at least proves that he has indeed prepared tactics to deal with Manchester City, but if he really thinks that Capoue can be a single midfielder in front of Zhao Jinge, then this game The result is absolutely a tragedy.

No one could guess Mazzarri's tactical intentions at this moment. Guardiola even doubted whether Mazzarri had prepared a secret weapon to deal with him. He seemed a little confused. After all, he had just lost to Sunderland in the last league game, and he was still worried. Shaded.

However, as the game started, after Manchester City tentatively fought with Watford in the midfield for a few minutes, the Manchester City players quickly reacted.

Feelings, Mazzarri really has great confidence in his new midfielder!

Forget it about Capoue, he really has two skills. What does it mean for your sick Behrami to be the core of the midfield?
Seeing Zhao Jinge steal the ball from Behrami's feet with a counterattack, the players on both sides of Manchester City and Watford were a little unresponsive.

If Capoue hadn't decisively poked away Zhao Jinge's ball, Watford might have fallen behind in the seventh minute!
Since then, Manchester City's frontcourt players have repeatedly put pressure on Behrami. As a result, Watford's backcourt organization almost came to a standstill after a while, so Roberto had to take over from Behrami. The organizational task in Lamy's hands is to try to rekindle the war with Manchester City on the wing.

After all, Watford's current two full-backs are in excellent condition. Holevas and Janmat are also powerful players. Even if they are not as good as Mane and David Silva, they can directly compete with Ighalo in the frontcourt. Form a connection.

Roberto's idea is good, but since Manchester City has seen the hidden dangers in Watford's midfield, it is impossible to follow his ideas and play on the wing.

"Go in the middle and crush them to death!"

Manchester City's midfielders quickly unified their thinking. How can they live up to Mazzarri's arrangement if they don't take advantage of such a good loophole?
Zhao Jinge smiled, and when Capoue got stuck with his back, he started to raise his hand to ask for the ball. Manchester City started looking for Zhao Jinge, and they just passed the long ball to Zhao Jinge and that was it!

You can't get stuck in the middle position. Zhao Jinge hits accurately every time. Mane and David Silvane receive support. Behind him, Gundogan is ready to join the attack. I just rush into your backcourt defense. Can you use me? What's going on?

Mazzarri was dumbfounded now.

He is not really stupid. Roberto and Noureddin performed quite well in the previous game together. His physical fitness looks good, he has a long shot, solid passing skills, and he can play in the midfield and central midfield. Mazzarri once Look, isn't this the Watford version of the midfielder?

After getting used to it, Mazzarri naturally wanted to give the two full midfielders more tactical weight.

But he really didn't expect that this pair of teams would dare to fight and fight against the mid-to-lower teams, and their technical characteristics were fully demonstrated. They would use wing attacks to share the defensive pressure in the middle, and the entire tactical execution could be unified. But how to beat Manchester City? Will it turn into noodles immediately?
Mazzarri was puzzled and felt that he had been fooled, but he also didn't want to think about the impact of Manchester City's two wingers.
Roberto has been tortured by injuries and is about to leave the top league stage. How could he dare to go head-to-head with Mane and Kyle Walker to the end? His subconscious avoidance has become instinctive.

In other words, Roberto can still perform well if he plays in the middle and lower reaches of the Premier League and the rhythm of confrontation is slightly weaker.

But playing against a tough team like Manchester City, he himself felt frightened.

Therefore, under the leadership of Zhao Jinge, in the 13th minute of the first half, David Silva received Zhao Jinge's ball and broke into Watford's penalty area, and then used a low pass to assist Mane who succeeded in the backcourt. Grab some points and score!

Guardiola smiled, no wonder he said that no matter how well the tactics are arranged, it is not as good as the opponent's coordination!
The balance on the field was broken in the first ten minutes. Whether Manchester City continued to press forward or recovered to defend against counterattacks, they took the initiative in the situation. Mazzarri shot himself in the foot this time!
However, Mazzarri couldn't think about anything at this moment. He was anxiously standing on the sidelines and gesturing to the players on both wings to actively counterattack!

Ighalo has entered the peak period of his career this season. He has scored seven goals and provided four assists in the league, successfully helping Watford stay away from the relegation zone and gain a seven-point advantage. .Therefore, Mazzarri is placing all his hopes on Ighalo just like he did when he encountered difficulties before, hoping that this big man can play his fulcrum role in the frontcourt and help Watford score an equalizer as soon as possible. One ball.

But at this moment, Ighalo felt a little bitter in his heart as he looked at Yaya Toure and Kante.

He also wants to be a hero for once, but it depends on who the opponent is!
He and Yaya Toure have played against each other many times. In terms of physical fitness, the opponent is not inferior to him. In terms of technology, the opponent also beats him!
To take a step back, even if Yaya Toure is defeated, there is still an equally difficult Kante waiting for him to face, and Stones behind him is not an opponent that can be defeated easily. What do you ask him to do to save Walter? Ford? !
Ighalo felt guilty, and Watford's offensive threat dropped by several levels in an instant.

And just when Mazzarri was scratching his head, in the 204th minute, Zhao Jinge unreasonably rushed past Capoue's interception, received Mane's sweep pass, and blasted a shot in the middle of Watford's penalty area!

Watford goalkeeper Gomez was stunned by this super shot. He didn't even react. The football just missed the goal post and hit the net behind him!

This goal made Mazzarri directly hear his heartbroken voice.

Are you still human?Two goals in two 10 minutes. Did Manchester City take the wrong medicine today?So anxious to attack? !No mercy at all!

Watford's players on the court were a little flustered, but Manchester City's offensive players were getting more and more comfortable.

In the 307th minute, Gundogan also hit Watford's goal for the third time with a blast from outside Watford's penalty area. The Watford fans at Vicarage Road Stadium were already Too lazy to boo.

Manchester City just kept rubbing against Watford's midfield, and Mazzarri didn't even have the means to counterattack. Three goals in the half, what else is there to say?
The Watford fans went straight for it.

In the end, Guardiola couldn't bear to see Mazzarri too embarrassed. In the second half, Manchester City's players slowed down their pace. In the 603rd minute, Guardiola even replaced Zhao Jinge and Mane in one go. , making Mazari shout in his heart that he is a good person.

The final score of [-] to [-] was eye-catching enough. If Guardiola hadn't signaled the players on the field to let go, Watford might not have even been able to score a goal to save face.

After a comfortable victory, the strange voices surrounding Manchester City quickly dissipated.

However, Chelsea also defeated Norwich in this league round and still clinging to Manchester City's tail.

There are only eleven games left in the Premier League this season, and Manchester City and Chelsea have also entered the final sprint stage!

After the game, Guardiola gave the entire team two days off.

In the next round of the FA Cup quarter-finals, Manchester City will send a rotating lineup to play. No. 11 will only start in March. There are still five days to go. It is no problem for the rotating players to take the holiday.

Of course, the best news is that Manchester City's match in the eighth round of the Premier League No. 20 has been postponed to April.

Therefore, Manchester City's main players have five days of rest after this league game. Then they can recharge their batteries and defeat Monaco at home. That is to say, the third line will continue to be popular!

This schedule gave Manchester City fans a few rare words of praise for the Football Association.

At 11pm on March NO.[-], the FA Cup quarter-final between Manchester City and Middlesbrough started at the Etihad Stadium.

Facing an old acquaintance with Middlesbrough, Manchester City's rotation players showed no nostalgia for the past and took the lead through goals from David Silva and Yaya Toure in the first half.

At the beginning of the second half, Dzeko attracted a double-team from two defensive players in front of Middlesbrough's penalty area, and then passed the ball back to Fernandinho who was inserted.

The Brazilian midfielder once again knocked on Middlesbrough's goal with a violent long-range shot, and successfully pushed the game into garbage time.

In the end, Dzeko scored another victory in the 803rd minute, setting the score at [-]-[-].

Manchester City also successfully advanced to the FA Cup semi-finals this season with a hearty four-goal victory. It seems that the morale is high, giving the main players a good start in the Champions League game five days later.

In the expectation of Manchester City supporters and a large number of Zhao Jinge fans, on the night of March 16th, Manchester City finally ushered in the second round of the Champions League knockout match against Monaco.

After more than ten days of rest, Manchester City's main players are in the best physical and mental condition, and they are just waiting to teach the current French No. [-] team a lesson at home.

However, Monaco, who came from afar, seemed very low-key after arriving in Manchester.

Before the game, Monaco head coach Jardim also expressed many times in interviews that he hoped to play a smooth classic game with Manchester City that would satisfy fans of both sides.

It seems that Monaco was also disgusted by Guardiola's tactics in the first round.

That kind of rogue-like pressing defense and tactics that separated the progress of the game really caused Monaco to suffer a lot.

Jardim didn't know if Guardiola would listen to the advice, but his preemptive move could be regarded as finding a way out for himself in terms of public opinion.

Even if he loses in the end, he can still blame Manchester City's tactics for the loss.

Of course, Monaco naturally wants to go further after reaching the knockout rounds. Jardim does not deny that Manchester City is indeed much stronger than them in terms of overall strength, but Monaco will never surrender easily before the last moment of the game!

(End of this chapter)