Chapter 597: 55 minutes at half time, who can stop Manchester City?

"Victory over the Red Devils 3:1, Blue Moon wins 14th consecutive victory!" 》

"Man City has tied Arsenal's record for the longest winning streak in the Premier League. If they win another game, they will enjoy this honor exclusively! 》

"Who can stop this Manchester City?" 》

"With 46 points in 16 rounds, Manchester City broke the record for the best start in Premier League history and may break the Premier League single-season points record! 》

…

There was no surprise. After the game between Manchester City and Manchester United, major media reported it as front-page headlines.

Before the game, many people were counting on Manchester United to stop Manchester City and end their winning streak.

But after Manchester United's defeat, this expectation was obviously completely frustrated.

Manchester City's opponent in the next round is Swansea, which is currently the deputy leader of the Premier League. With Manchester City's strength and stability when facing weak teams, the probability of losing this game is very low.

Therefore, after defeating Manchester United, a strong enemy, the probability of Manchester City breaking Arsenal's 14-game winning streak has now reached at least 80%.

Manchester City naturally did not disappoint the outside world. In the seventeenth round of the Premier League, Manchester City played away from home. With the goals of Lin Quan, De Bruyne, David Silva and Aguero, they defeated their opponents 5:0. , won fifteen consecutive victories, breaking the Premier League's longest winning streak that had been in the dust for 15 years!

There are still two games left before the end of the first half of the league, but Manchester City has accumulated 49 points, a full 11 points ahead of second-place Manchester United.

This not only allowed them to lock in the half-season championship three rounds in advance, but also made the ownership of the league championship almost out of suspense.

People really can't imagine how many mistakes Manchester City will make to allow these pursuers to surpass them and steal the league championship trophy from their hands?

It’s simply impossible!

This Manchester City team seems to have no weaknesses at all. When encountering them, they can only wish for good luck.

Of course, it would not be wrong to say that Manchester City has no weaknesses at all.

A week ago, their unbeaten streak this season was broken in the Champions League.

The team that defeated them was Ukraine's Shakhtar Donetsk!

The main reason why the Miners were able to defeat Manchester City was the severe cold weather at their home court.

In addition, this game is the final game of the group stage, and Manchester City has secured first place in the group early and is unwilling to waste the physical energy of the main players in the ice and snow thousands of miles away.

Therefore, Manchester City sent a substitute lineup for this game. Aguero, Lin Quan, De Bruyne, David Silva and others did not even go to the away game, let alone played.

The substitute lineup, led by Jesus, Seat B and others, was unable to adapt to the severe cold weather in the local area in the first half and was scored two goals by the opponent.

In the second half, thanks to Sane's goal, they managed to get a goal back, preventing the team from losing too ugly.

Although Manchester City's unbeaten streak has been broken, the major giants are not happy.

First of all, Manchester City's main players did not play at all in this game. There is a huge strength gap between the substitutes and the main players, so this game has no reference value.

Secondly, the home environment of the Miners is too harsh. It is difficult for other teams to have such a cold game environment, so they cannot expect to be like the Miners and weaken their opponents' combat effectiveness through the environment before the game starts.

Therefore, everyone is still at a loss as to how to deal with Manchester City. They can only place their hope on those top teams and rely on their hard power and the on-the-spot performance of the head coach to defeat Manchester City.

The one with the most hope of doing this is the defending champion Real Madrid.

After all, they defeated Manchester City in last season's Champions League final, and their own strength is one of the best in Europe.

In addition, Real Madrid is in good form this season, so many people think that Real Madrid can give Manchester City a shot in the Champions League.

Considering that Real Madrid is currently ranked second in Team H and Manchester City is first in Group F, they have a probability of drawing Manchester City in the Champions League quarter-finals draw.

Basically every year the Champions League draw is questioned by fans as a script. If this is the case, some fans think that they should simply play the big game and let Real Madrid and Manchester City meet in advance in the top 16. In this case, the majority of fans can appreciate it in advance. It’s time for the pinnacle battle between these two top teams.

Of course, from the standpoint of fans of both teams, they certainly do not want their teams to encounter each other prematurely in the Champions League.

With their strength, it would be a pity no matter who stops in the top 16.

Fortunately, UEFA did not arrange such a script.

In the draw for the quarter-finals, Manchester City drew the Swiss team Basel.

Real Madrid drew French Ligue 1 hegemon Paris Saint-Germain.

For Manchester City, this pick is very comfortable. The opponents are relatively weak and it is difficult to threaten them. They have less pressure to advance.

But for Real Madrid, this result is not so good.

Paris Saint-Germain is not a weak team. Last year, they defeated Barcelona 4-0 at home. Real Madrid has been fighting Barcelona for so many years, and they have a thorough understanding of the strength of their old opponent.

The fact that Paris Saint-Germain can beat Barcelona by so much proves that they are very dominant at home. Even if Real Madrid goes there, I am afraid they will have to drink a pot.

But for Real Madrid to draw such a lottery, they can only blame themselves.

If their performance in the group stage was better and they didn't make so many mistakes that they were overwhelmed by Tottenham, then they wouldn't have drawn such a strong opponent at this time.

Real Madrid is not satisfied with this signing, and Paris is actually not satisfied either.

They finally defeated Bayern in Group B and won the first place in the group. But tell me, my opponent in the next round will be the defending champion Real Madrid?

So what’s the point of working so hard in the group stage?

When we met Barcelona last season and Real Madrid this season, you guys from the Spanish Super League will take turns bullying me?

Looking at the opponents they have drawn, and then looking at the opponents drawn by Bayern, which is second in the group, Paris becomes even more depressed.

In the quarter-finals draw, most of the top clubs had good fortunes.

For example, Manchester City, Bayern, Liverpool and Manchester United.

But there are also some teams that are unlucky and encounter very strong opponents.

Tottenham just climbed over the mountain of Real Madrid and met Serie A hegemon Juventus again.

The two teams are relatively close in strength, and both teams have a chance to advance. This will obviously be a very anxious battle.

Chelsea, the defending Premier League champion, was drawn against the Spanish Premier League giant Barcelona. Although Barcelona's record in recent years is not ideal, a skinny camel is bigger than a horse, and their strength should not be underestimated.

The feud between the Blues and the Reds in the European War is worth talking about for three days and three nights. The two teams will meet again in the Champions League. I don’t know what kind of sparks will be sparked.

…

After the Champions League group stage, all major leagues have begun to enter the winter break.

But there is no such thing as the winter break in the Premier League.

So, while players in other leagues are enjoying the sunshine and beach scenery comfortably, in the Premier League, 20 teams and hundreds of players are still fighting fiercely in cold and humid weather, with rain and snow coming from time to time.

December 17, the eighteenth round of the Premier League.

Manchester City sat at home and faced the challenge of an uninvited guest.

Their opponent is Tottenham Hotspur, currently fourth in the Premier League.

Although Tottenham are trailed by Manchester City by a huge gap of 18 points in the standings, Tottenham's strength this season cannot be underestimated. After the introduction of Son Heung-min, their overall strength has improved compared to last season, especially the forward strength. The offensive firepower ranks among the top three in the entire Premier League!

The reason why they are so far behind Manchester City in points is actually very simple. On the one hand, it is because Manchester City's own record is so unparalleled, with 16 wins and one draw in 17 rounds. The efficiency of scoring points is extremely high, and they have remained unbeaten so far.

On the other hand, Tottenham, because they had to take into account the Champions League competition, fought on two fronts, struggled in the league, and only achieved a record of 9 wins, 4 draws and 4 losses.

Looking at the record alone, it does seem unsatisfactory, but Tottenham scored all the points they deserved. The four losses they lost were all to wealthy or powerful teams such as Chelsea, Arsenal, Manchester United, and Leicester City.

Tottenham was not unjust if they lost to them.

The outside world also has high expectations for Tottenham, although Manchester City has broken the Premier League's longest winning streak record created by Arsenal 15 years ago.

But everyone is still concerned about who can stop them and end their winning streak.

Swansea lost so miserably in the last game, which made fans realize that it is impossible to count on these middle and lower-tier teams. They must rely on the top-ranked giants or quasi-rich clubs to have a chance to defeat Manchester City.

It just so happens that Tottenham is within this range.

Moreover, Tottenham faced Manchester City last season with one win and one draw, remaining unbeaten and having a pretty good record. This further raised fans' expectations for them!

Facing such a strong opponent, Manchester City worked hard. Guardiola sent out all the main players. All the main players who had not gone to Ukraine before appeared in this round.

Manchester City, playing at home, quickly took control of the game after the start. In the 14th minute of the first half, Gundogan received a corner kick assist from Lin Quan to help the team open the scoring.

In fifteen minutes, De Bruyne assisted Lin Quan and scored the second goal.

Tottenham's defensive counterattack tactics, under Manchester City's targeted pressing, left only defense and no counterattack at all.

Because he didn't get enough support in the frontcourt, Kane, who was getting more and more anxious, even received a yellow card for making too many moves when grabbing the ball.

In the second half, Tottenham tried to change their tactics and push the formation out, unwilling to continue to be beaten passively.

But with Manchester City already gaining momentum, their change of formation not only failed to achieve any effect, but further weakened their defense.

In the 55th minute, Mbappe broke into the penalty area and was brought down by the opponent's defender. Manchester City received a penalty kick.

Lin Quan gave up the penalty kick to Mbappe, who scored the penalty he created in one fell swoop.

Since losing the penalty shootout in last season's Champions League final, Mbappe has been concentrating on training his penalty kick ability this season.

As for the effect, it can be seen from the effect of his penalty kick.

After the score was 3-0, Manchester City played more and more relaxedly. When the players were relaxed, they were often able to produce some amazing and wonderful coordination on the court.

Needless to say, Manchester City's players have good foot skills. They can proudly boast that no team in the entire Premier League has as good a foot skills as Manchester City.

And this group of players is not only technically good, but also creative.

Especially Lin Quan, De Bruyne and David Silva.

The cooperation they occasionally have a flash of inspiration is simply breathtaking. I have to sigh that football can still be played like this!

Compared with the boost in morale of their opponents, amid the deafening cheers at Manchester City's home court, Tottenham's players became increasingly unsure as they played.

They can't figure it out. They can obviously compete with top teams like Real Madrid in the Champions League, but why can't they defeat Manchester City?

It's not like they haven't studied their opponent's new tactics. When talking on paper, they thought they had found the opponent's flaws, but in fact, when they tried it on the court, they realized that all the tricks they thought of were useless!

In the 70th minute, Manchester City's two midfielders completed the connection. Gundogan assisted De Bruyne and scored a goal, extending the score to 4:0.

A big victory is over. The only suspense now is that there are more than 20 minutes left before the end of the game. Can Manchester City continue to score before the end of the game?

The answer is yes!

In the 80th minute, Sane, who came off the bench, received an assist from Jesus, who also came off the bench, and scored Manchester City's fifth goal!

In stoppage time, Eriksen scored a goal in a sports battle, setting the score at 5:1.

In the end, Manchester City, playing at home, won a hearty victory at their home court with a score of 5:1, extending their winning streak to 16 games and once again shattering all expectations from the outside world.

Tottenham can't stop Manchester City's winning streak.

After watching this game, the news media and fans were sighing and curious, where is the upper limit of this Manchester City team?

There is still no game played in the first half of the season, and Manchester City's points have accumulated to 52 points, which is simply terrifying!

On December 23, Manchester City continued to play at home. With Lin Quan scoring twice, Aguero and De Bruyne scoring one goal each, they defeated Burns 4:0 and won 17 consecutive victories. , and even increased his points to the terrifying height of 55 points!

55 points at half-time, not to mention in the history of the Premier League, even in the entire five major leagues, is like an explosion.

The only one to achieve this achievement was Barcelona in the 2012-2013 season. In La Liga that season, they set a La Liga record of 55 points in the half-season, which was also the highest record in the history of the entire five major leagues.

There are few teams in the Bundesliga. Even if they win all 17 rounds, they will only have 51 points.

As for Ligue 1 and Serie A, the records are respectively 51 points at half-time set by Paris in 2015 and 52 points set by Juventus in the 2013-14 season. There is still a big gap between the 55 points.

For Guardiola and his team, the right to record something is the icing on the cake, and it's nice to have it, but it doesn't matter if it doesn't.

He will not be jealous of the record Vilanova set in Barcelona. After all, even if Manchester City does win in the next round, it will only tie this record at best and cannot break it.

When the record cannot be broken, it is naturally easier for people to remember the first team and forget the following teams easily.

But it is too difficult to break this record, because the only hope of breaking this record is to maintain a complete victory in the first half of the season.

Even Barcelona and Manchester City, who were as strong as their peaks, could not do this, which shows how difficult it is to achieve this goal!

It is worth mentioning that because Manchester United was defeated by Leicester City's defender and Manchester United's future 'aircraft carrier' Maguire at the King Power Stadium, the points between them and Manchester City were further stretched. The current point difference between the two teams has reached 13 points, a desperate number! (End of chapter)