450: A dream start at the Etihad Stadium

January 16, 2016, Manchester, England, Etihad Stadium, sunny weather.

Today’s starting lineups for both teams are as follows:

Home team Manchester City, head coach Pellegrini, formation 4312

goalkeeper hart

The back four from left to right Kolarov, Demichelis, Otamendi and Zabaleta

Three defensive midfielders from left to right Delph, Fernando and Goretzka

Single attacking midfielder David Silva

Double forward Aguero and Iheanacho

Visiting team Crystal Palace, head coach Tong Yi, formation 4213

Alisson

The back four from left to right Robertson, Laporte, Van Dijk and Carvajal

Double defensive midfielder Casemiro and Kante

Single attacking midfielder De Bruyne

The front three from left to right Salah, Ignacio and Mane

Pellegrini came to the sidelines and looked in Tong Yi's direction, feeling a little uneasy.

He knows very well that this game is not easy to play.

The Crystal Palace opposite is actually very strong, but their team's current defense is actually problematic, mainly because with Kompany gone, no one on the team can step up.

To be honest, this winter, Pellegrini wants to find someone new to replace Demichelis and take over Kompany's class. Pellegrini has also found a suitable candidate, and that is Laporte, who started for Crystal Palace today. He thinks Laporte is very good and very suitable for Manchester City.

Before this game, he also went to Tong Yi and expressed his intention to introduce Laporte.

Pellagrini even contacted Laporte privately. He felt that Laporte would not be able to play as the main force in Crystal Palace. After all, Crystal Palace now still has Rudiger, Ferdinand and Dias. At present, Tong Yi He pays more attention to Rudiger and has endless expectations for Dias.

Therefore, Pellegrini hopes that Laporte can move to Manchester City.

Moreover, Pellegrini also offered Crystal Palace a very high price.

Unfortunately, Laporte refused.

Laporte didn't hesitate at all. After all, he knew very well that Pellegrini's time with Manchester City was over and he would leave Manchester City after the end of this season. Who knows what attitude the new Manchester City coach has towards Laporte? Will there be one emperor and one courtier?

What's more important is that Laporte feels that his prospects in Crystal Palace are also very good, where he is currently the main player.

In Crystal Palace, there are so many games in a season that he cannot finish by himself. In other words, even if Rudiger is the main player, Rudiger cannot finish them by himself. To put it bluntly, Laporte has no shortage of competition opportunities at Crystal Palace.

Moreover, now that he is still the main force of the team, why should he leave Crystal Palace?

Now that Crystal Palace is in such good shape and is about to win the Premier League championship, why would he leave?

And to go to a team as unstable as yours, Manchester City?

Therefore, Laporte refused directly

Pellegrini.

Pellegrini stared at Tong Yi on the opposite side and sighed for a while. This game was very suspenseful.

Pellegrini looked at Laporte in the stadium again. If this guy can join their Manchester City team, their Manchester City team will definitely win this game.

In fact, it was Pellegrini who was worried about Demichelis.

He knew that Demichelis would definitely be wildly targeted by the Crystal Palace people in this game, but he had no one else available except Demichelis.

So, there is no way.

Pellegrini hopes that they can use their offense to crush Crystal Palace in this game and win this game.

Pellegrini looked at Aguero, Silva and Goretzka. He placed his hopes on these people, hoping that you can lead Manchester City to victory in this game.

Boom!

Goretzka, who was at the front of the penalty area, suddenly hit the goal with a heavy kick and whipped the football into the upper right corner of the Crystal Palace goal.

The ball speed is very fast.

Unfortunately, the football was easily saved by Alisson.

As soon as the game started, Manchester City used their home advantage to overwhelm Crystal Palace and got a chance to shoot from the very beginning.

To be honest, this opportunity was good, but it was a pity that Alisson performed bravely.

The Manchester City fans at the scene were very excited and cheered for the Manchester City team.

Manchester City fans are full of confidence in this game. Manchester City will win this game.

Alisson threw the football with a hand throw and threw it directly to the wing.

Mane on the wing received the football, and he immediately passed it back to Carvajal, who was following him. Then he turned around quickly and accelerated quickly behind Kolarov who was coming up.

Kolarov was shocked!

Kolarov is not a player known for his speed. As soon as he saw Mane turning around and accelerating, he became nervous.

Because he is standing a bit forward, Mane will definitely not be offside when he rushes over.

Danger!

Kolarov reached out on the other side and signaled Delph in the frontcourt to quickly interfere with Carvajal who was receiving the ball. He immediately turned around and chased back, and signaled Demichelis in the middle to help cover up the defense.

With a bang, when these three people were not in place, Carvajal did not stop the ball and directly kicked the ball towards Mane who was rushing forward!

"Beautiful! The timing of this through ball was great. It directly penetrated the entire Manchester City defense. Manchester City is dangerous, too dangerous!" Mortensen immediately roared excitedly.

He actually saw very clearly that both Demichelis and Kolarov were somewhat out of position.

Especially Demichel

Si, if this guy rushes out to help Kolarov defend, it means that Demichelis can't go back. If Fernando in the midfield retreats slower to fill the defensive gap, then there will be a huge gap in Manchester City's penalty area.

Moreover, once Mane with the ball passes Demichelis, it will be even more dangerous.

Therefore, Manchester City is very dangerous.

The Manchester City fans at the scene were not blind. They could see the problem at a glance and were so nervous that their hair stood on end. ??

Danger, too dangerous!

"Beautiful! Carvajal's direct pass is also very good, very accurate! This pass is very skillful, both in terms of line and strength. Hiss, Manchester City is dangerous Yeah!" Neville exclaimed when he saw this.

I have to say that Carvajal's pass is really powerful.

Because he passed the football to the best route, Kolarov, Delph and Demichelis could not touch the football. More importantly, it is very easy for Mane to catch the ball. He does not need to accelerate or decelerate at all. He can hold the ball according to the trend, and then he can make moves to break through Demichelis at the first time, and Demichelis simply can't. No defense in place.

This pass made Demichelis the most uncomfortable. He really couldn't get up and couldn't go back. He was very embarrassed in the middle half.

At this time, if Mane accelerated his breakthrough in any direction, there was nothing he could do.

What's more important is that if Mane directly crosses the ball, the huge space behind him will be completely exposed to the Crystal Palace offensive players.

Demichelis despaired at the thought of center Ignacio starting for Crystal Palace today.

Danger, very dangerous!

Pellegrini on the sidelines was stunned when he saw this. Is the gap between Tong Yi and me really that big? This game has just begun!

"Cross! Mane didn't make any extra moves, he just kicked the ball and passed!" Mortensen roared excitedly.

"Danger! Manchester City is in danger. The middle of the road is already empty. Ignacio rushes to the position that originally belonged to Demichelis. Now it is empty. Danger, very dangerous!" Neville saw the rush. Ignacio in the past, he has already begun to mourn Manchester City in his heart.

This ball is basically gone!

Although this guy Fernando immediately chased back crazily to fill the gap that Demichelis rushed out. But it was obvious that it was too late now, and he was left far behind by Ignacio. Moreover, it can be said that Mane passed the ball immediately, giving him no time to chase back. Fernando could only run while staring desperately at Ignacio who rushed in quickly.

Otamendi also rushed over immediately, but obviously it was too late.

Ignacio rushed towards the penalty area for the penalty kick

Point into the space on the left, and the football passed by Mane directly bypassed Demichelis at the front point, and then quickly arced towards the head of the rushing Ignacio.

This ball was passed very accurately!

In other words, the two people passed and ran the ball very well, and both of them were in the best rhythm.

Ignacio, who rushed over quickly, did not need to take off at all. He used the impact of rushing up at high speed to shake his head towards the ball and quickly threw the football to the right side of the goal.

"Throw your head and attack the goal! Ignacio throw your head and attack the goal!" Mortensen roared excitedly.

The Crystal Palace fans who came from afar immediately jumped up and leaned forward, staring at the flying football.

"Beautiful head-tossing goal! Ignacio, perfect!" When Neville saw this head-tossing goal, he was very excited and roared excitedly!

This kind of header without defense is actually not much different from Ignacio's penalty kick.

Ignacio hit the ball very accurately, and more importantly, with the huge impact, the football ball rushed out by him was very fast, like a cannonball.

More importantly, seeing Ignacio diagonally inserting from the right side of the penalty area to the left side of the penalty spot, goalkeeper Hart in front of the goal also quickly followed from the right side of the goal. The left side of the goal.

Therefore, Ignacio directly hit Hart with a backhand.

Hart's body couldn't stop under the huge inertia. Even if he stopped suddenly, he was still moving to the left side of the goal.

But the football flew towards the lower right corner of the goal like a shell.

Hart had no chance at all. He could only turn his head and watch the football fly quickly into the goal he was guarding.

"The ball is in! The ball is in! Ignacio, just three minutes into the game, Ignacio blasted the goal of the home team Manchester City, one to zero! Beautiful head The ball hits the goal, beautiful counterattack cooperation. The speed of this counterattack is too fast, just two or three passes. The efficiency of Crystal Palace's counterattack is really too high! And every link is done to the extreme, it is really too Brilliant. Manchester City deservedly conceded this goal!" Mortensen strongly praised Crystal Palace's offense, and he himself was very excited.

Crystal Palace fans who came from afar almost turned this place into the home of Crystal Palace, roaring with excitement.

And the Manchester City fans were livid!

They really didn't expect that the game had just begun and they were the ones who lost the ball.

Pellegrini on the sidelines also closed his eyes in despair when he saw this. Sure enough, he came towards Demichelis' side. Of course, Demichelis cannot be blamed for conceding the ball this time, it is not his problem. It's about the position of the entire Manchester City team. They were careless at the beginning, and their position was too high, and the Crystal Palace people seized the opportunity. It's Pellegrini's fault!