104: Entering the court with the ball, taking the lead

November 19, 2016, The Valley Stadium, London, England.

What will be held here today is a match in the 12th round of the 2016-2017 Premier League season, Crystal Palace's home game against Manchester City.

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

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

goalkeeper Maignan

Back four from left to right Cancelo, Rudiger, Van Dijk and Carvajal

Double defensive midfielder Casemiro and Kante

Single attacking midfielder De Bruyne

The front three from left to right Salah, Ibrahimovic and Mbappe

Visiting team Manchester City, head coach Guardiola, formation 4231

goalkeeper bravo

Back four from left to right Kolarov, Otamendi, Kompany and Sagna

Double midfielder Yaya Toure and Fernandinho

Three midfielders from left to right: Nolito, Goretzka and Sterling

Lone striker Aguero

As expected by Guardiola and the others, Crystal Palace did have all the main players starting, except for Alisson who was suspended. Even De Bruyne appeared in the starting lineup. It is said that he only had a bad cold for a short time.

Is it a bit risky to send De Bruyne at this time?

However, Guardiola and others do not think so.

This game is so important, will Tong Yi be an out-of-form player?

It's obviously impossible.

This game is a fierce battle. Who can win depends on whose on-the-spot performance.

Guardiola is confident in his team.

Tong Yi was a little surprised to see Manchester City's starting lineup. The central defender Stones, whom Manchester City introduced at a high price at the beginning of the season, did not start, but sat on the bench. This was a bit surprising. Is Kompany in very good condition today? Or did Manchester City spend more than 50 million pounds to bring in a substitute?

Also, David Silva's absence from the starting lineup was beyond everyone's expectations. Is this a backup plan left by Guardiola?

Starting today is Spaniard Nolito.

It is said that Guardiola admired Nolito very much, but Tong Yi knew that this guy was not kicked out of Manchester City and gradually disappeared. Therefore, this position should be a weakness of Manchester City, as well as their full-back Kolarov. He is older and his pursuit and turning speed are not as fast as before.

Manchester City still has weaknesses here.

In this game, Crystal Palace should be able to win.

beep!

At this time, the referee Atkinson blew the whistle to start the game, and the visiting team Manchester City kicked off first.

Yes, the referee of this game is Atkinson, one of the magical four blind players in the Premier League.

This guy's reputation is already well known and there is no need to elaborate.

However, news is now spreading that Atkinson will leave the UK completely after the end of this year.

Super League, I went to other leagues to make extra money. I don’t know if it’s true or not?

After the game started, Manchester City still mainly controlled the ball, but they passed the ball very quickly, and there were still a lot of interspersed runs in the midfield and frontcourt, and Goretzka often dropped deep to take the ball. ball.

It can be seen that Goretzka and Toure are the dual core of Manchester City.

However, doesn’t it mean that Guardiola doesn’t like Toure?

Why should Toure start this game and be the core of the midfield power amplifier conversion?

After all, the conflict between the two had been irreconcilable as early as the Barcelona days, and the quarrel eventually led to Yaya Toure being kicked out by Barcelona and leaving for England. Unexpectedly, Toure had already hid in the British mainland, and he would meet again here the person he least wanted to meet, Guardiola.

It is said that when Manchester City was still in contact with Guardiola, Toure expressed his dissatisfaction to Manchester City's senior management.

Toure doesn't want to work with Guardiola anymore.

It is said that at that time, Toure also claimed that there was no one else but me, and threatened to run away.

And at that time, many media reporters said that Yaya Toure was very close to Manchester United and almost joined Manchester United. However, it is said that Guardiola and Toure had a personal talk before the situation eased.

Toure is staying.

However, Toure also discovered that he had been deceived by Guardiola again.

In Manchester City, just like he was in Barcelona, ​​he was not Guardiola's first choice in the lineup.

This made Toure very angry.

If he hadn't cared about the high salary offered by Manchester City, Toure would have fallen out with Guardiola long ago.

Tong Yi never expected that Yaya Toure would start this game.

However, Yaya Toure is indeed a very good midfielder who can speak as an all-round warrior. His defense is not particularly good, but it is still considered bad. He has strong physical fitness and excellent confrontation ability. He can hold the ball to organize the offense and is a good hub for transitioning between offense and defense. He also has a ground-breaking long-range shot and a strong ability to attack from behind.

He is a very good top midfielder.

However, when he was in Barcelona, ​​Guardiola found out that Yaya Toure was too sticky to the ball, his ball speed was as fast as Busquets's, and his defense was not as good as Busquets', and Yaya Toure was not a Spaniard. Born in La Masia Film and Television Academy. Therefore, Guardiola chose Busquets among Yaya Toure and Busquets.

Of course, Guardiola also has his reasons for making this choice.

In the Premier League, you can also see that Yaya Toure is sometimes too sticky to the ball. You can often see him stealing the ball in the midfield or receiving a pass from a teammate after stealing the ball, then striding forward alone. The ball breaks through the half court and goes directly to the front of the opponent's penalty area.

Of course, when encountering strong teams, the ball is often intercepted midway.

This is Toure's problem, but you still can't deny that he is an excellent midfielder.

Today, it is obvious that Manchester City relies more on Goretzka for offense.

Goretzka organized Manchester City's offense very well. The Manchester City fans who came from afar were very excited and excited. They felt that Manchester City would definitely win this game.

At this moment, Goretzka suddenly passed the football to the side with a diagonal kick.

Nolito on the wing receives the ball.

Seriously, this is a good opportunity. The defense in front of Nolito was empty, and he had the opportunity to enter the Crystal Palace penalty area with the ball and create chaos. This is also what Nolito should have done, but he made a mistake.

Just when he was about to break through and enter the penalty area, the football at his feet was directly knocked away by Carvajal in front of him.

These two people are very familiar.

The two had played against each other many times in La Liga before. Carvajal knew Nolito's characteristics well, which easily destroyed the football at Nolito's feet. On the contrary, Nolito is a bit too much.

But he immediately turned around and tried to chase the football back.

It's a pity that the football has been passed directly to the back of full-back Kolarov by Casemiro behind him.

Danger!

Guardiola on the sidelines jumped up and quickly came to the sidelines.

Just now, their Manchester City team was attacking crazily, and all the players were pressing forward. Kolarov is also preparing to step forward to meet Nolito, giving Nolito one more option to play the ball. Therefore, there is very little space behind him, a large emptiness.

The Crystal Palace people have long been eyeing this large gap.

Before the ball was stolen, Mbappé had already begun to move closer, preparing to take advantage of this large space.

As soon as the ball was intercepted here, Mbappe rushed forward quickly and quickly missed Kolarov.

Kolarov, who was rushing forward, passed by Mbappe who was rushing out in an instant. He immediately stopped and turned around, and it was too late.

Because the football has been passed directly over the head by Casemiro and passed behind him.

Passed to Mbappe who penetrated forward!

hiss!

All the Manchester City fans in the audience took a sharp breath, very nervous and frightened.

"Beautiful, beautiful transition between offense and defense, one-on-one, Mbappe is going to do one-on-one! Opportunity, Crystal Palace's opportunity has come!" Shearer was very excited, and he also stood up.

Because he could see clearly that Mbappe was doing it alone!

All the Manchester City players raised their right hands to signal that Mbappe, who was advancing forward, was offside.

However, the linesman and the Crystal Palace fans could see clearly that when Casemiro passed the ball, Mbappe did quarrel with the opponent's full-back Kolarov, but Kompany in the middle was delayed at the end. , Mbappe was not offside at all.

Mbappe’s speed is extraordinary

Very fast, the speed of football is even faster.

Mbappe rushed over quickly and directly destroyed Manchester City's entire defense line.

Kompany in the middle turned around immediately, rushed diagonally out, and rushed towards Mbappe, trying to interfere with Mbappe.

It's a pity that he is older and older!

Even when he was at his physical peak, he couldn't keep up with Mbappe's speed.

Therefore, it was useless for him to rush out. Mbappe easily stopped the football in front of him, then accelerated sharply and quickly headed towards Manchester City's penalty area.

Single sword!

This is a large single-pole ball!

The faces of Guardiola and others on the sidelines instantly dropped. He did not expect that the game would turn out like this. Not long after this, Manchester City actually gave the opponent such a good opportunity. It’s unbelievable!

Of course, this also shows that the Crystal Palace is very, very strong.

This transition between offense and defense was really too fast, even a team as strong as Manchester City could not withstand it. This gave the opponent a one-on-one opportunity from the beginning. Hiss... Crystal Palace is not easy to deal with!

Of course, Guardiola's eyes are on the young Mbappe.

This little guy is really unique. Not only is he fast, but when traveling at high speed, this guy's ability to combine people with the ball is also very strong. It does not affect his speed at all, and even Achieving the effect of one plus one is greater than two!

This little guy is really awesome!

Guardiola immediately turned his head and looked at Tong Yi on the other side. He was really surprised. Why is this guy always able to unearth supernovas with such great potential and such high quality? And what's even more incredible is that he didn't fail even once.

This is too science fiction and too unbelievable!

Danger, Manchester City is really dangerous!

Bravo attacked in front of the goal and immediately rushed towards Mbappe who was playing the ball. He wanted to put enough pressure on the young Mbappe. He believed that he could handle Mbappe.

Boom!

But at this moment, Mbappe, who was running at high speed, suddenly shot out!

This was beyond everyone's expectations!

Because this guy got a big one-shot opportunity at this time, according to common sense, he should have entered the penalty area with the ball and completed the shot in a more secure way. But now this guy just shoots right outside the penalty area. Isn't this a bit too casual?

However, the effect of this ball is very ideal!

Bravo who rushed out was obviously unexpected, and his reaction was a beat too slow. The quality of Mbappe's running shot was very high. The football rolled quickly past Bravo who fell down on the turf, and then jumped straight into the Manchester City goal from the far lower corner of the goal.

In the 5th minute of this game, Crystal Palace, playing at home, took the lead.

It was Mbappe who scored the goal!