Football: My AI System Provides Max-Level Predictions-Chapter 645 - 446: Pass to Agüero? No, I’ll do it myself! The first goal of the Premier League season belongs to him! _2
Chapter 645: Chapter 446: Pass to Agüero? No, I’ll do it myself! The first goal of the Premier League season belongs to him! _2
The two talked and talked, and as they couldn’t agree, they unexpectedly started arguing in front of everyone in the meeting room.
Chiwo suddenly brought up past grievances.
"Robert, you said that Walker, Smolin, Cahill, and Danny Rose form a solid defense line, but I don’t agree! Remember the Round of 16 match against Iceland? We let the opponent score two goals in the first 18 minutes of the first half. How can this defense be considered solid?"
Chiwo’s words hit a sore spot, and Mancini instantly lost his temper!
He slammed the table, glaring angrily.
"Are you implying that England’s elimination was entirely my fault?"
Being knocked out of the European Cup by Iceland was a sore subject Mancini didn’t want to touch.
Back then, he left Inter with the titles of the Coppa Italia and the UEFA Europa League, joining the England national team. He led this long-standing European powerhouse into the European Cup, and for a time, it was a radiant spotlight.
Across the entire English peninsula, there was anticipation for this coach from the tactical homeland of Italy, hoping he could lead the England national team to win the European Cup!
However, England stumbled through the group stage of the European Cup, just barely securing second place to advance;
And the humiliating 1:2 loss to Iceland in the Round of 16 blew the roof off the entire English football scene!
Suddenly, there was a surge of public criticism.
"A disastrous moment, we didn’t even reach the quarter-finals!"
"England, with a population of 56 million, yet couldn’t defeat Iceland, with only 200,000 people!"
"It’s truly sorrowful, we could drown Iceland with just one person’s spit, their population is less than one of our cities!"
"At least half of the Iceland team are not professional players, and look at us, any single player has tens of millions of British Pounds worth, isn’t it embarrassing?"
"This year we lost to Iceland, next time we’ll lose to Andorra, after Andorra, we’ll lose to San Marino, and soon thereafter, we won’t even win against Vatican City!"
"Mancini out! Disband the national team right here, right now!"
"What rubbish Italian coach, not even as good as the predecessor Hodgson!"
"Why hire foreign coaches, is it just blind admiration of foreign things? I thought Hodgson led the team just fine!"
"I’ll speak frankly, the best coach for our England national team is always the one who precedes them!"
"I’ve long said, these guys like Capello and Mancini, are just Southern European con men, each one worse at deceiving than the last!"
The English FA was under enormous pressure, but given the three-year contract signed with Mancini, and his recent appointment, firing him would mean they couldn’t afford the breach compensation, so they had to keep watching.
As for Mancini himself, he was infuriated too, and the team quickly conducted a review after that match;
In the following month, no one from the entire first-team coaching staff dared mention Iceland’s name in front of Mancini.
Due to conflicting tactical philosophies, Chiwo immediately verbally resigned;
Mancini, still angry, readily agreed, even saying Chiwo could leave right away.
The meeting ended unhappily.
...
Premier League, first round, Manchester City hosting Sunderland.
The Community Shield is just a warm-up, this optional trophy is something that Guardiola doesn’t really care about; he’s much more focused on the Premier League.
His favored player Diego replaced Mkhitaryan as the starter.
And in the defense line, Navas replaced Sabaleta.
Zhang Lu in the broadcast studio was quite curious about Navas’s switch from winger to wing-back.
"We all say that Guardiola is a magical coach, and I think his magic lies in his ability to always tap into a player’s inner potential."
"Take Navas for example, how old is he this year, almost 31, right?"
"At 31, switching from midfielder to defender, perhaps even the player himself didn’t realize how versatile he truly is. Let’s see if Guardiola really has the Midas touch!"
This season’s Premier League opening game was uniquely arranged.
The opening matches intentionally had Manchester City and Manchester United play simultaneously.
Manchester City was at home against Sunderland, while Manchester United was away against Bournemouth.
Just to create a comparison between the two teams!
Whoever loses gets trampled underfoot by their crosstown rival~
With the referee’s whistle, Tang Long passed the ball to Agüero and started moving forward.
Guardiola had set a tactic for him, ensuring he firmly holds the left wing in the forefront and doesn’t easily retreat to the midfield circle, keeping more of his stamina for attacks.
In the last Community Shield game, Diego didn’t play, sitting idly on the bench for 90 minutes.
But this Spanish midfielder is very keen on learning, constantly observing the opponents’ style of play with his eyes.
As the saying goes, seeing the leopard through the bamboo tube, Diego watched 90 minutes of the match and roughly pondered some common playing styles of Premier League teams.
In the 20th minute of the match, Sunderland habitually shifted their defense towards the side with the ball, attempting to squeeze Manchester City’s attack space.
Diego keenly spotted this detail, getting the ball at midfield and noticing the right-sided defensive players for Sunderland were being pulled away by Tang Long, creating a quiet open space behind them.
Diego didn’t hesitate for a moment, sending a precise long diagonal pass, with the ball flying over Sunderland’s midfield defense, like a precise guided cruise missile, directly to the left front!
Tang Long had been anticipating it, accurately setting his sights on the incoming ball, pressing the ball with the instep of his foot right as it bounced off the ground, controlling it steadily to roll forward without slowing his acceleration due to the stop!
"Beautiful!"
"Diego’s sudden long diagonal pass breaks the rhythm of ground control!"
"Tang Long swiftly stopped and passed, speedily overtaking Donald in defensive midfield!"
"Agüero pulled out, creating a post to support Tang Long!"
"A one-two!"
"Tang Long penetrates inside the penalty area!"
"The angle is narrow now, could pass back to Agüero, but there’s space..."
"Tang Long shoots!"
Facing goalkeeper Manone who blocked the near post angle, Tang Long didn’t pass to Agüero, unexpectedly unleashing a powerful shot towards the close corner of the upper net!
Manone glimpsed a flash of light heading his way, shouted "not good", flailing his arms chaotically, yet touched nothing, only to hear the sound of the ball crashing into the net behind him!
Tang Long clenched his left fist tightly, sticking out a finger with his right hand, shaking it lightly as he rushed to the stands, raising it high towards the tens of thousands of Blue Moon fans in the night sky!
"Tang!"
"Tang!"
"Chinatang!"
The fans roared, this "three cheers for Tang Long," after two months, ignited again at the Etihad Stadium!
Tang Long not only scored Manchester City’s first league goal but also the first goal of this season’s Premier League opening!
Fireworks suddenly exploded in the night sky, with the dazzling flames lighting up the skyline...
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