Football: My AI System Provides Max-Level Predictions-Chapter 654 - 452: Smooth and Flowing, A Feast of Possession! Guardiola Style Manchester City Perfectly Interprets the Art of Football!
Chapter 654: Chapter 452: Smooth and Flowing, A Feast of Possession! Guardiola Style Manchester City Perfectly Interprets the Art of Football!
Just two minutes into the game, Stoke City’s right-back Badley was pressured into a corner by Tang Long.
Seeing Tang Long’s aggressive approach, he didn’t dare to dribble and hastily cleared the ball with a big kick towards the front field.
By a twist of fate, the ball landed right inside Manchester City’s penalty area!
Arnautovic, leaning against Stones, calculated the ball’s landing point and kept backing up until his body entered the penalty area, then stopped, smugly thinking, "Watch me toy with you in the box."
For a big center forward like Arnautovic, holding the ball in the opponent’s penalty area is extremely threatening.
This means that the bridgehead has reached deep into enemy territory, and the defenders in the box are all cautious, afraid of committing a foul and giving away a penalty, so the center forward has more space to make moves than outside the box.
However, Stones naturally wouldn’t let his opponent steady himself easily, so he pressed close to Arnautovic.
Arnautovic, influenced by the previous experience of Eevee dominating Stones, couldn’t wait for Stones to come into his body, making it easier for him to bump him away, and the two got entangled with their arms.
Unexpectedly, just as Arnautovic was about to use his shoulder strength, his whole body suddenly stumbled, and a huge force pulled him to the ground!
Even though he got pulled down, Arnautovic was overjoyed in his heart. He quickly let out a miserable cry, rolled on the ground, "Foul, foul!"
The Manchester City players were taken aback, thinking that Stones was indeed too inexperienced, being handled by Eevee before, and now at the start being handled by Arnautovic. And this is an away game, giving away a penalty at the beginning, what should they do?
Tang Long, who was still in the opponent’s half, couldn’t clearly see the situation in the distance and felt a chill in his heart.
But the referee, with a whistle in his mouth, hesitated for two seconds but then extended both arms to signal the game to continue!
The Stoke City players were displeased, and several of them rushed to the referee asking for an explanation.
"There was pulling, referee!"
"Such an obvious foul in the penalty area, aren’t you going to do anything?"
"Penalty, it definitely was a penalty!"
But the game continued, the football was still rolling, and the defensive midfielder Ranocchia, quick-eyed and quick-legged, hooked the ball away from Arnautovic lying on the ground and, amidst the opponent’s players complaining to the referee, took big strides forward!
By the time the opponent’s midfield regathered themselves, he had already dribbled to near the center circle!
Sane, who is not fond of tracking back, still hung out on the flank, and though his defense was not proactive, he became the most advantageous attacking point in this defensive and offensive turnover.
Ranocchia nudged the ball with his right foot, passing it to the parallel Diego;
This pass seemingly slowed down the counterattack but actually sped it up!
Diego, facing the ball coming from the left and right, didn’t stop it, instead whipping it while turning sideways!
Just like a cruise missile, the ball crossed half the field accurately to land at the feet of right winger Sane.
Sane’s strength lies in his dribbling down the flank, he moved towards the center lane, compressing the opponent’s formation still in their half slightly, then suddenly sidestepped at a 45-degree angle and burst towards the side of the penalty area!
Agüero, by the front point, drew away a center-back, while Sane lofted a high ball towards the back post, and Tang Long precisely judged the landing spot. Moving like a rabbit, he suddenly circled behind Stoke City’s full-back Badley, jumped up, arched his back, and headed the ball towards the goal!
It’s said that the best weapon in the world is speed, but for Tang Long’s header, the ball was not fast; he just lightly brushed the side of his forehead, using the other’s strength, and the ball carried an outward curve, bouncing and striking into the bottom corner on the inside of the goal!
"1-0! Tang Long breaks the deadlock for Manchester City!"
"The match has only been underway for 2 minutes and 10 seconds!"
"From when Arnautovic fell to Tang Long’s goal, only ten seconds have passed!"
"Huh? Something seems to happen on the field?"
"Arnautovic rushes at the referee! Other Stoke City players surround them!"
"A violent jeering erupts in the stadium!"
Arnautovic shouted at the referee, scolding him for being blind, how could he not call such an obvious foul, and had his teammates not quickly pulled him back at the last moment, the Austrian almost wanted to punch the referee to vent his anger.
Stoke City’s manager Mark Hughes was also furious, first gesturing towards the referee, then turning to shout at the fourth official.
Guardiola covered his ears with both hands, "Noisy, Hughes, you’re really too noisy!"
Meanwhile, assistant coach Chiwo was smiling with his arms crossed, looking confident and self-satisfied, thinking, "Not bad, Stones is quite perceptive."
Just now, indeed, Arnautovic was pulled down by Stones in the penalty area.
Logically, that should have been a penalty!
However, the biggest difference between Italian defenders and English defenders is that the former is better at using their hands, knowing how to "cleverly" use their hands to restrict forwards, especially tall forwards.
"Stones, when you pull a forward to the ground, pay attention to two points."
"Firstly, when he falls, you must immediately follow down too, so don’t be foolish standing there when he has already fallen."
"Secondly, when the forward is about to fall, remember to immediately let go, don’t keep holding on when he’s down, let the referee clearly see you weren’t holding the whole time, you only held halfway!"
This was Chiwo’s effort in the past week to address Stones’ weaknesses, filling gaps and teaching him some unique techniques of Italian defenders.
From Rome to Inter Milan, Chiwo played in Serie A for a full eleven years, spending the peak and the end of his career in Serie A.
He could be considered half an Italian, and his understanding of football is deeply influenced by Italian football culture~
Subtle movements, clever Italian defenders always use various little actions.
These smart little actions allow them to gain an advantage and remain undefeated when facing physically stronger and faster forwards, while hovering on the edge of fouling, making the referees reluctant to blow the whistle.
If this was outside the penalty box and pulled Arnautovic down, the referee might have given a free kick;
but inside the penalty area, the referee just wouldn’t call it.
The main strategy is to walk in the grey area!
So Stoke City got nothing, while Arnautovic and Mark Hughes, in their excessive excitement, each received a yellow card from the referee, jumping up and down in anger yet helpless.
Manchester City’s players were both surprised and delighted, feeling they had scored a goal for nothing.
Only Tang Long and Ranocchia ran towards Stones to congratulate him.
"Well done, Stones, that’s how you handle that Austrian!"
Both had ventured in the Serie A, especially Ranocchia, who, after a little thought, saw the subtlety in Stones’ pulling move and couldn’t help but praise him sincerely!
Stones glanced at Chiwo off the field, who gave him a thumbs up from afar, boosting Stones’ confidence immediately as he thought to himself:
"Coach Chiwo is right, we English defenders really play too honestly!"
...
Arnautovic is a very emotional player.
This opening "misjudgment" immediately broke his emotions.
In the ensuing game, this top scorer of Stoke City from last season fell into a curse of trying too hard to prove himself.
As soon as he got the ball, he started firing from the perimeter!
Bang bang bang, shots like grenades hit the stands continuously.
His partner Bo Yang was quite dissatisfied, why aren’t you following the routine deployment we trained for, feeding me the ball?
But Arnaut shot back with one sentence: "You haven’t scored as many goals as I have, what do you know?"
Bo Yang, disheartened, simply decided to ignore him.
The connection between Bo Yang and Arnaut was Stoke City’s stable offensive strategy last season.
Once their connection is severed, Stoke City’s attack immediately collapses.
Manchester City quickly took over the match.
In the 32nd minute of the first half, from a goal kick by Bravo, Manchester City demonstrated the possession-based football style advocated by Guardiola.
Even with the opponents pressing close, Bravo calmly took a short goal kick, lightly passing the ball to the nearby Sabaleta.
Sabaleta stopped and passed, quickly slanting the ball to Gundogan waiting in midfield.
Gundogan, after receiving the ball, made a slight adjustment, observed the field situation, and seeing Stoke City’s defenders closing in, feinted past his opponent and passed the ball back to Ranocchia.
Ranocchia and Diego executed a simple one-two maneuver, the former setting, the latter moving, successfully getting rid of Inbula who was pressing forward!
Then a long pass to Robertson sprinting down the left wing.
This match, Guardiola started 22-year-old Robertson, partly to rest 31-year-old veteran Kolarov, and partly because of Robertson’s speed and impact down the flank!
After receiving the ball, he aggressively advanced along the sideline, with Stoke City’s defenders quickly closing in, causing the team’s formation to shift, making their positions unbalanced.
Nevertheless, Robertson, in his Manchester City debut, seemed slightly cautious and chose not to force a breakthrough, but instead observed his teammates in the middle and decisively crossed the ball to the midfield.
The ball arrived at Diego’s feet, and the Spaniard, relying on his excellent personal ability, engaged in several one-touch passes with Agüero and Tang Long at the edge of the penalty area, shattering Stoke City’s defense into chaos.
The ball swiftly moved between them, causing Stoke City’s defenders to shift their focus back and forth, not knowing whom to mark.
After several rounds of seemingly casual but highly threatening passes, Diego seized the opportunity, suddenly changed the pace, and threaded a through ball!
Tang Long, like an arrow from the bow, suddenly emerged in the crowd, receiving the ball with no one within three meters!
The offside trap was successfully broken!
No one understands the offside line better than Tang Long because he doesn’t need to rely on his eyes to judge!
Facing the oncoming goalkeeper Jiwen, he calmly observed the goalkeeper’s position and then executed a delicate chip shot, the ball drawing a beautiful arc, gliding over Jiwen’s head and gently landing in the far corner of the goal.
The entire offensive process was smooth and fluid; Manchester City, through the players’ tacit cooperation and extensive passing distribution, patiently advanced from the backfield step by step to the front, finally completing this brilliant goal, perfectly epitomizing the allure of Guardiola’s extreme possession-based football!
"Scored again, it’s Tang Long once more!"
"Every pass hit the mark, every run was intelligent, as if the entire field was under their control!"
"And Tang Long’s offside-breaking goal pushed this possession spectacle to a climax!"
"His goal was effortless and elegant, a calm chip shot, showcasing his confidence as a striker!"
"At this moment, Manchester City’s possession football blooms with resplendent brilliance in Stoke City’s home court!"
Leading 2-0 in the first half, Mark Hughes’ plan to strike Manchester City hard at home and hold up Manchester United’s title rival has turned into a joke.
He knows that the only thing he can do now is to avoid a disastrous defeat at home, saving himself from facing difficulties with the management and fans.
In the 52nd minute of the second half, the still emotionally unstable Arnautovic was substituted off.
Chiwo stepped forward to try and console his former teammate but was unceremoniously pushed away, "Get off, don’t touch me! The referee ruined the match!"
"Don’t get angry, mate," Chiwo smiled, "you left the Serie A too soon, you should’ve stayed and played a few more years there."
This match, in theory, no longer held any suspense, and entered into garbage time.
However, a dramatic scene unfolded in the 66th minute...
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