The FA Cup is the oldest competition in the world. For a long time, for Premier League teams, the FA Cup has a higher status than the Champions League - of course, as the benefits of participating in the Champions League become more and more Gao, this kind of situation rarely happens anymore, but even in this situation, the FA Cup still has its own special meaning.
The FA Cup is a cup competition that all teams in England are eligible to participate in. In the previous games, basically amateur teams participated. The participation of Premier League teams starts from the third round of the main game, and All teams are drawn in a mixed draw, and luck often plays a big factor in such games. If they encounter weaker teams, the English Championship and League One teams may be able to go very far, while If you encounter a Premier League team in the third round, then the Premier League team may stop in the third round, so the FA Cup is often a hotbed of upsets, although at this time, the kind of weak team that slays the dragon It is becoming increasingly rare, but if a Premier League team and a Premier League team meet in the third round of the FA Cup, the possibility of an upset will be greater.
In this season's League Cup, Manchester City's luck was pretty good. They didn't meet a strong team until they met Tottenham. The teams they met before were basically low-level teams, which allowed Manchester City to easily enter. In the semi-finals, Manchester City's luck in the FA Cup began to decline. In the third round, participating in the FA Cup for the first time, Manchester City encountered West Ham United, also from the Premier League.
This team was the first team that Dick defeated in the Premier League, but it was impossible for Dick to value the FA Cup match as much as he did the league, so in this game, he sent out most of his substitutes, and In the end, Manchester City failed to win this game. They drew 0-0 with West Ham United away from home. The two sides will rematch in the second round two weeks later.
Dick doesn't particularly care about the FA Cup. The main reason is that this game is very energy-draining, and it's not as easy to play as the League Cup. So even though he has to play one more make-up game, Dick doesn't care. The worst is to let the substitutes continue. Go play a game, win if you can, forget it if you can't, the League Cup and the league are what he values ??more.
In this game, Dick played Torres for 45 minutes. It can be seen that Torres's game condition is gradually recovering.
After the FA Cup game, it is not the league, but the first leg of the semi-finals of the League Cup. The Premier League schedule is often confusing because the FA Cup games are always played on the weekend, so there are often two Cups come in turns.
In the next semi-final of the League Cup, Manchester City's opponent is Arsenal. The first round will be played at the Emirates Stadium, and the second round will not be played until the City Stadium.
Although Arsenal currently ranks first in the league and their position is not too stable, Wenger also attaches great importance to the League Cup. After all, Arsenal has never won a championship since winning the league undefeated in the 2004 season. There was no championship in the year, and Wenger began to feel huge pressure. Without Henry this season, Arsenal ushered in an explosive period. Taking advantage of this momentum to win the League Cup first, it can also increase the number of teams. morale.
In this game, Wenger sent out all his main players. The two sides met for the first time this season and Arsenal won a small victory at home. This was also the first time Manchester City lost this season. What is interesting is that Manchester City has lost two games so far this season. The two losses were all in London, once to Arsenal and once to Tottenham.
Dick also sent out all his main players. Torres started for the first time after recovering from injury and partnered with Ribery Di Natale. There is no distinction between home and away goals in the League Cup. You must score more goals than your opponent in two rounds. Versatility can lead to victory, so Dick did not use any reserved tactics during the game, but launched a vigorous attack against Arsenal.
Arsenal's offense has always been gorgeous. After Henry left this season, they began to play more open. With Fabregas as the core, they launched the offense through fast passing and coordination, which made their results this season become quite good. Not bad, but Arsenal has always had a characteristic, that is, they performed very well at the beginning of the season, gradually fell behind during the Christmas schedule, and may even fall outside the fourth place, and then become crazy in the final two months. magic¡¡
The ultimate reason is that Arsenal's substitutes have never been very good. In addition, Wenger's tactics have relatively few changes, and it is easy for opponents to find out. In this way, it is naturally easier for the opponent to be more familiar with him at the beginning of the second half of the season. Arsenal's tactics, the main players' condition declined, and the substitutes could not cope, which led to the decline in performance.
At this time, the condition of Arsenal players has begun to decline. They played three consecutive league games in the previous week. Arsenal's main players were also suffering. They were able to gain some advantages in the first half of the game. , and inIn the 37th minute, Robin van Persie opened the scoring with a beautiful volley. However, in the second half of the game, Manchester City had an absolute advantage at their home court!
The crazy running of the three midfielders caused Arsenal to make frequent mistakes in passing, and Ribery's forced breakthrough on the wing made Arsenal's two full-backs exhausted. Coupled with Torres's confrontation in the penalty area, Di Natale's roaming Arsenal's defense slowly began to loosen up, and gaps continued to appear
In the 78th minute, Torres declared his return as the king with such a goal!
After Ribery forced a breakthrough from the wing, he passed the ball. Di Natale and Yaya Toure's forward pressure allowed Arsenal's defense to recover a little, but the ball drew an arc in the air and flew to the back point. He flew to follow up. Torres jumped up while running, then swung his right foot in the air and accurately volleyed the falling ball!
The ball suddenly changed direction and then flew into the goal close to the near post! Manchester City equalized the score in the second half!
This goal was the last goal of the game. After Torres scored, he waved his fist vigorously and roared loudly.
Although Sturridge performed very well in previous games, and although Di Natale is Manchester City's current top scorer, Torres proved with such a key goal in a key game that in important games, He is still Dick's most reliable striker!
The value of top stars lies in this! Their fame is created by such high-profile performances one after another!
"Torres is the best striker, at least in my opinion."
Dick commented at the post-match press conference that although this was a bit big, it was normal for a head coach to support his players in this way. No one would take it seriously, and even the players themselves only knew how to do it. Be grateful instead of thinking that you are really the top player
However, after these words were said, Torres's previously dim reputation was hyped up again. The media began to talk about the return of the King of Standards, temporarily ignoring the existence of other forwards.
Most forwards don't care about this, but one person is not happy about it, and that is Arsenal's current leading forward Adebayor. This forward has been with Arsenal for several years, but he was previously a substitute. After becoming the main force this season, he began to score consecutive goals, which also made Arsenal's results better than before. Many media are praising his performance, thinking that he has begun to replace Henry's role
Under such circumstances, Adebayor's self-confidence was inevitably a little inflated. While enjoying the praise from the media, he also felt that he was the number one forward in the Premier League. As a result, after this game, people began to praise Torres. Bayo felt unhappy all of a sudden, so he decided to find a reason to make himself the center of attention again.
"Arsenal is the strongest this season. We will definitely win the league championship, and I am going to fight for the top scorer this season."
In an interview, Adebayor said with confidence that such words are not a big statement. After all, it is also a good way to cheer up, especially now that Arsenal ranks first in the league and there are not many Given the advantage, this can undoubtedly boost the morale of the entire team.
But that's the mistake. The reporter asked in passing: "What if we don't win the league championship? You must know that Manchester United and Manchester City have performed very well this season. Chelsea and Liverpool have also begun to recover recently. This season's league championship The competition is unprecedentedly fierce"
"If Arsenal cannot win the league championship, then I will announce my retirement after the season!" Adebayor replied loudly.
This statement immediately shocked the reporter. He asked Adebayor again and again, and Adebayor said that this was the emotion I wanted to express! So the reporter published this interview in the newspaper
Sure enough, the entire Premier League was a sensation, and countless reporters came to interview Adebayor, allowing Adebayor to steal the limelight.
"This fool." Dick couldn't help laughing after hearing the news. This guy really did this. Dick still vaguely remembered that historically, after Arsenal failed to win the league championship this season, Adebayor directly This oath was regarded as nonsense, and in order to divert attention, he said that he would transfer to a team that could win the league championship
"If Arsenal doesn't win the championship, will he really retire?" Marriner asked with some confusion.
"It would be damned if he could retire, so Wenger would indulge such a player." Dick said.
In Dick¡¯s opinion, sometimes Wenger is just too goodWell, after Adebayor made such a threat, he actually increased Adebayor's salary to a weekly salary of 80,000 pounds. However, Adebayor was still not satisfied, and finally made a fuss and joined Manchester City. , and after scoring a goal against Arsenal, he knelt directly under the stands occupied by Arsenal fans to celebrate the provocation
"If Dick is replaced, he will be directly transferred to the reserve team and asked to be more honest. He will wait until the end of the season to put him on the transfer market. If he is not worth enough, he will not be released. He will wait until the end of the contract and then let him go
But since Adebayor is not his player, he naturally doesn't bother to care about it. He has drawn two consecutive cup matches, which has not had much impact on Manchester City's preparations. The next short-term goal of Manchester City is the League Cup, and the long-term goal is It's the league championship. As for the FA Cup, it's not the most important game yet.
Next, Manchester City will usher in the 22nd round of the game, heading to Liverpool to challenge Everton, another Liverpool team. The top three points are now tightly entangled. For Manchester City, any game There is no room for error in the league, and Dick doesn't want his record of winning the league championship every season to end in the Premier League.