For Manchester United fans, the game at Old Trafford on February 10 brought them quite unpleasant memories.
Last season, Manchester City lost all the derby matches with Manchester United. They were beaten to the ground by Manchester United in two games. Manchester United also regained the league championship after three years. This made Manchester United fans even more proud to watch. to the fans in the same city.
However, after this game, this pride disappeared.
Manchester United did not suffer too many personnel losses in this game. Ferguson also brought out all his main players. Their performance at home was not bad, even better than the visiting team Manchester City
But they still lost the game.
Torres once again showed his ability to shine. When Manchester City's overall offense was not as good as Manchester United, he seized an opportunity in the 24th minute of the first half and beat Victoria after receiving a corner kick from Ribery. Dickey scored with a header from behind, giving Manchester City the first goal. Before the end of the first half, he got the ball in the penalty area during a counterattack, and then calmly distributed it to the other side. Yatoure was unguarded and volleyed hard in the penalty area, extending Manchester City's lead to two goals!
Taking a two-goal lead was a bit unexpected for Dick. This can be seen from his crazy celebration when he scored the second goal. In the locker room, Dick quickly adjusted his tactics and made consecutive changes. The last two defensive players stepped up their defense, and the entire 45 minutes of the second half were spent under Manchester City's strict defense. Even though Manchester United scored a goal from Cristiano Ronaldo in the first five minutes of the second half to regain a point. , they did not want to attack, but were constantly defending, defending, defending
Naturally, this approach was extremely despised by Manchester United fans. The boos directed at Dick and Manchester City did not stop throughout the second half. However, amidst such overwhelming boos, Dick and his players supported them until the end. Minutes later, after referee Webb finally blew the whistle to end the game, almost all the Manchester City players collapsed on the lawn, too tired to move.
However, they all had smiles on their faces. Defeating Manchester United meant that Manchester City consolidated its position at the top of the standings for the first time. Although they had topped the list several times before, their lead was usually only one point. , will also slip again in the next few rounds, and this time, they are already four points ahead of Manchester United and two points ahead of Arsenal
"I'm very happy to win this game, which means we have gained more advantages. There are still twelve rounds of the league to end, and in these twelve rounds we need to perform better every game They are all important. What we have to do now is to score points one after another until we win the championship this season.¡±
"About the defensive tactics in the second half was it your arrangement or the players' spontaneous behavior?" a reporter quickly asked.
"Of course it was my arrangement. Yes, I didn't plan to do this originally, but the first half went surprisingly smoothly. Now that we have a two-goal lead, it is normal to use defensive tactics, and facts have proven that , This tactic was very effective, and we won this key game, which is the most important thing." Dick knew what the reporter wanted to ask, and he spoke directly - he didn't care if someone said he played conservatively. , being able to win is the most important thing.
The reporters were really reluctant, but at this time, Dick did win the game. What could he say? Say Dick is conservative? People admit that they are indeed conservative, what can you do? Anyway, it was Manchester City who won the game in the end, and Manchester City did gain enough advantages in the league standings. Manchester City fans are also very satisfied with this. No matter how dissatisfied the reporter is, it will not be of much use
After winning this difficult game, Dick also generously gave the players a day off. There will be no games in the middle of the week, and the next two weekends are cup games - next weekend is the FA Cup fifth In the next round of games, Manchester City will welcome Middlesbrough at home, and the next weekend will be the League Cup final. Their opponent is Chelsea.
In the Premier League, it is very common to almost encounter strong teams, because the Premier League is indeed very prosperous now, and there are quite a lot of strong teams. Four teams participating in the Champions League have entered the knockout rounds, and even four teams have entered the semi-finals. , that is not a rare thing. Although only Liverpool has won a Champions League in recent years, the competitiveness of Premier League teams in the European arena is better than that of the Premier League and La Liga, which is enough to prove the current overall level of the Premier League. It is indeed very outstanding.
A good investment environment and earning power are the biggest conditions for the Premier League to maintain horizontal growth. Modern football is all about money. If you have money, you will have good players, and your results will be better. If your results are good, you will be more able to attract wealthy people to invest. Now ???The Premier League is prosperous because of this situation.
The decline of Serie A is also closely related to the lack of money. Even the top three in the north cannot get more investment. They will naturally plunder the resources of other Serie A teams more ferociously. The strength of other Serie A teams will naturally decline. They will become even weaker. In the past, they could still pick up some foreign resources from the top three in the north. Now, the top three in the north are grabbing all the resources. Naturally, other teams will have no way to survive. In the European competition, they can just mess around. Although the top three teams in the North managed to score a lot of points in the European competition, it is understandable that they could not hold up against other teams and lost more. They fell to the fourth league and may even fall to fifth or sixth. ¡
Dick withdrew from Serie A. In addition to feeling that he had no pursuits, it was also related to the general environment. No matter how outstanding a head coach he was, he could not save the decline of the entire league. In this case, why stay in Serie A? It will be more interesting for strong teams to play in the Premier League more often.
So even though Manchester City has no European competition this season, Dick still finds it exciting. So far he has met Manchester United twice, Arsenal four times, Liverpool once, and Chelsea once, and he will soon be in the League Cup final. Encountering Chelsea, Tottenham, Everton, Aston Villa, and Newcastle are not easy teams to deal with. Such an exciting league really makes Dick feel very enjoyable, and it can also make his reputation even greater. !
At this time, a head coach who has not conquered the Premier League has no convincing results!
It happens that the schedule is not too tight during this period, so although Manchester City's main players have been competing continuously before, they can also usher in a better buffer period.
In the fifth round of the FA Cup against Middlesbrough, Dick sent out all his substitutes. However, after Vassell's trouble was ruthlessly suppressed, Manchester City's substitutes also cherished the opportunity to play. In this game During the game, they went all out and played very well throughout the game. The defense composed of Sun Jihai, Hart, Joel Luca and Cahill was especially outstanding. Middlesbrough was at a loss throughout the game and finally relied on Thanks to Bale's goal after a long run after recovering from injury, Manchester City beat Middlesbrough 1-0 at home and successfully reached the quarterfinals of the FA Cup!
This FA Cup is a graveyard for strong teams. Among the quarter-finals of this FA Cup, there are only four teams from the Premier League - Manchester United, Chelsea, Manchester City and Portsmouth. The other four teams are They are all from the lower leagues, namely Barnsley, Hull, West Bromwich Albion from the English Championship and Bristol Rovers from the English League. In the draw ceremony, there was no point between the popular Manchester duo and Chelsea. Together, Manchester United met Portsmouth, Chelsea met Barnsley, Manchester City's opponent was Hull, Bristol Rovers and West Bromwich Albion fought against each other.
Judging from this trend, the possibility of Manchester City winning the FA Cup this season is indeed not small
After winning this game, Dick began to prepare for his first final in the Premier League - February 24, Wembley Stadium, the League Cup final, Manchester City versus Chelsea!
Manchester City faced Chelsea for the second time this season. However, this time, Manchester City's head coach was still Dick, while Chelsea's head coach was replaced by Israeli Grant.
After the coaching change, Chelsea's performance has been ups and downs for a while, but it has slowly begun to improve recently. Now they have 55 points, seven points behind Manchester City. It is not that there is no chance, and Manchester United The gap between them is only three points, and Arsenal is five points behind. The current Premier League championship situation has changed from a three-nation conflict to a four-nation military chess. However, Liverpool's situation has not improved much. Their current situation The points are only 47 points, eight points behind Chelsea, and a full fifteen points behind Manchester City. With their current situation, it is already somewhat impossible to win the league
"Will Dick win his first title after entering the Premier League? He will also undergo a huge test before then. Chelsea are slowly starting to regain their form, although Mourinho's departure is a big The loss allowed Chelsea to gradually get rid of internal friction. Although Manchester City defeated Chelsea four to three in the previous league, people should know that Chelsea was not in the best condition at that time Of course At that time, Manchester City was not fully adjusted. This final will definitely show a higher level. Maybe there will not be as many goals as that game, but there will be more things to ponder. "
"In coaching Manchester City for more than six months, Dick has shown that he is the best manager in the world. Manchester City is now making rapid progress in the league and has gained enough advantages. Arsenal and Manchester United have already lost. At their feet! And after replacing Mourinho, Grant's performance??Unexpectedly good, now Chelsea has once again become a strong contender for the league championship. Although this game is only for the League Cup championship, we seem to be able to observe from this game the subsequent competition for the league championship. Who will be the biggest favorite! "
"In terms of reputation, Grant is obviously not comparable to Dick. However, Chelsea's strength cannot be underestimated, and Chelsea has a tradition of outstanding performance in the League Cup in recent years. They have entered the League Cup three times in the last four seasons. The final! This will also boost their confidence Such a game is obviously worth looking forward to!"
The media really paid a lot of attention to this game. After the FA Cup ended, they began to discuss this game, and the two sides of this game have some great meanings. Abramovich is setting off a golden dollar in the Premier League. The number one player in the storm, Mansour, was even worse. In addition, there were rumors that Chelsea wanted to introduce Dick as coach. This game will undoubtedly attract more attention!