Super Marshal

Three days after the Manchester derby, Manchester City sat at the City Stadium and ushered in the third knockout round of the League Cup.

The opponent is Cardiff, a team from England's second tier league.

According to the original arrangement, Gao Han carried out extensive rotations in this game, and intentionally used Cardiff to practice the team's tactics. In the first half, he still adopted a three-back tactic, but the midfield became a parallel one. In terms of position, two full-backs, Bridge and Zabaleta, were arranged to start as wide midfielders.

In addition, the front trident has also been adjusted, with Petrov, Jo and Sturridge starting together.

As a result, just three minutes into the game, Sturridge's goal helped Manchester City open the scoring.

After that, Manchester City also firmly controlled the situation on the field. Young player Michael Johnson partnered with Elano in the middle and performed well, but the team's offense never threatened.

After changing sides and fighting again in the second half, Gao Han made adjustments to the lineup, changing from the original three-four-three to a four-three-three formation. The trident remained unchanged. Defender Cole Luka was replaced and midfielder Stephen Ireland was replaced. , to further strengthen midfield control.

But perhaps Gao Han's constant adjustments and changes made it difficult for the players to adapt. Manchester City's entire offense was a bit chaotic, and they were unable to score Cardiff's goal until the end of the game.

In the end, Blue Moon defeated Cardiff 1-0 at home and successfully advanced to the next round.

In the seventh round of the Premier League, Manchester City continued to sit at home and welcomed the London Hammers, West Ham United.

West Ham United's performance this season is not ideal and is currently ranked 18th in the Premier League, but the strength of the Hammers is unquestionable.

Manchester City was at home. In just five minutes, Cristiano Ronaldo dribbled the ball from the left and assisted Benzema to score, opening the scoring for Manchester City.

But West Ham United's head coach Zola also showed a very tough attitude and did not back down because of the strength gap between the two sides. Instead, he learned from Manchester United's style of play in the Manchester derby and attacked decisively, taking advantage of the loopholes in Manchester City's defense. Soon, Parker Assisted Charlton Cole to score a counterattack goal to equalize the score.

When Charlton Cole scored, the Premier League live broadcast camera also gave Gao Han a long close-up, because Parker and Charlton Cole were both players when Gao Han coached Chelsea, especially Parker, who was Gao Han's main force. introduced.

However, West Ham United was a little greedy after equalizing the score, and Manchester City soon seized the opportunity. Cristiano Ronaldo once again exceeded the score, 2-1.

In the second half, West Ham United's physical fitness declined and the situation became even more passive. They had to retreat to their own half. In the 61st minute, Sanchez assisted Benzema to score another victory, expanding the score to three to one. .

In the end, Manchester City also defeated the visiting West Ham United at home with a score of three to one.

The most impressive thing about this game is that Manchester City's ball possession rate was as high as 63%, and the number of shots reached 25, 14 shots were on target, 11 shots missed, and three goals were scored. ball.

West Ham United goalkeeper Robert Green was outstanding.

In other focus games of this round, Manchester United beat Stoke City 2-0, Liverpool beat Hull City 3-1 at home, Chelsea beat Wigan Athletic 2-1 away, and Arsenal beat Fulham 1-0 away.

After the game was played, the Premier League standings remained unchanged.

In mid-week, in the second round of the Champions League group stage, among the four Premier League teams, all except Liverpool lost 2-0 to Fiorentina in an away game. This also made the Red Army's guest appearance at Stamford Bridge Stadium in the eighth round of the league a bit cloudy. shadow.

On the weekend, Manchester City traveled south to Birmingham to challenge Aston Villa, who has the title of Devil's home stadium.

After a week of rest, Manchester City launched a wave of offensive, but Martin O'Neill's team built an iron wall in the half. Only in the 15th minute, Manchester City took advantage of the opportunity of a set kick in the frontcourt. Christie Arnold Ronaldo took a free kick, but it was saved by goalkeeper Friedel. Javi Martinez made a quick wit and assisted Kompany to score.

After changing sides in the second half, Benzema assisted Sanchez to score another victory, rewriting the score to 2-0.

After that, Manchester City never broke through Aston Villa's goal, and finally won 2-0 away from home.

This game was also the first time Cristiano Ronaldo failed to score a goal this season.

But with ten goals scored in eight league games, the Portuguese's offensive firepower is amazing.

While Manchester City struggled to defeat Aston Villa away from home, at the Stamford Bridge Stadium in London, the focus of this round of the Premier League, Chelsea's home game against Liverpool, was in full swing.

The score between the two sides was zero to zero, and the time was ninety minutes.

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Abramovich sat anxiously in the chairman's stand at Stamford Bridge, looking very impatient.

As early as more than an hour ago, he had received the news that Manchester City led Aston Villa 1-0 away with the goal of central defender Kompany. And half an hour ago, he received the news again that Sanchez Another goal, two to zero.

Manchester City has escaped from the Devil's home court, but Chelsea is still lingering on the verge of death.

Ninety minutes later, the fourth official on the sidelines raised a sign indicating three minutes of added time, but the score was still zero to zero.

Abramovich cursed angrily, "What the hell!"

Chelsea really played awkwardly in this game and were seriously out of shape throughout the game.

Scolari formed a 4321 formation. The three frontcourt players were a combination of Robinho, Drogba and Anelka. Arshavin sat on the bench. This should be what Chelsea can do. The strongest lineup ever assembled.

But with such a lineup, at their home court, they were never able to break through Liverpool's goal.

Benitez's targeted tactics in this game were very strict. Players such as Gerrard, Skrtel, and Glen Johnson were very active, which brought a lot of trouble to Chelsea's offense and defense. trouble.

So far, Liverpool has shot twelve times, and Chelsea has one fewer shot than Liverpool, only eleven.

In terms of corner kicks, offsides, etc., Chelsea are not as good as Liverpool, and they even have fewer fouls.

The Blues have few advantageous data in this game, which is that the ball possession rate reached 52%, which is almost the same as Liverpool. There is also the efficiency of shooting, with 11 shots and 7 shots on target, while Liverpool had 12 shots. Only three shots were on target.

The reason why there is such a big difference is that John Terry's outstanding performance on the defensive line is indispensable.

This makes Abramovich somewhat unwilling to accept it, because he can guess that tomorrow there will definitely be media reporters who will use the topic to hype up Gao Han's contribution to Chelsea back then. This is what Abramovich is least willing to hear. Arrived.

"Is the game over there over?" Abramovich pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed.

Assistant Granovskia sitting next to him nodded and said, "It's over, two to zero, Manchester City won."

After hearing this, Abramovich sighed again and wanted to curse.

So far this season, only two teams in the Premier League have maintained a complete victory, one is Manchester City and the other is Chelsea.

Manchester City's performance this season is not satisfactory, especially in terms of offense. After Scolari took over, Chelsea changed its pursuit of possession during the Rijkaard period and played more pragmatically. This made the Blues The scene is not very pretty, but the scoring efficiency is very high. After all, the team's strength is still very dominant.

But in this game, facing Liverpool, it was impossible to survive.

If this game ends in a draw, Chelsea's winning streak will come to an abrupt end. How can Abramovich be reconciled?

Just when Abramovich was about to curse, a burst of cheers suddenly erupted in the stadium.

I saw Robinho dribbling the ball on the left wing and was tripped by the opponent's defensive player. The referee did not hesitate to award a free kick in the frontcourt, while Lampard ran towards the penalty spot and quickly fired A free kick was taken.

The ball fell to Drogba's feet at the edge of the penalty area.

I only saw the Cote d'Ivoire monster using its strong body to suppress Carragher and Skrtel. After receiving the ball, he just squeezed away the two defensive players, turned around and dribbled the ball laterally. After seeing Anelka rushing over, he immediately Passed the ball crosswise to the top of the arc.

How could Anelka miss such an opportunity and volley with a curve ball.

I only saw the ball drawing a wonderful arc, crossing the players in the penalty area, grazing the fingertips of Spanish goalkeeper Reina who flew to save, and crashing into the Liverpool goal behind him.

The referee's whistle for a valid goal sounded the moment the goal was scored!

In an instant, the entire Stamford Bridge stadium suddenly boiled.

Abramovich even rushed out of his seat and shouted into the stadium.

"Damn it, finally a goal! Finally a damn goal for me!"

"Yeah! Eight consecutive wins!"

"Damn bastard, damn Gao Han, come and see, we also have eight consecutive victories!"

The anger that had been suppressed throughout the game finally dissipated at this moment with Anelka's goal.

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One to zero, the final winner in stoppage time, Chelsea narrowly defeated Liverpool one to zero.

Abramovich's shouts in the stands were also captured by the media reporters at the scene.

Although the noise at the scene was very loud, and Abramovich was cursing in Russian, no one could hear what he was saying, but everyone could tell from his uncontrollable behavior that he was Vent your excitement.

Defeating Liverpool, Chelsea maintained their eighth consecutive victory.

But after this game, Manchester City relied on their goal difference advantage to overtake Chelsea and successfully reach the top of the Premier League standings. The Blues followed closely behind. Both teams have won eight consecutive games without a defeat. .

This undoubtedly gave countless British media fodder for speculation.

Everyone knows that Gao Han and Chelsea have been entangled for many years. If Gao Han chose to keep a low profile when he left Chelsea before, then last season, Abramovich directly fired head coach Rijkar on the bus. After witnessing the incident, Gao Han exploded and criticized Chelsea for their lack of respect for the head coach.

It can be said that this incident became the trigger for the conflict between the two sides, and Gao Han's bombardment also put Chelsea in trouble for a time. No one was willing to take over such a notorious team.

In the end, Abramovich used many layers of connections and offered a high annual salary to finally convince Scolari, hoping to use the authority of the famous Brazilian coach to calm the Chelsea dressing room and re-create An iron army to compete with Manchester City led by Gao Han in the new season.

Obviously, Abramovich's goal was achieved.

Scolari's eight-game winning streak gave Chelsea their best start to the league since the cold weather.

It was also after this round that Manchester United and Liverpool showed signs of decline, and the Premier League gradually showed a situation where Manchester City and Chelsea were competing for hegemony.

After the eighth round of the Premier League, the European leagues were suspended again, ushering in two weeks of national team match days.

But just as the national team was gearing up to compete for the last few tickets to the World Cup in South Africa, a piece of news from the United States once again pushed Gao Han to the forefront of the world's media.