In January 2012, the main tone was Manchester City and Liverpool, and in this month, the two teams had to meet three times, the first time in the league, twice in the League Cup, and after reaching the final four of the League Cup, there will be two home and away matchups.

In the League Cup, Manchester City was lucky, and they didn't meet a strong team along the way, but in the FA Cup, Manchester City's luck was not so good, and they directly met the city's rival Manchester United.

After the league game against Liverpool, Manchester City will play Manchester United in the FA Cup derby before returning to Liverpool, but luckily all three games were played in Manchester.

Van Basten doesn't pay attention to the cup, now the league is so tight, the Champions League is signed, and Manchester City is no longer a two-line battle, so the cup is likely to be abandoned by Van Basten.

On the 3rd, Liverpool arrived in Manchester under the leadership of their king Dalglish for the second meeting of the season, this time with both managers hoping to split the winner.

Liverpool want to get a win, not to mention beating the league leaders can greatly boost Liverpool's morale, after all, Liverpool's current situation is quite not optimistic.

Van Basten also wants to play Liverpool to get off to a good start in the second half of his season, after all, there was only one draw against Liverpool in the first half of the season, and Manchester City are in desperate need of a win to stop the decline of one draw and one defeat.

However, before the start of the game, Manchester City welcomed a long-lost figure, Sun Jihai, the Chinese Sun who played for Manchester City for seven years, was invited by Manchester City to return to the Etihad Stadium.

Li Feng knew about the return of the big brother, and even over the phone, the two decided to have a meal together after the game.

It can also be seen from this that Manchester City attaches great importance to the Chinese and Asian markets, due to the introduction of Li Feng, Manchester City's popularity in the Chinese has risen very quickly, and at this moment it is not inferior to Manchester United, the city's sworn rival.

Even Manchester City has begun to prepare for an Asian tour in order to further open up the Asian market and gather popularity, after all, Manchester City now has the big advantage of Li Feng.

On the field, to the cheers of more than 47,000 fans, the players of both sides officially walked out of the players' tunnel.

Manchester City lineup: 433

Goalkeeper: Joe Hart

Defenders: Clichy, Kompany, Boateng, Richards

Midfielders: De Jong, Yaya Toure, Li Feng

Forwards: Silva, Dzeko, Sergio Aguero

Richards returned to the starting line-up with full fitness, but Balotelli continued to be left out of the squad and even City did not have a regular striker on the bench at the moment.

Liverpool line-up:

Goalkeeper: Reina

Defenders: Enrique, Ager, Skrtel, Glen Johnson

Midfielders: Downing, Charlie Adam, Spearing, Henderson

Forwards: Carroll, Kuranyi

It can be seen from Liverpool's line-up that Dalglish's stubbornness, in addition to the backline, the midfielders and forwards are all players he has brought in, but these players he has brought in have never been recognized by fans and the media.

Even would rather give a player like Spearing who was almost abandoned by the team than let Gerrard play, you know, the soul of the Red Army has no injuries, and even the soul of the team has almost never started more than half of the season, but this also shows Dalglish's prestige in Liverpool, replaced by an ordinary manager, who dares to press Gerrard on the bench.

The misfortune of the opponent is their own luck, and on the pitch, victory or defeat is the most important thing, and other clubs must be happy to hear about Dalglish's stubbornness.

At the beginning of the game, Manchester City launched an offensive, and Spearing couldn't block Li Feng's impact at all, so Manchester City's first shot came from Li Feng.

After Li Feng broke through Spearing, Dzeko desperately squeezed into the penalty area, so that Skrtel and Ague did not have too much energy to pay attention to what was outside the penalty area.

Silva and Aguero also flew on both wings to attract firepower for Li Feng, relatively speaking, Li Feng was much easier, but the game had just begun, and Li Feng didn't seem to find the feeling of shooting, and the ball flew directly out of the bottom line.

Dalglish, who was so easily hit the door by Manchester City, and his ass was still hot, jumped up directly, it seems that old men are like this, the older they get, the hotter their temper becomes.

The training is naturally the Spyring who was easily shaken away by Li Feng, and the former Spearing was also regarded as the hope of Liverpool, but when the hour passed, it was not necessarily good, after being hoisted from youth to the senior team, Spearing suddenly became unable to improve, so that now it has become a dispensable final.

Even the fact that Dalglish was placed in the starting line-up for this game caused a lot of controversy, but the opponent was Manchester City, a player who can only be in the reserve team now actually started in such an important game, and most importantly, the healthy Gerrard is sitting on the bench at the moment.

Dalglish's roar was still quite useful, although it was Spearing, but even the other players did not dare to take it lightly.

So in the following period, neither side was creating any chances, the ball was under the control of Manchester City most of the time, but Liverpool's scrambling was quite active, and even Carroll retreated to defend, so Manchester City never attacked Liverpool's penalty area.

However, it is impossible for Liverpool to maintain such a scramble all the time, otherwise they will not use Manchester City to attack, they are similar, and they will lose for a long time, so after a period of time, both sides have consciously slowed down the rhythm, after all, the consumption on the field is relative.

In the face of Liverpool's aggressive scrambling, Manchester City's attack will also be difficult, and if you want to break through the opposition defence, you must continue to consume more physical energy.

Slowing down does not mean that Manchester City have to give up the initiative, although Liverpool's midfield skills are good, and Charlie Adam's organizational ability is relatively good.

But that depends on who to compare with, as far as Liverpool's midfielder is concerned, he can't take the slightest advantage in the face of Manchester City, you know, Manchester City's midfield combination is now known as the strongest in the Premier League, and there is no one.

In the thirteenth minute, Manchester City broke into the Liverpool penalty area again after ten minutes and completed the second kick of the game.

Li Feng and Yaya Toure fell back and forth near the center circle, Richards on the right suddenly inserted from behind, Li Feng immediately passed diagonally to the side, Aguero understood and pulled Glen Johnson away from the side.

Although Henderson tried his best to chase back, it was a pity that Richards' speed and explosiveness were already better than him, and with the opportunity to take the lead, Henderson could only see the distance being stretched wider and wider.

In the end, Richards crossed and Dzeko headed the ball wide for Silva on the left, who shook off the Liverpool defender to head the header, and Reina was quicker and caught Silva's header with both hands. (To be continued.) )