Chapter 141: Manchester City's Offensive

From the very beginning, the pace of the game was very fast.

Playing at home, Manchester City had the power to attack first.

Pep Guardiola stood on the sidelines with his chest crossed. His most important job during this time has been to study Manchester United and try to find out the weaknesses of this team.

It is undeniable that Manchester United is a team that is not too commendable in terms of tactical play. Ancelotti arranged a formation that was very suitable for Li Qingshan's play, and then launched an offensive with Li Qingshan as the core. The addition of Pogba has made Manchester United's offensive ability even better, it can be said that Manchester United's team relies on Li Qingshan's super individual ability, theoretically speaking, as long as Li Qingshan is frozen, Manchester United is actually not so strong - the two games that Li Qingshan missed this season proved this.

But freeze Li Qingshan?

Countless teams against United have tried to do just that, but without exception, they have all failed – otherwise United would not have won the treble in such a strong manner last season.

Pep Guardiola is probably the first coach in European football to play against Li Qingshan. As early as when Li Qingshan played in the Chinese League, Guardiola in the Club World Cup had learned Li Qingshan's power.

With David Silva missing the game due to injury and missing the engine of Manchester City's most important attacking attack, Pep Guardiola could only send four defenders to try to press with high intensity and play the attacking ability of the four defenders.

Sergio Aguero is a striker with a strong finishing ability, but Guardiola did not focus on Aguero in this game, Aguero's foot skills and passing footwork are good, so Guardiola hopes that Aguero can play a role as a central striker and provide opportunities for Manchester City's four forwards to shoot.

Yaya Toure and De Bruyne sit in the middle, and Sane and Sterling on both sides are quite fast and have very sharp breakthrough ability.

Even in the absence of David Silva, Manchester City still have a rather luxurious squad.

As soon as the game began, Manchester City began to put pressure on Manchester United's penalty area.

Pep Guardiola wants to attack instead of defending! Although Pep Guardiola used much the same approach in the first few meetings with Manchester United, it always didn't seem to turn out well. Guardiola concluded afterwards that Li Qingshan's state in these games was unusually good, and when Manchester United was about to lose, Li Qingshan always helped Manchester United score goals at critical moments to reverse the game.

It's not that my tactical thinking is wrong, it's when I just met the opponent's state. If it is a normal state, if Manchester City leads 2-0 or 3-0, the probability of the opponent trying to get back is actually not high.

Pep Guardiola has decided to stick to his tactics, he wants to attack Manchester United at home!

Li Qingshan is very powerful, this season's newly introduced Pogba has gradually integrated into Manchester United's system, but after Pogba joined, Manchester United's offensive strength is stronger, but in fact, relatively, Manchester United's defense is actually weaker than last season, Pogba's involvement in the attack is quite high, and Pogba is not too focused on defensive players, Manchester United's defensive three midfielders last season, after Pogba joined, it is actually equivalent to two and a half.

Herrera and Fellaini can't take care of such a wide field, because Guardiola is in this position, using four people to play against Manchester United, even if Pogba returns, Manchester United is only three against four, and if Mata and Di Maria return, then Manchester City's two fullbacks will press up, and Guardiola requires a numerical advantage in the midfield at all times.

The game started as Pep Guardiola had predicted, with United's defence porous, Valencia not being pure full-backs and Marouane Fellaini and Herrera not defending as well as one might think. When City's four defenders plus Sergio Aguero pressed on either side, United had to retract their formation so as not to be taken advantage of by City.

And Li Qingshan.

At this time, Li Qingshan was surrounded by three people, Kompany, Otamendi, Fernandinho, the three of them formed a triangle around Li Qingshan, and Li Qingshan was never allowed to have a chance to catch the ball and stop the ball.

When Manchester City mobilised more attacking forces to participate in the attack, the pressure on Manchester United's defence was also quite high.

In the seventh minute of the game, Manchester City had the best chance of the game.

Kevin De Bruyne pulled the attack down the middle, and Yaya Toure pressed forward to help De Bruyne share the pressure of the defence - Fellaini had to follow Yaya Toure closely.

Kevin De Bruyne faced Herrera one-on-one in the middle, and the Belgian didn't choose to force a breakthrough, but after taking a few steps to the right in the middle, he sent a through ball into the right rib!

"Beautiful!! A straight plug like a scalpel!! Andy Gray exclaimed.

Many believe that among the new generation of midfielders, Kevin De Bruyne will be the leader of the midfield. Even if Pogba has a transfer fee of 100 million, there are still many people who believe that De Bruyne is a better midfielder than Pogba.

"He's the next Iniesta, and he might even have a higher ceiling than Iniesta." Gary Neville has a very high opinion of De Bruyne.

The pass was cut between the centre-back and the left wing-back, between Marcos Rojo and Sandro.

Right wing-back Sabaleta stepped up with the assist to get the ball.

Sabaleta stopped the ball and by this time Sandro was already in place.

However, the crisis of Manchester United has not been resolved, De Bruyne directed Sterling to the middle, he himself came to the right, and the two completed a switch!

Shabaleta again passed the ball back to De Bruyne.

Yaya Toure was in an awkward position, which was supposed to be his job, but now it was all done by De Bruyne. De Bruyne is younger than him and more athletic than Yaya Toure, so it's no wonder that Yaya Toure is difficult to compete with De Bruyne in terms of position.

Yaya Toure originally wanted to go to the side to pick up, but after seeing De Bruyne go to that position, Yaya Toure had to continue to walk into the penalty area, at least Yaya Toure is still quite tall.

De Bruyne cut inside with the ball and made a feint to get past Herrera before sweeping the ball into the box with his right foot.

Raheem Sterling received the ball in the box and fired a right-footed shot that flew wide.