Super Marshal

Everyone knows that away games in the Premier League are not easy to play, especially for Manchester City.

Why do you say that?

In the 2008-09 season, Manchester City had two wins, five draws and 12 losses in 19 away games in the Premier League.

If only ranked based on away results, Manchester City should be relegated, because it is only better than Middlesbrough and West Bromwich Albion, and even worse than the relegated Newcastle United.

A very important reason why Manchester City was able to finish tenth in the league was that their home performance was very good, ranking third in the Premier League, only behind Manchester United and Liverpool, with 13 wins, six losses, and no draws.

There is no doubt that away games will encounter more difficulties, and for a team like Manchester City that has just undergone a major reorganization and even replaced nine of the entire starting lineup of eleven, it is undoubtedly Quite a difficult thing.

Not to mention, Violent Ben’s home court has never been easy to play.

Gao Han also expected the difficulty of the Ewood Park Stadium, and he was fully mentally prepared for the difficulties in the game. After using five-star confrontation cards and defensive cards to stabilize the team's defense, he had to arrange The team retreats.

Since the offense in the frontcourt cannot open up the situation, then first stabilize the position, organize the passing and control, and then slowly advance forward.

After experiencing the attack at the beginning of the game and the impact of Blackburn's crazy counterattack, Manchester City's players gradually calmed down and began to calm down, especially the midfielder headed by Xavi Alonso, who worked hard to control The pace of the game.

But Blackburn fought wherever they wanted, kept counterattacking, and kept fighting. Coupled with the rain getting heavier and heavier, Manchester City still made many mistakes in passing and receiving. The home team frequently got opportunities to counterattack and created threats.

The first half ended with a score of zero to one, with Manchester City temporarily taking the lead.

But during the halftime break, Gao Han didn't dare to be careless at all. He kept encouraging the players, especially the players in the midfield and backcourt. Gao Han kept encouraging them to hold the ball and pass it with a quick and concise kick. Control to consume the opponent's physical energy.

"All players must run. Wherever there is space or where support is needed, they should run. As long as our passing and control can operate skillfully, the opponent will not be able to grab the ball and their physical energy will continue to be consumed. By then, the game will belong to us."

After changing sides and fighting again in the second half, Gao Han's strategy was resolutely implemented by the players.

Kompany, Xavi Martinez and Zabaleta, Xavi Alonso, Mascherano, David Silva and Modric, the entire midfield and backfield are unified. The idea is to play with the goal of trying to gain possession of the ball.

Blackburn took the lead after the start of the second half and wanted to catch Manchester City off guard from the start. However, Manchester City was well prepared for this. After a fast-paced attack and defense, the game was quickly given up by Manchester City. The pull slowed down.

When the game entered the rhythm of Manchester City, although Blackburn was able to take advantage of the rainy and slippery environment to frequently get some opportunities, it was difficult for them to create a threat. On the contrary, some of the players used too much force in Manchester City's passing and controlling style. Exhausted from running around, physical energy is depleted quickly.

In just sixty minutes, Allardyce took the lead in making substitutions, replacing forward Roberto with forward Di Santo, intensifying the frontcourt press, hoping to cause Manchester City to make mistakes.

In less than ten minutes, Allardyce made another substitution, and forward Gallagher replaced midfielder Andrews to continue to strengthen the frontcourt.

However, as the game progressed, Manchester City's midfield and backcourt became more and more skilled in passing and controlling. Players played at a familiar rhythm and began to gradually enter the state, frequently organizing threatening attacks.

In the 80th minute, Mascherano successfully intercepted the ball near the center line and handed it to Xavi Alonso, who tried to move to the left to Cristiano Ronaldo, but the Portuguese was tightly guarded on the left Defense, have to pass back.

Manchester City took advantage of the situation and advanced their formation into the frontcourt. Xabi Alonso took the ball again. Benzema retreated to receive the ball and transferred the ball to David Silva. The Spaniard made a wonderful through ball. The ball was sent directly behind Blackburn's defense. Sanchez quickly crossed into the penalty area from the right and volleyed with his right foot to score, 2-0!

This goal completely demoralized Blackburn.

Allardyce quickly made his third substitution of the game and continued to strengthen the frontcourt attack and pressing.

For a time, Blackburn had four forwards on the court.

But the game ended with a score of 0-2, with Manchester City playing away from home taking all three points.

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After the game, the press conference room at Ewood Park was packed with media reporters from all over the world.

They came here for only one purpose, and that was Gao Han.

After an absence of five years, Gao Han's first game back in the Premier League was not satisfactory, or it should be said that it fell far short of the expectations of media reporters and fans.

After spending 400 million euros to bring in a group of outstanding stars, the result was a somewhat embarrassing performance at Ewood Park. This really disappointed many people because this was not the Gao Han and Manchester City they expected to see. .

But after winning the game, Gao Han seemed to be in a good mood. He walked into the venue one after another with Allardyce, smiling the whole time.

As usual, the first person to answer the question was Blackburn coach Allardyce, but his answer seemed a bit protracted and was more about explaining why the team lost at home.

Allardyce believes that the absence of main striker Santa Cruz due to injury is the biggest reason for Blackburn's offensive disadvantage.

"If he is here, our ability to seize scoring opportunities will be even higher, and the trend of the game will be completely changed."

Media reporters were hesitant about this, because Blackburn lacked Santa Cruz, but Manchester City also lost a Kaka. Both sides suffered major losses, and even had a greater impact on Manchester City's skills and tactics.

As the winner of this game, Gao Han himself is satisfied with the team's performance.

"Yes, there is no doubt that Blackburn had every right to feel that the result was unfair to them because they created more chances than we did."

After the game, Gao Han got the statistics of the game immediately.

Judging from the number of shots, Blackburn shot a total of 17 shots, nine shots on target and eight shots on target, while Manchester City only took eight shots, which was only half of Blackburn’s number. The number of shots on goal was only five. Scored two goals and missed three times.

Judging from the number of shots, Allardyce said that if Santa Cruz can play, Blackburn's ability to seize opportunities will be higher. This is certainly not unreasonable.

But if you look at the ball possession rate, Manchester City is as high as 58%, and Blackburn is only 42%. The gap is also very different. It can be seen that from an overall level, Manchester City is still firmly suppressing Blackburn. .

It should be said that the problems exposed by Manchester City in this game are basically the same as in the warm-up match. They are all old problems, so Gao Han has been mentally prepared for this.

"Actually, I think my players are gradually entering the state, but we still need a little time. We are a team that has just undergone reorganization. It is impossible to ask us to run into the best form from the beginning, right? ?”

But Gao Han also said that the players worked very hard and many players made considerable contributions.

"Petr Cech, for example, I said, he is the most outstanding and comprehensive goalkeeper among the active goalkeepers. I am proud of his performance in this game."

Facing Blackburn's nine shots on goal, it would have been difficult for Manchester City to escape without the help of Peter Cech.

This is why Gao Han specifically praised Cech by name.

"Of course, we have other players who work very hard and are very good, but our cooperation is not skilled enough and we don't understand each other well enough. We still need more games."

Afterwards, Gao Han specifically praised Blackburn, thinking that the home team had caused a lot of trouble for his team. Allardyce's coaching was very good, so he was embarrassed to praise Allardyce, so he praised him in turn. Got a pass from Manchester City.

After the entire press conference, although Gao Han was the visiting team, he became the protagonist. However, the press conference did not become tense as some media reporters deliberately wanted to lead. Instead, the atmosphere was harmonious. Gao Han and Allardyce finally It’s about getting up and shaking hands and hugging goodbye.

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In the first round of the Premier League, Chelsea beat Hull City 2-1, and Manchester City beat Blackburn Rovers 2-0 away. Both games were very difficult. Manchester United defeated Birmingham 1-0 at home with Rooney's goal, which was also not easy.

Only Arsenal performed the best, beating Everton 6-1 away from home.

This was a hearty victory, with a three-goal lead established as early as the first half. Moyes was unable to do anything about it and could only watch his team being beaten by the Gunners at Goodison Park. Massacre.

It wasn't until the last minute of the game that Saha helped Everton save some face with a consolation goal.

In this game, Cesc Fabregas made two passes and two shots and was elected the best player of the match. Robin van Persie had two assists. Gallas, Vermaelen, Da Silva and Denilson each scored a goal.

Arsenal also relied on this six-goal victory to reach the top of the Premier League standings.

After the first round, Sky TV selected the best player of the round, and it was Illegal Bregas, and the best coach of the round, Arsene Wenger, beat Gao Han and won this honor.

Among the eleven best teams, Manchester City has selected three players, namely Modric, Sanchez and goalkeeper Petr Cech. It is the team with the largest number of players selected to the best team this round.

Arsenal and Manchester United each have one person selected, the Gunners are Cesc Fabregas and Vermaelen, Manchester United have Rooney and Scholes, while Chelsea has only one Drogba selected for the best team.

However, although three players from Manchester City were selected for this round's best team, the media was not satisfied with Manchester City's performance in this round, and their evaluation was not high, or even very low.

The focus of criticism mainly focused on the team's offensive and defensive aspects.

When the famous Guardian reporter Greenwald wrote a column to comment on this game, he mentioned that several Manchester City defensive players were obviously not adapted to the three-back play, especially Harvey, who had always played mainly in the midfield. ·Martinez suddenly retreats to the central defender position, which is very problematic in terms of position selection and defense.

Kompany is right-footed, but he plays left center back. Zabaleta is right back, but Gao Han arranges him to play right center back, which makes the players a little confused.

Another point of criticism is on the offensive end.

Everyone knows that Gao Han is best at attacking, but this Manchester City team did not play a satisfactory offensive. The offense seemed chaotic and the ideas were not unified. Once the ball entered the frontcourt, it seemed to be headless. Like flies, they buzz around blindly.

"Of course, as Gao Han said, every player's position in Manchester City's starting eleven has changed. Many of them are even coming to the Premier League for the first time. They need time to adapt and adjust."

"But I want to remind Gao Han that the Premier League is the most competitive league in the world, and there won't be much time left for Manchester City."

Greenwald's column expresses the majority's opinion.

There is really not much time left for Manchester City.