Super Marshal

For Gao Han and Manchester City, January's games are more about adjustments.

There is no winter break in the Premier League, players are under great pressure to compete, and the high-cold tactics require high physical exertion, so appropriate adjustments and rotations must be made in January.

In the third round of the FA Cup in early January, Gao Han directly played with a full lineup of substitutes and young players, and challenged Middlesbrough away. The result of the game was 1-0, and Manchester City won away.

A week later, in the 21st round of the Premier League, Manchester City's main players defeated Blackburn 5-0 at home after a full rest.

Allardyce's team was completely defeated in this game. Not only did they only get 31% of the ball possession rate, but they only had three shots on goal. The performance was so bad that Allardyce himself was disappointed. I couldn't stand it at all. The post-match press conference frequently praised Gao Han and Manchester City's performance.

Kaka scored twice in this game, Benzema passed and shot, Sanchez assisted twice, Cristiano Ronaldo did not score, but Sturridge, who came on the bench, scored one. ball.

Three days later, Manchester City ushered in the League Cup semi-finals against Aston Villa.

Gao Han once again arranged a semi-main version of the substitute lineup to play, and the result was a 1-0 away victory. Sturridge, who partnered with the Brazilian forward Ruo Ruo, scored a goal, and his performance was impressive.

Over the weekend, in the 22nd round of the Premier League, Manchester City challenged Everton away.

Just ten minutes into the game, Manchester City took the lead in scoring with Sanchez. Since then, they have been controlling the game smoothly, but they have never been able to break through Everton's goal.

Until the 78th minute of the second half, David Silva assisted Cristiano Ronaldo to score another victory.

In the end, Manchester City took away three points from the away game 2-0.

In mid-week, the second leg of the League Cup semi-finals ushered in.

Sturridge has performed well in several consecutive games. Gao Han arranged for him to start this time and serve as the team's center. As a result, Sturridge performed well and opened the scoring for the team in the 30th minute of the first half.

Before the end of the first half, the Aston Villa defender committed a serious foul and was sent off by the referee. The game completely entered the rhythm of Manchester City. In the second half, they kicked and kicked four goals in a row, and finally defeated Aston Villa 5-1. Donvilla successfully advanced to the final with a total score of 6-1.

In another game, Manchester United also successfully eliminated Blackburn Rovers and met Manchester City in the League Cup final.

After finishing the League Cup in mid-week, Gao Han continued to play in the FA Cup with the same lineup on the weekend, and defeated Scunthorpe 4-2 away from home, successfully advancing to the next round. Sturridge, Ruo and Petrov formed All three tridents scored goals.

Three days later, Gao Han rotated the team's lineup again and challenged Stoke City away from home.

This is the twenty-third round of the Premier League. Manchester City just won a seven-goal victory at home a month ago, but this time Gao Han did not arrange a full lineup. As a result, Stoke City had an advantage at home at the beginning and won in eighth place. Minutes, using a corner kick, Shawcross assisted his teammates to score.

But then the game was once again incorporated into Manchester City's rhythm. Modric assisted Cristiano Ronaldo to score and equalized the score in the 32nd minute of the first half.

In the second half, the side changed sides and Manchester City continued to increase their offensive. In the 56th minute, Shawcross committed a serious foul while defending Cristiano Ronaldo and was sent off by the referee with a red card. After that, Gao Han aggressively attacked and used skills With the support of Ka, he scored two goals in a row to overtake the score.

In the end, Manchester City reversed Stoke City 3-1.

Over the weekend, in the twenty-fourth round of the Premier League, Manchester City welcomed bottom-ranked Portsmouth at home.

Although Gao Han still adopted a large number of rotations in this game, he still defeated Portsmouth cleanly 5-0 and won a hearty victory at home.

Entering February, Manchester City ushered in the 25th round of the Premier League and challenged Hull City away.

Just three minutes into the game, Manchester City announced that they had conceded a goal, but soon Benzema equalized the score for the Chinatown team.

After a change of sides in the second half, another goal from Cristiano Ronaldo and Modric helped Manchester City reverse Hull City 3-1 and win another three points.

Three days later, in the twenty-fifth round of the Premier League, Manchester City sat at the City Stadium and welcomed Bolton.

After the coaching change, Bolton's performance improved a lot, successfully escaping the relegation zone and ranking 15th in the Premier League. However, they still resented the cold Manchester City because they lost to Manchester City at home in December last year. Bolton's former manager Gary Megson will be sacked.

But Manchester City gave Bolton a hard lesson from the beginning of the game and told them that this is the City Stadium.

Manchester City took the lead in just three minutes and scored again before the end of the first half.

But in the second half, after changing sides and fighting again, Manchester City's defense once again exposed problems, and Bolton seized the opportunity to counterattack successfully, 2 to 1.

But Manchester City quickly adjusted and scored three goals in a row, eventually beating Bolton Wanderers 5-1 at home.

Continuous victories have boosted the morale of Manchester City. However, since the winter break, the team's adjustments and rotations have fully exposed various problems.

For example, during the summer transfer, Gao Han created a strong main lineup for Manchester City, and the integration was very good, but there were obvious problems with the substitutes and bench players, especially many players who were unable to meet Gao Han's requirements.

Needless to say, David Dunn in the defense is also a problem with the character of Stephen Ireland in the midfield, especially his failure to play the main role, making him a vague thorn in the locker room. Brazilian midfielder Elano The situation of high cold is also a focus of attention.

Young player Michael Johnson was vigorously trained by Gao Han, but judging from his performance in many games, he is still not qualified to be the main player. Gao Han had to let Mascherano return to the midfield many times.

But as a result, some problems were exposed in the defense line.

On the contrary, it is the striker. The main lineup composed of Cristiano Ronaldo, Benzema and Sanchez is indeed very strong. Sturridge's performance and progress this season are also obvious to all. Petrov is not a big problem as a substitute. If the Brazilian forward and England native winger Adam Johnson are reassuring enough.

Even though Manchester City is currently on a winning streak, there are actually many problems exposed. It's just that the team's strong offensive power has covered up many problems, causing many problems to not appear, but it does not mean that they do not exist.

If these problems are not solved well, there may not be big problems this season, but next season, when the team fights on multiple fronts, especially in the Champions League, many problems will become very fatal.

Therefore, Gaohan had to prepare early.

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Pablo Zabaleta has been increasingly depressed recently.

Although the Argentinian is always as diligent and hard-working as ever, whether in training or in competition, everyone can easily read the depression deep in his heart from the expression on his face.

At twenty-five years old, he is in the prime age of his career and he is eager to participate in more games.

In the first few months of the season, he was the main player on the right center back of the team. Although his performance could not be said to be outstanding, it was at least remarkable. He was diligent and hard-working. However, with the return of Kaká, Mascher Llano's position moved back, and Zabaleta was squeezed out of the main lineup and completely lost his position.

From the perspective of a fan, Zabaleta has to admit that the three-four-three formation after Kaka's comeback has made Manchester City more aggressive and more hearty, and the three lines are more connected. Well, more reasonable and the game flows more smoothly.

Even as a competitor, Mascherano's performance in the right center back position makes Zabaleta somewhat ashamed of himself, but as Mascherano's substitute, Zabaleta is somewhat ashamed. Not willing to give in.

In the past two months, he has basically been sitting on the bench. While other teammates were joking on the bench, he was paying close attention to the situation on the court, observing Mascherano's game performance and learning from it. Head coach Gao Han’s tactical intentions.

He firmly believes that what Mascherano can do, he can also do.

But the premise is that the team must give him a chance to play and perform.

After a full day's training session, before disbanding, assistant coach Brian Kidd, as usual, announced tomorrow afternoon's squad for the English FA Cup round of 16 knockout match against Southampton. Zabaleta once again Selected.

This does not surprise him at all, because since this season, the League Cup and Cup have not been the main battlefields of head coach Gao Han. Even in the League Cup, in the semi-finals, Gao Han arranged a half main and half substitute lineup to play, let alone now It's against Southampton in the third tier.

The Saints are a traditionally strong team in England, but they are no longer what they used to be.

If nothing unexpected happens, I should still start.

Zabaleta thought to himself with regret that if possible, he would not want to play in the FA Cup, but in the Premier League or even the League Cup final against Manchester United, but looking at it now, the hope is slim.

Just when Zabaleta was a little frustrated and lost, and was about to walk back to the locker room, Brian Kidd walked up to him.

"Hey, Pablo, the boss wants you to come to his office after you take a shower and change your clothes."

Zabaleta raised his head unexpectedly and looked at the assistant coach, "What's the matter?"

Brian Kidd smiled and said, "I'm not sure about the specifics. I'll let him tell you personally."

After smiling and patting Zabaleta on the shoulder, the Manchester City assistant coach turned and walked away, leaving Zabaleta standing there alone, full of confusion. What is going on?

Do you want to tell yourself the news about starting the game tomorrow afternoon?

That's not right. Logically speaking, it should be announced tomorrow morning. How could it be now?

It's February now, and the transfer market has long been closed. Zabaleta is not worried about his whereabouts, but he is still confused about what the head coach Gao Han is looking for.

Full of doubts, Zabaleta returned to the locker room, took a shower, changed into dry clothes, said goodbye to his teammates, and went straight up the stairs to the second floor.

Walking in the corridor on the second floor, you can hear the sound of the coaching staff meeting coming from the coach's office in the distance.

Zabaleta has long been accustomed to this, because after each training session, the coaching staff has to re-meet to summarize and discuss, especially considering that there is an FA Cup match tomorrow.

The opponent Southampton is indeed not strong. Even if Manchester City deploys a full substitute lineup, there is no suspense in defeating the Saints. However, Gao Han and his team are still very cautious in preparing for the game, which makes Zabaleta also I have to admire it.

But this still couldn't calm the doubts in his heart.