Sterling was naturally very happy.
Although, thanks to Tang Long’s guidance, he had developed new skills, using the advantage of his hips, his physical confrontation had greatly improved;
but who doesn’t like picking on the easy targets?
Yuto Nagatomo is by far the physically weakest player on the entire Norwich team, and Sterling is happy to keep playing with him.
In the 65th minute of the second half, another confrontation occurred, Sterling this ti unexpectedly, didn’t use his hips initially, and after drawing Nagatomo in for a complete close-in, suddenly thrust backward!
The thrust solidly hit the Japanese player’s stomach.
Nagatomo felt like soone had jabbed his belly button with a knee.
His stomach churned instantly, his intestines knotted, and a gush of acidic heat surged to his throat.
After staggering for two seconds, Sterling had already turned and slipped by.
"Sterling! It’s Sterling again!"
"Yuto Nagatomo lost in the confrontation once more!"
"Are these two at odds? This is interesting."
"Sterling’s backward thrust was like the traditional martial arts mory of a donkey’s kick, only Sterling’s hips were more lethal than his legs!"
"Sterling handed the ball to Tang Long, let’s see what he decides to do?"
As Tang Long received the ball, Norwich’s midfielder Tete had already closed in;
The other midfielder Mulumbu was blocking his passing line to the center;
At the sa ti, right-wing-back Jarvis and left-wing-back Brady also rapidly closed in!
These four were like four palms closing in on Tang Long’s central area from four directions, seeking to tightly grab Manchester City’s number 9 core!
The speed at which Norwich players closed in was extrely fast, so fast that as Sterling just passed the ball out, Tang Long was already out of Sterling’s field of vision, wrapped in a surrounding circle.
However, the supposedly fierce defense of the Norwich players appeared, in Tang Long’s AI mind, almost as slow-motion set to 0.1x speed.
The human brain can never compete with machines, especially since the brains of these Norwich players aren’t very smart.
They naively believed that as long as they contained Tang Long’s passing, they would sever the connection between him and the risks.
But what they didn’t think of was that even when all lines were cut off, Agüero, the divine runner on the front line, brute-forced a new golden passing line into Tang Long’s vision!
For the first ti in history, when all routes vanished, the sharp movents of the front-line player forced an unprecedented connection for Tang Long!
The ball was passed out, along a bewildering winding path, even brushing the thumb of the last center-back Basson, bouncing to Agüero, who had succeeded in beating the offside trap.
Agüero, a simple push shot could have scored, but at that mont, in his mind, he suddenly recalled Tang Long’s trick shot against Juventus goalkeeper Buffon.
In that fleeting mont, he thought:
"Tang deliberately used a difficult shot to toy with Buffon, aiming to completely break through the psychological defenses of Juventus players, now, while Norwich’s defense is still solid, I shouldn’t just take an easy shot, why not learn from Tang and toy with their defense too, thoroughly break their psychological barrier."
Agüero suddenly accelerated, swiped his right foot to the right and swung his leg!
Just as Rudy had lost his balance and prepared for a save, Agüero shifted his balance diagonally, snapped the ball!
That snap directly passed Rudy, the ball rolled towards the goal!
Center-back Bennett was already speeding back to chase, but compared to Agüero in a sprint, what chance did he have?
A swift slide tackle then, right under Basson’s nose, slid the ball into the empty net.
2:1!
Taking the lead!
Goalkeeper Rudy had prepared for quite so ti, yet ultimately ended up being awkwardly bypassed by Agüero;
Bennett sprinted back to chase, was just about to reach the ball, but was still bested by Agüero as he kicked it into the net first!
Having played almost 70 minutes, intense fatigue and disappointnt surged like waves into their hearts.
Looking at Rudy sitting on the ground sighing, and Basson bent over with hands resting on knees gasping for air, Agüero knew he wasn’t wrong in his actions.
He exchanged smiles with Tang Long, seemingly saying, look, they’ve broken down!
After conceding two consecutive goals, Norwich players psychologically began to collapse.
So mature older players still made their last efforts, but the younger players were disheartened, losing any confidence in gaining points at Etihad Stadium.
The only ones with any fighting spirit remaining were two: full-back Nagatomo and center-back Bennett.
Bennett really looked down on Nagatomo!
As an England hogrown player, he held traditional right-wing conservative views;
For Nagatomo, the short-statured, average-looking Japanese, earning first-tier salary within the team, he felt unfair.
Especially seeing even the shortest player in Manchester City, Sterling, physically overpowering Nagatomo, Bennett’s xenophobic thoughts surfaced again.
Japanese, let show you what physical dominance ans!
In the 82nd minute, Sterling, hesitating on the sidelines, found considerable space.
With the midfield unguarded, he carried the ball cutting directly to the middle, approaching Bennett.
With the previous two examples of Nagatomo, Bennett had mostly figured out Sterling’s confrontation routine.
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