-[Wow! Manchester City actually conceded first!]
-[Mönchengladbach really is Guardiola’s nesis, hahaha, absolutely true!]
-[I told you long ago, Mönchengladbach is strong, but you didn’t believe it~]
-[Manchester City’s invincible defense has been broken! The match just got interesting!]
-[Guardiola’s plan failed!]
-[The problem is Mkhitaryan and Diego are too unfamiliar with each other!]
-[Who’s to bla? They haven’t partnered long enough!]
After Manchester City conceded, many gloating fans filled the live chat.
Especially a lot of Barça fans, who applauded enthusiastically for Mönchengladbach’s forward, Hahn.
Even though Guardiola was incredibly humble at the pre-match press conference, claiming Barça would definitely be top of the group, and Manchester City could only compete with Mönchengladbach and Celtic for the second spot.
But Barça fans didn’t believe a word from Guardiola!
What’s Guardiola’s ability?
Barça fans know all too well.
With Guardiola’s coaching skills, combined with Manchester City’s squad, whether or not they can win the title is one thing, but from Barça fans’ perspective, they’re definitely Barça’s biggest competitors for the first spot in this group, without a doubt!
The Etihad Stadium fell silent.
The over 2000 Mönchengladbach traveling fans in the northeast corner erupted in loud cheers.
After suffering a 0:6 defeat in both legs last season, at least in this match, they saw hope for revenge!
Captain Kompany felt responsible, apologetically signaling to his teammates with one hand.
Because he feared the opponent’s speed, he didn’t dare to mark too closely, and when Hahn shot, he didn’t dare to tackle rashly. He only extended his foot to block, inadvertently aiding the opponent with a deflected goal.
But in truth, the Manchester City players on the field all knew the bla wasn’t on Kompany.
Guardiola’s three-center-back tactic forced the three center-backs to cover the backfield, aning they naturally had to spread out more than with a four-back setup, that’s one thing;
The second and most crucial point was that Mkhitaryan and Diego weren’t on the sa page with their one-two!
Diego, sowhat annoyed, stepped up to communicate with Mkhitaryan.
But being inherently cold, Mkhitaryan instead accused Diego of not preparing in advance, allowing Hahn to intercept their one-two.
"You’re too weak, you were knocked off the 50-50 ball!"
The live chat viewers, seeing Manchester City players bickering on the field for the first ti, were all amused and entertained.
Defensive midfielder Ranocchia stood up for Diego and went to argue with Mkhitaryan.
Seeing several Mönchengladbach players watching the argunt with hands on their hips and with schadenfreude expressions, Tang Long hurriedly ran back from the front to separate the three.
He first shouted "Shut up, all of you," leaving the three players stunned, then continued, carefully enunciating each word:
"What’s all the fuss? Don’t let them see us as a joke. It’s just a goal lost, we’ll get it back quickly!"
Tang Long’s leadership quickly cald Ranocchia, Mkhitaryan, and Diego down.
All three were experienced, seasoned European football players.
Ranocchia and Diego would not lose their composure over a single lost goal. They were just feeling Mkhitaryan’s cold attitude lacked accountability;
And from Mkhitaryan’s perspective, although he appeared indifferent, he felt very guilty inside but just didn’t want to show it out of pride. He wasn’t really trying to argue with his teammates, rely eager to equalize quickly.
So with Tang Long’s intervention, they exchanged looks, nodded, and promptly returned to the ga.
Chiwo, watching from the sidelines, felt a surge of delight and couldn’t help but applaud loudly, trying to revive the players’ morale, then turned to Guardiola and said:
"Neither Kompany nor Agüero stepped in to diate, but Tang was the first to intervene in the teammates’ conflict, handling it well. This kid showed his leadership as the third captain on the field!"
Chiwo deliberately ntioned this to Guardiola, subtly suggesting that Tang Long should be ranked higher in the dressing room captain hierarchy.
However, Guardiola had a furrowed brow, not following Chiwo’s line of thought.
He had realized that his tactical adjustnts today, at least at the start, had not worked.
"Christian, do you think we need to make adjustnts? It seems the players aren’t very comfortable with the three-back system, and Mkhitaryan’s coordination with Ranocchia and Diego is still a bit lacking. I may have underestimated the situation." Guardiola said softly to Chiwo with his hand covering his mouth.
Chiwo smiled and waved it off.
"Pep, you don’t need to make any changes. Where would you adjust the tactics outlined before the match as soon as the ga starts? That’s not conducive to maintaining your authority in the team! I’m confident we’ll equalize before the half-ti!"
Following this, the two remained silent, but both sets of eyes naturally focused on Manchester City’s number 9 on the field, Tang Long.
Both knew that if soone had to step up at this mont, it had to be a gamble on Tang Long!
In fact, even though Guardiola hadn’t coached many matches at Manchester City, he was very familiar with the players’ abilities, having seen every player’s competitive state sufficiently in daily training.
Although the three-back system was only drilled for two days before the match, and a mistake occurred at the start;
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