Chapter 176 The Premier League Officially Begins!

"Arsenal tried to create an offside trap, but it was a good goal and the linesman didn't raise the flag!"

The on-site commentator described Manchester City's attack very quickly.

“Aguero got into the box and Szczesny chose to attack.

Aguero pushed the ball into the far corner, and the ball hit the post and bounced into the net. 3:3, the score between the two teams was tied again! "

After seeing the long-range cooperation between Lin Quan and Aguero, the Manchester City fans at the scene stood up excitedly, staring at Aguero who was dribbling the ball straight towards the opponent's goal.

They were relieved until they saw Aguero seize the opportunity and score the ball into the opponent's goal.

Immediately afterwards, warm applause and cheers echoed throughout the Etihad Stadium.

For fans who bought tickets, this game was completely worth the price of admission.

Although this is only a friendly match, it is precisely because it is a friendly match that the tactics of both teams are very radical.

The two teams played aggressive football in the first half, and it was very lively.

Although the offense in the second half was not as good as before, the two teams' hard-fought battle in the midfield and the extremely high-quality long-distance pass just sent by Lin Quan made the fans excited.

Maybe they have to be grateful that this is a friendly match. The two teams are not affected by league points and have a very relaxed mentality to play such a high-quality game!

Once they enter the league and worry about scoring points, the tactics of both teams will become conservative, and the football they play may become utilitarian, which may not be as entertaining as a friendly match.

Although it is just a friendly match, winning or losing the game is actually not important.

But whether it is Arsenal or Manchester City, neither team wants to lose.

So, in the remaining time, the two teams tried their best to defeat their opponents.

But they all seemed to be lacking a little luck.

In the 67th minute of the second half, Manchester City forward Aguero missed a solo opportunity.

On Arsenal's side, Giroud's header hit the crossbar and missed the opportunity to rewrite the score.

In the end, at the end of the game, neither team could change the score. After ninety minutes, the two teams ended the friendly match with a score of 3:3.

After the game, Wenger took the initiative to walk up to Pellegrini, hugged his opponent, and said to him:

"I'm so envious of you for having such an excellent group of players!"

Pellegrini responded with a smile:

"The group of talented people at Arsenal are also enviable, and your status in the Arsenal team is not comparable to that of a coach like me!"

Wenger smiled and did not answer.

He is different from head coaches like Pellegrini. He belongs to the old-school football manager.

His responsibilities at Arsenal are not just on-field coaching, he can also intervene in the team's operations.

But Pellegrini is different. Like other coaches in the five major leagues, his main responsibility is to lead the team in training and playing games. The team's football director is responsible for team operations.

So his authority is far less than Wenger.

The position of football manager is a product of the old era of the Premier League.

With Ferguson retiring, there are fewer and fewer coaches holding this position.

Nowadays, Wenger is probably the only football manager worthy of the name.

For a coach, they naturally want the more power in their hands, the better.

So football manager is a very desirable position for them.

But for the club, they don't want a head coach to have too much power.

Especially now, when teams are changing coaches more and more frequently, giving the head coach too much power is not a good thing for the club.

Therefore, they will set up the position of football director to participate in team management and take away part of the authority of the coach.

This trend has become increasingly obvious and cannot even be reversed.

After hearing Pellegrini's words, Wenger didn't know how to respond.

Even he feels that he is a remnant of the old era. Once he retires, the position of football manager is likely to disappear completely and become a historical term.

…

On the court, Cazorla walked up to Lin Quan and apologized:

"I'm sorry, Lin. I tackled you several times when I was on defense. Don't take it personally."

Lin Quan smiled and said:

"Okay, everyone has his own master on the field. If you show mercy, then you will be a little sorry for the salary you get!"

Cazorla nodded repeatedly, look at this pattern and mind!

No wonder coaches like Del Bosque and Wenger like Lin Quan so much!

His pattern is not something ordinary people can have.

"However, we are also teammates of the national team after all. You hit me so hard. As a teammate, I feel very chilled!"

"Haha, that's easy to say. When I arrive in London another day, I'll treat you to hot pot. I know an authentic Chongqing hot pot restaurant. I guarantee it will help you keep the cold away after eating it!"

"That's pretty much it. Next time you come to Manchester City as a guest, I'll treat you to dinner!"

"Okay, it's a deal!"

…

After the warm-up match, Pellegrini gave the team a day off.

This is almost their last vacation before the start of the new Premier League season. When the new season begins, Manchester City will soon be on the fast track.

On August 17, the Premier League officially started.

The opening game will be played by Liverpool at home at Anfield against Stoke City, which ranked 13th in the Premier League last season.

Just hearing the names of the two teams, ordinary people might think that Liverpool has a great chance of winning.

But this may not be the case.

In the past few seasons, Liverpool's record has not been very good.

Although they are one of the traditional giants in the Premier League, they have missed the Champions League for four consecutive seasons since Benitez left Liverpool.

The Red Army, which was invincible in the Premier League and Champions League, has had a disastrous record in the past few seasons.

Liverpool, playing at home, played extremely boringly in the first half. They seemed to want to launch an attack, but the team could not find the direction to attack.

Suarez, who helped them win last season, was suspended for 10 games by the Football Association due to a biting incident at the end of last season.

This means that he will not be able to play for Liverpool in the first six games of this season.

Without Suarez, Liverpool's offense in the frontcourt was a mess.

This makes the Red Army fans at Anfield extremely worried.

Liverpool's record in the opening games of the past four seasons is very poor, with two losses and two draws, and no win.

They couldn't help but feel worried: Could it be that the team still can't win this year's opening game?

The fans of the Red Army could not accept such a cruel reality. They sang the famous team song "Never Walk Alone" loudly and cheered for the team with their loud singing.

With the fans singing, Liverpool's players seemed to be finding their form bit by bit.

In the 37th minute of the first half, Sturridge stood up. He received a pass from Aspen 22 meters away from the goal and scored the ball with a long shot. This was the first goal in the Premier League this season. Goal.

It was also the only goal of the game.

In the end, with Sturridge's golden goal, the Red Army got rid of four consecutive years of bad luck and finally won the opening game.

It is worth mentioning that Hawk-Eye technology was introduced for the first time in the Premier League this season.

In the second half, Liverpool once had a shot that hit the door frame and bounced on the goal line. After being confirmed by the on-site camera using Eagle Eye technology, it was determined that the ball did not cross the goal line as a whole, so it was not regarded as a goal.

After the opening match between Liverpool and Stoke City, the Premier League officially opened.

In the following five games held at the same time, Arsenal, which had just finished a warm-up match with Manchester City, was the first to be upset.

They lost to Aston Villa 1:3 at home.

Arsenal lost this game unjustly. They scored the first goal in the sixth minute of the game.

As a result, the referee awarded two penalty kicks in the 21st and 61st minutes respectively.

If the first penalty kick was not controversial, then the penalty kick in the 61st minute was very controversial.

In the 61st minute, Aston Villa forward Agbonlahor dribbled the ball into the penalty area and was tripped by Koscielny.

The slow motion shows that Koscielny touched the ball first and then tripped. This should be a beautiful tackle.

However, the referee thought it was a foul and not only gave Koscielny a yellow card, but also gave Aston Villa their second penalty kick of the game.

Aston Villa's Benteke seized the opportunity and scored a penalty kick to help his team lead Arsenal 2:1.

Arsenal actually still had a chance at this time, with 30 minutes left in the game.

With their offensive strength, if they adjust their mentality, they have a chance to equalize or even reverse.

However, Arsenal's players are generally relatively young, and the mentality of young players is easily affected.

Especially Koscielny, who was misjudged, could not accept the result that he was misjudged and caused the team to fall behind, and his mentality was obviously unbalanced.

Wenger's lack of decisiveness in on-the-spot adjustments was exposed. He knew that his central defender was not in a good mood, but did not make timely substitutions.

So, just five minutes later, Koscielny fouled again and was shown a second yellow card by the referee.

Two yellows turned into one red. Arsenal was not only one goal behind, but also had one less player to play.

In the 85th minute of the game, Aston Villa took advantage of Arsenal's eagerness to attack and took advantage of a counterattack to score another goal.

At this moment, Arsenal was completely helpless.

This is the first time in the past 13 seasons that Arsenal have lost in the first round of the Premier League.

The Gunners, who are extremely ferocious at the beginning of every season, seem to have lost their magic this season.

Except for Arsenal's overturn, the other giants' games were uneventful.

Tottenham defeated newly promoted Crystal Palace 1:0.

Chelsea defeated Hull City 2-0 at home.

Another high-profile focus is Manchester United, which defeated Swansea 4:1 away from home in the first round.

This is Moyes' first game after taking over Manchester United. Manchester United's performance can be regarded as a good answer for the time being.

However, there are still doubts about whether Moyes can continue the dominance of Manchester United during the Ferguson era.

Not many people are optimistic that Moyes can continue Manchester United's past success. Although Manchester United defeated Swansea, the opponent was not a giant.

To prove Manchester United's strength, he needs to show his strength in a strong dialogue.

It just so happens that Manchester United will face Chelsea in the second round.

Moyes' coaching ability should be tested through this game.

…

The final game of the first round of the league is between Manchester City and Newcastle.

Due to the schedule, this game was 3 days later than the opening game.

So when Manchester City's game starts, all the games of other Premier League teams are over.

All competitors paying attention to Manchester City have enough time to go to the scene to observe and evaluate their competitive status.

Manchester City has spent a lot of money in the transfer market this season, continuing the tradition of crazy buying in previous seasons.

In addition, they also signed a phenomenal player like Lin Quan, which made the outside world very curious about Manchester City's strength.

People can't wait to know, in addition to the traditional giants, whether Manchester City, a wealthy man, can transform from an upstart to a new giant in the Premier League like Chelsea did?

In this game, the Etihad Stadium seemed particularly lively.

City rivals Manchester United, BIG4 Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool all sent scouts to observe the game.

Manchester United, which is about to stage a local derby with Manchester City in the fifth round of the league, even head coach Moyes has personally attended.

For Moyes, Chelsea can accept a draw or even a loss.

Because Chelsea is so strong, there is no shame in losing to them.

But Manchester City is different. This is a team that has been suppressed by Manchester United for decades.

Although they have now become a phoenix, they have transformed from a poor family and are gradually moving towards the direction of a nouveau riche or even a wealthy family.

But after all, they are still one step away from becoming a wealthy family.

Therefore, Moyes' Manchester United must suppress them, and no one can lose to Manchester City.

If he loses to Manchester City, Manchester United fans will definitely criticize him verbally.

Outside public opinion will also be extremely negative on him, and his life at Manchester United will be very difficult!

Manchester City coach Pellegrini also paid special attention to this game.

He lined up what he thought was Manchester City's strongest lineup to face this game.

Manchester City's formation in this game is 442 parallel positions:

No. 1 goalkeeper Joe Hart; No. 5 right back Zabaleta, No. 4 center back Kompany, No. 6 center back Lescott, No. 22 left back Clichy; No. 15 left midfielder Navas, 25 No. 1 midfielder Fernandinho, No. 42 midfielder Yaya Toure, No. 21 right midfielder David Silva; No. 10 Lin Quan, No. 16 Aguero.

The two forwards Lin Quan and Aguero were at the front, but after the game started, Lin Quan retreated and became a shadow forward, but he assumed the responsibility of the attacking midfielder.

The 442 formation is an ancient formation that Premier League teams like to use very much. This formation has a balanced offense and defense.

When defending, the four midfielders can retreat to shorten the distance from the back line, thus compressing the opponent's offensive space, increasing the fault tolerance rate of one's own defense, and making it difficult for the opponent to penetrate one's defense.

Moreover, when attacking, the two wingers can turn into wingers at any time, assist and form a connection with the two forwards in front, directly doubling the number of offensive personnel in the frontcourt, increasing the ball point and offensive surface, making the opponent unable to defend.

However, this formation also has a disadvantage, that is, it places high demands on midfielders.

Players with relatively average abilities will find it difficult to maximize the advantages of this formation.

But for Manchester City, this problem does not exist at all.

Their midfield is luxurious enough, especially Navas and Silva on the two wings.

Their defensive ability may be a bit poor, but their offensive ability is definitely trustworthy!

At 18:00 in the evening, with the referee's whistle, Manchester City's home game against Newcastle officially started.

Amid the enthusiastic cheers from the audience, Manchester City players began to attack their opponents from the first second of the game.

Newcastle didn't seem to realize that their opponent's offense would be so crazy. After the start, they were beaten back and forth, and there were dangers in front of the goal.

In the first minute of the game, Manchester City completed its first shot.

Lin Quan received a pass from Silva who came up with an assist at the front of the penalty area. After getting rid of the interference of the opponent's midfielder, he hit a long shot outside the penalty area.

The football was slightly missed and slightly over the crossbar.

Although the goal was not scored, the fans at the scene still gave Lin Quan warm applause.

Fans have obviously discovered that Lin Quan has a very strong desire to attack in this game.

This makes them look forward to seeing Lin Quan's performance at the Etihad Stadium!

Lin Quan obviously would not disappoint the fans. In the 6th minute of the game, Silva once again sent out an assist after breaking through from the wing.

After receiving the ball, Lin Quan did not try to hit a long shot. Instead, after entering the penalty area, he spiked the ball continuously and changed direction in a small area. After passing two opponent's defenders, he calmly lobbed and scored his first goal in the Premier League. maiden goal!