Chapter 334 Substitute Hat Trick, Breaking the Fastest Record in the Premier League

The outside world's optimism or disparagement will not affect Manchester City's preparations.

With the experience of winning the championship last year, they appear to be calm about the Champions League in the new season.

The group stage hasn't started yet, so it's too early to talk about winning and defending the title.

Manchester City will participate in four competitions this year: league, cup, Champions League and Club World Cup.

More games will not only further disperse their energy, but also place higher demands on their physical fitness and condition.

Therefore, in order to avoid the situation like last year when we were fighting on multiple fronts and almost collapsed.

Pellegrini decided to rotate the team's lineup early to ensure every player's rest time as much as possible.

On August 30, the third round of the Premier League begins.

Manchester City faces the challenge of Stoke City at home.

Because the opponent was not strong, Pellegrini made some adjustments to the starting lineup in this game.

He put Lin Quan, Aguero, Kroos, Fernandinho, Zabaleta and other main players on the bench.

This adjustment is quite bold. Half of Manchester City's champions of last season's championship were on the bench.

New faces such as Van Dijk, Sagna, Fernando and others appeared in Manchester City's starting lineup.

In addition, Jovetic, who rarely played last season, also appeared in the starting lineup for this game.

After Negredo transferred and left, he became more and more valued by the old coach.

Pellegrini's idea is very good. Use a substitute + main lineup to deal with weak teams like Stoke City, and use competition as training to accelerate the growth of these young players.

The total number of Manchester City games this season will probably be close to 70. If all the main lineup is used to play so many games, all the main players will have to be eliminated.

So this season, Manchester City's substitutes must step up and help the main force share the pressure.

Of course, there are risks in doing this.

Because there is still a big gap between the strength of the substitute lineup and the main force, especially Lin Quan's substitute.

Not to mention the Manchester City team, in the entire five major leagues, it is almost impossible to find a suitable player who can be Lin Quan's substitute.

In football, the only player who has a similar style to him is Messi.

But Manchester City can't buy Messi to serve as Lin Quan's substitute, right?

This is too luxurious!

Even if they really had such an idea, Barcelona would not sell him, and Messi would not condescend to be a substitute!

In fact, Lin Quan feels that he does not need any substitute. His physical fitness is fine and he will not be injured. It will be no problem for him to maintain full attendance.

After the game started, Manchester City's players played very proactively.

Although there are many substitutes on the field, their morale is not low at all.

After all, we are part of the Triple Crown. Facing such a weak team in the middle and lower reaches of the league, why not just play however we want?

However, reality gave them a blow in the head and knocked them into a daze.

Throughout the first half, Manchester City kept trying to attack.

However, their offense has been unable to achieve results, and Stoke City's goal has never been breached.

At the beginning of the second half, the situation on the field suddenly changed.

Taking advantage of a counterattack, Stoke City took the lead in breaking the deadlock and sending the football into Manchester City's goal.

Joe Hart is so depressed!

The opponent played the ball very cunningly, and he had no choice but to watch the ball go into the net.

After Manchester City bought Navas, the best goalkeeper in La Liga, in the new season, Joe Hart's main position suffered a severe test.

In the first two games, Manchester City's starting goalkeeper was Navas.

And Navas also used his outstanding performance to prove that Manchester City's 15 million euros were well spent.

If Zabaleta hadn't scored an own goal in the last game, Navas's first two games at Manchester City would have been perfect.

The outstanding performance of his competitors put Joe Hart under great pressure.

He was finally put into the starting lineup for this game, and he worked hard to perform well.

As a result, he was so unlucky that he met the opponent's striker and kicked a magic ball.

Not to mention Joe Hart himself, the goal would not end well if it were any other goalkeeper who came to defend it.

But he was unlucky and it was his turn.

Seeing this scene on the bench, Lin Quan felt a little sympathetic to Joe Hart.

In the fan circle, there is a very famous saying: Meet Hartmon and kick him!

Joe Hart seems to have been cursed, always becoming a backdrop for others on the court.

In fact, in terms of strength, Joe Hart's strength is not bad.

As his teammate, Lin Quan often played against him in team training matches and knew his strength very well.

Joe Hart has no problems with his height, reaction speed, jumping ability and basic skills as a goalkeeper.

However, his luck is really not good.

"If there is love in the sky, it will be old. If you meet Hart, you will be kicked", "If you don't know the true face of Mount Lu, Hart will be the background" "Love is always there in thousands of rivers and mountains, just see Hart and shoot"...

These jokes are there for a reason!

Joe Hart always encounters the kind of world wave that is difficult to save, and it is often the magic ball.

Other goalkeepers will also encounter this kind of thing, but they do not encounter it as frequently as Joe Hart.

And thanks to the popularity of the Premier League and Manchester City, in the Premier League and Champions League games, Joe Hart has frequently been reduced to the background, making it easier to spread.

So, over time, he gained the title of the strongest background emperor.

After Pellegrini saw the ball conceded this time, he cursed unhappily.

He didn't blame Joe Hart, the goal was not the opponent's fault.

It was just that he fell behind after the start of the second half, which made Pellegrini a little panicked.

He asked the substitutes to play more games in order to improve their strength and maintain better condition.

It’s not about letting them lead the team to lose and then leave the psychological shadow of losing in their hearts.

Moreover, the impact of losing at home is too bad, and Manchester City cannot accept such an ending.

Thinking of this, Pellegrini didn't hesitate at all.

He called Lin Quan and Cross directly and asked them to warm up and prepare to play.

Manchester City fans are also very depressed, although many of the team's main players are not on the court.

But this does not prevent them from cheering for their own team at all.

However, it was an uncomfortable feeling to watch the home team attack for half the game but not score a single goal, while the opponent scored after only one sneak attack.

Fortunately, after seeing Pellegrini's substitution, the Blue Moon fans at the scene began to cheer again.

As long as that man comes on, everything will be fine!

"I don't know why, but when I saw Emperor Lin appear, I instantly felt relieved!"

"Yes, this sense of security really makes people feel very at ease!"

"After you said this, I realized that no wonder the team still felt unsure in the first half even though they had all the advantages. It turned out to be because Lin Huang was not present!"

In the 55th minute, Lin Quan and Cross were substituted at the same time.

The fans at the Etihad Stadium gave the two warm applause, and they were looking forward to seeing the team launch a vigorous counterattack.

Lin Quan and Cross did not disappoint.

After the two came on the court, Manchester City's offense immediately improved.

Kroos controls the tempo of the game in the midfield and frequently delivers cannonballs to the frontcourt players.

After Lin Quan gets the ball in the frontcourt, he mobilizes the opponent's defense by linking up with his teammates to find the weak points in the opponent's defense.

After all, Stoke City is just a team ranked in the middle and lower reaches, and their players are not the kind of stars with strong personal strength.

Under Manchester City's patient testing, the weaknesses of their defense were quickly exposed.

In the 69th minute of the second half, Lin Quan dribbled the ball at the front of the penalty area. After attracting double-teams from multiple opponents, he passed the ball through the gap to De Bruyne who came in behind.

De Bruyne passed into the space on the right side of the penalty area and assisted Jovetic to score a goal.

Manchester City equalized the score!

Although this goal was neither scored by Lin Quan nor assisted by him, at least half of the credit for this goal must be attributed to him.

If he hadn't used his superb dribbling and breakthrough abilities in the frontcourt to attract the opponent's attention and take away the defensive players.

Jovetic cannot have such a good shot!

Of course, De Bruyne passed the ball very beautifully, and he didn't take credit for it.

When Lin Quan passed the ball to him just now, he could hit the goal directly.

After seeing his teammate score, Lin Quan stepped forward and high-fived De Bruyne to celebrate.

"Good pass!"

"What you preach is not bad either!"

The two laughed, put their arms around each other's shoulders, and went to celebrate with their teammates who scored the goal!

Stoke City players were helpless.

After they took the lead, they had hoped to take away a victory from the Etihad Stadium.

If they can really defeat Manchester City, then they will have the capital to brag about themselves!

After all, what they defeated was last season's Triple Crown winner!

However, Jovetic's goal shattered their dreams.

Now the score has been tied, and the opponent's main force has returned to the field.

Just seeing the figure of Manchester City's No. 10 made them lose the courage to attack.

Teams that play against Manchester City usually die miserably.

So, don't fantasize about getting three points, keep holding on, it will be good if you can take away one point!

As a weak player, Stoke City can recognize the reality and give up unrealistic fantasies, which is very valuable.

However, they don’t seem to know each other well enough.

It is also very difficult to take away a point at the Etihad Stadium!

After equalizing the score, the mentality of Manchester City players instantly relaxed a lot.

They were originally worried about losing, but now they put down their psychological burden.

In addition, the core of the team has returned to the game, giving them an unparalleled sense of security.

Affected by these factors, their performance on the field is getting better and better, and they are playing more and more confident and calmly.

In the 82nd minute of the second half, Manchester City played a dazzling combination in the frontcourt.

After many consecutive passes, the formation of Stoke City's defense has been disrupted.

De Bruyne keenly seized the opportunity and quickly sent a through ball.

This ball is aimed at the space behind the opponent's defender!

Lin Quan and De Bruyne have played together for more than two years and have a good understanding of each other.

Seeing where De Bruyne glanced, Lin Quan immediately understood the other party's intention before the other party made a gesture.

He pretended to retreat, but suddenly turned back and got rid of Stoke City defender Ryan Shawcross who was marking him.

Ryan is over 1.9 meters tall, and his physical flexibility is far inferior to that of a smaller player like Lin Quan.

Seeing Lin Quan turn around and run away from him, Ruan hurriedly turned around and chased after him.

But by the time he completed his turn, Lin Quan had already opened a meter away from him, had already received the ball, and carried the ball into the penalty area.

Stoke City goalkeeper Begovic sent his collective greetings to the family of his defender:

A bunch of big colanders, are you so eye-catching?

In the end, it's up to me to take action. As long as I can save Lin Quan's single blow, I can...

Lin Quan glanced at him and saw that the opponent's goalkeeper's legs were widely spread apart, so he took advantage of the opportunity and kicked the ball over.

Begovic felt a chill in his crotch, and subconsciously wanted to bring his knees together to close the door.

But his movements were too slow, and the football had already passed through his wicket and rolled into the net against the lawn.

Before Begovic's sweet dream was over, he was woken up by a basin of cold water.

Facts have proved that it is really not that easy to stop Lin Quan's single sword attack.

It’s not that so many goalkeepers have tried before him, they just couldn’t do it!

Lin Quan's goal made the score 2:1, and Manchester City reversed Stoke City.

I saw the team score consecutive goals within ten minutes and complete the reversal.

The tens of thousands of Manchester City fans who came to the scene excitedly waved their team scarves, chanted Lin Quan's name, and gave the warmest applause and cheers to their hero.

Sure enough, as long as Lin is on the court, they can enjoy the game with peace of mind.

Stoke City's players were so frustrated that in just thirteen minutes, their cooked duck flew away.

Now not only can't we get three points, we can't even get one point.

Unwilling to accept this result, they launched a fierce attack on Manchester City in the final stage of the game, trying to change the score.

They seem to feel that they have fallen behind and those who are barefoot are no longer afraid of those who wear shoes.

Continuing to concede goals will not change the outcome of the loss, but if they can score another one, they might be able to get a valuable point.

The idea was good, but the results were terrible.

After Stoke City's self-defeating attack, Manchester City's offensive threat became even greater.

After no longer being closely monitored by the opponent or even double-teamed by multiple players, Lin Quan's threat ability in the frontcourt has been greatly improved.

In the 85th minute of the game, he passed the opponent's defender and then shot into the far corner, scoring his second goal of the game.

It wasn't over yet. In the 89th minute, at the end of regular time, Lin Quan received a pass from David Silva and shot through Stoke City's goal for the third time with a kick.

This was his third goal of the game. After coming on as a substitute, Lin Quan only needed 7 minutes to complete his hat trick!

This time broke the record of the fastest Premier League hat-trick set by Manchester United star Dwight Yorke in 2001, and significantly increased the time to 7 minutes!

What’s even more terrifying is that Lin Quan completed the record as a substitute!

If this is taken into account, his record will probably be difficult to be broken by other players!

Of course, there is something even more exaggerated in football. A certain player who also came on as a substitute scored five goals in just nine minutes.

If you hadn’t seen it with your own eyes, you wouldn’t know how this happened…