Chapter 923 Substitution
Chapter 923 Substitution
After the two national team games, the players ended the national team games and returned to their respective clubs.
Manchester City's Carrington training base has regained its former lively vigor.
However, national team games are not always a good thing. Every time the national team plays, there is always news of injuries.
This time Kompany was injured in the Belgian national team game and will miss the game for two weeks.
But after the next league game is over, it will be the Champions League...
Manchester City will face Arsenal at home on September [-], and three days later Manchester City will continue to play Bayern Munich at home on September [-].
Neither game was easy to play.
The Manchester press bemoaned City's bad luck.
The main central defender was injured before such an important two games...
And will definitely miss the first Champions League group match against Bayern Munich.
Manchester City fans are looking forward to the first game of the Champions League in 39 years, and the final result may be a little different from their expectations...
"Kompani's injury is definitely a heavy blow to Benitez. In this defense line, Kompany is the main force that cannot be shaken. His injury will seriously affect the stability of Manchester City's defense line... I think Benitez must be suffering from a headache right now, and he is about to scratch his hair that is not much..."
Kompany's injury was also discussed in the media.
For Benitez, this is indeed a headache, but it is not enough to lose all his hair...
Kompany was originally used to deal with Bayern Munich and two extremely fast players, but now he is injured and can't play, what should we do?
When he was studying Bayern Munich before, he had been thinking about how to deal with those two extremely fast players.
Kompany's speed is very good.
Now that Kompany is injured, who will replace him?
Dunn?
That definitely won't work. Dunn is simply a traditional British defender. He is tall and has outstanding frontal air defense capabilities, but his turning speed is really horrible... If he goes up, he will immediately become a gap for the Bayern Munich wolves to bite and break through.
Who else?
Diego Godin?
Benitez thought of the name.
This Uruguayan who was bought by himself as a backup central defender has good speed...
But since he came to Manchester City, he has never played a game. He has to face Arsenal and Bayern Munich all at once, can he do it?
Arsenal also has many fast players, such as Van Persie and Walcott.
Benitez thought about it, and finally decided to give Godin a chance. Let him play against Arsenal first to see his performance. If he is good, let him start against Bayern Munich.
If it doesn't work...I'm thinking of other ways.
In addition, in the position of right back, Benitez also intends to make adjustments. He plans to let Zabaleta, who has just finished playing the national team game, rest in the game against Arsenal. The starting right back will be Mika Richards, who was trained by Manchester City's youth academy.
The black defender has excellent physical fitness, good speed, and is very strong. He defends better than Zabaleta on the right.
Like Godin, if Richards performs well against Arsenal, then Benitez will consider him to continue to start against Bayern Munich in the Champions League.
Being able to start Manchester City's first Champions League game after 39 years, I believe this is enough to motivate the young Richards to do a good job.
※※※
In the fifth round of the league, Manchester City played against Arsenal at home.
This game was rendered as a "revenge battle" by the media before the game.
Because last season, Arsenal, who had stayed well in No.4, was pulled down by Manchester City like a lunatic...
Although they fought hard, they were still powerless in the end to change the tragic fate of losing fourth place and qualifying for the Champions League...
The myth of fighting against the four crazy demons was thus shattered.
And only participating in the Europa League has dealt a heavy blow to the Arsenal club and players.Some players were originally negotiating with the club to renew their contracts, and they were almost done, but they had to be postponed or postponed because Arsenal did not qualify for the Champions League in the new season...
Whether it is a player or a club, they must reconsider if they cannot participate in the Champions League...
At the same time, being unable to participate in the Champions League also had a great impact on Wenger's season preparations.
And this series of consequences were brought about by Manchester City.
Originally, Arsenal had no hatred with Manchester City before, but the hatred between them and Manchester United was great.
But now, they have a feud.
Arsenal's fire has been suppressed since the end of last season until now. Facing Manchester City again, they will never let it go easily.
Before the game, the media on both sides had already started a war of words.
Some media supporting Arsenal ridiculed Manchester City's Champions League grouping results.
"...I knew the end result would be like this, what did I do so desperately last season? If Arsenal entered the Champions League, it would be the first-tier team. It is absolutely impossible for such a tragic thing to happen... Letting Manchester City go to the Champions League is simply a waste of a spot! The first Champions League group match against Bayern Munich will soon let everyone understand this..."
That's pretty close to the facts, and it's rubbing salt in City's wounds.
The UEFA Champions League grouping is the most discussed topic for Manchester City. The media supporting Arsenal just want to disgust Manchester City with this matter.
Sure enough, as soon as this remark came out, the lively Manchester media suddenly didn't know what to say.
Speech for Manchester City?
In case Manchester City lost to Bayern Munich in the end, wouldn't the final slap be slapped in the face?
It's not worth it...
The media that supported Arsenal just won the war of words, which made them proud, and now they are waiting for Arsenal to beat Manchester City in the game!
The media is generally optimistic that Arsenal beat Manchester City, although it is Manchester City's home court.
Or no matter how bad it is, Arsenal should not lose to Manchester City in the away game.
why?
Because the next game is against Bayern Munich.
Manchester City will definitely save their strength to deal with Bayern Munich. After all, it is Manchester City's first Champions League game after 39 years. Whether it is the club's top management, coaches, ordinary fans and players, they will pay more attention to it.
For this reason, he may choose to stay in the game against Arsenal.
In the contest with Arsenal, if you still stay strong, you don't even want to win!
※※※
Manchester City's home game against Arsenal is coming soon.
Before the game, the two sides announced their respective starting rosters.
Arsenal has sent the strongest lineup here. As a big player in the national team, the national team match day does not seem to affect their formation.
The desire for revenge is evident.
And what surprised everyone here at Manchester City... Benitez didn't seem to have any reservations for the next Champions League group match.
He almost sent all the main players he could line up, no matter whether they had just participated in the national team game or not!
In addition to the central defender position, the Uruguay international replaced the injured Kompany.
However, it is a bit surprising at right back.
Since other positions are the main players, why didn't the main player at right back, Sabaletta, start?
It was replaced by a young player from Manchester City's youth academy, Mika Richards!
Could it be that Zabaleta was also injured in the national team game?
I haven't seen related news...
So why just Zabaleta was replaced by Richards?
Some reporters raised this question to Benitez at the pre-match press conference.
"Zabaleta is a bit tired, so we let him rest." Benitez answered this question in this way.
In fact, of course not, but Benitez has no intention of telling the truth-he has to be careful with Bayern Munich's scouts.
Since he can send scouts to Germany to inquire about Bayern Munich, then Bayern Munich will definitely send people to observe Manchester City.
He doesn't want Bayern Munich to know that Richards is out to deal with them...
He wants Bayern Munich to think it's just a normal rotation.
Then give Bayern Munich a "surprise" in the next game.
And Benitez himself has already communicated with Zabaleta, told him his arrangement, hoping to get her understanding, and at the same time hope that Zabaleta will keep the caliber with himself.
If a reporter came to ask him, he would just answer with "physical fatigue".
Benitez gave the answer, and the media did not continue to dwell on this question.
This is indeed a possible situation. It seems that there is no injury, but after playing the national team game and after a long flight, the player is physically tired and mentally not excited enough, so the coach arranged for him to rest... It's no big deal.
※※※
The next day, at the Manchester City Stadium, [-] Manchester City fans and the team ushered in Arsenal, who vowed revenge.
When the live broadcast was broadcasting the starting lineups of both sides, every Manchester City player was cheered, which is nothing, it is normal.It's not normal for home team fans not to support their team.
Then when it was time to introduce the visiting team's starting line-up, each name drew boos from the city stadium.
Manchester City fans don't have such a big grievance against the Arsenal players. The Arsenal players were actually shot because of the remarks of the media that supported them...
Manchester City fans were booing to express their dissatisfaction with the media, who rubbed salt in their wounds.
It is impossible for fans to use the power of the media to refute the media that supports Arsenal. Booing is their most beneficial weapon.
In response to the boos of the Manchester City fans, the Arsenal fans who came with the team cheered loudly.
Before the game started, both sides felt a strong smell of gunpowder.
Next, the players from both sides came out one after another, and Rong Guang, as the captain of the team, was at the forefront of the team.
In the most critical game of last season, he scored twice to help Manchester City beat Arsenal 2:1.
If Arsenal want revenge, he must be Arsenal's number one enemy.
But now it is at Manchester City's home court, so Rongguang received warm cheers from all Manchester City fans.
If this is at Arsenal's home court, it is estimated that he will be greeted with overwhelming boos...
(End of this chapter)