After Manchester City won a good start to the new season, Guardiola took Chu Zheng and the others to start a new round of preparation training.
There is no way, although it is the beginning of the season, Manchester City still has a Champions League play-off to play, so their schedule is relatively intensive.
And through the game against Sunderland, Guardiola also saw that the players have not yet fully integrated into his tactical system.
Although they won the game against Sunderland, Guardiola knew very well that if Chu Zheng hadn't suddenly burst out, they wouldn't have won so easily, and it would probably have been a draw in the end.
Chu Zheng scored one of the three goals in the game, and he assisted on the other two. It can be said that this victory was won by Chu Zheng's personal ability.
Therefore, what Guardiola needs most urgently is not victory, but for players to fully understand his various tactical requirements.
As long as Chu Zheng and the others are completely integrated into his tactical system, Manchester City will not lack victory.
Guardiola has full confidence in his tactics.
And now he has two world-class midfielders, Chu Zheng is the core of the midfield, and De Bruyne is the free man in the frontcourt, who can also be regarded as the core of the offense.
Once these two people fully enter the state, it will definitely be a nightmare for all teams in the Premier League and even Europe.
In Guardiola's office, the main building of the Manchester City training base, cigar smoke fills the window. Looking out the window is the green training ground, and the faint sounds of players shouting and fighting during training can be heard.
The sky in Manchester is rare and clear today, with white clouds rarely seen on ordinary days floating in the blue sky, and the sun is exceptionally bright.
"Pep, I suggest you put Chu back in the midfield!"
On the sofa in the office, Domenech Torrent, who has been with Guardiola since his days at Barcelona, looked at Guardiola who was helpless across the sofa.
Hearing this, Guardiola looked up at this friend who was hailed as his lieutenant by the media, and shook his head silently.
"Haha!" After many years of cooperation, Domenech Torrent immediately guessed Guardiola's thoughts. He shook his head and looked helpless, "This is really a happy trouble!"
Guardiola suddenly laughed when he heard this.
Manchester City's current lineup in the midfield and frontcourt is definitely luxurious.
But therein lies the problem.
In the midfield position, in addition to De Bruyne and Chu Zheng, there are also David Silva, Fernandinho and Yaya Toure.
De Bruyne and Chu Zheng will definitely occupy a position.
Then the problem arises.
That is who will take the two veterans David Silva and Fernandinho?
On Fernandinho?
no!
In Guardiola's current tactical system, even if Chu Zheng plays in the midfielder position, he still needs to frequently press into and outside the opponent's penalty area to participate in the offense.
With Manchester City's current defensive line configuration, Fernandinho, a single defensive midfielder, cannot shoulder the defensive burden of the entire defense line.
After all, Fernandinho is 31 years old. Although his condition is still excellent, it is also true that his physical condition has declined. He can no longer run for 90 minutes like a young player.
Therefore, when Chu Zheng and Fernandinho partner up, the defensive end will inevitably involve some of Chu Zheng's energy.
As for David Silva, the problem is even bigger. This guy's defensive ability is not as good as Fernandinho's.
Although there is no lack of offensive organization ability, the defensive end is unstable.
Kolarov, Sagna, Delph and others moved into the midfield position, and added a weak David Silva. Guardiola panicked just thinking about it.
Therefore, David Silva will be a greater drag on Chu Zheng than Fernandinho.
As for Yaya Toure, Guardiola will not consider it for the time being.
This guy is getting lazier and lazier on the court, his physical condition has declined drastically, and he no longer meets his starting requirements.
And Chu Zheng.
Guardiola really wants to make Chu Zheng a true free man and let Chu Zheng use his offensive talents.
The breakthrough and scoring abilities that Chu Zheng has shown now would undoubtedly be a huge waste if he were only placed in the midfield.
In Guardiola's tactical vision, Chu Zheng should be more involved in the offense, use breakthroughs and passes to create more opportunities for the team, and not be hindered by defense.
Therefore, it is really troublesome to solve this problem.
Although it is troublesome, it is not difficult for Guardiola, a master tactician.
He really thought of two ways.
One is to abandon David Silva and Fernandinho and find a strong enough partner for Chu Zheng.
Like Kanter!
This new Frenchman, Makélélé, has already proven his ability to play as a defensive midfielder in Leicester City. He is not powerful, it is simply terrifying.
However, it is a pity that Guardiola missed Kante in the summer transfer window.
At that time, Guardiola was planning to deal with Chu Zheng first, and then turn around and deal with Kante.
As a result, Guardiola never expected that Chelsea idiot to act so quickly. He even negotiated Kante's personal contract with a twist of his face.
The second way is to find two top full-backs, who must be young enough and have sufficient physical fitness to assist Fernandinho.
This is also difficult.
With the rapid development of football skills and tactics in recent years, the requirements for excellent full-backs have become more and more comprehensive, which has led to the fact that top full-backs are also a scarce resource in football.
On August 20, Manchester City came to the Britannia Stadium as a guest to challenge Stoke City.
Guardiola's formation has undergone another huge change in this game.
He fielded a starting lineup of 433.
In this lineup, Sterling returned to his familiar left wing, and Navas started at the right winger position.
In the midfield, Chu Zheng plays as the left center midfielder, De Bruyne plays the right center midfielder, and Fernandinho is in the middle, slightly behind. It is not a parallel three-midfielder 433.
On the defensive line, the starting players are also different from the previous game.
Stones and Otamendi partnered as central defenders, with Kolarov as the left back and Zabaleta as the right back.
It's obvious that Guardiola is still looking for the players who best suit his tactical system.
In the 6th minute, Manchester City scored.
Otamendi directly passed the ball from the backcourt to De Bruyne on the wing.
Surrounded by two Stoke City players, De Bruyne lightly stopped the ball behind him, then quickly turned around and passed the ball across the ribs to Aguero.
After Aguero got the ball, he deliberately stayed 30 meters in front of the right rib area at the top of the arc for a moment, attracting Stoke City defenders before suddenly taking a risk and crossing the ball.
At the top of the arc in the middle, Chu Zheng followed up.
The moment Chu Zheng touched the ball, his back was facing Sterling in the left rib area at the top of the arc.
But he seemed to know that Sterling was already in place. When the ball came to him, he touched it with his left foot and the ball changed slightly and rolled towards Sterling behind him.
Chu Zheng's seemingly missed pass caught Stoke City's right back Bardsley off guard on the back left side, allowing the ball to roll smoothly to Sterling's feet.
After waiting for the ball to come over, Sterling took advantage of the situation and started directly into the left rib area of the penalty area.
Coming to the upper corner of the small penalty area on the left, Sterling smashed the ball to the stop and faced two Stoke City defenders.
Seeing Chu Zheng entering the penalty area after passing the ball, he ran directly to the forward point behind the Stoke City defender in front of him. Sterling suddenly took the risk and stuffed the ball under his crotch.
The next second, Chu Zheng was in place!
But Stoke City goalkeeper Given was not slow either. He quickly fell to the ground and reached for the ball with both hands.
But Chu Zheng was faster and more frequent. He touched the ball first and with a flick of his toe, the ball jumped up, flew past Ji Wen and jumped directly into the goal.
At the moment of the goal, when he saw the ball passed from De Bruyne to Chu Zheng directly into the Stoke City goal, Guardiola jumped up from the coaching bench with an excited expression.
This is the attack he wants, deadly yet elegant!
Manchester City's goals came one after another.
Manchester City's second goal came from De Bruyne's set kick pass from a position 40 meters from the right wing.
Aguero gave full play to his characteristics, flicking his head forward and hitting the goal accurately.
The third goal occurred in the 86th minute of the second half and was another masterpiece by Chu Zheng.
Iheanacho made a cross pass from the top right of the arc and then quickly moved forward.
Chu Zheng didn't stop the ball and directly hit it with a scalpel. The ball rubbed the Stoke City player's heel and entered the penalty area.
After Iheanacho got the ball, he passed Stoke City goalkeeper Given, and then crossed the ball near the baseline to outflank Nolito.
Nolito easily pushed the shot into the empty goal, making the score 3-0.
But it's not over yet.
After Chu Zheng was replaced in the 87th minute, De Bruyne took over and passed the ball from the wing to the back. Nolito successfully grabbed the point and scored twice.
Although the game was won heartily with a score of 4-0.
But Manchester City's defense problems are still extremely obvious.
If Manchester City hadn't been lucky in this game, the score might have been 4-1 or 4-2.
But the victory went to the heads of Manchester City fans, and they selectively forgot about the hidden dangers in the team's defense.
On August 24, Manchester City ushered in the second leg of the Champions League play-offs at the Etihad Stadium.
In this game, Chu Zheng and De Bruyne rotated directly, and Guardiola almost changed his lineup.
But in the end, Manchester City still beat Steaua Bucharest 2-0.
When Manchester City advanced to the Champions League group stage, they also ushered in four consecutive victories in the new season. For a time, Guardiola was in the limelight!
The European media are all trumpeting the changes that Guardiola has brought to Manchester City, claiming that this is another technical innovation by Guardiola, which may lead to a new storm of technical and tactical innovation.
