In the next few days, other matches in the fourth round of the Premier League are in full swing.
The most eye-catching ones are the matches between Tottenham, Liverpool, Chelsea and Leicester City.
The result was a little surprising.
Tottenham beat Stoke City 4-0 at home. The victory was extremely easy and Stoke City had no power to resist.
But unexpected events occurred in the two games of Liverpool vs. Leicester City and Swansea vs. Chelsea.
Before the game, the media and fans generally believed that it was not a big problem for the Premier League champions to draw with Liverpool last season, and it was also not a big problem for Conte's Blues to defeat Swansea.
But the result was that Liverpool beat Leicester City 4-1 and won heartily.
Leicester City was completely lost at Anfield under the high pressure of Klopp's Red Army.
Every fan who watched this game can easily see that without Chu Zheng and Kante, Leicester City's defensive toughness is no longer the same.
Not only was Leicester City's counterattack routine of last season's counterattack followed by a quick ball out, it seemed that even Ranieri's steady counterattack could no longer be carried out, and instead seemed to be trying to attack.
Chelsea, who were playing away from home, were also beaten 2-2 by Swansea, and Conte's winning streak came to an abrupt end.
This game also exposed Chelsea's problems on both offense and defense, which Conte urgently needs to solve.
With the end of the fourth round of the Premier League, Manchester City has become the only team in the Premier League that still maintains a winning streak.
Therefore, the outside world is paying great attention to Manchester City's performance.
There is no way, Guardiola is too outstanding and eye-catching in terms of tactics and results at Manchester City.
Compared with Conte and Mourinho, who are both new Premier League coaches, Guardiola is simply outclassed.
On the evening of September 13, due to a sudden heavy rain in Manchester, the UEFA Champions League Group C match that was about to start at the Etihad Stadium had to postpone the match between Manchester City and Monchengladbach for the next day.
In the past, Manchester City had a more pertinent comment in England, that is, they are experts in civil war and outsiders in foreign wars.
Therefore, the media and fans want to see how Manchester City will perform in the Champions League after the coaching change, and whether it will still be as strong as the league.
The next day, at 19:45 London time, the game officially started.
In this game, because of a fierce battle with Manchester United, Guardiola adopted a small-scale rotation and arranged a 4141 formation.
The goalkeeper is still Bravo, and Zabaleta replaces Sagna in the defense in the starting lineup. Everything else remains unchanged.
In the defensive midfielder position, Fernandinho was originally the starter.
As a result, this guy tragically caught a cold after he got caught in the rain at the Etihad, forcing Guardiola to make temporary changes and let Chu Zheng play as a defensive midfielder.
The two central midfielders in front of Chu Zheng are David Silva and De Bruyne. The two full midfielders are Sterling on the left and Navas on the right.
On the striker, Aguero returns to the starting lineup.
Even though Manchester City has rotated in multiple positions, it is still an extremely luxurious lineup in the eyes of the outside world.
Therefore, the media are generally not optimistic about Borussia Monchengladbach and believe that there may be a big score in this game.
This is also true. The media and fans were not wrong.
Soon after the game started, Manchester City played gorgeous passing football and crushed Monchengladbach in all aspects.
In the 8th minute of the game, Manchester City took a side kick from outside the Borussia penalty area on the left.
Sterling leaned on Borussia's central defender Elvedi behind him on the edge of the penalty area.
Soon Sterling found that he was pressed very tightly and could not turn around at all. There were already Borussia players rushing towards him from the left, so he pushed the ball forward.
Kolarov followed along the sideline to the front area of the corner kick area, swung his left foot violently, and the ball went straight to the left side of the Borussia Monchengladbach small penalty area against the lawn.
Close to the edge of the goalpost, Aguero moved forward in time.
Faced with Kolarov's violent cross, he jumped in front of the defensive player on the right, extended his right foot and the ball flew into the goal close to the inside of the near post.
1-0!
This goal also officially announced that the game was dominated by Manchester City.
When the final whistle sounded, the Etihad scoreboard read 4-0, and Borussia was defeated by Manchester City.
Although Chu Zheng did not score a goal or assist in this game, his rating was 8.1 points, the third highest score in the game, second only to Aguero who scored a hat trick of 9.8 points and De Bruyne who scored 8.5 points.
Chu Zheng's performance in the defensive midfielder was also excellent.
Without his interception and sweep, Manchester City probably wouldn't be able to keep Borussia a clean sheet.
After the game, the European media commented on the game as "pleasant to watch".
Manchester City's performance left no room for criticism even by the most critical English media.
In the whole game, Manchester City shot 24 to 3, the number of shots on target was 13 to 1, the number of passes was 562 to 349, and the passing accuracy was 91% to 75%.
This was a crushing victory.
This victory also showed the outside world that the passing and control system led by Guardiola is quickly integrating into Manchester City, giving Manchester City a strong and terrifying dominance.
Not only that, Manchester City's games are becoming more and more entertaining and convincing.
In the eyes of the media and fans, Manchester City has never been short of money, let alone big-name stars.
What Manchester City has always lacked is actually the temperament of a wealthy family.
This season, Manchester City club executives invited Guardiola to replace Chilean engineer Pellegrini, which now seems to be an extremely wise decision.
Guardiola studied under Cruyff, and over the years he has been practicing total attack and total defense control football.
So when Manchester City successfully dominates the game, victory will come naturally.
This is in sharp contrast to Mourinho's team.
Although Mourinho's team also has a very high winning rate, Mourinho's overemphasis on iron-clad defense has actually highlighted the beauty and value of melon-style football.
From the perspective of fans, people actually want to see a gorgeous game rather than simply winning.
While the outside world was praising Manchester City and Guardiola, the "Manchester Evening News" poured cold water on Manchester City.
The comments of the "Manchester Evening News" hit the point, and every word struck the heart of the people of Manchester City.
The first person to be criticized was Sterling, who started high and started low after moving to Manchester City last season. Sterling, who has been reused by Guardiola this season, was criticized for wasting opportunities on the court.
When the Manchester City fans were reminded like this, they immediately thought of the three excellent opportunities that Sterling wasted in the game against Borussia Monchengladbach, and they felt heartbroken.
But there is really no way. Sterling is excellent in all aspects, but he is lacking in finishing touches and often plays happy football for them.
Sometimes I can't help but laugh and cry, feeling love, hate and helplessness towards this little butt.
The second is the hidden danger in Manchester City's defense.
The Manchester Evening News made it very clear.
That is, if Manchester City's offensive system has been polished and formed, the defense is far from indestructible and even has great hidden dangers. This is Manchester City's biggest weakness now.
But Manchester City fans sneer at this.
They feel that Manchester City's defense is not as bad as the "Manchester Evening News" said.
This is simply nitpicking and looking for faults!
Look at this game against Borussia Monchengladbach, how well Stones and Otamendi cooperated, and Kolarov and Zabaleta also performed very well.
What's more, they still have their old captain Kompany.
As long as this defensive pillar returns from injury, Manchester City's defense will definitely be world-class.
Moreover, everyone in Manchester knows that the Manchester Evening News is the mouthpiece newspaper of Manchester United. This is definitely a bad intention.
Finally, the "Manchester Evening News" declared that Manchester City's winning streak will not last long.
In the blink of an eye, the Manchester Evening News was slapped in the face by Manchester City.
Three days later, on September 17, at 15:00 pm London time, Manchester City faced the challenge of their opponent Bournemouth in the fifth round of the Premier League at the Etihad Stadium.
In this game, Chu Zheng returned to the central midfielder position and partnered with De Bruyne.
As a result, these two guys broke out and received two assists each.
The two teamed up again to vomit Sterling and Iheanacho directly.
In the end, Manchester City once again slaughtered Bournemouth with a huge score of 4-0, showing its strong dominance.
Moreover, Manchester City's defense performed very solidly and well in this game, with Stones, Otamendi and others performing extremely well.
The next day, the only upset of this round of the Premier League broke out.
Watford defeated Manchester United 3-1 at home.
This is the first time Manchester United has lost to Watford in 30 years. Counting the games with Manchester City and the Europa League with Feyenoord of the Dutch Eredivisie, Manchester United has lost three consecutive games.
Suddenly, the fans of Watford and Manchester City were so happy that they couldn't tell the difference between east, west and north.
You should be punished for your bad mouth!
After the fifth round of the Premier League, the EFL Cup is coming.
According to the regulations of the Football Association, Premier League teams that are involved in the European competition must start participating in the EFL Cup in the third round.
The opponents of Manchester City and Manchester United in this round are Swansea and English League One Northampton respectively.
Guardiola rotated the team in this game, but still defeated Swansea 2-1 and advanced to the next round.
Manchester United also easily defeated Northampton 3-1, stopping their losing streak in time.
On September 24, in the opening match of the sixth round of the Premier League, Manchester United swept away their losing streak and swept Leicester City 4-1 at Old Trafford.
Manchester City also played all their main players, and finally defeated their current opponent Swansea 3-1 away from home, achieving their 10th consecutive victory in the new season.
For a time, Guardiola's prestige among Manchester City fans reached its peak.
And Manchester City has become one of the teams with the most dazzling results in the Premier League.
The other BIG6 members collectively eclipsed Manchester City.
After the sixth round of the Premier League, despite the hearty victory, Guardiola did not give the players a holiday. Instead, he quickly entered a state of emergency preparations due to the intensive schedule.
Because in five days Manchester City will face their opponent in the second round of the Champions League group stage, the Scottish Premiership hegemon Celtic.
Celtic are regulars in the Champions League. Compared with the giant teams in the five major leagues, this Scottish giant club looks to be a notch weaker on paper.
But this time Manchester City is playing away.
If all the factors of away games are taken into account, it's hard to say whether there is still a gap between the two sides.
In football matches, especially professional matches, most away matches are not easy to play.
Especially in a top-level competition like the Champions League, it is even more difficult.
Celtic visited Camp Nou in the first round of the group match, but were severely beaten by Barcelona and were beaten by a huge score of 7-0, which was extremely miserable.
Therefore, the outside world is generally optimistic about this round's game against Celtic. Manchester City, which is in extremely explosive form, should also be able to win easily and continue to create a winning streak in the new season.
However, Guardiola doesn't think so.
Because Guardiola knows Celtic very well.
Anyone who watched the Celtics' 7-0 rout against Barcelona in the first round would not think that Celtic, the dominant player in the Scottish Premiership, was an underdog.
The same goes for Guardiola, who doesn't judge heroes based on scores.
He watched that game and found that the Celtics did not actually lose to Barcelona in the first half. Instead, they made Barcelona confused by pressing in the frontcourt.
It's a pity that the game collapsed in the second half, otherwise with the strength of the Celtics, it would never have been possible for them to lose so ugly.
Among the many miracles in the history of world football, Celtic is one of the most dazzling.
Celtic Football Club is located in Glasgow, Scotland and is one of the two Scottish giants clubs in Glasgow.
He and his city rivals Glasgow Rangers took turns monopolizing Scottish football for more than 100 years.
Perhaps looking solely at domestic league results is not convincing about Celtic's strength compared to the five major leagues.
But Celtic's strength in the Champions League is recognized.
The Celtics' most glorious period dates back to the 1966-67 season.
That year, the Celtics under the leadership of John Stein not only made great progress in the domestic arena, but also made great progress in the European arena. They defeated Nantes, Praha and other strong enemies in a row, and finally met the Serie A giant Inter Milan in the finals.
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At that time, Inter Milan was so powerful that it was called the "Great International Era". The Nerazzurri led by Herrera had already won the European Champions Cup in 1964 and 1965.
As for Celtic, they are just the dark horses who have reached the European Champions Cup final for the first time.
At that time, in the eyes of many people, the Celtics were destined to lose.
After the game started, it developed as people expected.
Only 8 minutes into the game, Jim Clegg brought down Reina Cappellini in the penalty area, and Celtic were immediately punished.
Alessandro Cazzola then scored a penalty kick to lead 1-0.
However, after taking the lead, Inter Milan actually set up a steel barrel formation, which caused the subsequent game to be controlled by the Celtics, allowing the Celtics to obtain 39 terrifying shots. In the end, they equalized and reversed in the second half, 2-2.
The score of 1 remained until the end.
That year was also the 80th anniversary of the founding of Celtic, and they also reached the top of European football for the first time.
This is also the first time a British team has won the European Champions Cup, and it is also the only European championship trophy for a Scottish team.
What is commendable is that none of the players on the Celtics team that won the championship at that time were foreign players. They were all local players from within a thirty-mile radius of the club.
To this day, this Celtic legend remains unprecedented.
That is to say, in this year, Celtic won the league championship, Scottish FA Cup championship and European championship.
They were the earliest Triple Crown winners, 32 years earlier than Manchester United in 1999.
Coupled with the Glasgow Cup and Scottish League Cup championships, a total of five championships has brought Celtic to the top.
After entering the 21st century, Celtic still performs well in European competitions and has defeated traditional powers such as Manchester United and Milan. Its competitiveness cannot be underestimated.
Therefore, such a wealthy club with a rich heritage and honor will definitely be a tough nut to crack for Manchester City playing away games. If they are not careful, Manchester City will lose a tooth.
Especially the current Manchester City. As the founder of the current Manchester City offensive and defensive system, Guardiola knows the team's weaknesses very well.
As the "Manchester Evening News" analyzed some time ago, Manchester City's weakness lies in the defense.
Guardiola doesn't think Celtic will turn a blind eye to this.
Therefore, this will definitely be a fierce battle, and it is not impossible to lose if you are not careful.
The reason why Guardiola is so worried about the outcome of this game is that Manchester City's recent schedule is too intensive.
In addition, Manchester City's current fast-paced playing style will have an extremely serious impact on the players' physical reserves.
You never know when you will suddenly fall into a slump due to physical problems.
But fortunately, Guardiola has not seen any signs of such a downturn in the players yet, and the team's morale is still high.
