On the field, after the start of the second half, Tottenham once again used a frenzied rush to press Manchester City in the beginning, trying to get another start and stabilize the victory.
Tottenham's pressing effect is still very good, forcing Manchester City to be unable to conduct smooth conduct on the ground.
But Guardiola's midfield adjustments are not without effect.
The most obvious one is the effect of Chu Zheng coming to the midfielder position.
When faced with Tottenham's high press in the frontcourt, Chu Zheng appeared in time every time, helping Bravo, Stones, Otamendi and others quickly break Tottenham's press.
Even though he had known for a long time that Chu Zheng was invincible when playing as a defensive midfielder, Pochettino still had a look of amazement on his face when he saw it on the sidelines.
Every time they press in the frontcourt, the position Chu Zheng chooses will definitely break their press.
Guardiola is also very satisfied with Chu Zheng's performance.
As long as the backcourt is stable, they can start looking for offense, otherwise everything is empty talk.
As the game time went by, other effects of Chu Zheng's change to playing as a defensive midfielder became apparent.
For example, in terms of interception, from the 45th to 55th minute, Chu Zheng made 4 steals in the midfield and backcourt, with 2 successes, and intercepted 5 times, with 2 successes.
In addition to these defensive statistics, what scares Pochettino the most is Chu Zheng's powerful ball-taking ability when facing them after getting the ball in the midfield and backcourt.
In the 58th minute of the game, seeing Tottenham's frontcourt pressure forming again, Chu Zheng quickly leaned towards his right rib.
Facing Moussa Sissoko, Kolarov quickly passed the ball from the corner kick area.
Chu Zheng took the ball and turned around, and Ali in the penalty area rushed out and grabbed Chu Zheng.
Chu Zheng continuously moved the ball with his left foot, firmly controlling the ball under his feet, and used his body to separate Ali from the ball. After spinning in a circle, Ali was stuck behind him.
Getting rid of Ali's interference, Chu Zheng raised his foot and passed the ball through, transferring the ball to the right side of the center circle.
Immediately, Manchester City's offensive line was sorted out by Chu Zheng's clear direct pass.
Sterling retreated to the center line to get the ball and turned around. Facing Danny Rose, he made a powerful move with his small buttocks that had been holding back for most of the game, and he actually succeeded in breaking through.
But unfortunately, by the time Sterling came to the right side of Tottenham's penalty area, Tottenham players had already returned to defend, blocking all the inward cuts from the ribs.
Sterling didn't hesitate, and with a change of rhythm, he once again made a strong pass to the back post.
Navas entered Tottenham's penalty area from the sideline of the penalty area and outflanked him, but he failed to beat the tall and strong Kyle Walker.
Although this attack was not successful, it still scared the Tottenham players.
Pochettino also looked like he had a toothache on the sidelines.
I am really afraid of what will happen.
As soon as Chu Zheng switched to playing as a defensive midfielder, Pochettino thought of Chu Zheng's unsolvable long passes and through balls in Leicester City's defensive midfield position.
There are only two options before Pochettino now.
One is to continue to oppress and plunder like this.
But there is a high probability that Chu Zheng's long ball will be penetrated behind him.
The other is to pull back the formation a bit.
But in this way, it will not be able to put enough pressure on Manchester City's backcourt in the frontcourt, which is equivalent to proactively giving Manchester City an opportunity to calmly conduct the backcourt.
Pochettino is well aware of the horrors of Guardiola's pass-and-control tactical system.
Once Manchester City is allowed to complete the offensive brewing stage and increase the offensive speed, it will be difficult for them to stop Manchester City.
This is really hard to decide.
After frowning and observing silently for a while, Pochettino turned his attention to Aguero and Sterling.
These two are the players with the most goals for Manchester City.
But today these two people were obviously out of shape and their running was not active enough.
So Pochettino is ready to take a look and then talk.
Guardiola saw that the backcourt had stabilized, but the midfield still lacked enough creativity, so he replaced Fernandinho in the 61st minute of the game with Gundogan, who had just recovered from injury.
The effect of Gundogan's appearance is extremely obvious.
Starting from the 65th minute of the game, Manchester City's creative passes in the midfield and frontcourt increased significantly, and the success rate of breaking Tottenham's siege also increased significantly.
In the 70th minute of the game, Chu Zheng retreated from the middle. After getting the ball from Bravo, he suddenly burst out and looked like he was going to ride through the barrier alone and charge to the end.
The Tottenham players were immediately frightened.
Ali and Lamela quickly pursued Chu Zheng from both sides.
But Chu Zheng's activation and acceleration abilities were so fast that he ran ahead of them in the blink of an eye.
Wanyama quickly moved across the center circle of his own half and blocked Chu Zheng's direction, trying to force Chu Zheng to slow down.
Vertonghen behind Wanyama also slowed down his retreat, fearing that Wanyama would be passed.
However, Chu Zheng feinted a shot and brought the ball to the kick-off point with a through ball.
The ball passed from the right side of Wanyama, in front of Alderweireld who retreated, and passed in front of Navas on the left rib.
Just such a simple through ball instantly broke Tottenham's dense defense in the middle.
This through line, as well as the timing of the ball, made countless Tottenham fans at the scene feel heartbroken.
On the left rib, Navas' speed has completely increased and he is also very good at handling the ball.
But when he rushed to the left rib area at the top of the arc, Navas was a little confused, giving people the impression that he didn't know what to do.
After just a moment's hesitation, Navas was caught up by Alderweireld, who was slightly behind him.
The next second, Navas' shot was blocked by Alderweireld, and the ball was directly blocked from the baseline.
"Ouch!!!!!!!!!!" Zhan Jun and Zhang Lu simultaneously let out annoyed sounds in the LeTV live broadcast room.
"It's obviously a one-handed ball!!"
Zhang Lu chuckled, shook her head and said: "Navas plays a little awkwardly on the left. His dominant foot is right, but cutting inside is really not what he is good at!"
"This time I defended Alderweireld very well. He chased back and directly blocked Navas's right foot. He was very determined!"
"If this ball had been replaced by Aguero, there is a high probability that it would have been scored! What a pity that Chu Zheng passed the ball in seconds!" Zhan Jun shook his head in regret.
On the court, Chu Zheng, who was out of breath, also had a look of regret.
Navas considered the distance and speed of the ball, but he was helpless as the wrong person caught the ball.
If Sterling was on this side, the ball would probably have been available, Chu Zheng thought.
On the sidelines, Pochettino's eyes were filled with shock.
He saw clearly just now that when facing Manchester City's counterattack this time, Wanyama, Vertonghen and others made no positional mistakes at all, and the number of people returning to defense was completely sufficient.
But it was cracked by Chu Zheng.
This kind of through ball route is so tricky. Sometimes Pochettino is really curious about how Chu Zheng finds these terrible passing routes.
After Manchester City's continuous offensive climax, the game situation became deadlocked again, with back-and-forth exchanges.
In the 75th minute of the game, Pochettino found that the team's pressing intensity had dropped, so he replaced Moussa Sissoko with Dier, who had just returned from injury.
The purpose of this substitution is two-fold.
The first is to replenish the team's physical fitness.
The second is to continue to put pressure on Manchester City's left wing and suppress Manchester City's left wing attack.
Pochettino's substitution also had an effect.
After Dier came on the scene, Tottenham's right-side attack and pressing intensity resumed.
In order to help Kolarov, Navas had to retreat to participate in the defense.
As a result, Manchester City's left rib, which had just begun to improve offensively, was ruined again.
Seeing that there was not much time left in the game, Guardiola gritted his teeth and used the last substitution spot.
In the 79th minute of the game, Guardiola replaced Navas with Sane.
After Sane came on the scene, Manchester City's frontcourt changed again. The cooperation between the midfield and the frontcourt increased again, and the number of threatening attacks also increased.
Soon, Manchester City once again continued to threaten the attack.
In the 82nd minute of the game, Manchester City took a throw-in from the right side of the frontcourt.
Sabarete saw the Tottenham players crowded on the wings outside the penalty area, and he threw the ball directly back to David Silva.
After David Silva got the ball, Lamela started to chase.
But David Silva successfully passed the ball back to the backcourt with a flexible U-shaped run.
Otamendi directly transferred the ball laterally without stopping in front of the center line on the wing.
In the center circle, Chu Zheng, who was retreating, got the ball and quickly moved forward about one meter to the left, and then suddenly kicked the ball straight into the ribs.
Tottenham's front edge at the top of the arc was slightly to the left. Sane, who was in front of Alderweireld, quickly turned towards the left rib area at the top of the arc to meet Chu Zheng's through ball.
Kyle Walker is actually no slower than Sane.
But at this point in time, Kyle Walker really has no physical fitness, so he started the pursuit as fast as a lead, allowing Sane to take the lead and poke the ball away.
From the upper left corner of the small penalty area, Sane caught up with the ball, raised his left foot and hit it.
There was a muffled bang!
The ball hit Lori directly near the goal post like a cannonball.
Lori's hands were flailing in front of him, and Sane's shot hit his upper right arm and flew out of the baseline.
"Bluff!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" The fans at the New White Hart Lane suddenly collectively exclaimed again!
"Damn!!"
"..."
Countless Tottenham fans in the stands were terrified.
Some fans even used curses to vent the pressure Chu Zheng had put on them during this period.
Many Tottenham fans feel that Chu Zheng, who plays as a defensive midfielder, poses a greater threat to their goal.
Every time Chu Zheng's through ball appeared that could directly tear apart their defense, they would be shocked to see it.
In the coaching area on the sidelines, seeing Manchester City's attack that almost scored a goal, Pochettino also made a decision in his mind.
He turned back to the coaching bench and called Nkoudu and Vincent Janssen, who had just returned from warm-up, to his side.
However, Manchester City did not give Pochettino a chance to make substitutions and adjust tactics.
In the 84th minute of the game, Manchester City continued to control the ball.
Tottenham can still run and press the Manchester City players.
The crazy momentum is still there, and Manchester City fans can't help but admire the tactical execution and physical fitness of Tottenham players.
However, under Chu Zheng's command and control, Manchester City passed the ball back to Bravo in the penalty area three times in a row, preventing Tottenham from succeeding.
Faced with Ali's attack, Bravo continuously swung his legs and then quickly shot the ball to the right.
After Zabaleta retreated to the outside of the penalty area to get the ball, he saw Danny Rose coming up again, and he subconsciously looked for Chu Zheng.
Soon, he saw Chu Zheng's figure in the left rib area at the top of the arc, raised his foot and pushed the ball over.
At this time, Chu Zheng was followed by Wan Yama.
When the ball came to Chu Zheng, Chu Zheng rubbed the inside of his right foot, and then the ball missed his crotch. Then Chu Zheng quickly turned to the left.
During this whole process, Wan Yama, who had very little physical strength left behind Chu Zheng, was like a heavy brown bear, being left behind by Chu Zheng.
"pretty!!!!!!!!!!!"
"pretty!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
In LeTV's live broadcast room, Zhan Jun and Zhang Lu saw Chu Zheng's stop-and-go action and immediately exclaimed, full of admiration!
On the court, Chu Zheng caught up with the ball and took it diagonally from the ribs toward the middle.
But when Chu Zheng entered the middle circle area, it was obvious that Chu Zheng could no longer run and was about to be overtaken by Wan Yama behind him.
However, just when everyone thought that Manchester City's attack was going to come to an abrupt end, the outside instep of Chu Zheng's right foot suddenly hit the ball in front of him.
Suddenly the ball drew a wonderful arc in the low air, bounced in front of Vertonghen who was about 40 meters away from the goal, and jumped directly in front of Sterling on the right.
In the coaching area on the sidelines, Guardiola and Pochettino's breath froze when they saw Chu Zheng's beautiful instep arc pass.
Both of them could see clearly that Chu Zheng's out-of-foot curve ball once again broke Tottenham's four-man defense in the backcourt.
At this moment, everyone's eyes were focused on Sterling, who was receiving the ball in the frontcourt. No one noticed that something was wrong with Chu Zheng after passing the ball.
Outside the right rib area at the top of the arc, Sterling did not stop the ball to slow down, but took the ball out again and cut into Tottenham's penalty area from the right side of the penalty area.
This time Sterling was no longer happy and used his speed to eat Vertonghen alive who was already a little exhausted.
After approaching the baseline, Sterling swept the ball to the back post.
In front of the back post, Alderweireld and Kyle Walker couldn't keep up with Sane, who was full of physical strength.
Faced with Sterling's cross, Sane raised his foot from close range, and the ball went into the penalty area through the gap between Lori and the goal post.
2-2!
"goal!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
The moment the goal was scored, all the Manchester City fans in the stands jumped up and cheered wildly!
"The ball is in!!!!!!!!!!!!"
"At 85 minutes and 3 seconds of the game, Manchester City scored again!!!"
"Sane!!!!"
On the sidelines, seeing his team's equalizer, Guardiola was so excited as never before that he turned around and punched the fans in the stands in celebration.
Tottenham fans responded with huge boos to Guardiola's celebration, and some Tottenham fans were so angry that they threw things in their hands into the stands.
But Guardiola soon stopped laughing.
During the celebration with fists, Guardiola subconsciously glanced at Chu Zheng in the center circle from the corner of his eye. When he saw Chu Zheng limping back with his right hand covering the muscles behind his right thigh, he suddenly thought:
With a bang, the joy of equalizing the score was gone in an instant.
It’s over!
Guardiola, who has a background as a player, knows very well what Chu Zheng's action means.
At this moment, Guardiola felt like he was struck by thunder.
