At noon the next day, the 22nd round of the Premier League kicked off and a new round of competition began.
The opening game of this round of the Premier League is the Red Army Liverpool against the Swansea Swansea.
After 21 rounds of the Premier League, Swansea has 4 wins, 3 draws and 14 losses, scoring 23 goals, but conceding 49 goals, with only 15 points, ranking second from the bottom in the standings, and becoming one of the favorites for relegation this season.
As Liverpool was tied 1-1 by Red Devils Manchester United at Old Trafford in the 21st round, their ranking also dropped to fourth.
But at present, they and fifth-placed Arsenal are still tied with 44 points. Both sides are competing, and no one wants to fall behind.
Tottenham, who are ranked third above Liverpool, are only 1 point ahead of them.
I thought that Liverpool would be able to win when they returned to the Premier League and beat a team like Swansea. However, it turned out that Liverpool seemed to be addicted to robbing the rich and giving to the poor. They actually took the initiative to extend a helping hand to Swansea, which was stuck in the quagmire of relegation, and would be trapped in the quagmire of relegation.
The black swan in the quagmire was pulled up.
As a result, Liverpool lost 2-3 at home to Swansea, another shocking upset.
The Red Army fans were so angry that they couldn't figure out why Liverpool, which was almost invincible in the strong-power dialogue, would repeatedly stumble against the middle and lower-tier teams, always losing points in places that shouldn't be lost, which is autistic.
In fact, thinking about it after the game, Liverpool's defeat was also traceable.
First of all, it was because two days ago on January 18, Liverpool had a 0-0 draw with their opponents in the third round of the FA Cup, so they played another game against Plymouth in midweek, and finally won 1-0 with difficulty.
The second reason is that in this game, Liverpool’s shoddy defense lacked Matip.
This guy was not suspended with a red card, nor was he injured, but because he refused to be called up by the Cameroon national team for the African Cup of Nations, which led to him being sued by the chaotic Cameroon Football Association, and then temporarily banned from participating in the club by FIFA on the grounds of investigation.
Contest.
This made Liverpool's already unstable defense even worse.
Coupled with the fact that Mane returned to participate in the African Cup of Nations, Liverpool lost another powerful explosive point in the frontcourt, so Liverpool's loss was actually traceable.
At 15:00 in the afternoon, another group of fans were so angry that they jumped to their feet and went crazy.
The Red Devils Manchester United led by Mourinho were held to a 1-1 draw by Stoke City in the away game, another minor upset.
In fact, as long as Manchester United wins this game, with 40 points, they can close the point difference with Liverpool to 1 point.
By then, let alone Liverpool daring to rob the rich and give to the poor, as long as there is a slight mistake, they can immediately pull Liverpool down and enter the European theater.
But now it's better, Liverpool just lost at noon, they were tied in the afternoon, and the 3 points they got turned into 1 point.
At 17 o'clock, as the game time approaches, the Etihad Stadium is packed with people and every seat is packed.
Manchester City's opponent in this round is Tottenham, who are third in the Premier League standings.
From the beginning of the season to the present, even some Tottenham fans are not optimistic about Tottenham's ability to enter the championship ranks just like the outside world.
Because this Tottenham team is too young, the established practice on the football field is not to trust young people.
But the powerful response of young players to these stereotypes and doubts through performance is a traditional drama that people love to see.
This is also the case with Tottenham recently.
Although Tottenham's form has been unstable since the beginning of the season, they have been on a strong upward trajectory recently.
In the final match of the 20th round of the Premier League, Tottenham defeated Chelsea 2-0, ending the 12-game winning streak of the Blues under Conte.
Tottenham are also the first team to defeat Chelsea after the change this season.
Interestingly, Pochettino also fielded a three-centre-back lineup when he defeated Chelsea.
At 17:55, as soon as the live broadcast signal was connected, the starting lineups of Manchester City and Tottenham immediately appeared on the camera.
Manchester City:(4141)
Goalkeeper:Bravo
Defenders: Zabaleta, Otamendi, Kolarov, Clichy
Midfielder: Yaya Toure
Midfielder: Sterling, De Bruyne, Chu Zheng, Sane
Forward: Aguero
In the live broadcast room, when they saw Manchester City's starting lineup, Zhan Jun and Zhang Lu were stunned for a moment. They seemed to be extremely surprised by Guardiola's change of formation. It seemed that he was not using a three-center-back system.
"After being brutally beaten 4-0 by Everton in the 21st round of the Premier League, Manchester City dropped to second place in the standings, losing its place at the top of the Premier League table that they had yet to hold on to."
"This game is crucial for both Manchester City and Tottenham, because once they lose, Chelsea may take the opportunity to expand the score and increase their disadvantage in the championship."
"As for the goalkeeper, Guardiola kept his word in this game. He still trusts Bravo, but just listen. Ederson has already joined the team and started training."
"Haha!" Zhang Lu burst out laughing after hearing Zhan Jun's witty words.
He wanted to defend Bravo, but he didn't know how to start. Those 22 shots on target and 16 goals were so unbeatable that any defense seemed extremely pale.
"Bravo didn't win, but he won Stones!" Zhan Jun shook his head and laughed.
Zhang Lu immediately answered: "Actually, apart from the two own-goal assists in the last round, Stones' performance was still very good."
Tottenham:(343)
Forwards: Alli, Harry Kane, Eriksen
Midfielder: Danny Rose, Dembélé, Wanyama, Ben Davies
Defenders: Wimmer, Alderweireld, Dier
Goalkeeper: Hugo Lloris
"Tottenham may have tasted the benefits of the 3-center-back system through Conte, and Pochettino continued to implement the 3-center-back system."
"Pochettino was superior in the first round of the match between the two sides, and Tottenham defeated Manchester City 3-2."
"But today is different from the past. As the season progresses, the tactical system of Manchester City players and Guardiola is becoming more and more integrated."
"Due to the injury of Vertonghen in this game, Pochettino sent Wimmer and captain Dier also came to the central defender position."
"This season Tottenham's defense is the most stable among all teams in the Premier League, which is impressive."
"Currently Tottenham have only conceded 16 goals, which is the team that has conceded the fewest goals in the Premier League."
"But Vertonghen's absence may have a big impact on the defensive system built by Pochettino."
"There must be an impact, it just depends on whether it is big or small!" Zhang Lu looked down at the notepad, "What the defense pursues is stability. Defense often relies on the tacit understanding and trust between players. This sudden change
It takes a certain amount of time for people to re-cultivate this kind of tacit understanding and trust."
"Yes!"
"According to reports from The Guardian before the game, Kyle Walker seems to be hesitant about leaving the team. There is no obstacle at the club level, but he seems to have other concerns and has been unable to reach a personal agreement with Manchester City."
"So Kyle Walker did not start today, and he was not even included in the substitute list."
As soon as Zhan Jun finished speaking, the camera suddenly found Kyle Walker in the stands wearing a cap and sunglasses.
At 17:30 London time, the referee Marriner blew the whistle, and this powerful dialogue officially started.
On the field, after the game started, looking at the positions of Tottenham players, they played in a 3421 formation. Alli and Eriksen did not appear on the wings, but moved in the left and right areas behind Harry Kane.
Manchester City's side, which attacks from left to right, also has changes.
After the game started, it was not Yaya Toure who appeared in the defensive midfield position, but Chu Zheng.
But sometimes Chu Zheng would go up, and Yaya Toure would retreat, and the two quickly completed the handover of responsibilities.
No one knows what Guardiola has in mind.
But soon the crisis came.
In the 3rd minute of the game, during Tottenham's half, on the right side of the center circle, Alderweireld adjusted his position with the ball and suddenly made a long diagonal pass.
The impact point was in the ribs in the 30-meter area on the right side of Manchester City's half.
Danny Rose started early along the wing, but Zabaleta was not slow and moved to the wing in time.
As a result, after running out, he realized that his judgment of where to land was wrong.
Finding the ball behind him, he quickly turned around, but he turned halfway and slipped because he turned too sharply. He watched helplessly as the ball bounced towards the side of the penalty area.
Danny Rose moved very quickly. He took the ball down to the base in a blink of an eye, and then pushed it horizontally along the baseline.
Close to the goal post, Ali moved in front of the goal post.
Danny Rose quickly passed the inverted triangle back to the front point.
The next second, Otamendi came forward, stretched out his left foot and touched it in time. The ball climbed upwards at high speed and flew to the right along the baseline and out of the sideline.
"fool!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
Immediately, everyone at the Etihad Stadium was frightened. They were really afraid of conceding the ball at the beginning.
With Manchester City's current moral character, this kind of thing is not impossible.
