The Front Line! In Liverpool's Hour of Need, Tang Long Was Thrust into the Heat of Battle!
Neville, Carragher, and Gerrard chatted in the studio during halftime.
Carragher was confident that Liverpool would win this match.
"My predicted score was 2-0, and now it's 1-0, so we're halfway there."
Neville, however, was somewhat gloating, believing that Carragher's prediction was too conservative.
"I still maintain my 3-0 prediction. Milner's beautiful free kick in the first half was just a small appetizer. Firmino, Coutinho, and Lallana, these goal-scoring players, haven't even unleashed their full potential yet. Scoring two more goals wouldn't be a problem at all!"
"After all, it's Caballero standing in front of Manchester City's goal!"
Neville then turned to Gerrard and asked, "Stefan, you predicted a 2-1 score. Actually, I'm curious, who do you think will score for Manchester City? Iheanacho? He's already missed two chances; it's practically a repeat of Bony's disastrous performance against Southampton last round. I don't see any room for improvement in that kid in the second half!"
Gerrard pondered for a long time before saying, "Actually, through the two excellent chances Manchester City created in the first half, we can see that their progression from the back to the front is not a problem at all. Toure and Tang Long are also in very good form. The key issue is the lack of firepower in the forward line."
"The key for Liverpool now is to contain Tang Long in the second half. He has scored two goals in the first five games, and his goal-scoring ability cannot be underestimated."
However, Gerrard's statement was met with skepticism from Neville and Carragher.
"Tang is essentially a midfielder. Without a top striker like Agüero creating space for him through movement and stretching, he wouldn't have any room to shoot against Liverpool's tall defenders!"
In the second half, the away team took possession of the ball from the center circle halfway through the game.
Iheanacho gently rolled the ball forward, Tang Long passed it back to Yaya Toure, and Manchester City's formation began to spread out.
The astute Gerrard immediately noticed the changes Manchester City had made.
After Tang Long passed the ball back, he didn't move backward. Instead, he followed Iheanacho's steps and kept walking forward, eventually reaching the forward position.
Secondly, Manchester City also made adjustments to their formation, changing from the 4-2-3-1 formation at the start to a 4-4-2!
Manchester City's formation changes: 4-2-3-1 - 4-4-2
Tang Long / Iheanacho
Nasri / Yaya Toure / Fernando / Navas
Clichy/ Demichelis / Ranocchia / Sagna
Caballero
Gerrard also offered his interpretation of Manchester City's decision to substitute Sterling with France player Nasri at halftime.
"If Manchester City switches to a 4-4-2 formation, then Nasri is a better fit for the left flank than Sterling, after all, Nasri is a pure midfielder by origin."
"This is Nasri's first appearance in the Premier League this season, let's see how he performs in this match."
Pellegrini was forced to make a change in midfield, moving Tang Long from the attacking midfield position to the forward line.
Manchester City is now in dire straits.
First, they suffered a home defeat to Southampton, a shocking upset; now, at Anfield, another loss would mean Manchester City's second consecutive league defeat.
If Manchester United wins again, the points gap Manchester United and their city rivals will widen to 6 points!
6 points!
That's a gap of two whole games; catching up doesn't sound like an easy task.
"We need a goal now, Tang, you get up front!"
However, Pellegrini would never allow Tang Long to play as a lone striker.
In his view, Tang Long's physical attributes are far from sufficient to play as a lone striker in the Premier League. Moreover, when he played as a striker at Inter Milan, he didn't play as a lone striker, but rather partnered with Icardi.
With Manchester City desperately needing a goal to equalize and turn the tide, Pellegrini simply changed the formation to a two-striker setup, and the formation also changed from 4-2-3-1 to the traditional 4-4-2.
Manchester City has played a 4-4-2 formation before.
Last season they frequently switched between the 4-4-2 and 4-2-3-1 formations.
When they played a 4-4-2 formation, Milner was used to fill Tang Long's position.
Seeing Tang Long being moved to the forward line, Milner, the only player to score in the entire match, let out a cold laugh.
He walked up to Tang Long and deliberately provoked him, saying, "Have you ever played as a striker in the Premier League? I used to play that position a lot when I was at Manchester City. Want me to teach you how to play as a second striker?"
In a 4-4-2 formation, one of the two forwards is always the center forward, and the other is the second forward, roaming and stretching the defense around the center forward.
The 1.85-meter-tall black striker Iheanacho undoubtedly rushed to the center forward position and engaged in a physical battle with Liverpool's tall Lovren and Skrtel.
Tang Long, on the other hand, had a wider range of movement, sometimes approaching Iheanacho and sometimes pulling to the wing, frequently exploring space by running.
Although he had played as a striker in Serie A, he found that there were significant differences between playing as a striker in the Premier League and in Serie A after coming to the Premier League.
In Serie A, a league that prioritizes defense, defenders have a better grasp of space and a more compact formation than in the Premier League.
Although the pace of the game is relatively slow and the forwards experience less physical pressure after receiving the ball, they often find themselves in position by the time they look up, leaving little space for passing, dribbling, or shooting.
In contrast, the Premier League's defenders generally have a weaker tactical awareness than their Serie A counterparts. However, Premier League defenders are taller, more aggressive, and more pressing.
Often, before the striker can even receive the rolling ball, a wall will crash into him from behind!
But precisely because of this, Premier League strikers often get more open space on the front line than Serie A strikers.
As a midfielder, Tang Long didn't receive many striker skills from the AI System; his focus remained on passing.
Therefore, after being suddenly moved to the forward line in this match, Tang Long relied more on his understanding of football, observing as he played.
In the 53rd minute of the second half, Tang Long received a through pass from Yaya Toure on the wing.
Lovren, who was marking Tang Long, stepped forward and constantly used his body to interfere with him from behind.
Tang Long didn't engage in further confrontation and passed the ball back to Nasri, who came to receive it.
Nasri, who rose to fame early on, has seen his form fluctuate in recent years due to issues with his personality and attitude on the field, and has lost his starting position at Manchester City.
However, despite being known as one of the "Four Little Swans of France," he still retains six or seven points of his on-court brilliance.
He stretched out his left hand, pointed to the left, and then stepped forward with his right foot, cutting inward.
Tang Long understood immediately and moved to the left, in the opposite direction of Nasri.
As expected, after cutting inside and getting past Henderson, Nasri didn't continue forward. Instead, he flicked his right foot to the left and delivered a precise through ball to Tang Long, who had just rushed past the offside line!
Even the instant Nasri touched the ball, Tang Long's AI brain predicted that the pass would be a bit too long.
So he made a very decisive forward run, took a step forward, and rushed forward with all his might. Finally, he caught up with the ball at a tight angle and unleashed a powerful shot!
The ball had good accuracy and power, but unfortunately the angle was too tight, and Mignolet made a powerful tip, sending it out of play near the corner.
This goal gave Liverpool goalkeeper Mignolet a real scare!
To be honest, Tang Long's shot was far less dangerous than Iheanacho's two shots in the first half, because the angle was simply too narrow.
However, Tang Long's shot was of much higher quality than Iheanacho's! It was a challenge to Mignolet's goalkeeping limits.
Seeing Mignolet's valiant save, the Anfield fans erupted in enthusiastic applause, which also proved just how high the quality of Tang Long's shot was!
The eccentric Nasri glanced at Tang Long but said nothing.
In the past, if the striker missed a one-on-one through ball he made, Nasri, the outspoken France, would grumble incessantly and start shrugging his shoulders.
However, this time Nasri knew that the ball was too long because of his pass. Tang Long was already doing well to reach the ball and shoot from a tight angle, so Nasri didn't complain.
Off the field, Pellegrini's eyes lit up!
This was the first time he had seen Tang Long play as a forward, and judging from the effect of this attack alone, the result was quite good.
Tang Long's decisiveness during his initial movement was crucial in getting the ball to him.
"He seemed to have anticipated that the pass would be too long; if he had waited for the ball to run, it would have gone directly out of bounds," Coach Pellegrini thought to himself.
Pellegrini greatly admired Tang Long's ability to anticipate the ball's trajectory.
He thought to himself that perhaps Tang Long, having played as an attacking midfielder for a long time, had a good grasp of passing routes, which was why he was able to receive passes from his teammates more easily when he came to the front line.
"What a pity! If Nasri's pass had been a little softer, Don would definitely have scored!" Pellegrini said with another sigh of regret.
If I had given Nasri more playing time in the previous rounds and helped him get into form earlier, Manchester City might have been able to equalize much faster.
We need to score soon!
Pellegrini's extreme desire to score goals is not without reason.
Moving Tang Long up front and switching to a 4-4-2 formation is actually a pretty risky tactic for Manchester City.
In traditional English football, the 4-4-2 formation is actually a very common one.
Arsène Wenger of Arsenal once said that he once liked to use the 4-4-2 formation, believing that it was the most balanced formation that could cover every corner of the pitch.
However, when Pellegrini used a 4-4-2 formation last season, he used Milner as the second striker.
Objectively speaking, Milner did more defensive work and made more runs in the second striker position than Tang Long, and he was more aggressive in his tackles, which relieved the pressure on the midfield defense.
Look at Manchester City's midfield right now. Neither Nasri nor Navas on the flanks are known for their defensive prowess, and Yaya Toure likes to push forward. There's only one pure defensive midfielder, Fernando.
As a result, Manchester City's current 4-4-2 formation appears somewhat unbalanced in both attack and defense.
But Pellegrini had no choice; he had to take the risk!
Losing one point is the same as losing two points; the only way is to quickly equalize the score, boost morale, and then make some minor adjustments.
Manchester City pressed their advantage and continued their attack.
Liverpool manager Rodgers was a bit bewildered!
He had considered countless contingency plans before the match. He even thought that if Manchester City fell behind, they would go all out and field two strikers, but that would only be Bony and Iheanacho, since those two were the only legitimate strikers Manchester City had available at the moment.
But I never expected that Pellegrini would actually move Tang Long to the front line!
Just minutes later, Manchester City came back again.
This time, Caballero and Ranocchia played a significant role in easing Liverpool's pressure in the backfield.
Caballero is actually a very distinctive goalkeeper. Although he is not tall and his goalkeeping skills are not as good as those of the starting goalkeeper Joe Hart.
But this Argentina goalkeeper is actually quite good with his feet!
Despite Milner and Firmino's relentless pressing, Caballero remained unfazed.
First, he faked a pass and dribbled past Milner, then just as Firmino's foot was about to reach for the ball, he gently tapped it to Ranocchia had found space to receive it.
These two moves made Pellegrini, watching from the sidelines, jump in fear. The over-sixty-year-old coach couldn't help but clutch his heart and catch his breath.
Fortunately, Ranocchia's performance afterwards was very stable.
Originally a midfielder, he not only possesses excellent footwork but also remarkable speed. With his 195cm height and long legs, he quickly dribbles the ball away from the danger zone in just a few strides, advancing into midfield.
In football, a center-back carrying the ball forward often poses a greater threat than a midfielder!
Because, generally speaking, midfielders are marked man-to-man and pinpointed by the opponent;
And the center-back is being marked by a striker!
But at this moment, Caballero dribbled past Milner and Firmino in succession, leaving these two forwards far behind Ranocchia, who was rapidly advancing with the ball.
Therefore, during Ranocchia's advance with the ball, every Liverpool defender was already positioned to mark other players, and no one specifically went to interfere with Ranocchia, so his advance was incredibly smooth.
Ranocchia passed the ball to Yaya Toure, Toure up and swept the ball across the field, precisely finding Navas, who had been waiting on the right wing!
Navas is also a very distinctive player. He doesn't like shooting; he prefers passing and relies heavily on crosses from the wings.
Facing left-back Moreno's defense, Navas began to break through!
This player's breakthroughs are also very distinctive; he doesn't use many feints, he just charges forward as soon as he gets the ball.
Navas wasn't particularly fast in his forward run, but as he sprinted forward, he kept feinting above the ball with his right foot.
This is Navas's secret to surviving on the wing!
Every time he feinted, Moreno assumed he was going to cross and would try to stop him.
But each time Navas feinted, and after three feints, Navas stopped and Moreno his foot to block him three times.
On the fourth attempt, Navas suddenly accelerated, leaving Moreno behind, and then delivered a cross!
This pass was a high, floating ball.
Although the ball wasn't fast, it landed with extreme precision, striking Iheanacho at the penalty spot.
"Mine!"
After missing two clear-cut chances to score in the first half, Iheanacho was spurred on by his defeat. With a roar, he jumped early, raising both arms high!
Although his footwork was rough, his good physique, combined with his amazing jumping ability, allowed him to barely brush past the 1.91-meter-tall Skrtel!
When Iheanacho touched the ball, he had no idea where it was going; he just instinctively touched it backward.
However, when he touched the ball, landed with both feet in the air, and looked back—
But what they saw was a terrified Lovren, who was pulling at Tang Long, who was about a meter in front of him, with his bow drawn and Tang Long already swinging!
Bang!
Tang Long, who lost his balance after being pulled by Lovren, fell to the ground, but his right foot struck the middle of the ball in advance, sending it flying right past Mignolet's face and into the net!
"Hey, it's in!"
Iheanacho shoved aside the frustrated Skrtel beside him and excitedly rushed towards Tang Long!
I assisted Tang Long's goal!
We've tied the score!