Manchester City's Major Overhaul Up Front! Tang Long Emerges from Nowhere-Whose Turf Has He Stolen?

Manchester City is a team with many factions.

In reality, every top-tier professional league club has various factions within its members.

However, Manchester City's situation is more complicated than that of other Premier League teams!

Unlike Chelsea, which also rose to prominence through big money, Chelsea were already playing in the UEFA Champions League before Abramovich took over.

About a decade ago, Manchester City was just a mid-to-lower-tier team in the league, struggling to avoid relegation every year.

As a Premier League powerhouse that has risen to prominence in a short period of time, with the help of oil capital, the team has scouted up a large number of top players from all over the world, giving it a sense of grandeur reminiscent of Emperor Taizong of Tang's "all the heroes of the world are within my grasp".

This is why Manchester City's dressing room is filled with players of different nationalities, races, and cultural backgrounds, and the team's stable ecosystem, which had been in place for many years, was dismantled in a short period of time.

The new players banded together and formed groups based on their respective languages: Spanish-speaking Faction, French-speaking Faction, English-speaking Faction, Portuguese-speaking Faction, and Italian-speaking Faction.

These gangs share a striking characteristic: they communicate with each other only in their familiar languages, rather than in English, which is commonly used in the Premier League.

Tang Long, Ranocchia, and Kolarov, the only three players on the team who had previously played in Serie A, also formed Italian-speaking Faction.

The three communicated with each other in Italy, not English, in the locker room.

According to the law of conservation of energy, the cake is only so big. Tang Long's outstanding performance on the front line must have affected some people's cake and squeezed their living space in the Manchester City team!

Manchester City currently only has three true center forwards: Agüero, Bony, and Iheanacho.

The order of these three players reflects their relative strengths in Manchester City's attacking line, as well as the coaching staff's decision on who to field.

Agüero, Manchester City's undisputed attacking ace, was the Premier League Golden Boot winner last season with 26 league goals, and was also the key player in the team's last-minute victory against Queens Park Rangers in the final round of 2012, securing their first-ever Premier League title!

Both within the club and in the hearts of Manchester City fans, this diminutive Argentina striker holds an unparalleled position.

No one can challenge Agüero's position at Manchester City!

As long as he doesn't get injured and as long as he's willing to play, he can continue to be a starter.

Therefore, no matter how well Tang Long plays behind the forward line, Agüero doesn't need to worry about his position being affected.

Then there's Bony and Iheanacho.

Like Tang Long, Iheanacho was born in 1996, but he is a month younger than Tang Long.

He was still playing for the youth team last season, and this season he was promoted to the first team as a first-year Premier League player.

This young England didn't have high hopes for himself to begin with.

If you can get a few substitute appearances and score one or two goals, it's not a bad deal over the course of a season.

Therefore, Tang Long's outstanding performance on the front line will not affect Iheanacho's position.

The key lies with Bony!

He was the one most affected, and also the teammate most afraid of Tang Long's outstanding performance on the front line.

Born in 1988, Ivory Coast player Bony will turn 27 this year.

In the January 2015 winter transfer window, he was poached from Swansea by Manchester City for a hefty €32 million.

Bony performed quite well at Swansea, playing almost every game as a key player for a season and a half.

With 70 appearances, 35 goals, and 9 assists, averaging 0.5 goals per game, he is considered a top-tier striker in the Premier League.

The ages of 25 to 29 are a very important period in a striker's career.

Forwards in this age group often develop into mid-career players after going through the trials of their youth.

Growth means maturity, and maturity means success!

After arriving at Manchester City from Swansea, Bony was ambitious and even wanted to compete with Agüero for Manchester City starting striker position.

Even after realizing he couldn't win the argument, Bony didn't give up.

Last season, in addition to playing a 4-2-3-1 formation with a single striker, Manchester City also frequently switched to a 4-4-2 formation with two strikers.

Bony believes that if he can't compete with Agüero as a lone striker, then he should at least have a place in a two-striker formation!

Manchester City spent over 30 million euros to buy me. Even if they have the money, it's still a high price. They wouldn't spend that much to use me as a substitute.

Even though Bony's performance was poor in the second half of last season, Pellegrini, after discussions with the management and the first-team coaching staff, still kept Bony in the team.

This reflects both their appreciation for his potential and their concern for the more than 30 million euros Manchester City spent.

The coaching staff is hoping Bony will recover and bring his goal-scoring prowess from Swansea to Blue Moon.

Especially after Dzeko left, Bony has undoubtedly become the second-best striker after Agüero.

But things didn't go as planned!

Even with Bony's ambitions, his lackluster performance in the fifth round of the league against Southampton instantly dampened the growing confidence in him.

Bony panicked!

(In the fifth round of the Premier League, at home against Southampton, Bony, who repeatedly wasted Tang Long's through balls, covered his face and sighed!)

But after the match, he kept reassuring himself. "It's common for strikers to not score. As long as I continue to train hard and adjust my form, I will eventually make a name for myself at Manchester City! Believe in yourself, you are the best, Bony!"

In the subsequent sixth round of the league, during Manchester City's match against Liverpool, when the team was behind and desperately needed to equalize or even take the lead, Bony was excitedly rubbing his hands together on the sidelines, warming up and eager to try.

He knew that as the only center forward on the bench, Pellegrini had no choice but to field him!

Boss, let me play! Let me save the team!

However, Pellegrini's decision to move Tang Long to the forward line was a slap in the face for Bony, catching him completely off guard.

A once passionate heart suddenly plummeted into a cold abyss.

You old Chile geezer, you'd rather put a player who was originally an attacking midfielder up front as a striker than field me, a proper center forward?

Am I, a player with a transfer fee of over 30 million euros, really so unworthy of your trust?

During daily training, Bony was completely unaware that Tang Long possessed the ability and talent to play as a striker.

Compared to himself, Tang Long wasn't particularly fast, tall, or strong.

As for the sense of smell at the door?

Come on, the word "smell" is specifically for strikers. Who says a midfielder has a good "smell" in front of goal? That's complete nonsense.

Therefore, Bony is not optimistic about Tang Long being moved to the forward position, and is even waiting to see him fail.

However, shortly after Tang Long was moved up to the front line, he received a header from Iheanacho and cleverly pounced on the opportunity to score!

At this moment, all the Manchester City players erupted in cheers, and Bony stood up and applauded.

But the more he clapped, the colder he felt inside, as if the slaps weren't coming out of his hands to cheer for Tang Long, but rather slapping his own face repeatedly!

What? Tang Long scored! He really scored!

As an attacking midfielder moving up to the front line, his positioning and positioning for the ball showed a more acute anticipation than that of the average striker.

My goodness, he really can play forward!

He began to watch Tang Long's performance on the field with great tension. Every move Tang Long made, every turn to receive the ball, every pull-back, and every shot made Bony's heart pound.

The more Bony looked, the more bizarre, the more unbelievable, and the more ashamed he felt.

Although Bony could see that Tang Long's forward technique was still somewhat immature and inexperienced in some individual details.

However, in terms of positioning and anticipation of teammates' passes, Bony is far superior to him on the front line!

Thinking that he was almost 27 years old and had been playing as a striker for over a decade, yet his basic striker skills were still inferior to Tang Long, who was not yet 20, Bony really wanted to scold himself, "Look at him, and then look at me. Have you even trained properly all these years?"

After that, Tang Long used a beautiful Pendulum Dribble to get past Mignolet and then blasted the ball into the empty net, leaving the Ivory Coast striker on the bench utterly humiliated and wishing he could disappear into a crack in the ground!

Such a beautiful Pendulum Dribble is something Bony could never achieve in a real match, even with 10 more years of training.

"This can't be improved through training; it's a talent..."

A deep sense of crisis washed over Bony, and just like the weather often seen on the British Isles, dark clouds loomed overhead.

Bony has always boasted about his speed and his ability to dribble past opponents.

When he was at Swansea, many of his goals came from forcefully breaking through the defenders.

But when Bony saw Tang Long's pendulum Pendulum Dribble, for a moment, Bony even thought he was seeing things. He wasn't seeing Tang Long, but Ronaldo from the 1998 World Cup!

Like many strikers, Ronaldo was Bony's idol since childhood; he grew up watching Ronaldo play.

Bony did try to imitate Ronaldo's Pendulum Dribble in training, but he gave up after only a few attempts and would never use it in actual matches.

Although the pendulum swings left and right a couple of times, it requires an extremely high level of control over the rhythm and the finer details of the footwork. It is arguably the most difficult of all dribbling techniques.

Every step, every drop of the shoulder, every swing of the hand—the transitions between movements must be perfectly timed.

Otherwise, if you keep swaying back and forth, you'll only disrupt your rhythm and fail to achieve the desired effect.

So when Tang Long scored the go-ahead goal for Manchester City in the 80th minute, Bony's mentality started to become somewhat distorted!

He not only didn't want Tang Long to score again, but also hoped that Liverpool could pull one back and end the game with a 2-2 score.

In this way, Tang Long's two goals would not have allowed Manchester City to complete the comeback, Tang Long would not have received so much praise, and Bony's incompetence would not have been highlighted.

For Bony, moving from Swansea to Manchester City was a major leap forward, marking a huge upgrade in his career.

He was unwilling to be kicked out of the team because of a year or two of mediocrity.

Therefore, Bony first sought help from Yaya Toure, hoping to hear his advice or whether he could put in a good word for him with the coach.

After all, although there are many factions within Manchester City, the Spanish-speaking Faction and the French-speaking Faction are the two most powerful factions.

As the leader of the French-speaking Faction, Yaya Toure is an absolute key player for the team and a veteran who has served Manchester City for five years.

Unlike Bony, who had just joined the team and had little influence, Toure's words carried significant weight within the team.

Seeing Bony's dejected appearance, Toure gave him a stern lecture in front of him. "Little brother, the league has only been going on for a few rounds, and you've already lost confidence? Are you really from Ivory Coast? People from our country are never as cowardly as you!"

"It's their business if others play well; the key is to work hard to improve yourself. If you're really worried about your position, then train like crazy every day!"

"As far as I know, Tang Long always does extra training after each training session under the guidance of the physical trainer. What about you? Have you ever done extra training?"

Bony nodded, looking aggrieved, and said, "Extra training, bro. I do extra training at the gym every day, and I arrive at the training ground early."

"Um... well, that means you haven't practiced enough," Toure continued, his face stern. "Anyway, don't complain, just keep doing your best. As for the coach, as long as you work hard, I'll put in a good word for you."

Upon hearing Toure's agreement, Bony gratefully hugged him and then walked away.

Toure watched Bony's retreating figure and sighed deeply, "Sigh, always coming to me with problems. My own contract renewal is still uncertain!"

Toure leaped high into the air, jumping one meter high, and then quickly performed several high knee raises in place.

In just a few moments, he could clearly feel that his physical condition, especially his stride frequency, had declined significantly compared to when he first came to Manchester City.

Born in 1983, Toure is 32 years old this year.

At this age, he's considered a veteran in any team.

Next year, Toure's contract will expire; this year is what is commonly referred to as his contract year.

Since joining Manchester City from Barcelona in 2010 after winning the treble, Toure has maintained a good level of performance, making around 35 league appearances each season and is an absolute key player in the team's defensive midfield.

However, he suffered an injury last season, which sidelined him for two months, resulting in him only making 29 appearances in the league.

Although Toure remains a key player after his return, this injury has served as a wake-up call for him: no one can stay young forever, and as people age, their competitive performance will inevitably decline, which is supported by sports science.

At Toure's age, the chances of him continuing to play for a top club and earn a high salary after leaving Manchester City are slim.

Therefore, both Toure himself and his agent are eager to push for a contract extension with Manchester City, at least for two more years.

Having dominated the football world for many years and possessing a wealth of experience on the pitch, Toure knows that in addition to maintaining one's own competitive form, the support of teammates and the help from the locker room are also crucial for staying with a team for a long time!

So last winter transfer window, when Dzeko expressed his desire to leave at the end of the season and Manchester City urgently needed to add a striker, Toure, who had influence with the management, recommended his fellow Ivory Coast Bony.

Indeed, Toure played a significant role in helping Bony come to Manchester City!

Toure's purpose in doing this was simply to recruit another member, strengthen the French-speaking Faction's position in Manchester City, and further consolidate his own position Manchester City.

Bony's performance after joining Manchester City was poor. Although the management didn't say anything, Toure has a very strong sense of pride, felt embarrassed.

If Tang Long's outstanding performance on the front line causes Bony to be relegated to the bench or even sold off, it would be a huge slap in the face and could even affect his contract renewal in the final year of his contract.

Toure felt he couldn't just sit and wait to die; he had to take action!

Bony's problem is actually his own problem, and it relates to the status of the entire French-speaking Faction within the team.

At my age, I can't keep playing recklessly; I need to plan for the future.