EFL Cup: Tang Long's First Taste of Action, and His Mysterious Speed Baffled Pellegrini!

Tang Long is not a player who primarily focuses on scoring goals. In Pellegrini's tactical vision, he is mainly responsible for controlling the tempo and delivering threatening through balls.

This was also the consensus reached by Pellegrini after discussions with Tang Long's former coach, current England national team manager Mancini.

Surprisingly, he scored a hat-trick in the Manchester Derby and even took the match ball with him.

His phone was ringing off the hook, and text messages poured in like snowflakes.

Most of them were former teammates at Inter Milan.

Clearly, even though Tang Long has left Serie A, many Serie A players still watch globally watched matches like the Manchester Derby.

Chivu and Mancini also sent congratulatory messages to Tang Long.

Berni, who is far away in the United States, even sent him a selfie. In the picture, he is smoking a cigar, wearing a big gold chain and sunglasses, and giving a thumbs up to the camera.

"Well done, lad! I knew you had a talent for scoring goals!"

Even in real life, Pirlo, who had only met Tang Long once on the field, sent him a short text message to congratulate him on winning the derby.

However, if we're talking about which non- Manchester City player was happiest after Manchester City won this derby, it would definitely be Tottenham Hotspur's midfielder Guarin!

When Tang Long and Ranocchia went to London at Guarin's invitation, Guarin told them that when they met Manchester United in the derby, they should give them a good beating and teach Icardi a lesson.

Manchester City certainly thrashed their opponents, with a record-breaking 7-1 scoreline that is enough to etch their city rivals into the annals of shame.

Ranocchia's close marking of Icardi throughout the match kept the Manchester United striker sidelined for the entire game!

"Captain was amazing! That was so exciting, I was slapping my thigh in frustration!" Guarin's excited voice came from the other end of the phone. "That's exactly how we do it! Give Icardi a good beating, pin him down, let them know how powerful you are! Look at how arrogant this kid is, damn it!"

"But Tang, I still admire your assist to Icardi more! Hahaha!"

"I later found out that this own goal was the first of his professional career goals. It's really satisfying to see him score an own goal in the Manchester Derby. He got a great first blood!"

Tang Long told Guarin that he was a little dazed when Icardi scored the own goal, thinking he was still at Inter Milan. But when he saw Icardi's miserable and helpless look, he burst out laughing.

The two were chatting happily on the phone when a picture popped up on their screen.

Tang Long opened the message and found it was sent to him by Diletta. It was a selfie of her working overtime, her face showing exhaustion.

[Congratulations on winning a historic match! It's a pity I can't send you the post-match interview; I'm on a business trip in Switzerland, I'm so tired, I really want to chat with someone.]

Tang Long impatiently swiped away the image.

He showed absolutely no interest in women when he was having a good time chatting with his brothers.

"Guarin, I remember that in your defensive midfield position, you could actually diversify your passing options a bit..." He continued chatting with Guarin about football.

After playing the Manchester Derby in the 11th round of the Premier League, Manchester City will not get a rest in midweek, as they still have an EFL Cup Round of 16 match to play.

Playing two games a week is a huge test of a player's physical fitness.

Fortunately, the team has recently achieved a winning streak, and every player is in high spirits;

With Pellegrini having ample rotation options, Manchester City were prepared to field a formidable lineup at home, inviting Crystal Palace to come to the game.

Joe Hart was not completely sidelined by Pellegrini despite his three previous outrageous mistakes, and he started the game in this match.

Zabaleta, Mangala, Otamendi, Demichelis, Iheanacho, and other substitutes all started the game.

Meanwhile, key players such as Tang Long, Ranocchia, Kompany, Agüero, Sagna watched the game from the bench.

Manchester City are in a relaxed state of mind; winning is fine, losing is no big deal.

Crystal Palace, on the other hand, had absolutely no desire to play this game!

For a relegation-threatened team like them, the only focus of a season is the 38 rounds of the league.

Aside from these 38 rounds, all other matches are a pointless waste of energy.

Especially in the EFL Cup, if a match ends in a draw, there's no extra time or penalties, and the game has to be rescheduled.

Manchester City can tolerate playing two games a week because they have a deep bench.

But Crystal Palace is different; their squad is designed for one game per week!

So not only did Manchester City make rotations, but Crystal Palace made even more extensive rotations, even fielding two young players promoted from the youth team in their starting lineup, clearly intended to be easy wins for them.

Young player Iheanacho was extremely active.

This was his first start of the season, even in a relatively insignificant competition like the EFL Cup. However, this self-proclaimed rising star of England's attack wouldn't miss any opportunity to showcase himself.

He and Nasri executed several beautiful combinations in the attacking third, scoring twice in the first half.

However, this did not elicit a strong response at the Etihad Stadium, and the applause was not particularly enthusiastic.

In this match, the Etihad Stadium only had a little over 30,000 spectators, far less than the team's capacity of 55,000.

Perhaps the fans also felt this was a meaningless match, especially since it was a weekday during the week, and people who had just finished work obviously didn't have much enthusiasm, dragging their tired bodies to the stadium to watch the game.

Crystal Palace remained very relaxed in the second half.

They passed the ball back and forth at their feet, not actively moving forward, as if they were the ones in the lead.

Manchester City, on the other hand, cooperated seamlessly with their opponents, refraining from high pressing.

In short, the two sides just kept at it, kicking each other back and forth, even hoping the game would end soon so they could clock out.

The only one still showing some enthusiasm is Manchester City's starting striker, Iheanacho, who has already scored two goals and is eager to complete a hat-trick and take home the match ball.

Time passed by, minute by minute, and the 81st minute arrived.

Pellegrini has used his last substitution.

Nasri was substituted out and replaced with Tang Long.

His intention was to let Tang Long warm up by running on the field for 10 minutes in preparation for the Premier League match three days later.

However, Tang Long's appearance sparked the loudest cheers from the fans since the start of the game!

The cheers were even louder than when Iheanacho scored his second goal in the first half!

"Tannnnnnnng!"

"ChinaTang!"

Some fans even created wave after wave to liven up the atmosphere.

The match was rather boring, and many fans never expected Tang Long to play.

With tickets that are much cheaper than those in the Premier League, and the chance to see Tang Long at the EFL Cup, it seems like the tickets are worth it!

Seeing the fans cheering for him, Tang Long was also filled with emotion.

I originally planned to just stroll around the field for a bit and wait for the game to end, but then I thought again that the fans had cheered for me so enthusiastically, and it would seem like I would be letting them down if I didn't put on a show.

Let's test the speed then!

After four Speedster of the Pitch– Kaka, Henry, Martins, Caniggia– took to the field to provide guidance, Tang Long's acceleration and absolute speed both increased to over 86, and he activated the [Speedster of the Pitch] badge bestowed upon him by the AI Cloud System.

The special effect this medal gives Tang Long is that when competing in speed contests with players whose speed value is below 80, he no longer needs to compare stats but can instantly defeat them, thus helping him conserve energy as much as possible on the court.

In the last round against Manchester United, Tang Long mostly appeared in the middle, and none of the players he was matched up against had a speed of less than 80.

Facing the weak Crystal Palace, there are quite a few easy targets to take advantage of!

Tang Long moved up to the wing and called for the ball from right-back Zabaleta.

Zabaleta saw Tang Long, who should have been in the middle, wander to the wing and thought it was a run to create space, so he passed the ball to him.

On this side, the player marking Tang Long is Australian defensive midfielder Jedinak.

This player is 31 years old this year, Tang Long had been observing him for a long time when he was on the bench.

He found that the player was physically strong and had accurate passing, but turning was a major weakness of his, and he was also slow, probably around 75 km/h at most.

"I'll keep an eye on Tang Long, you guys block his passing lanes!"

Jedinak gave instructions to full-back Kelly and another defensive midfielder Ledley.

Having played in the Premier League for many years, this veteran believed that once Tang Long was forced to the wing, the only way for him to maintain possession was to pass the ball to the center or directly connect with the far-side center forward, Iheanacho.

In such a narrow space on the wing, he was confident that he could block Tang Long's path forward with the ball!

Little did he know, Tang Long was targeting him, the easy target.

Whoosh!

Swift as the wind!

Tang Long pushed the ball straight forward with the instep of his foot along the wing, and it instantly flashed past Jedinak!

Even after everyone else had passed by, Jedinak hadn't even had time to turn around!

The Australian veteran was somewhat stunned. He glanced at the sideline—his foot was clearly less than 50 centimeters from it. How had Tang Long managed to dodge it?

Even if I'm slow, I can't be this bad! Without time to think, I immediately started panting and chasing after them.

Just as Tang Long was dribbling towards the center, he caught a glimpse of Iheanacho's diagonal run.

At this moment, Dann pulled out of position. Tang Long knew that as long as he could get past this center-back, Iheanacho could easily score a goal.

Tang Long had also observed Dann; the guy's speed was neither fast nor slow, estimated to be around 80.

As luck would have it, Dann's speed was 79, right on the 80 threshold.

Tang Long jumped with his left foot, slid his right foot to the left, pretending to cut inside, then flicked his outside foot to the right, completely fooling Dann.

"Holy crap!"

Dann felt as if a bolt of lightning had struck his ear, sending a shiver of numbness through his muscles.

Just like Jedinak before him, this center-back didn't even have time to turn around before Tang Long had already run far away.

"When did I become this slow? It can't be that bad!"

Tang Long passed the ball to the near post, where Iheanacho beat another center- Delaney, to it and poked the ball into the net.

"A hat trick! I've pulled off a hat trick!"

Youngster Iheanacho ignored his teammates who came to celebrate and rushed to Tang Long first, lifting him high in the air.

How could Iheanacho not be excited?

This young black England player, who only started playing for the first team this year, has already scored his first career hat-trick!

This also set a record for the fastest hat-trick by a Manchester City academy-promoted young player, even though it was just an EFL Cup match.

"Haha, great shot! Those two dribbles were really fast, awesome!"

Agüero was smiling and clapping on the bench.

Silva and Yaya Toure, sitting next to him, both looked completely bewildered.

Agüero was actually watching it only half-heartedly, not really paying attention.

However, unlike Agüero, Silva and Yaya Toure had their eyes glued to Tang Long ever since he came on!

The reason is obvious: both players are in competition with Tang Long for the attacking midfielder and defensive midfielder positions.

They know Tang Long's style too well!

Tang Long isn't slow, but he's not that fast either. How could he have completely wiped out two opposing players with just two quick moves?

"Has he shown this much speed in training before?" Toure asked Silva.

"No, absolutely not, I don't remember it being that fast!" Silva replied firmly.

At that moment, the big screen in the Etihad Stadium began replaying the goal.

The entire process of Tang Long dribbling past two players to deliver an assist was recorded.

Tang Long's speed when dribbling past opponents was so fast that the high-definition cameras at the Etihad Stadium even dropped frames during slow-motion playback.

The camera captured the shocked expressions on the faces of Jedinak and Dann as they were passed by, revealing even the pores on their faces.

But Tang Long, who rushed past the two of them, was just a blur of afterimages!

Wow, it's so fast the camera can't even capture it clearly! Is it really that fast?

-[Haha, look at Tang Long's face and arms, they're all blurry!]

-[This captures Tang Long's true martial spirit form!]

-[Those two moves felt even faster than Bale'! That's terrifying!]

"Even if Bale is fast, he shouldn't be so fast that he doesn't even give the defender a chance to turn around. That's ridiculous!"

-[I think you're all exaggerating. I watch Crystal Palace games often, and Jedinak and Dann aren't particularly fast.]

Pellegrini and assistant coach Rayne stared at the big screen, also looking bewildered.

When did Tang Long become such an incredibly fast horse?

"Rayne, have you discovered Tang Long's talent for speed? In regular training?"

When Pellegrini asked the question, Rayne firmly shook his head.

"No, Tang Long isn't slow, but he's definitely not a fast horse, especially in a league like the Premier League. As far as I know, he's not as fast as Sterling or Navas, much slower than Bony."

Pellegrini nodded slightly, his eyes still revealing his confusion.

But even Sterling and Bony couldn't kill their opponents in an instant at that speed.

After much discussion, the two could only exchange a smile and shake their heads.

Teaching assistant Rayne said that perhaps it was because Jedinak and Dann were indeed too slow.

He knew that these two were indeed slow when he was preparing for the race;

Given that he played for 80 minutes, it's understandable that he was outmatched by Tang Long, who had just come on.

Pellegrini stroked his chin, remaining noncommittal.

He knew that even if a player was slow, they wouldn't be so slow that they wouldn't even have a chance to turn around after being beaten!

That's not scientific.

Jedinak and Dann are indeed not fast, but they are still Premier League level players;

In the Premier League, speed is relative; there is no absolutely slow player.

Even after the referee blew the final whistle, Pellegrini still couldn't figure it out.

Suddenly, a strange thought popped into Pellegrini's head. He was in his sixties.

"This guy is from China. Does he possess some kind of magical power from this ancient Eastern country?"

The more he thought about it, the more mysterious it seemed; he felt that this 19-year-old was shrouded in unsolved mysteries...

(I updated 30,000 words in the first three days, but today I only updated one chapter with a little over 4,000 words. The author wants to take a short break. Thank you!)