A Magical Dance! The Referee Nearly Blew His Whistle by Mistake!
The Nasri incident has come to an end.
The France has disappeared from the Manchester City squad.
The club held a secret internal meeting to inform the higher-ups of his punishment.
The specific terms are unknown, but Begiristain's casual remark that "his contract has been terminated" dropped a bombshell in the hearts of all Manchester City players!
The decision to terminate the contract of a player midway through the season, a player who had served Manchester City for five years, shocked many veterans within Manchester City club.
Those players who participated in criticizing Nasri at Kompany's home may have felt a temporary victory;
However, the other players, unaware of the situation, held Tang Long in even greater respect, and Tang Long image in their hearts became even more inviolable.
Nasri's disappearance is definitely a major blow to the French-speaking Faction.
Divisions have already begun to emerge within the gangs.
Aside from Bony, who had already defected to the Italian-speaking Faction, Sagna also showed signs of becoming detached, since Toure had not played the role a leader should have in this incident.
The players aren't stupid either. With his age, how many more days does Toure have at Manchester City?
"Your contract renewal will need to be put on hold for a while. We will contact your agent to negotiate at the appropriate time."
This was the polite reply Toure received when he went to Begiristain's office.
Ivory Coast felt a wave of frustration, a deep sense of crisis, like the lush ivy climbing the walls of the club's cafeteria, spreading from the soles of his feet to the back of his head, and even beginning to grow into his body.
Unlike other Premier League clubs, Manchester City's manager is not called "manager," but "coach."
Unlike Ferguson, Pellegrini has a say in player contract signings and the transfer market, and is deeply involved in the club's operations and decision-making.
Chilean Engineer didn't even make it into management!
Manchester City's club management direction is firmly in the hands of CEO Begiristain and Commercial Director Berrada.
Toure understands that no matter how well he performs on the pitch, if either of the two players doesn't want him, they will not hesitate to exclude him from the club's tactical considerations—and sometimes these considerations aren't even tactical, but involve other factors.
Take Tang Long for example.
Toure knew perfectly well what had happened that day at Kompany 'Kompany house, when he and Agüero had just entered.
Tang Long, Kolarov, and Nokia were already sitting next to Kompany, smiling as they stood up to greet him.
As for Bony, this underling he had only been with for a little over a year, why would he suddenly turn against him? After much thought, Toure could only conclude that Bony's selfishness led him to betray the organization.
Players are always selfish; the person who can help them the most is the most popular.
This was true twenty years ago, and it is true today, twenty years later.
From this perspective, Toure accepted his defeat wholeheartedly this time.
Thinking about this, 32-year-old Toure felt somewhat relieved.
He thought of his biological brother, Kolo Toure, who had left Manchester City two years earlier to play for Liverpool, and made him a phone call.
"Brother, are you free? I'd like to come to Liverpool and grab a drink with you."
"Drinking? Are you crazy, bro? You never drink, why are you suddenly thinking of doing something drastic?"
"It's nothing, I'm just a little tired."
The Golden Boy Award is a relatively minor award, and Tang Long's win this time did not cause much of a stir in the Britain media.
After all, as Icardi said, this isn't the Ballon d'Or, so it doesn't prove anything.
However, another Argentina Agüero, was very pleased with this and even invited Tang Long to his home.
At 27, Agüero has a private trophy room in his home filled with all the honors and awards he has won throughout his career.
Premier League champion, Argentine Super League champion, Olympic men's football champion, UEFA Europa League champion, UEFA Super Cup champion, Premier League top scorer...
Looking at the dazzling array of champions displayed in the exhibition hall, Tang Long was filled with emotion.
"Sergio, you're a true winner in life. You know, I was supposed to go to the 2008 Olympics to watch the football final live, but I just couldn't get a ticket."
"Haha, Argentina won two gold medals that year, in football and basketball!"
When Tang Long came to visit, Agüero specifically asked him to bring the Golden Boy Award trophy.
Agüero also won the Golden Boy Award in 2007. He cleaned the Agüero in advance and placed it in a prominent position in the showroom.
"Time flies! When I won the Golden Boy award in 2007, I was only 19 years old, just like you. Eight years have passed in the blink of an eye."
Agüero had his girlfriend, who is also Maradona's daughter, come over, and the two posed for a photo holding their respective Golden Boy Award trophies;
Then Agüero posted a social media status.
[Congratulations Tang, my good brother! At this moment, I feel like I'm nineteen again!]
Tang Long retweeted this status, and five minutes Sterling commented. "Hey! I had one last year too!"
The two then began to analyze the situation for next year.
Agüero admitted that Manchester City winning the Christmas title is a sure thing, but whether they can completely leave Manchester United and Chelsea behind in the Premier League title race is still uncertain.
"We've played 15 rounds in the Premier League so far, and we're currently 7 points ahead of Manchester United. That seems like a big difference, but it's actually only about two games away."
After 15 rounds of the Premier League, the standings are as follows:
1. Manchester City 40 points
2. Manchester United 33 points
3. Arsenal 32 points
4. Chelsea 31 points
Agüero continued his analysis, "Take last season for example. Chelsea weren't the Christmas champions, but they surged in the latter part of the season. In the last ten rounds, they overtook the leaders from the third corner to take the lead. Also, Arsenal caught up, and they shouldn't be underestimated either."
Tang Long watched Agüero ramble on and on, analyzing the situation, and he knew exactly what Aguero was trying to say.
Since last season, when Icardi suddenly fell out with the club in the last few rounds and disappeared, causing a significant loss to the team's attacking strength, Tang Long has learned a profound lesson.
A team should never rely solely on one player for its main offensive firepower.
Therefore, during the period when Agüero was injured, Tang Long intentionally increased the AI video feed to Bony to better understand the striker's habits through big data analysis.
Whether Agüero will fall out with the club Tang Long hard to say, but Bony's rise in strength is only beneficial to him, with no drawbacks.
"Don't worry, Sergio," Tang Long said. "You're still an important part of our team. Once you're back, my assists will come in droves. Bony has scored a lot of goals; he's the team's top scorer now, but you're still the strongest contender for the Premier League Golden Boot!"
Agüero lit up with joy. He patted Tang Long on the shoulder and said in a friendly tone:
"I don't care about the Golden Boot. I won one last year. What I care about is my starting position on the team."
He took a deep breath, puffed out his cheeks, and exhaled forcefully, then gritted his teeth and said:
"I will not lose to Bony. I brought this club its first Premier League title in history. I am the number one striker in the hearts of Manchester City fans forever!"
In the 16th round of the Premier League, Manchester City will play away against Stoke City.
The match has entered the second half, and the score remains 0-0.
However, Manchester City is not in a hurry.
With Ranocchia's return, Manchester City's passing and possession ability in the backfield has been greatly restored;
Adding to Pellegrini's frustration was Hart's repeated failures to score spectacular goals, leading him to include Argentina goalkeeper Caballero in the starting lineup.
Therefore, although Manchester City's attack was not fierce in the first half, they still firmly controlled the situation.
In an away game, scoring first in the first half isn't necessarily a good thing, as it greatly motivates the opponent to fight back, leading to a very fast pace from the start!
Especially Stoke City, known as the "City of the Sky"!
Their starting lineup had an average height of 187cm, even with a shorter player like former Barca player Bojan lowering the average.
In the 67th minute of the second half, Stoke City were awarded a corner kick.
Bojan's corner kick was incredibly precise, the curved cross finding Crouch in the center of the penalty area!
Ranocchia is 195cm tall, jumped at the same time!
"Tall Crouch!"
"He's over two meters tall and won the first point!"
"It's been hampered by Ranocchia, so its strength isn't great!"
"Caballero caught the ball and threw it to Bony, who was moving at high speed!"
After receiving the quick inbound pass, Bony knew that his footwork was far inferior to Agüero's, so he didn't try to get past the opposing full-back. Instead, he turned and passed the ball back to Tang Long, played a combination, and then continued moving.
On the sidelines, Pellegrini watched and nodded repeatedly.
"Yes, Bony has become much smarter; he's progressing very quickly!"
At that moment, Crouch saw Ranocchia had just contested for a penalty kick with him, making a forward run. Although he was exhausted, Crouch gritted his teeth and went back to defend.
His target is Tang Long!
Crouch, confident in his height and long legs, stood more than a meter away from Tang Long and reached out to hook Tang Long.
Crouch, a former striker, is relatively weak in defensive skills, but as a veteran of the Premier League, he has a wealth of tactical experience and understands that there's no way he could hook the ball with that shot.
His real goal was to trip Tang Long from behind, to bring down the opponent's most dangerous ball carrier at the cost of a yellow card, and to disrupt Manchester City's counter-attack!
"Watch out behind you!" Ranocchia shouted anxiously from the high-speed lane!
But he didn't need to shout; Tang Long had already heard the wind rushing from behind him.
With an Iniesta- esque 270-degree dribble, the ball clung tightly to the outside of Tang Long's foot, obediently spinning as if glued on, while Tang Long's body leaped across the grass like a graceful dancer.
Swoosh--
Not only did it dodge Crouch's long legs with his bamboo pole, but it was also able to start again after landing and continue charging forward from the other side!
Crouch thought he was about to trip Tang Long and was about to get a yellow card; even the referee had his whistle in his mouth, ready to call a foul and give a card.
However, Tang Long's spinning around to dodge startled the two of them!
The referee, in particular, was absolutely amazing. If he were a fan in the stands at that moment, he would probably be cheering loudly in excitement.
The referee was so shocked that his breathing became unsteady, and the whistle in his mouth sounded only very softly.
He was so frightened that he broke out in a cold sweat!
If the Manchester City players heard this and stopped the attack, the Football Association could fire me tomorrow!
He hurriedly looked around, and thankfully found that no one had heard him. He then rushed towards Tang Long's direction with relief.
It's just a pity for that tall guy from Stoke City.
Crawling out of the game, Crouch missed a kick and instead of tripping Tang Long, he himself stumbled and fell to the ground. He then watched Tang Long's back as he sped away, first passing the ball to Bony on the wing, then Bony crossed the ball, and Ranocchia headed it into the net from behind!
Witnessing this scene, Crouch, filled with self-reproach, deflated like a punctured balloon, muttering to himself in frustration.
"If I had known it would turn out like this, I would have just tackled him to the ground!"