Fernandinho and Tang Long Face Off: "That Pass Was Decent, but Nothing Special!"
(Gündoğan played for Bundesliga Dortmund and winning one Bundesliga title.)
Gündoğan was forcibly placed in Manchester City by Guardiola midway through the winter transfer window.
Current head coach Pellegrini has only heard of this Germany midfielder and is not very familiar with his technical characteristics and position on the field.
I only roughly know that he can play in multiple midfield positions, including defensive midfielder and attacking midfielder.
Although he was quite resistant to Gündoğan's sudden arrival, feeling that his authority as head coach had been challenged.
However, the player is innocent. As a professional coach, Pellegrini still wants to maximize Gündoğan's potential and help the team achieve its season goals.
Especially since Gündoğan is unable to register for the second half of the UEFA Champions League, Pellegrini will naturally focus his efforts on the domestic league and cup competitions, thus giving Tang Long more rest time to prepare for the UEFA Champions League.
Perhaps it was because they saw Gündoğan demonstrate good vision and excellent footwork in the team's first training session;
Or perhaps it's because Gündoğan can fill in for Tang Long when he's resting in the league;
Therefore, in this EFL Cup match against the Aston Villa, Gündoğan did not play as a defensive midfielder, but started in the attacking midfield position.
Unexpectedly, this was exactly what Gündoğan wanted!
Gündoğan was full of anticipation when he heard that he would be playing as an attacking midfielder.
He recalled how he had highly praised Tang Long's lob pass to Agüero during a previous training session;
Tang Long replied casually, looking completely unfazed, which greatly displeased the midfielder who had been selected for the Bundesliga's best XI!
Although he didn't show it out loud, the desire to prove that he was no worse than Tang Long burned brightly inside him!
While lining up in the players' tunnel.
He put his arm around the shoulder of the starting young striker, Iheanacho, and started gesturing.
"Young man, one of my strengths as an attacking midfielder is that I can often deliver incredibly penetrating through balls!"
"So, you need to keep moving around a lot. As long as you keep up with my pace, you'll definitely score several goals against him!"
Listening to Gündoğan's broken Germany -accented English, Iheanacho nodded expectantly.
He calculated how many games he hadn't played in, let alone started!
Although he didn't get to team up with Tang Long, Iheanacho had heard of Gündoğan's name.
This bearded man, after all, has won the Bundesliga title, so his footwork must be quite good, and yet he exudes such confidence.
Thinking back to this match against the weak Aston Villa, I, Iheanacho, would have had no problem scoring a few goals against them.
Aston Villa is indeed very weak.
Manchester City is at the bottom of the league, while Aston Villa is at the bottom.
Aston Villa's performance this season has been truly dismal, finishing at the bottom of the table. The team is still struggling to secure a Premier League spot at the end of the season, and it remains to be seen when they will escape the relegation zone.
Their advancement to the EFL Cup was purely due to luck; they unexpectedly snatched a last-minute victory against Everton at home in the previous round.
However, they had no expectations for Manchester City, believing they couldn't beat them and that the match was just a formality.
The team's focus should still be on avoiding relegation.
Therefore, in this match, Aston Villa, like Manchester City, rotated nearly half of their key players.
For Manchester City, Joe Hart was unlucky enough to start, while Kompany and Ranocchia were both rested, replaced by Mangala and Demichelis, who had not played for a long time.
In midfield, Fernandinho and Fernando started as the two holding midfielders.
Sagna, who had started in many consecutive matches, was given a rare rest, and Argentina veteran Zabaleta appeared at right-back.
However, despite rotating half of the players, the gap in strength between the two sides was simply too great.
So from the very first minute of the match, Manchester City firmly controlled possession and dominated their opponents, Aston Villa!
Gündoğan also played exceptionally well in the attacking midfield position.
In the 12th minute of the first half, the ball was passed eight times in Manchester City's own half before finally reaching the feet of attacking midfielder Gündoğan.
He has a good habit of glancing back before catching the ball.
When he spotted the opponent's defensive midfielder Idrissa, who was still three meters away, Gündoğan confidently pulled the ball back, turned, and faced the goal. He thought to himself:
"Is this the defensive intensity of Premier League teams? They're nowhere near as good as Bundesliga teams!"
Almost instantly as he turned, Gündoğan spotted a tiny gap in the Aston Villa's seemingly tight defensive formation and launched a through ball!
Unfortunately, Iheanacho was a step too slow and couldn't keep up with the pace, and the ball was caught by the opposing goalkeeper.
Seeing Iheanacho's apologetic expression and her repeated reaching for his hand, Gündoğan smiled, shook his head, and turned to walk away.
"Is this the level of a Manchester City striker? If it were Lewandowski or Aubameyang, they probably would have scored a one-on-one goal!"
Gündoğan's impression of Iheanacho instantly plummeted.
However, Aston Villa's strength was really poor, and they had no desire to fight; they were just going through the motions.
So in the 26th minute, Gündoğan once again demonstrated his basic skills as a midfielder with a through ball.
This through ball, with its perfect power and angle, was like a sharp scalpel, precisely slicing through the seemingly impenetrable defense between the Aston Villa's two defenders!
This time, Iheanacho finally caught up with the rhythm and scored with a low shot.
As the ecstatic Iheanacho ran toward him, Gündoğan opened his arms, also celebrating his first assist since joining Manchester City.
Certainly.
He also glanced at Tang Long, who was sitting on the bench, observing his expression.
Gündoğan thought his through ball was brilliant, as it bypassed two opposing defenders and perfectly matched Iheanacho's run.
He thought that Tang Long, on the bench, would be shocked to see this, and at the very least, he would stand up and applaud and cheer for himself, right?
Amidst the commotion, Tang Long remained unmoved.
He was simply sitting quietly in the chair, holding a bottle of water, slowly bringing it to his mouth.
He even splashed water on the Ranocchia phone next to him as a joke.
He showed absolutely no surprise.
Gündoğan's initially expectant and smug gaze froze the moment he saw Tang Long, replaced by an undisguised displeasure and resentment.
"What? You look down on me, huh? Fine, just you wait!"
In the subsequent match, Gündoğan repeatedly delivered threatening through balls, trying to continue to give Iheanacho easy chances.
However, young Iheanacho repeatedly missed good chances, either failing to keep up or getting open but shooting wide.
Manchester City went into halftime with a 1-0 lead.
Gündoğan was somewhat disappointed with the score!
He thought that if he had replaced Iheanacho with Dortmund's Aubameyang, the first half would probably have been a 4-0 victory for Dortmund.
However, Gündoğan was generally satisfied with his performance, having provided an assist in the first half of his first game with the team.
Especially that assist was a precise through ball, showcasing his keen vision and skillful footwork in front of all his teammates and coaching staff. Gündoğan was quite proud of himself!
I've won the Bundesliga title and been selected for the best XI, after all;
If we hadn't been constantly overshadowed by Bayern all these years, Dortmund would have won Dortmund championships!
Before Pellegrini went into the locker room to explain the tactics for the second half.
Gündoğan plopped down next to Tang Long.
"Was my through ball alright, Tang?"
Gündoğan asked tentatively, anticipating Tang Long's reaction.
Tang Long was drinking water when he suddenly heard Gündoğan ask him this question out of the blue.
Before he had even swallowed the water, he puffed out his cheeks and stared at Gündoğan.
After gulping down the water, he said somewhat blankly, "Huh? Which kick are you talking about?"
Gündoğan was getting annoyed!
Which kick?
You actually asked which kick?!
In the first half, I assisted Iheanacho with a beautiful through ball that pierced through the defense of two center-backs, delivering a precise pass into the penalty area for him to slot home. You were sitting on the bench, didn't you see it?
You're such a good actor, kid!
Gündoğan, suppressing his anger, coldly replied, "Of course, it was the assist that led to Iheanacho's goal."
After being reminded by Gündoğan, Tang Long suddenly realized what was happening and slapped his forehead.
"Oh, you mean that through ball? Oh dear, I'm so sorry, I was busy drinking water on the sidelines and didn't see it clearly."
"So you're saying you didn't see it?" Gündoğan was even too lazy to pay attention to Tang Long.
"Haha, no, no, of course I saw it."
Tang Long waved his hand sheepishly, then praised Gündoğan, saying that his through pass was very purposeful!
His footwork was extremely precise, successfully linking up with Iheanacho and excellently fulfilling the role of an attacking midfielder.
In short, it was a great message!
Hearing Tang Long finally praise him, Gündoğan's anger subsided by half, and a proud smile appeared on his face. He thought to himself, "So you finally admitted it!"
However, Tang Long then changed the subject, which made Gündoğan's anger surge up again.
"However, I think there's still a lot of room for improvement in this passing, man. Sometimes, having too clear a purpose when passing isn't a good thing; it makes it easy for the ball to be intercepted."
(I was supposed to update three chapters, but my dad was suddenly hospitalized today. I rushed to see him after get off work tonight, and it's already 1 a. m. I've only updated two chapters. I can't stay up late anymore; my life is more important. Tomorrow is Friday, and I'll definitely make up for the missing chapter and update three chapters. Trust me!)