The First Match After Renewal, Welcoming Guardiola's Bundesliga Nemesis!
Tang Long currently only has two endorsements: Emirates Airlines and a local UK beverage.
After Tang Long's personal image rights increased from 50% to 90%, how to fully leverage his commercial value as a football star became a key issue for Ronaldo to consider.
However, Ronaldo owns numerous businesses and companies, leaving him with insufficient time to handle the influx of commercial endorsements.
Now he has to fly back to Brazil Sao Paulo, immediately to continue developing his wine business in South America.
When Ronaldo was troubled by this matter, Tang Long recommended Diletta to him.
"She can take over my commercial endorsement business. She's based in Manchester, has extensive experience in sports and entertainment media, is eloquent, and has high professional competence. She's a good candidate."
After the three conspired to hype up the "Ronaldo successor" topic, Ronaldo himself has come to highly regard Diletta's professional abilities.
Diletta shared the same idea.
This would not only bring her substantial commission income, but also allow her to have more contact with Tang Long in her daily life.
"Don't worry, Tang, leave it all to me," Diletta said with a smile, her forearm around Tang Long's neck. "I'll definitely turn you into a national idol who will make millions of girls around the world scream with excitement!"
Wednesday, September 14th.
Manchester City welcomed Borussia Monchengladbach to their first UEFA Champions League group stage match at home.
Manchester City's UEFA Champions League debut has garnered significant attention from the media.
Everyone wants to see how Manchester City, who have won four consecutive league matches and are unstoppable in their run, will perform in the UEFA Champions League.
After all, winning the UEFA Champions League title this season is a goal that Manchester City must achieve!
Otherwise, why would the team sack Pellegrini and bring in Guardiola?
However, Guardiola appeared extremely low-key at the pre-match press conference.
Perhaps it was because of the previous league match against Bournemouth, where a 6-0 victory directly led to the dismissal of the opposing manager, Eddie. After the match, Eddie even angrily chased after Guardiola in the players' tunnel, which made Guardiola appear humble and cautious.
"When I coached Bayern, I experienced firsthand how formidable Monchengladbach was! They are a very competitive Bundesliga team, and we have absolutely no reason to underestimate them!"
"In my opinion, given Monchengladbach's strength, they would be capable of competing for a top-four finish in the Premier League..."
"You're asking me about the group's goals?"
"Barca will finish first in the group, and the remaining spot will be contested by Manchester City, Monchengladbach, and Celtic for second place. Yes, finishing second in the group is my goal."
Upon hearing this, the Britain media felt that Guardiola was being overly modest and appeared rather hypocritical!
After all, Manchester City and Monchengladbach Mönchengladbach were in the same group last season.
In the two group stage matches, Manchester City won both games 3-0, with Monchengladbach Manchester City offering no resistance.
However, many Bundesliga fans and Bayern fans know that Guardiola's words were not hypocritical or deliberate modesty; he genuinely fears Borussia Monchengladbach!
Guardiola hasn't beaten Monchengladbach Mönchengladbach in two years!
Last season, the 2015-2016 season, Guardiola's Bayern only managed one draw and one loss in Bundesliga matches against Monchengladbach;
They were first defeated 3-1 away from home, and then only managed a 1-1 draw at home, failing to secure a single victory.
In the 2014-2015 season, they also had one draw and one loss, one 0-0 and one 0-2!
In other words, in the last two seasons, Guardiola has only managed two draws and two losses in four matches against Monchengladbach Guardiola, with an aggregate score of 2-6!
-[Monchengladbach Mönchengladbach is Guardiola's nemesis, hahaha, Guardiola hasn't beaten them in two years!]
[The only team Guardiola hasn't been able to beat in the league in the last two years is Monchengladbach!]
-[I watched seven or eight of their games last season. Monchengladbach is a typical Bundesliga team, very aggressive and physically strong. They're not weak to begin with. We Bayern suffered a lot against them, sigh!]
I've heard that Manchester City's average height this season has decreased by one centimeter compared to last season, and the average weight of the players has also decreased. It's hard to say whether they can withstand the opponent's impact!
As a Bayern fan, I support Monchengladbach; let's stand united in European competitions!
-[Barca fans support Monchengladbach! Let Manchester City play in the UEFA Europa League, Barca and Monchengladbach will advance together, it's decided!]
"The referee blows his whistle, and the match begins!"
"Oh, we see that the Manchester City players' positioning seems a bit different from usual today?"
"... That's right! Three defenders!"
"Guardiola actually fielded a three-defender formation!"
"This is truly rare. To my recollection, Manchester City has never played with three defenders in recent years."
"It seems that Guardiola is proactively seeking change in this match against strong Monchengladbach Guardiola."
In the world of football, Guardiola is undoubtedly a tactical mastermind.
However, Guardiola also has a weakness: he likes to pull stunts whenever he faces a crucial match!
Logically speaking, Manchester City should have a double advantage over Monchengladbach, the team they defeated twice in the UEFA Champions League group stage last season, both in terms of strength and mentality.
And indeed, when the Monchengladbach players entered the pitch, they saw Manchester City fans on both sides of the tunnel, holding up two scoreboards with the words "3:0" and waving them at them with smiles. They were immediately filled with fear.
"I'm getting a little nervous, what should I do!"
The players' feelings seemed to have returned to the fear they felt last season when they were completely dominated by Blue Moon.
But Guardiola doesn't think so!
In the days leading up to the match, he had been pondering. "Although Manchester City defeated our opponent twice last season, that was under Pellegrini's management, and had nothing to do with me. In addition, the team has made many changes to its lineup after the summer signings. If we continue to play the same way, we may repeat the mistakes we made against Borussia Mönchengladbach when we were at Bayern Monchengladbach. I must take the initiative to make changes in order to remain undefeated."
Having coached Bayern Monchengladbach for three years, Guardiola knows Borussia Mönchengladbach all too well.
He had carefully observed the team's formations in the first few league matches over the past few days and knew that the opponent would play with three defenders, so he also fielded a three-defender formation, with the aim of having more players in midfield.
Monchengladbach fielded a three-man defense not to strengthen midfield passing and control, but to increase the number of midfielders and thus enhance their pressing and physicality.
Guardiola believes that if they don't want to be overwhelmed by Monchengladbach Mönchengladbach's physicality, they must increase the number of players in midfield, increase the passing options between players, and try to pass the ball around as much as possible in order to break down the opponent's attack.
Therefore, both Monchengladbach Guardiola and Guardiola fielded a 3-4-1-2 formation.
However, judging from the initial results, this temporary tactical change was not very effective!
With the increase in the number of technically gifted midfielders, Mkhitaryan and Thiago made their first appearance together this season.
This was the first time the two had collaborated in their professional careers, and also the first time they had appeared on the field together, so their coordination was still a bit rusty.
Not long after the start, the duo made a fatal mistake in their coordination!
Thiago played more minutes and his partnership with Ranocchia became more refined.
Facing pressure from Monchengladbach striker Hahn, he passed the ball to Mkhitaryan beside him.
According to Thiago's plan, Mkhitaryan should have quickly passed the ball back to the defensive midfielder Ranocchia.
This approach not only fully utilizes Ranocchia's metronome function, enticing the opponent's formation to continue pushing forward, but also creates space for Tang Long and Agüero to make runs in front of them;
This will also help wear down Hahn's stamina, making him less energetic in the second half.
But Mkhitaryan's thinking was not in sync with Thiago's!
This Armenia player made 52 appearances for Borussia Dortmund last season, recording a double-double of 18 goals and 22 assists;
He has a strong drive to move forward and a very strong desire to attack.
Instead of passing the ball to Ranocchia as Thiago intended, he assumed Thiago wanted to play a one-two with him, so he flicked the ball forward to Thiago and then quickly moved forward himself.
But Thiago had already slowed down his advance. Suddenly seeing the ball flying towards him, he quickly took a step forward, trying to steal it.
Hahn immediately realized that this was a blunder in their coordination, and then turned around to press forward!
Hahn is 1.85 meters tall, while Thiago is only 1.74 meters tall. The two are not on the same level in terms of either the range of control of their legs over the ball or the strength of their bodies.
With a long stride and a twist of his hips, Hahn sent Thiago flying two meters away!
The ball had been intercepted, but Mkhitaryan was still charging forward headlong, the wind whistling in his ears. He thought Thiago had already gotten the ball and was advancing, perhaps even able to send him a through ball.
"Not good!"
Witnessing all this Ranocchia quickly ran back to chase after them.
But Hahn was no slower Ranocchia, and with his superior positioning, he quickly widened the gap between himself and Ranocchia, reaching the edge of Manchester City's penalty area!
The three center-backs Otamendi, Kompany, and Stones, quickly tightened their defensive line and pressed Hahn.
Because Manchester City's formation is a three-man defense, with Stones and Otamendi on the left and right flanks being quite far from the edge of the box, Kompany was forced to face a one-on-one situation with Hahn within two seconds.
Hahn didn't hesitate and started it immediately!
"Hahn's sudden attack is a direct assault on Kompany!"
"Both of them arrived inside the restricted area at the same time!"
"Hahn is incredibly fast, visibly leading by half a body length!"
"Bravo has no choice but to make a move!"
"Hahn shoots while falling!"
"Ah! Goal!"
"It looks like the ball hit Kompany's intercepting foot and changed direction!"
"The zigzag line then sweeps across Bravo's armpit!"
"Score 1-0, Monchengladbach Mönchengladbach took the lead within the first ten minutes!"
"It's unbelievable that Manchester City's four-game clean sheet streak this season has been broken by Monchengladbach!"