Single-Kidney Newcastle, Midfieldless Manchester City: You Take the Championship, I Defeat the Grim Reaper

On May 28, the highly anticipated English FA Cup arrived.

Before the match, both sides announced their starting lineups.

For Newcastle, unsurprisingly, Deyas still had not returned to the starting lineup. It looked like Flick intended to have him prepare directly for the thirty-eighth round of the Premier League.

As a result, Sasso returned to center-back, while Fenio appeared at left defensive midfield.

People thus jokingly said Newcastle had fielded a "single-kidney lineup."

Because Fenio at defensive midfield was practically nonexistent defensively.

But once Manchester City's formation was revealed, not only were the outside media stunned—even Manchester City's own fans were dumbfounded.

Lima

Rahim, Moreira, Rumeo, Kietz

Orano

Reber, Pidek, Kosciel, Canyes

Kuwa

4-1-4-1!

If Newcastle were "single-kidney," then Manchester City were completely "midfieldless"!

Though Orano was nominally a defensive midfielder, he was a playmaking defensive midfielder. What he actually did was the work of a midfield commander; he bore almost no defensive responsibility.

Defensively, he was probably only marginally better than Fenio.

"Trust Guardiola. Since he dared make this decision, he must be confident in it."

"That's right! As long as we unleash a flowing, unstoppable attack, Newcastle won't have the room to attack at all."

"In the last league match, we were too fixated on exploiting Newcastle's weaknesses, and it ended up limiting our own performance. This time, Guardiola learned his lesson and gave the front line the ability to score from multiple points."

"Forget targeting Fenio—this five-man attacking unit isn't afraid of facing Tavares, Sasso, or Kompany head-on!"

Over Guardiola's two seasons in charge, Manchester City fans had gained championships, but they had also gained something even more important than championships—an aura of victory!

They had begun to grow accustomed to winning.

That made them deeply revere Guardiola.

Of course, they could never have imagined that pulling