This season, Crystal Palace's performance has been unsatisfactory. At the end of 26 league games, they have only achieved five wins, six draws and 15 losses, ranking second from last, and still nine points behind Norwich, who is fourth from last.
There are still twelve rounds of games left. If there is no miracle, Crystal Palace's relegation spot is already as secure as a mountain.
In this match against Manchester City, Crystal Palace was already very pessimistic before the match.
Their head coach is France famous star Patric ke·Vieira.
Vieira was one of France National Team's best defensive midfielders during his playing days.
However, his coaching career was not considered a success. After Nice resigned from Ligue 1, Vieira came to Premier League a year ago and coached Crystal Palace.
However, the results of the Crystal Palace now make Vieira also very anxious.
Crystal Palace The frequency of head coaching changes in recent years is very high, usually once every two years.
This year, if Crystal Palace is demoted, Vieira will most likely be fired by the Crystal Palace.
Players from both sides came to the court, and one-third of the fans in the stands were wearing the No. 10 jersey of Manchester City.
This is the home stadium of the Crystal Palace, and so many fans of Li Mingyu are here.
This is a great humiliation for the Crystal Palace, who plays at home.
[Congratulations to the host for successfully signing in Selhurst Park and obtaining the talent of the Crystal Palace celebrity Fan Zhiyi: amazing jumping ability.]
Fan Zhiyi, China is a famous star, and China is the first player to win Asia Footballer of the Year.
Fan Zhiyi's physical fitness is definitely at the top level in Asia. Even after coming to England, he joined Crystal Palace and also served as the captain of the Crystal Palace.
Although at that time, Crystal Palace was still in League One (later EFL Championship), but it can be seen that the level of Fan Zhiyi was also among the second-rate Europe at that time.
Fan Zhiyi's physical fitness is definitely no less than that of some Europe players, and the most memorable thing is that he once had a bounce that was not inferior to Cristiano Ronaldo.
In the TV footage, Fan Zhiyi jumped high, curled up in the air, and his feet were on the shoulders of the opponent's jumping player.
This amazing jumping ability allows Fan Zhiyi to have good air superiority in the game. In addition, during the offense, he has repeatedly completed headers that overwhelm the opponent in the penalty area, which is also common for Fan Zhiyi.
For Li Mingyu, the attribute of jumping ability increases the scope and intensity of his defense. Just like in the last game, Li Mingyu relied on the Super Aerial King talent he gained in the game with the Greece national team in the penalty area and controlled the landing point very well. However, because his jumping ability is not top-notch, he felt a little inadequate when facing some headers.
After all, Li Mingyu is only 1.85 meters tall. Although he is not short, in a restricted area with many people, this height is not enough.
With the bouncing power of Fan Zhiyi, Li Mingyu feels as if his legs are stepping on springs.
As soon as the ball kicked off, Crystal Palace's player kicked the football from the backcourt into Manchester City's half.
Li Mingyu moved quickly and accurately judged the ball's landing point. He got there first, overpowered the opponent's Ivory Coast forward Zaha, and easily passed the ball to Zinchenko on the wing.
Guardiola's eyes lit up and he looked at Li Mingyu in surprise.
When Li Mingyu jumped to head the ball just now, his chest had already surpassed the jumping forward Zaha. This jumping power surprised Guardiola.
All along, Guardiola is familiar with Li Mingyu's training conditions and data.
Jumping ability has never been Li Mingyu's advantage. In training, Li Mingyu can often grab headers, but he chooses his position well. If he encounters a tall defender, Li Mingyu will often suffer.
Just like Laporte, with the ball under its feet, Li Mingyu can pass Laporte as easily as crossing the road in the early morning.
But when fighting for the header, Laporte completely crushed Li Mingyu because their jumping ability was not at the same level.
However, Li Mingyu's jump just now made Guardiola a little unsure.
When did this kid's jumping ability become so good?
Guardiola kept this question in his mind and didn't pay too much attention to it. He didn't know if it was just Li Mingyu's sudden outburst.
Zinchenko on the wing received Li Mingyu's header and passed the ball back to center back Stones.
Crystal Palace's players quickly returned to defense, and soon they were back in their own half.
Crystal Palace Today's tactical arrangement is a thorough defensive counterattack, completely abandoning the frontcourt press and controlling the front line within his own half.
The advantage of this is that there can be more personnel when defending.
But the disadvantage is that they lose the depth of defense, and when they need to counterattack, the front line is too long, which will make it easier for Manchester City to return to defense.
However, Manchester City is already very familiar with this tactic of placing a bus in front of the door, and he is also very comfortable in cracking this tactic.
When Guardiola led Barcelona La Liga, he would encounter such bus tactics basically every week, so he had very rich experience.
Pass and control, the ultimate pass and control, constantly cooperating in front of the Crystal Palace's penalty area, using the width of the court to mobilize Crystal Palace's defense back and forth.
For teams like Crystal Palace and Premier League that are at the bottom, their tactical literacy is not very high, and their players' execution of tactics is not that perfect.
After fifteen minutes of continuous pulling, holes began to appear in the Crystal Palace's defense line.
Li Mingyu received a cross pass from Gundogan on the wing in the middle and made a move to continue transitioning to the right.
Li Mingyu had already passed the ball to the right three times in a row before this. In the minds of the Crystal Palace defensive players, there was already a subtle judgment that Li Mingyu should still pass the ball to the right.
Just when Crystal Palace's formation began to move to the right as a whole, a vacuum zone of about two meters appeared in their defense in the middle of the penalty area.
Of the two center backs, one stood still and the other moved to the right. There was a gap between them.
Li Mingyu noticed this gap, turned his ankle slightly, and the pass that was originally intended to be passed to Foden on the wing was pushed by the arch of his right foot into the penalty area of the Crystal Palace.
Gabriel Jesus started almost at the same time as Li Mingyu's pass. He received the pass at the edge of the penalty area, and with a flick of his right foot, he passed between the two central defenders.
There was a burst of exclamation throughout the stadium.
Fans of the Crystal Palace did not expect that Manchester City suddenly showed murderous intent. The constant control of the ball made the fans in the stands feel sleepy.
But just this moment, like a lion leaping out from the grass, made Crystal Palace fans break out in a cold sweat.
Crystal Palace's two central defenders quickly recovered and prepared to stop Gabriel Jesus.
But Gabriel Jesus didn't give them a chance to get closer. The first time they entered the penalty area, Gabriel Jesus raised his foot and shot directly.
The football went straight to the upper corner of the goal. The goalkeeper who was about to attack could only rely on instinct to complete the side dive, but he could not prevent the football from hitting the door.
In the 15th minute of the first half, Manchester City, who played the ultimate pass and control, finally completed the fatal blow, temporarily leading Crystal Palace 1:0.
The balance of competition has been tipped.
Crystal Palace There is no point in defending across the board now.
If they want to score points on Manchester City, they must attack.
But attacking it means that Manchester City's chances will be greater.
For a weak team, losing the ball means losing the whole game. The basis of defensive counterattack tactics is defense. If the defense is not done well, where will the counterattack come from?
Crystal Palace We are facing such a dilemma now. If we defend, we can't defend ourselves. If we attack, we can't break out.
After the restart, Crystal Palace tried to rely on the midfielder to send the ball to the frontcourt, but Manchester City's crazy pressing in the midfield and frontcourt made Crystal Palace's players have no choice but to kick forward, hoping that the players in the frontcourt could get some opportunities.
But this kind of blind big foot will only let the ball return to Manchester City's feet.
Manchester City continues his journey of "torture" against the Crystal Palace.
Twenty-five minutes have passed in the first half, and the ball possession data on the field has reached 81%-19%. Manchester City has completely taken the initiative on the field.
Crystal Palace basically has no chance to control the ball. Even this 19% of the ball control time is still after the goalkeeper gets the ball in the penalty area or takes a goal kick. The football is at the feet of other Crystal Palace players. It will not last more than half a minute before Manchester City is forced to kick it.
In the 30th minute of the first half, Li Mingyu tried a long shot from outside the penalty area. The shot was powerful and heavy. The center back of the Crystal Palace in the penalty area used his back to block the ball out of the baseline.
However, after the defender saw the football roll out of the baseline, he half-knelt on the ground with a face of pain, his mouth open, and gasping for air.
Li Mingyu's shot just now took his breath away. It felt like someone had given him a stick behind his back.
The chief referee came over to inquire, and called the team doctor Crystal Palace to come over and check.
In the past two years, whether it is FIFA or UEFA, the protection for players injured on the field has been very good.
Because at UEFA European Championship in 2020, Eriksen, the midfielder of Denmark, fell to the ground and suffered cardiac arrest without confrontation during the game.
Fortunately, the team doctor's first aid was very timely, and Eriksen saved his life.
The scene at that time shocked the world, but the advanced first aid equipment in the stadium also made fans around the world praise UEFA.
Therefore, now as long as a player falls to the ground on the court, the referee will stop the game and let the team doctor rush in to check.