The final of EFL Cup.
Wembley Stadium.
Manchester City VS West Ham United.
West Ham United For this game, the head coach specially rehearsed a highly targeted lineup.
4-3-2-1.
Italy's Christmas tree lineup was all the rage back then.
Four defenders plus three defensive midfielders have reached an extreme level of protection for the midfield and backfield.
Back then, AC Milan relied on this lineup to defeat all the invincible players in the world.
The goalkeeper of West Ham United is the 37-year-old Poland veteran goalkeeper Lukash-Fabianski.
Although this goalkeeper is a bit older, he is still in good condition and his performance has not declined this season. Therefore, in this important League Cup final, the head coach still placed him as the main goalkeeper.
The two central defender partners are captain Issa Diop and Angelo Ogbonna.
This pair of central defenders, who are almost ten years apart in age, have been playing for West Ham United for five years, and their cooperation is very good.
The two wing-backs are left back Aaron Cresswell and right back Coufal.
These two wing-backs have excellent assist abilities and are full of physical strength. They can often open up situations for West Ham United from the wing.
This season, the two have combined for 17 assists for the team.
The most critical aspect of the Christmas tree lineup is actually the ability of the two wing backs.
Because of this lineup, there are only three offensive players in the frontcourt, so when attacking or counterattacking, the team's offensive power will be relatively weak.
If the two wing backs are relatively strong, they can increase the offensive intensity for the offensive players in the frontcourt.
However, the physical strength of the wing backs must be sufficient, because they not only have to defend, but also attack.
Three defensive midfielders.
Czech Republic player Tomas Soucek.
England player Declan-Rice.
As well as rookie player Conor Coventry who was promoted from the youth team last season.
After more than a season of training, Conor Coventry has shown the quality of an excellent midfielder and has firmly established himself as the core of West Ham United's midfielder.
Two attacking midfielders.
Spain player Pablo Fornals.
This is a player with good strength, but last year's World Cup, because Spain National Team has so many talents, this player was not selected for the final roster.
Another attacking midfielder is Jesse-Lingard, known as the "King of Lin".
The forward forward of West Ham United is Ecuador player Michelle-Antoine Austria.
Standing on the court, Li Mingyu stood on his own half of the court with his hands on his hips, his eyes full of fighting spirit.
EFL Cup's final, here I come!
[Congratulations to the host for successfully signing in Wembley Stadium and obtaining the talent of England celebrity Joe Cole: Midfield Magician.]
[Midfield Magician: When the host picks up the ball within an area of 20 meters left and right of the center line, it will receive attribute bonuses and the passing success rate will increase by 5%.]
Li Mingyu couldn't help but his eyes lit up when he saw this ability. It's quite interesting.
The length of a standard football field is about 100 to 110 meters.
In other words, the distance between half courts is between 50 meters and 55 meters.
There is an area of 20 meters to the left and right of the center line, which means that Li Mingyu can get close to the opponent's 30-meter area to gain attribute bonuses.
The specific bonus depends on the state of the game.
But the improvement in the passing success rate is even more useful for Li Mingyu.
Because as Li Mingyu becomes more and more famous, when facing Li Mingyu, all teams will often send a player to specifically mark Li Mingyu, and will also arrange other players to help defend.
Therefore, it is difficult for Li Mingyu to make a breakthrough in the competition.
The increase in the success rate of passing can strengthen Li Mingyu's ability to escape defense. This is definitely good news for Manchester City.
The referee blew the whistle to start the game.
Wembley Stadium burst into deafening cheers, and the finals of EFL Cup officially began.
Manchester City won the right to kick off the first half.
When West Ham United's players saw Manchester City kicking the ball back to Li Mingyu's feet, none of the West Ham United players stepped across the center line.
All players retreated to their own half, ready to face Manchester City's attack.
They have a clear understanding of their own strength. In this game, their idea is to defend solidly and not allow Manchester City to easily enter the front line of their penalty area.
Before the game, the head coach had already started practicing penalty kicks. It was obvious that they planned to drag the game into a penalty shootout and use their luck to try.
Seeing the performance of West Ham United, the players of Manchester City were not surprised.
Because this was already expected by Guardiola.
The players of Manchester City know deeply that this final of EFL Cup will be a difficult battle.
Li Mingyu took the ball and advanced towards West Ham United's half.
This area is the talent area of "Midfield Magician", and Li Mingyu felt a big difference.
In this area, Li Mingyu feels that his field of vision has become much wider, and when dribbling the ball, he feels that the football is much more obedient under his feet. The most obvious feeling is that the sensitivity of his feet has become much higher.
Seeing Li Mingyu pass halftime, West Ham United's forward player Michelle Antoine rushed over, trying to restrict Li Mingyu's dribbling.
And Li Mingyu only used a simple pull to push Michelle Antoine behind her.
This extraordinary move was very cool, Li Mingyu's very understatement move also caused the fans in the audience to scream.
"Midfield Magician" made Li Mingyu's reaction much faster. Michelle Antoine's action just now became much slower in Li Mingyu's eyes.
Keep pushing forward.
"Emperor Lin" appeared in front of Li Mingyu.
Lingard stood in front of Li Mingyu with a solemn face, his sharp eyes staring at the football at Li Mingyu's feet.
As we all know, Li Mingyu's extraordinary ability is definitely at the top level in the world. Even Neymar, who is recognized as having the strongest extraordinary ability, has to admit that Li Mingyu's extraordinary ability and skills are definitely not inferior to him.
Seeing Li Mingyu rushing towards him with the ball, Lingard did not rush to grab it, but turned sideways and took small steps backwards, maintaining a certain distance, which prevented Li Mingyu from starting up and blocked Li Mingyu's route to continue to break through to the middle.
I have to say that Lingard's defensive awareness is absolutely outstanding. When facing Li Mingyu, he forced out his full potential.
However, after Li Mingyu obtained the talent of "Midfield Magician", his attributes and extraordinary abilities have been slightly improved.
Don't underestimate this small improvement. For a top player like Li Mingyu, it is very difficult to improve his attributes or abilities even a little bit.
Facing Lingard's defense, Li Mingyu suddenly accelerated and swayed a bit, causing Lingard to make a mistake in judgment. He thought Li Mingyu was going to continue to break down the side, so he ran backwards.
But when Li Mingyu's right foot touched the ball, he suddenly turned inward. As if the football was stuck to Li Mingyu's right foot, he carried the ball toward the other side of Lingard.
Lingard was horrified. He quickly stopped and turned around, preparing to pursue Li Mingyu.
However, what Lingard didn't expect was that Li Mingyu's right foot suddenly shook to the right at this time, and the football stuck to his foot flew to the right again as if it had been whipped with a whip. Li Mingyu kicked off the ground with his left foot and rushed to the right.
With two consecutive changes of direction, Lingard could no longer control his center of gravity. He felt that his ankle was no longer his, and he sat down on the court with a look of despair.
Li Mingyu flew away from him.
This wonderful extravaganza caused all the fans in the audience to be ecstatic.
From the very beginning, there was such a wonderful scene, it was a worthwhile trip.
But this extraordinary performance dealt a huge blow to West Ham United's morale.
After Li Mingyu passed Lingard, when facing West Ham United's midfielder Tomas Soucek, he was directly knocked to the ground by the opponent.
Seeing the angry look on the other party's face, Li Mingyu sat on the ground with a smile on his face and readjusted his shin guards as if nothing had happened.
The referee ran over and showed a topaz War God card to Tomas Soucek without hesitation.
Guardiola on the sidelines also showed a meaningful smile.
In fact, this is also a small psychological tactic used by Guardiola before the game.
"Li, in this game, the Hammers will definitely defend with all their strength. Therefore, I hope you can use your skills to get past Lingard at the beginning. It is best to use an excessive method to anger the opponent and change their mentality."
Looking at Guardiola who looked so cunning, Li Mingyu nodded.
This bald man is indeed not a good person.
Coincidentally, before this game, Li Mingyu obtained the talent "Midfield Magician" which increases the success rate of extraordinary people, making Li Mingyu more confident in completing this task.
Therefore, when facing Lin Huang, the biggest star among West Ham United, Li Mingyu used this trick of "striking in the east and attacking in the west" to continuously change directions.
For Li Mingyu, as long as such a change of direction is not used during high-speed running, the damage to his knees can be ignored.
Sure enough, Li Mingyu's two consecutive changes of direction knocked Lin Huang, who was trying hard to defend, to the ground.
This extraordinary move really made the opponent's players a little angry.
Only one minute into the game, the opponent's main defensive midfielder had a topaz War God card on his back. In the next game, he would be at a loss.