Lingard was standing in the midfield with a livid face. He did not expect that he would be knocked to the ground by the opponent's fake move as soon as the game started.
But in Lingard's heart, the fear of Li Mingyu has intensified.
In the league, they were double-killed by Manchester City. Li Mingyu's performance had already made Lingard see the strength gap between the two sides.
However, this time, Li Mingyu's passing moves were so smooth that he was completely dominated by the opponent's rhythm.
Li Mingyu kicked the free kick back to Rodri behind.
The position of this free kick is too far from the goal. Li Mingyu does not want to make such a useless attempt, but is still preparing to continue organizing the attack.
Although the extraordinary and topaz War God cards at the beginning had a big blow to the morale of West Ham United, the style of the Hammer Gang made their cohesion stronger.
Facing Manchester City's attacks again and again, West Ham United's players worked hard to defend and blocked Manchester City's several attacks without any danger.
Thirty minutes have passed since the first half, and the score on the field has not changed at all. It is still 0:0.
However, the fans in the stands did not feel that the game was boring.
Because the pace of the game was very fast, Manchester City did not fall continuously near the midfield for several minutes like FC Barcelona did.
Manchester City's kicks were basically within the opponent's 30-meter area, always putting huge pressure on West Ham United's defense.
Guardiola On the sidelines, someone touched his chin with his right hand, a look of deep doubt on his face.
Because today's Li Mingyu is a little strange. It seems that from the beginning to now, he has not stepped into the thirty-meter area of West Ham United.
Indeed, West Ham United's defense is very tight, but for Li Mingyu, there should be no point where he is restricted and unable to move forward.
In other words, Li Mingyu deliberately maintained its position.
Guardiola is puzzled.
But looking at the state of Li Mingyu, there is no problem. Passing and passing are still so sharp, and they seem to be more powerful than before, so I don't think too much.
Guardiola is already confident of winning this game.
Don't look at the fact that the first half has been played for thirty minutes, Manchester City has not scored yet.
But anyone with a discerning eye can see that Manchester City will score sooner or later, because West Ham United's physical strength has been extremely exhausted.
Even if we can't score in the first half, West Ham United will collapse sooner or later in the second half.
Manchester City's real-time passing and possession rate is as high as 80%. West Ham United's entire team is basically running with the football.
This kind of physical exertion is already too much for this tough team.
Lingard had a very strong defensive awareness today, running frequently, especially in the defense of Li Mingyu, he was more active.
Although he was passed by Li Mingyu a few more times, his spirit of continuing to fight after being passed made the Manchester City fans who were booing him stop this behavior.
Lingard felt as if his legs were filled with lead. The huge gap in strength between the two teams made him feel sad.
Facing a team as powerful as Manchester City, West Ham United must tighten every string at all times.
Because as long as there is a slight mistake, Manchester City may seize the opportunity and strike a fatal blow.
If you keep it for a long time, you will lose it.
Sure enough, in the 40th minute of the first half, the big hammer of West Ham United finally showed a flaw.
Since West Ham United's defensive midfielder Tomas Soucek got a topaz War God card at the beginning, Manchester City's offense has always used him as a breakthrough point.
Although Tomas Soucek's defense was not as strong as it should have been, in several consecutive defenses, he found that the referee's whistle was obviously biased towards him, so his actions returned to being fierce.
After all, the referee was not willing to send someone off so quickly in such a crucial game, making the game completely one-sided.
However, the continuous impact also put Tomas Soucek's physical strength under a huge test.
Finally, at the 40th minute, Li Mingyu easily passed by him.
Tomas Soucek helplessly reached out to pull Li Mingyu, but Li Mingyu's acceleration saved him from getting the second topaz War God card and being fined.
However, without the protection of his lower back, Li Mingyu rushed to the thirty-meter area of West Ham United for the first time.
In an instant, Li Mingyu felt that the feeling of being like a fish in water disappeared.
Although I feel a little uncomfortable, this is my ability.
Within a second, Li Mingyu adapted to his own state again.
Facing West Ham United's double-team, Li Mingyu did not hesitate and kicked the ball at an angle of 45 degrees, sending the football directly to West Ham United's goal.
The football bypassed the center back's defense, drew a beautiful arc, and flew in front of Gabriel Jesus, who was cutting in at high speed.
Gabriel Jesus was very calm. He faced the pass, did not stop the ball, and volleyed directly into the air. The opponent's veteran goalkeeper Lukash-Fabianski could only make an instinctive action of waving.
Seeing the huge flowers that the football hit on the net, Wembley Stadium was instantly detonated.
In the 40th minute of the first half, Manchester City was finally assisted by Li Mingyu, and center Gabriel Jesus completed the fatal blow.
1:0.
The balance of the competition has completely tilted towards Manchester City.
The West Ham United players sat in the stadium with dejected faces.
Although it was only the 40th minute of the first half, this goal had already declared the end of the game.
A team that was determined to drag the game to a penalty shootout was defeated by the opponent first. This feeling of complete failure made the West Ham United players feel empty.
The only chance was broken by the other party.
The next game will be very easy for Manchester City to deal with.
West Ham United needs to attack, after all, they have no retreat.
But attacking it requires a strategy.
Their head coach David Moyes is a very good head coach, and he was not too nervous when faced with this situation.
Because this situation has already appeared in his mind.
Penalty kick, that's just a beautiful idea.
You know, in this season's games, Manchester City has never had a game without scoring, except for the group match where Champions League gave up completely.
There is no doubt about Manchester City's offensive power. They are definitely the best team in the world right now, bar none.
Expecting West Ham United to hold on for one hundred and twenty minutes is simply an impossible mission.
Fortunately, this goal came very early, leaving David Moyes with another second half to fight for.
However, in the last five minutes of the first half, West Ham United absolutely couldn't have any more problems.
If he returned to the locker room with a score of 2:0, then he probably wouldn't have to say anything.
Enjoy the final game!
If we can hold on to the last five minutes, we will still be able to compete in the second half.
While the Manchester City players were celebrating crazily, David Moyes called several core players to his side, gave them face-to-face instructions, and asked them to tell other players that they must not let down their guard in the next game and must hold on.
After receiving clear instructions from the head coach, West Ham United's mentality calmed down.
The goal just now caused a change in the mentality of many of them. Some people wanted to continue to defend, while others wanted to attack.
Lingard is the first person who wants the team to attack.
But Lingard has to obey the head coach's instructions.
David Moyes can be said to be England's most prestigious head coach in football.
He has coached the Everton and Manchester United teams, and within the 11 years of coaching Everton, he has won the best coach of the Premier League league three times, which shows that this person's coaching ability is definitely not average.
Although his coaching career with the Manchester United team was very disappointing, David Moyes' coaching talent cannot be denied.
In the past few years at West Ham United, he has built this team into a very competitive Premier League team. Although it has not yet qualified for the European competition, West Ham United's record in recent years has been good.
In the last five minutes of the first half, West Ham United once again showed amazing defensive integrity, causing Manchester City's several attacks to be in vain.
Finally, when Li Mingyu's long shot missed the crossbar of West Ham United's goal and flew out of the baseline, the fans in the audience sighed with regret, and the referee blew his whistle to end the first half.
1:0, Manchester City returned to the locker room with a goal advantage.
Both teams found this score acceptable.
The fifteen-minute break passed quickly, and the second half of the game began.
As soon as the second half started, West Ham United made substitution adjustments.
David Moyes took off the defensive midfielder Tomas Soucek, who was exhausted and still carrying the topaz War God card, and replaced him with Andre-Yarmolenko.
Ukraine Forward Andre-Yarmolenko is 32 years old and is a very good left-footed player.
This substitution shows that West Ham United is going to work hard.
4-2-2-2, this lineup, although very weird, is not impossible to break through Manchester City's defense if they seize the opportunity.
Watching the opponent's substitutions and adjustments, Guardiola stood on the sidelines with a glimmer of understanding in his eyes.
Obviously, this substitution adjustment did not escape Guardiola's expectations.
Although West Ham United strengthened the offense, for Guardiola, as long as they can block West Ham United's three axes, then they can harvest the game!