Capítulo 190: This is the Right Way to Attack!
In the sixth round of the league, Manchester City visited Villa Park to face Aston Villa.
Aston Villa is currently ninth in the standings, and in recent years, their performance in the Premier League has been mid to lower tier. They have been good enough to avoid relegation but not strong enough to make significant progress.
Facing such a mid to lower-tier team, Manchester City should have a clear advantage.
However, Aston Villa is a unique team—they love to commit fouls!
In the first five rounds of the Premier League, Aston Villa had already received 21 yellow cards, averaging 4.2 per game.
Wenger's Arsenal had suffered greatly against them, and Liverpool and Chelsea also struggled to win when facing them.
If there's one team among the mid to lower-tier clubs that the top teams hate to face, it's definitely Aston Villa.
Against such a foul-prone team, Manchester City made some adjustments to their starting lineup.
With a midweek match against German giants Bayern Munich coming up, Pellegrini did not want any of his players to get injured before the game.
Therefore, he started with a lot of substitutes and played a conservative counter-attacking strategy at the opponent's stadium.
Aston Villa's fans were disdainful, booing the league leaders for playing so defensively at their home ground.
But Aston Villa's players were proud, feeling that they had intimidated the top team.
Seeing this, Aston Villa launched an unreserved attack on Manchester City, hoping to defeat them in one go.
As it turned out, Manchester City's substitutes were just as good as Villa's starters.
Despite Aston Villa's all-out effort, they couldn't score in the first 45 minutes.
Instead, just before halftime, Javi Garcia set up a goal for teammate Jovetić, putting Manchester City in the lead.
Pellegrini was very pleased with his players' performance, high-fiving them one by one at halftime.
On the other side, Aston Villa's coach was not happy at all.
A team leading the league playing counter-attacking football—where's the shame in that?
And while the media criticized Villa for their dirty play, City had more yellow cards in the first half than Villa. Villa only had one yellow card, while City had three!
If you covered up the team names and switched the jerseys, anyone would think Manchester City was Aston Villa!
Pellegrini didn't care about this. He was very satisfied with his team's first-half performance.
The League Cup and FA Cup were about to start, and City would soon face the challenge of competing on four fronts.
In this situation, relying on the main squad to handle everything wouldn't work; the players would be exhausted.
So, he planned to give more playing time to the substitutes, allowing them to participate in the cup matches to ease the burden of multiple competitions.
This season, City's main goals were to win the league title and achieve good results in the Champions League. As for the domestic cups, if they made it to the finals, he might consider fielding the main squad. If not, he would stick with the substitutes, occasionally bringing on a few starters to maintain their form.
Overall, he didn't want the cup competitions to affect the team's league performance.
"Your performance in the first half was excellent. Continue to play this way in the second half, defend strongly, and as long as you don't get a red card, keep it up until the 75th minute. Then, I'll bring on the starters to finish the game!"
In this match, six of the starting players were substitutes: Javi Garcia, Richards, Jovetić, Negredo, Clichy, and Milner—players who usually didn't start.
Most of City's attacking players, except for Navas, were on the bench.
Pellegrini planned to bring them on in the second half to warm up for the match against Bayern Munich.
...
After the halftime break, neither team made any substitutions.
In the second half, Aston Villa's strategy became more targeted.
Once they identified City's core players on the field, they assigned players to specifically limit Navas and Garcia, preventing them from passing and receiving the ball.
This tactic hindered City's attacking efforts, increasing the defensive pressure.
With no offensive threat from City, Villa's defenders boldly pushed forward, joining the attack.
The increased numbers boosted their offensive threat, putting City's defense under pressure.
In the 51st minute, Aston Villa's El Ahmadi scored, equalizing the game.
Fortunately, Pellegrini made timely substitutions, bringing on Yaya Touré to strengthen midfield control.
After Yaya Touré came on, City's midfield toughness and defensive intensity increased.
Their attack soon improved as well.
In the 56th minute, Yaya Touré assisted Negredo with a long pass, giving City the lead again.
After the assist, Yaya Touré was thrilled!
The feeling of being the team's commander and midfield core was fantastic!
As the senior player on the field, the entire team revolved around him, a feeling he hadn't experienced in a long time!
Since Lin joined the team, he hadn't enjoyed this kind of treatment for a while!
On the sidelines, seeing his teammates score, Lin applauded for both of them.
Yaya Touré's long pass just now was impressive—a high-quality pass that was definitely not luck.
So why didn't he make such excellent long passes in other games?
After assisting his teammate, Yaya Touré wasn't satisfied.
He frequently demanded the ball, initiating attacks, seemingly wanting to score himself.
Aston Villa was struggling to control the midfield, but seeing Yaya Touré bringing the ball up himself, they decided to take advantage of it.
In an instant, several players surrounded him, pressing him hard.
Although Yaya Touré had good ball protection skills, he couldn't hold up against so many players.
He quickly lost possession!
And losing the ball at that moment was fatal for City because Yaya Touré was out of his defensive position.
"Fall back, quickly fall back!"
On the sidelines, Pellegrini immediately sensed the danger after losing possession and shouted to his players.
City's players were retreating, but people can't move as fast as the ball!
Aston Villa's players wasted no time, quickly passing the ball to their attacking players.
Their winger Bacuna, using his speed, broke away from the defenders and blasted the ball into City's goal!
2:2!
The score was tied again!
And that wasn't the worst part. Two minutes later, Aston Villa repeated their tactic, stealing the ball from Yaya Touré again and scoring another goal in almost the same way.
The score was now 3:2. Aston Villa, playing at home, was leading the league leaders.
If this score held, City's five-game winning streak would end at the hands of Aston Villa.
After scoring, Aston Villa's players and fans went wild.
They hadn't expected to defeat the mighty City. Before the game, their best hope was to draw and end City's winning streak.
But reality had given them a pleasant surprise—they were leading City!
This gave Villa hope for victory!
On the visiting side, seeing their team concede two goals in three minutes, and almost in the same way, even the usually calm Pellegrini couldn't help but get angry at Yaya Touré.
"Why did you leave your position? Damn it, you're a defensive midfielder, not a forward!"
Facing his coach's criticism, Yaya Touré bowed his head without arguing.
He was also puzzled. Why wasn't the game going as he had imagined?
In his mind, with his organizational and attacking abilities, he thought he could help the team extend their lead by pushing forward, making the coach realize his attacking talent.
But what happened?
He messed up!
Not only did he fail to score, but he also directly caused the team to concede two goals.
In his anger, Pellegrini almost took Yaya Touré off the field, even though he had just brought him on.
However, after his assistant coach's persuasion, he reconsidered.
Substituting Yaya Touré at this moment would be too humiliating, essentially burning bridges with him.
Despite his mistake, Yaya Touré was still a crucial player for City until they found a suitable replacement.
Without him, City's midfield defense would suffer greatly.
So, he restrained his impulse and called Lin and Agüero from the bench.
"Lin, you and Agüero have only one task—put the ball in that damn net."
The two looked at each other and nodded seriously.
"Good, now let me explain your tactics..."
Pellegrini gave them instructions and allowed only three minutes of warm-up before urgently sending them onto the field.
At this point, it was already the 75th minute, leaving little time for City.
After scoring twice, Aston Villa was riding high and wanted to continue their success.
After City kicked off, they launched a frenzied press, trying to steal the ball and launch another counterattack.
Handling Villa's press, Lin, who took over the team's command, remained calm.
He passed, moved, received, and passed again, smoothly controlling the game.
Under his guidance, City's offense regained its flow, while Villa's pressing had no effect.
Pressing like this drains players' energy, and failing to win the ball damages their morale and enthusiasm.
So, unless a team frequently uses high pressing, this tactic is hard to maintain for long.
Sure enough, seeing their press fail, Villa's exhausted players quickly abandoned it, retreating to defend their lead.
But City wouldn't let them succeed.
As soon as Villa stopped pressing, Lin signaled his teammates to attack and quickly increased the pace.
The ball moved smoothly among City's players, just like it did during Villa's press.
Villa's fans were dismissive, thinking, "There's so little time left. What good is passing the ball around?"
"Can you win just by passing the ball around?"
But they soon stopped laughing.
Under Lin's guidance, City's passes gradually advanced to Villa
's penalty area.
When the ball returned to Lin's feet, he saw an opening in Villa's defense.
Now!
Seizing the moment when Villa's defenders hadn't settled, he delivered a killer through ball.
Agüero, almost simultaneously with Lin's pass, made a sudden run, breaking into the box to receive it.
Man and ball met perfectly!
Bang!
With a powerful shot from less than ten meters out, Agüero blasted the ball into Villa's net.
The score was tied at 3:3. City had equalized.
And it had taken less than ten minutes since Lin and Agüero came on!
With injury time, there were still nearly ten minutes left!
With City's attacking power, they could definitely score again!
After the goal, Agüero didn't celebrate but rushed to the net, grabbed the ball, and ran back to the center circle.
Lin also quickly returned to the kick-off point.
The two exchanged a look and smiled, understanding each other perfectly.
Seeing City's urgency to attack again, Villa's players sensed impending doom!
They couldn't figure out how to defend against City's previous goal.
The ball moved around them, making it impossible to mark the ball or players effectively.
Every attacking player on the field could score, leaving no one to ignore.
And City's new number ten was incredibly good.
His passes were unpredictable, his movements elusive, and his position undefinable.
Defending against such a player required double-teaming and physical contact.
On the sidelines, Villa's coach realized this too and signaled his players to foul if necessary.
Even if they received cards, they had to stop City's attacks.
They might not win, but they had to secure a draw.
So, after the restart, Villa's players not only double-teamed and pressed Lin but also frequently fouled him, preventing him from passing and receiving smoothly.
Seeing this tactic, Lin moved further back, positioning himself near his defensive midfielders.
He didn't need to organize attacks from the front. He had played as a defensive midfielder at Barcelona.
So, from the defensive midfield position, Lin could still lead the attack.
Once Lin moved back, Villa's double-teaming became ineffective.
They couldn't keep up with City's overall formation, and Lin had too many teammates around him, making it impossible to cut off all passing lanes.
On the contrary, their focus on Lin left gaps in their defense.
Such gaps were fatal against a top playmaker!
In the 89th minute, after shaking off the press with his teammates' help, Lin saw an opening on Villa's right side.
He delivered a precise long pass to Navas on the wing.
Navas received the ball in an open space, practically a free run!
He didn't waste Lin's brilliant pass, quickly cutting inside.
Villa's entire defense was drawn to him, rushing toward him.
Navas faked a shot and passed to a teammate in the middle.
Agüero appeared at the edge of the box, receiving the pass and quickly shooting before the defenders could intervene.
It was a game-winning shot!
In the 90th minute, City completed the comeback.
Villa Park fell silent, except for a few traveling City fans celebrating wildly.
On the field, after witnessing Lin's passes from the front and back helping City equalize and then take the lead, Yaya Touré was completely convinced.
This is the correct way to attack.
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