Tomorrow morning, in the quarterfinals of the Champions League, Manchester City will take the lead at home against Atletico Madrid, which is the coach between the first place in the Premier League and the third in La Liga, but it should be noted that both teams have played 30 rounds in their respective leagues, but Manchester City have won 23, drawn 4 and lost 3 with 73 points.
And Atletico's state this season is not stable, 30 rounds only got 17 wins, 6 draws, 7 losses, a total of 57 points, even if the league opponents are different, but from the point difference, you can still see the difference in stability between the two teams!
And Simeone's style of play is probably the most hated by Manchester City
Although the two sides have not played each other in recent years, from a practical point of view, the offensive football advocated by Guardiola is indeed the opposite of simeone's "utilitarian football".
In the view of Liao Qiujun: Manchester City's quarter-final draw is really not wonderful, and many cases this season have shown that many of The points lost by Manchester City this season are lost on this team that is tenacious in defense and can play a counterattack.
Let's help you count the games that City have lost this season:
On 8 August 2021, the community shields between Manchester City and Leicester City began, and since the European Championship has just ended, many of City's main players have not returned, and this game is not included in the calculation.
First defeat of the season:
On August 15, the players on vacation returned, although some players such as De Bruyne are still on the bench, but Manchester City is generally an all-team squad, but in the first round of the league, Manchester City lost to Tottenham Hotspur on the road.
Son Heung-min scored the killer goal!
The course of this game is actually not much to say, giving people the feeling that Tottenham's then-manager Nuno is still in Tottenham's arrangement of Wolves' tactics, and Tottenham just have a counter-attacking genius Son Heung-min, Spurs through the team's efforts to defend, coupled with the inspiration of the former star, and finally defeated Manchester City in the first round.
What's even more interesting is that Guardiola's Manchester City has indeed been defeated by Manchester City this team many times, no matter how strongLy manchester City controls, Spurs can always find the opportunity to counterattack.
Second defeat of the season:
Champions League group stage away to Paris Saint-Germain, this game, Manchester City still has more initiative, but Paris Saint-Germain after all has Messi, Mbappe and other superstars, in the case of the two sides shooting 6:18, the away manchester City still overturned.
Third defeat of the season:
Home defeat to Crystal Palace, this is a typical case of defensive counterattack to defeat Manchester City, Vieira's team retreated deeply, but through the fixed point counterattack advance, successfully overturned Manchester City!
The player who scored in this game, Zaha, who is also a famous counter-attacker in the Premier League, and Gallagher, a player on loan from Chelsea, although Manchester City played one less person in the 47th minute because of Laporte's red card, but in this game, Manchester City was behind from the 6th minute!
Fourth defeat of the season:
In the Champions League away to Red Bull Leipzig, Manchester City is still the dominant side, but the 24-minute goal conceded and the second goal conceded in the 71st minute showed City's embarrassment when it was unable to attack for a long time.
Although Mahrez pulled a goal back in the 76th minute, just six minutes later, Kyle Walker's red card deprived City of the opportunity to tie the score.
Fifth defeat of the season:
Losing home to Tottenham Hotspur, Manchester City got 71.5% of the possession, but lost the ability to defend against Sun Kai's connection, Kane scored twice, Son Heung-min twice assisted, very similar opening goal conceded (conceded in 4 minutes), allowing Manchester City to get the last defeat of the season so far.
Guardiola's team also has shortcomings
Through these five games, Chat Ball Jun summed up some small rules, not necessarily right, but if you count most of Manchester City's draws this season, it is still justified, but limited by space, Chat Ball Jun will not say much about draws, you can go to check, and the draw with the middle and lower reaches of the team, most of them are inseparable from these points:
First: Manchester City fear a team that has a deep retreat and is capable of fighting back.
Second: Once Manchester City encounters the goalkeeper, it will fall into a dilemma of not being able to knock on the goal for a long time.
Third: Especially taboo opponents to score prematurely, when entering the position war, Manchester City, which lacks a strong center, needs to test the siege ability, attention and ability of defensive counterattacks of players on the field.
Specifically, we can refer to last season's Champions League 19/20 season of Atletico Madrid played Liverpool, or this season's Atletico madrid played Manchester United, a total of 4 games, although liverpool, Manchester United, Manchester City styles are very different, but Atletico in these four games, fully reflect the team's defensive counterattack ability.
Even if the state of the season is worrying, as long as some of the team's stars play 100% of their strength, it may turn Manchester City over, such as Atletico goalkeeper Oblak.
Manchester City have played as a centre-forward this season
No one knows who Guardiola will arrange to play in the center position, but Tan Qiujun always has a very certain understanding: Manchester City need a top center, because Manchester City is not the Barca of the past, and Guardiola does not have Messi in his hands!
For Manchester City, the super shooter is the same as nuclear weapons, you can not use, but can not be without, especially for a team that wants to compete for the Champions League, even if it is a substitute to play for ten minutes, Manchester City must also have a player who can play this position.
Of course, Atletico may not be able to withstand the siege of Manchester City, in early February, Atletico away to Barca, the first half and the second half were fully besieged, after Barca returned to defend and received a red card before starting to attack, but eventually lost the game 4:2.
But in march, Atletico got better and better, with four wins in La Liga and the Champions League in March and the first game of April ending with a 4-1 win.
Judging from the prediction of this game, Liaoqiujun believes that the team that opens the situation first will have a greater advantage in the first leg!