Football: My AI System Provides Max-Level Predictions-Chapter 667 - 463: The first match after renewal, facing Guardiola’s Bundesliga nemesis!

Chapter 667: Chapter 463: The first match after renewal, facing Guardiola’s Bundesliga nemesis!

Right now, Tang Long only has two endorsements: Emirates Airlines and a local UK beverage.

After Tang Long’s personal image rights increased from 50% to 90%, how to fully utilize his commercial value as a star player became a key consideration for Ronaldo.

However, with numerous industries and companies under Ronaldo’s name, he doesn’t have enough time to handle the continuous stream of commercial endorsements.

At this moment, he has to fly back to São Paulo, Brazil, to continue expanding his wine business in South America.

When Ronaldo was troubled by this matter, Tang Long recommended Dilata to him.

"You can let her take over my commercial endorsements. She is based in Manchester, has long been involved in the media for sports and entertainment, speaks well, and has high professional competence. She’s a great choice."

After the hype over the "Ronaldo successor" topic jointly planned by three people, Ronaldo also approved of Dilata’s professional ability.

And Dilata was equally interested.

This not only could bring her generous commission income but also allow her more interaction with Tang Long in daily life.

"Don’t worry, Tang, leave it all to me," Dilata said, wrapping her arm around Tang Long’s neck and smiling brightly, "I’ll definitely turn you into a national idol that makes thousands of girls around the world scream!"

...

September 14th, Wednesday.

Manchester City welcomed the first round of the Champions League group stage, a home game against Borussia Monchengladbach.

The media gave great attention to Manchester City’s Champions League debut.

Everyone wanted to see how Manchester City, who had won four consecutive matches in the league with unstoppable momentum, would perform in the Champions League?

After all, winning the Champions League this season is a goal that Manchester City must face!

Otherwise, why would the team dismiss Pellegrini and bring in Guardiola?

However, in the pre-match press conference, Guardiola appeared extremely low-key.

Perhaps because in the last league match against Bournemouth, a 6-0 thrashing directly led to the dismissal of their head coach Eddie, and after the match, Eddie angrily chased him down the player’s tunnel, so Guardiola appeared humble and cautious.

"When I coached Bayern, I already experienced how formidable Borussia Monchengladbach is! They are a very competitive Bundesliga team, and we absolutely have no reason to underestimate them!"

"In my view, Borussia Monchengladbach has the strength to compete for the top four in the Premier League as well..."

"You’re asking me about the group objective?"

"Barça will take first place in the group, the remaining spot will be contested between Manchester City, Borussia Monchengladbach, and Celtic for second place. Yes, making it out as the second in the group is my goal."

This statement made the British media think that Guardiola was being too humble, almost to the point of hypocrisy!

After all, Manchester City was in the same group as Borussia Monchengladbach last season.

The two-legged encounters in the group stage saw Manchester City winning both matches 3-0, with Borussia Monchengladbach offering no resistance against Manchester City.

However, many Bundesliga and Bayern fans know that these words from Guardiola are neither hypocritical nor self-deprecating; he indeed fears Borussia Monchengladbach!

Guardiola has not beaten Borussia Monchengladbach in two years!

In the last season, that is, the 2015-2016 season, when Guardiola led Bayern in the Bundesliga, they only managed a draw and a loss in two matchups against Borussia Monchengladbach;

They lost 3-1 at the opponent’s ground and could only manage a 1-1 draw at home, unable to get a win.

And in the 2014-2015 season, it was the same scenario with a draw and a loss, one match ending 0-0, the other 0-2!

In other words, in the past two seasons, Guardiola faced Borussia Monchengladbach four times and only achieved two draws and two losses, with an aggregate score of 2-6!

-[Borussia Monchengladbach is Guardiola’s nemesis, hahaha, Guardiola hasn’t beaten them in two years!]

-[In the past two years, the only team in the league that Guardiola can’t beat is Borussia Monchengladbach!]

-[I watched seven or eight of their matches last season. Borussia Monchengladbach is a typical Bundesliga team, very strong in impact and physicality. They’re not weak at all, we Bayern suffered quite a bit against them, sigh!]

-[I heard that this season’s average height of Manchester City has decreased by a centimeter compared to last season, and the average weight of the players has also decreased. Whether they can withstand the opponent’s impact is really hard to say!]

-[As a Bayern fan, I support Borussia Monchengladbach; European war unites us externally!]

-[Barça fans support Borussia Monchengladbach! Let Manchester City go play in the UEFA Europa League, Barça and Borussia Monchengladbach advance together. That’s settled!]

...

"The referee’s whistle blows, and the match begins!"

"Oh, we see that the positioning of Manchester City players today seems different from usual?"

"...That’s right! Three defenders!"

"Guardiola actually lined up with a three-defender formation!"

"This is indeed rare. In my impression, Manchester City hasn’t played with three defenders in recent years?"

"It seems that facing the strong opponent Borussia Monchengladbach this time, Guardiola is actively seeking change."

In football, Guardiola is undoubtedly a master of tactics.

But Guardiola has a weakness, which is his love for shaking things up in every key match!

Logically, facing Borussia Monchengladbach, whom they double-defeated in last season’s Champions League group stage, Manchester City should have a double advantage over them in terms of both strength and mentality.

And indeed they did, when the Borussia players entered and saw the Manchester City fans on both sides of the tunnel with two scorecards held high showing [3:0], shaking them with a cheerful smile, their hearts filled with a sudden chill.

"Feeling a bit nervous, what should we do!"

The players felt like they were back in last season, overwhelmed by the complete domination of the Blue Moon.

But Guardiola doesn’t see it that way!

He had been pondering for days before the match: "Even though Manchester City double-defeated them last season, that was Pellegrini’s doing and had nothing to do with me. Besides, the team has had quite a few changes in the lineup after summer signings, and if we just play routinely, I’m afraid we’ll repeat the old mistakes we made at Bayern against Borussia. I must take the initiative to change to remain undefeated."

Having coached Bayern for three years, Guardiola knows Borussia Monchengladbach all too well. 𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖

He carefully studied their lineup in the first few league matches, knowing they would play with three defenders, so he also set up with three defenders, aiming to deploy more players in midfield.

Borussia’s use of three defenders is not to enhance their control in midfield but to increase numbers in the midfield to strengthen pressing and confrontation.

Guardiola believes that to prevent being overpowered by Borussia’s robust physicality, it’s essential to add numbers in midfield, increase connection points between players, and circulate the ball to break their attack.

So Borussia’s formation is 3-4-1-2, and Guardiola’s is the same, 3-4-1-2.

However, from the start, this temporary tactical change was not very effective!

Due to the increase in the number of technical midfield players, Mkhitaryan and Diego appeared together for the first time this new season.

Both of them are partnering for the first time in their careers, and it was also their first simultaneous appearance, and their cooperation seemed slightly unfamiliar.

Not long after the match began, the duo made a fatal cooperation mistake!

Diego had more playing time and was more adept at cooperating with Ranocchia.

Facing the pressing of Borussia’s forward Hahn, he passed the ball to Mkhitaryan beside him.

According to Diego, Mkhitaryan should quickly return the ball to the defensive midfielder Ranocchia at this point.

By doing so, not only could they fully utilize Ranocchia’s metronomic role to lure the opponent’s formation to press higher, creating space for Tang Long and Agüero upfront;

But also drain Hahn’s energy a bit, making him less aggressive in the second half.

However, Mkhitaryan’s mind was not synchronized with Diego’s!

This Armenian player, having played 52 times last season at Dortmund, achieved a significant double-double with 18 goals and 22 assists;

He has a strong sense of moving forward and a very intense desire for attacking.

Rather than following Diego’s idea of passing the ball to Ranocchia, he thought Diego wanted a one-two with him, so he tapped the ball forward to Diego’s front, then rushed forward at high speed.

But Diego had already slowed down his pace, and upon suddenly seeing the ball fly forward, he hurriedly took a stride, trying to rush forward for the ball.

Hahn immediately sensed the cooperation mistake between the two, swiftly turned and pressed!

Hahn is 1.85 meters tall, Diego is only 1.74 meters, and they are not in the same league in terms of leg control over the ball or physical strength.

With a long stride and a twist of his butt, Hahn instantly knocked Diego back two meters!

The ball was intercepted, yet Mkhitaryan was still blindly rushing forward, hearing the wind whistling past him, thinking Diego had long gotten the ball and was advancing it forward, perhaps delivering a through pass to him.

"Oh no!"

Seeing all this, Ranocchia hastily chased back.

But Hahn was not slower than Ranocchia, and with the advantage in positioning, he quickly distanced himself, reaching the verge of Manchester City’s penalty box!

The three central defenders Otamendi, Kompany, and Stones hastily tightened their defenses to press Hahn;

Due to Manchester City’s three-defender formation, Stones and Otamendi on the flanks were relatively far from the arc, forcing Kompany to face a one-on-one with Hahn within two seconds.

Hahn did not hesitate, accelerating at once!

"Hahn is making a fierce drive, intending to overpower Kompany!"

"Both entered the penalty area simultaneously!"

"Hahn is incredibly fast, visibly leading by half a body length!"

"Bravo has no choice but to come out!"

"Hahn shoots while falling!"

"Ah! It’s a goal!"

"It seems the ball deflected off Kompany’s foot while intercepting, and it changed direction!"

"It deflected past Bravo’s armpit!"

"The score is 1:0, and Borussia leads within ten minutes of the start!"

"It’s unbelievable, the golden clean sheet of Manchester City’s new season’s four matches was broken by Borussia!"