Green Field Eunuch

Chapter 222 The Premier League, plagued by internal strife
The second half of the game begins.

Tottenham's defensive strategy against Shan Yongzhuo remains unchanged, with Dawson continuing to mark Shan closely.

But once the match started, Dawson noticed that Shan Yongzhuo seemed to have become even lazier.

In the first half, Shan Yongzhuo didn't run particularly hard, but at least he did make some running. However, after the start of the second half, Shan Yongzhuo simply stood still in the frontcourt.

It was truly motionless.

He simply stood in the opponent's penalty area, even when he was offside, he didn't bother to move.

Dawson was very puzzled, but he had no other choice but to stand motionless next to Shan Yongzhuo.

As a result, the match was extremely intense.

But there were two outsiders on the field.

His teammates and Mancini were already used to Shan Yongzhuo's behavior, and they simply went about their business as usual, ignoring him completely.

Tottenham's players are not so familiar with this.

Drakenap was baffled on the sidelines, but he didn't have any good solutions, so he could only remain still.

Dan Yongzhuo was quite relaxed. He really wanted to continue participating in the attack, but he couldn't because he had run out of skills.

If you've used up all your skills and it's hard to get good opportunities on the periphery, you might as well stand inside the restricted area and maybe you can pick up a lucky break.

This is the most correct course of action for Shan Yongzhuo.

So the game continued, and Shan Yongzhuo, like an outsider, stood in the Tottenham penalty area for 30 minutes.

In the 75th minute of the second half, Mancini decisively substituted Shan Yongzhuo with Zabaleta.

The score remained 2-0.

Mancini is preparing to start defending.

In the final 15 minutes of the match, Tottenham launched a frantic attack, with every player hoping to use the remaining time to at least score a goal, if not equalize.

This is not easy either.

However, Manchester City's defense wasn't actually that strong, and Tottenham still managed to win.

In the 90th minute of the match, Van der Vaart volleyed a shot that beat Joe Hart in goal.

This was the last goal. The match ended with Manchester City defeating Tottenham 2-1 at home, securing their victory in the 33rd round of the league.

This victory is very meaningful.

In the earlier match, Manchester United and Newcastle United drew 0-0 at St. James' Park.

With this victory, Manchester City widened the gap with their arch-rivals to two points.

With only 5 rounds left in the league, this 2-point gap is a decent advantage.

After the match, Manchester City returned to their intensive training.

The training atmosphere was very intense that day. With the team competing on three fronts and having the opportunity to win three championships, everyone was looking forward to it.

The conversation started with the championship, and eventually, without us even realizing it, we started talking about Balotelli's romantic history.

Balotelli is a notorious playboy. At a young age, he has already had many girlfriends and countless casual relationships.

At first, Balotelli was unilaterally imparting his secrets to dating to Shan Yongzhuo, but in the end, it turned into Balotelli reminiscing about his own love life.

His teammates, all eager for gossip, gathered around, and Balotelli got more and more excited as they talked, even about his sexual experiences with his girlfriend.

"Women love gentle caresses. No matter how things end up, gentleness at the beginning helps the final experience." "Afterwards, don't just think about yourself. Give her the gentlest kiss. This will make her feel better."

"..."

Dan Yongzhu listened with great interest and agreed with these life experiences, but when he thought about how far he was from putting these experiences into practice, he suddenly felt a little discouraged.

Balotelli spoke fluently and confidently without batting an eye, earning thumbs-up from his teammates.

Just then, Mancini walked over with a cold snort.

Mancini's expression was not very good. He was gentle and open-minded, and rarely disliked a player, especially his favorite disciple Balotelli.

But at this moment, he walked over, gave Balotelli a look of utter disdain, and then said very seriously, "I don't want to hear anyone talking about women anymore. We must play well in every game from now on."

“I never care about your private lives, but at this time, everyone must ensure their own well-being.”

“If anyone ignores what I say, I don’t mind putting them on the bench.”

Mancini left after speaking, his gaze hardly friendly.

Balotelli gave a dismissive snort and didn't say much, but his eyes held deep dissatisfaction as he looked at Mancini.

Dan Yongzhuo looked at the two of them and shook his head helplessly.

Balotelli was initially highly regarded by Mancini, but as the season progressed, the conflict between the two grew stronger.

Mancini is very strict with training, even more so with Balotelli than with others.

Balotelli was discovered by Mancini when he was at Inter Milan, and Shan Yongzhuo could naturally see his high regard for Balotelli. This high regard even had some influence on Tevez's departure.

However, Balotelli did not seem particularly grateful for this, and even expressed his dissatisfaction with Mancini to Shan Yongzhuo.

In response, Shan Yongzhuo didn't say much, nor did he bother to do anything about it.

A few days later, in the 34th round of the league, the entire Manchester City team traveled to Ewood Park in Blackburn to face the violent Blackburn away game.

Blackburn had a very good start to the season, even holding third place in the standings at one point.

But as the season progressed, they eventually returned to the low score they should have been on.

After 33 rounds of the league, Blackburn Rovers have accumulated 38 points, placing them in the lower half of the league table, essentially in a state of having nothing to play for.

However, they are still happy to trip up title contenders like Manchester City.

This is typical of Premier League teams: even if I get nothing in return, I'll definitely make things difficult for you.

Unless it's a long-term strategic partnership like that between Manchester United and Everton, Premier League matches are always a life-or-death struggle.

This situation is why it's been said that the Premier League suffers from severe internal strife.

The serious internal friction is not just about the schedule, but more about the attitude of these mid-to-lower-tier teams when facing strong teams, which is completely different from that of leagues like La Liga and Serie A.

In this match, Blackburn gave Manchester City a lot of trouble. They relied on a physical battle and a near 10-0-0 defensive formation to break down Manchester City's attack.

It wasn't until the 39th minute that Shan Yongzhuo broke the deadlock with a corner kick.

However, this was also the only goal of the entire match.

With this goal, Manchester City narrowly defeated Blackburn 1-0 away from home, maintaining their lead in points.

Next, they will face the Europa League semi-final.

Their opponent is Benfica, a powerhouse in the Portuguese league.

(End of this chapter)