Green Field Eunuch

Chapter 307 Battle of Attack
Gareth Bale already demonstrated amazing ability last season, and his attacking partnership with Van der Vaart complemented each other perfectly, greatly enhancing Tottenham's attacking firepower.

This season, Bale has undergone Drakenap's intensive transformation, gradually evolving into a free agent in the attacking third. He has transformed from a fast winger like Giggs into an all-around attacking player like Messi and Ronaldo.

Tottenham's performance has also improved significantly this season, consistently holding onto third place in the league. Although they cannot surpass Manchester City and Manchester United, they have never been threatened by the teams behind them.

In their first meeting this season, Manchester City defeated Tottenham at White Hart Lane, but Bale was unavailable due to injury.

Both sides fielded their strongest lineups for this match, making this clash at the Etihad a highlight of this round of the Premier League.

This is Shan Yongzhuo's fourth season in his professional career, but only his second season in the Premier League.

Manchester City has a perfect record against Tottenham in their encounters last season and this season. In Shan Yongzhuo's impression, Tottenham is not a difficult team to deal with.

However, this has nothing to do with Tottenham.

In fact, Manchester City's win rate has always been incredibly high whenever Shan Yongzhuo plays. He usually plays against strong teams, and he is only allowed to rest when facing weak teams. This has led to Shan Yongzhuo being known as a killer of all the top teams in the Premier League.

Therefore, although the match was hyped up by the media, most people still believed that Manchester City would be able to defeat Tottenham at home.

As expected, neither Tottenham's defenders, Kaboul nor Ledley King, were able to effectively defend against Shan Yongzhuo.

Now, Shan Yongzhuo's speed has increased to 81 points and his strength to 80 points. He is not at a disadvantage in general combat. Even without using skills, Ridley King can only fight Shan Yongzhuo to a 50/50 chance.

In the fifth minute of the match, Shan Yongzhuo seized the opportunity and scored directly from a corner kick, making the score 1-0.

Then in the 12th minute, Shan Yongzhuo once again used his whirlwind ground kick advantage to shake off Ledley King and Kaboul, and then dribbled past Tottenham goalkeeper Freder before scoring into an empty net, making the score 2-0.

While the elderly Ledley King was being tortured to the point of ecstasy by Shan Yongzhuo, Milner and Richards were also being thoroughly dealt with by Gareth Bell.

In the 20th minute, Bale made a dramatic overtake, directly teaching Milner a lesson, and then immediately replaced Richards before delivering a low cross. Defoe missed the near post, but Van der Vaart scored at the far post.

2:1.

The match had only been going on for 20 minutes when the two sides had already scored 3 goals. The whole game was very exciting and wide-ranging, and it was all about winning a goal-fest, which made the audience very excited.

However, after that, both head coaches signaled to slow down the pace, and the attacks of both teams eased up a bit.

Manchester City is slightly weaker in terms of overall control. Their midfield commander is veteran Barry. Although Barry has been selected for the England national team, his overall ability is relatively mediocre in all aspects. He can only be considered a mediocre midfielder.

The other player, Nasri, is not a player who can control the tempo very well. Therefore, Manchester City mostly got the ball to Silva and launched attacks from his left flank.

On the other hand, Modric, the midfield maestro of Tottenham, has shown the qualities of a top midfield commander after several seasons of honing his skills since joining the club.

Under Modric's orchestration, Tottenham clearly had a better grasp of the tempo than Manchester City, and they were significantly better at controlling the pace of attack and defense transitions.

However, no one expected that Manchester City would score again. In the 35th minute, Nasri dispossessed Parker near midfield, spotted Shan Yongzhuo ahead, and launched a long ball.

At this moment, Shan Yongzhuo, relying on Ledley King, had even gained the upper hand in the confrontation.

It was a high ball. Shan Yongzhuo stood near the penalty area line, thought for a moment, looked at the direction of the ball's landing point, and then rushed into the penalty area and jumped high.

Shan Yongzhuo and Ledley King both contested the header, but Shan Yongzhuo ultimately won the header.

The football then changed direction, drawing a beautiful arc as it headed straight for the top corner of the goal.

No one expected it to be a header, after all, Shan Yongzhuo was almost right on the edge of the penalty area, quite a distance from the goal. A header from that position posed no threat to his life.

Tottenham goalkeeper Freder made the same judgment, and then he realized something was wrong.

By the time Freder made his save, it was too late; the ball grazed the crossbar and went into the goal.

3:1.

Manchester City have once again taken a two-goal lead at home.

Tottenham, now trailing again, were unwilling to give up and launched a fierce attack on Manchester City's goal, hoping to at least pull one back in the last ten minutes of the first half.

Tottenham's attack was quite impressive, especially Bale on the wing. He not only posed a huge threat to Manchester City with his sharp dribbling on the wing, but his cooperation with Van der Vaart was also very good. The two combined well on the wing and in the middle, making Manchester City's defense very troubled.

Manchester City's goal was in dire straits in the final ten minutes, and it was only thanks to the outstanding performances of Kompany and Joe Hart that they were able to keep a clean sheet.

In the end, Manchester City narrowly held onto their goal, and the first half came to an end.

This score is still very favorable for Manchester City. They returned to the locker room chatting and laughing, waiting for Mancini to give instructions for the second half. In any case, the chances of winning this game are quite high.

Mancini spoke at length, mainly emphasizing the need to control the pace of the game in the second half. To this end, he specifically switched Silva and Nasri's positions, moving Silva to the center to control the overall rhythm.

"Single, I will substitute you after about 20 minutes in the second half, if the situation allows."

Shan Yongzhuo could only nod helplessly.

The next match is the first leg of the EFL Cup semi-final, an away game against Liverpool. Shan Yongzhuo still wants to save some energy for this match.

This was exactly what Shan Yongzhuo had expected. The EFL Cup was already in the semi-finals. As long as they could defeat Liverpool in the two-legged tie, they would be able to advance to the final. If all went well, they could win their first championship trophy of the season in February.

In this situation, a single league match becomes less important.

(End of this chapter)