Green Field Eunuch

Chapter 309 Remembering Mourinho

February has arrived.

Throughout February, Manchester City has four league matches, one FA Cup match, and one Champions League match, for a total of six games. Fortunately, the opponents in the league and FA Cup are not strong. Apart from the first leg of the Champions League match against Real Madrid at home, which is the most important, the other matches are not too stressful.

The thought of spending 1800 million euros so soon made Shan Yongzhu feel a little distressed, even though it was only a portion of his savings.

However, this was nearly 2 million RMB after all. Born into a poor family in his previous life, Shan Yongzhuo, who believed in diligence and thrift, still felt the pinch.

So he vented his heartache on the football field.

On the first day of February, the 23rd round of the league kicked off, with Manchester City traveling to Everton for an away game.

In this match, Moyes' team did cause some trouble for Manchester City. Everton scored just 3 minutes into the first half and then defended tightly, completely retreating into their own half.

However, Shan Yongzhuo's hat-trick performance in 70 minutes left Everton speechless.

Manchester City ultimately secured a resounding 5-1 victory over Everton away from home.

After the match, media outlets exclaimed in amazement: "Shan Yongzhuo is in superb form, scoring 22 goals in 8 matches across all competitions since Christmas."

"At this rate, last season's record of 66 goals is about to become a thing of the past."

Shan Yongzhuo's goal tally is unmatched by any other striker. Scoring goals is as easy as drinking water for him, and completing a hat-trick is as effortless as brushing his teeth every day. It's truly disheartening.

Robin van Persie, who is second in the league's top scorers list, has only scored 21 goals, 23 goals behind Shan Yongzhuo.

Three days later, the 24th round of the league continued, with Manchester City hosting Fulham.

Shan Yongzhuo got a chance to rest. He wasn't even on the roster. After putting on makeup, he sat in the stands at Al-Ittihad like an ordinary fan and watched his teammates perform.

Unfortunately, my teammates didn't perform well.

In this match, Manchester City bombarded Fulham's goal for 90 minutes, but failed to score a single goal. Instead, they made a careless mistake in the 29th minute, allowing Fulham to launch a counter-attack and break through their defense.

The final score was 0-1, and Manchester City were unexpectedly defeated by Fulham, ending their nine-game winning streak.

A defeat is incredibly frustrating.

But Mancini was also aware of the reality.

The players are exhausted; they're not made of iron. They're still struggling to keep going, largely thanks to Shan Yongzhuo's incredible goal-scoring. If you remove Shan Yongzhuo's goals, Manchester City simply wouldn't have achieved what they have today.

Fortunately, there was a full week of rest after the match to adjust his condition.

Mancini generously gave the team a day off.

A week later, the team faced Aston Villa away from home. Manchester City's other key players had time to rest, and Shan Yongzhuo led a group of substitutes to the game.

Aston Villa's performance this season has been lukewarm, their strength is average, nothing particularly noteworthy, but nothing too bad either.

However, after seeing Manchester City's almost humiliating bench lineup, Villa became somewhat angry.

Dan Yongzhuo was closely marked, with at least two people following him every time. With such a level of defensive intensity, even any striker would be unable to perform well.

However, Shan Yongzhuo still managed to find opportunities to score.

In the 12th minute, taking advantage of a free kick opportunity, Shan Yongzhuo scored the first goal against Villa with a classic dipping shot.

Then, the goals came like a storm, overwhelming Aston Villa.

In the 22nd minute, Shan Yongzhuo received the ball on the edge of the penalty area, used his "ghostly catching hand" to create shooting space between two defenders, and then unleashed a sudden long-range shot.

The football went straight into the top left corner.

0:2.

Manchester City quickly took a two-goal lead. However, this was not the end.

In the 39th minute, Shan Yongzhuo rushed into the penalty area and headed the ball into Villa's goal again.

0:3.

Aston Villa's players and fans are completely desperate. The goals seem endless, and in the first half alone, one of the opposing players has already completed a hat-trick.

They wanted to stop it, but there was nothing they could do.

Then, in the 43rd minute, Shan Yongzhuo got another chance. He received the ball on the right side of the penalty area, then used a powerful ground kick to dribble into the penalty area. After passing through two defenders, he unleashed a powerful shot, changing the score again.

0:4.

At halftime, Aston Villa had been completely defeated by Manchester City.

Having conceded four goals in the first half, no one thought Aston Villa had any chance in the second half.

Mancini was very satisfied.

As expected, Shan Yongzhuo is trustworthy. Despite leading a group of substitute players, he still showed amazing strength, scoring 4 goals almost single-handedly.

Shan Yongzhuo was substituted at the start of the second half.

Aston Villa then breathed a sigh of relief, dominating Manchester City's reserve squad with the support of their home fans, scoring a goal in the 56th and 85th minutes respectively.

But this was completely of no use.

2:4.

Manchester City defeated Aston Villa away from home.

After the match, Mancini praised Shan Yongzhuo highly: "Shan is a phenomenal player. Many times, he can win a game by himself. As long as he is on the field, we never have to worry about scoring goals."

"On the contrary, the opponent needs to rack their brains to figure out how to defend against him, although so far no one has come up with any effective way."

"This is Manchester City's good fortune; having a single player is a kind of luck."

The reporters watched Mancini speak eloquently, but they were inwardly furious.

We know all of this, you bastard! We don't want to interview you; we want to interview Shan Yongzhuo.

The reporters were helpless, but there was really nothing they could do. Shan Yongzhuo rarely gave interviews, and his low profile was frightening.

Apart from the previous news that Paris Saint-Germain's €2 million bid for Shan Yongzhuo ultimately fell through, news about Shan Yongzhuo has been mostly related to football matches, with no other gossip.

In the eyes of the English media, this guy lived like an ascetic.

That's not good.

You bastard, come out and say a few more words, give an interview!

At this moment, English journalists missed Mourinho, and even the former Ferguson, immensely.

Although they have a love-hate relationship with Mourinho, and can even say they hate his big mouth, it has to be said that this guy is a walking news story.

With Mourinho around, English journalists will never lack news stories.

But Shan Yongzhuo is different; he lives a secluded life and it's almost impossible to dig up any news about him.

That's not good.

(End of this chapter)