Green Field Eunuch

Chapter 379 Southampton
The conversation between Shan Yongzhuo and Guardiola naturally ended unhappily.

Shan Yongzhuo was very dissatisfied with Guardiola's request to change his position, while Guardiola was also very dissatisfied with Shan Yongzhuo's challenge to the head coach's authority.

During the subsequent training sessions, the two of them did their own thing without any communication.

The attentive teammates also noticed the problem, but no one dared to say anything. When gods fight, mortals have to back down. One was the team's star player, and the other was a championship-winning coach who had been parachuted in. No one could afford to offend them.

However, players like Aguero and Silva, who had good relationships with Shan Yongzhuo, still tried to persuade him.

"Shan, you should listen to the coach."

"Yeah, if you can't play, you'll be the one who suffers."

"..."

Of course, while some tried to persuade Shan Yongzhuo to submit, others were eager to stir up trouble, with Yaya Toure and Balotelli leading the way.

"Why should we listen to him?!"

"That's right, Robert led us to win the five championships!"

"Shan, I absolutely support you!"

"..."

Shan Yongzhuo sighed.

If he had a choice, he wouldn't want to do things his own way, but he had no choice; it involved matters of principle, like scoring goals, and he couldn't back down from those.

Amid this uneasy atmosphere, the new Premier League season is about to begin.

In the first round of matches, Manchester City hosted Southampton at home.

The day before the match, the team held a training session mainly consisting of warm-up matches. After the afternoon training session, Domenech Torrent, the assistant coach who had come with Guardiola from La Liga, came over with a form and announced the squad list for tomorrow's match:

"Yaya Toure, Kompany, Silva, Aguero, Nasri, Rodwell..."

"The players just read out are the starting lineup for tomorrow's game. There are others too: Balotelli, Kolarov, Milner, Shan..."

After Torrent finished reading the roster, the team disbanded, and the players could go back to rest and recharge for tomorrow's match.

Everyone else had left, but Shan Yongzhuo stood there, taking a deep breath.

"Is there anything else?" Torrent asked Shan Yongzhuo uneasily.

In fact, as Guardiola's trusted assistant coach, Torrent understood what Guardiola was thinking, but he was actually quite worried about this kind of confrontation.

Shan Yongzhuo gave Torrent a deep look and asked, "I want to know, where is Mr. Guardiola?"

"In his office."

"Thank you."

Upon receiving the news, Shan Yongzhuo rushed to his office.

Guardiola is studying tomorrow's match, and it seems he's working very well.

When Guardiola noticed Shan Yongzhuo walk in, he looked up at him and asked, "Shan, is there something you need?"

Shan Yongzhuo immediately explained his purpose: "Coach, I hope to start tomorrow."

Guardiola was not surprised to hear Shan Yongzhuo's words.

He said slowly, "Shan, I also hope you can play, but you know that your performance in training has not been very good, and there are still some problems with your coordination with others. To be honest, you need to integrate yourself into the tactics in order to adapt to the game."

Shan Yongzhuo gave Guardiola a deep look, said nothing more, and left.

Back home, Shan Yongzhuo was in a bad mood.

But there was also a sense of helplessness.

Guardiola is, after all, the head coach. If he disagrees with Guardiola, it seems reasonable that Guardiola will not let him play.

But he had reasons why he couldn't back down. After this incident, Shan Yongzhuo felt that perhaps it was time for him to leave Manchester City.

However, if he were to leave Manchester City, his only option would actually be Granada.

However, given the high cost, it seems somewhat unwise for him and Cross to foot the bill themselves.

"Hopefully, those guys in this world will perform better, and then we can use cash plus player trades?"

Shan Yongzhuo couldn't help but start thinking about the potential players he had recruited to Granada in the summer.

He has already made up his mind that, no matter what, this season will be his last at Manchester City.

Even if he goes to another top club, it's hard to guarantee that he'll have a coach like Mancini. In that case, tactical differences will inevitably arise.

If you want to play football the way you want and stay in the mainstream of European football, going to your own team Granada seems to be the best option.

……

The next day, the Etihad Stadium was packed with people early in the morning.

As the two-time Premier League champions, Manchester City is naturally the most watched team at the start of the new season. Moreover, their opponent is only newly promoted Southampton, which makes people even more optimistic that Manchester City will win at home and get off to a good start.

However, once the two teams took to the field, fans and media noticed a major problem.

Shan Yongzhuo, Manchester City's rising star in the last two years, is surprisingly on the bench.

Isn't this guy going to show up?

Even the Southampton players found it somewhat unbelievable, and then felt a sense of relief.

If Shan Yongzhuo were to play, they really didn't think they could defend against him.

However, not playing would undoubtedly be extremely advantageous for Southampton.

As a newly promoted team, Southampton didn't think they could beat the defending champions, but the absence of Shan Yongzhuo gave them a lot of confidence.

"If we play well, we might just pull off an upset!"

Southampton's players couldn't help but feel delighted, and then they displayed remarkable fighting spirit on the pitch.

On the other hand, Manchester City's performance can only be described as mediocre.

They controlled possession of the ball at a leisurely pace, implementing the possession-based philosophy instilled by Guardiola after his arrival.

However, Manchester City is not Barcelona.

The technical characteristics and playing habits of these players are not a good choice for possession-based football.

In midfield, Manchester City doesn't have an easy time controlling the game. They often make mistakes when passing the ball, allowing Southampton to launch good counter-attacks.

In the attacking third, Aguero was completely contained and rendered invisible.

Silva performed slightly better, posing some threat to Southampton through his combination of wing and central breakthroughs and his teamwork, but the threat was limited.

The Sky Sports commentator also expressed some disappointment, saying, "This Manchester City team looks a bit strange. They've lost the high-speed attack they had last season, they've lost Shan Yongzhuo drawing defenders away, and Aguero's performance has been very difficult..."

When one team performs poorly, it creates an opportunity for the other team.

In the 33rd minute of the match, Southampton crossed from the wing, and Lallana pounced on the ball in front of the goal to score, completing Southampton's goal.

“gooooooooooal!”

"0 to 1!"

"Lalana, Lalana!"

Southampton are leading away from home!

(End of this chapter)