Green Field Eunuch

Chapter 405 Damn it, I missed it
No one cared about Podolski's inner thoughts; the Arsenal players only knew they were behind.

When the game restarted, they became more aggressive, trying their best to compete with Manchester City and turn the tide.

However, Arsenal's midfield strength is indeed somewhat lacking. Real Madrid was able to suppress Manchester City because of their strong midfield, something Arsenal cannot do.

Although they were able to launch one or two decent counter-attacks by capitalizing on Manchester City's mistakes, it did not fundamentally change the overall situation.

Manchester City continued to dominate Arsenal with their increasingly sophisticated passing and possession system, much to the satisfaction of Guardiola on the sidelines.

The team is moving in the direction he envisioned. As long as they continue to work together, they will definitely mature and then the team will no longer rely on the performance of any one player, but will be able to achieve victory after victory through the overall performance of the team.

And the rest of the match did indeed proceed as Guardiola had envisioned.

In the 30th minute, Manchester City made a series of passes, and finally Nasri crossed from the wing. Although the ball was cleared, Yaya Toure got the ball outside the box and took a long shot. The ball deflected off Koscielny and went into the goal.

"The ball is in!"

"2 to 0!"

"This time it's Yaya Touré!"

"In the 30th minute of the first half, Manchester City took a 2-0 lead, a score that was very favorable for them!"

The commentator shouted excitedly, and Yaya Toure was also very excited after scoring, running wildly on the field to celebrate.

Arsenal, on the other hand, were even more frustrated.

Wenger on the sidelines shook his head. He had prepared for a defensive counter-attacking game and thought he was well-prepared, but the result was the same as the previous two seasons. He was helpless against Manchester City.

"what can we do about it?"

Wenger couldn't find a solution.

Arsenal, having conceded two goals, soon suffered a third blow.

Five minutes later, Manchester City scored again.

This time it was Shan Yongzhuo.

Upon seeing Aguero pass the ball over, Shan Yongzhuo immediately activated his light-footed water-walking technique and whirlwind ground kick.

Although using two skills at once is wasteful, there's no other way; Mertesacker is really troublesome, and using only one skill would be too risky.

With the boost from the two skills, Shan Yongzhuo received the ball, then easily shook off Mertesacker, entered the penalty area, and then easily shook off Koscielny, making it impossible for the opponent to even commit a foul.

Finally, facing the onrushing goalkeeper, Shan Yongzhuo calmly fired a low shot.

3 is better than 0!

Manchester City scored their third goal in the 35th minute of the first half.

"3-0, Manchester City are on fire, Arsenal are no match for them, I would even say the game is over."

The commentator on site immediately gave the verdict on the match.

Many media outlets and fans at the scene shared the same sentiment; for the entire 35 minutes, the game was completely one-sided, and Arsenal didn't create any good opportunities at all.

When the score became 3-0, Arsenal's players seemed to have suffered a huge blow.

Football matches are always a contest of strategy and a psychological battle. When Arsenal fell behind by three goals in just 35 minutes, their players either became more motivated or became even more dejected.

Arsenal are not Liverpool; they clearly belong to the latter.

So they soon encountered another blow.

In the 42nd minute of the match, Silva's cross was misjudged by Mertesacker in the penalty area, allowing Shan Yongzhuo to head the ball and score without any suspense.

"4 to 0!"

"The game turned into a massacre!"

"It was Shan Yongzhuo again. He scored a hat-trick in the first half. Arsenal's defense was like paper in front of him."

"This time, it was a header challenge that Shan Yongzhuo wasn't good at, but Mertesacker actually missed the header!" "The game is completely over!"

"..."

As the commentator shouted excitedly, Al-Ittihad erupted into a frenzy, with everyone chanting Shan Yongzhuo's name.

Guardiola, standing on the sidelines, was also quite emotional. Even the stubborn Guardiola had to admit that he had underestimated Shan Yongzhuo.

This guy is terrifying; he's practically omnipotent.

He only occupies a small portion of the ball and is almost invisible on the field, but he is always the one who scores goals. Moreover, many times, he can turn seemingly unopportunistic balls into goals.

"Perhaps Mancini is right..."

"He should be allowed to unleash his full potential to maximize his power!"

Guardiola began to doubt whether his initial ideas were correct; two consecutive hat-tricks had a significant impact on him.

However, he only doubted it for a moment before dismissing the thought.

"No, no player is special!"

"This kind of playing style will definitely be eliminated as football evolves!"

"The future of football will definitely not be decided by a single player!"

Ultimately, Guardiola stubbornly stuck to his own ideas. Of course, he had no choice but to stick to them because he knew that Shan Yongzhuo might leave Manchester City soon.

Whether you persevere or not is not that important anymore.

For Guardiola, developing this Manchester City team is the most important thing.

Therefore, during halftime, after the team returned to the locker room, Guardiola hesitated for a moment before making a substitution.

"Shan, you can rest for the second half."

After scoring three goals, Shan Yongzhuo was substituted off the field, and new signing Dzeko replaced Shan Yongzhuo as the team's lone striker.

Guardiola's idea was simple: he could use Shan Yongzhuo to win games, but developing the team was more important. Therefore, he had no choice but to sacrifice Shan Yongzhuo, who was bound to leave.

Shan Yongzhuo didn't have many thoughts about the substitution. Although he was dissatisfied, he could only accept it helplessly.

Anyway, I've used up most of my skills. Even if I play the whole game, it'll only mean one or two more goals, which is no big deal.

However, this only strengthened his resolve to leave.

Soon, the second half of the game began.

From the outset, Arsenal showed Manchester City their determination. The departure of Shan Yongzhuo gave them a lot of confidence, and they played very aggressively, even suppressing Manchester City for a time.

In the 52nd minute of the match, Arsenal also pulled one back.

Podolski received a pass from Gervinho inside the penalty area, turned and dribbled past Kompany before shooting to pull one back for Arsenal.

However, Manchester City quickly recovered and firmly took control of the game.

Ultimately, neither team managed to score again.

Manchester City secured a 4-1 victory over Arsenal at home, thanks to a hat-trick from Shan Yongzhuo and a goal from Yaya Toure.

The entire Arsenal team was disappointed, but Podolski was the most disappointed.

Podolski's disappointment wasn't due to the loss in the match, but because Shan Yongzhuo left immediately after the match ended, leaving him no chance to communicate with Shan Yongzhuo.

"Damn it, I missed it!"

Should I follow him on Weibo? Would that seem too abrupt?

"Forget it, let's study his shooting videos first, and I'll ask him about it during the next match!"

(End of this chapter)