[Football] Bad Boy Batty

B Silva's reverse prank live broadcast was on Twitter's hot search for 3 days. During this period, Manchester City gained a lot of fans. Batistuta, B Silva, and Ederson also gained a lot of fans.

Compared to those two people, Batistuta's new fans don't look like normal people at all. From that day on, his comment section was filled with "wife" in many languages ​​and countless hearts.

Therefore, B席 was happy to receive the targeting from the Brazilian Rose.

In the next few days of training, the Portuguese midfielder made the most mistakes, and even his outstanding footwork made it difficult for him to cope with it, so Batistuta took this opportunity to let him have a taste of his loving knock on the head.

"So, don't mess with Batistuta, even if you are the one who is right." After B Silva was beaten by the whole team again, Aguero patted his shoulder and shook his head and sighed, "This kid holds a grudge very well."

Seat B: …

Soon it was September. Before the transfer window was completely closed, Manchester City signed Bilbao defender Aymeric Laporte at the last minute. Although this was completely overshadowed by Paris Saint-Germain's introduction of Mbappe at the same time, Manchester City now has a complete team and Guardiola is still satisfied with it.

It seems that because the new players have not yet fully adapted to the situation, Manchester City took longer to get into the game than other teams.

Of course, this doesn't mean they will lose.

在2-0击败布莱顿之后, 曼城又1-0小胜埃弗顿, 2-1战胜伯恩茅斯，前3轮比赛保持全胜领跑积分榜。这样他们的跨赛季不败纪录被延续到了13轮，而连胜记录则来到了6轮, 创下了近4个赛季以来的最好开局成绩。

However, three rounds of games are not enough for them to widen the gap with other Premier League teams, but they are enough to expose some problems.

For example, the battle between Kyle Walker and Batistuta on the right.

In the first game, Guardiola experimentally placed Batistuta in the attacking midfielder position. Although Batistuta himself did not comment and the head coach thought it was a good start, the fans did not think so.

In Guardiola's expectation, with the help of meticulous and delicate passing, this lineup can achieve the greatest balance between offense and defense. Batistuta, who moves to the attacking midfielder position, can provide an extra point for receiving the ball in the midfield. Whether it is horizontal conduction to destroy the opponent's defense line or deep conduction to expose the opponent's ribs, it can be perfectly achieved.

In addition, in the process of switching from offense to defense, although the wing may be exploited by the opponent, the wing backs on their back line can perfectly cover the space left by the wing backs, slowing down the opponent's progress and preventing them from launching a quick counterattack. At the same time, the rear-end center back can fill in the gaps at any time.

Some professional commentators saw through his intentions and publicly pointed out the hidden problems. Some of them were meaningless questions raised just to attract traffic, but there were also a few that they really needed to pay attention to.

For example, how many percent of the players' cooperation can reach the ideal level.

Guardiola missed a lot of things. For example, Otamendi, the left center back, could not meet his tactical requirements very well. He was thrown away by the opponent several times and had to rely on Kompany to help him complete the final defense. Laporte, who played in the same position, had the same problem after he came on as a substitute. He still needs to adapt.

A large part of the reason for the fans' condemnation comes from Batistuta.

Although he is trying to do the job that a frontcourt core should do, he is still in the process of adaptation. Being away from the goal and unfamiliar with this position still greatly reduces his threat level.

In the first three games, Manchester City scored a total of five goals, of which only one was scored by Batistuta, which was his scorpion kick with a little bit of luck.

For a striker like him, not scoring in more than 2 games means there is a problem.

Just as Guardiola was thinking about a solution, the media stepped in and made this already difficult task even more difficult and more dramatic.

It all started with an open training session.

Let’s review –

Before the away game against Bournemouth, Manchester City opened its training base and allowed some fans and media to visit their daily training on the sidelines. Of course, confidential content would not be disclosed to them.

"I think we can break a record this new season, and maybe even remain undefeated this season."

After the second round of group play, Batistuta, Aguero and De Bruyne got together to chat. Obviously, he didn't react much to the fact that he only scored one goal in the first three rounds.

In his opinion, he has not yet fully exerted his strength. Alandes is right that his muscles have not yet recovered to their best condition. Moreover, he is doing well in the attacking midfielder position, with more opportunities for him to complete the "Brazilian style" fancy dribbling. At the same time, the path to scoring is not completely blocked. He is in a very good state of mind now, similar to the confidence from the inside out when he played against Bayern last season.

"What is the longest unbeaten streak in the Premier League?" Batty asked.

"49 games," De Bruyne replied. He took a sip of water and then handed the bottle to Batistuta. "I checked. It's Arsenal's record."

"Yes, from May 03 to October 5," Aguero added, intercepting the bottle of water being handed to Batistuta. "That's a long record, spanning three seasons."

49 games unbeaten, that does sound impressive.

"So what? Don't you think we can break this record?" Batty pulled down his high-tech vest. "We are in good form this season, and our defense is much more stable. It will be no problem for us to go 4 games unbeaten over four seasons."

Aguero showed an expression of disbelief.

"How much do you trust your national team teammate Ederson? It's good enough that he doesn't lose too many goals." He said, "In addition to the defense, the forwards will also get tired. Baby, you and I are not robots. It's impossible for us to score goals in every game."

"I can." Batistuta raised his chin, then put his hands on his hips, "Who won the Premier League Golden Boot last season? Do you want me to remind you, Kun, 33 goals in a single season, do you still think it's impossible?"

De Bruyne put his hand on Batistuta's shoulder.

"I believe in you, you can do it." He ruffled Batistuta's hair, "But don't forget, this season we have to face not only the Premier League, but also the Champions League, FA Cup, and UEFA Cup. If you want to win all the championships, you must make choices."

Batty agreed with him but still felt they could remain undefeated.

At this moment, he raised his right arm and moved his shoulder. Kyle Walker, who was joking with Stones, didn't pay attention and bumped into him.

Batistuta was knocked forward by him, but fortunately De Bruyne was quick to catch him.

"Hey! Watch out, or else Batistuta might hit you on the head!" Aguero joked to the two men. Their group had just lost the circle-grabbing training and everyone lined up to hit them on the head. Kyle Walker also complained a few times that Batistuta looked skinny but had quite a strong hand.

Kyle Walker touched his hair and gave Battie an apologetic smile.

Batty said nothing and waved him back.

It was such a simple incident that happened almost every day on the training ground, but was caught by a reporter on the sidelines and reported extensively.

[Manchester City's right wing is not getting along? New signing Walker is dissatisfied with Batistuta's status and secretly attacks him during training]

Of course, this is also thanks to the photo he took.

In the photo, Kyle Walker is standing sideways, his expression cannot be seen clearly, but he seems to be saying something to Batistuta, while Batistuta is supported by De Bruyne and looks aggrieved. (The instantaneous capture captured a rare visual error)

This totally adds to the credibility of the story.

So much so that when the report came out Guardiola was stunned for a moment. He thought, is Batistuta expressing his dissatisfaction with tactics in this way?
In order to prevent the "conflict" from continuing, the head coach quickly called Batty and Kyle Walker to the office.

"Look." He threw the newspaper at the two of them, and then said in the gentlest tone, "Want to explain?"

Batty blinked as he looked at the newspaper with the headline "Internal Conflict?" and the accompanying picture below which he had no memory of.

Who is that guy leaning on the Belgian midfielder's arms?

Is it him? Why doesn't he remember such a time?
Kyle Walker also made the same expression as Nick Young, and it was obvious that he also had no memory of what was in the photo.

"They said you two had a conflict." Guardiola crossed his hands on the table. "I was on the other side of the training that day and didn't see what happened. Tell me again now. It's okay if there is a problem. We can solve it."

Batty: ?
Kyle Walker: ?
The two looked at each other briefly and saw the same confusion in each other's eyes.

They have a conflict? How come they, as the parties involved, don't know about this?

……

After finally explaining everything to Guardiola, Batistuta and Kyle Walker came to the corridor. Neither of them was in the mood to return to training immediately, so they went to the lounge to play billiards.

"Honestly, Barty, do you really have no problem with me? I mean, after all, the right side was completely yours last season." Walker aimed the cue ball and hit a beautiful straight ball. The red No. 8 billiard ball went into the hole. "And I heard them say that you complained about me being faster than you."

Batty stopped playing, crossed his arms, raised his eyebrows and looked over.

"You mean to say that you actually believed what was said in the newspaper?" he said. "I always thought you were quite smart, but it seems I was wrong."

"No, I didn't believe the newspaper story," Walker shrugged. "I was telling you my own thoughts, which were a few days earlier than what was reported in the newspaper."

"It was my own decision to leave the right side. What does it have to do with you? Even if I didn't play well, Pep should be blamed." Batistuta rolled his eyes at the ceiling and said, "And who said you are faster than me? Only Sane is slightly faster than me in the entire club. Where did you hear this news?"

"I looked at the results from the last speed test, and I'm faster than both of you. This is science, not nonsense."

"Nonsense, that's impossible." Batty sneered.

Upon hearing this, Kyle Walker became interested.

"How about we have a competition?" He put down his club and said excitedly, "Let's have a 100-meter race to see who is faster."

Batty looked at him, trying to find any trace of joking on his face.

"Are you serious?" he asked. "You really want to compete with me to see who is faster?"

Kyle Walker nodded.

"Why not?" He put down his club and went over to hook Barty's neck. "I said the score sheet shows that I'm faster than you, but you don't believe it. Then I can only test it on the spot to let you know that I'm not lying."

"Okay, come on." Batty patted his hand on his shoulder, "Call everyone to come and see. Then you won't be able to deny it even if you want to."

They did it right away. They came to the training ground, put on high-tech monitoring vests, and then found an assistant coach to time them to see who could run the 100 meters faster.

"Bet placed! Bet placed! Friends! Come and see!" Aguero cheered with a loudspeaker, and soon gathered everyone around the track, then called the official photographer next to him to record this precious moment, "Bati or Walker! Who has the higher speed!"

Stones, who was doing strength training indoors, paused and rushed over.

He looked at the two people warming up on the runway with a complicated expression, thinking of what he heard in the bathroom of the Welsh airport last season, and countless possible bloody plots flashed through his mind.

Kyle Walker is his good friend, and he just broke up with his girlfriend a few months ago and has just recovered from it. He doesn't want the other party to fall into an emotional whirlpool.

Batistuta is also his friend. They came to Manchester City together. He comforted him after the Champions League final last season, which made their relationship closer, but he could never forget the incident in the bathroom.

As for De Bruyne.

Well, okay, the Belgian midfielder sounded scary to him, even if the pressure was a bit too much, but as long as there was a mistake on the field, the opponent would be very angry and would point out the mistake without hesitation. To be honest, it was quite embarrassing, after all, there were opponents on the field.

Just as Stones was daydreaming, the competition between Batty and Walker officially began.

"Ready? - Run!"

With the cheers around him, Stones temporarily put aside those inexplicable emotions and followed others towards the finish line.

……

"Tell me, who was faster?" After reaching the finish line, Batty looked at his assistant, panting, "I must have surpassed him just now."

"Nonsense, I'm obviously half a body length faster than you." Kyle Walker retorted, grabbing his collar, "Why are you so stubborn? When someone finds your coffin hundreds of years later, everything else will be gone, and only your mouth will be left."

Batty rolled his eyes at him.

During the running just now, he did feel that Walker next to him was a little faster than him.

But the words have been spoken, and it is impossible to make him admit defeat at this time.

"I'm not kidding. We were almost parallel just now." He looked at the assistant coach and the stopwatch in his hand, "Tell me, who was faster?"

The assistant coach looked at Battie, then at Kyle Walker, then cleared his throat.

"In fact -" he drawled out the last word, "you are just as fast."

Batty: ?
Walker:!
"How is this possible!" Walker looked over in disbelief, "I was clearly half a body length faster than him. I saw it clearly!"

The teaching assistant shrugged.

"This is just one test. The result depends on many factors and cannot fully explain the problem." He said, "If you really want to rank them, we can use a professional method to test them in groups and times, and then take the average value."

That's not necessary.

During the game, the technical department will count their speed on the field, and then unify these data to get the final result after the season ends.

Kyle Walker looked at Batty and took the lead in extending his hand of peace. "You are pretty fast," he said. "I was wrong just now. You are not slower than me."

Batty reached out and shook it without hesitation.

"You're good too."

Looking at the two people living in peace over there, the assistant teacher curled up a mysterious smile, and then quietly reset the number on the timer in his hand to zero. Obviously, the two numbers were not exactly the same.

He lied.

but--

Look, the result is perfect.

(End of this chapter)