Chapter 353: Guardiola's Success, 18-Year-Old Shines on the Field!

Chapter 353: Guardiola's Success, 18-Year-Old Shines on the Field!

"Half of Manchester City's starting lineup consists of substitutes, and there are even some unfamiliar names!" "Guardiola is really daring, making such extensive rotations!" "Do they really underestimate West Bromwich Albion that much?"

Upon seeing Manchester City's starting lineup, there was widespread speculation and disbelief. Many thought Guardiola was taking too big of a risk. After all, West Bromwich Albion was still a Premier League team, and fielding so many substitutes seemed disrespectful.

West Bromwich Albion's coach felt the same way. He shot an angry glance at Guardiola, clearly unhappy. Guardiola, however, appeared very calm, at least outwardly. He sat leisurely on the bench, chatting and laughing with his assistant coaches, showing no signs of concern about his starting lineup.

Torrent, a 52-year-old assistant coach sitting closest to Guardiola, asked with worry, "Are you sure this will work?"

Guardiola calmly replied, "If the tactics work, there won't be any problem."

Torrent, even more concerned, asked, "What if the tactics fail?"

Guardiola shook his head, "Don't worry, my friend, they won't fail."

As he said this, Guardiola's gaze fell on Lin Quan, who had just taken the field. With Lin Quan as his safety net, Guardiola felt confident.

Amidst the intense attention, the referee blew the whistle, and the match officially began. Fans and pundits alike watched with bated breath, eager to see how Guardiola's Manchester City differed from Pellegrini's.

After a short while, viewers noticed some unusual formations: "Why is Fernandinho playing in the defense?" "Is Manchester City using a 3-3-2-2 formation?" "Doesn't look like it, it seems more like a 3-4-2-1 during attacks!" "The midfield positioning is very strange; how many defensive midfielders does City have?" "Is it just me, or does it seem like Manchester City has more players on the field? They're everywhere, and always in numerical superiority!"

Ordinary fans were baffled by Manchester City's formation. The defenders didn't seem like defenders, the defensive midfielders didn't seem like defensive midfielders, and even the wingers were playing differently than expected.

In a corner of the stands, Chelsea's assistant coach Rui Faria, who had worked with Mourinho for 15 years, couldn't help but frown and mutter, "A flexible backline with wingers dropping back?"

He had observed closely: during defensive transitions, Fernandinho was positioned as a center-back. But during attacks, he pushed up into the midfield, increasing the number of players there and providing more passing options.

Guardiola had used this tactic before with Mascherano and Martinez at Barcelona and Bayern. Seeing Fernandinho's positional shift, Faria immediately thought of this strategy. But what was the point of combining it with wingers dropping back?

Unable to understand Guardiola's full intent, Faria and other scouts from various teams continued to observe closely.

When Fernandinho moved forward, Manchester City gained numerical superiority in midfield, creating several threatening attacks quickly. This made West Bromwich Albion's coach very cautious. He realized that they hadn't assigned anyone to mark Fernandinho.

In the pre-match preparations, who would think to assign a player to mark an opposing center-back? With no one marking him, Fernandinho became the initiator of Manchester City's attacks from the back.

Seeing Fernandinho push forward again into a midfield role, West Bromwich Albion's coach stood up abruptly and instructed his left midfielder to track and mark Fernandinho. This adjustment worked immediately, reducing the number of attacks initiated through Fernandinho.

"Ha! Is this what they call a world-class coach?" West Bromwich Albion's coach, seeing his adjustment work, felt proud and confident. He never really believed in the hype around big-name coaches, thinking they were just famous but not necessarily better than himself.

On Manchester City's bench, seeing the opposition adjust and limit Fernandinho, Guardiola didn't worry. In fact, he seemed even more relaxed, saying to Torrent, "Perfect!"

As Guardiola's words trailed off, the dynamics on the field changed. In the 9th minute, as West Bromwich's left midfielder moved inside to mark Fernandinho, Lin Quan dropped back into his own half.

Seeing Lin Quan drop deep, the Manchester City full-back immediately passed to him. With the left midfielder pulled inside, a huge gap opened up on the wing. Since Lin Quan was deep in his own half, this area was outside the opposing full-back's defensive zone. With no one marking him within ten meters, Lin Quan received the ball in acres of space.

For a player of Lin Quan's caliber, being given such space was a fatal mistake by the opponent. West Bromwich quickly paid the price. In the 11th minute, Lin Quan dribbled past several defenders down the wing and assisted Iheanacho, who scored to make it 1-0.

Guardiola couldn't contain his excitement, leaping from his seat to celebrate wildly. This was his debut match with Manchester City, and given the high level of attention and his risky decisions, Guardiola was under immense pressure. Fortunately, his tactics worked, and City scored first.

Seeing the goal, West Bromwich Albion's coach was stunned. How had his defense collapsed so suddenly? He scratched his head in confusion, unable to understand how his team had been broken down.

Meanwhile, in the stands, Faria felt a shock of realization.

His earlier confusion was resolved by this Manchester City attack. So, this was Guardiola's true masterstroke, combining these two tactics?

Faria couldn't help but think: If Chelsea faced Manchester City with these tactics, how could they stop them? With Fernandinho pushing forward, City had three midfielders. Just using forward players to mark them wouldn't be enough. Midfielders would need to join in.

But City had at least five players in the midfield and forward positions. If Chelsea allocated too many players to mark City's midfield, their own defense would lose its structure, reducing it to two defensive lines. This would leave a 20-30 meter gap between the lines.

If City exploited this space with a forward pass or a successful dribble, it would break Chelsea's defense and threaten their goal. And City had at least five players capable of such passes and several who could make those dribbles, especially Lin Quan, their number 10.

Lin Quan's one-on-one dribbling success rate was nearly 100%. No one had managed to stop him one-on-one so far. Thinking about this, Faria began to sweat. If he were coaching Chelsea, his chances of beating this Manchester City would be less than 10%.

Thankfully, he wasn't the head coach of Chelsea. This thought gave Faria some relief. But could Mourinho handle Guardiola's tactics? This thought brought back his worries.

On the pitch, after scoring, Iheanacho celebrated wildly. It was his first time playing for Manchester City's first team, and he scored in his debut. He had never imagined it would go this smoothly.

It was all thanks to the man on the sideline. So, after scoring, Iheanacho ran to Guardiola and gave him a big hug. "Thank you, boss. This is an amazing night. I'll never forget today!"

Guardiola was also pleased. He didn't expect such a successful debut for Iheanacho. "You earned it. Enjoy the night and the feeling of playing on the field!"

"I will, coach. Just watch!" Iheanacho felt incredibly motivated by Guardiola's encouragement.

On the field, Lin Quan and De Bruyne high-fived to celebrate, then stood in the center circle, watching Iheanacho and Guardiola celebrate on the sideline. Lin Quan was impressed by Iheanacho's speed, smart positioning, and calm finishing. No wonder he was called City's future star.

Seeing the 18-year-old Manchester City youngster score in his debut, the fans in the stands were delighted. Was City's youth academy finally bearing fruit?

"What's his name? He's fast!" "He's Kelechi Iheanacho. He was promoted to the U23s recently, and now he's playing for the first team!" "He's good. With some more training, he could be a regular rotation player." "Yes, we don't have many forwards. He'll get his chances!" "I've heard Guardiola is good at developing young players and giving them opportunities. Today proves it!"

The fans were pleasantly surprised. Initially, they were anxious about Guardiola's lineup. But seeing the young players perform so well made them feel that Guardiola was the right choice for Manchester City.

Some fans even began to dream about the future: "With Guardiola's reputation, many young talents will want to join City. Maybe someday, our youth academy will be as famous as La Masia!"

After celebrating with Guardiola, Iheanacho didn't forget to thank Lin Quan for the assist. Without Lin Quan's selfless pass, he wouldn't have had the chance to score.

The match continued. After the first goal, City's morale soared, and they launched a series of attacks. On the other hand, West Bromwich Albion's players were affected by the goal. Their coach instructed them to increase their marking and pressure on Lin Quan. They believed that by stopping Lin Quan, they could stop City's attacks.

But they were wrong. Just five minutes after the first goal, in the 16th minute, City scored again! This time, De Bruyne scored, and the goal was almost identical to the first one. The only difference was that the attack came from the left this time.

If the first goal was a fluke, the second left no excuses. Especially since Lin Quan, who was drawing defenders on the right, didn't participate in the attack.

West Bromwich Albion's coach broke into a cold sweat, feeling anxious and helpless. Two goals from the same tactic almost sealed the game, and he couldn't figure out the problem or how to counter it. He glanced fearfully at Guardiola on the City bench. This was the strength of a world-class coach.

(End of chapter)