Breath of The Interferer - Chapter 122
Only Noblemtl
#122 – Breath of the Interferer_Key – 1695579
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I have nineteen teams under me.
On March 30th, we met Tottenham at home. Kishin didn’t hesitate too much and put forward his starting lineup. The only difference was that there was no need to use Kim Si-woong to mark Eriksen. There is Sanches who can also contribute to the attack.
Black and Gray took charge of Harry Kane, while Sanches took charge of Eriksen. When Sanches was involved in an attack, Kim Si-woong took charge of Eriksen for a short time. Nice is better than Black in terms of man-to-man defense skills and concentration, but Black started instead of Nice due to his absolute lack of experience.
Grujic played as an attacking midfielder. Bonavich and Hector played as strikers. Hunter was hidden, following Mourinho’s first match against Manchester United this season, where he kept Lukaku. The aim is to force the opponent to make substitutions and tactical changes first by fielding a starting lineup that is unexpected to the opponent, thus gaining an advantage.
Notts County’s attacking power was not greatly affected as Grujic, who stands at 191cm tall, occasionally took Hunter’s role and took the lead. Instead, Bonavich and Hector took turns attacking the tall and slow central defenders.
Notts County came up with the same tactics as in the last game, but Tottenham had no alternative. The tactics centered on two players have been honed for a long time and are very effective. While Notts County is concentrating its efforts on restricting Tottenham’s two key players, other players have to step up. However, Cha Beom-soo protected Notts County’s defense well so that it would not be easily shaken.
Bonavichi and Hector scored two goals each to secure a comfortable win over Tottenham. Juan, who came on as a substitute in the second half, shook Tottenham’s defense with a sharp breakthrough, but missed two one-on-one opportunities with the keeper due to his lack of experience. However, he showed enough potential and created another counterattack point excluding Hunter.
Chelsea unexpectedly lost to Crystal Palace in the London derby. Notts County is first in the league with 71 points, while Chelsea is second with 69 points. Manchester City, who drew with Arsenal at home, is third with 67 points. Manchester City, who have played two games less, face Watford and Aston Villa, both at home. It is not a situation where they can let their guard down just because they are four points ahead.
In the 33rd round, Manchester City, Chelsea and Notts County all won. On the other hand, Arsenal lost 0:3 to Liverpool, widening the gap with Notts County to 10 points. Notts County came in first with 74 points, Chelsea came in second with 72 points, and Manchester City came in third with 70 points.
And in round 34, Notts County are at home to Manchester City. This is a six-point game. The winning team will not only get three points, but will also open up a six-point gap over their rivals.
For this match, Kishin didn’t sleep for three days straight. He watched videos of Manchester City’s recent matches and tried to identify their weaknesses. However, the conclusion he eventually reached was that the only way was to attack them with force. If it was possible to exploit their weaknesses, Manchester City would not have achieved the results they have now.
Likewise, Manchester City also had a headache when facing Notts County. It is not a team without weaknesses, but the starting lineup, formation, and tactics are different for each game. It was difficult to prepare because it was unknown what weaknesses they would show. Guardiola also concluded that the only way was to confront them with power.
Nice and Black were in charge of the central defense. Jeremy was completely powerless against Manchester City. He was broken through more frequently than Black and became a hole in the team. The right fullback was naturally Kim Si-woong and the left was Beno. Cha Bum-soo, Sanches, and Benjamin played as midfielders. Gray also did not show a good performance against Manchester City.
The attackers were Hunter, Hector, and Bonavich. This could be called Notts County’s strongest attack formation. Manchester City also used 4-3-3 to compete with Notts County’s 4-3-3. Stones, the key player in the English national team’s defense, played as a central defender with Otamendi, and Kyle Walker and Danilo played as full-backs on both sides.
Bernardo Silva, Kwon Do-an and De Bruyne formed the midfield three, while Sterling, Jesus and Sane were the attackers. As soon as the game started, Manchester City reversed the roles and took control of the game.
Considering defense, it would be better to play Renault than Hector. However, Kishin wanted to play Hector to create a sense of surprise. However, if you only look at the beginning of the game, Kishin’s intentions must be seen as a failure.
Perhaps because they trust Stones and Otamendi’s defensive ability, Manchester City did not deploy more defensive personnel for Hunter and Hector. Perhaps because they are confident that they can recover even if they concede a goal.
The most troublesome thing is the frequent change of positions in Manchester City. Moreover, Manchester City has two players, Zinchenko and Phil Foden, on the bench. Since Manchester City can show more tactical changes through personnel changes, Kishin could not even dream of making a change in a situation where he was being pushed back unilaterally.
De Bruyne, who used to play on the left, suddenly moved to the right. De Bruyne’s feet created a pass with such a reasonable trajectory and speed that it made you wonder if he had a biocomputer inside his body. I think that the pinnacle of Bonavich’s momentary observation is Bruyne’s observation ability, which is praised as ‘God’s vision’.
Sterling quickly penetrated between Kim Si-woong and Nice. Nice followed the pass and followed inside, but failed to block Sterling’s shot. Fortunately, Sterling is not a good shooter. Turner blocked Sterling’s shot with his body.
Jesus, who was marked by Black, shook off Black with a moment of acceleration and slid and shot the ball that came out. In a situation where offense and defense were tightly contested, the defense was destroyed by one unexpected pass. They were able to block Sterling’s shot, but they were unable to block Jesus, and so they conceded the first goal.
Nice approached Black, who was lying down in the grass, and smiled brightly. No words were exchanged, but Black felt greatly comforted.
“Nice, you take the final defense from behind. I’ll do what I usually do.”
At first, Black, who had relatively more experience, took the final defense, and Nice moved slightly ahead. It was a reasonable arrangement because Nice had a wide range of activities, but Black suggested that Nice change roles. He acknowledged that his concentration was lacking compared to Nice, and he thought of an alternative. Nice became the defender who stayed at the back, just like Jeremy usually did.
Nice became the final defender and Black took a position slightly ahead. Black’s nervousness and anxiety disappeared because he thought he had someone behind him to support him. Cha Beom-soo also moved back a little with Benjamin. Sansis ran hard left and right to help the defense on both sides.
Manchester City do not have a tall attacker who can dominate the game. Among the defenders, Stones is a good head coach, but Otamendi is short. So Kishin asked them to create many corners and free kicks when attacking.
However, neither the free kick nor the corner kick worked well. Kishin was deeply troubled while watching the game. The on-site command did not tell him what the problem was. He did not get much advice on tactical issues because he had little understanding of tactics. It seems that Notts County’s set-piece attack was figured out by Manchester City.
“Director, I figured out the problem.”
In the locker room, Hunter opened his mouth.
“We are giving up good positions to Man City. Their keeper is weak against low balls.”
In set-piece situations, the Manchester City players were already in a position to take a threatening shot at the Manchester City goalkeeper. What Notts County thought was a threatening attack was, for Ederson, an easy ball to defend.
‘Fuck, does that make sense?’
It was questionable whether it was possible for them to analyze what attacks were threatening to them and devise countermeasures that were close to perfect.
“The solution is simple. Just take away their preemptive position.”
Hunter is a genius. He came up with a very simple solution. Kishin chose players who could make Hunter’s solution a reality in his head. Gray is the only player that comes to mind. Nice is still inexperienced and could be too obvious. Then Man City might come up with another solution. I think the bald sorcerer from Spain could do it.
In the second half, Sanchez was replaced by Gray. Gray’s defensive position was exceptionally ahead of Cha Beom-soo and Benjamin. And Hunter’s solution shone in the attacking situation. Gray pushed Otamendi out and took a good position, then headed the ball into the Manchester City goal.
But there was no fun twice. Manchester City changed their defensive tactics. Kishin kept thinking about it but couldn’t figure out what it was. Hunter also seemed to have exhausted his genius in the first half and couldn’t come up with a solution to the new defensive tactics.
Cha Beom-soo, who intercepted Kwon Do-an’s pass, immediately passed it to Gray. Gray guarded the ball well and passed it to Benjamin. Benjamin attempted a rare long pass to Hunter. It was surprising since Benjamin always made safe short passes.
Hector, who received Hunter’s header, tried to break through Otamendi but failed. Hector was controlled by Otamendi throughout the game. Hector gave up on breaking through and passed to Bonavich. Bonavich dribbled for a moment and passed to Cha Beom-soo, who came out to support the attack. Cha Beom-soo passed the ball back to Hector.
Hector took the ball and headed out. Otamendi followed for a while and then passed the defense to Danilo. He judged it to be a tactic to drag him out as a central defender.
Hector easily beat Danilo and sent a quick, strong cross. Hunter let go of Stones’s tight grip on his jersey and leapt into the air. Hunter’s volley missed, but Stones’ hand still holding onto Hunter’s jersey caught the referee’s attention.
The Manchester City players, who were strongly against the penalty kick, received a yellow card for Otamendi as their representative. Hunter easily succeeded in the penalty kick he ‘created’. There is a two-match ban for falsely falling and inducing a penalty kick decision. However, this does not apply to Hunter’s case. He threw himself to volley the shot.
Kishin immediately took Hunter down and brought in Renault. He couldn’t have two players who didn’t participate in defense against Manchester City, who were obviously going to attack like crazy. He took out Hunter, who was not in good physical condition, and brought in Renault, who actively participated in defense.
Manchester City’s attack swept towards Notts County’s goal like a raging wave. Notts County’s dam was precarious but somehow held on. However, if things continued this way, it was obvious that it would collapse at some point. Kishin began to calculate the timing of bringing up Jeremy.
Before he could make up his mind, De Bruyne brought Turner to his knees with a free kick. Turner has a penalty, a free kick and a one-on-one defending rating of 10. Of Notts County’s 40 goals conceded this season, only four have come from direct free kicks.
Kishin abandoned the idea of bringing in Jeremy as the last substitution. He considered the right time to make a substitution between Juan and Grujic. Manchester City were not satisfied with the score of 2:2 and continued to attack, while Notts County defended more cautiously.
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