Messi was so scared that he cried when he maxed out his header talent at the start of the game

Chapter 477

The League Cup was eliminated early, the FA Cup will start in early January next year, the Champions League round of 16 will be at the end of February next year, and the European preliminaries will be at the end of March next year.

For Su Fei and his Manchester City teammates.

The rest of December ushered in a long-lost "free time", and they only need to deal with the league schedule.

The first half of the 2006-07 season is about to end.

Manchester City still has four teams that have not played against each other in the new season, namely Watford, Tottenham, and Chelsea.

And Aston Villa, which was supposed to play in the eighth round of the Premier League but was postponed due to special circumstances.

..................................................

On December 9, Manchester City visited Birmingham Villa Park to challenge the Lions.

Aston Villa finished 16th in the league last season, which was the worst record since the young and promising David O'Leary took office.

Barely relegated and almost returned to the Championship.

And this summer.

David O'Leary, who wanted to become the best young coach in Europe, terminated the cooperation with the team after discussion.

The Lions welcomed a new head coach, Martin O'Neill, a famous Scottish Premier League coach from Northern Ireland.

Wearing black glasses, the gentle Martin O'Neill has a beautiful coaching resume.

In 2001, he took charge of the Scottish Premier League giants Celtic. In the first year, he helped Celtic win the Scottish Premier League, Soviet Cup, and Soviet Football Association triple crown, breaking Glasgow Rangers' previous monopoly of 13 consecutive Scottish Premier League titles!

And successively helped Celtic win the Scottish Premier League championship in 2002 and 2004, and the Soviet Football Association championship in 2004 and 2005.

The new official took office with three fires.

This summer, Martin O'Neill carried out drastic reforms on Aston Villa, actively promoted young players, and built an iron-blooded defense system, which revitalized this team that ranked last in the Premier League last season.

Since the start of the season, Aston Villa has also swept away the decline in performance and steadily improved. It is currently ranked 12th in the Premier League.

In the matches with Arsenal, Chelsea, Tottenham and other strong teams, they all shook hands and made peace with a score of 1:1.

Being able to score goals against the giants and defend against the attacks of the giants, this is the current state of Aston Villa.

......

Originally, in this game, Stewart still had inertial thinking and made a rotation of the main players, leaving Su Fei, Modric and Cannavaro on the bench to rest.

As a result, the game had just started for less than 10 minutes.

Aston Villa relied on a wave of rapid conversions between players to counterattack.

Ashley Young, the forward who transferred from the Hornets Watford, shot a point in the penalty area and opened the door of Manchester City first.

Manchester City fell behind 0:1!

Ashley Young slid on his knees to celebrate at Villa Park, roaring to celebrate and venting his emotions. In the FA Cup last season, he sat on the bench of Watford and watched the team being slaughtered 8-0 by Manchester City.

This goal was like revenge for him.

Although the team fell behind, Stewart had not yet realized the crisis and continued the offensive and defensive strategy prepared before the game.

......

In the 34th minute of the game, Manchester City's frontcourt offensive was once again disrupted by Villa's coordinated defense. The ball was exchanged, and the Villa defender sent a long pass from the backcourt.

Ashley Young was like taking drugs today, and he couldn't be stopped at all. He burst on the wing, changed his line and cut into the penalty area, and shot from the near corner, scoring twice.

Manchester City fell behind 0:2!

This time, Stewart was really panicked, and quickly replaced Cannavaro to guard the team's defense.

The crisis of Manchester City's defense was temporarily resolved, but the offense was slow to open up the situation.

At the end of the first half, Manchester City players followed Stewart, who looked serious, back to the locker room with a two-goal deficit.

......

Half-time.

Stewart changed his pre-match relaxation and nervously explained the adjustment strategy for the second half to the players, and was determined to replace Su Fei and Modric.

"Su! Come on with another hat trick and lead the team to a reversal. The boss will never be reckless again."

On the way back to the stadium from the locker room, Stewart whispered in Su Fei's ear with his mouth covered.

Su Fei held Stewart's shoulder firmly.

"Don't worry, boss, leave it to me!"

......

Manchester City, which replaced two main players in the second half, did have a significant improvement in both offense and defense.

However, Villa, who had a two-goal lead, changed the more radical transition of the first half and the full counterattack style.Ge, directly became a turtle.

Manchester City has played turtles before.

But when they were 0:2 behind, it was really painful to encounter opponents parking the bus in front of the goal.

Su Fei had tried his best to exert his ability, cooperate with his teammates' offense, and stir up Aston Villa's penalty area.

But Villa's defense, which was trained by Northern Irishman Martin O'Neill, was too good.

Especially against Manchester City's two wings flying together and the defense of the side passes, the effect was excellent.

For a time, Su Fei fell into an embarrassing situation where he could not receive the pass from his teammates.

Even Stewart had to admit it.

There is a reason why Villa can draw with Arsenal, Chelsea and Tottenham this season.

......

So.

When the whistle sounded at the end of the game.

Manchester City players had to accept the fact that the team lost to Aston Villa 0:2.

The 42,788 Lions fans at Villa Park went crazy, and the cheers they burst out almost overturned the cameras on the sidelines.

We not only won.

The team that won was Manchester City, a new Premier League giant? It was a 2:0 shutout victory!

The Premier League media present were also very excited.

Because this game will be the biggest upset since the start of the new season!

Manchester City, which is currently ranked first in the Premier League and advanced to the knockout stage with 5 wins and 1 draw in the Champions League group stage, is invincible.

Lost to a team that ranked 12th in the Premier League and barely avoided relegation last season.

Wait.

Why does this scene seem to have been seen before?

Wasn't it the plot that Manchester City overturned Arsenal, Manchester United, Liverpool, Chelsea and other giants last season!

The moment when the boomerang came to Manchester City's head finally came.

When you are not favored by others, defeating a strong enemy will win you flowers and applause.

When you become the favored party, losing the game means accusations and doubts.

......

The post-match press conference turned into a torture session for Stewart by the Premier League media.

To be honest.

The old man has never experienced this scene.

Since he was appointed in the summer of last season, Manchester City has always been the underdog, and has only lost one game.

Since the start of this season, they have tied and fallen behind, but have not lost.

And Stewart's operation of putting Su Fei and Modric on the bench in the first half naturally became the point of attack for him by the media.

"Mr. Stewart, do you underestimate the opponent in this game?"

How to answer this question?

I can't answer it!

Stewart rolled his eyes and did not answer the question directly, but made a promise to Manchester City fans through the microphone.

"Villa's performance today was obviously better than ours. Unfortunately, we lost the game."

"But please rest assured, all the fans who support Manchester City."

"In the next game, we will actively prepare for it and give everyone a very beautiful victory!"

After setting the flag, Stewart hurriedly left the scene.

On the way back.

Then I remembered the opponent in the next game.

It seems that the lineup has been run-in, and the Champions League group stage has surpassed Barcelona to advance to the first place in the group...

Chelsea? !!!

This...

.........................................................