In the 16th round of the Premier League, penalties are an unavoidable topic. Leaders Manchester City beat Wolves 1-0 with Sterling's penalty shoot, followed by Chelsea's 3-2 win over Leeds United to produce three penalties, and Liverpool met With Villa led by Gerrard, also with a penalty. And when it comes to penalties, how to get less Manchester United, this morning's away match with Norwich, C Ronaldo made points + penalty to lead the team to a small victory of 1-0.
Of course, for Manchester City, this penalty not only brought himself a valuable 3 points, thus continuing to push Liverpool and Chelsea to lead the Premier League table, but also achieved Sterling's Premier League 100-goal milestone. The British general is also the third person to achieve this achievement this season, after Salah and Mane. But looking at this game alone, Manchester City played extremely hard, playing Wolves with one less man in more than half of the game time, and using tenacious defense to make the leader almost collapse his teeth.
In mid-week, City ended a seven-game winning streak in all competitions with a 2-1 defeat to RB Leipzig in the final match of the Champions League group stage, and Kyle Walker was also sent off with a red card in the match and is expected to miss two legs of the knockout stage. In this game against Wolves, Guardiola rotated eight people in one go, and Kyle Walker was pressed on the bench. Sterling, Jesus and Glaris fired three shots. Wolves were eliminated by Liverpool in stoppage time in the last round of the Premier League, but their tenacious defence was still very impressive. Conceding only 13 goals in 15 games is second only to third-class teams.
After the opening, Manchester City took control of the initiative on the field and launched wave after wave of attacks against Wolves, but the visiting team set up a tight position, making it difficult for Manchester City's short pass penetration to hit the box. The likes of Sterling, Jesus, and Glallish were all repeatedly frustrated. Almost helpless. In this case, Wolves center Jimenez did not seem to be able to look down, in the first half of injury time, he first received a yellow card for a tackle foul, and then blocked Rodri from opening a free kick to receive another yellow card, two yellows and one red was sent off. This divine maneuver stunned the coaches and fans on the sidelines.
With one more man, City's attack was even more brazen, with 93% of the ball at one point, but it wasn't until the 66th minute that Bernardo Silva's cross from the right created a handball foul in Moutinho's penalty area, City received a valuable penalty, and Sterling finally broke the deadlock on the field. De Bruyne also came out to replace Glallish, but City did not extend the score, but instead was played by Wolves before the end of the game with two very threatening counter-attacks, but Ederson was very focused on saving the goal, and Manchester City finally won 1-0.
In this campaign, City had 71% possession of the ball, creating a total of 24 shooting opportunities, 10 of which hit the target, and the corner was also far ahead of the corner, but only scored one goal in the end. Wolves' three centre-backs have combined to deliver 17 clearances and eight interceptions, plus goalkeeper José Sa's eight successful saves, and it is reasonable that Guardiola's team has failed to return again and again.
This game is also expected to allow Guardiola to re-evaluate the quality of his team's attack, since last season, Manchester City has tasted the sweetness in the frontless tactics, not only winning the Premier League title but also reaching the final of the Champions League. However, this frontless team is not too good against the heavily defended middle and lower Premier League teams, after Manchester City had lost 2-0 at home to Crystal Palace, managed by Vieira, and was also beaten 0-1 by Tottenham Hotspur in the first round of the Premier League. Opponents, without exception, are players with excellent speed. And if this game is not Jimenez's suicide red, it is estimated that it will be enough for Manchester City to drink a pot.
Therefore, a strong center forward who can act as a siege hammer at key moments should become a necessary configuration for Manchester City's forward line, and the latest data shows that as of the end of this round, Manchester City topped the list with 378 crosses, but the number of direct goals they scored through crosses was not much, and if there were centers of Kane, Lukaku and even Vlahović in the penalty area, Manchester City would not let so many crosses be wasted.