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Guardiola may have found the central defender partner that legendary captain Kompany has been looking for since he left.
Manchester City beat Olympiacos 3-0 midweek, which was Guardiola’s team’s third consecutive game without conceding a goal.
You have to go back more than a year, with a total of 55 games, to know when was the last time they achieved that result. Going back 24 games to January 2019, this is the last time Manchester City have not conceded a goal in four consecutive games.
So Liverpool’s arrival at the Etihad Stadium is really a big deal!
Since the embarrassing 2-5 home loss to Leicester City on September 27, Manchester City have played 7 games without losing and only conceded 3 goals. The only goal in the minute.
This success is due in large part to the rise of Laporte and Diaz, the central defender’s partner.
Manchester City only conceded one goal when they were both on the pitch at the same time, but this weekend they will face their biggest test yet. They will face the Liverpool forward. His offensive talent is so great that Ruo Ta can’t possibly do it. He started, despite the Portuguese notching a hat-trick in a 5-0 midweek win over Atlanta.
Guardiola insisted that at least six clubs can compete for the championship this season, while Manchester City and Liverpool remain the top two in England.
However, their relative advantage has almost been reversed since they last met in July when Manchester City easily won 4-0, shattering Jurgen Klopp’s hopes of breaking the Premier League points record. .
At the time, Manchester City’s offense was the strongest in England, scoring over 100 goals in a single season for the second time in three years, and became the league’s highest-scoring team for the third season in a row.
At the same time, Liverpool had the strongest defense for the second consecutive season, built under the leadership of Virgil van Dijk, and the Red Army won the Premier League championship for the first time in 30 years.
But injuries and newly signed players turned everything upside down.
The cruciate ligament injury in his knee has caused Van Dijk to miss most of this season’s games even without reimbursement. Liverpool have conceded 15 goals, only West Brom (16) and Leeds United (17) have more than them.
However, at the other end of the stadium, only Tottenham Hotspur and Chelsea scored more goals than the Reds, who scored 17 goals in seven games.
On the other hand, Manchester City had only scored 9 goals in the first six games, the worst record since the Mancini era, but their defense was second in the Premier League and only lost 8 balls.
In most of the games thus far, Guardiola has lost double stars forward Sergio Agüero and Gabriel Jesus. His attention has focused on the first of the results, which means Guardiola’s mandate. The iconic attack power is no more.
It took 18 months to find a candidate to replace outgoing captain Kompany, eventually ending with the signing of Portuguese international Diaz from Benfica for 62 million pounds. A strong, intelligent and natural leader, the 23-year-old quickly calmed down.
In key games last season, Manchester City fell into depression, especially when Laporte was absent. Laporte was out for 6 months due to a knee injury. Now playing for the Stones, Garcia and Otamendi look frail and lacking confidence under pressure, but Diaz has given the defense prestige.
In a 1-0 win over Sheffield United last weekend, Sheffield United created a golden opportunity when Joao Cancelo did not perform well in a showdown, but John Lundstrom failed. Kick the ball.
Portuguese teammate Diaz told Cancelo without hesitation that his defense was not good enough, and Manchester City finally secured a narrow victory.
Along with him, Laporte is one of the best defenders since he entered the Premier League from Athletic Bilbao in January 2018. In fact, under Guardiola’s leadership, Manchester City’s defense remained very stable during the season of the championship.
In the 100-point season, he had the best defense and only conceded one more goal than Liverpool the following year, so when Kompany’s departure left a huge gap, Dias’s arrival meant Manchester City reorganized a new one. fierce and powerful defensive combination.
“These guys give us stability,” Guardiola said: “Last season we were fighting without two centrals. Of course, due to the number of games, we need all of them. It is impossible to take care of every game.”
In a tight schedule, Guardiola wants them to stay alive in their biggest game, so it’s no wonder to see them take turns in victory over Olympiacos.
But now, they have the responsibility to pass the final test.
If Liverpool can be resisted, Diaz and Laporte, the rapidly developing defensive partner, will be truly exciting.
