Results Leeds vs Man City round 4 of the 2020/2021 Premier League

Final: Leeds 1-1 Man City
Scored: Rodrigo (59) – Sterling (17)

In the previous round, Man City lost to Leicester 2-5 at Etihad’s home field. It was one of the most embarrassing failures of Pep Guardiola’s glorious career. In fact, the recent bug has shown that the Man City machine has many problems.

In terms of strength, they missed at least 6 “Class A” players due to injury or infection with Covid-19. At the beginning of the season, the Green Man had to fall into an “orphan” position. Sergio Agüero will not be able to return until the end of October. Gabriel Jesús also recently joined the list of wounded soldiers.

Also, the gameplay of Man City hasn’t improved much. Until now, the Green Man has always had an inherent problem when he has to find opponents who play defense to counter based on a deep, multi-layered defense system.

Since last season, this problem appeared after defeats against Lyon (in the Champions League), Wolves, Norwich … But in the end, Guardiola has found no solution. Yet Man City, with a courage forged over the years, has had a habit of picking themselves up quickly after every failure in the Premier League.

For example, after a 2-3 loss to Norwich on September 14, 2019, Man City crushed Watford 8-0 in the next round. After a 0-2 loss to the Wolves on October 6, 2019, they had a 2-0 victory over Crystal Palace. In total, in the 2019/20 season, after … 9 losses in the Premier League, Man City always won in the next round.

Furthermore, Leeds – the rookie who made a big mark from the start of the 2020/21 Premier League (almost dominating Liverpool at Anfield) – did not follow the style of defensive football – a pragmatic counter-attack but they owned the way. playing modern pressing that is not “difficult” with Man City.

Another good sign for Manchester City is that Sterling is gradually adjusting to the role of number 9. In last week’s League Cup match against Burnley, Sterling played very well with 2 goals and 1 assists. Green Man 3-0 victory.

Against the background of understaffing and a formidable rival Leeds, Sterling continued to plow. Support for Sterling remains De Bruyne, Mahrez and Foden like the 2-5 loss to Leicester another week ago Ferran Torres, a rookie this season, but he hasn’t been used much.

However, the biggest change is in defense when the most expensive defender in Manchester City history just arrived at Etihad a few days ago, Ruben Dias soon had a new team debut. The midfielder, worth more than 64 million pounds, plays in the right position, paired with Laporte.

Man City came in well and beat the local team. 5 minutes from the left wing and quite far from the goal, Kevin De Bruyen decided to shoot straight into Leeds’ goal when he noticed that goalkeeper Meslier was too subjective in choosing position. Fortunately for the home team, the ball hit the post instead of entering the net.

In the 12th minute, in a corner, rookie Ruben Dias came close to scoring a goal for new club Man City when the header narrowly missed the post. Minutes later, Leeds had their first intimidation in the game. Alioski headed the crossbar after a cross from Helder Costa.

However, only until minute 16, the first goal came for the strongest team. The Man City players continually pressed, which made the Leeds defenders pitiful. As a result, Sterling received the ball from Torres, brave enough to bring the ball to the center from the left flank, knocked out two opposing players and then fell to the far corner, defeating goalkeeper Meslier.

The last goal was Sterling’s 11th goal after the last 12 Premier League games, too good a performance for a player who doesn’t have a solid midfield. Having the advantage of leading the hand, Man City overwhelms and overwhelms the home team.

At the end of the first half, the ball was rolling almost exclusively down the Leeds side of the field and the visitors pressed, but the Green Man could not create a more dangerous ball, let alone transform into a table. win.

In the 37th minute, Leeds drew successfully as the pop-ups shattered the visitors’ defense and finally Dallas lightly beat Ederson to the face.

Before the end of the first half, Mendy made a mistake and Ayling won the ball near the 16m50 area. The Leeds No.2 kept the ball close to the goal, eliminating Laporte, but Ederson arrived in time to narrow the shot, causing Ayling to miss the goal.

After the break, the Leeds host showed clear signs of improvement. They occupy the midfield from which to lay the foundations for intimidating attacks to find the goal. However, it was not until the launch of the most expensive player in the history of Leeds United, Rodrigo Moreno (30 million euros from Valencia), that the situation was reversed.

In the 58th minute, forward Rodrigo kicked the ball after an effort to pass the ball over Walker and finished off a narrow left corner. In the corner, right after that, Rodrigo himself quickly finished off the empty net after Ederson indecently hit the ball, hitting his teammate Mendy and spinning into the place of the Brazilian-born forward.

At the moment of great enthusiasm and confidence, the home team continued to pressure the powerful guests. In the 69th minute, Rodrigo Moreno still headed in after a cross from the right wing and Ederson flew up to touch 5 fingers lightly to push the ball to touch the crossbar.

In the 74th minute, Ederson continued to save Man City after the closure of Bamford after a pass from Rodrigo, the player who completely transformed the home team after entering the field.

It was not until the end of the match that Man City was able to partially recover the “face” with intense waves, but if goalkeeper Ederson did not win again the opposing player (Patrick Bamford) in an excellent situation. “1 against 1”, surely Green Man has been awarded.

The match ended after Bamford had a beautiful header but it was a goal … the home team and thanks to the concentration of his teammate Meslier on the wooden frame, the former Chelsea player did not have to play the role. ” temple burner “.

So rookie Leeds United had 1 valuable point against Man City, but they should have gotten 3 full points if they took advantage of the better opportunities. Obviously, with the presence of the coach nicknamed “the teacher’s teacher” Marcelo Bielsa, Leeds have the right to dream of a beautiful finish at the end of the 2020/21 season.

Meanwhile, Man City is really going through the toughest opening season of the season in recent years. Nor is the habit of “winning right after losing” being maintained. It is the moment in which Pep Guardiola needs to propose new tactical innovations like the “master” Bielsa, a “sorcerer” who knows how to renew himself with unexpected creations.

TEAM

LEEDS UNITED: Illan Meslier; Luke Ayling, Robin Koch, Liam Cooper; Kalvin Phillips; Helder Costa, Mateusz Klich, Stuart Dallas (Leif Davis 77 ‘), Ezgjan Alioski (Poveda 46’); Patrick Bamford, Tyler Roberts (Rodrigo Moreno 56 ‘).

CITY OF MANCHESTER: Ederson; Kyle Walker, Ruben Dias, Aymeric Laporte, Benjamin Mendy (Nathan Ake 71 ‘); Kevin De Bruyne, Rodri, Phil Foden; Riyad Mahrez (Fernandinho 77 ‘), Raheem Sterling, Ferran Torres (Bernardo Silva 65’).