6/20/2023 0 Comments The art of battling giants![]() Focus the attention on one player and you leave gaps for the others to exploit and City carry danger everywhere. This is one of the great dilemmas about man-marking, particularly when it is being done against the best sides. I was never expecting his team to go there and roll over one of the giants of world football (City can’t quite consider themselves in those terms just yet) and Kevin De Bruyne’s equaliser leaves them in a strong position. That fruit may yet taste sour because, in spite of Haaland’s shackling, City emerged from the Bernabeu with a decent result, one I reckon Pep Guardiola would have taken before a ball was kicked. And I know who my money is on for the second leg. To which my only response is: big whoopee, shit happens. A centre-forward who has bulldozed his way through defences during his first season in English football, scoring a ridiculous 52 goals in 48 appearances for his club, was limited to three shots, 11 passes and 21 touches. Lmfaoo rudiger /ttE5yZvY54Ĭarlo Ancelotti’s decision to man-mark Haaland bore fruit, to a point. And yet this peculiar little interaction was also central to a Champions League semi-final. Haaland, who has his back to goal, is staring at it, never allowing his gaze to flicker, but it is elsewhere. ![]() Taken out of context, it’s like interpretive dance or a human version of Whac-A-Mole. The moment is captured on Twitter, a funny, hypnotic clip taken from Manchester City’s 1-1 draw at Real Madrid last week. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |