CHAPTER 352: CHAPTER 272 ICARDI: THE LION DOESN’T CARE ABOUT THE BARKING OF A STRAY DOG!

Bony is Manchester City’s second striker this season.

His transfer fee was 32 million euros, acquired by Manchester City from Swansea in the January 2015 transfer window.

It is said that when Manchester City was considering buying a striker, Toure recommended his fellow compatriot from Côte d’Ivoire to the club.

Bony has a good physique, fast speed, and can score in front of goal. He was undoubtedly the top player and leading star at a mid-lower tier team like Swansea.

However, after joining Manchester City, he experienced a lack of adaptation.

Since joining, he has made 10 appearances in the league, scoring only two goals, and was once considered a flop.

Manchester City has thought about selling him, but considering he has been here only half a year, selling him now would result in a significant loss; besides, over 100 million euros have been spent on Tang Long and Sterling’s transfers this summer, so selling Bony would require finding a replacement, especially since young Iheanacho is too inexperienced.

So, restricted by the financial fair play regulations, even Manchester City’s owner, who doesn’t really care about money, had to tighten his spending a bit, and Bony continued to stay at Manchester City.

Bony knew shame and then became courageous. During the summer training this season, his performance was very diligent, sparking renewed hope in Pellegrini.

With Dzeko gone, Bony became even more indispensable in Manchester City’s tactical puzzle.

Manchester City employs a single-striker tactic, and with only three strikers in the team, Bony became the first option after Agüero.

In the first four games of this season, due to Agüero’s outstanding performance as a central striker, scoring three goals in four rounds, substitute striker Bony scarcely got any chances to play.

This round, Manchester City hosted Southampton, and Bony finally seized the opportunity when Agüero was suspended, starting the match.

"It’s time to prove yourself! God bless!" Before going onto the field, Bony touched the ground and then drew a cross on his chest devoutly.

He thought he had finally waited for a chance to showcase his efforts during training.

Unexpectedly, God played a trick on him, and this match was simply the beginning of a disaster.

In the 24th, 41st, and 56th minutes, he had three opportunities where he directly faced the goalkeeper.

The first time, he accurately connected with Tang Long’s through ball but kicked the ball into the goalkeeper’s head;

The second time, he was a step too slow starting, and the goalkeeper grasped the ball;

The third time was the most regrettable; he clearly cut diagonally into the penalty area, ready for a one-on-one, but Bony ran on an outside line and didn’t even receive the ball, making Pellegrig on the sidelines shake his head in frustration!

Tang Long also looked helpless.

Clearly, my routes are all calculated by the AI system as the best options, yet Bony either cannot score or doesn’t run to the ball, taking unusual paths.

Trying to design routes based on Bony’s running, but who has time to input this substitute player’s route? Even Agüero’s feeding isn’t finished yet, and besides, many of Bony’s runs are incorrect. Even if you know where he’ll run, the balls sent out pose no threat.

Pellegrini regretted; if only he had known Bony was still so unaccomplished, he would have sold him during the summer!

Until the 72nd minute, in a counterattack, Bony finally smoothly received Tang Long’s through ball.

Yet this time, in extreme tension, he shot the ball at the outside of the post with a clunk, bouncing out over the baseline!

Bony knelt on the ground, heavily pounding the ground with his fists.

"It seems Bony truly has no goal luck today!"

"That’s already the fourth time he’s squandered Tang Long’s passes in this match!"

"Manchester City’s fans must really miss their star striker Agüero."

"If the Argentine striker were on the field, at least three out of those four goals would have been scored, and a hat-trick would have been performed long ago, with Tang Long earning three assists."

"I wonder if Agüero, who is currently doing community labor, regrets his recklessness at the Emirates Stadium?"

"I believe he must, and Joe Hart too!"

Just as the commentator finished speaking, Southampton launched a counter attack.

A team repeatedly wasting opportunities will certainly be punished, an unbreakable truth.

In the 79th minute, Southampton’s Italian striker Pelle, at the top of the penalty arc, received a midfield pass and held off his compatriot Ranocchia.

There aren’t many Italians in the Premier League, and the faceoff between Ranocchia and Pelle attracted a lot of fans’ attention.

"Watch his left side!" Ranocchia shouted to right-back Sagna.

Pelle, standing at 194CM, is the strongest striker Ranocchia encountered since arriving in the Premier League!

Not only does Pelle not lose out in height to Ranocchia, but at 90KG, he further holds a weight advantage.

No matter how Ranocchia pressed him, Pelle remained unmoved and steadily passed the ball to the advancing Mane!

Senegalese winger Mane is a skilled player on the flank.

Sagna was just half a body-length slow in pursuit and couldn’t catch up to this speedster any longer.

Mane dashed ahead, breaking into the penalty area, and fired a low shot!

"Mane shoots!"

"Low ball!"

"Ah this ball..."

"Caballero actually left the near post unguarded, and the ball went in!"

"This shouldn’t have happened. Caballero made a major mistake!"

"The goalkeeper should have closed down the closer near post, leaving the far post open."

"Remember what I said? If Hart were here, he wouldn’t have made such a basic error."

"Agüero paid the price for his recklessness, and Hart too."

"Ultimately, the burden of the cost falls solely on Manchester City!"

With this goal, the visiting Southampton overturned the score and entered past the 80th minute with a 2-1 advantage.

Pellegrini made a decisive move, subbing on his last forward, Iheanacho, and instructed Tang Long to press forward and not return.

Suddenly, there were three forwards on the line, and Manchester City decided to give it their all.

The fans at the Etihad were extremely anxious, with over fifty thousand voices shouting in unison, "Attack! Attack!"

However, Southampton wisely consolidated their gains, made two substitutions by withdrawing Tadic and Mane, brought on a defensive midfielder and a center-back, and pulled one midfielder back to form a 6-4-0 iron wall.

"Six, six defenders?"

"This is the first time I’ve seen a team deploy six defenders in the Premier League."

Looking around, six defenders filled the penalty area to the brim, and the four midfielders all dropped to the defensive midfield position.

Tang Long was completely surrounded in front.

Even though the AI system showed many possible routes, the central area was completely sealed, leaving no room for passing. Tang Long had to distribute the ball to the flanks, allowing Sagna and Kolarov to cross high balls.

This played right into Southampton’s hands.

They weren’t afraid of high balls, as their average height was 2 cm taller than Manchester City’s. At crucial moments, center-forward Pelle transformed into a center-back, continuously heading out four of the crosses, becoming the aerial dominance in his penalty area.

In the end, this team from the south of Southampton took away three points from the Etihad Stadium!

Manchester City tasted the bitter taste of their first defeat of the season.

Ranocchia even politely declined Pelle’s invitation to exchange jerseys.

Tang Long also shook his head as he returned to the locker room.

Bony, oh Bony, with your level you come to Manchester City to play forward? If you get Inter’s Bonazzoli over here, at least one out of four balls could go in!

...

"Hahahahaha, they lost, Manchester City lost~"

In a villa in the suburbs of Manchester, Icardi slid on his knees in the soft carpet of the living room.

Such joy, such excitement, such happiness!

Nothing could make him more excited than Manchester City’s defeat.

To go further, nothing made him happier than Manchester City’s defeat, along with Agüero not being able to score!

This season, Icardi has two goals: winning the European Golden Boot and helping Manchester United win the Premier League title.

In this round, Manchester United played a day ahead, and Icardi put on a good show with two goals, scoring seven in the first five games, more than Messi and C Luo!

In fact, since the first round of the Premier League, Icardi has always been at the top of the scorer’s list, never having been dethroned from this position.

"Dear Tang, I wonder if you regret not coming to Manchester United to fight alongside me, hahaha~"

Icardi leaned on the sofa, tossing a green baseball back and forth in his hands.

The pride was evident on his face.

"Look at you, so happy. Manchester City losing makes you this delighted, dear?"

Wanda swayed her hips as she walked out of the room.

"Of course, nothing makes me happier than a defeat for our city rivals. Hehe, Manchester United buying De Bruyne was indeed the right move; we play more and more smoothly, a natural partnership!"

"I remember you used to say the same about that Chinese guy," Wanda said.

"Oh, don’t bring up Tang, that’s all in the past. He’s now playing for Manchester United’s noisy neighbor, that’s the path he chose, let him see it through to the end. Whereas I, Mauro Icardi, will wear the red jersey and win all the championships in red Manchester, along with the European Golden Boot and the Golden Ball Award!"

Seeing Icardi brimming with ambition, Wanda also showed a smile of desire.

"That’s right, my husband should be this domineering. Mauro, coming from Inter to Manchester United, you really have grown up!"

Two hours later.

Icardi, eyes dim, staggered to his feet from the floor, using the table for support.

He shook his head, stars spinning around.

Still gathering himself, he opened his social media and posted a status — [Hugging with the Best Midfielder in Premier League, Kevin]

The picture was of his celebration with De Bruyne after scoring two goals in this round of the Premier League.

Immediately, a group of Manchester City fans below attacked him, saying Tang Long is the best midfielder in the Premier League!

Some Inter fans also criticized Icardi for being ungrateful, constantly praising De Bruyne as the best midfielder in the Premier League, seeming to deliberately belittle former Inter teammate Tang Long.

"Mauro, did you forget how many assists Tang gave you at Inter, or who helped you win the Serie A Golden Boot!"

His wife Wanda retorted below one by one:

"My husband won the Serie A Golden Boot purely by himself, unrelated to anyone’s help!"

"It’s Tang’s loss not coming to Manchester United!"

"De Bruyne can partner with my husband, hence he’s the best Premier League midfielder!"

"Manchester City is just a noisy neighbor, an upstart with no pedigree!"

"Inter is a disgusting club, and you Inter fans are disgusting as hell, don’t bother my husband anymore, or I’ll resort to legal action!"

Icardi liked each of his wife’s comments.

Then he posted another picture in the comments: Manchester United 2-0 Swansea # Manchester City 1-2 Southampton, and captioned it: A real lion never worries about the barking of stray dogs!