In this game, there is a player in Manchester City's lineup that is not in his position, that is, Darren Bent, who is the midfielder.

Darren Bent is a striker.

It can be said that before coming to Manchester City, or even before last season, he was a standard forward, a 180-header player, not a high player even on the football field, so Darren Bent is not a standard center, but can only be considered a technical forward, but he is indeed a pure forward, because before that, he has never appeared in other positions.

Wan Sheng put Darren Bent in the midfield position, which is an attempt and an expectation.

During the three seasons, Darren Bentter has more experience than when he first came to Manchester City, and his personal abilities have also improved greatly.

This improvement is all-round.

Darren Bent has improved significantly in terms of dribbling and ball-controlling attributes, and his speed is even more amazing. Even as an offensive player, the "passing ball" that is the worst at, Darren Bent is no worse than Silva, Ozil and others under the attribute ability bonus of the "National Tournament Honor Halo".

In other words, with Darren Bent's ability, he can become a very excellent midfielder.

The only thing is experience.

Darren Bent has hardly played in the midfield, and he has too little experience in this position.

Wan Sheng let Darren Bent play as a midfielder, with the purpose of relying on his speed. After all, Manchester City plays a defensive counterattack. In terms of counterattack, speed is very important. Darren Bent's performance in fast attack is always much better than Silva.

So Darren Bent appeared in the midfield with Morris and Brumer.

Darren Bent felt a little uncomfortable with his position adjustment and also felt Wan Sheng's expectations for him. After all, the team's midfield is not without people. Silva is still sitting on the bench. There must be a reason why he can replace Silva.

Wan Sheng’s request for him is to cooperate with Morris to speed up the counterattack, and to create opportunities for his teammates when necessary, or to choose to shoot by himself.

Darren Bent's passing ability is also good, but his habits are difficult to make him pass a ball. On the football field, the habits of professional players are often more important than ability, so they won so much that they don't expect him to pass a good ball. The latter, that is, the choice of making him shoot is actually better. The shooting is also what Darren Bent is good at. It is also the best thing to be able to create opportunities by himself and directly threaten Barcelona's goal.

The game proved that Darren Bent did not disappoint.

In Manchester City's counterattack, he performed well, with Morris, Brumman and two full-backs Ivan Krue and Ozil making the ball for him. Darren Bent easily found opportunities in both offense and counterattack, and then he quickly dribbled the ball forward, so fast that Barcelona's defense suddenly became nervous.

Although it has not threatened Barcelona's goal so far, Darren Bent's performance has also been recognized by many media and fans.

As a result, he also became Manchester City's main attacker.

Darren Bent performed well, but Manchester City's most dazzling one is Ozil.

The German boy used his skillful footwork to set off waves of fast attacks on the left, causing many Manchester City fans who came to support the team to cheer.

But obviously, the German boy is a bit too show-off.

Barcelona soon realized that Ozil's left side threatened the team's defense, so they adjusted their defensive focus and made Ozil's defense tighter along the way. So for a long time, Manchester City was unable to open the situation from the left side.

Wan Sheng noticed it and frowned.

In this game, the team's main offense relies on the left and middle lanes. No team can loosen their defense against the middle lanes, so the left lanes is very important, so Wan Sheng put Ozil, who has excellent speed, technology and passes, on the left lanes.

But until now, Ozil's left side has not been able to open up the situation. Several counterattacks and fast attacks were blocked by Barcelona's defense.

This will not work.

In any case, the offense must change so that the opponent cannot defend. Now, it is difficult to break through Barcelona's defense with two players, Darren Bent and Ozil.

So Wan Sheng called Darren Bent, "Darren! Darren!"

The attack had just ended. Darren Bent was walking back with his head down. He heard the shouts and hurriedly ran over. Wan Sheng made a gesture and said to him, "Don't always drive the ball by yourself. Find more opportunities to cooperate with both sides. Ozil, Ivan, do you understand? You are a midfielder now, not a striker!"

Darren-This feature head means you understand.

In fact, he has always wanted to try passing the ball to both sides and cooperate with his teammates more, but in many cases, he habitually dribbled the ball by himself and did not worry about it. Now when he heard Wan Sheng's words, he thought he would try it when he had a chance.

Five minutes later, Darren Bent got the ball again.

This was a beautiful close cooperation between Morris and Brummer in the backcourt. They locked Barcelona's number one star Messi directly in the middle. Messi could only watch the ball under his feet being cut helplessly, covering his forehead with a frustration.

Morris grabbed the ball, but no matter how sad Messi was, he directly lifted the ball to Darren Bent.

Darren Bent was in the back of the middle circle. Seeing his teammate successfully grab the ball, he subconsciously raised his hand to ask for the ball. Before he could raise his hand, the football had already rolled over to him. Darren Bent gave Morris a thumbs up, then turned around to catch the ball, and was about to rush forward.

Darren Bent is ahead of Barcelona midfielder Deco.

Deco is a Brazilian. He was born on August 27, 1977 in San Bernardo, Brazil. Before he was 20 years old, he played for clubs such as Sao Paulo in Brazil. However, in Brazil, Deco could only hang out in small clubs and was never appreciated by wealthy families in China.

So Deco made up his mind to go to Portugal to try his luck, but he didn't expect that this trip would be out of control. In 1999, the 22-year-old Deco joined Porto and then gradually became the core of the team's midfield. The Brazilian's overall view and practical skills made Deco quickly establish his position in the team. Under Mourinho's training, Deco began to become a first-class attacking midfielder in Europe.

In 2004, Porto won the Champions League, Deco made great contributions. That year he also reached the peak of his career, leading the team to the league championship and the European Champions League championship. Especially in the Champions League, Mourinho successfully built Deco as the core of offense and defense. The team was unbeaten in 11 games and defeated Monaco 3-0 in the final. Deco scored a key goal, and fans called it "Super Deco".

Deco then led Portugal to the finals in the European Cup, losing to the super dark horse Greece. Deco was earned by Barcelona Club for his excellent performance.

In 2004, Deco joined Barcelona from Porto for a sky-high price of 20 million euros. Deco, who originally thought he could only serve as a substitute for Ronaldo, quietly accepted Rijkaard's decision to arrange himself in the midfielder, but no one expected that this unstunning alien would soon find a feeling in the midfielder. Deco ranked first in La Liga in the whole season, but it was because of him that Barcelona built a reliable barrier in front of the defense line.

This shows how strong Deco's defensive ability is.

Even though he is no longer in his peak state and his performance has been criticized by many fans, Deco's midfield defense ability is still commendable.

When facing Darren Bent, Deco seemed very calm. He slowly moved backwards in order not to let Darren Bent pass by himself easily.

Although this method is not easy to grab the ball, delaying time will give teammates time to retreat and not giving Manchester City a chance to counterattack quickly is enough.

Deco's approach also proves his rich defensive experience.

But... Deco overlooked a problem.

His technical strength is not perfect and still has flaws. For example, his speed is not fast. Some media also said that when analyzing his abilities, "Deco's speed is more 'average' to 90 minutes or even 120 minutes of games. From the beginning of the game to the end of the game, he is always the most diligent player on the field."

The above may be praise.

But praise cannot cover up one problem - Deco is not fast and has insufficient explosive power, especially when facing a very fast forward like Darren Bent, which becomes a fatal problem.

Deco was originally defending with confidence, but Darren Bent's actions were not in the same dimension as him. When he saw the Brazilian in front of him slowly moving backwards, Darren Bent almost subconsciously... raised his speed and rushed to the side with a tough rush!

Deco wanted to stop Darren Bent, but the defense side was already passive, and his reaction was a step slower, but it was too late to catch up.

Taking advantage of Deco's turn, Darren Bent had already thrown away him and rushed forward quickly.

When Deco turned around and looked back, some screams were already heard in his ears.

"Darren Bent! He threw Deco away and rushed forward! Go forward!"

"Manchester City's counterattack!"

The tone of the British Sky Sports commentator was raised.

When Darren Bent dribbled the ball over Deco, Manchester City fans in the stands were already cheering.

In the past 30 minutes of the first half, although Manchester City also attacked, they did not make much threat. Their center of gravity seemed to be on defense. So seeing Bent off the opponent's midfielder Deco so quickly, the fans were also looking forward to the next scene, and they cheered Darren Bent loudly.

It’s a pity that this is the Camp Nou Stadium, and Barcelona fans will not make the opponent’s fans arrogant. When Manchester City’s voice sounded, Barcelona fans immediately responded with a ‘boo’, and also wanted to affect Darren Bent’s performance.

Darren Bent was not affected by the voices in the audience, and after crossing Deco, he began to speed up the ball.

Anyone knows that the most threatening players in Manchester City are Torres and Darren Bent. Spain's "Golden Boy" scored the most goals in the Champions League, while Darren Bent scored the most goals in the Premier League, so Barcelona's defense against Darren Bent is not relaxed.

Seeing Darren Bent throw away Deco, a central defender immediately came to block the situation.

It's Milito.

There are two Militos in world football, one is Diego Alberto Milito, who currently plays for Zaragoza and is a famous La Liga scorer.

The Barcelona Milito in front of Darren Bent is called Gabriel Milito, and is also an Argentina international. His fame is related to Real Madrid. The regained transaction in the summer of 2003 caused quite a stir.

At that time, Real Madrid first announced the signing of Milito, and then said that the Argentinian failed the physical examination and gave up.

In fact, according to Milito and his agent, the injury was false. Real Madrid went back on his word and did not have the sincerity to sign the contract.

In the end, Milito joined Zaragoza and was very active in the La Liga, while Real Madrid paid off their debts for the emptiness of the midfield and backcourt. However, Woodgate, who "passed the physical examination", was constantly injured, which became a joke.

Afterwards, after Milito also signed with Zaragoza in La Liga, he quickly became the main force in the team. His outstanding physical fitness and strong style allowed him to gain a foothold in La Liga.

It is worth mentioning that in the confrontation with "enemy" Real Madrid, Milito successfully frozen Ronaldo and Raul one after another. People can't see any signs of what Real Madrid calls "a knee problem".

Last summer, Milito transferred to Barcelona, ​​which was a heavyweight transfer with a cost of up to 20.5 million euros. This shows Milito's strength. He also quickly became Barcelona's main defender with a stable performance.

As a central defender, Milito's defense is much more stable. He knows very well that when defending alone, it is often more important to entangle the opponent.

If you just want to entangle your opponent and prevent your opponent from getting rid of it easily, it would be really easy.

When facing Darren Bent's fast dribble, Milito did the same. He turned around and followed Bente, constantly interfering with Bente's dribble with his body, slowing Bente's speed. After running a few steps, Bente felt that Milito was difficult.

Seeing Milito entangled Darren Bent, Barcelona fans also breathed a sigh of relief.

If Milito is passed again, Barcelona will be 2-to-1 against Manchester City in the backcourt, and the only way to defend is Marquis, which is almost the best opportunity in front of Manchester City.

Milito entangled Darren Bent, Marquis defended Torres, so it would not be easy for Manchester City to get a chance.

It all depends on Milito's defense.

Darren Bent had already felt Milito's difficulty. He found it difficult to get rid of Milito, which could be said to be almost impossible, so he glanced at Torres' position and wanted to pass the ball over.

But Marquis was experienced and he pestered Torres and didn't give him any space at all.

At this moment, Darren Bent suddenly thought of what the coach told him just now, "We should cooperate more with our teammates, especially on the two sides."

Sideways?

Darren Bent subconsciously glanced at the right side. Ivan Kru did not follow. He swept to the left again and saw Ozil running forward.

He and Ozil are a bit far away, but what else can we do now?

Darren Bent held the heart of "a dead horse as a living horse" and took advantage of the time to stab the ball directly to the left.

This pass towards the backwards almost dragged down the team's counterattack speed.
To be continued...