Football: My AI System Provides Max-Level Predictions

Chapter 543 - 370: Watch Closely! Tang Long Performs Dreamy Footwork! This is the Real Premier League’s Best Midfielder!

Seeing this scene, Raymond, Guardiola’s trusted scout at the Etihad Stadium, showed no sign of surprise.

He nodded, quickly looked down, and began jotting notes in his notebook.

[Gundogan: Too slow in distribution, needs more time to adapt to the Premier League’s pace]

Guardiola and Raymond had been tracking Gundogan for nearly half a year.

In their minds, this German midfielder had the physique, stamina, strategic vision, and a superb passing ability.

Perfectly meeting the demands of a defensive midfielder in the Guardiola Style control game.

However, Gundogan, at 25, had one flaw: he takes too much time to think when distributing the ball!

While the Bundesliga is fiercely competitive, many mid to lower-tier teams don’t apply relentless pressure.

But the Premier League is different.

The pace here is very fast, often defenders make contact before the ball reaches your feet.

This requires players to have physical resilience and fast-paced passing thinking.

From this aspect, Gundogan currently can’t meet the expectations!

This is precisely why Guardiola insisted on bringing Gundogan to Manchester City six months early, to get him quickly adapted to the Premier League’s pace within this period.

In this regard, Guardiola is indeed quite cunning~

He transferred the responsibility he should tackle himself to Pellegrini, so when he assumes the role of Manchester City’s head coach in six months, he would reap the benefits.

After being helped up by Tang Long, Gundogan looked at Tang Long silently.

In the last game, you said my passes were too purposeful, and now you’re saying my pace is too slow. It’s as if I can’t do anything right...

But this time, Gundogan indeed felt a bit guilty.

Because he truly underestimated the challenging rhythm of opposing forward Lambert’s pressure!

Before he noticed, Lambert had charged in like a whirlwind.

Such aggressive opening pressure is rare in the Bundesliga, and Gundogan realized he indeed was careless.

In the following game, he began to play more cautiously.

Following Tang Long’s advice, he sped up the passing pace, ensuring his touch time didn’t exceed two seconds. Whenever the opponent pressed forward, he’d release the ball quickly, frequently executing one-touch passes to orchestrate width.

"Well done, Gundogan, keep playing like this!"

In the 12th minute of the first half, Gundogan connected with Tang Long.

Tang Long, facing pressure from two midfielders, delivered a one-touch pass with his left foot to Gundogan. Gundogan initially wanted to stop the ball, but the defender quickly closed in.

He stumbled, turned sideways, and passed the ball directly to the right wing to Navas. Navas crossed to find Agüero in the penalty area, but the ball was slightly high and was caught by the goalkeeper.

This attacking play was fluid, and although Gundogan almost lost possession, he successfully transitioned the play from the center to the wing in the attacking midfield area.

Seeing this, Pellegrini finally breathed a sigh of relief and turned to his assistant Rein, saying:

"Fortunately, he has a fairly strong self-adjustment ability, let’s keep watching!"

Gundogan indeed possesses strong self-adjustment capabilities, essentially a player’s self-learning and evolving ability.

At 25, he is in the prime age for a midfielder, with his physique and consciousness at their peak, and with proper coaching, he still has considerable room to improve.

Once Gundogan accelerated his passing pace, he gradually adapted to West Brom’s opening pressure.

After all, West Brom, as a mid-tier team, approached their match against Manchester City with a relatively low profile, and their opening pressure wouldn’t last too long. After 20 minutes, seeing they couldn’t break through City’s defense and dropping the idea of stealing a goal, they began to withdraw for defense.

Gundogan’s strengths in the attacking midfield position started to become evident.

Through skillful passing and good strategic vision, he orchestrated the entire team, forcing West Brom’s players to tirelessly chase his passes across the field.

The opponent’s focus and stamina were gradually exhausted in their efforts to counter each pass and move.

Raymond didn’t jot anything down about this in his notebook, as he and Guardiola were long aware of these qualities in Gundogan.

In the 31st minute of the first half, Gundogan almost assisted Agüero with a through pass to break the opponent’s goal!

Tang Long stepped forward from the defensive midfield position, closing the distance with Gundogan and utilizing the movement of Sterling and Navas on the flanks to effectively operate in the center.

At this stage of the game, it was precisely the period when Manchester City had the highest goal-scoring efficiency.

Great players always share a tacit understanding, and although Gundogan and Tang Long were partnering for the first time in a Premier League match, their passing was quite synchronized.

With two quick passes, Tang Long and Gundogan executed a one-two!

Receiving the ball, Tang Long drew in a double-team from two defenders and, without stopping the ball, gently flicked it with the outside of his foot~

The opponents believed Tang Long would pass to the flank, as both his gaze and passing motion were directed toward Nasri on the right, but they were surprised when the outside flick redirected the ball back to Gundogan on the opposite side.

"Wonderful, great pass!"

Gundogan couldn’t help but exclaim, caught off guard by Tang Long’s feed. He even paused for a moment upon reception, but quickly regained his composure, glancing up at Agüero—