Football: My AI System Provides Max-Level Predictions

Chapter 631 - 436: Manchester City’s French Language Gang Is Disbanded! Guardiola Kills Two Birds With One Stone, Establishes Prestige!

Did Guardiola hear Bony’s discussions behind his back? We’re not sure, but he called Bony into his office the next day.

Bony entered the office with apprehension, feeling terrified, as if he was a student caught gossiping in class and summoned to the head teacher’s office.

Guardiola, smiling broadly, personally made a fresh cup of coffee for Bony;

He then used the method of praising before criticizing, first commending Bony for his performance last season at Manchester City.

He mentioned that despite being a substitute multiple times, Bony scored 17 league goals, becoming the team’s third top scorer. This achievement is truly commendable and reflects Bony’s skill level, proving that he can absolutely stand firm in Europe’s top clubs!

Although Bony felt that Guardiola’s smile was eerie and terrifying in an indescribable way;

But with his simple mind, he genuinely thought Guardiola was praising him, believing he would stay with the team.

So, he was filled with joy, thinking his worries were baseless fears. It seems that as long as he can score goals, regardless of who the coach is, he could continue to play at Manchester City~

However, Guardiola patted Bony’s shoulder and changed his tone.

"Bony, you’re a nice lad, but regrettably, I sincerely tell you now, you are not suitable for my tactical system because you’re not good at playing on foot and your individual skills are quite coarse. You should go to a team that plays a more open style. Next season, there will be no place for you at Manchester City."

Bony suddenly felt like his world was spinning, seeing stars...

"Official: Bony transfers to Manchester United, signing a three-year contract"

Fortunately, Bony’s mentor Pellegrini had not forgotten about this Côte d’Ivoire player whom he personally brought from Swansea to Manchester City.

On one hand, as Pellegrini arrived at Manchester United unfamiliar with the environment, he surely needed to bring in some of his former trusted players to help him quickly gain control of the dressing room, and Bony was one of them.

After reflecting thoroughly upon arriving at Manchester United, Pellegrini pondered why he couldn’t compete with Guardiola.

After several sleepless nights contemplating, Pellegrini had an epiphany!

"Why must I stubbornly compete with Guardiola in terms of possession play? He comes from La Masia, inherently a Barça man, who played possession football during his player career there, and as a coach, he has further promoted this trend. In any case, I have an inherent disadvantage and cannot compete with him!"

Pellegrini believed that upon coming to Manchester United, although the players’ value wasn’t much lower than Manchester City’s, these players had never truly played possession football under Van Gaal or Mourinho.

Pellegrini decided to transplant his defensive counter-attack tactics from his time at Real Madrid to Manchester United.

Whatever the method, as long as winning and defeating opponents, it’s a good tactic!

As for whether or not to play possession football, as long as Manchester United could defeat Manchester City and win the League Champion this season, he would have defeated Guardiola and proven himself!

And the physically strong, impactful forward Bony was Pellegrini’s best choice.

Although this player had coarse foot skills, unable to integrate into the possession system, Bony’s role in the open attacking style of defensive counter-attack was no lesser than Agüero.

Even in terms of impact and physical confrontation, he was even stronger!

Thus, it was natural for Bony, who was cleansed from Manchester City, to receive the olive branch extended by Pellegrini.

On another hand, Pellegrini had heard about Icardi’s arrogance within Manchester United last season.

Upon joining the team, he first had a long conversation with Manchester United captain Rooney, focusing on discussing Icardi.

Privately, Rooney advised Pellegrini to bring in a powerful center-forward to compete with Icardi.

After all, with Rooney rarely playing as a center-forward now, other forwards, whether Rashford, Depay, or Januzaj, couldn’t effectively compete with Icardi.

With Bony’s arrival, Pellegrini also intended to subtly pressure Icardi to make him feel tense.

...

In comparison to Bony, whom Guardiola praised before criticizing, Guardiola showed some mercy, but for the French Language Gang players, Guardiola bluntly delivered harsh words directly.

"If you continue to stay in the team, next season you won’t get any playtime!"

Yaya Toure, a player who worked with Guardiola at Barcelona for two years.

In 2010, due to disagreements with Guardiola, he was transferred to Manchester City for a fee of 30 million Euros.

As soon as Guardiola took charge at Manchester City, Toure anticipated that he wouldn’t have a future there!

Fortunately, at 33 years old, having won the League Champion this season, Toure was already contemplating retirement.

After discussions, he ended his contract with Manchester City a year early and joined Olympiacos in Greece, playing semi-retirement football in a foreign country.

The French defender Mangala didn’t need Guardiola to drive him out; Manchester City’s management had already issued a dismissal order.

Last season, under Pellegrini’s coaching, he performed poorly, floating outside the team’s tactical system, combined with frequent injuries and high salary. No one wanted to buy him on the transfer market, so he was finally loaned to La Liga’s Valencia.

In negotiations involving left-back Clichy, there were some twists.

Clichy insisted on staying at Manchester City, believing that he was superior both in physical condition and foot skills compared to competitor Kolarov and competent for possession tactical system.

He even stormed into CEO Belgistan’s office, causing a ruckus.

"I’ve served Manchester City for five years; at least I should be considered a veteran. Changing the coach and wanting to drive me away isn’t fair!"

However, his strong attitude didn’t lead to the desired outcome, as Guardiola was even more determined, directly excluding him from first team training, sending him to train with the youth team amidst seventeen to eighteen-year-old kids.

Eventually, Clichy was forced to move to Turkey, bringing back a nominal 3 million Euro transfer fee for Manchester City.

33-year-old right-back Sagna faced a similar fate, also forced to leave Manchester City.

However, his departure was relatively dignified, moving to Premier League’s Norwich to continue playing, for a transfer fee of 4 million Euros, which allowed him to continue his career in top leagues.

Yet after continuously clearing Toure, Clichy, Bony, Mangala, and others, Manchester City released sufficient salary space.

This will greatly assist Manchester City’s operations in the transfer market.

Why did Guardiola cleanly start clearing the French Language Gang players as soon as he arrived at Manchester City?

If speaking about Toure, indeed due to personal grievances with Guardiola, he had no choice but to leave Manchester City;

Mangala lost competitive status due to recurring injuries;

But Bony, Clichy, and Sagna actually had the possibility of staying.

Even though Bony had coarse foot skills unsuitable for possession play, as a tall center-forward, he still possessed the ability to break through dense battles, enriching Guardiola’s tactical approach;

Clichy and Sagna were experienced with commendable foot skills, having become famous early during their time at Arsenal after going through intense match pressure.

Upon taking helms at Manchester City, adopting some guidance for these two full-backs with their talent, they might not be unable to adapt new tactical style.

However, in clearing the French Language Gang, it was something Guardiola considered before joining Manchester City, once implemented, he had to see it through thoroughly, without leaving any courtesy.

"Raymond, I found something quite strange. The French-speaking players, why sometimes it seems they intentionally don’t pass to Tang?"

"Yes, Pep, I also noticed this issue! It’s not that their pass choices are unreasonable, but sometimes when it’s a choice whether to pass or not, they choose not to give the ball to Tang and instead opt for internal passing amongst themselves."

Such discussions frequently appeared in Guardiola’s and his confidant scout Raymond’s conversations last season when they reviewed Manchester City’s matches.

As early as last season, Guardiola had faintly predicted that Manchester City’s French Language Gang players didn’t have a harmonious relationship with Tang Long.

Upon joining Manchester City, after deep talks with captain Kompany, he confirmed this suspicion from the Belgian’s words!

Guardiola disliked internal cliques in the team, and simultaneously, upon joining, he needed to establish authority!

Personnel changes are the best instruments for new leadership to establish authority!

Swiftly eliminating the French Language Gang not only serves one purpose for Guardiola, but it also secures Tang Long’s growth while helping to assert his own authority.

But this is just an appetizer; following that, Guardiola began collaborating with CEO Belgistan and commercial director Belada to handle summer transfers.

A bloodbath is about to begin...