Everton launched a few counterattacks, and Lukaku's ball control and breakthrough ability were indeed strong.

But because his teammates were too slow, he was alone in the frontcourt, struggling to support himself. He sprinted all the way, seeming dangerous, and even made Everton fans feel a surge of excitement, but he never created a shooting opportunity.

On the other hand, Manchester City, whether it was Silva, Gundogan who moved very far forward, or De Bruyne, could control the ball and pass the ball well.

If Everton's defenders hadn't been focused, constantly harassing Zhao Gang, sandwiching him from the front and back, and destroying the ball in advance, there would have been big problems long ago.

"The situation is very bad for Everton right now. The two defensive midfielders seem unable to find their positions on the field. They retreat very deeply, their defensive positions overlapping with the defenders, and they can't connect well in attack. The two of them are like headless flies.

Their initial defensive task should have been Zhao, but now that Zhao is appearing on Everton's defensive line, the two defensive midfielders seem to have lost their target, allowing Silva to easily get the ball and orchestrate the attack several times.

Their defense lacks any sense of layering, and it's only a matter of time before the defensive line is broken through."

Stones suddenly made a long pass from the backfield. After Silva received the ball, he once again dribbled forward from the center.

McCarthy and Barry were directly drawn away by Sterling and De Bruyne.

The two did not carry out zonal defense, but man-to-man marking, which gave Silva a lot of space.

"The role of the defensive midfielder is not to mark people! They need to run and intercept over a wide area, how can they give Silva so much room to move??" The commentator found it a little difficult to understand.

At this time, Zhao Gang suddenly retreated to get the ball. In the first ten minutes or so of the game, he had been playing against Everton's defenders. This time, he suddenly changed his running direction.

Everton's center-back Jagielka quickly moved forward, preparing to harass Zhao Gang.

"Zhao Gang's back-to-goal ball control, this situation is indeed rare, this is something that Aguero is more adept at, let's see... Ah? Passed it???"

"After Zhao Gang received the ball, he didn't pause, he just flicked it with the back of his heel, nutmegging the newly arrived Jagielka. With a turn, he dribbled past with the ball!"

Jagielka felt the ball pass between his legs. When he subconsciously looked down, Zhao Gang had already turned around and started accelerating!

"This pass was very smooth. Zhao Gang is facing Galloway, and he's still dribbling forward. Galloway doesn't dare to tackle easily, he's waiting for his teammates to support him, Coleman, Barry's help defense!"

With only one line of defense left, all three of them stood in front of Zhao Gang. Between Zhao Gang and De Bruyne was Sane coming over. Zhao Gang accelerated, his center of gravity shifted to the left, and the three of them moved to the right in unison.

Zhao Gang's sudden change of center of gravity made the three of them half a beat slower, and a gap appeared on the right. It was a bit difficult to break through, but the ball could definitely get through.

Zhao Gang pushed the ball quickly to the front right with the outside of his right foot.

The three of them turned their heads to look at the same time. Sterling, who had rushed over, led the ball and roared into the penalty area.

Such a big open space??

Sterling had just pulled to the side, didn't someone go over there??

Everton's defenders were stunned for a moment and quickly chased back.

Goalkeeper Howard faced Sterling rushing from the right and swayed his body.

Sterling, having adjusted his steps, raised his foot and shot.

Bang!

The ball soared into the sky, hit the crossbar, and bounced into the goal!

1:0!

Manchester City, playing at home, took the lead.

Swish!

Sterling's classic knee slide went out of bounds.

"Barry, this position really has a serious problem. First, he was taken away by Sterling, leaving a huge space for Silva. At the critical moment, he didn't follow Sterling, but ran over to defend Zhao. Zhao's pass... Does Barry think Zhao is him? Does he think Zhao can't see Sterling in the open space??

What kind of tactics are these!!" The Everton commentator, looking at Barry's repeated mistakes and his extremely poor sense of position, almost burst into swearing.

Everton's coach stood on the sidelines with a not-so-good look on his face.

The pre-match arrangement was for Barry to assist in defending Zhao Gang, so when he saw Zhao Gang preparing to break through, he rushed over without thinking.

But Zhao Gang's position was no longer in midfield, he was already in front of the penalty area, and a pass could enter the penalty area and find Sterling.

You abandoned Sterling, which teammate can cover that position for you?

"Well, you have to say, Zhao Gang's back-to-goal ball control skills are quite good, he directly got past Jagielka. Although he was trapped in the opponent's defensive group, his passing and vision are too strong, it's easy for him to find Sterling!

As a single forward, although the number of times he gets the ball has decreased, his threat has become greater. After getting the ball, he will throw the entire Everton defense into chaos."

Whether it's De Bruyne, Silva, Gundogan, or even Sterling, they all have very good passing skills. With Zhao Gang staying in the center, there won't be a situation where he can't get the ball.

He can go for headers, or he can assist and distribute the ball, making Everton's defenders exhausted and unsure of how to defend.

"After Zhao Gang reduced his touches, he didn't seem to be uncomfortable. He still used these few touches to show his very strong ball distribution ability!

Standing in the center forward position, although his heading was a bit poor before, his assisting ability and breakthrough passing can still create very threatening attacks!

Manchester City took the lead in the twenty-eighth minute!"

Lukaku took another classic weak-footed kick-off and then charged forward, obviously wanting to play a small combination.

McCarthy saw that Lukaku was unlikely to find a chance under the double-team of Stones and Otamendi, so he had to make a long pass to find Barkley.

In one of Everton's few wing attacks, Barkley's breakthrough ability was quite good. He stepped on the bicycle and kept moving forward, trying to break through the defense, but before he could fully display his ability, Gundogan cleverly appeared beside him and directly tackled.

Although he didn't steal the ball, it still affected Barkley. Barkley hurriedly passed the ball, looking for Cleverley.

The ball was passed a bit off, and an extremely excited Sterling rushed back from the frontcourt to defend, and just stretched his foot to intercept the ball.

He turned around and started sprinting.

Lukaku spread his hands, a little frustrated and exasperated.

I'm right here, in the open space, Barkley, you don't pass the ball, you step on the bicycle, and after you step on the bicycle, you make a mistake!

It's really too much!

Manchester City's midfielders pressed forward, and Everton's players quickly shrunk their formation.

Sterling had already dribbled the ball past the center line and was sprinting all the way.

He watched Everton's two players approach, preparing to double-team him. Sterling, who had just scored a goal, was full of confidence and imitated Lukaku's action, making a powerful surge and then preparing to use his speed to get rid of the defender.

As a result, as soon as he rushed up, he was squeezed out of position. Galloway stretched his foot out in advance and kicked the ball out of bounds.

This counterattack was considered a failure, but Sterling was very clever. He didn't stop for a moment, ran to the sideline, picked up the ball, and directly passed it to Gundogan who was overlapping on the side.

Gundogan's speed is not as good as Sterling's, but his passing level is quite good.

Everton's players saw the ball go out of bounds and relaxed for a moment. When they quickly reacted and rushed towards Gundogan, Gundogan had already pushed the ball forward, and Sterling started sprinting along the sideline again.

"Sterling's speed is really something!"

This time, Sterling passed the ball to himself two seconds later. Galloway didn't squeeze him out of position, and Sterling rushed into the danger zone with a whoosh.

"Sterling!"

Seeing the defender in position in front of him, Sterling's foot skills were a little worse than Zhao Gang's, and he really didn't have the confidence to use his center of gravity to shake off his opponent.

But his speed was very fast, and he rushed towards the baseline with the ball.

"Still moving forward, there's no angle, he can't squeeze in!"

The defender rushed straight over. Sterling was fast and dodged the position, but it was absolutely impossible to break through into the small penalty area along the baseline.

His passing vision was also not good. He didn't know where his teammates were at all, he only saw white Everton players in the penalty area.

But he had already reached this point, and there was no turning back.

He just made a cutback, regardless of whether there was anyone there or not, he would pass it first!

The cutback went into the penalty area. Jagielka and Coleman, who had rushed back, quickly rushed over, preparing to control the ball.

The two saw each other and suddenly seemed to have short-circuited, deferring to each other in the penalty area!

A blue figure flashed past between the two of them like a bolt of lightning.

The two hurriedly stretched out their legs at the same time, but Zhao Gang had already kicked the ball out with all his strength, and then was tripped to the ground by the two.

The two hurriedly gestured that they hadn't fouled!

And the entire Etihad Stadium had already fallen into a cheer!

Everton's coach jumped and cursed on the sidelines.

Are you two idiots??

Distracted in the penalty area???

The ball went in and you raised your hand to indicate that you didn't foul???

Were you thinking that the referee would blow the whistle and award a penalty???

Goalkeeper Howard stood on the goal line with a dark face, the ball rolled out of the net and stopped at his feet.

2:0!

"Goal! Sterling's cutback pass, Coleman and Jagielka both made a huge mistake in their clearance! The two of them deferred to each other!"

"They probably didn't expect Zhao Gang's speed to be so fast, or maybe they didn't realize Zhao Gang's position at all, or didn't expect that in that situation, with the two of them protecting the ball, Zhao Gang could still squeeze in and kick it! Sterling's pass was already a failure, there were no teammates to respond there at all, but Everton's defenders also had problems, in the penalty area, can they still be distracted??"

Jian Lu saw Zhao Gang risking injury, with the ball under the control of Coleman and Jagielka, there was only such a brief opportunity, but he still rushed over without hesitation.

It was this kind of constant preparation and constant desire to attack that led to a goal.

If it were an ordinary person, seeing that the ball was not within their control, seeing that the ball had appeared within the opponent's control, they might subconsciously think that the opponent would directly clear the ball, and it would be impossible to rush over.

But Zhao Gang didn't rush over after seeing the two of them get distracted. If he had started then, Coleman and Jagielka would have had time to react.

Zhao Gang had started in advance. Under normal circumstances, this should have been a run that wasted energy, but Zhao Gang did not give up.

It wasn't the first time he had tried so hard.

It was the previous several failures that finally created this opportunity and put the ball in!

"Hey, it was just a match yesterday. A player's run in front of the penalty area was a bit too far, and his teammate's pass leaked past him. His first reaction was not to immediately chase back, but to complain about the failure of his teammate's passing route. In fact, there were no defenders behind him at all. If he had immediately turned around and chased back at that time, that ball would almost have been a one-on-one, but his complaint allowed the defender who had rushed back to clear the ball with one kick, alas!" Jian Lu felt angry just thinking about it. The technique isn't good, the attitude isn't there, what can you do??

"Hehehe, I think even if he chased the ball, he wouldn't be able to score in a one-on-one situation." Zhang Zhidao had of course watched the game, and although he was smiling, his words were really full of disappointment.

"Hahaha..." Jian Lu shook his head and smiled bitterly.

Zhao Gang's current achievements, constantly scoring goals in the Premier League, and becoming a phenomenal player, rely on talent, on skill, and also on constant effort and an attitude of always being prepared on the field!

Those old men are envious and jealous of Zhao Gang, do they even have the face to be?

Jian Lu looked at Zhao Gang, who was getting up from the ground and celebrating with his teammates, with relief, anticipation, and also a touch of sadness.

Relief that the Dragon Country has produced such a football king.

Anticipation that Zhao Gang is very likely to be selected for the next national team, because Lippi has already taken office!

Sadness that Zhao Gang's attitude and drive, if he enters the national team and plays with those teammates who are like landlord gentry, will he have a stroke?