Although Robinho also went up to celebrate after Glory scored, he was actually quite anxious. Berbatov had assisted once, and he did not perform any in the offense...

He wants to score a goal...

After scoring twice in the last FA Cup, Berbatov's pressure was significantly reduced, and now the pressure has been transferred to himself.

Before the game, when the media saw that they returned to the starting lineup, they began to point fingers at themselves and judged them.

Robinho saw all those words, and he wanted to score goals in the game to shut up those who laughed at him.

Like Rongguang, he chose to go to Manchester City, which was regarded by many as a way to make money and gave up his competitive future.

But no one knows that he chose Manchester City for his competitive future.

But judging from the first half of the season, his choice was really a failure...

After half a season, he planned to give up his previous ideas, so he could make enough money from Manchester City, Kay, and as for the championship and honor... it was like a cloud for him.

Brazilian players are prone to being lazy and fall very quickly once they lose their fighting spirit.

Robinho had planned to just keep going like this, but the last FA Cup game gave him a lot of excitement.

Why did he come to Manchester City?

The scene of making the decision reappeared before him.

At that time, he was sitting at his home in Madrid, watching the glorious figure on the TV, and his heart was also stirred up.

That was his first official game after eight months of serious injury, but he ran as fast as before, causing Aston Villa's defense to overturn and failing to rest. Aston Villa also had fast players in it, but they all lost in front of glory.

At that time, Robinho looked at Glory's figure and felt that nothing in this world could stop him.

So he decided to come to Manchester City, thinking that Manchester City has such a glory, and its results will not be too bad, right?

Add to it, competing for the Premier League championship is definitely not a fool

As a result, the cruel reality gave him a head-on blow.

But now, he intends to reprove it to those who hack him.

He is not a "empty gate without entering the emperor"

He planned so, but after the game started, he seemed to have not integrated into the team's offense. Just watching Rongguang and Berbatov cooperated and sparked frequently, but nothing happened to him, he was very anxious.

However, his pride did not allow him to ask Rongguang for help, saying "Rong, please pass the ball to me, I want to score a goal."

Why did he say that he was also the star of tomorrow who was called the "Belley's successor"...

What should I do?

Seeing that he was still celebrating the glory of goals with his teammates, Robinho thought of the figure of glory running wildly against Aston Villa.

"...If you really want to win, then what you should do now is not to be a spectator, holding on to Rong's mind that everything is handed over to Rong. You should try to keep up with Rong's speed..."

Benitez's words suddenly rang in his mind.

Robinho knew what he should do.

Then run away.

Try to keep up with the speed of glory.

When Rong Guang attacked, he ran desperately. If he appeared in a good position like Berbatov, perhaps Rong Guang would pass the football?

If you run away, you may not necessarily get a chance. But if you don’t run away... there will never be a chance.

This is a very simple truth, but Robinho understood it so clearly for the first time.

※※※

No one cares what Robinho, who has his head down, is thinking, Benitez and his assistant are celebrating the goal, while Portsmouth coach Paul Hart is chagrined and headaches for conceding the goal.

How could the speed of glory be forgotten?

Oh shit

Now that the goal is lost, how will you play in the next game?

Press it out and attack? I'm afraid I'll lose more balls?

Or should you shrink your defense and wait patiently for the right counterattack opportunity while ensuring that you don’t continue to concede the ball?

In the end, Paul Hart chose the latter.

It's just a conceding goal. Judging from Manchester City's previous performance, there is still hope.

What he should avoid is that if Manchester City scored another goal in a short period of time, it would be really over.

※※※

When Portsmouth completely recovered the defense, Manchester City's defensive counterattack could not be played, and they had to fight a positional battle.

Moreover, Portsmouth's defense against Glory has become stricter. Various fouls or actions that are close to fouls are to prevent Manchester City's core Glory from getting the ball well and prevent Manchester City's offense from running smoothly.

Time passed minute by minute in this tug-of-war. The first half ended. None of the two sides scored another goal. The score was frozen at 0. Manchester City, who played away, was temporarily leading.

Portsmouth contracted even harder in the second half, and they seemed to give up on the offense.

Portsmouth's adjustment was successful, and they left Manchester City without a single goal in the first thirty minutes of the second half.

No matter how hard Glory, Berbatov, Elano and others work, they just can't lock in the victory.

It is very dangerous for them to lead only one goal. Manchester City's defense is not very good. They have conceded 34 goals in the 20 rounds of the league. No team in the top 11 leagues has conceded more goals than this, which shows that the relationship between defense and performance is very direct.

Manchester City's problem in the first half of the season was not just lack of offense.

Seeing that Manchester City was unable to score again, many people began to worry habitually - the opponent was too weak to reflect Manchester City's true level. This game may be the real test of Benitez, the Manchester City team...

Maybe, Manchester City will concede another goal before the end of the game, turning the three-pointer into one point...

※※※

Mark Bowen stood beside Benitez and asked, "Do you want to make adjustments? The game is over with more than ten minutes left..."

His implication is to remind Benitez to pay attention to defense and not to lose his guard at the last moment, that would be too unfair...

In fact, Benitez has been thinking about this issue before.

Rongguang and Berbatov performed well in this game, especially when fighting in positional battles. Berbatov played a greater role than he thought, so if he wanted to adjust, it would be impossible to replace these two people.

We need to strengthen our defense. Now it seems that only Robinho can be replaced.

He has never replaced Robinho before because he saw that Robinho's attitude in the game was obviously different from before and was more positive, so he wanted to give this active player some opportunities and time. If he could score a goal through his own initiative, it would be great.

But now, the game has reached the last fifteen minutes, and the goal has become no longer important, the important thing is defense.

At this time, you can only replace Robinho to replace the defensive player and strengthen the team's defense.

He has given Robinho enough time. He has no choice but to score without a goal. He can't keep him on the court. If Portsmouth finally equalizes the score, who is it?

Thinking of this, he nodded: "Okay, ask Richards to warm up."

Mark Bowen took the order and left.

Soon, Richards got up from the bench and ran to the warm-up area.

The TV broadcast also seemed to understand it very well. After turning the camera to the warm-up area, Robinho was given a close-up shot.

Commentator Motson said: "Richards went to warm up. It seems that Benitez is going to strengthen his defense. In this case, Robinho should be replaced. His attitude in this game is much more active than before, but he still failed to score. Moreover, from a tactical point of view, Robinho is the player with the least contribution to the team, and Rong is definitely impossible to end. Berbatov can form an offensive fulcrum in the frontcourt... Only Robinho, his dribbling is limited space when facing the opponent's defensive, and he cannot play..."

"Maybe Robinho will leave Manchester City this summer..." Alan Hansen said with his hands spreading away.

※※※

Robinho did not look down from the field. He seemed to have no idea that he was about to be replaced. He was still trying to find and wait for opportunities.

Since he came to Manchester City with a transfer, he has never been so devoted to the game and has reached the state of selflessness.

Five minutes passed and the game entered the 80th minute.

In the past five minutes, Portsmouth no longer just defended. They began to try attacks, seized Manchester City's eagerness to lock in the victory and fought back.

Manchester City's defensive pressure begins to grow.

At the same time, Richards had finished warming up and returned to the coach's seat. Assistant coach Mark Bowen was holding a tactical board to explain his mission after he came on the court.

Half a minute later, he and the fourth official walked to the sidelines, who were holding an electronic prompt sign for substitution.

This is about to be a replacement.

However, the ball was not dead on the court at this time, so it was impossible to substitute immediately. The fourth official lowered his head and entered the number on the sign. Richards twisted his butt next to him, jumping and moving his body.

To put it into a famous saying - there is not much time left for Robinho now...

At this moment, Portsmouth launched an offensive, and the game entered the 80th minute, leaving them with little time, so their offensive was much more violent than before. You should know that their purpose of shrinking defense was definitely not to lose a few goals, but to counterattack at the last moment. If you don't suppress the attack, what's the point of not losing the ball before? They are already behind the score.

On the wing, Jermaine Pennant, who came to Portsmouth on loan from Liverpool this season, received the ball, and he was about to shake off Sun Hai who was standing in front of him.

Sun Hai was not valued in the first half of the season. In Mark Hughes's view, Sun Hai was really trying to make Glory adapt to Manchester City's life as soon as possible. His role was off the court, not on the court.

However, with the arrival of Benitez, Sun Hai, who was serious and positive in training, also began to get the opportunity to play.

In the previous FA Cup match against Nottingham Forest, Sun Hai appeared on the starting list, and the same is true for this game.

In the first half, he once again made an excellent defense in front of the goal, successfully disturbing Nugent, allowing the opponent not to hit the ball that Crouch swung over, and preventing Manchester City from being scored first.

This time, facing Pennant's breakthrough, he performed very decisively. He saw the time and stepped forward with a quick step forward, broke the ball under Pennant's feet, then walked around Pennant, caught up with the football he had stabbed away near the sideline, and kicked the ball in front with a big kick.

At the same time, the glory near the central circle also began to accelerate, chasing the football

The atmosphere in the stands suddenly changed. The cheers of the home team fans who were cheering for Portsmouth were replaced by booing and roaring, and they were panicked - this was another counterattack.
Chapter completed!