Manchester City missed the Club World Cup championship, the difficult choice behind it

Speaking of Manchester City, we have to mention that they are one of the few European giants with a positive attitude and full strength to participate in the first Club World Cup.

The four major seasons just ended were all empty. Manchester City did not hesitate to sign three strong players, including Nuri, Cherki, Reindes, for a total of 150 million euros.

plus Marmush, Niko, Husanov and Rees introduced this winter window, Manchester City's recruitment fee this season has exceeded 375 million euros, while the summer window has not been closed.

It can be seen that Manchester City is not participating in the Club World Cup for money, because they are not short of money in the fundamental way!

In the group stage, Manchester City became the only team to win three consecutive victories, easily won the first place in the group and successfully advanced to the knockout stage, which is considered one of the favorites to win the championship.

However, the first round of the knockout round actually lost against Riyadh Crescent. This 1/8 final, dubbed by fans, was extremely thrilling, and the result was shocking. A careful analysis will reveal some weird things.

Guardiola did not send out the strongest lineup, and Rodri, Foden, and Marmush did not play. In the first half, Manchester City failed to maintain the offensive after leading the lead, and it was obviously not simply blamed on taking it lightly.

The defeat came, Guardiola concluded that the defense was too open. In fact, Manchester City's defense was quite open in the game, with Riyadh Crescent scoring 4 goals with six shots, which is in sharp contrast to the solid defense line in the group stage.

Entered the second half, Manchester City lost the lead, Guardiola made an emergency adjustment, and Rodri quickly equalized the score after coming on the court, but then he seemed to lack the determination to attack again. In overtime, Manchester City fell behind and tied, and eventually lost the penalty shootout... Perhaps it can be interpreted from the perspective of mystery or conspiracy. FIFA may not want Manchester City to withdraw early, and Manchester City itself may not be willing to win consecutive victories.

From the initial "to go all out" to "an unexpected encounter", Manchester City actually made a difficult choice.

At first, Manchester City did hope to win the Club World Cup championship, but if they do, Manchester City will not be able to prepare for the new Premier League season in time. The Premier League officials have made it clear that they will not adjust the schedule for the Club World Cup, and the new season is scheduled to open in mid-August. This means that if Manchester City wins the championship, the main competitors will have the advantage of three-week grinding.

Therefore, Manchester City had to choose one of two and finally chose to regain the Premier League championship. Especially for defending champion Liverpool, they no longer waste all their efforts and quickly sign and strengthen their combat effectiveness. If Manchester City slacked off at the beginning, it is likely that Liverpool will be the first to open the gap.

At this moment, Manchester City must give up one of its goals and concentrate on returning to the top of the Premier League