Seeing james transform into a question master, Larry couldn't help but glance at him.
"I'm this old, can't you just let me watch the game quietly for a while? Why do you keep making me talk so much..."
Although he complained inwardly, Larry remained very professional and spoke slowly:
"Hmm... Mario Balotelli, honestly, I've never been very optimistic about this player."
"Oh? larry isn't optimistic? Why? I see that the European media are basically very optimistic about Mario Balotelli's future, and many media describe him as the next King Adriano."
james was a little surprised by Larry's answer, because Mario Balotelli's talent was obvious to see. Anyone could tell that this Italian genius had a bright future.
Regarding his partner's confusion, Larry considered his words for a moment, then said:
"The Western media are unanimously optimistic about Mario Balotelli because he has excellent physical condition. To put it bluntly, his hardware is outstanding."
"But if you look closely, it's not hard to see that Mario Balotelli's brain isn't very good, which will completely limit his development."
"You know, every world-class player in this world needs both body and brain."
"Even if the physical condition is slightly worse, the brain must be there. It doesn't have to be outstanding, but it absolutely cannot be completely absent!"
"Even Inter Milan's former King Adriano wasn't a completely brainless player."
"But Mario Balotelli, honestly, in all my years watching football, I've never seen anyone more brainless than him..."
"Other players being brainless at most cause a lot of off-field messes, but Mario Balotelli is brainless both off and on the field."
"This is very damaging..."
After hearing Larry's explanation, james's initially surprised mood instantly became clear.
Although Larry's opinion was somewhat contrary to the public media, upon closer thought, Mario Balotelli did indeed have the problems Larry mentioned.
You know, Manchester City's current coach is his fellow countryman Mancini.
Yet, Mario Balotelli, hailed as a super genius, still remained far from a starting position after half a season.
Think back to Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Kaka, and others.
Which of them spent so long as a substitute at their club?
As for saying that Mario Balotelli is in a strong team and a starting position is hard to come by, that statement is even more of a joke.
Cristiano Ronaldo went to Manchester United at 18 and was a starter in his first season.
In the second season, Sir Alex Ferguson even sent Van Nistelrooy, who was Manchester United's top scorer at the time and known as the "King of the Six-Yard Box," to Real Madrid to make him a regular starter.
Sir Alex Ferguson, as the Premier League overlord and the Godfather of the Red Devils, isn't stupid. If Cristiano Ronaldo hadn't shown his outstanding talent, would Sir Alex Ferguson have driven away Manchester United's main striker for a Portuguese kid from the countryside?
Just thinking about it makes it impossible...
Therefore, Mario Balotelli's persistent bench-warming at Manchester City is essentially because he is not strong enough, not outstanding enough.
"Well, larry makes sense. Alright, the Main Referee has blown the whistle to start the match, let's get into the game..."
Perhaps it was because Arsenal had beaten them so badly at the Etihad last time.
In this match, the Manchester City players were clearly holding their breath, determined to fight Arsenal to the end!
Both sides immediately entered into a real battle of tackles and challenges, skipping the mutual probing stage.
In the 3rd minute of the match.
Fly made the first move, completing a breakthrough with a fake pass and a real dribble on the wing. Facing Kompany's tackle, he unleashed a long-range shot, but the ball went over the crossbar.
"Tsk tsk ~~~ The long-range shot is still a bit lacking..."
Although Fly's long-range shot, after being boosted by the Heavy Gunner, had all its stats reach 80+.
However, compared to the top long-range shooters, this value is not outstanding.
This is also the reason why Fly has only scored three long-range goals in official matches so far.
If you include regular training matches, Fly's long-range shots have just exceeded ten.
There is still a long way to go before upgrading to Super Heavy Gunner.
In the 5th minute of the match.
After Milner stole the ball from Nasri, he returned with a long-range shot, and the ball flew directly into the stands.
In the 7th minute of the match.
Manchester City midfielder Barry fouled Wilshere, and the Main Referee awarded Arsenal a free kick about 30 meters from the goal.
Fabregas took the free kick, and with a dipping shot, the ball grazed the heads of the Manchester City wall and curved towards the goal.
At the crucial moment, "Worldie Background Board" Joe Hart stepped up and saved this beautiful free kick.
In the 9th minute of the match.
Fly and Van Persie completed two consecutive one-two passes in the front field, and the latter finally took a shot, which hit the post and bounced out of bounds.
Van Persie, facing this shot that was so close to a goal, clicked his tongue, shaking his head as he slowly retreated.
In the 13th minute of the match.
Manchester City's star player Tevez seized on Varane's mistake, received a through ball from Yaya Touré, and created a near one-on-one opportunity.
Facing such a great chance, Tevez aimed for the far post and completed a push shot.
Szczęsny was helpless against this tricky shot and could only watch the ball roll past his outstretched leg.
Fortunately, this push shot, due to its extremely tricky angle, did not hit the goal frame.
Arsenal narrowly escaped.
"Tevez, shot!!!"
"Oh, this shot was slightly wide of the right post, what a shame..."
"I have to say, Argentina is prone to producing divine strikers!"
"Messi, Higuaín, Tevez, and now Atletico Madrid's divine striker Agüero."
"Argentina's attacking players are truly abundant in talent, something other teams can only envy..."
Larry heard james's words and didn't give him any face, directly pointing out Argentina's shortcomings:
"That being said, Argentina's midfield and defense are currently not very strong, a typical case of being top-heavy."
"As the saying goes, defense wins championships. With Argentina's weak defensive resources, it's difficult, very difficult, to win the World Cup..."
"Whether it's Spain, Germany, or even England, their defensive resources are significantly stronger than Argentina's."
As soon as Larry said this, it immediately drew dissatisfaction from many Argentina fans or Messi fans.
[Alright, this old guy Larry is just talking nonsense here, he doesn't understand anything... Argentina has several divine strikers who can compete for the League's Golden Boot. No matter how many goals the defense concedes, as long as the attack scores more than the defense concedes, isn't that enough? He doesn't even understand such a simple principle and is still a commentator here, ridiculous!]
[Exactly, exactly, Argentina can be just like Arsenal now, even if the defense is trash, as long as the attack is strong enough, they can keep winning games!]
[I guess Larry is a Cristiano Ronaldo fan and can't stand the Little Flea doing well, so he's deliberately belittling Argentina here, in reality, it's for his father Ronaldo.]
[Hahahaha, the dwarf fans upstairs are killing me with laughter, Larry just said a few truths and he's deliberately slandering? Truly, a person with a dirty heart sees everyone as dirty, ugh~~~]
[And they're comparing it to Arsenal here? Arsenal's midfield and attack really aren't something Argentina can compare to, right? Fly alone can rival all of Argentina's forwards...]
In the 20th minute of the match.
Barry fouled Fabregas again, and this time, because it was a tactical foul to break up Arsenal's counterattack, the Main Referee showed Barry a yellow card.
In the 25th minute of the match.
Arsenal had a corner kick, Nasri crossed to the back post, and Alexandre Song won the header, but unfortunately, he couldn't get enough power behind it, and the ball went over the crossbar.
In the 29th minute of the match.
Arsenal transitioned from defense to attack, Wilshere played a precise through ball, and Fly was about to accelerate but was pulled down by the Dutchman Nigel de Jong.
"Hiss~~~ You dog, you're quite ruthless!"
Facing this Dutchman, who was as infamous as the Portuguese warrior Pepe in his previous life, Fly had always been cautious.
He was afraid that this dog would go all out and resort to foul play if he couldn't win by playing normally.
However, Fly's attention was always on his teammates, after all, he had an injury immunity buff and wasn't afraid of being fouled.
"Shit, Nigel, you son of a bitch, you can't play football properly and now you're resorting to fighting?"
Wilshere saw his good brother being pulled down and immediately became furious, even more excited than Fly himself.
"Trash, do you Fxxking want to fight?"
Seeing all the Arsenal players surrounding him, the Main Referee quickly blew his whistle, signaling everyone to calm down.
Fly, who was lying on the ground playing dead, didn't even show his eyes to avoid becoming Busquets, he only used his ears to listen.
"I didn't mean to, brother, it's just that this guy is too soft and fell down directly, I didn't even use any force..."
An evil person like Nigel de Jong would naturally not admit that he deliberately intended to get Fly off the field.
His purpose was indeed a tactical foul, but he also had the intention of getting Fly, the biggest threat on the field, off.
The Main Referee looked at Fly, who was constantly 'groaning' on the ground, and couldn't help but feel conflicted.
Under normal circumstances, he would only give a verbal warning.
But when it came to decisions involving Fly, he had to officiate fairly.
Helplessly, the Main Referee still gave Nigel de Jong a yellow card.
However, this decision drew boos from the Arsenal fans present.
"Murderer, red card!"
"Red card, it must be a red card!"
"That damn Dutchman injured Fly, injured the Premier League's best player, unforgivable, he must be shown a red card as punishment!"
"The Main Referee took money, he's deliberately protecting a murderer..."
Not only the Arsenal fans, but even Wenger showed a "ferocious" look, running to the sideline and bombarding the Fourth Official.
The Fourth Official said he was also innocent!
Why was all the pressure directed at him?
Could it be because he couldn't show cards to the head coach?
Although it was very lively on the sidelines, the players on the field quickly returned to the game.
The match had only been going on for less than 30 minutes, and unless it was a foul that absolutely required a red card, the Main Referee would usually only show a yellow card as a gesture.
Fabregas knew this very well, so after calming down the Arsenal players, he quickly set up the free kick in the attacking third and kicked it as soon as the Main Referee blew the whistle.
As for the reason he took the free kick quickly, it was naturally because the person who was originally lying on the ground playing dead suddenly came back to life, faking death on the spot, and rushed forward while everyone was not paying attention.
"Not good... This kid, be careful, Richards!"
Manchester City's future captain Kompany was the first to notice something was wrong, but due to the distance between him and Fly, even if he reacted, it was too late to stop him.
So he could only call out to Richards, who was less than three meters in front of Fly.
Richards instinctively made a defensive move after being reminded by Kompany.
But for Fly, who had already started running, three meters was almost negligible.
As Richards' legs just started to move, Fly had already rushed past him and received the set piece that Fabregas had taken quickly.
Joe Hart just took a sip of water and found that Fly had appeared in front of him, with no defensive players around, and a one-on-one opportunity had formed.
"Damn it, are you eating shit? How did you let him through?"
Although Joe Hart was very angry, he still reacted in a hurry.
Facing Fly's one-on-one, Joe Hart strode forward to block Fly's shooting angle.
Seeing his future national teammate choose to come out, Fly pushed the ball to his right side and then dribbled horizontally.
He dodged Joe Hart's horizontal save, and before Richards' sliding tackle arrived, he gently pushed the ball with the inside of his foot, and the ball rolled directly into the wide-open goal.
With Fly's opportunistic goal, Arsenal led Manchester City 1-0 at home.
...