In the sixth round of the league, during the match between Manchester City and Liverpool, when the team was trailing and desperately needed to equalize or even come from behind, Bony was eagerly warming up on the sidelines, rubbing his hands in anticipation.
He knew that as the only striker on the bench, Pellegrini could only send him on!
Boss, let me on, let me save the team!
But Pellegrini’s decision to put Tang Long on the front line was a harsh slap to Bony, leaving him caught off guard.
A heart that was once fiery immediately fell into a cold abyss.
Good for you, old Chilean man, you’d rather put an attacking midfielder on the front line to play forward than send me, a real striker?
Is it that as a player with a transfer fee of over 30 million euros, I’m really not worthy of your trust?
In the daily training sessions, Bony hadn’t noticed any ability or talent in Tang Long for playing as a forward.
Compared to himself, Tang Long isn’t particularly fast, tall, or strong.
As for goal-scoring instincts?
Come on, instincts is a term exclusive to forwards. Who says a midfielder has good goal-scoring instincts? That’s nonsense!
So Bony wasn’t optimistic about Tang Long being put on the front line, and was even waiting to see him make a fool of himself~
But shortly after Tang Long was moved to the front line, he cleverly capitalized on a header from Iheanacho to score!
At this moment, all the Manchester City players were ecstatic, and Bony stood up to applaud.
Yet the more he clapped, the colder his heart became, as if each clap wasn’t striking his hands in celebration for Tang Long, but slapping him in the face!
What? Tang Long scored, he really scored!
As a midfielder pushed to the front line, this poaching showed a sharper sense of anticipation than that of ordinary forwards.
Oh my god, so he really can play forward!
He began to watch Tang Long’s performance nervously, every run, every turn, every control of the ball, every shot made Bony on edge.
The more Bony watched, the more bizarre it seemed, the more unbelievable, and the more inferior he felt in comparison.
Although in some specific details, Bony could see Tang Long’s forward skills were still somewhat immature and inexperienced.
However, just based on his positioning and his anticipation of teammates’ passes, Bony was far inferior on the front line!
Thinking that he was almost 27, having played as a forward for over ten years, yet in some basic skills of a forward, he was actually inferior to Tang Long, who wasn’t even 20, Bony wished to scold himself: "Look at him, then look at me, all these years, have you been training seriously?"
And then, Tang Long’s beautiful dribbling maneuver to deceive Mignolet and score into an empty net left this substitute Ivorian striker thoroughly ashamed, wishing he could dig a hole and hide!
Such a marvelous feint, even if Bony practiced for another ten years, it would be hard to perform so smoothly in a real match.
"This isn’t something that can be improved by training, this is a talent..."
A deep sense of crisis engulfed him, and over Bony’s head, like the common weather on the British Isles, dark clouds loomed.
Bony always prided himself on his speed and dribbling skills.
Back when he was in Swansea, many of his goals came from breaking through defenders forcefully and then scoring.
But seeing Tang Long’s maneuver, in that moment, Bony even thought he was seeing Ronaldo from the 1998 World Cup!
Like many forwards, Ronaldo was Bony’s idol since childhood. He grew up watching Ronaldo play.
Bony had tried to emulate Ronaldo’s moves in training, but he gave up after a few attempts and wouldn’t use them in matches.
Because although the feint seems like just two side steps, the control over the rhythm and detailed foot placement is extraordinarily demanding, arguably one of the toughest dribbling techniques.
Every step, every dip of the shoulder, every sway of the hand had to be perfectly executed.
Otherwise, the excessive feinting would only disrupt one’s rhythm, failing to achieve the desired effect.
So when Tang Long scored the lead goal for Manchester City around the 80th minute, Bony’s mentality was starting to become a bit twisted!
Not only did he not want Tang Long to continue scoring, he also hoped Liverpool could pull one back and end the match with a 2:2 draw.
This way, Tang Long’s two goals wouldn’t allow Manchester City to complete the comeback, and Tang Long wouldn’t receive so much praise, nor highlight Bony’s own incompetence.
Moving from Swansea to Manchester City was like a carp leaping over the dragon gate for Bony, a huge step forward in his career.
He didn’t want to be swept out by the club after one or two years of mediocrity.
So, Bony first sought advice from Yaya Toure, wanting to hear any suggestions he might have or if he could say a word for him to the coach, to give him a boost.
After all, although there were many factions in Manchester City, the Spanish Language Gang and the French Language Gang were the two biggest factions.
As the leader of the French Language Gang, Yaya Toure was an absolute starter for the team, having served Manchester City for five years.
Unlike Bony, new to the team and with little influence, Toure’s words carried substantial weight in the team.