Vincent Kompany.
A young defender from Belgium, he was one of the first players brought in after Mansour took over Manchester City two years ago, and at the time, he had been regarded worldwide as one of the brightest young prospects.
But unlike what the fans had hoped, he failed to truly stand out no matter where he played, and it began to seem as though he would end up as nothing more than an average player.
Still, from this season onward, he had started playing at centre-back, and with his ability finally being recognized, he was slowly beginning to draw out his potential.
As expected of a giant standing 196 centimeters tall, he was excellent in physical battles and aerial duels, and on top of that, he showed great judgment and defensive positioning, making him highly capable of organizing the back line as well.
He was a versatile type of defender, a combination of a fighter and a commander.
That was exactly why Ho-young had chosen Kompany as the core of the defense and was giving him focused guidance.
'The team needs someone who can serve as the pillar of the defense right now.'
Ho-young could not keep covering everything himself every single time.
If he had to sprint all the way from the second line into the defensive third, there would be no way he would still have energy left in the second half.
He did not have ten bodies, and he could not appear like Superman to save the team every time it was in danger.
At the same time, he could not just stay planted in the defensive half and do nothing but defend forever.
Counter-attacking chances did not come every time, and Ho-young's defensive ability was not as devastating as his attacking ability, so there was always the risk of conceding.
In other words, what Manchester City needed most right now was defense.
Defensive stability.
That was the part Ho-young considered most important.
Powerful attack comes from solid defense.
That was one of the most basic truths in football, and something many managers had already proven through tactics.
In modern football, defense is crucial.
Not only defenders, but midfielders and forwards have to defend too.
And at the center of it all, there needs to be someone who can serve as the focal point of the defense.
At Real Madrid, Raúl Albiol, Mertesacker, or Sergio Ramos took on that role, laying the foundation so that Ho-young could focus purely on attack without worrying about the rest.
That was exactly what Manchester City needed most right now.
Someone who could hold firm at the back and let Ho-young attack with peace of mind.
With Kompany's qualities, it was more than possible.
'He can do it perfectly.'
He was the player Ho-young had been looking for.
His deep, melancholy eyes and the large head that made him look almost alien showed that he was both highly intelligent and mentally strong.
And Ho-young also knew that Kompany would grow into a world-class defender.
Of course, the future would change.
That was because Ho-young had come to Manchester City, and because he intended to help Kompany in many ways.
Ho-young had chosen him as a partner in the Manchester City big club project.
In a true sense, he was the first teammate Ho-young had personally found.
As he had seen on the training ground, Kompany's mentality and potential were extremely desirable.
Ho-young wanted to make them shine even more.
'And I'll gain a lot from it too.'
Because one day, he would return as a jewel.
[Ho-young, this really is your debut match, right? You've only been with the team for four days, and you're already organizing the defense from your very first game?]
[Even funnier is the fact that Vincent Kompany is following every one of Ho-young's instructions. It looks like a teacher and his student.]
[They're using Tottenham as live match practice.]
Kompany was simply following Ho-young's guidance by instinct.
Even for him, it was strange.
He had properly learned football for ten years, yet this was the first time he had ever felt something like this.
It was astonishing enough that he was following the guidance of a forward, and in an actual EPL match at that.
But what was even more astonishing was that it was the right path.
'He knows exactly where I should stand when defending, where it is easiest to cut out the ball, where it is easiest to block a shot.'
A manager on the pitch.
A conductor.
Those words fit him perfectly.
Kompany moved faithfully within the structure Ho-young had laid out, taking up positions that made defending easier.
It was a bond formed through ability.
[The flanks are not opening up. This time Luka Modrić looks through the middle. Jermain Defoe is making the run!]
[Ah, he slips it to Pavlyuchenko!]
[They have to watch Crouch too!]
Another crisis.
The front three moved in perfect coordination, disrupting Manchester City's defensive line.
It was their determination to score another before the end of the first half.
But once again, there was an unexpected obstacle.
Thud!
[Kompany with the interception! He clears it away right after! He was in a very good position!]
[But the danger is not over yet. The ball has bounced off Kompany's foot and Gareth Bale has picked it up. They have to stay focused to the end.]
Once again, Kompany's excellent defending got them out of danger.
But unfortunately, that was as far as it went.
Kompany could not defend every area on the pitch by himself.
Bale collected the loose ball and drove at the gap on the right at full speed.
Once again, it was all about knock-and-run.
And once again, there was no surprise.
A destructive force that could not be stopped even when everyone knew it was coming.
Kolarov ended up allowing Bale the opening once more.
[Gareth Bale cuts inside!]
[Ah, Yaya Touré is racing over!]
Whoosh!
"Urgh!"
Bale, driving inside, easily shook off Touré's pressure with another burst of knock-and-run dribbling.
That led straight into a shooting chance.
Boom!
But the chance remained only a chance.
Once again, it was Ho-young.
"Shit!!"
When that thick, powerful thigh blocked the shot once more, Bale's neck veins bulged as he let out his frustration.
Meanwhile, Ho-young had already brought down the aerial ball and was sprinting forward.
A nightmare.
A situation similar to before was unfolding again.
Fortunately, unlike earlier, the defenders had dropped their line and were maintaining tight spacing, building a stable defensive shape.
It was not the kind of situation where they would get helplessly beaten by a simple dribble as before.
Up to that point, there was no reason to worry.
However.
'There is no need to force it.'
For Ho-young, it was not a problem at all.
No, to begin with, he had no intention of trying to dribble through that packed and hopeless space full of defenders.
He had already understood that the width of the space was narrow, and that the defensive shape was already optimized to stop dribble penetration.
After quickly picturing possible routes forward, Ho-young judged that it was not feasible and completely changed the path of the attack.
There was a more efficient and more certain method than carrying the ball all the way himself.
For an instant, Ho-young's eyes sharpened.
His touch became razor-sharp.
And then.
Boom!
[Ah, the ball goes high into the air!]
[Ho-young connects it in one motion. It's heading toward the penalty area!]
[Up front! Tevez is chasing it!]
There is no dribble faster than a pass.
With one long pass, Ho-young skipped the entire process of breaking through and sent the ball straight to the front line in a single move.
The landing point of the ball was near the penalty area.
Even though Tottenham had dropped their defensive line, the long pass was so sharp and precise that it was extremely difficult to deal with.
It was the kind of pass that would make Gómez hesitate over whether to come out or stay on his line.
Unable to make a quick decision, Gómez ultimately stayed rooted to his goal, and Tevez, true to a South American striker, produced excellent dribbling and drove into the box.
William Gallas, standing 183 centimeters tall, tried to engage him physically, but despite his smaller frame, Tevez withstood the contact and protected the ball to the very end.
It was like watching a wild beast.
Tevez's trademark.
A fierce drive built on a low center of gravity.
And then came the one-on-one chance.
"Hup!"
Tevez sucked in a sharp breath and struck an inside-of-the-foot shot with his right foot.
When he was at Manchester United, he had been criticized for lacking composure in front of goal compared to his other qualities, but he was not foolish enough to miss from here.
He was a player regarded as world-class.
Boom!
The shot, struck quickly and accurately, just evaded Gómez's reach and was sucked into the corner of the net.
Rustle!
It was the go-ahead goal.
[Gooooooooooooal!]
[Just before the end of the first half, Carlos Tevez scores the go-ahead goal! A goal with no wasted movement!]
His 13th league goal.
With that, Tevez moved past Arsenal's Van Persie into second place in the league scoring charts.
At the same time, it was also Ho-young's first assist of the season.
Suffering from poor form and goalless in his previous four matches, Tevez wore the expression of a man who had just gained the whole world as he ran toward the corner.
He roared at the camera like an enraged beast, then suddenly turned around in a hurry as if he had remembered something.
The moment he saw Ho-young running toward him from the distance, he shouted,
"Nice pass!"
The version of him who constantly complained that he wanted to go back home the moment he opened his mouth was nowhere to be seen.
A change.
In just 45 minutes, a change had started to take place in him.
The whistle sounded not long after.
Piiiiiik!
It had been a very valuable first half for both Ho-young and Manchester City.
[This really is Manchester City. People have been saying the team's form and atmosphere have not been good lately, but they are still every bit the emerging force people call them. This is a team that stayed second in the league until the early and middle part of the season, and they are showing that level of quality.]
[That's right. Especially in the case of Tevez's go-ahead goal, you could clearly see the understanding between him and Ho-young. The timing and accuracy of the long pass were a huge help in linking the two together.]
[In other words, it all comes down to Ho-young's quality.]
[Exactly. There have been a lot of negative views because of concerns over Ho-young's adaptation and the chemistry between the players, but once this match is over, I think all of that will disappear. I think today will mark the beginning of a lot of changes.]
And just as expected, right after the first half, change began to appear somewhere.
It was in the away team's dressing room.
"Hey, Barry. Nice cover on that header earlier."
"You worked hard too."
"Wow, Tevez. You really buried that one. Gallas's face at the end was priceless."
"Hahahaha!"
Unlike before kick-off, the mood was lively and full of spirit.
Of course, the wall between the cliques was still thick enough to be seen clearly, but even this was already a huge change.
It had also shown clearly during the match.
The players who had been jogging around lazily in the early and middle stages of the first half moved more lightly once Ho-young scored the equalizer, and when Tevez got the go-ahead goal, they suddenly looked full of energy.
The result was 2-1.
Even after doing it themselves, it was hard for them to believe.
Manchester City, a side that had been especially weak against Tottenham, had not won once at White Hart Lane since February 5, 2004.
They had not even managed a draw.
They had kept losing over and over, forced to live with the label of Tottenham's easy prey.
Especially since Mansour's arrival, after suffering five defeats against Tottenham while scoring only 2 and conceding 12, Manchester City fans had to endure being mocked by Manchester United fans as "chicken feed."
It was not even really a fierce rivalry, yet some Manchester City fans had gone as far as declaring that they would not eat chicken until the team finally beat Tottenham.
But today.
At last, the chance had come to wipe away all that humiliation.
"Good. At this rate, we can win."
"They're nothing special. Don't be scared, lads. No matter how hard they try to break through, they keep getting stopped."
"That's right. Vincent's defending was brilliant. Those bastards could not do a thing against Kompany."
"Heh heh. Serves them right."
The players all raised their thumbs toward Kompany.
But Kompany shook his head and spoke.
"That wasn't me."
Then he lifted his chin and pointed to the opposite side.
It was the moment everyone's gaze turned toward Ho-young, who was sitting at the locker across from him.
"You all saw it. Someone is working magic out there on the pitch."
It would have been easy to bask in the praise, but Kompany gave the credit entirely to Ho-young.
Because he knew better than anyone that the reason they had been able to take the lead in the first half was thanks to him.
A silence followed.
Most of the players were too busy nodding in agreement with Kompany's words to say anything.
Then someone broke the silence.
It was Carlos Tevez, who had somehow firmly claimed the seat right beside Ho-young.
He placed a hand on Ho-young's shoulder and spoke loudly.
"Everyone listen up. Play like this is my hometown. We fight for home. And tonight, we're having chicken."
Even though he had been in England for years and still could not speak even simple English, Tevez said it proudly in Spanish.
Then he nudged Ho-young, who was sitting beside him.
"The first-half MOM should say something."
"Why am I the MOM?"
"If the captain says so, then that's what you are. Come on, say something."
Tevez shaped his hand like a microphone and held it out toward Ho-young.
Then Ho-young spoke slowly, in a low voice.
"Let's win."
What more was there to say.
Let's do well, let's work hard, let's make it happen together.
All of that was contained in those words.
Tevez agreed at once.
"Then we have to win."
And one by one, the players nodded.
And so, little by little, Manchester City was beginning to change.
(To be continued.)