The long-awaited match day has finally arrived. Saturday, 26 August 2017. A sunny morning in Manchester, but the air on the coast south of Bournemouth is predicted to be a little more humid.
The journey from Manchester to the south coast of England takes around four to five hours, so Pep Guardiola decided that the team would use a luxury team bus to keep things together. On the bus, the atmosphere was very relaxed; the gentle roar of the machines was drowned out by the sound of music from the players' headphones and the light chatter between them.
William sat by the window, watching the boring view of the highway before Kyle Walker turned to look at him. "William, be honest, did you do that no-look pass on purpose during training yesterday or were you just lucky?" Walker teased while munching on his healthy snack.
"I just saw a gap, Kyle. If you had run a little slower, the ball would have gone out of bounds," replied William in a flat tone which drew laughter from Gabriel Jesus in the opposite seat. Kevin De Bruyne, who was near them, only smiled faintly while remaining focused on his tactical tablet, occasionally showing William the movement patterns of the Bournemouth defenders.
"This guy seems to have a few more tricks up his sleeve," interrupted Bernardo Silva.
"I always have tricks, it's just that I'm too lazy to show them because I know some people will protest my actions," said William as he turned to Sterling.
Sterling, who was looked at by William, smiled as if he had never protested about William's actions at the training ground, "What? Me? Heh–I never protested, it's just that I don't like you having too many skills after having such a handsome face."
"Never mind, this guy won't budge even if we attack him with factual attacks." The voice that intervened this time came from captain Kompany who had been paying attention to the players' enjoyment.
"Why only me? Gabriel also talks a lot when we discuss William's face," protested Sterling because all the players were targeting him.
The players laughed at Sterling's complaining expression.
"You always pick other people up when they're in a corner" William interrupted amidst the laughter of the other players – and his words once made the team bus even more noisy with laughter and reduced the tension before they all competed.
As for Guardiola, he could only laugh from the front when he heard the players - he wasn't angry with their attitude because he knew that if something like this didn't happen before the match then the tension of the players on the pitch would increase further.
Guardiola spoke to Arteta about whether the opponent's formation would match what they had predicted and whether Manchester City's formation could counter them with a short passing game like in training.
They discussed how to change the formation in the match if the match did not go according to their predictions.
The journey that took several hours finally ended.
At 13.30 in the afternoon, the bus arrived at the players' parking area. Hundreds of City fans who had traveled long distances (away fans) were waiting behind the guardrail. As soon as the bus door opened, cheers broke out.
William, Foden and Agüero took the time to stop for a moment before entering the players' tunnel to give some autographs and take a quick selfie with the loyal supporters who shouted their encouragement.
"William–I will still support you even though you already have a Girlfriend," shouted a woman wearing William's jersey.
The players laughed and even the fans there laughed when they heard the woman's screams.
"Thank you for supporting me, but try to support Manchester City too – I'm paid by this team," William answered with a shout too.
However, because this was Bournemouth's home ground, there were more fans there and seeing how the Manchester City players greeted their fans as if they were not nervous at all about facing Bournemouth made the home fans angry and hurled several insults.
"Don't talk too much kid, you'll be destroyed on the pitch later," shouted a Bournemouth fan at William
"You only rely on your handsome face to become more famous – even though your abilities are only ordinary."
"You are too relaxed for a team that has been oppressed by your neighbors for too long."
Swearing and insults were heard but the Manchester City players were not too angry because they knew that something like that would definitely happen if they played at their opponent's home ground.
But not with the fans even though they are few in number but these fans are the people who come to the opponent's home ground to support their favorite team so hearing their Team and Prince being insulted makes Manchester City fans angry.
"What did you just say? William's game is just normal? That's probably because you see the players you support playing so often that you can't get used to seeing good players," Manchester City fans shouted in defense of William.
Then the shouts of insults from Manchester City fans who responded to the Bournemouth fans began to be heard.
William, who saw how the fans were defending him, smiled and said, "Don't think too much about what they say, leave it to us on the field and you will see how we respond to them." William's voice, which had started out soft and smiling, turned calmer and his facial expression became flatter.
The Manchester City fans heard that and calmed down again–somehow they felt that William would give another extraordinary performance in this match even though they knew that William was playing as a substitute.
After greeting the fans, the Manchester City players said goodbye and went straight into the stadium and headed to the dressing room.
After changing clothes to warm up, the two teams entered the field and started their respective warm-ups.
Fans of both teams are starting to enter the stadium, but usually they don't go straight to the stands but instead walk around the stadium first to buy food or drinks.
But Manchester City fans didn't do that this time, they were all very excited to watch the match after winning the previous two matches, especially this time their main player, David Silva, had recovered and would return to playing.
While doing the warm-up stretch, the thoughts of some of the new Manchester City players were all over the place, 'when will I have the chance to play in the Champions League? Wait, with the current players, even though they rarely play, the opportunity to get into the next Champions League is greater - even becoming champions in the league with a coach like a boss definitely won't take long,' they thought in their respective minds, a fire of enthusiasm burned inside them as they imagined the future results of the game. But for now, he is focused on the task in front of him.
After a sufficient warm-up, the team returned to the dressing room and there Guardiola had drawn up a tactics board to explain again how the game would be played this time.
Pep Guardiola stands in front of a magnetic whiteboard. "David is back, so we will play with full control in the middle," said Pep while naming Silva, De Bruyne and Fernandinho as starters. William listened carefully even though his name was on the reserve list today.
"Don't be too burdened for those of you who didn't get the chance to play as a starter, just show me your abilities later – after that the chances of you being able to play will be even greater" Guardiola continued, the other players bothered with a little disappointment even after they knew that their chance of playing was very small at the moment, but they hid their disappointment, because they knew that they had to prove themselves in the upcoming matches or in training sessions.
Meanwhile Bournemouth also fielded their best players, Eddie Howe gave his final instructions in a more emotional tone. "They have talent, but we have collectiveness. Nathan, you are the key to closing the space between their lines. Don't let Silva or De Bruyne turn around with the ball!" Howe exclaimed to Nathan Aké.
"And for the other players, show what we have trained – they are at the top and feel that we are not a strong team but they don't know what we have prepared"
Bournemouth players showed their determination to win at home in this match.
"Welcome spectators, this match is Bournemouth vs Manchester City." Martin Tyler's enthusiastic voice sounded excitedly in the live broadcast commentator's booth.
"Bournemouth made a big investment in Nathan Aké and Asmir Begović, but they have had a difficult start to the season," continued Tyler. "On the other hand, City still have a lot of strength; Bernardo Silva starts this time, Agüero is on the bench and the biggest surprise is William Carter who starts on the bench – we've already heard from Guadiola that he wants to keep William fit throughout the season so it's likely that William won't play a full match."
The television screen showed Bournemouth's formation (4-4-1-1) with Defoe up front, followed by Manchester City (4-3-3).
AFC Bournemouth (4-4-1-1)
Goalkeeper: Asmir Begović
Back: Adam Smith, Steve Cook, Nathan Aké, Charlie Daniels
Midfielder: Ryan Fraser, Andrew Surman, Dan Gosling, Harry Arter
Second Striker: Joshua King
Striker: Jermain Defoe
Substitutes: Arthur Boruc, Brad Smith, Tyrone Mings, Marc Pugh, Lewis Cook, Jordon Ibe, Benik Afobe
Look at the depth of Bournemouth's bench, Martin," continued Alan Smith while pointing to the list of substitutes. "Eddie Howe has explosive players like Jordon Ibe and Benik Afobe. If the City defense led by Kompany is careless, Ibe's speed could be a serious threat in the second half."
Manchester City (4-3-3)
Goalkeeper: Ederson
Back: Danilo, Nicolas Otamendi, Vincent Kompany (C), Benjamin Mendy
Midfielder: Fernandinho, David Silva, Kevin De Bruyne
Forward: Bernardo Silva, Gabriel Jesus, Raheem Sterling
City Reserve Players:
Claudio Bravo, John Stones, William Carter, Sergio Agüero, Leroy Sané, Eliaquim Mangala, Phil Foden.
"Martin, a lot of people would have frowned at seeing William Carter on the bench after what he did against Everton," said Alan Smith. "However, if you look deeper, this is a very smart move from Pep Guardiola. David Silva is back, and his experience is much needed to set the tempo in a stadium as small as Vitality."
Smith continued his analysis by pointing to Bournemouth's movement chart. "Eddie Howe has spent a lot of money on Nathan Aké. Aké is a defender who likes to read the game, similar to William's style. Pep probably kept William on purpose so he could come on when Bournemouth's defensive line started to tire of chasing the ball."
"The problem for City today was the transition," added Smith. "Without William on the pitch from the start, City are missing a player who has instant vertical passing vision. De Bruyne will carry that burden alone in the first half. If Bournemouth manage to lock down Kevin, City will struggle to break open the 'bus parking' that Howe is likely to implement."
"But imagine if William came on as a substitute later on – the impact William could have in the 60th minute," Smith concluded. "With his passing statistics which achieve extraordinary accuracy and his vision, it is likely that Bournemouth's defenders will have difficulty, especially if William comes on at the same time as Agüero, these two players are likely to be the destroyers of Bournemouth's game which is built by Eddie Howe."
"And for both benches this team is truly extraordinary. On the one hand you have the young talent of Bournemouth, but on the other, City have Sergio Agüero, Leroy Sané and of course, William Carter. This is a luxury that no manager in the world has at the moment." Continue Alan Smith's analysis.
"When discussing young players like William then the big question is mentality," exclaimed Tyler. "How would a youngster like William Carter respond to being benched after a five-star performance? If he comes in with the right hunger, he could destroy Howe's plans in an instant with a game vision that is beyond his years."
"Because as we mentioned before, William's impact will be extraordinary – but will his mentality be able to overcome how he played very well in the previous match but instead was benched in this match?" continued Tyler.
When the two teams walked onto the field, the atmosphere at the Vitality Stadium increased even more–especially the cheers from the home fans, a banner that read "DESTROY THAT RICH TEAM." They seemed to really want to destroy Manchester City, which now has new owners from the Middle East, especially now that they have young players who are shining and starting to show their talent is at a different level.
The atmosphere at the Vitality Stadium was very lively. The home fans were loud, but the Manchester City fans were no less loud, filling the air with anticipation. This is no ordinary match—it is a clash between two teams with contrasting goals: Manchester City, a team with world-class players and Bournemouth, a team that is said to be full of young talent.
############
I deliberately made this chapter not combined with the match because I think it would be better if the match focused on 2 chapters with 1 chapter in each round.
Thank you for reading and try to comment about what the future holds, whether it is combined with a match or separated like this.