Thirty minutes had passed in the match, with the 50,000 fans at Etihad Stadium enduring every second as if it were a year.
During these thirty minutes, Sunderland's formation remained excellent, and they strictly executed Zhao Zhao's pre-determined tactics, astonishingly not once venturing into the opponent's half to snatch the ball!
This meant Manchester City hadn't found a good opportunity to penetrate, and naturally, there hadn't been any threatening shots.
This was a rare occurrence for Manchester City!
Known for their offense, they usually had many attempts at goal in every match, but today, their shots on target were almost zero so far!
This also made Manchester City's Coach, Guardiola, feel a bit anxious.
He had been standing on the sidelines a few minutes after the match started, and now he was frequently waving his hands, urging his players to push up as much as possible and increase the number of crosses!
His team needed to score quickly, otherwise, there was no telling what unexpected things might happen.
Coach Zhao Zhao truly felt a bit uncanny!
Of course, this wasn't Guardiola thinking this for no reason; it stemmed from his research on Zhao Zhao.
Especially the two consecutive matches Sunderland won, Guardiola repeatedly watched the replays.
He discovered that Zhao Zhao seemed to have an ability to weave an entire set of tactical traps.
To put it more mystically, he gave the impression of having a premonition!
For example, in the match against Manchester United, from instructing Pickford to save a penalty, to commanding the team's counter-attack goal, then celebrating the goal that got Mourinho sent off, and finally winning after Ibrahimović was sent off, it was truly as smooth as silk, like a well-designed script.
Then, in the subsequent match against Middlesbrough, no matter how opponent Karanka deployed his troops, he always seemed to be one step behind, always outmaneuvered by Zhao Zhao.
Because of this, these two teams, originally of comparable strength, ended up with a historically lopsided score.
Was all this a coincidence? Impossible.
From Guardiola's perspective, this was more like a design, a tactical design so precise it was almost impossible.
And if such tactics were "almost impossible" to design, didn't that further suggest that Zhao Zhao seemed able to predict his opponents' reactions and responses, and then prepare in advance?
Such an intuition appearing in a Coach was truly terrifying!
Look at Zhao Zhao's performance today.
He immediately adopted a full-line defensive posture, without any hesitation.
And almost the entire Manchester City team pushed past the halfway line, turning the match into an offensive and defensive drill, but Zhao Zhao wasn't flustered at all; he remained calmly seated on the bench, even chatting and laughing.
This was too strange!
So Guardiola's inner voice was also telling him: this young Chinese Coach definitely had something unique about him, and he was certainly plotting some scheme!
And the best way to disrupt Zhao Zhao's plan was, of course, to score.
As long as Manchester City could score first, and then use their world-renowned passing and control abilities to keep possession of the ball, no matter how much Zhao Zhao tried to stir things up, he wouldn't be able to change the course of the match.
Why, during the heyday when the Spain national team consecutively won the European Cup and World Cup, did many matches of this top-tier technical team often end with a score of 1:0?
It was precisely because they could firmly control the ball, preventing opponents from getting it.
If you can't even touch the ball, how can you attack?
So Spain only needed to score one goal, and then slowly wear you down until you were defeated, and the match would be won.
Guardiola's idea was similar.
Therefore, even though his team didn't have any tall center-forwards, he still asked his players to increase the number of crosses.
When penetration was difficult, long-range shots were hard to aim, and set pieces were hard to come by, increasing crosses to get more shots was the only way Guardiola could think of to break the deadlock.
And this strategy indeed worked.
Mainly because Manchester City's crossers were of high quality; they had De Bruyne!
And while striker Aguero wasn't known for his height and weight, his agility gave him strong anticipation and good heading skills, often allowing him to get to the ball first.
In the 37th minute, Aguero in the box received a low cross from De Bruyne on the right and immediately took a shot!
But this very threatening shot was saved for a corner by the quick-reacting Pickford.
De Bruyne continued to take the corner, and Kompany headed the ball after getting to it first, but it grazed the crossbar and went out for a goal kick.
These two consecutive attempts were Manchester City's most threatening shots since the start of the match, and they drew rounds of applause from the Manchester City fans present.
...Sunderland is completely on the back foot now, with Manchester City's two shots almost breaching the goal guarded by Pickford.
From the current statistics, Manchester City's possession rate has astonishingly reached 90%! This is truly terrifying.
It's just that I don't know why Coach Zhao Zhao seems not to be anxious at all; he just sits there watching, without any targeted adjustments to change the current passive situation.
Instead, Guardiola on the other side is more agitated, constantly waving his hands on the sidelines...
James Jun's voice actually carried a hint of anxiety.
After all, due to Zhao Zhao's presence, Sunderland could now be said to be the primary team in the hearts of countless Chinese fans!
As a commentator from China, he would naturally side with Sunderland.
Well, there was another reason: James Jun's supported team, Liverpool, was also a direct competitor to Manchester City for a Champions League spot.
If Manchester City dropped points against Sunderland, Liverpool's current third place would be even more secure.
But his anxiety was useless.
As Guardiola made adjustments, Manchester City's attack became more and more intense, and the emotions of the Manchester City fans in the stadium grew higher and higher.
They began to sing "Blue Moon," enveloping the entire Etihad Stadium in a sky-blue ocean!
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On Sunderland's bench.
Assistant Coach Breswell looked at Zhao Zhao and swallowed.
He had spent the past 40 minutes in trepidation.
But now, he couldn't help but admire Zhao Zhao's composure and confidence.
Zhao Zhao had told him earlier: "Don't be afraid; as long as the lads play according to my tactics, we won't concede!"
But how could Breswell not be afraid?
A massive wave of Manchester City players had pushed into their half; these were all multi-million dollar stars, could they press so hard and still not score?
However, up to now, it was indeed as Zhao Zhao had said; the score was still 0:0!
This also made Breswell admire Zhao Zhao's space-blocking tactics wholeheartedly.
It could be said that Zhao Zhao's thinking was very clear, and his analysis of Manchester City's midfield play and individual player characteristics was extremely thorough.
It was precisely because Manchester City's players had excellent close control and were adept at handling the ball in tight spaces that Zhao Zhao demanded his five defenders and four midfielders maintain compactness, even asking the two wide players in attack to tuck in narrower.
This way, most of Manchester City's players were kept far from the goal, thus reducing the threat.
At the same time, Manchester City, through these repeated fruitless attempts, also expended energy and wore down their patience.
And because Sunderland would occasionally counter-attack using Defoe's speed, Manchester City's offense would sometimes ease up, giving Sunderland a chance to breathe.
"It looks like we really have a chance to take a point from Etihad Stadium!" Breswell said excitedly to Zhao Zhao.
"A point? Did I tell you I only planned to take one point?"
Before Breswell's eyes, wide with surprise like brass bells, Zhao Zhao said, word by word:
"In the second half, I'm going to deliver a fatal blow!"