knife guard

Chapter 997 The Myth of the Gunner
In the last 20 minutes, Manchester United replaced Ryan Giggs and Valencia started a frantic counterattack. After Arsenal was equalized and surpassed again, the players were completely familiar with the rhythm of the game, the atmosphere outside the field, and the opponent's style of play. Well, Manchester United's efforts in the final stage were like the end of a crossbow. It did not pose much threat to Arsenal. On the contrary, Arsenal's quick counterattack made Manchester United's defense, which is not known for its speed, suffer a lot.

Manchester United was forced to keep kicking high balls on the wing and in the middle, trying to break through the gate of Arsenal in the simplest and most primitive way, and historical experience has also proved that this trick still has a certain effect on players like Arsenal and Barcelona of.

But Wenger put Li Huan in the middle to prevent Manchester United from bombing at high altitude. Li Huan is not too tall, but his jumping ability is amazing, he can judge the landing point well, and he is very strong. He and Koscielny plus Song The supplementary defense basically wiped out most of Manchester United's crosses, and the young goalkeeper Szczesny's height advantage was also displayed to the greatest extent. All the passes in the small penalty area were confiscated by him, without giving Manchester United a point. Opportunity.

In the 80th minute of the game, a quick counterattack from Arsenal directly buried Manchester United's hope of equalizing.

Li Huan made a header to clear the siege. He leaped high, almost half his body taller than the chubby Rooney. Rooney had no chance to touch the ball, and became a little annoyed. He carried Li Huan with his body below and knocked Li Huan to the ground.But referee Weber saw that Li Huan still passed the ball to Nasri's feet, so he didn't blow the whistle.

Nasri's passing and organization are not as good as Cesc Fabregas at Arsenal. When Manchester United aggressively attacked, there were loopholes and gaps behind. He led and turned the ball directly from the left side of Vidic and Ferdinand. Passed through the gap.

Walcott is like a tiger who has found his target, spreading his legs and rushing towards the ball. On the other side of the court, Arshavin also cuts in from the right to prepare for Walcott.

But in just a few breaths, Walcott caught up with the ball, and while quickly waving the ball to the baseline, he observed his teammates' running positions.

At this time, the slow speed of Manchester United's two world-class central defenders was fully exposed. In front of Arshavin's lightning sprint, the two of them could only follow behind like a second-rate defender.

Walcott's ball arrives, and Arshavin's men arrive too. With a push of his arch, he pushes the ball into the dead corner of the goal.Even Van der Sar was old and strong, but he couldn't block such a close-range shot, and the ball flew into the net against the goal post.

3:1. Arsenal widened the score gap to two.

The Manchester United fans in the stands fell silent again. Some smiled wryly, some were angry, some shouted, and some were mournful. Old Trafford was originally the birthplace of pride, happiness and joy for the Red Devils, but today it has changed. It has become a sad place for Red Devils fans.

A small number of Arsenal fans were cheering. They stretched out two palms and waved in the air, indicating that Arsenal led Manchester United by 10 points.

"...Two goals behind, Manchester United is helpless. It's not that they don't have time, it's not that they don't have the spirit of the Red Devils in 99, it's just that Arsenal's counterattack is too sharp, and no one in Manchester United's defense can keep up. With the speed of Walcott and Arshavin, and the inability to intercept the passes of Li Huan and Nasri in the frontcourt, there is no way to continue this game, and Arsenal can only continue to score goals.

If the final score is like this, Manchester United is 10 points behind, and Manchester United's hope of winning this season will not be realized. Although in the 2002-03 season, Manchester United was around Christmas, Arsenal led Manchester United by 9 points, and finally Manchester United overtook Arsenal won the championship with 5 points, but that kind of situation is difficult to reproduce in today's Arsenal. The current Arsenal is terribly stable, and it is extremely difficult for them to lose points, let alone reverse so many points. . . . . "

Manchester United's spirit is not lost, they did not give up because they fell behind by two goals, but the spirit is not omnipotent, Arsenal shrinks and plays defensive counterattacks, Manchester United lacks a strong center forward, and the shortcomings of low offensive ability are fully exposed. Although Ferdinand and Ferdinand have strong header abilities, they dare not give up their defensive positions to attack with all their strength, but they can only bow their heads at their home court to attack with two fast horses, Walcott and Arshavin.

In the post-match press conference, Wenger told reporters that leading Manchester United by 10 points does not mean winning the league title. Everything is possible if the league is not over. It can only be said that Arsenal has taken the initiative, and Chelsea cannot be ignored. If they can win the London derby this round, they are only 9 points away from Arsenal.The league still has a long way to go.

However, Wenger's subsequent speech exposed his true psychology. He told reporters that the Champions League knockout round will not start until February next year. After defeating Manchester United, he can safely lead the team to the Club World Cup. For Arsenal It is said that winning a world championship trophy is the most important thing. The current Arsenal's honor hall lacks a Club World Cup champion.

The implication of the professor's words is that the league no longer needs to consume too much energy for Arsenal, and his main goal is to be in the Club World Cup and the Champions League.

Regarding the arrogance of the professor, Ferguson unceremoniously cites the examples of Manchester United being behind by 9 points and 12 points and finally reversing Arsenal and Newcastle United to refute. At the same time, he reviewed the 9798 season. The tragic lesson of being reversed by Wenger's team in the same situation, told reporters that they cannot say that they are completely out.However, the Jazz also admitted that the initiative is not in the hands of Manchester United and other teams. If Arsenal does not make a big mistake, no team can take away the championship trophy from them.

The 17th round of the game was carried out in favor of Arsenal. In the focus of the second day's battle - the London derby, Chelsea had no choice but to win Tottenham Hotspur in the away game. The two sides shook hands with each other 1:1.In this way, Arsenal is 2 points ahead of No.10 Manchester United and 3 points ahead of No.11 Chelsea. They are already far ahead in the standings.

Before the 17th round, almost most people thought that the Arsenal Grand Slam was just a joke. Wenger often boasted like this when he had no championship for five years. Now they are just bragging because of their better results. Just a little bigger.But now it seems that it is by no means a dream for Arsenal to win all the titles

After the game, a reporter from The Times said in a commentary, "If Manchester United, Chelsea, Liverpool and other teams cannot put pressure on Arsenal and allow Arsenal to continue to expand their lead in the league, they are likely to win the League Cup, FA You can't get leftovers like a cup."

"The Sun" believes that since Arsenal beat Manchester United away, the embryonic form of a dynasty has been formed.Judging from Arsenal's age structure, team style of play, club's financial resources, and external conditions, the moment for Arsenal to dominate the Premier League has come, and they are likely to dominate the Premier League for more than five years, until Li Huan, Al After Chauvin, Cesc Fabregas, Nasri, Vermaelen, Walcott, and Van Persie get old, other teams may see the hope of the championship.

Of course, the "Sun" said that the premise of Arsenal's dominance is that other teams have not bought superstars on a large scale like Real Madrid. If Manchester United, Liverpool, and Chelsea buy superstars at all costs like Real Madrid, it may still be possible to break Arsenal. monopoly.

At 17:1 noon on the second day after the end of the 04th round of the Premier League, UEFA held the draw for the knockout stages of the Champions League and the Europa League at the headquarters in Nyon. The opponents are Rome in Italy, Rome VS Arsenal, Milan VS Tottenham, Valencia VS Schalke [-], Inter Milan VS Bayern, Lyon VS Real Madrid, Shakhtar Donetsk VS Barcelona, ​​Marseille VS Manchester United, Chelsea VS Copenhagen.

The best draw is naturally Chelsea. After many years of encountering strong opponents, Chelsea finally relaxed for a while. The media joked that they would advance to the quarterfinals after the draw.

In the round of 16 knockout rounds, only Inter Milan and Bayern are the only strong players in the knockout round. In addition, the contest between Valencia and Schalke 04 with similar strength is also the focus of media attention.

Although Arsenal did not draw Copenhagen, they did not draw the Milan duo either.Roma's current strength is not what it used to be, and everyone in Arsenal is satisfied with this result.

Van Persie also said: "Roma is a great team, this will be a great game between two great teams. We believe that we will be promoted."

Li Huan said: "Maybe I met three Serie A teams and finally drew Roma. The stronger the opponent, the better, because it is hard to predict whether a strong opponent will be eliminated by upset, of course, I am not saying that Roma is weak, in fact, they are the second strongest team in the eight groups."

Roma's coach Ranieri couldn't help but smile wryly after watching the draw. He bit the bullet and said: "To be realistic, Arsenal is of course the biggest favorite at the moment. But we can handle whoever is drawn, so what about Arsenal? The key question is whether our best players will be there and whether we are confident."

Roma captain Totti said: "I would rather play against Arsenal. This will be a great game between two great teams. Everyone has the possibility of promotion. Football is full of chance, especially in cup games. We must believe in ourselves, It all starts with confidence. If you don't believe in yourself, it's better not to play football."

(End of this chapter)