Chapter 37 A good goalkeeper tops the top half of the team

If the first ten minutes of this game were between Arsenal and a Manchester United team that didn't seem to wake up.

Then from the 10th minute, the tempo of the game was completely in the hands of Manchester United.

In the front, Li Qingshan and Di Maria and Mata behind him all invested in the pressure of the Arsenal defenders, and the three players in the midfield, Fellaini, Herrera and Kramer joined forces to lock the midfield.

The counter-attack that Arsenal wanted was completely out of action – Sanchez, their most relied on attacking point up front, had already returned to defence.

And at the moment, only Walcott and Ozil are left at the front.

Walcoat stayed up front because Arsenal needed to keep a player up front to make it easier to counter-attack, but Walcott was fast, but he couldn't hold the ball, and neither Hummels nor Rojo, the starting centre-back in this game, gave Walcoat a chance to get the ball easily.

Although the referee Marina blacked out a penalty for Manchester United, the scale of Marina's penalty is still relatively relaxed, which is undoubtedly very beneficial to Manchester United, who has a clear advantage over Arsenal in physical confrontation.

In the 29th minute, Walcott finally won the ball, and Hummels leaned directly on him, and Walket was squeezed away by him, and the ball was naturally taken away by Hummels.

If he is in the Bundesliga, Hummels naturally rarely defends with such actions, but this is the Premier League, and Hummels has quickly adapted to the refereeing scale of the Premier League.

The physically strong Hummels has adapted quickly in the Premier League and he is now almost at home.

The other player who didn't come back was Mesut Ozil.

Mesut Ozil's role in attack for Arsenal is clear, but it is clear that the German midfielder of Turkish origin is not a player who likes to defend, and even with Arsenal under so much defensive pressure now, he remains in the front field and waits for Arsenal to break the ball and counter-attack.

"Ozil should go back to defending now!" Henry said a little anxiously, "Now that Arsenal is so passive, he should at least stand at the edge of the penalty area to interfere with Manchester United's control in this area a little, instead of standing in front of the pitch and waiting for the ball!" ”

'Maybe it's Arsene Wenger's arrangement, in fact Arsenal only need one more goal and maybe Manchester United's morale is going to collapse.' Carragher expressed a different opinion.

But in fact, Arsene Wenger was nervously rubbing his hands on the sidelines. How he wished the first half would be over right away. However, Arsenal will have to hold on for at least another fifteen minutes.

Arsene Wenger doesn't think of a counter-attack right now. If you look at Arsenal's current situation, they simply can't effectively develop the ball up front, whether it's Mesut Ozil or Theo Walcott, they can't even get the ball.

Even if Arsenal managed to break the ball at the back, their path to progress through the ground was completely blocked by the Manchester United players up front, and the high ball was completely picked up by Manchester United.

And most of the time, Arsenal's goal is always being tested.

In the 34th minute, Li Qingshan received a cross from Sandro and swung the ball back to the front point from the back post, and Cech struck in time to knock the ball out of the penalty area with a punch.

But the ball from outside the box was still controlled by United and Kramer's header was spotted by Juan Mata.

Juan Mata took the ball down and faced Monreal's defence.

Juan Mata shook his center of gravity and then planned to go in the direction of the baseline and then make a low cross.

However, Monreal has a lot of experience defending, and he certainly knows where United are at stake, and he keeps up with Mata's tempo and doesn't allow him to cross easily.

Seeing that there was no good chance to cross with his feet, Mata did not force a cross, but slammed it with his right foot and brought the ball back a few times.

Li Qingshan was originally in the penalty area ready to receive Mata's cross. But seeing the opponent's anti-cross ball has already been prevented. Arsenal are now like a piece of iron that has been hammered constantly, and Manchester United's constant crosses have made Arsenal's defenders solid to defend.

Li Qingshan decided to change the rhythm of the attack, he beckoned at Fellaini, and then he withdrew from the outside of the box and moved to the edge of the box arc. And Fellaini also understood, quickly pressed forward to the center position, and completed the exchange with Li Qingshan.

This is just a very regular offensive switch, and in normal football tactics, switching positions between frontcourt players can often have the effect of changing the tempo of the attack.

Like this time.

The change of Li Qingshan and Marouane Fellaini caused a brief discomfort in Arsenal's backline.

The keen Mata quickly caught the catch, pushing the ball with his left foot to Li Qingshan, who then immediately cut into the box to help Li Qingshan take a defender.

Mertesacker, who had been in charge of keeping an eye on Li Qingshan, was now attracted to Fellaini, and next to Li Qingshan was Corcorran.

After Li Qingshan got the ball, he went directly to his right side, and Corcoran used the method of defending Fellaini to defend Li Qingshan, which naturally did not work.

After Li Qingshan turned around in the arc of the penalty area, he directly volleyed with his left foot!!

The soccer ball flies towards the goal on the turf!

Almost before the ball was about to enter the goal line, Cech flicked the ball with his fingertips and once again denied Manchester United's goal!

Petr Cech was in great form in this game.

But the danger in front of Arsenal's goal is not over, Fellaini inserts a supplementary shot!

Cech, who was still on the ground, almost subconsciously blocked with his foot to block Fellaini's follow-up shot out of the bottom line.

Petr Cech, who had twice saved United's must-have goals, slammed to his feet from the ground, clenched his fists and roared.

And the other Arsenal players who were apprehensive came over and slapped Cech.

Once again, Arsenal are in trouble.

"Cech, it's Cech!! In less than half the game, he had already made six saves! And there were a couple of goalscoring chances that were almost guaranteed to go to the goal, all of which he denied. Andy Grey lamented, "The addition of Cech has almost taken Arsenal up a notch. It's said that a good goalkeeper can top the top half of the team, and Cech is the same for Arsenal, and at some point in this game, I almost thought he was invincible! ”

'If the game is over now, Cech is the undisputed best player of the house, and if it weren't for him, United might have equalised or even overtaken the game by now!'

The goalkeeper is out of shape, which is very bad for the attacking team.

Now Cech is like a superman, Manchester United's attack is not sharp, but Cech is like an impregnable wall, ruthlessly keeping goals out.

Juan Mata sent in a corner, Li Qingshan forced Mertesacker to shake his head at goal, and Cech saved the ball with one palm.

A header from such close range was still denied by Cech. Even Li Qingshan held his head with a stunned face.

The goalkeeper with the helmet has already made him useless several times in this game.

He looked up at the scoreboard.

The bright red two-to-zero reminded him that time was running out.

There are still nine minutes left for United in the first half.

Arsenal defended all the way.

The fans at the Emirates Stadium began to sing in for Cech.

The biggest contributor to Arsenal's failure to concede a goal so far is undoubtedly Petr Cech.

But the constant danger in front of the goal also lifted the hearts of the Arsenal fans in the stands.

It's not a good taste at all. After all, relying on the goalkeeper to play a rescue is really too frightening, perhaps before this game, Arsenal officials should make an official announcement, advising Arsenal fans with bad hearts not to watch this game - if they knew in advance that they would be crushed like this at home.

Arsene Wenger now feels like his heart can't take it anymore. The profession of football coach, if you don't have a big heart, really can't do it. But even Arsene Wenger, who has established himself in the coaching world, should have a heartbeat of more than a hundred at this moment.

This damn football!

Of course, it's not football that's damned now, it's the rest of the first half.

Even if it was only a minute, Wenger felt that it was an ordeal.

For the Arsenal man, the belief at the moment is that they are still the leading side.

Yes, Arsenal are still on the lead side, and no one would have thought of that without looking at the scoreboard.

Arsene Wenger is now hoping to return to the dressing room with a 2-0 lead in the first half, when he will have plenty of time to make new tactical adjustments and arrangements.

Two to zero! No matter how miserable Arsenal's pressure is now, as long as they can survive the first half without conceding a goal, in the second half, Manchester United's momentum will not be as strong as it is now.

Definitely not!

That's what Arsenal's players on the pitch think.

Human belief is a very strange thing. If firm conviction can decide everything, this is undoubtedly a bit idealistic. But people who are supported by faith are often not easily defeated, and even luck will be on his side.

Mata shoots!! Gabriel's key block!! ”

"Di Maria!! Past Bellerin!! Cross!!! ”

"Oh...... It was Cech again, who pulled his teeth from Li Qingshan's head and knocked the ball out of the box!! ”

"Li Qingshan shoots from a distance!! You've got this ball, right!! ”

"Ahhh!!hhh Petr Cech, he's a superman today!! ”

……….

Ten minutes is a long time for Arsenal, but it is indeed so short for Manchester United.

As referee Marina looked at his watch and walked into the final seconds of first-half stoppage time, Cech once again took United's cross into his arms.

Marina then blew three whistles to end the first half.

The Arsenal player almost went limp on the soles of his feet and collapsed on the grass.

It was like playing several games for them in the first half, and the time passed so slowly.

Then they realised they had succeeded, they held on to their two-goal lead and they would carry that advantage into the second half.

Many of United's players looked at the Arsenal players as they prepared to return to the dressing room, as if they couldn't believe that the first half was over.

Di Maria's eyes were a little dazed, such an attack could not have scored, it would have been fine if the game had continued, but when the game stopped, the morale of the United players began to drop.

None of them can score a goal with such an attack, so are we really going to lose here today?

Even if you lose, it's fate.......

This is often the case with people, when you put in all your efforts and fight for everything, but still nothing is gained, it is easy to fall into self-doubt.

Even the pros are not surprised.

"The first half is over!!" Andy Gray breathed a sigh of relief, "In this half, except for the first ten minutes, we saw Manchester United's half-time attacking show, and at the same time, we also saw Cech's god-level performance!" Manchester United failed to score in such an attack, and if you look at the good luck on the faces of the Arsenal players, you know how difficult it is. ”

'I'll show you a statistic that in the first half, Manchester United had 20 shots on goal, eight of them hit the woodwork, and they scored ...... is zero; With just two shots on goal in the first half, Arsenal were far behind United in terms of shooting stats, but they scored two! Arsenal returned to the dressing room with a two-goal lead. ”

'But the situation at Arsenal is too passive. Perhaps Arsene Wenger's choice of Theo Walcott was a mistake. "I understand what Wenger thinks, against the tall Manchester United players, Walcott, who is flexible up front, plus Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil, it's an attacking combination of speed and skill. However, if Arsenal's starting striker is Olivier Giroud at this time, perhaps Arsenal can get some control of the ball in the air, so as to improve Arsenal's current passive situation. ”

'But Arsenal are now two goals ahead, which shows that Theo Walcott has worked, doesn't it?' Andy Gray said.

"Yes!" Thierry Henry picked up the conversation from the sidelines, "Manchester United's first half attack was fruitless, and their attacking momentum may not be able to maintain so much after the break!" Perhaps Manchester United's winning streak this season will end at the Emirates Stadium! ”

………

In the Arsenal dressing room, every Arsenal player had to give Cech a high-five.

There's no doubt that Cech is the big hero in the Arsenal dressing room at the moment. Everyone looked at the goalkeeper who had just moved in this season with reverence.

Petr Cech took his hood off and accepted the compliments and reverence of his team-mates.

For a goalkeeper to be able to put up such crazy numbers, even for Cech, it's a career high.

Eight saves in a single game, and the control of crosses in the small penalty area is also quite good.

"I have to say that I saw the performance of one of the best goalkeepers in the world in the first half!" Arsene Wenger pushed the door in and the first thing he did was to praise Petr Cech's performance.

"But we had to come back in the second half!" Arsene Wenger didn't say much about the first half, and in fact the two-goal lead early on was a surprise to him.

'In the second half we tried to control the ball and slow down the tempo. Arsene Wenger wrote on the tactical gang: "They didn't score in the first half, and in the second half they didn't necessarily have that attacking momentum! ”

'We don't have to be afraid of them at all, it's not our style to defend! It's our home stadium and we have to play our stuff at home! ”

"We could have scored two goals in the first half and we could in the second half!"

Arsene Wenger clenched his fists in the dressing room and said viciously! [.]