Volume 3: The Myth of the Gunslinger Chapter 78: The Battle of Geniuses (Part I)
Tottenham Hotspur finally came to their senses, and they realized that Arsenal standing in front of them was no longer the Gunners of last year, and they were able to successfully equalize here last season after falling behind by four goals because Arsenal's defense was average, but now the Gunners defended solidly, scoring two goals in the first half in 20 minutes. If Arsenal score four more goals, or even one more, Tottenham will be certain to die, and there is no chance of repeating last season's miracle.
Tottenham have never been a team that likes to defend well, and after conceding a goal, they have pressed very high in defence, and one is trying to regain the initiative in the game.
Arsenal's first goal was scored by Spurs pressing forward. The second goal was again to take advantage of Tottenham's conceded goal, a little lack of concentration, and was combined by Cesc Fabregas to score a brilliant long run.
After realizing this, Lao Lei immediately signaled his players not to press the formation too forward, the three lines contracted a little tighter, and the space behind him could not be left too much for the opponent, now Tottenham Hotspur does need to attack, but the attack can not be at the cost of continuing to concede goals, the old and spicy Redknap thinks it is better to play a long game with Arsenal, last season Arsenal is a big score lead, elated and ready to continue to torture Tottenham for the rest of the game, As a result, they were suddenly hit by Tottenham's two heavy punches in the face, and the Arsenal players were a little confused, and finally turned over by Tottenham.
However, Redknapp obviously made the mistake of empiricism, this season's Arsenal has not only greatly improved defensively, with Li Huan and Vermaelen, two defenders with knives, there has been a qualitative leap in attack, and Li Huan's ability to change the tide of the game in an instant is by no means comparable to the boys of Arsenal.
The tightened three lines of Tottenham leave Arsenal little room for penetration, because the middle is missing Bendtner's high point, the two wings are not much of a threat from the high ball, and can only pass the boccia, when there are many defenders in the penalty area, it is difficult to pass the bocce ball in, Arsenal's attack is more of an itch in the boots, but in order to maintain a good formation, Tottenham's attack is not too threatening, Bale was also suppressed by Li Huan, and the evenly matched scene has been deadlocked for about ten minutes. It wasn't until the last five minutes of the game that the balance on the pitch was once again broken.
The contest between Li Huan and Bale has been continuing, as a midfielder, Bale actually has the initiative to attack, he does not need to take on the main task of defense, as long as there is a ball, he can attack at any time, but Li Huan can't, he must coordinate the whole field, see if it is suitable for his defender to assist, and at the same time, Arsenal is leading 2:0, and the requirements for the defender's attack are not as high as when they are drawn. So Li Huan is more on defense than taking the initiative to attack.
Forty minutes into the game, Tottenham Hotspur, who had been behind, was under a lot of psychological pressure, and the Arsenal fans in the stands kept booing them, sticking out two fingers to mock them for being behind, and shouting that they would beat Tottenham 5-0. Under such pressure, Tottenham Hotspur had the intention of using the final five minutes of the first half to fight hard. In the last five minutes, they could have avoided giving Arsenal a chance to fight back, and by the time Arsenal had taken a breath, the game should be over.
As long as Tottenham Hotspur launches an attack, the main attacker must be Bale, although Li Huan is standing in front of Bale, but Tottenham Hotspur's players believe that even if Bale can't break through Li Huan's defense, he can contain Li Huan's counterattack and help the attack in the middle and left.
Bale's offense relies more on speed, and it is not very difficult for Li Huan to deal with his breakthrough, but it is not enough to take into account Héctor's set of edges, if Eduardo can't return to defense, Li Huan can only hold the side and prevent them from breaking through, but it is difficult to control their crosses, Tottenham Hotspur's middle has a two-meter-tall Crouch, and the experienced Robbie Keane, it is very dangerous for them to kick the ball from the side.
Fortunately, Eduardo has a good relationship with Li Huan now, as a striker, he often retreats to defend, and Diaby often comes to make up for it, although he gives the opponent 2 crosses, but does not let his goal be too threatened.
The opponent attacked aggressively, Arsenal actively defended while also hoping to be able to quickly counterattack, take advantage of the vacancy behind the opponent to score another goal, hit the opponent's morale, and lock the win, but Tottenham Hotspur has long been prepared for this, the combination of the three lines is very good, and the back line adopts the tactic of creating offside, so that Fabregas, Li Huan, Diaby's three backballs have not succeeded, but have fueled the arrogance of Tottenham Hotspur.
In the forty-second minute of the game, Tottenham Hotspur saw that Eduardo did not return to the defense, and launched an attack from the right side where Li Huan was again, Bell attracted Li Huan with the ball, Héctor set the side, Li Huan held the inside line to prevent Bell from breaking through, when Bale passed the ball to Héctor at the bottom, Li Huan did not abandon Bell to chase Hector, but took two steps back, standing between the two people, if Héctor wanted to cut inside, Li Huan had every chance to intercept him, if Héctor wanted to pass the ball to Bale, It is also difficult for Bell to have a chance to form a breakthrough.
Héctor is also an experienced full-back, knowing that it may not be possible to break through, while Eduardo is chasing back, and Cesc Fabregas in the middle is also moving closer to this side, he does not want to waste this opportunity to attack, so he directly chooses to cross.
Li Huan jumped up and wanted to block the cross, but did not touch the ball, at this time Almunia boldly attacked to get the ball, but after coming out, he found that the ball was far away from his body and a little high, so he did not take it, but chose to hit the ball out with both fists.
As a good goalkeeper, even if Almunia decided to knock the ball out on the fly, he didn't hit it at random, but hit the ball towards Cesc Fabregas, who was running on the right side of the box.
At this moment, Eduardo is also on the way back to defense, he and Li Huan and Fabregas just form a triangle, as long as Fabregas can control the ball and form a cooperation between the three people, a counterattack is almost formed.
Arsenal's cooperation is really the best in Europe, when Fabregas unloaded the ball, Eduardo immediately stopped running back, leaned sideways to ask Fabregas, and Li Huan quickly started to cut forward from the side.
After Fabregas unloaded the ball, he didn't think about it, and immediately knocked it to Eduardo, and then ran quickly to avoid Robbie Keane, who came to defend, to meet Eduardo.
At this time, Bale also saw that it was not good, Héctor and himself both rushed to the opponent's penalty area, the left side was empty, and he had to block the opponent's counterattack, so when Li Huan stepped forward, he also ran desperately after Li Huan, not giving Li Huan a chance to catch the ball.
However, after Fabregas passed the first kick, the triangle between Fabregas, Li Huan and Eduardo was formed, Eduardo knocked the ball to Fabregas again, and continued to run, Fabregas did not stop the ball at all, made a wall pass, passed to Li Huan's front, and continued to run.
Li Huan didn't stop the ball, and then passed the ball to Eduardo, and the three of them kept passing and running, like a moving triangle, moving quickly forward, and the Tottenham Hotspur players had no chance to touch the ball at all, so they could only run behind the butts of the three people.
However, Tottenham Hotspur's players quickly understood that if they defended like this, they had to break their passing triangle if they let the three of them pass into the box, and they couldn't touch the ball. Fabregas then passed the ball again and was knocked down by Robbie Keane when he ran empty. But the referee saw Li Huan take the ball and did not stop the game according to the principle of offensive advantage.
Li Huan had a wide field of vision, saw Fabregas being knocked down, and stopped passing the ball, slammed the ball forward, and chased forward quickly. Just when Li Huan paused slightly, Bell also arrived, Li Huan was only one position ahead of Bell, and the two of them accelerated and rushed forward.
Arsenal's players didn't care about anything, they all ran quickly into the penalty area, they had great trust in Li Huan, thinking that Li Huan would definitely be able to pass the ball, and the Tottenham players were not chaotic, some ran to the side to make up for the defense, and some ran to the penalty area, ready to clear.
The Arsenal fans in the stands were excited, chanting Liu Huan's name, telling him to get rid of Bale and score another goal against Tottenham Hotspur to get them back to White Hart Lane. And Tottenham Hotspur fans can't help but draw crosses on their chests again, praying to God to help Tottenham Hotspur, for more than a hundred years, Tottenham Hotspur has had enough of the oppression of the evil Arsenal, and God can no longer help Tottenham.
The two managers also involuntarily walked to the sidelines, they also understand the importance of this goal, if Arsenal scores another goal, the game will basically end early, with Arsenal's current defensive ability, Tottenham Hotspur has no chance to turn the tables, and if Tottenham Hotspur can block Arsenal's attack, there is still a point of hope for equalization in the second half. And now the key is Li Huan and Bell, who are galloping on the field. It's a contest between true geniuses, and it may be a matter of seconds.
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