"The 01-02 English FA Cup final will be staged at the Millennium Stadium, today the stadium is full, the fans of both teams including the local neutral fans in Wales are very enthusiastic, the flags of the two teams are fluttering in the stands, the atmosphere in the stadium is extremely warm, in the pre-match prediction, Arsenal has a slightly higher probability of winning the championship than Millwall, because Millwall will send a substitute lineup to play this game, Arsenal put away some of the main players in the Premier League finale, and recuperated to prepare for this final, Whether in terms of strength or the physical condition of the players, Arsenal may have the advantage, but Millwall has cultivated championship genes in recent years, and they have never missed the final, but today may be a serious challenge, because even Aldridge Hall led the team, it is the first time to send 10 substitutes in the final, only the main central defender, captain Southgate pressed. Now that the players from both sides are in the field, let's take a look at the starting line-ups for both sides.

Millwall started 4312.

Goalkeeper: Pagliuca.

Defenders: Neil, Metzelde, Southgate, Baynes.

Midfielders: Pedretti, Alonso, De Rossi, Ramour.

Forwards: Klose, Villa.

Millwall lined up a 4312 formation today, Ramour withdrew from the previous forward line to play as a striker, Klose partnered with Villa to attack, this is not the British traditional 442, in fact, in the years of Hall's coaching, he used the British traditional 442 formation to play, but a few years ago he completely abandoned it, and the 442 used in the last two years is a new technical and tactical system.

Arsenal started 442.

Goalkeeper: Seaman.

Defenders: Lauren, Keown, Campbell. Silvinho.

Midfielder: Ljungberg. Vieira. Parol, Pire.

Forwards: Bergkamp, Ibrahimovic.

It is worth mentioning that Swedish striker Ibrahimovic has improved significantly this season, with team awareness and teamwork, partnering with Bergkamp and interacting with the wings, and playing a significant role in the game. And his own technical ability is also eye-catching, in this season there has been a small range of breakthrough three defenders and then shake the goalkeeper to hit the empty goal, because of his excellent performance, he has become the main force under Wenger's account, people are saying that he is the second Anelka cultivated by Wenger, but Ibrahimovic said that he will not be the second anyone, he will only become the great Ibrahimovic, this young man who is not lacking in ambition and arrogance, will he become the key man in today's game? Hehe, we'll look forward to his watch. ”

From the very beginning of the game. Aldridge and Arsene Wenger stood on the sidelines to supervise the game.

Wenger watched for a moment, and his face sank.

Millwall is determined to play defensive counter-attacks.

Arsenal on paper. Experience, physical fitness, all have an advantage, so they have the initiative on the field.

But this is where Wenger has a headache, the outside world has praise for Arsenal, there are also criticism, criticism mainly comes from their lack of change, different from the lack of change in the middle and lower teams, the middle and lower teams may be able to survive with a set of playing styles, but they will never be able to make a name for themselves, because the strength is limited, Arsenal can, because of their strong player base.

But in the European stage, Arsenal's lack of change is the fatal reason why it is difficult to go further, in that stage full of strong players, once the opponent finds out your technical and tactical play, and the targeted restrictions are in place, Arsenal has nothing to do, and the European competition is weak.

Today is not a European game, but Millwall obviously understands Arsenal, Aldridge because of the dispatch of the substitute lineup, but also pulled the lower face to play the defensive counter, in other words, Arsenal occupies the initiative to play positional battles, this is not what they are good at, the overall view of the exquisite organization, they lack the traditional No. 10 shirt, so Vieira has organizational ability, but with Zidane, Pirlo and other players can compete for organizational ability?

Arsene Wenger was already in the back of his mind with the idea of revamping Arsenal in the next phase to take Arsenal's beautiful football to the next level, and the introduction of a no.10 was imperative.

What you do in the future will not affect the present.

Now Arsenal is playing a very difficult positional battle.

It's not that Arsenal has a headache when they play a positional battle, in fact, at their level, most of the games in the league are definitely strong and weak in the face of the opponent to strengthen the defense, and they play two points particularly well, the first is to rely on the side counterattack storm, Pire and Ljungberg on one side, Bergkamp and Vieira or Parol in the midfield to form a side-to-side combination, and Ibrahimovic in front of him sometimes acts as a bridgehead to do the ball, this season's counterattack is passionate and dazzling, and the second is individual ability, Pire, Bergkamp, Ibrahimovic, these are all small areas of the ability to get rid of the opponent's defense, in the positional battle from the local tear of the opponent's defense to break the line.

Millwall has these abilities, and Millwall's overall organizational ability is what Arsenal lacks, so even if Arsenal refreshes its Premier League era points record, it still can't shake Millwall's domination, which is part of the overall strength comparison.

In response to Arsenal's style of play, Millwall responded today.

First of all, based on defense, do not give the opponent space to counterattack, outside the 40-yard area, whatever the opponent can attack, and the defense is not grabbed.

Secondly, Pedretti, Alonso, and De Rossi strengthened the protection of the wing and the back line, compressed the space, and reduced the occurrence of one-on-one breakthroughs by the opponent.

Arsenal with a regular lineup of wings and forwards, obviously can not penetrate Millwall's defense, the ball on the side will be harassed, and the side cooperation will cut off the passing line due to the more Millwall defenders, which must require Arsenal's fullbacks and backs to assist, and when they assist, Millwall's defensive pressure will be particularly large, but as long as the defense is successful, when switching from defense to attack, the key person who connects Millwall from defense to attack is Alonso, and the person who controls the rhythm of the attack is Ramour.

Ramour, who is characterised by his excellent ability to read the game, was given a more important task by Aldridge.

Instigating a counterattack?

No, it's not just that, it's only when you have the best chance that you resolutely increase your speed and fight back. If there is no good chance. Klose's path to Villa was blocked. When there is no space in the running position, Ramour has to control the ball and stabilize the tempo, which will allow the Arsenal players to run back to defend, straight up and down to consume.

Wales fans were disappointed today, with Millwall and Arsenal being the epitome of England's supposedly beautiful football, and the clash of the two teams should be the pinnacle of the showdown. But what caught the eye was a lack of exciting scenes.

Arsenal struggled to find a shot on goal, and Millwall's counter-attacks didn't work well, even giving the impression that they couldn't even hit the counter-attack!

Wenger also couldn't understand that Ramour was obviously unmarked when he won the ball in the middle of the half a few times, but he didn't firmly play forward to cut and coordinate, Millwall's counter-attacking opportunities took the initiative to slow down the tempo, and when the pressure on the back waist line eased, they patiently played and reorganized the attack. It became a positional war, and a positional war. They didn't play wide, they could barely get past Vieira and Parlour, and it was only after Neal got the assist that they looked a bit of a threat.

The advantage of playing fast is that the threat is high, and the disadvantage is that the success rate is low, maybe 10 straight stops, only 1 can be successful.

The advantage of playing slow is to ensure the ball, the disadvantage is that the threat is low, and when Arsenal arranges the defensive line, and then plays a positional battle attack, the probability of being able to play can be imagined to be much lower than the counterattack.

However, Aldridge's requirements for the team are still to seek stability first, on the one hand, to gradually improve confidence, and on the other hand, to ensure that Arsenal will not be attacked quickly in a short period of time because of the failure of the counterattack.

The tempo slows down, the Arsenal players run back to set up the defensive line, and then attack again, it will take a certain amount of time, and Millwall's defensive pressure will not be too great.

In the 31st minute of the first half, Arsenal almost scored, they passed a cross from the side, Bergkamp perfectly stopped the ball with his foot and made it directly to Ibrahimovic, Ibra turned the ball at a small angle and wanted to shake off Southgate first, but Southgate was not fooled, and when Ibrahimovic wanted to shoot again, the ball was blocked by Southgate with his foot in the front, less than 10 yards from the goal, very dangerous, this is the best chance Arsenal has had since the opening.

Seven minutes later, Pire's long-range shot from outside the penalty area was brilliant and extraordinary, Pagliuca was well-prepared to block the ball with one palm and keep the goal open.

It wasn't until the 42nd minute that Millwall created a sizable threat in attack by Klose, who took advantage of the change of tempo to make a stoppage, shook off Keown's defence while stopping the ball, and before Campbell could make up for it, Klose volleyed on the line of the box, and he didn't dare to make any other moves, and Vieira was rushing from behind him.

Seaman also made a good save, and the two veteran goalkeepers didn't have much to test in the first half, but they deserved praise for their faces when shooting from a threat.

Just before half-time, Patrick Vieira stepped up and knocked out De Rossi and fired a long-range shot that grazed the crossbar and flew into the stands.

After the first half ended 0:0, Southgate followed the referee and put pressure on the referee, thinking that Vieira had fouled De Rossi before, De Rossi himself only felt very aggrieved, he felt that his strength was already enough, but compared with Vieira, it was still a step worse, and he was suddenly hit, which was really a bit unbearable.

Aldridge calmly walked towards the tunnel and was about five metres behind him, but Wenger frowned.

How did Arsenal crack Millwall's tactical setup today?

If it gets to the penalty shootout, is it a good deal for Arsenal?

Arsenal should have the upper hand in all respects, and Arsene Wenger certainly won't want to pin his fate on penalties.

"The first half was uneventful, it was a final that decided the championship, the two sides played a little conservatively, but as the game time became less and less, I believe both sides will do their best to win, on the whole, Arsenal had a slight advantage in the first half, they appeared more active on the field, the players played better, Millwall was a little passive, of course, the squad that played today was slightly weaker than Arsenal, which is the reason why they were limited in play, especially in terms of experience, it can be seen that when Vieira assists upDe Rossi and Alonso have no advantage in their head-to-head encounter, and can only rely on more aggressive scrambling and complementing each other to avoid holes in the defence, and whether Millwall will strengthen this link at half-time will only have to wait for the start of the second half. (To be continued......)