Thanks for the reward of "Death of the Thief"! ——

The pace of the game at the beginning of the second half was the same as the whole first half, dull.

By the 60th minute, the Gunners fans in the stands were a little agitated.

Millwall is their title rival, the strength of the new season has declined, and in today's game Nedved and Ronaldinho are absent, this is a good time for Arsenal to win a key battle, this battle is worth 6 points!

The Lions fans are comforting themselves in their hearts, our strength has declined, but we are not falling behind on the field, and the team is playing away today, and the team is not bad.

Arsene Wenger struggled and looked at Aldridge frequently, preferring Millwall to attack.

You are behind in points, why don't you fight for the halfway championship?

Arsenal's positional battle does not occupy an advantage in the midfield at all, the two teams are completely in the state of midfield pairs, and Millwall strengthens the midfield, one less striker, Arsenal does not have much space for either positional battles or counterattacks, and cannot play the slightest threat.

The same is true for Millwall, who are understaffed in attack and are severely limited by the Arsenal defence.

After another five minutes, Millwall made a substitution, two at a time.

Aldridge was still sitting, and Klinsmann walked to the sideline with Henry and Larsson to prepare for the substitution, and he held the tactical book to remind the two of them of the tasks after they came on the field, and the two nodded while listening attentively.

Seeing this scene, the narrator was excited.

"Millwall are going to bring on two heavyweights. Larsson is back from injury and Hall is ready to give him about 25 minutes. Let's see what he can do, Thierry Henry has been in good form lately and his threat on the pitch is very intuitive. Millwall seems to be on the way to the final stages. ”

More excited than the commentator was Arsene Wenger.

He stood up and reminded the defenders to be careful.

Millwall finally couldn't hold back and was going to attack!

Is this a good thing?

Arsene Wenger seems to be a good thing, as long as the opponent attacks and provides firepower to the front line, then Arsenal only need to withstand the attack, and the counterattack after switching from defense to attack is their forte.

Larsson comes on to replace Ruud van Nistelrooy.

Thierry Henry came on to replace Glen Shire.

Hall looked like he was using a counter-substitution, but there should be a change in the offense, with Larsson as the centre-forward. Thierry Henry played as a winger, with the two switching positions in attack, with Van der Meyde providing fire support on the other flank. ”

Arsene Wenger thought Millwall would attack aggressively after the substitution. But he was wrong, standing on the sidelines frowning and depressed.

Millwall is really a counter-substitution, and the tactical style of play has not changed.

Henry's role in replacing Glenshire made no difference, relying on one-man combat. Larsson up front and Ruud van Nistelrooy did the same. Without firepower, as for Van der Meyde, his cross was useless, and Larsson was trapped, how could he grab the spot?

Wenger didn't understand, if he didn't change his style of play and didn't invest more troops in the attack, what would Millwall do with substitutions?

Race time is getting less and less. Aldridge watched the game from start to finish with a tepid look.

He found that he just had to set his goals lower. He didn't have any pressure on himself.

Let's see who can hold their breath!

Millwall's number one goal today is not to concede a goal, so what about Arsenal's lead? When testing the depth of the bench in the second half of the season, Millwall's main team will return one after another, and Arsenal will rely on this group of people to see who can survive to the bottom!

Arsene Wenger is really in a hurry, Arsenal can't win Millwall at home and could be pulled away by Manchester United.

Even if Aldridge announced in front of Fleet Street that he would win the league title this season, but Wengersson? Who knows if this is psychological warfare!

In order to boost the morale of the team, Aldridge set a high goal for the players to strive for, but in fact, this season is just training young people?

Let Ronaldinho, Ruud van Nistelrooy, Van der Meyde, Duff and other players grow and improve, and the real strength will be next season, both in terms of player ability and technical and tactical maturity.

Arsenal have to win this game if they want to defend their title, morale and points, they need to win both!

Arsene Wenger made the team play more adventurous and direct.

However, Millwall's seven-man defense was impenetrable, Arsenal's wing advance in the 83rd minute turned to the middle attack, Pire's pass was intercepted by Gattuso, turned around, and Millwall's counterattack came!

Frank Lampard stepped forward as soon as he handed the ball to Donny van der Meyde, with only Petit in front of him defending the line, and Patrick Vieira had just failed to pick up the ball in the middle and was chasing back at full speed.

Van der Meyde received the ball and immediately played the ball down the middle, where the retreating Larsson received the ball and the Arsenal defence was on the verge of a big enemy.

Without waiting for Adams to press up, Larsson played the ball back to the onrushing Frank Lampard, who slotted the ball to the left side of the box.

Henry!

Henry cut inside and picked up the ball, and the Arsenal fans in the stands seemed to smell death.

But Thierry Henry crossed the ball diagonally to the other side of the box, who was it for?

Adams stared at Larsson, but his eyes were full of incredulity, Henry's ball was not passed to Larsson!

Aldridge's eyes flickered, and he was engrossed in the attack.

Larsson's role as a central striker is just a front, he has just returned from injury, and the actual threat will be greatly reduced, but as long as he is on the field, he can attract the opponent's heavy defense, and it may be difficult for some strong men to let him directly threaten the Arsenal goal.

So Aldridge put him on the pitch and was actually playing in the middle.

As for Thierry Henry, who Wenger named and promoted at Monaco, wouldn't Wenger focus on reminding the defence before the game?

With only a few men left in Millwall's attack, will Thierry Henry, the summer transfer king, be overlooked?

When Thierry Henry gets the ball, the Arsenal defence will certainly take care of him.

It's easy to defend against 1 person in this golden line of defense, and it's okay to defend against 2 people, but on the attention side, there are Larson and Henry as a guise. Millwall's real killer will only create a real threat when a third person appears!

Thierry Henry's diagonal pass was played behind the Arsenal defence. Roll straight to the back of goal.

There, one man flanked and slotted the ball into the top corner.

"The ball is in! Van der Meyde became a hero! The Dutchman didn't enter the box once in more than 80 minutes! Not even once! This time, however, he flanked the ball from the back of goal to give Millwall a one-goal lead over defending champions Arsenal, a surprise goal that characterised Millwall's quick counter-attack. The team worked together well and the attacking points were unexpected, and we all thought it would be Henry or Larsson who would be the finishers. Even Frank Lampard could be targeted by Arsenal, but it was Van der Meyde, who usually preferred to assist, who became the finisher, and this must have been Hall's pre-game tactical set-up, otherwise Van der Meyde would not have risked leaving a large space behind him to break into the box. They know how fast Arsenal can fight back! ”

Aldridge finally got to his feet after the goal. The arms vibrate up and down in front of you in a small way.

Arsene Wenger shook his head in annoyance.

Millwall's tactics have not changed, but the attacking focus has changed.

No one could have imagined that Aldridge's substitution of Henry and Larsson would actually cover for Van der Meyde!

In the stands at Highbury, Gunners fans were depressed.

Is this Christmas going to be tragic?

Lions fans are excited.

Good guys, this Christmas gift is not bad.

They think a draw is good, after all, it is a away game, and the team is indeed lacking a few big players.

But with less than 10 minutes left in the game, victory was in sight, and they were overjoyed.

Took a one-goal lead. Aldridge gestured to the team to keep them steady. Concentrate on defending well, but at the same time attack is more cautious, control the ball first when there is no good chance, and when Arsenal press up and rush wildly, the gap will be even greater.

Arsene Wenger stood on the sidelines with his arms crossed and his face serious, his mind racing.

Arsenal play in a regular way and look like they won't be able to break down Millwall's goal.

In terms of bench thickness, Arsenal is not as good as the opponent, especially the odd players who can play, there are even fewer of them.

There aren't many personnel changes he can make, so he has to change his tactics.

He gestured to the players.

Three minutes after the game, Arsenal's style of play changed completely.

Aldridge saw the situation on the pitch and rushed directly to the sidelines to gesture to Lampard and let him go back to the penalty area!

Arsenal actually played a long pass again!

And their players have good footwork, and the pass is not looking for anyone's head, but directly crossing the area behind the defender, allowing Bergkamp to grab the landing point, and Bergkamp's stopping skills are masterful.

In normal times, Millwall is not afraid of the opponent's long pass.

However, in the first 85 minutes of the game, Arsenal has been playing ground and passing and cutting cooperation, and Millwall players have subconsciously become accustomed to the opponent's style of play, and the opponent's sudden change will definitely make Millwall uncomfortable, just like Arsenal suddenly faced Van der Meyde's forward insertion unprepared!

Just three seconds after Aldridge's adjustment, Lampard did not run back to the penalty area, Pire made a long diagonal pass on the left side, the half-high ball bypassed the gap between the defenders, and saw that the ball was about to go out of the bottom line, but the forward Bergkamp touched the ball, and the defensive Ferdinand rushed over and stretched out his foot to destroy the ball, but Bergkamp's foot stopped wide, the ball rolled out of the bottom line, and Ferdinand kicked Bergkamp's feet.

Bergkamp fell to the ground in the box, the referee blew the whistle and pointed to the penalty spot!

'Arsenal got a penalty! Towards the end of the game, they were awarded a penalty! Rio Ferdinand appealed to the referee and he didn't think he had committed a foul because Bergkamp had made a mistake. ”

Aldridge went to reason with the fourth official, and he also felt that it was not a penalty.

"The ball goes out of bounds first, the referee can award Ferdinand a foul without the ball, but it is not a penalty, and he can be given a red card! But the game should be at a standstill! ”

Not all fouls in the box are penalties, for example, if it is a throw-in, the ball is not delivered, and there is a foul between players in the box, the referee can award a foul, but not a penalty.

It's a matter of opinion, and if the referee thinks the ball is out of bounds, then the game goes into a timeout, at which point Rio Ferdinand's foul does not interfere with the game, but simply harms Bergkamp.

However, between the lightning and flint, the referee pointed to the penalty spot.

Aldridge couldn't accept it, and reasoned with the fourth official for a long time, and finally started talking to Wenger on the sidelines.

"The level of refereeing in the Premier League has to be improved, it has to be, otherwise it will hinder the level of improvement in the league as a whole."

"I agree with that."

He didn't want to argue with Arsene Wenger about the penalty, it didn't make much sense, and the two weren't the kind of people who were vexatious.

Bergkamp took it upon himself to take the spot-kick.

Both teams were slightly conservative in the last stoppage time, and no one was afraid of conceding again, and the two teams finally drew 1:1.

Aldridge waited for the referee to leave the pitch after the game, and the referee insisted on his judgment that the foul had occurred before the ball went out of bounds, and that the action between Bergkamp and Ferdinand had been coherent and not a separate technical foul.

Aldridge had nothing to say about this, and he couldn't tell the referee: You go watch the replay. (To be continued......)