However, the team itself could not remain immersed in the joy of victory for long. After the team celebrated together in the locker room after defeating Manchester United, the players gradually calmed down.
Although they have a good chance of winning the championship, it is still uncertain, and it seems a bit premature to celebrate now. They all agreed to wait until the championship is confirmed before having a proper celebration.
Now, their top priority is to prepare seriously for the second leg of the Europa League match against Atletico Madrid away from home.
As a team with ideals, who would complain about having too many honors?
Arsenal did not let their victory go to their heads.
They knew that victory in a football match was only temporary, and the real challenge was yet to come.
Therefore, after the celebration, the players quickly calmed down and began to focus on the next game.
Despite the high probability of winning the title, Arsenal know that the championship will not come easily.
In the Premier League, every match is a tough battle, and a slight misstep could cost you the lead, especially with Manchester City chasing you like a mad dog!
Therefore, they chose to remain low-key and cautious, waiting for the moment when they would finally be confirmed as the champions.
Whether in domestic leagues or European competitions, they all yearn to lift the trophy.
Even if they can't participate in the Champions League, they hope to end the season in a perfect manner.
The key to achieving this goal is to win all the championships that are available.
When Arsenal appeared before the world with the glory of winning four titles, no one would underestimate them anymore. They proved their worth and ability through their actions.
Therefore, in the days that followed, the entire Arsenal team continued to focus on their daily training, using Atletico Madrid, whom they had previously faced, as a hypothetical opponent to practice various effective tactics.
Overall, with a three-goal lead against them, the Arsenal team was relatively relaxed psychologically.
On the other hand, the atmosphere at Atletico Madrid was truly somber.
When they saw Arsenal once again decisively defeat Manchester United in the Premier League, everyone felt a sense of 'the wolf is coming'.
The wolves had been starving for too long; they had already bared their sharp fangs, displaying their dominance to the world.
Facing formidable rivals Arsenal, Simeone was honestly at a loss. He felt that playing against Arsenal was even more difficult than facing Real Madrid and Barcelona, mainly because their defense was so good that he felt helpless.
But a coach can't show his helplessness. After all, he's the backbone of the team, and even if he has no other choice, he has to find some excuse to fool the players.
"Lads, I know very well that after playing against Arsenal you all had the illusion that we were weaker, and yes, I think that was an illusion."
"Perhaps because we were playing away from home, we were greatly affected, and the referee at the time was somewhat biased towards the other side. All these factors led to our defeat."
"But this is absolutely not the reason why we are weaker. I can tell you all with certainty that you are all the best. Our results this season are second only to Barcelona. Barcelona is a world-class team, and we are the strongest team under the universe. I don't think you have any objections to that!"
"So stop underestimating yourself, just play well and go for it when you see an opponent!"
"In attack, we can no longer rely solely on efficient passing. I think we should incorporate more passing and short passing combinations to confuse the opposing goalkeeper."
......
As Simeone gave the players a lesson, he directly shared many of his bold ideas.
These ideas actually came from his previous research on the few times Lei Ming conceded goals. He found that the most promising way to score was through teamwork between players, followed by corner kick tactics.
On the other hand, forget about long-range shots, free kicks, and penalties. The opponent's statistics in these areas this season are 90%, and so far only one person has scored them, and that person was once their teammate - Bernardo Silva.
Therefore, Simeone is quite certain that if the players in the attacking third want to score, they must cooperate effectively; otherwise, they will repeat the mistakes of the last match.
Every Atletico Madrid player listened attentively to the coach's words, especially forwards like Griezmann and Costa, who seemed to have their eyes light up after hearing them.
Indeed, if they follow the head coach's strategy, they all feel very hopeful.
The reason they felt uncomfortable when facing their opponents was because they could never break through the final link of the opponent's defense with long passes, because the opponent's goalkeeper always seemed to be able to sense where their passes would land.
But if they follow the coach's approach, they won't have that same frustrating performance as last time.
Following the head coach's advice, the players began to consciously increase their small-ball combinations in the attacking third, with classic combinations such as 2+1, 3+2, and 1+3 being the most frequently practiced.
Although Atletico Madrid doesn't use short passing combinations much when playing against Real Madrid and Barcelona, that doesn't mean they are weak in this area.
Conversely, within the context of Barcelona's dominance, Atletico Madrid would still rank among the top teams in other leagues if considered in this aspect alone.
With a clear goal in mind, the players became much more motivated during training, and Simeone was quite satisfied to see that his ramblings had such an effect.
He really wanted to try it out and see if his strategy was correct.
If this is true, then he could very well become the first manager to successfully break down Arsenal's defense!
Just imagine the feeling of accomplishing what Guardiola, Mourinho, Klopp, and others couldn't—it's kind of exhilarating. Anyway, he doesn't have any hope of winning this game, but if his attempt works, he will definitely be praised by countless fans once again.
......
"Brother Song, are you sure this is the best way to give it to your father-in-law?"
Lei Ming originally brought his two fully recovered dogs to thank Song Weimin in Birmingham. However, when he mentioned that he hadn't found a gift for his father-in-law yet, Song Weimin pulled out a treasured item that he said he had kept for a long time.
He discovered that it was a very ordinary barrel of medicinal wine, with some unknown ingredients soaked in it, which made it look quite nourishing.
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