With the referee's whistle, Adebayor passed the ball back to Fabregas, and the match officially began.
After the match started, Arsenal did not immediately press forward with all their players and launch an attack. Instead, they controlled possession and slowly advanced.
Before the match, Wenger specifically instructed his players to be wary of Leeds United's sharp and fast counter-attacks.
Although Adriano was unavailable, Wenger knew that Bale, Ribery, Kaká, and Torres were all very fast players. If Arsenal played too aggressively before taking the lead, Leeds United might seize the opportunity to turn the tables.
And now, even though Wenger emphasized that three of the four players have not played, they are still not on the field.
But Arsenal did not relax because of this and continued to play at their own pace.
Seeing how cautious Arsenal was playing, Li Shiguang changed his mind about taking the lead at the start of the game. He ran to the sidelines and shouted at his players not to rush and to slowly maneuver against their opponents.
Before the game, when discussing tactics in the locker room.
Wenger, who had always assumed Kaká would play, made specific preparations to counter him. Moreover, considering Modric's injury and inability to play, Wenger even took into account that Kaká would drop back to the backfield to organize the attack.
In the professor's plan.
When Kaká receives the ball in the attacking third, Flamini and Gallas will immediately close in to defend him, making sure he can't get going.
Once Kaka retreats to the vicinity of the center circle, Adebayor and Fabregas must come up to take care of him. In short, no matter where Kaka is, the first thing to do is to prevent him from starting!
And after the match began.
Although Kaká did not play, Arsenal's players followed Wenger's instructions even without immediate adjustments. However, the one who received this special treatment was Reus, who replaced Kaká in the attacking midfield position!
Both Flamini and Gala, in terms of physical strength alone, could easily overpower Reus, who is only 18 years old.
On several occasions, when Reus received a pass in an area of about 35 meters from the Arsenal goal, he was immediately blocked by these two players.
Flamini was alright; he wouldn't rush in and physically assault anyone. But Gallas, whose defensive moves are always rather rough, wouldn't care about that.
Just thirty seconds ago.
Kroos had just received a pass from Rodriguez and hadn't even had time to look up to see what was in front of him when Gallas strode in like a locomotive.
Royce's small frame was no match for Gala's big black body. Just like the previous times, he was immediately knocked away and fell to the ground.
The referee's whistle blew at just the right time.
But this is the Emirates Stadium after all. For this kind of pure physical contact, without any unnecessary movements, the referee did not show Gallas a yellow card. He just gave him a verbal warning, just like before, and then awarded Leeds United a free kick in the attacking third.
The free kick didn't bring Leeds United any benefit; instead, it almost allowed Arsenal to launch a successful counter-attack.
Six minutes later, it was Reus again, but unlike last time, when Reus was dribbling forward, he was forcefully pushed aside by Gallas.
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"Boss, this can't go on." On the sidelines, Rivaldo looked at Reus with a grim expression and said to Li Shiguang, "Marco is still too weak. He doesn't have Kaka's ability to compete. If the opponent keeps defending him like this, our tactics will be ineffective."
“Yeah.” Simeone next to him nodded in agreement. “I don’t know what’s wrong with Wenger. Why is he suddenly marking Marco so closely? I’ve been observing for a long time. When James has the ball, Gallas, that big black guy, doesn’t rush up to mark him closely.”
Li Shiguang also noticed this. He lowered his head and thought for a moment, then suddenly thought of a possibility and quickly asked the two people next to him, "Let me ask you a question. After the game started, did Arsène run to the sidelines to give instructions, or did he call any Arsenal player to the sidelines to say anything?"
"No!" Simone replied to Li Shiguang. He did indeed glance at the neighbor's house from time to time, and he was quite aware of Wenger's movements.
“I understand now.” Li Shiguang nodded. “This must have been arranged by Alsena before the match, but their target was probably Kaká. Did you notice how tight their defense was on the left side of the middle today? Whether it was Marco or Toni, there were at least two defenders pressing them when they had the ball. I guess Alsena figured that this line would be our main attacking direction today! After all, Kaká's attacking power is still very strong!”
"Didn't we just bounce back from the start?" Li Shiguang said, and Simone's face was full of frustration. "I should have known better than to let Kaka come out to warm up. We were planning to set up a smokescreen, but now we've made things difficult for ourselves!"
“No problem.” Li Shiguang smiled and instructed Rivaldo, “Ferreira, when the ball is dead later, call Toni or James over and tell them to shift their weight to the right when attacking, but also pay attention to the left! Also, have them tell Marco to be more alert when making runs!”
····
While Li Shiguang and his two assistant coaches were adjusting tactics, Lineker and Jon were also discussing the performance of the two teams in the previous period.
"Ugh... I got the ball stolen again..." Lineker looked annoyed as he saw Gallas intercept the ball once more. "What was Lee thinking? Reus is clearly not suited to playing in the middle. There isn't enough space for him to get going. He simply can't get past Flamini and Gallas!"
Jon also agreed with Lineker's opinion, nodding and saying, "Indeed! Reus's strengths are speed and ball control agility, so having him go head-to-head with Arsenal's defense is not a good option for him."
“However…” Watching the TV screen suddenly cut to the sidelines, where Li Shiguang and his two assistant coaches were talking, Jon suddenly had an idea. “But I think Li has his reasons for making this arrangement. Don’t forget, besides being good at discovering young talents, his ability to win games by playing unconventionally is also a label attached to him!”
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