Alonso knew his teammate's playing style: aggressive tackling and precise positioning, but delicate dribbling was not his forte.
So when they saw Hleb and Adebayor charging toward Mascherano...
To prevent teammates from being dispossessed.
Despite being surrounded himself, Alonso still waved to Mascherano for the ball.
Mascherano acted decisively, passing the ball directly to Alonso.
Alonso intended to dribble forward after receiving the ball, but as soon as the ball reached his feet, Fabregas and Diaz rushed towards him, and Adebayor, who hadn't fared well against Mascherano, was also eager to join in.
With Modric off the pitch, Alonso became Arsenal's primary defensive target.
Faced with this situation.
The Spanish midfielder was also helpless.
After observing his teammates' runs ahead, Alonso turned and passed the ball back to right-back Alves. He then continued his retreat, reaching out to Alves for the ball as he ran.
Alves, who had the ball, wanted to dribble forward, but he knew that against Arsenal's pressing, he could only get the ball to the vicinity of the halfway line before he had to pass it, and most likely it would be a back pass.
So Alves had no choice but to pass the ball back to Alonso, who had dropped back about ten meters.
These passes weren't actually very fast.
It doesn't belong to the kind of quick short passing combination within a small area.
This also made the pace of the game seem a bit slow.
Just when everyone thought Alonso would continue to slowly pass the ball around with his teammates, looking for an opportunity...
On Leeds United's left flank, which went unnoticed by everyone.
A white figure had changed from taking a stroll to... jogging!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
