Chapter 260: Another match against Arsenal, Wenger goes crazy!

April 13, London, Wembley Stadium.

The FA Cup semi-final between Manchester City and Arsenal is being held here.

As Manchester City had just had a top battle with Liverpool the day before, their form had not yet fully recovered and they were at a clear disadvantage in this match.

As early as after the quarter-finals, Manchester City applied to the FA to postpone the semi-final match.

However, Arsenal did not agree to the extension. Arsenal was determined to win the championship and naturally would not give Manchester City a chance to recover.

Since Arsenal does not agree to postpone the FA Cup, then Manchester City should apply to postpone the league. Is that okay?

However, the English Football Association rejected their application on the grounds that Manchester City's match in the 29th round had already been postponed, and if it was postponed again at this time, it would be difficult to arrange the schedule.

Ultimately the negotiations failed and Manchester City had to accept the arrangement of playing two games in two days.

To this end, Pellegrini put most of the players who started the previous game on the bench this time, sending out a lineup with mostly substitutes and a few main players to meet Arsenal's challenge.

Although Lin Quan emphasized that there was no problem with his physical fitness, Pellegrini still put him on the bench.

He didn't want to put a killer like Lin Quan on the field too early. He wanted to let him rest for a while. It wouldn't be too late to let him play in the second half when Arsenal ran out of energy. The effect might be better! Moreover, last time at the Emirates Stadium, Manchester City's substitutes almost overturned Arsenal. This time, with the addition of many main players, maybe they don't need Lin Quan to play, and they can beat Arsenal.

Manchester City also encountered the situation of having to play two games in two days when the league started fast-forwarding on Christmas, and they managed to survive that time.

As the league draws to a close, Manchester City will have fewer and fewer games. As long as they can grit their teeth and get through this most difficult period, they can have a good rest.

"Arsenal is determined to win this game!"

Assistant coach Kusias saw Arsenal's starting lineup and said to Pellegrini worriedly.

Compared with Manchester City's starting lineup, Arsenal can be said to have fielded all their main players, and they specifically applied to postpone the league for 3 days. For this FA Cup match, Arsenal may have prepared for at least a week.

"Wenger has not won a championship in ten years, so he naturally doesn't want to give up this opportunity!"

The other two teams that made it to the FA Cup semi-finals this time are not very strong. In addition to Arsenal and Manchester City, the other two teams are Hull City and Sheffield.

Hull City is a mid-table team in the Premier League with average strength.

Sheffield is a team in the third tier of England - League One.

This year's FA Cup has seen many upsets. A League One team has made it to the semi-finals and may even have a chance to advance to the finals. This is a very rare occurrence even for the FA Cup, which is a hotbed of upsets.

Of course, this situation is closely related to the previous experiences of the giants.

Manchester United fell to Swansea right after their debut, Chelsea fell to Manchester City in February, and Liverpool were eliminated by Arsenal.

In this way, only two strong teams, Manchester City and Arsenal, made it to the semi-finals.

And now, the two teams are drawn together again, which gives other teams a chance.

There is too much room for randomness in a cup match where the outcome is decided in one go. Even if the opponent is a team from English League One, one cannot take it lightly, after all, the giants cannot afford to lose.

If we are really eliminated by the opponent, we will be nailed to the pillar of shame.

While the two were chatting, the game began.

Arsenal quickly took the initiative on the field after the opening. They suppressed Manchester City's midfield with their physical advantage and then began to attack Manchester City's goal.

Pellegrini knew that his players were not in good physical condition, so he had no intention of fighting with Arsenal in the midfield. He withdrew his players to the half court and adopted a defensive counterattack posture.

This kind of game that is decided in one round often only requires one goal to win the game, so what Manchester City needs to do is to ensure that their own goal is not breached while calmly looking for opportunities to counterattack, strike a fatal blow, and send Arsenal to hell.

Arsenal also knows this truth. Wenger did not choose Ozil, but chose the combination of Cazorla and Arteta.

Arteta is strong in defense and can provide effective protection behind Cazorla, allowing the Spaniard to concentrate on his offensive strengths.

In this game, Wenger's tactical focus was on the offensive end.

Arsenal’s passing and cutting have always been very gorgeous. As long as they can achieve the effect they want, they will never have to worry about not scoring goals.

The key question is, can they limit Manchester City's counterattack? Thinking of this, Wenger's eyes fell on Manchester City's winger involuntarily. Nasri scared Arsenal enough at the Emirates Stadium last time.

Fortunately, Manchester City's physical fitness is not good, and Lin Quan played the whole game in the last game, so he did not start in this game. Otherwise, Arsenal's defense would be more difficult.

If they beat Manchester City and advance to the final, Arsenal will have an 80% chance of winning against either Hull City or Sheffield United.

Therefore, as long as Wenger can overcome the huge obstacle of Manchester City, he will be able to win the first championship trophy in the past decade.

Come on, kids, step over the corpse of Manchester City and get the honor that belongs to us! Wenger silently cheered for the players in his heart!

The Arsenal players on the field obviously understood this and knew that they were very close to the FA Cup trophy.

Their desire and longing for the championship made them launch crazy attacks on Manchester City's penalty area again and again.

Ramsey, Podolski, Cazorla and others got consecutive chances to shoot.

However, their attacks were resolved by Manchester City time and time again. It was true that Manchester City played passively, but their defense was not made of paper and would not be easily broken.

After they tightened their defense, Arsenal's proud passing and cutting tactics were somewhat difficult to play.

There are too many people inside and outside the opponent's penalty area, making it difficult to give them enough space to complete the passing and cutting tactics.

Facing the two magic weapons of dense defense - long-range shots and set pieces, Arsenal failed to seize the opportunity.

Throughout the first half, they took a total of 6 long shots, but none of them posed a threat.

After getting past Barcelona, ​​Manchester City's defensive capabilities have improved significantly.

Although Arsenal's passing and cutting are strong, there is still a big gap compared to Barcelona.

Barcelona is good at taking advantage of opponents' mistakes, while Arsenal is good at creating opportunities themselves.

But either way, they need space to pass the ball.

Therefore, bus parking can effectively limit this tactic.

Manchester City adopted this tactic in this game. Although it was a bit embarrassing, the outside world could not criticize them for anything.

After all, two games in two days is too much for even the strongest players.

If they were asked to rush out and attack Arsenal at this time, Manchester City might not have the strength to play half the game.

And Manchester City is not passive in defense, they are also actively seizing opportunities.

They launched several threatening counterattacks in the first half. If the Arsenal defender had not committed a timely foul and stopped the opponent's attack at the cost of receiving a card, Arsenal might have lost the ball.

After 45 minutes of the first half, the score was still 0:0 and neither side was able to score a goal.

In the second half, Arsenal made the first personnel adjustment. Wenger chose to replace Podolski with French center forward Giroud.

Giroud is a fulcrum-type center forward. He is tall and strong, and can pass the ball to his teammates with his back to the basket.

He also has good footwork and is good at heading and headers.

Substituting him on the field, whether he acts as a fulcrum in the frontcourt or competes for headers in the penalty area, is a good choice.

Since Manchester City has tightened its defense and set up a bus, it needs to increase the efficiency of its use of set pieces.

This adjustment quickly took effect, and in the 55th minute, Arsenal got another chance for a set piece.

Cazorla's free kick was sent into the penalty area, and Giroud won the header against Manchester City's defender. Unfortunately, he failed to exert enough power when he headed the ball, and it was so soft that it was easily caught by Joe Hart.

Giroud touched his head and was not very satisfied with this header.

But after his teammates saw that he could really reach the top, their confidence increased greatly, and the following free kicks and corner kicks all went to him.

Such a move aroused Manchester City's vigilance, but unfortunately, Manchester City only had one tall defender, Lescott, while Arsenal had two tall players: Mertesacker at 1.98 meters and Giroud at 1.93 meters.

With both players rushing into Manchester City's penalty area, Lescott could only choose the player who posed the greatest threat to defend.

A few minutes later, Arsenal got another corner kick opportunity.

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Cazorla took a corner kick and Giroud fought hard to head the ball, the quality of the header was very high.

Seeing the opponent heading the ball, Joe Hart almost subconsciously raised his arm, and then blocked the ball in the process of swinging his arm.

After blocking the ball, Joe Hart was stunned, and Giroud was also stunned.

Heading attacks are always difficult to defend because of the close distance and high speed, leaving the goalkeeper very little time to react.

Giroud didn't expect Joe Hart to react in time, and he didn't expect him to actually save the ball.

As expected of Britain’s national team, he is really strong.

Joe Hart was secretly feeling lucky. He had no time to react and just raised his arms subconsciously. This time it was all thanks to luck.

Seeing Giroud so active, Lescott immediately abandoned Mertesacker and targeted him.

Not only that, when defending him, Manchester City's defenders also used some small tricks to prevent him from shooting comfortably.

This strategy temporarily resolved the crisis, and Arsenal began to fall into a situation where they were unable to score again.

But Giroud was smart. When he realized he was being targeted, he immediately changed his strategy.

In the 76th minute, Arsenal took a corner kick, and Giroud overpowered Manchester City defender Lescott and once again grabbed a header.

However, when he jumped, Lescott pulled him secretly, making it impossible for him to attack the goal in the air.

Giroud was in the air and saw Ramsey retreating to the no-man's land in front of the penalty area, so he passed the ball to the opponent without hesitation.

This choice was beyond the expectations of Manchester City players. In the previous few times, the opponent's big guy chose to shoot the goal himself, but they didn't expect that he would pass the ball this time.

The Manchester City players closest to Ramsey rushed towards Ramsey almost immediately, but Ramsey was faster than them.

Before Manchester City players pressed forward, he took a look at the goalkeeper's position and kicked the ball directly.

The shot was aimed at the upper left corner of the goal, but Joe Hart had just been attracted by Giroud on the right side of the penalty area and was standing close to the right side of the goal. It was too late for him to fly and save the ball.

With a swish, the football flew into Manchester City's goal under the gaze of tens of thousands of fans at Wembley Stadium.

After attacking for most of the game, Arsenal finally scored a goal! With a loud bang, the fans who came to Wembley Stadium were collectively in a state of excitement and frenzy.

Arsenal is leading!

We are actually ahead! Well done, Ramsey! On the field, after scoring the goal, Ramsey excitedly took off his jersey and ran madly along the field!

His teammates chased after him, and after catching up with him, they threw him to the ground and celebrated wildly.

This goal was so crucial that after being unable to score for a long time, Arsenal players began to become a little impatient.

If they don’t score again, their mentality might be compromised again, and they might even collapse at the last moment.

However, at this critical moment, Ramsey stood up, stabilized the morale of the team with a goal, and pulled Arsenal back from the brink of collapse.

"Well done, Aaron!"

Arteta rubbed Ramsey's hair hard and spoke to him excitedly.

"It was Giroud who made a good pass!"

Ramsey did not forget his good brother who gave him the assist. If Giroud had not noticed his position just now, Ramsey would have no chance to shoot.

"Hey, I saw you running, so I passed the ball. I didn't expect you to actually score the goal. If I had known, I would have passed the ball to you earlier!"

Giroud was also very excited. He got an assist after only a few dozen minutes on the field. Although he did not score a goal, he was able to help the team win and even win the championship, which was worth it!

On the sidelines, Wenger also went crazy after seeing Ramsey score a goal.

He clenched his fists tightly, gritted his teeth and shook them wildly. The expression on his face looked extremely ferocious, completely different from his previous gentleness.

The professor has been waiting for this moment for too long and has been suppressed for too long!

Ten years! A full ten years! No one knew better than him what this goal meant! However, at this moment, he saw from the corner of his eye that Manchester City's number ten was standing on the sidelines, ready to play.

After coming on the court, Lin Quan silently walked towards his own goal, patted Joe Hart's shoulder who was pounding the grass to vent his emotions, picked the ball out of the net, and returned to the center circle with the football.

Lin Quan put the ball on the kick-off spot, put his hands on his hips and looked at the Arsenal fans who were celebrating wildly. The expression on his face was very calm, without any negative emotions such as frustration and impatience.

Lin Quan’s appearance made Wenger feel shocked. No, the game is not over yet and we cannot be careless!

There have been too many times when the hotshot has failed to deliver at crucial moments, which has not only scared Arsenal fans, but even Wenger himself is a little scared.

Thinking of this, Wenger quickly made tactical adjustments and asked the players to retreat across the board.

The risk of continuing to attack at this time is too great! Now that Lin Quan is on the field, Manchester City must strengthen their attack next.

If they continue to play in the front, the backcourt will be too empty and it will be easy for Manchester City to have opportunities.

But if we defend with all our strength, it will not be difficult for Arsenal to hold on for the last ten minutes!

However, facing Lin Quan who is giving his all, can his defenders really defend him?

Thinking of this, Wenger looked at the bench beside him, called Gibbs over, asked him to warm up, and prepared to put another defender on to strengthen the defense.

If the quality is not good enough, we can make up for it with numbers. Five defenders should be enough, right?

(End of this chapter)