Chapter 860 Young people have no martial ethics!
This weekend, in the FA Cup semi-final, Manchester City will face Arsenal at the Etihad Stadium.
In the locker room before the game, when Wenger got Manchester City's starting lineup, he cursed in his heart.
How contemptuous! Did you really think that the knife in Arsenal's hand was not sharp? Wenger had the urge to rush over to the home team's locker room, grab Guardiola's shirt on his chest, spit on his face, and teach him a lesson on the court, letting him know that young people should be more humble, have some martial virtues, and not be too arrogant!
When playing against Arsenal, none of the three main players in the frontcourt played. Who are they looking down on?
But Wenger endured it! He even began to wonder what Guardiola was planning. It was no accident that Su Dong, Di Maria and Sanchez, the three front players, were all absent from the starting lineup.
It is no coincidence that David Silva, Gareth Barry and Thiago started in the midfield.
Is Guardiola planning to save the team's core fighting power for the next game against Tottenham Hotspur?
Does he really think that Arsenal is not as strong as their arch-rivals in North London?
Or did he think that Manchester City could easily beat the Gunners at home? Wenger was getting angry again as he thought about it.
In all his years in the Premier League, when has he ever been humiliated like this?
Even Ferguson, the old fox, had to do his best when facing Arsenal. But Guardiola and his Manchester City dared to be so arrogant. It was really...
When Wenger thought about it, he was furious, especially when he thought about the previous home defeat by the opponent 1 to 9...
Whenever Wenger recalls it, he feels like collapsing and vomiting blood.
That game was really painful for Arsenal.
"Su Dong is a substitute." Pat Rice reminded Wenger.
Although Su Dong was not in the starting lineup, he was placed on the bench. It can be seen that Guardiola wanted to arrange him in the second half, but is he so sure that Manchester City can hold on until Su Dong comes on the court?
Or does he want to rely on this semi-main lineup to defeat Arsenal?
…………
…………
Manchester City did not send out all of its main players, but wasn't Arsenal the same?
Wenger also made rotations in this game.
The goalkeeper is Almunia, the defense is Gibbs, Koscielny, Djokovic and Sagna, the midfield is Denilson and Diaby in the back, Rosicky, Wilshere and Nasri in the front, and the center is Van Persie.
Perhaps affected by the 1-9 defeat at home, Wenger took Fabianski off and Spanish veteran Almunia started.
Players such as Alexander Song and Vermaelen did not play for various reasons and were not even included in the squad.
As it turned out, the Gunners also did not make the determination to fight Manchester City to the end in this game.
As the game started, Wenger's team did not actively attack or press, but focused on defensive play.
The Gunners were going to counterattack, but it was surprising that Walcott, their fastest counterattack weapon, did not play.
As soon as the game started, the Gunners began to implement their own tactical style of play.
To sum it up simply in four words: steady defense and fast pace!
Yes, literally.
Manchester City controlled the ball from the start, and under the organization and planning of David Silva and Thiago, they continuously attacked Arsenal's defense.
Dzeko, Adam Johnson, Milner and others took turns threatening Arsenal's goal, and Gareth Barry also had several chances to shoot from behind, but Almunia was in great form tonight and repeatedly resolved Manchester City's attacks.
Of course, we can also look at it the other way around, Manchester City's shots did not pose an absolute threat.
And so the game remained at a stalemate.
…………
…………
Su Dong sat on the bench, frowning and watching the game.
Watching Djokovic and Koscielny struggling on the field, they both had a hard time facing Dzeko.
He was very puzzled. Why did Wenger feel that with the level of these two central defenders, Arsenal could ensure results?
In recent years, many wingers and full-backs have emerged, making people feel that the core of the team is moving to the two flanks. For example, Alves is the core of the wing in Sevilla, and there are also people like Messi who play as a winger.
But in fact, Sevilla also had strong players like Baptista in the middle at that time.
Not to mention Barcelona, Mourinho has always wanted to get a strong center forward.
What is the reason?
There is a very true saying in Italian football: no matter how good you are at playing on the wing, you have to return to the center to shoot.
Therefore, in European football, when any team is formed, two positions will definitely be given priority.
Center forward and center back, then the middle of the midfield.
This is what many fans call the central axis!
After establishing the central axis, all that remains is to fill it in like a puzzle, thereby perfecting each position and function of the team and finally forming a complete team.
From this set of processes, it is not difficult to see the importance of center forward and center back to a team.
But Wenger's central defenders are Djokovic and Koscielny, which is obviously a bit too arrogant.
It cannot be said that these two central defenders have no strength. If they were in the middle of the Premier League, there would be no problem. However, Arsenal is a team aiming for the top four in the Premier League, and such a central defender configuration is obviously a bit too poor.
Of course, this can also be explained by the fact that Wenger is used to a comfortable life, so even if the central defender performs poorly, he is still confident that he can lead the team to the top four.
But this season has repeatedly woken Wenger up, including Manchester City's 9-1 defeat and the League Cup final loss to Birmingham, all of which prove one thing, that is, Arsenal's two central defenders are unreliable.
Wenger should be feeling regretful now, but he missed a great opportunity to strengthen his team during the winter break.
I have to use up the central defender I support even if I have to cry! …………
…………
In the second half, the game was still in a stalemate.
Neither side made any substitutions during the half-time break.
Manchester City still controlled the ball, but failed to break through Arsenal's goal. The Gunners continued to defend and wait for opportunities to counterattack. Even though they occasionally launched a counterattack, it was difficult to threaten Manchester City's goal.
More than 40,000 Manchester City fans in the stadium kept cheering for the team, and the atmosphere in the stadium was extremely warm.
Manchester City has not reached the FA Cup semi-finals for decades. If they can reach the final again, or even win the championship, it will undoubtedly create history for the club. This is the common expectation of all Manchester City fans.
When the game reached the 60th minute, Arsenal made the first substitution.
Ramsey replaced Diaby, who did not perform well and was a little less excited.
Each of the young players trained by Wenger at Arsenal is extremely talented and brilliant, but various problems always arise in the training process, resulting in their ultimate development being unsatisfactory.
This is also a problem that all teams committed to youth training will encounter.
Because of this, the wealthy teams at the top of the food chain would rather spend more money than buy young players for training, and it is difficult for young players to get opportunities in wealthy teams.
There are basically no top clubs that can truly promote their youth training as vigorously as Bayern.
…
When the game reached the 65th minute, Manchester City also made a substitution.
Guardiola replaced two players in one go.
Replaced Dzeko with Su Dong.
The Bosnian center forward did cause quite a lot of trouble for Arsenal's two central defenders tonight and made them suffer a lot, but he was always just a little bit away from scoring a goal.
Sometimes, the difference between Dzeko and a true superstar is just this little bit.
Sanchez replaced Milner, who performed well, but at this time, the team still needed Sanchez to attack on the right side, which Milner did not have.
Wenger also saw Manchester City's intention and immediately arranged the team's left side defense.
Tonight he arranged for young player Gibbs to play. Facing Sanchez, Wenger probably didn't have much confidence, especially when the game had been going on for more than an hour.
…
After the substitution, the game restarted.
Manchester City's offensive style is obviously different from before.
The positions of the three players in the midfield are different. David Silva is closer to the center, a bit like playing as an attacking midfielder. Gareth Barry frequently made forward runs in the first hour, but now he has begun to retreat to a position similar to Thiago.
Obviously, Manchester City's frontcourt attack was left to Sudong, David Silva and Sanchez.
Adam Johnson still stayed on the left side, holding back Sagna.
Only eight minutes after Su Dong came on the field, that is, in the 73rd minute of the game, Manchester City created an opportunity for him to face the goal directly.
During an attack in the frontcourt, David Silva got the ball in the middle, and when Su Dong almost overlapped with Koscielny, he suddenly sent a straight pass to the right side of the Arsenal penalty area.
At this time, Sanchez pulled Gibbs to the wing, leaving the right side of the penalty area blank.
Su Dong quickly shook off Koscielny, cut diagonally to the right side of the penalty area, and caught up with David Silva's through ball.
Zhu Lu immediately followed up and stood between Su Dong and the goal.
After Su Dong caught up with the ball, he did not stop, but instead made a gesture to sprint to the bottom, tricking Zhu Lu into moving as well. Then he suddenly stopped, kicked the ball back with his right foot, and pushed it sideways with his left foot.
This sudden series of actions allowed Su Dong to forcibly shake off Zhu Lu and create a gap.
Immediately afterwards, Su Dong chased after him and kicked with his left foot.
The ball went into the goal at a speed so fast that it almost brushed the angle between the crossbar and the post on the left side of the goal.
The entire process, from starting to sudden stop to lateral cutting, was done in one go, leaving no chance for Arsenal's defensive players to react.
Koscielny couldn't keep up with Su Dong's rhythm throughout the whole process, and Djokovic was like a wooden stake, completely fooled by Su Dong. Not to mention organizing, he couldn't even keep up with Su Dong's movement frequency.
Using speed to defeat slow, Su Dong completely conquered Arsenal's two central defenders!
This made all the Manchester City fans in the Etihad Stadium scream heart-wrenchingly.
One to zero!
Manchester City finally broke the deadlock!
(End of this chapter)
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
