Chapter 536 Iron Man
When Drogba excitedly rushed out of the penalty area, Wenger, who was standing on the sidelines, slapped his forehead hard. From the shape of his mouth, it was obvious that he cursed with a word starting with f.
This was a rare loss of composure for Professor Wenger, who is always gentle and refined!
No one expected that Wenger's team would play so badly at St. Mary's Stadium, not even Wenger himself.
This is already the fourth goal of this game!
Toni Kroos played as the sole defensive midfielder in this game and he played so well!
More than ten minutes ago, it was he who made the diagonal pass to Hazard.
The Belgian dribbled the ball inside from the left, attracting the attention of Arsenal's defense, and then suddenly made a diagonal pass to the right.
Gareth Bale dribbled into the penalty area from the right, completely disrupting Arsenal's defense.
As a result, the Welsh player made a cross pass in the middle, James Rodriguez deliberately missed it, and Hazard followed up and pushed the ball into the goal, changing the score to 3-0!
And now, it was Hazard who dribbled the ball from the left, cut inside to the middle, passed it to James Rodriguez, who then passed it to the right, Danilo made a wild attack, and after getting the ball, he broke into the penalty area and made a low pass to the front point, and Drogba scored in front of the goal!
Almost all of the four goals were related to the wing, which made Wenger feel like he was going to collapse.
"Pat, we have to fill the wing, we have to fill it!"
After approaching the visiting team's coaching bench, Wenger seemed a little exasperated.
As a powerful Premier League team, they were beaten 4-0 by a newly promoted team. Even if it was an away game, it was a huge shame and humiliation!
What's more, judging from the current situation, Southampton is Arsenal's number one opponent in their fight for the top four in the league!
Judging from the situation this season, Manchester United and Manchester City are still strong, and Chelsea's strength is also stable under the coaching of Benítez.
Even Wenger had to admit that the overall strength of these three teams was above Arsenal.
Originally, Arsenal's biggest competitor for the top four in the league was Tottenham Hotspur, but the team is still in the process of adjustment. Its performance is good and it is temporarily ranked above Arsenal, but Wenger is very confident that he can defeat his opponent.
Only Southampton, relying on a series of consecutive victories, has reached the third place and even surpassed Chelsea.
This undoubtedly disrupted Wenger's plan!
As the head coach of Arsenal, Wenger knows better than anyone that losing the Champions League qualification will be a huge blow to Arsenal's finances. Therefore, in order to maintain the top four in the league, signings during the winter break are imperative!
Pat Rice nodded, indicating that he had remembered it and would remind him later.
"Bielsa is not simple either!"
Wenger glanced at Bielsa, who was squatting on the sidelines directing the game in front of the home team's coaching bench, and snorted coldly.
"Isn't it because Southampton's bench is very deep? Otherwise, can his rotation help the Saints survive Christmas?"
The devilish Christmas schedule, with three games in seven days, is a huge test for any team.
But Southampton relied on its strong strength and solid bench to survive this devilish schedule.
Among the teams ranked at the top of the league standings, only Southampton, Manchester United, Chelsea and Arsenal have won two consecutive games in the first two rounds of the Christmas devil schedule, while Manchester City has lost one game.
But in this round, Manchester United won and Chelsea lost. Arsenal only needed to win 7-3 at home against Newcastle and defeat Southampton with great momentum to establish a good situation in the second half and narrow the points gap.
But now, it has helped Southampton take a further step forward!
Come to think of it, it’s really cowardly!
I raised my head and looked towards the stadium, and just in time I saw Southampton's German midfielder Toni Kroos hugging his teammates with a smile and celebrating Drogba's goal. I could also faintly hear their cheers.
"We are just missing Toni Kroos!" Wenger shook his head with regret.
It's also his fault that he made the mistake in the first place!
When Toni Kroos was at Bayern Munich, his performance was not eye-catching, nor did he play the role of a deep-lying organizer.
But after coming to Southampton, he changed to play as an organizing midfielder, which stimulated his potential in one fell swoop.
Perhaps in the eyes of many fans, Toni Kroos's retreat means that he is isolated from all personal honors.
But in fact, Bielsa's move has greatly broadened Toni Kroos' development prospects.
The German midfielder is a very classical midfielder with fine footwork but average speed and weak personal breakthrough ability. In the frontcourt, facing dense defense, this is not his strong point and may even expose his weaknesses.
There is no room for that somewhat classic No. 10 player's playing style in the modern football tactical system!
Even at Bayern Munich, it is impossible to build a tactic centered around Toni Kroos with a traditional number ten.
Although retreating sacrificed some of his offensive abilities, it activated his ability to organize, control the ball and control the overall situation.
In the current Southampton team, Toni Kroos is the decision maker and controller in the midfield.
This point was fully demonstrated in this game!
He has excellent lateral coordination ability, long and short passes covering every corner of the court, and his ability to control the team's offense and defense transition rhythm and the overall situation is quite good. Such a defensive midfielder is definitely what Wenger dreams of.
The only thing that can be criticized is that Toni Kroos' defensive ability as a defensive midfielder is still slightly weak.
But the most important thing is that this player is only 23 years old and is still growing and improving rapidly.
How precious is this in today's professional football world?
Looking back now, not to mention that Yang Huan insisted on introducing Toni Kroos because there was a rich man who helped him pay for the deal, even if that wasn't the case, the 60 million pounds to introduce Toni Kroos was worth it!
At the very least, judging from the current situation, Toni Kroos is undoubtedly the one with the greatest hope of becoming a perfect all-round technical midfielder.
As for Barcelona's Busquets, his defensive positioning is worse than Toni Kroos, after all, he is a pure defensive midfielder. However, his ability in running, covering, passing threatening balls and designing the team's offensive lines is not as good as the German.
Perhaps this is also related to the existence of Xavi, but at least Toni Kroos' performance in the past two seasons is indeed quite amazing and eye-catching.
And Toni Kroos is too smart. Although he is a lying organizer, he would rush forward from time to time to take a long shot, which would make people break out in a cold sweat. He also has an outstanding free kick technique.
"It's too easy for us to let the opponent pass through our midfield and face Arteta directly. Once they are face to face, whether it's Hazard, James Rodriguez or Gareth Bale, they will all be defeated by Arteta!"
Pat Rice shook his head and sighed helplessly.
This problem has existed for a long time, but...
Arsenal's assistant coach glanced at Wenger and sighed in his heart.
The Gunners coach has always believed that as long as the previous attack goes smoothly and the players' enthusiasm for pressing and oppressing is increased, Arsenal's ball possession tactics can ensure the stable operation of the team's technical single midfielder.
In Chinese terms, this should be called the best defense!
Idealism kills people!
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With the referee's whistle, this almost one-sided Champions League qualification battle that shocked everyone finally came to an end.
Southampton defeated Arsenal 4-0 at home with four goals from James Rodriguez, Gareth Bale, Hazard and Drogba, winning the team's ninth consecutive victory!
At the same time, the three consecutive wins on Christmas Day also allowed Southampton to successfully get out of the devil's schedule.
This made everyone in St. Mary's Stadium breathe a sigh of relief, and they cheered and celebrated wildly.
By defeating Arsenal, Southampton further consolidated its position in the top four of the league.
For Southampton this season, as long as they can qualify for the Champions League, it will be a success!
After the game, the player selected as the best player of the game was not the four players who scored goals, but Toni Kroos who was in the midfield.
When the results of the man of the match award were announced, all the fans in St. Mary's Stadium stood up and cheered.
The German players showed their fantastic football skills in this game.
With his excellent tactical understanding, he completely controlled the tempo of the game, led the Saints midfield, and was able to suppress Arsenal's midfield and backcourt. He scored consecutive goals in a short period of time at the start and laid the foundation for victory in the game.
By retreating, the Saints midfield was able to firmly control the situation and rhythm, making it difficult for Arsenal to organize a threatening attack.
At the same time, he once again ran the longest distance of the game, reaching 12.3 kilometers, and his pass success rate was as high as 95%. Both data are quite amazing.
More importantly, in all the games Toni Kroos has participated in this season, he has run an average of 11.8 kilometers per game, which is currently the highest average running distance per game in the Southampton team. He can be called an iron man!
When there is the ball, he supports his teammates by actively running over a large area. When there is no ball, he blocks the opponent's passing route by actively running.
Toni Kroos's movement may not be decisive, but it is very, very important!
So much so that after the game, Yang Huan immediately rushed from the chairman's stand to the home team's locker room. As soon as he entered the room, he didn't care that Toni Kroos was wet and sweaty, and went straight to give him a bear hug.
"Well done, Tony, that's awesome!"
The latter held the best champagne in both hands and was flattered by the hug from Young Master Huan.
"And you guys are all so great, I love you guys!"
When everyone heard this, they all started laughing.
What Master Huan said is too much!
However, I am really happy to hear Master Huan’s praise!
"Now, we have finally gotten through the devil's schedule. Everyone should hurry up and make good adjustments, because what comes next will be the most decisive. All fronts will enter the final tug-of-war, and it will become extremely tragic!"
Everyone nodded continuously.
The devilish Christmas schedule is just one of the tests for the Premier League's strong teams.
The Premier League schedule and cup matches that follow are no less difficult than the Christmas devil schedule.
Therefore, there are many dark horse teams that performed well in the first half of the season, but after the Christmas schedule, they thought they could breathe a sigh of relief. However, they became complacent and slack, which directly ruined all their efforts for the entire season.
"I still say the same thing. I will never be stingy with bonuses. As long as you perform well, I will definitely satisfy you!"
When the players heard this, they all burst into laughter again.
Master Huan is so generous!
Let me ask, how many people in the world can be as generous as Young Master Huan?
"Okay, that's all I have to say. Everyone, get ready and go to Wangjiang Pavilion. I'll treat you!"
"Thank you, Master Huan!"
"Great, Master Huan, you are so awesome!"
The players immediately cheered and expressed their gratitude.
Yang Huan waved his hand, turned and walked towards the locker room door. When passing by Bielsa, he gave a special reminder.
"Old Bay, after the post-match press conference, come to my office and we can discuss something."
"Okay!" Bielsa nodded in agreement.