Chapter 58: Chapter 260: Fight against Arsenal again, Arsene Wenger falls into madness!
April 13, London, Wembley Stadium.
The FA Cup semi-final between Manchester City and Arsenal is being played here.
Since they had just played a top-of-the-table battle with Liverpool the day before, Manchester City's condition had not fully recovered. In this game, they were at a clear disadvantage.
As early as after the quarter-finals, Manchester City applied to the Football Association to postpone the semi-finals.
However, Arsenal did not agree to the extension. Arsenal was determined to win this championship, so it was naturally impossible to give Manchester City a chance to regain their energy.
Since Arsenal does not agree to the postponement of the FA Cup, then Manchester City will apply to postpone the league. Is that okay?
However, the Football Association rejected their application on the grounds that Manchester City's 29th round match has been postponed. If it is postponed again at this time, the schedule will not be easy to arrange.
The final negotiation ended in failure, and Manchester City had to accept the arrangement of two games in two days.
For this reason, Pellegrini put most of the players who started the last game on the bench this time, and sent a lineup with more than half of the substitutes and less than half of the main players to deal with Arsenal's challenge.
Although Lin Quan emphasized that his physical fitness was fine, Pellegrini still put him on the bench.
He didn't want to put a killer like Lin Quan on the court prematurely and let him rest for a while if he could. It wouldn't be too late to let him play until Arsenal ran out of energy in the second half. The effect might be better!
Moreover, the last time at the Emirates Stadium, Manchester City's substitutes almost overturned Arsenal. This time with many main players joining, they may be able to defeat Arsenal without Lin Quan playing.
Manchester City also encountered the problem of two games in two days during the Christmas season, and they successfully survived that time.
As the league enters its final stage, Manchester City will have fewer and fewer games in the future. As long as they 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 used all their main players, and they specifically applied to postpone the league for three days. For this FA Cup game, Arsenal may have been preparing for at least a week. .
"Wenger has not won a championship for ten years, so he naturally does not want to give up this opportunity!"
The other two teams that broke into the semi-finals of the FA Cup this time are not 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 is also considered to be a hotbed of upsets. A English League One team has reached the semi-finals and even hopes to reach the finals. Even for the FA Cup, which is a hotbed of upsets, it is considered a very rare situation. .
Of course, the occurrence of this situation is inseparable from the early encounters of the wealthy families.
Manchester United fell to Swansea as soon as they debuted, Chelsea fell to Manchester City in February, and Liverpool was eliminated by Arsenal.
In this way, only two strong teams, Manchester City and Arsenal, were left to reach the semi-finals.
And now, the two teams are drawn together again, which gives other teams a chance.
A cup match that determines the outcome is too random. Even if the opponent is a team from League One, we cannot take it lightly. After all, the giants cannot afford to lose.
If you are really eliminated by the opponent, it will really be nailed to the pillar of shame.
While the two were chatting, the game started.
Arsenal quickly took the initiative on the field after the opening. They relied on their physical advantage to suppress Manchester City's midfielder, and then began to attack Manchester City's goal.
Pellegrini knew that his players were in poor physical condition, so he had no intention of fighting Arsenal in the midfield. He shrank his players to half court and put on a defensive counterattack posture.
This kind of game that determines the outcome in one round often only requires one goal to win the game. Therefore, what Manchester City has to do is to ensure that its own goal is not breached and at the same time, calmly look for opportunities to counterattack and kill with one blow. Arsenal go to hell.
Arsenal also knew this. Wenger did not choose Ozil, but chose the combination of Cazorla and Arteta.
Arteta is good at defense and can play an effective protective role 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 has always been very gorgeous. As long as they achieve the effect they want to achieve, they don't have to worry about not scoring.
The key to the question is, can they limit Manchester City's counterattack?
Thinking of this, Wenger's eyes involuntarily fell on Manchester City's winger. Nasri scared Arsenal to death last time at the Emirates Stadium.
Fortunately, Manchester City's physical fitness is not good. Lin Quan also played the entire game in the last game and did not start this game. Otherwise, Arsenal's defense will be more difficult.
Once they win Manchester City and reach the final, Arsenal's chances of winning against either of the two teams, Hull City and Sheffield, will be more than 80%.
Therefore, as long as he crosses the mountain of Manchester City, Wenger can win his first championship trophy in this 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 understand this truth and know that they are very close to the FA Cup championship trophy.
Their desire and longing for the championship made them frantically launch attacks again and again towards Manchester City's penalty area.
Ramsey, Podolski, Cazorla and others got shooting opportunities one after another.
However, their attacks were resolved by Manchester City time and time again. Manchester City played passively, but their defense was not papery and would not be broken down so easily.
After they shrunk their defense, Arsenal's proud passing and cutting tactics were a bit unable to be used.
There are so many people inside and outside the opponent's penalty area that it is difficult to give them enough space to complete the passing and cutting tactics.
Facing the two magic weapons of intensive defense-long shots and set kicks, Arsenal failed to seize the opportunity.
Throughout the first half, they took a total of 6 long-range shots, but none of them posed a threat.
After getting past Barcelona, Manchester City's defensive capabilities have improved a lot.
Although Arsenal's passing and cutting are excellent, there is a big gap compared with Barcelona.
Barcelona is good at catching their opponents' mistakes, while Arsenal is good at creating their own opportunities.
But either way, they need space to pass and receive the ball.
Therefore, placing a bus can effectively limit this tactic.
Manchester City adopted such tactics in this game. Although they were a bit embarrassed, the outside world cannot criticize them.
After all, there are two games in two days, and even the players cannot handle it.
Let them rush out and fight Arsenal at this time, and Manchester City may not have the energy to play half the game.
And Manchester City is not passively defensive, they are also actively seizing opportunities.
They made several threatening counterattacks in the first half. If Arsenal's defender hadn't fouled in time and stopped the opponent's attack at the cost of a card, Arsenal might have conceded the ball.
After 45 minutes of the first half, the score on the field was still 0:0, with neither side scoring a goal.
Arsenal took the lead in making personnel adjustments in the second half, with Wenger choosing to bring on French center Giroud and replace Podolski.
Giroud is a fulcrum center. He is tall and strong and can pass the ball behind his back to his teammates.
He also has good foot skills and is good at fighting for the top and heading the ball.
Putting him on the court, whether it is to act as a fulcrum in the frontcourt or to compete for the top in the penalty area, is a good choice.
Now that Manchester City has shrunk its defense and set up a bus, it is necessary to increase the efficiency of the use of set pieces.
This adjustment quickly achieved results. In the 55th minute, Arsenal once again got a chance to set the ball.
Cazorla's free kick was lobbed into the penalty area. Giroud overpowered Manchester City's defenders and successfully fought for the top. Unfortunately, he failed to exert any force when he turned his head towards the goal. The header was weak and was easily confiscated by Joe Hart. .
Giroud touched his head and was not very satisfied with this header.
But after his teammates saw that he could really compete for the top, their confidence increased greatly, and they all looked for him in the subsequent free kicks and corner kicks.
Such a move aroused the vigilance of Manchester City, but helplessly, Manchester City only has one tall defender, Lescott, while Arsenal has two high points: Mertesacker at 1.98 meters, and Daji at 1.93 meters. Lu.
With both men rushing into the Manchester City penalty area, Lescott could only choose the player with the greatest threat to defend.
A few minutes later, Arsenal got another corner kick opportunity.
Cazorla's corner kick was taken, and Giroud fought hard to reach the top. The top of the ball was of high quality.
Seeing the opponent heading the ball toward the goal, Joe Hart almost subconsciously raised his arm, and then stopped the ball while waving his arm.
After blocking the ball, Joe Hart was stunned, and Giroud was also stunned.
Headers are always difficult to defend because they are close and fast, leaving the goalkeeper very little time to react.
Giroud did not expect that Joe Hart could react in time, let alone that he could actually save.
As expected of the British national gate, it is indeed very strong.
Joe Hart was secretly lucky. He didn't have time to react. He just wanted to raise his arms subconsciously. This time it was really all about luck.
Seeing Giroud being so active, Lescott immediately abandoned Mertesacker and focused on him.
Not only that, when defending him, Manchester City's defenders also used some small moves to prevent him from attacking the goal comfortably.
This strategy temporarily resolved the crisis, and Arsenal began to fall into a situation where it was unable to score goals.
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. Giroud beat Manchester City defender Lescott and once again grabbed the header.
However, when he took off, Lescott pulled him in a very subtle way, preventing him from attacking the goal in the air.
Giroud was in the air and saw Ramsey retreating to the no-man's land at the edge of the penalty area, so he passed the ball to the opponent without hesitation.
This choice was beyond the expectations of the Manchester City players. In the past few times, the opponent's stupid big man chose to attack the goal by himself. Unexpectedly, this time he actually passed the ball.
The Manchester City players closest to Ramsey rushed towards Ramsey almost immediately, but Ramsey moved faster than them.
Before the Manchester City players could press him, he glanced at the goalkeeper's position and hit the goal directly.
This shot was aimed at the upper left corner of the goal, and 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. At this time, it was too late to make a flying save.
With a swish sound, the football flew into Manchester City's goal under the gaze of tens of thousands of fans at Wembley Stadium.
After a fierce attack for most of the half, Arsenal finally scored!
There was a loud bang, and the eager fans who came to Wembley Stadium collectively fell into excitement and enthusiasm.
Arsenal are ahead!
We are actually ahead!
Well done Ramsey!
On the field, after scoring the goal, Ramsey took off his jersey in excitement and ran wildly along the field!
His teammates were chasing after him, and after catching up with him, they threw him to the ground and celebrated wildly.
This goal was so crucial. After being unable to attack for a long time, Arsenal's players began to become a little impatient.
If they don't score a goal, their mentality may have problems again, and they may collapse at the last moment.
However, at this critical moment, Ramsey stepped forward, stabilized the morale of the army with a goal, and pulled Arsenal back from the brink of collapse.
"Good job, Aaron!"
Arteta rubbed Ramsey's hair vigorously and said to him excitedly.
"It was Giroud who passed it on!"
Ramsey did not forget his good brother who gave him an assist. If Giroud had not discovered his movement just now, Ramsey would not have had a chance to shoot.
"Hey, I saw you running, so I passed the ball. I didn't expect you to actually score the ball. If I had known, I would have passed the ball to you earlier!"
Giroud was also very excited. He got an assist just a few dozen minutes after playing. Although he didn't score a goal, it would be worth it if he could help the team win or even win the championship!
On the sidelines, Wenger also fell into madness after seeing Ramsey score.
He clenched his fists hard, gritted his teeth and shook wildly. The expression on his face looked very ferocious, not at all as gentle as before.
The professor has been waiting for this moment for too long and has been depressed for too long!
Ten years!
It's been ten years!
No one knows what this goal means better than him!
However, at this moment, he saw out of the corner of his eye that Manchester City's No. 10 was standing on the sidelines preparing to play.
After coming on the field, Lin Quan silently walked to his own goal, patted the shoulder of Joe Hart who was beating the lawn to vent his emotions, picked up the ball from the net, and returned to the center circle with the football in his arms.
Lin Quan placed the ball at the kick-off point and looked at the Arsenal fans who were celebrating wildly with his hands on his hips. The expression on his face was very calm, with no negative emotions such as frustration and impatience.
Lin Quan's appearance shocked Wenger. No, the game is not over yet, so we can't take it lightly!
There were so many times that the hot shot failed at critical moments, which not only scared Arsenal fans, but even Wenger himself was 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 court, Manchester City will definitely strengthen their offense.
If they were still in front, the backcourt would be too empty and it would be easy for Manchester City to have a chance.
But if we defend with all our strength, with Arsenal's strength, it will not be difficult to hold on to the last ten minutes!
However, facing Lin Quan who is going all out, can his defenders really be able to defend him?
Thinking of this, Wenger looked at the bench next to him, called Gibbs over, and asked him to warm up and prepare to add another defender to strengthen the defense.
If the quality is not enough, the number of people can be used to make up. Five defenders will be enough, right?
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