The head coaches of both sides are preparing for this game seriously and attach great importance to this North London derby.
But the players may not take this game too seriously.
After this wave of undefeated Arsenal, they have eight wins and one draw in nine league games and scored 25 points.
Ranked second is Chelsea, whose record is 7 wins, 1 draw and 1 loss, with 22 points.
Behind them is Manchester United, which also has 1 win, 1 draw and 1 loss, with 22 points. Manchester United is behind Chelsea on goal difference.
Manchester City, on the other hand, has 6 wins, 2 draws and 1 loss - the only defeat was to Arsenal, ranking fourth with 20 points.
And Tottenham's performance of 12 points after nine league rounds was directly overwhelmed by Arsenal.
Especially Tottenham's performance when facing strong teams: for example, they lost to Manchester United and Chelsea.
Arsenal's performance against strong teams this season has been explosive.
They defeated Liverpool 3-0 in the league opener and defeated Manchester City 5-1 away from home.
It can be regarded as a classic battle played by Arsenal this season.
Therefore, Arsenal's players were not very nervous when facing this derby opponent.
They are very relaxed.
Although Wenger is worried about something.
But for Arsenal's players, they are now first in the league standings. They have never lost a game so far, so there is nothing to worry about.
With the team's current form, is there any problem in defeating Tottenham, who are in poor form and have not won in six games?
As for the North London Derby, both sides have been entangled for more than a hundred years, and there is nothing special about it.
It's just a more intense game.
As long as everyone concentrates and beats Tottenham, it won't be a big problem.
Wenger noticed the mentality of underestimating the enemy within the team. Although the old man reminded him, the players only felt that the old man was too cautious.
We are now top of the Premier League standings after nine rounds!
Rounding up, that’s 22% of the league champions.
Young people have this characteristic.
Easily expands.
When being interviewed, Wilshere, who was very likely to get the chance to start in this game, could not hide his excitement and pride.
Of course.
On the surface, he still said that they would respect their opponents and the game.
"Tottenham are a very strong opponent and we cannot underestimate them because games at White Hart Lane are always going to be difficult. We are thinking about the game now and we can't wait to beat them. I can't wait for the game to start right away."
When he said these words, Wilshere had a confident smile on his face.
That's game day.
The White Hart Lane Stadium was naturally packed with all kinds of anti-Arsenal flags and slogans. Tottenham fans were also very rude to Arsenal, from the moment their buses entered the stadium to when they went to the stadium to warm up. Feel the "passion" of Tottenham fans.
What Wenger cares about is not this, but the opponent's lineup.
"Three central defenders?"
Looking at this lineup, Wenger couldn't help but frowned slightly.
Villas-Boas has obviously made some changes for Arsenal.
The other party came prepared.
Before the players took the field, Wenger emphasized again: "We cannot underestimate the enemy. From the beginning of the game, we must use offense to suppress them. It is best to score goals as soon as possible!"
However, what people did not expect was that at White Hart Lane, Arsenal encountered an unprecedented stubborn blockage from Tottenham!
This is indeed a very difficult game!
"Gareth Bale!!!"
"Oh oh oh! Beautiful! Beautiful overtaking from the outside! He passed the ball to himself three seconds later!!"
"Oh God! Such speed once made people think they were seeing Ye Luo!"
"Yes! Tottenham scored again! They were already leading 2-0! Who would have thought! Arsenal encountered such a scene at White Hart Lane! Bell's speed overwhelmed Arsenal's defense!"
In the commentary box.
The commentators had all left their seats, stood up, exclaimed, and explained loudly.
In the stands at White Hart Lane.
"Go to hell!! Arsenal son of a bitch!!"
Tottenham fans cursed unceremoniously at the Arsenal players on the field.
at the same time.
They also cheered immediately.
Because after scoring the goal, Bell had already come to the sideline with open arms! !
Fierce cheers echoed through the sky.
on the scoreboard on one side.
Game time: 44:12:22
Score: 2:0
"This is a derby! This is a north London derby!!"
commentator Andy Gray roared with excitement.
"Before the start of this game, everyone thought that Arsenal, who were in excellent form, would have no problem defeating Tottenham, who were in poor form, in an away game. But now Arsenal are already two goals behind!"
"This is a derby!" Lineker exclaimed, "Boas's change of formation was very effective. He arranged three central defenders, Vertonghen, Gala, and Dawson, and the right back was athletic. Kyle Walker, who is extremely capable, has Cameroon flying winger Hector at left back. In the midfield, there are three players with strong defensive interception ability, Parker, Sandro and Huddlestone. Bell is arranged in In the ninth and a half position, the fast Defoe is at the front, and his main focus is a defensive counterattack!!"
"It turns out that Villas-Boas's change of formation is so effective, and Tottenham's counterattack threat is too great!" Andy Gray took over, "After Bale rushed up during the counterattack, it was almost as if Tottenham were in a trance. Thorn also has a Ye Luo."
"That's right! Bell's performance is getting better and better. Since being transformed from a left back to an offensive player, he has shown amazing potential on the offensive end. These two goals are also related to him. The first one is directly related to him. An overtaking cross pass from the wing assisted Defoe to score. The second one simply used his speed to break through Arsenal's defense and scored the goal himself. The Welshman said in the pre-match interview that he admired Yello. Now it seems , he will definitely have extra motivation when facing Yello’s team!!”
Gareth Bale was surrounded by Tottenham players, who were celebrating his goal.
Bell looked at Ye Luo not far away, a hint of excitement flashed in the corner of his eyes.
In front of his idol, he scored a goal and assisted another goal, leading Yello's team by two goals.
This made Bell quite excited.
He was already thinking about Yello's expression when he went to exchange jerseys with him after the game.
On the sidelines, Wenger spread his hands towards the players on the court with an angry look on his face.
What could he say?
Before the game, he kept emphasizing: Don’t underestimate the enemy, don’t underestimate the enemy, don’t underestimate the enemy!
result
The result was that in the 45 minutes of the first and second half, Arsenal did not score a single goal, but allowed their opponents to score two counterattack goals.
If this is not underestimating the enemy, then I don’t know what is underestimating the enemy!
The first half ended shortly after Bale's goal.
As the first half ended, the whistle sounded.
The expressions of the players on both sides when they came off the field were completely opposite.
The Arsenal players lowered their heads dejectedly and walked quickly through the tunnel.
Of course, the ridicule of the fans at the scene was also inevitable during this process.
The score in the first half made Arsenal's players very frustrated.
"Arsenal's performance was very poor in the first half of this game, especially their defense. Tottenham scored two goals in two counterattacks."
"Liverpool failed to score in the first half, and Yello seemed to have forgotten to put on his shooting boots in this game!"
A close-up of Ye Luo appeared on the TV screen.
He frowned and looked unhappy.
"Since the beginning of the new season, Arsenal's performance has been very good, but relatively speaking, it has been too smooth. This is the price to pay for underestimating their opponents. It is also time for young Arsenal to pay some tuition fees." Duan Xuan sighed. said.
During halftime.
Wenger, who has a good temper, also transformed into a grumpy old man, with the hairdryer on full blast and scolding the entire team.
"I won't make any adjustments in the second half!"
Wenger said angrily.
"There is no problem with our tactics, and our strength is one step higher than theirs. As long as we correct our mentality, equalizing the score is not a problem at all, even a reversal is no problem! But if you don't change this mentality of underestimating the enemy, this game will be ruined." The loss is a lesson, and we may even lose this season!!”
Wenger's stern eyes swept over everyone.
In this team.
Except for a few players such as Yello and Cazorla, they have experience in competing for championships-and they are not competing for the Premier League championship.
The other players are all stupid.
Arshavin, Rosicky, Arteta and others are experienced.
But they were hurt.
Didn't even come to the away game.
Wenger knows very well that when competing for the title in an environment like the Premier League, mentality is very important!
Because the competition here is too intense, the time left for the team to adjust and build psychologically is too short.
A single fluctuation can lead to a losing streak.
So he has to let the players know clearly.
in this league.
There is no game where you can’t go all out!
"Reflect on yourselves, in the second half, I hope to see a completely different team!"
Wenger glanced at Ye Luo and then left.
At this time, Wenger chose to hand over the locker room to the players.
No matter what, he is a coach, and his identity is naturally different from that of the players.
At this time, perhaps the subjective initiative of the players can adjust the mental state of the entire team.
Of course.
He also has trust in Yello, and he believes that Yello is the true leader of the team.
at this time.
It's time for player leaders to set an example.
Any team competing for a championship needs leaders.
Arsenal used to have Henry and tough players like Vieira.
Now, Arsenal hasn't had a tough-looking guy for several years - so much so that many fans of other teams ridiculed Arsenal's soft style of play.
Wenger left the dressing room.
But the door to the locker room was slammed shut, and when only the players were left in the locker room, everyone looked at each other.
Ye Luo stood up, looked at his teammates and said, "I want to apologize to everyone!"
he said, raising his hands.
"In this game, I did underestimate the opponent. None of us, including me, took our opponents seriously. This was a serious mistake! This is football, and you will always pay the price if you underestimate your opponents. I don't want to say The significance of this derby match, what I want to say is that I don’t want to lose to any opponent, so I hope everyone can cheer up for the second half of the game. There are still forty-five minutes of the game. As long as we take it seriously, the difference between two goals It’s not a problem at all!”
"Now, let's discuss how to play in the second half!"
Ye Luo said.
He trailed off.
As Yello's number one supporter in the locker room, Cazorla immediately stood up and expressed his support for the captain and wanted to give his opponent a good look in the second half.
With Cazorla's response, other Arsenal players also made statements.
Wenger, who was standing at the door but had not left, could not help but raise the corners of his mouth.
Even if he lost this game, Wenger believed it was valuable.
To compete for the championship, some things must be experienced.
At the beginning of the second half of the game.
Tottenham players came out first.
There was obvious joy on everyone's face.
They were in high spirits and clearly got praise from their coaches at halftime.
At this time, they were full of confidence and planned to continue to defend like the first half, seize the opportunity to counterattack and continue to score goals.
Use Bell's speed to break down Arsenal's defense!
It's just that Arsenal's players haven't come out for a long time - this doesn't mean that they deliberately delayed coming out and left Tottenham's players on the court.
It's because everyone is discussing strategies for the second half.
Almost a minute after Tottenham's players came out.
Arsenal's players were belatedly arriving.
But at this time, their faces no longer looked depressed, but regained their composure.
Wenger sat on the coaching bench.
He made up his mind to play out this drama to the end.
Don't let the players figure it out.
Even if we really lose this game, it’s not a big deal.
In a long league, it is impossible not to lose at all, so if this game can be lost in a meaningful way, it will not be a loss.
Just when Wenger thought so.
The referee has already blown the whistle to start the second half.
(End of chapter)
