Although the goal was conceded a bit quickly.
However, the Leicester City generals are no longer rookies who have just entered the professional arena.
They all understand that the game lasts for ninety minutes, and the score only matters after the final whistle blows.
Therefore, the Blue Fox generals were not stunned by the opening blitz. Instead, they were very energetic because of this lost ball.
They realized that the Gunners, who returned home and returned to fourth place in the league, had never been good at it!
Pearson on the sidelines also loudly encouraged his disciples:
"come on!"
"Hold on!"
"Don't rush!"
Playing away from home is already very difficult.
What's more, the opponent is facing Arsenal who are starting to fight for the fourth place? !
I just lost a ball, I can chase it!
After kicking off again, Leicester City showed its offensive momentum.
However, compared to Leicester City's high pressure, Arsenal changed from 4231 at the beginning to a 442 parallel defensive formation.
Four Arsenal players retreated to the midfield area and then shrank their defense.
The two defensive midfielders Rosicky and Coquelin stood on the left and right sides of Ling Feng, waiting for opportunities.
If you observe carefully, you can find that the four Arsenal players standing in parallel are only three or four meters apart from each other!
Obviously, Wenger also referred to Van Gaal's tactics and used the method of compressing regional space to limit Ling Feng's performance.
Moreover, Arsenal has more experience in low-post defense.
Allowing the Blue Fox to pass around the outside of the formation, Arsenal's entire formation maintained very well.
Especially the space in the middle is always kept very tight, giving Ling Feng no chance to break through with the ball or send a through ball.
At this moment, the situation on the field has entered the stage of positional attack.
Leicester City attacks, Arsenal defends.
As for Leicester City, they are not in a hurry.
There are generally two ways to break the situation in a positional attack:
Either like Hazard, Neymar, Messi, or Cristiano Ronaldo, he can move around in a narrow space and pass several people by himself to complete the pass or shoot;
Or use a frontcourt fulcrum to attract defense and create a local numerical advantage for teammates!
Leicester City cannot do the former.
Because neither Ling Feng nor Mahrez has super personal abilities in the formation.
Ling Feng has speed and explosiveness, but his dribbling skills are average; Mahrez has dribbling breakthroughs, but his speed and explosiveness are somewhat lacking.
If Ling Feng had Mahrez's dribbling skills, or if Mahrez had Ling Feng's speed and burst, he could easily tear open the opponent's defense with his super personal ability!
But how can there be such a thing that has the best of both worlds in the world?
Therefore, if Leicester City wants to break through Arsenal's defense in a positional battle, it can only choose the latter.
That is to say, through a fulcrum in the frontcourt, it can attract and contain the opponent's defensive focus, thereby gaining more offensive space for teammates.
And there is no need to go out of your way to do this move.
Because Ling Feng is on the court now, playing such a role!
With his intimidating power, he concentrated Arsenal's defensive focus in the middle, and the space on the two wings became very large.
Next, as long as Lingard and Mahrez play threatening offenses from the wing, they can also threaten Arsenal's goal.
Therefore, in the next ten minutes or so, every time a backcourt teammate passed the ball to his feet, he would directly divide the sides and let the two wingers handle the ball.
And he sacrifices a little more, roams in the middle, and creates more space for his teammates.
As he ran, he did not forget to call Vardy in front, instead of running through him, disrupting Arsenal's defensive formation!
It’s up to you!
Emperor Lin!
Ma Dongmei!
However, Ling Feng unconsciously ignored a very important thing.
That's because the current personal abilities of Lingard and Mahrez are simply not enough!
After Ling Feng's guidance, Mahrez's passing ability was much better than his own at the same time.
Coupled with his silky dribbling skills, he can also create many threats on the right through his breakthroughs and passes;
But Lingard's individual ability on the left wing is simply not enough to create a threat on his own on the wing!
The most suitable tactical play for Lin Huang is to run and use simple passes to serve as a ball transfer station for teammates, or to attack the second offensive position.
If you ask him to break through and organize with the ball on the wing, he doesn't have the ability at all!
Moreover, he was defended by the super-fast Bellerin.
You know, Bellerin broke Walcott's fastest record in the Arsenal team!
Although his physical resistance is average.
However, against Lingard, who was also bodyless, it was almost a complete blowout!
He can completely use his speed and explosiveness to get stuck and intercept the ball faster than Lingard.
Or just slide down to the ground and shovel the ball out of the sideline.
In modern football, where games are becoming more and more exciting and intense, speed is really a very important and visible talent!
This can be seen by looking at the little demon bought by Arsenal.
Many of them are fast horses and young boys on the wing, such as Theo Walcott, Bellerin, Miyaichi Ryo, etc.
However, speed is only an important factor in measuring whether a player can establish himself in the top league.
If you have speed, no matter how fast you are, if you can't stop the ball or carry the ball steadily, what threat is there?
And many fast players who rely on speed to play are more susceptible to injuries.
Once you encounter an injury and your physical function plummets, you will lose the only weapon you rely on, and you will often retire sadly.
Players who use skills and intelligence to play football will be able to transform better and continue to shine on the court.
However, with less speed than others, Lingard could not take any advantage at all on the right wing guarded by Bellerin.
Instead, his position became a breakthrough for Arsenal's counterattack!
In the 34th minute of the game, Bellerin stole the ball directly at Lingard's feet, and then made soup from the backcourt!
His advance was extremely fast, and like a line, he reached the left back Schlupp.
"What a speed!"
"The young player Bellerin performed very well in this game! Not only did he completely freeze Lingard on the defensive end, he was also able to dribble the ball into the frontcourt."
At the same time, "Brother Drinking Water" in the middle also made up for it, preparing to assist in defense.
However, at this moment, Bellerin did not, but directly passed the ball to Ergo in the middle.
The latter didn't stop the ball and sent a diagonal pass with his left foot, hitting Schlupp behind!
Two snaps, a simple one-two against the wall, and he penetrated Leicester City's defense.
Bellerin overtook the chasing Schlupp from the outside and caught up with the ball on the right side of the front court near the baseline.
He even had enough time to look up and observe the movement of his teammates in the middle, and then passed a low pass of decent quality!
Before the game, Wenger had told his disciples in advance to hit the ball as low as possible in the cross, so as to avoid Leicester City's two tall central defenders.
And the moment Bellerin passed the ball, Walcott suddenly accelerated, rushed out from behind the two central defenders Huth and Morgan, and took the lead to reach the front spot!
When the ball arrives, the people arrive!
"Walcott~~~shoot!"
The little tiger just pushed with the arch of his foot, and the high-speed rolling ball suddenly changed direction and ran into the back of the goal against the turf.
Schmeichel didn't even have time to react. He only heard a bang as the ball hit the inside of the back post and then bounced into the goal!
The next second, with a bang, the Emirates Stadium was once again occupied by the cheers of the home team fans.
The visiting team fans held their heads in their hands, unable to believe what they were seeing.
"The ball went in~~~"
"Arsenal's counterattack is too sharp!"
"Leicester City's defense is simply vulnerable to the Gunners' attack!"
Two to zero!
Before the first half was over, the visiting Leicester City was stunned by two simple but fatal counterattacks by Arsenal!
Some of the Blue Fox generals were confused, some were surprised, and some were surprised.
And many people couldn't help but recall Arsenal's simple pass and cut in the FA Cup final!
At that time, with a few seemingly simple passes, the Gunners' offensive swept from the backcourt to the frontcourt like a raging flame, reaching Leicester City's hinterland penalty area and sending the ball into the goal!
Arsenal, who are fighting for fourth place, are indeed invincible!
Seeing that Lingard was unable to take any advantage under Bellerin's defense, Ling Feng could only move the team's main attack direction to the right.
At the same time, Pearson on the sidelines also realized this and couldn't help calling for right back Simpson to provide more assists to support Mahrez.
However, this tactic was originally based on two wings flying together, but now one wing is disabled, making it easier for Arsenal to defend.
The same pass-and-control tactics are used, but the playing styles of Arsenal and Barcelona are significantly different.
Barcelona's passing control controls the rhythm.
Because most of the time, Barcelona presses the opponent in the half court, and then continuously conducts from the outside, stretching space, looking for openings, to paralyze and disintegrate the opponent.
Then suddenly he started to speed up and delivered a fatal pass to resolve the battle!
Once the ball is lost in the frontcourt, the players will counterattack from a high position to nip the opponent's counterattack in the cradle and continue to control the rhythm of the game.
Strictly speaking, Arsenal's passing control is still pursuing a quick counterattack from defense to offense!
When attacking, most people run without the ball to create multiple passing support points for teammates, and then quickly advance on the ground to reach the opponent's hinterland.
When defending, it is recommended to defend in position.
Rather than pressing down in the frontcourt, the defense is moved back to draw out the opponent's formation and create space for one's own quick passes.
The difference between the two is perhaps equivalent to boiling a frog in warm water and cooking a cow.
Of course, there is no better tactic, the only difference lies in the player's ability.
The reason why Barcelona's passing and control can be fast or slow has a lot to do with the strength of the players of that dream third Barcelona team.
In the frontcourt are the "King of Gunners" Henry, Messi, "Cheetah" Eto'o, "Calabash Baby" Villa, Pedro and others;
In the midfield and backcourt, there is the historical midfield combination "Habaib", the historical defender combination of Puyol and Pique in the backcourt, plus two full-backs Alves and Maxwell with excellent assist ability;
The goalkeeper is Valdes, a five-time Zamora Award winner!
In every position, there are almost the best players of that era.
Arsenal's passing and control focuses on the word "fast"!
The latter has relatively greater requirements on running and physical fitness, so young people are more needed to actively run to support the execution of tactics.
The high tactical consumption and high intensity of the game are also important reasons why Arsenal's little demons have repeatedly suffered from injuries.
Of course, in the eyes of many people, if Wenger had the starting lineup of Barcelona, and with the tactical talents of a "teacher", he could still maximize the passing and control tactics and lead Arsenal to dominate an era!
However, this assumption is just a conversation piece after dinner.
. . .
With two goals behind in the first half, Leicester City's players were a little anxious.
The entire formation is pressed even harder, and Ling Feng no longer just acts as a fulcrum, but increases the number of times he holds the ball and dribbles, intending to use his speed to force a breakthrough in the middle!
This does create some threats.
With Ling Feng's explosive power, it is not difficult to surpass others one on one.
However, if you can pass the first one, but cannot pass the second, you will be knocked down!
Finally, in the little time left in the first half, his breakthrough won the team two set-piece opportunities.
Unfortunately, the foul spot was too far away from the goal and could not be shot directly.
However, through tactical cooperation, Leicester City completed the first shot of the game that hit the goal range after Vardy countered offside.
It's a pity that the shot was too accurate and was easily confiscated by Ospina.
In the end, as Arsenal midfielder Coquelin made a big kick and cleared the ball into the frontcourt, the referee blew the whistle to end the first half!
The next second, the Gunners fans burst into warm applause.
Obviously, they are very satisfied with the team's performance today.
"The first half is over!"
"For Leicester City, the first half of the game was definitely not what they wanted to see. I hope they can regain some form in the second half."
At halftime, players from both teams returned to the locker room.
All the Blue Fox generals were breathing heavily, wiping sweat or replenishing water without saying a word.
This game allowed them to once again recognize the gap between themselves and the Premier League giants.
In the first half, both sides had a 50-50 ball possession rate.
There was not much difference in the number of shots. The home team had four shots and the away team also had two.
However, the quality of the shots is completely different!
Arsenal's four shots all hit the target and they scored two goals.
Of the two shots taken by the away team, only one was on target.
In Ling Feng's view, the gap in player ability is one aspect, and more importantly is the tactical battle between the two coaches. Wenger almost completely defeated Pearson.
If we don't make some changes in this game, we will definitely lose!
Apparently, Pearson thought so too.
As a result, he immediately chose to replace Lingard, who was guarded by Bellerin, and replaced him with Chris Wood, who went up to the front to partner with Vardy.
Then let Mahrez move to the left and Ling Feng move to the right.
Change of formation 442, fight to the death!
At the beginning of the second half, the two sides changed sides and fought again.
Arsenal continued to resolutely implement the defensive tactics of the first half and looked for opportunities to counterattack.
After all, they were the leading side and there was no need to rush.
It is worth mentioning that after seeing Ling Feng and Mahrez changing positions, Wenger seemed to be prepared and immediately waved his hand.
Whenever the offense fails to open up the situation, Leicester City will move Ling Feng to the right and use his speed and crosses to create threats.
This routine tactical change is no longer a secret to other Premier League teams.
Therefore, Wenger also responded directly:
Following the loud shouts of the assistant coach, Sanchez on the left side of the frontcourt also returned to the midfield area and came to the vicinity of Ling Feng.
The Gunners' entire tactical formation has also changed from 442 to 451, which pays more attention to defensive counterattacks!
The three Arsenal players around Ling Feng formed a triangle position, vaguely surrounding him.
The purpose is very simple - to lock Ling Feng!
(End of chapter)
