"Here, and here, you left too much space for Arsenal. The ball can easily pass through." In the Leeds United dressing room, George Lee said while drawing on the tactical board with a pen.
Others in Leeds United were drinking water and wiping sweat, but they were all looking at George Lee's tactical board.
"In the first half, we did a good job of pressing Reyes, and we need to continue to do so in the second half, so that only the left side of Arsenal's two wings can play. Ian, can you still keep up with him? "
Lee George George knows that Hart's speed is not his strong point, so once Hart's physical fitness problems occur, he may make mistakes when defending Reyes, which will affect the entire game.
"No problem, I can do it."
"Don't be brave, just tell me once you can't run anymore."
"Okay, boss."
Because of Li George's tactical requirements, basically the team's players run a lot more than last season, so Li George pays special attention to the players' physical fitness.
"Gilberto went down, which is good news for us, but the new Spanish kid is not a fuel-saving lamp. The pass in the first half was very threatening."
All Leeds United players nodded one after another. After all, Fabregas made a very penetrating through ball as soon as he came up, posing a great threat to Leeds United.
"Give him some confrontation. Those in the midfield, don't be educated by children."
George Lee looked at Smith, Graveson and Davis.
"OK." "Okay, coach."
Leeds United's midfield trio also responded.
"The other thing is offense. Dennis and Robin, you two, when you see Ashley Cole on the opposite side go up and don't come back for a while, pay more attention to appear behind him. When other people pass the ball, also You can focus on this direction. Do you understand?"
Romedal and Robin van Persie also nodded in response.
"Robin, come on. You performed well in the first half, don't put too much pressure on yourself."
"Okay, coach." When Van Persie answered, he was breathing a little loudly. After all, he consumed a lot of physical energy in the first half. And this is his first Premier League game, so he may not be able to adapt to it.
"Can we continue?" Li George was concerned about his favorite forward.
"good."
"have a good rest."
George Li turned around and continued communicating with his coaching staff.
"In the second half, if Van Persie's physical fitness cannot keep up, do you think I should let Pedersen go up and put Smith in front; or should I just put Oscarson on."
"Both are possible, but I prefer the first one, because we are the lagging side now. After the Icelanders come up, we cannot guarantee that our offense will be strengthened. Smith's words will be more stable." Brian Kidd said. , after all, Smith has proven himself in the Premier League, while Oscarson has just arrived and needs to be tested.
"You can also let Buck go up to strengthen the midfield defense and help Graveson." Chris Kasper also suggested.
"I think it's okay." George Li said.
George Li turned around again and made a gesture of pushing his hands forward with the players and said.
"We should press harder at the beginning of the second half. Don't be timid just because the opponent is the defending champion and catch them off guard."
"OK." Captain Mateo said.
"Let's go, come on for the second half, everyone." George Li signaled the players to set off.
^^^
"How about it?"
Here at Arsenal, Wenger asked the team doctor about Gilberto's condition as soon as he returned to the locker room.
"It's not good. I might be absent for a while."
"Hey~" Wenger breathed out without swearing.
After listening to Gilberto's situation, he went back to arrange the second half tactics for other players.
I originally thought that although Leeds United introduced some powerful players in the summer, they also lost forwards like Viduka, and the team's captain Lucas Radebe retired, so there must be some regression.
However, in the first half, Leeds United and Arsenal played back and forth, and the pressure on their backcourt was very fierce, which prevented Arsenal's smooth offense from being able to play, and also threatened the team's goal many times. As the first half approached, If it weren't for the help of the crossbar in the final stage, it might have been equalized.
Although Arsenal led 1-0, there was a bit of luck in that goal. Wenger decided to arrange it well in the midfield. He did not want to capsize in the opening game of the new season.
^^^
At Elland Road Stadium, the two sides changed places to fight again in the second half.
At the beginning, it was Fabregas who gave Leeds United another wake-up call.
Although during the halftime break, Li George repeatedly emphasized the need to increase pressure on Fabregas and strengthen defense. But the Spanish teenager still found a chance.
In a typical Arsenal attack, Vieira got the ball and crossed to Cesc Fabregas. The Spaniard raised his head and glanced ahead, and another through ball was passed to Bergkamp in front. Bergkamp leaned on Mateo with his back, flicked the ball, and handed it to Henry who was advancing. Henry accelerated past Mateo, and when he was about to take a single shot, he was destroyed by the attacking Leeds United goalkeeper Robinson.
"Attention, attention, increased concentration."
George Lee kept expressing his dissatisfaction with the team on the sidelines.
Graveson and Davis both raised their hands in recognition.
In the 63rd minute of the second half, the two sides were still playing very anxiously, and the score was still 1-0.
Here at Arsenal, Reyes on the right is still frozen, with almost no outstanding performance except for one or two breakthroughs.
As for Fabregas, after a wonderful through ball at the start of the second half, he was also heavily targeted. The young man suffered a lot in physical confrontation, and the Leeds United midfielders frequently used their bodies to bully him.
"Let Oscarson get ready to warm up." George Li turned back to Kidd and said.
George Lee never got up after seeing his team's forward Robin van Persie lying on the ground after falling to the ground during a fight.
Van Persie was really tired. After the physical confrontation with Campbell, he was knocked to the ground. This time he did not get up immediately, but lay on the ground, spread his hands, and exhaled.
After lying down for half a minute, he got up and saw his teammate Oscarson warming up.
"The coach probably wants to replace me." Van Persie thought so.
He stood up and prepared to retreat towards his own half. After all, Arsenal's back line had also moved up, and he was now in an offside position.
Just ran to the halfway line.
Suddenly, he saw his teammate Davis cooperate with Smith and steal the ball from Fabregas. He turned around and started to start.
Here, after Davis grabbed the ball, Leeds United made a long diagonal pass directly to the left. Glenchard used his speed to get rid of Lauren and received the pass on the wing.
After receiving the ball, Glenchard began to strode towards the ball in a diagonal direction towards the penalty area, leaving Arsenal's right back Lauren far behind.
Seeing Toure coming over to cover up the defense, Glenchard stepped forward with his right foot, then moved toward the baseline with his left foot.
Toure hurried to block it, and Glenchard passed a low and inverted triangle pass before Toure stretched his leg to touch it.
Van Persie, who used his last strength to run half the court, got the ball before Campbell and volleyed with his left foot.
Then because he lost his balance, he fell to the ground and rolled forward twice.
Although Van Persie's body was rolling, his eyes were fixed on football.
The football hit a close corner, but Lehmann did not completely seal the angle.
"FxxK!"
Seeing the ball hit the post and bounce out, Van Persie slapped the turf of the court hard.
"Didn't make it again." He buried his face in the grass.
"Huh~"
"Ah~~~"
"du~~~"
Van Persie first heard the exclamation of the audience, then the deafening cheers of the fans, and then the referee's long whistle.
He turned over, sat up, and saw his teammate Smith celebrating the goal with the fans on the sidelines.
His other teammates were running towards Smith and joining in the goal celebration.
Van Persie remembered and ran over to celebrate with them, but he really had no energy left. The running and hitting the goal just now used up his last strength.
He just sat there, looking at the big screen, and saw the attack just now.
First there was a breakthrough and pass from Glenchard, then his own shot, and then the ball hit the post. Finally, the ball bounced to the small penalty area line in the center of the goal. Smith came over to make a supplementary shot and hit the ball into the empty goal.
After watching the replay, Van Persie couldn't get up, so he could only sit on the grass and applaud.
At this time Davis came over and stretched out his hand to pull Van Persie up.
"Boy, that's good," Davis and Van Persie said.
"Thanks."
After being pulled up, Van Persie took a few steps slowly.
At this time, several other teammates had finished celebrating. Among them, Smith ran towards Van Persie and the two high-fived.
"Next time I go to the bar, I invite you." Van Persie smiled at Smith.
"It's easy to say, go down and rest quickly."
Hearing what Smith said, Van Persie looked to the sidelines. Leeds United were making substitutions. Two Leeds United players were standing on the sidelines. First, No. 4 Matteisen replaced No. 3 Hart.
Hart was actually very tired today, and he guarded Reyes quite well, so the Leeds United audience applauded Hart when he came off the field.
After Hart went down, the fourth official raised his card again. Instead of replacing Oscarson, George Lee replaced Van Persie with Eric Buck, which seemed to strengthen the defense.
As Van Persie walked to the sideline, he raised his hands and waved to the fans.
At this time, the audience and the cheers were even louder. Although the Dutch forward who had just arrived today did not score a goal, his active running and hard fighting satisfied the fans.
"NICE!" George Lee hugged Van Persie on the sidelines.
"Find something to wear, be careful not to catch a cold." Kidd said to Van Persie after he returned to his seat.
After putting on his clothes, Van Persie saw someone next to him handing him a bottle of water. He took a look and saw that it was Oscarson.
"Thanks."
Leeds United equalized the score, so the Icelander did not need to play after the warm-up, but he did not seem unhappy at all. After giving the water to Van Persie, he continued to watch the game on the court with his chin in his hands. .
