The Premier League schedule in January is horrific.
Arsenal will play a total of eight games in thirty days, which is basically less than one game in four days.
In other words, this month, Chen Mo was either on his way to the next city or in the middle of a competition.
The schedule is scary, but it’s okay.
Eight games, including two EFL Cup, two FA Cup, and only four league games.
Arsenal are still competing for fourth place. In the league, Chen Mo Di Maria and Giroud naturally have to be at full attendance, but the EFL Cup and FA Cup are relatively less important.
Especially the EFL Cup.
The value of this cup is not high in terms of prize money, and it is in the second half of the most intensive schedule.
Over the years, the top clubs in the Premier League have sent out substitute lineups to play in this cup, and Arsenal is naturally the same. The starting lineup will probably be Nasri, Alexander Song, and the newly added Thiago Silva and others.
But the FA Cup is more troublesome.
The gold content of the FA Cup is almost equivalent to La Liga's Copa del Rey and Serie A's Coppa Italia.
It is relatively important, but the trouble lies here.
The FA Cup has a high value because the top teams in the Premier League are competing for this championship.
There are many strong teams, and they can't play without the main force, but the schedule is always stuck before and after the Champions League games, and Arsenal's bench depth is not enough.
If you are not in the main force, you may not be able to play. If you are in the main force, you will not be able to fully cope with the Champions League knockout rounds.
Wenger was very entangled, and his entanglement directly caused the atmosphere in the team's locker room to become a bit tense.
An honest person like Giroud naturally feels that he should be more stable and attack the FA Cup or Champions League alone.
And someone like Bell, who has a more radical personality, feels that he can give it a go and win the FA Cup and Champions League double.
There are differences in ideas, and cohesion naturally declines.
But soon, the team had nothing to worry about.
In the third round of the FA Cup on January 6, during Arsenal's away game against Burnley, Samuel injured his left ankle after competing for a high-altitude ball with the opponent's center.
A broken bone is not a devastating injury, but it still requires a month of plaster cast.
Samuel was absent for more than a month, which directly caused Wenger to give up the idea of playing in the league, FA Cup and Champions League, and began to focus on the league and Champions League.
And as Wenger made the decision and the goals were unified, the atmosphere in the Arsenal team gradually became high, and everyone was gearing up!
With such high emotions, Arsenal's record throughout January was very impressive.
On January 10, Arsenal went to White Hart Lane to challenge Tottenham in the EFL Cup semi-finals.
Chen Mo still started this game, but this time he played not as a midfielder, but as a right winger.
Yes, right winger.
There is no way. To be honest, today's Di Maria is stronger in all aspects because he started the game two years earlier than Bell, but Di Maria's physical fitness is not as durable as Bell.
In addition, due to Chen Mo's injury for most of the previous year, Wenger, in order to maintain his results, Di Maria played every game with full attendance.
Di Maria's physical pressure is very high.
So in this EFL Cup match against Tottenham, Wenger sent a combination of Nasri, Alexander Song and Rakitic in the midfield, and the back line was Chiellini, his sister-in-law who had just joined.
The effect is not bad.
Nasri's ability to organize and attack is good, although he is still not as good as Chen Mo, but his partner is Alexander Song.
Many people see Alexander Song looking like a black guy and playing as a defensive midfielder. They think he is a defensive gate, but in fact this guy is very aggressive and likes to get in behind and join the attack.
Alexander Song's preference for forward penetration just makes up for Nasri's lack of offensive ability at this stage.
Of course, there are only three people in the midfield, and two of them are involved in the attack. At this time, someone must take the lead.
And this is why Rakitic can start at Arsenal.
Because he and Modric are in the same national team, and they were in Barcelona and Real Madrid respectively in a certain time and space, many fans like to compare the two, and then say that Rakitic is not as good as Modric.
Well, in terms of comprehensiveness and core positioning, Rakitic is indeed inferior to Modric.
But if we only focus on the importance of both sides in the team's positions, Rakitic is not inferior to Modric at all.
Rakitic's organizational skills are not top-notch, but his ability to wipe the butt is first-rate.
During the MSN period, Habai was getting old and retreating. Coupled with the aging of Alves, he could not get up and down. Therefore, the problem of Busquets' slow movement speed and small coverage area was completely exposed.
During that period, Barcelona's defense was able to stabilize, firstly, because MSN's firepower was too strong, and secondly, Rakitic was too active.
To the sides and behind Busquets, and to the wide spaces after Alves's advance, these areas are all supported by Rakitic's active running.
That year, they were beaten 8:2 by Bayern and were completely penetrated in the midfield and backcourt. It happened that Rakitic did not play.
His position in Barcelona during the MSN period and now in the Arsenal team is actually somewhat similar to DePaul's position in Argentina. The statistics are not outstanding, but his role is very crucial.
The midfield combination of Nasri, Alexander Song and Rakitic is not very powerful, but at least the players' characteristics are complementary, and both offense and defense are relatively balanced.
In addition, although Chen Mo did not play in the familiar midfielder in this game, he still played a huge role on the front line.
The midfielder has the benefit of a midfielder, and the striker also has the benefit of a striker.
The midfielder can control the overall situation and has greater control over the team and the rhythm of the game, but the price is that he often needs to pay attention to defense and cannot be as free as the forward players to go wherever they want.
Playing in the midfield and running around, it is easy for the opponent to break through the midfield defense.
But it's different now. Chen Mo played as a striker in this game and had very little defensive responsibilities. He could run at will and go to any area where he thought he could cause damage.
Don't underestimate this random movement.
It's this point that Tottenham manager Juande Ramos has taken advantage of.
In the 18th minute of the game, amidst the exclamations of the fans in the audience, Chen Mo, who was moving on the right wing, suddenly shrank towards the center and formed a double center with Giroud!
Not only was Chen Mo shrinking towards the wing, Bell also moved from the left wing position to the midfielder area!
At the same time, the left backs Marcelo and Nasri inserted themselves into both sides of Tottenham's back line, one on the left and one on the right!
Marcelo, Giroud, Chen Mo, Nasri
————Bell——————
Rakitic————Alexander Song
Chiellini - sister-in-law - Clichy
The four forwards completely held down Tottenham's back line. At the same time, Chen Mo and Giroud were not positioned parallel to each other, but slightly behind Giroud!
Giroud.
——Chen Mo.
Bell!
To Chen Mo's left is Tottenham's midfielder!
The space is very small, but the three of them have already covered Tottenham's right back waist in a semi-surrounding posture!
Without waiting for the Tottenham players to react, Bell, who had just moved to the attacking midfielder position, had already received Rakitic's through ball, and in less than two seconds, the entire Emirates Stadium was completely boiling.
After receiving Rakitic's through ball and all the defensive players around him were taken away, Bell directly drove the ball towards Tottenham's right midfielder. The moment he rushed in front of the opponent, Bell gently moved the ball forward to the right with his right foot. pick!
The ball rolled straight towards Chen Mo, who was holding Tottenham's left midfielder. At the same time, Bell accelerated forward and ran past the right side of the midfielder with one kick!
Rushing towards the left central defender behind Chen Mo's left midfielder!
The next second, Chen Mo, who was holding his left midfielder with his back, lightly tapped the arch of his left foot against the ball rolling from the right front. The ball bounced out on a zigzag line, passed under Bell's crotch, and was directly sent to the right center back who was also holding back. At the foot of Giroud, at the same time, Chen Mo also exerted force on his waist and abdomen, shook off the defender behind him, turned around and sprinted to the right!
Amidst the exclamations of the fans in the audience, Chen Mo and Bell completed an X-shaped movement in tandem!
Tottenham's defense was completely penetrated!
The whole place was in an uproar!
"Farke! Who should I guard against?!"
Watching Bell, who was crossing from right to left, to his left, and looking at Chen Mo, who was running from left to right, to his right, Tottenham's left center back went numb!
I don’t know who to guard against at all!
But still the same problem!
Tottenham's position is very compact now, and there is not much space for passing. All they need to do is pinch Giroud's passing route!
As soon as he thought of this, Tottenham's left center back immediately turned to look at Giroud, but in the next moment, he went numb again!
I saw that the central defender Giroud did not pass the ball through, nor did he lift the ball into the penalty area. Instead, he faced the ball rolling from the left front and swept his right foot horizontally!
"boom!"
There was a crisp sound, and in the dull eyes of Tottenham's left center back, it was like a three-dimensional pinball. The ball bounced directly towards the feet of Chen Mo, who was also rushing forward!
The space is very small!
The distance between Giroud and Chen Mo is less than one meter!
This space, this ball speed.
Simply can not stop!
but!
During the commentary moment, he slapped the case and shouted, and all the Arsenal fans behind the goal hugged their heads and screamed. The ball directly hit the instep of Chen Mo's left foot as he was running!
A slight tremor in the instep!
The Arsenal team logo on the ankle of the black and gold sneakers also vibrates slightly!
But the ball didn't bounce!
Chen Mo's left foot seemed to be glued to the ball!
When Chen Mo rushed into the penalty area and touched the ground with his left foot, the ball gently landed half a step in front of Chen Mo's left foot!
What does it feel like to step on a horse? ? ?
This scene, let alone the Tottenham left center back, even the Tottenham goalkeeper was stunned for a moment, but he is a professional goalkeeper after all. He did not think too much at this time, but immediately leaned over, dropped his weight towards his right leg, and headed towards Chen Mo Go to the side to block the near post!
But at the moment when his center of gravity changed, Chen Mo suddenly hit the right side with his left foot. The next second, Bell scored with a shovel shot from the right side of the goal.
One to zero!
Bell to Chen Mo, Chen Mo to Giroud, Giroud to Chen Mo, Chen Mo to Bell!
Four passes completely penetrated Tottenham's defense!
And everyone hits the ball with one kick!
There is no doubt that even on the road, even at the White Hart Lane stadium of the city rival Tottenham, such a regular goal is enough to ignite the enthusiasm of the fans.
When Bale rushed to the area where a small group of Arsenal fans were standing at the corner and punched hard, many Tottenham fans in the stands gave positive applause!
Arsenal was celebrating. On the sidelines, Tottenham head coach Juande Ramos was not idle. He immediately called the team to the sidelines while gesticulating vigorously and yelling about tactics.
Next to me, I heard something like [Stick to him! 】【Don't let him have space to catch the ball easily】In this case, wearing the new buttoned down jacket that Yuechi Xun bought for himself, Wenger raised a smile on his lips.
"Stick to Xiao Mo?"
"Please, let him play in the EFL Cup, you don't want him to come up and fight for his life."
Originally, according to Wenger's idea, Chen Mo would not start this game. However, due to Di Maria's physical problems, Chen Mo was allowed to play as a winger.
However, playing as a winger does not mean letting Chen Mo blast out from a single point. After all, that consumes too much physical energy.
Wenger's true intention is
Soon, as the game started, looking at Chen Mo's movements on the field, Tottenham's head coach clenched his fists!
Misstep!
He asked the players to stick to Chen Mo in order to prevent Chen Mo from breaking out at a single point, but Chen Mo did not do this at all, and instead played as an organizational midfielder.
The main purpose is to relieve the ball control pressure on teammates through one-touch passing and running, so that Arsenal's midfield formation can press higher, control the ball near Tottenham's penalty area, and then provide long shots and no-ball space. All threats.
To put it simply, Chen Mo is acting as a wingman for Nasri and others in the midfield, and the ball will not be at his feet most of the time.
Chen Mo is not the main attacker, but Tottenham focuses on him defensively.
There is no doubt that there is a problem with Tottenham's tactical arrangement.
In the 31st minute of the game, Chen Mo crossed the ball from a 45-degree angle from the right to find Giroud.
Giroud is tall and has strong confrontation ability, but unfortunately after Chen Mo moved to the wing, Arsenal's center had no player who could break into the penalty area to help Giroud share the pressure of heading the ball.
In the end, under the protection of two central defenders, Giroud jumped high but did not hit the right position, and the ball flew to the left side of the top of the arc.
Under normal circumstances, the area at the top of the arc will be heavily guarded, but Tottenham's focus now is on Chen Mo on the right. With this lob, most Tottenham players have shrunk into the penalty area!
Amid the exclamations of the fans in the audience, Rakitic appeared at the spot where the ball landed!
Without any hesitation, Rakitic, whose main offensive method is long-range shooting, directly volleyed with his right foot against the falling ball!
Peach Blossom Shadow Falling Flying Divine Sword!
The long-range shot with no arc but extremely fast ball speed flew into the upper left corner of the goal!
Two to zero!
In thirty minutes, we beat Tottenham 2-0 away from home!
And this is Rakitic's first goal at Arsenal!
Rakitic was ecstatic after scoring!
Swinging her flowing blond hair, she rushed to the corner!
The Arsenal players celebrated again, and the funny thing is that at this time, the Tottenham coach pulled the players to the sidelines and gestured excitedly, while shouting tactics.
But as soon as he finished arranging the tactics and patted the players' butts to signal for cheers, the fourth official over there raised his sign and made a substitution.
Chen Mo was replaced by striker Theo Walcott, who Wenger bought for 4 million euros in the summer window a few months ago.
no!
I just laid out the head-on tactics, why are you just replacing me? !
Seeing Chen Mo, who was smiling and applauding Wenger, then sitting on the bench, drinking water and chatting with Henry Di Maria, the Tottenham coach was immediately petrified.
The strength cannot be compared, and there are problems with tactics.
There was no surprise. In the second half, Giroud received another header from Bell's cross. In the end, with the referee's three whistles, Arsenal won at White Hart Lane with a score of 3-0.
After this game, not only the entire Arsenal team, but also Arsenal fans online were very excited.
Not because of the victory over Tottenham, but mainly because the EFL Cup is a two-legged game.
This game is 3-0. As long as Wenger does not travel through time and space to invite Deng Bao in the second round, Arsenal will be almost stable, and the main players can also get more rest time.
In this way, in the days when all the main players in the league, the main players and substitutes in the FA Cup rotated, and the main substitutes came on in the English League Cup, time passed little by little. At the same time, the whole team gradually found a stable rhythm of competition and life, and the state improved day by day. better.
On January 12, in the 22nd round of the Premier League, Arsenal defeated Birmingham, the newly promoted team that had just been promoted to the Premier League this year, 4-0 at home.
On January 19, in the 23rd round of the Premier League, Arsenal challenged West Bromwich Albion away.
This team, which refused to sign Chen Mo seven years ago, has been bouncing back and forth between the Premier League and the English Championship in the past few years. This season, it is ranked last in the Premier League and is about to be relegated. The butt of jokes on big talk shows and football commentators.
Many fans believe that if West Brom could have offered an olive branch to Chen Mo, who was rejected by many Premier League giants' youth training and almost lost hope of playing football. With Chen Mo's character of repaying kindness, not to mention staying in the team, he can at least bring tens of millions of euros in transfer fees to West Brom.
But unfortunately, there is no if.
Before the game, many people in the football world also speculated how many goals Chen Mo would score in this game.
Unfortunately, this game was followed by the fourth round of the FA Cup. After Chen Mo sent an assist, he was replaced by Wenger amidst the livid look on the face of the West Brom boss.
An opponent of this level is not qualified to even let the current Chen Mo have 100% fighting spirit, let alone revenge.
Time flies. As Arsenal successively defeated Newcastle, Blackburn, Aston Villa and other teams, they returned to fourth place in the league and pushed Everton to fifth place in the league. The time also came to February 19th.
In the 2007-2008 UEFA Champions League, the much-anticipated first leg of the quarter-finals, Arsenal's away game against Inter Milan, will soon start at the Meazza Stadium.
[Telegraph: Avengers? ! Nowadays, Inter Milan is full of stars, but what is interesting is that many players in the front, middle and back lines of Inter Milan have had problems with Chen Mo!
forward.
Ibrahimovic: When he was at Manchester United, it was precisely because of Chen Mo's outstanding performance that there was internal strife at Manchester United. Then Ibrahimovic was sent to Inter Milan by Ferguson! He himself has claimed in public more than once that he is eager to defeat Chen Mo!
Eto'o: When Barcelona lost to Arsenal in the Champions League last year, he became the scapegoat and the victim of Barcelona's reforms!
Midfield.
Deco: Two nights and two nights with Eto'o.
Vieira: He was once squeezed out of his position by Chen Mo and left Juventus, but he experienced the Calciopoli incident in the first year of the transfer, and then his career began to experience dramatic ups and downs!
Although the remaining Cambiasso and Zanetti have no relationship with Chen Mo, and they are even teammates of the national team, this only makes them understand Chen Mo better than other players!
Defence.
Central defender Materazzi: In the Champions League round of 16 two years ago, he was injured in the thigh by Chen Mo, and he was out for three months!
Right back Maicon: Ever since he was called a traitor by Chen Mo in a post-match interview two years ago, he has been ridiculed by Chen Mo fans. There must be a burning flame in his heart! I just don’t know what kind of sparks will arise in the contest between him, the Arsenal traitor, and Arsenal’s Prince Bale!
Will the Avengers defeat Arsenal and Chen Mo, or will they once again become Chen Mo's bones on his way to the top? All the answers will be revealed in two days! 】
(End of chapter)
