"You brat, just wait for me!" Ferguson, who was squatting in the tunnel, hugged George and whispered viciously, "You are lucky this time, I will definitely give you a good look next season!"
It sounds like Ferguson's words were harsh words uttered by a competitive master who felt he couldn't lose face after losing to his apprentice. In fact, George, who has memories of his past life, knows very well that Manchester United will definitely have the strength to become Tottenham's strong enemy in the championship next season!
As long as Manchester United introduces a center who is diligent in running and has certain support capabilities during the summer transfer period, the offensive system carefully built by Ferguson will usher in a qualitative change, which is enough to capture the door of any team; at the same time, according to tactical needs By strengthening the left back and center back positions in a targeted manner, Manchester United's defensive quality will also be greatly improved by then.
With the strong financial resources of the Qatar Investment Authority, it is obviously not a difficult task to achieve these points. Not to mention, this summer's World Cup in Germany provides an excellent platform for Ferguson to inspect players!
Although there are many short-lived shooting stars and parallel imports in every World Cup, George believes that with Ferguson's vision, he can definitely dig out players suitable for Manchester United's tactical system.
At the same time, due to the great success of George's tactical experiment against Manchester United, as Tottenham's opponent in the next game, Wenger, who was already worried about how to face Tottenham, felt even more confident that the Gunners had advanced to the Champions League final. The chance has been reduced by a few points.
Although the professor has successfully established Fabregas as the new organizational core this season, the Spanish teenager has also used practical actions to prove to people that he indeed has the potential to become a top midfielder that is not inferior to Vieira, but Vieira last year As a result of leaving the team in the summer, Arsenal's defensive hardness and ability to protect the defensive line in the midfield have been seriously weakened this season, but the problem has never been effectively solved.
Whether it is Fabregas, Gilberto Silva or Flamini, they have no way to make up for Vieira's role on the defensive end. Therefore, although the Gunners made a historic breakthrough in the Champions League this season (reaching the semi-finals of the Champions League) after changing to 4-5-1 and switching to defensive counterattack tactics, they are still struggling in a league that emphasizes stability and lineup depth. But it has produced its worst performance in recent years - Arsenal currently ranks fifth in the Premier League standings and is more than ten points behind fourth-placed Liverpool. If they want to keep a place in the Champions League next season, they can only choose to play in the Champions League. Take a big gamble.
In addition to the instability of the midfield defense caused by Vieira's departure, Arsenal's defense has been significantly weakened this season, which is also one of the reasons forcing the professor to make this choice: Ashley Cole on the left has just After recovering from an injury that lasted several months, it is still unknown how his competitive status will be after recovery; Lauren, on the right, has also shown signs of decline in competitive status this season, and his main position has been replaced by teenager Eboue ; Although the central defender combination of Campbell and Kolo Toure is not as reassuring as two years ago, these two can already be regarded as the most stable link in Arsenal's defense!
The main reason why Arsenal in the previous life was able to reach the historic Champions League final this season was because they got a good draw. Real Madrid, Juventus and Villarreal all had serious problems in their lineups. The shortcomings make it difficult to pose a strong enough threat to the goal guarded by Lehmann. Coupled with the fact that Henry, who served as the single arrow, showed excellent competitive form in the knockout stage, Wenger's team advanced to the Champions League final with an impressive record of conceding no goals in the knockout stage.
Now, facing Tottenham's frontline firepower headed by Drogba, Robben and Cristiano Ronaldo, it is obviously extremely difficult for Arsenal to advance to the Champions League finals through defensive counterattack tactics like in its previous life. If nothing else, Arsenal has only won one game against the top four teams in the league this season, which explains a lot.
Although Wenger does have plans to focus on the Champions League, Arsenal has not completely given up on the league battlefield. Otherwise, Henry, who is the absolute core of the Gunners' offense, would not be able to lead the Premier League scorer list for a long time this season.
Taking into account Tottenham's impressive record against Arsenal directly after George took over at White Hart Lane, as well as the familiarity of Tottenham's own style of play and personnel characteristics, as well as the current situation of personnel shortages, Wenger was worried about playing in the Champions League semi-finals. It can be said that I have no confidence in defeating my rival in the same city in the final, but I can't think of any effective countermeasures. This was also fully reflected in Arsenal's starting lineup for the first leg of the Champions League semi-finals.
On the defense line, since Ashley Cole has just recovered from injury and his condition is unpredictable, Wenger, who has extremely limited room to play in the formation, has no choice but to continue to arrange Flamini as the starting left back, and several other players in the defense line. The positions have not changed, they are still Lehmann, Eboue, Campbell and Kolo Toure. In the midfield, the professor arranged a combination of Fabregas, Gilberto Silva, Hleb, Ljungberg and Pires, while Henry was still the single arrow on the front line.
Looking at Tottenham again, George, who used various media to create smoke bombs before the game, also announced Tottenham’s starting lineup for the first leg of the Champions League semi-finals at the last moment before the reporting deadline:
The goalkeeper position is naturally the immovable Petr Cech, the right backs Maicon, Ledley King and Vidic partner as central defenders, and the left backs Baines, Xabi Alonso, Mascherano and Gerrard This midfield triangle starts together, with Ronaldo and Robben forming the wings, and Drogba as the starting center!
With the exception of Baynes, all ten people are part of Tottenham's main roster this season. George wants to kill the suspense of promotion with a big win in the first round, so that Tottenham can free up their hands to deal with the Premier League and the FA. The intentions of these two fronts are very clear!
Compared with the last time the two sides met, Arsenal has two more generals, Henry and Hleb, but George is completely justified - no matter how Wenger changes his formation, Arsenal's positional warfare offensive ability is poor. It has never been solved, and the only thing George needs to pay attention to on the defensive end is to limit the Gunners' offensive and defensive transition speed, so that Henry cannot comfortably launch a quick counterattack.
As long as Arsenal can be slowed down a beat when counterattacking the ball, Maicon, Ledley King and others will have enough time to return to defense and reorganize the defense. By that time, Arsenal's defensive counterattack will become water without a source and a tree without roots!
Real Madrid couldn't do this because the big-name superstars in its team didn't like to spend their energy on defense. As a result, Arsenal used sharp and quick counterattacks to teach them how to behave; Capello saw Arsenal's destiny. The goal, but the problem is that Juventus, who were spoiled by referees in Serie A, are somewhat unsuitable to the penalty standards of the Champions League; Villarreal in the previous life was because of their lack of strength and their tactical style did not have much due to Riquelme. Transform space.
In contrast, Tottenham at this time are fully capable of doing this. Not to mention the excellent running ability and defensive coverage of the iron triangle in the midfield, just the active counterattack by Drogba and others in the frontcourt is enough to make Arsenal players timid for a while when launching a counterattack!
On the other hand, Arsenal, faced with Tottenham's three-dimensional attack, if Flamini and Eboue cannot limit the opponents Robben and Ronaldo, then Lehmann sitting in front of the goal will be busy in this game. . Judging from the situation after the start of the game, Flamini and Eboue did not complete their tasks well.
I don’t know if it was inspired by Mendieta and Arshavin in the previous game. Cristiano Ronaldo and Robben were very enthusiastic about seeking cross-positions, which made Flamini and Eboue miserable. Coupled with Drogba who frequently pulls out of the penalty area to provide cover and support, and Alonso and Gerrard who are always ready to attack, Tottenham players will use their advantages in space utilization and running without the ball. Played to the fullest.
If the venue at Highbury Stadium was not too small, making it easier for Arsenal players to block the eyeballs with their bodies, and Tottenham, who were restricted by the venue, could not open up the space wider, the gate guarded by Lehmann would most likely not have waited until the first half. He was shot to pieces by Tottenham at the end of the game!
(Note: The venue size of Highbury Stadium is only 101 meters x 67 meters, which is one of the smallest venues in the Premier League.)
