Chapter 126

Deportivo La Coruna hit the middle today, and Arsenal's disadvantage in the middle was too obvious, Juan took the opportunity to direct his players to continue to attack.

After the kick-off again, Gago stopped cutting forward, waiting for opportunities on the flanks and distributing them to the flanks with a direct touch at every opportunity, while Morientes, Quaresma and Portillo were bold □□ attack.

With just such a simple change, Deportivo La Coruna's attacking threat was immediately apparent.

The reason is simple - they didn't care about attacking on the wings before, but now the number of people attacking on the wings has increased!

Kolo Toure ran into Morientes again, and after his successful defense, he already had some experience in how to defend against the Spanish goalscorer, and was ready to be vigilant about Morientes' breakthrough line with the ball.

However, Morientes just didn't take the usual path this time, he pulled the ball back instead, Collo Toure was just about to step forward to press, Portillo quickly flew past him, Morientes smiled, randomly distributed the ball, the ball flashed over Colo Toure's head, Portillo received the ball directly on the baseline, and dribbled horizontally.

After such a pairing, Arsenal's defence was a bit shaky, and they opted to shrink to protect the dangerous area in front of goal and prepare to encircle Portillo.

Before Campbell and Vieri could form a trap, Portillo knocked the ball back directly, and Morientes just entered the penalty area at this moment, and he almost volleyed up to the football!

The quality of this shot was extremely high, and the colorful elf went directly to the dead corner of the near goal, but it was a pity that Arsenal goalkeeper Lehmann was brave and held the ball out of the bottom line with one hand.

There was an exclamation from the stands, followed by thunderous applause, and the gunners cheered for their own doorman.

Juan was a little sorry for the attack, but he was not in a hurry, but also applauded, of course, he was not cheering for Lehmann, he was just praising the team's attack.

Just play like that, A Coruña can do it!

Arsenal's defence is not very good, and once Deportivo players get through the midfield quickly, Arsenal's attacking players are generally not good at defending - Thierry Henry and Bergkamp have probably put all their talents on the attacking paper, and it can be said that they have done little defence.

If you have to score, maybe they can do 9 or 10 points offensively, and be perfect, but defensively, they can ......

If you can pass, Highbury is already very satisfied.

Therefore, although Deportivo mainly plays in the middle, but once the number of people on the side goes up, it is normal to play more and less for a while, and Deportivo can play a high success rate by taking the initiative to pass and run, even if Colo Toure and Ashley Cole help defend the wing, it is just a balanced 2 to 2.

And Chloe Toure and Ashley Cole didn't dare to leave the middle of the lane rashly, knowing full well that if they did, the Redondo Morientes pairing, who was already eyeing the middle lane, would be the most lethal killer.

A corner kick opportunity for Deportivo La Coruna.

The man standing at the corner kick is Redondo, today Bellerón is not there, there are many things on the field that no one else can do, he can only shoulder the responsibility of captain on the field and try to do what he can.

From the corner, Quaresma won the ball on the side and made a low cross, which instantly deceived Ashley Cole, and then went straight inside, and shot directly at the 45° angle in front of the penalty area!

Arsenal's goalkeeper Lehmann, after all, is also a top performer in the Premier League, and he once again made a great contribution, although the kick caught him off guard, but he immediately blocked the ball.

Lehmann only had time to look up, there were so many pairs of feet in front of him, he didn't even know who to count, he only saw a pair of purple Adidas calmly stop the ball, and then only moved slightly, moved sideways, and the toes were still facing the goal.

In an instant, his heart was cold.

“Gooooal！！ Morientes!! The third game of the Spanish striker's transfer to Deportivo La Coruna began his crazy goalscoring journey! It's unbelievably beautiful! Lehmann saved Quaresma's long-range shot, but the ball did not fall far away, still in the penalty area, the Spaniard was very calm, he did not shoot at the first time, but calmly took the ball to the Vieri who came to block, and then easily sent the ball into the goal, this goal is simply freehand!! ”

Morientes rushed into the net immediately after the goal, grabbed the ball and ran outside.

It stands to reason that he scored his first Champions League goal at Deportivo La Coruna, his first Champions League goal of the year, and his first Champions League goal of the season, which he should be celebrating, but there is a very unwritten rule at Deportivo that starts the season -

If you don't win the game, no one is allowed to celebrate!

Who knows if the opponent will come to a big overtake in the course of the game?

It's not like Deportivo himself hasn't done anything about a big score overtake! Next door, AC Milan has been staring at them for a long time!

Juan watched from the bottom of the court as everyone ran back en masse, happy but just raised his hand in celebration and continued the game, nodding slightly.

He really doesn't want his players to start running after scoring a goal, of course, this is not to say that they can't celebrate, but those bigwigs obviously don't have the body to celebrate, so they still have to take care of the elderly......

Arsene Wenger has nothing to say about the current situation on the pitch.

Arsenal are too tired this season, and there is certainly an element of surprise in this goal, but on the pitch this accident is often the accumulation of the advantages of one game, no wonder others.

Deportivo La Coruna's attack on the middle today was very good, almost directly blocking all possible passes to Henry and Bergkamp, and even in the away game, Deportivo directly took the lead, without giving up at all, and the result was quite good, which Juan was also surprised.

Concentrating on the middle and weakening the wing attack is a tactic that Deportivo has insisted on since the beginning of the season, and to be honest, if this tactic is against a team that is good at defense, it is estimated that Deportivo will die a miserable death, especially when it comes to defensive Christmas trees or kite flying defensive counter-attacking tactics, and the central attack will fall into the quagmire of dense defense.

Thankfully, Arsenal are not such a team, and the tactics they implemented with Real Betis in the last game had a bit of an effect, with Juan Díaz focusing on attacking power up front, and the ability to play on both flanks was a risky move.

Deportivo directly compressed the space of their central defense to an extreme situation, and Arsenal's attacking combination in the front court was super strong, and to be honest, Deportivo La Coruna was indeed beaten a little wolf in the middle in the first half.

Especially Fernando Gago, although he didn't say that he played abnormally today, he was repeatedly abused by Henry or Bergkamp, and he was beaten by which side he went, and his steps were a little vain, and Juan felt a little unbearable to look at this kid directly......

But this is a normal situation, he is not a little dissatisfied with Gago's appearance, after all, whether in the past league or cup competitions, Juan has almost never let him face the top striker, not even a quasi-first-class striker, even if he encounters, either Juan asked him to his main task is to break through, or the opponent does not want to use all his strength in the cup, just so-so to deal with it.

So in the past, Gago's table was not bad, but today he met Henry and Bergkamp, Vieri, and Ljungberg, these people can be said to form an extremely powerful offensive line in tandem, under pressure, Fernando Gago did not lose his mind and used rough fouls to contain the opponent, but constantly tried to adapt himself to the rhythm of the opponent's passing and receiving, no matter what, Juan was already very satisfied.

This is a necessary stage for the growth of the midfield, and it is the same for all Deportivo defenders, young people, they have to come out to be abused, bullied and bullied, and when they get used to it and adapt, they will improve, and then the strength will rise.

Everyone has come from this road, think about Juan back then, he was also played around by Redondo and other predecessors, and he was disgraced.

After such an offensive line, the two teams entered a rhythm of playing fast attack with each other, Deportivo La Coruna's players began to press on all fronts, and the gap in the backfield became larger, when Arsenal directly gave up the defense, their focus of the game was all biased towards the front, and the frontcourt players played more freely, which was a very big test for Deportivo LaCoruna's defense.

Two minutes later, Bergkamp broke through on the right and Van Persie ran beside him, with the Ice Prince just glancing at his younger team-mate and not reacting.

Henry is the King of Highbury, the Ice Prince of the Gunslingers, and the two of them rule the front court of Highbury.

Maybe in the future, this kid's appearance will be better than theirs, maybe not, but what does this have to do with him?

It's the two of them who are in charge of this stadium now!

Except for Henry, he definitely doesn't pass the ball to another person.

The ice prince, who was still ignoring, dribbled horizontally with the ball and came to the front of Deportivo La Coruna's penalty area, Van Persie saw that his seniors had no intention of passing, so he turned around directly to force Redondo with great interest.

Basically, as long as Redondo is stopped, who else is in the backfield of Deportivo who is an opponent for both of them?

Redondo was actually stopped by the shameless Dutch kid in front of him for a moment, Bergkamp raised an eyebrow and smiled, and then floated the ball into the Deportivo penalty area like a gust of wind.

"Bergkamp's through stopper! Brilliant goal, Henry got a one-on-one shot at the goal!! ”

“Gooooal！！ Thierry Henry!! Our Emperor!! King of Highbury!! ”

Diego López didn't get up from the ground for a long time, he hated hammering the grass and looked up at the French who were celebrating heavily.

It's hard to believe, but he seems to have become A Coruña's weakest link now.

It's just a little bit close!!

He's just one step away from touching a football!

You can stop this goal!

"Diego! Stand up! Juan clapped his hands on the sidelines, "The game is not over yet, we haven't lost yet, stand up!" ”

Diego López looked up, Juan standing on the edge of the pitch yelling at him, his blue eyes burning with flames.

That is, high-spirited fighting spirit.

'It's just a goal, are we ahead and forget? It's okay Diego! When Juan comforted him like this, Redondo also ran over and stretched out his hand directly to the youngster.

Diego López looked up at him a little sluggishly, and Redondo was very stern: "It's very good, it's my mistake." ”

He was stunned for a moment, lowered his head sharply and wiped his eyes, and then took Redondo's hand and stood up suddenly: "I know!" Thank you! ”

Kick-off again in the middle circle, this time with the ball by Riquelme, he quickly passed the ball straight ahead, Portillo retreated to take the ball and turned, and sped across the midfield, Ashley Cole tried to block head-on, but Portillo subconsciously rushed to the left.

That's where Vieira is, he's still around the centre circle and hasn't come, there's no one in that position right now!

Portillo used his pace to break down Ashley Cole flanks in a wide open space and then slowed down as he approached the box.

The man defending in front of him was Chloe Toure.

Honestly, no striker of any kind wants to run into a defender like Toure, so when faced with his defence, Portillo simply gave up the ball and passed the ball diagonally behind him, where Quaresma was waiting for him.

He stepped forward to get the ball near the baseline, pulled the ball back and took a step back, and when he saw him dribbling, Campbell immediately put his hand behind his back to get into position to prevent him from continuing forward.

But does it work?

Quaresma couldn't help but smile.

When he was in the Portuguese Super League, he was on a par with Cristiano Ronaldo for more than just ability and skill.

They are equally famous, and they are also known for their skills that are almost like threading a needle.

In the face of Campbell's defense, Quaresma made a scissor-foot feint with ease, and the arc was particularly wide, and at first glance it looked like he was going to pass back to Portillo who was running over.

The live camera was deceived by him, and it shook a little, but the football was still at his feet, and almost instantly, the football was pulled back, and Campbell's center of gravity had not yet reacted, and he could only watch the football being passed away, and it was a high pass.

Chloe Toure, who returned to the penalty area, was a little crying.

He is only 178cm tall, and to be honest, he really can't beat Portillo in terms of the top, although Quaresma's ball is very high, and it is estimated that Portillo can't touch it......

He looked back with hope, only to see that behind Portillo, Morientes, who had inserted it, was outflanked and sent the ball straight into the door with a header!

“Goooal！！ Morientes!! Deportivo La Coruna extended their lead and Morientes scored twice!! It's really unexpected, Deportivo played a very beautiful attack on the offensive end today, this is what we expect Deportivo La Coruna, the attack is gorgeous, invincible, and the defense is stable and elegant!! ”

Frank and Dean jumped up and cheered directly, to be honest, in the last league game against Real Betis, he really thought that Deportivo would do something ugly for his own win, and I don't know how they adjusted, and immediately reconciled the offensive and defensive situation of the stadium!

Arsene Wenger sighed.

He really had nothing to say.

He can't blame Kolo Toure for failing to block Morientes' header, after all, everyone knows that Morientes is actually very bad at heading, and so is Raul, and the Spanish twin stars are like they are afraid of messing up their hairstyles, and they have a deep obsession with headers, and they rarely use their heads to attack anyway, so he was a little negligent for a while.

And the defense does not rely on individuals, but on a system, and when Deportivo has the courage to insert assists in the middle, the chances of being counter-attacked and conceding goals are especially high.

Deportivo La Coruna is almost everyone who takes their chances and is particularly cunning defensively, but Arsenal were dangerous today.

It's dangerous. It's only a first half, is Deportivo going to heaven?

At the end of the first half, the score was never rewritten, Deportivo entered the dressing room with a 4-1 score, Juan stood at the end and waited for them, while also shaking hands and patting shoulders in encouragement, which honestly flattered most of the players.

Of course, Juan was like this for a reason, in the locker room, he was silent for a while, raised an eyebrow and asked, "How did it feel in the first half?" ”

The players looked at each other, and finally they couldn't help but say, "It's good." ”

"Yes, yes, it's been a long time since we've had such a big lead in the first half......"

'I feel like I've rarely had a first-half lead by that big score in my whole career, and it's against Arsenal.

Juan smiled and waved his hand: "We mainly take advantage of Arsenal's fatigue, otherwise not to mention Henry and Bergkamp, their backfield alone is enough for us." And thanks to the big guys, if it weren't for the big guys to help the team find the perfect balance in the rhythm of attack and defense, Deportivo La Coruna might still be running back and forth in a hurry at this time. ”

The scene was silent for a moment, and then nodded at the same time.

Indeed, Bergkamp and Thierry Henry, although still reigning with terror on the pitch, are powerless even if their own team-mates do not help.

'To be honest, I was happy to meet Arsenal in the quarter-finals. Juan continued, and someone at the scene couldn't help but move their mouths and then raise their hands.

"What's wrong?" The person who raised his hand was David Luiz, Juan took the children to the court today to see the world, his eyes were bright, and the whole person was still in a very excited state.

This game is so beautiful, both in terms of attack and defense and in terms of goals, it directly embodies the characteristics of beautiful football and offensive football, and to be honest, if he didn't know that he didn't have that ability now, he might have begged Juan to replace him at this time.

"Why is Arsenal happy, is it because they know they are going to win?" When Pompons asked the question, the entire locker room was stunned, and then began to laugh.

Of course, this is not the case, they all know ah, Deportivo is actually not as strong as Arsenal in terms of its own hard power, and it is especially scary when a Premier League team starts to play with technology, but fortunately, their players' bodies are not the kind of iron fighting, so Deportivo can seize the opportunity to have a hearty counterattack.

"Of course not." After laughing enough, Juan replied directly, "Deportivo La Coruna is not so confident that he can take Arsenal specifically, after all, our strength is here...... But Arsenal are designed to restrain our style of play. “

"From the very beginning, I wanted our team to grow and improve, and only by playing against strong opponents can we have a better chance of moving forward."

What Deportivo La Coruna needs most is to improve and grow quickly, rather than to be burdened with hard indicators such as performance, especially in the Champions League, which has not been won in a long time.

The Champions League is not the same as the league, the league is about the team's endurance and stability, and the Champions League is a group of dragons to win the pearl, Deportivo La Coruna does not expect to win any titles, as long as they can gain experience from the game, and then newcomers and young people can withstand the pressure and grow up quickly, then the purpose of Deportivo La Coruna's game has been achieved.

'There's still a game to play, we've got a whole second half to play, we can play better, don't be complacent, don't get excited...... Listen to me, as long as Deportivo holds steady in the second half, Arsenal will not have a chance to turn around when they return to our home stadium in the second round. ”

Juan glanced around at each player's face.

The sweat on their faces continued to drip down, and although there were four goals in the first half, Deportivo La Coruna's physical consumption in the first half was also huge, Juan frowned.

He remembered that Deportivo had also caused the other side to get tired of tactics before, if Arsenal had thought the same......

He took a deep breath and rubbed his forehead.

"Aimar." He screamed.