Chapter 59: The September Schedule
Entering September, with the start of the Champions League, the fixtures of the major European leagues are getting tighter. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info
Since 98 UEFA in order to prevent major clubs from abandoning their high "European Super League", the Champions League has undergone a large-scale restructuring and added two rounds of group stage, although the influence of the Champions League has been greatly enhanced, but for the big clubs participating in the Champions League, such a group stage will only make their schedule more intensive, and the money gained from participating in the group stage is a lot of income for small clubs or clubs outside the five major leagues, but this money is only a fraction of the money for the larger five major league clubs.
There are three teams in the Premier League this year, namely Manchester United, Arsenal and Chelsea, Manchester United was forced to draw 0-0 at home by the Libertadores Zagreb, Chelsea is also at home to draw with the visiting AC Milan, and Arsenal who went to Florence, Italy has made the Premier League hot in Europe, with a score of 6-0 in the history of the Champions League, but it is basically a strong team abusing a weak team, and like Arsenal, an opponent who is one level higher than himself is beaten into a sieve, It can be seen how strong the firepower of the Arsenal team is. Fiorentina are in the second tier of Group E in the Champions League this season, while Arsenal are in the third tier.
Fiorentina's rivals Arsenal rushed back before they had time to visit the literary and artistic capital of "Fei Lengcui", and they had to play in the eighth round of the Premier League three days later, away to Southampton.
Arsene Wenger's Arsenal team only participated in the restructured Champions League for the first time last season, but last season, the Arsenal team that appeared in a good group was too dense because of lack of experience, so the players' physical strength was exhausted, and in the last three games of the first round of the Champions League group stage, the Arsenal team that challenged the opponent collapsed, and finally the Arsenal team came ambitious, but in the end it failed to break through even the first round of the group stage, and watched their opponent Manchester United finally reach the top of Europe.
Arsene Wenger, who has learned from experience this season, has begun to consciously rotate his squad, so although the schedule is very dense, the Arsenal team has always maintained a good form.
In August, the Arsenal team has achieved unbeaten results, seven rounds of Premier League games except for the draw with Liverpool, the other six games have been won, and into September, the Arsenal team has made a good start, but Wenger is more than that, he hopes that the team can maintain the momentum of August, and now the most critical game is the away game against Barcelona on September 30, if this game can be won, then even if Liu Han is not there in October, then Wenger has nothing to worry about.
The Arsenal team who arrived at Southampton's Little Valley Stadium made a proper rotation, Wenger sent a squad dominated by half young players and half veteran players, but Liu Han still started, his physical strength was enough to cope with this intensity of the game, and he did not play the whole game at all in the last game.
The Valley Stadium has been in use for more than 100 years now, making it the oldest stadium in the Premier League, with a capacity of only 15,000 people and the smallest stadium in the entire Premier League, although Southampton, who have been battling in the middle and lower reaches of the Premier League, are building their new stadium.
However, although Southampton looks like a small club with a package every year, their youth training is very good, and they have produced a lot of outstanding stars for England, from Kevin Keegan to Alan Shearer, many Premier League teams have come out of Southampton's academy.
Throughout the game, Southampton put on a stubborn posture, Liu Han was surrounded by three defenders, Liu Han's goal of four goals in the first half of the last game not only shocked Europe, but also made more Premier League teams scared.
In the face of the Southampton team, which was fully retracted, Arsenal, who had rotated, was a little uncomfortable, and the cooperation between the young players and the old players always lacked tacit understanding.
It wasn't decided until the final minute when Liu Han headed a corner kick from Grimandi into the back of the net in the 85th minute, and Southampton ultimately fell short.
Arsenal were given a five-day break after a last-minute win over Southampton and their next game against visiting Sweden's AIK Solna side will be fixture.
The match will be held at Wembley Stadium, which is licensed by the British Football Association, after all, the Arsenal team is representing England in the Champions League, and Highbury's poor conditions are really not enough to carry out full security, in order to ensure the safety of visiting Swedish fans, so the British Football Association has authorized Arsenal to use Wembley Stadium as their home stadium during the Champions League match.
The 80,000-capacity Wembley Stadium was almost full for Arsenal's Champions League game, and Arsenal fans are still looking forward to their team's performance in the Champions League.
Wenger did not let Liu Han start in this game, but sent Henry and Bergkamp to partner in the forward lineup, Wenger felt that Henry should be cultivated more, after all, Liu Han does not look like he will stay at Arsenal for a long time, and the opponent's strength is not very good, Wenger can rest assured of the experimental lineup.
But what the Arsenal team didn't expect was that the Arsenal team had the advantage of winning and losing today's Champions League game until the last minute.
Knowing that the strength is not as good as the Arsenal team, the Solna team has put up a lineup of five defenders, coupled with two backs, the Solna team has played the defensive counterattack very thoroughly, and the two forwards on their front line are high school forwards who are more than 1.9 meters tall, it seems that the Solna team has made up its mind to go to the long pass.
The game actually went well at the beginning, Ljungberg scored a goal in the first half 25 minutes to give Arsenal the lead, but the front line Thierry Henry and Bergkamp were completely lost in the opponent's muscle jungle, and Henry and Bergkamp looked quite helpless in the face of the tall Nordic players.
At half-time, Arsenal took the lead.
However, in the second half, Solna took advantage of a corner kick and was headed by a high striker to equalise the score.
The equalisers Solna started to defend completely this time, and their coach replaced a striker and added a midfielder.
The Arsenal team besieged the opponent, but it was always scoreless, until the game entered the last ten minutes, and Wenger, who was afraid that the team would be equalized by the weak team, replaced Liu Han on the field.
Liu Han did not show weakness in the face of the fierce physical confrontation of Nordic players, and the physical fitness that has been honed to the limit is not comparable to ordinary players, and Liu Han, who has always insisted on standing on the pile, has a very accurate grasp of the direction of the opponent's power, so after he came on the field, Arsenal immediately posed a threat in the opponent's penalty area.
When the game entered injury time, Bergkamp took a corner kick and Liu Han pressed the defensive header of three opposing players to score the ball, giving Arsenal the lead in the final moments, and the Solna players were frustrated.
But just before the referee was about to blow the whistle for the end of the game, Liu Han scored again, and a trademark violent long-range shot made the opposing goalkeeper sigh at the ball.
In the end, thanks to Liu Han's two late goals, Arsenal won the game, and they can now prepare for the showdown with Barcelona on September 30. (To be continued.) )