Chapter 116: Wembley's Welcoming Ceremony
Entering March, Arsenal's schedule is gradually becoming more intensive, as the Champions League is about to enter the knockout stage, Arsenal's next schedule will be very intensive, and they have also advanced to the fifth round of the FA Cup, so Arsenal will face a situation of two games a week or even three games a week throughout March, which will be a big challenge for Arsenal. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info
Arsene Wenger has discussed with the coaching staff and decided to strategically abandon the FA Cup, and by the fifth round of the FA Cup, Wenger must ensure the results of the league and the Champions League, although he is also very envious of the title of treble, but for now, their bench depth is not up to the mark, especially the aging backline.
However, with a win away at Valencia on 1 March, Arsene Wenger can rotate as much as possible against Porto and Bordeaux, with the current league title a must.
Liu Han's two goals away at Valencia brought the tally to 12 goals in the Champions League main stage, which is close to the Champions League single-season goal record, which is held by AC Milan legend Altafini, who scored 14 goals in the Champions League in 1962-63.
However, Liu Han's Champions League schedule is not over yet, and if nothing happens, he will have at least four Champions League games to play, of course, if it goes well, he can play up to seven Champions League games, and with his goal efficiency, it is estimated that he will expand the Champions League goal record to a jaw-dropping number.
With Arsenal's strong performances in the league and Champions League, they have also been recognised by the European betting industry, and the odds for Arsenal to win the league or Champions League have been declining, although many Arsenal fans have already bought Arsenal to win the title.
At the end of their trip to Spain, Arsenal immediately returned to London to prepare for the 27th round of the league against Aston Villa, and they have to play Aston Villa in the fifth round of the FA Cup three days later after the 27th round of the league away to Aston Villa.
On March 4, Arsenal arrived at Villa Park for the 27th round of the Premier League.
In the game, against the rather conservative Aston Villa team, the Arsenal team played their usual combination, Liu Han sat in the midfield to link the team's attack and defense, and at the same time, Henry, who has gradually found a feeling in the center forward position, also exerted his power.
Although the 2-0 score does not tell everything, anyone who has watched the game knows that Aston Villa were completely unable to fight back, and the Villa team only had four decent shots on goal in the whole game.
Liu Han did not score in this game, but he provided two assists, Thierry Henry was the beneficiary, and as Liu Han's reputation grew, every Premier League team took Liu Han's defense very seriously, which made it easier for the rest of the Arsenal team to come to the front court. Against Villa's slower-turning defenders, Thierry Henry played with his speed advantage.
Two days later, Arsenal returned home to lose 2-1 to Aston Villa in the fifth round of the FA Cup, with substitutes playing a careless game as Franck Ribery was given the chance to start and scored a face-saving goal.
After being eliminated from the FA Cup, Arsenal can sit back and prepare for their upcoming Champions League opponents, Valencia, this time at home, although not at Highbury, which was banned by UEFA due to safety reasons, but at Wembley, the English fans will welcome the visiting Spaniards.
Arsenal have been in the league for 100 years but have never won the Champions League, so for Arsenal supporters, they are hoping that the team can go far in the Champions League.
Liu Han's expectations for the Champions League are also higher than those of the league and FA Cup, and he wants to challenge stronger opponents than his opponents in the Premier League, such as Barcelona in the first group stage, such as Valencia, who just beat last week, and he hopes to strengthen himself further against strong opponents.
For the last game at home to the Arsenal team, the Valencia team was a little dissatisfied, after all, it was Valencia who scored the first goal in the game, and the Arsenal team only relied on Liu Han's personal play to overtake the score, as for the third goal of the Arsenal team, it can only be said that they were deceived by the Arsenal team.
Valencia was fully prepared for this trip to Arsenal's home stadium, and Cooper even demanded that all players must face this game with the same attitude as they faced the Champions League final, and Cooper could not tolerate his team losing to a team weaker than him.
In Cooper's opinion, the Arsenal team is nothing but Liu Han.
On their first day in London, Valencia received their first gift from here, and the continuous rain made London unusually humid and cold, which made the players who were used to Valencia's sunny weather very uncomfortable.
The game kicked off on March 9 and it was still raining lightly on the day of the game, but the Arsenal fans baked Wembley with enthusiasm, as evidenced by the boos that the Valencia players heard after entering the stadium, as the boos were so loud that the Valencia players had to keep their ears close to each other to hear each other's words.
With the referee's whistle, the game officially began, and the Arsenal team attacked first.
In the face of the defeat in the last game, the Valencia team summarized after the game, they re-analyzed the tactics of the Arsenal team, and found that in the last game, more than 80% of the Arsenal team's attack was concentrated in Liu Han, and from the performance of Arsenal in the Champions League, they basically relied on Liu Han's goal to get to the present, so before the start of this game, the Valencia team specially practiced the defensive tactics of a top center forward like Liu Han.
But what the Valencia team didn't expect was that at the beginning of today's game, Liu Han did not top the front line, but retreated to the forward position, and the front line was the partner of Bergkamp and Henry.
Arsene Wenger is now very proud of his decision to sign Liu Han in the first place, because he now benefits from Liu Han's ability to greatly enrich Arsenal's tactics.
Attacking and destroying cities, controlling and threading the needle, and defending are impregnable, Liu Han's presence makes Wenger feel that he can develop a hundred sets of tactics for Arsenal.
In this game, he put Liu Han in the position of the front midfield, the purpose is to hope that Liu Han can suppress Valencia's midfielder in the midfield, and his arrangement also makes Valencia's defensive strategy a joke, they can't ignore the existence of the French and Dutch and let the defenders stare at Liu Han.
In the centre circle, Thierry Henry and Bergkamp kicked off and then passed the ball back to Liu Han. Liu Han took the ball and continued to pass back, the formation had not yet been expanded, and Valencia today put out a lineup of double backs and five midfielders and single forwards, and it was more dangerous to break through or cross rashly.
Vieira received Liu Han's return pass and then crossed to Ovemas on the right side again, Ovemas took two steps, found that the opponent's pressing immediately posted up and did not break through rashly, but continued to pass to Liu Han who had come to answer.
When Liu Han received the ball, his heel shook over Mendieta, who was close to him, and then strode forward to dribble the ball.
As Liu Han's skills become more and more proficient, his understanding of football has also changed qualitatively, in the past he felt that those fancy actions were useless, but now he gradually felt that not all fancy actions are useless, but not used in the right place, any action on the football field is useful, even if it does not touch the ball.
After a simple and beautiful pass of Mendieta, Liu Han strode forward with the ball, Valencia's defense today was very tight, and it was very tight in the midfield.
Liu Han took a few steps before he met the defending Farinos, and instead of seeking a breakthrough, he passed to Bergkamp not far from the right front, and then suddenly cut in to the right as well.
Bergkamp, who had a very tacit understanding with Liu Han, immediately made a wall-hitting cooperation, gently knocked the ball back to Liu Han, and at the same time dodged the space to the left side and cut into the penalty area.
Liu Han was quicker than Farinos, which allowed him to receive the ball faster, but instead of dribbling the ball again, he distributed it to the wing, and Bergkamp's run took away Valencia's left-back.
Wing Overmars had already told him to plug in, but his side Kiri Gonzalez was not to be outdone and followed closely.
After receiving the ball at high speed, Overmars pulled the ball back to his body, and then passed the ball back to Liu Han, who stayed on the spot to respond.
At this time, Liu Han still had Farinos by his side, and Mendieta also retreated to attack Liu Han, his situation was very unfavorable, but just before the two Valencia formed a pinch, Liu Han's original action of receiving the ball suddenly leaked, and the ball rolled directly under his crotch, and Vieira, who was inserted in the middle, received the ball in the absence of a defender.
Liu Han didn't look back at Vieira's running position at all just now, he just felt that the Frenchman would cut in before this time, and sure enough, his feeling was not wrong.
Vieira receives the ball and nudges it, then blasts it hard.
While Patrick Vieira's skills have been criticised for his game, he has improved faster than many thought as training has continued, with a shot of very high quality, just like his last goal against Valencia.
Canizares struggled to spread his body in the air, but his save was a little worse and Vieira's shot was perfect from angle and speed, grazing the crossbar and the post to fly into the back of the net, and Arsenal's first shot of the opening effort was past the visiting Valencia side.
The Wembley Stadium was packed with fans cheering Arsenal's goal and nothing thrilled the London crowd more than beating a foreign side, who loved the welcoming ceremony for the Spaniards. (To be continued.) )