Chapter 91
Today, Arsene Wenger and Arsenal are worried about the same problem, but what is a little better than what Leng Fei saw in that Arsenal during that period is at least not experienced a draw and a defeat at the beginning of last season, and in terms of the team's psychology, at least not as pessimistic as last season.
When the whole team went to Italy, the mood was still relatively optimistic.
In Italy, Arsenal was met with stubborn resistance from Udinese, Udinese, sitting at home, seems to have eaten Arsenal with an iron heart, yes, for Arsenal, this game means whether it can appear in the Champions League, but for Udinese, the same is true, this Serie A team rarely has the opportunity to participate in the Champions League, every opportunity, is precious.
After 90 minutes of fierce battle, Arsenal drew 1:1 away to Udinese, eliminated the opponent 2:1 on aggregate, and it was Chamak who scored a valuable goal for Arsenal, and the Moroccan's long-range shot helped Arsenal advance to the Champions League when the team was unable to open the situation.
After Udinese's Champions League qualifying fixture, Arsenal have their final game against Manchester United in August, which is undoubtedly Arsenal's most important game of the new season.
In English football, red and blue are always two opposing colors, such as Manchester United and Manchester City, the Red Devils, the Blue Moon, the two teams are bitter enemies in the same city, and for example, Arsenal and Chelsea in London, the Gunners and the Blues, or Liverpool's Liverpool and Everton, the Reds and the Toffees, are all red and blue as the main colors, but the same tone, must be allies?
If you think so, you would be wrong, what is the most traditional derby in the Premier League? There is no doubt that Liverpool vs Manchester United, Reds vs Red Devils, the contest between two red-dominated teams, is the Premier League, no, it is a classic derby battle in English football, and Arsenal and Manchester United, although the relationship is not as deep as Liverpool and Manchester United, but with Wenger's entry into Arsenal, the Gunners began to embark on the road of art in the Premier League, Ferguson of Scotland and Arsene Wenger of France, the two can be said to be incompatible, and the beam is so concluded, Arsenal vs Manchester United, it is better to say Wenger vs Ferguson.
Although there are still three days left in the game, the media has begun to hype the battle of Manchester vs London (on the same day, London's Tottenham Hotspur is at home against Manchester City), in fact, if it is Manchester City vs Chelsea, it will be more interesting, not only red to red, blue to blue, but also between Manchester and London, the highest dialogue in football, Tottenham is certainly a force to be reckoned with in the Premier League, but in terms of fame and strength, it is still difficult to compete with Chelsea, Tottenham may have been able to dominate Chelsea in the past, but that hasn't been the case since Russian billionaire Roman Roman Ablahimovic took over.
After the Udinese game, Arsene Wenger led the team back to England from Italy immediately, firstly, to prepare for the game against Manchester United early, and secondly, Manchester United did not have such a dense schedule, and Arsenal needed a good rest.
So back in London, Arsene Wenger announced that he would disband the team and return to training tomorrow, which can be a little later, mainly to give the players plenty of rest.
After the team was disbanded, Leng Fei was not in a hurry to go home, there were a lot of things in the past two days, including Van Holmst told himself about the national team a few days ago, after the Manchester United game, it was the international break, the 2014 World Cup qualifiers, the round of 16 in Asia will begin, and Leng Fei's name is undoubtedly listed in the national team shortlist of Chinese national team coach Camacho, and said that Leng Fei will definitely be recruited into the Chinese national team, Leng Fei's performance is obvious to all, the first value in Asia, It's not for nothing.
For Leng Fei, being selected for the national team is of course a good thing, but thinking of what he talked to Suarez in the hotel a few days ago, about the World Cup, Leng Fei is still a little depressed, even if he returns to the national team, what are the chances of the Chinese team appearing in the World Cup? Although the atmosphere of Chinese football has been much better than in the past few years, who knows if there are any other insider stories?
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At this time, Wenger is not only busy with the next game with Manchester United, but also has to worry about the transfer, so far, there is not much time left until the Premier League transfer window closes, and Arsenal has so far brought in a full-back, including midfielder, the problems in the defensive line have not been effectively dealt with, this is one of the few signings for Arsenal this season, but undoubtedly an important one.
The next day, Manchester City's official website announced that Arsenal's French midfielder, Samir Nasri, officially transferred to Manchester City, so that Mancini has another good card that can be played in the Champions League and the league, Manchester City's official website warmly welcomed the arrival of the former Arsenal midfielder, Mancini is also very satisfied with the deal, he said in an interview: "Nasri is a great player, I have admired his talent for a long time, It's a great thing to have such a good player here. At the same time, Mancini also ambitiously said that considering the depth of their squad and the strength of their players, they are likely to be able to hold out on any front until the end, and whether this "final" is to win the championship or something else, Mancini did not say, but the media has begun to hype up topics such as "Mancini boasts of a quadruple".
Compared with Arsenal's side, the midfielder has lost a big general, not to mention, so far Arsenal has not made any moves to bring in reinforcements, which makes some Arsenal fans and the London media a little unable to sit still, "The Times" stood up and criticized, Arsenal has been rising in terms of profitability over the years, but the strength of the team has been declining on the contrary, which is related to Wenger's business philosophy, digging demons, cultivating stars, and selling them dozens of times or even hundreds of times tens of thousands of times with the money bought, which seems to be a good deal, but for the team, it was a big blow.
Soon after, Arsenal's official website also appeared on the news, Nasri's transfer brought the team a transfer fee of 24 million pounds, despite this, fans are not very satisfied with this transfer, Arsenal's official website, there were many fans who poured into the forum to leave messages on the same day, one is to complain about Arsenal's business methods, and the other is to let Wenger quickly spend money to buy people, out of so much blood, without making up for it, Arsenal's goal this year is relegation.
On today's training ground, there is one less familiar face, of course, everyone knew about it before coming, fellow French players Koscielny, Sagna and other players are still very sorry for Nasri's departure, especially Koscielny, he has a good relationship with Nasri, but when they meet later, it is likely to be a face-to-face opponent.
Leng Fei and Nasri don't talk much, but after more than a month, Leng Fei's impression of the French is not bad, although some players in the team spread the saying that Nasri left Arsenal for money, but Leng Fei doesn't care much about these, who doesn't play for money? If there is no money, where will these stars come from? Nasri's approach, to put it simply, is just "job-hopping", which company has a good salary, which company will go to which company, is a very normal thing, but this job, not an ordinary job, is burdened with this job, especially when you do this job very well, you must have to be prepared to sit as a public figure, your every move, in the eyes of fans and the public, will be magnified countless times, to put it simply, it is just job-hopping, but football has a group of fans, a simple job-hopping, In the eyes of fans, he has become a "traitor who sees money".
Of course, Leng Fei doesn't know if this is the right thing to do, after all, in the years that Nasri has joined Arsenal, Wenger's careful training is not necessarily something that can be done for 24 million pounds.
After this transfer incident, Manchester City basically announced that the transfer window was closed, and for Arsenal, it was just opened......
Old Trafford Stadium is a very famous stadium in Manchester, because the owner here is the oldest giant in English football in the past century, at least in the domestic league, Manchester United, the team that has won the first number of championships, maybe before the English top league was restructured, Liverpool was still the top brand in England, or in other words, Ferguson has not yet entered Manchester United, Liverpool is still the top brand in England, but in the past 20 years of the Premier League, Manchester United has won 12 championships, Liverpool did not have a single one, and Manchester United rightfully took over the title of "England's number one".
Less than three days after the match against Udinese, Arsenal had a tough game away to Manchester United, which was undoubtedly a tough battle for the team that had just returned from an expedition to Italy.
How troublesome will this game be? For the current players, it is nothing more than a difficult game, and it is even very likely to lose, but for Leng Fei, this game, the memory of the previous life is still fresh, Arsenal challenged Manchester United away, the latter sat at home and humiliated Arsenal with a score of 8:2, creating Arsenal's biggest defeat in 115 years, and it is also the most painful defeat between Wenger and Ferguson.
However, today, Leng Fei will definitely avoid this kind of thing happening, although football is not his own sport, but he believes that as long as he relies on his own efforts, he will definitely be able to drive the performance of his teammates, even if he loses, at least he will not lose 8:2 so badly.
Standing outside Old Trafford, Leng Fei looked at this magnificent modern stadium, this is the second time he came to Old Trafford, during the summer break, Leng Fei also came to Old Trafford in the "European Football Tour", but that time, there were no fanatical Manchester United fans who booed desperately next to the car, and there was no company with so many middle fingers, at that time, although there were many fans, most of them were foreign fans who went to visit, even if they saw Leng Fei, it would not be good, Today is different.
As long as you follow Arsenal's team bus to Manchester, he is the enemy of half the city, these enemies will not greet you with their fists, but boos, yelling and middle fingers are indispensable, of course, if it were not for the good security forces of Old Trafford and Manchester, maybe some radical Manchester United fans would not mind putting on a bloody live-action Kombat, and the reputation of English football hooligans is not much lower than that of English football.
Every time he sees these scenes, whether it is in Ajax or Arsenal, Leng Fei closes his eyes every time in order not to let these fans affect his state, and thinks about some questions by the way, such as, what is football in the eyes of these fans? A relaxing game after work and study? What are the stars doing on the pitch? What is the reason to vent in a boring life?
The above must be the reasons why football has become the number one sport in the world, but these are not enough, football is a kind of faith, although Leng Fei feels that the former Liverpool legendary coach Bill Shankly said: "Football is not life and death, football is higher than life and death." "It's a bit too much, but it's worth agreeing that football brings fans a kind of faith, and players are the most direct way for this belief to spread to fans, which is probably why Nasri Fabregas's departure will cause so much criticism, fans don't want to see the pillars of their faith leave.
"Kim, what are you thinking? So focused? Walcoat sat next to Leng Fei, patted Leng Fei, and said.
"Ah, no, nothing." Leng Fei looked at Walket beside him, smiled, and said, "I'm thinking, the next opponent is not easy to deal with." ”
Walcott shrugged: "Hey, Kim, are you scared?" ”
"Just kidding, how is that possible!" Leng Fei laughed and spread his hands.
Old Trafford away dressing room, Wenger as always instilled the tactics of this game in the players, or the same 4-3-3 formation, Walcott, Van Persie, Leng Fei are separated from the left, center and right three sides, behind Ramsey, Rosicky and French teenager Coquelin, defenders from left to right Traore Julu Koscherny Jenkinson lined up, goalkeeper Szczesny, in fact, this lineup does not look very safe, Traore or Coquelin, or Zhulu, Jenkinson, None of the main players in the team, although some players need to rest considering that they have just played a tough game against Udinese, but they are at Old Trafford......
Leng Fei was worried about whether his memories would become reality.
"This game ......" Wenger looked at his players, many young and immature faces, including some players revealing a trace of nervousness, of course, in the face of an opponent like Manchester United, it is impossible not to be nervous, no one can win Manchester United nine times out of ten, even if it is Barcelona, known as the "Universe Team", it is not good.
'Our opponents, I don't think I need to say anything more, now it's you who have to think about yourself, against Manchester United, you are nervous, what are you nervous about? A fierce battle on the horizon? Or will you lose if you are nervous? Nervous about whether you will make mistakes? 'Arsene Wenger has exposed the minds of the players, what he has to do now is to calm these lads down, and sometimes the right amount of nervousness can be used as a boost, but if the tension is too much, it's not good.
Now, he won't tell the players, what to say, the glory history of Manchester United and Arsenal, which will only increase the burden on the players, maybe it is effective to talk to old players like Rosicky and Van Persie, but for young players, especially in the current tense situation, it is not advisable, Wenger considered it for a moment and said: "This is a special game, what kind of emotion, it is normal, but only one is not advisable, fear!" Now you tell me, who is afraid of Manchester United? Arsene Wenger's voice raised slightly, and there was silence in the dressing room before the players shouted one by one: "No! We are not cowards! ”
Afraid of Manchester United? If that mood comes out in the Arsenal dressing room, it's the real end.
Wenger skillfully diverted the attention of the players, and the atmosphere in the locker room was not so tense, Leng Fei sighed, Wenger is not a loss, Wenger, a few words that seem to be plain can reduce the burden on the players, in addition to the need for a tongue, what is needed is a kind of prestige, Wenger has been at Arsenal for more than ten years, and his prestige has long been unshakable.
At the beginning of the game, this game can be called the most focused battle in the Premier League since the start of the game, more interesting than the previous Arsenal vs Liverpool, the FA also attaches great importance to this game, and the referee sent is a world-class referee in England, Howard Webb, who has officiated in the 2010 South Africa World Cup final, from this point of view, this game must be very interesting.
Old Trafford was packed to the brim with more than 70,000 seats, with Robin van Persie and Patrice Evra flanking Howard Webb and Patrice Evra winning the kick-off for United.
The game officially began, Manchester United sat on the advantage of home field, launched a mercury-like attack on Arsenal at the beginning, Arsenal had no way to break the initiative of Manchester United at the beginning, and in the first ten minutes, Arsenal played very passively.
During the game, the fans on both sides were not idle, in addition to cheering for the players, the war between the fans was also endless, England fans, what are the famous points? With the exception of football hooligans, England fans are among the most enthusiastic about football in the world, and they also have a special talent – singing! There is no need for people to take the lead, and there is no need for fixed lyrics, it all depends on the performance of the players on the field, whether it is the opponent or their own people, they can always find words to sing, when the two sides are playing, the fans are also playing, of course, the fans' game is not who sings well, of course, it is the momentum and volume, who can overwhelm the other party, who is the winner, there is no doubt, the home is often the winner.
In this game, Manchester United fans occupy half of the country, more than 70,000 fans, about 50,000 to 60,000 Manchester United fans, Arsenal fans are only a few thousand, and some are neutral fans, most of the neutral fans are biased towards the home team, because they know that even if they go to help the away team fans, it is unlikely to overwhelm Manchester United fans in terms of volume and momentum, most of the neutral fans are here to watch a good game or make themselves howl, who would be stupid to do something that seems very difficult, They are not Arsenal fans.
In the fifteen minutes of the game, United had four corners, had four shots on goal, two on target and had already handed Theo Walcott a yellow card, so things were a bit rough in this game.
The little fat man Rooney advanced in the middle, after the ball was shoveled by Zhu Lu, he drove to the front court with a big foot, Leng Fei, Walcott and Van Persie immediately started chasing the ball, Leng Fei is the one closest to the ball, there is no doubt that Zhu Lu's pass is for Leng Fei, and he must use Leng Fei's speed to fight back.
Leng Fei started at full speed, and Evra also started at the same moment, Leng Fei hesitated a little to try to use the skill of "Chasing the Wind", but suddenly felt that using it at this time might not necessarily pose a threat to the goal, so he gave up this plan and chased after the ball.
Evra's speed is not slow, but Leng Fei's speed is even faster, before Evra, Leng Fei stopped the ball with his chest, and then controlled it at his feet, looked at Manchester United's defense, and had a chance to counterattack!
Suddenly, a figure came out from diagonally behind, Leng Fei should have been aware of this figure a long time ago, but when he hesitated to use the "Son of the Wind Chaser" before, Leng Fei actually forgot about this stubble, and Evra was still behind!
Evra didn't expect Leng Fei to slow down all of a sudden, it was too late for him to retract his feet, a flying shovel went straight to Leng Fei, and after hooking the ball, he kicked Leng Fei's calf!
"Ahh didn't have time to regret the hesitation just now, Leng Fei was kicked to the ground by Evra, and he couldn't control the ball anymore.
Webb's whistle sounded immediately and he rushed to the scene of the incident.
Evra stood up and looked at Leng Fei, who was lying on the ground holding his calf in pain: "Sir, I tackled the ball first, he suddenly slowed down, I didn't have time to react, sir!" ”
Webber was expressionless, took out a yellow card from his pocket, and lit it up in front of Evra, the scene just now, Webber was right behind him, and he saw it very clearly, Evra didn't mean to, but he did shovel down someone, and it seemed that Leng Fei was not lightly injured, a yellow card warning.
Arsenal didn't do it, Van Persie squatted beside the team doctor and Leng Fei for a while, and then rushed to Webb's side to theorize, Arsenal's players also surrounded Webb, this kind of bad foul, in their opinion, must be a red card.
Webb verbally warned the Arsenal players: "If you continue to question my decision, then I can also give you a yellow card. ”
Leng Fei was carried to the side for treatment, and the game on the field continued, Arsenal temporarily responded with ten men in the case of one less, and Wenger let Arshavin start to warm up and be ready to replace Leng Fei at any time for the sake of safety.
A few minutes later, the team doctor on the sidelines signaled Wenger to prepare for a substitution, Wenger frowned, the problem is not small, judging from a few games in the new season, Leng Fei can be said to be the best player in the Arsenal camp, the previous two games, Leng Fei contributed two goals and two assists, and it was not obvious that it was a player who had just joined the team.