Chapter 553: Soaring
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Without mentioning Manuel Pellegrini's sacking and West Ham United's change of manager, the focus has been on Arsenal, a team that has been in the spotlight of European football since switching to relentless attacking football. After all, when utilitarian football is still rampant all over the world, few people dare to use such bold tactics, and naturally it quickly attracts everyone's attention.
On the final weekend of November, the Gunners at the Liberty Stadium did not give Swansea side face, scoring three goals in the first half to seal an early victory. Even though he was a little relaxed and lost the net twice in the second half, he still managed to win 4-2, with French striker Moussa Dembele scoring his first hat-trick since landing in the British Isles and being named in the Premier League Team of the Year.
Five goals in two appearances in the last three league games have finally made the French fringe international take off the label of parallel goods, but the outside world still has reservations about his consistency and performance in strong conversations, and if Li Mudi wants to retain his reputation as a diamond eye in the transfer market, whether Arsenal's recruitment is worth the money will need to pass more time and the test of the game.
Time seems to be wearing the most advanced rocket booster, and people inadvertently rushed all the way to the last month of 2021, in order to complete the season's game tasks early and leave enough time for the winter break, the situation of two or even three games a week has become the most basic arrangement of the major leagues, although the club and the players are full of complaints, but they also have to barely hold on to various extreme conditions.
Because of the impact of excessive fatigue, the quality of most of the games has been seriously affected, and the excitement has dropped significantly, and even Manchester City, Grand Paris, which has absolute dominance in the country, have begun to use the most economical strategy, that is, as long as they get three points steadily, they will not pursue any additional spectacle. 、
For the emergence of this situation, most fans also give a full understanding, after all, in the case of such a dense schedule, it is impossible to demand too much, and the results will always be ranked above the exciting, which is the basic law of professional sports.
Only Arsenal can only focus on attacking football for the reasons mentioned earlier, which has become a special case in European football, which has made them suck a wave of fans around the world. The Kroenke family, owners of the club, were delighted with the result and began to approach Gines to offer a new contract to the manager, and although it is still in the early stages of negotiations, the attitude shown is still very positive.
After the news was leaked, the response from Gunners fans was also enthusiastic, and they all strongly agreed with the club's top management. Therefore, London's "Metro" also conducted a poll, among the 3,000 Arsenal supporters who participated in the event, more than 80 people believe that Li Mudi is the most indispensable member of the team, and more than 40% of them feel that this Celestial Empire is stronger and more suitable for the Gunners than Wenger, who has created the team's modern powerhouse status, and the club should keep him as much as possible to create a new dynasty together.
While the fickleness of the fans is well known, at least at this moment, Moody's popularity in Highbury has reached a new high, and last season's Premier League manager of the year has finally shaken off the title of successor to the professor and become the new idol of gunners around the world.
This moment did not happen after winning the Premier League and Europa League last season, but at the time of the team's historic football, and it has to be said that the idea of Arsenal fans seeking quality over results is really unique enough, and in this regard, perhaps only Real Madrid supporters can speak with them.
With the Champions League in the middle of the first two weeks of December, some experts have analysed and concluded that the Gunners may have to temporarily shift their focus to European competition due to the difficult situation in the group, their investment in the league will become extremely limited, and Li Mudi will also have to change the attacking tactics that he has been implementing until now, and move towards a more conservative mainstream style of play.
But the reality is not the same at all, first of all, when facing Olympiacos, the weakest opponent in the Champions League group, the Arsenal boss seems to have no idea that if he can't win this game, he will most likely declare that there is no hope of promotion in advance, and he sent a lot of rotation players in the starting lineup, which is very puzzling to the outside world.
However, the final score of 3-1 fully proves that Li Mudi is not so arranged, not because he does not attach importance to the Champions League, let alone look down on the Greek team, but has a clear understanding of the difference in strength between the two sides, and is even more confident about victory.
Back in the league, Arsenal did not disappoint the fans, beating Wolves by three goals at home to consolidate sixth place in the table. What's even more exciting is that Spanish centre-back Diego Llorente, who has been out injured for five months, replaced Mustafi in the 70th minute of the matchup, making his second official appearance for the team this season. When he was called up by the head coach for a warm-up exercise and followed the fourth official to the sidelines, there were two deafening applause and cheers in the Emirates Stadium, and everyone had waited too long for this moment to come.
Judging from the performance on the spot, Llorente's body recovered well, and several take-offs and sudden changes of direction were completed smoothly, at least on the surface, without leaving any shadow on his mind. But those who are familiar with the player can still feel that he is still doing the right amount of strength, and although he has been acclimatizing for about two weeks before this, his body is still sluggish and needs more time to recover the feeling of intense play.
However, fans will not always be sane, as the team will face a do-or-die battle at home to Lyon in the final round of the Champions League group stage, and only a victory will allow Arsenal to progress to the knockout rounds. So after this league, there has been a lot of calls from the outside world, hoping that the Spanish international can be included in the Champions League squad, and once the situation is not in favor of the Gunners, then the team's defensive core can come out in time to help stabilize the morale of the army.
But for the use of Llorente, Li Mudi obviously has his own plans. Instead of following the will, he sent his favorite player to the reserves, allowing him to continue to adjust by a slightly weaker level of training and intensity, and did not include the name of the Spaniard in the registration list for the next round of the league, much to the disappointment of countless expectant fans.
On 8 December, almost all UK fans who had time to watch the match tuned to Sky Sports' live broadcast of Arsenal's Champions League clash with Lyon, as Liverpool, another English side on the pitch today, had already decided to top the group in advance, and the final round was just a passing motion, so that everyone no longer had to be in a dilemma and could concentrate on cheering on the Gunners.
Last weekend, the Ligue 1 side failed to take all three points against Atletico Madrid, barely holding on to a draw, and while seeing their opponents lock in early qualification, they also made their advantage over the chasers behind them a point from the previous three points. With 2 wins, 2 draws and 1 loss, Lyon must achieve the goal of not losing at the Emirates Stadium, otherwise they will be overtaken by the Gunners with 1 win and 4 draws and be kicked into the Europa League.
Therefore, the visiting coach and former Parma and Inter Milan in his playing days, Lamouci still put on a 4-2-3-1 defensive formation, and the lone striker is the French teenager Ae Guiiri, who is not yet 22 years old.
As one of the well-known black shops in world football, Lyon also has a youth academy that is extremely enviable to outsiders, especially the excellent forward players, from which Govu, Benzema, Lacazette, Martial and other local super goalscorers have been born, and after Mbappe, William Gobels (Ille Ubbels), who is known as the next superstar billet in world football, is the work of this French powerhouse nicknamed the Lions of Gerland, but unfortunately it was poached by Monaco in advance, Otherwise, it may set a record for the transfer of young players.
However, with the presence of a more physical, older and slightly more mature Guiri, supporters are not worried about the team's attacking ability, and the youngster, born in February 2000, has only recently acquired the main striker position this season, but has established himself in the first team in the previous two or three years, often attacking Lyon as a substitute or even in rotation.
Last season, he managed to score a goal every 112 minutes despite playing very fragmented minutes, earning the trust of the manager and successfully moving into the position. Since the start of this season, he has scored a total of 14 goals in all competitions, almost sealed the title of best newcomer in Ligue 1 ahead of schedule, and has become a big star in the transfer market, including Grand Paris and Bayern Munich Munich have joined the ranks of the competition for the youngster.
As early as after Lacazette was reimbursed for the season and before trying to bring in Moussa Dembele, Li Mudi had the idea of acquiring Guiri, but unfortunately missed the future star for the time being due to Lyon's high asking price and Arsenal's urgent need for more reliable immediacy. You must know that when there were media reports that the Gunners were interested in buying him, Gouiri made a good confession to the Arsenal manager, and few youngsters could resist the temptation to switch to the other side as the number one mentor of the latter's young players.
This direct clash between the two teams naturally became a great opportunity for Gouri to prove his strength to his idol. In the first round of the meeting between the two sides, the French youngster, who was unable to exert his full energy due to tactical constraints, finally showed his signature front flip celebration today, he took advantage of the home team's strong pressure and some emptiness at the back, after receiving a sharp long-distance through ball from his teammate, with the advantage of speed and agility to cross Holding's interception, and then dribbled past Leno, who abandoned the goal, and easily pushed the ball into the huge empty goal.
In the 11th minute of the game, Arsenal, who had their backs to the water, suffered a heavy blow, which made everyone who hoped that they could complete the counterattack couldn't help but sweat for it.
Fortunately, the Premier League giants have gained a boost in self-confidence after winning two major titles in a row last season, and this season has experienced the toughest wave of injuries in the team's history, which has trained the players' willpower, and the more difficult the situation, the more they can reflect the essence of a strong team. They quickly ignored the negative impact of conceding a goal and continued to storm the Lyon defence as the manager had planned before the game.
The visitors, on the other hand, were unable to maintain their commitment on the counter-attack after winning the first blow, as the threat to the goal increased, and there was no other energy to use to contain the three lines of the Gunners' forward press. On top of that, Lyon boss Lamouche also seemed to think that a one-goal lead was enough, so he took the initiative to let the wingers on either side drop back a lot to help the defence, so that Arsenal's two wing-backs could confidently and boldly insert assists.
Although the score of 0-1 remained for a long time under the stubborn resistance of the French team, they were still not capable enough to complete the Gunners' powerful attack, and Belasino's low shot just before half-time brought the two sides back on the same page.
In the fifteen minutes of the break, Lamouci also failed to make full use of it, and the visitors' style of play after the rematch from another place barely changed, and the counter-attack of the bucket formation with long balls at the back could not cause any problems for the Gunners' defence, which was already full of energy.
It wasn't until the 74th minute that Torreira's long-range shot hit the thigh of Lyon defender Diacabi and deflected into the net, and Arsenal reversed the score and the situation of qualification, that the Ligue 1 powerhouse woke up like a dream and replaced two attackers in succession, trying to strengthen the attack.
It's a pity that it was too late, the previous long time of all-out defense consumed too much physical energy of the players, and Li Mudi did not follow the normal routine to change to counterattack after the lead, so in the short attack, the home team that was in better shape in all aspects took the lead in seizing the opportunity, and Golovin completed a goalmouth shot, rewriting the score to 3-1, completely locking the win.
Seeing that the general trend was gone, Lamouche had no choice but to sacrifice a crazy attack strategy in the last time, but because of the influence of physical strength and mentality, he seemed to be disorganized, and finally had no choice but to hate London.
With consecutive wins in the last two games of the group stage, Arsenal won 2 wins and 4 draws to qualify for the knockout stage of the Champions League, which can be regarded as the end of the extremely poor luck in the first half of the season.