Chapter 552: The Gunman Who Opened the Hang
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Of course, this plug-in is not a panacea, and it can't change the injury situation that has become a fact. For example, Diego Llorente, who is now most hopeful of returning to the war, will not be downgraded from a torn ligament in his knee, but will only speed up his recovery from the effect of the medal.
However, this will already play a very big role, and the Spanish centre-back, who was expected to recover as soon as early December, is expected to be back in full force by mid-November. Although it is inevitable that his competitive form will be affected by the injury for too long, the adjustment of the next month and the winter break will allow him to play the role of the core of his defence, at least in the second half of the season, which is enough to excite Arsenal.
After the league with Fulham, the time entered November 2021, perhaps due to too much interference in human social life, the temperature in the second half of this year was a little abnormal, colder than the same period in history, as if it had entered winter in advance.
For example, on November 3, the temperature in London at 5:30 p.m. was only 4 degrees Celsius, accompanied by a cold wind that could cut people's faces, so that people who watched the game at Loftus Road Stadium experienced the difficulty of enjoying the football feast.
It's a Carabao Cup quarter-final game with Queens Park Rangers hosting Arsenal and it's a veritable London derby as both teams are based in the English capital.
It's just that in contrast to the ecstasy of the home team's supporters after the draw was announced two weeks ago, the atmosphere among the fans is now the complete opposite. It was thought that the Gunners would not pay much attention to the Carabao Cup due to the serious shortage of personnel in the squad, which left Queens Park Rangers in the Championship with an opportunity to upset and advance.
But who knew that in less than half a month, Arsenal's injury situation has been greatly alleviated, and the return of Wilshere, Golovin and Belasino has finally made their rotation in the midfield no longer stretched. Although the defensive line is still incomplete for the time being, and the defensive ability is still relatively weak, at least the strength of the offensive side is already the first-class level in Europe, which is really not good news for the other teams that will play against them, especially the team that is not as strong as the defending Premier League champions overall.
It doesn't take any professionals to analyze, ordinary football lovers can see that Li Mudi will focus on offensive tactics for a period of time in the future, and the strategy of attacking instead of defending will greatly enhance the enjoyment of the game, but at the same time, it may also create a tragedy with a big score and embarrass the weaker side. Clearly, the Queens Park Rangers were the first to be the unfortunate ones.
At the end of the 90 minutes, the score was 6-1 on a large electronic display in the stadium at Loftus Road, and while the Gunners fans and neutrals watching the game via live feeds were happy with the result, the faces of the home team's supporters were left with nothing but deep pain and despair.
Although because of the strength and level of the opponent, the outside world still has reservations about the gold content of the Gunners' big victory, but it cannot be denied that after the injury situation has improved, one of the Premier League big6 has finally shown signs of getting back on track, and the return of the defending champions will further increase the intensity of competition in the league, which is naturally a great thing for the entire league.
So this following weekend, most of the country's qualified media sent on-site reporters to the central part of England, hoping to get a closer look at the highlight of this round of the Premier League, and even to interview the Gunners who seem to have come out of the predicament and the Celestial Empire who seems to have come to Jitai.
As a result, in the two press conferences before and after the game, they did not succeed in getting more information about Arsenal from the mouths of Li Mudi and others, and even the entire football circle was concerned about the injury situation of this team and the answer to why there was a big reversal.
Fortunately, the excitement of this game was enough to attract everyone's attention, otherwise these well-known media really don't know how to deal with the vast number of melon-eating people's desire to explore Arsenal.
In this direct dialogue between the Fox and the Gunners, both sides completely liberated their offensive capabilities, as if they didn't know what defense was, so that the rhythm of the whole game was like playing table tennis.
Although the pride of the home team, Jamie Vardy, is 34 years old and can no longer dominate the main position, but Nigerian centre-forward Iheanacho has grown rapidly in the last two years, although the potential is not yet to reach the level of the world's top scorer, but just looking at the nose to seize opportunities and the ability to take a kick, the former Manchester City hopeful can still establish himself in the Premier League.
This, flanked by winger Algeria international Algeria international Ghazal and homegrown star Demaré Gray, has made it difficult for Mustafi and Benatia, who are already in the final stages of their careers.
If there had been two wing-backs in the past, perhaps Arsenal's defence would not have been so awkward. But Li Mudi obviously thinks that this defense in the absence of many cores, no matter how strong it is, it is difficult to achieve the desired effect, it is better to invest energy on the offensive side of the cost-effective, as long as you can score one more goal than the opponent, you can get three points, and this is what the team needs most at the moment.
In order to avoid the advantage of Leicester City's defense Harry Maguire, although the Gunners coach sent Chuma and Bellasino today, a high-level and fast two-striker formation, the Spanish center forward actually plays more of a restraining role, and the visiting team's attack is still mainly based on fast and flexible ground coordination, which gives Balko and other small players the advantage of their agility and excellent foot skills, which poses a great threat to the home team's slightly cumbersome backline.
Seeing this, Moyes immediately gave up on the defensive counter-attack strategy he had developed before the game, because he was worried that his defenders would be suddenly sifted into a sieve by the opposing players, so he could only choose to accept Li Mudi's challenge: attacking and attacking.
As a result, after a hearty battle, both sides scored three goals each, and neither of them was able to convince their opponents within 90 minutes, providing a wonderful feast of goals for the fans.
Arsenal's instant record in the Premier League this season has changed to 5 wins, 5 draws and 4 defeats, and they have been pulled down by Manchester City at the top of the table by a full 20 points, which is more than six wins, which basically declares that they have no hope of defending their title by the first third of the time in the schedule.
However, this did not deter the team from standing in the hearts of fans around the world, as the Gunners maintained a frenzied attacking strategy in the following weeks, which made the games they participated in very good-looking, and naturally won the hearts of many neutral fans.
On November 10, Arsenal ushered in the crucial fourth round of the Champions League group stage, at home against one of the favourites, Atletico Madrid. In the face of Atletico Madrid, whose defensive ability is the top in the entire world football, Li Mudi still did not make any changes to the strategy of attacking and defending lightly, even in the unfavorable situation of conceding a goal soon after the start of the first half, there was no intention of recycling.
Fortunately, the final result was acceptable, a 2-2 draw helped the team to finish third in the group with a four-game draw after four games, three points away from Lyon in front of them, and as long as Simeone does not release in the next round, then the favourites only need a two-game winning streak to squeeze the French team out of the knockout rounds.
It is worth mentioning that the two goals scored by the Sheets were the fewest goals scored in a single game by Arsenal in more than 40 days from early November to mid-December, and this terrifying attack was enough to deter some teams who wanted to take advantage of them.
With the next 10 days of international break set to us, all Premier League fixtures were suspended, and the Gunners took the opportunity to get extra time to adjust, with two injured players returning to give them a boost.
After the return of the league on Sunday 21, the Gunners welcomed Burnley, who are fourth from the bottom of the league standings, at home Burnley, who has also had a poor record since the start of the season, and has been deep in the relegation circle, but with 1 win and 1 draw in the last two rounds, he has barely climbed to the edge of the cliff, but he may be pulled back into the abyss by the team behind him at any time.
Facing Arsenal far beyond him at home, Burnley's homegrown boss Danny Cowley naturally has no unrealistic ideas, and using the bucket formation to force a 0-0 game is the only thought he has in leading the team to London City. He did not hesitate to set up a 5-4-1 formation, and the defensive and aggressive New Zealand international Chris Wood played as the lone striker, so he did not hesitate to put the team's number one centre-forward Coolum Wilson on the bench.
However, this defensive strategy was lost early in the game, and in the case of a difficult positional battle, the home team broke the deadlock in the score in the 17th minute by homegrown central defender Holding through a corner kick, and the assist for him was Ballo, who had almost all the team's set-piece penalty rights.
The Argentine prodigy has been widely regarded as another free-kick master in the Premier League today, following Iceland's Sigurdsson, Lewis Becker, who was born in the Chelsea Academy and is now the heart of Southampton's midfield, and Brazilian midfielder Andreas Pereira, who has gradually lost his place under Paul Scholes this season, has used his god-like right foot to contribute two direct free-kick goals and seven assists to the team this season, and is Arsenal's most important weapon against the opponent's dense defense. It is also the current favorite of Gunners fans, and he has won the club's Player of the Month award three times in a row this season.
This time, it was Balko who sent a corner from the right to the head of Holding with precision, allowing him to swing his head under the pressure of the opposing centre-back, and the credit for the goal should be shared equally between the two men.
Despite conceding the first goal, Burnley's tactics did not change before the start of the second half, and Danny Cowley clearly knew that once he commanded the team to step up the attack, then Arsenal's front-line players would be as full of fire as a freed monkey, and it would be difficult to resist the current defensive strength of the visitors alone. So in order to leave a possibility for a possible equalizer later, he still chose to continue to put the bus down.
Seeing that the opponent's defense was still solid, he ordered the home team players to play a pass-and-control tactic, taking this opportunity to let several players who had recently returned from injury find a tacit understanding with their teammates and prepare for the next game.
However, the balance of the game was broken in the 53rd minute, when Golovin's long-range shot helped the Gunners to widen the difference by two goals, which made the fans happy to see such a wonderful scene, and forced Burnley to step up their attacking investment. After the visitors were replaced by Coventry Academy-educated and fast England striker Callum Wilson, the two sides quickly went heading out.
However, the end result was not satisfactory to the Burnleys, and in Arsenal's best pace, Danny Cowley's side clearly could not compete with their opponents, especially since the match was played at the Emirates Stadium, and the frenzied support of more than 50,000 gun fans was more than just loud noise.
4-0, Li Mudi barely made any decent command on the sidelines, and the home team won the opponent in this round of the league without blood, kicking Burnley back to the relegation zone. The 23 points of 6 wins, 5 draws and 4 losses also made Arsenal return to the European League place area after 15 rounds, although it only beat Leicester City on goal difference, but this is enough to sweep up and down the club that has been hit repeatedly since the beginning of the season.
And considering the current point difference with several other teams in the Champions League except Manchester City, as well as the strong rebound of the team's results after the signs of injury on their side continue to improve, there is reason to believe that even if the Gunners have been unable to complete the feat of defending the Premier League title, they still have the strength to attack the top four in the league or even the runner-up qualification, and Liverpool, Tottenham and other teams are in trouble.
No, when the League Cup quarter-finals on November 24 were over, the outside world finally felt how terrible Arsenal was when the squad was aligned.
The Gunners faced a strong West Ham United away from home, which was supposed to be a fierce battle, but the visitors used a hearty attack to break down the Hammers' decent defence, and the 5-1 score made the 66,000-seat London Olympic Stadium a battlefield for the home team's fans to resolutely resist Pellegrini.