Chapter 56: A Critical Blow
As the game went on, Arsenal had a clear upper hand on the pitch, as evidenced by the enduring loud cheers over Highbury Stadium. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info
Of course, this is not to say that United are completely passive. However, in terms of attacking threat, penetration and the number of effective attacks, Arsenal, who have home advantage, still have a clear advantage. In the tsunami-like cheers of the Arsenal fans at the scene, the Arsenal players who were already full of morale before the game were full of confidence and launched wave after wave of sharp attacks on Manchester United's defense.
In the 10th minute of the first half, they made a comeback again. Shortly after Lee Lei saved Thierry Henry's shot, Arsenal quickly regained possession with a hard press and once again organised a dangerous attack.
In this attack, it is no longer Henry's alone that shines, but the stage of typical Arsenal-style small-scale fast and delicate coordination.
At this time, Arsenal's left-back Ashley Cole also assisted, forming a small three-man attacking group with Thierry Henry and Pire's on the left front, which immediately put huge pressure on United's right side defence.
Although even Cristiano Ronaldo has retreated at this moment to help Gary Neville defend, defense is not his strong point after all, and Manchester United's defensive strength on the right side is obviously a little insufficient in the face of such a cluster of superior attacking power.
In Ferguson's pre-match arrangement, one of Keane or Philneville should have come to help defend at this time, but at this time, the attention of these two was attracted by Bergkamp and Ljungberg, who stepped forward to the middle, and there was no more energy left to help defend here.
Facing the defense of Cristiano Ronaldo, Gary Neville and Rio Ferdinand, who followed Henry out of the box, Henry played a delicate and quick pass in a small area. The continuous and chaotic changes between each other completely exposed the flaws of Ronaldo, who was weaker in defense and physical confrontation.
With a delicate back-heel pass from Henry, Ashley Cole immediately accelerated forward with all his might, and instantly shook off Ronaldo, who was a step slower to react. Subsequently, although Ronaldo had the heart to follow up with all his might, his young and thin body obviously could not cause obvious problems for Ashley Cole, who has become England's first left-back.
After withstanding Ronaldo's first impact behind him, Ashley Cole, who has excellent speed ability, has already sprinted forward with all his strength and cut into the penalty area strongly.
For a while, Manchester United's penalty area once again sounded the defensive alarm. As the last defensive pass, Li Lei has already played the spirit of 120,000 points when Henry passes, and reads all the players in Arsenal who can pose a threat to Manchester United's door in the frontcourt.
Predicting danger in advance and interpreting offense is what Richard and others repeatedly told him during pre-game training.
The purpose of this is not only to stand in a defensive position in advance and get a better view of the field of vision, in order to get a better save effect, but also to make Li Lei make more plans in his heart, do the so-called first plan, second plan, in order to deal with any offensive player who may complete the final shot.
And this is where a goalkeeper's ball quotient is most tested, and this is where the final and most important psychological game between him and the attacking side lies.
Richard once told Li Lei that a successful save did not start when the opposing player shoots, but at the beginning of the attack.
Because saving is not the most important thing in a successful defense, because in the game, the attacking side will often use the cooperation to disrupt the goalkeeper's saving rhythm, create unfair goalmouth duels, or even not give the goalkeeper a chance to save at all. On the pitch, that's how most goals come about.
Shots or world waves that make any goalkeeper helpless are not often seen on the real field. And like some unexpected line changes and refractions, it belongs to the category of unsolvable.
So, in this way, the job of a goalkeeper in a real game is very simple, to interpret the attack, to minimise the impact of the attacking players working together, and to make saves.
Of course, this is also said to be simple, but it is extremely difficult to do.
After all, in defense, goalkeepers are the passive side no matter how you look at it. When the opposing player shoots, who shoots and where he shoots, these are not things he can control.
With the deepening of daily training, Li Lei feels more and more that the main reason why the goalkeeper position is difficult to play is precisely for this reason. His super dynamic vision may be able to play a role in this process, but it is also very limited.
After all, no matter how good his dynamic vision is, it still belongs to the scope of human beings, and it is impossible to really do everything on the electric and flint playing field.
In this regard, no matter what talent is, it is the concentration, ball quotient and experience that are the most important. But it is precisely that what Li Lei lacks at the moment is experience.
Still, he wasn't discouraged. In the face of difficulties, giving up without doing it is not his style. At this moment, his mind was already fully operational.
At this time, although most of his attention was on Ashley Cole, who had already cut diagonally into the box with the ball, and although the shooting angle was a little small at this time, he could actually shoot directly at the goal, but he did not completely ignore Henry, Bergkamp and Ljungberg, who had already swarmed into the box, and even Vieira and Pire on the edge of the penalty area.
Of course, as a normal person, he couldn't notice so many people in an instant. All he could do was sort them according to their direct threat to the door behind him, and then pay extra attention to the most threatening ones.
As for the others, he just kept a bottom in his heart. Lest he wait until it is really one of these people to make the final shot, he himself will not have any mental preparation.
Now, the limit of what he can do is to focus on Ashley Cole while still barely taking care of the three most threatening men, Henry, Ljungberg, and Pire. He didn't know if this ability could be further strengthened as his strength and experience grew in the future, anyway, this was already the limit of what he could do now.
Arsenal's No.3 (Ashley Cole) can shoot directly at goal, but the angle of the shot is too small, the threat is too small, and the pass is more likely.
Arsenal's No.14 (Thierry Henry) on the left edge of the penalty area is an easy passer, but Leo is the third most dangerous with him on his side.
Arsenal's No.8 (Ljungberg) has run to the edge of the six-yard box. According to the data, the ability to grab points and shoot in front of the goal is excellent, and the threat is second.
Arsenal's No.7 (Pire) was just outside the penalty area, but there were no defenders around him, and the Portuguese little white face was completely shaken off. And the long-range shooting ability is outstanding, it is a very easy to pass the ball, and the threat is the first.
At least in his head, Li Lei had already thought about everything, and he had also prepared a possible passing plan for Ashley Cole. As for whether it can be effective and successful in the end, he feels that this is already a matter for God to decide.
By this point, he was at the near post, firmly attached to the post, and didn't give Ashley Cole any angle to shoot at the near post. At the same time, spread out two long arms to do your best to make the save. And he was also half-squatting, with his two long legs adducted inward, and his knees touching each other to avoid being hit by Ashley Cole.
His eyes were glued to Ashley Cole and the soccer ball at his feet, and his body was fully prepared to make a save. At the same time, Ashley Cole was ready to pass the ball, and the muscles in his legs were already tense at this point, ready for any eventuality.
In the end, he was right. With such a small angle of the shot and Gary Neville already chasing into place at full speed, Ashley Cole's choice to shoot was not destroyed by Gary Neville's sliding tackle on the ground, but also easily saved by Li Lei, who was fully prepared.
Unless it's a world wave, the chances of a direct goal are too slim.
Considering this situation, Ashley Cole did not come with a hot head, but wisely knocked the football back to the feet of Pire, who was moving towards the middle of the box at the moment. At this time, the Frenchman not only did not have players around him to defend closely, but also had a good shooting angle, which made him the ideal candidate for passing.
It can only be said that this time Li Lei's luck was very good, Ashley Cole did not make a surprise move, but made a judgment and choice that was consistent with his thoughts.
After Ashley Cole passed the football to Pire, the Arsenal fans in the stands at Highbury Stadium instantly burst into cheers of anticipation, and at this time, Li Lei quickly moved his body and turned around and ran towards the middle of the goal.
While running, he also focused his attention firmly on Pire, who was about to receive the ball, ready to brake at any time, for fear that Pire would sly hit him in the opposite direction and catch him off guard.
But it was clear that Pire, after receiving the ball, still chose the direction of the shot in the far corner. In the near corner, Rio Ferdinand and Gary Neville, who had already blocked his way, blocked some of his shots and made a safer choice.
After receiving the ball, Pire didn't make any more adjustments, and before Keane's downed block arrived, he swung his right leg directly and used the inside instep to spin the ball in a perfect internal arc, flying directly into the top corner of the far post.
Seeing that Pire had already completed the shooting action, Li Lei had no worries at this moment. My mind was blank for a moment, and I only had a football in my eyes that flew over as fast as a meteor, and after taking two big steps, I kicked my left foot directly, and the whole person was fully provoked in the air, and stretched out unreservedly, and the long left arm tried its best to rush towards the trajectory of the football flight.
At this moment, Li Lei's extremely strong talent in saving was undoubtedly revealed again.
His tall body and long arms give him an advantage when facing such high-altitude balls. His explosive power allowed him to instantly switch back from the near post to the far post, and he could jump high without worrying about jumping high, allowing the ball to pass over his palm and eventually fly into the goal.
At the same time, his superior dynamic vision allows him to clearly grasp the trajectory of the football in the air.
With the right Arsenal attacking plan, all of this gave him the confidence to face any shot that could be saved, including Pire's shot.
Although Pire's shot was of good quality, with good power, angle and arc, at least for Li Lei, it was not within the range of impossible save.
Although the process of this is thrilling, whether it is the Arsenal fans, or Wenger and Ferguson on the sidelines, they are sweating, but Li Lei, as the actual save, is full of confidence, and he knows very well that the ball is definitely not running.
Sure enough, in the end, the football still did not escape Li Lei's big palm, and after being flicked by the three longest fingers of his left hand, he flew directly out of the bottom line with a neat sigh of regret from tens of thousands of Arsenal fans.
It was a brilliant process for Arsenal, but the result was a disappointing attack.
For Manchester United, this is a very threatening attack that can ring the alarm bell of the defensive line, and if this attack comes a few times, Li Lei will not be able to save them, and he will concede a goal.
But for Li Lei, it was not just a successful and wonderful save, but a key that opened the door to a new world for him.
From this save, he was finally convinced that he could make a difference in the regular game, that all the sweat in the past had not been in vain, and that he had made a difference in the goalkeeper position.
This is a huge boost to his confidence in the goalkeeper position.
The result excites him, makes his blood boil, and makes him have the leisure to go to the trouble of the Arsenal fans again.
Excited, he quickly got up from the pitch, and immediately caught his eye on the Arsenal fans behind the gate, covering their heads and regretting their eyes.
Interested, he couldn't help but raise his index finger at them, and then swayed back and forth quickly and sharply.
At the same time, his mind shook sharply back and forth from side to side.
The corners of his mouth also twitched slightly at this moment, skimming out a most disdainful angle.
With such a demeanor and movements, the meaning expressed could not be more obvious.
You can't!
Your team can't do it!!
I just can't score a goal!!
Then, the response of Arsenal fans to this is naturally taken for granted.
Deafening scolding, piercing boos, insulting gestures with middle fingers...
But that's what Li Lei wants. Or rather, Li Lei just wanted to see their expressions and behaviors that were extremely angry and anxious, but helpless.
So when he saw this, he immediately changed the disdainful smile on the corner of his mouth a little more with satisfaction.
Then, he turned his head and looked inside the stadium. Because at this time, the Arsenal fans are not the primary target in his heart, the tall black figure is.
The game is just beginning!
The corners of Li Lei's mouth couldn't help but bring a cold sneer.
Laughing like crazy!
Chilling laughter!!