Back on the pitch, Newcastle shed their coat of impetuousness, put aside the mood of gain and loss, and began to expand their defensive range to infinity - whoever is next to the ball is the defender.

In other words, the Magpies were on the court with a full-court press.

This is an extremely brutal attrition tactic, which not only requires the defender to have tenacious fighting spirit and endless physical strength, but also requires the attacker to put in more effort and running, because once you let up, you will be overwhelmed by the crowds of opponents, and eventually swallowed up to the bones.

This tactic usually appears on the basketball court, not in the green field, because the basketball court is just a small circle in the range of 28X15 meters, even if it is a continuous ten minutes or a little longer of the full court, the players can withstand it, but the football field is different, the football field is a huge field of 105X68 meters, in such a field area using the tactics of full court pressing, enough to run a living African elephant alive to death.

Therefore, there have been very few cases of full-court pressing on the football field, even if it is Barcelona's world-famous "high pressing" in the future, it is at most only intercepted on the parallel line of the opponent's back, and it will not easily extend to the opponent's back line - this is a sensitive area with the meaning of "life and death" for both sides.

But what the Magpies are really doing now is pressing all over the court, where the ball goes, where the people go.

In order to increase the number of steals in the front court, they even automatically adjusted the formation. The original 442 formation became 343, midfielder Milner and strikers Owen and Carroll appeared in front of Arsenal's backline together, pressing Arsenal's defenders closely, and central defender Huntington also mentioned the midfield, taking over the work of back Bart, and Bart, he went directly to Arsenal back Denilson, forcing the Brazilian to retreat again and again, almost retreating to a position parallel to Galla and others.

It's not a very complicated tactic, and it's not a very sensible tactic. It's like a warrior who has fallen into a desperate situation. Wielding the sword in his hand and preparing for a final blood-for-blood, tooth-for-tooth fight with the enemy, Newcastle's pressing can certainly put every Arsenal player in a high-pressure atmosphere, but as long as they break through. You can break the whole chain. Let the blockade of Newcastle completely collapse.

Are Arsenal lacking breakthrough masters? Of course not!

Whether it's Nasri on the left or Walcoat on the right. Even Van Persie and Eduardo up front are players with strong individual combat ability, and they are also seasoned players. The Newcastle people's desperate posture not only did not make them fearful, but aroused the blood in their hearts.

If you want to fight, I will fight!

Walket started his sprints again and again on the wing, although Solano dragged his 34-year-old "old" body to destroy his attack again and again, but the light in Walcott's eyes became brighter and brighter, because he saw that the opponent's speed was decreasing, his breath was getting thicker, and he became more and more confident every time he broke through, and he believed that as long as he increased his strength, and added more force, the opponent would collapse, and he would collapse soon.

Van Persie kept running from left to right and back to the middle from the right in the front, he didn't care how many people around him were trying to stop him, he only believed that these people couldn't be as tight as machines forever, they would definitely show a gap at some point, as long as he grabbed this gap, he would tear Newcastle's defence apart without mercy, tear a big hole, and then ravage them and beat them.

Nasri is constantly trying to break through the ball on the left side, he knows that the opponent is not familiar with him, the whole Premier League is not familiar with him, they don't know that he is not bad with his left foot, and his right foot is actually not bad, although he looks like a left-handed man now, but he can switch to the right side at any time to give the opponent a fatal blow.

At the beginning of the second half, the two sides ran on the pitch like joy, which made the situation on the field suddenly look better, and also made the climax of the fans come one after another.

The ball was still spinning around the Newcastle backline, but in the blink of an eye it was already hit to the edge of the Arsenal penalty area, Owen shot, blocked by the defender, Carroll then shot, was saved by the goalkeeper, Milner shot again, and then blocked by the defender, and when everyone was expecting the Newcastle players to continue shooting, the ball was once again driven across the half, and then Nasri scurried in, Cesc Fabregas cut in and Givan made a brilliant save.

In just ten minutes, the ball is like a bullet constantly shuttling in the half of the two sides, a few minutes of shooting, back and forth, the fans are frightened at the same time, but also shouted back the ticket price, the team pursues safety, but what fans like to watch is lively, such a high-frequency shooting game, not called lively what is called?

Of course, in such a lively atmosphere, it would be better if the team you supported could win.

Time passed quickly in the back-and-forth tug-of-war between the two sides, and as the Newcastle players felt their strength drain from their bodies and their voices looked like they were about to burst into flames, they were unable to achieve the goal they had set before coming on.

Arsene Wenger's defence did suffer from problems in the formation of the early season and Arsene Wenger's assumption that Woodgate chose Tottenham with a higher salary over Arsenal with a better future, but even so, the backline of Gala, Sania, Clichy and Silvestri is still frowned upon by most Premier League teams, and the reason why the media can lash out and criticize this backline in the newspapers is simply because they don't have to face it themselves - as long as they don't have to face it themselves. Anyone can talk nonsense about Haiti at will, and they don't want to be responsible anyway. The reference they use to compare with Arsenal's backline is Manchester United, Real Madrid. It's Milan, it's the big European giants, but it's definitely not Newcastle.

It's ridiculous that Newcastle's players believe the irresponsible reports in the media, thinking that Arsenal's backline is really like papier-mâché, and that if they poke hard, the film will break.

It was only at this time that they understood that Newcastle's current downfall, not to mention the "paper-paste" Arsenal backline, even if it was a defensive line made of plastic film, was not something they could stab through casually.

Newcastle, whose onslaught failed, began to lose confidence. Their players also began to gradually become unable to run on the field. Especially Solano on the left flank, in the face of Walcott's unreasonable breakthrough half his time, he gradually began to feel a little powerless.

In the 71st minute, the whole court pressed for nearly 26 minutes. Newcastle's united lockdown chain is finally cracking. Walcott broke through at high speed from the right. Solano tried to shovel the ball off the touchline, but his consciousness and his body had already shifted significantly, as he fell to the ground. Walcott had already swept past him like a whirlwind.

A link was breached and Newcastle had to make a change accordingly, with left-back Babayaro coming up and Rozenar moving across to protect his back, while Huntington was forced to drop back to open up space in the middle.

At this time, Walcott after more than a season of training, is no longer the stupid boy who only knows how to bury his head in the blind, the moment Newcastle showed their central door, his ball has been swept to the middle, there, Van Persie, who has been actively looking for opportunities, appeared in front of the ball in time.

Due to the flaws in Newcastle's near-man-to-man strategy, when Van Persie appeared in front of the penalty area, there was no Newcastle player in front of him, except for Huntington, who had lost his momentum.

Newcastle fans even let out a groan of pain from a striker like Robin van Persie in such a position, fearing that the team's door would be penetrated again, and Newcastle's performance once again gave them hope, but if that hope was shattered......

They couldn't imagine that Newcastle, who had been mired in defeat for many years, could rise from such a blow again, because the spirit of the team was not as good as it was when Shearer was still there, and there was an atmosphere of fragility and unease in the Newcastle squad, and any blow could bring the good momentum they had just gathered to an abrupt end.

Van Persie lifted his left foot, and the eyes of the world are focused on this left foot, which will determine the life and death of Newcastle, and it may affect not only one game, but also Newcastle's morale, and even the Magpies' morale and performance throughout the season.

But before Van Persie could push hard at the ball, a foot suddenly appeared between his left foot and the ball.

It's Owen!

No one saw when Owen was in this position, and no one knew why he ran from the front line to the backline, and the former boy who chased the wind did a good job of interpreting the word "chasing the wind", and he ran all the way to nearly 60 meters just to stop Van Persie's shot and prevent Newcastle from sliding further into the abyss of defeat.

He got his wish, his foot preemptively stabbed Van Persie into the ball, poking the ball out of Van Persie's control, but then Van Persie's instep was his ankle, and the whole audience heard Owen's scream, but he was the only one who heard it, and his ankle made a fragile cracking sound somewhere.

Newcastle fans were still reeling from the fact that the team had escaped, and the Newcastle players were thanking God for their survival, but they soon found that Owen had collapsed on the pitch and hugged his ankle again, like a wounded rabbit on the lawn, his face pale and his eyes full of tears.

It's not tears from pain, it's tears from heartache, as the saying goes, a long illness becomes a good doctor, and when Owen heard the moan of his ankle, he already understood what was happening, and his heart sank to the bottom in that moment.

He thought he was finally out of injury and could have a healthy season, but he was full of expectations for what the team has to go this season, as well as for his own performances, and he is eager to get back on the pitch, chase for glory and prove himself once again by returning to the national team with his performances at Newcastle.

But now, everything is ruined, his fragile ankle is ruined, his hopes for the season are ruined, and possibly even his career is ruined.

Tears unbridled down Irving's face and into the eyes of his teammates and his opponent, Van Persie.

Van Persie tried to reach for Owen up, but he smiled and shook his head with tears in his eyes, and he looked to the sidelines, where Newcastle's team doctor was hurrying over with a medicine box.

Owendo wanted to hear from the team doctor that he was fine, but he just stumbled his foot, but when he saw the team doctor's lost face and his constantly shaking head, his psychology collapsed in that moment, he buried his face deep in the turf of the court, he almost didn't want to face anyone anymore, all the pretended strength disappeared in an instant, he just wanted to cry now, and then hide alone in the dark and lick the wounds in his heart.

This is already his fifth major injury for Newcastle.

Always coming back, getting hurt, coming back and getting injured again, Owen has doubts about his body, what little confidence he has left is all tormented by the injury, he doubts if he still has the courage to get back up again, a transfer fee of 17 million pounds, 1,440 days of waiting, only 47 games, and 18 goals, that's all the stats he has handed over for Newcastle before this season.

He felt he owed a huge debt to the Newcastle fans.

But when Owen was lying on the stretcher, there was a faint singing voice suddenly from the court, which was so familiar and so unfamiliar, that Owen's whole body trembled

When you cross the wind and waves

Keep your head high

Don't be afraid of the dark

The wind and rain at that end

It's a golden sky

and the sweet singing of the larks

……

The sound was very faint at first, and only an occasional lyric or two could be heard in the noisy crowd, but gradually, as if by magic, he grew bigger and bigger, through the crowds, over the wide court, all the way to everyone's ears, to Owen's heart.

This is Liverpool's team song, "You Never Walk Alone".

Yes, this is a song that Owen used to be very familiar with, in 8 years, 2860 days in Liverpool, this song has always accompanied him to fight, accompanied him through growth, how can he forget?

But now at Arsenal's Emirates Stadium, in the Premier League match between Arsenal and Newcastle United, Owen heard Liverpool's team song, not singing alone, but everyone slowly singing along, whether it is Newcastle fans or Arsenal fans, they are silently blessing Owen with singing, moved by his fighting spirit, and sighing for his misfortune.

Of course, this does not mean that Newcastle and Arsenal fans are ready to defect to the Reds, but at this moment, they suddenly feel that this song is so appropriate, the former boy chasing the wind, the indomitable fighter, he did his best for the team, and then he fell again, fell on the battlefield, at this moment, what better way to express everyone's respect for him than the lyrics in this song?

Go down, go down

There is hope in my heart

You will never walk alone

……

Two lines of tears burst from Owen's eyes again, but this time, the tears were no longer bitter, they carried hope and brought light. (To be continued......)