Chapter 106: Fate is in your own hands
While the commentators on the field chattered over the microphone about Everton's "great" reversal, Arsene Wenger in the dugout was stunned at the moment.
He couldn't imagine that his team had the complete upper hand on the field, why did it suddenly become like this, whether it was in terms of possession, shots, invasions of the penalty area, or even the number of corners, his team was far higher than Everton, and it was still in a good situation of leading by two goals, why did it suddenly change suddenly?
Seeing the players at a loss on the pitch, Wenger also felt helpless for a while, he did not think that he was wrong to bring Cesc Fabregas forward, it is clear that it is because of the blockade of the small law that Arteta is unable to play to his passing advantage as he wants, and from this point of view, Wenger insists that his countermeasures are completely correct.
But why did the situation suddenly become so erosive?
Wenger will not understand, maybe he will never understand, he is unconsciously moving closer to Barcelona, the defeat of the Champions League final made him too impressed, from the back line was completely blocked, even the ball across the half of the court is difficult, in Wenger's view, this is the great effect of moving the defensive center of gravity forward, he is bent on breaking free from the shadow of this defeat, the best way, of course, is to learn from Barcelona, the combination of passing and pressing, Squeeze the whole team into a tight group.
However, the more this happens, the more Wenger overlooks the position of the midfielder. As the last barrier in front of the back line, the responsibility of the back is not only to connect the transition between attack and defense, in the past few decades or even hundreds of years, the back has been regarded as the sweeper in front of the team's defense, in fact, their most important function is to intercept, not to organize.
Of course, the success of Pirlo, Alonso and others has greatly promoted the concept of the "organizational core" retreat. The lower back position has also changed from a "cleaner" to a "metronome" in one fell swoop. This has caused a storm of tactical innovation throughout the football world, but whether it is Andrea Pirlo's Carlo Ancelotti or Benitez who has transformed Alonso, they will never put four or five purely technical players in midfield, and Milan have Gattuso and Ambrosini in their squad. Liverpool also have meat grinders like Sissoko and Mascherano in their squad. Even Barcelona, where Arsene Wenger is emulating and learning from. There is also no shortage of Keita and Yaya in the team. Toure is a defensive stalwart who does the dirty work and takes on the shoulders, but Wenger only sees the huge effect of their core behind the back, but he does not see that there is also a huge risk in this.
Arsene Wenger put Cesc Fabregas in the midfield position. It is indeed to avoid the contradiction between him and Descartes competing for the ball in the front court, and at the same time give full play to the advantages of Xiaofa's organization and scheduling, but at the same time, the assistant he equipped Xiaofa with is neither a butcher like Gattuso, nor an iron gate like Mascherano, but Denilson, who is as heavy as Xiaofa and light on defense, if he does not transfer Xiaofa away, Arsenal may be able to build a barrier in front of the back line with the advantage of numbers, but when Xiaofa leaves the position of the back to the front, Denilson was completely exposed to the opposing attacking players, and with the Brazilian's defensive ability and attitude, he simply could not afford to shield the entire midfield defence.
It's like when Real Madrid lost Claude Makelele, the position of midfielder, when the team is going well, you hardly notice his presence, but when the team is in trouble, you suddenly realize his importance.
It's a pity that Wenger has plunged into the obsession of technical football at this time, he saw Barcelona's flow, but did not recognize the gap between Arsenal and Barcelona, he was touted by the media Milan's "four 10 good midfielders" bewitched, forgetting that under Ancelotti, these four 10 midfielders have always had a Gattuso next to him to escort, as a result, he successfully pieced together four decent technical midfielders, but has completely broken the overall offensive and defensive balance of Arsenal.
Fellaini's assists and goals are not so much a shining display of his individual ability, but Wenger paying the price for his tactical philosophy, even if it is not Fellaini in the Everton team, Arsenal could have suffered such a situation if they were replaced by any player with a certain height and good ferry ability.
This was the case with Barcelona, Arsene Wenger thought that what his team lacked was players with the ability to play the ball, and when Descartes and Cesc Fabregas were completely blocked, they simply couldn't give the ball to strikers such as Walcott and Van Persie, but in fact, he didn't notice that Arsenal's real problem was the loss of momentum in midfield, if Arsenal had a player with excellent interception ability, although it may not be able to save the situation, but it would never be as bad as that game, at least, can make Messi and Xiaobai and others dare not break through in the midfield unscrupulously, bringing waves of huge threats to the Arsenal defense.
In fact, if the opponent of that game is replaced by Arsenal's enemy Everton today, Barcelona may not have such a big advantage on the field, just with the height of Fellaini and Ruo, Barcelona will not dare to press the back line as a whole, and Everton midfield is not lacking in meat grinders, Barcelona's players dare to break through wantonly in the front, waiting for them will not be gentle coffee, but flying flesh and blood.
Three counter-attacks, three goals, in most people's eyes is a sign of good luck to burst, even Wenger mistook it for so, so he didn't think of making any adjustments at all, and at this point in the game, what's the point of talking about adjusting the defense?
With a big wave of Wenger's hand, Bendtner appeared in the warm-up area.
Who should be replaced? Wenger hesitated, it stands to reason that Descartes has been on the pitch for nearly 90 minutes at this time, and in the whole season, in the full three years of Arsenal, Descartes has only played more than 90 minutes in two games, and his fitness has always been a problem, Wenger should have replaced him without hesitation, but Wenger is now hesitant to equalize or overtake the score. Stacking strikers is the fastest and most straightforward way, and Mourinho does it every time he bets, so if Bendtner is used to replace Descartes, then what's the point of this substitution?
Eight minutes may not be a time of utter despair, but Arsene Wenger is skeptical that Bendtner has the ability to change the tide of battle in just eight minutes, and the man he trusts most now is Descartes, who has just turned 20.
So Wenger finally made up his mind, and Bendtner came on to replace Nasri, who was deep in Everton's muscle forest. The team changed to 433. Although it is a not-so-standard 433, Wenger's desperate determination has been revealed.
"This is Arsene Wenger's last redemption!" The commentators on the sidelines spat excitedly: "Wenger finally got the man once, he made a Mourinho-style decision!" In the final eight minutes of the game, he switched to a third striker. The clarion call for Arsenal to fight back has been sounded. In the end, they became the second Sanya king in history. Or break this embarrassing fate and achieve a peerless classic that is reversed and reversed? In the last 8 minutes, let's witness together! ”
After Bendtner came on the field. As a matter of course, he went to the position of center forward, his height of 1.93 meters, he should have been born to do this.
But unexpectedly, Descartes stopped halfway through and pointed to the right side of the Everton penalty area: "You go play the right winger, I'll play in the middle." ”
Bendtner was stunned for a moment, and asked with some confusion, "Are you sure?" But that's not how the boss arranged it......"
"I'm sure." Descartes interrupted him with a nodding and insisted, "Let me go a little further from the goal, and leave it to my boss or anyone else." ”
Bendtner shook his head silently, Descartes is the team's next first captain, of course Bendtner will not touch his moldy head, since he said so, then admit it himself. So he shrugged his shoulders and stepped into the right winger's position.
"Oh my God, what do I see? Bendtner, it's Bendtner, he stands in the right winger position, is Arsenal ready to let Descartes, who is only 175 cm tall, play as a center forward? It's crazy, it's crazy, what the hell was Wenger thinking, how could he have made such an arrangement? The commentators on the sidelines began his chatter again, and he was obviously very incomprehensible this time, asking Bendtner, who is 1.93 meters tall, to play as a right winger, while Descartes, who was "only" 1.75 meters, stood in the center forward position, is Wenger redeeming Arsenal, or is he joking with the fans?
In fact, at this time, Wenger also showed a shocked expression, he sent Bendtner, the original intention was that he had nothing to do with Everton's iron bucket formation, and was ready to use the "unique" move of long passing, but he didn't expect Descartes to change his decision on the field and let Bendtner play right winger? This is simply unthinkable for Wenger!
When Nasri was replaced, Arsenal's midfielder had actually automatically changed formation, Cesc Fabregas once again returned to the midfielder position, Walcott came to the middle, and became the person who replaced Xiaofa to "take care" of Arteta. But in this way, Arsenal's organization in the front field is completely handed over to the trio on the front line, in Wenger's plan, Descartes is responsible for receiving the ball and attacking in tandem, and Van Persie is a left and a right direct high ball, while Bendtner uses his height to compete for a header in the middle, trying to see if he can hit the big luck and push the ball in, but he didn't expect that Bendtner was directly assigned by Descartes to the right side, so what to do in the middle, Is Descartes ready to compete for a header with his height of less than 1.8m, Lescott at 1.88m and Jabbo with 1.85m?
Wenger suddenly didn't know that he had unconsciously walked to the sideline of the pitch, he raised his hands high, and kept shouting to Descartes in the stadium, he asked Descartes in person, what was his idea, why did he change the manager's decision at such a critical moment?
But Descartes was holding the thick ice in his eyes at this time, and he put all his attention on the court, and he didn't see Wenger's actions on the sidelines. Descartes' idea is simple, as an ambitious player, Descartes' understanding of the word responsibility is very different from that of ordinary players, and in a way, he and Kobe Bryant are the same type of paranoia, and in the most critical moments, they are used to carrying the team on their own shoulders instead of entrusting their hopes to others. Kobe Bryant is often criticized by the media for being "alone" and "distrusting teammates" at critical moments, in fact, those people just don't understand, and the arrogance in his heart makes him take all the responsibility on his shoulders, and things like James have to distribute the ball at the last second are simply unbearable torture for Kobe.
And the same is true of Descartes, who does not like to pin his hopes on others, especially his ups and downs like Bendtner, who believes only in himself at critical moments of life and death, and would rather be ridiculed by others after a loss for such a move, rather than be cowardly and retreat when the team needs him most, he firmly believes that as long as he gets a little closer to the goal, his fate will be in his own hands.
Wenger's shout Descartes did not hear it, the other teammates heard it, and they hesitated not to greet him because of the concentration in his eyes at this time, so the game continued, and the spectators outside the stadium watched with deep incomprehension as Descartes appeared in the center of the field.
Can he do it or not?
The staff of the British Sky Sports channel who broadcast the game suddenly found that when there were 8 minutes left in the game, their ratings suddenly rose like a rocket, and in just a few tens of seconds of Wenger's substitution, they were horrified to find that the ratings of the sports channel suddenly rose from 8 points to 15 points, and they were infinitely close to Sean, who had just ended. Murphy and John. Higgins' annual ratings record of 16 points set in the final of the Snooker World Championship, this is, what's wrong? (To be continued......)