Section 309 Strike while the iron is hot
Even the most convinced of football as a science have to admit that there are times when the underdogs can beat the strong by luck. However, even the most believing in luck has to sigh at this moment, the good fortune of Wolfsburg can really be said to be amazing. Their last two away games, against Bayern Munich, have been incredible. And this time against Arsenal, they have strangely taken the lead.
Wolfsburg's goal made the coaches who were watching from the sidelines react at the same time. Arsene Wenger stood up, took two angry steps forward, looked at the players on the pitch, but was speechless for a long time. At this time, Magath jumped up and hugged the assistant coach wildly, celebrating his team's hard-won goal.
Leading Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium, Wolfsburg did quite well. Unlike Borussia Dortmund last year, they didn't make a splash here this year. The team's recent form has been really good, and everyone has to admit it.
Arsene Wenger was on the sidelines, also annoyed that he had underestimated Wolfsburg's strength. Although not long ago, he heard that Wolfsburg defeated Bayern in the previous period, but perhaps because of the consistent contempt for the Bundesliga team, he still underestimated the strength of Wolfsburg, he thought that defeating Bayern would definitely be able to beat Arsenal, but now, he has to accept an embarrassing fate.
Arsenal are behind at home and that's not the biggest concern for Arsene Wenger. What frustrates Wenger the most is that Arsenal is not Bayern, and they are unable to carry out crazy counterattacks. After Bayern are 1-0 down, they can let their players set off a Jedi counterattack and use the momentum of destroying the class. Holes were carved out of Wolfsburg's defence, and Arsenal ...... Apparently not capable of this.
Gervinho knows what to do. Chamberlain basically had no skills other than long-range shooting. Such two wingers who will not cross are equivalent to completely killing Giroud in the middle. It's impossible to expect him to make a difference - Bayern can fight back after falling behind because they have two of the world's top wide players and a midfield configuration that is definitely not bad, but it will be difficult for Arsenal to do so.
Moreover, what worries Wenger the most is not Arsenal's poor attack, but Arsenal's poor defense.
Arsenal have suffered a wave of injuries recently, and many people have been in trouble as a result. Diabi. Wilshere was unable to play, and although Ramsey could play, he was in very average form in training before this game. Arsenal's current midfield does not have a few real midfielders, Arteta is one of them, he can now be said to be the main force of the iron fight, and the other one Wenger chose Coquelin, which is already the result of the dwarf pulling the general.
It's a pity that a dwarf is a dwarf after all. Not every dwarf can be Napoleon's. Arsene Wenger forced Coquelin on, and as a result, he became a target for Wolves, first Turan and then Gao Shunyao, all of whom made breakthroughs on him. His presence rendered Arsenal's midfield defence useless, and Gao Shunyao could easily dribble to the edge of the box and play like this. It's just that no matter how good the defender is, he can't bear it, let alone it. How capable Arsenal's defenders are, Wenger still knows.
As a back waist. Coquelin is definitely unqualified, especially now that he is being targeted by Wolfsburg as a breakthrough point, which increases the likelihood of Arsenal losing. The wisest thing to do now is to replace him quickly and bet that Ramsey's form is reliable. But Wenger really couldn't make up his mind about this decision.
Arsene Wenger's hesitation is justified, and he is now in big trouble: the first half is not over yet, and if Coquelin is replaced now, it will be a premature waste of a substitution. Arsenal's tactics make their wingers definitely need to be replaced in the second half, and they will also occupy the substitution quota, and there are only three substitutions in a game, so it has been used up, and no matter what unexpected events, Arsenal can't deal with it, how to use the substitutions in their hands, which has also become a huge problem for Wenger.
His tactical arrangement originally required the use of substitutions, which invisibly increased the difficulty of Wenger's targeted tactical arrangement. Make up your mind about a change now? Or will we see and talk about it so that there are no surprises? Different thoughts also echoed in Wenger's mind.
He hopes that he can think about it slowly and come up with a good solution. Unfortunately, Wolfsburg are clearly not prepared to give Wenger time to think carefully, and the situation on the pitch is not the same as it was before. After scoring a goal, Wolfsburg did not continue to shrink and defend, and after gaining the advantage, Magath has already commanded the team and launched a full-scale attack.
Arsenal's reputation for attacking and defending is too loud. Although Arsene Wenger has a lot of dissatisfaction with his front-court players, Magath still doesn't dare to pin his hopes on the opponent's front-court players not playing well. Arsenal can breathe a little easier and Wolfsburg's advantage will disappear, so after having the advantage, Magath's approach is to continue to attack the weaknesses of the opponent's backfield in order to extend Wolfsburg's advantage.
Magath's tactics, the Wolfsburg players executed them very well. On the field, the Wolfsburg players are also constantly instigating attacks. Gao Shunyao made a large retreat backwards. After getting the ball near midfield, Gao Shunyao made a forward gesture to attack, but Arsenal's midfielders immediately closed the goal, blocking his way. Although he could only run around midfield with the ball under the pressure of Mikel Arteta and Coquelin, it was difficult for him to rush forward, but he still held the ball firmly and turned around and protected it at his feet, without giving the two men a chance.
His dribbling made Wenger secretly praise: Compared with Giroud, Gao Shunyao obviously has a better level in terms of holding the ball and cooperating. Arsene Wenger had heard that Gao Shunyao was a player from the J-League, and as a coach who had also coached there, Wenger knew very well what the orientation of the J-League was, and only the strikers who came out there had this good habit of controlling the ball and passing.
The players came from a poor league and that's not an important issue. When it comes to the big leagues, the level will always go up. And if the league you came from doesn't have good habits, that's a real headache. Gao Shunyao developed a good habit of passing the ball early, which is much better than many strikers.
However, his good habits are now threatening Arsenal.
Gao Shunyao took the ball and slowly approached the side. Breaking through the middle was not good, and he also helped Rodriguez and Perisic to insert the attack. He gave the ball to Rodriguez in the back, and then both himself and Perisic ran forward to try to lead the attack, while Makoto Hasebe also moved closer to Rodriguez, the Wolfsburg players, providing three points for the dribbling players.
They are quite skillful in their cooperation, however, what Wenger cares about the most is that the focus of their attack has shifted to the flanks at this time - although Wolfsburg is stepping up their attack, they are not blindly brainless, they are also summing up their strengths and weaknesses. In the attack just now, Wolfsburg has always had a hard time getting into the penalty area, and they can see this very clearly, and now the focus of their attack has changed.
Wolfsburg targeted Jenkinson's defence and started a key attack, which was what worried Wenger the most. While his tactics can help Jenkinson a lot, Jenkinson is not Sagna after all.
Rodriguez, who got the ball, shook twice, but still didn't pass the ball, and chose to plug in with the ball himself. His insertion allowed Gao Shunyao to run directly back to the midfield, and Perisic also inserted into the penalty area, Rodriguez faced Jenkinson's interception near the edge of the penalty area, and seemed to want to pass the ball, but with a smash and turn, he easily got rid of Jenkinson, and then a high ball directly hit the penalty area.
His decision was obviously more than a notch higher than Gervinho's, and this pass also caused a stir in the Arsenal penalty area. Mandzukic jumped high and tried to smash the ball into the back of the net, but Vermaelen interfered with him with all his might before the angle of the ball was deflected. Mannone blocked the ball. This time, before Gao Shunyao could plug in, he hurriedly took a step forward and knelt on the ground to press the ball under him.
Wolfsburg's attack wasn't pretty, but it was deadly. Arsene Wenger was on the sidelines, and he was even more hesitant to consider a substitution.
The first half was already coming to an end, but Wenger was still slow to make up his mind. Arsenal were never breached and their luck seemed to be quite good. However, if you defend for a long time, you will lose, especially if the defense is not strong, you need to worry about conceding the goal, and in the 43rd minute, Wolfsburg's opportunity came again unconsciously.
Perisic's shot on goal resulted in a corner. Standing at the corner, Turan barely hesitated to kick the ball high into the box.
If Mertesacker is there, he may still be worried, but in Mertesacker's absence, Wolfsburg's high ball has an absolute advantage. Turan's pass didn't take much thought because he knew that no matter what the ball, his teammates would be able to catch it.
He was right: although his ball landed a little off, near the front point outside the small penalty area, it was quite difficult to grab the ball, but Gao Shunyao did not disappoint him, and he still met it.
Gao Shunyao, who was standing at the front point, suddenly took two steps back, he suddenly bounced on the ground, and a fish jumped with a header, rubbing the football towards the far post. Mannone was already jumping high, but such a bounce was not worth mentioning in front of Gao Shunyao's shot, Gao Shunyao's header broke through the door of Arsenal!
His goal made it 2-0! (To be continued.) )