After a 3-0 win over Manchester City, Arsenal's pre-season warm-up games were over. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 ｉｎｆｏ

The most obvious change is that the organization of the middle is much more orderly than before, from front to back, every attack or defense is orderly, the hierarchy is clear, and the rhythm is very rigorous.

And the result of this, in addition to the great improvement of Arsenal's overall strength, Zhang Xu's role in it must not be ignored.

In the face of such a strong Arsenal, all Premier League teams have a feeling of wolf, and the managers of various clubs have to take Arsenal and Zhang Xu as the main research objects, analyze the characteristics and study countermeasures.

Of course, Arsenal themselves will not be idle, Wenger will continue to increase the intensity of physical training in the coming days, on the one hand, to reserve physical strength for the season, and on the other hand, to further practice tactical formations and cultivate the tacit understanding of players.

Especially the tacit understanding between the players, although Zhang Xu is very familiar with every member of the team, his teammates are not very familiar with Zhang Xu, which is also a more prominent problem reflected in the warm-up game.

At the same time, Arsene Wenger is constantly replenishing the team in order to continue to strengthen the team's midfield, after all, Arsenal's financial situation has been fully restored, and there is a lot of money to squander.

However, no players have been added, and the news of players leaving the team has been one after another.

First up was the transfer of third goalkeeper Mannone to Sunderland, followed by the transfer of striker Gervinho to Roma, defender Miguire on loan to Leicester, Shamacher to Crystal Palace on a free transfer and striker Wellington on loan to Murcia.

Although none of these players can be regarded as the main force, it is certainly not Wenger's style to just go in and out, so even Zhang Xu can guess that Wenger will continue to increase his efforts to recruit in the near future.

Although Zhang Xu's joining has greatly enhanced the strength of the team's midfield, but the midfielders Arteta and Rosicky are about 30 people, and the peak period has long passed, and the state has begun to decline, so we must immediately find a suitable replacement.

At this time, Ozil, who was not very happy in Real Madrid, appeared in front of Wenger, and after Wenger's repeated invitations and repeated persuasions from his teammates in the national team, Ozil was obviously a little shaken.

For Ozil, Zhang Xu is naturally very familiar with it, he has played against Ozil in three games with Real Madrid, and I have to say that Ozil is indeed a very powerful midfielder.

Although Zhang Xu doesn't have much to do with Ozil, he can still do the other party's ideological work through Ronaldo, so after hearing that Wenger is trying to persuade Ozil to join, he called Ronaldo directly.

"Hi, Zhang? Why are you kid free to call me? Isn't the league going to start right away? Ronaldo's voice came out of the phone.

"Well, Cristiano, there's something I might need your help with." Zhang Xu went straight to the point.

"Oh? What's up? Let's talk about it! ”

So, Zhang Xu briefly recounted the matter of Ozil.

"You kid, you dig into the corners of our team, and you even want me to do your job! Zhang, that's a bit too much! Ha ha! Ronaldo burst out laughing.

"Hey, Cristiano, you know, Ozil didn't stay very happy with you, we have an old Chinese saying, called a twisted melon is not sweet, why do you want to stop him?"

"Well, well, Ozil is really unhappy in the team, because he is not in the manager's plan, so he is more likely to be purged, but, Zhang, to be honest, I really don't want him to go, because sending him to you is tantamount to adding strength to his opponent! Especially if I go to you, after having Ozil, you kid is even more terrible! ”

"Haha, Cristiano, don't tell me that you're scared of us just because Mesut Ozil joined Arsenal?" Zhang Xu deliberately provoked Ronaldo.

"How is that possible? Okay, since you say so, then I'll do you a favor! You wait for the good news! Roma denied it strenuously and took care of persuading Ozil.

"Well, if you can't do it, then I'm really going to despise you!" Zhang Xu said with a hot iron.

"Hmph, underestimate me, right? You Arsenal are waiting to receive Mesut Ozil, but, Zhang, if I get this done, you owe me a favor, right? Ronaldo said with a strange smile.

"No problem!" Zhang Xu understood what Ronaldo meant: "In the future, as long as I can do it, I will never refuse!" ”

"Haha, good! Just waiting for your words! Ronaldo achieved his goal, immediately hung up the phone and went to Ozil to do ideological work.

Two days later, Zhang Xu got the news from Podolski that Ozil had basically made it clear that he had agreed to transfer to Arsenal!

Zhang Xu is also very happy about this, the strength of the team increases, then the chance of winning the championship will be greatly increased, what is he coming to Arsenal for, isn't it to be able to gain more honors and championship trophies?

Before the start of the Premier League, in addition to personnel changes, a lot of things happened.

For example, on August 13, Arsenal submitted a 21-man Champions League qualification squad to the European Union, and Zhang Xu was selected as a matter of course.

The following is the list of 21 people and their numbers:

Goalkeepers: 1-Szczesny, 21-Fabianski, 50-Martinez

Defenders: 3-Sagna, 4-Mertesacker, 5-Vermaelen, 6-Koscielny, 17-Monreal, 28-Gibbs

Midfielders: 7-Rosicky, 8-Arteta, 14-Walcott, 16-Ramsey, 18-Zhang Xu, 19-Cazorla, 22-Sanogo, 42-Esfield, 44-Gnabry, 58-Zelalang

Forwards: 9-Podolski, 12-Giroud

In addition to the 21-man roster above, players born after 1 January 1992 and who have played for Arsenal for at least two seasons after the age of 15 are automatically included in the Champions League B list. They include: 10-Wilshere, 15-Chamberlain, 25-Jenkinson, 26-Frimpong, etc.

For example, during the midweek international break, in addition to Zhang Xu, a number of teammates were called up to the national team to prepare for friendly matches. Mertesacker and Podolski were named in the squad for the friendly match between Germany and Paraguay in Kaiserslautern on 14 August. Szczesny was named in the squad for Poland's friendly against Denmark on 14 August. Sania, Koscielny and Olivier Giroud have also been named in Didier Deschamps' France squad for a friendly against Belgium in Brussels on 14 August. Wilshere, Oxlade-Chamberlain and Theo Walcoat have also been named in the England squad for a friendly against Scotland at Wembley. Cazorla was named in Spain's squad for the away match against Ecuador.

I have to admit that this international break still has a great impact on Arsenal's league preparations, and the team's tactical drills and tacit understanding between players will be affected because of this.

Fortunately, Zhang Xu, the core of the team, did not receive a call-up from the national team, which is a good thing for Wenger.

On August 15, the team's international players rushed back to the team to actively prepare for the first round of the league.

At this time, various sports media in the UK began to give clubs odds to win the league title.

Although Arsenal has the addition of La Liga assist king Zhang Xu, and the five warm-up games have also had a near-perfect performance, not all the media are optimistic about Arsenal this season.

William Hill, the world's famous bookmaker, has offered the odds to win the Premier League, with Chelsea topping the list at 8 to 15, Manchester City following closely behind at 2 to 5, Manchester United at 2 to 9, and Arsenal only in fourth place, 1 to 6.

Although the odds are not very high, many media still give Arsenal a high evaluation, such as "Sky Sports" published such an article on August 15: "China Zhang joined, Arsenal's strength is expected to win the championship!" 》

The article reads: After a series of hearty warm-up victories, Arsenal gradually emerged many positive factors, Sagna is back in perfect form to take on the responsibility of defending on the right side, and has faced former teammate Nasri many times to complete the opponent.

Gibbs was indestructible on the left flank despite the onslaught of James Milner, Zabaleta and Keylor Navas, as well as Richards.

Koscielny was rock-solid in the middle, repeatedly blocking low crosses, and Mertesacker's strong aerial superiority also made the opponent's high-altitude bombardment unthreatening.

Ramssenne was reborn, with a pass and a shot that exemplified the Welshman's all-round ability as a metronome in midfield. Arteta continued his consistent performance with a good vision of passing and control, providing a good guarantee for the quality of Arsenal's transition from defense to attack.

Podolski and Walcott worked well with their teammates and had good passes.

The most important thing is that when China Zhang joined, Arsenal finally had a core in the true sense of the word, a core that could control the rhythm of the game!

In the first few warm-up games, we were surprised to find that as long as China Zhang was on the pitch, Arsenal could control the pace of the game in a short period of time and quickly take the initiative in the game.

In the past, Arsenal always had such and such problems in defense, especially the gap between the central defenders and the full-backs was infinitely magnified due to the weakness of the small area covered by the back.

Now, because of China's zhang, his perverted speed and unimaginable physical fitness have allowed his defensive tentacles to extend to every corner of the pitch, so that Arsenal's previous defensive problems have been completely solved.

Arsenal with no faults is very scary! They have every right to compete for the league title this season, and even the title of other competitions! (To be continued.) )