Chapter 15: The Gunslinger's Expectations
The 2-0 away win over Celtic makes Arsenal now have absolute confidence in entering the Champions League, although the two sides will soon start the second leg of the competition, although the strength of the Celtic in the Soviet Super League is still quite good, but for Arsenal, the first leg won Celtic bloodlessly, with the advantage of two away goals in hand, Arsenal has no reason to have any frustration at this time.
However, despite the victory over Celtic, Arsenal did not have anything to do easily, because the schedule for them in the early stages of the new season is really dense. The opening game was followed by a Champions League qualifying fixture, and although their second-round fixture against Bolton Wanderers was cancelled, Arsenal had no time to rest as the third round of the league was about to begin.
In this season's schedule, Arsenal's schedule is tight and loose, and the Gunners' opponents in the first five rounds are Everton, Bolton, Portsmouth, Manchester United and Manchester City. Arsenal's Christmas schedule is just as tough, but their real test will be from 30 January to 9 February, when the Gunners will welcome Manchester United, Chelsea and Liverpool in succession, which is undoubtedly the most "devilish" schedule of the new Premier League season. As long as Arsene Wenger's team can move the three mountains smoothly, the rest of the schedule will be smooth, otherwise Arsenal will continue to be reduced to an embarrassing role of accompanying the prince to study.
Now that Arsenal have finished their Champions League qualifying matches, they need to return to London immediately to prepare for the third round against Portsmouth; This did not give the Arsenal players any rest time at all, which also made Xiao Qing start to feel that the horror of the Premier League's dense schedule is really not a joke, it is definitely a huge challenge to the players' physical reserves.
Because league and Champions League games aside. Although Arsenal's match in the EFL Cup is from the third round. But in mid-to-late September. That's when Arsenal were enjoying the relative end of an intense new and intensive season; What's more, when Arsenal is enjoying the most devilish schedule, the FA Cup will also start at that time, so this means that it is very likely that Arsenal will need to fight on four fronts at that time. Although the FA Cup and EFL Cup are more about training young players and substitutes for the big teams, they will still affect the preparation of some teams to a greater or lesser extent.
Xiao Qing now feels that he is a little numb when he sees the schedule, although he was still ready to make a small effort in the League Cup last season; However, Xiao Qing was banned due to some accidents in the Tottenham Hotspur game, and Hoffenheim's momentum in the league at that time was also very good, so the League Cup was naturally abandoned; As for the German Cup, there was not much from the beginning, and it was very easy to give up.
So Xiao Qing feels that he really admires a league like the Premier League now, and he admires those players who play in giants. Because they have to deal with a super scary and intensive competition, the players don't get much time to rest at all. This may also be one of the reasons why there are relatively many injuries in the Premier League, because players are more prone to injuries when they are overly tired.
Although he felt a certain amount of pressure brought by the intensive competition, Xiao Qing is still full of confidence now; Victory in the league and Champions League qualifiers has made Arsenal quite happy, and for them the start of the new season is relatively satisfactory, which also makes the Arsenal players have more expectations for the next games.
Although Arsenal's position in the standings is now starting to decline because of the game with one game less, they are still very confident; Although this game was made way by the Champions League qualifiers, Bolton Wanderers really did not be a strong team for Arsenal. They were confident of regaining the advantage by beating Bolton Wanderers at the time of the game.
Back in London, Arsenal are preparing for the third round in earnest and are now confident that they will be able to establish an advantage at the start of the new season. Arsenal are now in high spirits, so their opponents in the third round may be in danger as they face a crazy Arsenal side.
For Arsenal fans, they are really looking forward to the team's next game, because the third round of the league is Arsenal's first home game of the new season, which also gives Arsenal fans a chance to finally release their enthusiasm.
In this era of public talk and utilitarian reality, achievements and honors are what fans want to see, and no Arsenal has a championship no matter how gorgeous and dazzling it is. This summer, his old club Barcelona made several calls to Xiaofa, but they were all refused, Xiaofa said that he wanted to win the title for his mentor Arsene Wenger before thinking about anything else. Bam Adebayo, Toure, those who want to leave are gone, and Arsenal's dressing room is back together.
In the new season, the young Gunners led by captain Cesc Fabregas have become the most active players in the Premier League since the start of the game; In the just-concluded Champions League qualifying match at Celtic Park, Xiaofa continued the excellent form of two passes and one shot from Everton in the opening game; His well-established midfield combing gave the team a 2-0 lead, which also laid a solid foundation for the second leg of the home game.
After a summer of running-in, Arsenal's midfield triangle began to take shape, and due to injuries to Nasri and Rosicky, Denilson and Song formed a backup for Xiaofa; Just like in the 2007-08 season, Flamini served as Xiaofa's personal guard and successfully completed the task, Song defended and swept away the opponent's threatening players who attacked into the 30-meter area of his side, while Denilson shared part of the defensive responsibility with Xiaofa, Denilson's time to attack was between Xiaofa and Song, playing an excessive role in passing the ball, and their self-sacrifice became more freedom for Xiaofa, and Xiaofa played a leading role in the front court and leading the attack.
Compared with previous seasons, Xiaofa's forward awareness has indeed improved significantly, and there was Adebayo on the front line in the past; However, Xiaofa has more long passes in the backfield, more about scheduling, rather than directly taking the ball to attack, but against Everton and Celtic, he has shown a tendency to boldly dribble and shoot, and now his shooting is more decisive, not as hesitant as before.
Among them, there is naturally the idea that Xiaofa is now trying to create more threats for the team, in fact, the help in the forward line is also huge for Xiaofa's active performance. Bam Adebayo is a good striker, but he can't completely release Xiaofa; But now, the combination of Xiao Qing and Van Persie has made Xiaofa more and more active, and he has also been given more opportunities, and Xiaofa on the court has begun to become more and more lethal.
Xiao Qing and Van Persie both have quite strong dribbling ability, and they both have a large range of activities; At this time, whether it is Xiao Qing or Van Persie, they have the ability to use the containment created by the other party to constantly retreat to support the midfield, and more importantly, the huge threat of Xiao Qing and Van Persie makes the defenders dare not strengthen the pressure on the midfield too much at this time, and there is enough strong support, which also makes Xiaofa have more room to play on the field.
Xiaofa combed the offense, although he is constantly trying to attack individually, but in the game, his threading of the needle also makes the team's offense more fluent; It is undeniable that the cooperation between Xiao Qing and his teammates is still not enough tacit understanding, but with a strong lineup and Xiao Qing's excellent ability, his performance on the court is more and more exciting.
Xiao Qing, who scored three goals in two games, also had assists in the game, Xiao Qing's existence is not only that Arsenal can get a stable scoring point in the frontcourt, but also revitalizes the team's frontcourt and midfield, which is also an important reason why Arsenal is now hot in attack.
Arsenal fans are really excited because they see hope; For Arsenal fans, while reaching the Champions League is a seemingly good result, it is not satisfying at all. You must know that Arsenal have always been the favourites to win the title before, and they have created the feat of unbeaten championship; However, because of the construction of the new stadium, Arsenal's finances have been under great pressure in recent years, and even their logo Henry has had to leave, and Arsenal has completely missed the championship in the past two years, and they began to play the embarrassing role of accompanying the prince to study.
But in the new season, Arsenal look to be a shameful late; Although it is still relatively not as big as other giants in the transfer market, being able to spend more than 50 million euros this summer is already an almost incredible super investment for Arsenal.
The new main defender Vermaelen has made up for the huge pressure in the back after Toure's departure to a certain extent, and in the first two games of the new season, Vermaelen has been conscientious on the defensive end, and he has not made any mistakes, and he is the new core of the team's defence; Even in the offensive end, Vermaelen scored a goal to surprise the Gunners fans, and it can be said that although the current Arsenal backline is still lacking, Arsenal fans are still quite confident.
As for Xiao Qing, it can now be said that Xiao Qing is a huge surprise for Arsenal fans.
Although Xiao Qing's performance in the last season can be said to be well-known to Arsenal fans, although they believe in Xiao Qing's ability, they are still worried about Xiao Qing, who has set a record for the team's transfer fee, they are worried about Xiao Qing's ability to adapt to the new environment, they are worried about Xiao Qing's role positioning, and of course, this is also because they have huge expectations for Xiao Qing. But now it seems that although it is only two games, Xiao Qing has completely exceeded the expectations of the fans. (To be continued......)