Arsenal were all focused on the Champions League, and they prepared well to knock out Villarreal, and in the end they also won and successfully reached the Champions League final, making a new mark in the history of the team.

But at the same time, they are also mindful of the league.

The league is all about the league and the league table will determine whether they will be in the Champions League next season, and their fourth place in the league is not precarious, so although they can't be refreshed into the league preparations, manager Arsene Wenger still has to know the opponents he will face.

Manchester City don't have to analyze anything, they are number one in the league and there are a lot of media and professionals who will 'help' with the analysis.

Arsene Wenger has noticed the way Manchester City have played in recent games, especially against Manchester United and Chelsea.

Manchester City, Manchester United, Chelsea games, all use control-based conservative play, the game effect is also very good, so Manchester City and Chelsea are very helpless, so Wenger believes that in the home game with Arsenal, Manchester City will also adopt this strategy.

Everyone knows that 'defense wins', and Arsenal's style of play in the Champions League is also very conservative, even at the expense of their attacking ability in the frontcourt.

Arsene Wenger believes Arsenal have an advantage because this one Arsenal can accept a draw, while Manchester City can't because they want to beat Arsenal and close to winning the league title on their home turf.

Then, Manchester City wants to play conservatively, and Arsenal doesn't need to make adjustments, just use the Champions League style of play to delay time with Manchester City

Arsene Wenger led the game with this in mind, so when the game really started, he was a little dumbfounded when he saw Manchester City besiege Arsenal in the half.

The French didn't expect Manchester City to not adopt a conservative style of play, but to let go of their hands and feet to attack!

It was unexpected.

But the game has already started, and it's too late to make any adjustments. What's more, in the face of Manchester City's indiscriminate bombardment, the conservative style of play cannot be said to be wrong, but there may be good opportunities.

After all, the defense wins

Arsene Wenger thought so, and he sat in the dugout, his face calm. It's like the scene that I had already predicted so far.

But the apprehension in his heart is unknown

Wan Sheng didn't know what Wenger was thinking, and he wasn't interested in paying attention to it, and now he was standing on the sidelines, directing the game seriously.

He used constant yelling to remind the players to play in that direction and how to attack.

This didn't have much effect, after all, the game is changing rapidly, and it is not at all that the temporary command can work, but Wan Sheng's voice can bring fighting spirit to the team. They knew that the manager was watching the game and was expecting the attack to be effective, so everyone was more serious.

Manchester City completely suppressed Arsenal.

They dominated the field, and Arsenal were beaten without the power to fight back, so they could only shrink in the half, unable to even attack the midline.

It's a surprising situation, but those who watched Arsenal play Villarreal don't feel surprised. Arsenal, who were also suppressed by Villarreal, couldn't pass half time, and Henry completely became the furnishing of the front. There was no performance at all, but in the end Arsenal didn't drag it out until the end and eliminated Villarreal?

Now the opponent has become Manchester City

Arsenal relied on a different style of defense to make it all the way to the Champions League and became the only English team to remain in the final, so there is certainly merit in this conservative style of play.

Arsenal have been suppressed. Arsenal fans are worried, but they still have some confidence.

It was the Champions League results that gave them confidence.

Some commentators were also talking about the topic, "Arsenal played passively, but they defended very tightly and it wasn't easy for City to find chances. Arsenal relied on defense to reach the Champions League final. It's not Arsenal's old game, but the defense wins."

There are also TV guests who are dissatisfied with Arsenal's style of play and stand up and criticize the defensive Arsenal on the field, "They have abandoned Arsenal's century-old style of play, and they are desperate for victory, even if they rely on means to win, it is tantamount to failure!" ”

'If I didn't know it was Arsenal, I would have guessed it was Chelsea, they were playing Barcelona!'

The analogy is somewhat appropriate.

That's how the game between Chelsea and Barcelona is, Chelsea has been defending, defending, defending, Barcelona has been attacking, attacking, attacking, what you see in Chelsea is not only conservative or conservative, what you see in Barcelona is gorgeous offensive, fluid coordination.

But when it comes to the outcome of the encounter, no one can be sure because Chelsea's defence has merit, and although they lost to Barcelona this season, they won last season.

It may be an honour for Manchester City to be compared to Barcelona, but they don't have time to think about whether it's an honour or not, and every player on the pitch is doing their best to attack.

They're always chasing goals!

It's a game that must be won, so scoring goals is also a must

Manchester City's attack is not all three lines, it is still very targeted.

In three months, Ivan Crewe has established himself in the team, he has performed better than Musampa on the right side, and the tacit cooperation with Morris has made his main force more solid, so when Ivan Crewe appears on the right side, Manchester City will focus on the middle and the right side.

The general direction of attack is like this, but when it comes to the game, it still depends on the individual performance of the players.

The most eye-catching players are Morris and Anelka in front, and when it comes to Manchester City's stars, these two are the ones who are really famous. Their performance on the field of play is indeed outstanding.

Morris was in charge of organising the attack in midfield, while Nicolas Anelka was very active up front.

Anelka is a key target for Arsenal's defence, but with Manchester City launching a tough attack, it is almost impossible for Arsenal to completely contain Anelka.

Fifteen minutes into the game, Anelka also has his own understanding of Arsenal's defense, in his opinion. The breakthrough should be in the young defenders who partner Toure.

That's Philippe Senderos.

Filipe Senderos signed with Arsenal in December 2002 at the age of 17 and a half, but remained with Servette until the following summer, before Arsenal completed the £2.5 million takeover.

Senderos was not lucky, having injured his back before the season when he joined Arsenal. As a result, he did not play for Arsenal in his first season until 27 October 2004, when he played for Arsenal in the Carabao Cup, which was also against Manchester City.

After that, Senderos became Campbell's substitute, and now that Campbell is injured, he has a chance to start.

Senderos' performance was judged to be good, as his partnership with Toure helped Arsenal reach the Champions League final, and the defensive performance was very calm, but Anelka felt it. Senderos is the best point of breakthrough because his defence is frivolous and technically rough, and he is much easier to deal with than the experienced Toure.

So during a drop back defense, Anelka said to Morris, "Watch out for that kid, I'm going to take a chance from him." He said it with a malicious smile on his face.

Morris nodded, "No problem. I'll tell someone else. ”

Morris is not the captain of the team, but on the field. Because of his performance and prominence, he has more authority than Distin and is the heart of the team, and when he told the others to target Sendros, everyone understood.

In the next game, Manchester City consciously attacked Senderos's point.

They make use of constant interspersed movements as well as frequent switching runs. Time and time again, they will turn away the defense of Toure, Cesc Fabregas and others, and they will hand over the ball even if there is even the slightest opportunity.

The football will be passed to Anelka or Andy Cole, both of whom are good at breaking through, and it is up to them to hit Sendros directly.

Sendros suddenly felt the pressure double.

Previously, he had partnered Toure in defence. All you need to do is run or keep up with a certain player up front, the focus is on holding the position, but now it's a one-on-one with the City striker.

The point is, the opponent is still the skilled Anelka, or the experienced veteran Andy Cole.

He was unprepared for this.

In the breakthrough again and again, Senderos seemed very flustered, so much so that it completely affected his performance.

After all, he is only 21 years old, he is still very young, he has not been in the starting position much, and he has experienced very few major tournaments, and now he looks more busy in the face of this kind of attack against himself.

On weekdays, even in the face of Henry's breakthrough, he dares to defend 1-on-1 head-on, but now, he can't even play half of his ability.

Anelka, who is technically and physically impressive, looked clumsy defensively, and when it came to the experienced Andy Cole, he was deceived by a small move every time.

As a result, his pressure increased, and his performance became more and more frizzy.

Anyone could see that Sendros was a little embarrassed, and the coach in the dugout, Arsene Wenger, could also see that the Frenchman's brow was slightly furrowed, he didn't expect Sendros to be targeted by the other side.

Senderos was brought to Arsenal by him, and for now, Campbell is injured, and he can still carry a certain burden, but he is not the kind of centre-back who can take charge on his own, and he needs to rely on Touretze.

But now Wenger can only hope that Senderos can withstand it, because this is a young defender who will inevitably go through the development.

If Senderos can withstand this hurdle, he will definitely grow a lot, and it is possible to really replace Campbell's main position in a short period of time, if he can't withstand it, it will definitely have a great impact on his mentality to deal with the game in the future, and it will not be easy to recover and adjust.

Mentality, that is, willpower, is very important for a professional player, and having a strong will can lead to better performance in the game, and insufficient willpower will definitely affect normal performance.

Now it's time to put Sendros to the test!

Senderos didn't know what Wenger was expecting from him, he just felt like he couldn't stand it.

In the face of the opponent's targeted breakthroughs again and again, he became more and more anxious, and his performance became worse and worse.

He couldn't hold it anymore.

Whenever the opponent rushed over with the ball, Senderos couldn't help but look at Toure, looking for Toure's position, hoping that Toure could give him some support, but most of the time, there was no result, because Toure had already been transferred.

Toure also saw Senderos' situation, and he hesitated to go up and help.

But seeing Andy Cole next to him, he still didn't go up, how could Anelka also have Sendros defending, if he ran over to help Senderos, then Andy Cole would be unguarded, and it would definitely be his responsibility to lose the ball when the time comes, because he didn't keep his position.

Senderos's relationship with him was not good enough for him to make mistakes, but Toure immediately regretted it because Senderos had been breached!

This time Senderos couldn't hold back, he was deceived by Anelka's small gesture and even almost plunged headlong on the grass, and then Anelka easily ran past him with the ball and broke through into the box.

Dangerous!

The hearts of all Arsenal people are in their throats.

But Anelka won't be thinking about the Arsenal man as he burst into the box with the ball and went straight to goalkeeper Lehmann.

It doesn't get any better than that!

Anelka did his best to keep his excitement in check, and then he faced the onrushing Lehmann and slammed the ball into the far corner.

"Shoot!! Anelka—"

Lehmann tried to block the ball with his arm, but the ball sprinted first, and all he could do at that moment was turn his head and watch the ball fly into the goal.

“Goooooooooooooooooooooooal！！！！！！”

"The ball went in !!"

The Manchester Stadium radio rang out with Belbart's frantic cries, "Anelka! Anelka! He broke through Senderos and scored the ball in the face of goalkeeper Lehmann! ”

“1:0！ 1:0！ Manchester City are ahead! ”

At the moment when the ball flew into the goal, Anelka jumped up on the spot and waved his arms fiercely, the muscles on his face made him look hideous, but all Manchester City fans regarded it as the most beautiful picture.

They were shouting for Anelka in a frenzy!

The other Manchester City players also happily ran over to celebrate the goal, they surrounded Anelka, some hugged Anelka, some went up to touch Anelka's head, rubbed his hair, and touched some luck by the way.

Everyone's face was elated!

Wan Sheng stood on the sidelines, also excitedly celebrating the goal with the rest of the bench.

1：0！

The team is closer to the championship! (To be continued.) )