Chapter 271: Wen Taigong Fishing - Soldiers Don't Get Tired of Deceit!

In the league at the weekend, almost all of Arsenal's main squad were rested. Only goalkeeper Szczesny and central defenders are the main players, of course, there are only three main central defenders at Arsenal now, of which Vermaelen has not been in very good form recently.

The end result was that Arsenal took all three points on the road. Swansea City won 2-1 at home, with Theo Walcott scoring the best of the match, scoring a game-high 8.7 points with a goal from a sideline cut inside and an assist for Olivier Giroud's header.

Podolski, Cazorla, Mesut Ozil, Ramsey and others did not play in this game, and most of them were young players. Such as Chamberlain, Gibbs, Jenkinson, Wilshere and the veteran Flamini.

Swansea, on the other hand, scored with an excellent counter-attack in the second half by Spanish midfielder Michu assisting Ivorian striker Bony.

And Li Zihan watched the game in front of the TV at the training base with some youth team players who did not have a game task, and Arsenal played well on the whole, and the young players were full of energy, but they were inexperienced.

After this round, there was a strange phenomenon in the Premier League. None of the teams with the quality and ambition to win the title have won, with Jose Mourinho's Chelsea drawing 1-1 with Tottenham Hotspur at White Hart Lane, the Reds losing a surprise 2-1 to mid-table West Bromwich Albion at Old Trafford at the Theatre of Dreams, while Manchester City were beaten 3-2 at Villa Park to Aston Villa at home.

In this round, it was a team like Arsenal that fought for the top four every year and a team like Liverpool that also wanted to enter the Champions League to win, and Liverpool beat Sunderland cleanly 1-3 at the Stadium of Light. Uruguayan striker Suarez, who returned from suspension, was in particularly good form, scoring twice in this game, and Suarez, who assisted him, was absent from the young player Sturridge, who was a key player in this period, and near the end of the game, Suarez also reciprocated with an assist to help Sturridge score.

Of course, it is also possible that Chelsea, Manchester City, Manchester United and other teams want to stay in the Champions League, so they lost unexpectedly.

But it is undeniable that the direct beneficiary of their defeat is Arsenal. As a result, after six rounds, Arsenal actually ranked first in the table with 15 points, which is also the first time that Arsenal has topped the table this season.

Chelsea, Manchester City and Manchester United, on the other hand, have also lost and drawn before this round, and they are now on the same level as Southampton. And the current second place in the league is actually Liverpool, which is not favored

Although the current team of Mourinho is still in the construction period and faces many similar problems with Arsenal, and Manchester United has just replaced the head coach for more than 20 years, and Manchester City has also completed the change of coach, but the strength of their team is completely impossible to lag behind Arsenal so much, and now these teams are six or seven points away from Arsenal

"This year's Premier League is chaotic!" Many bricks and beasts threw out their remarks again.

Putting aside the chaotic Premier League for the time being, on the last day of September, the second round of the Champions League group stage on the evening of September 30 began to be contested.

Arsenal and Chelsea fixtures are both scheduled for this evening, while Manchester United and Manchester City have to wait until tomorrow evening.

Arsenal will face Serie A giants Napoli and Manchester United will face a strong Ukrainian superpower Shakhtar Donetsk, who squeezed out Chelsea in the group stage with Juventus last season. Chelsea, on the other hand, had a much easier game today, against a Romanian league side who had reached the group stage through the play-offs. Although Bucharest Star has won the European Champions Cup once, it was a past season in 1985-1986. The current Bucharest star is a completely belly team

As for the poor Manchester City, their luck is not so good, and their opponent in this round is the defending champions of this season's Champions League - Bayern Munich!

It is estimated that it is also considering that they are about to face the powerful Bayern Munich, so Manchester City stayed strong in the previous league, so they lost to the opponent.

When the new Napoli manager, former Liverpool coach Rafael Benitez, who led Chelsea to the UEFA Cup triumph in the middle of last season, arrived at the Emirates Stadium to get Arsenal's starting line-up, he felt the urge to scold his mother.

Arsenal's formation is four-two-three-one:

The goalkeeper is Poland's Szczesny, the centre-back is Germany's tall Merdessat and Frenchman Koscielny, flanked by Spanish full-back Monreal and French right-back veteran Sagna. In midfield, Mikel Arteta partnered young Welsh midfielder Aaron Ramsey, the two wingers were German international Podolski's Spaniard Cazorla, and the German talent Mesut Ozil, who started in the midfield position with a record 50 million euros in Arsenal's history.

And the striker striker

Fat Bei rubbed his eyes, and then took a closer look again Yes, that's right, Li-Zihan!

Hell, Li Zihan, didn't you say that he was injured and needed to recuperate for half a month? Why did you suddenly appear in the starting lineup for this game?

"Crab, I know that Wenger, this old guy has never been as loyal and honest as he seems, and sure enough, he was put on the table!" Rafael Benitez viciously put the starting line-ups of both sides on the table in the dressing room.

Fortunately, at this time, all the players were still outside for field adaptation training and warm-up, so no Napoli players saw the angry look of their manager.

On the other side, Arsene Wenger took a closer look at Napoli's starting line-up and smiled.

Napoli's formation is four-three-three:

Up front, Gonzalo Higuain plays in the centre, with Spaniard Callejón and Napoli veteran striker Pandev coming in from Real Madrid this season. The midfielder is the core of the Slovak midfield, Hamsik, and he is partnered by Swiss midfielder Inle, and the midfielder is also Albiol, who was brought in from Real Madrid this season. The central defender is Paolo Cannavaro, the younger brother of the legendary Italian defender Fabio Cannavaro, who is in Chinese New Year's Eve, and he is partnered by young Argentine central defender Federico Fernandez, and the two full-backs are Colombian full-backs Zuniga and Armelo.

Seeing the roster, Arsene Wenger smiled. If he had studied Chinese culture more deeply, he would have shouted: Jiang Taigong fishing, and those who wish to take the bait!

Originally, Benitez had no problem with this lineup, and it seemed that he was also planning to play a defensive counterattack away from home. The new Albiol at the back has played at centre-back before, so there are no major problems defensively, and he has an experienced junior Cannavaro and a young and energetic Fernandez behind him, and Inle in midfield is also a midfielder who can attack and defend at the same time.

But if Arsenal has Li Zihan in the game, the situation will be different.

What are the characteristics of Li Zihan? It's fast, good at stopping, accelerating, shaking, and hitting behind. And Cannavaro, who is thirty-two years old this year and has a strong homesickness, is enough to defend Li Zihan, first of all, the speed of the old central defender is easy to be blown up by Li Zihan, and it is an away game, Cannavaro may not be able to play a normal state.

As for the wing-backs, Benitez did not use the fast Macho, who was both offensive and defensive, but used the slightly slower but defensive-minded Zuniga.

These two speed guards are simply dishes prepared for Li Zihan!

In fact, Benitez was confirming the absence of Lee Zihan, and Walcott had just played in the last round of the league before arranging the starting line-up. Little Tiger only played a 90-minute league game two days ago, so this game must not be enough, and even if he has to play, it will be 50 minutes later.

And without these two "wonderful" speeds, the pace of Arsenal's other players is average, although there is also a Podolski. That's why Benitez plans to use such a defensive counterattack formation, all the players in the backfield will do a good job of defense, and the attack will be handed over to Higuain, Pandev and Callejon, while Hamsik in the midfield will be a core starter!

How could he have thought that the soldiers would not get tired of deceit, and Li Zihan, who said that he was injured and needed to recuperate, who knew that this was a smoke bomb!

Li Zihan's speed is the biggest threat to Napoli's backline, not to mention that he is also accompanied by a Podolski who can always keep up with the support, and Ozil, who has excellent passing and handling skills in the tournament, and the passing of the core of the German midfield can often penetrate the entire backline.

Damn Wenger, damn Li Zihan!

At this time, Benitez had no other way but to curse in his heart, because the starting list had been submitted to UEFA, and it was impossible to use a substitution spot without playing for a minute.

And as for how Fat Bei "confirmed" that Li Zihan couldn't play? Speaking of which, Wenger has to sincerely thank the media who often spread rumors.

Benitez looked at the newspapers, good guys, almost half of the newspapers said that Li Zihan accompanied the "two" girlfriends shopping during training time, and attached a photo of Yi Yi and Susan supporting Li Zihan with a strap and a pestle and a cane.

Then coupled with the fact that the defenders of Stoke City often used Premier League defender "local specialties" to entertain Li Zihan during the game, and sent Li Zihan to the hospital with a red card, and with Wenger's words, people like Bei Fat were fooled.

In fact, Benitez is not to blame, it is Arsenal's secrecy and publicity that are too good. No one in Arsenal knew about it except for the team doctor and Arsene Wenger. Including Li Zihan himself, Li Zihan only knew that he was selected for the 18-man squad when Wenger's squad was announced the day before this game, but at this time he thought he was a substitute. didn't expect that when the starting list was announced before the game, he was impressively listed

When Wenger talked about tactics in the dressing room, Li Zihan reacted.

'Nima, where is this football game, it's just Mission Impossible, is it true that many football coaches have watched "The Art of War" and "Thirty-six Strategies"? ’

At this time, Li Zihan knew that the job of head coach was far simpler than he imagined.