Chapter 324: Complex Death Team

In the end, the score of the game was still fixed at 2-0, and Arsenal once again won second place in the league table. Of course, Southampton's second-place finish is a bit of a misnomer, as Chelsea and Manchester City still have a make-up game to play.

In the 60th minute of the game, seeing that Southampton was not very threatening, Wenger decisively began to make substitutions.

Spanish full-back Monreal came on for youngster Gibbs and Jenkinson for French veteran Sagna. At this point, Arsenal's three substitutions for this game have been exhausted. Arsene Wenger made two substitutions in one go, and did not worry about the embarrassing situation of not having a substitution if a player was injured.

Interestingly, both of these are counter-substitutions, and they are also substituted full-backs.

In the 73rd minute of the game, seeing that the attack could not be opened, Southampton's manager was also quite a gambler. He replaced Ward Prowse, who had been average in the game, with Uruguayan attacking midfielder Ramirez.

Ramirez's introduction slightly threatened Arsenal's goal, but Szczesny's performance was in good form to break through the Polish goal, and it was clear that Southampton's attacking line was a bit lacking.

However, in an Arsenal counter-attack, the Gunners almost extended the score again. Rosicky broke down the right flank and played a long ball over the top of the centre-back and the ball flew towards the Southampton box. High striker Olivier Giroud leaps high and heads the ball overhead. The ball was won by him first, but he did not hit the goal with a direct header, but put the ball on the other side of the goal and headed it over.

The follow-up Oxlade-Chamberlain did not adjust after taking the ball, and directly swept the half-volley, Borutz continued to be powerless, but Chamberlain's shot went high, flying directly over the crossbar and out of the bottom line.

Uncle Zhan Jun jokingly said: "I thought that Podolski was following up here, but the German winger didn't play in this game." Oxlade-Chamberlain's shot was so subpar that he could have played a boccia ball, which was much less difficult, and he had to hit the top edge of the goal. ”

And Sky Sports commentator Hellhouse also sarcastically said: "In the face of half an empty door and not entering, Chamberlain does have two brushes!" ”

Although Oxlade-Chamberlain missed a good chance to shoot, it was clear that the game had come to such a point that the Arsenal players had lost their attention to the game and their hearts had flown to Napoli in the Apennines.

The day after the league match with Southampton, the whole Arsenal team left for Italy to face the opponent in the fifth round of this season's Champions League group stage, and Napoli, who also qualified directly against the team.

In the last leg, Arsenal sat on their home turf and beat Napoli cleanly with a score of 2-0. So in this game, they are looking forward to beating the Serie A team twice, so that the initiative to qualify is in their own hands. And Napoli obviously wants to avenge the previous arrow, and they also want to step on the opponent's corpse to enter the knockout round, so this is destined to be a game of Mars hitting the earth.

The current situation of this group is still unclear, at present, Arsenal has nine points with three wins and one loss, Dortmund has six points with two wins and two losses, Napoli is also three wins and one loss with nine points, and the clearest may be the French team Marseille, which has lost all four games, scored four goals and conceded ten goals, and even if they win the remaining two games, they may not be able to play in the Europa League even if they win the remaining two games, and they may not be able to play in the Europa League, unless they win all the last two rounds

Borussia Dortmund scored seven goals and conceded just three, Napoli also scored seven goals but conceded six, and Arsenal scored six goals and conceded three. So the reason for the goal difference relationship, Napoli are now second in the group, Arsenal are temporarily first, and Dortmund are third with six points.

And if Arsenal wins this game, they will sit on twelve points and get the initiative to qualify from the group, and in the last round against Marseille, the weakest team in the group, a draw can qualify for the first place in the group, and if they fail to win or draw, they can also guarantee a second place in the group.

England, like China, is most afraid of a situation where a draw will qualify. But Arsenal are not afraid, after all, looking at the last leg against Marseille and Napoli and Borussia Dortmund against Marseille, Arsenal felt that it would be no problem to take three points against Marseille without saying a single point.

Of course, this is the later story, Wenger did not tell his disciples so much about the situation, just told them that the opponent of this game is Napoli, and if they win, they will step into the knockout round with one foot and kill this cheating father's group of death.

But football is round, anything is possible until the game is over, especially if the game hasn't started yet.

If Arsenal loses this game, then it will be Napoli chasing from six points to nine. Dortmund's opponent in this round is Marseille, and Arsenal simply did not expect Marseille to help snipe Dortmund. So the most pessimistic and reasonable scenario is that Dortmund takes out Marseille, so that three of the four teams have nine points, and the situation is good.

In the past, when a group scored nine points, it already had the initiative, but this group of deaths is different. If Arsenal can't get at least three points in the last two rounds, then it looks good

In this game, whether it is Napoli or Arsenal, all they think about is winning or losing, and as for the draw, the two teams don't think about it at all. After all, everyone knows that if this game is average, the happiest player is the German Borussia Dortmund, so both sides know that the other side will definitely try their best to get three points.

In the face of such a life-and-death battle, of course, the two sides will have to go out with all their main forces.

Napoli, playing at home, lined up in a four-three-three formation, and veteran Spanish goalkeeper Reina, who was on loan from Liverpool, sat in the starting position. The central defender is Uruguayan Britos No. 5 and Argentine Fernandez No. 21, while Napoli captain Cannavaro Jr. was not selected for the 18-man squad due to injury. The two wing-backs on the left and right are the two full-backs of the Colombian national team, Zuniga and Amero, and Albiol, the central post who joined from Real Madrid this summer, is in the central midfield position. Swiss midfielder Ingle partnered with Napoli midfield core Hamsik in the starting midfield, Callejon and veteran Pandev appeared in the left and right wingers, and the center forward was naturally Argentine smoker Higuain.

On the Arsenal side, Ozil, Podolski, Ramsey, Merdessart and others, who were fully rested in the last round of the league, all appeared, and Walcott, who returned from injury, also appeared in the starting position.

As soon as the two sides started at home, Napoli launched an attack without "hospitality".

In the first minute and two seconds, Napoli, who kicked off first, controlled it in the center and backfield, pulling Arsenal's forward pressing. Then the back court Inle flicked the ball to Hamsik, and the Napoli core with Mohican's hairstyle did not carry the ball himself, but a long pass from the midfield, which found Pandev on the touchline with precision.

Pandev wanted to cut inside on the touchline, Sagna defended carefully, and Higuain ran aggressively in the middle. Sagna's defense is on point, neither fouling nor giving you a passing route and a chance to cut inside.

Defender Sergio Amelo on the touchline hasn't had time to step forward to assist, while Inle and Hamsik will still be on the run. Pandev had wanted to control the ball on the sideline and wait for his teammates to come up and support. But Sania's defense made him very uncomfortable, and he kept stabbing the ball at his feet, although he didn't poke it, but he didn't have a good chance to pass.

Seeing that the opponent's back came to help defend, Pandev felt that there was no chance to wait for his teammates, so he shook a very narrow space and shot directly from a distance.

The long-range shot from thirty meters away at an angle of forty-five degrees went slightly over the crossbar, and Szczesny only raised his hand symbolically.

Although there is no achievement, this foot is so difficult, and the veteran Pandev's shot is still relatively high-quality.

If this shot had been played by Gibbs, it would have gone straight to the second-floor stands.

Arsenal started to attack, but Napoli's tactics made it difficult for them. The frantic pressing up front left the Gunners unable to keep the ball at their feet with precision or deliver quality passes.

'Arsenal have clearly not adapted to Napoli's frantic pressing tackles up front from the start, with Gibbs and Ramsey making frequent mistakes on the ball at the back, but Arteta's experience is helping them fill in the holes. Arsenal are also interesting, the midfielders are good when the defenders make mistakes, and the defenders are better when the midfielders are out of form. ”

Arteta handed the ball to Sagna on the wing, who dribbled to break through the touchline but was intercepted by Hamsik. Sagna smashed the ball to Walcott who was not far in front of him and slotted it in himself.

Walcoat immediately flicked the ball back to Sagna and instead of looking for a chance on the sideline, he cut inside without the ball.

Sania, at a 45-degree angle to the touchline, made a feint to take a high ball. Armelo jumped straight up and stretched out his leg to intercept the ball. But how rich is Sarnia's practical experience? Deftly dunked the ball, and then a boccia ball was sent from the path of Amero's vacated position.

Walcott reluctantly knocked the ball to Ozil, who came to pick it up, under the interference of Albiol.

"Goldfish Eye" did not control the ball, but stretched out his foot, and with a flexible flick of his ankle, the ball immediately passed directly past him without stopping, along with Argentine central defender Fernandez, who defended him.

Li Zihan easily unloaded Ozil's half-high ball, but he couldn't turn around, and Britos stuck him from behind.

Li Zihan did not turn around strongly, but knocked the ball to Ramsey, who was following him, and then half-turned and transferred diagonally.

After Ramsey received the ball, he immediately passed it back to Li Zihan. Li Zihan just ran out of a gap and received the ball, and Britos, who didn't dare to be careless, continued to press step by step.

Li Zihan didn't ramble after receiving the ball, and made a fake action to break through with the ball horizontally, but he knocked the ball behind him with a heel, and continued to run without the ball.

"Li Zihan! Nice back-heel pass, his own run took away Britos, there was a gap in the middle and Podolski followed!! ”

After receiving Li Zihan's heel knock, Porti flicked it with his foot slightly, and then shot directly with his leg.

"Podolsky !!"

Reyna is not a goalkeeper like Boruc, and the Spanish goalkeeper, who has seen strong winds and waves for a long time, knew that it was a long-range shot as soon as he saw Podolski's movements. Then make a pre-determined save.

After the ball was at its worst, Reyna held it with both hands and pressed it firmly under him to prevent it from getting out of his hands!

"Hey, the ball was confiscated by Reyna after the worst, and Podolski handled it a bit verbosity. The heel pass position that Li did for him before is still quite good, not to mention that the Chinese youngster's running position also brings a lot of gaps. But Podolsky adjusted it a little to be on the safe side. But it was because of his adjustment that Reina was given time to judge and prepare. In the end, Reyna easily held the ball in his arms, and it was Arsenal's first attack. ”