Chapter 402: Overtaking and Penalties

Southampton, who equalised, were even more excited, from careful defending in the first half to attacking aggressively. actually suppressed Arsenal offensively, although Li Zihan scored a goal, but Li Zihan did not have a good chance at the beginning of the second half.

The opponent's offense was sharp, and Li Zihan didn't get much support from his teammates. Although Ramsey is good in both defense and attack in the midfield, there is still a big gap from the midfield grinder of Vidal and Pogba-style midfield meat grinder that Li Zihan is used to.

If the midfield partners on this venue are Vidal and Pogba, Li Zihan firmly believes that the opponent's attack cannot be so unscrupulous.

At this point, the game seems to be at a stalemate again, with Arsenal having no good chances, while Southampton have plenty of chances, but they are missing the decisive player.

However, the fans at St Mary's Stadium were quite satisfied, after all, their team did not fall behind in the battle with the league leaders.

The stalemate lasted until the 65th minute, when Arsene Wenger brought on Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain for midfielder Mikel Arteta. It was a clear signal of attack, with a very attacking winger replacing a defensive midfielder.

Clearly, Arsene Wenger is not content to be averaged.

In this way, Arsenal's formation has changed a little, Oxlade-Chamberlain did not go to the left but was pulled to the right, and surprisingly Li Zihan appeared on the left side as a left winger. The original right winger, Cazorla, returned to his familiar central midfield as a central midfielder. The original forward to replace the injured Ozil position of Wilshere went to the position of Li Zihan in front of the center.

It should be a nine-and-a-half to be exact, and the positions of Wilshere and Cazorla are really a bit difficult to say. The two often switch positions, one moment Wilshere goes up as a striker, and the other Cazorla goes up to replace Wilshere to organize and dispatch in the front midfield.

In this way, Arsenal's tactics are more obvious, the two wings are Li Zihan and Oxlade-Chamberlain, the two fastest players in Arsenal at present, use speed to attack, and Gibbs and Sagna behind them can also give the two good protection and assists behind them.

In the middle, Cazorla or Wilshere entangled each other's midfielders and central defenders, covering Ramsey behind him to step forward to attack.

It's a combination of side-to-side tactics, with speed on the flanks and skill and strength in the middle. It's just that no fans are a little puzzled, this tactical style of play should be replaced by Giroud in front. After all, Giroud has the height and can impact the opponent's central defenders well, and the speed is not slow, and he can barely keep up with the speed of Li Zihan and Oxlade-Chamberlain. In the end, the tall body and the suppressive nature of the attack can also create better opportunities for the players behind them, and the incompetence of heading the ball or pulling the defense is better than Cazorla and Wilshere in front.

Wenger's arrangement is a little incomprehensible, and the director's camera is also humane to often patronize the French center Giroud, who warmed up on the sidelines wearing a training vest, and then glanced at Wenger on the sidelines.

The meaning is very obvious: not Giroud at this time?

Although Arsenal showed a resolute determination to attack, the problems were exposed. That is, the space at the back is too big, because the midfield and midfield are pressed to attack, Arsenal's defensive ability in the midfield is quite weak, especially after the departure of the midfielder Arteta.

Although Ramsey can attack when he advances, he can defend when he retreats. But at present, he plays more offensive roles, often attacking forward, and can only barely come back after the opponent gets the ball, but if the opponent is fast, he can't even come back.

This gave Southampton an opportunity to take advantage of, as they were faced with two centre-backs once they had the ball on the counter-attack.

Finally, Arsenal paid the price for their actions in the 72nd minute.

Li Zihan's sharp breakthrough on the left almost made Southampton's wing completely surrender, also as an excellent talent of the younger generation, but Luke Shaw did not have much to do when defending Li Zihan, and often the opponent could break through.

And with Gibbs's help behind him, Li Zihan is also more relieved.

After a goalmouth sweep down the flank, Cazorla cut forward in the middle and then fell to the ground to tackle the ball into the back of the net. But his height is a shortcoming, and his legs are too short!!

In the end, he watched the ball cross in front of his toe sideways, and the young player on the other side, Chamberlain, quickly hit the ground, and then shot with his foot.

It's just that the shooting is not good, and shooting has always been the shortcoming of this excellent post-90s wing. The ball hit centre-back Lovren's thigh, who swept straight into the ball with a big kick.

The ball coincidentally fell to the feet of midfielder Ward Prowse, who also followed the example of Lovren's big foot to drive the ball up front.

Lallana suddenly rushed over at this time to receive the ball, took the sideline and rushed directly to the Arsenal half, because the fullback Gibbs was pressed relatively forward, and there was no way back when Lallana started with the ball.

Soon Lallana was up to Koscielny with the ball and a beautiful touchline jump-start broke past the French centre-back. Koscielny wanted to pull the opponent's shirt and stop the opponent's attack with a foul, even if it was the price of a yellow card, but he could not pull it.

Lallana broke past Koscielny and went straight to the end of the net, and Szczesny dropped the goal.

Coming to the ribs of the penalty area, in the face of Szczesny's attack, Lallana first made a feint of lifting the ball with a high ball, and finally sent a boccia ball.

The ball grazed Szczesny's gloves and continued behind him before rolling into the back of the net. In the end, Merdessat, who was chasing back in the middle, could not get the ball out of the goal, but it was due to inertia that it slid directly into the goal.

2-1, Saints Southampton lead league leaders Arsenal at their St Mary's Stadium.

From leading to being tied by the opponent, and finally to being overtaken by the opponent, it seems that Yiqiē is moving in a direction that is unfavorable for Arsenal. At this time, Arsene Wenger had not yet made any substitutions, and Giroud had been warming up for more than ten minutes.

The St Mary's Stadium resounded with a tsunami of cheers, and it was clear that captain Lallana had a lot of standing in the hearts of the fans.

"Hmph, why are you so happy. I don't know that the more wonderful the performance, the easier it is to be poached by other big teams? "There was some disgruntled slander in the heart of a certain Arsenal fan.

As everyone knows, even he didn't know that this slander when venting his dissatisfaction became a reality in the summer not long after

Arsenal, who was scored a goal by the opponent, did not lose their fighting spirit, but became more and more excited on the offensive line led by Li Zihan.

This is Li Zihan's characteristic, the more he encounters difficulties and problems, or encounters strong opponents, his mood is always inexplicably excited. He doesn't know why, it's not the first time, he played Chelsea twice when he was at Juventus, and when he was down to Manchester City by a big score, it was like this.

Li Zihan didn't know that his character and characteristics were often called "big contestants" and "big hearts" by the commentators!

Li Zihan's activity made the other party very uncomfortable, and then he simply came to a conservative style of play. Schneiderlin replaced Ramirez with a midfielder, and Southampton, who had a one-goal advantage, defended at home.

Although this approach is a bit unsightly, it is also a common style on the football field. When a small team meets a big team, this tactic is not only not booed, but praised.

Take it when you see it!!

Just as he saw the opposition switch to the back to defend, Wenger asked Giroud to stand on the sidelines and wait for a substitution. Obviously Wenger couldn't sit still, but the clock was already 80 minutes and Giroud didn't have much time left.

However, the fourth official was not ready for Arsenal's request for a substitution, and there was a change on the pitch.

Li Zihan's sharp breakthrough connected Luke Shaw on the touchline and Lallana, who had withdrawn to help the defence, and finally cut in the ribs of the penalty area.

The defender Wan Yama signaled the central defender not to come over and went up to mark the defense himself. However, the strong Wan Yama is far less flexible than the fast and flexible Li Zihan, who made a feint and easily deducted the other party.

However, when Li Zihan was about to pass, Wan Yama tripped Li Zihan directly when he stretched out his foot to stab the ball.

Li Zihan screamed in pain and fell to the ground, and the referee's eyes immediately blew the whistle to signal the penalty!!

The shape of the scene is complicated again!

The referee resisted the protests of the Wanyama and Southampton players, as well as the boos and scolding of the home fans throughout the stadium, and firmly decided that it was a penalty! And gave Wan Yama a yellow card, considering that there was already a penalty and all the referees did not directly show him a red card, in the end, the referee was merciful.

And after a slow-motion replay, this penalty was not wronged at all. Because Wan Yama's outstretched foot did not run towards the ball, but stepped directly on Li Zihan's ankle, and the small action of lifting his foot was a typical "bright spike".

Li Zihan never got up on the ground, which was booed and "friendly" "greetings" from the home fans. Obviously, they thought that Li Zihan was faking a fall, and the act of falling to the ground seemed to them to be more of a deception of sympathy from the referee

Soon Arsenal's team doctor came on the field, and in order not to waste time, Li Zihan insisted that the team doctor quickly transfer himself to the field for treatment.

Team doctor Colin Luin couldn't resist Li Zihan, and finally had to help him out of the field.

Because Li Zihan's injury was not clear, Wenger finally temporarily let Giroud wait on the sidelines and did not rush to replace Wilshere.

The team doctor on the sidelines was insisting on Li Zihan, and the game on the field continued.

Li Zihan's behavior was once again applauded by the Arsenal fans who came to the away stadium, even if it brought him a penalty for the team, it was for him to buy the team more time.

At this time, even the Southampton fans at St Mary's Stadium were quiet.

Cazorla stood at the penalty spot, wiped the sweat from his face, and then stared intently at the opposing goalkeeper.