My light shines on Arsenal

Chapter 196 Crossing the Blue Bridge

two days ago.

Kearney Base, in the conference room.

Charlotte hid in a corner, the lights in the conference room were dim, and her colleague operated the camera, which scanned the faces of each Arsenal player.

"Tactics class, huh?" the cameraman joked in a low voice, "Look at them, just like students listening to the teacher's lectures."

"Don't sound like you're very old." Charlotte rolled her eyes at the cameraman. "A few years ago you were still studying in film school, and you were famous for skipping classes."

"Please, Charlotte, don't say those things." The cameraman sighed, "I was thinking that if Arsenal were eliminated in the second round, our footage would not have been in vain."

"Are you trying to say that you're prescient?"

"Yes, I have said before that the Europa League final is not that easy." The cameraman said, "I also watch football."

"Let's take a good picture." Charlotte didn't say anything more and turned her gaze back to the conference room.

On the big screen, clips from the first leg of the match between Arsenal and Chelsea were disassembled and played frame by frame.

"Laurent, here. After you received the ball, you didn't stay alert enough to Demba Ba, and you panicked. You passed the ball back to Wojciech." Chen Yao pointed to the screen.

The footage of Koscielny's opening pass was intercepted.

"My fault." Koscielny admitted honestly, raising his hands.

"I didn't have the angle to throw the ball, I couldn't find a teammate to pass the ball to, and I made a mistake with my wide kick." The Polish goalkeeper also said, "It could have been avoided, it's my problem."

"No, I'm not blaming anyone." Chen Yao pointed to the screen. "I admit it, and you also know that in the opening stage, Chelsea was the faster team to enter the state. But that's not everything."

On the screen, the front four led by Demba Ba formed a flat diamond, oppressing Arsenal's back line. Ramirez pressed forward, and with two full-backs in place, Chelsea's pressing was quite aggressive.

"Chelsea's high press put a lot of pressure on us. Rafa had his players running for him and he knew that intensity could only be maintained for a limited time. He blew all his chips at the start. And he succeeded."

There was silence in the conference room.

"Let's take a look at the offense. This is the picture when we attack in the frontcourt. Chelsea's defensive focus is to lock Santi. Santi, please tell us how you feel."

"Me?" Cazorla adjusted his posture and straightened up. "It's very difficult for me to catch the ball. Every time I catch the ball, they will follow me. Usually it's Ramirez...he You can’t take the ball away from me, but I don’t have a passing lane.”

"Santi is right. Chelsea's defense was very organized and allowing them to score first was the reason why we were forced into a positional attack."

The game screen continued to play on the screen.

"We are two goals behind, and I don't want to give up. Boys, we have encountered too many things this season that were not within our expectations, and we have also lost a lot of games. But we have to win it back." Chen Yao looked at Players, "We're going to score three goals. I'll tell you what to do."

……

Stamford Bridge.

Rafa Benitez is worried.

It stands to reason that, going into the second leg two goals ahead and at home, he has nothing to worry about.

But Benitez felt a little uncomfortable in his heart. Maybe it was because of the disapproving atmosphere in the locker room during the pre-game deployment that made him uncomfortable.

Benitez is more focused on tactics than on people. He puts interpersonal relationships in the locker room at the bottom of his coaching hierarchy. He only needs his players to play according to his wishes.

But what if the players aren't willing to commit wholeheartedly to him?

On the field, Arsenal launched the first attack of the game.

As usual, Chelsea started to press in the opening stage. Benitez is a stubborn tactician and he hopes that his team can play the football he requires.

He knew that he could choose to defend solidly and maintain the big lead, but Benitez didn't want to do this.

This is still a home game.The fans at Stamford Bridge are not friendly towards him. If their team is beaten for nine or 10 minutes in front of the home fans, even if they advance, it is not what the club wants to see.

Szczesny passed the ball to Koscielny, and Demba Ba ran up as usual. Chelsea's frontcourt players pressed up one after another to find their opposite Arsenal players to mark.

Koscielny accelerated the ball forward a few steps. Demba Ba was caught off guard for a moment. He turned around and chased after him. Koscielny returned the ball to Szczesny.

Szczesny waited for a while, and when Demba Ba ran towards him, he kicked the ball to the side. Bakari Sagna moved slightly forward and received the ball calmly.

In front of Sagna is Oscar, and the Brazilian midfielder is facing the French right back.

Sagna moved the ball to his right foot and took a few steps towards the center. Oscar followed the direction of the French defender, but his positioning paid more attention to blocking the outside line. He knew that following in the center would result in Sagna being missed. and Walcott's Wired Space.

As for the defense in the middle, Oscar is not worried. With Ramirez there and David Luiz behind him, it is difficult for Arsenal to pass through the midfield smoothly.

Sagna handed the ball to Santi Cazorla. The extent of the Spanish attacking midfielder's retracement surprised Ramirez who was following him. Cazorla's position retreated to the back waist line, and he moved horizontally with the ball. , dragging Ramirez away from his original defensive position.

Chelsea's pressing front gradually deformed. Cazorla did not turn around and force a breakthrough. Instead, he passed the ball back to Nacho Monreal. Monreal crossed the middle and Arteta dragged back in front of the two central defenders. After receiving the ball, he distributed it to the wing. Sagna, who returned to the right wing, got the ball again...

Arsenal conducted a series of patient and continuous passes from the center circle to the penalty area. Szczesny bravely participated in a few passes. Sagna and Monreal took turns to pull into the middle. Artet Tower will return to the defender from time to time to assist Koscielny and Mertesacker with the ball.

Arsenal's backcourt passing rotation gradually became active, and Chelsea's players tried several times to press and intercept the ball. However, after the first few minutes of nervousness and jerkiness, Arsenal's passing was as skillful as a circle game. .

Rafa Benitez found that his pressing system was disrupted.

Chen Yao looked at the increasingly loose formation of Chelsea players on the field, glanced at the time, and smiled: "It's time."

Rafa Benitez was the first coach to gain tactical dividends from pressing in the frontcourt. In that rough era when every team had no system for playing the ball in the backcourt, when faced with fierce siege, The first reaction of the defenders was to make a big-footed clearance.

When coaching at Liverpool, Benitez had players like Alonso and Mascherano. They could fight for the opponent's defender's big kick, or barely score the first point when the opponent's player was not organized. When they start an effective offense, grab the ball from them.Subsequently, the midfielder quickly split the ball to the frontcourt through the high-speed advancement of the wide players, allowing the frontcourt players to taste the sweetness of attacking the opponent's unsteady defense.

Benitez has moved to various teams since then, but he has been far behind in the evolution of tactics.

He has strict requirements on tactics and the division of player responsibilities is also extremely strict, but he does not improve his tactics from the perspective of overall formation and area control.

Even if he consciously wants to diversify the players' responsibilities, cover more areas, and form an orderly overall pressure in a compact formation, this in turn puts higher demands on the discipline and diligence of the players.

But as it happens, Benitez is not the kind of coach who can make players fight for him wholeheartedly.

In his opinion, interpersonal relationships are far less important to victory than tactics.

Arsenal's flexible ground passing frustrated Chelsea's players. Demba Ba lazily reduced his movement after several failed attempts to steal the ball from the feet of Koscielny and Szczesny.

The Arsenal players' more and more flexible running also disrupted Chelsea's formation. Their midfielders and frontfielders piled up in Arsenal's half, gradually revealing a large area between the midfield line and the back line. Empty time.

Santi Cazorla dropped back to participate in the ball. In his place, Aaron Ramsey and...

Olivier Giroud.

Although there were Chelsea players surrounding him, Cazorla felt that he had much more space for the ball and the support he received close to his own goal.

The ball returned to his feet again, but Ramirez did not catch up immediately.

Cazorla clearly felt that the efforts of Chelsea players in the frontcourt were fading. They were worn down by Arsenal's small-scale circle passes and flexible position rotations.

Moreover, after all, Chelsea is still two goals ahead, so they don’t need to work too hard...

Ramirez moved forward at a speed that was considered sluggish compared to his previous runs. Cazorla spun in a circle like a top, quickly pushed the ball in the direction he was going in the opposite direction, and accelerated with one step. Over Ramirez.

He galloped towards the Chelsea goal and sent a through ball with his right foot, which hit the foot of Aaron Ramsey.

No matter how fast a person runs, he is not as fast as the ball.

Aaron Ramsey, who fell between Chelsea's two lines, met David Luiz. The tall Brazilian was deceived by Ramsey and lost his center of gravity. Ramsey tried to rush forward, but Luiz leaned forward. , but the Welshman knocked the ball with his heel.

The ball passed behind Louis, and Olivier Giroud, who retreated, grabbed the ball with his back to David Luiz. Ivanovic was led by Giroud a few steps away from the defensive area, and Aaron Ramsey lightning As if inserted into Ivanovic's leaking position.

Giroud withstood the pressure of Louis and bounced the ball out. Ivanovic stretched his foot to block the route of Giroud's pass to Ramsey.

He didn't reach the ball.

The target of Giroud's pass was Antoine Griezmann on the left wing, and Griezmann came into his favorite rhythm of the game.

He hid on the left wing, suddenly accelerated, shook off Azpilicueta who was guarding him, came to Giroud's passing route to receive the ball, took a few steps across and cut to the middle, facing Cech.

Griezmann did not take a shot, Petr Cech's footsteps were not chaotic, and Griezmann was not absolutely sure to score Cech's goal.

He dribbled the ball and continued to hit the penalty area. There was a two-on-two situation in the penalty area. Ivanovic, who was deceived out of his position, was running back, but Aaron Ramsey was restraining him. What he had to face was Gary Cahill.

Griezmann rubbed the ball hard with the outside instep of his left foot toward the center. The ball bounced on the ground and jumped between Ivanovic's open legs.

Both Gary Cahill and Petr Cech thought it was a shot, but it wasn't.

It was Ramsey who delivered the fatal blow.

Aaron Ramsey touched the ball behind Ivanovic and pushed the ball into the far corner.

One to zero, the total score is one to two.

The fans at Stamford Bridge did not create much support for their home team. After Chelsea lost the ball, there were even bursts of curses, and soon fell into silence.

"Is this the Stamford Bridge Library?" Chen Yao made a joke to Lillo.

"Don't be happy so early, coach. We still have to score two goals."

"Huan, don't worry..." Chen Yao looked at the time, "It's not yet 15 minutes."

Chelsea's players didn't seem to have recovered after losing the ball, and there was some hesitation on their faces.

Now that the lead is down to just one goal, is it time to go back and defend?
Rafa Benítez is also asking himself this question. He doesn't want to turn into a coach who plays an ugly game at home in order to advance, and his team still has a one-goal lead.

Then continue to play according to the established plan for a while, Benitez thought. I don't believe Arsenal can continue to maintain such accuracy in passing.

And as long as Arsenal makes a mistake and scores another goal from their side, the game will be completely over.

Benitez's idea was ideal, and he soon discovered a problem - of course Arsenal would make mistakes, but Chelsea's players did not have the energy to fight to the death to pursue and intercept the Arsenal players.

As he knows full well, there is a time limit to the dedication and focus of Chelsea's players, at least his.

Arsenal made several minor mistakes, but Chelsea failed to seize the opportunity to effectively attack Arsenal.

On the contrary, Arsenal repeatedly used rotations in the backcourt to break up Chelsea's formation and create space for Santi Cazorla, who was retreating, to turn around and play the ball.

After the ball was released, with the retreating Giroud as the fulcrum, Ramsey supported the pass and connected the forward attack. Griezmann and Walcott worked together, one to contain the Chelsea full-back, and the other to attack the penalty area.

Chelsea's defense was tall enough but not flexible enough, and Petr Cech was unable to keep a clean sheet after Arsenal repeatedly exploited the space between the lines.

In the 39th minute, Arsenal's fifth shot of the game was a triangle between Giroud, Griezmann and Ramsey in the Chelsea penalty area, and Griezmann scored the goal.

Two to two, the total score is two to two.

(End of this chapter)