My light shines on Arsenal

Chapter 251 Dawn of the Arsenal ()

October 1925, 10, Newcastle.

St James' Park Stadium.

Chen Yao stood beside Arsenal's bench, holding a notebook and writing and drawing.

He looked up from time to time to observe the changes in the situation on the court, then thought about it and wrote down his opinions in his notebook.

"Oh, hell, I've never seen a game like this."

"Who doesn't... The FA changed the rules and we don't know how to play football anymore."

"We just lost to West Ham last week, by four goals, and this time it looks even worse..."

The Arsenal players were whispering next to Chen Yao. Chen Yao glanced at them and the players shut their mouths.

"Mr. Coach." An Arsenal substitute couldn't help but ask, "It's not that we want to complain, but you have also seen this game. We really don't know how to proceed. Do you have any ideas?"

Chen Yao shrugged helplessly, "Gentlemen, I suggest you stop complaining. Mr. Chapman doesn't like a group of complainers sitting on his bench."

"Charlie is a whiner too, why didn't Mr. Chapman let him play?"

"Charlie is Charlie, he's not like you."

Chen Yao closed his notebook. The Charlie they were referring to was Charlie Buchan, the striker Arsenal had just introduced this season.

Charlie Buchan joined Arsenal for £2000 with floating clauses, but he left Arsenal angrily in his first game because he felt Arsenal's jersey was not good enough.

After finally convincing Charlie Buchan to come back, the next day he made a fuss about leaving again because he found a piece of Vaseline in his socks.

However, Arsenal manager Herbert Chapman did not discipline Charlie Buchan for this.

Chapman didn't like undisciplined players, and he had strict requirements on the team's professionalism. But Charlie Buchan's behavior, in Chapman's view, is excusable, because his dissatisfaction is indeed the deficiencies of Arsenal's logistics.

Speaking of Herbert Chapman…

Chen Yao turned his attention to the forty-seven-year-old middle-aged coach on the side of the court. His hair was neatly combed, he was wearing a pressed suit, and his face was kind, like a tolerant and kind gentleman.

He is Herbert Chapman, one of the greatest managers in Arsenal history.

The status of Chapman and Wenger in team history is indistinguishable, but if Arsene Wenger is not considered, Herbert Chapman is the greatest coach in Arsenal history.

none of them.

At this time, Chapman frowned tightly and remained silent.

His face was as serious as lead. His forehead was wrinkled into deep Sichuan lines, and there was a hint of anxiety between his brows that could not be ignored.

Chapman's eyes showed the light of thought, and he was thinking about how to find a glimmer of hope from this desperate situation.

On the field, Arsenal trailed Newcastle 0:6.

After a four-goal defeat to West Ham in the last round, Arsenal suffered an even more painful defeat at St. James' Park.

There is no suspense in this game. The question before Chapman and Arsenal coaches is how the team can turn around and get back on the winning track.

Arsenal made one substitution and left inside forward Charlie Buchan came off.

"For God's sake, Herbert, what the hell are we playing in this game? I might as well just retire!"

Charlie Buchan ran off the field panting, mumbling depressing words, and sat down on the bench angrily.

"Herbert, I want to leave. I'm going to the Northeast. Farke, you know? I was invincible when I was at Sunderland. I should go there to find the feeling of winning."

"Shut up, Charlie." Herbert Chapman glanced at the striker he bought personally. He liked Charlie Buchan's skills and detail-oriented personality, but he hated this guy's complaining and gossiping nature. .

"Oh, Herbert, we're screwed, you should have seen that, we're totally screwed." Charlie Buchan didn't notice Chapman's dormant anger at all. He pointed to the court——

There, Arsenal's players were intercepted in a short pass, Newcastle's players drove forward, and five forwards swarmed up and squeezed towards Arsenal's goal.

They have an extra guy in the backcourt.

Chen Yao also saw this scene. The man who stole the ball was Newcastle's retreating central midfielder. This player was nominally a central midfielder, but he actually positioned himself as half a central midfielder. This gave Newcastle more lines of defense. one person.

Arsenal's players still adhere to the Scottish passing style, which is also the style Chapman likes, "strategy and cunning". Chapman hopes his team can perform like this.

Chen Yao is no stranger to this style of football. In his first trip to [The Source of All Things], he helped the Darwen team defeat the Old Etonians with an embroidered short passing game.

That was all last century.

This time, Chen Yao's role is Herbert Chapman's assistant coach.

Newcastle's attack resulted in another goal and the score became 0:7.

"Herbert, did you see it? I don't know how to describe a game like this." Charlie Buchan sighed, "You don't know what you are doing, and neither do I. We are a team with no plan at all. The team, everything is out of our control, Herbert..."

"Shut up, Charlie!" Herbert Chapman raised his eyebrows and waved violently at Charlie Buchan, "Sit quietly! I don't need you to remind me."

Charlie Buchan was startled. He seemed to realize that he had offended Chapman by speaking too loudly.

Herbert Chapman turned away angrily and the final minutes of the game quickly ran out as Arsenal's players walked off the pitch looking confused.

Chen Yao laughed. Charlie Buchan's words really touched the most irritating side of Herbert Chapman.

Chapman agreed to the invitation of Arsenal club chairman Sir Norris. The condition for coming to Arsenal is that he must become Arsenal's "manager" and have full say in the team's games and operations.

Sir Norris reluctantly agreed to Chapman's request.

After the smug Herbert Chapman had the power to manage the club, he carefully planned the future for Arsenal. He promised Sir Norris that Arsenal could win the championship within five years.

As a person who values ​​planning and commitment, Chapman's defeat at Arsenal had already made Chapman depressed. At this time, Charlie Buchan came to make matters worse. Chapman could still restrain himself from yelling at Charlie Buchan. This shows how patient he is...

Charlie Buchan shrank his neck, shut up and turned his head. Chapman didn't bother to talk nonsense to him.

Chen Yao breathed a small sigh of relief and went to greet his players.

"Tough game, Wojciech, thank you for your hard work." Chen Yao walked up to Arsenal goalkeeper Szczesny and comforted him. This time, following him back to London 88 years ago, there are five players: Szczesny, Wilshere, Aubameyang, Theo Walcott and Kante.

The skills of these five players seem to have been proportionally weakened by the system to match the normal qualities of players in this era.

But in the early 20th century, their talent and skill were still among the best of their contemporaries.

Despite this, Arsenal were beaten 7-0 and returned from St James' Park dejected.

Szczesny was shot throughout the game and conceded seven goals, making this match a nightmare for him.

"We conceded seven goals, oh my god, coach, I really don't know what to do." Szczesny sat on the ground crying.

Chen Yao patted him on the shoulder and comforted him a few words.

He walked over to other Arsenal players and faithfully performed his duties as an assistant coach, helping Chapman calm the players down.

Newcastle fans at St. James Park celebrated the victory excitedly. A thought flashed through Chen Yao's mind: These fans don't know what their team will experience in the next hundred years, but this big victory at this time is enough for them. Happy.

The glory of a club may not lie in how many dazzling honors they have in their long history, but whether they can allow fans who are loyal to them to have a few beautiful moments that are unforgettable as long as they think about it.

He shook his head, pushing the thoughts out of his mind.

He still had things to do and he had to have a talk with Herbert Chapman after this round.

A tactical change that will change modern football is about to happen.

……

When Chen Yao walked into Chapman's smoke-filled office, Herbert Chapman didn't notice his assistant coach walking next to him.

The walls of the office are covered with dark solid wood boards, and the wood grains reveal traces of time.

On one side of the room, there is a window, and the sunlight streaming in through the curtains is rendered soft and dreamy by the smoke puffed by Herbert Chapman.

The same sunshine is still shining on the earth and the Arsenal team a hundred years later, but everything in the past has become a past event passed down by people.

They call this history.

Herbert Chapman smoked and stared at a blackboard.

Above are eleven dots, which is a tactical formation diagram.

"Mr. Chapman." Chen Yao called.

"Oh..." Herbert Chapman woke up from his thoughts and smiled, "You're here. Sit down, haha, it's time for us to talk."

Chen Yao moved a stool next to Chapman and sat down. Chapman didn't say much. He started to smoke again and stared at the tactical board attentively.

This is another godfather in the history of Arsenal. Chen Yao did not expect that the system would send him to this great coach.

"The FA's revision of the offside rule has changed everything." Chapman exhaled a breath of smoke. "Originally there were three people, but now there are two people... There is too much room for forwards to move."

"We can no longer rely on our original offside tactics. The opponent's forward can easily counter offside and then directly attack our goal."

"We need change."

"Yes, Mr. Chapman, we need a change."

Chapman sighed deeply, "Have you ever experienced a moment like this? What you believe in, what you hope for, what you want to create are abandoned by the times... Your idealism is abandoned Sweeped into the garbage heap, what will you do at this time?"

"Then follow the trend of the times, Mr. Chapman. Ideals that lag behind the times will always lag behind. And I believe that the times will continue to change, and the ideals you expect will at some point prove their value again."

"I hate English football." A few strands of Chapman's silver threads shone in the afternoon sun, mixing with the blurry smoke. "They will just stupidly break along the sideline, and then they will swipe at the bottom line." Crossing the ball with your feet, putting the success rate of the attack on the struggle between the forward and the defender like a joke, and where the ball will end up depends on luck. Football is not such a sport."

Chen Yao listened quietly to Chapman's words.

"I want my team to open up the opponent's defense through ground passes. In the middle, with vertical passes, we can control the ball and not leave it to God to decide. We He can control the game delicately and then deliver a fatal blow to his opponent."

"But we can't win the ball." Chapman shook his head and sighed again.

Chen Yao saw a bit of pain on Herbert Chapman's face.

Chapman has realized that the style of football he hates may be more likely to bring him success, while the style of football he hopes the team will display will destroy him.

"Mr. Chapman, as you said, the offside rule has been modified. The space, the space for the forward has become larger. If we want to win, we have to let the forward get the ball as soon as possible and use the space in front of him to break through." Chen Yao said.

Chapman nodded.

The original offside rule was that when an attacking player passes the ball to a teammate in the opponent's half, there must be no fewer than three opposing players between the receiving player and the opponent's goal.

This was also the offside rule accepted by the Darwen team when Chen Yao was in it.

Under this rule, the space left for the forward is very narrow. Only two defenders and a goalkeeper are needed to deal with the opponent's offensive line.

The revised offside rule reduces the number of three players to two, which greatly reduces the living space of the two-back formation.

The 2-3-5 pyramid formation has reached a crossroads in history.

"We can open up more space," Chapman said. "Deep back, we drop back, draw the opponent forward and expand the space in front of their goal."

"Put one midfielder back and use it as a central defender. This allows our formation to function as a three-back defense." Chen Yao erased a dot on the tactical board and drew it closer to the goal. Go up.

At this time, football has not yet developed zone defense, let alone the concept of zone combined with man-marking. A simple pullback can have a transformative effect.

"It's no good attacking for too long," Chapman said. "We have to defend. Five forwards are too many."

"Draw back the two forwards and let them serve as the left and right inside forwards. When attacking, the two inside forwards connect the team vertically and retreat to support the forwards. When defending, the center backs mark the center forwards and the full backs mark the wingers. When they retreat, The central midfielder marks the inside forward." Chen Yao erased the dots of the two forwards and drew them behind the forward line.

"Now, this is our new formation." Chapman and Chen Yao looked at the tactical board together, which showed a 3-2-2-3 formation.

Three defenders, two central midfielders, two inside forwards, and three forwards.

Their positions form like two letters, W-M.

(End of this chapter)