Volume 2 Chapter 40 The Curse Comes True
"Arsenal plays a defensive counterattack!"
"Wenger: Only defensive counterattack can save Arsenal!"
"Wenger used the most boring way to play!"
The next day, various reports about Arsenal began to spread across the British Isles.
Even though they won the game, there were still media outlets mocking Wenger for his defensive counterattack tactics.
This tactical system was once belittled by Wenger as useless.
Now Wenger has actually used it himself. Even though the effect is good, he still cannot escape the fate of being ridiculed.
Many people followed suit and laughed at this.
But Arsenal did not respond.
After the 20th round of the league, Arsenal beat Newcastle United 2-0 at home and won three points.
This also stabilizes their fourth place in the league.
Current Premier League standings.
1: Manchester United, 15-1-4, 46 points.
2: Manchester City: 12-6-2, 42 points.
3: Chelsea: 11-6-3, 39 points.
4: Arsenal: 11-4-5, 37 points.
5: Tottenham Hotspur, 11-3-6, 36 points.
Arsenal's position is not safe, and the league has entered a battle for points, and all teams have begun to put in their best efforts.
Especially for the two teams in the championship race, the two Manchester giants still maintain a relatively obvious advantage.
Compared to other teams, Arsenal's situation is not very good.
While other teams were making great efforts, they were caught in a wave of injuries and had to resort to defensive counterattack tactics to consolidate their current points.
To a large extent, Arsenal has to give up a lot in order to secure a place in the Champions League.
For example, the FA Cup and the Champions League!
If the situation had been the same in the past, Arsenal would never give up the FA Cup, but the current situation is not optimistic.
There is no way Wenger can help Arsenal win the championship with a bunch of young midfielders.
Although Lucky's performance was very impressive, he still has many shortcomings and needs to grow slowly.
In the Champions League, Arsenal finished second in Group B.
This also increases their burden in the knockout rounds.
After all, their opponents are the first place in other groups.
There are a total of eight group winners, namely Paris Saint-Germain, Schalke 04, Malaga, Dortmund, Juventus, Bayern Munich, Barcelona and Manchester United.
Avoid being in the same group and the same division, so Schalke 04 and Manchester United can be eliminated.
Arsenal's opponents have been reduced to six teams.
Paris Saint-Germain, thanks to the signings in this season's transfer window, has made a huge leap in strength. Although it cannot be called a championship contender, it is already extremely strong.
Malaga was a dark horse team. They beat AC Milan 1-0 at home, and then drew 1-1 with the Rossoneri away, advancing to the knockout stage with an unbeaten record of 3-3-0.
Under the leadership of Klopp, Dortmund sounded the clarion call of a youth storm, and a group of players led by Reus, Lewandowski and Gotze performed extremely well.
After returning to Serie A, Juventus regained its dominance in the league and began to challenge the Champions League.
Needless to say, Bayern Munich is still very strong.
The Barcelona Cosmos team's recent form has been somewhat up and down, and some problems have gradually begun to appear in the team, but it is still extremely strong.
For Arsenal, the two opponents they most want to avoid are Bayern Munich and Barcelona.
But when the group draw was done, everyone fell silent.
Champions League quarter-finals, Arsenal vs. Bayern Munich!
All right!
Five years at Bayern! Three years at Barcelona!
The curse is beginning to come true!
It's another battle to defend the earth!
…
Perhaps because of the draw against Bayern Munich in the Champions League knockout round, the emotions of Arsenal players were obviously fluctuating.
This emotion is also extremely obvious in training.
But Wenger had no choice. Although he had basically decided to give up the Champions League, he couldn't say it directly.
Wenger looked towards one end of the pitch, where a training session was going on in full swing.
It was still Patras who led Lucky in training.
Patres threw the ball to Lekai and asked him to turn his head and observe before and after catching the ball.
This is also the problem that Patres discovered on the court. Lekai observed too little. Although he had a broad field of vision, this guy just didn't look up.
This was a bad habit he had developed since childhood, and now he wanted to correct it.
"Shake your head! Observe!"
Patres threw the ball to Lekai and watched him shake his head left and right before catching the ball, and then continue to shake his head left and right after stopping the ball.
“Remember, as a midfielder, you have to keep in mind where your teammates are on the pitch and anticipate where they are going to move next.”
Patles pointed to his eyes and said, "Use your eyes to observe, instead of lowering your head and just looking at the ball. You must change this habit."
During his training, Lucky could only smile bitterly.
He found that the Patras had become more stringent recently.
In the past, he only grasped the general training content, but now he began to delve into the details.
Of course, there are real problems with Lucky’s habits.
He wouldn't turn his head to observe. This was a habit that had been developed over a long period of time and it was not easy to change, so he could only correct it by force.
Every time before catching the ball, Lekai would turn his head to observe, but he was not just pretending.
Instead, really observe the next movement trajectory of other teammates.
This will be more conducive to his combined use in the game.
But seriously, it’s just too tiring!
After each observation, there would be a slight lag when Lekai stopped the ball. Although it was a small lag, it was a mistake in the top league and it was likely to be intercepted by the opponent.
Therefore, Lucky must perform this set of movements smoothly and without any hindrance.
Lucky is studying hard, and Patiles is also teaching hard.
Patras is now full of energy every day and doesn't look like a 64-year-old man at all.
He gets up early every day, drives to the training ground, and starts training Lucky from the first minute.
If, in the past, his expectation for Lucky was to become a Vieira.
So now he hopes Lucky will surpass Vieira.
And it’s not hopeless.
Lucky has already fully demonstrated his talent in previous competitions.
That incredible key pass during the attack, coupled with the magical ground-breaking arc shot in the previous game!
All these prove the ability that Lucky has on the offensive end.
He knew Vieira couldn't play that kind of pass.
Even the entire Premier League cannot be played at the moment.
This is talent!
In addition, Lucky has good control over the timing of attacks and strong defensive capabilities.
All these told him how exaggerated Lucky's talent was.
Therefore, Patales must make use of every minute and every second to allow this young sapling to fully absorb knowledge and grow.
In his plan, Lucky is not a scavenger who does dirty and tiring work, but a super core who is versatile on both offense and defense!
Even a B2B midfielder like Yaya Toure is not impossible!
Whenever he thought of this, Patres' heart became hot.
"Twenty more times! This time move left and right, and don't forget to look up!"
Wenger looked at the two of them with a smile on his face.
Goalkeeper coach Gerry Payton came over, followed Wenger's gaze to look at Patris and Lucky, and said, "He has been very active recently!"
He was talking about Patras.
In response, Wenger smiled and nodded; "He has a great plan!"
Gripton turned to look at Wenger in surprise, then smiled and said, "Could it be related to Kai?"
Wenger smiled but said nothing.
After a moment, Wenger turned around and asked, "How is Szczesny's injury?"
"I'm basically fully recovered and will be able to play next week or the week after next."
Hearing this, Wenger slowly breathed a sigh of relief.
God knows how much pressure the professor is under because of his injury.
Szczesny's return is good news.
At least the genuine goalkeeper is back, and the defense line is more stable.
"Let him quit smoking as soon as possible. Athletes can't touch this stuff." Wenger frowned.
Szczesny has a bad habit, which is smoking.
This is not tolerated at Arsenal and despite his repeated mistakes, he shows no sign of changing.
"I will try my best to urge him!" Gripten nodded. He knew that Szczesny's problem had caused great dissatisfaction among the professors.
