In the fourteenth round of the league, Southampton challenged Arsenal away from home.
This is actually quite a challenge for Southampton.
Arsenal had a not-so-good start to the season, but now they are gradually recovering. They are currently ranked sixth, on the same points as Tottenham. Their recent performance has been good, but Southampton has suffered two unbeaten games.
Meeting Arsenal under such circumstances is indeed not a good thing.
However, the next two games in the middle of the week are not the most important for Southampton. They can send out all their main players in the game and deal with the opponent.
In this game, Ji Ya only had a small rotation on the front line. Lukaku and Mane were on the bench. Perisic, Suarez and Vardy formed a three forwards, but in theory Perisic
Qi only moved on the wing, while Suarez and Vardy roamed in the penalty area, leaving the right wing to De Bruyne and Cancelo who advanced.
Wenger deployed a 4-3-3 formation, with Chambers at right back, Chamberlain and Sanchez on the wings, Welbeck forward, and Giroud on the bench.
In order to stop Southampton's midfield, Wenger put a lot of effort in the center. However, in this game, De Bruyne moved more on the wings, leaving the center to Casemiro and Coutini.
Oh, the two of them basically just shot a feint...
As a result, Arsenal's defense on the wing becomes quite passive.
Chambers is fine on the right. After all, he is also a relatively tall defender. Although it was difficult to face Perisic, he still performed well. Monreal on the right is originally a Spanish who is good at attacking.
The full-back, now being attacked in turn by De Bruyne and Cancelo, immediately became unable to support him.
Although neither De Bruyne nor Cancelo is very fast, they have strong breakthrough skills and accurate crosses from the wing. Under such circumstances, Monreal is quite miserable.
He was constantly being penetrated by De Bruyne or Cancelo, and he did not dare not to push forward, because if he did not push forward, the crosses from these two men at a 45-degree angle would be astonishingly accurate.
Seeing Monreal's distressed look, Wenger showed a rare decisiveness and asked Flaminito to fill in the position on the wing. Anyway, he didn't play left back once or twice to help fill in the position.
It can also stabilize the defense on this side.
After he went to help defend, Arsenal's defense on the left became more stable. However, this is what Southampton wants.
After Flamini, the strongest defensive player in the middle, went to make up his position, Cazorla participated in the attack in the front position. Ramsey's defense was not so secure. The middle of Arsenal's penalty area was immediately somewhat empty.
Soon, Coutinho received the ball from De Bruyne from the right. Vardy and Suarez ran to attract attention. Coutinho made a slight adjustment and then immediately took the shot.
!
The ball roared into the Arsenal door. From this position, the unguarded Coutinho took a long shot and was almost unstoppable!
Although Arsenal goalkeeper Martinez made a save, he was still a step too slow!
Coutinho waved his fist vigorously. After becoming the main force at Southampton this season, his performance has gotten better and better, which also made Inter Milan regret a little - if I had known that this kid was so good, we should have ordered more
Money...
But Ji Ya specially created the tactics for Coutinho and took him a year to adjust and adapt. How could Inter Milan have such patience at the time?
The top management of their club is in turmoil and it is difficult to develop good young players.
After taking the lead, Southampton's offense began to become more comfortable. They had an advantage against a team with the same technical skills as Arsenal. Now that they have a lead, it can only be said that their advantage is further expanded.
Southampton has lost every time they met strong teams this season - they lost to Manchester City, Tottenham and Liverpool. They basically won all other teams and only tied with Villa. This kind of performance is actually
It's a bit bullying and afraid of the strong.
However, against Arsenal, their performance became quite outstanding again.
This makes Arsenal fans very depressed - are we also a weak team?
Especially Southampton lost to Tottenham before...
But even if they were not convinced, Southampton still suppressed Arsenal.
Southampton expanded the score again in the fourteenth minute - Vardy actively counterattacked in the frontcourt, intercepted the ball from Ramsey's feet, and then passed the ball to De Bruyne on the wing. De Bruyne
The inward pass was passed into the penalty area. Suarez took off and headed the ball, passing it to Vardy who was advancing forward. Vardy immediately took a shot from the corner of the small penalty area. The ball roared towards the upper right corner of the goal!
Two to zero, Southampton expands its lead!
"Two goals ahead! Vardy scored again... I have no words to describe it. Many people think that Vardy's good form is short-lived, but it has lasted for almost half a season. We should admit that this is not
An eye-catching local shooter is also a good shooter!"
Vardy opened his arms and hugged Suarez. When he and Suarez partnered, Suarez often attracted the firepower himself, and then allowed Vardy to get more opportunities. This is also because Vardy has been in good form recently, and he will indeed be more attracted.
Focus on people.
After he passes the ball more, the opponent's defense will naturally relax a little more on him, and then that's his chance.
Of course Suarez understands this kind of thing.
After taking a two-goal lead, Southampton controlled the rhythm of the game in the following time. Arsenal did not succeed in counterattacking in the first half, and after the start of the second half, they continued to suppress Arsenal on both wings.
The defensive line also disrupted the opponent's offensive rhythm.
Seeing that his team could only complete shots from outside the penalty area, Wenger replaced Chamberlain with Giroud in the second half, switching to two forwards to strengthen the offense. This substitution was an immediate success. Giroud made Arsenal's offense easier.
It is much simpler and allows them to pass through the midfield more quickly and attack directly into the penalty area when the wing and midfielder are suppressed.
This is a huge test for Bailey.
His confrontation and height are not bad, but he is a little worse than Giroud, and his strength is also a little worse. Under such circumstances, he can almost be said to be eaten to death by Giroud.
However, he quickly showed his value. When the head-on confrontation was less favorable, he began to better utilize his advantages in speed and reaction, constantly going around to defend and steal the ball, and repeatedly intercepted the opponent's offense.
"Bailey's performance is good. Although he cannot completely replace Wundt's role, it can still replace Otamendi's position at some times." Ji Ya said, touching his chin.
