They played against Arsenal three times in a month, and Manchester City stole the show. In the first half of the season, Arsenal defeated Manchester City at home. However, in the two League Cup semi-finals after the New Year, Arsenal failed
A big loss of face - they were first tied with Manchester City at home, and then suffered a disastrous defeat at the feet of Manchester City. This game was only a week after the disastrous defeat in the League Cup, although Manchester City did not seem to be in very good shape in the last round of the league.
Okay, but this is at their home court. If they lose to Manchester City again, I am afraid Arsenal will not have the courage to surpass Manchester City again...
However, if Arsenal can defeat Manchester City, then Manchester City is likely to fall behind and at the same time improve their own state. For Arsenal, this game is also very important.
After arriving in Manchester, Wenger rarely announced closed training and news silence. In particular, he warned Adebayor not to say anything else, and Adebayor also became somewhat honest, because if
If Arsenal really can't win the league championship, even if he can default on the debt, it would be too ugly to say it...
Another thing before the start of this game is that poor Vassell finally failed to find any new home within this month. Manchester City insisted that his transfer fee be at least two million pounds, which is nothing.
The team is willing to pay, which makes it impossible for him to find a suitable team even if he wants to reduce his salary. After the winter transfer window closes, it means that he will have to spend the next six months in the reserve team...
But at this time, no one cares about Vassell. Manchester City is now in excellent form and has a chance to win three championships. Who cares about the situation of a player who was assigned to the reserve team by Dick? In fact, Dick
Forgetting where the guy is now, he just slapped a transfer fee of two million pounds on Vassell and ignored him.
On February 2nd, Manchester City faced Arsenal at home.
Within a month, the two sides met three times in a row, but the first two times were all in cup matches. Although both sides sent most of their main players in those two cup matches, after all, cup matches are cup matches, and the League Cup is still the most unfavorable match in England.
The highly regarded cup competition naturally did not cause such a big response. The only things people talked about were Adebayor's vow, Manchester City's massacre, and the return of Torres...
In this league, both sides showed their strongest lineups.
Dick sent a 433 lineup, goalkeeper Hart, defenders Richards, Samuel, Kompany and Barnes, midfielder Button, Yaya Toure, Parker, forward Ribery, Torres,
Di Natale, this is the main lineup that Manchester City has used most this season. Their current cooperation is quite good and their condition is also very good.
Wenger sent out the main lineup that swept Newcastle 3-0 at home in the last round. The goalkeeper is the veteran Lehmann, and the two wings of the defense are Sagna and Clichy. Gala and Senderos partner as the central defender and midfielder.
Fabregas, Flamini and Diaby serve as the back three, with Hleb forward, and the strike partners are Da Silva and Adebayor.
In Dick's view, Arsenal's main lineup is actually not very good, but after the start of this season, Fabregas's condition is very good, and the entire Arsenal main lineup is playing around him.
Only by doing their essential work well can they achieve such good results in the league. However, this lineup has exposed many flaws until now. Although they are considered very good offensively, their offensive performance is still very good.
They are relatively more delicate. Pulling is their biggest offensive feature, and they can always create gaps. However, if the opponent's defense is solid and will not expose gaps for their back-and-forth passing, I'm afraid their offense will also fail.
It is difficult to work. In this season's Champions League, they were invincible in the group stage. However, in the knockout round, they encountered AC Milan who was old and in poor condition. They were also unable to do anything about AC Milan's overall defense. They struggled to eliminate AC Milan.
Later, it was also for this reason that they lost to Liverpool without much temper. When the opponent's head coach put a lot of effort into defense, Arsenal's offense would encounter difficulties.
In terms of defense, their problems are also not small. The two full-backs are better at offense and average in defense. Center back Gallas often makes mistakes because of his enthusiasm. Senderos also declined after being bullied by Drogba.
It's very serious, but Arsenal can't find a better central defender than them. The defense is not good enough, which is the biggest factor why Arsenal failed to win the championship in the league. In modern football, without defense, there is no championship, even if
It's the same in the league.
Dick knows that Manchester City's defense is still not in a position where all the winds can move and let you attack, but it is not necessary to focus on the defense a little bit, and then focus on dealing with Arsenal's defense in the offense. To defeat them, it is not
Something that is too difficult.
Arsenal has only lost one game in the league so far, making it the team with the fewest losses in the entire Premier League. They have won against Manchester City, Chelsea, and tied with Liverpool and Manchester United. However, the only game they lost was in the Premier League.
In the first half of the season, they lost to Middlesbrough who defended tightly and counterattacked quickly. At the same time, they had too many draws. They have drawn six games so far. Except for the draw with strong teams like Manchester United and Liverpool, the other opponents in the draw were Black
Middle and lower-tier teams like Ben, Portsmouth and Birmingham all have one characteristic, that is, they all shrink their defense to deal with Arsenal's offense. No matter how they pull back and forth and tear apart the defense, they remain unmoved.
Arsenal only scored a total of two goals in several draws, which is quite inconsistent with their average attack power of more than two goals per game.
Now that we understand this, Dick's tactics are very targeted.
You can't go back and forth against Arsenal because the opponent is more adaptable to such tactics, so even at his home court, Dick has only one tactic to deal with Arsenal - focus on defense and quickly counterattack!
He has a tall central defender and an excellent defensive midfielder. He has prerequisites for defense. He has fast wingers, a center with excellent coordination ability and a shooter who is good at seizing opportunities. There are also prerequisites for quick counterattacks, not to mention his team points.
Even if he is one point lower than Arsenal, he can still afford it, and Arsenal can't afford it. Manchester City will not be involved in the Champions League game next. Even if they are temporarily behind, Dick will not be too scared. Even at home and against
If Arsenal draws, he won't feel too disappointed!
And what about Arsenal? They must find a way to defeat Manchester City in order to restore the confidence of the entire team and stabilize their first place in the league. A draw is not unacceptable, but it will make them suffer a lot in the future.
trouble.
What's more, asking Arsenal to play defense? Wenger is not very good at this. Arsenal's outstanding performance before this season relied on smooth offense and a large number of goals. If they delay these 90 minutes in an away game,
It’s really hard for them to do it, because this is not what they are good at!
Therefore, after the game started, Arsenal launched an attack, trying to score first through quick attacks and then take the initiative in the game.
If they can score first, they can kill time by passing the ball back and forth, luring Manchester City to press more and attack, and naturally they will be able to take the initiative in the entire game.
It is a pity that for Manchester City, their current defense has begun to understand each other tacitly. Samuel's command of the entire defense has begun to become better and better. In addition, midfielder Barton Park Yaya Toure has become more and more outstanding.
He is a strong midfielder who can run and grab, and can provide sufficient protection for the defense. Facing Arsenal's attack, they defended very steadily.
Fabregas' organization in the midfield was constantly undermined by Manchester City's midfielder. Although Adebayor is an excellent center, he is not Kompany's opponent in confrontation, not to mention Savoy.
Muel's replacement, so Manchester City also began to fall into the dilemma of passing the ball around but not finding any opportunities. Although with Fabregas in the midfield, their passing organization will not easily make mistakes and let Manchester City
There are too many counterattack opportunities, but sometimes, such a counterattack opportunity only needs to appear once, and that is enough!
In the ninth minute of the game, Manchester City suddenly made a midfield attack and achieved brilliant results.
Diaby made a mistake in passing the ball in the backcourt, and his pass was intercepted by Yaya Toure who moved forward. Then Yaya Toure quickly passed the ball straight to the right, and Ribery, who came in, used his own speed to forcefully get rid of Savoy.
Niya's defense then crossed the ball in front of the goal!
Senderos and Torres were fighting for position. Although they were close to Torres, in terms of strength, Senderos was suppressed by Torres. He suppressed Senderos behind him, and then prepared to grab the point...
Gallas, who was in front of him, fell to the ground to make a tackle, but failed to touch the ball. The ball flew past his feet, and then Torres in the penalty area completely suppressed Senderos and rolled towards him.
The ball was shot directly in the small penalty area!
The ball flew into the gate guarded by Lehmann! Although Lehmann made a save, he was old after all, and his movement to the ground was a step slower. The ball flew directly into the gate from his armpit, one to zero.
Manchester City takes the lead at home!
Seeing the ball flying into the goal, Torres shook off Senderos, who was still pulling him, and then ran out. He rushed directly to the stands before he jumped up, waved his fist in the air and then landed.
Standing there proudly, receiving the warm cheers from all the Manchester City fans!
"The goal was scored! After returning from injury, Torres scored four goals in four consecutive league games! This is his fourteenth league goal this season! Dick always has such an excellent strike partner, Diener
Talley has already scored twenty goals in the league, plus Torres's fourteen... It is understandable that Manchester City can have such outstanding results. What kind of outstanding results can it have with such an outstanding pair of forwards?
, that won’t be surprising!”
Seeing Torres celebrating wildly, Senderos was extremely frustrated. Before the 2006 World Cup, he originally had good prospects. However, after the World Cup, he first took the initiative to bump into Drogba but failed to knock him down.
He hurt himself, which gave him a big blow, and now Torres, a forward who is not known for his strength, completely defeated him in a strength confrontation. This made Senderos feel so embarrassed!
Such emotions made Senderos kneel on the lawn for a long time without getting up. Dick noticed this, and then he smiled slightly.
A brainless central defender who always makes mistakes and a central defender whose self-confidence has been severely damaged. It is not difficult for a team with such a central defender to win!
