Mister Legend

Chapter 544 Lottery Release and Adjustment

With the conclusion of the group stage of the three European competitions, the draw ceremony for the knockout round was held at the UEFA headquarters on Friday. And Arsenal is one of the main topics in this season's Champions League.

Due to the principle of avoidance of teams from the same country implemented in the first round of knockout rounds, and the fact that the other three Premier League teams were promoted as the first in the group, and the two teams that qualified in the same group could not meet each other, the Gunners There are only four potential opponents left in the quarter-finals, including Li Moody's former club Torino.

Under the leadership of the famous Italian coach Gasperini, the Red Bulls have performed very well in the last two and a half seasons.Especially in the 2020-21 season, they once again overwhelmed their rivals Juventus in the league and won the Serie A championship for the second time in three years. In the pattern of two heroes fighting for hegemony.

Although apart from this honor, the coached Turin team has not won other titles in the Coppa Italia and European competitions, but when the club is in a period of financial constraints for the new stadium, it is still possible to lead the team to achieve such results , it is no wonder that it will be continuously touted by the Italian media.

Most of the fans are also forgetful. If the current performance of the team is not good, they may still miss Li Moody in every possible way. However, when the performance of the new coach is equally strong, everyone gradually forgets that the Red Bulls have played well in five years. Half a year ago, it was still a mid-range team in the league, and it was difficult to obtain a place in the European war.

As for this situation, Italian football seems to be happy to hear it. Even though they all know that the biggest contributor to this team's rapid rise in such a short period of time is the Chinese man, they are unwilling to admit that the local coach's ability is not as good as the opponent's. , Naturally, he tried his best to build momentum for Gasperini, and promoted him to the same position as Allegri, Ancelotti and Conte.

This is not to say that this late-blooming coach is not capable enough, but that he seriously ignored the solid foundation that Li Mudi built for this team in the process of building momentum, and all the credit for the achievements was calculated on the coach. It was both chilling and disgusting, and was criticized by Chinese fans.

However, Li Mudi himself did not have any big emotions about this. The Torino team is a thing of the past for him. Although he still cares about the developments in Italy in his free time, it is just a personal feeling. , nothing else is involved.As for whether the fans will remember their contributions, it doesn't matter, as long as they live a wonderful life, everything else is just floating clouds.

However, in the eyes of the outside world, the encounter between the Gunners coach and his old club will be a very attractive point of view. Naturally, they want to inquire about relevant information from the parties concerned as soon as possible.

Li Moody, who set off from his apartment to the training base on Friday morning, was surrounded by reporters outside the gate of Kearney, but he did not choose to compromise, but left a sentence that he had nothing to say about the prediction that did not come true After speaking, with the help of the security personnel, the crowd was thrown away and the driver rushed straight into the door.

And less than five hours later, the results of the draw were spread from Switzerland to everyone in the world who cared about the matter. Arsenal did not meet Turin, who was obsessed with the outside world, but the topic was not low, because Li Mudi and Zida The good friends finally met each other on the court.

Although Paris and the Gunners are both giants in European football, there seems to be very little contact between the two sides. Whether it is field confrontation or player exchanges, it is not frequent. It is really rare under the premise of being a French player.

However, although the two teams have only played against each other on official occasions four times in history (that is, not counting warm-up matches), they have left a very classic game of grievances.

The first confrontation between the two sides was in the semi-finals of the European Cup Winners Cup in the 1993-94 season. As a result, the Gunners led by iron coach Graham defeated Paris Saint-Germain with Ginola and Weah with a total score of 2 to 1 in two rounds. , and defeated Parma with another goal in the final final, and won one of the only two intercontinental championship trophies in team history (although Arsenal won the International City Fair Cup in 1970 is not counted in the UEFA Cup and after Europa League statistics, but it can barely be regarded as an intercontinental honor).

The next duel was not reached until 23 years later. The two teams met in the UEFA Champions League group stage. Both matches ended in a draw, showing a good atmosphere.But when they both qualified and entered the first round of the knockout round, the tragedy happened.

With the advantage of winning four goals at home in the first round, Paris, who won the second place in the group, was reversed by Barcelona in the second round and became the protagonist of the biggest tragedy in history; while Arsenal, who won the first place in the group, did not What's better, the two 1-5 disastrous defeats resulted in the club's largest knockout defeat in European history, which directly led to the collapse of the professor's status in the hearts of the fans, paving the way for his subsequent resignation.

So the previous encounter between the two teams was both sweet and painful for the Gunners, but I just don't know what the result will be this time.

However, the media's discussion objects are not limited to historical records. They are still more willing to start with the strength and the origin of the two sides. The former is used to predict who will be the winner in the end, and the latter hopes to attract more readers. focus on.

On paper, the competitive levels of the two teams should not be much different. Of course, the reference is based on the fact that several of Arsenal's wounded have fully recovered their respective states in January next year.Moreover, the tactical style and ability of the coaches of the two teams are basically on the same level. Even Qi Zu's invincible metaphysics is likely to fail this time because he encountered a real heir to the Chinese dynasty. Then the two defending champions of Ligue [-] and Premier League form A [-]-[-] split is a more reasonable judgment.

The key factor in this group matchup is generally believed to be a favorable schedule for Paris to host first, so it is not surprising that the bookmakers have released odds that are slightly optimistic about them.

As for off-site connections, although there are not many, all of them are super gimmicks.After leaving the Emirates Stadium, Wenger took a break for a year, and then he was still moved by the giants in his home country. He took over the post of sports director of Paris Saint-Germain and continued to implement the club transformation that he failed to complete in the UK. .

This time the two teams meet, no matter whether the boss of Greater Paris will follow the whole process, at least he, the team manager, should be with the team for the away game. It will be the first time he returns to Highbury after leaving in 2018. What kind of courtesy will be received by the former club and fans is indeed worth thinking about.

And the passionate collision between Qi Zu and Li Mudi is also one of the most popular topics.This pair of well-known good friends in football finally ushered in the climax of the first confrontation in their careers after experiencing cooperation, separation, and their respective peaks. How can this not make the fans feel excited? ? (This is inexplicably dirty)
Regarding the result of the draw, the Gunners coach actually didn’t like it very much, just like he didn’t want to meet his old club Turin. The team pursues a quick fix to save more energy.

Yes, at this time Li Moody is not worried about the possibility of falling in the first round of the knockout round like last year. He is obviously ready to advance. If this idea is known by the outside world, it will surely set off another round of criticism He is arrogant and arrogant.

But no matter how much attention the game has received from everyone, it will be in February next year, and there is no need to distract too much now.

The December match schedule on the Premier League schedule is the most intensive throughout the year. Now that the winter break has been added, not only did it not make life easier for the teams, but it became even more intense.For next year's World Cup in Qatar, the situation this season is even more serious.

From this Sunday, December 12th, to the last Sunday before the winter break, the 12th, all Premier League teams have to play six league games within these 26 days, with an average of one game in a little over two days, which is very hard .Although the teams that still have the task of the League Cup do not need to suffer from worsening pain, they will still postpone the make-up match that cannot be played until next year.

If the schedule of double matches for a week can already make the players feel the pain of hell, then this schedule is enough to make them ignore where they are, because they are already too tired to feel too much physical and mental The feedback on the website is all numb.

And this time shows Arsenal's advantage. The injured players who have returned have played very little time at the beginning of the season, and their fatigue has not accumulated to a high level. They can just serve as the main force in this extremely difficult time. .And even though it was full of injuries before, Li Mudi still insisted on his lineup rotation strategy, and did not hesitate to use a large number of youth team players to fight.This paid a huge price in terms of performance, but it also allowed the members of the first team to get more adjustment time than other teams. This is also the unique trump card of Li Moody's coaching team to maintain stamina.

When the rest of the Premier League teams have more or less some status or even injury problems due to the intensive schedule, the only giants, the Gunners, can deal with the ensuing battles relatively easily, which also makes their league results There was a significant improvement before the winter break, and it was infinitely close to entering the Champions League, which can be regarded as a preliminary completion of a small counterattack.

On the 12th, with the high momentum of winning the qualification in the Champions League, Arsenal, a guest at the New White Hart Lane Stadium, completed a wonderful derby match with Tottenham, their rivals in the same city who temporarily ranked second in the Premier League standings. A frenzied battle was launched within hours, so that there was almost no excessive garbage time in the game. It can be said that every minute is not to be missed.

It wasn't until the visiting team, which had one less day off due to the Champions League schedule, changed their tactics to defensive counterattacks due to physical problems, that the game returned to the rhythm of one attack and one defense predicted by the outside world.

The final result of this duel was 2-2. Harry Kane's volley in the No.807 minute helped Tottenham escape from death, and also made Li Moody and his disciples return to Haib with deep unwillingness. inside.

The absence of Diego Llorente and Koscielny's rapid aging meant that Arsenal could no longer maintain Europe's top defensive standards in the second half of last season.Mustafi, Holding and others are still unable to play the important role of the core of the defense in terms of ability. Therefore, before the Spanish international recovers from injury and returns to full strength, Li Moody has to continue his offensive style of play. You can look for new solutions in the upcoming winter transfer window.

In the following three games a week, the Gunners continued to maintain a good psychological and competitive state. They defeated Southampton and Crystal Palace with a more obvious score advantage in home and away games. They only had a strong dialogue with Chelsea at Stamford Bridge at the end. The score was 1-1, ending their record of scoring at least two goals in 13 consecutive games.

However, anyone with a discerning eye can see that the Gunners coach made a lot of reservations in this London derby. The two main players, Barco and Torreira Torreira, both left the field early, and the current top scorer in the team, Bella Sino and the main right wing back Bellerin did not even enter the squad, just to give full play as much as possible in the League Cup semi-final match against Liverpool three days later.

Sure enough, in the crucial battle for the final ticket for this event, Arsenal, who were in better physical condition, took the initiative in the last 15 minutes when the strength of the two sides was almost the same, and Beracino made A winning penalty.

After Balko tricked Alisson into making a free throw with fake moves, Li Moody on the sidelines could finally breathe a sigh of relief.After the team was attacked by major injuries and lost the hope of defending the league title early, he made a decision that was exactly the opposite of last season, that is, to focus on several cup games, and only want to enter the top four in the league.

So far, this strategy should have been implemented extremely effectively. The League Cup has reached the finals. Although the opponent is a powerful Manchester City, considering his performance against Guardiola, it is really hard to win the game in the end. It's hard to be sure.

The UEFA Champions League also entered the knockout round without any risk. This arena has the most variables, so the future results are also the most difficult to judge.However, due to the tight schedule of the major leagues this season, this will inevitably have a great impact on several multi-line giants. In this regard, teams that are good at rotating the lineup will enjoy a lot of benefits. advantage, and Li Moody is precisely one of the head coaches who is best at this.So from this point of view, Arsenal still has a certain advantage in the competition.

As for the FA Cup, which will only start after the winter break, the Gunners coach is the least concerned for the time being. Due to special reasons this year, the rounds of the top eight Premier League teams participating in this competition have been temporarily postponed for one round. As a result, the start date has been postponed, which is good news.However, due to the early launch of the Champions League knockout rounds, and the fact that the league schedule will be interspersed in some weeks, the tasks in the three months of February, March, and April are very heavy. Maybe some trade-offs will have to be made at that time. Then it depends on the specific situation.

In this way, after firming up the overall policy after this season, Arsenal finally ushered in the last battle before the winter break, at home against the newly promoted Middlesbrough.This matchup, which was originally quite different in strength, became different because of the kick-off time one day after Christmas and Diego Llorente starting again after more than five months.

And Li Moody and his players did not disappoint the fans who went to the scene to watch and cheer against the cold wind. They bid farewell to 2021, which was full of glory and suffering, with a big victory, which laid the momentum for the team's strong rebound in the second half A good foundation in terms of

(End of this chapter)