Mister Legend

Chapter 546

As mentioned before, the FA Cup has always been a blessed place for Arsenal, and the League Cup is a sad place for the Gunners.

Since the competition was founded in the 1960-61 season, they are the team with the least number of finals and championships among the traditional strong teams in the Premier League. There is no one, and the two figures are eight times and two times respectively.

In 1968 and 69, Arsenal entered the final for two consecutive years, but hated the final stage twice.Especially for the second time, they conceded two consecutive goals in overtime and lost to Swindon Town FC, which was in the third tier league at the time, which was a shocking upset.

It wasn't until 19 years later that the Gunners got what they wanted after reaching the final for the third time. After defeating the Red Army, which had won the event for four consecutive years, they won the first League Cup championship in team history.

And just twelve months later, they lost to the little-known Luton Town FC in the last hurdle of seeking to defend their title, and became the object of being upset again.

After defeating Sheffield Wednesday in 1993, he reached the summit for the second time, but he still couldn't escape his tragic fate. Since then, he has entered the final three times and watched his opponent become king as a loser three times.Among them was the 2011 loss to Birmingham, which was relegated to the British Championship that season. That game has also become one of the most painful memories in the hearts of gun fans in the professor's era.

Before this season, the last time Arsenal set foot on the League Cup final stage was the year Wenger decided to leave, and the opponent happened to be Guardiola's Manchester City.As a result, the 0-3 fiasco made the old man fail to leave the Emirates Stadium with a sense of dignity. It is really a deep regret to say the least.

Fortunately, four years later, the professor's successor, Moody Li, fulfilled his decades-long long-cherished wish for the club's supporters. Not the slightest bit of attention.

On this topic, the above-mentioned two Gunners coaches should be able to chat for a while, and some people who eat melons should have such associations.It’s just that the professor himself didn’t come to London with the team one day earlier to step on the field and adapt to the colder weather conditions in the UK than in previous years. Instead, he chose to arrive in the game city on the day of the game. Feeling a little disappointed.

It is extremely rare to be synonymous with a century-old team in the name of one person, and it is even rarer in the world if this person is still a head coach. Brian Clough is in Nottingham Forest, Guy Rouge and Auxerre are such excellent examples.

As for Ferguson, it can barely be regarded as half, because Manchester United also has the same great Sir Busby, but he has been forgotten by modern fans because of the age, otherwise, in terms of influence on the team, the two In fact, it is difficult to distinguish between superior and inferior.

As Ferguson's half-life enemy (the old man has been coaching for 39 years, although there are not many who can barely become strong enemies, there are still a few names after all. Considering the time when Wenger landed in the British Isles, the half-life enemy's evaluation is more in line with reality), the professor also has a very high historical status in Arsenal, but he also has a comparable master Herbert Chapman, so it can only be regarded as half of the Gunners' signature at best , in this regard, it is evenly matched with Sir Alex.

Although they wanted to try their best to drive them away back then, after the passage of time, gun fans will still involuntarily have infinite nostalgia for that golden age in their hearts.For the professor, all negativity has gone with the wind, and now only reverence and gratitude remain.

Moreover, Wenger and Li Moody's friendship was also regarded by the media as a big gimmick. Back then, some media wanted to inquire from him about his evaluation of his successor at Arsenal Emery, but they failed to do so. After taking over Highbury in 2020, the professor took the initiative to sing praises to the outside world, thinking that the Kroenke family finally made a satisfactory decision.

And Li Moody has mentioned his admiration for this senior many times, and admitted that he has learned a lot from him, and jokingly said that he is a professor's student. From this, it can be seen that the two generations of Gunners coaches There is indeed an excellent personal relationship between them.

As for Paris Saint-Germain coach Zinedine Zidane, the relationship with Li Moody naturally needs no further introduction. In fact, he had contact with Arsenal when he played football.Naturally, it has nothing to do with the transfer and joining, but his elegant style of play and superb skills are very popular among gun fans. There was a saying in the past that if you want to appreciate elegant football, besides going to the Bernabeu to watch Qizu, you must come to Shanghai Bree looks at Bergkamp.Therefore, the French legend was the only player who could make Gunners praise him without playing for Arsenal.

In addition to the above-mentioned connections, the coaching staff and management of Greater Paris also have many staff members who followed the professor from the Gunners to the past, so some media said that the meeting between the two parties can be regarded as an old friend Yes, there is some truth to it.

However, the warmth of meeting old friends only existed in the short period of time before the start of the game. After the referee blew the opening whistle, he had previously greeted the return of the professor with a standing ovation in the entrance ceremony. The fans of the home team at the scene immediately booed deafeningly on the players of the visiting team who won the first wave of offensive rights.For this first-leg matchup in the quarter-finals, Arsenal have only one belief, and that is to get a victory enough to ensure their promotion.

Although Paris Saint-Germain is still able to maintain its dominance in the Ligue [-], and has won at least three rounds in advance for many consecutive seasons, its domestic advantage is very obvious; With poor money, they are often able to spend huge sums of money to buy the world's top stars, making their lineup extremely luxurious, and they are majestic and well-known in the entire European football world; To compete in the Champions League is to lose at the feet of this team in the first knockout round. It can be said that they are at a disadvantage everywhere on the surface.

But for this match, in addition to being a little worried about Zidane's over-understanding of himself and his ineffective metaphysics, the Gunners coach really thinks that the difficulty of advancing is not too great.

Even though this Ligue [-] giant finally advanced to the semi-finals for the first time last year, creating a new record in team history, it also became the third French team to advance to the semi-finals of the Champions League after Monaco and Lyon since the restructuring of the Champions League.But this does not prove that their true strength has reached this level, there is a lot of luck in it, which even Qi Zu has to admit.

The main reason why Paris has fallen into the vicious cycle of being optimistic every year but disappointing every year in the European competition is that they have encountered too few challenges and trials in the domestic league, and they often just play casually. Winning the championship seems to save a lot of physical strength for the Champions League, but it also cannot allow them to adjust their mental state to the best before the start of the war.

This is like a professional F1 driver in his usual training with a group of new drivers who have just left the driving school as training partners. The game is coming, what can you expect him to do?
In addition, this team's current problem is not limited to this one. Zidane's team building habits and time of entry have also had a considerable impact on the strength of Paris.The Frenchman, who led Real Madrid as a rookie coach a few years ago and immediately ascended to the throne of the world's top football coach after completing three consecutive Champions League championships, really prefers to maintain the stability of the team lineup. During the two years of coaching Real Madrid During the half period, only three signings were made in five transfer windows, and none of them were advocated by him. Morata was repurchased by the club after seeing his outstanding performance at Juventus. Theo and Danny Se Vallos is the operation of the team's youth.

Although it is rare to achieve great achievements with only a long-lasting lineup, in the end he left the Bernabeu because of problems in this area, allowing the world to see his stubborn side again.

After entering Paris Saint-Germain two years ago, Zizou’s habits in this area have not changed. Except for replacing Di Maria, who is really unusable due to age, with Jamaican winger Leon Bailey, other adjustments in the new club It basically focuses on minor repairs, and almost retains the entire main lineup of the predecessor Tuchel, which makes the team's transfer style complete a 180-degree turn from the previous image of a local tyrant who spent a lot of money.

Fortunately, he is good at adjusting the atmosphere in the locker room, can encourage players to perform their duties on the court, his tactical style is not changeable but has solid advantages, and he has accumulated enough experience in his player era and short coaching period to overwhelm all big-name stars. Prestige can help him control the entire team as soon as possible, making Paris, which has been unable to make a breakthrough in the Champions League, take another step.

However, when the time comes to 2022, the problem of the team's core lineup being too old is very prominently placed in front of everyone, although Neymar, Verratti, Marquinhos, Kurzawa and Bernat are still on duty 28. The golden age of 9 years old, but there are old and small situations in other positions.

In particular, Cavani, who still occupies half of the playing time at the center position, is about to turn 35 years old, and his physical fitness can no longer keep up with the rhythm of too high intensity.And Jean-Kevin Augustin, the self-trained youth forward Jean-Kevin Augustin, who was recovered from the Leipzig Red Bull, has too many ups and downs, sometimes shining brilliantly, sometimes sleepwalking throughout the game, which is completely unreliable and seriously affects the team's offensive stability.

In addition, the goalkeeper is also one of the vital goals of this team. He tried his best to recruit Buffon back then, hoping that he could play a positive role in helping Areola's growth, but in the end it was not enough.The goalkeeping styles of the two are too different, so that the latter not only did not learn much from the legendary senior, but lost a lot of playing time, which is not worth the candle.

And the goalkeeper of Filipino descent, who had been placed high hopes by the club, failed to meet the expectations of the outside world in the end. At present, he can only compete with the former Real Madrid star Keylor Navas, who was originally regarded as the second goalkeeper introduced by the team in the summer of 2019. Playing time, and with the latter deeply trusted by Zidane, Areola's life is obviously a bit difficult.

However, no matter who can start in these two knockout games, Li Moody is familiar with their weaknesses. The Frenchman is tall and does a good job in concentration, but he is not good at kicking the ball with a big foot, and his judgment on long-range shots is often ambiguous. There is a problem; as for the Costa Rica national goal, it is just the opposite. They are experienced in blocking close-range and long-range shots, but their stature is too short, and because of their age, their bounce and reaction ability have declined compared to their peak period, and the loopholes are still obvious.

That's why Li Mudi calmly believed that his side's odds of winning would be much higher than the outside world predicted, and he naturally relaxed up.

As a result, there was no unexpected situation for the Gunners coach. Although Paris, which is playing away, has a clear advantage in the value of the starting players, the team still has superstar Neymar who can rank among the top ten in today's world football. However, due to cautious tactical choices and the shortcomings of players at both ends, they failed to take advantage of the Emirates Stadium.

Cavani, who started the game, was marked by two central defenders, Llorente and Maguire, and failed to achieve the desired effect of Qi Zu. Augustin, who came off the bench, was in poor form. Not only did he often make mistakes in cooperating with his teammates, but also Before the end of the game, Neymar wasted a wonderful through pass and kicked the single-handed ball directly to the stands, becoming the worst performance of all the players on both sides in this game.

Goalkeeper Areola is also his brother and sister. Although the French international blocked a powerful header from Maguire, he also made two low-level mistakes in catching the ball and dropping it. The goal was broken.In the 7 minutes of the second half, Chuma knocked on the gate guarded by Chuma for the second time.

In the end, Arsenal defeated Paris Saint-Germain 2-0 at home in the first round of the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals, putting a heavy weight on the balance of promotion.

两周后，李慕迪又率队在王子公园球场打起了坚决的防守反击，令现场接近五万名法国球迷足足嘘了90多分钟。不过一场1比2的小败却保证了他们自2009-10赛季之后首次杀进了欧冠淘汰赛次轮。

With the blessings of Qi Zu and the professor, Li Mudi and his team embarked on a journey where the situation became more and more severe. Naturally, what awaited them was one powerful opponent after another.

(End of this chapter)