Mister Legend

Chapter 547 Persistence is Victory
Before advancing to the quarter-finals of the Champions League, Arsenal experienced three more games after the first round of the contract with Paris, including the fifth round of the FA Cup and two league games.As a result, the Gunners eliminated Chelsea head-on at home and successfully advanced to the quarterfinals of England's largest domestic cup.

But at the same time, it was also disturbed by continuous encounters with strong enemies. It was tied by Burnley in the away game and continued to rank No.6 in the Premier League standings. There is still a gap of four points from the fourth Manchester United. It seems that they want to ensure that Next season's Champions League tickets still need the team's continued efforts.

However, after this wave of difficult matches, the Gunners ushered in a period of relatively relaxed days. Although they basically played consecutive double matches for a week, the opponent's strength has declined significantly, especially in the lucky ones. With the help, the draw results of the two cup competitions are very favorable to them, which leaves enough energy for Li Mudi to launch a sprint in the league.

In the quarter-finals of the FA Cup, Arsenal drew the only non-Premier League team at this stage-Wigan Athletic from the British Championship. Even if it is an away game, it is not very difficult to win. Manchester City, who encountered Liverpool, was envious.

As a result, in the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals draw a week later, Guardiola's previous envy towards Li Mudi turned into jealousy and hatred, because he was drawn to his old club Barcelona's Guardiola, and he could only watch Li Mudi become the lucky one again. .

The Gunners' opponent in this round is the Serie A giants Juventus, which should be an extremely tough nut to crack, but the Bianconeri are currently suffering from an offensive organization due to the injury of midfielder Milinkovic-Savic. big problem.

In the just-concluded first round of knockout rounds, they lost the team's top scorer Icardi, who was not likely to return until early April due to a leg muscle injury, making Conte, who returned to his old club, simply devastated , His frowning look has also become the focus of recent Italian media reports.

Although the overall strength of the old lady should not be underestimated, the inability of the two most important cores in the formation to play made them the weakest persimmons on paper among the quarter-finals of the Champions League. In the eyes of the outside world, the Eredivisie powerhouse Ajax, which has returned to this stage with the explosion of this youth training, is stronger than the Bianconeri, which has lost its strongest offensive weapon.

However, this "big bargain" was picked up by Arsenal. How could this not make Blue Moon, who has basically formed a new rival relationship with him, lament the unfair fate!
In fact, even Li Moody himself lamented in private that luck is really indescribable. The first half of this season was so bad, and after getting the super medal in the middle, good luck seemed to flock to him again. came back.

For example, after the second round match against Paris Saint-Germain, the Gunners hurried back to London before they were too happy. Facing Manchester United, a strong enemy in the league, the shame of defeating Old Trafford by two goals last year naturally made him Every member of the club will never forget it, and this time they vowed to take advantage of the home court to complete their revenge.

But the reality is that they spent too much energy in France. They seemed a little tired in the battle against the Red Devils at the weekend. For a while, they really couldn't find a good way to take advantage of the opponent's solid defense.

Fortunately, the goddess of luck helped Arsenal at the critical moment. Before the end of the first half, Bailey accidentally blocked Golovin's low pass in front of the goal and mistakenly blocked his teammate. At the same time, De Gea also let the balance of victory fall to the home team, which was already at a loss.

Relying on a goal that was largely due to luck, the Gunners were able to regain their composure as they took full control of the situation in the second half and used their best counter-attack to score another goal from Moussa Dembele. He defeated this mortal enemy 2-0 and avenged his death three months ago.

And in the standings, they also narrowed the gap with the Red Devils. Although Chelsea took advantage of the opportunity to reap the benefits and climbed to the fourth position, the distance between Arsenal and the Champions League seats is undoubtedly getting closer.As of this round, the Blues have 56 points, the Red Devils have 55 points, and the Gunners have 54 points. Knowing how many rounds Manchester City will win the championship in advance has become the most attractive focus of British football.

In order not to be the first to fall behind, Li Mudi sent out a rotation lineup in the FA Cup in the middle of next week. However, because the strength of the opponent is far from that of Arsenal, even if the core players on the three lines did not go to the northwest of England, relying on With the normal performance of Chuma, Wilshere and Albrighton, they also easily solved Wigan Athletic, which is currently No.3 in the British Championship, with a score of 1 to 8. The latter has the ambition to win the second FA Cup in team history.

In the 2012-13 season, Wigan, who was relegated from the Premier League one round ahead of schedule, defeated the team 901-1 in the final of this tournament with the help of local midfielder Ben Watson's No. 0 minute lore. The season's Premier League runner-up, Manchester City, won the FA Cup trophy that year as a big dark horse, creating a magical history that is still talked about by the British.

However, they were indeed favored by the goddess of luck back then. They did not encounter a strong opponent during the entire promotion process. They encountered Bournemouth, Macclesfield, Hursfield, and Millwall, which were unknown at the time. the underdog.The only matchup that could be called a challenge was the encounter with Everton in the quarter-finals. As a result, Wigan Athletic also exploded and used defensive counterattack tactics to defeat Heitinga, Fellaini and Pina in the away game with three goals. Dear toffee.In the end, they killed the Blue Moon, who played with all the main players, in an absolutely passive situation with only 29% of the ball possession rate. People have to sigh that football is indeed round, and anything can happen on the green field.

So before the quarter-finals of the FA Cup, some people were still very worried about Arsenal, the main force of Xuezang. After all, the opponent had created a miracle under such unfavorable conditions, who knows if it will be repeated again.However, the depth of the Gunners' lineup at this time still showed the background of their wealthy team. In the end, the miracle nine years ago did not appear again on the premise of becoming a stepping stone, and they easily survived this metaphysical barrier. .

The opponents of the semi-finals were soon drawn by lottery. Manchester United, who just fell in love with each other in the league, once again appeared in front of the Gunners, but this time the venue was changed to the new Wembley Stadium. The old enemy, who both won two goals at home, got a real chance to show it off.

However, for this duel, Li Mudi has not yet decided how to deal with it, because the game time is scheduled for the end of March, which is the time point when the Champions League quarter-finals and the league enter the final stage. Whether you have the energy to go all out on the three fronts is still a big question mark, so you still need to adapt when the time comes.

Before leaving for Turin City on March 3, the Gunners will face Southampton, Everton and Leicester City in the league. The schedule is far more difficult than it appears on paper.

When the Blues and the Red Devils are reaping victories all the way, Li Moody's current primary goal is not to allow the former two to widen the point difference, so the focus of preparations has also temporarily shifted back to the Premier League, which allows Arsenal to finally find their way in the league. Last year, the Buddha blocked and killed the Buddha, and the gods blocked and killed the gods, and continued to fight and win all the way.

In the last leg of February, the away game against the No.10 Saints in the league, the Gunners showed a rare full lineup, and finally scored 60 goals with 4% ball possession rate. Four of them were converted into goals, and a 1-[-] victory helped the team complete a wave of three consecutive victories after losing to Liverpool.

Three days later, Arsenal returned to the home court and rehearsed the entire offensive tactics in front of the iron barrel set up by the Toffees. The result was still satisfactory to the coaching staff and fans.With the addition of high center forward Chuma, the Gunners, who had been helpless in the face of intensive defense for many seasons before, finally got a new siege hammer. The sea of ​​troubles generally turned the opponent upside down, and broke many gaps in Everton's seemingly impenetrable defense.

If it weren't for the excellent state of England's international goalkeeper Pickford on this day, making many world-class saves one after another, the game might have turned into a massacre.But the 2-0 score was enough for Gunners fans to leave the Emirates Stadium with a smile, find a bar to drink a few bottles of beer, and then brag with their companions.

On Saturday, March 3th, still sitting on the home court advantage, Arsenal ushered in Leicester City, which was behind it by three points.

Since Europe has restored the system of three major cup competitions, the welfare of the winner of the League Cup has changed from the previous direct promotion to the European League group stage to the newly set European Club Intercontinental League. A place to participate in the former becomes the league No.5 and the FA Cup champion.In other words, the current situation of the Gunners and Fox City is the same, and they must fight for more advanced tickets to the European War, so the importance of this battle is far beyond the historical grievances between the two sides.

However, due to the away challenge to Juventus next Tuesday, Li Mudi still reserved in this league game as expected. He put Barco, who has become the team's new playmaker, on the bench, allowing the already close Mkhitaryan, who was reduced to a marginal man, took on the role of the frontcourt commander.

Although affected by the halo of the medal, the Armenian veteran, who has just turned 33, has shown dissatisfaction due to the lack of opportunities to play for a long time, and his agent has found him before the winter window closes. In front of the Gunners coach and football director, an application for leaving the team was submitted.

To be honest, after Maguire joined, Li Moody is ready to switch Arsenal's formation back to the four-back position. In the number of games (if any), next season is the theoretically best time.

而无论在4-4-2还是4-3-3的阵型中，只擅长打前腰一个位置、边锋和中前卫都拥有太多缺陷的姆希塔良就会逐渐被边缘化，因为他的运动能力已经跟不上全队的快速节奏了。

Li Moody does not look down on veteran players. Their experience is an essential factor for every championship team. However, the tactics he is currently adopting are indeed too demanding on the running ability of the players. Generally, it is difficult for veterans to meet his goals. minimum index.Unless this player can still maintain his physique at a relatively peak state at an advanced age, such as the 33-year-old president, or his golf intelligence and skills can make the team coach ignore the defects on the cover, such as the 33-year-old Harvey or the Magic Flute.Unfortunately, Mkhitaryan can't do either.

So under the pressure of Balko, Wilshere and Beracino, who can play multiple positions, and he himself had two injuries of moderate severity, the player who once grew up in Dortmund The number one player in Armenia's history, who is a world-class star, can often sit on the bench or even stand in a daze this season.

However, his application for leaving the team was not approved in January. In order to have enough lineup thickness in the difficult schedule in the second half of the season, Li Moody does not intend to let go of any player who may bring help to the team in the winter window , so he forced the veteran to stay.

But the Gunners coach also promised the other party that he will open the channel for him to leave the team immediately after the end of the season, and will not set too many obstacles in the transfer fee, which can be regarded as a kind of compensation.At the same time, he also used some championships that the team may win at the end of the season to appease Mkhitaryan's dissatisfaction. After all, although the latter has been in football for many years, his honor is extremely limited. Without the team, it is estimated that he can only withdraw from the mainstream league empty-handed.That scene, just thinking about it, feels very cruel.

With the above two carrots in front of his eyes, Mkhitaryan quickly adjusted his mentality, and his enthusiasm in training also quickly recovered. Therefore, the competitive state did not decline sharply due to the lack of game time. Phenomenon.

It's just that now he can only exert his power in the front midfielder position, which has indeed affected Arsenal's tactical transformation. Even the replacement of players on the field who used to be able to create a strong threat is difficult to use. The game of Sturt City has been deadlocked since the opening.

Fortunately, they had the right location and advantages, and through more patience, they played a wonderful teamwork in the No. 80 minute. Chuma, who came off the bench, completed a fatal blow in front of the goal, and finally made it difficult. achieved this victory.

(End of this chapter)