Mister Legend

Chapter 561 Contrast and Poisonous Milk

Sure enough, when the time came to the second half of February, the zero before the number of defeats in Arsenal's official game record book this season still remained unchanged, although the defending Premier League champion Manchester City used their home advantage to end the former league. The super record of consecutive victories, but it is unable to win more than a draw in front of this opponent who has been recognized by the outside world as having the momentum of dominating the world.

And when the Gunners defeated the Rossoneri 3-1 at San Siro in the first leg of the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals on a Wednesday last week in February, after returning to the top European club competition, Three days later, Lineker produced a live broadcast feature on the BBC's ace sports program "Match of the Day" that fully analyzed why Arsenal is so strong, creating the highest ratings for the program in the past five years.

In order to be able to evaluate and analyze this team more objectively, the program team specially invited three special guests, Alex Stewart, a well-known British football reporter, who has served ten times in England's national teams at all levels. Steve Holland, who was an assistant coach in [-], and former Manchester United legend Roy Keane, who almost completely experienced the rise of Arsenal in his player era.

After the host's opening remarks, Stewart, who was the first to express his opinion, said a topic that had been discussed by the outside world before: this Gunners and the 2003-04 season won the Premier League championship with an unbeaten record and were recognized as the national team. Arsenal, one of the most powerful teams in the history of the league, is too similar.

Not to mention the strong performance that a discerning eye can clearly see at a glance, Stewart compared the two different periods of the same team in a unique way in terms of team building, and found that the success of both sides was not accidental, but two outstanding leaders. The coach started laying a solid foundation early on for the eventual burst.

Wenger's undefeated Gunners were gradually formed from the 2001-02 season, that is, two years before they reached their peak. In that year, they won the league championship with their unbeaten away performance throughout the season. One point is almost exactly the same as when Moody Lee led the team to the Premier League title two years ago.

On the basis of a championship team, the professor added Ivorian central defender Kolo Touré, Brazilian midfielder Gilberto Silva and German veteran goalkeeper Lehmann, making the already wolf-like Arsenal become more competitive.

Similarly, Li Moody was not dazzled by fame and fortune when he won great honors when he debuted in the British arena. He completed many personnel adjustments worthy of praise from the outside world during the transfer window for two consecutive seasons, and built the team. Formed an invincible division.Llorente, Maguire, and Beracino who joined the Arsenal through his hands have become the main force or even the core of the formation, and Barco and Rodrigo, who he dug out with his own hands, are almost penniless at the Emirates Stadium. Rapidly growing into a world-class star, the vision of the two world-class coaches and the ability to cultivate young teams are indeed top-notch.

Steve Holland, who spoke next, also continued the analogy. As a former Chelsea first-team coach and assistant coach of the England U21s and senior national team, the 52-year-old coach who is full of style is in the middle of the game. The awareness among ordinary people is not high, but people in the entire English football circle know that he is the think tank of Southgate and others, and his ability in tactical knowledge can definitely be ranked among the top three in England.

Holland focused on the analysis of the tactical styles of the two Arsenals, allowing the audience to understand the key points hidden under the surface. It can be said that he has completed a tactical lesson that has been attended by millions of people.

"Let us look back at the undefeated Gunners in the 2003-04 season. Mr. Arsene's usual formation is 4-4-2, but because Bergkamp often retreats from the striker to the midfielder or even deeper. Acting as a transition point connecting the central and frontcourt, while the two wingers Ljungberg and Pires plus the midfielder Vieira will aggressively press forward in the attack, so the team's formation can sometimes be considered a 4-1 -2-3, which is surprisingly similar to Mr. Moody's current tactical philosophy."

"We take the just-concluded Champions League away game against AC Milan as an example. From these screenshots, we can clearly see that when Arsenal got a chance to counterattack or even in some positional battles, only the original four midfielders were left. Under Ndidi alone, the main activity area can be suppressed near the middle circle. Another central midfielder Bazzor who started this game will often advance forward significantly, and Barr, who plays the role of shadow forward or midfielder Branch is in charge of the scheduling of the ball together.”

"At the same time, Iwobi and Beracino on both sides will also quickly push up to the winger's position, stretching the width of Milan's defense and creating space for Rodrygo, the only true striker. Look here again , the two full-backs, Bellerin and Kolasinac, will position their positions accordingly, just like Lauren and Ashley Cole back then, they will always help the players in front to fill their positions. Pay attention to the situation on the field and wait for the opportunity to continue to advance and assist."

"So judging from this set of conventional tactical styles, Coach Li can be said to have copied the style of play of his predecessors 19 years ago very accurately. No wonder many people think that the tactical thinking of these two coaches is almost the same. It seems to be carved out of a mold, and some people even belittle the tactical ability of the Gunners' current coach, thinking that he is a plagiarist."

"In fact, this is just superficial. From a more profound perspective, the strategies of the two people are still very different, and they have completely different football philosophies. Talking about giving up strategically, Coach Li’s team has always maintained a good habit of pressing in high positions. Even Rodrygo, who is a striker, and Moussa Dembele, who came off the bench in the second half, need to come up with a certain amount of defense when defending. From this perspective, he is more like a combination of the tactical styles of Wenger and Mourinho, which is very interesting.”

"But it needs to be pointed out that this strategy requires very high physical fitness of the players, and it is almost impossible for ordinary teams to do it, but Arsenal have accomplished this super task brilliantly, which makes people have to admire them in daily life. The training effect on physical fitness. It’s just that in the eyes of the outside world, the extremely terrifying injury wave last year seems to be inseparably related to the excessive training intensity. I don’t know how they found that perfect balance point, but Judging from the performance so far this season, it is indeed a level that can achieve full marks."

"As for defense, the four main defenders of Arsenal back then were the top players in the Premier League and even Europe in various positions in terms of speed and personal one-on-one ability. Lehmann is also a very leading goalkeeper, so Their single defense and offside strategies can successfully resolve the opponent's offensive most of the time."

"The current players are completely different, although Bellerin, Kolasinac and the rotation of Karl Jenkinson and Cohan Bramall are all full-backs at the small sports car level, but almost The two central defenders are not very good at this aspect, so it is difficult for us to see Arsenal under coach Lee often use offside tactics. However, Llorente and Akanji are excellent team defenders, born out of the Italian chain. After two and a half seasons of running-in, the defensive strategy has formed a good tacit understanding in the team. Based on the axiom that teamwork is often better than fighting alone, we can say that the current Gunners are better than their predecessors in terms of defense. They are better and the number of goals conceded per game is a strong proof of that."

"Of course, in general terms, these two teams are still very similar. They both focus on the role of speed on the offensive end, and although each position is not the best in the world, they can also be ranked in the top ten. Even the top five play with the idea that everyone is a soldier, almost everyone can send a key pass or stand up and score directly, which is the most important reason why they can play amazingly dominant performances in different eras."

"And if I have to choose who is stronger and more difficult to deal with among them, I will still prefer this year's Arsenal. Although Rodrygo is still far behind Henry at his peak It's not 01:30, but the depth of the bench under Coach Li is undoubtedly far more than that of the undefeated season. Even the weakest striker has Moussa Dembele, who has already played in British football and the World Cup stage. He has proved himself as an excellent shooter, as well as George Hurst, a rising local high center forward who can play a miraculous role in tough battles."

"From the perspective of overall ability, except for the only small flaw that this team may face at the moment of life and death without a superstar capable of turning the tide, the rest of the team can score 90 or even 95 points-of course I believe they will be the one to achieve better results in the long season."

Obviously, Steve Holland exposed the fact that he is actually a Li Moody fan in this episode of the program, but except for the older generation of fans who still hold the concept of favoring the past and the present, most people still agree The view of the Three Lions assistant coach.If it was a single game, Arsenal, which had superstars like Henry, Bergkamp and Vieira back then, might still be able to take advantage of the juniors, but if it is better than ten months Among them, whose state will be more stable, there is no doubt that the current gunner has the advantage.

This point can be seen from the performance of the strong teams such as Manchester City, Liverpool and Tottenham after the World Cup. Since the recovery time left for the participating players is too little, it has seriously affected their performance. The status after the restart of the schedule.Before the arrival of the first weekend in March, Arsenal was in the lead in the standings with 22 wins and 2 draws in the Premier League. The Red Army and the Blues were not too far away from them at the end of October. The moon has been thrown away to the point where it is almost impossible to muster the will to launch a final pursuit.

After entering 2023, Uncle Zha's team has only achieved 6 wins, 3 draws and 3 losses in twelve games in various competitions, and the number of losses has already equaled the number of the previous four months.With 14 rounds left in the league, they are 11 points behind the leaders. In theory, there is still some chasing. Losing so many points in one breath, the outside world basically believes at this time that the suspense of the Premier League championship this season no longer exists.

Roy Keane, the former iron-blooded captain of the Manchester United dynasty and currently the head coach of the old club Nottingham Forest who played for the early days of the player era, is one of the people who holds this view. He cuts into today's topic from the perspective of player characteristics , and the way of comparing the two generations of Arsenal players before and after is also very interesting, attracting more and more viewers to tune the channel to the BBC.

"I have almost watched the entire process of Arsenal's games this season. Even if I can't watch the live broadcast sometimes because of Forest's work, I will watch the team's performance through video replays as soon as possible afterwards. Although this The original purpose of the behavior was to study Coach Li's tactics and see if there is anything that can be absorbed into his own system. The more he observes, the more he feels like he was playing football 20 years ago. Because he saw When players like Rodrygo, Riccidley Bazzol and George Hurst had Henry, Vieira and Bennett on their minds."

"Of course, this is not to say that the abilities of these young people can be compared with those of the stars, but their playing style is indeed very similar to that of their predecessors, especially the Dutchman, both in terms of size and temperament. It's like copying the DNA of my old rival Patrick, haha! Do you know how I felt when I saw him get sent off for a sluggish revenge in his third appearance for the new club? It was so much fun!"

"In addition, Torreira and Gilberto, Barco and Pires, Leno and Lehmann, etc., you can find the feeling of the players in the Gunners from these players, which is really amazing. .I don’t know how Coach Li assembled this group of members who almost restored the undefeated team 20 years ago, but maybe it was really fate. The French old man relied on that set The lineup has performed at a historical level, and this season, Coach Li has once again embarked on the path of making history with a similar lineup. Is this a password for success? I really hope someone can verify it.”

This is another well-known person in the industry who praises Arsenal so much, and in terms of Keane's unpretentious temperament, everyone believes that he really admires the ability of that Chinese man, so the next day the media reported There was news that the former Manchester United legend was convinced by the coach of his old rival, which set off another wave of rivalry between supporters of the two teams on the Internet.

However, judging from the general response from the outside world, I basically agree with the views of several guests in this episode, because the Gunners have performed so well this season so far, and they are almost like an invincible teacher. Opponents simply don't see a chance of defeating him.

After the analysis by Holland and the other three, the anecdote that Li Moody copied Wenger's team building method and introduced players according to the template of Arsenal's main force at the time, also quickly became a hot spot among fans in a ridiculous way. topic, and Keane's little joke about the "successful password" followed closely, and was sought after by the keyboard party.

But like poisonous milk, less than 24 hours after this episode of "Match of the Day" was broadcast on TV, Arsenal, who played in the No. There is a good chance that the unbeaten record will be maintained until the end of the season. They lost to Newcastle 20-1 at St. James' Park and broke a big upset.

(End of this chapter)