song of the saints

Chapter 166 Confrontation!
Southampton and Southampton's coach David Winston seemed to have nothing to do with Arsenal's possession of the ball, which was a hundred times more proficient than theirs.This is also where David Winston hopes to learn. He hopes that in the not-too-distant future, his Southampton team can also dominate the world with possession tactics like Arsenal or Barcelona.

Back to the game scene.Fifteen minutes have passed in the first half of the game. During this time, Southampton has been lagging behind Arsenal in an all-round way. It is completely suppressed by Arsenal in their own half for defensive training. Totally unable to take care of themselves.The Southampton players, their head coach David Winston, and of course the fans at St. Mary's Stadium didn't expect this situation, but they didn't panic at all. Faced with such a situation, On the contrary, the Southampton team will play more methodically. After all, the Southampton team in the David Winston era relied on this defensive counterattack to become their home. The housekeeping skills that were not revealed at the time were brought out, and they were shown in front of everyone.

No. 20 minutes in the first half.Arsenal is still occupying the absolute initiative on the field.Arsenal's young central midfielder Francisco Fabregas calmly controlled the ball in midfield, then watched the strikers move up front and sort out the possibility of passing the ball.But he found that although his team had the initiative on the field, this initiative did not translate into anything substantial, such as goals, such as the red and yellow cards of the Southampton team, just looking at the possession rate Far ahead of the Southampton team, and most of the shots are long-range shots. There are very few shots that really threaten the Southampton team's goal.Such results are all due to Southampton's good defense and multiple protections inside and outside the penalty area, except that David Villa restrained Arsenal's two central defenders from coming up to participate in the attack. , other Southampton players were involved in the defense.Moreover, Southampton's defensive system is very tight, making it impossible for Arsenal's offense to enter Southampton's penalty area.

Francisco Fabregas passed the ball to Mathieu Flamini, who was always on the sidelines. The man is more interesting in his career, when he goes from the current team to another The entire team has been transferred freely, so that his worth is zero euros, his career transfer fee is zero, and there is no transfer fee.This is quite strange in European football and even world football.Return to the game scene.

Mathieu Flamini saw that there was no chance to play the ball in front, so he had to distribute the ball to the wide players. Robert Pires received a pass from fellow Mathieu Flamini, but There is also no chance of a good breakthrough. Southampton's defensive system is very flexible. When Robert Pires has the ball, the defensive pressure on the wing will follow. Under the continuous training, the physical fitness of all Southampton first-team players has been fully improved, which allows them to occupy a place in the Premier League with strong running ability and fierce competition. Such a sustainable physical reserve It can allow them to burst out with more amazing abilities and physical fitness than their opponents in the final stage of the game.

Robert Pires also saw that there was no chance, so he still had to pass the ball to Francisco Fabregas who was standing in the midfield and had been watching. Francisco Fabregas had no other choice but to pass the ball Rub it up and hang the ball into the penalty area.But this kind of offensive play can't penetrate Southampton's iron-walled defensive system at all. The lob was easily grabbed by Luis Pereira, and he also used a header to clear Southampton's penalty area. , and this clearance is very directional. Before he made the clearance, he saw the running position of his teammate and the core of the team, David Silva, so the header clearance also pointed there, in order to let David Silva receive it. This clearance kicked off Southampton's counterattack.

The ball fluttered to David Silva's feet. David Silva and the Southampton players have been accumulating stamina, because they have been defending in the first half, although defense also consumes a lot of energy. Great physical fitness, but their physical reserves are so good that they can still charge forward when attacking.After David Silva got the ball, two wide players, Franck Ribéry and Franckiel Smicer, started to run forward, and David Villa also followed suit. Stopping under the protection of Arsenal's two central defenders, they frequently ran back and forth without the ball in order to confuse Arsenal's defensive players and make them unable to estimate the running positions of their teammates.Because the Arsenal players were attacking outside the Southampton penalty area, David Silva basically did not encounter the Arsenal players' chasing and interception when he led the players to counterattack, because Arsenal's The team members chased after David Silva desperately, but found out how David Silva ran so fast, and he ran faster and faster, as if he would never be able to catch up.Seeing David Silva trotting all the way through the half, Southampton advanced to Arsenal's half in the first half of the game.

David Silva took the ball to the long-lost Arsenal half. Sure enough, the scenery here was much better than the scenery in his home half. It was a long-distance pass that was immediately forwarded to Frank Ribery, who was galloping on the vast grassland. There was no one in front of Frank Ribery, and an absolute single-handed ball opportunity had been formed.

David Winston stared at the smooth flow of this counterattack, stood up unknowingly, walked to the head coach's command area, and looked at this wonderful moment that was about to become a goal. Feeling the galloping horse, I couldn't help shouting in my heart: "Run! Boys!! Let's attack!!!"

Franck Ribery faced the defense of central defender Philippe Sylvain Senderos after getting the ball. Out of the foot, ready to tackle the ball at the feet of Franck Ribéry.

(End of this chapter)