The Young Lion

In the London derby match between Millwall and Arsenal at home, after the start of the game, it was not the players on both sides of the field that first ignited the atmosphere of the game, but the fans in the stands.

The huge picture scroll on the south stand has been removed, and all Lion Roar members stood up. Brady stood at the bottom edge of the stand. He raised his right hand and waved it rhythmically.

one two Three!

Stupid! Stupid! Arsenal!

one two Three!

Stupid! Stupid! Arsenal!

 …

From the South Stand, there were thunderous joking shouts, and the uniform voices echoed over the stadium.

It's not that Millwall fans are ingenious. Arsenal have been known for being boring for many years, and all English opponents will laugh at Arsenal's football.

Still, there was something original about the lion's roar, with the word Arsenal making a rhythmic pause as the whole crowd yelled.

Laughing at sarcasm has wonderful connotations!

Because in English, especially British English, the pronunciation of the first half of arsenal is very similar to ass, which means ass, fool, fool and butt.

It's not that Arsenal's players have never been ridiculed, but today in the small stadium of the Lion's Den, the roar of the lion's roar lingered in their ears for a long time, which immediately made them feel humiliated.

Aldridge couldn't help laughing when he heard the weird Arsenal pronunciation on the sidelines.

That's right, otherwise, where would it be considered a derby?

However, after the opening, it was Arsenal who took the initiative on the field as a guest.

Rioch did not dare to easily change the defensive formation of the five backs, but he allowed the full backs on both sides to step forward boldly to participate in the attack. When Winterburn and Dixon killed the frontcourt, Arsenal's offensive numbers reversed the disadvantage.

Because there are five backs and a defensive midfielder, Arsenal's frontcourt attack can only rely on the full-backs to go straight up and down, and the center attack relies on the cooperation of the central midfielder and the striker.

Millwall, who played against Manchester United in the first round of the Premier League, is the right medicine today. Nedved retreated and formed a double midfielder with Makelele, forming a barrier at the front of Millwall's penalty area, directly cutting off Arsenal's striker Link to midfield.

Ian Wright and Dennis Bergkamp, ​​who are in their thirties, are caught in the encirclement of Millwall and cannot get the shells sent by the midfielder, and Bergkamp will take the initiative to retreat and will be marked to death by Makelele. When he retreated deeper, Makelele gave up and kept the area safe.

Today Millwall took the initiative to give up competing with Arsenal for the midfield, and instead compressed the opponent's offensive space to achieve stronger defense in dangerous areas. Whether it was Bergkamp's breakthrough or Pratt's insertion, Arsenal tried to cooperate , could not threaten Millwall's goal.

Seeing that Arsenal's several attacks failed and the offensive players were frozen, Aldridge was expressionless on the sidelines, but inadvertently glanced at the boxes of the stadium.

Professor, today you came just in time!

Today's Millwall is using exactly the tactics that Arsenal was reborn two years later.

Vieira plus Pettit, who was transformed into a defensive midfielder, compressed the opponent's offensive space. In the counterattack, Vieira plugged in, relying on the two wings and forward Bergkamp to retreat to support. At that time, the gorgeous Arsenal attacked Na, now Millwall can also play such an offense!

position and role on the field,

Makelele and Pettit, Nedved and Vieira, Larsson and Bergkamp are very similar.

He voluntarily gave up near the middle circle and began to press wildly. Aldrich was trying to lure the snake out of the hole.

Arsenal, who are used to playing defensively, must give them space to attack, but they have not played offensively for many years, playing the kind of 1:0 football, thinking that with Pratt and Bergkamp, ​​the team's offense can be completely new Yet?

Ten minutes before the opening, it proved the weakness of Arsenal's positional battle!

The offense can't be played, Arsenal can only increase the number of offenses, Winterburn and Dixon who come from the side can enrich the offense, but what Millwall does is also very simple, Neal and Thuram go up, match up Son, one for one!

In this way, Millwall has no numerical disadvantage in the vertical defensive line.

In the box, David Dane, who was sitting in the seat watching the game, introduced to Wenger the outstanding players in the Arsenal team, and also showed some contempt for Millwall, thinking that the last match between Millwall and In the game that Manchester United played, half of the game was Manchester United's replacement.

He is naturally a king's wife who sells melons. Arsenal can boast that, apart from the stars in the team, the only thing left is defense.

But Wenger, who was silent, did not respond. If he had a tactical book in his hand, he would clearly explain to Dane the invisible situation on the field.

Arsenal seems to be aggressive, but they can't penetrate into Millwall's offensive hinterland at all. Bergkamp couldn't catch the ball near the penalty area, so he pulled it out to catch the ball. Unable to get rid of Makelele, the two full-backs stepped up to assist and formed a pairing situation with the full-back on Millwall. In fact, for Arsenal, the situation was precarious.

As for Arsenal's defense, it was no longer stable after the full-back stepped forward to assist. However, it is not known whether Aldridge can grasp the weakness of this line of defense.

Pratt took the ball in the midfield. Several ground attacks could not penetrate the dense defense in front of Millwall's penalty area. He chose a high ball and a long pass. He wanted to try to find Wright directly to see the effect, but the ball was not unexpected. After being cleared by Stam's header, the ball fell to Nedved's feet. Bergkamp only gave up the pursuit after being accelerated by Nedved to break through symbolically.

Pratt, Mason, and Jensen lined up in the midfield defense line. After a short adjustment, Nedved made a long pass and passed the ball directly across the midfield to the left. Pires had been waiting there for a long time. !

Seeing this scene, Wenger raised his mouth slightly: It seems that Aldrich has long been prepared.

That's right, Aldridge paired the full-backs with Arsenal's full-backs instead of letting the two full-backs retreat, the purpose is obvious.

After Pires took the ball, he dribbled towards the bottom line at high speed. There were only three central defenders on Arsenal's defensive line.

However, Millwall's offensive numbers have a clear advantage.

Pires took the ball, and the three teammates running forward with him on the same line were Trezeguet, Larsson and Schneider.

Pires didn't cut inside, but went all the way to the black ground to kill towards the bottom line. When he crossed the parallel position of the penalty area line, he made a disguised inside cut. At this time, Arsenal's defensive line had to divide. to stop him.

The distance between the three central defenders in the penalty area was opened in this way, and there was an opening in front of the goal. Pires crossed the goal of the penalty area before Adams stepped forward to block him. Trezeguet confronted Boulder physically. He wisely chose to miss the ball, and the ball rolled back from his and Boulder's feet. Larson was already prepared, rushed to the goal and retreated two steps, and had ample time to prepare for the incoming ball. But a shooter like him doesn't need much time in the penalty area. He lightly pushed the bottom right corner of the goal. Seaman abandoned the goal and rushed towards him. He opened his arms and lowered his center of gravity. He could only watch the ball pass from him The open feet rolled over, and then, the lion's den stadium was full of cheers!

Larson! Arsenal's defense completely surrendered. They couldn't touch the ball, and they didn't even have a chance to physically fight the foul. Millwall took the lead when the scene didn't seem to be dominant. They used a textbook. The counterattack pierced the goal guarded by Seaman, Larsson is too calm in front of the goal, judging from his adjustment from running in place to ready to catch the ball, and his calm confidence in shooting, he definitely has the potential to become a top shooter!

After Larson scored the goal, he ran to the south stand with a relaxed attitude, and his teammates rushed over.

They love this wonderful feeling so much!

Is there anything more enjoyable than breaking through Arsenal's gate, leading the derby and watching the fans cheer wildly for them?

Aldridge just applauded, the game has only started ten minutes, there is no need to get carried away, besides, the opponent he is facing is not a powerful team.

Whether it is Manchester United, which faced a big change in the first game and lacked the soul of Cantona, or Arsenal, which is now in a confused stage of transformation, the two traditional giants have not reached their peak state, and Millwall still has great potential. Not only the growth of the players, but even the technical and tactical aspects have not been fully formed. Aldridge will not be complacent, and there is still a long way to go.

Rioch stood on the sidelines just to encourage the players, and he couldn't do much else.

In the box, Arthur celebrated happily, even danced, and shouted Millwall's name loudly. Compared with Arthur's pride, David Dane, who was sitting in a suit and leather tie and had a neat hairstyle, looked a little ugly.

He was still bragging about Arsenal to Wenger just now, but he conceded the ball in a blink of an eye. This slap is really loud! Or smoke your own!

An elegant smile appeared on Wenger's face, and he said softly: Mr. Dane, do you know why Arsenal conceded this ball?

Probably the players haven't recovered from the holidays, and the pace of the game this season is relatively slow.

Dane made up a nonsense reason. He failed to win Middlesbrough at home in the first round. The results are guaranteed, but now, Arsenal is really on the edge of a cliff.

Wenger shook his head slightly and said: If Arsenal can't make changes, they will continue to lose goals, because Millwall's tactics are restraining Arsenal.

Dane frowned, and asked back: Huh? How come?

It's very simple. When Arsenal defend except for the goalkeeper, they have three defenders and a defensive midfielder. When attacking, they have six people. Millwall also defends with six people. Four defenders and two midfielders. In the case of equal numbers, Due to Arsenal's past tactics, the players' cooperation could not achieve an equal number of players to penetrate Millwall's defense. After being counterattacked, Millwall had four players in attack, and Arsenal also had four players in defense, but the problem Yes, there is a midfielder in Arsenal's defense, and Millwall can be said to have four people lined up or in a dish shape. They use the vertical width to form a four-on-three numerical advantage, unless Arsenal's midfielder can Return to the penalty area and become a defender, otherwise, Millwall will have a similar opportunity to score just now, grasp it, and Millwall will score again.

Dane thought for a while and then nodded, Then what's the crux of the matter?

Formation. Arsenal used to play 5-3-2. If it was 3-5-2, they might have a tacit understanding to defend against such a counterattack. In fact, if Arsenal put down the previous strong team posture and patiently play 5-3-2, which they are good at, in turn, they can compress Mill. Wall's offensive space, then the probability of winning this game on the basis of a draw will be very high, because Aldridge definitely wants to win this game, but he has seized the psychological weakness that Arsenal prefers to win , I admire his tactical attainments.

Is wanting to win a match a weakness?

Of course, in a strong confrontation, you must first contain the opponent's attack, unless you have the advantage of absolutely controlling the game, but this is difficult to see in the English league because of the intensity of physical confrontation here and factors such as the scale of referees and rhythm changes.

Thank you, I understand. Mr. Wenger, I think you will make Arsenal great again when you come to coach Arsenal. At least you have a clear idea in your mind about how to change this team.

Now I am enjoying my time in Japan, and I have no intention of returning to Europe to coach.

PS: Thanks to Flying as if I saw you for the first time and I'm so happy today for the rewards!