My light shines on Arsenal

Chapter 182 Young People in Basel

Basel, Switzerland.

St. Jakob's Park, Europa League knockout round.

A week after defeating Sunderland, Arsenal traveled to the mountains of Switzerland to face their Europa League rivals: Basel.

"I'm not used to not having Dennis sitting there." Juan Lillo said as he looked at the empty seats behind him.

Bergkamp did not travel with the team to Basel. The "flightless" Dutchman hated flying. Considering that the season was halfway through, Chen Yao simply gave Bergkamp a short vacation and asked him to stay in London to sort out half the season's work. Came to Basel by water and land.

"Sometimes I really worry about what will happen if you get lost on the road, Dennis." Before coming to Basel, Chen Yao said helplessly to Bergkamp.

At this time, Bergkamp would touch his forehead to express his embarrassment. Before, he could touch his flowing hair here, but now he can't even reach his hairline.

"I'm sorry, Chen, I just can't get used to that thing flying in the sky."

"The flightless Dutchman, ha, Dennis, are you really unable to convince yourself to give it a try?"

"I will never try it." Bergkamp's expression was more determined than when he took the penalty kick.

……

Basel is well-known in Switzerland, but it is not an opponent that can cause much trouble for Arsenal.

The fans at St. Jacobs Park were quite surprised by the visiting team. Although they hoped that their home team could win, they could see Arsenal players appearing in front of them. Many fans still gave friendly support to the visiting team. The applause made the atmosphere before the game very harmonious.

The players from both sides walked onto the court and set up their positions. Chen Yao observed the Basel players with the starting lists in his hands and pointed at their goalkeeper: "Juan, look at Basel's goalkeeper."

"Is there anything special about him?" Juan Lillo immediately reported the player's name, "Jan Sommer, a 24-year-old Swiss goalkeeper."

"This is a fun player."

Chen Yao's words made Li Luo unconvinced.

Five minutes later, Arsenal launched its first offensive. Aaron Ramsey dunked past Basel's frontcourt defender and dribbled the ball into the opponent's half.

Near the center circle, the 20-year-old Basel midfielder came over.

Aaron Ramsey thought about it. He didn't have the confidence to break through the opponent's defense in motion, so Ramsey slowed down and passed the ball to Marco Verratti, who was supporting not far away. He cautiously distanced himself.

"Good sense of position, isn't it?" Chen Yao pointed to the Basel midfielder and asked Lillo.

"Interesting player. What's his name... Oh, Mohamed Elneny." Lillo pronounced the Egyptian's name with some difficulty.

Chen Yao smiled. It was normal for Lillo not to be familiar with Elneny. In fact, no one at Arsenal is familiar with Elneny now.

But he is very familiar with Elneny. If he told Lillo now that Elneny would become an Arsenal player in a certain year in the future, Lillo would definitely think he was crazy.

Many coincidences happen inadvertently. Chen Yaoji is not sure whether Arsenal has ever played against Basel, but when they played, who would have guessed that one day in the future, a certain player in the team would become an opponent. What about the players?

Arsenal organized the attack outside Basel's penalty area. They patiently passed the football and looked for opportunities.

Chen Yao has tried to slow down Arsenal in the past two weeks.

Injuries to key players have made it difficult for Arsenal to regain the fast and accurate passing and cutting they had at the beginning of the season. When they lose this weapon, they need to take the rhythm into their own hands.

Basel leaves Arsenal with a lot of offensive space. Their tactical quality and defensive organization are much worse than those of the Premier League teams. Every Arsenal player has enough space to consider the next move.

After several passes, Marco Verratti received the ball in a deep position. He did not continue to pass the ball short to his teammates not far away, but transferred the ball in the middle distance and distributed the ball to the weak side.

"If there are scouts from other teams in the stands, they will definitely fall in love with Marco." Chen Yao covered his mouth and said to Lillo.

Verratti is gradually growing into a talented playmaker, but his size is an unavoidable disadvantage. This is also where Chen Yao hesitates against Verratti in high-intensity matches.

Verratti's body is not weak, his control of the body's center of gravity is precise, his dribbling ability is outstanding, and his vision and football intelligence are also quite good. However, when the opponent takes advantage of his height disadvantage to attack, Arsenal still gets There is no good way to deal with it.

However, at this moment, Verratti's performance is beyond reproach.

He plays slightly deeper in Arsenal's lineup, where he has a wider field of vision and doesn't have to worry about being overly pressed.

The ball flew through the sky and came to Zaha's feet. Zaha adjusted a few steps and started speeding on the spot, trying to pass Basel right back Philippe Degen.

He was not used to the turf of St. Jacobs Park. At the moment of starting speed, Zaha staggered at his feet and failed to bring the ball up. Degen kicked the ball and Basel's right winger Flashing like the wind, he drove the ball towards Arsenal's half.

"Oh, Juan, this is also an interesting young man. After we return to London, we can ask scouts to examine him." Chen Yao pointed to the Basel right winger and introduced him to Lillo.

Lillo frowned. He didn't quite understand why Chen Yao, the player on this team, knew him so well.

"What's his name...well, Mohamed Salah, a 21-year-old winger...is there anything special about him?"

Salah's performance seemed to confirm Lillo's doubts. He swayed his weight left and right, trying to get rid of Gibbs' defense, but Gibbs, who had experienced the Premier League at Arsenal for many seasons, cleverly put it on him. He caught the Egyptian winger and grabbed the ball hard at his feet.

"He has talent, but he hasn't discovered it yet." Chen Yao shrugged, "Juan, you know, there are many things that make a player, and he still needs experience."

"I'm always curious about your vision, Chen. Anthony, Kevin, Jamie... these players have some talent, but I don't understand why you believe in them so much." Lillo laughed at himself, "Maybe That's why I can't be a head coach."

On the field, Arsenal counterattacked again. Basel's formation had just come up. Their defensive organization in the offense was very chaotic. This is the difference between Basel and the strong teams.

Gibbs ran wildly with the ball along the sideline. Chen Yao kept waving his hands to the players to push up. He did not ask his players to stop and maintain the rhythm after getting the ball. What he wanted was such speed and speed. Fight back.

Fighting against the opponent's position in a static rhythm is obviously not as efficient as a quick counterattack.He will ask the team to slow down when attacking in position, but in the counterattack, they have plenty of speed and impact, so why should they stop?
Marco Verratti had been observing Gibbs's running. When he noticed that Mohamed Salah rushed in front of Gibbs unconvinced, Verratti changed direction and shook off the man who was marking him. player, creating a passing angle for Gibbs.

He and Gibbs quickly made a hit-the-wall coordination. Chen Yao likes to cultivate players' ability to do this kind of small coordination in training. A large part of Dennis Bergkamp's daily tasks is to train players. The level of sophistication with which we do this.

Salah's head was spinning like a top. He didn't know where Arsenal's supporting players came from, and his teammates did not provide enough defense.

When he turned his head back, Gibbs had already left his back and ran forward.

Kieran Gibbs is very fast and has a powerful impact when he runs.This is one of the reasons why Wenger originally considered transforming Gibbs into a left back.

Now, Arsenal's attack from the left gives them a two-on-one advantage over Basel.

Salah gritted his teeth and used all his strength to chase back. He was only 21 years old and had just had a chance to play in Basel.

Before this game, when he knew he could play in the Europa League, Salah was thinking about proving himself in front of Arsenal.

But, that's it?
Gibbs swept the ball to Zaha who was cutting inside. The two players' movements did not overlap, but always maintained an open angle. Basel's full-backs had to be wary of Gibbs's sudden advance and pay attention at the same time. Zaha, whose movement is weird, cannot block the passing line between two people.

Zaha took the ball and turned around with silky movements.

The young winger couldn't help but lamented that the intensity of such a game was indeed different from the games he encountered in the league and Champions League.

If it was a game against Dortmund or Real Madrid a few months ago, let alone turning easily in the ribs, the line selection and step control of the full-backs of these two teams when defending are much better than Basel. , it’s hard to say whether he can get the ball or not.

In front of Zaha is Basel's penalty area. Even now, he still finds that he has at least three directions in which he can advance the ball effortlessly.

Basel has terrible space constraints.

Mohamed Elneny discovered the undefended space in Basel's pitch. He threw himself in front of Zaha, trying to disrupt the Arsenal winger's dribbling, or at least prevent him from taking a comfortable shot.

He pounced, and Zaha's left and right feet took the ball in a semi-arc, bypassing Elneny's interception, and cut to the center.

When Elneny looked back, Zaha's feet were empty, the ball rolled on the grass, and Aaron Ramsey broke forward into the penalty area in an instant.

It's easy to push forward from behind.

Basel's formation was in chaos. Arsenal's constant changing of positions and forward thrusts confused the thinking of the defenders. Other players returning to the defense were even more difficult to keep track of. Their offside line was almost unbalanced several times.

"Aaron, shoot, shoot!" Chen Yao shouted from the sidelines.

He found that Aaron Ramsey was becoming more and more adaptable to his new role. On the offensive end, Ramsey looked for opportunities from a wider rear and waited for opportunities to intervene. The offensive efficiency was much higher than tying him to the front of the opponent's penalty area. ball.

Chen Yao encouraged Ramsey's actions. He did not give Ramsey too many tactical restrictions. He never liked asking players to follow his instructions exactly.

He hopes that the players can find their own comfortable roles on the court. All he has to do is give the players a framework so that each of them can form a complete formation in a comfortable position.

Ramsey fired furiously, Jan Sommer hit the ball with both hands, and there was a huge gasp from the St. Jacobs Park stadium.

"Well, coach, you are really right." Lillo said, "Jan Sommer, he reacts very quickly. He may indeed be a good goalkeeper prospect."

Arsenal controlled the placement of the ball and they continued to pass the ball in front of Basel's penalty area.

Ramsey retreated to his position, and the Basel players were finally able to reorganize their thinking and defend.

Marco Verratti passed the ball to the right, and he discovered that Basel was reorganizing their formation. When their players reorganized their zone defense, their positions tended to the left, where they had just been penetrated.

The right wing is free.

Oxlade-Chamberlain unloaded the ball, and the space around him was wide. The only player closest to him was Basel defender Kai Wossel, who was close to Chamberlain and was passed by the English youngster.

Chamberlain passed the ball, Aubameyang shot in the air, and Jan Sommer knocked the ball away.

"Faq." Lillo sighed in admiration, "Chen, how did you see Sommer's ability? I remember that you haven't watched many Basel games."

"Do you believe it when I say it's intuition... My intuition about people is always very accurate."

Arsenal attacked Basel's penalty area, and their rhythm was in the hands of Marco Verratti. The Italian's organization was easy, and he controlled the changes in Arsenal's rhythm.

Ramsey supports his teammates everywhere. He fills the holes in the movement of Arsenal's formation and waits for opportunities to insert into Basel's penalty area. His wandering makes the opponent's defense miserable.

After all, Jan Sommer is not an omnipotent being.

Before the end of the first half, Aubameyang knocked on the door he was guarding. Arsenal created a semi-one-on-one opportunity. Aubameyang pushed the ball to the far corner. No matter how fast Sommer reacted, he could not reach it. side.

In the second half, Sommer conceded two goals in a row, and Arsenal's offensive wave became more and more fierce. Although Sommer's saves in this game had increased to seven, he still could not prevent Arsenal from scoring.

"Will this cast a psychological shadow on Sommer?" Chen Yao muttered, and suddenly he thought of another person, "Juan, look at Basel's lineup. Is there anyone named Granit Xhaka?" player of?"

Lillo looked through it and said, "Yes, coach. He is very young, well... we don't have many records of him in our database. He seemed to have almost transferred to Germany last summer, but the trip failed due to injuries. "

"Really?" Chen Yao looked at Basel's bench not far away and saw a somewhat familiar face.

It looks like Basel's coach wants to warm up Xhaka.

"I wonder if Granite will leave a psychological shadow..."

(End of this chapter)