My light shines on Arsenal

Chapter 183 Return to Wembley

"Is this Arsenal?"

When 21-year-old Granit Xhaka entered the game, Basel was already three goals behind, and the fans at St. Jacobs Park lowered their voices indifferently.

Xhaka moved his body and ran to the court. He saw that his opponents from London did not adopt a negative attitude towards the game because they were ahead. Instead, they ran to their respective positions seriously and looked at him intently.

A tactically disciplined team.Zhaka thought.

He looked back at his teammates. Although most of the players' faces were a little unwilling, they were more helpless and relieved.

They may have fantasized about reaching further into the Europa League, but when it turns out they can't do that, Basel's players won't be bothered.

This is the mentality of an average team.

Except for Mohamed Salah's face, which was full of obvious disloyalty, Xhaka could not see this desire to win that did not admit defeat from the faces of his other teammates.

Jan Sommer's expression was a little helpless, he may have felt that he could have saved a few more balls; Mohamed Elneny's expression was serious, and the score behind would not affect his attitude towards the game.

In addition, for the remaining teammates, what they left Xhaka with was helplessness and futility.

Xhaka sighed. He was very young, but he had a strong desire to win. He didn't want to just surrender, especially in front of the home fans.

Towards the end of the game, Basel tied the score to [-]-[-].

Chen Yao was deeply impressed by this ball because he has been observing this player since Xhaka came on the court.

The 21-year-old Xhaka is still very immature, but many of his future characteristics can be seen.

Xhaka's game attitude is in sharp contrast to most of his teammates, and his face is full of youthful passion.

His technical characteristics are quite clear. Basel placed him in the deep midfield position. Elneny was responsible for interception and support, and Xhaka had more responsibility for handling the ball.

Xhaka likes to pass the ball in medium and long distances. Since he came on the field, Mohamed Salah's performance has begun to improve. When Salah runs out of space, Xhaka's pass has a fairly good success rate in finding him. .

Basel's goal came from the connection between Xhaka and Salah. His long pass accurately landed at Salah's feet. The Egyptian winger singled out Kieran Gibbs. The breathless Gibb Si was shaken away by Salah.

After that, Salah was not pressed too tightly in the penalty area. It seemed that no Arsenal player thought that he would shoot directly.

But Salah took off - a beautiful shot. Before the Arsenal players could react, Salah's ball went into the net.

Chen Yao curled his lips when he saw this conceding goal. The original source of this conceding goal was Mohamed Elneny's steal in the midfield. He passed the ball to Xhaka, and Xhaka sent a long pass to Sasha. Lach's chance to shoot.

Who would have thought that these players would be players for strong teams in the Premier League in the future?

The score of one to three remained until the end.

Arsenal grabbed a huge advantage in the first round of the Europa League knockout round and will return to North London for the next round. With three away goals, Arsenal's advancement is a sure thing.

……

"With Ramsey's awakening, has Arsenal emerged from the gloom?" 》

——Daily Mail

February is coming to an end as the League Cup final approaches.

After returning to the UK from Basel, Arsenal defeated Aston Villa 20-[-] in the seventh round of the Premier League No. [-].

Their record is gradually getting better. The previous consecutive winless record has been diluted by a recent wave of small winning streak. The media's attention has also focused on this team again.

"Chen and his team have had a difficult two months. Their brilliant performance in [-] made people wonder whether it was a flash in the pan. After entering the new year, Arsenal's record declined rapidly. They once had a chance to catch up. Manchester United are top of the table, and Manchester United were not in good shape after the New Year - but they did not seize the opportunity, and the points gap between them and Manchester United widened."

"There are many reasons for Arsenal's consecutive defeats. Their core players have suffered a distressing wave of injuries. Santi Cazorla, after landing in England from Spain, conquered the fans with his superb performance. First half In this season, Cazorla ranked first in the Arsenal team in dribbling and key passes. His absence forced Chen to shift Arsenal's organizational functions back and rely more on Marco Verratti and Marco Verratti. Players like Jorginho.”

"The surprising thing is Aaron Ramsey - it seems that the wave of injuries has also given the Welshman a chance to find himself. Chen has given Ramsey more opportunities to play recently, and Ramsey's performance has improved Quite a rise. Initially, he was fixed in the attacking midfield position, but the Welshman obviously lacked the talent and talent to handle the ball in the opponent's narrow top."

"After that, his position was more like a versatile midfielder. As the most mobile presence in Arsenal's midfield, Aaron Ramsey will be the first to appear in the opponent's position when Arsenal enters a defensive posture. By his side, he became the arrow of pressing. Even if the pressing was unsuccessful, during the retreat process of fighting and retreating, Aaron had to bear more running volume than his teammates."

"However, when Arsenal switched to a counter-attacking stance, Aaron Ramsey once again became the spearhead of Arsenal. He repeatedly performed sprints from his own penalty area to the opponent's penalty area. If we analyze his position on the pitch, it will be It was discovered that Ramsey’s range of activity is between the two penalty areas, and his vertical running distance is the longest among all Arsenal players.”

"And Ramsey seems to have found his own way of survival in such a large number of frequent high-intensity runs. He began to learn to use clever moves in the backcourt to get rid of, or to insert at high speed from a slightly behind position, breaking in Where the opponent's defense is lax. Moreover, Aaron Ramsey's shot has good accuracy. We can see that Chen is consciously cultivating Ramsey's shooting ability."

"Before Arsenal's main players return, their exquisite passing and cutting cooperation in the opponent's penalty area may disappear for a while. Many of their playing styles have regained some shadows of last season. Simple, direct, high-speed impact. And Ramsey His performance will be an indispensable part of this style of play.”

"On February 24th, Arsenal will face Swansea at Wembley Stadium. They have encountered Swansea many times this season and have not won. If this game is played, coach Chen Yao can lead Arsenal to defeat Swansea. , won the League Cup, we may be able to admit that Arsenal has indeed come out of the gloom... and Chen is indeed the person this team needs."

……

"Did you read that article in the Post?" Bergkamp asked, Emirates Stadium, Premier League No. 20, seventh round.

Arsenal vs Aston Villa.

Dennis Bergkamp introduced to Chen Yao the work he did in the UK, including compiling a large amount of technical information, going to the youth training camp and communicating cordially with young players - Bergkamp proudly said that Arsenal The young players like themselves very much.

Of course, there is also the collection of all kinds of information.

"Dennis, I gave you a day off, so you just read the newspaper, right?" Chen Yao teased.

"No, Coach. I just thought the article was well written."

Someone was shouting Ramsey's name on the field. Chen Yao didn't recognize who it was at first, but now he won't go to the sidelines very frequently to direct the players' movements, because Aaron Ramsey is on his own He feels at home in his new role and is an excellent lubricant for Arsenal's offensive and defensive system.

Aaron Ramsey unloaded Arteta's pass. The Spanish midfielder had just intercepted a careless counterattack by Aston Villa. He estimated that he did not have the ability to immediately send the ball to the threatening frontcourt area. , so he knocked Ramsey horizontally.

Ramsey dribbled the ball forward, and a nearby Villa player rushed towards him. Ramsey shook his body and dunked the ball to the other side of the forward direction like magic, throwing away his opponent.

"Ingenious handling." Bergkamp admired, "I usually train him a lot."

"Is it because of you, Dennis?" Juan Lillo teased.

"Ahem, Aaron himself works very hard." Bergkamp smiled awkwardly, and then said seriously: "Aaron has always been a talented player. Maybe after the serious injury, Aaron lost his talent in some aspects. , but he still excels in other aspects. I think what he needs is confidence."

"And this requires him to have the right position and role." Chen Yao said, "Fortunately, I think we found this for him."

This wave of offense instigated by Ramsey was also ended by Ramsey's shot.

After cooperating with his teammates' simple passing and running, he successfully advanced into Villa's penalty area, lurking in the corner of the Villa players' sight, and then found an opportunity to start and insert.

Wilfred Zaha and Kieran Gibbs took turns pulling to the wing to open up width. Ramsey constantly looked for opportunities to penetrate into the holes exposed by Villa's defensive formation and receive Zaha or Gibbs. Si's pass and Shay Given's shot.

In the first half, many of Arsenal's attacks followed this pattern. In addition to the impact from the wing, the new offensive weapon developed by Arsenal was Ramsey's back shot.

Arsenal's persistent attempts paid off in the second half.

In the 53rd minute, Aaron Ramsey inserted into Villa's penalty area for the seventh time in this game. Kieran Gibbs and Wilfred Zaha's small cooperation from the wing entered the penalty area and calculated the pass in advance. The ball went to Ramsey's feet, and the Welshman shot the ball into the goal.

"Aaron Ramsey! If there is a hero for Arsenal's recent recovery, many people may choose this Welsh player. His tireless running and increasingly prominent contributions on the offensive end are the key to Arsenal's recovery. The booster..." In the studio, guests commented on Ramsey's performance.

Aaron Ramsey laughed heartily as he ran towards the corner flag, and the fans at the Emirates Stadium gave their cheers to the Welshman and to the kid they had watched for five years.

……

The result of the seventh round of Premier League No. 20 was that Arsenal defeated Villa [-]-[-].

In the second half, Arsenal piled up numbers from the right and pulled Villa's formation to leave space on the left. Mikel Arteta's only risky maneuvers paid off. Zaha cut into the penalty area and assisted Auba. Mei Yang scored.

After this goal, Arsenal shrunk their formation and slowed down a bit, hoping to keep the score until the end. Villa took advantage of Arsenal's change of pace to get a goal back from Darren Bent.

This goal was insignificant. After that, Arsenal maintained sufficient possession of the ball until the end, but Chen Yao still took note of this problem seriously.

Many times after Arsenal scored, their opponents took advantage of them because of the adjustment of rhythm. A mature top team cannot make such mistakes.

……

Chen Yao still remembers when he came to Wembley last season.

He specially brought Juan Lillo and Dennis Bergkamp to see Wembley. The two coaches who had just joined Arsenal this season did not have much opportunity to visit Wembley Stadium.

"A very beautiful stadium." Lillo gave heartfelt praise to this 9-capacity stadium.

The design of Wembley Stadium is very unique. This stadium is the largest roofable stadium in the world. It has a huge removable roof.

"I don't know what the weather conditions will be like on the day of the game... but this stadium can save a lot of trouble." Bergkamp said, "I occasionally think of my days at Ajax, our team and Ajax. Jax's style is very similar...if it encounters rain or snow, the speed and trajectory of the ball are difficult to control, which is very detrimental to us."

They looked at Wembley's 133-meter-high arch. In the sun, the white arch stretched across the sky.If you look at it at night, the lights above will light up, like a rainbow, very beautiful.

"I come here a little more than you, but not much. Well, I remember when I was here last season, it seemed it was also the League Cup? We lost to Liverpool, oh, Liverpool." Chen Yao shook his head and smiled, "This team has not performed well in recent years...but I actually let Dalglish steal the opportunity to win the League Cup from me."

"But it doesn't save Kenny," Bergkamp said.

"But this championship is indeed indelible for Liverpool. Therefore, we cannot come here in vain."

Chen Yao looked at the huge arch of Wembley Stadium, "This is the holy land of modern British football, a place where countless British teams and players want to come... There is a championship waiting for us here. It will be my first." This championship will also be your first championship in the UK. So, are you ready? Gentlemen? The entire history of British football lies in this stadium in front of us, and what we have to do is Let’s put our names on that championship trophy.”

(End of this chapter)