My light shines on Arsenal

Chapter 210 Chasing My Stars

Arsene Wenger watched the game carefully from the stands.

Unlike the singing fans, from the moment the referee blew the whistle, Wenger's eyes were focused on those places that were not paid attention to by most fans.

The lineups of both sides can be seen at a glance, and they are all regular 4-2-3-1.

Wenger's eyes focused on the posture of each player, their body language, amount of movement, arrival rate, rotations in offense and defense, determination in transition, and the expression on their faces - although he could not see clearly - As well as wind direction, light...

He instinctively thinks about all the factors that will affect the outcome of the game.

"Do you see anything interesting?" The old man next to Wenger sat down and asked the Frenchman.

"Pat, you're late." Wenger smiled. The old man sitting next to him had a familiar face: Pat Rice.

"I thought you were going to ask Annie to come with you. Now you have plenty of time to spend together," Pat Rice said.

"Annie?" Wenger turned his head, "Annie doesn't like this kind of occasion. It's too noisy."

"So you called me. Oh my god, I'm retired."

"Pat, I know you won't say no to me."

"Okay, okay." Pat Rice took off his hat. "How was the game?"

"You didn't miss anything. But..." Wenger's eyes flashed with worry, "We were more nervous than they were."

……

Chen Yao looked at the tablet handed over by Juan Lillo and frowned.

The game lasted 10 minutes, and Arsenal's turnover rate was relatively high.

Inter Milan also pressed Arsenal with a certain intensity in the frontcourt, but their pressing was not resolute.

After the partial siege failed, Inter Milan quickly returned to a deeper position to organize the defense line, using three lines of defense to block Arsenal's attack.

Inter Milan accumulated a lot of manpower in the middle, and Dani Carvajal moved to the wing to get the ball.

Damn it, it’s the Europa League final.

Carvajal's breathing quickened slightly. He was thinking for a moment, how would he perform if this was the Champions League final?
He suppressed the turmoil in his heart and looked forward.

Theo Walcott was waiting on the wing, and Carvajal took off his feet and passed the ball close to the sideline.

The ball is fast, but too fast.

Walcott picked up the ball with his back, and his first touch almost knocked the ball out of the sideline. When he turned around again, Alvaro Perez and Juan attacked and prevented the ball from going out of the sideline.

The referee awarded the ball to Inter Milan. Walcott raised his hands and protested a few times, but to no avail.

Four minutes later, Walcott received the ball again at the same position. He forcibly got rid of Juan laterally and was entangled by Alvaro Perez behind him.

Although this player appears in the left midfield position, he has the skills of a left back.

Stramaccioni sent him with defense as the priority.

Walcott staggered and passed back. Perhaps the return was too unexpected. Carvajal stumbled and failed to catch the ball.

It's Inter Milan's ball possession again.

……

Inter Milan has not yet threatened Arsenal's goal, but continuous mistakes and handing over the ball are a bad sign.

Chen Yao knew this very well.

Nearly three and 10 minutes into the game, Arsenal players' turnover rate was much higher than that of their opponents.

"Young teams always have to pay the price for their youth." Wenger said.

"We all know it," Pat Rice lamented.

"No matter what kind of genius they are, when they get to a game that determines the outcome, they all want to win, they don't want to fail, and they don't want to be a sinner." Wenger said softly to his old partner, "Someone must stand up."

"It's difficult, Arsène. Their movements will be deformed, and the tension will make them unrecognizable." Pat Rice lowered his head sadly, "We have tasted the price."

"This is a process." Wenger rubbed his hands, "I hope we can adjust."

……

Before the game, Chen Yao told the players more than once that this was just a normal intercontinental game.

Moreover, Inter Milan has long been no longer the Nerazzurri at its peak. Now they are disgraced in Serie A. They broke up with Sneijder, the team's top player, and stumbled to reach the Europa League finals.

On the contrary, after a season of tempering, Arsenal ranked among the top three in the Premier League and did not fall behind in the matches against BIG6. The players cooperated tacitly and were at their peak.

Even though Arsenal was not favored by everyone before the start of this season, in this game, Arsenal's odds of winning are even higher than Inter Milan.

From a side with low psychological expectations in the eyes of the public to a side carrying praise, expectations and high expectations, this change subtly affects the team's state.

Inter Milan is comfortable in low-profile defensive counterattacks. Veterans such as Cambiasso and Zanetti are in their thirties, but Stramaccioni's pragmatic tactics do not require excessive running volume. His age and experience are at his ease at this time.

There is a sense of ease with no pressure at Inter.

“Inter Milan played very relaxedly, their defense was airtight, the style of the Italian concrete defense was shown in this team... Compared with most games this season, Inter Milan played a better than usual performance. "

commented the commentator as Inter forced another Arsenal error and launched a counterattack.

"Does Stramaccioni have unique psychological decompression skills? It seems that the Italians should be the more nervous side..."

Stramaccioni was certainly not nervous.

Everyone felt that he should be nervous - as if losing this game would completely end Stramaccioni's coaching career at Inter Milan - and winning this game would change his destiny.

nonexistent.

Stramaccioni knew it.

He guessed that Massimo Moratti might look at him, but he didn't want to look back at his boss at all.

Moratti has explained his fate to him.

"I like you very much, Andrea, but... we will sack you. We can find a position for you within the club and, as I said, I like you as a young man. But unfortunately, the head coach of the club will It’s not you anymore.”

Stramaccioni is not sure whether he really likes Moratti. He knows clearly that the position of head coach of Inter Milan is definitely not his own.

He relaxed because of this. He liked the feeling of coaching a big club, but Stramaccioni knew that what he really liked was...

The feeling of coaching.

So, if he cannot continue to be the head coach, he will not stay at Inter Milan.

He will start the next chapter of his career elsewhere.

The result of this game is not a life-saving straw for him to stay at Inter Milan.

Stramaccioni and his players announced the incident before the game.

The players are not surprised. They are well-informed and the all-pervasive media will occasionally report things that even they do not know.

It is said that Mazzarri has reached an agreement with Moratti, and Stramaccioni's departure is almost certain.

A touch of farewell sadness still hangs over the players' hearts, and some mental shackles have been broken.

Since it's the last battle, let's fight for Stramaccioni.

……

Inter Milan fought back brilliantly.

Stramaccioni's design of counterattack lines has his own characteristics.

When he debuted, Stramaccioni was known as "Little Mourinho". The crazy Mourinho's tactics and style influenced many rising stars in football.Inter Milan is not a young and athletic team overall, but when they need to counterattack, they will not let the opportunity pass.

As the saying goes, there is no name in the finals.Because in key games, each team will minimize their mistakes, and conservative styles will collide with each other to create a boring matchup.

What often determines victory or defeat is the chance of lightning.

Cambiasso made a long pass. Alvaro Perez stopped the ball between Walcott and Carvajal, turned and led forward.

He stumbled towards the centre, where Inter concentrated their forces, with Kovacic acting as the contact point for Alvaro Perez's pass.

Cassano got into the penalty area, and his erratic movement gave Koscielny a headache. During the continuous position adjustments, the door guarded by Szczesny leaked out.

Kovacic takes a long shot.

The Amsterdam Arena witnessed this arc, which didn't look fast but spun into the dead center of the goal.

A shocking world wave.

In the 31st minute, Inter Milan took the lead by one goal.

Szczesny's expression was stunned, and he showed surprised eyes to the two defenders. Koscielny and Mertesacker looked at each other, smiled bitterly and shook their heads.

"Accidental goal loss," Lillo said.

Chen Yao cursed something and shook his head in disappointment.

Sometimes the game can be so annoying, you watch your team stumbling through the game, but the balance of the game is still maintained, and then a sudden wonder ball can change everything.

Arsenal's luck this season is pretty good. They haven't been scored on many unanswered fairy goals.

But the only time this happened was in the finals.

Needless to say, the old arms and legs of Inter Milan will definitely defend deeply under the command of Stramaccioni, forcing Arsenal to push up the formation and launch an attack.

If so, come on.

Chen Yao cheered up, clapped his hands and shouted loudly on the field. Arsenal fans also set off a burst of cheers to encourage their team to cheer up.

……

The characteristics of Italian football are beginning to show in this team.

In the limited space, Inter Milan's defense maintained a tight formation, strong discipline and tacit and accurate cooperation.

Stramaccioni had never felt so happy to be in charge of the team. He was busy fiddling with various formations in the league. Finally, in the farewell game, his players took off their burdens and found a tacit understanding. A harmonious rhythm.

He did not arrange special tactics for the team. He knew the characteristics of his team very well. They were older and slower in pace. They would be torn apart in a fast-paced game.

This game just put this group of Inter Milan players in their comfortable rhythm.

Arsenal focused on the wings in the final 15 minutes of the first half.

Cazorla was lost in the layers of siege in the middle of Inter Milan. Griezmann also failed to please the experienced Zanetti. Arsenal's frontcourt attack group was divided and surrounded.

It is extremely difficult to penetrate the center. Arsenal focuses on attacking on both wings, more precisely on the right wing.

Chen Yao sent the starting right combination of Carvajal and Walcott with this intention.

However, the smoothness of the outside attack was not satisfactory. In the first half, Carvajal and Walcott contributed half of the mistakes, and the last pass was basically a bottom pass and a 45-degree high-altitude ball. The cross ends.

Giroud took several headers in the first half. His attack caused some confusion in front of Inter Milan's goal, but unfortunately he failed to score.

After that, Inter Milan’s air defense net was woven.

The 1.9-meter-and-a-half-meter Ranocchia doesn't give Giroud any bargains.

"In the last attack of the first half, Carvajal made a pass and Ranocchia cleared the ball... At halftime, Arsenal fell behind by one goal." The commentator commented, "Arsenal has not fallen behind this season. They have many. It’s a comeback experience. But after falling behind in the Europa League final, it’s not as easy to come back as in other games.”

……

Amsterdam Arena, inside the dressing room.

Silent.

This is a weird atmosphere, Chen Yao thought. It doesn't look like the atmosphere after a complete loss of motivation, nor does it seem like an atmosphere full of enthusiasm for the game.

Ramsey drank a few sips of water and smashed the mineral water bottle to the ground.

"We didn't play well, guys," he said. "We made a lot of mistakes and couldn't let go."

"What's the use of letting go?" Some players complained in a low voice, "We can't even enter Inter Milan's penalty area."

"Aaron is right, we had a shit half." Captain Arteta concluded, "It's not their fault, it's our fault. Our fault."

The locker room went from silence to murmurs.

Chen Yao knocked on the whiteboard, "Boys, listen to me. I believe you already understand that you can't win the championship by playing like this."

He calmly erased the tactical markings on the whiteboard.

"I don't blame anyone. Kovacic's goal was an accident. Their attack was terrible, but no one can stop such a goal."

Szczesny's expression obviously relaxed a lot.

"This is the Europa League final. Final." Chen Yao read the word twice.

"I've told you time and time again not to take it seriously. It's obvious that you don't take my words seriously."

There were a few chuckles among the players.

"So now I want to tell you, yes, it is indeed not a random game. This is the first time in your career that you have the opportunity to win the intercontinental championship. It is not the same as the League Cup. It is just a small domestic competition. Cup.”

"So, it's right to be nervous. Because you want this championship and I want it too."

"45 minutes have passed and we are one goal behind. And whether it is you or me, we all know what the final is about."

"Listen, guys. This is not the crowning achievement of your life, it's just the beginning. It's a step, a stumbling block, a station on our way forward."

"We have lived in this world of rules for too long. Enter the academy, enter the senior team, enter the first team, then go on the field, make some money and then retire. This is life."

"It shouldn't be like this."

Chen Yao nodded Ramsey, "Aaron, how did you feel when you scored a goal at Sky Stadium?"

"I'm going crazy, sir. I love football." Ramsey stood up and said.

"Jamie, how did you feel when you put on the Arsenal shirt and played against Manchester City?"

"I'll never forget it." Jamie Vardy stood up. He didn't play much this season, but the only playing experience he had was precious.

"Santi, when you finish a wonderful game and come home to face your wife and children, what do you think?"

"I'd love to have a game like this happen countless times."

……

"Look, guys—outside of life as we take it for granted, these are the moments we remember. You have these moments."

"We hit the road without thinking because it felt so good to go. The world was suddenly full of possibilities."

"Now, we have stopped. It shouldn't be like this. We have come so far and we have to continue." He said, "You may or may not have heard this, but you should all listen to it now. ——”

"I will continue to struggle with life for a few more years. Either I will be destroyed, or I will be destined to achieve brilliance. If one day you find me bowing my head in front of mediocrity, please shoot me."

He wrote three words on the whiteboard: On The Road.

"Don't put your head down. Finish this half. We're star chasers."

(End of this chapter)