From the man behind the football king to the football king.

Chapter 284 Rival Arsenal

Like Guidolin, Arsenal head coach Wenger also expressed confidence in winning the game: "I respect Mr. Guidolin very much. He has led Udinese to achieve brilliant results in the past few seasons, but I want to What I’m saying is that, just like the game four years ago, we will still be the final winner in this game.”

The Gunners' meritorious head coach, who is about to celebrate his 3th anniversary as coach of Arsenal, is undoubtedly one of the oldest coaches in world football today. During the 6 seasons of coaching Arsenal, Arsenal has always been a strong contender for the Premier League championship. During this period, Arsenal won a total of Premier League championships and FA Cup championships, which can be said to be a wealth of honors.

In addition, he has led Arsenal to qualify for the Champions League for 18 consecutive years, tying the record set by Ferguson, and is very likely to set a new record this season.

Currently, Arsenal has 26 points after 51 rounds of the Premier League, 2 points behind Leicester City at the top of the list, and is one of the favorites to win the Premier League; it is 10 points ahead of Manchester United, which is fifth, and has almost locked in the top four. .

However, the Champions League is also a pain in Wenger's heart: Arsenal's best result in the 17 previous Champions League matches was only runner-up!

It is precisely because he has been unable to aspire to the highest honor in European football that Wenger's status has never been comparable to his lifelong enemy, the godfather of Manchester United, Sir Alex Ferguson.

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The head coaches of both sides were interviewed by reporters before the game, and the players from both sides naturally also had to be interviewed by reporters before the game.

Compared to coach Wenger, Arsenal captain Per Mertesacker is very calm: "Udinese is a very strong team and we must go all out. The result of the game? No, I predict this. I I just know that as long as we go all out, the final result will not be bad.”

Although calm, the German is still very confident about defeating Udinese.

For Udinese, captain Di Natale and core midfielder Bruno Guidolin were interviewed.

Bruno said: "Arsenal is an excellent team, so I am looking forward to this Arsenal game. I have been looking forward to it since I learned that the opponent is Arsenal."

Di Natale said: "Don't worry about us, ladies and gentlemen. I promise it will be a great game tomorrow!"

Regarding the words of Bruno and Di Natale, the group of reporters, especially the local reporters from Arsenal, had expressions of surprise and confusion on their faces.

Not only that, you can read their inner thoughts at that time just from their expressions:

"Are these two kidding?"

"Are they talking nonsense because they are too stressed?"

"This must be a smoke bomb!"

"Aren't they overestimating their abilities?"

Sure enough, these speculations were officially confirmed in the next day's newspapers.

Arsenal's local media ridiculed the words of Udinese captain Di Natale and Bruno.

"I don't know why the two captains of Udinese are so confident? Have they forgotten that the only time the two sides met four years ago, Arsenal defeated Udinese at the Emirates Stadium."

Di Natale threw the newspaper aside and said to Bruno: "I knew they would use this game as an excuse, hum! After today, let them see what our confidence is!"

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"Ignore those idiotic analysis articles!" This is what Di Natale said to his teammates in the dressing room at the Emirates Stadium.

At this moment, there is less than half an hour before the kick-off of this extremely important game. They have just returned from warm-up, and coach Guidolin has not yet made his last speech before the game. As the team captain, Di Natale is now the protagonist in the locker room.

"Data can only represent the past, not the present! As long as we all want to win, there is hope for this game! But as long as one person doesn't want to win, the final result will definitely not be satisfactory!"

Di Natale warned everyone that this game must be a concerted effort.

"We have no way to go, guys! If we can't get past Arsenal, our journey to the Champions League this season will end here. Let's play this game well first, guys!"

Di Natale said something and stepped back. It was Guidolin's turn. The Udinese coach said: "I agree with Antonio."

Di Natale puffed out his chest proudly.

"We don't need to be afraid of them, although they are really strong. But we are not weak either. A few seasons ago, who could have thought that we could become Serie A champions and Champions League champions? This is the way football matches are. As long as they are on the field, either side will win. Qualified to pursue victory. Now we are on the same starting line with them, boys. As long as we play to our own level, I don't think it will be difficult to win against them."

"We have been practicing against Arsenal for more than a week, and I believe that each of you should know what you are going to do in the game."     …

Guidolin looked at his disciples, a team he had spent years building and had achieved great results in the past two seasons.

They are not afraid of any opponents, including top clubs such as Real Madrid, Barcelona, ​​Bayern Munich and Juventus. They have all fallen at their feet, let alone Arsenal?

Although the team lost several key players last summer, with Bruno staying on the team, they still showed strong combat effectiveness. Not only did they dominate the Serie A standings for a long time, they also dominated the Champions League group stage. Advance to the knockout rounds as the first in the group.

For the Champions League, Guidolin has bigger goals and naturally does not think that Arsenal can stop Udinese's progress.

Of course, Guidolin will not really underestimate Arsenal. After all, the Gunners, who have stars such as Beggar, Sanchez, Giroud, Cech, etc., are stronger than Udinese in terms of strength. It is also dominant.

In the Champions League play-offs four years ago, Arsenal defeated Udinese 1:0 at home and 2:1 away, preventing Udinese, who had regained qualification for the Champions League after many years, from advancing to the main stage.

Guidolin summarized the lessons learned from those two league defeats against Arsenal, so in this game, Guidolin re-formulated defensive counterattack tactics for Udinese.

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Guidolin's tactics in this game are very flexible, which can be seen from the formation - what he lined up looks like 451, but in fact it is no different from 442.

Immobile, a player who can play both as an attacking midfielder and as a shadow forward, was used by Guidolin. If Bruno's main task in this game is to contain the evil beggar, then Immobile will take over the organization. The responsibility of attacking.

And if Bruno is free to organize an attack, Immobile will transform into a shadow forward, lurking behind the center, looking for opportunities to deliver a fatal blow to Arsenal.

Therefore, the performance of Immobile and Bruno in this game is very important. Both of them must know how to assess the situation.

Of course Bruno wants to perform more on the offensive end, but there is no way. Personal goals are far less important than team victory. Bruno knew this, so he never expressed dissatisfaction with the coach's decision.

Guidolin repeated everyone's tasks in this game. After making sure everyone remembered it, I felt relieved. What he can do is over here, and then it depends on the players' performance on the court.

"My work is done, gentlemen." Guidolin glanced around the locker room and pointed at his players. "Now it's your turn."

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Bruno and Di Natale stood in the tunnel at the Emirates Stadium one after another, waiting to appear.

After they lined up, Arsenal's players came up from behind one after another. It can be seen that they seem very relaxed, but most of Udinese's players are actually a little nervous.

Of course, Di Natale could see everyone's reaction. He shrugged at Bruno, feeling a little helpless.

Bruno did not respond to Di Natale. This scene was familiar to him. He had been distracted for a moment just now, and he felt as if he had returned to the day when he challenged Real Madrid in the European Super Cup in 2014. The opponents and teammates around him were all like this.

The most effective way to boost morale is never to say a lot of sensational words in the locker room, but to use practical actions to let teammates see that we have hope of winning!

Guidolin's tactics for Udinese in this game were not static. He asked Udinese to launch a fierce attack on Arsenal's hinterland as soon as they came up. His plan was to try to catch the opponent off guard at the beginning of the game when Arsenal was distracted and try to score a goal. In this way, once the lead was established, he could shrink the defense and counterattack Arsenal slowly. Grinded.

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In a pick-up before the game started, Arsenal won the kick-off and Udinese had to wait patiently for possession to transfer.

Generally speaking, after the game starts, both sides should go through a process of adjusting their status, finding the rhythm of the game, and testing each other. But in this game, after Arsenal kicked off, they launched a fierce offensive directly into the hinterland of Udinese. This can be clearly seen from their passing style.

They are not back-and-forth cross-passes, but forward passes that are more penetrating and adventurous!

After the bad beggar got the ball, he passed it forward to forward Sanchez, who started the game.

Since joining Arsenal in the summer of 27, the 2014-year-old Chilean winger has quickly become the ace of the Gunners' attack line and the team's leading figure. In the 2014-15 season, Sanchez played 36 times in the Premier League, scoring 16 goals, assisting 8 times, and winning the best of the match award 8 times; in various competitions, Sanchez played 52 times, scoring 25 goals, and assisting 12 times. , helped Arsenal win the FA Cup.

This season, although Sanchez's performance is not as hot as last season, it is still very good.

Sanchez is characterized by fast speed, strong body, good dribbling, good shooting and passing, comprehensive skills, and no obvious shortcomings.

(End of this chapter)