The first 15 minutes of the game had passed. Arsenal and Ajax had completed a total of one shot.
It was a long shot from outside the penalty area by Pires.
Ajax had yet to make a shot.
Wenger could not understand it on the sidelines.
It was understandable that Jax used a tight defensive system in the backcourt; they wanted to use more defensive players to restrict Henry, and Henry deserved to be treated this way.
But what were Ajax's attacking players doing?
Ibrahimovic had not stepped into the penalty area at all. He had been acting as a fulcrum in front of the penalty area. His teammates passed the ball to him, and he would pass the ball back to his teammates.
Snede and Van Der Vaart were more like side attacking midfielders. They would not pass from the sidelines or cut inside the penalty area.
Ibrahimovic, Snede, Qin Xiong, Van Der Vaart.
If the four of them formed a big rhombus for Ajax's offense in the second half of the last game, then from the start of the game today, the four of them shrank the rhombus and got closer to each other. Although their connection was more stable, the impact of the impact in the penalty area was almost zero!
Comain was helpless about this. It was not that they were showing any superb tactical moves, nor was it deliberately mystifying.
It was the limit of this group of Ajax players.
If they did not have the strength to crush Arsenal, how could they be sure to defeat the opponent's tactics?
Ajax's first priority was to limit the opponent's goals, and then create opportunities on this basis. If the players in the front field were too scattered, it would be easy for Arsenal to cut the offensive formation. The teammates could not connect with each other, and the possibility of creating opportunities would be greatly reduced.
They could only cooperate more in a small area to create more opportunities.
When the game had passed 20 minutes, Wenger was shocked on the sidelines.
In the 21st minute, Qin Xiong dribbled the ball in the middle to Qin Xiong and Silva. He passed the ball to Snede on the left, and then ran to the right. Snede passed the ball back to Galasek in the middle behind. The Czech veteran did not stop the ball and directly passed the ball to Qin Xiong.
Although he was parallel to Vieira, Qin Xiong did not try to break through the middle. Instead, he directly raised his leg to shoot a long shot!
Thirty-five yards away from the goal, Qin Xiong blasted a high quality long shot toward the top right corner of the goal.
Lehmann made a world-class save, single-handedly blocking the ball out of the end line!
"Ajax almost broke the goal! A long shot from Qin Xiong! This shot is beautiful, and the goalkeeper Lehmann's save is also wonderful! "
Two minutes later, Qin Xiong repeated the same trick in the middle and continued to lure Vieira and Silva. He did not try to break through, but only used the threat of possession to contain and attract the opponent. Then, he sent a comfortable diagonal pass to Van Der Vaart.
Van Der Vaart was on the right side outside the penalty area. He also raised his leg for a long shot. His left leg rubbed the ball, and he curled the ball inside. The Dutch golden boy wanted to shoot the ball into the far post. Unfortunately, the distance was a little far. In order to ensure the power and speed of the ball, he did not grasp the angle well, and the ball was about a meter away from the goal.
But Ajax clearly made a threatening shot.
After another three minutes, when Ashley Cole wanted to follow Van Der Vaart to limit the opponent's long shot, Qin Xiong dribbled a step in front of Vieira and decisively sent a straight pass. The ball rolled past Ashley Cole, and Ibrahimovic, who had inserted diagonally behind Toure in between the full-back and center-back, stopped the ball in the penalty area!
Toure and Campbell pincered Ibrahimovic from the front and the side, and Ibrahimovic promptly turned around and volleyed.
Lehmann again!
He blocked Ibrahimovic's shot at the near post.
Ibrahimovic clenched his teeth and clapped his hands. When he turned his head, he saw Qin Xiong with a callous face gesturing to him to stay calm. Ibrahimovic nodded at Qin Xiong, still full of fighting spirit.
The Arsenal fans in the stands felt their scalps go numb.
What's going on?
Ajax's sudden attack was like a tide, and every attack was extremely threatening. What's going on?
Wenger's mind worked quickly, as if presenting a three-dimensional confrontation between the two sides on the field in his mind.
Ajax's four-man attack group was the most appropriate strategy to challenge Arsenal's solid six-man defensive line!
Ibrahimovic withdrew from the penalty area, and just in front of Qin Xiong, Snede and Van Der Vaart withdrew.
In addition, Qin Xiong was behind Qin Xiong, and Qin Xiong, who was surrounded by his teammates, could easily connect with his teammates in all directions in the midfield!
This ensured that their offense flowed smoothly.
At the same time, Qin Xiong, as the commander, not only had the ability to pass accurately, but his ability to control the ball was also outstanding.
When facing Vieira or Silva, if Arsenal only had one defensive midfielder to freeze Qin Xiong, then even if Qin Xiong could not pass, he could still coordinate with his teammates to make a long shot.
If both defensive midfielders came to block Qin Xiong, indeed, Qin Xiong would not be able to control the ball for a long time, and it would be impossible for him to go forward alone. But he would create a long shot opportunity for Snede and Van Der Vaart to cut across the middle and shoot diagonally at the goal.
In Arsenal's defensive line, if they did not want to bear the risk of the ball being hit from behind, their defenders would not dare to come forward and snatch the ball.
For the two full backs, no matter who went forward to block Snede or Van Der Vaart, they would lose the ability to withdraw and control the left and right sides of the penalty area.
In that case, Qin Xiong and Ibrahimovic would be able to play the coordination of the center forward to cut in diagonally and directly from behind!
Ajax's attack group had indeed been reduced from a five-man attack group to a four-man attack group, which clearly reduced the variety of their running, passing, and cutting cooperation. But in such a situation, they displayed their ability to cooperate as a team and work together to create an advantage. Perhaps they could not absolutely guarantee a goal, but in this height of their own limit, they were doing their best to destroy Arsenal's defensive line and strive to win!
Wenger looked at Qin Xiong in a slight daze, the China player who was constantly running horizontally and vertically on the field, tearing apart Arsenal's defensive line in the midfield.
It was his overall view and personal technical ability that allowed Ajax to form a shot whenever he had a chance in the front field.
It could be said that every ball he played was reasonable. Even if it looked useless, it might be to pave the way for the next attack. There was a deeper meaning in it.
Wenger looked at the game time.
Thirty minutes had passed.
According to the current score, Arsenal was getting closer and closer to victory. And Wenger believed that as time passed, Arsenal's situation would get better and better because Ajax would definitely panic and be anxious!
In Highbury, Arsenal did not make many decent attacks.
Vieira was able to ensure that when Arsenal switched from defense to offense, the front and back would link up and give Arsenal's players in the front field an opportunity to pass the ball under their feet.
But it had to be admitted that Bergkamp was old. His ability to accelerate forward was almost no longer in terms of breaking through, but in terms of passing.
So Ajax's defensive players in the back field were very calm and set up a tight formation. When the ball was at the feet of the retreating Bergkamp, they were not in a hurry to snatch it. If they snatched it, they would expose the space behind them and give Bergkamp a chance to use his technique to break through.
If Bergkamp did not play the ball in time, his forward speed was relatively slow. Qin Xiong could not catch up with Henry when he returned to defend, but it was certainly not a problem to catch up with Bergkamp.
In order to continue the attack, Bergkamp had to play the ball, and Ajax, who had a tight combination of two defensive midfielders and four defenders, would not give Pires and Ljungberg a chance to break through from the flank and cut inside. Henry was like Ibrahimovic in the last game, surrounded from all sides. Although Henry's range of movement was large, once he left the dangerous area of the penalty area to go outside, Ajax also compressed the space in the dangerous area and did not give the opponent a chance to pass and cut.
If Ashley Cole did not assist, it would be difficult for Arsenal's counterattack to shake Ajax's tight defensive line.
This led to Arsenal being at home, but as the game went on, the number of shots on goal became lower and lower than Ajax's.
Even if Ajax was using long shots from the periphery, it seemed that the success rate was not very high to refresh the number of shots on goal.
In the 37th minute of the game, Snede shot a shot from the left in front of the penalty area towards the top left corner of Arsenal's goal, but it was once again blocked by Lehmann's world-class save.
The Gunners fans in Highbury were scared out of their wits, and Arsenal's players were also very nervous.
"Damn it! Is Jax here to try his luck?"
Did he dare to bet?
Bet on whether Ajax could break open Arsenal's goal with a world-class shot in the game?
Could Arsenal afford to bet?
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
