Arsenal's 50th unbeaten Premier League game was drowned in the bombardment of public opinion of the "Fast Food War."
The attention of the outside world seemed to have shifted from Arsenal's impressive record to the more gimmick of the players' conflict after the game.
Overall, the draw at Old Trafford was a slight blow to Arsenal's morale.
Apart from the game, Arsenal should be satisfied.
But when they thought about how they started the game with a nine-game winning streak and took the lead twice in the game before being forced into a draw by Manchester United, even though it was at Old Trafford, Arsenal's players were still very dissatisfied.
The draw between Arsenal and Manchester United allowed Chelsea to benefit.
Chelsea, who won in the tenth round, shortened the gap with Arsenal from seven points to five points. At the same time, it widened the gap with Manchester United from six points to eight points.
In the midweek EFL Cup, Arsenal went to Manchester again to challenge Manchester City in an away game. Wenger sent a lot of young players and substitutes to compete in the EFL Cup. Qin Xiong was simply not on the squad list. He had to deal with the next Premier League and Champions League games.
Arsenal beat Manchester City 2: 1 in the away game and successfully advanced to the next round. The young players in the team got reasonable training.
Because Silva was still injured, Wenger sent out the midfield combination of Vieira, Fàbregas and Qin Xiong for the home game against Southampton on the weekend.
Henry's condition was obviously better than a week ago. Pires had just returned and did not have frequent outbursts in the game. Ljungberg was cautious and conscientious. Arsenal's biggest highlights in the game came from Qin Xiong and Henry.
But the process of the game was full of twists and turns.
Qin Xiong took the lead in assisting Henry to score in the 20th minute of the first half. Then an unexpected scene appeared.
Southampton's two demons in the front line, James Beattie and Kevin Phillips, actually scored a goal each before the end of the first half to complete the reversal!
On the way back to the locker room, Wenger kept his head down thoughtfully.
Arsenal's midfield system had problems in the first half, mainly in the defense.
It had nothing to do with Qin Xiong!
Whether it was Fàbregas or Vieira behind him, if Qin Xiong sensed that his teammates behind him were going to move forward, or that the front line needed more threats from the back, then Qin Xiong would drop the organization task and move forward decisively.
But in terms of player characteristics, Vieira's initiative to move forward and Fàbregas' initiative existed at the same time.
This broke the balance of Arsenal's two defensive midfielders.
Moving forward, Vieira's partner was Parlor. Vieira was a player who was good at both offense and defense. However, this was not an absolute guarantee, because even a world-class defensive midfielder could not guarantee that he would be able to attack every time he rushed to the front field, preventing the opponent from launching a quick counterattack.
And the moment the opponent played a counterattack, especially in England's fast-paced game, it was basically difficult for the defensive midfielders to chase back to the front of the penalty area to form a barrier. The speedy defensive midfielders might be able to chase back to defend, but chasing back and frontal defense had already become passive in the situation.
Therefore, whether it was Parlour, who was by Vieira's side, or Silva, who had been by his side for the past two seasons, they had become stable defensive barriers in front of the defense. At least, they ensured that even if Arsenal's defensive line was counterattacked, they would still have the defensive layer of an iron triangle defense.
But when Fàbregas and Vieira were paired together, if the two men went forward together and were counterattacked by the opponent, then the back line was completely defenseless.
Not to mention that the two men actually had a conflict in their responsibilities during the attack after half of the field.
This was an important reason why Arsenal's defensive line was broken by the opponent's counterattack in the first half. Without a reasonable defensive layer, it was too easy for the opponent to counterattack. As long as they grasped the timing of the pass and run, they could easily break through the defensive line, and it had little to do with the defensive players' individual ability. It was a strategic failure!
Wenger had a headache about this.
If Vieira did not participate in the attack and played the role of Silva or Parol, Vieira would certainly not be happy. He had the ability to organize and assist in the midfield, why not use it?
But it was absolutely impossible to let Fàbregas play as an engineer defensive midfielder. Even if Fàbregas was willing, Wenger was afraid that he would not be able to sleep.
In any case, with an eye to the changes in the game, Wenger ordered Vieira during the halftime interval to stabilize the back line and ensure that there were no more problems in the defense!
Vieira prioritized the overall situation and naturally agreed without any objections. As long as Silva recovered from his injury and returned to the field, he would naturally resume his former role.
Arsenal's defensive performance immediately improved in the second half. Southampton, who came to Highbury to play defense and counterattack, did not get many good opportunities, and as time went by, their offensive enthusiasm became lower and lower.
Arsenal began to put pressure on the opponent through frequent long shots.
If Pires was in peak condition, Arsenal could break through the opponent's iron bucket formation through more delicate ground passes and cuts. But when Pires could only play a steady role in the contribution of receiving the ball, Arsenal could only rely on individual breakthroughs, long shots, and set pieces to break through the dense defense.
When the Arsenal fans began to worry again, Arsenal equalized the score in the 69th minute of the game with a long shot from outside the penalty area by Henry. It was a world-class kick.
Four minutes later, Henry was knocked down by the opponent on the left side of the penalty area and received a free kick. Qin Xiong scored from the free kick!
Arsenal scored two goals in five minutes to reverse the score!
There were no more changes in the score. In fact, before Qin Xiong scored, Southampton's substitution adjustment was to strengthen the defense, but Arsenal opened the gate with a free kick. Southampton had no choice but to swallow their anger and accept the reversal, only to be met with the fate of being reversed again.
After the game, Wenger was only excited for a short time before he fell into a long period of thinking.
Qin Xiong integrated into Arsenal and began to become the key player in Arsenal's offense.
He would contribute assists and score key goals when the team needed someone to step up.
And what about his teammates?
Fàbregas was also improving. The young but mature Spanish genius made Wenger unable to ignore his existence and look forward to his future.
The biggest question hidden in Wenger's mind was: How could Fàbregas and Vieira coexist?
When Qin Xiong replaced Bergkamp, his position was already unshakable.
Whether it was Vieira or Fàbregas, it could not be said that they could not play as an attacking midfielder, but it was obvious that they could not perform better than Qin Xiong in the attacking midfielder position. Among all the players in Arsenal's lineup, no one else could compete with Qin Xiong.
Therefore, Vieira and Fàbregas could only appear in the center midfielder or defensive midfielder position, but they seemed to have mutually exclusive or offset effects in the same area. Not to mention actively promoting each other, it might be difficult to even achieve the most basic balance of coexistence.
Wenger would not rush to a conclusion. He was willing to observe for a while, especially considering that Vieira would be 30 years old in two years. Would he be willing to change his style of play at the critical point of the end of his career and concentrate on defense? If he was willing, then he and Fàbregas had a theoretical basis for coexistence.
Wenger praised Qin Xiong after the game and said, "He integrated into Arsenal faster than I expected. Henry, who scored a brace, is a good player. I'm not surprised by Henry's performance. If it's normal for a striker to score at least 30 goals in a season, then this striker is Henry. Would anyone be surprised if he scored? So I think we should talk about Qin Xiong. He adapted well to the Premier League and began to make a name for himself here. His field statistics in the past two months are dazzling. If you've seen Qin Xiong's attitude in training and understand his professionalism, then maybe we shouldn't be surprised. But for young players, I think we still need to give them more encouragement and trust. I believe Qin Xiong will be better. "
The news in England was updated quickly because it was the hub of European news. The news of the game with Manchester United a week ago had become uninteresting after a week.
Many football critics and writers in Fleet Street agreed with Wenger's remarks.
"Qin Xiong has become Arsenal's key player!"
"3: 2 Bolton Wanderers, 2: 2 Manchester United, 3: 2 Southampton. Except for those games where he scored and Arsenal massacred their opponents, Qin Xiong scored key goals in the above three games. His goals brought at least five points for Arsenal. It may seem little, but considering that he missed four Premier League games in August and only played six Premier League games, he was able to directly grab five points for the team. Not including the assists and goals he contributed in other winning games, we can say that the MVP of last season's Champions League final has become an important player on Arsenal's road to defending the league title!"
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