Qin Xiong gave off a different fighting stance today, as if he had a murderous aura.
He remained silent throughout, as reticent as his character in life. But he was not a person who died in silence. He had his own thoughts, and he would explode in silence!
There would always be people in life who would try to hurt your dignity and emotions when you felt inexplicable and harmless.
He would use his performance on the field to fight back against the media's doubts and ridicule.
Today, he would use his performance on the field to fight back against the anger that the Tottenham Hotspur fans had accumulated in his life!
Perhaps for him, as an Arsenal player, his hatred for Tottenham Hotspur had not developed to the level of hatred, but even if he was angry, he still needed to vent!
"On a sunny afternoon, we are at London's White Hart Lane stadium, where the North London derby is about to take place. Tottenham Hotspur is facing their neighbor, Arsenal at home! Tottenham Hotspur's start to the new season was not smooth. The former French national team manager, Santini, who had only led the team for three months, was fired by the board of directors. Santini's former assistant, the Dutch manager, Martin Jol, became the new manager of Tottenham Hotspur. He was really unlucky. The first game he led the team to play was the North London derby against the league leader, Arsenal. Hopefully, the Tottenham Hotspur team could really change the manager. Just like how Martin Jol appeared on the sidelines in a brand new suit today, the Tottenham Hotspur fans must also hope that the team could be refreshed and destroy Arsenal with a high fighting spirit. But that was an impossible task in the eyes of the neutral fans and Arsenal fans!
Arsenal had won the Premier League's 52-game unbeaten streak, only six games away from AC Milan's 58-game unbeaten streak in the five major leagues. Wenger's team seemed unbeatable. Even when the players were injured, the core players did not play well in a game, and the defenders made low-level mistakes, an imperfect Arsenal team could not be defeated! Because in the past two months, the team's midfield star, Qin Xiong, was in great form! He was always able to stand up at the crucial moment. He was a big-game player. During his time with Ajax, he had shown this temperament. Haha, would he have stage fright today? Looking at his mental state when he came on, I believe no one would doubt his fighting spirit. He looked more full of fighting spirit than any other player!
Well, let's take a look at the starting lineup of both sides.
Tottenham Hotspur starting 442.
Goalkeeper: Robinson.
Defenders: Tariq, Ledley King, Nabet, Edman.
Midfielders: Simon Davies, Michael Brown, Pedro Mendes.
Forwards: Robbie Keane, Defoe.
Arsenal started 4-4-4-2.
Goalkeeper: Lehmann.
Defenders: Lauren, Toure, Campbell, Ashley Cole.
Midfield: Ljungberg, Vieira, Qin Xiong, Reyes.
Forwards: Henry, Bergkamp. "
Wenger was not particularly satisfied with Arsenal's condition after Pires' recovery today, so he continued to use Reyes. In addition, Silva had just recovered from his injury, so Wenger still let him sit on the substitutes' bench to be on the safe side. Qin Xiong and Vieira played the midfield combination, and Bergkamp returned to the starting lineup.
Tottenham Hotspur's starting lineup was a typical English 4-4-2 combination.
Especially in the midfield combination, the number six position was taken by Michael Brown, and the number eight position was taken by the England national footballer, Carrick. In fact, Arsenal's side was similar.
When the players from both sides shook hands before the game, Qin Xiong was surprised to see an opponent who was not a stranger.
Mendes.
He transferred to Tottenham Hotspur from FC Porto in the summer. Half a year ago, he played against Qin Xiong in the Champions League final.
White Hart Lane was always full of noise!
The two teams of fans in the stands cheered and sang. If there were no security guards standing in the aisle of the stands to separate the two teams of fans from the seating area, they might have fought with fists.
The game began with loud boos.
Arsenal kicked off. As long as the ball was at the feet of Arsenal's players, deafening boos could be heard in the stadium. If one was close to the sidelines, one could hear the agitated abuse of the Tottenham Hotspur fans in the nearby stands more clearly!
Qin Xiong started to run with enough motivation and immediately got into the game.
But he saw a scene that he did not expect.
Tottenham Hotspur bravely counterattacked in the middle and front field, fiercely surrounding and snatching. If they could not touch the ball, they would use their thighs to hit Arsenal's players. Their defensive line directly left the penalty area and was more than 35 yards away from the goal!
With the defensive line as a prerequisite, it was simply too dangerous.
But they did it!
And Arsenal wanted to carry out all-round cooperation in the midfield, which was harder than ascending to the heavens!
Long-distance passes would make the football spend more time in rolling, and it would also allow Tottenham Hotspur's counterattack to react quickly. Most of the time, the players would be entangled and unable to steadily pass the ball, let alone control the ball in place.
The rough confrontational style that was already popular in the lower leagues of English football reappeared unexpectedly in this kind of arch-rival derby.
Qin Xiong was mentally prepared, so he always kicked the ball out and did not try to control the ball or bypass people.
But the situation of the game made him frown slightly.
He did not dare to easily enter the dangerous area in the front field. He could only support in the middle and back field by passing the ball to steadily send the ball to his teammates in the front field and shift the offense.
Because Vieira was even more aggressive than he was!
He did not seem to be a defensive midfielder.
Qin Xiong did not understand.
On the football field, the captain did not have to rush to the front line. Otherwise? The defender, the goalkeeper, was the captain. Did he have to rush up to show his existence?
Qin Xiong was actually filling in for Vieira. A defensive line without the protection of a defensive midfielder was very dangerous. It did not need to be taught a lesson to suddenly wake up!
Both teams were very fierce and rough in their local and small areas, fighting for every inch of ground!
The rhythm was very fast, but it was a small-scale tug-of-war. Qin Xiong was constantly passing the ball, organizing, and filling positions to fight for the ball while observing the changes in the situation. He still couldn't understand why Vieira didn't have the awareness of retreating to a stable defensive position even though he was clearly ahead of him.
Reyes dropped the ball again!
Qin Xiong could see that even if the Spaniard repeatedly said that he was not afraid of the confrontation on the English field and that he had adapted to the English game style, it was obviously nonsense to fool people!
Against an ordinary opponent, an opponent who would not risk their lives to fight Arsenal for one point, Reyes's talent could be released and displayed. But against an opponent like Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur, who would fight Arsenal to the death, Qin Xiong would not say it out loud, but he knew in his heart that he was a softie!
At least in this kind of game, he was a softie!
When he controlled the ball to get rid of the opponent, and the opponent raised his leg as if to kick his body, Reyes seemed to be stable, but his brain would crash after dodging and he would not know what to do next. That meant that although he was not violated, he was completely panicking!
In the 13th minute of the first half, when Davies raised his leg and seemed to kick Reyes, but Reyes flicked the ball past him, a scene that made Qin Xiong and the other Arsenal teammates speechless appeared.
Reyes had clearly bypassed the opponent. As long as he connected the next move to bypass the opponent, he would definitely be able to bypass Brown, who came up to press him. But when Reyes took the second step after standing firm, his legs went soft without warning. It was as if he was diving and falling to the ground!
No one touched him!
He successfully bypassed Davies!
But why did his legs go soft?
Obviously, his heart was not as stable as his body showed. He was still very, very flustered!
Reyes immediately got up from the ground and lowered his head to the backfield to defend. He had lost the ball, or directly returned it to the opponent.
He did not dare to look at the expressions of his teammates. He knew how embarrassing his performance was just now.
He was like an ostrich on the field. He was afraid that others would notice his inner panic and trembling, so he tried to put on a cool expression as if he was a tough guy.
But it was not a matter of expression!
No teammates would target him and blame him because he was not the main force!
And his weakness might not be a problem in other leagues, such as the Bundesliga, La Liga, or France Ligue 1. But in the English Premier League, it would be infinitely magnified and become the target of ridicule and attack by the fans and media.
Taking advantage of an opportunity when Arsenal attacked a corner kick, Vieira turned and walked towards Qin Xiong. Qin Xiong thought that the captain finally realized that he had left his post without permission. He did not expect Vieira to come over and put his arm around Qin Xiong's shoulder. He pointed his finger at Tottenham Hotspur's goal and said to him with a serious expression, "You should also be able to see that our left flank attack is once again in a state of paralysis. Now we need you to go forward and pose a threat! Attack up and show Tottenham Hotspur what we're made of! "
Qin Xiong was really a little annoyed!
He said to Vieira in a harsh tone, "If you had done your defensive work as a defensive midfielder, I would have gone up long ago!"
He was thinking about the overall situation!
Instead, it seemed like Vieira was reminding him to be more proactive.
Was there a mistake?
Vieira did not mind Qin Xiong's slightly harsh tone and sharp questioning.
He still had his arm around Qin Xiong's shoulder and stared at Tottenham Hotspur's half with a knife-like gaze. He said in a deep voice, "This is your first time experiencing the North London Derby. I don't blame you! Now listen carefully, this is not a f * * king normal game! This is a game where you can score three goals, so don't defend passively just because you have the lead. You can only win two games! We have to score goals. We have to score goals by any means possible. Every goal is like a slap to the face of Tottenham Hotspur Football Club and their fans! Usually, we would pay attention to defense. Today, no! Today, attacking is the first choice, the most important choice! Concede a goal? If Tottenham Hotspur scores one goal, we'll score two goals. If they score two goals, we'll score four goals for them! When facing Tottenham Hotspur at Highbury, we'll completely suppress them. At White Hart Lane, Tottenham Hotspur will not hide and defend! Motherf * * ker! We just have to let Tottenham Hotspur fall into a pool of blood. At the end of the game, no matter how many goals Tottenham Hotspur score, as long as we score more goals than them, we can step on their corpses and party! "
Qin Xiong stared at Vieira, dumbfounded. Vieira's eyes seemed to be burning with flames. He patted Qin Xiong's head. Qin Xiong stretched his neck, as if he was getting to know the game all over again. He thought he was ready to step on the stage of his arch-rival, the Derby. No, no, no. All the self-righteous preparations before the game were one-sided and insufficient. Only when one was in the situation could one truly understand the meaning of the game!
The Premier League was an emotional league. It originated from high-intensity confrontations and a destructive rhythm. Once the rhythm was out of control, no one could control it because they could not calm down. One player, two players … A team would become emotional during the game!
Arsenal was no exception. After all, they were a team that existed here.
This kind of emotional performance was irrational, but when you integrated into the environment, you had to do it! It was like being controlled from the depths of your soul, completely unable to calm down.
English football was different from the continental style of Europe as a whole. The continental style of Europe paid attention to teamwork and the whole, with high demands for tactical discipline. The advanced nature of European football was also reflected in the formation of the players, and the mainstream core concept was: first defend, then attack!
In such an important derby with their arch-rivals, Arsenal had given up on this core concept. The emotional impact of the Premier League competition was so great that Qin Xiong was deeply shocked!
He had wronged Vieira.
Vieira was not wrong!
He should bravely charge forward in this kind of game and try his best to create opportunities to score goals. He should also display his fierce strength to suppress, bully and trample on the Tottenham Hotspur players!
Qin Xiong was no exception!
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