The battle between Arsenal and Chelsea at the top of the table ended in a draw in the first half.
It was more intense than exciting.
The cautiousness of a strong team was vividly reflected.
On the way back to the locker room, Qin Xiong, Henry, Vieira, Pires, and Ljungberg got together to discuss how to play in the second half. They each expressed their own opinions and summarized the problems they found in the first half, including the details they found from their personal observations of Chelsea.
It was hard to say what kind of position Qin Xiong had in the Arsenal locker room. He was no different from an ordinary player. He would not lead his teammates, nor would he resist the leadership group headed by Vieira.
But at a purely competitive level, he had the right to speak. The core players in the team would also take the initiative to communicate with him.
After all, football was not basketball or rugby. The manager could take the tactical book and plan every attack and defense for the team. It was obviously unrealistic to expect the manager to make every player clear what to do in a 45-minute game with just a few words.
Moreover, Arsenal was still a creative team in terms of offense. Their offensive routines were relatively rich. Since it was not a rigid, fixed offensive routine, then the players' individual play would play a key role. The idea of group cooperation and the all-round cooperation of the attacking group were all achieved by the players individually.
If Henry was a standing center forward, then he could hardly get the support of his teammates because the ball was difficult to get to his feet. Even if it was at his feet, he did not have Drogba's strong physical confrontation to rush out of the encirclement of Terry Carvalho and Thiago Makelele.
Therefore, Henry would take the initiative to wander around the periphery, but it was just a method, not a specific offensive idea.
The five men were still talking when they returned to the locker room. Before they could think about the results, Wenger came to them and said solemnly, "This game is much more difficult than we expected. If we face this game with conventional thinking, I'm afraid it will be difficult to cause trouble for Chelsea. We need to break the rules. Each of you has the ability to make the final call on the game, so try to ignore your original role and position as much as possible. Observe the positions of your teammates during the attack, so that our offense is more active and unpredictable."
Wenger's words made everyone nod in agreement.
The concept was not advanced, but it was difficult to form the norm in a mature team.
It was like letting Henry be a passer. He could do it, and he would certainly do it well.
But there was a problem: Henry was a striker.
No matter how selfless a striker was, without a large number of goals and a stable goal rate as a foundation, the presence of a striker would be very low!
But when it came to a crucial game, the players had to make sacrifices for the overall situation.
The most important part of this adjustment was Henry.
Because Henry was Chelsea's number one defensive target.
As long as Henry changed his offensive thinking and method, then Chelsea's defense might be caught off guard.
In the second half of the match, the two teams switched sides and fought again.
Chelsea was still confident. They held their heads high and hoped to achieve something in the second half.
At the very least, Chelsea had not been destroyed by Arsenal. This would further boost their confidence.
Arsenal, who was undefeated for 56 games, did not seem to be an omnipotent ruler!
At the beginning of the second half, Qin Xiong was still active near the center circle. In the face of Chelsea's extreme defense and counterattack tactics, Qin Xiong was actually very passive from the beginning.
Because he had to react according to Lampard's movements.
If Lampard strengthened his defense, it would be difficult for him to play more. On the contrary, he would have more room to play.
Mourinho was still ambitious for the game.
If he ended Arsenal's undefeated streak at Highbury, Mourinho believed that Chelsea would win the throne in one go!
When Lampard actively plugged in during the counterattack, Qin Xiong had an idea in his heart.
Arsenal's defense was not absolutely invulnerable, but in the context of Chelsea only investing a small number of players, it did not expose a fatal flaw for the time being.
If the full backs plugged in, they would face Chelsea's wingers, the two defensive midfielders to block Lampard, and the two full backs to block Drogba. They were interlocked, and the joint defense was tight. There was still a convincing defensive quality.
Qin Xiong still used the opportunity of changing from defense to offense after Chelsea's counterattack to break out the offensive threat.
He began to wander to the side and used Vieira's small plug forward as the central receiving point.
In the 54th minute of the game, Qin Xiong and Pires did a one-two wall pass on the left flank. He ran to the end line to receive Pires' pass and pulled Ferreira past him. Then he sent a cross from the flank. The football spun inside, bypassed the center back, and flew straight to the back of the goal. Ljungberg rushed to the back, but he was blocked by Gallas and could not form a shot.
The biggest change in Arsenal's offense was Henry.
Qin Xiong's left-leaning was just a smokescreen.
When Henry coordinated with Pires on the left flank in the 58th minute of the game and cut across the front of the penalty area, his versatility was perfectly reflected. After attracting Tiago to defend, Henry and Qin Xiong did a wall pass. After passing Tiago, Makelele pounced on Qin Xiong. Henry directly kicked the goal after receiving Qin Xiong's pass!
Čech made a contribution again.
It was not a world-class save, but it was also very wonderful. He directly received Henry's shot into his arms.
Mourinho looked grim on the sidelines.
Arsenal's offensive creativity was very threatening. He did not expect Henry to make such a change.
Looking at the attack quietly, Arsenal could almost be said to have no center forward. Henry cut across the middle as a winger.
In the 61st minute, Qin Xiong passed the ball back to Vieira, who plugged in from the back. Vieira passed straight to the front, and Qin Xiong ran to the right flank. To the surprise of Chelsea's two defensive midfielders, Ljungberg came to the middle of the front waistline.
Ljungberg did not have the excellent ability to play as an attacking midfielder, so he did not dare to control the ball. The first time he touched the ball, he diverted the ball to the right flank, where he was supposed to be.
Qin Xiong dribbled the ball forward along the flank. After making a feint to pass in front of Gallas, he poked the ball behind Gallas. Then he took advantage of the acceleration and Gallas' defensive misjudgment to rush past him. He passed the ball!
Qin Xiong, who cut into the end line, slowed down his dribbling rhythm, and then waited for Gallas to come back to pass the ball behind him. Ljungberg did a one-two pass with him. Qin Xiong cut inside, and Chelsea's right flank was empty in the penalty area.
Carvalho, Makelele, Gallas behind him, and Qin Xiong were caught in a three-sided siege. He did not have time to control the ball, and he kicked the ball out.
The football rolled behind Henry.
Henry's running position covered for Pires, and Pires received the ball from the left outside the penalty area. He pulled out his leg and shot!
The football flew into the stands.
Two minutes later, Henry retreated to the midfield and dribbled the ball. He passed a good pass to Pires, and Pires passed the ball to the empty space on the left flank of the penalty area. Qin Xiong quickly plugged forward, stopped the ball with his chest, and directly volleyed the ball.
Perhaps it was because he used his left foot, but the quality of the shot was very poor. It was directly two meters away from the goal.
Despite this, Arsenal's offensive during this period of time still made Chelsea fearful.
Which one of them was the fatal point of attack?
Arsenal's attack group covered and restrained each other, making it difficult to predict their attack point.
Such an offensive threat also made Chelsea wake up. Their opponent was Arsenal, who had not lost in 56 games!
Chelsea could only slow down Arsenal's offensive rhythm when they could not figure out which of the opponents was the biggest threat. Fouls were a good way to delay.
In the 71st minute of the game, Qin Xiong was knocked to the ground by Makelele. The referee blew the whistle to signal that Makelele had committed a foul, and Arsenal was awarded a free kick.
After Qin Xiong stood up and placed the ball, Makelele still stood in front of the football to prevent Qin Xiong from quickly taking a free kick.
Qin Xiong stepped forward and walked toward Makelele. Not only did he block Makelele's line of sight, but he also squeezed Makelele back with his body.
The place where Makelele was standing was against the rules. He should have retreated further. Therefore, he could only resist Qin Xiong's move of squeezing him symbolically, but he could not resist firmly.
Just as he took a step back, the football behind Qin Xiong was quickly kicked out by Vieira.
Henry received the pass next to Makelele and then dribbled the ball directly to Chelsea's penalty area!
Arsenal's quick-start free kick tactic was successful!
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