If it was just a nameless tabloid that published such a commentary, then Arsenal's players might not even read it.
But the influence of The Times was too great, and it could not be ignored.
The reason why this commentary stimulated Arsenal's main players was that Arsenal's players were afraid that what was written in the newspaper was the truth!
If it was really like what was written in the newspaper, Qin Xiong would overturn the status of all Arsenal's players!
Players who originally thought that they were on the same level as Qin Xiong would be surpassed by Qin Xiong, and superstars like Henry Vieira would be divided by Qin Xiong's glory and attention.
This was actually a very normal development law in the football world.
There were talents in every generation, and no one could enjoy glory and attention at the peak of their career.
But even so, when it came to the person involved, it was impossible to calmly accept it.
If Qin Xiong wanted to surpass him, then let him surpass him.
If he was going to be the team's first star, then let him be the team's first star.
Who would be so willing?!
It could be said that the stimulating effect of this commentary was to make Arsenal's main players "brave after knowing shame." When Qin Xiong returned to the team to participate in training, the training atmosphere suddenly changed. His teammates were more serious than before, and their commitment to their career was stronger than before.
As the second half of the season had begun, a new round of benign competition quietly took place in the team.
Qin Xiong returned to the team to train without any distractions. Since they had been overtaken by Chelsea, Arsenal was more serious and focused in their preparations for the league tournament.
However, Wenger always reminded the players to keep their mentality steady during training and not be overly distracted by the rankings.
January 22nd.
With Arsenal at Highbury, they welcomed the Newcastle United team.
The two teams had just played against each other less than a month ago. In the second half of the schedule, the two teams met earlier, so they soon met again.
Silva's absence gave Fàbregas a chance to start.
Qin Xiong had just returned from his injury, so he did not dare to fight too fiercely in the game.
But he encountered a lot of trouble!
Trouble caused by his teammates.
Fàbregas and Vieira started at the same time, both defensive midfielders.
However, the two of them had conflicting thoughts when participating in the attack.
Although both of them were able to play as defensive midfielders, both of them had the awareness to move forward. Furthermore, the inertia of their movements was vertical, which meant that they would arrive in front of the opponent's forbidden area before they entered.
When Vieira was partnered with Silva, Silva would sit as the defensive midfielder and defend. Vieira would sometimes move forward, and Qin Xiong would take the initiative to create opportunities for Vieira. He would also pull himself to the right flank with Ljungberg to create the horizontal width of Arsenal's offense, tearing apart the width of the opponent's defensive line.
But when Vieira and Fàbregas went forward to participate in the attack at the same time, Qin Xiong had to pull them to the side. But the problem was that when the two came up at the same time, Qin Xiong's role was reduced. Moreover, there was no one on the back line!
As a result, Newcastle United's counterattack was extremely effective in the early stages of the first half.
If there was no one on the back line, the defenders would have to go up. Otherwise, a parallel defensive line would not have a sense of hierarchy, and the opponent could simply break through the defensive line with a ball from behind!
In the 23rd minute of the game, Dyer got a chance to counterattack in the front field. He dribbled the ball towards Arsenal's penalty area, and Touré came up to act as the defensive midfielder. Arsenal's rear defensive line suddenly became extremely empty. Dyer did not give Touré a chance to close in and snatch the ball. He sent a direct pass to Bellamy.
Before Bellamy could kill his way into the penalty area, Lehmann, who had a wide range of movement, had already decisively abandoned the goal. He slid and tackled Bellamy outside the penalty area. The referee whistled and ruled that Lehmann had committed a foul and showed him a red card!
Lehmann was extremely angry when he left the field, but he was not protesting against the referee's decision. He was dissatisfied with the team's defense!
Who was it? It was unclear.
Maybe the defensive midfielders and defenders were all within his range of attack.
The German goalkeeper, who had a fierce conflict with Henry before the season, was not a softie. He believed that he was the victim of Arsenal's poor defense in this game, and it was understandable for him to vent his anger verbally.
"Oh no, Arsenal is down one player in the first half. If Lehmann had not abandoned the goal, Bellamy would have had a one-on-one chance. But he might have been calmer. Taking a step back and thinking about it, even if Bellamy had scored this goal, Arsenal would still have had 11 players to play against 11 players. There was plenty of time in the game, but now they have to play against 10 players. Conceding a goal or playing one less player, which is worth it, everyone has their own opinions."
Wenger frowned on the side of the field.
He had long noticed the conflict between Fàbregas and Vieira as the defensive midfielders. But at that time, he still had a fluke mentality. He thought that Fàbregas was after all young, and that he had spent some time in the youth team when he came to the team in 2003. Whether it was training with Vieira or playing in games, they did not have a long time to get used to each other.
He felt that if he tried this combination again after half a season, the effect might be better.
But in today's twenty-minute game, it was no exaggeration to say that the conflict between Vieira and Fàbregas not only affected the play of the two players, but even Qin Xiong was implicated.
Arsenal's midfield was extremely chaotic.
The rate of mistakes in cooperation was higher than usual, and the most important point was the confusion of the roles.
Qin Xiong was not able to play his ability as a midfield organizer because the two players behind him had the ability to organize. Fàbregas wanted to play a little, and Vieira also wanted to play a little. Originally, if it was only one person, they could still maintain the balance and achieve the effect of not shining in the east and not shining in the west. But if both players played like this, purely in terms of organization, there would be a fierce conflict.
Just like in a movie, it was impossible for everyone to be the protagonist. There should always be a supporting role!
Qin Xiong should be the protagonist of the midfield organization. Vieira occasionally wanted to steal a scene, which was fine, but at least most of the time, Qin Xiong was still the protagonist.
The current situation was giving Wenger a headache.
He could not put Fàbregas on the bench for a long time. The young players needed more training, and Vieira was the leader of the team. It was too difficult a choice.
Newcastle United began to have a new idea for the game after they had the advantage in numbers.
In the previous game, Newcastle United had tried to defend to the death, but it did not work!
Sansounes gritted his teeth on the sidelines and waved his arms, directing the team to attack.
Arsenal had just experienced a defeat and their unbeaten record was ended. Now, they had a player sent off in less than 30 minutes. Damn it! The chance for revenge had finally come!
Newcastle United's morale was high. In the first half, they turned the tables and played Arsenal's rear defensive line in a panic. But fortunately, the substitute Almunia did not let the opponent break through the goal. His performance was much better than expected.
Qin Xiong was expressionless as he walked into the players' tunnel in the midfield. He was thinking about something.
Wenger had emphasized the defense of the rear defensive line during the halftime interval.
But in the second half, when the game started again, Vieira and Fàbregas were still used to pressing forward to attack.
Because whether or not they played one less player, Arsenal had to win!
Otherwise, if Chelsea widened the gap in the standings, it would be tantamount to burying all their previous efforts.
"Eh? Arsenal seemed to have changed in the second half. Qin Xiong actually returned to the rear defensive line. He intercepted the ball at Dyer's feet. Dyer probably did not expect that after he broke through Fàbregas, someone would bravely rush from the diagonal behind to steal his ball! "
Yes, Qin Xiong made a sacrifice.
He took the initiative to return to the rear defensive line.
For the team's victory.
He would do anything.
There were some things that could be solved slowly after the competition, but during the competition, he always had the awareness to sacrifice for the team.
He did not feel that he could not play to his strengths when he returned to the defensive midfielder position.
On the contrary, he had a very deep impression of the outstanding midfielders.
He thought of Pirlo, the handsome Italian who played the role of holding back AC Milan.
Now he was replicating Pirlo's role on the field. Although the style of play was different, there was no problem with the organization.
His change also caught Newcastle United off guard. Sansounes had emphasized before the game that they should focus on blocking Qin Xiong in the defensive midfielder position. Now Qin Xiong had run away. As for who would attack, whether it would be Vieira or Fàbregas, they were not sure.
Newcastle United suffered a heavy blow after attacking for a long time without success.
After Hiller received a pass from his teammate on the front line, the ball at his feet was poked by Campbell. Qin Xiong took the ball in the defensive midfielder position with his back to him. He made a right turn to confuse Dyer to move his center of gravity and then completed the turn from the left.
Looking at the situation in the front field, Qin Xiong directly sent a long diagonal pass on the spot.
There were only two players left on the front line, Ljungberg and Henry. Pires was replaced by Wenger in the first half after Lehmann was sent off.
Qin Xiong's long pass was looking for Ljungberg!
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