Henry's goal set off an "earthquake" in Highbury!
Arsenal's entire team roared, as if declaring to Manchester United who was the local king!
"Henry! It's Henry again! Without a doubt, it's Henry! He scores goals for Arsenal, and he never stops scoring goals! Now, his goal gives Arsenal the lead over Manchester United! Arsenal's midfield attack today was very targeted, and they hit Fletcher on this point. Qin Xiong took the initiative to challenge Fletcher several times when he ran forward. This time, he used an elegant backside kick to break through Fletcher! Then he completed an exquisite overhead pass in a wider space. Manchester United's defensive line was completely helpless. They should have hesitated to go forward to stop Qin Xiong at that moment, and then they exposed a flaw and made an unforgivable mistake! "
Ferguson looked grim on the sidelines and countered every move on the field. Arsenal had an amazing midfield commander genius, Qin Xiong!
Yes, it was Qin Xiong. He would not go head-to-head with Keane. He would not think that defeating Keane was a victory or prove that he had reached a certain level.
He shrewdly picked a soft persimmon to pinch. Not only did he crush it, but he also threw it under his feet and ruthlessly crushed it.
Manchester United's side had Keane boosting the morale of the team. The Red Devils' spirit was not so weak that they would collapse after losing a goal.
They launched an even fiercer counterattack.
The role of a veteran in this kind of game was even more obvious. Manchester United under Ferguson had always had a tradition of passing on the old to the new.
Just four minutes after Manchester United lost the ball, Scholes also picked a soft persimmon in the front field. This was what a smart player should do in an attack.
His running position clearly avoided Vieira, and then he attacked Flamini's defensive zone. Scholes passed the ball back in front of Flamini to Keane, who followed behind him. Qin Xiong restrained the opponent's defensive midfielder from plugging forward in his defense, but it was absolutely impossible to block the opponent's passing, especially since the passing route was not fixed. Scholes' experienced positioning allowed Keane to pass the ball back to his feet without hesitation.
Scholes just found a very small gap and passed the ball past Flamini.
Giggs cut inside to the right side of Arsenal's penalty area. He dribbled with his left foot and blocked the Arsenal players with the right side of his body.
He deliberately dribbled inside to avoid Ashley Cole's interception, and then used his explosive acceleration to grab the ball in front of Pascal Sigang. This step was crucial!
Sigang also intended to intercept the ball with his foot, but he was not determined enough. What's worse, Giggs touched the ball into the penalty area and passed Sigang!
Nishika didn't seem to interfere with Jiggs at all, allowing him to rush past him.
Arsenal's defensive line was as fragile as a piece of paper at this moment!
Giggs cut into the penalty area and became a one-on-one. Facing Almunia, the veteran Giggs used his left foot to push and shoot. The football rolled to the inside of the far post. Almunia fell to the ground to save but could not touch the football. Looking back, the football crossed the goal line and Highbury suddenly fell silent.
"Manchester United quickly returned the favor! Giggs and Scholes' cooperation is simple but efficient! Sigang's defense is useless. What is he thinking? What is he hesitating about? He didn't even go to the box. God, how long is Wenger going to tolerate Sigang? But many Arsenal fans already could not tolerate Sigang. Many Gunners fans in the stands shook their heads slightly. They probably could not understand how the team's stable defensive line this season could be so easily penetrated by the opponent. The signs of Giggs' breakthrough were very obvious, but Sigang was still bypassed! "
Sigang's face was very blank.
From his expression and his failed technical move to intercept Giggs, it could be seen that he was actually in fear and trepidation.
The 2001 French Ligue 1 Player of the Year fell into a long-term slump after he came to Arsenal. Wenger brought him in as the defensive pillar of the team for a five-year cycle.
But since he came to Highbury, he had not been able to gain a foothold. Instead, Touré stood out in the competition and became the main center back partner of Touré and Campbell.
When the main center back could not play, Wenger gave Sigang a chance, but he became a time bomb in the team's rear defensive line again and again. This disappointed Wenger, but he still had expectations for him.
For Sigang, other than the difficulty of adapting to the English game, Fleet Street's role after he joined Arsenal was absolutely the devil!
Every time he made a mistake, every time he made a mistake, Fleet Street would write about it, laugh at him, mock him, and attack him!
This almost destroyed all of Sigang's confidence. Even some extreme Arsenal fans would hit him when he was down after a bad performance.
Not every fan who loved the team could treat the team's players rationally.
Extreme fans would want every player in the team to be outstanding, and for those who did not perform well, they would lash out after losing patience and hope that they would get lost!
Under such circumstances, Sigang had been in England for a long time, but not only did he not prove himself, his performance did not improve either.
Now Sigang had become "nervous" and often looked troubled when he was silent. He was also timid in the game, afraid that his next poor performance would be used by the media to attack him.
Wenger was helpless!
In the absence of Touré, he only had two choices for center backs. The first was the 30-year-old veteran, Nishika, and the second was Senderos, who was about to turn 20 years old. As for the similarly young Hoyt, Wenger did not consider him at all. Hoyt had less than 10 top league appearances. Sending him to play against Manchester United? Was he going to be tortured to death?
Between the 20-year-old Senderos and the 30-year-old Sigang, Wenger chose the latter. After all, the latter had more experience.
But he did not expect Sigang to become a ticking time bomb on the defensive line again!
As for whether Senderos would perform better than Sigang on the field, it was not certain!
Was there an unknown player in Manchester United's attacking group?
Before the restart, Vieira and Campbell went together to instruct their teammates to adjust the defense.
Flamini's position moved further back, and Ashley Cole moved inside.
To put it bluntly, it was Sigang's exposed instability that made the other teammates have to come and fill the hole!
The game started again, and Manchester United also strengthened the protection of Fletcher.
Qin Xiong did not look like he was going to bite on Fletcher. He began to coordinate the attack in a wide range, displaying his talent of quickly shifting the attack.
Manchester United's side attacked Sigang's point. Fortunately, with the protection of Flamini and Ashley Cole, and Vieira's focus on defense, Manchester United did not use the same method to defeat Arsenal's defensive line twice!
When everyone thought that the first half of the game was in a stalemate, in the 37th minute of the game, Qin Xiong received Lauren's pass from the right side of the midfield and passed the ball to Ljungberg.
He began to run diagonally from the midfield to the front left.
He deliberately slowed down his speed and let Vieira rush in front of him to face Keane and attract Keane's defensive attention.
After Ljungberg dribbled the ball out of the depth zone, he suddenly passed the ball to the back of Vieira. Keane was blocked by Vieira and did not dare to rush forward because if he failed to snatch the ball, Vieira would be able to face Manchester United's defensive line directly.
Qin Xiong successfully dribbled the ball diagonally and got rid of Scholes in a burst of acceleration. When he was about to meet Fletcher, his eyes looked at Pires on the left side.
Fletcher was worried that Qin Xiong and Pires would do a one-two wall pass, but he did not expect Qin Xiong to suddenly stop after he stepped on the bicycle twice in front of him. Fletcher subconsciously tried to intercept. Just as he stepped forward, Qin Xiong pushed the ball behind him. At the same time, his body burst forward with a burst of acceleration, stopping and then starting again!
Qin Xiong smoothly bypassed Fletcher!
Again!
After breaking through Fletcher, although Qin Xiong and Keane's positions were almost parallel, Keane was obviously unable to snipe him from the side. After all, Qin Xiong was moving forward in a straight line.
Qin Xiong, who was as crazy as a demon, made Ferdinand gnash his teeth!
He knew that he could not give Qin Xiong more time to observe and adjust, so he took the risk to intercept!
But just as he moved.
Qin Xiong's pass was sent out.
The outside instep of his right foot rubbed the ball into an inward spiral arc. The football flew over the top of Ferdinand's head half a meter to the right. Ferdinand's reaction was already fast. He wanted to head the ball out of the encirclement, but he was still a beat too slow. By the time his head reached the trajectory of the football, the football had just flown past him. With a strong rotation, it drew an inward spiral arc and fell into Manchester United's penalty area!
Qin Xiong had mastered his own experience with this kind of pass and used it with ease. The effect was also pleasing to the eye. The elegant and bewitching arc simply intoxicated every Arsenal player and Qin Xiong's fans!
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