José Mourinho was a defensive master.
Any manager who could train a team with the lowest rate of goals conceded per game in all of Europe's top leagues was qualified to be praised as a defensive master by the outside world.
This was a match between a spear and a shield.
When José Mourinho found a "hard problem" in the defense, he would certainly adjust and improve the defense in a targeted manner.
That was a problem that everyone could see. Johnson just could not make Chelsea's defense on the right flank unbreakable.
However, there were too many uncertainties in a football game, which made even the best defensive team concede goals. Just like how the outside world agreed with Mourinho's post-match interview at the end of the last leg, Mourinho was right. Qin Xiong's individual play was the absolute contributor to Arsenal's victory. He unexpectedly tore through Chelsea's defensive line, and his three assists were classics because he faced the strongest defensive line in Europe. It was a defensive line that seemed to have no major problems at all. Strategically and tactically, it was close to perfect!
After 15 minutes in the second half, Qin Xiong saw Chelsea's defensive adjustments during the halftime interval.
Makelele's main task was to assist in defending Johnson's side. Qin Xiong may not be able to break through Makelele one-on-one. Moreover, when Makelele used Johnson as bait and premeditated to wait for Qin Xiong to break through Johnson before intercepting, his defensive success rate would be greatly increased!
As for Pires cutting inside the front waistline, it was handed over to Tiago to defend. If Vieira also came up, Lampard had to return to the defensive position, and Gallas had to be taken in as the center back. Carvalho would come forward to press. Chelsea's defensive adjustments had an amazing tacit understanding between the teammates.
Qin Xiong wanted to focus on Johnson's point to form a turnaround in the game. The idea was right and the action had paid off, but the timing disrupted his plan.
They had just recovered a goal in the first half and entered the halftime interval. Chelsea's side quickly made targeted adjustments to make the "turnaround" flaw difficult to exploit.
It was conceivable that if the game had not been interrupted, even if Mourinho shouted on the sidelines, it would have been impossible for Makelele, Tiago, Carvalho, and Gallas to reach an agreement to make up for a flaw.
After all, the effect on the football field was that of pulling one hair and affecting the whole body. Only Makelele went to assist in the defense without further cooperation from the other teammates. Chelsea might be able to plug the gap in the right back, but other points might expose more problems.
Mourinho's defensive skills were evident from this.
The battle between Arsenal and Chelsea fell into a stalemate again. Arsenal found it difficult to cooperate more effectively to threaten Chelsea's goal, and Chelsea's counterattack could not go straight to the root cause.......................
As time passed, it was the 70th minute of the match. Wenger could no longer hold himself back. This was the time to take a risk!
He ordered Ashley Cole to join in the attack.
The left back's radical assist was very effective.
Because it allowed Pires to easily destroy Johnson in the front field.
In the 71st minute, Pires and Ashley Cole made their way to the end line after colliding with the wall. After bypassing Johnson's defensive zone, they passed back diagonally. Ashley Cole, who was on the left side of the front of the penalty area, passed the ball to Qin Xiong in the middle. After Qin Xiong got away from Tiago, he sent a straight pass. Ljungberg cut inside from the bottom, and without stopping the ball, he sent a cross pass!
The space in front of the goal was too small. Henry had done everything he could. Start, burst, grab the point, and shoot!
But when Henry shot, Čech had already stood in front of him and lowered his center of gravity. Henry's shot eventually hit Čech's chest and bounced out.
Chelsea's people broke out in a cold sweat at this moment.
Mourinho was also nervous on the sidelines. Obviously, Arsenal's stamina was not as good as Chelsea's, but Arsenal's creativity in the offensive end and the power they showed made Chelsea's defensive line occasionally appear to be on the verge of collapse.
He could not make the decision to further weaken the offense to strengthen the defense. It was simply too risky, because once Arsenal scored the next goal, Chelsea would be powerless to fight back!
Arsenal, on the other hand, saw the results of Ashley Cole's assist, which strengthened their belief in playing this way.
Two minutes later, Qin Xiong and Ljungberg cooperated on the right side of the midfield. Then he dribbled the ball to the front field. In front of Makelele and Tiago's defensive line, he passed the ball back to Vieira behind him. Then he ran to the left side. When Vieira passed the ball back to him, he rolled the football sideways. Then, under everyone's surprised eyes, he did not stop the ball and directly slashed the ball!
The football flew lightly, bypassed Makelele's head, and flew behind the gap between Johnson and Terry. Johnson thought that he was foolproof by following Pires closely, but he did not expect that Pires did not rush to the football at all. Instead, Ashley Cole unexpectedly circled the side and went down the bottom. He faced the falling football just as he entered the penalty area and raised his leg to cross the ball!
This time, Čech was very alert and attacked in advance. He directly hugged the ball next to Henry and did not even give Henry a chance to touch the ball!
Qin Xiong shook his head slightly when he saw the scene. It was too difficult to snatch the ball in front of the goal and shoot it into Chelsea's goal!
The space in the penalty area compressed by the rear defensive line made the passing route very narrow between the rear defensive line and the goalkeeper. It was almost impossible in this game to make the rear defensive line unable to touch it, and to make the goalkeeper not dare to abandon the goal.
The effect of Ashley Cole's assist was obvious, but there was a big problem with the way the last pass was chosen. It could be said that the last pass was inefficient, and it ruined all the previous efforts to create opportunities.
Just as Qin Xiong summed up the experience of the game, Čech ran directly to the edge of the penalty area and threw the ball directly to the right side of the midfield.
Duff stopped the ball here, turned around, and burst forward at a terrifying speed.
When Silva came to assist in the defense, Duff directly kicked the ball in big strides in the direction of the end line. Then, he shook off Silva with his speed and controlled the football in front of the end line.
At this time, Senderos came out to assist in the defense. Vieira could only withdraw the rear defensive line to act as a center back. He was worried that Drogba would run diagonally and Duff's pass would give Drogba a chance to score.
Chelsea's wave of counterattack directly pushed to near Arsenal's end line. The disadvantage of Ashley Cole's assist in the rear defensive line was obvious.
Just as Joe Cole plugged in and Drogba ran to Vieira's position, Arsenal's rear defensive line had clearly lost the barrier of the rear defensive line.
After Duff observed the situation in the middle, he diagonally passed the ball to the top of the arc of the penalty area.
Someone from the Blues rushed there with a majestic momentum. He did not adjust to receive the ball and directly kicked the goal!
Lampard!
The momentum of the ball was astonishing. It had a speed and power that could crush a city. It did not rotate in the air at all and flew cleanly into the bottom left corner of the goal!
Lehmann stood up after the unsuccessful save and roared angrily at his teammates.
He thought that his teammates' rhythm in this defense was clearly too slow, especially after Silva was blasted by Duff. He should have retreated to the front of the penalty area instead of chasing after Duff!
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