Arsenal certainly played better than Chelsea in terms of counterattack. There were two factors that determined the overall situation of the game. Arsenal was mentally prepared to play counterattack, but Chelsea was not. Chelsea thought that Arsenal was still the team that lived in the dream. They could use counterattack to ravage the Gunners at Stamford Bridge. The other factor was that Arsenal's creativity in counterattack and the players' individual play was better. Chelsea had a hard time playing without counterattack space and were not used to it.
It was easy to understand. Even if the two teams counterattacked, they were still facing the opponent's tight defensive line.
But Arsenal at least played a lot of games last season where they broke through tight defensive lines. Even if it was not a good opportunity to counterattack, they could just play as a fast attack. Chelsea's offense was based on a wide space. Their play declined when they were not used to the environment.
Qin Xiong realized the difficulty of Arsenal's breakthrough. Mourinho also realized that Chelsea was not used to the game.
In the dangerous situation just now, if Chelsea had slightly increased the attack, it might have given Arsenal a better chance to attack quickly. Then the goal might have been lost.
That was the key reason why he dared not order the team to strengthen the offense.
Chelsea began to pose a threat in other ways. From the 65th to 70th minutes of the game, there were three consecutive kicks from the sidelines to find Drogba. Drogba only managed to snatch one of them, and his header was deflected. The remaining two were cleared by Touré and Campbell respectively with their headers.
"Chelsea lacks effective positional play. Faced with Arsenal's tight defense, their long shots from the outside have become fewer. Arsenal can threaten Chelsea's goal with long shots from the front of the penalty area."
Qin Xiong began to slow down the pace. There was not much point in playing fast. The opponent's defensive line tended to be static. If he played fast, it would be easy to mess up his own rhythm.
His eyes were always calm and his mind was working quickly.
To break through Chelsea's tight defense, individual breakthroughs, set pieces, and long shots.
There was a 99% chance that the pass and cut would not be a threat. Chelsea's cutting of the defensive line was still very successful. One had to admit that Mourinho was a defensive master.
What about personal breakthroughs?
The effect was not good either. Being able to break through Essien once did not mean that it would succeed every time. It required a specific environment. Furthermore, breaking through the midfield line did not mean that it could destroy the rear line. Chelsea's adjustment of the rear line was also calm and orderly.
Set piece?
There was almost no chance for a set piece. Arsenal had few players in the attack and did not put much pressure on Chelsea. As long as they compressed the space to encircle, they could end Arsenal's attack. There was no need to risk giving Arsenal a free kick in the front field.
Only long shots were left.
In fact, Arsenal's players were also aware of this, so there were more chances to shoot long shots in the second half, but the quality was not high. The long shots that could hit the goal range were easily resolved by Čech.
Qin Xiong thought about it and decided that he still needed to work on his long range shots.
The basic requirement for a long shot to be a threat was to hit the goal. The prerequisite for hitting the goal was not to be blocked by the opponent's players. On this basis, the opponent's goalkeeper must not be able to pounce on it!
In the 76th minute of the game, Pires dribbled to the middle after receiving Fàbregas' pass from the left side of the midfield. He consciously created opportunities for Qin Xiong, so it was necessary to free up Qin Xiong to cover for him.
He dribbled to attract Lampard's attention. Anyway, Chelsea's midfield could not leave Pires dribbling the ball alone.
As soon as Lampard came near Pires, Pires passed the ball to Qin Xiong. Then he quickly plugged in and ran to contain Essien's defensive attention.
Qin Xiong observed the distance between him and Lampard. For the time being, Lampard would not be able to defend him. Essien, on the other hand, was pinned down by Pires, so he could slowly dribble forward.
When he dribbled forward, his observation point was not limited to Chelsea's defensive line, but directly looked at Čech's position.
Qin Xiong's eyes suddenly became fierce as the positions of Arsenal and Chelsea's offensive and defensive players changed.
He was on the right side of the front field, about 35 yards away from the goal. Makelele ensured that Essien could mark Pires and then moved to this side. He moved laterally and waited for Qin Xiong to dribble the ball over. He would wait for the opportunity to intercept.
Henry waited for the opportunity to move behind Makelele, ready to reverse the offside position. Carvalho stuck close to Henry.
Qin Xiong could not see Čech!
Henry, Carvalho, and Makelele, the three men staggered to block the parallel field of vision, blocking Qin Xiong and the football under his feet from Čech's visual connection.
Qin Xiong thought to himself, Now's the time!
Bang!
Qin Xiong's right foot kicked the football out!
Čech had been maintaining a high level of concentration. Arsenal's most threatening point on the front line was Henry, so his position in front of the goal had to be fine-tuned according to Henry's position.
This time he stood slightly to the right of the goal. He was afraid that Qin Xiong would send a straight ball to Henry to attack the goal, so he could abandon the goal faster to block.
But at this time, he suddenly could not see Qin Xiong, who was in possession of the ball further in front, nor could he see the football.
His vision was blocked by Henry, Carvalho, and Makelele.
This feeling made him very uneasy. He did not know what would happen!
Suddenly, he seemed to see the scene stop. Henry, Carvalho, and Makelele all had the tendency to turn around. Terry was shrinking toward the middle, and he looked nervous. His movements were all subconscious. Terry was moving horizontally and then leaping horizontally. He was going to use his body to block!
What the hell happened?!
Čech's uneasiness reached its peak in an instant!
When he saw the football, it was as if he saw a meteor piercing through the sky!
He quickly made a prediction based on the direction Terry was moving and then moved to the left side of the goal.
Qin Xiong's long shot was a half-high ball. Terry's reaction was already very quick. He directly intended to use his body to block Qin Xiong's long shot. Unfortunately, after he leaped, the football suddenly brushed past his scalp!
Čech could only subconsciously pounce as hard as he could based on the direction he saw the football flying from.
There was not much time left for him to react!
But the moment he pounced, Čech's eyes widened in shock!
WTF！
A ball!
Čech's palm had already stretched out, and in order to ensure the distance of the pounce, his body's center of gravity was lower. His palm could block the football in a three-dimensional straight line!
However, the football fell after entering the penalty area. The half-high ball bounced on the small penalty area line. After bouncing again, it flew less than 20 centimeters above Čech's palm!
It almost brushed the inside of the left post of the goal.
Čech fell on the goal line. He did not turn his head to look back. He knew that the goal had been lost!
Stamford Bridge was dead silent!
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