Although Arsenal achieved an overwhelming victory over Middlesbrough last season, it did not mean that Arsenal could easily win every time they faced Middlesbrough.
After winning the Premier League title for two seasons in a row, Arsenal became the target of public criticism on the English field. All the teams were studying and targeting Arsenal. Whether it was defeating or drawing with Arsenal, it could bring a lot of attention to the team, stimulate the fan market and the team's morale. This made Arsenal a thorn in the eyes of the opponents, who did their best to contain Arsenal's offense.
Qin Xiong took every game seriously, regardless of whether the opponent was strong or weak. This was not only a reflection of his professionalism, but also one of the reasons why he became stronger.
The reason was simple. These seemingly ordinary opponents were an important training stage for him to consolidate and hone his skills and improve himself.
A player could not start in League Two. If he defeated the strongest team in League Two today, he would look forward to defeating the League One team tomorrow and challenging the English Football League Championship team the day after tomorrow.
Facing off against the strong was a hurdle, but it did not mean that defeating a strong team once could make one a team or player on the same level as a strong team. Before facing the next challenge from a stronger opponent, one must turn the accumulated new experience into strength, constantly consolidate, hone and sublimate.
Therefore, Qin Xiong took every game very seriously, regardless of whether the opponent was strong or weak. A strong team was a challenge, and a weak team was a necessary process to maintain his condition and consolidate and strengthen what he had learned.
In this game against Middlesbrough, the opponent's targeted deployment made Qin Xiong encounter some difficulties, but it was these difficulties that made Qin Xiong even more excited.
In the 29th minute of the game, Reyes successfully broke through Quayedro on the right side and crossed the ball from the bottom. The football was cleared by Southgate's header. Boateng immediately turned around and swept the ball to the left side of the front field after stopping the ball on the outside.
England's local rookie, Downing, who had dressed for Middlesbrough at the age of 17, was full of vigor. The 21-year-old dribbled along the flank with a strong impact.
His heart was burning with a fiery flame, which symbolized his fighting spirit. Maybe a game would not change anything, and it would not make the outside world look at him in a new light, but he stubbornly wanted to prove that he was not worse than the young talents of Arsenal!
He did not rush into Eboue's defensive line. Instead, he directly kicked the ball from the side at a 45-degree angle to find Hazel Bank, who was at the back of the penalty area.
He passed the ball quickly and quickly. Unfortunately, Hazel Bank ran past his head and Senderos calmly headed the ball away.
However, the ball that he sent out to clear the siege landed on the right side of the penalty area. Mendieta, once the leader of one of the world's strongest midfield combinations, steadily stopped the ball on the right side of the penalty area.
After going from Spain to the international stage and being defeated in the Serie A arena despite the sky-high transfer fee, Mendieta's mentality had changed. It seemed that his memory of how outstanding he used to be was mottled. He just wanted to do better than yesterday and slowly recover. He did not dare to say that he would be as dazzling as before, but at the very least, he wanted to make a name for himself and not be ridiculed by the outside world at will.
This mentality made him lose his spirit and his self-confidence naturally declined. Now, he just did a job that a side midfielder should do: pass the ball!
His exquisite footwork was still there, and his keen observation of the overall situation would not disappear out of thin air. Mendieta, once one of Spain's best midfielders, sent him a very good pass!
The football landed in the area between Senderos and Toure. Yakubu cut diagonally in front of Toure to snatch the shot. Before the football landed on the ground, he used his foot to sweep the ball towards the goal!
The distance from the goal was less than 12 yards. In such a close situation, Lehmann did not move in advance. When he saw the football flying towards the bottom right corner of the goal, it was too late for him to save!
After Yakubu scored, he excitedly rushed to the sidelines to receive the cheers from the Middlesbrough fans at the Riverside Stadium!
Every Middlesbrough player, regardless of whether they were attacking or defending, celebrated passionately at this moment!
They breached the defending champion Arsenal's goal!
"Yakubu breached the goal! An assist from Mendieta! Yakubu, who came to the Riverside Stadium in the summer with a 7.5 million pound transfer on his head, made a contribution to the team. He breached Arsenal's goal! This is a great goal and the reward for Middlesbrough's unswerving implementation of the tactic. Their high-altitude bombing was extremely effective. The continuous high-altitude bombing disrupted Arsenal's defensive system. Downing's pass may not be so threatening, but it caused chaos in Arsenal's defensive line for a short period of time. Before they could adjust in time, Mendieta launched a second attack from the outside. This time, Middlesbrough succeeded! "
The Arsenal players saw the extraordinarily passionate celebration of the Middlesbrough players and could understand how special the treatment was after the goal was breached as a strong player.
Qin Xiong walked back to the half of the field and came to Fàbregas' side.
Fàbregas was the most stable player in the game so far. Qin Xiong estimated that his passing success rate should be 100% and he had not made a pass mistake. Qin Xiong's passing success rate should be less than 70% because his threatening ball delivery was not successful.
Qin Xiong said to Fàbregas, "Cesc, attack up. It doesn't make sense for you to stay in the back."
If it were against most other teams, Fàbregas might have a defensive effect as a defensive midfielder. But in today's game, it was clear that Middlesbrough was playing a passing tactic from the flank and did not penetrate into the defensive area of the middle defensive midfielder. Fàbregas' defense could not be said to be non-existent, but his defensive area did not suffer any impact. Even if he returned to the penalty area to defend, his height and ability to defend against high-altitude balls hardly helped the defense.
Now the team's offense needed an unexpected offensive point to break Middlesbrough's planned defense. So, looking at Arsenal's offensive and defensive system lineup, this point must be Fàbregas. The full-back would not easily take risks because he had to take into account the defense in the overall situation.
Fàbregas originally felt very good and his play was unusually stable.
But Qin Xiong's words woke him up. He thought about it carefully and agreed: Middlesbrough's two defensive midfielders in the middle of the midfield did not come forward to participate in the attack at all. The threat of Downing cutting inside in the middle was relatively small. If Mendieta cut inside, he would encounter Silva. So, they mostly played crosses, and crosses tested the defensive ability of the defenders. The defensive midfielders had no time to retreat into the penalty area and form a defense against high-altitude balls.
Fàbregas nodded to Qin Xiong and said, "I understand. Next, I will take the initiative to plug in and participate in the attack depending on the situation."
Qin Xiong patted him on the shoulder and turned to face Middlesbrough's half of the field. There was still time in the game. Conceding the goal first could not affect the mentality of Arsenal's players at all. Regardless of whether the team was going through the most difficult lineup period in the last decade, at least the mentality of the strong could not be shaken.
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