Silva did not fully understand why Qin Xiong wanted him to take the initiative to participate in the encirclement and suppression, which was to snatch Pennant's job.
In fact, if Silva wanted to increase the enthusiasm of defensive aggression, then the target he should mark should be Izzet in the middle.
But Silva trusted Qin Xiong and had long been deeply impressed by Qin Xiong's insight in the game.
From the first time they played on the field, in the Champions League knockout stage of the previous season, Qin Xiong's insight and keenness in the game left a deep impression on him.
Before he started his counterattack against Pennant, Silva still went to make another layer of protection.
He walked to Flamini's side and told him to pay attention to the position of the defensive waist line. Flamini himself played as a defensive midfielder, so his position as a full-back was very good at protecting the penalty area. He only lacked offensive ability, and Silva's request was not excessive. Flamini would be able to complete it easily as long as his full-back's defensive zone was not attacked by the opponent.
Silva did this for a reason. If he went to participate in the defense against Pennant, then Pennant's impact on Flamini's defensive zone would be reduced, or even not at all.
Flamini was released to fill the gap behind Silva after he went up to snatch.
This kind of adjustment in the rear defensive line was not a problem for Arsenal's technical and tactical strength to do it.
Arsenal's conventional offense was difficult to shake the opponent's defensive line, but in the 28th minute of the game, Arsenal played a wave of beautiful transition between offense and defense.
It was an opportunity for Birmingham City to attack. Melchiot passed the ball to Pennant, and Hleb himself pretended to snatch Melchiot in order to force the opponent to pass the ball.
And since the opponent passed the ball to Pennant, it could be said that it was exactly what they wanted.
Hleb immediately turned to harass Pennant from behind. Pennant's control of the ball was unstable. He wanted to pass the ball to the middle, but he was stunned to see Qin Xiong appear less than five meters away from him, blocking his passing route.
He could only forcibly dribble the ball forward and then accelerate to get rid of Hleb's pressing.
Just as he was about to accelerate, he found that Silva had successfully controlled the ball in front of him!
Facing the trio's encirclement, Pennant was both shocked and angry at the same time!
Silva immediately passed the ball to Qin Xiong. Qin Xiong dribbled the ball and turned forward. Izzet was originally running forward. This time, Birmingham's attack suddenly ended. He turned again and could not form an interception to Qin Xiong.
Qin Xiong passed the ball to Hleb in front of Bart. He then cut forward, and Hleb passed the ball back to him. Bart. and Upson were in front of each other. The two of them, one on top and one on the bottom, sandwiched the ball. Qin Xiong decisively kicked the ball horizontally and then slipped out of the space. Henry cut diagonally behind Upson, and Qin Xiong's pass came just as expected!
In the heavy encirclement, Qin Xiong's straight ball not only allowed Arsenal's attack to continue, but also to enter another vast world.
Cunningham rushed to Henry in a hurry. Henry stopped and dribbled the ball past him. Then, he swung his leg and easily volleyed the ball into the goal. The goalkeeper, Taylor, could only surrender!
"Henry continues to be in good form. He scored! He is far ahead in the goalscoring charts. This is another assist from Qin Xiong to Qin Xiong. Birmingham's counterattack did not succeed. Pennant made a mistake. His forced breakthrough led to the loss of the ball. He might have kicked the ball out of the sideline and not caused Birmingham to lose the ball. "
Henry called out to Qin Xiong, and Qin Xiong pulled Hleb. The Arsenal players celebrated the goal together, and the cohesion was constantly improved with each successful cooperation.
Hleb was convinced!
Really convinced!
At this time, he realized that being the offensive core of Stuttgart and Qin Xiong being the offensive core of Arsenal were two completely different levels!
He only focused on himself, while Qin Xiong focused on the overall situation!
It seemed that many details on the field that could not be seen by the naked eye could be captured by Qin Xiong.
It was no wonder that he was the fastest rising superstar in the European football world. It was also no wonder that Arsenal, which was plagued by misfortunes, could still be so strong under his and Henry's leadership!
The Birmingham City players glanced at Jermaine Pennant intentionally or unintentionally.
He was very excited before he lost the ball. He was so excited that he was a little too excited.
Now, Pennant's mood took a sharp turn. He gritted his teeth and clenched his fists. He roared in his heart: Arsenal!
He wanted to prove himself so badly. He wanted to raise his arm and slap every Arsenal player in the face!
But when he became the team's sinner for losing the ball, the gap between his expectations and the pressure he was under was so great that it almost made him lose his mind!
Arsenal's performance in this match was still problematic.
Ljungberg, who had just recovered from his injury, was not in a good state. Hleb's efficiency in attacking from the front was not high. Under the intensive defense, Qin Xiong and Henry were cut off by the opponent and so on.
But Arsenal scored and began to focus on using their previous experience to expand the utilization of Pennant's breakthrough.
Birmingham could not always play on the left flank. Gray's point, Eboue's defense was solid, and Fàbregas was assisting from the side. After Birmingham's offense focused on the left flank for a while, they still had to suddenly switch to the right flank.
In this way, Arsenal seized more opportunities.
In the 39th minute of the game, Bart's pass to Pennant was directly intercepted by Qin Xiong!
Not only did Qin Xiong successfully intercept the ball, but he also had a chance to pass. He pushed forward along the flank, and Hleb took the initiative to go to the middle. He waited for Qin Xiong's pass, but Qin Xiong did not seem to have any signs of passing to him.
Qin Xiong suddenly cut across in front of the penalty area and dribbled the ball to the middle at a fast pace. Bart saw that the situation was not good and came to snipe him. Qin Xiong paused and pulled the ball to the outside before circling back to the inside line. Bart marveled at Qin Xiong's ability to combine with the ball. After he was bypassed, Birmingham's defense was in a mess.
Hleb was forced to move step by step. He was almost avoiding Qin Xiong, and in the process of dodging, he could only move forward and could not run to the back field. Therefore, when Birmingham's defensive line had a problem marking and exposed a gap, Qin Xiong suddenly sent a diagonal straight ball, which surprised Hleb a little.
He unconsciously moved to a gap, and Qin Xiong's pass passed the ball to his feet.
Hleb hurriedly raised his leg to shoot, and Wenger witnessed Hleb's shot from the sidelines. He was about to collapse!
That was a f * * king golden opportunity, but Hleb shot the ball at the feet of the opponent's goalkeeper, Taylor!
Not only was Hleb unprepared for the shot, but the panicked Taylor was also unprepared. If he could have calmly saved the ball, he could have directly held the ball in his arms as long as he lowered his body's center of gravity.
But he subconsciously blocked with his foot, and the football rebounded into the small penalty area. At this time, a figure rushed in front of Taylor and used the tip of his foot to poke the ball into the goal before he could dive deep to press the ball under his body.
The King of Highbury, Henry!
A second goal!
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