Football Feast, Starting From the Acquisition of European Clubs

   Chapter 118 Crazy Football

   I have to say that Arsenal's current main lineup is still very capable.

  Although Chen Ran arranged for Crystal Palace to play a defensive counterattack in his own half, the pressure given by Arsenal's offense is really not comparable to other teams.

   And because they have been playing together for a long time, the coordination between Arsenal players is very skilled, which also brings a greater threat to Crystal Palace's defense.

   Under pressure, Evra and Ribery on the two flanks also had to stay behind to help Chiellini and Maicon defend together.

   For a while, Crystal Palace fell into a total passive.

   Chen Ran didn't react yet, but the reporters in the stands got up first.

   "Haha, this is the style of a real strong team. Now that we meet Arsenal, the pseudo-strong team of Crystal Palace has finally revealed its secrets."

   "That's right. Now Crystal Palace is suppressed by Arsenal and can't get past the midfield, and they can't even hit the counterattack they are good at. It seems that Arsenal will break the goal, it will be a matter of time."

   "Don't jump to conclusions, Crystal Palace's defensive ability is still very strong."

   "It also depends on who the opponent is. In the League Cup final last season, Arsenal obviously underestimated the enemy in terms of both coaches and players. Now that they are playing again, coach Wenger will not allow the same mistakes."

   "Then see if Arsenal's attacking power is stronger, or Crystal Palace's defensive ability is stronger."

   Seeing the passive situation on the field, Chen Ran frowned.

  Arsenal is strong in attack. He knows very well that Crystal Palace will be passive in shrinking defense, and he is also prepared.

   But now he is so passive, he didn't expect it.

   It seems that the impact of lack of physical fitness on Crystal Palace is greater than Chen Ran expected.

  The movement of the Crystal Palace players on the field was obviously much less than usual.

   And the speed of each action is much slower than before, it is obvious that the physical condition is not very good.

   Fortunately, these team members have been working together for a long time and have developed a tacit understanding.

  Under the skillful switching of defenses and leaks, they finally withstood Arsenal's opening onslaught.

   After the first twenty minutes of the game, Chen Ran was relieved.

  The physical fitness of Arsenal players has also reached the first small bottleneck, and then Crystal Palace can slow down a little.

"not good!"

   As soon as he took a sip of the mineral water by the side of the court, Chen Ran exclaimed at the scene that happened on the court.

  I saw Southgate, the captain of Crystal Palace, suddenly stopped and limped without physical confrontation.

   "It's broken, it's probably a muscle strain."

   This situation is very common, and Chen Ran immediately judged the possible injury to Southgate.

   Seeing that Southgate was already sitting on the field, the referee also stopped the game in time and called the team doctor on the sidelines to enter the field.

  Although we still have to wait until the team doctor makes the final confirmation, at this time Chen Ran has turned around and greeted Thiago Silva on the bench to warm up.

  The house leak happens to rain overnight.

  Chen Ran smiled bitterly, afraid of what to do.

  Consecutive high-intensity and high-density games, for a veteran like Southgate, it is very easy to cause injuries due to fatigue.

  However, as the most experienced veteran of Crystal Palace's backline, how could Chen Ran not use it in such a crucial game?

  Crystal Palace's two current backup centre-backs, Thiago Silva and Pepe, are 20 years old and the other 21 years old.

   If there are some geniuses in the forward position who can play the main force at the age of 20, but in the center back position, no coach dares to use a 20-year-old as the main force.

   Combined with the fact that Crystal Palace is still a team to compete for the championship, it is even more impossible.

  Although Thiago Silva and Pepe will grow into top central defenders in the future, one of them is still a little immature and the other is a little frizzy.

   Using them in the strong dialogue against Arsenal, Chen Ran is really worried.

   There was no surprise, the team doctor on the field made a substitution gesture to Chen Ran.

   "Thiago, after you go up, you are responsible for marking Bergkamp. Work hard, you are the best!"

  Chen Ran patted Thiago Silva on the back and was suddenly replaced, the young man's expression was a little stiff.

   Hearing Chen Ran's encouragement, Thiago Silva just turned his head and grinned at him, showing an ugly smile, and rushed into the court without saying a word.

   On the other side, seeing that Crystal Palace was forced to replace the main central defender, Pat Rice approached Wenger and said, "Boss, our chance has come."

   Wenger smiled lightly, didn't answer, just walked from the bench to the sidelines.

   At this time, Chen Ran's attention was almost focused on Thiago Silva, for fear that he would make a mistake.

  It’s a pity, I’m afraid of what’s coming.

   Maybe it's because you haven't adapted to the rhythm of the game, or because you're too nervous?

  Anyway, Thiago Silva has not been on the field for five minutes. After being picked by Bergkamp in the penalty area, he volleyed to break the goal guarded by Cech, and reluctantly became the background plate.

  Arsenal scored the first goal, Crystal Palace trailed 0-1.

  Chen Ran only felt that it was dark in front of him, and it was difficult to do this now.

   Although he likes to use defensive counterattacks, it is only when Crystal Palace is not behind.

   Now that Arsenal has scored a goal, is there any point in continuing to defend?

   glanced at Thiago Silva who was frustrated, Chen Ran sighed, maybe this is the price to pay for growth.

   However, he doesn't have time to care about Thiago Silva's mood now, so he returned to the bench and rushed all the offensive players such as Tony, Crouch, Cesc Fabregas and Alves to warm up.

  Chen Ran made such a big move on the Crystal Palace side, which immediately attracted Wenger's attention.

   "This little guy from China looks like he's going to make a move. Wenger looked down at his watch, there are ten minutes left until the end of the first half. "I don't even want to wait for the halftime break, it seems that I'm really in a hurry. "

   "There must be constant pressure on him and no respite for Crystal Palace."

   Wenger muttered to himself as he walked to the sidelines and signaled Arsenal's players to continue attacking.

  Fortunately, Thiago Silva is still very good, and he can adjust his mentality immediately after losing the ball, and there are no more mistakes.

   This also made Chen Ran relieved, and finally the worst did not happen.

   The score of 0:1 remained until the end of the first half.

   Back in the locker room, Chen Ran found Thiago Silva right away.

   "Thiago, that conceded goal is entirely because Bergkamp is too strong, and it has little to do with you. Don't pay too much attention to it. Your performance in the subsequent games was very good, and continued in the second half, understand?"

   "I see, thank you, boss."

   Seeing that Chen Ran not only didn't blame him, but came to comfort himself, Thiago Silva nodded repeatedly.

   "Diego, can you still hold on to your physical strength?"

  Chen Ran looked back at Simone and asked.

   "I'm fine, boss."

  Simeone was wiping his sweat, and when he heard Chen Ran's question, he made a powerful movement to show that he was full of energy.

   "That's good. Guys, we're a goal behind in the first half, then we're going to tie or even overtake in the second half."

   "So, in the second half, we're going to start offense, and the team's style of play has become a two-tower tactic. Understand?"

"clear!"

   The replies of the team members were loud and tidy. It seemed that their morale was well maintained. Chen Ran nodded in satisfaction.

   "Gareth, you are injured now, just stay in the locker room and rest."

  Chen Ran said while looking at Southgate's thigh full of ice packs.

   "Boss, I'd better go back to the bench. I can't sit still here."

   "Then you move carefully."

   "Understood, thank you boss."

   At the beginning of the second half, Wenger saw Crystal Palace make staff adjustments, and Chen Ran replaced Yaya Toure with Tony.

   "The midfielder was replaced with a striker, Crystal Palace is going to attack."

   Wenger, who had thoroughly studied Crystal Palace, immediately understood Chen Ran's intentions.

   However, Wenger didn't care about it, and he didn't plan to shrink back to strengthen his defense.

  In England, when it comes to the attacking power of the team, Arsenal are not afraid of anyone.

   With a one-goal lead, Wenger is very confident.

   Chen Ran's twin tower tactics this time have also changed from the past.

   He did not use the combination of Tony and Crouch, but directly put Ronaldo and Tony at the top.

   As soon as Crystal Palace came up to attack, the game immediately looked good.

  The two teams fought against each other, which immediately made fans and reporters hooked.

   "That's right. Crystal Palace's attack power is obviously strong, but they always like to hide behind and play defensive counterattacks, which makes the game fragmented and ugly."

   "That's right. That's how the top two teams in the Premier League should be."

   "Hehe, if it wasn't for Arsenal's first-half goal, it would have been absolutely impossible for the Chinese to take the initiative."

   "The two teams are now facing off against each other. It's time to see who is the strongest attacking team in England. How about it? Are you interested in taking a gamble?"

   "I beat Arsenal."

   "I also beat Arsenal."

   "Arsenal."

   "Hey, hey, are you going too far? Isn't anyone pressing the Crystal Palace?"

   "You."

   "Fxxxk!"

  Crystal Palace was forced to use up a substitution due to Gareth Southgate's injury.

   So now Chen Ran only has one last chance to make a substitution. In order to prevent the team from getting injured again, this makes him easily afraid to make substitution adjustments.

   And Tony's playing, the effect is not very good.

   Because Arsenal's current centre-back is Campbell at his peak.

   The average central defender is very difficult to defend Tony, but this black tower is not at all disadvantaged.

   Fortunately, another central defender of Arsenal, Kolo Toure, was firmly suppressed by Ronaldo.

  Cristiano Ronaldo is 187cm tall, while Colo Toure is 183cm tall. Although Colo Toure has a strong jumping ability, Ronaldo's jumping is stronger.

   Chen Ran, who discovered this, immediately let Evra and Ribery on the two wings pass the ball to Ronaldo.

  One, two When Ronaldo grabbed consecutive headers, Wenger couldn't sit still.

   "This Ronaldo is more and more threatening now, and we must find a way to contain it, otherwise there will be problems."

   Wenger immediately sounded the alarm, should we replace it with a tall defender to strengthen the defense?

  For a while, Wenger hesitated.

   Arsenal are not without tall defenders, such as Segan and Senderos, who are 192cm and 190cm in height respectively.

   But both guys have their own problems, Segan is thirty this year and Senderos is nineteen.

  One is a little old, and Wenger is worried that he will not be able to keep up with Ronaldo's speed; the other is too young and has not played a few official games. Wenger is worried that he will be played around by Ronaldo.

   This is also an important reason why Kolo Toure, who is not very tall, can become Arsenal's main central defender.

   Just when Wenger hesitated, Crystal Palace ushered in a turning point.

  Evra on the left dribbled the ball and broke through the flank. He tried to pass Arsenal's right back Lauren, but failed, so he had to pass the ball to Ronaldo who ran out of Arsenal's penalty area.

  Cristiano Ronaldo received the ball and then returned the ball to Modric who was following up in the middle, and then immediately moved forward.

  Modric understood, without any pause, he made an arc and picked the ball into Arsenal's penalty area.

   At this time, Colo Toure, who followed Ronaldo out of the penalty area, was left behind by Ronaldo who re-entered the penalty area.

  Modric's pass weight is excellent, as if it was tailor-made for Ronaldo, he landed and rebounded one meter in front of Ronaldo.

   Ronaldo didn't need to make any adjustments, just a volley.

"boom!"

   With a loud bang, the ball hit the bottom edge of the Arsenal goal with great strength.

  Lyman was also unlucky. When he saw Ronaldo throw away Colo Toure, he knew something was wrong and immediately moved towards this side.

   As soon as Ronaldo made a shot, he already made a save.

  Lyman’s save was not untimely, but the ball was perfect in terms of strength, speed and angle, and he was still a beat behind.

   When Lehmann came over, the ball had already bounced off the lower edge of the crossbar and just hit the back of his head.

   The ball that could have bounced back was blocked by Lehmann's head into Arsenal's goal.

   "Goal"

   With the help of Lehmann, Crystal Palace finally pulled a goal back and the score became 1:1.

   On the sidelines, seeing this scene, Chen Ran and the Crystal Palace substitutes jumped up excitedly.

   This is really a pie from the sky.

   And on the Arsenal bench, it was dead silence.

   No one spoke, because I didn't know whether to be angry or funny.

   Wenger covered his forehead with his hand, which was so meow that he was speechless.

   In the stands, the reporters also laughed together.

   "OMG, how could this happen?"

   "Oh, I can't do it anymore, my stomach hurts from laughing."

   "This is probably the funniest goal of the season."

   "Fuck, this is really God helping that Chinese."

   "This time, the score is back to a tie. It's hard to say who will win in the next game."

   (end of this chapter)