Football giants

Chapter 535 Iron Man
When Drogba rushed out of the penalty area excitedly, Wenger, who was standing on the sidelines, slapped his forehead vigorously. Judging from the shape of his mouth, it was obvious that he cursed something beginning with F.

For Professor Wenger, who has always been gentle and refined, this is quite a rare gaffe!

No one expected that Wenger's team would play so badly at St. Mary's Stadium, even Wenger himself.

This is already the fourth goal of the game!

Toni Kroos played as a single defensive midfielder independently in this game, and he played so well!
Ten minutes ago, it was his diagonal pass that was handed over to Hazard.

After the Belgian dribbled the ball in from the left, it attracted Arsenal's defensive attention, and then suddenly made a diagonal pass to the right.

Gareth Bale dribbled into the penalty area from the right, completely disrupting the Arsenal defense.

As a result, the Welshman made a cross in the middle, James Rodriguez missed it on purpose, Hazard followed up and scored the goal, rewriting the score to [-]-[-]!
And now, it was Hazard who dribbled the ball in from the left, passed it to James Rodriguez in the middle, and the latter split to the right.

Almost all of the four goals were related to the wing, which made Wenger feel like he was breaking down.

"Pat, the wing must be filled, it must be filled!"

After approaching the coaching bench of the visiting team, Wenger seemed a little out of breath.

It's a shame and a shame for a powerful Premier League player to be beaten by a newly promoted team with a score of [-]-[-], even in an away game!
What's more, judging from the current situation, Southampton is Arsenal's number one opponent striving for the top four in the league!

Judging from the situation this season, Manchester United and Manchester City are still strong, and Chelsea's strength is also stable under the coaching of Benitez.

Even Wenger has to admit that the overall strength of these three teams is above Arsenal.

Originally Arsenal's biggest competitor in the top four of the league was Tottenham Hotspur, but the team is still in the process of adjustment, the performance is good, and it is temporarily ranked above Arsenal, but Wenger is very confident that he can suppress the opponent.

Only Southampton, relying on a series of consecutive victories, the Saints actually reached the third place, even suppressing Chelsea.

This undoubtedly destroyed Wenger's plan!

As Arsenal's head coach, Wenger knows better than anyone that losing the Champions League qualification will be a huge blow to Arsenal's finances. Therefore, in order to keep the top four in the league, signings during the winter break must be done!
Pat Rice nodded, indicating that he remembered it and would remind him later.

"Belsa is not easy either!"

Wenger glanced at the front of the home team's coaching bench. Bielsa, who was always squatting on the sidelines directing the game, snorted coldly.

"Isn't Southampton's bench thickness excellent, otherwise, his rotation can help the Saints survive Christmas?"

The Christmas devil schedule, with three games played in seven days, is a huge test for any team.

But Southampton just relied on its tyrannical strength and strong bench thickness to survive this devil's schedule.

Among the teams at the top of the league standings, only Southampton, Manchester United, Chelsea and Arsenal have two consecutive victories in the first two rounds of the Christmas Devil's schedule, and Manchester City has lost one game.

But in this round, Manchester United won and Chelsea lost. As long as Arsenal defeated Newcastle [-]-[-] at home and won Southampton with such force, they would be able to establish a good situation in the second half and narrow the points gap.

But now, it has instead brought Southampton a step further!
Think about it, it's really useless!

He raised his head and looked towards the pitch, just in time to see Southampton's German midfielder Toni Kroos hugging his teammates with a smile, celebrating Drogba's goal, and could vaguely hear their cheers.

"We are only short of one Toni Kroos!" Wenger shook his head regretfully.

It's also my fault why he lost his eyes in the first place!

When Toni Kroos was at Bayern Munich, his performance was not eye-catching, nor was he playing the role of playmaker after the delay.

But after coming to Southampton, he switched to play as an organizational midfielder, but in the end he unleashed his potential in one fell swoop.

Perhaps in the eyes of many fans, the retreat of Toni Kroos means that he is insulated from all personal honors.

But in fact, Bielsa's move has greatly broadened the development prospects of Toni Kroos.

The German midfielder is a midfielder with a very classic charm. He has good skills at his feet, but his speed is average, and his personal breakthrough ability is not strong. In the frontcourt, facing dense defense, this is not his strong point, and it will even expose his weakness.

There is no room for the slightly classical No. [-] player's style of play in the modern football tactical system!
Even in Bayern Munich, it is impossible to build a set of tactics around Toni Kroos with the traditional number ten as the core.

But retreating, although sacrificing part of his offensive ability, has activated his ability to organize, control the ball and control the overall situation.

In the current Southampton team, Toni Kroos is the midfield decision maker and controller.

This point is fully reflected in this game!

Excellent horizontal scheduling ability, long and short passes covering every corner of the court, the team's offensive and defensive transition rhythm and the ability to control the overall situation are very good. Such a midfielder is definitely Wenger's dream.

The only thing that can be criticized is that Toni Kroos' defensive ability is still slightly poor as a defensive midfielder.

But the most important thing is that this player is only 23 years old, and he is still growing and improving rapidly.

How precious is this in the current professional football world?
Looking back now, not to mention that Yang Huan advocated the introduction of Toni Kroos, it was rumored that Kaizi helped him pay for his wallet, even if he didn't, the introduction of Toni Kroos for 6000 million pounds was worth it!

At the very least, judging from the current situation, Toni Kroos is undoubtedly the most promising to become a perfect all-around technical midfielder.

As for Barcelona's Busquets, his defensive position selection is worse than that of Toni Kroos. After all, he is a pure midfielder, but his ability to run, cover, pass threatening balls and design the team's offensive line is not as good as the Germans.

Perhaps, this is also related to the existence of Harvey, but at least Toni Kroos's performance in the last two seasons is indeed quite amazing and eye-catching.

And Toni Kroos is too smart. Although he is a late organizer, he rushes up from time to time and takes a long shot, which makes people break out in a cold sweat. He also has an outstanding free kick technique.

"It is too easy for us to let the opponent pass through our midfield and face Arteta directly. Once we face each other, whether it is Hazard, James Rodriguez or Gareth Bale, Arteta will be eaten!"

Pat Rice shook his head helplessly and sighed.

This problem is not unique now, it has always existed, it's just...

The Arsenal assistant glanced at Wenger and sighed in his heart.

The Gunners coach has always believed that as long as the front offense goes smoothly and the enthusiasm of the players to press and press comes up, Arsenal's ball possession tactics can ensure the stable operation of the team's technical single midfielder.

In Chinese terms, this should be called offense is the best defense!
Idealism kills people!

…………

…………

With the whistle of the referee, the almost one-sided Champions League qualification battle, which shocked everyone, finally came to an end.

With four goals from James Rodriguez, Gareth Bale, Hazard and Drogba, Southampton beat Arsenal [-]-[-] at home and won the team's nine consecutive victories!

At the same time, the three-game winning streak at Christmas also allowed Southampton to successfully get out of the devil's schedule.

This made everyone in the entire St. Mary's Stadium heave a sigh of relief, but they were also cheering wildly.

After killing Arsenal, Southampton has further secured its place in the top four of the league.

For Southampton this season, as long as they qualify for the Champions League, it will be considered a success!
After the game ended, it was not the four players who scored the goals who were selected as the best player in the game, but Toni Kroos in the midfield.

When the best of the audience selection results were announced, all the fans throughout St. Mary's Stadium stood up and cheered.

The German players showed their fantastic football skills in this game.

Relying on his excellent tactical understanding ability, he completely controlled the rhythm of the game, led the Saints midfielder, and was able to suppress Arsenal's midfielder forward. He scored consecutive goals in a short period of time in the opening, establishing the game victory.

With a retreat, the Saints midfielder was able to firmly control the situation and rhythm, making it difficult for Arsenal to organize a threatening offensive.

At the same time, he once again ran the longest running distance in the game, reaching 90.00 kilometers, and his pass success rate was as high as [-]%. These two statistics are quite amazing.

More importantly, in all the games that Toni Kroos has participated in this season, he averaged [-] kilometers per game. He is currently the number one in the Southampton team in average running per game, and he can be called an iron man!

When he has the ball, he supports his teammates by actively running in a large area, and when he does not have the ball, he actively runs to block the opponent's ball line.

Toni Kroos' movement may not be decisive, but it is very, very important!
As a result, Yang Huan came to the home team's locker room immediately after the game. As soon as he entered the door, he didn't care that Toni Kroos was wet and sweaty, and went directly to give him a bear hug.

"Great job Tony, great job!"

The latter held the best champagne in the audience with both hands, and was immediately flattered to be hugged by Master Huan.

"And you guys are all too good, I like you guys!"

Everyone laughed when they heard this.

Master Huan's words are too outrageous!
However, I'm so happy to hear Master Huan's appreciation!
"Now, the devil's schedule is finally over. Everyone has to hurry up and adjust well, because the next one will be the most decisive. All fronts will enter the final tug-of-war, and it will become very tragic!"

Everyone kept nodding.

The Christmas Devils fixtures are just one of the tests for the Premier League powerhouses.

The Premier League and cup games that followed were not at all as difficult as the Christmas Devils.

Therefore, there are many dark polo teams that performed well in the first half, but after the Christmas schedule, they thought they could breathe a sigh of relief, but they became paralyzed and slack, directly ruining the hard work of the entire season.

"I still say the same thing, I will never be stingy with bonuses, as long as you perform well, I will definitely satisfy you!"

When the players heard this, they all burst into laughter again.

Master Huan is bold!
May I ask, in the whole world, how many people can be as generous as Young Master Huan?

"Okay, that's all I've said, everyone, prepare well, turn around, Wangjiang Pavilion, I'm treating you!"

"Thank you, Master Huan!"

"It's great, Master Huan, you are so awesome!"

The players immediately burst into cheers and thanks.

Yang Huan waved his hand, turned around and walked towards the door of the locker room, and when he passed by Bielsa, he specially reminded him.

"Old Bei, after the post-match press conference, come to my office and let's discuss something."

"Okay!" Bielsa nodded in agreement.

(End of this chapter)