i am gun king

Chapter 231 The Battle of Olympus
) May 07, 5, Athens, Greece, Olympic Stadium.

Unlike the Emirates Stadium and Anfield Stadium, the Olympic Stadium is not a pure football stadium, but a comprehensive stadium, so it has an oval runway and other track and field competition areas. This inevitably makes the Olympic Stadium have more than 7 seats, but the distance between the stands and the stadium is still very far.

The game has not yet started, but the stands of the Olympic Stadium are already full of people. The red, white and red are very bright and eye-catching. This represents the two camps of this game, representing the red and white Arsenal, and the red Liverpool. They have clearly divided the stands into two areas.

It is difficult for anyone to find red in red and white, and it is also difficult to find red and white in red. They seem to be two incompatible forces, but it is amazing that the crazy passion unique to England fans is gathered at the Olympic Stadium.

Even though the game has not yet started, the two groups of fans are already cheering and cheering in the stands almost crazily, singing the team song. They are not willing to admit defeat.

Therefore, for Wenger, the only thing he can do now is to mobilize before the game.

But in this game, the locker room of the home team before the game was deadly silent. No one spoke, no one panted, and even breathed very lightly. If it weren't for the eyeballs still rolling and the eyelids still blinking, there might be no life here.Without Li Yuxin and many main players, this is undoubtedly the biggest challenge facing Arsenal in this game.

Many people in this team are appearing on this stage for the first time and playing as the main force for the first time. It is inevitable that they will feel nervous and feel pressure, because they will inevitably be compared with the absent main players.

Thinking of this, he was full of apprehension and uneasiness about this game. This was the most unsure game he had ever coached, because it was completely out of his control, and the opponent was Bennett, who was strong and excellent in tactics. Smith and Liverpool.

It has been a long, long time since he felt this kind of hesitation, especially after coming to Arsenal, everything went smoothly, and everything could not escape from his control, which made him inevitably breed a kind of arrogance.

Reflecting on himself, in the past year or so, he has not made any progress at the tactical level.

In fact, it is not surprising that Arsenal rely too much on Li Yuxin. When a team relies too much on one person, the role of tactics will be relatively weak. There are too few choices for the head coach, so there is no need to try to improve their tactical knowledge and quality like when coaching Monaco, so it is not surprising that they have not improved.

It was only when he met Benitez that Wenger felt the pressure.

"Are you scared?"

Wenger walked slowly among the players. He tried his best to show himself a relaxed smile. He needed the players to have fighting spirit.

The players sat in their seats, looked up at their manager, and Wenger turned around so that the players could see his face and especially feel his ease.

"In fact, you may think that I always look very confident, but in fact, every time I walk out of this door." Wenger pointed to the door of the dressing room behind him and laughed, "My heart is full of anxiety."

"I'm always thinking, what kind of tactics my opponents will use to deal with me? Have my opponents found my weaknesses and shortcomings? Will they use any methods to restrain me? I can never think What my opponent will do next, so I'm always full of anxiety."

Wenger speaks slowly, but without the heaviness these words should have, but in a lighter tone, which will give people a very different feeling, stressful, but not suffocating.

"But it's weird, you know? When I walk out of this gate, on the way to the pitch, I'm worried, I'm very disturbed, but the moment I walk out of the tunnel, my whole being changes, especially But when I hear the shouts of support and encouragement from the fans in the stands, I ask myself in my heart, what are you afraid of?"

When he said this, Wenger deliberately paused, so that this question also appeared in the hearts of the players.

What are you afraid of?
Different people have different reasons for being afraid.

"I always think, since we have stepped out of this gate and stepped onto this green field, why should we be afraid? We can wear this jersey, which proves that we have such strength, Our ability to enter this stadium means that we have the qualifications to compete here, so what are we afraid of?"

Everyone in the locker room was quiet except for Wenger's voice.

"In the first year of my coaching career, I led the second team of Monaco, but no one would be optimistic about us, but it was strange. At that time, we had no burden at all, and we played every game. In the end, we won the championship, and there were powerful teams like Lyon and Marseille at our feet."

"Then I thought, what did we rely on in the first place? Were we also afraid in the first place?"

"I got the answer, that is, we are also afraid, but compared to being afraid, we have something more important, that is to go all out"

"You know, my wife told me that the reason she loves me is because she thinks that I am the most handsome when I go all out."

Wenger's words made everyone in the locker room burst into laughter, because they rarely heard Wenger joke about his own affairs, but it was very true, didn't someone say it?Concentration is the greatest charm of a man
"I learned one thing later, a very, very important thing, that is, when you walk on this green field, when you are in front of tens of thousands of fans, in front of live game cameras all over the world, fear is useless at all, on the contrary, fear will make you lose, lose everything, as long as you are afraid, you will lose for as long as you are afraid of for a lifetime, and you will lose for a lifetime."

"The reality is very cruel. You don't have to play football games because you are afraid, your opponents will not show mercy to you because you are afraid, and the fans will not forgive you for losing the game because you are afraid. After being afraid, we still have to bear all the consequences, bear all the responsibilities and accusations, since this is the case, why should we be afraid?"

The players all understood that they were stimulated by Wenger's statement, and many of them nodded.

"Later, I learned one thing more, that is, don't be afraid, and there is no need to be afraid, because everyone has his limit in everything he does. Man is not God, and he is not omnipotent. We have our strengths. We can’t do everything that’s out of our reach, and we can’t win every game by the same token.”

"But the point is, my players, we must go all out, we must use all our strength on the court and try our best to defeat our opponents, because only in this way can we be worthy of our jerseys, the fans behind us, and ourselves"

"If you ask me, what is the most important thing for a professional footballer?"

"I will tell you without hesitation, dignity"

"Dignity, for a professional player, is more important than their life, we can lose all the games, we can lose all the championships, even we can lose our football life on the field, but guys, my players, we can't lose our dignity"

"Only by going all out can we defend our dignity, ensure that we win, win the praise of our opponents, and win the respect of everyone when we lose, and leave a memorable experience in our lives."

More and more players listened to Wenger's words and couldn't help nodding. Even experienced veterans and others agreed with Li Yuxin's words very much, because they chose to come to Arsenal. The purpose was not to win the championship here. This is something that no one can guarantee. They have only one purpose in coming to Arsenal, and that is to regain their dignity
"This is not a game for the so-called championship. It is not a game for huge prize money. It is not a game for others, for the team, or for the fans."

"This is a fight for our own dignity, for your own dignity"

"Don't let your fear occupy your mind, hold your fists tightly, soldiers, we have to walk out of this door, we have to go to that green field, we have to fight for dignity"

"Okay" the players responded in unison.

"Friends of the audience, welcome to the Olympic Stadium in Istanbul, Turkey"

"What is being broadcast live for you now is the final of the 06-07 UEFA Champions League, the final match between two teams from the Premier League, Arsenal and Liverpool."

"We saw that under the leadership of the Spanish referee Mehuto Gonzalez, the referee team and the players of the two teams entered the stadium one after another. The atmosphere on the scene was very warm, because 7 people gathered here More than [-] avid Premier League fans."

"Arsenal is wearing the yellow jersey. This team was the champion of the UEFA Champions League last season. It aims to defend the title this season, but it is very difficult because they have a total of 4 main players absent for this game, including captain Li Yuxin."

"Arsenal's lineup for this game, the goalkeeper is Lehmann, the defense is Kolo Touré, Gallas, Flamini and Eboue, the midfielder is Cesc Fabregas, Alexander Song and Parker, and the front trident is Bale, Van Persie and Hleb."

"Compared to Arsenal's shortage of major generals, Liverpool seems to be strong and strong, but Benitez obviously does not dare to make a big deal, because in the past few Premier League and cup contests, Liverpool was pinched by Arsenal and then defeated. In this game, Benitez adopted a more secure tactic in the lineup."

"The goalkeeper is Reina, the defense is Traore, Hyypia, Carragher and Finnan, the midfielder adopts a three-pivot tactic, namely Harman, Harvey Alonso and Gerrard, and the front trident is Riise, Baros and Luis Garcia."

"Judging from the lineups of the two teams, whether it is Arsenal or Liverpool, they are obviously more cautious, especially Liverpool. Even if many of Arsenal's main players are absent in this game, especially captain Li Yuxin, Benitez is obviously still afraid of Arsenal's strength. However, there is another factor that is very beneficial to Liverpool. Arsenal's main center and captain Li Yuxin was banned by UEFA and sent to the bench."

Following the words of the on-site commentator, the live broadcast of the game shifted to the rostrum, and Platini appeared on the rostrum, surrounded by well-known bigwigs in European football, naturally including the management of both Arsenal and Liverpool.

Players from both sides were lined up in front of the player tunnel. Because the captain and vice-captain of the team were both absent with yellow cards, Cesc Fabregas wore the captain's armband and became the captain of the team. He played a coin guess with Liverpool's captain Steven Gerrard, and Arsenal finally won the kick-off.

The two sides returned to their own half and lined up. The atmosphere in the Olympic Stadium suddenly became tense, especially when the referee Mehuto stood in the middle circle and was ready to blow the game whistle at any time. The atmosphere became very tense.

Finally, with a clear whistle, the game finally kicked off.

"Okay, this much-anticipated match has finally come to an end. We saw that Arsenal, who kicked off first, launched an attack against Liverpool. We all know that Arsenal is best at attacking. I don't know whether Wenger will continue to use attacking tactics this time."

But before Arsenal's first wave of attack entered Liverpool's 30-meter zone, Gerrard had a direct collision with Van Persie, cutting off the ball at the feet of the Dutchman, and then quickly passed it to Xavi Alonso. The Spaniard made an adjustment, directly passed the ball to the left with a big kick.

Riise quickly advanced along the left, but Arsenal's defense on the right also returned quickly. Eboue blocked Riise on the right. Arsenal's defense also immediately organized an effective defensive position, destroying Liverpool's first attack.

"Javi Alonso's through ball again, dangerous, Baros got the ball in the box, it's going to kick

"Flamini, beautiful interception, Flamini intercepted the ball at the foot of Baros, defusing a Liverpool attack"

"But the ball still fell at Liverpool's feet. After the opening, Liverpool fought fiercely. This is also the prediction of many professionals about Liverpool's tactics before the game. That is, we should give full play to Wenger's weakness of not being able to direct the game directly. After the opening, he directly disrupted Arsenal's rhythm, and Benitez's attack undoubtedly wanted to achieve this goal."

With Liverpool's attack, Arsenal had to adopt retraction tactics. The three lines were kept very tight. Van Persie was not so much a center forward as a midfielder, because he retreated very high, but Bell and Hleb pressed very high.

This is also the tactic that Wenger can adopt. If there are conditions to attack after the opening, Arsenal still have to tear Liverpool's defense from the two ribs, but Benitez adopted a more secure three-back tactic in this game. The purpose is to block his two ribs and resolve Arsenal's offense.

Moreover, Benitez is obviously more tactically adventurous than Mourinho. The Portuguese did not dare to attack after the opening, but Benitez was very resolute in adopting offensive tactics, and he was not at all worried that he would be counterattacked by Arsenal.

Because for Benitez, disrupting Arsenal's tactics and rhythm after the opening game is undoubtedly more important than anything else.

Wenger and Li Yuxin on the bench watched their hearts beat faster and frowned. He noticed that Pat kept calling on the players on the sidelines, and Cesc Fabregas was also playing the role of team captain, constantly calling on his teammates to stabilize and maintain defensive order.

For Arsenal, without the sharpest arrow, the safest and most effective way is to defend and counterattack.

Even Wenger is fully prepared. If the game can be dragged into a penalty shootout, Arsenal's chances of winning will be greater than in the 90-minute game.

But the premise is that Arsenal can guarantee that they will not concede a goal within 120 minutes.

(End of this chapter)