Chapter 618: Chapter 617: The Chinese Derby, Flank Hedging
At 19 minutes, Grosso suppressed Arsenal’s flank attack with his tough defense.
Lauren had wanted to rely on his speed to outflank Grosso; however, he didn’t expect that this towering figure of 1.9 meters also had no lack of pace. Catching up, Grosso performed a flying tackle and executed a perfect defense.
Yet after going down, Lauren was slow to get back to his feet.
The Arsenal medics came onto the field, and subsequently indicated that Lauren couldn’t continue the game.
On the sidelines for Arsenal, Wu Xudong began to warm up urgently.
Fans in distant China were particularly excited.
The China Derby was on once again!
Even though the real China Derby should involve Wu Xudong and Sun Jihai, the latter had yet to take the field.
But no Chinese would refuse to consider Deng Kai one of their own.
For having disbanded the national football shoe cartel, bringing down countless football shoe leaders, and initiating the era of Soccer Prisoners, Deng Kai was etched in the memory of all his countrymen.
As Wu Xudong came onto the field, Arsenal’s right wing was further enlivened because people found Wu Xudong played more aggressively than Lauren.
Lauren was fast, had good passing, and was offensively strong.
But he was, after all, a full-back.
Wu Xudong’s playing style even gave people a feeling that it was hard to distinguish him from Henry.
He even made appearances in the penalty area.
At 28 minutes, Grosso dragged and pulled down Wu Xudong, preventing him from taking flight.
But as a result, Grosso got himself a yellow card.
minutes in.
Wu Xudong outpaced Grosso, who, already on a yellow card, hesitated and missed the best opportunity to defend.
Bang!
Wu Xudong delivered a cross.
Back post!
Bogkamp moved nimbly to avoid Hierro’s defense, rushing in from behind and scoring a header.
Three to one!
"GOAL! I have to say, after Wu Xudong came on, the threat on Arsenal’s right increased a lot."
"He’s quite an exceptional player, and Wenger has expressed his optimism about Wu Xudong many times."
"But the main reason Wu Xudong hasn’t been able to secure a starting spot in Arsenal is that his defense is a bit weaker. Not deficient defensive capability, but his playing style inevitably leads to defensive gaps."
"Many who follow Manchester City should be able to see that Wu Xudong’s playing style is actually very much like that of Manchester City’s full-backs."
"Wu Xudong has outright speed exceeding Manchester City’s Maicon, Lahm, and Grosso. But these three also have their advantages in physique, crossing, dribbling skills, and height."
"From Sporting Lisbon to Manchester City, the demands Trigella, Maxa, and Deng Kai held for full-backs have never changed."
"Including Wu Xudong’s assist just now, choosing to cross to the far post is also heavily characteristic of Sporting Lisbon’s style."
Three to one!
Arsenal fans began to cheer.
And the faces of Manchester City players showed grave concern.
"Steady up!" Deng Kai started communicating with his teammates, "Grosso, you can’t outrun Wu Xudong; don’t go up for now; focus on defense."
"Toure, switch with me, I’m heading to the right."
"Thiago, watch out for gaps at the right midfield position; we are going to focus on this flank now."
"Ribery, Maicon, let’s tear them apart, let’s see if Wu Xudong + [player’s name] + Henry have a higher efficiency, or if we three are sharper, any problem?"
Together they roared: "No problem!"
Soon, the tide of the game began to turn.
minutes in.
Deng Kai played give-and-go with Maicon and Ribery, then, pretending to cut inside, he passed it wide to Ribery.
With one sweeping kick, Ribery sent the ball into Arsenal’s penalty area.
Fowler was quick to shoot, and the ball struck Himan’s body, narrowly missing the goal.
But worse yet, Fowler stayed down after the play.
He had gone for the ball at the same time as Kolo Toure, whose physical condition completely overwhelmed Fowler.
The genius assassin’s glass-like fragility was truly beyond rescue.
Deng Kai, Yaya Toure, and other players quickly came over to check on Fowler’s condition, followed by the team physician entering the field.
Yaya Toure even exchanged pleasantries with his own elder brother, Kolo Toure, on the spot.
Kolo Toure’s career took off more smoothly than that of Yaya Toure initially, as he stayed with Arsenal and had already become an important rotational center-back for the team.
However, after being let go by Arsenal, Yaya Toure managed to overtake in the race.
He moved far away to Lisbon, where, following Deng Kai, he won countless championships with the Portuguese sports club.
At first, he was an important substitute, but after accepting an invitation from Manchester City, he had become their key midfielder.
This year, everyone was talking about Deng Kai as the best midfielder in Europe.
But Yaya Toure, who was part of the golden midfield duo with Europe’s number one midfielder, had already risen to the level of potential new star midfielders of the Premier League.
Keep in mind, he was only nineteen years old at the time, not even twenty yet.
But people were already comparing him with stars like Lampard and Gerard.
If he could maintain this form, he would definitely become a top-class footballer within two years.
So, sometimes it’s really hard to predict fate.
Feng Te said, "It’s really important to follow the right person!"
In the end, Fowler was unable to continue the match.
Manchester City also had to substitute due to injury.
But with a nod from Deng Kai, Maxa surprisingly chose to use the full-back Lahm to replace Fowler.
Next door, Wenger looked bewildered.
Lahm?
Six defenders?
"Oh! This is... Baggio has moved to the striker position; he’s filling in for Fowler."
"Grosso has moved forward, taking the role of left winger."
"Lahm has taken over Grosso’s previous position of left full-back."
"This is... a very strange formation."
A 523 formation is not bizarre.
But what’s bizarre is... the 191 centimeter-tall Grosso playing left winger, and the 174 centimeter-tall Baggio playing striker?
And don’t forget Baggio was 34 or 35 years old; his frame playing as a striker, do you, Maxa, and Baggio have some kind of grievance?
But soon everyone understood Manchester City’s playing style.
Baggio seemed to be the striker, but in reality, he was a shadow striker.
He focused on dropping back to receive and organize plays.
Instead, Grosso frequently appeared in the striker position, grappling with Campbell and Kolo Toure.
Lahm also demonstrated his offensive attributes.
If the combination of Grosso and Baggio on the flank before were unable to exploit the defensive gaps left by Wu Xudong’s forward runs.
Then the combination of Lahm and Grosso managed to seize those opportunities.
Speed on the flanks is a solid asset.
Letting Baggio move to the middle was not only to orchestrate attacks but also to make way for the high-speed lanes on the flanks.
In the end, with a cross from Lahm, Grosso’s header went off target, and the first half came to an end.
The score was three to one, with Arsenal leading by two goals.
...
During the halftime break, Deng Kai specifically talked with Grosso and Maicon.
He made it clear that he intended to substitute them both around the sixty to seventy-minute mark.
He told them to give their all in the first twenty minutes of the second half and to hold nothing back.
The whole world thought that the engine of Manchester City was Deng Kai.
In other matches, this indeed might be the case.
But in this game, the real engines for Manchester City were the two full-backs.
No, rather... four full-backs!
