873 The opponent's defense
In the first leg of the Champions League, Real Madrid's game to challenge Arsenal was soon staged at the Emirates Stadium.
In this game, Arsenal prepared very well. Goalkeeper Fabianski, Sarnia, Toure, Juru and Gibbs on the back line. In the midfield, they were Alexander Song, Bale, Nasri, Fabregas, and on the forward line, Van Persie and Adebayo.
This lineup looks like a 442, but it is actually a deformed 451. After all, Van Persie's playing characteristics can be said to be quite flexible. If necessary, he can also switch to the midfield line to get the ball. His position in Barcelona is probably equivalent to Borgkamp's previous position, because with Adebayo, he can play quite calmly.
Although such a lineup is not the strongest in Arsenal, it is quite powerful. Arsenal's Gala was injured and Al Shawen was unable to play because he participated in the Champions League, but others can play. Especially the old patients Van Persie and Diaby can play, which is quite good news for Arsenal.
But even so, they are still not favored.
And this is not without reason. Real Madrid gained the upper hand at the beginning of the game. They frequently dribbled the ball and began to oppress the attack, which immediately made the Gunners' defense line anxious.
"It can be seen that Real Madrid's strength is above Arsenal." Regarding this question, the commentator Leinkell expressed his opinion. "In fact, we can see the gap between Real Madrid and Arsenal through the comparison of two sets of data: Real Madrid's ball possession rate this season is about 60%, while their pass success rate when playing football is about 85%. Arsenal's ball possession rate is almost the same as Real Madrid, about 60%, but in terms of pass success rate, it is only about 75%. It can be said that Arsenal's passing ability is one level worse than Real Madrid."
"I remember that if I was right, the highest number of these two data this season is Barcelona. The ball possession rate reached 73%, and the pass success rate was close to 88%. However, when facing Real Madrid, Barcelona still lost," said Alan Hansen, who partnered with him.
"Yes, even though Real Madrid won at that time, they still did not have an advantage in ball possession. I think this is also the same as Real Madrid when playing football, which should be learned like Real Madrid at that time - what they need is to learn how to fight back."
Although Real Madrid seems to be less oppressive than Barcelona's style of play this season, it is still more aggressive in terms of style of play and has a lot of ball rights at the same time. After all, only teams that play control can give players a lot of autonomy, which meets the requirements of Zhao Yaning and Ibrahimovic. They both need to play according to their own wishes, so that they have higher autonomy, so they are of course happy. Moreover, such a formation is easier to replenish new players, making the team more flexible and even more efficient, which is also very beneficial for teams like Real Madrid. After all, everyone knows that Real Madrid's love to buy new players has not been a year or two. Ancelotti's arrangement is also for future consideration.
In La Liga, no one mentioned Real Madrid's ball control ability because there is a more perverted Barcelona in La Liga. 73% ball control, which is an abnormal level that is rare in football history. Compared with them, Real Madrid's 60% ball control rate is nothing. However, when it comes to Arsenal, Real Madrid's advantage is seen. Arsenal is the best team in the entire Premier League, and they have always been since they turned to ball control style since the 2008 season.
The most proud offensive team in the Premier League, but compared with Real Madrid, their ball possession rate is not superior, and their pass success rate is 10%. How terrible is a 10% difference in pass success rate? Xavi's 90% success rate is highly praised by Barcelona as the world's number one organizer. With an 80% passing success rate, any backcourt player with excellent passes can reach it. The difference is so big that one can imagine how big the 10% passing success rate of a team is.
For a long time, Real Madrid players' ball control ability cannot be considered very good in everyone's impression - at least the main attributes of the player type are not here. Compared with other aspects, this aspect is not Real Madrid's advantage. However, the changes in tactical play that Ancelotti made silent use of Real Madrid's advantages in empirical tactical qualities and strong personal abilities, and gained smooth attacking and kicking for this team. In the first half of the season, because the main opponent against Barcelona was Barcelona, such changes were not obvious, but after defeating Lyon, the whole world stared at this team and saw their changes. When they met ordinary teams, Real Madrid was still a team with great advantages.
Ancelotti achieved a rare success in reforms at Real Madrid. Although he can be said to have made many reforms, allowing Raul to change positions, Guti to play as a substitute, changing positions for Ramos and Pepe, and renovating the entire team's appearance, he still achieved good results.
In a sense, Raul's support is indelible. As the team's captain, Raul has always played a positive role in this change. He has been working hard for the changes in the team, ensuring the stability and unity of the locker room. It is precisely with his support that Real Madrid's current style of playing.
In this game, Real Madrid's lineup is much more dazzling than Arsenal. On the forward line, Real Madrid is Ibrahimovic single striker. In the midfield, Ribery, Raul, Zhao Yaning, Yaya Toure and Pepe, and on the back line, Marcelo, Cannavaro, Ramos and Ivanovic, and the goalkeeper is still Casillas.
"Speaking of this, there is a very interesting thing." Looking at this lineup, Leinker couldn't help laughing, "Yaya Toure, Zhao Yaning, and Ibrahimovic are all players who have had rumors with Arsenal. When they were playing football, their first choice was Arsenal, not other teams. Zhao Yaning was born in Monaco. Yaya Toure's brother is still playing in Arsenal. Ibrahimovic had already arrived at Arsenal. At the same time, he also took photos of him wearing Arsenal jerseys... But now, they have stood opposite Arsenal and faced Arsenal."
"If we count this way, there are Cristiano, Drogba, Essin, and Pique, all of whom have been inspected and quoted, but in the end they have not been able to get the players. Arsenal has been dragged down by the stadium in recent years. All the players they like have no money to buy them, and in the end, they play less than one year. If they can't win the championship this season, then they will have no championship for four consecutive years... This time has been a bit long."
Arsenal's long-term downturn has a lot to do with their poverty. After all, the team cannot introduce good players without money. No matter how good Wenger has a good vision, it is impossible to avoid the people he likes. Speaking of which, many Arsenal people choose after taking a step back. It is indeed not the same as Real Madrid's team that is rich and powerful and can afford to buy anyone.
In this game, Real Madrid quickly told Arsenal that they were reluctant to pay and that they had always been a small business. How big a flaw is there.
After passing the ball in Real Madrid's midfielder, the ball reached Yaya Toure in the backcourt. Toure glanced at Arsenal's midfielder Fabregas and rushed up by himself - for him, Arsenal's midfield defense is really not enough, and such an opportunity is a good time for him to show his ability.
Fabregas rushed up, but Yaya Toure turned over and blocked him behind him. Although Fabregas kept trying to find an opportunity to grab the ball, his body was too different from Yaya Toure and he had no chance to grab the ball.
This also made Yaya Toure drive straight in and rushed up immediately. At this time, Ibrahimovic had retreated outside the penalty area, and at the same time, the three attacking players had already inserted together.
Yaya Toure gave the ball to Ibrahimovic, and behind Ibrahimovic, Zhu Lu had already come to defend. At this time, there was a loophole in Arsenal's defense line, but Ibrahimovic did not choose to pass the ball with one kick. He squeezed Zhu Lu behind him, adjusted his physical condition, and suddenly turned around and squeezed Zhu Lu behind him.
Then, Ibrahimovic, who got the opportunity, shot directly and knocked the ball towards the goal!
Kholo Toure pounced on him and stretched out his foot to block the ball from the bottom line. Ibrahimovic's attack failed, but it still caused a surprise to the stadium.
"The physical gap is too obvious." Reinkel sighed, "Wenger can make up for the lack of tactical awareness through tactics, but the physical gap cannot be made up for the difference in tactics at all. Yaya Toure and Ibrahimovic are not playing football based on skills, but are completely crushing Arsenal with their bodies. If they continue to play like this, how can Arsenal win?"
Arsenal’s biggest problem is that they are young. Young makes their physical fitness really unable to compete with better players. If they meet ordinary teams, they may still resist, but if they meet players like Ibrahimovic and Yaya Toure who are known for their physical strength, it will be difficult for them to play football.
This is Real Madrid's biggest advantage: relying on their physical strength, they can make Arsenal suffer a lot.
Moreover, Real Madrid has more than one advantage. When Zhao Yaning stood at the corner kick point, the chaos in the penalty area also shows how great the advantage of Real Madrid is at this time.
"I hope Arsenal won't lose points in set pieces...but it doesn't seem easy!"
Zhao Yaning's corner kick was taken, but fortunately, Arsenal's defense this time pushed his ball out, but no one broke through the goal.
At this moment, Bale, who won the football, had already brought the ball and quickly attacked. His speed immediately made Arsenal fans cheer - maybe, Arsenal still have some hope?
"Obviously, Arsenal still has the ability to counterattack. They saw what they should do and found a good way to counterattack. Bale's speed can ensure his counterattack ability. Now, let's see how Real Madrid plans to deal with other people's counterattacks?"—
ps: The 75% pass success rate is the true level of Arsenal in the 0809 season. The 80% success rate mentioned above is 0405 Chelsea. The 85% success rate given to Real Madrid is referenced by Amphase's first season at Chelsea. Barcelona's 88% is the data from its peak. Generally speaking, the advantage of football's possession of more than 55% is very obvious. When it comes to 65% ball control, it basically completely suppresses. The 73% ball control rate is Barcelona's peak data, which is indeed very high. However, Barcelona's data is actually a bit low. When encountering strong teams, their possession rate is around 60%.
In addition, the book speculated that An Pang uses an attacking style. After watching the national derby, the second half of the game was similar to what I estimated, but it is not ruled out that Barcelona has changed their anti-counterfeiting coach now, so Real Madrid attacked more. But in the first half... How soft was An Pang? FP said a few words and threw Bale on the lineup that he had worked with ten games...
Chapter completed!