Chapter 813: Offensive Battle! Flash Spirit Strike! Wang Shuo Dependency! San Siro's Gate of Victory! Crazy North London Derby

After arriving at Real Madrid, before playing against Barça, Mourinho intentionally instructed the groundskeepers not to mow the grass, allowing it to grow tall. The taller grass was disadvantageous to Passing-oriented teams like Barça and Arsenal. All in all, these were the home advantages that the away teams had to “overcome.”

After securing a 1-0 away victory in the first leg, Arsenal indeed held the upper hand. However, judging from the performance of both sides, they still couldn’t afford to be careless upon returning to the Emirates Stadium. Given the strength AC Milan displayed on their home turf, the second leg back at the Emirates Stadium would undoubtedly be another tough battle.

After a grueling battle against AC Milan in Italy, Arsenal returned to London. With only a brief rest, they faced the fifth round of the FA Cup over the weekend, playing away against Sunderland.

Having pushed themselves so hard in the Champions League, Wenger made extensive rotations to the lineup for this match. The starting eleven was almost entirely swapped out. As a result, Sunderland scored a goal in the 40th minute. This concession was the result of an attacking free kick. Ultimately, the Gunners lost 0-1 away to Sunderland, suffering a bitter elimination.

Up to this point, besides Arsenal, both Manchester City and Manchester United had already been knocked out. The top three teams in the Premier League had all crashed out of the FA Cup, sparking quite a lot of discussion.

The Gunners’ young players actually performed quite well in this match; they just lacked a bit of clinical finishing in front of the goal. This season, the Gunners suffered from three major chronic issues: set-piece defense, an overreliance on Wang Shuo for goals, and the left-back position. These problems became even more glaring in this match, with poor scoring and poor set-piece defense accounting for two of them.

When the 26th round of the Premier League brought the North London Derby—a home game against Tottenham Hotspur—Wenger wanted to take an offensive approach at home. Instead, the left-back issue was completely exposed.

Just two minutes into the game, the opposition scored. Adebayor assisted Saha for the goal. Gibbs’s failure to track Saha in time was the primary reason for conceding.

By the 33rd minute, Gibbs’s defensive shortcomings became even more direct. During a rapid Tottenham Hotspur counterattack, a long pass found Gareth Bale, and Gibbs was locked in a footrace with him. As both of them charged into the penalty area, Gibbs fouled Gareth Bale, giving Tottenham Hotspur a penalty. Adebayor stepped up and converted the spot-kick.

2-0!

The entire Emirates Stadium fell deathly silent!

As the ball was switched around within Tottenham Hotspur’s half, Wang Shuo immediately pounced on Ledley King. Tottenham’s captain, playing as the left center-back, instantly passed the ball out to the right flank, finding the right center-back, Caboul. The two center-backs had spread their positions very wide.

When Wang Shuo pivoted toward Caboul, the latter passed it back to Ledley King. Before Wang Shuo could rush over, Ledley King passed it back to Modric. The Croatia Midfielder had dropped very deep in today’s match. He looked more like a deep-lying playmaker.

Upon receiving the ball, Modric orchestrated the play and passed it toward the right side of the halfway line. Kyle Walker collected the pass, sprinted forward at top speed, and completed a one-two combination with Kranjcar before driving to the byline and crossing it toward the far post. Lichsteiner beat Gareth Bale to it, heading the ball out of bounds for a Tottenham Throw-In.

By this point, the match had reached the 36th minute!

Up front, Wang Shuo walked back, panting as he looked toward Hazard.

“Eden, you need to block Kyle Walker!

“Mikel, push the entire formation higher up!

“Kevin, make sure you keep up with me!”

Wang Shuo shouted as he walked, clearly dissatisfied with their recent high press. In truth, he could understand the anxiety and hesitation of the teammates around him.

After Tottenham took the Throw-In, Arsenal quickly stole the ball, initiated a fast counterattack, and passed it up front to De Bruyne. But just as De Bruyne received the ball, Modric executed a beautiful tackle on him right near the halfway line.

Immediately after the interception, Modric shook off De Bruyne’s counter-press and launched a long pass forward. Gareth Bale made a rapid forward run, caught up with Modric’s pass, drove into the left side of the penalty area, and unleashed a ferocious shot. Subotic secured his position just in time, firmly holding off Gareth Bale and sealing his Shooting angle. The shot was ultimately smothered by Szczeny, who dove to his side and gathered the ball into his chest.

Tottenham deployed a 4-4-2 formation for this match, and their overall play was very dynamic. The central midfield was anchored by Parker and Modric. Modric was incredibly eye-catching in this match, thoroughly dictating the midfield for Tottenham Hotspur. He single-handedly made Arsenal’s entire midfield look utterly lackluster. At least for the first thirty-odd minutes, that was exactly the case!

Wang Shuo had always known Modric possessed impressive abilities, but he never expected him to have improved this much. He was short and looked skinny, but he was incredibly fierce when fighting for the ball. It was precisely because Modric was marshaling the midfield that Tottenham Hotspur transitioned between attack and defense so rapidly.

Tottenham’s attacking line was also very interesting. On the surface, in the 4-4-2 formation, Gareth Bale was on the left, Kranjcar on the right, and Adebayor and Saha were the forwards. In reality? When transitioning from defense to attack, they often looked more like a three-man forward line: Gareth Bale, Adebayor, and Saha. Their positions were very fluid, but their division of labor was extremely clear. Gareth Bale was responsible for making forward runs, utilizing his pace to attack the space in behind.