Chapter 93 The future is yours
Newcastle’s official Twitter account and several local sports media outlets jumped out early to cheer for the Magpies, but that couldn’t be considered as popping champagne at halftime.

Just because Arsenal didn’t live up to their expectations, they were unexpectedly tied by their city rivals Chelsea in the 34th round of the league.

This result was beyond the expectations of many media and fans, but thinking about it after the game, the fans did not think that Chelsea did not have the ability to cause an upset.

You can say that Chelsea is a mess now, but you cannot deny the huge development potential of the young players in this team.

It is the coaching staff’s problem that Chelsea cannot bring this group of players together, but as long as they have potential, there is a huge possibility of a turnaround.

Arsenal can only say that they were very unlucky. They encountered Chelsea, who performed explosively, at such a crucial moment in the championship race.

Their defeat naturally gave Newcastle’s local media further hope of the team winning the championship early.

Li Chen was of course happy to see Arsenal get a draw.

But he did not show any joy about this matter in private to his players.

Once he becomes serious, there will be no relaxed atmosphere in the Newcastle team for preparation.

The players will not talk too much about the performance of their title rivals and will still focus on their own preparation and training.

They even occasionally worry whether their training performance can meet the strict requirements of the coaching staff.

In addition, Cristiano Ronaldo, the super-successful player, takes Havertz to work early and leaves late every day, setting a positive example.

For a while, Newcastle’s training base was filled with crazy people preparing for the game, hoping to perform well in the final sprint.

No one wants to lose their main position in the team because of failing to meet Li Chen’s requirements.

This is exactly the team atmosphere that Li Chen wants to see.

During the middle of the pre-season, the players had no problem being more relaxed in their daily training and making the atmosphere in the team more cheerful.

But when it comes to the final stage of the championship race, Li Chen will become like his teacher Mourinho.

While leading the coaching staff to make detailed preparations, he also hopes that his players can take this critical period very seriously.

Competitive sports are extremely cruel. If you miss an important chance to win a championship, you may never encounter such an opportunity again in your career.

As an active professional coach, Li Chen still has a long career ahead of him. He has plenty of room for error and the right to regret.

Missing out on one or two championship trophies is not a big problem for him, and he has plenty of time to make up for the mistakes he has made.

But his players do not have the luxury of regret.

He must be responsible for the players he leads. Some things are missed and there will be no chance to do them again.

Perhaps some of the young players in the team do not fully understand his approach and some of his strict requirements.

But as time goes by and they gradually realize that there is a gap between themselves and their peers in terms of career heights.

Li Chen felt that they would eventually understand him.

Just like many retired stars who were once coached by Mourinho always talk about thanking Mourinho when facing reporters…

On the afternoon of May 5, Newcastle players, who had completed the pre-match mobilization, made their first appearance at St. James’ Park under the leadership of Li Chen.

After the players of both teams began to warm up, reporters at the scene frequently turned their cameras to the head coaches of the two teams standing on the sidelines.

Like Arteta, Li Chen had extremely serious expressions on his faces when he came out to check on the players’ warm-up results. They both hurried back to the locker room almost at the same time.

As for the starting lineups of the two teams in today’s game, the media also had to wait until an hour before the game started to get the specific list of players.

cautious.

The head coaches of both teams seemed quite cautious in their pre-match preparations for today’s game.

Such an attitude naturally raised the expectations of reporters and fans for the upcoming battle.

As the time approached 3pm London time, the atmosphere at St. James’ Park became increasingly heated and agitated.

As soon as the players of both teams lined up, commentators from various countries took the opportunity to introduce today’s starting lineups of Newcastle and Arsenal to fans around the world.

First of all, the home team Newcastle has had a week of training and rest, so the main players in the team can continue to play without rotation.

However, Li Chen chose to let Ronaldo play as a lone striker today and did not start Havertz.

As for the selection of the two wings in the midfield, Li Chen also let Anthony Gordon and Joelinton play as left and right wingers today.

Maddison played as an attacking midfielder in the middle, while Guimaraes and Sean Longstaff formed a double defensive midfielder.

The defense line is led by Ramos and partnered with Guevadiol to form a double central defender.

Marcelo replaced Grimaldo as the starting left back today, while Trippier was still the starting right back.

Starting goalkeeper Sommer.

The visiting team Arsenal also fielded their strongest lineup despite serious injury problems.

Martinelli, Jesus and Saka formed Arsenal’s forward trident today.

In midfield, Jorginho was in the middle, with Xhaka and Odegaard on his left and right.

On the defensive line, young player Chiviol replaced the injured Saliba and Gabriel to form Arsenal’s double central defender today.

Zinchenko and Ben White played as left and right full-backs.

Starting goalkeeper Ramsdale.

Compared to Newcastle, which now has a complete main lineup, Arsenal’s defensive strength has definitely declined due to the injuries of Takehiro Tomiyasu and Saliba.

Before the game, many sports media speculated that Li Chen would choose to focus on the offensive end.

But now it seems that the changes made by Li Chen on the offensive end did not seem like he wanted to attack behind Arsenal’s defense at the beginning of the game.

Ronaldo can indeed play as a lone striker, but no one will deny that he can perform more easily and better in a double striker system.

Perhaps even Arteta himself did not expect that Li Chen would choose to sacrifice the striker first in order to further secure the voice in the midfield.

This made him somewhat unsure of Li Chen’s subsequent tactical intentions.

However, Li Chen did not choose to play dumb with him on the tactical end today.

There were not many offensive changes. As soon as the game started, Newcastle, who got the kick-off right, pressed forward as a whole, obviously wanting to control the midfield rhythm first.

After realizing this, the Arsenal midfielders were naturally unwilling to give up control of the game.

Odegaard and Xhaka were very active in pressing Newcastle’s ball organizers in the midfield.

But due to Arteta’s tactical arrangement, the two of them seemed to be fighting alone as they lacked more support.

Arsenal’s overall formation was unable to form continuous pressure and was repeatedly suppressed.

Watching this scene, Li Chen quickly understood Arteta’s tactical intention.

This reminded him of the first strong match between Arsenal and Manchester City this season. At that time, Arteta relied on a more proactive decentralization tactic to actively fight Manchester City’s counterattack.

Manchester City also allowed Arsenal to seize counterattack opportunities many times due to their own unique playing style.

In the end, if Rodri hadn’t joined the attack from behind, his header would have disrupted Arsenal’s defensive arrangement.

In that game, Arteta could at least take away one point from Manchester City’s home field.

Well, breaking the bus, especially breaking the bus of a strong team, is still not a technical strength of Manchester City at present.

After Arteta tasted success in this regard, it is easy to understand why he wants to use the same method against Newcastle.

However, Li Chen, who saw through this, was not in a hurry at all.

As reflected in the game, countless fans watching the game quickly understood why Newcastle dared to press Arsenal’s formation right from the start.

“Another fierce and timely interception! Joelinton and the chasing Maddison hit Zinchenko hard.

Arsenal’s counterattack once again came to nothing, and Sir Lee’s tactical arrangement achieved the best results at this moment.

Newcastle’s midfielders are so versatile. They are not traditional technical midfielders, but all-around warriors with beastly bodies! “

the Sky Sports commentator exclaimed.

Countless fans who watched Joelinton arrest Zinchenko like a chick were also calling Newcastle’s tactics “brutal” in front of their TVs.

Compared to the main attacking left side, Newcastle’s right side today was more like a steel tunnel.

Joelinton sat in the frontcourt, sweeping the right area to protect Madison while helping Trippier share the defensive pressure.

And Sean Longstaff, standing behind him, is a silent person who does the dirty work.

Arsenal’s repeated attempts to launch counterattacks from their left flank ended in failure.

Even if they can get past Joelinton, they still have to break through Sean Longstaff’s defense to further threaten Newcastle’s back line.

The difficulty was so great that Artest had to step up in advance to signal his disciples not to waste their energy on the left and to transfer more ball possession to the right.

But soon, Guimarães, who pressed forward to defend, made Saka, who retreated to receive the ball, suffer a setback.

The Brazilian midfielder’s title of Premier League steals leader this season is not something he just did, but something he fought for.

With him and Gvardiol guarding the left side, Li Chen was quite confident in letting Marcelo and Anthony Gordon take turns to join the attack.

This all-out attack and defense style of play in the midfield places very high physical demands on players in each position.

However, the physical problems that other teams generally have at this stage seem very minor here at Newcastle.

Many veteran Arsenal fans quickly discovered the tactical trap that Li Chen set for Arteta.

It is obvious that Newcastle will focus on the midfield’s pressure attack today.

According to common sense, after the midfield gains an advantage, it must find a way to convert the advantage into shooting opportunities for the forwards.

But today Newcastle did the opposite. The entire midfield was not serving Ronaldo. On the contrary, Ronaldo was the one who served his own midfield.

The Portuguese superstar’s intimidation is too great, especially when he devotes himself to running without the ball.

His active running and pulling created a lot of offensive space for his young teammates who came from behind.

Whether it was long shots from outside Arsenal’s penalty area or cutting in from behind to score, Newcastle’s young players were threatening today.

This is an open conspiracy. Arsenal can either boldly ignore Ronaldo’s off-ball movement or expand the defense line to limit Newcastle’s midfield attack.

Or you can bet that Newcastle’s young players are not good enough in the end and can’t break through Ramsdale’s defense.

The latter option seems to be much safer.

After all, Ronaldo’s outstanding performance against Arsenal last season is still fresh in the memory of many Arsenal players and fans.

In the end, Arteta didn’t dare to gamble on Ronaldo’s condition, so he chose to sit back and wait and see.

However, Li Chen did not want to give Arsenal’s defense time to adjust.

Seeing that Arteta did not make any tactical changes, he took the initiative to make tactical gestures, asking his disciples on the field to further intensify the pressure attack!
This undoubtedly further intensified the level of melee between the players of the two teams in the defensive third zone of Arsenal’s half.

After all, there is only so much room for maneuver. If one side has to increase its offensive force, while the other side will not give an inch, it can easily turn into a hand-to-hand fight where you are in me and I am in you.

In such a melee, it should be difficult for Madison, who plays as a central midfielder, to perform well.

But after Li Chen made a position swap between him and Joelinton, Newcastle’s offensive chessboard was suddenly activated!

Joelinton in the center seemed to have become a center forward, providing tactical support for the transfer of ball possession to his teammates.

With him as the real offensive bridgehead, Anthony Gordon and Madison on the two wings were able to perform with ease.

In the 23rd minute of the first half, Anthony Gordon’s sudden forward run after Joelinton took control of the ball disrupted the deployment of Arsenal’s defense.

But Joelinton then knocked the ball to Maddison who was running towards him.

Maddison dribbled sideways, observing the positions of the players on the Arsenal back line while knocking the ball out of the penalty area to Ronaldo who was waiting for him.

Before Chiviot could intercept him, Ronaldo chose to pass the ball to Madison who continued to run.

The next moment, taking advantage of the sight-blocking effect of Arsenal’s defense line expanding outward and pressing forward, Madison decisively chose to shoot from two steps in front of Arsenal’s penalty area!

Without any unexpected refraction, Madison’s long shot went straight to the far corner of the Arsenal goal!

In Ramsdale’s sight, the football, which should have flown out of the goal frame quickly, suddenly fell down at the last moment!

His subconscious diving reaction allowed him to finally touch the football, but the mere touch was not enough to change the flight trajectory of the football!
Ramsdale, with a blank mind, heard the crazy cheers from the entire St. James Park Stadium before he even landed!
After falling on the grass, the first thing he did was turn his head and saw that the football was already lying in his own goal.

At this moment, Newcastle’s goal scorer Maddison was also overwhelmed by the passion of his teammates who rushed forward!
This time, Li Chen did not hide his excitement. He jumped up from his seat and cheered!
He is very optimistic about the future development prospects of this Arsenal team.

If Arsenal’s top management is willing to continue to increase its investment, he even wants to say something to Arteta before the game:
“The future of the Premier League is yours.”

This is a young team full of talent, passion and vitality, even younger than Newcastle.

Like Manchester City, they are now Newcastle’s strong rivals on the road to Premier League dominance.

But the future is always full of uncertainty.

All assumptions are based on smooth development step by step.

and so.

The future may indeed belong to Arsenal, and Arteta may be able to lead this group of young Gunners to establish their dynasty.

But now it belongs to Newcastle.

The Magpies from England are about to create their own black and white storm around the world.

(End of this chapter)