Chapter 94: A Big Deal with King Nan
The team’s embarrassing situation of losing the ball early made Arteta in the coaching booth quite dissatisfied.

He just wanted to retreat and advance by voluntarily giving up some of his offensive power, but he didn’t really want to surrender.

Even if the back line does have defensive risks due to the absence of Takehiro Tomiyasu and Saliba due to injuries, that is not a reason for the team to lose the ball so early!

Arteta rolled up his sleeves and gave orders directly to the field, requiring Xhaka and Odegaard to participate more actively in defense in the next game.

Even though the two players’ pressing defense has been quite good, Arteta does not want to implement high pressure on Newcastle now.

He just needs his disciples to be obedient and retreat to defend when it is time to do so, without thinking too much.

Xhaka and Odegaard, who were hit by the goal, couldn’t help but feel self-doubt.

Faced with the strict defensive requirements of their head coach, they no longer had any doubts and chose to obey them honestly.

So after the game resumed, the Newcastle team found that Arsenal’s overall defense was more compact and tight.

In this case, continuing to put pressure on Arsenal’s defense may not necessarily be a good thing.

Before you get the lead and score a goal, taking risks is necessary if you want to gain something, but after you score a goal, you need to weigh the pros and cons of the risky tactics.

Li Chen did not think about it for too long. Seeing that Arsenal’s defensive posture was extremely resolute, he signaled his disciples to switch to the control stage.

As he said before the game, this game was not a crucial battle that Newcastle had to win.

Even if they lose, Newcastle’s title race will not be over.

In comparison, Arsenal should be the more anxious side.

Newcastle can fully accept a draw, but a result like this is no different from a loss for Arsenal.

As for the calm attitude shown by Arteta, in Li Chen’s opinion, it was just forced calmness.

If Arteta had the ability, he would have remained calm today.

Li Chen really wanted to see if Arteta would suddenly change his attitude and make a desperate move if Arsenal could not open up the situation on the offensive end…

With full confidence, Li Chen sat in the coaching seat and watched his disciples control the pace of the game on the court.

Arsenal kept their composure and launched several counterattacks in the second half of the first half, but ultimately failed to create many good shooting opportunities for Jesus.

In contrast, it was Saka who took the ball and worked alone, repeatedly breaking through Marcelo’s defense and frequently creating threats and injuries in Newcastle’s left defense area.

If it weren’t for Guevadiol’s outstanding performance and Guimarães’ timely return to defense several times, Saka might have really helped Arsenal score a goal before the end of the first half of the game.

Li Chen, who spent a lot of effort training Saka during the World Cup, certainly understands how powerful the offensive power is in this kid’s body.

Naturally, he would not allow Saka to continue to perform in such a hot form, and after the game entered the halftime break, he immediately made a substitution.

Marcelo had successfully completed his tactical task in the first half of the game, assisting Anthony Gordon to exert significant pressure on Arsenal’s right defense.

Although neither of them was able to get assists or score goals, the suppression on the field was real.

In the second half of the game, it was up to the energetic Grimaldo to continue his fight with Saka.

On the offensive end, Li Chen and Carrick discussed it and decided to make changes in advance.

Havertz, who was supposed to get a chance to play around 60 minutes into the second half, was also substituted in early, replacing Anthony Gordon.

In this way, Ronaldo returned to the position of left inside forward, and Havertz moved to the front of the formation.

Maddison moved to the wing, while Guimaraes moved forward and played as a double central midfielder with Joelinton.

Newcastle’s formation immediately changed back to the variant of 433, which was equivalent to using their most balanced offensive and defensive form in advance.

The entire Arsenal team had never expected that Li Chen would make adjustments by replacing two players during the halftime break.

Arteta quickly discussed tactical adjustments with his assistants.

On the field, the Arsenal players, who did not receive further tactical instructions, could only follow Newcastle’s pace of the game.

But Newcastle no longer tends to control the ball and use technical passes like they did in the second half of the first half.

They pay more attention to passing and cutting coordination and attack speed.

The powerful offensive from Newcastle’s midfield and frontcourt continuously impacted Arsenal’s midfield and backcourt defense.

In terms of strength and speed, Arsenal’s midfield trio was at a disadvantage as a whole.

To make matters worse, Xhaka, who was a little anxious, received a yellow card early in the second half because of his excessive defensive actions.

This yellow card put Arsenal further into a passive defensive position.

After all, the interception toughness and midfield defensive coverage provided by Xhaka can effectively protect Jorginho.

Once Xhaka’s defensive contribution is extinguished, Jorginho will have to devote more energy and attention to the defensive end.

It is quite unrealistic to expect Odegaard to organize the game by himself at this time.

Of course, Li Chen would not miss such a great opportunity, and decisively signaled his midfield and frontcourt players to put targeted pressure on Xhaka.

Whether on the offensive or defensive end, Xhaka must be further stimulated and not allowed to recover and comfortably participate in the team’s offensive and defensive rotations.

This tactic quickly took effect.

With his hands tied, Xhaka can no longer shoulder the tactical responsibilities assigned to him by Arteta.

Jorginho had to drop deep and take up a defensive position.

Odegaard’s ball-losing rate increased sharply when facing Newcastle’s double-teaming.

In desperation, Arsenal’s front three could only frequently retreat to receive the ball in order to reduce the organizational burden on their midfield teammates.

The situation in the game further deteriorated for Arsenal.

Arteta was forced to replace Thomas, who had just returned from injury, early.

Thomas, who still had plenty of physical strength, eased Arsenal’s midfield predicament in a short time after he came on the field.

His defensive contribution and ability to handle the ball at his feet are quite good, and he is also good at organizing the game from behind.

But before he could continue to contribute his brilliant performance, the fierce pressing of Newcastle’s frontcourt players put him in a dilemma of being unable to score.

“Yes, keep up the pressure! Don’t give Arsenal any chance to breathe!

Suppress Thomas, he definitely won’t dare to confront you head-on now…”

Li Chen unscrupulously signaled his disciples on the sidelines to confront Thomas.

Don’t be fooled by Thomas’ tall and strong figure, he has a typical dark and hard face.

But this guy is a technical midfielder with exquisite skills, and more importantly, his body is still a bit fragile.

In the first two seasons after moving to Arsenal, Thomas’s attendance rate in the league was barely qualified. Arsenal with him and Arsenal without him were almost like two different teams.

When he is healthy, he is fully qualified to fight for a top three defensive midfielder position in the Premier League.

But the fucking thing is he can only play healthy for half a season.

His attendance rate has finally improved this season, but the injury he suffered some time ago still affected Arsenal’s championship ambitions.

Technical players like Thomas, no matter how strong their mental qualities are, will always be more careful with their bodies when they return from injury.

He needs to get more feel for the game and play step by step. Li Chen will naturally not do as he wishes.

Anyway, I didn’t mean to hurt anyone intentionally, I just wanted to increase the intensity of the confrontation. Who can say anything about this?
Looking at Li Chen’s reckless attitude and hearing him signaling Newcastle players to give tactical instructions to confront Thomas, Arteta felt like his lungs were about to explode!
This is simply unbearable!
Brother Tazi pointed at Li Chen with one hand and was about to rush up to engage in a passionate confrontation with Li Chen.

At the critical moment, it was several of his assistants who were quick enough to pull him back.

The fourth official, who noticed something was wrong, quickly stepped forward to warn Brother Tazi to control his temper and not cause trouble.

After all, today we are playing at Newcastle’s home ground. Do you, as a coach of the visiting team, think you can turn the tables?

Is it that St. James’ Park is not big enough, or that Newcastle’s home fans are not enthusiastic enough?

Wouldn’t this cause trouble for the referee team’s management of the stadium?

After warning Arteta, the fourth official turned around and signaled Sir Lee, who was still regretting not causing trouble, to “calm down”.

At this time, Li Chen, who held the initiative, had a much better attitude towards the fourth official than Tazi Ge.

After pursing his lips and raising his hand to show that he had no intention of causing trouble, Li Chen walked back to the coaching seat leisurely.

Seeing his posture, Brother Tazi was furious again, but at least his mind was clear now.

There was nothing much to say. After calling on Nelson, Trossard and Nketiah, several substitute forwards, to warm up, Tazi stood on the sidelines with his hands folded.

In the 60th minute of the second half of the game, Arsenal made a series of substitutions on the offensive end.

Nketiah and Trossard replaced Jesus and Martinelli respectively.

Jesus seemed quite dissatisfied when he left the field, but Arteta had no time to appease him at this moment.

To be honest, this season Arsenal spent more than 5000 million euros to bring Jesus from Manchester City in order to further improve the finishing efficiency of the striker.

As a result, Jesus did a pretty good job in all aspects of the offense except shooting.

In the end, both Martinelli and Saka were able to further develop their finishing abilities, but Jesus’ number of goals in the league was the lowest among the front three.

This result cannot be considered bad, but it was beyond the expectations of Arteta and Arsenal fans.

After all, what they want is a striker who can score goals steadily in the middle, rather than an offensive jack of all trades who is better at activating teammates.

At a critical moment like now, Arteta does not need Jesus to provide much tactical support and retreat connection for the team.

He needs Jesus to appear in the most critical position like Inzaghi to help the team win the game!
Jesus couldn’t do that, so he was substituted early, and it was that simple for Arteta.

But Jesus doesn’t think so. In his opinion, the overall strength of the other two strikers replaced by Arteta is not comparable to him.

He didn’t understand and he needed an explanation from Arteta.

In the end, he didn’t get any explanation and sat on the bench with a gloomy face.

On the field, after completing the substitutions, Arsenal launched a resolute forward attack.

But facing Newcastle who were actively shrinking their defense, Arsenal, lacking a center forward, could only try to dawdle outside the defense area.

Whether it was Saka’s reluctant cut-in shot or Trossard and Nketiah’s active efforts in front of the goal, it was difficult to pose a substantial threat to the goal guarded by Sommer.

After Newcastle resolved the successive sieges one by one, the young players in Arsenal’s frontcourt couldn’t help but become anxious.

In the 77th minute of the second half, Sean Longstaff seized the opportunity to intercept Trossard’s pass back to Odegaard.

Longstaff, who still had the energy to run, decided to go for the big one.

He successfully completed a short-distance advance despite the pursuit and interception of Odegaard and Jorginho, and passed the ball to Grimaldo who was running wildly on the left!
Facing Ben White’s crouching defense, Grimaldo did not risk a hard breakthrough, but instead sent a long arc pass in time!
At this moment, Havertz, who followed up and advanced to the back of Arsenal’s penalty area, jumped with all his strength and headed the ball past Chiviol.

With the help of Joelinton’s cover, Ronaldo flanked the middle of the penalty area and completed a volley!
The football whizzed into the upper left corner of Arsenal’s goal like a cannonball!

Ramsdale was unable to even react to Ronaldo’s powerful close-range shot!
As the net behind the Arsenal goal swayed high again, St. James’ Park once again erupted with thunderous and passionate cheers!

Ronaldo excitedly ran to the end line of the field and performed his signature celebration.

The young teammates who were running behind him also cheered “siu!!!”

This is the Portuguese superstar’s 27th goal in the Premier League this season.

Although it is far less than Haaland’s 35 league goals and Kane’s 32 league goals at this time.

But considering Ronaldo’s age and the intensity of the Premier League, fans have to sigh that the Portuguese superstar is truly a superstar who has broken through the age limit.

This Premier League focus battle that has attracted much attention from fans all over the world has lost its suspense.

Newcastle beat Arsenal steadily with two goals at home and are waiting for the make-up match to end the championship battle.

Now, Manchester City fans can only pin their hopes on Tottenham and Brighton.

In a good mood, Li Chen happily gave all the players on the team a day off after the game ended that day.

But the next afternoon, Li Chen put away his good mood after receiving a call from the club’s uniform team.

“Palinha’s agent wants to put contract renewal talks on hold?”

Li Chen, who had rushed to the club’s office building, asked directly.

After receiving a definite reply from the negotiation team, Li Chen directly called Mendes.

It is not difficult to find out through Mendes the recent recruitment intentions of the major football clubs.

And when “Bayern Munich” was exactly said by Mendes, Li Chen realized that things were in trouble.

If a general powerful team wanted to buy Palinha and contacted him and his agent in advance, Li Chen would not worry at all. He had enough confidence to convince Palinha to stay.

But with clubs like Real Madrid and Bayern extending olive branches, Li Chen is not sure he can persuade Parinha to reject the temptation of joining such a powerful club.

This is human nature. For an ambitious professional player, joining a super giant is the ultimate goal of their career.

Li Chen himself doesn’t like the method of forcing players to stay, as that will only result in a lose-lose situation for both the players and the club.

So after thinking for a moment, Li Chen picked up the phone and called Mendes again.

“Jorge, help me get in touch with Bayern’s current transfer manager. I want to have a good talk with them about Parinha’s transfer, and by the way, make a big deal with them!”

(End of this chapter)