He kicked the ball to his other foot to change the direction of the ball.
Cuenca follows Arteta and moves forward to meet the ball.
With no hope of turning around, Cuenca pushed forward and kicked the ball back to Xavi again.
This "unnecessary" operation once again narrowed Harvey's ball control area.
Because Walcott, who is guarding Harvey at this moment, has not left yet, and after the ball returns to Harvey's feet, he can take the opportunity to step forward and reduce Harvey's movement space.
Facing Cuenca's back pass, Xavi looked calm, as if he had expected it.
Not only did he expect that his teammates would pass the ball back, he also expected that the little tiger watching eagerly on the side would take the opportunity to grab it.
So Harvey also stretched out his foot, moved the arch of his foot horizontally, and blocked the ball again.
At this time, the passing space between the two has been compressed to the extreme.
Cuenca was running in the direction of Xavi. When Xavi passed the ball back to him again, the distance between the two was less than three meters.
In such a small space, two Barcelona players and three gunmen gathered.
During the Gunners half, Arsenal was not only the defensive side, but also the side with more people!
"Xavi passed the ball..."
"Knock back..."
"Knock back..."
"Knock again?"
After saying several knocks in succession, even the fans who had been staring at the screen were confused.
Not to mention the fans were confused, even the Gunners on the field were a little confused.
You have compressed your activity space little by little. In such a narrow space, what tricks can you do?
But the result is that Barcelona not only really played tricks, but also played them beautifully.
When Cuenca received Xavi's pass for the second time, the two were almost face to face.
But this time no one noticed that Cuenca's foot to meet the ball was obviously in a completely different posture from the last time.
It's also a one-touch ball.
After the ball hit the outside of Cuenca's foot, it did not bounce back like last time. Instead, it deflected diagonally by more than ten degrees and continued to roll forward.
Just when Arteta was stunned, a red and blue figure rushed out from beside him with a whoosh, catching people off guard.
Arteta braked suddenly and almost collided with his teammate Theo Walcott.
At this time, the little tiger had just relieved himself of the previous action of stretching his legs to grab, and he almost collided with Arteta.
Harvey, who was surrounded by the sideline, had already taken this opportunity to jump out of the cage and drive away with the ball.
Cuenca, who acted as the "bait", began to slow down in front of the sideline, then slowly turned around and returned to the court.
A low cry came from the stands.
This is Barcelona, a team that takes passing and receiving to the extreme.
In many Barcelona games, such quick passes in a small area are as common as breathing.
"Quick! Run, step forward and grab the ball!"
The professor shouted instructions from the sidelines.
"Vermaelen, what are you doing? Stick up, stick up! Make good use of your physical advantage! Force him to make mistakes!"
"Lei, don't be idle, come together, come together! Surround him!!!"
In order to cope with the opponent's extreme control, the professor stuffed all the lozenges he brought into his mouth.
Looking at the response measures taken by the Gunners in response to the coach's request on the screen, He Wei was a little surprised and said:
"Director Zhang, do you think Arsenal's current tactics look familiar?"
This time, Zhang Hehe did not hey again, but said seriously:
"hey-hey..."
"You're right."
"It's a bit like Coach Xu and Bao's pressing tactics in 1995. At that time, he relied on this set of tactics to lead the Shenhua team to win the A championship."
"Surprise?" He Wei asked the fans carefully.
"Yes, the so-called rush and encirclement is actually an oppressive style of play."
"Pressing the opponent in a local area requires high running ability and physical strength of the players. It is very suitable for teams with strong physical strength and strong confrontation ability, but average skills."
"Hey, some fans may not be convinced when it comes to this. How can Arsenal be a team with average skills?"
"Technology is generally different, it all depends on who the opponent is."
"That's Barcelona! The world's number one technical team right now."
"It is reasonable for Arsenal to use this tactic."
"hey-hey..."
Hearing Zhang Hehe's "ending words", He Wei quickly continued: "Then I would like to ask Director Zhang, is it possible for Arsenal's tactics to work?"
"hey-hey..."
"Coach Xu's pressing tactics back then were a bit similar to Barcelona's today, but overall, they were even more demanding than Barcelona!"
"The reason is very simple, that is, the pressing tactic requires all players, and the scope of execution is also the entire stadium."
"For example, Barcelona's counterattack is limited to losing the ball in the frontcourt; while the pressing tactic requires players to rush out and grab the ball even if the opponent reverses in their own half."
"So Coach Xu's press is more like a 'total attack, total defense' tactical play, similar to the full-court press and zone defense at the end of an NBA game."
"Facing a team like Barcelona, which uses passing and control to the extreme, it is indeed a way for the defender to defend with all his strength."
"It's just that although this method is effective, it is a bit 'stupid'."
"hey-hey."
After hearing this, He Wei nodded thoughtfully, "In other words, if Arsenal adopts this method in the backcourt, it is indeed possible to limit Barcelona's offense?"
When Zhang Hehe heard this, he smiled enigmatically.
"Hehe...that's not necessarily the case."
"Not necessarily? Why?"
"Because no one knows what Barcelona's tactics are." Zhang Hehe's voice deepened, "No one knows what Guardiola is thinking at the moment."
While the two were talking, five or six minutes had passed on the court.
In these five or six minutes, the ball has been at Barcelona's feet.
Even though the Arsenal players pressed hard, Barcelona never lost the ball.
Either the Haberme trio have superb ball control skills, or the other teammates are clever in running and coordinating. Even if the ball is about to be stolen by the Gunners, the Barcelona player closest to the ball can kick a big kick towards their own half and steal the ball.
Return to the goalkeeper.
With this tactical intention of controlling the ball as much as possible, the Gunners were exhausted and often felt frustrated because they were only one step away from touching the ball.
After more than ten minutes, the only person the Gunners touched the ball a few times was Gibbs, apart from Szczesny who made a wonderful save.
At that time, Gibbs accelerated and made a sliding tackle, shoveling the ball at Iniesta's feet out of bounds.
In addition, even Lei Yu was walked for a long time but never touched the ball.
At this point in the competition, the professor became silent.
He frowned.
Sometimes he looked at Habaimei on the court, and sometimes he looked at Guardiola on the other side of the court.
He was guessing in his mind, guessing what the other person was really thinking.
"...Obviously, Arsenal intends to take advantage of one more player to compete physically with the opponent."
In the Jiulang live broadcast room, Zhan Jun pointedly pointed out Wenger's dilemma.
"But after more than ten minutes, the Gunners used up a lot of energy trying to grab the ball."
"Even if there are only ten players in the Barcelona team."
"If this continues, the overall energy reserves of both parties may return to the same starting point."