Back, after a month, Luo Wu finally returned to the land of England.
He quickly fell asleep. After all, he had been in the Middle East for a month, and there were too many differences in time difference. He had to adjust as soon as possible.
But in fact it is not that easy. Many players return to their national teams to play games, and then their condition drops a lot after they come back. This is due to the jet lag.
There are still more than ten hours left before the semi-final match between Chelsea and Arsenal. How could he reverse the situation?
But Luo Wu didn't want to miss this opportunity. He didn't want the team to be eliminated.
That's why he rushed back after a long journey.
I just don’t know if Emery will approve him to be included in the squad if he applies to him later.
Don't talk about the starting lineup, just make it into the squad. He just played in the Asian Cup final yesterday, how could he start today.
But he hopes that he can get about half an hour of playing time to at least help Arsenal.
After forcing himself to sleep for more than six hours at home, he immediately called Emery and told him his thoughts.
After Emery hesitated for a while, he finally nodded.
Immediately afterwards, Emery called the assistant coach and asked the assistant coach to modify the team's roster and overturned the previously given starting list.
Originally, Emery wanted to give up. After all, he was two goals behind Chelsea. He was still playing away from home, and there was almost no chance of a comeback, so he simply arranged some substitute players to come on. But now Luo Wu said that he wanted to play this game, so the starting lineup
It must be adjusted.
They must play with the strongest lineup. If Arsenal can withstand Chelsea's attack in the first half, tie or score a goal, then if Luo Wu is sent on the field in the second half, they may still be able to fight.
He chose to trust Luo Wu, so he did this...
Almost no one knew that Luo Wu had returned to England. Everyone thought that he was still celebrating the Asian Cup championship in the United Arab Emirates. How could he come back now, let alone that he was included in the squad for the game?
It wasn't until Arsenal's roster news appeared on the Internet that everyone suddenly realized that Luo Wu was really back.
Not only is he back, but he is also on the team's roster, which means he is likely to play.
Chelsea coach Maurizio Sarri was nervous. When he heard the name Luo Wu, he was in a bad mood.
But he thought about it, Luo Wu couldn't possibly start the game, he couldn't have played a game yesterday. Let's play one today. This should be a smoke bomb for Emery.
So he was nervous and still didn't make any adjustments.
Chelsea players actually don't have much idea. Anyway, everyone wants to send Arsenal to the West and advance to the final.
After all, Luo Wu's reputation has not appeared in England for more than a month, and everyone may not have the same pressure as before.
During the pre-match meeting, Sarri was basically talking about Arsenal's Haaland and how to prevent Haaland from scoring. However, everyone was very confident that it was impossible for Haaland to help Arsenal solve the problem, let alone
Chelsea lead by two goals on aggregate.
Arsenal fans were the happiest. After learning that the team's star player and team captain Luo Wu returned, their confidence was rekindled. More than 5,000 fans arrived at Stamford Bridge.
They believe there will be a scene where the hero returns.
As for Luo Wu's teammates, the mood is not necessarily the same. The old teammates are all waiting for his return, and they must be happy.
This may not be the case for the newly joined guys, especially Harland. Harland has always wanted to snatch Luo Wu's core position. His performance is also quite good, but Luo Wu's return made him instantly
Huge pressure.
He must prove himself in the game today, otherwise he will be ridiculed to death after the game.
If you want to seize the throne but don't have the strength, it would be even worse if Luo Wu has to come to the rescue.
But Luo Wu didn't care about Haaland. Haaland was very strong, but he couldn't threaten him at all.
Moreover, the two of them are not in the same position, so there is nothing to argue about. It's just that Haaland is too naive.
I just didn't expect this guy to be so hypocritical. Before joining, he kept saying that he wanted to play football with him. After joining, he performed very well, and now he is lawless...
But in the starting lineup, Emery did not let Luo Wu play, which is actually foreseeable.
Luo Wu's physical fitness is not enough to support 180 minutes of competition for two consecutive days.
He is a human being, not a god.
In the stands of Sky Sports live broadcast, Ferdinand smiled after seeing Luo Wu's name.
"Why do I feel that Emery regards Luo Wu as a cow? Luo Wu's name is not in the starting lineup, but I believe Emery will find a way to let him play in the second half."
"The current Arsenal starting lineup is goalkeeper Leno and right back Bellerin. This kid has just returned from injury. The center backs are Papastathopoulos and Koscielny, and the left back is Kolasi.
Nats.”
"Why didn't you play Dutchman De Ligt today?"
"I think this kid is more stable than these old guys."
"In the midfield, it's Guendouzi, Torreira and Van de Beek."
"The forwards are Saka, Haaland and Ronaldo."
"The goalkeeper on Chelsea's side is Alli, the back positions are Azpilicueta, Rudiger, David Luiz and Max Alonso, and the midfielders are Kante, Jorginho and Kovacic.
, the three strikers are Pedro, Hazard and Willian."
"Although this is Stamford Bridge, the Arsenal fans are even more excited. Now they are shouting the name of the team captain Luo Wu, as if they want to turn this place into their home court. I don't know if the Chelsea fans are panicked, anyway, this guy
Once you appear here, it will be more or less frightening."
At this time, Luo Wu was sitting quietly on the bench, chatting with his teammate Iwobi. He seemed to be in a good mood, but his face still looked tired. After all, the jet lag had not returned yet.
He yawned repeatedly.
Head coach Emery was quite nervous and kept chatting with his starting disciples on the sidelines.
The first task in the first half is to withstand Chelsea's attack. Chelsea must not score another goal. If a draw can be maintained, then Luo Wu will still have a chance in the second half.
…
beep,
The whistle blew, and the second leg of the League Cup semi-finals officially started.
Arsenal took the lead in kicking off the ball. The team was in good spirits. They turned against the visitors at the beginning and wanted to suppress Chelsea. However, Chelsea's defense has always been quite good. They dare to say that they are the second most defensive team in the Premier League. No one dares to say that.
Say first.
Although Arsenal's passing was quite quick, it could not break Chelsea's defense.
The most outstanding performer is naturally Haaland, who sometimes runs to the wing and sometimes runs to the center, taking the initiative to receive the ball from his teammates, but the problem is that no one can pass the ball to his feet.
Under the care of Chelsea defenders, he was almost alone.
The tough Chelsea midfielder's interception success rate is also very efficient. Instead, he almost created a scoring opportunity in the 5th minute. Unfortunately, Jorginho passed the ball diagonally to Pedro, and Pedro's right foot
The ball hit the goalkeeper and hit the side netting.
The strength of the Spanish winger can only be said to be on the horizontal line. He is far from a world-class winger. If it were a world-class winger, the ball might have been shot directly.
However, this did not affect the mood of the Chelsea players. In the subsequent games, Chelsea still left Arsenal at a loss. Although Chelsea appeared on the court in a defensive posture, Arsenal's offense was actually unable to play.
Ronaldo and Saka frequently retreated to their own half to catch the ball, but after halftime, they fell into the opponent's encirclement and suppression. Although Torreira and Guendouzi responded actively, there was no physical confrontation.
But not as good as Jorginho and Kante.
In the battle for midfield, Arsenal was completely defeated. In the 19th minute, the ball went to Hazard's feet.
Hazard played as a center forward today. He dodged around and feinted, and easily knocked away the Dutchman Van de Beek.
Then Hazard continued to move forward with the ball, striding to the top of Arsenal's penalty area. Although Torreira came to defend in time, Hazard moved the ball to the left lightly, and immediately hit the ball with his left foot.
A curve ball was drawn, and the ball hit the upper left corner of the goal!
But Hazard seemed to have bad luck today. The ball hit the left lintel directly and bounced out of the baseline.
Chelsea once again missed the opportunity to take the lead.
After 20 minutes, both sides became cautious, especially Arsenal, who no longer dared to attack easily. After all, Emery's goal is to maintain the tie. The sneak attack and blitz at the beginning did not work, and now he can only fight with Chelsea.
.
But there is no burden on Chelsea anymore. If Arsenal shows weakness, Chelsea will move their formation forward.
Jorginho once again passed the ball straight to Hazard in front of him. Hazard ran two steps to the right and pulled the ball to the left side in front of him. Haaland, who came back, directly used his physical advantage to beat Hazard.
Zall, Hazard lost the ball.
But the referee awarded Haaland a foul.
After Hazard got up, he immediately took a free kick. The ball was directly inserted into Arsenal's left rib. Pedro once again cut into the penalty area to get the ball, and then quickly pocketed the ball to the other side.
Willian rushed to the left, but Bellerin was very fast and immediately guarded him. Willian could only play the ball towards the center.
Papastathopoulos also blocked the ball in time. In the end, William could only knock the ball horizontally to the middle. The Italian Jorginho followed up and volleyed the ball with his right foot. The ball was ridiculously high.
As Italy's core player, this footwork is unjustifiable.
Arsenal then tried to counterattack, but Chelsea's pressure was timely. Torreira, who took the ball in the middle, failed to pass the ball to Saka in the front right.
Kovacic immediately made a curved ball and handed the ball to Hazard in front. Hazard took a step laterally to try to get rid of Van de Beek. Van de Beek's defensive ability was obviously very average and he could not follow.
Especially passive. Hazard turned around after a spike and rushed over from the other direction. Arsenal's center was wide open again.
Suddenly, Hazard rushed to the Arsenal penalty area after a few steps. Without giving Papastathopoulos any time to adjust, he immediately moved the ball to the right and followed up with his right foot again.
volley!
Bang!
Koscielny flew to block the hole of the gun, but the referee's whistle also sounded at this moment, and then he gestured for a handball, and then immediately pointed to the penalty spot.
"Oops, this is a penalty kick. Koscielny did have a handball. There is no problem with this penalty kick. In this case, Chelsea will most likely take the lead and may have to rewrite the score to 4:1."
"Italian Jorginho stood in front of the penalty spot. He is the team's first penalty kicker. The question is why does Sarri trust him so much?"
"I always feel that it would be more appropriate for Hazard to punish this ball."
But Sarri just wants to give the ball to his sweetheart.
The Stanford Stadium became very quiet, and everyone's eyes fell on Jorginho. Jorginho's approach was very slow. After running halfway, he suddenly stopped. After shaking his body twice, he pretended to be happy.
He raised his right foot.
As a result, he didn't shoot the first time. When he took the second shot, he finally pushed the ball to the lower right corner of the goal!
But Arsenal goalkeeper Leno made a very accurate judgment. After diving down from the side, he hit the ball out of the baseline with his left hand.
The ball actually didn't go in...
"Oh haha~"
"Jorginho missed the penalty kick! There should be no pressure on this goal. Logically speaking, the probability of the penalty kick is very high, but Jorginho's shot was weak. Although it had an angle, it was too simple.
.”
"Give him a chance, but he didn't take it himself, so what can we do? I just said that Hazard should be the one to serve."
Luo Wu stood up for the first time on the bench. Kobi raised his arms and shouted. He was also very nervous. If this ball was scored, the score would be 1:4 behind. What a waste.
This time Luo Wu became energetic.
Arsenal fans in the stands immediately chanted Leno's name.
If it weren't for the heroic performance of Germany's second goalkeeper, Arsenal would have fallen behind.
However, the ball still belonged to Chelsea. Hazard took a corner kick, and Arsenal center Haaland finally hit the ball in his own penalty area, helping the team to successfully clear the ball.
This may be his best performance so far.
But Kanter on the outside got the ball again and immediately distributed it to the right. Azpilicueta stepped forward and immediately sent a cross at a 45-degree angle!
It was still an Arsenal player who headed the ball.
There is no center forward in Chelsea today. How could they lack a center forward in the past?
Bellerin on the right got the ball and immediately rushed forward with the ball. He has absolute speed!
But unfortunately, just as he was about to fly, Jorginho's flying tackle came in time and the ball was shoveled out of the sideline.
When the boundary ball was thrown out again, Chelsea had already defended in place, and Arsenal lost the chance to counterattack.
Although Chelsea missed a penalty kick, their morale was not lost, but became even stronger!
The two sides engaged in a tug-of-war in the midfield, and the fight was very fierce. As a result, at the end of the first half, the score was still 0:0.
Emery must be very satisfied with the result.
Easy side to fight again.
The exciting moment finally arrived, and everyone saw Luo Wu already standing in the substitution area.
The live broadcast even captured him yawning, looking like he still hadn't woken up.