Chapter 151: The Grounded n-Shaped Pass Appears Again
Virgil van Dijk was sent off with a red card!
With one fewer centre-back, that vacancy had to be filled. Jürgen Klopp wasn't comfortable with a back three; even if he played three at the back he couldn't rely on just one centre-back.
Otherwise they wouldn't be able to withstand Arsenal's relentless bombardment!
Klopp had no time to argue with the fourth official — he immediately sent substitute centre-back Daniel Agger to warm up.
While Agger warmed up, Klopp had defensive midfielder Jordan Henderson drop back to cover temporarily.
On the pitch,
Xia Qi stepped up to take the penalty and scored!
Arsenal were ahead again.
2–1!
Play resumed, Agger came on and Mohamed Salah went off — the young Pharaoh's face showed he was not pleased to come off.
Arsenal led both on the scoreboard and by numbers.
The sky over the Emirates wasn't just clear in the physical sense after a storm; it was clear psychologically as well.
The Emirates came back to life.
Arsenal's anthem floated above the ground, but it had been updated — new for the season the newcomers Serge Gnabry and Gustavo appeared in the lyrics.
In the Arsenal stands, the atmosphere was light and joyful!
On the pitch, Arsenal weren't relaxed.
The side down a man, Liverpool were the more spirited team — Klopp really fit Liverpool, he had injected that "You'll Never Walk Alone" soul into the Reds.
The home side were once again forced to defend, but the Emirates fans didn't mind.
Because Gnabry and the newly on Aaron Ramsey hadn't tracked back to defend, and now the fans knew why…
Time passed,
between attack and defense,
possession changed hands,
both sides strengthened their midfield defense and tried to keep the battle within the 30 meters in front of the box.
So the game was fierce, and yet there were no shots on goal.
This fast rhythm of attack and transition, though goalless for a stretch, was far from boring.
After a few phases, the battling Liverpool were first to have a shot.
Sadio Mané layed a pass to the inside, Philippe Coutinho flicked a south-American samba-esque chip-shot that Emiliano Martínez caught in his arms.
Arsenal fans immediately greeted him with merciless boos.
Martínez quickly restarted play, Xia Qi received the ball, and Coutinho rushed up to press. Xia Qi played the ball to Aaron Ramsey and ran forward.
"Xia Qi and Aaron Ramsey played a wall pass."
Receiving the ball in his new position, Xia Qi did not pass immediately but carried it forward.
As Steven Gerrard sprinted toward him, Xia Qi played the ball to the onrushing Serge Aurier at the back post.
Right-back Aurier was now Arsenal's most advanced man on the right flank.
Aurier burst past Jordan Henderson down the flank, joined by Jon Flanagan on the run toward the byline.
Near the touchline he created space and crossed.
The ball flew toward the penalty area,
the players inside jostled for the first touch, but lost out to Xia Qi charging in from outside the box.
Xia Qi outmuscled everyone to reach the ball, but this time Simon Mignolet finally stood firm — he caught Xia Qi's header in his arms.
Mignolet made a miraculous save, rose and punched the air in anger.
"You can tell Mignolet's excited — Xia Qi's shots aren't easy to save usually."
"Liverpool's defence can't relax on Xia Qi just because he's playing in midfield. Xia Qi was last season's European Golden Boot after all!"
"If that one had gone in, the match would've been over…"
Klopp broke out in a sweat at Xia Qi's header and shouted across to Henderson and Gerrard on the pitch: "What are you doing? Mark him, mark him properly."
With little time left,
Liverpool had to intensify their attack; even if it left their defense exposed, forward was the only option.
When Mané received a pass he was immediately surrounded by Xia Qi and Santi Cazorla.
Predictably, Xia Qi intercepted the ball.
Gerrard had been trying to engage Xia Qi one-on-one, but Xia Qi had been avoiding him.
This time Gerrard charged at Xia Qi as before, but Xia Qi didn't dodge.
At the moment of their contact, Gerrard felt he'd run headlong into a brick wall!
Xia Qi accelerated with a sudden burst; the acceleration and the stiffness from "one-key auto" training made Gerrard crash into that wall.
He lost his footing and tumbled sideways.
For an instant Gerrard's mind went blank — this wasn't the result he'd expected.
Last season Xia Qi wasn't this strong! He thought he could handle him.
Who had made such rapid progress in one season before?
Gerrard thought of that Portuguese man — from a "diving expert" to a bulldozer on the wing in just a season.
A cry went up over the Emirates!
Gerrard is a famous Premier League figure and an England international; fans know him well.
So Xia Qi's earlier avoidance hadn't been jeered — it was perfectly normal.
But now,
what were their eyes seeing?
The two engaged with no finesse, like bulls crashing, a raw collision.
The consequence: the illustrious Steven Gerrard had gone over — oh my! Gerrard had gone in headfirst!
Was Gerrard the weak one, or had Xia Qi bulked up again?
This primitive display of power stirred the crowd; many fangirls were almost tempted to pull up Xia Qi's shirt to check his muscles…
So whistles began to sound from the stands…
"Pat, Xia Qi's body is a lot more solid than before…"
"Xia trains weights half an hour after every session, and he's only 19 and still growing…"
Henderson immediately rushed to cover Gerrard's position, but having learned from Gerrard's mistake he didn't get too close.
Instead he held the inside channel, guarding the space rather than the outside, and intermittently harassing Xia Qi.
This strategy was clever and effective; as long as he could delay Xia Qi, Gerrard could recover and sound the call to counter-press.
However, before Gerrard could get back, centre-back Agger had actively closed in.
Henderson felt an ominous sense of "this is bad".
Sure enough!
Xia Qi suddenly exploded forward.
If he were allowed to break away, Agger's pressure would be nullified.
Nullified wasn't the worst part — the danger was Xia Qi breaking through and supplying a pass with too few Liverpool bodies in the box.
Kill the danger at birth!
Henderson decided to step across to block Xia Qi's path to the goal.
Reality is always harsher than the imagination!
"Boom!"
Another shoulder-to-shoulder collision, no tricks, just raw physicality!
The stadium's PA carried the thud of the clash to every ear, and blood boiled. When Henderson dramatically flew back like hit by a heavy truck, the Emirates' cheer peaked like never before.
On the pitch,
Xia Qi only stumbled slightly!
This was a crushing victory!
"Xia Qi!"
"Xia Qi!"
"Xia Qi!"
Cheers and shouts echoed to the heavens!
…
Seeing that Agger hadn't learned from his two teammates' lesson and was charging at him,
Xia Qi's killer instinct flared!
He decided to finish it once and for all, dribbling at Agger,
and with everyone watching, Agger went flying.
"Beep!"
"Beep!"
While everyone was immersed in Xia Qi's violent aesthetics, only the referee stayed sober.
But Arsenal fans didn't accept that.
They didn't think Xia Qi's shoulder charge with the ball was a foul; they thought it was a fair challenge and should follow the principle of advantage to the attack…
"Black whistle!"
"Black whistle!"
Boos rose.
Xia Qi had fouled.
Liverpool were awarded a free kick in their own half.
Henderson took it quickly.
The ball was passed to Philippe Coutinho.
Before Coutinho could complete his turn, Xia Qi closed him down.
Under Xia Qi's pressure, Coutinho couldn't finish the turn, yet Xia Qi couldn't poke the ball away from Coutinho's feet.
The Brazilian's ball control was world-class, and even Xia Qi couldn't do much.
Coutinho kept moving the ball left and right to avoid Xia Qi's tackle.
You could say Xia Qi harried Coutinho into embarrassment, forcing him to dodge constantly.
Or you could say Coutinho, with his refined touches, was teasing Xia Qi — it depends on your point of view.
On the pitch, Xia Qi finally lost his patience, grabbed Coutinho at a sluggish moment, got tight, and used his body to shove.
Poor Coutinho hadn't met a player so unconcerned with "gentle play" before — what was meant to be a technical duel became brute force.
Xia Qi won the ball.
"Since Virgil van Dijk went off, Xia Qi's style changed; he stopped being just technical and started using physical confrontation."
"Coach Zhang, you mean Xia Qi 'bullies the small, fears the big'? Heh, kind of — Liverpool's toughest is off the pitch now…"
"No, no! I mean Xia Qi can do both technical and physical…"
Zhang Lu hurriedly denied it; Xia Qi's current popularity in China was comparable to Yao Ming's, so he didn't want to lose fans by saying the wrong thing.
The ball was at Xia Qi's feet, and Coutinho and Gerrard immediately charged at him.
Xia Qi played a one-two back to Cazorla.
Coutinho turned and continued to press Cazorla.
Cazorla tried to drag the ball back and nutmeg Coutinho.
Although Coutinho had been humbled by Xia Qi earlier, he was strong against Cazorla.
As if anticipating Cazorla's move, Coutinho nearly matched him, stretched a leg to the right-forward and poked the ball away from Cazorla's feet almost in sync.
In an instant!
Attack and defense reversed!
And it happened in their own half.
All Liverpool's midfielders and forwards stamped on the accelerator and charged like sports cars toward the Arsenal goal.
In the middle, the barging Coutinho saw Gustavo sweeping toward him and slowed, pushing the ball to the side.
It gave Sadio Mané on the right an extra fraction.
"Liverpool's counter is so fast!"
"Mané cuts inside with the ball!"
"Danger!"
"Oh! Beautiful!"
"Xia Qi's recovery speed is unreal."
On the pitch, Mané cutting into the right side of the box was upended by Xia Qi.
The Emirates erupted in thunderous cheers!
A few seconds earlier,
when Coutinho had stolen from Cazorla, Xia Qi had already turned and tracked back.
Mané, charging forward, hadn't seen Xia Qi chasing him down from behind.
Although some Liverpool fans tried to warn him, they were too few and their voices were drowned out by the stadium's piercing boos.
Mané didn't see anyone behind him; after skirting Luke Shaw he calmly moved the ball just ahead of himself in the right channel of the box, preparing to take the next touch and shoot…
Then Xia Qi slashed in from the side-back, got between him and the ball, clipped the ball back with his foot while simultaneously sticking out his rear.
Poor Mané hadn't reacted before he took a heavy butt to the chest and staggered backwards.
But butt defense is legal, and the referee signaled play on with his hands pushed toward the Liverpool goal…
"What a great block! Beautiful defending!"
"Xia Qi uses his body to dominate; modern football makes it harder for lightly built forwards like Li Jinyu or Filippo Inzaghi to shine."
"The best user of the 'big butt' defense was Chelsea's Eden Hazard — now Xia Qi's name's on that list too…"
After the interception, Xia Qi drove forward himself, while others sprinted toward Liverpool's goal.
Liverpool players called it getting back;
Arsenal players called it a counter-attack.
A quick counter demands speed!
An AI choosing the best option wouldn't let Xia Qi burst all the way alone.
He slowed in his run, lifted his leg and with the outside of his right foot spun the ball.
The ball skidded along the turf at speed, skimmed past Agger's right, wrapped to Stekol's left, skipping past two players in one go, and landed in a left-side pocket of space.
Seeing that pass,
Stekol was stunned!
So the dark-haired youngster really could play the n-shaped pass — it wasn't a blind guess!
Seeing that pass,
the stands went wild,
[That's an n-shaped pass, proven! Xia Qi wasn't guessing; he really can do it.]
[My god! What a waste — a striker with this technique is too extravagant.]
[Xia Qi's playing in midfield now.]
[On loan! A loanee with this skill — no wonder Ding Ding and Hill aren't hurrying to return…]
On the left, Serge Gnabry sprinted at full speed.
He used his pace to shake off Glen Johnson and met the ball, guiding it around Stekol's back.
Mignolet swore under his breath and dashed out of his goal.
He tried to perform the same old trick, like when he closed down Mario Balotelli.
Gnabry skimmed past Stekol then suddenly cut his stride, dragged the ball and squared it!
"Shet!"
Mignolet never expected Gnabry to be 'Gnabry-not-shoot' — is the atmosphere at Arsenal really that good?
The ball rolled into the center of the box in front of Mario Balotelli.
For some reason there was no defender near Balotelli; he coiled and waited to strike…
"Offside!"
"Offside!"
At that moment, only the offside flag could save Liverpool.
Liverpool players raised their hands and shouted as they pushed toward Balotelli and the goal.
But the linesman kept his flag tight to his thigh and gave no signal.
As long as Balotelli didn't overthink it, his finishing was reliable.
A simple tap into the empty net,
a clinical strike!
3–1!
In the 82nd minute, Arsenal were two goals clear.
Liverpool had truly slid into an abyss!
"Goal!"
"Balotelli stayed calm and slotted it down the middle."
"Xia Qi doesn't get a stat for this goal, but he orchestrated the attack…"
"Xia Qi, Gnabry, and Balotelli combined perfectly, making Arsenal's attack multi-layered…"
"Gnabry not being greedy was the right call — this shows Arsenal's great dressing-room spirit."
In the stands, Arsenal fans waved whatever they could… scarves, jackets, raincoats, even face masks…
After the goal, Balotelli ran to Gnabry, hoisted him up and ran toward Xia Qi…
On the touchline, Arsène Wenger and Pat Rice high-fived in celebration…
Klopp tilted his head, sighed and looked at Wenger with envy…
(END CHAPTER)
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