Chapter 56
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Silver Dragon
Chapter: 56
Chapter Title: French Machine Gun vs German Titanium Shield
-----------------------------------------------------------------
London
Highbury Stadium.
vs Arsenal away.
Tomorrow, the executives from headquarters would arrive in England for a meeting about the Blackburn project, so this was a chance to catch a game beforehand.
Arsenal, having bolstered their squad even more than last season, looked undeniably strong.
The Bergkamp-Henry striker duo was still formidable, and the newly signed Robert Pires was someone to watch.
Heynckes and Wenger shook hands warmly as the match kicked off.
Arsenal's kickoff launched an immediate assault right from the start.
Henry and Bergkamp surged forward, with Vieira charging behind them.
It was Wenger throwing the first punch against Heynckes, who had been pushing the line up and attacking from the front.
Henry took the ball and sprinted like a track star, blowing past Southgate in an instant.
When Melberg moved to block him, Henry sidestepped and unleashed a sneaky shot.
Schmeichel dove for it but missed; luckily, it struck the post and ricocheted away.
Wayne Bridge rushed in to clear it desperately, but with the left back up in the center to help, Arsenal's wingers Lauren and Pires exploited the gap and joined the attack.
Arsenal's forwards pressed for a shot, but Southgate and Melberg bundled it away and booted it long.
It was an opening salvo that knocked the wind out of us right away.
The cleared ball fell to Figo, and amid cheers from the Blackburn fans, he started a counter with a dribble.
But Arsenal's Tony Adams and Grimandi stuck tight and cleared it, with Adams passing to their winger Pires.
Pires dribbled boldly right in front of Figo, breaking into our half again.
Bridge and Gattuso closed him down, but when he passed, Vieira barreled in with his monstrous physicality and muscled it away.
Vieira stole the ball cleanly without a foul whistle, then fed it to Henry. Henry dribbled before passing to Bergkamp, who hit a non-stop volley.
"Ah!!"
We barely managed to block it.
It was only the 5th minute.
Arsenal was playing at a much faster tempo than usual.
Wenger's signature 4-4-2 advanced with quick short passes, pushing the line up, and Heynckes countered in kind.
"This is nothing like facing Ferguson—way more intense."
Heynckes gestured wildly across the pitch, barking real-time instructions at his players as Wenger's Arsenal pinned them down without mercy.
25th minute of the first half.
Twenty minutes still left in the half, yet Arsenal's players were running like sprinters in a 100-meter dash, their relentless work rate hammering Blackburn.
Wenger scanned the field with the sharp eyes of a hawk eyeing its prey.
'Pushing the line up to disrupt them from behind—that's my specialty.'
Wenger sized up Heynckes' style and figured he could handle it.
That's why he'd ordered his team to crank up the pace from the outset.
He anchored Vieira like a pillar in midfield to neutralize Heynckes' attempts to dominate the center.
Gattuso and Paul Ince cut passes, but they were stuck purely defending, unable to surge forward with the attackers.
Vieira fed the ball to Henry, and Pires charged down the left flank.
With Yoo Sung-chul out today, Alf-Inge Håland was at right back alongside Holand, and he met Pires' quick dribble head-on.
Tweet!
Håland tackled it away, but it was a foul.
Still, without that foul, Pires would've reached the penalty area.
As they set up the free kick, Wenger urged his players on even more.
"Keep pushing! Hammer them, and the answer will come!"
And Heynckes read the situation.
'They're matching our fire but moving faster—confident in their stamina?'
Wenger's plan: Daze them early with speed and high work rate, then strike for goal.
Heynckes immediately reorganized the line into zonal defense.
No man-marking like against United—just swarm any player who shows.
These guys were all technicians; lose a 1v1, and it's crisis time.
"Rino, help the backline!"
Heynckes bellowed at Gattuso to shield the two center backs.
Arsenal, fueled by their home crowd's one-sided cheers, were flying even higher.
Under the intense pressure, even Phillips and Baggio couldn't hold the ball properly, and Figo's dribble attempts were shut down every time.
We had our elegant fantasy star in Baggio, but Arsenal had their own equivalent.
Dennis Bergkamp.
Henry was leading the attacks now, but Bergkamp lurking behind, waiting to pounce—that was the real danger... Aagh!!
GOAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The moment I thought it, we conceded.
Henry broke through, Schmeichel punched it away, but Bergkamp slipped past the giant Melberg and just nudged it into the net.
He read the chance under the powerful striker and struck like lightning to score.
Bergkamp's goal made it 1-0.
We needed a counter, but Arsenal doubled down after taking the lead.
No thought of conserving for the second half—they ran even faster, got rougher.
Tweet!
Gattuso lunged to intercept and picked up a yellow.
He argued fiercely with the ref as usual, but Southgate calmed him down.
Regrettable, but we had to weather the first half and hunt for an equalizer and winner in the second.
Heynckes' defense sat deeper than usual, but Pires bombed down the left flank on his right foot, cleared Ince's ball, and whipped in a cross.
Henry leaped—not for a header, but an aerial volley.
...It went in.
Henry's mid-air volley ripped the net, Arsenal fans erupted, and my insides burned.
"Ah, damn Henry..."
He was evolving into something scarier by the minute.
As the half wound down at 2-0, Figo made another push.
Ignoring Pires on their left, he drove in with Baggio and Phillips, creating space on his own and lofting a sneaky cross to the center. Phillips went for it, but Vieira barreled in swinging an elbow.
Tweet!
Kevin Phillips hit in the forehead and went down.
The ref sprinted over and flashed a yellow, but Vieira shrugged it off and got back defending.
And Baggio lined up the free kick.
As I watched tensely, Baggio's strike didn't float up.
It skimmed low under the jumping players, spinning out and knuckling up sharply. Arsenal keeper Seaman, caught off guard, couldn't snag it.
A eyes-wide-open knuckleball free kick that dipped sneakily into the net.
"Baggio! Baggio!!!"
Roberto Baggio's chasing goal let us end the half on that note.
Heynckes made two subs at halftime.
Right back Håland off for Jeff Kenna, Paul Ince out for Gareth Barry.
And Shaun Wright-Phillips, who'd been left wing for Duff today, switched to the right.
"Figo on the left?"
Figo had probed the right occasionally today—got shut down, but still Figo...
The second half kicked off.
And I couldn't believe my eyes.
Arsenal ramped up the pressure even higher than the first half.
And even I, as a fan, could see it.
Arsenal was wearing Blackburn down with sheer work rate and stamina.
Short passes to break into our box with as many players as possible, circulating the ball before sudden breakthroughs and shots galore.
Blackburn had class players I'd brought in, but Håland, Baggio, Ince, Southgate—all early-30s veterans who couldn't match the short-burst stamina war.
Even Schmeichel's reflexes were being tested to exhaustion.
If Wenger was targeting that...
Thwack!
Schmeichel punched one out, Kenna controlled it and fired to Shaun Wright-Phillips.
With Pires and Lauren upfield, Phillips spotted the space and channeled his dad with insane dribbling straight to their box.
But Vieira in midfield, with Grimandi, closed with 190cm superiority and smashed him.
The smaller Phillips flew and tumbled; ref whistled.
Vieira already had a yellow, but it stayed as a warning.
Meanwhile, Arsenal's defense reset quickly.
Barry prepped a left-footed clearance to Figo.
Figo on the left wing took it cleanly, weaving past Grimandi and left back Luzon.
First half, he'd been stonewalled on the right by Silvestre and Adams, so now he targeted the softer left with another direct dribble.
As Vieira charged, Figo shaped up and slipped a low pass into the box—Kevin Phillips latched on.
His clean strike ripped beautifully into the net.
"GOAL!!!!!!!!!!! That's Blackburn!"
14th minute of the second half—our equalizer!
The match ain't over yet!