Chapter 774: Cruyff Turn! The Emperor's New Clothes! Hellish Christmas Schedule! Respect Is Not Earned by Begging on Your Knees

Chapter 774: Chapter 141: Cruyff Turn! The Emperor’s New Clothes! Hellish Christmas Schedule! Respect Is Not Earned by Begging on Your Knees

“My God, Wang Shuo broke through!”

“A beautiful Cruyff Turn!”

When Wang Shuo charged into the penalty area, Cuellar was still desperately tugging at his jersey. However, Wang Shuo did not go down. Instead, like a raging bull, he continued to dribble the ball into the box.

This went on until referee Jonathan Moss couldn’t stand watching it anymore and blew his whistle.

Good heavens, what kind of person was this?

It was one thing not knowing how to dive, but why was he even refusing to fall naturally?

If he just went down, it would be a penalty!

Moss pointed to the penalty spot and handed Cuellar a yellow card.

The Spanish center-back knew he deserved the booking, and the Aston Villa players had no complaints about the penalty decision.

There was no helping it; the foul was just too obvious.

If it had been any other forward, they would have hit the deck hundreds of times over by now.

But Wang Shuo was left somewhat speechless.

He had already spotted Aaron Ramsey and Walcott.

If he had just pushed a little further forward to draw in the other center-back, Dunn, along with the retreating Petrov and Clark, he could have passed the ball and a goal would have been a certainty.

A penalty?

What if they missed it?

Wang Shuo walked over and ruffled Hazard’s hair. “It’s fine, don’t feel pressured. If you miss, I’ll just get us another one later!”

Hazard was stunned.

The Belgium winger nervously glanced around. Realizing Wang Shuo had spoken in a very low voice, he finally breathed a sigh of relief.

He thought, “No, bro, is that something you can just say out loud? Do you really think penalties are like cabbages at a farmer’s market, where you can just get as many as you want? Also, shouldn’t we consider the feelings of the Aston Villa defenders?”

“What are you looking at me for? Hurry up, we’re still behind,” Wang Shuo urged.

It really wasn’t appropriate to laugh out loud in such a serious setting.

But Hazard couldn’t hold it back after all and laughed right on the spot.

However, soon enough, he casually stroked the ball into the Aston Villa goal.

1-1!

Facts would prove that Wang Shuo truly wasn’t exaggerating.

In the 28th minute, after dropping back to receive the ball, he suddenly turned and directly broke through the other Aston Villa center-back, Dunn.

After his breakthrough, Wang Shuo surged into the right side of the penalty area. As a result, he was double-teamed by Dunn and Wolnok, sending him tumbling to the ground inside the box.

Perhaps considering he had just awarded a penalty earlier, referee Moss didn’t blow his whistle this time.

Wang Shuo was speechless.

He thought, “I didn’t want to go down earlier, but you insisted on giving me a penalty. Now that I’ve actually gone down, you don’t give it to me. Bro, are you messing with me?”

However, four minutes later, Wang Shuo, with his back to the goal inside the penalty area, laid the ball back to the Arc Top District with one touch.

Aaron Ramsey quickly followed up and unleashed a furious strike that pierced the Aston Villa net.

2-1!

After switching sides for the second half, both teams continued to battle fiercely.

But whether it was possession or tempo, control remained firmly at the feet of Arsenal.

In the 87th minute, from a corner kick opportunity, substitute Pogba scored with a header at the far post.

3-1!

Seeing Pogba excitedly turn and sprint toward the sidelines to celebrate, Wenger clapped with great appreciation.

Barring any surprises, Wang Shuo would end this match without a goal.

This was the only match he had played in without scoring since joining Arsenal.

However, he had contributed two assists and, barring any surprises, would still be named Man of the Match.

“I’ve noticed that this group of youngsters in our team has improved very quickly this season,” Assistant Coach Pat Rice said, his face full of joy as he stood on the sidelines.

Over the past few years, Arsenal had always possessed an abundance of young players.

But their development had often been slow, and they would encounter all sorts of issues.

This season was different. From De Bruyne to Pogba, and even players like Aaron Ramsey and Hazard, all of them had visibly made rapid and significant progress.

Although the left-wing defense was highly criticized, Kieran Gibbs’ improvement on the offensive end was equally apparent.

His only shortcoming was defensively.

“This is what I was talking about before. The reason we successfully developed players like Fabregas back then was that our team’s tactics were very stable, and we had a core figure—a true leader.

“Nowadays, if you look at our team, we organize our tactics around Wang Shuo. Every player is finding a tactical role that fits their technical characteristics.”

If one were to view a player’s career development as an exploration across a vast, boundless ocean, then Wang Shuo was like a lighthouse.

For the young players, this obviously made things much easier.

There were quite a few similar cases.

For example, Ronaldo’s integration at Manchester United compared to Messi’s at Barça had obvious and significant differences.

At Barça, Messi was guided by a player like Ronaldinho. The tactics were stable, and he quickly blended in.

But what about Ronaldo at Manchester United?

Starting out as Beckham’s successor on the right wing, he gradually transitioned over time. Then arose conflicts and incompatibilities with Van Nistelrooy, forcing Ferguson to make continuous adjustments.

Why did Wenger feel that, to some extent, Ferguson had both delayed and made Ronaldo?

Because if Ronaldo had joined Arsenal back then, under the guidance of Henry, Vieira, and others within the team’s mature tactical framework, the Portuguese would have certainly developed much faster.

But whether he would have become the Ronaldo of today, Wenger didn’t know.

Sometimes, it was just a matter of timing and fate.

“Pogba’s best position is still in the role of a left-sided attacker. Right now, he is the left-leaning one among the three midfielders. Next time, let’s have him try playing as a left winger so he can get more familiar and accustomed to it.”