The next day, Arsenal Colney training base.
In the U17 training ground, the camera on the high platform was set up early to prepare for the filming.
A fierce confrontation between young guys is about to start here!
At three o'clock in the afternoon, the Arsenal U17 players appeared on the field and started warm-up training.
Soon after, Liverpool's young players also came by bus and started to change clothes and warm up after entering the field.
In the European football world with a perfect football youth training system, it is not surprising even for the youth team to have such a friendly match away from home.
The club is generous in investing in the youth team and spares no effort to create a better growth environment for young players.
Because as long as a good seedling can be cultivated, the benefits brought will be thousands of times!
More than ten minutes later, some Arsenal fans who heard the news came to the sidelines one after another.
Most of them held popcorn and beer, and were fully prepared to watch the game comfortably.
"Come on, boys!"
"You will definitely win! Whether you are a trial player or a contract player!"
"Beat Liverpool!"
"..."
Arsenal fans shouted loudly. Most of those who came to watch the youth team's game were die-hard fans of the team.
They are willing to give everything to support the team and pay attention to the team's future.
What is different from usual is that there are a lot of people coming to the stadium today, as many as 300.
I think they also heard that Mr. Wenger would be there, and they are ready to see the style of the first-team coach up close.
"Oh...here he comes! Really here!"
It didn't take them long to wait. A tall figure suddenly appeared at the entrance of the stadium. He walked towards the team's coaching seat with a vigorous pace, ready to sit with the coach who was directing the game.
"Pa pa pa pa..." Applause broke out at the scene. This is the way fans express their love and support for Wenger.
Wenger heard that these were caused by him, and turned back to greet the fans in the stands, causing another commotion.
However, a few people with calm expressions in the corner of the fan area attracted his attention.
They were middle-aged men in their forties, dressed very seriously, holding a notebook and a pen in their hands.
Scouts?
Wenger looked at them deeply and turned his head away.
If they wanted to rent, he would welcome these people and accept them happily.
But if they wanted to pick up a few people and bring them back to his club, he would not give them a good face.
"He just saw us."
In the stands, a scout from Leeds United smiled and reminded the people next to him, "Should we tell him that we want their U17 captain Gilbert?"
"Looking for trouble, don't you know that Mr. Wenger hates this the most?"
A Sheffield United scout frowned and looked at him, "And I guess Gilbert will be in the first team next year or the year after, and he won't go with us. It's only possible to rent him."
"Not necessarily."
Another Burnley scout joined the topic and talked freely: "If you can offer a high price, Arsenal's finances and character should not refuse."
"Then why don't you try to buy Fabregas and Wilshere from the first team?" The Sheffield United scout retorted and rolled his eyes.
"I can't do that, but it's easy to run a few youth team players."
The Burnley scout smiled and said, "Okay, it's about to start, say less, scouts judge people by their own ability."
The people next to him turned their eyes to the court, hoping to discover one or two good seedlings through this game.
At 3:30 in the afternoon, the players of both sides started the battle on the field.
Maher stood on the left side of Arsenal's formation, playing as a winger. He roughly observed Liverpool's formation, which was a traditional 4-2-3-1.
This should be the style of their first-team coach Benítez, who would launch high pressure in the frontcourt to force Arsenal's backcourt to not easily pass the ball.
"There will be a lot of high balls, but headers are not my strengths. I have to pay more attention to the second-point ball after the header."
Maher made a judgment in his mind, and he was just waiting to get the ball and kick it into Liverpool's goal.
Looking at the opponent's goalkeeper, he smiled lightly and looked forward to it.
"Beep!!"
Soon, the referee blew the whistle to officially start the game.
Liverpool U17 got the right to kick off in the first half, and their black center forward kicked the ball back.
"Press! Move the midfield to the midline, be careful not to go high!"
Arsenal captain Gilbert waved his hand to command his teammates, leading the three lines of players to run forward and exert pressure.
However, they did not adopt the high-pressure method.
Liverpool's style of play has always been simple and rough. If they are too forward, the pressure on the back line to defend the ball behind them will become very great.
"Bang! Bang!"
After Liverpool simply passed the ball twice in the backcourt, they directly made a long pass to the side of Arsenal's backcourt, trying to advance the offensive line.
The ball was headed out of the sideline by Arsenal's right back, and there was no threat.
But Liverpool's tactical goal has been achieved. All their players squeezed to the right side of Arsenal's backcourt, waiting for an opportunity to move.
Maher was the farthest from his own right side. He did not pay too much attention to the team's defense, but kept observing the Liverpool defender who was defending him.
He was waiting for the opportunity to receive the ball.
"Bang!"
Liverpool's attack ended with a cross ball. The quality of the cross was not high, and it was directly held in the arms of Arsenal goalkeeper Hopkins.
Hopkins roughly observed and saw that there were a large number of Liverpool players in his half, so he had no idea of short passes.
He threw the ball up with one hand, turned sideways and kicked it forward, looking for Gilbert in the middle.
Although Gilbert is No. 10, he is 187 cm tall and has a certain ability to compete for the top.
"Shua!" After jumping up, Gilbert rubbed the ball to the back, trying to catch Liverpool's defense off guard.
This kind of back-rubbing ball can maintain accuracy. Let's see if we can take advantage of the opponent's failure to react and directly hang it behind us, so that our players can chase.
After falling to the ground, Gilbert quickly turned his head to observe the situation in the front court.
He saw that the football fell on the left side, where Maher was racing with the opponent's defender.
"My ball!"
The Liverpool defender ran a little faster, caught up with the football first, and prepared to pass it back to the goalkeeper.
But Maher reacted in time. When he realized that he could not catch up, he gave up the pursuit and rushed towards the opponent with all his strength.
This is a relatively thin and agile full-back. From the appearance, his confrontation attribute is basically zero.
"Bang!"
The muffled sound of physical contact rang out, and the Liverpool defender suddenly fell to the ground like a kite with a broken string, and then waved his hand to the referee with an unwilling look, "Hit! Is there no foul?!"
The referee shook his head, indicating that there was no problem with the ball and asked him to get up.
He hurriedly supported himself with his hands and tried to get up, but Maher had already dribbled the ball in front of him and cut to the middle.
"Bang!!"
Seeing that he was in range, Maher didn't hesitate and shot the first shot of the game today.
Compared to the previous time, he adjusted quickly this time and still played with good quality.
The football just flew over the crossbar. Looking at the confused expression of the Liverpool goalkeeper, it was clear that if the ball was hit correctly, there should be no problem with scoring.
"Keep going!"
After trying it out, Maher's confidence increased again, and his desire for the ball increased by another level.