Appropriately enough on anafternoon when Wembley simmered in slightly sickly August heat, there wasplenty for both managers to stew on after Arsenal’s 1-0 defeat of Chelsea inthe Community Shield. In a way thiswas a tale of two centre-forwards, or rather a tale of two matchingcentre-forward-shaped holes. For Arsenal the issue of who should start at thepoint of the attack was answered in part by Theo Walcott’s lively display inthe opening 30 minutes; and then clouded in turn by his almost totaldisappearance in 30 more minutes on the pitch.
八月的下午，温布利天气有点反常的热，这种热度，在破厂1-0击败车子后，充斥在双方主帅的心头。一场比赛中，两边各用了不同的中锋，或者说两套不同中锋的打法。破厂一方，谁该当主力中锋？答案在虎子开场活跃的30分钟里是不明而喻的，但是，在随后的30分钟的隐身，又让问题增加了几分悬念。

馆馆你不就是个虎黑

In defeat Chelsea looked like a well-balanced, powerful team hugely diminished bythe absence of Diego Costa’s craft and aggression. In the first half Loïc Rémyperformed an eager, diligent impersonation of a top-class centre-forward. Inthe second the outline of Radamel Falcao, the ghost of Old Trafford, scuttledabout on the fringes, occasionally visible in daylight, a Victorian gardenfairy in blue.
车子，他们的攻守平衡进击能力，由于科斯塔的伤缺失色不少。上半场，雷米表现勤勉但缺乏顶级中锋的天分，下半场上来的法尔考，还是老特拉福德的那个鬼样，游离于比赛边缘，偶尔露一下峥嵘，但也属于维多利亚花园中神秘的仙女一样，惊鸿一瞥。

一场比赛不能说明问题

If this is reflection ofthe alarming lack of riches in that position in the world’s most cash-flushedleague, it is also a function of Walcott’s own familiarly tantalising sense ofunspent potential. If it feels as if he has been hinting he would like to playcentre-forward for about 10 years now, that is probably because he has. Byaccident or design it seems he has his chance.
在如今英超顶锋奇缺的年头，虎子对自己未尽潜能的确信和激发起到了作用，如果在踢球10年后，他感到自己有能力打中锋，很可能说明他就是中锋。不管刻意还是偶然，虎子打了中锋，得到了证明自己的机会。

不希望小老虎踢中锋

Not that too much shouldever be read into this match. Before kick-off there was the usual sense ofsleepiness around Wembley. Even the brain-manglingly loud stadium PA had beendialled back to simply very loud and annoying. The Community Shield: a match whereeven the fake excitement feels fake, the forced jollity a little too forced.
无须过度解读这场比赛，开球前温布利的气氛一如既往，暖洋洋令人昏昏欲睡。连球场DJ的声音也显得单调刺耳。社区盾杯：一场连包装出来的兴奋氛围也显得很假的比赛，欢乐得太欢乐了。
The village fete atmospherewas compounded by the sight of José Mourinho on the touchline dressed like aman on his way out to the all-night garage for a Snickers and some cat food; Arsenal fans dressed in replica Petr Cech skull caps; and Chelsea’ssupport standing as one to applaud their former goalkeeper as he came sprintingtowards Wembley’s blue end before kick-off.
乡村游乐的气氛从鸟的着装上可以体现，他打扮得像去车库超市买点猫粮的休闲者。破厂球迷带着仿切赫头盔的帽子，那边车子球迷则在切赫最后过来致谢时抱以热烈的掌声

The only significantselection on either side was confirmation that the decision to start withWalcott up front in the Cup final in May was more than just a one-off tacticalwhim. Afterwards Arsène Wenger again dismissed talk that Karim Benzema might beabout to arrive. It really does look like this is the way Arsenal are likely togo more often than not in early season.
唯一对两边都有影响的一个决定是五月时让虎子在足总杯决赛里出任主力中锋，这是一个大胆奇妙的战术构思。现在温格再一次拒绝讨论本马会来破厂的可能性。也许温格真的会让虎子更多的出现在中锋位置上，较之前的几个赛季。

And Walcott was bright inthe early minutes, using his speed to pull Chelsea’s defenders into awkwardpositions. He had what would be his only effort on goal with 22 minutes gone,heading powerfully straight at Thibaut Courtois from a free-kick on the left.Moments later he was bustling through the inside-left channel, then droppinginto a deep central position to play in Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain for the game’sonly goal.
虎子一开始表现得很耀眼，用他的速度撕扯着车子的防线。在22分钟时，他接任意球甩出一记有力的头球，被库娃没收。紧接着他频繁地在左路活动，然后出其不意挪到中路，助攻张伯伦完成全场唯一进球。
It was a nice moment forboth players, Walcott’s well-timed pass allowing Oxlade-Chamberlain to take theball in his stride, cut inside and ping a fine left-footed shot into the topcorner, due reward for the most urgent, composed player on show.
这个瞬间点亮了一双师兄弟，虎子恰到其份的传球让大帅能大步流星，内切并用左脚将球打进远门柱近角，大帅的暴力发挥使他成了本场最佳球员。

Walcott had made his onlymeaningful contribution to the afternoon, although he did still make rippleswhile on the face of it doing very little. When Chelsea were attacking GaryCahill stood off him a full 20 yards, an opposition defence rejigged a littlesimply by the threat of speed.
这是虎子在这个下午所做的唯一有意义的贡献，尽管他还掀起了一点小波澜，但收效甚微。当车子进攻时卡希尔远离虎子20码，对于速度型前锋，这种防守有点太轻易了。

There were some nice diagonal runs too,although clearly Walcott will need to do more to convince his many doubters.Michael Owen, who knows a bit about goalscoring, could be heard on TVcommentary suggesting Walcott is some way short of top class, which is, let’sface it, a fairly easy position to take
虎子这场比赛中有很多不错的跑位，但肯定的是虎子还需要做许多工作来说服置疑者们。欧文，一个出色的射手，曾在电视解说里提到，相对于世界级射手，虎子还有许多短板，当然，实事求是，他说得没错。

但是，为什么不尝试一下呢，虎子是个灵动但缺少身板的球员，欧文也是这种类型的球员，他打中锋进也是机动性极强，和当时流行的传统中锋截然不同。那时欧文以跑位灵活，终结能力强，门前嗅觉灵敏而著称，是现在的法布雷加斯、托马斯·穆勒、斯特林、许尔勒这样的伪9号。那为什么之前全勤赛季能进21个球的虎子就不能成为像欧文这样的射手呢？
PS：原文发不出，又抽了

Perhaps with Walcott at centre-forward Wengermight be hoping for another stroke of well-timed good fortune, just as hemanaged to fish out Francis Coquelin from down the back of the sofa when hewasn’t really looking for him and discover almost by accident that HéctorBellerín is already the best attacking right-back in the league. SimilarlyWalcott may not be Mr Right – or Mr Benzema, or Mr Lewandowski – but he is MrRight There Already, a player of extreme if uneven attacking strengths who mayjust be about to get his chance.
也许，温格让虎子打中锋是在挖宝，就像他把沙发上的科克兰电召回来，并不是看好他，但无意中挖出了一个好后腰。还有贝莱林，现在成了英超最好的右后卫之一。可能，虎子不是温格心中的如意中锋——像本泽马或莱万那样的中锋，但他是现成的中锋之一，一个可能成为顶级中锋的球员之一。

完