Even though London was an international metropolis, it still attached great importance to urban greenery and public sports infrastructure. Stadiums, fitness squares, and parks could be seen everywhere.
Qin Xiong, who won the Community Shield and was hailed by the Chinese media as the winner of the Quintuple Championship in 2004, jogged in the park in the early morning accompanied by his fitness coach.
After running for about 40 minutes, he stopped and put his left index and middle fingers together on his pulse under his cheek. He raised his right wrist to look at the time on his sports watch.
As his pulse beat, he silently noted down the number of beats while thinking about the team in his mind.
After winning the Community Shield, Wenger gave Vieira an ultimatum.
According to his understanding from the media, the main reason why Vieira was considering a transfer to Real Madrid was because of his personal remuneration. During the years when Arsenal lived frugally, even Vieira, who had been working for eight years, could not get a satisfactory remuneration from the club.
Arsenal's salary system was strictly controlled. Henry stood at the top of the pyramid, followed by Vieira, but Vieira was still not satisfied.
After looking at the time on his watch for a minute, Qin Xiong's left hand moved away from the pulse under his cheek. He said to the fitness coach, "I feel okay. Let's continue."
Today was the day off for the team. Other than individual training, he would use the rest of the time to eat and sleep.
He could not do nothing but sleep. It was necessary to do some light exercises to maintain the body's most basic state of motion.
If the training before the age of 18 was based on healthy growth, then from now on, Qin Xiong's training goal would also be to improve his motor function.
It was just like how many people could train their muscles, but it did not mean that a muscular man's strength would be stronger than those who looked beautiful and strong.
In this kind of training, the changes in heart rate and pulse were very important.
Freddy went to the Netherlands. As Qin Xiong's agent, he needed to help Qin Xiong take care of all the things in his life that would distract Qin Xiong, including Georgia and Sylvia, who Qin Xiong was always worried about.
During his trip to the Netherlands, he would set up a bank trust account for Georgia, from which he would regularly pay her tuition fees and monthly living expenses.
Qin Xiong had discussed this with Sylvia over the phone. In order to persuade Sylvia, he said these words.
"I didn't receive any higher education, but I know the importance of education to a person. I hope that George can focus on his studies and become a better person. This is between him and me, and it has nothing to do with you. When he grows up in the future, I will ask him to return all the fees I paid for him!"
As for Sylvia, if she didn't need to be a burden for Georgia's life, she was very outstanding and received scholarships every year. She didn't need other people's financial assistance at all.
Qin Xiong's life now was very simple. He tried his best not to look at the explosive news in England. There was too much, too much. The power of the European news center was not as simple as he imagined.
Especially with more news reports, you might not be able to tell whether the news was real or fake.
He spent every day in three activities: training, sleeping, and eating.
In the days when he first came to London, he did not increase the amount of training. After the club's training, he would go back to his apartment to rest.
In the team's training, he was very serious, but he had not reached the state of being as hardworking as in the past. Now he prioritized rest and physical reserves. He had to arrange his training plan reasonably.
However, in the special training, Qin Xiong showed a strength that his teammates appreciated.
His coordination, organizational ability, awareness to read the situation, grasp the overall situation, and so on. Especially in the 15-minute training match at the end of every day, he made his teammates recognize his strength more and more.
Even though Wenger had already stated that the decision to leave or stay was in Vieira's hands, the club respected his decision.
Vieira finally broke his personal silence and stated that he would stay and continue to play for Arsenal. He did not go to Bernabéu to become a member of Galactica.
Before the opening of the new Premier League season, Arsenal took the team's new season photo.
At the same time, the Arsenal club began to actively operate the development of the Asian market.
They had already noticed that after Qin Xiong's return, the team's number 11 jersey sales increased day by day.
Attached is the Arsenal team roster for the 2004-2005 season.
Goalkeepers: Jens Lehmann, Taylor, Almunia.
Defenders: Lauren, Touré, Campbell, Ashley Cole, Senderos, Sigan, Clichy, Hoyt, Swade.
Midfielders: Vieira, Silva, Pires, Ljungberg, Edu, Fàbregas, Qin Xiong, Pennant, Flamini.
Forwards: Henry, Bergkamp, Jeffers, Robin van Persie, Reyes, Aliadiere.
.....
On August 14, the opening game of the 2004-2005 English Premier League season arrived.
The defending champion Arsenal visited Goodison Park to challenge Everton.
Qin Xiong was included in the game roster, but as a substitute player.
Wenger asked him to watch the game carefully to get a close understanding of the style and atmosphere of the English game.
Everton was caught in the same problem as Arsenal before, the transfer of key players.
England's new golden boy, Rooney, was being fought over by Manchester United and Chelsea. He almost fell out with the manager, Moyes. This kind of disturbance would affect the team's morale and preparation.
Arsenal's starting lineup that appeared at Goodison Park was the same as the team that won the title last season.
With Henry's recovery from injury, Arsenal defeated Everton with a score of 4: 1 in the away game and easily got off to a good start in the league.
It also extended Arsenal's unbeaten record to 41 games in the league.
(Note: Arsenal's unbeaten record in the league started in the last two games of the 02-03 season. It was 38 games in the 03-04 season and extended to the opening game of the 04-05 season. It was 41 games without a loss.)
Although Qin Xiong did not play in the game, he carefully observed the style of the English Premier League from the bench.
The biggest impact on him was the pace of the game.
Fast! Fast!
Even if the mistakes were high, it had to be fast!
And through the reaction of the fans in the stands, he could understand why the English Premier League focused so much on physical confrontation.
The English fans saw this as the essence of confrontation on the football field. In the ancient days of English football, passing the ball was seen as surrender. A head-on one-on-one contest, similar to a one-on-one duel, was the football spirit that people advocated. Passing the ball to cooperate to break through the opponent? This was European football, not the English style of football.
If it was in Spain, a defender's big kick to break the siege might be despised. But in England, a big kick to break the siege would be applauded by the fans.
There were too many new football styles and atmosphere characteristics that impacted Qin Xiong's thinking.
He also deepened his understanding of physical fitness and confrontation. It could be said that because England advocated a big style of football, the players' ability to run back and forth was even higher. You could not guarantee that the opponent's big kick to break the siege would not create a very good counterattack opportunity.
And the players were more particular about the sense of confrontation, so the football atmosphere built on the basis of the local players on the field was to fight for every inch of ground!
Physical fitness and the sense of confrontation were essential elements to establish a foothold in the English Premier League.
On the way back to London by bus, Wenger told the players with a serious expression, "It will be very difficult for us to defend our league title this season because we are the champions. All our opponents want to break our unbeaten record and also want to prove themselves by defeating us. In the league, in addition to our old rival Manchester United, there is now our neighbor Chelsea. They have also become stronger than before. Chelsea, who we left behind by a lot of points last season, have gained a certain amount of confidence. Plus, there is a new manager, a new manager who is utilitarian and conservative in order to win. You know who I am talking about, so we have to buck up and not let our guard down in every game. We are not going to play to pursue the unbeaten record, we are going to fight to successfully defend our title! "
The competition in the English Premier League was more intense than before, which was obvious to all.
Because of this, even if they defeated Everton by a big score, Arsenal's players were only excited for a while after the game.
Qin Xiong sat by the window of the bus with Robin van Persie sitting next to him. He turned his head to look out of the window and thought to himself, It's time to strengthen my muscles!
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