The night before leaving Amsterdam, Qin Xiong and Sylvia spent the night in her bedroom.
It made Qin Xiong feel happier than most of the time before. He did not know why, but even though his apartment in London was more spacious and luxurious than Sylvia's home in Amsterdam, when he made love to Sylvia in the bedroom where she grew up, there was a new feeling. There was warmth in the calmness, which made his soul feel as if it had entered a haven. It was so comfortable that he almost did not want to leave again.
When he sat on the plane and looked at the sea of clouds, he suddenly thought that maybe he himself wanted to have a real and warm home.
No matter how luxurious the hotel or spacious the apartment was, it was a temporary residence after all, not a real "home."
.....
At the beginning of the new season, Qin Xiong had a satisfying relaxation and recovery during the FIFA match day. It was a kind of spiritual release, a real combination of work and rest. When he returned to London, all his attention was focused on training and games.
Arsenal did not make any more signings before the end of the transfer window. The club's finances were tight, and in the last two or three days at the end of August, there would not be any players that Arsenal wanted to enter the market. The wave of injuries that Arsenal suffered made it seem as if there was a hidden danger before every game, which was questioned and speculated by the outside world.
It also made many opponents have the ambition to kill the king when they faced Arsenal!
On September 10, the fifth round of the Premier League began, and Arsenal challenged Middlesbrough as a guest.
It was a sunny afternoon, and Qin Xiong walked into the stadium full of fighting spirit.
"Welcome to the Riverside Stadium to watch the fifth round of the Premier League this season. The defending champion Arsenal is a guest against Middlesbrough, who is at home. Arsenal has recently experienced a rare wave of injuries in the main group in many years, which undoubtedly made the thin lineup worse. However, Wenger always believed that the team could move forward strongly in the difficulties. His confidence was not without support. As long as Henry and Qin Xiong both remained healthy, no one would doubt that Arsenal would really not be able to recover from the setback! The only difference was, in the fiercely competitive Premier League, would Arsenal make more mistakes than their opponents, resulting in their failure to defend their title at the end of the season?
Alright, let's take a look at the starting lineup of both sides.
Middlesbrough started 442.
Goalkeeper: Schwarzer.
Fullbacks: Retzger, Ehiogu, Southgate, Quyedru.
Midfield: Mendieta, Parol, Boateng, Downing.
Forwards: Jakub, Hazel Bank.
Arsenal starts 4-4-5.
Goalkeeper: Lehmann.
Defenders: Eboue, Touré, Senderos, Flamini.
Midfielders: Reyes, Fàbregas, Qin Xiong, Silva, Hleb.
Forward: Henry. "
Apart from the absence of some of the main players due to injuries, after the FIFA match, Pires needed to recuperate due to his age. Wenger only included him in the substitute list.
The game began. Although Middlesbrough set up a 4-4-2 formation at home, they did not play aggressively at all. Instead, they showed a simple and crude sense of tactical deja vu.
Mendieta was on the right flank and Downing was on the left flank. The two flanks flew together to supply shells to the striker. They relied on Jakub and Hazel Bank to carry out aerial bombardment!
This method of play did not work at first. Arsenal immediately spurred on the offensive after getting the opportunity to counterattack.
Qin Xiong could easily push forward in the midfield. The opponent's double defensive midfielders, Parol and Boateng, were in front of the defensive line. They could not obstruct Arsenal's advancement in the middle at all.
It seemed that they knew that counterattacking in the middle and front field would not cause trouble for Arsenal. Instead, it would leave the rear defensive line short of players and expose a huge flaw.
Qin Xiong took the initiative to challenge Parol in the fifth minute of the game. Now his advancement in the counterattack had a direct effect. He almost never looked back. He went all the way forward, overtaking and accelerating. The offensive advancement effect was very obvious.
Parol was an old player of Arsenal. He was one of the important players of Arsenal's former era. He used to form a tough double defensive midfielders combination with Vieira. Now, things were different. The veteran Parol continued to play in Middlesbrough.
It was easy for Qin Xiong to break through him. As long as he relied on acceleration to change direction, there was no problem with the combination of man and ball. He would not give Parol a chance to steal successfully.
Parol relied on his rich defensive experience. Even if Qin Xiong bypassed him from the side, he would not lose his center of gravity. Instead, he quickly retreated to block Qin Xiong's route to pass the ball to his teammates, or to cover in the penalty area, allowing Middlesbrough's rear defensive system to operate flexibly.
It was a very smart approach.
After Qin Xiong successfully broke through to the left, he directly sent out a straight ball with the outer instep of his right foot. The football bypassed behind Ehiogu. The elderly Southgate blocked Henry on the outside, but it looked like his movement speed was already slow. He could not break Qin Xiong's straight ball that was close to the ground.
Just when Qin Xiong thought that Henry could easily receive the ball and form a shot, before Henry touched the ball, the left back Quayedro shoveled to block the space in front of Henry and shoveled the ball away!
Middlesbrough's defense was successful!
Quayedro stood up from the ground and high-fived Southgate. The Middlesbrough defensive players looked extremely calm. They seemed to have foreseen that Qin Xiong and Henry would play such a combination.
It looked like they were very well prepared for this game!
Three minutes later, Qin Xiong once again pressed the front waistline with a dribble. After flicking the ball horizontally in front of Parlor, he suddenly passed the ball to the reverse cut line, hoping that Hleb could cut inside from the flank to receive the ball. But the right back, Retzger, snatched the ball before Hleb could!
As Qin Xiong walked back, he carefully recalled the scenes of Middlesbrough's successful defense today.
Obviously, the Middlesbrough defenders came prepared!
They were not focusing on containing Qin Xiong's play, but specifically targeting the passing route between Qin Xiong and his teammates.
In particular, the full-backs' contraction was very frequent. It probably had to do with Arsenal's tactic of rarely playing passes from the flank. It was the same whether they wanted to defend from the flank or the outside. It was mainly the ground pass that made Middlesbrough most wary.
Qin Xiong and Henry made eye contact and seemed to have countless silent exchanges. The strangest thing was that both of them nodded, as if they really understood what to do without talking.
After another five minutes, Jakub's header in the penalty area was steadily held by Lehmann, and Arsenal once again launched a quick counterattack.
Fàbregas steadily passed the ball to Qin Xiong's feet in the middle of the backfield.
Qin Xiong did not hesitate to pass the ball to the side to Reyes. Reyes rushed forward on the right flank, and then passed the ball to Henry on the right flank. Henry directly knocked the ball to the empty space in front of the penalty area.
Qin Xiong's forward running route was here. But when Henry passed the ball out, Boateng rushed to the football as if he had foreseen it and shoveled the ball out of bounds before Qin Xiong touched the ball.
After another successful defense against Arsenal's counterattack, the Middlesbrough players had a confident glow on their faces.
When they looked at Arsenal's attacking group, it was as if there was a playful provocation in their eyes!
The continuous defensive success represented the correctness of their tactical deployment before the game. When they successfully defended again and again, they became more confident, as if Arsenal was nothing great in their eyes.
After Qin Xiong saw the change in his opponent's spirit and temperament, he bowed his head and smiled silently. His smile was a little cold.
Well done, Middlesbrough!
But the game has just begun!
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