End of the fifth update!
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At the end of October, Qin Xiong was suspended for the second game in the league. He and Sylvia watched the north London derby between Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur at White Hart Lane. Arsenal tied with Tottenham Hotspur at 1: 1 in the away game.
Yes, in the era after Vieira, Arsenal's bloodlust on the field seemed to have decreased. Coupled with the team's strategy of defending and counterattacking in the away game, Arsenal's fighting stance in the north London derby was no longer as brave and fearless as before. Instead, it was Tottenham Hotspur's aggressive play that established the lead first. If it were not for the hatred factor, Tottenham Hotspur would not have given Arsenal the chance to equalize the score in the second half.
In Qin Xiong's consecutive absence in the Premier League, Arsenal's goals-per-game rate plummeted from nearly three goals to one goal. Qin Xiong's importance to Arsenal was self-evident.
At the same time, in the review of the game at Fleet Street, a football commentator pointed out that although Qin Xiong could not replace Vieira in the position of spiritual leader, he would still inject bloodlust into Arsenal!
Arsenal was a technical team, but on the field, they needed a courageous temperament. Qin Xiong was also a technical player, but his fighting spirit and fighting stance were often strong and aggressive. He dared to confront the opponent head-on and burst out his bloodlust at the crucial moment. This was what Arsenal needed. Apart from the technical and tactical needs, Qin Xiong's role should not be ignored by the outside world.
Regardless of the reason, Arsenal needed Qin Xiong, but the team's contract renewal negotiations with Qin Xiong became more and more difficult.
Dai En tried to meet Freddy's requirements bit by bit, but as time went by, Freddy's requirements continued to rise.
Arsenal could not bring out the boldness to make the final decision, while Freddy believed that Qin Xiong was "losing profits" every week. He had been receiving a weekly salary of close to twenty thousand pounds, which was a loss in his eyes. Arsenal had to compensate him as an additional condition in the new contract.
In other words, as time passed, Freddy's demands would only get higher and higher. Even if Arsenal raised the conditions bit by bit, it would never satisfy Freddy. And in the process, the friendly relationship between the two sides was gradually eroding, becoming stiff and accumulating contradictions.
Wenger also tried to talk to Qin Xiong in private about the contract renewal. There were some things that did not need to be said too clearly between master and apprentice. Wenger could not bargain with Qin Xiong to discuss the contract, and Qin Xiong would not do such a thing either. He was not good at it, and he was not professional. He did not understand whether the terms in a contract had potential value or hidden traps. Talking to Wenger? If Wenger was willing to talk about it in detail, it should be Wenger and Freddy. Qin Xiong would not talk about it anyway.
Therefore, Wenger's talk with Qin Xiong did not have any results. Qin Xiong put on an attitude of "I will leave the contract to my agent to handle". At best, he expressed his inner position: he was willing to stay at Arsenal.
But the premise was that Arsenal had to give him enough status and treatment in the team. He did not want to compete with the other powerhouse teams. He only wanted his contribution to be proportional to his gains.
Qin Xiong's ban from the Premier League ended. The first thing he had to play was the fourth game of the Champions League group stage at Highbury in early November.
The opponents were Sparta Prague, who were playing back-to-back.
After three rounds of games, Arsenal won all three games and ranked first in the group.
Ajax was second with four points.
Thun had three points.
Sparta Prague only had one point.
Under such circumstances, Sparta Prague still had to go all out to win in the away game. If they could not get three points, they could be declared out in the fourth round.
In this game, Arsenal finished the game in 30 minutes.
Qin Xiong opened the scoring with a free kick outside the penalty area. Then, he assisted Henry to score with a positional play. Hleb also sent a wonderful pass to Henry in the 30th minute.
30 minutes, 3: 0. Sparta Prague fell into the abyss.
Arsenal did not even look at their opponents. The difference in strength between the two teams was too big.
Sparta Prague could not shake Arsenal's goal at all. Arsenal gave up after taking the lead.
In the second half, Wenger made substitutions early. Sparta Prague did not have any expectations for the game. They treated it as a win and defended with all their strength.
Arsenal finally defeated Sparta Prague at home with a score of 3: 0.
After the fourth game of the group stage, Arsenal took the lead to advance to the top 16 of the Champions League with 12 points after winning all four games.
Ajax, who was second in the group, had seven points after a double victory over Thun.
Thun had three points and Sparta Prague still had one point.
Arsenal advanced two rounds in advance. It did not seem difficult to win the first place in the group. After all, there was a huge gap of five points between them and Ajax.
At the end of the fourth round of the eight groups in the Champions League, only two teams advanced to the top 16 of the Champions League. They were Arsenal and Lyon.
Fleet Street commented on Arsenal's performance in the Champions League: Arsenal's improvement in the Champions League is obvious to all. Just a few years ago, whether they could advance from the group stage was still uncertain. Now, there is almost no need to worry about them going home in the group stage. It is undeniable that this is related to the growing gap between the strong and weak teams in the Champions League group stage. But considering that big teams like Real Madrid, Barcelona, Juventus, and so on have not advanced in advance, we must admit Arsenal's improvement in the Champions League. However, there is a question mark as to how they will perform in the knockout stages. Many people think that Arsenal already has the strength to win the Champions League. However, there is too much chance in the Champions League. If they could break through Chelsea last season, would it be Arsenal who dared to meet AC Milan in Istanbul?
Maybe Arsenal was not one of the top three popular teams in the Champions League. After all, the Arsenal Factory lacked the foundation of the Champions League. However, the stability of their results still brought a positive stimulus to the club's long-term profits.
The Champions League mission in the first half of the season was completed. Arsenal had no problem locking in the first place in the Champions League group. Now they could fully focus on the league.
In the twelfth round of the Premier League, Arsenal played at home against Sunderland.
Wenger came up with a new offensive tactic. Robin van Persie temporarily replaced Ljungberg as the starter. This was Robin van Persie's opportunity.
In the more than a year since he came to Arsenal, Robin van Persie had limited opportunities to adapt to the Premier League. He also learned Henry's positioning awareness in the team and honed his shooting skills. Wenger tried to build him into the next Henry. At least Robin van Persie had a similar trajectory as Henry: from a winger to a center forward.
It was just that Robin van Persie did not have the support of the team like Henry did.
As long as Henry was in the team, no striker in the team could snatch Henry's center forward position. Just like now, Qin Xiong was the team's number nine and a half. There was no one to replace him. In the past, there was Dennis Bergkamp. After Bergkamp was about to retire, if Qin Xiong could not play, Wenger did not consider replacing Qin Xiong with someone else. He directly changed the tactical play because Qin Xiong's role and position were too special. No one could fulfill his contribution on the field.
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