Becoming a football god from Arsenal

Chapter 135: Welcoming the new players! Advancing into the Champions League! Upgrading to level 4 of the weak foot!
As time slowly approaches the end of August, Arsenal's schedule is still not getting easier.

There are only two games left, one is on August 8, away against Udinese; the other is on August 25, away against Manchester United.

Two consecutive away games is a test of the depth of the lineup.

The first game was relatively easier. With a 3-0 lead from the first leg, it should be difficult for Udinese to make any waves away from home. They were able to win even with a half-rotated lineup.

Arsenal will most likely advance to the Champions League easily.

But Manchester United is definitely a tough opponent for Arsenal, a special opponent.

Not only because this team has the top strength in the Premier League, but also because of the love-hate relationship between Sir Alex Ferguson and Wenger that lasted for more than ten years, and the disputes and conflicts between Arsenal and Manchester United around the millennium.

Every time the two teams collide, whether at the Emirates Stadium or Old Trafford, it is full of tension and attracts great attention.

No less than an ordinary derby.

There is no need to guess what Wenger is thinking. He definitely plans to conserve some strength when playing against Udinese, allowing the main lineup to fully focus on the third round of the Premier League against Manchester United at the end of the month, and strive to get points away from home!
If you think about it carefully, this month's Premier League schedule is really devilish.

There are not many rounds, but none of them are easy. There is a mid-level team and two big6 leaders, which means that the difficulties are concentrated in the first half.

On August 8, after a day of training, Maher returned home to rest.

Wenger gave him a day off tomorrow, but assigned him an important task. Together with captain Van Persie, he will take the new players around London.

Are they planning to train him to become the third captain, or even the second captain?
He guessed Wenger's intention, otherwise he would not have chosen him, a young player, to carry out such activities.

Speaking of which, after the first two rounds of the league, Wenger made some big moves in the transfer window, and it seemed that he was really ready to make a big move this season.

After bringing in Arteta, he first brought in Brazilian left-back Andre Santos from Turkish Super League giants Fenerbahce for 700 million euros.

Afterwards, they spent 1130 million euros to buy German defender Mertesacker from Bundesliga team Werder Bremen, and 1380 million euros to introduce powerful attacker Chamberlain from Southampton!

Almost all the money earned in the summer window was spent to strengthen the team on all fronts.

Maher is very familiar with these people. They are basically the backbone of Arsenal during its low period. They accompanied the club through a difficult period and made great contributions to its subsequent reconstruction and revival.

"Ok?"

He suddenly thought of one thing, Santos and Mertesacker, including Arteta, who he didn't pay much attention to before. If he remembered correctly, the three of them came to Arsenal after drinking Manchester United's 82 Lafite one season.

How come you arrived early?

He could understand that these people were on the transfer list first. The club would generally confirm the transfer targets very early and take them at the right time.

But how could it be such a coincidence?
Thinking of the game against Manchester United at the end of the month, Maher suddenly had an idea. Could the 82 tragedy have happened in the 11-12 season?
It’s the one at the end of the month!

Damn, he couldn't help but swear in his heart. Does this count as my bad luck? This once-in-a-century tragedy happened in the season when he just arrived, and there is a high probability that he will appear on the court.

Even the butterfly effect of his arrival will affect the course of the game to a certain extent.

But the hot feel and form of Manchester United's offensive line in that game cannot be changed.

No matter how hard he tries, it is very likely that he will lose four or five.

"We can only take the hard top."

At this point, there is nothing that can be done. He can only hope that the butterfly effect of his arrival will be bigger and that it can change the outcome of the 82 game, but not make it too tragic.

I think Arteta, Mertesacker and others will join the team in advance. If they can play in that game, it will have a certain impact on the outcome.

Let’s hold on for now and try to get revenge against Manchester United at home in the second half.

The next day, Maher and Van Persie met up at noon and took several new players from the club to visit tourist attractions in London.

In fact, he had never really visited London, so he took this opportunity to travel around the city.

He drove his own Ferrari with Arteta, who had transferred from Everton.

Van Persie's task was a bit more difficult, as he drove an Audi S5 with Mertesacker, Chamberlain and Andre Santos.

They first went to famous London landmarks such as Big Ben, Tower Bridge, and the Thames River, where they checked in and took photos, chatting as they walked.

Van Persie acted as a tour guide, and it was rare to see his patient side. "It feels good to live in London. I fell in love with it after I came here. It is an international metropolis, but it is usually very quiet.

"The main thing is that the football atmosphere here is very strong. This is the city with the most top clubs."

He smiled and introduced: "Arsenal, Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur, West Ham United, Crystal Palace, Watford, etc. These are all world-famous teams.

“It’s much more comfortable to be a football star here than in other cities in the UK.

"You will meet very enthusiastic girls from London and foreign girls from all over the world who come here to study. Of course, this is just a side topic.

"Many parties and carnivals are also very interesting. I'll take you there after the schedule eases. You'll love them."

As Maher listened to his introduction, he felt a little moved. Gradually, he felt that he should pursue the development of the spiritual world.

He turned to look at Tazi next to him. Tazi had a calm face, but with his looks, this expression would make him seem a little confused and listless.

“Is it stressful to play here?”

German defender Mertesacker asked curiously. He spoke English which was not very fluent and had some grammatical errors.

There's no way. I've never lived in the UK, so this is already pretty good.

"The score depends on the state of play."

Van Persie pulled off a leaf from a maple tree beside the Thames River and used Maher as an example, saying: "If you are like Maher, you adapt to the team's style of play as soon as you arrive and produce super high numbers, then you won't feel any pressure.

"But on the contrary, the pressure is also relatively high. This is also related to the individual's mentality."

Mertesacker nodded slightly. He only half understood what he heard, but he could guess what Van Persie meant.

Glancing at Maher, he chuckled and said, “Fortunately I didn’t go to other Premier League teams, otherwise I wouldn’t know what to do if I met a striker like Maher.”

"Haha." Maher laughed twice and joked, "I'll take it as your sincere compliment to me."

"You're really hard to defend." Arteta watched Maher's last game and added calmly: "I guess you've become one of the top ten Premier League strikers that all defenders are worried about."

"We'll talk about it when it's time."

Maher walked towards the roadside, ready to drive to another place, "Who wants to take my car?"

"I want to sit."

Mertesacker raised his hand. He is 198 cm tall and has a tough defensive style, but he seems a little shy in life. "I haven't ridden in a Ferrari. No one in Werder Bremen has this car.

"How much did it cost? I want to buy one later. I also got a salary increase after coming to Arsenal."

"The total is 23.5 pounds," Maher told him and led him to the car.

“It’s very expensive.”

Mertesacker sighed, but was not too surprised as his current salary is not low.

"Buzz buzz buzz!" The roar of the car sounded. Compared with the cars of later generations, the F430 was actually not running that fast.

But its sound is definitely one of the loudest among sports cars, with the charm of an early internal combustion engine.

"Oh." After Mertesacker got into Maher's car, his expression quickly became interesting and he was beaming with joy all the way.

Maher looked at him and knew that the Ferrari flagship store in London would soon be one car short of stock, and that a tall man from Germany would lose a signing fee of £23.5.

Time quickly approached evening, and the day's tour was about to come to an end.

The group came to the villa at Maher's invitation and planned to have dinner before going home.

"My God."

After parking the car at the intersection, Van Persie looked at the 1-meter-high luxury villa and said enviously: "I will report it to the media so that people can see what kind of house a young player who has just played football for one year lives in."

This is a joke. The players' residences are generally private and will not be disclosed.

Chamberlain next to him didn't say anything, and Andre Santos didn't understand.

Only Arteta looked envious and sighed, "Are all players from top teams like this?"

He came from the La Masia youth training camp, but has never played for Barcelona's first team. He has been wandering in mid-level teams in foreign leagues and has never joined a top club.

If Arsenal had not been in bad shape in recent years and its financial problems had not been improved, he would not have gotten the opportunity to join a top team.

Therefore, Arteta has long been prepared to play diligently after arriving at Arsenal.

I don’t need to be the core of the current organization, even as an engineer, I must ignite my passion for the team!

Now, after seeing this house, he seemed to have another reason to work hard.

"Of course not." Van Persie waved his hand and laughed, saying, "The house he lives in is probably the best in the team. Mine is not as luxurious as his anyway."

Mertesacker also quickly walked over with Maher. He looked at the mansion in front of him with his mouth open, unable to speak for a long time.

I didn't expect that the players in the Premier League would be so rich and inhumane. In Germany, except for the superstars of Bayern and a few clubs, the players of other teams mostly live in ordinary houses.

"All right."

Maher looked at their expressions and led them inside, "Don't stand here, this house is not mine yet, wait until it's mine one day and then you can say what you want to say.

"Being the King of Houses is nothing. As Van Persie said, London is a football city. Only being the King of Football in London is worth bragging about."

His words made the five people laugh lightly, but he himself didn't laugh much. This was indeed one of his small goals. On August 8, the entire Arsenal team went to Udi, Italy, to play the second leg against Udinese.

Maher was also on the roster, but he did not start. He and Van Persie were rotated and rested.

Since several new players have integrated well into the team, Wenger boldly gave them playing opportunities in today's game.

This is a bit risky, but fortunately we have brought several core players with us, so we have the opportunity to make substitutions at any time.

After the overall arrangement, Arsenal's formation became like this - goalkeeper Szczesny, the defense line from left to right, Andre Santos, Mertesacker, Vermaelen, and Sagna.

The midfielders are Alexander Song, Arteta, and Rosicky; the forwards are Arshavin, Shamakhr, and Chamberlain.

It can be seen that they still have a certain fighting power, and it is not difficult to carry out a defensive counterattack against Udinese.

"Vinci per noi!" At 7:30 in the evening, the game started at the Friuli Stadium. The home team opened fire at full force and began a desperate counterattack.

Maher sat on the sidelines and watched the performance of the new players with Van Persie.

Soon, Mertesacker came into their sight in a very conspicuous way. The German central defender has extremely strong defensive ability.

Whether it's positioning, marking, tackling, clearing, heading, etc., he has extremely strong abilities!
Apart from one time when he turned too slowly and was passed by the opponent's midfielder, he made almost no mistakes.

"Very strong."

Van Persie thought of Koscielny and said with a smile: "Now, the team's defense line is competitive, everyone must be in the best condition to have a chance to play.

"Moreover, during a busy schedule, rotation is also guaranteed."

"That's right." Maher nodded. What he was thinking more about was whether Mertesacker could help the team avoid losing one or two goals if he could play in the 82 tragedy.

or more?
Or will they be beaten by the hot-tempered Manchester United and concede more goals?
"Oh!"

Just as he was thinking about it, the opponent's striker Di Natale used a long-range shot to penetrate the Arsenal goal and take the lead at home.

Maher looked at the time and found that it was already the 39th minute of the first half. That meant there was no big problem and Arsenal still had a lot of room for adjustment.

After the start of the second half, Wenger replaced Chamberlain, who had a mediocre performance, with Gervinho, and then sent Walcott on in the 60th minute of the game to increase the impact in the frontcourt.

This quickly took effect, and Arteta, who had been threading the needle in the middle, made a long pass over the top in the 65th minute of the game.

"Oh!"

Walcott stopped the ball and broke into the penalty area, his volley hitting the bottom left corner to help the team equalize the score!
The total score is four to one!
There is still 1 away goal!
It can be said that there is absolutely no need to worry.

"Yeah!" After getting his first assist in his Arsenal career, Arteta came to Wenger and jumped into Wenger's arms to celebrate together.

It seemed that he was thanking the professor for bringing him to Arsenal, giving him the opportunity to play in the Champions League and gain good data.

This was a novel experience and a memorable moment for him.

Wenger smiled happily, patted Arteta on the head, and hugged him to celebrate.

"He's not bad either."

Maher had just been paying attention to Arteta's characteristics. He had never seen Arteta play football in his previous life. "He has a strong passing ability. In the first half, he received and passed the ball the most times for Arsenal.

“And mainly he has a good attitude, he has good running ability, and he is also very good at tackling and intercepting.”

"All-around midfielder." Van Persie gave his own evaluation, looking at Arteta's back and said: "I hope he can become the all-around midfield core and carry the banner of Arsenal's midfield."

"Hopefully."

Maher saw Wenger put Tazi in the left midfield position and knew that this might be his future partner.

Time continued to pass, and in the 71st minute of the game, Di Natale broke into the penalty area and created a penalty, but unfortunately the subsequent penalty kick missed.

This goal destroyed Udinese's spirit. After all, they are not Liverpool and do not have the DNA of "big comeback" in their bones.

With Waltke scoring another goal in the 89th minute of the game, helping the team to reverse the score to 1-, the game skipped even the extra time and the final whistle was blown directly.

In the end, Arsenal defeated Udinese with a score of 5 to 1 in two rounds and entered this season's Champions League!
"The pressure is much less." Wenger honestly left a brief but meaningful sentence at the post-match press conference, which made the reporters laugh.

In the next two days, Maher began to spend all his time improving his weak foot, hoping to upgrade it before the away game against Manchester United.

On August 8, one hour before the club bus left for Manchester city.

He was still on the training ground, sweating profusely as he practiced his left foot, just a little bit short of the mark.

"I'll go back and get your equipment."

Jose looked at the watch beside him. He obviously didn't expect that this training would last so long that it might delay the big six battle against Manchester United the next day.

He didn't try to persuade him much. After a period of contact, he understood that once Mahel made up his mind about something, it would be impossible for him to change it.

Especially when it comes to training time, he has his own set of standards, and sometimes he would suddenly work overtime and practice for a while longer.

Jose drove his BMW sedan all the way back to Maher's house. When he came back, he was sure that Maher was still training on the field.

Many Arsenal players had gathered nearby, all watching curiously with their bags on their backs, not understanding why Maher was still practicing at this time.

“Bang, bang. bang!”

Maher ignored their gazes and kicked one curved ball after another with his left foot.

This kind of single-technique training is not tiring and will not affect his condition tomorrow.

At most, he would say some gossip that would confuse others. These were all small matters. He had been like this all along and was used to it.

It was 4:20 in the afternoon, with only ten minutes left before departure.

Maher experienced a burning sensation in various parts of his body, including his cerebellum, right hip, lower back, etc.

He could feel that his left foot and left leg, which had seemed a little awkward, were integrating into his body and becoming more compatible!
The weak foot has been upgraded!

[Skill: Strong Side Kick lv4]

[Proficiency: (1/5000)]

[Effect: After gaining strength, you gradually pursue the accuracy of your weak foot. After countless efforts, you finally feel that your weak foot is close to your dominant foot, but it is still a little short of perfection! ]

Strong side kick!
Maher moved his left ankle and found that his control over his left foot had indeed improved a lot. His legs were extremely flexible, as if he had been reborn.

“Arteta.”

He saw Tazi standing with Mertesacker and wanted to tease him. "Hitting the crossbar with his left foot, four out of ten, how about 1000 pounds?"

Arteta didn't expect to be called out suddenly. He hesitated for a moment and squinted his eyes and said, "Left foot. How about three out of ten?"

"Just four out of ten."

Maher ran to the field to pick up the balls, and soon gathered 10 balls, "Want to come?"

"bring it on."

Arteta nodded and started to joke with Maher, "Give it to me for real, this is not a joke."

"Okay!" Maher agreed excitedly and kicked the ball out in an arc, which is the most controllable way to hit the crossbar.

The first ball was empty.

"Clang!" But the second ball that followed hit the crossbar accurately.

Arteta remained unmoved and stared at Mahre's movements along with Mertesacker.

Then the fifth kick hit, and then the sixth kick hit. The total number of hits reached 3.

"That's good." Mertesacker's eyes moved and he praised. Their defenders were quite envious of this kind of footwork.

"Why do I feel like I've been fooled?" Arteta smiled bitterly and stared at Maher's back a little nervously.

"Oh!"

At this time, Maher made his eighth kick. The football was waiting to fly in an arc towards the crossbar of the goal. It had a natural fall in the air and finally successfully touched the crossbar, making a crisp sound, "clang!"

"Oh!" Arteta leaned back, shook his head and clapped his hands, sighing, "Okay. I'll give it to you when we get back from the away game."

Mertesacker also gave applause of admiration. He felt a little lucky in his heart, as he had wanted to raise the bet just now, but luckily he held back.

"You must remember this."

Maher waved at him, put the ball away and handed it to Jose, then took his game equipment from Jose, "It's too late, help me send it to the equipment room, I have to leave first."

“Come on.” Jose’s expression trembled a little. He thought of Maher’s left foot stability just now and couldn’t help asking, “Is this the result of your persistence in practicing for a while longer?”

He thought that he should go to Clone Sports University for another two years to study and see if concentrating time and increasing training duration would help improve a person's strength.

"how come."

Maher burst out laughing and waved his hand at him, saying, "It's all because of your good teaching, Mr. Jose, you should keep up the good work too!"

"Me?" Jose held the heavy golf bag and looked down at his feet.

Could it be that what he had been thinking all along was correct and he really had some special skills in training?
ps: Today's update is 2.5, the total number of words is 37.1, and the monthly target is 40.

Asking for a monthly ticket!
(End of this chapter)