With maxed-out heading ability from the start, I became the king of Arsenal.

Sun Yu would never have imagined that he would be on Arsenal's watch list.

His only concern right now is Henry's ball control skills.

After Stoke City's reserve team scored their fourth goal, head coach Kicent substituted Sun Yu with the reserve team's starting center forward.

Sun Yu has already achieved an impressive record of 3 goals and 1 assist, and Kissente can certainly give Pulis a satisfactory answer.

Kissent realized one thing in just one game – Sun Yu definitely wouldn’t stay in the reserve team for long.

In the last ten minutes, we still need to give our team a workout.

As soon as the final whistle blew, the system notification sounded immediately.

[Match ended. Host has successfully gained 100 points of defense penetration.]

[Congratulations, host, you have acquired Henry's exclusive ball protection skill: Henry's Ball Protection Technique]

As the system notification sounded, countless images of Henry protecting the ball during training immediately flashed through Sun Yu's mind.

These images quickly entered my consciousness within seconds, as if they were muscle memories formed through my mind after years of training.

He discovered a very interesting phenomenon: although Henry was strong enough, he rarely kept his body still when protecting the ball.

When Henry controls the ball, he always turns his body to the side, creating a barrier between the defender and the ball.

Sun Yu immediately understood the advantages of this ball-stopping posture based on the information in his mind.

Even if Henry encounters a defender who is taller and stronger than him, he will not lose his balance immediately upon being hit.

Instead, one can use softness to overcome hardness and borrow the opponent's force to strike back.

No wonder when I watched Arsenal matches in my past life, I felt that Henry never protected the ball, no matter where he was receiving support from his teammates.

Henry's ball control and dribbling were seamless, often breaking free from the control of the center-backs in an instant. If the opportunity was good, he could even accelerate in the "Henry Corridor".

Of course, more insights can only be discovered in actual combat, and Sun Yu plans to find an opportunity to see the effects in real combat.

He switched to the player panel, and "Henry's Ball Control Technique" had appeared in his personal skill list.

Name: Sun Yu

Age: 19 years old

Height: 191cm

Position: Center

Agility: 77; Physical Fitness: 93; Explosiveness: 81

[Footwork Strength: 93; Strength Combat: 90; Jumping Ability: 91]

Speed: 80; Dribbling: 43; Tackling: 50; Tackle: 48

[Vision: 49; Off-the-ball movement: 41; Defensive positioning: 43; Ball control: 62]

Passing: 49; Shooting: 48; Heading: 100; Free Kick: 39

Signature skill: Henry's ball protection technique.

Sun Yu discovered that the skill also had a text description: This is an exclusive skill that combines elegance with violent aesthetics.

1. It never relies on frequently adjusting the position of the ball to protect it. Instead, it stabilizes the ball within a controllable range with a single, precise touch, allowing the ball handler to start the next action as quickly as possible.

2. It integrates body control, rhythm, technical ability and tactical understanding, and is an offensive starting point that is a feint stop and a real move.

3. Its effectiveness depends on the level of one's ability to control the ball, footwork, physical strength, agility, dribbling, explosiveness, and off-the-ball movement.

In other words, he had only grasped how to use the skill, but in terms of ability, he was far from being able to compare with Henry at his peak.

It's like the same martial arts moves; some people can only use them in the film and television industry, some can win martial arts performance championships, some can participate in competitive fighting, and some can use them to kill.

With this in mind, Sun Yu immediately began to pay attention to his own ability attributes.

There are no issues with his physical strength and footwork.

His explosiveness is certainly not as good as Henry's at his peak, but it's not bad either.

His agility is passable, but his other abilities are far from good.

According to Sun Yu's understanding, an attribute of 50 is enough to qualify for English League Two, which is the minimum standard for a professional player.

Of course, not every professional player meets all the required attributes; each position has key attributes.

While every attribute is important for a professional player, attributes other than key abilities are merely supplementary.

If you outperform your competitors in key positions within the same league level, you're likely to do well.

However, if you choose the wrong position, even with the best hand, your potential is still very limited.

Take myself as an example. Even with my explosive physical abilities, I'm still a leaky sieve when playing center back. Continuing like this will only lead to my demise.

But after switching to center forward, he joined Stoke City, a Premier League team that takes an unconventional approach.

He revitalized his career in an instant!

But Sun Yu is well aware that he is now relying on his physical abilities to carry the team; to put it bluntly, he is like Xiangzi, the "Camel Xiangzi" of the football world.

If injuries cause a decline in physical ability, it's impossible to even play in the English First Division.

Since you have something that others don't, you should hone your skills and push your career ceiling.

He glanced at the points he had gained based on his defense penetration:

[Points: 282/1000]

I don't know what extra reward the system will give when you reach 1000 points. If there is no reward, it is impossible to set a standard.

Although 1000 points is a lot, Sun Yu believes that he has few rivals in the niche category of "making people unhappy".

Sun Yu originally thought that this kind of warm-up match between reserve teams would end after the game and everyone would go home and have nothing to do.

But after the game, seven or eight media outlets suddenly appeared in the stadium.

It's important to know that as one of the world's most developed countries in the media industry, the UK has thousands of media outlets, and the competition among them is exceptionally fierce.

Putting aside other things, London alone has more than a dozen national print media outlets and 29 television stations, not to mention countless regional newspapers.

To survive in such an environment, you either need to be good at the job or be willing to take on tough jobs.

If your news coverage and sensationalism aren't as good as others, then you need to come up with more novel ideas.

Reporters from those media outlets were running around the field, hurriedly interviewing both coaches and players, wishing they had one more leg.

These media outlets are primarily focusing on Arsenal's reserve team, as Wenger's players are the main focus of their attention.

Especially in London, who cares about the situation of a small-town team?

In journalism, efficiency is key. Once you get firsthand information, you can unleash your imagination and a story will be born.

To Sun Yu's surprise, two media outlets conducted exclusive interviews with him.

The first media outlet was called the Daily Star, which sounded quite impressive.

It's actually a football-related newspaper that combines entertainment and sensationalism, mainly focusing on revealing industry secrets and stories of niche players.

Judging from the other party's direct approach, Sun Yu concluded that the other party had come specifically for him.

Sure enough, after asking, Sun Yu learned that the other party had read The Sun and came today specifically to try his luck and wait for the news.

And sure enough, I stumbled upon a news story.

Unfamiliar with the other party's approach, Sun Yu's answer was very official, which made the reporter look embarrassed.

After a few questions, the reporter glanced around and then said in a low voice, "Sir, your answers are very appropriate, but to me they seem more like a watertight defense."

"The media is not your enemy. I need stories that can capture readers' attention. You can use me to convey your voice to the public. We are partners."

"If you can give me some insider information that others can't get, I can pay you £200."

Upon hearing this, Sun Yu suddenly had an idea.

Slade! Slade!

It's not that I'm not loyal to my brothers; blame yourself for abandoning your buddies so decisively, like blowing your nose.

This made my brother very uncomfortable.

And what's more, your buddy's system just so happens to have established a connection with you.

He smiled and shook his head: "I don't need your payment, but you can't misunderstand me."

The reporter readily agreed and immediately got to the point: "Judging from your performance today, it's quite puzzling that Leyton Orient has abandoned you. Can you tell me what exactly happened?"

Seeing that the other party had hit the nail on the head, Sun Yu decided to start talking.

Sun Yu's story was mostly true; he just changed his reason for physical training to wanting to improve his competitiveness.

He concluded by adding a personal reflection: "I played 15 minutes in my last game and scored a goal, but I was called into the manager's office and he said I was only good enough for League Two."

"He's a very good person, but since Stoke City has discovered my potential to play center forward, he should be able to as well. I have great faith in his coaching abilities."

As someone who traveled from sixteen years in the future, Sun Yu knew very well that criticism and insults were beneath him, while only short essays could win people's hearts.

The reporter extended his hand to Sun Yu with satisfaction, a meaningful smile on his face: "Dealing with smart people is always so easy, but believe me, he's not as outstanding as you think. Best of luck."

The Daily Star reporter left, and soon another reporter from the London Evening Standard arrived.

This company gained fame in its early days by attacking The Times as a hypocrite, which boosted the sales of both print media in a short period of time.

In recent years, they have once again driven several London newspapers to their knees by engaging in price wars, and as a result, they themselves are now barely surviving.

Unable to sustain themselves any longer, starting this year, the only way to generate revenue is by publishing GG articles and distributing newspapers for free to the middle class.

This profit model looks so familiar...

But since it's a free model, the news content has to cater to the sponsors and target customers, writing news that people want to read.

The newspaper's reporters were more adept at creating sensationalism, constantly guiding Sun Yu to say things that were detrimental to Slade.

But Sun Yu "stood firm to his principles" and did not smear Slade; he simply "rewrote" his essay.

Back at the club, Sun Yu originally planned to get a massage from the reserve team's masseur, then take a cold shower before going home.

Unexpectedly, halfway through the massage, a staff member informed Sun Yu that he would be going to the cryotherapy unit for recovery and would be training with the first team the next day.

Ten minutes later, Kissen stormed into the head coach's office, fuming: "Didn't you say he should stay in the reserves for a while?"

"Since you don't plan to let him play, why not let him play for my team?"

Pulis smiled and gestured for the other person to sit down: "I have my own training plan for this kid, and today's game video confirms my idea. I plan to give him some special training."

"Sun Yu and Eduard (Gudjohnsen) often play in reserve team matches, and I highly approve of your work."

In the first team's medical room, Sun Yu experienced cryotherapy for the first time in his life: "It's fucking cold!"

After completing his rehabilitation therapy, Sun Yu went home and took a nap.

When Sun Yu woke up hungry at night, the first thing he did was check the system notifications.

[Bartley's defense penetration value +1]

Martinez's defensive penetration value +1

Slade's armor penetration value +74

Yo yo yo!

Why is my mentor Slade in such a bad mood so late at night?

Could it be that he picked up a free newspaper on his way home from get off work?

Hopefully, this guy isn't so easily defeated; better days are yet to come.