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

[A new mission is being assigned: to rise to fame by facing off against Bale]

[Mission Objective: Lock down Bale during your playing time, or score more goals than the opponent during that period]

[Task Reward: 5 attribute points]

Sun Yu was somewhat bewildered upon seeing the system task.

Why is there such a sudden jump in the pace at which the system issues tasks?

So far, the system has issued a total of four tasks.

The first task is to start the system's training check-in.

This task is like checking in, only the training is more demanding, but the system guarantees that it won't get injured due to the excessive training.

The biggest challenge of the first task is the fatigue and boredom, which mainly tests self-discipline.

It's a beginner-level task, and it doesn't actually require much technical skill.

The second task is to sign with Stoke City. I am a very good fit for Stoke City, and I am also a free agent.

Sun Yu felt that as long as he performed normally, the probability of signing a contract was very high.

A maxed-out heading ability and physical attributes are no joke.

The third task is to get 100 defensive penetration points against Arsenal's reserve team. The task is slightly more difficult than the first two, but not too difficult.

The difficulty of the fourth task suddenly increased to the point where it rivaled that of the "Great Sage".

The task is no less challenging than his professional debut: either lock down Durant or outscore his opponent in a high-scoring battle.

Judging from the progressively increasing difficulty of the task, this task is unreasonable.

Sun Yu felt that he had overlooked something.

This moment of reflection happened in the blink of an eye; Sun Yu did not drift off into daydreams and ignore his head coach.

He stated firmly, "Boss, once I come on, I'll mark Bale closely as soon as he gets the ball."

Even if I can't stop him, I'll do everything I can to make it difficult for him to kick comfortably.

As someone who has experienced the workplace, Sun Yu knows very well that when a leader gives you an opportunity, you can't start by talking about difficulties.

First, express your determination, but also leave yourself room for maneuver.

Pulis nodded: "His speed is good, and he has some ability to break through defenses, but he's not strong enough to easily defeat you."

Hearing this, Sun Yu was puzzled, but he didn't interrupt Pulis.

"He was a substitute for the first half of last season, and was promoted to left winger in the second half, where he scored a few key goals at the end of the season."

"He has good speed, but he's slow to accelerate. To extend his acceleration distance, he usually drops back to receive the ball."

"Once he retreats to the backcourt, you need to move in immediately to interfere and prevent him from accelerating easily."

As soon as Priscilla finished speaking, Sun Yu immediately understood where the problem lay.

The player he was about to face, Bale, was not the "third best" in world football, but merely a young, inexperienced Welshman.

That makes sense.

Tottenham Hotspur finished fourth in the Premier League last season, securing a Champions League spot – a remarkable achievement.

In other words, Bale also experienced the pivotal battle in his career, where he scored a hat-trick against Inter Milan.

This season truly marked the turning point for Bale, transforming him from a young Welsh player into "The Great One".

From this perspective, the task isn't as hellish as I imagined.

It can only be considered difficult at most; in a game, it would be like a mini-boss in the first level, similar to how you kill "Big Head" in "The Legend of Wukong".

It's not that Bale at this stage lacked the ability to single-handedly dominate Stoke City's entire flank.

While Bell may be less capable than he was at his peak, that's certainly not the main reason for the reduced difficulty of the mission.

The important thing is that he has not yet entered the next stage of his life. The head coach will not give him the resources for the "Great Sage's style of play," and he is not mentally prepared enough for himself to become the "Great Sage."

After chatting with Pulis for a couple more minutes, Sun Yu asked a staff member for a club-produced competition magazine after training.

Although it's called a competition publication, it's actually a "compiled edition" of reports and analyses of various clubs from different media outlets.

Although the Internet has become a part of people's lives, print media still dominated in 2010.

The vast majority of authoritative information is published in the form of printed materials, while information on the Internet is highly homogenized and difficult to distinguish between true and false.

Sun Yu immediately found Bale's profile in the Tottenham Hotspur team's information.

Gareth Bale joined Tottenham in the summer of 2007 for £500 million and scored his first goal for the club in his second month there.

However, he was a substitute left-back for Tottenham in his first two seasons, and after suffering an injury, he hardly started in his second season.

What made it even more frustrating for Bale was that Tottenham had not won a single Premier League game in his first 24 Premier League appearances.

In addition, Bale's English name has the meaning of bad luck and disaster in local slang, so Tottenham gave him the nickname "Bad Guy".

Such data certainly wouldn't escape the eyes of the British media, and The Daily Telegraph's football column reported on Bale's performance during this period under the headline "Bale Curse".

To help Bale get out of his embarrassing situation, the Tottenham manager brought him on in the last five minutes of a game last season when Tottenham were leading Burnley by five goals, which was seen as washing away Bale's "bad luck".

Bale was still the team's backup left-back last season, but that coincided with the starter left-back Hector's participation in the Africa Cup of Nations.

Redknapp decided to trust Bale and promoted him to left winger after Hector returned.

Bale made 24 appearances last season, scoring 3 goals.

All of his goals came in the crucial month of April, including the key goal in the North London derby victory over Arsenal.

After witnessing Bale's growth at Tottenham, Sun Yu felt that Professor Wenger's decision to buy Walcott was not wrong.

First, Clichy was definitely much stronger than Bale at the time, and second, Gibbs from the youth academy had potential that was not much worse than Bale's.

It's all a matter of timing and fate. If Tottenham hadn't been down by three goals against Inter Milan and his teammates hadn't resigned themselves to their fate, Bale wouldn't have had the chance to make that solo run down the left flank.

Sun Yu concluded that the current Bell is just a very promising Wells speedman who lacks confidence and cannot get the right to shoot.

In the following days, Sun Yu continued to practice his center forward skills diligently.

The day before the match, when Pulis read out Sun Yu's name from the substitute list, Gudjohnsen honestly expressed his thoughts through the system.

Goodjohnsen's armor penetration value +18

The Icelandic veteran came to Stoke City with the intention of providing technical assistance, but he couldn't even meet the head coach's requirements in training.

At 32 years old, he couldn't even make Stoke City's 18-man squad. Sun Yu doubted his self-discipline, but that was all.

All the Stoke City players, including Sun Yu, treated the Icelandic veteran like he didn't exist, and Pulis let him play reserve team matches to get back into form.

For Sun Yu, the biggest role of "Lao Gu" is to provide him with "emotional value".

Sun Yu later looked through Kane's information again, which contained only a photo and a few words. In the photo, Kane was still a chubby little guy with a fat face.

At only seventeen years old, Kane doesn't look like a center forward who could become a superstar in England.

Not to mention the English superstar, his physique doesn't even seem like that of a player who can establish himself in the Premier League.

It looks terrible.

But there are too many variables in a person's life.

When a person hones a certain ability to the extreme, people will gradually pay attention to their inner world and discover the shining points of their humanity.

In the following days, while training hard, Sun Yu also kept an eye on his "mentor's" situation.

Unfortunately, Leyton Orient suffered two consecutive defeats at the start of the League One season, and Sun Yu was worried that Slade would not be able to withstand the pressure and would be fired by the club.

What he most wanted to see was Slade not living well, not dying, and regularly contributing some "emotional value" to him each week.

After all, his career had just begun, and he couldn't do without the "guidance" of his old acquaintances.

8 month 21 day.

Britannia Stadium.

Stoke City welcomed their first home game of the season, and it was also Sun Yu's first time visiting the stadium.

This court is clearly something special; it's long and narrow, and the GG sign is sloped downwards from the sideline, positioned noticeably further back.

The stadium was designed so that Delap could throw "grenades" into the penalty area. This stadium can be called the nightmare of other Premier League teams, and even the "Big Six" of later generations had a hard time coming here.

After the match started, Stoke City, buoyed by the cheers of their home fans, launched a fierce attack and surprisingly overwhelmed Tottenham.

In the first fifteen minutes, Stoke City came close to scoring from two corner kicks and a set piece.

Just when everyone thought Stoke City was on the verge of victory, Tottenham players successfully intercepted the opponent's pass in midfield and then passed the ball to the left wing.

Bale first dribbled past Delap, who was past his prime, and then used his speed to overpower Huth, who was playing right-back.

Stoke City's four-center-back tactic met its match, with Bale breaking into the penalty area and scoring with a powerful shot.

0:1.

Stoke City, despite dominating possession, were caught off guard by a sudden counter-attack from Tottenham.

Sun Yu could clearly sense that Pulis's expression had become serious.

Judging from this goal, Bale already has the beginnings of the "Great Sage" and may only need to take a big boost from Inter Milan to complete his transformation.

Based on this, I think I'll most likely get to play.

Once he's on the field, we absolutely cannot let this guy get going.