"Ah! Human pride!"
"This leaves the players speechless; they don't want to admit it, and they're the ones who lose face!"
"Lin Hao couldn't say anything. After all, he was able to stand here because Arsenal brought him here. Regardless of whether the contract was insulting or not, at least they paid him £300 a month. Other teams didn't pay a single pound, did they?"
He's absolutely right. Lin Hao is just too embarrassed to bring it up with the head coach, and he really can't bring it up.
He also felt that there was no need to rush things. In the long run, no one can withstand losing games. Arsenal now wants to improve and doesn't want to be unable to even compete for a top-four finish.
If you can't win, that won't do. Then you can let him play. What he needs to do is to improve his teamwork with his teammates in training. But this is something that can't be mastered overnight. He lacks awareness in this area.
Or rather, Lin Hao didn't know if his idea was right. His teammates couldn't do the teamwork he imagined. He always had this feeling, but he was too embarrassed to tell them.
When Lin Hao entered the game, he heard a voice in his ear; it was Son Heung-min.
"I heard you made a bet with Manchester United's Rashford. I think it's quite interesting. Would you like to do it again?"
Lin Hao really didn't expect Son Heung-min to bring this up with him. It was a huge sign of disrespect, and the fact that Son Heung-min would say such a thing showed that he really didn't take Lin Hao seriously.
"Why do you want to compete with me?" Lin Hao asked.
"It's nothing, I just think you're not as good as me, that you're not as good as me. After you won by luck last game, you were all cocky. Today I'm going to make you slap yourself three times in the face at the Emirates Stadium!"
Lin Hao smiled slightly, "Yes, that makes sense. But haven't you thought about what you'd do if you lost?"
"Lost? I would lose to you?"
Upon hearing this, Lin Hao immediately showed a disgusted expression, but Son Heung-min quickly continued, "You don't need to make that face. I know you're mocking my intelligence. Let me tell you, my intelligence is fine!"
"I know I lost, it's ugly, it's shameful, but I will continue to challenge you. I just want to prove that we got to where we are today through hard work, and that you, someone who relies on talent and wastes it, can't be easily defeated. If I were you, I wouldn't be weaker than Messi and Ronaldo at the same age right now!"
"Pah!" Lin Hao spat without any politeness.
"How do you know I haven't tried? You think your IQ is fine? The fact that you can say something like that is a huge problem. If I had your resources, Messi and Ronaldo would be nothing! Anyone can talk big."
"You think you have my talent, that you can compare to Messi and Ronaldo? You respect neither talent nor the hard work of Messi and Ronaldo. What, you really think my talent is better than Messi's? Then it seems you do have a problem with your IQ and you're petty too!"
"However, I accept your challenge!"
"I also want to tell you that my family is poor and couldn't afford to send me to a formal football training program. I've worked my way up from the mud and through hardship to get where I am today, and I'm no worse than any of you!"
Lin Hao was also seething with anger, but Son Heung-min forced him to let it out. In this world, there are some things that can never be said.
This is just like stirring up trouble online. Can everyone think this way? Of course not. Most people understand that Lin Hao's success today is not due to a lack of effort. Messi and Ronaldo's success today is not entirely due to talent or hard work.
But there's always that one guy who truly believes it. He only thinks about how he relies on talent and hard work. He can't imagine that there are people in this world who have both talent and hard work. He can't stand by black and white.
In the 61st minute, Harry Kane's substitution had a significant impact. Tottenham pushed their formation forward, with their attacking line clustered near the penalty area. Musa passed the ball to Kane inside the box, who held off his marker and laid it off to Eriksen, who then took control of the ball and entered the penalty area.
Fortunately, Holding closely marked Eriksen, forcing Eriksen to gradually lose his angle and eventually pass the ball, which Holding blocked with his foot, resulting in only a corner kick, which was already quite good.
If Eriksen had just had a chance to shoot, it would almost certainly have been a goal.
The corner kick was taken, and Tottenham players fought hard for the header in the penalty area, but to no avail. Cech made a one-handed save, and the camera was taken right from Lin Hao's position. Lin Hao stopped the ball and heard his teammate shout, "Someone behind me!"
Lin Hao instinctively tensed up, and the next moment a collision came from behind. Trippier bumped into Lin Hao, causing him to stumble. As he stumbled, Lin Hao dribbled the ball back a bit.
Trippier was closely following, and Lin Hao stepped on the ball, leaning against Trippier, but that was obviously not going to work. But at that moment, left-back Monreal was running forward, and Lin Hao had a flash of inspiration, stepping on the ball and sliding backward.
Lin Hao passed the ball through Trippier's six-pointer, and without the resistance behind him, he was able to turn around. But he was dumbfounded when he turned around. Monreal had no intention of receiving the ball at all. Lin Hao had passed it by sliding, so the power couldn't have been too great.
There was no precision involved, but that was the only way Lin Hao could use at the time. That's the language of movement in football. When other players saw that kind of movement, they should know how to receive the ball.
But Monreal didn't have that awareness. He ran straight past the ball, saw it coming, and then came back, missing a golden opportunity. Trippier turned around, controlled the ball, and passed it to a teammate, preventing Tottenham from launching another attack.
Lin Hao was a little confused. After Arsenal cleared the ball out of bounds during their subsequent defense, Lin Hao asked, "Wasn't the information I gave clear enough?"
He didn't expect Monreal to complain, "You should pass it to the teammates behind you!"
"Why give it to him? If you give it to him, you can just retaliate directly, right?"
"If you give it to him and he gives it to me, wouldn't that be a safer way to retaliate?"
That's all there is to it; both of them realized that this was a difference in their football philosophies.
Players trained under the formulaic education system of European football have different football philosophies than Brazilian players who play like coconuts.
Who is right? Who is wrong?
At least for now, the top five European leagues are thriving, and Samba football, after Ronaldinho's retirement this year, only has Neymar and the self-taught Lin Hao left.
But Lin Hao doesn't think so. He believes that this is just a concession forced upon Brazil and South American football by the success of the top five leagues.
If Brazil truly maintains its form, will its performance in the World Cup be worse than it is now? Not necessarily; things are already bad enough.
However, in that case, many players might not be able to adapt to the top five leagues. This has nothing to do with the strength of the teams, but rather with their playing styles.
Just like Fernandinho said, Samba football isn't bad, but not everyone is Ronaldinho or Neymar.
With Ronaldinho and Neymar, along with those slightly less talented but still full of flair, the Brazilian team's strength is certainly not to be underestimated.
However, apart from Neymar and Ronaldinho, the other players' incomes were much worse than they are now!