The night before leaving Amsterdam, Qin Xiong spent the night lingering with Sylvia in her bedroom.

Qin Xiong felt happier than most of the time, I don't know why, even though his apartment in London was more spacious and luxurious than Sylvia's home in Amsterdam, but when he was in love with her in the bedroom where Sylvia grew up, he had a new feeling, calm and warm, which made his heart feel as if he had entered a safe haven, so comfortable that he almost didn't want to leave again.

As he sat on the plane and looked at the sea of clouds, it suddenly occurred to him that maybe he wanted to have a real and warm home.

No matter how luxurious a hotel is, no matter how spacious an apartment is, it is a temporary residence after all, not a real "home"

At the start of the new season, Qin Xiong had a satisfying relaxation and rejuvenation during the FIFA match day, a kind of mental release, a real combination of work and rest, and when he returned to London, all his attention was on training and playing.

Arsenal did not make any further signings before the transfer window closed, the club's finances are tight, and in the last two or three days of August, there will be no players that Arsenal can look up to in the market.

It also gave rise to the ambition of killing kings when many opponents faced Arsenal!

On September 10, the fifth round of the Premier League began, and Arsenal challenged Middlesbrough as a guest.

The sun was shining in the afternoon that day, and Qin Xiong walked into the stadium with full fighting spirit.

"Welcome to the Riverside Stadium for the fifth round of the Premier League this season. Defending champions Arsenal travel to host Middlesbrough and have been experiencing a wave of injuries in their squad that has not been seen in many years, adding to the squad. However, Wenger always believes that the team can move forward strongly in difficulties, and his confidence is not without support, as long as Henry and Qin Xiong remain healthy, no one will doubt that Arsenal will really collapse! The difference is simply that in the competitive Premier League, will Arsenal make more mistakes than their opponents and thus fail to defend their title at the end of the season?

All right. Let's take a look at the starting line-ups for both sides.

Middlesbrough started 442.

Goalkeeper: Schwarzer.

Defenders: Retzger, Eshiogu, Southgate. Quejedru.

Midfielders: Mendieta, Parloer, Boateng, Downing.

Forward: Yakubu. Hasselbaink.

Arsenal started 451.

Goalkeeper: Lehmann.

Defender: Eboue. Toure, Senderos, Flamini.

Midfielders: Reyes, Fabregas, Qin Xiong, Silva, Hleb.

Striker: Thierry Henry. ”

In addition to the absence of some of the main players due to injuries, after the FIFA match day. Piree needed to recuperate due to his age. Arsene Wenger simply added him to the bench.

The game began, and although Middlesbrough played a 442 formation at home, they did not play aggressively at all, but instead showed a simple and rough sense of immediacy in tactics.

Mendieta on the right, Downing on the left, both wings flying together to deliver shells to the forwards, relying on Yakub and Hasselbaink for high-altitude bombardment!

That style of play didn't work at first, with Arsenal mobilizing the offensive as soon as they had the opportunity to counter-attack.

Qin Xiong can easily push forward in midfield, and the opponent's back-to-back Parloll and Boateng are dragging in front of the back line, and will not stop Arsenal's position in the middle at all.

It seems that they know that counter-attacking in central midfield will not cause problems for Arsenal, but will expose a huge flaw in the backline.

Qin Xiong took the initiative to challenge Parol in the 5th minute of the game, and now his advance in the counterattack has an intuitive effect, almost never looking back, all the way forward, overtaking and accelerating, and the offensive promotion effect is extremely obvious.

Parlor is an Arsenal veteran, one of the important players of Arsenal's era, once formed with Vieira in a tough two-back combination, now it is no longer like a human being, and the veteran Parlor continues to play at Middlesbrough.

It is very easy for Qin Xiong to break through him, as long as he changes direction by acceleration, and there is no problem with the combination of man and ball, he will not give Parol a chance to make a successful steal.

With his rich defensive experience, even if he is passed by Qin Xiong, he will not lose his weight, but quickly retreat to block Qin Xiong's passing line to his teammates, or make up for the penalty area, so that Middlesbrough's defensive system can operate flexibly.

It's a very clever thing to do.

Qin Xiong sent a through ball to the outside of his right foot directly after a successful breakthrough to the left, the ball went around Eschiogu's back, and the aging Southgate kept Henry at bay, but it looked like his movement speed was too slow for him to clear the ball that Qin Xiong sent.

Just when Qin Xiong thought that Henry could easily receive the ball and form a shot, before Henry touched the ball, left wing-back Quiyedro put a tackle to block the space in front of Henry and shoveled the ball away!

Middlesbrough defended successfully!

Quijedru got up from the ground and clapped his hands with Gareth Southgate, and the Middlesbrough defenders looked extremely calm, as if they were anticipating such a combination between Qin Xiong and Thierry Henry.

It seems that they are very well prepared for this game!

Three minutes later, Qin Xiong once again stepped on the ball to force the front waist line, and after pulling the ball horizontally in front of Parloer, he suddenly passed the ball to the reverse cutting line, hoping that Hleb could cut in from the side to get in place, but the right wing-back Retzger grabbed the ball before Hleb and cleared the ball!

Qin Xiong carefully recalled the fragment of Middlesbrough's successful defense today as he walked back.

Clearly the Middlesbrough defenders came prepared!

They are not focusing on curbing Qin Xiong's play, but specifically targeting the passing line between Qin Xiong and his teammates.

In particular, the contraction of full-backs is very frequent, probably Arsenal rarely play wide cross tactics, whether to defend on the outside of the side is almost the same, mainly the ground pass cutting is the most vigilant Middlesbrough.

Qin Xiong made eye contact with Henry, and there seemed to be countless exchanges in silence, and the most strange thing was that both of them nodded, as if they really understood what to do without speaking.

After another five minutes, Yakubu's header in the box was held smoothly by Lehmann, and Arsenal launched another quick counter-attack.

Cesc Fabregas passed the ball steadily to Qin Xiong's feet in the middle midfield.

Qin Xiong did not hesitate to hand the ball to Reyes, who rushed forward on the right side, and then handed the ball to Henry on the right side, who directly knocked the ball to the open space in front of the penalty area.

This is where Qin Xiong ran forward, but when Henry passed the ball, Boateng rushed towards the ball as if he had foreseen it, shoveling the ball out of bounds before Qin Xiong could touch it.

After another successful counter-attack by Arsenal, the Middlesbrough players had a confident glow on their faces.

When they looked at Arsenal's attack group, they all seemed to have a playful provocation in their eyes!

The succession of defensive successes represented the correctness of their pre-match tactical deployment, and when they defended successfully after success, they became more confident, as if in their eyes, Arsenal were nothing remarkable.

After Qin Xiong saw the change in his opponent's mental temperament, he lowered his head and smiled silently, his smile was a little cold.

Middlesbrough, well done!

But the game has just begun! (To be continued......)