From Arsenal to the Ball God

”The match begins!!”

In the broadcast room, Zhan Jun sat upright and shouted excitedly, ”Kuyt sends the ball out from the center circle for Liverpool! Henderson takes the ball, this young midfielder transferred from Sunderland in the summer window for a hefty 18 million Euro fee!

”The ball is sent up from the backfield! Vermaelen clears it, unable to pose a threat!”

On the pitch, the players from both sides engaged in duels under the passionate cheers of the fans, and every player looked extremely excited.

Ma’el jogged toward the left wing position. Under Wenger’s system, he doesn’t need to take on too many defensive responsibilities, just waits for counterattack opportunities.

However, once his physical ability improves in the future, he could run more on the left flank and take on more defensive responsibilities.

One of the evolutionary rules of modern soccer is that... attackers take on more defensive duties, gradually tending toward total offense and defense.

If he can maintain good defensive capabilities while keeping a decent scoring efficiency, it would certainly cause more headaches for the opponents and make Arsenal’s entire left flank stronger, enhancing the team’s overall strength.

His market value and all sorts of worth would surely rise!

This wouldn’t affect his offensive stats, even if his ball receiving position might be further back, the number of times he gets possession will increase, and he will have a larger sprinting space when switching from defense to offense.

”Henderson!”

Just as Ma’el reached his matchup position with Martin Kelly, he saw the opponent was warning his teammates, showing exceptional positivity, ”He’s coming from behind! Pass it quickly!”

As he spoke, Martin Kelly also moved closer to him, glanced at him warily, and stuck tightly behind him.

This defender stood at a towering height of 191 cm, with decent physical confrontation, speed, and defensive abilities.

But no matter how fast he is or how solid his physical confrontation is, he certainly can’t compete with Ma’el’s Level 4 skills... his abilities in these two aspects are top-notch, and however strong Martin Kelly is, he is still a certain distance from the top tier.

Ma’el didn’t worry. He looked back at his teammates’ backfield defense, waiting for his chance to touch the ball.

”Bang, bang, bang...!” The passing in Liverpool’s midfield line happened swiftly. Henderson, as the core of rear organization, activated the ball distribution smoothly, allowing the two wingers to continually attack Arsenal’s defense.

During this process, Arsenal’s mid and back lines also tried to apply some pressure to them, competing ferociously.

This forced them to make quicker passes and receptions, with every penetrating move being at full speed and constantly preparing for confrontations.

”Screech...!” Fierce tackles and confrontations frequently occurred near the midfield, and the clash between the two teams turned exceptionally intense right from the start, aligning with people’s expectations of a Big 6 battle.

Ma’el watched the continuously moving Liverpool players ahead of him and glanced back at Martin Kelly.

If he can produce good stats in this match and help Arsenal take 3 points from Liverpool, it would definitely count as a significant victory!

He has to charge toward this goal... he knows, in front of him there are another four Big 6 teams waiting for him, including even Tottenham, their archrivals in the city.

He has to find the confidence to overcome these formidable foes from Liverpool, allowing himself to adapt to battling with such strong teams in the Premier League!

...

”Arsenal... Arsenal...!!”

At the corner of the east and west stands, more than a hundred fans neatly dressed in Arsenal jerseys, sorted by age, fervently chanted the team’s name to cheer on the players.

Upon closer inspection, there was a wide age range among them, from seven or eight-year-old kids to approximately twenty-year-olds.

These were the young players from Arsenal’s youth academy, organized to the match to cheer for the club’s first team players.

This was naturally Wenger’s intention, aimed at letting them feel the intensity and fervor of the Premier League early on, fostering their recognition and loyalty to the club from a young age.

Every month, the club would provide over a hundred consecutive seating tickets to organize the players for a home match viewing.

”Thud, thud... thud, thud, thud...!!”

In front of the U18 seating area, head coach Hans was wearing casual attire today, beating a cheering war drum with unabated excitement.

With every rhythm he drummed, he would raise his right hand to lead the players in a loud cheer, ”Arsenal...! Ma’el...!”

As a former coach and former teammate, the Arsenal U18 team naturally held a different sentiment for Ma’el, their affection and support for him surpassed any other Arsenal first team player.

”The rhythm of this match is fast, Liverpool has gone all out, and their desire to win away is very strong!”

”It’s hard to play, I wonder if Ma’el can adapt to such intense competition.”

”This is our first time coming as a group to watch him play, hopefully he can score or make an assist!”

”It’s very challenging... we weren’t lucky, missed a good moment. If the first match against Newcastle was at home, and we saw him score a hat trick here, it would have been fantastic.”

”He also scored in the last match against Udinese, but the club didn’t organize a viewing.”

”Alright, let’s stop chatting and cheer for him properly!”

The players excitedly chatted about the match, discussing Ma’el’s performance. Looking at the shadow on the left flank standing on the field, they occasionally had a sense of detachment.

They vaguely remembered a year ago, when Ma’el was with them, facing the visiting Liverpool U17 Youth Team at the Korni Base.

He performed well in that match, scoring 2 goals and was scouted to Sheffield United afterward.