Qin Lin and Ding Gaoyi got out of the car and looked around.
There is a huge and eye-catching building a little further away, which is the Flanders Stadium, the home ground of Leeds City, which is well-known to Chinese fans.
The stadium has just been expanded and its capacity has been increased from 30,000 to 40,000.
There is an aerial corridor on the outer wall of the west side of the stadium that extends to the west. The end of the corridor is connected to a two-story building.
That building is where the Leeds City first team players' dormitories and restaurant are located.
There are several football fields next to the two-story building, and there are several buildings on the other side of the football field area. This area is Leeds City's training base.
The training base and the home court are actually surrounded by a community of low-rise western-style buildings.
These small western-style buildings ranging from two to three stories are ordinary residences.
Looking around, there are all kinds of graffiti painted on the exterior walls of the houses facing the training base and the home court.
There is the Leeds City team logo and portraits of Leeds City players.
"It's really amazing. Hu Laidu has been away for seven seasons, and we can still see many of his portraits here."
Ding Gaoyi said with emotion to the group of small foreign-style buildings.
"It's normal. Until now, Leeds City's most glorious period is still when Hu Lai played." Qin Lin also said looking in that direction.
A league title, a Europa League title, an FA Cup title.
This is all the honors this Leeds City team has won in the past ten years.
The first two championships were brought to them by Hu Lai.
In addition to Hu Lai, there are also portraits of Zhou Zijing on the outer walls of these small buildings, although there are not many, and most of them appear in the form of "group photos".
It's a bit overwhelming, but not much.
Seeing this scene, Ding Gaoyi laughed and joked: "I remember Zhou Zijing's 'bold words' when he first came to this team. In fact, he did a very good job, but he chose a hellishly difficult task."
"This kid has a lot of brains. Sometimes he is annoying, but most of the time, I think it is a good thing." Qin Lin commented. "Many Hu Lai fans in China hate him, but it is precisely because of his relationship with Hu Lai.
Only through hard work can we achieve what we have achieved today.”
The third championship, the FA Cup championship, was won in the 2030-2031 season.
At that time, Zhou Zijing was the team's main center.
After winning the FA Cup, Zhou Zijing posted on Weibo:
"Hu Lai, I filled in the blank for you, no need to thank me!"
Accompanied by a photo of him holding the FA Cup title.
Then he was scolded miserably by Hu Lai fans who came in droves.
After all, when Hulay played for Leeds City, he won the league championship and the Europa League championship, but he did not win any of the English domestic cup championships.
Hu Lai doesn't have to respond to this kind of naked provocation, but how can Hu Lai's fans tolerate it?
This is also the reason why Qin Lin chose to come to Leeds City instead of Manchester this time.
With Zhou Zijing's nerves so thick, he remained uncharacteristically silent after failing to score in nine consecutive games and becoming a laughing stock.
Qin Lin was worried that Zhou Zijing's mentality and emotions were not right, so he planned to ask the people around Zhou Zijing, the team's head coach Tony Clark.
Find out more about Zhou Zijing from his side.
"Let's go to the training ground. Clark should have arrived."
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Junpei Morikawa stood on the training ground, looking back in the direction of the locker room from time to time.
Teammates wearing training uniforms came one after another from that direction, but Zhou Zijing was never there.
It wasn't until the prescribed training time was very close that Morikawa Junpei saw Zhou Zijing running in a panic.
Facing Zhou Zijing, who was about to be late, Charlie Potter joked loudly: "Hey, Zhou! Is it your girlfriend who is reluctant to let you go?!"
These words caused many other teammates on the training ground to burst into laughter.
Zhou Zijing glared at him and defended himself loudly: "Shut up, Charlie! I forgot to charge my car yesterday!"
At the same time, he did not forget to look around the training ground.
"They haven't come yet."
While he was looking around, Morikawa Junpei came up to him and said.
"Ah..." Zhou Zijing sighed obviously.
Seeing him like this, Morikawa Junpei couldn't help but remind him: "Concentrate on training. Otherwise, your state will only leave a bad impression on Brother Lin."
"I know, I know..." Zhou Zijing took a deep breath to adjust his emotions.
After taking a few deep breaths, he gradually calmed down, and then complained to Junpei Morikawa: "You said that Brother Lin always went directly to watch the games when inspecting other players. Why did he come to watch the training when it was my turn?"
Morikawa Junpei didn't speak, just looked at him.
Seeing this, Zhou Zijing said to himself: "Of course, I know that my performance in the past two months has been average..."
When he said this, he saw Morikawa Junpei smile slightly, so he quickly changed his words:
"Okay, it's indeed a bit confusing..."
Morikawa Junpei smiled and comforted him: "Don't take it to heart, everyone has bad luck sometimes."
Zhou Zijing muttered: "If I didn't know you better, Morikawa, I would definitely think that you are yin and yang me!"
In this regard, Morikawa Junpei still kept smiling and did not care what Zhou Zijing said. Apparently he often heard others say this and was completely accustomed to it.
But there is a reason why Zhou Zijing said this.
Because what he has experienced in the past two months is definitely not as simple as "unlucky".
If I must say it, it would be "too unlucky".
It has become unfortunate and has become a "meme".
For ordinary players, if they hit the post once in a game, they would be considered very unlucky.
Two weeks ago, Zhou Zijing performed a "perfect center post hat-trick" in Leeds City's league match against Sydenham.
In the 18th, 32nd and 58th minutes of the game, he hit the goal post with his left foot, header and right foot shot respectively.
Even Hu Lai had never accomplished such a "miracle", so when Zhou Zijing completed this "great" achievement, he immediately topped the list of hot topics in European football.
If it was just this one thing, it would be fine. The key is that before this game, Zhou Zijing had failed to score a goal in six consecutive games.
So the "perfect center post hat trick" became the last straw.
He has still failed to score in the last two games, and combined with the previous seven games, he has fallen into a scoring drought for nine consecutive games.
For a main center, this is a very serious crisis.
During this period, whether on the Internet or in the media, more and more people have expressed their opinions that Leeds City head coach Tony Clark should give up and let Zhou Zijing continue to play in the starting lineup.
Faced with various criticisms of Zhou Zijing from the outside world, Clark chose to protect the players.
In an interview, he said that Zhou Zijing's role is not only in scoring goals, but simply using goals to measure Zhou Zijing's contribution to the team is unreasonable and inappropriate.
He's right to say that. In the nine games where he was stuck in a scoring drought, Zhou Zijing was not useless. He still contributed three assists. In addition, there are some contributions that are difficult to be reflected by statistics such as goals and assists.
For example, how can his role in containing the opponent's defenders in the game be easily quantified?
However, public opinion does not think so. In their view, being a center forward who cannot score goals is the "original sin."
Everyone kept using the "perfect center pillar hat trick" to mock Zhou Zijing.
No matter what the outside world thinks, Zhou Zijing still starts every game and is Leeds City's unbeatable main force.
This certainly reflects Clark's trust in Zhou Zijing, but at the same time, Zhou Zijing also felt tremendous pressure.
If he is never able to perform well to repay the trust given by the head coach, then the pressure will be transferred to Clark. Although Clark unconditionally trusts Zhou Zijing now, if he really can't hold up the wall, then Clark's trust will also be
It's not unlimited. Once he disappoints Clark, it will be too difficult to win another chance...
At this juncture, the head coach of the Chinese national team came to the club to inspect his performance, and the pressure suddenly increased.
Morikawa Junpei could completely understand Zhou Zijing's mentality, and also knew how important Brother Lin's inspection was to Zhou Zijing, so he comforted him again:
"Zhou Zijing, don't think too much. Just train as usual. Don't think about showing off in front of Brother Lin. It will be self-defeating."
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Zhou Zijing completed a wonderful shot in training. The ball flew through the fingers of Leeds City goalkeeper Jakub Rabina and entered the goal.
Seeing Zhou Zijing score a goal, there was a burst of cheers and applause on the training ground. It was like Zhou Zijing scored a goal in a real game...
Ding Gaoyi, who was standing on the third-floor rooftop of a small building in the distance, used his mobile phone to record Zhou Zijing's performance in this wave of attacks, and then said to Qin Lin:
"This performance is quite normal. Why can't you score a goal in the game?"
Qin Lin said: "Didn't Clark say that? He just has bad luck."
Before the training started, Qin Lin and Ding Gaoyi first visited Leeds City head coach Tony Clark.
Although it was nominally under the banner of "exchange and learning," Clark knew exactly why these two people were here.
Isn't it because Zhou Zijing's poor performance in the club recently has made the Chinese team coach a little worried?
Even though the Chinese team already has people like Hu Lai on the front line, Zhou Zijing is also a very important part of the Chinese team's tactical system.
Logically speaking, it doesn't really matter whether Zhou Zijing can score goals, but the coaches of the Chinese team must be worried that his mentality will be affected, and Zhou Zijing's role is not just scoring goals.
So after some simple greetings, Clark explained Zhou Zijing's current situation to Qin Lin and Ding Gaoyi:
"... To say that Zhou has been affected is for sure. After all, he is still a human being, not a cold machine. But it is also wrong to say that his current situation is due to psychological problems.
"In fact, the main reason for Zhou Zijing's problem is bad luck. During this period, his luck was really bad. Didn't that 'mid-post hat trick' illustrate the problem? So don't worry too much. I
I think it will be fine after this period of time passes. After all, no one can be unlucky all the time..."
In order to prove to the two Chinese team coaches that what he said was true, Clark also revealed to them in advance that he would continue to start Zhou Zijing in the 37th round of the league against London Bridge.
No matter what the outside world thinks of Zhou Zijing, Clark unswervingly supports him and gives him trust and opportunities so that he can regain his form and confidence.
"Hey, Lao Qin, you said Clark trusts Zhou Zijing so much, but Zhou Zijing can't perform well, will it put more pressure on him?" Ding Gaoyi asked Qin Lin this question.
Qin Lin smiled and said: "Isn't that just right? The next game is a key game for London Bridge to compete for the league championship. They will definitely go all out..."
"But Leeds City has nothing to ask for. They have already qualified for next season's European competition in advance." Ding Gaoyi reminded.
Leeds City is currently ranked fifth in the Premier League this season. With two rounds left in the league, they are seven points ahead of seventh-placed Liverpool United and have already qualified for next season's Europa League in advance.
But at the same time, they are also six points behind fourth-placed Gunkanha in the league, and have a goal difference of 19 goals less than Gunkanha.
Even if Leeds City wins two consecutive games in the last two rounds of the league, and Warship Port loses two consecutive games at the same time, and can be tied on points, the huge goal difference disadvantage is almost impossible to erase.
Therefore, the current situation means that Leeds City has basically bid farewell to qualifying for the Champions League next season and will not be able to reach the top four in the league.
Leeds City, which has locked in the qualification for the Europa League in advance and bid farewell to the Champions League in advance, really has no desire and no desire.
Their opponent London Bridge is different. Their competition with Tramed for the league championship has entered a fierce stage.
London Bridge is currently ranked second, two points behind first place Tramed, but the goal difference is 14 more than Tramed.
This means that as long as London Bridge can tie Tramed in points, they can win the league championship with a goal difference advantage.
A two-point difference corresponds to two league rounds, which is actually not that difficult.
This is especially true considering the opponents in these two rounds at London Bridge.
In the 37th round, London Bridge hosts Leeds City. Leeds City is not weak, but it has already locked in the Europa League qualification for next season, and at the same time lost the Champions League qualification in advance, so it has no desire and nothing to ask for. In addition, the World Cup is approaching, many
Because the international players are afraid of injury, there may be a situation where they "do not work hard". Coupled with the years of feud between Leeds City and Tramed, Leeds City from West Yorkshire may not be willing to "assist" someone from Lancashire.
Tramed won the championship.
Based on the above reasons, it is not difficult for London Bridge to win Leeds City at home.
In the thirty-eighth round, London Bridge challenged the weak Lancashire Bury in an away game, and there was almost no suspense in winning. In the first half of the league, London Bridge defeated the opponent 6:1 at home.
The opponent Tramed faced at home in the 37th round was more difficult, Liverpool United.
People who know the feud between Manchester and Liverpool will know that this game is not easy to play just by hearing the name. Not to mention that Liverpool United is currently competing for the seventh place in the league to qualify for the European competition.
They will definitely go all out in this game.
In fact, London Bridge does not need them to defeat Tramed in the away game. As long as they can draw their opponents, and London Bridge defeats Leeds City, they can reach the top with their goal difference advantage.
Then defeat Lancashire Bury in the final round of the league, so that you can win the league championship without looking at anyone's face.
"When the sea is flowing, a hero shows his true colors. There is no desire and no need. It is just a good time for us to see the gold content of Zhou Zijing's performance in this game."
Qin Lin felt that this was the stage for Zhou Zijing to perform - if his mentality was really not affected.
Although Clark told him that there was nothing wrong with Zhou Zijing's mentality, Qin Lin did not believe it easily. He was still more willing to believe what he saw with his own eyes.
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After finishing the training, Zhou Zijing began to look around, but he looked around and saw no familiar figure.
This made him very confused.
He thought that after the training, Qin Lin would come to him specifically for an interview...
I don't show up during training because I'm afraid it will affect his training, which is understandable.
But now that the training is over, why haven't you shown up yet?
Are you afraid it will affect my performance in tomorrow's game?
Just as Zhou Zijing was secretly speculating, head coach Tony Clark announced the squad for tomorrow's game to the entire team.
The Chinese national football team is impressively on the list.