Chapter 40: What Is a Goal Drought?

Chapter 40: What is a Goal Drought?

"Will he start?"

Inside the Tottenham Hotspur training ground, head coach André Villas-Boas tossed aside the newspapers that had been filled with reports about Arsenal for the past few days and turned to his assistant, Tim Sherwood.

The upcoming North London Derby was, naturally, of great importance to Villas-Boas. The club had stubbornly held onto Gareth Bale that season with the express purpose of achieving significant results. In reality, this Spurs squad was quite formidable, possessing the strength to genuinely threaten Arsenal’s hold on fourth place.

Their attacking line was particularly dangerous. They had the Welsh super-winger Gareth Bale and the "electric motorcycle" Aaron Lennon. In terms of pure speed, this right-and-left wing duo was arguably the fastest in the entire Premier League.

At the center-forward position, they had Emmanuel Adebayor, the "traitor" most despised by Arsenal fans. After making a name for himself at Arsenal, Adebayor moved to Manchester City in 2009, where he staged his infamous celebration—after scoring against his former club, the "Little Beast" sprinted a hundred meters across the pitch to slide on his knees in front of the visiting Arsenal supporters, taunting them wildly. If that wasn't enough, he later transferred directly to Arsenal's bitter rivals, Tottenham Hotspur. This, unsurprisingly, only deepened the hatred Arsenal fans felt toward him.

Yet, hatred aside, no one could deny Adebayor's prowess on the pitch. After all, at his peak with Arsenal, he was a striker who had scored thirty goals in a single season. Beyond him, Spurs also boasted the renowned English striker Jermain Defoe. With Bale and Lennon on the wings, and Adebayor and Defoe in the middle, managed by Mourinho’s protégé Villas-Boas, this Spurs team was practically built for a counter-attacking style.

The "he" Villas-Boas was asking about was, of course, Li Mo, the nineteen-year-old Arsenal player who had recently exploded into the spotlight.

"I don't think we need to pay him too much attention," Sherwood said. "He’s basically been figured out, hasn't he? An opportunist. He might be excellent in the future, but right now, he’s still too young. With Cazorla injured, Wilshere will definitely take his place. I think we should focus our attention on Wilshere, Walcott, Giroud, or Podolski instead."

"Let’s take a look first," Villas-Boas said, ordering the edited footage to be played.

The clips showed exactly how Li Mo had been stifled by defensive tactics, focusing primarily on the matches against West Ham United, the Champions League game against Schalke 04, and the league match against Stoke City. Arsenal had lost all three of those games, and in all three, Li Mo had been kept under tight wraps, unable to find any breathing room.

On screen, Li Mo was making active runs, but the opposition’s defensive line sat deep, compressing the space until it was suffocating. There was simply nowhere to go. Furthermore, whenever Li Mo touched the ball in the final third, he was met with physical confrontations and even fouls. In this way, his weaknesses were magnified while his strengths were completely neutralized.

"That is indeed a very sound defensive strategy!" Villas-Boas remarked.

Those three teams had provided a perfect template for how to defend against Li Mo. Spurs only needed to make minor adjustments to fit their own system—which was convenient, as Villas-Boas’s Tottenham already excelled at defensive counter-attacks. With a "Ferrari" like Bale and a "motorcycle" like Lennon up front, a solid defensive setup was a necessity. Therefore, whether Li Mo played or started didn't change their overall plan; they would simply add a few extra layers of specific measures to handle him.

At the pre-match press conference, Villas-Boas brought Gareth Bale along. Bale’s market value on Transfermarkt had already climbed past sixty million, but everyone knew that price wouldn't be enough to sign him. Not to mention his ability, the mere fact that Spurs' CEO Daniel Levy was notorious for being a "vampire" meant it would be impossible to sell Bale for anything less than eighty million.

In truth, Bale, who had originally played as a left-back, had been moved to a winger and shadow-striker role by former manager Harry Redknapp. This shift fully unleashed his terrifying speed, explosive power, sharp dribbling, and the lethal force and accuracy of his left foot. In another timeline, the 2012-2013 season was a peak in Bale's career, where he swept both the PFA Players' Player of the Year and the Young Player of the Year awards. Eight games into the current Premier League season, Bale already had four goals and four assists. Although he trailed Li Mo by one goal, he was the Premier League player most directly involved in goals, giving him a slight edge in that regard.

Facing the media, Bale appeared confident and assertive. He knew exactly what the Spurs faithful wanted to hear. "We will defend our home ground," he declared. "White Hart Lane will be a nightmare for Arsenal!"

"Li Mo? He’s a decent player, but I’m not concerned about him. We will bring a victory for our fans," Bale added with a smile.

*Click, click.* The flashes went off in a frenzy. At this moment, the "Great Sage" Bale was truly starting to look like an international superstar.

Villas-Boas no longer needed to guess about Li Mo’s starting status, because at Arsenal’s own press conference, Arsène Wenger had stood firmly by his player.

"Of course he will start! He is our top scorer; why wouldn't he?" Wenger said.

"But Arsenal has lost three games in a row..."

"The counter-attack starts from this match!"

The usually refined and gentle Wenger was remarkably tough when facing their arch-rivals. The head-to-head clash between these two North London sides determined the "right to breathe" for both the teams and their fans for the coming week, or even the rest of the half-season—the victors could walk with their heads held high until the reverse fixture. The depth of the hostility between the two sides was beyond words; it was a century-long feud, and tracing its origins now was meaningless. To both sides, the other was simply their mortal enemy.

Rain began to fall in London that October. A cold, drizzly rain accompanied the damp chill, dampening the spirits of all. As the Arsenal team bus pulled into the parking lot at White Hart Lane, it was met with a barrage of insults and jeers. When the players stepped off, they were bundled in heavy coats with their hoods pulled up. Raindrops occasionally trickled down their necks, causing Li Mo to hunch his shoulders.

He was, in a way, quite lucky. Even though he had been in London for nearly two months, this was the first time he would experience a match in such a cold, wet, rainy night. However, having already endured plenty of such weather during training, he wasn't caught off guard.

Li Mo was, without a doubt, the focus of the media.

"You haven't scored in four games," a reporter asked. "How do you view your goal drought?"

"A goal drought?" Li Mo didn't even turn his head. "What is a goal drought?"