Football: My AI System Provides Max-Level Predictions

Injury is the difficulty that all players fear the most, far more than poor performance on the field, making a player feel even more lost.

Poor performance can be adjusted in mentality and change of strategy, but the recovery from an injury does not shift with the player's personal will.

As long as you stay on the field, there's a chance for a comeback, but lying on a hospital bed, you can only be anxious.

Tang Long remembered when he played for Inter, he hadn't encountered any injuries, and later he played every match with full attendance.

Coming to the Premier League, after just playing two games, he suffered an inflammation of the waist muscles.

The main reason for this was the lack of physical confrontation, leading to muscle strength imbalance.

Tang Long walked on the small street, the shop signs and posters on both sides were in English, no longer the familiar Latin letters.

The "fish and chips" shops could be seen everywhere, no longer the coffee shops scattered on the streets of Italy.

Passing a display window, he saw through the glass that the television inside was broadcasting Premier League highlights, and the ESPN commentary was fluent and steady, unlike the Italian commentators who screamed with crazy launching and amusing roars.

Pedestrians on the road were taller than in Italy, walking quickly, with indifferent expressions, all looking down and focused on their own paths.

He turned a corner and a few chubby red-faced British teenagers shouted some slang at Tang Long that he couldn't understand, then laughed and ran away.

At that moment, Tang Long suddenly wondered if staying in Inter, staying in the environment he was familiar with, the familiar food, weather, stadium, people, and fans, would have avoided all these troublesome issues.

But this thought vanished like a ray of sunlight occasionally cast down from a cloud, disappearing instantly.

Staying in a comfort zone can only make flowers grow in a greenhouse.

If a ship never leaves the harbor, it will never see the raging sea; every brave step in a professional career reflects the pursuit of higher, faster, and stronger sports spirit.

What's more, I wasn't the only one who came from Inter to the Premier League, there were eight of us in total.

If they can play well, why can't I?

That kid Yuto Nagatomo is shorter than me, not as sturdy, but he's playing brilliantly on the flank for Norwich!

And think about Silva on the team, acknowledged as the player with the weakest physique, ever since he joined in 2010, he's never played less than 40 games in a season, the highest being 53 games in one year, and he never looked unable to play due to injury.

So Tang Long believes it's still a matter of adaptation.

Asian players have smaller frames than Europeans, and to avoid disadvantages in confrontation, more effort is needed.

"Back then when I was promoted from the Inter Youth Team to the first team, Coach Chiwo also provided me with a physical function enhancement plan. A year later, when I came to Manchester City, I had to do the same thing again. Maybe it's destiny." Tang Long thought.

...

These days, Tang Long was undergoing treatment for waist muscle inflammation, while following the training plan outlined by assistant coach Rein, doing strength rehabilitation training independently under the guidance of a fitness coach, without joining the team's collective training.

Gracie, indeed a high-achiever from Manchester University Medical School, brought in some impressive treatment instruments.

Under continuous electroshock whip therapy, Tang Long's waist pain eased significantly, the muscle inflammation was controlled and did not spread further to the back, starting to gradually reduce.

Compared to Gracie's gentle and slow voice in the therapy room, soft hands like cotton, the gym's fitness coach Sanchez wasn't as gentle.

He had been following Pellegrini since his coaching stint at Real Madrid, renowned for strict training, feared by many players, but it was his rigor that benefited many players lifelong.

"Your waist is fine, just a slight strain. The strength training I provided is gradual, no need to worry!"

"What, tired? Was this training intensity your norm at Inter? No wonder you struggle even to get into the Champions League!"

"Look at Agüero, in the 2013-2014 season, he played only 23 times in the league due to a similar waist injury as yours. In the next season, I decisively increased his physical training intensity. The result? 33 appearances, 26 goals, and he won the Premier League Golden Boot!"

"Train well with me, you're not even 20, your potential for muscle development is enormous, I'm very optimistic about you, young man!"

Due to the recovery from his waist injury, Tang Long missed Manchester City's away Premier League game against Newcastle in the third round.

Interestingly, in this match without Tang Long, Manchester City secured a major victory.

4-0, not only did they score more goals than in the previous two matches, but it's also their first clean sheet of the new season.

From the flank to the center, Silva replaced Tang Long and performed excellently, contributing two goals and two assists, also being named the Premier League player of the round.

After the game, a reporter full of ulterior motives asked him how it felt to play Tang Long's position for the first time in the new season.

Silva, being an experienced player, naturally wouldn't fall for their trick, though he felt proud inside, thinking he played better than Tang, he still said politely: "Tang is a very talented player, we all look forward to his return after recovery. I'm pleased with my performance this match, but it wouldn't be possible without the teammates' assistance. More so than my own performance, I'm happier that the team secured a victory away, as St. James' Park has never been easy to play at."

However, although Silva was cautious, he couldn't escape the British media's pretense of confusion, deliberately stirring things up!

The Daily Star headline: [Silva: I'm very satisfied playing in Tang's position, I can lead the team to victory]

Daily Express headline: [Manchester City's major clean sheet victory, missing anyone who's a bit awkward!]

To be honest, Manchester City's 4-goal victory over Newcastle away was not only aided by Newcastle's new head coach McLaren's whimsical ideas, buoyed by the team's one win and one draw start and the summer window's introduction of many attacking talents like Wijnaldum and Mitrovic, daring to attempt an offensive battle against Manchester City at home;

But more importantly, after the first two league games, Manchester City's players were gradually getting into good form, heating up their feet.

Seeing Milner leave, an unburdened Sterling gave an outstanding performance, scoring a one-on-one goal assisted by Silva within the first 10 minutes of the game!

However, the public opinion won't pay attention to these, they just love to dig into these behind-the-scenes "stories" because readers enjoy them.

Especially for a club like Manchester City, which has emerged suddenly in a short period, many competitors felt their usual assured piece of the cake was unfairly taken away, causing all sorts of dissatisfaction.

At Arsenal's away match against Southampton with a 2-0 victory, achieving three consecutive wins, Professor Wenger was in a good mood and responded openly to questions about Tang Long, departing from his usual principle of not discussing non-team players.

"Tang's injury? I've seen related reports. I've coached many Asian players, they all have a common problem: thinking they can compensate for physical shortcomings with technique, which is unrealistic in the Premier League. The waist is the core strength area of a player, indicating the need to enhance core strength training."

"Who poses a greater threat to us, Silva or Tang? Podolski, who was Tang's teammate for half a year, often told me about Tang's miracles. However, personally, I think Silva is a more mature player, from previous encounters, he's the most threatening midfielder opponent. I don't know if my opinion will change when we face Manchester City in the next round, but that's my current view."

The Sun went wild with their imagination, perfectly embodying the essence of journalism.

They concocted a fictional report claiming Tang Long's psoas muscle injury stemmed from overindulgence, accidentally twisting his back.

"Young and joining Manchester City, earning a weekly salary of 180,000 British Pounds as the fourth highest-paid in the team, Tang's arrival immediately attracted many British girls' pursuits! Reportedly, he once called three girls to accompany him one night, added two more at midnight, a one-on-five frenzy overnight, how could the waist muscles handle the workload? It's said in China, there's a part of the waist known as the psoas, although the editor couldn't find the corresponding term in English, according to related assessment, Tang's waist injury is likely located around the psoas!"