Rising Tides and Rough Waters

At the press conference, Louis was indeed the center of attention. Wenger was almost completely ignored by reporters. After all, for British journalists, they had too many questions to ask Louis.

"How did you join Arsenal?"

"After I confirmed that I would not get many opportunities at AC Milan, I decided to accept Coach Wenger's invitation," Louis said simply.

"How does it feel to complete a hat-trick?"

"It's great."

"Why do you keep scoring goals?"

"Because I'm good enough."

"Is that all?"

"Of course not, I like to score goals."

"How much do you like it?"

"A goal is better than a superb performance. Tell me how much I like it."

Louis's words made the reporter choke. Wenger looked down and smiled. Although Louis is young, this kid is very confident. He usually doesn't show off how powerful he is, but you can tell by the look in his eyes. This is a guy who has absolute confidence in himself. He never lets go of the goals he sets. Look at it from this level. He's tough, both on and off the pitch.

Still facing media reporters, those British reporters finally understood Louis's style. But they weren't surprised either. Genius? Always this kind of behavior. They have seen many unruly geniuses.

Until the sixth round of the league, the competition started in full swing. Louis is the focus of the English media.

In the sixth round of the league, Arsenal faced Norwich at home. The focus of this game was undoubtedly Louis. After a hat trick, many media felt that Louis should stop scoring goals. In fact, Louis encountered a lot of difficulties in this game, and Norwich's defense paid enough attention to him. Even this emphasis reached the level of relative contempt for other Arsenal players.

So, in the second half of the game, the score was already 2-0. Arsenal were ahead, but Louis never scored. In the 62nd minute of the game, Louis took a corner kick and blasted the ball into the goal from the small penalty area. After scoring this goal, Louis was substituted again. Arsenal defeated Norwich 3-0 and achieved three consecutive league victories.

On September 29, Arsenal ushered in the first League Cup match of the season. There are two parallel cup competitions in English football: the FA Cup and the League Cup. The FA Cup is the oldest football tournament. The League Cup is a competition launched by the Professional League to compete with the FA Cup—but traditionally, the League Cup is not as valuable as the FA Cup.

Therefore, many teams feel that the League Cup is useless, and many coaches have called on the English Professional League to cancel this event to avoid the increasingly intensive schedule. And for a team like Arsenal, if they reach the semi-finals of the League Cup or something like that, they might consider using all the main players to compete for the championship.

It is now only the third round of competition that the Premier League and Championship teams have just joined. It is impossible for the team to send its main players to play. Louis was not included in the squad for this game. Arsenal, which deployed a full bench and several youth team players, still defeated the English League One team Coventry 6-1 at home and reached the fourth round of the League Cup.

After this game, the September schedule was all over. The Premier League is about to enter October. Wenger won all three Premier League games in September, earning him the "Coach of the Month" award. And Louis, he won the rather coveted award of "Player of the Month".

Fans familiar with the Premier League know this. The Premier League has a 'man of the month' curse. The head coach and player who gets the best monthly award are often unlucky in the second month.

It turns out, "Best of the Month" can become a curse, and it's not just a myth. The schedule in October is still very dense.

The first is October 4th. In the second round of the Champions League group stage, Louis's scoring pace came to an abrupt end. Olympiacos, who was at home, devoted almost all of its attention to dealing with Louis. This left Louis with almost no space. If it weren't for Cazorla's long-range shot in the 80th minute of the game, Arsenal might have suffered a bitter draw away from home.

What made Wenger frown even more was this game. Diaby. Both hands were injured again!

So back to the league. On October 8, in the seventh round of the league, Arsenal challenged West Ham United away. At the Bubble Stadium, Louis became the focus of foul play by West Ham United players. He kept getting brought down just outside the penalty area. Although West Ham players received four yellow cards on him. But, in the end, Arsenal suffered a 0-1 defeat in the away game. Arsenal suffered their first defeat of the season.

This puts a lot of pressure on the team. Especially Louis. He has failed to score in two consecutive games.

"After becoming famous, Louis has obviously become the focus of research and targeting by many team coaches. This is a difficult time that every young player has to go through!"

"How can he make a goal when he has been predictable in these past games?"

"Louis suffered a goal drought in two games."

In the commentary box, the commentators all believed that Arsenal would lose this game. First, because Diaby's injury led to a decrease in midfield stiffness, West Ham United took the opportunity to counterattack. Second, Louis was unable to continue to score goals, making Arsenal's offense weak. If these two reasons cannot be resolved, Arsenal may really have the "Player of the Month award" curse.

As mentioned above, the media is fickle. How they praised Louis before, now, they are mocking and belittling Louis with the same intensity! Especially as Arsenal lost 0-2 at home to Schalke 04, the strongest competitor in the Champions League group, and returned to the league at the weekend and lost 0-1 away to Stoke City.

This negative public opinion reached its peak. During this period, Arsenal fans did not even dare to turn on the Internet or turn on the TV because they all knew it. During this period, the media and the Internet must be full of ridicule of Arsenal.

"In the first four games since October, Arsenal only defeated Olympiakos on the road with difficulty, and then lost the next three games! Three consecutive defeats!"

"Louis, who had scored seven goals before, has failed. Arsenal has relied too much on Louis this season. They have scored 10 goals so far, seven of which were scored by Louis alone. But let's not forget that Louis is a seventeen-year-old player. The biggest characteristic of young players is that they are not stable enough!"

"Perhaps for Arsenal, the upcoming two consecutive weeks of national team matches will be a good opportunity to adjust!"

The eighth round of the league has ended, and another national team match day has arrived. But for Arsenal, after this national team match day, what they have to face is quite a devilish schedule.

In the ninth round of the league, Tottenham Hotspur played away. This was a derby in North London. In the fourth round of the Champions League group stage, Schalke 04 was played away from home. This was the game that decided the first place in the group. In the tenth round of the league, Chelsea will be played at home. In the eleventh round of the league, they play Liverpool! Four games. Every game is a tough battle.