Chen Yingxiong listened to Advocaat's words and focused more on cooperating with the whole team in the game, instead of fighting alone and wanting to score goals. But this time, it was Zenit's turn to be in bad shape and lack luck...

On July 23rd, in the midweek game against Amkar, although Zenit had many chances to shoot, neither Chen Yingxiong nor Kerzhakov, Arshavin, or Dominguez, were able to score.

As a result, a fierce battle ended in a dull 0:0 draw.

Zenit remained in second place in the league.

The only good news for them was that the top team, Spartak Moscow, went on a long away trip. After a fierce 90-minute battle with Luch-Energiya Vladivostok, they also drew 1:1. The gap between the two sides remained unchanged at one point.

The media's criticism of Chen Yingxiong did not diminish. Who told him to be so arrogant usually? Many people had wanted to find a chance to scold him for a long time, but they hadn't found the opportunity. Now that a great opportunity was in front of them, how could they miss it? Chen Yingxiong had slapped them in the face more than once, if these grudges weren't avenged, would they still be the vengeful, uncrowned kings!

Regarding the media's criticism, Advocaat stood up to defend his disciple: "Obviously, the team's failure to win is definitely not the responsibility of one person, but the problem of the entire team. It is unfair to focus only on one person!"

Advocaat was a little worried that Chen Yingxiong would be affected by the media's repeated criticism, but after observing him, he found that Chen Yingxiong was not negatively affected by the media's comments. His attitude in training was still serious, and he was still full of fighting spirit... He realized that with Chen Yingxiong's personality, this level of criticism would not work on him at all, but would only arouse his fighting spirit.

He was the kind of person who, if you offended him, he would hold a grudge for a long time, and then chase you to the ends of the earth to settle the score and get revenge. The more enthusiastically the media criticized him now, the more intense his counterattack would be...

At that time, I'm afraid there will be a good show to watch...

On July 28th, Zenit played against Dynamo Moscow away from home. Chen Yingxiong still did not score in this game, but he assisted a teammate on one goal.

Unfortunately, it was not enough to prevent St. Petersburg Zenit from losing. They lost to Dynamo Moscow 2:4 away from home.

The team also suffered their first two-game losing streak of the season, and their ranking dropped to fourth in the league after the game.

Spartak Moscow defeated Tom Tomsk 3:2 at home, continuing to lead the standings and further widening the gap between them and Zenit.

This was undoubtedly a heavy blow to Zenit, whose goal was to win the championship.

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After losing two games in a row, the atmosphere in the team suddenly became a little depressed.

In the past, the Eat, Drink, and Be Merry Squad was always the source of joy in Zenit's locker room. They joked with each other and could easily stir up the atmosphere.

But now, the team's continuous losses have made many people lose the mood to joke.

Advocaat also unusually canceled the holiday on the second day of the game and asked all players to train as usual.

This can also be regarded as a kind of punishment—the team had been playing too smoothly before, and many people had some proud and careless thoughts, thinking that this league championship was already a sure thing. Who would have thought that in the middle of the league, they would suddenly encounter setbacks, the team's number one shooter suddenly misfired, followed by the team falling into a two-game losing streak. Losing to Spartak Moscow away from home was one thing, the opponent was strong. But what was the deal with losing to Dynamo Moscow? In terms of strength, Zenit was definitely above Dynamo.

Although there was a UEFA Cup to play this season, no one knew how the UEFA Cup results would be in the end. Maybe they would just pack up and go home in the group stage?

The league was still the most important thing, that was the foundation. If they could get first place in the league this season, they would be able to participate in next year's Champions League.

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After July 28th, the league took a round off, and St. Petersburg Zenit was stepping up preparations. Time was about to enter August, and by then, in addition to the domestic league, there would also be UEFA Cup matches to deal with. They must find their form before then.

To this end, Advocaat arranged a warm-up match on the weekend to let the players find their form. Their opponent was the St. Petersburg Zenit youth team.

Chen Yingxiong finally found his scoring form in this game, scoring with a header in the sixty-ninth minute.

After scoring, Chen Yingxiong did not celebrate wildly, but just high-fived and hugged Denisov, who assisted him.

For him, scoring in this level of warm-up match was not difficult at all, and it was meaningless. It was not worth celebrating wildly, it should be reserved for the official game, whether it was the league or the UEFA Cup... By then, he would take off his jersey and let everyone see the demeanor of the Northern Bear!

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Although he had not yet scored in an official match, this did not prevent Chen Yingxiong from organizing the Eat, Drink, and Be Merry Squad to go out for activities.

After talking with Advocaat, he relaxed his mentality and was no longer so impatient. With a peaceful mind, he would naturally not put all his energy into scoring goals, and he would also have the time and energy to play with his teammates.

Taking advantage of the gap without the league, everyone relaxed together.

At first, Denisov and the others were quite surprised that Chen Yingxiong invited everyone out to play at this juncture: "We haven't won for two rounds, Yingxiong..."

"What are you afraid of? That's in the past, it has nothing to do with us going out to play." Chen Yingxiong didn't care.

"This...is not good, right?"

"Damn, captain. Could it be that you are also considering the team!" Chen Yingxiong joked with Denisov.

"I'm afraid that the media will take pictures of us and there will be another round of trouble..."

Chen Yingxiong snorted disdainfully from his nose. "Afraid of them? As long as we win the next round, won't that be enough?"

Zenit's next game is on August 11th, and their opponent is Luch-Energiya Vladivostok. This team is currently ranked fourteenth in the league. There are only sixteen teams in the Russian Premier League, and the last two are relegated. From the current point of view, Luch-Energiya has a very good chance of being relegated.

In fact, it is not easy for them to play in the Russian Premier League. Chen Yingxiong complained after only going to Luch-Energiya's home stadium in Vladivostok twice, but he never thought that Luch-Energiya's players have to spend half of the year on airplanes every year, traveling back and forth to away games. The home and away games of the Russian Premier League are held alternately. Luch-Energiya basically has nothing else to do for a week. The time spent flying to away games and back to the home stadium almost takes up half a week, not to mention the time they spend adjusting to the time difference. What kind of effect can they get from training next?

So the team's results have declined sharply this season, and it seems that they can't hold on anymore...

Chen Yingxiong felt that there was no need to worry too much about this exhausted team that had traveled a long distance. They had lost two games in a row, but one was ranked first in the league and the other was ranked fourth. Isn't it normal to lose to these two ranked teams? It doesn't matter who wins or loses.

Playing against Luch-Energiya, he felt that as long as everyone performed normally, they should be able to win against this exhausted team at home.

"Don't be afraid of the media, captain. As long as we win the game, these media will be like dogs, licking your toes! Besides, the UEFA Cup is about to start soon, and there will be many weeks with two games. How much time does our Eat, Drink, and Be Merry Squad have to get together? If we don't take this opportunity to relax our bodies and minds, I'm afraid we won't be able to last until the end of the season."

Chen Yingxiong's series of fallacies finally persuaded Denisov and the others, and everyone said that it was not impossible to get together while the league had not yet reignited and the UEFA Cup had not yet started.

But of course, it would be best if they could avoid being discovered by the media, so everyone had to disguise themselves.

Chen Yingxiong had an attitude of a dead pig not afraid of boiling water—anyway, he had already been given the nickname "Prince of Nightclubs." Whether he disguised himself or not, whether he went to nightclubs or not, the media would always talk about this kind of thing about him, so he might as well not disguise himself. This would also make himself seem upright—I go to nightclubs in my spare time, what does it have to do with you? As long as I don't affect my form, you have no reason to criticize me, as for whether it really doesn't affect my form... you'll know when I score in the game!

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In the media world of St. Petersburg, there is such a group of people whose daily job is to stare at Chen Yingxiong's whereabouts, from when he leaves his apartment to the training base, and then when he leaves the training base, following him to see where he will eventually go.

So Chen Yingxiong was not afraid at all that he would be extorted by some police officer who didn't have eyes on the road, because there was a large group of reporters behind him, holding cameras and waiting in battle. Which police officer wanted to be exposed like this, feel free to try.

Even Arshavin has not enjoyed such treatment. Is it because Arshavin's private life is not as ostentatious and chaotic as Chen Yingxiong's?

In fact, Chen Yingxiong hasn't been to nightclubs many times. Most of the time, he is honestly training in the instance dungeon at home, but such things have no reporting value. So every time he appears near a nightclub, he will be excitedly photographed by reporters and then publicized, making it seem like he goes to nightclubs every day, or even simply lives in nightclubs.

Chen Yingxiong was really wronged, but he never complained. He would only use his actual actions to slap these reporters in the face.

Therefore, when the photos of him going to nightclubs this time were exposed by reporters again, Chen Yingxiong seemed particularly calm—he was used to it.

His relationship with the reporters is like this. The reporters always take the initiative to put their faces in front of him and constantly provoke: "If you have the ability, hit me? If you have the ability, slap me!"

Then Chen Yingxiong would slap them hard every now and then, as long as he caught the opportunity.

The reporters were not angry, but instead hyped it up. Then after a while, they would jump out and dangle in front of him: "If you have the ability, hit me! If you have the ability, slap me!"

Chen Yingxiong continued to wait for the opportunity, and when the time was right, he would pounce on them and beat them up mercilessly.

The relationship between the two sides is so repeatedly entangled, making people feel extremely pained...

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PS, I spent a day shopping in the street, bought countless things to eat, and just got home now. I will send you today's monthly ticket update immediately!