Chapter 89: Get out of the way, Li Xuanzong is about to use his power
Newcastle’s strength is now a recognized fact in football.

Many fans of traditional giants also believe that Newcastle, which will participate in the Champions League next season, will be a major rival for them.

But to be honest, this wave of fans’ excessive praise of Newcastle is really excessive.

It seems like Newcastle is invincible.

This exaggerated description of strength also made some neutral fans who originally had no ill feelings towards Newcastle subconsciously feel resistance.

Once the voices of opposition emerge, a war of words between two or even multiple groups of fans is inevitable.

For a while, the topic of how strong Newcastle is now and how far they can go in the Champions League next season quickly became the focus of the football world.

After reading the relevant reports, Li Chen also felt that today’s football fans are too idle.

This season hasn’t even ended yet, why are we all talking about next season?

Besides, if they think about it, these fans can understand that Newcastle’s highest goal for next season is to compete in the Champions League.

After all, it has been many years since Newcastle played in the Champions League.
Even though Newcastle has a number of big names who have won many Champions League titles, these big names are now entering the end of their careers.

In the group stage and even in the first round of knockout matches, Newcastle will still have to rely more on the young players in the team.

Normally speaking, if Newcastle can successfully reach the knockout stage of the Champions League next season, it will be considered a satisfactory record, and if they can reach the quarterfinals of the Champions League, it will be considered a success.

If he can make it to the semi-finals or even the final, the Newcastle management will have to give Li Chen a generous bonus.

So from a certain perspective, Li Chen also has to thank the fans around the world who have helped him and Newcastle to fan the flames.

Because they really think too highly of him, they almost hype him up as the best coach in the world.

He coached for more than two years and won the championship trophy of the top league. It is not an exaggeration to call him a talented young coach.

But young coaches who can lead their team to win the Champions League in the third year of coaching, except for a few lucky ones, are mostly tough guys who can compete with top opponents for the position of the world’s best coach.

Li Chen thinks that he is not yet able to reach this level.

He is now able to lead Newcastle to surpass Manchester City and Liverpool in the league, which is largely due to the fact that the two teams are in a critical rebuilding period and have serious lineup injuries.

If he really had to compete against Manchester City and Liverpool at their peak, the result would be hard to predict. At least the championship process would definitely not be as smooth as it is now.

Li Chen never belittles himself, but he will never ignore the fact that he has taken advantage of the current situation.

He is confident, self-aware, and never looks down on heroes. This is why he has been able to achieve success so far…

After reading the recent public opinion-oriented news with a humorous attitude, Li Chen also gave his players a precautionary reminder.

The closer we get to the critical moment of the championship, the more we need to remind the players in the team to control their mentality.

Especially the young players in the team.

Being too nervous is not good, and being too impetuous is even worse.

Li Chen would rather leave them with a nagging image and tighten the team management standards when necessary, rather than let them regret it repeatedly after missing out on an important championship trophy.

Fortunately, the veteran superstars in the Newcastle team are all on Li Chen’s side, and there are no troublemakers among the other young players.

In addition, Li Chen has enough prestige within the team, so Newcastle’s disciplinary rectification plan went smoothly.

On the afternoon of April 4th, Aston Villa, at home, faced a Newcastle team that looked very solemn and cautious.

Seeing the opponent’s cautious posture, Aston Villa’s players also had illusions.

It’s as if they are at the top of the table and Newcastle is a mid-to-lower level Premier League team that is here to challenge them.

This awkward feeling made Aston Villa’s starting players play a little restrained at the beginning of the game, and they failed to bring out their decent offensive threat at all.

Aston Villa head coach Emery initially thought Li Chen was playing some tactical tricks.

But after watching the game on the sidelines for more than ten minutes, Emery finally believed that Newcastle came to Villa Park today with 100% respect for Aston Villa.

Emery should feel complacent and proud that Newcastle, who is now at the top of the table, treats him so cautiously.

But the reality is just the opposite. Emery only feels absurd and uncomfortable.

He doesn’t want Newcastle’s respect and vigilance.

Now the league’s “battle for the top six” between Aston Villa and Brighton has entered a white-hot stage.

The two teams often exchanged rankings in a tense situation where you surpassed me by one point, and I then surpassed you by one point.

At such a critical moment, if Aston Villa cannot get points from Newcastle at home, it would be too passive for them.

Emery would rather Newcastle show their confident and even overly proud side and launch a strong attack against Aston Villa away from home.

Otherwise, how could he lead the team to steal the ball and gain a tactical advantage over Newcastle earlier?
Unfortunately, before the young players in Newcastle became impetuous, Li Chen and a group of superstar veterans forced them to clear their heads.

Emery’s calculations were bound to be wrong, and Li Chen would not give him the opportunity to sneak away and steal the game at home.

“But if they can really hold up under pressure for the entire game, how should we play? Should we take back the initiative in attack and test a few waves?”

Carrick rubbed his dark circles and asked Li Chen with some concern.

Upon hearing this, Li Chen glanced at Emery next door again.

“Then I really admire him! We haven’t met a team that can play a full 90-minute game at home yet, right?”

Li Chen seemed quite confident and comforted Carrick.

But in fact, he was not sure either.

Because Emery is also a very pragmatic head coach.

And because of the outstanding performance of the team this season, Emery now has a high prestige in the Villa team.

If he is really determined to get points and refuses to go head-to-head with Newcastle, then public opinion will have no way to deal with him after the game.

After all, Villa fans now support him 100%.

With this uncertainty in mind, Li Chen waited for Aston Villa to make the first move to break the stalemate between the two teams.

But Emery remained calm and did not make any moves to adjust the tactical arrangements.

When the game reached the 20th minute, the facial expressions of Li Chen and Emery were still relatively calm.

But when the game reached the 30th minute and the situation was still at a stalemate, Li Chen’s eyes revealed some helplessness.

Aston Villa’s double defensive midfielder formation protected the penalty area line very well. In this case, it was too difficult for Newcastle, who were playing a positional battle, to threaten the goal guarded by Martin.

Li Chen made cautious tactical adjustments after the 30th minute of the first half.

He first signaled the wingers on both wings to run inwards, and play 2-on-1 with Guimaraes and Joelinton who came in from behind, and tried to cut into Villa’s flank area and face Martin to get a chance to shoot.

Then he signaled Joelinton, who was involved in the attack, to dribble the ball more and create breakthroughs to win more set-piece opportunities for the team.

But Villa’s corresponding defensive adjustments were also completed very timely.

Emery directly asked the wingers on both wings to return to their positions and assist the midfielder in defense.

While blocking their own flank space, they also used the numerical advantage on the defensive end to continuously press and double-team Newcastle’s ball-handlers.

No matter how technically superior Newcastle’s offensive players are, it is difficult for them to perform well against Aston Villa’s human sea defensive tactics.

Newcastle was unable to completely change the situation of the game relying solely on a few set-piece opportunities created by Joelinton.

Aston Villa center back Mings played really well today.

He almost used his confrontation and height advantages to the extreme in squatting defense.

Whether it was Ronaldo or Ramos who joined the attack from behind, it was difficult for them to get a comfortable chance to score under his defense.

This outstanding performance easily reminded many fans in front of the TV of Maguire, who shined in Li Chen’s defensive system last season.

Last season, facing Manchester United’s defensive defense, Liverpool, Manchester City, Watford and Norwich all played all their cards but were still helpless.

Today it is Li Chen’s turn to break this offensive problem.

Many fans are also curious whether Li Chen will give priority to replacing Chris Wood in the second half of the game and let him play as a double striker instead of Havertz and Ronaldo.

As for breaking the bus, the huge tactical role of the center forward is irreplaceable.

Li Chen had used Chris Wood to break the opponent’s shrinking defense many times before, so there was no reason not to use the heavy battering ram at hand.

But what most fans did not expect was that after the game was tied 0-0 with Aston Villa at halftime, Li Chen had no intention of making substitutions or launching an attack.

So while Villa was playing the game cautiously, Newcastle, after a few careful attempts without success, began to control the game more.

For Li Chen, it is not impossible to increase the force to break through Aston Villa’s dense defense.

But more importantly, there is no need for him and Newcastle to take any risks to force three points.

So after a little thought, Li Chen gave up the idea of ​​a strong attack.

Newcastle eventually drew 0-0 away from home against Aston Villa, who have been in hot form in recent games.

This is good news for Arsenal, who are now on a winning streak in the league and are actively catching up with Newcastle.

But they had dug too deep a hole and the points gap between them and Newcastle was too big.

Even though they have managed to catch up to two points in this round of the league, there still seems to be a huge points gap between them and Newcastle.

After this round of the league ends, Newcastle will also face another round of postponement.

Because they are about to compete with Sheffield United for a ticket to this season’s FA Cup final.

Of course, the vast majority of fans and media reporters believe that Newcastle will eventually defeat Sheffield United without any bloodshed and advance to the FA Cup final.

Sheffield United, who currently seem likely to secure a direct promotion spot to the Premier League, are not too weak.

But they are at best a top team in the Championship, with a mid-to-lower level of strength in the Premier League. No matter how you look at it, they don’t have the potential to be a dark horse and cause an upset.

Therefore, not all the major media reporters who were interviewing the Newcastle team before the game wanted to ask questions related to the FA Cup.

For example, Li Chen was asked by many reporters about his predictions for the final winner of this year’s Champions League and his level of attention to the Europa League.

Although he was a little confused, Li Chen felt that these questions had nothing to do with the upcoming game, so he responded generously.

“The Champions League is easy. If Manchester City and Real Madrid don’t meet in advance, I think the two teams will meet in the final.

But if these two teams meet in advance after reaching the semi-finals, then I am more optimistic about Manchester City! ”

“No, no, no, it’s not because Manchester City is also a Premier League team that I support them, but because I see Guardiola’s flexibility in tactics.

With Haaland, Manchester City no longer has to worry about the opponent’s dense bus formation. Even if Haaland cannot directly break through the opponent’s defense, his presence can help Manchester City’s other offensive players open up offensive space.

I think the Manchester City coaching staff must have prepared more surprising tactical back-ups, and the fans can wait and see.”

“Needless to say about the Europa League? I support Roma 100% to win the title!
This would be another amazing championship achievement for the city of Rome.

Everything my teacher has accomplished in Rome will become a wonderful memory that the local fans will never forget.

Two seasons, two European trophies, this is the madman Mourinho you are most familiar with. He will help the city of Rome complete the final transformation, I have no doubt about it. “

Li Chen’s eloquent talk once again made the reporters on the scene satisfied, and they found a lot of material to write about.

A few days later, the Champions League kicked off, with AC Milan drawing 1:1 with Napoli away and becoming the first to advance to the Champions League semi-finals.

Real Madrid followed closely behind, eliminating Chelsea and getting a ticket to the semi-finals.

The next night, Manchester City, who were away to Bayern Munich, once again won a narrow 2-1 victory over the Bundesliga giants.

With a total score of 5-1 in the two rounds, Manchester City climbed over Bayern’s corpse quite forcefully and advanced into the semi-finals of this season’s Champions League.

Inter Milan also defeated Benfica with a big score of 5-3 in two rounds.

At this point, the top four teams in the Champions League have just been announced, and Manchester City still seems to be the biggest favorite to win the title.

On the evening of April 4th, a Europa League quarter-final with huge traffic kicked off at the Olympic Stadium in Rome.

Originally, many fans watched this game wanting to slap Li Chen in the face. Who made him favor Roma, which was defeated 1-4 by Feyenoord in the first leg of the quarter-finals?

As a result, Mourinho performed his magic again, beating Feyenoord coach in tactical arrangement, and finally led Roma to tie the total score to 90-2 within 2 minutes.

In the subsequent overtime, Roma scored two goals in a row thanks to Mourinho’s magical substitutions, eliminated Feyenoord, and advanced to the semi-finals of this season’s Europa League!
This night, the tenacious Roma and the magical Mourinho once again became the protagonists of the reversal.

Teams with this quality are often able to go further in the cup competitions and even win the championship unexpectedly.

A large number of neutral fans also have to take Li Chen’s prediction of winning the championship seriously.

(End of this chapter)