Chapter 82: Yaozi, you still haven’t displayed your talents. Why don’t you consider coming to my place?

“Two championships in two years, the birth of a new cup expert!”

Lee’s philosophy of success

“Newcastle United has great ambitions and is aiming for the Premier League title!”

What Manchester United lost

On the morning after the EFL Cup final, major English sports newspapers published fresh reports that fans would love to hear.

Li Chen’s coaching ability, which has seen him win championship trophies for different teams for two consecutive seasons, is certainly praised by fans.

But the fact that Manchester United was “tortured” by major media made the fans even more excited and subconsciously paid attention.

Although the results have not been stable in recent years, Manchester United’s leading traffic popularity in the Premier League is still unmatched by other teams.

Have Manchester City and Liverpool performed well in recent years?
But even if the two of them are put together, they are no match for Manchester United in terms of public opinion.

To some extent, Manchester United has indeed been a great success.

The commercial value and public attention have never declined over the years, and the locker room chaos does not prevent the club from making huge amounts of money around the world.

It’s just hard for Manchester United fans, who suffer from the emotional transitions of gaining hope and shattering hope year after year.

Now they are being publicly ridiculed by the media and have been scared away from the most suitable coach who could have helped the club to rise again. This really makes them feel uneasy.

“I just can’t stand it. If the top management didn’t choose to renew his contract because Li asked for too much transfer fee or he wanted too much management power, then why are they treating Ten Hag like this now?!

Wouldn’t it be possible to solve all the problems if TMD had given the management authority to Li earlier?

Now the money has been spent, the players have been bought, and Ten Hag has got the players he wanted, but what about the results? “

“At this time last season we were already in the top four and doing well in the Champions League, everything was looking up and Lee had brought the players together.

Now I don’t want to say that Ten Hag’s job has failed, we do need to give him more time.

But to make a simple comparison, it is obvious that we abandoned a coach who could really lead the team to a championship, and replaced him with a guy who didn’t even have experience coaching in the four major leagues. This is a fucked-up thing! “

“The top management must be held accountable for their dereliction of duty! Although Woodward has left the club, we must find out where the Glazer family stands on this matter!”

“We want a real famous coach to take charge of the team. Manchester United can no longer stand the ridiculous tossing of the top management. We want the championship!”

The indignant protests of the Red Devils fans once again spread across the entire Internet.

But just like before, the Manchester United executives who messed things up once again acted like turtles, shrinking their heads and turning a deaf ear to what was happening outside.

Faced with this wave of public opinion and not being able to express his own opinions, Li Chen could only play dumb.

No matter which reporters wanted to interview him about this matter, he eventually evaded them with the excuse that he had to concentrate on preparing for the FA Cup.

It just so happens that Newcastle’s preparations for the fifth round of the FA Cup are indeed very tight.

So even though the reporters understood that Li Chen was just using this as an excuse to avoid the public opinion storm, there was nothing they could do about his words.

On the afternoon of February 2, Li Chen led the team to Burnley, Lancashire to check into the hotel.

There are less than three days of rest and preparation time between the Carabao Cup final and the fifth round of the FA Cup.

In order to allow some of the main players to get more rest, Li Chen even sacrificed some training preparations.

The lack of this work also led to Newcastle being effectively sniped by Burnley in the FA Cup match on the evening of March 3.

Burnley, who have achieved 22 wins, 10 draws and 2 losses in the Championship this season, are at the top of the Championship standings.

With 12 rounds left in the league, but already nearly 3 points ahead of the third-placed Middlesbrough, the Burnley team has no anxiety about qualifying.

In this case, they do have enough room for error to strive for further progress in the FA Cup.

And their current strength has reached the Premier League level.

Not to mention that they are in the middle and lower levels of the Premier League, they are still slightly stronger than the three teams fighting for relegation.

Newcastle, with only some of their main players starting the game, ultimately only managed a 90-1 draw in the 1 minutes of regular time at Turf Moor.

Wilson’s goal helped Newcastle equalize the score in the second half of the game.

But apart from that, Newcastle’s remaining 14 shots in the game did not result in their second goal.

Li Chen watched helplessly as his team was dragged into overtime by Burnley.

However, in difficult times, the many valuable experiences that Lao Mu taught Li Chen still played a role.

Li Chen, who was the first to stabilize his mentality, did not choose to go all-in on the attack in overtime, but played steadily and looked for more reliable penetration opportunities while controlling the situation.

C Ronaldo, who was called on as a substitute in the 70th minute of the second half, gave Newcastle hope of winning with a shot that hit the post.

But Burnley goalkeeper Farrell made two magical saves at critical moments to reject threatening shots from Wilson and Willock.

In the end, Burnley dragged Newcastle into a brutal penalty shootout.

Li Chen completed the final preparations and handed the team’s fate of advancement to today’s starting goalkeeper Rudy.

Fortunately, Burnley, who were not prepared for a penalty shootout with Newcastle before the game, made a fatal mistake right at the start.

Their first penalty taker, center forward Foster, used a very low-quality half-high ball to become the background for Rudy’s save.

On the Newcastle side, Cristiano Ronaldo and Ramos, who came on the field one after another, withstood the pressure and scored consecutive penalties.

The experienced Rudy boldly chose to stick to the middle in the third round of penalty saves.

As a result, he just saved the penalty kick taken by Burnley’s player!
Marcelo and Wilson, who took the next penalty kick for Newcastle, did not give Burnley any chance to turn the tables, helping the team eliminate Burnley 4-2 in the penalty shootout!
Rudy, who saved two penalties, became Newcastle’s guardian hero. He was also officially selected as the best player of the game after the game!
Li Chen’s rare passionate celebration after the penalty shootout also became the focus of media reports after the game.

There is no doubt that Burnley caused a big upset. They almost blocked Newcastle from entering the quarterfinals of this season’s FA Cup.

Their tenacious defense and quick-play tactics at the start also gave other Premier League teams hope of overthrowing Newcastle again.

After the game, Li Chen honestly said he was lucky.

It is true that the FA’s schedule for the two domestic cup competitions was the culprit that almost caused Newcastle to fail.

But there is no doubt that Newcastle did pay the price for its lack of preparation.

With a wonderful sniper battle, Bourne once again demonstrated to the world the meaning of the phrase “everything is possible on the football field.”

They are opponents worthy of respect from Li Chen and the entire Newcastle team.

Li Chen was even grateful in his heart for Burnley’s tenacious performance, which served as a reminder to Newcastle, who are now at a critical juncture in their championship bid.

In the next four days of preparation training, Li Chen also clearly felt that the mentality of a large number of rotation players had fallen back to the ground from the empty mid-air.

After all, no amount of reminders or warnings can be as instructive as experiencing failure yourself.

After experiencing the joy of winning the League Cup and the shock of almost being eliminated early from the FA Cup.

Many Newcastle first-team players have a deeper understanding of Li Chen’s emphasis on the importance of steady progress.

If you want to win the championship, you must not be impatient. You must take one step at a time and be down-to-earth so that you can avoid regrets as much as possible.

This is true for cup competitions and even more so for league competitions.

On the afternoon of March 3, Newcastle, with a more restrained and stable mentality, started a focus showdown with Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium, which may very well determine the ownership of this season’s league championship!
Previously, because they had to play in the League Cup final, Newcastle had a bye in the 25th round of the league.

After Manchester City was unexpectedly tied by Nottingham Forest in the 24th round of the league, they defeated Bournemouth 25-4 in the 1th round of the league.

Now the Blue Moon Army is still 2 points behind Newcastle with two more games to play. This gap is already quite large, and their margin of error in winning the championship is further decreasing.

If we don’t want to pin our hopes of overtaking on West Ham United and Brighton who will play a make-up match with Newcastle later.

Then Manchester City must use its home advantage to defeat Newcastle in this round of direct dialogue!
A draw result is unacceptable to them.

After all, there is an Arsenal team chasing them closely.

Arsenal naturally does not want either Manchester City or Newcastle to win. A draw between the two sides would be the best result for the Gunners.

Given Guardiola’s temperament, he would also like to take the team’s championship fate into his own hands.

So as soon as the game started that afternoon, he stood on the sidelines, carefully observing Newcastle’s tactical changes, while giving the Manchester City players on the field the confidence to attack to the end!
Two days before the game, many Manchester City players expressed in interviews with reporters, either implicitly or directly, that they hoped Newcastle could have a “head-on confrontation” with them.

Obviously, they are anxious seeing Manchester City’s current situation of falling behind, and really don’t want to be tortured by Newcastle’s tactics of maintaining a draw or winning or counterattacking.

Being able to play a competitive game is naturally what they want most.

At the Etihad Stadium, the offensive Manchester City will not be afraid of any team in the current football world.

Even a team as strong as Real Madrid would be defeated if they dare to fight here!

Attack is now the biggest reliance and confidence of the entire Manchester City team.

But no matter how they used provocation, Li Chen, who was unwilling to give up the team’s lead easily, chose to go his own way.

A 352 formation that clearly emphasized defensive strangulation was neatly laid out.

In order to further enhance the defensive flexibility of the midfield and the counterattack speed on both wings, Li Chen did not even let Madison start the game.

He chose the two-wing combination of Elanga + Anthony Gordon and the midfield trio of Joelinton, Guimaraes and Parinha.

Facing Manchester City who wanted to speed up the attack at the start of the game, Newcastle quickly interrupted Manchester City’s ground offensive rhythm with strict midfield division.

Li Chen, who used three central defenders today, arranged a big tactical surprise for the hot Haaland. Gvardiol’s close defense made Haaland “invisible” on the offensive end.

Without the space to accelerate and lacking experience in using his physical body in ground confrontations, Haaland can only use his fulcrum role to create opportunities for his teammates.

Guardiola’s tactical backup allowed Grealish and Foden, who started today’s game, to play like fish in water in the inside attack.

Jingdong An and De Bruyne are more serving them, helping them to open up offensive space and also passing the ball to them.

Plus, Haaland had almost no space to shoot, which gave these two guys a lot of chance to shoot.

Li Chen, who understood the technical characteristics of the two players, made timely tactical adjustments, decisively letting Joelinton and Guimaraes, who should have played as central midfielders, move inward to take up positions, and assist the players on the wings who returned to defense to limit the performance of the two players.

Compared with a quick counterattack, Li Chen obviously hoped to curb Manchester City’s offensive tactics in the first half of the game today.

And in the first 20 minutes of the game, Newcastle players did this very well.

The players in the midfield and frontcourt actively return to defense to help their teammates share the pressure.

The key is that Newcastle’s two defensive pillars in the backcourt, Palinha and Pepe, both performed exceptionally well today!
Both of them are experts in defensive positioning, and there are few “heroic scenes” of them standing up under the gaze of the live camera.

But every time they get into position in time, it makes Manchester City’s offensive progress extremely difficult.

Gradually, the threatening inside shot seemed to become more like a wasteful shot.

Guardiola may have placed more expectations on Foden, but Rodri on the field couldn’t stand it anymore.

As the focal point of Manchester City’s current formation, Rodri is more than just a simple defensive midfielder.

Like Gundogan, he is actually the metronome of Manchester City’s attack and defense transitions.

It’s just that between offense and defense, he pays more attention to defense.

So once he wants the ball, even Foden, whom Guardiola trusts very much, has to bow his head.

Under Rodri’s reorganization and dispatch, De Bruyne and Haaland started to play more passing and cutting cooperation.

It was not easy for them to connect successfully under Newcastle’s defensive targeting.

But no matter how low the probability is, as long as it succeeds once, Haaland can rush behind Newcastle’s defense and gain possession of the ball.

He can completely change the course of the game with a precious goal!
Rodri believes such an offensive attempt is necessary.

Manchester City also had more changes in rhythm on the offensive end.

In general, Manchester City still does not have a good way to attack Newcastle, who are determined to shrink their defense.

Li Chen had too many heavy troops stationed in the midfield, which directly cut Manchester City’s organizational space into pieces.

And the Newcastle players on the field were too patient.

Even though their team’s ball possession rate once dropped to 20%, they rarely made aggressive attempts to steal the ball, resulting in frequent losses of defensive position.

Manchester City’s central penetration just hates this kind of team with a solid central position.

Seeing that the game was at a standstill for a long time, Guardiola gave tactical instructions 20 minutes into the first half, asking Grealish to try more individual breakthroughs.

Then came the most annoying moment for Shaker in this game.

Whether he was cutting inside to face Guimaraes’ one-on-one defense or trying to go to the wing to break through the double-team defense, Grealish seemed very daring to act.

Until he was hit by a fierce sideways tackle from Guimaraes.

After lying on the ground for almost a minute, Grealish felt he still had the courage to continue attacking Newcastle’s defense.

But soon after he stood up, he was tackled again by Palinha.

Newcastle used two resolute and fierce defenses to greatly reduce the tactical consumption effect of Grealish.

Guardiola can continue to encourage Grealish to make bold breakthroughs. If he takes more beatings, other Manchester City offensive players may be able to find more offensive space.

But Grealish is a very smart player.

During the World Cup, he also understood the importance of tactical discipline in Li Chen’s team.

As long as Li Chen gives a death order not to give him more opportunities to perform in this game, Guimarães and Palinha will definitely take the opportunity to give him a good beating!
Yes, Li Chen’s tactical philosophy has a basic principle of never actively and maliciously damaging the physical health of opponent players.

But this “no active damage” is just a vague standard.

What if Newcastle’s defenders didn’t have any bad intentions but accidentally injured him?

Does Grealish dare to bet on the extent of his opponent’s foul?

He didn’t dare.

He is still young, and there are still too many championship honors to win and too many colorful worlds to enjoy.

It is enough to try your best in every game and be worthy of your salary and the trust of the head coach in you.

What the hell are you playing with!
When Guardiola saw that Grealish was somewhat timid, he turned his expectant gaze to Foden.

But Foden also understands Li Chen’s tough demands on tactical discipline.

If Li Chen does not want to give Manchester City space to attack, the player who takes over the offensive responsibility of Manchester City will definitely die miserably under the defense of Newcastle.

It has only been a short time since the World Cup final, but the targeted treatment Di Maria and Messi suffered in the final is still vivid in our memory.

Foden didn’t want to be a victim of struggling tactics, so he quickly gave Guardiola a silent response with a reasonable playing performance.

Well, these two smart guys passed all the offensive problems back to Guardiola like a ball.

In theory, if Guardiola is dissatisfied, he can still let the two of them forcefully implement his tactical plan.

But he didn’t do it after all.

Maybe he was not sure about the hard defensive rules that Li Chen set for the team today.

After a little hesitation, Guardiola decided to let Ake and Kyle Walker join in the offensive penetration against Newcastle.

The result was that in the 24th and 29th minutes of the first half, Manchester City successfully made Elanga and Joelinton receive yellow cards respectively.

This almost means that Manchester City has pried open Newcastle’s left-wing defense and is about to open up the offensive situation.

But Li Chen’s decisive adjustment of replacing Elanga with Marcelo in the first half stunned the Manchester City fans at the scene.

Are you playing Tian Ji’s horse racing here? !

It seems that Elanga was put in the starting lineup so that he would bear the defensive pressure and get the card first.

Then wouldn’t Manchester City’s offensive attempt be in vain?

At this moment, Manchester City fans have no doubt that if the defense in the left half becomes tight again, Li Chen will definitely use the substitution quota to continue to supplement the defense.

Grimaldo and Sean Longstaff are still sitting on the bench.

Similarly, Newcastle will not be afraid if Manchester City attacks the right side of their defense.

Don’t Newcastle still have Ward-Prowse and Trippier on the bench?

Li Chen has too many cards to play.

Compared with Liverpool in the past, the Newcastle team created by Li Chen may lack overall deterrence on the front line.

But in the midfield and backcourt, Li Chen’s solid bench depth has made a number of Premier League giants experience the difficulty of breaking through.

You finally managed to pry open his starting defense with continuous offensive, but he was able to fill the defensive loopholes with two substitutions without affecting the team’s counterattack efficiency.

Other wealthy teams now often use a budget of two or three hundred million to buy a few top midfielders.

Many times the midfield combination looks impressive, but in reality they do not work together and generally have the problem of being strong in attack but weak in defense.

But Li Chen, with a budget of tens of millions, is looking for cost-effective midfielders in the transfer market while also exploring and training within the team.

As a result, they used less than 100 million yuan to renovate the midfield but ended up creating a midfield cluster that would cost more than 200 or 300 million yuan. It’s simply outrageous!

It was too torturous to play a positional war of attrition with a Newcastle team like this, and even Guardiola couldn’t stand it.

Seeing that the game time was almost reaching the 35th minute of the first half, Guardiola simply signaled the Manchester City players on the field to control the field more.

Afterwards, he asked Bernardo Silva, Alvarez, Mahrez and other attackers on the bench to warm up on the sidelines in advance.

Guardiola admitted it, and Li Chen was flawless on the defensive end throughout the first half of the game.

Since he wanted to drag the game into the second half, Guardiola simply waited for the opportunity.

Anyway, there are no serious injuries in Manchester City right now, and he also has a lot of cards to play on the offensive end, so he has the confidence to look forward…

The “tacit understanding” between Li Chen and Guardiola in the final stage of the first half kept the game tied until the end of the first half.

Grealish, who had occasionally performed well in the first half of the game, met Li Chen, who was also walking back slowly, on his way back to the player tunnel.

Out of politeness and respect, Grealish took the initiative to say hello.

But after Li Chen turned his head and looked at Grealish with a smile, what he said shocked Yaozi, who was greeting him kindly.

“Jack, I don’t think your talent has been fully utilized in Manchester City. Why don’t you consider coming to me? I still have high hopes for you…”

(End of this chapter)