Late Tuesday night, Harrington.

Lu Ling stood in front of the floor-to-ceiling window. She looked at the training ground, which she had done countless times when she was confused.

But now, she can't see anything. It was dark there, only faint light.

Half an hour ago, she called her father. She hadn't seen him in a while because she had been so busy lately, and he kept telling her on the phone that he was fine. She chose to believe him while feeling unsure.

She's been standing here ever since.

In the middle of the week, the QPR can finally take a break. Although there are a few make-up matches in the Premier League that take place on these two days, this does not include the top four of the Premier League.

The biggest news last weekend was not the loss to Manchester City on the QPR, but the fact that Chelsea and Manchester United had beaten each other in the FA Cup to reach the final at Wembley after meeting in the Europa League semi-finals. As a result, she and the club avoided some of the media attention.

But the team's problems at the practical level will not be lost by the media's brief distraction. She needed to do something. It's not something that just makes a speech in the locker room, it's something that really works.

First, she needs to think about the defeat to Manchester City.

She was surprised that she had lost the awareness and ability to dominate the game for a long time until Gabriel Jesus' goal came in the 80th minute -

But by then it was too late.

This is not normal.

She recalls that when she heard that Everton were also drawn, she thought it would be nice to keep Manchester City to a draw.

Damn it, is this still her?

Obviously, in that game, she did not make a rational judgment on the situation on the field, lost her initiative, and was very dull.

Was it the aftermath of the defeat to Barcelona?

The scars of that game are deeper than you think, and is it the same for the players?

Lu Ling began to think back to everything that had happened that night.

Nine minutes at Camp Nou, nine minutes for fans around the world to be swoon, nine minutes for QPR to collapse.

After that, is there really no way?

She scratched her scalp, everything was so clear, but why couldn't she grasp any important details? Something was holding her back from picking up the scar......

She jerked around and sat down behind her desk.

Then, she moved the mouse to quickly find the footage of the game, and physical nausea struck......

She instinctively resisted, but she had to face it. She knows very well that if she can't forget, or if forgetting is not the best choice, she can only face it.

She forced herself to look from the second half.

It was undoubtedly the worst nine minutes she had ever experienced in her entire coaching career.

He may not have made a mistake, but he did fail. She looked at the scene and felt a brief sense of suffocation. It turned out that from the camera, she knew that her shoulders were shaking so much, and the blankness in her eyes was completely unrestrained.

She forcibly calmed herself down.

Keep watching.

Gradually, her mind calmed down a bit.

And she's discovered more.

At the time, the feeling of being knocked out was real.

However, the score at that time was that Barcelona was 4:2 ahead, and there was still a lot of time. If the QPR manages to score two goals, they can still advance. But after that nine-minute performance, everyone seemed to be in despair.

It seems that "despair" was the only reasonable answer at the time, but was that correct?

Lu Ling asked himself, have you done what you should have done?

Isn't it the job of a manager to try to fight for even one percent of hope in any situation, and Phil did score a goal later to prove that hope is not as slim as it seems?

Lu Ling's back was chilling.

Because she saw in the video what she had completely forgotten at the time - the responsibilities she should have shouldered as a manager, as the absolute leader of the team.

And in the next few days, the preparation before the game against Manchester City, and everything in the game against Manchester City......

She was derelict in her duties.

It was her mistake.

It may not have been her fault to lose, but it was her mistake not to fight as hard as she could. And, it was also her mistake to let this defeat continue to affect herself and the whole team.

She closed her computer. Closed his eyes.

The conversation ringing in her ears was the conversation between her and Pat in the tunnel at the Camp Nou.

"Tina, how are you feeling?"

"It sucks. ”

"I'm sorry. ”

"No, Pat. And, you know when you say that I'm going to feel like you're insulting me. ”

"No, Tina, it's not what you think. I'm not sorry for Barcelona to qualify, I'm just sorry for you and them, I mean Ian, Zixiang and them...... I'm sorry you're so sad tonight. After all, how could I want to see you depressed?"

“…… Congratulations, Pat. Congratulations. ”

"Forget about this night, you did everything you could, it's not your fault. ”

Lu Ling suddenly opened his eyes. She didn't do it at all. Not at all. She just needs to take responsibility.

After thinking about it repeatedly, she felt a little disgusted with herself for the first time.

This lasted for a few seconds.

Immediately, she realized that this was still wrong. She must find a solution to the problem, not continue to exacerbate the crisis with self-loathing.

By the time she packed her things and walked out of Harrington's building, she had already made up her mind.

Sometimes, tenacity, calmness, and the ability to remain rational at all times may be the most important thing than the technical and tactical qualities of a manager.

****

Wednesday, Harrington's first-team training ground.

"Zixiang, run a few more steps ahead! Haven't you eaten breakfast? Remember your location!"

"Phil, come back!"

"Leon, watch the people behind you!"

"Fucking pull yourself up! We're going to take out Liverpool on Saturday, so you'd better work hard!"

The head coach's voice was full of energy, as if it had kept the training ground at a constant temperature in this warm and cool weather.

On the field, Phil pulled Yu Zixiang's jersey while retreating, and said, "Do you guess the boss is on drugs or last night...... No, isn't that Spanish guy in Liverpool? Did he come to London last night?"

Yu Zixiang rarely didn't get rid of Phil, and actually replied seriously: "Man, don't mess with her today, otherwise ......"

"What are you two muttering there, and you're going to have to wait until after training!" her voice came again, jokingly, but harshly.

The players on the field wanted to laugh but didn't dare to laugh.

Phil opened his mouth, but didn't dare to reply. took a few steps back, lowered his head and whispered: "I'm straight, Yu's boyfriend is a Uruguayan kid." ”

Tim was in the center of the room, his left hand clenched into a fist slightly blocking his mouth, and smiled secretly.

It was Christine he hadn't seen in a long time.

It's really a long time, even going back a full eight years.

At that time, she was still a complete little girl. In the coaching class, the actual combat exercise, she took off her coat on the sidelines to reveal her beautiful body curves, and several young male coaches whistled at her "politely", she looked a little embarrassed, but she yelled back "oh shut the ** up" without waiting for the FA coaches to speak.

Once, he went to visit the semi-professional team she led to train, and she was also like that on the sidelines, full of energy.

At that time, she was afraid that others would see her like a young and beautiful chick, and she liked football just for fun, so she tried to disguise herself as a rude man in England.

Then, years later, they reunited in a restaurant in west London, where she was already the acting manager of a Premier League team and invited him to be her assistant coach. He knew at first glance that she no longer had to be fully armed, and she exuded confidence from the inside out.

And today, when Tim sees Christine again, who looks like she was eight years ago, he feels that she is armed again, but not because she is not confident enough, but because she is going to win a war.

For her to lead her Blue and White Army to win a war, she must be fully armed.

"Now that you've heard what your boss said, focus on it, stop pulling and pulling with your boyfriend!" Tim put down his hand and yelled at the field, and he turned around and smiled at the girl in the training uniform with a serious expression on the sidelines.

The sun shone on the green space again, Lu Ling saw the smile of the man with medium-long brown curly hair in the field, and her heart warmed, she didn't know what Tim thought, but she knew that he understood her, at least partially.

This is definitely not a lonely war. Lu Ling thought, behind her, there were thousands of troops.

Including the man who was battling cancer was on her side.

****

At Anfield on Saturday, Jurgen Klopp roared from the sidelines throughout the first half.

In the league, Liverpool is basically hopeless in the race for the top four. And unlike Chelsea or Manchester United, they still retain their hopes of winning the Europa League to qualify for the Champions League.

That is, this season, the Reds failed again.

But no one wants to be knocked down on their doorstep.

The QPR offensive was unusually ferocious throughout the first half, not at all like on the road.

At the opening kick-off, Liverpool fans were still singing songs mocking the QPR being ridiculed by Barcelona, perhaps hoping that the team would be able to beat a team that has not been in good form recently, like Manchester City.

But after ten minutes, the home fans fell silent.

The exact time was in the 14th minute, when QPR striker Leon Ferreira took the lead with a low shot. It was the 30th goal of the season for the Uruguayan kid and the 25th in the Premier League.

And in the 38th minute, Phil Warren scored - it was a goalmouth goal.

The visiting fans who came to Anfield sang a new impromptu song about Phil, two of which read:

he’s our boy phil，doesn’t score much;

but**ed city， liverpool and barcelona and then liverpool again

He's our Phil kid and he doesn't score a lot of goals;

But he did Manchester City, Liverpool, Barcelona and then Liverpool again......

Tim whispered to the manager next to him: "To be fair, Phil scored against West Brom and Sunderland, not just against the big teams......

Lu Ling stared at the field and smiled slightly.

It looks like she is not too worried about Michy Batshuayi's absence – the Belgian suffered a concussion at Camp Nou that will keep him sidelined until the end of the month.

And then the first half is over.

The QPR is back to form as they lead Liverpool 2-0 on the road.

At halftime, Lu Ling told the players to slow down the pace in the second half, reduce consumption, and defend moderately, but not give up the creation of offensive opportunities.

Throughout the second half, the pace of the game was slowed down. But the best opportunity is still created by QPR.

After David Silva was substituted, the tempo was firmly in the hands of the QPR, and the Spanish veteran did an excellent job.

It looks like a win is in hand. But Lu Ling didn't dare to be careless, and still commanded cautiously on the sidelines.

Phil still wants to score, and he's a little impatient with this slow pace. The game had reached the third minute of stoppage time, and when the rest of his teammates were passing the ball steadily, he suddenly withdrew to the center circle and asked Jacob for the ball, Jacob hesitated and gave it.

Phil took the ball and began to carry it forward.

As a result, he was cut off the ball.

Liverpool immediately launched a counter-attack, with Sadio Mane forming a one-on-one and scoring the goal.

This is the end of the game, QPR 2:1 Liverpool, successfully won the three points at Anfield.

As the whistle blew at the end of the game, Phil hung his head, not daring to look at Hans, who had failed to keep a clean sheet, or at the manager, who would have scolded him......

But after taking two steps, Phil raised his head again, what is there to be afraid of, if there is a real fight, although the German is taller than me, he may not be stronger than me, as for her...... I don't hit women.

Phil looked for the manager, she was hugging Hans, saying something, maybe saying that the final goal was the fault of "bastard Phil", you don't blame yourself or something.

Phil snorted, and he secretly glanced at her face a few more times, as if she wasn't in a bad mood, after all, she had won.

At that moment, Liverpool fans yelled at her from the stands on the ground floor near the players' tunnel: "Sweetheart, Christine sweetheart, are you going to stay at Liverpool tonight? You should tell him if he doesn't give you the Premier League title......"

Even Phil felt unbearable about the rest of the words, and he walked in that direction without saying a word. 166 Reading Network