Chapter 32: The Wind and the Clouds
The carols rang out at St James' Park for more than ten minutes after the game ended. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info
The whole Everton team left the pitch in a state of despair. In his reluctance to give a post-match interview, manager David Moyes said nothing but "We lost unluckily. ”
On the streets of Newcastle, groups of fans cheering only for the victors chanted "We-are-the-champions" to the defeated Everton team. The Everton bus fled the airport......
Newcastle, who are fourth from bottom, beat Everton in the top four of the Premier League table 3-1, which looks like a great victory in any way. For the Newcastle boss and his frustrated players, a crisp victory was undoubtedly symbolic - as if the mysterious masters of the East had blown away the dark clouds hanging over Newcastle and the glory of the team was coming.
That's right, in another week, the Premier League's winter transfer window officially opens. Yesterday afternoon, Matuidi, Varane and Eden Hazard had already visited the hotel suites prepared by Newcastle Club. In this game, they all hid in the stands in disguise, impressed by the perfect command of the young marshal. Eight days later, at 2 p.m. on New Year's Day 2011, they will officially attend a press conference arranged by Newcastle.
Adding three mid-to-high potential players and promoting the talented Vukkic, Zhang Lihua laid a very solid foundation for team change.
Suddenly appearing from inside the stadium and rushing back to the player interview area to participate in the formal press conference after the game, Zhang Lihua changed his previous chatter style and gave the briefest reply to every question and choice raised by the reporter.
After a pleasant greeting from BBC Athletics Devin Bolton, he asked: "Congratulations to your side on a crucial victory, what do you think of the performance of the players?" Joey Button has played well with the captain's armband, will he occupy a central position in your team in the future? ”
Zhang Lihua smiled and nodded, looking very reserved, only answered one sentence, and then fell into silence - "Joey works very hard and is trustworthy. ”
"So, were you surprised by the victory against the game? Or is it that the team has enough quality to challenge for the top four in the table, but Mr. Chris Hughes has not been able to fully unleash the ability that the players should have? ”
"Nope. I suddenly felt like we were on the luckier side, and that's it. After speaking, he looked directly at the camera, looking very sincere. His acting skills have always been comparable to the Oscars.
"Your modesty is very Chinese. So, what would you say about Everton's performance in the game? ”
Zhang Lihua said without thinking: "David is an excellent coach. I feel like he's better than me. Clearly, Everton's current ranking is well deserved. I'm thankful to my team for making a great debut. Next game against Arsenal, I hope you guys will keep up the good work. ”
The last sentence of the interview ended, and there was a round of applause. The club's officials cleared the reporters away, and the Newcastle United lads gathered near the press table finally had a chance to pay their respects to the young manager.
You know, at the end of the game, the only people who appeared in the locker room were Eddie Ron and Fatmo. From the moment Weber blew the final whistle, the young marshal mysteriously disappeared from everyone's sight, and did not suddenly rush back until before the press conference began. In the past ten minutes, only the club's surveillance video can be seen most clearly - Zhang Shaoshuai walked straight to the empty locker room of the visiting team.
……
After the end of the war, taking stock of the battlefield, analyzing the enemy's strategy, and expanding one's own thinking are a major secret of the PLA military god Marshal Lin Biao's constant victory and undefeated.
Zhang Lihua studied a lot of homework in the United States, because the essence of the development of all walks of life can be summarized by the word "competition", and the highest form of competition is war. With a certain amount of military literacy, you won't be too outrageous in what you do.
In the Everton dressing room, Zhang Lihua picked up a tactical sticker that was not destroyed in time. The content of the analysis in this document is of a very high level, and it does not seem to have been written by Moyes.
The tactical post was succinctly written, instructing David Moyes to increase the number of attacking players up front and attack Newcastle United's wings.
Newcastle's death hole lies in the emptiness left by the full-backs when counter-attacking on the wings. The addition of attacking personnel up front is to disrupt the balance of the opponent's back three mark-to-man defence, if Moyes is replaced not by the particularly awkward Russian midfielder, but by David Silva-level midfielder......
The accumulation of attacking players in the front court only sacrificed the interception strength of the midfield, but the hardness of the back court did not weaken. With Everton's relatively smooth frontcourt combination, betting on Newcastle's counterattack is not smooth and showing flaws, Everton is likely to reverse the decline in the latter part of the first half in the case of 11 to 11.
In this way, Moyes must have someone behind him. If Zhang Lihua hadn't prepared a set of off-the-board moves, and the chaotic "piracy full offense, full defense, run and bang", Newcastle would have drawn with Everton at most.
……
Back to the press room. Zhang Lihua congratulated the Newcastle players with a smile on his face. He didn't comment too much on individual players who didn't play well in this game, such as Alan Smith.
Almost all of the players on the field received his pertinent encouragement. Vukkic has also been promised by the coaching staff in front of all the players that he will start the new year with a professional contract. The weekly salary has risen to at least 20,000 yuan.
It seems that all the players are in a good mood and sing the team song on the club bus.
Gutierrez and Coloccini, who did not appear in this game, also expressed their trust in Zhang in a conversation with Joey Barton. They just said, "Mister has two strokes, and hopefully he will let us fulfill this contract in peace." ”
You must know that Gutierrez's weekly salary is as high as 50,000 euros, and Coloccini and Barton have also reached 70,000 euros each. This level of contract has seriously interfered with the team's management to find a home for them. Fortunately, Barton's contract expires at the end of the season. The same goes for Ameobi, who earns 40,000 yuan a week. Colocini and Gutiérrez remain at the club for at least two years.
Zhang Lihua is not considering reducing staff in the winter window for the time being. This can be well communicated with Carlo Ancelotti, who is also keen to make the best use of his talents.
In other words, since Ancelotti had secret contact with Zidane, he also inexplicably became interested in Zhang Lihua, the Chinese coach who came out halfway.
Carlo Ancelotti is a good coach with a good character and a lot of thinking, and he has a high talent for the development of football skills and tactics. The Christmas tree formation that was experimentally formed in Milan has almost become the fashion of Serie A teams. And in charge of Chelsea, the retro diamond 442 also played the highest level of immediate combat power under his deployment.
Therefore, Ancelotti must have watched the live video twice within four hours of the end of this game. Zhang Lihua then received a call from Carlo Ancelotti at a celebration banquet held by Newcastle management.
It seems that this phone number was revealed to An Fat by Zidane. Last time in Saint-Etienne, Zidane casually received a fancy business card designed by Zhang Lihua himself.
Ancelotti first had to introduce himself, and then explain the purpose of the call - he actually wanted Zhang Lihua to participate in the "revival seminar held secretly by the Italian Football Association". It is said that the GEA members who used to control the Serie A transfer market have informed Zhang Lihua's godfather.
GEA (formerly Italy's largest football agency) is the Juventus Empire's Serie A artifact. Almost three-quarters of Serie A's players are registered with GEA – a resource that Moggi has in the palm of his hand.
Compared with the mysterious and benign development of the FSU, GEA's illegal operation is too obvious, and after Juventus was demoted, it was deliberately forgotten by the media. Unexpectedly, the Italian Football Federation has not officially left the control of GEA!
Zhang Lihua has now felt his weight. Not only does FSU want to woo him, but now even GEA and the forces behind Ancelotti want to maintain a secret friendship with him. Then he had to weigh the situation he was facing. There are some things that he sees very clearly, but he is reluctant to share with anyone. Even Himo and Suna are no exception.
At this moment, Suna sat on Zhang Lihua's lap, hugged his neck, and felt extremely happy and intoxicated.
Zhang Lihua's body was very warm, but no one could have predicted how lonely and cold his heart would be.
……
On the evening of Everton's unfortunate defeat against Newcastle United, David Moyes sent a message to Alex Ferguson in a frenzy. Early the next morning, Ferguson also sent a confidential letter from his personal mailbox.
Manchester City coach Roberto Mancini also telegraphed the club's top management after the game, signaling the Emirati giants to pay attention to Newcastle's top management in the transfer market.
It seems that the managers of several big clubs have inexplicable concerns about the level of Zhang Lihua's performance after taking over Newcastle, and Wenger is no exception.
The winter break for the rest of Europe's leagues has officially begun, and the Premier League will also enter the traditional devil's schedule. Arsenal are on the verge of a first-round draw against Newcastle in the second half of the league. At this time, the Gunners, who are in third place in the table, need to do a deep discussion on Newcastle's resurgence performance.
After the press conference on the big win over Wolves, Arsene Wenger summoned his confidants Cesc Fabregas and Robin van Persie to discuss the tactical plan for the next game.
Wenger's conversation with the captain and vice-captain should not be made public. At the end, Van Persie just said, "Don't worry, there are still two goals left before I can catch up with the scorers." I'm too little to get into two......"
It must be known that in this round of the league, Van Persie played a senior against Wolves, breaking the goal drought in three rounds of the league, and has accumulated 14 goals in the season. Ahead of him, Tevez has only 15 goals and Drogba, who has scored 16 goals in all competitions.