Chapter 63: The Doll Army
"Yo, it looks like the big guy had a great time the night before!"
Van Ake appeared on the training ground and watched the players play around, and his face was immediately full of smiles.
Genius is not scary, because football is all about teamwork. Even if you stack your team with eleven geniuses and can't fit them together as a team, you'll end up with failure!
Real Madrid, which has gathered seven of football's biggest stars, is still unable to guarantee a league title, which is a good example.
There is no need to lament mediocrity, because there is always a team that will have a place for you, as long as you can stick to it.
If you want to build a tiger and wolf army, you must not only keep the players always in pursuit and desire for victory, but more importantly, let them know how to sacrifice. So the basis for a team to win is unity.
A united team is the most terrible thing.
After most of the season, Antwerp is taking firm steps in this direction.
The fight stopped because of Van Ake's presence and training began.
Although a league game is about to be played, the joy of beating Bill Shot still hangs over the training ground. So before the game against Ronse, the players spent two days on the training ground with ease.
After training the day before the match, Yu Liang and his teammates attended the usual pre-match press conference.
Antwerp successfully qualified for the semi-finals of the Cup by defeating Bierchhot, and Antwerp successfully attracted the attention of major Belgian media, and at this time, the press hall was crowded with reporters from major Belgian media.
As the biggest contributor to Antwerp's promotion to the semi-finals of the Cup, Yu Liang attracted the attention of reporters as soon as he appeared. After Yu Liang sat down, many reporters immediately raised their hands to ask questions.
The press officer directly ordered Shock, and at the press conference in Antwerp, it had become a habit!
"After tomorrow's game, the second stage of the league will be over, and in the first two phases we have lost our place in the promotion play-offs! Looking at the current league total, we are 12 points away from the top of the table and still retain the possibility of winning the league. In this case, we still have two ways to upgrade, one is to win the league championship and promote directly; The second is to win the third stage of the league to get a place in the promotion play-offs, and then get promoted through the play-offs! If you were given a choice, which way would you choose to upgrade? β
After listening to Xiao Ke's question, Yu Liang laughed directly.
"Of course, it's to win the league championship and get promoted!"
When Yu Liang said this, the reporters in the venue were immediately in an uproar. Immediately, someone wanted to raise their hand to ask a question, but was interrupted by Yu Liang.
"But we're 12 points away from the top of the table, and although we still have thirteen rounds left, there's no denying it's a huge gap and we're going to work for it! Every subsequent race is important for us and we will do our best to achieve the best result! β
"After being tackled off in the sixth round of the league against Ronse, the team's results were very unsatisfactory, and after you came back, the team immediately had two big wins in the league, do you think the team will not be able to qualify for the promotion play-offs in these two stages, and your absence has anything to do with it?"
After Yu Liang finished answering Xiao Ke's question, another reporter immediately stood up.
"It doesn't matter, the team doesn't leave a player and can't function! We had a lot of difficulties during that time, but now we are gradually coming out of it, so we have won! β
'Because of the injury, you made five league appearances and contributed five assists and a goal in total. In the cup game against Biershot, you also provided two assists and scored a goal. Seven assists and two goals in six games, you've been doing so well, have you ever thought about coming back to Manchester United at the end of the season and playing for them in the Premier League? β
Listening to the reporter in front of him tell this series of data, Yu Liang realized that his performance in Belgium was so good.
"I'm very happy to have achieved such a good result here, and to be able to achieve such a result would not have been possible without the support of the team. I'm thankful for everything and I'm very happy here. But I belong to Manchester United and I will come back to Manchester United eventually. As for whether I can return to Manchester United at the end of the season and play for Manchester United in the Premier League, I don't think it's up to me, as I can't get a labour certificate at the moment! β
"Hello, I'm Davey, a reporter from the evening newspaper, tomorrow you will play against Ronse, and you will play against Jan again in the match. The last time he sidelined you for three or four months with a serious injury, when you play again, will you make some retaliatory moves in the game? Will you get your revenge in the game? β
"Of course there will be revenge!"
Yu Liang's words once again caused an uproar in the audience, and everyone looked at Yu Liang with surprised eyes.
"But I'm not going to retaliate in the game, I'm going to beat him in the game, beat him with football!"
The grievances on the football field can only be solved with football, and Yu Liang's words were recognized by the reporters, and there was a burst of applause in the stadium.
After the press conference, Yu Liang left the club directly.
Because the match against Roncer started at 3 p.m., the Antwerp club bus was carrying the players to Roncer before 10 a.m. the next morning.
Ronser is located in western Belgium, on the border between the Fleming Region and the Walloon Provinces, just 90 kilometres from Antwerp.
It was originally more than an hour away, but because of traffic jams, the team bus took three hours to reach Longse.
As a result, it was already one o'clock in the afternoon when we arrived at Ronse, and it was only two hours before the start of the race.
According to the original plan, the team was able to reach Longse at eleven o'clock, and there were still more than three hours before the game. This way the players can get a good rest after lunch.
But now the traffic jam not only delays the players' meal time, but also directly deprives the players of their rest time.
After a hasty lunch in a restaurant, the players went straight to the pitch's locker room.
At this time, it was less than an hour before the start of the game.
After a ten-minute break in the dressing room, Van Ake drove his players straight to the pitch to warm up.
After a long bumpy ride, the players are already tired and are more prone to injury if they don't warm up adequately.
Time doesn't wait for them, and the game starts shortly after they warm up and return to the dressing room.
Although this game does not have much impact on the standings of the second stage of the league, it does have a great impact on the overall points standings of the league, and three points can sometimes decide the fate of a team.
However, Van Ake did not field the full squad in this game.
At the back, the centre-backs were partnered by Evans and Christopher, with Horfat and Lart splitting the flanks.
In midfield, Yu Liang, Nigalola, Darren Gibson and Suleimani lined up.
The forward line is Dong Wang and Campbell partner.
The goalkeeper position is Serbian and Montenegro goalkeeper Predrager Ristovik, who has not made a single appearance for most of the season.
When the Antwerp squad appeared in the stadium, the Ronse fans in the stadium immediately burst into laughter.
"Isn't that old man Van Ack useless, and he actually let a group of children come to the competition!"
"Could it be that Antwerp is trying to win the game with a bunch of dolls?"
The average age of the squad, which was built up by the players on loan from Manchester United, is no more than 23 years old. In this average age, there is also the credit of Serbian and Montenegro goalkeeper RisovΓk, and apart from him, there is no one in the entire squad who is more than 25 years old.
With all six players from Manchester United's front line in their mid-twenties, it's no wonder that Ronse's fans are laughing at the Antwerp Dolls.
The reason why Van Ake made such an arrangement in this game is so that the players who joined in the winter can get better run-in and training. Although it was not possible to achieve great results in one game, it was difficult for him to make such a big change to the starting line-up in the third phase of the next league, so this game became a rare opportunity for these players to perform.
They who started this game, of course, understand this truth.
Although they didn't have a good rest after a long bumpy ride, they still showed super attacking ability after the start of the game.
In less than ten minutes into the opening game, Suremani's cross assisted King Dong to tear open the door of the Ronse team. increased his league goal tally to thirteen.
After the goal, King Dong was very excited, because his brace against Deniz in the previous round allowed him to successfully surpass Wasland's goalscorer Aris to the top of the scorers' charts. This current goal will undoubtedly help him secure his position at the top of the scorer charts.
In the 22nd round of the league, King Dong scored 13 goals, and such a performance was undoubtedly a success for him.
This kind of performance will definitely give him a huge boost to return to Manchester United.
So after the excited King Dong came to Suleimani's side, he not only hugged the double teammate, but also kissed Suleimani's face directly.
Such a crazy celebration appeared on the shy King Dong, which shows how excited he is.
After the goal, Antwerp played more unrestrained, and in front of the young baby army, the Ronse team was suppressed and powerless.
In the end, in this game, Antwerp relied on the goals of King Dong, Campbell and Christopher, won all three points on the road, and ended the second stage of the league with three consecutive wins.
When everyone in Antwerp celebrated this victory, Yu Liang, who was sitting on the sidelines, looked at the ice pack wrapped around his left ankle and frowned!