At the end of the week, the eighteenth round of the league began.

Wigan Athletic's opponents are Reading, a team founded back in 1871 and a full half century older than Wigan Athletic, but they have spent most of their long history in the lower leagues and in the first division for nearly a decade.

Reading have hired head coach Koper this season, and their performance has improved since his arrival, and they are now becoming more and more consistent, second only to Wigan Athletic in the league.

With three draws, Wigan Athletic dropped to sixth in the league standings, while Reading moved seventh.

In this game, Zhang Tiehan still got the chance to start.

Although Zhang Tiehan got few chances without scoring in three games, Jewell still chose to trust Zhang Tiehan, after all, Zhang Tiehan only scored in three games, he can attract a lot of attention from the opponent in the frontcourt, even if he doesn't score, he can create a good situation for the team.

In the three games, even if they are all draws, the opponents can only play defensive counterattacks, and they can't play against Wigan Athletic normally, and that kind of game is still quite favorable to the team.

Sure enough, Zhang Tiehan was still closely defended by the opponent, and it was difficult for him to play anything, and with his strong body, he looked very tired after halftime.

At the end of the first half, the two teams were tied 0-0.

Jewell was disappointed, he originally thought that Zhang Tiehan attracted the defense, and other players would have opportunities, such as Erlington, such as Makarocchi, who likes to insert, and then the core Riedel, but in the face of Reading's strict defense, others have no good chances at all.

If it goes on like this, it's back to the rhythm of the first three games.

Jewell hesitated, but ultimately decided to replace midfielder Jimmy Bullard with Jove Holyfield.

Jove Holyfield is a player on loan from Birmingham City in the summer, and is the only high school striker in the previous team, Holyfield comes on to replace a midfielder, so Zhang Tiehan has to retreat a little, or even behind Riddle, and continue to play in the original midfield.

Zhang Tiehan was a little unwilling, but he could only retreat to defend.

This simple change has brought Wigan Athletic back to the formation they were a month and a half ago, with Holyfield up front to help attract firepower, and Macarlochi, Riddle, Ellington, and even the two full-backs Barnes and the veteran Matt Jackson will all have some pre-emptive positions...... The price is that Zhang Tiehan is in charge of defense.

"Zhang, your offensive ability is very strong, but the opponent's marking of you is too tight, and the rest of the defense will be empty, so our attack is limited......" Jewell explained to Zhang Tiehan from a tactical point of view.

Zhang Tiehan was a little unwilling, but thinking about the coach letting him retreat, re-playing the back waist, and explaining it in particular, this is already very good.

Jeville believes in himself and is sincere at the same time, what more could he ask for in order to win this game?

But when I really get my long-range shots done, even if I'm a midfielder.

Midfielders can get in for headers, they can get to the opposition half, they don't play too far forward, they don't go back, they have a lot of opportunities to shoot from distance, they can be more involved in the team's defense, and they can play their defensive talents.

Maybe this position is more suitable for me.

When the second half of the game began, the Reading team was surprised to find that the opponent's No. 13 returned to the defensive position, and the head coach Koper specially told him to defend Zhang Tiehan before the game, but the opponent went to his own half to become a 'defensive player', so it was impossible to mark the whole field.

Some of them breathed a sigh of relief, some of them were overwhelmed.

Even the head coach Koper felt a little inexplicable in the coach's seat, and then he remembered that it seemed that the opponent was originally a midfielder, a defensive midfielder, and he had only stayed in the forward position for a month.

But this ......

Koper didn't know what was going on for a while, the other party changed positions, should he be particularly targeted? He didn't know what to say.

As a result, Wigan Athletic took advantage of the opportunity to score a goal, and it was substitute centre-forward Joff Holyfield.

With this goal, Wigan Athletic won by one goal away at Reading.

"Obviously, Jewell was unhappy with Zhang's performance and he had to get back into a defensive position...... "TV announcer Campbell said.

'Holyfield, who came in for him, was even better and scored the only goal.

If you haven't watched the game and don't know Zhang Tiehan, you must agree with this sentence when you hear it. Zhang Tiehan didn't score, Holyfield scored the only goal, and the latter certainly performed better than the former.

But in fact, when Zhang Tiehan was in the front, at least two players on the other side looked at him deadly, and Holyfield was unguarded when he scored.

Even in the second half, Wigan Athletic's attack did not improve much, otherwise Holyfield would not have scored only one goal.

Zhang Tiehan returned to the back to be a little more active, and he had two long-range chances in the second half, one of which hit the post and almost changed the score.

Compared with the two, it is obvious that Zhang Tiehan performed better.

But reporters don't care so much, some of them don't even watch the whole game, they just evaluate a player, especially compared with the hat at Stamford Bridge last month, Zhang Tiehan's performance can really be said to be a mess.

"Where's your state!?

After the game, a reporter stood in the mixed area and wanted to interview Zhang Tiehan, but Zhang Tiehan laughed directly with his teammates and left, and the reporter yelled at Zhang Tiehan dissatisfied.

But it must be admitted that Holyfield's goal was by no means good news for Zhang Tiehan.

According to the media's evaluation, Zhang Tiehan doesn't need to worry about his starting position, after all, his defense is also good, at least he can be a defensive midfielder.

In the center, Jewell has more options.

Holyfield's ability to score a goal is a testament to his good form in recent times, and although he is only a loan player, Wigan Athletic need more than a win.

One is Holyfield, who is in very good shape, and the other is Zhang Tiehan, who has not scored in four games, and it is clear who to choose as a striker.

After the game, many media reports on Zhang Tiehan also explained their views--

"He doesn't have offensive talent, he has to defend."

"His personal characteristics are too obvious, which is not conducive to the team's attack, and Wigan Athletic, with him as the center of gravity of the striker, has dropped a notch in attacking ability."

"Zhang is still good at defending, and the Stamford Bridge hat can only be a memory."

All kinds of reports are very unfavorable to Zhang Tiehan, but Zhang Tiehan doesn't care about these, he has seen through the face of the media.

"If you play well, he will tout, if you play poorly, he will be sarcastic, and as long as you can get the attention of the fans, they will always do it." Matt Jackson, a veteran who once played in the Premier League, comforted Zhang Tiehan.

What he said was exactly what Zhang Tiehan thought.

Back at the club, he threw himself back into training, and in his daily training he spends a lot of time training on his long-range shooting ability.

At the end of his daily training, he had to practice alone for more than two hours every day.

He doesn't train by himself, he will always find someone to accompany him, otherwise a person's training progress is not obvious, sometimes it is Ridell, sometimes it is Bregin, sometimes it is Beronte, the team knows Zhang Tiehan's training, they are called monsters, even Holyfield, who competes with him for the position, can only bow down when it comes to Zhang Tiehan's training.

This also inspired many teammates to see Zhang Tiehan's hard work and work harder in daily training, and Leighton Barnes also took a special day to try Zhang Tiehan's training level - he didn't do that the next day.

Day by day training, Zhang Tiehan's improvement is visible to the naked eye.

Others didn't think much, but he has the power of ancient power, and his control over his body is very high, and he can clearly feel his improvement, such as in the position of 20 meters from the goal, Ridell's ordinary pass, he can shoot more than six times out of ten, and this also includes the situation that some passing angles are not suitable for direct shots.

……

Zhang Tiehan held back his hard training.

But he is not the only one who has worked hard, and recently Dale has been training with him more often, and Ridell has been training with him for three consecutive days.

Ridell is twenty-five years old, and it's hard to improve at this age with training, but Ridell still came.

Zhang Tiehan was a little strange, he went to ask Bregin.

'We play Everton next week. Brekin replied.

"And then? Andy comes to training if he wants to win, it's impossible! ”

"Until then, he didn't dare go to nightclubs."

"For what?" Zhang Tiehan asked, and he almost knew the Tao in his heart.

According to the analysis of various things he knows, he understands Ridell's current love situation, and the 'Aunt Dali' who is in love with him needs time to think calmly, so she set the time for her reply to be after the game with Everton, as for what wins and losses, it is just a joke.

Ridell didn't say anything, he was very concerned in his heart, he insisted on not going to the nightclub, just didn't want Dali to worry.

But what else can you do if you don't go to a nightclub?

For normal people, there are many things that can be done, and Zhang Tiehan can also train by himself, otherwise he can watch TV news at home, and even play games on the computer...... But Ridel, who has been in nightclubs for a few years, really doesn't know what to do.

With Ridell accompanying him to train, Zhang Tiehan felt that he had improved faster.

Feeling his own improvement, thinking of the sarcasm of those media reporters, Zhang Tiehan said fiercely, "Wait, Lao Tzu will surprise you!" ”

Say that Lao Tzu is not suitable for attack?

Can only defend?

Lao Tzu will use a lot of goals to slap your cheeks!!

PS: New week, ask for recommendation tickets!