Reverse.

Chapter 42 Evil Fire
Sonny Dean, carrying a bag, hesitated at the door, then quietly looked into the locker room.

Fortunately, the king is not here!

Dean breathed a sigh of relief, but before he could finish his breath, a hand patted his shoulder from behind.

"What are you doing, Sonny?"

The voice of former first captain Elliot Goetz came from behind Dean.

"Ah? No, I didn't do anything..." Dean was frightened at first, then hurriedly explained.

"Nothing? Then why don't you go in? What are you looking at at the door?"

"It's just...it's boring. There's no rule in the team that we have to go in immediately upon arrival, right, captain?" Dean really didn't know what to say, so he could only make up excuses and act like a rogue.

"Not really," Goetz answered honestly.

Dean shrugged, "So."

Then he took the initiative: "I thought I was late enough, but I didn't expect you, Captain, to be even later than me, right? I didn't expect you, Captain, with your thick eyebrows and big eyes..."

Goetz interrupted his joke: "I just came back from extra practice."

"Ah? Extra practice?"

Dean was surprised, and then he saw that Goetz was indeed wearing training clothes, no backpack, and had sweat stains on his body, and he was even more surprised:
"Are you also like that...that stupid bird?"

"Vitini is your teammate, don't call him that, Dean." Goetz corrected Dean's words first, then shook his head and said, "I wasn't with Wang. I went to practice strength for a while by myself."

"You didn't do this before..."

"Because I also want to go to that bigger stage." After saying that, Goetz stopped chatting with Dean. He patted him on the shoulder, walked around him and went into the locker room.

Dean still didn't go in, but stood at the door, looking at the back of the former first captain in a daze.

※※※

Wang Lie had his back to the goal. After receiving the ball from Vitini, he knocked the ball directly into the empty space in front of Vitini's running route without stopping.

Then he turned and made a diagonal run towards the front of the goal.

Vitini caught up with the ball and swept it across the goal.

This pass was beyond Wang Lie's expectation. He didn't expect Vitini to pass the ball, so he didn't speed up quickly when he started. As a result, he could only speed up after seeing Vitini pass the ball. How could he make it in time?
Although he tried his best to chase it, and finally threw all his body weight out and tried to reach the ball with a tackling posture, he still couldn't touch it.

The football passed by his toes and was caught by goalkeeper Goetz who was blocking the front post.

Before Wang Lieren got up, he sat on the grass and turned to look for Vitini. He spread his hands and said to him, "What are you thinking about? Why did you pass the ball to me? Didn't you see my running position? I was running diagonally to the front point, just to take away the defender for you, so that there would be space in the middle. After you catch up with the ball and dribble to the middle, you would have the space and angle to shoot. But you passed it to me in front... Even if I catch up with the ball, I would have no shooting angle!"

Then he got up from the ground and pointed to the penalty spot and continued, "If I want to receive your pass and shoot, I won't really run to the front point, but will change the line to go there, and then you can pass it to the bottom and make an inverted triangle."

As he spoke, his tone became more severe: "Wake up, Vitini! Don't just focus on dribbling the ball, look around, pay more attention to your teammates' running positions, think carefully about why others run this way instead of that way... You can't become a superstar just by relying on fancy moves! The part above the neck is also important!"

The last few words were a bit harsh, and Goetz, who was holding the football, felt uncomfortable, as if Wang Lie was criticizing him... So he cast a worried look at Vitini.

He knew that Vitini was a fan of Wang Lie, but even a fan might not be able to bear being spoken of so harshly by his idol, right?
Not only him, many people also looked at Vitini at this time.

Apparently there were many people who shared his idea.

Being in public like this would seem to make Vitini even more embarrassed.

However, what everyone was worried about did not happen. After lowering his head and taking a few deep breaths, Vitini nodded to Wang Lie: "Yes!"

He didn't say "I understand, Wang" or "I'll work hard, Wang" as usual. He just said "hmm" and nodded. It was obvious that he was really uncomfortable with what his idol had just said.

Wang Lie didn't take it seriously, instead he praised: "Not bad, you can control your temper a little bit."

Vitini was a little surprised, and wanted to explain that he was not angry with his idol, but Wang Lie did not give him such an opportunity. He turned and ran away, leaving him with only his back.

※※※

During the corner kick attack tactical drill, assistant coach Varo pulled a few key players together and gave them instructions:

"Katic, you have to be in the middle, pretending to receive the ball. But when the corner kick comes out, you run forward from the middle. The same goes for Guendouzi, but you run backwards and cross with Wang."

Both central defenders nodded to show that they understood.

Then Varo said to Wang Lie: "And you, Wang, you run from the back point to the middle to grab this landing point."

Wang Lie said, "Okay."

This is one of the corner kick attack tactics, allowing two central defenders to cover Wang Lie.

In other corner kick tactics, Wang Lie is also asked to cover the central defender.

The specific tactics used in the game depends on the opponent's defensive strategy.

After giving the instructions, Varo left the penalty area, came to head coach McNeil, and blew the whistle in his mouth.

In the penalty area, the two main central defenders stood in the middle with their hands raised, which was the most eye-catching. They were like the World Trade Center Twin Towers and could not be ignored.

As the whistle sounded, the two central defenders Katic and Guendouzi actively pressed towards the goal, physically confronting the opponent's defensive players, creating the appearance that they were going to suppress the opponent's defenders and compete for headers.

But when the football was kicked out by Van Ginkel, the two people "scattered", one went forward and the other ran backward.

At this time, Wang Lie, who was lying in ambush at the back point, made a circle from the outside, bypassed the area with the most dense crowd, and switched positions with the retreating central defender Gunduzzi.

However, Van Ginkel did not kick the ball well. The ball he kicked drew an arc and eventually got closer than expected... to the goalkeeper!
Goalkeeper Elliot Goetz looked at the football flying towards him and simply jumped up to grab the ball.

As a result, Wang Lie, who had taken a long detour, suddenly accelerated and jumped towards him!

Goetz's attention was all on the football at this time, and he didn't see Wang Lie at all.

He jumped up on the spot according to the original rhythm and raised his hands...

Then a black shadow flashed out from his blind spot and blocked his way!

Then, before he could get his hands on the ball, he headed the flying football towards the goal!

At the same time, the two people collided.

Goetz lost his balance and fell to the ground.

Wang Lie was not much better than him.

After the collision, he fell backwards and landed hard on his butt.

But compared to his own butt, he was more concerned about whether the ball went into the goal.

Seeing the ball in the goal, he stretched out his arm to Goetz and asked with concern: "Are you okay?"

Grinning, Goetz took the hand Wang Lie extended: "I'm fine. What about you? How are you?"

"I'm fine too."

Then they helped each other pull up.

The two of them were talking to each other here, but the people around them were stunned.

Is it that intense?
Aren't they worried about getting hurt?
Even assistant coach Valo turned to ask McNeill: "Didn't this ball hit the goalkeeper?"

McNeill shook his head: "Then VAR may need to intervene to see if Goetz touched the ball first. If Wang headed the ball in before Goetz, it would be hard to say..."

Varo disagreed: "Regardless of whether he hit the ball first or not, the collision was too scary. The referee should have directly called the whistle for Wang Chong hitting the goalkeeper."

After that, he blew the whistle and reminded loudly: "Pay attention to your movements! This is training!"

Wang Lie turned around and made an apologetic gesture to Varro.

Varro then said to McNeill, "I don't know if it was your blunt words last night that irritated him, or if it was Dean's 'ignorance' that angered him, but Wang was like an angry bull in training today."

"Maybe it's both." McNeill also noticed that Wang Lie was different today. "Actually, I support Wang, but I really can't do anything about Dean. It's not like before, when the head coach could protect the players under his wings and prevent them from being exposed to malicious intent and pressure. Now everyone has a mobile phone, and as long as he opens his phone to surf the Internet, he can see thousands of comments scolding him... How can he protect him?"

"How was Dean today?"

"That's it, just like he usually is. Not bad, but definitely not good either. It's just like a routine, just mechanically completing our training tasks."

After hearing this, assistant coach Varo couldn't help but shake his head, and felt the same helplessness as his partner.

※※※

Since the 22nd round of the league, the next two weeks have both the League Cup semi-finals and the FA Cup fourth and fourth round make-up games, so the Premier League is temporarily suspended. And because Tyne was eliminated early in both the FA Cup and the League Cup, the excitement of the next two weeks has nothing to do with them.

Tyne suddenly had nearly two weeks of rest time.

This is why Wang Lie went to McNeill for advice at this time. Because once the advice is adopted, the team can take this opportunity to do targeted training, and they have plenty of time to adjust and transform.

There is no need to practice intermittently in a series of intensive competitions.

As a result, Dean disagreed to change the position or the playing style, and his "clever plan" came to nothing.

If it weren't for his wife's comfort, Wang Lie really would not be able to suppress his anger. He might really find Dean during training, force him into a corner, and question him in front of everyone.

Even with his wife's comfort, Wang Lie still had a raging evil fire burning in his heart, burning him and making him feel uncomfortable.

※※※

Two weeks passed quickly.

During this period, Sherwood United, who eliminated Sofia United, reached the League Cup final, where their opponent was East London United.

The fact that two teams that are not giants met in the League Cup final has proved to some extent that the League Cup is really not in the eyes of giants nowadays. Any capable team will not focus their main energy on the League Cup.

Even competing for the FA Cup is better than the League Cup...

All matches in the fourth round of the FA Cup have also ended.

Wang Lie's former club Sofia United encountered difficulties in the third round of the FA Cup and had to play a make-up game to get through. But in the fourth round, they won easily.

Two consecutive victories in the league and FA Cup successfully silenced the previous criticisms of Sven Heldon.

I have to say that this Swedish man has some luck.

The previous two consecutive league defeats have already caused voices of dismissal to be heard all over Manchester.

As a result, we have now won two games in a row and are back on track.

After the League Cup and FA Cup games, the league is back on track.

On Saturday, February 14, Tyne challenged Bournemouth Athletic away, and Wang Lie was once again included in the match roster.

Because it was an away game, he went with the team to Bournemouth in the southwest corner of Great Britain after training on Friday.

Saturday, the day of the game, is Chinese New Year's Eve.

Although Wang Lie was not at home, Tang Xingmei still went to the Chinese supermarket to buy a lot of things, carefully prepared a large table of sumptuous New Year's Eve dinner, and made dumplings. While eating with her two children, she watched the game on TV which kicked off at 6:30 pm Greenwich Mean Time.

Wang Lie was included in the roster for two consecutive games, but also did not start for two consecutive games.

In the first half, Tyne and Bournemouth Athletic, who played away, drew 1:1.

Bournemouth Athletic scored the first goal, but it was not until the injury time of the first half that Tayne equalized the score with a header from center back Matej Katic in a corner kick.

This time, McNeill did not wait until the opponent gained momentum in the second half before making a substitution. He replaced Wang Lie during the half-time break.

Wang Lie's appearance also brought a stronger festive atmosphere to his home in Northumberland, Tyne, and countless fan families in China.

Everyone hopes that Wang Lie can give everyone a New Year gift package by scoring a goal like he did in the last game.

However, this time after Wang Lie came on as a substitute, he did not score a goal.

He had two good chances, one was too straight and the other hit the post, so he missed the goal.

But despite not scoring a goal, it cannot be said that his performance was bad.

The changes that Wang Lie brought to Tyne's offense after coming on the court were immediate.

With him standing in front of the opponent's penalty area, Tyne's ideas were clearer and more confident when attacking, and he dared to invest more manpower in the attack.

And although he didn't score a goal, he did have an assist!
In the 69th minute, he jumped in the penalty area and passed the flying ball to Van Ginkel who came from behind.

This time the Dutch midfielder did not waste the opportunity he created. He volleyed the ball into the goal!

It was also thanks to this goal that Tyne beat Bournemouth Athletic 2:1 away from home and won two consecutive league victories!

Until the very last moment of the game, Wang Lie was still pursuing opportunities to score goals, but unfortunately he was unlucky today and always fell short of scoring chances.

When the final whistle blew, you could still see the regret and unwillingness on Wang Lie's face through the close-up shots on the TV broadcast.

"Wang failed to score any more goals in this game. He seemed not very satisfied with his performance. After all, he didn't score a goal... But you don't have to be so hard on yourself, Wang."

said England commentator Conor Cowley.

"Even if you didn't score, your performance was already very good. You're going to be 38 soon, and a player who's going to be 38 can still contribute two goals and one assist in the last two games... What else can we ask for?

"But Wang is not satisfied, so... this is Wang. This is Wang, the warrior who is always eager for goals and victory. Putting aside the true and false rumors about him in Sofia, a veteran can still have such an attitude. Doesn't he deserve respect from all of us?"

After Wang Lie scored twice for Tyne, the negative media comments surrounding him gradually decreased, and the praises for him increased.

Commentator Connor Cowley is just a typical example, and there are many similar praises on the Internet.

Wang Lie’s fans can finally breathe a sigh of relief and feel proud.

And those who hated Wang Lie felt as sad as if their own parents had died. They either kept their malice towards Wang Lie to themselves or vented their emotions in dark places like the sewers.

Therefore, competitive sports, especially professional football, is still a game where the strong are respected.

Behave well and everything you say is right.

If you don't perform well, even your breathing will be wrong.

Moreover, in today's fast-paced life, it often only takes one game to measure whether a player's performance is good or bad. People don't have enough patience to use the comprehensive performance of four or five games, or even half a season or a season to judge whether a player's performance is good or bad.

If you perform well in a game, you will be immediately praised to the sky, as if you were the king of football.

If he performs poorly in the next game, he will be scolded and become a clown working in a factory.

Some people may just be joking, but more people really believe it - the performance of a game is enough to determine the life or death of a player.

For the players, it was like they were trying to please an unpredictable tyrant. Living with a tyrant is like living with a tiger.

It is no wonder that more and more professional players are experiencing psychological problems, and news of abnormal performance due to psychological problems frequently appears in the newspapers.

After Wang Lie came on as a substitute, he missed two scoring opportunities, which made many of Wang Lie's fans nervous, fearing that Wang Lie would become the target of public criticism again after the game.

Fortunately, he later helped the team win the game with an assist, which gave him a chance to breathe again...

Since joining Tyne, Wang Lie has played as a substitute twice, scored two goals, assisted one goal, and helped the team win all the games. Moreover, these two goals and one assist were all key goals that turned the tide and determined the outcome of the game.

With such performance, no matter how shameless the haters are, they cannot say that he performed poorly.

After the first game, there were still some people who insisted that the performance in one game could not prove anything.

Now in the second game, although Wang Lie did not score a goal, he did have an assist, and it was the assist for the winning goal.

If anyone still says that Wang Lie's performance is poor given this kind of performance, it will only make people laugh at him. He will not be able to win any support and may even be backfired upon.

Just like Mr. Kofi Rossiter - the media broke the news that the management of Hlingham FC was very dissatisfied with Rossiter's behavior of leaking internal information without the club's permission and making controversial remarks without authorization, which affected the club's image. Although his performance as a leader was good, it was not ruled out that he might be dismissed before the end of the season.

He is really becoming synonymous with the clown now...

In comparison, professional "Wang Hei" Lawrence Dadomo is much smarter. Ever since Wang Lie scored twice, he has remained silent about Wang Lie's performance.

Obviously, a real black player never plays against the wind. He is waiting, waiting for the next wind.

When Wang Lie performs poorly, he will jump out and show his teeth.

In his opinion, this opportunity will come soon - in the next round of the league, Tyne will face Scots at home.

Previously, whether it was Hurlingham FC or Bournemouth Athletic, they were not strong enough to cause trouble for Wang Lie.

The Scouse are different.

Now ranked third in the league, the season goal of the Scouse team is not to participate in the Champions League next season, but to compete for the league championship.

They are strong enough, and they have "personal grudges" with Wang Lie, so they will never let him off easily.

That game was the real “good show”!
(End of this chapter)