Chapter 671 Phobia of insufficient goals
Including the transit time, after twenty hours of journey, Hu Lai finally arrived in London, where he met Yong Jun who took him home.
"Thank you for your hard work, Hu Lai."
Yong Jun took the luggage cart from Hu Lai.
"It's okay, Uncle Yong..." Hu Lai said this, but the fatigue on his face could not be concealed. In fact, he is not sleepy now, but he still feels tired.
The main reason is not that I am physically tired, but that I am mentally tired.
He can use [Stamina Potion] to relieve physical fatigue and recover, but for mental fatigue, that thing is useless.
The physical torture of the journey is far less severe than the mental torture.
Even if he was flying first class, he wouldn't be able to get enough consistent rest and sleep like he would at home. Not to mention the psychological depression caused by a small and crowded space.
When you go out, the human body will maintain a relatively excited and tense state from beginning to end due to the stress response of self-protection, which also makes it difficult for people to have a good rest.
"Has your boss told you when training will take place tomorrow?"
"He allowed me to return to the team in the afternoon."
"Okay, then you can rest at home."
When Hu Lai arrived in London, England, it was already past 11 noon local time on Thursday.
Yong Jun and Hu Lai had a quick lunch in London and then drove directly back to their home in Leeds.
On the way, he also took the time to make a video call to his mother, telling his parents that he had arrived in London and that his agent, Uncle Yong, was here to pick him up and asked them not to worry.
Then he started chatting with Li Qingqing on WeChat without saying a word.
"The national team performed well. Now that Director Shi has firmly secured his position as head coach, you should be relieved, right?"
"Don't worry...but it's still a bit regretful..."
"What are you sorry for?"
"The women's football team and the men's football team don't play in the same place, otherwise we could still have a smooth ride back. You don't know how uncomfortable it is to not even have a single person to talk to on the plane..."
"Hey, it sounds like I haven't been on a plane for more than ten hours back to Paris..."
……
Yong Jun was driving in front and saw Hu Lai playing with his mobile phone through the rearview mirror. The light from the mobile phone screen reflected on the corners of his raised mouth.
The corners of his mouth also turned up.
※※※
In the 32nd round of the league, Leeds City challenged Abion away.
Although in the physical examination after returning to the team, Hu Lai's physical fitness was fine. But taking into account factors such as the time difference and for insurance purposes, Tony Clark still did not put Hu Lai in the starting lineup.
Instead, he was brought on as a substitute in the second half.
After playing, Hu Lai's performance in the game was indeed not good. It can be seen that he was indeed affected by traveling back and forth for tens of thousands of kilometers.
The whole person was not excited enough during the game.
Fortunately, Leeds City defeated Abion 1:0 away from home and got three valuable points.
A week later, on Saturday, April 5, Leeds City hosted Wardhampton at home.
Hu Lai started in this game, played the entire game, and also scored a goal.
His goal helped Leeds beat Wardhampton 3:1.
After winning two consecutive games, Leeds City has risen to 13th in the standings and seems to be far away from the relegation zone.
But in fact this is not safe.
Sure enough, in the thirty-fourth round of the league, Leeds City lost 1:3 to the Highlanders away from home.
The league ranking dropped from 131st to 16th.
Fortunately, Glamorgan, the 18th-placed team in the league, lost 0:2 to Burley in this round, so Leeds City was not caught up.
With four league games remaining, Leeds City have 38 points, eight points ahead of 18th-placed Glamorgan.
There is still hope for relegation.
As a result, in the 35th round of the league, Leeds City tied with 12th-ranked Boscombe 3:3 at their home court.
The two teams held high the offensive banner and started an offensive battle.
Leeds City once led 3:1 in the game, but Boscombe chased two goals in the last fifteen minutes, setting the score at 3:3...
Leeds City failed to win against Boscombe at home, but Glamorgan won at home.
As a result, the point difference between the two teams changed from eight points to six points,
Although there is one Abion between the two teams, Leeds City's relegation situation has become less optimistic than before.
With three games left in the league, they are only six points ahead of 18th-placed Glamorgan, which is indeed an uncomfortable point difference.
After leading the team to two consecutive wins, there was some praise for Tony Clark in the media. Especially Leeds City defeated Wardhampton 3:1 at home. The score was beautiful and the scene was beautiful.
But now Clark's good days in the media are over.
The local media in Leeds criticized his tactics after taking a three-goal lead as being too risky and not safe enough.
When Boscombe rewrote the score to 2:3, Leeds City was still one goal ahead. It stands to reason that as long as they adjust their tactics in time and let the team shrink their defense, they still have a great chance of holding on to the 3:2 score. field.
But Tony Clark didn't do that. Instead, he allowed the team to continue attacking and tried to turn the lead back into two goals.
The result of this was to allow Boscombe to score another goal and finally take a point away from the Flanders Stadium.
At the post-match press conference, faced with reporters' questioning, Tony Clark explained this: "...I think when they scored the second goal, their defense was unstable because they all All the personnel are involved in the attack. Under such circumstances, if we strengthen our attack, we have a chance to re-expand our lead. It's just that Boscom has better luck than us. , they scored before us... it’s that simple.”
At this point, Clark spread his hands and shook his head.
To him, it was that simple. He didn't think there was anything wrong with his tactics and strategic choices, it was just that he was not lucky enough.
And football is like this, sometimes luck plays a big role.
Your tactics are correct and the players are in excellent condition, but the opponent is just luckier than you, so the final result may be that you lose the game.
This game was okay, at least Leeds didn’t lose...
"So Mr. Clark, you think you have nothing to reflect on?" a reporter asked bluntly and bluntly.
"Of course." Clark nodded and said sincerely, "Next time we should lead by more goals to be safer."
The press conference was filled with low laughter and sighs at the same time.
The reporter who asked the question stood there and shook his head helplessly, not knowing what to say.
Tony Clark, a head coach they didn't know well enough before, has repeatedly become the focus of media reports for such reasons since he took charge of the Premier League team Leeds City.
It cannot be said that he is unruly. In fact, most of the time he is amiable in his dealings with others.
It can only be said that he has extraordinary stubbornness and persistence in his football style.
Someone investigated his coaching experience at Hammond Castle and found that he was normal in the early stages of that team, but in the later stages, his "short-goal phobia" became more and more obvious.
Being one goal ahead is the most dangerous score in the world.
Being two goals ahead means we are just one step away from the most dangerous scoreline in the world.
You should feel safe with a three-goal lead, right?
No, it depends on the circumstances.
If you lead by three goals in the first half, it may cause the players to become relaxed in the second half, giving the opponent an opportunity to take advantage of it.
So how many goals ahead is considered safe?
No.
In Tony Clark's eyes, there is no such thing as "safety".
He is always thinking about when he will lose the ball, so he must score more goals and score more goals.
When is the end?
His heart can't rest until the final whistle blows and his team finally wins the game.
It is also for this reason that his coaching performance at Hammond Castle in the later period was ups and downs. When the team performed well, they could win five consecutive games, as if no team in the world could stop their progress. But once the state is in a slump, or it may be five games without a win, everyone can lose.
I originally thought that he would restrain himself after coaching the Premier League team, but unexpectedly he seemed to intensify...
Some people shook their heads - with such a head coach, Leeds City fans are really miserable. This season is like riding a roller coaster, and is suddenly thrown into the clouds, just like the previous three consecutive victories. After a while, he was hit hard from the cloud to the ground, just like now.
They can beat the seventh-placed team in the league and shake hands with teams ranked close to them.
To be honest, in the eyes of these media reporters, Leeds City's performance did not look like a relegation team at all. No relegation team can be so open, unless they don’t want to be relegated, but just want to be promoted to the Premier League and die after having fun...
Hu Lai also accepted an interview with a Chinese reporter after the game, asking him what he thought of the team's loss of good games and the head coach's tactical arrangements.
Hu Lai said: "It is really a pity not to win. Next time we will try to score before they score."
The Chinese reporters quickly said: "It's not Hu Lai... We are all our own people here, and domestic reports cannot reach the UK. You don't have to worry about letting the head coach know what you said..."
They thought Hu Lai was worried about trouble from the head coach, so he chose to maintain the same tone as the head coach in front of the media.
Unexpectedly, Hu Lai shook his head and said seriously: "I'm not saying this to defend the boss. I think the solution to the controversy in the media is actually very simple - as long as we can score more goals, it won't be a problem." ”
Seeing that everyone was a little surprised, Hu Lai explained with a smile: "I am a forward. Of course I support a head coach who is willing to do his best to attack from the bottom of my heart! Otherwise, how could I get a chance under the boss so quickly? What?”
The reporters were lost in thought, because they felt that what Hu Lai said was quite reasonable... If Tony Clark was a conservative head coach, or a head coach that emphasized defense, how could he give Hu Lai such a How many opportunities?
First of all, when recruiting, he may not bring in a forward, but will choose a midfielder or defender.
Secondly, without paying attention to offense, it is impossible from a tactical level to allow the team to invest more troops in offense to support Hu Lai. Many times, Hu Lai may be forced to fight alone. In that case, his performance will definitely be far worse than it is now, and he may even have only a handful of opportunities to play.
So there is nothing wrong with Hu Lai supporting Tony Clark's tactical style.
Someone reacted first and asked: "But Hu Lai, with Clark's tactical thinking, the team's performance has fluctuated greatly. It is hard to say whether it can avoid relegation. What if it is relegated?"
Hu Lai curled his lips: "We are six points ahead of the 18th-placed Glamorgan. As long as we win one more game in the next three league rounds, we can avoid relegation, right?"
When everyone thinks about it, it seems to be the case.
In the final round of the league, Leeds City will face Hudes, who have been relegated in advance, at home. This team is weak and Leeds City is playing at home. As long as they can win against this opponent, even if Glamorgan wins all three games and the two teams have the same points, Leeds City can overwhelm their opponents and stay in the Premier League with their goal difference advantage.
After all, Leeds City currently has a goal difference of minus 18, while Glamorgan has a goal difference of minus 35. With such a huge goal difference, it is really difficult to be tied in three rounds of the league.
All right. Even if Leeds City manages to stay in the Premier League this season, if they don't change their playing style, life in the Premier League will still not be easy next season.
In all likelihood, they will still have to fight for relegation.
And it’s hard to say whether we can successfully avoid relegation for the third consecutive season...
This is what Chinese journalists are thinking. They don't care much about Leeds City's results, they just hope that Hu Lai will not follow this team and this slightly crazy head coach and go all the way to darkness. (End of chapter)