Chapter 1028 No excuses
Tramed's home game against Leeds City is the focus of the fourteenth round of the Premier League.
The two teams had just finished playing in the Champions League, and everyone began to look forward to their meeting in the league.
Originally, Leeds City did not receive this kind of treatment, but because of the famous game last season, everyone was waiting to see how Tramed would succeed in revenge at home.
But in fact, even without that game, there is no shortage of stories between Leeds City and Tramed.
Not to mention the geographical rivalry between York and Lancashire, this is an identity that they cannot escape. It was not very prominent before. That was because Leeds City was too weak to threaten Tramed, so the regional identity was ignored intentionally or unintentionally.
In the past, Leeds City's regional enemies were teams of Burley's level.
Now that Leeds City won the Premier League championship last season, they are naturally qualified to be on an equal footing with the traditional giant Tramed, and their regional identity has only been mentioned.
Both teams can represent the football level of their respective regions, so their encounter will naturally be carried with them regional hatred.
On the other hand, it is because Leeds City did have some friction with Tramed after being promoted to the Premier League.
In addition to last season's championship game, the most famous one was Leeds City's 2:3 away game against Tramed when they were relegating last season.
There was a controversial penalty at the end of the game - Tramed relied on a penalty kick to defeat Leeds City at the last moment and get three points.
This controversial penalty has been discussed a lot after the game, and Leeds City does not seem to be very convinced.
The two teams, which had nothing to do with each other before, had a rift for the first time in the Premier League.
Then when they met for the first time last season, Leeds City responded at home, defeating Tramed 2:1, avenging the "controversial" penalty kick last season.
The two teams have officially entered the rhythm of "when will we repay each other's grievances?"
It can be said that even if there is no match in the 37th round of last season, if this momentum continues, the two teams will beat each other and I will beat you. Driven by regional hatred, sooner or later the situation will develop. Become a feud.
That game only greatly accelerated the feud between the two teams.
Although Tramed did not shout the slogan of "revenge" before the game like Stan Park Rangers, no one doubted their determination to revenge.
As the saying goes, "A dog that bites never barks."
A silent opponent like Tramed is even more terrifying.
Against this background, people began to discuss how Leeds City would respond.
"If I were Clark, I would make a big rotation in the team's lineup. We just played a tough game against Catalonia, and there is nothing wrong with rotating the lineup in the league. The most important thing is-in case of losing the game, This is still a good reason..."
"Think about how they challenged Stan Park Rangers away from home before the first Champions League group match. As a result, nearly half of the main players did not come with the team. In the end, Leeds City lost 1:2 to Stan Park Rangers. Successful revenge. But at the same time, Leeds City did not receive much criticism when they lost the game. Both the media and the fans were quite tolerant of the team's failure... I think this is a good precedent. Leeds City is completely We can learn from..."
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"I don't plan to make any rotation adjustments to the lineup for the Tramed game." Tony Clark said to the players on the training ground. "Although the game is tomorrow, I can tell you right now that the starting lineup will be It will be exactly the same as our away game against Catalonia. Of course, if any of you feel tired or feel unwell, you can also mention it to me and I will make a rotation.”
The players wearing training vests stood in front of him with their hands behind their backs. No one raised their hands, and no one spoke. They just looked at their head coach quietly.
"Very good, I believe you have the ability to perform well in continuous battles with strong teams. This is why I have arranged this... In the second half of the season we will go to the Europa League. This time I hope we can How good is it to get a good result in the Europa League? Good enough to qualify for the Champions League next season..."
As soon as these words came out, there was finally a commotion among the team members.
Everyone turned around and started talking.
They all know what it takes to qualify for next season's Champions League:
Either become the top four in the Premier League, win the Champions League, or...
Participate as Europa League champions.
So the boss means that our goal this season is to win the Europa League? !
After Clark allowed the players to discuss it for a while, he asked: "Why such a big reaction? Are you frightened by this goal?"
"Uh, no, no!" Someone among the team members immediately defended.
Just kidding, even if I was really frightened, I wouldn't be able to say that at this time!
"It's normal to be frightened. After all, that's the European championship! But... I hope you can also remember that we are the Premier League champions! Since we can win the Premier League championship, why can't we want to win the European championship? With Catalonia, In the game, you also saw that we are fully capable of defeating the European giants. At their home ground! Did Leeds win the Premier League title by scoring points against the relegation team? No, of course not! We defeated giants like Stan Park Rangers and Tramed in the process of winning the championship. Our championship is very valuable! So why can’t we win the Europa League?”
Clark's continuous rhetorical questions made the team members' emotions surge.
Yes, we ended Stan Park Rangers' 90-game unbeaten run at home in the away game. We also defeated Tramed in the away game. We won all the BIG6 games last season.
These six teams are also strong teams in Europe. Since we can beat them in the Premier League, why can't we beat other strong teams in Europe?
The 4:2 victory over Catalonia United proved that they are competitive throughout Europe.
If you think about it this way, it seems like... they can really compete for the Europa League championship!
Once this setting is accepted, in the minds of Leeds City players, the initially unattainable goal does not seem so scary.
And they will also attack themselves - when we were still struggling to avoid relegation, we never thought that we would win the Premier League championship soon. But we ended up being champions!
So now I think the Europa League championship is incredible, but it doesn’t mean we can’t win it...
Seeing the change in everyone's eyes, Clark struck while the iron was hot: "This is why I insist on using the strongest lineup in the next game. Because a team that aims to win the Europa League will never be able to win the Europa League." Surrender in advance when you encounter a strong team and find a good excuse for your failure! 'You just finished playing in the Champions League and you are exhausted'? Give this reason to Tramed who lost the game!
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When Leeds City returned to the red-top stadium, they were greeted by more than 60,000 red-eyed Tramed fans.
"Now, let us welcome..."
Before the radio in the red-top stadium finished speaking, boos burst out impatiently.
So much so that in the end, the name "Leeds City" was directly drowned in boos.
Facing huge boos, Leeds City's starting eleven filed out of the tunnel and onto the pitch.
The television cameras followed the Leeds City players, especially staying on Hulay's face for the longest time.
In the slightly serious lineup of players from both sides, Hu Lai with a smile on his face stood out.
The boos from Tramed's fans didn't seem to affect him, but made him smile even more.
It felt as if he might wave to the Tramed fans in the stands at any moment.
Some people admire Hu Lai's calmness.
But in fact, the reason why Hu Lai couldn't hide his smile was because he thought of another time and space, the grudge between Leeds United, the team representing Yorkshire, and Manchester United, the team representing Lancashire. The two teams were mortal enemies and had great hatred. After Manchester United suffered an air crash, Leeds United fans could still use the air crash in the stands to taunt their opponents.
So every time the two teams meet, no matter how disparate the strength is, the scene will always be fierce, and Manchester United fans will greet Leeds United with the harshest boos.
In this time and space, the two teams Leeds United and Manchester United do not exist, but there are still teams representing their respective regions. Tramed represents Lancashire and Leeds City represent York.
This scene at the red-top stadium now reminds Hu Lai of the grudge between Manchester United and Leeds United. Unexpectedly, separated by different time and space, some things will eventually reach the same destination through different paths...
In this time and space, the deepening hatred between the two teams comes from his winning goal last season.
When he thinks of this, Hu Lai feels a sense of accomplishment that he has created history.
So I couldn't help but laugh.
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"...There were many speculations before the game that Leeds City, which had just played a Champions League group match, would rotate in this game... But now the answer has been revealed. Clark did not make a major rotation of the lineup. Leeds City can It is said that they fielded their strongest lineup in the away game... This made those who were worried that Leeds City would be like their away team People who challenged Stan Park Rangers to make a substantial rotation of the lineup were relieved... The happiest are the Tramed fans, who think that in this way, after Tramed defeated Leeds City at home, the latter There is no excuse..." Matthew Cox told everyone about the grievances between the two teams in the commentary box.
"To be honest, Clark can indeed use the team's recent Champions League game as an excuse to rotate the lineup. This is a normal operation. No one can blame him on this point. But he still chose to let all the main players The starting lineup is somewhat surprising..."
The telecast soon gave Tony Clark a close-up shot.
In the camera, the Leeds City coach is sitting calmly on the coaching bench, waiting for the game to start.
On the court, Ricardo Barea took a deep breath to cool down his eyes.
purely.
Focus.
Don't think about anything, Ricardo. It’s just…a competition!
(End of chapter)