Chapter 1150 Although the ball was lost...
Whitehouse stood in the stands at Southfield Stadium, surrounded by enthusiastic London Bridge fans, who wore blue London Bridge home jerseys and cheered for their team in the home stands.
House didn't do that.
Because he is not a fan of London Bridge.
As a former England international, he once played for North London Rangers and later moved to Madrid Kings. He is a rare English player in the history of Madrid Kings Club.
He played four seasons as a striker for Madrid, making 117 appearances in all competitions and scoring 47 goals.
Now fifty-one years old, he has long since retired from his position as a professional player and has become a scout for the Kings of Madrid in the UK, specializing in scouting work in the UK and Ireland.
He received a call from the club on the morning of the London Bridge home game and Leeds City's Europa League semi-finals, assigning him to observe Hulay's performance on the spot.
As a professional scout who has been active in the British Isles for a long time, how could he not know about Hu Lai?
Without even going to the scene, House can write a detailed scouting report for the club on the spot and provide it to the club's senior management for their reference.
But he still accepted the task and went to personally observe Hu Lai's performance in this game.
He didn't ask why, because he more or less guessed the reason - it must have something to do with the Madrid Kings' 1:3 loss to Manchester Athletic at home last night.
The team's top scorer Alexandra Cerrados performed poorly in the game and showed his age.
This makes the club's sense of crisis deeper, and it can't wait to find a successor for Cerrados.
So they focused on Hu Lai, who was in the limelight recently.
And it’s not just the King of Madrid…
House turned around and looked around, and saw several of his colleagues in the small bleachers he could see.
All of them are scouts from wealthy teams in continental Europe.
The competition is fierce...
But Hu Lai does deserve such treatment.
House knew almost from the moment he saw Hulay making his debut in the Premier League that the club had missed a talent.
After all, there are very few players who can score five goals in their first three Premier League games.
He didn’t understand how the club finally decided to give up after spending more than five million euros...
However, the decision of the top management is not something House, a scout, can discuss.
Now that the club plans to spend a high price to buy Hu Lai again, he will not laugh at the club's top brass because they feel uncomfortable spending more money.
He just needs to do his job well and report all of Hu Lai's performance in this game to the superiors.
As for the final decision made by the club's senior management, it is not his decision.
And he must be realistic in his scouting reports.
Hu Lai's performance in this game is good if he performs well, and bad performance if he performs poorly. You cannot add fuel and jealousy to it based on your own personal preferences.
As a scout for the Madrid Kings, does White House hope that Hulay will go to the Madrid Kings?
Of course.
Any Madrid King supporter who watched Julei's game will think so.
And House believes the club's current decision is the right one.
Although yesterday's game alone cannot prove that Cerrados can no longer meet the team's requirements, it is also necessary to find a successor for him in advance.
Prepare for a rainy day.
House returned his attention to the court.
Twenty minutes into the game, the home team London Bridge had the upper hand.
Amid the cheers of 40,000 home fans, they suppressed Leeds City and continued to attack Leeds City's goal.
So Hu Lai didn't do much during this period, and he didn't need to record anything in his little notebook.
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In fact, it's not just the Southfield Stadium where Leeds City didn't take advantage. Looking at the records of all eight meetings between the two teams in the history, Leeds City is also at an absolute disadvantage.
In eight games, Leeds City has won just one game - Leeds City defeated London Bridge 2:1 at home last season, relying on Hu Lai's long-range shot. It was the first time he scored with a long-range shot for the club.
Apart from this victory, Leeds City has never won another game against London Bridge.
They met eight times, with one win, two draws and five losses.
This result can be described as "dismal".
Therefore, when Leeds City met London Bridge in the Europa League semi-finals, it was not as some people thought. Because they were familiar opponents, they were relatively easy to play.
In the 27th minute, London Bridge launched an attack from the wing, and their right back Ricardo Sosa passed the football into the penalty area.
Forward Park Soon-tae grabbed a shot in front of the goal!
The football was blocked by Leeds City goalkeeper Mikael van der Veen's body!
But the crisis has not been resolved, because the football is still in Leeds City's penalty area!
There was chaos in front of the door.
London Bridge captain and midfielder James Montgomery grabbed the ball first in the penalty area, and he swung the ball towards the Leeds City goal!
At this time, Leeds City goalkeeper Van Der Ven had just gotten up from the ground. Seeing the football flying over, he could only wave his hand reflexively... without touching the football at all!
"The goal is scored——!!! Beautiful! Montgomery!! He opened the scoring for the team! London Bridge leads Leeds City 1:0!"
The stands at Southfield Stadium erupted in cheers.
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"Oops - I still lost the ball!" Shen Lang of Tengfei Video sighed. "London Bridge's offensive was very fierce at the beginning of the game. Within ten minutes, they had three consecutive threatening attacks... At that time, I said be careful, be careful... but we still lost the ball!"
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After sighing, he encouraged the Chinese fans in front of the video: "But it doesn't matter. Leeds City is indeed not good at defending. Plus this is the home court at London Bridge, so conceding goals is expected. I believe Clark and his The coaching team must have considered this issue and told the players before the game... conceding the ball is not terrible, as long as you adjust your mentality quickly and don't fall into chaos, I believe that with Leeds City's offensive strength, there is still a chance!"
What if there is a chance?
Shen Lang didn't say it, but most fans watching the game could guess it.
I have a chance to score a goal.
Considering that this game is an away game, even if Leeds City loses 1:2, it is completely acceptable. If you really can't score a goal, a score of 0:1 is fine. As long as they don't return home with a net loss of two goals, this game will be considered a mission accomplished.
The television footage cuts from the celebrating London Bridge players to the side that lost the ball.
Sure enough, the Leeds City players in the camera did not show any frustration or pain after losing the ball, as if they were really mentally prepared for losing the ball...
On the field, captain Pete Williams was clapping his hands hard and shouting to his teammates around him.
It should be to boost morale and boost people's hearts.
Head coach Clark on the sidelines did not show any major body language movements after losing the ball.
He also stood on the sidelines and used hand gestures to tell the players on the court: Stay calm and don't panic.
This is also a routine operation.
The game has only started for less than half an hour. Leeds City still has time, so there is no need to rush now.
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The London Bridge players ended their celebrations and returned to their own half. Leeds City players have taken their positions and are waiting for their return.
When captain Montgomery ran past the Leeds City players, he turned to look at them. He saw no pain, no frustration, not even... numbness.
But I saw some people who were eager to try...
Excited to give it a try?
Damn it!
Montgomery was a little surprised.
Why are Leeds City players eager to score after losing the ball?
Did you see it wrong?
He looked at it a few more times and found that he was right.
The Leeds players stood in their positions, leaning slightly forward. Hu Lai, who was standing in the center circle for the kickoff, even jumped up and down, as if waiting to be replaced.
Peter Williams and Montgomery looked at each other, and Montgomery even saw a hint of urging in each other's eyes.
They seemed to be... urging the London Bridge players to get into position.
They want the game to start quickly!
After confirming that it was not his illusion, Montgomery raised his arms, and then shouted loudly to his teammates around him and those who had run away:
"Don't take it lightly! We are only one goal ahead! For them, one goal lead is not enough! Keep attacking!"
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With the referee's whistle, Leeds City kicked off and the game restarted.
After taking the lead, London Bridge took advantage of this momentum to quickly regain possession of the ball and launch a fierce attack on the Leeds City goal.
They hope to strike while the iron is hot after taking the lead and score another goal in a short period of time.
If they can lead by two goals in the first half, London Bridge will completely take the initiative and take a solid step towards the Europa League final.
But Leeds City, which lost the ball, did not panic.
They held firm in the face of the fierce London Bridge attack.
Also tried some counterattacks.
"Fortunately, Tavares is no longer leading the London Bridge team..." Assistant coach Sam Landier said to Clark on the sidelines. "Otherwise, if they shrink back to defend after taking a lead by one goal, it will be really difficult for us to play..."
Before this season, London Bridge was coached by Portuguese head coach Miguel Tavares. Under his coaching, London Bridge attached great importance to defense and could even be said to be a "1:0ist."
But not only did they fail to lead London Bridge to the league title last season, they even failed to qualify for the Champions League. So after the end of the season, the London Bridge club terminated his contract and hired the well-known German coach Julian Stodt to coach.
Stodder coached the Bundesliga team Saxonstadt last season. He coached this former Bundesliga giant for three seasons, taking this mid-to-lower team that only returned to the Bundesliga in 2015 to the league's third place. Third, qualify for the Champions League in the new season.
The 40-year-old Stoddard is also a rising star among young European coaches.
The more passionate Stoddard changed London Bridge's past tendency to be highly biased. Under his command, London Bridge changed to 433. On the basis of relying on the original defensive system, the offense was stronger and the results were naturally better.
They are currently ranked fourth in the league and have reached the semi-finals of the Europa League.
There is great hope to qualify for the Champions League next season and also win the Europa League.
For London Bridge, it has ushered in a new life in a sense.
"What are you afraid of, Sam? We just played against the best defensive team and scored three goals against them." Clark covered his mouth and said.
Hearing this, Randhir lowered his head and smiled.
Really, in terms of defensive intensity in a single game, even London Bridge under Tavares cannot compare with Ferenc in the Europa League quarter-finals.
So if London Bridge really wants to shrink its defense, Leeds City doesn't have to worry too much. They have experience dealing with dense defenses.
But now this is good, or better.
After all, no one likes kicking a ball against a wall.
Stoddard's London Bridge were better at attacking.
Coincidentally, Leeds City is also good at attacking. (End of chapter)