Chapter 40 Wang Lie’s Suggestion
Sonny Dean was woken up early in the morning by the screams and laughter of children coming from the yard next door.
He originally wanted to insist on sleeping a little longer, but under the sonic attack, he couldn't even last five minutes.
He lifted off the quilt and angrily ran to the window and opened the curtains. It was still a typical cloudy day in winter outside. The sun had already risen, but it was blocked by thick clouds.
It looks like it’s going to rain today.
Dean's mood at this moment was as gloomy as the weather.
Last night he decided to come back to Northumberland.
Because he is never willing to give in - why should I avoid him?
Unexpectedly, I was woken up by my neighbor just one day after I came back.
This is one of Northumberland's premier luxury areas. The houses here are basically single-family villas with large front and rear gardens.
His and Wang Lie's houses are located in the innermost part of this community. There are usually few cars and few people, so it is relatively quiet.
In this open environment, the high-frequency voice of the child seems particularly clear and harsh.
Even if he closes the window, even if his window glass is made of double-layer hollow soundproof glass, it can only isolate low-frequency noise and has no resistance to high-frequency sonic attacks.
After opening the curtains, he turned his attention to the backyard next door and saw Wang Lie playing on the lawn with two children.
Wang Lie tried to get rid of the two children with a football.
The sound mainly came from the smaller child. You couldn't see clearly from a distance, but you could tell it was a little girl. She didn't really want to go up to grab the ball, she was just spinning around in circles and making excited noises from time to time. scream.
The older child was serious about breaking the football under Wang Lie's feet.
He seemed to have a good chance, but as soon as he stretched out his foot, Wang Lie pulled the football back under his feet, knocked it out again, and made a V-shaped pull.
The child kicked the ball in the air, lost his balance, and fell onto his butt.
But he quickly got up from the ground and continued to catch up with Wang Lie.
After shaking off the child, Wang Lie did not speed up, but backed up while pulling the ball. Every time, the child thought he could kick the ball, but every time he stretched out his foot, he missed the ball.
The little girl suddenly rushed up from the side, hugged Wang Lie, and shouted something...
The distance was too far, and Dean couldn't hear clearly. Even if you can hear it clearly, you can't understand it because the other person's shouting is obviously not in English.
Even if the little girl hugged his leg, Wang Lie still did not let the football be snatched away by another child.
I saw him using the little girl’s foot to support his body, and the other foot that could still move normally continued to control the ball, pulling the ball in circles, still making it difficult for the child to grab the ball for a while— —There were several times when the children tried to snatch the football away, but Wang Lie was able to quickly pull the football back and continue to control it under his feet.
The little girl holding Wang Lie kept screaming and laughing like crazy. Even if Dean couldn't see her expression clearly, he could tell that she was very happy now.
Farther away, there was a woman standing tall and graceful, watching this scene.
Although Dean couldn't see clearly, he guessed that she also had a smile on her face.
I think this is what Wang Lie said in the locker room yesterday, the family members who came from China to reunite with him.
Dean closed the curtains again, not wanting to see this tender scene again.
Especially since this kind of warmth was something he had never enjoyed before...
But he could close the curtains and not see, but he couldn't stop listening.
The children's laughter sounded like a magic sound to Dean's ears.
He lay back on the bed and covered his head with the quilt.
It didn’t work, he could still hear the sounds outside.
He put his head under the pillow.
It’s no use, you can still hear the children’s laughter and screams.
In the end Dean jumped out of bed, rushed into the bathroom, and decided to take a shower.
After he turned on the bathroom shower, the sound of running water finally completely covered up the sound coming from the yard next door.
Dean's restless heart finally calmed down.
He let out a sigh of relief.
He regretted coming back to Northumberland again...
※※※
Wang Zilin saw the opportunity and pounced on his father again, but this time she didn't It's just as simple as hugging the legs, but hugging the back of the legs, lifting dad's legs, and then pushing them down hard.
Finally succeeded in making Dad lose his balance and fall backward.
Wang Lie also lost control of the football, allowing Wang Ziqi to steal the ball.
"Hey! We won! We won! We won!" Wang Zilin happily let go of his father and ran to celebrate with his brother by hugging him.
Wang Lie sat on the lawn, raising his upper body with his hands, looking at the two children who were making a fuss, with a doting smile on his face.
His wife Tang Xingmei paced behind him and asked with some worry: "Isn't it bad? It's so noisy early in the morning. What if it disturbs the neighbors?"
" "Morning? It's almost nine o'clock. Isn't it early?" Wang Lie didn't look back, "Besides, it would be a good thing to wake up the 'neighbors'..."
After saying that, he patted his butt and stood up from the ground.
"From now on, I will take Wang Ziqi to practice every morning. If the neighbors are too noisy, you can talk to me in person. Anyway, we will meet them every day in the team."
"Huh? Neighbors Is it your teammate?" Tang Xingmei asked.
Wang Lie nodded: "Well, Sonny Dean is our neighbor."
"This..." Tang Xingmei was surprised by this name. Her husband told her about the two people. The relationship is not very good, but I didn’t expect such a coincidence. It’s true that “enemies never get together”...
※※※
After taking a bath, Dean no longer heard the sound of playing from the backyard next door.
Wearing only a pair of pants and his upper body naked, he walked to the window and opened the curtains, and found that there was no one there.
But Dean, who had taken a bath to refresh himself, couldn't go back to sleep now. He couldn't even fall asleep even if he wanted to.
And... it's time for him to make breakfast.
There is training at ten o'clock this morning.
But Dean did not leave immediately. Instead, he stood by the window and looked at the empty neighbor's backyard in trance.
※※※
Sonny Dean hesitated for a long time, and finally went to Wang Lie.
He lowered his voice and asked: "Can you be a little bit civilized?"
Wang Lie looked at him with a half-smile but not a smile: "What's wrong?"
Seeing Wang Lie's expression, Dean became even more angry: "You were yelling in the yard early in the morning. Don't let anyone sleep!"
"What do you mean by 'very early in the morning'? It's almost 9 o'clock in the morning and you haven't gotten up yet. Did you go to the nightclub again yesterday?”
Dean found that he was always at a disadvantage in front of this man, and he didn’t know why.
In the past, he was the one who used to irritate others, especially Vitini. He only needed a few words to make that idiot break his defense, and then he would go into a rage.
But whenever he faced Wang Lie, he always blamed himself, and it was hard for him to speak against him...
"What's wrong with not getting up at almost nine o'clock? I'm not late for training!" Dean argued weakly. .
"That's right, it's just that I get stuck every time." Wang Lie nodded, "Let's do it, Dean. During this period, I will practice with my son every morning. Do you want to Come too?”
Dean was stunned for a moment. He didn’t expect how Wang Lie could change the subject so smoothly, and he suspected that Wang Lie had taken advantage of him...
So he decided to give up and Wang Lie negotiated.
"FUCKOFF!" He cursed and turned around to leave.
Behind him, Wang Lie, who was scolded, was not angry at all, and even shouted with a smile: "You have thought about it, I can be here at any time!"
All the teammates said to him one after another They glanced at her.
But Dean lowered his head and walked faster.
I shouldn’t have come looking for this old scoundrel!
※※※
During the interval between training, the players sat on the sidelines to replenish water, massage and chat.
Wang Lie walked straight to the coaching staff and said to head coach McNeil: "I have an idea, boss, can I talk to you alone?"
McNeil looked at the fellow coaching staff around him, and then nodded: "Okay."
Then the two of them walked aside to have a "private chat" in full view of the public.
"Sam, when you replaced Dean in the last game, did you plan to have him come up to increase passers and connection points in the midfield and frontcourt to break Hurlingham's dense defense?" Wang Lie asked straight to the point.
When a third person is present, Wang Lie will call McNeil "boss", just like other players in the locker room. After all, he and McNeil are players and coaches, or are they You have to respect your coach.
But in private, Wang Lie would directly call McNeil's name, as if they were still teammates at Soft United.
Sam McNeil did not force Wang Lie to address himself respectfully in private. Facing Wang Lie's question, McNeil gave an affirmative answer: "Yes. But he didn't play well after he came up and basically failed to complete the task I gave him."
Sonny Dean's only highlight performance in that game was when he pulled the ball in a V-shape to get rid of Hurlingham FC midfielder Daniel White.
But that is not the task assigned to him by the head coach.
"I watched the video of the last game yesterday, and then I had an idea." Wang Lie said, "Can Dean be allowed to drop back and play in midfield? Either a winger or an offensive midfielder. ."
"Huh?" McNeill was surprised.
Wang Lie continued: "I think keeping Dean away from the penalty area, avoiding getting into fights with tall defenders, and giving full play to his good skills and excellent passing, maybe he will perform better than he does now. OK.”
"But Wang... Dean's poor performance now has little to do with his position." McNeill frowned and reminded Wang Lie, "His highest value in history was achieved at the forward position. And he came on as a substitute. You saw his performance afterwards... To be honest, he didn't perform well after coming up, and it was also my fault. It was just a temporary workaround on my part, but he himself was really not used to playing midfield. Everyone knows what Dean's real problem is now, right?"
Wang Lie nodded: "I know, Sam. But it doesn't conflict with what I want to say. His problem is his performance on the court. If he is not good, he will be criticized, and his mentality will be unbalanced. If he continues to perform poorly, he will be criticized even more... It becomes a vicious cycle. What if he can perform well in his new position? "
McNeil pondered: "So you think he should switch to midfielder?"
"I'm not saying that he will always play midfielder in the future. I'm just saying that at present, he We should try to reduce the difficulty of playing football and gain confidence and positive feedback, instead of having to fight with the defenders. In addition, judging from the team's current overall tactics, it will definitely be more beneficial to us if he plays as a midfielder than as a forward. ”
Ignore what I said before, at least McNeil agrees with Wang Lie’s last words.
In the tactics he is currently designing, Wang Lie must not only be a scorer, but also create opportunities for his teammates.
Dien uses his ability as a forward to drop back and play as a midfielder. In addition to being able to connect the midfield and frontcourt, he can also make full use of the opportunities created by Wang Lie to score goals.
This adjustment is definitely beneficial to the team as a whole.
I have to say that Wang Lie’s suggestion is very tempting.
But McNeil still had a doubt: "I also have a question, Wang."
"You said."
"I believe you can feel that Dean has some kind of... uh, hostility towards you, right?"
Wang Lie nodded: "Although not I don't know why, but it's true."
"Then why are you thinking about him?"
"I'm not thinking about him, I'm just thinking about the team, Sam. Quite simply, with the team's current points and ranking, it is very difficult to go to a bigger stage, so in order to achieve this goal, we must maximize the strength of this team and squeeze out all its potential. Ni Dean has not fully fulfilled his abilities and his contribution to the team is far from enough. Everyone has to work hard for that goal. Why can he stay out of it?"
After Wang Lie finished speaking, McNeil seemed to be lost in thought. He was stunned for a while and then smiled: "When you said these words just now, I had the illusion that you were the head coach of the team, and I It's an assistant coach."
Wang Lie also joked: "Maybe when I retire and decide to be a head coach, you can come and be my assistant coach, Sam."
"You have beautiful ideas. If I work with you, you will definitely drive me crazy." McNeil declined Wang Lie politely.
"What do you think of my suggestion?"
"Theoretically it is feasible. But the actual situation is much more complicated than what you said, Wang. Have you ever thought about a question... What if Sonny Dean doesn’t cooperate?”
Wang Lie frowned and said nothing.
This is really a... very critical question.
Seeing that he was silent, McNeill continued: "You can do whatever it takes to pursue victory. But not everyone is like you, at least not Dean."
Wang Lie then said: "I know that he is not that determined. He will retreat when encountering difficulties, lie down when he is a little frustrated, and is used to making reasons and excuses for himself. That's why I have to force him."
※※※
The two people walked to the side of the training ground to whisper. This scene not only aroused the curiosity of the coaches, but also attracted the attention of the players in the distance.
"Are they arguing?"
"There seems to be some disagreement..."
"You think...what will Wang find the leader?"< br>
“I guess Wang will be dissatisfied with the role assigned to him by the boss?”
"Dissatisfied? Why?"
"Everyone knows what the leader wants Wang to do in the team's offensive system, to use his experience and skills to help others... But think about it, what is Wang doing? Are you willing to be a foil for others? "
After thinking about it carefully, it seems that it is true.
When he was at Soft United, Wang Lie was the team's main attacker, and he had the right to fire freely.
He can shoot anywhere and under any circumstances. Neither the head coach nor his teammates can criticize him.
"So I guess, the king probably went to the boss to ask for the right to fire."
"Wow, that's terrible. Who doesn't know where the nickname 'Langshe King' came from..."< br>
As a loyal fan of Wang Lie, Vitini must protect his idol no matter what the circumstances. There are things that idols are hard-pressed to say or inconvenient to say, but he can say them.
Now he is about to stand up and defend his idol:
“How did it come about? It was not created by the media’s rumors. In fact, Wang’s shooting conversion rate is not low. I remember the previous paragraph Some people have counted his average shot conversion rate of 19.2% in the nine and a half seasons of Soft United. As the team's main attacker, is this statistic good? If he really is the 'shooting king'. ', can he become the top scorer in Soford United's history with his eighteenth appearance? ”
Speaking of the records created by his idol, Vitini talks about them endlessly.
"And when Wang was at his peak, it was not uncommon for him to score goals. In comparison, of course it was his wasted scoring opportunities in the game that were more worthy of being in the news. You must know that he But to score more than 50 goals in four consecutive seasons, and to score at least 20 goals in 16 consecutive seasons, this record is still unachievable by anyone!”
"This record is indeed amazing, but it's a pity that this season is coming to an end..." Some people shook their heads and sighed.
Wang Lie has only scored three goals in all competitions so far this season - one goal for Soft United and two goals for Tyne - it is indeed difficult to continue this record, almost "impossible" Mission accomplished."
"No one denies Wang's past achievements, but Vitini, now Wang is about to be 38 years old, can he really continue to score goals as before?" Some teammates also asked Vitini. questioned.
Vitini pouted: "Who scored twice in the last game?"
"Uh..." The questioning teammate was speechless.
As a teammate, of course he can't say "Who knows if this is a reflection of the game". Hurlingham FC head coach Rossiter said that it was "politically incorrect" for Tyne players to say this - is this your attitude towards a hero who just helped the team win?
Sonny Dean did not join their discussion about Wang Lie, but looked over there.
I don’t know if it was an illusion, but he always felt that the two people would look towards him when they were talking...
※※※
After the training, Wang Lie did not rush home to be with his family. Instead, he stayed to train for himself. Vitini also stayed with him for extra training.
Head coach McNeil informed Sonny Dean to go back to the locker room, change clothes and then go to his office.
As soon as the players were dismissed and on the way back, assistant coach Cesar Varro couldn't wait to ask McNeil: "What did Wang want to say to you?"
"He gave I made a suggestion..." McNeill told Varro roughly the conversation between himself and Wang Lie.
Varro was surprised after hearing this: "I thought he would ask you for the right to fire freely..."
McNeil was equally surprised: "Why do you think so?"
Varro Spreading his hands: "Isn't he like that when he was at Soft United? Besides, he just scored twice in the game and helped us win the game. Isn't now a good time to make this request?"
McNeill smiled and said: "Now it seems that your situation is small, Cesar."
Varro reluctantly admitted: "Okay... but I think Wang is a little bit whimsical, and it is theoretically feasible. , doesn’t mean it’s really feasible. How do you plan to convince Dean?”
McNeil sighed: "I don't know. I don't know how to convince a person who has signed a contract with another team and will leave only when the contract expires to make a goal for a person he doesn't like. Change, try your best... After all, whether Tyne can participate in the European War next season, what does it have to do with him who is already in Kensington next season? ”
※※※
Having showered and changed, Sonny Dean appeared in head coach McNeil's office.
On the way here, he over-guessed why he wanted to talk to him alone.
The last time Dean was called to talk alone by the head coach was because of his poor performance in the game. After the game, he was scolded by the local media and Tyne fans. Then he went to a nightclub to get drunk and was photographed by the paparazzi. , and was late for training the next day, smelling of alcohol and drunk...
That time McNeil warned him very sternly, and then said that he would temporarily adjust him out of the team's starting lineup, and as punishment, he would not be included in the lineup for the next first game.
Since then, Dean has never returned to the team's starting lineup, but he will still be sent on as a substitute when the team needs it.
Only a few substitute appearances were mediocre.
Perhaps he was approached this time to criticize him for not being able to complete the tasks assigned by the coaching staff after coming on as a substitute in the game against Hurlingham FC?
Then why didn’t you criticize on the first day of resuming training and put it off until now?
It can't be that the boss just came to his senses now and discovered his problem after re-opening the game video, right?
Looking at Dean in front of him, McNeil asked: "Do you still want to return to the starting lineup, Sonny?"
Dean was not sure what he meant by asking this question. , and said honestly: "Of course I want to. But I don't seem to have anything that can impress you with your performance, boss."
"Then are you willing to try a new position? If you move your position on the court backwards Pull back a little bit and place it in this area between the forward line and the forward line. What do you think, Sonny?"
McNeil took out his tablet and opened the tactical board software. Demonstrate his ideas on the tactical board.
Dean was stunned for a moment, then asked: "Just like the last game?"
McNeil nodded: "Yes, in terms of position and tactical requirements, it's just like the last game. ”
Dean finally knew what Wang Lie said when he ran to the boss. He could guess it with his buttocks. This must be Wang Lie’s suggestion to the boss, that he should play midfielder instead to serve him. Service...
So Dean shook his head and said: "Sorry, boss, I think I'm not good at playing midfield - you saw my performance in the last game."
He The refusal was very straightforward.
(End of this chapter)