Chapter 367: You are not qualified to talk to me from a position of strength
Not only the young players, but also the veteran players who have been in the team for many years such as De Gea, Luke Shaw and Rashford showed surprise.
Varane spoke: "Bruno, calm down, there is no need to involve others."
At this time, strange noises were heard in the locker room. Two assistant coaches, McLaren and van der Gag, who were talking outside the door, walked in. As soon as they saw the scene, they roughly knew what was going on.
Bruno Fernandes was obviously getting more and more angry as he spoke: "Isn't that what I said? Damn, no matter how he runs in the game, others have to make room for him. What is this, the privilege of No. 7? Are you playing the game alone?"
McLaren: "Bruno! Calm down, we can sit down and talk after we get back to the club."
B Fee: "Is there anything shameful? Why can't I say it now? Don't worry, I won't find a host to do an interview and tell everyone about the club."
McLaren shook his head, somewhat helpless. Even though he had only been with B Fee for a little over a season, he and other players and coaches who had been with him longer knew that the Portuguese in front of them was not a mean or shady person, but even a very loyal person who was willing to go through thick and thin for the team and teammates on the court.
But his ability to control his temper is clearly not very strong, as he has argued with teammates before and even kicked Frenkie de Jong who was lying on the ground in a Europa League qualifier against Barcelona.
"It was my fault today. If it weren't for my mistake, we would have won the game. I apologize to everyone."
De Gea, who was sitting at No. 1, the closest to the wall in a row of lockers, stood up and spoke, both to take responsibility and to smooth things over.
What he said was true, and it was true that his mistake led to the loss of a goal tonight, but everyone also knows that if it weren't for his various saves in the final stage, we might not have gotten even 1 point today.
No. 2 Lindelof and No. 4 Timber, who were standing next to De Gea, reached out and patted him to express their comfort and understanding.
Bruno Fernandes also has supporters. His fellow countryman Dalot said: "Bruno certainly wants to win, but Bayern's away games are not easy. Sometimes setting goals too high can increase pressure."
Kva: "When we were in Rome, we dared to challenge the best teams in Europe. But when we got to Manchester, we thought a draw was good. Haha." Kva, who had already taken off his jersey and changed into his casual clothes, said sarcastically, "Why don't you want to win the championship? Are you here to make a living?"
When Cesco, who was standing by, saw Kva say this, he immediately turned around and looked at him with surprise and admiration, as if to say: Kva, why are you so fierce?
Xiao Ke: When our boss is being criticized, we have to help him fight back.
Bruno Fernandes sneered: "Hey, another treble winner. Yes, the rest of us are just here to make a living, but you are the only ones who can win the championship."
Chen Xiaoliang waved at Kva, signaling him not to speak anymore, and then walked up to B Fee. Van der Gag and several players thought he was going to attack, but Chen Xiaoliang glanced at them and no one moved.
"I will be 29 in a few days. Think about how many championships I have won in my career and how many years I can play. I don't want to argue with you in the locker room, but if you insist that you are right, you can try."
B Fee wanted to wait for other people in the locker room to support him, but it was quiet and no one spoke. Only Dalot came up and held him, indicating that there was no need to argue anymore.
B Fee shook his hand unhappily, stopped talking, changed his clothes, left the locker room and got on the bus.
Chen Xiaoliang turned to all the players in the locker room and said, "I know less about this place than most of you, but like what Kwa said just now, even if we were not in a big team before, we dared to fight any club to the end. Whoever wants to take points from us will lose his life or three layers of skin."
"Casemiro and Varane were at Real Madrid before and they were not afraid of anyone, so they were incredibly successful. Shouldn't it be the same for Manchester United?"
"I'm not saying this just because I'm wearing this jersey and the captain's armband today. Even if I were in an ordinary team today, winning would be my only goal."
"We have another away game in three days, and then we will face Lazio at home on this day next week. Bayern will not lose to PSV Eindhoven, so whether we can qualify as the group leader depends on your fighting spirit."
Ten Hag, who attended the post-match press conference, also felt the abnormal atmosphere in the team on the bus. McLaren gave him a look, indicating that they should go back to the hotel and talk about it, so he did not ask about the situation on the spot.
In the evening, in Chen Xiaoliang's room, Kva, Cesco, and Livakovic came to chat together. Kva kept complaining: "Chen, you are too gentle today. Mad should yell loudly like he did in Rome to stun them all."
Chen Xiaoliang laughed loudly, and Cesco shook his head: "Xiao Ke, after all, we just got here."
Kva: "What are you afraid of? If you don't play well, you should say it. Back in Rome, I heard you say that Chen was also appointed captain by Jose not long after his first season, and then he made all the disobedient players obey him."
Chen Xiaoliang: "Zaniolo made trouble in the locker room and even complained to the media, but few people cared. But Bruno is different, not to mention Rashford, Casemiro, Varane and others."
"Look at Bruno just now. He even dared to bring up Ronaldo's matter. Ronaldo has won so many championships and Ballon d'Ors. Even so, if he can't convince others and lead the team to victory, what he said in the locker room will still make people dissatisfied."
"On the other hand, why do some people get annoyed by the celebrities who keep talking on TV all day? There are also legendary players who have won many Premier League and Champions League titles among them, but it does not mean that just because you have many titles, others must listen to what you say."
"Gary Neville has won eight Premier League titles and two Champions Leagues. If he goes on TV tomorrow and says it's wrong for you to play as a left winger, will you listen to him?"
Kwa: "Okay, damn..."
Cesco and Livakovic: “Hahahaha.”
Chen Xiaoliang: "The key is to convince others with our strength, so that more people will support us in the locker room."
"You can actually see that there are some people in this team who think that if they can win one or two small competitions every year and then make it to the Champions League next season, everything will be fine."
Kwa: "Then tell me, why doesn't the head coach come out and speak directly?"
Chen Xiaoliang: "He is not Mourinho. His resume is not enough for him to express his inner thoughts in front of Manchester United players. Xiao Ke, you were afraid to speak in the locker room in the first few months after you came to Rome?"
"I remember when you first arrived, Pellegrini and the others ignored you, so you went to find Cesco, asking him where the Trigoria dressing room, restaurant and toilet were. Because your English was not good, you asked him what Jose said in the training session, and then you kept saying 'thank you, thank you' to him, like a primary school student."
"Look at you, you're standing up straight now."
Kwa: "I...Cao!"
Cesco laughed so hard that tears almost came out: "Hahahaha."
Chen Xiaoliang: "Who were the head coaches before those people? Zidane, Mourinho, Ancelotti, and Van Gaal. Whether in terms of fame or championships, they are far superior to Ten Hag. Now many people are talking about Klopp, saying how wise Liverpool is to bring the team back on track. Not to mention what Liverpool was like before Klopp came, even after Klopp came in 2015, they didn't win their first trophy until 2019."
"So we all have to understand that this is different from Rome. Here, if a game is not played well, the head coach will be fired and the players will be sold."
Kwa: "Just tell me what to do."
Chen Xiaoliang: "What should we do? Before the 10th round against Manchester City, there are no teams as strong as the BIG7 and Bayern. We have to play well and make them convinced."
The three of them nodded.
Chen Xiaoliang finally said to Livakovic: "De Gea is a great goalkeeper. What he has done for this team deserves respect, but you will have a chance. Find a way to catch him."
Livakovich nodded. His English was improving. He could understand 70% to 80% of what was said, but could only speak 30% to 40%.
Cesco: "Haha, Livago looks exactly the same as when I first met Kwa."
Kwa: "Cao, can you please stop talking about this!"
After the three people left, Chen Xiaoliang turned on the system.
He certainly didn't like a draw, because a draw meant losing, with almost nothing in reward.
I got one assist for appearing on the field, and only gained 3 skill points (59→62) for a whole night. I didn't complete the task for the top clubs, and I also lost a position card for Hazard. It's really not worth it.
On his phone was the text message Mourinho sent after the game:
"Why didn't you continue playing as a winger in the final stage? I saw that the opposing full-backs couldn't hold on any longer. If you had made two or three more breakthroughs, their physical strength would have collapsed. Have you forgotten what you did to Theo?"
Chen Xiaoliang certainly didn't forget, but AC Milan at that time was not as strong as Bayern in other positions...
But what Mourinho said was right. Chen Xiaoliang also realized that he could play in more positions and make himself less vulnerable to the opponent's close targeting.
After returning to Manchester for a day of rest and two days of training, the team took a four-hour train ride to Dorset, the southernmost county of England along the English Channel, to play away against Bournemouth.
Ten Hag is also a very interesting person. He did not make any direct comments on the dispute between Chen Xiaoliang and B Fee in the locker room, nor did he turn a blind eye to the fact that the two had no communication in training. He also made a large rotation in this game and sent both of them into the field. However, in the list submitted before the game, the captain's C was still written to the right of Chen Xiaoliang's name, just like in the previous game.
Tonight, B Fee and McTominay partnered as defensive midfielders, Chen Xiaoliang returned to the central midfielder position, Sancho on the left, Anthony and Rashford on the right started, and the four defenders were Luke Shaw, Lima who had no problems after examination, Lindelof and Wan Bissaka.
Second goalkeeper Livakovic also made his first start for Manchester United.
Assistant coach Van der Gaag asked Ten Hag before the game why he didn't deal with the conflict between Chen Xiaoliang and B Fee. After the game started, Ten Hag smiled and said to him: "You see for yourself."
These two people tonight were like two old ladies who couldn't sleep at night if they didn't walk 20,000 steps a day. They were running all over the court, up and down, left and right. No matter attacking or defending, they were there.
The two of them thought the same thing. Chen Xiaoliang wanted to conquer his teammates with his performance and data, and B Fee also wanted to defend his position with his performance on the field.
Only Maguire, who was still sitting on the bench, was injured and waiting for his chance to play...
Bournemouth did not have Kante, Kimmich and Goretzka. The double defensive midfielders of Rothwell worth 3.5 million euros and Lerma worth 15 million euros tried their best but could not stop Chen Xiaoliang from scoring.
In the 21st minute, Sancho was surrounded while dribbling the ball on the left. Without much ability to break through, he could only pass the ball back. Luke Shaw received the ball and passed it across the middle. B Fee took two steps with the ball and made a beautiful through pass to Rashford on the left side of the penalty area line.
B Fee thought he was about to make an assist and help Rashford score a goal with a single shot. Unexpectedly, the opponent's right center back Senesi bumped into Rashford with his body when Rashford received the ball, causing Rashford to stagger slightly, and the ball and the man slowed down, and the single shot was ruined.
Then Rashford turned around with the ball and wanted to switch to his right foot to shoot, but he saw B Fee spreading his hands to ask him for the ball.
Rashford immediately passed the ball back, but to the right side of the arc!
B Fee's spreading hands to ask for the ball not only attracted Rashford's attention, but also the attention of the opposing defensive players. The two midfielders involuntarily blocked him to prevent him from shooting as soon as he received the ball.
As a result, Chen Xiaoliang followed up with a low kick and the ball rolled into the goal between the goalkeeper Neto and the left goal post.
Manchester United leads by one goal!
This long shot was clean and neat, and it was a beautiful goal no matter how you look at it.
Teammates came over to celebrate one after another, and Bruno Fernandes could only go over and pat the backs of the teammates who surrounded Chen Xiaoliang, then left with a little unhappiness.
However, in the Premier League, even when the giants face weak teams in the middle and lower reaches, a one-goal lead does not mean anything.
At the beginning of the second half, in the 47th minute, Bournemouth equalized the score with a shot from Solanke, the former striker of Chelsea and Liverpool, after a counterattack and a chaotic battle in the penalty area.
Five minutes later, Ten Hag replaced Sancho, who did not return to defense from the left when the ball was lost and was still ineffective in the attack, with Ganach.
Looking at Sancho leaving the field dejectedly, Chen Xiaoliang sighed in his heart.
A typical player who goes with the flow, he was Haaland's leader when he was in Dortmund. Without too much external pressure and performance pressure, he possessed all the qualities of an excellent winger. However, after arriving at Manchester United, he was unable to adapt to the team, and the various criticisms that soon followed made his mental state a mess.
He earns the same weekly salary of 350,000 pounds as Casemiro, but is rotated. Even though Ten Hag gave him some time off last season to see a psychologist to adjust his mentality, he still couldn't find confidence on the court after returning.
If he is not given a chance , a young man's career will be ruined and all the money spent by the club will be wasted.
But when he was given a chance and played badly on the field, the head coach still had to bear the blame in the end.
Fans always ask a question: who buys Manchester United's players?
After Chen Xiaoliang arrived at Manchester United, many of his relatives and friends asked him about this issue.
But he also didn't know about the club's past... Some people are no longer around, or even if they know each other, they don't want to talk about the past. Maybe only when everything is insignificant anymore, will the parties involved tell the truth about those years.
Ganacho, who saw how Sancho was substituted, certainly knew what to do after coming on the court. His arrival immediately brought vitality to the left side.
Chen Xiaoliang frequently moved to the left when Ganacchio was dribbling the ball, helping him to tie down the defenders so that he would have more space to break through.
Ganacho also tried to pass the ball across the goal or make an inverted triangle assist after dribbling the ball down the line again and again.
Finally, in the 87th minute, seeing that Bournemouth was about to draw the game, Ganacho dribbled the ball inside from the left, then passed the ball to Chen Xiaoliang who was cutting diagonally from the top of the arc to the left side of the penalty area. Chen Xiaoliang made a backheel pass and passed the ball back to him who continued to move towards the middle.
At this time, as the game was nearing the end, Rashford, B Fee, Anthony, and Fred who came on as a substitute all pressed into the penalty area. Ganacho, who got the ball at the top of the arc, swung his right foot and kicked the ball back by Chen Xiaoliang!
The ball rolled towards the left goal post, and Chen Xiaoliang, who was inserted into the goal post, fell to the ground and shot the ball into the goal again between the fingertips of goalkeeper Neto and the goal post!
1 to 2, a last-minute win away from home, and the league ushered in five consecutive wins.
Chen Xiaoliang was not only elected the best player of the game with two goals, but also ranked third in the scoring list with 6 goals in 5 league rounds, second only to Haaland with 8 goals and Osimhen with 6 goals but no penalty goals, and ahead of Kane with 5 goals and Alvarez with 4 goals.
In the standings, after five rounds, Manchester United continued to lead with 15 points after five consecutive wins. Manchester City defeated Chelsea 3-1 at home, giving the opponent two consecutive defeats, and also allowed themselves to rise to second place with 4 wins and 1 draw.
Villa unexpectedly beat Arsenal 2-1 at home and ranked 5th, while Arsenal ranked 6th;
West Ham lost 2-4 to Liverpool, Newcastle beat Sheffield United 6-0. The Reds and Magpies ranked third and fourth with 12 points and 11 points respectively, with Newcastle remaining unbeaten.
Chen Xiaoliang gained 12 training points, plus the 12 points from the previous three days of training, a total of 24 points (45→69)
He looked at his attributes several times and then distributed the training values.
Right winger position improved from no to incapable (red), training value 69→49;
Right winger position changed from being unable to do it to being reluctant (orange), training value 49→9
The next step, to the yellow, decent level, will cost 80 training points.
But after three days of training, I only accumulated 12 training points (9→21), and the competition is here again.
Sarri, the old friend who never puts down his cigarette, came to Manchester with his "trash Austria" team, which was praised by fans as only fond of playing league games and not European wars.
Compared to the Premier League teams that are making big purchases, Lazio either rented or signed several affordable players whose contracts had expired this summer.
The biggest transfer deal regarded by their fans was retaining the team's prized player Milinkovic-Savic by relying on a Champions League spot.
The player also promised to play for at least one more season for the club that nurtured him before deciding on his future.
He will be 29 years old by then. If he doesn't try his luck in a big club, his career will start to go downhill.
Chen Xiaoliang is very familiar with Lazio, especially the main players of Lazio who have basically not changed. Even during the tactical analysis meeting, he didn't even need to listen to the scouts' reports. Ten Hag directly asked him to talk about the opponent's tactical characteristics.
In the end, just as he said, the starting lineup announced an hour before the game was exactly the same as predicted at the meeting.
Goalkeeper Proudwell;
The back four is Sisaj, Roma, Cassale and Marusic;
The three midfielders are Alberto, Antonio and Milinkovic-Savic;
The three forwards are Zacani, Immobile and Felipe Anderson.
There was no suspense, no changes, and it even gave people a feeling that Sarri was too lazy to make adjustments for the opponents and played the same way he usually did today.
The problem is that this team, which was beaten 1-0 by Feyenoord, 5-1 by Midtjylland, and tied 0-0 by Graz Sturm, an Austrian team that many fans may have never heard of, came to Old Trafford one year older. Even the fans of the Blues thought Sarri was just here for vacation...
The old smoker knows very well that with Lazio's strength and financial resources, they can't buy many people. They want to fight on three fronts, play in such a death group in the Champions League, and find a way to get into the top four in the league. It is simply a foolish dream.
Who can prepare a full banquet with only three vegetables, two carrots and one potato?
Anyway, all the main players are on the field, so we can play however we want, just don't get hurt.
But he chose to give up strategically, while Ten Hag played with all his main players. He also had to compete with Bayern for the first place in the group. No one wanted to face teams like Real Madrid, Paris Saint-Germain and Barcelona in the first round of the knockout stage.
He continued to adhere to the vague rule of balance and did not make any official announcement, but B Fee, who played the full game in the last game, was rotated and Maguire did not play, so the captain's armband continued to be given to Chen Xiaoliang.
Facing old acquaintances and old rivals, as well as an attacking line consisting of three members of the extra training group: Kva, Cesco and Rashford, Chen Xiaoliang plans to brush up some stats tonight so that those players who want to rely on seniority and show off will shut up.
If we talk about strength, let's see who is more qualified to talk about strength.
