Chapter 56: Be ruthless in bullying and be steady in tough battles

Chapter 56: Be ruthless in bullying and be steady in tough battles

Chapter 56: Be ruthless in bullying and be steady in tough battles

"Now the fans outside are saying that if Ten Hag fails to lead Manchester United into the top four this season and remains in office, all the credit will go to you."

Carrick, who was also paying attention to this public opinion storm privately, found an opportunity to tease Li Chen.

In his opinion, the Eredivisie coach that Manchester United hired for the new season is completely messing around.

Even though he was motivated later and mobilized Manchester United players, they returned to the top of the standings with a series of consecutive victories.

As long as Chelsea, Arsenal and Tottenham perform normally and not too badly, it will be extremely difficult for the Dutch bald man to lead Manchester United back to the top four of the league!

As for the current top three teams in the league, Newcastle, Manchester City and Liverpool, which one can the chaotic Manchester United challenge?
In this case, it is very likely that Ten Hag, who cannot even get a top six position in the Premier League, can continue to stay.

In Carrick's opinion, Li Chen really has to take the blame for the "friendly advice" he made a few days ago.

However, in the face of Carrick's complaints and ridicule, Li Chen could only say that he felt wronged.

Given his current status, it is not appropriate to say whether Manchester United’s prospects for the new season are good or bad. We can only suggest that Manchester United’s top management and fans should be more patient.

Besides, he was just giving a polite suggestion, and Manchester United's top management might not listen to it.

If they really wanted to listen to his polite words now, why didn't they agree to his request and keep him?
As a head coach who started from Manchester United and is truly recognized and known by the world football, Li Chen still hopes in his heart that Manchester United can get better as soon as possible.

But now he and Carrick no longer serve Manchester United, and the two people with high emotional intelligence do not want to cause trouble for Manchester United with their inappropriate words.

Therefore, some ideas can only be expressed as jokes or complaints during private communication.

If you really have something you are dissatisfied with, you would just say it as a joke and forget about it. You definitely cannot make loud comments to the media.

Having achieved their goal, the British media tried their best to dig out the possible chaos inside the Manchester United locker room.

Several other Premier League teams currently ranked at the top of the standings have been given a rare period of calm time to prepare for the game.

On the afternoon of August 8, the third round of the Premier League officially kicked off, with Tottenham and Everton, two of the Premier League's powerhouses, making their first appearances.

However, in the home court, Tottenham easily defeated Wolves with one goal, while Everton was unexpectedly tied by the newly promoted Nottingham Forest!
So after the unexpected 2-1 victory over West Ham United in the second round of the league, Nottingham Forest once again got points from a strong opponent.

Surprised Premier League fans had to re-examine this team that was beaten by Newcastle in the league opener.

"Maybe it's not that Nottingham Forest is too weak. I think their tactics are quite reasonable. It's just that Newcastle is too strong, so they seem to have no ability to fight back?"

"I think we have overestimated Leicester City and West Ham United this season. In comparison, Nottingham Forest is likely to be relegated next summer. I just don't know which team will be unlucky enough to fall out of the Championship."

"No, we need to watch Newcastle's game more carefully. They have to play at full strength against Manchester City this round, right? We need to see what their upper limit is."

The Newcastle team, which has once again become a hot topic among fans because of Nottingham Forest's unexpected performance, has checked into the hotel in advance.

Li Chen's new rules allow Newcastle's first-team players to have more time to hold team meetings and analyze the status of their competitors before the game.

This time they watched Arsenal's away challenge against Bournemouth together.

Arsenal once again easily defeated their opponents and won three consecutive victories at the start of the new season, which also impressed the entire Newcastle team.

Arsenal, who won three consecutive games at the start of the new season, scored nine goals and conceded only one goal in three games, which was a very impressive performance.

Even if Newcastle beats Manchester City at home in this round, if they don't get enough goals, they will have to give up the top spot and temporarily drop to second place in the league.

Combined with Arsenal's slow start last season (losing all three games), the Newcastle team felt that Arsenal had undergone a complete transformation.

There is no doubt that Arsenal must be added to their list of competitors in the new season.

"Liverpool still need some time to adjust, Chelsea's performance is too up and down. At present, the teams that will compete with us for the top spot in the first half of the league are basically only Manchester City and Arsenal."

"What about Tottenham? They are now fourth in the league and have not lost a game yet."

"Don't worry about Tottenham, their strength is no problem, but Levy can't stand Conte's big mouth anymore. Sooner or later, they will be caught up in the coaching change storm. The focus should still be on Manchester City and Arsenal."

After watching Arsenal's game, the Newcastle coaching staff started an internal meeting.

There was no objection. At Li Chen's suggestion, the Newcastle coaching staff directly identified Arsenal and Manchester City as the two direct opponents of their team for the top spot in the league in the first half of the league.

Chelsea and Liverpool were temporarily removed from the list of league threat competitors by Newcastle's coaching staff.

Tottenham and Manchester United were directly ignored by Li Chen.

The only teams left in his sights were Manchester City and Arsenal, and his preparation plan for these two teams was quickly adjusted to focus on scoring points.

So the next afternoon, Guardiola, who was ready for a crucial battle away from home, was confused by the 4231 starting formation arranged by Li Chen.

There is no doubt that the formation that Newcastle can use to unleash its most offensive firepower is also the 433 formation that Li Chen uses most easily.

If Li Chen wants to take more initiative in the game at home, then he has no reason to abandon the 433 formation and switch to 4231.

Unless, he didn't intend to fight Manchester City to the death at home, or used the away game strategy to limit Manchester City's offensive performance...

Guardiola had an expression of disbelief on his face.

Newcastle is now in a strong momentum and is determined to win the championship in the new season. Can they remain patient and let Manchester City control the ball at home?
Putting himself in the other's shoes, Guardiola felt that he would definitely not be able to accept this.

But based on his understanding of Mourinho, he felt that Li Chen, as Mourinho's favorite disciple, would definitely do such a thing.

After the game actually started, Guardiola looked at Newcastle, who actively contracted their formation and sent Cristiano Ronaldo as the starting center forward today.

He immediately realized that he had guessed correctly. Li Chen really just wanted to get points first in the duel with him. It couldn't be more stable!

Guardiola sighed helplessly in his heart and decisively signaled the whole team to press forward and control the tempo of the game.

But facing the five tough midfielders Newcastle lined up today, Manchester City's technical players were powerless.

Palinha and Sean Longstaff partnered up in the backcourt, one of them stayed behind to block the ball head-on, while the other actively swept around to make up for the defense.

In front of them, the three central midfielders consisting of Joelinton, Guimaraes and Joe Willock were also unreasonably tough.

There is running, confrontation, and after grabbing the ball, he can take the ball and advance as soon as possible.

With such a midfield configuration, it doesn't matter whether Ronaldo participates in defense or not.

He only needs to stay in Manchester City's half and keep his position to intimidate Rodri, so that the opponent can no longer participate in the attack frequently, which will be the biggest help to Newcastle's defensive system.

When it comes to tactical deterrence, Li Chen is already an expert in the football world, which is inseparable from Mourinho's "meticulous teaching" and his personal example.

You know I will focus on defense throughout the game, but my tactical arrangement has sufficient counterattack threats.

You also know that these counterattack threats I have arranged will most likely not be used, but do you dare to bet that I won’t use them?
Guardiola looked at Ronaldo who was at the front of Newcastle's formation, and then looked at Grimaldo and Trippier who were now quietly defending in the backcourt.

Well, he really didn't dare to bet whether Li Chen would suddenly adjust his tactics in the middle of the game and launch a fierce counterattack against Manchester City.

Besides, Newcastle's 4231 formation looks extremely rigid and the midfield lacks technical skills.

But can Joelinton's propulsion efficiency be measured by technicality?
In addition, there is the threat of long-range shots from Guimaraes and Willock.

To put it bluntly, Newcastle has no need to do anything fancy on the offensive end, as they already have efficient counterattack capabilities.

If Manchester City continued to press forward in the middle of the game and made one or two mistakes that Newcastle seized on, the consequences would be disastrous.

Who dares to bet now whether the 37-year-old Ronaldo’s feet are strong enough?

Guardiola, who has actively used a center forward this season, is finally not so stubborn.

Anyway, they are also playing away, so if they get one point, they will definitely be more accepting than Newcastle.

So after actively pressing and besieging Newcastle for more than ten minutes, Guardiola made another tactical adjustment, signaling the team to slow down the pace of the game.

After that, Guardiola tried to attack by kicking the ball from the wing and long shots, trying to see if he could break through Newcastle's tough defense.

But seeing the young Haaland being knocked around by Ramos and Pepe, Guardiola gradually gave up the idea of ​​breaking the bus.

"Haaland still needs to work on his heading ability. He was like a child in Newcastle's penalty area, and his header movements looked awkward no matter how you looked at them."

"Isn't that nonsense? What kind of tough guys are Ramos and Pepe? Haaland can only pay the tuition fee if he meets them.

But it's really strange, he and Ibrahimovic, with such explosive physical fitness, why didn't they focus on honing their heading skills when they were young? "

"His footwork is good enough. Lee has studied Manchester City thoroughly and is smart enough. In the first two rounds of the league, Manchester City's opponents didn't know how to shrink their defense and were beaten by Haaland.

You can see in this game that Lee did not give Haaland any chance to charge. In static confrontation, Haaland was just a toy for Pepe and Ramos. He still needs to learn how to use his body more efficiently. He lacks experience. "

Fans who followed the game were enthusiastically discussing the performance of the two teams' players on major online platforms.

Li Chen, who successfully made defensive arrangements and restricted Haaland's performance, did not seem to be at ease at the moment.

He still stood on the sidelines, occasionally signaling Trippier and Grimaldo to pay attention to their positions and assist the midfielder to block the space on both sides of their own half.

It's easy to play against other teams, but when playing against Manchester City, Li Chen will never let Guardiola's defense against his flank area be effective.

Countless teams have proved to the outside world through their failures that Guardiola is the best coach in football at taking advantage of the gaps in the opponent's defense to create threats.

Manchester City's current midfield configuration is also very suitable for using quick passes and cuts to break through the opponent's defense at the flank.

One Foden, one Bernardo Silva, including Gundogan and De Bruyne who are in deeper positions, are all players who are good at shooting threatening shots from the ribs on both sides.

Although Haaland has performed very well in the new season, he has already become a core threatening player in Manchester City.

But Li Chen is very clear that in crucial games, Guardiola will still trust his midfield group more, and Haaland will play a greater role in distracting the opponent's defense at this time.

But Li Chen, who has "foresight", will not be fooled in this regard.

Newcastle's active shrinking formation has already limited Haaland's performance.

Under this premise, he naturally paid more attention to interrupting Manchester City's midfield attack rhythm and making efficient use of the flank area.

The head coaches on both sides responded to each other's moves and had already exchanged several moves before the game became intense.

In the end, Guardiola was the first to choose to stop and control the field more in his own half. Li Chen then signaled his players on the field to slowly spread out the formation and expand the defense line.

The game situation seemed to have entered a calm stage, but neither Li Chen nor Guardiola had completely let go of each other.

After the first half ended without any danger, Newcastle took the lead in attacking as soon as the second half started, and at one point suppressed Manchester City's siege on their penalty area!

In the 53rd minute of the second half, Ronaldo almost scored against Manchester City with a header!

It's a pity that the football missed the goal by just one centimeter and went wide of the far post.

It was Manchester City's threatening counterattack that ended the Newcastle team's crazy siege.

However, De Bruyne's diagonal shot from the right side of Newcastle's penalty area after receiving a pass from Foden was ultimately saved by Sommer.

The threatening shots from both teams gradually pushed the game to a climax.

But the offensive battle that countless fans had been looking forward to for a long time did not take place in the end, because Li Chen and Guardiola once again tacitly chose to call it a day.

They had taken a risk in attempting an attack.

If a goal could be scored, the game would definitely have moved towards another exciting rhythm, but unfortunately neither side ended up doing as they wished.

After this attempt, both of them tacitly chose to be cautious.

In fact, losing or not this point in the tie is not important to either side. What is important is that they don’t want the other side to get more three points.

After 70 minutes in the second half, Li Chen made the first substitution, replacing Willock with Gvardiol and changing to a five-defender formation.

Guardiola looked at Ronaldo and Grimaldo who were still on the field and did not choose to go all out, but chose to replace Ake with Ruben Dias.

Both players chose to strengthen the defense line, which set the tone for the last twenty minutes of the game.

In the end, the game came to an end with a rhythm that did not fluctuate much, and Li Chen and Guardiola were both quite satisfied with the result of getting one point each.

However, during the post-match press interview session, Li Chen still received more questions and doubts from reporters.

After all, today is Newcastle's home game day, but Manchester City still had a 60% possession rate.

For Newcastle, this scene was indeed a bit ugly. The reporters certainly would not miss the opportunity to challenge Li Chen and gain traffic.

However, Li Chen, who was in a good mood, did not choose to argue with the reporters, but responded with a smile on his face.

“The title ultimately depends on the team’s consistent performance over a long season, and I am very satisfied with the stability the team has shown so far.

Of course, if you insist that Newcastle's performance in the first three rounds of the new season with 2 wins and 1 draw is not good enough, then I respect your views and opinions.

But I still have to say, maybe you should interview Newcastle fans to see if they are satisfied with the team's performance in the new season..."

Li Chen's appeal prompted some British media reporters to go to the streets after the game to interview Newcastle fans who were eagerly discussing the team's prospects for the new season.

"Why would we be dissatisfied with the team's performance in the new season? At this time last season, we were ranked fourth from the bottom in the league with 1 draw and 2 losses, but now we are ranked second in the league!
Why didn't you journalists care about our emotions at this time last year?

Please stop trying to sow discord between us, the team, and the head coach!
We like Lee and we like this team right now, so to hell with all the other news of discord!

Li said he would lead us to win the championship trophy this season, and we have no doubt about it! ”

A senior Newcastle fan spoke directly to the thoughts of Newcastle supporters during an interview on the street!
For them who were struggling to avoid relegation in the first half of the league last season, how could they be dissatisfied with the team's record of two wins and one draw in the new season?
Newcastle fans, who are tired of being poor, are not the pampered fans of wealthy clubs. They will immediately become dissatisfied and complain if the team performs passively at home.

They will only see that the team is now able to consistently tie with Manchester City.

But last season, this was something they couldn't even imagine.

So now they will only unconditionally trust and support Li Chen, just like they trusted Eddie Howe in the second half of the league last season.

Any reporter who wants to jump out at this time and sow discord between Li Chen and the Newcastle fan group will only be scolded locally!
Li Chen also smiled knowingly after seeing the relevant news, and then led the team to prepare for the upcoming second round of the League Cup.

Facing Tranmere Rovers of English League Two, Li Chen chose to make a complete rotation and did not send any main players to play.

In the end, Newcastle, who played away, defeated their opponents 4-0 with Chris Wood and Wilson scoring twice each, and advanced to the next round of the League Cup.

In this less-watched League Cup match, Van der Ven, who started the game, performed very well.

Not only does he perform amazingly on the defensive end, he also poses a huge threat when running forward on offense.

At the beginning of the second half, he dribbled the ball from the backcourt and blew the horn of attack for Newcastle, eventually scoring the third goal of the game. After the game, Li Chen was generous in praising Van der Ven, saying that the 3-year-old young player would be a key figure in the team's defense in the future.

Three days later, at the pre-match press conference of the fourth round of the Premier League, Li Chen personally told reporters that he would let Van der Ven start in this round of the league.

"In fact, this is not a reward for starting, but Micky (van der Ven) has shown on the training ground that he has the ability to start for the team.

Sergio and Pepe are indeed the team's main defenders, but the coaching staff made it clear before the start of the season that they would protect and use their rotation strategy.

Josh and Micky both know they will not lack playing time in the new season and now is the right time for them to join forces and prove their abilities to the Premier League.”

Li Chen's confident speech made the Wolves coaching staff doubtful about Newcastle's starting lineup for this round of the game.

Wolves head coach Bruno Lager even thought that Li Chen was throwing a tactical smoke bomb.

He didn't think that Li Chen could really leave the defense to the two young central defenders.

21-year-old Van der Ven and 20-year-old Gvardiol?
Don't joke, even if he is as bold as Guardiola, he would not arrange the starting defense like this.

But reality soon slapped Bruno Lager in the face.

Li Chen did send out the starting central defender combination of Van der Ven and Gvardiol on the day of the game.

Not only that, he also let the substitute right-back Javier Manquillo start the game together, it seems that he really doesn't take the Wolves seriously!

This made Bruno Lager and Wolves' main players very angry.

Yes, they have only achieved a poor record of one draw and two losses since the start of the new season. They currently have only one point and are ranked third from the bottom in the league, and have not yet escaped the relegation zone.

But they all firmly believe from top to bottom that the team is just facing some troubles at the moment.

After getting back on track, they also have the opportunity to break into the top ten of the league.

Therefore, Li Chen's disrespectful way of selecting people made them feel humiliated.

After the game started, Wolves' frontcourt players were eager to cause trouble for Newcastle's two young central defenders.

But they soon found themselves hitting a wall, and understood why Newcastle spent a huge sum of 7000 million to introduce these two young central defenders in the last summer window!
After a serious injury, Raul Jimenez is no longer the top Premier League center forward he was in 18-20.

He was completely unable to gain any advantage over Newcastle's two young central defenders in aerial duels.

On the ground, he is no match for the two young players with strong explosive abilities.

Whether it is Gvardiol or Van der Ven, their body flexibility and speed far exceeded the expectations of the outside media.

The Wolves, who were facing the two starting pairings for the first time, naturally did not have enough detailed tactical intelligence.

When he saw Guedes trying to dribble past Van der Ven who was helping Grimaldo on defense, he was instead overwhelmed by his opponent's pressure-free acceleration.

There was only shock on Bruno Lager's face.

Perhaps he had never seen such a tall defender accelerate so quickly.

Van der Ven relied on his strong explosive ability to repeatedly steal the ball from the attacking Wolves players.

Sometimes he was a little too aggressive and it didn't matter that he lost his defensive position.

The mature Gvardiol will be his solid defensive backup, and the active Longstaff can also return to the back line in time.

Premier League fans who don't know much about Van der Ven's technical characteristics just think that Newcastle has made another excellent deal.

Spending 2000 million euros now to buy a young central defender with such excellent physical fitness is a sure win.

Even though Van der Ven seems to be a little too aggressive in his attack, his merits outweigh his flaws. His physical fitness is worth the transfer fee that Newcastle paid for him.

Li Chen was also quite satisfied with Van der Ven's performance in his Premier League debut.

Now this kid's performance in terms of offensive choices and defensive positioning is already pretty good.

If you look at his performance in the Dutch Eredivisie two seasons ago, his defensive choices were so rough that people would think he was a player with only body but no brains.

But before suffering a serious thigh injury that ended his season last season, Van der Ven had already begun to show his superb evolutionary talent in the Bundesliga.

Although he is still afraid of the opponent's pressure defense, gets nervous easily when passing the ball, and his defensive positioning is still a little rough, his progress is very obvious.

In Carrick's opinion, Li Chen chose to pay for Van der Ven's evolutionary talent, gambled on his future and brought him to Newcastle.

And now, Van der Ven has brought rich rewards to Newcastle and Li Chen with his outstanding performance.

His partnership with Gvardiol blocked Wolves' several counterattacks outside their own penalty area.

Neither the center forward Raul Jimenez nor the extremely fast winger Neto could break through the defense guarded by them.

After repeated setbacks in their attacks, the Wolves, whose finishing efficiency was already low, suffered further damage to their morale.

Newcastle seized the opportunity and used a continuous pressure attack to break through Wolves' gate in the 27th minute of the first half!
This does not mean that Wolves' defense is not strong.

In Li Chen's opinion, Wolves' defensive capabilities in the midfield and backcourt are still relatively good, and can indeed be ranked in the middle of the league.

But who made them meet Ronaldo and Madison who were in great form today?

At the beginning of the game, Madison threatened the Wolves' defense with a threatening long-range shot.

This time, Ronaldo's goal also came from Maddison's clever over-the-top pass after he passed Ruben Neves!
After successfully breaking the offside trap and making a forward run, Ronaldo took a decisive shot!
Wolves goalkeeper Josesa was unable to react in time and could only watch the football pass through his fingertips and go into the far corner of the goal!
Ronaldo, who scored his fourth league goal of the new season, also pointed at Madison, signaling his young teammate to celebrate with him in the corner flag area!
"A beautiful lob pass and a beautiful shot! Newcastle's attack was as smooth as mercury flowing on the ground!
There is no doubt that this is a perfect combination of an excellent tactical system and the personal abilities of the stars!

We should not only thank Lee for allowing the Portuguese superstar to be in full swing for two consecutive seasons and letting us see his magical performances, but we should also thank him for activating such an outstanding midfield core for the England national team!
I think Mr. Southgate no longer needs to worry about the ball and creative ability in the midfield, Maddison will be a perfect core answer! ”

The special guest of England's Sky Sports said excitedly.

The British national team ushered in a golden age due to the growth of this group of outstanding English youth players.

But to be honest, whether it was last year's European Cup or this year's UEFA Nations League, the English national team has never been able to solve the problem of insufficient midfield control and creativity.

In last year's European Cup final, the England team had only 34% possession of the ball, which has led to a number of England legends criticizing Southgate's tactical choices to this day.

A stable defense and a counter-attack tactic can indeed enable the current England team to achieve good results in international competitions.

But if you want to win the final championship, it is absolutely not enough to rely solely on an overall conservative style of play.

When Deschamps led the French team to win the World Cup, he didn't just focus on defense and counterattack.

Only by formulating different tactical strategies for different opponents and seeking change in stability can a team that is strongly competing for the championship be transformed into a favorite to win the game effectively!
Perhaps Maddison alone cannot fundamentally solve the technical problems of England's midfield, but at least he provides a way out for tactical changes for the entire England team.

Looking at Maddison hugging Ronaldo and celebrating excitedly, countless English fans felt that the national team could finally make some tactical changes.

They had not considered the possibility that Southgate would choose not to use Maddison.

The English national team has lost four consecutive games in the UEFA Nations League in June.

Players like Mount and Sterling are still playing in the national team. Can they play? They don't have the ability to do so now. Do you know?
If Southgate doesn't seek change, his position as head coach of the national team will become unstable.

Just for the sake of his own career prospects, he should also use Madison, who is in hot form in the new season, to try to make some tactical changes, right?

English fans seem to have already imagined the beautiful picture of Maddison and Kane forming a tacit connection in the national team in the future.

Just like Maddison's threatening connection with Ronaldo at Newcastle now.

Even if he doesn't play in midfield, Madison, who plays as a winger in the forward position, can organize the frontcourt attack.

Will Bellingham and Rice then be freed up to participate more in forward attacks?
Oh, and there is also Grealish who can form more ground cooperation with Maddison on the technical level...

The more you think about it, the better the picture seems. England fans can't wait to see Maddison appear on Southgate's national team call-up list in September.

And at this moment in the game, Madison's dazzling performance is still continuing.

After the game resumed, all the Wolves' midfield and backcourt defensive players unanimously tightened their restrictions on Madison's possession of the ball.

But Madison, who decisively retreated to participate in the organization, continued to contribute his offensive strength to the team in the midfield area.

Willock did not show any signs of discomfort when he was pushed to the right, as he could switch between the positions of winger and central midfielder.

In the 34th minute of the first half, it was Madison's long-range diagonal pass that allowed Grimaldo, who was on the weak side of Wolves' defense, to receive the ball and easily break into the left side of Wolves' penalty area!

Ronaldo followed up in time and Grimaldo, who had already reached the Wolves' baseline, passed the ball to him!

But this time, before Ronaldo could take a shot, Wolves' bulky right center back Collins kicked Ronaldo and tripped him!
His defensive intention was not to commit a foul, but his kick was too slow and he didn't touch the ball at all.

The referee on duty, who saw the whole scene, blew the whistle decisively.

Wolves were sentenced to death and Newcastle got a penalty kick!

However, this time Ronaldo did not choose to take the penalty himself. Instead, after asking Li Chen for consent with a gesture, he passed the ball to Havertz, who had not scored a goal in the new season.

This penalty opportunity is undoubtedly very precious for Havertz.

Even though he was confident and knew that Li Chen was very satisfied with his performance, he did not force him to immediately produce good personal data on the offensive end.

But as a well-known football talent at the time, he also had his own pride, and he was anxious after not scoring in many league rounds.

So he did not refuse embarrassedly, but took the football from Ronaldo neatly, thanked him, and walked decisively to the penalty spot.

Soon, as the referee blew the whistle, Havertz stepped on the spot and completed a resolute shot in front of the 12 yards, using a Ronaldo-style penalty to send the ball into the Wolves' goal!

After scoring the goal, Havertz immediately approached Ronaldo and gave him a hug of thanks.

Ronaldo smiled and patted his head, then pushed him to the corner flag area to celebrate.

Li Chen smiled and clapped on the sidelines, then signaled Murphy and Elanga to go to the sidelines to warm up.

The first half of the game ended quickly.

Wolves' offense was inefficient, but their defense managed to hold on and did not give Newcastle any chance to expand their lead.

Li Chen also replaced Ronaldo with Murphy at the beginning of the second half.

This is to save strength for the next round of the league away game against Liverpool.

Madison was also replaced by Elanga by Li Chen in the 60th minute of the second half.

Newcastle maintained its advantage in counterattack speed in the frontcourt and launched several good threatening attacks in the second half.

But both Havertz and Joelinton's shots that hit the goal frame were ultimately blocked by Jose Sa.

Van der Ven and Gvardiol played the entire game, and both performed very well, not giving Wolves even a single chance to break into the penalty area and shoot.

After the game, both of them received the third and fourth highest media ratings of the team today, second only to Madison and Ronaldo who was substituted at halftime.

After the game, the media did not unanimously praise Newcastle's victory over Wolves.

In their view, it is normal for Newcastle to win against mid- and lower-level teams in the Premier League.

They then began to praise the performance of several young players in Newcastle.

Madison, Van der Ven, Gwadiol, and even Elanga, who performed well on both offense and defense after coming on as a substitute.

A large number of England fans and media collectively called on Southgate to call Maddison into the new national team.

Since being selected for the England men's adult national team in 2020, Maddison has missed the national team for two consecutive years.

These English fans are afraid that Southgate, who is more conservative in his use of players, will continue to ignore Maddison and shut out the midfielder with the most delicate personal skills since Joe Cole.

Perhaps the fans' calls finally played a role. In an interview, Southgate said that he was closely following Maddison's performance in the new season.

Just three days after Newcastle's match with Wolves, reporters photographed Southgate and his assistants setting off for Liverpool.

That day happened to be the day when Newcastle and Liverpool played the fifth round of the Premier League in the new season.

Southgate will no doubt be watching Maddison's start at Anfield from close range.

This was an opportunity for Madison to prove himself that he could not miss. Li Chen did not let him rest and continued to arrange for him to start the game.

However, just like the previous crucial match against Manchester City, Li Chen still deployed a more stable control tactics away from home in this round of the league.

There is no way. Liverpool's performance in the first three rounds of the new season was rather poor, but who made them slaughter Bournemouth 4-9 in the fourth round of the league?
Liverpool's form is quickly improving and they are playing at Anfield again.

Li Chen doesn't want to be careless and end up in trouble. He would rather be cautious and fight for a draw than give Liverpool a chance by being aggressive.

The Liverpool players, who have regained their confidence, want to announce their return to the Premier League by defeating Newcastle at home.

Klopp also wanted to compete with Li Chen on the offensive end, so they played quite actively, pressing forward actively at the start of the game and trying to besiege Newcastle.

However, Newcastle's midfield defense, which has withstood the test of Manchester City's offensive, also performed well in today's game!

Joelinton and Guimaraes used consecutive confrontations and steals to help Newcastle launch a quick counterattack.

In the ninth minute of the first half, Madison's threatening pass after receiving the ball almost helped Havertz get a chance to shoot alone.

However, Van Dijk's bold kick disrupted Havertz's subsequent offensive action, preventing Newcastle from completing the counterattack.

But Maddison's hot performance was already seen by Southgate in the stands.

The English coach seemed quite satisfied with Maddison's outstanding performance.

Li Chen still did not make any tactical adjustments towards offense during the game, which inevitably made many fans who were paying attention to the game feel regretful.

However, commentators from various countries expressed their understanding of Li Chen's tactical choice.

If you want to win the Premier League title, you must be "ruthless in beating weak teams and steady in tough battles."

The former is even more important.

Li Chen has obviously grasped the essence of it.

He is moving steadily towards success.

　I have finished 2000 words today, and there are still about 20000 words to be added. And then taking into account the 8000 words promised to be added, well, I still owe you 28000 words. I will try to finish them all before the end of this month.
　　
　
(End of this chapter)