Chapter 61 I Wanted to Refuse, But They Offered Too Much

Chapter 61 I Wanted to Refuse, But They Offered Too Much

Chapter 61 I Wanted to Refuse, But They Offered Too Much
When the English fan group and various British media reported that Li Chen was the most suitable person to take over the England national team at this stage, Li Chen was busy formulating a winter transfer plan.

Anthony Gordon is the first choice in this plan.

Most of the other signings are young players under the age of 20. In other words, Li Chen is making plans for Newcastle's future development in advance.

His recruitment plan was affirmed by the team's CEO Darren Ells.

The investment is not large, the vision is long-term, and Li Chen's ability to coach young players is trusted by Ils.

The Newcastle management is very much looking forward to Li Chen helping the team train stars with their own youth training pedigree.

Therefore, the Newcastle uniform team attached great importance to the list given by Li Chen, and immediately sent a scout team to investigate the players.

Among them, Yamal, who has been promoted by Xavi to the Barcelona first team and is training with the team, is the one that Li Chen specifically instructed the uniform team to contact as soon as possible.

"Even though he is only 15 years old, if we can use 3000 million to get Yamal's transfer now, then this deal can be worth 3 million in the future.

If necessary, I will fly to Barcelona to communicate with this little guy in person. Believe me, he is definitely a super talent that will never appear in the world! "

Li Chen made no secret of his optimism about Yamal, and he was indeed prepared to fly to Barcelona in person during this winter World Cup off-season to persuade Yamal to join Newcastle.

In addition, with the crucial match against Tottenham just around the corner, he had no intention of paying attention to the turbulent changes in the public opinion field.

Until Mendes called him at work.

"Take over the England national team temporarily? The FA is crazy! I am too busy to deal with other things now. Let them find other people, those unemployed head coaches at home."

"The salary is generous... I can't make this much money even if it's generous. And how can I explain this to the club? How can I hand over the job to the next coach after the World Cup cycle? It's unrealistic, unrealistic."

"What? They've already negotiated with our big boss? But the timeline on my end...wait! Jorge, how many millions did you say?"

"Four million pounds! Just finish this World Cup, and there will be bonuses if the results meet the requirements!"

When Jorge told Li Chen about the offer made by the English FA, Li Chen fell silent, and couldn't say the words to refuse again.

You know, the FA gave the 400 million pounds without any performance requirements.

As long as he agrees to take over the current situation of the England national team, he will be able to get the money directly after the World Cup!

400 million pounds for less than two months of work is equivalent to half a year's salary now, not to mention an uncertain bonus.

"Well... I'll discuss this matter in detail after I finish my match against Tottenham. But there are some necessary conditions that the English Football Association must accept first. Only if they accept them can there be a possibility of further cooperation. Jorge, can you help me convey this to them..."

Li Chen thought about it and gave detailed instructions. Mendes agreed immediately and helped Li Chen to communicate with the English Football Association.

Li Chen, who was shaken by the FA's big move, also attaches great importance to the upcoming game against Tottenham.

On the afternoon of October 10rd, Newcastle made their debut at the new White Hart Lane Stadium.

In response to Tottenham's recent injury problems, Li Chen predictively fielded a 352 starting formation, which happened to match Tottenham's starting 352.

The injuries of Kulusevski and Richarlison meant that Conte could no longer stick to the 343 formation.

In addition, in order to deal with Newcastle, which is in hot form, Conte naturally chose to play it safe and use 352 to further strengthen the defensive ability in the middle.

Li Chen also used a 352 starting formation not to fight with Conte in the midfield.

Instead, while gathering heavy troops to limit the performance of Kane and Son Heung-min, they used the strong advancement of their own wing midfielders to break through Tottenham's wing defense!

In terms of the forward line, Li Chen also chose the double striker combination of Cristiano Ronaldo and Chris Wood today.

The highlight was a powerful hammer attack, which clearly showed that they were going to use the tactic of combining the wing and the middle to the end.

As soon as Conte got Newcastle's starting lineup before the game, he felt something was wrong.

When the game officially started, Conte understood Li Chen's plan when he saw Newcastle passing the ball to the wing as soon as they gained the advantage in midfield.

As far as the wing midfielder matchup is concerned, let alone Tottenham, there are really few teams in European football this season that can compete with Newcastle.

The root cause lies with Joelinton and Guimarães, who was successfully transformed into an all-around number eight by Li Chen.

The physical fitness of these two midfielders is better than the other. They can advance the ball and defend quite well.

There is no need to talk about Guimarães' defense. Let's talk about Joelinton. His defensive positioning is not top-notch in football, but his active return defense and large area coverage are enough to cover up his shortcomings.

With their assistance and protection, Grimaldo and Trippier can fully display their offensive talents!

Conte seemed to have foreseen the situation where his two wing-backs would be blown away in the matchup, and quickly signaled Bentancur and Skip to help defend on the wing.

But what he didn't expect was that Grimaldo on Newcastle's left was just Li Chen's first offensive killer move.

Gvardiol, who played as a left center back today, quickly shocked all the fans with his frequent cross-field moves!

Conte was also dumbfounded.

He originally thought that Guardiola was the most extreme head coach in using central defenders, but he didn't expect that Li Chen would give him another big job today!
The key is that Li Chen's move is really hard to defend against.

Conte had never seen such a move before, and the Tottenham players on the field had never seen such a move before either.
Sanchez, who was not very smart, lost his defensive position early under the repeated attacks of Guadiol and Grimaldo.

And the one who backed up for him was Dell...

To be honest, Dier's performance in the past two seasons has not been bad. At least he has been more stable than when Mourinho coached Tottenham.

But this stability is conditional.

He can perform well in the three-center-back system because the problems of defensive positioning and attacking can be solved by relying on the performance of his teammates.

But once you expect Dier to lead his teammates in the game like Van Dijk, or even to clean up the mess for his teammates, then you're doomed.

Not only can Dell not do this, but he will also be infected by his abstract teammates and play abstract roles together.

Newcastle seized the opportunity when Sanchez and Dier made mistakes in their attacks, and finally Cristiano Ronaldo made a pass to assist Chris Wood to score with a header!

When Newcastle broke the deadlock, the game had just entered the 11th minute of the first half.

Conte was so angry at this situation that his lungs almost exploded!

However, Dale, who made the mistake, also looked aggrieved, because facing Ronaldo holding the ball in the penalty area, he certainly couldn't let go again.

Who knows if he didn't kick the ball to try to intercept, would Ronaldo have just kicked it and scored?
As for the incident where Ronaldo's fake shot and real dunk shook off the defense, Dell also had something to say.

Wasn't it Sanchez who was shaken by Grimaldo like a spinning top and lost his defensive position first? How could it be his turn to make a mistake? !
Dell, with an innocent look on his face, felt helpless as he was simply being tricked by his teammates.

Conte off the field was too lazy to scold him, knowing that he was limited in ability. He could only curse Levy in his heart.

Knowing that Romero will be injured for a period of time every season, he still doesn't give him a reliable central defender. If there is someone available, can he still let Dier play as a defensive central defender?
In comparison, Lenglet, who was overpowered by Chris Wood and scored, was really badly screwed.

He actually played quite well on the left, and Trippier and Guimaraes failed to completely get rid of him despite several passes and cuts.

As a result, as the game went on, the defense on the right half collapsed.

He was just trying to shrink his body and help his teammates defend, but suddenly, a 1-meter-tall, 91-kilogram white bear knocked him over. Where could he go to seek justice?

Li Chen caught Tottenham's defensive problems right away, and the opening goal allowed Newcastle to take the tactical initiative away from home.

So, under Conte's gaze, who expected Newcastle to continue to suppress the attack, Li Chen quickly chose to shrink the formation and switch to a defensive counterattack!
“Blank!!!”

One after another, the Italian national curse flashed through Conte's mind.

He had an urgent tactical discussion with his assistants.

But five minutes later, looking at Newcastle still patiently waiting for Tottenham's attack, Conte was at a loss and could only signal his team to press forward and launch a more proactive attack.

Kane was the first to run into Newcastle's tough midfield defense.

Joelinton and Parinha used a ground confrontation and a header confrontation respectively to defeat Kane.

Afterwards, Guimarães used his ground fighting skills to make Son Heung-min lose the offensive ball twice within three minutes.

The personal attacking abilities of Sessegnon and Emerson are still not enough, and it is difficult for them to help Tottenham's two offensive trump cards create offensive space.

Tottenham's offensive system after suffering a wave of injuries relies entirely on the personal abilities of Kane and Son Heung-min.

When these two players got lost in Newcastle's iron defense, the remaining Tottenham players in the frontcourt were like headless flies, and it was difficult for them to work together to break the deadlock.

On the other hand, on the Newcastle side, Cristiano Ronaldo, who partnered with Chris Wood today, seemed to have found the feeling of his youth again, repeatedly pulling out of the penalty area and delivering threatening crosses.

It is difficult for Tottenham, who always have one of their defenders tied down by Ronaldo, to double-team Chris Wood.

Chris Wood, who is good at heading, showed his strength repeatedly in Tottenham's penalty area. In the 22nd minute of the first half, he headed the ball into the post and almost scored his second goal!

Seeing this, Conte could only let Emerson retreat to limit Ronaldo's performance.

But this concession also made Newcastle's counterattack on the left smoother.

In the 29th minute of the first half, Grimaldo pushed forward again, and then passed the ball to Gvardiol. Sanchez tried his best but failed to gain the upper hand in the confrontation, and was finally blocked by Gvardiol's defense and sent a reverse triangle back pass!
This time, Ronaldo took advantage of Chris Wood's forward run to receive the ball, but Dale learned his lesson and did not take the risk of stealing the ball.

So Ronaldo knocked the ball across to the right edge of Tottenham's penalty area.

Guimaraes got into position and Conte quickly shouted, asking his players to pay attention to Trippier who was running down the right flank.

Many Newcastle players also thought that Guimarães was going to pass the ball to the right.

But after unloading the ball, Guimarães made a slight adjustment and chose to shoot with full confidence!
Lori made the save decision with a serious look in his eyes. At the same time, Lenglet, who felt that he could barely reach the ball, relied on his instinct as a central defender and kicked out to try to disrupt Guimarães' long-range shot.

So, under Lori's desperate gaze, the football finally rubbed the outside of Lenglet's calf and changed its course, then went straight to the upper right corner of Tottenham's goal!

Lori, who had already dived to the lower left side of the goal, was obviously unable to react with a second dive.

And when he saw the football finally fall into the goal, the unfortunate Lenglet widened his eyes and subconsciously covered his head with his hands.

Seeing this scene, Conte crushed the mineral water bottle in his hand on the sidelines.

The Italian coach was so angry that his cheeks turned red. He made complicated gestures to the assistant coach and cursed at the air!
At this moment, Li Chen, who was not far away from him, accepted this unexpected surprise with a big laugh.

Forced into a corner, Tottenham launched a ferocious attack in the last ten minutes of the first half, regardless of the consequences.

But Newcastle, who were well prepared, quickly contracted their defense and consolidated the team's two-goal lead.

In the second half of the game, Li Chen directly changed to 343, replacing Palinha with Madison, decisively strengthening the rhythm of the offense and defense transition and the counterattack force.

Conte also became ruthless and continued to exert his strength on the offensive end, as if he would not give up until he scored a goal today.

Therefore, the two teams basically maintained a rhythm of stabbing each other in the second half.

Ronaldo took the lead and scored after receiving Trippier's counterattack cross.

Kane then made an effort, received the ball with his back, turned around and made a wonderful through pass, helping Son Heung-min successfully break into the Newcastle penalty area and score.

Son Heung-min's wonderful breakthrough in the 59th minute of the second half forced Ramos to take the risk of making a tackle, and the penalty kick he won for Tottenham also gave Tottenham a glimmer of hope for a comeback.

Kane scored in one fell swoop, passing and shooting, and the morale of the entire Tottenham team was boosted, and they pressed forward at all costs to look for scoring opportunities.

But at the critical moment, Newcastle withstood the defensive pressure. Guimarães made a long counterattack pass, and Maddison passed Sessegnon and made a long arc over the top pass to help Ronaldo complete the header to score the winning goal!

With two shots and one assist, Ronaldo extinguished all hopes of Tottenham's comeback in the 84th minute of the game!
And Newcastle had the last laugh, beating Tottenham 4-2 in this exciting and crucial battle, continuing to consolidate their position at the top of the league table!
Li Chen chatted with Conte for quite some time after the game. He can speak Italian and because of Mourinho's influence he is very familiar with the tactical structure of Italian football.

So after they started talking, they found that they had a lot in common and they both liked each other's straightforward temperament.

At least on the point of complaining about Levy, the two quickly reached a consensus, and Li Chen even expressed his empathy for Conte's current personnel troubles.

"We were already at the top of the league that year, and we didn't sign any key players in the winter transfer window. We were dragged down by injuries..."

Li Chen talked endlessly about his regretful performance at Tottenham, and Conte, who felt that he had fallen into a fire pit, patted Li Chen on the shoulder and sighed.

If Li Chen had not been preparing for contact and negotiations with the English Football Association, he might have stayed in London that night and had a drink with Conte in a private bar.

The schedules didn't match, so the two could only finally agree to meet up for a few drinks during the off-season, and leave it at that for today.

After announcing to the players in the locker room that they would have a day off tomorrow, Li Chen hurriedly took a special car to the hotel booked by Mendes. Carrick held the post-match press conference on his behalf.

At this time, British media reporters were no longer concerned about Newcastle's results. They kept asking Carrick about Li Chen's whereabouts.

Fans who saw the relevant news speculated whether Li Chen had already negotiated with the English Football Association in London about temporarily taking over the contract of the England national team.

However, the progress of this matter was not as smooth as they had imagined.

Because the several requests that Li Chen had previously asked Mendes to convey to the English FA were not fully recognized.

For example, his request to bring Carrick to take over temporarily and to temporarily "abandon" several of Southgate's assistant coaches was rejected by the English FA.

The reason given by the English Football Association is that doing so is likely to cause turmoil within the team and will be detrimental to the England national team's final preparations.

However, Li Chen said that this was a necessary condition for him to temporarily take over the coaching of the England national team. If the English Football Association could not accept it, he would have to find someone else.

The negotiation teams on both sides spent a day in London and had almost reached an agreement on other details of the contract, except for the hiring of teaching assistants.

Li Chen, who also has to lead the team to prepare for the next three rounds of the Premier League and one round of the League Cup, returned to Newcastle early.

The top management of the English Football Association also held an emergency meeting to discuss whether to accept Li Chen’s request in full or to appoint another head coach.

The game between the two sides was going on silently.

English fans who couldn't get any big news were anxiously waiting for the league match between Newcastle and Aston Villa.

Villa, currently ranked 11th in the standings, enjoyed a long-awaited four-goal victory in the last round of the league.

But after firing Gerrard, Villa did not immediately look for an experienced unemployed head coach, but let interim coach Danks continue to lead the team.

Perhaps there were some contract details that were not negotiated with the target head coach, so Villa, coached by a rookie coach, ran into Newcastle's hot gun.

Newcastle, playing at home, rested for six days after the crucial battle with Tottenham, so they chose to play with all their main players without any pressure.

Li Chen did not underestimate his rookie opponent. After a little probing, he chose to go all out and launch a continuous siege on Vera!

Villa, who still maintains the old tactical system, lacks the ability to respond on the spot, and the interim head coach Danks cannot keep up with Li Chen's thinking rhythm at all.

This resulted in Villa falling behind by three goals before the end of the first half, and Martin was even more frustrated by the repeated shots from Newcastle's offensive line.

After the start of the second half, Danks confusedly chose to consolidate the backcourt defense first.

The result was that the front line was pressed again and again by Newcastle, and finally was blocked by Newcastle at the doorstep and attacked for 30 minutes!
When the game finally ended, the score had been changed to 7-1 by Newcastle.

Aston Villa's successful counterattack did not intimidate Newcastle and make the Magpies give up their fierce attack. Instead, they got a result that was more humiliating than 0-3 at halftime.

Many neutral fans watching the game felt that it was Aston Villa's own fault that they were eventually slaughtered.

Newcastle slowed down its attacking tempo after taking a three-goal lead.

Although the attack was lively at the beginning of the second half, there was little offensive penetration into Aston Villa's penalty area.

It's obvious that they just want to put on an act and then call it a day.

As a result, Aston Villa scored a goal with a counter-attack that was prone to foul.

Marcelo, who was injured by Dendoncker, was directly replaced by Li Chen.

So the angry Ramos and Ronaldo successfully scored goals in set-piece attacks.

Grimaldo, who came on as a substitute for Marcelo, assisted and scored twice in 30 minutes, helping Wilson and Elanga, who also came on as substitutes, to open their scoring accounts.

A massacre took place, and Villa could have avoided becoming a background figure in such a game, which was really their own fault.

After the game, Li Chen was rarely angry because Marcelo might miss the last World Cup of his career because of this injury.

Many veteran football players who felt the same way also spoke out, condemning Villa's unfair foul tactics against Newcastle.

It was also at this point in public opinion that the English Football Association no longer had the intention of looking for other coaches to serve as the interim head coach of the England national team, and decided to bring Li Chen to lead England's "Galactic Battleship".

Well, the excuse given by the FA top brass about “protecting the players” is all bullshit.

The main reason was that during their inspection period, Li Chen led the team to a 4-2 victory over Tottenham, which ranked third in the league, and a 7-1 massacre of Aston Villa in two rounds, and the results were too hard.

In addition, they were really optimistic about Li Chen's ability to find the right people to use, so they decided to take a chance on Li Chen!
Not only did they agree to Li Chen's request to temporarily reorganize the England national team's assistant coaching team, they also offered Li Chen a more attractive bonus plan.

The basic salary is 400 million pounds. After leading England into the World Cup knockout stage, starting from the 1/8 finals, Li Chen will receive a bonus of 100 million pounds every time he leads the team into a knockout round!

And if he can eventually lead the England national team to win the World Cup, all his bonuses will be doubled!
When Li Chen heard this plan, he wondered if the English Football Association had been provoked to the point of losing its mind.

Later, with Mendes' reminder, he learned that the boss of his own club was also actively promoting him to temporarily serve as England's head coach.

In Mendes' words, the English Football Association only paid half of the basic salary, and the rest of the money was basically paid by the wealthy consortium behind Newcastle.

The reason why the big boss is willing to be the "sucker" is that, on the one hand, he is very satisfied with Li Chen's coaching performance in the new season and is thinking of ways to give him extra bonuses.

On the other hand, they want to spread the global visibility of Newcastle and the entire group behind it through Li Chen coaching the England national team to participate in the Qatar World Cup.

In order to achieve such a goal, the big boss would not hesitate to spend millions or tens of millions of pounds, let alone hundreds of millions...

Li Chen, who had figured out who was the mastermind behind the scenes, had no doubts anymore and signed his name on the temporary coaching contract readily.

As the official announcement came out, some details of the contract amount were also gradually exposed by the media.

Newcastle fans, who had previously complained about the FA's poaching practices, now have nothing to say.

It’s no wonder that Li Chen couldn’t refuse. It was just that the English FA offered too much.

(End of this chapter)