Chapter 74: Transfer failure after winning streak, battle with Arsenal
Chapter 74: Transfer failure after winning streak, battle with Arsenal
The news of Li Chen being included in the knighthood list quickly overshadowed the match between Newcastle and Leeds United.
As a result, the Newcastle players, who originally wanted to score the team's fourth goal, subconsciously slowed down the pace of the game.
However, Leeds United failed to seize the opportunity to counterattack, and the two teams eventually entered the halftime break with a score of 3-1.
After returning to the locker room, Joelinton was the first to step forward. He held the empty energy drink bottle in his hand as a microphone and pretended to interview Li Chen about how he felt after being knighted.
Li Chen smiled and kicked him in the butt, and suddenly there was a burst of cheerful laughter in the Newcastle locker room.
Another player jokingly called Li Chen "Jazz", and Li Chen shook his head when he heard it.
"You can call me by my name, but please don't call me Sir. It sounds too awkward. Of course, if you don't listen to my advice, I don't mind using the title of Sir to teach you a lesson."
There was another burst of laughter in the locker room.
Seeing that the atmosphere was lively enough, Li Chen pressed his hands down, then returned to the topic, asking the players to secure victory as early as possible after the start of the second half.
"Leeds United's offensive threat is still quite big. We should not give them too many opportunities to seize the transition between offense and defense and counterattack. We can play more simply and directly, break through their two wing defenses and increase our chances of scoring..."
Li Chen’s tactical arrangements were quite detailed.
After the start of the second half, Newcastle quickly suppressed Leeds United's counterattack through attacks on both wings.
Leeds United's defense is relatively poor. They have conceded 16 goals in just 32 league games, ranking third among the 20 Premier League teams.
In addition, Leeds United's two tall central defenders have slow reaction speeds, so Newcastle's frequent targeted low crosses make Leeds United's defense even worse.
In the 59th minute of the second half, Ronaldo's sliding shot at the back of the Leeds United penalty area was saved by Leeds United goalkeeper Mellier with his extreme diving action.
But the ball was not blocked far away. Havertz subconsciously ran to the opposite side of Ronaldo's position and followed up smartly to complete the shot!
The score was changed to 4-1, and Li Chen, who was sure of victory, did not hesitate to replace three players.
Among them, Wilson, who came on as a substitute for Ronaldo, showed good competitive form and completed consecutive shots in the Leeds United penalty area.
However, Mellier's condition seemed to have been stimulated. He managed to protect his own goal by blocking the ball high and low, and prevented Newcastle from scoring the fifth goal.
Arsenal and Manchester City, who played later, also faced severe challenges.
In the end, Arsenal withstood the pressure and defeated Brighton 4-2 away from home, continuing to keep close on Newcastle's heels.
Manchester City was tied 1-1 by Everton at home, and was further trailed by Newcastle and Arsenal.
It seems that Manchester City is more seriously affected by the FIFA virus than Newcastle and Arsenal.
Newcastle and Arsenal have no Champions League games to play this season, which is fortunate in some ways.
The other three Premier League teams that have played in the Champions League this season, Liverpool, Manchester United and Chelsea, have failed to get their league results back on track quickly after the end of the winter World Cup.
Manchester United was the worst off, with one draw and one loss after Casemiro was injured.
Even though Rashford and Greenwood performed well in the two league rounds and scored three goals in total, they were unable to reverse the team's decline.
Manchester United, which did not have top-notch midfielders available, used an awkward tactic that did not look like counter-attack and high pressure that did not look like high pressure, and could only produce good results for less than half the game.
The rest of the time he was either kicking the ball or being beaten by his opponents.
It is estimated that Manchester United will have to continue recruiting in midfield during this winter window.
I don’t know if Manchester United’s top management will continue to spend money after spending nearly 2 million euros on Ten Hag’s transfer fee…
Without the burden of more games, Newcastle soon faced Arsenal in a "six-point battle" with the determination to win.
In the 19th round of the Premier League, Newcastle will travel to face Arsenal, who is currently ranked second in the league standings.
However, before the game officially started, Li Chen, who was dreaming of officially recruiting Yamal after the winter transfer window opened, received bad news from the management team.
"Barcelona rejected the 5000 million euro offer? No way, don't they even want to talk?"
Li Chen, who received a call from the uniform group negotiation team, frowned and asked.
He certainly knows that Yamal, who has already shown his talent, will definitely be regarded by Barcelona as the team's future local leader.
In this era when young talents are easily sold at a premium of 5000 to million, he did not expect Barcelona's top management to agree to their million offer on impulse.
But this is just a preliminary negotiation. It is already very sincere to offer 5000 million for the first time.
This means that if subsequent negotiations are reached, the offer price may very likely reach a staggering figure of 60 to 70 million.
Newcastle showed great sincerity in spending this much money to buy a 15-year-old young player.
But now seeing that Barcelona didn't even want to talk, Li Chen knew that he would most likely hit a wall in this transfer.
Unless they spend more than 100 million, Barcelona will just keep rejecting Newcastle with the excuse of "not for sale".
Considering Yamal's performance in La Liga and the European Cup before he traveled through time, Li Chen believed that even if Newcastle spent 100 million to introduce Yamal now, it would definitely not be a loss.
But after all, he was not paying for it himself, so he had to convince the club's management to agree to such a risky decision.
There is also a hidden concern, that is, Yamal can perform well in La Liga, but it does not mean that he can perform the same in the Premier League.
If this little guy encounters some unexpected developments in the Premier League, such as serious injuries, Li Chen would feel bad.
Who knows when these defensive beasts in the Premier League will get excited and give technical players a hard blow?
If Yamal could be brought in at a transfer price of less than 7000 million, Li Chen felt that he could still overcome these problems.
But if the transfer fee really comes to hundreds of millions, he really doesn't want to follow up.
The expected return is not proportional to the expected risk.
After hesitating for a moment, Li Chen asked the uniform team responsible for the negotiations to contact the Barcelona executives again.
After the league game with Arsenal, he will fly to Barcelona in person to see if he can have another personal talk with Barcelona and Yamal.
At that time, it will be equivalent to the last attempt to recruit players. If it succeeds, it succeeds. If it fails, it forgets.
After making the decision, Li Chen no longer paid much attention to Yamal's transfer progress.
In comparison, Newcastle and Everton's transfer negotiations for Anthony Gordon went much more smoothly.
One is that Everton’s financial situation is becoming increasingly difficult, and the other is that Anthony Gordon himself is very willing to join Newcastle.
In this case, the protests from Everton's coaching team and fans are completely ineffective.
It can be said that Anthony Gordon's transfer to Newcastle in this winter window is a foregone conclusion.
Now what Newcastle has to deal with is Everton's asking price.
Everton opened its mouth wide and asked for a transfer price of 5500 million pounds, which is equivalent to a transfer fee of 6200 million euros.
No matter how optimistic Li Chen is about Anthony Gordon's talent, there is no way he would agree to Everton's extortionate offer.
Newcastle's intended offer is £3500 million.
You can increase the price gradually. Li Chen's psychological upper limit price is 4000 million pounds, which is 4500 million euros.
It doesn't matter if the price fluctuates by one or two million euros around this upper limit, but any more is not acceptable.
Moreover, he is not in a hurry to complete the signing and directly instructed the club staff who were negotiating with Everton to take their time.
Li Chen also made a special phone call to comfort the anxious Anthony Gordon, telling him not to think too much and to continue playing normally for Everton and perform well.
Don't be influenced by your agency or the outside media and go on strike just to join Newcastle as soon as possible.
After all, everyone can understand that you want to leave your parent team which is now in the relegation zone and have a better development prospect.
We all make a living as professionals, and it is unrealistic to say that we should sacrifice our future development for loyalty these days.
But if you go on strike, it will affect your professionalism.
It would be easy to deal with the disgusting Everton side, but if Li Chen is disgusted before the successful transfer, the only one who will suffer is Anthony Gordon himself.
After receiving Li Chen's call, Anthony Gordon finally calmed down.
The negotiations between Newcastle and Everton are still going smoothly.
Li Chen, on his part, devoted all his efforts to preparing for the battle.
On the evening of January 1, the entire Newcastle team took a bus from their hotel in London to Arsenal's home stadium, the Emirates Stadium.
After the warm-up session of the two teams, Ben White and Saka ran to the sidelines to hug and greet Li Chen.
The Arsenal fans at home also applauded Li Chen, and the atmosphere at the scene became very warm for a while.
But when the players from both teams officially stepped onto the field, a serious and tense atmosphere quickly enveloped the entire stadium.
It is true that Saka, Ben White and Arsenal fans have respect for Li Chen.
But their determination to beat Newcastle at home and win this crucial six-point battle is real!
Arsenal have been away from the league title for too long.
Three years have passed since Arteta was mocked by fans of other teams for his performance after taking office, and now he has successfully slapped them in the face and achieved good results.
Arsenal supporters, who have finally seen the dawn of the team's rise, can't wait any longer.
They don't want to lie dormant patiently any longer, always being inferior to other powerful rivals.
Since the results are great this season and the team has great potential, we must go all out to win the league championship this season!
Arsenal players hold the same idea.
In terms of the lineup on paper, Newcastle may indeed be stronger than them.
But with the advantage of home court, they are confident that they have a stronger will to win today!
Arteta watched the players from both teams complete the parade ceremony, his eyes determined as he stood on the sidelines.
He was eager to have another head-on confrontation with Li Chen.
Even if Arsenal takes the initiative, they must take extremely high risks to gain tactical initiative.
But considering the importance behind this battle, Arteta just feels that it is worth taking such a risk!
Li Chen, who was not far from him, had his hands folded across his chest with a serious look on his face. It seemed that he had no intention of backing down and was determined to have a head-on fight with Arsenal.
But when the game really started, facing the overwhelming Arsenal, Newcastle quickly chose a low-post defensive tactic.
Yes, Li Chen does not intend to have a decisive battle with Arsenal in this round of head-on competition and fight to the death.
If they were 4 points behind Arsenal now, Li Chen would do the same as Arteta and take risks at home to seize every opportunity to gain points advantage for his side.
But now they are 4 points ahead of Arsenal. This 4-point gap is too big for Newcastle, which is now very stable in beating weak teams.
Li Chen really couldn't find any reason not to use the most stable tactical approach to compete against Arsenal.
A draw would be the most comfortable outcome for Newcastle.
It not only wore down the morale of the entire Arsenal team, but also put the main battlefield for winning the championship on a losing battle between the two teams.
And don't forget, Arsenal has no Champions League games to play this season, but they are still playing in the Europa League.
Given the depth of Arsenal's bench this season, the further they go in the Europa League, the more it will hinder them in their title race with Newcastle in the league.
Whether in the short or long term, Li Chen only feels that he has the advantage in the championship process. There is no need to fight with Arsenal to the point of mutual destruction. Just drag it out.
This made the pre-match mobilization extremely passionate. Arsenal, who had already planned to stab Newcastle, threw a powerful punch directly at cotton.
Newcastle won't accept the challenge and will just defend in a low position to fight back against Arsenal's counterattack. What can we do?
With Jesus and Smith Rowe both injured, Arsenal's efforts to increase their offensive chips and break through Newcastle's strong defense are powerless.
Are we expecting Nketiah, who started as the No.9 today, to break the bus?
Ask him if he has this confidence.
Arteta almost bit his fingers when he saw Newcastle's shameless counter-attack bus.
But we have already pushed forward, so we can't just retreat back to the half and play bus battle with Newcastle, right?
In desperation, Arteta could only signal his disciples on the field to change positions more often, make passes and cuts, and see if they could distract Newcastle's dense defense.
However, Li Chen, who had been prepared for this, just waved his hand and Newcastle, whose starting formation was clearly 433, immediately changed to 352.
Grimaldo was pushed into midfield to play as left wingback, while Trippier moved inside to form a three-man central defence with Gvardiol and Pepe.
Elanga retreated to midfield to play as right wingback, the central midfield trio was Joelinton, Guimaraes + Longstaff, and Ronaldo and Havertz partnered up as double strikers.
The tough three-man midfield combination directly swept the middle of Newcastle's half and the flank areas on both sides. When there was no counterattack opportunity, Grimaldo and Elanga could retreat to the end line.
The defensive line of Gvardiol and Trippier helps Pepe to make up for the mobility while also having the ability to pass the ball to the wings and the midfield of their respective half zones.
Once this formation was deployed, Newcastle's ability to resist rebounds in the midfield and backcourt was almost maximized.
The three midfielders, who are the toughest in the world of football, provide strong coverage and interception. The two central defenders have excellent ability to pass the ball forward and can safely send long passes for counterattacks as soon as they receive the ball.
There is no need to worry about Grimaldo and Elanga's ability to advance with the ball.
As long as there is a chance, the two can send crosses during the counterattack. With Havertz's tactical cover, Ronaldo will be able to get a few shots in a good position, right?
Newcastle's obvious defensive counter-attack tactics are not afraid of Arsenal breaking through.
If Arteta wants to stop Newcastle's counterattack, he can only deploy heavy troops on both wings to limit the performance of Grimaldo and Elanga.
But in this case, their strong offensive side will no longer exist.
It's impossible to let Saka and Martinelli press forward to attack while at the same time asking them to return to defense in time to assist the full-backs to stop Newcastle's counterattack, right?
Li Chen gave Arteta a rather disgusting tactical choice problem.
The smart Arteta quickly saw through Li Chen's sinister intentions.
He wants to take the lead early at home, but that doesn't mean he will actively jump into the opponent's tactical trap.
Arteta made the decision without much thought, and was determined not to let Li Chen get his wish!
Anyway, there is still a long time before the end of the first half of the game. Since Li Chen wants to delay it, he can wait a little longer and put the final in the second half.
The calm Arteta did not fall into the trap and remained calm. Arsenal also dealt with Newcastle on the field in a leisurely manner.
Li Chen was not surprised to see this.
In his opinion, Arteta is not like Guardiola or Klopp, who are obsessed with and pursue their own tactical philosophy.
He is more like a "pragmatic" head coach who has studied hard in Guardiola's tactical hall and then embarked on his own path.
On the surface, Arteta is indeed an advocate and supporter of offensive football.
He can launch offensive attacks against mid- and lower-level league teams that are far weaker than Arsenal, and he also has the determination and courage to launch offensive attacks against opponents of similar strength.
But when facing stronger teams, after suffering one or two setbacks, Arteta became quite smart and could flexibly switch his tactics between offensive and conservative styles.
Li Chen admires Arteta's awareness very much.
Playing beautiful football alone cannot save the current Arsenal team.
Didn’t the professor win the Premier League championship back then by relying on strong defense and sharp counterattacks?
When it is time to be polite, be polite; when it is time to be humble, be humble.
If you don't have the financial support and tactical talent to build another Manchester City, don't learn from Guardiola. Ordinary coaches really can't learn that.
Li Chen has always believed that if Klopp had been more pragmatic, and had not been so eager to fight against Manchester City in the past few seasons, and had focused more on beating weak teams, he might have won another Premier League title.
He sincerely felt sorry for Klopp.
It is the first time in the history of the Premier League that a team can only finish second in the league even if it gets 97 points.
However, if Liverpool did not have the courage to show their strength in every encounter with Manchester City, they might not have been able to grow so quickly to its current level under Klopp.
The romantic spirit of idealists has injected soul into Liverpool.
This not only made them the only strong rival of Guardiola's Manchester City, but also allowed them to leave their own name in the history of the Premier League and the Champions League.
Li Chen would not do such a thing, but he respects the coaches and teams who dare to do such a thing.
"Damn it! I hope the media won't describe today's game as an ugly duel between two pragmatists after the game."
Looking at the players from both teams who were hesitating and not daring to attack boldly on the court, Li Chen couldn't help but make a joke in his heart.
But he still has no intention of changing the tactical style of this game.
Arteta, like him, insisted on the idea that he would not move unless the opponent did, and eventually dragged the game to the halftime with the score 0-0.
After returning to the locker room, both head coaches chose to praise their players' performance in the first half of the game.
The purpose is very simple, which is to let the players keep calm and never reveal tactical opportunities that can be exploited by the opponent due to personal anxiety.
However, Li Chen still had some tactical initiative, because he didn't need to consider when to launch an attack unless Arsenal made the first move.
In the end, Arteta could not get around the difficult problem of when to launch an attack in the second half of the game.
So after the start of the second half, Li Chen was always more mentally calm than Arteta.
Until a sudden accident on the field disrupted the two people's tactical arrangements.
In the 52nd minute of the second half, Trippier made an unexpected long diagonal pass to find Grimaldo who was moving forward.
The latter boldly changed his previous bottom attack method, decisively cut inside, and dunked past Thomas who stole the ball in time!
At this moment, Odegaard had not yet returned to defense, and Grimaldo, who dribbled past Thomas, got a rare opportunity to face Arsenal's defense line!
Seeing that several Arsenal defenders were standing relatively far back due to Ronaldo's forward run, Grimaldo was excited, and then he resolutely fired a powerful long shot at the front of Arsenal's penalty area!
Caught off guard, Ramsdale failed to catch Grimaldo's long shot. He could only make a hasty save and block the ball.
Havertz barely completed the follow-up shot despite Gabriel's defensive interference and poked the ball towards Arsenal's goal again.
But this time, his aim was a little off due to the confrontation, and the football hit the outside of the far post of Arsenal's goal and bounced back into the penalty area!
An anxious Ramsdale made another desperate save, but Ronaldo, who was in position, had already made a judgment-like finishing move before him!
The football rolled into Arsenal's goal without any suspense before Ramsdale could save it!
1-0!
At a critical time point shortly after the start of the second half, Trippier and Grimaldo used two unexpected counterattack choices to help Newcastle open the door to victory!
This time Li Chen really felt unexpectedly surprised.
This goal actually has little to do with his tactical arrangements.
But his delegation of power to technical players such as Grimaldo and Trippier did contribute to the emergence of such threatening offensive scenes.
For this kind of unexpected surprise, Li Chen can only say that the more the better!
At this moment, Arteta, whose mood was completely opposite to his, couldn't hold it back and started cursing while standing on the sidelines!
This is crazy!
Newcastle scored a goal with just their third official shot of the day!
What a damn lucky guy. Is the Emirates Stadium the home of Arsenal or Newcastle?
Even the goal was helping Newcastle, it's really unfair!
After venting his emotions passionately, Arteta forced himself to calm down as quickly as possible.
Because of injuries, he has no offensive back-up at hand, so he can only adjust the tactics based on the existing starting lineup.
Nketiah is not very reliable, so he can only rely on Saka and Martinelli's cut-in shots and Odegaard's long-range shots.
There are only three tactics in conventional attack. After they are used up, we can only hope that Gabriel and Saliba can perform like gods in set-piece attacks.
Having made the decision, Arteta made decisive tactical adjustments.
But before Arsenal could fully commit to the attack, Li Chen made a substitution.
He replaced Trippier with Ramos, and then asked Denburn and van der Ven to warm up on the sidelines. This series of actions made the Arsenal fans at the scene curse in their hearts.
After Ramos came on the pitch, Newcastle continued to adopt a low-post defense and obviously further improved the hardness of their defense.
Saka's threatening shot from inside was also faced with active double-teaming from Joelinton and Longstaff.
Martinelli's personal ability is inferior, and it is more difficult for him to find shooting opportunities under Guimarães' close defense.
In contrast, it was Odegaard, who had room to play, who tested Sommer's saving skills with two consecutive long shots.
Nketiah, who has disappeared under the care of Newcastle's defenders, really disappointed Arteta.
Nketiah is a very good striker substitute and he plays diligently. In addition, his salary is low. To be honest, there is nothing to complain about his performance.
But that's human nature.
Arteta also knows that he can't ask for more from Nketiah.
But now the team is facing a desperate situation. He gave Nketiah the opportunity to continue on the court, and naturally hoped that the other party could give him more in return.
At the same time, Arteta also truly understood Guardiola's desire to introduce a big center forward in the past two seasons.
It is easy to play in a favorable situation at ordinary times, but when the situation becomes difficult and unfavorable, it is really difficult to break the deadlock without a big center forward to restrain the opponent's defense and open up offensive space.
Looking at Havertz who was still actively running and bravely fighting with Arsenal's defenders on the field, Arteta felt envious.
Not to mention that Newcastle also has Chris Wood, a traditional powerful center forward, sitting on the bench.
For a moment, Arteta's envy of Li Chen reached its peak.
He also secretly made up his mind that if it was difficult to buy players in this winter window, he would have to ask the management to pay him a sum of money to find him a reliable center in the summer window!
But now, he can only use the few cards he has to try to break the situation.
But as Li Chen signaled Havertz to retreat directly to the midfield to interfere with Odegaard's long-range shot, Arsenal suddenly lost one more way of attacking.
In desperation, Arteta could only put all the pressure on Saka.
However, Saka still withstood the pressure and relied on several successful personal breakthroughs to win Arsenal several corner kick attacking opportunities in the frontcourt.
The tall Gabriel and Saliba became the last hope of Arsenal fans.
However, several of Arsenal's free throws were grabbed by Ramos, who did not have the height advantage.
When it comes to heading attack and defense, I can only say that your uncle is still your uncle.
Ramos's rich experience in heading makes Gabriel and Saliba look like "apprentices" on the field who still need experience.
It’s just that the tuition they have to pay this time is too expensive.
Their failure in the header quickly eroded the little confidence Arteta had left in equalizing the score.
Most of the tens of thousands of Arsenal die-hard fans at the scene were holding their heads and looking silently at the stalemate in offense and defense.
Newcastle's defense is too strong and too tenacious.
At the beginning of the season, many fans did not understand why Li Chen took the trouble to introduce two veteran central defenders, and this moment also got the most appropriate answer.
First, there is a very high level of tacit understanding between Pepe and Ramos, and they can exert extremely strong combat power without much running-in.
The second is that the two superstar veterans have so much defensive experience.
No matter how you change your offensive style, they can both lead their young teammates to keep calm and give corresponding excellent performances.
Especially when defending in the low post.
The combined performance of Ramos and Pepe really made the opposing fans feel suffocated.
Add to that the three invincible beasts in Newcastle's midfield, and the scene looks so hopeless...
Li Chen just stood on the sidelines with his arms folded, watching the game develop without saying a word.
Like a serious supervisor.
It was not until the referee blew the whistle to end the game that a gentle smile appeared on his face again.
Cristiano Ronaldo, who scored the only goal of the game, was not officially named the best player of the match.
Pepe, who was as steady as a monk in defense in the midfield and backcourt, was considered the best performer of the game by the official organization.
At the post-match press conference, Arteta used the word "perfect" several times in a row to express his admiration for Pepe's performance.
As for Li Chen?
Once again, he asked Carrick to take his place at the post-match press conference.
He himself hurriedly boarded a plane to Barcelona, Spain.
For Yamal, he will make a final effort.
(End of this chapter)