Chapter 111: Playing Against the Mainstream of the League is Absolutely Wrong!

The match resumed, and Tang Ye, having found his rhythm, grew increasingly bold.

He actively demanded the ball and passed whenever an opportunity arose!

After a series of such maneuvers, Villarreal's possession rate began to plummet rapidly.

74%, 70%, 68%, and now 60%!

In just over ten minutes, Villarreal's possession rate had crashed by more than ten percentage points!

Escrivá watched from the sidelines, feeling somewhat nervous.

Facing a Primeira Liga team with only 60% possession!

These were not the statistics expected from last season's fourth-place La Liga finisher!

Years of habit in La Liga made Escrivá dissatisfied with this possession rate, yet he ultimately held his tongue.

For Escrivá could see that after Tang Ye began taking bold risks, the team's attacking frequency had indeed increased.

Previously, the Yellow Submarine needed seven or eight minutes of possession to create one decent attacking chance, but now the time required to find such opportunities had been reduced to under five minutes, sometimes even yielding two chances within three minutes.

Complex passing and penetrating play had been directly replaced by Tang Ye's one through-ball after another.

Although, admittedly, his through-balls sometimes struck opposing players.

Hiss—

Taking a deep breath, Escrivá wore a complicated expression.

Tang Ye's style of play was stylish, indeed, but it simply failed to provide the head coach or the fans with any sense of security!

Just as Escrivá was pondering the possession rate, the Yellow Submarine players lost the ball again on the field.

Bacambu failed to control the lofted pass Tang Ye had delivered behind the defense!

【Seems these Villarreal players aren't up to much; they can't even seize the opportunities our Tang Tang Qiuwang creates for them. They're not even as good as Ale!】

【After all, Ale was once Tang Tang Qiuwang's teammate; he knows the greatness of our Tang Tang Qiuwang.】

【What about that idiot earlier who claimed Tang Ye couldn't keep up with his teammates' rhythm? Isn't Tang Ye now leading his teammates in play?】

【Why do I feel like Tang Ye has completely disrupted Villarreal's possession rhythm?】

【Just tell me, did we score or not!】

As the match reached the 82nd minute, Tang Ye, sensing an opportunity, abandoned his current position and slipped directly into the penalty area while the opposing defender was momentarily distracted.

Hmm?

Martí moved quickly, picking up his pen and beginning to write.

【Tom: Consistent with the scout report; very poor discipline, but strong creativity.】

The next second, Tang Ye, having run into open space, controlled the ball with the inside of his foot and immediately scored with a quick poke shot.

The Dierzhu Sect of the assistant coaching staff looked at Martí's notebook.

"..."

Martí felt slightly embarrassed and quickly used his body to shield his notebook.

【Tom: Consistent with the scout report; very poor discipline, but very strong creativity.】

"You've changed that three times now,"

the Dierzhu Sect reminded him.

"Do you know why I use a pencil to write?"

Martí displayed the eraser on the end of his pencil: "Things written on paper must be constantly revised, slowly approaching the truth. Do you know why you've remained the Dierzhu Sect for so long? Reflect on that, my friend."

"..."

The full-time whistle blew; Villarreal defeated the home team, Porto, with a score of 2:1.

"Phew..."

Tang Ye, clutching his buttocks with both hands and panting heavily, walked toward the player tunnel.

Although he had played for less than 50 minutes, Tang Ye felt exhausted.

He felt even more tired than when he was substituted off due to the protection rule after playing 70 minutes against Utrecht previously.

Tang Ye briefly pondered why he felt so exhausted.

It was simple: constant passing required constant off-the-ball movement.

Tang Ye himself rarely moved off the ball, but his teammates, who were constantly moving, forced him to do so.

This was the reason Tang Ye felt so exhausted!

"Well done."

Escrivá approached proactively to embrace Tang Ye.

With one goal and one assist, Tang Ye was undoubtedly the MVP of today's match!

Walking together down the player tunnel, Escrivá patted Tang Ye on the back: "Hard work, Tom!"

"Haha, indeed, it was a bit hard."

"..."

Escrivá covered his face with his left hand: "Hmm, you should have said it wasn't hard; that would have been the proper response."

"But I truly did work hard,"

Tang Ye said, turning his head.

He hadn't played an official football match for several months, and this sudden high-intensity passing and controlling style indeed made him feel somewhat uncomfortable.

"... Alright then, just rest well, just rest well."

Escrivá let out a long sigh.

After spending over half a month with Tang Ye, the Spaniard realized a problem.

Taming a wild boar was an extremely difficult task!

But it didn't matter; the Spanish were all bullfighting warriors!

Escrivá believed he could succeed!

……

Crack! Crack!

Escrivá came to the press conference room alone.

He could have brought today's match MVP, but he chose not to do so.

In Spanish football philosophy, players under twenty-two should not accept too many reporter interviews.

Sharp-tongued reporters always easily affect young players' mindsets!

"Hello, Ferran, you defeated Porto, who had been on a winning streak throughout the preparatory period; this indicates Villarreal players are in good competitive form..."

"But we noticed that after the 70th minute of the second half, your tactics suddenly changed significantly; you began gradually abandoning possession rate. Am I correct?"

"That is indeed the case."

Escrivá nodded, signaling the reporter to continue.

At this moment, his mind had already begun thinking about countermeasures!

"I want to know, is that your tactic for the new season? Abandoning possession rate and placing opportunities on long passes and through balls?"

"No, absolutely not like that."

Escrivá shook his head quickly.

"The mainstream of La Liga is passing and possession; every team possesses excellent passing players, including passing systems."

"Tactics that violate the mainstream are absolutely wrong; I can make this clear: we cannot go against the league."

Escrivá explained.

Those passes in the second half of today's friendly were merely some attempts by the team and would not affect the team's official matches in the league.

"Correct, our mainstream remains passing and possession; possession football is forever the most outstanding."

Possession football is forever the most outstanding; this was Escrivá's philosophy as a Spaniard!

……

Diario Sport — Villarreal friendly 2:1 victory over Portuguese Super League's Porto; Tang scores one goal and provides one assist but reveals integration issues with the team.

Overseas Weekly Report — Villarreal debut: Tang Ye scores one goal and provides one assist, showing King of Football potential; will Yellow Submarine players struggle to keep up with Tang Ye's rhythm?

VS Porto, Tang's post-match statistics:

Pass success rate 76% (6th in the team), lost possession 19 times (highest in the match), chances created 5 times (highest in the match), big chances created 2 times (highest in the match), physical duels 5 attempts with 4 failures (highest in the match).

【Brothers, feels like King Tang still needs to be in a team like Utrecht; mainly, Tang can't play possession football.】

【Suggest Villarreal change tactics; anyway, playing possession won't beat Barcelona, so why not just keep up with my Brother Meng's rhythm?】

【Hahaha】

【No way, no way; Utrecht could win the championship relying on Meng purely because the Eredivisie's average level is low; if you let Tang Ye carry in La Liga, aren't you treating Messi and Ronaldo as non-existent?】

【Go, go, King Tang! When will your first La Liga goal arrive!】

……

【At age 38, you register as a La Liga player; for you, La Liga is a completely uncharted territory.】

【Achieve 2 goals or 3 assists in La Liga; Reward: Advanced German Chest.】

"La Liga goals or assists..."

In the apartment, Tang Ye stared blankly at his computer desk; after the team helped Tang Ye register as an official La Liga player, Tang Ye had also activated his first mission since arriving in Spain.

Slightly different from his time in Utrecht, the system had clearly raised its requirements for Tang Ye.

There were no longer even rewards for a debut appearance or a first start!

He must score a goal or provide an assist!

Rubbing his hands, Tang Ye noted there was still some time before La Liga officially began, so he didn't need to rush thinking about the German Chest.

He checked his balance again.

Account balance: 198 points.

Tang Ye had spent nearly 2,500 Counterattack Points on Spanish (Proficient), which left Tang Ye with almost no money now.

Thinking of the team's terrifyingly detailed passing and possession system, Tang Ye gritted his teeth and spent a huge sum of 25 Counterattack Points to purchase 【Hazard's Tata Sauce Burger】, preparing to use tomorrow's day off to properly improve his ball feel.

Recent training and matches had made Tang Ye personally realize that players with average ball feel truly struggle to survive in La Liga!

……

The next day was a rest day for the first team, but Tang Ye had no rest; he needed to go to a school called Ceramic International High School, located 9 km from the base, to study.

This school cooperated with Villarreal, so it offered some courses specially prepared for athletes on Sundays.

Tang Ye couldn't drive, so Alei drove him to school.

Sitting in the passenger seat, Tang Ye hugged the Joma backpack in his arms, his expression not very good.

"Tang, do you know what kind of feeling you give me right now?"

Alei grabbed the steering wheel with one hand, turned to look at Tang Ye: "Like a Gao Zhongsheng? Oh, no, you originally are a Gao Zhongsheng, hahaha!"

"Fuck, it's fine; there's still half a year; after another half year, I won't need to attend school anymore."

Tang Ye counted the days; after turning eighteen next year and taking the school's graduation exam, once he passed, he would never need to attend school again.

"Are you sure you can pass?"

Alei said jokingly, resulting in Tang Ye being rendered completely silent.

"Hey, Tang, you... you wouldn't actually fail to pass, would you?"

"It's hard to say for now."

Tang Ye analyzed seriously: "I heard the Spanish graduation exam is harder than the Dutch one; damn, I should have come to La Liga a year later."

"Hahahahahaha!"

Ale nearly lost his grip on the steering wheel: "So you really have no confidence in passing the final exam, right? That shouldn't be the case; didn't you study Spanish before? Your Spanish is excellent."

"It's just Spanish! I still have to take exams in other subjects, and he wants me to take Spanish History. Damn it, testing me on things that happened before I was born—isn't that bullying? How the hell should I know?"

This was Tang Ye's first day of school after arriving in Spain; classes were originally scheduled to begin in October, but through negotiations between the club and the school, the start time for Tang Ye and some U18 players had been moved up to August.

This way, when the match schedule became busy in October, Tang Ye could skip regular classes, needing only to spare sixty minutes every two weeks to go to the school and take a test!

The Volkswagen parked at the school entrance, but Tang Ye remained motionless.

"Tom, we've arrived."

Tang Ye still did not move.

"Tom?"

"I know, I know, don't rush me."

Tang Ye pushed open the car door and walked through the school gates with his head bowed.

"Haha, Tom, study hard!"

Ale waved from behind, but all he received in return was a middle finger from Tang Ye.

Sitting in a classroom on the first floor, this was Class 0 of the second-year group, also known as the club's youth academy class.

"Welcome to your classes here; our class has a total of sixteen students, all from the Villarreal Club's youth academy..."

The teacher, Adelina, stood before the blackboard and suddenly realized something was off about her statement, because she spotted Tang Ye hiding in the corner: "I forgot, there is also one from the first team; sorry. Tom, may I call you that?"

"Hm?"

Prompted by the classmate beside him, Tang Ye quickly raised his hand and nodded: "Either is fine, either is fine."

After speaking, his heavy focus returned to the drawer.

He was playing a one-on-one match of FIFA with Jimmy, a U18 player sitting next to him.

The current score was 5:1, and Tang Ye was about to win!

"You practice too little."

Tang Ye said in a low voice: "If you only play a game for one hour a day, you might as well not play at all; you must play games seriously; if you get distracted, you won't play well."

As a "senior" from the first team, Tang Ye began lecturing Jimmy from the U18 squad.

"But we have to train usually; there isn't that much time to play."

"Time is something you squeeze out yourself."

Tang Ye spoke with the frustration of one disappointed by another's lack of ambition: "Can't you play at night? When you play ranked matches, do you often get crushed by your opponents? Your through-ball power is far too inaccurate."

After finishing this match, Tang Ye stuffed his phone back into his pocket.

Looking up at the teacher, Adelina, at the front, he saw her writing complex chemical formulas on the blackboard.

Villarreal's top midfielder began his observation at this moment.

Confirming that the teacher was not looking in his direction, Tang Ye quickly moved to the window beside him and climbed straight out.

Huh?

Jimmy stared at the suddenly empty seat to his left, his mind spinning; just then, he received a text message.

It was a text message from Tang Ye.

【If the teacher looks for me, just say I felt unwell and went to the restroom, then hurry up and send me a message.】

The distance from Tang Ye's apartment to the school was only nine kilometers; the duration of a restroom break was more than enough.

All of this had been calculated by Tang Ye long ago.

Places close to the club's base would definitely also be close to the affiliated school!

After sending Tang Ye an "ok," Jimmy took a deep breath.

No wonder he became a first-team midfielder at seventeen; such top-tier judgment ability and decisive decision-making are not something an ordinary person can achieve!

Time passed quickly; by August 14, Villarreal was once again playing an away match against Leganés.

The opponent was also a team from La Liga, making this match a pre-league warm-up for the Yellow Submarine.

What attracted the most attention from fans was the Yellow Submarine's match roster; today, last season's Eredivisie assist king made his first start for the first team!

(End of Chapter)