Chapter 117: First Signs Emerge: Is Tom Actually a Dual-Sport Athlete?

Escrivá successfully obtained Manchester United manager Ten Hag's contact information through some of his connections in European football.

The Spaniard sought Ten Hag's manual on Tang Ye, but Ten Hag seemed rather unwilling to share it.

According to Ten Hag, Utrecht faced a relegation battle last season, so he simply threw Tang Ye into the starting lineup without overthinking it.

But Villarreal is different from Utrecht; the former is one of La Liga's traditional powerhouses, and Escrivá could not replicate Ten Hag's approach from his Utrecht days.

This phone call ultimately yielded no results, leaving Escrivá somewhat disappointed.

Expecting Ten Hag to share his secrets was clearly not going to work.

How to utilize Tang Ye would require Escrivá to figure it out himself!

Time moved to August 23, and the match between Villarreal and Sevilla officially kicked off.

In this game, Tang Ye once again joined the squad as a substitute, though Escrivá had already spoken with him privately before the match.

He would give Tang Ye some opportunities in the second half; whether he could seize them depended entirely on Tang Ye himself!

Today was Villarreal's home game, marking Tang Ye's second time sitting on the substitutes' bench at the Estadio de la Cerámica.

The last time Tang Ye sat here was during the Champions League playoff against Monaco, though he did not make an appearance in that match.

As the match began, Villarreal, kicking off, placed immense pressure on their opponents with their forwards.

Aleix and Pato possessed incredibly strong impact!

CCTV-5.

"Bruno immediately finds Aleix up front!"

"Currently in the second round of La Liga, Villarreal's tactical characteristics appear quite similar to those of last season."

"Hmm, except after Tang Ye came on in the first round; once Tang Ye entered the pitch, Villarreal's tactics underwent a significant shift. I wonder if this was intentionally designed by head coach Escrivá."

"..."

"That was a mistake by Vázquez!"

"Soriano has won the ball! Villarreal has capitalized on Sevilla's error!"

"Played forward to Pato!"

"Pato squares it across to Aleix!"

"Aleix, will he shoot himself?"

"Aleix chooses to pass back, finding Bruno!"

"A quick push!"

"Ggggg—ooooo—llllll!!!"

"Vamos!!!"

Players on Villarreal's substitutes' bench suddenly jumped up.

In the 34th minute of the match, the home side, Villarreal, took the lead first!

Although several key players departed during the summer transfer window, Villarreal was, after all, last season's fourth-place finisher in La Liga.

While they might be weaker this season, they certainly wouldn't be weak by any means!

"Yellow Submarine!"

"We all live in a Yellow Submarine!"

The home fans at the Estadio de la Cerámica were incredibly supportive; singing the team anthem from the stands, they immediately declared their ownership of this match.

The opponent was strong, but Villarreal was attempting to seize control of the rhythm!

The camera cut to Tang Ye on the substitutes' bench.

Tang Ye was feeling a bit excited now.

Taking the lead was definitely good news for him, because once ahead, head coach Escrivá would become bolder.

As long as Escrivá grew bold, the opportunities available to Tang Ye would increase!

In the 42nd minute, Villarreal took a corner kick, and defender Musacchio calmly headed the ball into the net.

The score became 2-0!

Musacchio's goal successfully shifted Escrivá's mindset.

The original plan had been to bring Tang Ye on between the 55th and 60th minutes of the second half.

But now, with Villarreal leading by two goals, it meant Escrivá had an opportunity for experimentation!

Conducting experiments during an official La Liga match was a rare opportunity indeed!

Escrivá needed to use this chance to thoroughly study the coordination between Tang Ye and the team!

After Musacchio's goal, both Tang Ye and Rodri appeared in front of the substitutes' bench.

Chinese fans' eyes were shining!

During halftime, Escrivá began arranging a series of tactical instructions, placing particular emphasis on penetrating attacks through the center.

This was the team's strength!

Turning to Rodri, he said, "Sergio, at the start of the second half, you go on directly, replacing Roberto (Soriano)."

Rodri raised his hand to acknowledge.

He felt quite excited; after Tang Ye made his La Liga debut, Rodri's own debut was finally arriving!

After giving Rodri a few more key instructions, Escrivá turned to Tang Ye: "You're going on too, alongside Sergio."

While speaking, Escrivá suddenly noticed something amiss and slowly walked toward Tang Ye: "Tang, can you answer me a question?"

"Mr. Ferran, go ahead,"

Tang Ye stamped his feet on the spot; the few minutes of warm-up time at the end of the first half were indeed somewhat insufficient for him.

Escrivá reached out and directly grabbed the pocket of Tang Ye's shorts: "Hmm? Why do your football shorts have pockets?"

Huh?

Hearing Escrivá say this, the players in the locker room finally noticed the problem with Tang Ye's shorts.

Generally, player-version shorts have no pockets, but Tang Ye's pair has pockets!

"Oh, this is a team merchandise item, casual shorts, not match shorts."

"Cas-casual shorts?"

Curious about his pants, the coach asked, and Tang Ye slowly explained: "Sometimes I need to carry some chewing gum, but player-version shorts have no pockets, and fan-version ones don't either, so I wore these instead."

"Chewing gum, is it?"

Escrivá immediately realized: "If it's chewing gum, you can keep it in the inner pocket, although taking it out is a bit inconvenient."

"I carry quite a lot; that inner pocket can't hold it all."

"?"

Escrivá reached his hand into Tang Ye's shorts pocket and pulled out one, two, three, four—a total of four pieces of chewing gum.

"..."

"Fine, suit yourself."

Regardless of what pants he wore, as long as they looked like match shorts and bore the team crest, the Spanish Football Association wouldn't fine the team over such a trivial matter.

Escrivá took a piece of chewing gum from Tang Ye's pocket, put it in his mouth, and began chewing: "Pay attention when you go on the field later; constantly watch your teammates' runs. I don't just mean looking; I mean you must keep running. If you see a teammate on the side running, you must start running too. Can you do that?"

"Of course I can, Mr. Ferran!"

Just as the second half began, Villarreal, leading by two goals, made two substitutions at once.

Tang Ye and Rodri came on as substitutes simultaneously!

"Villarreal!"

"Villarreal!"

The home fans cheered for the two young players who had just been substituted in.

Although Tang Ye was somewhat disruptive to the team's structure, as long as he could help the team win, he was doing great!

Swish swish swish!

Tang Ye rubbed his hands together, then ran to his position as an attacking midfielder.

Villarreal was playing a 4-4-2 formation, so Tang Ye's positioning would not be that advanced.

This deeper attacking midfielder position was actually a bit uncomfortable for Tang Ye.

Because it meant Tang Ye needed to participate more in defense, and defense itself was Tang Ye's weakness.

In the 52nd minute, a pass between Tang Ye and Bruno was ruthlessly intercepted by Vitolo, giving Sevilla an opportunity.

Sarabia's powerful shot did not breach Villarreal's goal, but in the subsequent corner kick attack, En Zong outmuscled Musacchio and Gaspar to score with a header.

The score became 2:1!

【Yellow Submarine concedes a goal right after Tang Ye comes on; case closed, brothers!】

【Nonsense, it's clearly Bruno who failed to keep up with the rhythm; how dare you trash-talk my brother Meng?】

【The person above is diagnosed as a little Tang Ren, obsessed with fangirling over Tang Ye.】

【Person above, you'd better turn off your direct messages; do you really not take us fans of Tang Tang Qiuwang seriously?】

"We can equalize! We can equalize!"

Sevilla's head coach Sampaoli shouted loudly from the sidelines.

En Zong's header gave him hope!

Although they had conceded a goal, to be honest, the home team still held a significant advantage in the flow of the game.

Even with Tang Ye on the field, Yellow Submarine's possession rate had not dropped below 50%, a fact that made Escrivá somewhat happy.

He could feel that Tang Ye was gradually adapting to the team's system!

"If Villarreal wants to create chances, I suggest they still go through the center, because Aleix and Pato are not traditional wingers; their ability to beat defenders on the wing is limited."

Huang Huang Jianxiang was providing analysis for the fans in the broadcast booth when, the very next second, Villarreal found an opportunity.

No one knew when Tang Ye had run to the left wing; with his left foot, he delivered a precise long pass finding Pato making a run down the right flank to the byline.

Pato controlled the ball steadily! "Whoa!"

Tang Ye's precise pass caused the fans in the stands to erupt in screams; having completed his task, Tang Ye didn't idle either, cutting inside from the left wing to the edge of the penalty area.

Aleix caught Tang Ye's position in his peripheral vision; after Pato delivered the cross, Aleix flicked the ball back to Tang Ye behind him.

Tang Ye adjusted his step and immediately curled a shot with his left foot!

"Damn!"

Tang Ye clasped his hands behind his head; the Sevilla goalkeeper had parried his curled shot!

"What a pity; the Sevilla goalkeeper is in excellent form; he saved Tang Ye's shot."

"Wait!"

Huang Huang Jianxiang seemed to have noticed something slightly off.

Wait for the director to show the replay of the shot!

"Did Tang Ye just complete that shot with his left foot?"

!

"Hey, I watched Villarreal's match against Granada in the previous round; Tang Ye seemed to have used his left foot in that game too?"

"Not just in official matches; actually, during the warm-up games, there were already some clips of Tang Ye using his left foot."

After discussing for a while in the broadcast booth, Huang Huang Jianxiang and Zhan Jun finally looked at each other in the commentary box.

"So, does Tang Ye actually have no weak foot?"

Players with no weak foot are usually trained from a young age; since Tang Ye has no weak foot, why didn't he use his left foot to pass during his time at Utrecht?

The question remained unresolved, but the two commentators did not continue discussing it further.

Villarreal's corner kick, taken by captain Bruno!

The corner is delivered!

"I got it, I got it!"

Tang Ye shouted twice and volunteered to jump up.

Unfortunately, he didn't jump high enough; Tang Ye was directly pressed down by En Zongqi!

With a "Bang!", En Zongqi, suppressing both Tang Ye and Pato simultaneously, cleared the ball away.

Tang Ye felt somewhat uncomfortable.

Aren't you a midfielder? Why the hell are you nearly two meters tall!

"..."

Escrivá, looking at Tang Ye on the field, was also somewhat speechless.

This guy Tang Ye was just a reckless hothead; even though someone was 20cm taller than him, he still went up to challenge!

The problem was that he, an attacking midfielder with no heading ability, actually wanted to contest headers inside the penalty area!

【Tang Tang Qiuwang, go Tang Tang Qiuwang!】

【Villarreal!】

Tang Ye was jogging on the field, following his teammates' positioning, and glanced at the substitution board held up by the fourth official.

79 minutes.

Only 11 minutes of regular time remained; Tang Ye was feeling quite a bit of pressure now.

By now, he had more or less understood Escrivá's positioning of him.

He was disruptive to the team, so it was difficult for him to get a starting spot.

For Tang Ye, who had been a starter for Utrecht for over half a season, this sudden fall to the substitute bench felt very unpleasant.

He needed to actively seize opportunities.

And the best way to seize opportunities was through statistics.

He needed match data to guide Escrivá into placing him on the starting lineup.

Goals, assists, even the number of chances created and successful defenses—these were all things Tang Ye needed to pursue!

Find an opportunity!

Since he was only playing the second half, Tang Ye's running would be even more active.

Vázquez was dribbling through the center, and Tang Ye's attention was immediately drawn over.

Sneak over quietly and see if there's a chance...

"Someone behind!"

The Sevilla player reacted quickly, alerting Vázquez immediately.

Vázquez turned around, and Tang Ye looked at him somewhat awkwardly.

Then... suddenly accelerated!

Charging!

Although he had been spotted, Tang Ye wasn't hesitant at all; he charged fiercely straight toward Vázquez's position.

?

Vázquez was clearly startled by Tang Ye's action.

Say what you will, this style of pressing could actually be effective!

Slap!

Vázquez hastily passed the ball, but the pass wasn't very accurate; before Kiyotake could get hold of it, Musacchio intercepted it first.

"Beautiful!"

"Tang Ye's active defensive help has created a nice counter-attack opportunity for Villarreal."

"Let's see how Villarreal plans to utilize this opportunity..."

"Kiyotake wants to press back! Musacchio quickly gets the ball out!"

"Possession goes to Tang Ye!"

"Although everyone knows Tang Ye isn't fast, I think this is a chance to drive forward with the ball; Tang Ye, having joined a new club, needs to show something in front of the coach; let's see if Tang..."

"He passed directly!"

"Tang Ye sends out a low, long pass from the backfield!"

Rodrigo, preparing to receive from Tang Ye, froze on the spot without saying a word when he saw Tang Ye release the ball directly.

He remembered seeming to have seen this kind of pass during training?

That's right!

This was Tang Ye's weird decelerating through-ball!

The ball passed between Sevilla's two center-backs, hit the grass, and then suddenly curved to roll left.

"No way..."

Escrivá on the substitute bench stood up.

Ale takes control of the ball!

Accelerating toward the penalty area!

A square pass!

To the right-back Victor Ruiz making a run down the right flank!

Ruiz shoots directly with a push!

"Ggoollll!!!"

"ROAR AAAAAH——!!!"

A goal by a defender is always incredibly exciting, because they rarely get chances to shoot.

After scoring, Ruiz ran toward the stands below at very high speed.

3, 2, 1!

He roared!

"Vamos Villarreal!"

Bang bang bang bang!

"Villarreal!"

Bang bang!

"Villarreal!"

Bang bang!

The score reached 3:1, and the atmosphere at the Estadio de la Cantera was completely ignited.

As the mastermind of this counterattack, Tang Ye did not get an assist.

But this was not a sad thing.

Amidst the fans' fervent shouts, Tang Ye heard his own name!

He could confirm that fans in the stands were shouting his name!

This was recognition from the Yellow Submarine fans!

Walking slowly by the sideline, Tang Ye heard the fans calling his name again.

"Tom, which is your preferred foot?"

(End of this chapter)