Chapter 134: The Ideal Team in Escrivá's Mind

After a dominant 3-0 home victory over Leicester City, Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag accepted an interview with reporters.

Today's reporters lacked skill, asking only the most classic questions.

These questions might suffice for an average head coach, but when directed at ten Hag, they indeed seemed somewhat inadequate.

After a brief moment of thought, ten Hag answered every question fluently.

However, when a reporter asked about the team's winter transfer window, ten Hag fell into contemplation.

"Well... this is a very serious question. We know that reinforcements can greatly help a team, and suitable signings can even directly elevate a team's strength. Especially for Manchester United, I feel the current squad requires large-scale reinforcements; this is the prerequisite for us staying on the right path."

The reporter nodded: "So, do you already have a plan?"

"I am considering it, but it is still early; one cannot rush anything."

"Romelu Lukaku from Everton is excellent, and so is Nemanja Matić from Chelsea."

The reason the reporter mentioned these two was that rumors had linked Manchester United with them during this Piggy Xia Chuang, though the transfers ultimately failed.

"Lukaku and Matić, hmm, I know them."

Ten Hag nodded: "However, I must state here that I have always held a view: it is not only players from the top five leagues who are outstanding. Players from the top five leagues are expensive; you might spend 50 million euros on a striker only to get nothing in return. Gambling 50 million euros on a future, I believe, is inappropriate."

"Then, Erik, what do you mean?"

"Some players outside the top five leagues are also excellent; we cannot forget them."

Ten Hag's words immediately made the reporters in the audience look at him with new respect.

Leaning on the massive backing of Manchester United, ten Hag surprisingly did not intend to spend huge sums to poach players from other top giants.

This was not Manchester United's style!

Exactly! Manchester United should not have done that in the first place!

Ever since Sir Alex Ferguson retired, Manchester United's recruitment strategy began to become distorted.

Overpaying!

Still overpaying!

Previous head coaches only knew how to throw money around, ultimately purchasing players who were not worth such exorbitant prices.

Ten Hag's intention was to change Manchester United's method of overpaying for players!

Financial-style recruitment!

Recruitment that allows the club to make money!

He wanted to put Manchester United on the right path!

Click-clack!

Click-clack-click-clack-click!

The sound of camera shutters rang out continuously; many reporters in the audience were Manchester United fans.

Spending huge sums every season to buy players resulted in losses every single transfer window.

Now, ten Hag was about to step in and stop all of this!

"Can you specify which leagues you plan to scout? The Portuguese Prime League, the Brazilian Serie A?"

"No, no, no, no, I apologize, but the season has just begun; I will not say too much about transfers."

Ten Hag refused to answer the reporters' questions regarding player transfers, leaving the helpless reporters no choice but to change the subject.

Currently, there is a player in La Liga generating immense buzz; in the 80th minute of a match, his goal helped his team draw against Real Madrid.

And the ten Hag standing before them shared an intricate connection with that player.

"Erik, earlier when Escrivá accepted an interview with reporters, he stated that Tom's training attitude was very serious, which is quite strange..."

Ten Hag slightly lowered his head, perked up his ears, and signaled for the reporter to continue.

"Previously, when he was at Utrecht, Dutch fans generally believed Tom's training attitude was not so proper, but after arriving at Villarreal, why did his training attitude change?"

"Is it because Tom gets along better with Escrivá than with you?"

"No, no no no, impossible, absolutely impossible; that is an absolutely incorrect speculation."

Ten Hag shook his head repeatedly: "My relationship with Tom is better than any of you could imagine."

Tang Ye was late for training under ten Hag's command, but when Escrivá was coaching, he was no longer late?

How could ten Hag possibly admit the truth of such a matter!

This was absolutely wrong!

"Actually, Tom's training attitude is very serious; yes, that is correct. Previously at Utrecht, he often arrived at the training ground 30 minutes early. By the way, what time does he arrive at the training ground now that he is at Villarreal?"

"He arrives punctually."

"Then that explains it."

Ten Hag leaned his upper body back and spread his hands: "After entering La Liga, his training enthusiasm has declined. For a young player like Tom, I believe this is understandable, because you cannot guarantee he will always encounter a coach suitable for him."

"Alright, I will not speak further about Tom; you only need to know that my relationship with him is very good. Now, I need to focus on Manchester United."

Hiss—

Watching ten Hag being interviewed on television, Escrivá wore a worried expression.

The pressure from the fans was already sufficient.

And now ten Hag wanted to add more pressure on him!

Damn it!

Tang Ye was so outrageous that Escrivá had nearly overlooked the fact that he also had an even more outrageous mentor!

Snap!

Pressing the remote to turn off the TV, Escrivá, lying on the sofa, now felt a splitting headache.

After drawing against Real Madrid, fan expectations for the Yellow Submarine this season would surely rise.

And the problem Escrivá now faced was that he completely had no idea what the actual strength of the team he was leading currently was.

He seemed to be slowly losing control of the team!

If this were before the start of the season, and you asked Escrivá to predict the match score, he could state it very clearly.

Villarreal could beat Málaga, Villarreal could beat Zürich, Villarreal would lose to Real Madrid.

But ask him to make a prediction now.

Could Villarreal beat Málaga?

Escrivá had no confidence.

Would Villarreal lose to Real Madrid?

Escrivá had no confidence in that either.

Because the team was always scoring goals inexplicably and conceding goals inexplicably.

To this day, he still hadn't figured out what Tang Ye's approach to playing football actually looked like.

Escrivá's only thought now was to change the team's existing tactical formation.

The 4-4-2 didn't suit the Yellow Submarine.

So what formation suited the current Yellow Submarine?

4-3-3, 3-4-3, or 5-4-1?

Escrivá didn't know.

He picked up the Coke on the table and gulped it down.

With the constant internal strife, Escrivá felt he wasn't far from depression!

If only he possessed Ten Hag's strong ability to lead a team.

Wait!

Escrivá's hand holding the Coke froze in mid-air; he had suddenly thought of something.

Ten Hag!

He capped the bottle, casually tossed the Coke onto the sofa, pulled out his phone, and his two thumbs danced rapidly across the screen.

【Eredivisie, Utrecht, Match Records】

Utrecht vs Ajax, Formation: 4-2-3-1

Utrecht vs AZ Alkmaar, Formation: 4-2-3-1

Utrecht vs Willem II, Formation: 4-2-3-1

"Hah, hah-hah..."

The room was so quiet that Escrivá could even hear the sound of his own breathing.

Found it!

He had found the answer!

The schedule was quite dense; after just one day of rest, the Villarreal players immediately returned to training.

This was now Tang Ye's habit: as his account balance gradually increased, whenever there was training, he would purchase the corresponding items.

Buy chicken breast for strength training, buy hair wax for technical training; with plenty of savings, he could spend freely.

Today was an exceptional case; having spent 320 Counterattack Points to unlock purchasing permissions for new items, Tang Ye was now utterly broke, yet he gritted his teeth and bought the hair wax anyway.

After becoming accustomed to the buffs provided by chicken breast and hair wax, Tang Ye felt it was a huge loss whenever he trained without buying these two items.

Since effort had already been expended, one should maximize the returns gained; this was Tang Ye's thinking.

【De Bruyne Underlapping Cross Lv2: Similar】

Proficiency: 41/200

【De Bruyne Curved Through Ball Lv4: Realistic】

Proficiency: 14/1000

【De Bruyne 45-Degree Cross Lv3: Simulated】

Proficiency: 65/100

【De Bruyne Far-Post Curled Shot Lv3: Simulated】

Proficiency: 121/250

"Hah..."

Exhaling a long breath, Tang Ye completed his training tasks for the day.

The proficiency of all four skills had increased; currently, the one closest to leveling up should be 【De Bruyne 45-Degree Cross】.

This thing was about to reach Lv4!

"Beep!"

Escrivá blew his whistle, and the players who had completed the first phase of training tasks quickly gathered around the coach.

"Did you get your bicycle back?"

Bruno reached out to pat Tang Ye's butt, but Tang Ye nimbly dodged it.

"Haha!"

"Alright, alright, I won't pat you; just tell me whether you got your bicycle back or not."

Tang Ye looked Bruno up and down; confirming that Bruno genuinely wanted to know, he slowly said, "It seems I can't get it back, but I bought a new one."

Tang Ye mimicked the posture of riding a bicycle: "Now when I go home, I have to wait until no one is around, because it's too awkward when people are there; they all watch me in the elevator."

"Do you know why they watch you?"

Rodri slowed his pace, coming up beside Tang Ye: "You should push the bicycle into the elevator, not ride it directly inside."

"Isn't that basically the same thing?"

Tang Ye spread his hands, seeing nothing strange about riding his bicycle into the elevator.

"So you didn't call the police?"

"I did call them, but it was useless."

Tang Ye spread his hands: "That officer asked for my autograph, then said he would definitely help me get it back."

"And then...?"

"And then there was no 'then.' I bought a new one. I'll never trust the people here again."

"Haha!"

The players gathered before Escrivá. Martí pushed a tactical board over from a distance; its caster wheels scraped against the grass, constantly emitting a grinding sound.

Before the tactical board was even in position, Escrivá briefly outlined Ji De Xiang Fa: "Given the current league situation, we need to change our tactics."

Martí brought the tactical board into place. The players looked over; it was covered with dense numbers and Spanish words.

"What does that mean?"

Ale leaned his head close to Tang Ye and whispered.

"Too weak!"

"Huh?"

"Oh, I'm not talking about you; I mean the words written on the board."

Tang Ye pointed at the word Escrivá had circled on the board.

"Last season we also played 4-4-2. I briefly reviewed some of our data from last season: we scored fewer than 45 goals in total. Do you know? We finished fourth in La Liga last season, yet our goal tally ranked only 14th across the entire league."

"Our attack is too weak!"

Escrivá concluded: "Others use three forwards; we only have two. It's simple logic: we also need more forwards on the pitch so we can score more goals."

"I can move forward to participate in the attack."

Tang Ye raised his right hand, just like a student answering a teacher's question.

"Don't speak."

"Alright..."

"My current plan is 4-2-3-1; this formation suits our present situation best."

Escrivá laid out his envisioned 4-2-3-1 starting lineup on the tactical board. Rodrigo nudged Tang Ye's arm with his elbow; the latter lifted his head.

He saw his own name on the board.

Right in the center of the row marked with the number 3—the standard attacking midfielder position!

In fact, Escrivá had already begun studying the 4-2-3-1 the night before last.

It must be said that the 4-2-3-1 Ten Hag employed during his Utrecht period is truly an excellent formation for Villarreal.

The Yellow Submarine excels at possession and passing but lacks offensive power; adding one forward can solve this problem.

Then there is Tang Ye.

Compared to 4-4-2, Tang Ye's positioning in a 4-2-3-1 will be more advanced.

Originally, Tang Ye switched back and forth between attacking midfielder and defensive midfielder, but within the 4-2-3-1 system, Tang Ye will shuttle between the attacking midfielder and wide midfielder roles.

This avoids Tang Ye's weaknesses in coverage and defensive ability while fully activating his offensive capabilities!

Only heaven knows how much admiration Escrivá felt for Ten Hag while researching this tactic the night before last!

The 4-2-3-1 is simply Villarreal's ultimate answer!

"Thump! Thump!"

Escrivá rapped his knuckles heavily twice against the blackboard behind him: "Before us, there was a team that used this formation, and they achieved remarkable success."

The surrounding players nodded. Tang Ye raised his question: "So, are we going to learn from that team?"

"More or less."

"So that team is very strong?"

"In a certain sense, yes."

Tang Ye wanted to know which model team Escrivá was referring to; he had played with many different teams in FIFA, so he might be familiar with some.

However, to Tang Ye's slight disappointment, Escrivá did not reveal the team's name.

According to Escrivá, the team's name was unimportant; what mattered was the tactics they needed to execute next.

Since that was the case, Tang Ye didn't press further. However, from the tactics Escrivá described next, he could vaguely sense that the head coach of that model team was extremely formidable!

Tang Ye estimated that if he played under that coach, he would at least win a league title!

Perhaps even secure another cup championship?

An admirable team!

An admirable head coach!

"Mr. Ferran."

The players dispersed, but Tang Ye voluntarily stayed behind: "That attacking midfielder position is crucial, right? If I don't play well, will it affect the team?"

"It doesn't matter."

Learning that Tang Ye cared deeply about the team warmed Escrivá's heart, and he replied: "Our goal is simply to imitate those teams that have already achieved success."

"But they have already succeeded, while we have not. If I compare myself to their attacking midfielder, won't the gap be too large?"

Tang Ye chewed his gum.

Compared to 4-4-2, playing 4-2-3-1 would definitely be more comfortable for him.

The reason is simple: compared to defending, Tang Ye prefers constant attacking, and the 4-2-3-1 formation perfectly matches Tang Ye's characteristics.

But as he said earlier, the attacking midfielder in a 4-2-3-1 is too critical; Tang Ye feared mishandling it would hurt the team, just like when he was with the Utrecht reserve squad.

"Actually, the gap between you and that team's attacking midfielder isn't very large."

"The gap isn't large? Then... just how large is it?"

"No difference."

(End of Chapter)