Chapter 147: The Upcoming [Long-Angle Curl Shot], Building a Team Around Tom?

Crack!

Crack crack!

Tang Ye accepted the MVP trophy from the host.

This was Tang Ye's third Europa League group stage match; this was his second Europa League MVP trophy; the odds of winning this award were truly unmatched.

"Tom, after three group stage rounds, Villarreal is the only unbeaten team in Group L. Barring any surprises, you should advance to the knockout stage. As one of the key players on the team, what are your expectations for the team's Europa League campaign this season?"

This...

It was a very simple question, but for Tang Ye, who had rarely been interviewed by reporters, he still needed to think carefully before answering.

"I don't know exactly what results we will achieve yet, but the further we go, the better."

Tang Ye looked at the camera.

The match had been very difficult, but after receiving the MVP trophy, Tang Ye's exhaustion vanished completely.

Just as the reporter had said, Villarreal was currently the only unbeaten team in Group L.

Three consecutive wins, nine points, followed by Ajax with six points and Inter Milan with three points!

When the season started and fans learned that Villarreal, Ajax, and Inter Milan were drawn into the same group, many were worried about qualification.

But now it seemed that Villarreal was the only team in Group L that didn't need to worry about qualification?

While Tang Ye was being interviewed by reporters on the pitch grass, the team's head coach, Escrivá, was in the press conference room.

Reporters wouldn't make things difficult for Tang Ye, but if it was Escrivá, that was another story.

"We noticed that during the first half, you were constantly directing from the sidelines while the team was trailing..."

After hearing just half the sentence, Escrivá's nerves were already taut.

This reporter, barring any surprises, was surely about to stir up trouble!

"In the second half, um... the 58th minute! Around the 58th minute, you sat back on the bench and basically didn't stand up again. Shortly after you sat down, the team equalized, and eventually even took the lead. Do you think there is any connection between these events?"

"..."

Escrivá was left completely speechless.

As expected, for such a highly watched match, the reporters had been watching everything the head coach did on the sidelines.

A very difficult question!

How should he answer this!

Escrivá reached out to touch his head.

He touched hair, but actually, he did not wish to feel hair on his head.

Damn it, think fast!

What would Ten Hag do in this situation!

Focusing his attention, his brain working rapidly, Escrivá's chest heaved up and down.

Got it!

"I feel that what I said at halftime was already enough."

Escrivá looked at the camera; at that moment, he felt a Dutchman floating above his head, and he could feel the power coming from that saint.

"A qualified head coach should synchronize all tactics for the second half with the players during halftime, so that in the second half, the coach doesn't need to do anything more."

Check Dongqiu Di: Villarreal defeats Ajax 2-1 away, Tang Ye provides two assists.

"Ajax Football Newspaper" front page headline — League performance average, Europa League revenge against Tom fails, can new coach Bos still hold his position?

"Utrecht Evening News" front page headline — According to insiders, Ajax contacted Ten Hag first after the season ended, but since Ten Hag had already reached a verbal agreement with Manchester United, Ajax turned to former Vitesse head coach Bos.

【Setting other things aside, actually Ajax's tactical execution in this match was quite successful; Bos does have ability.】

【No matter how much ability he has, it's useless; Bos is just Ten Saint's backup.】

【Bos is strong, but asking a coach who was fired by Tang Ye to teach Ajax how to play against Tang Ye is unreasonable, brothers.】

【The problem is Ajax didn't know they would draw Villarreal either, haha; they were probably still thinking about revenge.】

The better Tang Ye performed, the more excited Chinese fans became.

The official Golden Boy ranking will not be announced until November; during this period, Tang Ye's match performances will be taken into consideration.

In the first half of the season, Tang Ye had been playing outside the top five leagues, so he suffered quite a bit.

In the second half of the season, he must earn more performance points in La Liga and the Europa League; only then will there be more votes.

Manchester United's Rashford and Bayern's Sancho were both stunning, but in the eyes of Chinese fans, there was only one answer to who the Little Goat was.

ggbond!

Sitting on the return bus, Tang Ye wore headphones, but no music was playing in his ears.

Tang Ye's attention was on the system.

【In the upcoming league, King's Cup, and Europa League matches, if the sum of goals + assists reaches 15, reward: Random Club High-Level Chest.】

Current progress: 15/15 (Claimable)

As early as when the Europa League draw results were announced, Tang Ye had received a welfare chest.

The sum of goals plus assists must reach 15.

This was a very difficult task, because whether it was the La Liga or the Europa League, both were high-value competitions, and scoring goals or providing assists was not that easy.

Previously, Tang Ye thought he would have to wait until November, or even December, to get this random high-level chest, but unexpectedly, before October even ended, he had already met the claim conditions.

Using his mental command to click the three words 【Claimable】, a spinning wheel appeared before Tang Ye's eyes.

【Inter Milan Chest · High-Level】

【Barcelona Chest · High-Level】

【Lyon Chest·High-Grade】

【Manchester United Chest·High-Grade】

【Ajax Chest·High-Grade】

【Open the chest?】

"..."

Tang Ye naturally wanted to obtain the new template skill, but reason told him it was best not to do so right now.

He remembered he still had a mission: successfully advance the team to the Europa League knockout stage.

The mission reward was a money jar that could upgrade chest quality!

At present, Yellow Submarine's advancement to the Europa League knockouts was already a sure thing, so the way to maximize benefits was to wait until Tang Ye obtained the money jar, upgrade the High-Grade chests to Star chests, and only then open them.

After all, the gap between Star and High-Grade was not just a little bit!

Endure it!

"Hey!"

Rodri waved his hand in front of Tang Ye; Tang Ye came to his senses and discovered that Rodri had, at some point, held his phone out before him.

It was the Apple Music interface.

"Tom, what are you thinking about?"

"I'm waiting,"

Tang Ye replied.

"Waiting for what? Ah, never mind, can you help me find those Chinese songs you sang in the locker room earlier?"

Rodri seemed to have taken a liking to those few songs Tang Ye often sang; Tang Ye naturally would not refuse, so he took Rodri's phone.

"Hey, how do you type Chinese on your phone..."

Tang Ye fiddled for a long time but couldn't figure out how to type Chinese using the keyboard on Rodri's phone; having no choice, he could only use his own phone to send a text message to Rodri, then copy the content of that message into the Apple Music search bar.

"Under Mount Fuji."

"You Hide, I Hide."

Actually, there was one more, "Lonely Chick," but since it was a new song not yet listed on Apple Music, Tang Ye could do nothing about it.

"Can I learn Chinese by listening to these songs?"

Rodri asked.

The beautiful melodies were comforting; if he could learn the notoriously difficult Chinese language while listening to music, that would be perfect!

Tang Ye himself knew Chinese, Spanish, and Dutch, and Rodri wanted to measure up to him.

Tang Ye patted Rodri on the shoulder.

"Of course; by then, if you go to my house, you'll probably even understand what my parents are saying."

"That would indeed be great!"

Local time, October 23rd, at the end of La Liga Round 9, Yellow Submarine drew 2–2 at home against Las Palmas.

Tang Ye didn't record any stats in this match, but his overall performance was still quite good.

"Damn, I should have scored that goal!"

In the locker room, Tang Ye sat on a bench, hands propped on his thighs, complaining to Bruno beside him.

Compared to the match against Ajax four days ago, Tang Ye had received a last-minute chance to score a winning goal today, but unfortunately, he failed to seize the opportunity.

After a quick glance at his current panel, Tang Ye saw that his ability to find opportunities through positioning and observation had far surpassed his shooting level. This was very awkward; Tang Ye could always find chances inside the penalty area, but sometimes he simply couldn't make good use of the opportunities that fell into his hands.

Perhaps the unopened High-Grade chest on his person contained some star player's shooting ability?

Before officially advancing to the Europa League knockout stage, Tang Ye still had some league matches to play; honestly, he really wanted to open that High-Grade chest on him right now, but reason told him he absolutely must not do so.

Better to just honestly grind the proficiency of the growth template first!

【De Bruyne Bottom Cross Lv2: Similar】

Proficiency: 9/200

【De Bruyne Far-Corner Curling Shot Lv3: Simulated】

Proficiency: 162/200

【De Bruyne 45-Degree Cross Lv4: Realistic】

Proficiency: 21/500

【De Bruyne Curved Through Ball Lv4: Realistic】

Proficiency: 48/1000

"48 out of 1000..."

After a quick look, the most important skill for him, the Curved Through Ball, still had a long way to go before upgrading.

Unless Tang Ye temporarily obtained something that could grind proficiency, he estimated his Curved Through Ball wouldn't reach the max level of Lv5 until nearly the end of this season.

The good news was that his 【Far-Corner Curling Shot】 was about to level up!

!

This would be Tang Ye's third Lv4 skill!

Because 【Far-Corner Curling Shot】 was about to level up, Tang Ye deliberately focused on practicing his shooting during training sessions over the next few days.

With Pogba's muddy assists, by the end of training on the afternoon of October 29th, Tang Ye had pushed the proficiency of 【Far-Corner Curling Shot】 to 188.5.

Less than 12 points of proficiency remained before leveling up!

Tang Ye had originally planned to upgrade 【Far-Corner Curling Shot】 to Lv4 before the next league match started, which should have boosted his shooting attributes significantly.

Unfortunately, Escrivá hadn't given the players many chances for scrimmages or shooting drills these past few days, so Tang Ye's plan ultimately failed.

The players who finished training headed to Wangshitang for dinner, but Escrivá and Martí did not rush over; they remained on the training grounds.

"As you know, since becoming head coach, I have never hesitated this much."

Sitting on a chair in the first tier of the stands, Escrivá looked with a serious expression at the empty training field before him.

Over the past few days, Escrivá had rehearsed the team's tactics once again, confirming the 4-2-3-1 formation as the primary setup for Yellow Submarine's upcoming matches.

Ten Hag's 4-2-3-1 had defeated Yellow Submarine's 4-3-3 from last season!

Logically speaking, finding a formation better suited to the team should be good news, yet Escrivá could not bring himself to smile.

Because he realized that Yellow Submarine's dependence on Tang Ye was gradually increasing!

This was something Escrivá did not want to see!

After the summer transfer window negotiations between Piggy Xia Chuang and Utrecht regarding Tang Ye's permanent transfer collapsed, Yellow Submarine opted for a one-year loan and agreed to Utrecht's demand to include no buyout clause.

The reason Yellow Submarine was willing to accept Utrecht's demand for no buyout clause was that Escrivá only intended to find a temporary midfielder to get through this season.

Yellow Submarine's attack was too soft, so he had sought out Tom, then the most ferocious assist provider in the Eredivisie, originally intending for him to serve as a rotation player to help the team.

But now, things were gradually deviating from Escrivá's plan.

"I currently have a feeling that if Tom doesn't play, our attack simply won't function."

Escrivá turned to look at Martí beside him; the Yellow Submarine assistant coach nodded: "Actually, no feeling is needed... it is exactly like that."

"..."

"Martí, could you at least say something to comfort me?"

Martí smiled and shrugged his shoulders.

Tang Ye's playing style possessed a strong corrosive quality; while adapting to the team, he was also subtly transforming it. If you asked the current Yellow Submarine to rediscover the feeling of possession-based play from last season, they probably wouldn't be able to adapt for quite some time.

Pato, Bakambu, and Sansone—the forwards of Villarreal—had become addicted to the opium fed to them by Tom!

Having enjoyed the sensation of scoring simply by arriving at the right spot, it would be very difficult for them to willingly accept the possession-style football they played before.

Despite having four goals and nine assists, Escrivá had a feeling.

That feeling was that Tang Ye was harming the team!

"So what do we do now?"

Martí blinked his eyes; of course, he knew the problems Yellow Submarine currently faced.

Seven wins and two draws in nine league rounds seemed impressive on the surface, but in reality, the team's three forwards were hooked on Tang Tang Qiuwang's assist opium, the gifted defensive midfielder was cleaning up after Tang Tang Qiuwang, and the team captain went home every night to play video games with Tang Tang Qiuwang and some French guy.

On the surface, it was seven wins and two draws, but internally, problems had already begun to emerge.

Of course!

There was a solution to this problem.

Clap! Clap!

Escrivá clapped his hands and stood up from the bench in the stands: "Once Rashford, Sanches, or Dembélé wins the Golden Boy award, Mr. Fernando will step forward to negotiate Tom's permanent transfer with Utrecht."

"A direct buyout? That probably won't be cheap..."

Martí stood up as well, though his attitude regarding this was not very optimistic.

Even if Tang Ye missed out on the Golden Boy award, judging by his statistics in La Liga, the price would probably still not be cheap.

Although Yellow Submarine had good results, looking across La Liga, they could not actually be considered a wealthy team.

"No, we will definitely buy him out."

Escrivá wore a smile: "Next spring, the Cerámica Stadium will be renamed the Ceramic Stadium; the municipal government and the ceramic company here will provide the team with a sponsorship fee. Mr. Fernando plans to use 35 million euros, or even 40 million euros, to buy out Tom."

"This amount of money is something Utrecht cannot refuse!"

Spending 40 million euros to buy a Golden Boy candidate would absolutely be a massive profit for Utrecht.

After all, when they originally pulled Tang Ye from the Shandong Taishan youth academy, they spent only 50,000 euros!

"Wow."

Martí's eyes lit up.

If that were truly the case, then there would indeed be no problem.

Sign a long-term contract with Tang Ye.

As a 17-year-old genius midfielder, Yellow Submarine could completely build the team around him.

The bad thing about assist opium is that one cannot quit it.

But since Tang Ye was about to sign a long-term contract with the team, quitting was impossible.

Don't let just the forwards get hooked; let everyone get hooked, get heavily hooked!

"So, are you going to formulate tactics centered around Tom?"

"Let's wait two more rounds; I am about to finish my analysis of Tom, and by then, the Golden Boy rankings should be out!"

Escrivá looked up toward the distance, where the Villarreal team flag hung.

Once, a genius coach appeared in the Eredivisie who led a team incapable of winning the title to become Eredivisie champions.

Now, Escrivá was about to follow in his footsteps!

On October 30, the 10th round of La Liga matches began, with Yellow Submarine players traveling away to face Eibar!

Check Dongqiu Di pinned post: Villarreal announces the pre-match squad list vs. Eibar; Tang Ye and Musacchio are included, while Aleix is excluded again.

【Has Aleix's injury not healed yet? That Gomez truly deserves to die.】

【Speak up, if Aleix had been present, Yellow Submarine wouldn't have drawn the last match; Pato simply didn't know how to capitalize on Tang Tang Qiuwang's brilliant passes!】

【I heard from the news that Aleix has already recovered?】

【Probably still in recovery?】

【Whatever, let Tang Tang Qiuwang charge, charge, charge!】

"China Media Group, this is your live broadcast..."

"Soriano's long pass finds Pato up front!"

"Pato heads it to Bacambu on the right!"

"Less than five minutes into the match, Villarreal has capitalized on the opponent's mistake to create a chance!"

The Yellow Submarine's attacking momentum was fierce; the fans in the stands had originally planned to sit for a while and only stand up when the match reached its climax.

But now it seemed they would have to stand for the entire game!

After receiving the ball, Bacambu decisively chose to drive down the baseline; this was what he loved doing most.

There were now four defenders in Eibar's penalty area, among whom Ramis's attention was entirely fixed on Tang Ye.

Of course, Tang Ye was not going to just stand still and waste time against his opponent.

He sprinted straight toward the right flank!

To support Bacambu!

Ramis had intended to follow Tang Ye out to the wing, but Rodri ran up directly to occupy the position at the top of the arc, leaving Ramis no way to break free.

"Here!"

Tang Ye shouted to Bacambu, who dribbled the ball toward the penalty area.

After compressing the opponent's defensive line, he suddenly passed back!

Facing the ball rolling toward him, Tang Ye used the outside of his left foot to strike it directly into the penalty area.

Crack!

The ball traced an arc, flying between Ramis and Bacambu before entering the penalty area!

They were about to contest the point!

Pato!

He leaped up and headed it directly!

(End of Chapter)