Chapter 171: Only Sansone Did Tom's Homework

On the third day after the match, Villarreal's players returned to the training base.

To cope with Atlético Madrid, Escrivá temporarily adjusted the team's tactics, and today's training session aimed to readjust those tactics back to their original state.

Atlético Madrid is a rather special team within the entire La Liga, so Villarreal certainly cannot use the same playing style employed against Atlético to face other league opponents.

While doing shuttle runs on the pitch during warm-ups, Tang Ye checked his current status panel.

Tang Ye (38 years old)

【Ball Control: 79; Passing: 88】

【Shooting: 75; Heading: 47; Set Pieces: 74】

【Pace: 70; Stamina: 72; Physicality: 73】

【Defending: 69; Vision: 94】

Overall Rating: 80

Heading could be ignored for now; defending was currently the only attribute where Tang Ye had not yet reached 70 points.

However, this was not an issue; under the meticulously designed 4-2-3-1 formation by Escrivá, Tang Ye's defensive duties were not numerous, meaning the opportunities for his defensive flaws to be exposed during matches were very few.

Currently, the most important aspects for Tang Ye were Ball Control, Set Pieces, and Stamina.

As for Ball Control, there was no need to elaborate; playing in La Liga required excellent ball control skills. Tang Ye's current 79 points in Ball Control were sufficient for him to establish himself in La Liga, but if he wanted even more outstanding performances on the pitch, it would be best to raise this attribute to 80 or even above 80.

Currently, the fastest way for Tang Ye to improve his Ball Control attribute was through team training combined with the 【Hazard Tarta Burger】 consumed on rest days after matches.

In order to eat this burger, Tang Ye had recently asked Escrivá about holidays immediately after every match ended.

It might appear as though Tang Ye wanted to slack off and secure more holidays, but that was not the case.

He simply wanted to eat the burger!

Of course, the hardship behind this was something only he had to bear silently.

Then there were Set Pieces; like Stamina, if Tang Ye could improve these two attributes, it would bring great benefits to Villarreal.

But these two things shared another commonality: they were both extremely difficult to improve!

After the morning training session lasting one and a half hours concluded, and before sending the players for massage and relaxation, Escrivá briefly discussed the upcoming matches.

"The next round is on the 17th at noon; our opponent is Sporting Gijón. After playing Sporting Gijón, we have the second leg of the Copa del Rey just three days later, against Toledo."

"And there's also the knockout stage draw!"

Tang Ye reminded him.

"Yes, there's also the knockout stage draw."

Escrivá tapped Tang Ye in front of him with the notebook in his hand: "You even pay attention to this?"

"Tom probably snatched a glance at the news while waiting for someone to play games."

Bruno saw through Tang Ye at once, leaving the latter no choice but to shrug helplessly.

"Our Round 16 league match against Sporting Gijón should end around 3 PM, and the draw will take place in the evening."

"The Round of 32 draw results are quite important for us, but since we have a match that day, I don't really hope you focus your attention on the draw."

Tang Ye nodded seriously.

Just as Escrivá said, they should currently focus all their attention on the matches.

Because the result of the draw was something the players could not decide, but the result of the matches could be!

"But we need to pray to God."

Musacchio suddenly said, clasping his hands together in front of his chest: "God will help us get a favorable draw!"

Hearing Musacchio's words, Bruno made the same gesture.

Tang Ye stood in place, looking left and right, and noticed many of his teammates making this gesture, so he also pulled his hands out of his pockets.

"Pray to God."

"You probably don't fall under God's jurisdiction, do you?"

Ale, standing behind, suddenly said.

"It's all the same, it's all the same; as long as one is sincere, it works."

Tang Ye answered quickly, although he didn't know himself if his words made sense: "Sebastian, you should also pray to God quickly, so that we can get a favorable draw."

"No problem."

Ale took a step back and made a fist-palm prayer gesture towards Tang Ye.

"Alright, alright; anyway, after the match ends we'll return to the base, and we can watch the draw together then."

"That would be great."

Tang Ye's eyes sparkled: "We'll have dinner together in the cafeteria, and the draw will be on TV."

Not only would they have dinner, but Tang Ye also wanted to dance with his teammates in the cafeteria!

Just thinking about it was exciting.

"The premise is that we need to win the match," Escrivá reminded them.

If they gathered to watch the draw after losing a match, the atmosphere would inevitably be extremely oppressive.

Therefore, they absolutely could not lose the next league match!

That's why we absolutely cannot lose the next league match!

After the afternoon training ended, the players ate and chatted in the cafeteria. Meanwhile, Escrivá and Martí, who had already finished dinner earlier, came to the coaches' office on the second floor.

With three days remaining until the match, they needed to work out a tentative starting lineup first, then make the final decision the day before the match.

Holding a pen, Escrivá first wrote down the abbreviations for "Musacchio," "Ruiz," and others on the defensive line.

These two center-backs could be said to be the players with the most secure positions within Villarreal; they were must-start players without any controversy.

As for the full-backs, Escrivá ultimately chose Costa and González.

As for the full-backs, Escrivá ultimately chose Costa and González.

Soon reaching the defensive midfielder position, Escrivá without hesitation wrote down "Bruno" and "Rodri."

"You really trust Sergio."

Martí sat right beside Escrivá.

He could see that Escrivá truly placed immense trust in Rodri.

For a twenty-year-old defensive midfielder to start every match for a team ranked third in La Liga was indeed somewhat exaggerated.

"Rodri is an indispensable part of our tactics."

Escrivá answered quickly.

An indispensable part of the tactics?

Martí furrowed his brows, clearly not understanding what the head coach meant.

He was also a coach for the Yellow Submarine.

As he recalled, the team shouldn't have any tactics centered around Rodri, right?

Rodri shouldn't be a necessity in the starting lineup!

Though doubts lingered in Martí's heart, he did not rush to voice them, choosing first to see how Escrivá would proceed.

With the 4-2-3-1 formation, the midfield still lacked an attacking midfielder; Escrivá needed to choose between Tang Ye, Dos Santos, and Soriano.

Escrivá bit down on the ballpoint pen in his hand, appearing extremely, extremely hesitant.

Finally, he wrote down three letters.

Tom.

Escrivá was very satisfied with this choice; lifting his head, he found Martí's eyes staring fixedly at him.

"..."

Escrivá picked up the pen again and simply modified what he had just written.

Tom (non-core).

He lifted his head again to look at Martí.

Martí was still looking at him.

"What's wrong?"

Escrivá kept clicking the ballpoint pen in his hand, "click-click."

"Ferran, um..."

Martí's expression showed some hesitation: "I know that putting Tom in gives us a greater chance of winning the match, but you must remember, Tom is only our loan player, here for just one year; even if he is a Ballon d'Or level player, we cannot keep treating him as the core, otherwise we will definitely face disaster next season!"

Martí extended his right hand, tapping repeatedly on the notebook on the table: "Everyone has been poisoned! Everyone has been infected by the poison! Except for you and me, Ferran, do you remember what you said before? That after the special situation passes, you would find a way to strip Tom from the core position!"

"..." Escrivá said nothing; he had indeed said those words.

"I know, Martí, I know."

Escrivá gestured for Martí not to rush: "Of course I know, and I already have a plan, a plan to win without Tom, but now is not the time; right now is a special situation!"

"Our opponent in the next match is Sporting Gijón; this match is very special. Sporting Gijón's defense is formidable; we need something sharper, only then can we pierce through their defense."

Is Sporting Gijón also special...

Well then!

Martí nodded: "So when will it be a non-special situation?"

"Soon!"

Escrivá's expression was firm: "Very soon, I can feel it; believe me, Martí!"

This...

Martí let out a sigh.

!

Yet what Escrivá said was actually not wrong; removing Tang Ye from the core position was something that truly could not be rushed.

Martí expressed his support for Escrivá!

This was not only because Escrivá was the team's head coach.

But also because Martí knew.

A terrifying Tom virus had erupted within the Yellow Submarine.

And he and Escrivá were now the only two survivors not affected by the virus.

They needed to stick closely together!

Only then would there be hope!

After spending half an hour, Escrivá and Martí briefly finalized the starting lineup and main tactics for the match against Sporting Gijón, after which Martí departed first.

Thump-thump!

Bruno pushed the door open; on his back, he carried a Joma backpack.

He had already packed his things and was ready to leave, but Escrivá had suddenly sent a message asking him to come to the office.

"Ferran!"

Bruno walked in smiling, took the backpack off his shoulders, and placed it on the sofa.

As the team captain, Bruno could be said to be a frequent visitor to the second-floor office.

"Mm."

Escrivá sat down on the sofa, then gestured for Bruno to sit down as well.

"We have already won four consecutive matches this month; the opponents in the next two matches are not strong either, so the players might become somewhat impetuous; you need to pay attention to this regularly."

Escrivá spoke to Bruno slowly: "Especially Tom and Sergio; the two of them are relatively young and require extra attention."

"Of course."

Bruno leaned very naturally against the sofa, intending to listen to Escrivá continue speaking, but for some reason, Escrivá suddenly fell silent.

"Ferran?"

"Oh, I wanted to talk again about the homework situation."

Huh?

Bruno froze for a moment.

"Is it Tom's homework?"

"Aside from him, is there anyone else on our team who needs to do homework?"

Escrivá countered with a question, then also leaned back against the sofa: "Didn't the news previously expose the matter of Nicola (Sansone) doing homework for Tom? That's exactly what I want to discuss."

"What's wrong?"

Bruno perked up his ears, listening very intently.

"Actually, it's nothing major, but I just have a feeling, that, um... Bruno, you know, Nicola doing homework for Tom, and Nicola happens to be a forward; I feel this situation is a bit inappropriate."

As he spoke, Escrivá took out his notebook.

"Bruno, haven't you felt that Nicola's goal-scoring frequency has increased recently?"

Huh?

"Well, Ferran, you must be too nervous?"

Bruno said, "Nicola's form has been quite good recently, hasn't it?"

Escrivá nodded.

Bruno was right; Sansone had been in great form recently, so an increase in his goal count was perfectly normal.

"Then I must be overthinking it, but it's still better to be preventative about such matters."

Escrivá's voice softened.

To be honest, he felt a bit guilty now.

He shouldn't have suspected the players within the team.

Everyone helping Tom with his homework did so out of kindness, with no ulterior motives!

"By the way!"

"Aside from Nicola, is anyone else doing homework for Tom?"

Bruno remained silent.

"It's fine; if you know, just tell me directly. I won't punish them; I just want to understand the situation."

"Probably not."

Bruno replied.

"No one besides Nicola? That shouldn't be right. Sebastián and he both came from the Netherlands; their relationship is so good, yet Sebastián doesn't help him with his homework?"

Escrivá nodded.

Only Sansone helping Tang Ye with his homework made him feel somewhat incredulous.

That's not right...

If Tang Ye couldn't finish his homework and needed to find someone for help, shouldn't he have sought out Ale first?

Why was it Sansone?

Wow!

Escrivá's eyes lit up.

"So Nicola volunteered to do homework for Tom himself?"

"Seems like it; I'm not entirely clear on the specifics."

Bruno answered quickly.

"If that's the case, then this matter truly needs to be taken seriously."

Escrivá was a very sensitive person.

He was easily hurt by online comments, and at the same time, easily perceived subtle changes around him.

"By the way, Bruno."

Escrivá suddenly turned around, looking at Bruno beside him: "You haven't been doing homework for Tom, have you?"

"No, no."

Bruno laughed, and then Escrivá laughed as well.

Indeed, Bruno, the old captain of Yellow Submarine, didn't seem like the type to break discipline.

Phew...

Escrivá exhaled in one breath, leaning back against the sofa once more.

He reached out to touch Bruno's backpack.

At that very instant, Bruno's hand pressed down on the back of Escrivá's hand.

Oh?

Escrivá suddenly froze, then his eyes slowly narrowed.

(End of Chapter)