Chapter 172: Escrivá Is Furious: Does Writing More Homework Lead to More Goals?

After Bruno left, Escrivá remained alone in his office until nine o'clock at night.

On his computer, he was compiling the goal and assist statistics for Aleix, Sansone, Pato, Bacambu, and Bruno—the five of them.

Escrivá was furious now!

He was determined to get to the bottom of this homework business once and for all!

Hmm... according to Escrivá's guess, the homework affair must have started in early or mid-November, so he pulled up the goal and assist data for the five players around that timeframe to compare.

The statistics did show an increase!

But all five players had increased together!

If Tang Ye's passing choices had been influenced by the homework, then at least one player's goal statistics should have declined...

Did all five players do homework for Tang Ye?

Was the timing wrong?

Escrivá furrowed his brow, adjusted the timeframe to mid-October, and pulled up the data for comparison again.

It was still a simultaneous increase, and with almost the exact same magnitude!

This...

Things were becoming increasingly suspicious...

Escrivá did not give up; he adjusted the timeframe numerous times, eventually going back as far as August, when Tang Ye had just started school.

The screen full of data was making Escrivá's eyes tired.

Yet, in the end, something strange occurred: no matter which point in time was used as a dividing line, the increase in statistics for all five players remained roughly the same.

Simply put, Tang Ye had not provided any extra assistance to any single one of those players.

Even Sansone and Bruno, who had already been confirmed as doing homework for Tang Ye, were the same; their statistics showed a very steady, very gradual rise.

"This..."

Escrivá was now completely bewildered.

Then, sudden realization struck!

So...

These players on the team thought that helping Tang Ye with his homework would allow them to score more goals.

But that was not the case.

Tang Ye had never given them any so-called special treatment; rather, because the team's tactical coordination was slowly improving and their results were gradually getting better, the statistics for these five players rose together.

Bruno and the others had fallen under an illusion!

They believed that after helping Tang Ye with his homework, they themselves started scoring more goals.

But that was not the case; the increase in their goal-scoring efficiency was an objective reflection of the entire team's improved level of play.

Bruno and the others had been deceived—deceived by themselves!

Haha!

Thinking of this, Escrivá could not help but laugh.

A bunch of idiots whose minds were filled with nothing but scoring goals!

All that homework they did was for nothing!

The next morning, when warm-ups began for training, Escrivá gathered all of Villarreal's forward-line players plus Bruno on the adjacent training pitch.

Surrounded by the players, head coach Escrivá pointed his index finger at his own temples: "What is going on in your heads? What the hell is going on in your heads?"

"The more homework you write, the more goals you score?"

"Wow, you think you're so clever, finish a math workbook, and then assume your goal-scoring is guaranteed for the next few matches, is that it?"

"Impressive, truly impressive!"

Escrivá offered applause to the players surrounding him.

Among the entire forward line plus captain Bruno, totaling eight players, four hung their heads, accepting the criticism from head coach Escrivá.

The remaining four stood where they were, clearly not understanding what Escrivá was talking about.

The more homework you write, the more goals you score?

What does that mean?

"Forbidden!"

"This matter is forbidden!"

"This matter must be forbidden!"

Escrivá's voice was loud: "From now on, everyone, absolutely no one is allowed to help Tom with his homework; if I catch you, you will be on the bench for the next match, and if you are already a substitute and get caught, you will be kicked out of the starting lineup entirely."

"Use your brains, think carefully with your brains; is what you are doing appropriate? This will affect the unity of the team!"

Escrivá was very angry.

This was not anger in jest; he was genuinely furious.

A La Liga team losing its unity over a few classroom workbooks?

That was absolutely unacceptable!

On the adjacent training pitch, Tang Ye and Rodri were passing the ball back and forth to warm up.

"What is wrong with Mr. Ferran?"

Tang Ye glanced toward the small pitch in the distance.

Although he could not understand exactly what Escrivá was saying, he could see that Escrivá was shouting.

Mr. Ferran was very angry!

"I don't know either."

Rodri shook his head: "It must be something serious, because this is the first time I've ever seen Ferran lose his temper. Tom, does it have anything to do with you?"

"How could it have anything to do with me? I haven't done anything."

Tang Ye hurriedly waved his hands.

Although he sometimes slacked off, for the most part he was still quite well-behaved.

He needed to focus his energy on matches and games; he had no time to think about other things.

"Could it be that Sebastian and the others were caught slacking off during training by Ferran?"

Thinking of this, Tang Ye suddenly felt somewhat relieved: "Luckily, I've been training quite diligently lately. Mr. Ferran has no reason to scold me. Moreover, I've even added extra training sessions. Perhaps Mr. Ferran knew I was doing extra training, which is why he didn't include me in his scolding."

Kicking the ball back to Rodri on the opposite side,

"By the way, Rod, have you finished your language class assignment? It's due next Saturday."

"You'd better do a poor job on it. My grades aren't good; if the assignment is too well-done, the teacher will notice."

Over these past few days, Tang Ye had trained very diligently with the team, hoping his ball control attribute would break through the 80 mark, but unfortunately, it just wouldn't break through.

According to Tang Ye's speculation, breaking through is particularly difficult when attribute points are at critical junctures like 74 to 75 or 79 to 80; this was the reason his ball control still hadn't reached 80 despite the dual assistance of training and the Hazard Burger.

But now, upgrading the ball control attribute needed to be temporarily set aside, because Villarreal's next match had begun!

This season's La Liga Round 16, an away match against Sporting Gijón!

Escrivá had previously said that their opponent in today's match wasn't particularly strong, but that didn't mean the Yellow Submarine would underestimate them.

This was Villarreal's fifth match in December; after today ended, they would secure five consecutive victories for the month!

"China Central Television! Here is the live broadcast for you of..."

"Players from both sides are ready on the pitch!"

"The referee is checking his watch!"

"Alright, the match has begun!"

"..."

"A perfect long pass layoff, from Rodri!"

"Passed to Bruno on the right!"

"Bruno wants to pass!"

"Tang Ye's position isn't very good; Bruno still chooses to dribble forward himself first!"

Tang Ye's position was actually acceptable; he could receive the ball, but Bruno considered it carefully and felt he still needed to dribble the ball to a more advanced position himself first.

After all, Tom's combat effectiveness in the opponent's half versus his own half was completely on different levels!

Move forward, wait for an opportunity!

Once Bakambu ahead created space by making a run, Bruno played a precise through ball forward.

Oh, here comes a chance!

Tang Ye was extremely sensitive; seeing Bakambu intending to drift toward the center, he immediately ran to the right flank first.

Cedric, I know you want to play as an attacking midfielder!

Then let me play as the striker!

Sneaking behind Bakambu, Tang Ye's behavior made the home fans in the stands feel quite uneasy.

"Watch out for Tom!"

"There's another Tom behind!"

When fully concentrated, Tang Ye couldn't hear the fans' voices.

Moving closer to Bakambu.

Does Bakambu seem to have no intention of going to the center?

"Hurry to the middle!"

Tang Ye urged; Bakambu paused for a moment, then dribbled the ball toward the center.

"Oh! Dribbling diagonally into the penalty area himself; Bakambu's choice is very bold!"

"Let's take a look; Tang Ye is running forward on the right flank by himself. Amorebieta is watching him!"

Damn!

Tang Ye ran forward, but Amorebieta stuck right to him; the distance between the two was less than 80cm.

Hell, Tang Ye clearly hadn't expected that he could attract the opponent's attention even without possessing the ball!

However, this was obviously quite reasonable.

When a room is full of adults, the only child becomes the object requiring special care.

It seemed Amorebieta was already prepared to serve Tang Ye a kids' meal!

As Tang Ye and Amorebieta ran along the sideline up to Escrivá, Escrivá reminded him: "Be careful to dodge when you get hit!"

Bakambu slowly arrived at the position near the arc of the penalty area; under Altman's pressing, he passed the ball back to Rodri.

This was Tang Ye's chance!

Shaking off Amorebieta directly was obviously impossible, so Tang Ye first turned and ran backward.

Once Amorebieta followed over, Tang Ye immediately executed a turn, accelerated, and surged down the line!

Snap!

Rodri's through ball arrived precisely in front of Tang Ye!

Tang Ye touched the ball forward!

Amorebieta was about to chase over immediately!

Cannot hesitate!

When the opportunity was nearly right, but not quite perfect, Tang Ye chose to deliver a cross directly.

Slap!

【De Bruyne Underlap Cross Lv3: Simulation】

Proficiency: 9/400

Delivered to the center!

It bounced once inside the large penalty area before flying toward the small penalty area.

Haller charges forward!

The rebound height is a bit too low!

Haller, standing 1.9 meters tall, bends down to reach for this ball!

Boom!

Goalkeeper Cuéllar stood rooted with arms spread; honestly, a header from this distance relies purely on luck.

But Cuéllar's luck clearly wasn't good enough!

"Goal!"

"Beautiful!"

"An assist from Tang Ye!"

"His timing on that pass was simply perfect!"

The Yellow Submarine players ran to celebrate as the director replayed the goal.

The scene of Tang Ye feinting a retreat to shake off Amorebieta deeply stunned both the livestream audience and the CCTV commentators.

"That feint was absolutely perfect!"

"Exactly, Tang Ye's feint directly caused Amorebieta to lose the chance to interfere with the cross immediately."

"I'd say that counts as half a dribble!"

He Wei's tone was astonishing; beside him, Huang Huang Jianxiang took a deep breath: "Half a dribble?"

"That's right; as an attacking midfielder, Tang Ye doesn't need exceptional dribbling skills, but that doesn't mean he lacks them."

"Others dribble past opponents one by one; rarely do two come at once. But Tang Ye is a special case—he dribbles past them in halves." "Hey, it doesn't look like a standard one-on-one dribble, but Tang Ye's feint certainly achieved the effect of beating a man one-on-one!"

In the broadcast booth, Huang Huang Jianxiang nodded slowly.

He Wei might have seemed like he was blowing smoke up Tang Ye's rear, but his words were actually quite reasonable.

On screen, Tang Ye, Haller, and a crowd of Yellow Submarine players embraced, while fans in the stands flipped them the bird.

The home fans were enraged by Haller's goal!

Sporting Gijón was already hovering in the relegation zone, yet the Yellow Submarine had to deliver this crushing blow right now!

"Boooo!!!"

With the celebration over and his excitement fading, Tang Ye glanced toward the stands: "Haha, they're panicked!"

Bruno placed a hand on Tang Ye's shoulder: "We two are truly strong!"

Reaching the 30th minute, the score remained 0-1, with home side Sporting Gijón trailing by one goal.

Sporting Gijón could be said to have incredible luck; only in their second year after promotion to La Liga did they encounter Villarreal, anchored by Tom. Otherwise, many Chinese fans wouldn't even know such a club existed.

Thanks to Tom's kind assistance, Sporting Gijón's popularity within China jumped up an entire tier.

!

But Sporting Gijón is not Tom's friend; they cannot receive Tom's help for nothing.

They must pay a price!

That price is getting thoroughly beaten by Tom!

Beep!

Bakambu was knocked down in the front field by a charging impact from Baban and was now receiving treatment from the team doctor.

Tang Ye first went over to check Bakambu's injury, then retreated and used this pause to check his system.

【Score 10 league goals or provide 18 assists. Mission Difficulty: Hell】

【Mission Reward: France Chest · Superstar】

This was the mission Tang Ye received last month.

The mission requirement was 10 league goals or 18 league assists.

Tang Ye's plan was to secure this reward through 18 assists.

Current progress was...

Assists: 15/18

Not bad!

Just three more assists needed to claim the French Superstar Chest!

Pulling his attention away from the system, Tang Ye rubbed his hands together, feeling somewhat excited.

Just then, Bakambu stood up with the team doctor's support; it seemed there was no serious injury.

"Keep it up!"

"Come on, Cedric!"

Tang Ye and Bakambu high-fived, and the first half resumed!

At this moment, the broadcaster's data appeared, showing Sporting Gijón and the Yellow Submarine had identical possession rates.

Both at 50%!

However, although both held 50% possession, the two teams were on completely different levels in terms of field performance.

When Sporting Gijón gained possession, they basically had no way to deal with the Yellow Submarine's defenders.

But whenever Huang Huang Qian had the ball, they always had attacking players who could rush all the way to the opponent's goal line or even into the penalty area.

Then the logic was clear: whether in attack or defense, Sporting Gijón was a tier below Huang Huang Qian!

Escrivá stood on the sideline with his hands in his pockets.

He glanced at the opposing head coach, Abelardo.

This guy was currently panicking like crazy!

Seeing the opposing head coach like this, Escrivá broke into a smile; feeling a bit tired himself at that moment, he decided to sit on the bench for a while and would only stand up again when the team needed him.

"Ferran."

Martí and Escrivá fist-bumped, then showed Escrivá the possession statistics from his notebook.

The stadium's big screen only displayed possession rates at certain intervals, but Martí's computer had the team's real-time possession data.

Just now, Huang Huang Qian's possession rate was only 50%, but because Tang Ye had lost possession, the rate had now dropped to 49%.

"Hmm?"

Escrivá raised his eyebrows, shrugged his shoulders, and leaned back in his chair: "This possession rate is quite safe for us."

"Quite safe?"

Martí widened his eyes: "Why is that?"

"Well..."

Why was that?

Escrivá narrowed his eyes.

He didn't know why either.

It was just a kind of inexplicable confidence.

Escrivá believed this was reliable.

Time reached the 42nd minute; thanks to a sudden tackle by Álvaro González, Huang Huang Qian regained the possession they had just lost.

The long clearance kicked out happened to be directed toward Tang Ye, so Tang Ye observed while retreating, preparing to find an opportunity to stop the ball.

Here it comes!

Just as the ball was about to hit the ground, Tang Ye extended his right foot.

Okay, perfectly stopped the ball!

But soon bad news arrived: Artman directly blocked Tang Ye from behind.

Even possessing the super-strong 【Anthony Ultimate Spin Template】, Tang Ye couldn't turn around with someone behind him.

Time to call for a friend's help!

"Here!"

Ruiz, who had run up from behind, reached out his hand to Tang Ye; Tang Ye stepped on the ball with both feet, then passed it back to Ruiz.

Ruiz controlled the ball!

Adjusted one step!

Sent it forward!

Crack!

A crisp sound—this was a very standard long pass from a Huang Huang Qian center-back, delivered directly to Sansone, who had pulled out to the left flank.

Like Tang Ye, Sansone also easily glued the ball to his feet.

Facing López's press, Sansone sharply knocked the ball behind himself with his heel, turned, and then cut directly inside toward the penalty area!

"Woww!!"

The fans began to feel nervous!

Because Sansone had now completely shaken off López, he had plenty of room to operate!

Accelerating to the edge of the penalty area, with Pereira standing on the penalty line, Sansone was forced to slow down.

Sansone was not a top-tier forward specializing in dribbling in tight spaces; at this moment, charging directly into the penalty area relying solely on individual ability was unrealistic for him.

However, Sansone had his own solution: pass the ball back to Costa, who was making a run down the line behind him.

Costa crossed horizontally toward the center!

This pass was intended for Tang Ye, but before receiving the ball, Tang Ye first turned his head to check the situation inside the penalty area.

Directly in front of his position stood two defenders from the home team; shooting directly offered no opportunity.

But that didn't matter.

While checking the shooting angle for himself, Tang Ye had also checked the shooting angle for his good friend Rodri.

Rodri's position was excellent!

Tang Ye noted Rodri's position, actively ran toward the ball, extended his foot as if to control it, but actually suddenly jumped up.

Jop, who was tracking back, focused all his attention on Tang Ye, and the result was that he lunged at empty air.

Costa's pass naturally rolled right in front of Rodri, and the Huang Huang Qian defensive midfielder extended his foot to control the ball.

"Shoot directly!"

Tang Ye's voice came from behind.

?!!

Rodri looked up, and suddenly realized there was a good shooting lane in front of him.

No time to hesitate!

Boom!

A driven shot from the far end of the arc was unleashed!

"Goooaaaaalllll!!!!!"

Wow!

After scoring, Rodri covered his face with both hands.

Damn, he actually scored!

"Haha!"

Tang Ye sprinted quickly toward Rodri, and realizing this, Rodri accelerated to run toward Tang Ye.

Since they were teammates, Tang Ye had no thought of dodging; with a "Bang!" he was directly knocked to the ground by Rodri.

Escrivá:?

"Tom!"

Rodri quickly squatted down to help Tang Ye up: "Tom, are you okay, Tom!"

"I'm fine, I'm fine!"

Tang Ye climbed up from the ground, patted the grass clippings off his shorts, and then ran together with Rodri and Soriano toward the corner flag.

Rodri was just about to slide on his knees when, unexpectedly, Tang Ye beside him had already dashed out!

Swish swish swish!

Still three stripes; after jumping up, he let out another shout of "Vamos"!

Only after shouting did Tang Ye remember that he hadn't scored this goal; he touched his nose, feeling a bit awkward, and quickly pulled Rodri in front of him.

"Rode, let's do it together!"

"Vamos!"

Roaring at the opposing fans after the team scores is something Tang Ye very much enjoys doing.

From the Eredivisie all the way to La Liga, Tang Ye's roar has become increasingly fierce!

Of course, compared to the rough and heavy voices of Rodri and Bruno, Tang Ye felt he still had a long way to go in this aspect.

Progress must be made slowly!

Just like football skills!

Check Dongqiu Di halftime report: Villarreal away 2:0 Sporting Gijón, Tang Ye with a precise cross assist plus a deliberate miss allowing Rodri to complete a long-range shot.

【Holy crap, it's the three stripes again】

【Tang Tang Qiuwang always slides on his knees with three stripes, so is this trained or innate talent?】

【It should be talent, right?】

【Then what do four stripes mean?】

【To be honest, brothers, this deliberate miss is purely a manifestation of football IQ; next time Transfermarkt values Tang Tang Qiuwang, his starting price will be 40 million】

【It seems Tang Ye specifically glanced at the position in front of Rodri; did he help Rodri find the shooting angle?】

【No way, no way, don't overhype it too much】

At halftime, Escrivá briefly discussed the problems from the first half and precautions for the second half with the players in the locker room.

He said a lot, but Tang Ye only remembered the core points.

Continue attacking in the second half!

Crush them to death!

"Gijon! (Gijon)"

"Gijón!"

Despite Sporting Gijón's poor results, their stadium is still quite large.

Thirty thousand seats!

Even larger than Villarreal's Cerámica Stadium!

However, it is a pity that the home team's 30,000 seats were not full.

The away stand, on the contrary, was completely full!

Sporting Gijón certainly has some popularity.

But if compared to Villarreal, that little flame of Sporting Gijón's popularity is not enough to look at.

A 17-year-old loaned midfielder winning the Golden Boy Award; Villarreal's popularity this season is just like the situation they currently face.

It has already begun to burn!

Consuming the results of future seasons to pour everything into this single season!

(End of Chapter)