Chapter 205: Bruno Surrenders the First Penalty Taker Spot, Villarreal's Changes

"Everyone of us has all we need~"

"Sky of blue and sea of green~"

"La La La~~"

"La la la la la la~~"

The players in the locker room walked around in a circle, dancing while singing the song.

Today, Villarreal secured a major victory at home.

This wasn't just a simple 4:3; it was a 4:3 where they took the lead, were overtaken, and then regained the lead.

The Submariners had achieved a reverse comeback against their Europa League opponents!

"Haha, if we win the second leg, there will be another draw."

Tang Ye sat in the middle on a trash can with its lid closed, bouncing his leg to the rhythm of his teammates' singing.

"Do you like draws that much?"

Matti sat down beside Tang Ye; today, he hadn't gone to the press room with Escrivá.

"It's alright; mainly, I just feel that draws are exciting."

Tang Ye explained, "By then, it should be some evening where we all gather in the cafeteria to watch the Round of 16 draw on TV. We'll get a favorable draw, and then we'll start celebrating. During the celebration, Bruno should hand me a bottle of ice-cold Coca-Cola. Hmm... although he isn't here today."

"Haha!"

Matti patted Tang Ye on the back: "Keep it up, Tom; you're currently first on the Europa League assist leaderboard."

Matti brought Tang Ye some good news.

Villarreal's little golden boy was now number one on the La Liga assist leaderboard, number one on the Copa del Rey assist leaderboard, and number one on the Europa League assist leaderboard.

It was simply too incredible!

"What about the top scorers list?"

Tang Ye suddenly asked; compared to the assist leaderboard, he actually cared more about the top scorers list.

"Good question."

Matti reached out to grab his phone.

Europa League top scorers, top scorers...

"I remember you scored quite a few goals in the group stage; you should be in the top five."

For a midfielder to rank in the top five of the Europa League top scorers list, Tang Ye was truly unbelievable.

"I feel like I should be in the top three; although I didn't score today, if I had scored today, I would definitely be in the top three."

Matti opened the stats website page, and Tang Ye leaned his head over.

Europa League Top Scorers.

1. Tang Ye (Villarreal), 5 goals.

"..."

Matti turned his head, meeting Tang Ye's gaze eye to eye.

"I'm number one!"

Tang Ye's eyes lit up: "That's not right; Džeko also has 5 goals, so why is he second?"

Matti replied, "He has one penalty kick, and you have none, so you are first; don't you know that logic?"

"If there were penalty kicks, there should be a parenthesis after the goal count, with a '1' inside the parenthesis."

Tang Ye said, "Yours doesn't even show that; Matti, you should switch to a different website; this one isn't user-friendly."

"Haha!"

Matti stood up: "Want some Gatorade? Orange flavor."

"Do you have blueberry flavor?"

Tang Ye looked around and quickly spotted the beverage box in the corner: "I'll get it myself!"

In another corner of the locker room, Ale, soaked head to toe in mineral water, sat shirtless on the bench.

Fortunately, the heating was on in the locker room; otherwise, Ale would probably have frozen to death.

"I told you, if you pray to God, He will answer you."

Cheryshev, standing nearby, said.

As a devout Christian, he was trying to persuade Ale to join the big family of Christian believers.

This matter had been going on for several weeks, starting last month when Ale's form was slumping.

Cheryshev told Ale that he only needed to pray to God once in his heart before each match, and he would perform well in that game.

This was something Ale had been persisting in recently.

"Hmm..."

Ale licked his lips and slowly said, "Having a religion is indeed quite nice; I feel it has made me more confident."

Just as Cheryshev began to smile, Ale suddenly changed his tune.

"But..."

"I feel I might not be very suited for Christianity; Jesus is too aloof; sometimes He doesn't respond to me."

Cheryshev placed his hand over his heart: "Sebastián, I can guarantee you that Jesus is absolutely the most responsive!"

"But I don't like that high-and-mighty feeling of Jesus; He feels too distant from me."

Ale explained, "However, I think I already have my own faith."

"The true God should be approachable."

"Approachable?"

Cheryshev's eyes widened greatly.

"Exactly, approachable. As long as you become good friends with God, you will succeed in matches. God will not treat poorly anyone who is His good friend."

Ah...

Cherishev narrowed his eyes slightly.

He was pondering the words Ale had spoken.

He too wished to comprehend the Dao, but one glance at Cherishev's appearance told Ale that he had no chance of comprehending the Dao.

This was the gap between a starting striker and a substitute striker.

Cherishev's power of faith... was far too weak!

Marca front-page headline: Barcelona suffers a crushing 0:4 away defeat to Paris Saint-Germain; their Champions League Round of 16 advancement hangs by a thread!

Marca's news quickly made it to the homepage of Check Dongqiu Di.

Previously, considering the European competition schedules of Villarreal and Barcelona, the Spanish Football Federation had specifically scheduled the King's Cup for March, with the aim of not affecting both teams' full exertion in the European semi-finals and finals.

As a result, Barcelona now collapsed right on the spot, getting shut out by four goals away against Paris Saint-Germain, directly turning into a clown.

Online fans claimed the four-goal thrashing made the atmosphere within the Barcelona squad extremely oppressive, but Tang Ye felt what the fans said was incorrect.

Over the last three days, he had spent two days playing CS with Neymar; only on one day did Neymar go to a bar, so they couldn't play. On that day, Tang Ye played an online co-op horror game with Dembélé on Steam, nearly scaring him to death.

Whatever situation Barcelona was in had nothing to do with Tang Ye; anyway, as long as his comrade Neymar wasn't sad, everything was fine.

"Watch me, watch me!"

Jump up!

Bang!

Tang Ye launched a header, directly blasting open the goal defended by Asenjo.

【Header: 48→49】

So satisfying!

Attributes with low values level up faster than other categories.

Tang Ye practiced headers for only one and a half days and gained one attribute point; this would be completely impossible for ball control.

It was even more impossible for passing; Tang Ye's passing attribute now reached as high as 88 points. At this level, without skill assistance and relying purely on training to improve, it would probably take one or two seasons to increase by just one point.

"Alright, no more header practice."

Martí walked over and called a halt to the training Tang Ye was currently undergoing.

"Not practicing a bit longer?"

Tang Ye pointed toward the goal.

His header attribute was about to break through the 50 threshold!

He could even imagine himself, like Sebastián, seizing an opportunity in a crowded penalty area and jumping up.

Then directly scoring with a header!

"The problem is that practicing so many headers is useless for you."

Martí laughed: "If you were a defensive midfielder, it would indeed be necessary to shore up your header weakness, but you are an attacking midfielder; having just a bit of heading ability is enough."

"That's true."

Escrivá, having finished handling the defensive training, walked over; what Martí had just said was also the head coach of Villarreal's thought.

Even if Tang Ye could possess heading ability like Cristiano Ronaldo, what of it? The team needed Tang Ye to play the role of a distributor in the midfield, so he must fulfill his duties.

Tang Ye let his ears droop and said nothing.

Mainly, the several skills in his current growth template still had a long way to go before leveling up.

Hmm, let's take a look first...

Currently, the skill closest to leveling up for Tang Ye was the 【De Bruyne Standard Long Pass Template】 obtained during the match against Roma.

Excellent full-field vision caused this thing to level up to Lv3 immediately when Tang Ye first received the 【Standard Long Pass Template】, and it wasn't far from Lv4 either.

But this "not far" was only relative to other skills.

【Standard Long Pass】 still had a gap of 250 proficiency points to reach Lv4!

The road ahead is long and arduous!

"Come on! Tom, long-pass combination drills, head to Field Number Two!"

"Coming, coming!"

【You purchased Pogba's Hair Wax】 The afternoon training wasn't very intense; with the help of 【Pogba Hair Wax】, Tang Ye grinded proficiency for many skills while also gaining happiness.

After training ended, head coach Escrivá told the players some good news.

Escrivá and Martí evaluated Bruno's training condition after his recovery from injury and believed he could participate in the team's next match.

The captain has returned!

When Escrivá announced this good news, Tang Ye was standing right beside Bruno, so he raised his eyebrows at Bruno.

The next second, Bruno slapped Tang Ye's butt.

"And there's one more thing..."

When saying these words, Escrivá's voice suddenly lowered, making Tang Ye feel inexplicably nervous.

However, this matter didn't have much to do with him.

"We need to change the team's first penalty taker, switching from Bruno to Sebastián; Bruno will move back to the position of second penalty taker."

Sebastián obtaining the position of first penalty taker was indeed a happy matter.

!

But because of this, Bruno lost his position.

Tang Ye stood between Bruno and Aleix, unsure what to say.

Yet both Aleix and Bruno looked quite calm.

It seemed Escrivà had already mentioned this matter to them once beforehand.

Next, Escrivà announced the starting lineup for tomorrow's match, then left the training ground for his office.

Tang Ye walked toward the physio room with Bruno: "Bruno..."

"I know what you're going to say, haha, Tom, but I actually don't need any comfort."

Bruno lifted his boot bag, facing Tang Ye with palms spread: "Penalties should be taken by the player best at taking them, not the most senior member of the squad. During training, you all should have noticed that Sebastián's penalty ability surpasses mine; he's a traditional target man."

"Sebastián's penalties are indeed very strong."

Tang Ye nodded: "Back when we were at Utrecht, he took our penalties too; he always scored."

"Then it's obvious. Actually, I realized this mostly last year, but it doesn't matter. The team's victory is more important than individual statistics, don't you think, Tom?"

"Bruno, I think what you just said is absolutely right."

Tang Ye, who had just been feeling regretful for Bruno, suddenly felt much better: "If only one person performs well, the whole team can't be happy, but winning can make everyone happy. I've known this truth for a long time. Back when I was still attending football school in China, whenever we had a big lead, I would deliberately pass to the striker."

"Wow?"

Tang Ye's words surprised Bruno somewhat: "Didn't you say you rarely got playing time with the reserve team?"

"That was with Utrecht's reserves; when I was schooling in China, I was always a starter."

"At twelve years old, I was already playing in U15 matches, Bruno. You don't think I'm weak, do you?"

"Haha!"

"Playing U15 at twelve, no wonder."

Bruno seemed to discover something: "I finally understand why you instinctively dodge during physical confrontations. It turns out you've always played in higher-level leagues since childhood; you truly have great talent. However... Tom, I also played U15 at twelve. At twelve, I could already hold my own against those thirteen and fourteen-year-old players."

"By the way."

Bruno reached out to open the physio room door, then turned to look at Tang Ye as something occurred to him: "If you have time, you could practice penalties on your own. Your sense of rhythm is excellent; your penalty conversion rate might end up very high."

"That'll have to wait until this season ends first."

After entering the room, Tang Ye casually tossed his boots onto the floor.

"Why wait until this season ends first?"

"I need to practice passing. Practicing penalties now would be useless; the Copa del Rey final is coming soon!"

Just thinking about the Copa del Rey final made Tang Ye feel inevitably anxious.

Losing to Barcelona earlier had been extremely painful; he really wanted to beat Barcelona once now.

The most crucial match lies in the Copa del Rey final!

Bruno had told Tang Ye long ago that the Copa del Rey champion's trophy was huge, huge!

Only one team could lift that super-large trophy!

At 6 PM, while players were eating and chatting in the cafeteria, Escrivà and Martí, who had long since left the cafeteria, arrived at the second-floor office.

Yellow Submarine's tactical adjustments were nearly complete; by increasing the frequency of forward players' overlapping runs and having full-backs push up to join attacks, Escrivà's series of maneuvers effectively solved the targeted strategies other league teams employed against Yellow Submarine.

Simply put, Escrivà had refined Yellow Submarine's originally rough playing style.

"However, I still think this isn't enough."

"We must find better tactics; otherwise, we'll still lose against Real Madrid in a few days, and the same goes for Barcelona—their pressing is too extreme!"

Rocking back and forth in his ergonomic chair, Escrivà's brain raced with thoughts.

At this moment, Martí suggested comparing and analyzing some key statistics from Yellow Submarine's previous season and current season.

"That's one approach."

Escrivà turned on the computer, and the two of them studied the dense data for quite a long time.

Eventually, several statistics caught Escrivà's attention.

By round 22 of last season's league, Yellow Submarine had scored 25 goals and conceded 19.

A 25/19 record, yet they still finished fourth in the league; this indirectly shows that Yellow Submarine had been winning matches by very narrow margins!

Then this season: currently, before the round 23 league match against Real Sociedad has even begun, Yellow Submarine's total league goals have already reached 47, second only to Real Madrid and Barcelona, nearly double compared to Yellow Submarine's previous season.

Goals conceded had risen from 19 to 26.

From 25/19 to 47/26, the difference between these figures is far from trivial.

"Tom has completely transformed the team."

Martí said: "But fortunately, Ferran, both of us are rational right now; we aren't on drugs."

"Yes, I'm not on drugs either."

Escrivà agreed with Martí's statement.

Of course, the current focus isn't drug use, but rather which aspects Yellow Submarine should continue adjusting.

This season's Yellow Submarine already possesses very strong combat capability, but as the team's results improve, head coach Escrivà's ambitions are also growing.

He wants to follow...

He wants to take Tom and challenge the dominance of Real Madrid and Barcelona!

"I think we need to continue making adjustments centered around one player."

After careful consideration, Escrivà gave his judgment.

Continue making adjustments centered around one player?

Who is this player?

Tom?

Yeah!

Yes!

It's tomyeah!

……

Check Dongqiu Di Match Preview: La Liga Round 23, Yellow Submarine travels to face Real Sociedad; Bruno enters the squad for the first time since his injury withdrawal—can the Yellow Submarine complete a league double over Real Sociedad?

【A double, it must be a double!】

【Real Sociedad's recent form seems quite good; the Yellow Submarine had best be careful】

【We'll know the outcome of today's match thirty minutes before kickoff】

【Why?】

【Seeing Tang Tang Qiuwang in the starting lineup, don't you feel this match is already secured?】

【Genius!】

"China Media Group! This is the live broadcast bringing you..."

"As you can see, players from both sides are already in position on the field!"

"Now, let me introduce the starting lineups for both teams in this match, starting with the home team, Real Sociedad!"

Real Sociedad (4-3-3)

Goalkeeper: Rulli

Defenders: Odriozola, Raúl Navas, Iñigo Martínez, Berchiche

Midfielders: Xavi Prieto, Illarramendi, Zurutuza

Forwards: Vela, Hu Hu Anmi, Oyarzabal!

For fans watching the match in the live stream, many of Real Sociedad's players' names are quite familiar.

This has to do with Tang Ye.

This is the fourth time this season the Yellow Submarine has played against Real Sociedad, directly helping Chinese fans recognize all eleven starters of Real Sociedad.

Of course, what players the opposition has is not the main point.

The main point is that Tang Ye is holding the fort on the field for the Yellow Submarine.

Tang Ye moved to the rhythm of the Cantonese songs, from "Under Mount Fuji" to "Exaggerated"; the change in melody was his sense of rhythm.

The other players followed Tang Ye's rhythm.

The Yellow Submarine had activated its Cantonese song cruise mode!

The match reached the 22nd minute; currently, both teams were in a roughly fifty-fifty situation.

The Yellow Submarine's possession was slightly lower, but their frequency of attacks was slightly higher than Real Sociedad's.

Taken together, neither side could gain an advantage over the other.

At this moment, the Yellow Submarine found an opportunity first.

Tang Ye dropped back to a position slightly behind the center, planted his supporting foot, and directly played the ball forward.

During the pass, Tang Ye did not even turn his head to look.

This appeared to be a standard "no-look pass" (a pass completed without looking)!

Tang Ye's pass found Bakambu up front!

……

(End of Chapter)