Chapter 252: Ten Hag Targeted Little Tom, But Tom Has Already Grown Up

Check Dongqiu Di pinned post: Villarreal vs. Manchester United, Europa League final in progress, current score 0:1, Manchester United leading.

Check Dongqiu Di live match report: Tang Ye drew a penalty in the box, Alcácer missed the spot-kick, Villarreal missed a golden opportunity to equalize.

"Wow!!!"

Manchester United fans celebrated in the stands, while Villarreal supporters fell into stunned silence.

This was Alcácer's first missed penalty of the entire season!

And it happened to be in the most crucial match of all!

Alcácer clutched his head, unable to speak for a long time.

"It's okay, it's okay!"

Tang Ye slapped Alcácer hard on the back: "It's fine, Alcácer, there's still a chance, there's still a chance!"

While Tang Ye comforted Alcácer, Bruno was rallying his teammates inside the penalty area.

Clutching his head, Escribá stood dumbfounded on the sideline.

Villarreal had missed their best scoring opportunity!

"It's okay, it's okay, focus!"

Bruno raised his hand to pat Alcácer's head, then ran off to take the corner kick.

【Damn, Tom's friend is being a bit unreliable today.】

【Alcácer's legs turned to jelly the moment he saw Ten Hag; there's truly nothing to be done about it.】

【Missed??? To be honest, this penalty wasn't even as good as Wu Lei's.】

【This proves that Ten Hag must be defeated personally by me, Tang Tang Qiuwang; no one else can do it.】

【Forget about defeating him personally; at this rate, Manchester United will send your Tang Tang Qiuwang home with a three-goal deficit.】

"De Gea! (De Gea)"

"De Gea!"

Fans in the stands chanted the goalkeeper De Gea's name.

When Manchester United needed him, De Gea stepped up once again.

Villarreal failed to score!

Due to Alcácer's missed penalty, Villarreal's overall momentum was now poor.

From the fans to the coach, and then to the players, everyone was in much the same state.

Manchester United seized this opportunity, gradually eating away at Villarreal's possession.

"Villarreal's condition like this will likely last until the end of the first half."

"Before they can adjust their mindset, what they need to do is handle their defense properly and not let Manchester United score again!"

Being one or two goals behind wasn't too much for Villarreal to handle.

This season, Villarreal had experienced coming back from a two-goal deficit.

But today's match was special.

Their opponent was Manchester United, after all!

If they trailed by two goals at halftime, Villarreal could basically say goodbye to the championship.

"Huff... huff..."

Tang Ye accelerated back on defense, his eyes filled with nothing but longing for the title.

Miss out on the final championship?

That was absolutely, absolutely unacceptable!

Mata received the ball in the center and prepared to run toward the right flank; Tang Ye saw through his intention and accelerated directly toward him.

Slap!

He passed the ball to Valencia, who was making a forward run down the right wing!

Valencia sprinted toward the byline!

He controlled the ball!

From this attack alone, it was clear that Ten Hag had definitely conducted specialized research on Villarreal.

Villarreal's midfield defense relied entirely on coordinated defending, with two defenders slowly forcing the opponent into a dead end.

Manchester United's countermeasure, however, was quick ball circulation!

They would never give Villarreal another chance to react!

"Valencia's speed is incredible!"

"Costa is tracking him again!"

"Villarreal's situation is getting a bit dangerous now!"

Slap!

Valencia delivered a cross directly into the box.

Valencia's cross was placed perfectly; neither goalkeeper Asenjo nor defender Musacchio had any chance to touch the ball!

At the far post!

It was aimed at Rashford!

Rashford didn't stop the ball; he turned his instep sideways and fired a low shot straight toward the far post.

The ball grazed the post and rolled into the net!

"G——ooooo——aaaaa——llllll!!!!!"

"Goal!"

"Rashford has scored!"

"This shooting angle was grasped with extreme cunning; the goalkeeper had absolutely no way to stop it."

2:0!

The thing He Wei had worried about earlier ultimately came to pass.

Manchester United had truly secured a two-goal advantage before halftime!

"Roar—!!!"

Rashford sprinted wildly toward the corner flag while roaring!

Boom!

Knee slide!

The director specifically selected an off-field camera.

It faced directly toward Rashford, who was charging out in his knee slide!

An incredibly exaggerated visual impact!

"Marcus!"

Martial ran up from behind and wrapped his arms around the neck of Rashford, who was kneeling on the ground.

"Beautiful, Marcus!"

Check Dongqiu Di live match report: In the 34th minute, Valencia's cross found Rashford; the Manchester United wonderkid pushed the shot into the dead corner to score, making it Manchester United 2:0 Yellow Submarine!

Clap clap clap clap clap!

This was the sound of Ten Hag's applause.

When Martial scored, Ten Hag celebrated with great joy, but when Rashford scored, Ten Hag was frowning.

The fans in the live broadcast room found it somewhat strange, though they did not think too much of it.

In any case, this was Rashford's goal!

Manchester United's advantage was now even greater!

"Manchester United knows us too well."

Escrivá sat in his chair and sighed.

He had spotted Manchester United's special tactics for today long ago, but simply had not found a suitable tactical solution.

Normally speaking, as a super powerhouse ranked in the top four of La Liga, Villarreal should have had at least two sets of tactics.

The problem was that the Yellow Submarine's schedule this season was excessively dense; Escrivá had devoted all his time to tactical adjustments and had no mind left to research new tactics.

This resulted in them now being extremely passive!

"Villarreal!"

"Villarreal!"

The Yellow Submarine fans in the stands behind were still shouting loudly, while Escrivá held paper in his left hand and a pen in his right, unknown what exactly was brewing in his mind.

"It seems the Villarreal coaching staff has encountered some difficulties!"

"That is correct, because as we can see, although their possession rate is inferior to their opponent's, Manchester United's attacking statistics are better."

"Manchester United's tactics are somewhat better than Villarreal's, at least in today's match."

Time reached the 39th minute of the first half!

If they wanted to narrow the score gap before the end of the first half, the Yellow Submarine would have to actively pick up the pace of the game.

Gasping heavily, Tang Ye maintained absolute tactical discipline on the field.

His influence on the team as a whole was simply too great.

Tang Ye knew that at this moment, someone from the Yellow Submarine needed to step up!

He hoped that person would be himself!

Gaspar was pulling wide; Tang Ye quickly surveyed the situation in the attacking third, then actively ran toward Gaspar.

Pereira followed up!

Snap!

Gaspar was extremely bold, passing the ball to Tang Ye!

Shielding with his back against Pereira, Tang Ye extended his right foot to pull the ball.

Pretending to continue moving forward!

But actually turning suddenly!

【Modric Back-to-Goal Escape Template】!

This was the template Tang Ye liked to use most when encountering defense.

Because this thing was truly too useful!

"Tang Ye!"

"Very decisive!"

"Cutting inside directly!"

While running forward, he observed the situation inside the penalty area.

Just a little short!

Still just a little short!

Now it was about right!

【De Bruyne Far-Corner Curled Shot Lv5: Replication】!

A far-corner curled shot executed with maxed-out proficiency!

The ball flew over Smalling's head, soaring toward the upper-left dead corner.

Tang Ye's eyes stared fixedly at the ball he had just struck.

It grazed the crossbar and flew out!

"Hoo..."

He shook his head.

A bit too impulsive.

He should have passed the ball to Rodri first, triggered the 【One-Touch Module】, and then shot!

The angle of that shot wasn't handled well!

"..."

"Beep, beep-beep—!!!"

The first half of the match is over!

Villarreal failed to find another chance to score!

"United! (Manchester United)"

Bang bang!

"United!"

Bang bang!

The Manchester United fans seemed intent on occupying the Friendship Stadium.

Walking off the pitch, Tang Ye and Escrivá embraced: "It's alright, it's alright, there's still the second half; let's head back to the locker room first."

Heading toward the player tunnel, Tang Ye encountered Ten Hag and Fan Fan Dejiahe, who were walking over together along the way.

Neither Tang Ye nor Ten Hag spoke, but they very tacitly clapped hands.

"Tom."

Bruno ran up from behind: "Are you okay?"

"It almost went in."

Tang Ye shook his head.

What he was referring to, of course, was that curled shot toward the far corner in the 40th minute.

Had his center of gravity been pressed down just a little more, Tang Ye's shot would have been a certain goal.

Exhaling, Bruno didn't know what to say now.

"Let's go, let's go."

The away team's locker room.

"Tang is crucial; our midfield's focus must be on Tang."

Ten Hag scanned the Manchester United players in the locker room: "Ideally, we shouldn't give him any chance to touch the ball. That's what I said before the match started, yet we still gave him many opportunities to touch the ball."

"This needs improvement in the second half. Our opponents will definitely try to get the ball to Tang; if they change tactics, we will make corresponding adjustments."

As Ten Hag spoke, he finally fixed his attention on Rashford: "Marcus, although you scored in the first half, there are aspects of your performance I'm not entirely satisfied with."

"I've emphasized this to you many times: you are part of the wide defensive system; your defending should have speed, and even aggression."

Ten Hag pointed at his own eyes: "Defending isn't done with your eyes!"

Rashford lowered his head.

Extremely unconvinced, yet with no recourse—this was Rashford's current state.

Rashford came up through Manchester United's youth academy; he is the Crown Prince of the powerhouse Manchester United!

But!

The Crown Prince of Manchester United?

Ten Hag never cared about that!

Back when Van Gaal was coaching, Rashford could occasionally secure some privileges.

But after Ten Hag took over Manchester United, Rashford seemed to have lost his status as Crown Prince.

He even felt that Ten Hag was targeting him!

"So do you understand, Marcus!"

"I know..."

Ten Hag nodded and returned to the center position.

"2–0; it's already 2–0. This season, for the sake of our league standing, we haven't won any trophies."

"Now an opportunity lies before us: the Europa League title!"

"Hold this scoreline for another 45 minutes, and we can claim the championship trophy!"

In the player tunnel, Rodri, standing behind, patted Tang Ye on the shoulder: "Are you under a lot of pressure right now?"

"Oh, Rod, how did you know?"

"Because I'm under a lot of pressure right now."

Whispering his situation to Tang Ye, Rodri quickly adjusted his breathing.

Winning the Copa del Rey title in his first year with the first team already made Rodri extremely fortunate.

But Rodri was greedy.

He wanted more!

This was the Europa League title!

"It's fine; watch me."

Tang Ye let out a long breath, then placed his hand on Rodri's shoulder.

Rod was greedy!

Tom was too!

"Alright, dear viewers and friends, welcome back. This is the second half of the Europa League final between Villarreal and Manchester United."

"In the first half..." He Wei briefly recapitulated the situation of the first half.

He spoke many words.

But there was only one key point.

That was that the Yellow Submarine was currently the side trailing; if they wanted to win, they had to make some changes in the second half!

The director's camera cut to the head coach standing on the sideline, Escrivá.

What do you say, Saint Escrivá!

Do you have any new tactics!

In a spot unnoticed by the camera, Escrivá turned his head to look at Ten Hag.

The instant Ten Hag turned his head over, Escrivá acted as if he had seen a ghost and quickly turned his head away.

Although he knew doing this would weaken the Yellow Submarine's momentum, Escrivá simply could not control himself.

Frowning as he watched the pitch, Escrivá's heart was heavy.

Suddenly realizing something, Escrivá sat back in his seat: "The core of Erik's tactic is to restrict Tom."

From the attacking end to the defensive end, the Manchester United players' attention was focused on Tom.

!

Manchester United's core was to restrict Tom.

And the Yellow Submarine's core was Tom.

No wonder Villarreal was trailing by two goals in the first half!

Their tactics and Manchester United's tactics stood in a relationship of absolute counter!

Listening to Escrivá speak, Martí looked at the pitch: "But I feel Erik's understanding of Tom is still stuck in the Utrecht period; nowadays Tom has some dribbling ability, and every time Tom dribbles past someone, the Manchester United defenders panic."

"Mm..."

What Martí said was very correct; Escrivá now had to think about it.

Was this counter-relationship truly absolute?

It seemed not!

Ten Hag's Manchester United countered the Tom from the Utrecht period; that was Little Tom.

The current Tom had become much stronger; he was Big Tom.

Tactics designed to restrict Little Tom were unable to completely restrict Big Tom.

Especially when Big Tom was given complete liberation, at that time Big Tom would be unstoppable!

If that's the case...

Escrivá and Martí turned their heads simultaneously, looking at each other.

The answer to this match lay with Tom!

They were going to use the thing Ten Hag understood best to defeat Ten Hag!

To crush Ten Hag thoroughly!

Escrivá took a pen and quickly wrote something on a slip of paper; when Costa came over, he stuffed the item into Costa's hand: "Give this to Tom."

Three minutes later, during a corner kick opportunity, Costa successfully delivered the slip of paper to Tang Ye.

Looking left and right, confirming no Manchester United players were beside him, Tang Ye opened the slip of paper in his hand.

He could recognize it; this was Mr. Ferran's handwriting.

Very clear Spanish.

The content was...

【Free Role Across the Entire Pitch】

"Mm..."

He turned his head to look toward the substitute bench.

Right there on the sideline, Escrivá gave Tang Ye a thumbs-up.

Looking at Escrivá's thumbs-up, Tang Ye clenched the slip of paper tightly in his hand.

At this very moment!

The bond had been formed!

Check Dongqiu Di pinned post: Villarreal vs. Manchester United Europa League final in progress, currently the 63rd minute of the match, overall score 0:2, Villarreal temporarily trailing.

"Alé's penalty and Tang Ye's that curling shot should be Villarreal's best scoring opportunities so far."

"But the problem is that Villarreal failed to convert either of these two chances."

Afraid of being cyber-bullied by fans, He Wei added a sentence.

"It is undeniable that Tang Ye has performed excellently in this match, but if one wants to defeat a team like Manchester United, the entire squad must be in their best state; otherwise, the chance of winning is slim..."

"Eh! Beautiful!"

"Tang Ye's long pass from the backfield accurately found Alé!"

【De Bruyne Standard Long Pass Lv4: Realistic】

Proficiency: 241/1200

After sending out the long pass, Tang Ye began running forward quickly.

At the same time, he used hand gestures to direct his teammates!

Seeing Tang Ye's gestures, Alé passed the ball to Sansone, then turned and charged straight into the penalty area.

Pa!

Sansone decisively chose to shoot, ultimately earning a corner kick opportunity for the Yellow Submarine.

"The Villarreal players are getting a bit rushed; shooting directly on this ball isn't the best way to handle it."

"Bruno!"

"Take the corner kick!"

Tang Ye blocked Pereira's line of sight and ran into the penalty area from a spot no one noticed.

Slap!

"Hey, the ball is in!"

"Goooo——aaaa——llllll!!!!"

"Tang Ye!"

"Tang Ye has scored!"

【????】

【Holy crap, awesome!】

【He stepped up!】

【I said it, Ten Hag should have let Tang Tang Qiuwang finish the job!】

Besides the excitement, the fans in the live stream now had another question.

When did Tang Ye run to this position!

The fans didn't know!

Manchester United's defenders didn't know either!

De Gea knew even less!

But they knew one thing.

Manchester United's goal had been breached!

"Roar!!"

Tang Ye ran out of the penalty area, sprinting while roaring loudly.

Rodri reacted quickly, rushing over to drag Tang Ye, who was preparing to celebrate, back.

"What's wrong, Rodri!"

"One more goal, one more goal!"

Rodri shouted into Tang Ye's ear, nearly deafening him.

That's right!

One more goal!

Realizing this, Tang Ye immediately ran back.

Aleix had already fished the ball out of the net!

【You have gained 15 Counterattack Points】

"Hurry, hurry!"

Bruno waved his hands while urging his teammates.

Being two goals behind Manchester United and trying to equalize meant the chances were slim.

But being only one goal behind made the situation completely different.

Including stoppage time, there was still at least 20 minutes left!

Twenty minutes was plenty of time for Villarreal to score!

"The Villarreal players very tacitly gave up on celebrating this time."

"The second half's second goal has been taken!"

After the second goal was taken, the Yellow Submarine players began actively speeding up the pace of the match.

This was Tom's goal.

But it could boost the momentum for the entire team!

Because they were a team!

"Watch the middle!"

"Cover! Cover!"

Ten Hag shouted loudly at the Manchester United players on the field.

Some Premier League fans in the live stream felt a bit strange.

In their impression, Ten Hag had always been a very calm person.

Even when the team was behind, Ten Hag could give the fans the feeling that they were actually leading.

But today, for some reason, Ten Hag was actually so flustered!

Why was Ten Hag so flustered!

Because he had lost his strongest crutch.

Hmm, and his crutch was actually on the opposing side!

The camera cut to Tang Ye; with a goal to his name, Tang Ye's status was now maxed out.

Most importantly, Escrivá had also lifted the restrictions on Tang Ye's positioning.

Right now, Tom was simply invincible, okay!

"Villarreal!"

Boom boom!

"United!"

Boom boom!

The cheers from the fans in the stands were extremely noisy.

There were chants for Villarreal, chants for Manchester United, and even a great song belonging solely to Tom.

But Tang Ye could hear nothing at all right now.

He was currently extremely, extremely focused!

"Chase him down, chase him down!"

Manchester United's possession rate began to drop, and Ten Hag grew increasingly anxious.

The 85th minute of the match!

"Tang Ye!"

"A pass full of imagination!"

"He found Bakambu!"

"Bakambu passes it back to Tang Ye!"

"Shooting directly!"

"Hiss—!"

In the broadcast studio, He Wei jumped to his feet: "What a pity for this shot; De Gea is in excellent form. Had he reacted even a fraction slower, Villarreal might have already equalized."

"Yes, earlier we said Manchester United was the side with the advantage, but the situation has now changed somewhat."

"Villarreal's attacking tempo is getting faster and faster; the pressure on Manchester United's defensive line is now immense!"

Ptui!

Spitting the chewing gum out of his mouth, Tang Ye glanced at the time on the stadium's big screen.

It was already the 87th minute!

Neither side had committed many fouls in this match, so stoppage time would likely not exceed four minutes.

If they wanted to win, Villarreal had to hurry!

Huff, huff!

Gasping for air, with another piece of gum still in his pocket, Tang Ye had no intention of eating it.

So tired!

Standing still to adjust his breathing, he then slowly started walking.

A stamina rating just over 70 shouldn't be a problem for playing the full match.

However, the tactics for this game were special; Tang Ye had been running all over the place in the second half, consuming an absurd amount of physical energy.

He already felt like he couldn't run anymore!

At this moment, Bruno's voice came through.

"Faster, a little faster, we can go even faster!"

The team needed to accelerate the tempo even more!

Shaking his head and gritting his teeth, Tang Ye started running again.

【Come on, come on!】

【Damn it, go Villarreal!】

【The Europa League trophy can only belong to Villarreal!】

Although the match was being played in the early morning hours, nearly eight million people were watching it on CCTV, most of them university students, though there were also many office workers.

Of course, profession wasn't the most important thing; what mattered most was that this was Villarreal's final match of the season.

Chinese fans did not want to see their King of Football miss out on the season's final trophy!

The 90th minute!

"The fourth official has announced the stoppage time for this match."

"Three minutes!"

"That doesn't seem like good news for Villarreal."

"It goes to Cheryshev!"

Cheryshev, who had just been substituted on, showed excellent form, executing a very quick one-two combination with Tang Ye near the left touchline.

Finally, Tang Ye dribbled the ball to the area near the baseline.

Cheryshev helped block off Valencia's position!

With no defenders nearby for the moment, Tang Ye quickly cut inside toward the penalty area!

Pretending to be Sansone, he first performed a step-over.

Entering inside the penalty area.

Smalling attempted to intercept, but at that moment Tang Ye suddenly placed his foot in front of the ball.

Having learned from his previous lesson, Smalling did not stretch out his foot this time.

It was a chance!

Tang Ye decisively maneuvered around Smalling and used the outside of his foot to drive the ball toward the penalty spot!

Passing it to Ale!

"Oof!"

The fans in the live stream held their breath!

Ale shoots!

"Gooooooaaaaalllll!!!!"

The goal went in!

……

(End of chapter)