Chapter 350: Signs of Revival? The EFL Cup Final at Wembley Stadium!

After the match between Manchester United and Chelsea concluded, Sky Sports commentator Dao Sheng, one of the Three Saints and a well-known diehard fan of Tang Ye, shared his thoughts on the game.

In Dao Sheng's view, Chelsea's 2:0 victory in this match was purely accidental.

Manchester United had just played a Champions League match against Villarreal, and their players' match fitness had not yet recovered.

Compared to Manchester United, Chelsea's schedule in late February was very light; they had ample time to prepare for the Premier League match against Manchester United, which led to the situation where Chelsea dominated Manchester United throughout the game.

"Tactical dominance does not represent superiority or inferiority in strength; Ten Hag's tactics were wrong. He lost the match, but Tom did not lose."

"If Rashford and Mata had capitalized on the opportunities Tom created, the winner of today's match should have been Manchester United, not Chelsea."

"Besides that, I question Ten Hag's in-game command ability; Manchester United should have made substitutions as soon as they fell behind in the first half."

【Awesome, this is a true Tang Ye fan.】

【Our GGBond has finally made it, having a commentator as a fan; from now on, public opinion will be easy to manipulate.】

【Even though you are also a Saint, there's no need to slander my Saint Teng like this; Saint Teng is still very capable.】

【Go Manchester United, Champions!】

The day after the match between Manchester United and Chelsea ended, Check Dongqiu Di reposted the final warm-up poster produced by the English FA.

Tang Ye + Ten Hag + Champion + Mkhitaryan, who just transferred to Arsenal...

Undoubtedly, this was a match with maximum hype!

The Guardian's front-page headline: For this EFL Cup final, Wembley Stadium will open 82,000 seats, with Manchester United and Arsenal each receiving half.

Eighty thousand seats is a lot, but for a final where both competing teams are from the Big Six, 80,000 seats are actually completely insufficient.

Of course, some people do not need tickets to watch the match.

The Sun: Famous Liwupu fan and Tom's father, Tang Tang Zhengxiong, will attend the match between Manchester United and Arsenal in person.

"Liwupu fans hope Tom's father does not cheer for Manchester United, but Tom's father stated, 'That is somewhat difficult to implement'; however, if Manchester United's opponent were Liwupu, he would not hesitate to give his own son the middle finger, because Liwupu is invincible."

It's the father supervising the battle!

Seeing the message sent by Tang Tang Zhengxiong, a smile appeared on Tang Ye's face.

If his father was supervising the battle, scoring a goal would earn him an extra 1 Counterattack Point.

But Counterattack Points were not the most important thing.

The most important thing was the process of the match.

Previously, Tang Tang Zhengxiong always said that Tang Ye was lazy during training at the football school.

This was, of course, false news!

Tang Ye knew he had never been lazy!

In the EFL Cup final the day after tomorrow, he wanted to properly show his super strong strength to his dad!

"Rod, most fans think we will win, huh?"

In the apartment that morning, Tang Ye and Rodri sat together on the sofa eating bread; this was the breakfast for the big brother and little brother duo today.

"Do you know how they analyzed it?"

Tang Ye suddenly turned his head to look at Rodri, showing a curious expression: "Rod, how did they analyze it?"

"They just look at the league rankings; whoever has the higher league ranking will win the match. That's what most fans do."

Rodri shrugged, stuffing bread into his mouth: "Of course, some people do the opposite, but those people are just a minority."

Whoever has the higher ranking will win the match...

Tang Ye frowned.

He felt like he had heard someone say this before.

Recalling carefully, the familiar face of Ten Hag quickly emerged in his mind.

Well, this was Mr. Erik's famous quote!

"So Rod, should this statement be correct?"

Rodri shook his head: "I feel it's not very reliable, but it's correct most of the time, right; teams with higher standings indeed have a higher win rate."

"Then I hope this is correct."

Tang Ye said softly: "Because we are about to play against Arsenal."

He rubbed his hands together.

Due to his longing for the trophy, Tang Ye was now somewhat looking forward to the afternoon training session.

What kind of tactics would respected Mr. Erik come up with to counter Arsenal?

What kind of scoreline would Manchester United and Arsenal produce on match day?

Hmm, these were all very interesting topics!

The only thing that did not need discussion was the final result of the match.

Manchester United would win the final; this was certain!

"Faster, faster!"

"Even faster!"

The rondo was in progress, with Manchester United players passing the ball to each other.

Fan Fan Dejiahe stood on the sidelines, signaling the players to increase their passing frequency.

"Our final opponent has excellent possession and control; yesterday we suffered in terms of possession and control, so we need to learn from these lessons."

"Tom, pass faster, this is your strong suit!"

One-touch passing was indeed Tang Ye's strong suit, but Tang Ye worried his teammates couldn't receive his passes, so he hadn't dared to pick up the tempo too much.

Ten Hag spotted the problem at a glance, so he instructed Fan Fan Dejiahe to increase the number of pressers.

The pressing intensity increased; now the passers had to pick up the tempo, otherwise they would lose the ball!

Slap!

Slap slap! Slap!

At this moment, Tang Ye also fully displayed his flashy passing techniques, bringing out both heel flicks and toe pokes.

"Mm!"

Fan Fan Dejiahe and Ten Hag exchanged a glance; the Manchester United assistant coach's eyes were shining.

Tang Ye's passing speed was fast, but where he surpassed other Manchester United players was his accuracy.

Although he released the ball quickly, Tang Ye could always pass it to the spot most comfortable for his teammate to receive.

One could say that as long as you realized Tang Ye was passing to you, you only needed to exert a tiny bit of effort to get the ball!

"A bit faster, Rodri, pay attention—pass to your teammate's preferred foot; pass with purpose, don't just mess around!"

The match two days later was too important, so now within the Manchester United team, whether players or coaches, everyone felt somewhat pressured.

When the day of the match arrived, Check Dongqiu Di launched a homepage voting event, letting fans choose which team they believed would win the final.

In this vote, Manchester United, where Tang Ye played, nearly crushed Arsenal with an 87% advantage.

It seemed that fans generally believed Manchester United, ranked higher in the league table, would become the victor of this match.

Of course, this was just voting data; 87% did not represent Manchester United's win rate for this match.

Analyzing the head-to-head records of both sides over the past five matches, Chinese fans quickly discovered a problem.

Although Manchester United's results this season and last were better than Arsenal's, in matches against Arsenal, Manchester United currently had more losses than wins.

Did the experienced Arsène Wenger seem to have a specific method for dealing with Manchester United?

"As the reds go marching on, on, on! (The Red Devils march forward!)"

"Just like the Busby Babies in days gone by, (Just like those 'Busby's Children' of the past)"

"We'll keep the red flags flying high! (We will make the Red Devils' flag fly high!)"

As soon as they stepped off the bus, the Manchester United players were quickly surrounded by fans.

Although the match was at Wembley Stadium, for loyal Manchester United fans, flying from Manchester to London to watch this game was completely worth it.

After all, this was a match between Manchester United and Arsenal.

Manchester United might very well claim a championship trophy today!

"Go Tom, go Tom, use your passing to blow Arsenal apart!"

The fans crowded together, handing jerseys to Tang Ye to ask for autographs.

While writing his name, Tang Ye worried that the security personnel in front of him couldn't provide him with enough protection; these fans were simply too enthusiastic!

"Can Tom defeat Arsenal? Can you say a few words? I want to hear you speak."

"Ah, what's wrong with how I speak? I speak with my ability, not with my mouth; I'm not good at speaking with my mouth."

Tang Ye shook his head with a smile: "Whether we can beat Arsenal, I have the same question as you, because I don't know if we can win either..."

Fans wanting Tang Ye to predict the match result was truly putting him in a difficult spot.

Predicting matches was something Fan Fan Dejiahe and Rod liked to do, not Tom.

"It's fine, we will definitely win; Tom, you will knock them down."

"And the MVP!"

Another fan reminded them, and his words quickly gained approval from the other fans.

"Right, and the MVP; you will get the MVP, it must be either you or Rashford!"

Tang Ye held the pen in his left hand, then raised his right hand to fist-bump the fans.

!

"Thank you, um, thank you!"

Repost: Manchester United announces the squad list for the final against Arsenal; Bailly remains unable to play.

Click click!

"Erik, Bailly's injury has recovered, but you didn't include him in the squad for this match; this indicates his current condition still cannot support high-intensity competition."

"Mm... you think the absence of the starting center-back will affect this match?"

"Of course, that's certain."

Without needing to think at all, Ten Hag directly answered the reporter's question.

"The absence of a key player will naturally affect the match."

Just as the reporter thought Ten Hag was about to say something in advance to explain a possible loss in this match, the Manchester United head coach changed his tone.

"It will affect the match, but it won't affect the result of the match."

Thirty minutes before kickoff, Manchester United and Arsenal almost simultaneously announced their starting lineups for this match on social media.

For important matches like a final, basically all starters play, so the "Manchester Evening News" perfectly predicted Manchester United's starting players.

Since the "Man Evening" reporters could guess Manchester United's starting lineup, surely Arsenal's head coach, the experienced Wenger, could predict it as well.

But none of that mattered, because Manchester United had also predicted Arsenal's starting lineup.

The logic was clear: in this match, both sides' initial arrangements were very strong; if one wanted to win the match, in-game tactical adjustments were a crucial factor!

"Thump thump..."

Sitting on the bench, Tang Ye placed his hand on his own chest, took a few deep breaths, then placed his hand on Rashford's chest.

"What's wrong?"

Rashford turned his head: "What's wrong, Tom?"

"Haha, I thought you weren't nervous, Marcus; your heart is beating even faster than mine."

"Of course I'm nervous."

Rashford let out a breath.

If one were to speak of the longing for the championship, Rashford's feeling might even be stronger than Tang Ye's.

Bearing the title of "Light of Manchester United's Youth Training," Rashford had not won a single championship up to now!

"You can chew some gum; that might bring your heart rate down. My heart rate isn't as fast as yours, which should be because of the gum."

Tang Ye quickly adjusted his nervous emotions, crossed his legs, and looked at Rashford.

"Uh, but there's no gum left in the bag."

"Oh, Marcus, just take some from my bag directly."

Tang Ye suddenly picked up the backpack by his feet and placed it on Rashford's thigh.

The most important thing in Tang Ye's backpack was Ten Hag's nude photo, but since the nude photo was now locked by Tang Ye in the bedside cabinet, there was nothing to worry about.

"Marcus, don't be polite with me; it's fine even if you take it all. Hmm... but it would be best to leave a little for me."

The match was about to begin, and the Manchester United locker room gradually fell silent; at this moment, captain Ashley Young made a short speech, then asked the players to gather in the center.

The right to shout was given to Tom!

Standing in place to adjust his breathing, Tang Ye looked around at his teammates.

Rod, Marcus, Sebastian, Mata, Young...

"Hu!"

"Three!"

"Two!"

"One!"

"Manchester, charge forward!!!"

【Ready, brothers!】

【There is only one champion for this match, and that is either Manchester United or Arsenal!】

【Streamer, do you have a recommended score? I'm preparing to bet against it.】

【Blind guess: Manchester United wins by three goals, Arsenal gets one red card.】

"OK, brothers!"

Wang Chao's familiar face appeared in the bottom right corner of the livestream room.

As expected of the EFL Cup final, being the top streamer of the Happy Bean website, the livestream room had over 250,000 viewers shortly after going live.

Moreover, as the match began, the real-time online viewer count continued to maintain a strong growth trend!

Arsenal (4-2-3-1)

Goalkeeper: Ospina

Defenders: Kolasinac, Chambers, Mavropanos, Bellerin

Midfielders: Xhaka, Nelson, Niles

Forwards: Iwobi, Aubameyang, Mkhitaryan

Head Coach: Wenger

"Mkhitaryan was just transferred out from Manchester United during the winter window."

"Brothers, before the match I also did specialized research; Mkhitaryan's performance in the starting lineup for the few matches after transferring to Arsenal has been very good."

"No, I'm not lying to you; I really did the research, specifically for this match. Damn it, I'm speechless; stop doubting the streamer, okay?"

"I'm not an anti-fan of Tang Ye; I haven't finished speaking yet, I haven't finished speaking yet!"

"Although Mkhitaryan is playing very well at Arsenal, Arsenal will definitely lose this match. I bet on Manchester United to win; I really didn't lie to you."

Wang Chao switched screens to prove his innocence, incidentally showing off his 100% sugar content.

And at the instant the screen switched back, Arsenal launched their attack!

Xhaka pushed a through ball to the left wing's baseline, and Iwobi, making a forward run to support, easily controlled the ball.

"Damn, Iwobi has the ball; he's acting so cool, going down the line by himself."

"What about Manchester United? Should Valencia follow him?"

"Iwobi crossed!"

Pa!

Iwobi's cross from the baseline went directly to the far post!

Mkhitaryan stopped the ball!

"Go up, go up!"

De Gea was under great pressure now, while Smalling hurried up to block Mkhitaryan's position.

The stadium was full of fake whistle sounds; Mkhitaryan dribbled closer, then seized the opportunity and directly played a through ball between the legs!

It was aimed at Aubameyang outside the small penalty area!

Bang!

Aubameyang fired a push shot!

Goal!

(End of Chapter)