Chapter 454: Ronaldo's Super Chicken Breast, The Manchester Derby Is Imminent

Check Dongqiu Di Match Report: Tang Ye scores from a direct free kick into the top corner; Manchester United defeats Bayern 2-0 away to secure first place in the group. (36,813 comments)

The heavy rain largely affected the match and disrupted many of Bayern's attacking opportunities, so some home fans are now extremely unconvinced.

But from another perspective, Manchester United's offense and defense were equally affected by the heavy rain, so this was fair for both sides; no team gained any slight advantage in this rain-soaked match.

"This rain is falling just right."

Back in the locker room, Tang Ye stripped off his clothes.

Many interesting things happened in today's match, and moreover, Manchester United kept a clean sheet against their opponent.

Tang Ye was very happy now, and he instinctively believed that this heavy rain had helped the team.

"Rod, I wanted to ask you a question during the second half, but they threw the ball in then, so I didn't get the chance to ask."

"Hmm?"

Rodri wiped his body with a Mao Jin: "Was it to ask if I should mark Müller?"

"No, no, I just wanted to ask you a question."

Tang Ye pointed at the ceiling: "I wanted to ask if we could get struck by lightning while playing on the pitch."

"Haha!"

Rodri shook his head: "I don't know either; your angle is too tricky, Tom."

"Well, I didn't expect that you wouldn't know either, Rod, but I've figured it out now, and I can tell you."

Knowing something that even Rod didn't know, a sense of achievement instantly surged into Tang Ye's heart: "We actually don't need to worry; that lightning couldn't possibly strike us."

"Why?"

"Because he is also our teammate; we are on the same side, and the opponent is Bayern."

A match has two camps, and the storm and lightning are standing on the side of the Rat Army.

Since we are on the same path, there is no need to harm each other.

After changing into clean clothes, Tang Ye went to the press conference room together with Ten Hag.

"Fans generally believe that after this match, you have already secured first place in Group H; do you share this view?"

"Yes..."

Just as he opened his mouth, Tang Ye suddenly realized the reporter wasn't asking him, so he quickly closed his mouth again.

Ten Hag smiled and glanced at Tang Ye: "Yes, that's correct; at least from the current situation, we are in a dominant position, and after the next two matches, we should still rank first."

It seemed a bit like showing off, but the facts were indeed so.

Manchester United currently had three points more than second-place Bayern, along with four or five more goal differences; with such a large advantage, even losing one match would be fine.

But who were Manchester United's opponents in the next two matches?

Valencia and Young Boys Bern; at a glance, neither of these teams looked like they could take down Manchester United!

After asking Ten Hag some questions about handling matches in the rain, the reporter finally turned to Tang Ye.

"Tom, since you joined Manchester United, the team has played four matches against Bayern in total, and you haven't lost a single one; do you think this record is related to your arrival?"

"Hiss—"

"I think somewhat, because I am quite good at coordinating with my teammates."

Tang Ye touched his hair.

Only then did he realize he had forgotten to blow-dry it; water droplets from his hair fell onto his arm, feeling slightly cool.

"Many fans call you the 'Bayern Slayer'; do you accept this title?"

"Haha."

"This should be an affirmation of me; I thank them."

The Times cover—An undisputed world-class number one? Since Tang Ye joined, Manchester United has recorded two wins and two draws against Bayern without a single defeat, while the Manchester United midfield boasted a 90% goal involvement rate across those four matches.

Betway: After the match against Bayern, Tom's odds for top assist provider dropped to 1.28 within 24 hours, breaking historical records once again.

UEFA Champions League Group H Standings (as of the end of Round 4):

1. Manchester United, 10 points.

2. Bayern, 7 points.

3. Valencia, 4 points.

4. Young Boys Bern, 1 point.

Defeating Bayern to secure first place in the group, coupled with the Premier League victory over Bournemouth half a week earlier, meant Manchester United's momentum in November seemed unstoppable.

However, this did not seem to allow Manchester United fans to relax just yet.

Because just five days after the Champions League match against Bayern ended, Manchester United would face their most important match of the season so far.

Match Preview: November 12, 12:30 AM, the first Manchester Derby of the 2018-19 season!

For the match on November 12 Beijing time, the Manchester Derby plus the Premier League's pinnacle clash—two buffs stacked together—the hype, needless to say, was incredibly exaggerated.

"..."

At the Manchester United training ground in the morning, Tang Ye looked up at the sky.

It wasn't raining, but the sky was completely covered in clouds.

"Rod, I was right again."

After the previous match against Bayern ended, it really rained in Munich for the third time just as Tang Ye had said, and that Ci De Cheng Gong made Tang Ye obsessed with guessing the weather.

Tom loved looking at everything; weather was also a thing, so naturally, it fell within Tom's scope of observation.

"You have talent in this area, Tom; this ability of yours would have been very lucrative in the past; you could have made money without even playing football."

"Really?"

Tang Ye widened his eyes, not expecting his ability to have such a significant effect: "When was that?"

"When Magellan sailed around the world, he would have been much safer if he had someone to watch the weather for him."

"..."

"Alright."

He touched his own nose.

It was indeed a long time ago, but this at least proved that Tom's identity as a weather observer still had a glorious history.

Looking up once more to record the current position of the clouds, Tang Ye and Rodri then walked into the cafeteria together.

A piece of bread, a bottle of milk, and some strawberry jam spread on the bread—that was Tang Ye's breakfast for today.

"There are fresh strawberries here; you actually don't need to use strawberry jam."

Ale suddenly said from across the table.

Then, under Tang Ye's gaze, Ale pressed fresh strawberries onto his toast.

Tang Ye: 6.

"Alright, Seba, your strawberry jam is the authentic version, but I think mine will taste better than yours; junk food usually tastes better."

Having said that, Tang Ye began eating his own food.

Morning training content was generally not heavy, so a simple meal sufficed; the main goal was to ingest appropriate trace elements through things like mushrooms and soybeans.

Oh, right!

Remembering he still had a large sum of money unspent, Tang Ye turned his attention to the System.

Account Balance: Counterattack Points * 7382.

Adding the 5,500 Counterattack Points reward from the Phase Two mission, Tang Ye had returned to his former state of wealth.

The panel existed right within his mind; Tang Ye calculated while beginning his micro-management.

【Ronaldo's Chicken Breast +9 → Ronaldo's Chicken Breast +10】.

Just like playing a game, when a spirit leveled up to a certain degree, evolution began.

Tang Ye's +10 Chicken Breast also began its evolution at this moment.

【Ronaldo's Super Chicken Breast: Super players should eat super chicken; within 2 hours after use, you gain 2.8 times the physical training yield, while muscle recovery speed after training increases by 20%】.

Tang Ye's System was truly too considerate; the Super Chicken Breast directly added a boost to his muscle recovery speed.

It felt as though the System was Tom's bodyguard; every upgrade would allow Tang Ye to play football more safely.

Paired with 【Kante's Hot Chocolate Milk】, Tang Ye felt he could now play a Premier League match every two days.

Of course!

This was just talk; if the Premier League truly became like this, Tom would definitely resign.

If you encounter danger, you should run; this statement was never wrong.

And then...

After spending 2,500 Counterattack Points to push the dried chicken breast to its limit level, Tang Ye now still had a huge sum of nearly 5,000 points remaining.

Two lines of thought.

First was upgrading 【Kante's Hot Chocolate Milk】; this could further accelerate Tang Ye's recovery ability, directly boosting competitive performance in the short term.

The other line of thought was 【Pogba's Hair Wax】 and 【Ronaldo's Broccoli】; this was a long-term development approach, gradually improving his ball-handling ability.

Hmm...

Considering they were still in the first half of the league season and the Asian Cup had not yet begun.

There was currently no need to fight for the championship, so after some thought, Tang Ye decided to develop steadily.

【Ronaldo's Broccoli +5 → Ronaldo's Broccoli +6】.

Account Balance: Counterattack Points * 2382.

Over 2,000 Counterattack Points was still quite a lot; the problem was that the levels of Tang Ye's items were already very high.

After reaching lv4, upgrades all cost 2,500 Counterattack Points; Tang Ye's 2,382 points simply could not be spent.

After the morning meeting concluded and he arrived at the training ground, Tang Ye took another look at the sky.

The cloud patterns in the sky had shifted slightly; the wind was blowing them toward Mancheng's base.

【You purchased Ronaldo's Broccoli +6】.

【You purchased Pogba's Hair Wax +4】.

"..."

"Here, here!"

Pa!

【De Bruyne Standard Long Pass lv5: Replication (Transcendent State)】.

Proficiency: 1582/5000.

Proficiency: 1729/5000.

【De Bruyne 45-Degree Cross lv5: Replication (Transcendent State)】.

Proficiency: 698/3500.

A quick glance showed that currently, 【Standard Long Pass】 should be the growth skill closest to lv6; even so, there was still more than two-thirds of progress left to complete.

However, rewards and efforts were ultimately proportional; the improvement brought to Tang Ye by upgrading a growth skill from lv4 to lv5 was far greater than that from lv3 to lv4.

A simple calculation revealed that when his passing skills reached lv6, Tang Ye would instantly gain a massive amount of passing proficiency.

And this was the path by which Tang Ye continued to improve his passing attributes.

Passing: 91.

"Mm, Tom, stop being the God of 91."

"He wants to be the God of 92!"

……

Premier League Official: The referee for the Manchester derby on the 11th will be Anthony Taylor.

TheScored: For the Manchester derby, 38% of fans favor Mancheng, 36% favor Manchester United, and 26% predict a draw.

More fans favor Mancheng, obviously because Mancheng was last season's Premier League champion and is currently first in the league standings.

"Actually, many fans have overlooked one point: this isn't the first meeting between the two Manchester giants this season."

In the Sky Sports broadcast studio, two commentators began discussing the upcoming marquee match.

In fact, early in the season, Manchester United had already played Mancheng; in that match, Mancheng defeated Manchester United to win the Community Shield.

"Well, Jason, we know Mancheng won that match quite easily."

The commentator with hair looked at the commentator without hair.

"Yes."

The bald commentator also turned his head: "But you can't overlook one thing: Tom didn't play in that match. At that time, he was still in America, or perhaps on his way back from America? I don't know; anyway, he just didn't play."

"That's why the match the day after tomorrow has something to watch."

The guy with hair smiled: "Honestly, I personally side with Manchester United; I think they have the potential to defeat Mancheng."

"But!"

"The gap between Manchester United's matches against Bayern and Mancheng is too short; this is absolutely not good for Manchester United. Four days is not enough time for athletes to fully recover from a 93-minute rain-soaked battle."

……

"I know, I know. But that's not the problem; they have an attacking line, and we have an attacking line too. Can you understand? The gap between them is very small."

Ten Hag made a "just a little bit" gesture.

"The issue of the attacking line isn't something we need to consider specifically; what's important? What's important is our overall positioning."

"During the match the day after tomorrow, we should keep possession in our own half."

Ten Hag moved the magnetic flags representing Tang Ye and Rodri into his own half; the magnetic flags representing De Bruyne and Fernandinho were also moved into the Manchester United half.

Tang Ye watched intently.

Switching from high pressing to low-block defense—that was the strategy for dealing with Mancheng.

He had already realized this while playing games.

And then there was one more point.

"We must seal off their half-spaces."

Sitting cross-legged on the chair, Tang Ye suddenly said: "Kevin will attempt through balls; we must press him and not let him release those passes."

"That makes sense."

Ten Hag pointed at Tang Ye: "We must press, but we need to draw their players into our half first, and then press them."

A dense defense to break Mancheng's possession dominance—that was how Rat United dealt with the defending champions.

Still sitting cross-legged, Tang Ye clasped his hands behind his head.

In the Manchester derby, if they could take down Mancheng, they would become the new league leaders.

Hmm, quite looking forward to it!

……

London Football cover: Manchester Derby—De Bruyne vs. Tang Ye face-off; what is the gap between the world's second-best midfielder and the world's best?

Mancheng staff seemed to have seen the London Football news, as their teaser poster featured a solo photo of De Bruyne.

Manchester United's official teaser poster was released half an hour after Mancheng's, featuring a chibi image of Tang Ye.

It was a little pig that looked somewhat pink and tender.

It might seem to lack some intimidation, but you should know that this little pig is holding a devil's trident in its hand.

This is the Red Devils' weapon!

Repost: Manchester United releases teaser poster; Tang Ye appears holding the Red Devils' trident.

【"They said it was about Tang Ye, why don't I see Tang Ye?"】

【"Isn't that pink pig him?"】

【"Hahaha, Manchester United is too funny, damn."】

【"GGBond!"】

【"Facts prove that GGBond is Tang Ye's primary nickname, not Tom!"】

Just like Tang Ye, the fans were also starting to look forward to the upcoming Manchester derby!

Could the pink little pig wielding a trident pierce through Guardiola's butt?

……

To prepare for the Manchester derby, the Manchester United coaching staff reduced training intensity over these two days, with the goal of ensuring the players got good recovery.

Soon, match day arrived; the Manchester United and Mancheng buses, one red and one blue, drove side by side, their destination the Etihad Stadium.

……

(End of Chapter)