Chapter 54: Eindhoven's Wing Attack (4k)

In the away team's locker room at Philips Stadion, the Utrecht players sat in a circle while Ten Hag spoke from the center.

Everything that needed saying had already been covered during training; before the match, Ten Hag mainly reiterated key points and rallied the players' morale.

"Everyone come here, everyone come here!"

Ten Hag gestured, and the players, already laced into their boots, stood up and walked to the center.

"I'll keep this brief: remember, do not lower your expectations for this match before it begins. Our only goal is to win; our opponents are never as strong as we imagine!"

Ten Hag placed his hand in the center, with Ramselaar stacking his on top.

"Three!"

"Two!"

"One!"

"Forward, Utrecht!"

Clap, clap, clap!

"Woo-hoo!"

The players clapped; truly a master of art, Ten Hag's speech had significantly lifted the team's spirits.

Tang Ye stayed in place; adept at observation, he noticed Ten Hag's trembling hand hidden behind his back, so he walked over and said, "Mr. Sitting Like, there's no need to be nervous."

"Th-thanks, you bastard, get lost! Why the hell are you comforting me!?"

Ten Hag stepped back, glaring at Tang Ye before him: "You're the player; I should be comforting you, understand?"

He sized Tang Ye up and down.

Chewing mint-flavored gum, holding a Mao Jin in his left hand, and on his feet... a pair of slippers?

"Where are your football boots?"

"Over there; my shoelaces are knotted."

Tang Ye pointed to a pair of boots on the ground: "I think I tied them too tight last time and can't undo them."

"Damn it! Untie them quickly!"

Ten Hag rushed over, hastily picked Tang Ye's boots up from the floor, and struggled to find the knot: "The match starts in six minutes; couldn't you have mentioned your knotted laces sooner?"

"Vooruit nu Rood-Witten (Forward, Red and White Army!)"

"Vooruit PSV (Forward, PSV!)"

"Wat een s'd'Oude Glorie"

"Aan roem heeft gebracht"

As soon as they stepped onto the pitch, the home fans pressured the away team by chanting their club anthem, while the on-site commentator broadcast the home players' names in a rough, booming voice.

Every time a home player was named, the stands erupted in "woww" cheers, but when the commentator began introducing the away team's starting lineup, the stands responded with nothing but endless boos.

"Damn, so arrogant."

Looking at the densely packed crowd and flags in the stands, Tang Ye felt somewhat emotional.

It had to be said; as one of the Eredivisie's big three, PSV Eindhoven's fan foundation was something ordinary clubs could never compare to!

"OK, good evening to all my old friends in the livestream!"

"Today is another Utrecht match, but today their opponent is quite fierce: PSV Eindhoven."

"I'm quite familiar with this team, so let me introduce today's starting lineup to you brothers!"

PSV Eindhoven (4-3-3)

Goalkeeper: Zoet

Defenders: Santiago Arias, Jeffrey Bruma, Héctor Moreno, Brenet

Midfielders: Pröpper, Maher, Guardado

Forwards: Narsingh, Luuk de Jong, Locadia

Head Coach: Cocu

"I won't introduce the away team, Utrecht; you just need to know who the core player is."

"In a 4-3-1-2 formation, standing in the C-position is number 99, Tang Ye!"

"The match has begun; today, this streamer favors Eindhoven to win by one or two goals. Brothers in the livestream, bet however you like!"

【When will Xiao Chao be able to name every player on the field?】

【Fun fact: the streamer is an Eindhoven fan; isn't it normal for him to name every member of the team?】

【Tang Ye is starting again, haha; even against Eindhoven he's starting. Looks like Meng-ge's position is secure!】

【I said it: under Tang Ye's leadership, Ten Hag will march toward greatness.】

【Favoring Eindhoven? Streamer, how can you not believe in Tang Ye anymore!】

【The squad value difference is tenfold; Utrecht will probably struggle badly in this match. I'm backing a solo win for the home team!】

【Betting against Utrecht; I don't care, I'm a die-hard Tang Ye fan. I'd bet on a draw before betting on the other side winning!】

【Squad value difference of ten times? Where exactly is the difference?】

【Fun fact: Tang Ye's market value is still zero.】

That person is bold! Badmouthing my Brother Meng; do you think the moderator won't throw you straight into the ban room?

The match had begun, and just as Ten Hag emphasized before the game, Eindhoven greatly favored exploiting opportunities through wing attacks.

In the 4th minute of the match, Maher stole the ball from Ramselaar and immediately passed it forward to Locadia.

Locadia bypassed Tang Ye and began driving down the baseline!

"Hiss..."

Seeing Utrecht's midfield line bypassed so easily, Ten Hag clutching his head in his hands.

"Fall back, fall back!"

Ramse Lal interrupted Tang Ye, who was preparing to rush up and challenge Locadia.

He knew clearly that Tang Ye could not stop Locadia; since that was the case, it was better to let Tang Ye drop back to fill a defensive position.

Receiving the instruction from his teammate, Tang Ye did not stand stunned but immediately sprinted back, constantly looking over his shoulder along the way.

Tang Ye wanted to intercept the ball the moment Locadia passed it, but unfortunately, Locadia lofted a high ball.

"Locadia, finds Narsing, a perfect layoff!"

"Narsing starts moving down the flank, Jansen is under huge pressure now, Jansen is chasing back."

"Hold your position, Narsing and De Jong are looking to combine!"

"De Jong lays it off again to Narsing!"

PSV Eindhoven executed a textbook one-two combination on the flank, leaving Jansen and Strijd in great discomfort.

Both of them had been beaten!

Narsing carried the ball to the byline!

A one-on-one duel between Kang Kang Boyi and Narsing!

Kang Kang Boyi's tackling ability was considered relatively weak among all defenders; players are very clear about their own weaknesses, so Kang Kang Boyi did not choose to recklessly stretch out his leg.

Narsing began pressing Utrecht's defensive line!

"Through the middle!"

Tang Ye shouted; realizing the danger, Strijd ran toward the edge of the penalty arc, but he was still a step too late, as Narsing's cutback successfully found De Jong positioned at the arc.

!!!

Leeuwerik would not possibly watch De Jong complete his shot, so he very decisively rushed forward.

De Jong flicked the ball out to the flank, finding the defender Arias who had run up to support.

Arias struck the ball on the volley!

Leechert and Leeuwerik both fell simultaneously inside the penalty area, attempting to block Arias's long-range shot with their bodies, but they failed.

Goalkeeper Ruijt made a save attempt, but because his vision was blocked by Leeuwerik and De Jong, Ruijt failed to notice Arias swinging his leg to shoot in time.

"Goal!"

"Goal!"

"Awesome, Arias, that's a worldie! In the 6th minute of the match, PSV Eindhoven takes the lead first!"

"Brothers, keep up with my rhythm; in this match, PSV Eindhoven will lead by at least one goal, and now it seems that two or even three goals is not entirely impossible!"

Wang Chao clapped and cheered.

In Utrecht's last ten matches, this was the only one Wang Chao did not favor Utrecht to win.

The reason was simple: Wang Chao was a fan of PSV Eindhoven.

A fan of PSV Eindhoven!

【The streamer has betrayed us!】

"Oh, damn it!"

Seeing Arias score, Ten Hag turned with a darkened face and sat directly back on the substitutes' bench.

PSV Eindhoven's overall strength was indeed superior to Utrecht's.

But wasn't the timing of this first goal a bit too early?

The fans at the stadium were going wild in celebration; Ten Hag sat on his chair thinking, and the more he thought, the more something felt off, so he quickly stood up.

"Drop back, drop the defensive line back!"

PSV Eindhoven's flank attack was ridiculously strong; facing a team that utilized the width of the pitch like this, the solution Ten Hag came up with was to have Strijd, the central defensive midfielder, drop back into the center-back position.

Four defenders becoming five defenders!

This was the decision made by Ten Hag, but this decision was something the Dutchman came up with on the spur of the moment; in truth, he himself did not know whether doing this would work.

They could only try it first!

The first goal had already been scored; next was Utrecht's kickoff, with Allai playing the ball out from the center circle.

Passing directly back to Jansen!

Tang Ye began moving forward; the pressure applied by PSV Eindhoven was intense, and just as Allai had kicked off, their three forwards had already all crossed the halfway line.

Jansen played a long pass out, looking directly for Di Di Bala.

At this moment, Tang Ye had originally prepared to occupy the central position, but before making his run, he took an early look; this early observation allowed him to notice Maher running toward Di Di Bala.

So Tang Ye followed him.

Di Di Bala prepared to control the ball!

Glancing up, he saw that the speed of Jansen's pass was a bit fast, and Di Di Bala was not confident he could bring the ball down directly.

He wanted to find Ramse Lal on the right, but Ramse Lal had already been pinned in place by Guadarrado.

He could only control the ball himself!

"To me!"

Di Di Bala had already prepared to stretch out his foot, but unexpectedly, Tang Ye suddenly ran up demanding the ball.

Di Di Bala did not hesitate; after turning, he pushed his chest forward, using his chest to bring the ball down and laying it off to Tang Ye on his right.

The ball was still in mid-air when Maher turned and ran straight at Tang Ye, giving Tang Ye no chance at all to control the ball.

"Turn and shield the ball!"

Allai shouted, but Tang Ye pulled off something flashy; facing the half-volley passed by Di Di Bala, he lifted his right leg and, without even looking, kicked it toward the left byline.

Wow!?

Realizing he was holding up his teammate's rhythm, Allai quickly turned and sprinted toward the byline.

Although Tang Ye's pass wasn't precise, because he had observed ahead of time, the basic positioning was fine; Ale stretched out his foot to control the ball.

"Tang Ye, damn it, a blind pass! Tang Ye has guts!"

"Now it's a one-on-one between Ale and Arias!"

"Ale, get past Arias, keep moving into the penalty area, Bruma is coming up."

Tang Ye had been observing; seeing Bruma move to mark Ale, Tang Ye quietly ran to a position behind Ale.

Bruma poked the ball controlled under Ale's foot away, and it happened to roll right to Tang Ye's feet.

Haha!

Tang Ye broke into a smile.

This wasn't a lucky steal!

This was absolute skill!

He flicked the ball out with the outside of his foot!

He lifted his head to glance at the goal!

Curling it toward the far corner!

【De Bruyne Far-Corner Curling Shot, Lv1: Imitation】

Proficiency: 27/50

A Level 1 Far-Corner Curling Shot might seem like trash, but Tang Ye already had half the proficiency.

It looks like Level 1, but it's actually Level 1.5!

"Long-range shot, the ball speed isn't very fast!"

"Zot! Goalkeeper Zot couldn't reach the ball!"

"Damn it, what's going on!"

Wang Chao hugged his head, watching helplessly as the leather ball flew into the net with absolutely no way to stop it.

"Wait, he couldn't even save that shot?"

"Damn it, why! Fuck, when did Zot become this trash!"

【Hahahaha, seeing the streamer blow his bet really makes me feel good】

【Dead-angle shot, awesome!】

【Wait, the home team just scored and the away team immediately equalized, is it really this intense?】

【The streamer has already exploded; this is the price of not believing in my Tang Tang Qiuwang】

【Don't you get it? Zot never expected Tang Ye to shoot, plus his line of sight was blocked by Bruma and Ale; both of them are 1.9 meters tall, so they completely obscured the 1.7-meter Tang Ye behind them】

【Fuck your 1.7 meters, Brother Meng is at least 175 cm, okay, little haters stop talking nonsense】

"Beautiful!"

The Utrecht players ran across the field, Ten Hag raising both hands high.

Although they fell behind in the score early on, it didn't matter; Utrecht had immediately pulled it back.

Why was Utrecht able to equalize the score?

Because after conceding the goal, Ten Hag made a tactical adjustment, stretching out the team's defensive width!

This was the reason Utrecht's attack could succeed!

"Calm down, calm down, focus!"

Ten Hag shouted to the players on the field: "Follow my instructions, we can still get points!"

The match continued; after the score was leveled, Cocu's expression showed little change.

Although Utrecht had suddenly demonstrated strong long-pass attacking capabilities, this situation was still within Cocu's control, so there was no need for panic.

Now PSV had possession, and head coach Cocu's gaze fell upon Tang Ye, who was strolling in the center of the pitch.

Cocu had long heard of this 16-year-old genius.

Currently, Tang Ye's impression in Cocu's mind consisted of three main points.

1. Unwilling to run actively.

2. Dislikes physical confrontation.

3. Extremely stable first touch.

"What do you think?"

The assistant coach looked at Cocu sitting beside him; he knew this PSV head coach was very interested in Tang Ye.

Cocu shook his head.

"As a midfielder, that number 99 lacks sufficient coverage ability; midfielders like that usually don't make it."

The assistant coach nodded: "But..."

"But what?"

"But he just scored against us."

"..."

Arriving at the 30th minute, the backend displayed the possession statistics for both teams.

PSV: 68%

UTR: 32%

"Okay brothers, judging by possession, PSV still looks relatively stable right now."

"It's currently 1-1; my suggestion as the streamer is to bet on PSV for a high-scoring result."

"Hey, hey, hey, don't flame me yet, I haven't betrayed anyone; I'm just stating facts: apart from Tang Ye's curling shot, Utrecht basically hasn't created any decent chances."

Just as the streamer said, Utrecht has managed only three shots on target so far, one of which came from Tang Ye.

It truly is somewhat lackluster!

"Listen to me, PSV will definitely score another one before the first half ends."

"I think a forward will score it—Narsing, De Jong, or Locadia..."

"Here it comes!"

"Maher and Guardado! Another one-two combination; Jansen is in deep trouble, he can't handle it!"

"Tang Ye is running back!"

"No need to worry about that; Tang Tang Qiuwang can't make it back from that position."

"Maher!"

(End of Chapter)