Chapter 540: Rodri vs. Lin Lin Jiade, Tang Ye's FIFA 94 Rating

Dongqiu Di Match Report: Champions League Group Stage Round 1, Manchester United defeated Lille 2-0 at home; Ashley Young scored, and Ale scored from a penalty. (Comments: 21,424)

【I don't really agree with not giving that penalty to Rashford.】

【Don't give it to Rashford; Rashford's goal-scoring rate isn't as high as Ale's.】

【No major issue; advancing from the group stage is enough. By the knockout rounds, Tang Ye will surely be ready.】

【Manchester United's two defensive midfielders are truly top-tier; Barcelona fans are extremely envious.】

【The reason Manchester United didn't finish first in the Premier League by Round 6 is entirely Aston Martin's fault.】

It is now September 19, London time, and Manchester United has just secured their first Champions League victory of the season.

Currently, Manchester United ranks second in their Champions League group and fourth in the Premier League.

In the Champions League, Manchester United trails group leaders Dortmund by only one goal difference.

As for the Premier League, Manchester United is just two points behind first-place Liwupu.

Considering the new season has only just begun over a month ago, this situation is acceptable for both Manchester United players and fans.

Because everyone clearly understands that during this season's Piggy Xia Chuang, Manchester United underwent significant changes, with several key positions filled by new players, and the team still needs some time to adapt.

Click-click!

"Erik, we've noticed Manchester United's attacking efficiency has slightly declined this season; I'm referring to the average time required to generate an attack. Currently, it seems Lin Lin Jiade cannot bear the full responsibility of Manchester United's attacking midfielder?"

The reporter extends the microphone.

Judging from experience over the past few seasons, Ten Hag's demands on Manchester United's midfielders are simply too high.

Both Rodri and De Jong can barely meet Ten Hag's requirements, let alone Lin Lin Jiade.

After starting for over a month since the season began, Lin Lin Jiade now gives Manchester United fans the feeling that he is close to being written off.

In the past, when Tang Ye was present, Rodri and De Jong would cover for Tang Ye.

Now that Lin Lin Jiade has replaced him, if you ask Rodri to cover for Lin Lin Jiade, will he actually do it?

With the two defensive midfielders not covering, Lin Lin Jiade's average running distance per match as a starter approaches 12km; continuing to start relies entirely on personal willpower.

"I believe Jesse's performance has been sufficiently outstanding. As for the decline in attacking efficiency you mentioned, I have certainly considered that. My answer is... well, the current situation is under control, and we can handle these issues."

"What about Dembélé? Acquired from Barcelona for nearly 130 million euros, but currently, his performance seems unable to meet fan expectations?"

The reporter's question was somewhat sharp, but this is indeed the problem Manchester United currently faces.

At the very start of the season, Dembélé sprained his ankle during training and subsequently rested until appearing in Round 4.

Currently, with the league having reached Round 6 and one round of Champions League group matches concluded, Dembélé has recorded only one assist in total.

His dribbling is indeed formidable, but as a winger worth hundreds of millions, dribbling alone is clearly insufficient.

"..."

Ten Hag had no choice but to keep speaking highly of Dembélé, emphasizing the correctness of his signing.

"Many players encounter some issues when first playing in the Premier League. I believe Ousmane can gradually resolve this problem."

"On the 20th of next month, October 20, the Red Devils Derby will be held at Old Trafford. We understand that Tom can now engage in ball training; can he return to the team before the derby?"

Click!

Click-click.

"Well... that is a very good question."

"I basically speak with Tang every few days; yesterday noon I learned of his latest condition. I believe he is now fully recovered, but out of caution, our Doctor Dell has advised him to rest for another 1-2 weeks."

Having long anticipated that reporters would ask questions related to Tang Ye, Ten Hag responded calmly when the question arrived: "As for whether he can participate in the Red Devils Derby, I cannot guarantee that, but what is certain is that Tang always maintains the highest competitive level."

Ten Hag: Tang Ye has fully recovered and may participate in the Red Devils Derby on October 20.

Liwupu legend Carragher: Barring accidents, Ten Hag is likely deploying a smokescreen; regardless, Tom's return match should not be the Red Devils Derby, as this season's Liwupu is unstoppable.

Carragher made this statement on Sky Sports Radio and was immediately contradicted by Ferdinand beside him: "Oh, are you scared?"

"No, no, no, Rio, my meaning is that this season's Liwupu is even stronger than last season's; if Tom must choose a match for his return debut, the Red Devils Derby is clearly not a good choice."

"I cannot agree with your viewpoint."

Ferdinand shrugged: "Being scared is being scared; there's nothing more to say about it."

"No, why is this my fault? Can't you come up and receive the ball from me?"

Lin Lin Jiade spread his hands toward Rodri: "Do you think I want to keep possession constantly? If you don't come up to help me, I have no way to pass it out."

After being criticized by Rodri a few times, Lin Lin Jiade, who had originally been dancing, immediately became unhappy.

Running nearly 12km per match was already enough to give him a headache!

"It's not that I haven't asked you for the ball; I did ask you for the ball, but you kept wanting to pass forward instead of passing back, so what could I do?"

Rodri flung the jersey draped over his shoulders onto the bench: "Then during counterattacks, you don't run forward; I was ready to pass, yet you were still in the defensive half."

"Jesse, aren't you an attacking midfielder? Why are you standing so far back? Aren't Franck and I enough back there?"

Rodri glared fiercely at Lin Lin Jiade.

To be honest, his dissatisfaction with Lin Lin Jiade had been building for a long time, accumulating over a month until now exploding completely: "Just honestly play as an attacking midfielder; when I ask you for the ball, give it to me immediately, and then when we attack, you just attack yourself—what problem is there with that?"

"You keep controlling the ball and running around without ever passing forward; what use is that? We are not a team that eats possession statistics."

Lin Lin Jiade turned his head away, then back: "So you think I should play according to your ideas, is that it?"

"Hey!"

Rashford blocked Lin Lin Jiade, fearing Lin Lin Jiade would move any closer.

In this situation, if Lin Lin Jiade and Rodri got any closer, a physical confrontation might well occur.

"Otherwise what?"

Rodri stepped forward: "Haven't you realized your playing mindset is wrong? Every decision you make is problematic; our goal difference now isn't even as good as Tottenham's."

"You think you played well?"

Lin Lin Jiade shouted a line, and the Manchester United players in the locker room hurriedly pulled the two apart.

"Forget it, forget it!"

Alai pressed Rodri back down onto the bench: "We'll talk about it later, talk about it later, don't talk about it now"

"Everyone stop talking!"

Ashley Young hurried to step forward: "Everyone stop arguing!"

"Right, right, right, everyone stop talking"

Fan Fan Dejiahe chimed in.

Rodri and Lin Lin Jiade suddenly started arguing, and just then Ten Hag was still in the press room being interviewed, leaving only Fan Fan Dejiahe alone hiding in a corner, trembling.

Poor Fan Fan Dejiahe had absolutely no idea how to handle this kind of situation.

"Fuck, don't think you played well yourself"

"Then what the hell did you play? How about you stop playing attacking midfielder? Go play striker"

"Hey, forget it! Forget it!"

Rodri tried to stand up, and Alai and De Ligt hurriedly worked together to hold him down.

Just then Ten Hag came back and heard the two arguing.

"Everyone be quiet!"

"Is this how you teammates get along? Don't you want to take a good look at what you're doing?"

Ten Hag looked at Rodri, then at Lin Lin Jiade.

Two starting players nearly getting into a physical altercation — if the reporters saw this, it'd be front-page news.

"Do you know why we're currently fourth in the league?"

"You think we're worse than Liwupu, and because we're worse than Liwupu, we can only rank fourth?"

Bang!

Wait a moment — I kicked aside the small stool next to me: "Our squad is even better than Liwupu's, yet we're only fourth now. Don't you want to think about your own problems? Why are we fourth? Because many of you have no idea what you're supposed to be doing. Can we win the Premier League title by arguing in the locker room? Is that how we won the title last season?"

Ten Hag kept scolding for several minutes, and the players in the locker room finally settled down.

Dembele sat alone in his seat, eyes wide open.

Manchester United is this fierce…

……

"I'm going to speed up now, get ready and give me a hand signal"

Seeing Tang Ye's thumbs-up, the rehabilitation therapist sped up the treadmill.

"Hoo, hoo hoo, hoo!"

The sneakers hitting the treadmill made a crisp sound.

Tang Ye's two legs swung rapidly; he was already drenched in sweat.

Because he had only just recovered and couldn't take contact training, Tang Ye had been training alone for the past week.

Of course, his ball-control proficiency came from the system, so even after a long time without joining team training, it wouldn't drop too much.

"Ok ok, speed up, speed up!"

"……"

"Hoo, wow"

Both feet landing on the edge of the treadmill, Tang Ye jumped off.

"Here"

The rehabilitation therapist handed Tang Ye water.

Gulp!

Pfft!

"How do you feel?"

"Hoo… I feel like it's all coming back" — both hands braced behind him, Tang Ye let out a long breath.

He'd been lying in bed all of July, and only started walking again in August. Tang Ye's panel showed his stamina had dropped a full 4 points.

Stamina drops whenever you don't train, but luckily through training Tang Ye quickly got it back up.

Tang Ye (41 years old)

【Ball Control: 90; Passing: 93】

【Shooting: 82; Heading: 61; Set Pieces: 82】

【Speed: 78; Stamina: 78; Physical Contact: 86】

【Defense: 76; Vision: 99】

Overall Rating: 89

Look at the current panel.

Although he was injured, in reality compared to June, none of Tang Ye's attributes had dropped at all.

Ball control and shooting had even gone up!

"In the afternoon is ball-feel training, I won't interfere with that. Let me first tell you tomorrow's schedule — tomorrow is still stamina…"

"We can train once more in the evening"

Tang Ye cut off the rehabilitation therapist.

"In the evening?"

"Mm, I recover pretty fast, training stamina in the evening is fine"

"Our plan was to start your contact training in November; there's no need to rush,"

the rehabilitation specialist said unhurriedly.

"No, no, no—it must be completed before November."

"Starting contact training before November? That's a bit difficult, hmm, but it should be achiev..."

"No, I need to return to England for matches before November; I can't wait any longer."

Tang Ye had already made his decision.

With his new season delayed, he could have stayed hidden in the United States to continue training.

But his teammates could not wait any longer.

Starting in November, Manchester United would face several very important matches one after another; if Tang Ye did not return now, it would be too late to make up for it by December.

"In that case... are you sure? Evening sessions or interval endurance?"

"Mm, I recover very quickly."

The X-ray results showed there was nothing wrong with Tang Ye's knee anymore.

Since that was the case, as long as he avoided contact, he could push himself however he liked in other situations without issue.

【Spend 22,000 Counterattack Points to purchase the Li Tie 'Unkillable Endurance' Template (Average)?】

【You have obtained the Li Tie 'Unkillable Endurance' Template.】

【Endurance: 78 → 80】

Account Balance: Counterattack Points × 2,451

The end-of-season settlement from the previous season had directly awarded Tang Ye 30,000 Counterattack Points; after simply upgrading a few items and purchasing one crucial endurance template, Tang Ye now remained with over 2,000 Counterattack Points in wealth.

The Li Tie 'Unkillable Endurance' Template—although low in grade, both its price and effect were genuinely good.

Spending 20,000 Counterattack Points for +2 Endurance attributes meant that, overall, Tang Ye neither gained nor lost.

Hesitating no longer, Tang Ye exchanged a greeting with the trainer on the field and received a pass.

Slap!

He kicked it against the rebound net, regained control of the ball, then accelerated forward.

Weaving through the poles!

Slap!

He pushed the shot home; Tang Ye easily scored.

"9.7 seconds!"

One of the trainers shouted, "You can be a bit faster when weaving through the poles; lower your center of gravity!"

"OK, OK!"

Tang Ye raised his hand in acknowledgment, then moved to the starting line to prepare.

According to Tang Ye's plan, he needed to return to the team before October 10, meaning only the final 20 days remained.

During these last 20 days, Tang Ye needed to raise his Endurance by another 1–2 points, while also slightly improving his Shooting and Speed.

While everyone else was playing matches, if he merely lay in bed, that would be truly terrible.

He had to use this time to stack up his attributes.

When everyone was in the off-season, Tang Ye had used Hamburg to grind his Ball Control.

Now that the off-season had ended and the new season begun, with other players busy in competitions, Tang Ye had to seize this opportunity to pull his attributes up even further.

Back when he was studying, his teachers had said that summer vacation was precisely the time to overtake on the bend.

This round, Tang Ye had a double summer vacation, double overtaking acceleration, charging straight into the lead!

Repost: Coming back soon? Tang Ye posted his personal training video on social media; his pole-weaving shot was 0.31 seconds faster than during the Peking University entrance exam period. (Comments: 89,825)

In a previous interview, Tang Ye had stated he was already undergoing ball-inclusive training.

Now, seeing the video, fans realized that the "ball-inclusive training" Tang Ye spoke of was not simply juggling the ball.

Mayo Clinic Announcement (Chinese Translation): Tang Ye has completed 95% of his treatment regimen; barring physical contact, he can perform any movement except a 180-degree turn.

Manchester United accompanying staff: Tang Ye's rehabilitation is proceeding very smoothly; currently, his Speed and Endurance remain at peak levels.

"Of course, considering how vital physical condition is for a top-tier player like Tang Ye, our training arrangements are extremely cautious; any high-risk movements will be excluded."

After the news broke, fans compared Tang Ye's training video with his previous match footage, hoping to deduce something from this method.

At that moment, the news suddenly pinned a rating to the top, making fans scrolling on their phones nearly jump, thinking it was this year's Ballon d'Or candidate list.

It turned out to be the updated player ratings from FIFA.

EA Sports launched the new "FIFA 20" and synchronized the official FIFA player data.

"FIFA 20" would officially launch in 10 days; as a warm-up, the officials released the specific stats for the top 100 players in this edition.

#1, Messi (Barcelona, Argentina) — Overall Rating 94:

【Speed: 87; Dribbling: 96; Shooting: 92; Defense: 39; Passing: 92; Physical: 66】

#1, Tang Ye (Manchester United, China) — Overall Rating 94:

【Speed: 79; Dribbling: 91; Shooting: 87; Defense: 74; Passing: 98; Physical: 80】

#3, C. Ronaldo (Juventus, Portugal) — Overall Rating 93:

【Speed: 90; Dribbling: 89; Shooting: 93; Defense: 35; Passing: 82; Physical: 78】

#6, De Bruyne (Mancheng, Belgium) — Overall Rating 91:

【Speed: 76; Dribbling: 87; Shooting: 86; Defense: 61; Passing: 92; Physical: 78】

#24, Rodri (Manchester United, Spain) — Overall Rating 88:

【Pace: 72; Dribbling: 80; Shooting: 70; Defense: 85; Passing: 80; Physical: 84】

Even the lowest-rated player in the top 100 has a score of 85; among them, Tang Ye and Messi jointly completed the overtaking of Cristiano Ronaldo.

In the previous version, Cristiano Ronaldo was the only player with a 94 rating; now, that spot belongs to Tang Ye and Messi.

Of course, this is unavoidable, as Cristiano Ronaldo is gradually aging, and his physique, once his greatest pride, is no longer his advantage.

And setting aside individual players to look at the team as a whole:

Thanks to the Premier League title, Manchester United's overall improvement in this update is quite significant.

Tang Ye leads globally with 94 points, followed by De Gea in 12th place with 89 points.

Rodri has 88 points, while De Jong and Rashford both have 87 points.

After them comes...

Ziyech with 86 points, and another new signing, De Ligt, with 85 points.

After scrolling for a long time, Manchester United fans still couldn't find Dembélé.

What is going on?

They typed in the name to search and finally discovered that Dembélé is ranked just one spot after the 85s, meaning he sits at 84 points.

He is the only player with a market value exceeding 100 million euros but an ability rating below 85.

Many fans want to know how Dembélé performed at Barcelona over the last two seasons, but since they don't watch La Liga matches, they lack specific knowledge.

The FIFA game update has solved this problem.

Player ability ratings are basically determined by their performance in matches; to understand how Dembélé performed over the past two seasons, looking at his score gives a roughly accurate picture.

As soon as the data was released, Ten Hag was once again pushed into the spotlight.

【What the hell is Saint Ten up to? With this kind of money, why buy Dembélé instead of Hazard?】

【Manchester United is truly ruthless, damn, 94 points! But the guy with 94 points is still in the hospital.】

【Come back soon, GG Bond; there are still three months left to make a push for the Ballon d'Or.】

【Manchester United: We have a player with a 94 ability rating. As for where he is right now, don't ask.】

【"Passing 98"】

【Why is his passing still increasing? Damn, at this rate, won't it hit 100 in another couple of years???】

The Sun — Dembélé liked TY's training video and commented: Waiting.

PS: Two more updates remaining.

(End of Chapter)