[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-football-at-16-let-me-retire-and-come-back":3,"chapter-football-at-16-let-me-retire-and-come-back-football-at-16-let-me-retire-and-come-back-chapter-57":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"chinese","Football: At 16, Let Me Retire and Come Back?",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},2300027,4499,"Chapter 57: Utrecht","football-at-16-let-me-retire-and-come-back-chapter-57",57,"\u003Cp>\u003C2 Goals, 1 Assist Draw Against Ajax, Tang Ye Involved in All Goals Against Ajax>\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\u003C16-Year-Old Prodigy Lands in the Eredivisie!>\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\u003CTen Hag Said in Post-Match Interview That He Is Willing to Give More for the Team; the Defending Champion Can No Longer Halt His Advance>\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After the match against Ajax, Utrecht remained above Ajax in the league standings.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Unfortunately, Alkmaar, originally in third place, won their 12th-round match and surpassed Utrecht on goal difference to become the new league leader.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ten Hag grew tense upon seeing the updated table again.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Their goal this season was to finish in the top twelve, but they were currently ranked second.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If they dropped ten more places, they would fail to achieve their target!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When the head coach is anxious, he transfers that stress to the players; the originally planned two-day break was cut by Ten Hag to just one day.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I’m really done with this—training on weekends?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Tang Ye juggled the ball on the pitch while complaining to his teammates beside him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Aale and Bamrabet both nodded; unlike Tang Ye, they were both diligent players.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But even these two now thought Ten Hag had gone too far!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Five days of training, one day of match, one day of rest—that meant the first-team players had only one day off per week!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Damn it!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Tang, are you still adding extra training?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Aale suddenly asked. Hearing Aale speak to him, Tang Ye tossed the ball high and then struck it hard: “Yeah, I have to train all day except weekends—but I skipped a few times before, so now I have to make them up, meaning I have to stay even on weekends.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“So you have no holidays at all, just training every day?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Aale’s eyes widened.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This is fucking—\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Too self-disciplined!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“No, not really.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Tang Ye shook his head: “I have to go to school once a week—the IJld High School, the one partnered with the club. They have classes on Saturdays too; I went yesterday morning.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“You’re amazing!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Aale gave Tang Ye a thumbs-up.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He’s truly a workhorse.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Wait, you went to school yesterday morning?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Aale and Bamrabet exchanged glances, then both turned to Tang Ye: “Didn’t you have lunch with us yesterday noon?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“And you played FIFA in the afternoon with Zaka,” Bamrabet reminded him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Uh, well, that, that…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Tang Ye blushed, his midfielder’s instincts making him scan the surroundings.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He confirmed Ten Hag and Van der Gaag were still far away.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Going to school doesn’t mean I have to sit in class—I signed in and left.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Alright…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Aale was speechless.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He’d almost forgotten Tang Ye was the type who always found ways to lighten his own load; handling small issues like this was too easy for him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Beeeeep—!!!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Van der Gaag suddenly blew the whistle, signaling the end of the break.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Let’s go!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Aale and the others gathered toward Ten Hag’s position. Once everyone was present, Ten Hag announced today’s training content.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“We’ve played a third of our matches this season, and my feeling so far is that sometimes our attack just doesn’t come alive.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Without an exceptionally creative pass, our forwards often can’t reach the opponent’s baseline.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ten Hag spoke, searching the group for Tang Ye—but couldn’t find him at first.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Considering Tang Ye might be sitting on the ground, Ten Hag didn’t rush, continuing to scan the group while explaining: “I’m going to try a three-forward formation. We’ve been playing 4-3-1-2; now we’re switching to 4-2-3-1.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Josten’s eyes lit up.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Utrecht had no real strikers—if Ten Hag was going with three forwards, he’d almost certainly be the central one!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>No wonder he’d been suddenly called up to the first team in early November.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This had all been planned!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ayoub frowned. If Utrecht was now playing 4-2-3-1, his chances of starting would shrink even further.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After a moment’s thought, Ayoub muttered: “The 4-2-3-1 demands a lot from midfielders—we don’t seem to have anyone who can really…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He stopped mid-sentence, realizing his mistake, and clamped his mouth shut.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At the start of this season, Utrecht’s midfield faced two problems.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>1. Couldn’t control the ball.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>2. Couldn’t deliver good passes.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>These two issues were linked—only once you controlled the ball could you even attempt to pass it well.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But Tang Ye’s arrival solved half of Utrecht’s midfield problems.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He could deliver excellent passes without needing to control the ball first.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was insane—but that’s exactly how Utrecht was now.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Their threat passes and possession rate were inversely proportional!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“That’s fine then.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ten Hag nodded; after walking around, he’d already scanned every player in the group.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Michel will explain the training details next. I’m going to go catch a pig in the dorm.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>With that, Ten Hag sprinted straight toward the reserve team’s dormitory.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If Tang Ye wasn’t on the training ground, he was 99% likely in his dorm!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Wait, didn’t he get a raise? Why is he still living in the dorm? Renting in Montfort shouldn’t be that expensive, right?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Aale stared at Ten Hag’s retreating back, lost in thought.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Bamrabet was speechless: “He’s late even when he lives in the dorm—do you think he’d ever make it if he lived outside?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wednesday night, Ten Hag received a call from owner Verhof.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the call, Verhof praised Ten Hag for achieving such an astonishing result in his first season.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ten Hag chuckled: “Mr. Paul, it’s not as hard as you think—Utrecht hasn’t even reached its peak this season yet.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Huh? Are you sure? Why say that?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ten Hag’s words caught Verhof’s attention; he sat up straight from his chair.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“What you’ve seen so far—the 5-3-2—is only one small part of Utrecht’s tactical system this season. I tried this simple setup early on because Utrecht suits the 5-3-2 perfectly.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“But that’s just the beginning—I’ve studied every Eredivisie team. Besides the 5-3-2, I’ve got dozens of other tactics written down.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ten Hag spoke confidently; Verhof’s eyes widened.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In July, Ten Hag had just arrived at Utrecht; in the first half of the season, he’d already built a powerful tactical system, even briefly topping the league table.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And this was just the beginning!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As a businessman, Verhof had a sharp instinct.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He could feel it—Ten Hag was Utrecht’s savior!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He could lead Utrecht to glory!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Hss—\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Eric, if our players fully embrace your tactical philosophy, how far could Utrecht go this season?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“That’s a hard question to answer.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ten Hag remained calm: “But I’m certain Ajax won’t be our match. The match against them the day before yesterday? They won by luck. If they played normally, they couldn’t beat us.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>!!!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“You’ll get the players you want in the winter transfer window—I’ll give you at least 20 million euros in budget.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>(End of Chapter)\u003C\u002Fp>",1074,"2026-06-20T06:50:08.245Z",1,"Qwen3-Next 80B","97413a9946becc4be653821e895579893fb1adb4ddcec634988c79cced8f08c4","football-at-16-let-me-retire-and-come-back-chapter-58","football-at-16-let-me-retire-and-come-back-chapter-56",918,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Ffootball-at-16-let-me-retire-and-come-back-cover.jpg"]