Chapter 87: Ten Hag
“Tom, can you pass me the ball?”
Tang Ye walked along the substitute bench as fans in the stands begged him for the match ball in his hand.
“Do you want to keep this ball, or give it to the fans?”
Aale walked beside Tang Ye, watching him write his name on the match ball with a pen.
He wrote “Tang,” not “Tom.”
“Hmm…”
Tang Ye stood still, thinking.
This was his first hat-trick in the Eredivisie, and his first in his professional career.
Given such profound sentimental value, Tang Ye naturally wished to keep the ball.
But the fans on site were simply too enthusiastic.
Tang Ye didn’t want to disappoint his supporters.
So Tang Ye stepped forward and handed the match ball to a young fan in the front row of the stands.
“Woww!!!”
Fans in the stands shouted with envy; Tang Ye shook hands with the young fan.
He was called a young fan, but he was hardly much younger than Tang Ye estimated.
“Tom, go on!”
“Tom, keep going—you’re Utrecht’s future!”
Utrecht fans showered Tang Ye with praise, making him feel embarrassed.
Tang Ye gave quick high-fives to a few nearby fans, then prepared to return to the locker room.
But during this, Tang Ye overheard two Dutchmen chatting beside him.
“Incredible talent—probably the best in the Eredivisie. Where in Asia is he from?”
“No idea. Probably Japan…”
What the hell?
Tang Ye turned his head, staring at the Dutch fan who’d called him Japanese, his brow furrowed.
The fan grew nervous: “W-what’s wrong?”
“Hey, Tang!”
Ramseyer quickly pulled Tang Ye back: “It’s fine, it’s fine—misunderstanding!”
The fan staring at Tang Ye turned red—he clearly didn’t realize he’d just offended Tang Ye.
“You okay, Tom? Sorry, I’m sorry!”
“….”
Tang Ye rubbed his nose, walked over, shook the player’s hand, then left the scene.
“Damn it, what did I just say!”
The fan clutched his head—being stared at by thousands was truly unbearable!
“You mistook a Chinese person for a Japanese!”
The young fan who’d received Tang Ye’s signed ball turned around to explain: “It’s written in textbooks—Chinese people dislike Japanese people. You just insulted him.”
“I…”
The fan couldn’t speak.
…
In the locker room, Utrecht’s players began celebrating.
Ten Hag was not in the locker room—he was in the press room, battling reporters.
“This is the truth. I said it: today’s match proves everything.”
Ten Hag spoke slowly: “You say I lack coaching ability—but what’s the result today? 3-1. We completely controlled the game. The opponent suffered. That’s the result.”
“We should’ve ended it 3-0, but our opponent had a bit of luck today. Doesn’t matter—I’m fine with this score.”
Unlike past press conferences where he kept scoring goals, Ten Hag showed unusual humility today—he didn’t let the team keep scoring in the press room.
As he said, a 3-1 scoreline was enough to prove many things.
Click-click-click!
Reporters below frantically took photos.
Tang Ye scored a hat-trick today; it looked like Ten Hag had coasted to victory. But no reporter asked Ten Hag about this.
Ten Hag knew what reporters wanted to ask, so he kept talking nonstop, giving them no chance to ask questions.
The great Mr. Erik had fully taken control of today’s press conference!
…
Dongqiudi: Tang Ye scores hat-trick; Utrecht beats Nijmegen 3-1 to hold top spot in Eredivisie.
Dongqiudi: Ranking Ten Hag’s post-match mind-blowing remarks.
1. We should’ve scored more, but the opponent got lucky, so we didn’t win.
2. The score shouldn’t have been 3-1—it should’ve been 4-1 or even 5-0. We controlled the game; the opponent was passive. But they were lucky.
3. I never talk about luck, because the strong don’t win through luck; Utrecht’s luck has never been good, so to win, we must rely on strength.
…
17. Tang is an outstanding player; developing him is a great joy.
18. We lacked luck; otherwise, we should’ve won this match.
【Awesome, I must memorize every line—this’ll be perfect for PUAing subordinates when I become a boss.】
【Hahahaha, damn it, look closely—Ten Hag’s 18 statements contradict each other.】
【Ten Hag: So what if they contradict? As long as they don’t contradict within one press conference, it’s fine.】
【I don’t care—I just know we won. Ten Saint!】
Ten Hag’s 18 forbidden remarks, nicknamed “18 Jinlun ,” spread widely among fans and were memorized by many.
Master Ten Hag’s art of speaking, and you’ll be invincible against anyone.
《Tang Ye’s Hat-Trick Shows Decline, Ten Hag Returns as King in Press Conference!》
…
Back at the base that night, Tang Ye’s first act was placing his newly won trophy on the table.
He took a photo and posted it on Instagram.
Tang Ye’s purpose was to document his trophies, but he had another goal: randomly selecting fans in the comments for one-on-one challenges.
High-level ranked matches were tiring; sometimes he needed to defeat a few fans to relax.
After eight straight wins, Tang Ye put down his phone and prepared to sleep.
But suddenly he remembered something.
He checked his account balance.
【Account balance: Reverse Points * 201】
Excluding Huabei credit limits, this was the richest he’d ever been.
Most importantly, Tang Ye had been eating Ronaldo chicken breast worth 10 Reverse Points daily for days—still having 201 left was a miracle.
【Spend 160 Reverse Points to unlock new item purchase rights?】
Tang Ye took a deep breath.
Fan Dejia had assigned him heavy strength training, meaning Tang Ye needed to frequently buy chicken breast and hot chocolate milk.
Chicken breast was fine—only 10 Reverse Points—but hot chocolate milk for fatigue recovery was slightly expensive.
To accelerate his improvement, Tang Ye spent at least 25 Reverse Points per strength session; during brutal training, he even bought draft beer.
As his Reverse Points increased, so did his spending, leaving him now in a dilemma.
Should he spend 160 Reverse Points to unlock new items?
Tang Ye hesitated, then gave up.
…
After a day off, Utrecht’s first-team players resumed training.
“Tang, you don’t look happy?”
Aale jogged beside Tang Ye, noticing his poor expression.
Tang Ye looked left and right, confirmed no one was nearby, then spoke: “Boer called me yesterday—damn it…”
“Boer?”
Aale suddenly remembered he didn’t know who Boer was; Tang Ye explained: “Oh, my agent. I knew him before.”
“Oh, so what’s up with your agent?”
“Boer said Sevilla and Frankfurt asked our club for my price.”
“That’s good—you shouldn’t be upset.”
Aale laughed: “By the way, Sevilla contacted me too—maybe we can go together!”
“I can’t go…”
Tang Ye muttered, explaining to Aale why he was in such a bad mood today.
Sevilla and Frankfurt offered Utrecht bids of 8.5 million and 10.5 million euros respectively.
After the last transfermarkt price update, Tang Ye’s valuation reached 4 million euros; logically, the transfer should have been a sure thing.
But Van der Gaag told Tang Ye that his performance in the second half of the season was equally strong, and Utrecht’s current valuation of him has surpassed 15 million euros.
In short, the offers from the Spanish and German clubs did not meet Utrecht’s requirements.
“They’re not willing to pay more?”
Knowing the reason for Tang Ye’s sadness, Aale suddenly asked.
Tang Ye turned around and shrugged helplessly: “It looks like it.”
“But you don’t have to be upset—it’s only April.”
Aale reminded him: “Transfer fees change all the time. If you perform better in the upcoming matches, they’ll be willing to pay more.”
Tang Ye shook his head and began his stretching.
Tang Ye hadn’t planned to move to one of the top five European leagues so soon, but when Sevilla and Frankfurt suddenly inquired about his price, it suddenly made him consider it.
Currently, no Chinese player is competing in one of the top five European leagues—Tang Ye really wants to be the first!
Of course, Aale was right—if Tang Ye delivers even more impressive performances in the upcoming matches, Sevilla and Frankfurt might be willing to pay more.
Even other top five European league clubs might come in with offers!
Let’s train!
“Beep—!!!”
Van der Gaag blew the whistle and gathered the players: “We’ll start with 15 minutes of keep-away.”
Hearing it was keep-away, Amrabat immediately raised an eyebrow at Tang Ye: “I have a feeling you’re going to get trapped inside again.”
“One-touch only,” Van der Gaag added. Amrabat froze in place.
Damn—it just turned from Tang Ye’s worst drill into his best one!
After simple grouping, the drill began. Aale and Barazite wore fluorescent vests, with seven players forming an outer circle, including Tang Ye, De Jong, and Amrabat.
Keep-away simulates real match situations.
When your team has possession, how should you react when opponents press?
When the opponent has possession, how should you coordinate with teammates to press? That’s what keep-away trains.
When the opponent has possession, we should coordinate with teammates to press—that’s what circle drills train.
De Jong passed to Amrabat; Aale and Barazite sprinted left and right toward him.
De Jong passed the ball to Amrabat, and Alae and Barazite immediately sprinted toward him, one on each side.
Amrabat let out a yell and sent a dangerous pass to Tang Ye.
Tang Ye was startled—Aale and Barazite were now less than half a meter away.
In panic, Tang Ye thought of a clever move: he sidestepped and flicked the ball backward to Ayoubo behind him.
In a moment of panic, Tang Ye thought of a clever move: he sidestepped and flicked the ball backward to Ayoubo behind him.
Van der Gaag, watching from the sideline, applauded Tang Ye.
That’s exactly the point of one-touch training—high-level matches sometimes demand imaginative passes like that.
“Son of a bitch, Sofyan!”
Tang Ye gave Amrabat the finger, then immediately passed the ball back to him after regaining possession.
It was another knife pass, but Amrabat didn’t manage to save it like Tang Ye had.
“Haha, Sofyan, get yourself in there!”
Tang Ye shoved Amrabat into the penalty area as the defender, while Aale was substituted out.
“Fuck, Tang, you’re gonna pay for this!”
Amrabat pointed at Tang Ye’s nose, glaring fiercely.
“Okay, I’m waiting, I’m waiting—but only after you get out. Can you even get out? Haha!”
Tang Ye and Amrabat kept bantering.
Keep-away with one-touch rules was as easy for Tang Ye as juggling—he’d been inside the circle for nearly seven or eight minutes without being forced out.
Van der Gaag had no choice but to order Tang Ye swapped in.
[Passing: 78 → 79]
[Overall Rating: 74 → 75]
[Passing attribute achieved, you obtained: De Bruyne Growth Template: 45-degree Cross]
[Passing attribute achieved, you gained: De Bruyne Growth Template: 45-degree Cross]
Tang Ye, mid-press in the circle, heard the system voice and immediately focused on it.
[De Bruyne 45-degree Cross Lv.2: Similar]
Proficiency: 13/100
[Passing 79 → 80]
Through the keep-away drill, Tang Ye’s passing attribute increased by one point; after acquiring the “De Bruyne 45-degree Cross” skill, it rose again—now reaching 80.
That was very comfortable—based on Tang Ye’s FIFA experience, the gap between 79 and 80 in attribute points was huge.
That was very comfortable, because based on Tang Ye’s experience playing FIFA, the gap between 80 and 79 attribute points was huge.
Van der Gaag called from the sideline: “Focus! If you keep playing like that, you’ll get stuck in there!”
Hearing Van der Gaag’s shout, Tang Ye snapped his attention back to the ongoing keep-away drill.
“Mine, mine! You go over there—give it to me!”
“Mine, mine! You go over there—give it to me!”
Group B was training; Ten Hag finished supervising Group A and walked over to Van der Gaag.
The players in Group B were training; Ten Hag finished overseeing Group A and walked over to Fan Degah’s side.
Van der Gaag greeted him—he noticed the worry in Ten Hag’s eyes.
On April 17, they would face Ajax, currently ranked second in the league, away.
This match would determine their position on the table.
A loss would drop Utrecht straight to second place.
Ten Hag was under immense pressure because the Ajax match was scheduled for nighttime.
Tang Ye only had 30 minutes of playing time!
This was bad.
Ten Hag needed to prove himself—but his prized pupil was now restricted by underage protection laws.
How could he prove himself now?
…
(End of Chapter)
(End of chapter)
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