Chapter 60
Newcastle United made some changes to the starting lineup before the game. In the back line, Newcastle United made some rotations, replacing Jamal Lascelles with Grant Hanley. In the midfield, Shelvey and Colbeck replaced Shelvey and Hayden.
Diame is still the front midfielder, and Ritchie is still the right winger. Ayos Perez, who played well in the last game, was probably not scheduled to start in this game for the purpose of protecting the players. Mitrovic is not the center forward, but Daryl Murphy, who is slightly weaker.
Daryl Murphy is 32 years old at this time. The high EQ means that he is experienced, and the low EQ means that he has indeed passed the peak of his career and is gradually going downhill.
This starting lineup is actually quite unexpected for Wei Le.
He didn't expect Benítez to make such a big adjustment for this game. It seems that Benítez is not so obsessed with whether to really win this game. He seems to attach more importance to the league.
Therefore, Wolves must also resolve the battle as soon as possible. In the case of a lineup depth not as good as Newcastle, facing Newcastle as a direct opponent, Wolves must be prepared to give up the cup game and ensure that the league does not fall behind. After the direct dialogue in the league, Newcastle is still tied with Wolves, but such a deadlock will not last long. Wei Le does not want to be the first to fall behind.
"Since they don't take it seriously, then this is good for us. Play our own football, solve the problem as soon as possible, and go home early!"
"Good!"
——
"I hope this will be a wonderful game." Wei Le smiled and shook hands with Benítez.
"Well, come on." Benítez is still as cold as ever. Wei Le faces this head coach who used to only be seen on TV. He thought he would be very excited, but in fact, standing in front of the other party and looking at each other, he is not that nervous.
He has gradually adapted to his role as a head coach, learned to change his mentality, and face the people he meets with a normal heart. Even if a figure like Ferguson or Wenger appeared in front of him and shook hands with him, Wei Le should also...also...still be a little excited.
Returning to his position, the players on the field were ready. Newcastle United got the right to choose sides, and Wolves got the right to kick off.
Wolves starting lineup:
Goalkeeper: Emiliano Martinez
Defenders: Doherty, Bass, Ruben Dias, Ben Godfrey
Midfielders: Rodri, Joao Teixeira, Jota, Bowen, Joe Mason
Forward: Ziro
The referee blew the whistle to start the game, Ziro kicked the ball back to Jota, and Jota passed it back. The stopwatch on the scoreboard began to turn, and the game officially began!
"You are right." Celars said to Wei Le with admiration. In this game, Newcastle United and Wolves seemed to have exchanged personalities. Newcastle tried to quickly break through the Wolves' defense, but Wolves performed very steadily.
This is very different from the last game.
In any case, Wei Le's prediction was correct. Benítez's idea was probably to take a gamble and try to gain an advantage quickly, but at the same time, he didn't take this game that seriously. After all, Newcastle won a complete victory over Wolves in the last game. In addition, the intensive schedule is actually a huge challenge for any team fighting on multiple fronts.
10 minutes passed in the game.
Newcastle goalkeeper Darlow kicked the ball out of the door and found Shelvey. The bald head passed Joao Teixeira and passed a ball to Richie on the wing. Richie obviously didn't expect to go with Shelvey. Shelvey wanted to pass it to Richie's feet, and Richie thought Shelvey would pass the ball over the top.
Now, the pass fell to Rodri's feet. Rodri was not in a hurry to pass the ball, but waved his hand to signal his teammates to prepare to move forward, and then passed the ball horizontally to Joao Teixeira who was retreating to receive the ball.
Then, he signaled Joao Teixeira to pass the ball back, and then he turned around and passed the ball to Jota on the other side. Jota passed it to the wing and then went straight to the bottom line.
Jota's straight run attracted a defensive player, and Godfrey on the wing cut in and dribbled. He broke through directly into the penalty area, so the Newcastle United defense line was facing a great enemy and hurried forward to meet the enemy. But Godfrey didn't think about solving the problem himself. He pretended to continue to break through, but used the outside of his right foot to pass the ball back to Rodri who was inserted!
"Where did he come from!" Central defender Clark shouted, asking his teammates to pay attention to Rodri's position. No matter how Rodri ran, he was now in the lastDangerous area!
This time, Rodri did not simply pass the ball horizontally, but passed it across the opponent's back line! And at the point where the ball landed, Jota was rushing towards the ball quickly!
"Stop him!" Darlow was shocked, but Jota rushed to him in an instant!
Darlow rushed out to intercept, but Jota was very calm. He flicked to the right and just avoided Darlow's attack. Now, no one could stop him!
"Rodri passed the ball, and Jota was facing the goalkeeper there. Jota was not in a hurry to shoot. He dodged the clumsy Darlow. Now he was facing the goal. Clark was still chasing back, but it was too late - Jota! ... Martin Taylor felt that this Wolves team was very different from the Wolves team that was active in the Premier League in the past few years. Under the influence of the traditional English football style, the Wolves at that time were still simply and roughly hitting the header into the penalty area.
But now, the "International Column" led by this young Chinese man has established a tactical idea based on quick counterattacks and vertical intensive passes!
If the Wolves were a bull trapped in a somewhat chaotic tactical deployment in the last game and were led by the opponent Newcastle United, then in this game, the Wolves were a brave bullfighter, not only easily resolving the collision from the wild bull, but also slapping the bull in the face!
"Beautiful!" Wei Le cheered loudly in front of the coaching seat, and next to him, Benítez sat back in his seat expressionlessly.
In the 13th minute, the Wolves scored a goal and they now have a leading advantage!