Chapter 127: Christmas Eve and Zhongwei Huang

When Jack Sawyer opened the door, he found Xiao Ming standing behind his daughter, he was so surprised that his mouth was so open that he could put five eggs in at a time. Xiao Ming just hated that his current phone did not have the camera function, otherwise he would have to take a photo of Soyer's extremely exciting face and put it online. Clicking would definitely exceed tens of millions.

However, Sawyer had experienced strong storms and soon calmed down. After hearing Chris say he wanted to invite Xiao Ming to his house for Christmas, he just snorted: "Welcome to welcome...but I didn't prepare Christmas gifts."

"I don't have either." Xiao Ming shrugged his shoulders. Xiao Ming probably guessed why Sawyer hadn't prepared Christmas gifts. Of course, the Christmas gifts he prepared for his daughter could not be given to him. With Sawyer's reputation as a part of this, Christmas singers probably wouldn't dare to come to this irritable guy's house to ask for any Christmas gifts. No wonder Chris said that he was lonely when Christmas was celebrating Christmas, and it was not an excuse.

Sawyer was not very polite about his words, but he did not think that Xiao Ming had disturbed their lives. He took the initiative to take the few bottles of wine that Xiao Ming was carrying, and then welcomed Xiao Ming to his home.

Sawyer's house is not well decorated. He is just a bar owner, especially those who drink in the bar are all acquaintances. During games, he would hand over the bar to the bar to take care of it. When he went to watch the game on site, the bar didn't make a lot of money.

However, today's dishes were still very rich, including roast pigs, turkey, Christmas pudding, and Christmas meat pie. Xiao Ming was not polite. He sat down and ate and drank a lot. He didn't treat himself as an outsider. His behavior was very suitable for Sawy's temper. He drank it well after a few glasses of wine. Even Chris took a cup and drank it in small sips next to him.

After chatting, we talked about football. However, what can two fans talk about when they sit together? Apart from football, there is nothing else, especially for three people with completely different personalities, backgrounds, and education levels. Perhaps only football can connect them together.

From the conversation, Xiao Ming could hear that Sawyer and Chris were both satisfied with Leiden Oriental's results this season. As a newly promoted team, they had a great chance to advance directly after half of the season. It was already a very impressive result to enter the quarterfinals in the League Cup. Although it was the first time in the club's history to participate in a European competition, Leiden Oriental showed an unexpectedly good state in the League Cup.

After drinking so well, Sawyer even patted his shoulder and said to Xiao Ming as brother, regardless of whether he was about ten years older than the opponent: "Xiao! Play well this season! You must enter the Premier League! It would be even better if you could win the League Cup or the FA Cup... We don't know how happy we were when we won the League Cup last season!"

"Yes, after returning from the League Cup last season, my dad didn't know how happy he was, and he said you are the best chairman and coach in the world." Chris interrupted the mouth, which made Sawyer glar at his daughter, and was very angry that she had leaked the highest secrets of the family.

Xiao Ming looked at Sawyer, then raised his neck and drank all the wine in his glass.

"Thank you, Jack." He shouted Sawyer's name: "Thank you for helping me make up my mind."

Sawyer looked at Xiao Ming with his eyes straight, for some reason why he suddenly said this.

Xiao Ming looked at his watch and it was almost twelve o'clock, so he stood up and said, "It's too late... I'm farewell, thank you for bringing me such a wonderful Christmas."

"Why... just leave? And... still have a drink..." Sawyer said with his tongue wide. Although he often drinks, his alcohol tolerance is not as good as Xiao Ming...

"Drink next time, don't forget. You have to prepare Christmas gifts for Chris, don't forget." Xiao Ming replied with a smile.

After putting on the coat, Xiao Ming walked to the door and turned to Chris who was sending him out and said, "Your father drank a little too much today... Take good care of him."

Chris nodded and was about to send Xiao Ming out of the door, but suddenly shouted: "Xiao, wait a moment."

Xiao Ming was stunned for a moment, and then he saw Chris running into his room. After a while, he walked out, holding an exquisite bracelet in his hand.

"Merry Christmas." Chris smiled with a bright sunshine on his face. Xiao Ming reached out to take it and found that the bracelet was woven with more than a dozen threads. It was not a valuable thing to see, but the handmade ones were quite good.

"It's very beautiful!" Xiao Ming sincerely exclaimed: "Did you make it yourself?"

Chris nodded, Xiao Ming held the bracelet in his hand and said seriously: "I will remember to prepare gifts next Christmas."

Chris laughed, watched Xiao Ming turn around and walk out of the room, watching him step by step on the snow before closing the door.

Xiao Ming held the bracelet given to him by Chris in his hand, and his steps grew bigger and bigger.

Today, I spent this Christmas at the home of Sawyer and his daughter. In addition to bringing the warmth of his family, I also helped him make up his mind.

The fans of Leiden Oriental won the League Cup last season and were unprecedentedly happy... Having said that, Leiden Oriental fans are really pitiful. There have been few times when they have been able to make them happy in more than a hundred years of team building.

Xiao Ming decided to make Leiden Oriental fans happy this year. As long as you have better luck this year, you should be able to achieve some results in the two cups without affecting the league results. Just play well. Isn’t it just a 7-point and 8-point gap with the top two? It’s a matter of three games.

After Christmas, when everyone thought that Leiden Oriental would give up a certain game - most likely the FA Cup -, Leiden Oriental unexpectedly did not retain any strength in any game, but attacked with all its strength in every game. Whether it was the league or the FA Cup, it no longer changed its style like the first half of the season. Instead, it used its fastest attack. The whole team did not hesitate to run physically to compete, and tried to win every game. Even if he was behind, he would never give up the game. If he could win, he would never give up. If he could win, he would win.

The situation in the League One this season is quite chaotic, and Bolton's strength is not surprising, but Barnsley's outstanding performance is beyond everyone's expectations. This team was not favored before the start of the league and won consecutively after the start of the league, and there was no ups and downs in the middle of the league. At the same time, they gave up from the beginning in the League Cup and the FA Cup, and the whole team just focused all their energy in the league.

In sharp contrast to them are the other two teams that have been relegated from the Premier League. Manchester City is in a very bad shape after being relegated and is only ranked tenth now. The worse than them are the Royal Garden Rangers, who are now only four points away from the relegation zone.

The points of the third to eighth are intertwined. After the New Year, Bolton and Barnsley, the top two, have the same points, both 53 points, while the Wolves, the third and fourth places, have both 45 points, and behind them are Crystal Palace, Shellen, Birmingham and West Bromwich. Even West Bromwich, who ranked eighth, has the same points as 40! These six teams have formed the second group, and the ninth place behind them, the points of Virgo Port are only 35 points, which cannot pose a threat to them for the time being.

Under this circumstance, almost all the top teams in the League One have given up on the second round of the FA Cup. After the second round of the FA Cup, only one team left in the top eight in the League One is Leiden Oriental.

Everyone thought that Leiden Oriental, who was carrying the dual tasks of League Cup and Premier League qualification, would give up the FA Cup very readily, but they did not do so. Instead, they sent most of the substitutes in the first round of the FA Cup, which directly led to a zero-to-zero draw with Wolves away. In addition to widening the points gap with the top two, they also lost the excellent opportunity to directly beat their opponents in the standings.

Then in the three-day FA Cup, Leiden Oriental easily eliminated Reading, who was also a League One team and had let Leiden Oriental swallow the bitter fruit of the loss at the beginning of the season. In the game, Leiden Oriental beat Reading to dust, so the media regretted that if Leiden Oriental could show such an outstanding state against Wolves, the Wolves would definitely not be the opponent.

However, this victory caused Leighton East to suffer a lot. Stam sprained his ankle in the game and had to rest for a month. Bryn was suspended for one round because of a red card. After the two main central defenders were absent, Xiao Ming could only send Upson and Holland to play the center back, which made them seriously insufficient defense against the leader Bolton. Although they tore open the opponent's defense twice in the offense, their goal was also opened twice by their opponents. In the end, Leighton East was tied by Bolton again at home and suffered two consecutive draws in the league.

At this moment, news that made the worse came again. The FA determined that Brynn had committed immoral behavior in the game and suspended two additional games. Leiden East's central defender was still going to continue.

"It seems we have to add a central defender."

After receiving the news, Xiao Ming said to MacDonald in distress.

The performance of two central defenders in the last round of the league proved that the defense line of Leiden East is still indispensable to Brynn and Stam. Stam is tall, while Brynn is quite tough. At least one of these two people must have on the court, otherwise, as shown in the last league, Leiden East's defense line was ravaged by the opponent's unreasonable long pass and body collision.

Although Upson is not shorter than Brynn, his ability to confront is not particularly outstanding. Holland is better at defending the bottom three balls. They all need a tall and strong central defender to cooperate with them to exert their strength. Otno meets the requirements, but his height is only about the same as Upson, and his strength is indeed a bit barely enough in the English League.

Although it is the transfer period now, it is still quite difficult to find an excellent central defender, and it may not be possible to buy it. After all, Brin can play after two rounds of the league, and Stam can also come back in a month. It seems a bit waste to buy a central defender specifically for these two games.

Xiao Ming originally thought that if it really didn't work, let Otno take two games, but McDonald reminded him: "Why don't you go to the youth team to look for it? Since there is a Daniel Sun in the youth team, why can't there be another Daniel Sun?"

Xiao Ming thought about it, and now he has invested a lot of money in youth training. Let’s see the effect. If he can really find a central defender who is capable of playing in the League One, it would be much more cost-effective. At least he can come and fight when he comes. All he wants is a firefighter, not the main central defender.

If Ian Kaufhouse, the head coach of Leiden Oriental Youth Team, was a Chinese, he would definitely say "sparse guest, rare guest" when he saw Xiao Ming appearing on the training ground of the youth team, because since he took Daniel Sun away from here last time, Xiao Ming forgot what he said he should pay more attention to the youth team and never came to the training ground of the youth team again. If it weren't for Xiao Ming investing a lot of money in the training base before the start of this season to improve the training and living environment of the youth team, Kaufhouse might have resigned in anger.

However, Kaufhouse still understands Xiao Ming relatively well. After all, Xiao Ming is not a full-time head coach. He also has to run a club. Some meticulous work can only be shared by the coaches. The job of the supervisor of his youth team is to train young players well and provide them with suitable players in the first team immediately when the first team needs it. This is considered as he has completed the task.

"Ian..."

Before Xiao Ming could say anything, he was interrupted by Kaufhouse: "You want someone, right? You are a central defender? You are tall and good at fighting against each other, right?"

After asking Xiao Ming three questions in a row, Xiao Ming could only nodded repeatedly. He was not surprised why Kaufhouse knew what kind of candidate he wanted. As the coach of the Leiden Oriental Youth Team, he must also pay attention to the news about the first team at any time. Now, two of the five first teams in the Leiden Oriental who can play central defenders cannot play. Two of them did not perform well in the last round of the league, and the other one has not played this season. At this time, the first team must be just coming to get central defenders.

Seeing Xiao Ming nodding, Kaufhouse's chin raised his chin up to the court: "I have such a candidate, but... you have to choose it yourself."

"I'll give me this one again? OK." Xiao Ming said with interest. This was a little fun. Through his own observation, he could see which player is capable of entering the first team...

After only twenty minutes of watching, Xiao Ming determined who the person he was looking for was.

When Xiao Ming was standing on the sidelines, the players of the youth team also noticed the boss and first-team coach. After learning from the lessons from Xiao Ming when he came to pick people last time, no one dared to show himself this time, but instead played his best in his position like usual games.

Xiao Ming nodded repeatedly when he saw it. It was like a decent game.

Since the target was very certain, Xiao Ming immediately discovered that the central defender wearing the captain's armband was quite conspicuous. The white defender was probably close to 1.9 meters tall. He looked strong and had good jumping power. He was very good in front of him.

"What's that white guy's name?" Xiao Ming turned his head and asked Kaufhouse.

"Darren Perth." Kaufhouse replied: "Now the captain of the Leiden Oriental Youth Team, nineteen years old, performed very well. Now many scouts have begun to pay attention to him. Even if you don't come to me, I plan to recommend him to you. If you don't give him a professional contract, maybe he will be poached by other teams."

"So, he will definitely stay in our team." Xiao Ming joked: "How is his personality?"

"It's very good." Kaufhouse replied: "He is our Leiden native, just hoping to play in Leiden East. Even if he doesn't get many opportunities to play in the future, he won't have any complaints."

"That's him." Xiao Ming said flatly: "He will be the most suitable substitute for Stam. We will have many games in the future, and he will not lack opportunities to play."

Of course, Xiao Ming would not know that if he hadn't appeared, Darren Perth would have appeared in the first team of Leiden East in his first season, that is, the 1994-95 season, and quickly became the main force. Then he was poached by Oxford United in the League One two seasons later, and then he would go to Birmingham in the Premier League. The most brilliant time was the season when Liverpool won the five championships. In the final of the League Cup, the penalty he scored before the end of the game almost made Liverpool unable to win the championship.

Now, history has been changed. Since there were sufficient staff in the central defender at the beginning, Xiao Ming did not want to draw the youth central defender into the first team, and Perth did not make his mark so early. Two years later, Leiden East already had enough capital to keep this player he trained.

"How tall is he?" Xiao Ming asked Kaufhouse after watching Perth push the opponent's cross again.

"Six feet and two inches."

It looks almost 1.88 meters tall. This is a very classic height in the central defender position. Many outstanding central defenders are of this height, such as Leo Ferdinand...

After the match on the court, Perth was called by Coffhouse in the envious eyes of his teammates, and then Xiao Ming just said briefly: "Darren Perth? Come with me."
Chapter completed!