Chapter 131: Must win

"I think we already have enough knowledge of Crystal Palace."

Xiao Ming has already started to study the information of four to sixth place since the league has three rounds left. Among them, Crystal Palace has the most detailed understanding, because Crystal Palace ranks sixth and is most likely to meet Leiden Oriental in the playoff semi-finals - and so is the case.

"Their offense is very good, with 65 goals, ranking third in the All England League One, second only to us and Barnsley, but their defense is also very bad, conceding 59 goals, ranking first in the top six in the League One. Their main scoring points are two strikers, Scotsman Foldeman and Englishman Shipleley. The two of them teamed up to score 37 league goals, accounting for more than half of the team's goals. The other two Swedes, attacking midfielder Enquist and defender Anderson, also need to pay attention. Enquist is good skills, fast speed, strong breakthrough ability, and the only disadvantage is that he still has a good shortcoming.

Young, not performing stably enough, Anderson is good at height and has strong header ability. Another person to pay attention to is their left-back, Gordon, a full-back with excellent assists. He has seven assists this season, and his cross is an important weight for Crystal Palace's offense. In addition... Their head coach is also very famous. Former Manchester United star Steve Koper, who became the head coach of Crystal Palace at the age of 28. His most glorious moment was to bring Crystal Palace to the third place in the League One... In the previous League One, he has coached Crystal Palace for twelve years and is extremely familiar with this team."

McDonald explained to Xiao Ming in detail the team of Crystal Palace. None of the names he mentioned attracted Xiao Ming's attention. Foldriman had a little impression, as if he had been playing in Crystal Palace and was a loyal figure, and Steve Kopel... Why is this name so familiar?

After thinking for a long time, Xiao Ming remembered that this person led Reading to achieve good results in the Premier League in later generations, and he beat Ferguson to become the best coach of the Premier League that year. However, what left Xiao Ming's impression was not because of this, but in the game against Chelsea, Reading, who was led by him, repeatedly injured two Chelsea goalkeepers with rough movements, resulting in Cech wearing a helmet before he could participate in the game. However, he kept defending the murderer Hunter and was accused of being shameless by the angry Chelsea fans.

Such a Crystal Palace led by the head coach... Maybe you should be careful.

"Since they have strong offense and weak defense, they will definitely want to play their offensive characteristics at home in the first game, so what we have to do in the first round is one thing - that is defense! We have the two best centre-backs in the League One, and we have the best midfielders in the League One, why not play such an advantage? We can make them helpless against Monaco and Borussia Mönchengladbach's offensive attacks, let alone Crystal Palace! Aren't their offense mostly done by two forwards? Leave it to Stam and Bryn, keep a close eye on them, and Crystal Palace's offensive combination can be extinguished half. Even if we only got a draw away, that's enough! Of course, we also have to win in the game, but the most important thing is to make Crystal Palace unable to get what they want at home, which is the most important thing."

"The away game is for the goal?" McDonald asked in confusion. He thought Xiao Ming did not know that there was no away goal in the playoffs in the English League. He couldn't help but remind him: "There is no difference between zero-to-zero and four-to-four..."

"Of course I know this." Xiao Ming smiled: "I just want to make Crystal Palace feel uncomfortable. Their wishful thinking must be to try to win the game by offense at home. Even if it is just a goal ahead, it will make it difficult for us to handle the away game, so we don't follow their wishes."

McDonald nodded: "It's not difficult to do this. After all, our main players can all play now."

He was right. In the first leg of the playoff game three days later, Xiao Ming put Holland in the midfield, removed Hackby, and let Jin Kraze take on the heavy responsibility of offense alone. Three midfielders with good defensive abilities launched a tenacious block. The young Swedish Enquist was forced by the experienced Lenon so that he could not even hold the ball. Another attacking midfielder at Crystal Palace, Irish veteran Howton was entangled by young Barack in good physical condition, and was also unable to organize the attack.

When the midfield organization cannot proceed smoothly, Crystal Palace can only directly transition the ball to the frontcourt and use the personal abilities of the two strikers to launch an offensive. However, although Crystal Palace has the forward combination with the most goals in the All England League One, they encountered the Central Defense combination with the fewest goals conceded in the All England League One...

After the first half, Crystal Palace, which is famous for its strong attack power, hit a first half that they all felt terrible - twice shots, not even once within the goal frame. Leiden East's midfield defense was quite outstanding. Except for Geudon, who assisted to advance, created several threats, no other players were able to cause any threats.

What made Xiao Ming happy was that the players of Crystal Palace were really very good. Fortunately, he had already reminded the players not to be injured by their opponents. He also specially placed three engineers with excellent physical fitness in the midfield to minimize the effect that the opponent can achieve with their rough style.

"Their offense will be more fierce in the second half... So we must not panic, seize the opportunity to counterattack and give them a fatal blow! Don't put too many downs in the backcourt, and pass the big feet forward. Jankoler is responsible for the ferry, Kevin and Jozell, you two are ready to assist at any time. Don't be entangled with their midfield. Just leave the dirty and tiring work to Neal and the others." Xiao Ming said quite irresponsiblely in the locker room.

"Boss, I'm protesting, it's unfair!" Holland cheered loudly, and other defenders also protested one after another.

"Protest is invalid!" Xiao Ming waved his hand: "There is only a different division of labor in the revolution, and there is no distinction between high and low... You don't understand this, anyway, everyone has their own strengths and their own tasks. Just complete their own tasks. Why do you do that if you talk about so much?"

The players burst into laughter, and Xiao Ming also looked at them and laughed. Seeing the current atmosphere in the locker room, Xiao Ming felt very satisfied. This shows that after this period of adjustment, the players have come out of the blow caused by the elimination of both the League Cup and the FA Cup. Xiao Ming firmly believes that as long as the players' mentality does not have a problem, Crystal Palace will not be able to get benefits from them at all.

And now there is no problem with the mentality of Leiden Oriental players.

Although Crystal Palace finally relied on a slightly lucky opportunity to score first, just five minutes later, Phillips equalized the score through a personal breakthrough. In the subsequent game, Leiden East once suppressed Crystal Palace so much that it was breathless. After they finally resisted Leiden East's attack, they were shocked to find that there was not much time left in the game...

When the referee blew the whistle at the end of the game, the fans of Crystal Palace watched the stadium unwilling to leave for a long time. They seemed to be able to get the lead again at any time in the game, but until the end of the game, Leiden East's gate was as stable as a rock.

"Very good, the first step is successful." Xiao Ming said to MacDonald with a smile: "I guess Mr. Kopel is very upset now."

Seeing Xiao Ming running up to Kopel with a smile of beating, McDonald couldn't help but shake his head. He thought he couldn't do such a thing, but it was a good way to anger his opponent.

Seeing the helpless expression on Kopel's face, McDonald knew that the rhythm of the two-round match was entering Xiao Ming's control step by step.

The Os bar is brightly lit, and business is always good, especially when there is no football game - on the contrary, when there are games, business is often average - because their bosses and regulars all went to watch the football live, which is not much the same as other bars.

"It seems that Xiao hasn't been here for several days, right?" John took a sip of wine and suddenly said.

"If he comes these days, I will start to worry about our game." Michael next to him laughed: "I'm probably preparing for the playoff game now, so where do I come to drink when I have time?"

"If we didn't play in the FA Cup or the League Cup this season, we should celebrate the Premier League next season!" A fan said regretfully.

"Just like you didn't cheer when we entered the quarterfinals of the League Cup." Others immediately collectively despised.

"What's the point of saying this now?" Sawyer knocked the bar with a cup: "Don't forget, if we win two more games, we can still enter the Premier League! In the next game, call everyone and let the guys in South London know how good we are!"

"That's right! Let the people of South London know how powerful we are in East London!" a group of drunks cheered.

"What a pity, Brisbane Road can accommodate 13,000 people, which is a little too small." Chris said with some regret.

"That's okay." Sawyer touched his daughter's head: "It was at Wembley in the finals, and no matter how many people can go!"

"We are going to go to the finals for 30,000 people!" John raised his cup high and let out a wolf howl.

"That's right! Thirty thousand people!" Everyone raised their cups and responded loudly.

Xiao Ming really has no time to come to the bar to drink these days. Even when he eats, he ordered takeout and eat directly at the club. The interval between the first and second rounds is only four days. He must make adjustments in tactics to let the players prepare new tactics.

In the last game, Leiden Oriental used the midfield press to cut off the connection between the Crystal Palace midfielder and the forward, and then used the personal ability of the defender to freeze the opponent's two forwards, but this method must not be used in this game. At home, they have to win, defeat their opponents, and advance to the finals of the play-offs!

Although Leiden Oriental's strength is higher than Crystal Palace, its strength on the football field is just a factor that determines the outcome of the final game. In such a knockout match, sometimes luck can determine who can laugh at the end.

Xiao Ming should not be surprised, he will kill all the adverse factors in the bud.

"In this game, all we have to do is attack! That's right, Crystal Palace is indeed one of the best offensive teams in the League One, but don't forget that their league goals are five less than us! In terms of offense, we don't need to be afraid of them at all! In terms of defense, we are much better than them! So compared to offense, our advantage will be a little bigger... In the last game, we used defensive tactics at their home court, and they might think we were afraid of their offense... So in this game, we let them see why we are the team with the strongest attack power in the League One!"

This is what Xiao Ming said to all the players before the training camp began in the past few days. During the training days, Leiden Dongfang has been training on offense and training various routines in offense. What Xiao Ming wants is nothing else, but scoring one more goal than the opponent in offense, that is enough!

This is undoubtedly the game that fans are most willing to see.

Brisbane Road Stadium on May 14th.

The tickets for this game were bought within two days after the playoff schedule was confirmed, and more than 13,000 tickets were sold out. Even so, there were still many fans who played the "I need a ticket" outside the stadium. Even the players from Leiden East complained that they could not get any tickets, especially those players in the Walthamsto area, who were harassed by relatives and friends.

Xiao Ming was regretful to see this scene. It would be great if the ticket price could be increased like in the game. Now it seems that not to mention ten pounds per ticket, even if it is increased to one hundred pounds per ticket, it would probably be all. The ticket revenue for such a game can reach more than one million pounds, and the operating expenses will be available for next season.

However, Xiao Ming would not do such things, and the scalpers cannot be banned anywhere. However, if the club takes the lead in becoming a scalper, it is just playing with the feelings of the fans, and the reputation will be so bad that it will not be able to turn over for decades.

However, when he sat on the coaching seat, Xiao Ming was still shocked. The concentration of fans behind him was much more than usual. If he used to be one seat and one fan, now there are at least two seats and three fans. God knows how many fans have flocked into the stadium.

"Did only 13,000 people come to the scene today?" Xiao Ming asked MacDonald: "Why do I think there are at least 15,000 people?"

McDonald smiled bitterly: "There will definitely be many people who have found ways to sneak in... You know, they are all residents nearby and are more familiar with the Brisbane Road Stadium than we do... On this day, there must be many fans who sneak in through various means, which is inevitable. There are also roads near our stadium, and there are no trees or anything else, otherwise there will definitely be many people climbing up trees to watch the game outside the stadium."

Xiao Ming sweated for a moment, then became worried: "There are so many people coming in, there will be no problem, right?"

Looking at the players standing in the stands, everything about the Hillsborough tragedy flashed through his mind - that time, too many fans flocked to the stands, resulting in chaos and trampling, and more than 90 people were injured.

"It should be no problem." McDonald thought for a while, and then comforted Xiao Ming: "It's just one or two thousand more people came in, and no one will come in now... Besides, there are no barbed wire in the stands now, and there will be no such squeeze situation. Even if there is anything, they can escape to the court."

McDonald just said a few words, after all, for all British people, the Hillsborough tragedy is a scene they don't want to recall.

Xiao Ming nodded. Although he was a little annoyed by the club's work, he also knew that this kind of thing would be difficult to eliminate. Local fans find ways to enter the stadium to watch the game when they cannot buy tickets. This is a very normal thing. They will definitely have various ways to enter the stadium. This is also because the Brisbane Road stadium facilities are relatively outdated and the locals are familiar with the situation. After he expands the stadium in the future, this situation will naturally disappear.

Just as he was thinking this way, the shouts of Sawyer and the others came from behind him.

"Xiao! We will win this game, right? We will enter the Premier League, right?" Sawyer shouted at him.

Looking at the stands behind him that were denser than usual, Xiao Ming smiled and then gave him a thumbs up.

"Of course!"

There was a cheer from the stands, and Sawyer and his group began to applaud rhythmically, clapped three times, and stomped their feet together. The entire stand was immediately enveloped in a huge sound, and then in the sound, they shouted at the same time: "Leyton!"

Feeling the huge vibration from under his butt, Xiao Ming took a deep breath of air and felt the blood in his body also start to boil.

"This is the most wonderful music in the world!" Xiao Ming said to MacDonald with a smile: "Listen to their tacit applause and shouting, I feel like a war drum hitting my heart, and my whole body is starting to be shocked. I like this feeling!"

Xiao Ming waved away a trace of shadow caused by too many people entering the field, and slammed his fingers in a thrilling manner: "We will definitely win this game!"
Chapter completed!