On the eve of Leeds’ away game against Burley, the entire Leeds City team stayed at the Burnley hotel.
This is their first Premier League game of the new season. Before the game, the coaching staff was very strict and required all players to go back to their rooms to sleep after ten o'clock in the evening. They were not allowed to leave the hotel if they wanted to leave the hotel.
It's absolutely impossible to play that.
Perhaps it was because they played so poorly in the last warm-up match that the players did not object to the coaching staff's arrangements.
They also know that the current external atmosphere is not friendly to the team. Why are they thinking about going out to play at this time? If there is an accident in tomorrow's game, then whoever goes out to play will be the team's loser."
The culprit”.
So when the time comes, everyone rests quietly in their respective rooms.
Even if I can't sleep for a while, I will lie in bed and chat instead of going out to have fun.
Hu Lai and Charlie Potter were assigned to a room. Now they have both taken a shower and are lying on the bed, turning off the lights and chatting casually.
Potter suddenly talked about his prospects for the new season: "Hu, did the boss tell you how many balls you can exchange for a meal this time?"
Hu Lai shook his head: "The activity of scoring goals in exchange for treats is gone."
Hearing this, Porter sighed regretfully: "That's such a pity... The opportunity to go to Red Chili Pepper to eat Chinese food openly is really rare..."
“Why do you think so much about good things all day long, Charlie?”
"As you said, I don't want good things to happen, do I want to think about bad things? For example, if we lose to Burley tomorrow in an away game?"
Hu Lai turned his head and glanced at Potter: "Fortunately, you and I are roommates, Charlie. If it had been Peter, you would have been beaten by him by now."
Potter was very proud: "He can't beat me." Then he sighed: "I don't know what will happen if Peter and Ismail live in the same house..."
“What can happen? What do you want to happen?”
Charlie Potter shook his head: "I don't know."
“Put you and Ismael in the same room, and maybe something will happen. With Peter here, nothing will happen.”
Porter thought about it and felt that Hu Lai was right. Pete Williams was a very serious and responsible person. At special moments like the eve of the game, he must strictly abide by team discipline and wash up and go to bed early. So he wanted to come
Kamala and I probably spent the whole night without talking and slept until dawn.
He changed the subject again: "Hu, what are your prospects for this season? You only played for less than half a season last season and you scored 11 goals. I see that there are already fans on the Internet guessing how many goals you can score this season.
The ball has been scored. There are also bookmakers who are betting on your number of goals this season..."
“Oh? How did you open it?” Hu Lai didn’t feel sleepy anymore when talking about this topic.
Professional football is deeply penetrated by the gambling industry. Each Premier League team has a dedicated gambling sponsor, and some teams’ main jersey sponsors are even gambling companies.
The developed gambling industry covers all aspects of professional football. Gambling companies can place bets on any event in the Premier League.
Some bets seem particularly weird, such as whether a certain player will transfer to a certain team, whether a certain player will start in the game, the possibility of a certain player getting injured during the season, whether a certain player will
Eating pie at the game…
Comparatively, betting on the championship and runner-up, game wins and draws, number of goals, and number of corner kicks can all be considered traditional items in football betting.
In British life outside of football, almost everything can be betted on by bookmakers. For example, who will be elected President of the United States, who will win the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, and when will Haruki Murakami win the Nobel Prize for Literature?
Will it be sunny, rainy or snowy this Christmas Eve, what color hat will Her Majesty the Queen wear at the horse racing meeting...etc.
The reason is that the UK is a country that is keen on gambling, and the British really like gambling.
Even professional players are no exception. There have been many precedents for players to participate in betting on football matches. That is why the Football Association later stipulated that all professional players and their family members are not allowed to participate in football-related betting.
"Wait a minute, let me look for it..." Porter turned over and picked up his mobile phone to browse and search. A dim light came on in the room with the lights off. "Ah, I found it. Who predicts that you will score less than five goals in the Premier League this season?
Pay forty-five. To be honest, I think it’s hard for you to score so many goals in a season... From six to nine goals, the odds are thirty to one, and from ten to fifteen, the odds are two to five...
Obviously, they all think you should be able to score in double figures again."
The betting company's odds are basically based on the player's performance, and then calculated by actuaries, and are finally calculated. They also need to be adjusted at any time according to the player's recent status.
The odds of 2 to 5 means that the betting company believes that Hu Lai has a very high chance of scoring ten to fifteen goals in the new season. Therefore, by offering such odds, we tell the lottery players: If you bet on this, it will be a big chance.
There is a probability that you won't lose money, but even if you win, you won't make much money.
The reason why the betting company offers such odds has a lot to do with Hu Lai's performance last season.
Hu Lai joined midway through last season and scored 11 goals in just 15 games. Such efficiency made bookmakers agree that it would be easy for him to score 15 goals after a full season in the new season.
Yes, it is a normal behavior.
“The odds of sixteen to twenty balls are fifteen to one.”
The odds have increased, but they are lower than the previous odds of 45 to 1 and 30 to 1. Bookmakers believe that it is more difficult for Hulay to score so many goals than it is for him to score 15 goals.
, but it’s not ridiculously big. It’s a goal that might be achievable if you work hard and have better luck. Bookmakers are betting on him scoring twenty goals in a single season, which is better than betting on him scoring less than ten goals in a single season.
Optimistic.
“Twenty-one to twenty-five goals, one pays one hundred and sixty-six. The odds are already very high...”
This odds is much higher than Hulay's odds of scoring less than five goals, which fully shows that it is more difficult to score than not to score. If a player encounters factors such as poor condition, injury and missing a large number of games, after a season,
There may be no goals. But if you want to score as many goals as possible, you need more factors: personal strength, team personnel configuration, correct tactics, good form, and excellent luck.
No.
"Of course, there are higher ones. The odds of you scoring more than 30 goals are 436 to 1. Basically, it means don't even think about it. It's impossible." After finishing speaking, Charlie Potter turned over his phone.
Put it aside and the room returned to darkness.
In the darkness, Hu Lai, who was in the next bed, said: "Okay, then I will set the goal goal for this season at thirty!"
Almost at the same time, the long-lost voice sounded in Hu Lai's mind: "Mission: Score at least thirty goals in the Premier League in the 2025-2026 season. Reward: Points × 300,000. Special reminder: If the mission fails, you will not be able to
You will receive a reward, and a penalty mechanism will be triggered, deducting 300,000 points from your existing points. If your existing points are not enough, you will have negative points and enter a state of debt..."
Hu Lai was stunned.
In fact, when he first announced this goal, he had a hunch in his heart that the system that had been pretending to be dead for a long time might issue a mission, just like the two missions he had done at the Olympics.
So when the mission really came up, he had no emotions in his heart, and even wanted to laugh a little - you kid, you still want to trick me? I saw through it, right?
But when he saw the “special reminder” at the end of the task, he was stunned in his conscious space.
He really didn’t expect that he could be tricked like this!
He understood the sinister intention of this system - if he failed the mission, not only would he lose the reward of 300,000 points, but he would also owe 300,000 points.
And he currently has less than 300,000 points on his own - the previous task of winning the Chinese Super League Golden Boot allowed him to gain 100,000 points, and then he helped Leeds City successfully avoid relegation last season, and another 200,000 points, adding up
It was three hundred thousand, but he bought training scrolls, [stamina potions] and various equipment and props, etc., and the remaining points were only a little over two hundred thousand.
In other words, if he fails the mission, not to mention that the 210,000 points will be cleared instantly, his actual points should be close to minus 100,000.
In this way, even if he completes the mission reward in the future, the points he receives must first pay off the debt. Before the points are reset to zero and become a positive number, he can no longer use the points to purchase anything.
He used to think that even if he couldn't complete the tasks issued by the system, it didn't matter. If he didn't need those task rewards, he might really be able to give up on some tasks that were too difficult.
Just like the task of scoring a hat trick and qualifying for the group stage in the Olympics, if you really can't complete it...then you can't complete it.
You can’t force things on others.
But now this mission actually has a punishment mechanism.
He didn't know if the system had been upgraded secretly, because since he came to the Premier League, he hadn't seen any upgrade prompts on the system - of course, it couldn't be ruled out that the system was like some smart phones, which secretly patched your system, but didn't
I won’t tell you yet, until you find that your phone is getting laggy and battery life is getting worse and worse as you use it. You think your phone is getting old and you should get a new one... In fact, it’s just a thief mobile phone manufacturer forcing you to upgrade.
, good consumption.
Looking at this punishment mechanism, Hu Lai really wanted to slap himself on the ear - for making you say that you want to score thirty goals!
Be low-key and give a smaller number, just say... fifteen goals, how safe is that?
It has to be exciting!
Hu Lai was on a research mission in the system space, and it was also a time of regret. For the real world, only one second had passed.
Charlie Potter laughed when he heard this: "Hu, you are joking again. Ha!"
Unexpectedly, Hu Lai's serious voice came from the bed next door: "I'm not joking, Charlie. I really plan to score...at least thirty goals this season."
Charlie Potter, who had just been lying on the bed, turned over and sat up after hearing this, turned his head and looked in the direction of Hu Lai: "Are you crazy, Hu?!"
“I’m not crazy, Charlie.”
"Thirty goals... do you know what this number is? You can compete for the Golden Boot with thirty goals! When Marvin Stones of Manchester United won the Golden Boot last season, it was thirty-two.
ball……"
Hulai certainly knows this, but what can he say?
He couldn't say to Porter: "Man, there is a system in my head. It just issued a task to me, asking me to pay taxes for my bragging. If I can't complete this task, then I will lose money."
Tragic..." right?
Hu Lai, who was lying on the bed, took a deep breath: "So what? If you want to play, let's play big, Charlie. You can't live without being crazy. If you don't push yourself, you will never know where the limit is. Otherwise, it's golden boots.
Really? Then I will go for the golden boots!"
After he said these words, when he heard the emotionless voice in his head, he didn't even bother to look at what the specific task was - just whatever, it doesn't matter, I can handle all the other tasks for him
.
You guys come together, I’m in a hurry!
In the darkness, Charlie Potter heard the sound of Hu Lai's teeth gnashing from the bed next to him, and was deeply shocked.
This...is this the confidence and courage of a genius?!