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Chapter 397 Second Line Newcastle
When Pei Wei came to the locker room, Newcastle's coach Mourinho had already arranged the tactics and let the players do their own thing.

Seeing the owner and assistant coach push the door in, the Newcastle players greeted Pei Wei one after another, and Pei Wei greeted them one by one with a smile.

"You are late." When Pei Wei sat down beside Mourinho, Mourinho frowned and said.

"I'm going to receive Mr. Hoffman. I have to do it myself for an old man who is almost 70 years old. This is also the way of hospitality." Pei Wei replied with a smile: "Anyway, this game has nothing to do with it. Do you still need me to boost the morale of the players?"

Mourinho also laughed. Indeed, there is no need to pay too much attention to the game without the pressure of winning or losing. It can be seen from his starting lineup...

Mourinho looked at his watch, and it was less than 10 minutes before the start of the game. He slapped his hands and made the players focus on him: "Okay, guys, now we can start. We are the masters, don't let the guests wait for us on the court."

The players laughed, their hospitality is very simple, that is to let the other party go home with failure...

Seeing the players running out of the locker room in high spirits, Pei Wei smiled, then turned to Mourinho and said, "You know what? That young man who I asked you to testify for getting a labor certificate through the special talent clause is our opponent today."

"Which guy?" Mourinho looked a little puzzled. It's not that he has a bad memory, but that he has done this kind of thing many times. The most recent time was to help a goalkeeper Wu Bufan, who has only been selected for the Chinese national team less than five times, transfer to Tottenham Hotspur...

"It's the six-foot-seven-inch tall guy who looks very honest!" Pei Wei reminded Mourinho: "I even went to Mallorca to ask you to help!"

"Oh, I remembered." Mourinho immediately remembered: "The one named Long Bisheng... I said that when I was studying the first round of the game, why did I find this guy's name so familiar? It turned out to be him, but his performance in that game was not very good. I originally arranged for Dawson to defend him."

"He played a bit abnormally in that game, but Hoffenheim's two wins over Lyon depended on his performance." Pei Wei said: "He played in Leeds for two seasons and scored more than [-] goals in each season. He scored [-] league goals in the first season when he moved to Hoffenheim. He has scored [-] league goals this season. This scoring rate is not too high, but he is very active and selfless on the court. He also has about ten direct assists per season."

"Well, this statistic is pretty good. I'll take a good look at him today." Mourinho nodded. He understood Pei Wei's meaning. Although the 33-year-old Drogba is still in good shape, he is old after all. Now Newcastle does not lack forwards with fast speed and good skills. On the contrary, what they lack is a center like him. The 33-year-old Drogba has to play more than [-] games every season, which is a big burden for a veteran.

Today, Pei Wei recommended this striker named Long Bisheng, and he can also observe it carefully. Mourinho still attaches great importance to the players recommended by Pei Wei. Although he has rarely recommended new players in recent years, it is precisely because of this exception that Mourinho also has great interest in this Long Bisheng.

At this time, Long Bisheng was chatting with his old friend.

This season, Newcastle took back Huntington from Leeds. After Lucio's transfer, Newcastle's main central defender combination became the substitute central defender combination of the England national team-Michael Dawson, who had just turned 28, and Steven Taylor, who was 25 years old, and their substitute was 23-year-old Paul Huntington.

After honing in Leeds for four seasons, Mourinho believes that Huntington already has the strength to gain a foothold in Newcastle, and his performance is also very competitive. When Dawson and Taylor take a break in rotation, he is a quite reliable substitute.

"I didn't expect you to be able to start today. It seems that Newcastle really sent off the bench in this game." Long Bisheng said to Huntington with a smile.

Huntington's eyes widened: "You bastard! Are you starting to look down on me now that you are the main player in Hoffenheim? See how I will deal with you in the game later!"

"Are you in charge of watching me today?" Long Bisheng asked curiously.

"You want to talk to me? No way!" Huntington looked very shrewd.

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To say that the dragon must win is not to look down on Huntington. Newcastle did send a lot of substitute players in this game - goalkeeper Cech, there is no need to rotate in this position, and the right back is FM2009 Croatian monster Srna. This player was bought by Mourinho from the Miners a season ago. Bernard, he is also a veteran of Newcastle. Although he has mainly played as a substitute in recent years, he was also selected for the French national team at his peak. The other central defender besides Huntington is Taylor. He is also the only main force in the defense.

The four players in the midfield are Essien, Bostock, Janus and Ribery. Gerrard and Carrick are both on the bench, while Messi is also on the bench in the forward line, and Drogba is partnered with teenager Theo Walcott.

Newcastle, with only five main players on the field, is a veritable second-tier lineup. Ribery was on the field because he did not play in the last league game due to injuries.

Although it is a second-tier lineup, Newcastle is still very strong. Janus is a former England international. In recent years, he has not been selected for the England national team due to his age and the instability of his main position. Although he offended Tottenham to a certain extent, it also helped them settle down some conflicts. Although he didn't play many games in Newcastle, as a substitute for Carrick and Gerrard, he also had a lot of opportunities to play and exercise. Now he is the absolute main force of England's under-19 youth team. Not to mention Walcott, he is now a regular visitor to the England national team. In addition, other players are basically at the international level, which is in stark contrast to Hoffenheim.

Seeing this lineup, even many Hoffenheim fans murmured in their hearts-the second-tier lineup is so awesome, can we really win Newcastle away?
But for Hoffenheim's players, the pressure Newcastle put on them is not that great.

Firstly, they have already played a few Champions League matches, and the nervousness at the beginning is gone; secondly, they have played against Newcastle once, although they lost badly that time; thirdly, they are all professional players, and Newcastle players are also professional players.

Rangnick's lineup is still the same. He is not Mourinho, and he is not leading Newcastle, where even the substitutes are international players. The Bundesliga has always had fewer stars than the Premier League, especially after entering the 21st century.

10 minutes after the game started.

Pei Wei, who was sitting on the coach's bench, let out a slightly surprised "Hey". Hoffenheim, who had a back-to-back fight, did not attack aggressively at the beginning of the game. The penetration of the short pass was a mess, not to mention that Janus was helping him, the efficiency of Hoffenheim's attack was quite low.

But even though the efficiency was low, Hoffenheim still insisted on attacking like this, and did not speed up the game. The game time had passed 10 minutes, and the number of shots from both sides was not many, and more time was spent fighting for the midfield.

"Compete with us in midfield? Rangnick isn't that stupid, is he?" Pei Wei said to himself, but Mourinho didn't speak. He also wanted to see what kind of tricks Rangnick was going to play. Anyway, there was still a long game, so there was enough time to play slowly.

PS: Tirelessly code words, tirelessly ask for monthly tickets...

(End of this chapter)