champion light

Chapter 813 Nothing seems to have changed

After Benitez's first day of training sessions, Manchester City held a press conference to announce the appointment of the new head coach.

At the press conference, Benitez smiled and told reporters: "I know it will not be easy being the manager of Manchester City, but I have the confidence to lead the team back to where they should be."

A reporter raised his hand and asked, "Where is the 'should be' position you mentioned?"

Although this is a question raised by a reporter, it is indeed of concern to everyone.

So the reporters on the scene looked at Benitez.

Not only the reporters, but even the club president Fahim who was sitting next to him turned his head to him, wanting to hear his answer.

"As my predecessor said, it is the European qualification for next season." Benitez said calmly.

This answer surprised everyone. They originally thought that Benitez should say "relegation".

The league is ranked No.18, the third from the bottom, and Benitez still wants to qualify for the European competition next season?

In England, if your team wants to qualify for the European competition next season, it must be ranked in the top five at the end of the season.The top four in the league are qualified for the Champions League, and the fifth in the league is qualified for the UEFA Cup.Otherwise, look to the team to do well in the cup competitions - both the League Cup winners and the FA Cup winners are eligible for the UEFA Cup.

Of course, if you end up ranking sixth in the league, as long as the winner of the League Cup has already qualified for the European war, then your team can also qualify for the European war.

Otherwise, it is the FA Cup runner-up. According to the regulations, when the FA Cup champion has already qualified for the European war, their European qualification will be automatically obtained by the FA Cup runner-up.

But this season, Manchester City has been eliminated in the League Cup, and there is no hope for the League Cup. The league ranking is now too far away from the top six - after the 32th round of the league, Everton ranks sixth. They have [-] points, [-] points more than Manchester City.

This huge point difference almost makes people see no hope.

So if Manchester City wants to qualify for the European War, they must at least reach the FA Cup final.

But with Manchester City's state, is it so easy to enter the FA Cup final?

In short, everyone felt that Benitez was talking big.

※※※

"Did you hear that? Our new head coach actually said that his goal is to play in Europe next season?"

"It's really arrogant...how is this possible?"

"Confidence is a good thing, but looking at his training sessions, I can't feel the difference between him and Mark Hughes at all..."

……

In the locker room, the Manchester City players who cared about the team and their own future chatted about Benitez's press conference while taking a break.

Listening to everyone's discussion, Sun Hai frowned.

Everyone seems to be quite pessimistic. If this is the case, the morale will not be much higher. What will happen to the next game?

He turned his head to look at Rongguang's position, there was no one there, and he was still practicing his free kick on the training ground.

As the team's number one star, he has remained silent about the arrival of the new coach Benitez... No, it's not just this one thing, he has become more silent recently.

It’s just that he is practicing hard, and the communication with his teammates has become less. Sometimes you can only see him on the training ground, and you can’t see him at all in the locker room.

Will he regret coming to Manchester City?

Sun Hai was a little worried.

He himself has feelings for Manchester City. He naturally hopes that Manchester City will perform better and better. He also hopes that Rongguang can stay in Manchester City for a long time, just like what he said at the joining ceremony, leading Manchester City to become a giant.

But the ideal is beautiful, but the reality is cruel.

Sun Hai is worried that the cruel reality will make Rongguang eventually leave Manchester City and go to other giants - just like everyone hopes.

When he returns to China to play, he will also hear the views of domestic fans on Rongguang and Manchester City's recent results.They also hope that Rongguang will leave the "bad team" of Manchester City-this is the unkind evaluation of Manchester City by domestic fans-it is better to go to Manchester United than to stay in Manchester City.

Now Sun Hai feels more and more that what the fans said will become a reality.

If Rong Guang had left Manchester City... By that time, how many people in such an international mercenary team would still stick to the Manchester City Stadium?

※※※

The No.20 round of the league kicks off on the afternoon of December 29. Manchester City will challenge Blackburn away.This is Manchester City's last game in 2008 and also the first game after Manchester City's new coach Benitez took office, so it has attracted much attention.

Everyone wants to see how the new coach, who has not shown anything new in training, will perform in the game.

The results were...disappointing.

Manchester City's tactics in the game look no different from those of Mark Hughes and Mark Bowen. The players' fighting spirit is not high, morale is low, and the state is sluggish.

Only Rong Guang, as always, scored a goal in the game and helped Manchester City equalize the score.

It was this goal that earned City a point.

In the end, Manchester City drew 1:1 with Blackburn in the away game.

During the game, television broadcasts frequently focused on Manchester City's new coach Benitez.

"The game was played like this, and Benitez didn't show any decent performance at all... Maybe even he felt that Manchester City had accumulated a lot?" During the game, guest commentator Alan Hansen said. "Rong scored again. This is the No. 15 goal he scored this season, and he continues to lead the league's scorer list. If Rong alone can represent Manchester City, that would be great. Manchester City is now the number one in the league!"

"The training is the same as the predecessor, the tactics are the same as the predecessor, the game mode is the same as the predecessor... Then why does the Manchester City Club replace Mark Hughes?" After the game, the "Manchester Evening News" issued such a question.

"Before we thought it was impossible for someone to do worse than Mark Hughes, so we supported Manchester City's coaching change. But now I regret it, and I start to reflect. I don't think Benitez may do better than Mark Hughes..."

"Manchester City still haven't won. The last time they won was the ninth round of the league. They beat Stoke City 3-1 at home. That was also the last victory in a wave of three consecutive victories. Since then, Manchester City's games have been tied or lost. The ranking of the league has also slipped from seventh to No.15. At the worst time, they ranked No.18..."

……

After the game, the English media was full of criticism and ridicule of Benitez.

Of course, there is also a lot of ridicule for Manchester City.

The United Kingdom used to be the hegemon of the world, which made their nationals have always had a sense of superiority.Even though Britain is no longer the world's hegemon, almost all of their colonies have separated from them and become independent, but the mentality of the British has not improved much.

This also led them to have a sour grapes mentality towards outsiders like the Abu Dhabi consortium waving checks in front of them to show off their financial power and show off their power.

What's so great about the Arabs?
When our colonies were all over the world, and the Union Jack could always see the sun, the Arabs were still playing with the sand!
Because of such a sense of superiority, they are happy to see some retribution for Manchester City's "degenerates" who "abandoned tradition and sold their soul and body to an oil devil".

※※※

There has been talk about their new head coach in the locker room lately, but after the first game, that talk died down.

Everyone seems to have lost the desire to discuss.

At present, it seems that the new coach will not be able to lead them out of the quagmire.

Who cares to talk about him then?
Rong Guang did not participate in such silence. He still came to the training base very early every day. When the parking lot was empty, he would go to the locker room to change and go to the training ground to practice his free kicks.

When Rong Guang arrived at the training base today, he found that the parking lot was no longer empty. There was already a car parked before he came.

He was a little surprised.

He has always been the first person in the team, including players and coaches, he is the first one, and it is impossible for Mark Hughes to come earlier than him.

So who will come earlier than him today?

Rong Guang looked at the black Audi sedan, feeling a little puzzled - none of his teammates seemed to have such a low-key car.

Every day, the parking lot of Manchester City is like an international auto show, with all kinds of luxury cars competing for splendor, and the glorious Mercedes-Benz GL is very inconspicuous here.

Rong Guang didn't figure out who this car belonged to, so he didn't want to. He was not interested in finding out the owner of this car.

Pushing open the door of the locker room, as usual, the locker room was empty.

Rong Guang skillfully changed into his training clothes and walked out of the locker room.

Then he went to the equipment room, dragged out a basket of footballs, came to the training ground, and officially started training.

※※※

When Rong Guang was practicing his free kicks on the training ground, Benitez stood on the sidelines, watching the man quietly.

He mechanically repeated the action of kicking a free kick.

This is not the first time for Benitez to observe Rongguang's extra training. He found that during so many observations, Rongguang has never changed his position. The position where he kicked free kicks is almost always near that point, and they are all on the right side outside the penalty area. When he kicks the ball with his left foot, the football draws an arc, and the goal is the upper right corner of the goal.

Today is December 31, the last day of 2008. Manchester in the northwest of England is already very cold. Although there is no snow, the temperature is approaching zero, especially in the morning.

But in such a cold weather, Rong Guang's body exudes white air, exhaled from his mouth and nose, and evaporated from the sweat on his body...

His whole body seemed to be shrouded in white air, and with his movements, he seemed to be flying through the clouds.

This shows that he exercises a lot and sweats a lot.

You can do this with a free kick... Benitez clicked his tongue secretly.

This is so desperate!

but……

In fact, he didn't have to work so hard.

Thinking of this, Benitez finally broke his silence all the time, walked out from the shadow of the house, and set foot on the training ground.

"Good morning, Rong." He greeted Rong Guang and walked straight to him.

Rong Guang stopped his training and turned to look at the new head coach with some doubts—this was the first time he had a private conversation with himself since he took office.

(End of this chapter)