Coaching career started as a college team coach

Wolves did not stay in Bristol City for long. The next game against Brighton, ranked third in the league, was held on April 15, seven days later. Wolves had plenty of time to adjust and rest, but the players were eager to return to Wolverhampton.

The next day, the team did not arrange a rest, but there was no training task.

In the morning, everyone could move freely in the club. Jota played games with Van der Beck and others in the lounge, Edwards and Coady played table tennis, and self-motivated players like Ruben Dias went to the gym to continue training.

In the afternoon, everyone sat in the screening room of the club's training base on time, and the focus of the TV screen was on the Newcastle players who were wearing black and white striped shirts and doing warm-up training!

Yes, watching the game was the only unified arrangement of the day. This is a kind of joy of arranging self-study classes all day and watching movies together in the evening.

On April 9, Sheffield Wednesday faced Newcastle United away. In this game, Sheffield Wednesday is currently ranked fifth, behind Reading in fourth and Brighton in third.

If they end the season with such a result, they can get a place in the promotion play-offs, and the top two places that can be directly promoted have been taken away by two monsters, Newcastle and Wolves. It is impossible for them to be promoted directly. They basically have to play in the promotion play-offs.

There is no hope ahead, and there are pursuers behind.

Leeds United in seventh place and Fulham in sixth place are fighting fiercely for the sixth place, but the problem is that the points gap between the sixth and fifth places is not very large.

The problem is here. If Fulham wins several games in a row and surpasses them, then they need to compete with Leeds United for the sixth place.

Therefore, no matter what, Newcastle will fight for this game. There is no need to say more about Newcastle. If they want to narrow the score advantage with Wolves, who are leading by 9 points after one more round, to 6 points, they must win this game, and win it beautifully.

Both sides had a very heavy mental burden, and no one wanted to lose. On the TV screen, the players of both sides looked solemn and serious, and they were warming up meticulously.

The camera was given to Newcastle United's head coach Benítez. The Spanish coach also looked solemn, with his arms crossed to supervise his players to warm up before the game. It was hard to tell what he was thinking, but he was obviously not in a very happy mood.

The management of Newcastle United still gave full support to this world-class coach who was willing to commit to coaching. Even if Newcastle had to play in the play-offs this season, as long as they could be promoted, Benítez's position would be very stable.

Now that Newcastle United has locked in the quota for direct promotion, Benítez will not be fired for missing the league championship.

But I don't know what Benítez himself thinks. Wei Le had some understanding of Benítez when he was a fan, including a deeper understanding of Benítez after becoming the head coach.

He came to a conclusion - Benítez is an idealist who is very demanding and stubborn.

Benítez actually doesn't care much about the Newcastle United board's ideas. When he decided to renew his contract with Newcastle United, it was not the Newcastle United contract that moved him, but his gratitude to the club and the fans, and the idea of ​​changing the stage to start over convinced him.

Although the board said that as long as they can be promoted, they will be satisfied, and they don't care whether they win the championship or not, but Benítez himself has requirements for this.

The league is almost over now, but Benítez doesn't seem to "look down on" the Championship League. This is not because he despises the game and prepares passively, but he always thinks that the level of the Championship League is still relatively low.

Before the start of the season, Newcastle United's recruitment work during the pre-season preparations was not particularly aggressive, but only targeted to buy a few players to make up for the vacancies of players leaving the team.

This is mainly due to economic considerations, but in addition, it is also because Benítez feels that even if his team plays in the Championship with such strength, it should not be a big problem to win the championship and be promoted.

So far in the season, it can be said that Benítez has reason to look down on the Championship.

They have achieved good results in the games they can win, and defeated the strong enemy Brighton neatly, and did not take the aggressive Seagulls seriously at all.

At present, the Seagulls have been left behind by them and can only play in the promotion play-offs with a third place.

But it can be said that the only thing that Benítez can do is to win the championship.What surprised Tess was the Wolves led by Wei Le. This is why Benítez thought that they were actually a Premier League team when he (had to) praise the performance of the Wolves.

The implicit meaning is that Benítez still thinks that the overall technical level of the English Championship is just so-so. The Wolves are strong, but the Wolves should not belong to the English Championship. It is the Wolves that are strong, not the English Championship.

But recently, Newcastle's record has also begun to fluctuate, such as losing to Burton, which is ranked in the middle and lower reaches of the league and can be said to be almost in danger of relegation.

Newcastle United looked dizzy in that game. If people who don't know the appearance of the jerseys of the two teams and only know the league rankings watch this game, they may wonder who is the Newcastle player.

It seems that the players in yellow are Newcastle players, and the players in black and white striped shirts are Burton players. Although the facts are exactly the opposite, from the game scene, it is not the case.

In any case, the result of the narrow victory over Leeds United came out, and it seemed that Newcastle had returned to normal, which also made Benítez, who was slapped in the face, regain some face.

In this game against Sheffield Wednesday, which ranks fifth in the league, Newcastle United can be said to have sent all its main players.

Wei Le began to introduce the starting players of both sides to the screen.

Compared with the decisive battle against Wolves, Newcastle United made a relatively large adjustment. First of all, Mitrovic was withdrawn from the front line, and he was replaced by the striker Gayle who has been in great form recently.

Ritchie, Shelvey and Diame, the three players who started in the game against Wolves, also appeared in the starting lineup of this game, and the left forward was Guvran, replacing Atsu (died in the earthquake in 2023, RIP), and the Spanish midfielder Ayos Perez (now Betis No. 10) who played in the first league encounter with Wolves replaced Colback in this game.

On the defensive line, the central defender is Mbemba (now the main central defender of Marseille) replacing Clark, while Russells still plays and wears the captain's armband, and the goalkeeper is still Darlow (now the second goalkeeper of Leeds United).

The opponent Sheffield Wednesday is worth noting in the midfielder David Jones, who used to play in Manchester United's youth training and played for Wolves before 2010. Edwards and him have worked together, and goalkeeper Aikoma has an impression of him. Goalkeeper Westwood was originally a member of Manchester City's youth training.

The average age of Newcastle United's lineup is much younger than that of the opponent.

After Wei Le introduced the starting lineups of both sides and mentioned many of the characteristics of these players. Everyone was surprised, surprised at the head coach's knowledge of the players. Wei Le smiled calmly, hiding his merits and fame.

In a cheerful atmosphere, the game began.