Fox in the Penalty Area

On August 22, in the second round of the English League Cup, Leeds City played against the League One team Kingston at home.

In this game, most of the main players, including Hu Lai, got a chance to rest.

Since the start of the Premier League, there have always been two matches a week. In a game like the League Cup, there is no need to let the main players play.

Because Leeds City has to fight on multiple fronts this season, before the start of the season, head coach Tony Clark made a plan for the games the team will participate in this season.

The League Cup is the lowest priority of all competitions.

Belongs to the race that can be abandoned first.

On the one hand, of course, it is because the League Cup has the lowest gold content among the three major competitions in England. Of course, it is not as important as the League, and it is not as important as the FA Cup in terms of its long history and status in the hearts of fans and media.

On the other hand, it is because the schedule of the League Cup basically coincides with that of the Champions League - when the Champions League group stage is in full swing, if the team wants to play the League Cup, it will be difficult for Leeds City, which is already fighting on multiple fronts. The burden is heavier.

The FA Cup is much better in this regard: Premier League teams do not join the FA Cup until the third round, which is already in early January of the following year. The UEFA Champions League group stage is all over, and it does not delay things.

Based on these two reasons, Clark decisively gave up the League Cup, or he positioned the League Cup as a competition for substitute players to get a chance to play and exercise them. As for grades, there are no requirements, and it doesn't matter how far you can go, and it doesn't matter if you are eliminated.

This time against Kingston at home, according to Clark's plan, Leeds City's starting lineup underwent a major rotation.

But even so, they still easily defeated the League One team Kingston 4:1 at their home court-after all, the opponent's strength is too weak. The League One team is ranked third in the English league system, and there is still a British Championship in the middle of the Premier League level.

The talented Polish forward Dominic Laski, who transferred to join the team this summer, finally scored his first goal in an official game after joining Leeds City.

This talented player, who is highly anticipated by Polish fans, did not immediately satisfy his performance after coming to Leeds City. Still in the running-in period.

As for how many people Laski has paid attention to in Poland, there is so much pressure in Leeds now.

Clark also saw the pressure Laski was under, so this League Cup match with the League One team specifically let Laski start.

Although Kingston is a League One team,

Strength is not strong. But being able to score goals in the game, I believe it can still greatly reduce the pressure on Lasky.

At the post-match press conference, Clark also focused on Lasky's performance.

Through the problems Lasky encountered in Leeds City, it can also be seen how bad Hu Lai's performance was when he scored five goals in the first three games in Leeds City.

Everyone is a genius, but it is obvious that Holly is more genius than Lasky...

※※※

After the League Cup match against Kingston, Leeds City will face Warship Harbor at home. This is the fourth round of the Premier League.

It is also the last game before the UEFA Champions League draw ceremony and awards ceremony for the new season.

In the game, Hu Lai still failed to score a goal, but he dedicated his first assist this season... which came earlier than the assists in previous seasons.

He set up substitute midfielder Robert Canroy for Leeds' equalizer.

In fact, in that game, after Hu Lai himself was heavily marked by Warship Harbor, he opened up more space for his teammates and created opportunities.

Helplessly, the ability of the teammates to seize opportunities is a bit poor, and their luck is not very good.

Fortunately, Canroy, who was replaced, did not disappoint Hou Lai's pass and scored the football into the goal with almost no defense.

In the end, with this goal, Leeds City tied with Warship Harbor at home 1:1.

After four league rounds, Leeds City ranked second with three wins and one tie.

The first place is Liverpool United, they maintained a complete victory after the start of the season, accumulating 12 points.

From third to fifth, Holt, Wiggerston, and Stan Park Rangers all accumulated nine points. In the traditional big6, Warship Harbor, North London Wanderers and London Bridge have the same seven points, ranking six to eight.

It can be seen that the performance of many wealthy teams is obviously not as good as expected.

This is the impact of the World Cup.

Every time there is such a large-scale event as the World Cup or the European Cup, the performance of the wealthy teams will be so ups and downs at the beginning of the next season.

This is mainly because the players in the wealthy teams are basically the main players of their respective national teams, and most of the countries they are in are strong teams, and there is a high probability that they can go further in the World Series.

Now that they have gone further, players have to play more games than other players, be more tired, and have a greater chance of injury.

Even if they are not injured, they will miss the pre-season training to varying degrees because they have participated in more World Series games, and there is no way to get in touch with the team and adjust their status.

The final performance in the league is poor performance and a sluggish state...

This combined phenomenon is collectively referred to as the "World Cup Syndrome".

And on the national team match day during the league, there is another name-"fifa virus".

It is a phenomenon that the more high-level clubs have more international players, the more likely they are to be influenced by the national team.

However, Liverpool United, Holt, Leeds City and Wiggerston have few international players, so the interference from the World Cup is naturally not that great.

So they can currently rank at the top.

However, it must be considered that the league is a long marathon. The background and the thickness of the bench of the rich teams determine that they can always adjust slowly later.

Once they take advantage of their scale, teams like Liverpool United and Holt, which were originally in the middle and lower reaches, will find it difficult to compete with giants, and eventually they will gradually give up their position and return to the position they should be in terms of their strength. superior……

The "miracle" of Leeds City last season is really difficult to repeat on other teams.

Even Leeds City themselves are having a hard time recreating it.

※※※

After the game against Warship Port, the league was temporarily suspended to make way for the national team.

It stands to reason that Hu Lai should fly back to China at this time to prepare for the national team's warm-up match.

But this time, he had to go to Paris, France first.

Went there for the award ceremony for the best player in Europe.

At the same time, the Leeds City Club will also send people to participate in the new season's Champions League group draw ceremony.

Why Paris?

Because Paris is the headquarters of the French "Golden Globe" magazine.

Since UEFA and the "Golden Globe" magazine cooperated, they simply merged the UEFA Champions League draw ceremony and award ceremony together, so that everything will be done in Paris, so that everyone does not need to travel back and forth.

Eventually Leeds City's manager Tony Clarke and club general manager Eric Duffy, along with the players' representatives Hou Lai and... Pete Williams assembled at the airport.

"Peter, why are you here?" When Hu Lai saw Williams on crutches at the airport, he was very surprised.

Williams said angrily: "What kind of expression is that on your face, Hu? I was also selected for the ten-man candidate list!"

As the midfield core of the Premier League champions last season, and was selected for the England team to participate in the World Cup, he also performed well in the World Cup. It is normal for Pete Williams to be selected as the ten-man shortlist for the best young player in Europe last season.

"No...I mean, aren't you recuperating at home? Why are you still running out..." Hu Lai quickly explained.

"I didn't want to come, but Delphine persuaded me to come out to relax, so I came." Williams introduced Delphine Isabella, who had been supporting him, to everyone present.

Isabella greeted them generously, then turned her head to stare affectionately at Williams, men and women in love...

Hu Lai looked at the brown-haired, outstanding-looking woman in front of him. This was the first time he had met Williams' girlfriend—after he went to Williams' house to make a fuss, he really didn't let Williams take Isa Bella called out to treat the guests to dinner.

After all, he really didn't want to be fed dog food.

But I didn't expect to be fed dog food on the way to participate in the awards ceremony...

It's very fucked up.

He asked Clark: "Boss, can you bring your family members to participate in this kind of activity?"

Clark nodded: "Of course, it's okay to bring your parents or lover. After all, this is the moment of glory for every player. Of course, you should share it with your closest people."

Then he looked at the couple in front of him and said with a smile: "Obviously, in Pete's mind, the person closest to him is this beautiful young lady."

Williams did not deny it, but looked at Isabella, and the two looked at each other and smiled.

Hu Lai looked up at the ceiling of the terminal building, using this movement to cover up his rolling eyes.

Williams noticed Hu Lai's action, and he asked, "What's the matter, Hu? What are you looking at?"

"It's nothing, just enjoy the beautiful scenery." Hu Lai continued to look up at the sky.

"Beautiful scenery?" Williams also looked up, looked at the roof of the terminal building made of steel skeletons, and frowned: "What kind of beautiful scenery is this?"

"Hehe. The beauty of industry, the beauty of geometry, the beauty of order...you don't understand, Pete, you are too young."

Williams said: "Small? I already have girlfriends."

Hu Lai: "..."

Damn, how can he answer this?

Clark, who was watching the play next to him, couldn't hold back and laughed out loud, then he patted Hu Lai's shoulder hard.

Hu Lai glanced at Clark sadly: Boss, what do you mean? It's fine if you don't pat me on the shoulder, but once you do, it looks like you're comforting me!

Sure enough, after Clark finished filming, both Williams and his girlfriend Isabella laughed along.

Williams also made up the knife: "Hu, the bone biscuits made by my grandma are really delicious. I will bring you some next time I come to training?"

Hu Lai raised two middle fingers in front of Williams' girlfriend.

Everyone laughed more happily.

※※※

"All right."

I heard the make-up artist's soft call.

Li Qingqing opened his eyes.

She looked at herself with exquisite makeup in the mirror, and lost her mind a little.

She basically never wears makeup, even if she needs to be photogenic.

But this time, for the first time, she allowed the make-up artist of the CCTV crew to do her makeup.

Looking at herself in the mirror, she felt strange at first, but soon realized that this was me, Li Qingqing.

Wang Shanshan, who was standing behind Li Qingqing, looked at the beauty in the mirror, also in a daze.

She watched the whole makeup process by the side, so she knew how the makeup looked. But the moment Li Qingqing opened her eyes, she still felt that the beautiful face in the mirror seemed to emit a soft light, which made the dressing room light up.

It's like admiring a picture of a lady. When the artist draws the eyes of the woman, the lady comes alive, walks out of the painting, and stands vividly in front of everyone.

Those eyes... reflected the lights in the house, shining like stars.

It is so breathtakingly beautiful that it even makes Wang Shanshan a little bit jealous...

However, the CCTV reporter quickly put away his thoughts that he shouldn't have, and walked to Li Qingqing's side with a smile: "You are so beautiful, Qingqing. With makeup on, you can't lose to those big stars at all..."

Li Qingqing shook her head shyly: "I'm a football player. I put so many things on my face, and it turns into sweat when I put it in the sun. By then, all the beautiful makeup will be turned into a mess..."

"Actually, there is waterproof makeup... but that's right. If a professional player spends time and thought on makeup every day...it always feels weird." Wang Shanshan nodded, no longer insisting.

She just tilted her head to look at Li Qingqing in the mirror again, with a smile on her face: "If you go to see Hu Lai like this, you will definitely be able to scare him!"

Li Qingqing also laughed.

※※※

ps, sorry to ask everyone for a long holiday:

During the European Cup, my wife saw that I had to stay up late to watch the football and code words. It was really hard work, so she proposed to take me out to play and relax, instead of sitting in front of the computer all day, staring at the screen and keyboard.

So there is the next self-driving tour of the West Sichuan Small Ring Road...

In fact, it was originally said that I would go out on July 9th, but at that time I considered that the critical moment of the World Cup plot needed to explode, and it was impossible to slow down the pace of updates, so I postponed it until now.

I met my wife’s eldest brother and sister-in-law, and the four of us took a car to go around Kangding, Xinduqiao, and Daocheng, without a computer, without coding, and without children, completely emptying our brains and resting.

But because there are not many manuscripts, there are only twelve chapters, so the next nine days from the 22nd to the 31st can only be changed individually.

Also please understand...

I also want to use this opportunity to go out to temporarily withdraw myself from the tense state of serialization, so that my body and mind can be relaxed, so that I can continue to write the stories of Hu Lai and the others with full energy for everyone, and the writing is complete.

After all, this book has been written for more than a year. In fact, I haven’t taken a serious break. I even coded in the study when my family watched the Spring Festival Gala on New Year’s Eve. I wrote four chapters that day... I wrote it since I started the book. The day with the most people - this shows how boring the Spring Festival Gala is.

In the end, starting from the 22nd of tomorrow, until the end of this month, the 31st, it will be a single change, please understand.