Fox in the Penalty Area

"I think Bernard's injury may have affected the Stan Park Rangers more than we first thought...otherwise why would Brooks allow Bernard to have the meniscus removed? Obviously he should not want his own. The main midfielder is reimbursed for the season..."

"I don't understand it. Even if Bernard is reimbursed for the season, the Rangers still have an eight-point advantage over us in the standings, and there is a 14-point difference against Manchester City. What is there to worry about? "

"Who can say anything about football? There are still 13 rounds in the league, and anything can happen in these 13 rounds..."

"That's the way it is. Bernard is indeed the core midfielder of the Stan Park Rangers, but the Rangers are not supported by one person, and Brooks is not a coach who can't play without Bernard. I Think Stan Park Rangers can still defend their title as long as they are careful!"

In the tea room, the coaches of Leeds City were also discussing the biggest news in English football recently, and derived their views on the league situation from this.

At this moment, the head coach Tony Clark and Matt Dorn walked in.

"Okay, guys, let's put other people's affairs aside. Next I want to discuss one big thing with you, which is about our ultimate goal for this season." said the man.

"Tony, you finally figured it out, so let's say, are we going to compete for the FA Cup this season or keep the Champions League qualification?" Assistant coach Sam Randyll shouted.

Clark smiled slightly: "Neither. We want to compete for the league championship."

The tea room suddenly fell into a deathly silence.

Only Matt Dawn, who had known for a long time, took a sip of black tea, and there was only the grunting sound of his mouth squirming in the tea room.

When Matt put down the teacup, Randyll finally came back to his senses, and he exclaimed: "Did I hear you right, Tony? What you just said was indeed the league champion, not the FA Cup champion ?”

"You heard me right, Sam. The league champion, of course."

Others in the tea room also came back to their senses, but they didn't know what to say, so they could only look at Clark with surprised eyes to show their respect.

"League champion... hell!" Randyll muttered and suddenly raised his voice, "That's the Premier League champion! Do you think it's so easy to get?"

Clark shrugged: "If it's not easy to take, why should I think about it for so long and hesitate?"

Randyll heard it: "So you have been hesitant before, not because you don't know whether to choose the FA Cup or the Champions League qualification, but because you want to win the championship?"

Clark grinned and looked at his assistant: "That's right, Sam. Otherwise, why do you think I have to think so long about such simple multiple-choice questions as the FA Cup and the Champions League?"

"Then why are you suddenly making up your mind now?" Randyll asked.

"Because we beat the Stan Park Rangers away. I saw our potential from this game..."

"Wait, Tony. With the victory in this game, you are sure? We can beat the Stan Park Rangers in the away game, but it does not mean that we will definitely win the championship. The competition for the league championship is not a single game A knockout cup game. Even if the Stan Park Rangers lose to us, they will still be eight points ahead of us! And we won't have the chance to play against them directly, their win or loss is beyond our control... "

"Yes, you're right. Sam. I don't know if we can definitely win the championship, but it doesn't stop us from trying. It's better to work towards this goal than to have no goal at all."

"Who says we don't have a goal? We can also aim to keep the qualification for the Champions League. And I personally think that this goal may be more realistic..." Randyer did not follow Clark just because Clark was the team's head coach, but It's an argument.

This is actually the reason why Clark kept the "tea room".

I just hope that everyone can speak freely here, even if there is a conflict of ideas, it doesn’t matter, it’s better to speak out and fight, than to be bored in your heart, and then lose your heart.

Randyll has a point, and some in the coaching community agree.

After all, the current Premier League standings look like this:

The first place in the league is still the lost Stan Park Rangers, who have 65 points.

Leeds City is second in the league with fifty-seven points.

The third place Manchester Athletic lost to North London Rangers in this round of the league, and the points are still 51 points.

Tramed, the fourth place, drew 0:0 at home with Waldhampton in this round, with 44 points.

The fifth place North London Wanderers won this round at home to Athletic Manchester, accumulating 42 points.

The sixth-placed London Bridge and the seventh-placed Wiggleston drew 2:2 in this round, and their points each increased by one point, 38 points and 37 points respectively, and their rankings remained unchanged.

Leeds are 15 points ahead of fifth-placed North London Wanderers, a bigger gap than league leaders Stan Park Rangers have over them.

Under such circumstances, it does seem easier to say that Leeds City will qualify for the Champions League next season.

At the same time, it can also be seen that the performance of the traditional BIG6 in the Premier League this season is so hip...

Although Clark has different opinions, he cannot directly use his status as the head coach to force other coaches to accept it. In the tea room, he needs to be emotional and persuade his colleagues with reason.

During this process, his friend Matt Dawn just "stands by" and will not speak for Clark.

After listening to Randall's words and understanding why he said that, Clark smiled and said, "About your question, Sam, it just so happens that the ancient Chinese wisdom has already given the most perfect answer."

Seeing Clark's bewildered smile, Randyll suddenly had a bad feeling.

"Everyone knows that I have been studying "Sun Tzu's Art of War", and there is a saying in it: 'If you seek the top, you will get it; if you ask it, you will get the bottom; if you ask it, you will lose.' What does this mean? Meaning That is to say, if the goal is not set high enough, you will often not get the results you want. If we want to qualify for the Champions League, the safest way is of course to take the league championship as the goal. Instead of simply setting the top four For the goal, in that case, it is easy to fail. Because it is easy for us to relax when we think that we can achieve the goal, just like now..."

Clark spread his hands and looked at Randyll: "Sam, you all feel that with the current points situation, it is not a big problem for us to qualify for the Champions League next season. This kind of mentality is reflected in the entire league. I don’t think it matters because we are ahead of fifth place by 15 points anyway, and we still have 12 points to lose one game... Then what about losing two games? What about losing three games? I always feel that I still have The surplus points can be squandered, and when we find out that the situation is not good, it is actually too late. We are used to failure, and our morale has been devastated...how can we turn the tide at the last moment?"

Randyll was said without saying a word, but he couldn't refute it.

"The league is very long, and a momentary slack may lead to serious consequences. This is what we need to avoid. That's why I set the goal as the league championship. In this way, when we work together and hold back our energy to pursue the league championship, then Naturally, we dare not relax in every game. With this mentality, we face every game. Even if we really fail to surpass the Stan Park Rangers to win the championship in the end, I believe we have already won the Champions League next season. qualifications."

Some people still have different opinions: "But Tony, your goal is to tell the team, otherwise what's the point of talking about it in the tea room?"

"Yes, I will announce this decision to the whole team during training tomorrow." Clark nodded.

"Then you don't worry that this goal is too big and will scare the players? Look at us coaches, we are all scared by you..."

Clark smiled slightly: "I believe that every professional player should regard the 'championship' as their goal, and they should also spontaneously yearn for the championship. If it is just because we set the goal of the championship, we will scare them and cause them pressure If it is too big and does not perform well...it proves that this team is not worthy of good results. If our team wants to have better results in the future, or maintain this result, it is also An excellent test and exercise. Leeds City can't keep relegation every year, right? The change of goals and mentality started from this season, and I think it's pretty good."

After Clark's impassioned speech, Randyll sighed: "You are right, Tony. You convinced me. Indeed, when we set the goal as the championship and work hard for it, the final result should be Not too bad."

"Then this matter is settled. We will adjust our training plan with the goal of the league championship next. Increase the proportion of physical training..."

Clark began to arrange specific tasks for all the coaches, and those coaches also became serious, listened carefully to Clark's arrangements, and wrote them down.

Matt Dawn, who watched the whole show, picked up the teapot and refilled the teacup that he drank dry.

※※※

"Tony, I didn't expect them to really believe that you claimed to win the Champions League just to keep your qualifications for the Champions League..." After leaving the tea room and returning to the head coach's office, Matt Dunn gave Clark a thumbs up, "You The rhetoric of quoting "Sun Tzu's Art of War" completely convinced them, it really belongs to you!"

Unexpectedly, Clark shook his head: "That's my nonsense."

"what?"

"It can't be said to be nonsense. That statement is indeed ancient Chinese wisdom. But it is not in "Sun Tzu's Art of War". At least the original text of "Sun Tzu's Art of War" I bought did not have "seek what is above, get what; seek what is in it , get it; ask for it, you will lose' this sentence." Clark smiled slyly. (Note 1)

"But they all know that I am reading "Sun Tzu's Art of War", so no one will doubt this. 'Soldiers are deceitful. Therefore, if you can, you can show that you can't, if you use it, you can't use it, if you can use it, you can't use it, if you can use it, you can show it. Showing that it’s close.” Obviously wanting to win the championship, but telling them to do so is to keep the qualification for the Champions League, using a purpose that they are more acceptable to cover up and hide my real purpose… Saying this will save us a lot of cost of explaining and communicating , don’t you see that they all believe it? Oh, the sentence just now is really in "The Art of War by Sun Tzu."

Matt Dawn stared wide-eyed, opened his mouth wide, and muttered after a long pause:

"It's really you, Tony, I feel like I almost don't know you..."

Tony Clark laughed: "I also want to thank you for bringing Hu to my side!"

※※※

Note 1: I searched for this sentence on the Internet and it was indeed said to be in "Sun Tzu's Art of War", but I went to search for the original text of "Sun Tzu's Art of War" and found that there is no such paragraph in it.

As for why so many people say this sentence comes from "The Art of War" on the Internet, I don't know...