Fir Park, North Lanark.
In Leeds United's second warm-up match against Motherwell, the referee blew the midfield whistle and the two sides entered the halftime break.
The two sides ended in a goalless draw 0-0 in the first half. Leeds United players entered the tunnel and walked to the locker room talking and laughing.
Except, of course, two people.
Alan Smith and Robin Van Persie are constantly at odds.
Van Persie kept gesticulating with his hands, while Smith kept waving his hands.
In this game, Van Persie appeared on the right wing. Lee George sent Morten Pedersen, who performed well in the previous game, on the left wing. At the front was still Iceland forward Ori Oscarsson.
The reason for the quarrel between Smith and Van Persie was that there were two balls in the first half. After Van Persie cut in from the right, he did not pass it to Smith. Smith felt that his position was already out, but Van Persie did not pass the ball. Van Persie felt that Smith was too close to him, blocking his path to cut inside.
This is a very common thing, and you just need to talk about it, but Smith has a bad temper and his voice gets louder as he talks. And Van Persie is not someone who is easy to mess with. He dared to contradict the coach at Feyenoord at a young age and would not let Smith off when he raised his voice.
"Do you want me to pull Alan away and give him some advice?" Brian Kidd said to George Lee.
"No, it will be fine in a while. This will be common in the future." George Li was a little indifferent to this.
"Won't the locker room be a mess?"
"These two are the only ones quarreling here now. The ones who will return from participating in the European Cup in a few days are not good birds either. Can you pull them over?"
Kidd thought about it, too.
Now it's just Van Persie and Smith, but then there will be Edgar Davis and Thomas Gravesson. These two tough guys are also well-known, and he heard about the new Dutch defender Juris Matheson. His temper is not very good either.
Kidd was thinking as he walked. At this time, the team's right back Danny Mills passed by him. Kidd glanced at his bald head and thought of Graveson who had not yet joined the team, and couldn't help but tremble. .
"Coach Brian, are you okay?"
"fine."
As soon as Kidd walked to the lounge, he saw George Li starting to draw on the whiteboard and starting to talk about tactics.
"Robin, you struggled a bit on the right in the first half, so..."
George Li picked up a sign and placed it in the restricted area of the tactical board.
At this time, Van Persie and Smith stopped arguing. One was drinking water and the other was wiping sweat not far away.
"Same as the second half of the last game, you continue to play forward and give up the right wing to James."
In Milner's game, Lee George asked him to play in the midfield for half of the game. The young man performed well, running and fighting actively. He was really standing next to Smith, and he was constantly wiping sweat. When he heard George Li call his name, he raised his head and looked at the tactical board, and then nodded desperately.
"Ori, you take a rest in the second half. Daniel, go up and play on the left, just like the last game, cut more inside. Morten, you return to the midfield."
The Iceland striker said "OK". His English was not particularly proficient, so he had no problem listening, so he said he should take his time.
Daniel Bratten came on as a substitute at the end of the last game. After getting the ball from the left wing, he cut in and shot into the far corner, scoring the team's third goal.
As for his fellow Norwegian Morten Pedersen, his performance in the last game was too good. In this game, Motherwell focused on him, and he basically had no chance to kick the ball on the left. There were a few crosses in the first half, but they were all forced and of low quality.
"Everyone else should take a rest. In the second half, I will ask a few others who didn't play in the last game to come up and move around, especially those in the backcourt."
In this game, Ian Hart started again, starting with Matteisen, Albucherson, and Kelly.
"The two full-backs come in more often. Don't be too deep. Don't be afraid of losing the ball. Don't be afraid of being hit behind. If you lose it, counterattack immediately. Don't retreat. Leave the two center backs and Eric to keep an eye on MacDonald. alright."
"Okay, that's all I'll say." George Li felt that there was no need to say so much in a warm-up match.
"Why are you targeting the Australian forward like this?" Chris Kasper asked secretly after Lee finished his tactical arrangements.
"Have it?"
"In the two games, he didn't get the ball even a few times. This was obviously a special arrangement by you for Buck and the others."
"Well, I'll admit it, I was targeting him because that's what Coach Martin O'Neal told me."
"He said, you believe it?"
"Coach Martin is a good man. He loves his wife very much, which is very similar to me..."
^^^
Outside St Mirren Park, Paisley Town, Flulen Council District, West of Scotland.
George Lee, Casper and McGee were walking on the street east of the stadium.
The friendly match between Leeds United and St. Mirren just ended, with Leeds United winning 6-1.
George Lee and the three of them did not take the bus and returned to Glasgow with the team. Instead, he walked out of the stadium and walked on the street next to the St. Mirren Park stadium.
Casper looked around for a while and said to George Li.
"George, although I really want to know about you and Jordi going to the red light district in the Netherlands, you don't have to bring me and Colin to a place like this."
Casper said this because the name of this street is "Love Street", which translates to love street.
George Li ignored Casper, but took the lead and continued walking in front, until he stopped at the door of an old bar.
He looked up at the signboard. This bar had a sense of age and seemed a bit out of place with the other bars on Love Street.
“That’s it.” George Li walked in first.
As soon as I entered the bar, I saw an old bartender cleaning glasses at the bar. The bar was relatively deserted, with few people drinking.
"This is..." As soon as Mikey entered the bar, he was attracted by the photos on the wall of the bar.
There are many old black and white photos on the wall. The one that Mikey stared at showed a man in his thirties or forties wearing a suit, plaid shirt, and tie. He was pointing with his mouth wide open and pointing towards the opposite side. What are you talking about.
There is a black and white photo hanging next to it. There are two players in the locker room. One is holding a bottle, and the other is holding something. Sitting next to him is a man wearing a shirt with his sleeves rolled up. It should be a player. The team's coach was filling his mouth with a bottle of wine.
"Boss, three glasses of whiskey with ice, thank you."
"I didn't expect that the old man was quite handsome when he was young." Mikey finished looking at the photos.
"This is..." Casper heard what McGee said and then looked up at the photos.
Hanging on the wall are photos of some St. Mirren players and coaches. The photos they looked at just now were of their mentor, Sir Alex Ferguson.
In 1975, at the age of 34, Ferguson took over the coaching staff of St. Mirren. In two years, he led the team to win the Scottish Second Division Championship in the 1976-77 season and re-promote to the top league.
In 1978, Ferguson was dismissed as head coach due to conflicts with the top management of St. Mirren Football Club. Ferguson even took St. Mirren to court after the incident.
"Which of you still remembers our dream when we were in Manchester United's youth training?" George Li took the wine brought by the waiter and asked about Casper and McGee.
Ferguson began coaching a Scottish league team at the age of 34, but Lee George became the head coach of a Premier League team at the age of 31. At the starting point, George Li has it, but he doesn’t know whether his future achievements will reach the level of his mentor.
"What else can I do, just help Manchester United win the Premier League championship and stand on top of Europe." McGee said casually after taking a sip of wine.
"That's you. I was the least skilled one at the time. I didn't even think about playing for Manchester United." Casper clinked the wine glass with Li, but he didn't drink it, as if he was thinking about what happened before.
"Isn't it the same for me? Ryan and David are so outstanding. We couldn't compare with them at that time. Of course, George, you are different. You are God's favorite. If it weren't for that, you might not be able to compare with them now. He’s Mr. Football.”
"He has been the best since he was a child. Although the old man didn't come to our youth training often at that time, he always called him over and helped him record the coaching staff meetings. At that time, we all called him something behind his back. ..." Casper couldn't remember.
"Trafford stenographer," McGee reminded him.
"Haha~" The wine glasses of the three people touched together.
"It's such a pity that when Manchester United was brilliant, it was without us..."
McGee started to talk about their three unsuccessful playing careers again, and Casper also talked to him about the difficulties of the past few years.
The two did not sign with Manchester United after they reached adulthood, but have been playing in lower-level leagues.
A few minutes later, George Li interrupted the complaint between the two of them.
"So, can you help me lead Leeds United to glory like Manchester United?"
Regarding George Li's words, the other two were stunned for a moment, then looked at each other and laughed.
"Okay~"
"Since you missed it once, you can't miss it a second time."
The three wine glasses hit each other again, and there was a sound of collision between wine glasses and ice cubes.
