Born to be a coach [soccer]

Chapter 158

Anton didn't say anything when he sent Pickford home that night, but asked him to come to the office the next morning.

Pickford: ...does this put people to sleep?

Sure enough, the boy was pregnant all night, and came to Guangming College the next day with a pair of dark circles under his eyes.

Before entering Anton's office, Pickford met Russell.Mother Luo patted the young man on the shoulder and said with a sly smile, "Good luck!"

The young goalkeeper became even more nervous, typing countless times, what should he do if Anton...says something.Unexpectedly, when he opened the door and entered the room, Anton asked him to sit at his desk, and handed him a stack of A4 papers: "This is all the tactical training questions in the academy for the past two weeks. I'll go to a meeting, you leave Do all the questions here."

Pickford: ...This is the legendary opportunity for a make-up exam?

Anton still didn't explain, he went out with the coffee cup in one hand and his notebook in the other, and closed the door behind him.

The surroundings quieted down, and Pickford began to concentrate on reading the questions.

Fortunately, he didn't give up. In the past two weeks, he missed all the classes that should be missed, watched all the trainings that should be watched, and asked about everything he didn't understand.This training question will not trouble him, even if he can't become a top student, he will no longer be the scumbag he used to be.

Relieved, Pickford raised his head, dishonestly, he began to look at Anton's desk again.

The head coach's desk is minimalist. Except for several computer screens, the desk is clean and there are no decorations - there is only a small photo frame with a group photo of three people.

This group photo was forwarded by Anton himself on Twitter, and Pickford had also seen it, and recognized the three brothers and sisters of Anton's family.The little goalkeeper let out a sigh of relief, recalling the situation in the Black Cat Bar yesterday, he felt that Anton was indeed a big brother - he could protect his younger siblings properly.

How happy are Anton's younger siblings!

Pickford sighed—as a disciple, he was not so lucky.But I don't know if Anton still considers him a disciple.

Pickford finished answering the questions, left the test paper in Anton's room, and left quietly by himself.

But until noon, Anton didn't give him any feedback.

Pickford couldn't bear it anymore, so he quietly asked Russell, wanting to ask if Anton had any comments on him.

Who knows that Russell said to Pickford at the beginning: "I'm sorry, Anton doesn't want to see you... although he said that you answered the tactical question well."

Pickford immediately looked like he was about to cry.

"Anton said, your performance yesterday was really embarrassing. The most important thing to teach others in a bar: fighting is fighting, don't smash things. Don't you know this truth?"

Pickford was silent for a moment: "I will use my salary to repay Anton for the loss of the Black Cat Bar." He had already told himself: Since he wants to be a mature professional player, he should be brave enough to take responsibility.

"Anton also said, you are usually very clever, why were you so stupid yesterday! That kind of people can trap you in the bar, and even make the media come here after smelling it. If it wasn't for Dennis calling How are you going to get out of here?"

"..." Pickford was speechless.

"Also, Anton said that you usually don't know the priorities, but you finally knew what's not important and what's important..." At this point, Russell's tone finally slowed down.

The freckled boy finally showed some smile on his face.

In the Black Cat Bar yesterday, Vanessa was indeed the most important thing. He would do anything to protect the little girl who was as fragile as glass.

Besides, he was actually measured in what he did, he just wanted to punish him a little, and he didn't intend to hurt anyone - Anton must have seen this.

"...But in the end, the other party was clearly trying to make things difficult for you, but you were helpless. You didn't even know how to scare the other party in a pretentious manner. How can such a mother-in-law behave like his disciple at all?"

Pickford suddenly laughed like a fool.

Anton said that Pickford "doesn't look like his disciple", implying that he still regards Pickford as a disciple.

Russell couldn't help laughing to himself, raised his foot and gave him a false kick to let him go, "You will substitute for Gordon in the next game, and Anton asked you to watch the game while thinking about how the goalkeeper should cooperate with the central defender. Hurry up and get ready, we're leaving for London this afternoon."

Pickford was re-entered the squad, and was overjoyed immediately. He rushed up and hugged Russell, and shouted: "Thank you, I love you, Mom Luo!"

Russell immediately turned dark.

This is not the two talking in private, this is in Guangming Academy, in public.Since then, Russell's nickname has become "famous" and "known all over the world".It's surprising that the originally irascible brother has a warm side like Qiao's mother.

Sunderland rushed to London a day early.Because there are two games to be played in London within five days, the club decided to simply live in London so that the players would not have to travel back and forth.

There are so many clubs in London, Sunderland asked the Championship team Watford to borrow the training ground for two days, and Watford readily agreed.

It was already dark when we arrived in London.The players rested in the hotel as usual, and Russell called the rest of the coaching staff to go to several characteristic football bars in North London to watch the game.Anton was called by them to go together, but was attracted by a small video store on the roadside, so he accused Russell and the others and stopped in front of the video store.

Anton pushed the door into the store, and there was a "ding dong" at the door.

November 11th is Remembrance Day in the UK.From the end of October, almost everyone will wear a "poppy" flower on their chest.It is common to see a lady holding a donation box on the London Underground, telling you that you only need to donate 11 pounds to a charity that supports veterans in exchange for a poppy.

Audio-visual stores and bookstores often also undertake this function.

The bored middle-aged shopkeeper habitually held up the small box containing poppies and shook it.But when he saw the poppies pinned to Anton's chest, the shopkeeper didn't bother to greet him, and simply continued to read his newspaper with his head down.

Anton was happy and quiet, and slowly browsed the records on the shelf by himself.He likes to shop around such a small audio-visual store, and it is easy to find "surprises".

There was another "jingle" at the door of the store, and the owner raised his head again, greeted the people who came in, and then lowered his head to read the newspaper—continuing to be his Buddhist owner.

Anton reached for a vinyl record and held it tightly in his hand, as if he couldn't put it down.

"Will this record be good?" A low female voice sounded beside her.

Anton really couldn't put it down, and said without looking up: "It's very nice! This is a record that my sister likes very much, so she asked me to buy a vinyl copy in London to cherish."

"It's really hard to imagine that the singer, Ms. Adele Adkins, was only 19 years old when she released this record." Anton said, looking at the number "19" on the cover of the record.

The lady next to her gave an "hmm", as if encouraging Anton to continue.

"It's a genius to be able to make such music at the age of 19! It makes me look forward to her next album even more. In other words, the next album is coming soon!" Anton raised his head, as if in reverie.

"How do you know?" asked the lady.

"A talented person can't hide it. I guess her next album will take the world by storm, announcing the arrival of her era." Anton said casually, lowering his head, still staring at the cover of the record, stretched out his hand and pushed Glasses, sighed, "Chloe must be very happy if I can buy a record signed by Ms. Adkins."

"I heard that this store used to have some records signed by singers, but I don't know if this one is available. Maybe you can ask the owner." The lady's deep voice sounded again.

Anton got her advice, laughed immediately, and nodded to the person opposite to thank him.Although he felt that the person on the opposite side looked familiar, he didn't argue for a moment. He just hurried to the counter and asked the shopkeeper who was reading the newspaper: "Excuse me, is there any more of this record signed by Ms. Adkins?"

The shopkeeper glanced at it and replied decisively, "No more!"

Anton: ...disappointed.

"But you can ask Miss Adele to sign one for you!" The shopkeeper looked at Anton with a strange expression.

"This..." Anton was stunned for about a second, which was unprecedented for his brain capacity.Then he turned around suddenly, looked at the lady in the shop, and immediately recognized it: "Adkins...Miss Adele, it's you."

Adele Adkins has been in the store all the time, and it was she who asked Anton what he thought of the "19" album just now.Before that, Adele had been behind Anton, covering her mouth with her hand, trying not to laugh. At this moment, she couldn't help it anymore, she laughed loudly, and reached out to shake hands with Anton, "I'm Adele!"

Only then did Anton react.Now he is in north London, and the hotel is near White Hart Lane, Tottenham's home ground.Singer Adele is also an "indigenous" resident of Tottenham.

He also shook hands with the other party gratefully: "I am Anton!"

This time, the Christmas gift for Chloe has come to an end.

"Your sister's name is Chloe, right?" Adele pulled out a pen from the counter familiarly. It seemed that she often signed autographs for fans who came to buy records in this small store.

Unexpectedly, the owner of this record store also recognized Anton, and asked with wide eyes: "Are you Anton? Anton, the head coach of Sunderland?" He said while shaking the newspaper in his hand.Coincidentally, the newspaper happened to be the sports section, and it published that Sunderland was going to London to play two consecutive league games against Tottenham Hotspur and Chelsea.And that newspaper happened to have a picture of himself in it.

Anton let out a sigh of relief, he kind of guessed which fan Adele was.

Sure enough, Adele's pen had landed on the record cover and stopped.She raised her head to look at Anton, and asked with a flat mouth, "Are you leading the team to compete with Tottenham?"

Anton: "...It's not a rivalry. In the league's regular games, we are playing away games."

"But you seem to be very good!" Adele wrinkled her nose depressedly.She is only 20 years old now, and her expression and posture are exactly that of a girl of this age, except that her voice is deep, which doesn't look like it.

"Tottenham is also very good!" Anton reached out and patted his chest. "We met Lao Lei's team last season. Do you know how thrilling that game was? It almost made us dare not recall it."

The last time I played against Tottenham was indeed mysterious enough.Sunderland depends on the "true" black cat to save the defeat.

"Really?" Adele looked a little better.

"This summer, Tottenham have introduced Van der Vaart, the captain of the Dutch national team. He is the captain of the World Cup runner-up team, with first-class attack power. Under the guidance of the head coach Lao Lei, Tottenham must achieve good results this season. .”

Anton's expression was serious, and he spoke very seriously. No one else could guess that he was still thinking about the autograph record.

But what he said was also true.

The "Netherlands captain" is a very good green "all-rounder", who can play almost any position on the field except goalkeeper.At the same time, he also has a strong offensive ability and aggressiveness, and can be the key to the team's offense everywhere-in addition to having a strong free-kick technique.

To be precise, Tottenham is not the van der Vaart signed in the summer window.When Van der Vaart completed his transfer from Real Madrid to Tottenham, it was actually 24 hours after the transfer window closed.

According to rumors, Levy, the chairman of Tottenham, hung up the phone to Tottenham coach Red Knapp two hours before the deadline for the summer window to close, and asked him if he was interested in buying Van der Vaart.

At that time, there were actually no documents needed to complete the transaction, but the supernatural old Lei insisted on saying that "the FA computer room is malfunctioning and the file cannot be uploaded", dragging the matter until the next day, forcing The FA approved the completion of the transfer.

Anton was amazed by Lao Lei's quick wit—Jiang is still hot as old, and Lao Lei himself perfectly interpreted this proverb.

"So, we have always regarded Tottenham as a great team and a strong opponent. Regardless of whether the final result is a win or a loss, I guarantee that we will use the greatest enthusiasm to complete this game. Miss Adele, I don't know if you are satisfied with this answer?"

Adele stared at Anton sullenly for a long time before she lowered her head, signed her name on the record, and said with a smile, "Fortunately, you are not the head coach of Arsenal."

These words are enough to prove that Adele is a diehard Tottenham Hotspur fan.Tottenham and Arsenal are "mortal enemies" in North London.It is estimated that Professor Wenger himself came to ask for Adele's autographed record, and Adele would never give it.

This is also due to the fact that Anton is good at "fooling", and his "fooling" can make people all over the world hear sincerity-maybe the essence of successful flickering is sincerity.

In addition, Sunderland and Tottenham are indeed not sworn enemies, and Anton said so many good things about "19" before, Adele finally happily gave Anton a signed record.

"May I ask you, is the next record "21"?" Anton was grateful, and began to plan for next year's Christmas present.

Adele: "... how do you know?"

This is an active spoiler. "21" is already in preparation, and the album's promotional single is ready and may be released at any time.

"As I said earlier, talent cannot hide itself, and it will always overflow slowly." Anton acted like a very traditional British gentleman, and saluted Adele, "I hope you are 21 years old. Have a great year!"

As the highlight of this round, the game on the second day was narrated by two famous mouthpieces from Sky Sports.Andy Gray stared at the poppy on Anton's chest on the big screen for a long time, and suddenly asked, "Why do Italians also wear poppies?"

Richard Keith: "Do as Romans do, what's so weird about that? And again, he's only half Italian and half Chinese." Sometimes Keith is always anxious about his partner because Andy Gray sometimes speaks without thinking, and occasionally makes some particularly "offensive" golden sentences, all relying on his partner to follow behind and wipe it for him.

Before the start of the game, the "gun|mouths" of the two famous mouths pointed at Tottenham unanimously.Because Lao Lei had a big fight with Sky TV before, the trigger was still the transfer deal of Van der Vaart.At that time, it was just a reporter from Sky TV who casually mentioned that Lao Lei was like a businessman who bargained for a last-minute bargain.Lao Lei's violent temper exploded at that time, and he quarreled with others during the live broadcast.

Since then, Sky TV has had grievances with Tottenham, and Sky Sports has also been affected to some extent. The task of commentating the two famous mouthpieces this time is to blow out a curved rainbow and hang it on Sunderland's head.

So at this moment Andy Gray said at the start of the game: "I bet 20 pounds, Sunderland wins!"

Richard Keys: "Me, £20, Messi scores."

Andy Gray: "I, £20, old Ray don't know how to use Van der Vaart."

Richard Keys: "I, 20 pounds... wait, who are we betting against? I don't think Sunderland will lose!"

"I don't think Messi can't score!"

"..."

But those comments were not heard by the entire Sunderland squad.

At this moment, Anton is observing the position of the opponent's players on the field.Van der Vaart can pass and shoot. At Real Madrid, he mainly played in midfield, but he can play as a shadow forward or a winger.

Tottenham already have a very good midfielder - Croatian Modric.

In addition, Tottenham rookie Gareth Bale has successfully transitioned from full-back to winger, but Bale always drops back extremely deep, the same as when he was a full-back.Once such a winger speeds up and suddenly rushes up, it will be very difficult to defend the side.

So Anton guessed that Lao Lei would put Van der Vaart in the middle, ahead of Modric.

When I got to the arena, I looked at the opponent's formation-as expected.

Of course Lao Lei knew how to use Van der Vaart.

Although Anton accurately predicted Lao Lei's tactical arrangements and made targeted arrangements, Van der Vaart's ability is indeed very strong. This person has just transferred from Real Madrid, and it is time to prove himself.Anton is very assured of his frontcourt, but he is a little unsure about the cooperation between the two central defenders and the goalkeeper. He does not know whether such a defensive combination can defend against Van der Vaart.

In addition, not far from him, Lao Lei's occasional glances drifting over made Anton very worried.

Lao Lei looked at Anton with kindness, as if he was looking at his grandson: Son, let Grandpa see if you have improved a little bit compared to last time.

The author has something to say: Yes, Adele is a diehard Tottenham fan.

"21"'s first promotional single "Rolling in the Deep" was released about 20 days from now.Writing about Adele is mainly because the MV of this song will appear again in the later plot.