Chapter 128: Can't stop

Darren Perth is the second player who was transferred from the youth team to the first team after Xiao Ming took over Leiden East. The previous one was Daniel Sun, who had already played the main player in Leiden East. The frequency of drawing young players can be said to be the slowest in the past twenty years. It took more than two years to transfer two players from the youth team. Before that, there would be no two to three young players entering the first team in any season.

However, it is precisely because of this that the young players of Leiden Oriental have given more pressure and goals. Leiden Oriental is not the former mid-range team of the English League Two. Now they are a strong team in the League One and the quarterfinals of the League Cup! Being able to enter such a team is truly a reflection of strength, right?

From this day on, the goal that Leiden Oriental Youth Team players imitated was not only Daniel Sun, but also Darren Perth, even though he was just a replacement who was unable to play because of Stam and Brynn.

After training with the first team for a few days, Darren Perth started against the Royal Garden Rangers. This is not surprising. He was promoted to the first team as a firefighter. If he was asked to train for a while before playing - at that time, both Brin and Stam were back, what else would he have to do?

In this game, he was partnered with Perth, and Holland replaced Barack in the third round of the FA Cup three days later. Xiao Ming didn't want to give up on the FA Cup, so it was a good thing for Barack to take a break. Recently, he played the whole game almost every game, although he was in good health, it was difficult for him to always maintain a high level.

Although the Royal Garden Rangers' performance this season is not good, after all, the lean camels are bigger than the horses, and they still have several outstanding players in their team, especially their former England under 21 national team member, right winger Trevor Sinclair, performed well in the Premier League last season. The Royal Garden Rangers did not choose to leave after being relegated but stayed. In this game, Daniel, who has become one of the best full-backs in the English League One, was also a little unbearable under his quick breakthrough. Upson had to come frequently to help fill the spot, and the defense in the middle of the penalty area was completely left to Perth alone.

When the opponent's offensive methods are mostly crosses, Perth fully demonstrated his strengths and headed and cleared several times. Although he was seized by the opponent's Scottish striker Spencer in the second half because of a mistake, he could not hide his outstanding performance in defense.

Although he conceded a goal, Leiden Oriental still defeated the Royal Garden Rangers 2-1 with the goal scored by Phillips and Murphy, winning the League One London derby.

In the last three games of January, Leiden Oriental won a row of victories and defeated the Royal Garden Rangers, they defeated the English League Two team Trusberry away in the third round of the FA Cup. The 30th round of the league defeated Svendon 2-0 away, surpassing the Wolves, which was tied with this round, and finally ranked third. With their outstanding performance in the League One and the FA Cup in January, Xiao Ming won the title of Best Coach in the League One.

Xiao Ming was quite happy when he first got the bottle of champagne, but in the next league game, Leiden East stopped winning streaks. They were tied by Tranmill 2-2 away. In this game, Perth began to feel the troubles of growth. The goal that the opponent equalized was scored from the area he defended, which also sounded a wake-up call for Perth, who seemed a little fluttering because of the continuous starts.

Xiao Ming did not criticize him for this. After all, Perth has done well enough in these rounds of games. In order not to eliminate the enthusiasm of this young player, he provided Perth with a formal first-team member contract. Perth, who was blaming himself, was simply grateful to Xiao Ming and vowed to contribute all his own to Leiden East.

What made Xiao Ming lead was that after this draw, the gap between Leiden East and the top two places that had already narrowed was widened again. Now the gap between Bolton is six points, and Barnsley is five points - compared with before Christmas, it naturally narrowed a certain distance, but for Xiao Ming, it is not enough.

What Xiao Ming envisioned was to try to grab points in the league before the League Cup began. So although he had several rotations because of the FA Cup, Xiao Ming still sent all the main lineups in most leagues, but the man's calculations were not as good as the God's calculations. He failed to win several games that could have won, and the gap between the points from the top two did not narrow too much, and he could not leave behind the team behind. The situation in the league is still not optimistic.

In fact, Leiden Oriental is now the team with the least number of losses in the All England League One team, with only five games in total, and the league leader Bolton lost six games. The reason why Leiden Oriental is only ranked third and has six points away from Bolton's points is because Leiden Oriental has too many draws. So far, they have won fourteen games, but there are thirteen draws. If it is in a two-point system, their "don't lose" style can make them gain a lot of advantages. Unfortunately, it is now in a three-point system, advocating offense, and too many draws are definitely unpaid. Many draws are caused when Leiden Oriental is distracted by the League Cup and the FA Cup.

Just when Xiao Ming was a little hesitant, Leiden East was tied by West Bromwich again. Although Barnsley tied in this round and did not widen the points gap with the second place, Bolton won. They are now leading Leiden East to reach eight points.

Logically speaking, Xiao Ming should be determined to give up the FA Cup now, but this season Leiden Oriental's luck in the FA Cup was unexpectedly good. In the fourth round, their opponent was another English League Two team - another team from Nottingham. You should know that it is a very lucky thing to meet a English League Two team in the fourth round. After all, there are only sixteen teams left in the fourth round. Not to mention meeting a English League Two team, they don't even have many opportunities to meet a English League One team.

This situation made Xiao Ming unable to stop, and he could not give up the honor of the FA Cup, not to mention that judging by the current momentum of Leiden Oriental, he won the FA Cup in one breath - who said it was impossible?

The following game seemed to prove this. At Meidao Lane Stadium, Leiden Oriental defeated the home team three-to-one away, making it to the quarterfinals of the FA Cup for the second time in history, drawing the best record in history. Hackby scored a hat trick and showed an extremely outstanding state.

The brilliance in the FA Cup was the downturn in the league. In the next league game, Leiden Oriental was dragged away by his waiting opponents with fast running and rhythm. Although Jin Clarze and Phillips each scored one goal, they still lost to Bradford 2-3.

After losing this game, Leiden Oriental scored points by Wolves. The only good news is that after Barnsley was strong at the beginning of the season, he gradually stopped his crazy score grabs. He encountered a draw in two consecutive league rounds, and the advantage of leading Leiden Oriental was only three points. In the next round of league, Leiden Oriental will usher in Barnsley at home, which is an excellent opportunity to narrow the gap with the second place!

Maybe God saw that Leiden East was too tired during this period. Leiden East had a chance to breathe before the match against Barnsley. The interval between these two leagues was a whole week...

"The players can finally take a break." Xiao Ming said to MacDonald with a wry smile.

The continuous competition during this period has added a lot of people to the injury list of Leiden Oriental. Although Stam and Brin have returned, the young Upson was injured, which has left Perth as the reliable substitute in the central defender position. Murphy's injury has caused Leiden Oriental to lose a good rotation target in the frontcourt. Even two young players, Johnson and Davis, and iron substitutes like Morrison Otno, can often enter the bench and get opportunities to play. It can be seen that the players of Leiden Oriental are so tired now.

"With a week of adjustment, we will definitely be able to beat Barnsley and enter the top two, and we still have a chance." McDonald was full of confidence.

Xiao Ming nodded, and had already reached this point. Now it's like walking on a tightrope at a high altitude. It's impossible to turn back. You can only grit your teeth and move forward. Fighting for a victory is a victory. The FA Cup and the League Cup are both in the quarterfinals. No one will be willing to give up at this time.

The next game against Barnsley can be said to be a game that affects the direction of the team throughout the season. If you can defeat your opponent and narrow the gap between the opponent and the opponent to three points, you will still have a chance to catch up in the subsequent games. If you lose, then Leiden Oriental will simply protect the top six and prepare for the playoffs.

However, the morale in the team is very good now. In addition to bringing pressure to the players, it can also stimulate the players' ambitions. The players in Leiden East happen to be ambitious players, and in the face of this situation, they can burst out more combat power.

Before the start of the match against Barnsley, Murphy, who had not recovered from minor injuries, even found Xiao Ming and asked to go on the game with an injury, which scared Xiao Ming. You should know that this situation rarely occurs in European stadiums. After all, professional players pay more attention to their future, otherwise England clubs would not be more willing to use those "magic sponges" without licenses. In addition to being their own people in the club, they can also first tell the head coach about the player's injuries, and then decide whether the player will play according to the head coach's requirements, rather than whether the player can play.

However, from this aspect, we can see how strong the players in Leiden East are now fighting spirit.

Barnsley came to London with a low profile. There is no doubt about the importance of this game. Although they were six points ahead of Leiden Oriental, anyone could see that Leiden Oriental has never been able to devote himself to the league. The team that was able to get so much energy out of the FA Cup and the League Cup is only a team like Leiden Oriental. Even so, they have been able to maintain the top three. Before this game, many English League One teams competed for points from Leiden Oriental - physical fitness issues - no longer existed. A week's rest time is enough to allow them to appear on the court at their best.

Leiden East is quite friendly to them and does not make any trouble when adapting to the venue. However, the Barnsley players still feel uncomfortable. The more generous Leiden East seems, the more they feel that the other party has sharpened the knife and are ready to slaughter it hard after the game begins.

The second in the league is completely unconfidence in front of the third in the league, which is also a strange story.

But this is not unreasonable. Barnsley does not have any particularly outstanding players. Even they themselves are surprised in their good form this year. This is a team that relies on overall play. They rarely fluctuate in their form. They can basically win games. They can also rely on defense to get one point when facing strong opponents. They only scored 39 goals in 31 league rounds, with an average of only one game a little more than one, and the least among the top eight, but they won 18 league games, relying on their excellent defense. Their conceded goals are also the least in the entire league. They only conceded twenty-six goals in total. They won at least ten wins with a score of one-to-zero.

In some ways, Barnsley is more like an Italian team than an English team, but such teams tend to achieve good results in the overall league, and this year, they are indeed very lucky.

But now their luck seems to be used to the end. In the second half of the season with a intensive schedule, they had a week of adjustment before the game with Leiden Oriental. What is this not bad luck? Other teams can use Leiden Oriental to fight them when they were tired after the Cup.

"The tactics of this game, controlling the midfield, reducing their chances of counterattacking, and continuing to put pressure on their goal. Even if it is a walnut, we have to smash them open!"

In the locker room before the start of the game, Xiao Ming punched the tactical board hard and shouted loudly.

After a week's rest, Leiden Oriental players will show their true strength in this game, and Barnsley will also face the most painful defeat of the season.

In order to prevent the opponent from counterattacking, Xiao Ming placed Bolling on the bench. The combination of the center backs was Stam and Holland. Although Holland was not as good as Bolling in confrontation, his level in the lower three-way defense was quite good. With him, he could defend the opponent's counterattack very well.

In the frontcourt, all the main players of Leiden East appeared. Jankoler, Phillips, Hackby, Jinklaze, Barack, Lennon, and Hackby were more like a forward. For this reason, Xiao Ming made Daniel return to the right and Seth. Johnson sent full-time defense on the left. This is the best way to deal with a team like Barnsley. It cuts off offense and defense, relies on the excellent personal abilities of the frontcourt players to ravage the opponent's defense line, maintain a complete back line in the backcourt, and completely extinguish the possibility of counterattacking.

From the first minute, Leiden East launched a fierce attack, gradually compressing the opponent's formation. They were not afraid of making iron barrel formations, because whether it was Jankoler's impact or Barak's long shot was an effective way to tear open the opponent's defense line. The breakthroughs of Jinklaze and Hackby can also disrupt the opponent's defense line.

Through unremitting efforts, Leiden East finally tore open the opponent's defense line in the 31st minute! In the chaotic opponent's penalty area, Phillips appeared in front of the ball like a ghost, and before everyone could react, he kicked and broke through the opponent's goal!

After taking the lead, it will be easier to do.

Shortly after the second half, Jinklaze made a wonderful personal breakthrough and created a penalty kick, which Lenon scored in one go, 2-0!

Barnsley, who was two goals behind, had no choice but to launch a large-scale attack, but this matter was indeed not what they were good at. In the event of a fierce attack, Lenon made a textbook-like fast counterattack. Lenon passed directly in the backcourt, Jankoler headed the ball, and Hackby inserted from the wing high speed and dribbled past two defenders in succession and sent the ball into the opponent's goal, three to zero!

After gaining the advantage of three goals, Xiao Ming began to substitute and maintain his physical fitness. Simon Davis replaced Hackby, and Stam, who had recovered from injury, was also replaced by Perth. However, Leiden East, who had already played crazy, still had an absolute advantage on the field. In the 83rd minute, two substitute players who replaced the field completed an excellent cooperation. Davis took a free kick from the wing and Perth headed the ball to the top to expand the score to four-to-zero!

Barnsley scored a point with a corner kick in the final stage, but this point only saved a little face.

When the referee blew the whistle to the end of the game, Xiao Ming stood up from the coach's seat with his hands high. This was a perfect victory!

For Leiden Oriental, who played on thin ice in every game some time ago, the last game in February finally made them feel that their previous efforts were worth it!

With only three points left in the second league, the FA Cup and the League Cup have entered the quarterfinals. In the next three months, Leiden Oriental still has the opportunity to create an unprecedented achievement!
Chapter completed!