Football: I can see player entries.

Chapter 164 An Irreversible Decision

11 month 18 number.

Burton Albion will host Crystal Palace.

This is the eleventh round of the Premier League, and their opponent is also their next FA Cup opponent. They can use this opportunity to test the opponent's strength.

Li Yanqing has been thinking about how to solve Enzo's problem for the past few days.

He always wanted the player to be content to play as a purely defensive midfielder, but the player himself had a very strong desire to attack.

However, when he is actually used as the core of the organization, there will always be situations where offense and defense cannot be balanced.

It's unrealistic to find someone to help him, as our own flanks have always been weak, and we even need his help to stabilize the team.

Are you suggesting we make him take Quinn's place?

From a skills perspective, it's clearly not a good fit.

Cazorla, who is in good form, will start in this match. We'll let Enzo try it out once he comes up with a good solution.

With just over a month until the winter transfer window, things are getting quite urgent.

As for Quinn, he genuinely rejected Real Madrid's offer, citing his proximity to home as the reason.

The other party's manager never imagined that one day they would be rejected for such an absurd reason.

Li Yanqing felt that even if he left, it was unlikely that Quinn would leave...

Let's get back to the match.

The main objective of this round of league matches was to test the opponent's strength, so Burton did not field their full-strength squad.

Veterans like Ibrahimovic and Pepe are all taking a rest.

"We can't be so careless when facing Premier League teams, Lee."

"We can definitely try to win this game..."

Lehmann didn't quite understand why Li Yanqing wasn't going all out to win the league.

This is really hard to explain. He can't exactly tell them it's because the young players are all in "good" form, while the veterans are mostly in "average" form.

They improve faster when they play in good form.

"There's no need to worry about avoiding relegation this season."

"We already have twenty points."

"As for our goal, let's set it on the FA Cup."

Li Yanqing made this decision for two reasons. First, Mourinho reminded him that he needed to make the most of the veterans' remaining time to maximize the improvement of the young players' abilities.

Secondly, their players are far more obsessed with the FA Cup than with finishing in the top four.

"The situation is not looking good..."

"Our defense wasn't strong enough."

Lehmann was more worried about the situation on the field.

He was not very satisfied with Justin and Araujo's performance in the back line.

The former now likes to dribble past opponents, while the latter has learned Pepe's signature move...

He's been making more and more over-the-top passes lately, but his defensive skills haven't improved much.

In addition, Sun Yan often makes forward runs to attack, which makes him feel that apart from Bradford, no other defender is in their proper position.

If they bring on David Luiz when Bradford is rested, they'll be able to field a lineup with four attacking guards.

There were passes, disruptions, breakthroughs, and players making runs from behind.

Luis even possesses a "master-level powerful shot," offering more attacking options than the forwards.

In the 86th minute, the score is now tied at 1-1.

Substitute Crystal Palace striker Benteke used his height advantage to outpace Bradford and Araujo and score a header.

This score remained unchanged until the end of the match.

Burton fans were stunned, especially Will, who had finally managed to find time to watch the game.

"You bastard, Li!"

"What are you doing?"

"I arrived and saw the team lose!"

They had just experienced a period of outstanding performance and were having trouble accepting the current setback.

"Will!"

"Shut up!"

"Chris has Ms. Susan's contact information, don't let her know you've sneaked out again..."

After losing this match, Burton officially dropped to eighth place.

Four teams dropped in the standings at once. Apart from Manchester City and Liverpool, who are currently unbeaten and leading the pack, the other teams are all very close in points.

Although we lost, we haven't fallen behind yet.

acceptable.

Li Yanqing didn't have time to chat with Will; as soon as he returned to the club, he convened a tactical meeting with Lehmann, Nave, and John.

The tactics for Enzo must be finalized as soon as possible.

"Why not just make him focus entirely on defense?"

"He performed well as a defensive midfielder last season, which was very reassuring."

"In the games he's played this season, as long as he's not responsible for offense, his performance has been quite good..."

Naveen supports Enzo continuing to play as a defensive midfielder.

But no one agreed with his suggestion.

If the player himself wanted to do this, Li Yanqing would have done it long ago.

"Even if he's played like this, he'll still want to transfer."

"Why don't we just ignore defense altogether?"

John wasn't directly in charge of the team's tactics, but he knew how unreliable the suggestion was.

These days, there are very few purely offensive players; the current requirement is for forwards to form the team's first line of defense.

This change will gradually phase out players in positions such as attacking midfielder and shadow striker.

Every player must take on defensive responsibilities.

"Or, reduce Sun Yan's attacks and let him cover for Enzo."

"Enzo should focus less on defense..."

Lehmann scratched his head. Quinn was currently in this position, with Baselli and Enzo covering for him. He himself did very little defensive work.

If Enzo does the same, the midfield will most likely collapse.

There's hardly any intensity left.

"How about this, reduce the number of offensive missions."

"He mainly plays defense, but is allowed to initiate offense at times."

"This is more appropriate."

Li Yanqing had previously tasked Enzo with both organizing the team and defending, but the player struggled to do so.

If we can only reduce the number of tasks, but we can't reduce the defense, then we can only reduce the offense.

"In that case, the organization needs help."

"Quinn has to drop back, so the striker has to drop back too."

"Neither Matthias nor Murphy can do this kind of work."

Lyman pinpointed the problem perfectly.

"We don't necessarily have to let the midfield organize the play; we can just move down the flanks more often."

"Anderson and Blinder are both worth a try."

"Anyway, there's no better way."

After careful analysis, they determined one thing.

That means there's simply no way to satisfy both the players' and the team's demands at the moment.

"If you really can't solve it, just give up on it."

"Let's buy two more defensive midfielders..."

This is the first time Li Yanqing has made the decision to give up on young players.

Unfortunately, the players refused to follow his instructions, but they were also not yet capable of shouldering heavy responsibilities.

His plan is not much different from a purely defensive approach, and he feels that the players themselves may not be able to accept it.

In fact it is.

Enzo's expression upon hearing the plan said it all.

"Okay, so do you want to go to Porto or Benfica?"

"Benfica, they seem more sincere."

"Okay, I'll have Balk continue discussing the offer with them."

"Also, we need to be extra careful during this final period..."