After dropping Simeone off at the club-rented apartment last night, Allen also brought news that Alonso would be reporting to the team this morning.

So while the outside world was in an uproar, at Thorpe Arch training ground, the entire Leeds United team, led by Li Shiguang, had already begun training.

There are three new faces on the team today.

Besides new assistant coaches Simeone and Alonso, 15-year-old De Bruyne has also been promoted to the first team by Li Shiguang. However, due to FA regulations, he must turn 16 in June to play in the Premier League. The reason for promoting him now is that Li Shiguang saw De Bruyne's overall rating had reached D level in the system, and with midfield maestro Rivaldo about to join Leeds United, he believes De Bruyne can grow more rapidly under Rivaldo's influence and his personal training.

During the afternoon training session, due to Deisler's departure and Rivaldo's absence, Li Shiguang abandoned the 4-5-1 formation he used frequently and instead had the main players try the 4-4-2 and 4-3-3 formations.

During the training session, Li Shiguang tentatively put Alonso, who had just reported for duty that day, into the starting lineup to partner with Modric as a double defensive midfielder. He originally thought that since it was their first time training together, the two would lack some understanding.

However, after watching an hour of training, the results far exceeded Li Shiguang's expectations, making him exclaim that he truly deserved to be called the man of Liverpool's hope by Benitez. This time, he really struck gold!

Alonso's positioning in defense is on par with Mascherano's, and he is also cleaner and more pragmatic in his tackles.

When attacking, Alonso has an extremely accurate passing ability, and his good ball control can also greatly relieve the pressure on Modric.

Previously, when Leeds United faced a situation where Modric was effectively neutralized, their attacks either relied on the flanks or Deisler had to drop back into midfield to receive the ball and orchestrate the attack. Now, with Alonso on the roster, Leeds United essentially have a "dual-pivot" midfield. In this situation, you can neutralize one midfielder, but what if the other also possesses exceptional ball distribution and control abilities?

Actually, Li Shiguang had tried the "dual-core" lineup before, but the other core player he used was Yaya Touré. Touré was too fond of attacking, and as a defensive midfielder, he would often quietly run to the opponent's penalty area. Now, the emergence of Alonso has perfectly solved this problem that has plagued Li Shiguang for half a season.

So after training, Li Shiguang pulled Simeone aside for a discussion, and gradually, they finalized Leeds United's lineup and tactics for the second half of the season.

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On Thursday morning, the entire Leeds United team trained at Thorpe Arch training ground. After lunch, they departed for Elland Road Stadium under the guidance of Li Shiguang. Tonight, they will face Bolton Wanderers, their League Cup quarter-final opponent!

Bolton started the season well, even reaching second place in the league at one point. However, they suffered the same fate as Leeds United before them, losing momentum when the schedule became too congested. After 20 rounds, they have fallen to 7th place, and another loss would likely push them out of the European qualification zone.

Before yesterday, both the media and fans believed that Leeds United's victory was a foregone conclusion when discussing this match. After all, Leeds United had achieved a five-game winning streak. Although they lost to Chelsea away in the last round, it was obvious to everyone that Li Shiguang fielded an almost entirely reserve lineup to save energy for today's match!

However, as soon as Leeds United's official website was updated yesterday and Chiellini and Deisler left the team, the public opinion completely changed. Before either club had even held a press conference, all sorts of conspiracy theories emerged online.

Some say the players were at odds with Li Shiguang, leading to their being sold off. Others say Li Shiguang was ruthless in his pursuit of money, selling off key players. The most outrageous claim is that after seeing Deisler and Alonso swap teams, Li Shiguang was willing to give up his star player to acquire Alonso because there was some shady deal between them.

However, Li Shiguang, who didn't have time to surf the internet today, didn't see these outrageous comments. On the contrary, Lina, sitting idly in her office, thoroughly enjoyed them. When she saw something that interested her, she even rested her chin on her hands and fantasized about two handsome men doing *that*...

After arriving at Elland Road, because Allen didn't come with him today, Li Shiguang, who had been hiding for two days, was finally caught and made to attend today's pre-match press conference.

When Li Shiguang stepped into the venue, the reporters who had been waiting for a long time stirred up a visible commotion. Everyone was pushing forward with their microphones in hand, and the staff on site had a hard time calming the group of reporters down.

As soon as Li Shiguang sat down, a reporter couldn't wait to ask directly: "Mr. Li, hello, I am a reporter from the Daily Mail. I would like to ask, what were your considerations in choosing to hire Diego Simeone as the assistant coach of Leeds United?"

Glancing irritably at the balding man holding the microphone, Li Shiguang said expressionlessly, "If I remember correctly, I'm here for the League Cup press conference, right? So I refuse to answer any questions unrelated to today's match!"

"You..." Li Shiguang's formulaic answer made the Daily Mail reporter blush with anger. Just as he was about to retort, Li Shiguang interrupted him with a sharp retort: ​​"What do you mean, 'you'? This question really has nothing to do with today's match. Next!"

When Li Shiguang called for the next reporter, other reporters rushed forward, and Li Shiguang randomly selected a female reporter.

The female reporter who was called out straightened her clothes slightly before holding up the microphone and saying, "Mr. Li, I am a reporter from World Soccer. I noticed that Leeds United parted ways with two key players yesterday. What impact do you think their departure will have on today's match? Or, how much will Leeds United's overall strength decrease due to the departure of these two key players?"

Upon hearing the female reporter's question, Li Shiguang exclaimed, "Good heavens! How come I never noticed before that you reporters are so aggressive?"