During the international break, each team will play a total of two matches.
The loss of four key players to Leeds United in the first match has left Li Shiguang looking grim these past two days, his forehead constantly furrowed.
The players on the team could all tell that their head coach was in a bad mood, so they all worked extra hard in training. No one was so blind as to deliberately provoke Li Shiguang.
Fortunately, after the second game, Li Shiguang didn't hear Allen come to him to report any new injuries, which eased his mood a little.
But good news doesn't travel far, while bad news travels fast.
Moreover, the only major match in the next round of the Premier League is Arsenal vs. Leeds United.
The league leader beats the league runner-up.
Amid this intense media frenzy, news circulated in the media that several key players would be sidelined due to injury, even before the Leeds United players had returned to the team.
"...In the recently concluded European Championship qualifiers, Leeds United players Luka Modric and Philipp Lahm both suffered different types of injuries while playing for their national teams. Meanwhile, Leeds United's key striker Adriano also suffered an injury during the South American World Cup qualifiers. It is expected that these three players will miss Arsenal's home game against Leeds United on November 25th."
"During this Premier League off-season, players from all clubs have been called up to their national teams for matches. The top clubs, in particular, have called up most of their key players, but Leeds United have been the unluckiest of the big clubs! Three of their key players have been injured while playing for their national teams, making it almost certain they will miss the next away game against Arsenal. This will introduce uncertainty into this crucial match!"
"...Reports indicate that Kaká, the attacking midfielder who serves as assistant coach for both Leeds United and the Brazilian national team, returned to Thorpe's Arch on October 20th and did not participate in Brazil's World Cup qualifier against Uruguay on the 22nd. Therefore, we suspect that Kaká may have experienced physical problems after playing the first match against Peru, which led Dunga to release him early!"
····
London Holloway.
The hotel room where Leeds United are staying.
Li Shiguang, Simone, Rivaldo, and Allen were sitting together in a circle.
Li Shiguang and Rivaldo were talking in hushed tones, while Allen stared intently at the laptop on his lap, his fingers flying across the keyboard.
"Boss, look at this."
As the voices spoke, Simone, who had been looking at his phone, handed his newly bought iPhone to Li Shiguang.
Upon receiving the first-generation iPhone, Li Shiguang glanced down and saw news on the phone's webpage speculating that Kaka was injured.
After glancing at the webpage, Li Shiguang frowned and handed the phone back to Simone, saying helplessly, "Where did these people hear this news from? We ourselves don't even think Kaka is injured; we just let him rest for a while. How did it get twisted out of the public eye?"
Simone glanced down at the headline and couldn't help but curse: "Damn it, it's those paparazzi from The Sun again. Putting aside whether their information is true or not, they certainly have a lot of sources... For one thing, I just checked our official Twitter account, and all the comments are asking if Kaka is injured."
"Alan, you go handle this." Li Shiguang sighed and chuckled, handing the response to Allen before pointing to the small whiteboard on the coffee table. "How's your thinking about the issue we discussed earlier? Do you have any other ideas on how to deal with Fabregas?"
“It’s difficult.” Rivaldo stared at the whiteboard, his brow furrowed.
After waiting a while, seeing that Rivaldo hadn't followed up and Li Shiguang still hadn't received anything, Simeone became impatient: "What's so difficult about it? Just tell me! If you ask me, it's no different from last season. Back then, Yaya could mark him tightly, and now Javier can too!"
“It’s different.” Rivaldo shook his head and turned his gaze to Li Shiguang.
Li Shiguang was happy to see his two assistants having some debate on professional issues, so he simply smiled and gestured for Rivaldo to continue.
After receiving Li Shiguang's approval, Rivaldo took the pen and circled the number representing Fabregas: "Under Wenger, this Spanish lad has made incredible progress! In the past two weeks, I've spent a lot of time watching his games this season, and to be blunt, whether it's his footwork, passing vision, shooting speed, overall game awareness, ability to control the pace of the game, or the chemistry with his teammates, he has made tremendous progress compared to last season! It's no exaggeration to say that, apart from needing to improve his physical strength, he already has the potential to be a world-class attacking midfielder in other aspects."
"So?" Simone didn't quite understand what Rivaldo was trying to say. "Are you suggesting the boss buy him to Leeds United?"
"Get lost!" Li Shiguang couldn't help but laugh and curse, "Are you really stupid or just pretending? Ferreira means that Javier alone probably can't stop him!"
"What about Xavi? If all else fails, we can just play a 4-4-2 formation and have two defensive midfielders mark him!"
When Simeone suggested playing Mascherano and Alonso together, Rivaldo pointed to both sides of the whiteboard with his pen: "Do you think the other Arsenal players are just there to eat and not work? Rosicky, Hleb, or even Eboue and Clichy, who often play as wing-backs in attack, will pose a significant threat to our two flanks. Our defensive midfielders must also take care of the defense on the flanks."
After listening to Rivaldo, Simeone spread his hands, his face full of speechlessness: "So according to you, we should just stop playing, since we can't defend against it no matter what."
“Actually, we had a pretty good solution before. Wenger really likes to play a 5-4-1 formation this season! His attacking focus is mostly on the flanks. While pushing the two wing-backs forward greatly increases Arsenal's flank options, it also leaves their flanks relatively vulnerable.” Rivaldo drew two arrows on the whiteboard with his pen. “If Kaká can play, we can use his speed to create a lot of opportunities in their flanks. If we launch a few attacks in this game, Wenger will definitely make Fabregas drop back to help with defense, which will greatly reduce his attacking threat.”
Rivaldo's words resonated deeply with Li Shiguang.
Before learning about Kaká's groin problem, his plan for the Arsenal match was to use Kaká as the key to breaking the deadlock.
But now, the question is whether or not Kaka should be allowed to play.
This problem put Li Shiguang in a dilemma...
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