Halftime break.
In the away locker room, Koper was drawing up the tactical arrangements for the second half on the whiteboard. The only sound in the entire locker room was the "swish, swish" of his pen touching the whiteboard.
The atmosphere was eerily quiet; the Reading players all stared at the whiteboard, and no one spoke.
"Bang"
After finishing his drawing, Koper threw his pen into the corner with a livid face. Looking around, the bulging veins on his temples revealed that his anger had reached its peak.
Using the last bit of reason left in his mind, Koper took a deep breath and said, "Guys, cheer up. The responsibility for the goal we conceded in the first half is mostly mine. My tactical arrangements were flawed."
Upon hearing Kopper's words, Reading's players quietly breathed a sigh of relief, and the atmosphere eased somewhat.
"The second half will be even tougher. As you all have seen, we were tricked by that Asian guy. Leeds United still have plenty of energy."
"But that's not a reason for us to give up. Think about what we said before the game started: Go out and fight, boys, equalize, take the lead, and fuck the Championship!"
After reciting the words he had been preparing for a long time, Koper began to talk about the tactical arrangements for the second half.
Fifteen minutes passed quickly. With the coach's encouragement, the Reading players, who had just regained a little confidence, had their pitiful confidence shattered by Adebayor less than five minutes after returning to the field.
Reading's players had been looking disheveled for almost 5 minutes after Leeds United's high press.
Finally, in the 49th minute, a passing error occurred, and Tevez, after winning the ball, went down the wing and used his body to hold off Reading's center-back before passing a cutback pass.
Adebayor was already waiting at the passing lane.
One second later, a powerful shot from near the six-yard box breached Reading's goal once again.
2:0.
After Adebayor scored the goal, Reading collapsed completely, and Koper used all three of his substitutions within five minutes.
But it was to no avail.
In the remaining 40 minutes, Tevez scored two more goals, and Leeds United ultimately defeated Reading 4-0, achieving their eighth consecutive victory since the start of the second half of the season.
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For Lee Shih-shik and Leeds United fans, this has been another perfect week.
Meanwhile, Bates, far away at The Hawthorns, is looking quite worried.
West Bromwich Albion have lost again!
Previously, due to Howard's consecutive mistakes, Bates and Blackwell had reached their limit and finally benched Howard.
Ironically, since Howard came on as a substitute, West Bromwich Albion has achieved two wins and two draws in four games, temporarily escaping the relegation zone.
Unfortunately, the good times didn't last long, as the starting goalkeeper was injured during training this week.
There was no other way but to send Howard back into the game, and he certainly didn't disappoint them.
Howard delivered a straight red card and penalty in this game, allowing Birmingham to take away 3 points.
Fortunately, Crystal Palace, who were only 4 points behind West Bromwich Albion and were third from the bottom, also lost. Otherwise, Bates would have really wanted to hack Howard to pieces!
But the old man is under a lot of pressure. After losing the game the day before yesterday, the public opinion that had been improving has come back on top of him.
Countless fans flooded the official website to hurl insults at Bates and Howard, accusing them of being irresponsible and wanting West Bromwich Albion to be relegated and relegated to the Championship.
Seeing these comments, Bates was so angry he felt like he was going to have high blood pressure. He's not out of his mind, why would he choose to play in the Championship when he has the Premier League to play in?
What's even more infuriating is that yesterday he learned that Leeds United had once again won a big victory against their opponents, which made Bates very uneasy.
After all, seeing Li Shiguang doing well with Leeds United is even more painful for him than seeing West Bromwich Albion relegated!
Especially now.
He was holding a stack of scouting reports in his hand.
At the very top is Tevez, who scored twice in yesterday's match under Li Shiguang's guidance!
When the scout handed him the report, Bates really wanted to tear it up.
After all, he had just been tricked by Li Shiguang, and he couldn't trust the players under Li Shiguang's command at all.
Later, after persistent persuasion from the scouts, he reluctantly agreed to take a look.
After finishing his work, Bates picked up the scouting report.
To be objective, Tevez's data in the report is indeed very attractive.
Tevez, who is only 21 years old, spent most of the first half of the season as a substitute under Blackwell, without much opportunity to perform.
However, starting from Li Shiguang's first game after taking charge of Leeds United, including yesterday's two goals, he has scored six goals in just eight games, using both his head and feet.
It's at the very bottom of the first page of the report.
It also included the scout's evaluation of Tevez: "He has abundant stamina, strong physical strength, excellent shooting skills, and outstanding technique and talent."
Bates nodded slightly, rubbing his chin as he fell into deep thought.
Statistically, Tevez is undoubtedly an excellent player.
However, after their last encounter, he already had a general understanding of Li Shiguang's character.
He's willing to sell a goalkeeper for 15 million euros.
A striker with such outstanding stats would fetch an astronomical price.
Most importantly, if it's good value for money, he won't complain about the higher price.
If he buys another Howard, he'll lose a fortune!
With that in mind, Bates picked up the phone and dialed West Bromwich Albion's scouting director: "The report your department just submitted, about that Argentine from Leeds United, you could try contacting the player privately to see if he's interested. Also, keep an eye out for other clubs that are also interested in this Argentine; if so, report back to me immediately."
After hanging up the phone, Bates started plotting again.
He's really been ripped off before, so even if he's going to buy this time, he plans to join the fray at the very end.
If other clubs are also keeping an eye on Tevez during this period, it will likely prove that I didn't misjudge this time!
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While Bates was still debating whether or not to make an offer.
Li Shiguang was sitting in his office, and Allen was reporting to him: "Boss, we have received five offers today. Two are for Adebayor, two are for Tevez, and one is for Sneijder."
Upon hearing Allen's words, Li Shiguang's lips curled into the same sly smile he had when he sold Howard last time: "Reject them, just say these players are not for sale by Leeds United!"
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