Chapter 499 A Group of Madmen

Northern England, Newcastle, St James' Park...

Uh, no, it should be called the Sports Direct Stadium

Oh my god, what a weird name!

However, the owner of the idea was still very proud of it and even showed off to others many times.

Who in the world can name the company he founded after himself on the most traditional and most popular old-line football team in England?

Only him, Mike Ashley

A weird middle-aged man who stripped naked in public, danced on a pole, whipped himself with a belt, and let reporters take pictures to commemorate the occasion.

To paraphrase a die-hard Newcastle fan, "If this guy wasn't rich, he'd be a fucking clown."

But now, this clown is sitting in the executive office of St. James...oh no, the Sports Direct Arena.

When Sky TV's live commentator Mortensen announced "goal", Ashley almost jumped up from his seat, pointed at the TV in frustration and started cursing.

The curse was so shocking that everyone in the office was dumbfounded. It was as ugly as it could be.

Some people even secretly despised him in their hearts. How could he, who usually called himself a gentleman, actually use such vicious words to curse others?

This is outrageous.

"Derrick"

Ashley looked at the CEO, Derek Lambiase, who was sitting not far from him.

"I trusted them so much, but they were so cowardly. Tell me, why?"

The weird middle-aged man in England was so furious at this time that his eyes were bleeding and it seemed like they were about to burst out.

Lambiase smiled bitterly in his heart, Boss, the team on the other side is Southampton!

The winners of last season's League Cup, FA Cup and Europa League, this season they also won the Community Shield and European Super Cup. Do you think we can compare with such a team?

I wanted to say this before the game, the league rankings can't be taken seriously

But do you listen?

You and Alan Pardew were blinded by the league rankings and almost forgot how much you weigh.

But Lambiase couldn't say all these words, and they could only rot in his stomach.

Unless he doesn't want to

"Boss, it's just one goal and only lasted for a dozen minutes. We still have a lot of time. I believe we can catch it back."

Lambiase's words made Ashley feel a little relieved.

"He better get him back, or I'll fire him."

Lambiase still smiled bitterly. It didn't matter if Alan Pardew was fired. The key was, who would take over?

Everyone is afraid of you, boss.

"Boss, look, the game has started again, and we are playing very actively"

Ashley looked at the TV screen and found that after the game resumed, Newcastle played quite aggressively.

Kabaye made a long pass and Ben Arfa got the ball on the right without any defense.

"Good, beautiful, no one is marking, Ben Arfa, get rid of them"

The camera followed Ben Arfa the entire time, and saw the Frenchman getting the ball and preparing to start, but Southampton's left-back David Alaba kept blocking his route to cut inside and directly pushed Ben Arfa to the side.

When the Frenchman reached the wing, there were no teammates around him to cooperate with him. The right-back Simpson's job was to clean up his mess. Even when the team had the ball and was attacking, he did not dare to press too close.

Seeing that the ball was about to go out of bounds, Ben Alfa was still very capable and managed to seize an opportunity from David Alaba and pass the ball out.

"A cross from Newcastle..."

When Mortensen's commentary came on TV, Ashley cheered loudly.

"Okay, cross the ball to the Saints"

But after the ball fell into the penalty area, we saw that there were a lot of people, but it was useless.

Javi Martinez judged the landing point and blocked the ball with one foot.

Varane rushed forward quickly, competing with Demba Ba in speed, and snatched the ball before the Magpies center forward.

After grabbing the ball, Varane did not stop but continued to move forward.

This is a once-in-a-lifetime scoring opportunity.

Especially when he rushed to Tiote's defense, he actually passed the ball to Tiote and used his sprinting speed to crush the defending Tiote.

Even if you are watching the live broadcast on TV, you can still clearly hear the exclamations coming from St. Mary's Stadium.

Who would have thought that this Southampton central defender had such ability?

Ashley and Lambiase were both watching nervously. On TV, Varane passed the ball past Tiote and rushed to the 30-meter area of ​​Newcastle. He crossed the ball before the defender.

The ball fell into the penalty area. Ravel Morrison at the front point was blocked by center back Kolocchini and could not use his speed. He could only watch the ball fall to the left.

But Hazard rushed up on the left and got ahead of Stephen Taylor. He made a quick dunk and passed the ball past Stephen Taylor, then transferred the ball to his right foot. Seeing Ravel Morrison pointing in front of him, he made a diagonal pass with his right foot.

Ravel Morrison rushed to the right post quickly, met the ball passed by Hazard diagonally, and gave it a light push.

The ball went straight into the goal before goalkeeper Krul arrived.

John Motson's goal shout came from the TV and echoed throughout the office.

"In less than two minutes, Southampton broke through Newcastle's goal twice"

"It's so surprising. Who would have thought that after the stalemate for more than ten minutes, Southampton would play so smoothly."

"2-0, Newcastle has been pushed into a desperate situation"

"From the slow motion footage, we can see that both attacks were initiated from the backcourt, and were planned by Southampton center back Varane who dribbled the ball forward. This makes us wonder, what happened to Newcastle's frontcourt? How could they allow the opponent's center back to carry the ball across most of the field and plan two attacks?"

John Motson's voice had just fallen when a loud bang was heard in the office, which frightened everyone inside.

Ashley suddenly stood up with a livid face, and he was obviously very dissatisfied with the situation of the game.

The first ten minutes or so were still a stalemate, but suddenly, within two minutes, we lost the ball twice. What is this?

Is it fun?

"Our forward line, all of our forward line should be sold and told to get out of here," Ashley roared in frustration.

John Motson said it was the forwards' failure to counter-attack that led to Varane dribbling the ball forward.

In other words, the responsibility for losing the ball should be attributed to the striker.

Lambiase didn't dare to say anything more at this time. He could only pray in his heart that Alan Pardew would fend for himself.

Who could have thought that Alan Pardew's team would end up like this?

Looking at Ashley again, after a burst of roaring, he stopped talking.

But Lambiase, who knows him well, knows better than anyone that the more this happens, the worse the consequences will be.

"Derrick"

"I'm here," Lambiase quickly replied.

"If we lose this game, call Alan Pardew and tell him not to come back."

After saying that, Ashley turned around and walked out of the office.

At this moment, he seemed extremely determined.

Lambiase looked at his boss's back with a wry smile on his face.

Maybe Ashley is a very strange person, but if he can succeed, he must have his own way to success.

At critical moments, he never shows mercy.

Looking at the TV screen, the camera was aimed at Alan Pardew on the sidelines.

The young England coach was yelling at his assistant John Carver and seemed to be angry about the team's situation.

This made Lambiase feel quite sad.

"You've been fired, did you know that?"

There was something ironic about Lambiase saying this to Alan Pardew on TV.

Alan Pardew obviously didn't know

He is worried about how to turn the situation around.

When Southampton scored the second goal, the whole situation had completely changed and became almost one-sided.

"We have to make adjustments. We can't let them control the situation like this anymore," John Carver shouted loudly.

The Saints fans at the scene were so crazy, and the noise they made was so loud.

Even though John Carver and Alan Pardew were right next to him, he still had to shout at the top of his lungs to be heard.

"I know I need to make adjustments, but how?" Alan Pardew asked helplessly.

"Let our two center forwards suppress the opponent's two center backs? What about Toni Kroos and Modric?"

"Besides, if we do this, wouldn't it be like telling all the players that all our pre-match arrangements were bullshit? How can the team hold on with its already low morale?"

John Carver was angry and anxious, scratching his head, full of distress and depression.

"If we don't adjust, Demba Ba and Cisse will be at a loss, the team has no direction, and if we let Southampton attack like this, we won't be able to hold out for long. This team is crazy."

madman?

Alan Pardew shook his head and sneered

But it's not a sneer at Southampton, it's a sneer at myself

Fortunately, before the game, I thought that I and Southampton had a chance of winning, and that the carefully planned tactics could suppress Southampton.

But who could have imagined that they would be defeated by Southampton after only ten minutes?

madman?

Yes, this team is a bunch of crazy people

A group of lunatics who are totally irrational and attack as their life

It was at this moment that he realized why so many teams fell to Southampton.

Not as skilled as others?

Maybe

But more importantly, this team has a fearless and courageous spirit.

Once this team gets going, they're a bunch of lunatics.

Newcastle was completely stunned by their opponents.

Including him, Alan Pardew

It was at this moment that he deeply realized that football was not as simple as he had imagined.

It doesn't mean that just by gathering eleven players and building a tactical system, you can form a whole.

Look at Bielsa's team, look at this Southampton team, every attack of theirs, every pass of theirs, even every run of their players, every word they shout to each other on the court, all seem to carry some mystery.

Alan Pardew couldn't guess what it was, but he knew very well that he had lost the game.

Completely defeated.

The so-called top four in the league is nothing more than a shadow play created in the previous twelve rounds.

Southampton used two bloody goals to cruelly tear open the curtain of this shadow play, allowing everyone to clearly see the truth behind the curtain.

Newcastle, that's it

"Alan, make a decision quickly," John Carver refused to give up.

He is a Newcastle fan, how could he accept that his favorite team suffered such a defeat away from home?

But Alan Pardew was obviously so defeated that he had no fighting spirit at all.

Looking at John Carver, he smiled bitterly, "Do we still have a chance?"

"Yes, there must be more," John Carver shouted with great certainty.

But at this moment, a burst of overwhelming cheers broke out in the stadium again.

It turned out that Ravel Morrison and Pogba cooperated with each other on the right and then passed the ball back to Danilo who came in from behind.

The Brazilian right back made a curved ball into the penalty area. Ibrahimovic used his body to hold Stephen Taylor, stopped the ball, turned around and shot, and once again penetrated Newcastle's goal.

Three to zero