Green Field Eunuch

Chapter 283 Newcastle United

Newcastle United is a historic and long-established English football club, nicknamed the Magpies, and is an old aristocrat of northern England.

This team has produced passing stars like Alan Shearer, but their trophy list has always been rather poor.

After 2006-2007, Newcastle United gradually declined and were relegated to the Championship in the 2008-2009 season.

However, they made a comeback in just one season. Last season, Newcastle's performance was quite commendable, ultimately finishing 12th in the Premier League.

However, Newcastle United has been a pleasant surprise this season. After 11 rounds of the league, they have accumulated 25 points, surpassing powerhouses such as Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool, and Tottenham Hotspur to rank third in the league. This performance has drawn the attention of many to this old aristocratic team.

This round's away game against Manchester City is a highly anticipated and tough match for Newcastle United.

The owner of Newcastle United is Mike Ashley, a notorious ruthless businessman in England. He has been constantly told to get out of Newcastle, but the fat owner of Newcastle has never left.

During the summer, Mike Ashley continued to demonstrate his shrewd business acumen, acquiring Santon from Inter Milan for €565 million, Cabaye from Lille for €500 million, and Obertan from Manchester United for €340 million. Other signings, such as Demba Ba and Marex, were free transfers. In total, Newcastle United spent less than €1500 million throughout the summer.

In addition, Ashley sold Enrique for $900 million, Nolan for $340 million, and Routledge for $320 million, which overall resulted in a break-even point.

However, Ashley's eye for talent is still very good. Cabaye and Demba Ba, who transferred this season, quickly became key players for the team and played a huge role.

Newcastle United's success is largely attributed to manager Alan Pardew's efforts in building a strong defense.

Although the defense, led by captain Coloccini, is not particularly outstanding in terms of individual ability, their midfielders Tiote, Cabaye, and others use a relentless pressing tactic that greatly compensates for the lack of defensive capabilities in the back line. The entire defensive system is very effective, and they have delivered an excellent performance of conceding only 8 goals in 11 rounds.

Their attack is also a very simple and efficient style of play: long-range shots and crosses. Although simple, it suits their two forwards, Ben Arfa and Demba Ba, very well.

This style of play is very suitable for mid-to-lower-tier Premier League teams to achieve good results. Coupled with Ashley's shrewd moves in the summer, this Newcastle United team is well-suited to the Premier League environment and has immediately demonstrated impressive fighting power.

Even with Manchester City playing at home, Mancini dared not underestimate Newcastle United, a team with a strong defense and a straightforward, aggressive attack.

On match day.

The Etihad Stadium was packed early on, with fans everywhere watching the game.

Everyone is talking about the match and looking forward to it.

Newcastle United has never been a strong team, but they have had a very good season, which has made Manchester City fans look forward to this match.

When it was 5:30 p.m., the stadium slowly opened, and the fans who entered the stadium found that the two teams had already started warming up.

The Etihad Stadium is Manchester City's home ground, and they gave the team tremendous support, especially Shan Yongzhuo's female cheerleading team, who took up their spot early and stood up to shout for Shan Yongzhuo.

Afterwards, both sides returned to the locker room.

When they came out again, the competition was about to officially begin.

As the players from both sides entered the field, the cheers from the stands grew even louder, and among the cacophony, one voice was the loudest.

"Shan Yongzhuo!"

"Shan, I love you!"

"Kill the magpie, one!"

"..."

After the starting players from both sides entered the field, the first thing they did was to stand in a row facing each other.

Dan Yongzhuo was facing a typical English strongman who looked quite young. He knew this guy; his name was Stephen Taylor, Newcastle United's starting center-back and future defensive pillar.

However, Shan Yongzhuo wasn't interested in observing this rough-around-the-edges Englishman. He simply waved to the fans, eliciting even louder cheers from the stands. Newcastle United players watched this scene with envy, exclaiming, "This guy is so popular!"

“I really want to be like him!” Demba Ba shook his head and sighed.

“You can’t do it,” Ben Alpha chimed in from the side. “Even if you could perform like him, you wouldn’t be this popular.”

"why?"

"Because you're so ugly!"

"..."

Demba snorted, indicating that he didn't want to talk to him anymore.

Amid cheers from the stands, the players took their positions, and the referee blew the whistle to start the match.

Manchester City kicked off first.

Shan Yongzhuo passed the ball to Balotelli, who then passed it to Yaya Toure behind him. Balotelli then ran forward quickly with Shan Yongzhuo.

Newcastle United dared not be careless in the slightest. They kept a close eye on Shan Yongzhuo, with defender Taylor in charge of marking him.

Taylor was genuinely a little nervous in front of Shan Yongzhuo.

In fact, he had never played against Shan Yongzhuo before, and this was the first time he had to defend against Shan Yongzhuo, the world's number one star, so it was inevitable that he would be nervous.

Standing here, Shan Yongzhuo could feel the tension in Taylor's eyes.

"Don't be nervous, it's just a game."

"Thank you, I wasn't nervous."

Taylor felt that Shan Yongzhuo was quite good, so he smiled and said to him.

"Don't worry, under normal circumstances, my teammates won't pass the ball to me," Shan Yongzhuo continued chatting with a smile. "My skills are just average."

"Really?" Taylor was a little skeptical, but she relaxed during the conversation.

However, at that moment, the ball was passed to him, and Taylor became distracted.

Newcastle United are a decent team, but their midfield is primarily composed of defensive players, resulting in relatively weak control.

After Silva received the ball, he quickly organized an attack. Nasri received the ball on the wing and sprinted down the wing. When he saw the situation with Shan Yongzhuo, he passed the ball directly to him.

Dan Yongzhuo got the ball and immediately unleashed a whirlwind ground kick, bypassing Taylor and charging into the penalty area.

Coloccini felt a chill run down his spine. He saw Taylor being completely outmaneuvered by Shan Yongzhuo like a wooden stake, and he had no choice but to bite the bullet and go up to cover for him.

But it was clear that it was too late for him.

Dan Yongzhuo charged into the penalty area in one breath, and just after crossing the penalty area line, he swung his right foot and shot.

"Boom!"

The football soared high, drawing a beautiful arc, and flew past Newcastle United goalkeeper Krul before disappearing into the goal.

(End of this chapter)