Ten Hag: Just Say Whatever You Want

Ten Hag: Just Say Whatever You Want "Beep, beep beep—!!!"

The match was over. With a hat trick all to himself, Haller had helped the team tear through Willem II 3–0 away from home.

Haller was naturally the star of the match, but another person had also caught the attention of the fans and reporters.

At the reporters' invitation, Ten Hag brought Tang Ye with him to the press conference.

This was Tang Ye's first time attending a press conference, and also his first time being interviewed by reporters.

He was a little nervous! Click!

Click click!

Amid the continuous shutter sounds, Tang Ye sat down beside Ten Hag.

"Tang, you put on an astonishing performance in this match. That pass in the second half helped Sebastian complete his hat trick. What were you thinking when you made that pass?"

"Uh..."

Tang Ye thought carefully.

What had he been thinking at the time?

"Mm, I was in the backfield then, and there was still a long distance between me and our attacking players."

Tang Ye spread his hands apart to indicate the distance. "If I wanted to join the attack, I'd have to run all the way up there. That's really tiring."

"Really tiring?"

The reporter frowned. "What does that have to do with your stunning pass?"

"It does. If I passed the ball directly to Sebastian, then I wouldn't have to run."

The entire venue fell silent, before camera shutters soon began clicking again.

The reporter did not know what to say.

To avoid running such a long distance, he had simply sent the ball directly to his teammate from the backfield.

The reporter felt there was something off about Tang Ye's answer.

But he could not figure out exactly what was wrong with it.

After a moment of silence, the reporter decided not to dwell on the subject. "According to an investigation by Utrecht Sports reporters, it seems that you have been barred from entering the first-team cafeteria. Is this true?"

Tang Ye did not answer immediately. Instead, he looked toward Ten Hag beside him.

Ten Hag smiled. "It's fine. Just say whatever you want."

"Oh, okay."

Tang Ye nodded. "It's true that I—"

He suddenly stopped halfway through his sentence.

Under the table, Ten Hag's leather shoe had stepped on Tang Ye's foot.

Tang Ye looked at Ten Hag again. The latter was still smiling and nodding. "It's fine. Just tell the truth. Utrecht has always been very frank with reporters."

"If we did it, then we did it. If we didn't, then we didn't!"

Tang Ye stroked his chin. "That's definitely fake news."

"First-team players should eat in the first-team cafeteria. Ever since I left the second team, I haven't gone to that cafeteria again."

The reporter stared into Tang Ye's eyes.

"Haller Bags Hat Trick as Utrecht Shut Out Willem II 3–0; Young Chinese Player Tang Ye Delivers an Incredible Long Pass"

"A Football World Chosen One? Tang Ye Says He Passed the Ball Because He Didn't Want to Run Too Far"

"Tang Ye Denies Being Banned from the First-Team Cafeteria!"

Not wanting to run too far—fair enough, that fits my impression of Lucky Bro.

If any other player said that, I'd think they were showing off. But since it came from Lucky Bro, he probably really just didn't want to run.

Can the mods ban these haters upstairs? Our King Tang has always been incredibly hardworking, okay?

Lucky Bro: Running is too tiring, so I'll just hoof it!

No exaggeration, Tang Ye covered more than 2 km yesterday. And you people are still not satisfied?

Utrecht hasn't lost since Lucky Bro started coming on as a substitute. Isn't Ten Hag considering putting Lucky Bro in the starting lineup?

Ten Hag, useless!

The day after the match, the entire Utrecht first team was given the day off.

Except Tang Ye, of course.

"This is the price you have to pay to avoid doing homework after class!"

Tang Ye had a barbell on his shoulders as he did half-squats, while van der Gaag stood beside him, pumping him up.

"Think about your homework. Think about that Dutch essay of several hundred words. If you don't want to write that stuff, then train hard!"

"Use the results of your training to earn the right to be exempt from homework!"

Clang!

Tang Ye shot up with the barbell on his shoulders, and the bar collided with the weight plates with a crisp sound.

"Two more, come on!"

Van der Gaag shouted. Tang Ye took a deep breath, squatted down, then rose again.

Judging by Tang Ye's expression, this seemed like an extremely grueling heavy strength workout, but that was not actually the case.

Tang Ye was only sixteen. For the healthy development of his bones and muscles, van der Gaag would not put him through heavy strength training.

What Tang Ye was training now was called "strength endurance."

It meant maintaining a certain level of explosive strength over a sustained period.

It was not as grueling as speed endurance, but it was not easy to train either.

"Okay, just like that. Great!"

Tang Ye had completed his task, and van der Gaag marked a small check on his sheet.

Since the extra training had begun the week before last, Tang Ye's physical strength metrics had improved significantly.

"You wouldn't know it without training, Tang, but your physical talent is actually pretty good."

Van der Gaag patted Tang Ye's butt. "At this rate, by the time you're seventeen, you'll definitely have the physicality needed to start in the Eredivisie!"

"Endurance is hard to say, but strength definitely won't be a problem."

Mentioning strength reminded van der Gaag of something. He lowered his head and checked his watch.

Perfect. It was about time.

Van der Gaag took Tang Ye to the door, where a red meal box marked with the number 99 sat outside.

"This is what you need to eat tonight."

Van der Gaag stuffed the meal box into Tang Ye's hands, along with a fork.

With Tang Ye's current training load, three meals a day definitely would not be enough. So after Ten Hag discussed it with the fitness coach, they decided to add a late-night meal for Tang Ye on top of his afternoon snack.

"Thanks, Michel!"

Tang Ye was getting a little hungry anyway, so this supply was a timely relief.

He opened the meal box.

Rye bread, pasta, Dutch pancakes, and several huge chunks of herring.

Tang Ye recognized it immediately as food from the first-team cafeteria.

There was one very obvious clue: the herring chunks in Utrecht's first-team cafeteria were raw, while the second-team cafeteria used cooked herring.

"Michel, this stuff is raw."

Tang Ye speared a chunk of herring with his fork and held it out in front of van der Gaag. "I never eat raw herring."

"Then what do you want to eat?"

Van der Gaag turned around.

"Mm..."

"Stir-fried eggs with tomatoes, boiled sliced pork, sweet and sour ribs. Oh, and white-cut chicken. White-cut chicken is my favorite."

"Fuck off!"

Van der Gaag rolled his eyes at Tang Ye. "I've never even heard of any of those things, man. This is all you've got, so eat it properly."

"But I never eat raw herring."

"This is the closest you've been to the first-team cafeteria in a while."

!!!

Fuck!...