New Manager Takes Charge! A Brand-New Lineup, Double Starters!!

New Manager Takes Charge! A Brand-New Lineup, Double Starters!!

"Sheffield United sack Kevin Blackwell! Living fossil of British football Gareth Speed takes over!" — British 4-4-2

"Gareth Speed is about to begin his first career as a head coach. It is worth noting that he is still a registered player for the club he will coach, Sheffield United." — The Guardian

"Three league rounds into the new season, Sheffield United have only picked up three points. Gareth Speed's first pressure is to complete the task of avoiding relegation!" — Sky Sports

"The Arsenal Two Little Blessings performed brilliantly in their debut in the second league round. With a new manager taking charge, they may immediately become Gareth Speed's trusted players and nail down starting spots!" — Sheffield Report

The next day, the news about Kevin being dismissed and Gareth Speed taking over caused quite a stir throughout the English Football World.

Most British fans were very familiar with Gareth Speed, and they were also looking forward to seeing how he would do in his first stop as a coach after retiring.

"Speed's personality is really suited to coaching. He's just come down from the pitch, and now he's returning to it in another role. That's a lovely thing."

"Hasn't he already been an assistant coach for a while?"

"Is that the same? Did you pay attention when he was an assistant coach? Isn't it only now that he's become head coach that everyone has started paying attention to him again?"

"I've been searching for news about him the whole time."

It could be said that this legendary figure, who began his playing career as a genius back in 1988, had always had plenty of supporters in the English Football World.

His appointment would certainly draw more eyes to Sheffield United, this old-established club, and that would affect every aspect of the team, all the way down to every player.

While other neutral fans were busy discussing Gareth Speed, Sheffield United's own fans were even more focused on the team's future results, as well as Gareth Speed's use of personnel.

"Even if the nickname Blades didn't originally come from describing how sharp the team was, "the fact that this nickname has survived until today, in a sense, also represents the team's long-standing style of play, and that is attack!"

"Agreed! Counting the EFL Cup, in four matches this new season, the team has scored three goals and conceded eight! Let's put the goals conceded aside for now. This kind of attacking firepower really makes it impossible to see any hope for the future."

"Change the formation! Shuffle the lineup and take off all those people who are just going through the motions!"

"Many people, like me, are looking forward to those two extremely gifted Arsenal lads from that day, but I don't understand why Kevin didn't give them any minutes in the third league round?"

"No rush on that. Look at the news from Sheffield Report. In a sense, they also represent the club's official stance."

"I hope so. Those two lads were impressive. I'm looking forward to seeing them in this week's home match."

Maël and Gilbert's names were brought up by them once again. Their stunning performance in the last league match had, in the end, left a deep impression on them.

This kind of thing could not be erased. They had already won the favor of quite a few fans.

On August 27th, there was one day left before the fourth round of the Championship.

On the training ground, Maël finished the morning's training and headed to the team cafeteria for lunch.

Tomorrow would be his first home match day since coming to Sheffield United. He had not trained at a high volume today, ensuring his physical condition.

Skill: Running lv1

Proficiency: (42/300)

Skill: Balance lv1

Proficiency: (31/300)

The speed and coordination skills had already been unlocked. The initial names of the two physical skills both gave off a rather "chicken-rib" feeling, but that did not affect anything.

"Lv1 skills improve in proficiency very quickly."

Maël made a simple calculation and felt certain. "By the middle of next month, both skills should be able to reach lv2."

The new skill training over the past few days gradually gave him the feeling that his body was going numb from training. After all, it came right after strength training.

Whenever it got to this point, he would want to add a technical skill to make training more interesting.

Although it was all training, and all very dull, there were levels to dullness. People had to learn to find joy amid hardship.

If he were not so good at adjusting, he would have snapped by now. This kind of life really was not for humans.

After thinking it over, Maël still set his sights on long-shot ability, preparing to focus on improving his immediate combat strength.

He was going to train on three fronts!

He would strive to bring his long-shot ability up to lv4 by the time the two physical skills reached lv3, truly giving himself one extremely outstanding trait! By then, the increase in combat strength might completely transform him.

"My follower count has broken three thousand."

During the meal, Maël took a moment to check his Facebook and found that his follower count had risen nicely recently. He figured it had something to do with Gareth Speed's appointment.

He then opened his private messages and saw all kinds of messages.

There were ones encouraging and praising him, ones asking why he had not played in the last league match, ones fishing for internal team conflicts, ones leaving addresses and sending artistic photos, and also an endorsement invitation from a local Sheffield fan pub.

"An endorsement invitation?"

This piqued Maël's interest. As he browsed the artistic photos in his private messages, he could not quite understand why he, someone who had only played one match, would receive this kind of invitation.

Slap! He suddenly smacked his own forehead, closed the artistic photo section, and opened the endorsement invitation section.

It seemed to invite him to provide some signed photos, signed scarves, and signatures on some bottles and glasses made of suitable materials for a local pub, then post on Facebook to invite fans to take part in the event.

The pay after tax was 2,000 pounds, and the pub would pay the taxes on his behalf.

"Not bad."

Maël didn't think the money was too little and planned to go take a look after the next round of league matches ended. This counted as the first time he had received this kind of invitation.

That night, in the meeting room at the Training Base.

Gareth Speed stood in front of a tactics board, laying out the tactics while preparing to announce the Starting Lineup there.

He had a harmonious relationship with the players, so he didn't need to announce the squad and starters on his phone every time like Kevin did. Announcing it in person was fine.

"We're going straight with the 4-4-2 Formation. This is a bold attempt."

As Gareth Speed moved the magnets around on the tactics board, he explained, "But we have to make changes. There's no time left to adapt.

"Just like in our recent training sessions, when we attack, our shape will be the traditional English 4-4-2, but when we defend, I need one forward to drop back to the midfield line, and one midfielder to drop back into the defensive midfield position.

"In other words, it's a relatively basic defensive shape: 4-1-4-1. This can prevent the 4-4-2 Formation from leaving us short of numbers in the central midfield area."

Maël sat together with Gilbert, his gaze clear and focused. This style of play was indeed a relatively traditional and balanced one, the kind United Kingdom coaches loved most.

There was nothing wrong with it. Formations themselves had no obvious hierarchy of strength or weakness. What mattered most was suitability.

A team's fighting spirit on the pitch, the players' level of tactics and techniques, individual ability, and the coach's ability to make in-game adjustments and analyze the opponent—these were the keys to a match.

"Starting Lineup."

After finishing some of the arrangements, Gareth Speed swept his gaze over the players below, picked up the pen, and began writing names on the tactics board while saying, "Forwards: Evans, Bologanovic."

After the second name was read out, a small stir went through the entire meeting room.

Bologanovic was a tall center forward, someone who had never been used before.

It seemed Gareth Speed really was preparing for a major reshuffle.

"Left Midfielder."

At that moment, he read out another position, making quite a few people look at him nervously.

Whether he used Maël or Mark Yates would also determine some of Gareth Speed's resolve and stance.

"Maël!"

Gareth Speed wrote down the name decisively, wasting no more words before moving straight on to the others. "Midfielders: Janu Hans, Gilbert. Right Midfielder: Ward."

All of them were starting!

Maël and Gilbert's expressions brightened, and their legs lightly bumped under the table. They had finally ushered in a brand-new moment.

Evans, Janu Hans, and the others also cast congratulatory looks toward them, seemingly pleased to see this situation. They still had the bigger picture in mind.

"The back line, from left to right: Karl Way, Steven, Chris Morgan, Lotton. Goalkeeper: Robert."

After reading out the full list, Gareth Speed folded the tactics board shut. On the back were the names of the seven substitutes. "Tomorrow evening, against Preston, I look forward to you using a victory to give the opening month the best possible ending!

"Lads, come on!!"

"Let's go! Come on!!" A burst of encouragement rang out in the meeting room. Many people started clapping, and the morale of the whole team clearly rose.