One Hundred and Ninety Six Chapters, Old Friends Meet

It was already evening when Manchester United arrived in Birmingham. The team bus drove directly into a hotel near the stadium, which is only a 20-minute drive from St. Andrews Stadium, Birmingham's home stadium, and it is very quiet. The front desk of the hotel has already arranged rooms and dinner for the Manchester United soldiers. After checking in, everyone went to the hotel restaurant for dinner.

After dinner, everyone in Jintag was preparing to go through the hotel lobby and return to the room to rest. Jin Taige had just arrived in the hall when he suddenly heard someone calling him: "Boss."

Jin Taige was taken aback, and he followed the sound, only to see a young man standing up from the sofa in the hall, walking quickly to Jin Taige, and said respectfully, "Boss, long time no see."

Jin Taige was also very happy to see him. He looked at the cautious young man standing in front of him, and he was not polite, but went up and gave him a big hug: "Jessie, nice to see you!"

Standing in front of Kintag was Jesse Lingard, a youth team player on loan from Manchester United to Birmingham.

Among Manchester United's young players, Kintag's favorite is Lingard. In fact, in terms of talent, technology, and ability, Lingard is not the most outstanding one, but in terms of diligence, hard work, and tactical execution ability, Lingard is definitely a role model for young players.

Since Lingard came to the Manchester United youth academy, he has been playing under Kintag. Kintag has always cared for Lingard, and the two have a deep friendship.

In the 2010-2011 season, Kintegger was still coaching the youth team. That year, the Manchester United youth team won the FA Youth Cup. The two most eye-catching performances at that time were Lingard and Pogba. Although Pogba is talented, Lingard has become the absolute core of that team by relying on active running, serious attitude and hard training.

It was Kintag who suggested loaning Lingard to Birmingham. Kintag knew that for a player like Lingard, it would definitely be of great benefit to him to go out and hone a lot. Because even if Lingard is promoted to the first team, judging from the current situation, he can only look at the drinking fountains, which wastes Lingard; In the league, there is not much room for Lingard to improve. That's why Kintegger loaned him to Birmingham, allowing him to hone in the British Championship for a year with intense physical confrontation.

For more than half a year, Kintag also continued to pay attention to Lingard's performance. Lingard has become the main force of the team in Birmingham, and scored 5 goals and 7 assists in the English Championship. Although there is no hope of Birmingham's promotion this season, Lingard still injects a boost into the team.

In tomorrow's game, in addition to inspecting several substitute players and young players under him, Kintag's task is to observe Lingard up close.

The two chatted in the hall for a while. At this time, several youth team players came out of the restaurant and happened to see Lingard. Some of them were very familiar with Lingard, and everyone greeted him warmly.

After chatting for a while, Lingard said to Jin Taige: "Boss, you must be tired from the exhaustion of the horses and horses, so I won't bother you. Take a good rest and see you tomorrow on the field."

"Okay, Jesse, let's see you tomorrow and let me see if you have made any progress in the past six months or so."

"Don't worry boss, I won't let you down."

After the two sides bid farewell, Lingard watched the coach and teammates enter the elevator and return to the upstairs room before leaving the hotel.

Lingard is a little envious of several teammates of the youth team.

When will I be able to represent Manchester United...

Thinking of this, Lingard clenched his fists, and he secretly made up his mind: Tomorrow I must perform well at the St. Andrews Stadium, and try to get the boss to call me back earlier!

On the afternoon of January 25th, at Birmingham's home stadium, St. Andrews, the Premier League giants Manchester United and the British Championship's down-and-out nobles Birmingham faced off.

Compete for the next round of the FA Cup.

Before the game, Birmingham coach Lovett came to the coaching bench of the visiting team in a very friendly way, and shook hands with Jin Taige cordially: "Tiger, long time no see."

"Well, Lovett, we haven't seen each other for a long time."

The two had a friendly chat.

The two clubs Manchester United and Birmingham have always had a good relationship, and Kintag met Rowett a long time ago. Kintag is 38 years old this year, and Rowett is 39 years old this year. Both are young coaches in English football, but the status of both parties The difference is quite large.

After the pre-match warm-up, the two teams returned to the locker room.

Kintag’s starting lineup today looks like this: the familiar 4-4-2 formation, the goalkeeper is Alisson; the defense is Jones and the youth team’s Bailey partner central defender, the left back is Ashley Young, and the right wing Kimmich of the youth team was sent; the midfield position is a combination of Kagawa Shinji and Fletcher, the two attack and defend, Nani and Salah are separated on the left and right; the center position is led by Icardi, behind him It is the French teenager Dembele of the youth team. The seven substitute players are: De Gea, Nainggolan, Ali, Alonso, Asensio, Valencia and Sane.

In Birmingham's starting lineup today, Lingard took the position of the midfielder.

After the two teams entered the field, they shook hands very friendly, and the atmosphere was very friendly.

Judging from the pre-match today, Kintegger has a good relationship with Rowett, and Birmingham also has Manchester United's loan player Lingard. This FA Cup match looks like a friendly match, but it is not.

Kintag’s goal for this year is not the FA Cup. This stage has become his training ground. Even so, he wants to win any game; and for the Manchester United players who started this game, the game Opportunities are even more precious. They are likely to win the trust of the head coach through their outstanding performance in this game, and get more opportunities to play in future games. Therefore, the Manchester United players mustered their strength and prepared to beat Birmingham away.

For Birmingham, this game is also very important. Birmingham is currently ranked in the middle of the English Championship standings. There is no hope of promotion and no risk of relegation, so the team has no desire for the league.

But the FA Cup is different.

The FA Cup has always been a hotbed for weak teams to upset. For Birmingham, they also fantasize about being able to go further in the FA Cup. Tickets for the game against Manchester United at home have already been sold out, which has added millions to the Birmingham club's ticket revenue. Therefore, for Birmingham, even if they don't want to win the FA Cup, every step they take will add a lot of income to the club's finances. So in this game Birmingham is also ready to give it a go.

Although old friends meet each other, they are also fighting each other!