Football: Rebirth 04, I Create a Black Shop in Football

The night was full of excitement.

It was 6 o'clock in the evening.

The match between West Bromwich Albion and Tottenham Hotspur at home was still an hour and a half away from starting.

But the Hawthorns Stadium was already full of people at this time.

The fans who entered the stadium early were happily waiting for the start of the game, and from time to time some fans turned their heads to look at the top of the rostrum.

And some fans were holding homemade portraits of Howard in their hands, and they were also wearing Howard's No. 25 jersey that was only sold yesterday.

West Bromwich Albion in the first half of the season was undoubtedly disappointing to the fans. The weak front line, the disorganized midfield and the tofu-like defense line made the home fans' viewing experience extremely poor every time.

After last week's disastrous defeat to Liverpool, West Bromwich Albion has entered the relegation zone, which is even more unacceptable to the fans.

Fortunately, the stingy owner Bates seems to realize the seriousness of the problem.

In just three days since the opening of the winter window, not only has the midfield and frontcourt been strengthened, but also Howard, who has performed very well, has been introduced at a high price, and Blackwell, the coach of Leeds United, has also been brought in.

Such active signings have made the fans look forward to today's game very much, and they are too eager for a victory.

At the same time, on the big screen of the stadium.

Bates and a group of club shareholders are also sitting on the rostrum above. From their relaxed expressions, it can be seen that they are full of confidence in today's game.

..............

In the locker room.

Blackwell was roaring at Howard with a serious expression: "Timothy, are you kidding me?"

Howard, who was sitting opposite him, knew that he was in the wrong, and was hanging his head and said nothing.

Maybe it was because he hadn't lost a single game in the first half of the season, or maybe he was overwhelmed by his skyrocketing value in a short period of time.

With a game to be played today, he went to the bar at the invitation of his friends last night and played until nearly 3 o'clock before returning to the apartment prepared for him by the club. Even when he arrived at the training ground this morning, he still had a smell of alcohol on him.

Because there was a game in the evening, Blackwell only led the players to do some simple training in the morning. According to the habit he had developed in the past few months, he did not pay much attention to Howard's training.

Who knew that Howard made several low-level mistakes in a row during the warm-up, which made Blackwell feel a little uneasy.

At first, he thought that there was something wrong with Howard's physical condition, so he let Howard finish the warm-up and return to the locker room early. After arranging for the assistant coach to continue to warm up with other players, he also returned to the locker room and wanted to ask Howard what happened.

At first, Howard hesitated and said that it was because today was his first game after the transfer and he was a little nervous.

But Blackwell didn't believe it at all. You didn't seem nervous in the first game at Leeds United.

After a series of inquiries, I found out that Howard actually went to a nightclub to party last night!

Blackwell looked at the silent Howard angrily, and was already thinking about this game in his mind, so he might as well let him be a substitute.

Although he knew that if Howard didn't appear in the starting lineup, Bates would definitely make trouble for him after the game. After all, Howard was bought by Bates for 15 million euros. If he was a substitute in the first game, Bates would definitely not accept it.

But today is his first home game as West Bromwich Albion coach, and the opponent is only Tottenham, which is currently ranked in the middle.

Originally, in his plan, just like when he was in Leeds United, with Howard's defense line to keep the goal intact, and then steal another one in the second half while the opponent's physical strength is declining, he can have a perfect start.

But after all the calculations, he didn't expect Howard to stab him in the back!

After thinking it through, Blackwell looked at Howard coldly, ready to ask him to be a substitute.

But before he could finish his words, he saw Howard, who had been silent for a while, raised his head and said: "Boss, don't worry, the game will start in nearly an hour, I can adjust."

Afraid that Blackwell would not believe him, he patted his chest and continued: "You know, I have been in a very hot state in the past few months, and I will definitely not let you down today."

Seeing Howard's confidence, Blackwell, who was already used to Howard's magical performance, finally gave up the idea of ​​letting him be a substitute, nodded, turned around and left the locker room.

..................

At 7:30, the game started on time.

Led by the referee, the players from both sides lined up from the player tunnel.

The on-site director timely aimed the camera at Howard, and his figure was instantly synchronized on the big screen on the scene.

Although it was already known that Howard would start in today's game, when his figure appeared on the big screen, the fans who were looking forward to it still gave him a huge cheer.

Influenced by the atmosphere on the scene, Bates and the club's shareholders also stood up and smiled and applauded, as if they had already seen the victory of today's game.

At this time, Howard's heart was not so hot.

From the moment he walked out of the player tunnel, he felt that something was wrong, but he couldn't tell what was wrong specifically.

In the past few months at Leeds United, every time he stepped on the court, whether it was training or playing, he had a strong feeling that every time the opponent shot, he could steadily save it.

And today he strangely found that this feeling disappeared!

So in the 9th minute of the game, he lost the ball!

The last time he lost the ball was two months ago, and it was because the opponent's shot hit his own defender and refracted.

And this time, the loss was entirely his own fault.

Just now, Tottenham got a direct free kick about 33 meters away from the goal.

But at this time, Howard saw that his teammates were still lining up.

I don't know what went wrong, but he walked to the net to get his water bottle and wanted to drink a sip of water.

Seeing Howard's attention was not on the football at all, the cunning Tottenham striker Defoe directly chose a quick free kick.

The ball spun violently around the human wall that had not been arranged yet, and slammed into the goal.

At this time, Howard was still pouring water into his mouth with his head raised.

After Tottenham scored, the Hawthorns seemed to be suddenly paused by a time machine and fell into silence.

But the director on the scene also understood very well, and directly cut the picture of Howard drinking water on the big screen of the stadium.

Looking at the cup in his hand, the West Bromwich Albion fans who had worshipped Howard as their savior 10 minutes ago burst into countless beautiful English words.

·········

Li Shiguang, who was watching the game at home, was wiping the tea table in front of him quickly with a napkin, because just now, he saw Howard standing on the goal line with a confused and unexpected look, and he couldn't help but spit out the tea he had just drunk.

Brother, I knew you would suck, but I didn't expect you to be so suck.