The promotion rules for Serie C are that the first place is directly promoted to Serie B, and the second to fifth places enter a playoff to compete for the other spot.
As a team that retained all the strength of a Serie B squad, Palermo might not dominate Serie C, but they should at least rank in the top three, right?
However, after thirteen rounds, they were only ranked fifth in Serie C, just one step away from falling out of the promotion zone.
And Lippi, who had “never gotten over it”, was also paying attention to Palermo’s results.
After Juventus reached the top of the Serie A standings, Lippi said: “Facts have proven that Carmignani’s success at Parma was just an accident.”
“And He Tianqi is absolutely not a qualified assistant coach.”
“I heard that players with terrible performances like Modric and Ashley Young were recommended by him.”
“Think about it, if Modric appeared in Juventus’s lineup, what kind of disaster that would be!”
This time, no one argued on He Tianqi’s behalf.
The fans who had previously supported He Tianqi due to the World Cup hype were truly too embarrassed to speak up.
After all, Palermo was genuinely playing terribly right now.
…
December 1st, Palermo was tied 1-1 by their opponents, suffering a three-match winless streak.
After the match, a reporter relayed Lippi’s words to Carmignani.
My poor Old Carmi was already overworking himself due to the team’s poor record, working overtime into the night every day, and had even caught a slight cold the past couple of days.
Stimulated by the reporter’s words, he actually fainted on the spot.
After an examination, the doctor stated he needed to rest in bed for at least the better part of a month.
And during this time, He Tianqi would become the acting head coach of Palermo.
Truly beginning his coaching career!
He Tianqi didn’t expect the story’s direction to actually follow his expectations.
He swore he really did remind Old Carmi to take his medicine every day.
He really wasn’t like Dongguan Zai!
[Ding!]
[Detected that the host has become the head coach of a professional team, activating the Pope System, obtaining initial rewards:]
[Bandit Coach Roar: Star-level skill (Coach Exclusive).
Simeone’s directing is full of passion; his roars always bring strength to the team.
Can increase speaking volume.
After giving specific instructions to a certain player, that player’s abilities are slightly enhanced for a short time (this effect can be used three times per match).]
[Basic Long Shot: Player-level skill.
Long shots are an important scoring method.
Player’s long shot ability is slightly enhanced.]
[Fast Horse: Player-level skill.
Fast Horse is often used to describe players with fast speed.
Player’s speed is slightly enhanced.]
?
!
!!!
He Tianqi immediately perked up.
He knew it, how could there not be a system!
It turns out he just chose the wrong track.
His “talent” wasn’t in being a player, but in being a head coach!
If you know enough about historical and contemporary famous figures, you’d know there are many successful people in this world who are more awesome than if they used cheats, and more exaggerated than what’s written in novels.
That kind of genuine talent and luck is something you can’t compare to no matter how many times you reincarnate.
According to statistics, most reincarnators actually don’t do much better than their previous lives in many aspects.
Didn’t He Tianqi prove this with his player experience?
Without physical talent, you just can’t make it; even having god-like awareness is useless.
Bojan will never become Messi, and Cristiano Ronaldo will never become Nani.
So to become a great head coach, or even a uniquely legendary head coach, you definitely need to cultivate both internally and externally.
He Tianqi had mostly prepared the internal aspects—knowledge theory, industry experience, professional certificates, multiple languages, emotional intelligence, customs, etc.
And the external assistance was now in place.
So, first let me say sorry to all the famous coaches!
He Tianqi types GG first!
Ferguson, Wenger, Guardiola, Mourinho, Klopp, Ancelotti, Heynckes, Alonso, Arteta, Inzaghi, and others subsequently reply with ‘motherf*ckers’!
…
This “Pope System” currently opened two sections.
One was [Skills], and the other was [Player Panel].
[Skills] were divided into five tiers: Player-level, Star-level, Superstar-level, Legendary-level, and Football King-level.
He Tianqi could equip the players in the team with skills; one skill could only be used by one person.
Skills could be recovered and then reassigned to another player to equip.
But they could not be adjusted while a match was ongoing.
Skills marked “Coach Exclusive” were used by He Tianqi himself.
The [Player Panel] could display a lot of information about the players.
For example, “Basic Information.”
Height, weight, position, preferred foot, etc.
For example, “Current Status.”
Things like staying up late, fatigue, injuries, falling in love, disputes, wanting to transfer, excessive indulgence…
all would be displayed, with absolutely no privacy, truly a nightmare for employees.
He Tianqi could use these to decide the starting lineup for every match.
This was much more accurate than observing with the naked eye.
There was also the player’s “Current Level.”
Professional-level, Secondary League-level, Top Five Leagues-level, Star-level, First-Class Star-level, Top Star-level, Superstar-level, Super Superstar-level, Legendary-level, Football King-level!
He Tianqi checked the current level of the players in the team one by one.
Currently, only Ribéry and Vidic were “Secondary League-level,” which meant they had the ability to compete in Serie B.
The other players all belonged to “Professional-level.”
Of course, even within the same level, the difference in strength could be significant.
He Tianqi judged that Ribéry should be near the very top among the “Secondary League-level.”
And Vidic might only be upper-middle.
Combined with their performances in the league, Modric and Ashley Young were probably at the very bottom among the “Professional-level.”
Mainly because they were too young.
These young players, when they suck, they really suck, but when they develop well, their strength grows incredibly fast too.
With this, He Tianqi finally had a tiny bit of confidence for the upcoming matches.
Especially the Coppa Italia match.
Which had once made people feel despair.
Because their opponent…
was the freaking Serie A team, Perugia!
This was also the reason why the other, more senior assistant coach Arrigoni didn’t compete with He Tianqi for the interim manager position.
He was smart!
And it wasn’t just inside Palermo; the outside world also held a pessimistic attitude about their fate for the next better part of a month.
…
Palermo, training ground.
The players were adapting to the movement of the new formation through a practice match.
Calling it new wasn’t really accurate, it was just a 4-4-2, which they had practiced before.
But the team mainly used a 3-5-2.
Don’t look at it as seemingly just a difference of one defender; these are two completely different football systems.
It was exactly because the team had to adapt to two entirely different tactical movements that the players’ form was so struggling at the beginning of the season.
[This player cannot equip “Basic Long Shot”]
[This player cannot equip “Fast Horse”]
He Tianqi looked depressed.
He originally wanted to equip Modric with “Basic Long Shot,” but the system prompted that it was not possible.
Then he tried Ashley Young, Chiellini, and several other players, but surprisingly none of them could equip it.
This indicated that their prerequisites were insufficient, such as foot power, shooting technique, curve, etc.
In one sentence: they hadn’t practiced enough!
I want to give you guys cheats, but I can’t.
This made He Tianqi so angry.
“Modric, Chiellini, Ashley Young, from now on, add two sets of long shots to your daily practice!” He Tianqi issued the command.
These players in his tactical system needed to at least have a basic long shot.
Especially Modric.
Additionally, Modric couldn’t equip “Fast Horse” either, but it wasn’t a training issue, it was a position issue.
This skill could only be used by wide players, like wingers, side midfielders, and full-backs.
There were currently five players in the team’s midfield and forward line who met the conditions to equip “Basic Long Shot.”
(END CHAPTER)