Football: My AI System Provides Max-Level Predictions

When Pellegrini walked into the dressing room with a sullen face.

Everyone had their heads down.

It was so quiet in the room that you could hear a pin drop.

Unlike his predecessor Mancini, Pellegrini was not a coach who liked to turn on the hair dryer and lose his temper.

But the players knew something was wrong as soon as they saw the frown on his face.

"I don't lose my temper, I only talk about the problems."

Pellegrini lightly tapped the tactical board with his knuckles, "Our midfield and defense are completely out of sync in passing, so I have to make adjustments in the second half."

After speaking, he reached out two fingers and took down the magnet representing the goalkeeper position on the tactical board, "Joe Hart off, Caballero on."

As soon as these words were spoken, everyone in the dressing room immediately raised their heads, over twenty pairs of eyes looking at him.

Substituting the goalkeeper at halftime, and it's the team's big name, Joe Hart!

My god, this substitution adjustment, don't say when the match ends, as soon as the second half starts, won't the media just blow up when they see it?

Joe Hart opened his mouth wide but said nothing, only breathing heavily.

His eyes were as wide as a bull's, bloodshot.

Being substituted at halftime was an unprecedented humiliation in Joe Hart's eight-year career at Manchester City, having gone through several managers.

Yes, I didn't play well, but I'm the goalkeeper, I'm the main goalkeeper from Manchester City's youth academy, how can you substitute me at halftime?

Unlike other positions, the goalkeeper's position is always very stable;

In Pellegrini's situation of substituting a goalkeeper at halftime, generally, it only happens if the goalkeeper is injured and can't continue the game.

The only other extreme situation left is when the coach thinks the starting goalkeeper's performance is absolutely terrible, and he doesn't want to see him anymore!

"Boss, I... I think I can still hold on a little longer."

Joe Hart stood up to defend himself, those few goals were just bad luck, at other times, he could save ninety-nine out of a hundred of those.

But before Joe Hart could finish speaking, Pellegrini's sharp gaze whipped across Joe Hart's face like a lash, and with that look, Joe Hart's face seemed to receive a slap, instantly turning red.

"Caballero, get ready!"

"Alright, boss!"

Caballero joyfully put on his goalkeeper gloves, fastened his shin guards, and didn't forget to go over to Joe Hart and pat his back, showing some comfort.

Buddy, you can't blame me for this, who told you to become a background board three times in the first half?

If Pellegrini's substitution only left the players astonished;

Then his second consecutive substitution exploded the dressing room!

He also took down the magnet representing the midfield position of Yaya Toure from the tactical board.

"Toure off, Tang on!"

There was a "wow" in the dressing room!

The previously silent crowd quickly began to whisper to each other.

"No way, take off Toure?"

"Toure performed quite well in the first half, why substitute him?"

"If substituting, it should be Fernandinho, his performance was much worse than Toure's."

"Tang can still play, he should be sitting on the bench for the whole game!"

"Is Pellegrini going back on his word? I am not convinced!"

Especially those in the team's French Language Gang, Bony, Mangala, Sabaleta, Clichy, Nasri, etc., all looked at Tang Long with unfriendly eyes.

Toure's status at Manchester City goes without saying, he is the player with the most honors in the team, also the leader of the French Language Gang.

Substituting Toure at halftime in such a crucial match against Juventus is undoubtedly a heavy blow to the French Language Gang's status in the dressing room, indicating that he has, to some extent, lost the coach's trust.

The most outspokenly brazen Nasri even jumped up, pointing at Fernandinho and shouting to the coach:

"Why substitute Toure? If anyone should be substituted, it should be Fernandinho, Toure's performance was better than anyone else's!"

Seeing this fool Nasri stirring up trouble for Fernandinho, assistant coach Rein hurried over, covered his mouth, pressed him down, and then said to Pellegrini:

"Boss, isn't substituting two players at halftime too much? We only have three substitution slots. Shouldn't we hold off a bit..."

Rein's words were not without reason.

If two substitution slots are used up at halftime, it means Manchester City won't be able to make effective tactical substitutions at least until the 80th minute.

Because generally speaking, the last substitution slot must be used cautiously, otherwise, if it's used up early and a player gets injured on the field and can't continue, the team will have to play with 10 against 11.

With a three-goal deficit, if they are down another player, that's raising the white flag and surrendering.

However, Pellegrini, usually tactically conservative, gave an answer that stunned Rein, who thought he knew his boss very well, as he had followed him for years!

"Rein, let me tell you, if we don't make these substitution adjustments, it's not about losing by three goals, it's about losing by five or six, and then the Abu Dhabi Consortium will sack me and take you with me!"