As soon as Gao Shen issued the strict order, the struggling students on Manchester City's squad began cramming English like their lives depended on it.
What used to be casual English culture classes were now taken very seriously. Even during halftime and after afternoon training, players could be seen clutching vocabulary lists and reciting them.
At night, some players would continue studying in their homes or hotel rooms, preparing for the next day's exam.
No one wanted to be relegated to the second team by Gao Shen. That would put them at a disadvantage in the internal squad competition.
If you don't want to end up in the second team, fine—just memorize English.
Rakitic vented on Twitter: "Can anyone tell me why football players need to take English exams?"
He followed it up with a string of tearful emojis.
Not only did Manchester City players flood the replies, expressing their shared misery, but even former teammates from Napoli chimed in, concerned about what was happening.
"No time to talk. The boss is testing our English recitation tomorrow morning. Gotta go."
If I had studied half as hard as I do now back in school, would I still need to play football?
I'd already have gotten into university, right?
Fans and journalists rushed to Gao Shen's Twitter, pleading for mercy on the players.
"As a college student who's suffered through exams, I can say that memorizing vocabulary is my eternal nightmare."
"Excuse me, if I have a vocabulary of 10,000 words, can I play for your team?"
"A football coach who doesn't make his players memorize words is definitely not a qualified English teacher."
"If my high school teacher had been as strict as you, I wouldn't have ended up carrying bricks at a construction site."
Gao Shen didn't see these messages until the next morning. He was speechless.
But when he arrived at the Carrington training base, he had to admit—this English-learning atmosphere was impressive.
As soon as players arrived at Carrington, the first thing they did was pull out the study materials their English teacher had given them the day before, reviewing them meticulously. No one wanted to fail the test and be sent to the second team.
In truth, the English lessons only covered common words and phrases used in daily life. It wasn't difficult for the players. They had simply been too careless in the past, and now they were paying for it.
If it weren't for this strict rule, who knew how long it would have taken them to learn?
The results of the first oral test shocked the English teacher, everyone passed.
Unbelievable.
Even the teacher himself was baffled.
A whole month of his hard work hadn't been as effective as one firm order from Gao Shen.
And that's probably why he was just an English teacher, while Gao Shen was the head coach of Manchester City.
In order to further motivate the players, Gao Shen specially designed various oral competitions with a wide range of rewards. As long as the players wanted something, it could be used as an incentive to boost their enthusiasm for learning.
The people in European football had never seen anything like this before and were amazed at Gao Shen's endless tricks.
…
In addition to daily English oral exams, a wave of jargon design swept through the Manchester City squad.
Simply put, players in different positions created shorthand terms or codes for quick and effective communication.
For example, David Luiz came up with several in one go, which were all approved by Javi Martínez, Cahill, Kompany, and others—terms like "69" and "you on top of me." (T/N: What? Lmao)
Uh… don't get the wrong idea—there's nothing inappropriate here.
The so-called "69" referred to a clock-face analogy where an opposing player's position was treated as twelve o'clock, helping teammates communicate defensive positioning.
The six represented a front-facing view, while the nine indicated a side view.
Similarly, there were other shorthand calls like "six-three" and "three-nine," allowing players to convey instructions with just a few words.
Once the coaching staff approved the system, the Brazilian center-back skipped a training session that day. Instead, he followed Pintus' long-distance running training, except he wasn't running. He casually sat on the sidelines, legs crossed, drinking mineral water, helping the coaching staff direct his teammates.
His smug look made Gao Shen a little worried. Would his teammates break his third leg when they got back to the locker room?
…
After three days in Manchester, the team departed for Glasgow for an away match against Celtic.
Once again, Gao Shen relied on squad rotation, and Manchester City's overall performance was clearly better than before.
On one hand, the team had used their rest days to review and analyze their performances, and each player had gained something from it. On the other hand, the coaching staff fine-tuned training programs to help players address their weaknesses more effectively.
Additionally, communication on the pitch had noticeably improved.
But this also led to an unexpected issue. After the match, Celtic's head coach, Tony Mowbray, approached Gao Shen with a puzzled expression.
"I heard from my players that your guys were shouting things like 'go back and blow him up' during the match. What's that about?"
Gao Shen could only smile wryly and explain that it was part of their communication system.
Mowbray remained skeptical. "Well, your way of communicating is… quite unique."
Yeah? Maybe.
But at least it was effective.
In Glasgow, Gao Shen used two different tactical setups in the first and second halves, once again rotating his entire squad. As a result, Manchester City's performance was somewhat inconsistent.
In the end, they played to a 1-1 draw against Celtic.
Gao Shen was satisfied with the result. After all, Celtic were no pushovers.
However, the British media remained pessimistic about Manchester City's prospects.
With such underwhelming performances in preseason, how could they possibly perform well in the Premier League?
…
After the Celtic match, Manchester City quickly returned home to review and analyze their performance, focusing on the problems exposed in the game.
Three days later, the team traveled south to face Southampton in an away match.
Against this third-tier defensive side, Gao Shen finally let his Napoli-inspired team cut loose, tearing through the Saints' defense with relentless attacks.
4-0. Manchester City finally secured a commanding victory.
More importantly, they completely dominated Southampton, creating wave after wave of dangerous chances.
Yet, the British media remained unimpressed.
"It's just a third-tier team, and you only scored four goals? Is that really something to celebrate?"
…
After the Southampton match, Gao Shen didn't return to Manchester with the team. Instead, he stayed in London to watch the Community Shield at Wembley Stadium, the Premier League's traditional curtain-raiser.
The two teams competing were Manchester United and Chelsea.
For Gao Shen, this was a rare opportunity to observe his rivals up close.
In the upcoming season, Manchester United were facing significant challenges.
On the bright side, Ferguson was determined to win another Champions League before retirement. However, Ronaldo had left for Spain, and Tevez was in the middle of a major fallout with the club, likely on his way out.
In Gao Shen's previous life, Tevez transferred to Manchester City. But now, Gao Shen had no interest in dealing with such a volatile player. The Argentine forward's future was uncertain, and for now, he was left out of United's squad for the Community Shield.
In the last two seasons, Ronaldo and Tevez had combined for over 100 goals. With one gone and the other benched, how would Manchester United fill that gap?
Based on preseason performances, Rooney and Valencia were expected to carry the burden, but it wouldn't be easy. Ferguson needed a solution.
Another concern for United was in goal. With Van der Sar injured, their goalkeeper situation was a serious problem.
Chelsea, on the other hand, were in a more stable position since they hadn't lost any key players. However, they still had issues.
Ancelotti fielded a 4-4-2 diamond formation, which had mixed results.
Offensively, the team functioned well. But defensively, problems emerged.
In midfield, Mikel sat deep, with Malouda and Essien on the flanks, and Lampard pushing forward.
But during the match, Mikel's defensive coverage—especially on the flanks—was severely lacking.
The first goal came from Nani, who made a blistering run down the wing and broke into the box to score.
The final goal of the match was also a cross from Giggs, which set up Rooney's equalizer.
Both of United's goals were scored from inside channels, exposing Chelsea's defensive frailties.
In between those two goals, Carvalho and Lampard had put Chelsea ahead, but Rooney's late strike forced a draw.
Ultimately, Chelsea won the match on penalties.
Gao Shen, along with Sarri and Lucas, watched the match from the stands.
Neither team was at their best yet, but signs of their form were already emerging.
For Gao Shen, this moment carried deeper significance.
In his previous life, Manchester City's transfer strategy had been straightforward, poach from Premier League rivals.
That summer, they signed Tevez from United, Adebayor and Kolo Touré from Arsenal, Lescott from Everton, and Gareth Barry from Aston Villa.
The approach was clear: strengthen City while weakening competitors.
But now?
Gao Shen wasn't interested in those players. He had built an entirely different team.
This meant that his Premier League rivals were still at full strength, perhaps even stronger than in his past life.
The result?
The Premier League title race would be fiercer than ever.
Especially Liverpool.
In the past, Xabi Alonso left, and Aquilani who never adapted arrived, leading to Liverpool's decline and Benítez's eventual exit.
But now, instead of Aquilani, Liverpool had signed Biglia.
That changed everything.
The familiar Premier League landscape that Gao Shen once knew was gone.
Liverpool were stronger.
From what he could see, they had the squad to mount a serious title challenge.
After all, their biggest weakness, their attack was no longer a problem with Torres leading the line.
Thinking about it, Gao Shen felt a surge of excitement.
He had come to the Premier League to face the best.
The stronger the competition, the more he looked forward to proving himself.
He couldn't wait for the new season to begin.
(To be continued.)
***
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