Chapter 17: The Astonishing Discovery of the Head Coach

"Again!"

De Bruyne said defiantly.

Although Lin Quan thought his defense was a bit weak, it was still better than a motionless dummy, right?

So he gladly accepted the challenge.

This time it should have been Lin Quan defending, but De Bruyne broke through.

However, De Bruyne was determined to intercept Lin Quan's ball. He gave up the opportunity for active attack and continued to stand in a defensive position.

Clearly, this guy wasn't willing to give up easily!

After Lin Quan took the ball, he employed the same tactic again. This time, De Bruyne was once again deceived by Lin Quan's feint, but he didn't move easily this time.

Clearly, he had realized that Lin Quan could disrupt his judgment by changing his center of gravity. If he simply assumed that the opponent was going to break through in that direction just because his center of gravity had shifted, he would likely be deceived.

However, what De Bruyne didn't expect was that while he didn't move, Lin Quan did.

Suddenly, Lin Quan flicked the ball forward, accelerating instantly like a gust of wind past De Bruyne.

By the time De Bruyne reacted, it was too late. Not only did he miss the opportunity to tackle the ball, but he also missed the timing for physical confrontation.

After completing the breakthrough, Lin Quan stopped the ball and looked strangely at De Bruyne.

"Kevin, why didn't you make a tackle when you saw my change in center of gravity?"

De Bruyne was also reflecting on this issue:

"I was fooled by your feint earlier, and when I saw your center of gravity change just now, I was afraid it was another feint, so I hesitated for a moment."

Lin Quan nodded, acknowledging his response.

This wasn't just a problem for De Bruyne alone; it was a common problem for all defenders facing Messi.

Messi's movement frequency was faster than that of ordinary players, coupled with his outstanding talent, allowing him to easily change his center of gravity and make various deceptive feints.

If defenders noticed his change in center of gravity and blocked the direction he intended to break through, Messi would use his faster frequency to quickly change direction within a very short time, making it difficult for defenders to keep up with his rhythm and only able to watch him leave.

If defenders weren't deceived and didn't block his breakthrough route, it would be even easier for Messi.

He just needed to continue the forward breakthrough, and he could easily pass the defenders.

After all, Messi's movement frequency was faster than that of the vast majority of players. If you didn't keep up with his movements in the first step, it would be absolutely impossible to catch up with him in the second step.

In short, compared to ordinary attacking players, Messi combined feints and breakthroughs into one.

Ordinary attackers needed to make a feint first, deceive the defender, and then take advantage of the defender's mistake to complete the breakthrough.

But Messi was different. He merged these two actions into one, making each of his movements like a feint. No matter what choice you made, he could get past you.

Therefore, defending against Messi couldn't rely on experience but rather on anticipation.

Only defenders with top-notch anticipation had a chance of stopping Messi.

And in today's football world, such players were extremely rare.

"Let's try again. I don't believe I can't find a way to defend against you!"

De Bruyne witnessed Lin Quan's skill, but this only further fueled his determination.

At best, the other was only sixteen or seventeen years old, probably just a member of Werder Bremen's youth team. If he couldn't defend against such a person, then he might as well go buy a piece of tofu and bump himself to death.

...

Half an hour later.

"I'm done! Exhausted!"

De Bruyne collapsed on the ground, lying flat on his back, staring blankly at the sky, already starting to question life.

Who am I, where am I, what am I doing? Why have I been dribbled past by a little kid seventy times, without even successfully tackling once?

Do I even know how to play football?

Lin Quan was also exhausted, the consecutive dribbles putting a lot of strain on his knees.

Even if De Bruyne didn't call for a stop, he would have done so himself.

He couldn't help but wonder how Messi had persisted with such frequent accelerations, changes of direction, and dribbles over the years. Lin Quan felt that with such frequent movements, his knees would eventually give out.

...

Since the last in-depth conversation with Alovos, Werder Bremen's head coach, Thomas Schaaf, had relaxed his mindset and no longer put so much pressure on himself.

However, letting go of the pressure didn't mean giving up.

He had feelings for the team and didn't want the team to be relegated under his leadership.

So, even if the cards in his hand weren't great, he tried his best to make changes, combining these cards to unleash their maximum power.

As for whether Werder Bremen could stay in the Bundesliga after the end of the season, that was up to fate.

Because many old players had left the team in the new season, and many new players had been loaned in, he needed to adjust the team's starting lineup.

To select the most suitable starting lineup, he needed to have a thorough understanding of the information about these young players in the team.

It was best to complete this work before the start of the new season's training camp so that he could understand each player's technical characteristics when the training camp began.

If the players didn't meet his requirements, he could also strengthen the team during the summer transfer window.

So, he ended his vacation early and drove to the club, intending to enter work mode ahead of time.

As a result, when passing by the training ground, he saw Lin Quan and De Bruyne training.

Seeing these two training together, Schaaf felt a little curious.

These two should be in a competitive relationship in the team. He thought they would have a hard time getting along, but he didn't expect them to become so familiar so quickly?

With a curious mindset, he watched for a while from the sidelines.

After half an hour, the two young players were exhausted on the ground, while Schaaf on the sidelines was excited and somewhat unable to contain himself.

Seventy times, a full seventy times of successful dribbles, not even one successful defense from the opponent.

This shocked him greatly, feeling like he was watching a science fiction movie.

Although De Bruyne's defense had some issues, the opponent didn't make a single mistake, succeeding every time, and even using more than ten different dribbling techniques.

Is this level of dribbling ability normal at this age?

Isn't this a bit too extraordinary?

How could Barcelona bear to loan out such a player, aren't they afraid of other teams poaching him?

Did our team just pick up a dribbling king for free?

Such a player, placed in any team, would be a key player in development as a future winger core.

He could be the kind of core around which to build a team, just like Messi and Ronaldo!

But he remembered that this guy played as a defensive midfielder in the Barcelona youth team!

Is it that Barcelona's scouting is lacking, or they don't know how to use people?

Or is it that a team like Barcelona has developed a completely new tactic of placing wingers in defensive midfield?

(End of this chapter)