Chapter 180: Chapter 179: Defend with an Offensive Mentality (Seeking Subscriptions)
"Two to zero! Ronaldo scored! He’s broken the record for the youngest goal scorer in the Portuguese league!"
"Incredible! A fifteen-year-old boy has scored in a professional match!"
"That one-on-one was so stable!"
"Of course, Deng Kai’s pass was simply perfect! It was a textbook counterattack!"
"It seems Trigella has indeed brought many changes to Morelence! Morelence could very well achieve great results in the second half of the season!"
However, Deng Kai lying on the ground didn’t feel the situation was so optimistic.
Just before that goal, Morelence was only half a second away from losing the ball.
If Feng Te hadn’t stopped it, the situation could have been very different.
And such a scenario shouldn’t have happened in the first place.
"Hey, kid, get up, stop faking it," said Penafield’s number eight player as he passed by Deng Kai.
Deng Kai immediately got angry.
Faking?
Perhaps many people don’t understand why football players who are knocked down curl up on the grass; if they are not injured, why don’t they get up right away? Is it to sell a foul and get the referee to card the opponent?
But actually, it’s quite understandable.
Football is played with the feet.
Whether it’s to block the opponent or to intercept the ball, once contact occurs, it’s usually around the ankle area.
And that’s a place with hardly any flesh, just skin over bone.
A knock there really hurts.
And that kind of pain, it doesn’t dissipate easily; you can’t rub it out, nor can you move it, you just have to wait for time to pass.
Therefore, the grimace on the face of a player who has been knocked down is mostly genuine, and that pain does indeed last for quite some time.
Lying on the ground, a big part of it is waiting for the pain to subside.
Otherwise, getting up immediately and exerting force would make the recently kicked area hurt even more, the kind of pain when capillaries burst.
So Deng Kai wasn’t faking it.
The opponent might not have used much force, but Deng Kai himself had put quite a bit of power into the pass, and the collision was indeed painful.
And after all, the opponent did kick Deng Kai’s ankle, how could he act as if he had done nothing wrong?
"Who the hell are you calling a faker?" Deng Kai suddenly flipped over and charged toward the opponent, yelling, "You kicked me! You should get a yellow card, understand?"
"Bullshit! You’re diving! You little punk!" the opponent number eight immediately puffed out his chest and shoved Deng Kai aside.
Deng Kai immediately surged back, extending his hand to push the opponent.
The opponent didn’t expect such a hot temper from a young player and was directly staggered to the ground by Deng Kai’s push.
Many players from the Penafield team were stunned.
Ronaldo appeared taller, but after being knocked down several times by their right-back, he quieted down.
How come Deng Kai seemed even tougher to deal with?
Peep!
The referee blew the whistle and ran over.
Ronaldo, who was getting ready to celebrate the goal, also noticed the conflict behind him and rushed over immediately.
By that time, several people were already trying to pull Deng Kai and the number eight player apart.
Both sides were trying to control the situation.
"If you can’t even endure this level of intensity, what the hell are you doing playing professional football? Better roll back to your youth training squad! This isn’t a place for playing house!" Penafield number eight ridiculed to the extreme.
"Oh? Is that so? Then your skill in ’playing house’ is really not up to par! You’re trailing two to zero, you know? If it weren’t for all the dirty fouls, could you defend Ronaldo? You can’t even touch the hem of his jersey! You should have been carded ages ago!" Deng Kai shot back without losing any ground.
It was only then that Ronaldo realized Deng Kai’s conflict with the opponent was also partly due to him.
An excellent midfielder like Deng Kai wouldn’t explode over nothing.
Deng Kai had long since felt the opposition’s defense was overly excessive.
And the head referee didn’t notice this right away.
Seeing the referee approaching, Deng Kai immediately turned the tables and said to the referee, "I understand that the intensity of professional matches will be higher, and intensity isn’t an issue, we can handle the confrontation, but fouls are fouls. That number two player showed his studs when he tackled Ronaldo."
"Just now, your number eight knocked me down from behind, this has nothing to do with intensity, this is a foul that should be severely punished!"
The referee was very angry, "Are you trying to teach me how to do my job?"
Deng Kai immediately spread his hands, "Of course not, but I want to say that although we’re young, we’re not ignorant about football."
The implication being that you’d better make fair calls, because I can spot where you’re making mistakes.
This exerted a certain pressure on the referee.
The referee nodded and then showed Deng Kai a yellow card, "You just pushed the opponent deliberately!"
At the same time, the referee also showed the opposing number eight a yellow card, for he had hit Deng Kai’s ankle from behind, which was a dangerous move.
In the minutes that followed, both sides were full of hostility.
Had it not been for the arrival of half-time, there might have been red cards.
...
In the locker room during half-time break.
Trigella was furious.
On the way there, Deng Kai had already communicated some issues to him, and Trigella had also noticed the team’s negative play after scoring.
"Who do you think you are? You think you’re secure with a one-nil lead?"
"Last year’s Champions League, Bayern was one up, and what happened? Manchester United scored two goals in one minute, turning Bayern into the biggest loser!"
"Look at the standings! We’re currently in last place! Do you understand what relegation means? I know many of you think that’s it for your football careers, that if we’re relegated, so be it."
"But have you thought about your salaries? Do you know your wages will be reduced if we’re relegated? Kilop, if you keep playing like this, your value will only drop further."
"I’ve said it before, in the central back pairing with Feng Te, you’re responsible for stepping up and sweeping! Where were you on that last ball?"
Kilop replied, "Inside the penalty area, I was worried about their crosses."
Trigella said, "Then don’t let them cross! If you had stepped up, maybe they wouldn’t have had the chance to play to the wings at all!"
"Alex, Serafim, why did both of you full-backs have to tuck in towards the penalty area? What about the wingers you were supposed to be marking? If the opposition had switched play, were you not planning to go after them?"
"Defense, I’ve said it many times, you have to defend!"
The locker room fell silent.
"No, not defense," Deng Kai broke the silence.
Many turned to look at him.
Had this guy completely lost his mind?
He dares to contradict the head coach?
Deng Kai raised his voice, "Maybe everyone still doesn’t quite understand what Coach Trigella means by ’defense’. Let me tell you, it is... offense!"
"We defend with an offensive stance! When you see their attackers, don’t just keep backing off, but charge at them at the right moment! Press them! Hit them! You might not necessarily win the ball, but you absolutely can’t let them have a relaxed coffee near our penalty area without any pressure!"
