Chapter 182: Chapter 181: Calling for Reinforcements?
Penafield players were bombarding us in the final moments.
Thankfully, with Feng Te, Kilop, and substitute Altino, there were enough players on the pitch, heading and kicking like crazy to clear the ball and secure those precious three points.
After the match, Trigella strongly condemned the opponent’s actions during the game, "Penafield players were too rough, it wasn’t the normal pace of the game."
"Their players provoked ours first, their number eight should have seen red, not yellow!"
"It was only natural for us to win. In fact, if it hadn’t been for the fouls against Ronaldo, we could have scored even more goals!"
Similarly, Deng Kai also said during an interview, "Anyone who watched the game knows that Ronaldo and I don’t need any special treatment. We’re capable of playing in the Portuguese league and playing well at that!"
"But the premise is that we need to be treated equally."
"A foul is a foul, a dangerous play is a dangerous play. You can’t say that dangerous actions against us shouldn’t be punished, just because the other team was trying to intimidate us."
"Hazing newcomers is a tradition, but it should not sway the referee’s decisions. We all started as kids, and we will all have kids ourselves."
"Time and experience make you different from children, to be wiser, not to be prejudiced against them!"
The mentor and apprentice duo delivered a combination punch.
The Portuguese league hadn’t been this lively in a long time.
In the end, Trigella was fined two thousand Euros by the Portuguese league officials, as a symbolic reprimand.
The fine wasn’t much, but the message was clear.
Stop talking.
Trigella paid up gracefully, and was even in a good mood about it.
Ronaldo didn’t understand the logic and asked Deng Kai if Trigella had been driven mad by anger.
Deng Kai then explained a bit more to Ronaldo to help him understand better.
"Every issue has two sides. The worst thing for a complaint is to have no outcome at all. Having some result, even a bad one, gives the complainant more information," Deng Kai pushed open the office door, saw that Trigella and the others hadn’t arrived yet, and continued, "The officials punishing the boss might seem like dissatisfaction with him."
"But it also means they heard what the boss said. Whether considering the boss’s huge influence in youth training or the massive attention on you and me, the Portuguese officials are bound to research this incident further."
"The meaning of the punishment is ’we know about it, and we’re dealing with it, so stop mentioning it to avoid making things worse.’ After all, nobody wants every little problem to become a subject of global discussion."
Ronaldo suddenly understood and exclaimed in realization.
After a while, Trigella and the assistant coach arrived.
They were here to review the last match.
The reason they asked Ronaldo to join wasn’t that he was capable of participating in such detailed playback and tactical decision-making for the team. Rather, they hoped he would share his feelings about the match since his performance—holding back after the team took the lead—was the second issue they needed to address.
Ronaldo wasn’t playing like Ronaldo.
Ronaldo: "I wasn’t afraid of them, but when I had the football, I felt like I had nowhere to go with it, I..."
Not everyone can accurately express what they want to say from the heart.
The young Ronaldo still had many lessons to learn in communication.
This is why many success stories often feature a Xiao Ming who needs the help of a master, someone who is better at expressing themselves and understanding human nature.
Deng Kai: "Think back, should you have refrained from trying to dribble past players with flashy moves one after another?"
Ronaldo quickly nodded in agreement.
Deng Kai: "But when you don’t use fancy moves, you still get tangled up by the opponent because your intentions are too obvious."
Ronaldo nodded again.
Deng Kai: "So much so that in the end, you feel you just can’t get past the opponent anyway, so you simply stop trying and choose to pass back instead."
Ronaldo’s head was spinning.
As expected of the brother who sleeps on the bunk above me, Kai gets me!
Who knew Deng Kai would give a slight smile and say to Trigella, "This is a very typical case of a talented young player being daunted by veterans on the professional pitch, resulting in a temporary sense of helplessness."
A bewildered look on Ronaldo’s face?
What does ’typical’ mean?
In this world, there’s only one C. Ronaldo, that’s me, I’m unique, got it? Don’t talk as if I’m so ordinary!
Ronaldo didn’t like that feeling.
Trigella, being a youth training expert, had more insight into this, "In fact, among those troubled players, C. Ronaldo has already performed very well."
Ronaldo’s face brightened with pleasure, see, even if I’ve encountered typical problems, I’m still the unique one.
"Of course," Trigella continued, "there are a very few special players who don’t experience this, like you Deng Kai, you didn’t have this problem."
"After suffering malicious fouls, you even used fancy moves on purpose to attract their defense and provoke them into irrational fouls."
"Oh, that’s nothing, just an excellent future midfield maestro showing off his brilliance during his youth, not worth mentioning, no need to talk about it... no need..." Deng Kai waved his hands repeatedly.
The assistant coach was puzzled on the side.
Where where?
Ronaldo’s heart sank: Since you two hit it off so well, maybe I should leave first?
After the debriefing, Trigella took targeted actions.
Ronaldo needed to rebuild his confidence in taking on players.
He needed to find the balance between showy dribbles and simple ones.
This is something a winger must go through, and no one can help him with it.
As for the issue of the team not playing well after taking the lead, Trigella had also made targeted training arrangements.
But it might take a while to see the effects.
After all, this team lacked the genes of a powerhouse.
To fundamentally solve this problem, in addition to practicing oppressive defense coordination over a long time, it’s also necessary to build the confidence characteristic of a strong team.
They needed to win more games.
They needed to win more big games!
"So in the short term, it can only be addressed by bringing in new players," Deng Kai concluded, "We need to recruit a player with a strong aggressive defensive style for the midfield."
"Such players are hard to find, and even if you find one, they’re not easy to manage," Trigella said.
In the future, having a strong aggressiveness might describe a player with high mental attributes, diligent running, and a liking for confrontation.
But in these years, it has been a derogatory term, typically referring to those players who are extremely irrational on the pitch, hot-headed, brainless, and prone to card offenses.
"I do know someone," Deng Kai said, "A few years ago, wasn’t there that well-known player from Benfica’s youth ranks who was loaned out to another team for a year and just came back this year?"
"I heard he came back because they didn’t want him, he had a severe conflict with a teammate."
"The key point is that Benfica doesn’t want him either. They were thinking of loaning him out this summer, but nobody took him."
