Chapter 185: Chapter 184 The Meaning of Moves
The football curved over the wall and bent into the goal.
"Beautiful! A direct free-kick goal!"
"Deng Kai helps the team take the lead again! Considering the time, this could very well be the decider!"
"What’s wrong with Ferenc’s wall? They didn’t jump at all!"
"This is a huge mistake! The Ferenc goalkeeper is extremely puzzled; he’s blaming the wall."
"Ferenc underestimated Deng Kai’s free-kicks too much. Don’t they know Deng Kai has scored many world-class goals before? How could his free-kick skills be poor?"
"Is there a midfield core who is not good at free-kicks? No! Absolutely not!"
Deng Kai: Uh...
In the end, with one pass and one shot from Deng Kai, Moreirense secured two consecutive victories to start the second half of the season.
Deng Kai meshed seamlessly into the team, contributing one pass and one shot in two consecutive matches.
While the more dazzling attacker during the youth training period, Cristiano Ronaldo, did make contributions in the game, he still faced a personal goal drought.
Well, not scoring in one game is also called a drought.
After all, everyone can see that compared to his youth training days, Ronaldo’s performance has significantly decreased.
Because of this, the media raised a very critical question:
"After heart surgery, Ronaldo seems to have become ordinary!"
"Portuguese talent Cristiano Ronaldo is ruined by injuries!"
"Quaresma’s successor no longer shines due to heart disease!"
"Simon on the left lost his dominance, and Ronaldo became the player who lost possession the most in two consecutive matches!"
"Only one goal and no assists in two games, would he have been better if he didn’t undergo heart surgery?"
"The fake genius was bound to be exposed sooner or later! Ronaldo’s strength during youth training was simply due to his speed and physique surpassing his peers. When facing high pressure in professional teams, his performance is a mess!"
In two games, he scored one goal, earned one yellow card, and created several free-kicks and corners.
This is actually not a bad performance, but compared to Ronaldo’s past performance, it became a sin in the media’s eyes.
After all, during his youth training, Ronaldo averaged one and a half goals per game, and nearly two assists.
These comments directly caused Ronaldo to spend even less time at the training ground.
The Moreirense players were all scared by Ronaldo.
Such a training volume, did he find money on the training ground or something?
Too much effort, indeed.
The veterans had long given up on extra training.
The young players, on the other hand, increased their training load due to Ronaldo’s internal competition.
And the relationships among the young players were quite good; they would even play games during training, which was a way of making the hard work enjoyable.
"He’s really diligent!" the team’s assistant coach said, somewhat moved by Ronaldo on the training field, "There are so many talented players, but so few as persistent as him; I even hope the media keeps saying he’s not good enough."
"Because I’m afraid that once all the media start praising him, he might lose his motivation," he added.
Trigella shook his head on the side: "He’s a good player, and his professionalism might even become legendary in the future. But..."
Deng Kai interjected, "But he will never be the leader of the players."
The assistant coach looked at Deng Kai as if to say, how is that possible?
Such an excellent player would naturally become a leader.
Deng Kai smiled and said, "A person who sets an example by his actions could at most become a general, but the most top-notch marshals often aren’t the fierce warriors on the battlefield. When Cristiano Ronaldo devoted all his energy to training, he no longer had the energy to deal with relationships with his teammates."
"He would earn everyone’s admiration, but it would be difficult for him to win everyone’s friendship and support."
The assistant coach frowned, "Why?"
Deng Kai replied, "If you had a colleague who always volunteered to work overtime, would you like him? No... you might even dislike him, even though you know he’s giving one hundred percent on the job."
"Human nature tends to be lazy, but Ronaldo’s presence forces some players to work hard. If people can’t overcome laziness through their own motivation, then they will despise that external force."
"Hating parents and teachers for making us study when we’re young, so we rebel. Hating the job and bosses that exploit us as adults, so we ’lie flat’. Complaining about the pressure that children bring into our lives after having them, so we wish for them to become successful and not let us down."
"Disciplined people don’t blame the world; they want to change it. Those governed by others blame everything."
"Sadly, ninety-nine percent of the people in this world are governed by others."
"So Ronaldo can only attract hate, not fondness."
Trigella smiled and said, "Then why do you seem to quite like Ronaldo? Sometimes you even act as Ronaldo’s external motivation; I remember several times you dragged him out to train which caused him a lot of pain."
Deng Kai, looking at the young players on the football field, said, "That’s because I am also a disciplined person."
Assistant coach: "But you’re quite popular with everyone."
Deng Kai shrugged his shoulders, "That’s because some people think discipline is purely a personal matter, like Cristiano. But I believe that self-discipline can also affect others, so I control it a bit."
Assistant coach: "In other words, it’s just a difference in emotional intelligence."
Deng Kai: "Eh, I didn’t say that, though."
Evening.
After returning to his residence, Ronaldo was still in low spirits.
Seeing that he was troubled, Deng Kai took the initiative to ask, "If there’s something you can’t figure out, why not consult the master for some advice?"
"You’re worthy?" Ronaldo scoffed coldly, "I don’t know how to balance fancy dribbling with minimalist dribbling."
Very good.
He is truly Cristiano "Single-track Mind" Ronaldo.
Give him a choice, and he suddenly suffers from choice-induced depression.
"Do you know about ancient Chinese martial arts secrets? The Eighteen Palms of the Descending Dragon, the Thirteen Lethal Sword Techniques, the Seventy-Two Secret Skills of Shaolin..." Deng Kai said mysteriously.
"So, are they supposed to be used for playing football?" Ronaldo didn’t like Deng Kai’s theatrics.
Deng Kai: "They could be, but there’s no need. I’m saying this to tell you that fixed moves are very necessary for beginners who can’t integrate and utilize them fluently."
"For someone with your intelligence, choosing a dribbling method based on the situation is still too difficult for you now."
"So I’ll give you a formula, and you just fit in."
"When you find that the opponent is weaker and their defense is poor, roughly every three fancy dribbles, add one minimalist dribble."
"When you discover the opponent is stronger, but their defensive effort is poor, every two fancy dribbles, add one minimalist dribble."
"When the opponent is weaker but has strong defense, then every two minimalist dribbles, add one fancy dribble."
"When the opponent is strong and the defense effort is also strong, then three minimalist dribbles followed by one fancy dribble."
"By fixing these ratios, you won’t get confused, right? This kindergarten-level number sequence, you’d better not tell me you can’t handle."
Ronaldo nodded in satisfaction.
He was filled with anticipation for the next game.
