Chapter 38: Chapter 38: New Tactics Always Have Growing Pains
"If Simon were here, Simon could. If Quaresma hadn’t skipped a grade, Quaresma could too."
"But this role, no one in the current Sporting Lisbon U15 can fulfill."
"Chris is still too naive, he’s obsessed with dribbling and breaking through, even his dribbling is mainly focused on speed, lacking technique and aesthetics, and his passing has been criticized by the public for a long time."
"Perhaps it was Deng Kai who gave Maxa such courage, but Maxa was wrong, terribly wrong!"
"Deng Kai had very good stats in the past few games, with plenty of goals and assists, and most of them were scored on counterattacks. But he’s fundamentally different from a counterattack commander."
"His role in the counterattacks is even more extreme and advantageous than Chris’s. Long shots, long shots, and more long shots!"
"He simply does not possess the ability to pass quickly during counterattacks; his goals even rely on Chris, who also does not pass."
"In the occasional counterattack opportunity, he might score a few by taking advantage of Chris’s pressure, but if counterattacking is the main strategy, as soon as his shots are blocked or restricted, he’s completely useless."
"Sporting Lisbon U15 does not have a true qualified midfielder. Their U14 Joao Moutinho does have the potential, but he’s even younger than Deng Kai and cannot adapt to the U15 level of competition."
"This tactical change was doomed to fail, and it will only bring Sporting Lisbon’s currently decent momentum to an abrupt halt."
"And the sinner behind all this, is Maxa’s wishful thinking, but even more so, Deng Kai’s mediocrity and his lack of self-awareness!"
...
November 16th.
In the discussions about Sporting Lisbon U15’s tactical changes, a new round of the league kicked off.
Sporting Lisbon played an away game against Sacavenense.
The last time they played against this team, Deng Kai had to leave the field after thirty minutes and commenced two months of special training.
Therefore, at this game, in the stands of Sacavenense, there were banners saying "Caesar’s nemesis" and "Take him off the field again."
This also gave strength to the Sacavenense players.
But as soon as the game started, the Sacavenense players felt that the banners were somewhat of a loss.
The young players from Sporting Lisbon were "clearly angered by such banners," and they started the game with pressing, causing quite a mess for Sacavenense, almost leading to mistakes.
In the eighth minute, Sporting Lisbon made an interception in midfield and then pushed the football into the opponent’s half.
In the ninth minute, Deng Kai, holding the ball on the right side, made a rare long pass, sending the football into the left side of the box, instantly revealing a deadly threat.
Unfortunately, Ronaldo started a bit too slowly and failed to catch up to the ball, which flew out of the opponent’s goal line.
"Oh! That was a fantastic pass, it seems like Deng Kai really didn’t keep any hidden injuries."
"I’m even starting to doubt whether he was out due to an injury for the past half a month, or whether he went on special training again."
"He never made such a pass before, he definitely has improved his game!"
Ronaldo nodded, his views were in alignment with those of the match commentator.
His running patterns were adjusted according to Deng Kai’s usual passing habits.
Many times, he had to wait for Deng Kai.
But on that last pass, Ronaldo felt for the first time that "this pass was too fast, I couldn’t catch it."
No wonder Deng Kai had told him to run faster before the game started.
From the training two days ago until now, Ronaldo still hadn’t fully adjusted to Deng Kai’s new passing style.
Because Deng Kai himself couldn’t control his strength, the passes were sometimes fast, sometimes very fast!
The accuracy of the passes varied greatly, even as they were challenging.
In the thirteenth minute, Deng Kai made a cross-field ball, sending out a threatening pass using the crossing technique.
It was stunning but also too abrupt; even though Ronaldo made a jump while running, he still barely missed connecting with the football.
In the fifteenth minute, Deng Kai made a diagonal through ball from the flank, creating the best chance of the game.
Ronaldo took a shot at goal.
It seemed problem-free, but the football flew over the not-so-high stands, almost hitting pigeons out of the sky.
The Sacavenense fans burst into laughter.
"Is this the super new star Chris they speak of?"
"Too average, right? Especially that shooting technique, it’s simply not up to standard!"
"His shot even makes me happy!"
"That was terrible! How many times has he missed opportunities now?"
"In comparison, Deng Kai seems to really have something special, his passes are very sharp."
Ronaldo’s face flushed red.
He became the ’happy boy’?
Do you guys even understand football at all?
The real joy is in Deng Kai’s passes, okay?
Was that slanted pass just now a pass?
Wasn’t that a Ground Cutter?
Ronaldo’s missed shot was because the football’s speed exceeded his ability to react, such that no matter how he adjusted, he couldn’t catch up with the ball and missed the perfect striking moment.
Generally speaking, if the foot is faster than the ball and makes too little contact, the ball tends to fly downward with a curve, hissing as it goes.
If the foot is slower than the ball and makes too much contact, the ball tends to fly upward, a total misfire.
In the 18th minute, Deng Kai received a pass from a teammate’s interception in the front court and passed the ball directly without stopping it.
He delivered the highest-quality pass of the game so far.
However, the team’s striker was at least two meters away from the ball and didn’t get a touch on it.
Ronaldo, hustling from behind, barely made it to the right position, but had no time left to adjust for a shot.
Even the shooting action was only just made possible by the coordination of his body when the ball arrived.
Forget about power and control, it would be better to say this was more of a trap than a shot.
Without a doubt, this ball was nowhere near a goal.
In a nearly open goal situation, Ronaldo’s shot smacked the football against a staff member on the left side of the goal.
Ronaldo swore that when he first played football, shooting wasn’t as hard as it was now!
It seemed like overnight, football went from being his good friend to a stranger.
"Oh! That shouldn’t be, the shot shouldn’t have turned out this way!"
"It was practically an open goal!"
"It looks like Chris is having some trouble; he needs to solve this problem quickly."
"Today, he seems to have forgotten to wear his shooting boots!"
"It’s not just Chris; all of Sporting today have wasted far too many offensive opportunities."
"They’ve let down Deng Kai, who has just returned from injury today and is so far the best player on the field, and also the youngest!"
Watching the dejected Ronaldo, Deng Kai didn’t put pressure on him; instead, he gave a thumbs-up.
To the audience, this behavior further represented leadership ability.
Even Maxa was puzzled.
Usually, if Ronaldo missed just one of Deng Kai’s passes, Deng Kai would cry, make a scene, and even feign suicide.
Why was he so magnanimous today?
As for that, Deng Kai was very clear-headed.
Perhaps the whole world thought today that it was Ronaldo and the other strikers who hadn’t performed well.
But only Deng Kai knew that De Bruyne’s Conscious Flow Pass was really too ’conscious’.
Even Deng Kai didn’t know how difficult it would be to receive his next pass!
To experienced media, Sporting’s performance was—growing pains of a new tactic.
The vigorous frontcourt pressing had affected Sporting’s forwards’ stamina, so their positioning was always behind the passing play.
Control of force in tussling and intercepting had affected the forwards’ dribbling and shooting touch, which is why their ball control was poor today, and so were their shots!
This match, Sporting is likely doomed!
