Chapter 430: Chapter 429: The World’s Strongest System Player VS All-System Player
"It’s Drogba again! Deng Kai is looking for Drogba—he seems to have a lot of confidence in Drogba."
"Remember, Drogba was completely marked out of the game by Stam last time!"
"Drogba finds an opening! What’s going on? Stam didn’t keep up with Drogba!"
"However, Deng Kai’s pass was a bit too deep, and Drogba couldn’t directly take a shot. If the pass had been lighter, Drogba wouldn’t have been able to shake off Stam in time."
Turning speed!
Lazio’s coach, Roberto Mancini, furrowed his brow.
Stam’s almost singular flaw had been, unexpectedly, exploited to the full by Deng Kai.
Don’t think that slow turning speed is an easy weakness to exploit—Stam could totally compensate for this disadvantage with his physique, just a bit of physical opposition, and he could suppress the speed of the opposing forwards.
And there was Nesta backing him up.
Yet Deng Kai continuously targeted Stam, each time more sharply than the last.
And that Drogba—with beast-level confrontational abilities, his speed was alarmingly quick; a tank that could race on tracks. Where on earth did Sporting Lisbon find such a player?
Bang!
Drogba leaped high and headed the ball back.
This time the backward header was firm and swift; Stam had a chance to intercept but didn’t expect Drogba to handle it that way—he had thought it was a ground ball, thus missing the opportunity to block.
Sporting Lisbon’s right attacking midfielder, Yaya Toure, had a keen sense for offense; as Deng Kai passed, he too had already moved into the space behind Drogba.
Facing the ball coming straight at him, Yaya Toure raised his right foot and swept it sideways.
If it weren’t for his height and long legs, it would have been difficult to handle such a ball, which was close to the height of a normal person’s abdomen.
Simeone flew past on Yaya Toure’s left side, sliding by.
Simeone also thought that Yaya Toure would play the ball on the ground and didn’t expect him to be so skillful with his feet to handle it in the air.
The football flew over Simeone, horizontally towards the top of the penalty area.
Bang!
Deng Kai immediately seized his chance, striking the ball without stopping it—for a volley!
He even used the outside of his foot!
Beckenbauer-style passing and shooting!
Whoosh!
The football was not only fast, but it also curved beautifully.
Peruzzi made a high-quality save, but to no avail; the shot was miraculous, bypassing his fingertips and bursting into the net.
"GOAL! One to one!"
"A terrifying arriving shot! Deng Kai’s outside-of-the-boot is simply marvelous!"
"This is the power of the Superliga’s king of outside-the-boot strikes!"
"That long-range shot by Deng Kai is something Lazio absolutely cannot allow! The triple attacking midfielder and two strikers’ formation exerts too much pressure on the central channel. With Deng Kai’s delicate management, they always manage to find opportunities to shoot on goal from the middle."
"And whether it’s Ronaldo, Deng Kai, or Drogba, they all possess a stunning long-range shot."
"It is said that even the new signings, Kaka and including Yaya Toure, have reliable long-range shots."
"So Lazio must not give Sporting Lisbon another chance at the top of the box!"
"Even though they have what could be called the world’s strongest center-back pairing, they still need to assign extra manpower here!"
"Simeone has taken on too many defensive duties, so much so that he can’t always arrive at the position where he’s most needed in time. Mendieta should think of ways to help Simeone share some of the burden!"
The players from Lazio also noticed this issue, and Simeone was communicating with Mendieta.
Seeing this scene, Deng Kai said to Kaka and Cristiano Ronaldo while celebrating the goal, "Diego is in a dilemma, Lazio has him pinned down; now he’s almost at a loss about how to play."
"Hit him from behind more, keep attacking him."
Kaka and Cristiano Ronaldo didn’t understand the first part, but they got the latter, nodding repeatedly.
On the sidelines, Maxa asked, puzzled, "Mendieta has played several positions for Lazio, but why does it seem like he is always slightly off? This is a far cry from his performance at Valencia."
"At Valencia, he was of European best level, even the world’s number one at the right wing. Moving to attacking midfielder, he is comparable to Veron, closely chasing Zidane."
"This is not his true level; this mediocre performance... it’s too hard to believe."
Trigella glanced at Maxa, "It seems like you’ve put in the hard work, haven’t missed those football tabloids. As a lifestyle blogger, you can actually ask such professional questions."
"Lazio indeed has tried Mendieta at almost every position, but that doesn’t mean Mendieta has gained much."
"For Mendieta, the position isn’t actually important, what’s important is freedom. Just like Kai, he desires the entire midfield and attack."
"But Lazio, or rather Serie A, won’t give a player that much space; their defense, positioning, and tactical requirements all impose considerable restrictions on a player’s position."
"This kind of bondage is like a woman who dislikes wearing bras being forced to wear one, and it’s a size too small; no matter what brand you try, it won’t be comfortable, not even Victoria’s Secret."
"Look, Lazio’s teammates are once again asking Mendieta to participate in defense."
"Mendieta and Deng Kai seem like the same kind of player, balanced in all aspects with particularly outstanding imagination. Mendieta’s skillset could even fully overshadow Deng Kai’s."
"But Deng Kai is a divisible player; when you need 80% of his organizing skills, he can give you 80%. When you need 60% of his defense, he can deliver 60%."
"When you want him to cover, he can cover. When you want him to break through, he can break through. In short, whatever you need, as long as he possesses it, he can provide it for the team."
"Whereas Mendieta’s attributes can’t be divided up. He can give you 90% organizing, 70% defense, stronger coverage, breakthroughs, shooting, etc., but only under a system he’s comfortable with."
"When you can’t provide him with such an environment, and you just want 70% defense from him? Sorry, he might only be able to offer 40%."
"You want just his coverage, breakthrough, organizing separately? Then what you’ll get will be data far lower than his actual level."
"He’s a typical system player, perhaps even the strongest system player in the world."
A player’s flexible movement on the field is essentially to exploit weaknesses - using their strengths against the opponent’s weaknesses.
If fixed in place, then the ability to adapt flexibly is lost.
If such a player doesn’t have particularly standout traits, they easily end up using their weaknesses against the opponent’s strengths.
At Valencia, Cooper built a tactical system around Mendieta that allowed him to play to his strengths.
To achieve this, he even reduced the tactical importance of Claudio, the "Little Bug."
But Lazio’s idea was to change the nucleus without changing the shell.
They wanted Mendieta to adapt to their already well-established tactical system.
Just this slight difference dragged down the collaboration between both sides.
Maxa nodded, "What kind of player is Kai, then? A non-system player?"
Trigella shook his head, "An all-system player!"
[PS: I suffered from insomnia last night and only slept at three am, got up at seven in the morning to send my sister off to school in Chengdu, then slept until now after I got back. I’ll try to achieve five updates today, but the next few Chapters will likely be late.]
