Chapter 635: Chapter 634: The World’s Number One Goalkeeper
During subsequent training, Maxa reminded Villa to pay more attention to the defensive players.
Villa didn’t take it seriously.
Then he was subjected to a series of sliding tackles from his teammates.
Despite not sustaining any serious injuries, he ended up with many bruises and scrapes.
Villa, of course, clashed with the defenders, but was ruthlessly suppressed by Feng Te.
Feng Te let him understand what a ball hog was, even though Feng Te never set foot on the field.
Afterward, Feng Te signaled Adriano to challenge the defenders, allowing Villa to evaluate their defensive attitude and performance for himself.
What happened next shocked Villa.
Adriano was actually able to shield the ball successfully under the violent defense of an average of two players.
When he was in good form, not even three could bother him.
Villa had to admit that there was a reason Adriano could become the team’s starting striker.
But he still argued that a functional striker who couldn’t score shouldn’t be the team’s only option.
Feng Te smiled slightly.
Villa, you’re still not familiar with my boy Kai!
Subsequently, Feng Te had Caballero take on the role of goalkeeper, adding difficulty to the "game".
As things unfolded, they were always unexpected... Adriano became even harder to defend against.
Because his shooting skills were incredibly strong!
Villa believed when it came to pure shooting, both Torres and Ribery were a notch below him. Those two players relied on speed and dribbling with their left and right feet and weren’t pure enough.
But Adriano... his shooting skills were definitely stronger than Villa’s.
Especially his explosive shots while on the move.
Villa thought that apart from Batistuta at his peak, no one else had such shooting skills!
To this, Deng Kai gave a thumbs up.
Villa knew quality when he saw it.
Because that shot from Adriano was exactly... a Batistuta goal!
If last season Adriano was a pivot, this season with the Premier League teams targeting Deng Kai, Adriano might have to become the team’s scoring explosive point!
So no matter how strong Villa was, he was probably going to end up assisting Adriano!
No sooner had Villa calmed down than the young goalkeeper Neuer also issued a challenge to the older players on the team.
The cause was Neuer earning the approval of elder Schmeichel during training through a competition.
Neuer was much stronger than young Schmeichel.
Therefore, Neuer, having received praise from elder Schmeichel, gathered the courage to challenge Caballero.
And the result was that Neuer was even better.
Neuer’s ambition to make a name for himself with a single game couldn’t be suppressed any longer.
He challenged the team’s primary goalkeeper, Cech.
Maxa satisfied Neuer’s request at that time, organizing the entire team to participate in shooting practice.
Even though it was meant to be extra training, both the goalkeepers and the shooters were extremely happy, even thinking that Coach Maxa was being considerate for letting them use the training ground for entertainment.
After a round of shooting practice, Fabregas’s last bit of pride was shattered as well.
Cech and Neuer showed him what was meant by two walls!
Shooting was too difficult!
Scoring goals was too difficult!
Including Nainggolan, Vidal, Mandzukic, Maicon, Lahm, and Sun Jihai, all these players frequently found their shots rejected by the two goalkeepers.
They couldn’t tell who was the superior goalkeeper at all.
It was only when Villa, Ribery, and Torres stepped onto the field that their shooting skills had some testing effect.
When facing these three top shooters, Neuer’s save rate was seven percent lower than Cech’s.
This was seen as the decisive difference.
But the gap between them wasn’t big.
Even Neuer felt that when he was in good form, he could defeat Cech.
He was completely confident that he could relegate Cech to the bench within this season.
Because the progress of these talented players was really fast.
They surpassed their opponents just like that.
Neuer clearly did not realize that Cech was also a player of genius level.
And it was very possible... even a bit more talented than him!
In the end, Adriano made a heavy impact.
Neuer was instantly defeated.
He found it hard to save Adriano’s shots.
If Villa and the other two’s shooting techniques were close to Neuer’s limit,
then Adriano was beyond that limit, and Neuer went from a back-and-forth to instantly no resistance.
However, Cech... actually started to exert serious effort against Adriano.
The penalty kick success rate was generally over seventy percent.
The goal rate for long shots from outside the box was much lower.
But regardless of the type, Adriano’s scoring rate was always below this "general situation."
Despite their different roles, the players had to admit that Adriano and Cech should have reached a fifty-fifty standard.
Adriano’s shots, Ribery’s breakthroughs, Cech’s saves, should be the team’s strongest points in individual aspects.
They had a much greater advantage in this aspect than the advantages of other players over their peers.
"Cech is a bit stronger!"
In the end, Feng Te put an end to the discussion.
Everyone gathered around Feng Te, eager to hear his expert opinion.
To be honest, although Feng Te had a high status on the team,
many players actually doubted his ability to play football.
One reason was his limited playing time, and the other was that Feng Te was always doing something unrelated to football in the locker room, making it seem like his heart wasn’t in it.
How could such a person understand football?
Feng Te explained, "Adriano is certainly outstanding, and I can tell you all clearly that his shooting level is truly among the top five in the world now!"
"Just looking at this aspect, he is no worse than Ronaldo!"
Ronaldo!
The extraterrestrial!
The former number one in the world!
Ronaldo: ???
"But fundamentally, Adriano hasn’t done anything beyond what a forward does," said Feng Te, "Adriano could become the best forward in the world."
"But Cech has already transcended the category of goalkeeper, he is playing a very new kind of football, he is creating a new profession in world football!"
The new players were all puzzled.
But the old players smiled slightly.
Feng Te: "Goalkeeper Plus! Goalkeeper plus defender!"
"After a season of training, Cech’s range of coming out has covered almost the entire defensive third of our side!"
"Half of our half belongs to him!"
"Apart from saves, his technique on the ball is no less than that of a delicate center-back!"
"Passing, linking up play, launching attacks... This was honed over the last season at the cost of conceding more than ninety goals!"
"This is also the reason why he didn’t perform well last season but was always the starting goalkeeper in the league matches."
"This is an ability that other goalkeepers cannot practice in three years, five years, or even a lifetime!"
Many people were pensive.
In this period, everyone had also come into contact with Manchester City’s tactics and attended many tactical classes.
Manchester City emphasized ball control and pressing heavily; their style of play was very aggressive.
But because of this, they were susceptible to counterattacks.
