Chapter 152 – Injury Facts (2)

152

There is a story that experts who predict a sluggish second half of Frankfurt (it seems to me to be swearing that please do sluggishly) do not leave out.

Physical fitness issue.

It’s a new word, but the season is long.
Long-distance racing, not sprinting.

Running a season that is often described as a marathon with only 11 key players is more than difficult, it is impossible.

It may be discharged due to overwork, a sudden poor condition or slump may come, you may suffer from a sudden injury, or you may be suspended from a business trip due to the accumulation of warnings.

Wouldn’t the club maintain a team of dozens of players by paying high salaries in preparation for such a situation?

All coaches should properly distribute playing time so that starting and non-starting players do not have dissatisfaction, and at the same time manage to maintain a certain level of performance even if the composition of players changes.

Simply crafting tactics well and implementing them on the ground is something even tactical coaches can do, so the manager must have the ability to manage the squad appropriately.

In that respect, Frankfurt coach Franz Balder was very lacking.
He has had a long leadership career, but except for his career as a ‘coach’, his entire career as a manager in Frankfurt is complete.

Coach Franz Balder’s tendency during that period was a very conservative type of rotation.
The style of deciding the best 11 members early on and copying and pasting the same starting list.

It was fine until the 2nd division days.
League and cup competitions can survive only by changing the starting pitcher and rotating the rotation from time to time.

That’s because the Bundesliga has fewer games than other leagues, and even the cup competition Focal has fewer games than other leagues.

But now it’s different.
Our team is now participating not only in league and cup competitions, but also in European competitions, and even a few players have been selected for the national team. The problem is that those few players are the core players of the team.

It’s not that the experts were talking about ‘I’m going to fall into a slump due to physical problems in the second half’. It’s because of the director’s disposition.

Then, should the director actively rotate the rotation?
How nice would it be

“Ummm… Even if I change the composition of the players, the frustration of the midfielders doesn’t go away.”

Time for tactical analysis following the practice match.
Various midfield combinations were tried to replace Chicharo, who was missing due to injury, but all to no avail.

Rotation players who had a chance to be on the starting list, which they had been copying, bow their heads.

I wonder if he was a conservative person in the rotation from the start.
There was a reason why the best 110,000 were distributed all the time… It was a thin depth.

No matter how much the coaches care, the quality of each player is different, so the performance of the starting and non-starting players cannot be similar.

That’s possible with a team with a double squad in the true sense of the word, or a really great manager, say Ferguson.

As with any team, there is always a gap in performance between the starting team and the non-starting team, but our team had a particularly large gap.
This is not a matter of the manager or tactics, but rather a matter of team composition.

The quality of Frankfurt’s rotation members has dropped to the point that even the fans call it ‘Paperboard Depth’.

In a word, it means the formation of a team that is not even in the top ranks in the second division league, except for the main players.
That’s why experts said that the team would collapse in the second half.

One fortunate thing is that February’s schedule is surprisingly wide.
In general, for clubs that only play domestic leagues and cups, they play about one game a week. Sometimes I go and play 2 games a week, but that’s only occasionally.

That’s why the coach endured in the second division with the style of running only the starting pitchers.
The problem is the European competition.

Whether it’s the Champions League, the Europa League, or the Conference League, as the name ‘league’ implies, when you start participating in European competitions with a lot of matches, the schedule becomes very tight.

From then on, two games a week start to become commonplace, but what if there are two domestic cup competitions? Dying very much In addition, when it comes to teams participating in the European competition, the key player is even the national team schedule.

A club with a poor squad is a structure that does not have the ability to endure without selection and concentration.
But why is Frankfurt’s February schedule so sparse that it participates in not only the league but also cup competitions and Europa? This is because the February schedule of the Europa League was filled with playoffs, in addition to the small number of games unique to the Bundesliga.

The eight teams that finish first in their group stage will go directly to the round of 16 tournament, while the eight teams that finish second in their group will play against the eight teams that finished third in their group in the Champions League final for a ticket to the round of 16 of the Europa League. But, this is the Europa League round of 16 playoff.

Thanks to a win against Monaco last time and securing first place in the group, they were able to go directly to the round of 16 and avoid the playoffs.

What if you were second in the group?
Unsurprisingly, they would have had to make the playoffs in February as well.

Since there are no European competitions that make the schedule the most difficult, our team’s schedule for February was sparse.
Excluding one of the Pokal quarterfinals in the middle, it is one game a week.

At least the schedule is relaxed, so there is time to repair Chicharo’s injury gap and the loss against Dortmund.

“I can’t do it. I’ll give up trying to save the midfielder and focus on the side for the next game.”

The coach, who tried to fill the gap with Chicharo by changing the composition of the players and changing the tactics using the narrow schedule, eventually gave up.

The player quality is also quality, but since there are many players who are defensive in their midfield composition, it is impossible to fill the gap with Chicharo, who is good at releasing pressure and carrying the ball.

We prepared a tactic that actively utilizes me and Alberto Mondi on the left and right flanks.
I don’t know about other positions, but at least the position with the highest quality in Frankfurt was the left and right flank attackers.

Needless to say, Alberto Mondi was also a player who showed great performances befitting a player who played for Juventus (of course he was a backup member).

But,

“Ah! Frankfurt’s 2nd consecutive victory!”
“After Chicharo’s injury, I’m so shaken up. The ranking that went up to 2nd place is down to 4th place in an instant with today’s loss.”

The following match against Schalke. I lost like a ghost.

No matter how much Mondy and I do, the ball won’t come, so there’s no way.
Even though my breakthrough ability is top-notch, the position to receive the ball is low, so it is just an unreasonable breakthrough. Thanks to this, the ball hog was fired in this game and the lowest rating was recorded after the transfer.

“Collapsed midfield. 2 consecutive defeats in Frankfurt that couldn’t overcome Chicharo’s gap!
『Hong Min-joon, who was pointed out as the culprit behind the defeat due to excessive dribble breakthrough.』
『The only thing that shined in the midst of defeat! Hong Min-joon struggles, unfortunately, the team loses.』

At least from the middle of the second half, he scored a goal by overtaking four players, but he could not prevent the team from losing.

It doesn’t make sense for me to beat 3 or 4 people on my own every time without help from my teammates. That is impossible even for Messi, Pele, and Maradona in their prime. I’m not playing soccer alone.

I did it this far, but there were quite a few articles expressing regret about my play, as if the expectations were too high. No what else can I do here

… Of course, I did some ball hogging with an unreasonable breakthrough attempt, but that’s because our team’s only offensive creation was that.

Oh yeah… The media’s praise is useless.

“Even Hong and Mondy can’t do it.”
“It was impossible in the first place. Donald is quite good at linking play, but he is a player who has almost no breakthrough power, so from the point of view of the opposing team, it was a game where only Minjun and Mondy needed to be stopped.”

The coaching staff’s efforts to find a solution did not last long.
It is the only time when there are 2 games a week among the schedules in February, which were arranged at a rate of 1 game a week.

It was because the quarterfinals of the Pokal Cup were approaching.
Our opponent was Hamburg, where senior Yoon Hyuk played.

“It’s noisy these days. Are you okay?”
“Well… I can’t say it’s good, but the manager and coaches will do something.”

Senior Yoon Hyuk, whom I met after a long time, was reborn as the core of Hamburg.
Ever since I was in college, I thought that soccer intelligence was a feat… I hope that will work in the Bundesliga as well.

No, if you listen to the evaluation, soccer intelligence is at the top of the Bundesliga.
With his 185cm tall body, quick feet, excellent off-the-ball movement, and excellent linkage skills, he is active as the ace of Hamburg’s midfield.

“But why did the older brother come out? Do you work out?”
“Then athletes exercise every day, don’t they?”
“No. Is it a weight?”
“I have to. I couldn’t stand it if I didn’t. You don’t do weights? How… Is it the same as before?”
“……I have the concept of a handsome boy.”
“Damn it.”

Well… In the early days, I showed myself being pushed back by German rice cakes, but I wondered why I wasn’t pushed back these days. You built up your body with weights.

If you pass, you pass, if you move, you move, if you are smart, you are smart, if you fight, you fight, if you give, you give… The one thing Yoonhyuk sunbaenim who seems to be perfect lacks… No, there are a few, but they are the ability to depressurize and advance.

Compared to the past, it has grown tremendously, but it is still not enough compared to the Bundesliga level.
He is a perfect hexagonal midfielder as long as he has the ability to de-pressurize and move forward.

“Senior, no hyung, I apologize in advance. I’m sorry.”
“What bastard?”
“Last year we were in the quarterfinals, but this year we’ll be in the quarterfinals.”

These days, he has become a player who is attracting attention with his outstanding performance, but I still thought that it was not for me and actively attacked senior Yoon-hyuk… Crashed wildly

“Oh really!! Is there a cowardly friend call?”
“What? Soccer is 11v11.”
“Oh no! Don’t call a colleague!”
“Who told you to break through?”

Shit… Why did you forget this?
As much as I know senior Yoonhyuk, senior Yoonhyuk knows me well.

There was no way that smart person couldn’t read my intentions… The second half started after being beaten so many times.
By switching to link play instead of breakthrough,

“Ayu~ The bone tastes sweet.”
“When did your linkage skills develop so much? Did your movements get so much better?”
“Is this Hong Min-jun? Give up quickly, hyung.”
“Is your fighting power this much? Okay, I figured it out.”
“Oh, the smell…”
“…”

Lee Waejin.
As if the real analysis was over, even the linked play was all blocked, and at the end of the game, I don’t know, I broke through and scored another goal… Lost.

『A shocking 3-game losing streak. Will Frankfurt, which caused a sensation in the first half, collapse like this?”
『Chicharo was the core of Frankfurt?』
『Last year’s Focal Winner was eliminated in the quarterfinals!』
『The only shining Hong Min-joon! We struggled to score 2 goals, but the team lost.”

Driving me crazy.
Is this why they are strong team strong team? Should I have transferred during the winter transfer window?

As I pondered over the sadness of a team with a thin squad and worried about the future, the coach gave me an unexpected proposal.

“Are you thinking of playing in midfield? Mezzala.”

… Yeah? What?