Chapter 233 – The Iron King (2)

233

St James’ Park, the venue for the Premier League round 7 match between Newcastle and Tottenham.
Three men sitting side by side in a place overlooking the stadium were giggling with serious expressions.

“You made quite a few changes to the composition of the players, right? You seem to have stamina problems too.”
“It can only be. Haven’t we played games with almost no player changes?”
“Well… It’s been a while since Sakum Shakki started. He will be in charge of the forefront, so will Hong Min-joon fall to the side?”

The trio of Sevilla’s tactical coach, power analyst, and scout busily played their hands while glancing at the stretched ground.

Someone with an analog pen and notebook, someone with a tablet pc, and someone with a laptop.
The trio, intent on organizing analysis data to suit their individual tastes, was just flying from Spain for the next game.

It is also true that Hong Min-jun led Frankfurt robbed the Europa League semi-finals last season.

It’s not even shaggy.
A whopping 5 goals. In the first and second rounds of the Europa League semi-finals, only Hong Min-jun conceded 5 goals and gave 1 assist, a total of 6 attack points.

Even the embarrassing highlight scene of a splendid overhead kick goal that would only come out once in a while as the top of the dragon.

For Hong Min-joon, this Champions League match is a golden opportunity for Sevilla to recover their shattered pride.

“Shakum Shakira. The coach, who had been having fun using Hong Min-jun as the false nine, hired an orthodox striker for this match.”
“Let’s see… Your official profile says your height is 184 cm. Does it look bigger?”
“A typical target. Although he is not very tall, he has strong air supremacy based on his tremendous elasticity, and his ability to push in or withstand is strong. Minjun Hong… After all, it starts from the side.”

The match, which started with Newcastle’s starting axis, started with a careful search in the beginning.

Tottenham, which is evaluated as a slightly more disappointing power than Man Utd and Arsenal, but on the contrary, the difference is only ‘slightly’.

This is enough to compare with Newcastle of the 1.5 group, which started the rotation for the next game, the Champions League, so when teams of a similar level meet, a fierce game usually unfolds.

Soon, the two teams actively went back and forth between the offense and defense, enthralling the crowd.

“Certainly Hong Min-joon is outstanding. He is a player who makes you expect something when he gets the ball.”
“I knew you had excellent keeping skills and depressurization, but your passing skills have improved a lot compared to before?”

The core of Newcastle is Hong Min-jun, who is deployed on the left side, and Jose Gaya, who plays as a right central midfielder.
Based on the excellent ball distribution of the two players, the game gradually tilted toward Newcastle, and finally the opening goal resulted.

[Goooool!! It’s been a while since ‘Beast’ Shakum Shakum made a great header!!]

Newcastle fans respond by singing chants in unison to the loud shouts of Unseo’s wife in the hall.

“After releasing the pressure with a simple action, it was a goal immediately followed by a cross.”

And the expression of the trio who watched this also hardened.
The series of attacks I just showed you was all too familiar.

The restarted game followed a similar pattern.
Tottenham’s fierce offensive often turned away from the goal post, but on the other hand, Newcastle’s attack, which began with the toes of Hong Min-jun, Jose Gaya and Two Playmakers, produced substantial results.

“My playing style has changed a lot. He was a player who enjoyed reckless dribbling breakthroughs, but now he plays very statically.”
“Jose Gaya on the right and Min-jun Hong on the left take charge of playmaking and focus on sending the ball into the penalty box. It’s mostly a cross that aimed for Shakum Shaky’s head.”
“This… “

The three of them make eye contact without saying who comes first.

“It is similar to the tactics Frankfurt played against us in the Europa semi-finals last season.”
“Heh… Right. Are you involved in tactics in preparation for the match against us? Practice tactics with Tottenham as your sparring partner. I could have suffered the same.”

* * *

When the match against Tottenham started, the first thing I felt was not how Tottenham moved or how strong they were.

‘Ah, it’s filthy hard.’

It’s just that it’s harder than you think.
After all, it’s not easy to play a game in two days.

It was a very tough schedule, but after the game against Charlton, it was difficult to play after only one day off.

Well, objectively (write it, read it statistically) I’m not a player with good stamina. It’s not that I lack stamina.

To put it bluntly, even if you look at the medical test results at the Premier League average level, there is not much difference from most Newcastle players.

Nevertheless, compared to the Newcastle team’s difficulties in managing their condition, what makes them lively is, firstly, the condition management know-how they learned while suffering from a harsh schedule in Frankfurt last season, secondly, playing while properly arranging their stamina when playing, and thirdly, the status window thanks to

Needless to say, the first one is the vibe that comes from time to time.
… Well, in terms of age, the average age of the team is older than me, but among them, there are only three players, including me, who have experienced club competitions. I was the only one who made it to the final stage.

The second one is that I like talking, I don’t have physical strength, but I actually run moderately. To put it badly, not putting all your energy into every game.

In the past, I thought it was the attitude of a professional to put all his energy into every game. However, suffering from lack of stamina last season, I realized that putting all my energy into every game is foolish.

It is an undeniable fact that the importance of each game is different.
Will the league matches after the rankings have been decided have the same importance as the league matches at stake? Are EFL Cup competitions and Champions League matches the same? Not at all.

To put it bluntly, there are games that need to be thrown away, and there are games that you need to do your best.
Giving all one’s energy in every game is ideal unless your physical strength is at a level that transcends human… No, it’s just a dream.

To do this, we changed the way we play.
Reduce the dribble breakthrough or sprint that accompanies extreme physical strength consumption and move to a more pass-oriented style.

Didn’t the last Arsenal game, which ended in a draw, also show a pass-oriented play?
Obviously, I struggled with a sticky defense more than I thought, but if I did my best without thinking, I probably would have won.

But I chose to conserve my stamina rather than giving my all in that game.
The season is a marathon, not a sprint, and the champions took precedence over the league competitions.

It’s not like I’m running around, of course.
If we were losing to Arsenal, we would have done our best to score somehow.

And the last third, the status window, is the core of my persistence.
No matter how much know-how and how hard a player is in condition management, there are biorhythms, so it is inevitable that there will be days when the condition is bad. It’s just that the frequency is low.

No, even if the condition is good, there is a difference in the degree of goodness.
A moderately good day, a very good day, or a day with the best condition that comes once a year, like this.

As a human being, the quality of play varies depending on the condition.
Roughly speaking, if your usual play is 100, if you are in moderately good condition, you will improve by about 10%, and if you are very good, you will improve by 20%. On the other hand, if the condition is bad, the quality of play will decrease by 10-20%.

However, thanks to the influence of the status window, my condition was generally consistent.
If others fluctuate by 20-40%, I should move around 10%.

Since there is little change, of course, you get more used to the usual play, and as a result, efficiency tends to increase. Above all, it becomes the basis for steady performance.

Of course, it’s not like there’s no change at all.
If you trust only the status window and manage it to the end, your condition will plummet, but… Still, compared to before the status window, it is true that the consistency has increased significantly.

That’s why I was in a much better condition with a similar stamina to the Newcastle team, but consecutive games are definitely burdensome.

Inevitably, this game also reduces breakthrough or sprint and focuses on passing… As I was doing it, it was fun to spread the pass, so I focused too much on playmaking.

Break through coolly once or twice, and sprint a little to confuse the defending opponent… The monster physical Shakum Shaky catches the ball so well that passing should be fun.

I can understand why Mesut Ozil said that decisive passes are more fun than scoring goals.

“Minjun, it seems like you’re not running any more today.”
“Sorry. I’ll be playing for a bit from now on because I’ll be substituted around 70 minutes into the second half. Even so, the defense was punctual.”

Well… No matter how bad your stamina is, you can’t do this.
I’m sick… Oops, you can’t become the image of running only when you score a goal like Hosleung.

Still, I played pretty hard when defending, but it’s probably more noticeable because of the contrast between my play, which I usually actively enjoy dribbling and sprinting, and my current static play.

“When the game starts, drive the ball to me. Let’s score one more goal and finish.”

Throw-in situation.
During the pause in the game, he appealed to his teammates.

Soon it’s the replacement time the coach said, so we’ll score a goal coolly before that—

“Red! Substitute!”
“… Whew.”

Yeah let’s think about it
I got an assist, and I adjusted my stamina moderately.

* * *

“Hmm… Strange. You don’t run particularly well?”
“Write. Why not use your greatest strengths: dribbling and speed? What’s the matter—”

Ah!
All three exclaimed at the same time.

“Right! What’s wrong!”
“Health? Injury?”
“Whatever it is, it’s good news.”

The Seville trio smiled.

And since the cost of the illusion has been paid to someone else—

“What!! Hong Min-jun He said there was something wrong with his physical strength or injury!!”

The Sevilla coach screamed as he grabbed the few remaining hair.