Chapter 252 – Weird Playmaking (1)

252

Newcastle manager Lauren Botman sighed while watching the video playing on the tablet pc on her desk and buried herself in her chair.

“This is so… It’s embarrassing, it’s embarrassing.”

The video being played was a talk show featuring a player he had, which created a huge buzz as soon as it aired.

Tok tok, a finger tapping the report on the desk.
The player in the video was smiling brightly, whether he knew his troubles or not.

“It’s the first half Hong Min-joon report.”

Bottman’s gaze, which had been skimming through the report with various figures, turned back to the video.

[Then, shall we talk about this season? Minjun Hong moved from the Bundesliga to the EPL ahead of the start of this season. Due to the World Cup schedule, he could not participate in pre-season training and was expected to have difficulty adapting. The result was the exact opposite, right?]

Just then, the topic of grades in the first half comes up.

[He dispelled concerns by making an impressive debut by scoring a hat trick in his first match against Leicester City. How was it, Minjun Hong?]
[It was calm. My career is always followed by the modifiers of proof and verification, so I’m glad I showed a good figure in his debut match, I think this was my thought.]
[To be able to be calm even with a hat trick before debut, this must be the composure of an outstanding player, right? Then, what about Hong Min-jun’s record in the first half of this season?]

Along with the words of a beautiful host, who appears to be in her early to mid-thirties with attractive chocolate skin unique to Arabs, Hong Min-joon’s record fills the screen.

Starting with Leicester City in the 1st round, the Champions League group stage, the EFL League Cup, and the last game of the first half, the 20th round of the league against Norwich City.

[Wow! Do you think this is a really great stat? He scored a whopping 39 goals and 8 assists in 26 of the 29 games Newcastle played in the first half, excluding 3 games he missed due to injury! What an amazing record!]
[I think I was able to build a good record naturally by running as hard as I could. There was also help from the manager, coaches, and colleagues.]

In the video, Hong Min-joon humbly replied to the beauty host’s admiration.

“Hmm. Well, then. Hong Min-jun is not an arrogant player who lives on his good taste. How much I tried to maximize his strengths.”
[Isn’t this the pace of Messi and Ronaldo, who scored 50 to 60 goals in one season! You’re scoring far more goals than your rival, Jorge.]
[It’s still not enough to compare with such legendary players. Jorge has fewer goals than me, but he has a lot of assists, so I know that the overall attack points are similar.]
[It’s like a Ballon d’Or rival. Still, isn’t scoring 39 goals in the first half a record?]
Boatman, who had been shaking his head, glanced at the report on the desk again.

Excluding complex figures, if you simply look at the attack points, he scored 39 goals and 8 assists in 26 games. Isn’t that an overwhelming record?

[I’m not conscious of the record, so I’m not sure if it’s the best ever. However, if you look closely at the goals I scored, there are some bubbles, so I don’t think it’s all that great yet.]
[Could you elaborate?]
[For example, 6 of 39 goals were scored in one game. In the match against Charlton in the round of 32 of the League Cup.]

Hong Min-joon’s words remind me of the memories of the time.
Charlton is a team belonging to League 1, the 3rd division, not the 2nd division Championship.

Of course, it was a weak team that was not comparable to Newcastle in terms of power, so I wanted to rotate the rotation, but the atmosphere was down with a draw against Arsenal, which was the previous match.

Until then, the team had been victorious and the momentum at the beginning of the season was terrifyingly burning.
It was a great momentum that reminded me of last season when we competed for the league championship in the first half, so Arsenal were undefeated.
The wealth was very sad.

So, in order to raise the momentum again, didn’t you mobilize all your power, not rotation, against Charlton?

The result was a baseball score.
A whopping 10:0 win.

Even though it was a match between the 1st Division and 3rd Division teams, it was a rare match where it was hard to see such a gap, so it became a hot topic.

[Still, it must be a great record. With 23 goals and 4 assists in 18 league games and 8 goals and 3 assists in 6 Champions League group matches, he is ranked first in both the league and the Champions League. How are you feeling?]
[The goal record is good, but more than anything, I like it best that there is no sound about ‘verification’ or ‘proof’ anymore. Somehow, he entered the European professional league right from the Korean amateur league, and since his professional career was short, there must have been concerns. Still, I am happy that I have become a player that fans trust.]

The presenter exaggeratedly exaggerated admiration at the confident remarks of Hong Min-joon, who consistently puts humility, an oriental virtue, at the forefront.

“That and that, he’s possessing a woman again.”

The beautiful host, who had attractive chocolate skin and a thick complexion in her 30s, was a woman who perfectly suited Boatman’s taste.
The problem is that the girl with that taste is falling for a guy younger than me.

The eyes of the two beauties located on either side of Hong Min-jun as the center are revealed without filtering as if they were possessed.

“Even girls like Tina Lott look like that.”

After knowing the inside story and watching the video, the images of women falling for men come to my eyes.

The beautiful host smiles exaggeratedly and makes skinships needlessly, or Tina Lott sitting next to her can’t take her eyes off her.

Botman’s brow furrows again as he turns his gaze away from the video in envy and scans the report.

“It’s difficult, it’s difficult.”

Hong Min-jun’s scoring pace is the best ever.
In terms of the league alone, he scored 23 goals in the first half. While showing an overwhelming scoring pace, he only had 4 assists.

He is not the type of scorer who only focuses on scoring, so why does he show such a deformed distribution?

Hong Min-joon’s position was very diverse, from the front line to the left and right of the second line to the center, but in fact, his role was similar.

In addition to scoring in the 1.5 line, being in charge of playmaking.
A so-called traditional attacking midfield role.

As evidenced by his attack points, his scoring ability is excellent, and the play-making shown in the attacking third was also compliant.

But there are only 4 assists.
It may not have been possible if the playmaking was poor, but Hong Min-jun’s making ability was not bad.

Just look at the numbers in the report.
The ability to keep the ball in danger zone, the ability to escape from the pressure of the opponent, the ability to put a pass into the penalty box in the final third… It’s not a bad figure, even if it’s not top-notch.

However-

“The ratio of goals scored to the number of decisive passes is too low.”

The problem was that the conversion rate that led directly to the goal was absurdly low.

At first I thought it was temporary.
Hong Min-joon’s play-making in the game was quite good, and he also showed good passes leading to decisive chances in real life.

However, I felt strange that the assists ratio to scoring was so low over time, and that this bizarre pace continued despite not only aiming for goals in terms of play style.

But I couldn’t find a clear reason why…

“Write… What the heck should I tell you this Even if you leave it as it is, you’re doing well, but you might lose your form for no reason… Shall we do individual training after the season?”

During the winter break, I came to know the reason while analyzing Hong Min-joon rather than preparing for the game.

The reason why the number of passes converted into goals is so low, even though the playmaking ability shown in the game is not bad.
The reason is just

“I would have thought that a player with this level of skill would be so immature in passing and lack of judgment. It’s like giving them special training during the season… Huh, true. It’s embarrassing.”

I’m not good at passing.
Even after analyzing himself, he couldn’t believe the result.

“Should I just call him and tell him that he lacks passing skills and judgment? … No.”

No matter how much Hong Min-joon is a player with oriental virtues, a player who is achieving this level of skill, this level of career, and this level of record must have pride.

But how… Can you say such a thing to a player who treats the board as a treasure with such skill!

Unlike himself, who suffers from a serious inner conflict, Botman sighed once again when he saw Hong Min-joon, who was surrounded by beauties in the video.

* * *

The short winter break is over.
On the first training day after the break, only the boat, which had been warming up at the training ground from the early morning wind, turned its head to the presence.

“Director? What are you doing in the morning?”
“You were the first to come out. Did you have a good break? … No I hope you had a good time. I enjoyed watching the talk show you appeared on.”
“Five. Did you see that?”

As expected, Hong Min-jun was the first to come to the training ground.
Even though he was in this position, Boatman nodded his head inwardly at the appearance of being sincere.

“Well. What is Hong? Would you like to play a passing game with me?”
“With the director?”
“When I was active, I was also a midfielder with a good knowledge of passing. It will be better than training alone.”
“So what?”

Okay.
This is possible if you are a player with such a professional mindset.

Courage to admit one’s own shortcomings. The courage to face it head-on.
And if you’re a player who’s ready to learn… !

“… Oh?”
“Why are you like that?”
“Everything, try again, try again.”

Boatman opened his mouth.
… Isn’t this

“You, why are you so good at passing!?”
“What are you talking about all of a sudden? You did well.”
“…… !?”