Chapter 895 How Parallel Imports Are Made
During the training period in the United States, basically every day was training and training.
Except for a very small number of players like Su Dong who attend some events on behalf of the club or sponsors, all other players are basically training non-stop and repeatedly every day.
As the saying goes: One minute on stage, ten years of hard work off stage.
The level of performance of players on the court is often accumulated slowly through long-term training.
The training team that Manchester City brought to the United States this time, in addition to regular first-team players, also includes young players like Sterling and Trippier, and these players have also performed exceptionally hard, trying hard to win a place in the first team.
Compared with other positions, the competition for goalkeepers is now becoming increasingly fierce.
So far this season, Manchester City has a total of three goalkeepers in the team.
They are England's national goalkeeper, local youth player Joe Hart, last season's substitute goalkeeper Given, and Belgian teenager Thibaut Courtois who just joined the team this season.
The ages of the three goalkeepers are also very interesting. Joe Hart is 24 years old, Given is 35 years old, and Courtois is 19 years old.
Judging from age, Joe Hart is undoubtedly the team's main goalkeeper in his prime, Courtois is a potential stock, and Given is a veteran.
But the problem now is that everyone can see that Guardiola is not satisfied with Joe Hart.
This dissatisfaction mainly comes from two aspects, one of which is on the court.
In order to better train Joe Hart, Guardiola specially brought in goalkeeper coach Unsue from Spain and asked him to train Joe Hart specifically, but the English goalkeeper did not seem to benefit from this. His performance was still unsatisfactory, he made many mistakes, and most importantly, his passing ability was too poor.
Off the pitch, Joe Hart has caused a lot of trouble for the club. He was involved in several off-pitch incidents last season, which made Guardiola quite dissatisfied. He still has very high requirements for discipline in the locker room.
It is for these two reasons that Manchester City has been planning to introduce a high-level goalkeeper this summer.
Many goalkeepers, including Buffon and Neuer, were unable to make the trip, which led to a halt in Manchester City's goalkeeper recruitment.
The young player Courtois actually does not quite meet Guardiola's requirements. The reason is very simple. He is too tall and his characteristics do not quite meet Guardiola's requirements. However, this young player works very hard in training.
More importantly, he is confident enough.
On the first day of training for the new season, when he was interviewed by the media, it was not known whether he was misled by the reporters or he was telling the truth, but he stated in front of the reporters that he wanted to be the main goalkeeper in Manchester City.
At the age of 19, he had just arrived and wanted to take over the England goalkeeper position. This kid was really too arrogant! So much so that the British Sun later wrote an article to ridicule this Belgian kid, saying that the distance between him and Joe Hart was wider than the English Channel.
What they meant was that you are just a kid from the Belgian First Division and have never seen the world. We don't blame you, but you have to face the facts. Joe Hart is the Premier League champion, FA Cup champion and Europa League champion, the main goalkeeper of the treble, and the national goalkeeper of our British Empire. What right do you have to compete with him?
This article caused a certain response in the British football world at the time, but not many people took it seriously. However, in Manchester City's locker room, the atmosphere changed a little and the smell of competition became obvious.
Su Dong controlled the locker room, but did not intervene in the competition between the players. Even he and Guardiola believed that appropriate competition was a good thing, especially for Joe Hart, whose performance last season was really hard to describe.
As for Courtois, Su Dong also wanted to know how this kid was going to snatch the position of main goalkeeper?
As a result, when he arrived in the United States, Courtois quickly gave the answer.
He worked harder than anyone else in training, and even after training, he took the initiative to practice more on his own.
…
"This kid is really crazy! He's a bit like Ronnie back then!"
Next to the training ground, Pepe said to Su Dong with a smile.
Back then, Ronaldo was also very arrogant when he was in Sporting Lisbon, but his arrogance was not that of conceited arrogance, but rather a kind of arrogance that refused to admit defeat.
He didn't allow himself to lose to anyone, so he trained like crazy, trying to catch up with everyone.
In this respect, Courtois is a bit like Ronaldo.
Standing at Su Dong's level, he also believes that behind all successful professional players, there must be such a spirit of not admitting defeat, otherwise it will be difficult for them to continue to move forward.
On the training ground, Hazard kicked the ball on the side of the goal. Goalkeeper coach Unsue held up a spring board and kept changing the direction according to the incoming ball, allowing the ball to be shot to different positions of the goal at a faster speed and at a very close distance.
This kind of training really tests the goalkeeper's reaction ability.
Courtois is tall but has quick reactions. He falls to the ground again and again and gets up again and again.
"What does Wen Sue think of him?" Su Dong asked.
“Very good, better than expected.”
"Oh?" Su Dong was a little surprised.
"The training he received in Belgium since he was a child is completely different from Unsue's requirements. I don't know the details, but I heard that it seems that the Belgian goalkeeper training requires them to take a step forward before saving the ball, but Unsue's requirement is to move sideways before saving the ball."
Su Dong was confused and shook his head, "Is there any difference?"
"How would I know?" Pepe smiled bitterly, "But I heard that it can increase the speed of saving the ball, that is, it means you can get to the ground faster."
After a pause, Pepe smiled again and said, "Then you see, Unsue's requirement is that the goalkeeper's position should be pushed forward six to seven meters."
This is actually a problem that Manchester City has had since last season.
Perhaps ordinary fans don’t have much impression.
Take Joe Hart for example, he was originally a goal-line goalkeeper, usually standing on the goal line, but both Guardiola and Unsue asked him to push his position forward, directly to six or seven meters.
The width of the small penalty area is 5.5 meters and the penalty spot is 11 meters. That is to say, the normal position of the Manchester City goalkeeper should be between the small penalty area and the penalty spot, which will cause great discomfort to the goalkeeper.
Joe Hart was not used to this position, and many of his mistakes actually came from this discomfort.
You know, standing in front of the small penalty area and standing on the goal line will face two completely different situations, and the judgments that the goalkeeper needs to make are also completely different.
To some extent, this can even be said to be subverting everything the goalkeeper has done in the past.
This is also why the Manchester City dressing room was tolerant of Joe Hart and Given's mistakes.
To put it bluntly, you have been playing football like this since you were a child. Suddenly one day, the head coach asks you to play football in a different way instead of the same way. How many people can adapt?
"What do you think of Courtois?" Su Dong asked with concern.
Manchester City's progress in recruiting goalkeepers has not been ideal, and they will probably have to continue to trust Joe Hart this season. If Courtois can perform well, he will be a strong supplement to Manchester City's goalkeeper position.
"He is really determined to change, but you know, not everyone can change."
If you can change, you can adapt; if you can't change, you can't adapt.
But in the eyes of fans and media outside, if they adapt, they will perform well, and if they don't adapt, they will perform poorly.
The player is still the same player and his strength is still there, but his performance is completely different.
This is why players are sometimes called fakes.
…
"Let me try!"
Su Dong suddenly walked into the training ground with a smile on his face.
This surprised Unsue, Courtois and others.
"Didn't you go to participate in a business event? Are you back?" Wen Sue asked.
"Yes, we didn't have much training in the afternoon. How about I practice with you for a while?" Su Dong asked.
"Of course that's a good idea. Everyone knows that your shot is so tricky. Asking you to practice with me is something that many goalkeepers wouldn't even dare to think about." Of course, Unsue had no problem with it. Instead, he was in a very good mood.
The coach had given the green light, and Su Dong looked directly at Courtois behind him provocatively.
"Boy, do you dare?"
Courtois was overjoyed, he knew this was a very rare opportunity, so without saying anything, he just bent down and made a gesture as if he was ready to save the shot at any time.
The answer needs no further explanation.
…
The whole world knows that Su Dong's shooting is varied and his shooting skills are extremely superb.
More importantly, almost every shot he made was aimed at the goalkeeper's blind spot.
The so-called blind spot does not mean to hit those fixed positions blindly, but to hit some positions that are almost difficult for him to reach according to the movement of the goalkeeper's center of gravity.
Su Dong's shots are sometimes fast and sharp, but sometimes very clever. Occasionally he will deliberately let the ball bounce off the ground. Anyway, he will do whatever it takes to score a goal.
According to previous training, Su Dong's shooting distance was near the penalty spot and very close to the goal, which made it more difficult for Courtois to save the ball. He failed to save any of the first ten shots.
After the Belgian goalkeeper got up from the ground, he looked straight at Su Dong, clapped his gloves vigorously a few times, and pointed at Su Dong, "Come on!"
Su Dong was very satisfied with his reaction, and immediately signaled to Hazard who was passing the ball next to him to pass the ball again and faster.
It’s really depressing to say, no matter how Courtois tries to save the ball, Su Dong can always find an angle to score a goal.
Although it is highly likely that a shot near the penalty spot will be scored, Su Dong did not take a penalty. Instead, he shot directly after receiving the pass from Hazard. It just so happens that every shot he made hit the goal, he never missed, and he always shot the ball in the blind spot that Courtois found difficult to save.
Gradually, everyone became aware of how terrifying Su Dong was.
This is the strength of the world's top scorer! In fact, Su Dong may not have given his all.
Let me ask you, if this really happens in a game, who can save the shot from Su Dong?
Watching Courtois fall to the ground again and again in front of the goal, Hazard couldn't bear it several times and wanted to call a stop, but seeing that goalkeeper coach Unsue didn't say anything, he didn't dare to speak either.
But I don't understand why Su Dong looks so cruel today? Does he think Courtois is too crazy? Do he want to kill his spirit?
(End of this chapter)
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