Chapter 008: Troubles in cooperating with teammates

Starting from that afternoon, Wang Li started training with the Wolverhampton youth team.

In the youth team, the players are generally under 20 years old, and the focus of collective training for young people of this age group is still on physical strength and endurance.

Due to the different positions, the skills can only be improved through the guidance of a professional coach or by practicing alone.

In terms of cooperation, the youth team does not have high requirements for this. After all, the English Youth League and the FA Youth Cup are not professional football leagues. Winning or losing is irrelevant to ordinary clubs. This kind of competition is just to provide young people with a platform to improve their experience and skills.

The youth team is the supply station that delivers blood to the first team. As long as they can cultivate capable professional players, it is a success.

However, Wang Li was a special case. His coordination ability, especially his awareness, was extremely poor. This gave Old Wood a headache. He even had the thought that "may I have misjudged the person because of my old eyesight?"

On the court, Wang Li gracefully dodged three defensive players in a row. His movements were indeed beautiful, just like a dance.

In Thomas' words, 'Allen's kicking posture is like a blonde beauty taking off her clothes, which is really attractive', although Wang Li was very annoyed by his view.

However, after he passed the player, he passed the ball directly to George Willing next to him. For George, the pass was too sudden. He didn't have time to react, and the ball hit his leg and bounced out of the sideline.

"Oh, my God, Alan, you should have passed the ball to me. You should know my position. If I rush forward a little, I can successfully make an offside and have a one-on-one opportunity." Forward Pete Cass ran over and complained to Wang Li.

Although Pete also admitted that the dribbling skills of this new black-haired boy were indeed much better than his own, his "immediate pass" was really not that good. He would only pass the ball to people near him every time, as if he could not see his teammates who were a little further away from him.

In response, Wang Li spread his hands to apologize. He could only accurately grasp the situation near him, but he had no way of taking care of the activities farther away, and he didn't know who to pass the message to.

For some short passes in a small range, he felt that it was better to continue passing than to his teammates, because short passes were prone to errors and he was not proficient in positioning. After passing the ball, he was a little at a loss and didn't know what to do.

This is the problem that newcomers who have not received systematic football training must face. They must work hard to learn and adapt to issues such as the overall situation, positioning, etc.

It can be said that in terms of cooperation, Wang Li showed the level of a newcomer who has just started playing football.

Football is a sport for eleven people. There is no victory without cooperation. In this regard, Wang Li has to start from scratch.

"Alan, I think you should ask Coach Stephen to give you some special tactical guidance every day. Your awareness is really poor. I don't know how you graduated from Arsenal Football School. Do you often skip school..." defender Tim Silko suggested.

Stephen Cooper is the team's tactical coach. He is a top student at the University of Sport London and is very well versed in football tactics and strategic theories. Even Wolves head coach Dave Jones often asks him questions in this regard.

Wang Li nodded and replied gratefully: "Oh, thank you, I will go to him after training today, but I don't know if Mr. Stephen will be busy."

"Beep..." Old Wood blew the whistle for assembly.

After seeing the players slowly coming over, he ordered: "Next is the passing practice, two people in a group, Alan, you follow me."

Wang Li looked around and confirmed that Old Wood was calling him, so he stood up and followed him to the office.

"Alan is definitely going to be scolded. It looks like he's going to have to endure Coach Wood's scolding. Let's pray for him, Amen..." Thomas said with some gloating, making a cross gesture with his left hand.

Afterwards, the sound of people discussing with each other could be heard on the court. They had all experienced the attack of Old Wood's saliva, which was really terrible, so when they saw another colleague falling into hell, they all laughed.

Wang Li followed Old Wood to his office. Surprisingly, there were already two people in the office. When they saw Old Wood coming in, they greeted him and looked at Wang Li who was following behind.

"Alan, these two are the coaches I hired specifically for you. You will receive individual instruction from them every week from now on."

"This is Stephen Cooper, he is Wolverhampton's professional tactical coach and will be your tactical teacher in the future. This is Jason Barber, the first team's physical coach. He will also be responsible for guiding your physical training in the future."

Old Wood introduced them to Wang Li separately. After more than a day of training, he also discovered the shortcomings of Allen, the oriental boy, so he specially invited Stephen and Jason to give him special guidance. He had high hopes for Wang Li.

Wang Li originally wanted to find Stephen himself, but he didn't expect that Old Wood had already arranged everything for him. He was very grateful to Old Wood. This old coach actually asked these big shots to give him individual guidance for him. This kindness alone was a bit too much for him to bear.

"I'm Alan Wang. I'm really happy to get individual guidance from the two coaches. I will train hard in the future. Thank you." Wang Li said politely.

“You’re welcome. Old Wood has high hopes for you. If you can grow up as soon as possible and enter the first team to play for Wolverhampton in the Premier League, it will be the best reward for us. Come on, kid!”

"Well, I will try my best, it will be troublesome in the future!"

From that day on, in addition to normal training, Wang Li would take Stephen's tactical class every week and also do physical training under Jason's guidance.

Although this kind of life is indeed very tiring and annoying, Wang Li feels very fulfilled. His skills are improving day by day, which makes him closer to becoming a professional player.

It is impossible for a person to reach the top overnight. If you want to become a popular star, you must start step by step. Don't be too ambitious, and don't underestimate yourself.

Wang Li knows his own strengths very well. For now, he is best at dribbling, passing and shooting, while cooperation, overall view and physical fitness are his weaknesses. In terms of overall strength, his current level is just on par with an ordinary Premier League professional player. If he wants to become a powerful star, he still needs more learning and hard work. ;