Chapter 680: A sudden turn

Hazard found himself standing in the familiar player tunnel of St. Mary's Stadium. It was a little dark, as if the lights were not on.

The exit of the passage in front is bright but not dazzling. You can vaguely hear the shouts of fans filing in from the stands outside the stadium. The closer you get to the exit, the louder and clearer the sound becomes, as if you can hear someone's name they are shouting.

A flash of white light passed by, and everything became clear.

He found himself at the exit of the players' tunnel at St Mary's Stadium, and the entire stadium was filled with the shouts of fans.

It was loud and clear, and he could even hear the exact location where the sound came from.

For example, above his head, there were the shouts of the team's die-hard fans, the Saints Harry fans club, and they always included curse words.

This is incredible!

Hazard stood at the exit of the player tunnel in a daze, looking to the left, to the right, in front and back. Everything was exactly the same as when he walked out of the player tunnel before a game. It was very realistic.

On the court, the two teams have already set up their positions, with the referee's whistle in his mouth, ready to go.

He knew it was about to begin!

With the referee's crisp whistle, Hazard felt his eyes blurred and he found himself in the opponent's penalty area.

When he looked up, he saw himself.

Very familiar, wearing the red and white arrow striped jersey designed by Christopher Bailey, a famous Asprey designer. He was panting and looked very tired, but still kept running in front, patiently looking for opportunities.

He believed that was who he was because he had always done that!

If you want to gain a foothold in Bielsa's team, you must give your all in every game.

After a few passes back and forth, the ball came to his feet.

He started from the left, took skillful small steps, dribbled the ball, passed one, and started cutting towards the middle.

"Pass it!" Hazard blurted out.

Because he saw Suarez running into an open space in the penalty area and asking for the ball, but Hazard on the field seemed not to see it and passed another opponent's player when cutting inside.

"Pass to the right!"

It was obvious that Sturridge came across the penalty area from the right side to support the ball.

Hazard on the field was a little hesitant, considering whether to shoot himself or pass the ball to Sturridge?

But it was this hesitation that caused him to miss a great opportunity and the opponent's central defender came up.

In a hurry, Hazard chose to kick the ball himself, but the angle was too small and was hugged by the goalkeeper.

This made Hazard very depressed.

Because he knew very well that this was a great opportunity he missed during the game against Manchester United.

No, it should be said twice, one was a pass to Suarez, and the other was a diagonal pass to Sturridge, but he missed both times, and in the end, in a hurry, he made the worst choice and shot the ball himself.

"I should have sent it sooner!"

But just when Hazard regretted it, the scene changed again.

This time Southampton were wearing away jerseys and the game was obviously different from the previous one.

Toni Kroos made a long diagonal pass, accurately finding Hazard on the left, who kicked the ball off steadily, as if the ball was stuck to his feet.

This time he fooled the opponent's reckless defender, passed him easily, dribbled the ball diagonally into the penalty area from the left rib, and then dribbled past the opponent's tall central defender in the penalty area.

At this moment, Hazard, who was watching coldly, exclaimed, "Opportunity, shoot!"

But Hazard on the field didn't seem to have this idea, and instead passed the ball to Ibrahimovic.

The Swede's position was not good, and there was a central defender following closely beside him, so when faced with Hazard's pass, he received it and used his physical advantage to create space for the shot, but the angle was too small and the ball was confiscated by the goalkeeper.

Hazard remembered that this game was against Hull City.

"Why? I didn't even notice such an obvious opportunity?"

Hazard asked himself in great confusion.

But he no longer had time to regret. The scene changed again and he entered the next game, where it was still his mistake.

…

"Master Huan, look, this is what Hazard is seeing now!"

Inside the Nike Training Center in Staplewood, in front of a virtual training system that Southampton had just established, Marcus du Satoy smiled and introduced the team's new equipment to Yang Huan.

In the room in front of them, Hazard was wearing only shorts and lying on a platform. His body was connected to many data cables with sensors that monitored his every move, such as his heartbeat and blood pressure.

Through these data, the system can automatically infer Hazard's mentality at the moment, such as nervousness or disappointment.

Yang Huan and Marcus du Satoy saw everything that Hazard saw at that moment through the LCD monitor.

The difference is that Hazard is in the first-person perspective, which gives him a full sense of immersion, while the screen of Yang Huan and others is divided into two parts, one is the first-person screen seen by the virtual reality helmet, and the other is Hazard's situation.

"These clips are made using match videos provided by Sky and BT. They are all clips of Hazard's mistakes in the past season and this season. They are all clips of him missing passing opportunities and shooting opportunities during the game."

Yang Huan nodded. He also realized that all the mistakes were due to these two aspects.

"Why?"

Marcus du Satoy smiled and looked at Bielsa next to him.

The Argentine madman propped up his glasses on the bridge of his nose and said, "Based on the current situation, Hazard is a very good creator of opportunities. He is the best player in our team at creating opportunities, dribbling and breaking through."

"His lightning-fast four-degree angle, lightning-fast footwork, and irresistible flexibility allow him to easily get rid of defenders even when facing dense defenses, creating enough space for himself and his teammates. Although he is not tall, he is very strong and is not afraid of physical confrontation at all."

Speaking of this, Elsa gave her own evaluation.

"All of this is the basis for him to become the best player in the world!"

Yang Huan was no exception, and he was also waiting.

Because under normal circumstances, Bielsa should have made a dramatic turn next.

As expected, Bielsa followed with a but!

"However, as a classic chance creator, Hazard's desire to score was not strong enough. He even chose to pass the ball when he should have taken the lead, and missed the chance instead."

"So, this season, as long as I start Hazard on the left, I will definitely have a secondary scorer on the right. The best ones are Sturridge and Suarez. Sanchez's effect is average."

Ravel Morrison is a more traditional winger. He doesn’t have a strong scoring ability, but he is very good at dribbling past opponents on the wing. He is also very fast and has very agile footwork.

If we follow what Bielsa said, we can understand why Hazard's performance last season was also very eye-catching.

At that time, the team's right wing was Gareth Bale, who had super scoring ability!

"Hazard is a player with unlimited potential. In terms of passing, he doesn't pass forward very often, especially the last pass, which needs to be further strengthened. In addition, I am considering strengthening his scoring ability and desire to make him more comprehensive."

Yang Huan doesn't consider himself an expert on these, but they sound pretty good.

"What about Sanchez?" Yang Huan asked with concern.

The Chilean winger is also one of the players with the strongest individual abilities in Southampton's frontcourt, but what's interesting is that in the several games this season when he and Hazard played together, the performances of both of them were not very ideal.

Some even say that the two wingers are completely incompatible and exclude each other.

"Sanchez is a more mature player than Hazard. His dribbling and breakthrough abilities are not as good as Hazard's, but Hazard's dribbling ability is at the same level as Messi's. Sanchez is at best slightly inferior, but Sanchez is more efficient and has better scoring ability than Hazard. However, the two of them playing at the same time are not incompatible as the fans and media say."

"Why is that?" Yang Huan was very curious.

"No goal!" Bielsa gave the answer very affirmatively.

"What's the meaning?"

"They both created a lot of chances, but the efficiency of converting these chances into goals was too low. So in the eyes of the fans and the media, when the two of them appeared, the team's goal number dropped sharply, or the front three performed poorly, this was the reason."

Yang Huan immediately understood, "So what do you have?"

Bielsa shook his head. "This kind of thing can't be rushed. On the one hand, the two need to accumulate more training and games to develop tacit understanding. At the same time, I also hope to further urge them to improve and make them more comprehensive."

Bielsa said this with great certainty, and looked at Yang Huan seriously, "But I can tell you for sure, Master Huan, their partnership with Suarez, plus Sturridge and Ravel Morrison, will shock the entire European football world!"

After hearing this, Yang Huan smiled. He understood what Bielsa meant.

Ibrahimovic and Drogba are both old, and the team's entire frontcourt strength has undergone earth-shaking changes compared to the past. In the past, Ibrahimovic alone supported and led the team's entire offensive system, but now, the Swedish center has restricted Southampton's frontcourt attack power.

It may seem cruel to say this, but that's how professional football works.

Since ancient times, beauties are like famous generals, and they are not allowed to grow old in the world!

However, Yang Huan has already made plans with Raiola, and I believe Ibrahimovic will be satisfied with this arrangement by then.

This is the only thing Yang Huan can do!

After hearing what Bielsa said, Yang Huan felt relieved. It can be seen that the team's plan for Hazard is quite careful and serious. As a layman, there is no need for him to worry about anything.

However, he still had a question in his mind.

"Marcelo, what are you going to do with Kaka?"

Southampton has given Kaka a lot of time and opportunities so far this season, but the Brazilian's performance has been lukewarm. It cannot be said to be too bad, but it has not been too eye-catching. Therefore, there has been a lot of criticism about Kaka from the outside world.

After Bielsa heard this, he shook his head and smiled bitterly, "Master Huan, if we look at Kaka's performance on the pitch, he is indeed not that good. However, according to the analysis results obtained from our statistical data, Kaka is gradually improving bit by bit."

"Really?" Yang Huan was delighted and looked at Marcus du Satoy.

The latter also nodded, expressing his support for Bielsa's conclusion, "After several months of recuperation and rehabilitation training, Kaka's body is already qualified to play the whole game. His main problem now is psychological."

This made Yang Huan happy. If Kaka could be activated, it would be equivalent to introducing a superstar.

But, is it possible that the team will continue to trust him? Continue to give him opportunities?

"Master Huan, overcoming the fear in your heart is a difficult and thorny process. It's not like turning on a light and pressing a switch. It's not that simple. All we can do is trust and support!"

After hearing this, Yang Huan could only nod.

Since the coaching staff and the analysis team both believe in Kaka, and I believe in them, I can only continue to trust Kaka.

I hope Kaka won’t disappoint anyone!

"Master Huan, please follow me!"

Marcus du Sautoy smiled and pointed to another room next door.