The God of Football Starts With Passive Skills-Chapter 31 - 20: He Plays Like Owen

While fans gathered on Chinese football forums in ever-increasing numbers, their desire to watch the matches live growing more intense, Wang Shuo, far away in Mainz, Germany, was suffering through Klopp’s torment.

Torment!

That was how the Mainz first-team players described Klopp’s training.

The intensity was just too high!

Many of the first-team players competing with Wang Shuo for a spot had initially been content to sit back and watch the show, hoping to see the rookie from the U19 team get absolutely crushed by Klopp’s training.

Ideally, he would run back to the U19 team in tears.

But the outcome left them disappointed.

Not only did Wang Shuo adapt to the first team’s training intensity, but his performance was steadily improving.

This was especially true in the second week, after the match against Frankfurt U19.

Wang Shuo had even managed to unlock some new Skills.

So far, Wang Shuo had unlocked three Passive Skills: Regional Level Breathing, Professional Level Insight, and Professional Level Swift.

Klopp’s training was incredibly intense, even more demanding than an actual match in the German U19 league.

As a forward, Wang Shuo had to face off against Marco Rose, Nowitzki, Subotic, and Tim Hogland—the strongest defensive line in the 2nd Bundesliga.

According to Klopp’s own assessment, this defensive line would be highly competitive not just in the 2nd Bundesliga, but even in the Bundesliga itself.

Facing such a defensive line, even just in training, subjected Wang Shuo to a level of pressure completely incomparable to what he experienced in the U19 league.

It was under this immense pressure that more of Wang Shuo’s weaknesses were exposed.

But it also drew out more of his potential.

As Wang Shuo became more familiar with and gained control over Swift, he noticed that whether in training or during U19 matches, the movements of his teammates and opponents seemed to slow down.

At first, he thought it was just an illusion.

It was only after he adapted, particularly during a casual chat with Subotic, that he was surprised to discover it wasn’t that the people around him had gotten slower.

He had gotten faster!

Once his opponents "slowed" down, the frequency of his technical maneuvers and the number of times he could touch the ball both increased.

It might have only been by a few tenths of a second, but on the pitch, that was a fatal advantage.

Isn’t there a saying?

On the football pitch, beating a defender is all about changing your rhythm.

And a change of rhythm relies on the frequency of your movements.

The faster the frequency, the more variations you can create.

After Wang Shuo mastered this technique, it proved extremely effective at first, giving his teammates on the defensive line a major headache.

But as professional players, Nowitzki, Subotic, and the others quickly adjusted their strategy and began targeting Wang Shuo’s weaknesses.

He was relatively thin, not strong in physical confrontations, and his technique lacked finesse.

After pinpointing Wang Shuo’s weaknesses, Subotic started shutting him down with ease.

Outside of training, the young center-back told Wang Shuo that the defenders in the 2nd Bundesliga were nothing like the rookies in the U19 league; every single one of them was far more experienced.

"If you want to establish a foothold in the Second Bundesliga, you have to find a playstyle that suits you—one that maximizes your strengths and minimizes your weaknesses."

And so, Wang Shuo started thinking again.

’Based on my current condition, it’s not a good idea to just try and bulk up to improve my physical game.’

’A slow remedy won’t solve an immediate crisis.’

Wang Shuo decided to try and integrate his three Passive Skills.

’With Regional Level Breathing, I can cover large areas of the pitch. With Insight, I can accurately read the game, spotting weak points and gaps in the opponent’s defense.’

’By moving into those gaps, I can create some distance from the defenders and avoid getting into a physical battle.’

’At that point, Swift, combined with my own natural speed and explosive power, will create the biggest threat.’

’More importantly, even if the defenders know what I’m doing, there won’t be anything they can do about it.’

’They can either let me run into open space to receive a pass, but once I get the ball, I’ll likely become a threat.’

’Or, if they want to mark me, they’ll have to keep up with my running.’

’I’m 1.8 meters tall and have the boost from Regional Level Breathing. The German defenders are often over 1.9 meters tall. Even if they can keep up with me at the beginning of the game, what happens as time goes on?’

It was the same principle behind Chelsea’s center-forward, Drogba.

Was the Ivorian strong just because of his physique?

No. He also covered a huge amount of ground, constantly wearing down defenders throughout the entire match.

Once he understood this, Wang Shuo’s performance in first-team training immediately became even more outstanding.

Furthermore, Klopp was consciously testing him, always placing him on the opposing side from the main defensive line in scrimmages.

After every scrimmage, Nowitzki, Subotic, and the other defenders were run ragged.

You could say he played by avoiding defenders, but when it came to pressing high up the pitch, he pounced more fiercely than anyone.

He tackled as if his life depended on it.

Then, as soon as his team had possession, he would go back to running away from the defenders...

Klopp’s training was already intense enough on its own.

Having to defend against Wang Shuo on top of that pushed Nowitzki and Subotic to the brink of collapse.

...

Wang Shuo’s performance, of course, did not go unnoticed by the coaching staff on the sidelines, especially Klopp and Buvac.

"The kid’s very smart. He’s improved incredibly fast since joining the first team."

Buvac had an excellent impression of the young player from China, and his assessment of him grew more and more favorable.

Of the several players called up from the second team and the U19s this week, Wang Shuo’s performance was by far the best.

The other players mostly couldn’t keep up with the pace of first-team training.

One could only imagine that things would be even worse for them in the Second Bundesliga.

Andre Schürrle’s performance was decent, but it still couldn’t compare to Wang Shuo’s.