The God of Football Starts With Passive Skills-Chapter 43 - 28: Wang Shuo, Yet Again

Midweek, in the 31st round of the 2nd Bundesliga, Mainz hosted Kaiserslautern.

As expected, Wang Shuo was on the substitute’s bench.

The day before the match, Klopp had called him into his office to personally discuss the matter.

You see, Borja’s current situation was quite desperate.

According to the loan contract, if Mainz wanted to exercise their purchase option, they had to make a decision soon.

Once the season ended and Borja returned to Greece, if Mainz still wanted to sign him, they would have to renegotiate the price.

From Borja’s perspective, the player’s mindset was also rather interesting.

When the team was doing poorly, he had wanted to return to Greece.

But now that the team had a chance of promotion back to the Bundesliga, he hoped to stay.

This meant he needed to deliver a better performance to convince Mainz.

Klopp made it clear to Wang Shuo that the club had not yet made a decision.

But even if they did end up signing Borja permanently, they would still be fully committed to developing Wang Shuo.

On a personal level, nobody liked Borja’s attitude.

But as things stood, Mainz had no choice!

Klopp told Wang Shuo not to be discouraged, to be ready to play at a moment’s notice, and promised that he would start him again in the 32nd-round home game against Wein Wiesbaden.

Wang Shuo understood the reasoning behind Klopp’s and Mainz’s decision and assured them he had no issue with it.

And so, for the match against Kaiserslautern, Wang Shuo was on the bench.

Aside from Wang Shuo, midfielder Gunkel was also out with an injury.

Amri took his place.

Captain Nowitzki was suspended for accumulating too many yellow cards. Marco Rose partnered with Subotic at center-back, while Demetraz continued to fill in at left-back.

Other than those changes, Mainz largely stuck with the same lineup that had secured their two-game winning streak.

The attacking trio up front was Foyelner, Borja, and Balik.

Buoyed by the confidence from their two-game winning streak, Mainz seized the initiative on the pitch.

But the first half ended in a 0-0 stalemate.

Moreover, during halftime, Foyelner’s old injury flared up, and he was unable to continue.

The Colombian player, Elgin Soto, came on for Foyelner.

It was a like-for-like substitution.

But the two players had very different styles.

Wang Shuo sat on the bench, observing the game whenever he wasn’t warming up to stay ready.

He watched the match from a different perspective than a fan.

He was focused on analyzing the head coach’s tactical mindset, comparing it point by point against the pre-match game plan as the match unfolded.

With the help of his Insight ability, he could easily discern much more.

What kind of center forward did Klopp truly want?

Benjamin Oer!

He was 1.86 meters tall and weighed 86 kilograms.

After joining Mainz in ’02, his presence significantly elevated the team’s overall level. He helped them get promoted from the 2nd Bundesliga to the Bundesliga, where they achieved solid mid-table finishes for two consecutive seasons, performing exceptionally well.

But in the summer of 2006, Benjamin Oer couldn’t agree on a contract extension and transferred to Bochum, who were newly promoted to the Bundesliga at the time.

Mainz was hit hard by his departure. A month later, they signed Brazilian center forward Edu from Bochum for one million euros.

Edu was 1.85 meters tall and weighed 85 kilograms. On paper, his technical profile looked very similar to Benjamin Oer’s.

Ultimately, both transfers proved to be failures, as both players performed poorly at their new clubs.

Six months later, Benjamin Oer was loaned out to Kaiserslautern.

Edu was sold by Mainz to Suwon Samsung Bluewings of the South Korea K League for 1.4 million euros.

From this history, combined with the tactical philosophy Klopp often explained, his own recent experiences, and the insights he gained from the sidelines, Wang Shuo had now basically grasped Klopp’s system.

Especially the requirements he had for his center forward.

Mainz’s overall strategy was a high press, immediately counter-pressing in the attacking third after losing possession.

The offensive philosophy was to play with speed and tempo, exploiting the transitional phase between defense and attack to strike at the opponent’s weak points.

Klopp demanded more from his center forward than just scoring goals and winning aerial duels; he also had to actively participate in the team’s press in the midfield and attacking third.

Furthermore, the striker had to be able to drop deep to link up play between the midfield and the attack.

Those were some incredibly high demands, weren’t they?

Indeed they were.

So, when Klopp couldn’t find a center forward who fit this mold, Mainz suffered greatly and was ultimately relegated from the Bundesliga.

Now, look at Borja.

He was about 1.8 meters tall, physically strong, a decent goalscorer, and technically gifted—a typical South American striker.

But his awareness for pressing from the front was lacking, and his heading and ability to win high balls weren’t strong either.

Most importantly, he was not effective at linking up play between the midfield and the attack.

In the first half of the season, when the team’s play through midfield and attack was flowing smoothly, he could score goals in droves.

But when the link-up play between midfield and attack stalled, his goal-scoring came to an abrupt halt.

This was the root of the problem!

Wang Shuo also noticed something very interesting: Foyelner was two-footed, but while his dominant foot was his right, he played on the left wing.

Balik was left-footed but played on the right wing.

This was a characteristic of Klopp’s attacking trio.

The center forward had a wide range of movement to link up play, while the two wingers weren’t restricted to the flanks; they frequently cut inside to attack the half-spaces.

The width in attack, therefore, came from the overlapping full-backs.

Although both Marco Rose and Hogland could fill in at center-back, their ability to make overlapping runs and deliver crosses from the wings was quite good.

As for this specific match against Kaiserslautern...