The God of Football Starts With Passive Skills-Chapter 85 - 42: Good Job, Wang Shuo! The New Season’s First Upset! Clickbait and Image Rights
Kicker Magazine gave Mainz a positive review.
The team’s new signings had all performed well.
However, Wang Shuo could tell that this ’well’ actually meant there were no real surprises.
High hopes had been placed on Hainauer, but he hadn’t performed particularly well in the opening round.
Players like Helle and Van der Heyden could only be said to have had an average game.
Considering their transfer fees, you couldn’t really ask for more.
For free transfers and signings worth a few hundred thousand euros at most, what more could you want?
Wang Shuo, on the other hand, was hailed as Mainz’s biggest surprise of the opening round.
"Is our head coach known for strong starts to the season?" Wang Shuo asked, having noticed Kicker Magazine’s mention of Klopp’s old problem.
Subotic nodded.
"Never mind last season. Back in the ’04/’05 season, after Mainz got promoted from the 2nd Bundesliga for our first-ever season in the Bundesliga... after eight rounds, guess where we ranked?"
"Where?" Wang Shuo hated it when people tried to be dramatic.
’So lame!’
"Third."
Holy shit!
’Now that was seriously impressive.’
The eighth round of the season wouldn’t be until mid-October.
"But after that, our ranking just kept dropping. We finished in 11th place, but that strong start shocked everyone and made them remember Mainz and Klopp."
Wang Shuo thought about their last season in the 2nd Bundesliga.
Who could have imagined that Mainz, after dominating the first half of the season with unstoppable momentum, would perform so terribly in the second half?
Wang Shuo had a feeling it was related to the team’s tactical style.
It was just like the match against VfL Wolfsburg, where they played far better in the first sixty minutes than in the last thirty.
The league season as a whole followed a similar pattern.
It was a consequence of their tactical style. The team didn’t have the financial resources to maintain a large squad, which would have allowed Klopp to rotate players effectively. This was the end result.
That was why Kicker Magazine also stated in its report that Klopp’s teams had to be evaluated over the course of an entire season.
In addition to Kicker Magazine, Wang Shuo also saw plenty of news about himself.
He couldn’t help but feel a little smug inside.
Performing well and making the papers... that was what it was all about. It was no fun achieving great things if no one knew about it.
Once the team bus was out of VfL Wolfsburg and cruising steadily down the highway, Subotic and the others around him began to close their eyes and rest.
Wang Shuo, however, took the opportunity to enter the Ball God System.
...
"Match Summary: Passive Value Gained: 11."
Huh?
’I actually got 11 Passive Value from this match?’
That was a new career high for Wang Shuo!
’VfL Wolfsburg’s environment, and Magat’s tactics, they’re really something special,’ he thought.
’Ugh, no, I mean dirty!’
’Magat’s tactics are just brutal!’
After opening his Personal Attribute Panel, Wang Shuo saw that he now had 35 Passive Value.
At this rate, he figured he could save up enough for a Passive Skill Card after just a couple more matches.
Wang Shuo realized that even though he was in the Bundesliga, Klopp’s tactical system was extremely beneficial for his own performance.
’Why so much Passive Value?’
’Because I’m taking such a beating.’
Wang Shuo swore he didn’t have the slightest masochistic streak, but earning Passive Value still felt pretty damn good.
He was just that desperate to improve!
Earning a lot of Passive Value proved he was a threat on the pitch.
In short, it was one word: Awesome!
...
After the first round of the league, the teams tied at the top of the table were Schalke 04 and Hoffenheim.
Thanks to a brace from Kuranyi, Schalke 04 defeated Hannover 96 3-0.
Hoffenheim, meanwhile, secured a resounding 3-0 away victory over Cottbus, also powered by a brace from Ibisevic.
Mainz’s 3-2 upset away victory over VfL Wolfsburg was no less impressive.
Although the scoreline wasn’t as lopsided as Hoffenheim’s, Wolfsburg was a team with the strength to contend for the title.
But the other newly promoted team had a miserable time.
Borussia Mönchengladbach suffered a crushing 1-3 defeat at home against Stuttgart.
They conceded three goals in the first half alone and only managed to pull one back in the second.
But if you had to pick the most miserable team of the round, it would have to be the Bundesliga overlords, Bayern.
At the Allianz Arena, Klinsmann’s team went up by two goals, only for Hamburg to score two of their own to level the match.
Not only were their defensive problems laid bare, but critically, they were also hit with a wave of criticism after the match.
After the 2-2 draw with Hamburg, Rummenigge expressed his disappointment with the result.
"If you can’t get results, then all the changes you’ve made here are meaningless."
Even Beckenbauer said after the match, "Klinsmann is always talking about a bunch of philosophies and ideas, but I think he should be more focused on how to turn those into results."
Former head coach Heynckes also commented, "If you’re leading a match 2-0, you absolutely have to win it."
The implication was clear: failing to win was the head coach’s fault.
This was the first time Wang Shuo had witnessed such a spectacle firsthand.
’If I were in Klinsmann’s shoes,’ he thought, ’I’d definitely be frustrated.’
’It’s the first match of the new season, and it wasn’t even a loss, just a home draw. And people are already blasting him like this?’
’The crucial thing was, if it were the fans or the media lashing out, that would be one thing.’
’But now it was the club’s top brass—Rummenigge, Beckenbauer, and Heynckes, their own people—who were lashing out. How could anyone endure that?’
"This just proves I was right not to go to Bayern!" Wang Shuo said with a laugh during a phone call with his agent, Thomas Essien.
"In that kind of atmosphere, I’d probably be coughing up blood every week."
Back in China, Wang Shuo’s eye-catching Bundesliga debut, where he scored a goal and provided an assist, had naturally earned him a flood of praise.
And things were different now.
In the past, his games were only streamed online, but now, Capital Television’s sports channel was broadcasting them directly.
