Chapter 330: Chapter 77: Leader Wang Shuo; Major Bundesliga Shake-up; The Strongest Passive Skill: Foundation; Dortmund’s New Captain

However, when he saw Tuchel, he still didn’t mention a word about Zhao Yifan, only chatting about recent developments.

In the first half of the season, Mainz was ranked 9th in the Bundesliga, and their overall performance was actually quite satisfactory.

Of course, it was definitely a bit worse compared to last season.

They were also a notch below Hoffenheim, who were in 7th place.

But considering the transfers of Wang Shuo, Foyelner, and Subotic, the report card Tuchel turned in was still very impressive.

The Mainz management was also very pragmatic and gave high praise for Tuchel’s coaching results.

However, while in Marbella, Wang Shuo saw that several more of his former teammates, who had once fought alongside him, had left Mainz.

They had even left the Bundesliga.

First was Balik, the Serbian striker who fought alongside him in the 2nd Bundesliga. He went to the 2nd Bundesliga team Duisburg for 150,000 euros.

Gunkel, a favorite of Klopp’s, ended up going to the 2nd Bundesliga team Koblenz for 50,000 euros.

The veteran Van der Heyden went to Bruges in Belgium on a free transfer.

Pekovic went to the 2nd Bundesliga’s Fiat on a free transfer.

"In the first half of the season, we had to compete on three fronts: the Champions League, the DFB-Pokal, and the Bundesliga. That’s why they needed to stay."

"But now, we’ve been knocked out of the group stage, finishing last. We’ve also been eliminated from the DFB-Pokal. All that’s left is the Bundesliga, so we don’t need so many players."

Tuchel, however, seemed quite philosophical about it.

The one orchestrating these layoffs—er, no, it should be called ’personnel restructuring’—was probably Christian Heidel.

Given Tuchel’s personality, he didn’t like getting involved in such matters.

By offloading five or six players at once, Mainz was able to save a considerable amount in salary expenses.

Although they finished last in their Champions League group, the income was substantial.

All in all, Mainz had made a huge profit this time around.

It just seemed a bit ruthless.

But there was nothing to be done about it.

It wasn’t just Mainz.

Do you know how many people are on Magat’s Schalke 04 first team right now?

I bet many people can’t even imagine.

A whopping 34 people!

And the ridiculous thing is, while Magat was clamoring to trim the squad, he turned around and signed four or five players at once during the winter break, leading to an incredibly bloated first team.

From another perspective, this was perhaps another form of cruelty.

"In the world of professional football, being bad is the original sin!"

Before they parted ways, Tuchel reminded Wang Shuo.

"So, if you don’t want to be a sinner, if you don’t want to be ’restructured’ away, the best way is to get stronger!"

"Only by constantly getting stronger, and stronger, can you keep your footing on the pitch!"

Wang Shuo thought of Tony and Van Nistelrooy.

They too were once titans of the football world, heaven’s chosen sons, but when they grew old, they lost their dignity all the same.

Perhaps Zidane was right.

But not everyone can be Zidane.

...

「Afternoon of January 16th, Rhein Energie Stadion, Cologne.」

Bundesliga Matchday 18, Dortmund challenged Cologne in an away game.

In the last three matches of the first half of the season, Dortmund had thoroughly established their momentum.

Klopp’s team used three matches of relentless attacking to plant their flag in the Bundesliga, convincing everyone that no team was better at starting a game than Dortmund.

But Sordo’s Cologne had also achieved something astonishing in the first half of the season.

Despite being ranked 12th in the Bundesliga, they had only conceded 15 goals, tying them with Dortmund for the 3rd best defense in the league.

However, despite boasting two strikers in Podolski and Novakovic, plus renowned midfielders like Maniche and Petit, Cologne had only scored 10 goals in the first 17 matches.

Dead last in the Bundesliga! 𝑓𝑟ℯ𝘦𝓌𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝑐ℴ𝓂

But wait. Of those 10 goals, 3 were scored in their Matchday 17 home game against Nuremberg.

In other words, in the previous 16 matches, they had scored only 7 goals.

Playing at home against Dortmund, what was Cologne to do?

Defend and counter-attack!

Everyone knew it, and that’s exactly how Sordo set them up.

He hoped to use a defensive counter-attacking strategy to weather Dortmund’s initial storm of attacks.

As it turned out, they actually succeeded.

In the first 20 minutes, not only did they block Dortmund’s attacks, but they also caused Dortmund’s goalkeeper, Weidenfeller, to be substituted off due to injury.

It happened during a save in the 21st minute, when Weidenfeller fell heavily to the ground.

Substitute goalkeeper Mark Ziegler came on to replace him.

Everything seemed to indicate that the situation was developing in a direction extremely unfavorable for Dortmund.

The 50,000 Cologne fans in the stands excitedly cheered for their team.

Sordo stood on the sidelines, arms crossed, clearly satisfied with how the match was progressing.

Dortmund’s players, on the other hand, were a bit flustered.

The first match of the second half of the season, and they had lost their starting goalkeeper, Weidenfeller, who was also the team captain.

This shook the team’s morale.

Supported by the team doctor, Weidenfeller slowly walked off the pitch. He reached out, took off the captain’s armband from his arm, and looked toward Klopp on the sideline.

Who should he give it to?

Generally, Dortmund had a captain and a vice-captain.

But the problem now was that the main captain, Sebastian Kael, was out long-term with a serious injury.

As vice-captain, Weidenfeller had a consistent record of appearances and had always worn the captain’s armband without any objections.

But who would have thought that now Weidenfeller was injured too?

Klopp was also pacing back and forth on the sideline, clearly agitated.