Chapter Twenty-Two Textbook-like

  Brazil has too many young football talents, but to integrate them into a combat-effective team, it takes a wise commander, a core and a team.

  Obviously, this young team that Digne has just taken over is still in its infancy and has not yet formed its own style of play.

  Even to the point where some European football has a flavor, as soon as the backcourt gets the ball, it's just a big foot over the midfield line, looking for the forward, and doing things so hastily, just like playing airplane and watching a porn video casually.

  What kind of team can this be in a country like Brazil?

  Denilson just whispered a few words in Nicholas' ear, presumably entrusting him with a great responsibility. After the game resumed, it can be seen that Nicholas had more opportunities to take the ball, and other players brought the ball relatively less, but instead made more active runs.

  Nicholas, as Chen Hao-nan predicted, began to try passing the empty file ball, but the timing of the pass was either too early or too late. Although the accuracy rate was high, the opponent's interception was also relatively easy.

  Alas... can't you observe in advance? You just keep desperately passing the ball, can't treat them all as fools, right? Chen Haonan was very annoyed and pulled out a small blade of grass, put it to his mouth and started chewing, worried about Nicolas.

  Nicholas is not tall in stature, but his movements are actually quite agile. It's just that the timing of his passes isn't good enough. Chen Haonan sees this clearly and can't help but feel frustrated.

  Even so, Santos' tactical changes still brought trouble to S?o Paulo, at least S?o Paulo didn't have the smooth attack as before, and had to devote a lot of energy to defense. Of course, the idea of killing Santos away from home was also temporarily shelved.

  Nicholas's pass was quite disgusting, but it still caused several crises. If Gutierrez hadn't been physically inferior to the opponent's central defender, he would have had one or two chances.

  "It's still a bit early, just a little short of the right timing, especially for Gutierrez and Nicholas." Denern calmly walked back to Chen Haonan's side, muttering to himself, his expression much more relaxed than before.

  Just been suppressed and beaten, now evenly matched, it should be so.

  At the end of the first half, although they were trailing in score, Denilson's face was still smiling, while the head coach of S?o Paulo youth team had a dark face and could be heard scolding his players from afar.

  "None of you have had breakfast?! Such a weak opponent, and you only scored one goal! If you don't score at least three goals in this match, all of you walk back to S?o Paulo!"

  Three goals, that's what he meant, at least three to zero against Santos, the tone was still full of disdain, didn't take Santos seriously.

  "Is football their family business or something? They're being so arrogant!" Gutierrez muttered to himself while drinking mineral water.

  "Who made you fall behind now? If you were leading, you could also be so arrogant..." Chen Haonan handed him a white towel and couldn't help but speak up.

  "That also requires everyone to work together, just me alone charging forward is completely useless." Gutierrez opened his mouth and found an excuse to shirk responsibility for his ineffective offense.

  Chen Haonan supported his head, smiling ambiguously at him. After a pause, he still said: "Don't you think you played very stupidly today? If you say that you performed normally today, I'm speechless. Why did you have to compete with those two idiot center-backs? Can't you just ignore them and not make physical contact? With their speed, can they even trap you?"

  Gutierrez was taken aback, and Chen Haonan's words struck a chord in his heart. After wiping away the sweat, he looked like an obedient child, his eyes filled with anticipation, as if waiting for a treasure chest to be opened.

  "What's going on, Brother Nan?" He didn't even argue with Chen Haonan, asking very directly.

  "Are you kidding me? You've never learned the tactic of circling around? When facing a tall, strong and fast team, but with slow turning speed, we should just keep a distance from them and always drag them to run... You're just standing still at the same level as the defender, don't you want to use your speed to get rid of them? But think about it, even if you have great speed, what's the point? When someone is tightly marking you, just as you're about to start, their wall-like defense will block you and you won't even be able to make a move... You'll be done for. Do you understand the concept of a return run? First use your speed and positioning to exhaust them, then suddenly Nikola will give you a through ball..."

  Chan Ho-nam spoke with great enthusiasm and eloquence, his words flowing freely as he gestured expansively, pointing out the scenery.

  "Pass the ball... Ah, Torná, come here!" Chen Haonan didn't mention Nicolas yet, but as soon as he did, Guti felt a headache coming on and shouted at Nicolas.

  Nicholas ran over with a guilty look on his face and stared innocently at the gloomy-looking Gutierrez Cort.

  "Kou Te, what's wrong?"

  Guti swallowed his saliva and pulled a long face to answer: "What's the matter with you, how many passes did you make, which foot was in place... obviously there were two points, but you had to pass to the third point..."

  This means that when there are two good positions for passing the ball, you insist on choosing a distant one and pass to the third point, leaving people bewildered.

  "Hmm... isn't there still one or two more steps to go, heh heh." Nicolas rubbed his little head and replied with a very embarrassed tone.

  "Damn it! You don't even count how many times you pass the ball, at least fifteen passes and only one or two of them reached my feet. Your passing is worse than Cristiano's shooting, at least he can score goals, but your assists are useless!"

  Nicholas hung his head in shame, thinking to himself that he had actually compared himself to Cristiano Ronaldo, the best player in the world. How could he bear it? If he could reach his level, why would he still be here? He felt extremely wronged.

  "But... you also have one good point, which is that you're always at the forefront of a fight, haha." After teasing Nikulas for a bit, Gutierrez suddenly started praising him, not for his soccer skills, but for his fighting spirit...

  Haha, Chen Haonan, who was listening on the side, couldn't help but burst out laughing.

  "I was wondering how to say it to you, Kot said, Torna, this kick is actually very similar to fighting..." Chen Haonan had just finished pointing out Guti's mistakes and wanted to give some advice to Nicolas as well, but he was struggling to find a good analogy, when Guti solved his problem.

  Nicholas naturally looked up to this man who was even more powerful than Biggus, and listened intently to what he had to say.

  "How to say..."

  "Think about it, why can you rush to the front when fighting, take the initiative, grab the opponent's neck? It's because you predicted it, you have consciousness, prediction... Similarly, playing football is the same, you need to predict in advance, take the initiative, or counterattack..."

  This sounds simple and easy to understand, Denilson has been standing behind them not far away, frowning, thinking that fighting and kicking a ball can also be used as analogies? This is too far-fetched... But indeed very vivid and easy to understand...

  Nicholas hesitated for only half a second, and his small eyes lit up. He suddenly gave Chen Haonan a thumbs-up, but then asked: "I understand the first move, but how do you explain the counterattack?"

  Chen Haonan smiled in response, feeling quite pleased. He thought to himself that this kid's ability to understand was still pretty good, and it wasn't a waste of his breath after all.

  "Actually, counterattacking and preemptive striking are the same. It's like when you charge at me first to hit me, I don't strike back with you, but instead judge the direction of your punch, dodge it while simultaneously giving you a punch in return... just like that."

  Bang!

  The sound is loud and clear.

  Chen Haonan suddenly slapped a palm on Nicholas's bright red face.

  Ouch!

  He swung his hand too suddenly, and Nicholas naturally couldn't react in time. He took the blow head-on and couldn't help but cry out.

  Just about to burst into anger, but in an instant he laughed again.

  Rubbing those rosy cheeks, laughing with utmost slyness.

  "I have thoroughly understood..."

  Sigh——

  Nicholas suddenly threw a straight right fist towards Chen Haonan's chest!

  However, it swung empty and just hit the air...

  "Haha, this kid is teachable......" But this trick doesn't work on me! You have to know who you're dealing with...... I knew you little brat would get revenge after stopping."

  Hahaha.

  The crowd listening beside couldn't help but burst out laughing, and the atmosphere suddenly became much more relaxed.

  On the side of Shengbao team, they couldn't hear Chen Haonan and others' conversation, but saw them gesturing and punching, thinking that an internal conflict had occurred, only to hear their loud laughter afterwards, leaving everyone confused.

  "But when death is imminent, you can still laugh, and soon you will be unable to cry!" Saint Paul's coach was contemptuous again...

  The match was restarted with no substitutions made by either side.

  The team members came on the court, and Denerlsen walked over. Earlier, Chen Haonan was teaching the players how to attack, while he taught the players how to defend. The division of labor between the two people is very clear.

  "Fighting and passing the buck? You little brat, are you often fighting with others? It seems that in the future we need to be careful of you, or else everyone will be led astray by you."

  "Haha, I just had a flash of inspiration and used it to make an analogy. In the East, there's a Chinese saying that goes, 'No matter if it's a black cat or a white cat, as long as it catches mice, it's a good cat.' I'm putting this into practice right away... Although I've said this, Tornia understands now, but whether he can apply it in actual combat is up to him."

  Deng Yilun was smiling when he said that to Chen Haonan, so Chen Haonan didn't really think Deng Yilun was blaming him, but rather thought he was praising him...

  The game continued with mixed results.

  Torres really had a great pass, and Guti also had a good run and breakthrough. Guti finally broke through the defense like a wild horse, it seems that scoring is imminent.

  The bad news is that Santos' defense is still a mess. The area in front of the goal is still fraught with danger, utterly terrifying.

  How did Denerlsen just break through their defense? Chen Haonan was sweating coldly, very puzzled. However, defense is not his strong point, and he dare not say so.