The God of Football Starts With Passive Skills-Chapter 250 - 66: Magician Wang Shuo! When Wang Shuo Starts to Show Off! Wang Shuo: Marco, Do You Want to Score Tonight?
Tomorrow would be a day of rest, followed by the match at night.
...
The evening of July 30th. Landes, Denmark. Cassiopeia Park Stadium.
In the first leg of the UEFA Europa League’s third qualifying round, Dortmund faced Landes in an away match.
This was Dortmund’s first official match of the season!
Even though the team had just endured a high-intensity, brutal training regimen, even though the players still couldn’t execute Klopp’s tactics well, even though their coordination was still rusty, even though...
But none of that stopped Dortmund from using their superior skill to dominate Landes right from the start.
If you were to ask Wang Shuo what the difference was between playing for Dortmund and playing for Mainz...
Wang Shuo’s answer would come without a moment’s hesitation. 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞
Freedom!
He found it hard to describe the feeling in detail.
Back when he was at Mainz, he always felt crushed under a great mountain of responsibility.
Foyelner’s counter-press on the left wasn’t strong enough, Helle on the right dropped back too deep, and Hainauer in the center couldn’t break through...
When his teammates were so easily shut down by the opposition, Wang Shuo had to think about much more.
Drifting wide, dropping back, surging forward...
Much of the time, he was involuntarily swept along by the changing tides of the match.
He felt like he was caught in a raging torrent.
But at Dortmund?
From the very first minute of the match, he felt completely in control.
Klopp was using a 4-2-3-1 formation for this match.
Goalkeeper: Weidenfeller.
Defense: De De, Hummels, Subotic, and Owomoyela.
Midfield: Shahin and Kael as the two defensive midfielders, with Grosskreutz, Foyelner, and Kuba ahead of them.
Forward: Wang Shuo.
This was the starting lineup Klopp had chosen for the match.
As the team’s starting forward and the core of Dortmund’s attack, Wang Shuo spearheaded all offensive and defensive tasks up front. It was a heavy responsibility that Coach Klopp had placed on him.
Klopp trusted him with this because he believed Wang Shuo was the one who could best grasp and understand his tactical intentions.
Just like this instance, a mere ten minutes into the game.
Being the first match of the new season, both teams were slow to find their rhythm.
The first ten minutes were pretty lackluster.
A pass from Foyelner was intercepted by Landes’s right center-back, Mads Finagle.
Wang Shuo, positioned between the two center-backs, immediately shouted to Foyelner, signaling for him to mark Landes’s number 31, the deep-lying midfielder Sane, while he himself ran horizontally toward Finagle.
Since Wang Shuo was positioned almost level with the two center-backs, his horizontal run cut off the passing lane to the left center-back, Flieberger.
And so, Finagle was left with two options.
Pass back to the goalkeeper, Elgaard, or pass to the right-back, Soren Pedersen.
Boosted by [Insight] and [Eagle Eye], Wang Shuo’s ability to read and understand the game was incredibly fast. The moment Finagle received the ball, he sprinted over at top speed to press him.
At this point, if he passed back to the goalkeeper with too much power, it could be an own goal or go straight out of play for a corner kick.
With too little power, if Wang Shuo changed direction and intercepted it, he would be one-on-one with the keeper.
On the surface, it looked like Finagle had a choice. In reality, he had none.
And the moment Wang Shuo made his move, Grosskreutz on the left wing also moved instantly.
By the time Finagle passed the ball to Soren Pedersen, Grosskreutz had already charged up to the Landes right-back.
Wang Shuo had also closed in on Finagle.
This was a method of defense and pressing that Klopp excelled at.
The touchline!
You only have a limited number of players, but by using the touchline well and making it an ally, you gain a clear advantage.
Just like now.
Soren Pedersen was trapped on the flank.
When he started to dribble back, the risk of Wang Shuo being offside vanished, so he immediately moved forward.
Wang Shuo’s presence made it impossible for Soren Pedersen to pass to either the goalkeeper or Finagle.
But the turning point came with Grosskreutz.
The hothead hadn’t yet understood the coach’s intentions. He wasn’t paying attention, and after rushing in, he just tried to steal the ball.
The result?
The 30-year-old Soren Pedersen might not have had much else, but he had experience. He simply kicked the ball off Grosskreutz’s leg and out of bounds for a goal kick.
Wang Shuo could only shake his head as he watched.
"Kevin, don’t commit! Don’t commit!"
’I’d already locked down all his passing lanes! All you had to do was contain him and force a pass. Any ball he played would have put them in danger!’
Grosskreutz clearly hadn’t gotten it yet, looking completely baffled.
Wang Shuo immediately ran over, put a hand on his shoulder, and spelled it out for him.
"Just pay attention next time."
"Thanks, Wang. I get it now," Grosskreutz said, his face full of gratitude.
Wang Shuo waved his hand, signaling that it was no big deal.
’It’s mainly because the players aren’t familiar with the coach’s tactics yet. They’ll get it if you give them a little more time.’
’Besides, the reason Klopp uses Grosskreutz is that he highly values his work rate.’
’Reus is skilled in attack, while Grosskreutz is good at running and covering ground.’
’And then there’s Kuba.’
’Those three will definitely be rotated in the future.’
’If I guide them a bit more and help them adapt quickly, things will be easier for me.’
’Then, I can devote myself completely to the attack.’
...
Even though Dortmund was using a 4-2-3-1 formation, in practice, only one of the two full-backs could push up at a time.
