i want to be king

Chapter 895 How Parallel Imports Are Made

During the training camp in the United States, basically every day besides training, it was still training.

Except for a very small number of players like Su Dong, who attended some activities on behalf of the club or sponsors, all other players are basically training continuously and repeatedly every day.

As the saying goes: 1 minutes on stage, ten years off stage.

The level shown by players on the court is often accumulated slowly through long-term training.

In the training team that Manchester City brought to the United States this time, in addition to the regular players of the first team, there are also teenagers like Sterling and Trippier, and these players also performed extraordinarily hard, trying hard to get a position in the first team.

Compared with other positions, the competition for goalkeepers is now starting to heat up.

There have been three goalkeepers in Manchester City's squad so far this season.

They are England's national goalkeeper, local youth training Joe Hart, last season's substitute goalkeeper Given, and Belgian teenager Thibaut Courtois who just joined this season.

The ages of the three goalkeepers are also interesting, Joe Hart is 24, Shay Given is 35 and Courtois is 19.

From the perspective of age, Joe Hart is undoubtedly the team's main goalkeeper, Courtois is a potential stock, Shay is a veteran.

But the problem now is that everyone can see that Guardiola is not satisfied with Joe Hart.

This dissatisfaction mainly comes from two aspects, one is on the court.

In order to better train Joe Hart, Guardiola specially hired the goalkeeper coach Unsue from Spain, and asked him to train Joe Hart specially. However, the English goalkeeper did not seem to benefit from this aspect. His performance was still unsatisfactory.

Off the court, Joe Hart has caused troubles for the club a lot. Last season, several off-court turmoil caused a lot of trouble, which also made Guardiola quite dissatisfied. He still has very high disciplinary requirements for the locker room.

It is for these two reasons that Manchester City has been planning to introduce a high-level goalkeeper this summer.

Many goalkeepers, including Buffon and Neuer, failed to make the trip, which caused Manchester City's goalkeeper signings to remain at a standstill.

The teenager Courtois actually does not quite meet Guardiola's requirements. The reason is very simple. He is too tall and his characteristics do not quite meet Guardiola's requirements, but this young teenager is particularly hardworking in training.

More importantly, he is confident enough.

On the first day of the training camp of the new season, when he was interviewed by the media, he didn't know whether he was misled by the reporter or he told the truth. Anyway, he said in front of the reporter that he wanted to be the main goalkeeper in Manchester City.

At the age of 19, he is new here, and he is going to take the position of England's national team as soon as he arrives. This kid is really crazy!
So much so that the British Sun newspaper wrote an article afterwards, ridiculing the Belgian kid, thinking that the distance between him and Joe Hart is far wider than the English Channel.

The implication is that you came out of the League One and have never seen the world. We don’t blame you, but you have to recognize the facts. Joe Hart is the champion of the Premier League, the FA Cup and the Europa League.

This article aroused a certain amount of repercussions in British football at the time, but not many people took it seriously. However, in the dressing room of Manchester City, the atmosphere has changed a little because of this, and the smell of gunpowder in the competition has obviously risen.

Su Dong controlled the locker room, but he did not intervene in the competition between the players. Even he and Guardiola believed that proper competition is a good thing, especially for Joe Hart, who was really hard to describe last season.

As for Courtois, Su Dong also wanted to know how this kid would grab the main goalkeeper?

As a result, in the United States, Courtois quickly gave the answer.

He worked harder than anyone else in training, and even took the initiative to practice extra training after training.

……

"This kid is really crazy! He's a bit like Ronnie back then!"

Beside the training ground, Peipei smiled and said to Su Dong.

Back then, Ronnie was also very crazy when he was at Sporting Lisbon, but he was not arrogant, but a kind of arrogance that refused to admit defeat.

He doesn't allow himself to lose to anyone, so he trains like crazy, trying to keep up with everyone.

In this regard, Courtois is a bit like Ronnie.

Standing at Su Dong's level, he also believes that behind all successful professional players, there must be such an unyielding energy, otherwise, it will be difficult for them to continue to improve.

On the training ground, Hazard played the ball on the side of the goal. The goalkeeper coach Wensuai held the springboard and constantly changed the direction according to the incoming ball, so that the ball could be shot at a faster speed to different positions of the goal, and the distance was very close.

This kind of training is a test of the goalkeeper's reaction ability.

Courtois is tall, but he reacts quickly, falling to the ground again and again, and getting up again and again.

"What's Wen Suai's opinion of him?" Su Dong asked.

"Very good, better than expected."

"Oh?" Su Dong was a little surprised.

"The training he received in Belgium when he was a child is completely different from Unsuay's requirements. I don't know the details. I just heard that their Belgian goalkeeper training requirement is to take a step forward when making a save, but Wensuai's requirement is to move laterally before making a save."

Su Dong was confused, shook his head and said, "Is there any difference?"

"How would I know?" Pepe smiled wryly, "However, I heard that it can improve the speed of saving, that is, the speed of landing is faster."

After a pause, Pepe smiled again: "Then you see, Wensuai's request is that the goalkeeper should be pushed forward six to seven meters."

This is actually a problem that Manchester City has had since last season.

Maybe ordinary fans don't have much impression.

Take Joe Hart as an example. He was originally a goal-line goalkeeper, and his position is generally on the goal line. However, whether it is Guardiola or Unsuay, the requirement for him is to push his position forward, directly to six or seven meters.

The width of the small penalty area is 11 meters, and the penalty spot is [-] meters. That is to say, the normal position of the Manchester City goalkeeper should be between the small penalty area and the penalty spot, which will bring great discomfort to the goalkeeper.

Joe Hart is very unsuited to this position, and many mistakes actually come from this unsuitability.

You must know that standing at the front of the small penalty area and standing on the goal line will face two completely different situations, and the judgment that the goalkeeper needs to make is also completely different.

To some extent, this can even be said to be subverting everything in the goalkeeper's past.

This is why the Manchester City dressing room has adopted a tolerant attitude towards Joe Hart and Shay's mistakes.

To put it bluntly, you have played football like this since you were a child, and suddenly one day, the head coach asked you not to play like this, but to use another way of playing. How many people can adapt?

"What do you think of Courtois?" Su Dong asked with concern.

The progress of Manchester City's goalkeeper introduction is not satisfactory. It is estimated that they will continue to trust Joe Hart this season. If Courtois can perform well, it will be a strong supplement to Manchester City's goalkeeper position.

"He is really determined to change, but you also know that not everyone can change."

If you can change it, you will adapt, if you cannot change it, you will not adapt.

In the eyes of the outside fans and the media, if you adapt, you perform well, and if you don't adapt, you perform poorly.

The player is actually the same player, the strength is still there, but the performance is completely different.

Sometimes players are scolded as parallel importers for this reason.

……

"I'll try it!"

Su Dong suddenly walked into the training ground with a smile on his face.

This surprised Wensuai, Courtois and others.

"Didn't you go to a business event? Are you back?" Wensuai asked.

"That's right, I haven't practiced much this afternoon, how about I come to practice with you for a while?" Su Dong asked.

"Of course, that's fine. Everyone knows that your shooting is so tricky. Finding you to practice with is a good thing that many goalkeepers can't even imagine." Of course there is no problem with Wen Suai, but he is in a good mood.

The coach gave the green light, and Su Dong directly and provocatively looked at Courtois behind him.

"Boy, do you dare?"

Courtois was overjoyed. He knew that this was a very rare opportunity, so he didn't hesitate, and bent down directly, making a gesture of being ready to save at any time.

There is no need to say more about the answer.

……

The whole world knows that Su Dong's shooting can be described as varied and extremely superb.

More importantly, almost every shot of his is chasing the goalkeeper's dead corner.

The so-called dead corners are actually not blindly playing those fixed positions, but according to the movement of the goalkeeper's center of gravity, to play some positions that are almost difficult for him to jump to.

Su Dong's shots are sometimes fast and anxious, but sometimes they are very clever, and occasionally he deliberately rebounds from the ground. Anyway, he will do whatever he can to score a goal.

According to the previous training, Su Dong's shooting distance was near the penalty spot, very close to the goal, which made it more difficult for Courtois to pounce. He didn't save any of the previous ten shots.

After getting up from the ground, the Belgian goalkeeper looked directly at Su Dong, slapped his gloves vigorously a few times, and pointed at Su Dong, "Come again!"

Satisfied with his reaction, Su Dong immediately turned to Hazard who was passing the ball to the side, and signaled him to pass the ball more quickly.

It's really depressing to say, no matter how Courtois saves, Su Dong can find an angle to score.

Although it is a high probability that a shot near the penalty spot will be scored, Su Dong’s penalty is not a penalty, but Hazard’s pass, and he hits it directly. However, he can hit every kick in the goal, never misses, and he can hit the dead corner where Courtois is difficult to save.

Gradually, everyone clearly realized the horror of Su Dong.

This is the strength of the world's top scorer!
Even, maybe Su Dong hasn't tried his best yet.

Let me ask, if it really comes to the game, who can save Su Dong's shot?

Seeing that Courtois fell to the ground again and again in front of the goal, Hazard couldn't bear it several times and wanted to stop, but seeing that the goalkeeper coach Wensuai didn't speak, he didn't dare to speak out.

It's just that I don't understand why Su Dong looks so cruel today?
Do you think Courtois is too crazy?Want to kill his vigor?

(End of this chapter)