Stand by the last line of defense

Chapter 54 Honing Footwork!

After the official game, Zheng Long approached assistant coach Nekens.

The head coach of a professional team is generally responsible for the general direction of the starting list and tactics.

The assistant coaches are responsible for all trivial matters such as the training of player skills.

"Mr. Nekens, I think I need to strengthen my long pass ability during this time. This will be more conducive to the team's offense! Can you assign an excellent assistant coach to guide me in this aspect of training?"

Nekens' eyes lit up when he heard that.

He looked at Zheng Long with admiration. "Dragon. I'm very happy that you can think of this. I saw that your daily training is already very hard. It's not easy for us to ask you to practice again!"

Nekens and Popovich have discussed that if Zheng Long's long pass is more accurate, it will be more conducive to the team's offense.

It's just that Zheng Long has been practicing goal-line saving skills during this time.

They also know that Zheng Long is 2 months away from becoming an adult.

Goalkeepers at this age most need solid goal-line skills in order to gain a firm foothold in the team.

Their original plan was to wait until the end of this season, when he came back from vacation, and then arrange for Zheng Long to train long passes.

But now that Zheng Long proposed it on his own initiative, Nekens no longer needs to worry.

"No more calling. I think I can give you some pointers on your training!"

Zaragoza is not a wealthy team, so it is not possible to be so extravagant, hiring more than a dozen assistant coaches to be in charge of different fields.

There are only 3 assistant coaches under Popovich, one is in charge of tactics, one is in charge of training, and the other is in charge of analysis of opponents while also merging scouts.

Nekens is often responsible for the technical training of the front and back field players.Although it is not top-notch technically, basic technical training is still possible.

From the half court to the front court, a dummy was placed in each of the 9 places in the left and right center, which were used as strikers and also used as reference objects.

Practice the accuracy of the head. If there is no reference object, you will not know whether you have accurately passed to the opponent's feet.

On the edge of the small penalty area in front of the goal, ten footballs are lined up.

After placing the ball, Nekens began to explain to Zheng Long the essentials of opening his big feet and making long passes.

Although the goalkeeper saves the ball, it is usually still in the air, and then kicks the ball forward with a big kick.

But if an offside foul is committed, sometimes the goalkeeper is required to kick-off.Especially when there is not much time left in the game!
At the same time, the goalkeeper also tried to kick the baseline ball.

It is still necessary for the goalkeeper to have a long pass.

Generally speaking, a long pass with the ball set up, with time and space to adjust, is more accurate.

With the ball rolling, the accuracy of a long pass is much worse.Because of various factors such as turf, it will affect the player's footwork.

The most difficult kick should be to throw the ball and then make a long pass with a big foot. Basically, this kind of ball depends on luck.

Zheng Long, who even has average footwork for set balls, started to practice from the most basic!
Nekens explained to Zheng Long the technical points of opening the big foot.

"First measure the distance with your eyes, and know the bottom line in your heart. Know how far you want to kick, and who to kick it for!"

"Run-up, at this time, eyes should be on the ball. When kicking out, the body is 10 to 15 cm away from the ball, the knee joint is slightly bent, and the arms are naturally opened to maintain a good balance of the body."

"The kicking leg is driven by the thigh and the calf swings quickly to hit the ball. When hitting the ball, the heel is pushed forward, the ankle is tightly tightened, and the back and middle of the ball is hit with the inner part of the foot."

"After hitting the ball, the kicking leg should continue to maintain the shape when hitting the ball and swing forward with the ball!"

"like this!"

Nekens made a demonstration!
Like a cannonball, the ball crossed an arc in the sky, then landed two or three meters in front of the portrait and bounced off.

For such a result, Nekens is still satisfied.After all, he hasn't played a game for a long time, and it's not bad to be able to maintain this state.

After letting Zheng Long see the big foot movement, Nekens began to explain some key points to Zheng Long.

After the explanation, let Zheng Long start to practice long-range shots.

After Zheng Long has kicked out all nine balls, Nekens will correct some of Zheng Long's mistakes.

"Dragon. When you kick the ball, you only care about the ball under your feet, and you don't pay attention to the player's position. You have to pay attention to this, you are going to pass the ball to the frontcourt player. You must know the player's position! Kick the ball Be sure to observe the players before! Got it?"

Zheng Long nodded. "I remember. Coach!"

"Very good. Come again!"

At this time, the caddy has helped to pick up the ball again and put it in place!

Another ten balls.

"Long, you remember to look at the kick-off. This is good! But you can't always look at the person. Pay attention to the ball under your feet. Otherwise, you will miss the kick. Not to mention people making a fool of themselves, they are easy to get hurt!"

"Really good passers will judge the position of the target in an instant, and then remember it in their hearts. When they kick out, they know exactly where to kick!"

Zheng Long looked at the ball under his feet and the portraits in the frontcourt, nodded and said. "I see. Coach!"

"continue!"

There is nothing tricky about this long pass.

It is by relying on countless trainings and hard work to cultivate experience and muscle memory.

In order to pass the ball accurately to the player's feet in a tense game.

……

Around 06:30 in the afternoon, assistant coach Nekens left.

He is not like Zheng Long, he is a family man.Besides, many people in Europe have no idea of ​​working overtime.

The sun was setting and the lights had been turned on. Zheng Long was the only one left on the court and was still training on the court to strengthen his long passing skills!
There are also two caddies who are responsible for picking up the ball.

A boy who was only twelve or thirteen years old picked up the balls that Zheng Long had kicked from 40 meters away, and piled them up in one place.

Then he kicked the ball vigorously.

A caddie over here helps catch the balls and put them on the iron stand.

Every time Zheng Long kicked a ball, the caddy would take out the ball from the iron frame and put it on the ground.

It is convenient for Zheng Long to concentrate on training.

Since his quick response, Zheng Long has never encountered a difficult situation.

This made him wonder for a while how to improve his strength.

Now that he has a goal to strive for, he can know which direction to work hard, which makes Zheng Long feel a little fulfilled.

He likes this kind of self-improvement and enriching his life.

Sweat trickled down his cheeks.

Zheng Long didn't care.

Through the West Second Division game, he has proved that he is fully qualified to play in a higher league and compete for the main goalkeeper position.

Now Zheng Long has a higher pursuit, that is, he wants to compete for the Zamora Award and the Golden Glove Award next year!

For these honors, Zheng Long decided to hone his skills even more!

(End of this chapter)