The next day's game was March 29, with Wimbledon playing against Merstham, who ranked 16th in the league, at his home court.

Like the previous sixteen games, before stepping onto the court, Wimbledon players thought of victory, a club record of seventeen consecutive victories.

But ninety minutes later, the winning streak almost ended.

Wimbledon took advantage of the home advantage and bombarded the opponent with ninety minutes in the half, and scored a goal, and it was a goal scored in four minutes of the game, so he made no progress since then. Gavin Borger once again showed his scoring ability. This time the opponent's corner kick was taken, Chu Zhongtian judged the right place, blocked the position in advance, and pushed the ball out halfway. The ball he pushed out happened to fall at Borger's feet. He did not hesitate, turned around and ran wildly, and took his speed advantage to the extreme. Whether it was a pursuer or a blocking, he defeated him in front of his simple change of direction acceleration. In this way, after Borger led the football to a long distance, facing the goalkeeper, calmly scored the ball into the empty goal behind the opponent.

The protagonist of this game next became the team's defensive core Chu Zhongtian.

It is a double-edged sword to fall behind at the start of the game or to lead at the start of the game. It is not a good thing to fall behind at the start of the game, but the side behind has plenty of time to turn this bad thing into a good thing.

In the subsequent game, the visiting team Melsam took the lead in the away game and actively attacked, which once pushed Wimbledon to retreat and launched a defensive counterattack. Chu Zhongtian's tireless running and interception in the midfield reduced the pressure on the team's defense line. He was always able to appear in the key places at the critical moment, make key defenses, and then solve the problem. Several times the opponent attempted to launch an attack from the midfield, but he predicted it in advance and then destroyed the pass.

Just as Russell is very talented in offense, Chu Zhongtian is also quite talented in defense.

However, Chu Zhongtian's defensive talent can only try his best to ensure that the team does not lose the game, but he cannot bring a safer score to the team - 1:0 always makes the opponent feel that they have the opportunity to equalize the score or even overtake, so they are always full of fighting spirit, just like a hungry and strong man who has not seen a girl in ten years.

Chu Zhongtian's mission is to resist the impact of these hungry men again and again, shouting "No, no, no". Sometimes he can hold on, sometimes he will lose the ball, and the evildoers will laugh at him, "I said he doesn't want it, but the bottom is wet." Such humiliation made Chu Zhongtian unbearable and he wanted to tear his opponent, but he had no choice but to have the will but not enough.

If Russell was still on the court, his task was to pick up the folding bench and smash it down at the crazy perverts, and then tell them, "Fuck you guys, bastards!" The latter was obviously more manly, and Chu Zhongtian also hoped that one day he could do such a manly thing.

Without Russell, Wimbledon lacked changes in the offense and lacked accurate straight passes to show. They could only rely on crosses from the side, but Kevin Cooper and Joe Xilin were not the tall and strong standing center. Although Cooper had outstanding consciousness and excellent header, he had no better way to get rid of the defensive shooting and score.

In the past, Russell's ball control in the middle always attracted the attention of his opponents and created opportunities for other teammates' running positions. He also had a very penetrating straight pass that could send the football to the most dangerous places. As a forward, Joe Shilin and Kevin Cooper needed to do very simple - run, catch the ball, then shoot, and then celebrate with open arms.

Since Russell was gone, Eames has arranged two midfielders in the midfield, Chu Zhongtian and Lee Sidwell have partnered to start. This is the way he often used when Russell was rotated, and it has basically become a routine. The advantage of doing this is to strengthen the midfield defense, while the disadvantage is to weaken the offensive threat to the enemy. The opponent's pressure at the front of the penalty area has been reduced sharply, so he can calmly deal with Wimbledon's offense on the sidelines.

Eames knows this shortcoming, but what can he do?

Wimbledon has been in a hurry for less than a year, and there are many imperfections in the team's lineup. For example, their team lacks long-range shooting players, so that the opponent's opponent's goal is clearly opened in the middle, but no one can make full use of the opponent's goal. Chu Zhongtian rushed up and shot two shots in the game, but one kick was outrageous and went with the corner flag; one kick flew high over the crossbar and flew directly out of the court, which forced him to use backup football, and the football had to be retrieved after the game. Although he often used seven or eight footballs in a game due to the venue in amateur games, the reason this time was that he shot his own goal, which still made him feel very embarrassing.

He knew that the world wave in the game that day was just luck, so he never went up and wasted offensive opportunities again, and he only defended in the backcourt. Anyway, the backlash wave of the lagging Melsam team also rose one after another, so it would be too irresponsible for him to rush up and attack.

In this way, when Wimbledon won the game with a score of 1:0, everyone had the urge to breathe a sigh of relief... Although the game was won, it was extremely difficult. They found that the victory of 16 consecutive games had made it difficult for them to adapt to the feeling of leaving Russell.

Eames obviously realized this problem, but what could he do? If he could solve this problem, he wouldn't have to coach in the ninth league. Although he is a legend of Wimbledon and he also loves Wimbledon's football, he will definitely not refuse with a better stage.

"We lack a replacement, but it's impossible to find a replacement until the end of the season," he said to assistant coach Ingrich.

Ingrich felt helpless, and he could not solve this situation. He could only comfort himself: "At least we won this game."

"What about the next game?" Eames asked.

"Let's win one by one first." Ingrich replied weakly.

Eames stopped talking, and he knew that this was the only way to go for the moment.

If you win this game, what about the next game? If you win one game after another, you will be able to do whatever you go... When you need to use all your strength in every step, who can guarantee that the next step will not fall? Who knows how many more steps can you take?

※※※In the evening, everyone was discussing the afternoon game in the Duns bar. In their opinion, the team won a bit of luck, and it was mainly Chu's credit for winning, because he led the defense line to resist the opponent's bombardment for dozens of minutes without losing the ball. You should know that the pressure faced during defense is very great. If you accidentally collapse a certain node, it will cause a total collapse.

Everyone congratulated Chu Zhongtian and praised his outstanding performance in this game. Although the best game was given to goalkeeper Andy Bale, everyone in the KDons Bar believed that Bale was elected as the best game because many extremely threatening shots were eliminated by Chu Zhongtian in their bud, so he did not encounter a truly severe test at all.

Chu Zhongtian was not happy about everyone's praise.

Defense can only ensure that the team does not lose. In addition to winning or losing, there is also a draw in football games... He wants to have the ability to win the game.

But he feels depressed whenever he thinks of his two shots in the game. Is the goal with North Glenford United really a "unreplicable classic"?

The genius believes it!

He wanted to practice shooting, but he didn't have a suitable venue. Practicing dribbling and controlling the ball had no requirements for the field, as long as he had a foothold. Dribbling can be practiced while running, and controlling the ball the same. What should I do if I shoot? There must be a space for shooting without a goal... Speaking of which, there is a small courtyard in the back door of the Duns Bar, which can barely meet the requirements. Chu Zhongtian did not dare to practice shooting anywhere because he was worried that he would break the glass of the boss's residence upstairs... After shooting high on the court many times, Chu Zhongtian insisted on thinking so.

Breaking other people's glass is not a good thing.

Chu Zhongtian could only think of ways when he went to training.

His way was to stay and practice more. For this reason, he discussed with Boss John that the working hours at night would be adjusted from 8 o'clock to 9 o'clock. Although this would reduce his total working hours and his income would naturally be reduced. But at this time, Chu Zhongtian didn't care about it.

※※※ Chu Zhongtian did not tell anyone that he would practice more, nor did he drag a basket of football to the court to practice more shooting. In fact, even if he wanted to do this, he could not do it. After Wimbledon's training, the players left one after another, and the stadium managers locked the door, and he couldn't get in even if he wanted to.

He held his own Umbro football and stood outside the stadium. Behind him was the parking lot of Kings Ranch. The space was quite spacious and he could swing him to shoot. He looked up at the tall exterior wall of the main stand - it was taller than his height, but compared to any Premier League club stadium.

There is no window on this red brick wall, which is just for shooting. Even if you shoot at a real goal, it doesn't make any sense. The first step he has to do is to ensure that he doesn't hit every kick as much as possible. If he shoots at the wall, he can save time running to pick up the ball most of the time, because the football can bounce back.

In normal training, coach Eames once said: "It is better to shoot a missed shot than shoot a high shot. If your teammate misses, there will be a chance to shoot a supplementary shot, or take a corner kick. If you shoot, you will lose all hope and give the opponent a goal. Which one can you calculate?"

Obviously, the goal is the best to shoot... But for someone like Chu Zhongtian, it would be great to be able to suppress the ball first and not shoot it. Compared with shooting and shooting, the latter is more likely to be the best to shoot.

Chu Zhongtian looked at the wall about ten meters high in front of him. This height should ensure that the ball he kicked would not fly directly over the wall and land on the court... So he found a stone on the ground, and drew a rectangular area the size of a goal on the wall. His goal was to shoot in this area. After doing all this, Chu Zhongtian threw away the stone and retreated with the football. After retreating about twenty meters, he stopped and looked like he looked at it. It was almost the same distance from the top of the free throw arc to the goal.

Chu Zhongtian was satisfied, he retreated and then ran and shot!

With a bang.

The football didn't shoot high this time, but went directly to the right.

The football hitting the wall bounced to the side, and Chu Zhongtian had no backup ball, so he could only run over and bring it back and shoot again. This time the football was not biased, but was high without any suspense. The advantage of shooting was that he did not have to run out to pick up the ball - the football bounced back directly.

After stopping the football with his chest, Chu Zhongtian did not rush to continue shooting. He stepped on the football under his feet and began to think about the problem of shooting two shots just now. Both feet were wrong, which shows that his movements were problematic, and it was probably not just a problem of movement. If he continued to practice recklessly, he might not be able to make any progress for another hour.

Why can Russell improve by teaching himself? It is because someone teaches him that Russell will demonstrate it once, explain it in detail, answer Chu Zhongtian’s questions, and finally let Chu Zhongtian practice it himself.

Now he doesn't have that kind of condition to practice like this - someone is around him to correct his wrong actions at any time and demonstrate himself. But he still remembers what Shilin said to him before the game against North Glenford United. He still remembers every sentence, never forgotten.

"First of all, technically speaking, you have to straighten your toes when shooting, that's the basis."

"When touching the ball, you must straighten your arch and point your toes, otherwise the ball you shoot will be high!"

"When you shoot, you don't need to shovel your foot into the bottom of the football and exert force, that's the result of shooting high again..."

"When shooting, try to keep your knees on the top of the football so that you can exert force... lean forward and don't lean back. You are shooting from a long time, not a long pass!"

"You must be stable, don't shake it randomly, and keep your body's center of gravity balance!"

"The eyes must look at the ball!"

"Don't think about any shot that is biased high. Tell yourself: this ball must be scored!!"

Chu Zhongtian recalled all these words in his mind, then opened his eyes again and looked at the "goal" twenty meters away.

He recited these things repeatedly in his mind like a mantra, and shot at the goal, strictly abide by the "mantra". After the ball was shot, the result became much better than before. Although it was still not within the range of the door frame, it was only a little short of it.

Then he kicked another shot, and the ball hit the center of the goal and hit the goal frame, but he just shook his head.

Such a straight shot, unless the goalkeeper is mentally retarded, he will not let the ball in... There is nothing to be happy about shooting within the goal frame. If each shot is directly kicked to the opponent's goalkeeper, what is the meaning of shooting?

There is another question: remind yourself of some precautions before shooting every time. It really wastes time... In the game, no opponent will ask you to recite the "mantra" silently before shooting?

In fact, this is the purpose of the practice. Repeated practice is to use his body to remember these technical details and completely form an instinct. Just like when he was practicing defensive skills, whether it was tackle, positioning, or fighting for the top, he didn't know how many times he had practiced repeatedly. He even practiced tackle techniques on the floor tiles at home, and fell over and over again on the hard and cold floor. The price was that both knees and calves were bruised and swollen for several days. Now those techniques have become his physical instincts. As long as the opponent reveals a flaw, the body will react immediately. Even if there is a three-year "football vacuum period", these skills have not been forgotten. Just like learning to ride a bicycle, once you learn, even if you haven't rode a bike for a long time, as long as you start riding a bike again, the techniques you have learned will naturally become proficient and you don't need to learn them again.

※※As the team's head coach, he will always be the last one to leave, and there is nothing strange about this. What's strange today is that when he was still sorting out today's training logs in the office provided by the club, he heard "bang bang" sounds coming outside.

He was very familiar with the sound, it was the sound of the ball hitting a solid non-metallic object. To be precise, it was the sound made after the football collided with the wall.

The continuous voice seemed to be tickling his heart, making him unable to sit in the office to handle work matters. He decided to go out and see who was playing football outside so late.

After he walked out, he looked towards the stadium and saw at the end of Jack Goodchild Lane, in the parking lot, a figure was kicking the football towards the high wall opposite. After shooting, he ran to pick up the football and shot it back at the exterior wall of the main stand of the stadium.

Eames had never seen a scene like this here at this time. He stood at the door and watched with great enthusiasm for a while.

The sky was getting darker and the distance was farther away. He couldn't see who that person was, but he knew that he must be a player of his team.

With a "bang", the football hit the red brick wall, and it seemed that it was splashing with some dust, but it was not very real to see from such a distance.

Then the football bounced to one side, and the man ran back with his feet. He then helped his feet to start, and then he made another "bang". This time the football landed a little high, and the football bounced back was stopped by the person with his chest. The stop was very beautiful and standard. The football fell down after being buffered by his chest. The man seemed to be intrigued. This time, he directly shot without waiting for the ball to land!

Just this kick was outrageous, and he hit the wall diagonally and rolled in the direction where Eames was...

(To be continued)
Chapter completed!