Lazy Genius Striker [EN]: Chapter 28

< Episode 027 – Johan and the Mother Birds >

“Actually, the most important thing is you guys.”

After the first training session.

Coach Schmidt gathered the players to review the training and explain his vision for the next season.

What will West Ham aim for next season?

Coach Schmidt held up three fingers.

“Our goals for next season are threefold.”

Three goals.

Coach Schmidt folded one of his three fingers.

“First, win the FA Cup trophy.”

“···!”

The players frowned, finding the goal higher than expected right from the start.

Winning the FA Cup.

Realistically, it’s not an easy goal.

Coach Schmidt then folded his second finger.

“Second, finish in the top 6 of the league.”

It’s a tough road.

Top 6 in the league.

It’s not easy either.

You have to overtake one of the so-called Big 6 teams to get into the top 6.

“And third. The previous two are actually for this third one. Secure a spot in next year’s Europa League. In other words, become a team that plays in European competitions.”

As Coach Schmidt folded his last finger,

The players swallowed hard.

European competition.

It may seem like nothing, but for players playing in Europe, it’s a stage that makes their hearts race just hearing about it.

Some players even move teams to play in European competitions.

The last time West Ham played in the Europa League was 6 years ago.

Few of the players who are still here were there at the time, but they still remembered.

What it’s like to play in European competitions.

That stage.

It was a stage they wanted to experience again.

But it’s not going to be easy.

If it were easy, it wouldn’t be called the stage of dreams.

Because of that,

The expressions on everyone’s faces became quite heavy at the goals set by Coach Schmidt.

No matter how good it is to set big goals, they were all goals that didn’t seem realistically possible.

However,

Coach Schmidt is more of a realist than anyone else.

He wasn’t the type to aim for something absurd.

“It will be difficult. Achieving these goals. But I don’t think it’s impossible. We have a weapon that will make these goals possible.”

Coach Schmidt pointed to the magnet at the top of the board.

“Here. This guy.”

The lone striker in the 4-5-1 formation.

It’s Johan.

“Our weapon. A weapon with tremendous firepower. If we have this guy, I think we can achieve the goals I mentioned earlier. But there’s one big problem.”

A big problem?

Coach Schmidt continued to explain.

“This guy can’t do anything alone. He has tremendous firepower, but he can’t be fired alone. Someone has to pull the trigger. Who will that be? It’s you guys.”

“···!”

The players nodded.

Even if there is a sword that can cut anything, it can’t do anything until someone holds it.

The teammates are the ones who have to grab the sword so that it can be wielded.

The players who will play with Johan.

The players’ faces lit up, and Coach Schmidt chuckled.

“Does it sound a bit weird for an old German man to be talking about firepower and lethality?”

“···Haha.”

“Then shall I put it more cutely? This guy is a baby bird. You are this guy’s mother birds. If you don’t run one step further, if you don’t run one step further to bring food to his mouth, this guy can’t do anything. That’s why your role is even more important.”

Gordon’s words about the prince and the servants.

And Coach Schmidt’s words about the baby bird and the mother birds.

The meaning is the same, only the words are different.

“But we can’t help that they’re different species. We have to admit it. This guy is a hawk’s chick. If you feed him well, he will eventually repay you. By hunting down trophies for you. So.”

Coach Schmidt, looking at the players who were exhausted from training but showed determination, said.

“Even if it’s hard, tiring, and sometimes you have doubts. I think if you put in a little more effort, we can achieve the goals I mentioned earlier next season.”

“Yes!” “We’ll do it!”

The players shouted with all their might.

The reorganization of the team centered around the 16-year-old striker Johan.

Clearly, there will be players who are unhappy with this change.

However, even those players are sending trusting glances to Coach Schmidt.

Over the past year, there were times when they thought his standards were too strict, and times when they thought it was too difficult to follow him.

But at least, the direction he pointed in was never wrong.

Knowing that, they just follow this time too.

The West Ham training ground would be hot tomorrow too, with the heat these players were emitting.

***

July 17, 2027.

The day of the first pre-season friendly against Cardiff City.

“Think of today as the start of the season. Let’s show on the pitch that the training we’ve done so far has been meaningful.”

“Yes, Cap!”

With Captain Gordon’s short speech, the players shouted and scattered to their respective positions.

All the players’ faces are tanned black.

You can tell just by looking at their faces how hard the training has been.

‘This is the first time I’ve felt so at ease.’

But,

The players’ expressions looked relaxed.

It wasn’t just because today was a pre-season friendly and the opponent was Cardiff City, who belong to the Championship [the second tier of English football].

It was because they were becoming more and more confident as they trained.

Because of that, the more tired their bodies became, the more comfortable their minds became.

Ah.

Except for one person.

That one person looked comfortable in both body and mind.

“Johan!”

“Yes?”

“Just score 3 goals.”

“You mean 3 goals in the first half, right?”

Gordon chuckled at Johan’s answer.

That confidence, which he thought was absurd a month ago.

Now, it’s confidence that he can trust.

Okay.

Let’s become that guy’s mother bird and diligently bring him food.

“Let’s go, let’s go!”

“Beeeep-!”

The game started.

***

Cardiff City is a team that finished 7th in the Championship League last season.

It wasn’t a particularly difficult team for West Ham, so the game started to flow in West Ham’s favor from the beginning.

West Ham’s basic formation is 4-2-3-1.

Two defensive midfielders form the third line in front of the four-back line, and one central midfielder and left and right wingers form the second line.

And at the very top of that stands the lone striker, Johan.

It was a classic arrangement.

However, the unusual thing was the range of activity of the left and right wingers.

Usually, wingers naturally move a lot on the side.

Whether they break through the flank to cross, or cut into the center to aim for a shot.

In any case, wingers have no choice but to be close to the side line.

However, West Ham’s wingers were quite far from the side line.

It felt like there were almost three central midfielders.

Of course,

It was Coach Schmidt’s tactics to concentrate chances on Johan.

In Coach Schmidt’s words, Johan was a camper. A camper who camps inside the penalty box with a bonfire.

His activity is very low, especially concentrated in the box.

That is, the gap with the midfielders is bound to be wide.

In terms of position, Johan’s immediate lower line is the central midfielder Gordon.

However, even though it’s right below, the gap is not a range that Gordon can cover alone.

Therefore, the wingers fill that wide range with a wide range of activity.

“Block this side!”

“Hey! Give me the ball, you!”

The players who started as left and right wingers today were newcomers Jonathan Naison and Jacob Buckley.

Naison, who is like a silent soldier, and Buckley, who has the feeling of a boisterous shepherd, have different personalities, but their playing styles have many things in common.

Basically, they run a lot, and they are good at defending for wingers.

“Nice!”

“You can’t pass by my side!”

It felt like two defenders were placed in the second line.

Naison and Buckley, who constantly pressed the opponent, stole the ball, and swept through the half space.

With their vigorous movements,

Cardiff City was having difficulty even building up from the rear and continued to give up possession.

However, there is also a problem.

It feels like two defenders have been released into the second line. That means that Naison and Buckley are so good at defending,

In fact, it also meant that they were ambiguous in terms of attacking.

It’s natural for a winger to have defensive ability. However, it is also natural that defensive ability cannot take precedence over offensive ability.

They show excellent defensive ability for wingers, but they are ambiguous when it comes to attacking.

That was their weakness, and that’s why they weren’t valued much in their former teams.

However,

It was different here.

There was a player here who could fill in their shortcomings and prevent them from being exposed.

“Close the gap!”

“Don’t go to the side!”

Cardiff City was building a defensive line in a central concentration formation.

It’s natural.

Since the opponent doesn’t attack through the side, there’s no need to block the side.

Besides, they had completely given up control in the midfield.

Cardiff’s box was crowded with players.

Johan’s appearance sandwiched between them looked suffocating.

However,

Naison and Buckley were constantly supplying oxygen to such Johan.

Paah-!

Breaking down the opponent’s defense with elegant dribbling breakthroughs, or stabbing through the gaps with creative passes.

It’s hard to expect Naison and Buckley to demonstrate such offensive talents.

However,

Even those two could at least send a pass to the feet of the striker who was facing away from the defense.

After that,

All you have to do is enjoy Johan’s play.

Sreureuk-

Johan stops the pass with the soles of his feet, then approaches the goal while pushing away the opponent’s defense with his back.

It’s like watching a basketball post play.

Of course,

The surrounding defenders are not just watching.

Cardiff City’s defenders quickly surround Johan in a matter of seconds.

But from that moment on, Johan’s feet moved even faster.

Whiririk-!

Johan rolls the ball with the soles of his feet, dodging the opponent’s defense’s tackles.

Then,

The moment even the defender who was facing away stretches out his foot.

Taat-!

Johan turns in the opposite direction.

It was fast.

The reason why he can be so fast is because there are no unnecessary movements.

The reason why there are no unnecessary movements is due to Johan’s laziness.

Johan only used the necessary movements, so even though it didn’t look fancy, he could be much faster than others.

Of course, the same was true for the shot after turning around.

Bbeoeoeoeoeong-!

Johan had turned to the left with his left foot as the axis.

And,

The stepping foot for the shot was also the left foot.

He didn’t even fall off the ground.

He shot almost like a turning shot.

For a normal striker, it was a posture that required two more steps to shoot.

If it was a striker who made a name for himself in Europe, he might have cut it off in one step.

However,

Johan reduced even that one step.

Even that one step was an unnecessary movement for Johan.

After all, he was confident that he could take an accurate and powerful shot even without taking a step.

Thanks to that,

Johan’s shot felt almost three beats faster to the goalkeeper.

Chwaaaaaaa-

Cheolssuk-!

Johan’s shot, which was laid low and lightly pierced the left corner of the goal.

The keeper naturally couldn’t even react,

“···”

“···”

Cardiff’s defenders couldn’t help but be stunned.

They had expressions that they didn’t understand why they had conceded a goal.

What did we do wrong? What did we do wrong to concede a goal?

It doesn’t seem like we did anything wrong.

But, it’s true.

Just now, it wasn’t a goal that Cardiff City’s defense made a mistake and conceded.

It was just that Johan’s class was not at a level they could handle.

***

“Coach.”

“Yeah?”

“Um, today’s game counts as a game, right?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, do you give coupons for the goals I scored today?”

After the game against Cardiff City,

Coach Schmidt was shocked by Johan’s question.

“Ah, no. That only applies to official games.”

“Tch. That’s too bad. I understand.”

Coach Schmidt sighed in relief as he watched Johan turn around with a smack of his lips.

He almost wouldn’t have been able to see Johan for the next week.

5 to 1.

Today, West Ham beat Cardiff City 5 to 1, and all 5 points were goals scored by Johan.

And that was after playing 79 minutes instead of the full 90 minutes.

‘It was better than expected.’

Coach Schmidt made a satisfied expression as he reviewed the game.

Clearly, it was true that today’s opponent was a team from the second division with objectively weak strength.

However,

That’s why it was an important game.

The most criticized thing during the past season was that they couldn’t show off a great performance against weak teams.

West Ham was struggling because they didn’t have a reliable striker.

But,

Today, they won a big victory.

With the striker scoring 5 points.

It wasn’t perfect yet, but it was a game where the intended things were shown.

Control in the midfield based on activity.

The performance of the newcomers who showed the reason for the recruitment.

Above all,

Even Johan, who brought back more than enough return compared to the invested resources.

The fact that it wasn’t perfect was even more satisfying.

Because that meant it could get better from here.

That’s how satisfying today’s performance was.

‘It makes me look forward to it again.’

Coach Schmidt was a very conservative person.

A person far from being optimistic.

However,

It was a moment when even such Coach Schmidt couldn’t help but look forward to it.

It was the opening day of next season.