Lazy Genius Striker [EN]: Chapter 65

< 064. Shhh >

“This side, or that side?”

“I’ll take this side.”

Before the match starts.

The captains of both teams shake hands with the referees and decide which side they’ll play on.

Gordon, having won the toss, pointed to one side without hesitation.

Gordon pointed to the ‘Spion Kop Stand’ [a single-tier stand at Anfield Stadium, the home ground of Liverpool F.C., in Liverpool, England. It is among the most famous stands in world football], the home team supporters’ section.

It’s not a typical choice.

Usually, when the away team gets to choose, they pick the side that starts facing the home team’s supporters.

However, judging by the expressions of Liverpool’s captain, Steve Duncan, and the referees, Gordon’s choice seemed expected,

making it the obvious choice at Anfield.

That’s because the spirit of the home fans in the Kop Stand is, to put it strongly, extreme.

It’s better to attack towards them than to defend with your back to them, which is psychologically very difficult.

Especially in the second half.

Well, to be honest, it’s burdensome in both halves.

Taking the heat in the first half is a little easier, so West Ham’s ability to choose their side was a good start.

“Wooooooo-!”

As Yohan stood at the halfway line for the kickoff, Liverpool’s anthem mixed with harsh jeers.

These Liverpool fans don’t have good feelings towards West Ham and Yohan.

It was Liverpool that slipped from 2nd to 3rd place last season because of Yohan.

So, with Yohan standing there for the kickoff, jeers poured in from all directions.

“…”

Yohan looked around the stands.

It definitely felt different from other stadiums.

First, the slope of the stands is quite steep.

Because of this, the stands look almost like a cliff from the ground.

Even the spectators in the top stand feel close.

Moreover, filling those stands are the Kop, Liverpool fans famous for their passion in Europe.

The pressure was considerable just from them looking down.

Even more so, everyone is constantly talking. The roar is enough to make your head buzz.

Although the away and home stands are separated, home fans occupy more than 80 percent of the packed stands.

No matter where you turn, there’s a red wave, and the mufflers they’re waving blur your vision.

And with those incredibly numerous spectators all shouting and yelling, their faces red,

It feels like you’ve done something wrong.

You feel like a criminal just for not wearing a red uniform.

So, you can’t feel very pleasant.

You’re being treated like a criminal even though you’ve done nothing wrong.

Yohan thought, I wish the referee’s whistle would blow quickly.

And,

“Peeeeep-!”

The whistle blew, and the game started.

*

“Get your heads in the game, you bastards!”

“Listen up! You can’t hear if you don’t concentrate!”

The West Ham players started raising their voices less than 5 minutes into the first half.

It’s a difficult environment to concentrate in, as the cheers from the home fans make it hard to hear teammates right next to you.

Moreover, Liverpool’s speed is among the best in the Premier League [PL].

If you don’t stay sharp, even the league’s top team could collapse from the start at Anfield.

So, the West Ham players came prepared to lose their voices.

In particular, West Ham had to get through the first half wisely.

Right behind their goal, just a few steps away, the most elite and enthusiastic Liverpool fans were cursing West Ham to death.

They chose to take the hit first when they chose their side, so it couldn’t be helped.

So, they were prepared, but Liverpool’s early offensive was much stronger than expected.

Several dangerous situations were created, and the West Ham players tried to raise their concentration by using harsh words to each other.

However, even so, playing the game close to the notorious Kop Stand was a torment.

But, the only one maintaining composure was the goalkeeper, Jeff Hurrichel.

“Hey, robot! Are you even human?”

“You big dummy! How can you block the ball when you’re so slow?”

“You’re slow! We’ll train you like a dog today!”

The fans who sit right behind the goal, in the closest seats in the Kop Stand, are famous among the Kops.

They probably contributed to Liverpool’s tremendous win rate at Anfield almost as much as the coaches.

They’re practically the 12th players.

Their mission is to shake the opposing team’s goalkeeper’s mentality.

After being tormented by them for 45 minutes, it’s hard for any goalkeeper to maintain composure.

That’s why goalkeepers tend to make a lot of mistakes at Anfield.

They not only distract the keeper’s concentration by shouting loudly during Liverpool’s attack.

They also make a whooshing sound when the goal kick is taken to induce mistakes.

It looks quite childish, but it’s actually effective.

Because the most annoying thing is usually the most childish.

“Left! It’s coming!”

“Behind! Watch out! They’re closing in!”

In particular, these interference tactics work best in urgent situations.

The most typical example is when Liverpool’s strong front pressing comes in.

When the pressure comes deep, even to the goalkeeper, they stomp their feet as if something terrible has happened, putting psychological pressure on them.

It was inevitable that even a veteran goalkeeper would feel the pressure.

First of all, Liverpool’s front pressing itself is very fast and strong, and the fans right behind them add to the pressure.

From the keeper’s point of view, it can’t help but feel like they’re being pressured from all sides.

Moreover, the position of the keeper is one where a mistake immediately leads to a loss.

So, they are more vulnerable to pressure.

But,

Jeff Hurrichel was calm.

Hurrichel never changes his expression, no matter what happens.

Whoosh-!

“Hey, it’s coming to you! You know there’s a goal right behind you, right?”

“If you kick that wrong, you’ll concede a goal right away!”

Right-back Jenkinson, who gave up advancing due to the opponent’s pressure, passed the ball back to Hurrichel.

As the back pass rolled in front of the goal, the Kops behind the goal went wild.

But,

Hurrichel was like a machine that hadn’t been programmed with a sense of urgency.

Boom-!

Even in that situation, Hurrichel’s kick went accurately forward, and the Kop Stand was silent for a moment before a sigh erupted.

Of course, it was only for a moment, and

“Hey, lucky!”

“Don’t pretend you’re not nervous, we know everything!”

They soon started to act up again.

Anyway, as Hurrichel’s interference tactics didn’t work at all, as if he had earplugs in, disappointment began to flow on the faces of the Liverpool fans.

“Good! Everyone, hold your positions!”

“Line! Let’s narrow the gap a bit more!”

And, perhaps because Hurrichel’s calmness began to spread to his teammates.

West Ham gradually found stability and began to maintain a solid defense.

If the start at Anfield is this good, it wasn’t bad.

<10 minutes into the first half. There are no goals yet, but the possession rate is 77 to 23. Liverpool is overwhelmingly leading the game.>

Of course, the game continued in Liverpool’s favor.

Even if it was the London Stadium instead of Anfield, Liverpool would have led the game.

But even so, Liverpool’s pace is quite fast because it’s Anfield.

Which team scores the first goal, and when, could determine today’s game.

However, the positions of the two teams are slightly different.

For West Ham, ending the first half with a draw would be a huge success, and for Liverpool, ending the first half with a lead of 2 points or more would be a disappointing result.

Unlike other teams, Liverpool remembers conceding 3 goals to Yohan.

Because of that, they gave up their 2nd place to Chelsea.

As a result, Liverpool knew that if they didn’t thoroughly trample on the momentum, anything could happen.

Therefore, even though it was the first half, Liverpool began to pour out their offensive as if it were the end of the second half, extra time.

The result was achieved around the 19th minute of the first half.

West Ham concedes the first goal to Liverpool’s favorite attack route, the side attack through Carvalho on the right.

In fact, West Ham isn’t very strict when it comes to conceding goals.

In the first place, they only had a clean sheet in 2 out of 17 games, and they didn’t think they wouldn’t concede a single goal to a team like Liverpool at Anfield.

However, after conceding a goal, the atmosphere at Anfield made the players feel uneasy.

“Waaaaaaaaat-!”

Of course, everyone already knows what Anfield is like. However, now even that is being surpassed by the crazy cheers that are crushing the players.

It’s just an early opening goal, but they’re cheering as if a dramatic goal had been scored.

In that atmosphere, West Ham, who had regained stability with difficulty, began to show signs of shaking again.

And, they made a mistake they shouldn’t have made.

9 minutes after the first goal.

The whistle was blown in the box.

A penalty kick [PK] was awarded to Liverpool due to Simone’s handball foul.

It was a handball that couldn’t be seen as intentional, but anyway, as long as the ball hit the hand in the box, they couldn’t avoid the PK.

Therefore, no matter how much they protested, they couldn’t change the decision, and in the end, the game continued as it was.

“You can never stop it!”

“It’s on the left!”

“No, it’ll be on the right? Hahaha!”

Amidst the enthusiastic encouragement from the fans behind the goal to Hurrichel, who is preparing for the PK.

The protagonist of the first goal, Carvalho, took the PK, and

Boom-!

Thud-!

“Yeeeeeeeees-!”

That accurately aimed at the corner of the goal and became the second goal.

Liverpool started to lead 2-0 like that.

The atmosphere at Anfield was buzzing as if the game was over, and in the middle of it, the West Ham players lowered their heads.

Ah. Is it not going to work?

After all, is Anfield such a place?

They were West Ham players who had never experienced victory in this place.

But in the first half, the results flowed like this, so their spirits couldn’t help but be broken.

The only fortunate thing was that Liverpool also raised the tempo by using energy from the beginning, so they slowed down the tempo slightly as they entered the end of the first half, catching their breath,

“Peeep, Peeep-!”

Even in the midst of that, Hurrichel maintained his concentration and the first half ended without any further goals.

They were worried about whether they could reverse this hot atmosphere when they entered the second half.

The West Ham players left the ground with their heads down, and Yohan, who had been quiet during the first half, looked around the stands again and headed to the locker room.

*

The second half started with both teams changing sides.

Now, West Ham can also play the game with their fans behind them.

Thanks to that, it’s not as chaotic as in the first half, where even the voices of teammates couldn’t be heard.

However, West Ham is in a position where they have to spend more time in the opponent’s territory.

Because they’re behind by 2 points.

First of all, the top priority is to score a goal as quickly as possible.

Therefore, it’s not a very welcome situation to attack while facing the opposing fans.

Rather, it may be more burdensome to face them than to have them behind you.

However, it was something that West Ham had chosen in the first place.

And there was a clear reason for it.

It’s a sorry thing for the youngest, but the reason Gordon chose the side that way was because he trusted Yohan more.

He was the kind of guy who wouldn’t care no matter how extreme the opposing fans were.

Therefore, West Ham’s idea was to score more points in the second half, and it was Gordon’s choice.

The flow has come to West Ham for the first time in a while.

The important thing is whether they can score here.

If you can’t finish when the flow comes, the result may be worse than not even catching the flow.

However, the West Ham players didn’t seem to be anxious.

Because they had a definite belief.

There was no need to think complicatedly.

If they can bring the flow, there’s a guy who can take responsibility for finishing.

So, let’s just pass it to him.

Everyone moved with only that one thought, so West Ham’s attack began to continue simply but effectively.

And,

Yohan catches the ball in the box.

The Liverpool defenders already knew well how this could lead to a fatal result.

Also, they knew very well what would happen if Yohan was allowed to turn towards the goal with the ball.

Therefore, Liverpool’s center back, Gary Evans, who had Yohan in front of him with his back to him, pushed Yohan with all his might.

But he doesn’t budge.

Rather, it’s himself who’s being pushed.

Evans’s heart is getting more and more impatient because of Yohan, who is approaching the goal more and more with himself behind him, like a post-up play in basketball.

And,

Tatat-!

Finally, the moment Yohan turned around quickly.

Evans, who had become impatient, ended up causing an accident.

He tried to tackle the ball, but ended up kicking Yohan’s leg.

“Peeeeeeep-!”

The referee’s whistle blew.

A clear PK that anyone could see.

But, a slightly strange scene followed.

The West Ham players started protesting instead.

“Referee! You could have let it go a little longer!”

“Why did you stop right away? He hasn’t fallen yet!”

There was a reason for their protest.

Even with Evans’s foul tackle, Yohan hadn’t completely fallen.

Although he had lost his balance, it seemed that Yohan could quickly regain his balance and grab the ball again.

But as long as the referee blew the whistle, the game couldn’t continue any further.

Of course, getting a PK is a more certain method.

However, again, this is Anfield.

Moreover, behind the goal where the PK has to be taken, the most extreme fans in Anfield are sitting.

The player who takes the PK has to face not only the opposing goalkeeper but also all of them.

Therefore, they have to bear several times the burden than usual.

But.

“…”

“…!”

When Yohan took the ball that the referee was holding, the protesting players stopped protesting.

And,

When Yohan placed the ball on the penalty mark, everyone went outside the box.

Yes.

If it’s Yohan, there may be no need to worry about anything else.

If it’s him, let’s just watch quietly.

He’s not the kind of guy who’ll be shaken.

“Wooooooo-!”

“You can never put it in!”

“You think you can put it in!”

“Homerun! Homerun!”

Amidst the fans behind the goal interfering with a murderous spirit.

Standing in front of an important PK that could determine the future landscape,

Yohan quietly put his hands on his waist and waited for the referee’s whistle to blow.