Chapter 98: Is There Such a Good Thing?
After De Bruyne was substituted off, there were some issues with the midfield operation for Werder Bremen.
The players seemed unfamiliar with Lin Quan appearing in the attacking midfielder position, and their cooperation lacked synchronization.
They felt confident with Lin Quan in the winger position, but having him in the attacking midfielder position raised some doubts among his teammates.
Seeing this, Lin Quan voluntarily dropped back and actively coordinated with his teammates.
Fritz, seeing him drop back to receive the ball, had no choice but to pass it to him.
Once Lin Quan received the ball, he immediately faced pressure from several Schalke players.
The commentators couldn't help but sweat for him; losing the ball in this position could be dangerous.
But Lin Quan didn't give the opponents a chance; he calmly passed the ball out.
"The pass was ordinary, nothing special!"
The commentators made an objective assessment.
A few minutes later, the ball once again came to Lin Quan's feet.
Before controlling the ball, he observed the positioning and movement of players on both sides, then attempted a long pass.
Unfortunately, there was no understanding between him and his teammate, resulting in no one following up after the pass, making it look more like a mistake than a deliberate pass.
Lin Quan shook his head, taking responsibility and signaling that it was his mistake.
He overestimated his teammate's positioning. If this were the Spanish national team or even the youth team, some players would have understood his intention and formed a brilliant cooperation.
But at the club level, the players were unfamiliar with his playing style, making such cooperation difficult.
It seemed that he needed to keep things simpler.
Schalke's players, seeing Lin Quan make such a glaring mistake, felt relieved.
Despite his reputation and previous goal against them, Schalke's players were wary of Lin Quan.
Initially, when they saw him playing as an attacking midfielder, they were worried, thinking he had some ace up his sleeve.
However, after more than ten minutes, they realized:
Is this it?
If this was his level, then they could relax!
With not much time left in the game, Schalke, aiming to turn the game around, couldn't afford to play games with Werder Bremen.
They started to strengthen their attack, attempting to change the score in the remaining time and secure all three points.
With their key midfielder sidelined, if they couldn't win under such a significant advantage, they would have a hard time explaining to the more than 50,000 fans at the stadium.
The former Bundesliga top scorer, Hunter, who hadn't scored in this game, seemed very eager. He gestured for the ball several times in the forward position, wanting to be the hero to change the score.
But Werder Bremen knew his threat well, defending him tightly and not giving him good opportunities.
Instead, substitutes Drakler and Schalke's number 10, Holtby, had several threatening shots during the game, almost changing the score.
Seeing their team being suppressed, the Werder Bremen coaching staff began to worry.
"We placed Lin Quan in the attacking midfielder position, but the team's attacking cooperation in the frontcourt hasn't been effective, reducing our threat significantly. Is this choice really reasonable?"
Assistant coach Rolf expressed his concerns anxiously. The situation on the field seemed like they were going to lose.
"We need to be patient; he hasn't been on the field for long, and it's still too early to judge!"
Another assistant coach, Henebach, remained calm. Having witnessed Lin Quan's miracles multiple times, he had deep trust in him.
Playing as an attacking midfielder was Lin Quan's initiative; he must have his reasons. Since we can't figure it out, let's just trust him!
After thwarting the opponent's wave of attacks, possession returned to Werder Bremen.
Upon receiving the ball, Lin Quan changed his playing style. When faced with pressure from the opponents, he didn't immediately pass the ball.
Instead, he attempted to dribble through, a rare move for an attacking midfielder.
Because if he lost the ball, it could lead to a transition from attack to defense, leaving their defense vulnerable to counterattacks, which could easily result in conceding a goal.
Due to this, many strong teams emphasized the timing of counterattacks, preferring to launch their own counterattacks when the opponent was on the offensive.
Schalke's players didn't expect him to attempt to dribble through; previously, he had always chosen to pass the ball when receiving it.
This lowered their vigilance, seemingly forgetting that he used to be a sharp winger.
As he successfully dribbled past the pressing players, Lin Quan had more passing options.
He passed the ball to the winger, Elia, and quickly moved forward to receive the return pass.
Elia and Lin Quan cooperated seamlessly, repeatedly passing the ball to each other after assessing the opponent's positioning.
After receiving the ball, Lin Quan glanced at the penalty area.
In front of Schalke's penalty area, substitute Petersen was sprinting with all his might.
He was running aggressively, but seemed to have not noticed that he was already in an offside position.
Instead of passing the ball to him, Lin Quan continued to dribble forward and executed a wall pass with another forward, Hunter, outside the penalty area.
He then took a long shot.
The shot was straight at the goalkeeper, who easily caught the ball.
Lin Quan gave Petersen a thumbs-up, acknowledging his effort and encouraging him to keep it up.
Petersen expected the ball to come to him, but it never did.
In the past, he might have been angry and questioned why he wasn't passed to.
But now, realizing who the team leader was, he didn't dare to complain.
After careful consideration, he realized that he might have run too fast, not noticing the opponent's defenders around him.
Schalke's players were surprised; they didn't expect Lin Quan to attempt such a breakthrough in midfield.
He succeeded by chance this time, but if he failed, it would have been disastrous for him.
Although the shot was saved, Schalke's players didn't care.
Without Lin Quan putting pressure on them in the forward line, defending Werder Bremen's attacks was too easy for them.
Schalke's players even had a feeling of returning to last season, when they easily slaughtered Werder Bremen 5-0 at home.
The opponent was still the same weak team; nothing had changed!
As the game continued, Werder Bremen's players gradually adapted to Lin Quan's rhythm.
Their opponents believed that Lin Quan was playing poorly as an attacking midfielder, even mediocre.
But Werder Bremen's players saw things differently.
In the situation of suddenly changing the key midfielders, they didn't have time to adapt, yet Lin Quan ensured cooperation with his teammates in such a short time, guaranteeing a successful passing rate without any turnovers.
This already proved his ability!
After adapting to their teammates' playing styles, Lin Quan's cooperation with them improved continuously.
Compared to ten minutes ago, he found passing and receiving the ball easier, and his ball handling became more reasonable.
He organized Werder Bremen's midfield well, increasing his teammates' confidence in him and making them more willing to cooperate actively.
Schalke, on the other hand, remained unaware of this, completely unaware that danger was looming.
In the 83rd minute, Schalke launched another attack, piling up a large number of players in the forward line, attempting to break through Werder Bremen's goal with numerical superiority.
Schalke created a lot of noise in front of Werder Bremen's goal, but their attacks were all bark and no bite.
Several shots were either blocked by defenders or saved by the goalkeeper.
Their corner kicks didn't reach the intended targets either, and their offensive wave was smoothly defused by Werder Bremen.
It was Werder Bremen's turn to counterattack, and the ball quickly came to Lin Quan's feet.
Lin Quan thought that the opponents would press him as before, and he was prepared to shake off the defending players.
But to his surprise, the opponents didn't rush up immediately.
Lin Quan, after a brief observation, saw the Schalke players panting heavily.
Although they were trying to intercept, their stamina seemed to be failing them, making them half a beat slower.
After the frantic pressing in the first half, Schalke's players' stamina was quickly declining. With the physical toll from the Champions League match not fully recovered, this half's exertion left them with very little energy.
Schalke's players couldn't run anymore!
This was good news!
This was what Werder Bremen had been waiting for!
He raised his hand, signaling for a full-scale attack, urging his teammates to move forward.
It's time to besiege Schalke's goal!
His teammates understood and started positioning frantically.
Petersen ran most actively; he remembered Lin Quan's words: Don't worry about anything else, just keep running forward!
This time, he learned from his previous mistake and didn't rush to the forefront, keeping himself on the same line as the opponent's defenders.
This way, the opponents couldn't catch him offside.
Schalke's defenders looked down on him, thinking that he was just blindly running around since he came on. While the other forwards were running into space, he just ran in straight lines, slipping between two Schalke center-backs.
What are you running here for? Are you expecting to find an opening to shoot?
Schalke's defenders sneered at him; he ran so actively, yet his teammates didn't pass the ball to him.
Combined with his poor positioning, they thought Petersen was just a decoy, a distraction to divert their attention.
So they paid no attention to Petersen and focused on marking Alan Hunter and Elia, the two main threats.
Based on Lin Quan's previous style of play, he would definitely pass the ball to these two.
However, to their surprise, Lin Quan didn't look for these two this time.
As he sprinted forward, Lin Quan glanced at the positions of his teammates in the forward line and quickly made a decision.
Lin Quan's pass was a curving ball with a slight arc, skimming the grass.
The ball was very difficult to play; it flew past the Schalke full-back, Doudou Inui, on the outer edge, curved, and landed right in front of the penalty area.
At this moment, Petersen had just arrived here.
While running, Petersen was still wondering how his teammates would pass the ball past the two defenders?
If it did come, how would he shake off the two defenders next to him and score?
As he ran, the ball suddenly appeared in front of him, and the two defenders beside him were nowhere to be seen.
Is there such a good thing?
Without hesitation, he swung his leg and took a shot.
(End of this chapter)