Chapter 48 Am I like Kluivert?
"When you reach my age, you will be able to easily guess the mind of a 17-year-old young player who has just made his debut. It has nothing to do with how well you do."
Cruise laughed and attributed the problem to experience.
After seeing Su Dong's inquiring eyes, he further explained the problem.
Cruz is only 1.82 meters tall, which is actually shorter than Su Dong, and his legs are not long enough. This seems to be a disadvantage, but it is not, because he is a left-footed player, and he has excellent physical fitness and strong confrontation ability.
It is not difficult to defend a rookie like Su Dong, especially for an experienced veteran like Cruz.
He was able to see the ball's path earlier than Su Dong, predict the situation, and take the initiative to defend.
Even if Su Dong really got the ball, it didn't matter. He had an advantage in physical strength over Su Dong. He could get behind him and use all kinds of small moves to harass and influence Su Dong.
"You know, you are a right-footed player, and your left foot is pretty bad. Although I can see that you have been working hard to train your left foot, it is still not enough. You have more confidence and control over your right foot, so you habitually use it."
"When I'm defending you, I'll use various methods to pressure you, to lure you, or even just let you use your right foot. I'm a left-footed player, so if you want to turn around, turn right, I can defend you."
After listening to this, Su Dong thought about it carefully and it seemed to be true.
It turns out that many of the opportunities he thought he had were actually gaps deliberately left by Cruise.
This also explains why he was unable to gain any advantage over Cruise every time.
After realizing this, Su Dong felt depressed and frustrated.
"Don't be like that. You're only seventeen." Cruz looked at Su Dong and said with a smile, "In fact, you've done much better than most of your peers, even better than some centers in their twenties."
Su Dong spread his hands helplessly, "But I still can't beat you, not even once."
Cruise smiled again. He quite liked the young man in front of him.
It was nothing at the beginning, but after a month of getting along and confronting each other, he found that Su Dong had actually been making progress.
Especially when he stands in the present and looks back, comparing Su Dong when he just joined a month ago, Cruz has to admit that the progress is indeed quite great.
To want to make up the gap in just one month is nothing but a pipe dream.
But it's good to have dreams.
"In fact, I noticed that your nickname is Little God of War. Your powerful shots really have the shadow of Batistuta. I have competed with him many times in Serie A. It's really similar. It has that flavor."
"Besides that, I think your movement is very smart and your sense of the situation is very sharp. Many times I actually thought I could block you, but in the end you always run a route that I didn't expect and then receive the pass, which makes me very uncomfortable when I am defending."
"In addition, your height should be more than 1.9 meters now, your footwork is very solid, and your passing and cooperation awareness are very strong. All of these are your strengths. You should maintain them and continue to improve them."
"What about the shortcomings?" Su Dong asked with concern.
There is no one who knows you better than your opponent. Su Dong really wants to know what Cruz thinks of him?
"Your shortcomings are also obvious. Of course, I must remind you that all young players are like this. Their strengths and weaknesses are obvious. This is true for you, Ronaldo, Quaresma and Viana. It's just that some young players can play to their strengths in the right occasions and within the right tactical framework."
Su Dong understood this.
"You have an advantage in height, but you are thin and lack strength. You need to improve your upper body strength, waist and abdomen strength, and lower body strength. Without excellent physical strength, you cannot hold off the defenders. If you cannot hold off the defenders, your tactical role will be greatly reduced, and even your threat inside and outside the penalty area will be greatly reduced."
What Cruz meant by not being able to hold on was not just that he would be pushed out of position. In more cases, he used his body to block the defender, but during the physical contest, his technical movements became distorted, causing him to be unable to hold the ball steadily and pass it accurately.
Su Dong himself also had this feeling, especially when facing Cruz.
"You are very fast, which is a very obvious advantage, but this can only allow you to play a role when you have space, which is far from enough. As a center forward, you must have the ability to hold the ball, pass the ball, and turn around can you be regarded as a qualified center forward."
When Cruz said this, he saw Su Dong's thoughtful eyes and knew that he really listened to his words. He was happy and couldn't help asking again: "You should know Kluivert, right?"
"Of course, the Netherlands' main center." Su Dong blurted out.
"We both joined AC Milan in the same year, but the difference was that he was seen as the prince who could compete with Ronaldo, but no one expected that he would leave miserably a year later. It was not because he lacked ability, but because there were too many problems in the Milan dressing room at that time. He was the strongest center forward I have ever seen and experienced, even scarier than Vieri."
Su Dong was a little surprised. He didn't expect Cruz to have such a high opinion of Kluivert.
You know, after experiencing the dismal performance in Milan, Kluivert is no longer as good as before. Even though he performed well in Barcelona, he failed to regain the development momentum of the past.
"Do you know? Centers or players on the field can generally be divided into two categories, one is the core player and the other is the role player. As the name suggests, the core player is the core of the team's offense, organization or defense. The team will build a lineup and arrange tactics around him, while the role player is the supporting role around the core player."
"For example, the three main forwards of the Netherlands are Kluivert, Ruud van Nistelrooy and Roy Makaay. In my opinion, Kluivert is the core player, while Ruud van Nistelrooy and Roy Makaay are role players. So even if Ruud van Nistelrooy and Makaay score more goals, Kluivert is still the main force of the Dutch national team's forward line."
"You may not even realize that fans are more likely to remember core players, while role players, no matter how well they perform or how many goals they score, are often not as good as core players. The reason is very simple. Role players revolve around the core players."
Su Dong was amazed when he heard this.
He never expected that Cruise would tell him so many earth-shattering words. These were things he had never thought of before and no one had ever told him.
Is that so?
In fact, if you think about it carefully, you will know that it is true.
Even though his performance was sluggish during his time at AC Milan, Barcelona was still willing to spend a lot of money on Kluivert and entrust him with important tasks. This was not only because of Van Gaal, but also because they valued Kluivert's value.
"As a center forward, Kluivert has outstanding physical fitness. His skills of holding the ball with his back to the goal and turning around are impeccable. He can not only retreat to support the midfield, but also move to the side to cooperate with the two wings. He can play a role in positional warfare, and can also effectively attack the opponent's defense line in counterattacks."
"The only thing he's a little bit behind is scoring, but you may not know that his goal efficiency is 0.4 per game. Although this number is lower than that of killers like Van Nistelrooy, it is already quite high compared to other scorers."
"Believe me, I trained with him for a year and I know he is a nearly perfect center."
Su Dong could tell that Cruz really admired Kluivert and even respected him.
"Any team that gets Kluivert only needs to equip him with a good enough partner and organize tactics around him to maximize his role and power. He is the core of the team's offense."
When he said this, Cruise looked at Su Dong deeply.
"Su, I think you should learn from Kluivert. You are taller and faster than him. I even think that your running ability, insight into the situation, and sense of timing are much better than Kluivert's. These are your advantages. You should work hard to grow into a comprehensive core player like Kluivert."
"To become a core center forward, you need to do more and better than a scoring center forward, because you not only need to score goals, you also need to do more and play a more important tactical value, but you will get more rewards."
Su Dong had never expected that when he talked to Cruise, he just wanted to hear some comments from his opponent, but he didn't expect that Cruise would give him such a big shock.
Am I like Kluivert?
"Andre, are you too confident in me?" Su Dong smiled bitterly.
"No, no, no, Su, you are certainly not as good as Kluivert right now. Your left foot is too weak. You must train your left foot to be as proficient as your right foot. Your football is not rational enough. You still have many problems with holding the ball with your back to the goal and turning around..."
"In short, in many, many aspects, you are still far behind Kluivert, but you are only 17 years old and you still have a lot of room for growth. Your speed and flexibility are better than his, which ensures that you are better than Kluivert in individual combat, because he rarely works alone."
"Physical strength, tactical fulcrums and coordination can be developed gradually. You still have plenty of time to improve yourself. The premise is that you should find the right direction to work hard in. Don't just regard yourself as a role player responsible for scoring. That would be a pity."
Su Dong was deeply immersed in Cruz's words.
The Brazilian center back's expectations and encouragement gave him a huge shock, and at the same time he was also slightly excited.
When he saw the determination in Cruise's eyes, he couldn't help but ask himself.
Can I really do it?
