Chapter 1 When Chen Hero Returned to St. Petersburg

When Chen Hero returned to St. Petersburg, his vacation wasn't actually over yet.

He returned to the team early because he received a call from Advocaat.

Advocaat wanted to say some things to Chen Hero, thoughts he had after observing him over the past year.

The two met in the indoor training ground of the Udelny Park training base.

It was snowing heavily outside, but it was relatively warm here.

Chen Hero braved the snow to come here and meet Advocaat.

Advocaat was wearing a training suit. He said to Chen Hero, "Go change into a training suit first."

Chen Hero didn't expect the head coach to call him here to train…

After changing into his training suit, Chen Hero returned to the indoor training ground.

Advocaat didn't speak, but looked Chen Hero up and down, then he nodded, "You've kept your body in good shape, Hero."

Chen Hero grinned.

Of course, he had. Whenever he had the chance, he would go to the gym in the copy to do weight training. The training effect there was much better than in a real-world gym.

"Let me ask you, Hero. What do you think you're still lacking?"

Chen Hero didn't expect Advocaat to ask him such a question. He thought for a moment and said, "Maybe my attacking methods are too monotonous?"

Advocaat nodded. "That's right. You have too few ways to score. It's just headers and long shots, so it's easy for opponents to mark you. To be honest, you might not like to hear this. In the Russian Premier League, you can score twenty-seven goals in a season, but if you go to the top five European leagues, you'll score at most ten goals in a season."

Chen Hero curled his lip. He really didn't like hearing that… But the head coach must have had his reasons for saying these things. He wouldn't have called him back from China early just to mock him. So he listened patiently.

"Do you know what your problem is?"

"My scoring methods are too monotonous…"

"No." Advocaat shook his head.

He didn't know when, but he had a soccer ball under his foot.

"Let's play a game." He kicked the soccer ball to Hero, and then picked up a few cones from the sidelines and placed them in several positions in front of the penalty area. After doing all this, he prepared himself in front of the penalty area. "You come over here, Hero. Like this..." He directed Chen Hero to take the ball in front of him with his back to him.

"Okay, now try to control the ball, get past me, and shoot." He said to Chen Hero.

Chen Hero didn't understand what the head coach was doing, but he thought, wasn't this too easy?

He only needed to push the ball horizontally, use his speed to overtake the middle-aged, out-of-shape head coach, then turn around, adjust his shot, and score.

So he didn't even bother with a feint and directly pushed the soccer ball to the side, ready to break through. But he didn't expect the soccer ball he pushed out to hit one of the cones Advocaat had placed there earlier.

"Stop!" Advocaat's voice rang out.

Chen Hero caught up with the soccer ball, stepped on it, and looked back at the head coach with a puzzled expression, "What?"

"Your ball was intercepted. You failed."

"The ball was intercepted?" Chen Hero looked down at the ball under his foot, looking confused.

Advocaat pointed to the cone that had fallen to the ground. "The ball you pushed out just now hit the cone, so it was intercepted."

"What? That counts as intercepted?!"

"Of course. Did you think that when you're playing a game on the field, there's no one around, and I'm the only defender?"

Chen Hero then understood that these cones were supposed to represent people…

But he was quick-witted and clever. He quickly figured it out. Just like in the copy, he could construct his teammates in the copy. Advocaat didn't have that ability, so he could only use cones to imitate the defending players.

But…

"Can't these cones be my teammates?"

"Many times, when you're taking the ball with your back to the field in the frontcourt, you don't have any support. It's just you, and you're surrounded by defending players."

Chen Hero understood.

He brought the soccer ball back to Advocaat and turned his back to him: "Then let's start again…"

This time, Chen Hero pushed the soccer ball a little further, bypassing the cone that had been knocked over before, but Advocaat's voice still rang out: "Failed!"

"I didn't hit any of the defending cones!"

"If you dribble that far in an actual game, do you think someone else wouldn't intercept the ball?"

"Okay, let's do it again!"

This time Chen Hero didn't dribble the ball, but directly charged backward, and as expected, Advocaat was knocked flat on his back. Then he turned around and shot!

"Failed!" Advocaat shouted, raising his hand while lying on the ground.

Chen Hero was speechless. He looked back at the head coach lying on the ground.

"That doesn't count either?"

"The defending players you encounter in the game aren't old men like me. You think you can knock them down? I'm afraid it won't be that easy." Advocaat held out his hand, "Help me up."

Chen Hero ran back and helped Advocaat up.

"Continue." Advocaat patted his butt and said to Chen Hero, assuming a defensive stance.

But this time Chen Hero didn't cooperate with him. Instead, he spread out his hands and looked at him: "If I dribble the ball out and hit a cone, you say it's intercepted. If I dribble it too far, it's still intercepted. If I engage in physical confrontation, you say that won't work either. I don't know what to do."

"Can't you push the soccer ball out without hitting the cones, and still be able to control it?" Advocaat asked him.

"Uh… I'll try." Chen Hero ran to pick up the soccer ball he had shot out.

He tried to push the soccer ball to a suitable position, and then turned around to receive the ball. But when he turned around, Advocaat had already intercepted the ball and gotten it under his control.

Seeing Chen Hero about to come up and try to win the ball back, Advocaat quickly raised his hand to signal: "Stop!"

If he got hit by this bear-like kid, he probably wouldn't be able to come to preseason training for the first few days!

"Your problem isn't that your attacking methods are monotonous, Hero. Your problem is that your ability to take the ball with your back to the goal and go one-on-one is too weak!" Advocaat didn't plan to continue the confrontation with Chen Hero. His old bones couldn't take the beating.

Just now, when Chen Hero suddenly leaned back against him, he felt like he had been hit by a heavy truck. If his experience as a professional player when he was younger hadn't protected him, he was afraid he would have fractured his tailbone this time.

This showed just how outstanding Chen Hero's physical fitness really was.

"You received soccer training in China. Didn't you practice taking the ball with your back to the goal and going one-on-one?"

Chen Hero thought for a moment: "I don't think so…"

At that time, he relied on his good physique and just forced his way through everything. He didn't need to practice these things at all… The coach never said anything about it either, anyway, he only cared about collecting money…

"Taking the ball with your back to the goal and going one-on-one is a basic skill for a center forward, Hero…" Advocaat was particularly speechless after hearing Chen Hero's answer. He now thought it was a miracle that Chen Hero was able to sign with Zenit…

"In the game against Everton, you were once in a situation where you were facing away from the opposing defender, holding the soccer ball, but unable to turn around and attack, and could only pass the soccer ball to your teammates."

Chen Hero nodded. He did have that feeling in the game against Everton. He felt like he couldn't break out of that situation. At that time, he was determined to become stronger, but he didn't know exactly how to become stronger. He thought he just needed to train hard in the copy and then level up and add talent points.

"First of all, you have to improve your ball control skills, and then learn to use your body reasonably to gain an advantage, instead of simply charging into people like that." Advocaat raised his elbow. "Your body is your asset, Hero. But if you don't know how to use your body reasonably, you won't be able to achieve greater success. We will encounter many stronger opponents in the Europa League knockout stage, and their strength is beyond your imagination. If you don't improve yourself, both the team and you will be eliminated."

Chen Hero sensed a hint of danger in Advocaat's words - it was easy to understand that the team would be eliminated, but what did it mean for him to be eliminated? Did it mean that if he didn't improve, Advocaat wouldn't be able to guarantee his position in the team?

He felt the danger.

Since becoming a professional player, it was the first time he had felt the danger so strongly.

"So, from now on, your task is to make yourself look more like a center forward, instead of a pseudo-center forward who's only good at headers and long shots, and terrible in other aspects." Advocaat assigned Chen Hero a task.

"This may take some time. I hope you can show me something promising as soon as possible, because the Europa League Round of 32 starts on February 13th."

There was still a month left until the game against Villarreal. It would be difficult for the average person to evolve into a true center forward in a month, because there were only so many training hours each day. At the beginning of preseason training, they would also have to do physical training, and wouldn't do training that combined with the ball.

But Chen Hero had the copy!

He could go home and start training in the copy after finishing his normal training.

Advocaat looked at the date on his watch and said to Chen Hero, who was looking down and silent, "There are still a few days before the team reports. If you have nothing to do, come every day, and I will find a way to train you, Hero."

It was certainly a good thing that the head coach was willing to take the time to teach him.

Chen Hero nodded: "I have time twenty-four hours a day, sir!"

Advocaat laughed: "I only need you to spare eight hours."

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When Chen Hero came to the indoor training ground again the next day, he saw not only Advocaat, but also several other coaches - it turned out that the coaching staff had already started working, while the players still needed a few days to return to the team.

"Let's get started." Advocaat didn't say much nonsense, nor did he introduce the situation. Obviously, the coaching staff had studied Chen Hero's problem countless times, so everyone knew what to do.

Chen Hero returned to the locker room and put on his training suit. He was the only one in the empty locker room, and the locker room cabinets with names on them were tightly locked. Their owners had not yet returned to the team.

Chen Hero noticed that Martin Škrtel's name had been removed from the cabinet he used to use.

The young man who liked 3p had transferred away and gone to a bigger stage.

Chen Hero clenched his fist.

In order to pursue a bigger stage, in order to be the protagonist under the spotlight, I am also working hard!

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PS. I’ve exploded Blood Red’s chrysanthemum, allowing *Forbidden Zone’s Male* to return to the top ten of the monthly ticket chart. I'll find an excuse to add another chapter to thank everyone for their support and monthly tickets!

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