After the Spring Festival, Mathilde really came to teach Chu Zhongtian again. This time he taught not French, but German. In fact, Chu Zhongtian didn't know what to do with learning German. Although many people speak German in Metz, having French is enough to live here. He didn't feel inconvenient here for most of the season. Moreover, after this season, he didn't know whether he could continue to stay in Metz. What if he was loaned to Belgium by Chelsea in a season? Learning German will be useless.

But "the drunkard's intention is not wine", learning German is just an excuse. He just hopes that Mathilde can spend more time with him and not disappear in his life like that.

So no matter whether German is useful to him or not, it is just an excuse to continue to get along with Mathilde. Anyway, if you don’t have to suppress yourself, it’s not a bad thing to learn more language.

"Actually, German is not easy to learn." When he first took German class, Mathilde said to Chu Zhongtian.

"It's okay, take it slowly." Chu Zhongtian replied. He has learned smartly. He doesn't need to be very urgent to communicate with others anyway, so it's nothing to learn German slowly. Even if he has to learn until the end of May at the end of the season, he won't feel that the progress is too slow, and it doesn't matter that he doesn't learn until the end of the season. He won't work as hard as he learns French. Apart from class, he will no longer force himself to memorize German words and study German grammar.

Mathilde seemed to have noticed something, and she pushed the black-framed glasses: "You still have to study seriously, Chu. Every time I go to class, I will check your previous learning results, if it doesn't meet the standards..."

"What will happen if the standards are not met?" Chu Zhongtian asked.

"Then I won't come in the next class." Mathilde said to Chu Zhongtian with a stern face.

Chu Zhongtian quickly raised his hands, which was really a sharp attack... "Okay, I will study German hard, Teacher Mati." Chu Zhongtian raised his hand, kept nodding, and said helplessly.

Mathilde smiled again when he saw him like this.

※※※Apart from learning German with Mathilde, Chu Zhongtian's life has not changed much from before the Spring Festival, and it is still training and competition.

On February 12, Metz welcomed Socho at home. This game was not a league, but a French Cup. This season, Metz has not invested much energy in the cup. They were eliminated by Bastia in the first round of the French League Cup. In this French Cup, Fernandez still sent a substitute and reserve team. Among the starting lineups of the league, only Chu Zhongtian still started in this game.

Fernandez wants Chu Zhongtian to have more opportunities to participate in the competition, because Chu Zhongtian needs to accumulate more competition experience.

Chu Zhongtian performed very hard in this game, but most of his teammates were not familiar with each other and rarely cooperated with football training. No one could think of his passes. What Ribery said was really right. Some of his ideas on the court were advanced, and most people would not think of... Of course, Ribery didn't know that this was actually because of Chu Zhongtian's super intuition in his mind.

In the end, Metz lost 0-1 to Socho at his home court and was also eliminated in the French Cup.

Now, Messe has only the league left to play this season. Fernandez does not feel a pity at all. For relegation teams, it is unrealistic to strive for good results in the cup. It is better to play the league well first and strive to stay in the first league.

After this game, eight days later, Metz welcomed another strong opponent at home - Marseille.

In February, there are only two league games: on February 5 vs. Lyon and on February 20 vs. Marseille. The next round of league will be until March 16, and their opponent is Monaco.

There are not many games, but the opponents are very strong. In the minds of many Metz fans, they can't get a single point. So when Chu Zhongtian headed the ball at the last moment to tie Lyon, these fans were so excited. Perhaps those fans of the giants don't care about the gains and losses of this point, but for relegation teams, every point is precious.

In the match against Marseille, Chu Zhongtian saw the power of a young French man again - Samir Nasri, who represented Marseille in the first league at the age of seventeen.

This player who led Benzema and other French future stars to the European Youth Championship as the captain of the French national youth team last summer, scored his first goal in the Ligue 1 on January 11 before this game. From the starting point, he is much taller than Benzema and Ben Alpha, and in terms of performance, he is also better than those two peers.

Nasri, Ben Alpha, and a man who played for Socio, these three people are called the "U17 Three Masters" in France. They are both talented players born in 1987 and are only seventeen years old. Although Benzema will also participate in the game with them, he is mostly substitutes. At this time, Benzema's reputation was mainly within the Lyon club, not in the entire France or even Europe (later after Benzema rose, he replaced the original "U17 Three Masters" title with "87 Four Young Masters").

From the game, Chu Zhongtian could realize that Nasri's footwork was very good.

What he said about "good footwork" is not as simple as being able to control the ball, but being able to play with the ball as he pleases. Among the players he has personally contacted, the first one is Russell, but unfortunately Russell retired due to injury, the second one is Ribery, the third one is Juninho, and the fourth one is Nasri, Ben Alfa and Benzema? He didn't see it.

Nasri was the front midfielder of Marseille in this game, responsible for organizing the offense. He was very skilled in ball control, imaginative in passing, very casual in playing football, and a good overall view. However, he was only seventeen years old and was very thin and had obviously not good at confrontation. During the game, Chu Zhongtian and Nasri had several physical contacts, and Nasri fell to the ground. What made Chu Zhongtian very depressed was that the referee even judged him to foul... Chu Zhongtian's task in this game was not to mark Nasri. After the game against Lyon, Fernandez no longer allowed him to specifically mark a certain player. In the eyes of this legendary French coach, letting Chu Zhongtian mark people in the game is a waste of talent, and he would not allow himself to do so.

In defense, he only asked Chu Zhongtian to defend the area and assist Proman. He participated in the offense with all his heart.

In this game, Marseille's overall strength still plays a crucial role. The Metz team mainly relies on Chu Zhongtian, Ribery, and Oblaniak when attacking, and the forward's scoring ability is really not satisfactory.

Once Ribery and Oblaniak are restricted, Chu Zhongtian's pass is converted into a goal no matter how accurate it is.

In the 24th minute, the black striker Luyindula scored a goal. The person who assisted him was Nasri. At that time, Nasri got rid of Proman's entanglement in the midfield and decisively made a straight pass. Luyindula, who was originally waiting for the separation on the side, suddenly cut inward and used his outstanding speed to throw away captains Bobiconi and Arigolo. Facing goalkeeper Winby, he did not shoot hard, but chose a highly ornamental shot, and the football came into the net.

Luindula bought this season to replace Drogba who was bought by Chelsea. Although he and Drogba are both black strikers born in Africa, they are completely different in styles. Drogba is strong, like an African elephant, while Luindula has outstanding body flexibility and speed, delicate skills under his feet, and imagination.

He once won the Ligue 1 top scorer in Lyon in a single season and is also a long-standing striker.

The backward Metz strengthened the offensive, but the striker was powerless. Chu Zhongtian even inserted and shot a long shot several times. He always believed that as an organizational midfielder, he should use passes to serve his teammates and help the team win. If he always wants to score on his own, it means that there is something wrong with the forward or tactics of this team... The tactics are obviously fine, that is, the forward is not strong.

This made Fernandez also know, but what can I do? Metz is a little bit of experience and is willing to invest in youth training, but he is very stingy in the first team. Without high transfer fees and salary, he naturally cannot attract outstanding forwards to join.

David Carre suddenly said, "Or else push Chu to the front line?"

This shocked Fernandez and shook his head: "He is not suitable for being a forward, and he is a forward. Who will pass the ball to him?"

Carre thought for a while and sighed helplessly.

In this game, Chu Zhongtian and Ribery did not help the team win the game, and they didn't even get a draw. Messe eventually lost to Marseille 0:1 at home.

After this game, Japan came to the 27th round of the league on February 27th, but because Metz's opponent Bastia was too close to the league match day and the cup match day, Metz's round was postponed to March 16th. On February 27th, the match between Ausserre and Toulouse was also postponed.

So on the 27th round of the game day, other teams were playing the league in full swing, while Metz made another arrangement - the head coach asked Fernandez to arrange a team match for the team, and the participating teams were Metz's first team and the reserve team.

Since the game against Paris Saint-Germain, Chu Zhongtian has not seen his temporary teammates in the reserve team again. He reappeared in front of them in this game and has become the main player of the first team.

Chu Zhongtian performed well in the game, with two assists, and also instigated the team's second goal, helping Mets' first team defeat Mets reserve team with a score of 4:2. Mets reserve team is basically players trained by their youth training camp themselves. Mets' youth training level has always been excellent, so the reserve team's strength is not weak, and the value of this game is not low.

Fernandez was also quite satisfied with Chu Zhongtian's performance in this game. After the game, he pulled Chu Zhongtian to chat alone for nearly half an hour, which made the reserve players very envious. For many of them, the Chinese boy was like them before, and was even worse than him. When Chu Zhongtian came to the reserve team to play, some people in the reserve team thought Chu Zhongtian was not favored by the head coach and were transferred to the reserve team to receive punishment. Unexpectedly, it was not punishment, but a kind of exercise. Today's Chinese boy not only played a stable game in the first team, but also scored a very critical goal in the game with Lyon. Like Ribery, he was simply a live version of the ugly duckling turning into a swan.

Fernandez praised Chu Zhongtian's performance, but also put forward higher requirements for Chu Zhongtian - most of the time, Chu Zhongtian was able to successfully instigate an offensive because there was no fierce confrontation around him and no too much interference.

"If you are just satisfied with this, it won't work, Chu." Fernandez said to Chu Zhongtian, "You are very strong and you are not afraid of physical confrontation in defense. I hope you are the same in offense. You must dare to have physical contact with your opponents, and even in a very fierce confrontation, you must be able to control the ball and pass the ball. The physical confrontation in the Ligue 1 is not too strong, and I don't believe you will stay in this league for the rest of your life. I know you come from the Premier League, Chelsea, and the physical contact in the Premier League is more frequent and the confrontation is more intense. What if that happens? So from now on, you must work hard to improve your ability to control the ball and pass the ball in physical confrontation. I will increase this kind of training for you in future training."

Chu Zhongtian nodded vigorously. What else can he have for the head coach to be so good to him? Of course, he did as required and tried to meet the head coach's requirements as soon as possible.

"In addition, the running position should be refined. If you can achieve your goal by passing the ball in one run, you don't need to run three times or pass three times. There are still many unnecessary parts in your passing position. If you remove them, you will be more efficient."

Fernandez saw Chu Zhongtian's football style, but also saw the problems that arose in the process of finding the establishment of this style.

"Actually, football is a very simple sport, which is to control the ball, pass the ball, catch the ball, and shoot the ball. Don't complicate them."

"I get it, sir."

Fernandez smiled at the humble Chu Zhongtian. He said a lot, and the young man who had just played a perfect game was not impatient or refuted himself. He just listened patiently.

"Do it well, Chu. I believe you will have a good future."

Ribery said that Fernandez was his "godfather of football". Chu Zhongtian couldn't say such things, but he was grateful to the old coach from the bottom of his heart.

When his skills are not up to standard and lack experience, he hones himself and gives himself full patience. After playing in the game, he always believes in himself, gives himself opportunities, and even creates opportunities for him to receive training in the game.

Such a good coach made him feel how wise it was to agree to play football without hesitation. Perhaps it was intuition that helped him and made the right decision. If he was loaned to Belgium, even if he could play games at the beginning, when he had so many problems with playing amateur football, no one taught him to correct and believe him, he felt that he would soon lose his position in the team, and then he could only spend the whole season on the bench or stands, and finally returned to Chelsea without gaining anything, because his performance in Belgium was not outstanding and naturally he had no competitiveness at all. In the end, his ending was to keep hang out among low-level teams in low-level leagues, holding the so-called "professional football", working hard to make money to support his family, and his ideals and other people's hopes were all shattered.

※※※After losing to Marseille, Metz scored 29 points and ranked 14th. He did not really enter the relegation zone, but he was on the verge of the relegation zone. If you don’t pay attention, you may be doomed. You should know that East and they are only eight points apart from each other.

The next 28th round of the league on March 5 will be the match between Metz and Monaco, and the 29th round of the league on March 12, their opponent is Bordeaux. It was not until March 16 that Metz will play in the 27th round of the game against Bastia.

It is March. Leka, who was injured in the game against Paris Saint-Germain, returned from injury and could train with the team, but now there is no place for him in the first team starting lineup. Leka, who has always paid great attention to image, no longer has the leisure to study his hairstyle and appearance in the mirror for half an hour. He did not agree with Ribery's joke, and he was much silent in the team, and his eyes looked at Chu Zhongtian were a little complicated. Chu Zhongtian knew that this was because he had snatched his position, and he felt a little guilty. He wanted to apologize and explain, but Ribery grabbed him.

"This is professional football." Ribery shrugged Chu Zhongtian, "What's the explanation? If one day you missed the game for several months due to injury and found that your position was snatched, will the person who snatched your position come to apologize to you? That can only be your own bad luck. You start, but he can't, just because your strength is better than him and your luck is better than him. Remember, luck is also an indispensable part of football, Chu!"

When he heard Ribery say this, looking at Leka's frowning look, Chu Zhongtian suddenly thought of an ancient poem:

But when you see the new person laughing, how can you hear the old person crying?

This is professional football...※※※On March 5, Metz challenged a strong opponent away, and Chu Zhongtian performed stably, helping the team draw Monaco 0:0.

Chu Zhongtian still started in this game. He tackled a Brazilian full-back named Maicon in the game. Maicon was forced to be substituted after only 34 minutes of the game. He received a yellow card, which was the third yellow card he received in the Ligue 1 this season. Because of this yellow card, he will be automatically suspended for one game. Therefore, he cannot play in the next game between Metz and Bordeaux. This is a loss for Metz's battle.

Before, Chu Zhongtian didn't know that the Ligue 1 yellow cards would be automatically suspended, otherwise he would have paid great attention to his actions. Now he has to regretfully miss the game against Bordeaux. The team is now at a critical moment of relegation and still faces such a strong opponent. Because of this yellow card, Chu Zhongtian did not participate in the celebration of his teammates even if he tied Monaco away.

Ribery comforted him - this game with Bordeaux was not in their plan, and he became familiar with losing. The key is to win the mid- and downstream teams, which requires points. So it is no big deal to miss Bordeaux, just don't miss the last-minute relegation battle.

Next, in the 27th round of the league on March 16, Chu Zhongtian did not follow the team to go away, but stayed at the Fury Stadium in the Holy Mountain to participate in a reserve team game. Coach Tadio stayed to continue to observe Chu Zhongtian's performance in the game. This was the first time Chu Zhongtian participated in the reserve team in more than two months. However, Leka, who returned from injury but could not play in the first team, has been playing in the reserve team recently and remained in shape. His efforts in the reserve team in this round of the league gained opportunities - Chu Zhongtian was automatically suspended, Fernandez brought Leka to Bordeaux. In the future, even if Leka could be selected for the roster, he probably only appeared as Chu Zhongtian's substitute... Chu Zhongtian, who could not participate in the first team game, vented his anger to the reserve team's opponents. Metz's reserve team defeated Besanson 3-0 under his leadership.

One day later, Metz, who had no Chu Zhongtian, lost to Bordeaux with one goal away. His points remained 30 points, but his ranking dropped from fourteenth to fifteenth.

The relegation situation is not optimistic.
Chapter completed!