Chapter 40: It's Time to Lose
He won five consecutive victories, continued to rank first in the standings, leading the Bundesliga. All of this made Hoffenheim attract everyone's attention again, and even the attention from other countries in the world.
Hoffenheim players have already met reporters speaking French and English outside the training ground.
Continuous victory and ranking first in three consecutive rounds has also made Hoffenheim's players famous stars in Germany. Many of them were nothing when they joined Hoffenheim, but now they are not only familiar with fans, but also by scouts and head coaches of Bundesliga teams.
At the door of Hoffenheim's liaison officer's office, there was already a long queue. Journalists from all over the world squeezed into this small village, wanting to find out why this small team can top the Bundesliga for three consecutive rounds? What is the secret to Hoffenheim's success?
Rangnick had to devote a lot of energy to deal with those overly enthusiastic reporters, and even the investor Mr. Hope, who has been hiding behind the team, frequently appeared in front of the camera.
Rangnick felt that the atmosphere was not right.
Everyone seems to be keen on discussing what will happen after May next year.
In order to cool down everyone, he specifically said in an interview with reporters: "I don't think about the matter in May now, I just want to play the next game."
His idea was pretty good, but unfortunately, no one noticed Rangnick's painstaking efforts amid the praise.
Even Chu Zhongtian was immersed in such great success. Why did he perform like this? Because the pressure he had been under was too great... When he announced his joining Hoffenheim, almost the whole world was questioning whether he had a brain. No one believed that his choice was correct, and everyone felt that he would fall into depravity. It was a typical example of abandoning his future for money.
He was silent amid the debate. He knew that no matter how much he said, no one would believe it. The power of language was far less than action. He would rather do it for them than waste his words and explain it.
Now Hoffenheim has become the biggest dark horse in the Bundesliga in the new season, winning five consecutive victories, scoring the Bundesliga the most, shooting the Bundesliga the most, creating the most scoring opportunities in the Bundesliga, putting pressure on the opponent the strongest, the player is infringed, the Bundesliga the highest, turning the chance into the highest goal ratio in the Bundesliga, winning the Bundesliga the most, the average age is the lowest in the Bundesliga, and the ranking is also the highest in the Bundesliga... These numbers illustrate the achievements the team has achieved in the eleven rounds of the Bundesliga.
At this time, Chu Zhongtian just wanted to enjoy his own success. This was a kind of venting mentality after being suppressed for a long time. He was not willing to think about anything except enjoying victory.
※※※Hoffenheim won five consecutive victories, and the fast, aggressive football they played was loved by more and more people. Although there were still some slogans that insulted them and their boss appeared in the away stands, the Carl Mercedes-Benz Stadium, which can accommodate more than 26,000 people, is now full of home games. In addition to the place left for the away team, basically every home game, there are 22,000 fans coming to cheer for Hoffenheim.
Hoffenheim's "village" has only 3,300 natives, but Hoffenheim's beautiful football has attracted fans from other places around Mannheim, Sinsheim and other places to watch their game.
There are more and more fans watching their training. In addition to the local situation in Hoffenheim, there are many people driving cars from their cities to watch Hoffenheim training.
Chu Zhongtian met an elderly couple living in Stuttgart. They drove to Hoffenheim specifically to find Chu Zhongtian to sign and take a photo.
As the team performed well, Chu Zhongtian also received the likes of many German fans. Unlike when he was at Metz, Chu Zhongtian had to rely on his patience to the fans to win the likes of some fans. But here, he is still patient, but the fans like him because he plays well.
In the 11th round of the league, Hoffenheim's performance is inseparable from their strong midfield and frontcourt. In the midfield, Chu Zhongtian's role is very obvious. There is a statistics that can illustrate this problem: in terms of the number of times he created excellent goal opportunities, Hoffenheim played in the 11th round of the league and created forty-eight times. This number is currently ranked first in the Bundesliga.
Most of these opportunities were created by the midfield, among which Chu Zhongtian, as the core of the team's attack organization, made an indelible contribution.
Many German media commented on the football played by Chu Zhongtian that was refreshing - "When he got the ball, you always look forward to what he would do next. I never worry that he would lose the ball, it is a rare sense of peace of mind."
"... His speed of adapting to the team is amazing. Now he is Hoffenheim's brain. Hoffenheim's 69% of his goals come from his feet. Sometimes he organizes and plans, sometimes he directly assists, and sometimes he comes up and shoots in person!"
Thanks to his outstanding performance recently, Chu Zhongtian received a long-lost commercial sponsorship contract - Hoffenheim's blue whirlwind not only blew in Germany, but also in China. After some Chinese companies reevaluated Chu Zhongtian's commercial value, they believed that it was a good time to ask Chu Zhongtian to endorse it now.
So after Xu Xiaodi's lead, Chu Zhongtian reached a cooperation agreement with a domestic casual clothing brand, and the two parties signed a two-year endorsement contract. Chu Zhongtian will receive a five million yuan annual endorsement fee in these two years. His task is to promote the brand globally. In most occasions, he must wear this brand of clothes to appear in front of the public and media cameras.
This is Chu Zhongtian's first commercial endorsement contract after joining Hoffenheim. It is of great significance and does not lie in the money itself. This shows that those merchants have regained confidence in Chu Zhongtian. Chu Zhongtian's agent team can use this result to say to other companies that are still hesitating: "If you don't take action, Chu Zhongtian will be snatched away by your competitors!"
Emily was also happy for Chu Zhongtian because the contract proved that Chu Zhongtian's commercial value was not greatly affected. She took the good news to her mother, but Miranda curled her lips a little disdainfully: "It's just a Chinese company. Our goal is in the whole world!"
Emily defended: "This is finally a good start, isn't it, mom?"
Miranda glared at him: "Just help her!"
Emily stuck out her tongue.
※※The German League has entered November, and all the selections in October have also been released. "Kickers" magazine revealed the results of the Bundesliga Best Player in October. In the history of this selection, three candidates came from the same club for the first time: Ibiseyvic, Obasi and Demba. Ba were selected at the same time. In the end, Ibiseyvic was elected with a vote of 63.82% with consecutive goals, which also gave Hoffenheim Club the first Bundesliga player of the month in history. In the first two months after the start of this season, Bielefeld striker Arrtur wichniarek and Bremen midfielder Ozil won respectively.
The selection was selected by fans calling and online voting, as well as captains of the Bundesliga and Bundesliga teams. Ibissevic's election was no surprise. He scored six goals and assisted three times in the five league rounds from October 4 to November 1, increasing his goals in the first eleven rounds to thirteen, five more goals than Leverkusen strikers Helmes (patrick_helmes) and Vichniarek behind him. In history, the scorers in the Bundesliga have had three more goals in the first eleven rounds, namely Geed Muller's 15 goals in the 1968-69 season and fourteen goals in the 1976-77 season, and Hertha scorer Erich Bill's 14 goals in the 1975-76 season.
Hoffenheim insisted on the three forward tactics in October, and Ibissevic's two partners Obasi and Demba Ba got 23.48% and 12.7% respectively. The two men's scored five goals and two assists and four assists in the past five rounds. Obasi comes from Nigeria, Demba Basi comes from Senegal, French. As a player who has attended college in the United States and has made great progress in the Ligue 1, he naturally became the big brother Dahe Translator of the forward trident. Although Obasi and Demba Basi, Eduardo and others were all taking German classes, but they were not as linguistic geniuses as Chu Zhongtian, so they still needed someone to translate... Chu Zhongtian did not make the shortlist for the best player, but he was really helpless - his best performance happened to be in the late September and early October, when he scored goals in three consecutive league games, against Dortmund, against Werder Bremen, and against Frankfurt, he almost dominated the game. But neither side was in the way. He was almost the best selection in September, and he was still a little worse in the best selection in October.
Although Hoffenheim won all four games in October, scoring thirteen goals and conceding four goals, Chu Zhongtian made great contributions, but who asked everyone to pay more attention to the players who scored the goal? Unless Chu Zhongtian can pass the ball and shoot himself, he will only be the best this month.
Ibisevic obviously understands the importance of Chu Zhongtian. He is a little dissatisfied with everyone's attention to their strikers, but he is a little dissatisfied with the midfielders' approach of not paying attention to the midfielders. So after winning the October Player, he said in an interview with reporters: "I dedicate this award to my midfield teammates. It is their chance to constantly create scoring opportunities so that I can score thirteen goals. There is only one best player. If I want to choose, I will vote for Chu. He is the real best!"
Ibisevic knew very well that Chu Zhongtian voted for him in the best selection, so he wanted to thank Chu Zhongtian specifically for pointing out his name.
As the captain of Hoffenheim, Chu Zhongtian had the right to vote in the selection. At that time, he chose to vote for his old teammate Ibissevic when he was in Metz. This was not considered personal love. Ibissevic's election was well deserved, and no one in the team raised questions or expressed dissatisfaction. Obasi and Demba Ba both admired Ibissevic and were arrogant. Although they were both candidates, they had no complaints and immediately expressed their congratulations after Ibissevic was elected.
※※This period is all good news for Hoffenheim. All candidates for the selection of the best player in October come from their team, occupying the top spot in the Bundesliga standings for three consecutive rounds. Many media flocked to it, and there was a lot of praise... Hoffenheim's players also thought they would definitely win the league championship at the end of the season. Bayern didn't take it seriously.
In this case, the team's main left-back Ibertzberger tear his muscle fibers during training. It is not known how long it will take to rest. However, the team doctor said that at least the next round of the league will not be able to go to.
Since the beginning of the league, Ibertberger has always been the team's main left back. His absence has a great impact on the team's defense line.
Rangnick did not have a good replacement, so he decided to use offense instead of defense. In the next round of the game against Hertha Berlin, he still asked the team to keep attacking and put pressure on the opponent. Especially on Ibertsberger, Rangnick did not ask Salihovic to assist in defense as usual. On the contrary, he asked Salihovic to continue attacking. He even asked the team to use the left side as the main offensive direction in the game to suppress Hertha Berlin's attack here, thereby providing guarantee for his team's left side defense.
Apart from that, Rangnick made no adjustments.
Now Hoffenheim is a bit of a target of public criticism. All opponents are studying them and want to find a way to curb their crazy offensive. In fact, there is not no way, but not everyone can do it easily.
Although Hoffenheim's offense is crazy, their defense has hidden dangers. Although Chu Zhongtian is a well-defended midfielder, he still has to take into account both offense and cannot devote all his energy to defense, not to mention that defense is not his own business. At the same time, Hoffenheim has been insisting on the single midfielder tactic so far. No matter how powerful Chu Zhongtian is, he will always lose sight of one thing. Unlike when he was playing at Metz, there was a Proman beside him to provide protection for him. In Hoffenheim, because there are too many attacking players, Gustavo, who is also a well-defensive midfielder, can get no chance to play... As long as there is a team that can be more crazy than Hoffenheim's offense and can put huge pressure on their defense line, then they can see the scene of the opening of Hoffenheim's city gate.
The method is simple, right? But it is even more crazy than Hoffenheim's offense? That's not common... Hertha Berlin obviously knows this method and works hard to achieve it in the game.
At the beginning of the game, both sides entered a very fierce battle. If they were unable to attack, they would be more crazy than Hoffenheim, at least they would be more crazy in physical confrontation and battle.
Ten minutes into the game, Hertha Berlin received two yellow cards, one of which was taken by Hertha Berlin's players for a foul on Chu Zhongtian.
Chu Zhongtian is now Hoffenheim's offense and defense core. Everyone knows that Chu Zhongtian needs to defend very closely. Most teams will arrange a player to follow Chu Zhongtian in an endless manner. Chu Zhongtian has become accustomed to such treatment.
Usually, except for one player who keeps following him, someone keeps invading him. That person may be the one who keeps following him, or the other player of the other party, taking turns to share the pressure of winning cards.
In the eleventh round of the league, Hoffenheim was violated by his opponents 235 times, while Chu Zhongtian was violated personally by his opponents as many as 87 times, accounting for one-third of the team. The more he was violated, the more he proved the importance of this player. Before the media could characterize Chu Zhongtian, Chu Zhongtian's opponents had regarded him as the "most threatening player."
Fortunately, Chu Zhongtian was strong and had excellent physical fitness, otherwise he would have been shoveled onto a stretcher by these opponents.
Despite being fiercely pressed by his opponent, Chu Zhongtian still instigated a threatening offensive for the team in the ninth minute. He sent a straight pass, and Ibissevic successfully counterattacked. Hertha Berlin's goalkeeper Drobni attacked in time and resolved the crisis in front of Ibissevic.
After that, Hertha Berlin strengthened her defense against Chu Zhongtian. Chu Zhongtian retreated and became a front midfielder, handing over the task of passing the ball to Salihovic and Eduardo in front, who was mainly responsible for controlling the team's rhythm.
This set worked very well. Hoffenheim was attacking the entire first half, posing a huge threat to Hertha Berlin's goal.
Everyone thought that if this continues, Hoffenheim won another victory, it should be no problem. They will win six consecutive victories and continue to dominate the top spot in the standings.
Hoffenheim's offensive in the second half remained unabated, but their city gate was broken by Ukrainian striker andriy_voronin in Hertha Berlin in the 70th minute.
The lagging Hoffenheim launched a crazy counterattack. Hertha Berlin began to defend and counterattack. In this game, Hoffenheim showed their immature side. The lack of changing rhythm made the opponent more likely to defend. Chu Zhongtian also tried to shoot from a long time, but his shooting status was really not very good today. Not only did he not score, he did not pose any threat to Hertha Berlin's goal.
Hoffenheim kept pressing the attack and wanted to equalize the score, but the result was that Hertha Berlin seized the opportunity to score another goal, rewriting the score to 2:0.
Although Hoffenheim used a direct set piece to regain a goal with Eduardo's goal in the last moment of the game, it was just a save face and had no impact on the battle situation.
Hoffenheim finally lost in Berlin, and their dream of winning six consecutive games was terminated.
Not only that, but it is even worse, because this is the last game of this round of Bundesliga. On the previous day, Hamburg had defeated Dortmund 2-1 at home, so Hoffenheim lost them and maintained their first throne in the league in three rounds... Hoffenheim's defeat made some people breathe a sigh of relief - they don't want to see a nouveau riche team really become a strong contender for the championship. They are willing to appreciate Hoffenheim's beautiful style of playing, but hope that the championship will still belong to those strong players of the giants.
Hoffenheim just needs to be a disruptor.
They won't be the protagonist, but they must be the most popular villain.
Chapter completed!