Chapter 780: Morita’s Replacement
After that meeting, time passed quickly. Too quickly, even, to Frohling’s liking. The man still failed to find the best player to replicate Morita’s role, as the three replacements he prepared had their pros and cons.
’Suat... He is the team’s top scorer, and he can also drop back to the midfield to act as a creative midfielder. His passing is as imaginative as Morita, and his ability to link up with the other players to retain possession is also strong. However...’
The man frowned as he stared at Suat Serdar intently.
’Morita’s role is not just offense, but he is also the first defensive player to move in a transition scenario. Suat doesn’t have any defensive awareness in his bones, so he will definitely hurt the team’s defense, especially when our opponent will rely on counterattack. He also hasn’t recovered from those two months break, and his movement is quite sluggish. No, I cannot use him for the game.’
Just for that reason, he crossed the man’s name without hesitation. Offense was nice, but his foundation was defense. At least, his bottom line couldn’t be crossed except if it was an emergency situation, and this was definitely not one of them.
’Then, I have... Jonas Hofmann. A destroyer in the midfield, but somehow quite composed with the ball. He will be a good partner for Omar if we want to dictate the tempo. Unfortunately, he is quite conservative, always wanting to play everything safely. It is not a bad trait, but when he has to replace Morita’s imagination, he will definitely fail for that.’
Still, the man didn’t cross Jonas Hofmann’s name immediately. No, Schalke’s second team captain was still an option even though it was not an ideal one.
’Lastly, I still have... Michael Gregoritsch. Well, this is definitely an option to be considered here.’ He smiled wryly.
Honestly, the Austrian striker was an excellent option here. He was a tall and strong striker, good at aerial duels, knew where to run and position himself, and the man also never backed down from any dirty work, willing to run and chase the ball even in the opposition half to put pressure on the opponent.
He was the striker that the former coach recruited personally, and honestly, Frohling had to admit that Gregoritsch deserved to be on the team.
The problem, though, was that the man had quite a bad history with his knee. A few months ago, that poor man somehow tore his meniscus in the training session, and he had to be sidelined for more than ten weeks. Then, once he started to recover, he sprained his ankle, adding three more weeks of visits to the medical team.
After the man was starting to feel good and get ready to play, coronavirus happened, and after they were back from the two months of break, his condition had already declined, so putting the man on the pitch wouldn’t make any sense for Frohling.
Now, though, with the team losing Morita, the head coach could see that the Austrian striker could be the key for the next game.
’He is not a midfielder, but his defensive work rate is still high. He is also good at aerial duel and link-up play to the flank, so his presence with Cali will be our twin tower on the front. We don’t need any creative midfielder with an imaginative pass, but one long ball toward them will be enough to create danger to the opposition half. He is also quite strong, so he will be able to survive the opponent’s trick. Yeah, it has to be him.’
In his mind, Frohling had already seen the team’s formation. He would change the usual 4-3-3 that he always used to a 4-4-2, pushing back the two wingers on the flanks to help maintain the order in the midfield while also using two strong strikers as the focal points to break through the opponent’s defensive area.
It would be ugly, of course, full of long balls that most would be cleared away by the opponent’s defense. However, Frohling couldn’t care less right now. He just needed one goal, and the man was sure that the team’s defense could handle everything.
With that thought in mind, Frohling didn’t hesitate anymore. Well, he didn’t have the luxury to do so, as the game itself was tomorrow. Hell, even if he told the team right now, they wouldn’t be able to adapt with this adjustment quickly.
Still, at least, he had an idea of what to expect on the pitch later, and sometimes, that could be the start that he was searching for.
After that, the day flew by, and before anyone knew it, they were already at Veltins Arena, getting ready for the game. Higo was there as well, and when he heard about Frohling’s adjustment, he could feel the corner of his lips twitching a little.
’Well, he sure likes to gamble too much here. Still, that means our probability to win a second ball will be decreased, so I have to get ready for any long shoot from outside of the box. Man, this is going to be a headache...’
Michael Gregoritsch himself was so excited right now. While he had already expected that his chance would come, when it was already in front of him, the man couldn’t help but bounce all around the locker room with great enthusiasm.
"Save your energy, Greg. You will have a chance to wreak havoc later." Omar reminded the man.
"Yeah, sure, sure. I know it." The striker waved off the concern nonchalantly. "Anyway, just send the ball to me, and I will make sure that the job is done!" He patted his chest boisterously.
"Hey, don’t forget about me!" Caligliuri chimed in. "I am in a hot streak with five goals in two games! If you need a goal, don’t forget to find me, okay?!"
Seeing this, Higo couldn’t help but snort, finding their interaction to be ridiculous.
’Oh, well, at least they are in a good spirit right now. Let’s just hope that they could steal a goal or two like the game against Augsburg, or the game will be way more difficult than necessary...’