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93.33% The Iron Wall / Chapter 28: 28

Chapter 28: 28

However, Jos, the left-back, was instantly on him, forcing him to head towards the corner flag instead of the box. To make the situation worse, Hadouir, one of Willem II's midfielders, also rushed towards the wing to support his teammate. The two players surrounded De Ridder and forced him to lose possession soon after. The only attack of Ajax in the game, so far, had resulted in nothing.

For the next few minutes, the game situation remained the same. Willem II's team surprisingly dominated play and possession, forcing the Ajax player to stay put in their half.

Fortunately, the Ajax's defenders were alert and managed to swat most of Willem II's attempts at goal. They worked hand-in-hand to set up plenty of offside traps for their two forwards. Romano had already been offside three times by the twentieth minutes of the game. The game remained in a stalemate.

However, Koeman who was following the evolution of the game on the sideline, soon realized a problem. The Willem II defense and midfield always swatted their few counter-attacks with ease.

They have a basic defensive shape, denying the Ajax team midfielders any possession or penetration through the center. The Willem II players were compact vertically and horizontally the few times when Van Der Vaart was on the ball.

When he would receive a pass in the midfield, Romano or Quinn, the wingers of Willem II, would pinch into the half-spaces. They would close off his horizontal passing routes on either side of the pitch.

The central midfielders would—then collapse and form a narrow triangle in the middle of the field, blocking any spaces that he would have utilized to make runs through the middle.

It seemed like their strategy was to mark the spaces around him instead of man-marking him. They knew that he was good. They could only limit his impact on the game with their perfect team play.

And just how that the game ended with neither team scoring a goal. Despite the various changes both teams made, there wasn't much the players could do.

There were only 3 games left and the Ajax team did not give a gift. They won and finished first in the League by winning the title.

There was a lot of celebration. But a subject still remained to be dealt with since Ravier had not signed a new contract and Monaco made a good offer to the club which they have difficulty in rejecting, in addition there are also a lot of players who have decided to leave.

A few days later, the club appealed to Ravier and informed him of his transfer to Monaco. They finally accepted an offer of 20 million euros for his transfer. As Stanley was in contact with Monaco managers, the transfer went smoothly.

Ajax is a club that does not keep their players for long. Especially those who are young and talented. Most of them want to go to the front of the European scene and get noticed by big clubs. So Ravier's departure hasn't affected the team too much. The leaders, despite all his fine performances, still think he is young and lacks experience. They would prefer to keep him as a replacement. Were it not the main goalkeeper's injury, he might not have played as many matches. He was very proud of his success. His past at Ajax, even briefly, was pretty good. He still helped the team win a trophy. But Ravier knew it was just a good start and he still had a lot to learn.So it's without worries that Ravier decided to start his new adventure.

********************************

Europe's major leagues have come to an end, and players are also getting a rare furlough. But that doesn't include those without a contract.

Vacations are for players who already have contracts. As for the other players who did not want to lose their jobs and leave the stadium, they should take advantage of these holidays to go to different clubs to be discovered.

In football, talent and strength is always respected. And those without these qualities will be eliminated. So when Ravier followed Catalano to the Monaco training base, while Stanley finished The Final Arrangements. We had a hasty start because the coach wanted to see Ravier in action very quickly. After a few days of rest in a hotel where they went down. Ravier therefore went to the club's training ground. The ground was not deserted, and one could even say that it was quite lively.

Claudio Ranieri, the Italian coach who just took over this season, stands from the sidelines to observe the players on the training ground.

The situation in Monaco is a bit embarrassing, the players that Ranieri liked didn't want to come, and those who were ready to come, he doesn't like them.

Most of the players on Monaco's training ground are over 25 years old.

These players are bound to have no room for improvement, but that's what Monaco needs most now. After introducing a lot of young players, Monaco needs some veterans.

The arrival of Ravier and Catalano didn't attract the attention of others, because at the moment there is a confrontation on the pitch and almost everyone had their eyes on the pitch.

During this period, Catalano also secretly observed Ravier standing next to him.

Ravier looked at the game very calmly. You could tell he has some experience, and can spot player mistakes.

At this moment a young man and a venerable guarded their respective goals. After observing them for a while, Ravier realized that they were playing me quite well. The veterand was stable but he followed with difficulty, his movements and his reaction time were very slow. While the other was Tait quite the opposite but sometimes his decisions were bad and he was very unstable.

"Little guy, what do you think of the performance of the two goalkeepers on the pitch?"

Asked Catalano at the end of the match.

"Very well" replied Ravier.

"But I think you can do better than them on the pitch"

"Otherwise you wouldn't have made me an offer"

"You're absolutely right."

"Ravier you have to remember that as a goalkeeper you must never lose your self-confidence."

Said Catalano very seriously.

For goalkeepers, confidence is very important, because there is no goalkeeper who will not lose the ball, and each loss of the goal is a blow for the goalkeeper, a test of confidence and a test psychological.

"I firmly believe that I can be an excellent goalkeeper"

Catalano has a special status in Monaco: he is not only Monaco's longest-serving scout to date, but has brought together outstanding players one after another.

Thus, once the match is over, the front coaches call on the players they have decided to keep.

Ranieri turned and walked towards Catalano, and naturally he saw Ravier standing beside him.

"Bruno This is Ravier, the position is the goalkeeper, I brought him from Ajax"

Bruno Ayres, head coach of the Monaco reserve team.

Originally, main goalkeeper Rufell fled after the team was relegated. In the just-ended season, Chabet performed poorly and Monaco brought in Subasić from Croatia in the winter.

After the end of the season, Chabet, who lost his main job, chose to leave, and Cazzola, who was on loan from Rennes, also chose to leave, so there are currently only two goalkeepers at Monaco.

And these two guardians cannot be used. Subasić and the young substitute goalkeeper Sulzak who could not satisfy Ranieri.

In this case, Ranieri can only focus on the future and has bought a lot of young players, among them the talented Argentine winger Lucas Ocampos.

Monaco have invested nearly €20m in the transfer market so far this summer, of which the Argentine genius accounts for more than half.

This South American genius has the reputation of "Argentinian Ronaldo". His breakthrough in the wing is quite clear. He himself considers Ronaldo an idol, not Messi who rivals Ronaldo.

Along with introducing some young players, Ranieri plans to sign a few more players from the open market.

Although Ranieri didn't have a decent champion, his reputation in world football is very good.


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