But next, all of the Italian Third Division knew what awaited San Remo.
...
In the hospital, Lu Yang sat in front of Morici’s hospital bed.
He still had to undergo an operation.
Because the hospital examination result showed that the strain was relatively severe, reaching the level of a serious tear.
Although there was also a conservative treatment plan, after careful consideration, and especially with Lu Yang’s insistence, Morici still opted for surgical treatment to ensure the problem is fully resolved without leaving any future troubles.
Countless football stars have been destroyed by injuries.
And a significant number have suffered from repeated injuries.
This has a lot to do with returning to the field before a previous injury has fully healed.
Although Morici isn’t injury-prone, even a "Little Ironman" can’t handle this. Hazard was an Ironman at Chelsea, but after going to Real Madrid, he became fragile.
Morici isn’t even eighteen years old yet.
"It’s over, our season is over, even if I recover well, I’ll probably only return near the end of the league." Morici was extremely distressed, his eyes moist, "Lu Yang, I’m sorry! I’ve shattered the team’s dream of promotion and turned our ambitions for the Italian Cup this season into mere fantasy."
"I am the team’s biggest sinner!"
Seeing Morici in despair, Lu Yang’s lips curved slightly upwards: "Come on, bro, didn’t the four winless games at the start of the season make you realize who the one true god of San Remo is?"
Morici looked puzzled.
"It’s me, understand?" Lu Yang patted Morici’s shoulder, "As long as I’m here, San Remo will never stop moving forward. Your only concern should be whether there will be a spot for you on the team when you come back. After all... there can only be one midfield core!"
Morici was utterly shocked.
I treated you like a brother, and you actually want to take my place?
Lu Yang replied with his eyes, what do you mean by taking your place? It was always mine, you were just a little brother, got it!
"You’d better be able to do it, or I’ll consider an early comeback," Morici threatened Lu Yang fiercely.
Outside the ward, listening to the two of them, Sotu shrugged at Tom: "Did you see that? This is our only way. No matter how tough the matches are, as long as we hold on until Morici returns, we still have a chance to compete for everything this season."
Tom looked worried: "You trust Lu Yang that much? Of course, I don’t doubt Lu Yang’s ability, it’s just... we all know Lu Yang is a talented player, not a commanding leader. He can play the role of a little brain, occasionally initiate attacks, but it’s hard for him to replace the big brain."
"I’m not saying his ability isn’t enough, in fact, his vision and sense of position are stronger than many leaders of other teams."
"But... the playing style of a big brain and a little brain is completely different. The little brain can focus solely on that dazzling moment, only emphasizing threatening attacks, but the big brain has to manage the whole team’s flow, which is a very tedious job."
"Lu Yang is a player capable of ’embroidery,’ but he’s not someone who can embroider throughout the entire match. If we make him the midfield core, we... our attack might struggle to unfold."
Tom was very familiar with the characteristics of the team’s players.
Latu Yidi, a defensive midfielder, and after immersing in defense for many years, his already poor attacking ability has decayed to nearly nonexistent.
Versachi, an all-purpose midfielder, his strength lies in decent stamina, willingness to run, and solid basic skills. His flaw naturally is a lack of core awareness, liking to make safe passes, backward passes, and having poor organizational ability.
Lu Yang, with good vision and adequate ability for threatening passes, but lacking routine passing ability, and without the mindset to organize play, while his small ball-handling skills are decent for a defender, they aren’t outstanding for a midfielder.
Just as Lu Yang is irreplaceable, Morici is also someone no one in San Remo can replace.
"Let him try, even if it doesn’t work, we’ll have to push through." Sotu said, "Besides... I actually have a bold idea for using Lu Yang, but... such a play would cause a crisis towards the end of the season, so... let’s let him try the midfield core role first, and see how it goes."
...
The next day, during training, Lu Yang was freed from his left-back position.
He was moved to the central midfield defensive position, Morici’s position, but just slightly back.
The reason for this arrangement was that Lu Yang’s dribbling control ability was much weaker than Morici’s, so to avoid easily losing possession, his position had to be moved back somewhat.
At the same time, Lu Yang’s strong defensive sweeping ability allowed him to become the last barrier in the team’s defense.
He would maximize his responsibilities in both attack and defense for the team.
This was a brand new challenge.
During training, Lu Yang’s adaptation was not very smooth.
The main issue was... the defensive pressure faced by a midfield core is completely different from that faced by ordinary players.
Lu Yang had played as a defensive midfielder before, and had faced double-teams and multiple defenders.
But the intensity is completely different as a midfield core.
Moreover, during that time, whenever Lu Yang encountered issues, he could simply pass to Morici.
Morici always managed to run to the right spot, providing a safe passing route for anyone in trouble. This was considered before Morici passed the ball to the opposition.
An excellent midfield core would not pass the ball to teammates heavily guarded, without an escape route.
At the same time, an excellent midfield core needs to be available to support teammates when heavily marked, extract the ball under the opponent’s heavy defense, and then pass it to a safe teammate.
This is a highly challenging process.
Lu Yang couldn’t achieve this yet.
For one, his awareness still needed training, and secondly, his passing and possession skills still needed significant improvement.
Finally, through several training matches, Lu Yang also realized that fundamentally he was not suited to be a midfield core.
In his blood flowed the genes of an adventurer.
Whether attacking or defending, he was the initiator.
Taking the initiative to attack, pursuing the thrill of success.
As an attacker, one has the right to squander multiple opportunities.
With decent speed and burst, Lu Yang also possessed the capital to gamble in defense, losing just meant recovery chasing.
Even as a center-back, he was often the one to challenge, with more stable center-backs covering behind.
But the midfield core is different.
Particularly a rear-positioned core, losing the ball is a fatal error for the team, welcoming the opponent’s fierce attack.
A few more times, and teammates would no longer give you the ball, leading to core marginalization, causing the whole team to struggle in playing.
Of course, high-level teams can still operate normally without a core, in such teams, Lu Yang could play a role.
But clearly, San Remo was not that.
Lu Yang lacked a Morici.
This was his biggest realization after Morici was injured.
...
In the 10th round of the league, San Remo VS Renat.
This was the Renat that planned to purchase Vedian during last season’s winter window.
They wanted to suppress the price at the time, so they held their ground during the window, but then Vedian shone and was eventually taken by a Serie B team.
Before this match, Bai Zhami bought the lucky sunglasses recommended by Lu Yang.
Thanks to these sunglasses,
In the final ten minutes of the match, Lu Yang got double-teamed and dispossessed in the backfield, and San Remo faced another loss of possession crisis.
Fortunately, Lu Yang tenaciously counter-pressed and succeeded.
Subsequently, as the opponent was not yet stable, Lu Yang executed a sweeping low pass upfield.
The ball’s fast speed caught the opponent’s defense off guard.
Bai Zhami received the ball, and with no one in front, he quickly advanced, sprinting like the wind, finally winning the duel with the goalkeeper, scoring a hard-earned single-goal.
One-nil, San Remo narrowly defeated Renat.
However, the best player of this match wasn’t Bai Zhami, who scored the winning goal.
His performance in this match wasn’t particularly outstanding.
Nor was it Lu Yang, who provided the decisive pass as the team’s core.
He lost a lot of possession in this match, causing the team many issues, and didn’t successfully organize the midfield, being close to invisible.
The match MVP was the goalkeeper Jalard, who made several miraculous saves, otherwise, the team would have conceded, and not just one goal.
It can be said that although San Remo took home the three points from this match, on the field, they lost miserably.
Everyone was very certain that losing was only a matter of time for such a San Remo.