Dad was a Genius - Chapter 104



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My Dad Was a Genius Episode 104

[Who can stop this team? Six consecutive wins. Six consecutive wins already! Wolves are running without stopping in sole possession of first place!]

Even during the first four wins of the season, EPL teams didn’t really pay attention to Wolves.

It happens often that a weak team sometimes causes an upset and goes on a winning streak.

Moreover, there was no need to be even more alarmed if the match between the weak teams was a win-win.

But Manchester United at Old Trafford collapsed.

Swansea City followed this up with a helpless home defeat, ending Wolves’ six-game winning streak.

6 consecutive wins.

The weight is different.

If they can win three more games here, they will equal Chelsea’s record of nine consecutive wins.

If they can add just one more win there, they will become the team that has achieved an unprecedented 10 consecutive wins.

“Of course, such a catastrophe should not occur.”

Everton.

If you were to pick the star player of last season’s storm, people would pick Everton without hesitation.

This is because Everton, who had always been in the relegation zone or at best in the middle of the table, finished in 5th place last season.

With this, Everton have qualified for the European Championship for the first time in five years.

If they had beaten Arsenal in the last game, they would have qualified for the Champions League for the first time in 10 years.

Everton used to be one of the strongest teams, but over time they have regressed to a mid-table team, and over time they have become a weak team that gives away points for free.

But that doesn’t mean they were a team to be ignored.

As a team with such potential, they are famous for stopping Chelsea, who were on a 9 game winning streak at the time, and preventing them from winning 10 games in a row.

With such repeated development, Everton entered the 14-15 season with high expectations from fans after a brilliant 13-14 season.

“2 wins, 2 draws, 2 losses… … . It’s not like I did this on purpose.”

Their performance was strange since the pre-season, and it was the same as before when they entered the regular season.

This left fans who remembered Everton from last season in a state of confusion.

That’s why they were making such a fuss that Everton were really going back to the days when they were the powerhouse they used to be.

“How can the performance drop to this level?”

The team was pretty much the same.

Just one person.

The absence of Seamus Coleman, who was rated as one of the best right-backs last season, was a big factor.

Furthermore, left back Baines, who was evaluated as a good combination with Coleman to the point of being called the “Blue Dragon and White Tiger”, was out due to injury, which effectively created a hole in the defense.

Coleman was originally known for his aggressive runs on the right flank with right wing Kevin Mirallas.

But when Coleman was out, Kevin broke down, and when Kevin, the attacker, broke down, the other attackers couldn’t create any significant opportunities.

And the biggest problem was this guy.

“Lukaku. I shouldn’t have bought this guy… …!”

Last season, we loaned Lukaku, who was playing for Chelsea, and used him very effectively.

Everton, who needed a striker at the time, spent a considerable amount of money to acquire Lukaku from Chelsea, who had provided good explosives.

But this guy has been showing performances that are almost like a horror show this season.

“But you scored goals in the previous two games and your performance is slowly returning.”

“You should have done it a long time ago! And it wasn’t like he scored two goals in a row because he was good. His teammates forced his mouth open and put it in for him.”

I couldn’t understand why a guy who had been doing well last season was suddenly acting like that this season.

Is it just a matter of player form?

Or is it a question of tactics?

But tactically, Martinez was confident there would be absolutely no problems.

That means,

“He’s the problem, he is.”

He let out a short sigh.

Everton’s goal this season is the Champions League.

With a record of 5th place last season, it is only natural that the board’s eyes are high.

But if it starts off like this, it’s a problem.

That is why key striker Lukaku’s form needs to improve.

“What’s worse, the next opponent is… … .”

Wolves are on a six-game winning streak.

But Everton have a nickname.

Streak killer.

So far, Everton have been unusual in that they have suddenly come to their senses and done well whenever they face a team that has won three or more games in a row.

Didn’t Chelsea fail to win 10 games in a row against Everton?

That’s why other strong teams were reluctant to meet Everton when they were on a winning streak.

Soccer is truly amazing.

Obviously, the stronger team should be ahead in terms of power, but if there are jinxes like these, the game will inevitably go according to those jinxes.

“This may be an opportunity for us.”

Martinez smiled slyly.

It is time to revive the reputation of Everton as the serial killer.

* * *

Romelu Lukaku.

He is a player who later becomes the subject of many rumors.

Although he is a Chelsea player, he started to show his talents at Everton and has the title of another striker developed by Everton following Rooney.

He was a standout for Everton last season, and although he has been a bit slow this season, he will soon show his outstanding talent and move to Serie A, where he will eventually win the title.

Then Chelsea bought him again for a huge sum of money… … .

‘I’m not happy at Chelsea.’

He starts to show behavior that is close to a hit and run while saying the famous saying, “I’ll eat it.”

He was a player who had a bit of a mischievous side.

But the talent he possessed was clear.

But the reason for the current slump is not because Lukaku is out of form.

Because coach Martinez is using him wrong.

“Lukaku’s strength is his quick attack. Despite his height and size, he is able to rush forward very quickly during counterattacks and use his physical strength to drive away defenders. In other words, he can only display his talent if he has the ability to rush forward like a bulldozer.”

But the disadvantages were as clear as the advantages.

“Although he is very fast when he attacks quickly, he is very vulnerable when he is in a slow attack situation. Even though he has such good physical strength, he doesn’t know how to use it at all.”

If you know your opponent’s strengths and weaknesses well, it is easier to stop them.

Didn’t they say that if you persevere, you will win every battle?

“Furthermore, Everton are not using Lukaku properly. If they could create a quick attack and maximize Lukaku’s strengths, they would have done much better than they did now. That was the case last season.”

However, manager Martinez adopted a slow build-up tactic after losing his speedy full-back and right winger.

That’s what caused Lukaku to fall into a slump.

Of course, coach Martinez is a tactically gifted player, so he will definitely find problems. It’s just not right now.

“Our key is to block Lukaku, who is at the top. As I said before, we don’t need to be too concerned about him unless there is a quick attack. Therefore, we should not give the opponent a quick attack as much as possible. To do that, we need to tighten the pressure at the front.”

It’s about putting pressure on the opponent so that they can’t even breathe and get beaten up in their own territory, preventing them from launching a counterattack.

That was the tactic we had to deploy in this match against Everton.

If you look at it this far, it looks incredibly easy… … .

There was a problem.

Everton has a peculiar jinx where they go crazy whenever they see a team that is on a winning streak.

Everton achieved the famous 9-game winning streak by stopping Chelsea, Manchester United, Arsenal, Liverpool, etc.

These teams have had successive winning streaks only to be stopped by Everton on occasion.

You can tell just by looking at the faces of the players gathered here today.

They seemed more wary of the Everton match than the Manchester United match.

Jinxes have a greater impact on sports than you might think.

Even Manchester City, who would later conquer the world, suffered from a terrible jinx of not scoring or winning a single goal at Tottenham’s home ground since 2018, for over 1,750 days before finally winning.

To that extent, the jinx was a peculiar phenomenon.

There are many jinxes in football, and our Wolves have already experienced something similar in the second division.

I am not wary of jinxes.

All you have to do is win easily.

“We can overcome it. More than half of the players here have never experienced the second division, so I don’t know, but our Wolves are particularly strong against jinxes. So if we just follow my tactics this time, we will overcome the jinx without any problems.”

I believed that our team would overcome this jinx this time too.

But… …I soon realized that jinxes were more vicious than I thought.

* * *

“ah-.”

Everton manager Martinez was made painfully aware of the difference in quality when facing Wolves.

I’m not just talking about player differences.

The depth and level of tactics are different.

“The pressure is so suffocating.”

I wanted to slowly build up from the back and play the game out.

But the other party doesn’t tolerate it.

The attacks were all coming up and applying strong pressure, so there was no way to get out of the defensive zone.

There are times when we apply pressure from the front, but this was the first time we had applied pressure of this intensity.

Everton were being squeezed by a very well-organized player composition and tactics that seemed to prevent them from even building up.

‘I didn’t know it when I just watched it on video, but when I actually experienced it, I realized it was an incredibly scary tactic.’

Now I know why Wolves won six games in a row and why Man Utd collapsed helplessly at Old Trafford.

Wolves were the ones who blocked you from doing something even if you wanted to.

In particular, even with Lukaku’s physical strength at the forefront, central defensive midfielder Joao Palinha and center back Van Dijk were thoroughly blocking him.

Even Van Dijk was just crazy enough to physically overpower Lukaku.

As a result, the attack was blocked, and with strong pressure coming from the defensive zone, the Everton defenders, who were weak at decompressing, kept making mistakes, which soon led to Wolves’ shooting opportunities.

[Ah!! Another mistake from the defense, and Salah takes a shot, but it hits the goal post! What a pity!]

Already the second goal.

My heart sank.

But it was also funny that Wolves couldn’t put this in.

‘Is this the power of jinx?’

Strangely, Everton’s form is at its peak whenever they face a team that has won three or more games in a row.

And the opponents can’t even score the goals they could have.

If you just watch the game, Everton players might look like they’re not in great form, but that’s just because there are so many tactical differences.

The players’ condition wasn’t bad today.

‘If we can somehow break through Wolves’ tactics… … .’

Everton will also have their chance.

Boohoo-!

But there just seemed to be no way.

As the defense kept losing possession while building up from the back, they stopped making short passes and just kicked the ball away.

Also known as fake soccer.

It was the thing that coach Martinez hated the most.

But what can I do?

There is no way to escape this pressure… … .

“uh?”

It was just then.

[Ah! The defender’s foot is hit wrong and the ball rolls backwards!!]

[Lukaku catches the ball and runs! He’s so fast! Lukaku!!]

An Everton player kicked the ball away, but a Wolves defender accidentally kicked the ball back. Lukaku didn’t miss that chance.

Lukaku is a tank that starts running and runs at a frightening pace, even tearing away the defenders in front of him with his body.

He quickly shook off the defenders who were chasing him, then fired a shot into the net before the goalkeeper could get close enough.

[Gooooooo-!!]

[Slayer of winning streak, Everton proves its reputation once again!!]

“… … Huh?”