After the Spring Festival, Mathilde really came to teach Chu Zhongtian again, this time not French, but German. In fact, Chu Zhongtian doesn't know what to do with learning German, although there are many people who speak German in Metz, but having French is enough to live here, and he doesn't feel inconvenient here for most of the season, and after this season, he doesn't know if he can continue to stay in Metz, what if he is loaned to Belgium by Chelsea next season? There is no use for learning German.

But "the drunkard doesn't mean to drink", learning German is just an excuse, he just hopes that Mathilde can accompany him more, and not just disappear from his life.

So regardless of whether the German language is useful to him at the moment, it is just an excuse to be able to continue to get along with Mathilde. Anyway, it's not a bad thing to learn more than one language.

"Actually, German is not easy to learn." When she took German lessons for the first time, Mathilde said this to Chu Zhongtian.

"It's okay, take your time." Chu Zhongtian replied. He's learned smart, he doesn't have to be very urgent to communicate with people anyway, so it's okay to learn German slowly, even if he has to go until the end of May at the end of the season, he doesn't feel that his progress is too slow, and it doesn't matter if he doesn't even learn it at all by the end of the season. He's not going to work as hard as he does to learn French. Except in class, he no longer forces himself to memorize German words and study German grammar.

Mathilde seemed to sense something, and she pushed her black-rimmed glasses, "You still have to study seriously, Chu." I check your previous learning results every time I take a class, if you don't meet the standards......"

"What happens if you don't meet the mark?" Chu Zhongtian asked.

"Then I won't come to the next class." Mathilde said to Chu Zhongtian with a straight face.

Chu Zhongtian hurriedly raised his hands, this was really to the point...... "Okay, okay, I'll work hard to learn German, Teacher Marty." Chu Zhongtian raised his hand, nodded constantly, and said helplessly.

Mathilde laughed again when she saw him like this.

※※※Except for learning German with Mathilde, Chu Zhongtian's life has not changed much from before the Spring Festival, it is still training and competition.

On 12 February, Metz welcomed Sochaux at home, not in the league but in the French Cup. This season, Metz hasn't put much effort into the cup competition. They were eliminated by Bastia in the first round of the French League Cup, and in this French Cup, Fernandes still sent a lineup of substitutes and reserves, and in the starting lineup of the league, only Chu Zhongtian still started in this game.

Fernandez wants to give Chu Zhongtian more opportunities to participate in the competition, because Chu Zhongtian needs to accumulate more competition experience.

Chu Zhongtian's performance in this game was very hard, but most of his teammates were unfamiliar, and they rarely played together to train together, and his passing was always something that no one could think of. Ribery is right, some of his ideas on the pitch are more advanced than most people can think of...... Of course, Ribery didn't know, it was actually all because of Chu Zhongtian's super intuition in his head.

In the end, Metz lost 0-1 to Sochaux at their home stadium. They were also eliminated from the French Cup.

Now, Metz is left with only the league to play this season. Fernandes doesn't feel sorry at all, for the relegation team, it is unrealistic to try to get a good result in the cup, it is better to play the league well first and try to stay in the first division.

After this match, another eight days later, Metz welcomed another strong opponent at home - Marseille.

In February, there are only two league matches: Lyon on 5 February and Marseille on 20 February. The next round of the league will be on March 16 against Monaco.

There weren't many games, but the opponents were strong. These games, in the minds of many Metz fans, are not able to score a point. So when Chu Zhongtian's header at the last moment helped Metz draw Lyon and get a point, these fans were so excited. Maybe the fans of those giants are not uncommon to win or lose, but for the relegation team, every point is precious.

In the match with Marseille, Chu Zhongtian saw the power of a young man from France - Samir, who represented Marseille in the first division at the age of seventeen. Nasri (samir_nasri).

The player, who captained France's under-17 squad last summer and led Karim Benzema and other future stars to the UEFA Youth Championship, had already scored his first Ligue 1 goal in Ligue 1 on January 11 before this game. From the starting point, he is better than Benzema and Ben. Alpha is much higher, and in terms of performance, he is better than those two peers.

Nasri, Ben. Alfa, plus a Sochaux player (jérémy_menez), these three are known as France's "Under-17 trio", both born in 1987 and only 17 years old. And Benzema, although he will also play with them, is mostly a substitute. At this time, Benzema's fame was mainly in the Lyon club, not in the whole of France or even Europe (later after Benzema's rise, the original title of "U17 Three Heroes" was replaced with "87 Four Young").

From the game, Chu Zhongtian can feel that Nasri's footwork is very good.

What he said about "good footwork" is not as simple as being able to control the ball and pass others, but to be able to play with the ball as he wants. Of those players he has personally contacted, the first is Russell, who unfortunately retired due to injury, the second is Franck Franchi, the third is Juninho, and the fourth is Nasri. Root. Alpha and Benzema? He didn't see it.

Nasri played as Marseille's midfielder in this game, responsible for organising the attack, he was very skillful in ball control, imaginative in passing, very chic in play, and good in the big picture. However, he is only seventeen years old, and his body is very thin, and his ability to fight is obviously not good. In the game, Chu Zhongtian and Nasri had several physical contacts, but Nasri fell to the ground, and what made Chu Zhongtian very depressed was that the referee actually awarded him a foul...... Chu Zhongtian's task in this game is not to keep an eye on Nasri, after the match with Lyon, Fernandes has stopped letting him specifically mark a certain player, in the eyes of the legendary French coach, it is a waste of talent to let Chu Zhongtian mark people in the game, and he will not allow himself to do so.

In defense, he only asked Chu Zhongtian to defend in the area and assist Promans. When he attacked, he was fully involved.

In this game, the overall strength of Marseille still played a crucial role. The Metz team mainly relied on Chu Zhongtian and Ribery, as well as Oblagnac when attacking, and the forwards' scoring ability was really not complimentary.

And once Ribery and Oblagnac are restricted, no matter how accurate Chu Zhongtian's pass is, it will be converted into a goal.

Marseille scored a goal in the 24th minute through black striker Luyindula. The man who gave him the assist was none other than Nasri. At that time, Nasri got rid of Promans's entanglement in the midfield, decisively sent a through pass, Luindura, who was waiting on the wing, suddenly cut in, used his excellent speed to shake off captain Bobiconi and Aligolo, faced goalkeeper Wambi, did not shoot vigorously, but chose a very ornamental pick, and the football responded to the net.

Luindura was bought by Marseille this season to replace Drogba, who was bought by Chelsea, and although he is also a black striker born in Africa, he and Drogba have a completely different style, Drogba is physically strong, like an African elephant, while Luindura is agile and fast, delicate and imaginative.

He once won the top scorer in Ligue 1 in a single season at Lyon, and he can be regarded as a striker who has been famous for a long time.

Mace, who was lagging behind, strengthened his offensive, but the front was weak, and even Chu Zhongtian himself inserted it several times and shot from a distance. He has always believed that as a playmaker, he should use the pass to serve his teammates and help the team win, and if he always has to go up and score himself, it means that the team's striker or tactics are wrong...... The tactics are obviously fine, but the forward strength is not good.

This point lets. Fernández also knows, but what can be done? Metz is a small experience, willing to invest in youth training, but very difficult in the first team. There is no high transfer fee and salary, so it is natural to attract excellent strikers to join.

David. Carré suddenly said, "Why don't you push Chu to the front?" ”

These words startled Fernandez, and he shook his head: "He is not suitable to be a striker, and he is a striker, who will pass the ball to him?" ”

Carré thought for a moment and sighed helplessly.

In this game, Chu Zhongtian and Ribery did not help the team win the game, and even did not get a draw. Metz ended up losing 0-1 at home to Marseille.

After this match, the 27th round of the league came on 27 February, but due to the close proximity of the matchday of the league and the matchday of the Cup, the match day of Metz was postponed to March 16. The postponement on 27 February was also the match between Auxerre and Toulouse.

So on the 27th round of matchday, the other teams were in full swing in the league, and Metz had other arrangements - the head coach Jean Murphy. Fernandes arranged an intra-squad match between the first team and the reserve team.

Since the match against Paris Saint-Germain, Chu Zhongtian has not seen his temporary teammates in the reserve team again. He was back in front of them in this game and was already a first-team player.

Chu Zhongtian performed well in the game, with two assists, and also instigated the team's second goal. Helped the first team of Metz to a 4-2 victory over Metz reserves. The Metz reserve team is basically the players trained by their own academy, and the youth level of Metz has always been very good, so in fact, the strength of the reserve team is not weak, and the gold content of this game is not low.

Fernandez was also quite satisfied with Chu Zhongtian's performance in this game, and after the game, he pulled Chu Zhongtian to chat alone for nearly half an hour, which made the players of the reserve team very envious. For many of them, that Chinese kid was a member of the reserve team just like them before, and even inferior to him - when Chu Zhongtian came to play in the reserve team, some people in the reserve team thought that Chu Zhongtian was not favored by the head coach and was sent to the reserve team to accept punishment - who thought that it was not a punishment, but a kind of exercise. Today's Chinese kid not only played a solid game in the first team, but also scored a crucial goal against Lyon, and he, like Ribery, is simply a live-action version of the ugly duckling turned swan.

Fernandez praised Chu Zhongtian's performance, but also put forward higher requirements for Chu Zhongtian - most of the time, Chu Zhongtian was able to successfully instigate the offensive because he did not have too fierce confrontation around him, and there was not too much interference.

"If you're just content with that, you can't, Chu." Fernandez said to Chu Zhongtian, "Your body is very strong, and you are not afraid of physical confrontation in defense. I want you to do the same in attack, to be able to make physical contact with the opponent, to be able to control the ball and pass the ball even in a very tight confrontation. Ligue 1 is not too physical, and I don't believe you'll be in this league for the rest of your life. I know you're from Chelsea in the Premier League, where there's more physical contact and more confrontation, so what if that's the case? So from now on, you have to work on improving your ball control and passing and receiving ability in physical confrontations. I'll add this training to you in future trainings. ”

The angel in Chu nodded vigorously. The manager is so good to himself, what other opinion can he have? Naturally, I did what I asked and tried to meet the requirements of the head coach as soon as possible.

"In addition, the running should be a little more refined. If you can accomplish the goal in one running pass, you don't need to run three times, pass three times, there are still a lot of unnecessary parts in your passing run, and you will be more efficient by eliminating them. ”

Fernandes could see Chu's style of play, but he also saw the problems that arose in his search to establish that style.

"Actually, football is a very simple sport, which is the four parts of ball control, passing and receiving, and shooting the ball, so you don't complicate them."

"I see, sir."

Fernandez looked at the humble Chu Zhongtian and smiled. He said a lot, and the lad who had just played a perfect game didn't have any impatience and didn't contradict himself, he just listened patiently.

"Do a good job, Chu. I'm sure you'll have a good future. ”

Ribery said that Fernandes was his "godfather of football", Chu Zhongtian couldn't say such things, but he was grateful to the old coach from the bottom of his heart.

When my skills were not up to par and I had no experience, I honed myself and gave myself full patience. After he played, no matter how good or bad he played, he always believed in himself, gave himself a chance, and even created an opportunity for him to be trained in the game.

Such a good coach made him feel how wise he was to agree to play in Metz without hesitation. Maybe it was his intuition that helped him make the right decision. If he is loaned to Belgium, even if he can play at the beginning, but when he has so many problems playing amateur football, and no one has taught him to correct and believe him, he feels that he will soon lose his place in the team, and then he can only spend the whole season on the bench or in the stands, and finally return to Chelsea with nothing, because the performance in Belgium is not good, and there is naturally no competitiveness at Chelsea, and in the end, His end is that he has been fighting in the lower leagues of the lower leagues, carrying the so-called "professional football", trying to make money to support his family, and his own ideals and other people's hopes have all come to naught.

After losing to Marseille, Metz is 14th with 29 points and is not really in the relegation zone, but it is also on the edge of the relegation zone. If you don't pay attention, you may be doomed, considering that the bottom of the league, East, is only eight points away from them.

The next round of the league on March 5 is the match between Metz and Monaco, and on March 12, the round of 29 is against Bordeaux. It wasn't until March 16 that Metz made up the match against Bastia in the 27th round.

It's March, and Leka, who was injured in the game against Paris Saint-Germain, is back from injury and can train with the team, but now there is no place for him in the starting line-up. Leka, who has always paid attention to his image, no longer has the leisure to study his hairstyle and appearance in the mirror for half an hour. He didn't echo Ribery's jokes very much, he was silent in the team a lot, and his eyes were a little complicated when he looked at Chu Zhongtian. Chu Zhongtian knew that it was because he had robbed him of his position, he felt a little guilty, and wanted to apologize and explain, but Ribery grabbed him.

"That's professional football." Ribery shrugged at Chu Zhongtian, "What's there to explain?" If one day you miss a few months due to injury and come back to find that your place has been robbed, will the person who grabbed your place come and apologize to you? That can only be your own bad luck. You start and he can't, just because you're better than him and you're luckier. Remember, luck is also an indispensable part of football, Chu! ”

Hearing Ribery say this, and looking at Leka's sad face, Chu Zhongtian suddenly thought of an ancient poem:

But when you see the newcomer laughing, what if you hear the old person crying?

This is professional football...... ※※※ On March 5, Metz challenged a strong opponent away, and Chu Zhongtian played steadily and helped the team draw 0:0 with Monaco.

Chu Zhongtian was still a starter in this game, and he tackled a Brazilian full-back named "Maicon" in the game, and McCone was forced to be substituted after only 34 minutes of play. He himself received a yellow card, his third in Ligue 1 this season, for which he will be automatically suspended for one match. So in the next match between Metz and Bordeaux, he won't be able to play. This was a loss for the battle of Metz.

Before, Chu Zhongtian didn't know that the Ligue 1 league would be automatically suspended after accumulating three yellow cards, otherwise he would definitely pay attention to his actions. Now he has to regretfully miss the game with Bordeaux, the team is now at the critical moment of relegation, or facing such a strong opponent, Chu Zhongtian because of this yellow card, even if he drew with Monaco away, did not participate in the celebration of his teammates.

It was Ribery who comforted him - the match against Bordeaux was not in their plan in the first place, and if they lost, they were familiar, and the key was to play against the teams that won the middle and lower reaches, which was to get points. So missing out on Bordeaux is no big deal, as long as you don't miss the last-minute relegation battle.

Next, in the 27th round of the league on March 16, Chu Zhongtian did not follow the team to the away game, but stayed at the Holy Mountain Frion Stadium to participate in a reserve team game, and Coach Tadio stayed to continue to observe Chu Zhongtian's performance in the game. This is the first time that Chu Zhongtian has participated in the reserve team competition in more than two months, but Leka, who has returned from injury but cannot play in the first team, has been playing in the reserve team recently and maintaining his form. His efforts in the reserves paid off in this round of the league - Chu Zhongtian was automatically suspended, and Fernandes brought Leka to Bordeaux. In the future, even if Leka can be selected for the squad, I am afraid that most of the time he will only appear as Chu Zhongtian's substitute...... Chu Zhongtian, who was unable to participate in the first team match, took his anger out on the opponents of the reserve team, and the Metz reserve team won 3-0 against Besanon under his leadership.

A day later, without Chu Zhongtian, Metz lost to Bordeaux by one goal away from home, and the points remained unchanged, still 30 points, but the ranking slipped one place, from 14th to 15th.

The relegation situation is not optimistic.

(To be continued)