Chapter 783: Half-Time Break

To Union Berlin’s credit, even though they were so frustrated after getting denied a penalty here, they still maintained order quite well. No one went out of control, as each one of them still maintained discipline beyond what any bottom-tier team should have.

They kept everything tight, not giving any room for Schalke players to get into the box. This frustrated the home team here, as it was like they were facing a team without emotion. Honestly, they would’ve thought that they faced a bunch of robots if only no one from Union Berlin spouted any words in the middle of the game.

Of course, Union Berlin also didn’t stay at the back all the time. No, they launched a quick counterattack from time to time, and honestly, Christopher Trimmel had already proven to the home team that he was more than capable of sending a scalpel-like pass that could kill them with just one touch.

Hell, Union Berlin’s captain didn’t even need to possess the ball for too long. Just a little space and two seconds to look up to the frontline to pinpoint where his strikers were running, and BAM! The ball had already flown toward the other side of the pitch.

Honestly, it was as if Schalke was facing Morita on the flank side, which gave Frohling a good idea of how to be creative with the Japanese midfielder once he came back to the pitch again in the future.

Fortunately, none of their attacks were threatening enough to make Higo sweat. No, Anthony Ujah and Sebastian Andersson didn’t seem to be in their best form, as many times they failed to pick up the pass coming from Trimmel.

Hell, there was even a moment where Sebastian Andersonn managed to get away from Timo Becker and faced Higo on goal already, but when he took the shot, the Swedish striker slipped in such an embarrassing manner, letting the ball just roll on Higo’s hands gently.

In the end, both teams tried so hard to get their first goal of the day, and yet, the first half seemed to be neither of their friend right now.

FWEEE! FWEEE! FWEEE!

After such a painfully slow first half, the referee finally blew the whistle three times in a row, ending this half still with a draw, 0-0. It was such a dull and uninteresting game to watch, and honestly, the coaches from both teams even yawned at some point after looking at how monotonous everything turned out to be.

It was no wonder Frohling could be seen frowning deeply in the locker room, thinking so hard about what to do later.

"Nassim, you have been guarded tightly and getting fouled so many times on the flank. If I drop you back a little and you don’t have to always penetrate further, what do you think is your chance to create a better threat?" He couldn’t help but ask the most creative player on the team right now.

Yeah, Nassim had been getting shut down by the opponent for the full 45 minutes since the game began, and honestly, the Moroccan winger was quite helpless about it. The most frustrating part was that all the fouls always happened in the least threatening area for the opponent, not allowing Schalke to capitalize on all the free kicks that they got so far.

"You mean to be a wide midfielder?" Nassim blinked, asking for confirmation.

This was the role that had been dying with wingers being more popular in the last decade. The role was more complicated than just a mere winger, with them having to balance offense and defense quite well.

However, the advantage was clear here. The opponent’s defenders wouldn’t dare to stay too aggressive against him, or he would leave a big hole in the team’s defense. This was a good compromise for a player who operated on the wing side but was neither fast nor strong enough to withstand the pressure there.

The infamous one to be in this role was David Beckham, and the most iconic player from England made his name big enough with him thriving in that role.

"Well, I can try, but don’t complain when the result is bad, okay?" The winger answered after pondering for a moment. "I have never done this before, so my positioning will be awkward later. The others should be more tolerant of my mistake."

The rest of the team just rolled their eyes secretly at him. Well... At least, everyone except Higo here, as they all knew that those two players were the golden boys of the team, what with Frohling protecting them like they were his own children.

Everyone knew that no matter how bad those two kids were playing, the coach would always have a reason to forgive them.

"That is all I can ask here." Frohling nodded solemnly. Then, he turned his head toward the other winger, and the man’s gaze softened immediately. "Sorry, Beni, it is not your fault that today’s game is going this way, but I have to put you on the bench for the second half." He apologized gently.

It was unusual for him to be this gentle, but honestly, Frohling couldn’t really be angry at Benito Raman here. The Belgian winger was always professional, willing to make a run and even following Gregoritsch in putting pressure on the opponent’s side tirelessly.

It was just... His destructiveness wasn’t enough, and right now, Frohling wanted to try someone different to play that role.

Benito Raman just let out a deep sigh here. "Well, it has been wonderful while it lasted, guys, but my time is over here. Fab, make sure that you give those guys on the left a piece of your mind, okay?" He threw his towel at Fabian Reese, knowing that the blonde boy would be the one who would replace him.

In return, Fabian took off his vest immediately, catching the towel before nodding solemnly at the Belgian winger. "Don’t worry, leave everything to me."