Upon receiving Lo Celso’s pass, I turned my body forward the moment I received the ball. It is a tempo and movement that anyone who knows how important such movement is in modern football would admire.
“Everyone, come back!”
I saw Højbjerg running toward me to steal the ball while shouting.
But
Knowing that my opponent would act this way, I simply dodged Højbjerg’s movements.
“?!”
La Croqueta.
With that technique Messi primarily uses, commonly known as the Phantom Dribble.
And
If it were before the regression, I would have met an ending where I mindlessly attempted a dribble breakthrough here and suffered a turnover.
It is different now.
“Sissoko! Cover for me! Lee is slow, so…!”
Of course, I didn’t immediately pass the ball.
That doesn’t mean I was going to continue a solo dribble drive all the way to the box.
Well, right now they probably have a look on their face like, “I knew it.”
Jose Mourinho and the other coaches might think that I am just a greedy prospect after seeing that momentary flash of brilliance.
The reality was different.
Moura is on the move.
At first glance, moving with the ball might seem like I was killing the tempo and dragging the ball along, but this was fundamentally different.
The opponent has not yet fully returned to the line.
In that situation, if I draw in another player, it creates space for my teammates to penetrate or receive the ball.
Ah, but how are you going to pass it?
That’s simple.
Before regression.
The vision I had when I settled at Queens Park Rangers after bouncing around several teams and was on the verge of retirement is still valid.
No.
The conditions were actually better now.
Because my young body was supporting the experience of having opened my eyes to soccer in my last season.
“……?!”
After a head-and-body feint that distracted Sissoko, I swung my left foot without hesitation.
Thump—.
With a heavy sound, the fast yet sharp pass was delivered like a rocket to Moura, who was penetrating the half-space.
Moura shot at Lloris’s blind spot as if to show that he should be included in the starting lineup.
And
Thump—!
The result was the first goal of the Blue-White match and the first goal scored by Team B, which consisted of rotation and backup resources.
“Crazy! Lee…!”
Moura, having scored, runs to me, hugs me, and runs.
“That was a great goal, Moura.”
While Moura expresses his joy after scoring with an assist from Lee Min-woo.
“Oh, he even plays like that?”
Jose Mourinho and his coaching staff couldn’t help but be amazed.
“His judgment is outstanding. Usually, promising players of that age would play more independently to showcase their skills.”
Jose Mourinho nodded at the words of power analyst Giovanni Serra.
“Actually, I thought so too. I admired him when he escaped Højbjerg’s pressure, and sighed when he didn’t pass even though Sissoko was chasing him.”
Lee Min-woo’s play just now was enough to evoke such mixed feelings.
The movement of turning forward immediately after receiving Lo Celso’s pass, and the movement to escape Højbjerg’s pressure through the La Croqueta.
One could have given it a sufficiently good score just for this part.
So you’re saying he drew the other person in to create space in the midst of all that.
Even when he didn’t handle the ball despite Sissoko’s backup, they thought it was just the bravado or excessive confidence that prospects usually display.
But.
The movement Lee Min-woo displayed was not merely an attempt to solve the problem alone by dragging the ball around, but rather a preliminary step to distribute a more reliable pass to his teammate.
Of course, one could not definitively say that Lee Min-woo’s play stemmed from such a judgment based on this single move alone.
Let’s wait and see a little longer.
“Yes, Director.”
Jose Mourinho and his coaching staff began to pay closer attention to Lee Min-woo’s play.
Whether that flash of brilliance just now is the default setting of the player Lee Min-woo, or if it was just a brief flash of brilliance from a promising prospect.
20 minutes like that.
Thump!
Despite the intense pressure from Team A, Team B remained undeterred and continued to play by distributing the ball.
Although possession was frequently lost due to the persistent pressure from Team A, composed of key players, Team B repeatedly regained possession with burning fighting spirit each time.
Giovanni Serra, who was watching this scene, spoke up.
“Lee’s defensive contribution seems decent, too. It’s not incredibly dedicated defense, though….”
“He is defending efficiently. And definitely better than Ndombele.”
Serra nodded at Jose Mourinho’s words.
On the field, Lee Min-woo did not participate in defense at an excessive pace. However, it would be unfair to compare him to Ndombele, whose activity level was extremely low without the ball.
Rather….
“Considering he is still at an age where he is not physically fully formed, you could say it is an extremely clever decision.”
It had to be seen that he was moving in the most efficient way for each other, helping the team without damaging the still-developing physicality of a teenager.
Furthermore.
“Lee!”
Isn’t Lee Min-woo controlling the tempo and direction of the game to such an extent that his mere age of 17 is irrelevant?
He exchanges the ball with midfielders including Lo Celso, and then delivers precise switching passes to the opposite side.
“Carlos! Go inside!”
Thump—!
From catching backup striker Carlos Vinicius attempting a line-breaking run to threading a high-quality through pass.
“Ha… Am I seeing things?”
None of Jose Mourinho’s coaching staff, including Serra, could deny Jose Mourinho’s words.
That makes sense.
Thump—!
“Lee—! Crazy pass! Nice pass!”
They couldn’t help but admire Lee Min-woo’s play as he assisted the goal of Carlos Vinicius, who was running with a childlike smile.
“Wait. Let’s try this.”
“Yes?”
“Try changing Lee’s position to the right side.”
“The right side… you mean?”
At Jose Mourinho’s words, the coaches thought of something.
After the DESK line established during Pochettino’s tenure was dismantled by Eriksen’s transfer.
It is likely an experiment to find an answer to why powerful and destructive attacks are not coming out as often as before.
‘Although Lee is overflowing with talent, he surely doesn’t intend to use him as a core starter.’
‘Right. He is probably just thinking of him as one of several options.’
Now that Ndombele, who was expected to breathe creativity into Tottenham in place of Eriksen, has fallen to being half-baked due to a performance falling short of expectations.
Jose Mourinho was trying hard to find a clue through various options.
“Lee! Change positions!”
When Lee Min-woo was moved from the center to the right winger position by Jose Mourinho’s instructions, Team B’s performance changed completely contrary to before.
The moment Lee Min-woo, who used to roam between the second and third lines to untie the game, was moved to the side, Team B not only failed to distribute the ball properly, but also.
Naturally, the flow of passes became concentrated on the right.
“Block that side!”
Since the play flowed that way, Team A went as far as having Son Hyung-jin and Ben Davies intensively mark Lee Min-woo, isolating him so he couldn’t receive the ball.
“Manager, it seems meaningless to test Lee on the side with Team B’s lineup after all.”
“That’s right. Aren’t the conditions too limited? If it were a test on the side with Team A’s lineup, it might be a different story, but….”
Just as Jose Mourinho was nodding at the coaches’ words and about to end the experiment.
Tap!
The scene of Lee Min-woo narrowing from the flank into the half-space to receive the ball caught their eyes.
“It looks like he’s playing proactively because things are frustrating.”
“But, with Sonny, Davies, and even Højbjerg swarming him, won’t it be difficult for the attack to develop?”
The moment everyone thought Lee Min-woo’s play would hit a brake.
“Uh…?”
“Crazy!”
A scene that would astound everyone began to unfold.
Even in a situation where he was surrounded by Son Hyung-jin, Ben Davies, and Højbjerg, Lee Min-woo moved his body without panicking.
“?!”
Beginning with escaping Son Hyung-jin and Højbjerg using a Marseille turn.
“Reguilón!”
“I know!”
When Ben Davies stubbornly stuck close, he used La Croqueta to succeed in getting past him completely.
“He melts the pressure of three players in an instant.”
“My word….”
The coaches clicked their tongues in admiration.
And for good reason, because the three players Lee Min-woo had just melted away were not youth players of his own age, but adult players who had already established themselves in the first team.
And
Lee Min-woo, who had stripped away the three players, did not attempt a dribble breakthrough while swept away by dopamine, but confirmed the penetration of the attacking line that he had been tracking beforehand and swung his foot.
Thump—!
Lee Min-woo’s sensational cross, aimed at the head of Carlos Vinicius penetrating into the box, without any upset.
Rustle—!
Led to a header goal by Vinicius.
“Ha…. Hahaha—!”
Bursting into laughter, Jose Mourinho nodded his head as if he had roughly decided on the picture he was drawing.
Since Park Ji-sung left Manchester United and Son Hyung-jin joined Tottenham Hotspur.
South Korea has been a ‘Tottenham Republic’ instead of a ‘Man Utd Republic’ for several years now.
South Korean football fans were more interested in Tottenham in the Premier League than in any other leagues.
[Pre-season Tottenham results.mp4]
These are the performances of our players Son Hyung-jin and Lee Min-woo during the three pre-season matches against Ipswich, Reading, and Birmingham.
Lee Min-woo came on as a substitute in the second half of all three matches, and he played alternating between the center and the flank.
His chemistry with Sonny seems better than expected, and it seems he’s not a Real Madrid youth product for nothing? That’s the kind of play it is.
As a video summarizing the three pre-season matches ahead of the season opening was posted on the community, fans began to leave various opinions.
- It’s a shame that the firepower doesn’t seem to be at the level of the DESK era yet, but it looks like Mourinho is organizing things well, focusing on Son Hyung-jin and Kane?
- For real, the Son-Ke duo is insane lol
- Hahaha, masturbating over winning against weak teams? I can really see the level of the chicken house lol
- Why is the guy above looking for a fight? You Sonny-hater b*tch
- Are you a Sonny-fanboy above? Hahaha
- Honestly, with this kind of performance in the pre-season, you can’t guarantee anything in the league. They still haven’t properly erased Eriksen’s absence.
- To fill Eriksen’s absence, you need to bring in someone of a similar tier, duh. Hahaha
Most of the comments mainly mentioned Tottenham’s team performance and Son Hyung-jin, but.
- But this guy Lee Min-woo seems pretty decent? It looks like he didn’t win the Golden Ball at the U-20 last year for nothing?
- Did the Golden Ball look like a joke to you?
- Honestly, his talent itself was already top-tier domestically, but during that time he dragged the ball and cut off the tempo so he was a bit so-so, but these three matches seem different?
- It still seems like he drags the ball a bit, but his way of seeing pass angles is seriously an art form, for real. And the quality of his passes and kicks is insane.
- When this guy moves up to the adult national team, Son Hyung-jin can just eat up his passes.
- But isn’t he dragging the ball too much?
- No no no, you guys who don’t know football, don’t just watch the condensed match edits and look it up properly. He’s not dragging the ball mindlessly, he’s creating space and stabbing it in.
- I agree with the comment above. When it looks like he’s dragging the ball, it’s always when everyone else’s off-the-ball movement isn’t working properly. He draws the opponent in while looking for an angle. When the angle comes out, he stabs the pass in without any lingering attachment?
- Although it’s a pre-season match against weak teams, racking up attacking points in all three matches is not an easy task, yeah.
The level of interest in Lee Min-woo—who recorded 1 goal and 3 assists even though he came on as a second-half substitute in all three matches—was also a significant figure.
For now, the dominant public opinion was that he is a prospect with good talent worth watching. Most of the interest was focused on the national team star Son Hyung-jin, though.
A few days later.
“Lee? Ah, we have decided to call him Minu now. That friend is one of the players who will play an important role in my plan this season.”
“Does that mean the player’s appearance will happen in the near future?”
“Well, you can look forward to it right from the 1st round.”
At Jose Mourinho’s interview directly mentioning Lee Min-woo.
And at Jose Mourinho’s tall talk that a young 17-year-old player would make his debut right from the first match, South Korea was turned upside down.
