Chapter 894: Problem Within the Team

It was the end of November right now, and honestly, it was clear that Higo would get the Rookie of the Month award again later. Hell, he was also a strong candidate to win the Player of the Month award, if only Erling Haaland’s crazy performance didn’t happen a few weeks ago.

Yeah, the Norwegian striker finally started to show his fang, beginning with a brace against Bayern Munich at the beginning of the month. Then, two weeks later, he went berserk against Hertha Berlin, scoring all the five goals in that game. Coupled with another two goals against FC Koln, the Norwegian striker achieved the same record as what Lewandowski did last month, bagging nine goals in a fucking month.

Seeing this, Higo didn’t hope too much to win that award, knowing that he, as a goalkeeper, would never win against a striker like that.

Still, that performance from Haaland also took the whole football world by storm. After all, in the last couple of weeks, all the youngsters that people always mentioned were Higo, Pedri, and Jude Bellingham. Although everyone knew how talented Haaland was, they found that the striker’s performance with Dortmund so far was quite ordinary.

It wasn’t until this month that the boy reminded everyone how good his quality was, putting his name down as one of the best rising stars in the world right now.

Somehow, the race to win the Kopa Award became more difficult, and honestly, Higo’s confidence to get one also decreased by miles at this point.

"Well, I am one thing, because I am a fucking goalkeeper, and no one will really let me win that fucking award," Higo stated as he walked with his friend back to the locker room after one of their training sessions. "But you, Morita-san? What the fuck are you doing?! You are the one who motivated me to get this, for fuck’s sake! Don’t tell me you are thinking of running away!"

Morita’s face flushed red instantly at the sharp words from the goalkeeper. Honestly, like the others, he was quite afraid to approach Higo in the last couple of weeks, especially since the boy turned into a sharp-tongued demon that would slay everyone alive with his hurtful words.

Who would’ve thought that the first time he met with Higo again, he would be burnt alive like that?

"You know it is not easy, Ryusuke..." Morita smiled wryly, his face was so exhausted at this point. "I would love to be on the race as well, but our teammates seem to not allow it, you know? Everyone turns into a bunch of useless fools in the last couple of matches, wasting away all the chances that I created. How could I get a good stat when they all tried to sabotage me?"

Higo felt the corner of his lips twitching a little here. This was the first time he heard the midfielder complaining about his teammates, since the boy was never one to talk behind everyone’s back like this.

Still, not that he could blame his friend, considering the goalkeeper himself knew how trash the team’s offensive line was during November.

Honestly, he felt for Morita, as the boy had the highest expected assist in the league in that period with 3.1 per game. Yeah, the data showed that the midfielder should have at least three assists in all the games that the team had played in that month, and yet, out of three games, he only managed to get two, averaging less than one.

It was quite ironic, though, as Higo had the best long pass accuracy, the most key passes, the most passes sent to the opposition penalty box, and so many more advanced stats in offense. However, when it came to what mattered the most, which was goals and assists, everything seemed to be stuck on his part.

It was no wonder that the boy had a big headache right now, not knowing what to do anymore.

"So, Sensei still failed to think of any solution?" Higo asked.

"Yeah, we tried so hard to find a good combination on the frontline, and yet, none of them worked." The midfielder sighed. "It was as if we were being cursed in this regard, not being allowed by higher beings to score too many goals in the league." He chuckled bitterly.

Higo was quiet, unable to find anything to comfort his friend. The situation was simple, but too fundamental to take time to solve the matter.

Their frontline was not good enough, and they needed to reinforce it in the next winter transfer session. So far, the team managed to stay in the 11th position in the standings with 12 points from 3 wins, 3 draws, and 3 defeats.

Honestly, that achievement was boosted by Higo’s crazy performance, letting the team become the best defensive team in the league so far by only conceding 5 goals. However, in return, the team was also one of the worst offensive teams in the league, only scoring 6 goals out of 9 games.

This was definitely unacceptable for a team that aimed a higher place, and the frustration could be seen not just in the players, but even among the coaching staff as well.

However, just like what was said before, the problem could only be solved in the winter transfer session, and that was still a month away. Before that, the team still had to fight for five more matchdays, and honestly, no one could ensure whether they could survive or not.

Then came another problem, which was Schalke’s financial trouble. This had been highlighted before the season began, as this pandemic really hurt the team quite badly.

Hell, everyone knew about this problem in the last summer session, and yet, it wasn’t solved yet since the team didn’t have enough money to hire a good striker.

So, yeah, in the end, the problem in the frontline was indeed too much, enough to make anyone involved in that regard fall into depression.

’Yeah, it seems climbing to a higher place will be a lot harder than we thought...’