57 The Limit

After Aston Villa scored the first goal, they got even more excited to attack Southampton's defense. Meanwhile, Southampton continued to struggle to withstand Aston Villa attacks. The range of activity of Southampton's players increased. Especially Simone and Dallas, the two players were working together to become a barrier to hold on to Aston Villa's attack in the middle. Meanwhile, Hugo and Wright-Phillips guard the side area.

In the 82nd minute, Kazuki was pulled off by George and replaced by a defender. After Kazuki was pulled off, the Southampton players managed to total defend. This was made Aston Villa players troubled to score goals. Southampton fans watched this with pounding hearts when they saw their beloved team come under constant attack.

Fortunately, until the end of the second half, Aston Villa failed to score again. Southampton managed to win the game with 10 men. The final score of this match is 2-1, Southampton won the game. With this victory, Southampton Established their position in 15th position in the English Premier League table.

***

"You've progressed well," said the GM suddenly. Normally, he would never start a conversation with Kazuki if it wasn't Kazuki who started it.

Kazuki looked at the GM in amazement, "What's wrong? It's really weird seeing you start the conversation first."

"Really? I'm just proud of your progress," the GM replied with a laugh. It had not been a year since Kazuki met the GM, but things had changed. Starting from an unknown player as one of the most talented young players in Europe. The improvement was extraordinary.

GM stopped laughing, he looked at Kazuki and asked, "Have you felt it? The limit."

Limit. Everything has its limit. Likewise with [Dream Training]. As the GM said, Kazuki was also starting to feel the limitation. He was not feeling any progress in some aspects he is training like shoots, passes, dribbles, and other things.

The GM opened his mouth and explained, "If inexperienced footballers are level 1 and experienced footballers are level 10 then [Dream Training] helps you reach level 10 as quickly as possible. But it won't help you go beyond level 10. Every football player has a different upper limit. Talented people have a higher upper limit than less talented people."

Kazuki exhaled, then, he asked, "So, I've met my limit?"

The GM replied, "No, but it's close. The only thing preventing you from reaching your upper limit is your immature body."

Kazuki's body hadn't reached its peak yet, because of that he couldn't reach the upper limit of his abilities. On the other hand, this meant that it was very difficult for Kazuki to strengthen himself through training. The only benefit of training every day is to maintain your current abilities.

"Aren't you disappointed after hearing what I said?" asked the GM.

"I know, but I think I'm good enough. I've scored quite a few goals. Although I'm not getting stronger anytime soon, as long as I maintain my skills then everything is fine."

"Good then, but Kazuki you have to remember one thing."

Kazuki asked, "Remember what?"

The GM narrowed his eyes and said seriously, "In football, relying on teammates is a good thing. But in certain situations, such a habit will cost you something."

Kazuki frowned, he didn't understand the meaning of GM's sentence. After a while, he stopped trying to understand the sentence.

'In important matches, there will always be moments when your teammates can't be relied on. What sets star players like Ronaldo and Messi apart from the rest is their ability to shine in influential matches. However, Messi's ability to shine in significant matches began to decline as his role in a team began to change to become more backward and become a playmaker rather than a goalscorer.

This makes Messi more dependent on his friends than Ronaldo. Therefore, in a critical match, when Messi's teammates didn't play well, it is very difficult for Messi to change things around.

Ronaldo is different, people called Ronaldo a selfish player, but Ronaldo never disappoints other players' expectations of him. Unfortunately, he has lost his dribbling skills, so Ronaldo also often struggles when the midfielders can't supply him with the ball.'

The GM sighed, then he whispered, "To be a good footballer you have to rely on your friends. But to be a star player, you have to rely on yourself."

***

A week later, in the 34th match between Southampton and Arsenal. Kazuki understood what GM meant. In this match, Kazuki was always guarded by two people. Every time he got the ball, fouls and physical pressure were used to stop him.

With two people guarding Kazuki, the other players should be able to take advantage of this opportunity. However, Osmund, who was Kazuki's partner at the time was unable to take advantage of the opportunity.

In the 12th minute, Kazuki provided a pass after successfully controlling the ball for the first time. The ball flew forward, Osmund was able to outperform the Arsenal center-back by increasing his speed. But Osmund failed to convert the opportunity to goal. Even though he had gone one-on-one with the Arsenal keeper.

In the 19th minute, Arsenal scored through Van Persie's header. Southampton, who conceded a goal was trying to build the attack. However, Kazuki continued to be tightly guarded, Even after he switched positions with Hugo, the Arsenal midfielder and full-back were marking him. Wherever Kazuki changed positions, the Arsenal players would change their formation, making it easier for them to guard Kazuki.

In the 32nd minute, After experiencing continuous failure, Kazuki managed to break through the Arsenal penalty box for the first time. The Arsenal center-back covered the space for Kazuki to shoot, so Kazuki pass the ball to Hugo, who was in the free position. However, Hugo disappointed Kazuki's expectations. The Southampton right-winger failed to shoot accurately even when he was not guarded by Arsenal defenders.

Until the end of the first half, Southampton was still behind with a score of 1-0. George adjusted by replacing Osmund with Ryan. However, Arsenal coach Arsene Winters seemed to have guessed George's strategy, he changed Arsenal's formation to 5-4-1, he made the decision, so Arsenal could isolate Kazuki from the other Southampton players easily.

This worked because Southampton was unable to make a shot on goal. Their attacks always end in the middle of the field. In the 69th minute, Theo Walcott managed to change the score of the match to 2-0.

Arsenal was controlling the ball and didn't let Southampton have a chance to attack. The Gunners scored again in the 78th minute after Arteta received a through ball from Van Persie.

Towards the end of the game, Southampton managed to get a free-kick. Kazuki who took the free-kick managed to break into the Arsenal net. Kazuki didn't celebrate the goal because even though he scored, Southampton still lost. Kazuki's goal became the last goal that appeared in this match.

The final score was 3-1 for Arsenal's victory. In this match, Kazuki realized that his thoughts regarding winning the Premier League were just nonsense if his comrades were unreliable. Southampton would have a chance to win the match if Osmund had not wasted any chances early in the first half.

At the post-match press conference between Arsenal and Southampton. Arsene Winters gave his opinion regarding Kazuki.

"He is a good player. I had to put two players in to keep him from scoring. However, he still scores goals, even from free kicks. He also creates some chances with his passes. I hope to buy him if I could."

George also praised Kazuki at the press conference. However, Kazuki didn't feel happy about the praise he was getting. His goals are worthless if he can't make the team win the game.