Chapter 9 One Month

Dortmund won the match with difficulty. After nine league rounds, they had seven wins, one draw, and one loss. They scored twenty-two goals and conceded seven, with a goal difference of fifteen, accumulating twenty-two points and ranking second.

They had been surpassed by Bayern Munich, who had been performing steadily since the new season, on the league table.

They had also been caught up by Leverkusen. Leverkusen now had the same twenty-two points as them, but ranked third due to a smaller goal difference. However, if Dortmund couldn't maintain a stable performance, being overtaken by Leverkusen might only be a matter of time.

Chinese fans were very dissatisfied that Klopp hadn't used Yan Min in this situation. They believed that since the team was encountering problems, they should try more solutions. The media had said that Yan Min was very hardworking in training, so why not give Yan Min a chance?

Jonas Hofmann, just because he scored a goal as a substitute before, was now coming on as a substitute in almost every game. He had already made seven substitute appearances.

But apart from that goal, he had not shown any convincing performance.

This made Chinese fans very unhappy – was Klopp so trusting of that Hofmann? What did he have to trust?

Everyone was speaking up for Yan Min.

In addition to this, they were concerned about when Zhou Yi would be able to return from his injury.

Zhou Yi was injured in the Champions League group stage match against Napoli on September 18th. According to Dortmund's official announcement, Zhou Yi would be out for a month.

Now, after the ninth round of the league, it was September 19th, exactly one month later.

Could Zhou Yi return for Dortmund's Champions League group stage match against Arsenal next week?

This was actually the issue that everyone was most concerned about, not just Chinese fans and media, but also German and English media and fans.

If Zhou Yi could successfully return, Dortmund would have a chance of winning even playing away against Arsenal. This would definitely be a boost for the team.

After Zhou Yi's absence for this month, everyone understood that Zhou Yi's importance to Dortmund was not only reflected in tactics, but perhaps even more so in spirit. Dortmund could still win without Zhou Yi, but it felt like a matter of luck. They won if they were lucky, and lost if they weren't.

When Zhou Yi was on the field, Dortmund's matches never gave people this feeling.

With Zhou Yi on the field, everyone was very at ease, whether it was the Dortmund fans watching the game or the Dortmund players playing the game, everyone felt very secure.

Zhou Yi's absence suddenly made everyone feel like they had lost their backbone. When they were hyped up, they performed well. In the next game, everyone thought the good form could continue, right? No, Dortmund could immediately slap those people in the face with an embarrassing victory or defeat. If they encountered difficulties, the defeat was basically irreversible.

Although Zhou Yi had only been absent for a month, everyone missed him very, very much, and hoped that he could return immediately.

Since Dortmund had officially announced that he would need to be out for a month, and now it had been a month, could he return?

Everyone was looking forward to Zhou Yi's return.

Dortmund's coaching staff was actually even more anxious than the people outside.

But no matter how anxious they were, they had to follow scientific principles.

Whether Zhou Yi could play or not was not up to Zhou Yi himself, nor was it up to Klopp, the head coach.

The most authoritative thing in this matter was the result of the physical examination.

Zhou Yi underwent a very strict physical examination at the training base to determine whether he could play in the match against Arsenal.

Now Klopp, Zorc, and Dr. Braun were gathered together studying the results.

"So the result means that Zhou Yi can play in the match against Arsenal?" Zorc asked Dr. Braun, holding the report.

"Theoretically, yes." Dr. Braun nodded, and he emphasized "theoretically."

"But?" Zorc was waiting for his transition.

"But I don't recommend that he play in the match the day after tomorrow," Dr. Braun said. "I think his physical condition has only reached the basic requirements for playing, but there is still a distance from his best physical condition. And the match in the middle of the week will be very intense, and I am worried that he will be injured again in the confrontation."

Dr. Braun stated his reasons.

Zorc hesitated after listening: "What about letting him come on as a substitute in the second half? He always needs to find his feeling for the game, right?"

He still hoped that Zhou Yi could play. Dortmund was suffering from injuries and poor form. If Zhou Yi could return, that would be great news.

"But what's the point of that? Do you want him to play, not to win?" Dr. Braun asked.

"This... it would be good if we could win, of course, but I don't force it, I don't force it..." Zorc really didn't force it now. He thought that if Zhou Yi could safely play for a while, even if he lost the game in the end, Dortmund's pressure would be greatly reduced, and it would be an exciting message for the media and fans.

"Since it's not for winning the game, then there's even less need for him to play. Rest for a longer period of time, let him restore his body to its best condition, or even a better condition than it is now..." Dr. Braun insisted on his opinion, that was not to let Zhou Yi play in this game, not even for a minute. "If you want to find the feeling of the game, there are more suitable games than the Champions League group stage. There is no need to use a very important game for Dortmund as a test."

"Then it's okay to let him enter the squad list, right? It doesn't necessarily mean he has to play, or whether he plays or not depends on Jurgen's opinion..." Zorc still wanted to fight for it.

However, he passed the buck to Klopp. He and Dr. Braun both looked at Klopp, wanting to hear his opinion.

Klopp shook his head: "I don't plan to take Zhou Yi to London."

Dr. Braun smiled, while Zorc was a little disappointed, but he didn't argue with Klopp, but chose to respect him: "Okay, it's up to you, Jurgen."

"Thank you." Klopp gave Zorc a smile to thank him for his understanding and support.

That's how it was decided. Klopp didn't explain why he didn't take Zhou Yi to London.

Although Zhou Yi had been training with the whole team, he had only trained for less than a week. He felt that even if he took him to London, it would be useless, and it would take up a spot.

※※※

Since it was decided not to take Zhou Yi to London, then who exactly should be taken to London?

Basically, as long as they weren't injured, all the main players would definitely be taken.

The good news was that Weidenfeller could return to the main lineup. In addition to him, Hummels and Subotic were there, and Schmelzer had also recovered and could go to London. But Piszczek was still not ready, so Grosskreutz would continue to serve as the right back on the field.

In midfield, Sven Bender had also recovered from his injury a long time ago, and he would partner with Sahin in the defensive midfielder position.

Zhou Yi's original position belonged to Mkhitaryan, who was in the center. Aubameyang and Reus were on the left and right, and Mark was in the front.

This was Dortmund's starting lineup.

It was not difficult to arrange. If Dortmund couldn't even come up with a starting lineup, then the problem would be serious.

The main thing was the substitute lineup.

When manpower was most tight some time ago, Klopp could only put one defender on the bench in each game. If there were personnel changes on the defense line, there were very few means to respond. It was better now. Schmelzer was back, and Durm could return to the bench. Another defender who had been on the bench for a long time was the Greek center back Papastathopoulos.

Since Weidenfeller had returned to the main lineup, Langerak would continue to be his substitute goalkeeper.

The commonly used configuration in the midfield was Kuba, Hofmann, and Kirch. Among them, Kuba was between the main force and the substitute. He started four times in the league this season and came off the bench four times, scoring one goal. He was currently the best and strongest player on Dortmund's midfield bench.

Hofmann had been trusted by the coaching staff because of his good performance in the early stages of the season, but in the recent games, he had a trend of mediocre performance. Under great pressure, his performance was not stable enough, and his ability to withstand pressure was a little weak.

Kirch had a slightly weaker presence. He was selected for the squad list four times, but only came off the bench once.

There was only one substitute on the front line now, Schieber. He was selected for the squad list six times in the league, but he only had one appearance record.

Although Klopp wanted to rotate players, after the start of the league, players kept entering the injury list, so Klopp couldn't rotate, so the lineup was relatively fixed.

In addition, the reason why Hofmann could continue to enter the squad list and also come off the bench many times was also related to the fact that Dortmund currently had too many injured midfielders. If Kehl and Gundogan were both healthy, Hofmann would not be able to enter the eighteen-man squad list at all.

There was no controversy about the substitute candidates for the defenders and forwards, because there was no choice at all.

Everyone's focus fell on the substitute candidates for the midfield.

Kuba would of course enter the squad list.

But Hofmann and Kirch...

Should they continue to take them to London?

"Who else can go if we don't take them?" Everyone in the coaching staff was arguing about who should be on the squad list. In fact, the coaching staff was also dissatisfied with the performance of Hofmann and Kirch. But they were suffering from not having better people to use. If Zhou Yi wasn't injured, if Gundogan wasn't injured, if Kehl wasn't injured... how could these two young people get into the squad list every game?

"Actually, there is someone." Assistant coach Buvac suddenly said. "Yan Min has been training very actively during this period of time."

"He has always been very active..."

"Of course, and his performance in training is also very good. I think we can replace Kirch with him." Buvac looked at Klopp.

"Um... I have no opinion." Klopp was noncommittal.

"Then it's settled!" Buvac finally made the decision. No one in the coaching staff objected. Anyway, they didn't expect these young people to do anything. Hofmann's performance among the young people was considered good, but faced with the team's current predicament, it was difficult to achieve anything.

Dortmund had won the league title for three consecutive seasons, and also won the European championship last season. They couldn't rely only on young people. After so many years of training, what this team needed was the middle generation, they were the mainstay. Those young people who had just been transferred from the youth team and the second team to the first team were prepared for the future, not for the present.