"During the upcoming group stage period, I'm afraid we'll be facing a three-front war. I will arrange the lineup based on your training performance, match performance, and physical condition. Right now, there is no distinction between so-called starters and substitutes; there's only the starting lineup that fits the next match. I hope everyone can adjust their mindset and get through this difficult time!"
Playing on three fronts is common for top clubs; they face a three-front war every season.
As a top club, who wouldn't make it into the Champions League? That would be too embarrassing.
For the current Borussia Dortmund, there is only one set of a sufficiently competitive starting lineup. Their bench depth is severely lacking. It's fine if everyone is healthy, but whenever injuries strike, they are stretched thin.
Starting from September 18th, the six rounds of the Champions League group stage would take place almost every other week, continuing until Christmas in December. In between, there were also two rounds of the German Cup.
For over two months, they would be playing almost two matches a week. To ensure stability this season, Klopp had to consider squad rotation during this period, so he gave the players a heads-up in advance.
Jin Hayes didn't have many thoughts about it. With the blessing of his physical talent, he could completely handle playing two full matches a week. This freakish physical quality left the team's fitness coach stunned.
"Jürgen, where did you find this monster? His sixteen-year-old body is comparable to a twenty-five-year-old's peak. If he really reaches that stage, I can't imagine how freakish he'll be!"
Klopp was also puzzled. "Didn't they say his stamina and physical fitness were flawed last season?"
"I guess his physical fitness improved after he turned sixteen. He trains too hard—he's simply the most hardworking professional player I've ever seen."
As Borussia Dortmund's current absolute core, Klopp specifically had the coaching and medical teams strictly monitor Jin Hayes's physical data. He was afraid that such hard work might hide underlying risks. For now, Jin Hayes's physical fitness was indeed freakish, with absolutely no need for concern.
After the tactical meeting ended, this kid was the first to run to the gym to pump iron. From 9:00 to 10:00 in the morning was strength training. At 10:30, the whole team went to the training ground to start ball drills.
"Coach, when will this building be finished?" Jin Hayes pointed to the unfinished new training facility nearby and asked. He couldn't wait to go in and experience it; it always felt like it would be fun.
"Early next year. By the way—" Klopp suddenly remembered something. "Your passing has improved a lot lately, but you always like to make risky decisions. I think you could be a bit more conservative."
Whether on the training ground or in a match, Jin Hayes's plays often sought extreme opportunities. In the previous 5–1 victory over Bayern, there were some balls Jin Hayes could have slowed down to pass back to teammates or to safer areas. Instead, he liked to take risks, which caused some passes to fail. The trait of pursuing high risk and high reward isn't necessarily bad; it just needs a bit of attention.
"But I feel that as long as those balls can be delivered, they're all certain goal-scoring opportunities. It's just a pity my execution isn't refined enough."
"You're too eager for success." Klopp shook his head and smiled. "You want to be like Xavi and Sneijder, but how many years have they been practising? How many years have you been practising? Take it slow."
Jin Hayes understood this logic.
Without the talent boost, his passing level's growth would already be considered outstanding. It was normal to have a gap with master-level players. But currently, in the attacking midfielder position, he always faced denser defences. With a level in the seventies, it was hard to make more effective through balls; in most cases, he still had to rely on breakthroughs to stretch the defence.
After Klopp said that, Jin Hayes realised he had indeed been too impatient. After obtaining the technical talent for top-tier ball feel, he seemed to want to reach the top in one step, relying more on the immediate effects of his unique abilities.
As for the growth accumulated day by day, Jin Hayes had been looking down on it more and more. Lately, he had been searching for that feeling every day, trying to activate his passing talent. He even liked to take risks in matches, leading to loss of possession.
No, this isn't right.
Luckily he chatted more with the coach, otherwise Jin Hayes would have remained immersed in the emotion of haste making waste. He already had two top-tier talents—technique and physical—what more could he want? The rest would come slowly.
...
"Jin, what did the coach talk to you about just now?" The gossipy Mats Hummels curiously leaned in.
Jin Hayes casually made something up. "The coach said your training attitude hasn't been proactive lately and told you to go to the reserves to clear your head."
"Huh? For real? I've clearly been training very seriously!" Hummels panicked a little.
"Hahahaha, Mats, you're too easy to fool! Even I could tell Jin was scaring you." Nuri Şahin gloated from behind, while Marco Reus and Neven Subotić also covered their mouths and chuckled. Only then did Hummels realise.
"You're something else, Jin! You've learned how to lie too!" Jin Hayes's serious look was truly convincing. Hummels was annoyed and wanted to go up and tackle Jin Hayes to the ground, but even using all his strength, he couldn't succeed.
Last season, when Hummels and Jin Hayes messed around, he could easily knock him down. The fifteen-year-old kid's body was too thin, completely no match for him. Just one year later, Jin Hayes was already strong enough to rival Hummels in strength.
"Jesus, Jin! What's going on?"
"I told you, you've been training too little." Jin Hayes wagged his finger with a look of disdain, leaving Hummels questioning his life. In reality, Jin Hayes had also used all his strength. After all, his foundation wasn't as good as Hummels's, he was at an age disadvantage, and his body hadn't grown to its limit yet.
On the pitch, unless he encountered a particularly troublesome opponent, in most cases, being able to withstand the first wave of physical confrontation from defenders and defensive midfielders was enough. He had plenty of time to handle the ball.
...
"Huff—Huff—"
The huge pressure coming from behind made Jin Hayes fight back with all his might. One second he was still messing around with Hummels on the training ground, the next second, Jin Hayes was already on the pitch. Behind him was Bayer Leverkusen's defensive anchor and German international Simon Rolfes, blocking the way like a solid wall.
Rolfes constantly tried to use his upper body strength to bump into Jin Hayes, disrupting his balance to create a chance to steal the ball. Jin Hayes could only lean firmly against his opponent, resisting this powerful impact while looking for a suitable opportunity to break through.
September 13, 2008, Bundesliga Round 4.
Bayer Leverkusen hosted the match at the BayArena, welcoming the challenge of the Bumblebees, Borussia Dortmund. Last season, Jin Hayes's solo breakthrough against Leverkusen had helped the team come from behind to win 2–1. Dortmund eventually broke into the top three, kicking Leverkusen's Champions League dream away with one foot. That match directly led to the dismissal of former head coach Michael Skibbe. This season, the Pharmacists had a new coach, Bruno Labbadia, the former manager of 2. Bundesliga side Greuther Fürth.
Before Bruno Labbadia came to the Bundesliga, he had already heard of Jin Hayes's reputation as a coach killer. Several coaches from Schalke 04, Bayern, Werder Bremen, and Atlético Madrid were fired after losing to the young star. The talented teenager had seemingly become a nightmare for all Bundesliga coaches.
To this end, Labbadia specifically changed his usual 4-4-2 formation.
For this match, he specially adjusted the lineup, fielding three defensive midfielders: German national team anchor Simon Rolfes, Polish international Tomasz Zdebel, and Swiss national team starter Tranquillo Barnetta. Plus the attacking midfielder who was also a tenacious ball-winner, Chilean international Arturo Vidal—it was practically a four-defensive-midfielder midfield strangulation system.
Even commentator Oliver Kahn laughed: "Bayer Leverkusen has set up a Maginot Line in the middle. Such tight marking for a 16-year-old kid is a bit excessive."
Mehmet Scholl chuckled twice: "But this 16-year-old kid is no ordinary person. No coach dares to easily ignore him anymore."
Whoever dares to ignore Jin Hayes, Bayern is the best example. Klinsmann's defensive tactics didn't make specific deployments for Jin Hayes, allowing him to dominate the midfield and create a 5–1 massacre.
"From the situation in the first 30 minutes of the first half, the four-defensive-midfielder strangulation has indeed effectively suppressed Borussia Dortmund's attack. Locking down Jin Hayes means locking down Borussia Dortmund."
Bayer Leverkusen targeted almost no one else; as soon as Jin Hayes got the ball in the final third, he would instantly face a four-man dragnet. Rolfes, Zdebel, and Barnetta lined up in an arc-shaped encirclement. Vidal caught up from behind, and the four of them worked together to trap Jin Hayes.
They had no intention of actively lunging for the ball, fearing Jin Hayes would use his footwork to break through. The four defensive midfielders just kept a certain distance, blocking Jin Hayes's passing lanes. This way, Jin Hayes could only pass sideways or backward, slowing down Borussia Dortmund's counter-attack speed as much as possible.
With Jin Hayes blocked, Borussia Dortmund formed more breakthroughs from the wings, using the dribbling abilities of Marco Reus and Jakub Błaszczykowski to advance. Unfortunately, their few crosses didn't have much effect.
At 30 minutes, both sides still maintained a 0–0 score, temporarily at a stalemate. Jin Hayes was even forced to actively drop back into his own half to receive the ball, almost reaching the defensive midfielder position. He was still pressed from behind by Rolfes, preventing him from turning. Vidal also closed in at the same time; Borussia Dortmund's situation was critical.
"Oh no, this ball!" Seeing that Jin Hayes was about to lose possession deep in his own half, with Vidal's tackle and encirclement quite decisive, all Dortmund fans couldn't help but sweat for their star, while simultaneously hoping he would create a miracle.
Jin Hayes moved. The more critical the moment, the calmer his mind became. The clamour of the BayArena instantly went quiet, and Vidal and Rolfes's movements seemed to slow down.
Jin Hayes took advantage of the moment Vidal reached out to steal the ball, poking it to change direction past the Chilean and taking a step forward to open up space. Vidal and Rolfes were left behind on the same side, but Jin Hayes still faced his own goal and hadn't been able to turn around.
"Damn it!!" Vidal and Rolfes closed in from behind together. At the same time, Bayer Leverkusen's strike duo Stefan Kießling and Patrick Helmes both came up to press Jin Hayes. He had practically become the "monkey" in a game of keep-away, facing Leverkusen's pursuit and interception.
At this extreme moment, the image of a certain player came to Jin Hayes's mind—someone known for a particular turning move. Last time, during a prank on Cesc Fàbregas, Jin Hayes had even demonstrated that pivot technique. Now, on the pitch, it might have a miraculous effect.
All the Bayer Leverkusen fans cheered excitedly, seeing the team about to steal the ball from Jin Hayes in the defensive third and create a threat. But then, that Chinese player actually performed a single-leg rotation on the spot, completing a 360-degree turn. Most ridiculously, his stationary turn happened to shake off Vidal and Rolfes behind him. Jin Hayes had successfully turned!
"What the hell?!"
"How can this be?!"
"Huh?!"
Rolfes and Vidal were too focused on lunging for the ball, only to be toyed with by Jin Hayes's ridiculous turn. By the time they realised something was wrong, it was too late. Jin Hayes's feet suddenly exerted force, his core strength exploded, and through his thighs driving his calves, he suddenly accelerated. The 35-year-old Polish defensive midfielder Tomasz Zdebel had just arrived, but in an instant, Jin Hayes opened up a gap—it was too late even to reach out and foul.
"What speed!! Dortmund's counter-attack!!"
As Jin Hayes sprinted across the halfway line, the BayArena erupted in exclamations. The enemy had already sounded the bugle for the charge. The Borussia Dortmund players in black jerseys advanced together, launching their attack like a surging tide—grand and unstoppable.
"Jin, dribbling through—Barnetta intercepts... a quick step-over, OHHHH—a step-over into a Marseille Turn!! The movement is too fast!"
Jin Hayes's dazzling step-overs made Barnetta's nerves extremely tense. Who would have thought this guy could smoothly transition from a step-over into a Marseille turn? With the slightest lapse in attention, he was instantly left behind by the 16-year-old.
A 4-on-2 situation in front of the Bayer Leverkusen penalty area. Reus was already in position, and defender Manuel Friedrich didn't dare to be negligent, quickly moving to the right to defend. The Jin–Reus connection is definitely the most dangerous attacking link in the Bundesliga.
Seeing Jin Hayes aim at Reus and prepare to strike the ball with his right foot, Friedrich braced for a cross. But Jin Hayes's right leg actually kicked air.
"Heh heh, you fell for it!" The corner of Jin Hayes's mouth curled into a smirk. His trick had worked. The moment his right foot landed, he used a rabona with his left foot to push the ball toward the open space in the half-space. A decisive strike.
"This ball!!" The only remaining centre-back, Karim Haggui, was still struggling with Alexander Frei. Right winger Jakub Błaszczykowski was completely unmarked. Jin Hayes's rabona pass was perfectly weighted—the power, speed, and angle were flawless.
Jakub Błaszczykowski flanked from the right, not even needing to adjust his steps, and struck with his foot.
Bang—
"Gooooooal!! A powerful shot!"
"Borussia Dortmund takes the lead in the first half! They've stormed Bayer Leverkusen's home ground!"
"Jin Hayes once again orchestrated a Dortmund-style quick counter-attack!"
"At this moment, with a brilliant performance of 5 goals and 6 assists, this 16-year-old talent leads both the Bundesliga top scorer and top assist charts!"
A collective shiver seemed to run through every German fan watching the match. The young player's influence on the pitch was simply overwhelming.