"Good morning!"
"Good morning!"
"Ivan! Are you able to train now?"
Suker happily walked over to Gattuso. Since Gattuso's injury, AC Milan's matches had become increasingly difficult to play.
Now that Gattuso was back on the field, did it mean his injury was fully healed?
"I'm doing recovery training, still need two more weeks," Gattuso replied cheerfully. He knew his importance to the team and was racing to recover, putting in a lot of effort.
As a result, his recovery time might be shortened by about a week.
"That's great news!" Suker happily patted Gattuso's shoulder.
Gattuso squinted slightly, feeling a bit uneasy.
Suker was way too serious.
"What's wrong?" Suker asked.
Gattuso shook his head: "I feel like you're up to something sneaky."
Suker snapped back, "Am I that kind of person?"
"Where's your hand touching?" Gattuso grabbed his own training pants and said faintly.
Suker scratched his cheek awkwardly: "I was just checking if your drawstring was tight enough!"
Then he dashed away.
"Jerk!"
Gattuso snorted but smiled a little. He liked this kind of joking around with Suker.
More AC Milan players arrived and gathered on the training field. Ancelotti led the coaching staff over.
"Boss, are you alright?"
Maldini looked worriedly at Ancelotti.
Ancelotti looked pale, with messy hair and dark circles under his eyes.
"I'll stay just one hour, then rest," Ancelotti waved off concerns. He had only slept 3 hours in two days and was somewhat exhausted.
But even so, he had to issue the training plan.
Suker and others waited quietly, spotting a familiar figure at the coaching bench.
"First, let me introduce…" Ancelotti gestured behind him.
A coach in Milan training gear stepped forward.
"I think you all know him?"
Everyone, including Suker, smiled.
"Let me introduce myself." Costacurta smiled and greeted, "Long time no see. In the future, alongside Tassotti, I'll assist the boss as assistant coach."
"Applause!"
Suker shouted and led the clapping. Others joined enthusiastically.
Costacurta winked at Suker, stepped back, and stood behind Ancelotti.
Ancelotti announced: "As you see, Costacurta and Tassotti will be assistant coaches. They'll be responsible for training some players today."
"Others?"
Suker was surprised.
Did some players need individual training?
"Let's start training." Ancelotti then said, "Suker and Kaka, stay!"
Suker and Kaka exchanged a glance and approached Ancelotti.
Ancelotti yawned loudly, trying hard to keep his eyes open, wrinkles forming on his forehead.
"Boss, you should rest first!"
Kaka urged worriedly, afraid Ancelotti would overwork and have a health issue.
Ancelotti waved him off, "I will rest after finishing my work. Now, listen carefully."
Suker and Kaka nodded immediately.
Ancelotti took a deep breath: "I need both of you to unleash your highest levels simultaneously!"
Suker grinned.
Kaka shook his head.
This was clearly impossible.
"What if we change the mindset?" Ancelotti pointed at the two: "Use your mutual understanding to adjust tactical roles. For example, when Suker leads the attack, Kaka supports, and vice versa."
Suker blinked.
This was very idealistic—difficult to realize.
"Is this something mere chemistry can achieve?" Suker sighed.
"Unless we're telepathic, it's impossible."
Suker understood Ancelotti's ongoing effort to make 'God Suker' and 'God-slaying Kaka' coexist.
But tactical resources were limited—how could they both have them fully?
And now it was even more absurd—letting their chemistry make tactical resources flow dynamically between them.
This wasn't just about Suker and Kaka; the whole team needed to understand it, so they'd know who to pass the ball to.
It required all 11 players to share a collective, constantly changing mindset on the pitch.
If just two players struggled to coordinate, how could 11 do it?
"I know what you're thinking: how do others know who to pass to? You have to actively signal for the ball. I'll also order the team to channel attacks through you two!"
Suker: "That's too rigid! Opponents will quickly figure it out and focus on whoever's on the ball!"
Ancelotti smiled hearing Suker:
"Will you be marked out?" he asked them.
"Three opponents can't mark you out. Kaka is the same. You have different styles but both extremely strong individually. Now, I don't want you to use this strength to push forward alone but to break through and pass to the other. Tactical resources transfer with the ball."
He pointed at Suker: "The final question is, how do you and him exchange tactical resources?"
Suker and Kaka were stunned.
They finally understood Ancelotti's idea.
This guy really is a genius!
He thought of this brilliant plan.
If it works, coexistence is possible.
Suker excitedly asked, "What do we do next? How do we do it?"
Kaka looked expectant.
Ancelotti spread his hands: "I don't have the answer!"
"Huh?"
"No answer?!"
Suker and Kaka yelled.
What kind of nonsense was this?
They thought Ancelotti had a solution, but it was only halfway there!
"You have to explore it yourselves. I just gave you the concept. How to implement it depends on your effort."
Ancelotti said seriously: "You know yourselves best. But you must also know each other as well as you know yourselves."
"I can't help beyond this. But I can give you the opportunity to experiment!"
"Kaka needs to understand Suker; Suker needs to understand Kaka—as well as they understand themselves."
Suker lowered his head, thinking hard: "To understand Kaka like I understand myself…"
Suddenly, an inspiration struck.
Basically, he needed to learn about Kaka's decision-making at different times—this decision process could be one-way or two-way.
It was impossible for Kaka to fully understand him.
But maybe Suker could!
After all, he'd done it once before—
Diamond Card (Special) Inzaghi's Awareness.
That card enabled Suker to develop full synergy with Inzaghi, understanding all his thoughts.
But that was a Diamond Card!
Suker looked at Kaka: "How good is your awareness?"
Kaka blinked—what kind of question was that?
"Pretty good, I guess!" Kaka answered cluelessly.
Ancelotti saw Suker seemed to have an idea: "Alright, that's it. You figure it out yourselves. I'm going to sleep."
Ancelotti left.
Kaka looked around in confusion, asking, "What should I do?"
Suker took a deep breath: "Win matches!"
"What?" Kaka didn't understand.
Suker didn't explain.
All they could do now was keep training cards!
He hoped Kaka's awareness was at least a Platinum Card.
If it were a Diamond Card, then there'd be no hope.
Actually, it wasn't impossible.
Inzaghi's Awareness was Diamond because of buffs and "Phantom Assassin" traits.
Pure top-level Diamond awareness probably belonged only to midfield maestros—like Zidane, Pirlo, future Modrić.
They alone deserved "Diamond-level awareness."
As for Kaka, Suker wasn't sure.
He could only hope for Platinum.
If Diamond, then hopeless.
He'd also have to mess with the system to see if there was a way to get Diamond Cards through other means.