Chapter 368: The Day After II: Competition

The second group… those who had played less or not at all, were on the pitch doing a sharp, intense session under Kevin Bray’s supervision.

The heat was punishing, but the energy was high. Connor Blake was running patterns with Nya Kirby, the two of them working on the combination play that had produced the third goal the night before.

Blake was still visibly buzzing from his finish, that rising shot into the roof of the net, and he was channelling it into the session with a focused, almost manic energy. Kirby, quieter and more measured, kept finding him with passes that were a fraction too early, forcing Blake to adjust his run.

“Again,” Kirby said each time. “Again.”

At half past nine, I called a halt to both groups and brought everyone together on the pitch.

“Before we start the debrief,” I said, “I want to introduce someone properly.”

James Rodríguez walked out from the tunnel in full training gear: red and blue, the number ten on his chest, and the squad reacted exactly as I had expected them to.

The academy kids, Blake and Kirby, went completely still, their faces doing the involuntary thing that faces do when you are in the presence of someone you have watched on television your entire life.

Pato, who had played alongside players of this calibre at AC Milan, gave a warm, knowing smile. Neves, who had been at Porto and had grown up idolising the Colombian, nodded once with a quiet respect that said more than any words could.

Zaha walked straight up to him and wrapped him in a hug. “Welcome, brother,” he said. “You’re going to love it here.”

James laughed, a genuine, warm laugh, and clapped Zaha on the back. “I already do,” he said.

Dann and McArthur, the two senior pros, shook his hand with the firm, measured respect of men who had been around long enough to know the difference between a superstar and a footballer. James was both. They could see it in the way he carried himself, in the ease with which he moved, in the way his eyes were already scanning the pitch, already reading the space, already thinking.

Then there was Bojan. And there was Eze.

Both of them welcomed him warmly. Both of them shook his hand, said the right things, smiled the right smiles. But I watched their eyes, and I saw what was there. Bojan’s jaw was set a fraction tighter than usual.

Eze’s smile was a fraction too controlled, too deliberate. They were professionals, both of them, and they were handling it with grace. But James Rodríguez had just walked onto their pitch, in their number, and they both knew exactly what it meant.

The competition for the number ten position had just become a three-way fight.

James said a few words to the squad warm, genuine, slightly halting in English, but entirely sincere.

He told them he was excited to be there, that he had watched the game the night before from the booth and had been impressed by the second half, and that he was here to work hard and help the team.

The squad applauded. I caught Freedman’s eye at the edge of the pitch. He gave me a small, satisfied nod. I nodded back.

The analysis session was held in the air-conditioned briefing room after lunch. I kept it tight and purposeful. I started with the positives, because there were genuine positives to celebrate.

I showed the clips of the second-half press: the coordinated, snarling unit that had dismantled Atlético’s reserves, and I named names.

Eze for his relentless energy. Bojan for his intelligence in the intercept that led to Pato’s goal. Blake for his fearlessness. Pato for his finish, and for what it meant to him personally. I didn’t say that last part out loud. I didn’t need to. The clip of him pointing to the sky said it for me.

Then I moved to the first half. I put the pressing efficiency number on the screen. 18%.

The room went quiet.

“This is what we looked like when their first team was on the pitch,” I said. “Organised, disciplined, and completely in control. That is the level. That is what we are working towards.”

I showed the clips of the two goals: Milivojević’s turnover, Tarkowski’s lapse and I was honest but not cruel. “These are fixable. These are not talent problems. These are concentration problems, communication problems, problems that get solved on the training pitch. We will solve them.”

I finished with the penalties. Three clips. Three misses. I said nothing. I just let them watch.

“We will work on this,” I said, when the screen went dark. “Every single day, until it is not a weakness anymore.”

I paused before dismissing them, because there was one more thing that needed to be said. The honest thing. “I also want you to be clear about something,” I said.

“The 4-2 scoreline does not tell the full story of last night. When Simeone’s first team was on the pitch: Griezmann, Torres, Koke, Gabi, Saúl they were the better side. They pressed better, they moved better, they read the game better. We were second to almost everything for the first forty-five minutes. The reason the scoreline flipped in the second half is not because we suddenly became a better team. It is because their substitutes were not as good as ours. That is the truth. Our depth won us that game, not our system, not our first eleven. And that is not good enough. Our goal is to be good enough to beat their first team with our first team. That is the standard. That is what pre-season is for. Remember that number 18%. That is where we are right now. That is what we are working to fix.” The room was quiet. I could see it landing not as a deflation, but as a challenge. Good.

> System Notification: [Training Priority Updated]

> Penalty Training: Added to daily session schedule.

> Squad Morale: +4 (Clear Direction)

The afternoon session was the best we had had since arriving in Singapore.

James was in the small-sided game, moving with that easy, fluid grace that made everything look effortless.

He had a way of receiving the ball with his body already half-turned, already facing the direction he wanted to go, which meant he was always a step ahead of the press.

He played a no-look pass to McArthur that drew a genuine, involuntary gasp from Kevin Bray on the sideline. He found Zaha with a through-ball that split two defenders with the precision of a surgeon’s cut.

But Bojan was not going to be outshone. He responded with a piece of skill that stopped the game dead a first-time, outside-of-the-boot pass that curved perfectly into the path of Blake, who didn’t even have to break stride. The squad applauded. James, who had been on the receiving end of the move, turned and looked at Bojan with a new, sharp respect. Bojan met his gaze and gave a small, quiet nod.

And then Eze got the ball on the edge of the box, took one touch, and chipped the goalkeeper from twenty-five yards with a casual, almost contemptuous ease that made everyone on the pitch stop and stare. He turned, spread his arms wide, and bowed. The same bow he had given the crowd the night before. The squad erupted.

I stood on the sideline and watched all three of them, and I felt something that I could only describe as a deep, quiet satisfaction. This was what a top club felt like. This was the standard.

This competition of three gifted, ambitious, technically brilliant players all fighting for the same position was going to make every single one of them better. It was going to make the team better.

I made a quiet promise to myself, standing there in the Singapore heat with the sound of the session ringing in my ears. I would give all three of them equal time. Equal opportunity. Equal trust. I would not pick a favourite. I would let the football decide.

This competition, I thought, watching Eze nutmeg James with a grin that was equal parts joy and provocation, as long as it stays healthy, will make us all better.

The session ended an hour later. The players drifted off the pitch in small groups, laughing, arguing, already processing the day. James walked off with Zaha, the two of them deep in conversation, already comfortable with each other in the way that great players often are a mutual recognition, a shared language that didn’t need words to establish itself.

I stayed on the pitch for a while after everyone had gone. The sun was dropping towards the horizon, painting the sky in shades of orange and pink that you simply did not get in Manchester. I thought about Emma, about the promise I had made her that morning. About laksa and the waterfront and the lights coming on over the bay.

I was a long way from Moss Side. And for the first time in a long time, that felt like exactly where I was supposed to be.

***

Thank you to Sir nameyelus for the support.

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