My Goalkeeping System

The game against Dynamo FC was just three days so there was still a lot of time left for Norman to come up with a game plan and while he was doing that, the players were training hard to keep their bodies in top shape for the game.

They didn't get to do much yesterday because it was just after a match and they had to focus on the small stuff to help recover from the game but today, their bodies were almost back to top condition so they could go back to going through all the drills laid out for the day.

The training session started with running a couple of laps around the pitch just as always and after that, they went through a series of stretches before diving into the other drills.

There was a dribbling drill, shooting drill, and even a passing drill to show how well the players could handle moving the ball around under pressure.

Norman had to keep a close eye on this one because if there was one thing he had noticed this season despite how good they have been was that his team sort of broke whenever the opponents started pressing hard against them.

They needed to learn how to stay calm enough under pressure to move the ball around swiftly without any mistakes.

They spent quite a lot of time on this drill and each time it just kept expanding with four defenders working together to get the ball away from Merino, Mateo, and Ferran.

The rule was that the ones moving the ball around were not allowed to touch the ball more than three times before passing it to someone else.

This was a bit unfair but the coach wanted to emphasize the importance of passing especially when cornered.

This particular drill didn't really have anything to do with Dave but he still took part in it as one of the passers and one of the chasers.

After forcing the players to go through the same scenario over and over again, they were finally given the signal to take a break.

"Ah, finally." Fred let out a sigh of relief before crashing down on the floor.

"It was that tiring, huh?" Dave said before sitting down beside him.

"Of course." The striker responded before sitting up on the floor. "I'm surprised you don't even look that tired."

"Well, I didn't really do much, I joined in mostly for the form." The goalkeeper remarked with an awkward smile on his face.

[ 65% stamina remaining ]

'I'm aware of that, you don't have to state the obvious.'

"Hm, I see." The striker muttered before slowly turning away from him. "You know, you've changed a lot in just this season, Dave."

"You think?"

"Mhm, I mean, you try harder than you used to now, you smile more and your overall outlook is way more positive. Of course, let's not forget the fact that you're suddenly a super goalkeeper who our opponents struggle to score against no matter how bad our defense may look." He articulated before leaning closer to him. "Is your wife some sort of god?"

"Oh, so you think this is my wife?" Dave smile.

"Well, I tried to come up with a better reason but that was the best I could do. I can't say it's doping because you've been working harder than anybody lately so saying that would be insulting."

"I see." The goalkeeper said before slowly lying down on the grass. "You're not wrong though she is one of the main reasons, I guess you could say I wanted to become a better person, for her and for this team."

'No denying that.'

Hearing him say, Fred couldn't help but smile.

"I guess I should thank her the next time I get to see her, knowing that you will be in between the sticks against Dynamo FC makes me believe that our chance of winning is more than fifty percent." He expressed before getting up on his feet. "Anyway, I'm going to dehydrate myself now before my insides dry up."

Just after saying that, the striker began to make his way to the sidelines and Dave just lay there with his gaze on the bright blue sky.

'Hey, Catherine.'

'I plan to not hold back against Dynamo FC.'

'I know, I just hope the system doesn't start misbehaving.'

The break came to an end a few minutes later and without further ado, the players went straight back to training.

They were glad when Norman said they were going to continue the passing drill tomorrow because some of them were starting to get tired of it at that moment but they were still glad they did it because some of them were able to pick up a few things from the exercise.

This was that period where they were allowed to do whatever they wanted during the session, as long as any of them wasn't sitting down, they didn't have any problem with the coach during this period.

Dave was putting this to good use with penalty kick practice to see how well he could save spot-kicks without focus.

Mateo was also going to be using the opportunity to work on his penalty kick technique and practicing against Dave was honestly good for him so it was a win-win situation for the both of them.

The first kick was sent over the bar by the winger so he was going to be taking the second one now with a more composed look on his face.

'Shush.'

The goalkeeper jumped on his goal line a bit as the winger slowly took three steps backward, and as soon as the winger stopped, he stopped jumping to spread out his arms.

Mateo kept his gaze on the goalkeeper for a few seconds before he quickly closed up on the ball and fired it toward the left.

The ball was elevated a bit but anybody looking at it wouldn't know because it was so close to the ground.

Dave quickly dived toward the ball just as it closed up toward the goalpost and it really looked like he was going to stop it for a moment there with the tip of his gloves just on but the shot was just too powerful so it ended up slipping away from him to make contact with the post before rolling past the line.

'And just how the heck was that a little elevated, it wasn't even elevated at all.'

'Yeah, thanks a lot.'

"That was quite close, huh?" Mateo uttered as he made his way to him.

"Yeah, but you beat me to it," Dave responded before he picked up the ball and threw it to him. "The day we face each other in a match is going to be pretty insane."

"Well, we're both moving to different clubs at the end of the season so that might happen sooner than expected."