Chapter 27

"Beeeeeeeeeeppp"

"Wrong again, you are jumping out too early and getting caught out of position. Back into formation and take it from the top."

The player who had been called out presented a frustrated figure and angrily stomped back into his starting position. The manager couldn't help but feel annoyed as well, as they had been over the same passage of play multiple times, and he wasn't understanding it. The habit of trying to take the game into his own hands and getting drawn out of by the opponent was too deeply ingrained. He didn't feel like he was seeing progress either and in fact it felt like he was worse than the early games of the season. It was a vicious cycle, in which the team would concede a goal and then to stop it he would attempt to attack the ball further up. The space left behind him would then be exploited to score another goal which only led to even more reckless play. It had not been such a crucial problem early on, but the losses and draws had likely built some form of frustration in the player as he seemed to routinely drift out of position. Those games had been shambolic but a hidden benefit of the team performing so badly was that they were very deep in their own half hence it was difficult to exploit the space but now they were on the front foot and trying to make the pitch big which meant it wasn't possible to ignore this insubordination. The next match was against Luton Town as well who were set piece experts who had managed to find themselves in the playoff places with only forty four percent of the possession. They were highly successful from dead ball situations and liked to progress play through long raking balls.

The practise came to an end, and he called Bafode over for conversation to get to the bottom of it.

"Explain it to me, why are you jumping out and not just holding your position?"

"I'm just trying to stop the ball going in" he flippantly replied, shrugging his shoulders in the process.

"In the process of that you are leaving vast spaces behind you which they can exploit." The manager roared back, annoyed by his attitude.

"We haven't conceded from it though"

"And you think that's because you were being smart, in that case you need to come with me" walking away into the direction of the video room.

"I would like you to show that tactical compilation on him please, put it on the big screen as well so we can be sure he doesn't miss anything"

The tactical compilation was one that he had requested from the analytics team when he felt that Bafode was being reckless in the challenge. It was still possible that he was making a mountain out of a molehill, so he requested the tapes to clarify his opinion. The tapes made dire viewing of a player who was routinely exposing his team mates to excess burden. The silent work his teammates had put in was also put on full display. On one occasion, Bafode had thrown himself forward and Andre had dropped into the defence to cover the hole he had left. Another one, showed Matheus and Ravil move closer together and collectively plug the gap that was formed. The danger was ever present, and it made each of their jobs more difficult, but it looked like the other defensive players had become used to working around his tendencies. Bafode watched the video in complete silence with his manager standing up and staring directly at him the entire time.

"As it stands now, you are a liability in the defence and your teammates have carried the burden for your recklessness. You will find a way to fix that, or I will find someone else who can fill the spot." The manager coldly informed the shell-shocked player, before walking out of the room.

The time before the match had passed uneventfully with Bafode attempting to apply himself at training with the risk of being dropped hanging over his head. The manager hadn't said much more to him since then, only having quiet conversations with Nico Gordon to prepare himself in case a position opened up. He had drilled pertinent information of the opponent into the young defender so he would be ready to deputise if he felt that Bafode wasn't capable.

The atmosphere in the crowd was jubilant having enjoyed the recent performances of the team and they were bouncing in their seats even before the game began. The manager was the only one who was slightly concerned knowing that even on their current form this team would be difficult.

The whistle announced the start of the game with possession in the hands of The Blues who distributed the ball around. The attacking players attempted to move the ball forward and find space between the lines, but the opponents were defending deep, and it was difficult to break them down. The team utilised the wings and quick switches to draw them out, but it was clear they were very disciplined and wouldn't get pulled apart easily. A little impatience set into Valentin who attempted to dribble his opposing number and instead got squeezed out resulting in possession going the other way.

The difficulty instantly ramped up with the ball being sent up towards their tall striker Elijah Adebayo. He was very athletic and tall coming in at six foot four inches, he was also ruthless in front of goals having scored sixteen goals the previous season. Bafode pushed up to try and stop him but was physically manhandled and not able to influence the play at all. Elijah headed the ball towards one of his wingers who managed to snap off a dangerous shot which was blocked by Ravil throwing his body in front of it.

The first half progressed very much in that manner with the opponent gaining aerial supremacy and exploiting the spaces left behind the young centre back who was getting increasingly frustrated. It went from bad to worse when a ball was crossed into the box which he poorly cleared out. The ball ended up landing to an opposing player who sent it into the air in the space he vacated. Ravil had already moved up to cover but was no match aerially for Elijah who smashed a header into the top corner, the keeper narrowly missing it. This sent Bafode's confidence trembling, and his manager could see him visibly shrinking.

The whistle for half time blew with the young centre back feeling he had let his entire team down. His head was down, and he felt a contact on his arm. He looked up to see his centre back partner with a hand over him, encouraging him. He looked around and saw most of his teammates were already next to him, saying that he would do better next time and that it wasn't a matter. He looked into each of their eyes, and he couldn't see the blame he was expecting to see. It was like a fog had been lifted from his eyes and he made the decision to do whatever he could to help this team win. He nodded to show them that his status was fine and then walked to the changing room.

Yusuf had already told Nico Gordon to warm up and prepare himself as he couldn't leave Bafode on the pitch any longer. His confidence was entirely drained, and it wouldn't be responsible for the player either. The team filtered into the dressing room as he was still thinking about how to tell him and the expression on his face shocked him.

Bafode didn't immediately sit with the rest of the players and instead stood in the middle of the dressing room as if to give a speech.

"The first half was my fault; I was too reckless and tried to take it into my own hands instead of trusting my teammates. I know words are cheap, but you will see a different side of me in the next half" the young man said after bowing towards his teammates, who immediately told him not to worry.

Bafode then proceeded to walk up to the manager and ask for one more opportunity and that he wouldn't fail this time. Yusuf couldn't trust him so easily so grilled him on the mistakes he made, and he was entirely open with it and understood the mistakes he had made and what he should have done instead. The manager felt confident he would do a lot better so let him stay on and like that the next half started.

The second half was a completely different affair, true to form Luton Town sent long balls into the box often and tried to progress the ball in that manner. This time though Bafode was disciplined receiving cues from his teammates and not getting drawn out so quickly. He prioritised keeping the shape and allowed his midfielders to patrol the area in front of him, freeing him to focus on the balls getting crossed in. His second half was completely dominant as he claimed every header and sent it straight out. He made a nuisance of himself and was all over the striker not allowing him to breathe for a second. The final result ended up being two one to Birmingham City and it was due to how stifled the opposition felt which made them have to come out of defence. The team was ecstatic at the end of the match and they all congratulated Bafode on his performance.

Author Message:

I wasn't entirely sure how to address this, but I am going to be completely honest about what has been going on as I feel you deserve it. I struggled with writing this chapter, it was almost complete days ago, but I haven't been able to get myself to focus on it. The reasons are manifold and involve stuff going on in my personal life which means it isn't the best situation for me to be dedicating so much time to this. I also feel like what started as fun has become more and more restrictive as time goes on having to work around the limitations of real life. I like fantasy and I want my writing to be creative and imaginative, but this genre doesn't really allow me to do that. For those reasons, this series is coming to an end. I thought about calling it an indefinite hiatus but that wouldn't feel truthful as I currently feel no motivation to keep writing for it. I plan to take some time out and then write a grand expansive story when I'm ready, one that I would be proud to call my own. To those of you who have been fans of GOTH, I thank you wholeheartedly as you have been my main motivation so far and apologise for not being able to give it a satisfactory ending. I also hope you will keep supporting me in the future.