Williamson Memorial

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Lucky for the boys, Xavier considered them a bit... Or he didn't; it was difficult for them to know. He decided to start talking about the tactics they were going to use before they began physical training.

While the boys appreciated the "kind gesture," it was five o'clock in the morning, and they were still feeling very sleepy. A few of them would've fallen asleep if not for the fact that Xavier didn't forget to continually threaten them with Marcus and Co.

"I'll tell you more about them when I receive the scout report later this evening," Xavier said. "That marks the end of the tactical bullshit this morning. All of you, get changed and follow me outside...

...We have a lot to do today."

For the next two hours, Alexis and Co found themselves playing the most exciting kind of football they had ever played in their lives. Although what they were playing wasn't as perfect as Xavier would've wanted, it was still quite good.

The only downside to playing like that was the fact that as much as they were having fun, they were also getting quite tired. After playing for barely thirty minutes, everyone was panting. The only people who were left out of the general fatigue were the center-backs and the goalkeeper.

Everyone playing couldn't help but shoot the midfielders looks of pity. Alexis, David, and Archie found themselves in constant motion. When the ball was at the back, they were moving. When they were attacking, they were moving. In possession, they were moving. They had gotten the grunt of this new Liverpool Red-themed style of playing.

David and Archie didn't really seem to mind it. David was a bit tired, but it really wasn't obvious. As for Archie... It had been established that he had the stamina of a horse. Alexis was the only one visibly affected by it, and even though he tried his best to act tough, it was obvious that his lungs were on their last breath.

"Alright, seeing as you cunts look like you're going to collapse any moment now, we're going to do this for just thirty more minutes," Xavier said.

Everyone would've groaned when they heard that statement, but they couldn't even muster enough strength to do so. They just dropped their heads and continued training.

After the training exercise was done, Xavier released everyone, albeit unwillingly. By his calculations, they still had an hour or so before he was actually obliged to release them.

Still, he didn't believe that anything he said would register in their heads when they were so tired. So, in the end, he decided to let them go... For the greater good!

In the evening, everyone in the squad gathered inside the locker room. Marcus and Co also came. Xavier told them that even though they weren't part of the official squad, their presence was mandatory. He didn't know when he was going to chase one of the stupid cunts he already had, in his words, of course.

"Alright lads, we're going up against Williamson Memorial." He started addressing them. There was a white screen in place of the whiteboard at the front of the locker room. There was a projector a few meters away from the whiteboard. A ray of white light extended from the projector, shining on the white sheet, dispersing into numerous images.

"Judging by what you lot said in the group yesterday, you're fucking clueless about Williamson Memorial's abilities, which is bad for us because my scouts are also fucking clueless," Xavier said. "From what those cunts reported to me, Williamson Memorial play a high-pressing type of football, but they're also quite disciplined. They press for the ball, but they don't follow you to your half of the field. In other words, you can have the ball as much as you want, as long as you're not in their half of the field..."

Everyone immediately looked at David and Archie as soon as Xavier said those words. According to what he said, then David and Archie's play style wouldn't work since both of them were always stationed deep.

"...so Dave and Archie will have to move higher up the field," Xavier said. "Another thing to note about them is that they're usually very good on the counter. Over the years, they have proven to be quite clinical on the counter. So, Archie and Dave, I'm counting on your recovery pace. If this is an issue for the both of you, then now is your chance to talk."

"It's not an issue for me, sir." David looked at Archie. "I just don't know whether he'll be able to catch up."

"Tch, I'm faster than you," Archie said.

"The last time we raced, who won?" David said with a smirk.

Archie went silent for a few seconds. And when he opened his mouth to talk, everyone thought he was going to make a big comeback, but he only said one word, or rather, a name. "David."

"Arse!"

"David."

"Cunt."

"David."

"Fuck you."

Archie and everyone else in the locker room burst out laughing, while David folded his hands and turned to his side, pouting.

"Alright, enough shenanigans," Xavier said, holding in his laughter. "Now that we've got that sorted out, let's start training. Today we're going to practice keeping the ball higher up the field. Since we can only try to draw out our opponents from very high up and they are the experts at counter-attacks, then I think we should practice resisting the press higher up the field."

For the next couple of hours, they practiced retaining the ball higher up the field. Xavier divided the squad into two elevens consisting of the starting eleven and the squad players again. He made the squad players press the starting eleven for the entire duration of the training session.

It was hell for the squad players but quite enjoyable for the starting eleven. Who didn't enjoy knocking the ball about?

After training was over, Xavier released everyone, but not before giving them a scary set of parting words. According to him, training was going to get...

Intense!

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