42 Preparing for a Top Opponent

The next day's training was just like other days of training. Tony and John got to training and waited for the coaches and other players to arrive, when everyone finally arrived Coach Taylor gathered everyone before he began talking.

"Yesterday we won the match against Newcastle by a scoreline of 3:1. I have to say that I was impressed by the showing of most of our players, and as long as you continue to perform well in training and when you are selected for a match then there will be no problem."

Coach Taylor explained to the delight of the players that played in the match. Tony could see that most of the players that went with the squad to Newcastle were really happy as they felt they had performed well.

"That is that for the Fa cup, this weekend we are facing a difficult opponent in our home stadium. We would be facing the Liverpool team who we all know are one of the top academies in the country. So I will be expecting your utmost best in the upcoming trainings and in the match against them to show others how much potential you all have."

After Coach Taylor had finished stressing on the importance of the match against Liverpool, he finally gave the signal for training to begin for the day.

The atmosphere in training was really serious as all the players tried to give there best in all the training drills. They were facing the academy team of one of the top 6 teams of the premier league, so they had to be properly prepared and motivated.

It was important to know that the top 6 academy teams were also perceived to be a little better than the other teams since they were more developed and the investment from the clubs on the academy teams were used in getting the best training tools, training personnel and even recruiting some of the young players from all over who were seen to have great potentials.

Not that the other teams didn't have other promising youth players, but that it was easier for the top 6 academies to recruit those players since the reputation of there clubs had more pull to it than the other average or bottom teams.

Tony who was training seriously with the other players was also thinking of a way to improve his stamina for the matches in the future. He couldn't immediately copy any of the stamina skills of B he saw in training as they mostly had a condition to be achieved from playing in a match or training together for a specific long amount of time that Tony couldn't achieve in the near future.

He could only decide to constantly visit the gym in the academy when he had any free opportunity.

Training went smoothly and the players went to have there break and bath before it would be time to go for an analysis of the Liverpool team in the seminar room.

Tony quickly went to the gym immediately after training and started using some equipments. He quickly tried to exercise as he had limited time before it would be time to go for team analysis.

Tony saw that there was one other player and a fitness staff in the gym, the player had injured his knee and was now using the knee equipments to try and slowly build back strength in his knee as he returned to full fitness.

Tony greeted them and began training with some of the numerous equipments in the gym. He trained by himself for about 40 minutes before he quickly rushed to the showers to have his bath then he quickly grabbed a light snack from the canteen as he went to the seminar room.

*****

Analysis on the Liverpool team was done by Coach Luca as they prepared and explained the tactics to be employed and what would likely be expected from the Liverpool team.

After the analysis were done the players were allowed to go home and rest. Tony looked for John who was standing close to the door and went to meet him.

"Hey could you wait for about 30 minutes, am thinking of using the gym before I leave the academy today."

The players were allowed to stay and use the facilities of the academy for as long as they wanted as long as it wasn't late at nights.

"No problem, I could just use this opportunity to also try out some equipments in the gym." John replied as they both began to walk towards the gym.

"I really need to try and improve my stamina as I discovered I got tired a early in the last match" Tony explained as they headed to the gym.

"It's good as I believe we can never be too fit, so it's good to always want to improve." John said as they got to the gym and began to perform some exercises.

After close to an hour where both boys had been training on different equipments with only short intervals of rest to catch there breaths. They agreed to leave the gym and start going home, they had sweated a lot so they had quick showers in the locker room before they left the academy.

They discussed about the match they were to play against Liverpool on Saturday. John really followed the under 18s Competition, so he had more insight on the youth teams than Tony since he had been trying to join an academy for years also.

"This is a very good chance to gain a lead on the table against one of our strong opponents. Even though it's still early in the title race it's still a win, we can at least force them to drop points, but it would be a difficult match." John explained.

"Yea, it's a good chance to win against one of the contenders for the league and since it's at our home stadium, worst case scenario the result we are allowed to get is a draw. And the best case scenario would be us giving them a heavy thrashing to decimate there goal difference on the table." Tony also expressed his own views on the matter, as they continued to discuss until they got to John's home and Tony dropped him off before he then drove home.

*****

Training on Friday also went smoothly and the atmosphere was still a little bit tense as the players were focused because they knew the threat the liverpool team could create.

After training the players were asked to huddle up around the staffs as the starting 11 and substitutes for the home match against Liverpool was announced.

Tony was named among the starting 11 as he was asked to play in the position of the attacking midfielder once again.

John was still unlucky as he still found himself on the bench, after the squad was announced the players were given a break before they were then to go to the seminar room for the tactical analysis and match preparations.

"Hey just like the last match, do your best when you get on the pitch, and I will also try to create a chance for you too if we get to play together." Tony said to John as they hastened there steps as they walked in the direction of the gym.