27 Training resumes

Tony and John went to training together changed into there fresh training kits and went to the pitch.

Training had not yet began so the players that were around were discussing. When Tony and John came to the training ground, a player pointed at Tony and john as the players he was whispering to all looked at both of them briefly, before they continued there discussions.

One of the players came over towards Tony and John to greet them.

"Good morning, We heard about the match against Wolves,Nice performance both of you." the player that came over to them said to both of them as he shaked hands with both of them.

"Thanks we were just doing what we prepared from training all those hours." John quickly points out to the player that came over.

The player acknowledged both of them before he turned to go back to his friends. Both of them understood that players were usually jealous of some of there teammates.

Tony and John only looked at each other briefly, before beginning to do there warmups for training.

In the academy it was only natural for the players that were not in the squad that went to Wolves to be a little bit envious or jealous.

So Tony wasn't too bothered about it, as he faced his warm ups. Coach Taylor and the other coaches began training as all the players performed there drills.

After about an hour of training with the old drills, the coaches began explaining new training drills for the players instead of training matches.

They were to form different circles of about 10 players with 2 players in the circle trying to get the ball from the other 10 players who passed the ball using one touch football.

The circles were formed as the players began having fun while performing the drills. The training emphasized quick and short accurate passes amongst the players.

And if you have a pass that was intercepted by any of the player in the circle, you would be the one to replace the player in the circle and try to intercept a pass from the other players.

The pass around circle was fun and also taught the players close ball control and one time passes.

They performed the exercise for like 30 minutes, Tony who had a passing ability of B+ and Football Technique B+ didn't have his pass intercepted.

He could easily pass the ball before he was closed down and even when he was closed down he would perform a technical pass or roll of the ball that escaped the touch of the players in the center.

After they had done that for a while, the coaches gave the other for the players to pair themselves in teams of fives as they faced another team of five simultaneously.

They performed an improvised game of five a side without a goal post. The players were to play as if it was a match by coordinating as a team against an opponent.

Tony was also in a team, they passed the ball amongst themselves as they tried to avoid pressure from the opposition.

Any time they were not with possession they tried to immediately get the ball. Tony who was not yet good in defending tried to predict where the ball would like be passed to in other to intercept the ball.

He repeatedly failed but also successfully intercepted the ball some times to, as he was trying to use his football knowledge to predetermine what he expected the players to do.

The training match built chemistry between the players as it improved there decision makings and predictions in a match.

The five a side was also played for some minutes, Before it was the end of training.

After training, all the players went to take there break and bath. After which they went for match analysis at the seminar room.

" The match on Saturday might appear to be a big win, but our performance had a little bit of luck attached to it." Coach Taylor analysed the match against Wolves.

"We could not play over there press and folded anytime we were not with the ball. This week we would be preparing on stepping up our pressure once we lose possession of the ball, in other to put the opposition in turmoil and cause mistakes to get us back possession....." Coach Taylor explained for a long time.

After his explaination the players were released for the day. Tony and John went home together as always, with Tony dropping John off.

*****

Training for the rest of the week went smoothly and was focused on movements with the ball and defending the space once you lost possession.