Half Time Pep Talk

Silence. And maybe a bit of fear...

Those were the two things that dominated the atmosphere. They couldn't hear it, they couldn't smell it, but they could feel it massaging the surface of their bones.

Nobody spoke a word. Nobody dared to speak. They all looked at the manager as if he was a ticking time bomb, and they were waiting for him to go off. And finally, he did go off.

"You bunch of spineless imbeciles!" His gaze was calm, his voice was also calm. But it wasn't the type of calmness that made one assured. It was the eerie calmness that didn't belong to the demeanor of an angry man.

"So you lot came all the way from Middlesbrough only to get hammered four goals to nothing by a bunch of soft ass academy lads!" The crescendo of his voice rose slightly. "What happened to all the tactics we revised, all the effort we put in during training!" He breathed out multiple sighs to calm himself. He then turned to the two wingers. "Omari, Joshua how is it that you two are so good on the ball and so terrible off it! They played you like you were lost puppies looking for stray bones".

Omari didn't take the criticism of his abilities too well. He was about to open his mouth to protest but one look at the manager made him reconsider his decision. In the end, he could only sulk quietly.

The manager didn't notice Omari's reaction. As soon as he said those words, he turned his attention to the two center backs. "I keep telling the board that we need new defenders. Maybe after this disaster class performance they'll finally listen to me". The midfielders didn't escape without any 'friendly words of advice' either. "Jeremy, Ashley, Jack, congratulations!"

The three players whose names were mentioned looked at each other.

, surprise evident in their eyes. They didn't expect the manager to say what he just said. The next words that came out of his mouth, however, made their expressions move from surprise to that of a depressed person.

"You three somehow managed to play the best rubbish I've seen in a while, and I used to be the academy manager of non league clubs!" He pointed at Jack. "You! Aren't you supposed to be some almighty playmaker, how come you've been so quiet this first half!" He turned towards Ashley and Jeremy. "And how is it that you two get outplayed every single time. You only get the ball when they want you to. They've been toying with you the entire time!"

The manager muttered some words to himself then turned to Anthony. "Even if the entire team is playing shit football, I expected more from you. You know that you won't have so many chances in this match yet somehow you managed to throw away every single chance that you get!"

Omari raised an eyebrow at that statement. Anthony didn't waste any chance, Manchester Red's keeper was just too good. Once again, however, he kept his opinion to himself. He didn't want to risk annoying the manager further.

After finishing his 'mild complaints', the manager left the room and Steve walked in shortly after. Although he didn't look impressed with the boys, he didn't express his displeasure. He felt that the manager had done a good job at that.

"Ahem… so for the second half, we're playing with a 4-4-1-1 formation. Omari and Joshua, you're going to play deeper than you're used to. Jack is the sole attacking midfielder and obviously Anthony is the striker". Steve said. He handed out a sheet of paper to the players involved in the tactical change.

"The full backs, you're going to play very high up the pitch in order to restrict the movement patterns of the opposition wingers. That would put a lot of pressure on the center backs". He turned to face the two center backs. "You're going to have to forgo the pressure that you're putting on the striker and focus on the wingers, only if the full backs don't manage to contain them of course. From what I've seen, he serves as a distraction and allows the wingers to exploit the central play. It's a 4-3-1-2 disguised as a 4-3-3".

The two center backs nodded and he faced the wingers. "Now while you two are going to be playing deeper than usual, you're going to have to feed Anthony through crosses and long passes. That's how we got our few chances and they don't seem to know how to respond to that so we'll exploit that weakness". He turned to face Anthony. "Lastly Anthony, stop missing chances like Tony fucking Verner". (I sincerely apologize to all the Tottenham fans who manage to decode the name).

(Actually, I don't. Y'all are free to take the piss. Lol)

Steve's last remark brought about a few small smiles on the faces of the boys. Anthony huddled his teammates and gave them a short pep talk.

"Now those wankers might think that they've pulled one over us. Hell, they might've pulled one over us, but we're going to make 'em sweat before the full time whistle!"

A few fires up shouts sounded as the boys began their short but long walk to the pitch. A figure strayed a few meters behind the majority of the squad. There was a glint in his eyes as he stared at the ball.

The fuck is about giving them a hard time, I'm going to win! To win!

'And here come the players, ready for the commencement of the second half, and I must say the Teeside players look a lot more confident than they did at the end of the first half'

'Confident or not, they have an Herculean task ahead of them if they hope to get something from this game. They conceded four goals in the first half, and as such they have to score four goals to get a draw. What is deemed by many, a near impossible task'

'The Manchester Red players also look quite confident coming into the second half. No doubt that four goal lead would've stroked their ego a little bit'

'It definitely would've, but they can't afford to let themselves get complacent now, they need to have the same organization and quality that got them the lead in the first place'

'It's definitely going to be an interesting second half won't it Tim'

'I for one can't wait to see what unfolds'