Life without Sam… was hard.
The Fulham players learned this in the next few days in training as they got prepared to take it up from where Sam dropped them at.
They were determined to salvage the situation and prove to Sam that the team could function even without him, but it was hard.
Only when he was not around did they fully grasp what Sam brought to the team. Not even his ability on the pitch, but his energy, his mamba spirit.
When Sam was around, the Fulham players felt endless energy to perform simply because of Sam's energy and the joy that he attributed to training.
Around him, they derived joy from training and giving their all.
Around him, they derived pleasure from pushing themselves to the limit, preparing as best as they could for games and performing the same way in games, but with the Nigerian Zidane gone this suddenly became a job again.