Romantic on the Field

11.

‘The flow is good.’

Jamie smiled.

Brian was in good shape and even scored the opening goal. Jamie’s condition wasn’t bad either. I thought that if I continued the current trend, I could win a big victory.

In such a good flow, the first half ended 1-0.

“Lee, good job.”

However, the good flow soon came to an end.

Coach Charlie decided to put in a youth central defender without Jamie.

‘You said you locked it up like this already?’

The opponent is not a Premier League team, and if so, it is the same league, so I wondered if it was necessary to go this far.

Of course, it wasn’t a choice I didn’t understand at all. Since he participated in the Papa John’s Pizza Cup right before, the intention to arrange physical strength must have been included.

‘It’s not good.’

Whatever the intention, in the end an irrational number is just an irrational number. And if the coach makes an irrational number, the game will be twisted.

‘If I make a mistake, I’ll miss the game I won.’

Indeed, the second half went as Jamie expected.

The substitute youth player made a fatal pass mistake, perhaps because he was nervous, and this is what led to the goal.

And the match ends without a score change.

It was a 1-1, draw.

‘Wow, the coach is giving up on the team.’

Jamie felt embarrassed.

In the meantime, I’ve moved to various teams and met various coaches, but I’ve never heard of a case like this.

“I was out of luck.”

after the match.

Coach Charlie summarized the match against Luton like this.

Since the goal was scored by a youth player’s pass mistake, it was not entirely wrong.

However, strictly speaking, the beginning was the irrational number of director Charlie.

“Let’s forget today’s work and focus on the next game. Everyone did a good job.”

“…”

Jamie wanted to say, ‘It’s because of you’. Of course, even the most unscrupulous Jamie couldn’t say that to the director.

‘Promotion, I wonder if I can do it.’

It was Jamie who had been arguing with Hannah.

Wasn’t he the one who was called the winning contractor? I thought promotion to League One was nothing.

However, soccer was basically a ‘director’s game’. The person who had the greatest influence on overall factors such as player recruitment and release, training, player selection, and tactics was the manager.

In some cases, a mid-ranking team won the championship with a single manager, and on the contrary, there were cases where a team that performed well was ruined by the appointment of an incompetent manager.

If coach Charlie continues to overuse irrationality like today, he could not guarantee a retention, let alone a promotion.

‘No, I can.’

Jamie shook his head.

‘No, you have to do it’

Anyway, isn’t it a 3rd division league? If it doesn’t work out, I’ll do it even if I have to give instructions to the players instead. Jamie made up his mind.

**

“Not even bad luck.”

A few days later, director Charlie Adam sighed.

Following the FA Cup, a strong team was also at stake in the ELF Cup-League Cup draw.

Their opponent is Swansea City AFC.

The first round of the League Cup will be played excluding the 20 Premier League clubs and the two newly relegated Championship League clubs.

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Last year, Swansea City ranked third.

In other words, Stoke City is the strongest team that can come out of the draw.

In addition, now Swansea City was playing Ned Keating, who was called a top-class prospect in Wales.

“May I come in?”

In the midst of the confusion, coach Nick Powell came to visit.

“Come in.”

“It turned out to be the worst.”

“I mean.”

The two faced each other and sighed.

“League Cup, should we rotate?”

“It should be. rather it went well. If an ambiguous team was caught, I would not have been able to throw it away and would have only eaten away at the players’ stamina.”

Fortunately, director Charlie quickly made up his mind.

“What about Lee? Shall we take it off the list?”

“Ummm…”

Jamie Lee was a kind of ‘Maginot Line’. Depending on whether Jamie was put on the bench or not, it was the difference between abandoning this game completely or leaving the minimum possibility open.

“What do you think, coach?”

“I think it would be better to put it on the bench. Even if they don’t participate, that alone can boost the morale of the players.”

It made sense.

Didn’t you actually see the morale of the players hit the bottom after taking out Jamie against Luton?

In fact, to put it mildly, Jamie was just a 20-year-old prospect who had just played three games.

On the flip side, however, he was a top prospect who became his teammates’ most trusted player in just three games.

“great.”

“Yes, then I will pass it on to the staff.”

Coach Nick has left, leaving coach Charlie with his arms folded in thought.

‘He’s a player who raises team morale just by sitting on the bench…’

In fact, director Charlie did not attach much importance to Jamie’s transfer. It was a transfer tracked by the board from the beginning.

I’d love to come Of course good. But nothing will come. With that thought in mind, I watched him in the posture of an observer.

I knew he was close to the owner’s daughter and new scout, Hannah Choi, but I didn’t think this would have a big impact on his whereabouts. Jamie, he judged, was an ambitious player. For just that reason, I thought there was no way to come to the 3rd division except for the prestigious clubs.

Well, he really came to Stoke City. Not even a lease or short-term contract, but a five-year long-term contract.

As director Charlie, I couldn’t help but be very embarrassed.

Of course, the embarrassment was only temporary, and he expressed his expectations by having him play right away in the game the day after the transfer. And Jamie lived up to director Charlie’s expectations. He led the team to victory with 1 goal and 2 assists in the first match.

‘Maybe we can catch Swansea?’

Director Charlie’s eyes narrowed as he continued to ponder.

Jamie was a player who changed the course of the game once he was put in. I even went beyond the flow and changed the result altogether.

‘Should I just turn it into a regular instead of a rotation?’

The League Cup is not a tournament with big prize money.

However, if you play against a team the size of Swansea, you can expect a pretty big profit from the broadcasting rights alone.

What if we beat Swansea and advance to the next round? What if you win the next round and the next round? What if you meet a Premier League participating club in the middle?

Profits will jump several times.

The happiness circuit hidden in Director Charlie’s head started to burn. Eventually, thoughts continued to participate in the Europa Conference League, which is the right of the winning team.

“Coach Nick. Against Swansea, let’s go to the main players.”

In the end, Coach Charlie called Coach Nick and said as if declaring.

**

[ Swansea, Swansea, Swansea City say ]

[ Please take me to Batch Field (the former home of Swansea City). ]

[Away from the beach. ]

[ Please take me to the placement field. ]

Swansea Stadium, where the first round of the League Cup is played.

Despite being a low profile event, the stands were almost full.

“Oh, they look like our home fans.”

Some of the players burst into laughter at Harry’s words.

Stoke City was also a club famous for its passionate supporters and hooligans.

“Those passionate fans have come this far. Let’s not disappoint them.”

Oliver, the captain and the main goalkeeper, said with a stern expression.

“Let’s go, Stoke.”

“Stoke! Stoke!”

Afterwards, the players shouted slogans and went to their respective positions.

‘Ned Keating…’

Jamie looked at a player in the Swansea side with his eyes narrowed.

Ned Keating.

A player who can play both left fullback and left wing.

‘It was called Post Gareth Bale.’

It has been compared to many players in the past, such as Marcelo, Dani Alves, and Alfonso Davies, but the most talked about player is, of course, Gareth Bale.

In fact, Ned Keating grows up to be as great a player as Gareth Bale, no.

To the extent that even Jamie, who was called the championship contractor, had his individual title stolen from him.

However, now he was just a promising prospect in Wales and England. The fact that he came out as a starter in the first round of the League Cup with low attention was proof that he was not the center of the team yet.

‘I wonder if our team’s side players can stop it.’

A year or two later, they would have been robbed helplessly. However, at the current level, it seemed that it could be prevented somehow.

Beep. Soon after, the referee blew the whistle to signal the start of the match.

Mikel, who started, passed to Brian, and then Brian passed to Jamie.

Today, Jamie, who played as a third-line midfielder, made a back pass to the defender without overdoing it.

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Let’s look at the initial flow. With that in mind, we exchanged the ball in the defensive camp.

‘The problem is Ned Keating…’

Although he came out as a left fullback, it was good to be vigilant because he could overlap at any time.

“uh?”

In the 24th minute of the first half, as expected, Ned Keating, who stole the ball from Stoke City’s right wing, started running with terrifying momentum.

“Don’t stick!”

“what are you doing! stick!”

Director Jamie and Charlie gave contradictory orders. Of course, the Stoke players followed Coach Charlie’s words.

‘Ah, Charlie, that idiot.’

At Director Charlie’s shoveling, I sighed.

Ned Keating is a good player.

If you clumsily stick together and end up in the so-called ‘hit and run’, there is a high probability that you will be helpless.

“It’s pierced!”

“Cover!”

Indeed, Ned Keating easily penetrated Stoke’s full-back and reached near the penalty box.

Char-evil. Fortunately, Jamie, who was preparing before entering the penalty box, kicked the ball away with a sliding tackle.

“Nice tackle!”

“hahahaha. Jamie, what is it? Are you going to play as a defender?”

don’t say terrible Jamie frowned.

“Mario.”

Swansea’s throw-in attack was undone, and while they were returning to their positions, Jamie approached right fullback Mario.

“Ned Keating is fast on his feet. Don’t force yourself to take it away, keep your distance.”

“…but the director told me to join.”

Boasting a big nose and a nice mustache, Mario was quite timid despite his appearance.

“Then keep breaking through.”

Jamie wasn’t the type to tease, soothe, and persuade timid people. So I just said that and turned my back.

“Troy.”

Then I spoke to right wing Troy.

“yes?”

“Ned Keating is an attacking full-back. You can overlap anytime.”

“Uh, I know.”

“Then what should I do?”

“Eh?”

Troy gave a dumbfounded look at Jamie’s question.

“Don’t just move forward, stay in place if you can.”

“Then, what about the counterattack?”

“I will counterattack.”

Troy was still making a stupid face.

‘What is this all about?’

As I was looking at that stupid expression, ‘Hyeonta’ came suddenly.

Originally, I didn’t have a nadae personality, but I wondered if it was right for a promising player who had just transferred to leave behind some advice.

Jamie glanced towards the bench.

As a director, there was a high possibility that he would disapprove of this. Maybe you’ll hear something out loud.

‘If he twists it, he will be good at directing.’

However, the accident soon took a shameless turn. It wasn’t even wrong at all. In the first place, if Charlie Adam had done his job well, Jamie would not have stepped out.

And time passed, 30 minutes in the first half.

“It’s a counterattack!”

“Go up!”

As Jamie said, Ned Keating came up to the depths of the Stoke camp, and Troy and Mario worked together to block it well.

“Hey.”

Jamie raised his hand to Troy, who had the ball.

Troy didn’t hesitate. I gave him a pass right away.

‘What about Ned Keating?’

Receiving the ball below the half line, Jamie identified Ned Keating’s position.

In the distance, I could see my future rival running in a hurry.

‘great.’

When I saw it, I smiled on my own.

‘Take a close look.’

A 2-tool player who defends and scores goals, no, a 3-tool player in the 3rd division who also serves as a manager started running.

If things go on like this, it won’t be long before the manager is replaced.

Until then, I had to do what I could.

He planned to single-handedly crush a top league club and future rival today.