Journey

A FRUITFUL MEETING

« If we don’t work hard this season, we might end up getting relegated ! Do you want to experience the shame of being relegated ? Don’t forget we are Croydon! ». Daniel found some inspiration to motivate the players.

For a young coach such as him, the most thing he feared is that everyone will not give him the chance to speak, fortunately, with Hawking present, the ever-reliant captain, his fear did not materialize. He hopes that he can give the players a morale boost with his speech.

« Danny, you are right ! You are our current the head-coach ! We will listen to your arrangement ! ». Hawking was a good captain, he supported Daniel immediately.

« Yes Danny, what should we do? »

« Looks like Danny is really good! As expected of someone with an A-level badge! »

Everyone has various opinions, but it can be regarded as a consensus.

« Okay then, I’ll announce something! » Daniel said seriously while gesturing to the players to calm down.

« From now on, please forget your friend Daniel Collins Wen ! Please see me now as your head coach! ». Daniel said imposingly. « Can you do it ? ». What he asks is very simple, he wants the players to obey the rules and the authority of the coach.

« Sure thing Boss ! ». Replied Joey with a loud voice. While the others are still deciding whether to agree or not with Daniel’s statement, Joey was the first one to agree with his cousin. Daniel smiled and felt grateful to Joey, even if the other players did not want to commit to his regulation at least his cousin was always there to support him.

« No problem Boss ! ». Captain Hawking also echoed his answer.

« Thank you very much for your trust ! ». Daniel bowed to everyone while raising his head, smiling. «It does not matter what you called me, but the most important thing is I hope everyone can at least respect my position as your head coach even if my time is temporary ! ».

« Okay! No more chattering! Our time is very limited! We won’t do follow-up training this afternoon but let’s do some reviews of our performances in the previous season! We need to identify our strengths and weaknesses so that we can perform better in the upcoming season! »

This kind of review session is very familiar to the players. Last season, the previous head-coach Norwood also did this kind of thing after every match. Unfortunately, the players did not find it useful.

Everyone’s faces were disappointed. They hate this session. They prefer to train more than doing this meeting.

There is a conference room on the second floor of the office where everyone can sit down and attend the meeting. Every player murmured and sit down like elementary school students while waiting for Daniel to speak up.

« I don’t know how to begin but in today’s review session I want everyone to speak up and contribute to the discussion. If you have any opinions and suggestions please feel free to speak up ! ». Daniel said while smiling.

The players are not shy at all. The first person to speak is the old captain, Hawking. Despite his age, he is still the main force of the team and participated in most of the matches last season.

« Daniel, we did not do well last season because we did not have Albert. Our attack becomes dull and predictable. There are not too many goals because he is our main cannon. No one can replace him in the squad ! ». His statement is true as every player in the room nods their head, agreeing with him. But, this makes one player in the room embarrassed. He was sitting further back so no players know about his embarrassment.

This person is the main striker of Croydon FC. His name is Amy Traore. He joined the team after their main striker, Albert left the previous season. Listening to Hawking’s analysis, Traore feels that he is not a very skillful and competent striker. He had only scored 6 goals in 40 games. Which is not much if compared to Albert. He feels that the captain is accusing him of being incompetent and it makes his face feel hot from anger.

While the players are giving their own opinions about the team, meanwhile Daniel on the stage was listening, writing, and thinking. He agrees with what Hawking said. The problem in Croydon FC’s performances is very simple, they lack a player who can be their main scoring source. As Hawking said, when Albert transferred to another team, there are not many goals Croydon FC produced in every match.

For a professional team, there is no problem they face if they do not have a striker to produce the goals but for an amateur team like Croydon FC, it becomes their source of disaster. Even if the professional team finds difficulties with it, they can simply solve it by buying a new player. But for Croydon FC who does not have any money, how can they make up for it? They can only go to their youth training to dig players or to dive into the free transfer. But it was also difficult.

Daniel has been busy these days as he was designing the perfect tactic for Croydon FC. If there are no good players available, he thinks that it depends on the coach’s ability to transform a mediocre team to be the best team. Now that every player gives some of their input about the current squad situation, he gains some inspiration from these review sessions.

After everyone has finished their discussion, Daniel stood up and said « Thank you so much for your inputs guys! This has given me some ideas and inspiration! Now I want to tell you about my understanding of the squad, if you disagree with my assessment you can tell me ! ».

« Albert was the past player, he left Croydon and he left the team! We can’t deny that! I don’t want to talk further about this! »

« From the data I gathered, we conceded the second-most goals ( goals against), also placed second at the fewest goals scored ( goals for) but despite the bad performance, we persisted and stay clear of the relegation. I have to say this is a miracle ! ».

The players seldom care about the data but now hearing Daniel say this, they can’t help but sigh in relief feeling fortunate they can get away with it.

« Poor defense and dull offense, this is the main problem we have now. I think this was mainly caused by these problems. The first is the lack of tactical discipline. Whether in today’s training match or last season’s performance, you guys did not simply follow your tactical arrangement. For example, Today during the scrimmage, you all lose your place too easily ! ».

« Second, you are too impatient. As was told by your captain, you care too much about attacking! When you are stuck in breaking the opponent’s defense, you become impatient. When you are impatient, you become predictable. Your patterns were read easily by your opponents. You concede many goals because of this. »

« Thirdly, I want to say that your level is not too great but many of you still think you are competent enough, Don’t ever think that you are the best level in this amateur team. Many players are more talented than you ! ».

While many of the players are agreed with his first and second points, the third, for them is too much insulting, touching their ego. Some of them can’t wait to beat the hell out of Daniel.

« Don’t beat me ! I’m merely pointing out the facts ! ». Daniel’s expression shifted from an inspirational leader to a scared maiden instantly. He condescendingly spreads his hand and said « Deep in your heart you already know it ! ».

« Please remember, this is a discussion, not a fight ! Also remember that I’m your current head coach ! I sincerely want to help you ! ».

After hearing this, all the players who want to beat him before, laugh embarrassingly.