My Goalkeeping System

The players were all in the locker room now with Norman standing in front of them with his hands crossed behind him.

This was one of those times that he would accept blame for something but he still had some blame to put on the players who messed up in one way or the other.

"I know you guys would have played better with the other two formations and would maybe be leading but that doesn\'t excuse the fact that you guys missed a couple of really good chances." He took a glance at Mateo as he said this.

After that, he let out a sigh and slowly observed the players for a while before turning to face the board.

"We\'re going to be switching back to four-three-three in the second half but I doubt that alone will be able to completely get us out of this situation so listen up everyone." He beseeched.

He had been observing Spree City since the start of the match to notice that the tactics they were using wasn\'t that much different from the one they used against them in their last match.

The only thing he needed to do now was rework his tactics a little bit and then his team would be able to keep up and have a chance to make a comeback.

However, everything was in the hands of the players, if they fail to execute everything properly in the second half then Spree City were going to continue doing what they were doing and they might end up losing this match.

After saying everything that he needed to say, he left the room so that the players could reflect on all the information he just passed on to them.

"Looks like our treble dream has met quite the storm," Dave remarked with his gaze on Mateo who had his gaze on his hands while he was fumbling with his fingers.

"I wouldn\'t call it quite the storm." The winger replied before slowly turning his gaze to him. "We\'re just a goal down and it\'s not like we didn\'t get really good chances to equalize it just like the penalty kick I missed."

"Hmph, you\'re still salty about that, huh?"

"I guess but I don\'t want to think about it too much." He sighed before shaking his head.

"Hey, don\'t worry, there\'s still a lot of time for us to get back into it," Dave said in an attempt to comfort him.

"I know, I don\'t need comfort."

"Okay, can I ask you for a favor then?"

"Favor?"

"Yeah, I just need you to let me take the first close-up free kick we get in this second half." The goalkeeper requested.

"Hmm, I see," Mateo responded before placing his hand on his chin. "Well, that\'s not a problem because I was going to call you to take it even though you didn\'t ask just now."

_______ ______

"Welcome back, everyone, the second half of the match is just about to kick off as we can see the players making their way to the pitch now," Jim announced with an enthusiastic voice.

"The first half was something, should have ended with a draw with the chances Unique FC got, especially that penalty kick that Mateo missed but I guess the home team got lucky on that front." Steve articulated.

The voices of the fans were going up now as the players made their way to the pitch.

Unique FC were losing the match but their fans were not backing down with their huge contribution to make the atmosphere lively.

"Looks like Norman is switching back to four-three-three for this half, a good decision I would say, they didn\'t seem to be linking up that well in the first half, didn\'t feel much like the Unique FC I\'ve been watching since the start of this season." Jim expressed.

"Yeah, this is definitely going to make this second half more interesting but how\'s Spree City going to respond?"

"Well, we\'re going to find out soon."

Felix was standing over the ball on the kick-off spot waiting for the referee\'s whistle and as soon he heard it, he quickly sent the ball rolling to Jelani.

"There\'s the whistle and we are on the way."

Spree City players were well aware that Unique FC were planning to take this second half way more seriously than they did in the first half so their game plan was to tread cautiously and avoid making any mistakes, they had the lead and they were not planning to lose it.

If worse came to worse they were going to resort to parking the bus, they had the lead anyway, Norman was well aware that this was a very valid option for them which was why his game plan for this second half was to strike as fast as possible to prevent that from happening.

Torres was slowly heading down the left wing with the ball now with Norman quickly heading his way, but just before the right back could get to him, he quickly sent the ball rolling to Felix down the middle but that pass could have been better.

Martinez quickly got to the ball with a slide just before it could get to the striker and sent it rolling to Adolf who quickly pushed it back to Dave with a backheel pass.

As soon as Dave got his foot on the ball, he gave it a little push forward before he sent it flying down the left toward Pirlo.

Pirlo had to take Ferran\'s position in midfield because the midfielder had to be moved to the right wing.

Jamie quickly closed up on him to try and win the aerial duel, but Pirlo ended up winning it as he sent the ball flying toward Mateo who brought it down with his chest before turning toward the box with it.

He had space to run down before getting to the box and his teammates were covering up from the other side.

Jamie quickly rushed to the winger from behind to try and take the ball from him, but before he could get to him, he sent the ball rolling to Martinez who had closed up down the middle now.

As soon as he rolled the ball to Martinez, he quickly raced down the wing in an attempt to get past the right back because he needed Martinez to give the ball back to him.

As soon as he started making that run forward, Martinez quickly sent the ball flying to him with a lob.

He was quick enough to get in front of the right back and bring the ball down with his chest, and just before the defender could do anything to stop him, he sent the ball in with a low cross.

"Mateo, and he sends it in."

Everyone in the middle missed the ball as it managed to get to the other side of the post just as Ferran closed up on it and got the heel of his boot on it.

However, his effort ended up hitting the post before rolling out for a goal kick.

"Ferran! Oh, no it hit the post!" Jim exclaimed.

"That was very close."

Ferran just couldn\'t believe he wasn\'t able to put that in, he was sitting on the floor now with a disappointed look on his face.

"That\'s another big chance missed by Unique FC, if they keep this up then this match might not end so well for them."