Friday, September 30, 2022

Centro Bortolotti Training Complex

10:03 AM

Friday's training session was more demanding than Thursday's recovery work because Sunday's match against Udinese was approaching and Gasperini needed to finalize his tactical approach and assess which players were sharp enough to feature in the squad, and when Demien arrived at the training complex the atmosphere had shifted from subdued recovery to focused preparation.

The pace was higher from the opening drill as Gasperini organized pressing patterns that required full-speed runs and immediate transitions, and the expectations were clearer because mistakes that would've been acceptable during recovery work were now corrected immediately.

Gasperini alternated Demien's role repeatedly throughout the session without warning, and the constant position changes forced adaptation under pressure because there was no time to settle into one area of the pitch before being asked to perform somewhere else.

In central areas during buildup patterns Demien looked comfortable as the ball came to him with defenders closing from behind, and he received under pressure with his first touch taking him away from his marker, and he found the free man with minimal touches because the tempo suited his natural game, and his movement drew defenders just enough to free space for teammates making forward runs.

One sequence saw him receive between the lines with his back to goal, and rather than trying to turn immediately he played a quick one-two with Koopmeiners who'd shown for the return pass, and when the ball came back Demien had already spun into space and drove forward three steps before playing Lookman through on the right wing, and the combination was executed smoothly without hesitation.

But when Gasperini moved him wide again during pressing patterns, the struggle persisted though the nature of it had changed from Thursday's awkwardness.

Instead of fighting the ball with heavy touches, Demien adapted his approach by recognizing that beating markers one-on-one wasn't necessary in every situation, and he focused on timing his runs better and supporting angles for teammates rather than trying to create individually, and his recovery runs became longer and more disciplined as he tracked back to help the fullback when possession turned over.

One recovery run was slightly late as Germany's right-back pushed high during a counter-attack simulation, and the delay forced Hateboer to cover more ground than necessary to close down the attacker, and Gasperini halted the drill immediately by raising his hand and blowing his whistle once.

"Demien," Gasperini called, and his voice carried across the pitch without shouting. He walked five steps forward and pointed to the space on the right flank where Demien should have been positioned. "Here. Before the ball turns over, not after. Your recovery starts when we lose possession, not when the attacker receives."

The correction was direct and instructional rather than critical, and Gasperini's tone suggested he was teaching rather than reprimanding because the mistake came from inexperience rather than poor effort, and then he gestured for the drill to resume without dwelling on the error.

Demien nodded and adjusted his starting position for the next repetition, and when possession turned over again his reaction was quicker, and he arrived in the defensive zone early enough that the attacking player had to check his run rather than driving directly at goal.

Later during a larger tactical exercise that simulated match situations with full eleven-versus-eleven play, Demien finally began settling into the wide role with more consistency.

He held width when the ball was on the opposite flank which stretched the defensive shape and created space centrally, and he recycled possession quickly when receiving under pressure rather than trying to force passes that weren't available, and then when the ball turned over in midfield he accelerated into the space behind Germany's defense as the counter-attack developed, and though the final pass didn't reach him, his run created the opening that allowed Muriel to shoot.

The sequence wasn't eye-catching and wouldn't appear in highlight reels, but it was effective in the way that professional football valued—intelligent positioning that served the team's structure rather than individual moments of brilliance—and Gasperini watched from the touchline with his arms folded and his expression neutral because effective role execution didn't require praise when it was simply meeting expectations.

By the end of the ninety-minute session the repetition had added up as Demien's body learned the wide role's demands through accumulated exposure rather than sudden understanding, and as players moved toward the locker room with shirts soaked through from the intensity and legs feeling the accumulated load of two demanding sessions, the system interface materialized again with a different notification than the simple training point rewards.

「POSITIONAL ADAPTATION MILESTONE REACHED」

「Right Wing Position Registered」

「Tactical Versatility +1」

「Position Bonus Granted:」

「+100 TP」

「+100 MP」

「Training Session Complete: +10 TP」

「Current Balance: 219 MP | 148 TP | 2 SP」

Demien noticed the notification only once he was seated on the bench in the locker room with a towel over his shoulders and his breathing steady again after the cool-down jog, and he processed the numbers without excitement because the system's recognition of positional adaptation made logical sense—spending two days learning a new role at professional intensity should register as development rather than just training accumulation.

The one hundred match points and one hundred training points were significant increases that would allow him to open packs if he chose to, but the timing felt wrong because opening packs before knowing whether he'd be in the squad for Fiorentina seemed premature, and besides, his mind was more focused on whether Gasperini had seen enough improvement in the wide role to trust him there during actual matches.

There was no excitement in the recognition, just acknowledgment that the work was registering somewhere beyond his own awareness.

Friday, September 30, 2022

Adidas Headquarters, Milan

3:15 PM

That afternoon Demien left the training complex earlier than usual after completing recovery protocols and eating lunch with teammates, and when he walked out to the parking area the car waiting for him wasn't from Adidas directly but from Marco's agency, and a woman in her thirties stood beside the driver's door holding a tablet.

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