Eze hesitated, then nodded. I watched them walk toward the gym, Rebecca talking to him in a low voice, her tone professional but encouraging. She was good at this, at making players feel like the extra work was an investment in themselves rather than a punishment. I made a mental note to thank her later.

With Eze in the gym, I ran the rest of the squad through a passing drill. The setup was simple: two teams, eight versus eight, trying to complete ten consecutive passes without losing possession. The team that lost the ball had to do five burpees.

It was a drill designed to emphasize quick decision-making and movement off the ball, and the lads knew it well. Connor was sharp, his passing crisp and accurate, playing with the kind of confidence that came from being the established striker.

Nya was everywhere, constantly offering himself as an option, his energy infectious. Reece was calm at the back, organizing the defense, his voice carrying across the pitch. "Lewis, tuck in. Jake, show for the ball."

This was what good captaincy looked like, and I was grateful for it. But Semenyo was struggling. He kept receiving the ball in tight spaces and taking too long to release it, his head down, his body language tense.

The first time he got dispossessed, his team groaned but did their burpees without complaint. The second time, I saw a few eye rolls.

The third time, Connor muttered something under his breath that I couldn't quite hear, but the tone was clear enough. Semenyo's shoulders slumped, and I saw him glance toward the changing rooms, like he was thinking about walking off the pitch.

I blew my whistle, stopping the drill. "Antoine, come here." He jogged over, his head down. "You're taking too long on the ball. Why?"

"I don't know where to pass," he admitted quietly.

"Look before you receive," I said. "Scan. See where your teammates are. Make your decision before the ball gets to you, not after."

"I'll try," he said.

"Don't try. Do it." I softened my tone. "I know it's hard. But you're capable of this. I've seen it."

We ran the drill again, and this time Semenyo was slightly better. He scanned before receiving, his head on a swivel, saw Nya making a run, and played a quick pass into his feet.

Then he moved into space, offering himself as an option for the return pass. It wasn't perfect; his first touch was still heavy, his movement a bit clumsy... but it was progress. Nya gave him a thumbs up, and I saw Semenyo's posture straighten slightly.

Small steps. That's all I could ask for. That's all anyone could ask for. After the drill, I pulled Connor aside while the others were getting water.

"I need you to be patient with Antoine," I said, keeping my voice low. "He's learning. He's not there yet, but he will be."

Connor looked at me, his expression guarded. "He's costing us, boss. Every time he loses the ball, we're doing burpees."

"I know," I said. "But he's fifteen years old, and he's never been coached properly. Give him time."

Connor didn't look convinced, but he nodded. "Alright. I'll try."

"That's all I'm asking," I said. But I could see the tension in his jaw, the way his eyes flicked over to where Eze was emerging from the gym with Rebecca. Connor saw Eze as a threat to his place in the team, and Semenyo as dead weight. I needed to change that perception, but I didn't know how. Not yet.

After the main session, while the other players were cooling down, I took Semenyo to the video analysis room for our one-on-one session. The room was dark except for the glow of the large screen on the wall, and I could see Semenyo's reflection in the glass, his expression a mixture of exhaustion and apprehension.

I'd prepared a series of clips from our training sessions, showing him his positioning mistakes and what he should have done instead. "Look at this," I said, pausing on a frame where he'd drifted inside, leaving the passing lane open.

"You're here. Where should you be?" He studied the screen, his brow furrowed, his finger tracing the passing lanes I'd drawn on the screen.

"Wide?" he guessed, his voice uncertain.

"Exactly. Wide. Cutting off that pass. Now look at this one." I showed him another clip, this time from a different angle.

"Same mistake. You're drawn to the ball. But your job isn't to get the ball. Your job is to stop them from playing it where they want." We went through clip after clip, me explaining the concepts, him asking questions, slowly starting to understand.

He was a quick learner when things were broken down for him, when he could see the patterns visually rather than just being told what to do. "So it's like… I'm controlling their options?" he said at one point, his eyes lighting up with understanding.

"Exactly," I said, feeling a surge of satisfaction. "You're making the game smaller for them. You're forcing them into mistakes."

"That makes sense," he said, and I could see the wheels turning in his head. "No one's ever explained it like that before. At the U16s, they just told me to run and press. They never said why."

"Well, now you know why," I said.

"And once you understand the why, the how becomes easier." We spent another twenty minutes going through different scenarios, different pressing triggers, and different ways to cut off passing lanes. By the end, Semenyo was nodding along, starting to see the game the way I saw it.

"We'll keep working on this," I told him. "Every day. Until it's second nature."

"Thank you," he said quietly. "For not giving up on me."

"I'm not going to," I said. "But you have to meet me halfway. You have to put in the work."

"I will," he said, and I believed him. There was a determination in his eyes that hadn't been there before, a sense that he was starting to understand what was possible if he could just master the tactical side of the game.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.