Football: The Journey of a Coach

10. The Midfielder

Time passed by slowly, and Croydon felt that the more they played, the better. In fact, it's not that Crystal Palace have no chances. They have opportunities, but they are relatively few. Moreover, their attackers were not strong enough, and they were unable to break through the gates of Croydon, this was not surprising, now the main force of Crystal Palace was Victor Moses.

The striker from Nigeria is only a little over eighteen years old. He was arguably a "neighbor" with Daniel Ward, as this man came to England very early and was cared for by a family in Croydon. The high school he attended was a long way away. Crystal Palace were not far away, and were spotted by Crystal Palace very early and brought into the team.

Moses is famous in the Croydon area. He scored a lot of goals in the youth team, and progressed relatively smoothly in the early stages of the adult team. But last season, this man was in very bad shape. He played a very poor role.The full 32 times and scored only 2 goals.In other words, if he scored more efficiently, Warnock would not be so miserable in relegation.

Warnock sometimes does not want to use it, but it is unlikely that his boss friends do not have money, and with the potential of such a young stock, it is impossible to use it, Simon Jordan did not want to see Moses too often sitting on the bench.

 So Croydon was blessed today, and of course this is also because of his team's defence. Moses is very fast, but Daniel's formation and defense are very deep, which limits his speed. In addition, Moses is young and impatient, and his dribbling skills are good. Unfortunately, the vision and feed are not good. Always advocated doing miracles with great difficulty, but this kid had a magic barrier, and his appearance was extremely poor!.

Victor Moses is not the one who will show his strength under Antonio Conte in the future.

Impossible, Crystal Palace are indeed a downstream team in the British Championship, but they cannot hold a skinny camel that is bigger than his horse, and his strength is still much stronger than Croydon, daniel's heart was still pounding.

Warnock scolded directly on the sidelines, Moses playing too shamelessly.

Moses refrains, but unfortunately, the time has come at the end of half-time.

Croydon did not concede a single goal, of course they were quite embarrassing, with zero shots in the first half.

"Great work!".

"Great work!".

    "Damn it, your tackle is like an amateur piece of art!".

 ***

Selfless words of encouragement kept coming out of Daniel Ward's mouth. The players were also very happy, and there was a lot of discussion in the dressing room Everyone felt a clear improvement from Daniel's tactical formation in defence.

Of course, defending is also very draining of energy, besides this group of colleagues are amateur players, and their physical reserves are not as good as Crystal Palace's professional players. Daniel Ward has to replace some players in midfield.

"Defense is our first priority!. For them to be unable to win the match against our weak neighbors, it was a shame!. For us, as long as they don't score, we can already be very happy.

"Of course, the game, how a team that doesn't want to win can be called a good team! So, Amy, your chance has come!". Daniel called Amy Traore.

"I'm here, Daniel!". Traore immediately stood up and straightened his chest. He didn't get a chance in the first half, and he thought he wasn't training well enough to win.

“Are you hungry now ?!” Wen Sheng asked. The players laughed together, and Wen Sheng's words to express hunger and thirst were very comprehensive.

“Are you hungry ?!”. Daniel glared at the players who were laughing out loud, and still asked Traore with that word.

Everyone understood the meaning of this, as did Traore, but he could only reply with a bitter face, "Yes, I'm so hungry!".

But it's also good, it can knock out opponents, Crystal Palace's two full-backs were relatively deep in the first half, and there was a gap in the back court. Daniel wanted to take advantage of such a gap. Of course, it is difficult to say whether Crystal Palace will miss it in the second half, but there is at least a 70% chance that they will still beat the full-back.

Daniel's tactics were simple and clear, everyone understood, Joey joked: "It's like stealing a goal while they're not paying attention!".

"Bingo!. Answer's right!. Gentlemen, we cannot compare to them in terms of personal strength, We must admit!. But football is never defined by individual ability. Football is a team sport, and the game is full of countless suspense!. Let god decide!. I am very confident that God will take care of us who work hard!. Whether it's stealing or robbing, we can score!".

"Let's just say, if you win today's game, I'll buy you a drink tonight!." Daniel patted his chest and roared loudly.

"Count me tonight, Danny!" a voice came from the locker room door.

Robert Smith, the team leader in the dressing room came out and Daniel said to him with a smile.

"Master, are you sure we'll win ?!". Daniel Ward laughs.

"Well, Son!. I kind of believe you're a genius now, a genius coach!. Don't you see that everyone believes in you, honestly I haven't seen this kind of atmosphere in the team for a very long time. Now I trust you too, You It's to lead the team to this victory!". Smith praised sincerely.

"Haha, don't you dare! Mr. Smith, the results can only be left to God. After all, I've almost played all the cards I should have played. I'm sure Mr. Hawking and the others are the same and doing their best!". Daniel laughs.

“Despite the result, I will invite everyone for a drink tonight, and I will leave Croydon after this match!”. Daniel then said solemnly.

 "You want to go?!. We haven't found a coach!". Smith looked bitter, he desperately wanted Daniel to stay.

"Sorry, Mr. Smith, thank you for your support all this time! But I still have my dreams, I will always support Croydon, after all this is my hometown team!. And I wouldn't leave so soon, if any club offered me a job, or my job application was accepted. I really need to go!". Daniel said it was unshakeable.

"Well, thank you so much for your efforts so far!. You'll make it!, I'll find a coach as soon as possible". Smith could only say helplessly.

The two spoke while walking, and when they arrived on the bench, Wayne was also stimulated by the team's performance in the first half, and asked, "Danny, are you confident in the second half?!".

Daniel shrugged and sat down, "What arrangements should be made?. All done! The rest depends on luck!".

"How much do you think we have to win ?!".

" It's hard to say!". Daniel was speechless, "From the overall perspective of the game, in some aspects we had an innate advantage, even though they were neighbors, but they didn't know us, but we knew them very well, he said, I have made some targeted arrangements, it depends on whether Joey and the others can meet their needs.expectations!".

"Uncle, this is just a friendly match, don't you need to take it so seriously ?!".

This friendly was very important for Daniel, but how to say it, it was just a friendly.

"I'm not saying I appreciate it. I hope this match brings the team together! You know, our job to be relegated in the new season is not easy!". Wayne said with a smile.

Uncle Wayne said it's very easy to defend relegation, and also very easy to improve How big is the gap between the eighth-tier leagues?.