My Goalkeeping System

Dave made his way straight home as soon as Norman told them everything he needed to tell them after the game.

With his car, he was able to get home quickly, and just after opening the door to the house, she made her way to the couch and crashed down on it.

"Oh, what a day." He let out a deep sigh before slowly closing his eyes.

"Was that you?"

Emma had to quickly rush out of the kitchen as soon as she heard the door move, and now she was sure that it was him.

Seeing him lie down there with his hand on his face, she couldn't help but smile proudly, she was aware of what he had been able to achieve today with his teammates and she was very proud of him.

"It was that exhausting, huh?" She said before slowly lifting his head to sit down on the couch and put his head on her lap.

"Oh, darling, I didn't even know when you entered." The goalkeeper uttered, clearly surprised.

"I was in the kitchen."

"Oh."

"You guys did quite splendidly today, I was watching the….."

While she was talking about the match, he had his mind on another thing.

During the earlier days of her pregnancy, her stomach didn't get in the way whenever she used her laps as pillows but the same couldn't be said about now.

While she was still talking about the match, he placed his hand on her stomach before turning his gaze to her.

"Hey, did this get bigger recently?" He inquired with a straight face.

That question cut Emma off from what she was saying and now she had her gaze on him.

"Um, no, I don't think so." She shook her head.

"Oh, I see."

"You weren't even listening to anything I said just now, were you?"

"Huh? You were saying something?"

That question ticked her off the wrong way especially the way he asked it with a carefree voice, and she did the only thing she could do at that moment which was push his head off her lap.

"I'm going back to the kitchen."

A few seconds later, Dave watched her walk into the kitchen with a confused expression on his face.

<You should pay more attention, Dave, stop spacing out>

'Noted.'

_________ ________

The next day came after a couple of hours, and that meant a brand new day for Dave to get up and do what he did best.

They had a training session that morning but before that, he had his morning practice session to take care of.

Training today was essential for the team's recovery because their schedule was pretty tight now.

After their match against Lyon on Thursday, they had a match against Rojo Sturm on Saturday which was just tomorrow so they had to be ready for it.

They were at the top of the table in the league now, and keeping that top spot was something they had to focus on.

'Either way, I think beating Rojo Sturm should be easy.' Dave said subconsciously as he joggled the ball in the middle of his practice pitch.

He seemed to be having a discussion with Catherine regarding the match tomorrow.

<I know, it should be easy for you guys if we go by team strength alone, but just having a strong team can't win you games>

'If you're going to talk about a good coach and management then we also have that.'

<I know that better than you do, Dave, so there was no way that was the point I was about to make>

'Oh, so then what's the point?'

<I'm saying that playing a match with just a day of rest after that means that some of the players won't be back to full strength for the game against Rojo Sturm, anything can happen when players aren't playing the way they usually do>

'Oh, I see.'

<I just hope Norman knows how to rotate his team properly>

'Don't worry, he'll know what to do.'

__________ __________

After having breakfast, Dave took his bath before making his way to the stadium for the training session.

Everyone was there on time because none of them wanted to pay the fine for being late, and with Norman already there, the training session kicked off.

They started with indoor activities like yoga, stretches, and lunges to help their body recover from yesterday's game, and after all that, they made their way to the pitch for a short training session.

The outdoor training session started by running a couple of laps around the pitch just like always, and after that, they started to take on the drills Norman set out for them that day.

While they were busy doing that, Norman was having a conversation with the assistant manager near the sidelines.

A dark-haired man with glasses that seemed to be too dark for anyone to see the color of his eyes through them.

Compared to Norman, he had a huge body and his stomach was no exception.

"This type of tight schedule really gets on my nerves." Norman voiced his complaint with his gaze on the players who were training on the pitch.

"What are we going to do now? I mean about rotation, some of the players won't be able to keep up with tomorrow's game because of fatigue." The assistant coach remarked.

"I know, I've been thinking about that and I think the player who would be most fatigued is Roland, with Jonas being his only backup, he's been playing a lot of full times for a while, and he might get injured if I keep using him this way."

"Then we just have to start Jonas in the less intense matches and let Roland rest, the match tomorrow is one of those matches." The assistant coach suggested.

"Yeah, that's my plan but I was just wondering."

"About what?"

"What's going to happen when Roland gets injured? Jonas is good with technical play and has a passable defensive capability but he can't really keep up with fast wingers, Roland is the one who can do that, that's why I start him most of the time." Norman disclosed.

The assistant coach was quiet for a while as he scanned all the players on the pitch with his eyes before turning his gaze back to Norman.

"Then why don't you just start Frankie in that position?"

"Huh?"

"I mean, he's a midfielder but he also does well on the wings just like you've seen through all the practice matches, he's also fast and has great defensive capabilities. Just like you said, he's the player who can play almost anywhere and perform well, I think the left-back is one of those positions for him."

Hearing him say all that, Norman couldn't help but agree with a nod as he slowly turned his gaze to Frankie on the pitch.

"You're absolutely right, why didn't I think of this at first?"

The coach was glad that they were able to come up with something if Roland should get injured one day but they still had other stuff to talk about.

"Now let's talk about the midfielders."