James wiped the whiteboard while addressing the club members sitting around him, "Since you have a new formation to learn for tomorrow, you will take part in a practice match before any other personal training today"

"I'll be personally observing to gauge your tactical understanding, and might bench those who lack it. Due to the tight schedule, I can only base my judgement on this practice match, so it'll be in your best interest to take it seriously", he informed us before carrying the whiteboard away, igniting a competitive spirit in the current bench members.

Sensing a lack of movement, he snapped, "What are you lot waiting for? Get ready and meet Coach Keith in the main training ground!"

******************************

Standing opposite Rick, we were waiting for Coach Keith, our defensive coach and acting referee for this contest, to blow the whistle when I heard a familiar sound accompanied by holographic screens floating in front of me.

*Ding*

[Host detected playing football. Collecting data]

*Ding*

[Host part of a football club. Collecting information]

*Fweeeeeeeeeeep*

My attempt to view the messages was thwarted by the whistle, forcing me to blink them away, in hopes of them appearing again after the conclusion of the game similar to yesterday.

While sprinting towards my position, I used a few moments to sense the movement around me, the grass beneath my feet and the loud clamor of my teammates. This kaleidoscope of sensations ironically brought me peace and comfort; I felt at home.

Redirecting my attention back to the game, I perceived a slightly chaotic flow as my over-eager clubmates went full blast right from the get-go, partly owing to the fact that the practice match was half as long as an official league game and partly because of James' attitude towards this particular one.

'This is why we have all that personal training before the match. Hopefully, they'll settle down into their rhythms soon'

I planned to take advantage of this contest to test the current extent of my capabilities, to gauge where I stood in comparison to my peers.

Choosing to experiment with the role of a shadow striker when I felt our offensive line isolated, I elected to shift my position down the pitch after a discussion with Rick.

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

"Rick, move your position up a bit, right along their defensive line", I whispered to my partner, receiving a puzzled question from him, "You want me to make runs in behind?"

"No. Just keep playing as a target man, I'll link up with the midfield instead. It seems they are struggling to supply the ball. I'd appreciate it if you make the occasional run to confuse them though", I explained, causing a doubtful expression on his face, before he agreed to try it out.

Inching down the pitch, I investigated the cause of the current blockage of passing routes to the offense. While successfully exchanging a few passes with our midfield, I was able to pinpoint the issue.

Due to the lack of an exceptionally tall club member, the coach had resorted to allowing the reserve team to follow our usual tactics, resulting in them getting into their rhythm much earlier than us.

With the awareness of the glaring flaws in our specialized formation adding to their advantage, it was a miracle they hadn't scored yet.

Since the flanks were being heavily targeted in the absence of wide defenders, our wide midfielders were being forced to sink down the pitch, resulting in their late participation in attacking situations.

The absence of wide options induced the sole use of central attacking routes leading to the reserve team narrowing their defensive formation, effectively blocking the monotonous attacking pattern and isolating our offense.

'I don't think the coach expects us to overcome a tactical disadvantage as major as this. He merely intends to check the defense's understanding of the new formation by limit testing them'

Done analysing, I moved down further, increasing the frequency of passes with the midfield in an attempt to provide enough time for the wide players to participate in the attack.

I spotted Alex making an unmarked run in the left flank and provided a lobbed through-pass to him, causing the opposing defense to panic.

An alarmed right back hurriedly broke away from their defense to chase him, causing them to compensate by spreading out, resulting in the creation of ample exploitable gaps.

Signalling to Rick to keep an eye out for my runs, I rushed to the front line while demanding for the ball to distract the defenders.

Alex played a cutback cross from the edge of the penalty box towards Rick, who muscled off his marker to get his head to the ball, providing a through pass to me piercing a gap in the defense.

Controlling the less-than-ideally placed ball, I spotted the lone defender positioned in front of Jack approaching me.

Taking a couple of steps further, I assumed a shooting position, provoking him to stick out his leg in response, opening up a passing route to an unmarked Gary.

I folded my shot, instead passing the ball to Gary, bamboozling the defender and the Jack, who simply tapped it in.

Gary raced to me and celebrated with a high-five while exclaiming, "That was an amazing assist. How did you spot me?"

"Damn! Hey, Nick! Was your passing always this good?", questioned Rick after tapping my shoulder.

"You disappeared from my field of view. I guessed you're likely to be in that general area", I explained while laughing.

"See, this is what I meant. So creepy", commented Arthur while rubbing his arms.

*******************************

"Arthur wasn't exaggerating, his passing accuracy has increased drastically. Not to mention his vision and judgement in a disadvantageous situation", remarked Lewis.

"Did you notice his shooting form? The transition from shooting to passing couldn't have been smoother" gushed Robert.

"Forget all that, all I can see is his excellent positioning. It's like he has a map of the entire pitch in his head", exclaimed Keith.

The three turned to a silent James, finding him immersed in his thoughts.

'Positioning, vision, judgement, form, accuracy....... Every facet of his game has improved. His composure during the game is akin to a veteran's. Nikhil Patel, what happened to you?'

Author's Notes:

Bench player - Players who don't start the game as part of initial 11 on the field but may be substituted in for one of those in case of injury or tiredness.

Shadow striker - An attacker who is positioned in between the midfield and the main striker, acting as a link between the two. Typically good at passing, dribbling and shooting.

Run-in-behind: Football has a rule called offside, where an attacking player cannot be located past the defense when a teammate passes to them. So attackers resort to time their sprints such that they cross the defensive line the moment the ball leaves their teammates feet.

Cutback - Used to describe a back pass in an attacking situation

Folding a shot - Faking a shooting motion, passing or dribbling instead