Dave didn't want to rush it immediately because that would be risky against someone like Mateo, but still, he had to stop the winger.
If this was a real match, he would have activated sweeper keeper to give him a speed boost, or better still, he would have done another point dump into his dexterity and gotten a reaction from Catherine.
In situations like this, goalkeepers are the ones who have the odds against them but in some situations, they end up coming out on top.
Mateo didn't slow down until he was about to enter the box, and that was when Dave decided to shut him down as fast as possible.
The goalkeeper quickly slid toward him ready to stop the lob because he sensed that was what he was going to do, almost all the one on one goals he's scored have been lobbed after all.
However, Mateo seemed to have sensed that his buddy was going to be ready for a lob so he decided to try something different.
Before Dave could get to him, he suddenly paused before quickly getting past the goalkeeper with a neat roulette spin.
After getting past him, he moved to the line with the ball before turning to him with a cheeky smile.
"I tried my best to stop him," Dave said before raising both of his hands.
Minino who had entered the area now quickly rushed toward Mateo to stop him from getting the ball past the line, but before he could get to him, the winger tapped the ball into the goalpost before running off to the sidelines laughing as loudly as he has ever done before.
"And I thought you were fast." Minino hissed before turning his gaze to Dave who was getting up from the floor now.
"Speed had nothing to do with that situation, the ball was glued to his feet the whole time." The goalkeeper argued as he made his way back to his goalpost.
"Yeah, I know, but try to be faster next time." The midfielder remarked before placing his arm over his shoulder.
ƥandasnovel.com After the defensive team conceded their first goal, Norman took up his role to coach them and try and see if he could get his pretty decent defense to stop his highly pressing attack.
The longer this practice session lasted, the better the link-up between Mateo, Ferran, Fredinho, and Minino got, and although the coach was doing pretty well in pointing the other team in the right direction so that they could stop them from scoring, they still managed to get another goal.
It was a pretty scuffed one in the sense that it came from a lot of bounces inside the box and ended up being a deflection which Dave couldn't deal with but still, a goal is a goal.
They also managed to get one from a penalty and another one from a well-placed free kick from Mateo.
It looked like Dave didn't really do much to stop that because he got his hand on it but it just slipped off and fell into the goalpost, that's not something that he will let happen in a real match.
Those goals didn't come from high pressing or a counter-attack so Norman didn't make any comments on it, if they went precisely by the rules of the practice session then those goals would be regarded except maybe the penalty because it was a chance that came from their high pressing while the free kick came from a handball which Minino caused on purpose.
After that free-kick goal from Mateo, things started getting stale for the attacking team, and that was also after the coach had a quick talk with the defensive team.
What it really looked like now was like Norman had just spotted all their attacking hit points and then prepared the best remedy for stopping them in those points.
Norman got pretty aggressive with Mateo and was finding it easier to dispossess the winger with his tackles before he could do anything with the ball, and that was without fouling him.
The link-up between Ferran and Fredinho down the middle seemed to have been cut off by Minino and Roland was having loads of fun overriding everything Merino was trying to do with his clearly superior speed.
The through balls were no longer getting through to the front three because Norman had them all figured and even whenever the defensive side happen to slip up a bit, Dave would come through for them.
Adolf was just all over the place while Aima remain situated in the center to stop anything unexpected.
Perhaps, this strong wall they seemed to have built up was a result of Norman advising them to not go hardcore with their attacks for now and leave themselves open on the back.
They were still moving the ball forward to try and get a goal but it was nothing compared to what the attacking team were trying to do against them.
However, they still managed to scuff out a goal, it came from a volley from Minino and the distance from which he did that looked pretty impressive.
At the end of the day, the scoreline ended four goals to one but that didn't mean anything, what mattered was how things played out during the practice session, and Norman seemed to be impressed by the way the defense adapted to his commands now all he had to do was implement this in the match against Lazio.
After that session, the training session came to an end and that meant that it was time for the players to start heading back.
"That was really fun," Dave remarked as he made his way down the locker room alongside Mateo.
"Yeah, I scored a hat trick against you."
"Yeah pretty impressive although I wasn't really being serious."
"I could tell." The winger said with a nod. "I know what you're usually like in matches but the same can be said about me and everyone else, we will try way more than we did now in a serious match, that's just natural instinct."
"Hmm, fair point."
<But that's not what you meant>
______ _______
Dave got home just a few minutes after driving off from the stadium and when he opened the door and entered the house, he found his wife fast asleep on the couch in the living room.
"She's back pretty early today." He said before making his way to her.
He slowly sat down beside her and was about to place his hand on her hand when she slowly opened her eyes.
"Oh, you're back." She quavered before blinking a couple of times.
"Yeah, but you're back way too early today."
"I was feeling weird at work so I had to go see the doctor, my boss said I shouldn't bother coming back to work after that so that's how I ended up here." She explained.
"Oh, and what did the doctor say?"
"He said I was okay, it's just something normal for the stage I am in now."
"Oh, and what about my baby girl?" He asked before placing his hand on her stomach.
"He's fine." She replied. "Anyway, I'll be going for the ultrasound next week so you can finally see that he's a boy."
"I doubt that but maybe it's a twin."
"Identical twins of the male gender, right?"
"Hey, can't you just let me have something?" He said before shaking his head.
"No, you can't have anything." She said with a little chuckle.
There was a little moment of silence between the two before she decided to say something.
"Hey." She called.
"Yeah."
"I want ice cream."
"Okay, do you want me to get it for you or can we go together?"
"Ummm…let's go together." She said before slowly sitting up on the couch.
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