Chapter 591: Injury Crisis
The hungry Jason didn’t take too long to finish the food and he soon drove out of the square and went back home to get a much needed rest.
The next day, he arrived at the training ground and went to report to the manager in his office that he was back after his international break.
Pirlo welcomed him back and asked how the break was, and after a little conversation, he was sent to the medical center for a check-up.
Important matches were coming up and the manager had to ensure that all the available players were at their best shape.
The club was in a sort of a little injury crisis as during the time Jason was on international break, four players had gotten injuries that would keep them out for a while.
Kulusevski had gotten a broken ankle during a training session, Morata picked up a groin injury during a match, Bonucci had a torn thigh muscle, and Arthur had a dislocated shoulder.
The sudden wave of injuries alarmed the club, and the manager was warned to ensure that more players didn’t succumb to injuries as the club was now at a crucial part of the season.
The title race was heating up, and they had broken into quarter finals of the Champions League competition.
Jason quickly underwent a fitness test and a physical exam to ensure he didn’t pick up any hidden injuries during his time on an international break.
When he was finally done, quite a bit of time had gone by, and he went to go join the players on the pitch for training.
The Uventus players welcomed him back, and they quickly resumed training.
On any training ground, there were different social groups, and Jason was part of a group made up of Ronaldo, Dybala, Cuadrado, and Mckennie.
They usually trained together most of the time and did a few extra training sessions together.
When Jason resumed training, he noticed that Dybala was training harder than he had ever seen him do before, and it was a little bit of a surprise.
But then he remembered that the manager had mentioned that Morata was injured.
Due to Dybala picking up a long term injury before, the club had brought in Chiesa, who could play as a striker and on the flanks, and they also had Morata and Ronaldo.
Ronaldo was untouchable in the line-up, which meant that the remaining three forwards had to fight for one spot on the team, but the problem was that they were all quality players who would leave any manager at a loss for whom to use among them.
Unfortunately for Dybala, he had been injured long term, and his importance in the team had reduced a fair bit, hence ever since his return from injury, he had only been able to feature in a few matches, and it was beginning to look like the end for him at Uventus.
However, Morata’s injury changed things.
Morata was the next main man after Ronaldo, which meant there was now a chance for Dybala to break back into the team as long as he could impress the manager more with his performances during training.
Football was a team sport, but it was also filled with competition, especially inside the team, so even though Dybala didn’t wish for Morata to be injured, he also wasn’t going to let his chance to get back into the starting eleven slip away.
“Hey, with how hard you’re training, you just might score a hat-trick in the next match,” Jason laughed at Dybala, who was sweating hard from training despite the cold weather.
“That’s the goal,” Dybala shouted back and continued his agility drills.
“Love the confidence. What will you do when you score the hat-trick?” Jason asked as he joined the agility drills.
“That is worth thinking about,” Dybala heaved, as he dashed between the cones.
They continued discussing as they continued their training, and the day quickly soon passed them by.
It was matchday for Uventus, and they were up against Napoli, who were guaranteed to be a tough opponent.
However, the Uventus team would not accept anything other than a win in the game.
There was still some time before the match, hence, the players had not yet left the training ground.
They were in a meeting room, and the manager was about to begin calling out the players who were in the starting line-up.
Normally, he would have decided since the day before and have the names up on the board, but due to the injuries, he had a lot more to think about regarding the line-ups, hence the current situation.
“For this match, we will have Sczeszny in goal, Chiellini and De Ligt in the center at the back and Danilo and Alex guarding the flanks.”
“Bentacur and Rabiot will be in the center midfield, Jason will be on the left, and Bernadeschi will be on the right,”
“Finally, up front will be Ronaldo and Chiesa,” Pirlo said.
Jason, who was seated beside Dybala, could see his lips straighten in disappointment, but he didn’t say a word.
“Like you already know, we will be using the 4-4-2 formation and will be hoping to dominate the center before distributing the ball to the flanks quickly and letting them send the ball into the center of the box,”
“You must always remain alert as we are up against a particularly strong opponent who can punish us if we give them just a little chance,”
“I want a structured shape from you guys when we are keeping possession, but I also need you to be fluid when necessary,”
“If there’s no opening on the flank, come up with your own way to help the team, but remember not to compromise the team’s shape too much and never leave your position for too long and allow it to be a weak point or God help me, I will have your head,” Pirlo made a little joke and the players laughed, but deep down they knew that they must not test the manager.