Bicycle Dribbling lv3! Perfecting the Training Plan!

Bicycle Dribbling lv3! Perfecting the Training Plan! The next day, over the weekend, at Sheffield United's First Team training ground.

Only seventeen people came, and under Kevin's lead, they began post-match recovery training. More than seven players boycotted training under the pretext of asking for leave.

Clearly, Kevin had already lost control of the team.

Many veterans were making their voices heard through a training boycott, hoping the club would dismiss him as soon as possible.

After recovery training ended.

Maël carried a football to the neighboring pitch and did extra breakthrough training with Gilbert.

"I need to add some training volume on rest days."

He could hardly wait to get on the pitch, to prove his value in the Championship, and to do something for the team he currently played for.

Waiting felt awful. No one liked lying low; everyone wanted a road ahead that suddenly opened wide.

Maël set up the training equipment on the pitch, simulating match conditions as much as possible, and went all out dribbling past the marker poles.

He still kept using Bicycle Kick, while Gilbert, off to the side, used several different techniques.

After discovering that facing marker poles could achieve the same training effect, the two of them stopped practicing against each other.

A person's patience was limited, after all.

Maël had the Proficiency Panel and could see his progress and results anytime, anywhere. Gilbert did not.

If he really defended Maël's Bicycle Kick from morning to night, he would definitely break down. Just seeing a bicycle would make him sick. Just like that, the days moved forward one by one. The entire club was shrouded in gloom. The players were all very quiet, and laughter was rarely heard in training sessions.

Only when they spent time together in private would there occasionally be a bit of warmth in the atmosphere.

On August 10, after the new Premier League season kicked off, the EFL Cup was about to arrive as well.

Sheffield United would face the sixth-tier National League side Hartlepool United in the first round on the 12th.

They had two cup competitions to play this season: the EFL Cup and the FA Cup.

In terms of importance, the FA Cup was definitely above the EFL Cup. It was the cup competition many top teams most wanted to win.

As for the EFL Cup, most teams simply took it as far as they could. Only if they somehow stumbled into the semifinals would they consider going all out for the title.

But obviously, neither of these two cup competitions had much to do with Sheffield United.

They had no possibility of fighting for the title. It would be better to give up early and focus completely on avoiding relegation in the Championship.

That evening, Maël finally welcomed the moment he had been waiting for.

A tingling numbness spread through his hips and knees. The Muscle Memory related to Bicycle Kick underwent a qualitative leap, as if he had suddenly reached enlightenment.

Skill: Bicycle Dribbling lv3

Proficiency: 1/800

Effect: After thousands upon tens of thousands of repetitions, you have become practiced at Bicycle Dribbling, possessing a certain degree of speed and deception, with a chance of successfully breaking past professional players!

"Finally lv3."

Maël's expression relaxed. Now, on the wing, he already possessed a certain level of threat.

When facing defenders who were not familiar with him, he could quickly unleash Bicycle Dribbling and flash into space.

Whether he drove to the byline for a Cross or cut inside and used a Long Shot to blast at the opponent's goal, both were excellent attacking methods!

Skill: Muscle lv2

Proficiency: 564/800

Glancing at his strength proficiency, he began thinking about his training plan from here on. "Spending all my time on physical strength training is obviously impossible. The human body can only take so much, and I have to avoid getting injured.

"I can add another breakthrough-type drill commonly used by wingers—Step-Over Dribbling—to keep the training load balanced and make full use of the training time.

"I'll aim to train both 'strength' and 'Step-Over Dribbling' to lv3 by the end of this month. By then, on the wing in the Championship, I'll definitely count as someone of note."

That would count as an initial stage of being able to hold off contact, break through, shoot, and pass.

After that, Maël planned to end his other training and switch to training speed and Coordination.

For a wide player, the importance of speed went without saying!

If he could train speed to lv3 as well, combined with two breakthrough skills, he would definitely become a sharp blade, creating danger the moment he touched the ball.

Even without using breakthrough skills, lv3 speed would probably be enough to overpower some Championship defenders.

As for Coordination, it was a basic skill and one he had to have.

Whether the lower body was stable or not was the key to deciding whether a player could keep his footing in a fast-paced, high-contact match.

Not to mention, a stable base would also be a great help to his breakthroughs and physical duels.

"And speed training is definitely intense. Coordination training can balance it out nicely."

After making all his decisions, Maël took advantage of the fact that the sky had not yet gone completely dark and started Dribbling training again, aiming straight for the Proficiency Panel for Step-Over Dribbling.

More than forty minutes later, he wiped away his sweat and left the training ground with the football in his arms, perfectly satisfied.

Skill: Step-Over Dribbling lv1

Proficiency: (24/100)

Effect: you.

Next, he just had to train.

Once his speed and coordination both came through, and then both reached lv3, he could raise some of the abilities he currently possessed to lv4 and deepen their strengths.

In a blind spot behind Maël, a middle-aged man in a navy suit stood outside the training-ground railings, smoking and watching the pitch. He seemed to have been there for a while. After seeing Maël leave, he took out his phone and dialed a number. "Is the list out? Is Maël on it?"

"No. Gilbert isn't there either," a voice came from the other end.

"That two-faced idiot pig Kevin!"

He bared his teeth in secret, the hand holding his cigarette trembling slightly. "Is he afraid of developing young players, only for them to become a ready-made gift for me after I take over?

"He really doesn't want to do anything good even before he leaves. He wants me to carry the pressure of poor results in the future while developing hope for the second half of the season."

The other end fell silent for a while before a voice came through. "It might not necessarily be that, but I've got the Board of Directors' stance. If Kevin loses five Championship matches at the start of the season, they'll definitely terminate his contract."

He swallowed, his thoughts calming a little. "Got it."

On August 12, Sheffield United traveled to Hartlepool United's away ground for the first round of the EFL Cup.

Normally, for an away match like this, the team should have set off a day earlier, but because the opponent's level was simply too low, no one in the club took it too seriously.

Maël still had not been selected for the Squad List. He had originally planned to watch the match broadcast at home, only to be told there was no signal.

Left with no choice, he and Gilbert went to the training ground again, did three extra hours of training, then went home and checked the news online.

The two of them had been quite relaxed at first. They were only taking a curious look to see who had scored and whether any massacre had happened.

But the moment they opened the EP Data Network, they were instantly stunned.

Two-nil! They had lost!

An EFL Championship team, facing a team four tiers below them, had suffered a shutout!

"Impossible."

Gilbert's face flushed red in an instant. "The 18 players in the Squad List this time were exactly the same as last match, all core members of the team. How could they lose to a National League team?"

Maël slowly put down his phone and sat on the sofa, staring blankly at the ceiling, unable to speak.

"Have they made up their minds to drive Kevin out?"

Gilbert's mouth fell open. "Or is our strength..."

All of a sudden, he sank into deep panic. The team's situation was even worse than they had imagined.

"Don't worry about that. Just wait until we get to play."

Maël shook his head. Right now, there was still nothing they could do.