Chapter 79 Modern Fullback
He then walked away from coach Fuji. By twisting and turning his body, he started to stretch his body.
While he was stretching his body, Yuya and Shunta approached him. They had arrived at the pitch about 10 minutes earlier than him.
"Yoh!! Good morning." Yuya greeted him with a wide grin on his face.
Even in that cold morning, he seemed pretty energetic.
"Those guys are still hesitant of approaching you." He continued while turning his gaze at other players who were stealing a peak of him since the moment he entered the pitch.
"Leave them be. I'm sure everything will work out fine with time." Hiro replied while pausing his actions.
Even after revealing his identity the day before, his teammates were still somewhat hesitant of approaching him.
Far in one of the goalpost, Hirato and Takekazu were practicing their shooting accompanied by the goalkeeper from the reserve team.
"He's technique is pretty good." Hiro mumbled while watching him shoot.
"Who Hirato??" Shunta questioned while turning his gaze towards the two of them.
"Yeah!! Although he lacks power, his technique is good." Hiro continued.
"As much as I'd hate to compliment him. But I can't deny the fact that he's one of the talented player in U-15 team. And he's not only great in terms of skill but he's also great in terms of something else as well. Hahaha..." Yuya finished his sentence with a playful smile.
"Yeah! His weight is great as well. Hahaha..." Shunta burst out into laughter.
While they were gossiping about Hirato, they failed to notice the presence of Seiya behind them.
Without being noticed, Seiya who had been eavesdropping their conversation ran towards Hirato to tell him about the content of their conversation.
"Let's not talk about him. Actually I want to talk to you about something Shunta. I noticed that you've got a pretty quick feet. But why don't you go up the field? You should be using your pace to attack from the flanks." Hiro suggested.
"You shouldn't stick to a traditional role. You're more suited to be playing as a modern fullback instead of a traditional fullback. Do you watch Bundesliga?" While giving suggestions to Shunta, he asked him if he watched Bundesliga.
"Not much. But I love watching premier league." Shunta replied.
"That works as well. You know Trent Alexander Arnold right? The full back from Liverpool." Hiro asked.
Shunta slightly nodded his head without uttering anything.
"Have you ever paid attention to his gameplay? Even though he's a fullback, he's more known for his attacking threat than for his defensive talent. And I'm not saying his defense is terrible but what makes him known is his crosses and runs across the flank. With your pace, you too should participate more on the offense as well." Hiro gave him the example of Trent Alexander Arnold from Liverpool and suggested him to participate on the offense.
"That's a good suggestion Hiro. But he can't cross well. And unlike Trent, he's not good with the ball as well." Yuya pointed out the flaws in Shunta.
"Yeah!! I'm a bit ashamed to say this but he's right." Shunta meekly replied.
"Then we'll help you to correct your flaws." Hiro exclaimed with a smile on his face while turning his gaze towards Yuya, staring at him with his expectant eyes.
"We will??" Yuya replied while pointing his finger towards him, looking somewhat confused.
After a moment of pause, he laughed awkwardly.
"Hahaha yes we will. Don't worry Shunta. We'll help you."
"Thank you guys." His eyes twinkling, Shunta thanked both of them for offering their help to help him improve.
Just then as Shun made his appearance towards the pitch looking somewhat sleep deprived, manager Nozomi closed the door of the pitch.
Beep!!!
Manager Nozomi blew his whistle to grab the attention of the players on the field.
"Okay now everybody gather around." Nozomi yelled and commanded everybody to gather around.
Upon hearing the command of manager Nozomi, all the player started to gather around him.
"Look the coach is calling. We should probably go as well." Yuya intoned.
Hiro and Shunta nodded their head. The three of them then started to walk towards the crowd as well.
"And also you should watch the gameplay of Alphonso Davies. The fullback from Bayern Munich. Just like you, he's got a rather quick feet. You too should use your pace for attacking like him." Hiro suggested during their walk.
And just as they joined the crowd, the two coaches on the field began to speak.
"For today's training session we will be measuring your overall improvement. And for that we'll be analysing your physicality, passing, shooting, defending, etc. We'll also be ranking you guys according to your performance. Also there will be punishment for the bottom three players. So be prepared to sweat a lot." Coach Fuji revealed with a somewhat sinister smile on his face.
The coaches wanted to check their improvements.
While the coach was talking about the training drills, his eyes met with Hirato's who was standing opposite to him.
Staring at him with his bulging eyes, he could feel anger rushing in his eyes.
'Why is he looking at me like that?' He wondered after noticing Hirato's gaze towards him.
"Pay attention everybody." Manager Nozomi yelled upon noticing Hiro wandering his gaze around the field as if his focus was somewhere else.
Nozomi's voice brought him back to his senses. Noticing him coming back to his senses, Nozomi then cleared his throat and requested coach Fuji to continue the explanation.
"For our first drill. We'll be measuring your pace. And to do that we'll first arrange you guys in a group of three to save time. After that according to the number of your group, you'll sprint from the outline towards the halfline without pausing. Do you get it?" Coach Fuji informed them about their first drill.
"'Yes sir!!"' Everybody yelled in unison.
"Okay then I'll allocate your groups. Step forward when I call your name."
Coach Fuji then began to allocate the players in groups.
Shunta got place in the second group. And Shun got placed in the 5th group.
Unluckily Yuya and Hiro got placed alongside Hirato in group first.
And thus they were forced to run before anyone else.
"Okay group 1 step forward." Coach Fuji asked group 1 to step forward to start the first drill. "Also Shun come forward as well. We need one more person to measure their time."
And just as he called out for the players of group 1 and Shun to step forward, the three players of group 1 and Shun stepped forward.
"Let's see who's out of shape now." Hirato mumbled while standing beside him.
'I guess someone informed him about our earlier conversation.' He thought after listening to his taunts.
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