Chapter 518: C

Sunday, December 3rd, and Newcastle was already finished by the time the squad walked back into Carrington.

The three points were banked. Demien's match mission had paid out the night before, and nobody spent the morning replaying St James' Park beyond what the physios needed to know. The players who'd started worked separately from the substitutes, and Demien moved through the recovery circuit with the rest of them — bike work, mobility, physio screening, hydration checks, a short spell of low-intensity technical touches to keep his feel for the ball rather than let it sit idle.

His numbers came back strong, the way they always did. Recovery Boost meant his body processed ninety physical minutes faster than anyone else's in the building. The staff didn't treat him any differently for it. He'd played Galatasaray and Newcastle within four days of each other, Chelsea was three days away, and Bayern and Liverpool were queued up directly behind that.

「DAILY TRAINING MISSION ACTIVATED」 「Post-Match Recovery」 「Complete full recovery protocol」 「Complete light technical work」 「Maintain optimal condition」 「Avoid fatigue increase」 「Reward: +8 TP」 「Bonus: Finish recovery at peak condition」 「Bonus Reward: +5 MP」

He moved through it the way he always did — nothing dramatic, nothing that needed a system prompt to remind him how to look after his own body.

「DAILY TRAINING MISSION COMPLETE」 「Recovery Protocol: COMPLETE」 「Technical Work: COMPLETE」 「Fatigue Increase: 0」 「Reward: +8 TP」 「Bonus Reward: +5 MP」

Before the players left for the day, the staff board in the corridor had already been updated.

WEDNESDAY — CHELSEA (H) SATURDAY — BOURNEMOUTH (A) TUESDAY — BAYERN MUNICH (H) SUNDAY — LIVERPOOL (H)

Demien read it twice on his way out, registering exactly how little space sat between each date. Ten Hag caught him looking at it and didn't let it become a bigger conversation than it needed to be.

"Bayern isn't this week's problem," he said, already walking toward his office. "Chelsea is."

Monday morning belonged to the analysts.

Ten Hag didn't reduce Chelsea to their league position on the screen. The footage went straight to the quality that made them dangerous regardless of where they sat in the table.

"Palmer's the first thing you need to understand," he said, freezing a clip mid-movement. "He doesn't stay in one place. Comes to the ball, drifts into the right half-space, then shows up around the box once they progress. If both of you follow the same movement" — he looked between Demien and whichever midfielder shared the screen with him — "you leave the same gap open every time. One of you steps. The other holds."

The next set of clips focused on Caicedo and Enzo underneath Palmer. "Both comfortable receiving under pressure," Ten Hag said. "But if one of them steps forward and Chelsea lose the ball, there's real space behind. We need to know when to press them directly and when to let the pass go and attack the next man instead."

Then the transition clips. Mudryk accelerating the instant possession changed hands. Jackson attacking the channels rather than standing still between center-backs. Sterling ready to carry the ball himself if United's fullbacks got caught too far forward.

"Here's the thing about Chelsea," Ten Hag said, turning the lights back up. "Newcastle tried to trap you in physical contests and second balls. Chelsea are the opposite. They'll give you room to play — which means if you break their first line, you hurt them quickly. But give the ball away with both fullbacks forward, and Palmer, Mudryk and Jackson are running at an open defense inside three seconds."

"Understood," Demien said.

"The danger isn't losing control of this match," Ten Hag said, closing the session. "It's letting a match we can control turn into forty meters of open grass in both directions."

Monday's field session stayed controlled rather than becoming the week's main tactical work — Newcastle had only been two nights earlier, and nobody's legs needed a full session on top of it.

The reserves shaped themselves into Chelsea's expected structure, one player drifting through the middle as Palmer, two more sitting underneath him as Caicedo and Enzo.

Ten Hag rotated combinations rather than settling on a lineup out loud. Demien worked one block alongside Mainoo and Bruno, then another alongside McTominay and Bruno, the difference obvious inside a few repetitions — Mainoo offering another calm option willing to receive under pressure, McTominay adding sharper forward running whenever Chelsea's midfield stepped out to meet them.

It was during the Mainoo block that Ten Hag stopped the drill.

The simulated Palmer had drifted toward United's right side, and Demien had followed him several meters farther than the movement actually required. The ball came back inside, and the space he'd abandoned opened up for the simulated Caicedo to exploit.

"Stop," Ten Hag called. "Demien — that's not about ability. You're accepting his invitation to follow him somewhere another teammate should be covering instead."

Demien nodded once. "Understood."

They ran it again. Palmer's stand-in made the same drifting run. This time Demien followed only as far as the handover point, called across to the nearest teammate, and turned his attention back to the central lane before the ball had even reached its destination.

Chelsea's reserve side tried to play back through the middle.

Demien was already there.

Interception, clean, no fanfare attached to it.

"Better," Ten Hag said, and moved the group on to the next phase without dwelling on it further.

No system mission opened for Monday's work. That belonged to Tuesday.

Tuesday, December 5th, Carrington's main tactical session began properly.

「CLUB TRAINING MISSION ACTIVATED」 「Chelsea Tactical Preparation」 「Complete full tactical session」 「Complete 6 pressure-release passes」 「Record 5 transition recoveries」 「Create 4 final-third entries after breaking midfield pressure」 「Central Turnovers: Maximum 1」 「Reward: +12 TP」 「Bonus: Complete session without repeating a tactical correction」 「Bonus Reward: +10 MP」

The first exercise targeted breaking Chelsea's midfield pressure directly. The reserve side closed Demien with one midfielder while the second protected Bruno's lane, the whole point being to teach the team where the free player would appear once Chelsea committed — not to let Demien solve every repetition by dribbling through both of them.

On the first proper rep, he received from the center-back with the simulated Caicedo closing and Bruno already covered. He didn't force it. He gave the ball back, shifted a few meters across the pitch, and asked for it again from a different angle.

This time the first presser followed him.

He turned away from the contact.

「TRAIT ACTIVATED」 「Press Resistant」

He released Mainoo immediately, straight through the space the midfielder had just vacated.

「Pressure-Release Passes: 1/6」

Mainoo found Bruno. United reached the final third.

「Final-Third Entries After Breaking Pressure: 1/4」

The next repetitions varied the solution rather than repeating the same one. When Chelsea's simulated midfield narrowed around Bruno, Demien switched immediately to the opposite fullback instead. When McTominay started running beyond the line as Demien received, he held the ball just long enough to draw the first presser before slipping it to Bruno, whose first touch released McTominay into the space behind.

Then one repetition genuinely failed.

United's winger came inside too early, crowding almost the same lane Bruno was occupying. Demien received, saw both forward options blocked, tried to recycle it — and the reserve side had already closed the touchline, forcing the turnover clean.

Ten Hag stopped the drill immediately. "That's not on you," he told Demien. "Winger's too narrow. Bruno, give yourself a few more meters."

The winger moved wider. Bruno adjusted his position. They reset.

This time, with the same pressure applied, Demien actually had somewhere to send it.

"That's the point of doing this as a team," Ten Hag said to the group. "He can only solve what the rest of you give him room to solve."