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Chapter 113: First Start VI

In the locker room assigned to the Porto team, it was needless to say that Jason and Ze Luis were the main characters of today’s story and were sharing handshakes and greetings with the rest of the team as they conversed and analyzed the game joyously.

“You guys were impressive out there and you ticked all the required boxes for the first half, I’m expecting more of the same attitude in the second half,” Sergio Conceicao praised the team’s performances.

“The forwards performed well, the wingers made all the right runs to support and even helped the team add to our score tally, the midfielders helped control the midfield and the defenders did well in keeping the opposition as far away from our goal as possible,”

“You’ve all performed well, and as I said, I’m expecting you to build on this performance in the second half and continue pressing them so we can extend our lead. I’m sure I don’t need to tell you how important raking up our goal difference currently is,” Sergio Conceicao expressed with a bit of concern in his tone.

It was a known fact that despite Porto currently being at the top of the table, Benfica was chasing hard after them and they were only five points apart, but this was including the points that they would gain from winning the current match against Santa Clara while Benfica hadn’t played yet.

If Benfica won their game in the current match week, they would only be two points behind Porto which for Sergio Conceicao was a bit too close for comfort.

Especially with his team’s current erratic performances, but he wouldn’t say that out part out loud.

All in all, the Porto team could not afford to miss out on any of the available points, while also making sure to rack up as much of a goal difference as possible.

After all, this was game week 23, and with just 11 games to go, a single slip-up could cost them the league title if they were not careful.

After reminding the team about their main objective for the second half, the Portuguese manager began to correct the players that needed correcting while also sharing valuable insights that could potentially help the players increase their lead.

Soon, the players started heading back out to the pitch and Sergi Conceicao suddenly beckoned Jason over and put his hand over his shoulder.

“Are you feeling alright?” he asked Jason.

Jason was a bit surprised by the question as he wasn’t able to immediately understand what the manager was talking about, but he still responded, “I think I am, I mean, I don’t think I’m not…”

“Yeah, well, the medical team said you shouldn’t have a problem playing for up to sixty minutes after your knock in the last match and though it’s a bit risky, you could play the whole match as well,” Sergio Conceicao explained, seeing that Jason seemed a bit confused.

“Since there currently doesn’t seem to be a problem, I’ll leave you on for now, but I will take you off if it seems like there is a risk of injury so don’t be too surprised when that happens,”

“I just want to let you know that I have nothing against you and since it is my job to ensure I get the best out of you, my decisions may not always seem pleasant to you but make sure to always keep it in the back of your mind that I have your best interest at heart, ” Sergio Conceicao wanted to make his stance clear and to explain to Jason ahead of time as he knew from experience that talented players had egos that made it a bit difficult to deal with them.

When “youth” was added to the equation, their egos became almost uncontrollable.

Young talented players thought they owned the world and that they were always right.

They also lacked the experience to rein in their egos and thus usually had problems with the conduct which sometimes even led to problems with the club’s management.

Thus experienced managers usually had to give them a bit of a special treatment to keep their egos from blowing up out of control.

To Sergio Conceicao, Jason was a young, and exceptionally talented player, which usually led to him having that much more of an ego and though Jason had been majorly silent, Sergio Conceicao had seen it flaring in his eyes more than once.

Back when Sergio Conceicao hadn’t yet added Jason to the team’s line-up, he had seen the fire and deviant attitude in Jason’s eyes whenever he wasn’t selected, yet unlike he expected, Jason never blew out of control and seemingly kept his cool.

If he were any other coach, he would simply attribute it to Jason’s exceptional self-control, but as an experienced coach, Sergio Conceicao knew better.

He knew that Jason was merely stuffing down and covering up his ego which in a way was even worse than a temperamental attitude because continuous accumulation and pressure would eventually lead to an explosion one day, wouldn’t it?

That was why Sergio Conceicao decided to give Jason a whole speech on how he should understand his future actions no matter how they would look to him.

This was necessary because while Jason couldn’t oppose his decisions, letting Jason’s morale drop would inevitably affect his performance and Sergio Conceicao needed nothing but the best from his players, hence his decision.

“Alright, coach… I mean… strange place and time for this kind of conversation, but I understand,” Jason didn’t know what was going on in the head manager’s mind and made a little joke due to being in a good mood after his performance in the first half.

“You cheeky kid, just play well and be careful,” Sergio Conceicao said with a little laugh, amused by Jason’s reaction.