The scene in Worthy's office today

"Now Rob, sit down, I want to have a word about Saturday"

"Thanks boss, yes I was thinking if we can pass through the inside left channel I could ..."

"Never mind that son, just you listen to me. You're a decent little player, Rob, and your fitness is pretty good, I'll give you that. Not up to NorwichCityFootballClub standards yet, of course, but a few more half marathons will sort you out. But your trouble is all this fancy dan stuff. It's got to go. I don't like this obsession with dribbling and footwork, son, it's all very well for show ponies but I've never had them in my team."

"But boss ..."

"Shut up lad and listen. I'll tell you how you can improve your game. You need to put yourself about a bit more, notmean? Let the defenders know you're there, knock them about a bit, get a bit more physical. You're always standing off them and spinning away and that's not what I like to see, I like to see some aggression. You shoulder charge your man a couple of times in the first 5 minutes, OK?"

"But boss .."

"And another thing. You're not competing in the air. I know you're not the tallest of lads but you could make a bit more of an effort, notmean? So when Greeno's getting ready to kick, I want to see you getting ready to jump. I want to see you up there with the centre half, making his life difficult. If you jump with him, you could put him off and the ball could go anywhere, notmean? That's good tactics that is."

"But boss .."

"All right son, that's enough out of you, off to the gym for more weights and height work. I want you two inches taller in a fortnight."

Posted By: Old Git, Feb 10, 12:31:45