Inside Liverpool's away dressing room, the only sound came from a shower head someone had failed to turn off completely. The drip of tap, tap made the silence feel heavier, and more oppressive.
Daniel Sturridge sat hunched in front of his locker, head bowed as he methodically cleaned grass stains from his boots. His mind kept replaying the chances he'd squandered, each miss cutting deeper than the last.
Jordan Henderson leaned against the wall, kneading his calf muscles, brow still creased with lingering frustration.
Julien had already changed into a fresh training shirt, though his thoughts had drifted away from the match entirely.
Instead, he found himself contemplating new applications for the ball control enhancement from his curve ability. The match had given him fresh ideas during those intense moments of play. Perhaps the technique wasn't limited to shooting and passing, maybe he could integrate it into his dribbling as well.
Martin Skrtel approached and clapped him on the back. "Stop overthinking it. Those dribbles tore their defense apart. You just needed a bit more luck."
Julien looked up and offered a small smile, nodding his acknowledgment.
Steven Gerrard suddenly straightened from where he'd been sitting, clapping his hands together twice.
Every head in the room turned toward their captain.
"I know everyone's frustrated," he began, his voice was calm but filled with natural authority.
"Being in control and not finishing it off—that stings. I get it. But we need to see this draw for what it really is: a reality check. Three straight wins made us a bit complacent, let us think we could cruise through matches. This result reminds us that the Premier League doesn't offer easy games. Our conversion rate, our defensive concentration—both need work."
Heads nodded around the room. The message landed because it came from experience, from someone who'd seen it all.
Yes, they'd avoided defeat. The disappointment lingered, but that competitive fire, that hunger for the title hadn't been extinguished by one draw.
After all, the season had barely begun.
They still had plenty of opportunities ahead.
The Next Morning, Melwood Training Ground
Dawn broke over Melwood, Liverpool's training complex, the grass still jeweled with morning dew. At precisely eight o'clock, players began gathering at the edge of the training pitch.
Brendan Rodgers stood waiting in his red training jacket with tactical board gripped in one hand. His coaching staff surrounded him, and the board displayed detailed diagrams from last night's match—Swansea's compact defensive positioning circled in red marker, alongside Liverpool's missed passing sequences that had broken down in the final third.
"Today's focus: small-area penetration and finishing in the box," he announced, clapping his hands once for emphasis.
His voice carried clearly without needing volume. "Julien and Sturridge, you're group one. Henderson and Aspas, group two. We're simulating opposition with a back five, just like Swansea set up."
The session began with warm-ups. During the light jogging phase, Sturridge deliberately fell into stride beside Julien. "That cross you put in yesterday was actually perfect. I just didn't get my header on target."
Julien bumped shoulders with him playfully. "We'll drill it a few more times today. Next match, guaranteed goal."
Their exchange carried no blame, only the mutual understanding of teammates recalibrating together.
Nearby, Lucas and Skrtel worked through defensive positioning drills. Michu's goal from the previous night had sharpened the back line's focus. Skrtel would periodically stop, gesturing to Lucas about their positioning during that decisive moment, muttering about needing "half a second quicker reaction next time."
When the groups split for attacking patterns, the shouts and encouragement at Melwood gradually built to a crescendo. Julien collected a pass from Gerrard on the right flank, replicating his match movement by selling a fake to the training defender before suddenly checking the ball back to Henderson's overlapping run.
Henderson drove a through ball forward, and Sturridge spun in the box before side-footing home—the ball kissed the inside of the post on its way into the net.
"Excellent!" Rodgers applauded from the sideline, already scribbling notes. "That's exactly the combination play we need."
Sturridge jogged over to Julien with high-fives, finally wearing the first relaxed smile since the draw.
During the water break, the medical staff examined Coutinho's shoulder. He hadn't participated in the contact drills, instead was doing light running circuits on the periphery.
"Can you play next match?" Julien asked as he approached.
Coutinho nodded, miming a shooting motion with his arms. "Definitely. I'm not missing an Anfield match."
By eleven o'clock, the session was winding down. Most players had moved to recovery stretches and cool-down exercises, but Julien remained on the pitch with a bag of balls, carefully working through finishing drills.
One shot. Two. Three. The rhythm never varied.
The morning sun climbed higher in the sky, stretching shadows long across Melwood's spotless grass. The shapes of players practicing their craft grew more defined in the golden light.
After training concluded, Julien savored his meal with appreciation. Ever since Liverpool had hired their new chef, the food quality had transformed. Finally, the canteen served meals worth eating.
Later in the rest area, he spread several newspapers across the table in front of him. A quick scan of the headlines told him exactly what tales the media were pushing.
"Draw Exposes Finishing Weakness- Reds Need to Sharpen Final Ball"
"De Rocca Completes 9 Successful Dribbles, Match-High, But Teammates' Touch Fails Him"
"Former Red Creates Four Goals in One Match - Career High for Bizarre Performance"
"Top Eight Separated by Just Three Points - Premier League Title Race Wide Open"
He skimmed through the key passages, casually folded the papers, and took a sip of warm coffee. His finger tapped the table lightly as he mentally thought of two words: "finishing efficiency."
Then, turning to other team news, he noticed Chelsea dominated the coverage. Typical Mourinho, always generating headlines.
In match-week four, Chelsea had suffered worse than Liverpool's draw.
They'd actually lost.
The Blues traveled to Goodison Park to face Everton and fell 1-0, suffering their first defeat of the new season. After four league matches, their record stood at two wins, one draw, one loss.
In his post-match interview, Mourinho had offered one of his characteristically enigmatic assessments.
"I don't know if this result is fair or unfair for us. I don't know if we deserved to lose or not. The reason we deserved to lose is simple—we didn't convert our chances while they converted theirs.
The reason we didn't deserve to lose should be equally obvious—our performance was superior. We played the best football; we dominated the match! We had twenty-one shots on goal. We should have won this game.
Of course, football doesn't offer 'what ifs' or replays. We had twenty-one attempts, several of them excellent opportunities, but we failed to score even once. Meanwhile, our opponents capitalized on one of their limited chances. From that perspective, perhaps we did deserve to lose because we lacked patience and conviction compared to them."
The exact same pattern as Liverpool's match. Territorial dominance without goals.
Except Chelsea had lost.
Another Chelsea story caught Julien's attention, causing his brow to furrow slightly.
"Blue Prospect in Limbo: De Bruyne Zero Minutes, Lukaku Starved of Chances"
The article detailed how Belgian midfielder Kevin De Bruyne hadn't featured for even a single minute in Chelsea's first four Premier League matches.
The twenty-two-year-old had spent last season on loan at Bastia in Ligue 1, where he'd formed a devastatingly effective partnership with Liverpool's current star, Julien. Together, they'd led Bastia to an unprecedented historic treble: Ligue 1 champions, Europa League winners, and French Super Cup victors.
De Bruyne's creative passing and attacking threat during that campaign had marked him as one of European football's most exciting young talents.
However, since returning to Chelsea after his loan spell ended, he'd found himself frozen out under José Mourinho's tactical system. Industry analysts suggested his attack-minded style clashed with Mourinho's "defense-first" philosophy, while the consistent performances of Nemanja Matić and Oscar left him even further from the first team.
Further down the article, Romelu Lukaku's name appeared alongside similar concerns. The young Belgian striker, also loaned to Bastia last season, had managed just one brief substitute appearance totaling less than ten minutes of Premier League action.
So Mourinho genuinely didn't rate De Bruyne. Julien recalled watching a television interview with Mourinho years later where he had discussed both De Bruyne and Mohamed Salah leaving Chelsea without fulfilling their potential.
Mourinho's explanation went something like this: De Bruyne wanted to leave because he felt he deserved more playing time. Mourinho had given him substitute appearances, but apparently that wasn't enough. The player wanted to leave Chelsea, so Mourinho let him go, it was simple as that. You could always buy replacements.
According to Mourinho, they were just impatient youngsters, and while their subsequent careers proved they'd been right to leave, that wasn't Mourinho's problem to solve.
He'd made similar comments about Salah, noting that he'd been the one to bring the Egyptian to Chelsea in the first place when Liverpool had also been interested. But Salah also grew impatient, wanted a loan move for development, and eventually Chelsea sold him rather than Mourinho personally making that decision.
Julien pulled out his phone and snapped a photo of the newspaper article. He posted it to his private message with De Bruyne on social media, adding a single line: "If it's possible, come to Liverpool in the January window. You'll get the opportunities you deserve here."
The response came almost instantly: "Yes!"
Julien's face broke into a genuine smile. This was Kevin De Bruyne they were talking about! And somehow, in this era, he couldn't get minutes at Chelsea.
Liverpool's current midfield consisted of Lucas and Henderson—both industrious workers. Ask them to defend, to press, to cover ground, and they'd give you everything, every single match. But if you needed creative passing, incisive through balls that unlocked defenses? That was asking them to perform outside their natural skill sets.
Only Steven Gerrard still possessed that midfield creativity, but his age was catching up with him. His stamina, pace, and physical challenges were all declining gradually but noticeably.
These factors represented hidden vulnerabilities in Liverpool's squad.
In Julien's vision for the team, this wasn't just about one season's success. With the current roster, they could compete because there were no European fixtures to contend with.
But what happened when they qualified for the Champions League? The squad depth issues would be immediately exposed, there were too many aging players, too many young ones not yet ready.
Coutinho's creative spark from attacking midfield helped, but he'd just picked up another injury. He claimed he could return, but the medical staff's evaluation would ultimately determine that.
If Liverpool could bring in De Bruyne during the January transfer window, it would represent a massive upgrade. His vision, his passing range, his ability to operate between the lines, it was exactly what this team needed.
Of course, Julien's mind wandered to another name: Virgil van Dijk. You could score all the goals in the world, but you still needed a defensive foundation.
He was determined to bring Van Dijk to Liverpool as well. And ideally, he'd keep the Dutch center-back as far away from Jordan Pickford as possible in the future.
For now, though, Van Dijk was still far from his peak years. Let him continue developing at Bastia, gaining experience and maturing his game.
Julien's thoughts spiraled through these squad-building considerations, planning multiple moves ahead. He made a mental note to find time for a conversation with David Dein.
Then his phone rang, interrupting the planning session.
It was Pierre his father and agent.
Julien answered, and Pierre quickly laid out the latest developments. Nike, Adidas, Warrior Sports, and Puma had all increased their offers for an exclusive endorsement contract with Julien. Warrior Sports in particular which was also Liverpool's current kit sponsor saw tremendous opportunity in leveraging Julien's marketability to elevate their brand profile even further.
Julien's response was simple, "Don't reject any offers, but don't rush to sign anything either."
Pierre no longer seemed surprised by this approach. He'd come to understand his son+client's thinking.
Julien explained slightly. "We'll finalize something by the end of this season at the latest. There is no point in dragging it beyond that. The reason for not signing now is straightforward—I need to avoid commercial commitments eating into training and recovery time. I still need to cement my tactical role within the team structure.
The other factor is strategic. Let's use this period to gauge their genuine commitment. As the season progresses, our negotiating position will only strengthen. Trust me on this."
"Understood," Pierre acknowledged that.
He continued. "Two other items. First, The Player's Tribune is expanding rapidly in France. We're officially opening our London office next week and rolling out operations across England and slowly across other countries."
"Excellent. And the second thing?"
"The second matter—"
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