We got a free kick that would have been perfect for me, had I been on the pitch. It was to the right of the goal at a delicious angle - the goalkeeper wouldn't be sure if I would shoot or cross to a teammate. Lee wasn't especially talented in these situations, but I decided to let him have a go. I used the screens to set him as my free kick taker for right-sided free kicks, and used another perk to shuffle most of our tall players to the far post. I couldn't force Lee to play the way I thought was right, but I could encourage him.
I had another special boost for situations like these. It was a one-use-per-match perk I had bought called Free Hit and it made these opportunities 10% more likely to lead to a goal. I smashed that button.
Lee hadn't taken a free kick since he had arrived at the club and he must have been as surprised as everyone else in Chester to find himself in front of the ball. He didn't fully know the signals, but that was fine. He placed the ball, looked at the goal, and decided to clip it up for one of our beefy boys to attack.
I watched what happened and then read the Match Commentary to check it had gone as I thought I had seen it.
Contreras stands over the ball. He lifts his left arm.
He delays. He lifts his right arm.
He chips the ball softly towards the far side of the penalty area.
Christian Fierce jumps and heads the ball back towards the penalty spot.
Zach Green attacks the ball...
But it goes over the bar.
Okay, not bad! Personally, I didn't like the high, slow deliveries. Much better to hit the ball hard and flat, but it didn't matter. All football matches were analysed by teams of data nerds and this would be an intriguing new data point. Lee Contreras can take free kicks! They're actually dangerous!
I was grinning when Livia brought me the soup. It's not traditional for a football manager to drink ginger soup on the touchline, but not much of what I did was conventional. Case in point - turning half of an important football match into an extended sales pitch for one player.
Half a million pounds for Lee. Was that too optimistic? Probably. Four hundred K would probably be a lot fairer. Would I take three hundred? I sipped the soup.
After an innocuous bump with a defender, Colin Beckton's Condition score dropped by ten percent. I opened his Injuries tab and saw he had a 'potential groin strain'. It didn't seem too serious and I planned for it to stay that way. He would get off the pitch, not make it worse, and get immediate treatment. I turned to the substitutes. "Wibbers," I called out. "You're up."
Wibbers was William B. Roberts, one of the jewels in the crown at Chester. He was already so highly rated I could sell him and solve all my money woes, but I would probably never be able to find another such talent.
He was perfect for this scenario, too - a lot more suited to the linking role I had asked Colin to play. Sure enough, within seconds of coming on, Wibbers was demanding the ball from Lee, drawing a defender away, and returning it to the playmaker. Lee's passing stats went up and I thought I saw his match rating briefly touch 9.
I drank the soup, enjoying its warmth as the night grew cold. The away fans were pretty miserable over to the left, but the rest of the stadium was in party mode, especially the McNally.
Good times.
Trust TJ to ruin things.