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Chapter 49: Learning The Rhythm
🕑 Added 2025-05-24 15:30:05 +0000 UTCInside Arsenal's training ground.
Wenger stood on the sidelines, quietly observing the training match.
His gaze had been fixed on one player for quite some time now.
Out on the pitch, Kai was moving across the field—but unlike before, his head was up, scanning left and right as he tracked his teammates’ positioning.
Now and then, he made proactive runs to receive the ball, quickly distributing it once it arrived at his feet.
Most of his passes were safe and unremarkable, but it was clear Kai was actively trying to learn the art of orchestration.
Wenger couldn’t help but smile inwardly. It seems that the Liverpool match had quite the effect on him.
With Arteta sidelined, Arsenal’s offensive transitions had stalled. If it wasn't for him coming alive later on in the game, they would have drawn.
During that match, Kai had attempted a few attacking passes himself. But without a structured setup to pull apart the opposition's defensive line, his efforts had little impact.
Wenger clapped slowly, almost absentmindedly, impressed by the shift in Kai's mindset.
He always hoped his players would stay hungry, eager to learn, and constantly evolve.
Meanwhile, Kai was already panting, even though by his standards, he shouldn’t have been winded yet.
But no one else knew how much mental processing he was doing out there.
Arteta had once briefly explained the principles of organizing play to him.
"One player holds the ball; many move around him. The organizer doesn’t rush forward. Instead, they drop closer to the ball, receive it, transfer it, and repeat the cycle."
Simple in theory. In practice? Not so much.
Kai still didn’t quite get it. More specifically, he couldn’t figure out when his movements would impact the opponent’s shape.
He had asked Arteta that exact question.
Arteta’s answer?
"Experience."
Great. Something he didn’t have.
So Kai needed to find another way.
The first thought that crossed his mind was his unique talent, Foresight.
It was one thing to predict an individual’s action with the ball a second ahead—it was another thing entirely to track multiple players, process their movements, and construct a dynamic, mental map of running lanes and positioning.
Kai muttered under his breath, This isn’t something a normal person can do...
But still, he had to try.
His experiments, however, were wreaking havoc on the training match.
The substitute team’s attack had become a mess, and more than a few teammates were casting frustrated glances in his direction.
Still, no one dared say anything outright.
Fortunately, their savior arrived.
“Oi! Get off the pitch!”
Pat’s voice thundered from the sideline.
Kai stopped, bewildered. “What did I do now?”
He jogged off, clearly confused. “Come on, I was finally starting to get into rhythm. If I learn to organize, I can help Arteta carry some of the load.”
“Forget your version of organization!” Pat snapped. “You—follow me.”
Kai called after him, “Where are we going?”
“To learn how to organize!”
Kai’s eyes lit up as he broke into a run.
Pat led him straight to the tactics room.
Once inside, Pat pulled the curtains shut, dimming the room. Then he switched on the projector. A video began playing on the screen—a classic Arsenal match.
“Let’s begin,” Pat said.
Kai nodded, his focus intensifying.
“First thing—organization is about connecting the offensive line through possession and ball circulation. The aim is to move the opponent’s defense and create favorable openings for us.”
“Through balls, long passes—they’re not the core of it. Even a playmaker doesn’t need to force high-risk passes all the time. The real key lies in control and timing. You understand?”
Kai blinked. “I thought that’s what I was already doing.”
“What you were doing?” Pat scoffed. “That was nonsense.”
He rewound the footage and pulled up clips of Patrick Vieira and Gilberto Silva distributing the ball with calm efficiency.
Kai leaned forward, eyes glued to the screen, studying every movement.
“Well?” Pat asked.
Kai frowned. “Mostly lateral passing.”
“Exactly,” Pat nodded. “That is the special part. Organization isn’t about hammering the ball forward every time. If you do that, one bad pass and the counter’s already started.”
“Control comes first. You want to keep the ball, circulate it laterally, and stretch their defense. Wait for someone to get pulled out of position. Then—bang—you strike.”
“And you know what we call that kind of opening?”
Kai nodded. “A neutral zone.”
Pat grunted approvingly. “Good. So stop obsessing over ‘forward equals better.’ Sometimes the best move is sideways.”
Kai hesitated. “So holding onto the ball more?”
“Who said anything about holding it?” Pat said, exasperated. "Don’t dwell on it. Receive, pass, reposition, repeat. Move it side to side until something opens up—or until someone else can break through.”
Kai nodded, this time with confidence.
Now he understood.
Back on the training ground, as soon as Kai returned, Walcott called out with a grin, “So, how’d the lesson go?”
Kai smiled and gave a thumbs-up. “Just watch.”
Not far away, Pat approached Wenger.
“How’s it looking?” Wenger asked.
“Hard to say,” Pat admitted. “I laid it all out, but we’ll see how much of it sticks.”
Wenger nodded and reluctantly said. “No rush. Even if he doesn’t become a central orchestrator, he’s still a top-tier midfielder.”
Pat pressed his lips together.
Not become a playmaker? That didn’t sit well with him.
Back on the pitch, Kai’s head was still on a swivel as he tracked his teammates’ movements.
He drifted closer to the ball, picked up short passes, shifted play from side to side, and hovered near the ball-carrier, always ready to receive and redistribute.
Occasionally, he’d make a forward pass—but more often, his teammates returned it to him for recycling.
At one point, he feinted, switched directions, and sent the ball wide again.
Wenger smiled. “That’s more like it.”
Pat nodded, though his expression grew serious. “Timing is the toughest part. That’s where Arteta struggled—he couldn’t always pick the right moment to go vertical, and sometimes hesitated too long.”
“Organization is a process,” he added. “The point is to set up that one decisive ball—the one that rips the defense open.”
He stopped mid-sentence, eyes widening.
Kai, after several crisp lateral moves, suddenly launched a curling pass from the right side—at just the right moment, after pulling the main defense toward the left.
Gervinho broke into a full sprint, chasing the ball into the open space.
Vermaelen managed to intercept, but the pass itself—its precision, its timing—left everyone stunned.
Kai exhaled, a flicker of disappointment on his face. But it quickly faded, replaced by excitement.
He’d found the rhythm.
Pat and Wenger stood in silence for a moment.
Then Wenger, voice low, said, “That last ball…”
“His organization’s still rough,” Pat admitted, “but he meant to bait the defense left. Then he used that gap to feed Gervinho. Plus, that pass was inch-perfect.”
Wenger nodded. “His development is remarkable for his first organizational training.”
Pat nodded his head slowly. “Yes.”
He paused, thinking.
“But this is a talent he’s always had. He just never knew how to use it. Like scattered puzzle pieces finally coming together into something brilliant.”
Wenger smiled faintly. “Let’s have him continue shadowing Arteta for now.”
