#4 Versatility

[RashfordU]

CPT #3

Mikko loves to train in the off-season.  Though, sometimes he is not the best at staying dedicated to one specific thing.  It always starts out with good intentions.  Goals such as "I want to be faster, or I want to be able to anticipate better, etc". But then things just go off the rails.  His buddies will ask him to play a round of disc golf, or he'll head across the world to meet up with his siblings in another city / country.  But alas, he knows he's gotta stay in shape and work on his game.

This past summer was a ton of technical work.  Spending time working on his headers with his teammate Tentacles, who has become an absolutely dynamic assist generator at the highest level of the Simulation Soccer League.  Del Pirlo and Rashford II have been working on their link up play.  Rashford watched as Del Pirlo shot to the top of the scoring charts this season posting 26 goals in all competitions (6 greater than Rashford would get in that same time span).  Though they are teammates who want to out produce each other, they know their ability to play together will be key for the success of the franchise.

Rashford has also spend some time on his mental game this offseason.  Meeting with a sports psychologist in order to better prepare himself for the step up in intensity that he will be facing.  While he found success at the Minor League level, he knows that in order to find success in the Majors, he'll have to continue to elevate his game far above and beyond what he has ever done before.  He can't take any games off, nor can he think or expect other teams to ever give him a breather during a game.

Upgrade AMR to 20

APPROVED

[sköldpaddor]

CPT #3

Freja's need to shift up the field has come along with the team bringing in a very mean goose with a knife who will be filling Freja's former spot. One very strange thing that has helped Freja a little bit is working with her older brother Lias, who, while he played a completely different sport, transitioned into a different role later in his career. That's mostly for the mentals, though. For the physical stuff, she has worked on a large number of things to help her in this pursuit.

Freja has actually already spent a considerable amount of time at CDM, as she's always been interested in playing the best she can at whatever role the team needs her to. But now that she's planning to make the move there full time instead of as a stopgap while younger players come up to fill that spot, she has invested a lot of time this off season into improving her game in that area.The internet, I mean, Freja's coaches, have told her that shifting up to midfield requires a few adjustments specifically. First, more general awareness in her position (more operating between the defensive and midfield lines) and covering the passing lanes, and all of that combined with a general alertness to things all around her instead of just the play ahead of her which is most often the case when she's purely on defense. Secondly, her technical skills, including marking and tackling as well as her first touch abilities, and some shorter passes than she's usually making. Third, she has worked on her decision-making speed, because things move even faster in the midfield. Fourthly, her general stamina, because she's going to be moving up and down the field a lot more, and while she's not out of shape by any means, she's certainly going to need to put in a little work to make sure she maintains her fitness level throughout the game. Fifth, she has worked on her communication skills because apparently CDMs have to help direct the defenders behind them and the midfielders ahead of them, as well as calling for the ball, which she definitely doesn't do as much on defense. Finally, she's worked very hard to make sure she doesn't lose any of her defensive awareness and aptitude, since she will still need to be out there intercepting passes and tackling people and making sure she's in the right place to cover the areas she needs to be responsible for watching over.

She has put a lot of work into improving in all of those areas, with both her trainers and with her teammates to improve her communication with them in this new role. She's spent a lot of time watching video of really good CDMs in the league too (please don't ask me who those are, I am really stretching my soccer knowledge here with the help of the internet but I feel like I'm already pushing it), to observe their technique and strategies. And she has been working on some small-sided games (oh yeah, that's a thing) to increase her level of comfort playing in tighter spaces and with more direct pressure than she's been worried about in the past.

Upgrade CDM please :)

APPROVED

[Jiggy]

CPT#3

When it comes to offseason training, there really is no place like home.

That’s why Reykjavik United’s George Shaheen also takes the offseason as an opportunity to get back to his roots. He travels back to his home nation of Lebanon to combine his own training with further opportunities to give back to the communities and people who helped shape him and give him the opportunities he now tries to take advantage of in the SSL.

This particular offseason was special. Reykjavik United had just won the SSL Majors championship, and the Lebanese people really recognized Shaheen with nationalist pride for being a major factor in the club’s success. Shaheen typically spends offseason mornings doing personal training and offseason afternoons helping out with local youth leagues, schools and camps. With the success that Shaheen has seen on the national stage, the local crowds at these events had grown exponentially this offseason, and to make sure no youth left without getting at least some instructional time with him, Shaheen was staying at these events exponentially longer and later than he ever had in the past.

That made personal training a bit more difficult. Shaheen got fewer hours of sleep at night. His typical afternoon and evening routines became increasingly chaotic. And when he was training in the mornings, he found himself watching the clock more and more in anticipation of the next event, the next crowd, and the next group of kids he could help inspire to chase their dreams as he had.

In terms of training regimen, this offseason was also a bit of a special one for Shaheen. He had also always focused on more fundamental aspects of his game, such as dribbling, striking, and passing. He had also always focused on general psychical fitness as part of his training program, building up his stamina, his pace, his agility, and his acceleration.

But the taste of success makes one want to taste more of it. And Shaheen entered the offseason committed to increasing the versatility of his game. He had begun focusing more on building other plyometric enhancements that would make him a more explosive athlete on the pitch. For example, he fought to increase his jumping reach, which would help both take and defend headers. He also has been focusing on the mental aspects of his game. He wants to build his composure, better his positioning, and further develop as a potential future leader of the Reykjavik club.

The offseason is a ton of work for Shaheen – both the work he puts in to improve his game and the work he volunteers to do for much of his days. But seeing the confidence grow in kids he works with and seeing the smiles on their parents’ faces makes that extra secondary effort worth it.

And winning on the pitch. That makes all the personal work worth it.

Approved

[norththegreatestshowman]

CT3

When he arrived in Shanghai as the club's player ambassador, Thomas hadn't asked the Chinese club's board for a huge salary or big bonuses. With the help of his agent, Wout Van Voorde, and a translator, he had asked the clubs to hire several staff members to oversee the squad's players' training sessions. Among them, he had brought in Canadian Sky Ryze (@Nhamlet), the third-highest scorer in SSL history, as a specific forwards coach. Thomas had hoped to continue developing his Target Forward style. This style, extremely rare in the league today, was also the style used by the former Tokyo, Rio FC, and Cairo player.

Although renowned for being extremely hardworking, Hohenhahn struggled all season during his training sessions with Ryze. The former striker had him do two sessions of the infamous Insanity, an extreme training technique created by fitness instructor gurus of the 2000s. Every day, the German would vomit his guts out somewhere in the Shanghai Training Center as he painfully completed the last exercises.

Sky Ryze had noticed Thomas's need for strong teammates to score goals, which made the start of his season with his new team difficult.

"I'm going to push you to become the best version of yourself, but for that, you need to better understand those who provide you with the ball."

Hohenhahn now played as a right winger in every matchup in training or against Rapid Magyar. Although he had an advantage in aerial confrontations, Thomas struggled against Stig (@Suckiest Sucker)  Stampe's playmaking skills or Tricky (@homercrates) Johnson's creativity, and had to work on making defensive cuts to help his team while remaining a constant offensive threat.
Thus, "The German Giant" began to make waves in the second half of the season for his defensive cuts on wingers and full-backs who were distraught at seeing a 2.25m, 130kg giant running full speed at them, much to the delight of spectators and commentators. Following a spectacular recovery that led to a goal against Catalunya, Spanish fans even nicknamed him "El Toro"!

Shanghai's season ended better than it began, and Thomas had become a more complete player. He had now mastered the role of wide target forward, and comparisons quickly began to emerge regarding his development, which brought him much closer to his specialist coach.

Approved - Remind McTendie never to wear red! TORO TORO!

[trella]

CPT3

Aart de Trella knew that after a rough season with CF Catalunya, where the team finished last in the Major League, he would have to hunker down in the offseason in order to extract more from his game. de Trella is a solid up and coming player, already cementing himself as Catalunya's premier center back, but he has done so focusing on one part of his game, while neglecting much of the other things a defender needs to be successful in the SSL. de Trella is known for his dominating physical presence on the back line, being one of the best aerial players in his age range at every level. He possesses elite speed and strength, and with his towering height and jumping reach, he is built to win headers.

However, this success in the physical department has come with the cost of some lackluster technical and mental abilities. While de Trella has the speed to always get himself into position, he still doesn't know exactly what the correct position would be. While he marks opponents tightly, he still has trouble accomplishing anything when the ball comes toward the player he is marking. Aart knew he had to expand his understanding of the game in order to truly become an elite defender.

Aart knew exactly who to call: a true CF Catalunya Legend and one of the league's best and most intelligent players in its history, Budget Busquets. Busquets made his name known around the world with his intelligent play as a center defensive mid for CF Catalunya. While lacking in physicality and speed, Busquets pieced apart teams using great vision, decision making, positioning, and technique. If Aart could learn from Busquets' game, he could begin to sure up his weakest attributes. After weeks of training with Budget Busquets, Aart's positioning, composure, anticipation, and passing all saw noticeable improvements.

APPROVED - nice hat tip to a legend.

[stevo]

Career PT #3
Upgrade to: CB

It was a long offseason for Cameron Millwall with the lengthy SSL hiatus, but it ensured one thing: Millwall spent a lot of time training with legendary veteran Tom Pedersen. Pedersen, a midfielder much like Millwall is, had already taken him under the wing over the course of the last regular season while he was riding off into the sunset after an outstanding career in the SSL. The two agreed to stay in contact during the summer months - an agreement that proved to be essential for Millwall down the road. As both players hail from Europe, catching up was particularly easy for the two of them under the given circumstances. While they did not spend the entire SSL hiatus together, they managed to meet up on a regular basis. They had some extensive cardio sessions in Schwarzwald region, a particularly hilly area in the south west of Germany and home to the organization's parent club Schwarzwälder FV. They came together in the Rhineland in western Germany, where Millwall was born, and they were able to participate in training sessions of Millwall's youth companions. That way, the Montreal United midfielder was able to stay in game shape. He also had long talks with Pedersen, where he tried to further understand the daily sacrifices and routines that come into play if one is to make it as a professional football player.
Another player that Millwall got in touch was former F.C. Kaapstad defender Abdoulaye Camavinga. A German much like Millwall himself, Camavinga never made it out of the SSL minor league. He he has joined Millwall's camp as a personal coach, and the two of them having put in hours working on his defensive versatility. He is now much more of a force to be reckoned with in the air and also shows detailed knowledge about playing in the center of a defensive line.

APPROVED Wünderbar!

[ulaire]

CPT 3

Tre Quartista, once known primarily for scoring tap-ins and stumbling out of nightclubs with girls of suspiciously vague professions, spent his offseason in the most uncharacteristic way possible: working. No yachts. No Ibiza. The player who worst of Italian tabloids once nicknamed "Lo Stallone Italiano" (Tre was sure it was for his speed. No one told him), who once hosted a 72-hour birthday party was getting up at 6 AM, completely sober and jumping out of his bed to watch tape.

Motivation came easily. Zero assists through 2/3ds of a season. A gift of custom number plates from his teammates: N0ASS1STS. And it's not like he was scoring successfully - overall this season in Catalunya went down bad for him personally.

Just tape, turf, and hard work. Espresso in hand, eyes glued to grainy VHS clips of Italian all time greats. Baggio, Totti, Del Piero. The poise to wait a half-second longer. The glance before the through ball. The curve of free strikes going into the corner of the goal from any point of the pitch. The ghost like footwork that dumbfounded world's best defenders. Intuitive understanding of tight liminal spaces that existed between last midfielder and first defender. Creating channels with off ball movement and then running into them.

Tre started wearing heavier boots. He hired former Brazilian futsal coach, recommended to him by his teammate Joga Bonito, to work on his dribbles. Played one touch with youth academy players. Practiced rondos until his halves cramped. He started keeping a notebook, like some kind of Pep Guardiola dream. Diagrams, space maps, notes like “delayed run = key unlock” and “don’t shoot every time you see goal ffs.”

His goal? Add playing AMC into his repertoire. More passing, more thinking, less cursing after every missed shot. And in training matches, it was showing. Tre started games deeper, floated between defenders, dished delicate through balls. His first instinct stopped being to shoot, but to lure defenders out, then release the killer pass.

Tre finally started to feel like he was beginning to be worthy of his name - a pun by his grandfather, most pretentious playmaking moniker - finally started to catch up. True trequartista. He still didn't think he is worthy of coveted "10" on his kit. But he changed his number to "34" - another pun.

Tre still didn't understand what is playing defense though.

[Not sure if I should post it, but upgrade CAM to 20]

Approved - Put in the work and good things happen. Tre's got this!

[Voodooman]

CPT #3 - Upgrade CDM. 


Nobody has had to prove their versatility more than Pablo Kawasaki has had to in the past few seasons. Going from a goalkeeper throughout their entire career, into the academy, to suddenly being a Central Defender is proof of versatility. In order for Pablo to get into the form of being in the TOTS form he has been in for Seoul; he expects the big call up soon. That means, double time effort during the off-season to be able to take that next step.

              Most people would train in warm temperatures, but not Pablo. He is all the way up in Svalbard in Norway, ready to train in the cold weather to improve not only his agility, but most importantly his mental awareness. He has befriended a local named Anders who he has trained to withstand the temperature but let him become more one with nature. He has evolved into the next step to where he is leading a pack of dogs, and to the surprise of Pablo, he realized he is more tired than the dogs after completing a circuit. When going on an uphill, it is not the dogs who go uphill, it was Pablo himself pushing the dogs uphill so that he can take the flats, and downhill! After running on the hills, Pablo must take in the traditional Arctic plunge to where he takes a very refreshing dip into the Arctic Sea. Although, what seems crazy with how cold it is, Pablo feels his muscles relaxing and feeling revitalized for the upcoming season. He realizes that he can lead the troops up top if needed.

              For someone who knows how to keep the ball out of the net, surely, he must know how to put it in the net for his own team. He realizes in that moment in the Sea, if the team were to need a special hand in the 90th minute down a goal, he can locate his inner attacking self to find that tying goal by moving up the field more than he would usually. Will that opportunity happen? Only the future will hold.

Approved! 

[Summerstood]

CPT 3

Position to be upgraded: RD

Ashito Aoi's third season in the SSL (his second with AS Paris) can most probably be described best as one of consolidation, growth, and leadership. After announcing himself with a stellar debut year in Paris that culminated in a championship, the question heading into Season 3 was whether he could sustain and expand upon that impact. His reply to his naysayers though? A resounding yes. Not only did your boy Ashito maintain his extraordinary on field influence, but at the same time, he also stepped up into a front office role midway through the season, assuming the significant responsibility of Organizational Manager of Uniao Sao Paulo/AS Paris.

In this past season, he featured for AS Paris across 24 appearances and 2190 minutes. During those, he scored 3 goals and provided 9 assists all the while registering an improved 7.48 average rating. That is a considerable improvement over his stats especially his assist numbers and his average rating. But perhaps the most striking growth was there in his passing. Ashito built upon his already solid foundation (82.5% success rate last season) by attempting nearly 200 more passes and still managing an impressive 79.5% completion across 904 attempts. He also more than doubled his key passes (from 39 in S20 to 59 in S21) and chances created (from 23.26 in S20 to 59 in S21), clearly showcasing an evolution into being a creator of goals whilst being in the defense.

Defensively, Ashito still remained formidable in the back but showed tactical tweaks in his style this season. His tackling remained elite; improving in volume but the tackling percentage still remaining nearly the same: from 79.7% (55/69) to 73.8% (62/84) while still delivering 3 key tackles. He also nearly doubled his interceptions (from 46 in S20 to 70 in S21) and significantly improved his aerial with 90 headers won (72.58%) compared to 24 (26.37%) in S20. 

One constant in Ashito's nascent career in the SSL has been his stamina. In S20 he ran 278 km across 1779 minutes (14.26 km per game) whereas a similar performance was shown by him again in S21, where he extended that to 342.6 km across 2190 minutes (14.28 km per game).

So, if S20 was Ashito Aoi’s ascent from a promising rookie into a breakthrough star, then S21 established him as a cornerstone and leader of his organization and I certainly hope that long may this consistency of his continue.

Approved- i enjoyed playing with Aoi, now it's time to play head to head!

[Jumbo]

CPT#3

Position Upgrade: LAM

Cade Power decided to train extra hard this offseason. After being so close to winning the Minor League Championship but just falling short, Power does not want to let that happen again. He is commited to making himself better while also making everyone around him better as well. Power is surrounded by some of the best players in the SSL right in SFV or Montreal, players such as Wang Zhihao, Dina Skovgaard, or Predrag Dobrić. So he learns alot just from being on the team, Dobrić and Zhihao are prolific scorers. They just have a keen understanding on how to get to the ball and in the right place. Dina Skovgaard has tremedous vision on the pitch. Maggie Sinclair has insane finishing skills. So Power, while trains with them everyday, still learns from them everyday. He tries to apply a little bit of each players skills that will make him better. 
But this offseason Power wanted an different perspective. So he traveled to Iceland so he could train with the one of the leagues best superstars, Alessandro Del Pirlo. Pirlo has been someone who Power has tried to base his game off of, so when the opportunity arose, Power jumped on it. Pirlo was able to show Power how to attack defenders in a 1v1. Pirlo also demostrated the importance of attacking with speed. Pirlo has the ability to be a Striker as well as Attacking Mid. While Power is mostly Attacking Mid, the skills Pirlo has covers all over the pitch. Pirlo and Power spent a whole weekend working on things and ended in an epic game of 1v1 shooting. Obviously Power fell short to the star but overall it was a great weekend of learning and training. 
 Power is looking to take his game to the next level so he is willing to do the work and take in as much information/experience that he can.

Approved - always good to learn from your teammates!