#i don't like the whole 'if x player isn't on the pitch we can't win' narrative

[pedripics]

Do you think there’s anyone who probably got equal talent as Pedri who can sub for him

do i think that there is a player who can replace pedri, and we won't notice pedri's absence? no. there is no second pedri (and there doesn't have to be). do i think that, in theory, there are players who can replace him in the starting xi and get the job done? absolutely. you will always notice pedri's absence, especially in the current system. but i think the team can (and should) be able to win without him. pedri does a lot of defensive work but also offensive work, if he's not on the pitch, both things need to be covered (maybe not by one specific player but by two) and ideally there needs to be at least one other creative player on the pitch such as lamine or olmo. as of right now, the big problem is that we don't have a ton of options for the double-pivot, casado and pedri (right) now are our best option, they work incredibly well together (which makes sense because their individual characteristics fit very well but also because they kinda had to work because we got no other choice until very recently). gavi is coming back from a long and serious injury, he needs time (and he's still doing a great job!), and even though he is very good defensively, he is not a natural dm. i am 100% sure that a pedri and gavi double-pivot duo can and will work, just give them a bit of time (and by default of course a gavi casado double-pivot as well) what's going on with frenkie, idk (it's his 'preferred' position but he just doesn't do much defensively compared to the rest...). eric isn't a natural dm either (even though i liked him in the double pivot with pedri against Villarreal). it's really unlucky that marc bernal tore his acl because with him, we would have had at least two natural dms. and i think having a natural dm in the double pivot is the key, which is also why i have been begging the club to buy an actual dm since like summer 2023. i am sure the guys and flick will figure it out but unfortunately that might take some time

[scribblesofagoonerr]

— conti cup celebrations | like mother, like daughter

Summary: the day of the conti cup is exciting for young reader.

Pairings: katie mccabe x child reader

"Mammy, Mammy, wake up!" You squeal in excitement, crawling up onto the bed as you make it your mission to wake her up, "Wake up, it's game day!"

You were smart to know that today is a very special game day, the final game in a tournament between your mammy's team and their rivals, Chelsea, but it was exciting because it meant your mammy's team was in within the chance to win the big cup, just like they did last year.

And what's even better this year is that you get to be your mammy's mascot, again!

You didn't care much for the rival team, Chelsea. You have always thought that the players on the team were big bullies, they were always mean when they pushed your mammy onto the ground and you didn't like them for that.

Your mammy is your hero and she always looks so cool when she's on the pitch, you can't wait to watch the game and shout loudly for her and the rest of the girls in the team.

Last year when your mammy won the cup with her team, she drank out of the big special cup, but you were sad that you weren't allowed to drink out of it because only the older girls were allowed to do that.

You hope that this year this year you can do that, after all it's been a whole year since your mammy said that.

"Mammy, wake up!" You continue to nudge her impatiently, still continuing to poke and prod her until she eventually does open her eyes, "You're awake!" You cheer in delight.

"I'm awake," Your mammy groans, slowly opening her eyes to reveal you sitting directly on top of her, "Its' still early, baby. What're you doing up?" she questions.

"It's game day, Mammy! You gots' to wake up!" You squeal in excitement, doing no more than to continue to jump up and down on her stomach.

"The game isn't until much later on, Rascal, remember?" Your mammy reminds you, chuckling in slight amusement as she tries to pull you into her arms with the hope that you'll lie back down and fall asleep beside her, "Why don't you come lie beside Mammy and we can try and sleep for a bit longer?" she suggests.

"No, Mammy. Up now!" Your reluctance to go back to sleep is evident, you don't want to do that and your confused why your mammy doesn't want to get up yet either, "It's game day, Mammy. Up, up!" You repeat loudly.

Your Mammy exhales a small sigh, "Alright, alright. Fine, I'll get up," She mumbles before she turns to take a brief glance at the time on her phone and her eyes almost buldge out of her sockets when she see's that its' barely even 6 yet, "Well, it looks like Mammy's gonna have a long day today then, isn't she?" she speaks aloud.

"Game day, Mammy! Game day! Watch Beff score goal, kick kick!"" You squeal in excitement about the football match before you jump of the bed and race around the carpetted bedroom floor, kicking a pretend football in the air as you throw your hands up in celebration, "Goal!" You cheer loudly.

Your Mammy laughs in amusement as she throws her duvet back, "What about Mammy's goals, huh? Or are they not good enough now?" she jokes.

"Meh, they're alright," You tell her cheekily as you shrug your shoulders, "But I prefer Beff's' instead and Lessi's too, they're so cool, Mammy!" You declare enthusiastically.

"What?" Your Mammy gasps in shock at the abrupt annoucement of your preference to the other girls in the team, "My own kid. I... I feel betrayed," she speaks dramatically, faking her hurt.

"Silly, Mammy. I still loves you the most!" You state, throwing your small arms around her legs, "But Beffs' goals are better!" You insist, trying to soften the blow.

"Your breaking my heart here, you little rascal," Your mammy chuckles, scooping you up into her arms and proceeding to unleash tickles on your stomach, "Come on, lets' go and get some breakfast in that tummy of yours, shall we?"

You let out a sudden squeal as you feel yourself being lifted up of the ground, you're not a fan of being tickled and your Mammy knows this as well, "Ah, M... Mammy! Put me... Put me down!" You shriek in demand, thrashing around in her arms.

Your Mammy laughs in amusement before she places you back down on the floor so you could run downstairs ahead of her, "Careful on the stairs, rascal!" she warns hesistantly, knowing your eagerness to rush around the house and injure yourself sometimes.

"I'm being super duper careful!" You beam a smile at her, cautious of each step on the stairs as your little hand holds onto the bannister, "It's game day! It's game day!" Your shouting is loud enough to wake the entire house, even though your auntie Ella is such a deep sleeper that your Mammy says she won't even wake up during an earthquake.

You wanted to test the theory when your Mammy told you that, so you tried to wake her up once by jumping on her but she didn't even stir.

You guess your Mammy was right after all.

"Hold on a minute, rascal," Your Mammy shouts aloud, trying to stop you rushing off once you both arrive at the training centre, however, your little legs' are already running off to try and find the rest of the girls.

More especially Beth and Viv, two of your favourite people.

You didn't really like rules sometimes, they are boring to stick to sometimes but in your defence, your Mammy let go off your hand and that's a rookie error to do.

"A-ha, I've gotcha!" You are suddenly lifted off the ground much to your disappointment, "And where do you think that you're running off to then?" The familiar voice of your Mammy's new girlfriend, Caitlin questions, curiously.

"Ah, no, no-- Put me... Put me down!" You immediately thrash about in the older girls arms, not happy at all now you had the disadvantage to run around like you wanted to do, "Put me down, Caitlin. I... I don't want you!" You whine in protest.

"Ah, what the-- Did you... Did you just bite me?" Caitlin exclaims, feeling the sudden sharp nip on her arm as she looks at you in her arms before she looks back at her skin where there's a fresh set of tiny teeth marks now.

"Maybe, but I did tell you to put me down so its' your fault," You shrug your shoulders and feign your innocence.

"There you are, little rascal," Your Mammy finally catches up to you, seeing you were in Caitlins' arms, "Hi, Cait," She fondly smiles at her girlfriend and you can't help but wrinkle your face up in disgust.

It's not like you didn't like your Mammy's new girlfriend, she was funny and she did play with you most of the time, but you still wish that your Mammy and Mama were still together and you could be a family.

Things were different now and you didn't cope well with change, you didn't like how things were now.

"Someone looks tired?" Caitlin jokes, noting the clear exhaustion in your Mammy's face.

Your Mammy chuckles slightly, "Well that's because somebody wanted to get up at 6, didn't they?" She diverts her look in your direction and you can't help but pout, you only wanted to get up and get ready for the game.

"Mammy! Caitlins' bein' mean!" You complain with wide eyes full of accusation as Caitlin finally places you back down on the floor.

"She's being mean? How so?" Your Mammy wonders curiously, kneeling down to your level before she glances up to look at her girfriend in amusement.

"She wouldn't put me down, so I bit her!" You confess almost proudly, crossing your arms defiantly.

"What?" Your Mammy furrows her eyebrows in shock, "Rascal, you don't people. We've already spoken about this before, haven't we, hm?" She scolds you gently, trying to stifle her laughter.

"I do, Mammy, but Caitlin still bein' mean picking me up!" You insist, pouting.

Your Mammy exhales a sigh and shakes her head, "What do we say?" She prompts you to apologise, raising her eyebrow.

Why is your Mammy taking her side? Now she's being mean as well.

"Mammy," You whine in frustration.

"Y/N," Your mammy chides, giving you a pointed look.

Furrowing your eyebrows, you let out a little dramatic huff in protest before begrudingly turning to Caitlin, "Sorry, I bit you... But it was your own fault cos' I did warn you," You mumble innocently, not ready to quite admit your defeat yet.

"Mammy," You tug nervously at her hand as you can hear the loud noise around the stadium from the fans.

Crouching down to your level, she looks at you, "What's the matter, rascal? Is it too loud for you?" she wonders.

"Its' loud," You mumble, clutching a hold of her hand.

You should be used to this level of noise from fans, you've been a mascot for your Mammy, your Mama and the rest of the girls plenty of times.

It still didn't make you like it though.

"Do you want me to pick you up? Its' not too late to go and sit with your Auntie Ella if you're feeling nervous about walking out with me," Your Mammy tries to figure out the solution to the problem.

"Up, please," You ask nicely, lifting your arms up in the air and without much hesitance, your Mammy does exactly that so you're now tall enough to be able to see the rest of the girls.

"That better?" Your Mammy questions, smiling at you kindly.

"Better," You shyly bury your face in her top, almost as if to try and hide from everyone else out there.

"You're not going shy now, are you, huh? Just a few more minutes and then we'll be walking out," Your Mammy explains, keeping a safe hold of you in her arms, "Then you can go and sit with your auntie to watch the game," She adds.

"No goal again," You huff in protest and slump back against your aunties' chest where you have been perched on her lap for majority of the game, waving the silly little fan that you were given to occupy yourself.

So at least that was amusing to do and you had a blast waving it around.

"Just be patient, kiddo," Your auntie, Ella, chuckles while sensing your overall frustration since the majority has been the same way.

Most of the game in your opinion wasn't that eventful nor was it pyshical enough, you had a moment when Chelsea nearly scored you wanted to jump off your aunties' lap and run onto the pitch to riot , but your auntie already was a few steps ahead and had a tight grip on the back of your shirt, already predicting the moment.

The scariest moment in the game was when Frida went down right in front of your eyes, however, being the young age that you were, you just thought she wanted to take a nap on the pitch like you did sometimes, "Silly, Frida. Why's she sleepin' now when there's a game to play?" You couldn't help but ask innocently.

"I guess... I guess she's tired," Ella makes up the excuse quickly, trying her best to shield your eyes away from what is going on, but you don't miss how eerie the silence was in the stadium followed by your Mammy's yelling.

Even though your eyes were covered by your aunties' hand, you still recognise it because you've heard it enough times, non of its' ever directed to you though unless its' when your in danger.

"Wanna see," You whine and try push your aunties' hands' away that are covering your own eyes, you don't know what's going on around you now but it seems a bit scary.

You don't really know or understand what's going on around you, but you're doing your best to be able to see what is happening. You don't like the way that your Mammy yelled that loud, but regardless of it all, your auntie refused to let up on the decision to shield you away from it until play is resumed on the field.

"Goal!" You shout in triumph as you watch Stina score the winning goal in the 116th minute of the game and the whole stadium errupts in noise straight away, "Stina scored! Stina scored-- Auntie Ella, did you see it?" Your buzzing with excitement and have to check that your Auntie witnessed it as well.

"I did see that, kid," Ella chuckles as she watches your enthusiasm.

"We've won!" You shout loudly for your auntie and everyone else around to hear, you didn't care much about the volume of your voice as the girls had won the game and you were to excited to care about everyone else's opinions. "Mammy won! The girls won!" You continue to shout, eager to already get away from your seat and in the direction of the pitch.

"They have won, you're right," Ella chuckles, not minding you jumping up and down on her lap in your excitement.

"That means they'll win the big trophy, doesn't it?" You turn your attention back to your auntie, "I can't wait to see that!" You exclaim.

"Hopefully, short stack," Ella nods at your question, although nothing is completely guaranteed as anything could happen in the final minutes of the extra time in the game.

Thankfully, you didn't have to wait all that long before the game ended and the celebrations could begin.

"They won! They won!" You cheer loudly, shifting from your spot on your aunties' lap to the empty seat beside as you jump up and down in glee, you were very excited to see them win the game in the end.

"They did win, short stack," Your auntie agrees happily, grinning and clapping her hands in celebration.

"Mammy!" You cheer and throw yourself into her arms as she walks over to you, donned with a big medal wrapped around her neck that looks super cool to you, "Mammy, you won!" You repeat excitedly.

"We did, my little rascal," Your Mammy grins and engulfs you in a hug before she sweeps you up into her arms with such ease like she hasn't just played a full blown 120 minutes on the pitch, "You like the medal?" she questions.

"Looks cool. I wear it, please?" You ask her hopeful, you didn't care if it was heavy or not.

Your Mammy luckily enough didn't think twice about it before she took it from her neck and placed it around your own, "Be careful it's a bit heavy," she chuckles before she grins and motions for you to point in the direction of the camera where your auntie doesn't hesitate to snap a quick photo of the moment.

"Bit heavy," You repeat in a whining tone as you lift it up and look at it in awe, "We go on pitch now and celebrate?" You wonder, curiously.

"Well I couldn't celebrate on my own now, could I?" Your Mammy chuckles, already thinking ahead as she carries you onto the pitch to join in with the celebration with the rest of the girls and the big fancy cup.

With that being said, you soon end up involved in the rest of the celebrations, happy enough to run in between the rest of the girls with an Ireland flag wrapped around you while you giggle your head off.

"Can I drink it?" You question innocently, looking in the direction of the big cup and watching as its' passed around the girls.

You don't miss the laughter that comes from your Mammy and a few of the other girls, "Not until you're a bit older. This drink is for the older girls only," She explains.

"But Mammy, you said that last year. I'm 4 now, I'm a big girl!" You state in protest, an adorable pout plastered on your lips, "Can I please try it?" You ask the question.

"Shes' got you there Katie," Leah pipes in, chuckling in amusement at your point that you were technically older.

"Indeed she does," Steph adds in.

"Much much older than you are now," Your Mammy clarifies, shaking her head, "You, rascal, are way too smart sometimes, huh?" She jokes.

"North London Forever!" You shout the lyrics to the familiar song at the top of your voice, safely in the arms of your Mammy as all the girls stand in a line and celebrate with the fans, "Whatever the weather, these streets are own!" You continue to belt out the lyrics and have the time of your life, living in the moment of the celebrations.

katiemccabe_11 posted.

Liked by bethmead_, viviannemiedema & 83,046 others.

katiemccabe_11: what it means to win! 🔴⚪

post celebrations with some of my favourite people, including my own little rascal ❤️

© scribblesofagoonerr

[bemylord]

ꜰʀɪᴇɴᴅꜱ ᴅᴏɴ'ᴛ ᴀᴄᴋ ʟɪᴋᴇ ᴛʜᴀᴛ

pairing: kenma x kuroo.

warnings: fluff, sfw, boys being in love <3

butler's remark: welcome back, my lord, today i'm here with a small drabble about friends being in love with each other, but they don't have a clue that's mutual. well, the night will show their feelings.

➝ back to the main master list.

they've heard that phrase from their teammates:

'friends don't act like that. are you dating?'

kuroo laughed when heard that from lev. he elbowed kenma while the last was playing on his nintendo, didn't even heard the question as kuroo mentioned it.

'why would we? we just friends.'

lev just shrugged his shoulders, walking to the gym after their practice. kuroo said his abrupt question, overthinking about it.

kenma tossed his head back, exhales as kuroo started to mumble stuff. friends can't hug each other as they win the match or just chilling together? why would lev even have asked?

let me remember something.

maybe, because kuroo practically flatten kenma when he fouled his pitch or when kenma tiptoe, stretching arms above his head to catch his nintendo.

tetsurou smirks whenever when kenma's trying to wrench his thing, but the boy is 5'7'' - isn't have a possibility to take it.

''kyanma, what's wrong?"

''give me that, i'm gonna lose because of you!"

''volleyball, kenma, volleyball''

no, that's certainly not because kuroo stole kenma's clothes after they had a shower. kozume went from the shower with the towel around his torso, searching for another one for hair, as he heard his friends in the door frame.

''are you looking for..'' he showed his towel from behind his back, running off into another room. "take it, if you can"

sure, the captain gave him that after mockery. if anyone else would be teasing his friend, kuroo would whisper in their ear what kind of excruciating death awaits for them.

kozume seems to get used to the captain's little jokes as he found a peaceful smile on his face when tetsuro said he'll, maybe, he isn't sure, probably, will play in his silly game tomorrow.

after months and years of being friends, knowing each other natures as they own, all habits they've got - kenma knows he'll come to his house to play.

but tonight, they'll know something more.

"i bring snacks," kuroo happily told as he put the bag of food on the floor in kenma's bedroom. "game?"

"resident evil" the keen player sat on his bed, waiting 'till kuroo will repeat his movements. "you ain't scared, huh?"

the captain raises an eyebrow as he sat on another edge of the bed. he took the joystick from his friend's palm, ready to beat every monster in that game.

* * *

"you were a chiken, kuroo."

"what are you talking about, i wasn't frightened as you were!"

when kenma yawned, took a quick look on the watch as it was reading 2.31 a.m., kuroo aimlessly stretched his arms above head.

''yay, i didn't keep track of the time, we were playing like five hours straight."

kenma yawned again as kuroo lay down on his back, putting palms behind the head.

"well, you're pro gamer, no doubt."

"you ain't a loser too, kuroo"

as kenma repeated kuroo's action, they both closed they eyes, falling asleep. it didn't last long as kenma asked:

"sleep?"

no response. he breathed out with relief, move closer to tetsuro's back as he has managed to lie on his side. he nuddles his nose against the fabric of his friend's t-shirt, takes a deep breath, filling up his lungs with the smell of his clothes.

it so wrong, practically being a big spoon whilst kuroo seeing his dream, without knowing anything that kenma does.

but who'd miss the opportunity to poke their nose against kuroo's back?

kenma unconsciously put his palm on the captain's waist, rubbing his nose on the back. ken would never tell him he did something lewd or silly or the thing that the only couple does. he couldn't help himself, don't get him wrong, but every time kuroo stretching his arms in the air as a heavenly view on his muscular back - he's out of the game.

kozume moved his foot closer to his, sort of intertwined feet as he thoughts that kuroo is sleeping.

he pretty awakens, if i can describe his state like that. as he feels his nose on the back and small hand as he does some light ticklish movements, he's melting.

he wanted to stay as long as possible while his.. object of love.. cuddle him. he wanted, but break down when kenma's tracing palm onto his belly, digging face in the shirt.

he turned to the other side, watching as kenma blushes, knowing what he's done. before the last one could squeeze half a word out of himself, kuroo cups his face in his large palms, watching as he gets redden.

"kenma" he whispered practically on his lips, feeling how kenma's hand make a fist of the fabric on his back when the distance between the faces could be counted in millimeters. "would you mind cuddle me all night?"

why would he?

he nodded his head in the negative, sensing the warmth spread throughout his body as he kissed him on the forehead. friends obviously don't act like that, but it doesn't matter.

"kuroo"

"yes?"

"would you mind cuddle me for the whole my life?"

he giggled, pressing kenma's head against his chest, spreading soft kisses on the top of the head.

"no, i don't mind, honey" kenma reached his head to press a quick kiss on the cheek, smiling brightly. "if you'll say i'm the best player"

unfairly. although, lovers make concessions, don't they?

(>_<)

the first part i was writing in the car and the last home, inspiration came only at home. altho i'm hoping it's okay and cute. and fluff.