And in that moment, as I held her, as I felt her warmth, as I felt her love, I felt something shift inside me.
The despair that had been crushing me for weeks began to lift. Emma's belief in me: absolute, unconditional, unwavering was more powerful than any tactical insight the system could provide. It reminded me that football wasn't just about data and formations. It was about people. About relationships. About belief.
I had hit rock bottom. But now, thanks to her, I was ready to start climbing back up again.
As I left her flat, the rain had stopped. The streets were quiet, the city asleep. I walked home slowly, my mind working through everything that had gone wrong.
The public criticism after the first loss. Calling out individual players in front of the media. I'd thought it would motivate them. Instead, it had humiliated them.
