Greatest Of All Legends

**19th November 2021**

At Hotspur way, in one of the gyms, Nick Stubbings and a few other physios stood before Jason who had his right leg strapped to a biodex system 4 machine.

"Are you ready?" Nick asked Jason.

"Yeah," Jason replied with a nod.

"Push hard and don’t hold back," Nick added, operating the monitor that the machine was strapped to.

"Alright."

It was the beginning of the end for Jason’s time off the pitch. The final medical clearance for Jason consisted of many stages and the first part was checking single leg calf strength and heel endurance.

It was targeted at comparing the injured leg to the uninjured one and they were expecting at least 90% strength of the uninjured one in the previously injured.

However despite expecting at least 90%, an elite club like Tottenham normally wouldn’t pronounce Jason match fit until they saw about 95% strength match.

Also they would be comparing it to Jason’s medicals when he first arrived at the club in tiptop shape to see if he had deteriorated.

After Jason finished battling with the machines used for testing, they moved to the next stage.

Heading out to the field where training cones had been arranged and cameras had even been set up to record so that his movenents could be examined closely and repeatedly.

Starting with a few stretches to warm up, he was then made to sprint at a 100% capacity and accelerate suddenly from standing positions while they measured his speed and pushoff power.

Then they moved to sharp turns, lateral cuts, and stop and go movements, continuing to monitor sharply.

With that done, it was time to check his load response and this part was pretty easy, but it was also the most important part of his medical clearance.

All he had to do was join a full training session and perform at full capacity for the day.

He would then be monitored over a 24-48 hour period.

Clearance in this stage required that there was no sharp pain, no swelling, nor any sudden stiffness spike.

If the tendon reacted, then his return would be further delayed and the worst part about this particular stage was that even the player didn’t know what to expect from training at full capacity.

Jason had been working on regaining his fitness, but he hadn’t actually trained at full capacity all this while so he could only hope that his body cooperated with him.

Hoping against hope, Jason joined the others in training, working as hard as he could during the sessions while hoping his tendon would hold out.

He could have trained without pushing himself too hard and increased his chances, but that was a counter effective action.

If he wasn’t fit and then got injured because he rushed himself back, then he would be out for even longer and the only level higher than a 2c tear was a complete rupture that would have him out for anywhere between 6 to 9 months.

Jason had already suffered a three month injury and would rather not get injured again.

So he especially pushed himself to be sure he was completely risk free, or at low risk at least.

The medical clearance beginning on the 19th meant that he would definitely not be back in time for the team’s next match against Leeds on the 21st, but that couldn’t be avoided.

**21st November 2021**

{Tottenham welcomes Leeds here at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in the 12th match week, both sides looking to take home the three points}

{Leeds would be looking to capitalize on Tottenham’s shaky form while the side in question would be eager to get their first premier league victory under their new manager}

{Tottenham arrange themselves in a similar position to their last time out against Everton in a 3-4-3 formation}

{Despite having three front players, it looks more like the wingbacks are the ones providing the width in this formation and it looks like the aim would be to defend quick, gain the ball and send it quick up the field}

{Leeds on the other hand are arranged in what looks to be a 3-3-3-1 formation}

{It doesn’t look like they have any width Adam. They may be aiming to break through the center, but we’ll only know after the match begins}

The commentators of the game kept the crowd informed as the players lined up on the pitch and completed all the pre match formalities.

{And we’re away with Leeds kicking off the game in possession of the ball}

Just like in their previous match, it looked like Tottenham’s tactics off the ball was to invite pressure, drawing their opponents into their half all while watching and waiting for a loose ball, heavy touch or misplaced pass.

However because they were sitting back didn’t mean that they didn’t pressure their opponents at all.

The forwards had to take up pressing duties to keep their opponents from getting too comfortable on the ball, keeping them tense.

With this system it was inevitable that Leeds held onto the ball a lot more than the Tottenham side and perhaps because they still weren’t too experienced with the 3 defenders formation, Leeds managed to get quite a few shots away.

Most of the shots were from behind the 18-yard line, so they weren’t much of a threat and with Tottenham also repaying in kind with quick, electrifying counterattacks, the game was very exciting for the Tottenham fans.

Conte had somehow managed to make Tottenham players defensive but exciting football that kept the fans at the edge of their seat for most of the game but for the first half, it was mostly the Leeds side in control.

As the time continued to run down with half time looming nearer with every passing second, they kept pushing trying to make something of this dominant period.

They had been pushing hard all this while and Tottenham had been sitting back so they had more stamina. Once the second half began, it would be Tottenham’s turn to control the game because they didn’t have the stamina to keep pushing this hard the whole game.

In the 44th minute, Leeds finally got their chance with Harrison dribbling past Emerson Royal on the left flank. Royal missed the ball during his attempt to tackle and that allowed the Leeds player to get past him, but instead of immediately putting him under pressure, he seemed to let off.

This allowed Harrison to not only spot a run from Daniel James, but he also had enough space to send a low ball flying into James’s path and the man didn’t waste the effort, poking it into the right corner.

The few Leeds fans at the stadium erupted in joyous cheers while the Tottenham fans felt like hitting Emerson Royal.

He was a class player on the attack, but once defending, he had an annoying habit of taking things easy with his opponents and that had caused a lot of problems for the team.

Some of the fans even wished for the club to junk him and find other options, and with this goal from Leeds, that opinion was only growing more solid.

After the whistle for the end of the first half was blown, Emerson Royal immediately found himself on the receiving end of Conte’s annoyed rants.

After a threat to take him off if he didn’t play with more heart in the second half, Conte turned to motivating the other players and telling them what to do in the second half.

The players hadn’t played badly and in the second half, it wouldn’t be too hard to take control of the game, but not only did they have to do that, they had to take control and make it count.

After emphasizing that, Conte sent his players back out onto the field, the fifteen minute break over.

Right after the second half began, just 40 seconds in, Lucas found Kane after the team launched an attack from the offset.

Lucas’s pass placed Kane in one on one position on the right side of the goal and with Kane’s blistering form of scoring 7 goals in just 2 games with the England national team in the previous international break, everyone thought for sure that it was a goal.

But Meslier had different ideas.

Managing to get a touch on it to just barely deflect it onto the right post, Meslier kept his team alive while Diego Llorente cleared the ball, ensuring no other Tottenham player could reach it.

This sudden attack from the Tottenham side just as the second half began immediately set the tone for the half and the fans started to believe that this wasn’t anything like before.

Just 4 minutes later, another ball was sent into the penalty box, finding Son who caught it on his chest, pushing it to his leg, flicking it and turning to hit it.

The ball flew powerfully, bounced off a Leeds defender and then bounced on the crossbar before being cleared by the Leeds team yet again.

{Again! Tottenham hit the bar!}

{It’s been less than 5 minutes since the second half began and Tottenham already hit the bar twice!}

{This match looks like it could take on a whole new color soon!}