Chapter 508 - 114 — Still First I

Monday, November 13th, and Demien walked into St George’s Park like a man returning somewhere familiar rather than somewhere he needed to prove anything about.

Staff greeted him by name without needing a second look. His kit was already hung and folded before he’d found his room. Nobody treated his arrival as an occasion anymore.

The league table followed him in anyway.

"One point," a Liverpool midfielder said at breakfast, not quite hiding a grin behind his coffee. "Don’t get comfortable up there."

"Two behind," a City player added from the next table over. "Means nothing in November."

"Feels like something to me," Demien said, and left it at that — no need to argue a point that thirteen more matches would settle better than breakfast conversation ever could.

The first training session put him into rotating combinations rather than building anything around him specifically — a spell with Rice, another with Bellingham, a stretch working the right side with Trent Alexander-Arnold.

He adjusted to each one without trying to dominate the ball regardless of who he was paired with. Rice wanted the space protected and the ball carried patiently. Bellingham wanted it released early so he could attack beyond midfield on his own terms. Trent wanted it facing forward, into feet, so he could do the rest himself.

Demien gave each of them exactly what they needed rather than what came easiest to him.

「INTERNATIONAL WINDOW MISSION」 「Appear in Both Qualifiers」 「Maintain 90%+ Combined Pass Accuracy」 「Create 4+ Chances」 「Record 5+ Midfield Recoveries」 「TEAM OBJECTIVE: England Finish Window Unbeaten」 「Reward: +20 TP | +20 MP」

England had already secured their place at the Euros before this window even opened. Southgate’s whole focus sat on maintaining standards and testing combinations rather than manufacturing pressure that didn’t exist anymore.

The days between arrival and the Malta match ran through their usual shape — sessions built around breaking down a deep block, since Malta were expected to sit in numbers, Demien repeatedly receiving outside the press rather than forcing his way into crowded central space, switching when Southgate’s simulated Malta shifted toward him, threading it through the instant a lane opened.

Southgate rotated his midfield partner more than once across the week, using the sessions to judge combinations rather than to showcase any one player.

Camp life outside training stayed ordinary — meals, recovery, a table tennis table that Rashford dominated without much competition, a couple of hours here and there watching other football on the common room screens. Maguire and Rashford being around kept him from feeling cut off from club life entirely.

Marco sent the odd commercial update, nothing requiring an answer. No Adidas shoots this week. No Mateo headline demanding a response. That thread stayed exactly where it belonged — quiet, in the background, waiting for whenever it mattered again.

Friday, November 17th, brought news that had nothing to do with England’s match that evening.

EVERTON DEDUCTED 10 PREMIER LEAGUE POINTS WITH IMMEDIATE EFFECT — PROFITABILITY AND SUSTAINABILITY RULES BREACH.

It landed on every phone in camp within minutes.

Demien read it once, thought about United’s next fixture after the break, and registered exactly what it meant. Everton (A) — November 26.

A couple of players glanced at the newly reshuffled table, Everton dropped hard toward the relegation zone overnight.

"That’ll be an easy three points, then," someone said.

"Don’t count on it," Demien said, without looking up from his phone. A club with nothing left to lose and ten points stolen from under them wasn’t going to make Goodison feel like an easy afternoon. If anything, it gave the crowd something to fight for that had nothing to do with the league position at all.

He filed it away and turned his attention back to that evening.

England vs Malta ran exactly the way these matches sometimes did — territory without tempo.

Demien started in midfield, and inside the first ten minutes he received between two Malta players, turned cleanly, and released the ball wide. The resulting pressure fed into an early own goal that put England ahead.

England 1 — 0 Malta.

After that, the match refused to open up the way everyone expected. Malta stayed compact and disciplined, content to defend the deficit rather than chase anything back. Demien split their lines once with a clean pass that created a genuine chance — wasted. Another quick switch found a teammate who took one touch too many, giving Malta’s block time to reset before anything came of it.

One elite midfielder circulating the ball cleanly didn’t automatically make an entire team play faster. That lesson sat there plainly by halftime, England still only 1-0 up.

Southgate made his changes in the second half. Demien played on for another spell, creating one more chance and winning a defensive recovery after a rare Malta counter, before coming off around the sixty-third minute with England still leading. No frustration in it — another qualifier waited in three days, and United’s schedule would swallow him back up the moment this one ended.

Kane added the second later.

FULL TIME: ENGLAND 2 — 0 MALTA.

「INTERNATIONAL WINDOW MISSION」 「Appearances: 1/2」 「Chances Created: 2/4」 「Midfield Recoveries: 2/5」 「Combined Pass Accuracy: 94%」 「England: Unbeaten」

The weekend between qualifiers gave camp back its normal rhythm. Saturday ran light for the players who’d carried real minutes, Demien included — pool work, mobility, then most of the afternoon left to himself within the usual camp restrictions.

He called Sophia rather than texting.

"Barely spoken all week," she said, by way of hello.

"I know. Camp’s like this."

She told him about a project that had eaten her whole week before he asked about Macedonia or Everton at all, and he let her finish properly rather than steering it back toward football. Eventually they got around to logistics — when they’d actually manage to see each other once he was back in Manchester — and left it there.

Nothing more dramatic than two people trying to line up busy calendars.

Sunday, the squad traveled to Skopje, Southgate rotating his combinations through the final tactical work. Demien could tell from where he’d been placed on the board that he wasn’t likely to start.

He didn’t take it as a slight. England had already qualified. Southgate had other things worth looking at, and Demien had already given United most of what his body had to offer through an unforgiving stretch of the calendar.

North Macedonia vs England ran hotter than Malta had, the home side far more willing to break forward.

England dominated territory without controlling every transition, and it caught up with them just before halftime — a controversial penalty, Pickford saving Bardhi’s first effort, Bardhi finishing the rebound.

North Macedonia 1 — 0 England.

Southgate adjusted at the break, and England found their equalizer in the fifty-ninth minute through an own goal off Atanasov.

1 — 1.

Demien came on not long after, given roughly half an hour to work with — enough to satisfy the appearance requirement without turning the match into anything more than what it needed to be.

He won a loose ball almost immediately after England lost possession.

「Midfield Recoveries: 4/5」

Later, receiving with his back to the pressure, he turned and released a winger before the fullback could reset his position, creating a clean chance that came to nothing.

「Chances Created: 3/4」

Then, rather than force a pass, he waited long enough to drag a North Macedonian midfielder toward him before slipping the ball into the exact space that player had just vacated.

「Chances Created: 4/4 — COMPLETE」

North Macedonia tried a late counter. Demien tracked the central runner down and won it back clean.

「Midfield Recoveries: 5/5 — COMPLETE」

England pushed for a winner through the closing minutes — one shot blocked, one cross cleared, one late effort dragged wide — but nothing came of it.

FULL TIME: NORTH MACEDONIA 1 — 1 ENGLAND.

England finished the campaign unbeaten.

「INTERNATIONAL WINDOW COMPLETE」 「Appear in Both Qualifiers — COMPLETE」 「90%+ Combined Pass Accuracy — COMPLETE」 「4+ Chances Created — COMPLETE」 「5+ Midfield Recoveries — COMPLETE」 「England Finish Window Unbeaten — COMPLETE」 「Reward: +20 TP | +20 MP」

Nothing more elaborate than that. Two ordinary qualifiers didn’t need to produce anything they hadn’t earned.

Tuesday, November 21st, camp broke up, and Demien flew back to Manchester with England kit still packed at the bottom of his bag and United’s recovery schedule already waiting on his phone by the time he landed. Medical screening. Everton analysis. Galatasaray sitting on the calendar just three days after that.

Club football swallowed the calendar back whole within hours.

Wednesday belonged to him properly, a light individual recovery session at Carrington finishing early enough to actually mean something. He and Sophia had dinner rather than another phone call — her work, his three weeks of compressed football, nothing that needed tactical analysis attached to it.

She asked about Everton eventually, mostly because it had crossed over into general news rather than out of any sudden interest in financial regulations.

"Ten points, gone, just like that," she said. "That seems mad."

"It is," Demien said. "Goodison’s going to be furious Sunday. That’s the part that actually matters to me."

Nothing more elaborate than an ordinary evening between two people with demanding schedules. He got home late, checked the next day’s plan, and slept.