Record French Open Champion Rafael Nadal trains at the level of intensity that he uses in matches. He’s one of the few who put that much effort into training, with the received wisdom that you need to manage your exhaustion levels, be careful of injuries, and keep some freshness. 75% intensity is usually considered high. But when it comes down to the crunch, when Nadal has to dig deep and find that extra 2%, he knows its there. That’s why he’s won so many titles. It’s also, presumably, why he gets injured so much.

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We have chosen to focus on the first part of that example, with ten pre-season friendlies and an intense, fitness-driven training regime. But it’s over now. We have come through it with only minor injuries, and with excellent fitness and match sharpness. And nothing the coming season can throw at us will be as much work as what the squad have just gone through. Whatever happens over the coming ten months, it won’t fall apart because of our fitness. There are just three games in August, and we are ready.

Because of reasons that are beyond, me the third tier play their matches on a Friday night. It can’t be good for attendances, but we don’t plan on being here for long. Boulogne are top of the league before a ball is kicked, and we make the two and a half hour trip to the seaside ready to knock them off that perch. Steve sits at the back of the coach with David and Patrice, just to sour the mood. This is where Napoleon readied his troops for the invasion of Britain. He got them outrageously fit too, so much so that at his most famous victory, Austerlitz, they smashed through the lines so fast that the reports were not believed. That’s the kind of performance we want. Durand and Ba start, and Ndoye Squared will keep the middle solid. Let’s do this boys.

Meissa Ba decides today is the day he can’t finish. Boulogne take the lead in the first half when a through ball divides Sparagna and Homawoo, and Butelle is slow off his line (well he is about 64). Luckily we’ve been working out our set pieces, and Cheick Ndoye puts away a lovely far post corner before half time. The second half is a tough one, and I bring on Tokpa with 30 minutes to go. He struggles to make an impact, but Benali is on hand to slot home with a quarter of an hour to go. We’re off the mark.

I’m working through some of the scouting reports when Patrice and David come up to congratulate me on the coach ride back. They seem generally happy, but David keeps glancing back at Steve, who is sitting sullen-faced at the back of the bus. Can’t even be happy with a win. This one is going to run.

I get back to Saint-Ouen to find a lone journalist knocking about, waiting to ask me about Yanis Chahid from Dijon. He looks almost insulted when I point out the that the young midfielder wasn’t born in Paris. Obviously I ruined his scoop. We need to prepare for Sete on Tuesday.

Their coach pulls into our makeshift car park (its where the new stand will eventually go, but we’ve got a few years before that becomes a problem) and a group of hot, tired players stumble off of it. It’s eight hours from the south coast, and they look like they’ve walked all of the 800km. Meissa Ba comes out for Tokpa, and I drop Ndoye back to rough them up, giving Cadiou a little more freedom. But other than that we’re unchanged.

The scoreline makes it look much less comfortable than it was. We dominated from start to finish. At half time we had created 11 openings, and Sete had just managed a single shot from range than flew a long way wide of Butelle’s goal. Switching up the formation had the desired effect again, and Durand making way for Guel put some more impetus into our game. He scored not long after coming on, and then Jason Tre put away a penalty. Sete scored a late consolation, which irritated me. We go top of the league.

Now it’s our turn to make the long coach trip. Cholet is a little under 400km away, and surprisingly, just two games in, they are the only other side with a 100% record. We lead them in the table on goals scored, which is another surprise as I think we’ve been a little wasteful in that area. On the long journey I try to figure out a way to do better, and the best solution I can come up with a short notice is to give Ndoye Squared a little more freedom to get forward. When they are in the team. We ring the changes to keep it fresh.

Cholet just can’t match us. We are knocking the ball short, we are knocking the ball long, we are carving out chances. We score after just six minutes when Noah Cadiou finds space on the edge of the box, and Josue Homawoo heads in from a corner for the second. When Meissa Ba breaks through for his first of the season on 34 minutes, it’s all sewn up. I leave a booked Jason Tre on at half time against my better judgement, and he of course picks up a second yellow soon after the break. But dropping into the defensive, counter-attacking formation works brilliantly and we add two more before the final whistle. That’s the kind of performance we can build on.

My good mood is soured when I come off the pitch as I discover Steve has abused the last bit of power I’ve left him. He has sent two of my coaches on courses to get higher qualifications than me. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say he was grooming a replacement. It’s not paranoia if they’re out to get you.

This is Paris: September 2021

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