A 24-year-old semi-professional footballer has not missed a single session in three months, which is part of the problem. He has come through the pre-season block the squad nicknamed after a certain hero’s list of impossible tasks, and nobody has noticed anything wrong. What has happened instead is quieter: he has stopped striking long passes with his left foot, and he now lets someone else take the corners. He has not told the coaching staff why, and he only booked this appointment because his partner made him.