Extremis malis, extrema remedia

In this series of articles we discovered how the footballers in Lords of Football can be carried away with their passions. Food, gambling, ego, alcohol, party life, sex… all activities that a lord of football has to keep an eye on, because it is good to let the players blow off some steam, but they can easily get out of control.

Usually, bad behaviors can be corrected by taking advantage of the various activities that the training ground has to offer: sending a footballer to the clinic, for instance, can help lower the risks of him getting too involved in some of the night activities, and therefore avoid a simple passion becoming an addiction.

But what if one of our footballers actually gets too involved in a vice? Well, that's when a lord of football might choose an extreme course of action: punishments!

Yes, punishments: when a footballer's addiction is completely uncontrollable, when his performance on the pitch is terrible because of it, it is the duty of the lord of football to recover the player, by any means necessary. A clear message must be delivered. The punishment of a footballer, though, is not a "fire and forget" activity. It is one of the most challenging tasks a Lords of Football has to control, as when punishments are needed a grasp of common sense is mandatory.

It is useless to leave a footballer in a punishment all day and night, because he will surely lose his addiction, but the downside is that his mood will be affected, too. He might even get an injury and, on top of that, all the time spent in a punishment is a missed chance to attend to some proper training to enhance skills and team working ability..

So, it's the old carrot-and-stick concept all over again: a lord of football must hit hard when an addiction surfaces, but at the same time he must be extra careful not to exaggerate on the countermeasure, or he might lose the footballer's skill and dedication forever.

Be careful, then, when one of your champions seems to lose the right path. Show your fist right away, but be prepared to change it to a tender touch as soon as the message is acknowledged.