This is basically published Ted Lasso fan fiction and I am HERE FOR IT.
Gavin is Roy.
Oliver is Ted, except instead of the coach, he’s the upstart new player (think Jamie).
And it is so. Freaking. Good.
Oliver is a veritable ball of sunshine. I had almost a permanent smile reading his chapters, but he also has anxiety and panic attacks and is still dealing with the aftereffects of a toxic relationship. The similarities to Ted Lasso are blatant, but there’s also more to him than that. They both follow the same archetypes, but Oliver is his own, unique person.
Gavin is a grump with a heart of gold, who hates that he’s falling for Oliver. Their interactions are absolutely priceless. They drive each other crazy—in every possible way. And their chemistry is next level. 
I’m not the biggest fan of “let’s get it out of our systems”, and aspects of that still rang hollow for me, but over all I really enjoyed their dynamics together. 
Roy has chronic pain, and we get discussions of how that is effecting him. It dives into the grief that people experience when they have to come to terms with the fact that their life cannot be what it was, because of that pain. I really appreciated the care that was lent to the exploration of that theme, and how the pacing slowed down to accommodate it. Gavin’s character growth was masterfully done, as was Oliver’s. Both characters grow so much in these pages, both separately and as a couple. I adore them, and I adore this book, and I need more true sports romances from Chloe Liese that are heavy on the sports aspect. I am such a sucker for teammates-to-lovers sports romances.