PREV
GO TO INDEX OF UPDATES
NEXT
It’s now February 2020. In the real world a co-worker picked up a nasty virus at a Super Bowl party and started missing time in the office. We started hearing rumblings of sick people oversea, mostly in China. Then came news of nursing homes in the Seattle area. What a crazy time.
I’m just going to be positive. Nightingale and Ferreira are becoming some of my favorite players. At this point I’m thinking that our Angolan will be in the Seniors next year and I’ll start training him for DC as my scouts think he can do it. He’s 185cm and has a 17 Pace but his Marking and Position are still low, both only 4.
Thanks to that match at Sheffield and hosting Chelsea we made £344,770 last month. Much joy.
Up to 90% confidence now! Woot!
Well, this is a new one on me. Due to O’Shea’s decreasing ability, he dropped from the Influential Players group down to Others. I didn’t realize he was tanking skill-wise but he’s been sucking on the pitch for a month or two now.
Kevin Parker on the other hand moved up to Influential. Excellent.
O’Keeffe is now Driven. Moreover, his Determination is now 18. I’m so happy. Nightingale’s Determination continues to improve too and is now up to 16.
Kemar came in second for the EPL Young Player of the Month award as he had only 1 league goal for the month. He got another plus an assist in the FA Cup.
I hope to start the month on a high note. Chesham sound like the perfect victim.
at Chesham, 1 February 2020
Formation: 4-4-2 Diamond Standard (GK, DR, DC r, DC l, DL, DMC, MR, ML, AMC, ST r, ST l)
Starting XI: Legg, Parker, Smith, O’Shea, Ferguson, Robinson, Leary, Davies, Rae, Thirlwell
Subs: O’Keeffe, Johnstone, Collopy, Roberts, Hibbert, Pugh, McLeish
Despite Chesham getting the first several chances we get the first goal from a partially odd situation; Leary scored from almost on top of the penalty spot, he usually scores around the left post. From there on it’s a pretty dominating performance with Thirlwell getting an unassisted goal courtesy of a poorly cleared ball.
Yet once again we concede when a defender fails to move onto a ball they’ve controlled. Today’s bozo is Parker. And again it’s Thirlwell trying to console the defender by scoring on the restart. Of all things, it was an O’Shea’s long ball for the assist.
CURSES!!! The same schmoe who scored earlier got a direct header off a corner. It’s a rare score against us that isn’t some kind of fluke or scripted FM shenanigan. I have some stern words for the kids but have to buck-up Rae who not only is sucking today but got all wounded by my chastising. That and my change to an attacking mentality pay off in 51 seconds when Rae embarrasses the goalie, slotting one into the back of the net from point blank range.
That’s all that’s worth noting in the second half except that Chesham has oodles of chances because our defenders are already dreaming of who they’ll woo on Valentine’s Day. But FM isn’t done FMing as at four minutes and ten seconds of four minutes of injury time Glyn Davies gets injured. Poppycock!
POM: Fucking Chesham’s Leo Blackburne 8.8 (2 goals, 1 key pass, 1 chance created)
Thirlwell also had an 8.8 from two goals but I guess because he was selfish he didn’t get the award. Lame.
Davies’ injury isn’t too bad as he’ll only be out 2 days for a bruised ankle. He rated a 7.5 so I guess he’s earned himself some more game time. For now.
I think it truly is time to change up formations. I wonder if that’s why we are kind of stalling out on the pitch.
I’m going with a new formation I call Shovel. It’s like the Spade (4 defenders, 2 central midfielders, 2 wingers, 1 attacking midfielder, and 1 striker) but I drop the two CMs back to DMC with Alan Coates being on the right as a Segundo Volante and Liam Roberts on the left as an Anchor Man. It’s a little more defensive but I think we need that right now. It still allows me to have both Taylor and Coates on the field at once learning their new positions.
Moving on, Saturday night’s scouting meeting starts with an interesting nugget. Our former striker Ben O’Donnell is available for loan. He’s only a backup for them, scoring 2 goals in 13 appearances. His team, Brighton, are 18th in the Championship. He’s been in terrible form and it appears he’s been demoted back into their U23s. I’m going to scout him to see if there’s any chance he wants to come home on loan in the summer. He’s clearly way too good for the Conference South but maybe just a month or two to rebound.
Our U18s are in a cup and have progressed to the semi-final. The draw for that cup was on Sunday, 2 February, and they drew Queens Park Rangers U18s, which cause a friendly to be cancelled. This caused me to poke around some more U18s windows and I noticed on their Dynamics page that they have a Team Leader. He is Jose Parker, a product of our youth academy. I like this level of granularity. I don’t know if he’ll be better than League Two so I envision him as being like Angelino Ferreira, a mentor in the U23s for ages.
U18 Ryan Shaw agrees to go on loan to Horndean, a team we used to share a league with. He is not in my plans beyond this season and I have plenty of central defenders in the youth squad so I have no quibbles letting him seek full-time playing. He’s highly agreeable.
Speaking of loans, here’s the loan report.
Kemar and Hopkinson have been a resounding success. Appleton looks to be on course for that. I wish the loan reports would show GK statistics. Clean sheets, percentage of shots save, you know, that kind of stuff.
This might be Legg’s last regular start for a while. He’s not been impressive even though most of his conceded goals haven’t been his fault. I grow impatient with him. Same with Macey though it’s his lack of consistency that is bugging me.
vs. Weston-super-Mare, 5 February 2020
Formation: Shovel (GK, DR, DC r, DC l, DL, DM r, DM l, AMR, AMC, AML, ST c)
Starting XI: Legg, Johnstone, Pilcher, Nightingale, Rice, Coates, Roberts, Hibbert, Taylor, Pugh, McLeish
Subs: O’Keeffe, Parker, Collopy, Ferguson, Noulas, Leary, Thirlwell
Hey look! Their sponsor is McDonalds! Sorry, Weston, you can’t have it your way.
And I can’t have it my way. My Passionate “do it for the fans” speech only receives one rave review, from Pilcher. Gulp.
We get a penalty opportunity early when Pugh gets pulled down during a Coates free kick. So this month’s script is free kicks and penalties? Bill Taylor scores, by the way. Not five minutes later McLeish picks up a bruised ankle but he manages to carry on.
Sticking to the script, Weston then get a free kick but Taylor gets the rebound in the box and starts a counter-attack that ends with the rare Rice cross to Hibbert for our second goal. And then Pugh makes it three when Taylor feeds him the scraps from a botched corner kick. Nightingale makes it four before the half when, surprise, surprise, an Alan Coates free kick goes right to his right foot at the left post.
Body language showed that about half the team was looking complacent before that goal but as we head into the locker room everyone is looking Confident, except McLeish who is still complacent. He gets dismissed but that is because of his ankle.
Thriller gets in on things just before 60’ so our high-flying continues; it was another Rice assist though this one was a long one from deep in our zone. By the way, we have ANOTHER TWO free kicks near their goal but the second one results in a Weston counter-attack that Legg is incapable of stopping.
POM: Dean Rice 9.2 (2 assists, 3 key passes, 2 chances created)
Yep, Legg needs some bench time. McLeish's ankle injury is minor, out 1 to 3 days.
I’m not surprised when Hibbert’s agent shows up with a contract demand. I don’t have the option to talk to him about it so I have to shoot it down. He’s asking for Pilcher money but unlike Pilcher, I have better options in the wings. So of course he wants to talk but in this case I give him the stiff arm and pass him off to Macey, who handles the situation. For now.
Biggleswade Town. Did I already laugh at that name? If not, here it is. Hahahaha. I just hope at the end of the match against this bottom-sitting club they aren’t the ones laughing. And we better not concede. And Macey better light things up.
at Biggleswade Town, 8 February 2020
Formation: Shovel
Starting XI: O’Keeffe, Parker, Pilcher, Smith, Jefcoate, Noulas, Ferguson, Robinson, Davies, Leary, Macey
Subs: Legg, Johnstone, Collopy, Roberts, Taylor, Hibbert, Thirlwell
My speech about expecting a win produces no effect so then I tell Macey I expect a performance and again blank faces. Something must have got through though as he scores 68 seconds in from a U23 DMC Tasos Noulas-supplied ball. Nice. His brace comes just before 5’, thank you very much Andy Robinson. Noulas makes it 3-0 just after 10’ though his shot went off a defender. Before a third of the match is gone a long cross by Robinson, that their goalie totally mis-times, makes it to Leary just feet from the far post for an easy tap in. Eddie’s hat trick happens at 37:38 and I’m beginning to wonder how soon is too soon to go Defensive. The sixth is an FMing with their DR passing right to the goalie who just watches the ball come to him and it goes between his leg. Hell, I was never that bad when I was in youth league soccer.
We start the second half in Defensive posture but stay in the Shovel. At 60’ I switch us to the Club and make some key substitutes. The only action is Eddie as a Defensive Forward on Support role sending a pass to Davies now in the Box-to-box Midfielder role; his shot is on-target through traffic from 15 yards out.
POM: Eddie Macey 9.7 (3 goals, 1 assist, 1 key pass, 1 chance created)
Just what the doctor ordered: A Brixton Butt Stomping. We scored a lot, they barely bothered our defense. Lovely. Because Macey’s performance was top-class I told him so after the match. I think it’s fair that if I fine him for a poor match I should praise him for an outstanding one. And we didn’t concede!
Nope, Ben O’Donnell has no desire to come home on a loan spell. Drat. I really didn’t expect him to, what with him being Championship-level these days.
Evidently my U23 Manager is attracting interest from Dunstable, in our former league. I sure hope he doesn’t leave. The BBC caught wind of it and asked me about it. Damn office leaks.
Speaking of the U23s, we hosted Leyton Orient’s U23s on Monday night and got 1,974 fans. More than our Seniors usually bring in. So weird. At least we made almost £16,000 for the event!
Now on to Frome. Their home stadium is called Badgers Hill. I kid you not. They are 21st in the league so we are favored.
at Frome, 11 February 2020
Formation: Shovel
Starting XI: O’Keeffe, Johnstone, Nightingale, O’Shea, Rice, Coates, Roberts, Hibbert, Taylor, Pugh, Rae
Subs: Legg, Parker, Collopy, Ferguson, Smith, Thirlwell, McLeish
Sometimes I give the “you should be winning this so just play your natural game” speech when we are playing away. Of late I’ve been reluctant to do so as we generally don’t do well when I do it. Today three players actually get motivated by it but it’s too soon to tell the effect as 31 seconds in Rae is pushed while trying to head a Pugh cross. Bill Taylor scores. It is an effective speech today as Pugh and Hibbert dominate feeding each other goals. O’Shea even gets into net on our second penalty of the day. I am pleased.
Until the FMing swings back on us. Yet another free kick near the goal. This time it’s off target, hits the right post, then bounces off O’Keeffe and into goal. Stop it, SI! After that there are seven action sequences, all in our end. It’s quite annoying.
POM: Ashley Hibbert 8.8 (1 goal, 1 assist, 3 key passes, 2 chances created)
I let the players know their second half performance was unacceptable. Gary Ferguson got stressed by that and my pointed words at him about his laziness. He got stressed then double-stressed. He has a low Pressure rating. Noted.
The next day I get an email about Leary’s training. He spontaneously saw his Determination go from 15 to 16 and his personality go from Fairly Determined to Spirited. I think Spirited tells me that his Professionalism is at least 11 but considering he’s never bitched about training and has seen consistent improvement, I have a feeling it’s 12 or higher.
Kettering on paper don’t look so tough but they are fifth in a league above us so I am a little concerned. I’m trying something new today. I’m using Nightingale at DMC as our Anchor Man. (Hell, I just noticed that we have five away matches in a row this month. Three of our nine matches are at home, which is not good for the bottom line.)
at Kettering, 15 February 2020
Formation: Shovel
Starting XI: O’Keeffe, Johnstone, Pilcher, Smith, Rice, Coates, Nightingale, Hibbert, Taylor, Pugh, Thirlwell
Subs: Legg, Parker, O’Shea, Roberts, Harding, Leary, Macey
Okay, I promise not to be a curmudgeon today.
The action is hot and heavy from the get-go and Connor Smith, way back at the left centreback position, sends a long one up to Thriller who is able to out run all the defenders and doesn’t get bothered by the one-on-one; goal came at 72 seconds. It takes over 20 minutes and several Kettering threats before the use of an AMC in the Shadow Striker role shows my tactical brilliance. Pugh crosses to the near post and Taylor heads it in from a narrow angle. Nom nom nom. Right before the half Johnstone sends in a prayer, similar to the one Macey sent in last month, but it bounces of the crossbar and right to Thriller for his easiest brace ever.
I didn’t want to but before 65’ have gone Taylor and Coates have picked up yellows so they come off. Coates’ replacement Liam Roberts fouls late and O’Keeffe can’t stop the ensuing penalty. I’m a little irked but become soothed when Thriller gets his hat trick in stoppage time with Pugh’s replacement Leary sending in a lovely cross from the byline. Not satisfied with his performance, Leary sends in another cross, not from so deep this time, to the far post where his buddy Dr. Hibbert puts down the patient for good.
POM: Marcus “Thriller” Thirlwell 9.6 (3 goals, 1 key pass)
See! I wasn’t all negative. Still wish we could get more clean sheets though.
With youth intake day coming up I decide to fill the last scouting spot that the board will allow. I find a 34-year-old Luxembourger with a 19 Adaptability. His Determination, Judge Ability, and Judge Potential are in the lower double-digits but that Adaptability is key too. Hopefully he’ll join before the end of the month so I’ll have more scouts to beat the bushes to find that hidden gem.
On 16 February Legg’s mentoring of O’Keeffe comes to an end with the email saying Gareth only gained a little and was a little disappointed. I do not understand this as his Determinaiton went up to 18 and his personality changed to Driven. Seemed successful to me!
Now for the FA Vase Quarter Final draw. Harrogate is still in the mix, darn it. Yes! We avoid Harrogate. Yes! We host. We’ll play a team called Congleton Town who are a league below us. They are about 20 miles south of Manchester.
Another cup match but I’m running out the secondary players. Our opponent doesn’t scare me even though they are 7th in a league comparable to ours.
at Folkestone, 18 February 2020
Formation: Shovel
Starting XI: Legg, Parker, Collopy, O’Shea, Jefcoate, Roberts, Ferguson, Robinson, Harding, Leary, Macey
Subs: O’Keeffe, Johnstone, Smith, Coates, Hibbert, Taylor, McLeish
Oh sweet, five happy players after I tell them to prove the pundits were right to back them.
Uh-oh. Our opponents are getting better at free kicks. One didn’t go in directly but after two passes Legg isn’t able to stop a long shot from 15 yards out. Macey, who despite being horrible at Heading usually doesn’t miss headers but he’s been denied twice today by the crossbar. By the half we are only on target with 2 of 11 shots. Plus we are dominating possession, 65% to 35%.
I question their passion at the half and send them out. Which means that in the first 10 seconds O’Shea lets a striker steal the ball and it’s that dude’s inept finishing that allows us to stay alive. Luckily we have Harding, who is surprisingly adept at beating one-on-ones. Macey crosses to him near the penalty spot just after 52’. O’Shea and Robinson have to come off at 63’ because they have yellows, not to mention O’Shea is rocking a 6.3. On come Hibbert and Smith. It was a good decision as 12 minutes later Hibbert scores after…wait for it…a failed free kick. I know! Right?!
I switch to Defensive to see out the last 15 minutes, hopefully. I also switch to the 4-4-2 and move McLeish into be a Target Man and slide Macey over to be a Defensive Forward. That pays off exactly at 89’ when Derek steals a long ball from a defender and does a pivot-shot from the top of the box. Woo! That was quite the comeback.
POM: Folkestone’s Kyle Woodward 8.3 (1 goal)
I don’t understand how their goal scorer got the POM when Harding also had a goal but other actual stats.
One thing is clear, Macey, Legg, and O’Shea are sliding. Especially O’Shea. I only triggered his extension solely for the mentoring. The other two will stick around for the same reason. But after next year? Goners.
I got an email saying that Andy Robinson spoke to the press after the match, commenting that it was my half-time speech that inspired the troops to the comeback. I love you too, Robinson.
That new scout agrees after the match. This is great news. So excited! He doesn’t speak English but has a basic understanding of German, so at least he and I can talk. (I’m fluent in Deutsch.) I get an option to send him on an intensive language course and that 19 Adaptability will make things go smoothly.
For the FA Trophy Quarter Final we get to face Macclesfield at their place. Boy I was hoping to host so we could make some money.
But hold on a second. I thought Macclesfield sounded familiar and went looking for why. We had been scheduled to play them but when my game crashed in mid-November I guess that draw was lost to the Windows Gods and I had to advance through that again but I forgot to update my file in which I write these things. We ended up playing, and beating, Chesham. Bummer I didn’t catch that at the time.
Okay! Back to league matches. We’re getting very close to sealing a promotion to the Conference South and I want it as soon as possible.
at Oxford City, 22 February 2020
Formation: Shovel
Starting XI: O’Keeffe, Johnstone, Pilcher, Nightingale, Rice, Coates, Smith, Hibbert, Taylor, Pugh, Thirlwell
Subs: Legg, Parker, Collopy, O’Shea, Watkins, Harding, McLeish
Pugh and Hibbert are beautiful architects, getting us one early. But then things head south, first with Pugh injuring himself just before intermission. Secondly, Taylor and Thirlwell are phoning it in today so they get replaced along with Pugh around the two-thirds mark. Thirdly, we were accurate on 3 of 15 shots. Lackluster doesn’t even begin to describe things.
POM: Alan Coates 7.3 (2 key passes, 1 chance created)
Not even Coates getting POM can make me happy. At least Pugh’s injury is very minor, out 2 days at most.
We’re getting close to Youth Intake Day and I’m already dreaming of what possibilities there might be. I’m really hoping for a good striker who won’t be so good as to leave in a year or two because he’s outgrown us. And with Pilcher getting so good I’ll probably want a good DC who’s left-footed so Nightingale can be our right DC. A DL would be good but not vital. Probably a good AML too as Pugh is getting too good for us.
For our next trick we get to face the only team in the league who denied us a victory: Royston. They are 20th now and we better beat them. I hope there’s a “seek revenge” option in the dressing room speech.
vs. Royston, 26 February 2020
Formation: Shovel
Starting XI: O’Keeffe, Parker, Pilcher, Nightingale, Jefcoate, Coates, Roberts, Thirlwell, Taylor, Hibbert, Rae
Subs: Legg, Johnstone, Collopy, O’Shea, Ferguson, Harding, Macey
This is the third game in a row where five players have been inspired by my words. For some reason this does not make me feel at ease as our consistency has been lacking so I can’t help but fret. It takes 81 seconds for Thirlwell, playing the role of AMR today, to cross right to Rae for another easy header from the six-yard line. Thriller gets his just-dues when Taylor feeds him a simple pass also on the six-yard line and our lead doubles. Turnabout is fair play so next Thriller feeds Taylor, but his goal was harder as it came from seven yards out.
At 65’ I move us to the Club, sending Rae and Hibbert to the bench. I bring Collopy and Macey on. It takes 7 minutes for Jefcoate to get a pass through traffic to Macey’s noggin, who sends it in as if he never had a problem with heading.
POM: Marcus “Thriller” Thirlwell 9.2 (1 goal, 2 assists, 3 key passes, 2 chances created)
That was more like it! And we made around £11,000 for the day.
One word: Youth Intake Day. Okay, that was three words. You’ll have to wait for the next update as YID was on 28 February and we have a match on 29 February. Now on to that match!
Dartford beat us on 20 September 2017 in the FA Cup Second Qualifying Round. I sure as hell hope that we get our revenge today.
vs. Dartford, 29 February 2020
Formation: Shovel
Starting XI: O’Keeffe, Johnstone, Nightingale, O’Shea, Rice, Ferguson, Smith, Watkins, Harding, Pugh, McLeish
Subs: Legg, Parker, Collopy, Coates, Leary, Taylor, Thirlwell
The match starts in a very unconvincing fashion and the first 45 sees no less than six hits off the woodworks, four from McSlump. Then in the final microseconds of the half McSlump’s new nickname is retired when he sinks one, even while being one-on-one. Then on the restart we quickly get the ball back, sending it to McLeish but he doesn’t want it so Harding gets the score! I hastily begin re-writing my speech. The last 45 go as expected except that it’s Ferguson who scores first and McLeish second.
POM: Derek McLeish 9.5 (2 goals, 1 assist, 2 key passes, 1 chance created)
That was a lovely match. It was good to see McLeish rock it again. He wasn’t really in a slump, having scored in the Folkestone match, but he did have four matches without a goal before that.
Free kicks and penalties, that was the theme of the month. Luckily we came out on top and maintained our winning streaks. We didn’t have any player exhaustion despite 9 matches in 29 days. We did have some injuries from January that bled over into February, with Harding and Watkins missing 10 matches between them. Also, we beat two teams that have caused us problems in the past. Great month!
Remember back in the beginning how I talked about part of my Brixton motif was having players from Caribbean nations? Well, we currently have six players from that region. Specifically, we have 2 from Jamaica, 2 from Trinidad and Tobago, 1 from Barbados, and 1 from Grenada. Not too bad considering they’ve all come from youth intakes. I hope the trend continues and I’d really like to know why the game engine is giving me these youths. I suppose it’s just being based in England, that this would happen even if I was managing Chelsea or Liverpool.