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Brixton-wise, this month should be pretty tame. Game-wise, I'm starting to have a lot of lengthy pauses in the game engine sometimes when I hit "Continue". This is very concerning. I had to do a hard shutdown once already. And it's happening again before our first match. Hopefully this is a blip and not a larger problem.
I give up. Not shown here is Angelino Ferreira just absolutely crapping out. GRRRRRR! Really annoying thing is McLeish just got that new contract.
We made a profit but it was just a scant £9,000. Woe is me.
I'm still MC Hammer but I've shuffled sideways up to 84%.
Nothing's changed here, which is quite expected.
Despite completely bombing his training and some actual Ability drops, my AssMan still thinks Ferreira is a League One talent. Go figure!
Another player with no training report but with lots of red arrows and some drops is Rory Collopy. He's just been absolute shit since August so after I gave him another "shape up or ship out" speech he just said he'd prove his worth. I just don't buy it so I transfer list him. I'm surprised he doesn't throw a tantrum.
Another sigh: Alfie Barnes, The Great White Dope, has seen no improvement from O'Shea's tutoring. Dammit. He's Premier League quality but am I gonna want him if he doesn't have high Determination?
Kevin Parker is back. All told, he missed 31 games, in theory. That's like 3/4 of an entire season. How much did his stats plunge? Not too much, actually. He lost one point each for the following attributes: Crossing, 1st Touch, Finishing, Passing, Technique, Bravery, Teamwork, Work Rate, Acceleration, Agility, Balance, and Pace. I expected much steeper declines in the Physicals so it's a relief to see they aren't too bad.
Nickcolson Garcia turned 18 on 28 November and I put him on the loan list. He's been improving lately and probably could play for the Seniors but I'd rather he find another Conference South (or North) team to go to.
Mark Marshall also has a pretty good month and if we lose a striker in January, I might bring him up. Mickey Morris is more likely though… M-I-C-K-E-Y has seen at least one point of improvement over the last 9 months in everything but Long Throws, Tackling, Natural Fitness, and Aggression, though I've NEVER seen anybody's Aggression change at all. Oh praise the Football Gods, he's going to be great!
Alex Rae isn't showing any signs of improvement. I know he's getting close to his Potential Ability, and having just turned 24, his development will come to a stand-still for the most part in a year. I gave him the "you need to improve to say with the team" speech and he said he'd prove his worth. If he hasn't improved by 1 January, I might just transfer list him. He does have 16 goals in 9 starts and 8 sub appearances so I know he's good enough but I just don't want to deal with a pain in the ass while I have really good youths sitting in the wings.
We're going straight into a match today, facing league rival Woking. They play in the Kingfield Stadium, which is roughly 22 miles to the southwest of Brockwell Park. Woking is near where the first Martians landed in H.G. Wells' War of the Worlds. I wouldn't say this is a war but they are currently eighth in the league so it's more of a skirmish.
So I give my "go git 'em" speech in the locker room and when I press "Kick Off" the game crashed. Ugh.
at Woking, 1 December 2020
Formation: Diamond (GK, DR, DC r, DC l, DL, DMC, MR, ML, AMC, ST r, ST l)
Starting XI: O'Keeffe, Peers, Parker, Barnes, Jefcoate, Ferguson, Robinson, Leary, Lemon, McLeish, Flitcroft
Subs: Ferreira, Smith, Taylor, McGregor, Macey
The match starts with 8 corners in the first 15' with us getting 7 of them. Four have hit the crossbar, along with a Robinson free-kick. Good thing we got a penalty in, thank you Lemon, in the 29th. This was immediately followed by Robinson spraining his ankle. Jose Parker had tweaked his hammy in the 6th minute and now I'm worried I'll have to swap two players at the half. We give one up in the 40th and it was justly deserved, no freak of bad programming. Flitcroft digs himself out of the grave, scoring in the first minute of injury time; prior to that he was rating out at 6.4.
I switch us to the Spade and bring on McGregor for Robinson, switching Leary to the right. And boy does that work! Peers, of all people, gets a free kick near the arc, which naturally bounces off the crossbar, and McG chases it down, sends in a high cross to the far post and Leary is there to score. Five minutes later McG gets another assist with a very short "cross" to Flitcroft who has to bend down to head the ball (mind you, he's essentially a Hobbit) and the ball trickles in at the speed of a tortoise. They grab one back in 3 minutes and I've certainly chosen the wrong defensive line-up today. And I can't believe O'Keeffe is sucking ass today. I tell the defense they sucked after the match and they all seemed to gain focus. Except our Vice Captain and his 6.4.
POM: Mark Flitcroft 8.8 (2 goals, 1 key pass)
Two "Dammmnnnn…." things on different ends of the spectrum: O'Keeffe somehow rated a 7.0 and Robinson is out a week.
Sure enough! Two teams from leagues below make loan offers for Nickcolson Garcia. I accept both them.
The scouting report for Chelmsford causes me no worries. Our current defensive record does. Glad to have Watkins back, for now, and over 3,300 butts in the seats.
vs. Chelmsford, 5 December 2020
Formation: Spade (GK, DR, DC r, DC l, DL, MC r, MC l, AMR, AMC, AML, ST c)
Starting XI: O'Keeffe, Ferreira, Nightingale, O'Shea, Rice, Davies, Coates, Watkins, Taylor, McGregor, Macey
Subs: Legg, Peers, Barnes, Smith, Jefcoate, Harding, Roberts, Flynn, Noulas, Leary, McLeish, Rae
My Passionate "Let's do it for the boy" speech motivates only Angelino Ferreira. Oh boy, here we go… Yep! Watkins kicks it right into a defender, another guy picks it up and sends it Route One and their striker outruns O'Shea and we're down just 1:33 in. Watkins grabs the redemption story arc, feeding our Captain who rallies the troops and we're level at 8'. Eddie's call to arms comes again at 20' and it's Bill Taylor with the assist this time; some good passing up the middle there. In the 51st minutes Captain Eddie awards Bill Taylor with another beautiful feed and I can relax a little more. I get some more R&R a minute later when Coates get blitzkrieged in the box and Macey gets his hat trick. I'm comfortable that we won this war so I switch to our Defensive formation at 65'. Doesn't matter, Captain Eddie gets his fourth at 84:30.
POM: Eddie Macey 9.9 (4 goals, 1 assist, 1 key pass, 1 chance created)
Woohoo! Between gate receipts, concessions, and prize money, we made just over £84,000 on that match. Oh, and we're on to the next round of the best cup, the FA Cup.
(There were no crashes since that one before the Woking match and no other long pauses advancing through the days. I think we're past whatever issue was plaguing the save file.)
Sunday, Sunday, la la, la la la la. Draw day, draw day, no no, no no no no. We travel to Birmingham. We are well and truly boned. They're in the Championship. At least we'll get paid.
Nickcolson Garcia accepts a loan with Stourbridge until the end of the season. I need him next year in the U23s so I'll probably activate his option in June, unless Stourbridge offer me a nice sum.
Oh yes, the Team of the Week. Only Flitcroft this time and that's at left midfielder, which I suppose is fair seeing as he did play AMC when we switched to the Spade in Woking match.
Dulwich Hamlet is the closest club to Brixton, geographically speaking, just 1.46 miles to the east-northeast. We could walk there! They are currently second in the league but I'm still rolling with Legg in goal as O'Keeffe has become the one who is Mr. Unreliable. The other gamble is not having Macey on the bench. Hope my underwear isn't made out of Milk Bones™.
vs. Dulwich Hamlet, 8 December 2020
Formation: Spade
Starting XI: Legg, Peers, Nightingale, O'Shea, Jefcoate, Lemon, Roberts, Watkins, Harding, McGregor, McLeish
Subs: Ferreira, Barnes, Noulas, Leary, Flitcroft
It certainly starts out as expected: Legg lets in an easy goal. McLeish picks up a gashed head at 20' but that doesn't stop him from scoring 11 minutes later. McGregor is having problems retaining the ball and he keeps kicking it right at defenders. That is until a lovely cross by Watkins passes right in front of McLeish to McG for the easy score. After we conceded I switched us up to an Attacking posture but at the break I have to dial things back as we're tired and three players are on yellow. Just about when I'm thinking of going full Cudgel we cough up another goal. Whut the phuq is wrong with our defense?! Yep, I got myself bit in the ass.
POM: Dulwich Hamlet's Chris Hall 8.8 (2 goals, 1 key pass)
I give them the blow-dryer treatment and that gets their attention. Still some fines are in order. But before that, I have to deal with O'Shea's agent, who gets a no, and then O'Shea himself. I told him he's not been good enough and doesn't deserve a new contract. That gets his attention. Actually, he's doing quite well but he just had a 6.7 game in which we gave up two goals and I had to yank him for his yellow card.
Also before I get to fining players, Lemon, he of a 6.4, blabs to the media that I slammed the team after the match. I call him in and berate him for his conduct. That gets his attention. The game won't let me fine him though.
The game will however let me fine Nightingale, which I do, and Flitcroft, which I don't as he was only on for 25 minutes.
Oh, and top of all that, McLeish's gashed head will keep him out of games for 10 to 13 days. Fuck.
Nightingale wasn't happy but after I tell him he's been sucking at winning the aerial balls of late he rectifies himself.
I've come to a decision. I'm dropping Legg to the U23s and bringing Webb up in January. I'm sick of his inability to maintain a clean sheet. He's had only 3 of them in the 10 matches he's played in this season. Also, if he gets into 15 matches and we get promoted he automatically gets an extension. I'm not up for that commitment at this moment.
I also remember at this time that I haven't set up mentoring. I want Eddie Macey to mentor David Doran, a 16 year-old Welsh attacking midfielder but when I propose the idea Doran wants no part of it. Jerk. He also refuses to work with Alex Rae. Double jerk.
I do find a mentee for Macey in Mark Marshall, one of the U18 strikers I'm drooling over. I also link up GKs Chick Legg and Adrian Lee again to complete Lee's education. He's almost there.
I have a rare press conference before a match. I do not understand why as Ashford Town are not that notable. I'm sensing a trap.
This team has one, and only one, player with 1.5 star Current Ability. The rest have half-a-star. If we lose, heads will roll. If O'Keeffe does not come away with a clean sheet, I'm dropping him to the U18s. To drive home the point, the betting houses have declared us 20 to 1 odds of being the winner.
vs. Ashford Town, 12 December 2020
Formation: Diamond (GK, DR, DC r, DC l, DL, DMC, MR, ML, AMC, ST r, ST l)
Starting XI: O'Keeffe, Ferreira, Parker, Smith, Rice, Coates, Robinson, Leary, Taylor, Macey, Rae
Subs: Legg, Peers, Barnes, O'Shea, Jefcoate, Noulas, Watkins, McGregor, Davies, O'Reilly, Flitcroft, Lemon
I cannot seem to get pre-match speeches to work anymore as my Passionate plea to the squad about keeping our run going only gets Leary excited. But my message must have got through because just before 5’ Robinson’s early cross meets Rae at the edge of the box, he joinks right and then sends one in. They combine again 6 minutes later but this time from right in front of the goal. Another five minutes see Rae crossing this time and before Eddie, at the far post can get to it, Bill Taylor comes flying up the middle to send it in between the goalie’s leg from point blank. Only concerns going into the break is Old Man Macey is off target, and Ferreira and Rice are getting Complacent. My rousing speech actually gets the defense smiling, except Rice so he gets an “I believe in you!” That does the trick.
Speaking of tricks, Rae gets his just 159 seconds after we begin again; twas Robinson with the crossing assist. Then we get a trademark Macey cross from way out right and this time the lucky recipient is Rae for his fourth. I go full Cudgel at 64’ and give the starters a rest, less Gareth, who needs that 90-minute clean sheet to get back on his feet. That does the trick, with no action sequences until the 91st minute.
POM: Alex Rae 9.9 (4 goals, 1 assist, 2 key passes, 1 chance created)
Oh that was so good for the soul. A clean sheet, a goal glut, lots of happy people on and off the pitch. And we made just short of £11,000.
Our next match is against a team we faced in league play last year, winning 3-2 and 3-1. Please let Legg get a clean sheet!
So O'Keeffe, Watkins, and Taylor are attracting lots of notice. I'll fight tooth and nail for O'Keeffe but I'm fine with the other two leaving. That is until I start to get emails about teams interested in Robinson. I can't lose both wingers this year so I'll probably have to offer Robinson a serious pay upgrade or I'll have to have a loan-back clause. That sounds like a January problem though.
Oh, right. FA Vase draw. What do we get? We get to host Royston from a league below, who we used to spar with.
I get a Player Development email from my AssMan that has some really good news. Tommy Watkins is now considered to have Championship-level Current Ability.
St. Neots aren't much better than Ashford Town so I expect only a slightly smaller margin of victory. I really gotta stop making these predictions.
vs. St. Neots, 15 December 2020
Formation: Spade (GK, DR, DC r, DC l, DL, MC r, MC l, AMR, AML, AMC, ST c)
Starting XI: Legg, Peers, Nightingale, O'Shea, Jefcoate, Harding, Ferguson, Watkins, Lemon, McGregor, Macey
Subs: Webb, O'Keeffe, Ferreira, Smith, Barnes, Rice, Roberts, Noulas, Robinson, Davies, Leary, Flitcroft, Rae
Nightingale almost buries us in the 4th minute but the attacker who gets past him sends his kick to the upper bleacher. (Never mind the fact that Brockwell Park doesn’t have an upper layer.) A couple of minutes later Old Man Macey gets barged over in the box and takes the penalty shot, sending it into the upper right corner. Later on he gets another goal but this time from open play that started with some gorgeous passing after a throw-in. His third is from a calamitous situation when Watkins crossed to the far post where McGregor and a defender crashed into each other and the post, causing the ball to bounce off the post right to Eddie. Ouch and strange. Despite doing a full outfield swap at 66’ our crossing is still lethal but this time understudies Robinson and Flitcroft are the bit players at 82’.
(In the final five minutes of the first 45, three Saints picked up injuries. A lot of them were exhausted by then so it was no surprise to me.)
POM: Eddie Macey 9.5 (3 goals, 3 key passes)
Nice to see Legg get a clean sheet after his bad streak.
One of the reasons we’ve been defending poorly—wait, better put: why we all of a sudden are giving up goals up the middle—is our centrebacks are slow. Nightingale is 11 and O’Shea is 12 in Pace. Hmmm… That worked in the lower levels. Well, Mitchell is drawing interest and it may be time for him to move on.
Lemon rated 6.8 in the last match. You know what that mean?!?!?!?! Yes, his agent wants a new contract for him. Let's see, the match before that, as a sub, was 6.7 and the one before that was 6.4, that debacle against Dulwich Hamlet. I ask Jefcoate to resolve the matter after I stiff-arm the agent. That takes care of that.
For the next round of the FA Trophy we draw Braintree from the north of England. Those strange-named fellows get the pleasure of visiting South London.
Back to league action! Billericay are third in the league and I'm not taking them lightly. (What a tough month! Versus 2 and 3. After Xmas we face two teams in the relegation zone so at least we end the year on low note.) Billericay are 25 miles to the northeast-ish and you've probably never heard of them unless you're a fan of Ian Dury and the Blockheads. I looked at their strikers and they are quicker than O'Shea and Nightingale so Ferreira (17 Pace) and Barnes (15 Pace) get the start.
at Billericay, 19 December 2020
Formation: Spade
Starting XI: O'Keeffe, Peers, Ferreira, Barnes, Rice, Lemon, Coates, Watkins, Taylor, McGregor, Macey
Subs: Smith, Jefcoate, Harding, Leary, Rae
I made a wise tactical decision. Billericay surprise me coming out in the 4-5-1 and using an unexpected striker, one who has a 15 Pace. I immediately switch Ferreira to the Stopper role and Barnes to Cover. On the other side of the ball, giving Old Man Macey his third start in a row proves genius as Taylor's free kick is headed by Ferreira but smacks the woodwork and Macey is able to leap to head it in before the defenders can react. Freakin' sweet, man! It takes only 15 minute for a second, a Taylor shot from close in off a short McGregor cross. I relax more after the restart when Watkins finally realizes he's a better passer than scorer and Taylor gets his brace. We end the match with 32 shots to Billericay's 5. I was not expecting such dominance.
POM: Bill Taylor 9.4 (2 goals, 5 key passes, 4 chances created)
That striker with the 15 Pace? He managed to rate 6.1 for the match. I sure am glad I adjusted the defense!
Christmastime is here, by golly, we get a whole week off, oh jolly.
For the Team of the Week, that one league match was good enough to get Ferreira (DC r), Taylor (MC r), and Watkins (ST r) named. Again with the weird selection. I don't think I've ever played Tommy Boy as a striker outside of maybe a pre-season friendly or two.
As we head into the holidays we are finally injury free in all three squads. I hope that remains until well into the new year.
We finally enter the time before the transfer window when players start asking to leave. On 23 December Tommy Watkins asks to go to Brighton & Hove Albion. They've yet to actually make an answer and I tell him so. He understands and will want to discuss it when an offer does comes in.
Christmas, Christmas, time is near, time for goals, time for cheer. Or Boxing Day. Nobody sings about Boxing Day. Hopefully our fans will have something to sing about today, we're facing the second worst team after all.
vs. East Thurrock, 26 December 2020
Formation: Spade
Starting XI: O'Keeffe, Ferreira, Nightingale, O'Shea, Rice, Taylor, Coates, Watkins, Lemon, McGregor, McLeish
Subs: Barnes, Smith, Roberts, Leary, Macey
Oh hail! What effect will this have on our match? Well, not much. McGregor finds McLeish in the 7th, crossing past the far post but Derek is still able to head the ball backwards and into the underside of the crossbar but it bounces in after bouncing off the ground. It takes twice the amount of time for the two wingers to partner up to get a goal, with McG playing the final part. Then another for McLeish. His third comes from the spot after McG was tackled from behind. Fucking Lemon ruins the clean sheet, again kicking a ball right at a defender who hoofs it forward and our central defenders are too slow to recover. We get another penalty in 75' and I let Macey take the shot and he makes his chance.
Then the football gods punish me for my hubris. Rice injures his shoulder in 78' and I've no subs. I have to modify the Cudgel, moving Barnes from DC to WBL and dropping Roberts from MC to DMC as an Anchor Man. We somehow get a corner and Nightingale gets a direct header in from Coates' kick.
POM: Derek McLeish 9.6 (3 goals, 1 key pass)
OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH, darn. Rice is going to be out for 2 to 3 months with a dislocated shoulder. Thankfully the Irish kid, Mark Curran, is joining us in a month. Sam Sterling will get Dean's matches in the meantime.
Nothing doing on Sunday. Sucks having one day off between matches.
Here's another easy club to play against; they are the third-worst team in the league. Truro are 233 miles west-southwest of us, way out down the Isthmus in Cornwall.
at Truro, 28 December 2020
Formation: Spade
Starting XI: O'Keeffe, Peers, Parker, Barnes, Jefcoate, Robinson, Leary, Noulas, Macey, Rae
Subs: Ferreira, Smith, Roberts, Lemon, Flitcroft
What's with this weather?! Hail on Saturday, drizzle today? Oh, right, we're in England. Maybe Truro aren't, they might be on Mars for all the concentration they have. Their left central defender loses the ball on his own so Macey thieves it into Rae who heads our first in. We continue to dominate and further proof of life on Mars comes in the 59th when their right central defender sends a backpass to the keeper who had turned his back to run to the center of the goal and the ball squeaks by the left post.
POM: Alex Rae 9.3 (2 goals, 1 key pass)
What a relief, another clean sheet for O'Keeffe. (True story: I didn't write that to rhyme, I only discovered it did when I started prepping my update. Bee tee dubs, you know the difference between a fairy tale and a true story, don't you? The first one starts with, "Once upon a time…" while the second one starts with, "No shit! This really happened." That was my dad's joke.)
Team of the Week news! Because we faced two weaklings, eight of our brutes make the TotW.
The other good news is Eddie "Old Man" Macey now leads the league with 20 goals and average rating, which is 7.86. Nightingale is third with 7.49.
After having Watkins asking to leave last week I was expecting we'd be good to roll with Andy Robinson. Then he asks to leave. I ask Macey to resolve the matter and he does. Three hours later Gareth O'Keeffe also asks for a transfer. I manage to convince him to stay by telling him I'll be strengthening the team and we have so many hot prospects, which is enough to mollify him. I also said by next year we'd be just as good as the team he wants to go to, Shrewsbury Town, who are in League One. I can't believe he bought my line!
Well fucker doodle-doo, Nightingale's valuation has dropped. No big surprise there. Lemon's drop (lemon drop?) also isn't too surprising given the numbers of times he's given the ball away this month. Noulas' on the other hand is a surprise. He hasn't been getting into many match but with Bill Taylor's anticipated departure I think January will be a chance for our Greek wonder to shine. Speaking of departures, if Watkins and Robinson depart then Pope is the next man up. I can only hope that his valuation "drop" was merely Watkins and Robinson advancing in theirs.
Well I thought the month would be tame but we faced the other top-tier clubs in the league and came away with a minor scratch. More concerning was the continued problems defending, not just the central defenders but also the goalies. I figured out that the problem in the backline was the slowness of O'Shea and Nightingale. I gotta remember this and avoid slow defenders no matter how good they look in other areas. That's the problem of being in real leagues now.
Back in the middle of April 2018 I mentioned that Weymouth was interested in Derek McLeish and it looked like that may get promoted to the Conference South. Well they certainly did get promoted that season and last season they almost got promoted again. They finished fourth in the league but lost to Dulwich Hamlet in the Semi Final. Dulwich then lost to Whitehawk in the Final. I think I might begin to hate Dulwich. Back on track; we faced Weymouth in early September and squeaked on by 2 to 1. Legg and Nightingale were to blame for our defensive problems in that match. Too bad it took me another three months to figure the Nightingale conundrum.
We face Weymouth at the end of January, just before the close of the transfer window. Currently, they are 6th and 7 points behind second place club Aldershot.