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Derek, Derek, Derek… It's bad enough that you are already fifth choice at striker. Months like that aren't going to help you remain here. Jordan Nickson may be rebounding enough that he might make Sean Peers redundant.
So very excited about Peter Smith’s performance. Mickey Morris improves so much that my AssMan thinks he is now "Very well suited to Championship football." :-)
In this timeline we didn't have any sell-on fees so that resulted in a loss of £273,219. Ouch. Still, we have a lot of money in the bank, just short of £24 million.
Before I look at my confidence rating just know that I won the league Head Coach of the Month award. Should that not be Manager? Is the FM18 program reading my Americanness and using “Head Coach” instead? Doesn’t do it for other thing... Weird.
The board rates me at 84% but the drop really comes from the fans disapproval of our transfer market performance. Sign one U18 DR with no future and they get bent all out of shape...
No changes on the personnel and their groups but our Dressing Room Atmosphere has dropped a little. I think that it might be that our three new players aren't fully settled in, plus Gareth O'Keeffe and Ben Pope aren't exactly the happiest players so their beef might be spreading to others.
The Tutoring of Gael Barbier by Chicken Legg continues to work as his personality improved to Driven. Holy crap! His Determination shot up 6 points in one month! Up to 18 now. This is amazing.
Things aren't improving for Lee Beirne though. His Personality hasn't changed and neither has his Determination. Bummer. Same story for Richard Phillips. Grrrrrr!
Not that it matters too much but O'Keeffe's Determination went up to 19. He's not being Tutored so maybe his awesome performances with the U19s caused that?
I'm glad that I figured out that I could keep Jose Parker around. He's starting to develop his DMC skillz and a good number of Attributes are improving, including Leadership, Strength, and most importantly for him, Pace.
Recent addition Ben Evans is also showing his best. Every Technical attribute has green arrows as well as every Physical except Natural Fitness, not surprising. Ten of fourteen Mentals went up too.
DR Sean Peers has recovered a little bit from his drops two months ago but Jordan Nickson has recovered more. They are so very close now. In the Full-Back role they are within one or two points of each other, depending on the Duty (Defend, Support, Attack). Nickson is four points lower in Natural Fitness, which really doesn't matter for a substitute. I'll probably reassess on 1 January and make a decision then where to ship of Peers.
Dean Rice had a weird month. Some drops, some gains, no bad report. I don't know what to make of this. Oddly, his Bravery continues to recover and is up to 10.4 now.
I know I've been doing a lot of kvetching about Mark Curran but something occurs to me while I'm updating my spreadsheet. Except for his Tackling, which is 13, his other defensive attributes just aren't up to snuff; his Marking and Positioning are only 8. Ergo, I gotta cut him some slack and work on those less-than-good attributes; I'll get them to 10 then get his Pace up to 14. It should make a difference.
Tutoring for Glyn Davies is going alright. His Personality has changed but his Determination has not. I'm sure he'll pan out over the next 5 months.
Peter Smith saw a lot of green arrows this past month too. My AssMan also thinks he is now League One quality though his Potential Ability went down to 4.0. I don't believe it. I think he's still destined to play well in the Premier League.
Gary Leary's month was unusual. He had a good number of red arrows but no actual drops. He had green arrows for Strength and Pace. Said Pace is now 18. Damn, he's fast!
Derek McLeish wasn't the only striker with a poor month of training. Well, maybe not poor but odd. Mark Marshall had a lot of red arrows and some green arrows but only one thing went down (Free Kicks), but several things went up (Technique, Composure, Agility, and Stamina). This bears watching.
I've got international performance news! David Doran, representing Wales U19, rated a 7.1 against Northern Ireland in 90 minutes of play, assisting on one goal. Mark Curran and David Caffrey represented Ireland U19 against Croatia U19. David rated 7.4 in 90 minutes, assisting on one goal. Curran only rated 6.7 in 74 minutes of action.
On 3 September my Head of Youth Development reports on Alfie Barnes. His Determination is beginning to inch up. I was worried about him having an 8 Determination so I'm delighted it's trending upward.
Eastleigh are supposed to be a good team, expected to finish third and get promoted. At this moment they are 7th though. They are adept at scoring but not keeping clean sheets. Their strikers scare me not and two of their best players are out with injuries. I predict a win. (Yes, I'm ignoring that we beat them in our final match of last season, when we won the FA Trophy.
at Eastleigh, 4 September 2021
Formation: Diamond Attack (GK, DR, DC r, DC l, DL, DMC (DLP-S), MR, ML, AMC (AM), ST r (DLF-A), ST l (AF)))
Starting XI: Legg, Lawford, Ferreira, Barnes, Rice, Noulas, Smith, McGregor, Flitcroft, Marshall, Rae
Subs: Collpy, Peers, Lemon, Leary, Macey
Well, Marshall continues his fine form, Rae proves he can still score, and Flitcroft shows he CAN play as an AMC. Well at least in the first 10 minutes and the final 30 seconds. A lot of mediocrity in between.
POM: Peter Smith 9.0 (1 assist, 4 key passes, 3 chances created)
Still ho-hum matches. I'm jaded.
The scouting report on our next opponent, Harrogate, shows a poor team. The few promising players they have are injured. I like this.
We have a good representation in the Team of the Week. Legg (GK), Smith (MR), Flitcroft (MC r), Noulas (MC l), and Marshall (ST l). The entire backline came from Barnet, who beat Maidenhead 3-0.
Oh yeah! My AssMan now assess that Mark Marshall is currently a League One talent. Dance a little jig! Also, he thinks Mark Curran has Championship potential but I still believe he's Premier League.
Harrogate. The first time we faced them it was a 4-0 Brixton blow-out. The next time, we were sucky and lucky to beat them on penalties. I'm playing the second-stringers today and if they falter they will join the ranks of the U23s. (What luck that we've drawn them three times in cup play.)
at Harrogate, 7 September 2021
Formation: Diamond Attack (GK, DR, DC r, DC l, DL, DMC (DLP-S), MR, ML, AMC (AM), ST r (DLF-A), ST l (AF))
Starting XI: Lee, Peers, Evans, Parker, Curran, Ferguson, Pope, Leary, O'Reilly, Macey, McLeish
Subs: Legg, Lawford, Collopy, Barnes, Rice, Caffrey, Smith, McGregor, Davies, Marshall, Rae, Lemon
O'Reilly twists his knee in the 7th but I don't yank him until the 30th. Nothing else happened up to then but within 10 minutes we are actually able to make use of a corner kick, using our wingers to quickly transition the ball from one side of the net to the other, with Leary getting the goal. Pope gets another assist a few minutes later but it's McLeish scoring with a beautiful cross-goal header that totally baffled the goalie.
After the restart McLeish tightens he groin somehow but he doesn't get an orange or red injury indicator for some reason. Leary isn't hurting so he is in the right place to receive a long-range Ferguson pass and get his brace for the day. Collopy and Rae come on at 68' for Evans and McLeish, respectively. Even though McLeish has no indicator I'm playing it safe with him. And so it ends.
POM: Ben Pope 9.0 (2 assists, 2 key passes, 2 chances created)
That was eventually a good match. A little sloppy then total command. McLeish isn't injured but O'Reilly's upgraded from orange to red for that twisted knee, he'll be out 5-6 days.
I'm glad Lee had a good game as he'll be GK1 next year. He rated 7.1 from handling the sole on-target shot he faced.
For the next round of the FA Trophy we get to stay home. Our opponent, Mickleover, is a push-over, three rungs below our league. Dare I use a lot of U23ers?
A few days go by and another player is assessed as having improved. This time it's Pat Lawford and he is ajudged as being League One in current ability. I agree. :-D
That isn't the only good news on the player development front this week. Ferreira's Determination went from 15 to 16 and his personality changed from Resolute to Spirited, though I'm not 100% sure that's an improvement. Also, Richard Phillips has a 6 Determination now, though is personality is still Unambitioius. At least we've got movement from his Tutoring by Macey.
Interesting, Wycombe (pronounced Wickam), like to play with a single striker and it look like they use him as a Target Man as he's slow, strong, can leap high and is 188cm tall. Yikes. But we are favored 2 to 1.
vs. Wycombe, 11 September 2021
Formation: Diamond Attack (GK, DR, DC r, DC l, DL, DMC (DLP-S), MR, ML, AMC (AM), ST r (DLF-A), ST l (AF))
Starting XI: O'Keeffe, Lawford, Ferreira, Barnes, Curran, Caffrey, Smith, McGregor, Flitcroft, Marshall, Morris
Subs: Peers, Rice, Noulas, Leary, Burns
Oh interesting! Their Target Man is not playing today. Instead they are fielding a speedster who can't shoot worth a damn.
It doesn't take long for our first breakaway, in the 2nd minute, and our first weak shot by Marshall. Good thing for him that he gets a chance at a penalty shot in the 27th and sends it high and left into the back of the net. And not 7 minutes later he sends a low cross to the left post where Mickey's fateful foot launches it in. This was all sprung from a deep launch from Curran; it'd be nice to see a good rating from him today. A near-repeat happens 5 minutes later but Morris uses his head this time.
I was expecting the second half to go by quietly as I had gone full Control and slowed things down but after what seems like our 20th corner we finally get a goal courtesy of Flitcroft and his Left Foot of Doom. I go to the Spade at 66' and bring in Burns to be the sole striker, and give Morris and Marshall a rest.
POM: Mickey Morris 9.3 (2 goals, 3 key passes, 1 chance created)
The true intent of pulling Morris and Marshall is that I need Mickey rested for the next match that will see the completion of my evil scheme: Morris as my Deep Lying Forward and Montgomery Burns as my Advanced Forward. Excellent, Smithers... You think we are a scoring machine now, you ain't see nothing yet.
FYI, Mark Curran rated an 8.7 for his two key passes, two chances created, and several key defensive plays. That's my boy!
Only two players in the TotW, O'Keeffe and Morris, at expected positions.
Yes! One of the moments I've been waiting for happens. Stephen McGregor is now a Highly Influential Player, exactly what you want of your Vice Captain.
Holy crap! Newport Country's left winger has a Pace of 6. Yeesh! I'm changing up things, giving Burns his first start and putting in Evans for Barnes. As always, I wonder if this will put fangs in my bottom.
vs. Newport County, 14 September 2021
Formation: Diamond Attack (GK, DR, DC r, DC l, DL, DMC (DLP-S), MR, ML, AMC (AM), ST r (DLF-A), ST l (AF))
Starting XI: O’Keeffe, Lawford, Ferreira, Evans, Curran, Caffrey, Smith, McGregor, Davies, Morris, Burns
Subs: Peers, Barnes, Lemon, Leary, Macey
I've never seen a player do a pirouette to psych out an opponent but McGregor did that, which gave him plenty of space to then sprint to the byline and cross to Smith, who gets one in from an impossible angle. Good googily moogily! It takes 35:33 into his first start for John Burns to get his first goal, of many to come, but the credit should go to Smith for the perfect cross, which came from way out to the right, by the technical area. Then right before the half Smith gets a second assist, this one up the middle and McGregor gets a 15-yard shot in; both wingers were in the middle because Davies took a corner kick.
The second half goes quietly for the most part. Though Smith does sprain his foot around 60' and Burns gets his brace, this time from McG around 75'. Then five seconds before 90' Burns gets an assist when he selflessly gives a pass to Davies, who screams one in from 16 yards out.
POM: John Burns 9.5 (2 goals, 1 assist, 3 key passes, 2 chances created)
What a debut! But I have to steel myself against crazy expectations. Morris, Burns, and Marshall are going to have rough patches. I have to chillax and not expect massive performances every outing.
I finally get my scouts' assessments on the Ireland Youth Intake Day. As always, anybody worth a damn does not envision a future in South London. We're going places, chaps! Join the ranks! Uncle Sam wants you.
It's Saturday and we face the 20th ranked team, who are just above the relegation zone. On Wednesday we host Brentford, a team four levels above us. Is it wrong that I'm suiting up the lesser squad today so mid-week we have our best players on the pitch so our defeat is not resounding? We'll find out soon! Ebbsfleet are located 18.6 miles due east of Brockwell Park. Like, exactly due east. Freakishly due east.
at Ebbsfleet, 18 September 2021
Formation: Diamond Attack (GK, DR, DC r, DC l, DL, DMC (DLP-S), MR, ML, AMC (AM), ST r (DLF-A), ST l (AF))
Starting XI: O'Keeffe, Peers, Parker, Collopy, Rice, Noulas, Pope, Leary, O'Reilly, Macey, McLeish
Subs: Ferreira, Barnes, Ferguson, Lemon, Flitcroft
It's not unusual to get a fluke of a goal in Football Manager. We are the benefactor this time. Macey and McLeish have switched sides of the field after our corner goes askew so Derek finds himself on the right side of the 18-yard box and spies Macey being ignored on the far side. He tries a cross but it goes off a defender and trickles past the goalie. Another 12 go by before a successful cross makes it to Macey, he of the 3 Heading still, who successfully heads in Pope's offering.
McLeish has to come off for an Achilles problem but his replacement Flitcroft combines with Rice on a breakaway after an Ebbsfleet free kick, giving Macey his brace. All is good until late in the match. Due to SI's unimaginative programming you can sometimes tell when a goal is coming. If the players start getting cutesy, doing back-heel pass, doing weird turns, you know they are going to score. I could see the Fleet's goal coming 30 seconds out. So lame.
POM: Eddie Macey (2 goals, 1 key pass)
Ben O'Reilly had another mediocre match. From this point forward I think I'll only play him when his match fitness drops low enough to need match fitness AND the other AMCs are tired. Again, McLeish miraculously recovers from an injury after going to the bench.
Right after that match I immediately switch formations to the Cudgel and modify our training to maximize our learning of this defensive formation. I sure hope it works. On the bench though I'm putting my two best wingers and Burns so we can go on the attack if we fall behind.
To quote the best character in TV History, "We're boned!" Bender was right, Brentford are going to slaughter us. Their "worst" starter is 3.5 stars in Current Ability and all are 4.0 or better in Potential Ability. We'll be there some day. Just not today.
We have a very good showing in the Team of the Week. O'Keeffe (GK), Lawford (DR), Evans (DC r), Smith (MR), Davies (MC r), McGregor (ML), Burns (ST r), and Macey (ST l). Our best showing of the year so far.
Just like I "predicted," the media is talking about how we are going to have a full house for the Carabao Cup. Around 1,600 of the fans will be rooting for Brentford. Steve Pearson is still with them; I hope he takes mercy on us.
We have a press conference for the cup match. Some of the question, there must have been a dozen overall, were about Pearson. Damn journos looking to twist my words, I'm sure. Yep! I say our preparation is business as usual and the media report I'm confident of beating Brentford. What do you have if you have 10,000 journos at the bottom of the ocean…?
Alright, this is gonna be rough. Our only hope, aside from Obi-Wan, is Brentford don't want to be in this competition so they field a bunch of kids and also-runs.
Yippee! A tunnel interview! Interesting, a question about Ferreira receiving the captain's armband today. I trust him, that's why.
vs. Brentford, 22 September 2021
Formation: Cudgel (DC r, DC c, DC l, WBR, WBL, MC r (CM), MC c (BWM), MC l (CM), ST r (DF-S), ST l (TM-A))
Starting XI: O'Keeffe, Evans, Ferreira, Barnes, Lawford, Curran, Davies, Noulas, Caffrey, Marshall, Morris
Subs: Peers, Parker, Smith, McGregor, Burns
Ha! Steve Pearson isn't even suited up today. But former Brixton midfield destroyer Bill Taylor is!
Urgh. M&M are rating 6.4 from only 1 of 7 shots on target but we survive the first half. And there's a glimmer of hope at 52'! Morris is fouled during a corner kick and his penalty shot is stopped. DAMMIT! We survive two corners in the 70s and make it through 90 without conceding. This game would be over if Mickey didn't rate a 5.9. I tell them Passionately that we can still win this and I Assertively tell Mickey I am not pleased. He gets fired up, along with half the crew.
I switch us to the Diamond Attack and bring in Smith and McG on the wings and Burns as the AMC. We have two header chances in the first 15 of Extra Time but Marshall and Ferreira just aren't dialed in. In the second 15 we get beat by a counter attack that started when Morris was dispossessed in the box; O'Keeffe had been a monster until that point.
POM: Brentford's Mark Woolfe 7.8 (3 key passes, 1 chance created)
Despite his 5.9 I do not address M-I-C-K-E-Y because after all, he's only 17. I should have let Marshall take the penalty, as the game had suggested. At least our dance card won't be so full!
An interesting thing happened before I could even get to the post-match interview. Mickey issued a statement to the media that he would continue taking penalties and bounce back. This is very interesting. Did something change under the hood as a result? Or is everything the same and this is the result of his Driven personality?
Margate, won't you listen to me, I say. Margate, your roster is pee, I say. Margate, your striker don't scare me. But give it a shot against my lesser crew. Sorry, Village People. I don't foresee any trouble from this small-time club even though I'm not using the preferred XI. A day later an email arrives with the odds. 10-1. Poor Margate.
That Dutch scout we hired back in July? He completed an intensive language course and is now fluent in English. Seems a bit rushed but I can accept it cuz I'm selfish like that.
We need a bounce-back match. We need to dominate this lesser club like a professional team versus a junior varsity one. I think we need our captain on the field so I'm going to use Macey as the right striker in a Defensive Forward-Support role. The left striker will be in the Advanced Forward role. Today that is McLeish as I need to have the more experienced crew up front.
vs Margate, 25 September 2021
Formation: Diamond Attack (GK, DR, DC r, DC l, DL, DMC (DLP-S), MR, ML, AMC (AM), ST r (DLF-A), ST l (AF))
Starting XI: Lee, Peers, Parker, Collopy, Rice, Ferguson, Pope, Leary, Lemon, Macey, McLeish
Subs: Legg, Nickson, Murphy, Jenkins, Pike, Noulas, Barnett, Garcia, O'Reilly, Flitcroft, Rae, Evans
For the first third of the game they boss us around for two-thirds of the pitch. They start attacks but our defense breaks them up. We can't get anything going. McLeish then trips a central defender and doesn't get called for it so he charges on and gets a goal, barely. Within a few minutes Parker gifts them a chance, which leads to a corner and then a goal. I'm apoplectic. But it turns out they committed a foul so our lead stands. From the following free kick we march up field and McLeish sends a super-powerful shot in from about 16 yards out. Leary adds another quickly after that. Things were quiet from then until the 80th. We give up an easy goal. This is not the dominance I expected.
POM: Derek McLeish 9.0 (2 goals, 2 key passes, 1 chance created)
Well, I played with fire and got a little singed. But I kinda expected it.
We have a week before our next match but we'll have an end to the month before then so it's The Days Between.
For the third round of the Conference League Cup we welcome Gainsborough, 4th in a league below, to Brockwell Park on 13 November. Was not expecting such a long time between matches in that competition but with only 32 teams left in the competition I suppose the maths make sense.
Another moment I've been waiting for: My AssMan finally thinks Mickey is a Premier League talent. Hot damn! It's official.
Ferreira gets another international call-up for Angola. He gets to face Mozambique on 6 October and Senegal on 12 October. Mozambique...they just might be the only nation that has an AK-47 on its flag.
Turns out he's not the only one going abroad. David Caffrey, Mark Curran, Gareth O'Keeffe, and Mickey Morris are joining their national teams. Because of this I get the choice to postpone matches that take place on 5, 9, and 12 October. I don't postpone for the same reason as before: Fixture congestion later in the season. Also, John Burns and David Doran will be out.
I'm not panicking about Lawford's drop, it's still O'Keeffe resetting the bar each month. Same goes for Curran. And Caffrey. And Smith. You get the picture. Damn Gareth… Ben Evans had a really significant gain in his Current Ability and even my AssMan believes, noting that he is League Two quality now.
We started strong but then got sloppy, leading to a single defeat followed by lackluster play. Oddly, every striker (less Rae (cuz he's dead to me) but including Flitcroft) scored two goals this month, except McLeish, who scored three. Hmmm… I need more out of Morris, Marshall, and Burns. (Shhh! Never mind those international call-ups!) Again, I should not be complaining so I'll just cool it now.
Mark Marshall. Once an afterthought, currently an absolute monster. I found him in early April 2019 while trying to find a U18 striker body. He wasn't exactly bowling me over but by July 2019 I was still needing a U18 body so I offered Skelmersdale £1,000. Best £1,000 I ever spent! In his first year with us he got into 56 U18 and U23 matches, scoring 54 goals and 20 assists. Last year he was in 14 competitive matches, racking up 10 goals and 6 assists. This year? Oh boy. So far this year he has 8 starts, 6 goals, 4 assists, and 2 Player of the Match awards.
Here's his initial player card:
Here's his current one:
He's going to be a quasi-starter, splitting time with Morris and Burns.