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We have a full calendar this month with seven league and two cup matches. We'll have very little down time, which kind of sucks as we won't have much time for training. Fudge...nine matches...
Well...it was better than last month? Adrian Partridge does have some future here but not if he keeps this up.
Also, yes, you read that correctly. I'm only training two tactics right now. I want to improve our skills on the Cudgel, which is frustratingly coming along slowly.
Woof, a loss of £329,839. Still a profit of over £1,800,000 for the season so far from all those sell-on clauses.
Uh-oh. I'm down to 80% in Board Confidence. I think if it drops below 80% I'll lose my "Untouchable" status. The biggest loss seems to come from losing in the Carabao Cup though we met expectations. Surprisingly, they aren't as pleased as they used to be on player wages. I should have thought about that when I signed Pope to that new contract.
Also, no surprise, I won the Manger of the Month award.
I never got an email about it but Derek McLeish moved up to the Influential Players level of the Dynamics pyramid.
Alex Wood had a phenomenal month with many of his Technical Attributes and a few Mentals going up. He's ready for the Senior squad but will remain in the U18s.
Though he didn't have a phenomenal month, Michael Salami is finally improving his Determination from Stephen Lemon's mentoring.
Mel Stewart's mentoring by Alex Rae is also showing signs of life, with his Determination going from 4 to 5.
Well, that Alfie Barnes kid seems to be a smart purchase as now he has world-class Agility and Pace. His Heading, Position, and Determination could use some work though.
Now Dean Rice's Bravery is up to 10.6, rounded up to 11. He's coming along nicely.
Better news is that David Caffrey is now a "Hard working midfielder" due to his Work Rate going up to 15; his Teamwork was already 16. Also, he is deemed "very well suited for League Two football."
Newish right winger Peter Smith is improving. My AssMan thinks he is now "very well suited for League Two football" also.
Best news of all is Mickey Morris. Every critical Attribute went up this month, and he just turned 18 on 1 October.
Nothing doing on the first except all the regularly scheduled emails about how awesome I am.
Our first match of this calendar year was a two-nil victory over Ebbsfleet at Brockwell Park in the Fourth Round of the Conference League Cup. Now we travel to them. They are 11th on the table though they are expected to finish 5th. Let us keep their dreams from living. They play at Stonebridge Road, 18.6 miles due east of the Park.
at Ebbsfleet, 2 October 2021
Formation: Diamond (GK, DR, DC r, DC l, DL, DMC, MR, ML, AMC, ST r, ST l)
Starting XI: O'Keeffe, Lawford, Ferreira, Barnes, Curran, Caffrey, Pope, McGregor, Lemon, Macey, Morris
Subs: Peers, Nightingale, O'Reilly, Leary, Marshall
Four minutes in and McGregor trips a player needlessly in the box but O'Keeffe can't stop the penalty shot. It takes 23 minutes for us to equalize and poetically it's Ferreira heading in a free kick after he was fouled to establish the set piece. Macey gets a little bit of redemption, missing a sitter earlier, when spot on 37' he crosses to Morris, whose shot is so powerful it goes through the goalkeeper's hand right into goal. Seventy-four seconds later we get another with Macey the recipient of a Lemon pass up the middle. It doesn't take long for Morris to get an assist and Macey to get a brace.
During the break, I chastise McGregor and ask Caffrey to watch his step as he too has a yellow. Despite dialing things way back Macey gets his hat trick just before 54' from another Mickey assist. By 60' McG has recovered his rating from a 6.3 to a 6.7 but still comes off, as does Caffrey and Macey. The remainder of the match sees Ebbsfleet get lots of corners and free kicks in our end but O'Keeffe is catching everything in sight or tipping the ball over the crossbar. Our turn around on offense and Gareth's hands save the day.
POM: Eddie Macey 9.7 (3 goals, 1 assist, 5 key passes, 2 chance created)
I called out three players at the end of September who did not impress me. Each of them, Curran, Lemon, and Mickey, all had a great match, rating 7.5, 7.8, and 9.1, respectively.
We get a bit of luck for the FA Cup. In the Fourth Qualifying Round we get to host either AFC Sudbury or Canvey Island, two clubs that are three levels below us. We will dominate them with extreme prejudice.
Our next opponent, Chorley, aren't very good, 22nd in the league, and don't have many good players, but they do have two fast strikers. Ferreira and Barnes will get the starts again. Until I realize Angelino will be with the Angolan national team. D'oh!
The Loan Report comes in on 5 October and it's actually quite good. Sam Sterling and Rory Collopy are improving and the rest of the kids are rating above 7.00. If Kevin Jenkins can shake that Unambitious personality, and get his Heading and Positioning up to double-digits, he just might earn another contract; presently they are at 9 and 8, respectively.
Five Brixtonians (is that the right word?) make it into the Team of the Weak. Ferreira (DR), Barnes (DC r), Macey (MR), Caffrey (MC r), and Morris (ST l). Don't like that Macey and Ferreira are in the wrong positions.
On the afternoon of 5 October we learn we face Canvey Island. It's a neutral outcome from our point of view as Canvey are only slightly worse than AFC Sudbury. Half of one, six dozen of another.
Chorley, ye of minimal wins, please may your pacey forwards take the afternoon off. Chorley are way up to the northwest, northwest of Manchester. Our place is 185 miles from their Victory Park. Hopefully by the time we leave it'll be Victory For Brixton Park. Those strikers worry me.
at Chorley, 5 October 2021
Formation: Diamond
Starting XI: O'Keeffe, Peers, Evans, Nightingale, Rice, Noulas, Pope, McGregor, O'Reilly, Macey, McLeish
Subs: Parker, Barnes, Ferguson, Leary, Rae
Yeah. Well. Okay. They have pacey strikers. Macey is faster, which comes in handy when Nightingale can boot one over the defenders and Eddie can catch up to it and squeeze one under the goalie only 19 seconds into the match. Nightingale sends in another long boot but much later, in the 35th, and it's McLeish this time with the perfect timing and great speed that enables a doubling of the score. As I'm contemplating when and who to sub, McLeish steals the ball from their right back and, having all the time in the world being alone with the keeper, boots it in when least expected and we have three. A minute or so later, another steal by McLeish but he shares it with McGregor so he can cross it to a streaking O'Reilly who heads one in from point blank.
At 65' I take off Macey just to get Rae match fit, the same with Parker for Nightingale (what a match!), and move Noulas up to AMC to get practice there and Ferguson on for O'Reilly, as Fergie needs more DMC time. I was hoping Derek could get a hat trick but instead he bruised his ankle so I just set him to Poacher so he can stand around more. From there until the 93rd it's nothing-doing and we hold their two worry-making strikers to one shot, and that one being blocked before it could get anywhere dangerous.
POM: Mitchell Nightingale 9.0 (2 assists, 2 key passes, 1 chance created, 8 interceptions, 10 headers won)
I added some extra stats for Nightingale to show just what a dominant performance he had. He deserves more match time. McLeish's bruised ankle will only keep him out for a day or two.
Another cool strategic email comes in on 6 October. "Leading producers of English national team footballers". Man United has produced 7 of them, Arsenal produced 5, and minnows Brixton produced 4. That's more than Liverpool and Everton!
Barrow has one cool badge. It has a bee overlaying an arrow (Barrow, get it?) and a submarine. I hope they don't sink our perfect league record.
vs. Barrow, 9 October 2021
Formation: Diamond
Starting XI: Legg, Lawford, Parker, Barnes, Rice, Ferguson, Smith, Leary, Lemon, Macey, Marshall
Subs: Peers, Nightingale, Noulas, Young, Rae
We go down early and don't get a single threatening shot in the first half. Barrow do and there striker Farr shoots one in from near. We manage one after Marshall somehow gets a slow one under their goalie. One second before 64' I am gently reminded that Eddie has a low Heading score but still sinks 'em with his noggin. A foul in the box after 79' sees Macey gets a chance to show his cool, which he does. Just as I'm calming down there's another highlight in stoppage time. I relax when I see it's us getting a free kick. I jump out of my chair when Leary scores from 25 yards out!
POM: Gary Leary 9.2 (1 goal, 1 assist, 3 key passes, 2 chances created)
We end up accurate on 12 of 25 shots. They are 3 of 4. Why my team triggering my IBS?! In other news, this is a thing again: Rice's agent demanding a new contract after he rated out a 6.3 and had to be subbed off, leaving me with a makeshift back line. I refuse so Dean steps into my office. I tell him he needs to earn it and only if he improves his form will I even begin to contemplate a new deal. That inspires him! His morale goes up to Perfect. I wonder how that will carry forward? He actually has a 7.41 rating over the last 20 matches and excepting that 6.3, a 7.44 over the last five.
Another good show for Brixton on the Team of the Week: Chicken Legg (his first of the year), Aled Evans (DC l), Stephen Lemon (MC r), Ben O'Reilly (MC l), Gary Leary (ML), and Derek McLeish (ST l).
Yes, Rice gets another start today. Curran is back but he's very tired. Lawford is also tired so I bring in Jordan Nickson from the U23s to start at DR. Oh! Look at that. Seven substitutes, all proper like. Adrian Lee may be starting come January if Gareth forces his way out so I'm giving him some more Senior time.
We were dreadful against Macclesfield the first time we met back in August, escaping with a win in the last minute. We better do better today. Macclesfield is south of Manchester and their stadium is The Moss Rose (weird name), 150 miles northwest of Brixton.
at Macclesfield, 12 October 2021
Formation: Diamond
Starting XI: Lee, Nickson, Peers, Evans, Rice, Noulas, Pope, McGregor, Davies, Marshall, McLeish
Subs: Legg, Lawford, Parker, Barnes, Curran, Ferguson, Smith, Leary, O'Reilly, Macey, Rae, Nightingale
It takes 21' to get our first shot and it's a Marshall close-range one that goes in. In news surprising to no one, Rice is rating at 6.4 at the half, as is Glyn Davies. I step up the tempo and we get a second Marshall goal, this time off a McLeish pass. The initial pass from Davies to McLeish went off Derek's back heel but Noulas was able to get it before a Mac; I was thinking we were gonna get FMed before that recovery. A few minutes later, Marshall returns the favor to McLeish and we've got a trio of goals to keep me pleased. I tempt fate by going to the Cudgel at 70' and somehow it doesn't blow up in my face.
Rice righted his ship, ending with a 7.1 but Davies eeked out just a 6.7.
POM: Mark Marshall 9.4 (2 goals, 1 assist, 3 key passes, 2 chances created)
I know we are winning but there are way too many concerning performances in the first half of too many matches.
Well, this is unexpected. The morning after that match in Macclesfield, I get an email from my Head of Youth Development stating that Gareth O'Keeffe had all kinds of good development. The final line was "Squad's general character has had a positive effect lately." How is that possible? He'll already Driven and has an 18 Determination. Oh. He now has a 19 Determination?! The football gods do smile upon us!
For the Fourth Round of the FA Trophy we host Norwich United. Not to be confused with Norwich City who are in the Championship. This one is in the Wessex Premier Division, where they are 9th; that division is way down in the County Leagues, four levels below us.
(This reminded me that we'll be facing Canvey Island next and looking at their logo I saw that it was the randomly generated type. So I went out and found the real one and added it to the game files. It's pretty neat.)
The scouting report for Canvey comes in. One of their starting strikers has a 5 Pace. The other a 14. How do you play that?! His Finishing is 14 and Composure 9. That jerk. :-D
Despite Canvey Island having a weak team I still will take them seriously because they got that good striker and we've been having poor first halves. Sure wish we had more fans to cheers us on though.
vs. Canvey Island, 16 October 2021
Formation: Diamond
Starting XI: O'Keeffe, Lawford, Evans, Barnes, Pike, Ferguson, Smith, Leary, Lemon, Macey, Morris
Subs: Legg, Ferreira, Nightingale, Parker, Curran, Noulas, Pope, McGregor, O'Reilly, Marshall, Rae, Peers
We're back to our early scoring way, 91 seconds to be exact. Barnes launched one out from our box up to Mickey at the halfway line and his precise passing springs Macey for a one-on-one. He waits to shoot when he's two yards from the goal and one yard from the GK, which is not enough time for the reflexes to kick in. I may have over-praised things as our second comes in the 28th with Lawford, who is on fire today, hitting an early cross that meets Eddie in stride and he easily gets a brace. The third goal comes a minute or so later with a Lemon slipping a Mickey in the box.
The most beautiful goal of them all happened just after 35'. Macey sent a long one in towards the left corner where Morris was lurking. Mickey gathered it up, ran towards the endline, down the endline, and then started cutting toward the penalty spot after entering the six-yard box. Everyone must have figured he was looking for Macey or Lemon but nope, he booted it in with a cross-body shot right past the unsuspecting goalie.
Okay, the fifth one was pretty special too. Leary cross near the endline to a flying Eddie but he heads it backwards to Lemon, who's just inside the arc. Lemon's screamer could never have been stopped by a human.
I wield the Cudgel at 66' and do a full swap, less Gareth. Except I screwed up on setting the bench and didn't have a third MC so Lemon had to stay in. Drat. Oh well, Peers as a WBR is able to cross to Rae as an attacking Target Man to get us our half-dozen.
POM: Mickey Morris 9.7 (2 goals, 1 assist, 7 key passes, 6 chance created)
Our offense won the day but I think what helped a lot was setting our fastest DC to mark their fastest ST. I normally don't take the time to set individual responsibilities but I feel it certainly paid off today.
Awesome! It's now time for the real rounds of the FA Cup. Who do we face? Northampton, a League Two club who are currently 20th out of 24. I fancy our chances as we're at home. The match is set for Saturday, 6 November.
Our next opponent is Dulwich Hamlet, a pest from last season, who got promoted by coming in second place and beating Billericay in the play offs. Their "star" striker has a 9 Pace. I won't mind using our slower centrebacks. Also, they are currently 23rd in the league. Not doing so well... The next morning I get another email about Dulwich. Being so close to Brixton, a lot of fans are expected to show up for this rivalry. Over 4,000 the media predicts.
My AssMan delivers some good news. He assess that Pat Lawford has the potential to be a Championship talent. Good news. His 4.5 made me think Championship or Premier League so it's nice to get confirmation. Still think he's Premier… Same email says Nickcolson Garcia and Kevin Jenkins, both out on loan, have future potential of only Conference National, which comes as no surprise.
Okay, so to insure against Dulwich pulling a "fast" one on me by switching their slow-arse striker out, I've put Ferreira and Barnes on the bench. Fergie gets into his fourth match in a row as I'm trying to get him over that hurdle to Natural at DMC. Dulwich will not drop to the bottom of the table if they lose as they are on 10 points but Alfreton still have yet to win and sit on 2 point. Ouch.
vs. Dulwich Hamlet, 19 October 2021
Formation: Diamond
Starting XI: O'Keeffe, Peers, Parker, Nightingale, Rice, Ferguson, Smith, Leary, O'Reilly, Rae, McLeish
Subs: Ferreira, Barnes, Noulas, McGregor, Macey
Oh look at that! Almost 4,400 spectators! But my locker room motivation speech falls flat. Oh boy.
Rae, alone on the right sideline, McLeish, alone in front of the goalie, spot-on cross to the spot, shot goes wide. Right at the 1:00 mark. I reach for the Tums™. Oh look at that. They pulled a fast one and have a 14 Pace striker in. Lovely. The game is a perfect example of playing down to your opponent. The defense is horrible in the first 30 minutes and somehow Ben O'Reilly is the star with two goals. Gareth again proves he ain't ready for the Premier League, letting in a long shot.
POM: Ben O'Reilly 8.8 (2 goals)
I know we haven't lost yet in the league but we are not firing on all cylinders. Peers, Nightingale, and Leary were sub 6.5 at the half and Nightingale and Leary never recovered so I had to remove them. Rae kept looking Complacent and missed several easy shots yet rated at 6.9. McLeish was also misfiring and before our final goal was riding a 6.7. Maybe we need to try a different formation more often, stop being predictable. I need to not focus on getting players to Natural in positions.
There was a presser after the match. Lots of trap questions. No questions that allowed me to answer, "Gareth shouldn't be letting in any goals at this level." Bummer.
I've made a decision.
I make a lot of these proclamationary decisions and I rarely stick to them. I also make up a lot of words.
Using the in-game Team Report > Squad Depth tool I see that my AssMan thinks I should use Morris on the right as a Advanced Forward and Mark Marshall on the left as a False Nine in a Support role. I still believe we have to keep our Captain or Vice Captain on the field at all times, if at all possible. So, I'll stick with the Diamond if both Morris and Macey are Fit enough, as well as Caffrey. If not, then I'll use the Spade with Marshall up top and Lemon as the Attacking central midfielder in the Shadow Striker role. In these matches I'll use Peter Smith at Attacking right midfielder to work on getting him Natural there. All part of a plan to ship off Ben Pope in January.
We'll see how long this lasts. For the next match I'll still use the Diamond as Lincoln are 5th in the league and we'll be in their house.
Okay, I did something right. By holding Ferreira and Barnes out of the last match (well, as starters) they'll be fit to take on Lincoln and their two 14 Pace strikers. The rest of the squad is comparable to ours. Dammit. I think we'll still get promoted this year but next year is going to be game-changing. I'll have to do a great amount of signings over the summer to get players who are currently able to play in League Two and not rely on our developing youth. Eek.
Here we are, up against it. Whoops! I engaged my Doom-and-Gloom feature. I'm not feeling confident. Unregardless™ I hope that our Starting XI can carry the day. We'd still be ahead of the teams at 2nd and 3rd on the table by 9 points if they both win and we lose. Lincoln is up north, almost near the coast, and due north of us 123 miles away. Lincoln is a sizeable city and their team should really be in League Two or League One. (I checked their history, they were in League Two from 2016 to 2021.)
at Lincoln, 23 October 2021
Formation: Diamond
Starting XI: O'Keeffe, Lawford, Ferreira, Barnes, Curran, Caffrey, Pope, McGregor, Lemon, Macey, Morris
Subs: Peers, Rice, Noulas, Young, Marshall
We own possession and shots-on-goal for the first 35 minutes then Curran lets a winger get past him and can't stop a cross. Barnes, despite being faster than their right striker, can't keep up and said striker heads one right past Gareth. Thankfully it doesn't take long to strike back with Macey controlling a long lob and feeding it to Morris with perfect timing. At the half we have 13 shots with 7 on target to their 3 and 1. I set our fullbacks to Defend and tell the lads if we work hard we can win this. Only Pope gave a thumbs up. I then implore Macey to be the one to lead us to victory and he gives me all-smiles too.
Our fast centrebacks are doing poorly, 6.4 and 6.3 but I don't want to bring them off. McGregor, Lemon, and Macey aren't doing much better so I bring them off for Young, Noulas, and Marshall. In injury time Marshall has a perfect cross to Mickey who is in the clear 3 yards out but his header hits the crossbar.
They got 4 more shots on goal but none were on target. We got 6 and 2. Very frustrating to get a tie with those stats.
POM: Lincoln's Tony Phillips 7.1 (1 assist, 2 key passes)
So frustrating. I need to go back to having Marshall score like the insane shooter he was earlier in the year.
The winger who burned Curran gets the POM, how fitting.
I switch our Diamond tactic back to the one that worked, with Marshall on the left as an Attacking Target Man and Morris on the right as an Advanced Forward.
The good news is our next opponent we've already beat. More good news is their team is not nearly as good as Lincoln and their striker has a 10 Pace. The bad new is they also have a striker with an 18 Pace. They play a single-striker formation so it's a crap shoot at this moment.
Oh wow. We had a U23 match on Monday again Queens Park Rangers U23 and it drew 4,915 spectators. Nice. Brought in £42,164. On a Monday night. Strange.
We managed to get three players into the Team of the Week. O'Reilly at MC r, Ferguson at MC l, and Peter Smith at ST l of all things.
Woohoo! Finally! Stephen McGregor is now a Highly Influential Player.
Okay, we've beaten Kidderminster before and we are back to the formation that brought us lots of goals from Marshall. They've been in mediocre form the last five matches but do have a two-game winning streak. I predict...a win. The Harriers play in a stadium simply called Aggborough. It lies 111 miles northwest of Brockwell Park, to the west of Birmingham.
at Kidderminster, 26 October 2021
Formation: Diamond with TM
Starting XI: O'Keeffe, Lawford, Ferreira, Barnes, Curran, Caffrey, Pope, McGregor, Macey, Morris
Subs: Evans, Rice, Noulas, Leary, Macey
Awesome! They start their slow-as-dirt striker. The game starts off in a furious manner with them throwing punch-for-punch but we are the first ones to land a blow when McGregor lifts a pass to the far post and Morris is able to roundhouse it into the back of the net. It only took us 22 minutes. Five minutes later Marshall is able to get his feet to a loose ball before anyone else and dances the ball in. Almost immediately after the restart Pope bruises his knee and has to come off. We give up an easy goal, of course, when their right winger is able to phase the ball through the bodies of Curran and Caffrey. I could see it coming a mile away, so poor is the SI programming. Lemon has been Complacent all day and performing very mid but somehow gets a fluke 20-yard goal into the upper right. Weird. I bet his agent demands a contact after this. Despite setting us to Control and slowing things way down, we get a counter in the 80th and Morris takes it to the endline before sending a low cross that the GK could have dived for but didn't. Marshall shouldn't get a goal bonus for that one cuz even I could have tapped it in.
POM: Mickey Morris 9.1 (1 goal, 2 assists, 6 key passes, 2 chances created)
They had been standing toe-to-toe with us until that first goal and after that they were on the mat. Pope's bruise is no big deal, out 1 to 2 days.
And I was right about Lemon's agent. Before I dealt with that I went looking at the league statistics to see where Marshall and Morris were. That's when I noticed that Lemon has the second highest average rating in the league, at 8.09. Second only to Mark Marshall. He's on £500 and starts the bidding at £1,600 per week. Nope, you aren't in my long-term plans. I hand the matter over to Macey and he deals with it.
Why is it that we can't get clean sheets Allah sudden? I believe part of it is O'Keeffe playing this far down the pyramid and that he wants to leave. Even if we get promoted every year, it's still gonna be five years before we are in the Premier, where he wants to be. I may have to sell him in January and thus start playing Lee more.
Oof. Our next opponent is Leyton Orient, 2nd in the league. Their GK leads the league with 8 clean sheets, 2 more than Gareth. We are the slight favorites being at home. We are not in fine fettle and this could be a loss.
More "squad's general character has had a positive effect lately" news comes in. This time for David Caffrey. His Determination is now up to 16. America! Fuck yeah! Same goes for U18 ST Mel Stewart, a potential future star. Though his Determination only went up to 6; still is Unambitious. (Rae's mentoring is probably doing something with that in the background.)
Oh dang. According to the scouting report on Leyton Orient, they have to really good centrebacks. It would not surprise me if we don't get the full three points from this match. But with this challenge comes good crowds. My press officer informs me on Friday that 6,190 tickets have been sold already; 1,600 of them are away fans. Do you hear that? Chi-ching! He also informs me we are 4-7 odds to win. Hmmm...
Pope's bruised knee is healed but he's not as match fit as I would like him to be so Smith gets the start. Davies gets the start over Lemon as all the juice has been squeezed from him; he needs a rest. I've already talked enough about Leyton so let's just get to the match!
vs. Leyton Orient, 30 October 2021
Formation: Diamond with TM
Starting XI: O'Keeffe, Lawford, Ferreira, Barnes, Curran, Caffrey, Smith, McGregor, Macey, Morris
Subs: Peers, Rice, Ferguson, Leary, Macey
My speech strikes gold with all the defenders but Curran, and Smith too. Oh oh oh oh oh! Caffrey again shows what it means to play a deep-lying playmaker, lifting a nifty lob short but high up over the defenders to Target Man Marshall who surprises the goalie but striking immediately. It doesn't take long for them to counter with a fancy cross from way out right and our defenders just standing there stupid-like. Just after 68' Morris tries a cross for Marshall but just like so many of his shots of late, it was off target. So far off target that it hit the underside of the crossbar and went in off the goalie's hands. A simple shot from just inside the box as Leary is running left to right floats in to the upper left and with that we have an easy cushion. That was Caffrey's third assist! They essentially get a repeat of Mickey's goal and I'm left befuddled with Gareth.
This month Morris has been getting dispossessed at a prodigious rate and it tends to bite us in the ass in some way. Today it happened to our advantage as the defender took the just-stolen ball and launched it up field. Straight to Leary. He immediately sent it into the box and Marshall got his brace.
POM: Mark Marshall 9.0 (2 goals, 3 key passes)
Why oh why can't we keep a clean sheet?! Smith also had a shit performance, 6.3, and I want to discuss it in my office but I don't get the option. His lowest rating before that was 6.6 over the last 20 matches so I'll just chalk it up as a fluke. At least we made £71,231! We're going to end the month in the black!
Why is Morris losing the ball so easily of late? He's strong (11 Strength) and aggressive (13 Aggression)...Oh. Right. He has a 4 Bravery. Dammit.
Oh wow. The scouting report on our next opponent, Gateshead, comes in so I take a look at their starting striker. He is "Unhappy" because he lost trust in his manager. The manager broke some promises so the striker is complaining to the media. Should I unsettle him to get him off his game?
Last month we had a lot of corrections to star ratings as Gareth O'Keeffe progressed. Not sure what to make of Curran though. He hasn't improved on the field much and his attributes haven't changed much either. I still believe, hope, he's still Premier League quality. Just wish he'd perform as so.
What a gauntlet! We made it mostly without bruising. I wish Gareth wouldn't mail it in. I wish the rest of our defense weren't caught unawares so often. I wish Morris was doing better than Marshall. I wish I wasn't so fickle. I wish I was a little bit taller, I wish I was a baller.
The three miscreants from last month improved their form. Well, two out of three. Curran was away on international duty and didn't get into many matches but when he did, he averaged just 6.825. Not impressive. Lemon though, he averaged 8.24, getting two goals and three assists. Mickey really turned the beat around, averaging 8.5, getting six goals and five assists. Let this trend continue. Let Curran get his act together.
One of the cool things about Football Manager is the keeping track of statistics for tens of thousands of players. The game will note who has great performances for clubs over time and if they are great enough, put them into one of three categories: Favoured Personnel, Icons, and Legends. We've got way too many Favoured Personnel to list here but for Icons we have two, Alex Rae and Terry Barlow, and for Legends we have four, Eddie Macey, Daniel Duckett, Shane Pilcher, and me. I don't think the game uses just match stats to derive these lists and Terry Barlow wasn't prolific, scoring just 7 goals in 50 matches. Heck he didn't even get into matches in his final season, 2019/2020.
Eddie makes more sense seeing as he's been our Captain since Day 1, Day 21 really, and has 219 goals in 221 matches. Duckett didn't last long here and didn't score a boatload of goals. Same with Pilcher. Rae kinda makes sense as he's had 101 goals in 172 matches.
So what is the criteria? No idea. Pilcher is a Premier League talent, Duckett is near that. Does that count? Terry Barlow wasn't awesome, so... I don't know.
Remember Kemar Kirkpatrick? (Who could forget?!) He's a beast in the Premier League right now and for us he had 80 goals in 58 matches over roughly two years. (Insane!) But get this, he's not even listed in the Favoured Personnel list. I have no idea how any of this works.