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We have a full calendar this month with seven league matches, plus one cup tie. We'll have very little down time, which kind of sucks as we won't have much time for training. Fudge...eight matches...
This is great news!
This improvement by Curran makes him League Two-quality in current ability now. Only 10 of his 36 Attributes didn't show progress this month.
Jordan Nickson added to his September showing. Is he better than Sean Peers now? Yes, mostly, but only as a Supporting Fullback. Peers is better as a Defending Fullback. I'll probably pull the trigger on any trade offers in January for Peers, elsewise, Nickson will move up to DR2 in the summer if we don't find someone better before then.
Woof, a loss of £263,041. This takes us to a loss of £1,486,971 for the season. This timeline sucks without all those sell-on clauses.
Uh-oh. I'm down to 79% in Board Confidence but I'm still "Untouchable." The biggest loss seems to come from losing in the Carabao Cup though we met expectations. Surprisingly, they aren't as pleased about the John Burns transfer. It was only £10,000, gents! Jeez. Wait until he scores his 20th goal and then get back to me.
Also, no surprise, I won the Manger of the Month award.
I'm not used to the Dressing Room Atmosphere being only Very Good. I need to move Ben Pope and Gareth O'Keeffe in the new year. I never got an email about it but Derek McLeish moved up to the Influential Players level of the Dynamics pyramid.
Though he didn't show up in the training report, U18 GK and Model Citizen Kris Newton had a really good month. He doesn't have much of a ceiling but he is going to hit it quickly at this rate. His sidekick Gael Barbier also had a really good month. He's actually not that far off from being ready for the Conference National but by the time he reaches that we should be in League Two.
Jason Cosgrove again! His Personality changed to "Enthusiastic centre-back" probably because his Work Rate went up to 15. A lot of other attributes increased too. He'll definitely be in the Seniors next year.
Recent Youth Intake DC George Bunn had an amazing month. Everything in Technical and Physical went up and 9 of 14 in Mentals. All while learning to be a DMC! I projected back in March that his future would be as a super-sub and it appears he's on track for that.
ST Richard Phillips has seen improvement in his Determination from Macey's tutoring. His Personality is still Unambitious though.
Another player not on the training report but with a good month of development is Angelino Ferreira. So much so that my AssMan thinks he's currently League One talent. Cool. Cooler even? His Determination jumped up a point to 16. No idea why.
Now Dean Rice's Bravery is up to 10.6, rounded up to 11. He's coming along nicely.
Mickey Morris turned 18 on 1 October and his last month as a minor saw lot of improvements. Mostly notably, his Finishing is now 16, Natural Fitness 15, and Pace 15. Excellent.
Nothing doing on the first except all the regularly scheduled emails about how awesome I am.
Whoa. Maidenhead are 1000-1 odds to win the division, meaning that they're expected to finish 24th out of 24 teams. That's exactly where they are right now, due to a roster bereft of talent. We should be able to handle them well.
at Maidenhead, 2 October 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, Curran, Caffrey, Smith, McGregor, Davies, Morris, Burns
Subs: Peers, Parker, O'Reilly, Leary, Rae
Okay, we start slow but we do get on the board with Morris' first shot, a left-footed one-shot from the left after Peter Smith passed to him following a Caffrey free kick. Two minutes later Caffrey gets a free kick from THE EXACT SAME SPOT. This time he lofts to the far post where Alfie Barnes lurks and he one-shots it before it can hit the ground. But he's offside! Dammit. Later on Ferreira tries to tackle in the box but gets the attacker. Grrrr! The penalty shot goes in. On the restart they bamboozle us and eventually Curran fouls a Maiden and again the penalty shot goes in. Though Burns hasn't been playing well he does manage to create enough space to get a cross in to Morris for his brace. The defense continues to struggle though, with 6.4, 6.0, 6.6, and 6.2 across the back. Like last month, we are favored by the SI programming as a Morris cross goes off a defender and past the goalie. Not to be denied a hat trick, Morris takes a pass from midfield, dribbles up through half the Maidens, and fires one past the goalie in the final minute before injury time. Whew!
Okay, so I understand why the match went this way. At 89:57 Ferreira gets fouled and Burns is set to take the penalty shot. SI is tempting me to give the chance to Mickey. I'm going to do it. I need him to get that confidence back. IT'S IN!!! In your face, Miles Jacobson!
POM: Mickey Morris 9.8 (4 goals, 2 key passes, 1 chance created)
Such a weird match. Three penalties! An own goal. Four goals by one player. These shenanigans happen way too often.
We get a bit of luck for the FA Cup. In the Fourth Qualifying Round we get to host Cammell Laird 1907. They are four levels below us. We better treat them more harshly that Brentford treated us.
Our next opponent, Barlow, are pretty good, expected to be 7th but currently 11th. Their leading striker is third in the league with 9 goals, but he's second to Mickey's 10. Their second striker is second in the league in assists, with seven, one behind Peter Smith. This could be trouble, despite the 3 to 1 odds in our favor.
Only two Brixtonians (is that the right word?) make it into the Team of the Week. Morris is in, unsurprisingly, and Chick Legg, very surprisingly. I guess the game engine doesn't downgrade goalies for giving up penalty kicks as he rated a 7.2 in that Maidenhead match.
Barrow has one cool badge. It has a bee overlaying an arrow (B-arrow, get it?) and a submarine. I hope they don't sink our perfect league record.
vs. Barrow, 5 October 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, Evans, Rice, Noulas, Pope, Leary, Lemon, Macey, Flitcroft
Subs: Ferreira, Barnes, Ferguson, McGregor, McLeish
We are not used to giving up goals early and this one was seen coming from a mile away. Damn cutesy back passes and our players totally rolling a 1 on their First Touch save. It takes nearly 20 minutes and Flitcroft getting his own rebound to pull us even. Then they get us with a long cross. Urrgghhh! It takes a minute, twenty-two into the second half for Flitcroft to get his brace, and Macey his assist-brace, if that's a thing. Flitcroft's hat trick comes not from Macey but from Ben Pope. The cushion goal comes from yet another Macey assist but it's a missile from Lemon 15 yards out after a free kick. Another Brixton screamer.
Because our defense is untrustworthy these days so I switch to the Cudgel and bring on Barnes and Ferguson. I hope this works. It doesn't. We give up another early cross from the right, which I believe is the first time ever giving up a hat trick. The irony is the right winger who sent in these crosses came in when their original winger twisted his ankle and had to be taken off in the 28th. Also, both times Parker failed to jump to head a ball away. Fortunately, with 5 minutes to go, their right central midfielder hacks down Noulas a second time and gets sent off. The universe is righted when Noulas fires one in from the top of the arc in injury time. Which is still enough time for him to get an assist from a super-easy, Macey tap-in goal.
POM: Mark Flitcroft 9.6 (3 goals, 1 key pass, 1 chance created)
We have a problem in defense. Not sure what the deal is. Despite the defenders being as low as 6.0 in the match, all of them managed to finish 6.8 or higher. No idea how O'Keeffe rates a 7.3 after letting in three easy goals.
Back in September sometime I changed our Match Practice Focus to Attacking Movement. I wonder if that is our problem. Time to change that. I hope it works.
That Barrow winger who got injured, bringing on the ultra-crosser? Twisted ankle, out 3 to 5 weeks. I think Barrow will be alright.
Another cool strategic email comes in on 6 October. "Leading producers of English national team footballers". Man United has produced 7 of them, the same amount as Brixton! Arsenal produced 5, Chelsea 4, Everton 3, and the following 2 each: West Brom, Tottenham, Man City, Burnley, and West Ham.
A strange thing happened in the international play. Pat Lawford, he of the right defenderness, scored two goals against Georgia for the U19s. Crazy!
Alex Rae has finally noticed that he's not getting a lot of time on the pitch and thus approaches me about it. I tell him that he'll get his chances and that seems to please him, for now. I looked at his stats and for every game he's started, only three though, he's scored and rated 6.9, 7.1, and 7.4. I thought he was a washed-up has-been but I am wrong. (Just a few hours later he was a sub in a U23 friendly. He did absolutely nothing in 30 minutes. Jerk.)
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, 9 October 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, Peers, Collopy, Barnes, Rice, Ferguson, Smith, McGregor, Davies, Marshall, Rae
Subs: Evans, Parker, Noulas, Leary, McLeish
Well, the Complainer-In-Chief was right to complain as he proves early on that he has what it takes, heading in a Marshall cross. But earlier, Davies fed the biscuit to Smith after a free kick to get things going. Barnes even gets involved but not using his head from a corner but using his foot from a free kick. The hits keep coming allowing a brace from Rae, this time from his foot. Their sole goal comes from a dispossession of Marshall, a repeated theme today, and Peers not trying to block a cross. And with 28 seconds to play, Rae gets his hat trick, from a Jose Parker assist in the aftermath of yet again another free kick.
POM: Alex Rae 9.6 (3 goals, 2 key passes, 1 chance created)
Why oh why can't we have a clean sheet. When I told the defensive unit I wasn't pleased, half of them got demotivated. Lovely.
Another good show for Brixton on the Team of the Week: Chicken Legg (his second of the year?), Ryan Collopy (DC r), Peter Smith (MR), Mark Flitcroft (MC r), Tasos Noulas (MC l), Eddie Macey (ML), and Alex Rae (ST r). Wow! A clean sweep across the middle!
In the U21 international news, O'Keeffe managed to hold Spain goalless but only rated 6.9. I don't understand GK ratings. Too much focus appears to be place on passing and not concessions. SI again...
We are facing Mickleover. I hope to change their name to Pushover. I fear them so little that I'm starting a good number of U23 players. What are the odds we have a clean sheet? I promise I won't be mad if we win 1-0.
vs. Mickleover, 12 October 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, Nickson, Partridge, Jenkins, Sterling, Parker, Pope, Leary, O'Reilly, Macey, McLeish
Subs: Legg, Peers, Collopy, Barnes, Rice, Noulas, Agu, Barnett, Flitcroft, Flynn, Rae, Lemon
Well, we got our 1-0 I just wasn't expecting it to take over 25 minutes. I am happy though that it was my two strikers combining. But once again, we can't handle early crosses when our central defenders refuse to jump up to head the ball away. The culprit this time was Kevin Jenkins. We are nearing 66' as I'm contemplating who to sub when we get a free kick and Macey is able to get his foot on it before it gets to anyone else. We should be slaying these guys with abandon yet we toil in mediocrity. Eddie adds an assist to his resume in the waning moments but it doesn't improve my mood much. (Yes, I made no substitutions.)
POM: Eddie Macey 9.1 (2 goals, 1 assist, 1 key pass, 1 chance created)
A clean sheet, a clean sheet! My nation for a clean sheet!
Towards the end of that last match O'Reilly was "looking uninterested." That irked me so I decided to assess his performances. In that match he rated a 6.7 while everyone else was 7.0 or higher. In his five starts his highest rating has been a 6.8, lowest 6.3. I call him in to tell him he needs to improve and he disagrees with my assessment but promises to do better. We'll see.
Yay! For the next round of the FA Trophy we travel to Sleaford. In the original timeline we traveled there and I had some great, to me, references. Now I get to pull them out of storage.
Cammel Laird is yet another weirdly-named English football club. And they are lowly and have only one good player, a striker. Again, I won't complain if we win 1-0.
vs. Cammel Laird, 16 October 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, Noulas, Smith, McGregor, Flitcroft, Morris, Burns
Subs: Legg, Peers, Evans, Collopy, Rice, Ferguson, Pope, Leary, Davies, Macey, Marshall, Lemon
Okay, I'm liking this game, a goal by Flitcroft at AMC just after 4'. Let's keep this momentum, lads! I begin my doom-scrolling when Ferreira gets a yellow in the 7th minute. Oy. Also in the first 10 minutes Morris and Burns both miss sitters. But Burns doesn't miss his second chance just after 11'. Woot! But Burns misses his third chance, but don't worry, it ricochets off the right post right to Mickey and he lobs it in from close range. Burns and Smith decide to hook up too, with John using his head this time.
How many times have I railed against Sports Interactive and Mile Jacobsen? Ten? Well, I'm doing it again, silently. We are totally dominating and McGregor intercepts the ball entering into our final third, kicking the ball back to O'Keeffe, some 30 yards or so. Right between Ferreira and Barnes. And their left striker pounces on it. Why does SI have to do this with such regularity? So damn dumb.
At 68' I go to the Cudgel and swap out everyone in the outfield but Lawford and Curran as they need time at wingback. Does it bite me? Nope.
POM: John Burns 9.6 (2 goals, 2 assists, 4 key passes, 4 chances created)
I'm really sick of these lack of clean sheets. But now I'm convinced it's just the dickish programming by SI. Really effing annoying.
Awesome! It's now time for the real rounds of the FA Cup. Who do we face? TBD. Not a club but "too be decided" as Barrow and Dulwich Hamlet must have a replay. I hope Dulwich wins as we should get lots of away fans due to the geographic proximity. Never mind the fact that Barrow just put 3 goals on us.
Oh! Alfreton's primary striker is quite the catch. He has a 14 Pace, 16 Teamwork, 14 Finishing, and 11 Composure. He also has 4 goals from 8 appearances. He might present a challenge.
But McLeish is better. I bring this up because on 18 October my Head of Youth Development reports on him and mentions that the squad's general character has had a positive effect lately. How so? His Determination went up 1 point to 17. Hot damn!
Yay! We get Dull Ham. Lots of fans, hooray!
Alfreton, what to make of you. Mediocre roster, lowly position. So, they'll score two goals and we'll score four.
vs. Alfreton, 19 October 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, Ferreira, Barnes, Rice, Caffrey, Smith, McGregor, Flitcroft, Marshall, Morris
Subs: Evans, Curran, Noulas, Leary, Rae
I kid you not; our first goal comes from a weak-sauce shot by Mickey yet the goalie can't cradle it so it slowly rolls back to Morris and he kicks it out of the goalie's reach and it trickles in. So much weird. From then until 69:42 is just uninspired garbage. Thankfully it was an honest-to-Cthulhu build-up culminating in an early Marshall cross and a strike by Mickey when the ball was about three feet off the ground. No goalie would have been able to beat that. This is followed by a Barnes shot from a Caffrey free kick. Was not expecting him to use his foot to get the goal. But what's this?! A clean sheet?! Amazing!!!
POM: Mickey Morris (2 goals, 1 key pass, 1 chance created)
Wow. Finally a clean sheet. Just wish there hadn't been long stretches of pussy-footing around. And I was wrong about the final score.
Nothing to see here. Move along.
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. Sutton is the second best team and their roster isn't as bad as most Conference National teams. Sutton is southwest of us 6.9 miles, so not an arduous journey.
at Sutton, 23 October 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, Noulas, Smith, McGregor, Davies, Morris, Burns
Subs: Collopy, Parker, O'Reilly, Lemon, Rae
Both teams are stinking up the joint but in the 34th Sutton's performance is so bad that their right back does the patented "overrun the ball at the endline because Miles is a turd" move. Burns pounces on it and Morris once again does his leap in the air and boots one in. So Burns then of course had to roll his ankle. But don't worry, Davies, he of the 6.4 rating manages to launch a corner kick to Ferreira's noggin and we're up two. Not long after that Smith and Morris combine for the latter's brace. I immediately go to the Cudgel and that gets us our second clean sheet in a row.
POM: Mickey Morris 8.9 (2 goals, 3 key passes, 1 chance created)
Oh praise be to Cthulhu, Burns had a bruised ankle after all and will only be out for one to three days.
Oh wow. We had a U23 match on Monday against Queens Park Rangers U23 and it drew 4,972 spectators. Nice. Brought in £41,464. On a Monday night. Strange. Almost certainly this is because QPR aren't that far away.
We managed to get five players into the Team of the Week: O'Keeffe, Ferreira, Rice, Morris, and Marshall in their natural positions.
Macclesfield have one fearsome player on the team, a right winger on loan from Norwich who has a 15 Pace and some very good Technical skills. Let us hope that Dean Rice is up for the challenge. And yes, below you'll see a new name in the list of Subs. Colin Cockbill is finally getting a chance. I don't want to use him but with all the tiredness in all three squads I have to use him or Jason Cosgrove. Honestly, I expect a difficult match as I've learned when you have a lot of changeover from match-to-match the team isn't gelled properly.
vs. Macclesfield, 26 October 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, Peers, Evans, Collopy, Rice, Parker, Pope, Leary, O'Reilly, Macey, Rae
Subs: Partridge, Cockbill, Lemon, Flitcroft, McLeish
Remember how I was thinking we wouldn't be gelling? Well, Macey's cross just 17 seconds in was intercepted and booted out of bounds. After the throw-in Macey ended up with the ball again and this time his cross finds Leary at the far post just 42 seconds in, and we are up a goal. Eddie is definitely firing on all cylinders today, taking an O'Reilly feed up the middle and juking past the goalie for a tight-angle tap in. Alex Rae is also in high gear, setting up a lovely opportunity for Ben Pope from close range, which goes right in at the right post. But the fun doesn't last forever. We give up an easy goal in first half injury time. We reestablish our 3-goal lead just 12 seconds after the restart and again it's Leary scoring and O'Reilly assisting.
I said I didn't want to bring Cockbill in but Collopy got an early yellow and I forgot to tell him "you need to cool it now" at the half so on comes the future star. I was gonna rock the rest of the way without subs but Pope picked up a knock in the 78th so on comes Lemon. And so the match closes. A pretty resounding victory when I expected stress. Love it!
POM: Gary Leary 9.5 (2 goals, 3 key passes, 2 chances created)
Pope's injury cleared up by the end of the match so that is extra relief. Parker got a whole match at DMC but still remains "Awkward" there so that is not relief. O'Reilly promised he'd do better after that Mickleover match and sure enough, he did! Two assists and a 9.0 rating.
Oof. Our next opponent is Leyton Orient, 4th in the league. Their GK is tied with Gareth to lead the league with 7 clean sheets. Their AMC and ST are kind of fearsome and their roster overall has some good players. We travel to their stadium so I'm again feeling uneasy.
John Burns is past his bruised ankle but still not match fit so he gets to ride the bench today. I'd forgotten that former Brixton central midfielder Teddy Cullen is with Leyton. Their stadium is across town, 8.9 miles to the north-northeast. I've already talked enough about Leyton so let's just get to the match!
at Leyton Orient, 30 October 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, Morris, Marshall
Subs: Peers, Rice, Noulas, Leary, Burns
Yep! We still got it. Caffrey is out wide after a kick from the right corner and Smith sends it back to him and he mails it to the far post where Morris delivers us a lead. And another Caffrey assist comes from a free kick that finds its way to near the penalty spot where McGregor awaits a chance redirect it in and he does so. Another match with a penalty shot, this after Flitcroft was bowled over from behind. But Marshall's shot is weak. That, his 6.4 rating, and a bruised ankle sees him yanked at 58'. A few heartbeats later Caffrey gets another free kick and though Ferreira was dragged down and I was expecting another penalty call, the ball goes over everyone to Flitcroft and he socks it to 'em. Then we give one up on a corner kick. Can't blame Gareth as there were a million bodies in front of him and he couldn't see it until the last second.
POM: David Caffrey 9.0 (3 assists, 4 key passes, 1 chance created)
I didn't see what happened but evidently it was Burns' mistake that lead to Leyton's sole goal. He ended with a 6.2 and when I went to chastise him I saw the "your mistake cost us" option. Marshall had a 6.4. Hrrrmmmm...
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?
With so many matches requiring a lot of rotation plus lack of training lead to us having no upward movement.
I think that Davies' decline is legit. I think he has hit his wall. If we don't get someone stellar at AMC in the Youth Intake I'll have to move heaven and earth to find one over the summer.
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 I wasn't so fickle. I wish I was a little bit taller, I wish I was a baller.
I really don't think our defense is really that bad. I'm convinced it's just jerk programming by Sports Interactive. We'll see if it continues. And the penalties. Working in our favor but still a little too common.
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 as 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 209 goals in 217 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 138 goals in 171 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 67 goals in 105 matches over roughly two-and-a-quarter years. (Insane!) But get this, he's not even listed in the Favoured Personnel list. I have no idea how any of this works.
Here's something. Danny Douglas at the beginning had nothing too bad listed under Cons in his Scouting Report. Now though he is "Susceptible to injuries." Looking at his Injury History, he had a "Tight Hamstring" on 3 August, 4 August, and 8 September. The first two were a day each, with the 4 August one being a "Relapse" and the 8 September one lasted for 2 days. Let us peak behind the curtains. On 1 October his "Injury Proneness" was 12. How about Youth Intake Day? It was 8. And 1 August? It was 8.
So, yes, Injury Proneness can change from being injured. Good to know. I wonder if Dean Rice's changed back when he dislocated his shoulder back in December 2020.
But wait! What's this?! Peter Smith all of a sudden developed the Consistent trait? I check on 1 August and it's 15. I have a save file from 3 days after he joined us but it is 15 then too. So, the lesson here is: Your scouts won't really have a full report on new players immediately, it will take a couple of months.