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We hit the midway point of the season after we face Salford on 11 December, just one of eight matches for the month. Woof. I look forward to a month in which we have six matches, or less. Also something else woof-worthy? Our first five matches are away from home. To balance that, the next three are at home and even the match on 1 January is at home.
Oh. My. Gawd. Becky. Look at that Smith training report. What you can't see is that the only Attributes that didn't improve are the ones that don't or rarely, namely Aggression, Determination, and Natural Fitness. Take that and you come out with a player who is assessed to be a Championship-level player currently.
Hey! We didn't lose over £200,000 last month. We lost only £191,646. Again with the taxes.
Don't be jealous now but I'm up to 84% on Board Confidence. Can't touch this!
Yesterday Gareth O'Keeffe graduated into the "Influential Player" bracket of the Dynamics Pyramid. Yeah, but...he's been kind of a curmudgeon since he signed with Burnley. I hope his surliness doesn't rub off on the other players. Yeah, I think I'll have to terminate the loan come January.
Oh hallelujah! We are back to being Excellent in the Dressing Room Atmosphere arena.
As I look at this I have to contemplate how it will look in 2 months, and again in 7. It's almost certain that O'Keeffe will leave sometime in January. McLeish is scheduled to be my fourth-choice striker next year but if I decide to keep Macey on, which might happen if I can easily take away his Captaincy but keep him around to mentor, then I'll accept any reasonable offer for Derek.
Alex Rae is gone. He's had a huge drop-off this season, is in the final year of his contract, and he's expensive, on £1,500 per week. McGregor should be our Captain next season as he's an established starter under no threat* and has great Determination (15) and very good Leadership (14). His Teamwork (11) and Work Rate (10) aren't the greatest and his Pace (12) isn't really good enough for this level and definitely won't be good enough for League Two so he'll be shown the door when we get up to League One. Chick Legg. Hmmm. He'll be around next season if A) we get a great GK on Youth Intake Day who needs a little tutoring, and B) I can't find someone better. He's not League Two quality so he'll probably only get into cup matches against weak opponents.
Eddie Macey. Le Sigh. He seems to defy the odds but I just don't see him contributing much in League Two. It might just come down to Mentoring for him. Taking the Captaincy away is going to be the trick.
Five years from now I think Mickey Morris will be our Captain and Pat Lawford will be our Vice Captain.
* If you remember back in October 2020 I signed Chris Keegan, an Irish left winger who's right-footed, who joins us this coming summer. He's going to be way better than McGregor but when he joins us he'll probably be behind Leary for a little bit.
Future left centreback Colin Cockbill had an outstanding month and he's really making a case to be elevated up to the Seniors. I'll probably wait until summer but I might have to ship off Ryan Collopy to make room.
Another youth who I expect a lot from is Lee Beirne and he too had a great month. Everything in Technicals showed green, all but five in Mentals, and all but Natural Fitness in Physicals. Delicious.
I'm pleased to announced the Macey's mentoring of Richard Phillips is working as he is no longer Unambitious but Fairly Professional. His Determination is going up too but just one point. Still, I do see that he'll be Burns' understudy in a couple of years.
Well isn't that interesting. Angelino Ferreira who is my right centreback but started his career as a right fullback and still is considered by the media to be a fullback, had his description changed to "Explosive fullback." Why, you ask? Because his Pace is now 18. Amazing.
No report on Mark Curran but he saw enough improvement to now be considered to be League One current ability according to my AssMan. Wunderbar!
Dean Rice, how you feeling? Better? Excellent! Ready for challenges again? Excellent! (His Bravery is up to 11.0.)
Speaking of AssMan, he has reassessed David Caffrey, going from Conference National current ability to League One. Hot damn! Know who else is currently League One able? John Burns! Excellent, Smithers...
Glyn Davies is finally understanding what McGregor is saying, he Determination is going up. Now it's at 13, which considering he was an Unambitious twerp with a 6 Determination when he signed with us back in July 2019, is not too bad. His personality is Fairly Loyal, by the way.
And I'm saving the best for last: Mickey Morris is now Premier League capable. I KNEW IT! Now he's gonna want leave. Damn it.
Ryan Collopy has resumed his training after recovering from his concussion. His Bravery never actually changed. Point noted.
Great. Rae wants to discuss playing time. We go back and forth but there's no way I can give him more regular play. He wants out and I tell him I'll transfer list him.
Great Mark Marshall news comes in. He is now Driven and his Determination went up to 18. Holy smokes are we loaded at striker!
Cheltenham are showing interest in Alfie Barnes and I get a question from some journalist from the London Evening Standard. I Calmly reply that Barnes will not be leaving. I sure hope this is the end of that but I'm quite sure it isn't.
With a win today I'll make the minimum expectation the board has set for the FA Cup. We have beat Billericay six times in our short history, add that to the fact that I have all my preferred starters leads to me predicting a win.
vs. Billericay, 4 December 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, Flitcroft, Pope, McGregor, Morris, Burns
Subs: Legg, Peers, Collopy, Evans, Rice, Ferguson, Pope, Leary, Lemon, Rae, McLeish, Noulas
Alright! Another goal before 5 minutes have passed, with a Morris header opening things. Mickey also proves that his head can be used to show his selflessness, nodding an assist to Burns for our second goal. The first two goals were either assisted or set up by McGregor so it's pretty cool to see our third goal came from him, with Morris setting it up and Burns assisting. I don't quite understand the fourth goal. McGregor had a little pop-up of a cross to Morris and he booted it in but Stephen didn't get an assist. Only explanation could be that a defender who was between them "intercepted" it but it still went to Mickey anyway? Unregardless™, I make a mass swap. Lemon almost got a goal from a free kick right next to the arc but he was just a little high. And that sees out the match!
POM: Mickey Morris 9.4 (2 goals, 1 assist, 4 key passes, 2 chances created)
What a performance! Now that we are so proficient dare I move us to a new formation?
Yes. Yes, I am introducing a new formation. Why, you ask? Because this is my favorite formation and I want to work on Smith's AMR while working on Caffrey's DMC. Behold the Arrow.
It's still an attacking formation but the DMC role becomes the Regista and the midfielder slides back to true central midfield, with a Box-To-Box role. I usually have the wingers on Attack but I'm going to stay with Support. For now.
This formation was super effective in FM2014 and I hope it remains so.
It's also cup draw time! For the only cup that matters, the FA Cup, we...travel to either Dover or Fylde, depending who wins on 7 December. This is a good draw for us as there were some pretty powerful teams in the pool.
What's this, a whole week off?! And with the large swap 60' into the last match, all the gents should be well rested and fit for our next match. Hopefully we'll have enough familiarity with the Arrow that we still dominate.
I arranged for the U23s to take the Chunnel over to Calais to take on the Reserves of AP Calais. Andy Flynn again scored 6 goals. The other 9 goals came from 6 different players. Yes, we scored 15 goals in one match. Unreal. They managed to score one.
It's the Team of the Week as we know it, and I feel fine. In goal we have Gareth O'Keeffe. Along the back we have Jose Parker (DC r) and Dean Rice (DL). Both strikers of ours got in although one is at right midfielder (Marshall) while the other is on the right side up front (McLeish).
When Pope leaves us, hopefully soon, his replacement will be a youngster in the U18, Chris Dryden. I just received word from my AssMan believes that Dryden has Championship talent. Oh yeah!
Excellent! We get Dover, who beat AFC Fylde. Neither team presents much of a challenge but Dover is just a bit weaker so I'm happy to visit them.
Sure enough, on 8 December Alfie Barnes wants to talk to me about going to Queens Park Rangers. I ask Eddie Macey to take care of the matter and he is able to talk Alfie off the ledge.
And out of the blue comes a team named Grimsby and they want Angelino Ferreira. They are second in League Two but my Angolan hero is too good for them also. I don't see him going there.
Dammit! Now add Cambridge to the list of teams who are chasing Alfie.
I do not like Salford but I do not fear them. I have faith that the Arrow will work like it did in FM14. Let's see if I get one of those emails about me springing a surprise because I'm a tactical genius.
at Salford, 11 December 2021
Formation: Arrow (GK, DR, DC r, DC l, DL, DMC (Regista), MC c (BBM), AMR, AML, ST r (DLF), ST l (AF))
Starting XI: O'Keeffe, Lawford, Ferreira, Barnes, Curran, Caffrey, Flitcroft, Smith, McGregor, Morris, Burns
Subs: Collopy, Rice, Ferguson, Lemon, Macey
When your opponent is starting the match tired you can expect an easy time; Mickey's goal is at 2:25. I was a smidge worried that in the Arrow the Box-To-Box Midfielder would not allow Flitcroft to score. At 42:42 he scores, right up the gut of an exhausted defense. :-) And he gets another at 66:06 when he arrives late for a Smith cross from the right. Off to the Cudgel we go! But we get a bit FMed when one of their players, on a yellow, clobbers Flitcroft but doesn't get carded. O'Keeffe is able to defend the shot on goal but on the resulting corner the ball pinballs around the 6-yard box and slips in.
POM: Mark Flitcroft 9.2 (2 goals, 2 key passes, 1 chance created)
It is simple to say that the Arrow works. O'Keeffe? Jury is still out. Somehow McGregor picked up a bruised head; it'll heal up in 5 to 7 days. No email about my genius. (frowny face)
Youth utility player Kenny Holden (MC, DMC, DL) has seen his personality improve from Balanced to Fairly Professional due to the squad's general character. Maybe he will stick around and be The Gambler.
Add Gillingham and Northampton into the Alfie Barnes Sweepstakes! And what's this? Someone chasing Leary? Piss off, York!
Because we gave up an easy goal to Salford none of our defenders make the Team of the Week. Smith (MR) and Flitcroft (MC r) do.
My scouts have not found anybody worth signing (or who wants to come here) in months and knowing I need a better AMC, I go a-hunting.
Will we play down to our opponent? I'm kind of tempting fate on purpose in the hopes that Peers underperforms and Nickson overperforms. Kind of a negative take on things but hubris comes against inferior opponents. Berkhamsted play at Broadwater, 29 miles to the northwest, out past Watford.
at Berkhamsted, 14 December 2021
Formation: Arrow (GK, DR, DC r, DC l, DL, DMC (Regista), MC c (BBM), AMR, AML, ST r (DLF), ST l (AF))
Starting XI: Legg, Peers, Collopy, Evans, Rice, Parker, O'Reilly, Pope, Leary, Marshall, McLeish
Subs: O'Keeffe, Nickson, Partridge, Jenkins, Sterling, Ferguson, Lemon, Barnett, Young, Macey, Rae, Noulas
McLeish hits the crossbar at 24 seconds and that sets the tone, and I mean that in a positive way. We repeatedly hammer them but we are sloppy at the back but it's mostly Legg's fault giving up two goals. Marshall could have had a fifth goal had he not missed a penalty.
POM: Mark Marshall 10.0 (4 goals, 1 assist, 1 key pass, 1 chance created)
Hot damn! We haven't had a 10.0 in a long while. Good on ya, Mark! Know who didn't do well? Chick Legg. He managed a 6.3 as both goals were on him; the second one was due to a horrible pass to the DMC, which was intercepted.
Dual winger Sam Young made his debut and even scored a goal. Good on ya, Sam!
I gave Legg an Official Warning for his crap performance and he has the audacity to be upset at me. The nerve!!! He went so far as to say he was "shocked." Looks like his next falter will go straight to a 2-week fine. Ingrate.
Having beat Berkhamsted into submission, we need to learn who our next victims are. Huh. We are playing a company team, methinks. Bristol Telephones F.C. is their name and they are way the hell down in the eighth level of the English football pyramid. And we are at home. We better not allow a goal again.
None of the attacking midfielders are worthy of Brixton or we're not worthy of them, so they believe. Drat.
This is one of those teams who I like to play because I could draw a connection to a song I know, "Billericay Dickie" by Ian Dury and the Blockheads. Now I'm just annoyed seeing them so much. I think this is our sixth match facing them. How droll. Because a lot of players are getting down into the 80% range in Match Fitness I'm not putting in a lot normal starters.
at Billericay, 18 December 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, Lemon, Davies, Macey, Rae
Subs: Collopy, Rice, Ferguson, McGregor, Marshall
The FMing. Redrum! Redrum! For some reason the Billericay goalie was talking to someone behind the goal and didn't see the backpass coming in. Wait a minute! It's our old keeper Carl Friend! I guess my check must have cleared. My check didn't clear for the ref though as Macey picks up his second yellow 66' in. And this after I told him to play it cool during the half-time excoriation. I switch us to the Counter and Marshall misses his first opportunity but he gets his second in thanks to an inch-perfect cross by Rae. Thankfully, that's all she wrote.
POM: Peter Smith 8.6 (5 key passes, 3 chances created)
Well, Davies gets an Official Warning for his 6.3 and Macey gets a two-week fine for blatant disregard of my orders.
In news shocking to nobody, Eddie feels his fine was unfair.
Dammit, Janet! Barnet, our next opponent, have a striker with 17 Pace. At least he has no Determination and is only average striking the ball.
Hopefully with our preferred XI we don't botch this. Only time will tell.
vs. Barnet, 21 December 2021
Formation: Arrow (GK, DR, DC r, DC l, DL, DMC (Regista), MC c (BBM), AMR, AML, ST r (DLF), ST l (AF))
Starting XI: O'Keeffe, Lawford, Ferreira, Barnes, Curran, Caffrey, Flitcroft, Smith, McGregor, Morris, Burns
Subs: Peers, Collopy, O'Reilly, Leary, McLeish
How the hell are we going to win if our first on-target shot comes just before 30'? Well, for one, it goes in. For second, Flitcroft gets one in less than 5 minutes later. And a Morris goal another 7 minutes on. Okay, I'm calm now. Oh damn! Their GK goes down and that leads to 6 extra minutes in the first 45. (It looks like a broken hand.) Here's something I haven't seen in a long time: A corner kick goes directly to one of our players, he heads it to a defender, and he heads it in. So, it's a Smith-McGregor-Ferreira combo. Freakin' sweet!
POM: Mark Flitcroft 9.3 (1 goal, 1 assist, 2 key passes, 2 chances created)
Oh damn. Their goalie did break his hand and will be out for 5 to 8 weeks.
Scottish team Hearts are lusting after Ferreira so I have to wave them away via the media.
Another B team?! Last month I noted all the G thangs. Blackpool's report shows two strikers that are very much alike but their right one has 16 goals while the left one only has 4. I don't like this.
It's Boxing Day and not as many seats are filled. I guess tickets to Brixton matches aren't the hot Xmas gift this year. Blackpool are 22nd and that’s why I don't mind fielding a sub-par squad today.
vs. Blackpool, 26 December 2021
Formation: Arrow (GK, DR, DC r, DC l, DL, DMC (Regista), MC c (BBM), AMR, AML, ST r (DLF), ST l (AF))
Starting XI: Lee, Peers, Collopy, Evans, Rice, Ferguson, Davies, Pope, Leary, Marshall, McLeish
Subs: Ferreira, Curran, Noulas, Lemon, Macey
Ugh. No action sequence until the 41st and we are lucky that Pope can send a perfect free kick to Evans who heads it in. Our mediocrity continues and several players are below the Mendoza Line, 6.5 in this realm. Then McLeish becomes possessed, latching on to a Davies pass and rocketing a shot into the ceiling of the net. What a screamer! With no faith in our defense I go to the Cudgel immediately and pray we don't cough up the goals. And somehow we don't!
POM: Ben Evans 8.3 (1 goal, 5 tackles, 3 interceptions, 9 headers won)
My, my, that was a butt-clencher. Several players managed to improve in the second half though Marshall only managed to get up to 6.5, the lowest rating. Peers had been as low as 6.1 but eeked out a 6.8. Not enough to save him from the U23s next week.
Oh boy. The scouting report comes in on Forest Green. They play a single-high striker and he is as slow as my grandmother. And with an 8 Finishing and 6 Composure he better not score on us.
The right side of our defense and midfield come from Brixton for the Team of the Week. Barnes (DR), Evans (DC r), Smith (MR), and Flitcroft (MC r) are named.
What a heavy heart I have. This is Gareth's last match with us. I hope he does well and rides off into the sunset (to Burnley) with a clean sheet. With Forest Green fifth in the league it's not a foregone conclusion.
vs. Forest Green, 28 December 2021
Formation: Arrow (GK, DR, DC r, DC l, DL, DMC (Regista), MC c (BBM), AMR, AML, ST r (DLF), ST l (AF))
Starting XI: O'Keeffe, Lawford, Ferreira, Barnes, Curran, Caffrey, Flitcroft, Smith, McGregor, Morris, Burns
Subs: Parker, Rice, Noulas, Lemon, Macey
That's the way, uh-huh, uh-huh, I like it, uh-huh, uh-huh. A Flitcroft to McGregor pass and the left winger get it under the GK at 1:46. Yeehaw! I wasn't expecting 37 minutes to go by before we get a second but I was expecting a Morris-to-Burns combo, so that is nice. It's pretty awesome that Mickey can cross, this time from the byline and the ball is at the perfect height for Burns to strike it about three feet off the ground, deflecting it with his left foot just inside the right upright.
It appears that O'Keeffe is allergic to clean sheets, letting an easy one go by, yet again. But that's alright, Burns get a third but it's from Flitcroft passing up the middle this time. Let us not forget that we also have Mickey and his head, and McGregor the crossing machine; they combine to salt it all away in the 83rd.
POM: John Burns 9.6 (3 goals, 2 key passes, 1 chance created)
I would have liked to seen a clean sheet but Gareth is so good at underperforming that it's never a sure thing. That slow, inaccurate striker of Green's? Fractured his cheekbone, out 3 to 5 weeks. Ouch.
I'm surprised when I get an offer to interview for Bury. The are in League One but in 16th place. I decline, of course. I'm a one-team man, dudes.
After that email is dealt with I get one about Alfie possibly leaving. His contract has a clause that says if we get promoted and he gets into 5 league matches he gets an extension. Maybe it's time to circumvent that and just extend him now. He asks for £1,100 and some other minor things to stay until June 2023. I want him longer. Let's see what it takes. I bump it up to £1,200 per week, a £10,000 loyalty bonus, plus 20% each for yearly and promotion wage increases. I'm pleased and hope he signs.
I also get an email with a list of players on my shortlist whose contracts expire in 6 months. I remove all but two for they are fast central defenders. I ask my AssMan to update his scouting reports to see where their contract demands are.
Also I get a list of our own players whose contracts are expiring in six months. Most of them are youths who I'm going to wait on until after the youth intake. The rest are players I don't want or I'm going to wait until after the season. McGregor get his triggered immediately.
There are also staff members to extend. I'm starting with my AssMan, of course.
We have some tutorings coming to a close. Youth GK Gael Barbier deems himself a little disappointed but that makes no sense as Legg moved his Determination from 10 to 18 and his personality from Professional to Driven. Whatever. On the other hand, Richard Phillips is delighted with his time with Macey. His Determination went from 5 to 7, which is meh, but his personality went from Unambitious to Fairly Professional. I deem that a success. Maybe we'll give it another go in the future to get that Determination up.
We've got good news and bad news. I think we're either cursed or my AssMan isn't that good at judging midfielders. Flitcroft probably isn't really declining though. Next month I won't have my "Gareth is so awesome" excuse. Very happy to see Curran, Caffrey, and Burns improving. They've been getting plenty of time on the pitch so this tracks.
Our switch to the Arrow worked just fine, piercing the hopes and desires of our opponents. We scored at least two goals in each match and managed three clean sheets with it. I won't remain 100% faithful to the Arrow as I'll still want to work on getting some players natural at AMC, MR, or ML. You know, maybe next season I'll use the Diamond for my counterattack formation as I expect things will be more difficult in League Two.
I added left fullback Steve Pike to the U18s on 13 July 2019 when he was Natural at WBL and only Competent at DL. So how long did it take to get him Natural at DL? It took him until January 2020, after 21 starts and 11 off-the-bench matches. I bring this up because I'm having problems of late getting players up to Natural.
For example, Caffrey isn't Natural yet despite being with us for 7 months or so. He's had 10 full matches at DMC, 13 matches with 60 minutes or so at DMC, and 2 matches with roughly 30 minutes there. Okay, maybe that's not enough. But look at Ben Pope. 90 minutes: 25, 60 minutes: 15, 30 minutes: 18. Surely that's enough time at MR to be Natural?
I don't know. I know there are varying levels of Versatility but this seems a bit ridiculous. Hopefully by the end of the season Caffrey will be Natural at DMC and Peter Smith at AMR.
I haven't peeked behind the curtain in a few months. Let's correct that.
Let's get back to that Consistency examination. If you remember, Gary Ferguson started at 8. He is now...8. Hmm... He's not getting to start many matches so he's been generally coming in between 65' and 68' and when that happens, the player usually rates a 6.7. So he's got a lot of those under his belt. Maybe he needs more starts for the game engine to care.
Lee Beirne, started at 11, now at 11. Sigh. He's had plenty of starts and his lowest rating is 6.7 and the rest being 7.2 or higher. So maybe youth matches don't count? Maybe I should have chose a confirmed starter in the Seniors for this experiment.
How about we look at Mark Curran. He has no Consistency label and hasn't been lighting the world on fire so maybe not him. How about Flitty Flit? He has no labels, gets lots of starts, and generally does well. Why not look at both?
Curran, he starts at 10. Flitcroft he too starts at 10. Cool. This should work better. I hope.