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Post by coffers on Apr 28, 2008 10:03:00 GMT
OK, I'll give you the rundown if you want me to.... It might be useful Moo, even the bare bones of what goes on here might help.
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Post by coffers on Apr 28, 2008 11:00:45 GMT
I awoke the next morning feeling completely refreshed, which surprised me somewhat given the day I had just been through. After an exhilerating shower and breakfast feast, Cigar-Man arrived in his unmistakable Limo. "Come on" He said "There's no time for relaxing now, everyting is in place and there is work to be done." I followed him and got into the limo, as soon as the door was closed, we were off, heading into Paranoa. After the expected pleasantries, Cigar-Man explained that we were going to the stadium to meet the club staff and players. There would be a photo shoot when I was presented to the media and following that I could get down to the job in hand, which was apparently to rebuild a depleted squad. We pulled up outside of the stadium which I instantly recognised as the one from the day before, this time I saw for the first time the club badge emblazoned on a flag flying from the main entrance area: We walked through the entrance and following Cigar-Man we swept through a corridor and straight out onto the pitch and I saw for the first time the pitch we would be playing all our home games on: I've seen a lot worse in my time and considering the state of the outside and it's surrounding area I was pleasantly surprised. Cigar-Man explained that it was his ultimate dream to make Paranoa a force in Brasilian Football and this was the start of that dream, but enough of that for now it was time to introduce me to the backroom staff and then to the players.......
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Post by Moo on Apr 28, 2008 11:08:16 GMT
OK then, basically the season is split into two sections: 1. State Championships (Jan-Jun ish) Here, you're on your own. Each state has their own league competition and they pretty much are all different. Generally though it consists of a league, then playoffs to declare the State Champions, but you'll have to figure it out from the schedule on the league table pages. The teams involved are all from the area of the championship, irrelevant as to which of the National leagues they are in. So for instance, if the North Easdt of England had one of these state championships, you would have Boro, Newcastle, mackems, Darlo, Hartlepools, Bishop Auckland (not the Catholic priest), Blyth Spartans, etc all playing. Usually, a couple of teams are relegated and others asked into the competition for the next year. If you do go down, you'll not necessarily be sacked, but you'll have a very quiet first half of the year the following season. As you can imagine, some states are easier to win than others. Rio State has all the big Rio teams in there, so your D3 team will do well to not get relegated, whereas the same team would probably have a good chance to win the thing if they were in the Tocantins state, where the only team of note is Tocantinopolis. (I managed them once about three seasons ago.) 2. "Main" National League (Jul-Dec) Your normal league then and yes is what you'd be used to. Three divisions with three different ways of working. I have no idea how the top flight works anymore, I haven't been up there for a while. The second division, AFAIK, is four up and two down, but you'd have to check the promotion, I'm sure of the two down though, as I'll explain the Third Division.... Essentially, this is split into 16 groups of 8 teams, making 128 teams in total. Of each of these 8 teams per group, two go into the playoffs and two are relegated. So intotal, 32 teams go to the playoffs, 32 teams are relegated. (NB it's not uncommon apparently for teams to be very young interms of established year, because if they are relegated, they disband the team, form another one and hope to get invited into the Third straight away. ) The 32 playoff lot have a KO tournament until the final four, who then have a mini-league, home and away (I think) and the top two are then promoted to the second division, the other two (as well as the other 28 who didn't make it to the Final Four group) go back into the pot for next season's Third Division. So yeah, 2 of 128 get promoted.
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Post by Moo on Apr 28, 2008 11:12:44 GMT
I must add though that the Brazilian league is a lot more settled now in terms of how the divisions work, but the playoff structure may have changed in terms of the Final group and if you play home and away... it might be a group of 8 and home OR away now. For the retro fans (ie Nark), CM00-01 was a nightmare, because the structure of the Third Division changed in three consecutive years (IIRC), and you never knew WTF was going onwith regards to promotion or relegation. There were rules for advantage given to the higher seeded team in case of draws (no away goal rule) and all sorts of craziness. You played your games and crossed your fingers.
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Post by coffers on Apr 28, 2008 11:30:07 GMT
Excellent so I won't know what the fook is going on in the game let alone the story. Sounds fun. This is FM2006 by the way and as it turns out Paranoa were formed in 2000.
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Post by coffers on Apr 28, 2008 12:15:19 GMT
Cigar-Man pointed to three disheveled looking men stood at the side of the pitch watching some practice session taking place and said, "those are your staff to do with what you want." He whistled and waved them over.
As they gathered, Cigar-Man introduced me to Chump Chop, a small rotund character who I learned was my Head Coach/Assistant Manager. In fact I was informed that he was our only coach. That was a revelation that hit me like a train, how the hell could one person handle all the training and coaching demands that i would set in place? It was a question that I immediately put to Cigar-Man and his response was "I'll leave that to you, you are the man that know about these things, you deal with it as you see fit".
"So does that include hiring new staff?" I asked.
"Yes" he replied "If you can find any that want to come and stay within the overall wage structure of the club, you will learn about that later".
Judging by what I could see going on on the pitch at that point I don't think Chump Chop is up to the job of cleaning toilets let alone overseeing the whole training regime of a professional football team.
The next to arrive was a skinny character, who was having difficulty hobbling over the soft sandy ground surrounding to the pitch, he had the use of a walking stick and was introduced as Peg Leg Pleat. His determination was apparent in the way he tackled the seemingly insurmountable problem of his stick finding a purchase in the sand, I'm not entirely sure about any healing skills he might have though.
Compared to the last two people, the third to arrive was positively skipping across the pitch, even if he did arrive slightly breathless, "Ah, this is Skippy" said Cigar-Man, "He is your chief scout" he continued, "He's very keen to work with you and he will scour the local area for all the talent he can find".
"So there are other scouts currently out covering other areas?" I asked.
"Oh no, Skippy is the man" retorted Cigar-Man from behind a cloud of smoke, "He is very good only last week he found an excellent prospect in a local hospital ward, recovering from Beri-Beri."
"Oh Jesus" I groaned.
"Yes, you know of him" asked the cloud of smoke.
My heart was sinking fast; "No" I said "I meant Jesus as in, say a little prayer for me. This is a terrible position to be in, we have to cover more ground, than the local health institutions and we need specialist coaches, scouts and possibly even another Physio if this team is to improve"
"Good, good" cried Cigar-Man puffing furiously on the ever diminishing cheroot, "I knew we had someone who would understand the situation instantly, once you have met the players, I'll introduce you to the press and then once you know all the club details, I;ll leave you to get the ball rolling."
He strode off towards the centre of the pitch and waved for me to follow him.......
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Post by Moo on Apr 28, 2008 12:38:57 GMT
Beri-beri? Pffftttt..... get out there and play, man!
:thumb:
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Post by coffers on Apr 28, 2008 12:43:35 GMT
It's coming, it's coming, It's easier to write this garbage than to find time to run the game at gazebo at the moment. :checkit:
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Post by Boony on Apr 28, 2008 12:54:38 GMT
I'm enjoying it, it's a nice read. We don't see much of this any more - KUTGW :thumb:
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Post by coffers on Apr 28, 2008 13:43:53 GMT
As we walked over to the players it was apparent that a 5 a-side training match was in progress, when I asked about other players not attending, Cigar-Man looked at me aghast and said "This is it, these are the players you will work with, all are full time professionals, they are good yes?"
Good, wasn't a word that I think could be applied to most of this lot, in fact as I got closer it became apparent that I might have inherited either an under 12's eleven ten or a team of midgets. The two players attending to goalkeeping duties were just about the right height for 5-a-side goal posts. They were certainly way too small to be considered for the 11-a-side version of the game, the rest of the team were of pretty much the same stature and most of them looked as if they could be knocked down with a feather.
Chump Chop stumbled over and called a halt to the shabby proceedings and called the team to assemble in a line so that I could be introduced to them one by one:
Mud Divers
UHT-Milk appears to be the old man of the team at the age of 31, unfortunately for a goal keeper he isn't going to stop any high shots, he stands at 5' 8" in his cotton socks, in spite of that he didn't look bad between the reduced sticks. His contract runs out at in one years time and I don't think it will be renewed.
Child's Play ten years younger then UHT Milk, and looked more agile and a better prospect as a keeper all round, unfortunately he's even shorter than UHT Milk. At 5' 7" I don't think he is going very far in the game.
Shin Kickers
Rubber Watch one of the taller members of the squad, let's not kid ourselves he's the tallest member of the squad which is worrying as he's a Right Back. He's 26 and actually looked a decent player in what little I witnessed as a game. He looked as if he had good tackling, passing and shooting skills and also worked well for his team. It's not saying a lot to admit that at this point he's in the first team.
Linoleum Ceiling Introduced as a centre half, which I raised my eyebrows too and they almost reached his full height of 5' 8". I'd be happier if he was at least 4 inches taller, but apart from that from what I saw of this 30 year old defender he looked good for this level, but then he was up against a player smaller than himself (You'll understand why further down the post). Decent tackling marking and heading skills, his concentration was solid too.
Water Carriers
Age Of Toes A 23 year old Defensive Midfielder and the undoubted star of the team, he's apparently worth £80k and he actually looks the sort of DM that you want on your side. I think he'll do a decent job for me in the early days. Standing at 5' 10" he's not a bad height for his position.
Diving Scroat at 24 he's another decent looking Defensive Midfielder and is another 5' 10" player. I don't think we'll have a lot of problems defending the none existent defence, however we'll have trouble if the ball gets past Scroat and Toes.
Brandy Snap a 22 year old Central Midfielder, at 5'8 and 12st 3lbs he's probably not as frail as he looks. He shouts a lot and can shoot from long range but physically looks like he needs a good workout.
Sings Like A Pig is 19 and another 5' 8" midget in the making. He stands out in the rest of the team, not only because he has good physique, nor because he is mentally sound, but because he is the only foreign player we have, he's from South Korea. Apart from his passing he is technically shoite for a central midfielder.
Nil By Mouth 5' 8" seems to be a common height in the team, this one looks frailer than most, but he also looks like he has a bit of flair about him, technically sound he needs a good pan o' scouse to beef him up. Yes you've guessed it this 22 year old AMC is an almost certain Starter.
The Man That Does The Business
Hello Campers Is it possible that a professional club can operate with only one full time striker who, in his previous job, was a stooge for a circus clown? It seems the answer is yes in the case of Paranoa. Hello Campers stands at 5' 5" in his bare feet, he has a fantastic first touch and is a demon finisher with good heading skills, unfortunately he is only likely to win a contested header in an under 12's league. He's mentally weak, probably from the years of taking shit from clowns and physically incapable, probably. At 22 it's not as if he will grow any either.
That's it, apparently on match days anyone who turns up with their own boots is in with a chance of filling any vacant places.
We have a reserve team and an under 20's team with absolutely no players on any form of contract in them.
I can see that my work is cut out for me and it may well be a slog.
As the introductions finish I allow the coaching staff to get on with the job that I had interrupted, I'd have to do something about that in the very near future, as it was Cigar-Man wanted me to meet the press, oh and checkout that morning's breaking news...........
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Post by Sonic on Apr 28, 2008 14:23:39 GMT
Oh, drama! Only one forward in a Brazilian side. Are you sure your still in Brazil?
Good Intro here Coffers :thumb:
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Post by Boony on Apr 28, 2008 14:48:50 GMT
Ah, the previous manager must have been using that well known 2-5-1 formation, with two keepers.
Good luck, this looks like it'll be tricky. Do you have any money?
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Post by coffers on Apr 28, 2008 15:38:40 GMT
As we walked back towards the office block I noticed movement out of the corner of my eye, I turned and was ready to duck, but Cigar-Man just carried on saying in a calming voice "Ignore it, it is nothing for you to worry about".
I kept glancing back, but whatever it was I saw, there was nothing there now. We headed into the shade of what passed for the club main offices, but before we met the press Cigar-Man said I want you to see something first, he guided me into a dingy office that he said would be mine for the moment and pointed to a freshly printed copy of the local newspaper.
Splashed across the front page was a picture of Cigar-Man with the headline: "LOCAL HERO SAVES THE DAY", the story went on to intimate that my new employer had foiled an assassination attempt on the Regional Head of the Vice Squad. It went on to describe in great detail how Cigar-Man and his 'friends' had pulled the government official into the safety of a local warehouse after a shot was fired and narrowly missed the intended victims head. The article was strangely devoid of any other names and details, but it did expand on the great good that Cigar-Man did for the local area.
There was one more thing in the article that really puzzled me, a grainy black and white photograph of what the paper claimed to be the intended victim. At a quick glance I would have sworn that the photograph was of me, but that wasn't possible, I didn't recognise any of the surrounding elements in the photo and it certainly didn't look like anywhere I had visited recently. I turned to look at Cigar-Man and he said; "If the press ask, you know nothing about yesterday, you are just here to manage a football team."
With that he headed for the door saying "Come, your audience awaits". I followed him down to the press room and was met with the the flash of one or two cameras going off and a couple of scruffy reporters who stood twiddling their thumbs whilst Cigar-Man introduced me. It was all pretty low-key after the previous days events and the questions asked turned out to be pretty inane, I replied with pretty inane answers and managed to avoid one searching question relating to my likeness of a certain Head of the Vice Squad. I admitted to knowing nothing and I also said I had no idea why the questioner would think I looked like him, after all, he is surely Brazilian, whereas I'm patently English. I excused myself and turned and left them to it after all I had work to do.
As I headed for my office, Cigar-man called out "I think that went well, keep me up to date with developments, my secretary will fill you in with the details regarding salary budgets and other financial matters." I entered my office, closed the door and took a seat behind a desk that had seen better days. I felt it best to ignore the strange recent events and sat back. Arthur Gadgie was now officially the manager of Paranoa EC. I closed my eyes and pondered my plans for the future............
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Post by coffers on Apr 29, 2008 12:03:02 GMT
Picking up a note book and pen I deceded that the first thing to do was to issue my coach with a plan for training schedules. At leats that way I could get things moving on player improvement whilst I decided on other matters.
So scheduels for Goalkeepers, Defenders, Midfielders, Attacking Midfielders and Strikers were all clearly set-out in stone. A copy of my plans were sent to Chump Chop via the secretary with the clear rider that if he didn't understand anything or if he had any other questions, then he should contact me as soon as possible, my door was always open. Unless it was closed, obviously. Whilst passing the plans to the secretary I gained access to copies of the financial report and budget details which I took back to my office to study.
On the bright side we had a salary budget of £26,000 per month and were only spending £12,300 of it, which left me plenty of room to manouver, probably. On the otherhand the club was £1300 overdrawn and had no money for transfers. I guess it could have been worse, at least I don't have too much ground to make up to be in profit, I could sell a player, but given that I only have 8 I think I'll have to hunt high and low for freebies.
The question is where do I look for players and new staff, let's face it I need at least one more scout and a few more coaches plus an Ass-Man, do I look in Brazil only or further afield? Initially I decide on the local option:
1. because I don't want to advertise my presence in Brazil, to former colleagues, more than I need to and 2. because it's a cheaper option, probably and I'm sure that there is a star in every street, well that's what I've been led to believe.
Skippy is duly called in and told to scour Brazil for the best players he can find, meanwhile I'll checkout the lists of out of contract players that the club already know about. I also place adverts in the media for coaches, Ass-Men and scouts to guage interest in the club. I feel it may be a pointless exercise but I want to see how the club stands in the mind of the nation....................
In the meantime I work through the available lists.
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Post by coffers on Apr 29, 2008 12:42:21 GMT
It doesn't take long for me to get disillusioned, every call I place to unattached players that we know about illicits a 'Not a chance in hell response', I hope the unattached staff that I've approached are in a more positive mood.
It looks as If I will have to start the coming campaign short on players. I take a look at the fixture list and find that we have a game at home against CFZ (DF) in the State Championships in about 3 weeks, that doesn't give us long to prepare, nor does it give us long to finda team. The game will be televised and it appears that were are in the Brasiliense State Group 1, a group of 6 teams, the 4 unmentioned so far are: Brasiliense a 1st division outfit, Ceilandia (3rd Division), Sobradinho (non-league) and Unai (Non-League). CFZ are also a 3rd division side. So although we are unlikely to win the State Championships, I will soon find out how good we are against our peers and some lower level clubs. Apparently Paranoá were founded in 2000, so we haven't got a lot of history in our current incarnation. I've done all I can for the moment so take some timeout to watch the taining sessions before returning to my/Cigar-Man's villa for a couple of days off, it is Christmas after all......
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Post by Boony on Apr 29, 2008 12:42:49 GMT
Nice writeup so far, Coffs. You need to scout some of those tall Amazonian tribes :thumb:
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Post by coffers on Apr 29, 2008 14:23:40 GMT
With the hustle and bustle of the 1st day at work over, I settled down to relax during what turned out to be an uneventful Christmas break, one or two local papers had reported my appointment to the stewardship of Paranoá and one made a fleeting comment regarding the resemblance to a certain Vice Squad head, but that was it, not much fuss and nothing to report squire.
My return to work was greeted with a lot of rejection calls, but over the next few days we had some success, not on the pitch but in the back room staff department, plus we snagged three teams into agreeing to friendlies before the season proper started; Bangu was the first, Zumbi would play us 3 days later and finally Anapolis would be four days after that.
During the time between Christmas and the first game a lot of time was spent on the training pitch preparing what little we had in the way of players, and acquainting the new coaches with what their duties:
Flavoured Philisan a 46 year old coach was put in charge of fitness training, both strength and Aerobics. There was only one place for Rennet Barrel a 38 year old, he was a goalkeeper coach if I ever saw one. 58 year old Through The Keyhole was put in charge of Ball Control and Shooting. Mooring Fee got Tactics and Set Pieces. Mexican Hat Dance was in charge of Attacking and Finally New Lucid Slave headed up the department of defending. We are still lacking an ass-man though and I may have to offer the position to one of the new coaches, as there is nothing appropriate on the available list.
We managed to add a new Physiotherapist to the back room team, Danish Supermarket will lighten the load on Peg Leg Pleat. We also snag scout Surging Tide who is a better prospect than Skippy, so the Skippy is recalled and sent to scout the opposition whilst Surging Tide is given instructions to operate within the boundaries of Brazil.
We still seem to have a wage budget of £26000 per month and the new arrivals do not seem to have impacted the current wage bill, so we still have room to manouver if we can find any idiots to sign for us. However as December ends we have a bigger overdraft than we started with, namely £11,000. We need to start playing and to find a source of income fast.
Thankfully there have been no further strange incidents and Cigar-Man has kept a low profile, other than to give the nod on my staff additions.
I've done all I can to improve things in the immediate short term, we are still awaiting the decisions of a few potential players and staff but I don't expect any positives from those. The next thing on the agenda is to pick the starting line-up for the game against Bangu and to get on and watch in fear at what may be a disaster........
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Post by Moo on Apr 29, 2008 14:31:42 GMT
Bangu... :thumb: ... my first Brazilian team.
CFZ stands for Clube Futebol de Zico. Watch out.
KUTGW!
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Post by coffers on Apr 30, 2008 11:51:38 GMT
My Management Debut Day arrived, I can't say I was filled with anticipation but I did feel a bit of the old familiar buzz that you get as kickoff arrives, however this time there was a sense of dread as we approached kickoff. 118 people had tirned out to watch events unfold. Bangu looked much better prepared than we did, which I guess wasn't surprising. With only one striker I opted for a lone striker formation with the AMC tucked just behind him. With four at the back and the rest in midfield I decided a short passing game was the way forward, after all Hello Campers wasn't going to win any jumping contests. I reckoned that if we kept the ball and closed down well when we didn't have it we could do a job.
Kick-off arrived and we started well, in fact we did fine for the first 25 minutes, we even opened the scoring on 7 minutes when Nil By Mouth collected a neat through ball by Denilson, a non-contracted Left Back, and slipped it under the exposed Bangu keeper to pust us inti a deserved lead. As teh game progressed we kept possession very well, but Bangu were starting to knock the ball around a bit after the first 20 minutes. I cchanged a couple of things to try to combat it and made matters worse, In the 25th minute a shocking throw-in by Denilson resulted in Bangu gaining possesion near our left corner flag, the ball was crossed and their 21 year old striker Carlihnos half volleyed the equaliser from a narrow angle at the near post. Three minutes on and things got worse, Olivera another non-contarcted player allowed a long ball to drop over his head, Capixaba another useful looking striker pounced on it and ran into the area behind the defence to smash home at the near post. We were in trouble, on 33 another long ball through the middle left Carlinhos with a n unopposed 20 yard shot for number 3. More fiddling and we somehow made it to half time with no further score. I was almost at a loss about what to do, we were clearly not good enough. Plenty of possession had not translated into goals. We couldn't cross and when we did, Hello Campers couldn't win a raffle with the only ticket in the draw, he was also very prone to getting caught offside.
Denilson and UHT-Milk were having stinkers, so Child's Play was sent on in goal and Denilson was replaced with another grey. Hello Campers and Olivera were also hauled off to be replaced by more non-contracted players. We kicked off, within 5 minutes we were dead and buried, a bouncing loose ball was picked up on the edge of our area by Carlinhos and in a flash he had his hat-trick. We had nothing to lose now, so on went Sings Like A Pig on the right wing for a grey and a grey AMC replaced Nil By Mouth. Within two mintes we had pulled a goal back, Sings Like A Pig's corner was headed out and Diving Scroat hit a curling 23 yard shot beyond the reach of the Bangu keeper. Plenty of tactic juggling took place after that, including switching to two up front, but it was to no avail. The game ended 4-2 in Bangu's favour and I was left with plenty to think about.
I have to admit that I told the players I was disappointed with what I saw, there is no point beating about the bush, but I didn't overdo it in the case of Denilson and UHT-Milk who had both been rated as 5's. There's no point upsetting players too much at this early stage, after all I was struggling to find anyone to join the club.
The performance confirmed my worst fears. We needed a Left Back and another Centre Half, One of our best players, Rubber Watch, got disappointing rating considering his skills, but I think he was trying to cover for the uncontracted DC playing next to him and the gray right winger in front of him, Linoleum Ceiling also had similar issues covering for the garbage Left Back and left winger. In the centre of midfield I felt we had two DM's who played well. The goal apart, Nil By Mouth struggled a bit but I think with semi decent players around him, he could flourish. The lone striker role does not suit happy campers at all, he was lost and out muscled, I'm going to have to see if I can release one from midfield to operate a 2 up front system, maybe a bigger player could help Happy Campe get on the end of some chances. I had three days before the next friendly to sort something out, I didn't think I would manage to add any players so I had to work with what we already had. I fear for my sanity and my future at this rate.
Cigar-Man wasn't outwardly too uspet, he stuck his head round my door and nodded; "Disappointing" he said "But it is early days, and we did hold the ball well for long spells, we need to build on that, I won't be around now until the next game, I have business to attend to so you'd betetr let me know now if you need me for anything".
Looking at him with a glimmer of hope in my eyes I said 'I could do with some money for transfers'.
Cigar-Man shook his head "That is not something that we can accomodate at this time, you will have to work with what you've got, or wheel and deal" he replied.
Before I could say anything else, he had gone. So that was it, sell or lump it. I reflected further on the game, we'd had 57% of the possession, more shots at goal, more corners, more offsides, more throw-ins and more crosses than Bangu, but we had lost by a margin.....
We needed players and fast but where were they going to come from?
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Post by Moo on Apr 30, 2008 12:28:41 GMT
Bangu...legends. You'll find it tough until you get yourself established in the third tier and then the randomness of the promoted (to third) teams will mean you're one of the attractive ones. KUTGW!
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Post by Boony on Apr 30, 2008 12:38:03 GMT
Aye, nothing to worry about in these early days. Try and get some freebies in! :thumb:
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Post by coffers on Apr 30, 2008 13:13:04 GMT
That's easier said than done Boo.
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Post by coffers on Apr 30, 2008 14:39:49 GMT
This is definitely going to be a slow burner, I'm running every game in watch full game mode, for a laugh. It's hilarious how bad some of these players are at passing or anticipating a pass even.
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Post by Moo on May 1, 2008 8:14:03 GMT
You're a pervert.
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Post by coffers on May 6, 2008 10:21:53 GMT
There wasn't a lot of time to prepare for the next game following the debacle of the opener, but we did have a little flurry of personnel changes, Bet Fred was added to the scouting staff and was immediately sent out into the Brazilian hinterland to look for youngsters who wouldn't cost a penny to sign. Also New Lucid Slave was upgraded from a coach to Assistant Manager. This means he can guide me on unsuitable targets, it was he who pointed out to me that there were no suitable targets available in the categories I was looking in. That wasn't too helpful as I was looking for any player willing to join us, who wouldn't cost us anything. The next friendly was upon us an Cigar-Man was still keeping a low profile. Having seen the outcome of the first match, I made an important decision, the one up front option just does not work, Happy Campers needed some sort of support, so for the next game we would switch to 2 up front, and play four in midfield. The defence would need help so one of the DM's would play the holding role. I also decided that quick short passing wasn't creating enough opportunities, we probably weren't good enough to employ it properly. Appropriate switches were made and before I knew it the game was upon us. All but Nil By Mouth and Child's play were in the starting eleven, those two got to e bench warmers. Evandro was chosen to partner Happy Campers up front and Age Of Toes played in the Holding role. Sings Like a Pig, Diving Scroat and Brandy Snap were strung across the middle of the midfield. Zumbi licked off and started brightly, pushing for an early goal and they got one, five minutes in and Sergio split our defence with a superb pass, Gomes latched on and drove the ball under UHT Milk for the opening goal. M first thought was here we go again as I nervously eyed the empty terraces, expecting a shot to ring out at any minute. However, we kicked off and pinged he ball about a bit, before Diving Scroat chipped the ball over the Zumbi defence to for Happy Campers to thump the ball in from a narrow angle. I would say that the stadium erupted, but there were only 117 individuals who bothered to turn up so i t was more like a ripple of applause broke out. Zumbi went on the offensive but we looked a bit ore solid in defence this time around, even the grays were doing OK. On 15 Happy campers was put clean through and with only the keeper to beat he took one touch too many, leaving the keeper to scramble the ball away. Zumbi were getting the possession but we were looking the more dangerous team. With 19 minutes on the clock, Denilson put a cross in from the left, Diving Scroat got to the ball just ahead of Happy Campers and glanced his header in off the right hand post to give us a lead which we held until the break. At the break I replaced UHT Milk with Child's Play as he seemed to be carrying an injury, I also sent Carlos on for a weary looking Brandy Snap. We started the second half brightly and added a 3rd goal on 49, Carlos picked up a loose pass in the Zumbi half and fed Happy Campers the diminutive striker took one touch and drove a low shot under the advancing keeper as three defenders converged on him. Within 5 minutes we had a 4th goal, Age Of Toes Started and finished the move, playing the ball out of defence to Denilson, he charged up the pitch, Denilson found Sings Like a Pig who played a square pass to the advancing Age Of Toes, with is options at this point limited,the midfielder advanced and blasted a 30 yard curling shot into the top right hand corner of the Zumbi net. The crowd may not have erupted, but I did. This was more like the type of football I wanted to see from my new club. We may not have been getting the best of the possession but we were closing down well and counter attacking really well. I felt the game was all but won at that point and made wholesale changes, giving the contracted players a chance to rest before the final friendly. The rest of the game was played at an easy pace and despite their possession Zumbi failed to produce any real threat. So our first win, I think we have our tactics for the season at this stage, well at least for the early games. Diving Scroat won the man of the match award and it was fully deserved he drove the midfield on when things looked tricky, plus he scored one goal and made another so he was told how delighted I was with his performance, as was Happy Campers, who looked a much better player with the additional forward supporting him. The rest of the bunch got a pat on the back too for their efforts. I left the ground that day with a bit more spring in my step, granted we needed players, but I don't think that is going to be a solvable option in the short term, but the players had shown me that they can play with the right tactics. We h ad 4 days to prepare for the visit of Anapolis for the final pre-season game, They could be a harder proposition, they have 23 contracted players available to them, which probably indicates that they are a more established team than we will be for a few years to come. All I can do at this stage is prepare the team as best we can and hope that what we have is good enough to give them a game.
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