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Post by Mr Bismarck's Electric Donkey on Apr 26, 2008 16:53:30 GMT
So February 2009 isn't exactly our best month, as our strikers go onto a starvation diet for the first time and the rest of the team just isn't ready to pick up the slack. Primarily because, by the end of the month, most of them are injured. February's league campaign starts off with an impressive four straight games without a win, as we can't break down an ultra-defensive Altrincham side, even though we caned them 5-1 away from home earlier in the season. We lose 1-0 away to Northwich in our next game before being held to another 0-0 at home, as it seems the AI has sorted out our attack - an idea borne out as we drop a 0-2 away to Stevenage the following saturday to complete four whole league games without scoring. Thankfully, while our league form is waving its arms and screaming on the thrilling Mooski Plummet ride at Alton Towers, our cup form remains strong, although when the goals do come in the cup they come from odd sources. In the Setants Shield 5th round we canter past Grays with goals from wingers Medi Elito and Junior Harvey and a late header from on-loan defender Matt Briggs fro a 3-1 win in a game which saw four players leave the field injured and one of Grays' with a red card. In the Setanta quarter-final against Torquay we come back from 1-0 and 2-1 behind to send the game to extra-time, thanks to goals from AM Chris Arthur and DC Reiss Noel, who only plays because regular starter Ben Martin broke his ribs. In extra time Torquay are just destroying us, as my small squad of over-used players runs out of fitness, but from a corner for the home side Matt Briggs hoofs the ball up to Junior Harvey who chips it on for Charles Ademeno who sprints clear to sidefoot home the winner, while the Torquay players surround the ref claiming about Ademeno being offside. Never mind anyway, Torquay - cups, girls, and all that. Three days later we're at home to Woking in the other cup competition - the FAT. Woking grab an early lead when our defence just fails to mark Daryl Robson and we seem to be shaken by that as we create nothing in the first half. I try to fire the boys up for the second half with a bit of encouragement and it's fair to say that works as Ademeno scores straight from the kick off, without Woking touching the ball. Just after the hour he's away again to power home a stunner from 25 yards, across the keeper and into the far top corner. 20 minutes later with time running out we're playing a strong defensive system with a deep line, trying to waste as much time as possible, when Ademeno turns from hero to villain, apparently handling a Woking corner in the box to give the visitors a last minute penalty. Woking's Gary Alexander steps up looking assured and confidently strokes the bal...l into the crowd! It's a dodgy win, but we'll take it. I pat the boys on the back and use the after game press-conference to try to gee people up, because Rob Dale - our most prolific forward - hasn't scored for more than 550 minutes now. That worked then. :thumb: Losing Ademeno is a blow, as the kid is on such good form that even the board have stopped being arsey about him, but having Dale back in the goals is great news. It's our first win the league in five games. A week later we almost have our second in two, as we lead high-flying Halifax at home thanks to a corker of a goal from Chris Arthur, but then Andy Campbell escapes his marker to tap home and we have to settle for the draw. A monthly record in the Blue Square of one win, three draws and two defeats isn't great and I think it's pretty certain that we're just not good enough to go up right now and even sneaking into the playoffs is becoming a little out of reach. The injury situation is taking the piss a bit too :
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Post by Sonic on Apr 27, 2008 8:11:47 GMT
I foresee some sort of pointy stick being asked for by Moo for when I return to the club.
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Post by Mr Bismarck's Electric Donkey on Apr 29, 2008 12:49:43 GMT
If he could jab it in Weymouth's face, that would be cool.
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Post by coffers on Apr 29, 2008 13:13:15 GMT
How about easing up on the training, that sometimes helps the injury situation.
Not a bad season at all this. :thumb:
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Post by Mr Bismarck's Electric Donkey on Apr 30, 2008 21:00:54 GMT
MARCH 2009The SituationSpringtime arrives in Berkshire and if we're going to threaten the playoffs, we really need to get a shift on right now. We can't afford to lose more than a game or two more and could easily be asphyxiated by the draws that have been our problems so far. Tactically I was still trying to move awa from the 4-1-2-2-1 that put a lot of weight on a single forward so that the team has two threats to score, but this was still causing problems with the 4-1-2-1-2 formation putting a lot of weight on a DM position at which I didn't have much talent. To compound the problems at DM, the two man attack wasn't looking any more useful than the lone forward system I had been playing, because Rob Dale had suddenly stopped scoring. After going 10 hours without scoring in February Dale bounced back with a brace in the away win against Chester, but then seemed destined to start another barren run, as he struggled for form and morale throughout March. The Cupsone way to raise everyone's morale would be to continue our semi-miraculous cup form with a run of three semi-final games in seven days in the middle of the month. In the Setanta Shield we were in search of a route to the final away to Ebbsfleet and this game was bracketed by the first and second legs in the FA Trophy against Exeter. We cruised into the first leg in Exeter in fine mood on the back of a 4-2 win over Cambridge in the league, courtesy of a hattrick from Lee Clarke, restored to the starting 11 by Charles Ademeno's injury at the end of February. Clarke's trio sealed his second man of the match award of the season, but it also tired him out meaning he was on the bench for the trip to Exeter, with a mostly fit Ademeno restored to the starting lineup alongside the out of sorts Rob Dale. Clarke's lack of fitness proved to be fortuitous as a cagey game was turned on its head when Ademeno broke away on two counter attacks for two goals in five minutes and a healthy lead for the return leg. Of course, the one thing that can make a lead of two away goals feel a bit nervy is when the visitors score in the first minute at our place. Reserve keeper Jamie Waite was in net, as usual for cup games, and he made a blinding save from a quick Exeter attack, only to be left exposed by a defence that didn't react to the ball, allowing Exeter's Richard Logan to tap into an empty net. After that the visitors had their tails up and pushed us back in search of the equaliser. We broke a number of times, but just as in the first leg, Rob Dale got five shots on target out of five, only to see all of them saved - Dale's slump seemingly more down to luck than him forgetting how to play forward. Luckily for us, Exeter's finishing was wasteful and they lost a bit of control as the time seeped away, leading the game to turn into a chippy affair, full of fouls. When I pushed the line up and started to use the offside trap catching Exeter the wrong side of the last defender 11 times, the visitor's challenge faded and we were through to our first FA Trophy final! The board were over the moon, because that was our second cup semi final win of the week - inbetween the Exeter games we'd gone to Ebbsfleet and surprised the home team there. After Ebbsfleet had dominated the first half the boys came out in the second and really took over. Charles Ademeno sprinted away to score the first and then when we were given a penalty it was a chance to give Rob Dale a shot at goal then he might not miss and he didn't disappoint, showing confidence to spank it home for a 2-1 win. The LeagueAfter opening the month with that 4-2 killing of Cambridge, we looked desperately tired at home to Dorchester and stumbled to another of the scoreless home draws we love so much. With another draw away to Salisbury, (2-2 this time), we went into our last two games of the month, desperately needing six points. First off there was utter madness away to Kettering... for almost an hour the game had nothing going as both teams lost the ability to pass and hit a series of aimless long balls to a series of bemused members of the crowd. With 56 minutes on the clock the clueless nature of the game seemed set to continue as a long cross from Medi Elito was met by a picture perfect header from Peter Cavanaugh, past his own keeper for 1-0 Sanctuary. A lucky 1-0 became an annoying 1-1 on 70 minutes as our defence failed to pick up, well, anyone really, but then Rob Dale reminded us all of his goal scoring prowess and he bent home a 25 yarder that was roughly thirty thousand times harder than any of the six yarders he'd missed this month. I started to pull the troops back to protect the lead, which worked for 300 seconds before John Demptster made it 2-2, but not to worry, because Charles Ademeno is off the bench and off to the races to make it 3-2 with five minutes to play. As the time ticks on, the fourth official holds up his overly ostentatious board of lights showing +3 and with 92:52 on the clock I'm shouting out some very rude things indeed, as Nicky Adams makes it 3-3. My fury is mixed with confusion at first, as I thought it said "Micky Adams" and I was imploring my defence about how they managed to allow a fifty year old to score. So I'm sitting on the bench looking in the air and cursing anyone who'll listen when we kick off. The ball is worked to Junior Harvey on the left, he chips a ball over the top, Charles Ademeno challenges the defender who's first to the bounce, robs the ball, rounds the keeper and scores... 0-0 after 55 minutes... 3-2 after 90... 4-3 at the final whistle. I'd like to claim that was the game of the month too, but the following week is something of a six pointer as we're finally back at home against Weymouth who, if I hadn't mentioned, I fooking hate. My team seem determined to give me a heart attack here as we fight back from a sloppy goal on 38 minutes to somehow lead 2-1 after 67 minutes, as Chris Lines and Kaid Mohammed get their 4th and 2nd goals respectively. Hardly goal scorers I rely on. Someone I can rely on though is right fullback John Kyriacou. Rely on to be a knob that is. With five minutes left in the game he turns and massively overhits a backpass that zips by keeper David Wilkinson and into the net for an own goal from roughly 35 yards. :moop: The game is trickling away to another bloody draw when Kyriacou attempts to make up for his buffoonery by lamping a long ball forward which Lee Clarke is on to as the Weymouth defence stand with their arms up. Clarke belts a shot against the visiting keeper's face and the ball spins away to Charles Ademeno who's left just to tap in for the win! Better still, Weymouth defender Nathan "It's Mudder!" Taggart gets his second yellow for saying rude things to the linesman and we comfortably close out the game against ten men. Suddenly... we're only one point from the playoffs... Tune in next month for a stripy arse appearance and the first of two cup finals!
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Post by Boony on Apr 30, 2008 21:19:56 GMT
I love it when the team step up and score crucial goals at the death. It's a sign of good team spirit, or something. Lurking! Good luck in April, dude...
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Post by Sonic on Apr 30, 2008 23:03:36 GMT
Eventful. I hope you had the shock machine near by to kickstart your heart.
You suck, Weymouth.[/obligatory]
KUTGW :thumb:
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Post by coffers on May 1, 2008 7:40:19 GMT
Nice stuff there Stu, even if it was heartstopping.
KUTGW! :thumb:
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Post by Moo on May 1, 2008 8:36:36 GMT
I have every confidence in you.
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Post by Mr Bismarck's Electric Donkey on May 1, 2008 20:44:31 GMT
APRIL 2009A key month for us and we must keep the pressure on at the top by winning. Draws are probably just as ruinous to our fortunes now as defeats, with only six games to go. The first big development of April is from youth product forward David Connolly. AssMoo said that Connolly was an awesome prospect when he joined us last off-season, but having watched him a few times he now thinks he's no more than decent. That's not the thing though... no, the really big development is that Connolly comes into work on the last day of march looking like this : And then shows up on 1 April, looking like this : Clearly his mam "hid" his hair as an April Fools joke... Anyway, enough of the important stuff, now back to the trivial aside of the football. The first game of the month is a clear indicator that Rob Dale just isn't going to score goals any more. The big forward gets six shots away and while he only puts two on target, that's about the same as his ratio has been throughout his time with us. What's different is that the two that are on target are weak grounders into the keeper's arms. In the 85th minute a Charles Ademeno shot canons off the inside of the post and falls to Dale, five yards out with the keeper on the floor and he contrives to slice the ball six yards wide of the empty net. Right then I decide to send Dale down to the reserves to see if he can get some confidence back. Luckily, while Dale struggles, Ademeno is still on hot form and he does convert two of his chances in this game to give us a 2-0 away scoreline that does little justice to our dominance. The next game is the one that could effectively seal our fate though. At home to the slumping Crawley, we have the chance to leapfrog them in the standings here and look good value to do so when Kaid Mohamed bangs in two goals in the first half. Mohamed was a free swap for comedy-name Kileen Abhadi, (also a freebie), and after taking a bit of time to settle he's really started to make the AMC role his own. Unfortunately, the scoreline of 2-0 after 45 minutes becomes a scoreline of 2-3 after 48, as we leak three goals and have defender Matt Briggs sent off in the space of three minutes. I have no idea what happened, but suffice to say my "pleased" halftime talk turned into a "furious" full time cup throwing affair at my gutless wankers. 1,710 people - our biggest ever crowd - watch the capitulation. Normal insanity is resumed the following game when go 2-0 down to Kidderminster inside of just five minutes, then rebound with three second half goals (Ademeno, Clarke 2) to win 3-2. Clarke finishes the game up front on his own, as Ademeno is kicked off the park by the scummy Kidderminster defenders. This brings us to York. Or, rather, this brings York to us, as the middle of the month sees the league leaders come south to Slough with no one giving us a chance to get anything from the game. When the game kicks off it looks a lot like there's nothing there for either team to get, as York have two decent half chances in the first 12 minutes, but after that it's all long shots and scuffed efforts after scrambles in the box. With Ademeno injured and Dale slumming with the stiffs, our new front line of Clarke and Tom Webb looks utterly unthreatening. In fact, all of our chances come from dead ball situations, as first Webb and then Kaid Mohamed bend in 25 yarders that York's keeper deals with comfortably. So the 90 minutes rolls around with the game scoreless and then with 91:41 on the clock left winger Junior Harvey robs the ball off a York fullback, sprints into the box and falls over. York claim it was a dive, but as Harvey's being stretchered off and won't be back, that's not very likely. Now here's fun though. With Dale in the reserves, Ademeno in Garraway's care, Stefan Oakes on the bench and Marcel Mackie sent for a week's holiday to get some fitness back, we have zero recognised penalty takes on the field. Tom Webb is our best bet it seems, with a rating of "11", but I'm perplexed to watch dot$ number 32 step up to the spot. I look at the teamsheet and see that number 32 is on-loan defender Matthew Briggs - he of the red card against Crawley and the 4 penalty rating. In fact, the only criteria by which I can understand the AI selecting Briggs to take the spot kick is "most likely to give s1ut a heart attack." I cover my eyes and pray to Nevillish, god of fullbacks and.... the cheers tell me all I need to know! 1-0 and we're back in the hunt!
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Post by coffers on May 1, 2008 22:09:10 GMT
You can't say they haven't learned anything, nice work so far. KUTGW!
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Post by Mr Bismarck's Electric Donkey on May 1, 2008 22:58:07 GMT
SETANTA SHIELDThe Setanta Shield is so new, that there are exactly no pictures of it on a GIS. Indeed, you have to search for the thing under an old name - the Bob Lord Trophy - to find much mention of it at all. Even Setanta seem to be embarrassed of their own trophy. So here's an artist's rendition of what it might look like instead : So, we'll be happy to win it, but I'm not going to dance about afterwards with it on my head. I don't want flashbacks to CotDII. --------------------------------------- FINAL Sanctuary =vs= Halifax Wembley Stadium I'd given everyone a rest during the week - three days off of training for all the starters - and this meant we could send out a pretty much full strength side. Charles Ademeno was back from injury and even though Kate said he was hardly match fit, he'd start - better to have an injured player on from the whistle so he can be replaced, than bring him on as a sub only to see him break down again. Midfielder Hassan Sulaiman would continue at our problem right back slot, with a loanee middle of QPR youth Josh Ford and Fulham reserve Matt Briggs. Chris Seeby would return at DM, because he's a natural at the position, even though he's not very good. Central midfielder Chris Lines had started there several times, but because he's only "competent" in the role, his performances were too variable. Lines would move out to the left and push Junior Harvey out. Our lineup was : GK : David Wilkinson. RB : Hassan Sulaiman. LB : Marcel McKie © DC : Matthew Briggs DC : Josh Ford DM : Chris Seeby MR : Medi Elito ML : Chris Lines AM : Kaid Mohamed FC : Lee Clarke FC : Charles Ademeno Subs : GK : J. Waite DRL : J. Kyriacou DC : B. Martin MC : S. Oakes FC : T. Webb A sunny day, with no breeze made for a good day out for the 16,000 fans inside the new Wembley and it was Halifax's fans with reason to shout early on as Marcel McKie obstructs the Halifax winger and alex Bailey meets the free kick on the volley... David Wilkinson in goal turns the shot away, but his parry is straight up in the air and Jon Shaw leaps and heads it goalwards, only to see Chris Seeby clear it off the line. The nervy start for us turns into a disasterous one just two minutes later when Bailey picks the ball up on the right again and McKie commits what seems to be a fairly innocuous foul, but gets a straight red card for it. Our players surround the ref and I have a good attempt to get through the screen too, jabbing my finger on his smug little burgundy dot. Way to spoil the final for us, you over-officious little fucking nazi! So that's lovely. I left Junior Harvey out and without his DM/M/AML versatility, I've no one to go back there. I bring D/WB/AMR Hassan Sulaiman inside from RB to DC got to three across the back, with AMR Elito and ML Lines pulled back to fullback, flanking DM Seeby, for a 3-3-0-1-2. What follows is 83 minutes of backs-to-wall glory and graft, based mostly around some flying tackles and a stonking performance from Wilkinson in goal... 14 Min : Forrest clean through on goal Forrest looks odds-on to score! Wilkinson does well to parry it!18 Min : Ford cleared the ball It was well intercepted by Tom Kearney Kearney hits the ball on the half volley! Wilkinson beats the ball away!20 Min : Phil Trainer put the ball into the six yard box Shaw collects it Shaw shoots! The post denies Shaw. Wright collects the rebound Wright must score! Sulaiman blocks the shot! Bailey pounced on the rebound Good play by Bailey, making himself some space Bailey hits it Wilkinson saved and clutched the ball gratefull to his chest.You get the idea. :moop: 19 shots and no goals later the referee blows his whistle again and this time we're glad to hear it, because it's for full time. Extra TimeInto the extra period then and the first moment of note comes after just three minutes, when Tom Kearney pulls down Ademeno and eanrs his second yellow of the game, evening the sides at 10 a piece. Ademeno is shot though, down to just 39% fitness, so I have to take him off, even though I'm not sure where the goals will come from without him. Tom Webb is on. In extra time both teams have exactly one good chance - first Phil Trainer got the ball free on the edge of the box, but leant back and so skied his shot into the crowd. Then some good possession play for us saw us build up slowly, before the ball was switched to Stefan Oakes 30 yards from goal and he belted a long shot that clipped the bar on its way over. That was it though and so we came to more drama, in one of the most bizarre penalty competitions I've ever seen....
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Post by coffers on May 1, 2008 23:46:00 GMT
Oh and now I have to wait til I come back. Bostord but nice work on hanging in there. :thumb:
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Post by Boony on May 1, 2008 23:49:15 GMT
Phil Trainer is a legend :thumb:
Nice work from the keeper - will he carry it on in the shootout?
39% fitness? Fooking hell.
Nice writeup. It's almost like I'm there. That is all. Carry on...
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Post by Mr Bismarck's Electric Donkey on May 2, 2008 3:02:40 GMT
--------------------------------------- FINAL Sanctuary =vs= Halifax Penalty Shoot Out Wembley Stadium Danny Forrest looks confident off a short run up, but blasts the ball wide right! So a promising start for us... which is binned as Chris Lines goes high and left and the keeper makes an excellent save. Sanctuary 0-0 HalifaxFullback Craig Alcock shows Lines how it should be done, hitting the same spot for the first goal of the game. Not to worry though, because here's forward Lee Clarke and... damn... saved. Same spot as the previous two kicks. Sanctuary 0-1 HalifaxGlenn Poole is next and there must be some sort of prize for going top left as he's the fourth in a row and... he hits the bar! So here's Tom Webb with the chance to tie things up, except he puts his penalty right down the middle at about 2 miles per hour. Sanctuary 0-1 HalifaxDefender Adam Quinn for Halifax and he rolls it home into the corner and now we're in real trouble. Kaid Mohamed is up next and has to score... he goes left, for a change and banks it in off the post! Sanctuary 1-2 HalifaxMan of the Match Matt Doughty takes the ball and can win the game for Halifax... but he canes it over the top! There's no escaping the pressure though - loanee Josh Ford must score to save us... Goal! Sanctuary 2-2 Halifax--------------------------------------- Into sudden death then, with one decent spot kick taker in Stefan Oakes and a collection of random losers. Still, the people who allegedly had some idea of what they were doing hit four of ten spot kicks. The next lot can't be much worse. --------------------------------------- Ian Miller strides forward "looking confident" and becomes one in a long line to Chris Waddle their spot kick. Which means that Stefan Oakes, our regular taker can win the game for us... :moop: Sanctuary 2-2 Halifax (six kicks each) Over to Halifax and Adam Bailey... who puts it roughly three hundred yards wide. Wingback Hassan Sulaiman with another chance to give us an improbably win... over the top. Again. Sanctuary 2-2 Halifax (seven kicks each) Nick Habershon's turn... He "blazed it over." I'm beginning to wish Halifax would score, just to end this. Still, it's possible Matt Briggs could win it for us, eh? No. No it's not. Sanctuary 2-2 Halifax (eight kicks each) --------------------------------------- Sixteen spot kicks. Four goals. Two saves. Ten misses. Laughable really. The fans behind the goal are ducking instinctively now and because we're down to ten men, we have 6'7" Ben Martin left to take a kick and then we'll be down to Goalkeeper Dave Wilkinson, so they might want get some form of protection. --------------------------------------- So... Phil Trainer... chance to possibly win the game... blah blah... hit the bar! Shame this isn't Sky's crossbar challenge. So then, Big Ben Martin. All seventeen feet of him... just tonk it... please just tonk it... just fu... GOAL! GOAL! Sanctuary 3-2 Halifax (eight kicks each) Oh thank God for that. I hope Setanta ejoyed getting their money's worth, what with the final taking four days to play out.
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Post by Sonic on May 2, 2008 6:53:23 GMT
:cab:
Bizarre.
Well done on the Cup victory. I proclaim it a 'D' Cup.
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Post by Boony on May 2, 2008 7:30:46 GMT
That's like me and my mates taking penalties down the rec on a Sunday afternoon.
15 years ago.
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Post by Moo on May 2, 2008 10:40:41 GMT
D Cups are for girls, Sonic. Nic is a G Cup. :cab:
I need bigger hands.
Nice work on the fortuitous win, Stu. :thumb:
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Post by Mr Bismarck's Electric Donkey on May 4, 2008 13:38:11 GMT
Fortuitous indeed. My keeper didn't save a single penalty and yet Halifax scored only two from nine. :thumb:
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Post by Mr Bismarck's Electric Donkey on May 4, 2008 13:59:01 GMT
End of SeasonThe best way to add some gloss to an unexpected cup win would be cane through my final two opponents to get into the play offs and then smash York in the FAT Rophy final to turn a very good season into a great one. Of course, that's not how FM works. So, what I'll do instead is lose 2-0 away to Torquay, leaving me needing a win in the final game combined with a draw, at best, for Halifax and then I'll bin a 1-0 halftime lead against Grays to lose 2-1 - the first time I've lost against that collection of planks. We finish sixth. Then in the FAT against Conference champions York we go down an early goal and really just look poor against the team who won our division by 11 points with 30 wins from 46 games. With Charles Ademeno injured and Rob Dale sulking in the reserves, we play Lee Clarke and Tom Webb up front and while Clarke is marked out of the game, Webb thrills me by being caught offside six times in 40 minutes before being suffering the ignomy of being subbed off before halftime. Fortunately, in the second half we spawn a goal from a Lee Clarke near-post header, but it really is against the run of play and it's no surprise when York score the only goal of extra time to take a 2-1 win and lift the trophy. Despite the defeat, the board are very pleased with our progress to the final, our cup win and our unexpected high finish in the league, so for once they're not moaning at me.
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Post by Sonic on May 4, 2008 22:51:10 GMT
A good season in the end, though disappointing that you missed out on the playoffs in the end. You do realise that you've left next season set up for the Board to moan big time at you.
KUTGW :thumb:
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Post by Boony on May 5, 2008 17:37:07 GMT
;zebra:
Unlucky dude, good luck next year! Any new players coming in? Any tactical changes in the midst?
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Post by Mr Bismarck's Electric Donkey on May 5, 2008 21:17:13 GMT
In short, yes and yes.
In long, I’m really starting to like the formation I’ve worked up now, but it clearly has problems. I feel that some of the problems are down to my mistakes within the design, but some of them are down to the players just not being good enough too.
I’m not fond of formations with “empty” midfields but I wanted to come up with a way to always try to have two or three options for the guy on the ball and the diamond with a DMC and AMC seemed to be the best way to force bad players into passing triangles. It’s still a work in progress though.
On the personnel side, the biggest problem is at right back where we’ve never really had an answer. Craig Duxbury is a youth who flattered to deceive and John Kyriacou is nice to have around because he’s an “RL” but he’s not fooling anyone into thinking we’ve got the next Paolo Maldini. For the second half of last season I took to playing converted MR Hassan Sulaiman back there, but that was hardly ideal.
We’ve also got problems in the middle, where we appear to have some promise but it also seems that we haven’t a single good partnership of two defenders who bring out the best in eachother. We’re slow too, which is causing problems against some teams, (like Crawley), who just have too much speed for us to deal with, which means situations that should be dealt with easily end up turning into a drama.
Tom Roberts looks like he’ll turn into a good DC, but he’s taking time to develop and it’s possible we’ll get promoted beyond his progression, meaning he’ll always be slightly disappointing. Aside from him, Ben Martin, Gary Elphick and Reiss Noel are all big and cumbersome.
Marcel McKie is the only defender I’m happy in and he could do so much more if I just had faith in my centrebacks, as he’s not bad going forward down the wing.
In front of them, the DM is still unsettled, because Seeby isn’t good enough and converted MC Chris Lines is still learning the position.
On the plus side, behind this shaky defence we’ve got Dave Wilkinson who played out of his skin last season and still ended up with the worst goals-against record in the top ten. If I could put a solid unit in front of him, we could be bullet proof.
Out wide, Medi Elito is good, if frustrating, but Junior Harvey isn’t the long-term answer on the left. Through the middle, Kaid Mohamed looks the business, but the way our forwards went off the boil last year is troubling. Charles Ademeno repaid my faith to finish as the team’s top scorer, but Rob Dale collapsed. Behind them, Lee Clarke is a savvy veteran, but Tom Webb is too easily controlled and Mooski-wunderkind David Connelly looks a bit lost when he gets a run in the first team.
Of course, all of this is a bit like waking up next to Kylie and then moaning that you didn’t get her sister too, because we did finish sixth, although that was mostly because we went through periods were either Dale or Ademeno were impossible to stop.
Neither has quite reached “French Horn” status, but few do.
With all these alleged weaknesses I’ve spent a ton of time this off-season scouring the free agent markets. I got tired of elth and sonic sending me the same suggestions every week, (though was amused when sonic suggest Neil Lennon as a player with potential), so I had them scouting the youth leagues for three months to get an idea of who’s good and who isn’t, so I can sit, vulture-like, above the teams in the summer, getting ready to swoop down on anyone good, (or not so good), who’s released on a free.
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Post by Mr Bismarck's Electric Donkey on May 5, 2008 21:31:56 GMT
Just a bit of stuff to clear up after the season. First off, the fans announced our best eleven : Briggs was a loaner in from Fulham, while Arthur came in from parent club QPR. And from the amusing files : Newcastle paid £12.4m for AMR Santana and he played 21 times for a cracking 6.12 average, one goal and one assist. He's now "UNH" and "wants to leave the club immediately."
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Post by Sonic on May 6, 2008 1:12:31 GMT
That's last screenie has eerie similarities to my last season, with a Middlesbrough player being top scorer and Mario Santana among the worst signings but not at Newcastle. I think. Neil Lennon has potential :thumb:
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