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To show how much this is a spreadsheet game could you show off the ref stats and ratings screen? I presume they still have it in this version? Anyway, good going. Top of the league and with a good shout to win it. Far less players whining about wanting to play for a bigger club now. 
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Jun 6, 2014 10:00
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Reminder of life before Brown: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYFVA5V8zrg
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Jun 7, 2014 18:06
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Chapter the Sixth: I'll be home for Christmas. December 18, 2021-January 9, 2022 For once our Christmas holiday schedule doesn't feature a bunch of big clubs looking to beat our faces in. Each game is away, but with some luck we should take all 12 points. And there's no way we should have trouble with a club like Middlesborough in the FA Cup. So the real fun is going to be seeing how I pooch it.  If you think so.  Let's hope this works better than the Mejasic link did. Those two still don't like each other. I'm sure it has something to do with their attitudes, and in retrospect I think I probably should have only had Mujkic tutor El Juez on the field as I don't want to change his “Model Professional” personality. It's one of the two best possible personalities, along with “Resolute.” Mujkic, by comparison, is “Ambitious,” which means I've been a pretty awesome manager to keep him happy here as long as I have.  Maybe they've finally caught up to the fact that we're atop the table and should thus be on TV more than the few times a year we're playing a megabastard? At Queens Park Rangers, December 21, 2021 Premier League  It's a first place vs. last place match-up. It'll be a huge upset if QPR can scratch any type of result even in front of their own fans. That goes doubly so as we're playing our first team. Starting Formation: 4-2-3-1 Control Starting 11: Kovacevic, Cirjak (c), Feruga, Todd, Mejasic, Morvan, Petts, Nieddu, Shirra, Mujkic, Bastable. Subs: El Sayed, O'Hanlon, Laux, Mair, Julio, Taborda, Cardozo. Things go poorly for newly promoted QPR immediately. An overlapping run by Cirjak to the byline frees Nieddu in the penalty area, where he deftly avoids two defenders and passes to a wide open Bastable. The Bastard has to backpedal to reach the pass, but still hits it as he's running backwards with enough force to get it past the keeper. 91 seconds have elapsed on the clock. Eight minutes later a perfect cross from Nieddu to Bastable sees the Bastard head it into the post. The keeper bites and sprawls for, it leaving the net unguarded when the rebound comes right back to Rocky for a tap in. Ten minutes later Mateo Mujkic makes it three-nil with yet another free kick goal, he's been killing it from dead ball situations this season and as a team we've got as many goals from dead ball situations as I can remember having in every other season I've managed Wrexham combined. Queens Park Rangers do catch us napping at the 25 minute mark to pull one back, I guess we'd assumed that they were just going to let us run up the score on them. No matter, Bastable has his hat trick before a third of the game has even been played, this time it's Mateo Mujkic from the other flank delivering a perfect ball to his Ozzie partner. The fight seems well and truly out of the home team for the rest of the half, and it shows when they fail to get back and defend a ball that The Golden Boy plays into the penalty area and Mujkic outhustles everyone to reach. Meteor puts it just inside the far post and beyond the reach of the shattered keeper to make it five-one at 37 minutes. The second half is desultory, with more chances but no more goals with no additional goals. QPR might have made it slightly more interesting if they could finish, our defense got a little lazy in the final 20 minutes of the match, but they couldn't make anything of their chances while we were surgical in the first half. This is exactly the sort of win we should be racking up against relegation bait. Man of the Match: Rocky Bastable   QPR 1-5 Wrexham    Glad that the world is finally noticing us. We've built an offensive juggernaut, the club is on pace to score over 100 goals in the league this season. Wrexham Club Christmas Party Racecourse Grounds 8pm, December 24, 2021 (THE COACH opens the door to the blustery outside, welcoming in a SHORT MAN who seems somehow familiar)  : The prodigal returns, hey? : Hah. Hi to you too, coach. Sorry about everything, it's kind of embarrassing to come back like this.: Stop it. You're a club legend. “The Cheat Code.” We named an upgrade of the Youth Barn after you. You'll always have a home with us.: Yeah, I know... Still...(MUJKIC and SHIRRA enter the room, and look up at the two standing by the door)  : Well I'll be stuffed! Bailey! You're a sight for sore eyes! What're you doin' here?: Hey Mateo! I'm, uh, back with the team. : For real and true?: Yep.: Oh boy! This is the best Christmas ever!(End scene on freeze frame as MUJKIC, SHIRRA, and BAILEY all jump and high five)    You're a professional, you need to your job. We signed you as a backup, and what would the point of having a backup be if we loaned them out?  Aboard the yacht Caelum Umbram 10am, December 26, 2021 : Remember, this is all for naught if they cancel the deal before the transfer window is open. We need to keep them in a state of disarray for as long as possible. My man on the inside said that things are almost back to normal, even if they just lost the Club World Cup to Flamengo. : You worry too much. Cielo Shadowing has people who have people in Cartagena who could trick a Deutchebank analyst.: That doesn't reassure me that much, Deutchebank still is recovering from the property bubble they accidentally inflated on the Baltic Sea. “The New Mediterranean after Global Warming” they said!: Ok, ok, fine. They're Goldman guys.: Well why didn't you say so? Just make sure they get their cut. The last thing we need is for them to unleash the vampire squids.: I've got all of that in an escrow account, I don't want to be woken up in the middle of the night by the cold prick of a blood funnel snuffling around for my money.(Both men shudder, and look down at their drinks as the camera pans to the water) At Aston Villa, December 26, 2021 Premier League  An opponent with a positive goal differential? We'll have to do something about that. Time to punch out some lights on Boxing Day. Starting Formation: 4-2-3-1 Control Starting 11: Kovacevic, Cirjak (c), Laux, Todd, Mejasic, Mair, Petts, Argenti, Shirra, Taborda, Bastable. Subs: El Sayed, Feruga, O'Hanlon, Dixon, Nieddu, Mujkic, Cardozo. Another game where we put our opponent into a hammerlock but let them squirm away without any damage. Still, I'm going to take the positive outlook here, Villa are extremely lucky to have kept it nil-nil in the first half. If we play the same way that we did in the first, we'll win going away. My confidence is well rewarded, we take the lead when Bastable scores in the fifty-third minute on a cross from Taborda, and we're on track for the win as Aston Villa still have not gotten anything going of their own. As we enter stoppage time I would like to have scored more goals, but our perfomance was good and I'm already planning my post-game talk when Villa finds a literal last minute equalizer to steal a point. The result, and the fact that we've a game in hand over most teams due to the rescheduling of our Manchester United tilt, pushes us out of first place. The team talk is quite a bit more off the cuff and has quite a few more curse words in it than you might have expected when we reached 90 minutes.   Aston Villa 1-1 Wrexham  Yes, best not to leave Shirra out of the accolades. That whole front four is a cohesive, awesome unit at this point. I'll keep adding players for depth, another quality wide player on the right would be nice to protect against something happening to Nieddu, but this is a good enough offensive unit at this point to beat anyone. Nieddu is the newest addition, and he's been at the club a year and a half, meaning that they're all very comfortable playing next to each other and can anticipate what their teammates will do early.  Mejasic is proving that he can still contribute in his limited role, but I may start keeping him on my bench if I ever need someone taken out of the game on the opposition side. Send him in, set him to man mark the target, and turn his tackling all the way up. They'll hear the screams all the way up in Liverpool. At Everton, December 28, 2021 Premier League  The last time we played Everton we crushed them in every statistic but goals. They stole a point from us in Wrexham, it's time to take all three available from Goodison Park. Starting Formation: 4-2-3-1 Control Starting 11: El Sayed, Cirjak (c), Feruga, Todd, Suslov, Morvan, Shirra, Nieddu, Julio, Mujkic, Cardozo. Subs: Kovacevic, Mejasic, O'Hanlon, Dixon, Petts, Matko, Aarts. As the clock wends towards 45 minutes we've been the better side, but it's El Sayed who kept us from going behind with a great save. Then, with a minute left in regulation Todd scores his fifth goal of the season from a set piece, and silences the previously raucous Evertonian crowd. In the second half I keep pressing for a second goal. I don't want to put us in the same position we were against Aston Villa, where victory can be nipped away from us at the last second. After eighty minutes of effort, our fluid one touch passing unlocks the Everton defense and a bomb off of Cardozo's foot gives us the two goal advantage. We turn out not to have needed it, but we're fairly lucky not to concede. It's still a deserved win, and gives us seven points out of nine so far in our four game road trip before our final jaunt to Swansea. Man of the Match: Chris Todd   Everton 0-2 Wrexham  Only a few youth players are approaching the end of their current contracts, but in the upcoming window I'm going to be poking around to see if I can't find more depth.  But poking doesn't mean purchasing. There's a good chance we're going to be quiet for the second winter in a row as I'm not sure if there's anything worth buying out there.  Our goal remains ostensibly the same, though I'm mainly setting our aim low to make sure Board confidence remains very high and I can get them to do what I want when the real board makes their votes.   It's pretty easy to run up impressive stats when your home league has half a dozen real teams and nothing else. The top players in La Liga and Ligue 1 regularly have much higher ratings than the ones in the Premier League, not because they're better players but because even the best Premier League teams have four or five away matches each year where they're more likely to draw or lose than they are to win. For Barcelona and Real Madrid, there's only a couple of matches like that. For PSG, there's none.  That's more like it.  Bullroar, that trophy belongs to Shirra. I don't care, he's still our Golden Boy. None of our players made the World XI either, which is crazy considering we had four players on the Premier League team of the year last season and are on pace to have most of our starting 11 on the team this season.  Arsenal know how amazing Shirra is, they just tabled an offer of £47,000,000 for him. That would be the biggest transfer since the game began, the next largest was the £44,000,000 that Real Madrid dropped for Mattias Mercado in the summer of 2014. I refuse this offer for two reasons. First, only half of it is up front while the rest is to be delivered in £2m increments for a year. Second, Scott Shirra at age 21 is already the second best number 10 in the Premier League, and probably one of the ten best in the world. I did not build this team up from scratch just to play FM Tottenham.  I mean, I'd be selling the man with the best average rating in the entire league. Yes, £47m is a gigantic amount of money, but it wouldn't afford us a player as good as Shirra, especially not one who's been with the club for five years now and ranks as our second or third longest tenured player (depending on how you count Bailey's years with the team).  No. And before you ask, you can't have Bastable either. An offer was also made by a Spanish club for Feruga, but they refused to negotiate when I asked for £8.5m. I'm not in the mood to sell off pieces midseason, and when megabastards try to raid my squad it just makes me even more hesitant to make a deal. At Swansea, January 3, 2022 Premier League, Welsh Derby  We're coming into the second leg of the Welsh derby three points back of Arsenal with two games in hand. Poor Swansea are in the relegation zone, with Liverpool above them and West Brom below. It's possible that two years after having three Welsh Premier League teams we'll be back down to one. Starting Formation: 4-2-3-1 Control Starting 11: Kovacevic, Cirjak (c), Laux, Feruga, Suslov, Mair, Petts, Nieddu, Shirra, Mujkic, Bastable. Subs: El Sayed, Mejasic, O'Hanlon, Morvan, Julio, Taborda, Cardozo. It's a moment to remember for our captain Tonci Cirjak after he lets fly from 20 meters out and bags his first goal in three years 150 seconds into the game. The Golden Boy wants to show Europe what they're missing, and adds to our lead in the 13th minute, and then bags the second goal of his brace seven minutes later when the Swans venture forward to try and create some offense. Swansea finally gets a good chance a few minutes later, but we sprint right back up the pitch and Meteor's silky first touch allows him to create a narrow angle chance of his own. He doesn't miss. Then, to add insult to injury, he scores again less than ninety seconds later on a carbon copy of his previous goal, and Swansea are looking completely at sea. Not to be outdone, Shirra is making his case for the 2022 Golden Boy already, completing his first half hat trick in under 32 minutes. We take our foot off the pedal then and Swansea are able to buckle down and look better than a team that gave up six goals in just over half an hour, but when all is said and done we walk out of their stadium with a gargantuan victory that can leave no doubt in any mind which team is the greatest in all of Wales. Man of the Match: Scott Shirra   Swansea 0-6 Wrexham  These are the goals we've scored and allowed in our last 35 matches, which goes back to our friendly against Chester. The biggest shock is the six goals from free kicks, in some previous years we didn't have a single goal from a free kick. The other surprise is how few goals we're now scoring on headers, we used to rely heavily on them and now they're just 12% of our total.  For a team playing a possession based short passing game we have a ton of assists from crosses. Nieddu and Mujkic are so good at getting up the wings and Bastable is such a great target in the box that it adds another layer of danger to our attack. Any opponent who ventures so far forward as to create some space behind them risks getting burned by our speed on the wings. Then as the defenders have to vacate the penalty area to close down Nieddu and Mujkic, both of whom are dangerous from range, the slightly slower to accelerate Bastable (13 Acceleration, 16 Pace) will naturally arrive onside just as the cross arrives.  We also are excellent at jumping all over other teams early. We've outscored our opposition 59-14 in the first half. That advantage drops to 41-20 in the second half, a sign that we get a bit complacent after running up large leads. That bears out what I'd noticed while watching the games, opposing teams tend to find sustained bursts of success against us at the start of the second half and at some point in the final twenty minutes. It usually doesn't matter, they're often so far behind that even two goals wouldn't help them, but it can bite us in the rear end if the game is close, for example when we played Aston Villa.  Stoke's Relu Danilescu must have had the game of his life to beat out Mateo Mujkic for that left wing spot this week. Mujkic had two goals against Swansea!  Our loaners are having varied seasons. Novotny certainly isn't looking like much of a prospect if he can't do better than that in League One, and Doug Harley is doing miserably on relegation bound Tackleford. But Stacy Newman and Marc Jansen are having good years, and at the very least increasing their sale price.  Penalty kick shootouts apparently don't count as losses, because City hasn't won the League Cup four years straight coming into this year. Two years ago they lost on a shootout to Derby in the 4th round. That doesn't change the fact that they've won 23 matches and only lost one.  At the Old Trafford Offices 4 pm, January 5, 2022 (SKY SHADOWING, disguised with A MONOCLE is leaving a meeting about the purchase of MANCHESTER UNITED, turns a corner, and runs directly into UNITED MANAGER RYAN MCLEOD) : (patting himself down for his popped monocle) Good heavens, my apologies old chap. : Not a problem. Hey, don't I know you from somewhere else?: (replacing the monocle) No! Certainly not!: You look familiar...: You must be mistaken. But I am behind the group of investors interested in purchasing this team.: That must be how I know you. Do you have some time? I'd like to talk to you about the future of the club, vis a vis my contract and your plans.: Terribly sorry old bean, truly, but the markets in... err... Kuala Lumpur are just opening and I have a futures deal in bat guano I need to lock down.(SKY SHADOWING scarpers away, leaving a bemused MCLEOD behind)  Go and vote, you Sheeple! Exercise your franchise!  Aboard the Yacht Caelum Umbram 6pm, January 7, 2022 (SKY SHADOWING and THE COACH are relaxing on the back of SKY SHADOWING's yacht, enjoying glasses of a brown liquor) : And so that's why I had to pull the ripcord. Couldn't risk my cover getting blown.: It's OK, you did good work. Now it's back to soccer, for the both of us.: You wouldn't by chance be willing to go easy on us when we play in three weeks, hmm?: You'll just have to wait and see. But I wouldn't count on it.(THE COACH and SKY SHADOWING raise their glasses and clink them together)  Oh, hi, boss. I wasn't telling the club members to vote against you... just that they should go vote. I'm a huge believer in turning out the vote, regardless of the topic. vs. Middlesbrough, January 8, 2022 FA Cup, Third Round  It's time to start our title defense. It's also time to see an old face in the lineup, Middlesbrough is a middling Championship Team and Bailey was perfectly capable of playing well at that level, so there's no reason he can't handle midfield duties today. Starting Formation: 4-2-3-1 Control Starting 11: El Sayed, Cirjak (c), O'Hanlon, Todd, Mejasic, Dixon, Bailey, Matko, Taborda, Cardozo, Aarts. Subs: Kovacevic, Suslov, Alvaro, Julio, Rouissi, Argenti, De Blasio. Our backups are now at the point where they would be a midtable Premier League team in their own right, but they're not playing like one. Middlesbrough is playing like they have nothing to lose, pressing us hard and making us look sloppy and downright bad. It pays off for them when they score in the 32nd minute. Still, quality eventually shows out. We equalize from range thanks to Rodrigo Taborda, who intercepted a terrible long kick from the corner area by the keeper and redirected it into the back of the net before the keeper could get back in front of goal. Then we go ahead thanks to another shot from range by Taborda, coming after a cynical defensive play where he was hacked down from behind on the edge of the penalty box to avoid a clear goal scoring opportunity. We're only given a free kick, but Taborda does his Mujkic impression and we've got the lead with 15 minutes to play. It's enough to get us the victory after another save by El Sayed, but we had to work much harder than should have been necessary. Every starter of ours was superior to theirs by a country mile from a talent standpoint, and they still played us straight up without looking any worse for the comparison. Other than Taborda and El Sayed none of the backups made an argument for more playing time. Man of the Match: Rodrigo Taborda   Wrexham 2-1 Middlesbrough  If it's Derby, well, we thrashed Derby 6-0 in their house six weeks ago. If it's Coventry, we get to play a lower league opponent again. It won't be as nice as getting one of the League One or Two squads, but it's easy enough that we'll be continuing our Cup defense come February.  Sure, dropping the points from Aston Villa at the last second wasn't fun, but we took 10 points from four away matches. And sure, we should have done much better against Middlebrough, but we still walked away with the win. We're pouring on goals, our players are by any objective standard among the best in the league, and we've got Justin Bailey back. It's a good time to be a Wrexham fan. 
habeasdorkus fucked around with this message at 21:44 on Jun 7, 2014 |
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Jun 7, 2014 19:43
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It's the Icon, the Showstopper, the Headliner, the Cheat Code, Justin Bailey and he's back! What a wondrous occasion. 
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Jun 7, 2014 20:09
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Hooray, Bailey's back! If I were to win the guessing contest (not very likely at this point, hooray Wrexham), I would follow that one fan trust interlude and give him super-stats for a season. You can't mention evil steroids and not follow up on it. 
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Jun 7, 2014 20:28
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Nondevor posted:Hooray, Bailey's back! If I were to win the guessing contest (not very likely at this point, hooray Wrexham), I would follow that one fan trust interlude and give him super-stats for a season. You can't mention evil steroids and not follow up on it. My idea was was pretty cheesy and involved him getting stronger after returning to EuroDisney and the South Pole to destroy the rest of Disney's abominations. Besides, I'm pretty sure that sending someone to EuroDisney makes them better. We sent Shirra and the Meteor there and look where they are now! Also, is Vincent Tan still in charge of Cardiff? If not they should change back to their old kit now the Wrexham is the best Welsh team and one of the best teams in the world. Dreamsicle fucked around with this message at 20:41 on Jun 7, 2014 |
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Jun 7, 2014 20:39
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Nondevor posted:Hooray, Bailey's back! If I were to win the guessing contest (not very likely at this point, hooray Wrexham), I would follow that one fan trust interlude and give him super-stats for a season. You can't mention evil steroids and not follow up on it.
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Jun 7, 2014 20:50
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Yay for Bailey being back! I know he hasnt got the stats for this level, but I hope he can make a good account of himself in the games he does get to play (or can 'work hard' to improve himself...) Btw there was two little mistakes in this update, you said the score was five-nil in the QPR game after theyd already scored, and after the Everton game the '7 from 9 points from four games' is obviously a bit off.
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Jun 7, 2014 20:56
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Well it is a pleasure to see Bailey back, even if I can't skive him away to Colwyn Bay now. So when can you get a breakdown on a player's potential coaching stats? Is there just a certain age-point when they receive them or do you have to single them out and send them on a coaching course?
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Jun 7, 2014 21:14
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Bailey  Did he return with his original stats, or has he been... augmented
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Jun 7, 2014 22:32
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Arsenal are trying to ferret out Shirra? This is the last straw. Destroy them.
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Jun 8, 2014 01:42
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Just thought I'd mentioned that you missed a bet when naming a facility after Justin Bailey. It should have been the Justin Bailey Swim Center and Aquatherapy Clinic.
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Jun 8, 2014 01:53
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AJ_Impy posted:Arsenal are trying to ferret out Shirra? This is the last straw. Everyone wants Shirra. He's not interested. As if developing youth players wasn't already awesome enough in that they're cheaper and better than what you can sign from other teams or free transfers, after 2-3 years they start looking up to you as
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Jun 8, 2014 02:48
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steinrokkan posted:Bailey He's still Bailey. I'm not making changes to anything ingame without the order of the board and/or the granting of a boon. In Bailey's case he's going to still be a massive overachiever (6.7 and 6.8 ratings in two cup games so far) but I won't change his numbers until acted upon by an outside force. The fans were ecstatic to have him back, btw. They take a wait and see attitude to most of my signings, they don't trust that I know what I'm doing, but when Bailey came back they were gleeful. habeasdorkus fucked around with this message at 02:55 on Jun 8, 2014 |
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Jun 8, 2014 02:53
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Nondevor posted:You can't mention evil steroids and not follow up on it. That's being worked on.
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Jun 8, 2014 03:00
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habeasdorkus posted:He's still Bailey. I'm not making changes to anything ingame without the order of the board and/or the granting of a boon. In Bailey's case he's going to still be a massive overachiever (6.7 and 6.8 ratings in two cup games so far) but I won't change his numbers until acted upon by an outside force. I'd almost rather we like him retire and pump his trainer stats if need be.
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Jun 8, 2014 07:21
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habeasdorkus posted:Everyone wants Shirra. He's not interested. As if developing youth players wasn't already awesome enough in that they're cheaper and better than what you can sign from other teams or free transfers, after 2-3 years they start looking up to you as The fact that Shirra is loyal as he should be is no reason to give leeway to Arsenal's temerity in trying to underhandedly unsettle us during our title push. Arsenal should be destroyed and must be destroyed.
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Jun 8, 2014 08:33
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habeasdorkus posted:Meanwhile, he might be the best player in the Fixed that for you Sir.
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Jun 8, 2014 18:45
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Chapter the Seventh: In the fifth minute of three minutes of stoppage time. January 9, 2022-February 2, 2022 We've had several off days recently, so it's obviously time to pick up the pace with two games a week through the end of the month. I'm hoping for anything but a draw in the FA Cup match, a replay added to the schedule would be cruel even by big league standards. We don't have any Champions League fixtures to worry about, though, those won't pick back up until the end of February when the knockout rounds begin. After these last few weeks on the road we're going to be at home for five of our six matches, hopefully that will allow us to build a lead atop the table.  That's the second time this game has gotten moved back, Manchester United couldn't deal with a feisty Liverpool squad at Anfield the first time around, so they'll have a go again in a week at Old Trafford. It means we get Manchester United, Tottenham, Chelsea, and Manchester City all in an eleven day period. Won't that be fun. vs. Blackburn Rovers, January 11, 2022 Premier League  This is our third and likely final against the Rovers, the results have ranged from dominant in the form of a 5-2 away win back in August and narrowly escaping in a 1-0 extra time victory in the League Cup. Given the players we're running out I'm expecting more of the former than the latter this time around. Starting Formation: 4-2-3-1 Control Starting 11: Kovacevic, Cirjak (c), Laux, Feruga, Suslov, Morvan, Petts, Nieddu, Shirra, Mujkic, Bastable. Subs: El Sayed, Mejasic, O'Hanlon, Mair, Julio, Matko, Cardozo. Nieddu has a goal called back in the fifth minute, so we have to wait all of eleven to take the lead when Petts gets up and heads in a Meteor cross. Blackburn bounce right back when granted a penalty after Mujkic challenges for the ball at the edge of the area. Nothing I can see says it was ever a penalty, the announcers agree, the players are barking at the ref, and the ref was forty yards away when he made the call. It doesn't matter, the game is tied at one-all. After taking the game back to level Blackburn doing a good job pressuring us and not letting us have possession, I respond by launching the players into a more uptempo attacking game. It pays off when Nieddu finds Bastable for our second goal two minutes before the half. That's the last goal we'll see, as Blackburn's defense continues to deny us chances, though Cirjak does make the entire goal shudder with a salvo from range in the second half. That doesn't mean the game is without further controversy, Blackburn hacks down Woj Feruga in the 56th minute, causing an injury that will keep him out almost two weeks, and yet the ref keeps his cards pocketed. He's given out two yellow cards to our players and none to Blackburn. He adds to that by sending Oleg Suslov off with a second yellow with mere minutes remaining, and then appears to try to give us a make-up call two minutes later by sending off a Rover for a two footed tackle that was clearly going for the ball. We win the match, despite additional challenge imposed by the ref, opening up up a three point lead on Arsenal and a four point lead on Man City. Man of the Match: Richard Petts   Wrexham 2-1 Blackburn  I was all set to rage about this in my post game press conference, but they didn't ask me about it. Stupid reporters, you missed the biggest story of the match! vs. Stoke City, January 15, 2022 Premier League  Stoke are in 7th place and still alive in the Europa League. They're acquitting themselves nicely once again, the last three years have seen quite a bit of achievement for a club of their stature. We've got a week off before our next match, so most of the rotation comes from Mejasic taking over for the suspended Suslov and Todd replacing the dinged up Feruga. Starting Formation: 4-2-3-1 Control Starting 11: Kovacevic, Cirjak (c), Laux, Todd, Mejasic, Mair, Petts, Nieddu, Shirra, Mujkic, Bastable. Subs: El Sayed, Dixon, O'Hanlon, Morvan, Julio, Taborda, Cardozo. There's nothing doing in the first half as we battle with Stoke through driving rain, they're preventing us from getting any good looks at the goal. When play resumes they score immediately and take the one-nil lead. We keep pressing, unlike the last game the ref is very lenient on us as we hack down first one Stoke man and then another on our way to racking up 25 fouls. It looks bleak despite all our dominance, and we appear bound for defeat until just seconds from the death. Rocky Bastable is able to flick on a long ball forty yards from the goal that the Golden Boy runs onto and squeezes by the keeper at 2 minutes and 54 seconds into the three minutes of stoppage time. He provides the sole ray of light on an otherwise dreary day where we had ten times the number of shots as our opponents but the same number of goals.   Wrexham 1-1 Stoke  We're almost at world class facilities now, another two rounds of upgrades ought to do it. Then we'll just have to upgrade once every few years to maintain top of the line equipment.  We're probably going to be on TV quite a bit in the upcoming crush of games against our title opponents. Tottenham isn't a real title contender at this point, but they're only six points off a Champions League spot.  Coming back for another paddling so soon? vs. Derby County, January 22, 2022 FA Cup, Fourth Round  Less than two months ago we were in Derby, and we won 6-0. Now that we're at home I expect another good performance, even if we aren't playing our whole first team. Starting Formation: 4-2-3-1 Control Starting 11: El Sayed, Cirjak (c), Laux, Feruga, Suslov, Morvan, Bailey, Matko, Shirra, Taborda, Cardozo. Subs: Kovacevic, Mejasic, O'Hanlon, Mair, Julio, Mujkic, Aarts. In the ninth minute it looks as if Rodrigo Taborda has scored a goal of the year candidate from a free kick near the midfield line, but it's called back for Matko challenging the keeper as the ball arrived at the goal line. Taborda gets another chance soon after, and this time there's no doubting the validity of the goal. The lead only holds for five minutes, as Cirjak gets robbed in our third of the field and Derby converts on the ensuing one on one with El Sayed. The rest of the match is a steady effort from our squad, as we plug away at the Derby defense. It results in a second goal at the 82nd minute from the Golden Boy courtesy service for Mujkic, who came on as a sub at the hour mark. Shirra then assists on an El Juez goal to put us up 3-0 two minutes later, but Derby immediately cut the lead back to one when Ibrahim El Sayed makes a huge mistake and puts the ball into his own net when trying to corral a corner just before stoppage time. There's one more goal in the game, and it's Shirra again. He shows great anticipation and intercepts a long pass from the Derby left back, skipping in front of the intended recipient. He puts it away and we're back up two. After working hard for 80 minutes we finally broke down our opponent and it would have been a complete rout but for El Sayed's howler. Man of the Match: The Golden Boy, Scott Shirra   Wrexham 4-2 Derby  We'll see if we can avoid disappointment against Aston Villa. If we get past Villa we can hope to face the League One team in the Sixth Round as Burton and Bradford were drawn against each other. Bradford sold Stuart Simpson to Birmingham, which is disappointing as it would have been neat to play against him.  I think you're going to see me drop some serious cash this March to replenish our youth squad, since I can't find good value for money right now. I've spotted two players I'd like to sign for our first team, but Fulham isn't willing to sell a great teenage right back and Man United want £40m for blossoming right winger Shahed Parr. At Southampton, January 25, 2022 Premier League  You've been a quiet sugar daddy, Sky Shadowing. Southampton's salary is 7th in the league, but nowhere near that of even Liverpool, and your transfer spending is only about £10m pounds. Starting Formation: 4-2-3-1 Control Starting 11: Kovacevic, Cirjak (c), Laux, Todd, Mejasic, Mair, Petts, Nieddu, Taborda, Mujkic, Bastable. Subs: El Sayed, Suslov, O'Hanlon, Dixon, Julio, Matko, Cardozo. Southampton match us stride for stride, making better chances than we are after 30 minutes despite granting us possession. In response I switch to the counter. Tonci Cirjak is red carded after a dive by the Southampton player, it does not look like a red card worthy offense from what I saw. The Bastard tries his best to win us the game but can't get a shot past the keeper, and when he does just before the hour mark he's flagged offside. Mujkic has the final chance to score, but pegs it off the woodwork from 10 meters out and we finish with a goalless draw. It's the first time in months where we were held scoreless, leaving us 3 points back of Manchester City with a game in hand.   Southampton 0-0 Wrexham  Well, if my rear end Man thinks he was wrong, I can't really argue. Part of the problem is the match engine is terrible at showing you exactly what happened on a foul, in this case it looked like Cirjak committed a foul but not one that deserved more than a yellow. He was behind the other player, but didn't even leave his feet and the contact seemed minor.  At least we'll be well compensated for playing the big clubs. vs. Tottenham Hotspur, January 29, 2022 Premier League  The gauntlet begins! By the time it ends on February 8th we'll have played the first, fourth, fifth, and sixth placed teams. Three of the matches are in Wales, but none of them will be easy. Starting Formation: 4-2-3-1 Control Starting 11: Kovacevic, Mejasic, Todd, Feruga (c), Suslov, Morvan, Shirra, Matko, Julio, Taborda, Bastable. Subs: El Sayed, Laux, O'Hanlon, Dixon, Bailey, Mujkic, Cardozo. The Bastard goes to work quickly, redirecting a Taborda cross with his head into the goal at 36 seconds. He adds another by slipping his to attack the near post on a corner for an easy goal fourteen minutes later. Spurs are being made to look like, well, Spurs, and that's no more obvious when Taborda scores another free kick golazo before the opening thirty minutes are through. Tottenham bring on a replacement right back to try and staunch the bleeding at the half, but he gets sent off minutes after the restart and we've a man advantage for 40 minutes. That contributes to an own goal by Tottenham's keeper 64 minutes, the poor sap punched a Matko shot straight up in the air to keep it out of the net only to watch it land and spin back over the goal line. The only negative, and it's a significant one, is Suslov getting sent off again in stoppage time for the second time in his last three games. I'm going to need to punish him this time in order to prevent this from being an ongoing problem. Man of the Match: Rocky Bastable   Wrexham 4-0 Tottenham     I should have come down on him like a sack of bricks for his first offense. In his second game back from his suspension he picked up another two yellow cards. At this rate I'm going to have to play Mujkic at left back if Mejasic has to miss one of the next two games when he inevitably picks up cards.  He's only 30% of the way to the actual record of 175 league goals and 201 total goals, set by local legend Tommy Bamford from 1928 through 1934. Bamford was a prodigious scorer, and left Wrexham for Manchester United where he racked up 57 goals in 109 appearances over four years. Bastable has a shot at catching Bamford. He's just entering his prime at 25 years old, is one of the two best strikers in the Premier League and among the top ten in the world, fits our strategy perfectly as a tall and strong fellow who our wingers can target on crosses, and is cheaper than anyone who might be better than him. Who'd have thought that one Australian/British coach would have given us a pipeline to two world class players, or that no one else noticed his talent when he was toiling for a team in the Qatari league. Him and Mujkic are the reason I playing Lower League manager, the latter essentially fell into my lap and the former makes me feel like a talent scouting genius.  On the final day of the window offers were tabled for Cirjak (£23m from Real Madrid and Manchester City), Nieddu (£29m from PSG), and Mujkic (£47m from Barcelona and Arsenal). They're all quickly withdrawn when I demand £60m for each. Some of the teams don't get the hint, I'm looking at you Arsenal and PSG, and keep submitting offers all through the final hours of the window before I up my asking price to £200m.  I have mixed feelings about this new feature. In the past players could only get upset when you refused to sell them to a megabastard. Now they have the option for their agents to try and finagle them a new deal. It's better than the player just getting upset, but it's still irritating. I haven't had cause to ask my player to fire their agent yet, my relationships with one hasn't deteriorated to the point where we're not on speaking terms. Regardless, as Meteor just signed a new deal to become our highest paid player last summer I tell his agent to get lost.  If they hadn't been filing 11th hour offers, I'd have been more amenable to negotiating. Not that I necessarily would sell any of these players had they started asking ten days ago, but I'm not going to leave a gaping hole in my team twelve hours before the transfer window closes just because megabastards start flashing literal tons of cash at me.  For once I'm not upset about someone else winning the manager of the month award. That's a good run of results for the Citizens, and one we didn't quite match. vs. Manchester United, February 1, 2022 Premier League  It's our biggest test of the season thus far. We're tired, but we're at home and in first place. We're going to need to dig deep to keep it that way. Starting Formation: 4-2-3-1 Control Starting 11: Kovacevic, Cirjak (c), Laux, Todd, Mejasic, Mair, Petts, Nieddu, Shirra, Mujkic, Bastable. Subs: El Sayed, Feruga, O'Hanlon, Dixon, Bailey, Cardozo, Aarts. “This match is likely to have a massive say in where the title would end up” the announcer states at kickoff, and he's not wrong. Unfortunately for us, it's all Red Devils in the early going, starting with a Wrexham-esque goal in under three minutes. The ref is eager with the yellow cards, resulting in a slackening of our press, and it allows United to nab a second goal in the forty-third minute. Bastable pulls one back before halftime, and we've still got a chance to take something out of this match. We capitalize on that chance courtesy a hard working third chance goal from Petts in the 54th minute, and then Bastable gives us the lead when he crashes the near post on another corner ten minutes later. The glorious comeback is complete, but threatens to unravel when Cirjak picks up a second yellow card and gets sent off again. With Mejasic already in the game I'm forced to pull Mujkic back to the fullback position. United get too cocky up a man, and it's Rocky Bastable with his hat trick to give us a two goal lead. Will it hold up? It looks shaky when Man U answer with 10 minutes left in regulation, but at 89 minutes into the game the fourth official holds up three minutes of stoppage time. After those three minutes we're still up 4-3. After another two minutes of stoppage time, Manchester United get their equalizer. The whistle blows the game to an end immediately afterward. Apparently Fergie time didn't end with Sir Alex's retirement, and I'm flushed with anger at the officials for giving United all the time they needed to come back. Man of the Match: Rocky Bastable   Wrexham 4-4 Man United  That's not even close to the real record. Wrexham beat Hartlepool 10-1 back in 1962 and it was the first time in any English league football match that three hat tricks were recorded.     A falling out between captain and coach is not a good thing, but this is Cirjak's second red in his last two games and he needs to know that this behavior will not be tolerated. I've been too lenient on the players when they've picked up yellows, and it's starting to show. I've decided to take us out of our hard pressing game for a while, and if that isn't enough I'll set our tackling to soft.  We've only lost one game since our six game bad run of results, but we've still fallen out of the top spot in the Premier League. Things are only going to get harder from here. Not only do we still have Chelsea and Manchester City to play, but the Champions League resumes with a trip to Munich to play German megabastards Bayern. There's going to be no time to rest, no time to think, no time to do anything but react until we get to the March international break. Let's hope we're still in fighting shape when we get there. 
habeasdorkus fucked around with this message at 19:54 on Jun 9, 2014 |
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Jun 9, 2014 18:12
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So is there some hidden variable that tells the refs to screw the human player whenever possible?
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Jun 9, 2014 18:37
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 We've had Atkinson, Marriner, Swarbrick, and Jones send off players in the last update. Atkinson was given an awful 4.5 rating for sending off Cirjak and giving Man United all that extra time at the end. Marriner got a mediocre 7.1 rating from the Tottenham match. Swarbrick had an excellent 9.6 rating, meaning that Cirjak deserved the straight red he got against Southampton. Jones had a poor 6.3 rating for the Blackburn match where he sent off Suslov and gave Blackburn a penalty, both highly dubious decisions.
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Jun 9, 2014 19:01
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The Sandman posted:So is there some hidden variable that tells the refs to screw the human player whenever possible? Yeah, it's part of the charm really. To be fair, everything they model here happens in real football, e.g. certain refs being known for screwing over certain teams.
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Jun 9, 2014 19:08
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The Sandman posted:So is there some hidden variable that tells the refs to screw the human player whenever possible? We've had a bad run with refs. The prior update we had two matches reffed by Howard Webb, who earned a 4.6 and 5.7 rating in our Man City league cup loss and our FA Cup win over Middlesbrough. Part of the problem is that we're getting a reputation for being a hard tackling outfit, thanks to my orders for us to hassle opponents and win the ball back, and so we're not getting the benefit of the doubt that often. Part of it is that the refs are loving us over. I don't know exactly what effect reputation has on ref performances, but we're probably getting more screwed than we would if we were Manchester United or Chelsea. On the other hand, the worst rating of any ref came in the Stoke match where we got carded once despite injuring two Stoke players and running up 25 fouls, the ref in that match got a 3.0 rating. We also got off with some questionable tackles in our 6-0 match against Swansea, the ref in that match earned a 5.0 rating. Really, except for the 9.6 rating earned by the ref in the Southampton game, we've had substandard and lovely refereeing in our last dozen games. The next best is a 7.6 from our demolition of QPR. 7.6 is average for top level refs. habeasdorkus fucked around with this message at 19:22 on Jun 9, 2014 |
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Jun 9, 2014 19:12
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 Them again. Sneaky, underhanded, trying any dirty trick in the book to unsettle our players and wreck our title challenge, right up until the end of the window. Despicable, cowardly, and hateful. They need to be destroyed.
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Jun 9, 2014 19:16
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habeasdorkus posted:
Does Jones history say he used to ref American Football? Looks like he thinks fouls mean pull out the yellow thing still. 4 yellows per match?
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Jun 9, 2014 19:26
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AJ_Impy posted:They need to be destroyed. Just to be sure, we should get rid of the North of London entirely. 
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Jun 9, 2014 19:30
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A Tartan Tory posted:Just to be sure, we should get rid of the North of London entirely. If that what it takes, Aye! and I'll chase them up the Seven Sisters road, and round the North Circular, and round the Highbury Roundabout, and round perdition's flames before I give them up!
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Jun 9, 2014 20:19
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So I broke down and got this game, and I realize that even after reading this LP I still don't have any idea what to do, so how hosed am I?  Also I look forward to seeing how we do against Bayern FC, that should be a good game, hopefully.
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Jun 9, 2014 21:29
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AJ_Impy posted:
What did Arsenal do to your mom Aj_Impy? Why do you hate them so?
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Jun 9, 2014 23:53
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Chapter the Eighth: Discipline and punish. February 2, 2022-March 28, 2022 We start February once more aimed directly at the megabastards. If we can take four points from Manchester City and Chelsea we'll have done as well as we could have realistically hoped. After that our schedule should ease off, and we should be able to win games with more ease.  There's more than three months left in the season and he's already scored 21 league goals. The Premiership record for goals in a 38 game season is 31, well within reach. At Chelsea, February 5, 2022 Premier League  Chelsea are once again on the outside looking in for a Champion's League spot, and it's got their manager under a heap of pressure. AU-Abramovich hasn't won a title in seven years, and he's getting very impatient with Victor Romanchuk. They're five points back of fourth place Arsenal, and nine back of first place City, they need to beat us to climb back into contention with thirteen games remaining. Starting Formation: 4-2-3-1 Counter Starting 11: Kovacevic, Mejasic, Laux, Todd, Feruga (c), Mair, Morvan, Nieddu, Shirra, Taborda, Bastable. Subs: El Sayed, Mujkic, O'Hanlon, Dixon, Julio, Cardozo, Aarts. We can't get our shots on target in the early going, and the usually surehanded Kovacevic almost gives away a goal when he fumbles the ball, but he's able to crawl onto it before any Chelsea player can make us pay. We miss an opportunity when Bastable has the goal at his mercy, and you can feel the momentum shift as Chelsea steams right back down the field to take the lead in the 37th minute. They score again coming out of intermission and we've got a mountain to climb to salvage anything from this match. I make my tactical substitutions, bringing on El Juez for an out of sorts Bastable and putting Meteor at left back for Woj as we approach thirty minutes to play. It gets us a goal, El Juez scores on a Mujkic corner kick in the 82nd minute, but it might be too little too late. It isn't, we wrest a result in stoppage time when the Golden Boy flings his diminutive 5'8” body into the air to bonk a point blank header past the goalie. It's a narrow escape, and an excellent show of determination.   Chelsea 2-2 Wrexham   Qualifiers for the Euro 2024 championship are drawn months before the World Cup takes place this summer. England has an easy group while Wales will have to contend with a strong Holland and feisty Bosnian team. Scotland should walk into Euro 2024 without difficulty, they're grouped with minnows Iceland, Cyprus, and Armenia. The Danes represent their only real challenge. vs. Manchester City, February 8, 2022 Premier League  Man City are in first place, four points up on us. Winning here will cut that lead to a point, a draw will hurt but not destroy our chances, and a loss will make it very hard for us to win the title this year. We've played 7 matches against City and never won, now's the perfect time to make some history. Due to fatigue I've had to sit Shirra, and I've put El Juez in his position. Cardozo will sit behind Bastable, who's playing as a deep lying forward today rather than leading our attack, and act as a shadow striker. Hopefully the tactical wrinkle will throw off City more than Cardozo is troubled by the novelty of playing as a central attacking midfielder. Starting Formation: 4-2-3-1 Control Starting 11: Kovacevic, Mejasic, Feruga, Todd, Suslov, Morvan, Petts, Nieddu, Cardozo, Mujkic (c), Bastable. Subs: El Sayed, Dixon, O'Hanlon, Mair, Julio, Taborda, Matko. We keep getting yellow cards despite my orders to play less aggressively, Todd is the culprit this time just eight minutes into the game. Manchester City's keeper goes down with an injury in the 16th minute, and we might just have a chance against their backup. We capitalize on their loss with a sterling bit of 1-2 passing by Bastable, which springs Nieddu to put the ball past the replacement keeper ten minutes later. It's good that we scored, as we're not going to keep City off the board. All world striker Mark Bloem beats Todd to equalize in the 37th minute. We're not level for long, Dimitri Nieddu forces a desperate left back to tackle him from behind and earns a penalty that El Juez converts. We score twice more after the break, the first coming when Bastable wins a header in front of the net and bounces it to the byline, where Nieddu snaps it up and delivers it back to Bastable. The Bastard fights off three City defenders, controls the ball with a deft chest bump, and strokes it past the outstretched arms of the keeper. The second comes mere seconds after a Nieddue goal is disallowed as Bastable picks up his brace. City aren't entirely dead, they score with over twenty minutes remaining, but a three goal lead is too much for the league leaders to overcome. We're through our trial by fire, and while we fell out of first place we picked up eight points in four matches against the elite of English football. Man of the Match: Rocky Bastable   Wrexham 4-2 Man City   Oh that Rocky Bastable, He's a man fantastical, With boot or head he's masterful, Makes em curse “that bastard Bastable.” vs. Aston Villa, February 12, 2022 FA Cup, Fifth Round  Last time we played Aston Villa their late game heroics saved them from defeat. I have no intention of letting that happen again. Starting Formation: 4-2-3-1 Control Starting 11: El Sayed, Cirjak (c), Laux, Todd, Suslov, Morvan, Petts, Nieddu, Shirra, Mujkic, Bastable. Subs: Kovacevic, Mejasic, Feruga, Mair, Julio, Taborda, Cardozo. Villa park the bus, allowing us all day to kick the ball around but keeping their form and not letting us work the ball in towards the net. So it's still nil-nil in the 33rd minute when Morvan sends a long pass up to Nieddu from behind the midfield line. Nieddu beats his man and before the defense can collapse on him gets off a shot that whistles in. Aston Villa manage to create several chances by getting past our back line, forcing me to firm up our defense and drop our back line deeper the rest of the game. We have only a few more attempts worth speaking of, Mujkic sends one off the upright and Bastable is called offside on a third rebound effort, but there's no last minute surprise from Villa today. It's a professional win to move onward into the sixth round. Man of the Match: Dimitri Nieddu   Wrexham 1-0 Aston Villa  The ref was kind to us today, but I wish we could get good refereeing instead of them having a major effect on play.  The soccer gods favor us. We draw a home match against a League One side in the quarterfinals, while Man U have to go to Arsenal. Now if the winner of Arsenal/United gets City in the semifinals while we get Stoke or Reading I'm going to start thinking we have a friend at the FA greasing our path back to the final.  Ah, fixture congestion. It's so lovely still being in three competitions as spring approaches.  This will mark our 10th televised Premier League match so far this season, compared to 11 games all last season. We've been on air fewer times than seventh place Everton.  At some point we're going to have to upgrade Matko, he's been too fragile to reach his considerable potential. We have an in house replacement for him, though. Piero Argenti has been a monster at the youth level, with 19 goals and 14 assists this season and he can play all across the attacking midfield. He's only 18 years old and is ready for time in the big leagues.  Bad timing for Aarts, he was going to get a chance to play in the next match. Instead it will be El Juez who gets the start.  Cirjak is up to 18 Acceleration and 17 Pace, he can beat anyone in the world if they're facing him and he knocks the ball past them. At West Bromwich Albion, February 19, 2022 Premier League  West Brom remain at serious risk for relegation, we play Bayern Munich in three days. I'm sending out a weakened squad that should still be able to win in order to play our best against Bayern. If we aren't winning by half time I'll sub in some of our better players to try and shift the game in our favor. Our old fullback Mathias Durand is a Baggie these days, and has been no better than he was when he was a Dragon. Hopefully we can abuse our former player for a goal or two. Starting Formation: 4-2-3-1 Control Starting 11: El Sayed, Cirjak (c), Feruga, O'Hanlon, Mejasic, Dixon, Mair, Argenti, Julio, Taborda, Cardozo. Subs: Kovacevic, Suslov, Todd, Morvan, Bailey, Nieddu, Bastable. The Baggies storm out to a possession advantage early, but it's El Juez who opens scoring in the 10th minute after he works over Costa Rican centerback to win a cross from his countryman Taborda. We're given a penalty in the 20th minute when that same centerback comes in on Julio from a bad angle just as he enters the area, it's a close call but the penalty is given. El Juez converts. Taborda continues his run of deadly accuracy from free kicks, his 25 meter shot makes it 3-0 just before the half. There's no need to bring in any starters, we're romping to victory at this point. We're up by enough that I can bring Bailey on at the hour mark, as well as pull Cirjak so that he's fresh for Germany. That turns out to be a huge mistake. West Brom storm back for three goals in the final thirty minutes, and our complacency allowed a relegation bound team to take two points away from us. We're now three back of Manchester City with ten games to play. We've also allowed Manchester United to catch us on points, goal differential is the only thing keeping us in second at the moment. Man of the Match: El Juez   West Brom 3-3 Wrexham  We'll need to make some hay in Germany if I'm to avoid feeling guilt ridden over the final thirty minutes of the West Brom match.  He's made a quicker than expected recovery, and should be ready to return to his role as a backup by the start of March. At Bayern Munich, February 22, 2022 Champions League, First Knockout Round Away Leg  Bayern Munich are German giants, and one of the few squads in the world that boast as much or more talent than our Dragons. We need to get an away goal here and preferably hold them to two or fewer if we want a realistic chance at getting into the quarterfinals. Starting Formation: 4-2-3-1 Counter Starting 11: Kovacevic, Cirjak (c), Laux, Todd, Suslov, Morvan, Petts, Nieddu, Shirra, Mujkic, Bastable. Subs: El Sayed, Mejasic, Feruga, Mair, Argenti, Taborda, Cardozo. We're bending and just barely avoiding being broken early, as Bayern hits woodwork twice in first half hour. We show them that we're not to be trifled with when a Suslov throw-in deep in Bayern territory is headed by Bastable to Mujkic, who with one touch sends it in front of the net for an oncoming Nieddu. The Italian nods it just inside the far post for a goal, and we've quieted the 64,000 strong crowd. Bayern keep pressing for an equalizer but our defense stays firm, though we rack up four yellow cards in the process. As stoppage time begins Bastable feeds the ball ahead for Nieddu, and he's clear onto goal when he's tripped from behind by a Bayern player. The penalty is given and Shirra puts it away for a 2-0 win We've done everything we need to here in Germany, and can be well pleased with our performance. Man of the Match: Dimitri Nieddu   Bayern 0-2 Wrexham  Mair will be starting the home leg against Bayern, which shouldn't change our chances any. At this point he and Morvan are roughly equivalent players with slightly different strengths and weaknesses. That will change as Morvan gets better but for now they're six of one, half a dozen of another. At Reading, February 26, 2022 Premier League  Reading lie in fourteenth place, and even though we play Liverpool in 2 days I'm not taking a chance given the West Brom fiasco. We need a win to keep pace with Manchester City, who sit on 66 points to our 60 at the start of this match. Starting Formation: 4-2-3-1 Control Starting 11: Kovacevic, Cirjak (c), Laux, Feruga, Suslov, Mair, Petts, Argenti, Nieddu, Taborda, Bastable. Subs: El Sayed, Mejasic, O'Hanlon, Dixon, Julio, Shirra, Cardozo. The continental hangover is in full effect and they're taking advantage. Reading go off the post twice in the first 15 minutes, forcing me to scrap any idea of controlling the match. That doesn't stop our defense from getting caught ball-watching on Reading's first goal with seven minutes left in the first half. Things look bleak when Laux is called for a penalty early in the second, but Kovacevic saves both the ball and the day. I try to get some juice into the squad by subbing on Shirra for Argenti and sliding Nieddu back to the right wing, and immediately we start looking more dangerous. It's not leading to any goals, though, and thus I also bring on Cardozo for Bastable, who's in a slight funk these last few games. That does the trick, just when things start looking desperate for us Petts scores after a botched clearance leaves the ball loose in the six yard box. I keep up the late assault, hoping to win all three points, but Cirjak destroys our hopes when he picks up two yellows in two minutes. We're forced to settle for another draw against a mediocre team. Man of the Match: Richard Petts   Reading 1-1 Wrexham   You've picked up three red cards in your last six appearances, do you think I'm going to give you a pat on the back?  He won't even speak to me at this point, I'm going to strip him of his captaincy.  This does not make the team very happy, but it's necessary given Cirjak's refusal to even speak to me and his unprofessional behavior on the pitch. I'd rather make this change too early than too late. We'll see if we can restore a working relationship before the end of the summer transfer window, if not he'll be the first big star I'm shipping out.  We took eight points out of a possible twelve from the toughest part of our schedule, but then promptly dropped four points to lower half teams. We're falling of the pace in the league, and if we don't right the ship immediately we're not going to be in the hunt come the final weeks. On the other hand we've been gifted the easiest possible draw for our FA Cup quarterfinal, and we're looking likely to reach the Champions League quarterfinal thanks to our performance in the away leg against Bayern. The results have been mixed, but if nothing else we've been providing pulse-pounding excitement for everyone watching. 
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Jun 10, 2014 00:17
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Sneaky Fast posted:What did Arsenal do to your mom Aj_Impy? Why do you hate them so? Arsenal has finished over Spurs which I'm assuming aj is a supporter of for 19 years in a row. Both teams play in north London and despise each other. Spurs see Arsenal as invaders to north London who have plastic fans and all the money. Whereas Arsenal sees Spurs as simply jealous of their success and them being a bunch of assholes into the bargain. Edit I have a horrible fear we are going to have a Chelsea season where we get close in a bunch of competitions but never actually win anything. LionYeti fucked around with this message at 00:34 on Jun 10, 2014 |
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Jun 10, 2014 00:25
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I can't believe you beat Bayern 2-0 at home. Some Germans left that stadium muttering darkly that canceling Sealion was a huge mistake.
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Jun 10, 2014 00:32
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habeasdorkus posted:
A professional foul is an offence that means deliberately fouling an opponent who is in an advantageous position e.g. clipping their ankles to make them fall over after they've dribbled past you or pulling them down via their jersey when they are through against the goalkeeper. It doesn't require any dangerous conduct to be a red card. Generally it's a yellow and is quite common in the modern game, you see it all the time when players 'accidentally' trip others in midfield after they've beaten them with neat footwork or a clever one-two etc., but if the foul prevents a potential goalscoring opportunity then it's a red card. Incidentally, the name comes from back in the 19th century when amateurism was still quite prevalent in football - the idea being that an amateur player always plays fair even if an opponent bests him, whilst only a professional who needs to win in order to keep his job would resort to such dirty tricks. tanglewood1420 fucked around with this message at 01:22 on Jun 10, 2014 |
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Jun 10, 2014 01:20
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So what's going to happen to your ex-captain now?
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Jun 10, 2014 01:22
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Sneaky Fast posted:What did Arsenal do to your mom Aj_Impy? Why do you hate them so? They're the original franchise club for one, abandoning their original home and name. They never truly earned their place in the top division through merit, but secured it through alleged bribery and shady backroom deals when the league expanded in 1919. Having avoided relegation since then, their presence in the top flight is not fully legitimate even to this day. They're worse than MK Dons, because at least MK Dons got relegated a couple of times, and the successor of the club they stole are in a position to meet and possibly overtake them in the not too distant future. Arsenal flaunt their ill-gotten gains unrepentantly, and have never truly received their comeuppance. blakout: Close, but no cigar. This goes back nearly a hundred years: A couple of decades is a pittance when they shouldn't even have been in the top flight to begin with.
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Jun 10, 2014 01:26
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Surely the fact they've remained in the top flight for a hundred years is proof that they deserve to be there? I can't comment on how they got in if it was deserved or not, I barely followed the scottish league, let alone the english league, but yeah, a hundred years running in the top league says they probably deserve to be there?
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Jun 10, 2014 01:31
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Not to horribly derail things but I don't see woolwich/royal arsenal to just arsenal as abandoning their name. And yeah the move to highbury sucked but to call them worse then franchise fc is unfair. There were no people at the old place but to move districts in London would be preferable to not existing.
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Jun 10, 2014 01:35
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Sir Rabia Tirnova posted:Surely the fact they've remained in the top flight for a hundred years is proof that they deserve to be there? Surely if a criminal gets away with his crime unpunished for fifty years, he deserves to get off scot free? No. The fact they've never earned their place and had a hundred years living off that false-won placing makes it far worse, not better. As for being worse than Franchise FC? They set a precedent by which Franchise FC was able to exist at all. If not for Woolwich losing their football team, Merton may not have lost theirs.
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Jun 10, 2014 01:47
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The other reason arsenal vs spurs is particularly bitter is that there's been only one season since 1950 that they haven't been in the same division so the derby is renewed every single season.
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Jun 10, 2014 01:50
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AJ_Impy posted:Surely if a criminal gets away with his crime unpunished for fifty years, he deserves to get off scot free? Uh, yes? Hopefully we can stop dropping points against bottom half teams.
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Jun 10, 2014 02:01
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