Early Test
Part 4 | Ingolstadt 04 | FM23 Hardcore Mode
Dortmund
The 5 hour bus ride to Dortmund was relatively uneventful, the sort of quiet trip that would put you to sleep.
As for the game itself — it was even more boring.
We couldn’t convert on any of the chances we had. In fact, we couldn’t do much of anything other than pass the ball around.
We’ve shown that we are able to maintain possession at this level. However, it doesn’t seem that we have any players who are interested in actually scoring goals for a change. We had 65% of the possession in this game, and yet only managed 7 shots in total — against the Dortmund reserves side.
I started to think that we need another tactical readjustment. We needed some firepower in this team.
Anyway, a 0-0 draw is better than a loss, I suppose. It would certainly be off with my head if we had lost this one.
Goodbye Testroet
Pascal Testroet, our 31-year-old journeyman striker, departed Ingolstadt 04 after only two games.
He had an awful performance against Dortmund II, and didn’t seem interested in even trying against Bayreuth. I knew he would never improve and simply saw no point in continuing to pay his high wages. There’s certainly no reason to do so on a squad that is brimming with young attacking players who want to play on top.
We sold Testroet to Oostende for a paltry €185,000. I suppose we could have done a little bit better, but at least his wages are off our books.
Now I just need our scouts to come up with something I can use.
The Test
Our next match pits us against Union Berlin in the first round of the Deutscher Pokal.
We really don’t have any business playing against a Bundesliga team of Berlin’s caliber, even if they aren’t doing well in the league at the moment. I consider myself an optimist, but I still don’t see us getting one over on the big club this time around.
At least the match is at home. Charlotte and I have a house to close on.