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RSL in the WSL Part 25
We’re on the road again today, playing at Club Necaxa. This means another drive down south of the border:
It’s another 28 hour drive. If you think we’ve got the money to pay for the 5 hour plane ride, you’re nuts. The drive gave me time to ponder.
Even after our draw against LA Galaxy, I was in a good mood. I thought we were moving things the right way, and these players look like they are starting to reach their potential. CD Necaxa is at the bottom of the league and have been in really bad form lately; perhaps we might give them a few more problems in this match.
It doesn’t bother me anymore when I see that we’re underdogs. We’re always underdogs. We know that we can still win. Surely we’ll put out a good performance today, right?
Tactics
I can never figure out what makes Football Manager give you the special opening. We had it again today, despite the fact that this match is not being televised and the fact that CD Necaxa is at the bottom of the league.
Looks like a predictable 4-4-2 for Necaxa – nothing to really write home about.
Of course, it’s not like we’re doing anything special with our own tactical setup, either. Tonin is injured, which means that N’Kassa gets the start up front, along with Munoz, who I’m still concerned about.
Cruz gets a surprise start in midfield. He’s done well in that position coming off the bench the past few games, so I figured I’d give him a chance. And we’re back to Sabangeanu on the right side, which is usually a problem.
17th isn’t where I want to be, but at least it’s not 24th.
And look at all those empty seats! I’m certainly glad that we don’t have that problem.
The Match
Yeah, it was bad. You can watch the highlights for yourself on the top of this post.
Absolutely nothing went right for us. Our strikers scarcely touched the ball, and only managed a few feeble nudges at goal when they did get the ball.
Jorge Aguilar, who is so obscure that Wikipedia doesn’t even have proper stats for him, scored a goal for Necaxa in 6 minutes, but I wasn’t worried. I’ve seen us come back from behind before, and figured that we had it in us to push the envelope a bit further today.
But then it came – goal after goal. Maximiliano Salas wound up looking like Pelé in front of our goal, scoring one of those “perfect” hat tricks – one goal with each foot, and one with his head. The third was a ridiculous penalty – but, then again, I’m used to our defense doing ridiculous things in this save.
It was agony, sheer agony. I thought I would experiment this time around by putting the match highlight settings up to “Comprehensive.” That’s why the video is about 20 minutes long – and that’s why I felt so deflated after the loss. If we’re going to lose, we’re going to lose – but please don’t make it drag out like this one.
I made a mistake by not putting a striker on the bench. I keep forgetting that we only have 9 substitutes in league games. When I wanted to throw N’Kassa out, there was simply nobody to go in for him.
I’m going to keep playing around with the video settings in the future, and hope to give you a clearer, more watchable product. Thank you for your patience.
Analysis
Yeah, it was bad. This was about as bad as it comes.
I guess I can’t blame the players, but I really tried my hardest to do so. I lashed out at everybody I could after the game, levying fines left and right and telling players that they need to play better if they want to stand a chance at remaining on this team.
I think these stats tell the tale. I mean, we had as many shots as they had, one additional shot on goal, and we dominated possession. However, as you can see from the highlights above, we had players making ridiculous decisions. Holm had the ball numerous times in good attacking positions, yet inexplicably decided to shoot from far outside the box rather than trying to work it in to our attacking players. Of course, it’s not like our attackers know how to score anyway. Neither of them have scored this season, and I’m frantically looking around for players we could potentially bring in.
Nobody had a good game. Onuoha, who is retiring in less than 2 months, wound up being our “star.” Schubert probably had his worst game in goal. In my mind Cardozo was the biggest disappointment – I thought that he was just about ready to start at this level, but he certainly proved me wrong.
Holm has had two bad games in a row now, and his form isn’t looking good. I’m starting to regret that loan decision.
Yeah, it was a bad game. It looks like we forgot what sport we were playing.
As I made my rounds around the clubhouse, fining and lecturing, striker Jenny N’Kassa had the audacity to talk back. I simply can’t stand it anymore with this guy. His stats are bad, he’s 19 years old, he doesn’t seem to have any interest in developing, and we need somebody else.
These are N’Kassa’s stats to date. He’s completed a single cross, has had 7 shots on target, and yet has absolutely nothing to show for it. That 7.2 match came in a friendly against an extremely weak team. I honestly think we could start a player on our under-18 team and get better results than this.
So I did exactly what I felt was obvious in this situation. I loaned him out.
Have fun with Vita Club Mokanda, Jenny. We’ll see if you learn how to score goals in the Republic of the Congo.
We were highlighted again as the “key match” of the day. I’m not sure how this is determined. The fans sure didn’t turn out like this was a “key match.” Perhaps this is just Football Manager trying to rub salt in our wounds, laughing at us as we continue to bumble along in my first season.
Standings
After advancing the game a bit more, we’ve wound up in… 17th place. Well, I guess it could always be worse. 10 points in 10 games isn’t perfect, but it is as that “Kev Ratio” made famous by Lollujo. If you get a point for every game played, you’re probably going to wind up escaping relegation.
I should put some emphasis on that point, by the way. When I came in at the beginning of the season, we were favorites to be relegated. That was before all of my ridiculous transfers and my fire sale of the entire club. If we manage to make it through this season without being relegated despite my idiocy, I’m going to consider it a success.
Football Manager News
Version 2.1 of the sleek-looking Electric Panther skin by Groot_FMSLife is out. I prefer doing everything in dark mode on my computer and mobile devices, and welcome this concept.
New Years Memories
New Year’s Eve reminds me of my New Year’s Eve in 2020. That was back when this game was new, and I was as hooked as I’ve ever been.
I don’t remember much about New Year’s Eve that year, other than spending hours playing Football Manager while trying to find a television program that was actually watchable.
I was playing with FC Ingolstadt 04, one of my favorite German teams, and helped them march up through the 3. Bundesliga and 2. Bundesliga up to the big show.
We had a great team, too, filled with old FM21 standby wonderkids like Lucas Gomes, Max Normann Williamsen – and, yes, our very own Odin Thiago Holm. I think I had Martin Vandevoordt in on loan when we reached the Bundesliga, though it wasn’t enough to prevent us from losing.
And that’s when I lost my touch. Instead of relaxing and going with the flow, I started to save scum. I did it once or twice in the 2. Bundesliga, mostly to try to get us to move up faster. But then I started going nuts in the Bundesliga, forcing my way into ridiculous wins and simply playing the game the wrong way.
There’s probably some sort of psychological reason for all of that. Perhaps the pandemic had me so far down that I simply needed to do anything I could to get myself back up. At any rate, all the save scumming and cheating made me lose interest in the save, and I wound up putting it aside before we could become a real German powerhouse.
Keep that in mind when you play. It’s actually more fun to lose than to cheat your way to victory. The thing that makes you fall in love with your squad is failure, not success.
Blog Roundup
CoxieFM gives us the latest from København.
View from the Touchline teaches us how to use data analytics the right way. I suppose this means that most people don’t just plug in the same old tactics every game the way I do.
Channel Watcher
Bood FM gives us a unique experiment involving World Cup managers.
CaptainGoodspeed is now managing Fulham – who are dead last in the EPL, of course. Nice singing at the start, by the way.
FM DNA gives us more non-league goodness with Weymouth.
Oisty FM continues his Ferguson Challenge quest.
Thank you again for reading Football Manager Projects! I’ll have another exciting and entertaining post for you tomorrow.
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