RSL in the WSL Part 27
Yeah, this match wasn’t great. You can see the highlights above for yourself.
We made yet another long bus ride south, this time to face Santos Laguna.
Considering the financial state our club is in, I guess we should feel happy to have the privilege of driving. If things keep up the way they’ve been going, we might have to walk to our next match.
Anyway, you can see the results for yourself up above. It wasn’t pretty. Nobody expected us to do well, and CD Santos Laguna are one of the best teams in the division. And yet, well, I was still hoping for something a little bit better than this.
Santos Laguna were in good form, 3rd in the league and playing well. And, well, we haven’t even sniffed good form all season.
I was looking forward to this one, I really was. This match was going to see the return of Tonin and Ørsahl after lengthy periods out of the squad. I was also going to experiment with Dirnker in the back, where he had played well before.
And, well, things just didn’t turn out our way.
I mean, Carmona did have a good shot on goal near the beginning of the game. But then Cardozo made a foolish two-footed tackle from behind to get himself a red card, and the whole thing fell apart from there.
Tonin did manage to score a goal at the end, but it didn’t matter. Our goal differential is shot, and we just don’t look like we’re going to avoid the relegation zone at all.
Analysis
The media kept asking me if I thought Cardozo deserved the red card. I did. From what the game showed me, it looked like an awful challenge.
There is a way to challenge a ruling like that in Football Manager, but I didn’t think it was worth it in this case.
Shehu’s 12 passes completed seem pretty good to me, actually. Schubert had a good game despite giving up 4 goals. We were just outclassed by a better team, that’s all.
And, wow, we made 35 fouls – that in itself is pretty impressive.
Yeah, there were a lot of fines after this one. Holm had yet another bad game. I’m going to bench him if he plays poorly tomorrow. Shehu had his first awful game of the season, and Oliveira, Burke, and Ørsahl all surprised me with uncharacteristically bad performances.
Then again, given the strength of our competition, we probably shouldn’t have expected much.
Maybe our players felt sick after the long bus ride. I don’t know.
Dealing with Adversity
Dealing with poor performances like this is never easy, nor is it fun. The temptation to scream at the computer, to fine every player, to sell the club instantly, or to take other drastic actions is very real.
Fortunately, there are digital ways for us to let out our fury:
However, as much fun as it is to scream at players after they play poorly, it really isn’t very effective.
It’s probably better to take a calm and collected approach to these issues – to take a step back, to think about what just happened, and to try to learn from it.
Cardozo played so poorly that I felt like selling him right away, just like I did with Morales. And yet he’s different. Cardozo is only 16 years old, has played well in the past, and has a lot to learn. Morales, on the other hand, is 19, and seems unresponsive to my admonitions and pleadings.
Cardozo is suspended for the next match, which gives him some time to cool off. As for me, well, maybe it’s best to just turn the machine off, go outside for a while, and think about things.
Standings
You know what? We haven’t been in the relegation zone at all this season. We’ve got the worst goal differential in the league by far, we’ve only one three times, and I think we’ve given up the first goal in every single game so far this season. And yet we’re still in 22nd place.
Hey – at least I’m not showing you a bunch of boring 0-0 draws with no highlights. We’re all about action here.
Football Manager News
Version 4.0 of the 2023 edition of the FLUT skin is now out. I love this skin and am currently using a 2021 version for this project.
Left Midfielders
As much as I want to curl up in a ball and die after another horrifying loss, it’s time to straighten up and get back on with business. You still haven’t met the whole squad, after all. Let’s meet our left midfielders.
First off, let’s look at the position itself:
Attacking is what we do. We attack all game long. We attack even when the other team is 15 years older than us on average and is three times as good. We’ll attack when we’re winning and when we’re losing. That’s why you don’t see those boring 0-0 draws with us.
The aim here is to cause panic in the defense. I think it works from time to time, actually. We just need our players to stay on the pitch, and to stop scoring goals for the other team.
Jakob Nyland Ørsahl
Ørsahl was a very late signing for us, coming right at the end of the transfer period. He is solid, and should improve greatly. He’s easily one of the best players on the squad.
Norway is one of those gem countries for hidden Football Manager talent. He was cheap, and he has been effective so far.
Again, this is a good player with a lot of good potential – one to build a team around.
Ørsahl’s contract is relatively small compared to his importance for our squad. We might need to worry about that relegation release clause, of course.
2 goals in just 220 minutes is nothing to sneeze at. Aside from that 6.2 rating in his last game, he’s a solid player.
Juan Carlos Paredes
Boy, we love young South American players, don’t we?
Paredes is another player that we might have slightly overpaid for. He’s been pretty good for us so far, though.
As we’ve seen with other players in the past, there’s a lot to like here – good leadership potential, a good personality, and promise for the future.
Paredes has also played a lot at this position.
Sándor Pintér
And now we have Pinter, the last of our young left midfielders. He’s absolutely one to look out for in the future.
Pinter came at a more reasonable price. He’s struggled, though.
This is another one of those “for the future” signings. We’ve been trying to play him only sparingly to allow him the time to grow.
The average rating isn’t great, but his other stats are at least okay given his limited playing time.
Other Left Midfielders
We’ve got a pretty good collection here of other young players, all on low salaries, and all with good potential.
Blog Roundup
FM Stag presents part 5 of the Magari series.
Youth Intake reports on three seasons with Kiruna FF.
FM Blog gives us a review of Jamal Musiala. I’m not sure how you’re going to get him off of Bayern München, though.
Channel Watch
First of all, everybody needs to watch Max’s latest video on player growth in Football Manager 23. Perhaps my theories were wrong all along.
FM Scout brings us a rock solid 4-2-3-1 tactic – maybe I should use this.
CaptainGoodspeed keeps up that brave fight against relegation. That’s a feeling I know all too well.
Gray Hair Gaming teaches us all about those release clauses the hard way.
MrGran2 brings us more from his international journeyman save.
Matty89 gives us another episode with PSG.
It’s the season finale for FM DNA and Weymouth FC.
Sortitoutsi brings us a great league guide for Australia.
More relegation zone fighting with Shaun Does FM and Cardiff City.
Oisty FM brings us more fun with Tranmere.
Jay Edworthy gives us more drama with Forest Green Rovers. Is promotion in the cards?
Loki Doki is using a well-known league mega pack for his journeyman save – worth a watch!
Looks like FM Russ has some of the same problems I’ve been having – though he is top of the table.
WorkTheSpace has been losing – join the club.
Finally, Lollujo is working on not only promoting Preston North End, but maybe even winning the Championship outright.
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