RSL in the WSL Part 7
Monterrey
RSL in the WSL Part 7
Another big bus ride awaits us – 25 hours this time to go down to Monterrey.
Normally I’d be thinking about sightseeing, or at least looking out the bus on the way down. Not this time, though. After our last performance, I need to keep my mind on the game. We need to do better than that awful 4-1 shellacking.
Monterrey is one of the better teams in the league, as you’ll recall from our season preview post. I don’t think we’re going to lose, but it would be nice if we weren’t completely embarrassed.
Tactics
I took a look around the bus during the long journey. Something just didn’t seem right about Stott. I wondered if 7 goals allowed in 2 games wasn’t a sign of a problem. Maybe it’s time for a change.
And so I made my decision. Out when Stott in goal, and on came Golubka.
Other than that, our other changes are normal squad rotation due to the rough schedule that we’re facing. It’s always scary to put kids in there, but we need their help, for better or for worse.
The Match
You know what? It wasn’t that bad.
We lost, yeah. But we only lost 1-0.
Here’s a quick clip of the only goal of the match, which came around the 75th minute:
It’s not an embarrassing goal to concede. On the contrary: I’m impressed that we were able to keep it going for so long. Maybe this Golubka is the right choice after all.
We didn’t mount an offensive attack at all, though. That is absolutely concerning. Kreilach is experienced at the AMC role, which is really the key area that our offense works through. If he keeps having quiet games like this one, I’m going to have to reconsider his future at this club.
Analysis
Once again, there’s really not much to see here. The most interesting stat here is the fact that we attracted a crowd of over 41,000, which is kind of refreshing. We might not be a great football club, but at least quite a few people are paying to watch us.
Tonin had an absolutely awful game. I had to check again just to make sure that he doesn’t have that “inconsistent” marker on his profile. Inexpensive young strikers with good ratings do tend to have that problem in Football Manager, and I’m wondering if we might not need to look for a more consistent option in the long term.
Nobody had a good game. I guess Golubka had the best, though a 6.6 isn’t really anything to write home about. Britos looked awful with the 6.1, and the 6.3 from Kreilach is simply unacceptable.
Perhaps the players don’t quite know the tactic yet. Perhaps they are tired from all these bus rides and playing two games a week – but, then again, we’ve only had 4 matches so far. Whatever is causing the funk, I sure hope they snap out of it soon. I’m getting tired of thrashing my arms at the players after losing.
Yeah, we didn’t have any xG in this game. The closest we had to a goal was a highlight with Tonin falling down on his own accord in the penalty box. The ref asked for VAR assistance, where I presume the people in the booth simply laughed at him and told him to get on with it.
We need less falling down on the job and more playing the game. We need more training, and we need to get to the point where we can at least play with teams like this.
13th place isn’t great, but it also isn’t reason to panic. Things will turn around for us soon. I hope.
Takeover
No sooner had I finished this post when I received note of a pending club takeover.
The transfer embargo really isn’t a big issue, since we’re not currently shopping for anybody. You might think that we really should get some fresh talent in here, but that’s simply not how I operate. We’re going to stay the course for the time being – at least until these players can get some good training experience.
Two consortiums, eh? I’m not sure what to think about Higuera. The Dudu Ben-Lulu group has me concerned primarily because of the prospects of me losing this job. It would be a pretty bittersweet, early end to this stage of the blog if this were to take place, wouldn’t it? I’m sure that Football Manager wouldn’t just give me the boot after a mere 4 matches, though, right? Right?
Dudu Ben-Lulu is a great name, though.
And then it fell apart. Goodbye to Mr. Higuera. Not quite sure what happened, but he is apparently no longer in the picture.
Maybe Dudu Ben-Lulu is still in the picture, though. With a name like that, is there a chance that he’s a big oil baron? Could we be looking at a huge injection of cash into the club? Wouldn’t it be strange if we turned into Manchester City West overnight?
And there you have it – this is as much as I know at the present. Maybe it will happen, maybe it won’t. Who knows?