The Season Begins

Will we survive?

The Season Begins

I’ll admit it. I’ve never been as nervous for the start of a Football Manager season as I have for this one.

It’s not because I’m writing about it or making videos about it or whatever. No — I’m nervous because I’ve done more to immerse myself than ever before.

I’ve spent time looking through videos of our players. I’ve spent time looking for maps and videos of the city of Kashiwa. I’ve put more effort into fully immersing myself into this save than I have for any of my previous saves.

I’m worried that I’m going to screw it up.

The media was kind in its prematch assessment. However, those odds don’t make me believe that we’ve got much of a chance.

Among our other worries is the fact that the media expects Hiroshima to win the league outright.

But then everything went better than expected.

The tactic worked well. Jay-Roy Grot scored early on. Right wingback Naoki Kawaguchi added a surprise goal right before we hit 30 minutes.

Hiroshima did manage to score a late consolation goal, but it was meaningless in the end.

Kashiwa won this one fairly easily, 2-1.

Kawaguchi wound up with the man of the match honors.

Not all was pretty, however. We ended up with an injury that hurts our already crippled defense.

We don’t have enough players to deal with these injuries, leaving us in a bit of a jam.

All in all, though, I’m pleased with the result. I think we’re going to be just fine in the end.