A brief interlude: From Houston, to Morocco, to Boavista, to the watching daytime T.V. in your pants

Bit of a mouthful for the title but I didn't think it was worth breaking things down into individual posts. Basically I got wanderlust and moved around.

Houston

The season started well and I shot up to 4th place! Even hit 1st but then I realised something whilst I had my 4th place and X amount of points I had played many, many more games than the teams around me. I had 23 points I think. The team in 5th had 23 points and had played 5 games less than me. As I looked around I realised all the teams in the division had played 4-7 games less than me thanks to the wonder of MLS scheduling.

So I wasn't 4th, I was more likely to be well out of even the wildcard places when the games were played. Disappointing. What also added it to it was my growing frustration with the youth system, or lack thereof, in the MLS.

I loved the draft but only being allowed 6 developmental contract players in the squad was making it a little hard to build a young team.

So I jumped ship.

Morocco

Seemed like a perfect move. They were without a manager but were in the 2022 World Cup. A good move I thought from MLS Houston to World Cup Morocco.

Wasn't quite to be though. We had a group with Saudi Arabia, Paraguay and France. I had my eye on just squeezing through. Saudi Arabia and Paraguay should have been doable.

We beat S.A. by an own goal, then got trounced by Paraguay 4-0 and then by France. We ended up bottom. So off I flounced.

Boavista

To newly promoted Portuguese Premiership side Boavista. Tiny budget.

Managed to build a good squad, all apart from the keeper position. Over 10 games we leaked goals like no ones business. Silly keeper errors and fantastic shots that should have been stopped ruined everything. My backup keeper? Even worse.

I  was going to persevere. We had picked up a couple of points, and the teams around us at the bottom were terrible too. But then I got linked to the Blackburn job...and when I expressed my interest they were flattered but said they couldn't afford the compensation. So I left....and they gave the job to someone else.


So there we are. Whistlestop tour of my most recent folly. It's only been 4 years since leaving 'Tuna City and I have managed Leeds, Aberdeen, Houston, Morocco and Boavista. Some success and a lot of failure in that time. I've learnt some lessons though.

1) Good 'Keepers are valuable - sounds a bit obvious but I hate buying keepers. If you get it wrong you get it horribly wrong. But they can undermine everything.

2) Be flexible tactically - I thought I'd learnt this from my disaster save before this one but I keep falling into the trap. I love playing my two main tactics. A counter attacking 41221 or a controlling 4312 but there's more to the game than that, and it needs the right players for the level you're at. I've been missing the mark on that.

3) Stop moving around! - Not because I'm concerned with loyalty but because it's easier to build if you actually stay somewhere long enough to do so. If I'd stayed at 'Tuna, Leeds or Aberdeen I think I'd be progressing much better.

So with that in mind my next team needs to be a project. I have to stick with them through thick and thin. I need an enjoyable league, with potential. A transfer system that makes a bit more sense in regards to youth and building and a team I can see myself with for sometime.

You never forget your first draft [2022]

It was pretty exciting. I do like the build up to it all. The news items, the scouting, the pleas to be picked by certain clubs, the nail biting as you hope the team ahead of you in the draft hasn't noticed the same player as you, and the frustration when they do.

So far I've been involved in two drafts; the re-draft and the super draft.


Re-draft

Seems to be for current players that have been waived or are on the way out. Ones that haven't quite made the grade. I think I did pretty well with it. I got three players and they all add to key areas, none take up any international slots.

Fuentes and Lisi bolster the defence and I think will address some of the weakness down the left as well. They're not stellar signings but for MLS level I think they should do the job pretty well.

Perez adds some support on the left and up front if need be. Again he doesn't look fantastic but considering how poor Roulfe looks and how well he did on the left I think Perez should be fine.

Hamilton was a bit of a gamble as he was out injured when I drafted him (and still has some months to go). He looks great. He and Amrani on the right, in rotation with one as an impact sub, should keep other teams under a fair amount of pressure.

Superdraft

This was painful. Really painful. I had 5th pick and I had my eye on this guy:

As you can see in the pick I didn't get him. Rivals Dallas did.With the pick just before mine. GRRRRRRRR! The other players picked before him were good as well (though not quite as much) which left me scrambling to get the best of the rest. The frustration here and the player I missed out on (who wanted to come to me!) reinforced how important draft picks are in trades. I have some extra but they were all further down the line.

So I got these players:

Quiroz was the best of the rest. And to be fair he does look pretty good. I think he'll slot fairly well into the match day squad. There's room for him to develop as well.

Hudson I actually had my eye on before the draft and I think he'll be good backup. With some luck he'll turn out okay too.

Jordan was a bit of a risk as I don't think I need him and I don't think he's going to develop much. But he should certainly act as decent cover.

The media rated out performance as C+ in the draft. Erm. Thanks?

Supplemental Draft

Hahahaha no. I didn't take part in this. A lot of dregs here. I was surprised by how many got picked by other teams. I'm assuming to make up the numbers.

What now?

The squad has been bolstered but I still need bit more cover in the centre of midfield. I lost another player before the draft so I only have 5 players that can play. I have 3 midfield positions to fill so it doesn't seem too bad but one of those is the DM position. I think I need at least one more DM/MC player to keep us going through injuries.

I bought another designated player spot, but one of my international spots expired leaving me with 7. I'm at my limit with 7 internationals already I think. Meaning there's not much I can do transfer wise unless I stay domestic. Or I can find a US player abroad willing to move back.

I'll keep looking for the elusive DMC.