International Break [2018/19]

I wasn't with dirty Leeds any more but I still had a job, with the Ireland U19's. We had gotten through the first qualifying group. Now we had one more group to get through to qualify for the U19's.

4 teams, 1 qualifying spot. I had a group with Estonia, England and Denmark. I wasn't favourite to get out of this but I was full of confidence because of our performance against Spain.

I put together a nice little squad but then immediately messed up. During friendlies the squad selection had clashes with the U21's, meaning I lost out on players. I just assumed we had a similar clash here and didn't even bother wasting time on trying to get the U21 squad players. It wasn't until I had to call up a replacement for an injury that I realised I could...and that I was playing a much weaker squad than I actually needed to. Bugger.

Still I was fairly happy with the squad - after all Allen was my striker. A Championship first teamer leading the line? Not bad.

Things didn't go to plan though*.

First up against Estonia...we took the lead, got pulled back. Took the lead, got pulled back again. Then, in the 96th minute (we only had 4 to play!) they scored from a corner and we lost 3-2. I was fuming. We really needed something from the game.

Next up was Denmark. We battered them but only came away with a scoreless draw. The man of the match went to the frame of their goal.

Finally England...at this point we couldn't go through. England had 6 points after beating Denmark and Estonia. Estonia were second with 3. We were third with 1 and Denmark were bottom. We were just playing for pride.

And play we did. It was a scoreless draw again but we were all over them. They were genuinely lucky to survive the onslaught. It didn't let up for the full 90 minutes. We should have won but the draw was creditable.

So we were out but hopeful for better next time. Lesson learnt in regards to the U21's and selection!






*See the next post for a note on this...

Just got to hold on.... [2018]

My doom and gloom view was justified. Look at the form!

I was a game away from resigning. We had four defeats in a row, and we slipped down the table.The team were unhappy and I was furious. Both my key strikers, Felic and Viggeborn, were on 8 or 10 match goaless runs respectively. So I gave this guy a start as striker.

I signed him at the start of the season. I didn't mention him, or the AMLC I bought because I didn't think they'd be much use for a good long while. But I figured it was worth giving him a go as striker. After all even if he couldn't score it would still take 8 games for him to be as bad as Felic and Viggy.

It worked out quite nicely. He grabbed a great goal from outside the area, which spurred Viggy on when he came off the bench, and we beat Brommapojkarna 4-1. Which then triggered a run of wins allowing us to just move up and out of the relegation zone and sit in 12th place. The screen shot at 20 games messed up so here it is at 21.

Team are doing...okay. A lot of them won't be here next year simply because I'm not renewing their contracts.Bjorkebaum for example will be going. He's getting on and he's not impressed.

The final 10 games? Could go either way still. A bad run will suck us back down, a good run will keep us afloat. I want to finish this season and survive at the very least. I'll be left with a bit of a decision at the end though.

I think if we survive and can recruit the players I'm looking for in the upcoming transfer window (got my eye on about 5 players, all decent) then I'll stay for another season.

If we get relegated then I'll go down with the ship like a good captain should be then...once the bubbles have stopped rising I'll quietly hand my notice in.

Anything in between that I don't know.

Ireland U-19's

One friendly, one win. Beat Iceland 1-0. Some of the players look promising but it doesn't mean much at the moment. It's the comparative games and the squad I can put together for them. I've arranged several friendlies so I can play around with tactics and cynically tempt some dual nationality players into declaring for Ireland! But the important games won't be for at least another year.

Saving Grace [2018]

A new season, a new start and a whole new set of...disappointments.

Actually that is a little harsh. This season just hasn't been going very well. It's been very hectic but not positive for 'Tuna. I was actually getting to the point where I was counting down and thinking, "...at game X if the table looks like this then I'm off." And other variants. I just wasn't enjoying things. I was enjoying FM but it seemed like things were getting a little stale at 'Tuna.

Part of this was down to some terrible form in the league...

...that lead to us being here after 10 games.10th with 12 points. Not great, but not terrible either.

What was making it worse was that the recent change in form had pulled us up and out of the relegation zone but we seemed to be fairly lucky with results. The team was playing okay and deserved points but we weren't finishing games off very well and key players just weren't stepping up. As you can sort of see here...

...I know it's only 10 games in but there's not a lot of goals there, and that's part of the problem. We don't look like scoring anywhere near as many as we did last season and we look pretty limited in what we can do on the pitch. Totally down to not having a decent left back I think. I know I said I was eager to recruit because the team was good enough but I was wrong. Horribly wrong.

Svennson on the right is playing amazingly well. Last season he only played a little there and moonlighted as an emergency left back (though not very effectively). This season he's at right back and he is just marauding down that wing. In a similar style to Molder. He's carving space open, getting involved and is a really attacking threat. All whilst staying secure at the back.

On the left....well Nino Johnasson is okay defensively but isn't offering anything going forward. Wallinder likewise, and when I play Manns there I get a little more out of the DL position but then I leave a huge hole in the middle of the defence, that my other DC's don't fill very well. I don't gain enough in attacking threat by moving Manns to offset the loss in security at the back.

The knock on effect of this is that who ever is playing as AML is having to do pretty much all the attacking work down that side. Which gets tiring and predictable. The left back will move forward and be a passing option but they won't run and attack with the ball, they won't run without it and open up space...they just sit there for the back pass from the tired and frustrated AML.

So I need a DL. Problem is no one who looks half decent wants to come. I don't want to panic buy so I'm not going to rush but it leaves me with two options really.
1) Change the formation so attacking from the DL/R positions is less important.
2) Retrain Wallinder a little for the wingback role and hope that he improves. This option also involves crossing my fingers that I can scrape by this season if he doesn't get more attacking.

Ideally there would be that extra option of bringing someone in but that's not working. As I mentioned nobody wants to come and I think I know why. We're still semi pro. I want to ask the board if we can go pro but I don't even have the option - apparently even with no debts and 1m in the bank it is still too expensive. I then asked, well can we at least scout a little bit outside of Sweden then to try and recruit? I thought maybe Finland and Norwary might be a good place to get a few less fussy players. The board said no, apparently Sweden is good enough for us...

Another issue (I know, moan moan moan) is that squad morale has plummeted. A few squad players want to leave because they want to play more, a few want to leave because they think they've peaked here (may be some truth to that), a few in the reserve team are sick of being there and others are just a bit down because of our form.To the point where the board are paying attention to squad harmony.

My plan to deal with this has two parts. Part 1 has been implemented. Every complaining player in the reserves was released on a free. Part 2 is a work in progress...just play better and get some results. We're still doing better than the 15th predicted by the media but the players are unhappy all the same (as they should be - we're better than 10th).

The poor form, moaning, lack of turning pro and general board arseyness left me wanting to leave but two things have happened that mean I'm not going to make a hasty exit. I'm going to hold on. So long as I'm not in the relegation zone at one of the key points in the season (15 games, 20 games and 25 games), and even then I might hold on for a while if it's only a few points, then I'm staying.

So what has changed my mind and staved off my general 'Tuna weariness?

First of all the board did agree to this...

...I know I won't see the benefits for a while but at least they're willing to invest. My youth products are already pretty good, this would be a step towards maximising the potential of them and maybe progressing (or making money).

Second I got this...

...oh yes. I know it's not the most glamorous role but it is a stepping stone and I like the (semi) realism of it. I'm not jumping straight into international management. I've earnt some kudos domestically and now my half Mexican-half Irish manager gets to cut his teeth with the youth team. I would have preferred the Swedish youth job but because the Swedish league is active I just can't compete with all the Swedish staff for the job. Not yet. So Ireland U19's it is. They have no competitive fixutures to speak of after being knocked out of the Euro Qualifiers so that gives me plenty of time to sort the team out.

Anything else to report? Well I did add the MLS, which will become active in December. Mainly because I was reading a chapter from Soccernomics and a quote stood out in it - 'The MLS is crying out for a dynasty'.

I might give creating one a go in the future. I know the plan is to stay with 'Tuna for now but if a job in the MLS came up then I'd be off. Building a real dynasty there is too tempting. Likewise a move to Scotland to break the Old Firm completely. Kilmarnock won the title this year, and Dundee Utd the year before, but no other team in recent memory in the game (or real life I guess) has put together a run of titles like Rangers or Celtic.