Time to plan revenge [2024]

I was fuming after the sacking. I still am really. Not fuming in a "THE GAME IS BUGGED" way but just in a why would the board do that to me way? I didn't get promotion but I was all set for the next season. My young players had a season of experience under their collective belts. I had another 5 coming in to strengthen the weaker areas of the squad, and the board had just agreed to improve the junior coaching. Things were looking good.

I also had players there I liked. I'd gotten complete immersed in the game their and was irritated that I wouldn't get to see Stahl, Sundberg and the like progress under my guidance.

I was so mad that I actually wanted to stay in the division. Teams in Denmark and Norway were flattered by my apparent interest, as were teams in the Swedish Elite division but I help on for a team in the First Division North. Not very logical but potentially deeply satisfying.

And an offer came in...

I'd played against them a lot as 'Tuna City and I remember always looking at their youth intake for players to poach. More importantly though they were in the same division. I'd get to try and exact some revenge on the club that had, I feel, unfairly sacked me (something I stressed with expletives in the Vasteras SK press conference!).


How were they set?

Not too bad. They didn't have the same capital or wage budget as Degerfors though and had finished much lower.

Resources were scarcer, expectations were lower and the squad much smaller.


All that meant though was that I'd be able to build without as much pressure.


Tactically I decided that I would go with the same tactic as the one I'd used with Degerfors. I'd shown it could work, I'd tweaked it and it seem well suited for this level. Plus I wanted to do well with it to show them what they were missing. My replacement would undoubtedly be much more conservative tactically than I.

Recruitment

What did I need? Well wingbacks and plenty of midfielders. I actually recruited around 15 players but I'm just briefly covering the key ones.

Defence

Asberg and Jeppsson would sort out my wingback issues, and my youth and reserve players would provide back up. Jeppsson looked solid, though nothing special, and Asberg had been my youth backup at Degerfors. I had rotated him in occasionally and although he wasn't yet as good as the likes of Wallinder or Engstrom he did do well enough.

I did try and get Wallinder. My replacement shipped a lot of players out. I missed out though as despite offering Wallinder as much as I possibly could to join me for a 3rd time he decided to go to a Swedish Premier side. Understandable.

I also added Rahmanovic and Dalla Valle. My scouts thought reasonably highly of them and they would at the very least bolster my defence.

In an odd buggy glitchy twist I also tried to sign Blomme from Degerfors as a player/coach. He accepted and appeared on my squad screen....but when I clicked on him he was still down as as Degerfors player. I couldn't play him in any of my games and later in the season when he got fined by Degerfors I got asked about it. Weird and annoying but not a game breaker.

Midfield

Vasteras already had some promising midfielders. Not quite Stahl but in a similar mold. But they needed more. If you have a formation with 4 midfielders then you really need at least 8 in the team to provide cover and rotation. So I started signing.

Hamdi Al-Sheikh Al-Azhar had an amazing name and the scouts rated him. I imagined him being Stahl 2.0. Ali Khalaf was a bit of gamble but if he did well I had a feeling he would do really really well. A less risky singing was Hammenskog who would slot straight into that ball winning role. Bjorklund was then there for the Treq role and emergency cover upfront if things ever got dire.

Attack

We already had one player who looked half decent up front, and with only one striker in the squad I didn't need to recruit too heavily. Broberg was a player I'd almost signed for Degerfors. Biladama had experience at a higher level and would hopefully rotate.


The Season/Expectations

The board want mid table. The media think 8th. I'm of course hoping for more but I don't think things will be as smooth as last season. Anything above 6th I'll be happy with, above 3rd I'll be over the moon. Or alternatively finishing above Degerfors would do me, even if we both ended up relegated.

It's not enough that I succeed, they must fail also.

Surprise... [2023]

Surprise Sacking that is.

I'm livid. Yes I missed out on promotion but I was building a team. A most unfair sacking.

I want revenge.

Nothing quite like a last game collapse [2023]

A teeth gnashing, hair rending, end to the season. We dropped some points. Look at that. A streak of draws, a loss to Akropolis and then the final game defeat.

All culminating in 3rd place. No title, no promotion, no playoff.


Before the final game we were in 3rd and all we had to do was win. A draw would probably have done it provided Akropolis didn't go on a goal frenzy. We lost. And why? Well my keeper being in international duty didn't help. All of the goals we conceded in that final game were rubbish ones. A scramble, a poor clearance and a weak dive to stop a routine shot.

In actuality we lost it earlier but we just didn't realise it. Those 3 draws cost us 6 points. Converting one to a win would have meant 2nd place. Converting all 3 would have meant challenging for the title.

That lost against Akroplis? A draw against them would have actually meant we would have got 2nd place over them.


The board are a little disappointed. They wanted promotion, the media thought 3rd place was fair. So my job is a little insecure. I'm fairly confident that they'll keep me on though. We're in a good position for next year.

Ah well...

End of Season Review

How'd the team do?

Well they pulled together pretty well. Almost all the signings played their part. Apart from maybe Citaku who will be put on the unwanted list.

Stahl was the stand out player. My player of the year. Look at him. He's a beast.

He scored, provided and ran at the defense time and time again.

Wallinder and Engstrom did really well too. And even the two AMC's I got as youth gambles and cover, Goransson and Kallgren, did really well.

There are some problems though.

1) Depth - We still had a pretty small squad. Injuries, bans and international call ups cost us at times. Our 3-0 loss to Akropolis came after we had to go to extra time in the cup against Qviding. They were knackered.

Whenever I had to rest key players like Fredriksson or Bajric there was a knock on effect.

Up front although Pode bagged a tidy 14 goals when he was playing badly, tired or was on his mid season dry spell we just didn't have the options on the bench to maintain the goal threat. Citaku wasn't up to it and playing Stahl there meant changing the midfield.

So we need more players. I've got two coming in, a DM and a AMC. I think I need a striker and then a few youth players as back up in midfield and up front. Then I can rotate them in.


2) Age? - I'm a bit doubtful but the squad average age is pretty young, 22 years old. The youngest team in the league has an average of 21. Did this mean we were more likely to crack under pressure? I'm not convinced but it's documented to have an effect. I think in part with another seasons experience this will improve and there'll be less of an impact. I'm just worried though that if we lose say Fredriksson, the old man of the team, the core of midfield, that'll we'll suffer.

I don't want to bring in older players for the sake of it though. I want to keep the faith with the younger players. I just need to talk to them more using the player interaction options, and keep an eye on my team talks. They'll need more hand holding.

Right, time to recruit during the long cold Swedish off season.

Halfway in and time to think [2023]

Not time to panic yet but we've not been as ruthless as we'd like.

Consider we have a very young squad I'm okay with 2nd, especially seeing as 1st place hasn't gotten away from us. The tactic seems to be working quite nicely as well but as you can tell from the squad details we don't have many goal outlets.

I had started to notice in the match engine that we were taking quite a few long shots. We were putting together some amazing passing moves but quite often we would then pull the trigger outside the area. I had a look at various post match analyses and confirmed my gut feeling. We liked to shoot outside the box.

You could also see the problem in the passing to an extent. Plenty of passing everywhere but in the box. The ball was coming to the attackers outside the area and the shot was coming from there. I looked at the heat map and things started to click. I needed to move the defensive line. I needed to push up so that when we started a move we started it on the halfway line, not in our half, so that more breaks would be made into the box rather than just outside.

So I changed it. Another thing I'm considering changing, although not yet is long shots. I might tone it down. The problem is whilst we are wasteful Stahl and Bajric actually get a few and as they develop and get better they're getting closer and closer. So I'm leaving that change till later.

Overall I'm happy with things. I like the club, I like the league, I like the country.

Sweden for Definite...Degefors I mean. [2023]

And back to where things started really. I was holidaying and waiting for offers. I wasn't getting great ones. Rotheram....Walsall. It wasn't the teams that put me off them it was just I couldn't see myself staying and taking them to the top. I didn't want to take a job that I was bound to tire of.

So I held on and got an offer from Degerfors. A team in the Swedish First Division Elite...for one more game. They had already been relegated and would be playing next season in the First Division North.

It didn't take me long to decide. I liked playing in Sweden before, I had been successful, I still had things to win, I had a connection there, and the club had money spare and there was potential to become a big fish and in a small to medium pond.


So I took it.

I had one game to play which gave me a brief chance to look at the team. I wanted to try something different tactically and I needed to be flexible. From looking at the original team I had a lot of central defenders that were decent, some good attacking midfielders, and not much else bar a singe decent striker. After having read this article on possession football I decided that I would build a new tactic (for me) based on similar principles.

I was going to play 3 central defenders, two wingbacks, two central midfielders, two attacking midfielders and one striker. A bit narrow but the wingbacks would add depth and the roles of the AMC's would change the shape a little.

Here it is:

I'll go through the players in a bit. The first thing that might strike you is that some of the players are not in the right position. Basically they are good enough for those positions and are being trained in them. The stats, training and match experience will see them through.

The three central defenders should keep things solid at the back. One DC is a limited defender and his job is just to clear the danger, he's the last gasp no nonsense player.

The wing backs provide some defensive cover but also the width and supply.

The ball winning MC provides some stopping power and defensive cover, hopefully increasing our chances of winning back possession. The deep lying midfield should partner them and start moves, all without running into the space of the AMC's ahead. The DLP and BWM can also work with the wing backs, almost giving us a bank of 3 and then 4 defensively.

In AMC I have an inside forward and a Treq. The IF should carry a direct goal threat, working off the shoulder of the striker and attacking from slightly deeper. I'm expecting a fair few goals to come from there. The Treq is there to be creative and create space as well as chances. In theory the IF and Treq could push up when attacking to give me 3 up front. Again in theory my team shape could under certain conditions be closer to a 433.

The striker at the moment is playing as complete forward but this I might tweak to a Defensive Forward or Targetman. They should be a threat on their own, the point of the attack, but also they should be able to bring in other players, ideally the IF and Treq behind them. This role I think will change depending on who is playing it.

So there we go. There's also room to evolve the tactic. As well as changing the striker role and I can see the limited defender role changing to a libero as we move up the leagues and get the players for it. The AMC roles could change too.

I played it in my first game and the teams final game of the season and we held a title pushing side to a creditable away draw. We created chances and frankly only drew because we gave away a goal in a bit of a scramble. All this without most of the players you see above, they were recruited afterwards.

Players

I needed to bring in a few but I had the core of the defense, and midfield present. Luckily the team had a lot of money for this level and I was able to get quite a few good youth players in. I favoured youth but also brought in a few older, more seasoned, players too.

Defense

Wingback was the key bit to strengthen here. I had a few players I could train into the positions already at the club but I needed a couple more.

Axel played for me at 'Tuna and I remember him being great at pushing forwards. I got him for the WBL position but also for cover on the right.

Engstrom is a U19's starlet, cost about 18k, and isn't a natural WBR. But I think he'll grow into it.

Sandberg provides cover across the back and in defensive midfield. He also had a season of experience in the Elite Division. He was a another U19 team mate of Engstrom.

Midfield

I recruited quite a lot here just to make sure I had cover and flexibiliy.

Nordin was another U19 star and cost quite a bit. I see great potential there and I think he'll slot into either MC role, though DLP more.

Stahl was bought to be the ultimate utility man but I think he's going to go straight into the IF role. He doesn't have AMC as one of his positions but if he can play MC and play ST then IF isn't beyond him.

Svahn was brought in as cover, ideally in the AMC position. Getting on a bit but it doesn't hurt to have a bit of experience. Also for the first division he should be fine.

Goransson and Kallgren were on the young side but again they were there as AMC cover. I think at least one of them should grow into the role well enough.

Attack

I brought in Citaku to rotate with Pode. Both should be good enough for the Elite division.

I also brought in Ohlsson on loan. Hopefully he'll just be attacking as cover. With the players I have and only one out and out striker role I can afford to be light up front.


So far

I've played lots of friendlies and the group stage of the Swedish Cup. We lost unfairly 5-0 to Premier side Hammarby (we outplayed them for most of the match but just couldn't break through), lost 2-1 to Premier side Elfsborg (lucky goal from them), and then beat Elite side Qviding 3-1.

The tactic seemed to be working very nicely. We held onto a lot of possession against the big sides and created chances. They were a little further out than I would have liked, very few against the top sides were in the area but I think initially that can be put down to the quality of their defence. First Division North sides should suffer.

Against Qviding Stahl got a brace from the IF position and the attacking moves were beautiful. I don't want to jinx the season by saying I have a good feeling about things but....I have a good feeling about things.

I'm going to make use of the analysis tab this season as well so hopefully I can be better tactically.

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.