[FM10] Fabio Crouchello - Taking England to South Africa 2010

[crouchaldinho]

Final Group Standings:

Sorry the tables are wonky! :o

[crouchaldinho]

nice story m8 keep up the good work : )

Thanks pembo3000. Very kind of you to say so.

[crouchaldinho]

Euro 2012 Quarter-final - England 2 - 1 Spain

Line-ups

Overview, Match Details & Player Ratings

So, there were a number of changes for this match. First, Gareth Barry dropped in to cover at left-back. In came Owen Hargreaves in his place and he was given the 'anchor man' role. Just in front of him in the midfield was Michael Carrick playing 'deep-lying playmaker'. To the right, Lennon was playing 'winger', while on the left side, Ashley Young was in as an 'inside forward'. Gerrard was playing off Rooney, the former as an 'attacking midfielder' (attack) and the latter as a 'complete forward' (support). See the line-ups link above for the formation.

Before this game, I was worried about getting knocked out and particularly concerned about whether if we did go out, I would still have a job at the end of the tournament. The FA wanted the semis - would a quarter-final place be enough for me to keep my job?

I need not have worried. This was a breath-taking performance. We played Spain at their own game - keeping possession and playing great attacking football - and soundly beat them. We were outstanding and thoroughly deserved the result.

[crouchaldinho]

Quarter-final Results:

[crouchaldinho]

The huge shock result of this tournament is Northern Ireland, who not only finished top of a group consisting of Germany, Ukraine and the Czech Republic, but have also managed to knock-out Portugal on their way to a semi-final place.

They would be our next opponents and I have to say that I was pretty pleased with the draw. Without being too disrespectful to Northern Ireland, they would be the easiest route to the final.

[crouchaldinho]

By the way, for those wondering where the World Cup holders France are in this tournament, they failed to qualify. They missed out by 1 point in their qualifying group, and Belgium and the Czech Republic were the teams to qualify from that group. Raymond Domenech was finally sacked as manager after this.

The other shock was that the Dutch team failed to qualify, losing at the play-off stage to Germany.

[crouchaldinho]

Euro 2012 Semi-final - N. Ireland 0 - 4 England

Line-ups

Overview, Match Details & Player Ratings

Well, we couldn't really have hoped for an easier semi-final. A fantastic display from Michael Carrick in the middle of the park, and by Ashley young playing wide-left, won us this game.

Michael Carrick has long been my unsung hero in the England team. Employed in a deep-lying playmaker role, he pings the ball about beautifully and pulls the strings from a deep position in the midfield. More of the same in the final please, where we would meet the Italians!

[crouchaldinho]

Semi-final results:

[pembo3000]

no probs m8 : )

[crouchaldinho]

Euro 2012 Final - Italy 1 - 0 England

Line-ups

Overview, Match Details & Player Ratings

We fell at the final hurdle once again.

I sent the same team out to face the Italians and felt reasonably pleased with our display overall, even though we just didn't do enough to win this final.

When we won a penalty a few minutes into the second-half, I couldn't believe our luck. With regular penalty taker Frank Lampard on the bench, Gareth Barry stood up to take it, and sent it straight at Buffon.

After this, the game always looked destined for extra-time and I felt confident that we might be able to turn it in our favour late on. However, it was the Italians who ended up snatching the game from us. Michael Carrick made a stupid tackle on the edge of the penalty area and the referee had no doubts. Balotelli stood up and sent the ball into the back of the net for the winner.

We pushed on to try to get something back in the dying minutes but it was too little, too late. In the end, we would be going home with nothing for the second tournament in a row.

What it is with me and finals? I always have terrible luck in finals.

[crouchaldinho]

My managerial record with England:

P	W	D	L	F	A	GD
39	30	7	2	100	23	77

So we have only lost two games with me in charge - that is, the World Cup 2010 final and now the Euro 2012 final.

It seems that I only lose finals.

[hrbfcrule]

That's quite a record but it's really unlucky the 2 losses came at the most important times

[crouchaldinho]

The End of an Era?

I thought briefly about maybe moving on to manage another nation but, in the end, decided to stay on with England. I really need to try to break this habit of losing in major finals!

The likes of Frank Lampard, Rio Ferdinand and maybe even Steven Gerrard will most likely be too old to compete at the next World Cup. There will have to be a new England captain and some rebuilding will certainly need to be done.

Here is a list of the current squad and their total caps/goals after Euro 2012:

| Pkd    | Inf    | Name             | Club        | Team   | Caps   | Goals  | Yth Apps | Yth Gls| Value  | 
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| DC     |        | Rio Ferdinand    | Man Utd     | Main   | 109    | 7      | 5        | -      | £3.6M  | 
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| S7     | Inj    | Frank Lampard    | Chelsea     | Main   | 108    | 39     | 19       | 8      | £2.8M  | 
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| -      | Inj    | Ashley Cole      | Chelsea     | Main   | 105    | -      | 3        | 1      | £7.5M  | 
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| AMC    | Inj    | Steven Gerrard   | Liverpool   | Main   | 103    | 19     | 4        | 1      | £12.5M | 
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| ST     | Inj    | Wayne Rooney     | Man Utd     | Main   | 89     | 53     | -        | -      | £29M   | 
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| DC     |        | John Terry       | Chelsea     | Main   | 87     | 8      | 9        | 1      | £14.75M| 
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| DL     | IPR    | Gareth Barry     | Man City    | Main   | 66     | 5      | 27       | 2      | £6.25M | 
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| DMC    |        | Owen Hargreaves  | Man Utd     | Main   | 64     | -      | 3        | -      | £3.9M  | 
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| MC     | Inj    | Michael Carrick  | Man Utd     | Main   | 52     | 4      | 14       | 2      | £9M    | 
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| DR     |        | Glen Johnson     | Liverpool   | Main   | 50     | -      | 14       | -      | £7.75M | 
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| S11    |        | Peter Crouch     | Tottenham   | Main   | 45     | 18     | 6        | 1      | £2.8M  | 
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| AML    |        | Ashley Young     | Man City    | Main   | 35     | 11     | 10       | -      | £14M   | 
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| MR     |        | Aaron Lennon     | Tottenham   | Main   | 33     | 5      | 5        | -      | £20M   | 
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| GK     |        | Ben Foster       | Man Utd     | Main   | 30     | -      | -        | -      | £7.25M | 
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| S9     |        | Theo Walcott     | Arsenal     | Main   | 28     | 5      | 20       | 6      | £11.5M | 
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| S2     |        | Micah Richards   | Man City    | Main   | 15     | 1      | 9        | 2      | £5.75M | 
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| S8     |        | James Milner     | Aston Villa | Main   | 12     | -      | 46       | 9      | £7M    | 
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| S6     |        | Lee Cattermole   | Sunderland  | Main   | 7      | -      | 15       | 2      | £5M    | 
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| S12    |        | Joe Hart         | Zaragoza    | Main   | 6      | -      | 21       | -      | £1.9M  | 
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| -      | Inj    | Leighton Baines  | At. Madrid  | Main   | 6      | -      | 16       | 1      | £6.75M | 
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| S10    |        | Gabby Agbonlahor | Aston Villa | Main   | 4      | -      | 16       | 4      | £8.5M  | 
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| S1     |        | Robert Green     | West Ham    | Main   | 4      | -      | -        | -      | £4M    | 
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| S4     |        | Gary Cahill      | Inter       | Main   | 2      | -      | 4        | -      | £7.75M | 
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 

[crouchaldinho]

That's quite a record but it's really unlucky the 2 losses came at the most important times

You're not wrong there hrbfcrule.

[crouchaldinho]

Crouchy's Road to Brazil (Qualifying for World Cup 2014)

So it's straight on to the matter of qualifying for the next World Cup.

This will be our group:

Should be very straight-forward to be honest.

First, we have yet another home friendly against Finland (:confused:) in which I hope to experiment with a new look squad before getting stuck into the WC qualifying.

[Jenko_EFC]

Unluckly crouchaldinho, you seem to be very unlucky in finals, better luck next time though chin up! Great record however with 100 goals in only 39 games! Keep going and I'm enjoying .

[crouchaldinho]

In the end, my squad for the friendly against Finland, and the first qualifying game against Wales, wasn't as revolutionary as I thought it would be. I left in the likes of Lampard etc., as they can still do a job for us in the qualifiers, but I did take the opportunity to call up some younger players including Joe Mattock, Nathan Delfouneso and Jordan Spence.

[crouchaldinho]

International Friendly - England 2 - 0 Finland

Line-ups

Overview, Match Details & Player Ratings

Quite a strong sense of deja vu here as we played Finland again. Almost like the Euros never happened!

We were solid and efficient here. A decent victory to take us into the first qualifying game against Wales.

[crouchaldinho]

I've just replaced Frank Lampard as England captain. With a new campaign beginning, I thought it was time for a fresh start and a new captain for England.

I've now given the captaincy to Steven Gerrard with Gareth Barry coming in as vice-captain.

Gerrard will be 34 by the time the World Cup comes around but I suspect he will still be featuring then. If not, I may have to reconsider nearer the time.

The public reaction and the reaction of the players to my choice has been good.

[jackripper]

i would deffo turn to youth now your qualifying. KUTGW tho

[crouchaldinho]

It's going to be a slow process jackripper but I will be looking to bring in a few youngsters now and looking to do some rebuilding for the World Cup.

[crouchaldinho]

World Cup 2014 European Qualifying Group 6 - Wales 1 - 2 England

Line-ups

Overview, Match Details & Player Ratings

A rather worryingly lacklustre affair. We didn't really seem to get going and gave Wales too much of an easy time early on.

In the end, we stepped up a gear and pulled ourselves upwards in order to grind out the result.

Not pretty and not spectacular but it will do.

[crouchaldinho]

World Cup 2014 European Qualifying Group 6 - Moldova 1 - 5 England

Line-ups

Overview, Match Details & Player Ratings

We got a good win, as expected. The only embarrassment was conceding the goal, which was a real gaffe from our 'keeper. A typical England goalkeeper error really. :o Otherwise, it was business as usual.

[crouchaldinho]

World Cup 2014 European Qualifying Group 6 - England 2 - 0 Switzerland

Line-ups

Overview, Match Details & Player Ratings

The first real challenge for us and it was actually more tricky than expected. They came playing a very defensive 4-4-2 with two DMs and sat behind the ball. We failed miserably to break them down for 85 minutes until I introduced Frank Lampard. The veteran midfielder proved that there is still life in him yet by scoring twice, once from the spot, to win us this match. Onwards and upwards.

[AcidBurn]

How is Harry Kane developing on your game Crouchy any chance of a screenshot? He is an important part of my side in 2019.

[crouchaldinho]

International Friendly - Portugal 1 - 4 England

Line-ups

Overview, Match Details & Player Ratings

I have managed to fall out with Rafa Benitez, who decided to withdraw a few of his players from my squad. Therefore, I decided to use this friendly to concentrate on bringing in a few youngsters. The likes of Jordan Spence, Joe Mattock, Jack Rodwell and Nathan Delfouneso were in the starting XI for this one. With no good AM option, I decided to adapt the asymmetric 4-2-3-1 into a 4-4-2 shape.

All of our best football came in an outstanding first-half which saw us go in 3-0 up at half-time. As expected, Portugal fought back strongly in the second-half, but they could only grab a consolation thanks to some fines saves from Ben Foster.

Overall, this was a great display and a super result for us.

[crouchaldinho]

How is Harry Kane developing on your game Crouchy any chance of a screenshot? He is an important part of my side in 2019.

Weird. I can't even find him on my game. :confused:

What's that all about?

[AcidBurn]

That is very strange as he starts at Spurs and is completely world class and has better stats than Rooney on my game. Great win over Portugal by the way.

[crouchaldinho]

Cheers AB.

Yes, it is very strange indeed.

I search for Kane and no sign of a Harry Kane. :confused:

When I look at Tottenham's transfer history, there is no sign of him being sold or released.

There seems to be no sign of him on my game. :confused:

I've got a large database and obviously England is loaded so should have no problems with missing players. Any idea why he isn't in my game?

[AcidBurn]

Maybe he is only on 10.3?

[crouchaldinho]

I just checked that on the editor. He seems to be on all of the patches.

Very strange. It's annoying me now as I want to know why!

Just looking on my Calcio save and he isn't on that either.

But he is on my Saints save. He does appear on that one.

So it probably is something to do with the patches as my calcio save is from 10.1, my England one (this one) from 10.2, and my Saints save from 10.3.

[crouchaldinho]

World Cup European Qualifying Group 6 Standings (at the end of 2012):

| Pos   | Inf   | Team          |       | Pld   | Won   | Drn   | Lst   | For   | Ag    | G.D.  | Pts   | 
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
[b]| 1st   |       | England       |       | 3     | 3     | 0     | 0     | 9     | 2     | +7    | 9     | [/b]
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 2nd   |       | Slovenia      |       | 3     | 2     | 1     | 0     | 5     | 1     | +4    | 7     | 
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 3rd   |       | Switzerland   |       | 3     | 1     | 1     | 1     | 3     | 2     | +1    | 4     | 
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 4th   |       | Wales         |       | 3     | 1     | 0     | 2     | 5     | 5     | 0     | 3     | 
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 5th   |       | Moldova       |       | 3     | 1     | 0     | 2     | 5     | 8     | -3    | 3     | 
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 6th   |       | Faroe Islands |       | 3     | 0     | 0     | 3     | 0     | 9     | -9    | 0     | 
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 

[crouchaldinho]

International Friendly - England 2 - 0 Iran

Line-ups

Overview, Match Details & Player Ratings

Back to the 4-2-3-1 for this friendly. Iran came to sit everyone behind the ball and to keep the scoreline respectable. We struggle to break them down.

In a way, it was good practice for our next match which will be at home to the Faroe Islands. Hopefully, we will not struggle in the manner we did here. :o

Nevertheless, we got the win, which was very comfortable in the end. I also had another look at Jack Rodwell and Nathan Delfouneso, who both came on as second-half subs.

[crouchaldinho]

Damn, a bug just hit meaning I had to close without saving.

Will have to play the Faroe Islands game again tomorrow.

[crouchaldinho]

Ended up with the exactly same result anyway!

[crouchaldinho]

World Cup 2014 European Qualifying Group 6 - England 7 - 0 Faroe Islands

Line-ups

Overview, Match Details & Player Ratings

What is that they say about there being no easy games in International football these days?

[crouchaldinho]

I'm going to start using the friendly matches to give fringe players/youngsters some playing time.

[crouchaldinho]

World Cup 2014 European Qualifying Group 6 - England 4 - 1 Slovenia

Line-ups

Overview, Match Details & Player Ratings

Complete domination here against Slovenia. Their goal was a typical England cock-up moment but we ended up very comfortably winning this one anyway.

[crouchaldinho]

Standby for my most embarrassing result so far as England manager. :o

[crouchaldinho]

World Cup 2014 European Qualifying Group 6 - England 1 - 1 Moldova

Line-ups

Overview, Match Details & Player Ratings

The Moldovian minnows not only took a point but they also took the lead in this embarrassing affair at Wembley. Aaron Lennon saved our blushes slightly but it was still embarrassing that we didn't manage to win this one.

After the game, the media reported that Moldova had withstood an 'England barrage'. Gerrard told the press that he was quite frankly 'baffled' by the result. The fans were 'devastated' by the draw against the plucky minnows. Meanwhile, the media seemed to want to make a big deal out of an England penalty claim that had been turned down. In a heated press conference, I told them that I was 'embarrassed at what I saw' in this match.

:o

[crouchaldinho]

If you think that last result was bad, just wait until you see the next two results. I've lost my magic touch.

[crouchaldinho]

World Cup 2014 European Qualifying Group 6 - Switzerland 1 - 0 England

Line-ups

Overview, Match Details & Player Ratings

Various injuries and suspensions meant that we were without our usual centre-back partnership. Shawcross and Lescott deputised at the back. Barry and Lennon were also missing and they were replaced by Rodwell and Milner respectively.

The goal we conceded was, predictably, a defensive mistake by one of our deputising centre-backs. Lescott tripped a Swiss player in the box.

Despite chance after chance, we just couldn't get back into the match. Their 'keeper won the man of the match award, which says it all really.

This is a difficult time to be England manager. Several of the older players are in serious decline and, as yet, there aren't too many adequate replacements. Nevertheless, this was an extremely poor result. But worse is still to come.......

:o

[crouchaldinho]

Attention all Sun newspaper readers: get ready to come up with a derogatory nickname for me.

Graham Turner was 'Turnip Head'. I'm sure they turned Sven into a Swede. So maybe a vegetable nickname for me too?

Steve McClaren was 'the wally with the brolly' so maybe something along those lines. 'The wally who plays too much FM'?

Seriously, this next result is more embarrassing than the other two put together. :o

[crouchaldinho]

World Cup 2014 European Qualifying Group 6 - England 0 - 1 Wales

Line-ups

Overview, Match Details & Player Ratings

I've barely any idea how we managed to lose this one. We were crap, I think is the answer.

The goal was basically a huge mistake from John Terry, who never recovered afterwards. Rooney limped off after half-an-hour with a knock and I didn't have a decent replacement. Then we spent the rest of the game showing how not to score goals.

An absolutely dreadful result. This is now officially a crisis.

Do I not like that.

[crouchaldinho]

I have some official footage from the England bench during the last game:

And both my half-time and full-time team talk went a bit like this -

[crouchaldinho]

World Cup 2014 European Qualifying Group 6 Current Standings:

| Pos   | Inf   | Team          |       | Pld   | Won   | Drn   | Lst   | For   | Ag    | G.D.  | Pts   | 
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 1st   |       | Slovenia      |       | 8     | 6     | 1     | 1     | 15    | 6     | +9    | 19    | 
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
[b]| 2nd   |       | England       |       | 8     | 5     | 1     | 2     | 21    | 6     | +15   | 16    | [/b]
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 3rd   |       | Wales         |       | 8     | 4     | 1     | 3     | 15    | 11    | +4    | 13    | 
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 4th   |       | Switzerland   |       | 8     | 4     | 1     | 3     | 13    | 11    | +2    | 13    | 
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 5th   |       | Moldova       |       | 8     | 2     | 1     | 5     | 10    | 18    | -8    | 7     | 
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 

Next up, we play Slovenia away in a must win match.

There have been some changes to the squad I have called up for this all important game. I've brought in Aston Villa midfielder Fabian Delph for the first time. I've also recalled some old faces, including Darren Bent, Leighton Baines and Curtis Davies.

The pressure is on. This is a career defining moment in my International managerial career.

[hrbfcrule]

Oh dear, some very poor results there :o. So much for only losing finals

[crouchaldinho]

Famous last words.......

This needs turning around. Perhaps I can still reclaim the faith of the nation if we can beat Slovenia away. Actually quite nervous now.

[crouchaldinho]

A number of my key England players are now in decline in a big way.

I've dropped Rio Ferdinand entirely. Frank Lampard is heading in that direction but his great natural stamina is keeping him going. Also the lack of decent replacements is why he is still in and around the team.

Gareth Barry and Michael Carrick are both now in decline, as are Ashley Cole and Owen Hargreaves. They are all still good players though.

We are struggling for replacements at the moment. Jack Rodwell has emerged at just the right time and Joe Mattock is another good prospect. We are really lacking a decent deep-lying playmaker to replace Carrick, and a decent AM for when Gerrard starts to decline.

There are some great prospects in the Under 19s but they are way short of first-team status right now. They will probably be ready for Euro 2016 or World Cup 2018. Until then, it's not looking great to be honest.

[crouchaldinho]

World Cup 2014 European Qualifying Group 6 - Slovenia 1 - 2 England

Line-ups

Overview, Match Details & Player Ratings

There were some changes here as I decided to shake things up in order to look for an all important win.

First of all, Ben Foster was injured, so I recalled Scott Carson and played him in goal.

In defence, I dropped Rio Ferdinand entirely from the squad and played Ryan Shawcross alongside John Terry.

In the midfield, I opted to bring in Gareth Barry to partner Jack Rodwell in the middle of the park. My unsung hero, Michael Carrick, is in decline now. I decided to play this system without a deep-lying playmaker at all.

James Milner came in at wide left, with the rest of the attack staying the same.

On the bench, I had some old names, the likes of Joe Cole and Darren Bent to call upon if I was in need of them.

The truth is that I have probably been too loyal to the players who have taken us to two major finals. It's time for change.

In the end, this was a good win, although hard to come by and we were left hanging on at the end. It was absolutely vital though. It takes us level on points with Slovenia, with a better goal difference. They play Wales away, while we face the Faroe Islands away, so qualification is pretty much in the bag unless I find another way to really muck this up! We have got out of jail basically.

To be honest, if we don't beat the Faroe Islands, I will immediately quit as England manager and give up FM forever!