flipsix3 Posted November 5, 2005 Author Share Posted November 5, 2005 One thing Ed could say, no matter how well things were going he was getting sick of the sight of the inside of coaches. At the level Pau were playing, and the money it generated, there was no chance of flying the team everywhere – and France is a big country when it comes to road travel. For the second time in a matter of weeks he loaded his team onto the bus for the trip all the way up to Cherbourg – this time in the Cup – and the home team were sure to be looking to avenge their recent 3-2 league defeat. Ed had to hand it to his squad, week in and week out they would load into a coach on Friday morning, travel all day, then get up on the Saturday and play out of their skins before climbing back on the bus for the trip home. Once again the players put the journey behind them and matched the home team chance for chance, eventually progressing with a duplication of the league result. The win put them on a run of six unbeaten games but, more importantly, it gave them a great occasion for the fans, the draw for the next round would eventually serve up a home clash against top-flight opposition – Auxerre Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
flipsix3 Posted November 5, 2005 Author Share Posted November 5, 2005 “Boss, good news for you†Marcel Lassus, the chief Physio, caught up with Ed in a corridor. “What is it Marcel?†“Matthieu’s training. Don’t get too excited, he’ll be a few weeks yet, but he’s looking good to make a full recovery – I think three, maybe four weeks and you can get him playing for the reserves†That really was good news, and Ed’s good mood was lifted further – Aernoudt had been the model professional when it came to handling his injury. He’d taken heed of the relevant medical advice and made sure that he’d kept up with the obviously very painful physiotherapy sessions. Ed made a mental note to drop in on the youngster at the gym after first-team training – for now the mid-week league clash was the matter at hand. ----- Djamel Mahamat Bindi had been brought in partly in response to Aernoudt’s injury, and he’d settled in just fine as far as Ed was concerned. His performance in the game against Cannes, however, was his best by far and was one of those occasions that Ed really loved about management. The midfielder could do no wrong as the team from tinsel town were sent packing, his movement off the ball was confident, his tackling sensational, and he laid on two of the three goals that Pau slotted away in another impressive win. So impressed was Ed in fact, that he decided that it was time to do something he’d resisted doing so far, and talk to the press. He made it clear to the local sports correspondent that he was delighted with Bindi’s performance, and that he was happy that he finally had a consistently solid midfield to work with. The journalist obviously took the manager’s opening up as a signal that he might try to get a bit of an exclusive, and he pushed for Ed’s thoughts on the growing feeling that Pau could push for promotion. Ed, however, didn’t want to be drawn – there run of wins now had them level with Nîmes at the top of the table, but it was still tight and despite the confidence all round, he couldn’t believe that they weren’t due a poor run – it would only take two or three defeats to drop them down the table several places. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
flipsix3 Posted November 5, 2005 Author Share Posted November 5, 2005 The trip to Tours was exactly the sort of game that made Ed resist commenting on his team’s overall form. The third placed side, despite two defeats, were only a couple of points below Pau and the wrong outcome would see their hosts bounce back to top spot. He was without Labat for the match, the fullback had missed only one game in the season so far, a Cup tie, but a couple of bookings ruled him out and Khalifa Ba was asked to cover. Tours were obviously keen to regain their high position and they started the game at an incredible pace. Inside ninety seconds they had the ball in the net, but Pau were rescued by the offside flag – it was a taster of things to come though. Ba, a fine central defender, clearly struggled on the flanks and was exposed on a handful of occasions, letting Tours in for their opener. Ed tinkered and toyed, made changes, gave instructions, but it was to no avail – the home side took the game by the scruff of the neck and were still attacking when the final whistle blew. Defeat left Pau in third place, more importantly it now meant that second to fifth places were separated by goal difference alone. In fact, with just nine games remaining in the season, 14 points covered the entire top eight in the table – the run in was going to be tight and, for the first time, Ed dared to speculate - to himself - that promotion might not be out of the question. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
flipsix3 Posted November 5, 2005 Author Share Posted November 5, 2005 The change to the Champions League, turning the latter stages into straight knockout, was one of the better things that UEFA had done in recent years as far as Ed was concerned. His counterparts in England probably disagreed though, four clubs had progressed into the knockout stages and Ed sat down to spend a quiet evening at home watching them in action – it was easy to do, Liverpool had drawn Chelsea and Man United were playing host to Arsenal. That, he was sure, was not meant to happen in the first round but who was he to question UEFA? It was fair to say however, that it was probably not the most popular knockout draw in the history of any of the teams involved. Liverpool, struggling in a lowly ninth place in the Premiership, held leaders Chelsea to a 0-0 draw in the first leg of their clash. Following recent league results that was probably a scoreline that Rafa Benitez would take as positive, and something to build on. Arsenal had no such problems in finding the net though – also struggling with league form, and sitting seventh, they silenced Old Trafford with two Thierry Henry goals inside the opening ten minutes of the game. Scholes pulled one back for United before the home side sounded the charge but Jens Lehmann, so often criticised, played a blinder and helped the Gunners to a vital advantage for the return leg. ----- The next morning Ed was in his office running over some paperwork, and having a look through Robin’s scouting report for their next opposition, as he poured over the details he was interrupted by a knock at the door. “Come in†The door opened and Matthieu Aernoudt limped in. “Matt, take a seat, how’s the training coming along?†“It’s going very well thank you†the midfielder looked nervous “I think I’ll be up to full training in a few weeks, that’s why I need to talk to you†“OK†Ed leaned back in his chair “go on…†“I want a transfer†That was the last thing that he’d been expecting, after all he’d just arranged a new contract for Aernoudt a few weeks ago, a fact that he reminded the youngster of. “I know, I’m sorry, I’m just not sure where my future lies – the team are doing very well without me and…†Ed cut him off mid-sentence “Matt, I’ve already told you, you’re a first team starter – guaranteed – get back to full fitness and you’re in the starting line-up, you have my word on that†“I know, and I appreciate that, but I still want to go on the transfer list†“Why Matthieu?†Ed was genuinely worried now “I… erm… because… look, I’m sorry, I just want to have options. Will you put me on the transfer list?†Ed closed his eyes and thought about things for a moment “Monsieur Allen…?†â€I’m sorry Matthieu, no – I won’t do that – now you go and carry on your training, Get fit, get back in the team. We’ll talk again when you’ve played a few games, maybe in the summer†Aernoudt left without comment, he didn’t appear angry, but he said nothing more. Ed sat and watched him go – something had sparked this, but for the life of him he couldn’t tell what it was. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
flipsix3 Posted November 5, 2005 Author Share Posted November 5, 2005 FEBRUARY 2005 SUMMARY Cherbourg 2 (Moukouri 45, Mazurier 89) Pau 3 (Bédani pen 30, Tchami 35, Bonnel 70) French Cup Man of the Match: Cami (Pau) Pau 3 (Tchami 10, Cami 38, Millereau 54) Cannes 1 (Sissoko 79) Man of the Match: Bindi (Pau) Tours 2 (Machado 19, Milazzo 64) Pau 0 Man of the Match: Milazzo (Tours) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
flipsix3 Posted November 5, 2005 Author Share Posted November 5, 2005 The game was being billed as a ‘must win’ for Robert Buigues, the manager of Racing 92 – a little harsh in Ed’s opinion as the visitors had, like Pau, been tagged as relegation fodder at the start of the season and were in a relatively healthy fifteenth place. Even as a player he’d felt that too often it was the manager who took the fall when things weren’t going well, seemingly nothing more than a scapegoat. He glanced across to the Racing bench when Tchami won a penalty, and the look etched on Buigues’ face said that he genuinely was concerned for his job. Bédani tucked the spot-kick away well, and a second half strike from Tchami sealed the win, and the Racing manager’s fate as it transpired. Ed was sympathetic, but he had bigger matters of his own to deal with – not that he could have done a great deal to make Buigues feel any better. Whilst many managers might not agree with the idea of being the first in the firing line, it was an unwritten rule that they all accepted it. Ed’s attention turned quickly to the imminent Cup tie, so far they’d had it quite easy, even Second Division opposition hadn’t put up much of a fight, but he didn’t expect to be able to say the same of Auxerre. ----- “OK lads gather round, come on Bert you too…… OK it’s the Auxerre game tomorrow. I’m not going to tell you that we can win this, we can of course but it’s hardly likely and it’s definitely not our expectation – there will be no shame in getting beaten by top flight opposition, only if we get beaten badly.†Ed waited for the murmurs to die down. “OK I’ve thought long and hard about this, I’ve been trying not to talk about the subject but it seems that now is as good a time as any to bring it up…†The murmuring grew again, there were a few nervous glances exchanged among the players “…OK quite down lads, don’t get worked up. What I’m talking about is promotion – at the start of the season the press expected us to go down, the fans expected us to go down, hell even the Board asked me to fight to keep us up, but we’re nearly at the end of the season and we’re in the running for a promotion spot – there are several people responsible for that. In fact, by my calculation, there are about twenty or so of you. Yes we’ve coached you, we’ve asked you to try and play a certain way, but it’s you lot out on the pitch who have confounded all the predictions. Now tomorrow is a great opportunity for you, all of you who play, to learn plenty. If we do go up, and I’ll still stress the if until it’s decided one way or another, the level of play is going up a notch too – I’m not suggesting that everyone we play will be as good as Auxerre, but they’ll all be striving to be that good. I can’t escape the fact that, if we’re playing Division Two football next season, then the chances are that some of you won’t be here, tomorrow is your chance to learn what will be required to survive at the next level. I want you all to go home, get a good night’s sleep – you have nothing to worry about, nothing to lose, and certainly nothing to fear. When you play tomorrow you play for the occasion, for the enjoyment, and most of all you play to learn. Now get out of here, go on.†Ed patted each of them on the shoulder as they left, exchanging a few words with one or two. Despite the opposition this was far from the biggest game they would play this season, and he just wanted them to make the most of the chance before the real hard work started. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
flipsix3 Posted November 5, 2005 Author Share Posted November 5, 2005 Ed hadn’t been joking about expectations, and he’d been pleased to see the players looking relatively at ease when they’d arrived for the pre-match sessions – if anything it was he who was experiencing nerves more than anyone. He’d told himself time and again to calm down and, eventually, had managed to get himself down to ‘only’ frantic when the game kicked off. It wasn’t a game that he could exactly describe as pleasant, the Auxerre players were clearly up for it and they tore into Pau with ferocity from the opening whistle. Captain for the day, Jacques Leglib, put in the sort of performance that can make a reputation and though he’d tried to keep calm Ed changed his plan with ten minutes to play. Somehow it was still 0-0, Leglib was easily in the running for Man of the Match, and the ball came out for a Pau throw-in near to the dugout. Ed grabbed the ball and held it out for Cami – rapidly giving him some instructions â€OK we go for it, I want everyone pushing up when we get the ball, I want their defence pushed back, if we can grab a goal now we’re through†He was careful not to imply undue pressure, if they managed it then it would be against the run of play, and beyond anything they could have hoped for, but the player in Ed – the player who had collected two runner-up medals in the League Cup – was coming to the fore. The goal didn’t come, but the sudden application of an attacking mindset caused Auxerre to back off and the match was forced into extra time. In the brief break Ed restored the previous match strategy, pressure their midfield, don’t push too far out of defence, and try and catch them on the break â€â€¦if we’re lucky we might be able to take this to penalties†he told them, but he knew that the First Division side’s fitness ought to give them the edge. The first period came and went, the second got under way, and still the chances for Pau were few but Ed had saved one substitution and he used it, throwing on Gaël Bonnel for the last fifteen minutes, if someone could put him through then he certainly had the pace to give anyone a run for their money – certainly anyone who’d played over one hundred minutes of this match already. With a little over five minutes remaining Ed was on his feet, pacing the line, it was going to penalties and he had no idea who he was going to pick – it would have to be on volunteers he decided. Bédani lobbed a hopeful ball forward but Fabien Cool dealt with it easily, launching his clearance well over the half-way line. Kangu got to the keeper’s ball first and nodded it back to Bédani on the centre spot – Bédani flicked it on to Cami and the playmaker spotted Tchami’s run into the box. His pass was perfect, bypassing the onrushing defender, and the striker picked up the ball on the edge of the area, he fired in a low shot… Cool threw himself at it and parried, the ball broke towards the corner of the area and Cami had carried on his run. Cool had to make a quick decision… Auxerre would, of course, have done their homework – Cami was obviously one of the better players on the team and his confidence would be high with the season that he’d been instrumental in so far. Cool made his decision, Cami was the threat, and the keeper had to close him down. …Cami saw the keeper coming, and saw Bonnel peeling off to the far post, his chip was delightful and the teenager threw himself at the ball, burying it with a powerful header. The crowd were ecstatic, the referee had to pull apart the Pau celebration and force the restart of the game. Ed was terrified, not for himself but for the heartbreak that could be waiting for his players. Auxerre threw everything into the last moments of the game, Cool came up for a corner but Yann Lachuer, the Auxerre skipper, volleyed it straight at Leglib and the keeper immediately booted it downfield in the hope that someone might get to it before the back-pedalling defence. The minutes seemed to stretch on for hours*, Ed felt like he was watching the game frame-by-frame on recording but finally Bruno Coué raised his whistle and signalled that Pau would be going into the draw for the quarter finals. *(Writer’s note: damn the extra-time second half bug that plagued FM2005 in those pre-patch days!) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
flipsix3 Posted November 5, 2005 Author Share Posted November 5, 2005 Along with Pau, Angoulême were the only other team from outside the top-flight to have reached the last eight of the Cup. For the amateurs it would be an even bigger occasion than for Ed’s lads and he was torn as to whether he wanted them in the draw or not. He sat and watched as the French FA’s special guest, one Jean Tigana, got the draw under way. He didn’t have to wait long, Paris St Germain were first out, playing host to Strasbourg, and the third ball out of the bag was Pau’s – they had a home tie and five teams from whom their opposition could come… …it was Metz, firmly embedded in mid table and without a win in the last month, on paper it wasn’t too bad a draw – certainly no worse than Auxerre had been – but the match would come right in the middle of the league run-in. Hopefully, one way or another, the league campaign will be all over by then he thought as he dialled Freddy Robin’s mobile number – he wanted Metz watching, suddenly the Cup run wasn’t the unimportant diversion that it had been a couple of days ago. ----- Ed had expected a ‘hangover’ after the Cup match, especially with the extra time that his team had played, but Bindi’s third minute goal had him re-thinking. Their pace did drop though, and Sannois SG battled themselves back in front, taking control of the game until the introduction of Testas. The youngster, who hadn’t played in midweek, caused the home defence problems, winning the penalty that delivered the equaliser, and giving them at least one player to worry about when the rest of the team started to fade. What was more, with Nîmes and Sète both losing, Ed saw his team go top with seven to play. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
flipsix3 Posted November 5, 2005 Author Share Posted November 5, 2005 Clubs were being relegated already, Royes and Raon-l’Etape were both a massive sixteen points adrift with seven games left in the league schedule. Ed pinned the league table to the notice board in the changing rooms and circled the bottom four or five clubs. He added, in marker pen, a little note for his players Whatever happens in the next few weeks, remember that this is where everyone expected us to be. Well done!! It was only a gesture, just one more little thing to keep the confidence reserves topped up. He had to admit that, with things being so far from where he’d expected, he hadn’t received any inspirational thoughts, all he could do was to keep urging his players to maintain their self belief. They seemed to take heed, although the visit of Bayonne hardly provided a sparkling game for the casual spectator a second-half goal from Bonnel - in for an injured Millereau - kept them in top spot. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
flipsix3 Posted November 5, 2005 Author Share Posted November 5, 2005 MARCH 2005 SUMMARY Pau 2 (Bédani pen 39, Tchami 67) Racing 92 0 Man of the Match: Leglib (Pau) Pau 1 (Bonnel 113) Auxerre 0 French Cup Man of the Match: Leglib (Pau) Sannois SG 2 (Liri pen 14, Poinçon 28) Pau 2 (Bindi 3, Bédani pen 57) Man of the Match: Raboteur (Sannois) Pau 1 (Bonnel 50) Bayonne 0 Man of the Match: Ba (Pau) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
flipsix3 Posted November 5, 2005 Author Share Posted November 5, 2005 Bloody typical I re-compile all this, repost it, iron out a few spelling mistakes etc in the process, and then some inconsiderate swine manages to restore the original lost version from wherever it got to Well in case I've picked up any new readers you can find the original right here I've asked for this re-post to be locked or, preferably, deleted - hope you make the switch over and catch up with the nine pages posted so far... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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