Carter Naismith - From Humble Grass Roots Beginnings.

[Marazola]

The following is fiction

 

On February 14th, 1998, Carter Naismith was born in Croydon, England. About at the age of 5, his family moved to Hong Kong. Today in 2022, Carter is 24 years young and just finished his career in Sports Management to become a director of football.

Carter Naismith had a brilliant tactical philosophy. He followed a lot of fiction football stories, including one about Chaves which was in the future, and written in a book by Robert Anderson. That Chaves side used a Brazilian box, with a false 9 and a Mezzala. A 4-2-2-2. Zhaoxu Ma's philosophy led him to many titles in the book, including a back to back Champions League win and winning the Club World Cup shortly afterwards in the final against Bayern Munich. That team was all about short touches and stamina. It required a lot of running and perfect off the ball movement. So Carter started to tinker on his own philosophy similar to the tiki-taka style that Zhaoxu Ma had used in the book. 

Carter started looking for a job in football, as he felt he could get a lower job in Asia.

Based in Hong Kong, Carter started searching for jobs there, Singapore, Malaysia or China. He decided that he wants to work towards getting to Europe, whether it is as a director or manager, and once he does he will stick to the club he joined in Europe and develop a whole history via philosophy, whether it leads to successes or not. He has to start in another continent though as it's the best way to slow gel himself into the game and develop his style.

[Marazola]

Carter has his first job in football - and it's international

Indonesia's U19's have hired Carter, he had a good reference to the Indonesia manager and he liked what Carter proposed in terms of philosophy and that it could be revolutionary for Indonesian football. So he got the job and sat down to work.

This style is exactly how Zhaoxu Ma had his Chaves team in the book, barring the right forward who is a bit more limited, as he figured that he can't give him too much freedom at this left, so he decided to limit him a bit more to maintain a better shape. This could be a mistake or a blessing in disguise. In general, this formation could be years away from working in his favour as he might need better players, but he decided to develop his philosophy through trial and error. 

Carter decided to make a list of his findings in the national pool and is working to see if they fit the system, as well as having a good standard of football.

This seems to be the star of the setup, Elkan Baggot. Currently at Gillingham in the English 4th tier on loan from Ipswich. Naismith wants to implement him as a half back, but he's got little to no training to play in that role, so he's going to need to be content as playing him as a central defender. Maybe even on ball playing defender.

The next CB Naismith liked was Ahmad Iksan. Younger than usual, but he seemed a bit more technical than the other players he had to work with. 6 passing for his age isn't bad, but there is one REALLY severe flaw in his game, and you guess it. His jumping reach is abysmal. He is going to try and work around it, a risky choice.

Next player Naismith liked was Reza Alfirmansyah of Bali United. He looks to have him as a Mezzala, even though he's got little training in the role. He needs to take some risks in positioning. He figures that Reza has the passing to work in the middle of the park, and also has good dribbling, crossing and pace to go out wide.

He's still evaluating the rest to build his tactic.

[Marazola]

Carter Naismith off to Kuching!

The club job Carter wanted, he now has. He's gone to west Borneo, not super far from Brunei in southern Malaysia. Sarawak decides to put a punt on him after several rejected jobs, meaning Carter Naismith has 2 jobs, the other being the Indonesia U19's.

The same tactic is being implemented. Sarawak on the other hand, will be in the 2nd tier of Malaysian football as they just recently got relegated with 14 points.

The first press conference is being given.

Interviewer: Carter, the city of Kuching would like to know how you plan on bring Sarawak back to the top flight and your long term ambitions at the club

Naismith: Results may take time, I'm looking to implement a long term dynasty here and trying to keep my philosophy in check for the future. I am currently learning about the current squad and potential targets that fit what I want and what would benefit the club itself. I plan on staying a long time and hope my vision can achieve long term results.

Interviewer: Who do you rate so far at the club, have you found any players you see within your plans?

Naismith: Everyone will get a chance to prove themselves, including the youth. However, I do want to make a few changes in the squad in order to get up to speed on what I want and the philosophy I am developing.

Interviewer: Is there any style you can compare yours too?

Naismith: If you've read the book "From Sassy to Bossy", it is about an ex Sassuolo player called Zhaoxu Ma, one of the best in the world in that reality. He became a manager and innovated in his philosophy to achieve results. Obviously *laughs*, it's all fiction and it could very well not work, but the point is I want to innovate when possible and we're working on getting the youth teams up to speed and starting with a more simple style if this system I'm thinking of doesn't work early days, and then letting the youths learn to increase tactical awareness at that age and be able to implement it in the future.

Interviewer: At 24 years old, you are one of the youngest managers in the league and perhaps the world at professional level. Do you think this will take a toll on player management?

Naismith: We will see with time, but I am super confident at managing a group of people.

Interviewer: Final question, is there any real footballer you admire and would fit into your system?

Naismith: If I had to pick one, Erling Haaland. He's a super complete footballer who benefits even more greatly from a system. He almost seems like a tap in merchant, but you can change his style and he'll still score a ton of goals thanks to how Pep Guardiola makes him function. On that note, Guardiola's style is very similar to what the book described Zhaoxu Ma, it was mostly short and quick passing with a ton of playmaking to improvise within the game. The full backs getting involved, as I hugely dislike defensive minded full backs, and a ton of offensive freedom from a lot of the first 11.

[Marazola]

Naismith's managerial debut

Carter has had a very mixed debut as a manager. Some injuries have crippled his chances to make use of his tactic, but he stuck to it because everyone needs to be geled into the system. He made a couple of signings as the squad simply was not good enough for his liking, a few foreigners and 2 Malaysians. 

He addressed these in another interview. Here is a replay of the presser.

January 2023 Press Conference

Interviewer: Carter, you signed a few youngish footballers from South America. Did your scouts present these or did you find them yourself?

Naismith: I have a decent knowledge of world football, not super strong like with England and south east Asia, so I made a shortlist. I tried not to ask around so the clubs wouldn't renew. These players were out of contract and some of my news subscriptions notified me. I had a look and chose the ones who fit my style and the philosophy I want to implement.

Interviewer: What can you tell us about your new left back signing?

Naismith: Sebastian Cavero is a footballer that started out as a left winger but has been reconverted to a left back. Perfect for my system which relies on very attacking wing backs. He's also got adequate stamina and speed to work in what I want without getting him too knackered.

Interviewer: How about that defensive midfield you signed from Brazil?

Naismith: Jonatan will play in a Yaya Toure-like way. He will be a roaming defensive midfielder who looks to score or assist plenty. He will play as the segundo volante, essentially. Very well rounded and should do superb in this division.

Interviewer: And that forward?

Naismith: He's the type of striker I like, Baeza. A fast striker who attempts to break the lines and has good finishing. There is still a few things we're going to try and teach him though such as how to round the keeper in goal. He's not the finished product yet, even for this tier.

[Marazola]

The End Of The First Season

A difficult end to the season for Carter Naismith's Sarawak side. He had an injury to the star striker Baeza and the goals somewhat dried up for a bit. He will likely need better homegrowns to compete and be able to bring the club back up to the top flight. That is going to be his main target, although he's keeping it quiet to not annoy the squad.

Just the Malaysian cup is next, and the presser has been postponed til after that.

Edited October 22, 2022 by Marazola

[Marazola]

The TRUE End To The First Season

This is all very confusing, Why so many cups? Regardless it gave Naismith more experimentation time and also games to gel the squad more. Sarawak ended up getting to the semi-final of the Malaysia Cup before crashing out to PJ City. So overall the season was good, not entirely disappointing as this was a transition year for the club and Carter as a manager.

Naismith has withheld the end of season press conference to mix it with his signings for next season. Until then, here is how the squad did.

Jonathan - The best player this season but not the most important. Got the highest praise throughout the season by the media and scored 3 goals and 1 assist as a segundo volante, as aforementioned. Unfortunately he is off back to Brazil at the end of the year, so there will need to be a replacement for him. However, he's put in what was expected of him.

Kevin Baeza - Despite having a good average rating, he really did not hit expectations. He was underwhelming for most of the year and in this league he should have scored a silly amount of goals. He has contract for another year so he'll have one more chance. He has the quality to stay, but he does need to become more consistent.

Sebastian Cavero - The most important player in the squad. He's pivotal to the system that Naismith uses, as it requires a very good attacking wing back. We have one on the left, and that's Cavero. Next season there will need to be a foreigner out right, and that will be the priority since Jonathan is leaving and there are little good Malaysian right backs that can go by that function.

Lee Chang-Hoon - One of the foreigners who was at the club when joining. He played as a mezzala, and did well enough but he is 37 and his contract is up, so we had to let him go. Probably for the best as I'm sure our Asian foreigner could be someone much younger and with more potential. He got 1 goal and 3 assists in 9 starts.

Mohd Amer Saidin - Our best defensive player at the club, maybe excluding Jonathan if you count him as that. Whenever he didn't play, we seemed to struggle.

Azeman - He is our keeper and probably the best we can get our hands on in this tier. His aerial reach did show but he worked and he'll stick around because he's one of the better keepers in Malaysia that we can have realistically.

Mohd Ismail - The final player we'll have a look it is someone I played at false 9. He's not the best but he had good winger and passing stats, or passable rather, and I put him at that position, to which he worked as far as he could.

This screenshot was taken after the contract expiration dates, so that explains Lee Chang-Hoon not being present. You can see the ratings and stats here. Baeza's stats look good but he got them most in the cup, in the league he only bagged 8, which in truth is not a bad total for such a short season, but he still felt underwhelming.

Also, let's just point out how great a name "Gabriel Batistuta Durling" is!

[Marazola]

New Signings Presser - 2024 Season

Interviewer: So Carter, you underperformed this season with the squad according to fans and they want answers. What happened?

Naismith: We are still implementing a philosophy here and that will take time. I think the media has overrated our chances, as we're very much in a transition, something I hope to get out of next year. The board only wanted us to avoid relegation, so we met expectations from a certain point of view. Personally I made a small mistake with the squad quality balance. I had weaker talent in certain and more important positions to the tactic.

Interview: You've made a few new signings, what can you tell us about each.

Naismith: We signed a few Malaysians and 1 foreigner. In truth, we need more developed local talent and also a few promising youngsters. 

Mohd Rizal Rusli is the one that excites me the most. He's a gun. One of the best Malaysian youngsters at the moment. He doesn't seem to have too much potential, but he's already good enough to get into Johor DT, never mind us in the second tier.

We signed a few new Mezzala's. The first one was Malaysian and we brought him from Johor. He's going to rotate with another new signing. His name is Mutalib.

We also signed a new player to play in the right back spot, a very important role in our system, called Musstaffa. I have a lot of faith in him to do the job there.

Finally, we signed the replacement to Jonathan in Mezzala. Not super fast but he's agile and mixes that with good dribbling. Once he adapts to the system he'll do excellent. Perleche was released from Cusco.

Interviewer: Any expectations next year?

Naismith: The board will have less patience this time, so I hope we can stop transitioning and start a proper promotion battle. 

[Marazola]

End Of Season

A big improvement from the last season! Unfortunately Naismith's side did just miss out on promotion, but it was a step forward and a few more local players should do the trick. Also replacing the 2 foreigners currently running out of contract (Baeza and Perleche). Johor DT II... yikes!

As you can see, Naismith also made a cup run. His side managed to knock out the might Johor DT, the first team this time! It was a massive shock that sent waves across the newspapers in Malaysia. Funnily, both of the finalists were 2nd division sides. Kelantan just got the better of us in the final though. Naismith's side took the lead but had a Mustaffa injury with no servicable backup near the start of the second half, and Kelantan took over from there.

As for the squad, another round up.

Perleche changed the side coming in as a Mezzala, but he is leaving at the end of the year as he refuses to renew, so we'll have to find one that can match him. Shouldn't be impossible to be honest, but I don't expect to find one so easily. Rusli performed as he got 25 goals in all competitions. Baeza got 15, so they combined for 40. Since he did play false 9 however, he got more assists by a significant amount.

Angkun also improved a ton this year, and Cavero continued to prove his importance to the system. Season MVP I'd give it to Perleche though and now Naismith realizes he must get a replacement mezzala as a foreigner. That will be his priority in the window.

Let's not forget about something important, Naismith is still managing Indonesia's U19's, and he has a very important competition coming up, which will be previewed shortly 

[Marazola]

Been a bit busy these days, but finally have found some time to continue the story. The U19's Asian Cup coming up!