dtown1414

Nice start to the season!

Congrats.

Had a rough patch, but nice to see two wins in a row.

Vardar SC was our opening match of the season at home, and it was a wild affair, with us finally holding on to a 6-4 win. Their season, like ours, has been up and down, but after three losses out of four matches, they did win their last match against Solar SC. Long trip to Michigan, but before that, here's some information for the next two weeks before the match. And with the match not till December 31st, gives us two weeks to practice, and we get three practices this week. And notice what we're concentrating on, ATTACKING! My Assistant Coach has been bugging me about discussing a contract with our best player, Dennis Hitchcock. I got Arbaham, our President, to Ok it, so here goes! And the negotiating begins. This is what he wants. The board allowed me to adjust our budget, so I increased our payroll to $52.5k, and reduced our transfer budget to $3.7k. I'm not pursuing anyone in January, so I need a higher payroll. Here's what I proposed. He countered to his original asking fee, and I came back with this, and he agreed. Hey, my first contract negotiation is a success. Titan Field in Detroit, Michigan. If we don't play well, maybe I'll make them run laps on the track afterward! I got some good news from our General Manager before the start of the match. I'll hold off announcing this to the players until after the match. Don't want anyone to feel left out because we haven't spoken to them yet about an extension. Only change is I brought Harding in to replace Ikoba. Coaches felt these two had a better understanding of each other. Beginning to think Ikoba can't work with anyone back there? Finally, we get to the match! Eighteen minutes in and that deadly combination of Hitchcock to Ruthven does it again. A peach of a pass, and a "cracker" of a finish! Well, it was a wide-open affair, and unfortunately, we give up a late goal and lose. Shame, because we fought back to tie it, and I thought for sure we could at least get a point, but to no avail. Staying in Detroit to ring in the New Year, but I wish it was under better circumstances. We end the month of December with a win, two draws and a loss. And we dropped down to 12th. But looking at the glass half-full, only five points separates us from 5th place.

Yeah, that's for sure. You should try reffing on it, lol. Very much a challenge at times.

Hey, at least our under 23's are doing good. May look at bringing up one or two sometime in the New Year. May have to, if we lose anybody in the January transfer window. After flying all the way to Mirada, California to take on the 19th place Southern California Seahorses, which was a boring and sloppy 1-1 draw, next up was FC Westchester out of Purchase, NY. A club whose dead last (24th) in our league. SUNY Purchase Field Only change is Fox is back in the lineup after his one game suspension for accumulating those nasty yellow cards. In the pouring rain we jumped on them early, in the second minute, as Adam Price slides one across to Dennis Hitchcock, and buries it in the right hand corner. We continue to be really poor testing the keeper. Headers going four feet over the goal, shots from inside the 18-yard box going way wide. Racking my brain on how to fix it. More repetition in practice I guess. The score really wasn't indicative of how we dominated the match. We hit the crossbar twice and had one goal ruled offside. A nice win, taking advantage of a team that's really struggling. We now travel to chilly Detroit, Michigan to take on Vardar SC, another team that has been struggling of late, sitting in 15th position. And it's on New Year's Eve to boot.

*I reached out to my mentor, James Outland, the Director at Birmingham Legion (USSL Championship division-Tier 2 just under MLS) as I hadn't chatted with him in a while. We talked about a lot of things, but one important caveat I took from our conversation was this. James: One strength that all good managers possess, is one simple word, "observation." You only have a practice one or two times a week at that level. Keep an eye on any change in a player's enthusiasm, any mood swings, is he having a string of sub-par practices. I know the hours you're putting in. I know you were beating yourself up over the run of losses recently. If you see this in a player, find out why, communicate with him. Maybe it's his job, maybe family issues, kids at school issues. None of your business on the personal side but impress upon him that you see he's struggling in practice, or his form's off during the match. Trust me, if he's struggling in practice, he'll stick out like a sore thumb if your being observant. You also have to balance the fact that your agenda is different than theirs. You're young, with ambition to move up. Whether it's with Savannah, or another club. You want to manage at a higher level. That should be your goal. They're also young for the most part, but 90% realize this is as good as it gets. They can tell their grandchildren someday that they were a professional soccer player. For many, this is extra cash for them. Instead of a week at the shore, with soccer money, maybe they take a luxury cruise instead. Or finally pay off that car loan. Me: I do feel they were taking that losing streak as hard as I was. One player called out of work the next day, because he was so depressed, he needed a "break" from work as he stated. James: Well, that's fine, but make no bones about it, they need to work hard, give you everything they got. Leave it all out there in practice, and during a match. If not, you need to replace them. Start a player, who may not be as talented, but has that drive to succeed. Worst thing for a semi-pro player is, to work eight hours a day, then drive 30-45 minutes to the stadium, only to be sitting on the bench for the entire match. They'll get the message pretty quickly. See if we can off to a good start in the month of December. No changes to the starting eleven. First half was, frankly, pretty boring. Our shots on goal were straight at the keeper. We're playing good defensively though. As I told the players in the dressing room. We need to stay focused for 90 minutes plus, and just one minute of a letdown and we'll be punished, and we were. Still not clinical enough up front.

Posted in the wrong area. Nice move to go up two tiers. Good luck with that. Still can't figure out that drastic drop in finances at the last club.

Thanks for following. Yeah, I like looking at the analysis of the team, our strengths and weaknesses, and then I tried to figure out what might work. FM23 is pretty strong in that area I believe. I'm not the best at making changes like that, kinda tinker some, nothing too major, and see how the players react. We needed that win for sure. As far as future jobs, I'll take a look at what's available after the season. See how things play out with Savannah, and then see if there is an opportunity at the next level (United States Soccer League Two). It would be nice to manage a professional team. Matches on Saturday, with more than two practices a week, with full-time player contracts. We'll see.

Our final game for the month of November. Praying for a change of luck. As mentioned, keeping to the attacking mentality, and also told the players to be more expressive, dribble less, and for my defenders to drop off more. The over-the-top passes have been killing us, and despite our terrible form, our passing has been better than average, so asking them to dribble less, and look quicker for the pass. Great start. Shinault looking for Larry Ruthven, who buries it for a 1-0 lead in the 8th minute. Halftime talks - Someone once told me, "the hardest thing as a manager is to say a lot in not many words. When I was playing, at half-time there were a hundred things going through my head. The last thing I needed was a manager throwing a dozen ideas at me about what to do in the second half. I give the players on offense three things to concentrate on, and the same on defense. And then as they leave the dressing room, I look up at the ceiling and pray my ideas will work, lol. I made all five changes for the first time in a match, and maybe it was fresh legs that changed the complexion of the match, but what a goal by Larry Ruthven on a pass from Dennis Hitchcock. This was after a spectacular save by our keeper, Jack Pondy, to keep the match at 1-1. And a much better headline this time around! We got the monkey off our back, and hopefully a sign of better things to come. Dennis Hitchcock gave us breathing room in extra time with a "cracker" of a goal from just outside the 18-yard box. Their keeper got a hand on it, but couldn't stop it from going in. November results. Not the best month, but much improved over October. It's a start anyway!

In league news, I can only dream our club to do this: Maybe I am dreaming, but I believe this is a good chance for us to secure three points. Mississippi has been struggling, and might be the remedy we need to cure this bad run of games. And this is where we'll be playing. Harper Davis Field and yet another American football field. Well, I guess it was only a dream after all. Midway through the first half, I changed our mentality from "balanced" to "attacking" and it seemed to give the team a lift. We scored to tie the game, but in the second half, they're striker Steve Ramos got behind our defense, and put the game away. I'm going to tell the players to keep that "attacking" mentality for our next match against Silicon Valley. Let's see what happens.

This one won't be easy. Arizona sits in 4th, but the last three matches they had were against clubs battling relegation. And unlike us, they actually win those games. In other news. Surprised I don't see one of our players on this list, lol. And just for kicks, I added up their salaries, $246m. Can't win a match, but yet we get top billing. Must be because of that other team. One change as I bring Benjamin Amador in to replace Alex Harding. Let's see if Amador and Ikoba can work better together. Great start as Shaw sends one in and Grant Davis scores on a superb header. Well, the lead didn't last long, but we're holding our own through the 1st half. It was as wild finish to this one. When it looked like we'd salvage a draw, Ikoba came up with a rash challenge in the box and Arizona's striker, Alexis Adams buried the penalty to make it 2-1 with just six minutes of regular time to go. I ask the players to attack, and amazingly, in the 94th minute, Jose Torres, off a deflection, scored from in close and the game ended in a 2-2 draw. All things considered; I'll take the point.

Uh oh! This can't be good. Three losses in a row, don't think anyone is happy. Including the manager. Let's see how this plays out. Meeting was short. Seemed everyone was satisfied, but then I saw this. Leadership support is a concern. We're looking over our shoulders at Reading United as they sit in 10th, one place behind us. Need for the players to step up today! Not a panic move but going back to making things simpler. Let's see how it goes. Ditching the 4-3-3 formation for now. Down 2-0 early, we were lucky to get one back. A rare mistake by our keeper, Pondy, led to the first goal. Can this really be happening. Not too long ago we had a run of five games without a loss. I put them in an attacking mode late in the match, being down 2-1, just hoping to salvage a draw, but our defense, playing a high line, got caught napping, and we were punished for it. Not good! May have to break the partnership of Ikoba and Harding. Can't seem to work together.

And maybe you can quit that full time day job. Managing a football club full time would be awesome!

Ok. Sorry, missed that. Looks like some good choices though if they come through.

Nice choice. Good luck with Dartford. Looked up on Wiki. Appears to be a decent city, less than 20 miles from London.

Did your reputation increase this past season? Can't imagine it didn't, but just curious.

Nice rebound from the Brentford loss.

Big decisions. Maybe the best time to get out! Nice change of scenery may do you good.

As a United fan, they've been rebuilding and stumbling for 11 years running. Hopefully, you can figure it out. Shudder to think if Woodward the "bean counter" is on the board. Good luck. I'll be following.

Stinkin board. Probably never managed a game in their life. And no money to boot. Such gratitude. You'll overcome though.

I was ready to pop a cold one and celebrate. I'm shocked, but what an awesome season. All those clubs behind you would give anything to be in your position. Looking forward to seeing you lead them to glory next season.

10/29 - Long flight to Minnesota, and it's already chilly here, 58 degrees fahrenheit, compared to 77 in Savannah. Faribault is about 50 miles from Minneapolis, where we flew into, and then less than an hour in the bus. Shattuck-St. Mary's, the team without a nickname, are currently sitting in 21st. Maybe this is just the match we need to get our confidence back. Going for it in this one and using an "attacking" mentality. Can't be any worse than the last two matches. We need to test the keeper in this one. Can't even beat a team fighting relegation. Pitiful. Can't wait to get home, and start a new month. Second half I changed formations, subs that I thought would give us a spark, and still the players didn't respond. Back to the drawing board. Maybe need to keep things more simple! An October worth forgetting.

Great! We have to deal with this guy next. Wow, we actually get two training sessions this week. Any surprise, part of one is concentrating on defense! No panic after the last beat down. Same tactics, same starting 11. We had two good practice sessions this week, but out of the gate, the lads didn't look like they wanted to play. Slow to the ball, sloppy passing, and we were punished in the 33rd minute. Things weren't much better in the second half, and we couldn't take advantage of some good chances. Only testing the keeper once, isn't going to get it done. One more away game coming up for this month, and it's against Shattuck-St. Mary's in chilly Faribault, Minnesota. And we didn't need this.