anagain

What would people say is a good rule for using real life players, in a non-footballing sense, in your career write up? Has there ever been a case of real players reading stuff here and being unhappy. I know this forum is probably small fry and that there are likely very few footbalers who read stuff here. I had an idea for my write up but maybe I'll take the safe option.

Thursday 29th December 2022 Pandora and I are home. I write this with a nice cup of tea in our kitchenette. I am knackered and will keep this short, but it is easy to say I enjoyed our trip home. It was nice to walk the streets of my home town for a few days. Mr Csere is no longer the shopkeeper in the nearby grocery store. That honour belongs to his son, Henrik. It feels like a lifetime ago that I delivered papers from Mr Csere's shop. I pointed out many memories of my formative years to Pandora as we walked the old, familiar streets. My old school, the place where Balazs Kenesei first punched me in the stomach, my grandmother's little flat in which I spent many hours getting proper food and the youthclub run by Rezso Lengyel (the very pro-democracy youth leader who once got us lost in the forests south of Szentgotthard). The youth club is now used by the elderly and woman's clubs. I don't know what the youth of Szentgotthard do now. Talking of the youth of Szentgotthard, Rosina came back with us. She wants to spend new year's eve in Budapest. A bunch of her friends are staying with another friend in the city but it's crowded there and Rosina asked to stay over. Father convinced me when he questioned whether I would want my sister roaming the streets of Budapest or staying in disreputable places. I said she probably would be anyway, but I got his point. Two of her friends are joining her. A girl named Ilona that reminds me of a prize heffer for the nose ring she has. Pandora punched me playfully again when I joked of that. It hurt again. The other friend is a waif of a girl that could probably do with some of grandmother's goulash. Zsofia. I have said, strictly, no boys. The World of Football at the Beginning of 2023 Still no football in Hungary, at least for MTK so I thought I would look at the state of European football as the year turns over. Germany In the land of my mothers Bayern are, of course, dominating. Bayern lead by five points and a game in hand. England In the league said to be the greatest in the world, Liverpool have a massive lead over Manchester City. The English team I picked, because I liked the name Spurs, find themselves down in 6th. Could I manage one of these clubs one day? France In the land of frogs legs, smelly cheeses and la-la-love, PSG are starting to pull away. The giants did lose to Lyon though. Italy My keeper coach is Italian but Federico's home town clubs of Roma and Lazio are languishing down in 5th and 6th. Inter lead the way currently. Austria I often have wondered if I manage abroad then would by first stop be Austria. It's just a short step from my home town. RB Salzburg are the top team and they top the pile at the start of 2023. Slovenia In the land in which my love was born it is her home town of Koper that lead the Prva Liga. They're on a winter break until February. Hungary And back home... Ferencvaros are leading the pack in our top flight by six points over the Puskas Akademia. We play top flight Debrecen in the cup in just over a month and they are just outside the European places. European Club Competitions In Europe competitions have reached the last 16 stage. The ties are as follows. Fate of the Hungarian Clubs Ferencvaros Our top club reached the group stage of the Champions League, bowing out 4th in their group. Kisvarda Kisvarda couldn't make it past qualifying for the Europa Conference League, losing to Slavia Prague. Puskas Akademia Puskas suffered the same fate as Kisvarda, losing to Vitoria Guimaraes. Fehervar Fehervar made it to the Group Stage of the Conference league but finished bottom. Tuesday 3rd January 2023 Rosina finally reappeared back at our appartment about 1 o'clock today. She looked very happy but I won't ask where she has been. The lads return from holiday in four days and we enter a period of fitness training to get back in to shape for the second half of the season. Friendlies against Honved and ZTE will give us a further idea of how we'll fare in the top flight, assuming we make it, and we also welcome Olimpija Ljubljana. We are fast appraoching the opening of the transfer window too. It has been a slow weekend. A lack of progress has been the result of a cold that has had me sleeping on and off since last night. Busy week ahead and then hopefully some time to really play FM over Christmas.

I think he means that on the processing calendar he plays Arema in the cup on 4th, but in his schedule he plays Arema in League One on the 4th. It is also a League One tie versus Arema on the competitions page. For some reason the processing calendar is showing the tie on the 4th as the wrong competition. @wannacry021if you open the full calendar what competition is the tie on 4th in? Either way FM20 won't be worked on now so if a bug does exist you'll have to accept it. That is very strange though. Unless you are using an addon database for Indonesia, @wannacry021. But still seems strange it would mix up competitions like that.

I like this approach. I know my own tactical knowledge needs work and this story makes me feel I need to spend some time this weekend looking at stats more. Might find out why my own team has such a poor conversion rate. I'm definitely learning reading this. 😁 Love those stats screenshots. That skin is a work of art.

Good luck with the new season. Those are good odds. I suspect travelling from the Highlands to Margate and Bognor for games must be as tiring as the games themselves. I found travelling to Bognor for holidays when I was a kid tiring, and I live on the South coast! Shame you fell away last season, but that start should give you confidence. I love those faces. I have thought of experimenting with faces when my MTK youth come through.

Thursday 15th December 2022 Pandora has told me today that she is not sure she wants to spend Christmas in Szentgotthard with my parents but that her own parents are travelling to warmer climes for a Christmas holiday. Tunis, apparently. To me, that is not a Christmassy destination but Pandora's parents never were fans of the holiday season. Ever since her father got a promotion at work he has had more holidays than most common men. Pandora was hoping she might get an invitation to join her political friends for Christmas. I told her they have their own families. "Yes," she said. "And I have my football manager." I wasn't sure what to expect at first but when she kissed me on the cheek and said, "maybe your father will limit his alcohol consumption." I knew she was my Pandora still. Limit his alcohol comsumption? Yeah, right. Probably won't help when Pandora realises I bought him a rather nice bottle of cognac. I didn't know what else to get. What do you get an aging, lazy and gloomy man for Christmas? Socks? I bought him some nice ones, just in case. Socks, I mean. Qatar 2022 Watch The 2022 world cup is over, the fans have left the small Arab state and life gets back to normal. Quarter Finals Croatia disposed of the Swiss in an entertaining game in which Switzerland were by far the better side. The Swiss missed a penalty in the 8th minute and couldn't score until the 91st minute. By then the Croats have scored three and booked their place in the semi finals. The US then stunned Tunisia in a game that ended brilliantly. Tunisia equalised the American's early opener late on on only for Zendejas to score in the 93rd minute and take the States through to a semi final. The last two quarters were tense affairs. Spain won the Iberian derby with a sole Alvaro Morata goal in the 89th minute. Spain had been the better side. England then lost out to France as Mason Mount missed the decisive penalty in the shootout. Harry Kane had equalised Benzema's opener in the 88th minute to take the game to extra time but penalties were needed as neither side could find a winner. England had been by far the better side but Milan's Mike Maignan had an outstanding game between the sticks. I had never heard of Mike Maignan. Semi Finals Both world cup semi finals were tense affairs settled by a single goal. In the first tie a Walker Zimmerman goal just before half time was another to see the United States sensationally beat Croatia and book their place in their first ever world cup final. France versus Spain was settled by a 26th minute goal by Presnel Kimpembe. Spain could only manage one effort on target, although France only managed two. Third Placed Playoff Croatia claimed third place with a sensation dismantaling of a Spain side probably still reeeling from a poor display against France in their semi. They say the third placed playoff is the match no team wants to play in, but Croatia seemed up for it. The Final The USA fell at the last hurdle as goals from Nabil Fekir and Theo Hernandez overruled an opener from Yunus Mensah to seal a 2-1 win for the French. This is the third trophy for the French and their second in a row. They are the first nation to defend the world cup since Brazil in 1962. Golden Boot There was some joy for England as Harry Kane won the golden boot with 7 goals. Award Winners Sunday 18th December 2022 Pandora and I have just sat and watched the world cup final together. I think my love enjoyed it, although I had the distinct impression that she was only watching it to see if there were any attractive young men playing. When I suggested this might be the case, and that Pandora had me she just said "yes, dear". Now what does that mean? Rosina saw the game with my father and rang me afterwards to ask if I might sign Olivier Giroud for my MTK side so as she can come and watch him play. I just said "no" and left it at that. I wish. We travel to Szentgotthard in two days. We will live in my old room for our time there. My mother says she has tidied it and gotten a new mattress with some of my father's earnings from his new job. I wonder if the walls are still black. Looking back, I don't understand that phase; one of my darker phases of youthful intellectuality. I think I was reading Frankenstein and Dracula and just fancied black walls. I made such a botch job of it, but the black had hidden my helicopter wallpaper. I shamelessly stole that. The helicopter wallpaper is from the fantastic Red Dwarf. Rimmer smashed his pet lemming's brains out all over his helicopter wallpaper after it bit him and wouldn't let go. Tuesday 20th December 2022 My old room has changed. Gone is the black and in is a bright, vibrant blue. My mother had the room stripped and re-painted . They had, she said, thought of renting the room out at one stage but it had just become guest quarters and storage for my old junk. My old junk was hardly excessive. Youthful books, notepads of old poetry, 275 copies of the personally edited school newspaper that never sold and random other objects of childhood fascination. I was not sure why she had kept the school newspaper. It was just a reminder of failure. Saturday 24th December 2022 It is late. In fact, it is actually the 25th. I'm a little tipsy from the bottles of Palinka my father bought. Mother had decided that with the family around, well myself, Pandora and Rosina, we would celebrate Christmas the right way. I am not a drinker but today I indulged. Just not as much as my father. We decorated the tree, had Halászlé followed by turkey and pork stuffed cabbage (indeed the whole shebang). Mother and Rosina had made proper Beigli and gingerbread...and very nice they were. Then we exchanged gifts. Mother said the bath set I bought her was very nice and was in love with the necklace and charm that was rattling around in the box (Pandora helped me pick that out). The cognac was just what father wanted but he did look wild eyed at the rare Bowie LP I had found him. He said "socks?" to the socks. I have some reading to do. Carlo Ancelotti: Quiet Leadership will make me a better manager, The Names Heard Long Ago is a study of Hungarian football and The Great Football Conspiracy looks like it could give me a laugh. Rosina bought me a badge that just says, in large letters, 'THE BOSS'. I love it. Presents were shared, one and all, and our family was a real family for the day. Father fell asleep about 11, but he holds his drink well (he's had enough experience), and it was a nice evening. Sunday 25th December The house was quite buzzing Sunday evening. The very German Lehrmann family still live next door. Dieter is still a drunk, like father, and Gretchen still a very commandeering woman. Of their three sons, just Bernd was visiting his parents. He had his wife Marika and young daughter Beata in tow. Beata is noisy. Rosina invited some friends and it was possibly the noisiest Sunday many had known for some time. I was winning Trivial Pursuits, until I was told I was no fun, but have to confess I was rubbish at charades. How on earth does one do Mike Bassett: England Manager with mimes? I am sure that me getting that was a set up. Father found it hilarious, Mr Lehrmann guffawed and Rosina looked suss. My half-sister might be a tearaway but she is also smarter than she looks. She knew more answers than many would give her credit for at Trivial Pursuits (not that she got told she was no fun). Why does she not direct her efforts towards more educational goals? Pandora was simply faultless at miming Planet Of The Apes. When I said her ape impression was one of the most realistic I had seen she playfully thumped me on the arm. It hurt. I must say I had a smile on my face when mother guessed father's charade (well, drunken charade) of Grease (he slipped over...possibly unintenionally) and he swung her about and kissed her passionately. They really have renewed their love. Rosina was possibly happier than I thought she could be. Still don't know if father is her father. No, that's no way for me to be. He might be a grumpy old drunk but he loves Rosina, whether she is his or not. I'm tired...happy Christmas all. I shall turn to bed and say 'happy Christmas, my love'. I know there are ten days yet and I'm sure I'll be back before then. It just seemed apt. I think I shall whizz through the winter break now. The transfer window opens 15th January in Hungary and the season, for us, restarts 29th January. In some football news, Janos Szepe's agent was asked what Janos might want as a renewed contract. He has told me the figure would be in the ballpark of £1.4k a week. You must be kidding. Since Zsombor Nagy's injury, Janos has become our best defender. That wage is a serious increase and would be a huge dent in our budget. We have to go up. That is the least 'football' football career write up I've done...

Yep, 1920x1080 I loaded up the default skin because the pics i posted before were with the user skin. I can't show my mouse pointer, but it was just below the box for zsori and showed the finger-pointing cursor, to open the with the ball instructions, rather than the usual arrow cursor. Hope this helps

1920x1080 is my native resolution. It should be what FM is running at. I'll try and find time later to have a check, just to make sure. The overlay appears any time I swap players. I assume that is intended. Lately I have found that clicking the player category and then back to overview removes the overlay. It's not a game breaking issue. Just annoying. 😁 My zoom percentage is 110%

Commiserations on just missing out on league football. Some of those signings are outstanding. I'd take Josh Thomas in my MTK save - which rather highlights that Hungarian football could be a but behind! And Menayese looks phenomenal for that level. Good luck next season. And yes to players who have Welsh as second nationality. I see no harm.

I don't know how much I can do in the window, tbh. I'm 2k over budget and have a good squad. Finding Vasvari was like a new signing, tbh. I haven't seen too much sniffing around my players. Despite being in the 2nd tier we're still a big club so I think there's a desire to stay at MTK. If like to find a way to pick up Abata because I think there is promise there. If we're 2k over budget, what's another 500, eh? 😁 That analysis about our inability to finish chances was worrying...convert more of our chances and I suspect we'll be home and dry. Thanks for reading. Dunno how much I'll write in winter break. Takes me ages to do a season so I might speed through it, with a diary entry for the family Christmas party, of course. When I can find time to play around work, and that includes catching up with other's threads I was reading. 😁

Its not a cheat, per se, because its a single player game. Not against others, anyway. I would see it as cheating myself. What I don't like is a situation where people would brag on a forum that they've just won, for example, the PL with a 100% record. Hard to know for certain, I know, but I just can't see the fun in reloading anyway FM anyway. Must admit I've done it in Rimworld when something bizarre happens, but my players don't die in FM. 😁

I had a save with the lower Dutch leagues a couple of FMs ago. I actually ended up doing my whole career in Luxembourg but the save didn't break. I think I had Netherlands down to about T4. I got the database from Steam. There are guys there that do databases for many countries every year. Can't think of name of the top of my head. Id recommend adding it and giving it a go. Like Xavier said, teams are often correct regarding stadiums etc. Even the lower league English databases will have teams without players. If you want to play with specific clubs it'd be your best bet. Run the game overnight for a few seasons to see if it breaks. I think a lot of people do that, but the creator might have done so anyway.

I am playing as MTK Budapest, a club relegated from the top flight and so finding themselves in the 2nd tier at game start. They have a good academy and good players. I am expected to win every game and play a very attacking 4231. I still find it very hard to break down stubborn defences. The opposition can also regularly go up the other end and kill me with counters. Fm has often had an issue with outsiders getting such a morale boost that beating them with strong favourites is hard. I don't think my experience is that though. They just know how to defend deep and break fast and efficiently. This is the new engine at work, imo. I am still top of my division but it is far from a walkover. Like it might have been before. Making the game 'harder' is never going to easy. Players will always have an advantage over the AI, but I do think it is better so far. I have only done half a season, mind. As others have said, imposing rules on oneself can never be a bad thing. I haven't used player search in about 15 years. I don't dl tactics. Someone mentioned the demo. I would suggest it a good idea to check it out on Steam.

Last reply because this isn't the thread for me to get into a discussion. Again, I agree there are issues with the game that need fixed. I can only speak from experience that I have enjoyed the game more since I took a break. Tbh, I still need breaks about 2 or 3 times a year. It was just a thought. Sounds like you want the old fun back and your situation sounded similar to mine. Hope you can get the joy back. But, like I have now said too many times, I think what is best for FM is a year of polish and ME work. Spend a year on the ME. Make old features work, and work well. But the user will always be better than the AI too. That's hard to change.

I hate to dismiss your entire post because it's constructive and you make some valid points, but: 1. I don't like that you suggest the game is now Im a veteran player and I still very much enjoy FM. 2. Saying that, I agree that maybe SI need to slow down adding new stuff and fix old. 3. Gonna repeat something I've said a few times. They need to take a year to just improve the old. Make promises work, make social interactions make sense more often. One thing I dislike is when a player hits bad form you sort of have to wait 5 games to tell them so. If there's any good ratings in 5 games then they'll disagree with you. That's just stupid. 4. Many aspects of the UI need major overhaul. I've reported some, and not just this year, but they crop up every year. Almost as if they're less important than new features but, for me at least, they are the meat of the game. 5. I think the ME is excellent. By far the best bit of FM23. Is it perfect? No. I doubt it ever will be, and here we have to temper expectations. The latest patch is a great example of how it is difficult to balance. SI try to fix defenders and they change wide players and lessen the chaos that was great at release. 6. Sorry, but the ME is not unplayable until update 3. See point 5. People need to understand the limits. My suggestion to you, @GunmaN1905, is to take a year off. You're not enjoying it,and maybe because you've played too much. Why do I say this? Because I've been in the very same boat. I have played FM since a friend introduced me to it in 2000. I put in hundreds of hours for years. Got to about 2017 and I had no energy for the game. I didn't buy for a year. Came back later and it feels like the old fun for me. I also play less. I play other games. I also write up my careers in the career forum and I think that helps me feel the game more. I also connect with other users and I think the writers there enjoy saves together. Not saying that's for every one, but it helps me. I think the play less/miss a year is more universal. Again, you make valid points. I hope SI listen to what I think has been the grumbliest year on these forums yet. They seem, to me, to be too eager to add new, as if they feel they have to to sell. Really, if they polished old and made it fantastic then that would be as good as. People.will buy FM anyway, and polished old features will feel like new. Take a break, pal, and come back renewed. See if it helps. 😁

I do agree with the crossing. I play with IF so I do expect them to cut in a lot. Sometimes they have a perfect opportunity to cross and don't though. My FBs are another matter. They very rarely cross and I did notice after the patch my CWB would drive at goal and shoot quite a bit. I think it depends very much on the opponent though. I am not sure if it is truly a simple fix, sadly. This last patch is proof of that. In fixing the defending some of the craziness, that was wonderful, has gone out of the engine. SI are on to something this year. Best engine ever and can only get better with tweaks. I need to visit the bug forum and upload some pkms of the crossing. I would urge others to do so too. It's finding the time. 🤔

Welcome back, Sheriff. Always had a soft spot for Tranmere. Not really a fan but always like to see them do well. I remember well when they were up in what is now the Championship. Best of luck with your save.

Tuesday 6th December 2022 I have just finished watching the last of the world cup second round matches. Japan fell foul of the dreaded penalties on Monday and tonight I caught most of a cracking game between Portugal and Serbia followed by a dominant Spain display to set up an Iberian battle in the quarters. I think my man management skills are getting better, and that is a big part of being a football manager. You have to know what your players want and how to get the best from them. Being an intellectual has served me well here. I spoke to the whole team, as well as to some individually. I do believe they are growing to like me. I think the practice came from deciding to be nice to may parents...well, my mother at least. Father needs to get a job. I phoned home yesterday and, would you believe it, he was drunk. It was three in the afternoon. I asked my mother if he couldn't get a job and she said he wasn't well. Yes, he has a serious case of being a lazy old git, I told her. You have to be blunt with people, as well as being supportive and encouraging. It doesn't do to let people off lightly. That was also the case with my lead striker. I told Krisztian he had to do better and I think he listened. Yes...admire my skills. I am a football manager. Qatar 2022 Watch The quarter finals are decided. They start with the battle of the underdogs between the US and Tunisia, then the battle of the European outsiders of Switzerland and Croatia. The second group of ties are mouth-watering encounters between England and France and Portugal and Spain. The battle for the Golden Boot looks like it will come down to three contenders. Cristiano Ronaldo, Harry Kane and Olivier Giroud. Matchday 20 Preview Aerial football again, then? Csakvar are not having a great season but they do have an ability to punish us from crosses and corners. Csakvar aren't so much a counter team as just a tam that sits back and goes for the nil scoreline against them. They will be hard to break down and we will need pace and more willingness than we showed against Gyirmot. I spoke to the squad as a whole yesterday, in an effort to drum up a bit of morale. I told them we were on course for promotion but just a little push would seal that for us. The feedback I got was great. I have also had a chat with Nemeth on a one to one basis about his form. Krisztian has come to realise he's not played well. This next game, he'll be back. Just watch. Youth Intake Preview Zsolt Szekely, our head of youth development, met with me today to discuss the young players that will be coming through next season. Zsolt has high hopes at centre back and good hopes in midfield, on the flanks and up front. I hope he's right, and I look forward to meeting our stars of tomorrow. Thursday 8th December 2022 I phoned home yesterday in a further effort to improve my man management skills, and to find out what advanced plans were for Christmas. Technically I suppose it would be better to call them my parent management skills. I do feel it a good idea to improve the relationship with my parents. I did enjoy moments of their visit and my mother's words struck a note in me. My relationship with the lads, I think, is changing me. I want to do good by people. Pandora says I have always been judgmental. Look who's talking, I thought. I remember her disdaining a fellow student because his father was a binman. Anyway, mother wasn't in. She went out with Rosina. Father answered the phone. He had to get up early because he has a job! He is working for the local authority in Szentgotthard. "I've got to be at work for flipping six," he told me, seeming put out. I told him he'd get used to it and he replied, gruffily, that he wasn't lazy. "I can see that," I assured him and said I was proud that he'd got off his backside and was making an effort. I told my father that being a football manager had heightened me to the fact that if we put effort in to our lives we get that back in rewards. He cut me off and told me to stop being superior. He'd do his job and didn't need no looking down on by the likes of me and my football manager lordship. I think that's how he put it. I assured him I don't look down on him and said he better get to bed. All in good time, he told me and finished by saying my mother wanted a family do for Christmas. I said we'd have it in Szentgotthard. Our apartment just won't do for the sort of party my family likes. There's the neighbours to think of, too. It'd probably disrupt the opera! Well...that went well. Second Chances My triallist got his second chance and he took it, as you can see from the match report below. I don't know if we could sign the lad just now though. Speaking to Abata's agent, he wants a contract in the region of £500 a week. We're already over the wage budget, not that that is my doing. Matchday 20 - MTK Budapest FC vs FC Csákvár Three changes today for MTK. Poor is back in at right back, replacing the suspended Miknyoczki. Vasvari starts up front after his late heroics against Gyirmot, with Nemeth moving to IF on the right. Finally, Szepe is back in defence, replacing Nagy. We asked Nagain about his decision to start with the youngster up front, and playing Nemeth wide. "Zoltan [Vasvari] has proven himself more than capable and Krisztian [Nemeth] is just as capable at playing wide. I believe it will be inspired." 16 mins: ⚽ GOAL! MTK 1-0 Csakvar Zoltan Vasvari We have a star on our hands. Vasvari receives a ball from Torocsik on the edge of the box. Neat control enables the youngster to outwit two defenders and he fires into the far right of the goal. 27 mins: ⚽ GOAL! MTK 1-1 Csakvar Gergo Ominger MTK fail to deal with free kick and Ominger sneaks in at the backpost to head home. 48 mins: ⚽ GOAL! MTK 2-1 Csakvar Artur Horvath Great work on the right by Nemeth as he puts a ball in to the box. Horvath rises highest to head MTK back in front. 50 mins: ❕ WOODWORK! Nemeth cuts inside and fires a shot that grazes the top of the bar. The veteran has been great since the break. 57 mins: ⚽ GOAL! MTK 3-1 Csakvar Krisztian Nemeth A lovely goal from MTK. Kata plays a superb ball that finds Nemeth on the right of the box and the striker superbly fires home, all be it off the keeper. MTK in control. 72 mins: ❕ WOODWORK! Csakvar hit the woodwork twice as MTK find themselves under pressure. Nagain is urging the players to concentrate. FT: MTK 3-1 Csakvar I was worried when the equaliser went in today but we showed a great start to the second half to turn the game in to a victory. It wasn't all plain sailing, for sure, and we looked shaky at times. Csakvar fired a lot of balls in to the box, and there some scary moments, but we stood up to the barrage well. MTK Player of the Match: Krisztian Nemeth was outstanding at the start of the second half and changed the game. An appearance for the ages from the veteran. I believe it's not always unlucky in Hungary Sunday 11th December 2022 I am not going to be cocky and say that was an easy watch. The bit where we were phenomenal was but I didn't enjoy the moments were we were under pressure from what amounted to a bombardment from afar. My defenders must have thought they were in warzone. We held on though, and that's what makes champions. Haladas won, but we're three points clear going in to the winter break. A well earnt rest is upon us. I would write more but I'm going to be late for work. I do realise that some of those diary entry lines are more British than they might be for a Hungarian football manager. Some tendencies fail to escape my mind. But maybe Hungarians have a word for 'git'.

Tuesday 29th November 2022 Pandora says she thinks the world cup is discriminatory. "Why do countries like Slovenia get left out?" She asked me, yesterday morning. I tried to explain that they weren't, they just didn't qualify. I told her over 150 countries try to make the world cup finals and that they whittle that number down to just the 32 in Qatar. At this point she just suggested that I thought Slovenia weren't good enough. "But neither were Hungary, my dear," I told her. I don't get it. Politics is changing my love. I mean she was only born in Slovenia because her father worked there. He is from Debrecen but entered the world of shipping. We Hungarians love the sea...even if we're landlocked. Pandora did sit down with me and watch two world cup matches though. Last night we watched Portugal draw with Korea, a result which saw neither team guarantee qualification for round two. I have a feeling Pandora actually watched it because she wanted to see what all the fuss was about Ronaldo. She said she thought Pepe looked about 45. "Not far off," I told her. Tonight, we watched England stuff Iran and safely qualify for round two. "That Mason Mount is a handsome man," Pandora told me. I said the English cared too much about their hair and Pandora scoffed. "Just because you always had unmanageable hair, dear." It was the diet. I've told her that before. *I assume Mason Mount is handsome. Google told me he is, so that settles it. Qatar 2022 Watch Monday saw Brazil do their chances of progression a lot of good, after the stalemate with Serbia. The world's greatest team (or so they are called) beat Cameroon but Friday's match with Switzerland will be huge. Serbia had another 0-0 draw. Not the team to watch at this world cup. In Group H, Portugal and Korea couldn't beat each other and Uruguay's win over Ghana makes things interesting for Friday's final group games. Facing already out Ghana, I suspect Portugal will have it easiest and will be joined by the winner of Korea vs Uruguay. Groups A and B were tidied up on Tuesday. Netherlands and Qatar were the teams to progress from A. This marks a real achievement from Qatar. The hosts will play England in the second round after the Three Lions dismantled Iran. USA joined England after beating Wales. I suspect England fans hate Gareth Southgate. He plays a back 3! England versus Iran! Travesty! Matchday 19 Preview Do I even need to say that <this team> will sit back and try to break anymore? Where Gyirmot are concerned I suspect we will have to deal with set pieces as well, especially long throws. Aerial defence will be a key skill to train going in to the match. Istvan Szatmari is a player we will need to watch down Gyirmot's left flank. Two assists and three goals this season mark Istvan as a key man for Gyirmot. Wednesday 30th November 2022 I watched a friendly match involving the B team this evening. The reason being I invited a young Nigerian to the club on trial and wanted to witness whether he was a talent with my own eyes. The 0-0 draw with Szeged II was a defender's game and our triallist was a bit poor. Victor Sam Abata was suggested to us by his agent and my scouts pinpointed him as a more likely signing. I'll give him one more chance next week. It was one of the worst games of football I have ever watched... Boy, is Gergo Szoke good though. The 18 year old is developing phenomenally. ~~~~~ Not helpful... More game time for Horvath. ~~~~~ Talking of Horvath(s)... I am very sad to lose David but he deserves the chance to develop his managerial skills. Szeged will be our penultimate game. In other news...as November ticked in to December by analyst team sent me this pleasing graphic. Need to work on that finishing, I think. End Of Month Performance Review ~~~~~ Matchday 19 - MTK Budapest FC vs Gyirmót Football Club Györ Changes to the MTK lineup for today's match are; Zsombor Nagy gets a start on the left side of central defence in place of Janos Szepe. Miknyoczki is favoured over Patrik Poor. Stieber moves back out right and Torocsik replaces Kovacsreti. Matyas Kovacs starts on the left, replacing Mate Kovacs. When asked why Szepe misses out, Nagain had this to say to us. "Janos has played a lot of football this season and, what with our conceding three in the last couple of games, I just felt Zsombor deserved a start after injury. It's purely rotation." 10 mins: ❗ MTK Injury! Zoltan Stieber is forced off with what looks like a foot injury. Kovacsreti enters the fray. 45 mins: ❕ PENALTY! On a foray in to the box, Mihaly Kata is clipped and the ref points to the spot. MTK have been on top with no breakthrough...now is their chance. 45 mins: ❌ PENALTY MISSED! Nemeth's penalty is saved by Rusak. HT: MTK 0-0 Gyirmot 48 mins: ❕ WOODWORK! Kovacsreti hits the bar for MTK after bursting inside. 66 mins: ⚽ GOAL! MTK 0-1 Gyirmot Zoltan Medgyes A deep cross and Zoltan Medgyes sneaks in at the far post to put Gyirmot ahead. MTK have been woeful the past ten minutes. 80 mins: ⚽ GOAL! MTK 1-1 Gyirmot Zoltan Vasvari Young striker, Vasvari, comes off the bench for his debut and an equaliser! FT: MTK 1-1 Gyirmot MTK will be very disappointed to have been held at home. For all the possesion we had and all the chances we created we should have won that game outright. Krisztian Nemeth has not been good enough, but, on the flip side, to bring young Zoltan Vasvari on and see him score was a joy. We lost Zoltan Stieber in that game and our injury woes deepen. MTK Player of the Match: Akos Zuigeber changed the game for us. He looked dangerous and provided the ball across the goal for Vasvari to score on his debut. So, who is Zoltan Vasvari? I know you're thinking, but he hasn't mentioned him. Zoltan has played 7 times for MTK II and scored 4 goals. With Zsori out injured I wanted a striker on the bench and opted, on total impulse, for Vasvari. Sunday 4th December 2022 This football management lark is easy, isn't it? We look like losing at home and I bring on a youngster who scores. Nah! I was lucky. We were lucky. We have to improve. I'm still reeling from Germany and Brazil's fate... Hungary could have done better... Haladas and Gyor shared the spoils in their game and that result spared our blushes after drawing at home. Nyiregyhaza got back to winning ways though even if it was just a narrow win. We have to be better. I mean, we need to turn draws in to wins. We're unbeaten, so it's not as if we're sliding down the table. We should be winning games comfortably though. Qatar 2022 Watch The group stages are over and the second round has started. In Group C, Argentina and Poland progressed with final round wins. In Group D it was closer. Denmark beat the Ozzies but a draw bwteen France and Tunisia mant the Danes still went home. Germany are going home. The Germans are the bigegst casualties of the group stage after they lost 2-1 to Japan. Belgium are also out as they could only draw with Morocco. Croatia recorded the biggest win of the tournament, humbling Canada 6-0. Serbia finally learnt to score goals and their 4-0 win over Cameroon, coupled with a 1-1 draw in the other match saw a shock arguably bigger than Germany going out. Brazil are going home. They're the only team in Group G that didn't beat Cameroon 4-0. Who would have thought Brazil would struggle to score goals. Neymar was inconsolable. In Group H, Uruguay needed to beat Korea to progress but a draw was all they could manage and Portugal and Korea progress. And so, on to the second round, and in the first half of the matches we saw huge shocks for the USA and Tunisia whilst France and England moved on comfortably.

That ball is orbiting the JW Telescope right now... Astronomers in US think they've found a rogue planet...

Yeah, he got in, made a bit of money and got booted before he could get beat.

That's worse than OGS, to be fair. Keep them coming.

You deserve ridicule for that... Tbf, though, someone on discord suggested Scotty Parker

Was twitter friendlier by telegram?

Did we not attack? Looked to me like we were one of the best attacking teams at the WC. Top scorers? Okay, 6 were against Iran, but we looked so different to the NL England I've always been for Southgate, just not sure who's better. Howe maybe.