[FM17] noikeee does the Dafuge Challenge: The Glassboys

[LPQR]

shame about going down, but trust me, it makes it all even sweeter when you finally get there

just a quick and short observation about your tactic  your right side of the pitch looks a bit un-balanced and likely to be exposed when defending due to both the WB(A) and the BBM being caught up too high up the pitch

[King Costly]

Hard luck on the relegation. You've won promotion from the National League North once so you easily do it again 

[BoxToBox]

Hopefully you'll come back stronger from the relegation, long term.

[Nobby_McDonald]

Disappointing relegation. Hope you bounce back.

[noikeee]

2020/2021 - Pre-season transfers - Stourbridge

 

 

 

Having gone down, we found it hard to pick up many players willing to sign for us, that would improve us:

 

 

The outgoing transfers list is long but that's because that's the first batch of useless youth, who ran out of contracts. Of first teamers, we lost Wifred Gnahore again, who again wouldn't renew his contract, just like after season 1. Winger Daniel Emerton and midfielder Tom Molyneux featured a lot in season 2 but not so much last year.

 

 

Key signings

 

George Harding (DC) - Sensational teenager centre-back released on a free by Bournemouth. On paper now one of my team's best players.

 

Alex Whittle (D/ML) - Left-back (or LWB) was a big problem last year and this was the best player I could find, however he picked up a injury in pre-season and I haven't tried him yet.

 

Dale Davis (M/AMC, ST) - Another promising 19 year old, released by Fulham. Can play as shadow striker, deep-lying forward or even as an attacking CM.

 

Callum Brittain (D/WB R, M/AMRL) - Earlier in pre-season I took the opportunity to pick up Jordan Chapell (see the screenie below), who seemed good enough to make me think of switching to an assymetric system with a single winger on the right. After going for it, I needed another right-winger and found Callum who seems even better.

 

 

 

Other signings

 

Jordan Chapell (MR, AMRL)

Rafa de Vita (M/AMRLC)

 

 

 

Pre-season

 

 

 

Ouch!!! I did indeed switch to an assymetric system with 4 at the back, 3 midfielders (DM, MC and AMC), one winger and a pair of strikers; and whilst this seems to create a lot of chances, we've completely squandered them all, AND appear to have a very weak defensive structure that the opponents are exploiting with remarkable efficiency. After the first 4 fixtures of the season, we are 20th! Definitely not where I expected to be, as I thought I'd be on course for an easy season getting promoted back!

 

With this dismal start, my motivation tanked and I've spent quite a few days without touching FM. But now I'm ready to have a go again. It's clear I need to abandon this assymetric nonsense and go for something more conventional, but I'd rather use my new wingers now, than revert to 3-5-2. I think I'll attempt some sort of 4-4-2 first.

 

 

 

[noikeee]

A perfect 10.0 from Weston-Hayles in an insane match! 5 goals and an assist!

[facman]

CAWH! He da man!

yep, get back to an honest 442! Winger on the right, WM cutting inside on the left with an overlapping full back down the left wing... Beautiful stuff!

[noikeee]

16 minutes ago, facman said:

CAWH! He da man!

yep, get back to an honest 442! Winger on the right, WM cutting inside on the left with an overlapping full back down the left wing... Beautiful stuff!

That's pretty much exactly what I'm doing. It's clearly better than this start of season experiment, but tbh it's still not 100% convincing.

[King Costly]

Best of luck in bouncing back straight away. In Weston-Hayles we trust! 

[noikeee]

Brexit happened!

Nothing happened!

[BoxToBox]

The softest of all Brexits.

Happy or disappointed?

[Nobby_McDonald]

I'd be disappointed personally.

[noikeee]

1 minute ago, BoxToBox said:

The softest of all Brexits.

Happy or disappointed?

 

6 minutes ago, Nobby_McDonald said:

I'd be disappointed personally.

 

I think I would've preferred to get something different, for the challenge and also as an experiment to figure out what happens.

However I'm a bit undecided as to how long term this career is going to be now, regardless of Brexit. Honestly if I don't manage to go up again this year I might just give up and start from scratch doing something differently.

[noikeee]

New board:

 

I'm not sure this takeover by the fans is necessarily a good thing. The previous board kept the club going on "investments" (gifts) to cover the ever-opening financial hole, however this lot took a loan as soon as they arrived - our 2nd one. I can see the loans piling up on top of more loans...

[noikeee]

2020/2021 - Mid-season update - Stourbridge

 

 

 

Transfers

 

(Transfers)

 

Just a single signing in these months:

 

Peter Vincenti (MRLC, AMRC) - I picked up this versatile veteran impressed by his mental skills, but have been unable to fit him in my 4-4-2 who demands much better physical abilities in any position he could play in.

 

 

FA Cup

 

 

We kicked off our FA Cup campaign against Nantwich, from the Northern Premier, and we beat them with an early Jordan Chapell goal. The winger would also score again vs Grantham, also of the Northern Premier, but it was not enough as we were knocked out at home rather embarassingly.

 

 

FA Trophy

 

 

In the FA Trophy, we were well on our way to beat Gloucester comfortable when Lee Noble picked up a 2nd yellow, they reduced, and we had to sweat for a bit. We went through but then Darlington we managed to be beaten and outplayed by another Northern Premier side.

 

 

 

National North

 

 

A switch to 4-4-2 put our season back into track, although we were unconvincing at start and things only really picked up after a massive 7-3 win at Stockport with Weston-Hayles scoring an incredible 5 goals. I kept on progressively adapting and changing things and our best period was from mid-October onwards as most matches have been resulting in wins. Sometimes, however, we are harshly outplayed. This was the case when we traveled to meet table leaders Boston Utd (3-0 defeat), and as well in the final fixture of the calendar year, smashed 4-0 at home by Nuneaton. We have been steadily climbing up the table but are still just outside of the playoff spots.

 

 

 

 

 

Summary

 

I reckon on this form, even with the occasional shock defeats, we should soon make it to a playoff spot. Unfortunately direct promotion seems unlikely as Boston Utd has a 12 points advantage, so I think we are going to have to win the playoffs, if we want to repeat the feat of 2 years ago and go up again.

[noikeee]

I wonder who won the African Nations. Was it Senegal? Could it really be Senegal? Are you entirely sure it's Senegal? Do you want more confirmation that it is Senegal?

[facman]

I've seen teams lose 12 point advantages before, so I wouldn't rule out getting automatic promotion just yet. There's still plenty of time left in the season.

[deltablue]

How has Andre Dozzell been doing? 

[Nobby_McDonald]

On 03/12/2016 at 11:16, noikeee said:

I wonder who won the African Nations. Was it Senegal? Could it really be Senegal? Are you entirely sure it's Senegal? Do you want more confirmation that it is Senegal?

I thought it was Cape Verde.

[noikeee]

On 03/12/2016 at 13:45, facman said:

I've seen teams lose 12 point advantages before, so I wouldn't rule out getting automatic promotion just yet. There's still plenty of time left in the season.

Not gonna happen, unfortunately.

On 03/12/2016 at 13:54, deltablue said:

How has Andre Dozzell been doing? 

This question baffled me at first because I'd never heard of Andre Dozzell, but he's on loan from Stoke to Roterham in the Championship. Having a great season in the Championship actually, 11 assists and a 7.33 rating.

9 minutes ago, Nobby_McDonald said:

I thought it was Cape Verde.

No it's Senegal. But I can check again if you want. Or the game can tell me through another 10 news items.

[Nobby_McDonald]

I'd rather it be Cape Verde.

[noikeee]

2020/2021 - End of season update - Stourbridge

 

 

 

Transfers

 

(Transfers)

 

Three new players:

 

Jordan Sinnott (DR, DM, MC) - Box-to-box midfielder which looked great on paper but didn't fully convince.

 

Joe Delacore (MR) - Very quick winger, but not many qualities beyond speed. However did rather well.

 

Jack Kelly (DL, ML) - Far from being spectacular, but won the left-back position in which we've been having so many problems.

 

Midfielders Paul Marshall and Peter Vincenti, and left-back Calum Sturgess were all released on frees.

 

 

 

National North

 

 

A 1-0 victory away at Harrogate started January well on our continued comeback to approach a playoff position. However, little did I expect what would come next - a complete, utter meltdown. From the 9th of January to the end of February, we didn't win a single match, making it a sequence of 8 winless matches, including a complete sweep of 5 defeats in February. My 4-4-2 had now become a 4-4-1-1, but it was clearly going nowhere and I no longer had any chance of making the playoffs. We tanked as long as 16th!!! Honestly, I was ready to give up on this career there and then.

 

However then I had a new idea of switching to a 4-1-2-2-1 (4-3-3 wide). The first few results weren't great as that was what I fielded in the last pair of defeats in February, but a couple of tweaks ahead of the Kidderminster match resulted in our first win in quite a while. And from there onwards, it clicked. It was far too late to salvage anything from this season, and it wasn't quite spectacular form, but for the final 10 matches of the season, we only lost a single match. Whilst a final position of 11th is very underwhelming given my pre-season goals of getting ourselves promoted back, I've now finally found some reason for optimism again.

 

 

 

 

 

Summary

 

This was a craptacular year, I was so very recently completely ready to give up, but I believe I'm now ready to have yet another serious go next season. There are problems however - I had promised several of our key players, that were unhappy with our relegation last year, that we were going to get promoted back. Unable to do so, I will lose the likes of Jean-Yves Koué, Dinesh Gillela, Jack Deaman and Marcus Beauchamp. We are also leaking money at an extraordinarily fast rate, with the new board unwilling so far to foot the bill.

 

Nevertheless, I will continue and put my faith in the latest tactic and the remaining players.

[noikeee]

2020/2021 - Season review - Stourbridge

 

 

 

Tactics

 

 

The final end of season variant. It's the same formation as I had back then in season 1, but it plays out rather differently as this is more about possession than counter-attacking, and my midfielders are now much more aggressive with their movement. There's quite a lot of player instructions in here, a particular breakthrough was telling both MCs to close down more and for the BBM to tackle harder, so these 2 can hassle the opposition safe in the knowledge there's a strong defensive structure behind them. All players from midfield onwards apart from the AP and the W have pass shorter, too (I could use a TI but this would affect the whole team and I really don't want my dodgy defenders to try short passes without cover); and there's plenty of "shoot less often" as well.

 

 

 

Finances

 

(Finances)

 

Catastrophic. It's down to -215K€. I'm now attempting to negotiate serious pay cuts for many of my players.

 

 

 

Player statistics

 

 

 

 

Starting eleven

 

GK: Marcus Beauchamp (23, ENG) - 44 apps, 14 clean sheets, 6.83AR

Regained his place as I lost confidence in youngster Onofrio Montenegro in pre-season. He's had better seasons for me in the past, though. Will leave as one of several players unhappy we didn't gain promotion back.

 

DL: Jack Kelly (24, ENG) - 15 apps, 1 goal, 6.87AR (New signing)

Early season signing Alex Whittle proved disappointing, and I didn't have the confidence in Mike Green neither after the dismal season last year, so I signed Jack in January and was mildly satisfied with his performance, although it wasn't a massive hit.

 

DC: Jean-Yves Koué (28, FRA) - 44(1) apps, 4 goals, 1 assist, 6.98AR

The Frenchman continued to be one of our clearly better players, unfortunately he'll leave as part of the group of players unhappy with our failed promotion bad.

 

DC: George Harding (19, ENG) - 44 apps, 1 goal, 6.96AR (New signing)

I expected this teenager to make an excellent duo with Koué and guarantee very few conceded goals for us, but whilst the defence wasn't quite as tight as I wanted to, Harding did well, and will have to lead our backline next season with Koué leaving.

 

DR: Jack Deaman (27, ENG) - 19(1) apps, 1 assist, 6.87AR

Unhappy with my several alternatives for right-back, I converted Jack from CB to RB and he did well in a restrained defensive role. However, he will now also leave.

 

ML: Callum Brittain (23, ENG) - 38(3) apps, 6 goals, 6 assists, 6.90AR (New signing)

A large reason why I switched to and then stuck with a 4-4-2 for so long this year was the signings of wingers Calum Brittain and Jordan Chapell. They were both alright but didn't quite reach the massive heights I expected to. Callum's goalscoring and assist numbers benefitted from the late season switch to 4-3-3 wide in which he becomes one of the biggest goalthreats as inside forward.

 

MC: Dinesh Gillela (21, ENG) - 22(17) apps, 1 goal, 4 assists, 6.89AR

Fielded as a centre-back last year, Gillela moved on to much more advanced midfield positions this season, rotating with Lee Noble as the most defensive MC in a 4-4-2, and then later in the year doing either the DM position or even as the advanced playmaker position in the new 4-3-3. He's actually rather talented and was starting to come seriously good in the new tactic, but will leave together with Koué, Beauchamp and Deaman.

 

MC: Sam Sheridan (31, IRL) - 32(6) apps, 3 goals, 3 assists, 7.00AR

This is a strange situation as he's now rated awfully by my staff, but he had great ratings all year regardless of whether I played a 4-4-2, 4-4-1-1 or 4-3-3. Great year but age is catching up with him.

 

MR: Jordan Chappell (29, ENG) - 23(11) apps, 4 goals, 5 assists, 6.95AR (New signing)

Decent year but I want better numbers from goals and assists, he missed a lot of the final few months in which the team clicked in the 4-3-3 due to injury and this allowed the speedy Joe Delacoe to shine in his absence with higher ratings, let's see who wins the position for good next year.

 

ST: Colby Bishop (24, ENG) - 23(12) apps, 12 goals, 5 assists, 7.03AR

For a long time our highest ratings player with a superb 1st half of the season, he was another major reason why I insisted on a 4-4-2 for so long, as I wanted to keep a duo of Bishop/Weston-Hayles on the pitch. At some stage it became obvious we needed more bodies in the midfield though, so I then switched to a 4-4-1-1 making Bishop a shadow striker AMC but it still wasn't working, so I was forced to just drop Bishop from the side when I went 4-3-3 and lone striker. Extremely harsh on him, but it was for the good of the team and he was on a goal drought by then anyway.

 

ST: Charles-Anthony Weston-Hayles (23, ENG) - 42(3) apps, 20 goals, 7 assists, 7.02AR (Player of the season)

The ratings might've been marginally lower than Bishop (winger Joe Delacore also got a 7.03AR by the way) but there's no question for me on who's the real star of the side, it's still Weston-Hayles with another 20 goal season, and he's clearly more fitting as a lone striker. He's willing to sign a new contract so no issues there, thankfully. However I've noticed he has dropped quite a bit of pace compared to when I arrived at the club 4 years ago! He's still great but no longer a super quick poacher.

 

 

Top prospects

 

I didn't even bother taking a screenie of this year's youth intake. That's how bad it was.

 

 

 

 

Career progress table

 

Season   League                  Cups                              Europe                         Other
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
16/17    National North - 12th   FA Cup 2ndQRnd, FA Tphy 3rdQRnd   (n/a)
17/18    National North - 2nd    FA Cup 3rdQRnd, FA Tphy 2nd Rnd   (n/a)                          Promoted through playoffs
18/19    National League - 22nd  FA Cup 4thQRnd, FA Tphy 1st Rnd   (n/a)                          Relegated
19/20    National North - 11th   FA Cup 3rdQRnd, FA Tphy 1st Rnd   (n/a)

 

[noikeee]

Oohhhh, Koué and Gillela have actually backed down on the will to move out of the club, and have signed new contracts. Nice!

[facman]

Oh dear, that was a spectacular run of bad results! Fingers crossed for next season though... if you can get the finances under control 

[noikeee]

55 minutes ago, facman said:

Oh dear, that was a spectacular run of bad results! Fingers crossed for next season though... if you can get the finances under control 

I'm optimistic because ever since I switched to this 4-3-3/4-1-4-1 and made my midfielders more aggressive in instructions, my record is 5W-4D-1L. That's 19 points in 10 matches, 1.9pts per match, which extrapolated to a 42 match season, would mean 80 points. That's automatic promotion form. We'd have the best defence in the league, too.

Of course nothing guarantees me this wasn't just some lucky good run of form, and that we won't go through another run of defeats. I stayed up playing to some silly hours last night, and reached the new pre-season... which isn't going quite as well as I expected. Still, I just have a much better feeling with this formation than with anything I used up until here, even including the 3-5-2 that got us promoted 2 years back. This feels more robust. We're yet to be truly outplayed in any single match yet.

As for the finances, I'm now under a transfer embargo as the club is in the process of another takeover. I can't wait to see the back of this supporters trust who won't pay for anything, so this might well be good news.

[facman]

2 hours ago, noikeee said:

As for the finances, I'm now under a transfer embargo as the club is in the process of another takeover. I can't wait to see the back of this supporters trust who won't pay for anything, so this might well be good news.

I'll keep my fingers crossed for the sugar daddy investor!

I had a lot of success with 4-3-3 in a previous save as Everton. It can be devastating if you have good inside forwards and attacking fullbacks, and is surprisingly robust with the central midfielders harrying the ball carrier and the DM providing extra protection. The only reason I didn't use that formation in my Leeds save was that I wanted a change, and specifically wanted to try to make 4-4-2 work.

[noikeee]

41 minutes ago, facman said:

I'll keep my fingers crossed for the sugar daddy investor!

I had a lot of success with 4-3-3 in a previous save as Everton. It can be devastating if you have good inside forwards and attacking fullbacks, and is surprisingly robust with the central midfielders harrying the ball carrier and the DM providing extra protection. The only reason I didn't use that formation in my Leeds save was that I wanted a change, and specifically wanted to try to make 4-4-2 work.

I'm not sure you can relate your experience to mine though, because you're on FM16 I'm on FM17. Attacking fullbacks could be unstoppable in '16, in '17 I feel they're still effective but they can leave you very easily exposed so I'm using only one of them.

What I'm trying to do here is combine the best of everything:

- don't get my defence dragged out of shape (I experienced this very dramatically in early season when I used an assymetric formation!) or ran over down the wings (as could happen in the 3-5-2, specially after we got promoted). I find this is the most crucial thing to keep a strong defensive record and my #1 priority. It helps that the IF/S defends a lot more in '17 than it did in '16 in my experience. We're a little vulnerable in transitions with the 2 MCs, 2 wingers and wingback all high up, but the 2 CBs, DM, and defensive FB are enough in most occasions to slow down the opposition, up until the help comes back in from everyone else and we return to shape.

- at the same time, I don't want us under pressure in our half in a deep formation all match long. Telling my MCs to press was a game-changer, that tiny bit of extra freedom to chase down players helps a ton, they can do that safe in the knowledge there's 5 players behind them on more restrained settings.

- with the ball we play a patient possession game, with a relatively cautious Standard mentality (much better than a Control mentality in my opinion, my players were SO rushed when I attempted Control earlier in the season!), narrower formation, lower tempo, short passing settings for most midfielders and attackers, and no long shots for most of them neither. This helps us overload the middle which I feel is very effective in this engine.

- at the same time we need penetration, I often struggled in '16 with a very inconsequential possession game with little to show for it. I do this through the "pass into space" instruction, and through the winger which offers us runs beyond the defence, stretches play and crosses the ball. Compared to the midfielders and IF, he has less support and spends less time on central positions where he could shoot from long mindlessly (a hugely common occurence for central players on this ME), so I made him free of the pass shorter, shoot less restrictions.

It's also vital for the 2 MCs to run as far up as possible and link with the striker, hence I have my AP on attack role (also without pass shorter) and my BBM on "gets further forward", and I prioritise players with PPMs such as "gets into opposition area". I do however think we struggle the most at picking apart packed defences, which is what I'm seeing in this new pre-season, and why I'm sometimes dropping "lower tempo" to try to give less time for the opposition defence to organize itself.

- also exempt from my pass shorter restrictions are my defenders, who aren't as good at passing and were sometimes gifting balls to the opposition forwards, which made for very dangerous chances. It'd just be too much of a risk. I even have George Harding on specific "pass more direct" as he was such a liability.

This ended up being a bit of a tactics essay, which would be better fitting for my thread in the tactics forum than in here! I'll take it there at some later stage...

[facman]

Interesting that FM16 and 17 have such differing ME issues. One thing I can't ever seem to get working properly in FM16 is 'Pass into space'!

As far as my FM16 4-3-3 went, I started using 2 attacking full backs with a Halfback in the DM position, then changed to a single attacking FB with a DM(S) instead. Even in FM16 I was too exposed with 2 crazy charging FBs.

[BoxToBox]

23 minutes ago, facman said:

Even in FM16 I was too exposed with 2 crazy charging FBs.

5-4's for everyone!

[noikeee]

 

So another, enormous loan, and the possibility of myself being sacked for another manager. Fun times!

At least the transfer embargo is over.

[King Costly]

Best of luck for the new season. I think the second takeover will be a positive in the long-term, as long as you don't get sacked of course! 

Unless you've got a big fanbase, supporter ownership isn't the smartest way forward. 

[noikeee]

16 hours ago, King Costly said:

Best of luck for the new season. I think the second takeover will be a positive in the long-term, as long as you don't get sacked of course! 

Unless you've got a big fanbase, supporter ownership isn't the smartest way forward. 

All I want is a chairman that pays the club's bills, really. We're in no position to be sustainable, and even less so with all the loans we've been taking.

I did manage to drastically reduce the wage bill, but we're still stuck with consistent, monthly loss of cash.  The positive is the new season has started well (and I wasn't sacked).

[noikeee]

2021/2022 - Pre-season transfers - Stourbridge

 

 

 

I must have some sort of subtle underlying OCD, because all of these unimportant youth players released being included on the screenshot is really bothering me:

 

 

The good news is we barely lost any important players - turns out almost everyone who wanted to leave either did backtrack (although I think there's a bug because they've requested me to withdraw their transfer requests several time, and I agreed several times, and they're still locked as transfer listed), or actually had longer contracts and I hadn't noticed it. So the only truly important player that left was goalkeeper Marcus Beauchamp. Other notable first team players to leave: left-backs Alex Whittle and Mike Green, right-back Kevin Roberts, striker Miko Virtanen (he was such a flop, looked brilliant on paper but did little over the last 2 years), lethargic playmaker Rafa de Vita, rough-tackling midfielder Lee Noble (played a lot last year actually, but age was catching up with him), and centre-back Louis John.

 

 

Key signings

 

Tadhg Ryan (GK) - I'm not particularly convinced by him but he was the best I could find to replace Marcus Beauchamp in goal.

 

Pedro Paulino (DL) - 1st out of 3 promising 19yo players I poached. Dropped by the Leicester City youth system, this Portuguese full-back (I swear I didn't sign him for his nationality) is pacey, but for now I'm siding with caution and retaining Jack Kelly as my starter left-back.

 

Russell Cugley (MC, ST) - 2nd out of the 3 19 year olds, ex-Reading. A quick, physically imposing midfielder who is unpredictable and can pass well, he has gone straight into my squad, either as BBM or AP/A, and has been quite impressive already with 2 goals.

 

Rakish Barrow (ML) - The 3rd 19 year old, ex-Hull. Perhaps his attributes fit the winger role on the right better, but for now I'm retraining him to AML inside-forward as he's almost accomplished there. Pacey, quite complete player who I think will be very useful, but hasn't done much yet.

 

 

Other signings

 

Matt Fry (DLC)

Kurtis Revan (M/AMR)

 

 

 

Pre-season

 

 

I must say I got a bit apprehensive with pre-season - it included a heavy defeat at Highworth, a lower league side, and an unimpressive draw at Welshpool who play in the Welsh First Division. Worse still, the last few friendlies sparked a pretty bad injury crisis and I've got a shorter squad this season. Perhaps this was an influence in a slow start to the league, with a home defeat and a draw. However, we've cleaned up the remaining matches in August.

 

This puts us 3rd in the early table, with 13 points in 6 matches. Summing up everything since I switched to the current 4-3-3/4-1-4-1 with the aggressive MCs late last season, that's a total of 32 points in 16 matches, an average of 2 pts/match, which should be enough for a title-challenging season if we can keep that up. I'm honestly quite confident.

[noikeee]

A routine message in previous years, but one I'm very relieved to see from the new board, as during the few months we were being run by the supporters' trust it never happened.

[noikeee]

Bloody hell, this generation of Portuguese players is moving some serious cash.

[noikeee]

... and the record was achieved!

[noikeee]

2021/2022 - Mid-season update - Stourbridge

 

 

 

Transfers

 

(Transfers)

 

I brought in 4 really good players, whilst goalkeeper Onofrio Montenegro, striker Adam Boyes (important in the promotion season a couple years ago), and midfielder Sam Sheridan (kind of past it now, but dazzled last season and did 122 appearances for the club over the last 4 years!), were all gone in this period.

 

Liam Matthews (GK) - I wasn't happy at all with having Tadhg Ryan as the first choice in goal, so I picked up Liam who looks a much better option and has been doing well.

 

Liam Wakefield (DRLC) - Versatile defender whose skills perhaps fit a centre-back position best, but he's been playing out wide as right-back instead of Jack Deaman and he's been great.

 

Josh Gregory (MC) - Picked up due to my staff telling me he'd be the best midfielder in the club, his performances have not quite been at that level as he's disappointed a bit.

 

Harry Crawford (AMC, ST) - A really good complete striker on paper but he's not been taking the opportunities I've given him.

 

 

FA Cup

 

 

We started our cup run at Salford with a cagey 0-0 draw - a routine occurrence this season - but imposed ourselves in the replay match with winger Rakish Barrow on freakish form, scoring once and assisting twice. He was inspired again vs Grantham scoring a belter from distance in the very first minute that helped us to a win.

 

In the 4th qualifying round vs Telford, the cagey 0-0 draw appeared again at home, and it looked as if it would repeat itself in the replay away. Then, in the 83rd minute Weston-Hayles scored what looked like the winner, and I already thought I'd broken past the qualifying rounds for the first time in my career. But to my dismay, Telford equalised with the very last kick of the game. In extra-time, we capitulated as Telford scored 3 making it an hugely exaggerated scoreline of 4-1, and we were out.

 

 

FA Trophy

 

 

Lower league Hereford were dispatched with a single goal by winger Kurtis Revan, and we went through to meet Stalybridge, where the cagey 0-0 draw appeared, taking us to a replay, again. Despite suffering through those 120 minutes, we seemed sharper days later in the replay with Dale Davis scoring the first. Unfortunately, we broke down in the final 20 minutes as Stalybridge turned the match around and knocked us out.

 

 

 

National North

 

 

We lost at home to Salford to kick off September, but soon we'd start on a record unbeaten run, although that included cup matches, and by the end we were only accumulating draws which meant points lost. Indeed, when we lost to Solihull Moors at the end of October to finish the run, we were down to 6th and out of the playoff positions. November and December were slightly better with 2 big wins, one marginal win, one draw and one defeat, and we are back into the playoff positions, but we look as if we're missing the train of fighting for the title and automatic promotion.

 

 

 

 

 

Summary

 

In terms of my little points-per-match mathematics and goals, we're only just a slight notch below where I expected us to be, and as such I'm not worried - all I wanted is to be in the hunt and we're firmly there. We also have the league's best defence as I expected. It's clear this has been a huge step forward over last year's disaster.

 

However, the bad news is that my mathematics go out of the window if a competitor emerges with a freakish points record, and that's what's going on with Stockport who have been magnificent, and look out of reach already. So unless something weird happens to Stockport, the best thing we can aim for now is to make it to the playoffs and win them, like we did 3 years ago.

[Nobby_McDonald]

Going much better this season.

[noikeee]

11 hours ago, Nobby_McDonald said:

Going much better this season.

Yes, but it's not a big surprise or even a particularly brilliant season, if you consider that 3 years ago we were top of this league at this stage.

However that was with the 3-5-2 - there's a couple reasons why I don't want to go back to it. For a start it could be wildly inconsistent, at the end of that season we got promoted I had a sequence of like 5 consecutive defeats. With the current 4-1-4-1/4-3-3, the jury's still out, but looks to me that even when we have a bad form run we still get a few points from drawing many matches 0-0s!

I also think this is a much more stable defensive formation, and if we manage to go up again, we won't have the huge problem we had with the 3-5-2, of getting cornered in our area and annihilated down the wings. The 3-5-2 works if you don't get pinned back or if your CBs are good enough to clear up everything... if neither happens you're completely screwed like we were in the Vanarama National. I also needed much better wing-backs than the clowns I had.

[noikeee]

2021/2022 - End of season update - Stourbridge

 

 

 

Transfers

 

There were no more transfers during this period.

 

 

 

National North

 

 

We started the new year on relatively good form with 3 wins in January. However, February wouldn't be as nice as we drew a lot of games, effectively ending any vague chance whatsoever of still fighting for automatic promotion, as I experimented with ramping up my tactic from "Flexible" to "Fluid" with mixed results. We recovered with two 1-0 wins, but then we went on a dismal run with heavy defeats: 2-4, 0-3, and 4-6, which ruined our previously immaculate defensive record, and which I don't believe are unrelated to an injury to my starting goalkeeper Liam Matthews, forcing us to field Tadhg Ryan. We briefly dropped to 6th and just out of playoff positions.

 

With Liam Matthews back, so was our strong defensive showings, and we beat Worcester and Kidderminster to go back into playoff positions. Two goalless home draws confirmed our qualification just before the final fixture, although we could do no better than limp to 5th place at the end.

 

 

 

 

 

Summary

 

I don't think this 2nd half of the season was as positive as the 1st, and overall this season was a little below my expectations. A bit of minor tactical experimenting during a few of these fixtures didn't quite prove as fruitful as I wanted, and maybe cost us points. Nevertheless we can still clinch promotion to the Vanarama National, if we manage to win the playoffs like we did 3 years ago. Our semi-final opponents are Salford, I reckon that's a 50/50 tie, anything can happen.

[noikeee]

2021/2022 National League North - playoff semi-finals, 1st leg

 

 

Here we are again back to the National North playoff semi-finals just like 3 years ago. There are no favourites - in the 4 matches we played Salford this season (league and cup), we beat them once, drew twice, and lost once. I field pretty much our regular starting 11 with no injured or suspended players, although I decide to pick Jordan Sinnott and Russell Cugley in midfield ahead of Jacob Evans. Salford fields an attacking 4-4-2. My main concern is a lack of experience in my side, as Paulino, Harding, Cugley and Barrow are all 19 or 20 years old. Another concern is a lot of pace in Salford's striking duo.

 

 

 

Anyone that watched us over this season wouldn't have expected many goals in this match, and although there were no goals indeed until half-time, the first time was lively with a couple chances, although the only recorded as a "clear chance" was for Salford. The 2nd was a lot more boring with very little going on, tired legs on both sides, and although Salford's Alex-Ray Harvey eventually saw a red card for 2 bookings in quick succession, we struggled to take advantage of this extra man, as the match ended a routine cagey 0-0. We'll have to find our scoring boots for the 2nd leg.

 

 

[noikeee]

2021/2022 National League North - playoff semi-finals, 2nd leg

 

 

We field the exact same 11 as in the 1st leg, despite there being a couple of mildly tired legs in the team. Salford switch to a narrow 4-3-3, which leads me to turn on "look for overlap" as I routinely do when I come across this type of system, to try to exploit the space available to my fullbacks. I also turn on "drop deeper" as I had in the 1st leg due to Salford's very quick strikers. My main concern is whether this will lead us to get too easily cornered in our area, and not get enough possession.

 

 

 

 

Soon it becomes clear my tactical plan to overcome Salford is lacking somewhere, as we're indeed too easily cornered and struggling to transition to attack. We're a little lucky to survive a ball to the woodwork early on, but we eventually stabilize things after a few tweaks, and start looking occasionally dangerous in the counters. We survive a goalless first half, but after the break we're caught on a counter-counter and Justin Shaibu scores the opener for the home team. Salford switch to a 4-4-2 and we're forced to adjust as well, and while we don't look much capable of turning this match around, suddenly we get a break as a penalty is committed over our winger Kurtis Revan on the corner of the area - converted by Harry Crawford, who had come in to replace an injured Weston-Hayles upfront.

 

This means it's 1-1 at full time and we take the match to extra time. A largely forgettable 30 minutes play out, as Salford couldn't do much despite our players looking more exhausted than theirs, and this goes into penalties.

 

Morgan Brown shoots first for Salford... 1-0!

Harry Crawford for Stourbridge... 1-1!

Jordan Fagbola for Salford... 2-1!

Jordan Sinnott for Stourbridge... 2-2!

Darren Stephenson for Salford... 3-2!

Callum Brittain for Stourbridge... 3-3!

Faiq Bolkiah for Salford... 4-3!

Jean-Yves Koué for Stourbridge... 4-4!

Justin Shaibu for Salford... 5-4!

Liam Wakefield for Stourbridge... 5-5! It's sudden death now, still all scored so far!

Félix Nieto for Salford... 6-5!

Dinesh Gillela for Stourbridge... 6-6!

Joshua Hesson for Salford... 7-6!

Kurtis Revan for Stourbridge... 7-7!

Lewis Baines for Salford... 8-7!

Jacob Evans for Stourbridge... saved by Nick Booker! Salford are through and Stourbridge's promotion dreams are over!

 

 

 

 

I'm undecided on where to go from here. It's been 5 years and any progress has been very slow. Whilst I think we've been going in the right direction lately, I feel like to finish this challenge it's going to take me a monstruous time commitment. I don't know whether to give it another season, or call it a day and go do something else.

[noikeee]

2021/2022 - Season review - Stourbridge

 

 

 

Tactics

 

 

Pretty much the same as what I was using at the end of last season, with small adjustments.

 

 

 

Finances

 

(Finances)

 

Much better here with a positive balance, after I cut off the wage spending dramatically and the new board started injecting cash.

 

 

 

Player statistics

 

 

 

 

Starting eleven

 

GK: Liam Matthews (25, ENG) - 40 apps, 20 clean sheets, 6.90AR (New signing)

A truly excellent signing that kept a clean sheet in half the matches he played in. Sure that was due to our very solid defensive shape we fielded all year, but as proof as how much we missed him, how about the 14 goals we conceded in 4 matches when he got injured in March?

 

DL: Pedro Paulino (19, POR) - 42 apps, 1 goal, 3 assists, 6.99AR (New signing)

Whilst on paper the more attacking Jack Kelly fit the wingback role better, the Portuguese teenager's pace proved more important as he pretty quickly gained the place.

 

DC: Jean-Yves Koué (29, FRA) - 50(1) apps, 2 assists, 7.01AR

Ever-present in our defence, the Frenchman had his best year for the club yet.

 

DC: George Harding (20, ENG) - 48 apps, 2 goals, 1 assist, 7.00AR

The youngster improved his performances slightly compared to last year as well, and there was no doubt whatsoever as to what was our best centre-backs pairing.

 

DR: Liam Wakefield (28, ENG) - 29(2) apps, 2 goals, 6.87AR (New signing)

Convinced by his attributes and my staff's extremely high rating of him, I picked him most of the season over Jack Deaman for right-back, but it might've been a bit of a mistake as he was a bit average and Jack had better ratings.

 

DM: Dinesh Gillela (22, ENG) - 42(4) apps, 2 assists, 6.95AR

Permanently settled as DM after playing as centre-back and as MC in previous seasons, Dinesh had his best season yet for the club, but perhaps came just a little short of distinguishing himself as one of our most important players, which he should be for his skills.

 

MC: Jacob Evans (24, ENG) - 35(12) apps, 2 goals, 4 assists, 6.89AR

Back on the side after a switch to 4-1-4-1 from 4-4-2 definitely can fit him better, our captain was however one of the least convincing players in my regular 11, and at the end I found myself picking Jordan Sinnott ahead of him.

 

MC: Russell Cugley (20, ENG) - 41(2) apps, 4 goals, 5 assists, 7.00AR (New signing)

A quality debut season for the club for the youngster, I trusted Russell all year either as box-to-box midfielder or advanced playmaker.

 

MR: Kurtis Revan (26, ENG) - 39(2) apps, 10 goals, 5 assists, 7.13AR (New signing) (Player of the season)

A very surprising overperformer, as I'd hired him as an emergency signing in pre-season under an injury crisis for wingers. Kurtis' pace led him to claim a first team place, and even better than that, become a regular goalscorer, and the player with the highest ratings of the season.

 

AML: Rakish Barrow (19, ENG) - 33(10) apps, 6 goals, 5 assists, 6.89AR (New signing)

This youngster started the season very well and relegated the theoretically more gifted Callum Brittain to the bench. However, as the year went on Rakish's performances faded. I also think he'd be better suited to a winger role on the right than as an inside forward on the left, but he's still early on the re-training there.

 

ST: Charles-Anthony Weston-Hayles (24, ENG) - 39(8) apps, 15 goals, 7 assists, 6.94AR

A switch to a system in which the forward is expected to support rather than just contribute with goals, led to his numbers suffering, and I even found myself at times rotating him with the slightly disappointing Harry Crawford. Anyway he still finished as our top scorer by a margin.

 

 

Top prospects

 

None yet.

 

 

Career progress table

 

Season   League                  Cups                              Europe                         Other
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
17/18    National North - 12th   FA Cup 2ndQRnd, FA Tphy 3rdQRnd   (n/a)
18/19    National North - 2nd    FA Cup 3rdQRnd, FA Tphy 2nd Rnd   (n/a)                          Promoted through playoffs
19/20    National League - 22nd  FA Cup 4thQRnd, FA Tphy 1st Rnd   (n/a)                          Relegated
20/21    National North - 11th   FA Cup 3rdQRnd, FA Tphy 1st Rnd   (n/a)
21/22    National North - 5th    FA Cup 4thQRnd, FA Tphy 1st Rnd   (n/a)                          Lost in playoff semi-final

 

[BoxToBox]

Hard luck in the playoffs.

[noikeee]

16 hours ago, BoxToBox said:

Hard luck in the playoffs.

A penalty shootout's a bit random, but I don't think I can blame "luck". We spent all season long searching in vain for any edge over the other sides fighting for promotion, and it wasn't going to magically appear by the playoffs.

Meanwhile I decided to keep going for another season. I followed a tip on the Dafuge Challenge thread of turning off the "realistic transfers" filter in the player search screen, and I've been signing some quality players thanks to it. That may be the edge that's been missing so far...

[noikeee]

The bookies are surprisingly optimistic about us for next season:

 

[facman]

Maybe its time to let you contract run down and see if you can get a job at a bigger club? You must have accumulated some sort of reputation through your time managing Stourbridge?

[Nobby_McDonald]

Playoff pain. I know that too well. It's not nice.

[noikeee]

20 hours ago, facman said:

Maybe its time to let you contract run down and see if you can get a job at a bigger club? You must have accumulated some sort of reputation through your time managing Stourbridge?

Can't do that, this is a Dafuge Challenge, one-club-only save: the challenge is only completed until I win both Premier League and Champions League.