Black and Yellow Posted December 30, 2016 Share Posted December 30, 2016 6 wins from 20 should see you safe. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
noikeee Posted December 30, 2016 Author Share Posted December 30, 2016 19 hours ago, Nobby_McDonald said: Yes you can. But will you? Yes. Barely. 3 hours ago, facman said: You're doing ok - kutgw! Thanks! 2 hours ago, Black and Yellow said: 6 wins from 20 should see you safe. How about 7? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
noikeee Posted December 30, 2016 Author Share Posted December 30, 2016 2024/2025 - End of season update - Stourbridge Transfers (Transfers) 4 more signings: Alex Storey (DC) - I really did think he was going to solve our CBs problem. I insisted for 12 painful matches until I gave up because he was clearly a liability. Lucas Silva (M/AMRL) - I placed huge hopes on him as a big upgrade for the wings. 15 appearances. 0 goals. 0 assists. 6.70 ratings. Just comically awful. Geraint Starkey (ST) - Went for something different in a big man upfront, on a loan for the final couple of months. He didn't do much and also failed to impress. Robert Jacobs (DM, MC) - Our other loanee in the same time period did much better and I am very interested in renewing the loan if possible. Meanwhile I got rid of several guys, most of them early season signings that had proven awful. Off went midfielder Max Kretzschmar. Young wingers Alex Dunn and Graeme Chambers (lolz at Dundee United coming in to pick him up - he's not good enough for us, you guys think he'll ever be for a Scottish Premiership side?). Centre-back Jamie Harney (on loan, nobody was daft enough to pick him up permanently). Midfielder Callum Chettle. FA Trophy We continue to fail to show anything in the cups. Barnet were more efficient with their chances, with their forward Kel Akpobire grabbing a hat-trick, and that was it. National League We kicked off January with a defeat to our old rivals AFC Telford (notice they would sensationally win the league, back-to-back league titles just after winning the Vanarama North last year!!!), and bounced back with a narrow 1-0 win over Basingstoke. That would be our last win for a while as things went a bit wrong. Draw-defeat-draw-defeat-defeat, and we hosted Truro on an important relegation 6 pointer as we were being dragged down to that fight. We opened up a lead but let them equalise, and the exact same thing happened away at Dover, now with a much later conceded goal, to my great annoyance. Then Accrington humiliated us with a 4-0 win at our own field, as we made it a run of 8 winningless matches, and more concerningly, we were now level on points with Truro who were 21st below the line - only their hilariously crap goal difference kept us just outside the danger zone. We scrapped for points as hard as we could, and just about nicked a 1-0 win over Chelmsford, another extremely fought 2-1 win over bottom placed Sutton Utd, and a more comfortable 3-1 over Newport County. Those 3 wins and 9 points would save our season. They gave us a buffer to play with, which came in handy as we then went on goalless for 4 matches including 3 heavy defeats. When we surprisingly beat Cheltenham 3-0 away, we confirmed survival with 2 fixtures to go, and even more surprisingly we won those 2 to climb back to 16th at the end. Summary At the end I'm quite happy with the final table, but it paints a false picture somewhat - this was far too close for comfort. We were at a real risk of going down and it made for a tense few months there at the middle of the season. This is progress, but it's somewhat slow, if I'm to ever finish this challenge at this rate it's going to take me some 20 seasons or more. That's only realistic but I want to do more, I know I'm capable of doing more. I believe this season was limited by two factors: 1) I kind of went too far with overthinking tactics and spent too much time fiddling with a deep 4-2-3-1 (2 DMs, MC, ML, MR) that was too negative, when I reverted to my routine formation we did better; and 2) the vast majority of my signings this season completely failed: out of the 13 new names that arrived, many at highly expensive wages, I think only 3 were a success - centre-back Will Nightingale, goalkeeper Mark Wright, and midfielder Robert Jacobs. I need to identify better which key skills I need for each position, and be more selective when hiring. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted December 30, 2016 Share Posted December 30, 2016 Nice comfortable survival in the Bananarama this time Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
noikeee Posted December 30, 2016 Author Share Posted December 30, 2016 1 minute ago, deltablue said: Nice comfortable survival in the Bananarama this time Thanks, but that's kind of subjective. I just literally wrote "this was far too close for comfort" and you come and tell me it was "comfortable". We were 20th and level on points with a team going down, with 2 months to go. I suppose if I rearranged all the matches in some different order I'd have a different perception, though. But I'd find something else to moan about. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted December 30, 2016 Share Posted December 30, 2016 Well it was by 5 places and 13 points Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
noikeee Posted December 30, 2016 Author Share Posted December 30, 2016 2024/2025 - Season review - Stourbridge Tactics Our plan A is pretty much the same, although I found myself almost never using "play narrower" anymore so I scrapped it, and something new was that I also often dropped to Counter mentality. The bigger changes were the alternate systems - as I wrote earlier, I played a lot with a deep 4-2-3-1: 2 DMs, MC, ML, MR. That didn't really work overall and I'm thinking of scrapping it completely and focusing on variations of the plan A formation more; maybe reverting to a more aggressive, more conventional 4-2-3-1 wide when I really need to risk things. Finances (Finances) I used as much of the wage budget as I could, and throughout the season we were mostly on "insecure" finances, which kept me a little nervous as I didn't fail to notice Sutton Utd in our league had 10 points deducted for going into administration. Could we suffer the same fate? At the end my dear board just kept bailing us out enough for this not to be an issue. Player statistics Starting eleven GK: Mark Wright (23, ENG) - 46 apps, 13 clean sheets, 6.82AR (New signing) We seem to switch keepers every year! Mark proved a decent-but-not-great signing, as probably a slight upgrade to Brian Stewart but not really anything more than that. DL: Frazer Shaw (30, ENG) - 39 apps, 3 assists, 6.79AR (New signing) At the beginning I thought I had finally picked up someone better than Pedro Paulino, and he did well, but the performances dipped dramatically during the 2nd half of the season. By the final couple of months I had switched back to Paulino who did much better with a 7.05AR in 10 matches. DC: Will Nightingale (29, ENG) - 41 apps, 2 goals, 7.01AR (New signing) The rarest of things for this season - a new signing that clearly did well all year long. Solid consistent performance from a solid player. DC: Ben Rowthorn (26, ENG) - 19(15) apps, 6.85AR The position next to Nightingale at CB was a massive problem all year. First this was Lewis Baines' place, but I wasn't convinced, and I signed Alex Storey instead. It went even worse and I gave up on both of them. By the end I had reverted back to Rowthorn, although in reality he spent most of the season as either backup DM or backup CB; and Jean-Yves Koué at the age of 32 was probably somehow still in the mix, too, even getting marginally better ratings. DR: Hakeem Odoffin (27, ENG) - 48 apps, 1 assist, 6.97AR He had been superb last season, but the increase of competition level in the higher league was clearly noticeable. He always had a mistake in him, but his pace could compensate at a lower level and now the cracks start showing. The broken leg he suffered last year can't have helped neither. DM: Dinesh Gillela (25, ENG) - 40(3) apps, 2 assists, 7.05AR One of the players to make the step up better as he had an excellent season on his 6th year for the club. However he finished the season with some serious competition as loanee Robert Jacobs impressed in the final 2 months. MC: David Brooks (27, ENG) - 30(15) apps, 5 goals, 3 assists, 7.00AR Also took the step up pretty well and continues to be a reliable playmaker. This should've been Conor Tee's position but the new signing proved highly disappointing. MC: Jordan Sinnott (31, ENG) - 29(9) apps, 8 goals, 2 assists, 7.04AR When playing our plan A formation, the CM/A position proved freakishly effective as teams fielded aggressive defensive lines against us that could be pulled apart easily. This meant both Jordan Sinnott and Ben Flusfeder excelled in here. With Sinnott as MC and Flusfeder as ST, we had the 2 better players on the pitch; but with Flusfeder as MC and Kroma as ST we scored more, and I switched between both setups often. Sinnott also played often as DM in our alternative systems. MR: Rakish Barrow (22, ENG) - 32(5) apps, 4 goals, 8 assists, 7.01AR Now on his 4th year creating danger for us, he didn't find these defences as easy to break past as the ones in the National North, but remains as starter, after both Graeme Chambers and Lucas Silva flopped pretty badly in the position, as new signings that should've taken Barrow's place. AML: Corey Blackett-Taylor (27, ENG) - 29(7) apps, 8 goals, 4 assists, 6.99AR Another player that shouldn't really be on the team anymore - I'd hired Djair Parfitt-Williams expecting him to be an upgrade but he didn't prove it on the pitch. Blackett-Taylor continues to frustrate most matches, only to dazzle in occasional appearances. ST: Ben Flusfeder (21, ENG) - 40(3) apps, 17 goals, 5 assists, 7.10AR (Player of the season) The ST position was highly connected to the CM/A position, as explained above - thanks to Flusfeder being able to play in both. He scored most goals whilst playing in midfield, with Moise Kroma as striker (8 goals, 12 assists) assisting him as he dropped deep. Whichever position, Flusfeder reclaimed his status as clearly our most important player as top scorer and highest average performance. Top prospects Still none. 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 22/23 National North - 7th FA Cup 3rdQRnd, FA Tphy 1st Rnd (n/a) 23/24 National North - 4th FA Cup 3rdQRnd, FA Tphy 2nd Rnd (n/a) Promoted through playoffs 24/25 National League - 16th FA Cup 4thQRnd, FA Tphy 2nd Rnd (n/a) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sudodoodo Posted December 30, 2016 Share Posted December 30, 2016 Enjoying your work so far. I think FM17 is the hardest we've had yet for challenges like these. AI improvements and a less exploitable match engine means you really feel the limitations of lower league management. The counter attack seems to be working well for you on the road, but maybe you need to take an opposite approach for the home games and look to control things, slow the tempo and draw opponents into making mistakes. At semi-pro level, the mistakes are inevitable and you can nick results that way. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
noikeee Posted December 31, 2016 Author Share Posted December 31, 2016 6 hours ago, Sudodoodo said: Enjoying your work so far. I think FM17 is the hardest we've had yet for challenges like these. AI improvements and a less exploitable match engine means you really feel the limitations of lower league management. I don't know about that. I do feel like the game has gotten much harder over the years, but plenty of people in the Dafuge Challenge thread are having a far easier time than me! I mean some guys have made it to the Premiership in the same number of seasons that I made it to 16th in the Vanarama National. Quote The counter attack seems to be working well for you on the road, but maybe you need to take an opposite approach for the home games and look to control things, slow the tempo and draw opponents into making mistakes. At semi-pro level, the mistakes are inevitable and you can nick results that way. I already do that. I do little subtle switches of mentality, roles, defensive line, tempo, etc, depending on how the opponents line up, the circumstances of the match (ie are we favourites, is it home or away, how good is the opposition), and how the game plays out. Thanks for the words of encouragement! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
noikeee Posted December 31, 2016 Author Share Posted December 31, 2016 2025/2026 - Pre-season transfers - Stourbridge An extraordinarily busy pre-season - I hired 12 players!!! And this time I'm quite confident a lot of them are actually going to be useful for us... Key signings Sébastien Benoist (GK) - Yet again, I hired a new keeper. Sébastien is a U20 international for Mali and I believe an upgrade over Mark Wright. Now rated by my staff as one of the team's best players. Andy Cannon (D/WBR, DM, MC) - The star of pre-season as he excelled under my new role for the RB position - inverted wing-back! Quite versatile player. Walter Sgarigia (MR) - I had to offer a contract 3 times and wait for late in August to finally hire him, AND give him by far the team's highest wages. I believe it's worth it as this Italian winger has a bit of all I need for the position. Axel Prohouly (ML, AMRLC) - The real deal? Axel has looked rather lively as inside forward and I believe he'll score and assist regularly. James-John Mitchell (MC, ST) - I hired no less than 3 strikers this pre-season and I'm finding it hard to choose between them as they've all scored already. But Mitchell is in pole position as he's found the net 3 times. Other signings Josh Lelan (DRC, WBR) Minel Sabotic (DC) Robert Jacobs (DM, MC) (on loan here last year, signed permanently now) Roger Rowthorn (MRL, AMR) James Blanchfield (MC) Stefan Ferguson (AMR, ST) Eoghan Stokes (ST) This revolution was only possible because I managed to sell several of last season's flop signings. Beyond them, a legend also left the club: I decided it was time to finish Jean-Yves Koué's stint for Stourbridge, after 248 apperances by the centre-back over the last 7 seasons. Thanks for everything but we're at another level now. Pre-season Into pre-season, I decided to experiment with a couple of new roles after I'd read a few things and got a few ideas: the right-back became a IWB/S to help overload the middle, the left-back a FB/A to further help penetration and width on the other wing, and the defensive midfielder a HB/D to cover for both of them. It left me with a smile on my face all the way from the first minute to the end of pre-season. Okay, we lost the first friendly, but the enormously improved movement from my side was immediately obvious. We dominated and beat Dundee Utd, on a friendly set up as payment for the sale of Graeme Chambers last year, and easily beat most of the small sides we played during the whole of pre-season. The movement of both fullbacks, specially the IWB, combined with all my other players in such a way, that most defences we faced were overwhelmed in one way or another, as we created danger from many different angles. This continued as the league started - narrow win over Southport, narrow win over Eastleigh, narrow win over Lincoln, narrow win over Stockport, and we were top of the league after 4 matches. It perhaps wasn't a coincidence that our first defeat came against the same team that had beaten us in pre-season, Torquay, but even this match had felt a little unlucky. We then put in our worst performance at Braintree to lose again to finish August, but although Braintree had been a little bit better, we were far from dominated. We're now 8th and starting to wobble a bit - which may get worse when morale fizzles out. Yet, I am now suddenly very optimistic about this season. The tactic feels much improved, and the new signings have looked great too. Previous to watching these matches, I was thinking of aiming at a top 10 in the league. I'm now wondering whether making it to the playoffs is unrealistic... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
noikeee Posted January 1, 2017 Author Share Posted January 1, 2017 Our top scorer. Nice. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
noikeee Posted January 2, 2017 Author Share Posted January 2, 2017 And in the next match, of course: Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
noikeee Posted January 2, 2017 Author Share Posted January 2, 2017 We got ourselves a parent club: Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MichaelBrown Posted January 2, 2017 Share Posted January 2, 2017 Sometimes I wonder whether you overcomplicate your tactics for the level that you're at. :/ Obviously it's upto you how you play the game mind.. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
noikeee Posted January 2, 2017 Author Share Posted January 2, 2017 2 hours ago, MichaelBrown said: Sometimes I wonder whether you overcomplicate your tactics for the level that you're at. :/ Obviously it's upto you how you play the game mind.. I probably do! I'll try to explain why I'm going in this direction: What I essentially want to do is feel in control of every phase of the match. Have a solid defensive formation with no clear weaknesses, have a versatile form of attacking with several different options, angles and outlets. And above all, something that is versatile enough that I can use at every level with minimal tweaks, regardless of whether I'm favorite or the underdog. Essentially, an almost plug-and-play tactic that I've built myself, based on realistic football concepts. There was a thread on the tactics forum recently titled "Generic Football". That's kind of what I want! So I keep on tweaking everything endlessly until I nail this holy grail of a generic plug-and-play made by myself, that doesn't feel like a giant exploit. But this comes at a cost. A tactic with no weaknesses is also one without clear strengths. This is probably why my progression has been so slow. At this lower level probably a more direct approach, rather than one with a lone striker creating space for others to run into, is probably better. A classic attacking, wide 4-4-2 would do this but in this match engine that seems tricky to do as it's very easy to exploit it down the middle. What most successful people in the Dafuge Challenge thread are doing, seem to be narrow diamonds, or 3-5-2s (there's also a bunch of 4-2-3-1s but I've tried and failed to get one working). And I've done the 3-5-2 earlier: it's what got me promoted and then relegated! I found it is great until the opponent exploits your wings. When they do, it completely capitulates like it did when I got relegated as my team wasn't strong enough. These are tactics with a clear weakness. Maybe with slightly better players then I would've stayed up, and maybe these systems do get more points per match overall. But when they fail you completely lose control. I'm not a control freak in real life but I am as a manager! The same goes for why I don't use a more direct approach. I could use two wingers, and a striker on an attack role. Maybe it would get me more goals and win me more matches at this level, but not only is it ugly to watch, it's also hugely one-dimensional. If a team is set up well to defend that approach, it's a completely useless plan. Don't get mislead by the fancy roles and all the instructions. Just because I'm using a "inverted wingback" or a "halfback" doesn't mean I'm trying to play some futuristic total football. If I were I'd be going full tiki-taka with much higher fluidity, shorter passing for everyone, more playmakers, I wouldn't have a classic winger, neither a fullback told to cross more, etc. I really don't think I'm asking too much of my players, what I might not have is a very clear plan as to how to grab goals. This season is shaping up as a slight disappointment in that regard. I'm doing better, but it's not been the wonderful breakthrough I seemed to see in pre-season. We're not scoring much - but our defensive record at least has been great. I believe I'm only lacking just a little edge in my attacking players to be able to mount a promotion bid, though. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nobby_McDonald Posted January 2, 2017 Share Posted January 2, 2017 Very good effort to stay up. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
noikeee Posted January 2, 2017 Author Share Posted January 2, 2017 2025/2026 - Mid-season update - Stourbridge Transfers (Transfers) Another 4 signings taking the total of new faces this season up to 16: Ian Pollock (DL, ML) - This kid on loan from Bolton was awful at the beginning, but I stuck with him and now he's delivering - looks like I've finally found someone to displace Pedro Paulino at left-back. Alberto Garmendia (AMC, ST) - With James-John Mitchell's injury I needed a new striker, and this guy looks potentially amazing for our link-up game, plus has a burst of pace combined with off the ball which is always a great combo. Scored on his debut but got injured too on his 2nd match. Ash Kigbu (DLC) Anthony de Freitas (DM, MC) As 4 players came in, 4 had to go, namely last season's starting left-back Frazer Shaw, Lithuanian international and backup defender Audrius Laucys, striker Eoghan Stokes who had arrived in August but whom I already decided he wasn't good enough, and... a Stourbridge legend! Jordan Sinnott was an important versatile player for the past few years, but he's getting old and with all the new players there's no place anymore. I released him on a free. FA Cup We started against Ashton Utd who should be easy in theory, but we committed a silly penalty when we were in control of the match, and this forced a replay. In which we easily won with a James Blanchfield brace. This was already the deepest we've ever been in the FA Cup, but when paired with Stevenage from League 2, we'd pull off the first cup upset of my career. To record receipts, our fans watched us limit Stevenage to no danger and then kill them with a late James-John Mitchell goal! Sadly we couldn't repeat the feat vs Southend as the League 1 side proved too strong for us, we did resist the first half but then they scored twice and we took too long to try to react. FA Trophy A tie vs Nuneaton came in handy as we were on poor form and morale in the league, and we beat them easily 2-0 to schedule a match against Gateshead in the next round. National League We beat Truro to kick off September, but then two fairly heavy defeats demonstrated that the early season bubble of morale and fitness accumulated during pre-season was over. We benefitted from extremely late goals to get points vs Maidstone and Dartford, then extended the unbeaten run for 2 more matches, but were then had a slight wobble with 0-2 defeats at Basingstoke and Aldershot. With ever the inconsistent form up and down, it was two wins over FC United (David Brooks on a great day with the brace completing the turnaround) and Barnet (heavy 4-1 smashing), only to then go through another 3 matches without winning. We kept on bouncing around the lower places of the league top 10, and a nice win at Margate followed by an away point at Gateshead kept us well, but then there was a massive 4-2 home defeat to Eastleigh to drop to 11th. Then suddenly, out of nowhere, even suffering a bit of an injury crisis, we clicked dramatically well for the away trips to Southport and Lincoln with two amazing victories, 5-0 and 3-0, to go back up to 7th, just outside the playoffs and well in contention for them. Summary It's been a season of ups and downs with no lengthy positive or negative runs, but what's clear is that we've vastly improved from last season. I don't know to what extent is it the players or is it the tactics, but I suspect it's a bit of both - perhaps fittingly, our best performing player so far is a new signing on a new role - Andy Cannon as inverted wing-back has the best ratings (7.35AR) and most assists (6). We seem to be bouncing somewhere in between my Summer prediction of making it to the top 10, or my pre-season prediction of making it to the playoffs. If we finish 7th it's great already, but I suspect if I find some edge somewhere and avoid any lengthy bad runs I might just sneak into the playoffs. Are we good enough to do that already? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
noikeee Posted January 2, 2017 Author Share Posted January 2, 2017 I usually don't post much about the wider AI world, but errrrm, what? Bit surprising, no? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
noikeee Posted January 3, 2017 Author Share Posted January 3, 2017 He's no longer a starter, with Robert Jacobs having taken his position as DM this season, but thanks to an injury crisis, looks set to overtake our former striker Charles-Anthony Weston-Hayles as our player with most appearances of all-time. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lenzar Posted January 4, 2017 Share Posted January 4, 2017 Nice to see you're moving towards the Football League! If my time from last year told me anything, it's that the National League is a bitch to get out of and League Two is a little easier! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
noikeee Posted January 4, 2017 Author Share Posted January 4, 2017 2 hours ago, Lenzar said: Nice to see you're moving towards the Football League! If my time from last year told me anything, it's that the National League is a bitch to get out of and League Two is a little easier! That's a little reassuring. To be honest I don't think we have a shot breaking into the Football League this season already. I'm some 5 matches or so from the end of the season and we've slipped a little. Still better than last year, but playoffs aren't likely anymore. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
noikeee Posted January 4, 2017 Author Share Posted January 4, 2017 Switching clubs in this challenge is not an option, but interesting to see I'm getting offers from clubs outside England now. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
noikeee Posted January 4, 2017 Author Share Posted January 4, 2017 2025/2026 - End of season update - Stourbridge Transfers (Transfers) Taking this year's number of signings up to a ridiculous total of 18, the highest in all levels of English football this season, these two guys arrived: James Milner (GK) - Not Liverpool's international left-back. This goalie could do with (much) better passing, and better handling, but is a quality shot-stopper. Drey Wright (M/AMRL) - This veteran winger is still pretty quick and looked great at first, but then didn't show much end product. Meanwhile I sold striker Moise Kroma, who played a lot the 2 previous seasons, and goalkeeper Sébastien Benoist who looked great in theory but turned out to be a pretty awful flop earlier this year. FA Trophy A rare goal by disappointing striker Alberto Garmendia early in the away game vs Gateshead was enough and we were through to the FA Trophy 3rd round for the first time in my career. We nearly bottled it vs Bradford PA with an early owngoal by keeper James Milner, but Prohouly tied it and took it to a replay. In there we were much better, Stefan Ferguson scoring twice to put us in the quarter-finals, aka 4th round. By now this was distracting us from the league a bit as I saw an opportunity to get some silverware - after all we were now as far as the quarter-finals, and facing Dorchester who are a league below. That was misleading as we were awful at Dorchester: outplayed, and knocked out. National League We had finished 2025 with two fantastic wins, but we'd find 2026 much harder. We didn't win in January, and after beating Newport Co 2-0 we were humbled by Maidstone 0-3 away and then went on another 3 matches without winning. We finally got a win again at the start of March over Carlisle, but by now we were starting to concede quite a few and even this match finished 3-2. The dreams of making it to the playoffs were no longer realistic, and after another 3 more matches without winning, we were down to 11th. It must be said that during this period, we were being hindered by poorer fitness than usual, distracted by the extra FA Trophy matches, having endured a few postponed matches due to waterlogged pitches, and all in the middle of an injury crisis with the likes of Nightingale, Blanchfield, Mitchell, Garmendia, Brooks, out for some time. We returned to form with a 4-0 smashing of FC United and then another win over Aldershot. A draw with Accrington and a loss to Barnet momentarily paused this, and for the final 4 matches, with little chance of still making it to the playoffs, I decided to experiment with slightly different tactical settings, namely switching the DLF/S to DLF/A and from Flexible to Fluid. It seemed to work well although the sample size is too short to take definitive conclusions - two narrow 1-0 wins and a 0-0 draw with Gateshead, and we went into the final match with an extremely unlikely mathematical chance of still making it to 5th place: we needed to overtake 4 teams and overturn a goal difference advantage of 10, but it was theoretically possible. We nearly beat a 10-men Barrow but they fluked an equaliser out of nowhere and we finished 9th. Summary The 2nd half of the season was not as good as the 1st (how many times have I wrote this over my career??!! it seems to happen almost every year), but given the difficult circumstances I explained above with the extra matches and the injury crisis, I can't be too unhappy. It was a good year in which we evolved from a team that barely scrapped out of the relegation fight last year, into one that's just a couple points off a playoff-fighting side. The pre-season tactics revamps was surely a big factor in this, and the new end-of-season extra tweaks also look promising although it's too early to say. This means it's a good time to be a Stourbridge fan as we're finally starting to consistently move forward, and it now looks conceivable we might put in a promotion bid to the Football League next year. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
noikeee Posted January 4, 2017 Author Share Posted January 4, 2017 2025/2026 - Season review - Stourbridge Tactics Our current setup. As you can see, the big early season revamp was in the backline, with the right-back becoming a IWB (a huge breakthrough as he helps overload the middle immensely!), the DM a HB, and the left-back a FB/A. Later I found out we got exposed down the left-flank this way, so there were a few compensation mechanisms added in: the left CB became a stopper, the FB/A told to "close down less", and the IF/A told to "close down more" and "tight mark" to help out more. At the end of the season, I switched the forward from DLF/S to DLF/A, and switched shape from Flexible to Fluid. The idea is to try to get more goals from the striker as I feel we're just not scoring enough overall - we have an excellent defensive record as the division's 4th best defence, but only the 14th best attack. The fluidity is to try to get the lines playing closer together, to help compensate for the extra distance between my midfield and the striker now on attack duty. Other subtle switches that helped us out were new corner routines, both attacking and defensive, as we used to be awful in them, and we've clearly improved. Finances (Finances) Suddenly looking very bad now on -209K€, I think the board was too optimistic this year and gave me too much wage budget to play with. Player statistics Starting eleven GK: James Milner (22, ENG) - 24 apps, 10 clean sheets, 6.85AR (New signing) I insisted with new signing Sébastien Benoist for the first few months until it became impossible to ignore he was a liability. Later on, James arrived and he did better, although I'm not 100% convinced neither and trusted Mark Wright got better ratings. DL: Ian Pollock (20, ENG) - 39 apps, 1 goals, 2 assists, 6.98AR (New signing) A rare case of someone who looks utter crap at the beginning, you insist on him and he comes good. This kid on loan from Bolton was the guy who finally relegated Pedro Paulino to the bench on merit, after years of signings that failed to do so. DC: Will Nightingale (30, ENG) - 35(2) apps, 7.07AR An excellent season improving on last year, however he stopped for a while with an injury and I think that slightly regressed his attributes, my staff now rate him low on 2 stars only. DC: Josh Lelan (31, KEN) - 46(2) apps, 1 goal, 1 assist, 7.02AR (New signing) With time it became clearer and clearer I needed a quick CB to pair Nightingale and the Kenyan international did best, although he's getting old himself too. Commonly used on the left as stopper. DR: Andy Cannon (30, ENG) - 50(2) apps, 2 goals, 9 assists, 7.29AR (New signing) (Player of the season) A fantastic signing that personified this season's improvement as a perfect fit for the inverted wingback role. At the beginning I was concerned his "gets forward whenever possible" PPM could be too much and get him into the way of the CM/A, instead he just became an extra danger, and ended the season as our player with most assists, and by far the squad's best ratings. DM: Robert Jacobs (23, ENG) - 46(1) apps, 1 assist, 6.94AR Briefly here on loan last year he impressed, now as a full-time Stourbridge player he was told to play as half-back and although the game doesn't rate him in the role and his ratings aren't anything special, I feel his aggression is extremely important to our game. MC: David Brooks (28, ENG) - 44(3) apps, 4 goals, 5 assists, 7.04AR Surprisingly still in the side after a few years, James Blanchfield had been brought in as an alternative but unfortunately a bad injury ruined him, and the place was Brooks' all year long apart from a short period in which David was injured himself. Decent but unspectacular as usual. MC: Ben Flusfeder (22, ENG) - 32(4) apps, 6 goals, 7 assists, 7.07AR Now fielded almost exclusively as CM/A as we have a surplus of strikers, Ben was still one of our better players despite missing the first few months of the season to injury. MR: Roger Rowthorn (24, ENG) - 29(18) apps, 3 goals, 6 assists, 7.01AR (New signing) A surprise as I hired him as a long shot backup, but with Walter Sgarigia becoming a big flop and later signing Drey Wright not quite fully convincing neither, Roger played the most time. I think we can improve in this position, though, and wouldn't expect Roger to hold this place next year. AML: Axel Prohouly (28, FRA) - 53(1) apps, 16 goals, 8 assists, 7.04AR (New signing) After a lively start, Axel spent a few months unable to score or assist and I was about to give up on him, as I also grew frustrated with his selfishness. I'm glad I didn't as he improved later, becoming our top scorer from the inside forward position - it helped that he was permanently available without ever getting injured. ST: Stefan Ferguson (24, ENG) - 26(17) apps, 12 goals, 3 assists, 6.95AR (New signing) Despite signing several strikers that looked good on paper, none excelled. James-John Mitchell held this place early on the season, but then got injured pretty badly. Alberto Garmendia was another interesting signing, but flopped although I think he'd do better in the new role of DLF/A. Overall Stefan Ferguson was the least bad of the 3 with most goals, better ratings and most minutes played. Top prospects Still none. 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 22/23 National North - 7th FA Cup 3rdQRnd, FA Tphy 1st Rnd (n/a) 23/24 National North - 4th FA Cup 3rdQRnd, FA Tphy 2nd Rnd (n/a) Promoted through playoffs 24/25 National League - 16th FA Cup 4thQRnd, FA Tphy 2nd Rnd (n/a) 25/26 National League - 9th FA Cup 2nd Rnd, FA Tphy 1/4f (n/a) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
facman Posted January 5, 2017 Share Posted January 5, 2017 I'd say this was a season of progress! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
noikeee Posted January 5, 2017 Author Share Posted January 5, 2017 1 hour ago, facman said: I'd say this was a season of progress! Yes but the real question is it sustainable progress that can push us up the leagues. This next season will be quite the test for that, as I'm struggling much more to find out as many signings that could improve our side! By mid-August I only hired 5 players. On paper looking at the team report, the squad's not too far away from the best in the division already, so if I've got the tactical side finally fully covered and if we manage to avoid another injury crisis, we should be able to improve from that 9th place and make the playoffs. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
kingjericho Posted January 5, 2017 Share Posted January 5, 2017 Solid season! Keep the best players and maybe next season, anything can happen in the playoffs. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nobby_McDonald Posted January 5, 2017 Share Posted January 5, 2017 Nice improvement. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
noikeee Posted January 6, 2017 Author Share Posted January 6, 2017 On 05/01/2017 at 18:58, kingjericho said: Solid season! Keep the best players and maybe next season, anything can happen in the playoffs. 20 hours ago, Nobby_McDonald said: Nice improvement. Thanks but season 10 ain't quite starting the way I wanted. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
noikeee Posted January 6, 2017 Author Share Posted January 6, 2017 2026/2027 - Pre-season transfers - Stourbridge After last year's flurry of signings, this Summer was much quieter - I was rather surprised by how hard it was to replace all the players I released due to not being particularly special: Key signings Adie Ryan (DM, MC) - I'm not too sure he's worth the money I'm paying him, as he lacks the aggression I like in my DMs, but has other skills and could potentially play in my backline. Daniel Barlaser (M/AMRL) - The one signing I'm truly excited about. Whilst I like my wingers to be a little quicker, he's such a complete player for this level and can play either in my MR spot or my AML spot. Peter Preen (M/AMC) - This kid released by Man Utd has a touch of class about him and is one of Wales' biggest prospects at the moment. Kieran Browne (ST) - I've now got a rididulous surplus of strikers but decided not to pass him up. Alberto Garmendia has surprisingly been on super form upfront, but with the Spaniard's tendency for injuries there'll be chances for him. Unfortunately he arrives on a goal drought without confidence. Other signings Diego Caballo (D/WB/ML) This Summer saw the release of several players who excelled for us in previous years, but whom I wanted to move on from - we will remember defensive midfielder Dniesh Gillela, left-back Pedro Paulino, wingers Rakish Barrow and Corey Blackett-Taylor. Pre-season To be honest this wasn't really the greatest of pre-seasons as I was disappointed with what I could find in the transfer market. However we looked lively on the pitch. Apart from a highly exaggerated 4-1 loss to Burton, a League 1 side, we did fine, even if most opponents were crap to build up morale. I entered the official matches of the season with optimism but this was a rough start. Drawing away at Maidstone was decent but not great, a win over Chester better, further draws with Fleetwood and Northampton slightly concerning but these were 2 of the roughest fixtures of the season against opponents who were higher in the league pyramid not long ago. But then we took a wrong turn. We weren't really outplayed vs neither Torquay and Carlisle but we lost both matches and have dropped to a rather concerning 17th. The matter of these unlucky losses leads me to think I should keep insisting on what I'm doing for now, but I am concerned morale might drop, and this is a part of the season where traditionally we overperform and it goes downhill from here, so if it gets even worse I'm screwed. I'm also starting to see some drawbacks from the recent changes I made - the switch to DLF/A and upping fluidity was great for adding an edge upfront, but it can also make it very hard for us to transition out of our box, with our side that compact. My fix has been to increase mentality, but then that adds problems to a backline that isn't quick enough. I'll keep insisting on this setup for a while to see what happens, if needed I can always go back. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
noikeee Posted January 6, 2017 Author Share Posted January 6, 2017 Alberto "Crystal" Garmendia and his injury record since joining the club last December: This actually includes a previous injury by mistake but I can't be arsed to take a new screenie. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
noikeee Posted January 7, 2017 Author Share Posted January 7, 2017 Wait, what is going on? I agree with Connor btw, might as well celebrate whilst we're up and take the chance to post the screenie whilst I can. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BoxToBox Posted January 7, 2017 Share Posted January 7, 2017 There's always one sourpuss on Twittersocial media, very realistic. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
noikeee Posted January 7, 2017 Author Share Posted January 7, 2017 15 minutes ago, BoxToBox said: There's always one sourpuss on Twittersocial media, very realistic. It's hilarious, I enjoy this feature far more than I ever imagined. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BoxToBox Posted January 7, 2017 Share Posted January 7, 2017 1 minute ago, noikeee said: It's hilarious, I enjoy this feature far more than I ever imagined. Aye, it's way more fun than expected! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
noikeee Posted January 7, 2017 Author Share Posted January 7, 2017 2026/2027 - Mid-season update - Stourbridge Transfers (Transfers) 5 extra signings as we kept on finding new good players: Dan Roeder (DL) - On loan from Bury, this kid is proving to be a fantastic left-back! I don't recall such good performances from anyone before in this position. Elliot Lee (AMRL, ST) - Axel Prohouly's goals have been missing in the AML position, so I picked up this veteran for his finishing abilities although he's a little lacking in pace for my liking. First impressions are decent as he's scored twice and assisted twice. Tim Broxup (DM, MC) Isaac Welch (MRC, AMR) Conor Pemberton (AMLC, ST) No players left during this period, however I'm arranging a few transfers for January, to try to shorten this squad and diminish the wage bill as the club's under some financial pressure. FA Cup I'm trying to focus exclusively on the league and sent mostly the backups for this match-up, but this was ****. We were hardly any better than Leamington at home, and they're a couple divisions below us. This provoked a replay where we were again largely uninspired, but Leamington picked up a ton of cards (the ref actually shown a total of 15 cards this match!!) and eventually one of them led to a double yellow. We still failed to score, and by extra-time they had to take another player off due to injury. Against 9 men we were completely dominating, but a long ball punt into their only advanced player resulted in a 117th minute winner, over our much superior side with 2 extra players on the pitch. I didn't know whether to be furious or laugh my arse off at my team's incompetence. FA Trophy This was a little better, but hardly convincing neither. Bishop's Stortford are struggling to get out of the relegation zone in the Vanarama North, but we hardly shown an edge and failed to score for 90 minutes until Elliot Lee solved this match for us. Folkestone are next. National League I remind you that we were 17th at the end of August - we would recover dramatically, but it took some time to overcome the early season downer morale. Beating Gateshead was a good start, although we conceded twice and had to rely on 3 late goals. Braintree were the next victims, after a goalless draw with Stockport, but then we lost to Kettering and could only get another goalless draw with Newport Co. The fixture list was easing up though, and it made for 3 nice 2-0 wins, although again it was momentarily stopped by a loss to Southport, and followed by another goalless draw with Boston Utd. I believe the turning point was the smashing of Barnet, 4-0, our biggest win of the season so far. It was followed by a surprise 2-0 defeat at Barrow who are a side who barely score at all, but then we went on our best run yet. In an extremely tight league table, 4 straight wins was all it took for us to suddenly rise from 9th to 2nd and then to 1st!!! Our defence was just looking magnificent, barely conceding any, and we still managed to nick a goal here and there. 2 disappointing home draws removed us from 1st, but then we were top again after beating Chester. It was 1st vs 2nd for the final match of the calendar year, but in a tight match Fleetwood beat us with an early goal and overtook us again. (10 points deducted from AFC Fylde) Summary Well I wasn't expecting this! Good thing I trusted my instincts and didn't scrap the tactical system after that poor run at the start of the season - we have pulled a fantastic recovery over the last few months. To be honest I don't think we're good enough yet to win the league, and the table is so ridiculously tight that we can very easily fall back quite a few places at any time. But my goal very much remains finishing in a playoff position, and I'm cautiously optimistic we can do it, if we avoid the usual 2nd half of the season meltdown. A word of praise for my backline, in particular goalkeeper James Milner - they have been magnificent, just watch our "goals conceded" tally. No other side comes anywhere close to our record of 19 conceded in 26 matches!! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bedese Posted January 8, 2017 Share Posted January 8, 2017 Just caught up with this all in one go - slow progress, but it looks like you're starting to really get somewhere! I like the detailed tactical breakdowns with what you have in mind and how you're trying to get that accomplished. KUTGW Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
noikeee Posted January 9, 2017 Author Share Posted January 9, 2017 23 hours ago, Jupjamie said: Just caught up with this all in one go - slow progress, but it looks like you're starting to really get somewhere! I like the detailed tactical breakdowns with what you have in mind and how you're trying to get that accomplished. KUTGW Thanks. It's been a very, very long road but I truly believe I've finally got something nice tactically going on now. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
noikeee Posted January 9, 2017 Author Share Posted January 9, 2017 A crazy month of March sees us win 6 matches in 7, bounce back all the way from just below the playoffs in 6th, back to top of the table, and sweep all the prizes: 5 matches to go and the table looks like this. Fleetwood theoretically with an advantage as they have a game in hand, and our fixtures look considerably tougher than what we just went through. But it can be done. Automatic promotion is a real possibility! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
noikeee Posted January 9, 2017 Author Share Posted January 9, 2017 2026/2027 National League - Matchday 45 - Stourbridge vs Aldershot Welcome to the Vanarama National 45th and penultimate matchday, for this absolutely explosive tie pitting 1st vs 2nd. Stourbridge's surge throughout the last couple of months has been one of the stories of the season, but after last weekend's defeat at Halifax to put an end to a splendorous run of 10 unbeaten matches, 9 of those being wins, they have been overtaken by another team on incredible form, Aldershot, who are no other than their opponents tonight! Let's take a quick peek at the league table: Both sides have of course already clinched a playoff spot, and if Aldershot win tonight they are champions and promoted, although you would suspect they would be happy with an away draw here. Stourbridge need to win if they are to go back top and be in control of their own destiny ahead of the final fixture. There appears to be 2 surprises in Stourbridge's lineup - defender Adie Ryan and midfielder Ben Flusfeder have been benched for Josh Lelan and 19 year old Peter Preen, respectively. Rumour is it the manager does not trust them under the pressure of a big match. Conor Pemberton gets the nod upfront over Alberto Garmendia, as has been usual in recent weeks; and both sides field similar formations albeit Stourbridge has their usual slight assimetry. The match would be dominated by a vicious tackle committed by Aldershot's left-back Micky Carroll midway through the first half. He was sent off immediately. This was just minutes after I'd switched a routine plan B used heavily in recent weeks that involves lots of quick balls to wingers high up, and the plan made even more sense after they switched to a narrow diamond with a lone striker. It took us a few extra tweaks to really get on top of the game, and we'd hit the woodwork through substitute winger Isaac Welch already late in the 2nd half. Sadly, that was the closest we were to scoring. Despite playing 67 minutes against 10 men, we failed to score and it finished goalless. It is Aldershot's league to lose now. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BoxToBox Posted January 9, 2017 Share Posted January 9, 2017 Damn it, frustrating. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
noikeee Posted January 9, 2017 Author Share Posted January 9, 2017 2026/2027 National League - Matchday 46 - AFC Fylde vs Stourbridge / Aldershot vs Stockport - build-up So this is it, the big finale, which will clinch either Aldershot's or Stourbridge's promotion to the Football League. Aldershot have the mathematical advantage and play at home unlike Stourbridge, but they face a much tougher opponent in the shape of Stockport who are in the playoff spots. Stourbridge's opponents, AFC Fylde, are just outside the relegation zone and are not completely out of danger yet. Stourbridge retain the same 11 that drew at home to Aldershot last weekend, despite the less than ideal result. You could expect a similar pattern to the previous match as Fylde field the same formation as Aldershot did. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
noikeee Posted January 9, 2017 Author Share Posted January 9, 2017 2026/2027 National League - Matchday 46 - AFC Fylde vs Stourbridge / Aldershot vs Stockport - 1st half This has rather predictably been a very tight, even match here, as both formations cancel each other out somewhat. Fylde looked more dangerous early on, and I made some tweaks into a more patient buildup game, which led us to control the match more in their half, but not really looking like threatening them. Midway through the first half and we get the news that Stockport have scored. We actually have better goal difference so this is enough for us to momentarily go top! And just as the first half finishes, a penalty kick comes out of nowhere for us, Axel Prohouly scores it. By half-time, we look like potential Vanarama National champions. Could it be? We are totally dependent on what happens on the other match, but we'll do our best. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
noikeee Posted January 9, 2017 Author Share Posted January 9, 2017 2026/2027 National League - Matchday 46 - AFC Fylde vs Stourbridge / Aldershot vs Stockport - 2nd half As soon as the teams come out of half-time, it becomes clear my plan isn't working anymore. Fylde have gotten more aggressive and we're getting cornered in our area. I switch some stuff and the match stabilizes, but we're hardly in full control of it. Then we get the news. 2-0 for Stockport! Then 3-0 for Stockport! If we can hang on, we're going to the Football League. The match progresses. Fylde get more furious as we enter the last 10 minutes. We can't quite control them anymore, and in the 87th, they score in a corner. It's still just enough for us to top the league on goal difference, just. Thankfully Fylde switch immediately to "defensive" - the draw is good enough for them, they're facing a bigger side and the point makes them clearly safe from relegation. Yet they're still getting a bit of the ball. I tell my team to "retain possession" and cross my fingers. The time goes by. It's enough. We're champions!!! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BoxToBox Posted January 9, 2017 Share Posted January 9, 2017 Took it to the very edge, but took it! Well done! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
hasdgfas Posted January 9, 2017 Share Posted January 9, 2017 Great work! Always a huge step in the process of a save like this. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pheelf Posted January 9, 2017 Share Posted January 9, 2017 Well done!!...I think that your career so far has been like a stack of dominoes poised to fall but you just weren't able to topple the first one to start off the chain. Now with your promotion and turning pro I can see you making progress very quickly....good luck in League 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bedese Posted January 9, 2017 Share Posted January 9, 2017 Football League here you come! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rikulec Posted January 9, 2017 Share Posted January 9, 2017 I've just read through the thread, it's really inspiring to see someone pull through a tough period and carry on despite being on the verge of giving up and then achieve more success than ever. This is already a great story, and I feel there's much more to come. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nobby_McDonald Posted January 9, 2017 Share Posted January 9, 2017 Great stuff Noikeee. Aldershot well and truly blew it. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.