Hello all and welcome back to the North West of France and my game! I have progressed through to the winter shutdown on 21st December so without further ado, let’s see how I am getting on!
August
A pretty decent month which fills me with hope for the season. The first league game of the season against Le Mans was particularly pleasing as they are predicted first by the media. However, they soon gained revenge in the cup. We were awful that day and I had no answer to it. My other loss this month was against Laval where I had a player sent off after just 15 seconds which is the quickest I have ever seen on this game! I thought we did pretty well to finish with 2 goals.
Halfway through the first game, I decided that my lone striker in the 4-5-1 formation was too isolated so changed to a 4-4-2 formation and it appears to be working at the moment but still not as well as I would like. I will just wait for the team to blend together and get accustomed to it.
During August as well, I lost my first choice goalkeeper Guy Roland Ndy Assembe to FC Twente for 1.8 million when his value was 1 million. Luckily I had read through Sears’ notes on wonderkids before starting this game and noted that Nantes have an 18 year old goalkeeper Erwin Zelazny featured on there! He is now my first choice man between the sticks! Just before writing this up, I had a conversation with Academia manager Alex (otherwise known as responding to a comment he put in my previous post!) . He was unsure about my first rule of letting players go for almost double the amount and I agreed to some extent. I am still keeping it in but have decided to only sell to clubs outside of my current division and if I have players capable enough to replace them. This way I am not strengthening my rivals and also not weakening myself!
September
I decided to make full use of the international break by playing another friendly against my reserves. Firstly, to get my players more familar with the formation change and secondly, to see if I have improved on the 1-1 draw we played out in pre-season. We had improved :)
A bit of a mixed bag in the league with 1 win, 1 draw and 1 loss! I am not too bothered with the draw against Metz due to their reputation. My first choice left back Damien Tixier suffered a torn calf muscle during the match but that gives Lucas Digne a chance to shine which I am quite excited about! The loss against Reims is a bit concerning seeing as I beat them comfortably in the cup but the big win against Grenoble shows me that this is going to be a wacky season and not so straight forward!
The transfer window slammed shut at the beginning of the month but I had no reason to add any further to my squad. Erwin Zelazny has performed reasonably well in goal so no need for someone more experienced. If I do need to get someone in though, I could make full use of the French ‘joker window’. This would allow me to sign 1 player from another French club and is open until the end of the December when, of course, the main transfer window would open again!
October
Another slightly odd month for Les Canaris. I was so frustrated with the loss to Tours that I changed back to Darren’s 4-5-1 formation although I made some adjustments to better suit my team. I had used the 4-4-2 for 10 games by then but I never felt the team was comfortable with it. Maybe I should have left it longer but first game after the change, I won 2 nil and then 4 nil so felt quite pleased with myself….. until I lost to Dijon who like Tours, are a team I really should be beating. The Dijon game itself was a strange one. I had my best centre back Papy Mison Djilobodji sent off in the 59th minute and was 2 down. I managed to claw it back to level terms and felt we could go on to win it. Then disaster struck, they had a free kick which took a huge deflection off my right back and spun into the goal in the 89th minute and all hopes of any points were gone.
November
An undefeated month! The first under my stewardship which is pleasing! The results could have been more comfortable but the team still have plenty of time to grow. The dropped points against Angers are not so disappointing as they are one of the favourites for the Ligue 2 title and it was at their place too. The team is progressing quite nicely in the French Cup too. The win against Bastelicaccia puts us into the 9th round of the competition. I have only played in the last 2 rounds with both of them against non league opposition. I have more non league action in the next round coming up in December.
December
This month was going swimmingly until I hit Sedan and Havre who were both in a similar position to me in the league. Initially I was more disappointed to lose to Havre but I think I was going more on my personal knowledge because I have not heard of them but had heard of Sedan. I checked after both games and saw that media prediction for Sedan is lower than mine so should be more annoyed with that result! Either way, a horrible end to what I considered a pretty good year.
Overall
Let’s start off with the league table
At the start of the season I would have been quite happy with 6th place and not far off of top spot in terms of points. I can’t help but think that if I hadn’t of lost the matches against Tours and Dijon then I would have been top! As mentioned earlier, this is going to be a wacky season. If you look at my position graph, you will see why
An alarming slump at the end there due to losing my last 2 games but I feel it is easily recoverable. The fact that I am still in with a shout of promotion says that the top teams are all taking points off each other. Which leads me to believe that if we can find some consistency then we would have a major chance of pulling off an incredible feat in my first season!
Finally, I will leave you with my team ratings so far
Stephane Darbion is my playmaker in midfield but he does have the odd game with a poor rating. Presumably, he is being marked out of the game so will have to learn to look out for that! Honourable mentions go to 2 players — neither of them are French! First is Brazillian Matheus Vivian who is not only looking solid at the back but has also pitched in with a nice 4 goals too. Secondly is my South Korean forward Lee Yong-Jae. He is not actually my leading scorer but I feel more comfortable with him up front due to his pace. He also places the ball when he shoots whilst my other 2 strikers, Djordjevic and Rodelin, get into good positions but blast it over! I have spoken to the pair of them asking nicely to place their shots but they don’t feel it is beneficial to their game?!
That is all for now, next post will be at the end of the season and possibly with a promotion party? who knows!
Sears
7 апреля, 2011 at 23:01
That was a positive start David. Where are Nantes predicated to finish? You seem to lack a consistent goalscorer… Looking forward to a thrilling end since the league table is so tightly contested :-)
David Wiggins
7 апреля, 2011 at 23:43
Nantes are predicted to finish 9th which I am a little surprised at to be honest but hey, makes me look good if I finish above that!
I think my South Korean will come good but he was out for about a month so just need him to find his stride again
Darren Smith
7 апреля, 2011 at 23:12
Hey Dave, good post. Sixth isn’t a bad standing at this stage in the season…and remember the squad will settle not only with each other but in your tactics. In theory this should lead to a better second half of the season. I too found my 4-5-1 more consistent as opposed to a 4-4-2. While you may lose the odd unexpected result, I have used many different formations and always reverted back to the 4-5-1. Good luck mate, looking forward to a potential promotion party. ;)
David Wiggins
7 апреля, 2011 at 23:47
Thanks Darren! I adjusted your tactic so the defensive CM was a ball winner as it seemed to suit him better and also switched the inside forward to the right hand side and changed fb’s mentality to reflect that too. Shouldn’t stray too much from what you have done but as said in the post, striker does appear isolated quite a lot! Not sure yet if it means finding a better striker with perhaps better off the ball and positioning attributes or to find fitter wingers!
Johnny Karp
8 апреля, 2011 at 09:24
The promotion race is incredibly tight but you have done very well to be in the mix at the end of December. I’m expecting a fierce second half of the season, fingers crossed for a fantastic promotion!
David Wiggins
8 апреля, 2011 at 22:36
It’s a bit crazy at the top there! I hope I can get promoted but at the same time, I think it would be too soon for my side!
Daniel
8 апреля, 2011 at 13:35
Great start to the season! the only thing that stands out to me at this time is that you don’t have a out and out goal scorer. If you could possibly get someone who’ll grab goals week in week out i’m sure you’ll be able to change 6th place into 5th maybe even 4th place.
Daniel :)
David Wiggins
8 апреля, 2011 at 22:45
I agree — a bit reluctant to sign anyone at the moment due to the fairly large squad I have. Still hoping my South Korean will come good too! When I am back on the save, I will have a look to see if anyone in the youth team is performing well because I have them using the same tactic.
Daniel
12 апреля, 2011 at 15:30
that’s a good idea, i believe in bring players through the youth system. great start to the season though!
Ana Garcia
8 апреля, 2011 at 16:04
Pretty good first half of the season in the league and on track for a possible promotion.
Whats the rules in France? I presume the top place gets promoted but what about the rest? Hopefully it wont be the same as the lower leagues in Spain!!
Good luck! :)
David Wiggins
9 апреля, 2011 at 22:12
When I looked at the league table, I thought it would be the top team that get promoted and 2nd and 3rd play 18th and 19th from Ligue 1. Thankfully it is the top 3 get promoted straight away so happy with that!!
Alex
9 апреля, 2011 at 04:15
Hey David,
Your graph doesn’t look that bad you know, you have never been lower than 9th! The French Cup is going well for you too. You could easily finish top with some form and consistency and I hope you do. Our ‘conversation’ went well ;) I think this adjustment to the rule will help you out, but when you become a team playing in Europe every season it could be a bother. Anyway, brilliant stuff and I look forward to the end of season post!
David Wiggins
9 апреля, 2011 at 22:16
Hopefully by the time I am playing in Europe, I will have some of the best players in France and that other teams wouldn’t even bother to put bids in!
hils
9 апреля, 2011 at 07:14
Hi David,good first half of a season!!!!!!! The french cup is going well for you!!!!!! Good luck!!!!!!
David Wiggins
9 апреля, 2011 at 22:18
Thanks Hils! I hope the second half of the season is even better!
Kevin
10 апреля, 2011 at 09:36
Hi David,
Intereesting to see the position graph, I don’t think anyone has shown that before. Although the form appears to be very up an down in fact there’s not a whole lot between the top six so a godd little run could see you pushing for automatic promotion. Good luck!!
David Wiggins
10 апреля, 2011 at 22:23
I really hope so Kevin, thanks!
Lye
11 апреля, 2011 at 02:05
Hi David,
Good start to the season. 6th position is not bad to be in and i am sure you will get better. Good luck.