Hello friends, i had just finished playing the fixtures so its another month of Thurrock results coming your way. We are still trying to find some consistency for our matches, the defence had not been playing very well conceding a number of goals during the last few months. Izale Mcleod was also out of form for the last few games. I am thinking of dropping him and pair Gary Alexander and Thomas Hitchcock for the upcoming games. I hope to achieve some good results this month as we are facing the last 2 bottom teams.
As Gonzalo Vicente, Brian Smith, Williams Yakubu and Rhys Williams had gone back to their own clubs respectively in this month, i had brought in another 3 loan players whom i think will give us good quality in depth. There were Moreno Marra(a left winger from Man Utd), Roel Smit(a striker from Aston Villa) and Aaron Wildig(a midfielder from Cardiff). Check out their screenshot here.
We had a great month, i think its the best that we had so far this season. Unbeaten for the whole month and we progressed to the 2nd round of the FA cup. I was pleased that we achieved the target set for this month. Overall we had 4 wins and 2 draw.
First game of the month was against Walsall that was playing league 1 football last season. They should be challenging the promotion spot for a immediate return to league 1 yet they are now lying in 24th place. They had pretty good players and started with a very attacking formation 4-2-4. I started the game using counter to contain them. It was no surprise that they initiate most of the attacks in the early stages and took a lead in the 11th minute which my players protested that it was an offside goal. Slowly we started to create few chances and took control, but we only equalized during injury time when Troy Archibad-Henville headed in from a corner to level the score. We were still the better team in the second half, we totally bossed the midfield area and Gary Alexander put the ball pass the goalkeeper after he pushed the shot from Thomas Hitchcock(i drop Izale Mcleod in this game). Substitute Robin Shroot increase the lead after he came in a good position on the right flank to score from an acute angle. With the game reaching its end, Walsall had a man sent off deep into injury time by being the last man to foul Thomas Hitchcock at the edge of 6 yards box. Robbie Threlfall stepped up to unleash a shot to the top corner to give us a 4-1 win.
This is a FA cup match that the schedule was released this month. Our opponent was league 1 team Rotherham, not a very good draw for us. I hope we can produced the upset like we thrown Southend out of the league cup in August. We were the underdogs and was doing the defending in the first 30 minutes. They took the lead when they headed in through a corner. After the goal, my players woke up suddenly and started mounting attacks against their goal. But we could not find the target and went into the break with a goal behind. We were still controlling the game and was rewarded with 2 goals scored by Izale Mcleod(seems like he want to prove himself to me for dropping him). The first scored after their player could not clear the ball from a corner and he pounced in from close range. The second was scored due to a mistake by their player. I was delighted to progress to the next round, at least we can earn some revenue through it.
After progressing to the 2nd round of FA cup, next game was a home game against Bury that was lying in 17th place. Our morale was in a all time high and was shown in this match. Our first half performance was a delight to watch with some nice passing and carved the opposition defence open several times. First goal for us was a good teamwork move involving several players and Kevin McDonald finished off the move at the edge of the box. Our second goal came when Robbie Threlfall flown in a freekick to the far corner and Robin Shroot was there to pump it in. We went into the break leading with 2 goals. They performed better in the second half and pull a goal back from a corner. Gary Alexander who came in for Thomas Hitchcock killed off their resilience with a well taken goal after their goalkeeper pushed out Izale Mcleod’s shot.
Another home game coming up and its against 23rd place Yeovil. First half was pretty boring as shots were far and few and it was 0-0. I made 2 substitutions handing a debut to my loan striker Roel Smit and Brett Slade came in for Robin Shroot. It was a well move as we moved the ball better around the field. Roel Smit was very lively throughout the match, he provided an assist for Izale Mcleod to score his 50th goal for the club and scored a debut goal when Izale Mcleod returned him the favor 2 minutes later. We dominated the rest of the proceedings but could not add to the tally.
Next game was against 18th place Accrington that promoted through play-off last season. Even though they were not performing well at the moment, i always thought they were a very difficult opponent. First half was full of action and all goals were scored in this half. We took the lead when Roel Smit scored with a powerful effort after collecting a fine pass from Brett Slade. They equalized when they managed to find some space in our penalty area. We went a goal behind few minutes later when they had a well taken shot at the edge of the box. But Roel Smit continued his fine form and made things level 2 minutes later. It was a boring second half as neither team was capable to break the deadlock. The match ended 2-2.
Last game of the month was the FA cup 2nd round match against Oxford a league 2 team. Both team worked hard to create openings but the finish always turned into the disappointment. It ended 0-0 and a replay will be played at Oxford home ground. Izale Mcleod had a injury in this game and will be out for 2 weeks. I hope Roel Smit can step into his shoes while he is out but looking at his past performances, he has the ability to succeed in this club.
The unbeaten run have saw us climb to 7th in the table and we are in good place occupying the last play-off spot. The players were magnificent this month producing several breathtaking performances. The good performances had resulted in an increase on the attendence in our home games which was pretty good news. This month had saw us reduce our debt to almost 100k. Things are surely looking good at the moment but the season is still quite long, so we can’t be complacent and need to be on our toes at all times.
Next month will see us playing 7 matches including the FA cup replay against Oxford. We had 2 difficult games for the start of the month against the leaders Rochdale and 4th place Bradford. I hope we can give them a challenge in order for us to close in on them.
Thats it friends, my latest updates on my Thurrock story. Thank you for reading the post and i will see you in my next post Thurrock-December 2013 results.
P.S Our friend TheZiggy has made a topic on Defending-Defensive Gaps Being Exploited in his blog. It talks about what is causing the defensive gap and what you can do to improve things. I think his post is really helpful as he lays out all the possibility that can happen in the game and how do you react when it happens. If you are facing some defensive issue in your game be sure to read up his post, you will benefit from it. If you have any issue regarding tactics, bring it up in his blog, i am sure he’ll be willing to give you some advice if he can.
Very good month Lye!you took advantage of the teams you were playing and now you are in the playoff zone so well done!Keep up the goodd run and maybe you will be able challenge for the title or 2nd spot!
i dont know why but this is the one fm blog i actually really enjoy and feel for the players etc.
keep going reaally good!!
A very good month there. Nice to see you move into the playoff positions. I hope you can keep this run of form going. I’ve finished my next month, but will post that in a couple of days, so the latest post gets a chance to be viewed properly.
.-= TheZiggy´s last blog ..Defending – Defensive Gap Being Exploited =-.
Hello Lye
Greetings from a snow covered Toronto!
Really good month for you there. I’m glad to see a little bit more consistency from your team. Roel Smit sounds a good player.
@Sears
Thanks Sears, i am really pleased with the players. They did what i expected of them and gave us some valuable wins there. I will be happy to achieve a play-off spot anything above will be a bonus for us.
@Cory Berman
Thanks for the comments Cory, i am delighted to have you here and glad that you are enjoying the blog. Please give me your comments and feedback on and off, i ‘ll be happy to hear from you.
@TheZiggy
Thanks TheZiggy, my defenders were playing much better this month maybe due to the fact that i changed to more rigid philosophy. They were tighter at the back and lesser gaps for the opposition to exploit.
@Kevin
Thanks Kevin, i wish i am in Toronto. Its getting hotter here in Singapore though it rains for the past 2 days.
I hope to keep the form going but had a difficult game coming up against the leaders. I hope my players can stand up to the challenge.
Roel Smit seems to be a competent player, scoring 3 goals in the last 2 games. I hope he can keep on performing for us.
It’s good to know that going for a more rigid philosophy seems to have helped with the defence.
I actually reread quite of lot of the Tactical Theorems guide, which definitely helps to make a lot of things clearer. It also throws open so many possibilities, and the more I thought about the issue of gaps in the defence, the more ideas came to mind about how to combat it.
.-= TheZiggy´s last blog ..Defending – Defensive Gap Being Exploited =-.
Seems like anything above rigid is not suitable in lower league as the ability of the players simply can’t justify the philosophy. I actually switch to Balance for last month, probably its the reason that we left so many gaps and concede goals easily.
Though i had read the tactical theorems but doesn’t seem to be able to digest so many things. Your explanation has certainly made things easier and better understanding. Would like to see more post from you regarding the tactics. Probably you can come out a ebook of your own next time
The only problem with the Tactical Theorems is that it’s very technical, in that it explains each individual item, but can make it hard to tie all the information together to understand what’s happening.
I’ve always liked this type of document or text book on subjects. I’ll keep on thinking about what other tactical issues it would be useful to write about. The defensive issues are on the whole the biggest issue.
.-= TheZiggy´s last blog ..Defending – Defensive Gap Being Exploited =-.
The tactical theorems surely need to be read up for a few times before we can finally absorb all the information. I got to admit its very helpful and reduce the time in figuring out on the tactics.
I will definitely be looking forward to your post in the near future. It really helps a lot.
Well done Lye, things are starting to look really well for your team. 100k in debt is not so bad, if you could get through to the next round of the FA Cup it could get even a bit better. I really hope that you will succeed this season, good luck!
.-= Johnny Karp´s last blog ..Notts County 2014-2015: Pre Season Transfer News =-.
Thanks mate, we will be playing 7 games next month and i don’t think the same players can play in every match,a bit of squad rotation is needed. I hope all the players can perform when they come in. I got to maintain the balance between the league and FA cup, so i ‘ll see how it goes and focus on the priority.
Hey!
Congrats on getting so close to the play-off spot. I think your squad peaked at a perfect time.
I used to manage Leeds so i know what a pain it is to juggle with debts, wages and transfer funds. Good job on reducing your debts, not only are your fans pleased, I am sure your board of directors love you lol.
Have a great Dec with Thurrock!
Thanks Jason, i actually like the challenge of managing lower league teams even though the club is very poor. But sometimes if you sign a good player for free, there is a lot of satisfaction in it.
The aim is to climb up the division, the debts definitely will be reduced by an increase of TV revenue and fans attendence.
I hope to conclude 2013 with some good results, thanks for the wishes.
I’ve decided what my next tactical post will be about. Things you can try to do when you’re having trouble breaking down a well organised defence, or a team that’s just “Parked the Bus”.
I’ll be looking to have the ready by the weekend.
.-= TheZiggy´s last blog ..Defending – Defensive Gap Being Exploited =-.
TheZiggy, good topic on that especially when you meet those weaker teams, its good to have some idea on how to create any clear cut chances. I will be looking forward to it. Thanks in advance.
My compliments for a very good unbeaten run Lye, my advice when you need to face a particular tactical issue would be to watch the game in full mode,this way you could easily indentify the problems you’re having and try to address them in an intuititive way, without tinkering too much.
.-= paine´s last blog ..Marcello Lippi’s 4-3-3 =-.
Hi Paine, thanks for the advice. I think you are right, we can only identify the problems in the full match mode. I seldom switch to full mode as to watch in full will take me too long to finish the match. Nevertheless, should i ever encounter complex tactical issue, i will definitely watch in one or two games in full mode to solve the problems.
Lye, I always run in full mode, but up the speed of the match to a reasonable speed, about half way between normal speed and the fastest you can have, because watching at normal speed would be hard going. It certainly helps with understanding what’s going on, and react quicker to changes that happen in the AI team.
.-= TheZiggy´s last blog ..October 2012 – Ochoa Puts On A Goalkeeping Masterclass =-.
I had tried running it in full mode, though slide to faster speed but still take me 20-30 minutes to play the full match. My playing time is normally at night after my baby had slept. So i can’t switch to full mode as it probably will take me few hrs to finish 1 month fixtures.
Actually i think i am more suitable to play in extended mode as in full mode, your players will be making a lot of mistakes such as handing the possession back to opposition, keep on offsides and the passing gone astray. I will be cursing and swearing and judgement will be affected. Won’t have such problem playing in extended mode