Asunto: Australia Cup

Let’s start with rants shall we. 43 days worth of injuries for my side alone in that one match. Landulfo (def) for 20, Van rijn (mid) for 14 and Crampton (att) for 9 (whew it was only that). All hacked and ukes got I think 1 yellow. Are you kidding me. Was 4th place in the rankings worth that much to them that they had to go cobra Kai style on me. Jeez.

It’s why even at 6-4 up I was convinced I was going to still lose as I had to pull from my retirement village to field a team. Thank god I have Portland and stamford the rest of this week. I already had Leijer injured and he almost had to play today in the end.

That being said after looking very wobbly still managed to put 7 past ukes and progress through to my first semi final appearance since I rejoined sokker. Yay I get a trophy that isn’t div2 or juniors.

Guess it shows if I can put 5 past TMP and 7 past Ukes that I have firepower. Wish I could keep the firepower and keep a clean sheet rather then still be trying to win the game after scoring 4+. Meh as long as I score one more then the opponent of sokker wants tennis scores I’ll settle for that.

I draw the in-form Comets, who I haven't beaten since Jan. Hope to bounce back from the recent results.

So, I actually forgot about the cup match tonight after work. Thankfully set a general lineup last night, but no red card, injury or extra time orders.
Hopefully that doesn't come back to bite me

Congrats vivski on the win. Deserved in the end. Was a little light on resources and whilst I was able to cover for Landulfo would have preferred he was available. Biggest issue for myself was not being able to break the line on the wing. Renaud dipping in form clearly a big difference between me getting 10+ shots and only ending with 4. Thought I was looking good early but then everything just went pear shaped. Don't even think I was really dominated, just beaten at the one on one moments. A tackle here, a missed tackle there and that gave up scoring chances. How Gencbas could lay so many tackles on my players (especially Greenwood) given respective forms was a tad annoying though, given Casserly seemed to have no issue at the other end beating tackles given his form.

Equalising goal had me in a big what moment where all my players including my GK just stopped and the only things moving were TMP and the ball until it stopped right where I didn't need it to. Looked really bizarre. Had defenders tracked back or GK come for the ball I beat the striker to it or at worst get to attempt a tackle. Match engine only deciding for one player to go for the ball leaves that open to happening though.

Wasn't a disgrace but was expecting to trouble the GK more given recent results.

Edit: Best thing was I came away injury free and card free.
(editado)

Was surprised to see the final shot count, the match was a tough and equal one.

Both keepers played very well, but was disappointing the one goal I did let in, Munn decided to stand in on corner of the net and not centre himself.

Good to see cards and injuries didn't change the momentum of the game or decide the result.

I feel a 1 goal win in any direction would have been totally fair, and to be honest, the game probably should have been a high scoring one goal difference game.

Good luck to agbell and vivski in the final. Should be a cracker

Congrats agbell on the cup win.
Double is certainly on the cards

Ditto. Congrats agbell on the win and congrats on such a good run to get to the final to vivski. Another trophy to agbell and another close but not close enough result for vivski. League could be interesting on the run home.

Cheers. It's always pretty much flip a coin in matches from the semis onward so glad to have got that one.

Down to final 4 next week. Same 4 as last season I believe?

Happy enough with my result today given my keeper hadn’t quite recovered (played him anyway and got lucky no further injury), had a defender suspended and had to play another midfielder injured as well.

Disappointed I didn’t bury it when I had the control and gave them a half chance and they buried it to make it nervous. Destroyed them in ET when they ran out of stamina and my players still had some in the tank given how the tactics played out. Also got better dice rolls in ET then in regulation time.

Are we getting the same semis or will it flip this season?

Slightly surprised by the lack of challenge from the other teams though (think Chile was hamstrung by 2 reds from the league though). Felt those other teams had a good opportunity to get an upset but not to be. Possibly they went with training instead.

None of the shorelines were blow-outs though, a sign that more teams are starting to put up bigger fights

Shot counts were a bit lopsided but yeah score lines were close

I still try to get training into some of the youths, so it’s been a mix of who I give 20 or so minutes to for most matches.
Whilst it might compromise the odd result, I don’t feel it’s played a massive part with that….now I have my squad in possibly its best shape for a few seasons (personnel wise, not form), I’m thinking I need to be more aggressive in some aspects, as that’s possibly where I can make some ground…or try to!
(editado)

Yeah I have orders in place that means if I'm winning or losing by a lot, the trainees come on.

It means my sub orders aren't as strong as they can be, but my trainees get good training most if not all weeks.

I do sometimes take the risk and sacrifice 1 or 2 in the line up, and let the trainees share minutes on that spot too

Yeah I try and balance it across league matches as well but most of my current crop are 1st xi or near enough anyway so I have a bit more luxury.

The future’s looking v good then….
…well not so much for others! ;/