FM2005: a frog in the Premiership

[FrogMan]

Originally Posted by Desnudo

Loans are subject to the same windows as transfers. In the EPL that means the window to bring in loans closes at the end of August. Although you can still loan players out.

Thanks. Following that logic, I should still sell player, right? I mean there is definitely some cleaning up that could take place on my team. I never realized if I ever bought players from an EPL club...

FM

PS: GRRRRRR!!!! DAMN timestamp bug!!!

[Desnudo]

Originally Posted by FrogMan

yeah, "pretty unique" is about how I was categorizing him, that's why I was offering the house and more for him... I'm still happy with the bargains I signed though We're still a small club

FM

For what it's worth, he's willing to sign with ECL level teams at the start of the game. Possibly even Division One. Although it takes about 3-4 years for him to develop into a really good player. Never complains and very reasonable salary demands.

[Desnudo]

Originally Posted by FrogMan

Thanks. Following that logic, I should still sell player, right? I mean there is definitely some cleaning up that could take place on my team. I never realized if I ever bought players from an EPL club...

FM

PS: GRRRRRR!!!! DAMN timestamp bug!!!

I believe you can still sell domestic players to lower league teams.

[FrogMan]

August 27, 2010
PSV's Lennart Rhee has accepted to join us on a season long loan. He's a 23yo right winger with great skills where they matter most, as you can see by click the following thumbnail:


Amazing crossing ability combined with pretty good passing skills, pretty good dribbling skill, sweet technique and first touch, topped by great pace and great creativity. All these combined in one winger could make for a heck of a player on the right side. That and him being with the team until the end of the season, with the season being only 4 games old, he's got plenty of time to get comfortable with the team's playing style.
One thing bothered me as he got to the team though. John McMahon, a 17yo centre-back from PSV, felt the need to go to the media to express his happiness with Rhee's departure. He revealed that his departure to Q.P.R. has brought a breath of fresh air to Philips Stadion. McMahon told London's Evening Standard that the right winger was being blamed for a lack of unity in the PSV dressing room and it could be best for all concerned if Rhee was able to make his move permanent.

Hrm... Looking at McMahon's profile, I see that the 17yo joined PSV only a month and a half ago and he thinks that Rhee won't fulfill his potential if he doesn't improve his attitude. How can a 17yo who's been on a team for 45 days can judge another player who's been there for seasons? I look at the profile of almost every other players on PSV's roster and not one other player had something negative to say about Rhee. At least he's on loan and if I get the feeling that he's not getting along with others, I'll ship him back to Holland...

FM

[FrogMan]

August 28, 2010
Vicente Del Bosque, the current Manchester Utd manager, said he felt sympathy for me, knowing the magnitude of the task to keep Queens Park Rangers up, saying he wouldn't like to be in my position. Once the flowers had been sent, he went with the pot, making it clear however that he wouldn't be doing my team's any favours in Sunday's game.

Following that comment my players have mixed reactions. Matt Cross and Jeppe Lund Curth go the overconfident way and believe that in the wake of Del Bosque's recent comment, avoiding the drop will happen without too much effort. Yeah, riiiiight... Keigan Parker on the other hand is pleased that Del Bosque has backed the team to avoid the drop and he will strive to ensure it happens. Yeah, that's more like it...

I'm careful in my answer, not wanting to generate more overconfidence on the eve of a huge TV game against Man Utd. I tell Del Bosque I think he has done a very good job at Man Utd. Can't go much more vague than that

Following the signing of Lennart Rhee, I find it interesting that Bruno Conti, my assistant, lists him ahead of Matt Cross on the team report...

The draw for the 2nd round of the League Cup happens. We will play Cardiff at Loftus Road on September 21. They are still in the Championship.

Looking at my reserves squad, it strikes me as odd that Malik Buari, our short loan right winger, didn't even suit up for the last Reserves match. Turns out he broke some ribs prior to the match and will miss one month. That's not good when you're two weeks into a 3 month loan. Once he's simply out of his injury, half of his loan period will be done and once he's match fit, there will be about a month left, bleh... Might as well send him back now...

The one week delay for Fawcett is over. I try asking for one more week, but Rangers reject the offer. Another transfer goes down the drain...

I learn that our match against Middlesbrough, planned for September 18, has been pushed back to mid-October because of a European Cup match of Middlesbrough. The addition of our league Cup match on September 21st still make it 3 games for us in September.


FM

[FrogMan]

I'm done reporting what I had played if you want to know. The big Manchester United game should happen tonight. This will be a heck of a test, as Man U have won their three games played so far this season. It's at Old Trafford and I plan on playing pretty defensive, hoping we'll use whatever scoring opportunity they'll let us have and not let them score too many. It could go 0-0, 1-0 for us with Kasper having an amazing night, or 0-5 and we tank it baaaadly

FM

[finkenst]

nice job, FM!

could you post a screenshot of your training screen(s) setup? Trying to get mine squared away!
--tim

[robbgmaier]

re the formation - I guess I was just worried you were going to be exposed on the flanks in the midfield when you lose the ball. I thought I remembered another thread, maybe eagles, where he tried something like that and kept getting countered on. Looks good so far though.

[Galaxy]

Froggie,
How do you print your screens and then upload them on to the dynasty?

[FrogMan]

Originally Posted by finkenst

nice job, FM!

could you post a screenshot of your training screen(s) setup? Trying to get mine squared away!
--tim

Tim, I'll try to remember to get screenies for you tonight. It's basically 4 separate training schedules, for four positional groups: keepers, defenders, midfielders, attackers. I often leave my wingers in the attackers group, and sometimes give some midfielders training to some defenders... I tweak it every now and then, but usually not by much...

FM

[FrogMan]

Originally Posted by robbgmaier

re the formation - I guess I was just worried you were going to be exposed on the flanks in the midfield when you lose the ball. I thought I remembered another thread, maybe eagles, where he tried something like that and kept getting countered on. Looks good so far though.

Okay, valid worries. For now, it's working great, probably mostly because we're getting ahead early on in games and at the half, I pull back guys, lik drop the up arrows on the wingers, and go to a more defensive mentality. For now, we don't often score in the second half, but who cares when you're up 3-0 at the half

FM

[FrogMan]

Originally Posted by Galaxy

Froggie,
How do you print your screens and then upload them on to the dynasty?

While in game, I hit the "prntscrn" key on my keyboard. This saves a copy of my screen in the clipboard. I then switch over to a little freeware called IrfanView and I paste it there. Once I got it in IrfanView, I select what I want to keep of the screen by simply drawing a rectangle around it, and I crop what's not needed. I then save it to a .jpg file (fairly low quality to save space) and upload it to my Photobucket account. Photobucket is a free place where you can keep pictures and that allows hotlinking and even some automatic ways of making thumbnails. When you see a thumbnail for a player profile for example, I only uploaded the player profile, but asked Photobucket to give me the coding to show it as a clickable thumbnail. Very easy...

Hope this helps...

FM

[FrogMan]

August 29, 2010

Pkd	Inf	Name	Position	Morale	Form	Con	Apps	Gls	Av Rat
GK		Kasper Schmeichel	GK	Superb	7-5-9-7-7	100%	4	-	7.00
DR		Keith Keane	D/DM RC	Superb	7-7-7-7-7	96%	3	-	7.00
DL		Mathew Sadler	D L	Very Good	7-7-7-7-7	95%	3	-	7.00
DC		David Marek Rozehnal	D C	Good	7-7-7-8-7	97%	2 (1)	-	7.33
DC		Danny Shittu	D C	Superb	7-7-8-8-7	98%	4	-	7.50
DMC		Fábio Rochemback	DM C	Very Good	7-7-6-8-6	96%	4	-	6.75
MR		Matt Cross	AM/F RC	Very Good	7-7-7-8-9	94%	4	2	7.75
ML		Marcus Kelly	AM RL	Superb	7-7-7-8-7	97%	3	-	7.33
AMC		Youssouf Hersi	AM C	Superb	7-7-10-10-9	95%	4	1	9.00
FC	PR	Keigan Parker	S C	Superb	7-6-9-7-7	94%	4	2	7.25
FC		Andrew Johnson	S C	Superb	7-7-7-9-7	95%	4	2	7.50
S1	Unh	Paul Davies	GK	Very Good	8-7-8-7-7	100%	0 (1)	-	7.00
S2		Igor Biscan	D/DM C	Superb	7-7-7-7-7	100%	2 (1)	-	7.00
S3		Igor Nadal Lázaro	S C	Superb	4-7-6-7-7	93%	0 (3)	-	6.67
S4		Nigel Quashie	M C	Good	7-7-6-7-7	98%	-	-	-
S5	Lst	Lennart Rhee	AM R	Superb	-	100%	-	-	-
-		Matthew Bates	D LC	Superb	7-7-7-7-7	100%	1	-	7.00
-	Inj	Jeppe Lund Curth	F C	Very Good	6-7-8-7-7	26%	-	-	-
-	Inj	Tom Howell	D/DM L	Good	7-7-7-7-7	67%	1	-	7.00
-	Lst	John Oster	AM RL	Okay	7-7-6-7-7	91%	0 (3)	-	6.67
-	Inj	Ben Watson	M C	Superb	7-7-7-7-7	30%	-	-	-

Match #5: we play Manchester United at Old Trafford. They have won the 3 games they've played so far this season and even more, they've yet to allow one goal in three games.

This game is on TV and nobody is giving us much hope of doing anything.

Key men as presented by the TV commentators are Danny Shittu and American keeper Tim Howard for Man U. The oddsmakers have Man U favourites to win with odds of 2-5. The TV commentators have this pearl of a comment for their audience: "Manchester United have enough quality to see off Q.P.R. today and there could a few goals on show." How nice of them...

I have Lennart Rhee on the bench, and we'll play this game very defensively, hoping for a big game from the back four and Kasper Schmeichel...

They show a 4-5-1 formation with five middies on a line and up arrows on both winger and the midfielder in the middle.

Oh God, this could be a long night... Not even half a minute has passed when they go up by one. Following our kick off, we tried to play cute but that lasted some 18 seconds, until Keith Keane got dispossessed of the ball and they moved it forward to their lone forward who kicked a beautiful wicked shot from 20 yards out. After 30 seconds, we're down 0-1 and everybody on our side feels down, rated all at 5.

We slowly work our way back into the game however, and in the 23rd minute, a great combination of passes in the middle, involving four players (Matt Cross, Youssouf Hersi, Andrew Johnson, Keigan Parker) ends up on a goal from Hersi. We've tied the game!!!

Only ten minutes later, Hersi is back at work, again in the middle, as he passes the ball to Keigan Parker. Parker sends the ball back to Hersi who holds up play a bit, forcing the lone defender in the area to choose between making a play on him, or go cover Andrew Johnson who's a couple feet away. The defender makes a move toward Hersi, but Hersi's just too quick and he flips the ball to AJ, all alone with the Tim Howard. AJ scores, silencing the home crowd! We're leading 2-1!!!

The half ends with us ahead 2-1. Can only say wow, just wow! They're putting tons of pressure on us and are outshooting us 9(6) to 2(2) yet we're up 2-1. They are winning possession, not outrageously with 54%, but it's how their possession is split that outrageous: 30-21-3 (our end-middle-their end). David Marek Rozehnal looks still down following the slow start of the team and is the only player still rated at 5. I pull him out and put Igor Biscan in.

Wee keep having to withstand heavy pressure as the second half starts and after only 4 minutes of play in the second half, they've put three more shots on target. Kasper Schmeichel is keeping us in the game in this one. I take off the arrows on the wingers, put a back arrow on Fábio Rochemback and drop back Youssouf Hersi from his AMC position to a more central MC position.

We keep denying them shots on goal but it's the pressure from close range that gets to us. In the 68th minute, after we've cleared the ball a bunch of times from the front of our net, Kléberson bends a crazy shot from 30 yards out. The ball goes just over a crowd of people in the middle of the penalty area before finding the back of the net. The crowd sighs in relief at the 2-2 goal.

In the 85th minute, Ruud Van Nistlerooy finds himself apparently with only the keeper to beat. You see he's getting older because he's caught from behind and we can clear the ball, but it's picked up by another Man U player who kicks it fiercely.... over the bar!

Final Score: 2-2

We held on! WOW!!! They did outshoot us 20(12) to 6(4) but what did you expect? They shot the exact same number in the second half, but we shot more, that's an improvement Possession numbers for the second half were about the same, maybe a bit better for us.

Kléberson from Man U is name Man of the Match with a perfect 10 for form rating. Man U's Jérôme Rothen also receives a 10 for form. Shaun Wright-Phillips rated at 9 for them.

The best Ranger is Kasper Schmeichel with a rating of 9. He did deny them of quite a few possible goals. Danny Shittu, Marcus Kelly and Youssouf Hersi all had good games, rating at 8.

I am extremely happy with this draw, you wouldn't believe it. Even more sore, I get some little personal satisfaction that we're the first team to score on Man U this season, and we did it on their pitch! GO RANGERS!!!!

Look at how cute the league table is:

Pos	Team	Pld	Won	Drn	Lst	For	Ag	G.D.	Pts
1st	Everton	4	3	1	0	8	2	+6	10
2nd	Liverpool	4	3	1	0	8	3	+5	10
3rd	Man Utd	4	3	1	0	7	2	+5	10
4th	Arsenal	4	3	1	0	7	3	+4	10
5th	Q.P.R.	5	3	1	1	10	8	+2	10
6th	Fulham	4	3	0	1	6	3	+3	9
7th	Blackburn	5	2	2	1	4	2	+2	8
8th	West Brom	5	2	2	1	7	6	+1	8
9th	Bolton	4	2	1	1	5	4	+1	7
10th	Birmingham	5	2	1	2	8	10	-2	7
11th	Chelsea	5	2	0	3	7	7	0	6
12th	Middlesbrough	3	1	1	1	4	4	0	4
13th	Wigan	3	1	1	1	4	4	0	4
14th	Portsmouth	4	1	1	2	5	6	-1	4
15th	Tottenham	4	1	1	2	5	6	-1	4
16th	Newcastle	5	1	1	3	5	8	-3	4
17th	Gillingham	5	1	0	4	4	7	-3	3
18th	Aston Villa	5	0	3	2	3	7	-4	3
19th	Southampton	5	0	1	4	7	14	-7	1
20th	Man City	5	0	0	5	5	13	-8	0

I know we have a game on hand, but we're gosh darn tied for first!!! We finally get a little break as our next match is only on September 11.


FM

[FrogMan]

I have a litte unreported stuff from yesterday evening's playing session, but I think today will be the day for a little roster breakdown. I'll try to do every position, with depth chart and useful skills for each position. May not be too much text, but you'll at least know who can play where...

FM

[FrogMan]

Here we go...

Team Overview: Goalkeepers

Name	depth	Position	Age	aer	coa	com	ecc	han	kic	one	ref	rus	pun	thr	pos	jum	bra
Schmeichel, Kasper	1	GK	23	12	13	14	2	13	12	15	13	15	12	12	15	15	15
Davies, Paul	2	GK	21	12	13	12	2	11	18	13	12	3	3	12	12	19	3
Day, Chris	3	GK	35	12	12	12	7	11	9	12	15	14	7	7	8	14	10
Marshall, Joe	4	GK	18	11	11	11	2	11	11	11	11	2	2	11	11	14	2
Birch, Craig		GK	20	10	8	6	5	10	10	9	11	10	6	10	3	12	3
Howarth, Daniel		GK	17	5	5	11	0	8	5	6	5	0	0	5	5	7	9

Kasper Schmeichel is the main man for us. The 23yo joined us from Manchester City in the middle of last season when both the keepers in my rotation of two, veteran Chris Day and youngster Paul Davies, both hit form slumps. He's been fairly solid for us so far, even though he's got the tendency to take a night off every once in a while. I can't really complain about him this season though.

Paul Davies is still young for a keeper. He's currently unhappy of not playing in the first team after alternating with Day for the first half of last season, until an injury forced Day to the forefront and Davies never got a chance to regain his spot in the rotation. He's still seen as a keeper with tons of potential, so I'm not sure I'd want to let him got just yet...

Chris Day's days as a Ranger are counted. The 35yo's best days are behind him and he's currently transfer listed, but nobody really seems interested.

Joe Marshall has shown some great glimpses of potential, but an attitude problem is making me mad at him. He's saying he was treated unfairly because when I signed him to a contract at 17, he was marked as a first-team player, only for me to adjust it to "hot prospect" a couple weeks later. He's been on loans a couple times already and may be sold...

FM

[FrogMan]

Team Overview: Centrebacks

Name	depth	Position	Age	hea	jum	mar	tac	pos	agg	acc	ant	bra	dec	det	pac	pas	str
Shittu, Danny	1	D C	29	20	18	12	15	14	15	14	11	16	9	16	14	6	18
Biscan, Igor	2	D/DM C	32	16	15	14	15	16	15	14	15	16	13	18	15	12	15
Rozehnal, David Marek	2	D C	30	17	14	15	13	12	12	13	12	12	12	14	13	12	15
Bates, Matthew	3	D LC	23	19	15	12	11	11	14	13	10	14	14	8	12	10	11
Evans, Darren	3	D C	19	10	12	13	14	14	6	10	16	3	13	10	8	10	18
Hanson, Ricky	3	D/DM/F RC	23	15	8	15	16	15	14	7	15	4	10	10	8	16	9
Keane, Keith	4	D/DM RC	23	15	9	12	13	13	8	9	14	10	15	6	11	17	9
Kay, Stuart		SW/D RLC	17	4	8	5	6	8	9	11	5	7	1	9	11	5	11
Taylor, Mark		D/DM RLC	20	1	19	11	5	7	14	13	4	4	3	20	14	3	14

Danny Shittu is the only one in this group with a clear cut level of #1 in the depth chart and for good reasons. He's the only one that no matter what, if he's healthy, he starts. After him, we got two new acquisitions, both free transfers, David Marek Rozehnal and Igor Biscan. These three are really the most experienced group you'll find anywhere on our team and that's something I like in the middle of our defense. And since I've noticed that our centrebacks are the ones running around the least, I don't mind that they could be slower at regaining condition after a match.

After the top three, there a questionable group of three that was too often forced into duty last season: Matthew Bates, Darren Evans, and Ricky Hanson. These guys can do it for a game or two, but they made me nervous at the Championship level, think about how they make me feel at the Premier level...

Finally, Keith Keane could also play centreback he we ended in a real bind, but I'd rather leave him at right full-back.

FM

[FrogMan]

Team Overview: Fullbacks

Name	depth	Position	Age	acc	ant	hea	jum	mar	pac	pos	sta	str	tac	pas	str	wrk	cro
Howell, Tom	1	D/M L	19	12	11	16	10	18	8	11	18	16	17	15	16	6	20
Keane, Keith	1	D/DM RC	23	9	14	15	9	12	11	13	15	9	13	17	9	11	19
Davies, John	2	D R	18	10	12	20	5	14	11	13	17	6	16	14	6	11	14
Bates, Matthew	2	D LC	23	13	10	19	15	12	12	11	14	11	11	10	11	9	5
Crane, Craig	3	D R	20	15	17	11	1	13	17	15	12	12	12	10	12	15	11
Sadler, Mathew	3	D L	25	13	15	16	5	15	13	12	11	6	19	11	6	5	12
Hanson, Ricky	4	D/DM/F RC	23	7	15	15	8	15	8	15	16	9	16	16	9	4	15
Kay, Stuart		SW/D RLC	17	11	5	4	8	5	11	8	12	11	6	5	11	16	5
Robertson, Mark		D L	17	12	2	9	10	3	10	9	12	11	10	11	11	18	9
Taylor, Mark		D/DM RLC	20	13	4	1	19	11	14	7	19	14	5	3	14	12	1

We start this new season going with a pair of new fullbacks as the main weapons. Keith Keane was brought in after being let go by Luton Town, where I managed him. Despite being only 23, he's got some experience, having played in a boatload of international matches with the Ireland U21 squad. He's on a one year contract and I either will have to make a move and offer him a contract or maybe use the opportunity to further upgrade the position later in the season if it looks like we may stick in the Premiership. Left fullback is, I think, one of our most glaring hole. Mathew Sadler played there most of last season, sometimes being given a breather by Matthew Bates, but neither of them are making me feel safe. My first idea in the offseason was to play Tom Howell in that spot since the left winger spot is firmly Marcus Kelly's spot to lose, but that plan went out the window when Howell got injured and missed most of the training camp and the start of the season. He's getting back to being match fit and I think he could fare well in that spot. He's got above average skills in marking and tackling, good pace and great stamina. On top of it, he's got pretty good passing skills and amazing crossing skills and that could help getting the offense started from deep on our end. Marcus Kelly could also beneficiate from his passing on the left wing.

John Davies has all the makings of a future star, if not for us, somewhere on the English football world. He may see some play with the first eleven. Weird enough, I like Matthew Bates more than Mathew Sadler, despite this last one giving me many good games in the past. It's just like that...

Craig Crane is the odd man out here. While he played solidly for us last season, he didn't improve, or barely improved in any of his skills, and that leads me to believe he's already maxed out. The signing of Keith Keane and the emergence of John Davies will probably propulse him to the transfer list. Ricky Hanson, who played average at many position, without ever finding *his* spot, is the last to round up the group. He could play at a few other positions too, as he mostly played at centreback last season...

FM

[FrogMan]

Team Overview: Inner Midfielders

Name	depth	Position	Age	dri	pas	fin	fir	lon	cre	off	pos	mar	tac	pac	sta	agg	tea	wrk
Hersi, Youssouf	1	AM C	27	15	15	13	15	14	14	14	12	7	4	15	16	16	8	15
Rochemback, Fábio	1	DM C	28	12	15	14	13	20	12	11	16	16	17	11	17	20	17	15
Watson, Ben	2	M C	25	13	20	10	17	16	19	13	13	11	9	11	14	11	12	12
Bircham, Marc	2	DM C	32	7	10	6	8	7	10	9	12	12	19	13	16	18	20	20
Quashie, Nigel	2	M C	32	9	12	11	11	17	13	12	11	8	11	12	16	14	12	15
Chapman, Chris	3	M LC	18	20	12	11	4	13	10	10	15	13	15	9	10	8	10	9
Donnelly, Scott	3	AM RC	22	13	13	11	14	12	12	12	9	7	8	12	11	8	8	10
Biscan, Igor	3	D/DM C	32	8	12	8	10	10	10	8	16	14	15	15	15	15	15	15
Jameson, Nathan	3	M RLC	25	16	14	14	6	12	16	16	12	11	13	12	15	6	10	10
Mansell, Lee	3	AM C	27	11	11	15	5	14	10	15	11	11	11	10	16	10	11	13
Cross, Matt	4	AM/F RC	20	12	12	12	12	13	12	13	10	10	11	8	16	15	8	10
Blake, Scott	4	M C	18	10	13	10	10	10	10	10	9	11	12	12	15	10	9	10
Boyle, John	4	DM RC	26	9	10	10	2	3	11	10	15	7	13	10	16	14	12	10
Parker, Michael	4	AM RC	19	11	13	9	8	10	8	10	9	5	6	12	18	11	14	13
Alexander, Matt		M RC	16	4	9	8	6	8	6	7	7	5	9	7	9	14	11	11
Cook, Mike		M C	17	10	11	9	6	9	9	5	7	7	7	12	18	12	4	13
McDonald, Michael		AM/F RC	17	5	5	13	1	2	1	7	9	2	2	13	12	17	20	18
Taylor, Mark		D/DM RLC	20	2	3	2	1	1	2	6	7	11	5	14	19	14	4	12
Wilson, James		M RC	18	5	8	5	6	5	4	9	8	9	6	12	8	6	10	6

Even though we had what I felt was a solid group of 3 inner mids last season in Nigel Quashie, Ben Watson, and Marc Bircham, 2/3 of them are aging, in a position that needs to be moving a bit more than the centreback spot. That led me to the contract offer to Fábio Rochemback and eventually to the signing of Youssouf Hersi, instantly upgrading the position. Youssouf Hersi is the early star of our season so far. His ability to make things happen almost everytime he touches the ball is simply magical for our offense as was most evident in our recent streak of consecutive wins. And since he was already playing in England, he's not having any problems acclimating to the style of play being played in the league. On the other hand, Fábio Rochemback, who didn't speak a word of English before getting with us, is having somewhat of a hard time settling in. He can go from having a wonderful night to playing very averagely. I chalk that up to settling in.

Of the next group of middies, Ben Watson is the one with the most upside. He's developped nicely in the last 3 seasons and should have many nice seasons for us. Unfortunately, he got injured and had to have surgery, pushing back his start of the season. For now, Marc Bircham and Nigel Quashie still figure as the best two options as backups. I tend to pick one or the other, depending on if I think I'll need to replace Rochemback (by Bircham) or Hersi (by Quashie) in the game.

The next level of backups includes players I like for their versatility: Chris Chapman and Scott Donnelly. They both can play middle and wing which is nice, but they both have some growing up to do still. Igor Biscan, while mainly a centreback, is often called up late in the game to come play as the defensive middie, effectively giving us 5 defenders on our end of the field. Nathan Jameson and former Hatter Lee Mansell round up the group of backups, buried way deep. Mansell played fairly well for us last season whenever we had a need because of injury, while Jameson, well he's been disappointing. He never really took over a position or another, be it in the middle or on the wings. I'll probably be looking to move him at some point.


FM

[FrogMan]

Team Overview: Wingers

Name	depth	Position	Age	cre	cro	dri	fin	fir	lon	off	pas	mar	pac	sta	tac	tea	wrk
Kelly, Marcus	1	AM RL	24	13	11	19	12	14	13	12	14	6	12	16	6	14	14
Cross, Matt	1	AM/F RC	20	12	13	12	12	12	13	13	12	10	8	16	11	8	10
Howell, Tom	2	D/M L	19	16	20	11	14	8	8	14	15	18	8	18	17	12	6
Rhee, Lennart	2	AM R	23	17	20	15	13	15	13	15	16	10	17	8	10	9	9
Oster, John	3	AM/F RL	31	10	17	12	10	8	10	10	12	7	15	8	11	10	20
Jameson, Nathan	3	M RLC	25	16	15	16	14	6	12	16	14	11	12	15	13	10	10
Chapman, Chris	4	M LC	18	10	11	20	11	4	13	10	12	13	9	10	15	10	9
Donnelly, Scott	4	AM RC	22	12	14	13	11	14	12	12	13	7	12	11	8	8	10
Buari, Malik	4	AM R	26	13	17	13	14	12	14	14	13	11	13	16	13	13	13
Keane, Keith	5	D/DM RC	23	14	19	15	12	16	13	17	17	12	11	15	13	13	11
Hanson, Ricky	5	D/DM/F RC	23	15	15	14	9	8	12	15	16	15	8	16	16	5	4
Alexander, Matt		M RC	16	6	8	4	8	6	8	7	9	5	7	9	9	11	11
Boyle, John		DM RC	26	11	3	9	10	2	3	10	10	7	10	16	13	12	10
Carter, Peter		M L	16	10	8	10	10	4	7	2	8	5	10	10	7	10	14
Ingram, Paul		AM RL	15	10	6	12	18	3	3	6	7	4	11	13	4	10	9
McDonald, Michael		AM/F RC	17	1	5	5	13	1	2	7	5	2	13	12	2	20	18
Parker, Michael		AM RC	19	8	11	11	9	8	10	10	13	5	12	18	6	14	13
Taylor, Mark		D/DM RLC	20	2	1	2	2	1	1	6	3	11	14	19	5	4	12
Till, Peter		M L	25	7	11	10	8	13	14	4	11	6	11	11	7	9	2
Wilson, James		M RC	18	4	4	5	5	6	5	9	8	9	12	8	6	10	6

The Player of the Year in 2009-10, Marcus Kelly, had a slow start to his season but seems to be coming back to his all star form recently. His ability to dribble the ball past opponents, all the way to the byline, makes him a threat at all times. He can swivel and stop on a dime and then feed it to somebody in the middle to finish it. Also worth noticing, the left footed Kelly is able to play as well on the right or the left side of the field, and not only because his profile says so, because I asked him to play both side with equally good results... On the right side, Matt Cross' job appeared unsure early on, but he also has picked up his play recently, surprisingly, after I signed a couple right wingers on loan. The member of the England U21 squad is sort of on a short leash and will need to perform better than what he did in 2009-10, when he didn't really impress me.

Tom Howell played many games on the left wing and could be called upon if anything ever happened to Marcus Kelly, or in case of too many games in too few nights. The tactics have to be adjusted to have him cross often, but from deeply, instead of from the byline. Crossing isn't a problem for him, since he's definitely amazing at it, it's the dribbling that's not up to Kelly's standards. Newly arrived Lennart Rhee, coming from PSV on a season long loan, will be pushing Matt Cross for playing time on the right wing. He's got great skils and at 23, could be on the verge of being a great player. He seem to have some sort of attitude problem and I will keep a check on that before deciding to make an offer for a long term transfer, which is definitely a possibility, depending on his performances.

Nathan Jameson is a jack-of-all-trades, and despite great crossing ability, doesn't seem to play well on the wing. He's buried deep in the depth chart too. John Oster never got a chance to show his true value. The few times I played him this season, he's impressed me with his ball control skills and I wouldn't be too worried if I had to play him at some point.

As stated in the inner midfielders overview, Scott Donnelly and Chris Chapman have a versatility that I like. If I ever come thin either on the wing or in the middle, I wouldn't mind having them on my bench, or even giving them a start or two. Donnelly is currently on loan at Notts Co. Unfortunately for Malik Buari, the other loanee, he picked up an injury and is out for a month with broken ribs. That's tough when you miss a month in the middle of a three month loan...
FM

[Desnudo]

Originally Posted by FrogMan

Okay, valid worries. For now, it's working great, probably mostly because we're getting ahead early on in games and at the half, I pull back guys, lik drop the up arrows on the wingers, and go to a more defensive mentality. For now, we don't often score in the second half, but who cares when you're up 3-0 at the half

FM

Are you using the 4-1-2-1-2 wide diamond? If so, the risk of flank attack is no different than if you're using a flat 4-4-2 with up arrows on the wings. It certainly can happen, but the risk also applies to the other team. I think the risk of flank attack is mainly decided by what instructions your fullbacks have.

What I usually do when I want to hold a lead is change the mentality and instructions on my fullbacks, eliminating all the offensive options. That keeps them at home and the defensive line maintains its shape.

[FrogMan]

Originally Posted by Desnudo

Are you using the 4-1-2-1-2 wide diamond? If so, the risk of flank attack is no different than if you're using a flat 4-4-2 with up arrows on the wings. It certainly can happen, but the risk also applies to the other team. I think the risk of flank attack is mainly decided by what instructions your fullbacks have.

What I usually do when I want to hold a lead is change the mentality and instructions on my fullbacks, eliminating all the offensive options. That keeps them at home and the defensive line maintains its shape.

I posted this screenie of my tactic a bit earlier in the thread:


I think you could call it that, wide diamond. Didn't occure to me to change the individual orders on the full-backs, but yeah, that makes even more sense than simply taking off the up arrows on the wingers but so far the taking off of the arrows has done the job. My full-backs start the game with "forward runs" to often, but they're set to be more defensive than what the team orders are. Taking off the forward runs would certainly keep them "at home" as you said...

FM

[FrogMan]

Team Overview: Strikers

Name	depth	Position	Age	fin	off	cre	fir	fla	lon	dri	pas	hea	jum	pac	sta	str	dec	wrk
Johnson, Andrew	1	S C	20	14	13	10	13	3	14	14	13	14	19	11	16	8	11	16
Parker, Keigan	1	F RC	28	19	13	9	3	12	11	9	10	11	14	17	16	8	8	15
Brooker, Steve	2	S C	29	13	13	9	11	9	13	9	11	15	12	8	15	14	9	15
Nadal Lázaro, Igor	2	S C	23	20	20	13	13	4	14	10	13	14	17	15	16	14	12	10
Cross, Matt	3	AM/F RC	20	12	13	12	12	4	13	12	12	13	17	8	16	12	15	10
Wall, Justin	3	F LC	18	11	12	12	12	2	12	12	12	12	17	7	11	9	13	20
Curth, Jeppe Lund	inj	F C	26	16	20	17	9	15	17	17	15	6	4	14	10	4	12	11
Matthews, Matt		S C	20	8	8	16	1	8	4	5	9	3	9	8	16	9	5	19
Perry, Dean		S C	16	7	6	14	6	12	8	5	6	7	13	4	11	8	7	17

We spent most of last season with a great trio of strikers in Andrew "AJ" Johnson, Keigan Parker, and Jeppe Lund Curth. All three were acquisitions of mine at some point since my taking over of the Rangers. AJ is the kid I'm most proud of as he seems to regularly improve his skills. I thought he was gonna hit a wall last season, but he kept slowly improving and has played very well for us this season. Keigan Parker was the goal scorer last season, *the* finisher of the bunch, as he set a new Q.P.R. record for goals scored in a season last year. Great pace and an ability to finish unmatched on the team, except maybe by newly acquired Lázaro, he is an asset up front. Jeppe Lund Curth, when you look at his overall skill set, may not be too impressive, and that could be true, if he were a midfielder. But for a striker, he got everything that is needed, where it's needed. A playmaker who's great at finding the right spot to wait for a pass to come, and who can also either dribble his way out of trouble, or go for the long shot, he's been nothing other than a Godsend since signing with us. His presence on the field makes this team better and his absence, still for 4 big months due to a broken leg, is felt, although Parker and AJ have picked up the slack, helped in part by great support by attacking midfielder Youssouf Hersi. Hopefully, Jeppe can come back soon after the Holiday break and help us on the second half of the season...

Steve Brooker has given us plenty of goals before falling behind the other three, especially two seasons ago. He's not flashy but has usually been effective when called upon. He's a backup of choice, that's for sure. He may also be shipped to another team if an offer that fits is presented to me. Igor Nadal Lázaro comes to us from Spain and has some good skills for a striker. I liked the kid when I first saw him (notwithstanding the turtleneck ) and when I saw that he could be signed without any compensation paid to Roma, I went for it. He may take a while before he settles in, since he's not used to the football played in England, but he'll be featured if need be.

Matt Cross, while being first and foremost a winger, also played some games as a striker, mostly to finish a game because of injury, but I wouldn't be too worried if it came down to play him at striker. Thing would be to have some backup plan at the right winger position... Justin Wall is young and is still learning the ropes, but he is definitely developping nicely. He's a bit impatient and would want to play more with the first team, but he'll have to do his time. I find it nice that he's been developping a little every month of the first season he's been with us. He reminds me a lot of Andrew Johnson, kind of raw at first, but seems to have a boatload of potential. He's a bit low on pace though and that may limit him in the future.


FM

[FrogMan]

Before we go back to our regular programming, and now that you know the whole squad, I wanted to invite you, my readers, to comment on the team. Who do you like? Who do you hate/dislike? Who do you think could make a splash? Where do you think is the most glaring hole in our lineup?

Whatever you want to comment on really, shoot

FM

[FrogMan]

August 30, 2010
Ricky Hanson is the latest to complain about not being part of the first team more often. He's saying that he's unhappy that he continually finds himself as an onlooker when the first team play and that he will be looking to leave the club if he doesn't break into the first team soon. Well, I won't say it to your face, but I've offered you to a bunch of teams and nobody is really interested...

August 31, 2010
Today is the deadline for the first transfer window. We're not gonna make a move at this point, and I find it kind of quiet... The day passes without a major signing happening.

September 1st, 2010
The board is still delighted with my work as manager of the club, which is always nice to hear...

Youssouf Hersi is named the English Premier Division Player of the Month!!! WOOHOO!!! He finished ahead of Cristiano Ronaldo. His form ratings of 7, 10, 10, 9, and 8 have apparently made him a unanimous choice. Gotta say that his 6 assists, 2 goals and 3 Man of the Match awards spoke for themselves too

Matt Cross finished 3rd for Young Player of the Month, nice! He had form ratings of 7, 7, 8, 9, and 7 and score 2 goals in the month.

I come in 3rd as Manager of the Month, neat! Liverpool's Rafa Benitez came in 1st and Manchester United's Vicente Del Bosque came in 2nd place. Considering how low the expectations were for Q.P.R. coming in the EPL, I think it's safe to say I should have won that award... I'm happy either way

September 4, 2010
Some games are played and now with everybody having played 5 games, we're sitting in 6th place, not bad

Pos	Team	Pld	Won	Drn	Lst	For	Ag	G.D.	Pts
1st	Arsenal	5	4	1	0	9	4	+5	13
2nd	Fulham	5	4	0	1	9	4	+5	12
3rd	Liverpool	5	3	2	0	9	4	+5	11
4th	Man Utd	5	3	2	0	7	2	+5	11
5th	Everton	5	3	1	1	9	4	+5	10
6th	Q.P.R.	5	3	1	1	10	8	+2	10
7th	Blackburn	5	2	2	1	4	2	+2	8
8th	Bolton	5	2	2	1	7	6	+1	8
9th	West Brom	5	2	2	1	7	6	+1	8
10th	Birmingham	5	2	1	2	8	10	-2	7
11th	Chelsea	5	2	0	3	7	7	0	6
12th	Middlesbrough	5	1	3	1	7	7	0	6
13th	Wigan	5	1	3	1	5	5	0	6
14th	Tottenham	5	1	2	2	6	7	-1	5
15th	Portsmouth	5	1	1	3	6	9	-3	4
16th	Newcastle	5	1	1	3	5	8	-3	4
17th	Gillingham	5	1	0	4	4	7	-3	3
18th	Aston Villa	5	0	3	2	3	7	-4	3
19th	Southampton	5	0	1	4	7	14	-7	1
20th	Man City	5	0	0	5	5	13	-8	0

September 7, 2010
Steve Brooker now complains about a lack of first-team play. I plan on having him be my backup for our next game, since he's match fit, which Igor Nadal Lázaro isn't, and he's improved in many skills, skills that he had lost points on...

Matt Cross looked in good shape, playing the whole match for England U21, getting on the scoresheet in the process. Andrew Johnson also played, getting on in the 53rd minute and played well. England U21 won 5-0 over Faroe Islands U21 in a qualifying match for the 2012 U21 Euro Championships.

September 9, 2010
Matthew Bates twists his knee in training and will miss two weeks. It creates a big fuzz around Loftus Road, as the fans flooded the club's message board declaring this a massive blow for the team and wondering whether the team will be able to pick up vital points without him. I'm not give the chance, but I'd tell them that Bates isn't the one I'd be the most worried about losing. There are definitely more important players on the team...

FM

[FrogMan]

September 11, 2010

Pkd	Inf	Name	Position	Morale	Form	Con	Apps	Gls	Av Rat
GK		Kasper Schmeichel	GK	Superb	5-9-7-7-9	100%	5	-	7.40
DR		Keith Keane	D/DM RC	Superb	7-7-7-7-7	100%	4	-	7.00
DL		Mathew Sadler	D L	Superb	7-7-7-7-7	100%	4	-	7.00
DC		David Marek Rozehnal	D C	Okay	7-8-7-5-7	95%	3 (1)	-	6.75
DC		Danny Shittu	D C	Superb	7-8-8-7-8	100%	5	-	7.60
DMC		Fábio Rochemback	DM C	Very Good	7-6-8-6-7	100%	5	-	6.80
MR		Matt Cross	AM/F RC	Superb	7-8-9-7-8	95%	5	2	7.60
ML		Marcus Kelly	AM RL	Superb	7-7-8-7-8	100%	4	-	7.50
AMC		Youssouf Hersi	AM C	Superb	7-10-10-9-8	100%	5	2	8.80
FC		Keigan Parker	S C	Okay	6-9-7-7-7	100%	5	2	7.20
FC		Andrew Johnson	S C	Superb	7-9-7-7-7	94%	5	3	7.40
S1	Unh	Paul Davies	GK	Very Good	7-8-7-7-6	100%	2 (5)	-	7.29
S2		Igor Biscan	D/DM C	Superb	7-7-7-7-7	93%	2 (2)	-	7.00
S3	Lst	Lennart Rhee	AM R	Superb	7-8	96%	0 (1)	-	7.00
S4		Nigel Quashie	M C	Very Good	7-7-6-7-7	100%	-	-	-
S5	Unh	Steve Brooker	S C	Superb	7-7-8-7-7	100%	-	-	-
-	Inj	Matthew Bates	D LC	Superb	7-7-7-7-7	79%	1	-	7.00
-	Inj	Jeppe Lund Curth	F C	Superb	6-7-8-7-7	26%	-	-	-
-	Lst	John Oster	AM RL	Very Good	7-6-7-7-7	90%	0 (3)	-	6.67
-	Inj	Ben Watson	M C	Superb	7-7-7-7-7	30%	-	-	-

Match #6: We play Wigan at Loftus Road. They're currently struggling a bit, in 13th place with 1 win, 3 draws, 1 loss.

Wow, we're 6-4 favourites to win this game. It's a first for us in the Premiership. I'm a bit surprised that it happens this soon in the season too.

Wigan are not to be taken lightly. They just played Man U to a 0-0 draw a week ago. We're a bit more rested than they are, hopefully, this will help us.

In the early game, on TV, Liverpool win 1-0 over Man U. Wow, since they've played us, Man U is on a slump...

In the 24th minute, it's the Kelly show as Marcus Kelly picks up the ball and runs unchallenged. When a defender comes to challenge him, he fakes him out of his shorts. When he's alone with the keeper, he pulls him to the left, leaving Andrew Johnson all alone on the edge of the 6 yard box, with a wide open net. AJ Scores to make it 1-0.

Our second goal is a bit crazy. Fábio Rochemback tries an in-swinging corner kick. I don't know what the heck that is, but it ends at the feet of David Marek Rozehnal on the near corner of the 6 yard box. Rozehnal turns on his feet and finds our other centreback, Danny Shittu, in a crowd of people in the 6 yard box. Big Dan scores his 1st of the season to make it 2-0. Funny that this play involved both my centrebacks in or near their 6 yard box. Need to tell you that since my centrebacks are usually the best at heading balls, I have them set to charge the keeper on corner kicks, so they are usually in front of the net on these situations.

The half ends with us leading 2-0. Shots are pretty close with us ahead 7(5) to 6(4). Kelly is rated at 10 at the half. Both he and Matt Cross have dipped under the 80% condition line though and will have to be monitored closely in the second half. AJ is at 77% too... Keith Keane suffered a minor injury early on. I pull him and put Igor Biscan in his place.

We hang on fairly easily in the second half, not scoring but putting more shots on goals than they did on our goal...

Final Score: 2-0

We outshot them 17(8) to 8(6) overall, also winning possession with a clear 57%, split 10-24-23...

Marcus Kelly is named Man of the Match for the first time this season, rating at 10. He had an amazing 23 runs past opponents and an assist. That the good old Marcus ladies and gentlemen!

Kasper Schmeichel also played a solid game, rating at 9, while David Marek Rozehnal and Fábio Rochemback both rated at 8. Youssouf Hersi had a down game, rating only at 6.

Following the game Bill Power just could not hid his delight following the team's 2-0 win over Wigan Athletic. Although the season has only really just begun, the Rs are already involved in a title race.

However, the relegation favourites' (that's us) good form can surely not continue, and critics say it is merely a matter of time before they find themselves slipping down the table again. I'll make sure to make the critics rethink this prediction, believe me

We move to 3rd place with the win, and even after the Sunday games have been played, we hold that 3rd place still!

Pos	Team	Pld	Won	Drn	Lst	For	Ag	G.D.	Pts
1st	Arsenal	6	5	1	0	12	4	+8	16
2nd	Liverpool	6	4	2	0	10	4	+6	14
3rd	Q.P.R.	6	4	1	1	12	8	+4	13
4th	Fulham	6	4	0	2	9	8	+1	12
5th	Blackburn	6	3	2	1	7	2	+5	11
6th	Bolton	6	3	2	1	10	6	+4	11
7th	Man Utd	6	3	2	1	7	3	+4	11
8th	Everton	6	3	1	2	9	7	+2	10
9th	West Brom	6	2	3	1	8	7	+1	9
10th	Birmingham	6	2	2	2	9	11	-2	8
11th	Newcastle	6	2	1	3	9	8	+1	7
12th	Chelsea	6	2	1	3	7	7	0	7
13th	Middlesbrough	6	1	4	1	7	7	0	7
14th	Tottenham	6	1	3	2	7	8	-1	6
15th	Wigan	6	1	3	2	5	7	-2	6
16th	Portsmouth	6	1	2	3	7	10	-3	5
17th	Aston Villa	5	0	3	2	3	7	-4	3
18th	Gillingham	6	1	0	5	4	10	-6	3
19th	Southampton	6	0	1	5	7	17	-10	1
20th	Man City	5	0	0	5	5	13	-8	0

September 13, 2010
Bruno Conti informs me that Nathan Jameson was absent from training today. I issue a warning for unprofessional behaviour. Jameson accepts his warning without commenting.

Marcus Kelly and Fábio Rochemback are named on the English Premier Division Team of the Week. Neat! I also see that Roch has picked up some basic notions of English. Maybe that'll help him feel more like a part of the team and it will reflects in his play...

FM

[Desnudo]

Originally Posted by FrogMan

Before we go back to our regular programming, and now that you know the whole squad, I wanted to invite you, my readers, to comment on the team. Who do you like? Who do you hate/dislike? Who do you think could make a splash? Where do you think is the most glaring hole in our lineup?

Whatever you want to comment on really, shoot

FM

Since you asked. What stands out to me as the major weaknesses are the lack of pace on the sides, especially the wingers, and the lack of a good header at DMC. Although that Dutch winger you got on loan should help.

It's very helpful, or important, for the DMC to have good heading. Rochembach is quality, but in that formation, it definitely helps to have a strong header since a lot of long balls come to the DMC.

[SirFozzie]

In-Swingers and out-swingers are corner kicks kicked in such a way to curve TOWARDS (in) or AWAY (out) from the net

[FrogMan]

Originally Posted by Desnudo

Since you asked.

hehe, I never said I'd follow all the advices though

Originally Posted by Desnudo

What stands out to me as the major weaknesses are the lack of pace on the sides, especially the wingers, and the lack of a good header at DMC. Although that Dutch winger you got on loan should help.

Yeah, I never really realized that, but I really see it now. Maybe that's part of the reason why Matt Cross is having a hard time separating himself from his coverage on the wing. Kelly's pace is probably just enough, combined with his dribbling and agility/balance (unreported here but at 17/18 respectively) to make him a threat to take the ball to the byline. Good point, and I know I don't pay nearly enough attention to pace when signing new players. Will try to watch for that a bit more in the future...

Originally Posted by Desnudo

It's very helpful, or important, for the DMC to have good heading. Rochembach is quality, but in that formation, it definitely helps to have a strong header since a lot of long balls come to the DMC.

I'd say it's helpful yeah, but I'd use the word "important" with heading for the centrebacks, and all my centrebacks usually have pretty high heading. That's another good point though. When I bought Roch though, I was still playing the 4-4-2, I decided to swicth afterward.

Thanks, good food for thought in future moves, or possible improvement I could bring to the team...

Anybody else?

FM

[FrogMan]

Originally Posted by SirFozzie

In-Swingers and out-swingers are corner kicks kicked in such a way to curve TOWARDS (in) or AWAY (out) from the net

Thanks, going with the semantics, I also thought that's what it meant. Kind of odd, Rochemback is a right footed (at least I think), and he was taking the corner on the right side of the field, so he curled the ball away from his body (left to right on a right footed kick), hrm... Maybe I just don't know enough about football/soccer, but for me, my long range kicks tend to bend from right to left and I'm right footed... oh well, I'm sure many players have more talent than I do on the pitch

FM

[condors]

young players-i don't know if you do but for me the 2 most important stats on a player with potential are determination and workrate. If they have both of them they always turn out to be performers for me. Not sure what your kids have but may want to take note of these stats in the future. Nothing bothers me more than getting a "promising" player in his description from my youth program and seeing he has a 1 workrate and a 3 determination(i keep them around be rarely do they amount to much) course i have had plenty of guys without the promising description with 15+ workrate and determination and they become regular 1st team premiership players.

[FrogMan]

September 21, 2010

Pkd	Inf	Name	Position	Morale	Form	Con	Apps	Gls	Av Rat
GK	Unh	Paul Davies	GK	Superb	7-8-7-7-6	100%	0 (1)	-	7.00
DR	Unh	John Davies	D R	Superb	7-7-7-7-7	100%	1	-	7.00
DL		Tom Howell	D/DM L	Good	7-7-7-7-8	98%	1	-	7.00
DC		David Marek Rozehnal	D C	Superb	8-7-5-7-8	100%	4 (1)	-	7.00
DC		Danny Shittu	D C	Superb	8-8-7-8-7	100%	6	1	7.50
DMC		Fábio Rochemback	DM C	Superb	6-8-6-7-8	100%	6	-	7.00
MR	Lst	Lennart Rhee	AM R	Superb	7-8-7	99%	0 (2)	-	7.00
ML		Marcus Kelly	AM RL	Superb	7-8-7-8-10	100%	5	-	8.00
AMC		Youssouf Hersi	AM C	Superb	10-10-9-8-6	100%	6	2	8.33
FC		Keigan Parker	S C	Superb	9-7-7-7-7	100%	6	2	7.17
FC	Unh	Steve Brooker	S C	Superb	7-8-7-7-7	100%	0 (1)	-	7.00
S1		Kasper Schmeichel	GK	Superb	9-7-7-9-9	100%	6	-	7.67
S2		Igor Biscan	D/DM C	Superb	7-7-7-7-7	100%	2 (3)	-	7.00
S3		Matt Cross	AM/F RC	Superb	8-9-7-8-7	100%	6	2	7.50
S4		Chris Chapman	M LC	Superb	7-8-8-8-7	99%	0 (2)	-	7.00
S5		Igor Nadal Lázaro	S C	Superb	7-7-7-7-7	95%	0 (4)	-	6.75
-	Inj	Matthew Bates	D LC	Superb	7-7-7-7-7	70%	1	-	7.00
-	Inj	Jeppe Lund Curth	F C	Superb	6-7-8-7-7	26%	-	-	-
-		Andrew Johnson	S C	Superb	9-7-7-7-7	90%	6	4	7.33
-		Keith Keane	D/DM RC	Superb	7-7-7-7-7	100%	5	-	7.00
-	Lst	John Oster	AM RL	Poor	7-6-7-7-7	99%	0 (3)	-	6.67
-		Nigel Quashie	M C	Very Good	7-7-6-7-7	100%	-	-	-
-		Mathew Sadler	D L	Very Good	7-7-7-7-7	100%	5	-	7.00
-	Inj	Ben Watson	M C	Superb	7-7-7-7-7	30%	-	-	-

League Cup Round 2: we play Cardiff at Loftus Road. They are currently 12th in the Championship.

We play on the 25th against Liverpool, so I bring in a few non usual starters for this one: Lennart Rhee on the right wing, Paul Davies as the keeper, John Davies as right fullback, Tom Howell as left fullback (although he's simply coming back to the starting lineup) and Steve Brooker as a striker.

Andrew Johnson got nicked in training this week. He's recovered from it, but not completely. He's completely sitting this one out with Igor Nadal Lázaro on the bench in his place.

We're 5-4 favourites to win.

We drew twice with them in the Championship last year, 0-0 and 1-1. They played on the 18th, we last played only on the 11th.

Keigan Parker opens the festivities for us after 8 minutes, as he's done so often last season. A 55 yards long beauty of a pass from David Rozehnal falls just in front of Parker and he's alone with the keeper. No way he misses this one. Rozehnal's incredible craft and vision made that goal...

After 25 minutes, even though the score is still only 1-0 for us, we're killing them, outshooting them 9(3) to nothing.

In the 38th minute, Youssouf Hersi curls a sweet looking free kick from just outside the penalty area to make it 2-0.

That's the halftime score, 2-0. We're outshooting them 15(6) to nothing! We're also winning possession quite impressively with 62% split 9-29-24, safe to say we got it under control...

The second half is a bit boring as we pulled back a let them control the ball a bit more, but they don't challenge Paul Davies too much.

Final Score: 2-0

We outshot them 23(8) to 5(0) on the game with an over 59% possession figure.

Youssouf Hersi is named Man of the Match with a form rating of 8. He completed 32 of his 38 passes, 8 of them key passes and score a goal.

David Marek Rozehnal also got rated at 8, while Steve Brooker had a down game, rating only at 6.

We get $36,000 for the win and we're through to round 3.


FM

[FrogMan]

September 22, 2010
Scott Donnelly's 3 month loan at Notts Co comes to an end and he says he's sad to leave them and that he's enjoyed his spell there. He feels he's learnt a lot during his spell on loan and is hoping that this increased experience will help his chances of establishing himself within the Q.P.R. squad. He had 6 appearances while at Notts Co, scoring a goal and getting 2 MoM's, while averaging 7.5 in form rating. Not bad, but that's in League Two. He still feels he should be a first-team regular, I'm not so sure about that to be honest...

Nathan Jameson requests to be transfer listed. I grant him that request.

Lee Mansell pulled a hamstring in training and the physios recommend surgery. Woah, not that we'll really miss Lee, but he's going to miss 4 months while recovering from the surgery and that sucks...

FM

[FrogMan]

September 24, 2010
Oh, here comes the backhanded praise again... Rafa Benitez, Liverpool's manager, speaking on a late-night radio phone-in, said that whilst there might be those who doubt my ability as a football manager, he was personally of the opinion that I have the ability to save my team from relegation. Nice of him, he's the manager of a very high profile club...

Following that comment, Matt Cross and Jeppe Lund Curth are both thinking that avoiding relegation will happen without much effort (grrrr) while Keigan Parker and Youssouf Hersi are please that Benitez has backed the team to avoid the drop and they will strive to ensure it happens. I like that second one so much better...

I don't want the guys to feel overconfident, but I also gotta go with what I believe, with the results we've had so far. I answer through the media to Benitez that I'm positive that my team can avoid relegation. Here's how it came in the media:

Q.P.R. manager send positive message
Rafa Benítez's decision to defend Steve Gougeon's managerial ability, despite what other managers in the game might be thinking, has caused the boss to react positively.

Media-friendly boss Steve Gougeon has told Rafa Benítez that he believs his Q.P.R. team can avoid the drop.

Gougeon told London's Evening Standard that he was positive about the team's chances and hoped that relegation woudn't be on the agenda this season.

No players react to my comment

The draw for the third round of the League Cup happens. We'll play Sheffield United on their pitch on October 27. Woah, they used to be in the Premiership three seasons ago, albeit for only 2 seasons, but they're now sitting in 20th place in the Championship and are seen as relegation battlers in the Championship...

FM

[FrogMan]

September 25, 2010

Pkd	Inf	Name	Position	Morale	Form	Con	Apps	Gls	Av Rat
GK		Kasper Schmeichel	GK	Superb	9-7-7-9-9	100%	6	-	7.67
DR		Keith Keane	D/DM RC	Superb	7-7-7-7-7	100%	5	-	7.00
DL		Tom Howell	D/DM L	Superb	7-7-7-8-7	97%	2	-	7.00
DC		David Marek Rozehnal	D C	Superb	7-5-7-8-8	98%	5 (1)	-	7.17
DC		Danny Shittu	D C	Superb	8-7-8-7-7	100%	7	1	7.43
DMC		Fábio Rochemback	DM C	Superb	8-6-7-8-7	96%	7	-	7.00
MR		Matt Cross	AM/F RC	Very Good	9-7-8-7-7	100%	6 (1)	2	7.43
ML		Marcus Kelly	AM RL	Superb	8-7-8-10-7	97%	6	-	7.83
AMC	PR	Youssouf Hersi	AM C	Superb	10-9-8-6-8	95%	7	3	8.29
FC	PR	Keigan Parker	S C	Superb	7-7-7-7-7	98%	7	3	7.14
FC		Andrew Johnson	S C	Superb	9-7-7-7-7	97%	6	4	7.33
S1	Unh	Paul Davies	GK	Superb	8-7-7-6-7	100%	2 (5)	-	7.29
S2		Igor Biscan	D/DM C	Superb	7-7-7-7-7	100%	2 (3)	-	7.00
S3		Nigel Quashie	M C	Very Good	7-7-6-7-7	100%	-	-	-
S4	Lst	John Oster	AM RL	Okay	7-6-7-7-7	100%	0 (3)	-	6.67
S5	Unh	Steve Brooker	S C	Superb	8-7-7-7-6	94%	1 (1)	-	6.50
-	Inj	Jeppe Lund Curth	F C	Very Good	6-7-8-7-7	26%	-	-	-
-		Mathew Sadler	D L	Very Good	7-7-7-7-7	100%	5	-	7.00
-	Inj	Ben Watson	M C	Superb	7-7-7-7-7	30%	-	-	-
-	Lst	Lennart Rhee	AM R	Superb	7-8-7-7	92%	1 (2)	-	7.00

League Match #7: we play Liverpool on their pitch. They're currently 2nd and undefeated on the season with 4 wins and 3 draws.

We'll go defensive again, similarl to what we did against Man Utd.

They show a creative 4-2-3-1 formation, with 2 middies, 3 attacking middies and one striker. They beat us 0-2 in a preseason friendly.

And boy oh boy, how tough this game starts. Within 14 minutes, we're down by 3, oh crap... All three goals were simply them outclassing us, a bit like Man Utd did in our game against them, instead this time, Kasper Schmeichel wasn't able to save us. After the third goal, he's very down, rated at 4. I don't want to pull him at that point, as I think he'll feel very down on himself and will have very poor morale for our next match. I'm hoping he'll pull himself up. And he sort of does...

The half ends on that 0-3 score. They're outshooting us 9(7) to 4(2), crazy, but we are getting some scoring chances, so I'm optimistic, not that we'll win, but that we can play on the same field with teams like this. They're winning possession with 54%, but it's split evenly over the whole field, so it's not all bad...

Keigan Parker is probably trying too hard and is rated at 4 in the 55th minute. I pull him out and put Steve Brooker in.

Final Score: 0-3

We stopped the bleeding, or they simply pulled back, but anyway, they didn't score another goal after that 14th minute. They outshot us 12(10) to 5(2). Dang, 10 of 12 on target is very impressive! We gained possession a lot in the second half, ending the game with 49%, split evenly on the three sections of the pitch. This means we won possession in the second half with 52%.

Following the game, I give Keigan Parker a formal warning for poor performance. He accepts his warning without a comment.

FM

[FrogMan]

September 26, 2010
Following the Sunday games, we're in 7th place, not bad considering we just lost. I expected us to slide down the standings. Even better, we have a game on hand over many of the teams around us. Winning that game could propel us to 3rd place!

Pos	Team	Pld	Won	Drn	Lst	For	Ag	G.D.	Pts
1st	Arsenal	8	6	2	0	16	5	+11	20
2nd	Liverpool	8	5	3	0	13	4	+9	18
3rd	Fulham	8	5	1	2	14	11	+3	16
4th	Bolton	8	4	3	1	15	8	+7	15
5th	Man Utd	8	4	3	1	10	4	+6	15
6th	Chelsea	8	4	1	3	12	8	+4	13
7th	Q.P.R.	7	4	1	2	12	11	+1	13
8th	West Brom	8	3	3	2	10	10	0	12
9th	Blackburn	7	3	2	2	9	5	+4	11
10th	Newcastle	7	3	1	3	12	8	+4	10
11th	Everton	7	3	1	3	9	9	0	10
12th	Tottenham	8	2	3	3	12	14	-2	9
13th	Birmingham	8	2	3	3	10	14	-4	9
14th	Wigan	8	1	5	2	6	8	-2	8
15th	Middlesbrough	6	1	4	1	7	7	0	7
16th	Man City	7	2	0	5	12	14	-2	6
17th	Portsmouth	8	1	3	4	8	15	-7	6
18th	Aston Villa	8	0	4	4	6	14	-8	4
19th	Gillingham	7	1	0	6	5	14	-9	3
20th	Southampton	8	0	1	7	7	22	-15	1

September 28, 2010
Justin Wall has a torn groin muscle and is first said to miss one month. My physios recommend surgery, which I think would be the way to go. Shit, Wall will miss 4 months while recovering from surgery. Not that we need it at right now, but this risks hampering his development...

October 1st, 2010
The Team Board is still delighted with my managerial performance. The team is doing amazingly better than I would have ever thought, even in my wildest dreams...

We're shut out of any mentions in the monthly awards.


FM

[SirFozzie]

QPR for Europe!

[FrogMan]

Originally Posted by SirFozzie

QPR for Europe!

Thanks for your continued support!

FM

[FrogMan]

October 2, 2010

Pkd	Inf	Name	Position	Morale	Form	Con	Apps	Gls	Av Rat
GK		Kasper Schmeichel	GK	Okay	7-7-9-9-6	100%	7	-	7.43
DR		Keith Keane	D/DM RC	Very Good	7-7-7-7-7	100%	6	-	7.00
DL		Mathew Sadler	D L	Very Good	7-7-7-7-7	100%	5	-	7.00
DC		Igor Biscan	D/DM C	Superb	7-7-7-7-7	100%	2 (3)	-	7.00
DC		Danny Shittu	D C	Good	7-8-7-7-7	100%	8	1	7.38
DMC		Fábio Rochemback	DM C	Good	6-7-8-7-7	100%	8	-	7.00
MR	Lst	Lennart Rhee	AM R	Superb	7-8-7-7	100%	1 (2)	-	7.00
ML		Marcus Kelly	AM RL	Good	7-8-10-7-7	85%	7	-	7.71
AMC		Youssouf Hersi	AM C	Very Good	9-8-6-8-7	99%	8	3	8.13
FC		Keigan Parker	S C	Very Poor	7-7-7-7-4	100%	8	3	6.75
FC		Andrew Johnson	S C	Good	7-7-7-7-7	99%	7	4	7.29
S1	Unh	Paul Davies	GK	Superb	8-7-7-6-7	100%	2 (5)	-	7.29
S2		Matt Cross	AM/F RC	Good	7-8-7-7-7	99%	7 (1)	2	7.38
S3		Nigel Quashie	M C	Superb	7-7-6-7-7	100%	-	-	-
S4		Tom Howell	D/DM L	Okay	7-7-8-7-7	100%	3	-	7.00
S5	Unh	Steve Brooker	S C	Very Good	7-7-7-6-7	100%	1 (2)	-	6.67
-	Inj	Jeppe Lund Curth	F C	Very Good	6-7-8-7-7	26%	-	-	-
-	Lst	John Oster	AM RL	Poor	6-7-7-7-7	95%	0 (4)	-	6.75
-		David Marek Rozehnal	D C	Good	5-7-8-8-7	100%	6 (1)	-	7.14
-	Inj	Ben Watson	M C	Superb	7-7-7-7-7	30%	-	-	-

League Match #8: we play Birmingham at Loftus Road. They are currently in 13th place with 2 wins, 3 draws and 2 losses, to our 4 wins, 1 draw, 2 losses. They are evens favourites to win the game.

Marcus Kelly was injured for 5 days in between games. He's now recovered from the injury but his condition is only at 85%. I still give him the start but I pull Tom Howell from the left fullback spot to keep him on the bench for when Kelly will eventually need to be substituted. Kelly's style of play usually requires me to sub him out in the second half if he's not at 100% when starting the game. I usually don't even start a player who's under 90% before we get to the game, but Kelly is too much of an asset for us on the left wing for me to keep him out of a league game...

Lennart Rhee also gets the start over Matt Cross and Igor Biscan starts over David Marek Rozehnal.

They are pushing us around early on, but we're holding on defensively. A long throw-in from Lennart Rhee looks destined to nobody in the 31st minute, until Keigan Parker runs into space and grabs it. With no angle on goal, Parker tries a shot that is deflected by a defender for the go ahead goal! At that point, shots are 1(1) for us, 6(5) for them...

Only 5 minutes have passed when a free kick from Fábio Rochemback, just inside the center line on our side of the field, is played forward to Andrew Johnson. AJ nods it to Youssouf Hersi who curls one from long range. The shot looked to be headed about a goal's width wide of the goal, until it started bending and finally found its way behind the keeper. A sweet shot from 30 yards out to make it 2-0.

The half ends with us ahead 2-0. Shots at that point are not in our favor, 2(2) for us, 6(5) for them. We're winning possession with 56% but it's heavily skewed toward our end, 20-25-11... Marcus Kelly's condition has dipped to 77%. If our next game had been in a full week, I would have kept him in, but since we play in only 4 days, I pull him and put Tom Howell in.

Andrew Johnon has to leave the field, injured, in the 51st minute, shit! Steve Brooker comes in. Keigan Parker gets a minor injury in the 67th minute but keeps on playing.

In the 69th minute, a dubiuous penalty is called on Keith Keane, just inside the area. They score to make it 2-1.

They go to the dreaded 4-2-4 formation in the 76th minute, but we hand on. It was a tough game, but no game should be easy once you get to the Premiership, right?

Final Score: 2-1

We fared much better with shots in the second half, while denying them quality shots. Final tally is 9(5) for us, 11(6) for them.

Youssouf Hersi is named Man of the Match with a rating of 9 and a goal.

Kasper schmeichel and Danny Shittu both get rated at 8.

The news on the injury front are not good though... Andrew Johnson suffered a fractured arm and will miss 4 weeks while Keigan Parker strained a wrist and will miss a week. This means we'll go with Steve Brooker and Igor Nadal Lázaro as starting strikers and Matt Cross as the backup, since all the other strikers capable of playing at this level (Curth, Johnson, Parker, Wall) are injured. That is 7 deep in the depth chart...

Well, that was the plan until I saw that Lázaro suffered a thigh strain on October 1st and is 5 days away from coming back!!! I'm now down to Steve Brooker and Matt Cross with no backups on the bench. Oh, maybe Ricky Hanson, or maybe I'll go with a middie with good finishing...

You can be sure that a journalist from London's Evening Standard approached me even before AJ had left the physio room. Here's his question: "Andrew Johnson got injured in the game today and it looks as if he might be out for a while. Do you think you have sufficient back-up?"

As much as I want go hide in a corner and cry, thinking about our sudden lack of strikers, I put on a my tough face and tell him that we'll miss Andrew but I feel we've got adequate cover. I wasn't gonna drop the bomb on my team and let them believe we wouldn't even try while he'll be gone...

FM

[FrogMan]

October 3, 2010
I get a report on team morale from my assistant Bruno Conti. He tells me he has noted that Andrew Johnson has been in a buoyant mood over the past day or so. After consulting several members of the team, Conti has discovered that the striker was delighted with the comments I made about him to the media recently.

Funny thing, I guess Conti spent a lot of time with the players over that one, since he's now picked up basic notions of English, cool! Maybe he'll be able to use his motivational skills even more now that people can at least understand a few words of what he's saying

But oh crap... Youssouf Hersi suffered a strained neck in training today. He'll miss 5 days but is on an orange tag. We play in three days. Look at who is currenlty assigned to the "resting" schedule on the team:


sigh...

Steve Brooker is now content with his role at the club. He has said that he is prepared to wait for a first-team opportunity at Q.P.R. if necessary. The striker revealed that I had convinced him that he has the ability to force his way into the first-team if he remains patient and continues to work hard. Steve, you'll definitely get your share of first-team play in the next few weeks, but tell me, happy for a month, unhappy for two, then happy for a month, unhappy for two. Are you bi-polar or something???

After the Sunday games have been played, we're still hanging on to 7th place, with a game on had. Just like last week, if we win that game, we could jump to 3rd place. Funny thing, I think we play Fulham, the team currently in 3rd place, on our next game...

Pos	Team	Pld	Won	Drn	Lst	For	Ag	G.D.	Pts
1st	Arsenal	9	6	3	0	19	8	+11	21
2nd	Liverpool	9	6	3	0	15	5	+10	21
3rd	Fulham	9	6	1	2	15	11	+4	19
4th	Bolton	9	4	4	1	16	9	+7	16
5th	Chelsea	9	5	1	3	14	8	+6	16
6th	Man Utd	9	4	4	1	12	6	+6	16
7th	Q.P.R.	8	5	1	2	14	12	+2	16
8th	Everton	9	4	2	3	11	10	+1	14
9th	West Brom	9	3	4	2	10	10	0	13
10th	Blackburn	8	3	3	2	11	7	+4	12
11th	Newcastle	8	3	2	3	15	11	+4	11
12th	Tottenham	9	2	4	3	12	14	-2	10
13th	Man City	8	3	0	5	14	14	0	9
14th	Birmingham	9	2	3	4	11	16	-5	9
15th	Middlesbrough	8	1	5	2	9	10	-1	8
16th	Wigan	9	1	5	3	6	9	-3	8
17th	Portsmouth	9	1	4	4	9	16	-7	7
18th	Aston Villa	9	0	4	5	6	15	-9	4
19th	Gillingham	8	1	0	7	5	16	-11	3
20th	Southampton	9	0	1	8	7	24	-17	1

FM

[FrogMan]

Originally Posted by finkenst

nice job, FM!

could you post a screenshot of your training screen(s) setup? Trying to get mine squared away!
--tim

Here are the screenies for my four training schedules...









Nope, they're not perfect, yep they could use some working on, but I find that they work. Most important, I have a feeling that kids develop not so badly under these training schedules...

I have 5 coaches (can't remember if my assistant is counted in this figure) and 4 physios and everyone is assigned to every schedules. Gives them all 4 schedules each to look over. May not be the most effective, but it's the easiest to manage

FM

[FrogMan]

oh, and if anybody wants to use these training schedules as starting points to make their own, I could certainly send them by email. Simply PM me an email addy where to send them...

FM

[terpkristin]

Uh oh, looks like your squad is coming down the the dreaded you-know-what...

/tk

[Desnudo]

You actually don't need to set your players to resting when they're injured. A red injury automatically means they don't train.

[finkenst]

Originally Posted by terpkristin

Uh oh, looks like your squad is coming down the the dreaded you-know-what...

/tk

no, what?



just kidding, tk..

[FrogMan]

Originally Posted by terpkristin

Uh oh, looks like your squad is coming down the the dreaded you-know-what...

/tk

yeah the dreaded...
terpkristinitis!!!

oh well...

We'll try to survive through it...

FM

[FrogMan]

October 4, 2010
Danny Shittu and Youssouf Hersi have both been named on the English Premier Division Team of the Week. Always nice to see my little known players end up on the Team of the Week...

October 5, 2010
Wow, Craig Crane has been called up by the English U21 squad to face the Belgium U21 in a Euro U21 Championship qualifier. If he's selected, he'd be playing either in place of, or with Kevin Joyce.

Looking at the squad, I see that neither Andrew Johnson nor Matt Cross are listed in there. AJ is injured, so I'm all right with that, and Matt just suffered a strained neck in training yesterday. That may be the reason...

Paul Davies suffers a sprained wrist in training, will mis one week. All those injuries are hard for us to get through. We don't have that much depth...


FM

[FrogMan]

October 6, 2010

Pkd	Inf	Name	Position	Morale	Form	Con	Apps	Gls	Av Rat
GK		Kasper Schmeichel	GK	Superb	7-9-9-6-8	100%	8	-	7.50
DR		Keith Keane	D/DM RC	Superb	7-7-7-7-7	96%	7	-	7.00
DL		Mathew Sadler	D L	Superb	7-7-7-7-7	95%	6	-	7.00
DC		David Marek Rozehnal	D C	Very Good	5-7-8-8-7	100%	6 (1)	-	7.14
DC		Danny Shittu	D C	Superb	8-7-7-7-8	98%	9	1	7.44
DMC		Fábio Rochemback	DM C	Superb	7-8-7-7-7	96%	9	-	7.00
MR	Lst	Lennart Rhee	AM R	Superb	7-8-7-7-7	92%	2 (2)	-	7.00
ML		Marcus Kelly	AM RL	Superb	8-10-7-7-7	96%	8	-	7.63
MC		Nigel Quashie	M C	Very Good	7-7-6-7-7	100%	-	-	-
FC	Unh	Steve Brooker	S C	Superb	7-7-6-7-7	97%	1 (3)	-	6.75
FC	Unh	Ricky Hanson	D/DM/F RC	Superb	7-7-7-7-7	100%	-	-	-
S1	Lst	Chris Day	GK	Very Poor	8-7-7-7-7	100%	-	-	-
S2		Igor Biscan	D/DM C	Superb	7-7-7-7-7	97%	3 (3)	-	7.00
S3	Unh	Scott Donnelly	AM RC	Superb	6	100%	-	-	-
S4		Tom Howell	D/DM L	Superb	7-8-7-7-7	97%	3 (1)	-	7.00
S5	Inj	Matt Cross	AM/F RC	Good	7-8-7-7-7	82%	7 (1)	2	7.38
-	Inj	Youssouf Hersi	AM C	Superb	8-6-8-7-9	76%	9	4	8.22
-	Inj	Jeppe Lund Curth	F C	Superb	6-7-8-7-7	26%	-	-	-
-	Lst	John Oster	AM RL	Poor	6-7-7-7-7	98%	0 (4)	-	6.75
-	Inj	Keigan Parker	S C	Superb	7-7-7-4-7	72%	9	4	6.78
-	Inj	Ben Watson	M C	Superb	7-7-7-7-7	30%	-	-	-
-	Inj	Igor Nadal Lázaro	S C	Superb	7-7-7-7-7	78%	0 (5)	-	6.80
-	Inj	Andrew Johnson	S C	Superb	7-7-7-7-7	81%	8	4	7.25

League match #9: we play Fulham on their pitch. They're currently in 3rd place and are 5-4 favourites in this game.

Our striker situation is simply insane. We'll go with Steve Brooker and... Ricky Hanson as the starting strikers... We'll play a 4-1-3-2 with the three middies on a line in the middle, no attacking midfielder. Nigel Quashie is in for Youssouf Hersi, but at the MC position, not AMC.

They show a 4-4-2 formation with long arrows on the wingers.

They take a 1-0 lead in the 20th minute as they're buzzing around our goals all the time.

The half ends with us down 0-1. They're outshooting us 10(6) to 2(1). Fábo Rochemback is rated at 5 at the half and both centrebacks are at 6...

They will add two in the second half, as they move at will and Kasper Schmeichel gets depressed at seeing so many balls kicked his way...

Final Score: 0-3

They outshot us 17(9) to 2(1) on the game. Not much I could have done here, that was an ugly lineup we had in there and it gave some ugly results. Rochemback and Schmeichel both end the game rated at 5. It's very frustrating when you go into a game with half a lineup...

We're in 8th place following the game, still with a game on hand over all the teams ahead of us.

Pos	Team	Pld	Won	Drn	Lst	For	Ag	G.D.	Pts
1st	Arsenal	10	7	3	0	21	8	+13	24
2nd	Liverpool	10	7	3	0	17	5	+12	24
3rd	Fulham	10	7	1	2	18	11	+7	22
4th	Bolton	10	5	4	1	20	9	+11	19
5th	Chelsea	10	6	1	3	18	8	+10	19
6th	Man Utd	10	5	4	1	14	6	+8	19
7th	Everton	10	5	2	3	13	10	+3	17
8th	Q.P.R.	9	5	1	3	14	15	-1	16
9th	Blackburn	9	4	3	2	13	8	+5	15
10th	West Brom	10	3	4	3	10	12	-2	13
11th	Newcastle	9	3	3	3	17	13	+4	12
12th	Man City	9	3	1	5	16	16	0	10
13th	Tottenham	10	2	4	4	12	16	-4	10
14th	Birmingham	10	2	3	5	11	18	-7	9
15th	Middlesbrough	9	1	5	3	10	13	-3	8
16th	Wigan	10	1	5	4	7	11	-4	8
17th	Aston Villa	10	1	4	5	9	16	-7	7
18th	Portsmouth	10	1	4	5	9	20	-11	7
19th	Gillingham	9	1	0	8	5	18	-13	3
20th	Southampton	10	0	1	9	7	28	-21	1

Following the game, Fulham manager Greg Kinnear told Football365.com that from what he'd seen over the ninety minute of our match, he believed Queens Park Rangers could have serious problems avoiding relegation to the English Championship this season.

That's a sucker punch comment because I can't even reply to it. Dang, we're in 8th place, look at where Southampton and Gillingham are and tell me who you think is in better shape to avoid the drop, huh??? Anyway, that comment drew good reactions from at least three players of mine, leaders actually. Danny Shittu, Youssouf Hersi, and Keigan Parker are all determined to prove Kinnear wrong and help the team avoid the drop. On the other hand, Fábio Rochemback is unsure whether the team can avoid the drop.


FM

[FrogMan]

October 9, 2010
And shit hits the fan again, as Lennart Rhee twists his ankle in the morning traning session. He'll miss 3 weeks.

Bruno Conti reports that Nathan Jameson was absent from training for the second time today. I fine him one week wage. He accept his fin without comment.

October 10, 2010
Northampton want Darren Evans on a 3 month loan. They'd pay 100% of his salary, so I'm all right with that, but I'm unsure if the kid will accept that...

October 11, 2010
Our October 13 match against Middlesbrough is being pushed back to October 20 because of international call-ups. Considering our injury situation, this is good news for us...

October 12, 2010
Matthew Bates would like to get a new contract. I'm not so sure he fits in our long term plans, especially if we're to stick in the Premiership...

October 13, 2010
Hereford offer to loan Darren Evans for three months. Same as with Norhtampton, they'd pay his full wage, so I accept.

October 16, 2010
The 3 month loan of Mike Cook at Dag & Red ends and he comes back to the team. Not too impressive over there. In 6 appearance (4 as starter) he had one assist and averaged a form rating of 6.67.

Darren Evans accepts to go on loan with Northampton, woah.

Matthew Bates is becoming unsettled by not playing with the first team. He added that he will be looking to leave the club if he doesn't break into the first team soon. Well, unless we get a bunch of injuries, first-team may not be happening soon...

FM

[FrogMan]

October 17, 2010

Pkd	Inf	Name	Position	Morale	Form	Con	Apps	Gls	Av Rat
GK		Kasper Schmeichel	GK	Poor	9-9-6-8-5	100%	9	-	7.22
DR		Craig Crane	D R	Superb	8-7-7-7-6	100%	-	-	-
DL		Tom Howell	D/DM L	Superb	7-8-7-7-7	100%	3 (1)	-	7.00
DC		David Marek Rozehnal	D C	Okay	7-8-8-7-7	100%	7 (1)	-	7.13
DC		Danny Shittu	D C	Good	7-7-7-8-7	100%	10	1	7.40
DMC		Fábio Rochemback	DM C	Very Poor	8-7-7-7-5	100%	10	-	6.80
MR		Matt Cross	AM/F RC	Okay	8-7-7-7-7	100%	7 (2)	2	7.33
ML		Marcus Kelly	AM RL	Good	10-7-7-7-7	100%	9	-	7.56
AMC		Youssouf Hersi	AM C	Superb	8-6-8-7-9	100%	9	4	8.22
FC		Igor Nadal Lázaro	S C	Superb	7-7-7-7-7	100%	0 (5)	-	6.80
FC		Keigan Parker	S C	Superb	7-7-7-4-7	98%	9	4	6.78
S1	Unh	Paul Davies	GK	Superb	8-7-7-6-7	90%	1 (1)	-	7.00
S2		Igor Biscan	D/DM C	Superb	7-7-7-8-8	95%	3 (4)	-	7.00
S3	Unh	Scott Donnelly	AM RC	Very Good	6-7	100%	0 (1)	-	7.00
S4		Chris Chapman	M LC	Superb	7-7-7-8-7	98%	8 (5)	1	7.31
S5	Unh	Steve Brooker	S C	Good	7-6-7-7-7	100%	2 (3)	-	6.80
-	Inj	Jeppe Lund Curth	F C	Superb	6-7-8-7-7	26%	-	-	-
-	Lst	Chris Day	GK	Very Poor	8-7-7-7-7	100%	-	-	-
-	Unh	Ricky Hanson	D/DM/F RC	Good	7-7-7-7-7	100%	1	-	7.00
-	Inj	Andrew Johnson	S C	Superb	7-7-7-7-7	66%	8	4	7.25
-		Keith Keane	D/DM RC	Good	7-7-7-7-7	100%	8	-	7.00
-	Lst	John Oster	AM RL	Very Poor	6-7-7-7-7	100%	0 (4)	-	6.75
-		Nigel Quashie	M C	Okay	7-6-7-7-7	98%	1	-	7.00
-	Inj	Lennart Rhee	AM R	Good	8-7-7-7-7	57%	3 (2)	-	7.00
-		Mathew Sadler	D L	Very Good	7-7-7-7-7	100%	7	-	7.00
-	Inj	Ben Watson	M C	Superb	7-7-7-7-7	30%	-	-	-

League match #10: we play Blackburn at Loftus Road. They're right behind us in 9th place, and like us, they have a game on hand over the team ahead of us. This game is on TV.

I go with the two speedsters on top, Igor Nadal Lázaro and Keigan Parker.

I also give the start to Craig Crane at right full-back.

TV people see Marcus Kelly as our key man and Hanno Balitsch as Blackburn's key man.

TV commentators say that this game has draw written all over it. They can't seperate the two sides... Blackburn are 4-5 favourites.

If it's even possible, Blackburn has more injured players on their listing than us, woah...

In the 8th minute, Fábio Rochemback is at the source of Keigan Parker's 5th goal of the season. Roch kicked one of his infamous in-swining corner kicks, but this time curling it from left to right. He's got to be really talented at doing these, as it's the reverse of the last one I saw him kick... Matt Cross suffered a minor injury on that play.

They pulled level in the 23rd minute on a free kick that went striaght in from 30 yards out, but we regained back the lead only 6 minutes later when Roch and Tom Howell exchanged the ball a few times, confusing their defense, until Howell centered it to Matt Cross, sitting on top of the 6 yard box. Cross easily headed the ball in for the 2-1 goal.

The half ends with us ahead 2-1. Shots are pretty even, 5(3) for us, 5(1) for them.

They start the second end by increasing the pressure on our end a lot.

In the 68th minute, they center a perfect ball. Kasper Schmeichel stops the first shot, but let the ball go loose and can't stop the second shot.

In the 88th minute, their key man Balitsch is sent off for a second yellow. They go 5-3-1 and we crank up the attack. We try real hard, getting a couple of very good chance during injury time, but we can't break the tie...

Final Score: 2-2

Shots stayed pretty even, 10(4) for us, 9(4) for them.

Good news coming back to the clubhouse, Matt Cross' injury was nothing.

We're in 8th after the game, still with one game on hand over the teams ahead of us.

Pos	Team	Pld	Won	Drn	Lst	For	Ag	G.D.	Pts
1st	Liverpool	11	8	3	0	19	5	+14	27
2nd	Arsenal	11	7	4	0	22	9	+13	25
3rd	Chelsea	11	7	1	3	22	10	+12	22
4th	Fulham	11	7	1	3	18	13	+5	22
5th	Bolton	11	5	5	1	21	10	+11	20
6th	Man Utd	11	5	5	1	15	7	+8	20
7th	Everton	11	5	3	3	14	11	+3	18
8th	Q.P.R.	10	5	2	3	16	17	-1	17
9th	Blackburn	10	4	4	2	15	10	+5	16
10th	Newcastle	10	3	4	3	18	14	+4	13
11th	West Brom	10	3	4	3	10	12	-2	13
12th	Middlesbrough	10	2	5	3	11	13	-2	11
13th	Man City	9	3	1	5	16	16	0	10
14th	Tottenham	10	2	4	4	12	16	-4	10
15th	Aston Villa	11	2	4	5	11	16	-5	10
16th	Birmingham	11	2	3	6	11	19	-8	9
17th	Wigan	10	1	5	4	7	11	-4	8
18th	Portsmouth	11	1	5	5	10	21	-11	8
19th	Gillingham	10	1	0	9	5	20	-15	3
20th	Southampton	11	0	1	10	9	32	-23	1

FM

[FrogMan]

October 20, 2010

Pkd	Inf	Name	Position	Morale	Form	Con	Apps	Gls	Av Rat
GK	Unh	Paul Davies	GK	Superb	8-7-7-6-7	94%	1 (1)	-	7.00
DR		Keith Keane	D/DM RC	Good	7-7-7-7-7	100%	8	-	7.00
DL		Mathew Sadler	D L	Very Good	7-7-7-7-7	100%	7	-	7.00
DC		Igor Biscan	D/DM C	Superb	7-7-7-8-8	100%	3 (4)	-	7.00
DC		Danny Shittu	D C	Okay	7-7-8-7-7	97%	11	1	7.36
DMC		Fábio Rochemback	DM C	Poor	7-7-7-5-7	94%	11	-	6.82
MR		Matt Cross	AM/F RC	Okay	7-7-7-7-7	94%	8 (2)	3	7.30
ML		Marcus Kelly	AM RL	Good	7-7-7-7-8	93%	10	-	7.60
AMC		Youssouf Hersi	AM C	Very Good	6-8-7-9-7	93%	10	4	8.10
FC	Unh	Steve Brooker	S C	Okay	6-7-7-7-7	98%	2 (4)	-	6.83
FC		Keigan Parker	S C	Superb	7-7-4-7-7	93%	10	5	6.80
S1		Kasper Schmeichel	GK	Very Poor	9-6-8-5-6	100%	10	-	7.10
S2		Tom Howell	D/DM L	Very Good	8-7-7-7-7	94%	4 (1)	-	7.00
S3	Unh	Scott Donnelly	AM RC	Superb	6-7-7	97%	0 (2)	-	7.00
S4		Nigel Quashie	M C	Okay	7-6-7-7-7	99%	1	-	7.00
S5		Igor Nadal Lázaro	S C	Good	7-7-7-7-7	93%	1 (5)	-	6.83
-	Inj	Jeppe Lund Curth	F C	Superb	6-7-8-7-7	26%	-	-	-
-	Inj	Ben Watson	M C	Superb	7-7-7-7-7	30%	-	-	-
-		David Marek Rozehnal	D C	Good	8-8-7-7-7	95%	8 (1)	-	7.11
-	Inj	Andrew Johnson	S C	Superb	7-7-7-7-7	62%	8	4	7.25
-	Inj	Lennart Rhee	AM R	Good	8-7-7-7-7	53%	3 (2)	-	7.00
-		Craig Crane	D R	Very Good	7-7-7-6-7	94%	1	-	7.00

League match #11: we play Middlesbrough at Loftus Road. They're currently in 12th place and are 6-4 favourites to win this game.

Kasper Schmeichel is in a form slump, I start Paul Davies in his place.

We're giving up too many goals. In an effort to counter that, I switch the mentality of both centrebacks to a more defensive one and put all 4 defenders on hard tackling.

Lennart Rhee and Andrew Johnson are both one week away from coming back. Ben Watson is one month away and Jeppe Lund Curth is 2 months away.

Middlesbrough show a 5-3-2 formation with two wingbacks with up arrows.

We're doing better but they get lucky in the 36th minute as a centered ball is deflected by Matt Cross, only to be head straight in by one of their strikers. They first chance since the beginning of the game results in a goal... To tell you, we were winning possession with 62% at that point (5-26-31)

The half ends with us down 0-1. We're outshooting them 6(5) to 2(2) and winning possession with 61%, yet they're ahead.

Only 3 minutes into the second half, our luck changes as Fábio Rochemback scores his first ever goal for Q.P.R. on a deflected shot from 20 yards out.

Steve Brooker gets a goal disallowed in the 69th minute, but only 4 minutes later, Youssouf Hersi crosses the ball all the way from right to the left wing, to the feet of Marcus Kelly. Kelly runs to the sideline, giving himself some room and that's when he centers a perfect ball to Keigan Parker who doesn't miss his chance and give us the lead, 2-1.

We'll add another on in th 78th minute after Igor Nadal Lázaro receives a long kick from Paul Davies, runs past one, then a second defender, only to make a wonderful short pass to Keigan Parker who scores his second of the game. Lázaro made that goal on his own ability.

Final Score: 3-1

We outshot them 15(11) to 4(2). To put 11 shots on target is pretty good...

Marcus Kelly is named Man of the Match with a rating of 9. He completed 17 of 18 passes and had 11 runs past opponents. Fábio Rochemback also got rated at 9, scoring a goal and putting 5 of 8 shots on target. Keith Keane, Matt Cross and Keigan Parker all got rated at 8.

We're in 7th after this game, if only because of goal differential, since we're in fact tied for 5th on points alone. Nice!

Pos	Team	Pld	Won	Drn	Lst	For	Ag	G.D.	Pts
1st	Liverpool	11	8	3	0	19	5	+14	27
2nd	Arsenal	11	7	4	0	22	9	+13	25
3rd	Chelsea	11	7	1	3	22	10	+12	22
4th	Fulham	11	7	1	3	18	13	+5	22
5th	Bolton	11	5	5	1	21	10	+11	20
6th	Man Utd	11	5	5	1	15	7	+8	20
7th	Q.P.R.	11	6	2	3	19	18	+1	20
8th	Everton	11	5	3	3	14	11	+3	18
9th	Blackburn	10	4	4	2	15	10	+5	16
10th	West Brom	11	4	4	3	14	13	+1	16
11th	Newcastle	10	3	4	3	18	14	+4	13
12th	Middlesbrough	11	2	5	4	12	16	-4	11
13th	Man City	9	3	1	5	16	16	0	10
14th	Tottenham	10	2	4	4	12	16	-4	10
15th	Aston Villa	11	2	4	5	11	16	-5	10
16th	Birmingham	11	2	3	6	11	19	-8	9
17th	Wigan	11	1	5	5	8	15	-7	8
18th	Portsmouth	11	1	5	5	10	21	-11	8
19th	Gillingham	10	1	0	9	5	20	-15	3
20th	Southampton	11	0	1	10	9	32	-23	1

October 21, 2010
With our good results, I try my luck at asking the team board for more transfer fundage. Dang, they're stubborn! They're still saying they have yet to see a return from the money spent this season... Huh?!?

FM