FM2005: a frog at Loftus Road

[FrogMan]

Originally Posted by terpkristin

Why is it that every time I refresh my FOFC view, I see there are more updates to this dynasty?

I often do them in bunches, pretype them, then copy paste in here. So if you come here when you get the first email notification, there's a good chance I'll have added 2 or more posts before you're done reading the first one

Originally Posted by terpkristin

Looks like going into the regular season you've got your team's legs mostly back with you, which is good. I'd seen some of those injuries in your early offseason and was beginning to fear another epidemic of terpkristinitis.

Yeah, with two matches to be played (I'm honestly caught up now, so I don't have any spoilers for you ) the only injury of importance that remains is Jeppe Lund Curth behind in physiotherapy for about one more week iirc. But we're more than a week from the start of the season, so he could be ready, yet not match fit, for the start of the season...

Originally Posted by terpkristin

What's the schedule look like for the regular season?
And what are the management's goals for you this season?

I'll try grabbing a screen of the schedule for the first few games the next time I load the game. For some reason, I can't print the schedule to a web page like I can do with the squad screen or the league table. Only thing I remember is the tidbit I said about us playing newly demoted Southampton in our first match of the season, luckily at home...

As far as the Team Board, they expect us to battle bravely against relegation this season. That's my goal too. I have a feeling that if we could only survive the first season back to the Championship, we could start building from there, with maybe some more wage budget and some more transfer money or a sale or two...

FM

[daedalus]

Originally Posted by FrogMan

I'll concentrate on possibly finding a defender...

There can be only one man for this job . . .

[daedalus]

Originally Posted by Katon

The same thing's happened in my current game both times I switched teams. Rushden & Diamonds took a full season to find a new manager, during which time they sold all their best players (two of them to me) and got relegated; they still did better than Wigan, though, who've gone eighteen months and counting without finding a replacement.

What? No Chelsea?

[FrogMan]

Originally Posted by daedalus

There can be only one man for this job . . .

LOL

Incidentally, I just saw that "he who shall not be named" had been transfer listed by request. Valued at $3.4M, Sheffield Utd is asking for $2M or about for him. At one point, they were asking as low as $1.25M for him. I'm down to about $550k in transfer budget, so I'm a bit limited in my options. He also severely lacks in heading skill, and I'm looking for a backup centre-back more than a backup, or even starting full-back at the moment. I have my very own Kevin Joyce on my own U18 squad in John Davies Davies played well enough to gain the status of official backup to Craig Crane/Michael Synott for the start of the season. Since Synott is also my main centre-back backup (with left full-back Matthew Bates) Davies is not so far from seeing playing time with the first XI...

One final note on Joyce. It was kind of funny to see him on the England U19 squad, with my two kids, Matt Cross and Andrew Johnson

FM

[FrogMan]

Originally Posted by FrogMan

One final note on Joyce. It was kind of funny to see him on the England U19 squad, with my two kids, Matt Cross and Andrew Johnson

This may be only funny to people who know me on a more personal level, but it just hit me how I had written that: "my two kids, Matt (...) and Andrew (...)"

For those who might not be aware, my two sons are named Matthew and Andrew Andrew is eight and sometimes come sniffing around when I'm playing. Last weekend, he came next to me and started looking at the names on my team and tried to spot if I had any Andrew on my squad. I showed him Andrew Johnson, he smiled. Then I told him that often, I have Andrew and Steve (my name) who play together at striker and Matthew (Bates or Sadler) who play at defense. He found that very amusing

FM

[daedalus]

That rocks. Yeah, I noticed the Matt and Andrew part first before it hit me that they're on the Rangers squad.

Oops.

[Katon]

Originally Posted by daedalus

What? No Chelsea?

Well, where's the fun in that? No, if I'm ever Chelsea manager, it'll be because the board went out of their way to appoint me. Which is not impossible, actually, since I'm doing pretty well at the moment as the PSV manager. Now all I need is for them to sack David Moyes and I might have a shot at the job.

[FrogMan]

I didn't find much time to play last night, maybe 15-20 minutes, so I didn't evne play a game of the two remaining preseason games before the 2009-10 season. In that 15-20 minutes, I searched for players, but I mostly looked at my list of fixtures for the start of the season, and looked at how my lineup is shaping up.

I should come up with some sort of position by position roster breakdown, but for now, here's a quick look at what the schedule has in store for us, for the first 10 games, or almost to the end of September. I'll comment on the first 5 games.

We will start with a very rough stretch of three games. Tough first because it'll be three games in a week, then tough because of who we'll play.

Game #1: Home vs Southampton
They just demoted from the Premiership after playing at that level since the 1977/78 season. I've not looked at their squad at all, but they will be a tough test for our patient ball control tactics...

Game #2: away at Crystal Palace
They finished 4th in the Championship last season, barely losing out in the playoffs for a chance to promote to the Premiership. Away, with 3 days rest is never easy.

Game #3: home vs Charlton
A team in potential shambles. If you remember, they offered me the management of their team prior to the start of the season. Just like Southampton, they just demoted from the Premiership after playing there for the last 9 season.

Game #4: away at Cardiff (on TV)
They finished second of League One last season and promoted with us. We beat them 1-0 early on and drew with them 2-2 later in the season. Interesting fact, they had demoted with us the previous season. A team on the bubble, just like us. An early must win situation...

Game #5: home vs Derby
Another League One promotee after they finished 4th and won the playoffs. We beat them 3-1 early in the season, and again drew with them, 1-1 this time, later on. Another big one for us...


FM

[FrogMan]

I won't always go player by player, but I'll try to comment on who will play and who won't, who is an up-and-comer, and who's on the decline...

Roster Breakdown: Goalkeepers

Name	depth	Pos	Age	aer	coa	com	ecc	han	kic	one	ref	rus	pun	thr	pos	jum	bra
Day, Chris	1	GK	33	13	13	13	7	11	9	13	16	14	7	8	10	14	10
Davies, Paul	2	GK	20	12	12	12	2	11	17	12	12	3	3	12	12	19	3
Marshall, Joe	3	GK	17	10	10	10	2	10	10	10	10	2	2	10	10	13	2
Murray, Neil	4	GK	20	11	11	11	7	11	11	11	11	1	1	9	11	7	2
Birch, Craig	5	GK	19	9	7	6	5	10	9	8	10	10	6	9	3	12	3

Starters: We ended the 2008-09 season with Paul Davies getting more playing time than Chris Day. That was mostly because Davies got hot and the players seemed to play well in front of him. He's not the most talented keeper, but he plays better than his skills would dictate. His great kicking ability has already given a couple goals where he outkicked the coverage, only to catch a striker in stride alone with the opposing keeper... I will probably alternate between the two again this season, with Day acting as the opening day starter.

Reserves: Neil Murray is the one I'd throw in the mix if anything would ever happen to one of the top two. He's more experienced than Marshall and has somewhat better skills, but barely.

Future: Joe Marshall is a product of our youth program, from which he graduated at only 16yo. He's got a sound set of skill and if he can only build on that, he could be worth something someday.

FM

[FrogMan]

let me know what you think of the presentation. I'm copy/pasting from excel, hoping it's not looking too bad for anyone...

FM

[terpkristin]

Looks good to me, FM!
Ouch to your opening games, though!

/tk

[FrogMan]

Originally Posted by terpkristin

Looks good to me, FM!
Ouch to your opening games, though!

/tk

thanks tk. yeah the start of the season will be brutal. I only hope we can come out of that first 5 games with at least a couple of wins and that the players won't get too demoralized if we lose 3 out of 5, just so we can keep on doing well the rest of the season... I really think that if we can survive the first season back in the Championship, we'll be able to build from there. In other words, the first season is the toughest to me...

FM

[FrogMan]

I'd like to take a couple seconds to say hi to anybody from Kraftworks Union who stops by and reads this dynasty. Glad to have you here. You may as well sign up and interact while you're here

FM

[thetrain]

Bah, had to register ater I had read the first three pages thouroghly and skimmed through the last ones, great reading!

[FrogMan]

Originally Posted by thetrain

Bah, had to register ater I had read the first three pages thouroghly and skimmed through the last ones, great reading!

hehe, welcome aboard! Hope you'll keep on reading as we're gearing up for a tough season...

FM

[FrogMan]

note: depth is always presented in groups of player at about the same level. For example, with the centrebacks below, Shittu and Evans are starters, Bates is the first level of backup, then it goes to Synott, etc.

Roster Breakdown: Centrebacks

Name	depth	Position	Age	hea	jum	mar	tac	pos	agg	acc	ant	bra	dec	det	pac	pas	str
Shittu, Danny	1	D C	28	20	18	12	15	13	15	14	11	16	8	16	14	6	18
Evans, Darren	1	D C	18	11	11	14	14	14	6	10	16	3	13	10	8	11	18
Bates, Matthew	2	D LC	22	19	15	12	11	10	14	13	10	14	13	8	12	10	11
Synott, Michael	3	D RLC	22	14	7	19	12	16	6	6	12	5	12	10	7	14	3
Taylor, Mark	4	D/DM RLC	18	1	20	11	5	6	14	13	4	4	2	20	14	3	12

Starters: We go into the season with Danny "Big Dan" Shittu in top shape. Hopefully, the surgery he had last season, followed by the weeks of physiotherapy later on in the season, will be the last time he'll miss extended time before a while. He's a force to be reckoned and usually closes the airways in the center of our defensive line. Darren Evans is young and still learning, but he played so well last season that I felt I could let go of Darren Ward in the middle of the season. He's got about all the skills you want from a defender, even though he could use a bit more heading skill, but Shittu is there for that... Just as strong as Shittu, they make for a tough pair to pass for opposing strikers venturing in the middle.

Backups: Matthew Bates is the primary backup at centreback. A natural at clearing the ball with his head, he comes to the club officially this season after spending all of last season on loan from Middlesbrough. Michael Synott is more of a fullback than a centreback, but he'll have to do if anything happen to any of the top three here.

Future: While Mark Taylor can show flashes of potential, it may not be as a defender, expecially not as a centreback. His lack of heading skill, with very low tackling and a tendency to be caught out of position will probably prevent him from ever developping into a solid centreback capable of playing for the starting XI on a regular basis.

Position note: I'm still looking for some depth at the centreback position. I've got a bid put for one in Finland, Tuamos Aho. We'll se about that, but I'd like to get another centreback into the fold, possibly one with cheap wages...


FM

[FrogMan]

Roster Breakdown: Fullbacks

Name	depth	Position	Age	acc	ant	hea	jum	mar	pac	pos	sta	str	tac	pas	str	wrk	cro
Sadler, Mathew	1	D L	24	13	14	14	5	13	13	9	11	6	17	11	6	5	11
Crane, Craig	1	D R	19	15	17	10	1	13	17	14	12	12	12	10	12	15	10
Bates, Matthew	2	D LC	22	13	10	19	15	12	12	10	14	11	11	10	11	9	5
Synott, Michael	2	D RLC	22	6	12	14	7	19	7	16	11	3	12	14	3	4	17
Davies, John	2	D R	17	10	9	16	5	10	11	9	17	6	12	11	6	11	10
Padula, Gino	3	D L	33	11	11	5	11	11	13	15	13	12	12	9	12	11	10
Howell, Tom	3	D/M L	18	12	10	14	9	18	8	9	18	16	16	14	16	6	20
Taylor, Mark	4	D/DM RLC	18	13	4	1	20	11	14	6	19	12	5	3	12	12	1

Starters: Mathew Sadler and Craig Crane open the season as the starting left and right fullback respectively. Sadler had a monster season last year, coming out of nowhere to win the left fullback spot while Crane was signed late in the season, only to be appointed the starter. He responded well and at only 19yo, he's got room to grow. He has great tangibles for a fullback, such as great anticipation, good acceleration, pace and positioning.

Backups: Matthew Bates, as well as being the primary backup at centreback, is also the primary left fullback backup. He's played well in both position in the past, so I wouldn't be nervous to put him out there in case of injury. Michael Synott is versatile enough that he could play on either side, that in itself makes him a solid acquisition of this past offseason.

Reserves: Gino Padula is a good backup to have on the roster, but he'll spend most of his playing time with the reserve squad. He didn't complain last season, hopefully, he won't either this season.

Future: John Davies is a product of our own youth program. He played well in the preseason friendlies so far and for now, he's in the fold as a backup to Craig Crane, if only to give him first-team football every now and then to help him develop... Tom Howell is an interesting prospect. I originally signed him to play winger, but the field of wingers is a bit crowded right now, and looking at Tom's skill set, I think he could fit pretty well as a left fullback. I could play him there if the need come. No comments on Mark Taylor...


FM

[FrogMan]

Roster Breakdown: Inner Midfielders

Name	depth	Position	Age	dri	pas	fin	fir	lon	cre	off	pos	mar	tac	pac	sta	agg	twk	wrk
Bircham, Marc	1	DM C	31	7	10	7	9	8	11	10	14	13	20	13	16	18	20	20
Quashie, Nigel	1	M C	30	9	12	10	11	16	13	11	10	8	11	12	16	14	12	15
Watson, Ben	1	M C	24	12	20	9	15	15	17	12	12	10	8	11	14	11	12	12
Mansell, Lee	2	AM C	26	11	11	15	6	13	10	15	11	11	12	10	16	10	11	13
Jameson, Nathan	3	M RLC	24	18	15	14	7	12	17	16	12	12	14	12	15	6	10	10
Cross, Matt	4	AM/F RC	19	13	13	11	13	13	13	13	9	10	11	8	16	15	8	10
Donnelly, Scott	4	AM RC	21	12	12	10	13	11	11	11	8	7	7	12	11	8	8	10
Cook, Mike	5	M C	16	10	11	10	7	10	10	6	8	7	8	12	18	12	4	13
Chapman, Chris	5	M LC	17	18	10	10	2	12	8	8	13	11	13	9	10	8	10	9
Perry, Ben		AM/F C	18	6	4	8	3	6	3	6	2	3	2	7	10	4	11	13
Parker, Michael		AM RC	18	9	11	8	7	9	7	8	7	4	5	12	18	11	14	13
Taylor, Mark		D/DM RLC	18	2	3	2	1	1	2	5	6	11	5	14	19	14	4	12
Boyle, John		DM RC	25	9	9	9	1	2	10	9	13	6	12	10	16	14	12	10
Blake, Scott		M C	17	7	9	7	7	7	7	5	6	8	8	12	14	10	9	10

Starters: My big three from a season ago is all intact with Marc Bircham, Ben Watson, and Nigel Quashie all rotating in there, depending on who needs some rest. Watson is already earning $21,500 per week, the highest wage of all the team, and someday I'll have to make a decision on him. I like to have Quashie and Watson at home, for their more offensive qualities, and long range shot abilities, while Bircham is a nice player to have when playing away, since he's more of a defensive middie...

Backup: Lee Mansell proved toward the end of last season that he can come in and be a great backup in case of injury. Nathan Jameson is capable of playing inner mid, but I'd rather keep him to play on the wing. Same goes for Matt Cross, but if I ever got caught with a rash on injuries at the middie spot, he could come in and help, while somebody else could take his winger spot.

Reserves: Scott Donnelly rarely played with the first-team last season, although he could have the skill to do so. He's still young and not yet bothered about playing with the reserves, so he'll probably stay there a while more.

Future: Mike Cook showed great skills last season, in his first season with the QPR U18 squad. He's still only 16, so he could develop some, but he's already got the basis to make a good middie. Chris Chapman was bought from Luton midway through last season, but he's not played many games for us, in any squad. Injuries have bothered him more than anything else, and I'd like to hope he's not injury prone enough that he'll waste is talent. He's described as a promising midfielder for now and at 17, he's still got time to develop...


FM

[FrogMan]

Roster Breakdown: Wingers

Name	depth	Position	Age	cre	cro	dri	fin	fir	lon	off	pas	mar	pac	sta	tac	twk	wrk
Cross, Matt	1	AM/F RC	19	13	13	13	11	13	13	13	13	10	8	16	11	8	10
Cook, Lee	1.1	AM L	26	11	15	11	11	4	10	12	13	7	13	16	7	14	15
Jameson, Nathan	1.2	M RLC	24	17	16	18	14	7	12	16	15	12	12	15	14	10	10
Kelly, Marcus	1.3	AM RL	23	13	11	19	12	13	13	12	13	6	12	16	6	14	14
Oster, John	2	AM/F RL	30	10	16	12	10	9	10	11	12	8	15	9	11	10	20
Howell, Tom	2	D/M L	18	15	20	10	12	7	7	13	14	18	8	18	16	12	6
Chapman, Chris	3	M LC	17	8	10	18	10	2	12	8	10	11	9	10	13	10	9
Donnelly, Scott	3	AM RC	21	11	13	12	10	13	11	11	12	7	12	11	7	8	10
Till, Peter	4	M L	24	7	10	10	8	12	14	3	11	6	11	11	7	9	2
Howard, Ian		AM R	19	9	13	7	8	3	11	9	9	10	13	12	9	14	16
John, Matthew		AM R	18	11	3	5	4	4	4	4	3	1	17	12	1	13	16
Parker, Michael		AM RC	18	7	9	9	8	7	9	8	11	4	12	18	5	14	13
Taylor, Mark		D/DM RLC	18	2	1	2	2	1	1	5	3	11	14	19	5	4	12
Boyle, John		DM RC	25	10	1	9	9	1	2	9	9	6	10	16	12	12	10

Starters: England U19 winger Matt Cross is about the only one sure shot as a starting winger. He'll play on the right side. The left side is a bit more unsertain. There's Lee Cook, who doesn't look as amazing on paper as the other wingers, but did well when Jim Paterson went down last season. With him, I have Nathan Jameson and new acquired Marcus Kelly. Jameson has disappointed me in preseason play this season, while Kelly has done well. I'm a bit torn on this, as Jameson showed real sparks last season when asked upon. I guess it'll be an experiment to try and find some stability on the left side of the wings...

Backups: Incidentally, Marcus Kelly and Nathan Jameson, when not starting, will almost always be selected as subs, if only because they can play on both sides of the wings. John Oster is another one, even though he'll probably never start, or play a full game, mostly to his relatively low stamina.

Reserves: Scott Donnelly played most of last season with the reserves and it looks like it could be much of the same for him this season. I think he could play well in replacement of Matt Cross is ever the need comes, but we've got two very cabable right wingers in front of him on the depth chart. Peter Till will most likely spend the whole season with the reserves and should not play with the senior squad except in the case of a severe injury rash. John Oster, also listed with the backups, will probably spend more time with the reserves, at least remaining match fit in case we need him.

Future: Tom Howell is described as a promising winger and just turned 18. He could have been listed as a backup on the left wing, and could even overtake the starting spot late in the season. He has some very good skills for an 18yo. Now remains to be seen if he'll keep on developping... Chris Chapman is possibly the biggest tease on the team. Gifted with good skills, he keeps on getting injured. He came to the team injured, an injury that required him to have surgery and miss 4 months last season, and he's in physiotherapy this season, for another injury. Ian Howard, Matthew John, Michael Parker, and Mark Taylor are all products of the Q.P.R. youth program but other than maybe Howard, it's doubtful any of these kids will ever make it to the senior squad...

FM

[FrogMan]

Roster Breakdown: Strikers

Name	depth	Position	Age	cre	dri	fin	fir	fla	lon	off	pas	hea	jum	pac	sta	str	dec	wrk
Curth, Jeppe Lund	1	F C	25	17	18	16	9	15	17	20	16	6	4	14	12	4	12	11
Brooker, Steve	1	S C	28	10	10	13	11	9	14	13	11	14	12	9	16	14	10	15
Johnson, Andrew	1	S C	19	9	13	13	13	3	13	13	13	13	20	11	17	9	11	16
Parker, Keigan	2	F RC	27	9	9	18	3	12	10	14	10	10	14	17	16	8	7	15
Kaviedes, Iván	2	S C	31	17	16	16	14	16	13	17	14	16	11	4	4	15	15	6
Wall, Justin	3	S C	17	11	11	10	11	2	11	11	11	11	17	7	11	9	12	20
Cross, Matt	4	AM/F RC	19	13	13	11	13	4	13	13	13	13	17	8	16	12	15	10
Perry, Ben		AM/F C	18	3	6	8	3	3	6	6	4	6	7	7	10	13	6	13
Matthews, Matt		S C	19	15	5	6	1	8	3	6	9	3	9	8	16	9	4	19

Starters: I intend on using a trio of strikers for most matches. Whenever they'll be healthy, these three players should be Jeppe Lund Curth, Andrew Johnson, and Steve Brooker. Curth has missed most of the preseason, but he played extremely well last season. Curth and Andrew Johnson both almost assisted on as many goals as he scored, which is always nice from a duo of strikers. Steve Brooker was our top scorer from a season ago and has a knack for finding the back of the net.

Backups: Keigan Parker is another who has a knack for finding the back of the net. If anything ever happens to one of my top three, I won't be ashamed to put him in there as a starter, and I'm sure he'd do very well. He was a steal for only 340k... Iván Kaviedes' playing time has dwindled since he got to the team. He's capable of great things, but isn't as flamboyant now at 31 than he used to be. He's a very solid backup however.

Reserves: Not really a reserve, as he's already our starting right winger, but Matt Cross can easily double as backup striker if we ever have the need to go 6 deep within the group of strikers. He did so last season when we had about no depth past Brooker, Johnson and Kaviedes (before Curth and Parker joined the club)... Iván Kaviedes may be moved down to the reserve club if the injury fairy isn't too rough on us and he's not getting playing time with the senior squad...

Future: 17yo promising striker Justin Wall was acquired this offseason with exactly that in mind, be our striker of the future. Thing is, he's developped quite well already in preseason games. I've seen him gain up to 2 points of skill in some very important skills. For example, even though the table above reports 10 in finishing, I saw an 11 or a even a 12 when looking at his player profile last night, he is learning, and playing against Premiership sides has done wonders for his development. Other than him we're pretty thin in the youth department though...


FM

[FrogMan]

With the strikers, we close the roster breakdown section. I think I've built some depth about everywhere, something that was majorly lacking when I first got with the team. Next up will be to start trying to get better players, one at a time. We have about 540k in transfer money, but are already 12k per week over our wage budget, so I'll have to spend frugally...

FM

[FrogMan]

July 19, 2009

Pkd	Inf	Name	Position	Morale	Form	Con	Apps	Gls	Av Rat
GK		Paul Davies	GK	Superb	8-7-7-7-8	100%	-	-	-
DR		John Davies	D R	Superb	7-7-7-7-7	98%	-	-	-
DL		Mathew Sadler	D L	Superb	7-7-7-7-7	92%	-	-	-
DC		Michael Synott	D RLC	Poor	7-6-7-7	93%	-	-	-
DC		Matthew Bates	D LC	Poor	7-7-7-7-7	94%	-	-	-
MR		Nathan Jameson	M RLC	Superb	8-7-6-6-5	92%	-	-	-
ML		Marcus Kelly	AM RL	Superb	7-6-7-7	91%	-	-	-
MC		Marc Bircham	DM C	Superb	7-7-7-7-7	94%	-	-	-
MC		Ben Watson	M C	Superb	7-7-7-8-7	93%	-	-	-
FC		Steve Brooker	S C	Superb	8-6-7-7-7	91%	-	-	-
FC		Justin Wall	S C	Poor	7-7-7-7-7	91%	-	-	-
S1		Chris Day	GK	Superb	7-8-7-7-7	100%	-	-	-
S2	Wnt	Darren Evans	D C	Superb	6-6-7-7-7	94%	-	-	-
S3		Danny Shittu	D C	Superb	8-7-8-6-7	95%	-	-	-
S4		Craig Crane	D R	Superb	7-7-7-7-7	94%	-	-	-
S5		Lee Mansell	AM C	Superb	7-7-7-7-7	91%	-	-	-
S6		Nigel Quashie	M C	Superb	7-7-7-7-7	92%	-	-	-
S7	Loa	Scott Donnelly	AM RC	Superb	8-8-6-7-5	100%	-	-	-
S8		Tom Howell	D/DM L	Superb	7-7-7-6-7	91%	-	-	-
S9	Unh	Lee Cook	AM L	Superb	6-7-7-7-7	94%	-	-	-
S10		Iván Kaviedes	S C	Superb	6-7-8-7-7	91%	-	-	-
S11		Keigan Parker	S C	Superb	7-7-7-6-7	92%	-	-	-
S12		Gino Padula	D/DM L	Superb	7-7-7-7-7	94%	-	-	-
-	Int	Matt Cross	AM/F RC	Superb	7-7-7-7-7	87%	-	-	-
-	Inj	Jeppe Lund Curth	F C	Superb	8-10-7-7-7	43%	-	-	-
-	Int	Andrew Johnson	S C	Superb	7-7-7-7-6	92%	-	-	-
-		John Oster	AM RL	Very Poor	7-7-7	90%	-	-	-

We play Aston Villa at Loftus Road. They finished 9th in the Premiership last season, so this should be a good challenge.

I'm a bit concerned when I see that neither Matt Cross nor Andrew Johnson are considered match fit yet. They're still with the England U19 squad, playing in the European U19 Championship, but they've not played as many matches as the Q.P.R. squad has played. Hopefully, it won't hurt the start of their season with us.

I'm beginning to give more playing time to players who are not match fit already. Danny Shittu is one of those already fit players, and since he's going to be very needed during the season, I'll start slacking his playing time for the last two friendlies of this preseason.

The first half is a rough one, as we quickly go down 0-3. Some players are struggling mightily. Mathew Sadler and Nathan Jameson were both rated at 4 at some point in the half and Jameson stays at 4 at the half. Sadler gave them the ball for their third goal. Jameson is not looking like a player fighting for a starting spot...

Aston Villa will add a 4th goal in the second half while we look a bit better, but it may be because they either pulled back, or started playing backups...

Final Score: 0-4

They outshot us 8 to 5, 7 to none on target. That they put 7 of their 8 shots on target is very impressive. The whole team was probably a bit impressed as nobody played really well, except maybe Marcus Kelly who rated at 7. Tom Howell played at left fullback and while he rated at only 6, his stats say he seemed to do well...


FM

[FrogMan]

July 20, 2009
My assistant reports that Andrew Johnson looked good while playing the whole match with the England U19 squad, even scoring a goal in the game. England won 2-0 over Switzerland in that game.

Matt Cross also played the whole game, but was average at best.

July 21, 2009
Our 360k bid for Tuomas Aho is rejected by MyPa. I offer them 420k...

July 22, 2009
Sad twist of event, as Andrew Johnson suffers a damaged elbow in the morning training session. He'll miss one week. It's sad because it happened on the day that the England U19 squad was set to play the Italy U19 squad in the semi-finals of the European Championship...

Speaking of which, England loses that game, 1-2 against Italy. Matt Cross played well, without really excelling. Still a rating of 7 in an international match isn't bad at all...

FM

[Koryo]

[quote=FrogMan]Roster Breakdown: Wingers

Name	depth	Position	Age	cre	cro	dri	fin	fir	lon	off	pas	mar	pac	sta	tac	twk	wrk
Cross, Matt	1	AM/F RC	19	13	13	13	11	13	13	13	13	10	8	16	11	8	10
Cook, Lee	1.1	AM L	26	11	15	11	11	4	10	12	13	7	13	16	7	14	15
Jameson, Nathan	1.2	M RLC	24	17	16	18	14	7	12	16	15	12	12	15	14	10	10
Kelly, Marcus	1.3	AM RL	23	13	11	19	12	13	13	12	13	6	12	16	6	14	14
Oster, John	2	AM/F RL	30	10	16	12	10	9	10	11	12	8	15	9	11	10	20
Howell, Tom	2	D/M L	18	15	20	10	12	7	7	13	14	18	8	18	16	12	6
Chapman, Chris	3	M LC	17	8	10	18	10	2	12	8	10	11	9	10	13	10	9
Donnelly, Scott	3	AM RC	21	11	13	12	10	13	11	11	12	7	12	11	7	8	10
Till, Peter	4	M L	24	7	10	10	8	12	14	3	11	6	11	11	7	9	2
Howard, Ian		AM R	19	9	13	7	8	3	11	9	9	10	13	12	9	14	16
John, Matthew		AM R	18	11	3	5	4	4	4	4	3	1	17	12	1	13	16
Parker, Michael		AM RC	18	7	9	9	8	7	9	8	11	4	12	18	5	14	13
Taylor, Mark		D/DM RLC	18	2	1	2	2	1	1	5	3	11	14	19	5	4	12
Boyle, John		DM RC	25	10	1	9	9	1	2	9	9	6	10	16	12	12	10

FM[/QUOTE

I'm enjoying your dynasty. One question I have: Are these tables something you are able to create in game or are you making them with some kind of spreadsheet? I have been wanting to make tables of key stats of players but haven't figured out the best way to accomplish that yet.

[FrogMan]

Originally Posted by Koryo

I'm enjoying your dynasty. One question I have: Are these tables something you are able to create in game or are you making them with some kind of spreadsheet? I have been wanting to make tables of key stats of players but haven't figured out the best way to accomplish that yet.

Thanks for reading, glad you're enjoying it

These tables are not coming straight from the game. I pull the ratings with FM Scout, export them to HMTL and import it to an excel spreadsheet (drag and drop from windows explorer straight to excel works like a charm to do that), in which I choose what skills I want to show, depending on the position. I have set FM Scout to show me only columns that are available in the game, that way, I don't feel like I'm cheating, since I'm only seeing stuff I could see in the game... Hope this helps.

FM

[daedalus]

Originally Posted by Katon

Well, where's the fun in that? No, if I'm ever Chelsea manager, it'll be because the board went out of their way to appoint me. Which is not impossible, actually, since I'm doing pretty well at the moment as the PSV manager. Now all I need is for them to sack David Moyes and I might have a shot at the job.

True. But won't their budget comes back to earth if you take out the SUGAR_DADDY tag?

[daedalus]

Originally Posted by FrogMan

Whenever they'll be healthy, these three players should be Jeppe Lund Curth, Andrew Johnson, and Steve Brooker.

KAVI!!!!@

He won't accept this demotion, you know. He'll come back stronger and more powerful than ever. He's Kavi. He's cocky, he's funny AND he, uhhh, scores.

Yeah.

[FrogMan]

Originally Posted by daedalus

KAVI!!!!@

He won't accept this demotion, you know. He'll come back stronger and more powerful than ever. He's Kavi. He's cocky, he's funny AND he, uhhh, scores.

Yeah.

now I recognize a long time reader! Just as passionate as I am

Poor Kavi is getting up there in age at 31 and his stamina, and more importantly, pace, are not getting any better (4 in both). He has a hard time playing two games in a week, and usually has to be pulled out at halftime... Sad, but it's life

Also, he's not been the goal scorer I'd have wanted him to be. Especially compared to the number of goals he scored in Ecuador in the few seasons before coming to Luton... At least he now speaks English fluently

FM

[FrogMan]

July 23, 2009
Jeppe Lund curth resumes full training following physiotherapy. The specialist that treated him is optimistic he has recovered fully from his injury.

I get a report from my assistant about players with contracts that will expire in the next 12 months. There are quite a few...
Senior Squad: Marc Bircham, Chris Day, Nigel Quashie, Iván Kaviedes Nathan Jameson, Michael Synott, and Lee Cook.
Reserve squad: Neil Murray, Gino Padula.
U18 squad: Joe Marshall, Matthew John, Ben Perry, Scott Blake, Justin Wall

Some of these, especially on the U18 squad will be free transferred before their contracts will even come to terms...

FM

[FrogMan]

July 23, 2009

Pkd	Inf	Name	Position	Morale	Form	Con	Apps	Gls	Av Rat
GK		Chris Day	GK	Superb	8-7-7-7-6	100%	-	-	-
DR		Craig Crane	D R	Superb	7-7-7-7-6	100%	-	-	-
DL		Mathew Sadler	D L	Superb	7-7-7-7-5	96%	-	-	-
DC		Danny Shittu	D C	Superb	7-8-6-7-6	100%	-	-	-
DC	Wnt	Darren Evans	D C	Superb	6-7-7-7-6	100%	-	-	-
MR		Marcus Kelly	AM RL	Superb	7-6-7-7-7	93%	-	-	-
ML	Unh	Lee Cook	AM L	Superb	7-7-7-7-6	94%	-	-	-
MC		Marc Bircham	DM C	Superb	7-7-7-7-6	97%	-	-	-
MC		Ben Watson	M C	Superb	7-7-8-7-6	95%	-	-	-
FC		Steve Brooker	S C	Superb	6-7-7-7-5	93%	-	-	-
FC		Justin Wall	S C	Poor	7-7-7-7-6	91%	-	-	-
S1		Paul Davies	GK	Superb	7-7-7-8-6	100%	-	-	-
S2		Matthew Bates	D LC	Poor	7-7-7-7-6	97%	-	-	-
S3		Michael Synott	D RLC	Poor	7-6-7-7-6	93%	-	-	-
S4		John Davies	D R	Superb	7-7-7-7-6	93%	-	-	-
S5		Lee Mansell	AM C	Superb	7-7-7-7-6	94%	-	-	-
S6		Nigel Quashie	M C	Superb	7-7-7-7-6	94%	-	-	-
S7	Loa	Scott Donnelly	AM RC	Superb	8-6-7-5-6	93%	-	-	-
S8		Tom Howell	D/DM L	Superb	7-7-6-7-6	95%	-	-	-
S9		Nathan Jameson	M RLC	Superb	7-6-6-5-4	93%	-	-	-
S10		Iván Kaviedes	S C	Superb	7-8-7-7-6	97%	-	-	-
S11		Keigan Parker	S C	Superb	7-7-6-7-6	95%	-	-	-
S12		John Oster	AM RL	Very Poor	7-7-7	96%	-	-	-
-	Int	Matt Cross	AM/F RC	Superb	7-7-7-6-7	75%	-	-	-
-	Unf	Jeppe Lund Curth	F C	Superb	8-10-7-7-7	54%	-	-	-
-	Inj	Andrew Johnson	S C	Superb	7-7-7-6-8	74%	-	-	-

We play Chelsea at Loftus Road in our final friendly of this preseason. This game is to be televised live.

We will start as close to what would be a real starting eleven, especially from midfield down to goalkeeper.

TV commentators are giving odds for this game, even though it's only a friendly. Chelsea is favourite (duh) and are priced at 1-2, our odds are at 9-2. Key players according to TV commentators are Danny Shittu for us, Adrian Mutu for them.

The London's Evening Standard's prediction is as follows: "I can't look beyond Chelsea for this game. They're a good side and I believe they've got what it takes to see off Q.P.R. today." That is lightly put if you ask me. They could light us up even more than what Aston Villa did a few days ago...

They score in the 16th minute, as they head in a corner kick. We'll tie it at the start of the second half, when Keigan Parker on the run finds himself alone with the keeper following a great, 45yards long pass from Mathew Sadler, over the line of defenders.

Final Score: 1-1

They outshot us, but barely, 12 to 10, 6 to 3 on target. Most of our shots came in the last 15 minutes of the game. Keigan Parker ends the game with a rating of 8. Paul Davies gets rated at 9, playing the whole second half, while Chris Day who played the first half, gets rated only at 6. This is one of the things that scares me about Day, he will sometimes pull a stinker like that...

All in all, a nice draw to end the preseason. The TV commentator summarized it best: "Q.P.R. will have the happier set of supporters this evening after gaining a draw against Chelsea. The Blues manager however is likely to be wondering why they weren't able to win the game" I kind of like that comment

[FrogMan]

July 24, 2009
Marc Bircham damaged his shoulder in training today. He will mis two weeks.

July 25, 2009
Dang, this as got to stop! Steve Brooker is the latest to drop in training. He strained his groin and while my physios say he should miss two weeks, they also say we should send him see a specialist. They did a similar recommendation for Brooker in the final stretch last season, when I was kind thin at striker and I disregarded the advice. I go for it this time, since the season is very young. He will miss 3 weeks while attending physiotherapy.

MyPa wants to negotiate over Tuomas Aho. They are asking for 260k up front, plus 280k over the next 6 months, for a total of 540k. That's lot if you ask me, about what's left in my transfer budget... I counter with 160k up front, plus 280k over 6 months, for 440k total.

This is a time of decisions, as we've played all of our preseason friendlies. I don't want to keep 26 players on the senior squad, so some moves have to be made. Nathan Jameson is the first to pay for a bad preseason. He goes down to the reserves, while Marcus Kelly and Lee Cook will stay with the Senior squad.
Justin Wall remains with the senior squad at least until Jeppe Lund Curth is close to 100%. He is currently at 69%.
Lee Mansell gets an extended stay with the senior squad, as a backup middie until Marc Bircham makes it back from his injury.
Tom Howell, I'm not too sure. He's close to being ready, so I'll keep him around the senior squad.
Michael Synott goes to the reserves to at least stay match fit in case of injury to any of the other defenders...

FM

[FrogMan]

July 28, 2009
Totalbet.com as put up the odds from promotion! Leicester and Nottingham Forest have been made 7-4 joint favourites to gain promotion from the English Championship this season.

The rest of the main contenders are priced at: 2-1 for Charlton, 5-2 for Crystal Palace, 5-2 again for Southampton, and 8-1 for IPswich.

Coming at 33-1 it seems clear that the bookmarkers have us tipped as an outside chance for promotion this campaign.

As the newspaper said, whether we make it or not will ultimately depend on how my side fares against the top teams in this division.

This is the second time I start a season in the Championship. Last time, with Luton, we were priced at 80-1, so pundits see us as a much better squad than the Luton one I first brought to the Championship a few seasons ago...

Later in the day, we get a report that Ipswich are among the clubs said to be chasing highly-rated Q.P.R. youngster Darren Evans. I issue a hands off warning, Evans is not for sale and I tell Evans he will be part of a bright future at the club and should stay put.


FM

[Katon]

Originally Posted by daedalus

True. But won't their budget comes back to earth if you take out the SUGAR_DADDY tag?

Back to earth, yes. But that would still leave them as one of the three easiest teams in England to play as just on the basis of the current squad. And this way, if I ever do manage to get appointed there, they'll have some incredible players.

[FrogMan]

July 29, 2009
MyPa want to negotiate over Tuomas Aho. Woah, they now want 240k now, 320k over 6 months for a total of 560k! I offer 240k now, with 220k over 6 months, for a total of 460k...

They get back to me later in the day, countering with 300k now, plus 240k over 6 months. I offer 240k now, plus 40k over 6 months and the dance continues...

July 31, 2009
The draw for the 1st round of the League Cup happens. We will play League Two side Port Vale, on their pitch, on August 19.

We get some unexpected news. Ricky Hanson accepts to join us for a 3 month loan. If I remember correctly from the time he was on loan with Luton, he played better as a centreback than anywhere else where he could play (he's a D/DM/F RC). This is also reinforced by his centreback skill sheet:

Name	depth	Position	Age	hea	jum	mar	tac	pos	agg	acc	ant	bra	dec	det	pac	pas	str
Hanson, Ricky	x	D/DM/F RC	22	15	8	14	15	14	14	7	15	4	9	10	8	16	9

We'll see, but this may well put an end to my talks of getting Tuomas Aho, at least for 3 months. We won't pay one penny from Hanson's wage, and he's valued at 220k. We could afford him straight up, but I guess we could get him for cheaper, as Nottingham Forest has been shopping him around for a while now. He rejected offers from Wycombe and another club I can't remember.

August 1st, 2009
The Team Board is very pleased with my managerial performance at the dawn of this new season. Let's hope it'll stay this way.

I send Justin Wall down to the U18 squad, now that Jeppe Lund Curth and Andrew Johnson are back to close to 100%...


FM

[FrogMan]

just realized it probably would have been better if I'd reposted an update depth chart for centrebacks, if only to be able to compare Ricky Hanson with others more easily... There it is:

Name	depth	Position	Age	hea	jum	mar	tac	pos	agg	acc	ant	bra	dec	det	pac	pas	str
Shittu, Danny	1	D C	28	20	18	12	15	14	15	14	11	16	9	16	14	6	18
Evans, Darren	1	D C	18	12	11	15	15	15	6	10	16	3	13	10	8	11	18
Bates, Matthew	2	D LC	22	19	15	12	11	10	14	13	10	14	13	8	12	10	11
Hanson, Ricky	2	D/DM/F RC	22	15	8	14	15	14	14	7	15	4	9	10	8	16	9
Synott, Michael	3	D RLC	22	14	7	19	12	16	6	6	12	5	11	10	7	14	3
Taylor, Mark		D/DM RLC	18	1	20	11	5	6	14	13	4	4	3	20	14	3	12

He's got good skills for a centreback, honestly. Headin, marking, tacklin, positioning, and aggression are all in there, with above average passing to help restart the offense...

FM

[terpkristin]

Way to pull out the tie against Chelsea, FM!!!
I'll take the blame/credit for the injuries...

/tk

[FrogMan]

Originally Posted by terpkristin

I'll take the blame/credit for the injuries...

didn't expect anything less of you tk

FM

[FrogMan]

August 1, 2009

Pkd	Inf	Name	Position	Morale	Form	Con	Apps	Gls	Av Rat
GK		Paul Davies	GK	Superb	7-7-8-6-9	100%	-	-	-
DR		Craig Crane	D R	Superb	7-7-7-6-7	100%	-	-	-
DL		Mathew Sadler	D L	Superb	7-7-7-5-7	100%	-	-	-
DC		Danny Shittu	D C	Superb	8-6-7-6-7	100%	-	-	-
DC	Unh	Darren Evans	D C	Superb	7-7-7-6-7	100%	-	-	-
MR		Matt Cross	AM/F RC	Superb	7-7-7-6-7	100%	-	-	-
ML	Unh	Lee Cook	AM L	Superb	7-7-7-6-7	100%	-	-	-
MC		Ben Watson	M C	Very Good	7-8-7-6-7	100%	-	-	-
MC		Nigel Quashie	M C	Superb	7-7-7-6-7	100%	-	-	-
FC		Andrew Johnson	S C	Superb	7-7-7-6-8	90%	-	-	-
FC		Jeppe Lund Curth	F C	Superb	8-10-7-7-7	93%	-	-	-
S1		Chris Day	GK	Superb	7-7-7-6-6	100%	-	-	-
S2		Marcus Kelly	AM RL	Superb	6-7-7-7-7	100%	-	-	-
S3		Lee Mansell	AM C	Superb	7-7-7-6-7	100%	-	-	-
S4		Iván Kaviedes	S C	Superb	8-7-7-6-7	100%	-	-	-
S5		Keigan Parker	S C	Superb	7-6-7-6-8	100%	-	-	-
-	Inj	Marc Bircham	DM C	Superb	7-7-7-6-7	68%	-	-	-
-	Inj	Steve Brooker	S C	Superb	7-7-7-5-7	45%	-	-	-
-		Matthew Bates	D LC	Poor	7-7-7-6-7	100%	-	-	-
-		Tom Howell	D/DM L	Superb	7-6-7-6-7	100%	-	-	-

We play Southampton at Loftus Road in our first regular season match back in the Championship. They finished 19th in the Premiership last season, and as I wrote earlier, they had been in the Premiership since 1978...

Prior to the match, I get some reports that Darren Evans has been unsettled by the recent transfer speculations. He told a football website that he is not keen on having his future bandied around in the media and wants all parties concerned to discuss the matter amicably. The 18yo central defender did however say that a move to Ipswich would interest him and that he wants the situation to be resolved as soon as possible. I guess he didn't like me going publicly, saying I won't sell him then... Bah. You're not going anywher kid, get used to it...

I put Andrew Johnson and Jeppe Lund Curth in as my starting strikers, even though they're not 100%. Following the long break since our last preseason match, they're the only two players not at 100%. Because of their condition, and the fact that Curth has not played in a while, I will carry two strikers on my bench.

Paul Davies has averaged 7.42 in 7 preseason appearances, while Chris Day failed to average 7, coming in at 6.86. I start Davies at keeper.

Having Andrew Johnson on the pitch pays off in the 18th minute, as he scores following a long lofted pass from Darren Evans. Up 1-0!

That's the halftime score, and while we're not spending as much time on their end as I'd like, we're dominating them in ball control (54%) and on shots (10 to 6, 7 to 2 on target)...

After coming to replace Jeppe Lund Curth at the half, Keigan Parker will score twice in 7 minutes. First in the 74th minute, heading in a Lee Mansell free kick, then again in the 81st minute, converting a long pass from Nigel Quashie into his second goal of the game.

Final Score: 3-0

WOW! We start the season with a roar! We increased our global possession number to 56% on the game after the second half, but more importantly, we shut them down completely in the second half, not allowing them even one shot off target. On the game, we outshot them 19 to 6, 10 to 2 on target.

Nigel Quashie is named Man of the Match with a rating of 9. He completed 25 of 29 passes, 4 of them key passes, and had 4 interceptions. Five other players had ratings of 8 (Davies, Shittu, Evans, Cook, Parker).

We start the season in first place!!! I won't put up the league table after every match, but this one is hstoric...

Pos	Team	Pld	Won	Drn	Lst	For	Ag	G.D.	Pts
1st	Q.P.R.	1	1	0	0	3	0	+3	3
2nd	Brighton	1	1	0	0	2	0	+2	3
3rd	Cardiff	1	1	0	0	2	1	+1	3
4th	Crystal Palace	1	1	0	0	2	1	+1	3
5th	Sheff Utd	1	1	0	0	2	1	+1	3
6th	Coventry	1	0	1	0	2	2	0	1
7th	Gillingham	1	0	1	0	2	2	0	1
8th	Walsall	1	0	1	0	2	2	0	1
9th	West Ham	1	0	1	0	2	2	0	1
10th	Bristol C	1	0	1	0	1	1	0	1
11th	Crewe	1	0	1	0	1	1	0	1
12th	Ipswich	1	0	1	0	1	1	0	1
13th	Leeds	1	0	1	0	1	1	0	1
14th	Hull	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	1
15th	Plymouth	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	1
16th	Reading	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	1
17th	Stoke	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	1
18th	Leicester	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
19th	Nottm Forest	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
20th	Burnley	1	0	0	1	1	2	-1	0
21st	Charlton	1	0	0	1	1	2	-1	0
22nd	Derby	1	0	0	1	1	2	-1	0
23rd	Millwall	1	0	0	1	0	2	-2	0
24th	Southampton	1	0	0	1	0	3	-3	0

Following the match, the team chairman just could not hide his delight over our win, these are good times at Loftus Road...

FM

[terpkristin]

I hope you got a real screenshot of that 1st place, FM, it might be nice to "reminisce" (yes I killed that word) if things get hairy later on..

/tk

[FrogMan]

Originally Posted by terpkristin

I hope you got a real screenshot of that 1st place, FM, it might be nice to "reminisce" (yes I killed that word) if things get hairy later on..

/tk

Well, I got the table in here, that's good enough for me. You think I should save/print/frame the email message where they say the chairman couldn't hide his delight, for when he'll want to sack me for losing 17 in a row in December/January?

FM

[terpkristin]

Originally Posted by FrogMan

Well, I got the table in here, that's good enough for me. You think I should save/print/frame the email message where they say the chairman couldn't hide his delight, for when he'll want to sack me for losing 17 in a row in December/January?

FM

Now there's an idea!
Plus you can show Andrew how happy your team is with you.
/tk

[FrogMan]

August 2, 2009
MyPa want to negotiate for the transfer of Tuomas Aho. With the signing of Ricky Hanson on loan, I don't really feel the need to break the bank for Aho. They're asking for 280k right now, and 240k over the next 6 months. I make one last bid at 240k right now, 240k over the next 6 months, and 5% of the next sale. If they don't agree, and I don't think they will but anyway, I'll drop it...

August 4, 2009

Pkd	Inf	Name	Position	Morale	Form	Con	Apps	Gls	Av Rat
GK		Paul Davies	GK	Superb	7-8-6-9-8	100%	1	-	8.00
DR		Craig Crane	D R	Superb	7-7-6-7-7	93%	1	-	7.00
DL		Mathew Sadler	D L	Superb	7-7-5-7-7	93%	1	-	7.00
DC		Danny Shittu	D C	Superb	6-7-6-7-8	95%	1	-	8.00
DC		Darren Evans	D C	Superb	7-7-6-7-8	94%	1	-	8.00
MR		Matt Cross	AM/F RC	Superb	7-7-6-7-7	92%	1	-	7.00
ML	Unh	Lee Cook	AM L	Superb	7-7-6-7-8	93%	1	-	8.00
MC		Ben Watson	M C	Superb	8-7-6-7-6	94%	1	-	6.00
MC		Nigel Quashie	M C	Superb	7-7-6-7-9	92%	1	-	9.00
FC		Andrew Johnson	S C	Superb	7-7-6-8-8	92%	1	1	8.00
FC		Keigan Parker	S C	Superb	6-7-6-8-8	98%	0 (1)	2	8.00
S1		Chris Day	GK	Superb	7-7-7-6-6	100%	-	-	-
S2		Lee Mansell	AM C	Superb	7-7-6-7-7	96%	0 (1)	-	7.00
S3		Marcus Kelly	AM RL	Superb	6-7-7-7-7	100%	-	-	-
S4		Tom Howell	D/DM L	Superb	7-6-7-6-7	100%	-	-	-
S5		Iván Kaviedes	S C	Superb	7-7-6-7-7	100%	0 (1)	-	7.00
-		Matthew Bates	D LC	Okay	7-7-7-6-7	100%	-	-	-
-		Marc Bircham	DM C	Superb	7-7-7-6-7	77%	-	-	-
-	Inj	Steve Brooker	S C	Superb	7-7-7-5-7	41%	-	-	-
-		Jeppe Lund Curth	F C	Superb	10-7-7-7-7	90%	1	-	7.00
-	Inj	Ricky Hanson	D/DM/F RC	Very Good	-	75%	-	-	-

We go play Crystal Palace on their pitch. They won their first match, but sort of unconvincingly, 2-1 over Derby.

I decide to go with two wingers on the bench and Paul Davies again in the nets.

Darren Evans isn't unhappy anymore. Looks like he got over the speculation of transfers that were going on about him. Ricky Hanson is showing up as injured, but he was injured before we signed him.

Crystal Palace swept us in our last season in the Championship, beating us 1-2, and 0-3.

A great sequence between Andrew Johnson and Matt Cross leads to Keigan Parker's 3rd goal of the season in the 15th minute. The rest of the game will be us fighting them off, and doing a good job of it They went to the dreaded 4-2-4 in the 81st minute, even pushing their keeper forward on two occasions on corner kicks. Look at this:


We then went through an agonizingly long 5 minutes of injury time, them going to a 2-3-5 formation, and yet, we held on to win!!!

Final Score: 1-0

Despite them putting so much pressure late in the game, we end up outshooting them 19 to 9, 10 to 2 on target. Keigan Parker is name Man of the Match with a goal and a rating of 9. He completed 19 of his 21 passes and put all of his 6 shots on target. Paul Davies, Craig Crane and Danny Shittu all got ratings of 8, while Lee Cook had a subpar game with a rating of 6.

We remain in 1st place and the team chairman still could not hid his delight following the win. The Team Board and the fans, who were both "very pleased" with my work before this game, are now delighted with it!

August 5, 2009
MyPa now wants 280k up front and 260k over the next 6 months for Tuoams Aho. Well, screw them, they won't get my money...


FM

[finketr]

fm,

in one of my games, they brought the goalie forward as well...

it even splashes up a big note about it.

So, you have your players in an excel format... Is that an exportable view from FM2005? (aka how?)

Can you export the standings in the same way?

[FrogMan]

Originally Posted by finketr

fm,

in one of my games, they brought the goalie forward as well...

it even splashes up a big note about it.

So, you have your players in an excel format... Is that an exportable view from FM2005? (aka how?)

Can you export the standings in the same way?

Yeah, I saw the comment at the bottom and went totally wide eyed when I actually saw the keeper start running accross the field to our penalty box. Was the first time it ever happened in one of my games, thought it was pretty cool

Player/standings, If you are talking about what I post in here, they come straight from the game. Under "Options" there's the possibility to "Print screen" when you're either on the squad screen or the league table screen. I simply select "print to web" and I modify the look of it slightly (mostly take off borders and delete the table width command) and I copy/paste it here.

But, as you'd probably expect it , I also have save my players in excel format fairly regularly. I use FM Scout to go into my gamefile and I pull only the columns that are visible in the game, in order not to cheat in any way, and I export it to HTML. I have found that simply sliding the HTML file from windows explorer straight into excel imports the file perfectly. I then only have to save it as an excel spreadsheet.

If you're (or anybody else is) interested, I could post the 53 columns that I use and consider the "visible" ones.

I've started trying to take a monthly picture of my team, but only started this season (2009-10), in order to keep some track of who is developing and who isn't, or worse, who is regressing...

FM

[FrogMan]

August 7, 2009
Lee Cook reveals to the media that he's content with his role at Q.P.R. He said that he no long feels regular first-team football is beyond him at Q.P.R.

The 27-year-old winger commented that I had now convinced him that he has the ability to establish a place in the team if he applies himself sufficiently.

Good for him that he believes that. Let's hope for him he won't sit on it, because he still has some fierce competition for that left winger spot in Marcu Kelly and Tom Howell...

August 8, 2009

Pkd	Inf	Name	Position	Morale	Form	Con	Apps	Gls	Av Rat
GK		Paul Davies	GK	Superb	8-6-9-8-8	100%	2	-	8.00
DR		Craig Crane	D R	Superb	7-6-7-7-8	95%	2	-	7.50
DL		Mathew Sadler	D L	Superb	7-5-7-7-7	95%	2	-	7.00
DC		Danny Shittu	D C	Superb	7-6-7-8-8	97%	2	-	8.00
DC		Matthew Bates	D LC	Okay	7-7-7-6-7	100%	-	-	-
MR		Matt Cross	AM/F RC	Superb	7-6-7-7-7	95%	2	-	7.00
ML		Lee Cook	AM L	Superb	7-6-7-8-6	98%	2	-	7.00
MC		Ben Watson	M C	Superb	7-6-7-6-7	96%	2	-	6.50
MC		Nigel Quashie	M C	Superb	7-6-7-9-7	94%	2	-	8.00
FC		Keigan Parker	S C	Superb	7-6-8-8-9	95%	1 (1)	3	8.50
FC		Jeppe Lund Curth	F C	Superb	10-7-7-7-7	94%	1	-	7.00
S1		Chris Day	GK	Superb	7-7-7-6-6	100%	-	-	-
S2		Marc Bircham	DM C	Superb	7-7-7-6-7	93%	-	-	-
S3		Marcus Kelly	AM RL	Superb	7-7-7-7-7	100%	0 (1)	-	7.00
S4		Tom Howell	D/DM L	Superb	6-7-6-7-7	95%	0 (1)	-	7.00
S5		Andrew Johnson	S C	Superb	7-6-8-8-7	91%	2	1	7.50
-	Inj	Steve Brooker	S C	Superb	7-7-7-5-7	36%	-	-	-
-		Darren Evans	D C	Superb	7-6-7-8-7	96%	2	-	7.50

We play Charlton at Loftus Road. They're currently 9th after a loss to Cardiff (1-2) and a 2-0 win over Derby. Not very impressive of them against two opponents I don't see as the toughest in the Championship...

I send Lee Mansell back to the reserves following the return to relative good form of Marc Bircham. We'll have 2 wingers on the bench for this one again.

Paul Davies has played well so far (rated 8 twice) so he stays in. I move Ricky Hanson and Iván Kaviedes to the reserve squad so they can play in the August 9 friendly against our U18 squad.

Charlton shows a 3-5-2/5-3-2 formation with 2 wingbacks to start the game.

The ref starts showering us with cards early on. With only 4:36 played, we've already received two...

It's 0-0 at the half, but we're in control with a modest 52% possession, but ahead 8(3) to 3(0) in shots. (note: the number inside the () is shots on target)

The second half got a bit wild as 4 goals got scored in the ast 45+ minutes. It all started with Keigan Parker converting a nice pass from Ben Watson in the 55th minute. Then Danny Shittu made one of his rare mistake, as he let his man go. That tied the game 1-1. A few minutes later, it was evident that Charlton was going for the draw, as they pulled back into a very defensive 5-3-2 formation, with 5 strong line of 5 defenders. It wasn't enough to keep us from regaining the lead, although it took a great pass from Marc Bircham to Keigan Parker, over that line of defenders, to give us that goal. It was Parker's second goal of the game, 5th on the season. Charlton then reverted back to a more attacking style, going to the dreaded 4-2-4 formation in th 84th minute or so. That formation can be effective, but it also can kill your team in the midfield and that's what happened as the home went wild as Andrew Johnson curled on from a distance in the 2nd minute of injury time, making it 3-1.

Final Score: 3-1

We outshot them 16 to 6, 6 to 2 on target while barly winning possession with 51%. Ben Watson is named Man of the Match with a perfect 10 for form. He completed 27 of 40 passes and while this is not a very good ratio (67.5%), 8 of these passes were considered key passes, and one of them was an assist on Parker's first goal. Even more impressive if Watson's performance, given the fact he suffered a concussion in this game. He's slated to miss 5 days... Keigan Parker and Andrew Johnson both get ratings of 8, with Parker completing 15 of his 17 passes on top of scoring two goals.

Once again, and with good reasons, the team chairman can't hide his delight over the win. Three games into the season and we're still in first! Even more, we're the only team to win each of their three games!!! Here's another historical league table

Pos	Team	Pld	Won	Drn	Lst	For	Ag	G.D.	Pts
1st	Q.P.R.	3	3	0	0	7	1	+6	9
2nd	Sheff Utd	3	2	1	0	7	4	+3	7
3rd	Brighton	3	2	1	0	5	2	+3	7
4th	Crystal Palace	3	2	0	1	4	2	+2	6
5th	Gillingham	3	1	2	0	5	3	+2	5
6th	Nottm Forest	3	1	2	0	5	3	+2	5
7th	Walsall	3	1	2	0	5	3	+2	5
8th	Hull	3	1	2	0	4	2	+2	5
9th	Stoke	3	1	2	0	4	3	+1	5
10th	Leeds	3	1	2	0	3	2	+1	5
11th	Southampton	3	1	1	1	7	6	+1	4
12th	Coventry	3	1	1	1	4	3	+1	4
13th	Bristol C	3	1	1	1	2	3	-1	4
14th	Cardiff	2	1	0	1	4	4	0	3
15th	West Ham	3	0	3	0	3	3	0	3
16th	Crewe	3	0	3	0	2	2	0	3
17th	Charlton	3	1	0	2	4	5	-1	3
18th	Leicester	3	1	0	2	3	5	-2	3
19th	Ipswich	3	0	2	1	2	3	-1	2
20th	Millwall	3	0	1	2	2	5	-3	1
21st	Reading	3	0	1	2	0	4	-4	1
22nd	Plymouth	3	0	1	2	2	8	-6	1
23rd	Derby	2	0	0	2	1	4	-3	0
24th	Burnley	3	0	0	3	2	7	-5	0

FM

[FrogMan]

August 9, 2009
Ipswich go on a fishing trip and put in a bid for Darren Evans. They offer his current value, $2.6M, plus 30% of his next sale. I don't want to depart with the kid yet, so I up the money part to $5.2M, keeping the 30% of next sale as part of the deal...

August 11, 2009
hahaha, Chelsea offer me $0 for John Davies, my promising full-back, as if they needed to save pennies here and there... I simply reject, no counter offer, nothing...

As expected, Ipswich withdraw their offer for Darren Evans.

FM

[FrogMan]

August 15, 2009

Pkd	Inf	Name	Position	Morale	Form	Con	Apps	Gls	Av Rat
GK		Paul Davies	GK	Superb	9-8-8-7-7	100%	3	-	7.67
DR		Craig Crane	D R	Superb	6-7-7-8-7	99%	3	-	7.33
DL		Mathew Sadler	D L	Superb	5-7-7-7-7	99%	3	-	7.00
DC		Danny Shittu	D C	Superb	6-7-8-8-7	100%	3	-	7.67
DC		Darren Evans	D C	Superb	7-6-7-8-7	100%	2	-	7.50
MR		Matt Cross	AM/F RC	Superb	6-7-7-7-7	100%	3	-	7.00
ML		Marcus Kelly	AM RL	Superb	7-7-7-7-7	100%	0 (2)	-	7.00
MC		Lee Mansell	AM C	Superb	7-6-7-7-7	100%	0 (2)	-	7.00
MC		Nigel Quashie	M C	Superb	6-7-9-7-6	100%	3	-	7.33
FC		Keigan Parker	S C	Superb	6-8-8-9-8	99%	2 (1)	5	8.33
FC		Andrew Johnson	S C	Superb	6-8-8-7-8	100%	2 (1)	2	7.67
S1		Chris Day	GK	Superb	7-7-7-6-6	100%	-	-	-
S2		Ben Watson	M C	Superb	6-7-6-7-10	88%	3	-	7.67
S3		Lee Cook	AM L	Superb	6-7-8-6-7	100%	3	-	7.00
S4		Matthew Bates	D LC	Superb	7-7-6-7-7	100%	1	-	7.00
S5		Jeppe Lund Curth	F C	Superb	7-7-7-7-7	94%	2	-	7.00
-		Marc Bircham	DM C	Superb	7-6-7-7-7	81%	0 (1)	-	7.00
-	Inj	Steve Brooker	S C	Superb	7-7-7-5-7	38%	-	-	-
-		Tom Howell	D/DM L	Superb	6-7-6-7-7	100%	0 (1)	-	7.00

We go play Cardiff on their pitch. They are currently in 19th place, after winning one and losing two so far this season. This game is to be televised live and it's not a bad choice to do so, since both teams just recently promote from League One.

With Marc Bircham on international duty with Canada (World Cup qualifiers) and Ben Watson still not a 100% back from his concussion suffered against Charlton, Lee Mansell gets the start.

I put Marcus Kelly in at left winger, in hope of shaking things up a little. While Lee Cook is now content with his role, he's not impressed me all that much so far this season.

While the oddsmaker are picking Cardiff as 6-4 favourites to win this game, the TV commentator firmly believe it will go down as a draw. They say they can't separate the two sides... Key players are Danny Shittu for us, Stephen Warnock for them.

Their left full-back gets two yellows and is sent off in the 32nd minute. It all happened on the same sequence. They go to a 3-4-2 formation.

The half, and subsequently the game, will end scoreless.

Final Score: 0-0

It's one of those 0-0 draw that I absolutely hate. We outshot them 15 to 8, 4 to 1 on target, and we won possession with 52%.

Marcus Kelly took the chance to showcase his talent and ran with it. He gets named Man of the Match with a rating of 8. He completed 8 of his 9 passes, won 6 of 11 tackles and had 12 runs past opponents. I subbed him out for Lee Cook in the 62nd minute because I felt like he was tiring out. That was a big mistake as Cook didn't do much for the rest of the game.

Both starting strikers end the game with ratings of only 6, while 3 of our 4 defenders have ratings of 8 (Craig Crane, Danny Shittu, Darren Evans).

The TV commentators were right...

August 17, 2009
Steve Brooker resumes full training following physiotherapy. The specialist who treated him is optimistic that he fully recovered from his injury. Sadly for him, it may be tough to get playing time, given how well the strikers have played so far (other than that last game)...

August 18, 2009
Brighton sign Kevin Joyce for a fee of "only" $1.25M... He's moving from a Championship team to another Championship team, so we'll still get to play him, fairly soo too...

Iván Kaviedes scored two goals for the reserve team. 17yo Justin Wall started alongside him and played fairly well. Nathan Jameson was named Man of the Match.


FM

[FrogMan]

August 19, 2009

Pkd	Inf	Name	Position	Morale	Form	Con	Apps	Gls	Av Rat
GK		Chris Day	GK	Superb	7-7-7-6-6	100%	-	-	-
DR		Craig Crane	D R	Superb	7-7-8-7-8	94%	4	-	7.50
DL		Matthew Bates	D LC	Superb	7-7-6-7-7	100%	1	-	7.00
DC	Wnt	Danny Shittu	D C	Superb	7-8-8-7-8	98%	4	-	7.75
DC		Darren Evans	D C	Superb	6-7-8-7-8	96%	3	-	7.67
MR		Marcus Kelly	AM RL	Superb	7-7-7-7-8	93%	1 (2)	-	7.33
ML		Tom Howell	D/DM L	Superb	6-7-6-7-7	100%	0 (1)	-	7.00
MC		Marc Bircham	DM C	Superb	7-6-7-7-7	96%	0 (1)	-	7.00
MC		Lee Mansell	AM C	Superb	6-7-7-7-7	94%	1 (2)	-	7.00
FC		Keigan Parker	S C	Superb	8-8-9-8-6	97%	3 (1)	5	7.75
FC		Andrew Johnson	S C	Superb	8-8-7-8-6	95%	3 (1)	2	7.25
S1		Paul Davies	GK	Superb	8-8-7-7-7	100%	4	-	7.50
S2		Nigel Quashie	M C	Superb	7-9-7-6-7	93%	4	-	7.25
S3		Lee Cook	AM L	Superb	7-8-6-7-7	99%	3 (1)	-	7.00
S4		Ben Watson	M C	Superb	6-7-6-7-10	95%	3	-	7.67
S5		Jeppe Lund Curth	F C	Superb	7-7-7-7-7	94%	2 (1)	-	7.00
-	Unf	Steve Brooker	S C	Superb	7-7-7-5-7	62%	-	-	-
-		Mathew Sadler	D L	Superb	7-7-7-7-7	95%	4	-	7.00
-		Matt Cross	AM/F RC	Superb	7-7-7-7-7	95%	4	-	7.00

We go play Port Vale on their pitch for the 1st round of the League Cup. They are currently 14th in League Two, with a win, a loss, and 2 draws.

This game may get sloppy real quick as showers are pouring. I go with a few lineup changes, giving Matt Cross a game off, replacing him with Marcus Kelly. Tom Howell also gets the start at left winger, in place of Lee Cook. Lee Mansell is again starting, but it's not because Ben Watson isn't ready this time. I want to save Watson for our next league game on the 22nd... Chris Day gets one of his rare start this season so far...

We are dominating them early on and I can read (and almost hear) my favorite saying: "Can Port Vale weather the storm?" After 30 minutes, we're outshooting them 5 to 1, 4 to none on target...

Their darn keeper is quite the wonderkeeper, saving may goals from reaching the back of the net. It take 3 men in the 6 yard box for us to finally score a goal, the lone goal of the game. Lee Mansell is the scorer.

Final Score: 1-0

We outshoot them 20 to 3, 11 to none on target. As would be expected, their keeper is named Man of the Match with a rating of 9.

Marcus Kelly, Tom Howell, and Lee Mansell all get ratings of 8 for us. Howell completed 35 of 41 passes, 5 of them key passes.

We receive $36k for the win.

August 21, 2009
Looking at the list of players on the transfer list, 32yo Hayden Foxe, a centre-back currently with Crewe, catches my eye. They're asking only 90k for him, but he looks like a sound centre-back, at least for some depth... I ask my scouts for a report on him.

August 22, 2009
The draw for the 2nd round of the League Cup happens. We will play Barnsley, on their pitch on September 15. They're in League One and we split our two game series with them last season, them winning the first 1-0, us winning the second 2-1.


FM

[FrogMan]

August 22, 2009

Pkd	Inf	Name	Position	Morale	Form	Con	Apps	Gls	Av Rat
GK		Paul Davies	GK	Superb	8-8-7-7-7	100%	4	-	7.50
DR		Craig Crane	D R	Superb	7-8-7-8-7	92%	5	-	7.40
DL		Mathew Sadler	D L	Superb	7-7-7-7-7	100%	4	-	7.00
DC	Wnt	Danny Shittu	D C	Superb	8-8-7-8-7	95%	5	-	7.60
DC		Darren Evans	D C	Superb	7-8-7-8-7	93%	4	-	7.50
MR		Matt Cross	AM/F RC	Superb	7-7-7-7-7	99%	4	-	7.00
ML		Lee Cook	AM L	Superb	7-8-6-7-7	100%	3 (1)	-	7.00
MC		Marc Bircham	DM C	Superb	6-7-7-7-7	94%	1 (1)	-	7.00
MC		Nigel Quashie	M C	Superb	7-9-7-6-7	98%	4	-	7.25
FC		Jeppe Lund Curth	F C	Superb	7-7-7-7-7	92%	2 (2)	-	7.00
FC		Andrew Johnson	S C	Superb	8-7-8-6-7	93%	4 (1)	2	7.20
S1		Chris Day	GK	Superb	7-7-6-6-7	100%	1	-	7.00
S2	Lmp	Steve Brooker	S C	Superb	7-7-7-5-7	80%	-	-	-
S3		Tom Howell	D/DM L	Superb	7-6-7-7-8	91%	1 (1)	-	7.50
S4		Ben Watson	M C	Superb	7-6-7-10-7	94%	3 (1)	-	7.50
S5		Keigan Parker	S C	Superb	8-9-8-6-6	91%	4 (1)	5	7.40
-		Matthew Bates	D LC	Superb	7-6-7-7-7	93%	2	-	7.00
-		Marcus Kelly	AM RL	Superb	7-7-7-8-8	91%	2 (2)	-	7.50
-		Lee Mansell	AM C	Superb	7-7-7-7-8	91%	2 (2)	1	7.25

We play Derby at Loftus Road. They are currently in 10th place with 2 wins and 2 losses. They promoted from League One this season, like us, after finishing in 4th place and winning the playoffs.

It's another very rainy game...

We get to halftime one ahead, after Jeppe Lund Curth scored his first goal of the season when one of his free kick deflected through their wall of defenders. We're still pretty much dominating at this point, outshooting them 8 to 3, 4 to 1 on target. We're also winning possession with a nice 59% in the first half.

They tied the game after Lee Cook had lost the ballto one of their defenders, who fed it to one of their strikers for a long counter attack. I was getting frustrated, until we scored a couple of goals in the last tean minutes to make it 3-1. First off, Danny Shittu's head met with a corner kick from Nigel Quashie for one of Big Dan's rare goal to make it 2-1, then Keigan Parker scored a beauty of a goal to make it 3-1.

Final Score: 3-1

Jeppe Lund Curth is named Man of the Match with a goal and a rating of 9. He completed 26 of his 31 passes, 5 of them key passes, and put 3 of his 4 shots on target.

We pull to 3 points clear atop the league table and the team Chairman is extremely pleased with the win, and understandingly so.

Following our game, I learn that Kavi has scored 2 more goals for the reserve squad, getting a 10 for form rating and being named Man of the Match...

Danny Shittu and Jeppe Lund Curth are both named to the English Championship Team of the Week.

FM

[FrogMan]

August 25, 2009
Bad news! Matt Cross strains his groing in training and his first thought to be missing 2 weeks. However, my physios recommend that I let a specialist examine him to avoid further complications. From 2 weeks, his stay out of commission is extended to 4 weeks as I send him to physiotherapy, dang!FM