Written by member: SuitedRecluse
Well it’s been a fair while since I’ve done a blog, but seeing as I’ve had more comebacks than Tyson Fury has retired I thought it would be a good place to start. The review of last Season.
The Franchise pick, a new squad, and like a lamb to the Div 1 sweaty Slaughter I got to work. Firstly I wanted to be a team I’ve never been, to break away from the mould of picking Bristol City/ British teams or a squad that generally had nice kits. So I plumped for a league I believe no one has previously used, and this was the Indian Super League. It’s a relatively new league setup, founded in 2014 and was a franchised based setup originally with just 8 clubs but has now grown to 14 Franchise squads and is always evolving. The team I picked was Chennaiyin. So with that set, it was time to check the squad an see what was required.
18 players were allocated some with decent ability, some that you could say were on a downward trajectory and some that have really great potential to go on and do some great things. Surprisingly the one player I do have hardly got a look in which is criminal in some respects, but being new back into the league I really didn’t know or had experience of the game and what formations work or don’t. It was clear to see with what I had I needed to be different and to do something that I’ve never done before in any season I’ve taken part in. And that’s play a CAM. It’s true, I’ve never had the desire or players to pull it off and I’ve always liked fast tricky wingers who can do more dribbling than a sparked out boxer. The whole thing of me coming back to play wasn’t to be win at all costs, throw a strop if I lost, be a twat and moan or show any disrespect, but to firmly be involved on the site and just have a laugh. I don’t get to many events, I even don’t win many BFAs or get transfers done as I’m usually skint half the time, but just to be in the league set up and play weekly keeps me in the loop and helps me while away any spare time I do get.
Anyway enough of the verbal diarrhoea, let’s get into some of the football chat.
Squad.
The season started by Bringing Martinez in from Ry. For a 72 rated ST he truly play a lot higher. His pace and finishing do stand him in good stead, especially considering his first week goal tally which the podcast highlighted. But I instead opted to hit Jeff up for the highly rated Promise David. His strength, power and finishing I hoped would help me higher up the pitch. The price tag a reasonable 35M. Boadu who had a good start in a Chennaiyin shirt was shipped off to Dio and Pepi rocked up looking to support David. The biggest outgoing was Hamza Igamane. Troop stumped up a solid 22M to convince me to let him go. Another key signing was swapping Milambo with Nuuthatch and in return I got the energetic Hatate in to my midfield. Other players to leave were
Yepes > Topcat Nominal Fee
Dahl > Trooper 10M
Curbelo > Jam 1M
Angulo > Dio Undisclosed
Incomings
We had Burger and Vanderson rock up in BFAs both for reasonable amounts.
Atuesta came in for less than 4M and Affengruber arrived on a decent deal, but can’t remember who I signed him off.
Formation.
As I said I wanted to be a bit different and stumble across a 41212. I used it a few times in H2Hs and got a decent win against Burga in the Divisional cup so thought I would roll with it. It certainly allowed for a direct attacking style of football but also allowed me to a bit more hard to break through the middle. The only issue is both wingbacks were struggling with the more pacey players In the league getting down the flanks.
The season as a whole was very inconsistent. I’d have 2 good games and then 3/4 average games. I didn’t really put any run together and in all honestly found it hard to get back in the swing of things and compete against the decent players we have in Division 1 at present. And some of the squads are very good. The season got of to a flyer 9 points from 4 games against Aaron and Jeff. But an absolute pasting from Shaun and his lads put some reality that there are no easy games. Conceding 15 goals certainly didn’t feel good. So 9 points after 6.
The next block of 3 saw me play Tanz, Paul and Gardner. Now on paper the scores are there but all the games could have easily swung the other way. 6 points against Tanz could and should have been 3 each way. Paul failed to take his chances in big moments so I ended up taking all points, and Gardner battled hard and was well worth the 3 points earned and could have had more. So another 15 points added to the total, so 24 after 12 games.
As we headed Into the final against arguably 2 of the top players I wasn’t expecting much. 2 defeats to Burga ensued albeit they were closer than I expected and I obviously hit Tom on a off day as I took 4 points.
So a not to shabby mid table finish securing 28 points on my return to Division 1. I guess another plus point is only conceding 49 League goals which was only bettered by Burga and Tom respectively.
The cups don’t prove to rewarding.
Divisional Cup: Second Round exit
League Cup: Last 8 exit
CL/EL: Europa League QF exit
Player/ Team Stats Over 32 League/Cup games
(1) = Sub Appearances
= MOTM awards
GK
Stankovic. 32 App 2 Clean Sheets
Dovin 0 Apps
Defenders
Van den Berg 32 App 3
Canvot 15 (1) App
Affengruber 15 App 1 Ass. 3Bakker 30 (2) App 3 Ass. 1
Baum 27(2) App
Vanderson 5 App
Garcia 0 App
Potulski 0 Apps
Aukeland 0 Apps
Midfield
Eriksen 32 App. 29
️ 22 Ass 4
Hatate 19 App. 9️. 17 Ass. 3Burger. 16 App 2️ 4. Ass
Tiknaz 16 (9) App. 4 Ass
Atuesta. 26 Apps 7️. 6 AssPec 1 (4) App
Attackers
Diomamde 1 (7) 1️
Martinez. 12 (19) 26️ 14 Ass 9
Pepi 20 (1) App. 14️ 8 Ass. 1
David 26 App. 25️ 14 Ass. 5
Discipline
18 Yellow cards
Most 3 Van den Berg
Boring Team Stats
Goals Scored 137
Goals Conceeded 90 (Not Inc HC goals)
132 in the box
5 Outside
311 shots / 242 SOT = 77%
Avg 9.7 Shots per game
Avg 4 goals per game
Avg 2.8 goals conceded per game
4,824 passes /4245 comp = 87%
Avg 150 passes per game
Avg less than 2 foul per game
GK made 99 saves, Avg 3 per game
Offsides Avg 1.15 per game
Player of the year:
Christian Eriksen
Playing as my CAM all season this guy was top notch. May not have the pace, but he certainly makes up for in Passing, Vision, Dead Ball but also scores some dam good goals, including the odd free kick. Having looked at a change of formation for next season this man could be available for the right price.
So it’s a pretty in depth look at how my season unfolded. As we embark on a new season there has been some early business. The quality of the League has improved once again so it’s going to be a real battle to stay in the top league going forward. Mainly just not being able to compete financially like some of the big hitters, I’ll be happy to take a scalp or 2 and see what upholds as the season progresses. Hopefully you’re not all asleep. Until the end of next season.
Goodbye
Vaarwel
Au Revoir
Auf Wiedersehen
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