July
Before managing any games I had a look at the team and realised that we don't really have any left-wingers, so I called up a 16-year-old from our youth academy
He can use both feet and he can play on either wing or as an attacking mid if I decide to swap to a formation that uses one
My first game in charge was on the 10th of July, the day after being appointed as manager, against Psps Riau, short for Persatuan Sepakbola Pekanbaru dan Sekitarnya. We went away to the Kaharuddin Nasution in Riau looking to take at least a point from a team the media think we're at a similar level to.
We lined up in the same system I used in my beta save in Iceland, a 4-3-3 Counter Attack. We were disappointing and lucky to come away with a draw, but I was relatively happy as we gave up a lot of chances but still looked defensively solid with our 3 best players being our RB, a CB and our GK.
Not much time to rest as only 4 days later we were playing our first game at the GHAS under my management against Dewa United who were sitting in 6th place, 3 positions below us.
The only change we made from the team that drew our last game was Ricky Ohorella coming in at RB to replace the man of the match against Psps Feri Sistianto, who was suspended. I don't know if that one change played a big role in us getting thrashed but it certainly didn't help as Sistianto was our best player this month. We conceded the first goal in the 20th minute as Pae scored a beautiful goal, with his strike finding the top corner of the net
The second goal came directly from a free-kick that Ricky gave away and got a yellow card for
The third came in the same way as the second after our LB Maidullah, who was already on a yellow, fouled Budiono while he was facing away from the net. Maidullah was lucky to escape a second yellow but we as a team, unfortunately, didn't get so lucky as Nugroho scored his second of the game and Dewa's 3rd.
An awful start to my career as a manager was soon going to get worse as we next travelled to face Persekat at the Tri Sanja Stadium. I had decided to not use common sense, and stick with the formation that had worked so well for me in the Beta.
This turned out to be one of my worst ideas as we proceeded to lose 1-0 to another team lower in the league than us, this result dropped us down from 6th to 7th as our downward spiral continued. The only good news from this game was that Sistianto was back from suspension and once again was our best performer, playing an above-average game while surrounded by a below-average performing team. Amien Rais Ohorella also made his first appearance under me as I was fed up with Heridianto and his awful performances.
The penalty which led to their goal came about after Budi Santoso gave away a freekick in a similar position to the freekick Dewa scored their second goal from. Instead of shooting, Persekat crossed the ball into the area around the back post and Muabay decided he should shove one of their players instead of trying to clear the ball. Suwardi then scored from the spot with Oscario didn't get anywhere near the ball despite diving the correct way.
Things were going from bad to worse here in Indonesia as we had managed to pick up just 1 point from 3 games and had looked awful in those 3 games. After a week of rest, we got ready to host the league leaders PSMS Medan. I was expecting us to get hammered but not only did we get a draw, we also outplayed them. The striker Roulette continued as this time I started Aulia Hidayat up front after coming off the bench in the last match.
They grabbed the first goal in the game after Eli Nasoka converted from a Siregar assist and I was thinking that was game over since we hadn't looked like scoring in any of our games so far but 11 minutes after they took the lead a miracle happened.
In a stroke of tactical genius, immediately after the goal I took Ricky Ohorella off and replaced him with Krimson Wombaibobo. and in the 70th minute, Krimson scored a header at the back post following a Rudi Doank free-kick.
Eli Nasoka then got sent off for a second yellow card ten minutes after, most likely because of the frustration of realising he will never be as good as Krimson.
I was thinking that we were in the ascendancy after the goal and sending off but PSMS quickly brought me back down to earth as in the 84th minute, Mamadou Barry tapped home following a Pradika cross and poor defending.
The 93rd minute soon came along and I had lost all hope that we could take anything away from this game but Bryanus Muabay redeemed himself after giving away the penalty in the last match. Manda Cingi whipped the ball in from a corner and Muabay, who I presume was spending the entire weeks training remembering he can jump and head a ball, rose like a salmon beating barry to the ball and headed in the equaliser.
Unfortunately, we didn't have long to celebrate Muabay's equaliser as in only 4 days we had to travel to Jambi City to face the league 3 team Persijam Jambi at the Jambi City Tri Competition Fighting Stadium. I made the obvious decision to change from our counter-attacking system to a possession-based system as we were not only the better team in this matchup, we are also one of the best in the league. I decided to change the striker once again as I went back to A.R. Ohorella as he was the club's top scorer and I figured he probably just needs to get his confidence back by scoring to start banging them in the league.
Even though it was only a win in the cup against a team a league below we looked so much better in all aspects of our play. Not only did we keep a clean sheet, but we even looked like scoring from open-play. Once again Sistianto was our standout player, even getting a higher rating than A.R. Ohorella who scored twice.
A.R. Ohorella opened the scoring with his 1st of hopefully many goals under my rain. Both of the Ohorella's linked up for the first as Ricky passed it to Amien who tapped it in from close range, our first goal from open play
Nothing else happened until the 78th minute when Vendry Mofu scored his first goal after being moved from the right-winger to the mezzala with Sistianto picking up the assist.
Then in the 81st minute, Amien made it 3-0 with his second of the game after Cingi played a low pass to him on the edge of the box, Amien then proceeded to turn and have a low and hard shot which beat the keeper and nestled in the bottom corner of the net.
3 days after our impressive cup win we returned to league action with an away trip to face 10th placed Perserang Serang at the Maulana Yusuf Stadium. I was hoping for a similar performance to carry on our momentum.
Three games in a row we have outplayed our opponent and we've only won one, which was a cup game. PSMS managed to draw because our defending was way below where it needed to be and Perserang snuck a draw because we seem to be allergic to scoring.
In the 41st minute, we were given a penalty following a foul on Amien to stop him from reaching a Sistiano cross. Vendry Mofu stepped up to take it and after he scored a good goal in our last match I was feeling fairly confident in him to score it, but my faith was misplaced as he blazed it way over the bar and kept the scores 0-0.
In the 55th minute, we finally got the goal we deserved as another Cingi corner was converted, this time the goal going to Amien as he continued his goal-getting form.
But once again we dropped points as in the 86th minute Suswanto swung a corner in and Ibrahim beat Muabuay to the header, Muabuay once again forgetting how to do his job, and scored after some questionable goalkeeping from Prakoso.
That draw rounded off the month of July in a similar fashion to the whole month, DISSAPOINTING.
Player of the Month
Feri Sistiano
It was a fairly simple choice for our player of the month, however, if Amien was performing for the whole month as he did in the last two games he would have won it
Young Player of the Month
Budi Santoso
Santoso is our only young player so he will be winning them all until I can get some more youth in this team
