Alpha Romeo Metaphor IV

[Enrico Pucci]

Tuesday, 6 September 2022

We've now seen Nikolaj Möller for two days. Initial impressions? He's pretty tall but that's about it. I'm not sure why Arsenal are so high on the kid.

He's not particularly athletic, he can't really dribble, his first touch is adequate, his passing is meh.

Its not like we have much of a choice. Jacopo Murano has been underwhelming so I guess I'll give him a shot as he's an unknown.

 

[Enrico Pucci]

Its just a smidge over a one hour drive to Darmstadt. The city is just a few minutes south of Frankfurt. Their smallish stadium is sold out. Under two thousand Roten Teufel were sold tickets and they are packed into a corner. We are third in the table prior to the sixth round.

Lorenzo Filippini replaces Amilcar Silva because I'm tired of the wasteful Hollywood passes he keeps attempting.

Nearly everyone touched the ball on our first goal in the 8th minute.

Filippini controlled the clearance and dished to Saydou Bangura. Bangura to Ritter, Ritter to Kiprit. Kiprit plays a pass deep into the box between two defenders for Billy Arce to chase. Billy cuts a pass back into the path of Rene Klingenberg.

Klingy makes no mistake and side-foots into into the near side of the net.

0-1

The defense seemed to be doing fine until the 33rd minute.

They'd been playing the ball back and forth across the front of our defense for a while until they got a pass up to their attacking midfielder up at the edge of the penalty area out on the right. He played a pass out to their left back who gave the ball right back to him.

The problem was that Jean Zimmer then backed off.

So Tobias Kempe looked up, saw he had time and space to curl a shot at the second post, looked down and fired his shot.

1-1

"Aggghhh!" I exclaimed as I threw up my hands. "C'mon Zimmer."

Darmstadt had the wind in their sails and pressed us for the remainder of the first half. We were lucky to remain tied.

The second half was much more cagey. My players had no lapses in concentration defensively but offensively that perfect final pass was on vacation.

Bangura was tired and not playing all that well, so I sent Nikolaj Möller on in his place in the 60th minute.

Until the 65th minute.

Boris Tomiak controlled a clearance and passed the ball forward to Billy. Billy played a pass out to our right flank for Zimmer.

Zimmer beat his man to the endline and smashed a cross goalward.

Muhammed Kiprit redirected it from 2m out.

1-2

Zimm makes up for his earlier mistake. Nice!

That was Zimm's last contribution. He was exhausted so I sent Robin Becker on.

We dropped into a defensive shell and hit them on the counter. We looked dangerous on a couple of occasions but nothing materialized. They just passed the ball back and forth harmlessly.

Two mistakes in the 92nd minute and we dropped two points.

First, right wing substitute Manayn Sounni ran with their left fullback as he drove down our right flank, but that was about it. No attempt to either tackle or block the cross.

Second, Ibrahima Cissé wasn't tight to their forward and let him get to the cross first. Also, he didn't stick a foot out.

Their forward met the cross at a bad angle at the near post and they were equal.

2-2

 

[Enrico Pucci]

"Anything to say about Marcel Bär's late equalizer?" Florian Carre of OneFootball asked.

"We will learn from the experience and not allow ourselves to drop our concentration late in matches," I replied. "We need the will to stand in the breach and proclaim you shall not pass."

"Muhammed Kiprit was limping after the final whistle, is he hurt?" Florian asked.

"He's icing his calf right now. We don't know if its just cramp or he's done his calf."

"If he's hurt how critical is this injury to your chances?" Niklas Boll of Kicker asked.

"Niklas, we don't know if he's hurt, yet."

"But if he is?" Niklas followed up.

"Well ... he bagged twenty nine goals for us last season so clearly he's a star for us," I replied.. "But this is a strong team. Other players will step up their games. Möller and Murano could get their chance and give me a selection headache. You never know."

"Michael Gasser of Darmstadt Fußball Informat. How disappointed are you to have led twice yet head home with only a point?"

"Well, first off, you guys played really well. Darmstadt are a good side and you pushed us really hard. Its a fair result and its a long season."

"Jean Zimmer was out here earlier," Jakob Böttcher of Kaiserslautern Express said. "And you are a bit later than usual. He said you were furious with that late goal you conceded and were yelling at your players ... uh ... he said ... um ... exactly ... quote that you had not held back unquote in your criticism."

"Well, I was angry," I replied. "I'm also a very passionate person. Additionally, if we're going to grow as a team, if we're going to chase for a promotion place, we must eliminate the mental mistakes. Its one thing if someone scores a golazo against us, right? Then I hold up my hands and congratulate the player afterwards. But that goal was a sequence of mistakes. Individual mistakes happen, that's Fußball. Your teammates can cover for you if the mistake isn't too ... uh ... catastrophic. But a series of mistakes in an area we've been working on improving? That is not okay. That is something that has to be eliminated."

"Is there anything in the reports that you want Freiburg's Emilio Kehrer?" Michael Grasser asked.

"I don't know where this story has come from," I replied. "We're not tracking him, I'm not sure if we've scouted him, but my scouts watch a lot of matches and I review bazillions of reports every week. This sounds more like you all trying to create a story out of whole cloth and then coming to me for confirmation of the story you invented."

"Kaiserslautern are really dangerous down the flanks," Michael continued. "Would you talk about that?"

"Our work on the training ground is bearing fruit," I said. "If you cover Ritter, Klingenburg, and Kiprit through the middle, you leave your flanks exposed. If you try to cover your flanks, you're open down the middle."

"I have another, may I?" Michael asked the other reporters. They all nodded approval. "You are supposed to be struggling in 2.Liga, bravely fighting against relegation. But here you are at the other end of the table. Are you going to pull another Kaiserslautern?"

"Great question, Michael," I said. "This club has a core. Spahic, Zimmer, Tomiak, Niehues, my dynamic midfield duo, and Muhammed. We've added new players and we've been hoping to gel. So far we're doing pretty good. Everyone is learning how our system works at a ... um ... brainstem level ... you follow? They need to live, breathe, and feel the system. So they know instinctively what to do in all situations. Its a work in progress. Each day's training makes us a little bit better. Its really about how hard we work in training. In musical terms, improvisation takes place inside a framework. Once you understand meter, key and how and when to improvise the musicians are better able to improvise inside the framework of the song and band."

"Did you just make a reference to jazz?" Dennis Friedel of SportBuzzer said.

"Sweet Mary Mother of God no," I replied in Italian feigning a look of shock and horror.

"Can we take that as a no?" Jakob asked as the reporters all chuckled.

"Ja," I replied.

 

[Enrico Pucci]

Sunday, 11 September 2022

8:00am

"Morning," I said as I sat down in the cafeteria of the Fritz-Walter. I took a sip of my espresso. "Ahh, that's better. Now its good morning."

"Cissé," Jörg said.

"We were doing so much better on our wide defending," Lorenzo D'Anna said. "And then yesterday happened."

"Ritter hasn't played a single pass into a channel for Kiprit to chase this season," Filip Trojan added. "For whatever reason that just isn't on this season."

"I'm not so sure the reason is 2.Liga defenders are better than 3.Liga defenders," Ulf Kirsten added. "For whatever reason Ritter just doesn't see that pass this season."

"Muhammed is going to be out a while," Agnieszka said. "Its a pulled calf muscle. He's probably out two weeks give or take a few days."

"We should go with Möller," Ulf suggested.

"Oh and Daniels Ontuzans should be available by Saturday," Agnieszka added. "His hamstring is healing nicely."

"Alright then," I said. "Möller as striker. Cissé is out of the line-up as of now. I'm leaning towards Molla Wagué over Oliver Hüsing paired with Tomiak."

"Ja," Lorenzo said. Jörg grunted his agreement. "Oliver wasn't all that good against Ajax."

"Zimmer was horrible yesterday," Luigi Zonno said. "Aside from his assist. Becker should play instead."

"Ja, we should go with Becker instead," Lorenzo said. "He's been good when he's played. Also, Silva's training has been really good."

"Ja," Jörg agreed. "Beck but not Silva. Let Silva sweat. He'll be stronger in his return."

"Bangura up top with Möller or go with two wingers?" I asked. There was a chorus of Bangura.

"Filip, you're going to talk to Ritter about playing balls into the channel?" I asked. He nodded. "Alright then. Lets set up the training plan for the week."

 

[Enrico Pucci]

Its a beautiful early fall evening. Breezy and pleasant. A great night to watch Fußball. Strangely, not the biggest crowd.

Bangura had a bad week in training, so Madyan Sounni is the right winger and Billy Arce is the left winger.

Ingolstadt play with three at the back and want to control the ball. So we let them. Our plan was to hit them on the counter. What I didn't know is how easy they make it for us.

In the 15th minute, one of their central defenders just kind of gave us the ball. Passed it right to Sounni when Rene Klingenberg pressed him. Sounni gave it right to Klingy who lobbed a ball into the channel for our young Swede to chase.

Nikolaj Möller placed a shot past their keeper.

1-0

Ingolstadt were intent on ball control for the remainder of the half. We were intent on hold them off at arms length, a safe distance from our goal. At times it was a bit nervy because they kept passing it around in front of us, looking for a weakness, waiting for a mistake.

Avdo Spahic only had to block one shot on a really nice passing play that breached our defense.

We didn't make any and we made it to halftime unscathed.

Ingolstadt's dominance continued in the second half.

In the 57th minute, Filippini and Billy were working deep in the opponent's half, trying to create an opportunity for one of them to cross. It eventually fell to Billy who sent in a curling cross towards the back post.

Klingy met it with a smashing header.

2-0

All that possession, all that passing, all that nothing.

The Ingolstadt players started losing their discipline and started committing silly fouls with the commensurate cards.

In the 81st minute, Ritter finally played that ball into the channel we saw ALL last season.

Möller and their middle central defender were racing after it. They both went tumbling just as Möller was about to take control of the ball.

The ref ran up and pointed to a spot millimeters outside the box. Then he showed the defender a yellow.

Ritter stood over the ball. It seems a bit too close for him to get the ball up and over the wall or around the wall and far enough away from the keeper.

Instead he hit it on the keeper's side.

3-0

Yeah, baby!

 

[Enrico Pucci]

Monday, 19 September 2022

11:32am

"Do you have a minute, Viktor?" I said to youth player Viktor Olsson. The senior and youth players were all leaving the field after training.

"Ja, sure," he replied.

"I just wanted to talk to you about training last week," I said. He raised an eyebrow. "The coaches and I noticed that you didn't have a good week." The other eyebrow joined the first in a look of shock. "I just wanted to check in and see if everything is alright, if there's anything you need or I can help with."

"But I don't think I had a bad week," Viktor replied quite taken aback. "I'm fine."

"We coaches thought your effort wasn't as high as usual and you were too casual with your passing. Also, it didn't seem like you were going all out on the sprinting we worked on last week. If you've got an injury, go to ATK and get it looked at." I could see the consternation and anger rising on Viktor's face. "Listen, we just want you to to reach your potential. You have definitely have potential."

"But I think I've been working hard enough to reach my potential," he retorted.

"Viktor, I'm only bringing this up because we noticed a drop in your effort and levels last week. I'm pretty sure we weren't all imagining it."

"Ja, okay, I get it you weren't happy about last week," Viktor said. "But I disagree. I always work hard. Can I go now?"

"Off you go, Viktor," I replied. He jogged off to catch up with some of his youth teammates.

"S***," I muttered to myself. "That didn't go well."

"I didn't hear what you two said," U19 Head Coach Alexander Bugera said as he walked over. "But I could see he didn't take the feedback well."

"Ja. I don't know. He was poor last week. Markedly."

"Ja, I know," Alexander agreed. "Maybe this lights a fire?"

"Hopefully," I said.

 

[Enrico Pucci]

Fürth is three hours due east, almost to the Czech border. Sportpark Ronhof is less than half full and about a quarter of the fans in the park are Roten Teufels. We are sitting first prior to the 8th round.

I was going to start Robin Becker but he is out with a tight groin so Zimmer is our right wing back. Wagué, Bangura and Möler remain in the starting eleven after Saturday's strong performances. Filippini doesn't have another ninety in him after Saturday so Amilcar Silva gets a reprieve and brings his Hollywood balls back into the side. Ontuzans makes the bench.

While Filip Trojan had talked with Ritter about balls into the channel, It was Amilcar Silva who started the game off trying to play a ball into the channel for Möller. I know you'll be shocked to learn that it was intercepted.

In the 3rd minute, the Fürth keeper played a long goal kick well over the half line. Wagué was all alone. Instead of heading it out wide for Silva or to his right for Tomiak or even trying to control it, he headed it right to their forward. Luckily, everyone else covered up and all Fürth managed was a long shot that was high and wide.

What the f*** kind of match was today going to be?

In the 15th, Ritter played a ball into the channel for Möller to chase. Our young Swede got there first but nothing materialized from the through ball. But at least he'd played it.

In the 20th, Bangura had dropped deep to get the ball. He looked up and saw Rene Klingenburg make a run from deep. He played a ball into the channel for Klingy.

The keeper came rushing out.

Klingy chipped him.

Off the bar!

In the 25th, Silva played a nice grass-burning pass for Klingenburg. But Klingy's shot hit a defender that dropped harmlessly into their keeper's arms.

In the 28th, Spahic made his first save. They broke down our right flank. Billy Arce couldn't stop their fullback from crossing and their striker hit his shot right at Avdo for a relatively easy save.

We decamped in the Fürth end, but only managed a header right at their keeper just before the halftime whistle.

Soon after the restart, Billy hit the post. Okay, that's what kind of game its going to be, eh? F***.

In the 50th, Ritter hit the crossbar with a 30m Tomahawk missile freekick. S***.

In the 52nd, Silva played yet another beautiful cross. This time Möller redirected it on goal but their keeper managed to block the shot and they cleared for a corner.

The corner was cleared, but right to Billy. His curling effort from 25m just barely missed the far post top corner.

In the 60th, Möller's header from a Zimmer cross missed by millimeters.

In the 61st, Möller smashed a header from a Silva cross right at their keeper.

Patience was the key.

I replaced Bangers with Jacopo Murano who I felt would play higher up the pitch and stretch the defense more.

In the 83rd minute our collective patience finally paid off.

Silva played a ball into the corner for Jacopo. Their right fullback closed him down so he played back upfield to Silva.

Silva curled in a cross for Möller. Möller had his back to goal and cushioned the ball down for Billy Arce.

Billy side-footed a pass between several defenders and past the diving keeper.

0-1

Then we sat back and wasted time as much as possible until the ref final blew those three sweet sounding blasts to end it.

We hit the woodwork four f***ing times!

 

[Sam91]

Up the FCK

 

[Enrico Pucci]

 

[Enrico Pucci]

Wednesday, 21 September 2022

"Ciao, Jakob," I said as I answered my phone. "I was wondering which of you four would be calling first."

"Ja, afternoon, Enrico," Jakob Böttcher of the Kaiserslautern Express said. "So you saw the news?"

"Ja."

"Have they contacted you?"

"No."

"What do you think about Hertha?" he asked.

"I don't, honestly," I said. "I mean I'm honored that the pundits would link me to the open post. I guess the pundits are noticing what we're doing here in Kaiserslautern. Thats good."

"What about the job? They're a rich club, big stadium, do you find that tempting?"

"Not right now," I replied. "I'm having a good time and building something special. If the current arc we're on continues, I'll be facing them soon."

"Alright," Jakob said. "I think that gives me enough to keep my boss happy. Wiedersehn."

"Ciao."

Click.

 

[Enrico Pucci]

I often walk out early, greet the supporters then sit on the bench. Because of the Hertha rumors, I walked over to the Westkurv, kissed the badge, then waved some more. I hope that was a clear enough message.

Hollywood Silva retains his place in the side and I'm deploying Madyan Sounni and Billy Arce as the wingers.

Werder Bremen are in 15th and their manager Mark van Bommel is under pressure to turn things around. They are winless in seven straight.

Nikolaj Möller had a great chance in the 2nd minute, but his hapless shot trickled wide.

Billy Arce tried to carefully redirect Jean Zimmer's cross, but it was a hair wide and the net gaping.

Boris Tomiak blocked their first shot of the first half in the 15th minute.

In the 22nd minute, Zimmer was unable to defend a long crossfield pass to their left winger who set up their striker to shoot from the top of the box.

Avdo Spahic tipped the shot over the bar to keep the match scoreless.

We cleared the corner and Sounni broke upfield on the counter. It all fizzled out when Rene Klingenburg's pass into the channel for our Swedish striker rolled right to the keeper.

Spahic made a nice diving save in the 27th when Zimmer lost the duel for a high ball with their left winger.

They really liked the long, crossfield pass to Zimmer's corner and hit three more before halftime.

In the 38th, Ritter played a ball into the left corner for Billy to chase. Sadly, Billy's cross was poor and Möller's header was tame as he was backpedaling to adjust to the cross.

I tried to fire the players up in Die Kabine at halftime. I told them to win this one for the fans.

Both teams worked hard defending and passed aimlessly sideways.

In the 55th minute, Ritter delivered a corner and the ball pinballed around the penalty box for a second or two. It eventually fell to Molla Wague' who'd retreated to the top of the box. His shot beat the keeper but not the post.

That turned out to be the last chance of the match. The last thirty minutes were not an advertisement for German Fußball. It was drab and cynical.

 

[Enrico Pucci]

On Saturday, I watched the Schalke match. Erzgebirge Aue held out for a long time but lost from a horrible mistake by a defender. Schalke created the chances, but couldn't finish. They were lucky to get gifted the winner. The victory puts Schalke in first.

The Sunday match that mattered was the Holstein Kiel hosting Dynamo Dresden. If Dresden win, they go second and we are pushed down into third. However, Kiel are doing well this season and came from behind to win and go from ninth to fifth. Dresden remain fourth.

"Ciao, Thomas," I said answering my phone moments after the Kiel-Dresden match ended.

"That Kiel Dresden result was good for us, ja?" Thomas said.

"Sure was!" I agreed.

"I'm calling because Keßler and the board want to offer you a new contract."

"Do they ..."

"Ja, so what do you think?"

"I think that would be great," I said.

"Alright, well tell your agent," Thomas said. "We'll get you an offer in the next few days."

"Great. See you tomorrow."

"Ja, Wiedersehn."

"Ciao."

 

[Enrico Pucci]

Sunday, 25 September 2022

7:48pm

"Ciao, Luca," I answered.

"Enrico, Enrico, Enrico," Luca said. "So they love you." He said in Italian.

"Delivery more than they expect and it happens," I replied.

"Thanks for your text," he said. "I've done some analysis. The average Bundesliga salary is 32.43K per week. You currently make 11K so I estimate they'll offer a small increase. Do you want bonuses for promotion? Salary increase in Bundesliga? How hard do you want to bargain?"

"I'm not in it for the money, Luca."

"What's the fun in that? Its no challenge. We just agree to whatever they offer?"

"No," I said.

"Okay, what then?"

"Try to get a little more money out of them, but ... you know ... don't anger them."

"Sure, if that's what you want, Enrico."

"They'll be a conference call soon," I said. "Probably tomorrow."

"I'll make sure I'm available," Luca replied.

"Ciao."

"Ciao."

Click.

 

[Enrico Pucci]

Monday, 26 September 2022

1pm

"Hello, Luca," Rainer Keßler, Chairman of Kaiserslautern, as Sören Oliver, General Manager, connected to Zoom.

"Hello, how are you, Rainer?" Luca said. "Sören, Thomas good to see you."

"We're good, doing great," Rainer said. "Shall we get straight to it?"

"Yes, lets," Luca replied.

"We must first agree on the overall club strategy," Sören said. "Like we make the relegation playoffs this season and establish ourselves in 2.Liga over the next three seasons. We build with youth, buy players under 23 years old, play solid defensively and attack directly. I've emailed this with the our starting offer."

Thomas, Luca and I all smirked at the wording.

"Ja, we're good with the vision for the club," I said. "We can move on to the contract."

"So let me open our starting offer email," Sören said. "Here we go. 13.5K per week for three years, 10% Bundesliga salary increase and 25% relegation reduction. Luca gets 50K."

"Does a dam block the river?" Luca said in Italian. We both knew they don't speak Italian. "Logs in the river? Do we need to widen it?"

"You're a funny man," I replied in Italian. Then to my Kaiserslautern colleagues in German. "14K per week, 25% promotion increase and 50% relegation reduction. Luca gets the same cut."

"You murder my grandchildren's future, how will they survive when you negotiate like that?" Luca exclaimed in Italian. He was smiling, though. It must have been rather incongruous for the German speakers.

"Somehow I believe your grandchildren will be as wily and adaptable as you are and will thrive," I replied to him in Italian.

Sören looked at Rainer and they both nodded.

"That sounds fine," Rainer said as he stood. He offered his hand.

We shook.

 

[Enrico Pucci]

Friday, 30 September 2022

11:40am

"May we join you?" Thomas Hengen asked Jörg and I as we were eating lunch in the cafeteria. Sören Oliver Voigt was with him.

"Of course," I replied.

We talked about the positive response to my contract extension on social media while we ate. Gisela had given Thomas a number of examples.

"They f***ing love you," Jörg summarized.

"Do you have a minute to review the September finance report?" Sören asked as we were finishing eating.

"Sure," I said.

"The balance is 9.3 million," he began sliding over his iPad so I could see. "Loss was 824K this month which is less than the last September by 27% while we were in 3.Liga. Obviously, that's the factor. Income is up year over year for the month at 1.49 million, increase of 42%. Expenses are up but not as much as our income which is quite good. Merchandise sales are up year over year for September by 16%.

 

[Enrico Pucci]

Sandhausen is an hour and fifteen minutes east. Just south of Heidelberg and southeast of Mannheim. Its a small stadium and about 4K Roten Teufel were behind one of the goals.

Nürnberg won last night so they are joint leaders with Schalke and us.

Madyan Sounni is back on the bench, Saydou Bangura returns up top with Möller and Billy Arce is out on the right. The biggest news is Muhammed Kiprit is on the bench. I'm not going to risk him for a full ninety.

The match started off quite dull.

The first action was in the 22nd minute and it was a blunder by Molla Wagué. He'd won the race for a long ball back into our left corner near the corner flag. I'm sure he intended to play a pass in to Avdo Spahic. He should have just tapped it out and conceded the throw. Unfortunately, their striker was right behind him, read his intentions and stole the ball.

Nobody was marking their left winger as Wagué was about to get control so the Sandhausen striker's cross found him wide open.

He side-footed the ball past a shocked Spahic.

1-0

F***ing s***biscuits!

We didn't press Sandhausen particularly hard, so they had a pretty easy time moving the ball sideways and back. They rarely threatened but we gifted them a second chance with horrific marking that they squandered.

Then suddenly and out of nowhere, Julian Niehues plays a ball into the channel for Ritter to chase. He's in alone. He hits the post.

I look up, the scoreboard says 42:55.

"WHAT THE F*** WAS THAT?" I bellowed once everyone was in the away team room. "Is that f***ing Real Madrid out there? You're treating them like it. Quit being so f***ing polite and make a tackle or intercept a pass. That was f***ing garbage. Sort it out."

I replace Möller with Kiprit at halftime.

Kiprit promptly scores a headed goal in the 48th minute from a Ritter free kick.

Wait.

It won't count, the ref is signaling offside.

No, wait. Its going to video review.

As the ref talks to the video ref, Jörg shoves his iPad in front of me to show the video feed.

"F***ing s*** he's off," he says. Bangura is blocking the assistant ref's view, but Kiprit's shoulder is offside.

Once play resumes it keeps getting worse.

We redirect corners right at their keeper.

We shoot right at their keeper.

I'm going totally mental watching us fluff our chances.

Its difficult to kick the ball whilst choking yourself out, but we are proving its possible.

In the 60th, I replace Billy with Sounni. Billy's been absent today.

Sounni is not magic; we keep missing our chances.

In the 75th, I replace Hollywood Silva with Lorenzo Filippini.

Filippini isn't magic, either.

We keep working hard. I can tell the goal is coming but will the clock run out before we get our s*** together?

We pass 80 minutes.

My players are exhausted but keep trying.

Ritter's cross is just millimeters too high for Sounni at the back post.

84 minuttes: Ritter's free kick from 40m into the box misses everyone.

86 minutes: Klingenberg heads a Ritter cross a hair above the crossbar.

87 minutes: Sandhausen are suddenly passing like Real Madrid. They scythe through our exhausted defense with guile and style. Wagué saves a certain goal with a desperate sliding tackle and blocks the shot out for a corner.

Their central defenders slow jog up. The corner taker dallies. It takes forever.

Spahic tips the header over for another corner.

The corner is cleared out to our right. Zimmer gets there first and belts a pass up the line for Sounni who had taken off sprinting the minute he saw Zimmer was going to get their first.

Sounni runs for the end line to give teammates a chance to get upfield.

He whips a cross to the back post for Bangura.

Bangura smashes a header into the base of the post.

It bounces right to Kiprit. Did it bounce off Muhammed and into the net or did he manage to give it a kick.

Doesn't matter! We're tied.

1-1

For the first time in a while, I'm swept away by a tsunami of players and coaches from the bench.

 

[Enrico Pucci]

Monday, 3 October 2022

11:56am

My phone buzzed. Mikel Arteta? Jörg and I were still lingering over our lunches.

"Ciao, Enrico," I answered.

"Hey Enrico, Its Mikel Arteta."

"Mikel, how are you?"

"I'm good, but I'm calling about Nikolaj who is not so good."

"Okay."

"Yes, he is not so happy. He says you haven't been playing him as a target man."

"I haven't. I've been playing him, though. He's doing alright."

"Our agreement was that he'd play as a target man."

"That's true," I replied. "Do you want to end the loan? I'm fine with that, he hasn't panned out as I'd expected him to."

"Yes, I think that's best," Mikel said.

"Yup, not a problem. Talk to you later."

"Cheers!"

Click.

I sure f***ing hope I haven't cheesed him off. Arsenal have tons to talented youngsters and I don't want them unhappy with me. Oh well, Möller wasn't what he'd been hyped as.

 

[Enrico Pucci]

We're 10 matches into the season. This is the first real checkpoint as to how we're doing. Obviously, we're doing great.

 

[Enrico Pucci]

Tuesday, 4 October 2022

12:19pm

"Hi Olaf," I said as I walked into Olaf Marschall's office.

"Enrico, have a seat," the club's Chief Scout said. "What can I help you find?"

I related my conversation with Arteta.

"So I guess I want either a striker with good balls skills or a winger with a scoring touch," I concluded.

"Those are big asks," Olaf replied. "Everyone wants that."

"Ja, but you the Bayern's, Paris Saint Germain's, Manchester City's and Real Madrid's of the world forget about and release more future star players than your average club ever signs. There have got to be some future stars about to be released this next June. There have got to be a few kids we can loan for the second half of the season that can make a difference for us."

We talked for a while about what I wanted and arrived at this:

 

[Enrico Pucci]

Saturday, 8 October 2022

Second stringers played pretty well against Gladbach's second stringers.

Gladbach made a big comeback against my youths who got some minutes late on.