Mikael Forssell - Football Manager

[FM_TNSSO]

I'm back with a new Football Manager adventure! With the recent turn to management from the likes of Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard, and after seeing some other members on this forum create 'in game' managers based on real players, I quite fancied doing something similar. So the man I've chosen, is the recently retired Mikael Forsell!


Forsell has had a playing career spanning over 20 years, with no less than 9 different clubs. He started out in Finland, playing for Finnish giants, HJK, but was quickly spotted by the scouts at Chelsea and brought to England by manager Gianluca Vialli, with only 17 competitive games under his belt in his home nation. He'd go on to spend 7 years with the London club, although most of this time was spent out on loan and he only actually played 33 times for Chelsea, scoring 5 goals (it seems like he played much more than that!). Loan spells included Crystal Palace, Borussia Monchengladbach and Birmingham City....a move that was made permanent by the West Midlands club in 2005 and he stayed with them for another 3 years, and scored a total of 30 goals for the club, before returning to Germany to join Hannover 96. After 3 years with them, he returned to England to spend a season with Leeds United, but failed to score a single goal for them in 15 appearances. A return to Finland followed to rejoin his first club, HJK, where his record was much healther (21 goals in 44 games). Another brief spell in Germany with Bochum followed, before returning to HJK again. His final season before retiring was playing for lower league Finnish side HIFK.


His international career spanned 15 years from 1999 to 2014 and he gained 87 caps for Finland and scored 29 goals.


So, here is the blonde bombshell himself set up as a manager in my game for me to see what we can achieve with him. I've assumed he has been out there and got most of his coaching badges already and installed him with a Continental A License. He's also been given the correct date of birth and international football (continental) reputation.

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What's the aim of the story then.....well there is no challenges set here as I don't want any restrictions on the game (as there wouldn't be any in real life). I just want to play as Forsell, see what we can achieve, where we end up, try to win some trophies and get his name in the management hall of fame.


Although we have our sights set on much bigger things with worldwide domination being the dream goal, it shouldn't be too hard to get him on the Finland manager's hall of fame list as they're not exactly a nation that breeds **** hot managers to be fair. The most successful is Antti Muurinen who won all his major trophies in Finland with 4 different clubs!

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I'm going to start the game unemployed and load up the 3 countries that Forsell played in, England, Germany and Finland to start as I guessed this is where he will be most well known and likely to bag his first job in management. Although, I have thrown France in there for good measure as well to boost the player database a little.

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So the job hunting begins.....please check back soon for my next post to see where we end up!​

 

[FM_TNSSO]

First Job

First Job


So the job hunting began immediately and after a quick glance at the job market, there was only one club that appealed to me and that was League One’s Oxford United. The only other jobs available were League Two and below, and if Frank Lampard can get Championship and Steven Gerrard can get one of the biggest clubs in Scotland, I have to think I’m worth at least League One for my first job! Anyway, I threw my hat in the ring for the Oxford job and the board came back and offered me an interview almost immediately!

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It only takes the Oxford board 3 days to decide I am the right man for the job and they offer me a 2 year contract on £1,500 per week which I accept graciously! As part of my takeover, I ask for a number of the backroom staff to be sacked as I simply didn’t think they were good enough and want to bring in some of my own team.

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Looking over the club’s history, they’ve won a few competitions mainly in the lower leagues and there’s still plenty of room in the trophy cabinet yet!

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As I take over, there are 4 goalkeepers in the first team squad, but it’s Simon Eastwood that is head and shoulders above the rest and will be the number 1 this season! At 28 years old, he still has a few of his best years ahead of him too.

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We’ve got a lot of defenders too, with 7 players who can play at centre back!! The defence looks to be pretty strong with a 4 players rated at 3 stars + by my assistant manager. Todd Kane, on loan from Chelsea, is an outstanding right back in this league, and John Mousinho (recently signed from Burton Albion) is a strong centre back who has already won this league during his career and that experience could prove invaluable!

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Guess what…..we have a **** load of midfield players too! Some of these do double up from the defenders list as they can play multiple positions, but at this level that versatility in the squad will be a big factor with over 50 games to play this season in all competitions. We have good defensive and attacking options here, but it’s Cameron Brannagan that is one of the stand out players….it’s a shame he will be injured for the first 3 months of the season. James Henry is also a very experienced winger with some great stats and plenty of experience playing at a higher level than this with the likes of Wolves, Millwall and Reading.

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Despite the fact that we do have two 3 star players up front (according to the assistant), it’s probably our weakest area of the team. 27 year old Albanian, Agon Mehmeti, is the best player on paper but is unproven in the English leagues, having played most of his football in Sweden and Italy.

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With the players at my disposal, these are the two tactics I intend to use throughout the season, dependant on the situation. Player roles will change depending on the players I have in the side and mentality/team shape will change depending on our opponents!

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[coolmcool]

Good luck, He is one of those players that seemed to be around forever surprised at how little he actually played for Chelsea!

 

[FM_TNSSO]

July 2017

July 2017

The board send me their expectations for the upcoming season and I’ve definitely been thrown in the deep end here, with playoffs classed as a minimum in the league. They’d also like us to reach the 3rd round of the FA Cup and the 2nd round of the League Cup as well. Pressure is most certainly on early in the managerial career of Mikael Forssell!

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The budgets I’ve been given won’t go too far, but it’s not too much of an issue as I’ve got a ridiculous amount of players in my squad already! The finances for the club looking pretty stable with £1.4 million in the bank.

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Blackburn Rovers are the favourites to win the League One title this season at odds of 3-1. However, we’re not seen to be too far behind them, predicted to finish 4th best in the league and with odds of 6-1 for us to win the division, we’ll have our fair share of punters lumping on us! Plymouth, AFC Wimbledon and Rochdale are the three clubs expected to be really struggling at the wrong end of the table.

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The pre season campaign was a relatively good one with only one loss from six games and that was against SPL side, Hibernian, which was expected. Other than that, 3 wins and a couple of draws sets us up nicely for the new season. We scored a lot of goals, banging in 19 in our six outings, but worryingly we did concede a lot too with 11 being put past us (from weaker opposition in most cases).

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Player of Pre Season
James Henry

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The right winger is without a doubt one of the best players in my squad and he proved that during the pre season campaign, with 5 goals and 4 assists in 5 games.



Pre season didn’t go entirely smoothly though and we lost some big players to injury throughout the friendlies. The biggest loss is certainly James Henry who will miss the first couple of games of the season with a twisted ankle. Joe Rothwell, another one of the first names on the teamsheet, will also miss the first couple of games. Going forward, that is going to leave us two men down and I hope we can still manage to create enough to help get our league campaign off to a good start.

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With the start of the League One campaign just around the corner, we take a look at the season preview. Todd Kane is our only player in the media dream eleven which is dominated by Wigan and Blackburn players (5 from Rovers and 3 from Wigan). Alongside Todd Kane, we do have Cameron Brannagan also making the key players list for the season. Transfer spending so far during this window is £265k, with Peterborough United being responsible for more than half of that!

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Looking ahead to August, we have a five games lined up to get our season kick started. We’ll start the campaign against Northampton at home, before tough games against Portsmouth and the MK Dons. Hopefully we can finish the month on a high against predicted strugglers, Rochdale. In amongst that, we’ll take on Colchester away in the 1st round of the Carabao Cup.

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[FM_TNSSO]

August 2017

August 2017

The draw for the Checkatrade Trophy takes place and we’re given a group including MK Dons and Brighton U23s. I would expect Stevenage to finish bottom of the group with the other 3 of us battling it out for the top 2. However, this will be a cup I use to rotate some players as I won’t be judged on this competition and we have our sights set on bigger things this year.

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As we are about to play our first home game of the season, let’s take a look at our home, the Kassam Stadium. Built in 2001 and with a capacity of 12,205 it’s a decent size for this level. However, its’ one of the strangest stadiums by the fact it has an entire stand missing, with just a wooden fence separating the pitch and the car park. The club do have future plans to build a fourth stand and expand the stadium capacity.

Saturday 5th​ August 2017 (15:00)
Sky Bet League One
Oxford United vs Northampton Town
Formation: 4-2-3-1 Deep
Lineup: Eastwood, Kane, Mousinho, Nelson, Ricardinho, Ledson, Ruffels, Napa, Mowatt, Van Kessel, Obika (Mehmeti 66)

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We started the season a little weaker than I would have liked (due to injuries), with Ruffels and Napa not likely to be first eleven starters further into the season. Despite that, we got off to a winning start after coming back from 1-0 down early doors. Josh Ruffels was on a mission to stake his claim to keep his place in the team, with a goal, an assist and a man of the match performance.



No less than 5 players made their debuts in the Northampton game. Of them all, it was striker Agon Mehmeti that stood out though as he scored a debut goal from the bench. To be fair though, all five players gave decent performances with the lowest match rating among them being 6.80.

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Just under 5,000 season tickets sold this season.

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Tuesday 8th​ August 2017 (19:45)
Carabao Cup 1st​ RoundColchester United vs Oxford United
Formation: 4-2-3-1 Deep
Lineup: Shearer, Kane (Long 69), Williamson, Nelson, Ricardinho, Ledson (Ruffels 60), Ashby, Napa, Mowatt, Van Kessel (Buckley-Ricketts 60), Obika

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A little bit of rotation for the away trip to Colchester in the cup. A couple of second half goals got the job done against our lower league opposition and it was fully deserved as we were easily the best team throughout.



Goalkeeper, Scott Shearer, and centre back, Mike Williamson, made their debuts for the club against Colchester. Both did well as the team kept a clean sheet at the Weston Homes Community Stadium.

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The 2nd​ round draw of the Carabao Cup takes place and we are handed a tough away tie at Championship side, Fulham.

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Even with a massive squad, we were still lacking some strength in depth in the wide positions and with our current injury status, cover was minimal. So after searching through the transfer market, I have made my first signing of my career. It’s a season long loan signing, as Kenji Gorre joins us from Swansea. Gorre can play wide left or right and is a pacey player with good flair and decent dribbling skills. He should be an exciting addition to the squad for the season ahead and I’m sure he’s going to get a lot of game time here.

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Sunday 13th​ August 2017 (16:00)
Sky Bet League One
Portsmouth vs Oxford United
Formation: 4-2-3-1 Deep
Lineup: Eastwood, Kane, Mousinho (Williamson 71), Nelson, Ricardinho, Ledson, Ruffels, Napa, Mowatt, Van Kessel (Gorre 71), Obika (Mehmeti 83)

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A decent performance away from home against one of the biggest sides in the league. We’ll take a draw although we definitely could of nicked it in the final minutes as we squandered a couple of really good chances.



Saturday 19th​ August 2017 (15:00)
Sky Bet League One
Oxford United vs MK Dons
Formation: 4-2-3-1 Deep
Lineup: Eastwood, Kane, Mousinho, Nelson, Ricardinho, Ledson, Ruffels, Napa, Mowatt, Van Kessel (Gorre 62), Mehmeti (Obika 62)

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A tight game that could have gone either way but disappointed to lose at home! Our strikers struggled today.



Tuesday 22nd​ August 2017 (19:45)
Carabao Cup 2nd​ Round
Fulham vs Oxford United
Formation: 4-2-3-1 Deep
Lineup: Eastwood, Kane (Tiendalli 62), Williamson, Nelson, Ricardinho, Ledson, Ruffels, Buckley-Rickets, Mowatt, Gorre (Van Kessel 62), Obika (Mehmeti 62)

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We gave it a good go against the Championship side but it wasn’t to be as they proved too strong for us on their home turf!



Saturday 26th​ August 2017 (15:00)
Sky Bet League One
Rochdale vs Oxford United
Formation: 4-2-3-1 Deep
Lineup: Eastwood, Kane, Mousinho, Nelson, Ricardinho, Ledson, Ruffels, Buckley-Ricketts (Henry 45), Mowatt (Rothwell 57), Gorre, Obika (Mehmeti 57)

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This was a shocking performance and a really poor result. We must do better than this or I’m going to be out of a job pretty quickly!



James Henry came off the bench against Rochdale to make his debut for the club. He definitely looked lively and made an impact so hopefully that’s a sign of things to come from one of our best players!

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The League One transfer window comes to an end and its Doncaster that were the most active team in the league and Peterborough who were the biggest spenders. However, the signing of the window has to be Victor Anichebe joining Blackburn….that is a huge coup in League One and he should smash goals in for fun in this league.

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We simply haven’t started the season well at all. With only 1 win from our opening 4 games, we sit all the way down in 15th​ in the table. We will have to pick things up quickly or I’ll be getting some pressure from the fans and the board!

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Player of the Month
Simon Eastwood

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The whole team has been pretty poor this month and that is proven by the fact my player of the month, Simon Eastwood, only has an average rating of 6.82.



We need a vast improvement in September and we have 6 league games ahead of us in which to do it. A must win against Plymouth kicks us off, before travelling to Peterborough for a tough away game. We’ll also take on league favourites Blackburn next month in what is sure to be a massive test for us.

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[Brane_Orsou]

Good luck with this save mate, I always like Forssell and wondered what might have been with him had he not suffered that knee injury at Birmingham when he went there on loan

 

[FM_TNSSO]

Good luck with this save mate, I always like Forssell and wondered what might have been with him had he not suffered that knee injury at Birmingham when he went there on loan

Cheers mate. Although he was a striker with a mediocre record, he was surprisingly well liked by most! Hardly set the world alight with an average of 1 goal every 4 games, hopefully as a manager he will average better than 1 win every 4!!

 

[FM_TNSSO]

September 2017

September 2017

Saturday 2nd​ September 2017 (15:00)
Sky Bet League One
Oxford United vs Plymouth Argyle
Formation: 4-2-3-1 Deep
Lineup: Eastwood, Kane, Williamson, Mousinho, Ricardinho, Ledson, Ruffels, Henry, Rothwell, Gorre (Mowatt 71), Obika

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A good home win kicks off September in perfect style. We definitely looked better going forward with Rothwell and Henry back in the starting lineup! Now, we need to build on this!



Kenji Gorre picked up an injury in the Plymouth game which will keep him out for up to 6 weeks!

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Wednesday 6th​ September 2017 (19:45)
Checkatrade Trophy Group O
MK Dons vs Oxford United
Formation: 4-3-2-1 Wide
Lineup: Shearer, Tiendalli, Williamson, Mousinho, Ricardinho, Ledson, Mowatt, Ruffels (Thomas 57), Henry (Buckley-Ricketts 57), Rothwell, Obika

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A defeat here and MK Dons probably deserved the win on the balance of play. I tried something different formation wise and it didn’t pay off. Still, this competition means nothing to me so I’m not too fussed, although I’d have liked to have followed up the win against Plymouth with another result here to build some momentum.



Saturday 9th​ September 2017 (15:00)
Sky Bet League One
Peterborough United vs Oxford United
Formation: 5-3-1-1
Lineup: Eastwood, Kane, Dickie, Mousinho, Williamson, Ricardinho, Mowatt (Brannagan 64), Ashby (Ledson 45), Rothwell, Obika (Mehmeti 76)

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Peterborough’s two strikers have scored 14 goals already this season, and between them they have 8 assists as well. So my plan was to try our best to keep them as quiet as possible, so I went 5 at the back to focus on keeping the strikers out the game. It didn’t work as they still managed 3 past us with 2 of their 3 strikers scoring (1 from the bench).



Saturday 16th​ September 2017 (15:00)
Sky Bet League One
Oxford United vs Walsall
Formation: 3-3-3-1 (Changed to 4-2-3-1 Deep on 23 minutes, changed to 4-4-2 at half time)
Lineup: Eastwood, Kane, Mousinho, Nelson, Ricardinho, Henry, Williamson (Brannagan 23), Ledson, Rothwell (Hall 45), Obika, Mowatt (Mehmeti 45)

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With a hint of desperation, we actually played 3 different formations throughout this game and unsurprisingly, failed to get a result. We looked best with the flat 4-4-2 though and maybe this is something for me to consider for the next game.



Saturday 23rd​ September 2017 (15:00)
Sky Bet League One
Southend United vs Oxford United
Formation: 4-4-2
Lineup: Eastwood, Kane, Mousinho, Nelson, Ricardinho, Henry, Brannagan, Ledson (Ruffels 65), Hall, Obika (Thomas 65), Mehmeti

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Much better performance! The 4-4-2 seemed to have brought out a better performance in the lads and a single Mehmeti goal was enough to secure a big 3 points!



Tuesday 26th​ September 2017 (19:45)
Sky Bet League One
Oxford United vs Blackburn Rovers
Formation: 4-4-2 (Changed to 4-1-4-1 on 76 minutes)
Lineup: Eastwood, Kane, Mousinho, Nelson, Ricardinho, Henry, Brannagan (Ruffels 67), Ledson, Hall, Obika (Thomas 67), Mehmeti (Rothwell 76)

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We stuck with the 4-4-2 formation that had been successful against Southend, but we knew league favourites Blackburn would offer an altogether different challenge! However, we do indeed pull off a fantastic win….now at the start of the season, this might have been billed as a tight game, but with our start to the campaign being less than average, this has to go down as a shock victory as we inflict Blackburn’s first league defeat of the season on them.



3rd​ choice striker, Wes Thomas, picked up an injury in the Blackburn game that will keep him out for a month.

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Saturday 30th​ September 2017 (15:00)
Sky Bet League One
Fleetwood Town vs Oxford United
Formation: 4-4-2 (Changed to 4-1-2-3 on 72 minutes)
Lineup: Eastwood, Kane, Mousinho, Nelson, Ricardinho, Henry, Brannagan, Ledson, Hall, Obika (Ruffels 72), Mehmeti (Buckley-Ricketts 79)

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We kicked off with the same formation and starting lineup for the 3rd​ game in a row, but this was probably our worst performance with it and we struggled to keep tabs on Fleetwood as they ran rings round us for ¾ of the game. We became more competitive once switching to a 4-1-2-3 on 72 minutes, and with a late, late goal in stoppage time, we nicked the win. It was a fortunate result that we probably didn’t deserve.



After dropping down deep into the bottom half of the table, 3 straight wins at the end of the month lifts us back up to 9th​ and looking a lot more like a team that may compete for a playoff place this season. Blackburn’s only loss came at the hands of us, as Shrewsbury lead the way at the top and remain the only unbeaten side in the competition. It’s the Gills who prop up the table after only 1 win from their opening 10 games.

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Player of the Month
James Henry

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The return of James Henry has certainly been significant this month and he has turned in some great performances and contributed to four goals in six appearances.



We kick off October with our second game in the Checkatrade Trophy as we take on Brighton’s youngsters. We follow that up with a home game against bottom side Gillingham. Our games against Scunthorpe, Rotherham and Oldham should also be seen as winnable, with all three of those sides in the bottom half of the table after the opening 10 games.

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[FM_TNSSO]

October 2017

October 2017

Tuesday 3rd​ October 2017 (19:45)
Checkatrade Trophy Group OOxford United vs Brighton & Hove Albion U23s
Formation: 4-4-2 (Changed to 4-1-4-1 on 89 minutes)
Lineup: Shearer, Tiendalli, Williamson, Nelson, Ricardinho (Ledson 57), Napa, Brannagan, Ruffels, Hall, Obika (Buckley-Ricketts 57), Mehmeti (Rothwell 89)

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In front of a small crowd of only 839 supporters, we played out an entertaining game against Brighton’s youngsters which saw us come out on top and take the 3 points and keep qualification prospects from the group alive. Isaac Buckley-Ricketts really impressed me from the bench with his two goals in the last half hour.



I mentioned the poor attendance in the above match analysis and as it turns out, it was a new record low for the club.

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Saturday 7th​ October 2017 (15:00)
Sky Bet League One
Oxford United vs Gillingham
Formation: 4-4-2
Lineup: Eastwood, Kane, Mousinho (Williamson 45), Nelson, Ruffels (Ricardinho 45), Napa, Brannagan, Ledson, Hall, Obika (Gorre 72), Buckley-Ricketts

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Although we only won this 2-1, this was definitely the best we’ve played with the 4-4-2 formation, creating more than 20 chances! Buckley-Ricketts was awarded a start up front after his performance in the Checkatrade Trophy, and rewarded my faith with another goal.



Saturday 14th​ October 2017 (15:00)
Sky Bet League One
Rotherham United vs Oxford United
Formation: 4-4-2 (Changed to 4-1-4-1 on 85 minutes)
Lineup: Eastwood, Kane, Mousinho (Williamson 59), Nelson, Ruffels, Henry, Brannagan, Ledson, Hall, Obika (Mehmeti 59), Buckley-Ricketts (Rothwell 85)

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A very nice away win at Rotherham and well deserved too. With more possession and double the amount of chances, nobody can say we didn’t deserve this and that now makes it 6 straight wins in all competitions since switching to the 4-4-2!!



We’ll go to National League side, Wrexham, in the 1st​ round of the FA Cup.

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Tuesday 17th​ October 2017 (19:45)
Sky Bet League One
Oxford United vs Scunthorpe United
Formation: 4-4-2
Lineup: Eastwood, Kane, Williamson, Nelson, Ruffels, Henry, Brannagan, Ledson, Hall (Rothwell 71), Mehmeti, Buckley-Ricketts (Obika 71)

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A very good home victory sees us extend our winning streak to 7! Mike Williamson deserves a mention as he came in at centre back for John Mousinho who was dropped due to poor performance, and he did brilliantly, looking solid at the back and even popping up with a decent goal as well!



Saturday 21st​ October 2017 (15:00)
Sky Bet League One
Bradford City vs Oxford United
Formation: 4-4-2
Lineup: Eastwood, Kane, Williamson, Nelson, Ruffels (Ricardinho 45), Henry, Brannagan, Ledson (Rothwell 67), Hall, Mehmeti, Buckley-Ricketts (Obika 45)

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Well the winning streak has gone, but we remain unbeaten in 8 after a brilliant comeback, fighting from 2-0 down to secure a draw! Joe Rothwell came on as we pushed forward and looked to attack more through the middle and he had a major impact, scoring almost immediately and creating a couple of other very good chances for the forwards too! We could have even nicked the win at the end.



Saturday 28th​ October 2017 (15:00)
Sky Bet League One
Oxford United vs Oldham Athletic
Formation: 4-4-2
Lineup: Eastwood, Kane, Williamson, Nelson, Ricardinho, Henry, Brannagan, Ledson, Hall, Mehmeti (Obika 74), Buckley-Ricketts

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The lads are really getting the hang of this 4-4-2 formation and this was a fantastic performance all round. Everyone played really well as we created 20 chances, of which 5 were clear cut! A big 4-0 win which could have been 5 as we missed a penalty as well!



Four wins and a draw in the league this month gives us a 13 point boost which sees us shoot up the league table and into the playoff places. There’s a lot of big sides including Wigan, MK Dons and Charlton right on our heels so we’ll have to keep our form going for a little while yet if we’re to remain in contention. At the bottom, Gillingham are really struggling and their fans will be fearing the worst for this season.

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Player of the Month
Cameron Brannagan

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Brannagan has been immense this month, turning in a very good performance in every single game! He also banged in 3 goals along the way too!



Cameron Brannagan excellent form also bagged him the Player of the Month and Young Player of the Month League One awards.

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The games keep coming thick and fast throughout November, with no less than 5 league games ahead of us. But before we even get on to them, we have our final group game in the Checkatrade Trophy and the 1st​ round of the FA Cup to deal with. Both the cup games are certainly winnable as we take on lower league opposition, but the league will offer up some stern tests in the way of Wigan and Charlton, two of those big teams just behind us in the table. On top of that, we take on top of the table, Shrewsbury, as well!

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[Brane_Orsou]

Great set of results there, KIU

 

[FM_TNSSO]

Great set of results there, KIU

Cheers mate. The switch to the 4-4-2 has worked wonders so far

 

[FM_TNSSO]

November 2017

November 2017

Wednesday 1st​ November 2017 (19:45)
FA Cup 1st​ Round
Wrexham vs Oxford United
Formation: 4-4-2
Lineup: Shearer, Tiendalli, Mousinho, Nelson, Ricardinho, Napa, Brannagan (Rothwell 71), Ledson (Ruffels 71), Hall, Obika (Mehmeti 44), Buckley-Ricketts

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Being that we were up against National League opposition here, I rotated the squad a bit and brought in Shearer, Tiendalli, Mousinho, Napa and Obika. The changes didn’t disrupt the team’s flow and they continued their excellent form with another strong showing and comfortable victory to see us into the 2nd​ round.



20 games into football management and Mikael Forssell has quickly built a reputation for getting his side playing exciting, attacking football.

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In the 2nd​ round of the FA Cup, we’ll take on non league opposition again, this time in the form of Wealdstone from the National League South.

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Tuesday 7th​ November 2017 (19:45)
Checkatrade Trophy Group O
Oxford United vs Stevenage
Formation: 4-4-2
Lineup: Shearer, Tiendalli, Mousinho, Nelson (Williamson 30), Ricardinho, Napa, Ruffels, Ledson (Rothwell 45), Hall (Gorre 57), Thomas, Buckley-Ricketts

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We only needed a point from this game to progress from the group stage, but as it happened we easily bagged all 3! This was nothing short of a walkover against our League Two opposition and it’s easy to see why they are struggling down in 17th​ in their league. Also worth noting that this was our 3rd​ consecutive 4-0 win!



Confirmation of our progression in the Checkatrade Trophy as we finish 2nd​ in the group behind MK Dons, who managed to win all three of their games. Good to see an U23s side crashing out.

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Curtis Nelson broke his arm in the Stevenage game and will now miss 2 months of action. He will be sorely missed as he has been a constant in my team this year and has recently been on an excellent run of form with an average match rating of 7.66 from his last 5 games.

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Saturday 11th​ November 2017 (15:00)
Sky Bet League One
Oxford United vs Shrewsbury Town
Formation: 4-4-2 (Changed to 4-1-4-1 at half time)
Lineup: Eastwood, Kane, Mousinho, Williamson (Dickie 45), Ricardinho, Henry, Brannagan, Ledson, Hall, Thomas (Gorre 79), Buckley-Ricketts (Ruffels 45)

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Shrewsbury came into this game top of the league and clearly full of confidence as they ran rings round us in the first 45 minutes but somehow we went into the break level! We were more competitive in the 2nd​ half but a late Shrewsbury goal meant they went away with all the points and it was probably a fair result in the end.



We have a mini crisis developing at centre back as we lose Mike Williamson for 2-3 weeks now as well as Curtis Nelson!

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That defeat to Shrewsbury brought our 8 game unbeaten league run to an end.

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The injuries are starting to pile up as we get some more bad news. Striker, Agon Mehmeti, will be out for 3-5 weeks with a fractured jaw, suffered on international duty for Albania.

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Tuesday 14th​ November 2017 (19:45)
Sky Bet League One
Wigan Athletic vs Oxford United
Formation: 4-4-2 (Changed to 4-1-4-1 on 75 minutes)
Lineup: Eastwood, Kane, Dickie, Mousinho, Ricardinho, Henry, Brannagan, Ledson, Hall, Thomas (Obika 75), Buckley-Ricketts (Ruffels 75)

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We had to weather the storm at times during this game, but we managed to do so when required and got ourselves up the other end to create a handful of decent chances as well. We took a couple of them and it was enough for us to immediately bounce back to winning ways following the defeat against the Shrews.



Saturday 18th​ November 2017 (15:00)
Sky Bet League One
Charlton Athletic vs Oxford United
Formation: 4-4-2 (Changed to 4-2-3-1 on 69 minutes)
Lineup: Eastwood, Kane, Dickie, Mousinho, Ricardinho, Henry, Brannagan (Rothwell 62), Ledson (Ruffels 60), Hall, Thomas, Buckley-Ricketts (Obika 60)

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A really good first half, followed by a really poor second! Overall, we were not good enough!



For **** sake, another ****** injury! Our best player, Cameron Brannagan will miss the next month after twisting his ankle in the Charlton game.

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Tuesday 21st​ November 2017 (19:45)
Sky Bet League One
Oxford United vs Doncaster Rovers
Formation: 4-4-2
Lineup: Eastwood, Kane, Martin, Mousinho, Ricardinho, Henry, Ruffels, Ledson, Hall (Rothwell 54), Obika, Buckley-Ricketts (Thomas 45)

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With a squad depleted by injuries, we played really well here and fully deserved the 3 points. Jonathan Obika was red hot, contributing with a goal and 2 assists, on his return to the starting lineup.



And we’ll be missing another first team player in our next league game after Rob Hall picked up a minor injury and had to be subbed off against Donny.

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We’ve been handed a tough draw in the Checkatrade Trophy as we go away to play one of the country’s best youth teams.

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Saturday 25th​ November 2017 (15:00)
Sky Bet League One
AFC Wimbledon vs Oxford United
Formation: 4-4-2 (Changed to 4-1-2-3 Wide at half time)
Lineup: Eastwood, Kane, Martin, Mousinho (Dickie 39), Ricardinho, Henry, Ruffels, Ledson, Gorre, Obika (Thomas 57), Buckley-Ricketts (Rothwell 45)

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Wimbledon made us work really hard for this point and I have to say that I’m surprised they are struggling down in the bottom 6 as they look like they’ve got a lot going for them this season. Wes Thomas came off the bench to score for the 2nd​ game in a row for us.



Wednesday 29th​ November 2017 (19:45)
FA Cup 2nd​ RoundWealdstone vs Oxford United
Formation: 4-4-2
Lineup: Eastwood, Tiendalli, Martin, Mousinho, Ricardinho, Napa, Rothwell, Ledson, Gorre, Obika, Thomas

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As was expected, we are comfortably through to the 3rd​ round of the FA Cup! Five goals, five different goalscorers!



We drop out of the playoff spots this month after a dip in form, although we are still very much in touch with the top 6. The top 9 now are really starting to open up a gap and pull away from the rest as the league starts to sort itself out now we are approaching the halfway stage. Gillingham look destined for relegation already!

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Player of the Month
Wes Thomas

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The striker (who is not a first team regular) really deserves this for the November month. He has had major impact in a few matches despite rarely seeing out a full 90 minutes. 5 goals and 3 assists from Wes in November!



Another busy month ahead with some tough games in December’s schedule. That period between Christmas and New Year looks nasty with Northampton and Portsmouth to play, two teams above us in the league!

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[dporter8999]

Good season so far, especially considering the injury crisis you've got. Also love the detail, only noticed today that you out the formation changes you make during the game in the report. Good to see the kind of changes you make in game.

 

[FM_TNSSO]

Good season so far, especially considering the injury crisis you've got. Also love the detail, only noticed today that you out the formation changes you make during the game in the report. Good to see the kind of changes you make in game.

Cheers mate, glad you're enjoying the read. Yea I like to try to give details if I changed anything significant in the game so you guys can see how I'm trying to get a goal/Hold onto a lead/see a game out etc....