Octavian: The 'Phenomenal' One

[robbieboro82]

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Octavian: The 'Phenomenal' One

Current Club: Middlesbrough | Wage: £15k


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THE STORY SO FAR

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Octavian is a Brazilian Football Manager born in Sao Paulo.

He retired from Football at an early age due to injuries and spent 3 years working behind the scenes at Sao Paulo in Analytics before moving on to become Assistant Manager at a few Brazilian Lower League Clubs.

He then moved on to Ituano as the Head of Youth Development, where he was labelled as a 'Phenomenal' talent by Middlesbrough Legend Juninho, who is Ituano's owner.

Following Middlesbrough's relegation from the English Premiership and the sacking of former Spanish Manager Aitor Karanka and the unsuccessful attempt of survival from Steve Agnew, a new and fresh approach was needed.

On the recommendation of Juninho, Middlesbrough Chairman Steve Gibson flew to Brazil to hold talks with the 34 year old Octavian and discussed his philosophy for the Club, his ambitions and how the Young and Talented Manager would fit into his plans.

On the 26th June 2017, Octavian signed a £15,000, One Year Contract with Middlesbrough FC with the task of getting the Club back to the Premiership at the First attempt......failing is not an option!!

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NEXT UPDATE
JUNE 2017 - ARRIVING ON TEESSIDE

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[robbieboro82]

JUNE 2017 - ARRIVING ON TEESSIDE

JUNE 2017 - ARRIVING ON TEESSIDE

Octavian

The first few days has been spent assessing the squad and staff and deciding who will be in the long, medium and short term plans.

In my opinion there are a few key areas with the staff that need to be changed and there is a lot of space for new faces, especially in the Youth Teams. Over the next few weeks all the new staff will slowly be brought in and the full list will be available in the July Update.

BEATTIE SACKED
The first task was to appoint my new assistant manager, James Beattie was released and I brought in Mike Phelan who has a great deal of experience an will be essential in helping me settle and understand the English game.

Looking at the squad it is clear to see a lot of quality throughout, but the task will be getting them to gel together and play together coheisvely and form a strong unit.

I will be looking at a few players over the next few days and deciding if they fit into my style of playing and the mentality I want my team to adopt. I feel the team doesn't desperately need new players so money won't be wasted on panic buys or players that don't improve the squad.

The 3 Key Players in the First Team are, Britt Assombalonga, Ben Gibson and Adam Clayton.

BRITT ASSOMBALONGA
We certainly have a man to lead the line that will score us goals, quick, powerful and lethal in front of goal.
Signed for £15m from Forest before my appointment but he is someone who I probably would have signed myself.

BEN GIBSON
The heartbeat of the club and my newly appointed Captain.
A Boro local and supporter who was called up to the England squad last season, he may not get called up while the club are in the Championship but his commitment to staying after relegation to ensure the club go back up should be applauded.

ADAM CLAYTON
Undervalued, I really like what Clayton offers the team.
He's a hard worker and will mix it up in the centre of the pitch when he needs to, but has a Premiership quality about him, he will be one of the best Midfielders in the league.

BEST TEAM
There is so much quality in the team its almost embarrassing.
The core of the team that was promoted 2 seasons ago with Karanka is still here and they have now got an added year of Premiership experience.

The main decision which I'm not sure how the fans will react to is that I'll prefer the young Dael Fry over Ayala, he's got tonnes of potential and I want him to establish himself in the team as quick as possible.

The dark horse of the squad is definitely Adama Traore, has a mix of Messi and Ronaldo in him...but then never produces that final bit of magic to create or score a goal, maybe I'll be able to get more out of him if I play him correctly.

YOUTH PROSPECTS
We have a few good young players coming through into the First Team and the pick of the bunch is Dael Fry, Harry Chapman and Marcus Tavernier.
Fry will be in the first team from the start of the season, Tavernier is on the fringes and Chapman is out on loan at Blackburn but may recall him as I'd rather watch him more closely.

PRE SEASON
The squad will fly out to Spain for a few weeks and face some tough Spanish opposition before returning home to face Lincoln City then a showpiece match at the Riverside against Argentinian giants Boca Juniors.

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[robbieboro82]

JULY - PRE SEASON

JULY - PRE SEASON BEGINS

The Squad flew out to Spain for a series of friendly games versus some tough Spanish apposition.


0 :BILBAO ATHLETIC V MIDDLESBROUGH: 3

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First game in charge and a chance to ***** the squad.
Not the toughest opposition and we easily ran out 3-0 winners.
I believe that this will pretty much be my starting 11.

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0 :RCD ESPANYOL V MIDDLESBROUGH: 6

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Decided to change things up slightly and drop BRAITHWAITE in behind the main striker and what a result.
The football was amazing and I really didn't expect to win so convincingly.
2 Goals from ASSOMBALONGA and another 2 from BRAITHWAITE.

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2 :GIRONA V MIDDLESBROUGH: 1

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Well the new tactic didn't work this time around and we were caught out.
Took the lead through a goal by ASSOMBALONGA then it went all to **** 3 mins later.
We learn and move on.

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3 : CELTA VIGO V MIDDLESBROUGH: 1

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Teams are just dominating us at the minute so I do think this tactic isn't working at all for this team.
We need more possession and then we can use our pace to hit teams on the break or look for openings.
Game went down hill from 2 mins in when ASPAS scored, though ASSOMBALONGA levelled for his 4th of Pre season the game was handed to them in the end.

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PRE SEASON SIGNING
SERGIO ALVAREZ
from Real Sporting Gijon
Defensive Midfielder
£8,000,000

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We needed a better Defensive Player to slot into the DM position, this would enable me to push CLAYTON into a more advanced role and pull some strings going forward.
£8m seemed a lot to me at first but then though about it and it really does make us stringer in the central area which is now a triangle of ALVAREZ - CLAYTON - HOWSON, with FORESHAW and LEADBITTER as back up.

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PLAYER OUT
ADLENE GUEDIOURA
to Sheff Utd
£2,300,000

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0 :LINCOLN CITY V MIDDLESBROUGH: 5

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Changes to a more possession based tactic and it seemed to work, though the opposition was poor I finally saw what the team was capable of.
I brought BARRAGAN back from his loan before the game as I think he has a part to play at the club unlike the previous manager.
4 goals from Assombalonga taking his tally to 8 for Pre Season is just what I want to see.
My focus was to see how the possession stats would rack up and it was 67% to 33% with 23 shots on goal.

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2 :MIDDLESBROUGH V BOCA JUNIORS: 0

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The only game of Pre Season that we played at home and we played superbly against some great Boca Players.
We again had superior possession against a supposedly more advanced team and we doubled their shots on goal ratio.
TRAORE scoring his first goal for the club and he has been looking better and better on that right wing as each game goes by, he looks frightening sometimes.
.....but now the series work starts in the Championship, a hard league to get out of.


YOUTH SIGNINGS

There seemed to be a lot of high quality Portuguese (Regen) Players out there so snapped up no fewer than 6 of them.

VITOR SANTOS (AMLC) from Barreirense
ADIANO LOPES (AMRL) from Amora
JAMIE MARREIROS (ST) from Amora
FABIO VALENTE (AMC) from Padronese
RUI BASILLIO (AMRLC) from Padronese
RAFAEL ROMEIRO (DR) from Praia de Milfontes

They will all be going into the Under 18 Squad as the rebuild of the youth begins.

I released no fewer than 28 Youth Players that were not deemed good enough to make it at the club.


PRE SEASON ANALYSIS

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A pretty Solid Pre Season and I do firmly believe I have established my best 11 and the tactic I want to deploy for the season ahead.

Player of Pre Season
BRITT ASSOMBALONGA

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9 Goals in Pre Season says it all for the £15,000,000 man.
Lets hope this can continue.


​

 

[robbieboro82]

AUGUST - THE SEASON BEGINS

AUGUST

The Media have made us favourites to bounce straight back u at the first attempt, which I think we can achieve, I just hope that early results go our way and confidence doesn't dip as this is a very tough league and it will be a tough season.

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OPENING GAME OF THE SEASON
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0 :WOLVES V MIDDLESBROUGH: 1

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We opened away at Wolves who are 3rd favourites to be promoted.
They have a great squad of Portuguese players and a top manager in Nuno Esparto Santo.
The game was quite poor and from my point of view we were very fortunate to come away with 3 points here.
The only goal being an own goal from ***** BOLY.

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2 :MIDDLESBROUGH V SHEFF UTD: 0

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After picking up a slight knock in the opening fixture Adama TRAORE made it into the squad and what an impact he had on the game, really tore them apart.
Another own goal ensured another 3 Points and the performance was slightly better, but still need to improve.

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2 :MIDDLESBROUGH V BURTON ALBION: 1

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We should be killing these teams off with the possession we are having.
A great start as Adam CLAYTON scores within a minute and Paddy BAMFORD secures the points late on before Burton attempt a late fight back.
Slightly worried by the lack of goals from ASSOMBALONGA but 3 Games in and 9 Points taken.

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1 :NOTTS FOREST V MIDDLESBROUGH: 3

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Another win on the road and the season is shaping up nice.
Finally ASSOMBALONGA get his first goal of the season so hopefully he'll start firing now.

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2nd Round

0 :ROTHERHAM V MIDDLESBROUGH: 1

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Chance for a few of the fringe players to impress and to be fair, they got the job done but it was not overly impressive.
Preston await in the 3rd Round.

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1: MIDDLESBROUGH V PRESTON NORTH END: 0

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Dominated the game and surprised we didn't hit more goals, 69% possession and 20 shots at goal....only one goal from ASSOMBALONGA though which caps a perfect start to the season.

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PLAYER OF THE MONTH

ADAMA TRAORE

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Simply amazing and seems to get better and better each game, his skill and pace is phenomenal.
Quickly becoming the first name on the team sheet.

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MANAGER OF THE MONTH

OCTAVIAN

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First month in management and my first award.
Thrilled but I know the team are capable of much more than what they are showing.

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[robbieboro82]

1st September to 1st January

So I got a bit carried away playing and now I'm a few months ahead, so going to do a big update then go back to more detail in the Jan.

Also, what kinds of things do people like to see? Youth Progress? Other League Tables.

Just thinking ahead of the Monthly layout I may adopt.

Anyway.

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SEPTEMBER

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Bit of a hit and miss month, won a few with average performances and lost our first games pretty convincing when I thought i should change up the tactics, somethingthat I won't be doing again as both times I've gone attacking we have lost.


OCTOBER

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Started the month with a loss and it improved from there, Gestede is starting to score a few after we had a slight falling out, gave him a run in the team and he's repaying me so fair play.
Also beat Dirty Leeds so we will face a tough game against Liverpool in December.


NOVEMBER

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​Just the 4 games this month which is crazy considering December is rammed with games.
AGAIN, we start the month with a loss, to our rivals Sunderland but then go on to win the other 3 games, putting us firmly in 1st Place.


DECEMBER

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The 3rd Month we lose the first game, whats going on!! A few great wins and some average draws with TRAORE and ASSAMBALOGA turing on the style lately.
​But the big story is we somehow managed to beat Liverpool and progress to the next round where we will play Leicester.
Liverpool did play a weakened team but at the end of the day we beat Liverpool!!


TABLE ON 1ST JANUARY

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So we sit top of the table on new years day with a 9 point gap between us and Fulham. Lets get back to January and get the game back into detail.

TOP SCORERS

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​Britt Assambalonga moving up those charts now!!!










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