Put 'em under pressure

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Seano

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Put 'em under pressure - Dipping into the League of Ireland

This is going to be my long-term save on Football Manager for quite awhile - my main aim is too improve the Irish Leagues - changing teams if needed and improving the National Team. It's no easy feat but i want to improve the Irish youth - inspired by Lippo's Get it India! story and OhhhRickieLambert's story.

I will be starting off with Finn Harps in the Irish First Division. They're my local team that are in the top divisions of the country.
Not much history in this club - only have a few trophies in the cabinet.


Expectations should be fairly easy to meet and more. A mid-table finish and a few matches in the cup - but i will be aiming for top 4 challenge in the first season but that might be a little much to ask.
We've got a few decent players and a fairly young team aswell. Definitely something to build on and i'm fairly happy with what we've got to work with!
I wanted to play with one striker and 2 wingers , but we've no wingers in the squad so i settled for a very narrow tactic, which is something i've never tried before so hopefully i'll learn a few things.
My centre back is apparently my best player so here's a sneak peak of what to expect

 
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Ah ha, i'm straight on to it Seano!

Good luck with this mate, will be following with interest.
 
View attachment 313855
Pre-Season
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I usually leave pre-season friendlies to my assistant. So once i got my tactics set up and set up some training for a few weeks i left the friendlies to my assistant, but first lets take a look at the amount of staff i have to my disposal.

Can't even get a proper assistant manager as the board won't let me sack the current one. So 7 staff members - it's gonna be a tough challenge, definitely won't be holidaying any games. Next - lets have a look at my finances.


This is looking pretty grim imo , the sooner we climb up the ranks and get european football the better. Can't sign any players or staff.

Will be hoping to bump this up over the next few seasons as we work our way up the ladder.

This guy is the only transfer i made - should be a good first team player. Considering there's only 140 people available to look at i wasn't expecting to build on my team to much.
 
Osborne looks like a nice catch mate.

Other then that though things are looking a bit bleak but i'm sure you will turn it around. I have the same problem with my staff at Bengal. The board wont let me get rid of any of them so im stuck with 2 star coaching in most categories :S
 
A fairly reasonable start to my career at Finn Harps. Got off to a great start in the League cup with a good win against Castlebar , and to be fair it should of been alot more and meet our expectations of reaching the second round of the League Cup.

Our first League game didn't go to plan, some very poor defending led to two goals being conceded, we didn't deserve to lose but it showed just how important a tight defence should be.

After that i tweaked the tactics a little bit and saw an instant reaction. A 3-0 victory over Cobh Ramblers was a good result, although Cobh aren't the best team it was important for us to pick up our first win of the season and give the fans at Finn Valley something to cheer about. Our top youngster Darragh Black has got off to a great start in the AMC role and will be giving Carel Tiofack a run for the first team.

The next two matches were similar to the Cobh Ramblers game , a great performance from the team and a number of individuals, such as Conor Winn our goalkeeper who's kept out a lot of chances, that the defence sadly has let passed them. Shamrock Rovers B was a team i expected to thrash completely but they surprised me, they gave us a good run for our money with a number of chances at goal.

The final match of the month came against, in my opinion my main contenders in this division Galway United, probably the strongest squad in the league and i didn't expect to get anything out of this match. First half was very pleasing, despite going 1-0 down, we bounced back to take a half time lead of 2-1. Sadly the second half was a different story, Galway picked up the pace and scored to very nice team goals to give them the 3 points. I can't really complain though, we played exceptionally.

9 points from our first 5 games doesn't sound like much, but wait till you see where we stand in the league positions...
You guessed it, top of the league, just ahead of Shelbourne thanks to a superior goal difference.

Despite our league lead i managed to avoid getting manager of the month, coming second behind Johnny McDonell of Shelbourne.

 
My laptop restarted on me without saving, so i have to reply the Shelbourne and Shamrock Rovers games.

Stupid automatic updates.
 
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another 2 updates this evening hopefully. Any comments will be appreciated.
 
As an Irishman, I shall follow this story with a keen eye! :p
 
Very difficult month with 3 away games. Fancied out chances against Waterford United , but defending was below par again. A great result against Shelbourne who seem to be the big boys in this league this season. A draw was a fair result against Cobh Ramblers and we finished off the month with a lucky win against Wexford.



As you can see there wasn't too much in the game - we had our fair of chances and plenty of target but a lack of finishing let us down. Defending was poor, we gifted them two goals - not going to lie i was pulling my hair out at this result as it wasn't a justified result. One thing i have noticed in the last few games is that we seem to rack up a lot of fouls, something i need to look at!

I was delighted with this result, i expected to get demolished by a strong Shelbourne team. They bossed us from the start and we had very little attempts at goal and what we did have , wasn't much to walk about. We battled well in the defence for the majority of the game and they finally got passed our defence in the 51st minute with a well worked goal. I made a few chances after that and threw on a few subs - seemed to work. Youngster Darragh Black set up Carel Tiofack for a nice goal to equalize and win us a point.

I always find away games tough and despite Cobh Ramblers sitting near the bottom of the table, this game was no different. I went into the game expecting get a narrow win so a draw isn't a disaster. It was a fairly even match, both sides getting their fair share of possession as well as chances on goal. The Harps front men were fairly poor though, only get a handful of shot on target. Cobh got off to a good start, taking shots from all over the place in first 20 mins and Stephen Kenny scored a freak goal, literally from the corner flag. Meant to be a cross but soared over Conor Winn's head and straight into the bottom left corner. Kevin McHugh scored, but also started the move for our equalizer. He's performing well as a target man. Held the ball up outside the box, laid it off for Darragh Black, made a run into the 6 yards , Black whipped a cross in and McHugh nodded it into the bottom right corner.

The final game of the month was a home game against Wexford Youths who beat us 2-1 on the first day of the season, so this was a chance for the boys to get revenge. We were both very unlucky and very fortunate in this match. Unlucky because we didn't score as many as we should have, dodgy finishing and good goal keeping kept the scoreline at a measly 1-0 and fortunate because, well it was never a penalty. Other than that there isn't much to talk about, except for the fact that we're keeping up the number of fouls we're making, but it's not causing any penalties or red cards so maybe i'll stop trying to stop that.


League Table

View attachment 313548​
Despite a below par month we managed to keep the top of the league in sight, just 2 points behind league leaders Shelbourne and keeping up a decent Goal Difference.

Despite playing in a Midfield/AMC role - Carel Tiofack seems to be banging in the goals, and our star centre back Bonner is handing out the assists, not a bad quality for a centre back!

Up next we have a fairly busy month with 6 games to be played - followed by a 20 day break so a bit of recovery time.
 
Interesting month ahead mate. You will do well to advance in either of the cup comps, very tough!:S
 


Not the start i had hoped for. A decent performance where i felt we deserved at least a draw but, a lack of finishing is really hurting us. Creating decent chances but we can't finish them. Jordan Loftus , the loanee from Sligo Rovers , missed an open goal.

Another horrible trouncing. The boys who i had thought would of been the whipping boys of the league gave us a good whipping instead and continue to steadily climb the table. The amount of fouls we are conceding is ridiculous, need to fix this soon! Shamrock Rovers B got off to a lucky start with 2 jammy goals, and i thought i would of had a come back on my cards when Kevin McHugh scored for us, but it only turned out to be a consolation goal as the Rovers turned up the heat and put the game to bed just before half time. The second half was nothing to talk about. Very poor.

After the horrible start to may i decided to change my tactics completely - the narrow diamond formation wasn't working out for me despite a decent start. So i changed it to a 4-2-3-1 shown below.
Despite not having the best of players available in those positions i really needed some width in my team.


It seems to have made an instant impact, whether it's just a coincidence or my players were pumped up to beat a bigger team i'm not sure, but the tactic sure worked. Ciaran Coll making a rampant run up the wing came inside the box to volley in a parried effort from Darragh Black to get us off to a great start. Things picked up from there with Kevin McHugh nodding in with his usual near post header after a McNulty cross. Sean McCarron finishing off our scoring with a nice slotted finish just inside the area to put us 3-0 up against a Premier Division side. Jon Macken have Sligo a bit of hope but we shut up shop and kept them out, to put us into the League Cup quarter final.

Another good result with the new tactic, although it was a fairly even match and took us quite awhile to get a decent chance on goal. A very boring first half, both teams limited to a few free kicks. Second half was in our favour, a half cleared cross fell to the feet of Pat McCann , who slotted it nicely into the bottom left corner to hand us the three points!

The second of our cup games against the big division teams sadly didn't go to plan, however it was a mickeymouse cup so i'm not bothered. It took both teams quite awhile to get going, 0 highlights at all until the 20th minute, and from there on it was all bohemians as they took the lead. Quickly followed by a second well struck effort, which found the bottom right corner. Boh's took a 2-0 lead going into the second half. To make matters worse, they were more or less instantly handed another goal, from a dubious penalty decision. Many would of written us off at that stage but a few tactical changes and we were on our way to a come back. Darragh Black scored a long range effort just outside the box which beat the keeper on his right hand side. Carel Tiofack added to the late drama after beating 2 defenders to slot home. With 5 minutes of added time we had a number of chances to level it up but in the end it wasn't to be.

Up next was a difficult home game against Title contenders Shelbourne. It was a big dissapointment though, neither team had any real efforts at goal. The only real talking point was the late red card for Shel's Phillip Hand. Other than that it was a ***** match.

After a mixed month we find ourselves in 2nd place, althought we've played an extra game and even two more than some teams so we might fall down the table a little bit.

Only a 3 game month this week included a League Cup Quarter final against Longford and after beating Sligo we'd be favourites for that. 2 home league games so i'm hoping to pick up a 100% record this month.
 
Looking at the statistics from this match i am delighted to get a draw but before the match i thought we were good enough to beat Waterford United,although like us they seem to be on a bit of a cup run. It was a pretty boring match , no real chances on goal for either team. Pretty disappointed with the amount of attempts we had at goal.


We keep our cup run going, just about! Despite going 4-0, we managed to leak 2 goals and looked very shaking at the end of the match. Going to have to work on holding onto the lead because we've been leaking alot of late goals. Decided to give a few of the youth players a run out and they sure impressed with both Toland and Loftus getting on the score sheet - i'll have to give them a chance in the league!


This is a game i expected to win fairly comfortably, and if the first half was anything to go by, we should of beaten them by alot more. They had 4 attempts in the first half compared to our 10. We really should of been 3 or 4 up at the break. Despite making a good start the second half, we were very poor. Taking the foot off the gas we allowed Cobh back into the game, and they took advantage of it by scoring a well worked goal , giving us something to worry about coming to the end of the match, but we held onto the lead and the 3 points!This month sees us drop down to third but still within touching distance of the top spot
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any comments/feedback would be appreciated!
 
Pretty good start mate. Seems like you could be right up there for promotion.

Will follow this :)
 
Almost a must win match coming up against Waterford mate, its tight at the top!
 
update will have to wait until tomorrow!
 

A big win against the league leaders - moves us 3 points closer. Really delighted with this performance. The finishing was superb and we fully deserved our win. I'm disappointed that we conceded late goals, something we've been doing far too often. We dont usually dominate possession either so all in all a great game.

I don't even know what to say about this. Most frustrating match i've ever watched, we couldnt score in a ***** house! So disappointing after such a big win against Longford. Defending was yet again atrocious and strikers couldn't finish anything.

Such as gracious point - we got our ***** handed to us on a plate - literally spent the entire game in our own half. Horrible. Rovers seem to be our bogey team! Delighted to come away with a point.

Really unfortunate in this game , we were superb up until they equalised - we couldn't take our chances and as soon as they got one, our heads dropped and they got another! Need to lift the team a bit with some inspiration... or a new coaching staff! Looking like another mixed month!
Technically this belongs in August's update but i decided to play it anyways because it would be a nice way to end this update! BOOM! What a win - just what we needed - it's getting pretty tight up at the top and we can't afford to drop any points to the big teams. The team we simply fantastic in this. We could of won by alot more. It's nice to get a rare away victory too!

See what i mean by tight? We really need those victories against Longford and Waterford. It's a pity we didn't win all the games otherwise we'd be alot closer. Need a perfect month or two to get to the top, but it's gonna be a tough one when you see the schedule. 2 big teams in the league and a league cup semi final against the big boys!

 
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