Rising Through The Ranks....Journeyman Styley!!

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World Cup 2018


England Lift World Cup

England have won the 2018 World Cup, beating Argentina 4-3 in the final. Probably the biggest shock (other than England actually winning it) was Algeria making the semi finals!!

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July 2018 Review

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July 2018 Review

Only three games played this month and two wins and a draw is a good return, especially taking into account the teams we have played. We beat title rivals Warriors FC in the league, before demolishing Home Utd in the first group game of the league cup. We followed that up with a decent draw and have put ourselves in a decent position to qualify from the group. The win over Warriors also sees us gain two places in the league to 2nd.

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The Games...

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A massive victory against one of the title contenders. This win put us 4 points clear of Warriors who are back in 3rd place now, although they do still have a game in hand on us. Good to see Dzoni getting on the scoresheet again following his injury woes this season.

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StarHub League Cup Group Stage: Our first game was probably going to be our toughest on paper, against Home Utd. But we had the home advantage and made it count, racing into a 3-0 lead by half time. Home Utd didn't offer up any sort of a comeback in the 2nd half and the score remained the same and we made the perfect start to the League Cup campaign.

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StarHub League Cup Group Stage: Just look at those stats. I can't believe we only walked away from this game with a draw. However, it does keep us in a very strong position to qualify at the top of the table with one game left.

Player of the Month

Ivan Dzoni
Striker

Appearances: 3
Goals: 4
Assists: 0
Shots: 19
Average Rating: 8.00

Hopefully, Ivan Dzoni has put his injury problems behind him for the season. He was reintroduced to the squad again this month following recovery of his latest injury and came back with a bang, scoring 4 goals in 3 games. This lad could be the difference between us winning trophies or not this season.

August Preview

August is all about the cups. We'll play our final game in the League Cup group against Warriors FC. We then play both legs of the Asian Confederations Cup Zonal Final, before also playing the quarter final of the Singapore Cup. We then finish off the month with two league games including a huge fixture with title rivals and reigning champions Home Utd.

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August 2018 Review

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August 2018 Review

Well it's been a busy month to say the least. We've played 8 games this month and unbelievably, only one of those was in the league. So I'm going to break down this month slightly different rather than lumping all the games in together hopefully so it makes some sense.

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StarHub League Cup: Finished Runners Up

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StarHub League Cup Group Stage: I was pleased with this result for a number of reasons. Firstly, it obviously sees us qualify from the group. Second, I rested a number of players for this one, knowing that I could afford to lose by 2 goals and still go through. Finally, we played more than 20 minutes of the match with only 10 men! All in all, a good performance, good result and onwards and upwards in the League Cup.

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StarHub League Cup Semi Final: This cup was now played just over the 1 leg and we had home advantage for winning our group. With a point to prove after being thrashed 5-1 last time we played Hougang, we got a bit of revenge here by dumping Hougang out of the cup on our way to the final. Not the most convincing scoreline, but the stats prove our dominance throughout the entire 90 minutes of this match.

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StarHub League Cup Final: Well we completely fell apart in the final. Defensively we were really poor with Home Utd looking like they were going to score with every single attack. And when we mustered up chances of our own, the end product was completely missing as wayward shots gave their goalkeeper an easy day at the office. My first cup final of my career ends in defeat.

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Asian Confederations Cup: We March On

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Asian Confederations Cup Zonal Final 1st Leg: We looked to keep it pretty tight at the back for the away leg and I'm relatively pleased to only concede one goal against a side that have had an extra 4 days break than us since their last game. Bit disappointed we couldn't bag an away goal of our own, but we definitely were not out of this with the 2nd leg to come at home.

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Asian Confederations Cup Zonal Final 2nd Leg: We had a 1-0 deficit to turn over from the 1st leg and it only took us 13 minutes to level things up in the tie with a nice calm effort from Shah, passing into the back of the net from 10 yards. When Geylang got an early goal in the 2nd half to put themselves 2-1 up on aggregate, we were really up against it as they now had the away goal for us to contend with as well. But my boys showed incredible fight and character to come back with 2 more second half goals of our own and secure a 3-2 aggregate victory which sees us win the zonal final and progress to the interzone playoff semi final of the competition. Fazrul Nawaz came off the bench in this game for his first appearance in nearly 5 months (following an injury that looked like it would keep him out all season) to bag the winning goal!

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Asian Confederations Cup Interzone Playoff Semi Final 1st Leg: A great performance at home means we will take a healthy 3-0 lead to Hong Kong for the 2nd leg.

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RHB Singapore Cup Quarter Final 1st Leg: It seems like we're playing Warriors FC in every other game this season and here we took them on again in the quarter final of the Singapore Cup. Despite the tie still being settled over 2 legs, the Singapore Cup games seem to be played on neautral ground so neither team had home advantage. And with neither team having that advantage, the game predictably ended in a 0-0 draw. All to play for in the 2nd leg next month.

League

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Our only league game of the month was an away one at Young Lions. I think the team were still feeling a bit sorry for themselves after the cup final loss as we really didn't play that well and had Young Lions been a bit better in front of goal, we could have easily lost this.

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Player of the Month

Hafiz Abu Sujad
Central Midfielder

Appearances: 5
Goals: 2
Assists: 2
Key Passes: 8
Average Rating: 7.30

The central midfielder has been consistent this month, turning in decent performances when required during a hectic schedule. A couple of goals from central midfield too.

September Preview

Just the five games in September as the schedule looks slightly less packed out. The second legs of the Singapore Cup Quarter Final and the Asian Confederations Cup Interzone Playoff Semi Final come back to back in September. But before that, we will kick off with a must win game against Home Utd in the league. With a 4 point gap now opened up between us in 1st and 2nd, if I fail to win that game, I can probably kiss goodbye to any title hopes.

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September 2018 Review

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September 2018 Review

An unbeaten month sees us take 7 from 9 points in the league and progress in two cup competitions, so all in all it's been a fantastic month for us. A vital win against Home Utd at the start of the month kept us in the title running, before progressing to the semi final of the Singapore Cup and the interzone playoff final of the Asian Confederations Cup. We now sit 2nd in the league on the same points as Home Utd and Warriors FC, although Home Utd do have a game in hand and a slightly better goal difference so you'd have to say the advantage lies with them. Only four league games to go now...

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The Games...

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This was a must win game for us as Home Utd were 4 points ahead of us at the top of the league at kick off. A loss would have all but ended any title hopes for us. So I was delighted to see my lads turn in a fantastic performance as we inflicted the second 3-0 defeat on Home Utd this season after beating them in the cup earlier this season by the same scoreline. The title race is back on!

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Singapore Cup Quarter Final 2nd Leg: A dominant performance sees us dump Warriors out of another cup competition this season as we continue to be the thorn in their side. We march on to the semi finals.

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Asian Confederations Cup Interzone Playoff Semi Final 2nd Leg: All the hard work was done in the first leg, so this draw was easily enough to see us through to the interzone playoff final.

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At kick off, DPMM were bottom of the league with only one league win to their name all season. Despite that, they did put up a good fight and managed to keep us out for a good hour until Dzoni scored a cracker from just inside the box. I thought we'd probably have gone on to score more and we probably would have if it hadn't of been for Sujad being sent off. Based on the fact we had to play the last 25 minutes with 10 men, I'm happy with the result.

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Just one of those days where we really struggled to find the back of the net. A few poor misses combined with some really good saves from their keeper meant this resulted in a 1-1 draw despite our sheer dominance throughout.

Player of the Month

Ivan Dzoni
Striker

Appearances: 4
Goals: 6
Assists: 0
Dribbles: 13
Average Rating: 8.10

Dzoni has been in great goalscoring form again this month as he picks up his 2nd player of the month award from me.

Dzoni was also recognised as the league's player of the month.

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Three of my players were also named in the league's team of the month.

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Title Race Hots Up

It's getting to the business end of the season now and we find ourselves very much in the running. The final game of the season between Home Utd and Warriors could be huge for all three of us.

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Dzoni Is Out Of Here

I've been trying to get Ivan Dzoni to sign a new contract with the club all season but with a number of failed attempts. He won't even talk figures with me as he clearly saw his future away from the club, stating that he wanted to play at a higher level. With his contract up at the end of the year, there has been no shortage of teams tracking him and he has finally agreed to leave us on a free transfer in January 2019 to join Slovakian club AS Trencin.

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October Preview

Seven games coming up in a busy October schedule. Three league games and four in the two remaining cups. We'll play both legs of the Singapore Cup and the Asian Confederations Cup as we look to make the final of both competitions. A massive league game against title challengers Warriors FC in amongst that as well! Incredibly, it will be our 8th meeting with them this season! So far, from 7 games with them, I have 3 wins, 2 draws and 2 losses....but this will be potentially the biggest game against them all season.

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October 2018 Review

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October 2018 Review

I have very mixed feelings about how October has gone. I'm obviously bitterly disappointed to have crashed out of both cup competitions, but on the plus side, our league form has been brilliant exactly when we needed it to be and we have done everything we can to win this title and our points tally now sits above what Home Utd won the league with last season. We currently top the division with 1 game left. Home Utd are the only team that can beat us to it....2 points behind us and with a game in hand! We need to win our last game and hope they drop points in one of their last two and the title will be ours!

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The Games...

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Asian Confederations Cup Interzone Playoff Final 1st Leg: Wow, we played in front of over 45,000 fans in India....slightly different atmosphere to the usual 2,000 we get for an average home game. But the boys wern't fazed as we were the better side for large parts of the game and unlucky not to be taking a lead into the 2nd leg. But I'll take a 0-0 away from home in the 1st leg all day long.

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A hard fought win over good opposition away from home. We did well in this game against a side that are tough to break down and got the important win that was required to keep our title challenge on track. Home Utd also only managed a draw on the same matchday so we are now 2 points ahead of them although they still have their game in hand.

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RHB Singapore Cup Semi Final 1st Leg: My immediate thoughts when I was picking my team for this game was 'what a stupid f*cking time to arrange the semi final of the cup'. I say this as I had six first team regulars away on international duty, so my team was seriously weakened. I could only hope that Albirex were in the same boat as me. Despite the weakened side, we were still the better side although we did lose the game. Luck was not on our side and their keeper had an absolute blinder. If we play that way in the 2nd leg, I feel confident we can turn this tie around.

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RHB Singapore Cup Semi Final 2nd Leg: With half my team still on international duty, we again had to field a weakened starting 11 to what I'd have liked. Looking at the stats over the two legs, I can't believe we haven't won this tie.

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This was a huge game for both sides in the race for the title and Warriors came into it in good form with 4 wins in their last 5 games. But we soon shot them down and were firmly in control of this match by the half hour mark, already 3-0 up! We went on to complete a proper demolition job on Warriors and made a mockery of their title challenge with our biggest win of the season! Six different goalscorers for us on the day too :-)

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Asian Confederations Cup Interzone Playoff Final 2nd Leg: When Ehvin was sent off for a two footed lunge in less than 20 minutes, this was always going to be a tough ask to get a result. That little ***** has cost us this tie and there's a good chance the ****** will never play for us again after that moment of utter stupidity! Fair play to the lads for giving it a ****** good go, and with 11 men I reckon we probably win the game.

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Our penultimate league game of the season would see us play Albirex for the 3rd time this month. After losing to them in the Singapore Cup, I was keen to get some revenge and I had a full strength team this time. And with my best team finally available against this lot, the best team finally won on the day. Home Utd continue to win as well though meaning their game in hand could still take them above us with only 1 game left!

Player of the Month

Fazrul Nawaz
Inside Forward

Appearances: 6
Goals: 1
Assists: 2
Key Passes: 10
Average Rating: 7.43

Nawaz has been the best player this month across both league and cup competitions.

Gabriel Quak was also recognised for his league form this month as he picked up the Player of the Month award.

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Five of my players were also named in the league's team of the month.

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New Contract For Me

The board came to me and offered a new 1 year deal. The initialy salary I was offered only matched my current £300 per week. After some negotiation, I have now signed a new 1 year deal with the club with a £50 per week pay rise.

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November Preview

We have two games scheduled for November. Our final league game against Hougang and a pointless 3rd place playoff in the Singapore Cup against Young Lions.

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November - End of Season

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November 2018 Review

We only had one game to play in November. Despite literally banging down the Hougang door for 90 minutes, we just couldn't find a way through. This draw left us 3 point clear at the top with Home Utd having 2 games in hand. We'd need them to lose one game....we have the better goal difference so this should be enough to clinch the title.

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Home Utd Clinch Title

Home Utd went on to win both their remaining games and clinched the title again from under our noses. Even if we'd have won the game against Hougang we'd have still lost it by a point. I feel gutted as we amassed a decent points tally this year that would have seen us win the league comfortably last season.

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Singapore Cup Review

The Singapore Cup came to an end this month, with Albirex picking up the trophy.

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Asian Confederations Cup Review

The Asian Confederations Cup came to an end this month with the team that conquered us in the interzone playoff final, Mohun Bagan, lifting the trophy.

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Player Awards

As the season came to an end, Ivan Dzoni picked up the Singaporean people's choice award and my goalkeeper was named in the starting 11 of the team of the year.

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Manager's Thoughts

Well on the face of it, I don't think we've had a bad season. I just feel really deflated that we haven't picked up a trophy after being in the running to potentially win 4 only a couple of months ago. I really thought we gave everything in the league campaign and were really unlucky not to lift the title after only losing 3 league games all season!

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Runners up in the League, runners up in the League Cup, 3rd place in the Singapore Cup and interzone finalists in the Asian Confederations Cup....I think it's fair to say that this season, we were 'the nearly men'!

However, although we haven't won a trophy, I feel I have achieved what I set out to do and that was build a reputation for myself as a football manager, and not a terrible one at that. At the end of the season, I have now managed this team in 54 matches, losing only 7 of those. I've got a win ratio of 55% and I've performed well in all competitions this season! Surely, that has not gone unnoticed and my feet are itching as I think 'surely some bigger clubs must be looking at me by now'...

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A shame you couldn't pick up a trophy but definitely a solid start to your career
 
New Year, New Job

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New Year, New Job

Following the end of the season in Singapore, I spent some time to reflect on the year and my managerial career to date. I felt I'd done well....I felt I'd proved myself...Ultimately, I felt I could do better than Singaporean minnows Tampines, with a value of just over £500k and a 4,000 seater stadium. It may sound ungrateful to the club that gave me my first shot in management, but I'd weighed things up and decided to start looking around for a new job (at a bigger club). I'd be losing a couple of my best players from Tampines in mid January anyway on a free transfer and I thought it would be a big ask to top what I achieved last season (which sounds stupid considering I didn't win a trophy).




So the job market was frequently checked over the next couple of months, and to my surprise there wasn't a lot on offer that really took my fancy. I knew I couldn't jump the gun and waltz my way straight into a huge football club so I had to keep things realistic. There were a number of positions coming up in Malaysia and the lower leagues of China, but the clubs were no bigger than where I was already at....it would only be a sideways step and that's not what I was trying to achieve here.

Then a couple of jobs came up that I did fancy....both of which would require a complete relocation to South America. The two jobs that had caught my eye were based in Brazil...the clubs were Botafogo Futebol Clube and Tupi FC, both playing in the third tier of Brazilian football. Botafogo were a club worth £1.5 million, with a 29,000 capacity stadium, and Tupi were valued at just over £1 million with a slightly larger ground at nearly 32,000 capacity. Either would be a much bigger club for me to manage, so the applications swiftly went over.

I didn't really know what to expect as this was the first time I'd applied for a job with any actual experience under my belt. Would I be in demand, or would they just laugh off my application? Well, it wasn't long before I had positive responses from both clubs inviting me to interview. I booked myself in for both, jumped on a plane and got myself over to Brazil.



Both interviews went well if I'm honest and I came away from both not sure which job appealed more. If I got offered both, it would be a tough decision to make. Both clubs are about the same size, playing in the same division, with similar trophy cabinets. The only real difference was Tupi were predicted a 2nd place finish in the division compared to Botafogo's 7th.



In the end, I was saved a tough decision as I was only offered one of the jobs. Botafogo sent me a swift 'thanks but no thanks', but Tupi sent me over the offer, a 2 year contract at £525 per week....a cheeky little £200 pay rise on my current salary. I didn't need to take too much time to think about it....in fact my response was almost instantaneous as I confirmed I'd be moving to Brazil ASAP.




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Moving to Brazil



Relocation to Brazil

So as I'd done when I moved to Singapore, I did a bit of research about where I was moving to. Tupi FC were based in the city of Juiz de Fora, in the Southeastern Brazilian state of Minas Gerais. The city has an estimated population of around 560,000 people and is around 25 miles from the state border with Rio de Janeiro.






The Brazilian Football League Structure

I arrived at the club and in my introductory meeting, I was handed the club's schedule for the upcoming year. The first thing I noticed is that we seem to be down to play in two leagues this year. Feeling very confused but mot wanting to look entirely stupid, I kept my mouth shut and thought I'd have a look into this later in the privacy of my temporary hotel room.

I get back to the room and start to frantically google the Brazilian football structure. That's where I found my explanation on good old Wikipedia...

The Brazilian football league system is a series of interconnected leagues for football clubs in Brazil. It consists of several independent pyramids, which are the national pyramid and the state pyramids. As those pyramids are independent, clubs usually compete in both pyramids in the same year (a state and a national one). Both the national pyramid and the state pyramids consist of several different levels. The best placed teams in the state championships as well as the best ranked clubs in CBF's ranking compete in the Copa do Brasil.

So in short, the national pyramid is the main league structure, comprised of four tiers, Serie A down to Serie D. We currently find ourselves playing in Serie C, the third tier. Serie C is made up of 20 teams, split into 2 groups of 10. Within your group, you play each team twice. Bottom two are relegated and top 4 go into the second stage quarter final. From there I am not entirely sure how it works but overall 4 teams end up getting promoted from the division to Serie B (which is one league and not split into groups).

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Now our state championship is the Minas State league. It consists of 12 teams which are mixed from Serie A, Serie B, Serie C, Serie D and non league teams as well, based on the fact we're all in the same state and this is a local competition. Teams only play each other once and the top 4 qualify for the semi finals.

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The Minas State starts in 10 days so I'll have to get to work quickly. That will run from Jan-Apr, and then Serie C starts in May and runs until October.

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Tupi FC




Nickname: None
Year Founded: 1912
Country: Brazil
City: Juiz de Fora

Professional Status: Professional
Estimated Value: £1.09 million
Training Facilities: Adequate
Youth Facilities: Below Average
Junior Coaching: Average
Youth Recruitment: Average
Corporate Facilities: Adequate
Reputation: National (2 Stars)

Stadium: Radialista Mario Helenio
Year Built: 1988
Capacity: 31,863 all seater

Fierce Rivals: Tupynambas (Local)
Other Rivals: None
Derbies: Tu-Tu Derby (vs Tupynamabas)

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Previous Honours:

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Hardly anything in the club's trophy cabinet.


Targets

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There won't be much pressure on me in my first year in charge as I'm not really expected to do that well in anything.


The Stadium




And I'm Loving My New Fanbase...


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Squad




Squad Evaluation

- I have much better players here than what I did at Tampines Rovers
- As I take over, I inherit a team with 7 players in the first team squad on the transfer list
- My whole team is Brazilian, with no other nationalities represented
- Misael and Italo are highly rated strikers for this level of football and I may need a tactic that sees them both play
- Misael can play down both wings as well as up top
- A severe lack of wide players in this squad
- Fernando is a solid centre back at this level and I have a number of good defenders to back him up
- Right back and goalkeeper positions look very weak
- All of my centre backs offer good height at 6ft+
- Most of my midfielders are small and technical
- Most of the squad has a balanced personality

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Dynamics

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The dressing room atmosphere is a good, but the players don't seem convinced at my appointment.

Best Players

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A small pacey striker, with good determination and flair. A very good dribbler of the ball too. Can see him playing a deep role, running at defenders and wreaking havoc.

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A very different striker to Misael, in the fact that he is big and strong. I think they may be able to play well off each other. Italo offers me height combined with good jumping and heading ability. For a big guy, he isn't exactly slow either.

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A solid centre back with good stats for tackling, marking and heading. His positioning is good too and should organise the defence well. Has some pace about him for a centre back too. I like Fernando a lot!


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What a great name for a derby. Good luck at your new club, can see this career is going to have a lot of interesting destinations :P
 
January 2019 Review



January 2019 Review

Once I'd started my job, the first thing to do was take a good look at my team and the tactics I'd be looking to employ. At Tampines, I had been quite reliant on wide attacking players to create and score a lot of my chances. However, it wouldn't be a simple transition to just employ the same tactics as I'd inherited a squad here with a distinct lack of wide forwards. I therefore sat down, took a good look at what I had available and this is what I've come up with. Obviously this is just the base formation and different games will require different adaptations or role changes....but this is the initial starting point.

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It wasn't the dream start I had been hoping for as we only played one game in January and it resulted in a 1-0 defeat. Despite dominating the whole game against our lower league opposition, a penalty enabled them to get the victory over us and knock us out of the Copa Perdigao do Brasil at the 1st round stage. I'm not too worried as my team played some superb football and created a lot of chances....it's not every day we'll be this bad in front of goal (I hope). I've only been here 10 days, so I have to cut the players some slack.

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February Preview

Five games coming up in February as the Minas State competition gets underway. Three home games included and the next month will give me a good opportunity to check this team out properly.

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Love the Brazilian leagues, and I also enjoy a 3 at the back system these days. Looking good (and not just your lovely supporter up there)!
 
Sammuthegreat said:
Love the Brazilian leagues, and I also enjoy a 3 at the back system these days. Looking good (and not just your lovely supporter up there)!
Click to expand...

I played a flat back 5 with Tampines but then I had the wide attacking players there. I've pushed the wing backs further forward to compensate for the lack of width in attack with this formation. Also, the false 9 should come wide, and I've now changed the target man to an advanced forward so that he also drifts wide.
 
February 2019 Review



February 2019 Review

A pretty good start to life at Tupi FC for me. We strung together four wins in a row at the start of the month to get us off to the perfect start in the Minas State competition. We ended the month with our first defeat in the league to Atletico Mineiro who play their football in Serie A, two divisions above us. 13 goals scored in our opening 5 games is an extremely good return and the defence looks pretty tight thus far as well, only conceding 4. It leaves us top of the league after five games, although a few teams below us do have games in hand.

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The Games...

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The opening game of the Minas State results in a 1-0 win for us. Bit of a smash and grab as we were not the better side for long periods, but I'll take my first win with the club any way I can get it.

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My first home game in charge and it was a dominant performance with Ipatinga offering very little. Only managed the two goals from the penalty spot and an own goal despite creating a large number of chances. My strikers seem to be struggling to take their chances at the moment.

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Four games into my reign as manager and we've found our shooting boots, cracking in 4 goals this game. The defence was a little leakier as we conceded two, but I can't take anything away from the attacking performance today from my side. Italo was the star man relishing his new advanced forward role and banging in a hat trick.

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The final result probably a little harsh on Boa Esporte if I'm honest. This was actually a closely contested match...we were just lethal in front of goal. Diego Luis stole the headlines with a hat trick from the attacking midfield role.

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Atletico Mineiro presented us with a whole new (and tougher) proposition in the fact they were a Serie A side. Despite the loss, I'm proud of the lads as we really held our own in a game where we were expected to be outclassed. Only a late goal (which was well worked to be fair) from Hyuri consigned us to defeat.

Player of the Month



Edmario
Centre Back

Appearances: 5
Goals: 1
Assists: 1
Key Headers: 7
Average Rating: 7.36

We've been solid at the back this month and Edmario has been an integral part of that defence, always seeming to make it difficult for our opposition to find a way through. The centre back even got himself on the scoresheet this month and set a goal up too.

March Preview

We play another five games in the Minas State competition next month, the final two games being against Serie A opposition, so we'll be looking to get as much as we can from the first three games. We've put ourselves in a good position to kick on and secure a top four place to get into the semi finals and if we can take this good form into next month, we'll do it!

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March 2019 Review



March 2019 Review

We've had a tough month with some hard games which I'm glad are now behind us. Kicking off the month with a poor defeat in a game we should of won didn't give us the greatest start and finishing off with back to back games against Serie A opposition was always going to be a tough ask. One win was picked up in the middle of all that though, which could be crucial as we attempt to hold on to a top 4 spot and qualify for the semi finals. With one game left, we are just hanging in there and with our final game against bottom side Democrata GV, we have a good chance....although we will also rely on Tombense slipping up in one of their final two matches, one of which is against Cruzeiro so there is hope!

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The Games...

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A bitter pill to swallow this one as we were dominant for the whole game. Didn't take our chances and were punished for it.

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Tombense came into this game with 4 wins from their 5 games and were top of the league. Although slightly the better side, the game ended in a bore draw.

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A tidy 1-0 gets us our first win in four games. It was essential we got the win here with two games against Serie A opposition on the horizon. New goalkeeper Guido kept a clean sheet in his first game between the sticks.

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Cruzeiro play their football in Serie A, the top division of Brazilian football, and they sat top of this league at the start of this game. The gulf in class was quite clear from the start of the game with Cruzeiro immediately piling on the pressure. When we gave away an early penalty, I thought a rout might be on the cards, only for new goalie Guido to pull off the save and keep it at 0-0. The early sending off in the 2nd half really put us up against it, but we very nearly held on. Only a very late goal got them the win over us....similar story to the game against Atletico Mineiro. Two players sent off for me is not good, plenty of yellows too....clearly frustration kicked in against our superior opponents.

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More Serie A opposition, this time in the form of America Mineiro. And again we were truly outclassed as it was clear on the day, which team plays in the top division. A little less fight from us than I've seen against the other two Serie A teams which was disappointing. We seemed to just roll over and take the hammering in this one.

Player of the Month

Marcel
Central Midfielder

Appearances: 3
Goals: 0
Assists: 0
Completed Passes: 152
Average Rating: 6.97

A really difficult month to pick out a player of the month award as nobody really stood out on the stats. We struggled to score goals so there was nobody who stood out on goals or assists. And nobody played consistently well over the whole month. But one thing I did notice when watching the games (as I watch them on extended highlights) is the way Marcel moves the ball around in the central midfield role. He doesn't do anything too spectacular, but he is safe and keeps the ball for us so well in the middle of the park. I like that in a central midfield player and for his passing acumen this month, he gets my player of the month award.

The Board Sell Two Youngsters From Under My Nose

Two of our most promising youngsters have been sold on this month, with the board taking it upon themselves to accept bids for them. Disappointing when the board overrules the manager like that and it doesn't bode well for relations with the chairman. It's also disappointing that only 5% of the transfer fees have been pumped back into my fund to sign new players. So the bank balance looks pretty good now, but I'm not allowed to spend any of it!! However, I'm still new here so I'll take it on the chin this time and hope that as I build my reputation at the club, I will earn more of a say in the future.

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OK, I'm not too fussed about this one, as Mota is predominantly a wide player and I'm not playing with that system at the moment so he probably would have never come through into my first team anyway. He was sold to Sport Recife for a fee of £95,000.

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This is the one I really wanted to keep and I begged and pleaded with the board to reject the transfer bid. But to no avail as they accepted a bid of £375,000 for young left back Garrincha to join Palmeiras. At only 15 years old, he already has some decent stats and looks like he could go a long way. At least the board have included the 50% of profit sell on clause so if he goes for a few million in a few years time, we'll see a large chunk of the cash.

New Goalie For Tupi FC

I did manage to bring one new player to the club this month and that was goalkeeper Guido! A definite upgrade on what I had available to me beforehand. He was unattached and joins us on a free transfer.

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April Preview

Initially, we have one game in April against bottom side Democrata GV, as the Minas State league comes to an end. Should we secure a top 4 spot, we will play semi finals and maybe a final in April as well.

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