Salford City, my first taste of the NORTH

[nuzikdude]

I wanted to start a game with a real challenge and not a fake one. And by that I didn't want to turn Watford into a Premier League force i wanted to start at the gritty end of the leagues. Looking through clubs and what was about I wanted to try my hands at a team close to a big club. Now this is long term thinking as one day hopefully i will be able to be a feeder club to one of the Manchester Clubs and get some decent players in without spending a penny. But for now the preseaon starts here!

Looking through my squad and what i have at my disposal is a real eye opener even compared to League 2 these players are very short of some serious stats. Goalies are missing anything that would stick out, defenders struggle to tackle and mark and dont get my started on the lack of ability of the midfield in order to pass the ball. Strikers werent great either.
Now im used to these lower leagues with other clubs but I haven't ventured this far down for some time and forgot how bad their stats are. Now no one ever gets sold down here well hardly so it was a question of bringing players in and balancing the squad.
Ive also started as a Sunday league manager as well with no qualifications!!! So i really am going to struggle even getting those big names in.

M thoughts are this sign as many players as i can that look good and hope for the best. Ok i do have a slighty better plan than that ...

I need to keepers without a doubt the fundamental part of any game relies on having a decent keeper and i know exactly who i want the other I went out and scouted to find someone half ok.

I also wanted to bring in a player at least for every position in the formation i wanted to play at the club.

Im going to be playing a 433 and that means i need 12 players in total in order to facilitate my desire to stamp my authority on the club.

I have also sacked my assistant manager and bought in my own as well as a head of youth development as well.


My preseason consists of four friendlies

Wilton A
Hartlepool H
Rocester A
Buckley A

during of which i hope to have tied up all the players i wanted to and trained a little on the formation of my choice. I will update and finalise you all with players signed at the end of the preseason as well as results and how the formation training has gone over this period.

 

[nuzikdude]

Here are all the transfers i have made this transfer window, i am especially happy with Lee Hendrie, his stats are awful but he brings a wealth of experience the young players will shine from and a sense of creative flair you do not usually get at this flight. Also Lee Trundle seems to be a great player and i expect to see him bag 15-20 this season.
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My profile you can see i have no experience or skills! Lord help!
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Results from the pre season, pretty proud of the team. I always let players play for 45 minutes and rotate the entire team at half time. Something i have always done helps with match sharpness when you are unsure of your best 11
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Current players including new signings and what the club thinks of them, love the TCS skin its great
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my preferred tactic, we have a long way to go until we are ready for domination, or passing by the looks of it
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Added expectations as well

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Feel free to ask any questions or if there are any other screens you would like to see

 

[webby1999]

Good luck its hard I tried this earlier in the year and failed have fun

 

[nuzikdude]

Well what a season so far, we have had highs and some absolutely awful lows. Taking on the challenge of Salford has been a bigger task than I ever could have thought.

First game into the season and Lee Trundle picks up a big injury and is out for 10 weeks. I was absolutely gutted as i based my hole ethos and team around the big guy. Did i look at changing it after? In a word No. I was heavily committed to what i wanted to do and im too pig ignorant to change it.

Playing the 433 is a hard tactic to learn and a harder to learn and as these players are part timers its even harder, but its what i felt was best for the league and i was going to stick with it regardless.

First two games of the season and they players seriously had no clue about what they were doing it was some of the worse football I had ever witnessed in my life, not only was the positional play rubbish, passing was about 50% and the players just stood on the ball. It was embarrassing. Losing first game 0-2 and the second i was 5-0 down at half time, but i lost 5-3 so it was a better second half and the players really showed something in it. Was it signs of them learning the tactic or was it just luck?

Working towards the next few games i ramped up the intensity of the training of the players and tactics so they actually had a ******* clue.



The next game i won! yes i beat local rivals FC United 3-1. Things were on the up, i was undefeated for the next 5 games and had a great run well for me it felt like a great run. My defenders were still making some errors so i got rid of the high line so they played a little deeper and this helped some what.
Im also trying to get my fullbacks to become wing backs as i like the width that they offer but they dont train very quickly and its taken its toll when my best fullbacks are out of the game and i have to put in the others.

I then lost two in a row who were both top five teams which was a bit of a blow. I thought i had mastered it but thats football life for you. The next four games were 2 draws and 2 wins which boosted me up the league somewhat and i was no longer in the dulldrums of the bottom of the league and i was slowly creeping up. All this without my star man Trundle. Leedham was an inspiration signing for us and has been at the forefront every game leading in a way that has won him plaudits all over the world. Ok not the world but he has been on fire.
I then played in the FA cup against some dog ***** team from a league below and i decided to rest my entire team as i wanted to concentrate on the league as i felt going up was more important than progressing in the FA Cup. Needless to say i went out in what was a drab affair losing 1-0 away from home. The board didnt seem to mind to much nor did the fans.

Following on and picking ourselves up from the defeat in the FA Cup was a 1-1 draw at home against much fancied Brackley and then away to Stockport which we won a 3-2 thriller. I was surprised to see Sotckport so far down the English leagues.

I've just signed a new player to come in to the fold but he wont come in till January which is a little bit of a shame as he seems class. I'll reveal more about him next time.

Mike Phenix has been on fire this season getting into double figures already! long may it continue

Here are some screens of the process.

Results so far

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League Table
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Player Stats and Tactics
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[nuzikdude]

Im half way through the season now and will give a big update tomorrow when i am back from a wedding.
If you want to read about anything particular let me know or have any questions again let me know and i will build it all into the half season review. I know i know i bet you cant wait!

 

[nuzikdude]

Firstly i would like to apologise if anyone was waiting for an update but here it is. Its been a **** of a first half of the season for us at Salford. Things have been improving recently which is great to see and the team seem to be thriving under me!

A few things ive learnt since the start of the season, Lee Trundle is not Ronaldo! Its been a hard pill to swallow and he doesn't always play well actually he very rarely does but im still sticking by him. If only to get my prediction right of how many goals he will score.

One of the most important aspects of the game is tactics and keeping some form of consistency with them. This is hard for a two reasons, losing a game and having a big squad. Granted the second is my fault for signing 15 players to date! The first is hard to try and stick by a team who are losing and to keep faith until they do get it and start to win games.

If you see the two screens below you will see that i have uploaded the first game of the season vs a good game stats. The 5-2 was my best game of the season to date but the stats there are evident in this for a few key reasons. Passing and work rate. Some of the games i have played my teams passing has been down at the 50% mark which is really hard to grind out a victory when you cant pass two yards! The division average is near 60%. The good stats show an above 70% passing rate which is phenominal especially when you see how many passes were made that game and attempted. Now look at the miles ran. Its 75 miles as well (ok the other team ran more but they were chasing the ball). This shows a work rate increase of 10 miles across the team. Thats showing they want it more and the tactics are working as they are slowly learning them.

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Looking at the tactical and stats of the players it shows that most players are at around 80% of the familiarity of the tactic they need. Trundle is far behind that mainly as he was injured from week one for ever. Pooni and Phenix have banged goals in and they usually play the AF role rather than the false 9, however they do swap over from time to time. At the back is where i really notice issues, McLoughlin who ive had at better clubs is really under-performing week in week out with a really low average i would have expected alot more from him. My club captain Simon Grand has the consistancy of Bobby Zamora one game he is a worldy the next hes like Stephen Hawkins! He really doesnt have a ****** clue and stands on the balls far too much ive even tried to get him to just kick it away he also get beat by pace all the time. Worley on the other hand has been immense since coming in and never lets the squad down, O'Halloran is the same without him the team really do struggle.

Richie Wellens is also a rule ti himself he will either be the guy that wins you a game or a guy that costs you 3 points there is no in-between.


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Here are a look at some other stats of my leaky defence my dirty play with yellow and red cards, the league table a well as goals scored.

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Finally this is the schedule, yes i am out of the cups i wanted league success and i took at that at the chance of getting out of the cups to concentrate on the league.
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Ok one last thing the news mentioned my signings lol
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Here is where the hard work begins in order to maintain what we have and to build on it going forward and trying to bring the dream home of promotion!

 

[toddzy]

Following closely as currently playing will Salford myself. Your debt seems to be crazy already! Guessing it's because of the amount of players you've bought. I've tried to only sign non-contract player if a first teamer gets injured. Also found that a cup run gets you a fair bit of money. Got drawn away to Bristol Rovers so made £50K in gate receipts which should keep you going for a season.

Best of luck to you! Let me know what you think of Poole & Phenix, quickly becoming my favourite players.

 

[AlexMiguel]

Why Salford? Are you a United supporter?