Sink Or Swim

The villa that me had Ava were renting was about 25 minutes drive from the training ground and about the same the other way to the stadium, I had appointments at both today.

I had spoken Javier, and my 3 new coaches they were going to take the training drills today, I had instructed them to start working on the tactics ready of the new season, after watching some videos of last years promotion, the ex manager had played a very direct attacking style of play, some would call it ugly but who am I to judge they won the league. In my opineon with the players that have left at the end of last season that style is no longer an option, we play an expansive possession based style of play, ok it will take some time to settle in and we may lose a few games in the process but lets entertain.

All of my staff agreed that its seems to be the way to play football in todays game and that we should perceiver with it throughout the pre-season.

When I walked into the canteen, where the players were having breakfast I started to speak to my new team..

"Hi there, don't worry keep eating, I am Charles Lopez or Charlie to you guys, I am the new manager of this club and I want to take this opportunity to introduce myself as well as welcome Reda Johnson, he has come from England and he will take the role as new club captain"

"Hi everyone, I am honoured to be named captain for this season and I look forward to achieving ambitions with this club"

"Thanks Reda, Now I am not here to run a dictatorship, all I request is hard work, commitment and passion, those 3 things got me and inexperienced man a job at a professional club and they can help us achieve bigger things with this club"

There was a sense of approvement and confidence in the room, I was glad my point was made.

After the players had dispersed towards the training field, I jumped in the car and headed over to the Nou Camp Municipal, our home ground, I wanted to get a feel for where we would be playing our games this season, we would however be playing our next 6 friendlies here.

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The ground was small, nothing like its namesake, not like the 105000 seater of Barcelona.

We spent a few hours looking round the ground, the changing rooms etc. the facilities were pretty good for a semi - pro club, definitely something I could work with. One thing I will be mentioning to Mr. Ruiz however is if I perform things that I believe he will be pulling his chequebook out and building that trophy room.

I left the ground and went straight home for the day, it had been a very busy couple of days and I wanted to go out to eat with Ava, I had barely had time for her since we moved.​
 
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We had a great meal out that night at a local Tapas restaurant, we spoke about the new house, the club, Ava showed a keen interest in everything I had been doing the last couple of days, but best of all she didn't feel neglected by how busy I had been, that had been my main worry.

"Our first game is tomorrow night, are you coming?"

"Yes of course I am, I wouldn't miss it for the world, have you thought about your team?"

"Yes I have a good idea in my head who will and won't start tomorrow night, Im also waiting on a call from 2 players agents about bring in a new Goalkeeper and a new defensive midfielder, I think they can really add something to the squad, but I doubt they will be at the club in time for tomorrow evening."

"Im sure what ever you decide it will be the right choice, your going to be great, I have every faith in you"

It was amazing to know that Ava was as in to this as me, she was right I had analysed the players all week and I knew who would start and who wouldn't.

"We haven't got any training tomorrow before the match, how would you like to go shopping in Barcelona? You haven't had any new jewellery for a while?"

"That sounds amazing, I can't wait!"

We spent the rest of the night eating, drinking and chatting about all sorts of things, it was the most relaxed I had felt since I arrived in Spain.​
 
Cornella vs Angers SCO

The nerves were really starting to kick in noe, god knows what I will be like when it comes to a competitive league match next month.

As i delivered the pre-match team talk I could here the spattering of fans cheering, waiting to see there promotion heroes for the first time this season, and they were waiting to judge that unknown Englishman who had been put in charge of their club.

"Right lads, just because this is a friendly I don't want you to treat this as any less important than any other game, we have worked on the formation and tactics in training now lets try to execute them in this match, remember chase them down, pass and move, work hard!"


I took my place in the dugout, wow this was so surreal I had imagined it for many years, now it was reality and **** was it scary.

The boys kicked off the game in front of the 400ish fans that had turned out for the match.

For the first 20 or so minutes the game was basically played in the centre circle, it was avery scrappy affair but at times we were showing our passing ability and using our wide players effectively.

After 33 minutes Isreal played a wonderful ball into the left channel, as the right back came across to cut it out up went the protests.

"Handball"

Not given, How can the referee not give that he was standing right next to incident.

The referee blew the whistle for half time.

I went easy on the lads in the changing room, we had glimpses of our game plan working but Angers were playing a compact game in the centre of midfield and it was difficult to get through, I told the lads to direct some more passing down the wings to try and stretch the opposition out and I sent them back out on to the pitch.

It worked, we were dominating possession, we looked dangerous.

On 62 minutes Sergi Gomez pulled up with what looked like a hamstring strain, he was replaced by Joaquin and I also brought Josele on up top, I told him to prove why he should be first choice next game.

It didn't take long, 4 minutes later the 2 substitutes linked beautifully and Josele rounded the keeper to slot away a lovely move

1-0

After the goal we seemed to drop off and invite on pressure, I didn't want my team doing this so I instructed them to push higher up, too late.

Sanchez had broken free down the right wing it was 3 on 1 and they looked certain to score, Sanchez whipped in a terrible ball far to close to the keeper but the looks of it. NO WAY! terrible error by Segovia, Sanchez's ball in lands in the far corner of the net.

1-1

After the restart we started to play the ball around nicely again, the way we should have been playing after taking the lead, Didi on the right wing has been outstanding looking dangerous every time he touches the ball, As i was writing in my notebook the positives of Didi's game and even the possibility of moving him into the centre where he could affect the game more, he gets the ball and strides down the wing, playing a lovely ball on to the head of Josele.

2-1

With only 3 minutes left, the boys played the game out well and my first game in charge had ended in a 2-1 win, I was ecstatic and so were the fans by the sounds of it.

The perfect start, but my all means not a perfect performance, still plenty of work to do.


​
 
I had a sore head when I woke up the next morning, maybe a few too many celebratory beers but I deserved them, I was ecstatic last night after the victory, I know it was only a friendly match but it was important to me for us to to gain some momentum going into thee competitive season.

As I arrived and the ground that day and sat down in my office, I had an email waiting for me it was off Dean Gibson, he was the agent of the keeper I had been tracking;

Morning Mr. Lopez,

I have discussed terms with my client about the pending transfer, My client is interested in moving to the club and would require a 1 year deal on £400 pw he would also like to be guaranteed a squad role of at least backup to the first team.
If you feel that this is acceptable to you and your board then don't hesitate to contact me to move forward and get contracts in place

Best regards, Dean Gibson

A great start to the day, I had managed to all but confirm the signing of my new keeper, just one more player is on my radar and I am in the positionthat that deal is all but confirmed also.

I had the players coming in this afternoon just for some light work with the fitness coach, I didn't want to push them too hard at this stage.

I left the training ground for the day, I was off 310 miles south to Benidorm tonight to watch C.D Eldense play, they were our first league opponents of the season and I wanted to beat them, I would try and watch them a couple of times before that day.

I met my friend and chief scout Paul Montgomery at the airport and we sat down to a beer whilst we waited for our flight.

​
 
The flight was a comfortable one, we has some inflight entertainment in the form of Lionel Messi's rise to fame at Barcelona.

After 45 minutes we touched down in Benidorm, it made me think of what my Dad used to say, "Benidorm is just a sunny Blackpool"

We weren't here to enjoy the sun or sand but to watch a football match, we had come to watch our first league opponents C.D Eldense play Benidorm. I am taking every game seriously and until I hire another scout to travel with Paul I will be watching the matches too.

After the final whistle, we drove back to the airport to catch our flight, we decided to discuss our opponents on the journey back.

"What did you think about are first opponents then Paul?"

"They seem to really rely on there wingers to provide all the creativity on the pitch, I think a good option is to play our wingers a bit deeper, if we tie them up on the wings we should be to dominate in the centre where they are weakest"

"Yeah I agree with that, there centre backs are very slow, I think if we play our striker on the shoulder of the last man we should have some joy getting in behind"

I decided to contact Javier to get him to lets the players all know that we would be having an evening training session and not to make plans afterwards, we would all be going out to eat.

I then tried to get some sleep, **** flights were boring.​
 
That next day I was planning on sleeping in for an extra couple of hours, I was woken at 7am with the plumber knocking at the door, he had come to re-attach the chimney floo, the job needed doing but why 7am?

As I was awake I decided to look through some of the scouting reports that Paul had emailed me, I didn't think I wanted to bring any more players in but if someone jumped off the page then obviously my mind could be changed.

I had a quick look through the reports and as I imagined nobody jumped out at me.

I still had plans to hire another scout to work along side Paul, I contacted a guy called Ronny who I knew from my coaching courses back in England.

"Hi Ronny, how are you doing?"

"Charlie, I am great, you? Calling to offer me a job?"

"Yes good thanks, How did you know?

"I'v been watching the news, I knew you had got the job, I put 2 and 2 together"

"Well yes I am, I need a scout asap, I'm attending games at the minute"

"Charlie, I would love to accept the job, I have nothing keeping me here, I can move as at the end of this week, obviously I will need to find somewhere to live"

"We will fund a hotel until you have found somewhere permanent, I want you over here as soon as you get a flight"

"Ok ill do that then, Ill ring you when I land, Goodbye"


Well that was sorted quickly and easily, just what I wanted. I'll grab something quickly to eat and then I'll head to the training ground, I want to go through some passing drills today, we need to work on it if we are to play a fast paced possession style brand of football.​
 
At training that night I really put the players through their paces, I had seen some positives in our first win but Angers weren't as good as our first opponents of the season, they played well against Benidorm last night and they could cause us some problems in a few weeks time.
I felt that we need to work on our urgency of passing, we knew how to pass but to turn that into a deadly skill we need to learn to do it quickly.
We went through alot of drills and we finished the session with a bit of 6 v 6 on a small pitch just to see that short passing in an enclosed space, they did well.

"Right lads, hit the showers, meet in the car park in 20 minutes and we will head out for dinner"

It was a nice evening at the restaurant, alot of the players and staff were new to the club, I wanted a close knit to be formed, I wanted them to be playing for each other out on that pitch.

"Come on then, nights over we have a game tomorrow lunchtime, Bayern II are a different kettle of fish, they have adopted a game style from the senior team and Pep Guardiola, a style of play that we ourselves are aspiring to, we could learn a lot, see you all tomorrow, 10am sharp!"

​
 
Cornella v Bayern II

I had been looking forward to the referees whistle since I heard it for the last time in our first game, I could tell all the players were really pumped up and ready for this match.

The referee blew the whistle and Didi passes the ball back into are midfield, we spent a while getting a feel for the game and passing it around in the middle of the pitch, what a great pass out to the right wing, Didi cut inside and fired now towards the far corner, great finish

1-0

We were absolutely dominating this match, we must have had 80% possession or at least it seemed like it, again Didi breaks through the back line, as there defender slides in.

"FOUL"

Yes the referee had blown the whistle, penalty. We hadn't discussed penalty takers in training at all however I wasn't surprised to see Didi pick the ball up and place it on the spot.

2-0

Feints the keeper and rolls it down the middle.

Before I can even take my seat, Didi has dispossessed there striker and plays the ball over the top to Josele, he rounds the keeper and goal.

3-0

We are on fire here, we look like scoring on every single attack, we had scored 3 goals already and we were only 20 minutes in.

"Didi, when you get the ball run at the left back, he is weak"

As i finished talking the ball dropped to Didi's feet, playing a lovely one two with Cabelle and strikes the ball low and hard past the keeper

4-0

As the referee blew the whistle I couldn't have been happier with the performance.

In the second half we dropped of a nit and settled for our 4 goal lead, I think some of the players still weren't completely fit and some more work needed doing with the fitness coach, neither team even registered a shot on goal second half and the referee blew the final whistle to round off a very different 2nd half.

As the players got to the dressing room, I expressed my satisfaction at a good result, we had played very well but I did just mention the fact that when playing in the league I didn't think it would be that easy and we would need to be fitter.

"Right, day off tomorrow, we Heerenveen on Wednesday, they are our toughest opponents of pre-season and it will be a good test, see you Wednesday "​
 
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Ava had an interview at a salon on the Tuesday morning, she had been a hairdresser about 8 years ago, she figured without speaking Spanish she would find it difficult to go into a lot of lines of work, she could still cut hair though.

I had taken the day off today with us having a match against Heerenveen tomorrow lunchtime. I had discussed with my scout who got the information on next opponents and my assistant and we had been through the match plan for the next day, for the first time in a week I had nothing to do.

I sat around the villa for a while that day, not really doing alot after a while boredom started to settle in, I decided to read through some more scout reports that my new scout had delivered upon arrival, I needed to start filling out the squad with some decent backup players, I had spoken to the U19's manager, there was really nobody in the youth squad capable of stepping up. I feared that might be the case until we heavily invested in the youth setup.

Ava was due back around 2 O'clock and I decided that I would cook her favourite dinner, Roast beef, I sure had missed that since we left England.​
 
Cornella v Heerenveen

It was a sell out at the Nou Camp Municipal, clearly quite a few fans had taken the day off work to come out to see us play higher league opposition.

"No pressure today lads, Nobody expects us to pull up any trees today lets go give it our best and stick to our game plan"

We started well in the game, we were passing the ball around nicely keeping possession well, they certainly had a pair of quick wingers we looked in danger overtime they touched the ball, they were running at the full backs with pace and skill and we looked to be struggling.

In the 16th minute Mikhail Danning plays a ball to the far post, unfortunately no body was picking up Hollart at the back post.

0-1

I turned to my assistant...

0-2

"What? I didn't even see that, what happened how did they score that quickly?"

Urgh, 2 goals in 30 seconds, all our handwork so far has been undone.
The rest of the 1st half was very quiet and neither team had any shots on goal.

As the second half kicked off, the fans really started to get behind the team and you could tell it was edging us on
In the 54th minute I made a whole load of changes, no fewer than 8 subs, I wanted to give my backups game time, I didn't want them heading into the season without being match sharp.

In the 66th minute, we had some great passing player in Heerenveens half and after what must have been 20 passes, Gallar broke through the back line and slotted a neat finish in the bottom corner

1-2

Like our opposition our goal gave us a new lease of life, 2 minutes later after winning a corner from a long range shot, Gallar played the corner out to the edge of the area and Cabelle hit lovely volley into the top corner

2-2

"Wow I can't believe it, we are on fire this half, we could go on and win this match"
I said to my staff

We were dominating the game now and we looked like the only team who would go on to win this game.

In the 78th minute Gallar went through on goal, one on one with the keeper, NO... he hits the post, what a chance.

The tide turned then, Heerenveen had us on the back foot
In the 87th minute Hojiwin swung in the ball after a bit of a scramble the ball drops back to him on the edge of the area

2-3

****, they had done us right at the end.

In the dressing room at the end I told the lads not to worry they had given a very good account of themselves and they certainly shouldn't be ashamed of the result.

I was really happy about our play, I was starting to think that us "Relegation candidates" could do some damage in the league this season.​
 
We all sat in the locker room after training that day watching Eurosport, they had the live draws for the 1st and 2nd round draw of the Spanish cup. I knew that we had no chance of lifting the trophy but there is nothing wrong with a bit of a cup run, if for nothing else some cash coming into the club. Obviously the dream would be a tie against Barcelona or Real Madrid, we would first have to win 3 matches to get that far.

A few ties came out as we were waiting for ourselves to be called

Murcia v Eldense
Gimnastica v Lealtad
Cornella v Huesca


there we were we had been drawn out against a team in the same level of league as us they played in the Spanish 3rd division B1, we certainly had a chance in that match come the day.

The 2nd round draw was next and we were the first out of the hat

GuiJuelo v Cornella or Huesca

GuiJuelo had been given a bye into the second round and they were another team from the same level as us, nicely we had been drawn against 2 beatable teams, never no that dream 3rd round tie could be a reality.

After the draw had finished all the players left to go home and I left shortly after them, I went home to relax with Ava, I had already planned tomorrows training routine anyway, I wanted to continue to work on fitness and short passing, but I would have my defensive coach have a day with the defenders, make sure that we are solid going into the season .​
 
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