Steven Gerrard - into the world of management

JamesScott2908 said:
Great start! MLS is mind blowingly complicated, I tried a save and gave up as I just didn't have a clue! Good luck and hope you get to grips soon!
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Thanks mate, I can't actually believe some of the stupid rules they have! Any advise from your experience?
 
Well, at the end of August the table looked like this ...


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We climbed the table a little this month but we still find ourselves just outside the play off spots. We are currently 1 point behind Seattle, San Jose and Colorado with a game in hand over Seattle and 2 in hand over Colorado.​

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We also climb the supporters shield table and are now in 7th place, 11 points off top. The supporters Shield we don't really have a chance in so all my attention will be on the Western Conference and of course the cup final in a couple of weeks.​


The only other bit of news to bring you from this month relates to striker Jose Villareal ...

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Striker, Jose Villareal has requested improved terms on his contract. I can't really knock the lad as he's been in great form for us this season.

I didn't really expect much from his to be honest but 6 goals in 11 games since taking over isn't a bad return for anyone.​
 
Into September now and the first game is against play off rivals, Colorado. Colorado currently occupy 3rd spot but are only 1 point behind us, a win here would mean we leapfrog them and go into the play offs ...


Before the game we had some difficult decisions to make in terms of the first team ...

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I really don't know how this game wasn't called off. 7 of our first 11 are all on international duty. I don't know if I had to request for the game to be postponed or something?!?

We'll do really well to get anything from this with such a depleted squad.​

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What a result!!

I really didn't expect too much from this game with such an under strengthen squad. However, we got through it and now overtake Colorado and move into the play off spots.

Jose Villareal celebrated signing a new contract with yet another goal before left back, Todd Dunivant doubled the lead from the penalty spot.

The game was pretty even but I think given all the players we had out, we really deserved this win.​
 
The second game of the month came against Montreal impact who are in the Eastern Conference and 14th in the Supporters Shield ... a great chance to make it 5 wins from 5 ...


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Our first disappointment in a while, and what a disappointment!

A 1-0 defeat away to a side we really should be beating. Montreal are 8 places behind us in the Supporters Shield, yet we still couldn't find a way to break through their defence.

Santiago Gonzalez with the only goal of the game after 69 minutes, to which we had no reply.

I can only put this down to a bad day at the office and that the players were very tired after mostly all being on international duty.​
 
Next up we had another away trip, this time to face San Jose ...


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Another fairly disappointing game - where have all the goals from?!?

In truth, San Jose battered us and really should have won by a couple. We were so far off our best game we were embarrassing, ONE shot on target all game says everything you need to know!​
 
We then came up against DC United, desperate for a win ... and even more desperate for a ****** goal ...

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Another goalless draw!! Seriously, where have all our goals gone?!?

A 0-0 draw against DC United who again we really should be beating as they're second bottom in our league.

We're really going to have to do something about these goals. We've gone from free-scoring and conceeding far too many to conceeding very few but not being able to score ourselves.​
 
The final game of the month was against New York Red Bulls who were really struggling in the other league and were right down in 17th place in the Supporters Shield.

This is one where we have to show some fight ...

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I felt something different had to be done in this game so I changed from the 4-4-2 which we've used all season to a very fluid 3-5-2. This still allows us to have 2 up front but doesn't leave us so exposed in the midfield. The only draw back is we can be hit upon on the break if we wide men don't cover quick enough.

Lets see how we get on.

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Another slightly disappointing result, although it was much better and much more like it was a few weeks ago.

We took an early lead, just like we have so often this season, this time Juninho putting us 1-0 up.

New York then equalised shortly after the hour mark before Charlie Rugg retook the lead after powering a shot past the helpless keeper.

It was disappointment again late on though as New York levelled from the penalty spot with just over 10 minutes to go.

It was a much closer game than we've experiences in the last few weeks or so, we even bosses possession which I don't think we've done all season.​
 
The draw with New York also signalled the end of the month ..

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Despite having a few poor results this month and really struggling in front of goal, we actually climbed the table slightly.

We move from 6th place on 40 points to 4th place on 46.

We move further away from the top 3 though as Seattle had a storming month and are now 5 clear of us.

Its still going to be tight to finish top 5, we're still only a point clear of 6th placed Colorado having played the same amount of games.​


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In the Supporters Shield, we managed to maintain 7th place which, after the month we've had. is actually quite pleasing.

We're still miles of the top position so can really discount this league.​
 
Next up is the big one ... the US Cup Final


First of all, lets see how the two sides line up:


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I decided to stick with this new 3-5-2 formation. I was torn whether to do this or not but our standard 4-4-2 really hasn't been working recently and I saw signs in the New York game that this formation could serve us well.​

Lets see how the game goes:

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We've done it!!

It wasn't as easy as it should have been but Champions none the less.

We were given a huge advantage early on Stephen DeRoux was sent off after only 18 minutes for the second division side.

We then took the lead through Juninho whos really coming to life in this new formation. It was a great strike from the edge of the area which the keeper had no chance with.

San Antonio then made life even harder for themselves with another sending off with just over 20 minutes to go.

This La Galaxy side really should have put more past a second vision side with only 9 men but it wasn't to be. And no one remembers the performance, just the wins in cup finals.​


LA GALAXY CLAIM US CUP IN DRAMATIC FINAL​

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The cup win was even more important than I originally thought ...



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The win actually means we qualify for the NACL which is the 'North American Champions League'.

This tournament is contested between the best teams in America, Mexico, Costa Rica, Panama, El Salvador, Guatemala, Puerto Rico and Jamaica. ​


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So, the cup win seems to have brought the fans on side by bringing them some success.


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After the fantastic cup win, we faced a home game against Toronto ...

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A great win!

I'm really pleased with this result, we are very similar in terms of standings to Toronto so to get the win was very pleasing!

Jack McBean got us on our way by putting us 1-0 up just before the half hour mark.

Charlie Rugg then doubled the lead just after the hour mark.

We again went with our 3-5-2 formation which enabled us to dominate possession and therefore the game.


After this win, the league table looks as follows ...​

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We are now comfortably in the play off spots although one bad result could really put the pressure on.

We're currently 4 points clear of Colorado in 6th, although they do have a game in hand.

With only 3 games left its all t play for !!​
 
Just after the Toronto game, we had some more injury news ...

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Center back, A.J DeLaGarza is ruled out for up to 7 days with a bruised rib. This shouldn't cause us too many issues with it only being a short term injury but with only 3 games less its an injury we could do without.​

We also had a couple of contract extensions confirmed ...

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Striker, Charlie Rugg was the first player to commit to a new contract, signing a new one year deal. Rugg has been in decent form when chosen, scoring 6 goals in 14 games.​

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Stefan Ishizaki also signed a one year deal after impressing during my brief time at the club. The experienced winger has so far had a good season so I was keen to get him signed up for a longer term.​
 
Into the run in now with just 3 games to go. The first game in the run in came against second from bottom side, FC DALLAS ...

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A disappointing draw although it was a great comeback.

Fc Dallas took a 2-0 lead thanks to a brace from Brian Span, the second goal coming just before the hour mark.

With little under 10 minutes to go, Stefan Ishizaki celebrated signing his new contract by getting us back into the game with a well taken penalty.

Charlie Rugg, also fresh from signing a new contract, then grabbed the equalizer with only a few minutes to go.


​
 
With just 2 games to go (home and away against Seattle), the table looked like this ...

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The point against Fc Dallas ensured we would partake in this season's play off's.

We're only 4 points off Seattle with a slightly worse goal difference. If we can do the double over them here, in the space of a week, then we'll guarantee 3rd spot.​


Lets see how the first game went ...

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What a horrendous result!!

A 5-1 defeat against the only other side we can overtake in the league.

This is the second time Seattle have battered us this season already! And we have to play them again in the final game of the season.

The game was pretty even until it came to the final third which is when Seattle really took over and showed their quality.

Looks like we'll have to settle for a top 4/5 finish.​
 
The final game of the season then. A dead rubber against Seattle who have just beaten us 5-1 days earlier.

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A much better result!

I changed tactics slightly to try and dominate the midfield more and allow Seattle less space than the previous game.

Really this game was a 'nothing' game and didn't count for anything but it was nice to get the confidence back in time for the play offs.​
 
PaperClipFMer said:
Sorry Patrick, didn't see your comment straight away as I've already responded to Sadc-mad-scotty haha.

Thanks for the message anyway. Have you ever managed in the MLS?
Click to expand...

I've never tried it, always been put off by the complicated contracts system, as well as the fact that I've never really been as interested in it as the European leagues. I think I have a reasonable idea of the draft though, if it's anything like the NBA or NHL drafts
 
PatrickLFC said:
I've never tried it, always been put off by the complicated contracts system, as well as the fact that I've never really been as interested in it as the European leagues. I think I have a reasonable idea of the draft though, if it's anything like the NBA or NHL drafts
Click to expand...

Yeah I always felt the same but thought i'd give it a try. I'm going through the draft system now and even that's more complicated than it should be haha!
 
That brings a close to the regular season ...

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So we finish in 4th place on 53 points.

I'm pretty happy with this finish, a top 5 finish was always my target when I took over so to finish 4th is pretty pleasing.

This 4th place finish means we now go on to face San Jose in a 'wild card game' to see who will progress into the play offs.​

Onto the Supporters Shield ...

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Chicago went on to claim the Supporters Shield title.

We climbed from 16th place when I took over to eventually finish a respectable, 6th postilion.


Just before the 'Wild Card' game, we had the best news we could hope for ...

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Star striker, Robbie Keane resumes full training just in time for the all important 'Wild Card' and play off games (if we get that far).​
 
'Wild Card' game ...

Here we face, San Jose in this seasons wild card which is contested between the teams finishing 4th and 5th in both conference leagues.

The winner of this game will then face an even tougher test. The winner of the 'Wild Card' then goes into the play off draw where they will face the team who finished top of the conference ... in our case, Portland.

The play off system then works very similarly to that in England. 2nd play 3rd and top plays the bottom seeded team (either us or San Jose).

There is then a final where the winner of those two matches play each other over a two legged game.

This format takes place in both the Eastern and Western Conference with the winner from each league playing in the MLS Cup ... the winner of this are then crowned champions.
​

So, lets see how we get on in the Wild Card game then ...

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A great win here in what was a very dominant performance.

Charlie Rugg bagged both goals either side of a San Jose fightback which began after 53 minutes when Sanna Nyassi equalised.

The sides were only level for 10 minutes or so before Rugg grabbed his second of the game to ensure we go through into the play offs.

More good news here is that we managed to win the game without Robbie Keane featuring which means we can be rested for the following play off game(s).

​BRING ON PORTLAND
​
 
Next up came the Play Off game against Portland which is a two legged tie, first up - our home leg ...


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This was always going to be a really tough challenge as Portland have already bettered us a couple of time this season, as well as taking us all the way to penalties in the US Cup semi final.

It's still disappointing though, I'm more disappointed with the performance than the result.

We just didn't turn up! 1 shot on target all game is never going to get you anywhere.

We now have it all to do in the return leg next week !​
 
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