Wandering into the A-League

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Western Sydney Wanderers Announce First Ever Team Manager

I have done it. I am a manager now. Western Sydney Wanderers decided that a new club deserves a new manager, so they have chosen me to lead them forward into (hopefully) glory.

The A-League is the national competition of Australia. The competition has some restrictions on player wage, including a salary cap, but each team is allowed one marquee player and another marquee of Australian nationality. the regular marquee can also be Australian.

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The club was founded in 2012, as so this is their first season in the Hyundai A-League. The trophy cabinet is empty but just waiting to be filled by a successful (and handsome) manager like myself.

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Note: This is my first story, its probably going to be terrible so be gentle. Also, since the career will be spent entirely in Australia, the currency is in Australian Dollars. it gets a bit confusing with transfers and stuff.

A world of dreams and adventures with Pokemon awaits! Let's go!​
 
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Preseason:

The Squad:
The squad is a bit bare, with the youth squad containing exactly 2 players!
The main man in this team is the Japanese marquee man Shinji Ono. He’s the glue that will hold this rag tag midfield together if we want to end up off the bottom of the table
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He will be ulitied mainly as a MC, but he can push forward as an AMC which is always nice.

The best young player in my team is Aaron Mooy. A home-grown future star, if developed right, he will be taking over from Ono as the team's central force.
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For now I’m going to play him at AMC, because hes bound to thrive with Shinji behind him.

The last player worth mentioning in this squad is nice Dutch import named Hersi.
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A tidy little winger, he tirelessly runs up and down the right hand side of the pitch, creating some good width and pressure off Ono and Mooy in the middle.

The rest of the squad can be viewed here:
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Note: some transferred players already appear on here, sorry didn’t get the screen shot in time.

Transfers:
With a small squad, it wasn’t likely for me to cut any players, and no one has wages in excess of their ability, except maybe Mark Bridge, so I was only looking to bring players in to add to my squad.
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Firstly, I picked up Jason Culina on a free transfer. This Australian legend, who, despite getting on in years, can really add some depth in the midfield and a second play making option.
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Then I picked up Adam Sarota, an Australian playing for Utrecht in the Netherlands. They really wanted to get rid of him, so I got him for the bargain price of $1500AUD (minimum price). He’s going to play as a AML for me, so I started training him for it straight away.
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This guy is going to tear up the A-League, and for a bargain wage, so my Australian Marquee spot is still available…

…for this guy.
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Joel Griffiths tore up the A-League with Newcastle back in the day, before going to join Shenhua. But with the arrival of Drogba, they had to offload someone, and luckily I pounced on him as my Australian marquee man.

Tactics:
Due to my large number of centre mids and attacking mids, I have decided to employ a 4-3-3 with an AMC (or a 4-2-3-1 to some)
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Results:
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A pretty successful preseason. Mainly against state league teams, absolute minnows, but a win against A-League heavyweights the Mariners, and a solid draw to Sydney FC. The only negative was the loss to Bankstown, but I put that down to the team still learning the formation and tactics. Solid defence was also a surprise due to the attacking nature of the tactic, but a pleasant surprise.

Other News:
Disaster! Marquee superstar Shinji Ono out for two months.
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Luckily this was early in the preseason so he only misses the first game of the season, but still, not the start I wanted with this team.

Also, Wanderers establish a link with Sydney United
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A new feeder team, and one of the few with 20 youth recruitment in Australia. Bonus, especially considering that we have next to no youth facilities at all, and no money to upgrade them.

On to the start of the season! Excitement is in the air. How do the bookies see my chances this year?
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Ouch! By this, it looks like it will be a long season.​
 
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October:

Results:
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1-1 vs CCM
First competitive game of a new club, wonder start with a great header by Topor-Stanley early on in the game. Let one back in the second half but overall a good performance we can build on.
3-1 vs Adelaide
Ono didn't make it back to fitness in time for this match, and Culina was out with a knock as well. Mooy got injured early and without our big 3 midfielders we were really up struggle street.
Griffiths tore up Adelaide's defence and scored an absolute screamer of a volley for his second. Worth every cent of marquee money we are paying him.
We had a red card early in the second half, now wishing I had trained a park the bus formation in the preseason. Still a few defensive shouts see me through the rest of the game only conseeding one goal and walking away with our first competitive win.
0-4 vs Sydney
First ever Sydney derby, and we did not put in a good showing. Wow, del Piero is in a league of his own. It was like men vs boys. He cut through our defence like a hot knife through butter and when 3 of your 4 defenders walk away with match ratings less than 6, you're never gonna chalk up the victory
3-1 vs Brisbane
Needing a good result to bounce back from that horror derby, an early goal to Ono has the league leaders reeling, and thats his first for the club. Moving him up to AMC in place of the injured Mooy turned out to be a good option. Brisbane peg us right back with a goal to Berisha, but a disasterous back pass puts Griffiths a one on one with the keeper, and he's not going to miss those. We extend the lead to a safe 2 goals with a header by Beauchamp from an ono free kick.
Great win, but a tad aggressive, picking up 6 yellows cards in the match, but surprisingly, no reds.


In other news:
Mooy's injury against Adelaide has him out for 4 weeks. That is not good news for our young prospect
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Transfers:
No transfers in, but loaned out one of the two youth players to our feeder club.


Player of the month:
Griffiths. Singly-handedly won me the game against Adelaide and another great performance against Brisbane. Worth the marquee spot
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Team stats:
Both marquee players as top two players this month. Looks like the rest of the team needs to step up.
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League table:
****** close at the top, with 5 teams tied at the top, and 2 more only one point behind. This will be an interesting season
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League stats:
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Love the link with Sydney Croatia :)

Brilliant transfers. With a squad like that a top six finish is the MINIMUM objective.

Good luck with developing Mooy.
 
thanks, I just wish I had some other youth alongside him
 
November
Great form continues, but a setback to end the month

Results:
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2-1 vs MH
Great start with an early goal. The ball falls to jason Culina outside the box from a corner and he has a crack, finishing it perfectly in the bottom right hand corner. They draw level and at half time its 1-1. In the second half Shinji Ono pops up in the box to score from close range and win us the match


4-0 vs NJ
another great start, a goal in the first minute from a corner. Our set pieces are coming together quite well at the moment.
HAhAHAHhAHhAHAAhaAhhAHAH!!! thats all i can say about the second goal, have a look: Wanderers 4-0 Newcastle United Jets - Match Highlights - YouTube
Culina makes it 3 with a nice near post finish
Salt in the wound for Newcastle with an injury time breakaway goal for Kresinger. Great little flick by Sarota to put him in space.


3-1 vs Perth
Slow first half where we were outplayed in the midfield. Gave them a kick up the **** at halftime and saw an absolute howler by their keeper give us the lead early in the second half. Kresinger then comes on as a super sub and finishes a nice one on one to give us a two goal cushion.
They pull one back but we regain the advantage almost straight afterwards from a corner to see out a good win.
Aaron Mooy also made his return from injury in this match, coming off the bench for a solid 30 minutes


0-2 vs MV
I don't know what to say, we had so much possession in the game, but almost zero chances. It doesn't help that our goalie was playing like someone with no arms, but I'm going to put it down to complaicancy from the players after such a good run. I gave them an almight yelling after that pitiful display and I hope I never see it again.

Player of the Month:
Mateo Poljak
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Steps into the starting lineup after Mooy's injury, he has excelled, giving me some tough choices ahead now that Mooy is returning to full fitness

Team Stats:
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This team is becoming less of a one trick pony, with more and more players putting their hands up at crucial moments as the season goes on

League table:
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Still congested at the top, but the two Sydney teams starting to pull away oh so slightly.

League stats:
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ADP is loving life down under and is tearing up the league, while old faithful Berisha and Smeltz chipping in with goals as well

​
 
Really good start. I love how there is an Australian story up now. Keep it up mate.
 
December
Absolute disaster of a month see us out of the top 6


Results:
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3-6 vs Wellington
Wow, I don't know what happened. We start of well and are cruising at 2-0 after 30 minutes. next thing I know we are going into the sheds 3-2 down. In the second half they keep piling on the goals. I think this is a sign of the impending apocalypse.

1-2 vs Brisbane
Unlucky match. We absolutely dominated possession but fell behind early. We managed to equalize halfway thought the second half, but then in classic fm style, they break my heart and my will with an injury time goal.

1-2 vs Sydney
Sydney derby 2 was an absolute arm wrestle between to quality midfields. Unfortunately the difference was they had the quality up front to finish off their chances (read: Alessandro del Piero), while we just couldn't put anything but a consolation penalty in the 90th minute past them.

0-2 vs Adelaide
Against the in-form table toppers is never a great way to stop the bleeding of a bad run, and they took full advantage of our form. We put up a good fight and I was proud to not lose by less

2-0 vs Perth
Against wooden spooners Perth was a bit of a now or never situation to end the bad run, and an early goal from a corner (still got those set plays!) to Kresinger was just what the doctor ordered. We maintained possession well and a late goal from a counter attack to the same man to give him a brace sealed the win. Hopefully a win we can build on to get back into a playoff spot.


Player of the Month:
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The only man who could put the ball in the back of the net. Solid, but a lot more solid than everyone else in the team.


Team Stats:
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Most averages have dropped due to poor form through the horror run, but still good consistency in the midfield


League Table:
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Adelaide have raced ahead and look to have established themselves as a powerhouse.


League Stats:
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Other News:
I have started training a new formation because I think the bad run was due to teams figuring out my style. It is a 4-3-1-2 to utilize the number of good MC i have and both good strikers in the team. I'm still working out the kinks of it but I will use it with a counter mentality

I have also signed some players coming to the end of their contract for next season, mainly youth, but some big names including Rogic, Bosschaart and Antonis

Perth have sacked Ferguson and Victory have sacked Ange Postecoglou. The Mariners made it to the final of the ACL but lost 4-0.​
 
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