Part 200: Chapter the Third: Fresh meat.

Chapter the Third: Fresh meat.
September 12, 2026-October 1, 2026

The last two weeks and change of this month is packed with fixtures, and tougher ones than August's lot. We host Arsenal and visit Manchester United, and if we take four points from those matches we'll be in position to build a lead over our two closest rivals for the title. We also have our first two Champions League games and host Crystal Palace in the League Cup. I'm going to be using a lot of kids over this period to keep our senior team from getting ground down by the incessant march of matches.



When Thiago plays for Wrexham, he breaks records. Why would it be any different when he dons an Azzurri kit? It's barely September and Thiago already has 46 goals on the year in 45 matches. He could well lap his ridiculous total of 62 from last year.



We're being pegged at a 25% likelihood of winning the Champions League. Even I think that's really high.

vs Arsenal, September 12, 2026
Premier League


The Gunners haven't missed Cirelli yet, they're the only other team that's won all three of their matches so far. One way or another, the tie atop the table will be broken.

Starting Formation: 4-4-2 Vivace
Starting 11: Minami, Reed, Tounkara, Hammatt, Loseille, Maloney, Parr, Mujkic (c), Shirra, Stringel, Thiago.
Subs: Kocsis, Cirjak, Quiboulaz, Ünsal, Allan, Damgaard, Mercado

It's a gritty game through the first hour and change, as we hound Arsenal but can't bring them to bay. I move us into the 4-2-3-1, hoping the change in style will throw off Arsenal enough for us to pick up a goal. It does, in the seventy-sixth minute, and then works again after another six minutes. Arsenal go down to their first loss of the season, and we're alone atop the peak.

Man of the Match: Steve Reed




Wrexham 2-0 Arsenal



Apparently losing the Community Shield on penalties doesn't break our unbeaten streak.



We could be dogged by fitness issues all season, our players have logged a lot of game time with little rest over the last year between our triple and the World Cup.



United went down two-nil to winless bottom dwellers West Brom, but managed to come back in the final half hour. They're clearly out of sorts, and I just hope it lasts until next week when we play them.

vs Basel, September 16, 2026
Champions League, Group H


Fourth seed Basel gets to face a weakened lineup so that our best can rest up for the Manchester United game in three days.

Starting Formation: 4-4-2 Vivace
Starting 11: Kocsis, Patel, Quiboulaz, Tounkara, Cirjak (c), Zouaghi, Ünsal, Mercado, Allan, Damgaard, Thiago.
Subs: Minami, Reed, Laux, Spyropoulos, Alvir, Bale, Moctezuma.

The first half is a back and forth affair where we were arguably outplayed. It comes to a close with us ahead by a goal after J Quibz and Tounkara both score and Claus Damgaard gets away with a blatant penalty that rightly has Basel's players furious. The games ends with the same score, despite our playing much better and a bad mistake by Callum Allan that should have resulted in a Swiss equalizer.

Man of the Match: Jonathan Quiboulaz




Wrexham 2-1 Basel



Quibz played brilliantly for an hour after getting injured, and scored a goal despite the gimpy knee. I guess it just swelled up after the match.

At Manchester United, September 19, 2026
Premier League


Along with Arsenal this is our first big test. A loss for United would give them as many losses in their first five games of this season as they had all last season. One huge advantage for us is that Vid Kovacevic is out with a dislocated shoulder. The Red Devils do not have a high quality backup, and have been forced to play a League One quality teenager in his place. That's part of the reason why they've conceded five goals in their last two matches. We need to take advantage of his misfortune and add to their misery.

Our fairly small senior team (only 20 players compared to the standard 23) means that a lot of our youth prospects will get chances to join our bench over the course of the season, with Sebastian Marquez's appearance today we've now had ten youth players active at some point in our first seven games.

Starting Formation: 4-2-3-1 Control
Starting 11: Minami, Reed, Hammatt, Laux, Loseille, Maloney, Shirra, Parr, Stringel, Mujkic (c), Thiago.
Subs: Kocsis, Cirjak, Tounkara, Marquez, Allan, Bale, Moctezuma.

In the twelfth minute Stringel is hacked down from behind just before reaching the penalty area by centerback Nathan Bennett, who earns a yellow and could have seen red. There's no way Thiago is doing anything but aiming for net, and he swerves it past the United wall and inside the near post for a beaut of a goal. We put it into the net ten minutes later as well, but Shahed Parr was wildly offside and the ref noticed.

We're not having success keeping possession of the ball, so I order the team into the 4-4-2 diamond with orders to counterattack rather than go on offense. Even that can't keep Manchester United from equalizing before the break, though. So this season far we've allowed one goal to all other opponents, while damned United have tagged us for three.

When halftime comes around it's time to introduce another tactical wrinkle and implement the 4-5-1. It works, the formation stymies the hell out of United and they never look threatening. I'm looking forward to getting a point and keeping out unbeaten streak alive. In stoppage time, however, David Maloney is able to flick a corner kick on to an unmarked Laux, and we're the ones with the dagger at the death this time!

Man of the Match: Thiago




Man United 1-2 Wrexham



This is very good news for the USMNT. Parsons is one of the best players in Liga MX, and won't get better playing that level of competition. Santos is a giant in Brazil, and he could easily reach his full potential (roughly Tonci Cirjak quality, but more like Reed in his distribution of skills) playing for them.

vs Crystal Palace, September 22, 2026
League Cup, Third Round


Can I be accused of taking Crystal Palace too lightly? Yes. Does that stop me from playing a lot of raw kids? No.

Starting Formation: 4-4-2 Vivace
Starting 11: Kocsis, Cirjak (c), Tounkara, Marquez, Mattuschka, Lewis, Ünsal, Mercado, Allan, Damgaard, Thiago.
Subs: Minami, Loseille, Laux, Spyropoulos, Bouzid, Mujkic, Blyth.

Damgaard gets us off on the right foot, but credit to the 15-year-old Rene Mattuschka who created the chance with a pass most Premier League fullbacks couldn't place as well. Then Mercado deflects a shot from the penalty spot right off of Thiago, and it ricochets right to Ünsal. That was a lucky outcome, and it might just be one of those days for Palace.

We score another two goals in the opening ten minutes of the second half. Ünsal gets a second by getting on the end of a perfect Cirjak cross, and then Thiago scores before leaving the pitch to the wild applause of the visiting stands. Palace are able to score two goals in the final thirty minutes against a lineup consisting entirely of backups and youth squad members, which I'm sure is cold comfort to them.

Man of the Match: Sinan Ünsal




Wrexham 4-2 Palace



Excellent. I look forward to his ongoing improvement.



Can I get away with putting him off until the end of the season?



Yes, I can. He still has almost three years left on his contract, and I dislike giving raises more than eighteen months before they can be stolen by another team.

At Burnley, September 29, 2026
Premier League


They've beat Man United and tied Man City, so there's some giant killing in Burnley's blood. They also used to be a fairly big club themselves, having won the top division twice. That last time was in 1960, though, so it's only barely in living memory at this point. And we did run riot to the tune of a seven-to-naught victory the last time we played.

Starting Formation: 4-4-2 Vivace
Starting 11: Minami, Reed, Hammatt, Laux, Loseille, Maloney, Parr, Mujkic (c), Shirra, Stringel, Thiago.
Subs: Kocsis, Cirjak, Tounkara, Bailey, Mercado, Allan, Blyth.

Burnley made of much sterner stuff this time around, and it takes until halftime looms to break through. Shirra sends the ball out to Mujkic wide, Mujkic gets to the byline and sends the cross back to Shirra, and things are going smoothly.

That is, until we cough up the equalizer just before halftime. I shake my head in deep disappointment, and start doing the vocal exercises my ENT says are needed to protect my larynx when I berate the players. I also switch us to the 4-2-3-1, we desperately need to take control of this match and an open, attacking formation isn't getting it done.

I'm glad I did my exercises right after the half when Reed is whistled for a penalty that the Ref was forty yards away from, and screened by half of each team. It's a terrible call, but Burnley convert an we're behind for the first time all season.

The Golden Boy picks us right back up five minutes later, it's all even again. I keep expecting Thiago to put us ahead on a free kick, he keeps coming closer and closer with each one, but instead Meteor crashes the dreams of the Burnley faithful. This time it's Shirra setting him up as he slips the defense.

It wouldn't be a one goal Wrexham lead if we didn't give our opponents a chance to tie things up at the death, but we take all three points when their dying effort hits the post and bounces harmlessly wide. I'm going to need some cough lozenges, I've been screaming at everyone from the ref to the players to the fans since my midgame pep talk, and I'm busily scripting a monologue of rage for the ride back to Wrexham.

Man of the Match: Scott “The Golden Boy” Shirra




Burnley 2-3 Wrexham



How can you walk into Munich or Madrid or Manchester and expect to win if you nearly blow it in Burnley?

The winner of the last prediction contest asked me to give Tackleford a great staff, replacing the mediocrities that currently guided the club. Let's see if that's had any impact on them a fifth of the way through their season:



It certainly appears so- Tackleford are suddenly out ahead of the pack with a game in hand. It would be nice if they came up to the Premier League, I miss beating them up. Colwyn Bay, btw, is currently in a promotion spot in League One. If they get promoted it's essential that I get the Mini-Cwp going again since we'll have four Welsh teams in the top two divisions.

At CSKA Moscow, September 29, 2026
Champions League, Group H


Another win and we'll be close to locking up our trip to the knockout rounds. With only a West Brom match coming up before the October international break I feel OK about making some of our starters play twice in a week. I am excited to see Moctezuma and Bale on the pitch at the same time, though. They're Wrexham's future, and if they play well that future will be closer than expected.

Starting Formation: 4-2-3-1 Control
Starting 11: Minami, Reed, Tounkara, Laux, Loseille, Bale, Ünsal, Moctezuma, Shirra, Mujkic (c), Thiago.
Subs: Kocsis, Cirjak, Hammatt, Maloney, Allan, Mercado, Stringel.

We're taking plenty of shots but they're not from dangerous positions. Our best chance comes after Moctezuma wins us a corner and Tounkara forces the Moscow keeper to make a fine save. I spend halftime hollering at the players and getting red in the face, and in the second half we finally net two goal five minutes apart on our way to another victory.

Man of the Match: Steve Reed




CSKA 0-2 Wrexham



We're going to draw, and lose, eventually but this hot start has been pleasing to the eye and spirits. That United have gotten off to a middling start and City are still stuck on two points thanks to the Financial Fair Play penalties makes it all the better, we've opened a nine point gap over United and a sixteen point gap over City . It's too early to start thinking about running away with the league, Chelsea hasn't lost yet either, but it could happen.