Part 79: Interlude: Why do they rock so hard?

Interlude: Why do they rock so hard?
January 1, 2019

So for this interlude, I wanted to look at how our team actually stacks up against the rest of the Championship. Are we having a fluke run, or do we really have the talent to match the bigguns?

Paul Williams
Assistant Manager


Our Ass Man, Paul Williams has been downright awesome. He's also improved a massive amount, going from a tactical knowledge of 12 when I hired him in 2017 all the way up to 16. I've been using him to help set my defensive opposition instructions. But most important for how I play is that his JA and JP are near maximum. He knows with a great deal of accuracy how good our players are likely to get, and how good they are right now. All of the star ratings in this interlude are based on his observation.

Justin Bailey
Central Midfielder




The game underrates Bailey, but we've seen him struggle this season. Though he's moments of brilliance, he isn't pulling all the strings from midfield like he did the previous three seasons. His average rating is pretty good, but there's been many games where he's been made a total nonfactor. This is very likely the highest level he can serve as a first team regular.

Michael Coulson
Right Winger




Coulson has been a real shot of energy when he's played, if he keeps this up I might consider renewing his contract despite William's advice. But he's always been a very streaky player, so it's entirely possible that this is the best things will get for him.

Dejan Djurovic
Central Midfielder





Djurovic has struggled with his fitness all season, he's had repeated small injuries that keep him from getting into a groove. He also doesn't speak English yet, which means he's not fully capable of playing the midfield distributor role he's best suited for. That said, he was able to play decently in the top Turkish league last year, and has the skills to be a leading player for most Championship sides. I think people don't realize quite how good a team we've put together, in part because I talk so much about potential when signing players an then don't mention how quickly some of those players improve.

Giuseppe Garuti
Left Back





I probably shouldn't have brought in three an a half non-English speaking fullbacks. The only good thing to say about Garuti is that he's been better than those other new guys. I take responsibility for screwing up in the offseason. My signings have higher ceilings than Smissen and Tench, but they're all offensive minded fullbacks and we're paying the price for not thinking defense first, and not speaking much English.

Ryan Gorman
Attacking Midfielder




Gorman is solid, and has already been better this year in the Championship than he was in League One. He'd fit right in on any Championship squad talent wise, and has gotten over his growing pains with the club that saw him sitting in the reserves within a month of joining the club. He's also someone who's specific area of strength is “Important Matches.” That's a very good thing to see in a scouting report, it means that they're likely to excel on the biggest stages.

William Harrison
Fast Striker




“A leading player for most Championship sides.” Harrison is a mercurial and inconsistent player, when he's on he's deadly and when he's off he'll miss the broadside of the barn from the penalty spot. But he can still improve, and it looks like he can at least hold his own at this level after an adjustment period. Regardless, I'll be looking for a new striker in the offseason.

Danny Higgs
Goalkeeper




Higgs has massively improved in just over two full years as starter. I'm quite pleased to have him between the pipes for us. Also note, that's our third player described as someone who would be a “leading player for most Championship sides.” Unfortunately, he's got “Important Matches” as his specific weakness. That's not the weakness you want in your netminder when it comes to winning things.

Mark Holland
Central Midfielder




Holland hasn't made a good transition to the league, but he's still rated a pretty good player for the level. I'll be activating the option year in his contract, at the very least we can sell him for a few hundred thousand quid when close season comes.

Stewart Lewis
Centerback




Stewart Lewis has been the rock of our defense, he's at his best in our most important games. He's been nearly as good this year as he was last year, and he can still get even better. If you remember way back when he first joined the team three years ago it took him a good half year to settle into the club. His early struggles are a good reminder why you shouldn't immediately cut bait on talent. Also, that makes four players who would be starters on most Championship clubs.

Ross Love
Goalkeeper




Our backup keeper hasn't gotten into a league game yet, but he's professional enough to not whine about it. So far.

Dinko Mejasic
Left Back





A real disappointment here, just like the rest of our fullback signings. He's only 19, and still has a world of potential. I can only imagine that things will improve when he finally learns some English. His specific strength is important matches, while his specific weakness is consistency. That's a combination that can make for a headache.

Mateo Mujkic
Left Wing




We have some very good players who would be good on any Championship side, but Mujkic could step onto a Champion's League club without missing a beat. And he's still growing as a player. One frustrating thing about him being away from the club for a quarter of the year is that it has held back that development, he's not playing high quality opponents and I doubt that Australia's training and coaching are any better than ours. He's only 21, so he still has 2-4 more years of strong stat growth before he's really a finished product. To top it off, his specific strength is Important Matches. Yeah, he's a keeper.

Ioan Peters
Right Back




He's been our most reliable fullback this season, the reason he hasn't gotten more playing time is because the other fullbacks have greater potential than he does. He's a useful backup, at the very least, even if he has a bad habit of picking up yellow cards. The scouting report from Williams also notes that while Peters is good in important matches he suffers from inconsistent effort, making him a risky option in normal league games.

Matthew Poole
Centerback




Poole is a competent backup for this league, but he's reached his limits as a player. His contract is up at the end of the year and I doubt I'll renew it.

Tom Pym
Target Striker




Pym is in the midst of a serious goal drought, his opportunity to seize the starting job from Harrison came and went. He's clearly talented, and the Ass Man loves his potential, but he's 23 and at an age where his stat increases will shrink down at an accelerated rate. He might never reach his full potential.

Gareth Rainey
Right Wing




Rainey and Peters are the youth players I've brought in who have spent the most time with our first team. Rainey looks like he's not cut out for this level, and could find himself elsewhere this time next season. The best thing I can say about him is that he's cheap.

Scott Shirra
Central Midfielder




I told you this kid would be great. He's 18 years old. He's already holding his own in the Championship, and Williams rates him the best creative midfielder on the club, ahead of Djurovic. He's got the potential to be another Mujkic. I'm going to slowly mix him in more over the course of the season, ideally he could be starting most games by the end of the season. Oh, and his strength is performance in important matches.

Claudio Siegrist
Right Back




The signing all the supporters hate. At least he speaks English. He can understand all the mean things the fans are saying about him. He's been a big disappointment, though he has averaged a 6.6 rating since October. He's valued at nearly a million quid, if we sell him at least we make a sizable chunk of money.

Stuart Simpson
Defensive Midfielder




Oh captain, my captain. Simpson's the longest tenured member of the club along with Bailey, and he improved steadily over each season to remain a good player for the club. It seems like the competition has outpaced his potential, though. The sentimental part of me wants to keep him with us for a year in the Premier League, just so he can say he played there, but the ruthless side of me is planning on triggering his option year so we can sell him in the offseason.

Antonio Tedesco
Central Midfielder





Our Sampdoria loaner has been learning Spanish for some reason rather than English.* Hey, go back to I-TAL-IA if you want to speak that buongiorno crap, buddy. Other than that he's a cromulent rotation option in the central midfield.

* Actually, it's most likely the result of spending a year on loan in Spain.

Chris Todd
Centerback




My original big find for Wrexham is our only player besides Mujkic who's rated as being Premier League quality, and he's still a teenager. His performance hasn't matched his talent level, in large part because he has poor jumping reach for a centerback despite having focused on that skill for the better part of a year. Todd is the player I'm most likely to sell for a cash infusion, he's signed through the end of 2020 at the bargain basement price of £600/wk and he'll likely be demanding at least 10 times that much in contract negotiations. I'd prefer to wait for the offseason to make any deals, I don't want to be short on players if we make a promotion push.

Dan Troelsen
Defensive Midfielder




It's hard to make the case for getting rid of Simpson when players who appear to have more talent are performing even worse. Of course, Troelsen hasn't turned 20, so he's nowhere near a finished product. He's going to need to make significant steps forward in order to deserve a long career in Wales.

Jean-Michel Vaillant
Centerback





I really thought his name was Valliant the first month he was on the team. I had so many Prince Valiant jokes lined up that I had to scour from the update when I realized I was spelling his name wrong. He's been one of our more successful signings, and he's split time equally between centerback and right back. I have a good feeling about him, he's doing passably well despite not speaking English.

As to how we compare with the rest of the league? I averaged the Current Ability scores of each team, leaving out third string goalies. Tops in the league were Queens Park Rangers with a 124 average CA, number five were Brentford at 120. Chesterfield brought up the rear at a lowly 96, 20th place was Barnsley at an average of 108 CA. We've got a 114, which is near median. We're not an underpowered team by any account.

So there you have it. Even without Mujkic we've got one other Premier League quality player, and four more players who would be starters at most other clubs. With the exception of some players who have been with us for a long time, and our backup goalie, all of our players are rated by our keen-eyed assistant manager as being at least decent players for Championship level play. We've still got some issues to work out, we haven't gotten good play from either fullback position or defensive midfielder, but there's several bright spots and we should only keep getting better.