Part 96: Chapter the Seventh: Leap year.
Chapter the Seventh: Leap year.February 1, 2020-March 1, 2020
Our first three matches this month are pretty easy, against Newcastle (15th place), Derby (11th) and Watford (16th). Things get tougher after the international break, when we travel to Naming Right's Stadium at White Hart Lane to play Tottenham. If we can get seven points from these matches we'll have done well for ourselves.
Transfer season is over. I'm pretty happy with our additions, Kovacevic and Cirjak should be with us for many years if they develop their potential, and Boumsong is a superstar in the making.
It's nice to see Walley doing well, even if we're not going to own him for that much longer. It should bump up his value.
Shirra also wins a young player of the month award, and I have to imagine that he'll win young player of the year the way his season has been going.
I remain untouchable, despite the disappointment in the FA Cup.
At Newcastle United, February 1, 2020
Premier League
Newcastle are very much struggling at the moment, but most of that can be chalked up to a very difficult schedule over the last two months. They've had to play Arsenal, Manchester City, Chelsea, Liverpool, and Tottenham in that stretch, and to their credit they lost only two of those games. But coupled with losses to teams like Norwich and Wigan it means they've won just one Premier League game since December 4th. Their manager is under a lot of fire, and he'll be desperate to get a win against us.
Starting Formation: 4-4-1-1 Counter
Starting 11: Kovacevic, Hurst, Lewis, Todd, Durand, Djurovic, Mair, Petts, Mujkic (c), Shirra, Bastable.
Subs: Love, Mejasic, Johansen, Simpson, Bailey, Matko, Thompson.
The first fifteen minutes are even, with neither side able to create anything. But Newcastle finally forces a corner, and on the ensuing kick Dejan Djurovic comes over the back of a Newcastle player and a penalty is awarded. We've been horrible at stopping penalty kicks in the past, I don't think Higgs ever stopped one in all his years with us. But we've got Kovacevic now, and he stonewalls the Newcastle effort to keep the score love-all.
He can't stop Newcastle's next effort, though, and we fall behind before the 20th minute. A second goal comes a quarter hour later after a masterful through ball, and we're in a deep hole. I scream 'til I'm red in the face and panting at the team, and switch us to the 4-5-1 in an effort to strike quickly after the half. I look a genius when Mujkic scores just 51 seconds after the whistle restarts play, but we're screwed as the side judge calls him offside despite there clearly being a defender that had played him onside, and despite him also having been played onside by the ball itself.
I'm powerless to do more than stomp about the technical area whilst cursing in tongues, and moments later it's Newcastle 3, Wrexham 0. We trade goals around the hour mark, and Newcastle win thanks to some exquisite finishing and many, many defensive lapses on our part.
Newcastle 4-1 Wrexham
Eyre started the love fest between us before our match by announcing that we were the real deal, and I repaid the complement by defending him at length in the pre-game press conference and saying that to fire him would be pure idiocy. While it's fun to be an antagonistic jackass to other managers, developing good relationships with them will make it easier to work out transfer deals and the like in the future.
The most easily achievable escalator clause ever. I needed to do it in order to get him to sign with us, but it does make him our highest paid player.
I decided not to wait on Shirra, if he turns in the same level of performance through the end of the season that he's shown thus far he'd be even more expensive. The new contract, combined with Kovacevic's bump, puts us at a weekly salary of 340k, just over the budget of 333k. I'm not concerned about being slightly over budget, the board will be slightly displeased but our success will more than compensate for the slight decline in confidence over my control of wages.
I understand why fans put an emphasis on players from their own country, it's nice to see players who might also feature in your nation's World Cup team play for your club. But beyond that, I think it's madness to focus on domestic players at the expense of talent. Imagine if a Major League Baseball team decided that they were going to focus on bringing in players only from the United States to the exclusion of talent from Latin America and Japan. They'd be seriously hurting themselves competitively, and frankly people care more about winning than who the players are. Winning makes those players fan favorites.
At Derby County, February 8, 2020
Premier League
Derby have been just as impressive as us through 2/3rds of the season. They actually just moved past us on the table on goal differential, and their decision to sell Shahed Parr and reinvest the proceeds in the club has clearly worked to near perfection. We're both sitting at 34 points, and it's generally considered that 36 points is enough to avoid relegation, and thus with 13 games left to play we're both assured of another season in the Premiership.
Starting Formation: 4-4-1-1 Counter
Starting 11: Kovacevic, Hurst, Lewis, Todd, Mejasic, Djurovic, Mair, Petts, Mujkic (c), Shirra, Bastable.
Subs: Love, Youssouf, Johansen, Simpson, Bailey, Thompson, Harrison.
It's a drizzly, chilly day in Derby, but the Rams are looking heated early. They control possession with aplomb, and within minutes force Hurst to make a foul that earns him a yellow card. Their first goal comes when, in the words of the announcer, “Chris Todd stupidly gave the ball away” by overrunning it, giving their striker a can't miss opportunity. They pile on even more pressure after that, and have 11 shots to our lonely one at the half, with two big chances and three more half chances. We're lucky to only be down a goal, and our defense is a shambles.
I once again make changes at the half, after first scouring the defense for their errors. It's perhaps too much pressure to put on the 20 year olds, as Hurst and Todd both look stressed by my harsh treatment. But I also order the team to stop sitting back so much and to challenge for the ball, we've been giving Derby far too much room to set up their attacks. It seems to work when the game restarts, we start winning the ball in better position, and that helps our attack immensely. In the 57th minute Todd makes an interception near midfield, and two quick passes later Djurovic makes a run up the flank before delivering a through ball to Shirra in the box. Shirra shows a deft first touch, chesting the ball down and takes two steps before firing across the goal and into the net at the far post. Ten minutes later Shirra feeds Bastable a great ball that Bastable knocks past the keeper, but the goal is negated as Bastable was a bare foot offside. His next isn't coming on an archetypal counter-attacking run with 16 minutes remaining in the game. Derby isn't dead yet, they have a shot hit the crossbar just minutes later, and have another excellent chance go begging with 10 left to play. But we seal the game with another goal from Bastable just before stoppage time, and accomplish a marvelous turn-around after having looked like chumps the whole first half.
Man of the Match: Rocky Bastable
Derby 1-3 Wrexham
That's why you pay me the big bucks... Wait a second.
They must have turned off the match at halftime. We were the better team after, though we were admittedly lucky to only be down one when play resumed.
Well, I can see why they're putting us on TV. I look very dashing on the sidelines in my customary three piece suit and the cane I use to violently gesture at the ref.
I'm going to play him for an hour and then sub him out as he's not 100% recovered. He needs to get accustomed to the team, and we're about to go on a 12 day break for international competitions.
vs. Watford, February 11, 2020
Premier League
I hope we're still riding our comeback high, this game is just three days after the one at Derby. Watford are in the relegation mix, but they have an appreciable five point advantage over Norwich thanks to a recent run that included a victory over Chelsea. The bottom three teams in the league are truly execrable, Crystal Palace and Wigan each have just 19 points while Norwich is not much better with their 22. There may not be much of a competition to stay up in the final two months of the season given how deep a hole those three have dug themselves.
Starting Formation: 4-4-1-1 Attack
Starting 11: Kovacevic, Cirjack, Lewis, Todd, Mejasic, Djurovic, Mair, Petts, Mujkic (c), Shirra, Bastable.
Subs: Love, Hurst, Johansen, Simpson, Bailey, Harley, Harrison.
I send the team out with instructions to attack rather than to sit back for the counter, we're at home and we should play confidently. It works to give us a great chance early, but Bastable's shot isn't good enough to keep a defender from getting between it and the net. We keep up our domination of Watford, though, and after fifteen minutes have had 74% possession. That pays off in short order when Shirra pokes in his 10th goal of the season, thanks to a cheeky back heel pass from Bastable. The two have been an inspired strike combination, playing together as if they were of one mind.
Our mastery carries into the half, but we're still up by just one. I'm quick to remind the players about Derby's dominance in the first half of last game, and almost to a man they seem more attentive. They keep that focus into the final third of the game, and we almost put the game away with another goal that's called back due to Bastable being a fraction of a second too early in making his final surge past the defense. He gets his timing right as the clock winds down, and runs across the field making airplane arms. It's our best performance from start to finish all season, allowing Watford just four shots total, only one of which was not from long range.
Man of the Match: Rocky Bastable
Wrexham 2-0 Watford
We're in seventh at the moment. If teams that finish fifth or higher win the Capital One Cup and the FA Cup, the Europa League qualification spots that come with those trophies go to the teams in sixth and seventh place in the league. We're currently only three points behind Everton, who are in fifth place, but our atrocious goal differential means we could have real trouble finishing that high on the table as we'd lose the tiebreaker to any potential competitor. So we're going to have to hope the megabastards win the cups.
The Capital One Cup final is between Arsenal and Stoke in two and a half weeks, if Arsenal wins that will probably open up an additional continental qualification spot on the table as they're very likely to finish in the top five.
Cardiff's insane tycoon owner continues to try and make the Bluebirds more like Wrexham by attempting to lure away the manager. I'm content with President AJ_Impy's offer to open contract discussions after the season ends, and frankly I'm not sure I'd want to go to Cardiff considering the disparity in potential the players on each squad have.
That's two weeks in a row we've been moved to one of the prime broadcast times. We're getting popular. Or more likely we're playing popular teams.
Make that three weeks in a row. At least it's good for our visibility.
How am I not on the list of considered replacements? Did they not notice who kicked their ass in December?
I'm shocked that he wants to leave. He isn't a Premier quality player, the best he can hope for is a starting role in League One or a rotation spot in the Championship. But this does save me the trouble of having to give him the Old Yeller treatment after the season ends.
At Tottenham Hotspur, February 23, 2020
Premier League
Spurs are in a fight for the final Champion's League spot, a win could move them into 4th. This won't be easy. A draw would be nice, a win would be amazing. We've actually won a game more than Tottenham this season, it's very weird that we have just one draw through 27 matches.
Starting Formation: 4-4-1-1 Counter
Starting 11: Kovacevic, Cirjak, Lewis, Todd, Mejasic, Djurovic, Mair, Petts, Mujkic (c), Shirra, Bastable.
Subs: Love, Durand, Johansen, Simpson, Bailey, Thompson, Harrison.
Tottenham has the lion's share of possession from the start, but the crowd gasps first at the post denying Rocky Bastable a goal in the sixth minute. Spurs hit woodwork of their own seven minutes later, and after fifteen minutes are getting far too much time with the ball. That results in them striking first. I throw us onto the attack, ordering the lads to play a very high tempo game. I'm hoping to catch Tottenham sleeping, and it results in 25 minutes of inspired play by our boys. Bastable earns a penalty at the half hour mark, but our golden opportunity to equalize goes to waste as Shirra can't convert. We keep knocking at the door, and finally Bastable breaks through just before the interval. I switch us back to a more balanced approach, but keep the tempo higher than usual to keep us pressing the advantage.
My tactical tweaks keep working even after play begins anew. We have another chance denied by the woodwork on a corner kick, giving us just one goal on five clear cut chances. Tottenham makes us pay for our wastefulness, scoring twice late to send us to defeat. I'm irate, we should have won this game.
Tottenham 3-1 Wrexham
Why the hell did you schedule World Cup qualifiers after the goddamned international break, Asia? Are you trying to make me go mad? We should still have Bastable and Mujkic for the Man City game on March 2nd, with any luck they'll be too tired to play against Uzbekistan two days later and thus be perfectly fresh for our game against Liverpool on the 8th.
Hey, check it out, a leap day. A whole bunch of kids will be born and in 4 years be teased about only just turning a year old.
The turning point of this season was clearly the team Thanksgiving. Before then we had lost nine and won just three in our first twelve league games. That's a pace that would leave us at serious risk of relegation. Since then we've lost five games while winning ten and drawing one, a pace that if sustained for a full season would win us entry to the Champion's League. It's clear that we now have the quality to contend with all but the very largest clubs in the league, and thus we have the quality to contend with all but the biggest clubs in the world.
(I forgot to get a screenshot of the table before our next match, we're in 8th place, one point off 7th.)