Part 136: Chapter the Fourth: Oh-fer-two.

Chapter the Fourth: Oh-fer-two.
October 2, 2022-October 31, 2022

Derby stonewalled Man U, so we get to stay atop the table for as long as we keep winning. It's been seven years since a non-Mancunian team has won the league, I'd like to change that up. Now that the club is back to it's rightful place atop the table, lets see if I can't start winning some games with the USMNT. We've got two coming up, one against North Korea that we should win handily and one against Colombia to provide us a real challenge.



It's been a while since we had more than half of the team of the week.




The kids love my attitude. The rest of the squad are taking a wait and see approach.

vs. Democratic People's Republic of Korea, October 7, 2022
International Friendly


Let's show them how Murica does it, boys. And if any of them come to you asking about asylum, refer them to our State Department attache by the touchline. Of course, of our five best players, three happen to have injured themselves. Two stubbed their toe while a third has food poisoning. Malingerers. North Korea wouldn't let their players get away with that.

Starting Formation: 4-5-1 Attack
Starting 11: Toninho, Melendez, Royle, Stevens, Erlic (c), Padilla, Woods, Ramos, Carroll, Munk, Lenz.
Subs: Salazar, Gomez, Bartlett, Cruz, Spence, de la Rosa, Mancini, Fisher, Williams.

We squander a trio of good chances at the very start, but our captain Mario Erlic shows everyone how it's done with a goal in the 34th minute. They don't follow his lead, and we continue to be exceptionally wasteful. It's reminding me of our Championship era Wrexham squad, no one on this team can finish worth a damn. Even so we're cruising along nicely and look set for an easy win until North Korea strikes for a shock equalizer on their third and final shot of the day. Their luck and our profligacy means I'm still winless as manager of the US National team.

Man of the Match: Mario Erlic.




USMNT 1-1 North Korea



With a little better finishing we'd have won that game 5-1. There's still plenty of reason to be optimistic.




There seem to be a lot more short term injuries as an international manager. We've had five players out of 23 miss time on this international break alone, and that's not counting the two who were hurt in the 48 hours between announcing the squad and meeting for training camp. It really doesn't help that all of the injuries seem confined to our defenders, I brought 8 to camp and only three have been fit to play for either match. Poor Jesus Melendez earned his first cap while playing out of position at right back.

vs. Colombia, October 11, 2022
International Friendly


Colombia are not their real life juggernaut self, having fallen all the way to 80th in the world FIFA rankings. It's a huge fall over the course of the last decade for a club that made the World Cup quarterfinal in real life. Hopefully this means we can beat them about.

Starting Formation: 4-5-1 Counter
Starting 11: Toninho, Latham, Cruz, Stevens, Melendez, Padilla, Woods (c), Ramos, Burman, Munk, Carroll.
Subs: Salazar, Gomez, Bartlett, de la Rosa, Spence, Fisher, Lenz, Williams, Mancini, Anderson.

Mario Carroll, the Vancouver Whitecaps striker, puts us ahead in the seventh minute, and then adds another in the ninth. In under ten minutes we've scored twice, a tally we had yet to accomplish in our first three matches. After those quick strikes the game settles into a period of both squads taking low quality shots and not being rewarded for them. The early lead holds up, and even with having to play poor, nervous 18 year old Jesus Melendez out of position we win our first match of my tenure with the club.

Man of the Match: Mario Carroll




USMNT 2-0 Colombia



A win, two draws, and a loss isn't the start I'd hoped for, but the players are in high spirits after our last two matches. We won't have another match until next March, when we take on players like Scott Shirra and Stuart Mair in a friendly with Scotland, and then have another three month gap between international fixtures until we play Australia in June 2023. I'm not sure why I can't schedule friendlies for the November international period, or more than one in March and June of next year, but that's the way it is. If I had to guess, it's due to the MLS playoffs and championship being sometime in the late fall, the season starting in spring, and being in full swing during June.



Good, now I can finally start setting up specific tactical instrucions for each individual match.



I guess the romance of driving all the way into Wolverhampton for matches has worn off on the Wrexham public.

vs. Leeds, October 15, 2022
Premier League


We've already beaten them once, now it's time to do it again.

Starting Formation: 4-2-3-1 Control
Starting 11: Kovacevic, Reed, Laux, Feruga, Suslov (c), Morvan, Petts, Collett, Argenti, Cardozo, Bastable.
Subs: El Sayed, Loseille, Hammatt, Bailey, Julio, Shirra, Aarts.

Richard Petts is showing England why he should be on the national team, he's on a serious scoring streak for a guy who usually acts as a deep lying playmaker. This one goes in off the post from range in the 14th minute. El Juez picks up his first of the season in the fortieth minute, while Bastable continues his return to form just after the half with his fifth goal of the season. Leeds show some fight, finally, around the hour mark, but make nothing of their chances. Julio continues to be a threat off the bench, scoring once again when I bring him on late. Leeds is able to muster a late goal to prevent the shutout, but we never looked like losing.

Man of the Match: Richard Petts




Wrexham 4-1 Leeds

vs. PSV Eindhoven, October 19, 2022
Champions League, Group B


PSV are the team that could prevent us from moving on to the knockout stage. We need to make sure we impose our will from the start and come away with all three points.

Starting Formation: 4-2-3-1 Control
Starting 11: Kovacevic, Reed, Hammatt, Todd, Suslov, Bailey (c), Mair, Argenti, Shirra, Cardozo, Bastable.
Subs: El Sayed, Loseille, O'Hanlon, Dixon, Julio, Collett, Aarts.

We strike first, a second after the tenth minute has elapsed. It's the Golden Boy who gets the final touch, the attempt set up courtesy an impressive dribble by his countryman Mair after he swoops in to take possession of the ball following a mistake by the opposition. It's the only goal of the first half, and worryingly PSV has actually had the better chances. Things get worse when Hammatt picks up a yellow in the 56th minute, and just as I'm making the order to sub him off for O'Hanlon six minutes later he picks up a second and reduces us to 10 men. Neither foul was deserving of a card, but I'm still irate at him for being less careful. We fall back into a defensive formation, and are able to hang onto the win. We're lucky to have done so.

Man of the Match: Scott Shirra




Wrexham 1-0 PSV





He didn't deserve his yellows, but it's still better to make him watch his step. I've learned my lesson from not adequately punishing Suslov and Cirjak.

At Stoke City, October 22, 2022
Premier League


Stoke are having themselves another good season, currently in fifth place on the table. That said, they're not one of the four clubs I fear, and so I plan on forcing them to play our game.

Starting Formation: 4-2-3-1 Control
Starting 11: El Sayed, Reed, Laux, Todd, Suslov, Bailey (c), Petts, Argenti, Julio, Cardozo, Bastable.
Subs: Kovacevic, Loseille, Feruga, Morvan, Mair, Collett, Aarts.

Suslov gets carded in the first minute when a diving Stoke player tricks the ref. I'm left praying that he makes it to halftime without getting sent off. He does, and able to pull him for Loseille. Stoke's pressure stymies us all game long, not allowing us to keep possession and breaking up our attacking moves. Julio finally knocks in a goal after nearly an hour of play, and when Stoke appear to equalize within minutes it's called back for being offside. We hang on to win a much tougher match than I anticipated. Further, Bastable was injured and had to come out in the 81st minute, losing him for a long period of time would hurt now that he's found his scoring touch.

Man of the Match: Matthias Laux




Stoke 0-1 Wrexham



Whew. Losing any more key players for a long period of time would really start to make me wonder if we can manage to achieve everything I'm hoping for.

At Watford, October 25, 2022
Capital One Cup, Fourth Round


Cirjak can't get back soon enough. Suslov and Reed are looking downright exhausted, and I don't yet trust Loseille to play a full match. They'll get additional rest during the November international period, hopefully, and Cirjak should be back by the middle of December. I'm also happy that Rodrigo Taborda has finally come back to full health. He was out for a month due to an injury sustained with the Argentinian national team, came back just in time for the most recent international matches and was injured immediately when the Argentinian coach tried to make him play a full match despite not being fully fit. Hopefully he can stay healthy, we'll need him to come up big while Mujkic is out.

Starting Formation: 4-2-3-1 Control
Starting 11: Kovacevic, Reed, O'Hanlon, Feruga, Suslov, Morvan, Mair, Collett, Shirra, Taborda, Aarts.
Subs: El Sayed, Loseille, Hammatt, Dixon, Bailey, Argenti, Cardozo.

I can't believe we're losing this game. Collett has botched two simple finishes, while Aarts launched an easy chance into the stratosphere. Meanwhile, Watford has had a single shot on goal and put it in the back of the net through sheer luck. ThenWatford are given a penalty in the 58th minute and convert. I have no choice but to pull Taborda and Collett, both of whom have been dire, and go for broke. My subs don't make a difference, we don't create a single additional chance, and we're bounced from the League Cup by stinking Watford in our second match. We're now 0 for 2 in competitions.




Watford 2-0 Wrexham



We're going to have to start using U18 players at this rate. Except a whole bunch of them are also injured.




I don't care if I'm wrong, I want to start getting some awful calls going my way for once.



He refused to accept that I knew what was best for him, so I drop his ass into the reserves. He can whine all he wants from there.

At Newcastle United, October 29, 2022
Premier League


The Geordies are happy, their team is overachieving and in the top half of the league after finishing fifteenth last year and seem to be firmly ensconced in the top level once more. We'll try to dim their mood some.

Starting Formation: 4-2-3-1 Control
Starting 11: Kovacevic, Reed, Laux, Todd, Loseille, Morvan, Petts, Argenti, Bailey, Taborda, Cardozo.
Subs: El Sayed, Suslov, Feruga, Mair, Julio, Collett, Aarts.

We play well in the first hour, but don't have anything to show for it. I take off a still not fully fit Taborda and move El Juez to his spot, bringing on Aarts as our number 9. The young Dutchman scores within two minutes of taking the pitch. It looks like that will be enough to earn the three points, but then Newcastle ruins our day by scoring a stoppage time equalizer to pull out the draw. Newcastle's overachieving ways continue.




Newcastle 1-1 Wrexham



Oh, look, Liverpool fired their manager again. I dearly hope they get relegated. The idea that John Henry would be this bad at running a sports team is completely ludicrous given his results in Boston and Liverpool over the last decade, and I want this games version punished for it's infidelity to reality. Meanwhile Daniel Tosh, Southampton's manager, still has his job despite being in the relegation zone. Again. He must have blackmail on Sky Shadowing.

Wrexham

USMNT



I shouldn't be upset with our performances, but I'm getting really tired of not winning a bucketload of trophies each year. That loss to Watford takes all the joy that our recent good run has created and sets it ablaze. We're now fully into the phase of the game where I start getting irate at every loss and draw. Our injury problems remain troubling, but barring further catastrophe we should have enough depth to see us through.




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