Part 203: Chapter the Sixth: Quick hits.

Chapter the Sixth: Quick hits.
November 26, 2026-December 12, 2026

Our schedule is making it hard for me to create standard length updates, so this one will just have to be short and sweet.



Thiago isn't having quite the season he had last year, but it's still better than almost any other striker in the world.

At Liverpool, November 28, 2026
Premier League


After a strong start for Liverpool they've tailed off some over the last month and haven't won in their last three games.

Starting Formation: 4-2-3-1 Control
Starting 11: Minami, Reed, Hammatt, Quiboulaz, Loseille, Maloney, Ünsal, Pickee, Stringel, Mujkic (c), Thiago.
Subs: Kocsis, Cirjak, Laux, Bailey, Damgaard, Moctezuma, Allan.

Stringel makes a great pass to give Thiago an opportunity on a fast break before the Liverpool defense can set up, Thiago gets his league leading 12th goal of the season. Then String shows what happens when you have a Dribbling attribute of 20 by taking the ball from midfield, cutting past three defenders, and accurately finishing an excellent goal. He finishes up with a second assist by going to ground in the box and drawing a penalty, which Ünsal converts.

Then his day ends when he mistrikes the ball in the 72nd minute, our third player who's needed to be removed from the game due to injury in the last four days. We can't hold on for a shutout, something that's been a problem for us recently, but Stringel's replacement Callum Allan scores to keep the final margin of victory at three.

Man of the Match: Isaac Stringel




Liverpool 1-4 Wrexham



He's being left to the tender care of our staff, Callum Allan can take his place quite well for the two weeks he'll miss. It's a shame, though, because Stringel just hasn't been very good this season and he was hurt in the first league match he dominated all season.



We're going to be deep in the red come spring.



A decade ago we'd be one of the teams mentioned as a minnow. I'd love to face Woking, they're a Conference Regional/Skrill South club.



Instead Wrexham is literally the second to last team to be drawn, which gives us a home game against a Southampton team that still holds second place as we near the midpoint of the season.

vs Manchester City, December 1, 2026
Premier League


City would still be all the way back in seventh place if they hadn't been docked five points for Financial Fair Play violations, so it's not like they're having a great season. They've been hot as of late, not losing since the end of September, so we might be in for a fight.

Starting Formation: 4-2-3-1 Control
Starting 11: Minami, Reed, Tounkara, Laux, Loseille, Bailey, Shirra, Mercado, Allan, Mujkic (c), Thiago.
Subs: Kocsis, Cirjak, Quiboulaz, Maloney, Damgaard, Pickee, Moctezuma.

Matias Mercado shows that he's not dead yet, getting an assist on an Allan goal and then earns a penalty. Shirra doesn't miss penalties. Later Mercado nutmegs one of the two men marking him on a pass to Reed, Reed takes it into the box, dodges a tackle, and then selflessly passes across the front of the net to a wide open Shirra. It's all over by halftime, and for the first time in over a month we keep a clean sheet.

Man of the Match: Scott Shirra




Wrexham 3-0 Man City



It's December 1st and we're down to £2.9m in our bank account.



Thiago made the shortlist, but he's not seen as a real contender for the award. He's still getting my first place vote. He's got fifteen more goals than the next closest person (Rocky Bastable), and on top of that he's 5th in assists.

Mujkic, Stringel, Shirra, Laux and Reed make the 35 man shortlist this year as well. Our six players are the most of any team, and there's four players who made the shortlist who came up with us (Bastable, Bram Aarts, Carlos Matias “El Juez” Cardozo, and Matty Collett) so at least I can stop ranting about respect or the lack thereof.

Along with Thiago comes Mujkic on my ballot, and my third vote goes to Shirra. I had thought that I might be picking Isaac Stringel as my third vote, but he hasn't been that good since the World Cup.

At Tottenham Hotspur, December 5, 2026
Premier League


Spurs are terrible this year, languishing in 18th place. If the season ended today Tottenham would fall from the top division for the first time since 1977. Their manager is under pressure, and rightly so.

Starting Formation: 4-2-3-1 Control
Starting 11: Minami, Reed, Hammatt, Quiboulaz, Loseille, Maloney, Shirra, Pickee, Allan, Mujkic (c), Thiago.
Subs: Kocsis, Cirjak, Laux, Bailey, Ünsal, Damgaard, Moctezuma.

Meteor makes his case for the Ballon d'Or in the first two minutes with an exceptional individual effort. He adds another bullet point three minutes later with an assist from a pinpoint cross to Mitchell Pickee, our unhappy youngster who I denied a transfer to a couple months ago. Twenty minutes later Thiago draws a foul on a corner, and of course Shirra doesn't miss, and we've run out to a three-nil lead.

Just before the half that becomes a four-nil lead, as we get a second penalty when Loseille is barged from behind. Shirra's now up to eight league goals on the season, his most since 2022-2023. Thiago makes sure to add to his Ballon d'Or resume as well, and scores a goal in the second half. We're not done piling on Tottenham yet, though, as Pickee gets his second goal of the game in the final minutes.

Man of the Match: The Golden Boy




Tottenham 0-6 Wrexham



A six-nil loss at home would turn up the pressure on most coaches even if they weren't at the bottom of the table and taking on water.



It takes some serious cheek to go out and talk about leaving your current job because it's beneath you when you're on the verge of being shitcanned for incompetence. Who does this guy think he is?



Oh man, now it makes so much more sense. Tosh is AU-Brendan Rogers. How did I not realize that earlier?



Tunisia is a good travel location for us. Much better than the trip to South Korea we had to take the last time we were in the Club World Cup.

vs CSKA Moscow, December 9, 2026
Champions League, Group H


I'm not going to break out the Pyramid again as I just want to get this over with. The Muscovites have a chance of advancing if they can win and Wolfsburg loses at home to Basel, which is a thin reed of hope but still something they'll fight for.

Starting Formation: 4-2-3-1 Control
Starting 11: Kocsis, Cirjak, Hammatt, Laux, Quiboulaz, Bailey (c),Ünsal, Moctezuma, Bouzid, Damgaard, Thiago.
Subs: Landgraf, Spyropoulos, Patel, Zouaghi, Brown, Alvir, Bale.

It's the youth squad show as 18-year-old Ali Bouzid scores his first senior team goal via a Thiago assist. Bouzid also gets his first assist for the club by returning the favor to Thiago. It turns into a dream debut near the end of the match, as Bouzid bags a brace in his first start as a Dragon.

Man of the Match: Ali Bouzid




Wrexham 3-0 CSKA



Ugh, how dull. I don't think a single three or four seed made it through to the knockout round. The only teams from outside of the top four leagues (and PSG) are Ajax and Porto, the dominant forces in their respective countries.



If a dip in form is a three game stretch of draws that includes two away fixtures against Champions League teams, we're clearly over it. Next up is the Club World Cup in Tunisia, then the Quarterfinal of the League Cup, and then two matches against Leeds United and Reading. If we make it through them unscathed, we'll have played 63 matches in 2026 and lost two of them. And one of those was for the Community Shield, a glorified friendly. Life is good.


(The table is missing because I forgot to get a screenshot of it.)