Season Preview 2014/15 – Italian Job

Hello fellow Football Manager fanatics! How are we this fine day? I hope you’ve all had a lovely festive period.

It is that time when I give an update on the Italian Job!

We’ve had, what is fair to say, quite an interesting summer. Players asking to leave, and a new face that I am sure all of you are familiar with!

First though, the outs. With a fairly strong squad we were bound to get clubs poaching a few of our players, such as Florenzi, Gervinho and Destro. 

Gervinho came and asked for me to accept any bids that come, with him quoting Real Madrid to be interested… And so I decided to set an asking price of £24 million for him (as his value was £23 Million some how!) and see what clubs thought of it. No offers as of yet, surprise surprise.

Arsenal came along asking for Florenzi for £8 Million and I rejected and instead offered the Italian a new contract to keep him at the Stadio Olimpico.

Liverpool enquired about the availability of Destro, but I happily rejected as he is going to be useful this year.

Fortunately, we have seen only one player leave this summer on a permanent and that was GIanluca Cerci, a goalkeeper, who was sold to Fiorentina for £1.2 million. I wasn’t to unhappy to lose this player as he was never going to be as good as De Sanctis and we already have a good youthful keeper coming through the ranks in Lukasz Skorupski. So keeping the 29 year old seemed a silly idea.

I also only signed one player, a player I am sure all of you know… Carlos Fierro.

You’ll be surprised to hear that I have never signed Fierro once in my football manager life. So this is a new experience for me… Signed for £2.5 million initially, with £2.5 million over 24 months and with another £2 million in potentially clauses, I feel this could be a coup for us. The player has bags of potential and I will be playing him regularly this season to give him the best chance of becoming the greatest there ever was.

Another way he will become the best is Francesco Totti tutoring the young Mexican. You couldn’t ask for a better player to tutor really, could you?

To top it off, I have given him the number 9 shirt…

Champions League Draw

Our group for this years Champions League Group Stage has been drawn and it is by no means easy.

If I want to advance (which I almost certainly do want/have to) I will have to make the Stadio Olimpico a fortress. I need to win my home games to give me the best chance of advancing.

Opening Day AND IT’S LIVE!

Today Chievo Verona host AS Roma. This is Reeve’s managerial debut, so he will want to give the fans something to cherish.

New signing Carlos Fierro starts from the bench today! But it is a strong looking Roma side, can they deliver?

Kick off! The new Serie A season is underway. Roma kicking from right to left. 

2 minutes. Chance for Florenzi wasted! Totti slips a good ball into the Italian midfiedler but his shot is wastefully put wide of the right hand post, he was through one on one!

Early Florenzi chance, put wide.

3 minutes. Cracking save from Bardi in the Chievo goal! Destro this time tests him! Holebas crosses from the left hand side and Destro beats his marker to the ball before flicking the ball towards goal. The keeper tips is away though!

Destro’s effort well saved.

8 minutes. GOOOOALLLL. It was only a matter of time here! Totti with a beauty! The talisman hits a low effort from outside the box directly into the bottom right corner. Brilliant goal from the 37 year old, he’s certainly still got it.

GOAALLL TOTTI!!

16 minutes. First effort of the game for Chievo and it’s Birsa who fires harmlessly well over the bar. Roma playing very well here, no real threat from Chievo at all. Second goal much needed…

26 minutes. Davide Astori off (injured) replaced by Kostas Manolas. 

29 minutes. GOAL CHIEVO. A cross from the left hand side from Birsa is volleyed in at the near post by Alberto Paloschi. Poor defending from Roma and they have been pegged back here.

Goal Chievo

41 minutes. GOAL ROMA. THAT MAN AGAIN, TOTTI! Fantastic move from the Roma boys! Destro involved heavily in the build up as he holds up play well about 25 yards out, waiting for the run of Totti. The ageing forward ambles into space between the Chievo left back and left centre back before being found wonderfully by Destro. Totti then has so much time to pick his spot and that he does into the far corner. 2-1.

Great striker link up play sees Totti put Roma into the lead again.

Half time. Promising half for new manager Reeve.

54 minutes. Chance for Chievo. Birsa slides in Paloschi again and our centre back  Yanga-Mbiwa stops appealing for an offside that never came! Palochi’s shot is tipped wide by Skorupski.

Slack defending from Yanga-Mbiwa… Made up for by Skorupski though.

63 minutes. Enter Carlos Fierro. He replaces Destro here…

64 minutes. Florenzi with a real chance. Holebas plays the ball into him in a fantastic position just outside the 6 yard box, but the midfielder fires just wide with the goal gaping.

Florenzi has been wasteful today!

67 minutes. ALMOST FIERRO! The Mexican is laid off with an opportunity by his tutor Totti but the ‘keeper Bardi makes a heroic save low down to his left!

Very nearly a dream start for new signing Fierro

71 minutes. FIERRO!! 3-1 ROMA! Totti plays a beautiful pass into his strike partner and the wonderkid fires beyond Bardi. That could be a goal to note as the beginning of something special…

Quality finish from the youngster. The money pays off within 7 minutes!

74 minutes. Flying save from Bardi! Totti’s free kick forces the keeper to fly like an eagle across the goal. Nearly a hat trick!

78 minutes. FIERRO WITH ANOTHER! Maicon’s cross from deep is nodded beyond Bardi from Fierro. 4-1 and it is way too easy from the team in burgundy here. Fierro was surrounded by 4 defenders!!

What a talent.

Full time here. 4-1, the Totti and Fierro show is finished.

A truly fantastic and strong performance from us today. Hopefully there is plenty more of that to come!

Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed that!

Follow me on Twitter @FMVillasBoas

Long live Fierro!

New Blog Series, Poll Reveal & Introduction

Hello everyone,

It is Christmas and I arrive bearing news! News of a brand, spanking new blog series!

So, if you follow me on Twitter you would have known (maybe) that I put a poll up, presenting the teams I was considering. I left it up to you to decide my career path.

And the public has spoken… **Cue heartbeat sound and X-factor-esque reveal**

AS Roma is your choice!

AS Roma – Italian Job

If you have seen the film Italian Job (the 1969 one), you will know that Michael Caine says “You’re only supposed to blow the bloody doors off!” That is precisely what I want to do to Italian Football and European Football in general.

Even though Caine counts down from 5, I am looking to do it in less than 5 seasons!

Roma have quite an ageing squad with the average age being 27 years old, but the club is blessed with superb youth facilities so I will be looking to build youth and invest in quite young players where we need them!

Key Players

Pjanic is one of the most highly valued players in the squad and possess fantastic playmaking attributes. I will be looking to build the team around Miralem because of his amazing attributes.

Strootman, recently a target in real life for Manchester United, is another key player for us. He is the roughness in our midfield duo of Pjanic and Strootman. He has the perfect attributes for a ball-winning midfielder, however I may employ him differently because of his fantastic creative attributes too.

The man, the myth, the legend. Francesco Totti. There is no need to introduce this legendary Italian international. Just look at those attributes! He may be 37 years old, but my word he’s still got it!

There are many other players I would like to mention, for example 30 year old Daniele De Rossi, but I would like to get on to what I want to achieve in the opening season.

Expectations 

So the board want me to obtain Continental Qualification this season, but personally, I want to be challenging Juventus and others for top honours in Serie A. 

This season I also want to challenge on the continent, personally aiming for the Quarter Finals of the Champions League and the board believe similar.

With a 70,000 seater stadium to fill, success will be important if we want to want to receive the maximum gate receipts and make the most money!

The board consider the Italian Cup as “Not Important” but I believe any silverware is worthwhile. We will be going out to win this one!

Just because I have started this career doesn’t mean I have given up the Youth Challenge! I just wanted something that I can enjoy a lot more. As much as I enjoy the Youth Challenge, the season I am currently stuck into is very difficult to get motivated to play! I also wanted to do a career where I could buy players as I realised how much I missed it on the Youth Challenge!

Anyway, thank you for reading and I hope you are looking forward to it as much as I am!

Follow me on Twitter @FMVillasBoas

Lessons & London Derbies

So we are about to enter November 2015 and it is fair to say, it could be a very long season…

In the first 10 games we’ve played this season we have faced some of the best teams in the league, in some of these games we’ve played very well and have been unlucky. But in others we have been wasteful and awful defensively.

However, first I will talk about the newer loan signings we have made.

Thomas Carroll joins on loan from Tottenham until the end of the season. A useful player who has past in this division so I feel it is a good signing. He is a pretty well rounded player so should be a worthwhile signing.

Antonio Luna also joins on loan until the end of the season as a bit of backup for Rhoys Wiggins as we have recently sent younger left back Morgan Fox out on loan for first team appearances. Luna is from Villa and has also played a season in England’s top division previously, so I like to think this is another useful signing. He is another well rounded player with the right stats for the role.

New Contract

I was very pleased to see the board offer me a new contract and I gleefully signed and also managed to barter in upgrading the youth recruitment rating. This means the board have faith in me to do the job of keeping us in the Premier League this year (as do I obviously).

Fixtures

It has been a difficult start, including games against Everton, Manchester United and Arsenal. Our first month was very pleasing and we duly received awards for our players for their good work. It has been a great experience so far, with a lot of drama and pleasing football from us, however the most recent two games have been a little worrying. I know the game against Arsenal is a game we’d expect to lose but we were incredibly wasteful, throwing chances away like empty tin cans.

Drama late on at Goodison Park, with new loanee Tom Carroll bagging a late header to salvage us a draw at a Champions League qualifying Everton side.

United at home, on reflection seems like a game we should have won! Our defending in this game was fantastic, but once again our forward play was lacking and we failed to really test David De Gea. But this is a big point for us as it is against a team we were expecting to struggle against.

Our first defeat in the Premier League and it was against a side we were expecting it to happen against. But this wasn’t as easy as the scoreline suggests for the Gunners. We dominated the game, creating a good amount of chances, but Igor Vetokele had an off day (as has been the recurring theme this season). Arsenal created the more clear chances and duly took them. Our inexperience at this level maybe shone through for the first time this season.

Biggest lesson of our season came away at Newcastle. We must take our chances!! Look at how much possession and shots we had, and then see that we only had 2 shots on target. Pretty abysmal. Newcastle showed us that we cannot afford to do this often or we’ll get slaughtered. We also didn’t seem to close players down, with Newcastle constantly being allowed to get through our defence and have good efforts on goal. I am still blaming inexperience, but soon the blame will turn to me…

It is still early days though.

There is positives to take out of the first 10 games of the season, including Young Player of the Month Award for Jordan Cousins, and Player of the Month for Gueïda Fofana. Promising that Cousins got this award because he has never played at this high-a-level.

Next though, we have two London Derbies, Chelsea at Home and Crystal Palace away. Two big games, the first to see how we fair against another one of the “big boys” and the later to get the fans happy as it is a South London Derby. Come on boys!

Charlton vs Chelsea AND IT’S LIVE!

Today we face a strong Chelsea side who sit 2nd in the league. I have analysed them and their stats for the last real life 20 minutes, so let us hope that that pays off!

We have decided to match their formation. After studying the team report I have decided to employ this. Let’s go!!

The Valley is full to the rafters here! Let’s give the fans something to cheer for!!

Kick Off! Charlton get us underway here and are kicking from right to left. A roar from the home faithful greets the referees whistle and the ball is rolling on this London Derby.

13 minutes. Diego Costa has his first effort of the game and it flies harmlessly wide. Too easy for Chelsea to build the play up though.

16 minutes. Oscar forces Henderson into his first save of the game with a long range effort. The newly capped Irish international tips the ball over for a Blues corner.

33 minutes. Moussa’s shot is blocked. Neat build up play from the Addicks results in the ball breaking to the playmaker, but is effort is blocked by Bartra. The resulting corner doesn’t produce anything.

35 minutes. OFF THE LINE! Hazard whips in a near post corner that is flicked on by Bartra, but Chris Solly is in the right place at the right time to clear off the line at the far post. Closest we’ve come to a goal here!

Half time. Chelsea well on top, but nothing too dangerous threatening the Charlton goal so far.

60 minutes. HUGE CHANCE FOR CHARLTON. Good build up play, patience and composure sees a link up between Moussa, Dirar and Vetokele. The striker sees himself one on one before putting his effort straight into the arms of Courtois. You won’t get many more clean than that. Wasted.

65 minutes. VETOKELE IS RUBBISH! He is put through one on one with all the time in the world after a defensive mistake from Terry. The Angolan sees his effort saved by the feet of Courtois when the striker had a lot of time to assess where to place the ball. What a chance. We may regret this…

67 minutes. We are having a right go here! Moussa finds space between the Chelsea midfield and defence and plays the ball into Gudmundsson who has found space. The Icelandic international hits a first time left footed rocket from outside the box into the side netting. Courtois had it covered, but good to see us trying!

74 minutes. GOAL CHELSEA. There you go. What did I say? Loic Remy is not shut down in the box and when players with his quality are given time in the box they will punish you. The Frenchman finds the bottom corner. 1-0 to the West Londoners.

75 minutes. Charlton almost hit back instantly! Dirar finds a bit of space in the box and as he is about to pull the trigger is tackled. COME ON!!

86 minutes. GOAL CHELSEA. Devastating counter attack. A cross from Schurrle is met by Remy who’s initial shot is saved, but is allowed a second bite of the cherry to finish the move and probably the game here.

Full Time. Chelsea win the game 2-0. The stats will show it was deserved, but we had our chances and just were wasteful again! Igor Vetokele is the criminal here.

Disappointing. But onto the South London Derby.

This game is potentially more important because of the effect it will have on the fans and morale of the team as there is nothing like beating your rivals! Let’s go to Selhurst Park!

Crystal Palace vs Charlton Athletic in the South London Derby, and it’s LIVE on Monday Night Football!

(Being a Charlton fan, I know how much this means to the fans. So this is a must win!)

INJURY NEWS! Gomez is OUT. Devastating news for Charlton as one of their best performers is out of the South London Derby! Youngster Elan Assiana could start in place of the injured Gomez.

Team News

Big news for Charlton as Vetokele is moved out wide and Reza Ghoochannejhad leads the line.

Let’s end this 3 match run of losing. Come on!

Kick off. Palace get us underway!

12 minutes. GOAL FOR PALACE. Marko Pjaca scores. A corner was swung in and the initial header hit the post before Pjaca knocked the ball beyond Henderson. Worst possible start for Charlton.

15 minutes. GOOOOOAAAAALLLLL REZA (Ghoochannejhad) EQUALISES!! CHARLTON HIT BACK. Well worked from Charlton and they exploit the space that was left for Dirar on the right. He found himself with space in the box, his shot was tipped onto the underside of the bar and Reza gobbled up the rebound to put Charlton back on terms!! 1-1.

17 minutes. GOAL FOR PALACE. Dwight Gayle. What a great game here. Pjaca runs at the Charlton defence before laying off to Gayle who’s shot is tipped on the post by Henderson but the ‘keeper doesn’t get enough on it to divert the ball away from goal and it goes in. 2-1 to the hosts.

18 minutes. UNBELIEVABLE!!! GOOOOAAAALLL FOR CHARLTON!! Reza’s initial long range, curling effort hit the post before hitting the back of Boruc in the Palace goal and rolling over the line!! What a game we have here!!

26 minutes. Palace chance. Michael Morrison steps up to make a challenge leaving space behind him, Palace quickly work it wide before setting Gayle in. But the striker’s shot is not troubling for Henderson. Remains 2-2 here.

43 minutes. GOOOOAAALALALALA!!!!! REZA WHAT A PERFORMANCE!! Amazing team selection by the manager (haha). Moussa finds space between the Palace lines and plays into Dirar who slides in Reza who makes a wonderful run before he puts the ball past Boruc and Charlton lead! 3-2!

44 minutes. Charlton are sensing blood here! A fluid counter attacking move from the Addicks involving 5 different players results in Luna crossing for Vetokele who’s shot is blocked. Palace well in need of half time here!

Half time at Selhurst Park. What a game of football we have had so far!

50 minutes. GOAL FOR PALACE. PJACA AGAIN! 3-3! Reza is dispossessed on half way and his team is caught all out of position. Gayle send the ball wide to Monreal, who’s deep cross is met by unmarked Pjaca, and the winger volleys past Henderson. All level!

56 minutes. PALACE ARE AHEAD. THIS IS A CLASSIC HERE. Another deep cross is not dealt with by Charlton and Dwight Gayle heads Palace into the lead.

58 minutes. Palace are all over Charlton here. Gayle is given huge amounts of time in the box but wastefully hits over the bar when well placed. What a chance for Palace, they may regret that!

65 minutes. Gayle bursts the offside trap and Henderson dives to the rescue to keep Charlton in the game here.

77 minutes. CONTROVERSY! The referee awards Palace a penalty here. Fofana (now playing at centre back due to Morrison’s poor performance) is judged to have fouled Gayle off the ball and the referee points to the spot.

Pjaca steps up for his hat trick…

HENDERSON SAVES!!!! PJACA PUT IT STRAIGHT AT HIM! CHARLTON ARE STILL IN THIS!

82 minutes. CHARLTON HIT THE POST. Assiana fires the ball onto the post after  a corner bundles around the box. Scenes here. Palace instantly break and Williams is through, but Luna makes a goal saving tackle to deny the Welshman.

Full time. Crystal Palace 4-3 Charlton. 

Poor second half performance from the Addicks provides priceless victory for the Eagles. 

Devastated for the fans and the players, they gave everything out there, but defensive lapses at important times in the second half left us short of a much needed victory. Dwight Gayle was key for them and tore our defence apart.

Going by the stats Palace did deserve the victory, but its horrible losing to rivals.

Well that is that. Devastated.

Thank you for reading. We need to pick up for next time, we will bounce back.

Follow me on Twitter @FMVillasBoas

2015/16 Preview and Opening Day vs Stoke

Today is the day that Charlton embark on their first challenge in the promised land, and Stoke City are their opponents.

However, before we get stuck into this game, let me review our summer. It has been uneventful, which in a way is a very good thing. We have seen a few faces leave, two join on loan (as cover) and multiple new faces that have added to the backroom staff.

Outs

Simon Church and Tal Ben Haim have been the the only two players to exit the club this summer as thier contracts expired. I wasn’t too unhappy to lose Church as he had rarely featured in our squad in the Championship so I didn’t see a future for him at The Valley in the Premier League.

On the other hand, I was upset to lose ‘Big Tal’. The Israeli international had been a fantastic tutor to Elan Assiana and a great cover for when Joe Gomez or Morrison were missing from the first team. But, with first team appearances not constant, Tal wasn’t willing to enter contract negotiations and ended his year stay at the Valley.

All the best to both of them!

Ins

So as mentioned earlier, I have made two loan signings as cover for the first team.

The first Gueïda Fofana, a versatile central midfielder who can drop into the defensive midfield position when needed. He joins from Lyon, but barely featured for the french side last season. 

The second Nabil Dirar, a 29 year old right winger who joins from AS Monaco until the end of the season on loan. Another player who rarely featured in Ligue 1 last season. 

I am looking to bring in one more player on loan before the end of the window.

We have had a lot of players return from loans from last year, including Reza Ghoochannejhad and Piotr Parzyszek who are both strikers that could feature this year. The later is a youthful player so I am definitely looking give him a chance this year.

We have recently brought in a new Youth Development, Thomas Tuchel.This addition should help us bring in some quality youth players in the intakes and also, with Tuchel having such good attributes we should be able to develop youth well too.

Other additions to the backroom staff include René Meulensteen, David Destorme, among others. These coaches have increased our star rating in the training section to 4 and a half star. This will help develop players further, therefore it is a very positive thing!

Opening Day

So we have arrived here at the Valley after quite a mixed pre-season. We played some tough teams including PSG, so it prepared us for the Premier League. Now, I feel we may be ready.

Stoke have strengthened their side well over summer. Signing Micheal Carrick (Free), Emre Can (Loan), Craig Dawson from West Brom (£350k) and most notably striker, Youssef El Arabi from Granada (£3.9 million).

This could be a tough first game, but we must push home our home advantage. This season our home form is going to be key if we are to avoid being relegated.

We line up today in our fairly familiar formation, 3-5-2. We are looking to pack the midfield and be quick on the counter attack, using the ball well.

Here is how both sides line up today… Surprisingly, no El Arabi for Stoke!

Kick off! The 2015/16 campaign is underway! Charlton get us underway, kicking from left to right.

5 minutes. Bit of space for Gudmundsson to run into in front of the Stoke back four, before he finds Tucudean, whos shot is blocked. Good early signs for Charlton!

20 minutes. Charlton create another chance after probing the ball around well to create a bit of space for Gudmundsson to have a strike on the edge of the box, but his shot flies harmlessly over.

Half time at The Valley. 0-0. Fairly uneventful first half, but Charlton just about on top, time to press home that advantage!

53 minutes. Assiadi goes close! The tricky Stoke winger powers a free kick just wide of Stephen Henderson’s left hand post. Close.

59 minutes. HUGE CHANCE FOR CHARLTON. Direct ball down the right from Morrison sets Vetokele away with a chance to cross, and he delivers a ball straight on to the head of George Tucudean who hits the cross bar with the goal gaping.

90+3 minutes. Final chance goes begging for Charlton. A cross from subsitute Karlan Ahearne-Grant is cleared to the edge of the box. New loan signing Fofana sees his name in the headlines and volleys the ball first time high and wide. Surely that is it now!

Full Time, Charlton 0-0 Stoke City. A good solid performance from Charlton, however they lacked the finishing touch that had served them so well in the Championship last season. Promising signs though!

Our finishing really letting us down. But the defending on our part is a huge positive!

So there we have it. All that build up and a pretty boring 0-0 draw! Pleasing in many ways though.

Plenty to build on.

Thank you for reading, stay tuned for the next update that will be fairly soon!

Follow me on Twitter @FMVillasBoas

End of Season Review 2014/15 – Charlton Athletic

If you read my last blog (and if you haven’t I would suggest you do) then you would have known that our season was hugely successful and resulted in us gaining promotion to the ‘Holy Grail’ of English football as Champions of the second tier.

Final Standings and Stats

In review the Championship season was as lively and up and down as ever, although I have seen it far more exciting in the past. It’s one of the most competitive leagues in the world, in my opinion, as any team could beat the other (unless you are Rotherham it seems).

There were some very disappointing performers in the league this season, this included Fulham and Wigan who were predicted 3rd and 4th respectively. But there were over performers too (mainly us, but I shan’t talk us up too much! Haha) including Wolves, who lost in the Play Off Final, and Brentford, who were predicted 19th initially.

This was a very pleasing stat that I realised only when I received the “Iron Curtain” achievement on Steam. I was very happy to see this, especially when put into context that Joe Gomez, Chris Solly and Elan Assiana have been featuring a lot during the season.

This is one of the aims from the tactics I made, to control possession and dictate play. I am a firm believer in the saying – “as long as we have the ball, they cannot score” – so it is good to see us having the highest average possession stat.

Player Stats

A proud player stat to behold. One of the most promising players, that I will not stop banging on about, Joe Gomez grabs 3rd highest Average Rating in the league. What a performer, what a talent.

This is another promising stat to hang on to. Our main front man, although slumping at the end of the season, still managed to grab 21 goals. If he hadn’t lost all of his form towards the end of the season (scoring just 2 goals in the last 8 games) he could have been right up there with the tough to beat Britt Assombalonga.

This is the last stat I am going to talk through and it also a great one to notice. 2 players in the top 4 pass completion rates in the league. Although Yoni Buyens is only in on loan, I may considering making an offer to bring him in on loan for next season as cover. However, the better one of the two is definitely Jordan Cousins who played 45 times over the course of the season and still maintained an 87% pass completion rate. Amazing stuff from a 21 year old, if you ask me.

Awards

I was proud to see Gomez and Wiggins make it into the Championship Team of the Year, with Vetokele and Buyens filling the bench.

A nice award for myself as well…

My personal Charlton player of the season is…

You guessed it, Joe Gomez despite his horrendous disciplinary record I have chosen him as my player of the season because of his outstanding consistency and ability to step up to play at Championship level. Now he is ready for the Premier League.

Planning Ahead of Next Season

So the next season is going to be incredibly tough, there is no point in me dressing it up as something else. But if I can win the championship with this side, surely we can do mildly well in the top division.

When the season came to a close I received this message, which I was delighted about as I didn’t even have to ask! That is also a lot of money going into the construction of some quality facilities so let us hope that it is going to do us some good in the seasons after its completion.

The board have also whetted our appetite with £16 Million to spend… Ha! Had you fooled didn’t I?! How frustrating that I cannot even spend any of this, however I am not too fussed because I have faith in what I have. I would’ve, however, liked it if the board didn’t give me as much money to spend and invested more into the youth system. Then again, how do the board know I am not going to buy anyone at all?

I did however milk this out of the board, which is a definite positive. Lots of development at the club over summer.

I will giving another update a few weeks into the next season.

But for now, I hope you’ve enjoyed the small read. And I would just like to say it is good to be writing frequently and I’d like to thank you all for the shares and general good comments I have received since starting this blog. I am loving the challenge and love seeing the blog grow with views, so thank you very much for that!

Thanks!

Follow me on Twitter @FMVillasBoas

News, Knee Slides and all that

**BREAKING NEWS**

Hello, and welcome to the 6 o’clock news.

Today, Charlton Athletic have been promoted as Champions of the second tier of English football.

The fans are said to be absolutely ecstatic with the ‘unexpected promotion’, whereas gaffer Alex Reeve modestly said, “I’m just here doing what the people want, and what the people want is success.”

Reeve was mobbed by jubilant fans at the final whistle and was held aloft by the players who had played so well under his reign.

**NEWS OVER**

So there you go. The curtain comes down on an unbelievable first season at Charlton in the youth challenge. Where do I begin?

Table

There we are at the top. After being predicted to finish 20th in August, we find ourselves top and promoted come the end of the season in May. An unreal turn around without even changing the squad one bit.

Fixtures

Here are the fixtures we’ve played since the last update (I have missed out the final game of the season against Bournemouth for a reason, you will see later). We had a brilliant run of form through until April where I think that the thought of promotion was really starting to sink in. We started throwing away games, not taking chances and being generally stupid (tackling and shooting). For example, in both the 1-0 defeats the Sheffield Wednesday and Bolton Wanderers we dominated, but conceded late on to lose the game and almost ruin our chances of winning the league.

Key Games

During this period we scraped through games, winning in anyway possible, whether it was with beautiful, flowing passing moves or ugly bundles over the line.

Charlton 1-2 Nottingham Forest

At the time this was a clash between top (us) and second (them). This proved to be one of the many frustrating games we played towards the end of the season. We created so many opportunities but we were hugely wasteful. We went 2-0 down through two set pieces after dominating. When we did eventually get a goal back (own goal from Jamaal Lascelles) I really thought we would nick a draw, but alas.

Millwall 1-2 Charlton

A very similar game to the Forest one. However, in the final 10 minutes we clicked. We went down through a cheap headed goal from Millwall midfielder Ángel and then wasted chance after chance. Then, in front of our rivals’ home faithful, we turned the screw and went all out attack with Frédéric Bulot finishing brilliantly from a break away and then George Tucudean sliding in from a Bulot cross to win the South London Derby in added time. (A real moment that I’ll always treasure as I do support Charlton).

Bolton 1-0 Charlton

No words.

I lied. This, again, was hugely frustrating and boring. We were camped in their half all game but, not the first time I’ve said this, we couldn’t “finish our dinner”. Even when Bolton went down to 10 men we couldn’t break through, which is either a credit to Bolton’s defending or (more likely) put down to our horrendous finishing. Oh, and to top it all off, Stuart Holden popped up with the Trotter’s only attack of the game in the 90th minute to hand us our second 1-0 away defeat in a row. This was a choking stage, when it finally appeared to me that we weren’t even going to make it to automatic promotion. A change was required, a tactical change.

For the next little bit I am going to do it differently, because of the importance of the game against Bournemouth.

Charlton vs Bournemouth (FINAL DAY)

We went into the final game of the season three points clear of Norwich, meaning a point was all we needed to lift the Championship title. Bournemouth arrived at the Valley on the back of 4 wins out the last 5. We needed to be at our best to complete the job.

We lined up in our recently formed tactic, an attacking 3-5-2, directly out of the notebook of Louis Van Gaal himself. We are playing Gudmundsson in the Central Winger role. You may also notice a relatively unknown name at the back, Elan Assiana, who has been brought into the senior squad after impressing in the the U18s and has proved his worth so far.

Kick Off

The game started at an electrifying pace, with us setting the early markers having a few efforts on goal. Nothing too interesting to note though…

23 Minutes in… CHRIS SOLLY SCORES FOR CHARLTON 1-0!! A throw in down the left from Wiggins finds George Tucudean who reaches the byline before turning and crossing for the marauding wing-back Chris Solly to nod in at the far post.

27 Minutes in… IGORRRRRR VETOKELE! 2-0! Charlton are playing like Champions here! Gudmundsson drives at the Bournemouth defence before finding Tucudean in space. The big target man plays a perfect pass into the feet of Igor Vetokele who hops, skips and jumps over a reckless slide tackle before finding the net past a hapless Cherries keeper Lee Camp.

32 minutes played… CHARLTON ARE SENSING BLOOD HERE! 3-0. Gudmundsson presses high up the pitch and wins the ball back from Yann Kermorgant, but his pass is poor and goes straight to Bournemouth defender Simon Francis. Hang on! Francis leaves it for Camp but the keeper hasn’t come to get it! Vetokele races in and rounds the stranded keeper to put Charlton 3 goals to the good. The Valley is bouncing!

42 minutes played. Game on? 3-1. Tokelo Rantie bursts the Charlton offside trap before finishing unchallenged past Henderson in the Addicks goal. Maybe a life line for the Cherries?

43 minutes in. Certainly a life line!! 3-2! Heavy Bournemouth pressure results in a string of corners. Matt Ritchie whips in a low, dangerous cross to the near post from the left hand side, Marc Pugh leaves his marker for dead and side foots beyond a static Henderson. Charlton nerves build…

45+1 minutes played… Unbelievably, it is 3-3. A Simon Francis daisy cutter cross from the right isn’t dealt with and an onrushing Ryan Fraser hits a beauty with his left foot from 20 yards into the bottom left. The home fans are stunned. The away fans are in raptures.

It’s only half time here. Can the usual final day drama get any more dramatic?!

Second Half underway. Almost instantly after Charlton took the kick off, Andrew Surman tore into Tucudean, picking up a yellow card.

Nerves are building here as Bournemouth mount the pressure on the Charlton goal. News also filters through that Norwich have scored and lead 1-0 at home to Fulham. This means if Charlton concede they’ll drop to second.

67th minute… Rantie breaks through on goal and puts the ball wide. What a chance for Bournemouth. A stunned silence pours into the Valley. Can they do it?

90+1 Minutes in… The Addicks are nearly there. They have the ball in the corner. 3 minutes have been added. Substitute Johnnie Jackson turns brilliantly and heads into the box, but is fouled by Andrew Surman! The referee points to the spot and pulls out a red card for the devastated Surman. Can skipper Johnnie Jackson write his name in Charlton folk law and secure Charlton the Championship?

OFCOURSE HE CAN!! The experienced man was cool as a cucumber sending the keeper the wrong way and knee sliding in front of his adoring fans.

Here’s Johnnie Jackson doing exactly that in real life.

FULL TIME! CHARLTON 4-3 BOURNEMOUTH! Charlton are winners of the Championship. Manager Reeve is held aloft and the fans chant his name. He’s done the unthinkable. What is next for the kids of South London? 

Well there we go. I hope you enjoyed that, because I certainly did.

An end of season review will be posted soon once the season is “ended” I suppose.

I very much hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I have enjoyed playing and writing it!

Follow me on Twitter @FMVillasBoas

You Can Do Something With Kids!

Hi everyone, it has been a while. But today, the youth challenge returns. It does not only just ‘return’, it comes flying into this blog with the flying colours. The colours of Red and White, the red and white of Charlton.

By the sounds of that you are probably thinking I have gone mad or something similar, but you’ll think same when you see the league table…

The kids of Charlton are sat firmly in the play offs, 3 points off top, with only 15 games to play. Do I even dare think about promotion?!

Fixtures

I am absolutely ecstatic with our form. I spent a lot of time watching full games so that I could develop tactics. I soon settled on a certain tactic (I’ll get on to it later) and it has me plenty to look forward to as we are playing fantastic football with the potential to still perform better. Just losing 3 games in this 4 months in the league is definitely something to be very proud about.

Key Games

Reading 0-4 Charlton

This was the first game where I experimented with this tactic. Although the possession stats may not be in our favour, it is understandable as I brought the tactic in only a few days previous to the game. I was extremely happy with the amount of chances we had created and the lack of chances that Reading managed to create, not even having a single shot!

Charlton 3-1 Millwall

Although we may not have created as many clear-cut chances as we had in the previous games, a win over Millwall is a win over Millwall at the end of the day. And as a Charlton fan these wins do not come round very often, so the fans were jubilant none the less and as was I. We had shots and had the possession that we had been aspiring to obtain.

Blackburn 2-1 Charlton

This was most disappointing game of that run of games. We were on top for most of the game yet couldn’t stick the ball in the net and we have a slight inability to not see out games, as we conceded in the last minute to lose this one. It was disappointing, however I guess we are having shots and keeping the ball fairly well. Still a long way to go with the team at this point.

Charlton 2-1 Norwich

This was one of the most satisfying victories, against what was a top of the league Norwich side. We went one goal down and then one change, bringing on youngster Callum Harriott, saw the tides change. A double from the left winger gave us a 2-1 win. The amount chances we created in this game is pleasing and shows the fight and passion our side has to get the result from an inform, top of the league side.

Tactics

As I mentioned earlier, I have fiddled with the tactics and have found a formula that fits the players that I have. It is also a joy to watch with some beautiful one touch football with some fine goals.

You may be thinking -“That’s Tiki-Taka, mate”- and yes that is my inspiration, but it is the formula that I have formed through watching full matches. I’m playing a very attacking orientated side with no defensively set midfielders, although I am only playing one attacking duty and that is in the advanced playmaker role. This lack of defensive duties led me to instructing a “much higher defensive line” so that we press the opposition and catch the opposition strikers offside, this aim of compressing play has worked brilliantly for us. All-out-attack seems to be the way forward (pardon the pun) in FM this year.

We have a false nine leading the line for us, which helps our passing style of play as he drops into the gap between the oppositions midfield and defence producing more passing lanes and angles. At first with the tactic I noticed the striker wasn’t having enough shots, meaning us as a team were not testing the opposition goal keeper enough times, therefore I decided to give him the player instruction to shoot more often and this has worked well ever since.

The Players

The development of the players has been very positive, this can easily be seen through the movement up the table. Here are the stats…

Recently, I have started giving young Rhys Browne a blooding so that he begins to get some experience. He is a central midfielder who looks like he could offer something in the near future.

The only worry about Joe Gomez is his disciplinary record. He likes his card Gomez does, and it’s something that is restricting him from getting consistent first team opportunities as he is in and out of the team because of suspension.

However all in all, it looks very rosy on the Youth Challenge so far. I am a little worried that if I do get promoted, how I am going to deal with not being able to sign anyone. But I guess we will see, that is all part of the challenge

Follow me on twitter @FMVillasBoas