As the league gets ready to start, I ponder about my team. I have been able to get very good loans and can spend some money in players, but the question is what kind of players do I need? The assistant coaches want more defenders, but I am not so sure I need them. My defense has played solidly enough and I have spent a lot of energy making them adapt to each other. On my attack I have loaned players in one striker and both winger positions, so replacing them is going to be difficult and expensive.
I realize that if I finally get the AMC that I would like, it'd force me to put my creative midfielder in a more defensive role, put my loaned DMC on the bench and have a very, very offensive team that is much weaker in defense. As I have the team now, I play with an attacking attitude from a defensive configuration and I like how my team makes fast attacks. This spirit would be lost by getting an AMC on the field, even if he's very good. And he's not going to be very good, not with this amount of money.
So the changes start to become more difficult to do without losing something. Have I created a one trick dog?
In any case, I take a look at the market for defenders. If there is a good deal, I'll maybe be able to have better replacements. Meanwhile, my rivals have hired many players and are paying salaries in the three hundreds per week. Also, they are hiring full time players. I will fall behind soon as they train with a full schedule.
Queen's Park first match is against Annan, a weaker team than mine but I play away, and this makes me nervous. All my preseason has taken place in Hampden Park, so I have no idea about the performance of my team away from home. Also, I do not know if I should contain Annan or attack, as I have no idea how good they are.
I choose to go into a cautious attack. I tweak a little the second striker's role and tell him to stop falling to the sides to leave the area empty of defenders. Everyone is using a zonal defense, so this strategy is not working. Instead, I tell him to play in the middle and try to catch passes from the midfielders. I am trusting they'll play as always a 4-4-2, so that the two midfielders will be a little bit ahead of my striker when he receives the ball. If the opponent played a diamond, this system would be stupid, I would be putting my attacker in the same spot as the opponent's defensive midfielder.
But this is Scotland, a land of Celts with long beards who dress with girls clothing. There is no refinement in this league, no machiavellian subtilities. I am sure they will all play a 4-4-2.
And as it turns out, Annan does play a 4-4-2.
They also play a bad game. They fight for the ball but they do not know what to do with it. They seem unable to mount a serious attack on my goalkeeper and I enjoy having the ball more. At half time we are tied 0-0 but I am pushing and our morale is good.
I apply the lessons learnt in the preseason and talk only sweet words to my boys. They are, for the most part, in good morale, excepting one of my central defenders, who seems angry about something.
In minute 10 of the second half, my team does exactly what I want them to do. I steal a ball in the midfield, my lone MC advances boldy with the ball in control and, as both midfielders advance on him to beat the life out of him, they leave a big space behind them. One of my strikers falls to the side and a central defender follows him some metres, leaving a space in the middle. The ball goes in that hole, and behind it appears my second striker following his new instructions, starting from the right position and facing the goal. 0-1 and Queen's Park season starts well.
I win the game 0-2, with both goals coming from the same transition attacks, and I am so happy that I start to think where I will display my upcoming Champions League Cup.
As the results pour in, there are some surprises. Elgin, a very average team, has beat Livingstone 3-1 and is leading. Montrose has won and East Stirlingshire has tied.
I have to play my next match against Elgin at their home...
But before that comes the match that I did not want to play, Challengers Cup against Patrick Thisle, a first division team that is also my historic enemy.
My team is tired, I do not want to win this Cup, I do not care about the derby and I just want to lose by the minimum possible, so my actions are quite obvious.
In comes the reserve team, all fired up because they get a chance to play. I put them in defense, ask for some counterattack and let the game play itself. I am sticking to my priorities, at the beggining of the season I set my targets and I am not going to change now.
I lose 0-1 after missing a big, big chance by my soon to be unemployed 4th best striker.
So good, I am out of the Challenger's Cup, objective achieved and another thing that I can forget about.
East Stirlingshire on the other hand, decides to play a mixed tactic against his own first division rival. He's able to keep his own defense and goes into overtime and into penalties. East Stirlingshire wins and goes through to the third round, the coach is ecstatic...
I very much doubt that he should. What he's doing is playing a tighter calendar and, to keep his fitness up, he's very aggressively giving rest days to his players. That way, they get back in shape faster, but it actually negates the advantages of having full timers, because they do not train.
I let him go deeper into the mistake, gloat about his victory and I concentrate on my objective, the league.
We'll see who laughs last.
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