Hi there!
Welcome back to what I hope has been an eagerly anticipated 4th post of my Rangers adventure. I’ve finally decided on how I’ll post my season and this is how it’ll go:
Pre-Season/August-November/November & December/January + Transfers/February & March/April & May…
So, since my last post was Pre-Season, it’s time to move onto August-November. Before we start I’ll warn you that this is going to be quite a long post so I’ll try to keep the text to a minimum. So without further ado, here’s how Rangers have done so far:
August Results
We started the season against Dundee Utd and Hearts, arguably the 3rd and 4th best teams in the league but Dundee put up much more of a fight than Hearts did. Dundee in fact gave me quite a scare when David Goodwillie (who else) slotted home to give them the lead. We did equalize before half time but 1-1 wasn’t the result I wanted. In all fairness my team did rally and grab the win through on loan Vladimir Weiss. Not as emphatic as I’d hoped but 3 points is 3 points!
Due to my formation (which I’ll reveal later) we make a lot of chances and that couples with the sheer quality we have over the rest of the league, with the exception of Celtic and Dundee Utd seems to make for a very attacking performance by my team each game. But Hearts weren’t the only team to suffer at our hands…
4-0 up by 20 minutes, 5-0 up by half time. Kilmarnock had just better think themselves lucky that my team became complacent in the 2nd half and didn’t come back out aiming for double figures. This was a great attacking display which really boosted our goal difference which may be key come the seasons end.
September Results
We appeared on TV quite a few times this month, and got humiliated twice in the Champions League. This month made it clear how much this team is actually in limbo. Again we continued to be rampant in the SPL but then we come up against our opponents in Group B, and they’re not easy, we got FC Twente, Valencia, and Manchester United! We were seeded 3rd so despite having a weaker team than them, FC Twente completed the group of death from the 4th pot. Here’s how things went against the Dutch Champions and Valencia…
The annoying thing is that we weren’t even outplayed! FC Twente had more shots but weren’t better than us and we dominated Valencia yet got beat 3-0 due to terrible finishing. The month wasn’t all bad though as we continued our unbeaten SPL start and progressed in the League Cup past Arbroath.
October Results
This was by far our most difficult month fixture-wise and it proved difficult on the pitch too. The Hibernian draw meant that Celtic drew level on points with us in the SPL and since we haven’t played each other yet it goes on goal difference, and they’re miles behind us. St. Johnstone and Aberdeen proved easy to beat in the SPL but then we played Motherwell who came back from 2-0 down to equalize before substitutes Fleck and Davis finished them off. Elsewhere we played Man Utd in the Champions League and Celtic in the League Cup quarter final…
Again we had more possession but obviously our attacking players aren’t good enough for this level since yet again we failed to create and when we did nobody could finish the chance off. I’m going to need to think carefully about my tactics in next years competition as obviously the tactics I’ve got don’t work.
League Cup Qtr Final
I know a lot of people would be eager to see how we did against Celtic the first time we met, so there it is. We won but I’m not reading anything into it, they clearly have a much better team man for man plus a much larger team (I have 5 players in my reserves, that’s how big our team is). This was such a close game that was won by a real poachers effort by El-Hadji Diouf so I was pleased. This puts us through to the semi-final where we’ll play…
…Hibernian. They stood in our way before but surely this time we’ll win and I think this competition should really be ours and I’d love Raith to beat Hearts just to make the final that little bit easier.
Well that’s how the season has gone so far, good domestic form and woeful European form, worse than expected and I’ll be extremely lucky to grab a point never mind 3rd place but I won’t dwell on it, if anything it’ll make the season much easier for me.
This screenshot will be on each of my posts and as you can see it’s not looking too bad at the moment. It is a little worrying however that my 2 best performers are loaned in but Bartley is in the last year of his contract so hopefully I can sign him on a free next season. Weiss is amazing due to his technical ability and pace while Lafferty and Naismith have been scoring for fun. Wydle hasn’t impressed but he’s young and I’ll look to loan him out at some point while Jelavic will be sold since he doesn’t fit my tactic. Speaking of tactics I’m sure you want to see the tactic that I play so here it is:
Rangers 4-3-3
It is ambitious but it gets results. I also have a 4-4-2 but I rarely use it, it’s there because it’s always a good idea in my opinion to have a 4-4-2 as one of your tactics. This formation seems to work in the Champions League despite the results, it keeps possession and it will work if I get bring in some players who can score goals at Champions League level.
What a surprise, Rangers and Celtic are 1st and 2nd! I would have been top by 2 points had it not been for that 0-0 draw with Hibs but I’m still 1st and that’s good enough for me. If we carry on playing this way it can surely only be a matter of time until we score our way to the title.
As for the Champions League group that’s a different story. We’ve suffered at the hands of Europe’s elite and it looks like we’ll be out without a single point under our belts. I have however completed the board expectation though since they only wanted me to qualify for the group stages, which was already done through winning the league last season. I also thought some people would like to see how Celtic are doing too so here you are:
Celtic got Real Madrid and Inter Milan but also Salzburg who they got their point from. Looks like it’s not going to be a good year for Scotland in European competitions but it’s not like we were handed easy groups.
Finally onto what may be the most important part of my time at Rangers, finances, and it’s good news!
The club made a loss for the first time under my reign last month but there’s still plenty of cash in the bank thanks to the prize money for reaching the group stages of the Champions League. The finance even improved enough for me to ask or more wage budget and get my request accepted by the board!
£23K extra wage budget should allow some manoeuvrability in the winter transfer market even it may be the loan market. In case you were wondering the £279K transfer budget is my cut from the Papac deal but I may even chance my hand at getting some transfer budget from the board in January.
Well that’s all for now! I know this post was a little long but hopefully it was worth it!
Thanks for reading!
Darren Smith
5 августа, 2011 at 22:25
Well a tough start in Europe but that is what you should expect, I reckon those results will improve over time and this year should be used to build on the big stage. Having said that you’re doing excellently well in the league and achieved a massive win over Celtic. Hopefully the league title will return and you can continue building. Good luck mate.
Dan
6 августа, 2011 at 15:16
Hi Darren,
I’m treating the Champions League as a learning curve for this season and maybe next since I want to establish total domestic dominance before looking abroad and that may take 2-3 years to create a gap between us and Celtic. Saying that I was impressed with our performance against them in the League Cup and hopefully the same will happen in the SPL.
Nicholas Phipps
5 августа, 2011 at 23:24
You’re doing very well in the league and you can’t read too much into the Champions League results, it just shows how poor the standard of football in Scotland has recently been. I’ve never seen the tactic you’re using before but it seems to be working well. Good luck for the rest of the season and looking forward to the next update :D
Dan
6 августа, 2011 at 15:13
Hey Nicholas,
I know what you mean about not reading too much into the Champions League form and I’m trying not too although it’s really depressing to watch your team get beaten 3-0 by Valencia for example after controlling the game. As for the tactic I tried to create something unique that nobody had seen before and thankfully it’s working. It overwhelms the weaker opposition in the SPL and would work in Europe if I had stronger goalscorers.
Sears
6 августа, 2011 at 01:42
I’m intrigued by your tactic, especially the two strikers playing in wide positions. I assume their roles are set to ‘inside forward’? Anyhow, great start in the SPL, shame your CL campaign isn’t as good. Good luck!
Dan
6 августа, 2011 at 15:08
Hey Sears,
I’ve developed a strange role for my wingers through my NUFC game on FMCrowd and I’m using it here too. The wide players are set to ‘wingers’ but their wide play is set to ‘cut inside’ plus I’ve given them all the roles of an inside forward crossed with a winger, lots of crossing and through balls with permission to leave their position and sometimes they swap sides too, it makes them really difficult to mark.
Sibo
6 августа, 2011 at 06:26
Shame about the CL form, but you are tearing it up in the league so well done for that! :D
Good luck in the cup, I’ll keep my fingers crossed that Raith beat Hearts for you! :D
P.S. Come January I expect to see Milevskyi on that team sheet! :D ;-)
Dan
6 августа, 2011 at 15:04
Hi Sibo,
I’m just going to try and forget about the CL form to be honest, it’s a lost cause so there’s no point dwelling on it, besides the SPL table makes much nicer reading!
Hopefully Raith will beat Hearts but I’ve got to get past Hibs first who I won’t underestimate again! As for Milevskyi I promise I’m gonna try to loan him at least in January, he will be a Rangers player at some point! :)
Kevin
6 августа, 2011 at 09:38
Hi Dan
Domestically you are doing well and that’s to be expected. Really hard luck in getting such a tough group in the Champions League. Are you in the Euro Cup now?
Dan
6 августа, 2011 at 15:02
Hi Kevin,
I’m not in the Euro Cup since I’ve still got to play each team in my group again, so no doubt that will be painful to watch. Plus I have to finish 3rd for that to happen and I can’t see us getting more than 3 points out of this group if we’re lucky!
Laxeyman
6 августа, 2011 at 10:27
No surprise to see you and Celtic dominating the SPL Dan, shame about your European form, but there’s still 3 games to go, so hopefully you can pick up enough points to get 3rd place. Good luck!
Dan
6 августа, 2011 at 15:00
Hey Laxeyman,
I’m not holding my breath in Europe since my next game is Man Utd then Valencia before I play FC Twente again. It’s annoying too since I manage to get my teams morale up and then it gets knocked again because we get thumped in Europe…
Johnny Karp
6 августа, 2011 at 10:40
Excellent league form so far, Celtic will probably push the title race to the death but I think you have a great chance of winning the league. Europe is a totally different story though, you were unlucky to be handed such a tough group but I think you might get some points in the second game against Twente at least. Good luck!
Dan
6 августа, 2011 at 14:59
Hi Johnny,
I agree that the league form has been good so far especially taking into consideration I’ve been forced to put players like Wydle at left back and even play Broadfoot as a DMC because of injuries to what is a really thin squad. Europe is totally different like you said and hopefully we get rescue some pride against Twente in the return match but if not this has been one hell of a learning curve, our strikers may be quality in Scotland but we’re miles short in Europe!
vikingmarius
7 августа, 2011 at 13:09
Good results in the league mate, I am not going to dwell on the champions league but what I do when I play against a lot bigger rep teams is play very defensively and drop the sr and sl to the aml/amr positions and counter close down etc. yet with some moneyh next year you can make a better crack at it :)
Dan
7 августа, 2011 at 13:38
Hey Marius,
My formation does actually work in terms of keeping possession and creating chances, it’s finishing those chances that’s the problem. I need a player like Milevskyi who can consistently bang in goals at a high level.
Ana Garcia
7 августа, 2011 at 13:47
A little late but welcome to the FMS team! :)
Your story reads like mine, domestically better than every team with one main rival but struggling in the champions league.
Maybe we can help each other!! :)
Anyways good luck on the rest of your season hopefully you can improve in the champions league. Good luck!!
Dan
7 августа, 2011 at 20:10
Hey Ana,
Don’t worry, a late welcome is just as good as an early one! :)
As for the similarities I hadn’t noticed but you’re right so maybe we could trade advice every now and again, looking at the way my team has performed in the Champions League so far I could do with quite a bit of help! :)
celticman
10 августа, 2011 at 21:57
I can sympathise about the Champions League performance. It’s very hard to step up to the CL after playing in the SPL. I think the effect of playing in an easier league means the players can’t quite up the game to the right level, but I may be wrong.
But other than that it seems to be going well for you. Good luck!
BTW Dundee is not the same as Dundee United. One would never call Dundee United «Dundee». Acceptable names are «The Terrors», «The Tangerines» or even «United». You wouldn’t want to make that mistake in front of a Dundonian!
Sibo
11 августа, 2011 at 08:53
Or «The Arabs» I believe, for some strange reason…
celticman
11 августа, 2011 at 17:35
I think the Arabs technically just means their fans but I’d have called them that too.
Dan
11 августа, 2011 at 12:02
Hey Celticman,
I think you may be right about not being able to step it up against better opposition. I’m looking at it a bit like being Manchester United and playing Championship teams every week except for a couple of matches against Chelsea thrown in. It’s difficult to give Valencia a test after playing Hamilton and St. Mirren the week before, they’re just on a different level all together.
As for the Dundee United thing I never knew that, I’ll call them United from now on. The only reason I called them Dundee is because they’re the only ‘Dundee’ team in the league…
celticman
12 августа, 2011 at 06:50
Yes it is very difficult to make the step up. This is the problem facing Celtic and Rangers in real life too. We’re better than all of the SPL and not good enough anymore for Europe. I wish I knew the answer, but maybe we’ll discover it playing our games :)
Dundee are a club in the Scottish First Division.
Sibo
12 августа, 2011 at 09:32
Meanwhile the lonely Aberdeen fan still dreams of winning the Co-Operative Cup (the League Cup (aka the un-important one)), if we have a good season… ;-)
celticman
13 августа, 2011 at 10:14
… which is a shame because Aberdeen, historically, are one of the biggest clubs in Britain. Not many other clubs have won two European trophies.