Dorchester Town Story: January 2016

Hello friends and welcome back to the Dorchester Town Football Manager 2010 story! I’m writing this while trying to digest a home defeat recorded by my beloved Universitatea Craiova, they lost 1-0 but missed a penalty during injury time… Anyway, back to the point: Dorchester were flying high at the end of 2016, we were in second place and that left many of you wondering if we really can challenge for the title or not. I had the same question myself and there’s no better way to answer it than seeing what happened in January, whether we managed to stay among the top three or not.

We had a warm-up game before going back to the Premier League, the FA Cup 3rd match against Hull City. We enjoyed a fantastic start that brought us a two goal lead after eight minutes: first Iulian Marin set up Silvestre Varela for the opening goal and then Christian Stuani curled one in from the edge of the area five minutes later. The team was playing very well but we wasted a couple of good chances before letting Hull right back into the game in the 28th minute. Fortunately we rebuilt the two goal lead right after the break, substitute Gael Kakuta made an instant impact as he came in after half time and put one straight into the top corner inside his first minute on the pitch. We had a good display overall but I couldn’t enjoy it too much since the physios came with some concerning news: John Heitinga was going to be out for six weeks! He’s a very important player for the team and I was quite sure that we were going to miss his presence on the pitch.

The first league game of the year was away at 15th placed Birmingham, a team that was struggling in the league but they still had some very good players. I was pleased to see the team having a good start again and it was Silvestre Varela who drew first blood once again when he placed the ball past the keeper in the 7th minute. Then we continued to play well until half time and we really could have added at least another goal but we missed two good chances plus hit the crossbar from distance. We paid the price for that seven minutes into the second half when we conceded the equalizer much too easily, my defenders appeared to be lacking determination. Then we took control of the game again looking for the second goal and it finally came 17 minutes before time when Craig Carlisle finally powered one in from inside the penalty area. We held on well until injury time when Rafael Coelho wrapped up the three points with a great individual effort but the game wasn’t over yet and Birmingham clawed one back when David De Gea made his first big mistake of the season: he came out to catch a cross but he totally missed the ball.

We had another away game coming up against another underachieving team: Everton. The Toffees still had very good players in their squad so I wasn’t expecting an easy afternoon. But I wasn’t expecting us to be on the wrong end of an onslaught though… That’s what it was, Everton totally dominated the game from the very first second to the final whistle. We had a better ball possession than they did but most of that was outside the final 30 yards, we rarely managed to get the ball into their box. David De Gea was the man of the match, he won us a point all by himself with a string of unbelievable saves. Everton would have deserved to win this one but we could have grabbed all the three points during injury time when Silvestre Varela headed one just wide from point blank range. We remained unbeaten but that was probably the worst display of the season until that point.

We had to play much better in the next match, league leaders Tottenham were coming to pay us a visit. We were still in second position and the gap was not too big, we were only five points behind the Spurs. We started the game pretty well this time and Rafael Coelho could have given us the lead but he was denied by the goalkeeper. We continued to push forward but it was Tottenham who scored against the run of play, Luka Modric placed one in from the edge of the area. We resumed our attacks after the break but it seemed that we were out of luck, the ball just wouldn’t go in. It could have gone worse though, Tottenham had a couple of great chances to wrap up the game on counter attacks. We finally managed to level the game 11 minutes from time and I was pleased to see that two substitutes made that goal: Fran Merida played a great ball inside the box for Gael Kakuta who fired it in low at the near post. Then we tried to push for the winning goal but Modric caught us on a counter and silenced our fans five minutes from time. My lads didn’t give up though, our fans deserved better and they went wild just a few seconds before the final whistle: a corner kick cross found Daniel Nilsson inside the six yard box, his header bounced off the crossbar and fell into the path of Silvestre Varela who fired it in! It was a fairly good result but it saw us dropping into third place.

We had another tough game coming up, at home with Manchester City. I was expecting a good performance from my lads and they made me proud, especially in the first half. Centre back Francesco Tosto scored the opener and his first goal of the season on seven minutes when he powered in a corner kick header, then Brazilian striker Rafael Coelho took over and bagged a quickfire double in the 29th and 21st minute to rise his total to ten goals this season. The Citizens finally showed themselves upfront during the last 10 minutes of the first half and they could have scored one or two but David De Gea was in good shape again. Things cooled off a bit after the break, we were firmly in control and we could have added another goal before Robinho clawed one back for Man City eight minutes from time. They went all out attack during the final minutes of the game but we managed to hang in there and extend our unbeaten run to 14 games. Go to the next page to read the rest of the story.

Go to the next page to read the rest of the story.

After two intense matches I had the chance to rest a few first team players as our next game was the FA Cup 4th round match against Championship side Swindon. The backup players that I sent in had a rather poor first half and it seemed that we were heading for a disaster when Swindon took the lead on the stroke of half time. We started to play a bit better after the break but we were still looking uninspired until Rafael Coelho hit the back of the net as a result of a magnificent solo effort. Substitute Laszlo Tamasi powered another one in seven minutes later to spare our blushes and push us through to the next round.

Back to the Premier League, our next game was away at 10th placed Bolton. The hosts managed to take the lead 18 minutes into the game after a very good team move but Christian Stuani drew level just four minutes later when he hit the roof of the net after a great run. Then we took control of the middle of the pitch but quite a few chances went begging. Bolton had a pair of good chances of their own on counter attacks but we finally clinched it 17 minutes from time when Stuani found the back of the net again with a perfectly placed shot from the edge of the area.

The final game of the month saw us playing against Birmingham again but this time at home. We managed to win the away game 3-2 at the beginning of the month but it wasn’t easy at all. This time it proved to be even more difficult as our finishing was not so good, Craig Carlisle missed a golden opportunity before the break. We continued to push forward but it was Birmingham who scored, a poor pass in midfield was intercepted and they hit us on the breakaway. We missed another two huge chances before Christian Stuani stepped up again and netted the equalizer 13 minutes from time when he rounded off a good team move with a powerful finish. We should have won this one…

We were on a 16 match unbeaten run and that saw us bouncing back in second position, four points behind Tottenham! The title race will be extremely tight, Chelsea and Arsenal are not far behind us, but I’m still not sure that we can really push for the title.

Jean Paul Borg commented on the last post asking to see how Liam Parker‘s attributes have improved since he joined the club. Here you go Jean Paul, first the screen shot that shows Liam Parker‘s profile in August 2014 when he first joined the club.

And now his attributes on the 1st of February 2016, a few days before he will finally return from the injury that kept him on the sidelines for two months. As you can notice almost all his attributes went up by a point, some of them increased by two points (marking, technique, composure, creativity, influence, and strength) and his positioning went up by three points! During this year and a half he also learned how to play as a left midfielder and that makes him an indispensable player for the club. I’m looking forward to his return on the pitch!

Next month we’ll have the Europa League tie against Olympiakos plus three so-so league games and probably the FA Cup 5th round will be added to the schedule.

That’s how it went folks, we are still second, our unbeaten run continues but, as I said, I am still not sure that we can challenge for the title. I’m saying that because we continue to show some lapses of concentration in defense and secondly the Europa League games might cause us some fitness problems if we will manage to get through to the next rounds. I guess only time will tell, don’t miss the next update!

P.S.: I have to thank you again for the wonderful response that you have given on the poll, I wasn’t expecting so many votes to be honest. Right now there are 311 votes recorded and the rankings are looking like this:

1. The weakest team in England (25%, 78 Votes)

2. Universitatea Craiova (Romania) (24%, 75 Votes)

3. The weakest team in Scotland (21%, 66 Votes)

4. Arsenal (with only under 25 players and under 21 signings) (21%, 65 Votes)

5. The weakest team in Italy (9%, 27 Votes)

The poll will be open until the 5th of November so if you haven’t already voted please do that by selecting your favourite option in the right sidebar.