Dorchester Town Story: November and December 2015

December started with some really bad news: Liam Parker got injured in training and was going to be out of contention for two months! We had to get by without him but I had confidence in the other strikers at my disposal.

The first game of the month was the decisive Europa League match with FC Porto, we only needed a draw to seal our qualification to the next round. We didn’t start the game too well but we got lucky two minutes before the half hour mark when a long range effort from Volodymyr Grinchenko was deflected by a defender and ended up in the back of the net. Porto didn’t like that and they punished us quite heavily with two goals in six minutes, first with a nice team move and then with a corner kick header. I had to admit that they really deserved to lead at half time, we had to play much better than that. In fact, we were in better shape after the interval and managed to make it all square seven minutes into the second half when substitute Gael Kakuta bent in a good cross that Christian Stuani rifled in on the volley. Then we tried to push for the win but it was Porto who nearly clinched it on a counter attack but David De Gea did very well to keep the door shut. We were through to the first knockout round, mission accomplished!

Back to the Premiership, our next game was at home with 10th placed Aston Villa. We started the game well and managed to take the lead on 26 minutes when a cross from Silvestre Varela was headed in by left winger Laszlo Tamasi. Then we missed a good chance to double the lead but Aston Villa also had a nice opportunity to make it all square at half time. We looked more solid in the second half, Aston Villa were unable to cause us any trouble at all and Rafael Coelho wrapped it up with eight minutes left on the clock.

We had another home game coming up against a mid-table side, Sunderland were coming to pay us a 90-minute visit. We could have taken the lead inside the first minute when we missed a very good chance and things turned bad three minutes later when Iulian Marin made a vicious tackle that got him sent off. We continued to attack despite the disadvantage but we were not too lucky as Craig Carlisle hit the crossbar in the 15th minute. Then Sunderland gradually realized that they had one more man on the pitch and they could have taken the lead before half time but they hit the crossbar too. We continued to push forward after the interval but we were unable to break through and we could even have lost the game because Sunderland had a great chance on a counter attack. The game ended goalless but I guess things would have gone differently without that needless red card.

Next up, the last Europa League group game, away at Hoffenheim. We were already through to the next round but a draw would have kept us top of the table. Hoffenheim needed a win to qualify and they were showing great determination right from the start of the game. We held on and even managed to take the lead against the run of play, Iulian Marin powered in a corner kick header to apologize for that red card ;) Things got even better two minutes into the second half when Rafael Coelho took advantage of a defensive error and put us two goals ahead. Hoffenheim were playing better than us though and De Gea showed a string of great saves before the hosts finally clawed one back from a corner kick. We defended well and managed to hold on to that one goal lead, a good results that eliminated Hoffenheim from the Europa League.

The draw pitched us against Greek side Olympiakos, I guess we can compete with them for a spot in the second knockout round. Then we might be in some trouble because, if we qualify, we’ll play against the winner of the Bayern Munich vs Getafe tie (probably Bayern…)

Back to the league then, our next game was away at 10th placed Bristol City, a team that was on a poor run of four straight defeats. We were right on track to give them the fifth when Laszlo Tamasi‘s cross was deflected by a defender into the back of the net but the hosts drew level four minutes before half time and my defenders surely helped them with a poor corner kick clearance. We resumed our attacks after the interval but just when we seemed to be adding more pressure than they could handle we conceded a rather strange goal: a free kick from inside their penalty area sent the ball all the way into our box and found the striker unmarked… We managed to hit back immediately when Stuani set up Gael Kakuta but despite our efforts we were unable to add another goal. I was disappointed with the result, we should have done better…

Next up, an away match at 14th Wolves, a game that I was hoping to win. We were looking like running out of luck though, we missed a good early chance and then Wolves took the lead thanks to an unfortunate own goal which saw the ball flipping around our box before going in off my defender’s back. My boys were not disheartened by that, we were pouring forward and missed another couple of clear chances before Craig Carlisle placed one in from inside the penalty area. Wolves reacted furiously and we had lots of defending to do until half time but we managed to survive until the break. We resumed our good display after the interval, we were dominating the game again and the reward came in the 55th minute when Carlisle pushed one in after the goalkeeper parried a shot from Rafael Coelho. Wolves could have leveled it a few minutes later when they hit the post from close range but Coelho scored one himself after receiving a great pass from Lewis McGugan. Wolves didn’t give up though and David De Gea had to step up and display another few fantastic saves to keep us in the lead.

Everybody was celebrating Christmas while we were preparing for the Boxing Day fixture, at home with 19th placed newly-promoted Queens Park Rangers. Laszlo Tamasi got lucky again, one of his crosses got deflected into the net and we were on course for a quiet game. Our plans didn’t match the reality on the pitch though, Q.P.R. were playing pretty well and they deservedly drew level with a corner kick header. We had a much better display after half time, we managed to create and miss quite a few chances before Lewis McGugan set up Christian Stuani and the Uruguayan striker fired it into the top corner from just inside the penalty area.

Finally, the last game of the year: away at defending champions Chelsea! We had an extremely entertaining home game with them, it ended 3-3, so I was hoping for another good display from my lads. I was a bit concerned though because most of my players were quite tired at the start of the game since the match was being played just two days after the last one. My fears appeared to be lacking reason after the first five minutes of the game, we even missed a good chance to take the lead. My boys were playing very well and we finally managed to draw first blood on 33 minutes when a team move brought the ball inside the box to Rafael Coelho, the Brazilian striker was blocked but the ball bounced into the path of Craig Carlisle who banged it past Petr Cech. Our good spell became even better six minutes later when a looping ball forward was headed on by Tamasi inside the box where Coelho took it on the bounce and sent it to rest in the back of the net. The second half was not as spectacular as the first but I liked it a lot because of one simple fact: defending champions Chelsea were unable to get any shots on target during the last 45 minutes! We were controlling the game with ease and clinched a very important victory. The game showed that we know how to defend too, we just don’t do it that well every time :)

That result moved us into second place, nine points behind table-toppers Tottenham but with a game in hand. I surely regret dropping so many points against weaker teams, we could have been right there challenging for the title! Anyway, a title challenge is still possible but I don’t think that we have enough strength to do that so I would surely settle for a top four spot at the end of the season.

Now let’s have a look at the player stats at the halfway point of the season, the list is sorted by average rating. As you can see Liam Parker‘s injury was not such a big problem after all, Carlisle played very well in the last few months and so did Stuani and Coelho. David De Gea played very well too but I’m a bit concerned by the poor ratings that my centre backs got, those surely explain why we conceded so many goals. New signings are out of the question since the club’s balance is almost 15 million pounds in red so I guess the current players will have to improve. I also decided to sell Dacian Varga and Sean Scannell, they are unable to challenge for a place in the first team.

We’ll have a busy January and it could get even more crowded if we’ll get past Hull in the FA Cup. We’ll have two very important games in the middle of the month, at home with Tottenham and Manchester City, but we’ll have to do better against he mid-table and lower sides if we want to stay in the top four.

That’s how it was folks, thanks for reading such a long post. I’m quite pleased with where the team stands at the moment but I can’t help thinking about all the points that we dropped against teams that we should have beaten… Anyway, I hope that the board won’t make the same mistake as last season when they sold my best player in the January transfer window but I do fear that might happen given the club’s poor finances. We’ll see…

P.S.: Big thanks to all of those who voted on the poll, 275 votes are in and the poll will be here for another two weeks, until November 5th to be more precise. So if you have not voted yet, please take the time to express your view by selecting one of the options in the poll (it’s located in the right sidebar). I see that the majority wants me to manage Universitatea Craiova in FM 2011 but a lot can happen in two weeks ;)

P.S.: Coaches screen capture for Jack ;)