Hello folks and welcome to my ninth season in charge of the Motormen, the Football Manager 2011 story continues! After winning the Premier League title and strengthening the squad with a few very talented players the whole town was looking forward to watching the Motormen play at the brand new Vauxhall Stadium. Alright then, let’s see how things went in the first two months of the new season!
Winning the league gave us the right to a nice bonus match, the Community Shield. We were going to meet FA Cup winners Arsenal, the team that knocked us out of that cup last season and also handed us a critical league defeat. I wanted revenge!
Vauxhall vs Arsenal (Community Shield)
Venue: Wembley
Attendance: 90,000
Starting line up: Luis Guilherme – Julian Marino, Mervin Simon, Marat Bykov, Pierre Touya – Leandro Velasco, Marcos Fernandez, Robert Ackermann, Tiago – Zé Carlos, Parana
Team Talk: For the fans!
The opening minutes of the match saw an even game, none of the two teams was looking particularly good. Luckily our best player made the difference in the 16th minute, Zé Carlos made an awesome counter attack run and then squared it for Tiago who had nothing left to do than to apply the finish and we were 1-0 up! Arsenal tried to reply but they were denied by the post four minutes later and we made them pay two minutes after the half hour mark when Leandro Velasco muscled the ball off the left back and drilled a low cross into the box that was slid home by Parana. We appeared to be in control of the match at that point but Arsenal did manage to pull one back through their best new signing, striker Vaclav Kadlec. We could have restored the two-goal lead before the break though but Zé Carlos was in a wasteful mood as he squandered a pair of good chances.
Half time score: 1-2
Half time team talk: Pleased.
Half time substitutions: Hans Larsson for Touya, Radek Vecera for Fernandez
Our wasteful display continued after the break and we nearly got punished on 50 minutes when Luis Guilherme pulled off a great save to deny Kadlec. We were saved by the woodwork seven minutes later when a shot from distance bounced off the crossbar so I decided to make a change on the left flank, new signing Walid Mechergui for Tiago. We regained control of the match and the substitution paid dividends six minutes from time when Mechergui headed home a good Leandro Velasco cross. Payback time!
Full time team talk: Congratulations!
Man of the match: Leandro Velasco
Flop of the match: Radek Vecera
Match Stats
Video Highlights
Click here to watch the highlights.
Vauxhall vs Liverpool (Premier League)
Venue: Vauxhall Stadium
Attendance: 24,424
Starting line up: Luis Guilherme – Emanuele Santoni, Mervin Simon, Marat Bykov, Pierre Touya – Leandro Velasco, Indio, Marcos Fernandez, Tiago – Zé Carlos, Parana
Team Talk: For the fans!
The league debut was not the easiest one, we were welcoming Liverpool to our brand new stadium. We had a record attendance so I was particularly keen on giving the fans something to cheer about. We didn’t manage to do that in the first half though, the Reds defended very well and we came close only on a set piece: new signing Indio hit the crossbar with a fantastic free kick shot from 30 yards out.
Half time score: 0-0
Half time team talk: For the fans!
Half time substitutions: Radek Vecera for Indio
We resumed our attacks after the interval and finally broke through after 10 minutes when Zé Carlos scored his first goal of the season from the penalty spot after substitute Vecera was pushed inside the box. I made another two substitutions around the hour mark, Abdallah Yaisien for Velasco and Graham Howson for Fernandez, and both substitutes made an impact. First Yaysien missed a glorious chance and then Graham Howson helped to put the result beyond doubt as his free kick cross was headed home by centre back Marat Bykov.
Full time team talk: Well done!
Man of the match: Marat Bykov
Flop of the match: Mervin Simon
Match Stats
Video Highlights
Click here to watch the highlights.
The game against Liverpool broke two records for the club, and quite convincingly too! It’s nice to get almost the entire weekly wage budget after just one game :)
This time we were seeded second for the Champions League groups draw and that went pretty well as we were going to meet FC Bayern, Dinamo Moscow and Czech side Banik Ostrava. We should finish second quite easily but we’ll surely try to knock Bayern off their pedestal ;)
The bookies seem to have a better opinion of us too…
Back to the pitch, we had a bunch of easier matches coming up. Burnley were handled easily, Zé Carlos took care of things by netting a hat-trick but we got a bit complacent at 3-0 and allowed the home side to score a consolation goal. Then we dispatched West Ham in just 45 minutes, Leandro Velasco provided two assists and Robert Ackermann scored his first goal for the club. The away match at Wolves was a pretty tough one, we were down to 10 men from the 36th minute as Parana got sent off, but the team showed great spirit after the break and we managed to clinch the three points. Our first Champions League match of the season was all easy, Banik Ostrava were not good enough even for my backup eleven and we won comfortably after enjoying 75% ball possession. Last but not least, a spectacular game against Bristol City: we were awesome in attack but terrible in defense, absolutely terrible. Anyway, we grabbed the three points and scored six goals but letting in three goals in a game against Bristol City was not a good sign at all…
The last two games of September were another pair of tricky ones, both away from home and both against top notch opponents: Tottenham in the League Cup and Arsenal in the Premiership.
I wasn’t too optimistic after conceding those three goals against Bristol City, head over to the next page to find out if my worries were justified.
Go to the next page to read the rest of the story.
Brilliant start Johnny, you’re dominating the league already, and I’m confident that you’ll win it again. The Champions League draw isn’t that hard, you’ll go through to the knockouts I reckon, and with a world class player like Ze Carlos anything is possible. Good luck!
Thanks Laxeyman, I hope that Ze Carlos and Parana won’t get injured this season. If they don’t then we might have a chance to play the CL final.
Great start, dominating the league! I agree with laxeyman, the CL draw isn’t too bad and with your squad you will easily qualify!
Good luck to Romania, I am sure it should be a good game between two good teams! Out of interest, does Mutu still play for Romania ‘cos he has kind of gone of the radar a bit…
Well done on a great start, good luck! :D
Thanks Sibo, I agree that we should qualify from that group. About Mutu, he made a return to the national team earlier this year and he will surely be playing tomorrow. I don’t like him too much but he’s our best player at the moment.
Better than Chivu? :O
Chivu has just announced that he isn’t going to play for the national team anymore…
:O Shock! :O
So is tomorrow his last game or is it already over? :O
I’ll tell you who I like. Bogdan Stancu. I saw some clips of him playing for Galatasary courtesy of a Turkish friend. He is pure class.
That’s a shame about Chivu but he is getting on. 31?
Chivu won’t be playing, it’s over. Yes, he’s 31. Stancu has some talent, he’s among our best youngsters, but he’s having some fitness problems so he might not be playing tomorrow so we’ll probably have Mutu (Fiorentina) and Marica (Stuttgart) in attack.
Those are some fantastic results Johnny, but I’ll confess I’m much more interested in that ticket picture! I’d love to be able to go see my national team, and I really hope Romania are able to pull out the win. Well done as always sir, keep up the good work.
Thanks mate, I’ll try to shout out some tactical advice from the stands tomorrow :)
So are you flying from England, or do you still live in Romania?
Haha, no… I’ll be taking the subway, I live in Bucharest. :)
That makes so much more sense now. :-p Enjoy the game!
Hey Johnny,
Great start the season, your new signings are looking good too! I think you’re going to win the premiership this season fairly comfortably. Also with a good draw in the knock outs of the CL who knows?… You’ve invested really well in your youth policy and boy is it paying off! About the Romania game Dzeko and Pjanic are two of my favourite players, but hopefully Romania will qualify it seems an age since they were in a major tournament. Good luck with the rest of the season!
Thanks Jack, I’m quite happy with how things have gone so far. About Bosnia, they have a very good team especially in attack, Dzeko will surely torment our lads tomorrow.
That was a superb start to the campaign Johnny, I’m sure you will have no trouble winning the PL again. Have fun at the Romania game as well, try not to be to harsh if they lose :-D :-D Good luck mate!
Thanks Sears, there’s still a long way to go but the good start surely gives us some confidence. About the Romania game, I rarely am harsh but I will surely be sad if we’d lose….
Well done Johnny, a fantastic start to the season. Just what you needed and I sense the squads morale may well keep this run going a little longer. :) Looks as though your side have gelled already and that can only get even better with time. I have also noticed a lot of players bought without a profile been shown. So its good to see your reserve players, I think you’ll be doing something similar to me, but looking at the number of signing you make maybe on a bigger scale.
Enjoy the game mate, fingers crossed for Romania my second country :)
Thanks Darren. About the youngsters, some of them will never make the first team but I will surely make a profit on them :) I try to sign a lot of youngsters (mostly cheap ones but with potential) to compensate for the lack of talent in my youth squad. That way I’m having a good solid base of backup players that can provide cover in the future or provide financial benefits to the club.
Hey Johnny
Very good start to the season, you already have silverware with the Community Shield won. And about that, the Community Shield game has premier league instead of Community Shield next to Vauxhall vs Arsenal.
P.S. I finished the Federation Cup, but I will only post the results tomorrow!
Thanks Vaibhav. I don’t understand where you spotted a problem with that Community Shield game though. Looking forward to your update!
Oh, I saw it now, I’ll correct it asap. Thanks for the heads up.
Well the perfect start to a season as you could have wished!
Good group also in the champions league, I dont want to jinx you but I think you will be able to qualify from that group.
Am happy also to see Man City struggling for the same reason as you, a dislike for their manager!
I wish you good luck for the rest of the season and good luck to Romania, if things are going badly at half time maybe you you can pop into the dressing room and turn it around! :)
Thanks Ana, we should qualify from that group since we were seeded second. About the eventual half time team talk, I guess the stewards might catch me before I get to the dressing room, I’m not as quick as I used to be :)
Hi Johnny, Excellent start in the league and you will most likely retain your title if you continue this form! Good Luck!
Also, good luck to Romania also, I hope you win!
Thanks a lot Sayam!
Hey Johnny,
great story! i like that youth player! really good potential. Can you possibly post vaclav kadlecs profile in your next post please? would mean a lot,
hope romania win, have a good time,
Daniel :D
Thanks Daniel, I will post Kadlec’s profile in the next post ;)
Hi Johnny
Delighted to see you have a ticket for tomorrows game. Unfortunately no TV Stations in Canada are showing Englands game this Saturday unlike last time :( Well on to Vauxhall and a terrific start to the season with a nice little double over Arsenal. Good luck with your trip to Munich. Oh decent youngster you have there in Ortiz too :)
Hey Kevin, it’s a shame that they don’t show the England game in Canada but maybe you will find a way to watch it on the internet. About Ortiz, he’s a good prospect but I might have better ones to show in the coming episodes :)
Hi Johnny,
Can you hear me shouting ” The era of Johnny Kapp and Motormen have arrived” Great start winning every game so far. With Bykov solid at the back Ze Carlos firing up front, things are looking good. The Champions League draw is good and you have no problem progressing. Enjoy your match tonight. I will be helping to cheer for Romania.
Hi Lye, I can hear you :) Thanks for the encouraging comment.
Great stuff showing off your talented youngsters Johnny, we might see more of them in the near future I assume? :D
That new stadium sure looks like it will pay itself off really quickly, your gate receipts will at least double, and the stadium will surely be packed to the rafters during those European nights, great job in beating Arsenal 1-3 twice, and a good start to the league, I believe your team can make an impact in the Champions League too, good luck with Romania too
Thanks CS. I’m going to show one youngster per post so there will be more of that to follow ;)
Hey Johnny! Great start to the season…6 out of 6 is fantastic. Also nice to see that you’re new stadium is nearly full for home games too :). I can definately see you qualifying to the Champions League Knockouts.
Good Luck for the rest of the season and also good luck to Romania tonight…i’ve always looked for their results in competitions since they all bleached their hair in the last group match at the 1998 world cup…crazy guys lol
Thanks Martin, I hope we’ll have a sell-out soon at Vauxhall Stadium :) About Romania, I didn’t really like that gesture back in 1998. That was our last World Cup, never managed to qualify since…
Hi i’m new here and have tried Vauxhall Motors before but epically failed, what tactic do you use ?
This is the tactic that I’m using: http://www.footballmanagerstory.com/2010/11/download-my-football-manager-2011-tactic/
Thanks a million!!