Vauxhall Motors Story: October 2015

Hello folks, it’s finally time to welcome you to another episode of the Vauxhall Motors Football Manager 2011 story! I know, this update is long overdue and I apologize for keeping you waiting for so long. The problem was that I had probably the most severe case of influenza that I’ve ever experienced in my life, had a fever for a whole week, terrible back pains and that’s just to mention a few of the symptoms. Fortunately I’m pleased to say that I’m slowly getting back on track, the fever is gone now and I can enjoy life again. Back to the story now: as you might remember my Motormen managed to get two wins and four defeats out of the opening six games in the Premier League. That doesn’t sound too good but it’s interesting to note that both wins were away from home and also that we managed to beat Arsenal at Emirates Stadium in the Carling Cup. We managed to end September with two consecutive wins, at Arsenal in the League Cup and at Ipswich in the Premier League, now let’s see how October went.

Everton vs Vauxhall (Premier League)

Venue: Goodison Park

Attendance: 33,644

Starting line up: Dean Bouzanis — Kaka, Cameron Lindsay, Mervin Simon, Jelle Van Damme — Radek Vecera, Mark Brown, Shyamdew Weibolt, Roni Porokara — Andrés, Ibrahima MBow

Team Talk: You can win today!

Everton were in 9th place before the game so I was expecting a tough match at Goodison Park. Luckily Andrés handed us a flying start with a spectacular goal, he fired one straight into the top corner from the edge of the area after just two minutes! The good start gave my lads some confidence and we managed to dominate the following minutes of the game. Everton‘s quality did show at some point and they even managed to convert that into a goal after a fine move on 19 minutes. Then the game dragged on towards half time, not very exciting but I was pleased to see my boys controlling the dispute in midfield.

Half time score: 1-1

Half time team talk: Pleased.

Half time substitutions: Wayne Routledge for Vecera, Inigo Perez for Porokara

Not much changed after half time, the game was rather boring to be honest. Everton started to play better after the 70th minute and the pressure was becoming more and more difficult to handle by my defenders. I decided to switch to the counter strategy for the final 10 minutes, hoping to hold out for a point. Good fortune gave us a big hand nine minutes from time though, centre back Mervin Simon nodded home a corner kick cross and we were suddenly on track to grab all three points! We weathered the storm during the dying moments and secured a morale-boosting win, we surely showed that we are no pushovers!

Full time team talk: Well done!

Man of the match: Mervin Simon

Flop of the match: Roni Porokara

Match Stats

Video Highlights

Click here to watch the highlights.

Vauxhall vs Newcastle (Premier League)

Venue: Halton Stadium

Attendance: 10,377

Starting line up: Dean Bouzanis — Julian Marino, Cameron Lindsay, Mervin Simon, Jelle Van Damme — Thorsten Schon, Radek Vecera, Mark Brown, Roni Porokara — Connor Wickham, Andrés

Team Talk: You can win today!

Newcastle were down in 19th place before the match so I thought that it was a good chance to finally secure our first home win of the season. In fact, it took us just eight minutes to break the deadlock: Andrés crossed a ball into the six yard box and Roni Porokara headed home from point blank range. I have to admit that Newcastle‘s goalie acted rather strange on that occasion, you can see that for yourselves in the match highlights below. We continued to push forward and finally managed to find the second goal four minutes before the interval thanks to a good action from Connor Wickham who squared it for Andrés who then got tackled but the ball rolled into the path of Mark Brown who applied the finish.

Half time score: 2-0

Half time team talk: Pleased.

Half time substitutions: Wayne Routledge for Schon, Inigo Perez for Vecera

The second half didn’t start too well, Mark Brown got injured and I had to replace him with Lionel Riehl. That didn’t affect the team too much though and we made it 3-0 on 54 minutes when a good move brought the ball to Roni Porokara who fired a superb shot that sent the ball in off the underside of the crossbar. We were enjoying a great spell of domination but Newcastle pulled one back with their first shot on target, a great effort from 35 yards. We restored the three-goal lead soon after, a quick exchange between Wickham and Riehl gave the former Ipswich striker the chance to score his first ever league goal for us and he didn’t miss. Newcastle managed to pull another one back before the end of the game as their second and last shot on target went in but that didn’t spoil our celebrations, the team played well and we thoroughly deserved the three points.

Full time team talk: Well done!

Man of the match: Roni Porokara

Flop of the match: Wayne Routledge

Match Stats

Video Highlights

Click here to watch the highlights.

Vauxhall vs Aston Villa (Premier League)

Venue: Halton Stadium

Attendance: 12,680

Starting line up: Dean Bouzanis — Julian Marino, Cameron Lindsay, Mervin Simon, Jelle Van Damme — Thorsten Schon, Radek Vecera, Shyamdew Weibolt, Roni Porokara — Connor Wickham, Andrés

Team Talk: You can win today!

I expected this one to be a lot more difficult even though Aston Villa were in 13th place before the match as their team was featuring two world class players: Ashley Young and Samir Nasri (they got him for around 12 mil from Arsenal). We had a decent start to the game, we were enjoying good possession but we were not able to cause some real damage. Our lack of inspiration was punished by Nasri shortly after the half hour mark but my lads recovered well and started pushing forward with more determination. Unfortunately we squandered a good chance and a couple of decent ones before the break so we were 1-0 down at half time.

Half time score: 0-1

Half time team talk: Sympathise.

Half time substitutions: Inigo Perez for Weibolt, Ibrahima MBow for Andrés

We resumed the attacks after the break but substitute MBow wasted a great opportunity just five minutes after the re-start. Things got worse for us on 58 minutes, Ashley Young fired in a sensational shot and we were preparing to face our first defeat after three consecutive league wins. Fortunately Mervin Simon stepped up again to convert a corner kick and give us a way back into the game and the team started to push forward again. Our efforts were rewarded just before the final whistle, a good pass from Jelle Van Damme was continued by Ibrahima MBow with a great first touch and a cool finish! We rescued a point with a late goal, the team proved that there’s some fighting spirit in these youngsters! Unfortunately Andrés had picked up a knock and he was going to be out for a week, just enough to miss our last two games of the month.

Full time team talk: Pleased.

Man of the match: Mervin Simon

Flop of the match: Andrés

Match Stats

Video Highlights

Click here to watch the highlights.

Portsmouth vs Vauxhall (Carling Cup 4th rnd)

Venue: Fratton Park

Attendance: 13,133

Starting line up: Tim Howard — Kaka, Cameron Lindsay, Mervin Simon, Grant Baddeley — Wayne Routledge, Radek Vecera, Shyamdew Weibolt, Roni Porokara — Connor Wickham, Ibrahima MBow

Team Talk: You can win today!

We had a good chance of advancing to the Carling Cup quarter finals since Portsmouth were struggling in 10th place in the Championship before the game. I made some changes in the starting eleven but I was quite confident that we would pull it off. We came very close to taking the lead after just three minutes as Ibrahima MBow did everything right, he even rounded the keeper but his finish was cleared off the line by a defender! Pompey surely made us regret that miss seven minutes later when they broke the deadlock with a fine effort from 20 yards. Fortunately we restored parity after just four minutes and it was Mervin Simon who did it yet again, this time from a free kick. We were the better team out there and our domination was converted into a goal on 33 minutes when Connor Wickham headed home a Wayne Routledge cross.

Half time score: 1-2

Half time team talk: Pleased.

Half time substitutions: Inigo Perez for Vecera, Nathan Dyer for Porokara, Lionel Riehl for Wickham

I was in a bit of trouble at half time because I had no strikers on the bench since both Andrés and Pavol Vesely were injured and since Wickham had some fitness problems I decided to change the tactic to a 4-4-1-1 with Riehl as an attacking midfielder behind M’Bow. That didn’t seem to matter too much though as two substitutes worked together to extend our lead on 63 minutes: Inigo Perez played it through for Nathan Dyer and the winger found the far corner of the net from an acute angle. We secured the win 11 minutes later when Ibrahima MBow converted a penalty kick after Routledge had been brought down inside the area but Portsmouth didn’t give up and managed to pull one back on the stroke of full time. It was too late though, we were through to the quarter finals! Our joy became a bit lighter after the draw though, we’re going to meet Chelsea at Stamford Bridge in the next round (in December).

Full time team talk: Well done!

Man of the match: Wayne Routledge

Flop of the match: Lionel Riehl

Match Stats

Video Highlights

Click here to watch the highlights.

Burnley vs Vauxhall (Premier League)

Venue: Turf Moor

Attendance: 16,854

Starting line up: Dean Bouzanis — Julian Marino, Cameron Lindsay, Mervin Simon, Jelle Van Damme — Thorsten Schon, Radek Vecera, Mark Brown, Roni Porokara — Connor Wickham, Ibrahima MBow

Team Talk: For the fans!

The last match of the month saw us meeting promotion rivals Burnley, a team that was in 13th place after recording three straight defeats. It was an important test for us against a fellow newly-promoted side and I was expecting the lads to prove that we’re better than our opponents. The first half was way below our expectations though, the match was utterly boring and the crowd got to see just one shot on target during the opening 45 minutes (our shot, of course).

Half time score: 0-0

Half time team talk: For the fans!

Half time substitutions: Shyamdew Weibolt for Vecera, Inigo Perez for Brown, Nathan Dyer for Porokara

The match was a bit more lively after the break but that was only due to the fact that the two teams were showing more determination, not more talent. The game was quite rough, lots of fouls and hard tackles all around the pitch. Burnley started to look better after the hour mark, they were looking fresher and managed to create a clear chance. Fortunately they squandered that chance and we punished them for it just when I wasn’t hoping for more than a draw anymore: Connor Wickham intercepted a loose ball, skipped past a defender and then coolly finished off the move to give us the lead with four minutes to play. Burnley switched to a 4-2-4 setup, I switched to counter, but we still could have dropped the points during injury time. Dean Bouzanis saved us though and we went home with the hard-fought three points.

Full time team talk: Well done!

Man of the match: Connor Wickham

Flop of the match: Thorsten Schon

Match Stats

Video Highlights

Click here to watch the highlights.

We haven’t tasted defeat this month, that’s quite pleasing :)

The good run pushed us up into 8th place but it’s too early to rejoice. The good thing is that we’re 11 points clear of the relegation zone now, that should still be our concern until we prove otherwise.

My youngsters dominated the «Young Player of the Month» award, Mervin Simon won it with Mark Brown and Julian Marino rounding off the top three.

Mervin Simon was a great player for us last season and he seems to be doing very well in the Premier League too. That’s why I decided to give you a comparison between his profile in 2013 (when I brought him in on a free transfer) and his current profile. First let’s remember how his stats were looking in 2013, he was 18 years old back then:

And here’s how he is now! Only one of his attributes has decreased (finishing) but most of the others increased by one point (those in blue) and some of them by two points (those signaled with green). He has better mental attributes now, better marking, better strength and stamina and better speed as well. However, I think that he could have become even better if we would have had better coaches and decent training facilities.

So, we went through October unbeaten but I doubt that we can pull off a similar feat in November. We’ll start with a terrible trio (Manchester City, Arsenal and Chelsea), and I guess I’d be happy to escape those three games with a point. Then we’ll have the chance to recover against West Ham, hopefully morale won’t be too bad by then.

That’s how it was folks, thanks a lot for reading this update and for waiting. I’m looking forward to reading your comments :)