Alive And Kicking: Season One, Episode Five

Hello everyone and welcome back to Alive And Kicking, our jaunt through the 1992-93 season in Football Manager 2022. We're into episode five now, if you missed yesterday's instalment then click here to catch up. 



Any high hopes we had of turning a corner following our win over Barnsley are punctured as we go down 2-0 at Filbert Street to promotion chasing Leicester City. After being on the backfoot for the majority of the game but defending bravely, the dam bursts inside the final 20 minutes when a prolific young striker on loan from Liverpool by the name of Robbie Fowler (probably just a flash in the pan) scores twice in six minutes to leave us sinking without a trace. 



In the intimidating atmosphere of The Den at Millwall, we allow ourselves to fall behind seemingly irretrievably as we're 2-1 down inside 25 minutes, Clive Mendonca gets us level just before the interval and we spend the majority of the second period in the ascendancy doing everything but score and frustratingly we concede yet another late goal to lose a game we probably deserved to win. 



The same problems plague us in our next home outing as we are 3-2 up against Brentford thanks to goals from Mendonca, Neil Woods and a rare one from right-back John McDermott. To my dismay, we only half clear a late corner and we're punished as Marcus Gayle thumps a fine effort home from the edge of the area. A possible four points has dwindled down to one thanks to two avoidable late goals. It's these twists that make the difference between staying up and going down. 



With our skeleton squad and small budget, my heart sinks a little with envy when we line up against an ambitious Tranmere side boasting quality players such as John Aldridge and Pat Nevin. Given the quality in the visitors' team it comes as no surprise when they go into a seemingly comfortable 2-0 lead just after half time. In a show of spirit, I'm happy that we show a tremendous level of fight to recover through goals from Ken Charlery and another for Super Clive. It's a draw from a losing position so it's a point at least but so many of these draws could have turned into wins. 



Three days after the draw with Tranmere, we put in yet another abject performance as we sink to a 3-0 defeat away at Wolves. To further draw my ire, we're 2-0 down inside five minutes and we fail to really lay a glove on our opposition. When Steve Bull makes it 3-0 in stoppage time I'm now thinking that perhaps we deserve to go down. 



On that rather depressing note, that's your lot for today. If you're a Town fan and you're at the game against Carlisle tonight then enjoy the game. If you're in the Main Stand then come and say hello if you see me (or feel free to tell me how shit at FM I am!). 

See you tomorrow! 

#UTM

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Campeonatio, di Calcio, Italiano: Episodio Uno

Image
The year is 1997, Juventus rule the roost domestically but surrendering their Champions League title to Borussia Dortmund at the end of the previous campaign still hurts. In their quest to get back to the top of European football's totem pole, the Old Lady of Turin have turned to me in order to bring the famous old trophy back to the Stadio Delle Alpi as well as maintain the club's stranglehold on the major domestic honours. Here's how our Italian affair begins.  Here is our squad at the beginning of the save, I'm quite happy with the squad depth generally although I'm tempted to bring in another central midfielder to ease the burden on Antonio Conte as the anchorman. In one of the best deals of the decade I manage to tempt Augustine 'Jay-Jay' Okocha to swap Istanbul for Turin in an absolute steal of a £1,500,000 deal.  Our season gets underway with the SuperCoppa Italiana against last season's Coppa Italia winners Vincenza at the Stadio Delle Alpi. Afte...
Read more

London Calling #1: The Non-League Haaland?

Image
Yes lads and lasses it's the best day of the year for nerds like myself as Football Manager 2023 is finally unleashed into the gaming wild. For my long-term save on the game I'll be aiming to rule the footballing world using clubs only from the Greater London area (I explain in a little bit more detail  here ). Our adventure begins in the Vanarama National League South at Champion Hill with Dulwich Hamlet, here's how the opening stanza of my time with the club unfolded.  My task with my new club is clear, I'm expected to reach the VNS play-offs and utilise players that are 23 and under to fit in with the club's ethos. As a firm believer in bringing through youth, I'm more than happy with this. I made a couple of forays into the transfer market and brought in some highly rated young players. My first piece of business sees 19-year-old central defender Andi Janjeva join the club and he is swiftly followed through the door by 25-year-old former Arsenal goalkeeper R...
Read more

Campeonato, di Calcio, Italiano: Epiosdo Due

Image
Buon giorno and welcome to the second instalment of my retro Italian adventure with Juventus in Championship Manager 97-98. If you missed last week's episode then you can catch up  here .  After our defeat to Milan in the last outing, the last thing we need is the Champions League creeping up on us, although we should turn over Maccabi Haifa on our home turf. Cue the music Perhaps my optimism was misplaced as we labour to a dour goalless draw at the Delle Alpi against our Israeli opponents. We manage ten shots on goal but can only get two of them on target, Maccabi don't offer much and it's a case of they get what they came for by going back to Israel with a point.  French midfielder Corentin Martins comes in for £4,500,000 from Strasbourg but it'll be a week or two before he can make his debut as he comes to us with a slight injury.  There's more injury misery for us when right-back Marco Zamboni limps off in the first half of our home clash against Lazio but we...
Read more