The Pentagon Challenge: One Man - One Aim

Season Two Episode One: Signings and other Stuff

Seb Platter’s home town, Ludlow.

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In his summer holiday, Seb Platter went to England to visit his family for the first time since leaving his home country. He told about his experiences in Belize and Trinidad, and obviously everybody has very surprised to hear he’d won the opening stage of the Belizean Premier League. They were all proud of how Seb was making a name for himself in North-America. They did also have some bad news though. “Listen, Seb, Shrewsbury have gone down again. We’re back in League 2.” “You’ve got to be kidding me, right? Again? Well, I’m glad I don’t have-” Seb’s phone rang.

SB: Good day, who am I speaking to?

ES: Hello Seb, this is Eugene speaking, listen, I’m sorry to interrupt your holiday, but I’ve got some great news. We’ve been able to increase the wage budget by 10 times.

SB: Ha. Funny, Eugene, ten times? I don’t believe you.

ES: It’s true, Seb. Last season you had 250 Euros a week. This season you’ll have 2.5k, we want to put up a real title challenge this year. We all think you’re able to spend the money well. Use it wisely.

SB: That’s absolutely fantastic. I’m glad you trust me with this money, I will spend it wisely. Our team right now isn’t ready to challenge for the title, but with some good signings, I reckon we can make it happen. Thanks again Eugene, see you at the start of the season.

ES: Bye Seb, enjoy your holiday.

Platter hung up the phone and told his family and friends the good news. After he had said goodbye to England once again, and returned to his office near the stadium, he got to work immediately to sign some players. He made a list of players he had now and created his ideal first team with only current players. Lots of youth players played in the team, and Platter ideally wanted to have only senior players that were used to playing in the league. So, he let his scouts scout players that fit his criteria, and they returned with a long list.

With this new wage budget, he was able to sign some very good players by the club’s standards. He even managed to sign a goalkeeper from a first division side. The manager decided to not spend a lot of money, but get players in on free transfers, and also not spend the entire wage budget. This would cause the team to go into debt, and obviously the Englishman didn’t want that.

Besides a good goalkeeper, Platter also added two good centre-backs, both experienced, at the age of 32 and 26. He completed the overhaul of the defence by signing a new right-back, Keston Prince. He too was an experienced player, 26 years of age. The midfield also got a totally new face, with a total of three signings, just like in defence. A central, left and right midfielder all moved to Maracas. Especially the new right midfielder, Hayden Fitzwilliams, 40 years of age, was an interesting transfer. The Trinidadian former international was a very experienced player, to say the least. But besides joining as a player, he also became Platter’s director of football.

The last two players the manager signed were both strikers, Damian Pino, 23 years old, and Jeremy Providence, 24. Both were relatively inexperienced, especially when compared to the other signings. All of the signings made by Platter were considered huge improvements from the players that played in their positions last season. The board were happy at how their manager had spent the extra funds, and were excited to see their team play in the new season. With all the transfers made, the first team now looked like this:

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Yes, Maracas play in disgusting purple kits.

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After sealing up all these transfer swoops, a total of nine. It was time to play some football. His first complete season as a Maracas manager was about to kick off.

Season Two Episode Two: The Kicking-Off of a New Season

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The dawn of a new season. Everybody starts with zero points, but the teams starting with an A top the table. Maracas played only two matches in their pre-season, both against first division sides. The first one was against the runners-up of last season, Jabloteh. Despite being huge underdogs, the team did well, and lost by a minimal margin. Next was a match against Point Fortin. This team finished second-to-last, but still, Maracas had much more trouble with this team, as they lost 4-1.

After these two friendlies, it was time to kick off the season, with a home game against Bethel United. Platter sent out his team in a classical, English 4-4-2 formation. The match wasn’t what he had expected, though. In the 5th minute, his team got a penalty, but Dave Lewis’s effort was weak, and the goalkeeper saved it with ease. This early drama was the start of a match full of mishap. The team had conceded two goals by the 45th minute, and just before half-time, one of Maracas’ players was sent off. Platter’s men couldn’t turn the game around, and the final score was 2-0 to Bethel.

Next was an away game against possible title contenders Guaya United. The manager was hoping for a much better performance than last time, but after two minutes, the home team, Guaya, had already taken the lead. After this early goal, Maracas didn’t manage to come back into the game, and Guaya had many chances to finish off the game, but they didn’t capitalise on the poor game Maracas had. They got punished in the 84th minute, when Jeremy Providence equalised for the away team, and the game ended in 1-1. The first point for Platter.

The next match was a home game against Goal City. After drawing against Guaya, one of the best teams of the league, Platter was confident of a win against Goal City, who are the number one relegation candidates. The match, once again, ended in a deception. 3-1 was the final score, and Platter wasn’t happy with his team. He decided to switch to a 4-3-3 narrow again, a formation that worked wonders at Belmopan.

Playing away against Siparia, who were in sixth, Platter tested his new 4-3-3 narrow formation for the first time. Despite not winning, they drew 1-1, the team played better than the opposition, something that hadn’t been the case in the matches before. Maracas had more shots, and more possession, and Platter was happy with this new formation.

But in the next match, old habits returned. In a home match against FC Phoenix, Platter’s men played sloppy, and they lost, completely deserved based on the stats. Phoenix controlled the match, and were clinical in finishing their chances. The game finished 1-3, and again, a Maracas player received a red card. That was the second red card in five matches. Platter called for change, and instead of sending his players out to control the match, he told them to just attack.

After this bad run of results, Platter was called into office. Eugene Sosa told Platter that, if he didn’t turn the club’s fortunes around in the next month, he would be fired. The manager was shocked at this happening so early in the season, but he was really motivated to get the club back on track again, starting with an away game against La Horrqueta. 11 minutes in, his team were 2-0 ahead. But they completely gave it away, and the match ended in a 2-2 draw. The draw was encouraging, though, and Platter sticked to his attacking game plan.

In the last two games, against Las Lomas, and against Club Sando. Platter’s new formation and game plan finally brought him the results he craved. A 1-0 win against mid-table team Las Lomas, and ,perhaps most surprising, a 4-0 win over Club Sando, who were in second before the game. Platter was relieved with these two good results, and felt that he had finally found a suitable tactic for his team.

Season Two Episode Three: Trying Different Styles

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After the two wins against Las Lomas and Club Sando, the board were happy again. Platter wanted to continue the good form away against Saint Ann’s Rangers, but Maracas failed to play the samba football they played in the previous matches, and lost 3-1. After 65 minutes, it was still 1-1, and Real were still in the game, but then, in the space of ten minutes, St Ann’s scored two goals, and sent the away team home empty-handed.

In the next away match, against Santa Rosa, Maracas took the lead after only 18 minutes, but after that, they completely collapsed. Santa Rosa scored four goals. Well, five, if you count own goals as well, and the match ended in the second defeat in a row for Platter’s team. But unlike the match against St Ann’s, Maracas did create quite some chances, so it wasn’t all negative for the manager.

Before the match against Goal City, in the second round of the cup, the 23-year-old Real manager made his team train on their finishing, as lots of chances had been wasted in the past games. This training worked, well, amazingly. In the cup match against Goal City, there were indeed a lot of goals. Eight to be precise. Six of which were scored by Maracas, with four goals coming from striker Damian Pino. Real Maracas were through to the 3rd round of the cup, with ease.

In the first home match of this match update, Maracas played against Petrorin Palo Seco, a team with probably the ugliest crest in the history of football. Palo Seco had to pay for their ugly crest, Platter thought, and he demanded a win from his boys. They delivered, as the team won for the second time in a row. The more attacking style of play was paying off, but the team were still second-to-last in the table.

Next up was a real test for Real Maracas. A home game against Caledonia AIA, numbers five in Trinidad and Tobago’s highest professional league. Platter had already accepted defeat before the game, but hoped his team could pull off an upset. But after beating Goal City by six goals to two, Caledonia gave Maracas a taste of their own medicine, by beating the home team by, you guessed it, 6-2. The team were absolutely devastated, but Platter told them not to dwell on the defeat, and move on from it. You don’t win football games by dwelling on defeats.

Following this heavy defeat, Maracas faced numbers six Malabar in a tough away game. The team looked to have put the 6-2 defeat behind them, as the away team opened the score after only 28 seconds. But after this early goal, Maracas failed to extend their lead, and instead they lost the game 3-1. Another disappointing defeat, and Platter decided to change up the tactics once again. He now set the team out to play more patiently, and then break with pace. He also allowed the team to be more expressive, allowing players to dribble more often.

The first match with the, yet again, tweaked tactic was a home match against title challengers Roxborough Lakers. The home team gave the Lakers a tough game, and managed to stop the free-scoring team from netting a goal. The final score was a 0-0 draw, and Platter was happy at how organized and structured his team had played. Now they only needed to score some goals, and there would be a winning team on the pitch.

Saint Francois National were the next opposition Maracas faced. Platter’s opponents were in second, but on a bad run. After thirty minutes, Real were ahead 2-0, following a brace from in-form striker Damian Pino. But in the space of three minutes, Saint Francois scored two goals, and the balance was restored again. The match looked to finish in a 2-2 draw, but in the 93rd minute, Damian Pino completed his hat-trick by scoring a beautiful long shot. The scoreboard indicated 3-2 to Maracas at full time.

Looking to extend their unbeaten streak to three games, Platter and his men faced Bethel United in an away game. The first half in the game ended without any goals, nor any big opportunities for both teams. In the second half, Maracas showed more initiative, and this led to the opening goal in the 67th minute, by right-back Clevon Peters. In the 91st minute, Johan Russell extended the away team’s lead. The final score: 2-0 to Real Maracas.

Rounding up this match update, the match Maracas-Guaya United. The away team were in second before this match, so it’d be a hard job for Real to keep their unbeaten streak going. In minute 13, Guaya got a penalty, and Ryan Stewart slotted it home. But just like in the match against Saint Francois, Damian Pino scored a goal in the dying seconds of the game to extend his team’s unbeaten streak to four games, the longest streak in Platter’s career at Maracas.