The Industrial Revolution: Power to the People

17 Oct 15

A messy away victory against Slovacko, but a victory nonetheless, with strikes to Rocha, Lichaba and Sørum offset by one each to both of their strikers. The international window meant that many of my players came back in need of a bit of a spell, so chose to rest key players Savic and Lakic, perhaps unwisely.

I love it when staff get their coaching badges...

Keeper Mujkic has been selected in the Team of the Week.

20 Oct 15

I found out very quickly that Valencia's wingers were too fast for me to cope with, so the best I could get out of the match was to play a possession based game and keep Valencia's attack at bay.

My defender had solid games, but my midfield and wingers struggled. Any chance we had in the game were lost when Sørum was injured and I had to play Skolnik out of position on the right wing.

While we are not truly happy with a draw, it is better than a loss.

Argh! The injury curse has struck again, this time with Sørum out for between 7 weeks and two months with strained knee ligaments. Club captain Halama is also out for three weeks with a thigh strain.

I think I am going to have to rework a tactic which doesn't call for wingers at this point, because my reserve winger Gabriel is also recovering from a non so serious heel injury.

And to compound the problems I have, key striker Savic and right winger Rocha will sit out the return leg at home to Valencia through suspension.

I'm also going to try and cobble together a new tactic without the wingers over the next twelve days and see what happens.

Do you feel sorry for Mr McClaren, or Mr Morrison?

Striker Savic is now considered favoured personnel at the club

22 Oct 15

Trying a 4-3-3 formation away to Slovan Liberec probably wasn't ideal, and the game wasn't much of a spectacle, strong defensive and a never say die attitude in the midfield were the hallmarks. Late in the piece, midfielder Skolnik put Savic into space to score, and the three points were ours.

And the fans don't mind winning ugly....

The Czech League is no different to any football league round the world. You can't keep pace with your Board expectations and you start looking for another role.

24 Oct 15

Trying the 4-3-3 formation at home proved more successful, and the team had a good workout, although we were rested the fullbacks, who had had a hell of a lot of work over the past fortnight.

First half strikes to Savic and Lakic, followed soon after by a first goal to Skolnik playing from his preferred AMC position secured the win for us.

Again, we were sloppy in the last five minutes, culminating in a consolation goal to Jihlava, through left winger Eismann.

Keeper Mujkic and central defender Jozak have been selected in the team of the week.

FA Cup Fourth Round Leg 1

Peter Skolnik is again the toast of Ceske, with two goals and an assist of sorts, he is making it impossible to leave him out of the starting side, as we controlled the away fixture, but again letting our guard down towards the end to concede a soft late goal from a set piece play.

We again rested our standard starting fullbacks, who are still lacking a bit of conditioning, so I am proud of the boys, especially given our other injury concerns.

30 Oct 15

Restating the 4-4-2 formation now that Gabriel had fully recovered from his heel injury, should have meant that we dominated proceedings against last placed Bohemians Prague, but yet we could only manage a 2-1 win, with Savic getting injured in the process. Sixteen year old Mijo Brkic was sent on to replace Savic, and scored with his first touch.

Nelson Rocha scored through a free kick to put the result beyond doubt, although worryingly, we did cough up a goal in injury time as we had a concentration lapse, again from a set piece.