Spurious Logic

Onward Ho!

So yes we're about to start the same run of games again. The same first set of 9 games which gave us 11 points and propelled us into 11th spot. Now I know I had talked about a more attacking formation but as our first game is against he league leaders Castellón and our first choice goalkeeper is out injured, I might just stick to a more conservative gameplan, keep it tight and look for a breakaway goal.

Spoiler: Unfortunately my plan doesn't work and the rest of the quarter goes downhill from here.

In this first game we are doing well at nil all until injury time when Iacob takes down their striker who was through on goal. We lose 1-0. The fans are angry that we lost but frankly I think we held our own against better opposition and I saw signs of defensive solidity which meant that we didn't lose as badly as we had been before.

With that out of the way I can go on and push ahead with my plans for more attacking football.

There follows a tale of ineptitude and sorrow. Suffice it to say my boys don't like pressure, having to work or indeed, having possession of the football.

From the start of the second game when we concede possession from our own kickoff and allow a soft goal after only 35 seconds the tone is set. That game finishes 3-1. Our goal was only a consolation with the result set by being 3-0 down at half time. A half which featured only one shot by any Moratalla player. An off target shot at that. Tellingly José's goal was his first in 13 hours of play. We have also slipped down to 18th spot in the league.

Over the next four games we lose two and draw two. My fantastic left back of last winter has disappeared. He's replaced by a clod footed mucker who can't get forward and isn't defending. No longer the frantic racing to cover back or to burst forward. Just some aimless wandering around by the left side of the penalty box. I've decided to bring the neglected Pablo back in there and see if Armiche would work as a defensive mid fielder. He's got the stats, and he's better than any of the other options I have there.

Our next game is against the 18th placed team. Excellent I think, we've climbed a spot to 17th.

Glancing at the league table; Nope we're 19th. We would be bottom except that the bottom team are absolutely hopeless; Alzeria are stuck on 1 point (actually it may have been 2 points). Our next game is against the 18th placed team. All of a sudden this has turned into a huge game.

We concede a penalty within 5 minutes. 0-1

Within a minute there is a 30 yard strike from a free kick.  0-2

Six minutes gone, and two nil down. My idea of attacking tactics and controlled passing obviously isn't working. I set the team to overload. Very wide play, longer passing and attacking all over the field.

Otero pounces on a loose ball in the area and claws one back for us before we concede another goal on a breakaway from one of our corner kicks.

3-1 at halftime but we are creating chances. Again, Ingelesias has been put thorough on goal again and again but just cannot score even though his stats indicate he should be racking them up.

After halftime Iacob gets injured and is replaced by a backup centre back. Hardly the sort of reassurance the a team under this sort of pressure needs.

I take it all back. Inglesias can score. Not only can he score one, he can get two! The first is a flick on from José while the second is again a scramble in the box.

At to cap it all off Martínez pops up and slots a fourth goal. Somehow we've won 4-3

As an irrelevant aside Steam now tells me I have unlocked the acheivement "comeback king". This is the least significant thing about the game. We played the team just above us, beat them and now we're looking to fight our way back into the land of the living. Armiche is working well as a defensive midfielder, Gavlez is the best passer I have and I hope Inglesias has finally found his shooting boots. Our next opponents are the awful team at 20th, Azira.

Of course we draw against the worst team in the league. Pinging balls into the box but my team are too complacent and just aren't putting in the effort. We're sitting in 16th and had we won we would have been out of the relegation zone. As it is we're 2 points away from getting out

For the final match of the quarter we're up against Mallorca 'B' and I'm inclined to think a draw would be a good result. We take the lead with an early goal from José but we then go on to let in three from the same player and lose 3-1.

After this fantastic series of results I can understand that my home town fans wouldn't be too impressed with me. They never come to matches so they don't get to complain. If you don't support us, then you can't knock us. The media on the other hand has decide to be enthusiastic in their dislike of me.

In game terms I don't know what this means. The questions I'm being asked are always the same as are the answers. The team reactions don't seem to vary because of good or bad writeups from "The Moratalla Football Express" (distribution 50 judging from our attendances).

Every few days I see notification that Manager X of Team Y is about to lose his job and I'm invariably mentioned amongst the favourites to take on the position. Last year these were mid table third division sides whereas now they're all in the relegation zone. As if I would happily go from one relegation threatened team to another.

There are serious problems looming now. We're rooted in 18th spot with the mostly the same team which pulled out a mid table finish last season and we're having problems all over the park. Armiche is being lambasted by the fans at left back (the successful switch to defensive mid-fielder notwithstanding). Daniel Leon is failing to perform. Iacob is solid but none of the other defenders are. Central midfielders are tackling hard but being overrun and cannot support attacks. The forwards and wide players can't dribble, cross and just aren't working chances consistently. The sheer number of simple missed passes resulting in opposition chances is shocking. Especially from out so called attacking players.

To shake things up in the last few games I've tried playing Pablo as left back and Asier Gazapo as a central midfielder. Neither of them have fantastic stats but they are outshining their supposedly better team mates. I know that with this game it's not always purely about the stats but also motivation and mental state but I've never seen it so pronounced. But after the first two games the effect faded away and we were back to as we were.

We're in a rut and I don't know how to get the team out of it. In other games I would have brought in a player to turn things around but so far the players I've brought in either aren't good enough or are just not putting in the effort. I've tried putting the team under pressure, tried telling them there's no pressure. I've set them out in 451, 4141, 4411, 442,424 and everything in between, with mentalities ranging from all out defending to all out attack and they consistently concede soft goals without even working openings. Never mind actually taking shots on target. 4 goals scored in what, 15 games since last autumn? That's absolutely shocking. As it stands we're going down down down.

Despite this the board are congratulating me on the "Wonderful team spirit" I've created in the dressing room.

Image from cheapsight on Flickr