[Izulde]

Ignoble low attendance for the National record, as just 113 people showed up last game, breaking the record by 1.

@ Hyeres FC (18th)
G: Aubry Cabioch
D: Evan Jean-Lambert/Patrick Francois/Amar Belhani
DM: Abdelmadjid Rouabah
M: Mathis Clement/Adel Zainek/Amine Belahmeur
AMC: Yassine Benrahou/Didine Mohamed-Djouhary
S: Exauce Ngassaki Ndongo

15 - Rouabah makes the stop and kicks it back to Cabioch for the short pass to Jean-Lambert. Blast down the left flank and the midfielder misses the header, so it goes on to Clement. Run down to the touchline, center, and Ndongo knocks it in! 1-0

19 - Awful defensive work and keeping 1-1

43 - Cabioch should have stopped that 1-2

58 - L'Excellent in for Belahmeur; Rouabah to DR; Kone in at DM

62 - Rouabah to Mohamed-Djouhary, and he plays a perfect pass into box space for Ndongo to pick up and equalize 2-2

79 - Finally a great stop by Cabioch, and he drills it down the field to Ndongo just outside the other box. Our Congolese striker kicks back to Zainek for the short give to Benrahou, and the straight line pass into the middle of the box has surging Ndongo scoring a hat trick!!!! More bitching about offsides. Whatever. 3-2

Obviously, Exauce Ngassaki Ndongo is PotM with a 9.4, but Didine Mohamed-Djouhary impressed as usual with a 9.0, and matching 7.5s by Adel Zainek and Yassine Benrahou also helped overcome shitty outings by Evan Jean-Lambert and Aubry Cabioch.

Oh, one other thing I forgot to mention because I didn't notice until just now. At this level, the usual 3 points for win, 1 for draw, 0 for loss applies. So there's still 3 teams with 0 points after 3 games. It also turns out that the Top 3 advance to Ligue 2, not Top 2. But as usual the last two seasons, I'm just looking to stabilize at this level. Anything else is a bonus.

Players are complaining about the low level of fitness coaching, so I hire a 17 Fitness guy at $13.5k/year for 2 years. Long-time assistant manager Phillipe Allard is also sacked for 38 year old Alban Kuntz, a huge improvement that requires us to pay $12k in compensation, plus $18.75k a year for the next two seasons.

After the coaching reshuffle, we're at 2.5* in Ball Control, Shooting, and the two goalkeeping categories, 3* in Tactics, Defending, and Attacking, 3.5* in Strength, and 4* in Aerobic.

Phillipe Allard was sad to leave, and still considers me one of his favorite people. But he understands the nature of the business, and I have no doubt he'll catch on somewhere after seven years of being the right hand man of one of the hottest managers in Non-League French Football.

vs SR Colmar (13th)
G: Aubry Cabioch
D: Evan Jean-Lambert/Patrick Francois/Samuel Samoussi
DM: Isaac Kone
M: Mathis Clement/Adel Zainek/Amine Belahmeur
AMC: Kasim Bayrak/Didine Mohamed-Djouhary
S: Exauce Ngassaki Ndongo

We're without our two Algerian U20 studs, who are off on international duty, but we *finally* get to see our highest paid player in action.

50 - Benrahou replaces Mohamed-Djouhary and Claverie goes in for Clement

73 - We were on our back heels all game, and it was only a matter of time before they broke through 0-1

86 - Fucking awful free kicking by Belahmeur and a box to wire effort on the counter, as Cabioch got too cocky on the come out 0-2

Overall we played well enough to win. But our AMCs were absolute shit, which neutralized our offense entirely.

That sucky ML we got from Aston Villa on loan is *still* whining about fitness coaching, so I terminate his loan.

Transfer In - DL/WBL Jacques Toure (18) - $4k transfer fee, $1k signing bonus, $639 agent fee - $26.5k/year - 3 years - From Le Mans FC
11 First Touch, 10 Work Rate, 12 Acceleration, 10 Pace, 12 Stamina. Raw prospect, but one I see far more likely to break out than Evan Jean-Lambert, who is 23 years old and inconsistent besides. The fans of his old team are pissed he was sold for such a low transfer fee.

@ FC Chambly-Thelle (11th)
G: Aubry Cabioch
D: Jacques Toure/Patrick Francois/Samuel Samoussi
DM: Isaac Kone
M: Mathis Clement/Adel Zainek/Najib Gandi/Amine Belahmeur
AMC: Kasim Bayrak
S: Exauce Ngassaki Ndongo

Lot of dudes off playing international soccer, so this lineup goes.

38 - Why is Gandi taking the PK?!?! Of course he blows it. Ugh. Note to self: Set PK takers.

43 - And of course they convert the corner 0-1

52 - Laidouni for Gandi; Noc for Ndongo

81 - Samoussi sends it up to Belahmeur on the touchline, and the cross is to Clement. Shot's deflected, but he sinks his own rebound for the late equalizer!!!!! 1-1

We should have won, but I'll take the away draw.

vs Paris FC (14th)
G: Aubry Cabioch
D: Jacques Toure/Patrick Francois/Amar Belhani
DM: Abdelmadjid Rouabah
M: Mathis Clement/Adel Zainek/Amine Belahmeur
AMC: Kasim Bayrak/Yassine Benrahou
S: Exauce Ngassaki Ndongo

49 - Zero excuse for Cabioch not stopping that 0-1

56 - The double yellow for their dude will help.

65 - Kone for Rouabah; Noc for Ndongo

85 - Benrahou chases down the high ball and passes to Clement. Weird bounce of the attempted center off a defender, but Noc is there to hit the late equalizer! 1-1

Frustrating draw in another game I felt we could have won.

I'm wondering if we're at the point where we need to move on from Exauce Ngassaki Ndongo. He's been terrible recently, and it coincides with his rough form down the stretch late last season. Couple that with his incredibly high salary, and it's something to look into just to reduce our wage bill.

@ EFC Frejus Saint-Raphael (9th)
G: Aubry Cabioch
D: Jacques Toure/Patrick Francois/Amar Belhani
DM: Abdelmadjid Rouabah
M: Mathis Clement/Adel Zainek/Amine Belahmeur
AMC: Kasim Bayrak/Didine Mohamed-Djouhary
S: Cyrille Allard

Cyrille Allard has been complaining about a lack of first team opportunities. My new assman thinks he can become a good National level player, so why not?

20 - Sigh. 0-1

49 - Mohamed-Djouhary for Benrahou

64 - Ndongo for Allard

79 - Belahmeur plays a great ball to Ndongo, but the defender wins the jump. Zainek has the rebound and wings out to Clement for yet another dramatic late equalizer 1-1

We have a couple shots at winning it down the stretch, but once again we're forced to settle for a draw. We're only 2 points away from the drop zone as a result of all these damn ties.

Oh, and Abdelmadjid Rouabah is out 2-3 weeks with injury. Our backup keeper is out 2-3 months, but I haven't felt like signing anyone else.