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10-11-2005, 09:24 AM
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#201 |
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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quick reminder to let you know that you can still vote for the 2006/07 poll in the dynasty poll section. Poll closes at 2pm this afternoon...
FM
__________________
A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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10-11-2005, 11:37 AM
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#202 |
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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October 7, 2006
My assistant informs me that Dani missed yet another training session today. I dock him with 2 weeks of wage. He doesn't even comment on the fine. October 8, 2006 Q.P.R.'s experienced centreback Pascal Cygan is definitely out of the team's crucial Premier Division match against fellow relegation struuglers Nottm Forest at The City Ground on October 14th. Cygan has been told that he will be out at least after suffering a twisting knee in training. Q.P.R. fans have flooded the club's message boards declaring this a massive vlow for the team and wondering whether the team will be able to pick up vital points without him. I'm also a bit concerned with that injury. With Steve Finnan still injured, the option of moving Abubakiri Yakubu to centreback is not there and we may have to resort to starting Arthur Gnohéré... October 9, 2006 Pascal Cygan and Freddy Guarín have both been selected on the EPL Team of the Week. While it's a second selection for both of them as Rangers, it's the second week in a row that Guarín has been selected. October 10, 2006 Gino Padula has revealed that not being part of the first team at Loftus Road is starting to unsettle him. The 30yo fullback is unhappy that he continually finds himself turning out for the reserves and has said that he will be looking to leave the club if he doesn't into the team soon. Well, you can start looking for an apartment elsewhere right now my friend. Besides the fact that Michael Ball is doing just fine in the left fullback spot, we got three youngsters ready to play in his spot if he ever get injured: Jonathan Burton, Lee Porter, and Steve Singh. FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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10-11-2005, 11:39 AM
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#203 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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October 14, 2006
League Match #10: we play Nottm Forest on their pitch. They're currently in 18th place and struggling to avoid the drop zone so far this season. They did win the Championship last year so we got to give it our all. We are 5-4 favourites to win this game. Pascal Cygan is ruled out for this game as he is 4 games away from being completely healthy. Arthur Gnohéré starts in his place. Steve Finnan is 6 days away from returning to full training but will need some time to regain some match fitness. Güiza is back in the starting lineup. Freddy Guarín takes a free kick from just outside their penalty area in the 27th minute. His kick is deflected by the wall. The keeper gets caught wrongfooted and can't do a thing. Up 1-0 The half ends on that score. We're outshooting them 7(2) to 1(1) and we're spending a whole lot of time in their end of the field. Actually, we're controlling the ball just about in every area of the field, with a solid 62% possession figure. We control the field for most of the second half without scoring, until the 87th minute, when Güiza takes the ball deep to the right and passes it to Martin Rowlands who sends it back to the center with a beautiful pass to Cristiano Lucarelli who mystifies the keeper with a lovely top corner strike. Up 2-0! Final Score: Q.P.R. 2, Southampton 0 DOMINATION! We outshot them 15(6) to 3(1) as we kept mounting attacks after attacks. Freddy Guarín had a great game, notching a goal, rating at 10 and receiving the Man of the Match selction. As an answer to Gino Padula's request for first team play, Michael Ball rates at 8. Danny Shittu also rated at 8. Güiza did rate only at 6 though, mostly down on himself for putting only 1 of his 5 shots on target. Woah, we're up to 6th place although there are three team with a game on hand over us and only one point behind us. Q.P.R.'s chairman Bill Power declared himself extremely pleased with the result. FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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10-11-2005, 11:42 AM
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#204 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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October 15, 2006
Groan... Cedric van der Gun twisted his knee in training this morning. This one is just as frustrating as the gameday injury, as I also have my players set TO NOT TRAIN THE DAY AFTER A MATCH!!! CvdG played yesterday, what's he doing on the training field?!?  Games are played elsewhere in the EPL and we drop a spot. Still, 7th place after 10 games isn't too bad.
I've decided to see the season in four quarters of 10, 9, 10, and 9 games. Let's see how these first ten games went:  These 10 games were the story of two sequences. The first five games, in which we just couldn't score and had to work very hard to get 2 wins, going 2 wins, 3 losses with 3 goals for and 6 goals against, and the last 5 games (not counting the cup game) in which we scored 10, allowed only 2 and won three games, drew once and lost only once. Overall, a record of 5 wins, 1 draw and 4 losses is something I'm very happy about at this point. October 16, 2006 Michael Ball and Freddy Guarín, him for the third week in a row, have both been select to the EPL Team of the Week. Dani is unhapy with me, boohoo... He has told the Sunday Mirror that he is disillusioned with life at Loftus Road under his current manager. The 30yo attacking midfielder stated that he didn't currently see how the bad feeling him and his manager could be resolved and it might only be solved by one of them leaving the club. Woah! I immediately transfer list him, asking $800k for the AMC valued at $1.3M. You can bet I'm gonna make sure the one who leaves is you, not me, my friend. Under his major concerns, he says he hopes the club's next manager will appreciate him more than the last one. I sure hope the manager of your next team does appreciate you my friend... October 20, 2006 Steve Finnan resumes full training today. FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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10-11-2005, 11:49 AM
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#205 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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October 21, 2006
League Match #11: we play Liverpool at Loftus Road. They're currently in 6th place, but only 2 points ahead of us. Maybe they shouldn't be this close to us, as I see a slew of unhappy players, most of them saying they think the team is underachieving with some even thinking the club should be topping the table. They are still 4-6 favourites to win this game. Pascal Cygan is back in his centreback spot and Tomas Locatelli starts at AMC given Cedric van der Gun's injury. For a moment, I thought about starting Cristiano Lucarelli in place of Güiza but I feared he'd get struck with the "big game" freeze, so I leave Güiza in as starting striker. They show a 4-2-3-1 formation to start the game. We're pushing them back early on and in the 17th minute, they have to defend themselves with 11 men in the penalty area. Talk about crowded! The half ends scoreless with both teams shooting 6 times and both teams getting 3 on target. BUT! we're winning possession with 64%, 32 of them in their end of the field. This game has 0-0 draw written all over it, or worse, I fear they'll get a break and score a lucky one... Come on guys! Freddy Guarín tries a long shot in the 82nd minute but it's deflected and turns into a pass to Güiza. He takes a first shot which is blocked and he pounces on the rebound. The keeper can't stop it and Güiza gives us the lead with his 5th of the season. Up 1-0! We need to hang on now. Just the very next minute, I nearly have a heart attack as a long pass is played from their defense to Djibril Cissé and HE SCORES! I'm thinking, "this has got to be offside" and it was! The assistant referee had his flag up and the goal is disallowed. Final Score: Q.P.R. 1, Liverpool 0 We outshot them 18(9) to 8(4) on the game, meaning we really took control of the game in the second half. We won this game despite their keeper being named Man of the Match with a rating of 9. On our end, Chris Day, Damiano Zenoni, Fabrice Fernandes, and Güiza all rated at 8. I'm especially happy that I gave the start to Güiza  We move up to 5th, 6th at worse once Fulham will have played the game they have on hand over us. Bill Power could not hide his delight following the team's win over Liverpool. However, all but the real diehard fans of Q.P.R. expect their early good form to peter out and for the team to be unable to maintain a challenge for the title. Honestly, a challenge for the title isn't really my goal. A challenge for a spot inside the top 6 is something I'd be amazingly happy with... FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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10-11-2005, 11:59 AM
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#206 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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October 22, 2006
I decide to move Generoso Rossi to the Reserves squad while still keeping him in the S1 spot in the senior squad. This in order to possibly allow him to play with the reserves so he could stay in game shape in case I need him. I hope he won't mind that too much. Fulham won 3-0 over Tottenham so we drop to 6th place.
FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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10-11-2005, 02:18 PM
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#207 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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October 25, 2006
League Cup Round 3: we play Hull at Loftus Road. They're currently in 15th place in the Championship after finishing 19th last season, their first season in teh Championship after promoting from League One at the end of the 2003/04 season. We are 4-6 favourites to win this game. I decide to give the start to Fábio Rochemback at DMC. Steve Finnan still has very low condition. I send him, along with Cedric van der Gun, Arthur Gnohéré, and Gianfranco Zola, to the reserves so they could possibly play in their game today. We take the lead after only 9 minute, when a corner kick from Fabrice Fernandes is headed straight in by Grzegorz Rasiak for his 5th of the season and a 1-0 lead. That's the halftime score. We're in complete control of the flow of the game, outshooting Hull 9(5) to 2(0) and also winning possession with a convincing 60%. We shut them down completely in the second and their keeper has the half of his life to keep us away from the back of his net. Final Score: Q.P.R. 1, Hull 0 We outhsot them 18(10) to 2(0) on the game and their keeper is selected Man of the Match with a rating of 9. If not for him, it could have easily been a much, much bigger score to our advantage. We've been given $52k for our win and we're through to round 4. Steve Finnan was selected as Man of the Match with reserves today. October 28, 2006 The draw for the 4th round of the League Cup is today. There are 16 teams left and we will play Newcastle on their pitch on November 8. FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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10-11-2005, 02:20 PM
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#208 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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October 30, 2006
League Match #12: we play Sunderland on their pitch. They're currently in 15th place after promoting from the Championship where they finished 2nd last year. They are 6-4 favourites and I feel we're not getting much respect. I hate odds like that, they make me nervous... Steve Finnan's condition is at 92% and I could have started him in this game, but the current back fours has been very strong and I don't want to move them around too much. Cedric van der Gun starts at AMC. Tomas Locatelli is on the bench to back him up. This game is on TV. They say that tireless midfielder Paul Hartley is the type of player who can create something out of nothing for Sunderland and that Q.P.R. have conceded only 7 goals in the 11 games that Abubakiri Yakubu has played in. Their prediction is somewhat interesting: "There is not much separating these two teams. Sunderland will find themselves up against a team who have had a good set of results as of late and I think the two clubs will cancel each other out. This game has draw written all over it." We started this game very slowly, letting them dictate the pace of play early on, but we got back into it and had good chances toward the end of the first half which went scoreless. At the half, we're outshooting them 7(4) to 5(0), also dominating possession with 61%. GRRRR! They center a ball to the 6 yard box in the 50th minute and it's headed straight in. Final Score: Q.P.R. 0, Sunderland 1 AAARRGGG!!! Another freaking wonderkeeper! We outshot them 16(8) to 13(3) yet could not put one past their Man of the Match keeper who ended up rating at 9. Bleh. We drop to 9th place. Freddy Guarín twisted his knee late in the game and will miss one week. FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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10-11-2005, 02:21 PM
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#209 |
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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November 1st, 2006
The team board and fans are now delighted with my work as manager of the club. Music to the ear Freddy Guarín again came in second place as the EPL Young Player of the Month. Looking at our U18 squad, I see that Jonathan Burton now has the "D LC" positional tag and not only the "D L" so he's finally added the the centreback possibility to his position arsenal. Sweet. Looking back, I see that I put him on the "retrain" on March 8, 2006, so it took him a little less than 7 months to add a side to his position list, not bad. He's also now described as a "defender" and not strictly a "fullback". Here's what is profile looks like at 17 years of age:  The kids got skills and I would definitely not hesitate to play him with the senior squad if anything happened to any of our starters, at least to test him out a bit... How nice, Generoso Rossi played with the Reserves and came out of the game with a gashed head. He will miss 5 days. November 3, 2006 Damiano Zenoni strained his wrist and will miss one week. My assistant reports to me that Dani has missed yet another day of training. Why bother? I let it go... FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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10-11-2005, 02:23 PM
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#210 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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November 4, 2006
League Match #13: we play Manchester City at Loftus Road. They're currently in 17th place a struggling, even after sacking their manager, Kevin Keegan, earlier this season. Our results against them have been 0-5, 1-2, and 1-1. Always getting better, mabe this is the time we'll win one against them. They are 6-4 favourites, hopefully this is all based on reputation more than winning chances... I decide to start Cristiano Lucarelli over Güiza. I hope I won't regret it. Steve Finnan is on the bench. He's unhappy and says he would like to play in more competitive matches. Dang, stay healthy and we'll have competitive matches for you! Just ask Michael Ball on the other side of the defense... I'm getting depressed a bit after 35 minutes. We've taken 8 shots but have placed only one on target so far. Only three minutes have passed and we change that trend a bit as Abubakiri Yakubu plays a long pass ahead of Cristiano Lucarelli. He dribble inside their area and alone with the keeper, he beats him with a precise strike off the post. Up 1-0! Man City go to a 4-5-1 formation in the 40th minute and we use that switch to increase our lead. Michael Ball plays a long ball over the head of all their midfielders and he connects with Martin Rowlands who converts it for the 2-0 lead. That is the halftime score and we're outshooting them 10(3) to 2(0). We're not doing much better with getting shots on target but we at least converted on the two last ones. Fabrice Fernandes' condition is only at 68% at the halftime break and I replace him with Tomas Locatelli. We're winning possession with 59% at that point. Yakubu has to leave the field, injured, in the 72nd minute, about a couple minutes after we've use our third and final substitution, putting Steve Finnan in Martin Rowlands' place. We go to a 4-1-2-2 formation with 2 wingers and 2 strikers, no AMC. 2:28 into an announced 3 minutes of injury time, Steve Finnan is called for sliding a bit hard on an opponent inside our penalty area. PENALTY!!! They score to make it 2-1 but the final whistle blows right after the goal. Final Score: Q.P.R. 2, Manchester City 1 We outshot them 11(3) to 10(5), meaning we didn't do much in the second half. Day, Yakubu and Fernandes all rated at 8. We're up to 7th place, only 3 points from 3rd! Abubakiri Yakubu suffered a gashed head in the game and will miss 3 days. Fabrice Fernandes picked up his 5th yellow card and will be banned for a game. November 5, 2006 Games are played and as crazy as it sounds, we move up to 6th without playing. This was made possible with Aston Villa's 2-5 loss to Birmingham. We're tied with them on points and that bad loss just dropped their goal differential below ours... FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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10-11-2005, 02:25 PM
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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November 8, 2006
League Cup Round 4: we play Newcastle on their pitch. They're 11th in the EPL this season but they did finish 4th last season. They are evens favourites to win this game. I start Steve Finnan in the place of recently injured Abubakiri Yakubu. With Fabrice Fernandes suspended, I give the left wing start to Tomas Locatelli. We score a fluke goal in the 42nd minute. Martin Rowlands played a free kick forward and their keeper misplayed it only to leave it loose at Cedric van der Gun's feet in teh 6 yard box. CvdG didn't miss his chance and made it 1-0 for us. Bah, only 3 minutes have passed when Fábio Rochemback pushes an opponent on an incoming corner kick inside our penalty area. PENALTY!!! They score to make it 1-1. That is the halftime score. They're outshooting us 11(2) to 5(2) and it's the first time I feel we're being seriously outplayed in a little while. They are winning possession with 55% but 33 of them are in our end of the field. Tomas Locatelli can't seem to get it going and is rating at 6 at the half. I pull him out in favor of Peter Lovenkrands. In the 50th minute, Cedric van der Gun has to leave the pitch, injured. Gianfranco Zola comes in his place. We're holding on for most of the half and I'm hoping to get to extra time where we could get a lucky goal. That plan was working well until they get a throw-in after 2:33 of injury time. I see it coming from miles away. The throw-in is played short, the center is perfect, the ball is headed in... Final Score: Q.P.R. 1, Newcastle 2 Bah, they outshot us 17(4) to 7(4) but it's still a loss that's tough to take. Chris Day rated only at 6, with no apparent reason, while Pascal Cygan and Fábio Rochemback both rated at 8. Cedric van der Gun suffered a groin strain his initial prognosis of 2 weeks out remains the same when I send him to the physiotherapist. FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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10-11-2005, 02:29 PM
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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November 18, 2006
League Match #14: we play Aston Villa on their pitch. They're in 7th place actually tied on points with us. They are 6-4 favourites to win this game. I start Tomas Locatelli in Cedric van der Gun's place at AMC. Damiano Zenoni is back in on the right wing and Freddy Guarín starts in the DMC spot. Michael Ball gets called for a push inside our area in the 13th minute. PENALTY!!! They score to take an early lead. Down 0-1. They are in our area a lot early one, outshooting us 5(4) to 1(0) already. The half ends with us down 0-1 and they're outshooting us 12(6) to 3(0). We're not playing really well, in fact, we're playing pretty badly. Chris Day is keeping us in the game so far, rating at 8 for his effort. I pull Freddy Guarín (rating at 5) from the game and put Fábio Rochemback in his place. In the 50th minute, Tomas Locatelli spots Güiza and sends him a lovely pass which Güiza strikes with fury. He scores from 25 yards out to tie the game 1-1. Final Score: Q.P.R. 1, Aston Villa 1 They outshot us 19(8) to 9(4) on the game, but we played much better in the second half. Thank you Chris Day, we owe you this one. He got rated at 9 and was selected Man of the Match. Danny Shittu, Fabrice Fernandes and Tomas Locatelli all had god game too, all rating at 8. Danny Shittu did suffer a damaged foot though. He will miss one week. We remain in 6th place with the draw, a draw on the road that became quite a morale booster... FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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10-11-2005, 04:26 PM
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#213 |
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Grizzled Veteran
Join Date: May 2003
Location: Ashburn, VA
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Wow, way to pull it together and get some great wins!!!
Go R's!!!! /tk
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GO TERPS! https://www.flickr.com/photos/terpkristin https://twitter.com/terpkristin |
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10-12-2005, 07:33 AM
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#214 |
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Pro Rookie
Join Date: Oct 2000
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Interesting to see an example of what Marc talked about unfolds.
I remember a thread where Marc talked about new players possibly taking time to gel with a new team. It looks like, even though you upgraded in talent, the fact that you had quite a few new faces caused the team to have an early season struggle. Then they had some time to work together and now you've had a nice run. At least it looks to me like that's what's happening. Just cool to see. |
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10-12-2005, 11:38 AM
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#215 |
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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November 19, 2006
Oh crap... The revelation that Grzegorz Rasiak has been cruelly sidelined up to 2 months has been met with dismay by Q.P.R. fans. The striker suffered a slipped disc during training and fans fear they won't be seeing him back in regular action for quite a while. Well, their fears were justified as my physios recommend I send him to the O.R. with possible recovery time between 2 and 6 months. As luck would have it, he will mis 6 months will recuperating from the surgery. Again, fucking bug. The dude WAS NOT SUPPOSED TO TRAIN THE DAY AFTER A MATCH!!! And yes, Rasiak played the whole 90 minutes yesterday. SO WHY OH WHY DO I TICK THAT DAMN CHECKBOX IF THE GUY CAN STILL GET INJURED?!?! Oh well...  I guess Paul Dickov will get his wish and he will see some more first-team action...November 20, 2006 Tomas Locatelli has been selected to the EPL Team of the Week. November 22, 2006 Dani was absent from training yet again... November 24, 2006 Cedric van der Gun resumes full training today. November 25, 2006 The board are pleased to announce that that planned expansion of Loftus Road has been completed. The expansion increases the stadium seating capacity by 5852 seats to a total of 25,000 seats. FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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10-12-2005, 11:41 AM
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#216 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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November 26, 2006
League Match #15: we play Chelsea at the newly renovated Loftus Road. They're currently 3rd, but only 7 points ahead of us. They are 4-5 favourites to win this game. I decide to play a 4-2-2-2 formation with back arrows on the two strikers. Danny Shittu is still not fully healed from his injury. I move Abubakiri Yakubu to DC and start Steve Finnan at DR. Paul Dickov is on the bench as a sub and will remain with the first team with the injury to Grzegorz Rasiak. Chelsea show a 4-3-3 formation to start the game. This game is on TV and Abubakiri Yakubu is presented are our key man. They say the team has only conceded 12 goals in teh 15 games the defender has played in. Chelsea's key man is Frank Lampard and they say the midfielder is a player who can really dominate the midfield is allowed the space. Their prediction is that Chelsea are on a high and that form should be enough to get them a victory of Q.P.R. Well, this is not a good start to the game... In the fourth minute, after clearing one attack, they come right back through the center and head the ball in. Down 0-1. At that point, 9 of our 11 starters are rated at 5... In the 10th minute, Cristiano Ronaldo, acquired to the tune of $94M by Chelsea from Man Utd, is alone with a Chris Day who's rushing out. Day is nowhere good enough to rival with Ronaldo who goes easily around him and knocks home the 0-2 goal. At that point, Freddy Guarín is rated at 4  The half ends with us down 0-2. They're outshooting us, but not outrageously, 4(4) to 3(2). Day, Zenoni, Guarín, and Güiza are all rated at 5 at the half... I pull Chris Day and replace him with Generoso Rossi. The crowd in attendance is a new Q.P.R. record: 24,993 spectators, 7 short of a sellout!!! Freddy Guarín goes crazy in the 59th minute when he receives both a yellow and a red card on the same sequence, his red coming when he got furious with the referee after getting the yellow. COME ON KID!!! In the 62nd minute, Michael Ball clears an incoming corner kick down the right of the field. It'S a footrace between Peter Lovenkrands and Martin Rowlands. Rowlands understands he should let the speedy Lovenkrands get to it first, which Love does. He takes the ball forward a bit more before centering it to the edge of the 6 yard box where Güiza is waiting, unmarked. He scores an easy goal. Final Score: Q.P.R. 1, Chelsea 2 ARG, we had a legitimate shot at this game, if not for the two early goals. We did oushoot them 9(5) to 7(6) on the game. Chris Day rated at only 5 while Generoso Rossi did very well as his replacement, rating at 9 and getting the Man of the Match selection. We remain in 7th place with the loss.
Freddy Guarín, who ended the game rated at a lowly 4, will be banned for one match following his sending off in this game. Following the game, Generoso Rossi went to the media saying that not being part of the first team at Loftus Road is starting to unsettle him. A football website even conducted a poll to get the fans' view on whether Rossi should be part of The Rs' first team plans. The vas majority of the fans disagree with my decision to leave Rossi out of the first team. The full result to the question "Should Rossi be in the first team?" was: Yes - 87%, No - 6%, Undecided - 7%. Hrm, we'll see about him starting for us again. He was great at one point last year. FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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10-12-2005, 11:41 AM
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#217 |
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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November 27, 2006
Speaking of Generoso Rossi, that 45 minutes appearance was worthy enough to be selected in the EPL Team of the Week. November 28, 2006 Three of our games have been selected for live TV coverage in the second half of the season: 01/28, vs Arsenal at Loftus Road 04/02, vs Sunderland at Loftus Road 04/22, at Chelsea December 1st, 2006 The team board and fans are still delighted with my performance as manager of the club. FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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10-12-2005, 11:43 AM
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#218 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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December 3, 2006
League Match #16: we play Tottenham on their pitch. They're currently in 11th place, only 1 point behind us, and are 5-4 favourites to win this game. They have many injuries on their roster and a centreback who's banned for this game. Freddy Guarín is banned for this game and we go back to our usual 4-1-2-1-2 formation. Martin Rowlands starts for Damiano Zenoni. Generoso Rossi is in the nets. And Rossi plays sloppily early on as he mishandles a ball in the 13th minute, letting it go in. Down 0-1. Their keeper also goofs up only 3 minutes later as he misses a kick away. Cristiano Lucarelli is the only one near and he gets the ball, goes around the keeper to score in an empty net. Tie 1-1. The half ends with a tied score of 1-1. They're outshooting us 7(5) to 5(2). Rossi is only rated at 6 for now... GRRRR! They get a free kick on the edge of the area in the 69th minute. The kick is deflected by the wall and Rossi can't do a thing. Down 1-2. Final Score: Q.P.R. 1, Tottenham 2 They outshot us 14(9) to 9(5). Rossi got back to his feet and ended the game with the Man of the Match selection and a rating of 9. It's a frustrating loss in the sense that we stayed pace for pace with them. We belong with these guys, not a feeling I had earlier this season in 1-2 losses like this one... Tottenham move past us to 7th place and we drop to 8th. FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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10-12-2005, 02:16 PM
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#219 |
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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December 4, 2006
Dani was absent from training once again today. There should be some feature where you can give bad references to a team possibly wanting to sign him once his contract is over. He's been listed for a while now but nobody seems interested. Now it would be nice to let other teams know he doesn't like to train in case they want to try and sign him on a free... Generoso Rossi is selected to the EPL Team of the Week for the second week in a row. The draw for the 3rd round of the FA Cup is today. 64 teams are left and we will play Norwich on their pitch. They have been in the Championship the last two season after relegating after the 2004/05 season. They're currently in 6th place in the Championship but they barely avoided the drop to League One last season when they finished in 18th place. The game will be played on their pitch on January 6, 2007. FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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10-12-2005, 02:18 PM
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#220 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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December 6, 2006
League Match #17: we play Arsenal on their pitch. They are currently in 2nd place after holding the top spot for a long while. They just lost 2-6 to Chelsea and are 4-7 favourites to win this game. I pull Pascal Cygan from the lineup and play Abubakiri Yakubu at DC and Steve Finnan at DR. Damiano Zenoni and Peter Lovenkrands are on the wings to start this game. Arsenal show a 4-4-2 formation with heavy forward push by the wingers. Thierry Henry and Robert Pires are both sitting out this game with injuries. In the 12th minute, they play a nice series of passes right in the middle of our defense, ending with the 0-1 goal. Yakubu and Shittu are at 5 and 6 respectively, bleh. They add to their lead in the 24th minute when a corner kick is headed straight in from the penalty spot. Down 0-2. Just before the half, it's Fábio Rochemback's turn to pull a double booking in one play, as he receives a yellow for a foul, then gets mad at the ref and is sent off. What's the matter with my idiotic DMCs?!?! 1:58 into injury time of the first half, Steve Finnan receives a clearance from their keeper and heads it straight back to Damiano Zenoni who spots Cristiano Lucarelli's run. Alone with the keeper, Lucarelli beats him to breath a bit of hope into our squad. The halftime score is 1-2 and they are outshooting us 8(4) to 6(2), so not all bad. We tie it in the 73rd minute, when Paul Dickov brings the ball to the edge of the penalty area only to flick it to the left to Fabrice Fernandes. Fernandes bore on goal and tried a shot from an angle. It went in off the post for the 2-2 goal. They get right back at us when the architect of our equalizer, Paul Dickov is calle for a foul around midfield. They play the kick forward and simply move at will in between our defenders. Down 2-3. Feeling the time lacking, I ask the guys to try and push a bit more offensively, big mistake. They will score twice in the last 5 minutes to make it 2-5. Final Score: Q.P.R. 2, Arsenal 5 That was a shitty ending to a somewhat good game. They did outshoot us 15(8) to 8(3) but I don't consider that too bad. As would be expected with a downpour of goals like that, our back 5 rated at 6. We dropped to 10th with our 3rd loss in a row. Fábio Rochemback will be banned for one match following his red card in this game. Abubakiri Yakubu suffered a strained neck in the game and will miss 5 days. The team morale overall took a severe hit with that loss... FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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10-12-2005, 04:42 PM
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#221 | |
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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Quote:
it is indeed interesting and to be honest, I kind of expected. That tells you how good I feel about the whole engine behind FM. I mean I really signed these players and as I was signing Italian fella after Italian fella, I started getting worried that they could never feel good about playing in England. I'm kinda glad they came around and are now playing fairly well with the other guys, but I feared for a moment that a guy like Cristiano Lucarelli would never feel at ease in the EPL, which is something that could easily happen in real life... FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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10-13-2005, 09:08 AM
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#222 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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December 9, 2006
League Match #18: we play Blackburn at Loftus Road. They're currently in 11th place tied with us in points. In fact, our teams are eerily similar. Same goal differential for instance, and they have 18 goals for to our 21. We are 6-4 favourites to win this game. Pascal Cygan is in for Abubakiri Yakubu. Martin Rowlands in for Damiano Zenoni. Generoso Rossi stays in the game as our keeper. We need to win soon... Freddy Guarín scores on a free kick from just outside their area in the 11th minute to put us ahead 1-0. Generoso Rossi rushes out too far in the 27th minute. Even doing so, he doesn't cover his angle well and lets in an equalizer. Tied 1-1. That is the halftime score. We're outshooting them 5(2) to 3(1). Rossi is the only one rating at 6. DAMN! Rossi is again waaaaay too out of his goal and he gets chipped for the 1-2 goal. GRRRR! I pull him out and put Chris Day in the game. In the 73rd minute, after receiving a nice short pass from Cristiano Lucarelli, Fabrice Fernandes plays a beautiful cross pass over their whole penalty area to Martin Rowlands. The change of wing is perfect and Rowlands is left alone with the keeper. He doesn't miss his chance and we're tied 2-2. Final Score: Q.P.R. 2, Blackburn 2 Seeing how we outshot them 11(6) to 4(2) I can't shake the feelin that Generoso Rossi lost us the game and that pisses me off. I mean, we're scoring goals like madmen, sometimes facing some of the baddest mofo wonderkeepers and I'm stuck with an idiotice keeper who lets in chipshots. DANG! We're still moving up in the table, to 9th place, but the draw didn't really help team morale. I'd guess the guys felt they should have won that one, and I can't argue with them... FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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10-13-2005, 09:09 AM
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#223 |
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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December 10, 2006
Oh, how ironic. Unsettled Q.P.R. goalkeeper Generoso Rossi has said he is delighted that his manager has responded positively to his demands for first team football. The Q.P.R. goalkeeper commented that he had noticed a far greater willingness from his manager to play him since heasked for a regular place in the starting lineup. I'd be tempted to tell him he'd better enjoy it while it last cause he's on a dang short leash at the moment... December 12, 2006 Gareth Ainsworth's loan spell at Gillingham ends and he tells the world that it was very frustrating. He expected to gain more first team experience (at 32 years of age?!?) and feels that he learnt little by going there. In fact, he didn't appear in one first team game and played only in 8 non competitive games. Looking at his stats in these games (6.25 average form, 2 goals, 59% pass completion), I'm not so sure they were wrong in not promoting him to their first-team squad... FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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10-13-2005, 09:12 AM
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#224 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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December 16, 2006
League Match #19: we play Charlton on their pitch. They're currently in 5th place and are 6-4 favourites to win this game. I give another start to Generoso Rossi, hoping he can shake it. Abubakiri Yakubu is back in the lineup, taking Steve Finnan's place. Finnan has definitely not had as much impact in games he's played as Yakubu can have... Paul Dickov starts as Güiza's condition is only at 80%. In teh 17th minute, Generoso Rossi misses a long shot but luckily it hits the crossbar. The rebound goes a long way in the middle and Rossi can't stop the second shot. Down 0-1. Rossi's form drops form 7 to 6, bleh. It's a wooooah moment in the 44th minute as Cedric van der Gun plays a sweet long pass over everyone, ahead of Paul Dickov who finds himself all alone with the keeper. He scores and for a moment, I'm fully expecting that goal to be disallowed because Dickov looked offside. But no, it stands and we're tied at the half. Shots are fairly even after 45 minutes, 4(1) for us 4(2) for them. Freddy Guarín does one of his trademark long throw-in in the 49th minute and Damiano Zenoni flicks it toward the mouth of the goal. The keeper is caught by surprise and Zenoni scores a fluke goal! Up 2-1 We can't hold a friggin' lead right now and this game is no exception. They hit a corner kick to an unmarked striker in the 55th minute and he puts it straight in the back of the net. It gets worse in the 77th minute when, after another corner kick, Generoso Rossi lets a slowly moving loose ball go near the 6 yard box. Sure a striker pounce on it and makes it 2-3. AAAAAARRRGGG!!! Note to self: your priority number one is now to get a better keeper. Be it as a Bosman type signing, or when the board will unlock some transfer budget, you HAVE TO GET A KEEPER if you don't wanna go insane... I put Chris Day in Rossi's place even this late in the game. We keep attacking like madmen and it pays off after 42 seconds of injury time. After Cristiano Lucarelli had played the ball right to Damiano Zenoni and Zenoni had moved forward with it a bit, he found an unmarked Peter Lovenkrands in front of the net. The centered ball is perfect and Lovenkrands ties the game with a diving header and his first goal as a Ranger. Final Score: Q.P.R. 3, Charlton 3 Shots were kinda low for as high a scoring game that was: 7(3) for us, 6(4) for them. Forget defense, we're now all about offense... Cedric van der Gun quietly collected the Man of the Match selection with a rating of 9. He had 8 key passes in the game. Chris Day, in replacement of Generoso Rossi, was in high spirits and rated at 8 too, as did Damiano Zenoni. Scoring goals helps the team morale, or is it the draw on the road, either way, it's on the rise. FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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10-13-2005, 10:05 AM
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#225 |
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Pro Starter
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: TX
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lol, goalie driving you crazy? theres a goalie in central america thats pretty good... cant rember his name though. Do a search for Motta i think
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10-13-2005, 10:22 AM
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#226 | |
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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Quote:
I don't think I've stated this pecularity about my playing, but please don't do that. I mean telling me about amazing players. One of the things I like best with FM is the fact I don't really rely on player database and more on my own searching/scouting of players. There are players I know from my previous career and I'm fine trying to get them again, but I try to avoid the "players to get" sections of big sites like thedugout or sortitoutsi, or even the SI forums, simply because I want to keep the pleasure of finding players on my own. It's not that big a deal here, since I got almost a month of unreported stuff in which you'll probably see me sign a keeper (sorry for the spoiler, you'll know it when you'll see it  ) so as I said, it's okay. Keep reading FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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10-13-2005, 11:35 AM
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#227 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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December 17, 2006
We're getting to the halfway point with most teams having played their 19th game of the season today. Here's what the league table looks like today:
We're sitting straight in the middle and while I'm not completely happy with it (I think we can do better) well, I'm not completely unhappy with it either. With half of the season over comes the time to review the second quarter of our season. Here are the games we played from match #11 to match #19:  What started that gourp of games on a high, but the continuation of a great run fizzled quite a bit, ending with a streak of 6 games without a win. That's why I think we can do better. The reason why I'm not completely unhappy with our position at the moment is that, other than the 2-5 loss to Arsenal that turned ugly toward the end of the game, we have found ways to stay in games and never be completely owned by our opposition. Here's a comparative of Quarters #1 and #2 this season:
"Pts/Pld" represents a number of points earned per game played, to help compare a group of 10 games with a group of 9 games... And how about player performances in this first half of the season? Here's the roster, sorted by average form rating.
As you can see, 3 out of 4 of our regular defenders are having great season, and that includes *gulp* Pascal Cygan ( to daedalus). He's not doing to bad to be honest. Güiza, as he was last season, is our top goal scorer with 7, followed closely by Cristiano Lucaelli with 6. As in years past, Fabrice Fernandes is our playmaker. He created 5 goals so far this season, adding 2 of his own after going two complete season without scoring one goal.December 12, 2006 Cedric van der Gun has been selected on the EPL Team of the Week. December 20, 2006 Dani was absent from training again today. Nothing new, carry on... FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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10-13-2005, 11:43 AM
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#228 |
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Pro Rookie
Join Date: Oct 2000
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No doubt, no doubt. He's definitely useful . . . in the game. My only surprise is his lack of goals (for either side). He was usually good for a few corners each time in my demo runs.
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10-13-2005, 11:43 AM
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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December 20, 2006
League Match #20: we play Fulham on their pitch. They're in 8th place, only one point ahead of us. They are 6-4 favourites to win this game. They have a DC who's suspended and an MC who's injured, along with some low morale overall. Maybe this is our chance to get back to some winning ways, but they usually play us tough, as you can remember from the season opener 0-2 loss the inflicted on us. But we couldn't score back then, now is another story... The Rossi experiment is officially over for now, at least for now. Chris Day is back in the nets. This game is the start of our crazy late December/early January sequence. We'll have games on December 20, 23, 26, 26, 30, and on January 1st. The "two games in two days" party will be between December 30th and January 1st this season as opposed to the December 26th/28th we'd been playing in years past. They show a 3-4-3 formation to start the game. While looking at the possible milestones for this game, it strikes me that both teams are struggling mightily. They're saying that should Fulham fail to win today, they will have gone more games without a victory than at any other stage of the season, beating their previous record of 6 games without winning. And on the other side, should we fail to win today, we will have gone more games without victory than at any other stage of the season, beating the previous record of 7 games without winning. Sigh... Better them than us... Around the 33rd minute, we get a heck of a sequence inside their penalty area, ending it with a corner kick. At that point, we're ahead 8(5) to 3(3) in shots. Two minutes later, one of their inner mid gets his second yellow and is sent off. They go to a 4-4-1 formation but with an AMC, not a SC on top. The half ends with teams locked in a 0-0 tie. We're outshooting them 11(7) to 3(3) at that point. Edwin van der Sar, their keeper is keeping them alive right now, damn wonderkeeper! They come out of the halftime break showing a very narrow 3-3-1-2 formation. That's 3 DC, 3 MC, 1 AMC and 2 SC for your keeping count at home... Güiza gets dispossessed from the ball in the 53rd minute, but Peter Lovenkrands was following close behind and he picked up the loose. He goes forward with it and tries a shot from an angle. It's perfect and we're up 1-0.! 1:24 into injury time, Chris Day almost loses the game for us as he gives the ball away to an opposing striker when playing a pass sloppily, but he made the save on the incoming shot. Even better than simply making the save, he then connected with Paul Dickov on a long kick to the left wing. Dickov took a hard shot on goal but van der Sar saved it, leaving a long rebound in the middle of the area, rebound that Cristiano Lucarelli was only too happy to send right back in the nets for the clincher! Final Score: Q.P.R. 2, Fulham 0 We finally beat a wonderkeeper!!! We did outshoot them 19(14) to 9(5) so if we'd lost that one, I'd have been more than simply pissed off... Tomas Locatelli was selected as Man of the Match with a rating of 9, while 6 other starters rated at 8: Day, Shittu, Rowlands, Lovenkrands, Guarín, and Lucarelli. We move up to 8th place with the win, all the while passing Fulham in the table. Our team board was delighted with the win over our rivals, a win that turned out to be quite a morale booster. FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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10-13-2005, 12:05 PM
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#230 |
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Grizzled Veteran
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: Little Rock, AR
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What did Rossi do? Dive into the goalpost when he gashed his head in the reserve game?
Have you considered giving Burton a run with the first team? I always let my young players appear in a cup game and then the next couple of league matches with the first team. It seems to do wonders in training.
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Xbox 360 Gamer Tag: GoldenEagle014 |
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10-13-2005, 12:11 PM
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#231 | ||
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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Quote:
 I have no clue what he did, seriously, getting pissed at himself and headbutting the goalpost would be more like it, à la Gus Frerotte That or one of his bookie got after him after he failed to make it to the first team and thus was unable to shave off points in our game... (google "generoso rossi suspended" to read about it) Quote:
Thanks for reading. FM edit to provide a link to explain the Frerotte story: http://ww1.sportsline.com/b/page/pre...uckr112597.htm Dang, I didn't realize it went all the way back to 1997... Still pretty funny, as in stupidly funny
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... Last edited by FrogMan : 10-13-2005 at 12:14 PM. |
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10-13-2005, 02:19 PM
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#232 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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December 22, 2006
Looking at my roster, I see that Fábio Rochemback now sports a UNH tag next to his name. He's not gone to the media yet, but he lists as one of his concerns a feeling that he deserves a more important role in the team. That's kind of in line with his personality though and I'd think he'll get a chance to play more first team football with Freddy Guarín wavering in form from time to time... December 23, 2006
League Match #21: we play Wolves at Loftus Road. They're currently in 16th position, fighting hard to avoid relegation straight back to the Championship. Their star striker Henri Camara is injured at the moment but their keeper had a rating of 10 in their last game, buying a 1-1 draw against Birminghman for them as he saved 11 of the 12 shots that Birmingham put on target in that game. We're evens favourites to win this game. I give a breather to Pascal Cygan and start Abubakiri Yakubu in his place and Steve Finnan on the right. Same kind of breather is given to Cristiano Lucarelli who's replaced by Paul Dickov. Another switch is between Cedric van der Gun and Tomas Locatelli in the AMC spot and with both wingers switching out. Wolves show a funky formation to start the game. I honeslty don't remember seeing this kind of formation in the past. Instead of tring to describe it, here's what it looks, next to our very own 4-1-2-1-2 wide diamond formation.  Fabrice Fernandes plays a sweet cross from the left wing all the way to the right side of the field to Damiano Zenoni who heads it forward to Paul Dickov who finishes it for the 1-0 lead. Fabrice Fernandes is again involved in our second goal when he takes the ball to the byline in the 41st minute and centers it on the penalty spot. He takes a shot but their keeper stops it. Dickov gets the rebound and scores his second of the game. The halftime score if 2-0. We'outshooting them 17(8) to 1(1). Woah, I'm not too sure, but that formation of theirs might not have been the best agsint us Take a look at the halftime possession/stats splitscreen. Talk about a rough half hehehe We kept at it for the whole second half butjust couldn't score... Final Score: Q.P.R. 2, Wolves 0 We outshot them 23(13) to 1(1) Fabrice Fernandes got selected as Man of the Match with a perfect form rating of 10. Damiano Zenoni rated at 9 and four others rated at 8: Finnan, Ball, Yakubu, and Dickov. We move up to 6th place with the win but we've played one and sometimes two games more than some of the teams around us.
The team board is delighted with this win! FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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10-13-2005, 02:20 PM
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#233 |
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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December 25, 2006
Ah crap... Q.P.R. fans are said to be concerned after their fullback Michael Ball picked up strained knee ligaments during a routine training session. The 27yo is likely to be out for about a month and in the meantime his presence is likely to be sorely missed. The original prognosis was indeed one month of missed time but I followed my physios recommendation of sending to see a specialist and he had good news for me. Ball will miss three weeks while attending physiotherapy. I will have to look for one of our kid left fullback to step up. We have three 17yo who could fill in for Ball, Lee Porter, Steve Singh, and Jonathan Burton, in addition to veteran Gino Padula. I'm leaning toward Burton at the moment. Here are the profiles of the three kids:    Tomas Locatelli and Damiano Zenoni were both selected to the EPL Team of the Week. FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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10-13-2005, 02:26 PM
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#234 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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December 26, 2006
League Match #22: we play Newcastle on their pitch. They're 7th, only one point below us but with 2 games on hand over us. They are evens favourites to win this game. They have some unhappy players on their ranks, some who think they should be topping the table. They dominated the game in our League Cup match earlier this season. I decide to go with Jonathan Burton at DL with Gino Padula on the bench. I'm going without a backup striker. If anything, we'll go with two DMC's to a more defensive setup. My assistant was recommending Lee Porter for the left fullback spot. Hrm, what? The kid is not to the level that Burton has come to... We take the lead in the 5th minute as a corner kick is headed straight on the crossbar. There's a scramble in front of the net and Tomas Locatelli is able to thread the ball between abnout half a dozen pair of legs to find the back of the net. Up 1-0! In the 30th minute, Danny Shittu steals it from their star striker Yakubu and plays a long pass to Güiza who nods it back to Cristiano Lucarelli. Lucarelli bends an incredible banana shot from 35 yards out, a fabulous strike that the keeper can only watch enter the net. Up 2-0! Ah damn, they take a long shot, some 30-35 yards away from the goal, no bend, nothing special. Chris Day is either daydreaming or badly positioned because it goes straight in. Still up, 2-1. DAMNIT!!! Chris Day plays a free kick from just outside our penalty area. It's headed forward by one of their midfielders and our defenders are playing just way too high. Day can't do anything against a striker in a one-on-one situation. Tied 2-2. That is the halftime score. They are outshooting us 9(2) to 4(2). Day is rated at 6 and I pull him out. Rossi is in. Jonathan Burton was playing a fair game up until the 73rd minute, when he loses the ball on the left side of our penalty area. It's centered almost immediately and shot to the back of the net for the 2-3 goal. Final Score: Q.P.R. 2, Newcastle 3 We just can't win against them but we'll keep trying and someday we'll get it done... They outshot us 17(6) to 6(3) on the game. As he usually does, Generoso Rossi played well in replacement of Day, rating at 8, as did Cristiano Lucarelli. We drop from 6th to 9th with this loss.
FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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10-13-2005, 03:07 PM
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#235 |
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College Prospect
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Inland Empire, PRC
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Hey, steve..
you should at the keeper named "Cech". He's awesome. and for rochemback being unhappy, good luck getting that changed. --tim |
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10-13-2005, 03:13 PM
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#236 | |
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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Quote:
hahaha I don't know much about English football, but I've brushed with mr Cech in the past, so I do know him. I'll have to check though, but I think Chelsea sold him in the last transfer window...If I remember correctly, Roch got pissed in my last career and would not accept new contract offers until one point where I offered him a contract and he got better... Would have to dig in the "frog in football" series to look into that though... FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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10-14-2005, 12:33 AM
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#237 |
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Coordinator
Join Date: Apr 2005
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Froggie,
I got out of the "FM drug", but this thread is making me want to get back on it....Ninny (trademark by Noop) Last edited by Galaxy : 10-14-2005 at 12:33 AM. |
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10-14-2005, 06:59 AM
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#238 | |
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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Quote:
go on my friend, drink the koolaid, it is quite tasty I gotta say I was off the drug for most of Summer but I'm back hooked more than ever. I just can't find enough time to play this game. And think about this, the computer is in our bedroom and my wife works night shift, often taking a 2 hour nap from 8 to about 10:30pm, right before waking up and going back to work. This means playing time comes from about 10:30 'till I feel it isn't reasonable anymore, which has been midnight lately (two kids to take care and drive to school/daycare in the morning will do that to ya)... Sigh... I really gotta get my dad to come over and finish the basement with my future playroom by the woodstove FM FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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10-14-2005, 09:05 AM
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#239 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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December 30, 2006
This is the day where a whole bunch of contracts become unprotected. I see some interesting names among the big list of players and I take a look at my own players who are geting inside the last 6 months of their contracts. Here's a list of these players.
Not too many among them that I'd like to keep past June 2007 to be honest. Maybe Chris Day as a backup keeper. Zola and Protti are set to retire at the end of the season. Gallen isn't up to EPL play. Dani, well, we all know about him now. Paul Dickov is probably the one player I'd like to keep, mostly for depth. At 33, he's not "ancient" still, and he's played fairly well when called upon lately. I will wait a little and may offer him a contract down the road. This list of contract means one big thing. The core of player we have this year will be back next season and could only be improved. That bodes very well for next season... FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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10-14-2005, 09:08 AM
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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December 30, 2006
League Match #23: we play Manchester United at Loftus Road. They're currently 3rd and are 4-7 favourites to win this game. They have a right fullback and an inner mid injured. Oldie Roy Keane is also injured and their left fullback is on international duty. On our side, Danny Shittu is also on international duty. Abubakari Yakubu moves over to centreback and Steve Finnan starts at right fullback. Jonathan Burton is getting another start at left fullback. Paul Dickov starts for Güiza. I'm hoping for one of Chris Day's usual rebound performance following a bad one. He's on a short leash though. Man U show a 4-4-1-1 formation to start the game. They take a 1-0 lead in the 24th minute after Wayne Rooney heads in an incoming corner kick. He jumped over Jonathan Burton to win this one. They're outshooting us 6(5) to 4(1) at that point, ouch. The half ends on that 0-1 score. They're still outshooting us, but not as badly, 7(6) to 6(3). We're even winning possession with 54% although very much on our end of the field, which always worries me. Fabrice Fernandes is running way too hard and his condition has dropped to 67% even after the hafltime break. Peter Lovenkrands replaces him. One minute into the second half, Tim Howard, pressured by Güiza, goofs up and shanks his pass which falls to Cristiano Lucarelli's feet. Unable to really control it, he tips it forward but Güiza is offside. A missed chance if there ever was one... We fight like madmen in that second half and as time dwindles away, I'm almost certain we'll get beat by a dang wonderkeeper again, until 2:25 into injury time. Steve Finnan sent a long throw toward Lucarelli on the right side and Lucarelli played it back to him. Finnan then launched a monster cross to Güiza who simply headed it on toward Lovenkrands on the left wing. Lovenkrands, as he's done a few times in the past, sends a nice placed ball from an angle and scores just off the post. A late equalizer for The Rs!!! Final Score: Q.P.R. 1, Manchester United 1 Woah, quite a superb second half. We end up outshooting them 17(9) to 15(9) on the game, kicking their asses in the second half. Tim Howard is picked as Man of the Match with a rating of 8. Chris Day did almost as well, also rating at 8 on our side, as did Güiza and Peter Lovenkrands. We back up to 8th place after the win. I learn that the gate receipts of $800k for this game are a new Q.P.R. record high. Crowd was 24,985 out of a possible 25,000. I will most probably ask the board for another upgrade to the stadiuma before this season is over. FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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10-14-2005, 09:13 AM
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#241 |
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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January 1st, 2007
This is the start of the transfer window. Unless I ask for more dollars, and I'm granted my wish, I guess I'll watch the fireworks from the sideline this time again... The board, and fans, are delighted with my work though, so I may be tempted to ask for more money... FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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10-14-2005, 10:38 AM
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#242 | |
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College Prospect
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Inland Empire, PRC
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!!!!!
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HAHAHAHHAHAH!!!!!!!!!!! It's alllllllllllll my fault!!!! yes! |
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10-14-2005, 10:46 AM
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#243 | |
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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Quote:
err, don't forget tk or she'll get mad FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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10-14-2005, 11:44 AM
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#244 |
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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January 1, 2007
League Match #24: we play Birmingham on their pitch. They'Re currently in 14th with lots of unhappy players. They did finish 7th last year, won the EURO Vase this year and are still alive in the knockout round of the EURO Cup so I can understand why players would not be satisfied with a 14th place. They are 6-4 favourites to win this game. This is our annual "2 games in 2 days" bonanza. Gino Padula is in for the stamina deprived Burton at left fullback. Call that a lack of guts not to give a shot at one of the other kids. Steve Finnan stays in at DR and Danny Shittu, back from his international game, is in for Pascal Cygan. I forgot to save the pregame lineup, here's the abbreviated version: GK: Day DR: Finnan DL: Padula DC: Shittu DC: Yakubu MR: Zenoni ML: Lovenkrands DMC: Rochemback AMC: Locatelli SC: Dickov SC: Güiza S1: Rossi S2: Guarín S3: Fernandes S4: Rowlands S5: Lucarelli The first half ends scoreless, a very bland half. They're outshooting us 6(1) to 4(1) and more important, they're winning possession on our end of the field. It stays a kind of boring game until we hit the 70 minute mark. It started with a free kick from Danny Shittu at about the centerline, lofting a perfect ball to Martin Rowlands, in for Tomas Locatelli at AMC, on the edge of their penalty area. He chips it over the keeper's head for the 1-0 goal. We increase our lead in the 79th minute when Paul Dickov finds Cristiano Lucarelli to his right. Lucarelli fights off one defender, then another and finally buries the ball for the 2-0 goal. Sadly, this game isn't over and time seems to be flowing ever so slowly. They fight back and head a corner kick straight in only 3 minutes later. They go to a very attacking 2-3-5 formation right after that goal. As I thought we'd be able to hold them off, they get a free kick just inside their half of the field, 1:50 into injury time. I wanna scream at my players. Our line of defenders is playing way too forward. They get beat with a perfect pass and run that leaves a striker alone with Day. He beats him to tie the game, 2-2. Final Score: Q.P.R. 2, Birmingham 2 Typical high scoring, then letdown kind of game. AAARRRGGG!!! They did fire many shots on our goal in the second half though, outshooting us 16(5) to 9(4) on the game, so 12(4) to 3(3) in the second half... We drop to 9th in a logjam of three teams. FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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10-14-2005, 02:18 PM
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#245 |
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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January 2, 2007
As I just hinted, given the delightedness of our board and fans (although I doubt they have much to say in that) I decide to go to the board and ask the for some extra transfer fund. We do have some $30M+ still in the bank... Their answer is immediate: they feel I already have adequate resources with which to do my job, bleh... January 3, 2007 Dani is absent from training again today. A lightbulb goes on in my head, I'm tired of that dude, why not offer him a mutual termination? I do that and he agrees to terminate his contract for a one time fee of $68,970. He's currently paid $11,500 per week and we have about 24 weeks until June 30. That would turn out to be $276k. I see yes to the mutual termination in a heartbeat. Buhbye Dani. I wanna say good riddance, but he was good to us early on. Kinda sad it had to end this way... You know what the after january 1st period stands for, right? UNPROTECTED CONTRACTS!!! Hrm, what could I shop for, and more important, do I expect us to stick in the EPL for one more year? HECK YEAH!!! Or at least I like our chances.... As to what to shop for, did I hear keeper? Yeah, keeper sounds good... Well, the pool of keepers available to pure Bosman type signing, i.e. without any compensation, so no dudes with unprotected contracts ending in more than six months, well let's say it isn't all that great. Except I found this 30yo German named Simon Jentzsch (that's a mouthful of consonants right there), former member of the German U21 squad. Currently with Wolfsburg, I think he could be quite an upgrade over Rossi and Day and my assistant believes he'd become a useful which is an assessment he doesn't give often. He's great in one-on-one situation with also great reflexes while also possessing a good sense of positioning himself in the action. He's looking for a 3 year deal with wages around $52k per week and a signing on fee of $480k. I offer him that weekly wage and I even throw in an additional $20k on top of his required signing on fee since I have also upped his required minimum release fee clause from $6.8M to the usual $18M that I always ask for in contract negotiations. The team board would allow me to go all the way up to $70k... We'll see how it goes... FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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10-14-2005, 02:20 PM
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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January 6, 2007
FA Cup round 3: we play Norwich on their pitch. They're currently in 8th place in the Championship. Their have a fullback who's injured and we're 4-6 favourites to win this game. Pascal Cygan is back in the game, as is Jonathan Burton. Abubakari Yakubu moves over to right fullback and Steve Finnan is sitting this one out. Freddy Guarín starts in teh DMC spot and Cedric van der Gun is in at AMC. They take a 1-0 lead in the 28th minute, when Chris Day tries to intercept a long center in front of the net. He lets it go though and the ball slowly goes in. Down 0-1. That's the halftime score and I'm not a happy camper. We're outshooting them 6(4) to 5(3) but we're far from dominating the game. We catch a break with 15 seconds to go in the 90 minutes. Cedric van der Gun had just played a crazy through ball just ahead of Martin Rowlands. In a crazy second effort, Rowlands tried to wrestle the ball from a defender, only to be pushed away. PENALTY!!! Cristiano Lucarelli stepped up for the kick but DAMN THE KEEPER SAVED IT!!! The ball got sent to a corner and Chris Day joined the offense but to no avail... Final Score: Q.P.R. 0, Norwich 1 AAAAARRRRRGGGGGG!!!! I could say I don't care, that it's only the Cup, but DAMNIT, I just can't! I royally pîssed off! We outshot them 15(9) to 8(4), really taking over in the second half but we never were able to get through their gosh darn wonderkeeper who was named Man of the Match with a rating of 9.In the loss, Yakubu, Shittu, van der Gun, and Fernandes all rated at 8 while Chris Day rated only at 6, thanks mainly to that one goof up that led to the losing goal. And with that, we're out of the FA Cup FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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10-14-2005, 02:37 PM
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#247 |
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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January 7, 2007
Anybody remember a fellow named Youssouf Hersi? I do and I've had him on my shortlist for a little while now. When I got the message that his contract at Vitesse was coming to an end, I thought that maybe I could try offering a contract to the 24yo AMC. He's looking for a 3 year deal with wages around $28,500 per week and a signing on fee of $340k. That's a bit rich for my taste as he would probably have to fight Cedric van der Gun or Tomas Locatelli for playing time, but I'm willing to offer him something a bit lower. Let's say $20k per week and a signing on fee of $220k. Just as receive two scout reports telling me that Simon Jentzsch is not good enough to play for Q.P.R., I also see them two news headers... "Jentzsch rejects Wolfsburg offer" "Jentzsch accepts Q.P.R. offer" I think we've found our keeper for next season. As I said before, I think he'll be an upgrade over Day and Rossi, only time will tell though. He'll arrive at Loftus Road on July 1st. You can see his profile below:  January 9, 2007 Well I didn't expect this kind of news headlines, given the cheapness of our offer, but there goes: "Hersi rejects Vitesse offer" "Hersi accepts Q.P.R. offer" He added that he was keen to rise to the challenge of playing for such an illustrious club. As you see in his profile below, he's already got a very sound set of skills and maybe some room to grow too. I'm sure he'll fit well into our kind of formation. He's set to arrive at Loftus Road on July 2.  January 11, 2007 While still shopping around, I find this all around attacking midfielder, capable of playing about anywhere behind the strikers, but described as a winger. Name is Christian Wilhelmsson, 27, and he plays for Crystal Palace right now. He doesn't have great form rating this season but that may be more because of how they play him. He's a burner with great acceleration, pace, dribbling and crossing skills, the kind of combination that could make him a killer in our formation. He's looking for a 3 year contract with wages around $54k per week and a signing on fee of $850k. Funny, my assistant believes he would be no more than a fringe player with us, yet recommends to limit our contract offer to $58k per week... I decide to try a cheapo contract offer and I tell him $42k per week with the requested $850k per week. I also upped the minimum release fee clause from $13M to $18M.January 12, 2007 Arthur Gnohéré wants to play with the first team. Hrm, you are a backup my friend, deal with it... FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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10-14-2005, 03:40 PM
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#248 |
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College Prospect
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Inland Empire, PRC
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FM,
Would it be against your rules to see a Jentzsch vs. Day/Rossi comparison in Fm2005 or excel? |
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10-16-2005, 11:47 AM
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#249 |
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n00b
Join Date: Oct 2005
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how do u put the pictures on?
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10-17-2005, 09:05 AM
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#250 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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January 13, 2007
League Match #25: we play Bolton at Loftus Road. They're currently in 17th with low morale all around. They just lost to Wolves in the FA Cup. We are 5-4 favourites to win this game. Chris Day remains as our starting keeper. I hope he'll rebound from his ordinary performance of last game. Gino Padula is in at left fullback. Bolton show a 5-3-2 formation with two wingbacks to start the game. Fábio Rochemback takes his chance from 35 yards out in the 4th minute and the shot is hard enough that their keeper can't hold on to the ball. Cristiano Lucarelli is there for the rebound and buries it for the 1-0 goal. We increase our lead only 4 minutes later when Gino Padula scores on a free kick from 30 yeards out. We're very opportunistic in this first half and in the 20th minute, Güiza intercepts a lofted pass from their keeper to their right fullback. He powers a header to the back of the net for the 3-0 goal. That is the halftime score. We're outshooting them 6(4) to 1(1) at this point and controlling the ball quite a bit with 58%. Güiza doubles his tally in the 48th minute when he converts a great pass from Tomas Locatelli with a great strike. Up 4-0 Final Score: Q.P.R. 4, Bolton 0 Just what the doctor ordered! We outshot them 12(6) to 6(3) on the game and we move up to 8th place. Güiza is selected as Man of the Match with his two goals and a rating of 8. Five others also rated at 8: Day, Finnan, Shittu, Rochemback, and Lucarelli. The board is pleased with the win and so are the players, everybody is in a buoyant mood following the win! FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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