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10-05-2005, 11:35 AM
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#151 |
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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July 5, 2006
Well, stick a fork in it, he doesn't want to come play for us. Gilberto has rejected our latest offer. He says he's not happy with the offer and he doesn't want to take negotiations further. Bleh... Seeing how negotations have sort of stalled with Rochemback, I have this little lightbulb go over my head, comic style. FREDDY GUARIN!!! I had forgotten about him. A quick search reveals that he's playing for Envigado in his native Colombia and the 20yo DM RC is looking mighty fine, skills wise... While he's under contract the end of January 2009, he's valued at $1.85M. Hrm this crazy thought enters my head. Would they fall for a $2M offer? Even though it says I have a $2.2M transfer budget, it's actually $2.176M, so $2M is the highest I can go... I gotta try it, with a deadline set to tomorrow. July 6, 2006 WOAH!!! Our bid for Freddy Guarín has been accepted and we can offer him a contract. Aww, look at that, a kid with kid's eyes and a complete lack of greed. I say this because of his contractual demands. He wants $13,000 per week until Jun 2010 with a signing fee of $18k. My assistant believes he would become a useful member of our squad and recommends that we offer him a contract in the region of $10,500. Not gonna haggle with the kid, I offer him what he's asking. July 7, 2006 Martin Rowlands resumes full training following his big injury. Fabrice Fernandes resumes light training and is about one month away from resuming full training with the team. Gilberto leaves Arsenal. July 8, 2006 Woah, out of the blue, I get the news that Fábio Rochemback has accepted our offer. His move is delayed until he gets a work permit. We should have a decision regarding that work permit on July 23. July 9, 2006 Freddy Guarín accepts our offer and signs with Q.P.R. He says he in enthusiastic to play with such a well supported club. Well, you'll have to wait before you get to play with us. Just like Rochemback, Guarín's move is delayed as we wait for a decision on his work permit. Again, a decision should be given on July 23. 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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10-05-2005, 11:37 AM
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#152 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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July 10, 2006
Friendly #1: we play Gillingham on their pitch. As per recommendation from my assistant, I try Peter Lovenkrands on the left wing. He's a F LC but I think he could the trick if Fernandes or newcomer Locatelli go down later in the season. The first half is darn boring, ending in a 0-0 lock. Shots are tied at 1(0) on both sides of the field. Pascal Cygan came to the field at the half and he goofs up for the first time as a Ranger as he misses an header on an incoming center from the right. To his defense, the ball had been deflected by Arthur Gnohéré on the start. The ball's headed straight in for the 0-1 goal. Final Score: Q.P.R. 0, Gillingham 1 We outshot them 6(2) to 3(1). Most players ratedat 7 except Martin Rowlands, Chris Day and Pascal Cygan who all rated at 6. It's our first game of the preseason... 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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10-05-2005, 11:38 AM
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#153 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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July 13, 2006
Grzegorz Rasiak resumes full training after missing seven months following his thigh injury. He'll play in our upcoming friendlies. July 14, 2006
Friendly #2: we play Chelsea at Loftus Road. This game is on TV and because of that, odds have been place on who will win this game. Chelsea are 4-6 favourites to win this game. Petr Cech is presented as their key man while newcomer Peter Lovenkrands is presented as ours. It's a fairly uneventful first half, until 24 seconds into injury time, when Generoso Rossi is called for a push inside our penalty area on an incoming corner kick. PENALTY!!! They score on the kick. That will be the half, and final score. Final Score: Q.P.R. 0, Chelsea 1 They were outshooting us 10(5) to 2(2) at the half, but only 13(5) to 5(3) at the end of the game. Chris Day was our only player rating at anything other than 7, with an 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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10-05-2005, 11:39 AM
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#154 |
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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July 15, 2006
Remember Lee Porter, that promising fullback my assistant told me to keep an eye on? Well, I think it could be a good idea to tie him up with some sort of a contract. He wants $700 per week but my assistant recommends $550 so I offer him that. I also make sure I don't promise him first team play as he seems to be wanting. I instead denote him as a "hot prospect". July 17, 2006 Lee Porter turns professional after being handed his first contract by the club. With me, and his mom, looking on, the 17yo fullback put pen to paper on a 3 year deal. You can look at his profile below:  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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10-05-2005, 11:41 AM
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#155 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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July 19, 2006
Friendly #3: we play Luton Town at Kenilworth Road. It's always something special for me to come play at Kenilworth Road. I try something with my wingers. Since Peter Lovenkrands is already match fit, I decide to move up Michael Ball to left winger and give a start to Jonathan Burton at left Fullback. Martin Rowlands has struggled in the start of games so far this season on the right wing, so I go with what my assistant is suggesting on his team report and I move Steve Finnan up to the winger spot, putting Abubakiri Yakubu on the right and Pascal Cygan in the center of the defensive line. And what a boring game that turns out to be... Final Score: Q.P.R. 0, Luton Town 0 Bleh, we were outshooting them 5(2) to 2(0) at the half and ended the game outshooting them 11(5) to 4(0). Someday we'll score a goal. I gotta I admit that I don't really tweak my tactics during the friendlies. I mean I adjust it to start the game, but I don't always tweak it in-game. I also do a liberal subbing of about every starters at halftime Ball and Finnan did okay, but everybody on the team rated at 7. 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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10-05-2005, 11:56 AM
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#156 |
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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July 22, 2006
Squad numbers are to be decided today. It's always something I enjoy doing and with three possible starters coming in on August 1st, I try to save some nice low numbers for them. Six of our games in the first half of the season have been picked for live TV coverage: 08/13, vs Fulham at Loftus Road 09/10, at Bolton 09/17, at Arsenal 10/30, at Sunderland 11/26, vs Chelsea at Loftus Road 12/03, at Tottenham I like this selection of games. Sunderland is coming up from the Championship. The Fulham & Bolton ones are against team with which we fought for a position last season. Arsenal and Chelsea are big rivals of us. Even more so, the Chelsea game should be the first one in a renovated Loftus Road as constructions should end around November 24. July 23, 2006 ARGH! Both Freddy Guarín's and Fábio Rochemback's initial work permit application have been turned down. We appeal the decision. I was sort of expecting it, but still that's a letdown. There's no way I was gonna let it go without appealing. While we're waiting on that appeal, take a look at Rochemback's and Guarín's profiles:   FM PS: I was a man on a mission last night as I really wanted to get to the July 23 date, hoping to see some approved work permit for Roch and Guarín. I shut off the game as of July 23, right before our friendly #4. I expect we'll knwo the date of decision on the appeal after that game...
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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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10-05-2005, 03:19 PM
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#157 |
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Pro Starter
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: TX
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\o/ Freddy Guarin! \o/
hes loyal and not greedy. will play for you forever. i never once heard him complain and for some reason doesnt attract too much attention from bigger clubs. and thats over CM4, CM04/05, and FM05 |
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10-05-2005, 06:46 PM
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#158 | |
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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Quote:
I always wanted to sign him in my previous career but found him a bit late and never was able to acquire at that time (around 2008/09). I'm always worried about the dang work permit though. I guess it'll go to the wire, to the last appeal, as it did with Rochemback in my previous career... Fingers crossed for now... Another player who's not as impressive in this career as I remember him being in my previous career is Anthony Vanden Borre. I've been keeping track of him but he's got some holes in his skills... 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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10-06-2005, 05:37 AM
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#159 |
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Pro Rookie
Join Date: Oct 2000
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My mention of Kolo was in reference to Kolo Abib Toure, a centreback with Arsenal. He makes a servicable right fullback as well. The computer tends to undervalue him so you may have an outside shot. The only negative I can actually say about him is that, like Danny Shittu, he will miss part of the winter season to his tours of duty with the Cote D'Ivor national team.
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10-06-2005, 06:52 AM
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#160 | |
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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Quote:
Oh, good to know. As I said, I'm lacking somewhat in my knowledge of the EPL players  The way you describe him, he reminds me of Abubakiri Yakubu. That being said, with Shittu, Yakubu, and him, I'd die during that darn African Nations Cup...I'll keep an eye on him 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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10-06-2005, 09:04 AM
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#161 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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July 23, 2006
Friendly #4: we play Brighton on their pitch. I try something and put Abubakiri Yakubu in the DMC spot. I also reunite Grzegorz Rasiak with Güiza up front. And boy does this lineup generate fireworks or what!!! We've jumped to a 3-0 lead before the first half is over. Güiza scored the first one in the 18th minute before assisting on goals from Rasiak (37') and Rowlands (45') We were outshooting them 13(9) to 1(0) in the first half and even though we didn't score in the second half, we outshot them 6(2) to 1(0) in that second half. Final Score: Q.P.R. 3, Brighton 0 We outshot them 19(11) to 2(0) on the game. Güiza was named Man of the Match with a goal and 2 assists and a rating of 9. Shittu, Rowlands, Lovenkrands, Rasiak, and Bircham all rated at 8, a welcome sight after 3 average showing by many players... After the game, I learn that the decision on Fochemback's and Guarín's work permits should be made on August 6. That's 3 friendlies in the future and will leave both of them only one friendly to gain some match fitness (assuming their WP are granted)... 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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10-06-2005, 09:06 AM
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#162 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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July 26, 2006
Oh crap, a local newspaper is reporting that full back Steve Finnan could miss the start of the new season after suffering strained anle ligamentsduring a pre-season training session. With the start of the new season looming on the horizon, the 30 year old is now a major doubt for Q.P.R.'s opening Premier Division clash. While originally thought to be missing 3 weeks, this prognosis is changed to 4 weeks once Finnan meets with the physiotherapist. I get a message reminding of the players whit contracts expiring in the next 12 months, here they are:
Not many in there that I would be tempted to get out of my way to retain. I don't see one in there who should be a regular starter, notwithstanding injurie that is... Also remember that Protti and Zola are set to retire at the end of this season. July 28, 2007 I learn that our friendly against Arsenal has been picked up for live television coverage. 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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10-06-2005, 09:07 AM
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#163 |
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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July 28, 2006
Friendly #5: we play Aston Villa at Loftus Road. I didn't save the pregame lineup and won't list it since it's only a friendly. Not much has changed since our big game against Brighton. We pushed hard very early on, only to see them come right back at us and put us down 0-1 in the 3rd minute. They'll add another goal in the 67th minute when promising keeper Dean Morgan looks on as a shot from 30 yards out goes in over his head... Final Score: Q.P.R. 0, Aston Villa 2 They outshot us 11(2) to 8(3), so 2 shots on target, 2 goals, bleh... Generoso Rossi and Martin Rowlands had downers with ratings of 5, no reason for bad showings like that... We had good stats overall, decent possession, I'm thinking it could have gone either way. I peg this loss to the game being preseason... Paul Dickov suffered a chest injury and will miss 5 days. 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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10-06-2005, 09:15 AM
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#164 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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July 30, 2006
Friendly #6: we play Betis at Loftus Road. I put in Dean Morgan at keeper to see if he can go a whole game or not... Score was 0-0 at the half but they score in teh 60th minute, following a very excellent move that saw the ball being crossed from side to side twice and being headed in to end it. Final Score: Q.P.R. 0, Betis 1 Shots were 11(1) for us to 9(3) to them. We took way too many long shots, especially in moments where our players could have run with the ball to get closer. I'll have to tweak the tactics.... We again had decent possession 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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10-06-2005, 11:37 AM
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#165 |
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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August 1st, 2006
The team board are very pleased with my performance as manager of the club. Damiano Zenoni arrives to Loftus Road from Udinese. Steve Singh arrives to Loftus Road from Deportivo. Cristiano Lucarelli arrives to Loftus Road from Livorno. Tomas Locatelli arrives to Loftus Road from Palermo. The three Italian fellas should play their first friendly with us in three days when we'll face Arsenal. Oddscheckers.com have made Manchester United 6-4 favourites to win the EPL title this season. The rest of the main contenders are: Liverpool (7-4), Chelsea (2-1), Arsenal (5-2), Newcastle (16-1) and Tottenham (33-1) By pricing our team at 200-1 the bookmakers clearly think that relegation is a real possibility and that I should be gearing up for a long, hard and ultimately disappointing season. Well, 200-1 is already much better than the 1000-1 they had us at last season. Baby steps people, baby steps!  You know that following odds like that, the media come right to me. A journalist from The Observer approached me with the following question: "The bookies are tipping you for relegation this season. Do you think you will have to bolster your squad in order to stay up?" "I've already bolstered our squad you doofus!!!" is what goes through my head. I mean, I've brought in 9 new players this offseason, with two potentially very good DMC's on the way. That means we could end up with 6 new faces in the starting eleven, what more should I do? I end up responding that I definitely don't plan on bringing more player and that I believe we've got the players with the ability to keep us up. Following my comment, Danny Shittu, Gino Padula and Fabrice Fernandes are all please that I'm not looking for re-enforcements to bolster our fight against relegation and they hope to repay the faith I've shown in the current squad. On the other side of the coin though, I've got lazy Martin Rowlands who's pleased that he won't have to compete too hard for a first team place. Got news for you buddy, you're second on the depth chart already. Keep working or else you'll see the bench more often than you'll see the field of play... Hrm, looks like while my answer made some players happy, it did rub some of our fans the wrong way. They're now only pleased with my my management of the club and are unhappy that I have said I will not be bringing in any new players. Let's hope the players I've brought on will do the trick or else our fans could be asking for my head before the end of the season... August 2, 2006 I learn that our friendly against Benfica has been picked up for live television coverage. 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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10-06-2005, 11:42 AM
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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August 3, 2006
Friendly #7: we play Arsenal at Loftus Road. Many of our Italian connection dudes are playing their first game in England today. This game is on TV and Abubakiri Yakubu and Thierry Henry are mentionned as key men for both teams. The prediction surprises me a bit. They have Arsenal as 4-7 favourites to win this game but here's what they had to say about the game's outcome: "Q.P.R. aren't a bad side and I think it will be close but for my money this should be a win for Arsenal." Hrm, "not a bad side"... "will be close"... is it possible that we're beginning to get some love from the pundits... One name catches my eye even before the game has started: Rob Styles...  It's only a friendly guys, go easy on your tackling...Tomas Locatelli shows he has vision in the 29th minute when he holds up the ball after receiving a pass from Cedric van der Gun on the left wing. He holds it up just long enough for van der Gun to reposition himself and mount a run toward the goal. Locatelli's pass his perfect and VDG scores when all alone with the keeper. Up 1-0. They tie the game when a powerful shot is deflected by Pascal Cygan in the 35th minute. The halftime score is 1-1 but wow, we're outshooting them 6(3) to 2(1). In the 52th minute, van der Gun is running past their last defender, apparently getting on the clear with the keeper when he's caught from behind. PENALTY!!!! On top of it, Joe Keenan is given a red card for a professional foul. Damiano Zenoni scores the 2-1 goal on the penalty. This is a very wild game and newcomer Steve Singh receives a red card in the 76th minute, after he too tripped a player that was free on goal. At least, he tripped him just outside the penalty area and nothing resulted from the free kick. To close the game, Martin Rowlands intercept a ball in the 89th minute and plays a nice long pass ahead of Güiza. All alone with the keeper, he makes it 3-1. Final Score: Q.P.R. 3, Arsenal 1 Yeah, I know it's only a friendly and they may very well have played all scrubs, although Howard did start in the nets and Henry was in the game, but I like that win! We outshot them 15(7) to 5(1), that's gotta mean something. Tomas Locatelli was selected as Man of the Match witha rating of 9. He completed 30 of 32 passes, 4 of them key passes. My friend, I think we may have found ourselves a star Güiza, Shittu, and van der Gun all got rated at 8 but Rossi only received a 6, even though he only faced one shot on target. The dude has better get back in form, or I'll seriously have to look for somebody else... 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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10-06-2005, 02:18 PM
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#167 |
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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August 4, 2006
Paul Dickov strained his wrist in training and will miss one week. Not that he was very high on the training chart or that he had done much this preseason, but this has about killed any chances of him to be in our starting eleven come opening night. August 6, 2006 Fabrice Fernandes resumes full training following his long injury. Today's the day and... and... and... WOOHOO!!! Guarín and Rochemback have both been granted conditional work permit!!!  /me is happy They both arrive to Loftus Road later on in the day. They must have been staying locked in a hotel in hope that they'd be okayed Yet, our stupid fans are still unhappy that I said I wouldn't bring any new players... oh well... August 7, 2006 Gareth Ainsworth apparently got wind of me offering him to a team who was scouting him and he has told the press that he is bitterly disappointed at my decision to offer him to other clubs. Speaking ot a journalist from the Sunday Mirror, the right winger said that I had made it clear in no uncertain terms that he was no longer wanted at Q.P.R. Well Gareth, you were borderline for us last season but experience can only bring you so far. You've lost a few more steps this last offseason and you're just not cutting it anymore. I'd be doing you a favor by shipping you elsewhere but you are welcome to see it any way you want. 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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10-06-2005, 02:19 PM
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#168 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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August 8, 2006
Friendly #8: we play Benfica at Loftus Road. I try Chris Day in the nets. Fábio Rochemback gets the start at DMC but Freddy Guarín figures to get some playing time in the second half. For what it's worth, my assistant ranks Roch ahead of Guarín in the DMC spot but they're both getting 2 stars in his team report, two stars being the best any of my players is receiving. Yakubu and Shittu were the only two getting two stars last season and sometimes Güiza was getting two, when in the middle of some good form streaks. This season, Cygan is rated with two, Lovenkrands and the three Italian fellas are also all rated at two so there's no question I've improved the roster at least a bit. Now remains to be seen if they will perform well together... The match is on TV and they are evens favourites to win this game. Ah crap! Tomas Locatelli has to leave the game injured in the 44th minute. Fabrice Fernandes comes in. The half ends 0-0 and we're outshooting them outrageously, 9(3) to 1(0). We're also dominating in possession, with 59%. We can't convert anything in the second half either and we may have pulled back a little as we didn't shoot as much. Final Score: Q.P.R. 0, Benfica 0 We outshot them 11(3) to 1(0) on the game. We did control the ball a lot, maybe even more in the second half, but we never really push to the goal... Locatelli suffered a damaged shoulder and will miss one week. Following the game, I hear that Swindon want to loan promising fullback Lee Porter. I reject. Because of past experience, I don't really like to loan out promising kids. None of the kids I've loaned out in the past has ever come back better than he was before his loan spell. 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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10-06-2005, 02:20 PM
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#169 |
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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next up will be some of my favourite postings in a season, the position team overview reports
Here we 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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10-06-2005, 02:21 PM
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#170 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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Team Overview 2006: Goalkeepers
This is a sore spot on the team. As much as I liked Generoso Rossi when he first got to play with us following his one year global ban, he soured on me later on when he went on a bad form streak that he still doesn't seem to be able to shake off. Chris Day, well, he's good old Chris Day. A good guy who often gives up a bad goal, probably due to his atrocious positioning. I'm thinking of keeping promising keeper Dean Morgan in games as the backup to whoever will be the starter. And by "whoever" I mean just that, I may alternate between Rossi and Day, depending on who gets hot... 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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10-06-2005, 02:23 PM
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#171 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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Team Overview 2006: Centrebacks
Danny Shittu remains the rock in our defense and it seems I say that every season. Well that's because he is folks Pascal Cygan is indeed a header machine, but he sometimes tend to let people run right past him and that may drive me crazy in the long run. Him and Shittu combine some out of this world combination of jumping and heading skills though.Abubakiri Yakubu may be asked to step to the centreback position once Steve Finnan comes back from his injury. He plays just as well in the middle as he does on the side and can clear the area very effectively. One thing this top three has in common is they are all strong fellows. Nobody will wrestle the ball away from a Ranger centreback Arthur Gnohéré surprised me late last season with some good playing as a backup and he remains my ace in the hole in case of injury. And speaking of injury, while I list youngsters Pat Kanyuka and John Fletcher as the 3rd pair on the depth chart, it's more like a courtesy so some of the young kids will feel they still have a shot. I'd probably play a fullback out of position or sign a free agent centreback before I'd play one of these two in a competitive match. 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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10-06-2005, 02:24 PM
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#172 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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Team Overview 2006: Fullbacks
Michael Ball has been brought on from Rangers to replace struggling Gino Padula on the left side. I think he will do just fine as I see him as a definite upgrade over Padula. Yakubu, despite a lack of crossing skill that I usually have a hard time living with in fullbacks, is doing mighty fine on the side. Other than that one black spot on his skill set, he's a solid defender overall. That being said, I may play Steve Finnan on that right side when he comes back from his injury. He's got EPL experience and is another nice addition to our defensive back four. Jonathan Burton has improved a whole lot since coming to the team through our youth program. I've played him quite a lot during this preseason and he never seemed in big trouble. I'd definitely turn to him before turning to Gino Padula and that tells you how deep the 30 year old fullback is buried in our depth chart. Burton is still being trained to acquire the "C" "side" since he's pretty sound for a young defender My scouts and even my assistant all seem pretty high on 17yo Steve Singh. I mean, he's got a fairly good skill set and someday may be a starter for us, but I've seen my assistant list him ahead of Ball on his team report. For now, I'll go with the experience of Ball while keeping the development of the young Singh in good check. I don't know what's in the water at Loftus Road, but we seem to be pumping out promising left fullbacks like nothing else. 17yo Lee Porter is still a project, but if he develops, he too could have a place on our roster in the future... 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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10-06-2005, 02:25 PM
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#173 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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Team Overview 2006: Defensive Midfielders
Major overhaul in that department late in the preseason with the coming to Loftus Road of Fábio Rochemback and Freddy Guarín. Rochemback is a bit older and thus is a bit more experienced. Because of that, he could have a bit more playing time early on. Guarín on the other hand is simply a marvel of talent at only 20 years of age. I can't wait to see him fling a long throw in or two late in games. Having them both on the squad could also allow us to switch to a 4-2-2-2 formation to protect leads late in games. Marc Bircham is the odd man out at the position and that is reflected by the fact that I would probably play regular fullbacks/wingers Abubakiri Yakubu and Damiano Zenoni instead of him in case of injury. The guy's not bad per se, but he's got some holes in his skill set. Jody Morris will be extremely lucky if he sees playing time with the first team unit this season. One thing that jumps from this group of players is their very high work ethic and good stamina. The good stamina will help us if/when we want to go to that 4-2-2-2 formation late in games... 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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10-06-2005, 02:33 PM
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#174 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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Team Overview 2006: Attacking Midfielders
Cedric van der Gun really earned his starting spot when Dani got injured around the middle of last season. He played so well and showed so much grit that I never went back to Dani. He's still unhappy though, looking for clarification on his role at the club. Hrm, starting AMC? Gianfranco Zola, even at 40, is still a good player to have on the field. His free kicks when just outside the opponent's penalty area are deadly. He is set to retire at the end of this season. I really like what Tomas Locatelli could bring to us if played right behind the strikers. His good dribbling skill and his great creativity could feed the strikers amazingly well. Depending on who of him and Fernandes gets hot on the left wing, I could keep him on the bench to either sub on the left or in the center. Dani is a very nice backup to have in your 4th line of the depth chart. He's had good games and some ordinary ones but I won't hesitate to go to him in case of injury. Thing is, he's not the most patient fellow and I fear he'll get pissed before we hit game #5 on our schedule... Martin Rowland played the AMC spot on occasion when we were in the Championship and he had some good games there. He's good depth at the position here. Peter Lovenkrands, well he's got good all around skills and I'm sure he wouldn't be in trouble if asked to step up and play AMC for us. 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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10-06-2005, 02:47 PM
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#175 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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Team Overview 2006: Wingers
Winger is another position where I think we really improved this offseason. Tomas Locatelli or Fabrice Fernandes are two great wingers and I may end up playing both lefties on the field at once, switching Fernandes to the right side since he can man both side... Locatelli has it all or just about but he's injured for the start of the season. He played a great game once and if he can pull a few of these, he should be great to watch. Fernandes had great season in 04/05 and had a rough start in 05/06 until he started to put it together and then got hurt in the biggest game of the season. I will look to him to get back to his old self. Can you imagine that, start the game with Locatelli and bring Fernandes at the half when you opponent's defender are getting tired? woah, brings back memories of a certain Clemens Fritz Damiano Zenoni starts the season as the starting right winger, but I'm not sold on him. Just as I'm not sold on Martin Rowlands after he failed to perform before getting injured in 05/06. This right winger spot is something I'll have to keep working on... Peter Lovenkrands proved to me in the preseason friendlies that he can indeed play the left winger pretty well. He's got speed and acceleration to burn many a defender, it's simply amazing to see him turn it on. I've plugged the name of Freddy Guarín in there because he could be of use if the other fellas fail on the right side. He's good all around, specifically has good crossing skill with decent pace and stamina. Aaron Brown, currently on a month to month contract, and Scott Donnelly round out this group and they'll be lucky to see the field much this season. Donnelly is still young and still seen as a promising midfielder, so we'll see... 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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10-06-2005, 03:01 PM
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#176 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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Team Overview 2006: Strikers
Lack of depth, what lack of depth??? Remember how last season ended with a rough time finding strikers, sometimes playing the likes of Igor Protti and Kevin Gallen. Güiza became the star of the team last season with the sheer number of goals he was able to convert from many different situation. For now, he opens the season as one of the two starters, we'll how it goes from here. Cristiano Lucarelli was given the #99 that he adorned at Livorno. Hopefully, he plays like The Great One in hockey used to play. He's got great skill, that's a given, now remains to be seen if he'll adapt to English football without missing his momma and wanting to go home... I love Peter Lovenkrands' speed He is absolutely amazing to watch. Coming from Scotland, he shouldn't feel too out of place in England and his versatility should keep him match fit even if he doesn't always play at striker.Grzegorz Rasiak is the odd man out here. His injury and his lack of goal scoring kind of did him in last season. He'll start with the reserves and we'll go from there... Gianfranco Zola was of good help when we went really thin at the striker position. He'll likely provide us the same kind of depht this season again. Paul Dickov was brough to Loftus Road on a one year contract, mostly for depth. He could still be a regular starter if need be, but I hope we won't go that deep on the depth chart. Igor Protti remains on the team and should not see the field much with the first team squad. He's set to retire at the end of the 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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10-06-2005, 03:06 PM
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#177 |
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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Well, the positional team overviews are done now. These are you 2006/07 Rangers!!!
Now come the time to answer the big question: What kind of finish do you predict for The Rs in 2006/07? Come answer the poll! 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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10-06-2005, 04:17 PM
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#178 |
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Pro Starter
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: TX
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thats a big squad
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10-06-2005, 06:17 PM
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#179 | |
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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Quote:
if you're referring to all the players present on every positional review, keep in mind that I list each and every player on one of our three squad (senior, reserves, *and* U18). If you have that in mind and think it's still a big squad, well maybe it is I like having depth and hate falling short of players when an injury happen. That and there are still some players to skim that were there when I took over the team or that won't be worth keeping after 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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10-07-2005, 09:12 AM
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#180 |
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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August 12, 2006
The regular season opener is coming up and in the build-up to our relegation clash on Sunday, Fulham manager Ramón Diaz tells me throught he media that morale in the Fulham dressing roomis extremely high and that his side fear no-one. The Fulham also warned me not to bother attempting any mind-games in the build-up to the match as it would not have any effect on his team. Abubakiri Yakubu, Martin Rowlands, and Gianfanco Zola all believe that the team can overcome any obstacle put in front of them and that this is reflecteed by some of the comments emanating from rival managers. Fabrice Fernandes is a bit overconfident though and believes that the team can cope with big occasions and can win big games without much effort. When will you learn? In the EPL, nothing comes to you without effort!!! I respond to Díaz that I would like nothing better than an early season victory against our rivals. To that, Yakubu, Rowlands, and Zola now think the team can win without effort. GRRRR. Danny Shittu and Fabrice Fernandes are both determined to go from strength to strength... 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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10-07-2005, 11:38 AM
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#181 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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August 13, 2006
League Match #1: we play Fulham at Loftus Road. They finished 15th last season, only one point below us. We're 6-4 favourites to win this game. Undecided between Fábio Rochemback and Freddy Guarín at DMC, I see that Guarín is already match fit after only playing the last 23 minutes of his one and only friendly. Probably has to do with him coming from Colombia and the period of the year in which they play their season. He gets the start over the unfit Rochemback. This game is on TV and key men are Abubakiri Yakubu for us and keeper Edwin van der Sar for them. They say the two teams are very evenly matched and they are predicting a draw. Fulham show a 3-4-1-2 formation to start this game. No goals in the first half, despite plenty of action. We're outshooting them 7(2) to 4(3). Generoso Rossi is rating at 8. We're also winning possession with 58%. I've seen this too often this season already though. In the first minute after the halftime break, they get a free kick around midfield. It's played forward only for the ball to be shot perfectly, top corner. Down 0-1. They move the ball at will in the 68th minute and put us down 0-2. Final Score: Q.P.R. 0, Fulham 2 We need to put the ball on target more. We outshot them on overal shots, 13 to 10, but they outshot us on target, 6 to 3... We spent the frigging game on their end of the field too... Abubakiri Yakubu strained his wrist in the game and will miss one week. Bad timing with Steve Finnan still out. I'll have to see who I'll play on the right fullback spot, but I might turn to one of my regular centreback to play there. I don't see anybody worthy in the reserves... 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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10-07-2005, 11:42 AM
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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August 16, 2006
League Match #2: we play Wolves on their pitch. They promoted to the EPL through the playoffs in the Championship after finishing 5th on the season. They drew 0-0 with Birmingham in their first games this season. We're 5-4 favourites to win this game. Tomas Locatelli was all set to maybe make an appearance in this game, but he broke his wrist this morning and he will miss one month. It's gotta be while stepping off his bed or something because MY PLAYERS ARE NOT SUPPOSED TO BE TRAINING ON GAMEDAY DAMNIT!!! Oh well... I ask my physios for a report on him and they are tagging him to be a bit "injury prone". Hrm, got great things planned for you Tomas, please don't disappoint me...With Abubakiri Yakubu still out, I decide to put Pascal Cygan on the right side and Arthur Gnohéré in his place at centreback. Fábio Rochemback starts at DMC. Grzegorz Rasiak is in for Cristiano Lucarelli. Martin Rowlands is in for Damiano Zenoni. Fabrice Fernandes is in at left wing. I'm trying to put in players who played for us last year, maybe it'll us play more like a team and score some goals... Wolves show a 4-3-3 formation to start the game. In the 23rd minute, they turn a throw-in into a nice long center which is headed straight behind Generoso Rossi. Down 0-1 and they're kicking our butts on possession. Down 0-1 at the half and they're outshooting us 5(3) to 3(1). Even worse, they're winning possession with 57% overall and an astounding 33% on our end of the field. Maybe it's because they've pulled back since the half, but we're controlling the ball more in the second half, but we're not mounting any kind of scoring pressure... Final Score: Q.P.R. 0, Wolves 1 GRRR, another scoreless game for us They outshot us 8(4) to 7(1) on the game as we kept putting the ball everywhere but on target. Rochemback played a shitty game and ended rating only at 5 until I replaced him by Freddy Guarín in the 64th minute. Some players had better games though, including out of position Man of the Match Pascal Cygan with a rating of 8. Same rating to Danny Shittu, Arthur Gnohéré, and Cedric van der Gun.Well, 20th after two. I guess there's nowhere to go but up. Time to regroup guys... 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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10-07-2005, 11:51 AM
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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August 19, 2006
League Match #3: we play Newcastle at Loftus Road. They finished 4th last season and are in 11th after two. They are evens favourites to win this game. Prior to the game, my assistant send me a report about Gianfranco Zola and how he is now well past his prime and can no longer perform adequately at this level. He feels that Zola is a good influence on younger players and shoul;d be allowed to see out his contract for this season. That was my plan anyway... I'll play Zola only if we're in a bind... I decide to give another chance to Generoso Rossi after last game where he rated at 6. 1 minute into injury of the first half, we send a nice cross following a corner kick played short. The recipient is Cristiano Lucarelli who's mounting a charge to the 6 yard box. He heads it in for his first goal as a Ranger and a 1-0 lead. That's the halftime socre and we're outshooting them 6(1) to 4(0). Even though the second half ended scoreless, it was one of those nailbiter kind of half. We held on, but barely. Final Score: Q.P.R. 1, Newcastle 0 They did outshoot us on the game, 12(3) to 11(2) but we gained possession as the game went on. The Rossi gamble paid off as he earn the selection as Man of the Match with a rating of 8. That win was a nice morale booster for the whole squad too! 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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10-07-2005, 11:59 AM
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#184 |
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Pro Starter
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: TX
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make sure Guarin has long shots on, hes killer with them
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10-07-2005, 12:02 PM
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#185 | |
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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Quote:
Oh, he's got them on, for sure. In fact, long shot ability has always been almost a must for most my DMCs I've signed in the past. Rochemback is 18 or above too. One other that the kid is impressing me with are his long throws. WOAH can he fling that thing!!!  From the sideline to almost the penalty spot... Gotta give credit to Desnudo though because he had told me about his long throws... I wonder if Desnudo still reads in here, been a while since I'Ve seen him around... 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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10-07-2005, 02:21 PM
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#186 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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August 22, 2006
Steve Finnan resumes full training following his physiotherapy. He probably won't be ready for tomorrow's game. August 23, 2006
League Match #4: we play Manchest United on their pitch. They're currently in 3rd with 2 wins and a draw on the season so far and they're 4-7 favourites to win this game. We go with a 4-2-2-2 formation with 2 DMCs in Freddy Guarín and Fábio Rochemback. Steve Finnan is indeed not ready to play yet but Abubakiri Yakubub is and he will start in the right fullback spot. Manchester United show a 4-3-3 formation to start the game. Woah, what just happened there! The had apparently just started, one highlight had been shown when all of a sudden I'm staring at my tactics screen, in which Generoso Rossi's name is greyed out. At first I'm thinking he got injured, but then I reallized that to the left of his name isn't a red cross but a FRIGGING RED CARD! From looking at the match report I later learned that he got called for a foul in the area, so a penalty kick, but then he was sent off for a cynical foul. A CYNICAL FOUL?!? Cristiano Lucarelli was only rated at 5 so I decide to pull him off and put Chris Day in the nets. Just lovely... They score on the penalty. Down 0-1. The half ends with that score, some 34 minutes later. They're outshooting us 8(5) to 3(2) and I'm thinking it's not that bad for 10 men versus the currently EPL title holders. That was until I saw the possession figures. Man U are winning possession with 58% and are controlling the ball 31% of the time inside our side of the field. Not good... They score a second goal in teh 50th minute when we leave a man unmarked in the middle. Down 0-2. Final Score: Q.P.R. 0, Manchester United 2 As weird as that can be, I'm almost happy we "only" lost 0-2. They did outshoot us 18(11) to 3(2) and they won possession outrageously, which was all expected, given the fact that they are a better club than us, and that we played with ten men for 79 minutes of the game... A couple guys seemed overwhelmed early on and never regained composure. Rossi rated at 5 thanks to his red card and Lucarelli never got a chance to turn his 5 into something else. Güiza rated at 6 while playing all alone up top and Fábio Rochemback had another poor showing, also rating at 6. Generoso Rossi is automatically banned for a match after being sent off. I'm allowed to appeal the ban, which I do, without much hope I must say. August 24, 2006 As expected, the FA thinks that I did not have valid grounds for our appeal against teh one match ban for Generoso Rossi. August 26, 2006 The draw for round 2 of the League Cup happens today. We will play Doncaster, an English Championship side who just got promoted from League One through the playoffs, at Loftus Road on September 19. We were supposed to play Arsenal on TV on September 17 but they moved it because of the league cup game. I see that the game will not be shown on TV due to its new date. Grrr... 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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10-07-2005, 02:22 PM
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#187 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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August 26, 2006
League Match #5: we play Birmingham at Loftus Road. They're in 17th place with 2 draws and a loss on their record. We're 6-4 favourites to win this game. Fabrice Fernandes starts on the left wing as we go back to our usual 4-1-2-1-2 formation. Steve Finnan's condition is still too low for him to start. The first half goes scoreless and while they're outshooting us on simple shots, 10 to 7, we're outshooting them on target 6 to 2. I like this precision... We definitely got better as the half went on. Cristiano Lucarelli is having another rough game, again rating at 5. Chris Day is having a good one so far though, rating at 8. In the 67th minute, Grzegorz Rasiak tried to send a pass toward Güiza but the ball ricocheted off a defender. Güiza still kept running toward goal and was the first to get to the ball. Alone with the keeper, he beats him with a precise strike. Up 1-0! In the 80th minute, Peter Lovenkrands, after getting the ball from Abubakiri Yakubu, launches a long pass to Rasiak in the middle of their defensive four. Rasiak finds the back of the net to make it 2-0!!! Since we cannot make it easy on ourselves, we let go of a total fluke goal in the 88th minute as a center goes in between the heads of our two centrebacks. Still up, 2-1! Final Score: Q.P.R. 2, Birmingham 1 We outshot them 15(12) to 16(4) and I would have been pretty pissed if we'd dropped our lead in the last 5 minutes. It's a second rating of 5 in a row for the dude who should be our star up front, Cristiano Lucarelli. I'm afraid he's having a hard time getting used to playing in England. I'll probably bring him from the bench for a few games, kind of to let him regain confidence. Peter Lovenkrands rated at 8 after replacing Fabrice Fernandes in teh 58th minute. Yakubu twisted his knee in the game and will miss one week. Our next game is only on September 10, so he should be back by then, as should be Steve Finnan. 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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10-07-2005, 02:23 PM
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#188 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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September 1st, 2006
The transfer deadline has passed. The board is still very pleased with my performance as manager. The fans are still only pleased with it, but they're not unhappy about what I said regarding not bringing in new players... We're 13th after every team has played their 5th game.
September 9, 2006 Seeing how Generoso Rossi's form fluctuates quite a lot, I'm thinking about making Chris Day a bit happier with a new contract. Not a long term one mind you, but a one year contract with some wage increase. I probably wouldn't think that way if I were very tight under my wage budget, but we've got some room, so I offer him a contract. He wants a one year contract with wages around $19,500 per week and a signing on fee of $140k. My assistant recommends a contract up to $16k per week for Day, whom he considers a backup for the club. In a fishing experiment, I offer Day a contract at $12,500 per week with a signing on fee of $80k. September 10, 2006 Gillingham want Gareth Ainsworth on loan for three months. I accept. 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... Last edited by FrogMan : 10-07-2005 at 02:25 PM. |
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10-07-2005, 02:50 PM
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#189 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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September 10, 2006
League Match #6: we play Bolton on their pitch. They're currently one spot below us, in 14th place with 4 draws and 1 loss to their record. We're 6-4 favourites to win this game. we've been favourites a few times this season already but not often when on the road... Danny Shittu is away on international duty with Nigeria. Steve Finnan is in as the right fullback and Abubakiri Yakubu is moved to centreback. Chris Day starts as the keeper with Rossi's suspension. Cristiano Lucarelli starts on the bench. This game is on TV and Damiano Zenoni is presented as our key man while their keeper, Jussi Jaaskelainen is theirs. They are saying that this game has draw written all over it. The teams seem to have heard that in the first half as it ends scoreless. We're outshooting them 8(2) to 4(1). We had some great chances but we reverted to our usual "shoot over the net" habits... The second half was wild as we kept getting one-on-one chances with their keeper, but he turned into a dang wonderkeeper and stopped everything and then, I started swearing. They had one big chance in the 79th minute and the only word on my notepad for it is one gigantic F-word. They scored to put us down 0-1. To add the icing on the cake, Güiza scores the equalizer in the 85th minute, only to see it being disallowed because of a bogus offside call. I know it's a matter of 2D viewer and such, but I watched the replay of that goal about 4 times and there's no way Güiza was even close to being offside. grrrr! Final Score: Q.P.R. 0, Bolton 1 SOOOOO FRUSTRATING!!! We outshot them 18(9) to 8(3) so this means 10(7) to 4(2) in the second half and yet we couldn't pull it off. A complete WTF game...Losses like that pisses me off since we can't really afford to lose the games in which we dominate. One thiny silver lining though, we did dominate and if not for their keeper, we could have scored something like 3 or 4 goals. I like it better when we get shot opportunities and we we put them on target than when I see a game where we shoot 12 times but only put one on target... I'm only hoping the guys will gel at some point and we'll start putting points on the board... As you'd expect, their keeper was selected MoM with a rating of 9. Damiano Zenoni twisted his knee and will miss one week. Chris Day rejected our first offer but he's willing ot negotiate. I offer him a bit more, $12,500 per week with a signing on fee of $120k. As I expected to hear soon, Dani complains about not being selected for the first team. He says he will be looking to leave the club if he doesn't break into the first team soon. September 11, 2006 Abubakiri Yakubu was 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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10-07-2005, 02:57 PM
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#190 |
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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the season is still young and the poll is still open until October 11th, so come answer the big question: what kind of finish do you predict for The Rs in 2006/07?
http://dynamic.gamespy.com/~fof/foru...ad.php?t=43349 Thanks to all of you who've voted already. 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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10-07-2005, 04:01 PM
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#191 |
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Pro Starter
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: TX
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i did vote. btw sorry to bother but i should mention that if freddy plays in the dmc spot you should have him on foward runs, so he runs to the outside of box often
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10-08-2005, 02:21 AM
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#192 | ||
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Pro Rookie
Join Date: Oct 2000
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Quote:
Quote:
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10-08-2005, 07:29 AM
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#193 | ||
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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I've checked him out in my game and he's valued at 13.5M which is a bit hogh for my taste, especially given the cheapskates I have on the team board. They've yet to pull the "go get the high profile player no matter the cost" stunt. Well, Bill Power did do it in August 2004 I think, but we had only $4M in the bank at the time, so "no matter the cost" wasn't as high as it would be now Fabrice Fernandes was the recipient of that one big purchase...Regarding the fullback comment, Yakubu is impressing me more and more on that spot, especially given Steve Finnan's slow start to the season with his injury. Yakubu can sometimes take control of that right side and feed beutiful ball up to the winger, right after he dispossessed the other team's winger when he was trying a run to the net... Quote:
hehe, for some reason I end up finding diamonds in the rough at Rangers (the Scottish side). Peter Lovenkrands is another newcomer to Loftus Road that was at Rangers last season and I remember buying one or two in my previous career (Stephen Pearson is one I think)... This game can be soooo frustrating, yet it's too much fun to put down for long 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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10-09-2005, 07:19 AM
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#194 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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September 11, 2006
Chris Day has signed a new one year contract with us. He's happy and hopefully will be usefull as Generoso Rossi's backup, or even part-time starter. September 12, 2006 My assistant informs me that Dani was absent from training this morning. I give him an official warning which he accepts without comment. Gareth Ainsworth has agreed to go on loan at Gillingham for three months. September 19, 2006
League Cup Round 2: we play Doncaster at Loftus Road. They're currently 19th in the Championship after promoting from League One through the playoffs (finished 6th in L1 last season). We're 4-7 favourites to win this game, but I go about it as if they were Arsenal or Man, so we're going with mostly our regular starters. (except I didn't realize that Danny Shittu was back from his international match, oops) In the 17th minute, Steve Finnan shows great vision when he spots Grzegorz Rasiak's run ahead of the two centrebacks. He launched a bomb of a pass from his right fullback just ahead of Rasiak who scores the 1-0 goal. In the 24th minute, Rasiak exchanges the ball with Freddy Guarín before sending a nice through ball for Güiza. Alone with the keeper, he decides to run him over and score the 2-0 goal. The party has just started as we add another one in the 29th minute. This time, it's Fabrice Fernandes who initiates the play by running along the left sideline. He spots a hole in their defense where Cedric van der Gun is going. The center is perfect and CvdG heads it in for thje 3-0 goal. At that point, we were perfect with 8 shots on target in 8 attempts. The half ends with that 3-0 score. We're outshooting them 10(9) to 1(0). In the 66th minute, Cristiano Lucarelli plays a nice ball ahead of Güiza who scores his second of the game to give us a 4 goal lead. As if we'd not done enough, 4:05 into injury time, Fernandes spots Lucarelli unmarked in their penalty area. His center is once again perfect and Lucarelli notches the 5-0 goal. Final Score: Q.P.R. 5, Doncaster 0 Wow! For a team who'd had problems scoring, this is feels pretty dang good, even against a Championship team. We outshot them 18(14) to 2(0) on the game. Seven players ended the game with ratings of 8: Finnan, Ball, Yakubu, Cygan, van der Gun, Rasiak, Lucarelli. Even better, we had two who rated at 10, Fabrice Fernandes, who received the Man of the Match selection over Güiza and his two goals. This game was a GREAT morale booster! We've been given $36,000 for the win and we're through to round 3. I learn that the crowd of 10499 today is a record low for the club, heh. 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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10-10-2005, 11:39 AM
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#195 |
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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September 22, 2006
With our two teams meeting on Saturday, Leicester City manager Glenn Hoddle has told a press conference that, even though he respects me , he will be doing evertyhing in his power to keep his team away from the drop zone and if that meant Q.P.R. going down, then so be it. Hoddle added that all he was going to think about in the build-up to this game was coming away from the game at Loftus Road with all the points. Michael Ball and Fabrice Fernandes are both a bit too confident for me as they believe the team can cope with big occasions and that they can win the big games without much effort. Abubakiri Yakubu is more reasonable and determined and he believes that the team can overcome any obstacle put in front of them and that this is reflected by some of the comments emanating from rival team managers. I take a strong stance in my respond and I tell Hoddle through the media that I don't think his team will survive in the EPL. Honestly, he survived last season, but they probably should have dropped then. Well, weird reactions from my players. The two whom I saw as a bit overconfident, Michael Ball and Fabrice Fernandes, both like my forthright views regarding Leicester's slim chances of avoiding the drop while Yakubu, and Pascal Cygan, believe I acted very unprofessionally by commenting to the press that Leicester won't avoid the drop... hrm... Looking aroung with my players, I see that Cedric van der Gun has picked up an injury. He apparently is suffering from a "dead leg" and is about 2 days from being completely healthy. I wonder where that dead leg is coming from... The 3rd round draw of the League Cup is today. We will play Hull at Loftus Road on October 25. They're currently in 12th place in the Championship but finished only in 19th place last 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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10-11-2005, 09:04 AM
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Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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September 23, 2006
League Match #7: we play Leicester at Loftus Road. They are struggling and are now in 20th and last place in the EPL with no win, 1 draw and 5 losses to their record. I don't take anything for granted though and we'll fight them as if they were Arsenal or Chelsea as they just beat up on a L1 promotee, winning 4-0 over Hartlepool, in the league Cup, just like we did against Doncaster. Gianfranco Zola starts in Dani's place in the AMC spot. A scramble on the left in the 35th minute is at the source of our first goal. Fabrice Fernandes got to the loose ball and played a lovely pass to Güiza who's only got the keeper to beat. And beat him, he does. Up 1-0. The half ends on that score and shots are tied 6(3) for either team. Possession is also very even and this game could go either way still... We gain momentum as the second half went on but it took us until 39 seconds into injury time to really seal it, when Damiano Zenoni crossed the ball all the away accross the field to Peter Lovenkrands who took the ball to the byline before centering it to an unmarked Grzegorz Rasiak on the edge of the 6 yard box. Rasiak easily put it in to make it 2-0. Final Score: Q.P.R. 2, Leicester 0 We outshot them 14(10) to 8(4) on the game, proof of how we took control in the second half. Chris Day received the MoM with a rating of 8. Abubakiri Yakubu, Fabrice Fernandes, and Güiza also got rated at 8. A very satisfying win with which the board is very pleased! 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, 09:05 AM
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#197 |
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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September 24, 2006
I see that the Q.P.R. supporters are now very pleased with the progress the team has been making and they are now in full support of my management of the club. That support was kind of lacking since the start of the season, good to see them back me. September 25, 2006 Tomas Locatelli is now back to full training after missing one month. Steve Finnan suffered a groin strain in training. While he's first diagnosed to miss about 2 weeks, we all know now that groins strains usually require some physiotherapy sessions. Finnan's strain is no different and he will miss 4 weeks, ugh... My assistant informs me that Dani was absent from training today. Being his second offense, I fine him one week of wage. September 29, 2006 Peter Lovenkrands strained a wrist in training and will miss one week. We're testing our depth a bit more with every injury. Even more so that Cristiano Lucarelli stubbed a toe earlier in the week and missed three days of training. He's now ok, but his condition has suffered from 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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10-11-2005, 09:07 AM
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#198 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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September 30, 2006
League Match #8: we play Southampton on their pitch. They're currently 14th, but only 1 point behind us and are 6-4 favourites to win this game. I decide to keep Tomas Locatelli as a sub, despite his very low form. I'm planning on maybe playing him late in the game to give Fabrice Fernandes a breather. Chris Day is still in as keeper. They show a 3-4-1-2 formation to start the game. We start with a roar and in the 4th minute, Güiza gets the ball on the right sideline after a broken play. He plays a long cross to Fabrice Fernandes who is alone with the keeper and he scores his first ever goal as a Ranger. Yep, took him two and a half season to score a goal, although I must say he's prepared a boatload of them... Güiza really made that goal with that beautiful cross. Up 1-0. They tie it before halftime, in the 25th minute, when a long shot is deflected by Danny Shittu in front of the goal. It goes in off the post. Tied 1-1. Teams are locked at 1-1 at the half. While shots are at 8 on either side, we're outshooting them 6 to 2 on target. Chris Day rates at only 6 for no apparent reason other than letting in a goal he couldn't see coming. Dang, Fernandes' condition has dipped to 68% even after the halftime rest. I tell him to stop running to the byline, in hope that it will keep him for a little more, until it's realistic that Tomas Locatelli comes in to replace him. No goals are scored in a very tight second half. Final Score: Q.P.R. 1, Southampton 1 Shots ended up being 11(7) for us, 12(3) for them. A very close game but one I'm happy to come out of with a draw, especially on the road. We finished the game with 2 players with minor injuries. Cedric van der Gun will turn out to be okay while Güiza suffered a bruised rib and will miss three days. 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, 09:08 AM
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#199 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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October 1st, 2006
The board is very pleased with my work as manager of the team. Freddy Guarín finished second as EPL Young Player of the Month. Some league games are played today and after 8 games, we're sitting in 13th place. We do have a game on hand over a couple teams right above us though, namely Middlesbrough and Wolves. We play Middlesbrough in our next league match in a few days. Here's the table after today's games:
October 2, 2006 Pascal Cygan and Freddy Guarín are 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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10-11-2005, 09:22 AM
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#200 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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October 4, 2006
League Match #9: we play Middlesbrough at Loftus Road. They're currently in 10th place, but only 2 points ahead of us with one more game played than us. They seem to score a lot (14 goals scored so far) but also they seem to concede a lot of goal (15 goals conceded so far)... We are 6-4 favourites to win this game. Güiza isn't injured anymore, but is condition is a bit low. As a result, he starts the game on the bench and Cristiano Lucarelli starts in his place. Damiano Zenoni gets the start on the right wing. Chris Day starts despite rating at 5 in our last game. I have Generoso Rossi ready to take his place if he drops in form, or if he logs another low form game without reason, or is his morale drops to very poor. We're off to a fantastic start as we take the lead after only 5 minutes of play. Grzegorz Rasiak overlapped with Fabrice Fernandes on the left wing, to the sideline before centering the ball to Cedric van der Gun who launched a fierce shot to make it 1-0. And I'm wowed again only 6 minute later. Abubakiri Yakubu holds up play until he spots the run of Damiano Zenoni on the right sideline and he launches a rocket of a pass ahead of him. Zenoni didn't waste time and centered the ball to Cristiano Lucarelli who simply flicked to Rasiak who scored his second to make it 2-0. We add another one before the break, in the 44th minute, when Fernandes plays a corner kick short to Damiano Zenoni. His center to Danny Shittu's head is perfect and Shittu makes it 3-0. That is the halftime score and we're outshooting them 10(8) to 3(0). We're extremely accurate so far. That accuracy pays off again in the 65th minute when a long throw in from Freddy Guarín comes right back to him on the corner of their penalty area. His volley shot is perfect for his 1st ever goal as a Ranger. Up 4-0! Guarín is back at it in the 83rd minute with another of his long throw in. This time, he targets Cristiano Lucarelli in the area. Feeling the pressure, the opposing defender pushes Lucarelli inside the area. PENALTY!!! Guarín scores his second of the game on the penalty. Up 5-0!!! Final Score: Q.P.R. 5, Middlesbrough 0 Wow, just WOW! We outshot them 16(10) to 10(0) ast they kept trying it from very long range. Six of our players rated at 8 but it's Freddy Guarín who stood out with his two goals, a rating of 9 a selection as Man of the Match. We move up to 10th place with the win! The team board was absolutely delighted about this win. With most people expecting a struggle to at the bottom of the league, the team find their performances meriting a position in the top half. 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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