Welcome back to Coventry, where my FM20 journey got off to a thoroughly average start last time out. We re-join the action in early September, where excitement is building on which way my perfectly symmetrical league record will flop.
Before that particular excitement, it’s time for the Leasing Windscreen Paint Shield Trophy or whatever it’s called. The sponsored trophy. The media are predicting a record low crowd for the visit of Crystal Palace Under 23s which I struggle to argue with. Here’s the scenario. We don’t play in our own stadium, we ground share with Birmingham. It’s a tournament nobody cares about, certainly at this stage of it, and we’re hosting a Premier League Under 23 side. Not a good one either, this is Crystal Palace Under 23s. It’s a wonder they sold any tickets at all.
Those who do turn up are treated to Hiwula missing a penalty (that’s 1 from 4 as a team this season) and Westbrooke scoring a canny goal from distance. A lovely 1-0 win.
If you thought that was bad, a home game with Blackpool finishes 0-0. Our hopes are briefly raised when the visitors go down to 10 just before half time but we’re inept and can’t score. Forgive me for not taking any positives from the fact my left back ran 12km.
We go to Burton Albion and after a tight first half I’m relatively satisfied with our away day showing. A disaster of a second half follows though and we lose 2-0, deservedly so too
Our away form is non-existent. Mind you, our home form isn’t exactly Chelsea under Mourinho. After some feedback, it seems an attacking midfielder would help and one-on-ones are broken. Something like this maybe?
A couple of tweaks, such as Jobello as an inside forward and Hiwula as a winger and we are ready to host struggling Wimbledon. They really must be struggling as Idah scores to put us 2-0 up after a calamitous own goal. It’s all in the bag but we get dispossessed at the back and Folivi puts us under pressure for the remaining 8 minutes. Still, 69% possession and a narrow win is better than the Blackpool game.
Wimbledon have just two points so I won’t hail our new formation just yet. Doncaster though are a playoff contender so if we can play well here, I’ll be more convinced.
All hail 4-2-3-1. We’re outstanding from start to finish, poor old Doncaster don’t know what’s hit them. Westbrooke pings one in from 25 yards, fast becoming his speciality. McFadz heads in from a corner and Hiwula adds a third. We’re dominating the ball, we’re dominating the goals, we’re unstoppable.
A trip to Rotherham is the first test of the formation away from home. They’ve just come down from the Championship so they should be well placed to go back up but they’ve made an indifferent start. As it’s an away game, I’ve dropped our mentality to cautious, something Rotherham wish they had done as they rashly concede a penalty after 13 minutes. Hiwula does what we all do after missing a few pens and smashes it down the middle. I expect Rotherham to come at us but they barely muster a clear chance. Again, we have all the ball and deserve our win. An away win. Have we turned a corner?
It’s back to the Sponsored Trophy and an away game with Portsmouth. That’s an awful long way to go for a meaningless game but the media are in a frenzy. If we win, we’re through. They’re talking like it’s a World Cup group game not the southern section of this waste of time. Nevertheless, they buggered us mercilessly in this same fixture in the league and I’m keen to show how far we’ve come, even if the stakes are not so much low as non-existent.
I tell you what though, we are bloody good here. Hiwula takes his goal well, Idah heads in from a corner and Walshy curls in a free kick. Everyone seems chuffed we’ve made it through to the next round of…I’ll stop it.
It’s an International break now, something we are able to opt into on account of several of our players being away in various corners of the world. With that in mind and despite having just played a cup game, here’s the league table:
Not too shabby and for those who have been hanging in since the opening paragraph, I’m pleased to say the symmetrical record changed for the better. The flop was good. If this formation is as good as these last handful of games suggests it will be, things might turn out to be ok after all. Enjoy this whilst it lasts. See you next time.
Written by the excellent Dave Black, you can find him on Twitter @CM9798, his website https://cm9798.wordpress.com/ and his ‘The World According to Championship Manager’ books on Amazon.