Mr. Gump Manager

Round 6 – 2×0 Man Utd @ Emirates Stadium:

• 1×0 – R. van Persie: RvP kept his nerve off the penalty spot;
• 2×0 – Song: Corner kick situation, Song controls ball before scoring.

Not the best of the performances, but a great halftime comeback. Man Utd had better possession, but they couldn’t break our defensive system, and they had less chances than we had. On the other hand, we used our touch to get closer to their goal, and with less possession, we created more chances. I wasn’t very happy with my midfield positioning, and on many occasions a midfielder wouldn’t have a passing option.

• 1×0 – R. van Persie: RvP kept his nerve off the penalty spot;
• 2×0 – Song: Corner kick situation, Song controls ball before scoring.

Stoke shocked me a bit with a huge pressing game, where I really thought that I couldn’t handle. I noticed that when the opponents press high up in the pitch, but keep their defenders deep low, my 352 is practically useless. As my players are a bit stretched apart, and the MCs passes has to be generally long and quick to avoid the pressing, prone to many mistakes. Stoke opened the scoreboard with an own goal by Vermaelen, and I decided to make a few changes to see a different second half. I pulled back the DLP to play behind the forward as a supporting Inside Forward. It played the trick, as now there was a player filling up the gap, but still not what I expected. Anyhow, Sagna scored before halftime. On injury time Sagna crossed from the right, and Pato was there to turn the match over.

Round 8 – 3×0 Cardiff @ Emirates Stadium:

• 1×0 – Walcott: Great individual effort in penetrating and applying a great finish;
• 2×0 – Fener: Fluke goal, scored after Walcott’s shot got deflected on Fener;
• 3×0 – Pato: van der Wiel crosses from the right, Pato on the volley shakes the net.

Against Cardiff, a point for me to keep an eye on, the 352 is more effective/dominant against weaker sides. We played the game I expected, and even with the offensive gap between midfield and attack, we managed to pass the ball around and made some nice goals. But the best is creating lots of shots on target and clear chances of goals. I really like flanking moves, and here we had a good amount of them.

• 1×0 – Walcott: Pato crosses, Walcott finishes;
• 2×0 – Pato: Walcott with a great through pass, Pato with a great touch;
• 3×1 – Pato: A mistake from the opponents, and great skills by Pato;
• 4×1 – Pato: Great direct passing, and cross!

Against Hull, I decided to play the same strategy, but with only two central defenders, fullbacks and two wide wingers, practically a 424. With four players upfront, we had a huge attacking performance, with loads of shots, but less than 50% hit the target. Anyhow, a great amount of chances, four goals on the scoreboard, and a Hat trick by Pato. I did enjoy the formation, but I’m not sure that we could play against better sides, that could use quick tempo and long passing to surprise my two men midfield and quickly arrive at my box. Especially those tactics with one forward, one amc and two wingers.

• 1×1 – R van Persie: Cross from Young, RvP controls ball, and scores;
• 12 – Pato: Ramsey plays the ball, Pato turns, penetrates and scores;
• 3×2 – Pato: Torun plays a great through pass, Pato was there to apply finish;
• 4×4 – Song: Corner kick cross where Song left his marker behind to score.

A very tough match, where Brighton knew how to cut us down, especially by attacking us by the flanks getting a good amount of corner kicks. They were also lucky with two mistakes by my defenders to score their second and fourth goals, and we were unprepared to defend set pieces, as the other two goals came from corner kicks. This match also brought me to play a 433 to surprise opponents and to check out how I would go again without a third defender. Though we did not control ball possession, neither maintained a good passing ratio, I was happy with our ability to react, and bring the match to a tie. My defense is still mixed up a little without the third man. I just can’t imagine my three man line allowing the fourth goal to happen.