A Brief History Of Time (In The Superliga)

INTO THE TOP FLIGHT

So far I’ve really not looked too hard at the Kolding Squad, partly because our amateur/semi-pro status meant that tweaking it has been a relatively easy job and partly because I harboured ideas of moving on quickly; Kolding IF just being a first rung on the ladder.

Eight weeks isn’t a lot of time to sort ourselves out for the top flight, and with no guarantee that my interest in jobs elsewhere will come to anything it would be seriously daft to not make plans.

The Best Laid Plans

“I’d prefer not to bring in a whole raft of new players, especially as our base group of 15 or so seem to have gelled so well...”

- Me, last time. 

Putting It All Into Practice

After two rather lengthy posts about how I spent the extended winter break, did it all do any good at all?

Let's find out....

The Long Cold Winter - Part II

Okay, so last time out I took a lot of time to consider our defensive game and arrived at the decision that I’m generally satisfied with the way we’re playing at the back – although I do have a minor tweak to consider in the first instance.

I also picked out some interesting stats about our attacking game, and the ‘economy’ of our shooting and goal-scoring. Whilst I was writing that up, however, it struck me that I’m not entirely sure about the best way to deploy my strike partnership. Furthermore, as I started to dig deeper, I realised just how much info there is in Football Manager that I (and, I suspect, others) pay very little attention to.

Actually that’s not entirely fair, I always knew that it was there, I just never really looked at it. What I’m looking to do this time out is to start to scratch the surface of some of that info, but first I’ll get back to the question of the strike partnership.

I’ll apologise in advance, some or all of this may seem quite disjointed. You may feel like I’m stating the bloody obvious or that I’m just not making sense. This update is going to be something akin to me thinking out loud, and when I think too hard it’s not unusual for me to go in circles!
Anyway, on with the update...

The Long Cold Winter – Part I

WHO KNEW?

So I was merrily playing along when I got the usual request to assign first team players for potential slots in the Reserve side for their imminent match. The first thing I did, of course, was check the ‘Next first team match’ info...

...then I checked it again. And again. Then I went to the schedule page.

So it seems that the Danish game takes a winter break, and not just your two or three week break like the Germans or French. Who knew?

Kolding Part 2 – Evolutions

RECOMMENDED READING

Welcome to 2015!

Before I get started with an update on all (well, some at least) things Kolding, a quick link list for some of the excellent stuff I’ve been reading through lately – some or all of which may have had an influence over our early progress...

The return of the Central Winger from @JLAspey / Cheekydeeky . A role that I used a lot in FM14, and will continue to do so in the new incarnation.

Some nice thinking around set pieces (specifically corners) in FM15, from @MerryGuido. I noticed, early on, an issue with defending corners when the ball came out to an opponent somewhere in the 12-18 yard range. I’m hoping that this might help.

A really great piece by @RTHerringbone on the thinking behind his 5-3-2 (or 3-5-2, or 3-3-2-2 – who knows?)

Finally, from the SI forums, a nice ongoing thread from Jambo98 on his gradual tweaking of a 4-5-1 formation. I’ve not had the chance to read all of it yet, but what I have makes it look like a very good template for those wanting to spend time in a process of continual tactical improvement.


Now, without further ado, on to my own stuff...

A New Beginning : FM2015

ON A PERSONAL NOTE

Those of you who follow me on Twitter may have seen a reference to personal health a week or two back. You guys don’t need all of the gory details, but given the likely impact on my FM time and blogging I’ll give you the potted version.

About a month ago I received a diagnosis of bowel cancer, to say it was ‘out of the blue’ would be an understatement. A bit of a shock, as you might imagine, but once we got passed those initial words the prognosis is all very positive. I’m completely fine now, and will be again in a few months. In between I’m looking at a few weeks of simultaneous chemo and radiotherapy, a bit of a break for that to take effect, and then surgery and some follow up treatment.

You can imagine that the news, and finding the best way to tell family and close friends, has been taking up some of my spare time but that’s all sorted now – rest assured that I have a great network of family and friends who will help me through what’s on the horizon. I’m putting the info out there just so folks know, I’m happy talking about it but I don’t feel a driving need to in an environment, and circle of Twitter comrades, that is focussed on football and Football Manager.