Victory Or Defeat – It’s In The Palm Of Your Hand

[Spav]

Victory Or Defeat – It’s In The Palm Of Your Hand

I was looking for something different in regard to Football Manager to help wile away my time, but something which still allowed me to write a story about what happened. Returning home on the train the other night I was playing Football Manager Handheld 2007 on my PSP when I came up with the following idea for a challenge.

I will select a top-rated team and play a game of two halves. In the first half I will select an extremely attacking formation to dominate the opposition and attempt to build up a big lead in the open 45 minutes. At half-time I will substitute my three best players and change to an extremely defensive formation which allows the opposition the time and space to come at me. I wonder what the result will be at the end of the 90 minutes.

Let’s see what happens.

[Spav]

Victory Or Defeat – It’s In The Palm Of Your Hand

I was looking for something different in regard to Football Manager to help wile away my time, but something which still allowed me to write a story about what happened. Returning home on the train the other night I was playing Football Manager Handheld 2007 on my PSP when I came up with the following idea for a challenge.

I will select a top-rated team and play a game of two halves. In the first half I will select an extremely attacking formation to dominate the opposition and attempt to build up a big lead in the open 45 minutes. At half-time I will substitute my three best players and change to an extremely defensive formation which allows the opposition the time and space to come at me. I wonder what the result will be at the end of the 90 minutes.

Let’s see what happens.

[Spav]

My first half tactic will be as follows:

Formation: 4-4-2 Attacking

Emphasis: Attacking

Passing: Short

Tackling: Hard

Pressing: Yes

Offside Trap: Yes

Counter Attack: Yes

Men Behind Ball: No

My second half tactic will be as follows:

Formation: 4-4-2 Defensive

Emphasis: Defensive

Passing: Long

Tackling: Easy

Pressing: No

Offside Trap: No

Counter Attack: No

Men Behind Ball: No

The first lucky team to try out this experiment will be Rangers.

[Spav]

The Rangers board tell me that they expect the title, so there’s little room for safety if my challenge backfires and I start to lose too many matches. The media seems to think that I have a good chance of taking the title, but they don’t know about my little experiment.

Borussia Dortmund comes in with a bid of £825K for Libor Sionko, but I have decided to neither buy nor sell any players during this challenge, so the Czech winger will have to stay. Celtic aren’t averse to selling some players though as centre-half Stephen McManus joins Aston Villa for £1.9M and full-back Mark Wilson joins Manchester City for £2.8M.

Stefan Klos suffers a neck injury the day before the first friendly, so Allan McGregor will be the starting keeper. There are no other injury worries however, so I have 34 of the 35 players in my squad available for selection. Not knowing a lot about the players that I have at my disposal I ask my assistant manager to suggest an initial line-up. The teams he suggests looks reasonable, but I don’t like the idea of Barry Ferguson on the bench and Dado Prso on the left wing, so Ferguson comes in for Jeremy Clement and Prso goes out for Charlie Adam.

[Spav]

15.07.2006 Friendly v Vaduz (A)

McGregor – Bardsley, Hemdani, Svensson, Papic – Sionko, Ferguson, Buffel, Adam – Novo, Boyd.

It’s the first friendly of the season, so I’m not expecting much. Novo and Boyd combine well up front and Buffel strolls through some dodgy defence to open the scoring with a low drive after 29 minutes. McGregor has a little to do as Vaduz can’t register a shot on goal. Novo hits the crossbar in injury-time with a fierce volley.

Half-time substitutions: Sebo for Novo (8), Rae for Buffel (7), Smith for Papic (7).

Our attacking intensity definitely drops after the half-time changes and Vaduz are encouraged to adopt a more attacking formation. They manage a shot from Muller after 63 minutes, but it flies into the crowd. Only Sionko can raise a shot for us after 72 minutes as the defensive attitude kicks in.

Vaduz 0

Rangers 1 (Buffel 29)

McGregor (7) – Bardsley (6), Hemdani (6), Svensson (6), Papic (7) – Sionko (7), Ferguson (7), Buffel (7), Adam (7) – Novo (8), Boyd (7).

Subs: Sebo (7), Rae (7), Smith (7).

[Guest amfarx]

Interesting...I'll keep my eye on this. How's handheld version compared to computer?

[Spav]

Much easier. Actually, if you ever played CM01/02 then you would find FMH2007 very similar in many repects. It sacrifices a lot of the PC embellishments in order to give you the chance to play through a season at a reasonably quick pace, but I still find that it provides me with a decent challenge.

[danny.harv]

Sounds good

Will keep an eye on this

[Spav]

22.07.2006 Friendly v Fraserburgh (H)

McGregor – Bardsley, Ponroy, Rodriguez, Papic – Burke, Ferguson, Buffel, Adam – Novo, Sebo.

I make a few changes for this friendly, but the heart of the team stays the same. We come out all guns blazing as Adam and Burke rip Fraserburgh apart down the wings. Burke makes the first goal after 8 minutes as he finds Novo with a low cross and the Spaniard tucks it away easily. From an Adam corner after 12 minutes centre-half Rodriguez powers home a header for 2-0. Adam, Sebo and Ferguson all have chances to increase the lead, but their aim is off target.

Half-time substitutions: Sionko for Burke (9), Boyd for Novo (8), Prso for Adam (8).

With Adam and Burke off for Prso and Sionko respectively we definitely lose some of our advantage down the wings. Ferguson definitely doesn’t like the change to a defensive formation as his rating drops. The long ball tactic sees only Boyd come close with a header from a Bardsley cross after 65 minutes and Fraserburgh are finally tempted to attack. In the 86th minute Hamilton crosses from the right and Williams rises to head past McGregor to give our opponents a consolation goal. The final score is 2-1 and I must admit that a better team may have forced a draw or even beaten us.

Rangers 2 (Novo 8, Rodriguez 12)

Fraserburgh 1 (Williams 86)

McGregor (6) – Bardsley (6), Ponroy (7), Rodriguez (6), Papic (7) – Burke (9), Ferguson (6), Buffel (7), Adam (8) – Novo (8), Sebo (8).

Subs: Sionko (7), Boyd (8), Prso (7).

[HD]

I found the 4-1-3-2 formation on FMH unbeatable. With Ayr, once I started using it, I finished 3rd in the 1st div, then 1st, then 1st in the SPL, winning the Scottish Cup in each of those last two years without signing anyone of any particular note.

Not played it since, on account of being silly and no sense of achievement.

[Spav]

Cheers, HD. I am thinking of some variations to the theme to keep this interesting and changing tactics would be one of them. The 4-1-3-2 formation happens to be my favoured tactic on FMH, but initially for this story I was trying to keep the players in the same positions (hence 4-4-2) and just change the mentality and playing options.

[Spav]

26.07.2006 Friendly v Stranraer (H)

Letizi – Hutton, Hemdani, Papic, Smith – Burke, Rae, Murray, Adam – Boyd, Prso.

The final pre-season friendly sees me give a run-out to all of those who hadn’t played so far. Again, the start is emphatic as we take control and set up chance after chance. Adam is dynamite on the left wing and he sets up the opening goal after 19 minutes when he dribbles past his marker and crosses for Prso to head home. Seven minutes later Adam sets up Boyd and he crashes a shot against the crossbar, but the rebound falls kindly for Prso and he tucks it away for 2-0. Further shots from Murray and Rae go close to stretching our lead as Stranraer are completely dominated.

Half-time substitutions: Sebo for Prso (9), Clement for Adam (8), Novo for Boyd (7).

The change to defence for the second half sees our two strikers (Prso and Boyd) and our rampant left-winger (Adam) replaced. For the first time in three games we score in the second half. In the 56th minute Smith sends Sebo racing clear and he unselfishly squares the ball for Novo to tap home for a 3-0 lead. There is a notable change in Stranraer’s efforts as they realise we are allowing them some freedom. Letizi is forced to make several late saves as the visitors search for a consolation goal – in particular a spectacular tip-over from Nicholas’s 85th minute free-kick – but we eventually grind out the 3-0 win.

Rangers 3 (Prso 19, 26, Novo 56)

Stranraer 0

Letizi (8) – Hutton (6), Hemdani (7), Papic (6), Smith (6) – Burke (6), Rae (7), Murray (7), Adam (8) – Boyd (7), Prso (9).

Subs: Sebo (8), Clement (7), Novo (7).

[Spav]

The first Scottish Premier League match of the season pits us against Hearts who will be the toughest opponents that we have faced so far this season. The half-time tactic change and substitutions certainly seemed to have an effect on the team in the friendlies and the statistics speak for themselves.

<UL TYPE=SQUARE><LI>1st half – scored 5, conceded 0.

<LI>2nd half – scored 1, conceded 1.

Will we be able to build a commanding first half lead and then defend it into the second half? To make matters tougher for rangers, skipper Barry Ferguson gashes his head in training and he will miss the next two weeks. I will pick my first eleven based on the form in the friendlies and not on reputation and we’ll see how things go at Ibrox this season.

29.07.2006 League v Hearts (H)

McGregor – Bardsley, Hemdani, Ponroy, Papac – Sionko, Rae, Buffel, Adam – Novo, Prso.

Oh dear, things look unhealthy for Rangers as only Adam registers a shot in the first half and that flew five yards wide after 23 minutes. There is really nothing else of note to report in a drab and dismal 45 minutes of football.

Half-time substitutions: Letizi for McGregor (7), Rodriguez for Ponroy (7), Smith for Bardsley (7).

The three best performers of the opening half are the goalkeeper McGregor and the defenders Ponroy and Bardsley, so a complete overhaul of the defence is made due to the enforced substitutions. A half-chance falls to Buffel after 55 minutes, but he snatches at his shot and it flies wide. Rodriguez is gobbling up any crosses in to the centre with a dominant aerial display and from his 77th minute clearance Adam picks up the ball and slides it through for Prso. The big Croatian strides clear and places his shot under Gordon to put us 1-0 in front. Moments later Adam supplies another telling pass, but this time Prso’s shot smacks against the post and rebounds to safety. Hemdani and Adam both go close late on, but we are saved from an equaliser in injury-time when a header from Jankauskas clips the top of the crossbar with Letizi well beaten. It’s 1-0 to Rangers at the end and 5th place on the table is our reward after the opening round.

Rangers 1 (Prso 77)

Hearts 0

McGregor (7) – Bardsley (7), Hemdani (6), Ponroy (7), Papac (6) – Sionko (6), Rae (5), Buffel (6), Adam (7) – Novo (6), Prso (7).

Subs: Letizi (7), Rodriguez (8), Smith (6).