End of Season 5: Rollercoaster

After my last update, I was in 4th position with nine games to go. The first of these was away to Fulham. After falling behind early on, Johan Iversen got two goals to give us a 2-1 lead, which unfortunately was cancelled out by a Collins John goal, and the game finished 2-2. During the game, my other Norse Master, Vegard Nordtveit picked up an injury :-(
Then came a crucial game at Crystal Palace, who were in 2nd, 3 points ahead. It started very well, with both of my strikers scoring in the first half to give us a 2-0 lead. Palace peppered my goal with 21 shots during the game, and scored with half an hour left, which meant a very nervy second half... until two of my substitutes scored to seal an amazing 4-1 win (and overtake Palace for 2nd place).
The following two games were quite similar: home games against struggling teams, which were both won with late goals. So at the end of March, I got manager of the month again, and Iversen got Young Player of the Month.
The next month was more difficult, and again a string of games followed a pattern. For three successive games, my Oxford team took an early lead, but went on to lose the game. The sequence dropped us from 2nd right down to 7th, with just two games left.
But Flamini rallied the troops, Millwall were dispatched 3-0. The bad news? Nordtveit, who had only just come back from injury, was carried off again. The good news? Since the 6th and 7th-placed teams were playing each other on the final day, a play-off place was guaranteed. Good job, really, because we lost the last game 2-1 to Norwich, who finished 2nd.
So a 6th-placed finish meant a play-off against Fulham, without Nordtveit or my 2nd-choice RM, Vieirinha. Iversen scored an early goal, but this time (unlike those three defeats), we held on to it.
The second leg was a tense affair, although Fulham had few chances to cancel out my slender lead. That man Iversen scored again with 15 minutes left, so we were through to the final despite Fulham's late penalty.
The final brought us up against Palace again, for a place in the Premier League.
So at the end of the rollercoaster couple of months, I had taken Oxford United into the Premier League!


The next post won't be for a little while, since I'm going on holiday (no, not to celebrate!) But when I get back, look out for the update on my summer signings, and first few premier league fixtures. Away to Liverpool, Home to Chelsea, Away to Newcastle. it's going to be tough...

Season Five, March: Norse Magic

My main signing in the January transfer was young Norwegian international Vegard Nordtveit, for around £1.3m from Newcastle. For the first time, the fans heralded a "bargain hunt". He's extremely versatile, being able to play anywhere from DR to AMR, plus AMC and FC. But he was injured when I signed him, so I had to wait a bit to try him out. And when I did (he replaced Vieirinha as my starting right midfielder), this is how he repaid me:

8 goals from 5 starts, and all this from right midfield! Needless to say, he was given the player of the month award in February.
He has linked up well with another young Norwegian, the U21 international Johan Iversen, whom I switched from the wing to centre-forward when Anichebe got injured. He has repaid me with six goals and four assists from the last six games:

With all these goals flying in, you may have gathered that I was climbing up the table during February. The first two months of my trial of 4-4-2 had been middling: December brought 2 wins, 2 draws and 2 defeats (two last-minute goals costing me a total of three points), including a pathetic 1-0 loss at home to struggling Swindon, our local rivals.
January was no better, as my squad seemed to completely lose its scoring touch, whatever my choice of forwards (mostly between Anichebe, Derbyshire and Wilson). Losing 1-0 away to top club Birmingham is acceptable; as for the 3-0 defeat at Wigan, I think my squad was distracted by the prospect of an FA Cup clash with Premier League leaders Chelsea. I held the scum until half-time, but they scored the only goal of the game just after the restart. The hangover continued into the league, and another two draws.
Then Nordtveit was fit, and I moved Iversen up front. Seventeen goals were smashed in from all angles in four glorious games, before Sheffield Wednesday brought us back to earth by equalising twice. Iversen picked up a minor injury, so I took him off before half time (we were leading 1-0) as a precaution. The run lead to a rise from 10th up to 4th in the league. In addition, I got Manager of the Month for the first time this season, the Player of the Month was Nordtveit (Second: Bougherra), and the Young Player of the Month was Iversen (Third: Reed). Iversen also got 3rd in Goal of the Month. So with nine games left (including several against top-six teams), I'm sitting pretty in 4th place, and hoping that this run of form, one of the best succession of games I've ever had on FM/CM, can continue and thus keep me in the play-offs.


Attributes for my two Norwegian stars:

Iversen (age 19)

Nordtveit (age 22)

Season Five, December: Drawing Bored

Little has changed since my last post. I'm still doing well, bobbing between 7th and 10th in a very tight Championship, even rising to 4th after the Stoke win. However, I have a feeling that I could be doing better.
Basically, too many games are being drawn for my liking. But there are good draws and bad draws. Take my 0-0s against Crystal Palace and Cardiff. Palace have put together a very good team that finished 11th in the Premier League two season ago, and they and Birmingham (whom I also held to a draw) are running away with the Championship. So I was quite pleased to squeeze out a draw.
Then came a 3-week break for internationals, and a trip to Cardiff. Even when they had two men sent off, and had resorted to a 4-4-0 formation, I couldn't break then down. Thus leading us to the second meaning of this update's title: I'm going back to the drawing board.
So, I went through my Championship results so far and worked out my record using each formation. Today, I'll show my two most common formations.

Most common: 5-3-2

This was the formation I used for the 4-goal victories over Watford and Wigan. I've used it ten times, and am unbeaten with it, conceding only 5 goals and never more than one in a single game. But recently, the goals have stopped flowing. 9 goals in the first three games with this formation, but only 5 in the past 7.

Second most common: 4-1-2-3

I didn't realise quite how badly I'd been doing with this formation. It's been my main formation for six matches, which have garnered no wins, four draws and two defeats. My strikers don't seem to like ploughing a long furrow. In theory, this shouldn't happen (the formation is based on the well-known "trident" style), but in matches, the wingers tend to get pushed back, so it becomes a 4-1-4-1.

Conclusion
The problem is that my common formations are too defensive. This is what happens when you have three excellent DMs to fit into your side. My attacking players' stats should lead to more goals and more chances created; indeed, when using either a traditional 4-4-2 or a 4-3-1-2 (with 3 central midfielders) system, more goals are produced: Five games using either of these have produced three wins, two draws and 11 goals. The drawback is that, with these formations, I also concede more (goals conceded rises above 1 goal per game)
So my plan now is to continue using 5-3-2 in any match against the big teams, or away to medium teams, and use 4-4-2 in other matches. Basically, when I'm aiming for a win, it's 4-4-2; and when I'm hoping for a draw, it's 5-3-2.


I made the switch to 4-4-2 after the Cardiff game, and the chances - and goals - started flowing right away. As the transfer window approaches, I'm fairly satisfied with my squad, but will of course be on the look-out for bargains, and planning bosmans for next season. This blog has finally caught up with where I am on the game, so I'll let you know soon how I get on with 4-4-2 in the long run, and maybe soon introduce you to some of my key squad players.

Season Five, September: A good start

A great start, in fact, to life in the Championship for my Oxford team, and it really is my Oxford team now. All but one of the first team are players that I've bought at some point, with only Leo Roget remaining, as well as a couple of reserves.
I had a tough start, with two home games against Sheffield United and title favourites Wolves being followed by a trip to Watford, so I wasn't expecting much. As such, I adopted a defensive approach. This saw me draw the first two games, coming from 1-0 down against Sheff.Utd and 2-0 down against Wolves. Then came this:


A great surprise win that the board were delighted with. After a few more games (and a similar performance to the above to beat Wigan 4-1), the table looks promising.



The only problem is that I draw too many games, and often concede first. Maybe I'm being too cautious?