Football Manager: Chapter IV, Octoberfest
Let’s keep the party going

After the impressive performance in September I won the Manager of the Month award.

Our finances were still not improving as we were taking a loss every month.

We were looking at challenging matches at the end of the month. The derby and match against Utd.

Despite Dinamo going forward in the first few minutes a deflected cross from Alexis saw a low ball being shot in by Jack to put us in front. Half way through the first half Chambers cleared a ball off the line from an effort outside of the box. Later an intercepted ball in midfield was played to Buitink who moved passed a defender facing just the keeper. He failed finish it as it hit the keeper. He got another chance when Jack played him a through ball into the box which he shot wide. A Chambers cross to Buitink saw him pass the ball on to an onrushing Santi who attempted a low shot, the keeper parried it but it rolled passed him and over the line.
The second half saw Buitink being sent clear with a through ball pass in which he shot it at the keeper again. A late tackle by Denyes Garmash saw him being sent off with a second yellow card. We kept getting forward with an Oli header hitting the post to roll out of play. Buitink finally found the back of the net as he connected with a Tymon cross shooting it in from at the near post. The linesman sadly waved for offside and Buitink was still without a goal.

Some interesting stats regarding out youth development. Most could be found in the U19 and U21.

We took a risk playing 4–3–3- with Everton playing very defensively with 5 at the back. In the 20th minute we were rewarded when Dybala connected with a Alexis cross which went passed by Silva who was under pressure from a defender. An Ox cross was headed against the post by Alexis while Dybala was dispossessed by a defender clearing it.
In the second half Gibbs crossed a ball which was headed away. Ox attempted a shot which was blocked but the keeper had dived for the shot. The rebound fell back to him and he made a lofty shot to shoot it in the other corner of an empty goal. A few minutes after that Alexis passed to Silva who shot from just inside the box into the top corner for our third. With 10 minutes to go we were rewarded a penalty for a foul made on Dybala in the six yard box, he was also the person who scored it. There was still a chance for 5–0 with a Silva shot going wide before the referee blew his whistle.

Just after the Transfer window closed and teams were registered I was alerted by a frustrated Kolasinac. He wasn’t registered with the first team for league matches. It had gotten so far that he was able to get transfer listed. With Gibbs I started to lose patience in some matches. So Sead would be a good replacement with stronger defensive skills, while also being a better mentor due to his determination. And Paulista complaining about not being allowed to leave to PSG would also allow me to utilize Sead in the centre as a backup.

On the same day we played Everton, Chelsea who had a tough season so far managed to win with big numbers from City.

Paulista decided that staying with us after not being able to get the response from the rest of the team as he had hoped to force a deal.

With international matches being played we received new two players picked up injuries. I shook my head as I read the reports.


The 200th game in my management career would be against West Ham. It had been impressive so far.

With the fans applauding for this anniversary match the players looked to go forward often but didn’t reach the penalty box as all effort were intercepted just before they could reach the players. West Ham had a chance as a long ball was played to Ben Yedder who shot the ball far over the goal while under pressure from two defenders. A through pass from Alexis on Silva saw him make a calm finish to put us in front. Iwobi made a nice dribble moving passed two defenders before shooting wide at goal.
Chambers playing at midfield replacing Maia who I felt was under par, intercepted a ball in midfield. He played it wide with a few passes reaching Alexis who made a cross as a onrushing Santi scored at the near post. We also brought on youngster Manetta as we felt we controlled the match enough to risk it but also still give him that pressure it could easily turn around. West Ham did get a chance as Ben Yedder slipped passed the centre defenders to receive a pass which he shot over. I reminded the team to stay focused. A minute later we got a free kick and Iwobi his effort hit the bar to bounce out of play.

Our attention turned to the Champions league. Sparta Praha was on the attack come close to a chance as Bebou had a one-on-one with Giani who won the battle to stop the ball. A Buitink cross played to the centre of the box was easly tapped in by Oli who was not marked.
In the second half thing went back and forth with chances coming from us. Deep into the second half we felt confident to try out our new formation. It was a 3–4–2–1 formation (actually a 3–4–3).

An Iwobi through ball saw Buitink beat the defender on speed to slot it passed the keeper and set us up with 2–0. There was some controversy in injury time as two players were tackled in the box but no penalty was given, but a win was a win nonetheless.

Our eyes were now set on the derby against the Spurs.
Though mostly on the attack it took us 14 minutes to score after a poorly cleared ball was picked up by Silva who took a one time shot from outside the box. For the first 20 minutes we were more on their half than they were on ours. We failed to make the most out of our chances as passes were poor. The two midfielder they had in front of their defence made it hard to penetrate through the middle. We were punished when a counter attack was not properly stopped and a pass was slipped into the box for Kane to finish it. Just as we were adjusting to a 4–2–3–1 formation to put more pressure on their deep midfielders. By changing the formation it felt like the whole dynamic had changed as Tottenham was able to come more forward. Kos made a mistake almost gifting them a lead just before half time.
Tottenham was getting its chances while we were not able to go forward. It made me decide to switch back to the 4–3–3 formation and you could see right away that it had the effect I wanted. We were rewarded with a second goal by Silva as he tapped in a left wing cross at the near post.
Alexis came close to a third deep into injury time as it just flew over the bar.

Not willing to risk it with my first choices due to there only being one day of rest between our last match and this match we played our second choice. The first half saw us stopping Utd often but not being able to move passed their midfield. There was one moment were Buitink was along to head for a one on one with De Gea, he shot it straight at him for squander the chance.
The chances Utd got were getting scarier and requiring the best from Giani. Long passes kept getting intercepted. As it looked to finish as a draw I waited with my subs. Sadly Lewandowski picked up an injury and Depay was brought on. He had become our angstgegner when he played and it was no difference. An attack he started ended up with him scoring from close range thanks to a Chong cross. They smelled blood after that and kept coming forcing us to move back more to even build something up. It looked like the team had given up and so had I as nothing seemed to work.

The loss gave us a sour end to a good month as we failed again to go further in the League Cup, the only domestic cup I had not won yet.
(The Book of Gooner follows the career of a long time Championship/Football Manager player)

