WLKRAS

Sedan – Summer 2008

During the summer break, we got rid of some of the deadwood lingering in the reserves and those players who felt they were too good for the Ligue 2. Anyone who didn’t have the utmost dedication to get this club back to the top flight was shipped out and though the total transfer income was only just short of a million pounds, the freed up wage budget was enough to bring in a host of quality players.

Young goalkeeper Mikkel Andersen joined for free from Reading as back-up to Kalac. In defence, young Belgian left back Davy Vandenbroeck came from RKC for £180,000, while Romain Ferrier and Adil Hermach joined on a free transfer.

The most heavily strengthened part of the squad was midfield. Cannes midfielder Gavin Rothery was pried away from my former club for a hefty £350,000. Wingers Victor Sikora and Yannick Reymenants joined from Dutch teams NAC and PSV respectively and Yazid Mansouri, Algerian international, came from French side Lorient. The biggest coup perhaps was Slovenian international Milenko Acimovic. Formerly of Spurs, the playmaker left Austria Vienna to join Sedan. He might not be the youngest, but his experience will be invaluable as we rip into the other teams in the league.

Finally, up front, we had Moussa N’Diaye, who can also play in midfield, joining from Auxerre and Danish youngster Morten Nielsen joined on a free from Chelsea. The latter especially is touted for a big future by various experts, including yours truly.

All in all that gives us the following squad:

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">| Pkd | Inf | Name | Position | Morale | Form | Con | Apps | Gls | Av Rat | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | S2 | | Patrick Regnault | GK | Very Good | 6-6-6-6-6 | 90% | - | - | - | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Mikkel Andersen | GK | Okay | - | 94% | - | - | - | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | GK | | Zeljko Kalac | GK | Very Good | 6-8-7-6-6 | 99% | - | - | - | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | S11 | Inj | Adil Hermach | SW, D C, DM | Very Good | 7 | 73% | - | - | - | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | DR | | Romain Ferrier | D RLC, WB RL | Good | 6-7 | 98% | - | - | - | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | S10 | | Jean-Michel Badiane | D RC, DM | Very Good | 6-7-7-7-7 | 89% | - | - | - | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | S9 | | Niels Fleuren | D L | Very Good | 6-7-6-7-7 | 94% | - | - | - | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | DC | | Joseph Enakarhire | D C | Very Good | 8-7-7-8-7 | 100% | - | - | - | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | DC | Fgn | Rodrigo Defendi | D C | Very Good | 8-9-8-7-6 | 100% | - | - | - | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | DL | | Davy Vandenbroeck | D/WB L | Very Good | 7-7-6 | 99% | - | - | - | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | MC | | Yazid Mansouri | DM | Very Good | 7-7-7 | 96% | - | - | - | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | S8 | | Ousmane Sarr | DM, M LC | Good | 8-7-7-7-6 | 100% | - | - | - | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Jérôme Lemoigne | M C | Very Good | 6-7-7-7-7 | 95% | - | - | - | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | S7 | | Abdelnasser Ouadah | AM RC | Very Good | 7-6-7-7-7 | 95% | - | - | - | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | MR | Inj | Victor Sikora | AM RL | Very Good | 7-7-6 | 83% | - | - | - | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | S6 | | Yannick Rymenants | AM RL | Very Good | 7-6 | 95% | - | - | - | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | S12 | | Stéphane Noro | AM RC | Very Good | 7-7-6-6-7 | 91% | - | - | - | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | S5 | | Moussa N'Diaye | AM RLC, F C | Very Good | 7-7-7 | 95% | - | - | - | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | S4 | | Nicolas Marin | AM R, ST | Very Good | 6-6-7-7-7 | 96% | - | - | - | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | MC | | Milenko Acimovic | AM LC | Very Good | 7-7-7 | 90% | - | - | - | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | ML | | Grégory Pujol | AM L, F C | Very Good | 8-8-7-7-7 | 94% | - | - | - | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Gavin Rothery | AM C | Very Good | 7 | 99% | - | - | - | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | S3 | | Cedric Bardon | AM/F C | Very Good | 7-7-7-6-6 | 98% | - | - | - | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | S1 | | Mansour Boutabout | ST | Very Good | 7-7-7-7-6 | 98% | - | - | - | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | FC | | Florent Osswald | ST | Very Good | 7-9-7-7-7 | 99% | - | - | - | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | FC | | Morten Nielsen | ST | Very Good | 7-7-7 | 96% | - | - | - | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Eyemen Henaini | ST | Good | 7-8-7-7-5 | 95% | - | - | - | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | | | | | | | | | | | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| </pre>

We finished 2nd in the pre-season FMS cup on goal difference. We beat Terk’s Partick by 2-1, but only managed a 1-1 draw against PM7’s St. Mirren, meaning we were one goal short of clinching that title. But frankly, we didn’t care about tinpot cups. The League is where it’s all at.

Peacemaker7

As Chris says we have a tryout session first. A lot will also depend on my availability because I am hoping to move house very soon but if I have a valid connection and all goes well we will have a try out at the end of this season of you are still interested.

WLKRAS

Sedan – August/September

The league season started with a difficult home game against also relegated Nancy. They’d managed a strong run towards the end of last season, but it hadn’t been enough to keep them up and they finished in 18th, one place above us. The game wasn’t quite as open as most matches we’d have last season, hopefully because we shored up the defence. Pujol fired us into the lead just past the half hour from Rodrigo Defendi’s long cross, but Nancy defender Puygrenier levelled things up just before the break. Pujol was clearly creating most of the danger for us, so it was no surprise that he was involved in the incident that turned the game in our favour. With seventeen minutes to go, he broke through the defence, only to be hauled down by the Nancy goalscorer. A professional foul adjudged the referee and he sent Puygrenier off to the changing rooms. Defendi blasted the free kick just wide, but we steadily assumed control. Pujol was forced off injured late in the game, but that was only to force enough injury time so that substitute N’Diaye could score the winning goal in the 91st minute.

We followed that up with a 0-0 draw at Lorient, one I missed due another mysterious illness and with my assistant doing everything I told him not to do, we were unable to grab a second win.

Guincamp manager Raymond Domenech had a good old moan at our ability (or more the lack thereof) and ruled us out for promotion. I retorted by saying that if he’d been any good, he wouldn’t have lost to Scotland. Twice.
Naturally such a rousing pre-match build-up inspired my players to go 1-0 down after just eleven minutes, but we bravely rallied to make it 1-1 two minutes later through Danish star Morten Nielsen, who turned in Vandenbroeck’s cross. Guincamp were pushed back in their own half for much of the match and we got a deserved winner nine minutes from the end. Again, it was Nielsen who got the goal, this time pouncing on Milenko Acimovic’s clever through-ball.

A trip to Bastia was next and the hacking Corsican bastards took out no less than three of my players, Rothery, Acimovic and Nielsen. The Slovenian was the worst of and faced a month’s layoff. It was justice then perhaps that gave us another late win. Five minutes from the end, last year’s top scorer Florent Osswald fired in from the rebound of Boutabout’s saved shot.

The first loss of the season came in another tinpot cup, the League Cup, away at Lorient. It wasn’t a great game, it wasn’t even a good game and the 1-0 winning margin for the hosts in the end was just. Despite losing, we still managed to rake in £85,000, which was a welcome contribution to my retirement fund in any case.

Two more games remained to end August and we got four points from them to see us in second place at the end of the month. Le Mans were dispatched 2-1, thanks to Defendi’s free kick and another injury-time winner, this time from Boutabout, while Istres held us to a 0-0 draw in a match that could’ve gone either way and ended up going neither.

September started with a match against my former team Cannes and I was so giddy with excitement that I took the first plane down south, only to realise when I arrived that we played at home. In my absence, we managed a 1-1 draw, Gregory Pujol cancelling out Henok Goitom’s goal for the guests.

Back from my humiliating experience on the Mediterranean Coast, I returned to see the team utterly out-playing Caen and win by the massive margin of 1-0. Our finishing was very poor for this game and in the end, we needed a defender to do a strikers job. Rodrigo Defendi, a striker in all but name, scored with his head from a Sikora corner kick to give us a deserved victory. It wasn’t all good news though as Mansouri suffered an ankle injury, a bad one at that, and would be out for two months.

We continued our unbeaten streak at bottom Brest with Gregory Pujol in top form. The striker-cum-left winger scored all three goals as we cruised to an easy win. Defendi nearly got one as well, but his free kick banged off the bar and away to safety. We ended the month top of the league and still unbeaten in ten games with a latest of late victories over Guengon. 1-0 up after three minutes through Morten Nielsen everything seemed peaches and cream, but we failed to take our chances and paid for it when Ahamada scored a 77th minute leveller to try and steal a point. They didn’t because in the third minute of injury time, Pujol was fouled in the area and Milenko Acimovic stepped up and duly dispatched the penalty into the lower left corner to give us a 2-1 win.

AnalogBoy

As Chris says we have a tryout session first. A lot will also depend on my availability because I am hoping to move house very soon but if I have a valid connection and all goes well we will have a try out at the end of this season of you are still interested. </BLOCKQUOTE>fantastico! I have the itch to do a little story on my current game but I think the boys on the LLM fora would have a bit of an issue with me posting all the details of it and that... I might storify my other non-LLM network game though. Anyway, I'm rambling in your thread. Ciao for now!

Peacemaker7

Saint Mirren

Rangers were coming to town. Poor buggers.

The stupid thing was, we were favourites in many people's eyes. Look, this is dumb we are NOT better than Rangers you idiots. And they soon proved that as goals from Novo and Boyd sent the Glasgow giants in two up at the break. Santos did get a goal back in the second half, and I suppose our pride was intact but this just shows how far off a title challenge we are.

Bouncing right back was important, but now we had to go to Easter Road. Falling behind to a Steven Fletcher goal on 24 minutes, my worst fears were in danger of being realised but credit once more to my side as the bounced back and goals from Varney and Jenkins sent us in with a shock lead at half time. Anicet Adjamossi seemed to have secured the points with 11 minutes left to play, but Fletcher kept Hibs hopes alive four minutes later. In the end though we held on for a fantastic win, and now we really can start talking about the top end of the table.

Hamilton were seen off with a little bit of difficulty in the CIS Cup, but the 2-1 win was enough to see us through to face Dundee United in the last eight. A home match with Livingston should keep our run going, and sure enough a Stephen Dobbie hattrick, added to by Santos and Luke Varney gave us our most impressive win of the season as trounced the side from the east by five goals to two. As we headed to Celtic Park, we were 2nd in the SPL and as we left Celtic Park we were still second. That despite being mauled by the reigning champions by 3-0.

After two months of the season, it's all going rather well. We won't of course win the SPL this season, but we are bang on course for that UEFA Cup target.

Peacemaker7

St. Mirren

It was highly important that we didn't let our heads go down after the hammering from Glasgow's finest. A home match with St. Johnstone was just what we needed, and a Stephen Dobbie brace, a late strike from Diamond and it was almost is if the Celtic match had never really happened. Dobbie fired in another brace in a 2-0 win over Dundee United at Tannadice and the first quarter of the season had gone rather well when all was said and done.

Hearts came to St. Mirren Park as the second round of matches got underway and a third successive double from Dobbie - albeit both from the penalty spot - added to by Luke Varney and we had more then gotten revenge for our opening day defeat. Dobbie was again on target at Rugby Park, but we had to settle for a draw and at home to Aberdeen, Zander Diamond seemed to forget which team he now played for as he headed a late own goal as shared the spoils again.

There was minor excitement in Paisley as Dundee United came to town for the League Cup Quarter final and a real belief was growing that we might win this competition. Ninety minutes later, those thoughts had been shattered as United trounced us 2-0 in our worst performance of the season so far. A 2-2 draw at Motherwell, this time Santos was the guy with double as Dobbie sat out injured, was not in isolation a bad result. But it was our 3rd successive league draw and out 4th match in all competitions without a win. Hardly impressive stuff.

Things looked a bit brighter as Luke Varney and Rory Loy bagged the goals in a 2-0 home win over Inverness and it was Loy who was the hero as we went back to his former club, pulling off a sensation 1-0 win over Rangers at Ibrox. As we went 2-0 up after 33 minutes against Hibs in Paisley, two more from Dobbie stand-in Loy, so things were looking really rather excellent. Any thoughts that we might be about to mount a stunning title challenge were soon swept away though as Hibs roared back to win 3-2 and then we struggled to a rather pathetic goalless draw at Livingston.

At home to Champions Celtic, we managed a respectable one all draw but as 2008 ended with a draw at St. Johnstone so we had only taken three points from our last four games and suddenly we might even be in danger of losing our grip on a top six place. A long way to go of course, but 2009 was not about to get off to a rip-roaring start.......

WLKRAS

Sedan – October/November/December

We started October with a game away at Reims and Murphy’s law applied to that. Just two minutes in, we lost Rothery to injury. It was a bad one too, he’d be out for two months. To make matters worse, we went a goal down early on as well, giving away a soft chance for Lundblad to convert. I gave the lads a right rollicking from the touchline and they seemed to respond and started to play some football. Unfortunately though, we missed loads of chances that would’ve seen us get a comfortable win and only Osswald managed to find the Reims net, late in the game for a 1-1 draw.

Our unbeaten run of 11 games finally came to an end at Grenoble where we were utterly outplayed lost 1-0. Fortunately, the players weren’t too down after that and we bounced back with an easy 3-0 win over Libourne, playing exhibition football at times. Two goals from Morten Nielsen and another from Gregory Pujol accounted for the final score.

Ajaccio were up next and they were dealt with easily enough, especially after their defender Rocchi was sent off just 16 minutes in. We were never in trouble after that and goals from Osswald and Nielsen, each providing the assist for the other as well, demonstrated the man more situation well.

October ended with an away game at Amiens. The home side were pushing for a top spot as well and they played some immaculate football at times. It was enough to beat us, albeit by the narrowest of margins, in a 1-0 win. They scored just after the break, at a time that the Sedan defence seemed lacking in concentration. We nearly managed to snatch a late draw, but Boutabout found the side netting rather than the one at the back of the goal.

We kept bleeding money at around 400k a month and going at this rate we’ll be bankrupt before the season’s over. That’s why it’s imperative that we claim promotion this season, anything else will kill off the club. Which is why the 1-1 draw against Dijon was disappointing. We completely dominated the home side, but only Morten Nielsen managed to find the back of the net. Most of the missed efforts were his too, unfortunately, and left a sour taste in my mouth as it was a game we really should’ve won.

Nielsen redeemed himself against Strasbourg, scoring both goals in a fairly dull game with the only other highlight the late sending off of Strasbourg’s Kantari. Next up was Grenoble in the cup and we narrowly escaped with a 2-1 win. Osswald and Acimovic had put us in front within the first fifteen minutes, but the team got complacent after that and allowed the hosts back in the game through former Nimes striker Zoko. And the guests continued to make life miserable for us throughout the second half and we were very lucky to have a Zoko goal ruled out for offside, a very close call indeed. Ajaccio would be our next opponents.

November ended in a bit of a down way. First there was the top of the table clash against Montpellier, in which we conceded a goal just 24 seconds into the match. Pujol then suffered a bad injury in the 4th minute and that was all we needed to fold like a house of cards. Every attempt we had on goal went miles over and when Montano scored the second goal for the guests it was all over. We were still top at the end of that match, but our five point margin was cut to two and would be wiped out completely after the final game of the month.

We travelled to Tours, where we created just one chance throughout the entire match and that was from an offside position. Tours created a couple more and scored one of that, which was enough to consign us to a second consecutive defeat. I was so distraught that I flew down south again, booking a holiday which wouldn’t see me return until after Christmas.

Maybe it was my absence, but the team bounced back to beat Lorient by 1-0, albeit it rather fortuitously through an own goal. We played well in the cup against Ajaccio, a game I watched on TV, but lost after penalties, regular time provided only one goal each.

We then lost 3-2 against ‘whining’ Domenech’s Guincamp, Pujol scoring twice before he was stretchered off. The final game of the December saw us beat Bastia 1-0, courtesy of Morten Nielsen’s tap in. By the time I returned from holidays, we were still in the race, 2nd in the table with every chance of winning the league still.

Peacemaker7

St. Mirren - Happy New Year?

The year 2009, measured from the alleged point of the birth of Jesus of Nazareth, would begin with a Scottish Cup tie away to First Division strugglers, Hamilton. This should have been a simple match to get the New Year underway, but after twenty four minutes it was the First Division club who seemed to have eaten fewer mince pies over the festive season. Luckily, Steven Anderson put the ball in his own net eleven minutes later, but this was a shocking performance from us and we had to settle for a replay. I was not happy.

Back at St. Mirren Park, we should easily kill off this stubborn side, but to their credit Hamilton battled away and it wasn't until eleven minutes from time that Stephen Dobbie finally got the goal that saw us through to the fourth round, a trip to another First Division side, Clyde.

In the League we continued our struggle, out early season form forgotten, all our hard work and efforts wasted as we managed to throw away two more points at home to Dundee United in a 1-1 draw. I was becoming increasingly frustrated at my teams inability to find the level's from the opening couple of months and so with regret had to turn once more to the transfer market in search of the goals that we were so badly lacking.

Twenty four year old French striker Jeremy Perbet signed from Strasbourg - for a paltry £100,000 - in time to make his debut alongside Stephen Dobbie at Tynecastle, walking off with the man of the match award and more imortantly, both our goals in a vital 2-1 win. With the strikeforce - Dobbie apart - not really doing it for me, we needed more and also on the way in would be Paul Di Giacomo from Airdrie and young Belgian prospect, Jeroen Van den Broeck, just 19, from Rangers. With Anicet Adjamossi seemingly having forgotten how to be a left winger, Portugal's Jonathan Mendes came in from Lyon to try and improve that area of the team.

Simon Lynch and Stewart Kean, with the club now overloaded with strikers, were allowed to move to HD's Gretna on free transfers. Neither had contributed very much to our cause, and I was happy to see them go.

Even with the new faces in the side, we still conspired to lose 1-0 at home to Kilmarnock. I was not, as you can imagine, particularly amused. The Cup match at Clyde was next, and Luke Varney settled any nerves with an 11th minute strike. Yet such was the way the side was playing right now, it was hardly surprising when Clyde levelled on the half hour. Three minutes after the restart, Stephen Dobbie got what turned out to be the winner. It was hardly wonderful football, but it was a win and we now had another away trip in the Quarter Finals, this time a long trip north to Second Division Peterhead.

Back in the League, and we had two successive trips north there as well. First up to Inverness, where second half goals from Dobbie and Perbet gave us a well deserved and relief inducing win, and then to Aberdeen where Dobbie again and a first ever goal from Ekwe Ebele secured that win and the confidence was starting to creep back into the side.

Before our third trip to the far north in four matches, Motherwell came to Paisley and were sent home to think again. Stephen Dobbie started the rout after just three minutes and only two further minutes had passed before Perbet made it two. These two seemed to be having some kind of competition, as Dobbie added a third on twelve minutes and then the same number of minutes later Perbert scored his own second. Certainly, if these two want to try and out do each other on the scoring stakes, who am I to stop them. It was Dobbie who made his hattrick just before the hour and not to be outdone, substitute Paul Di Giacomo showed he wanted to be part of the action and we had ripped Motherwell to bits. This was the kind of showing I wanted every week.

With six games to go until the SPL 'split', we remain - despite everything - an excellent third, five points adrift of second placed Rangers and further five behind leaders Celtic. We are, however, twenty points clear of 7th place and that of course means we have achieved our initial seasons target of a top six place. Now we can, hopefully, concentrate on securing what would in reality be a superb 3rd spot - and next season we can then start planning on toppling those Old Firm monsters.

Peacemaker7

notes

If anyone is reading this and thinks they would quite like to join, then please let us know in the other thread, thanks

WLKRAS

January/February

The opening of the January transfer window heralded the arrival of young Chilean winger/forward Nicolás Millán. The youngster has already assembled 10 U-21 caps and he’s due to arrive as soon as the South American U20’s Championship finishes. Further additions were penned in for the summer window when three players would join on a free transfer: Dutch striker Johan Voskamp, Swiss midfielder Da Mota and finally Ibrahim Kargo, a defensive utility player from Sierra Leone. Finally, there was the departure of Niels Fleuren, who returned home to Holland to join Excelsior for 200k.

Back to the matches then, we started the new year with a true cracker of a game, away at Le Mans. We took the lead on fifteen minutes, when Marin found Nielsen with a clever chip and the young Dane blasted it into the net from an ungodly 35 yards out. Four minutes later though, Choplin had the scores level again, pouncing on a loose ball. But we didn’t let up and it was again Nielsen who did the damage, this time heading home from inside the six yard box from Osswald’s cross. Just before the break, we looked to seal the game. Marin’s cross took a deflection of Basa and fell at the feet of Bardon who let it bounce before firing it in past the stranded goalkeeper. 3-1 and we were well in control. The second half started slowly, but when Le Mans defender Basa had the ball in our net from a corner on 56 minutes, the game sputtered back into life. But again, Marin caused havoc down the right and found Nielsen with his cross. The Dane converted with his head for a hattrick. With Le Mans seemingly unable to stop Nielsen fairly, they had to resort to injuring him to prevent further embarrassment. There was a late scare for us when Basa scored his second of the game, but after that, there wasn’t any time for them to try and get an equaliser. 4-3 the final score in an entertaining match.

We were unable to build on that though, when Istres came to visit Sedan. An early goal by Leandre Griffit, from a long way out was the only goal of the game and our only real chance in the match was an effort by N’Diaye which went hopelessly wide. It didn’t get any better away at Cannes in the following game. Adil Hermach was sent off just three minutes into the match and we were always going to have difficulties after that. Nevertheless, we seemed to create the better chances, but both Osswald and Boutabout failed to convert on that. In the end, it was former Sedan player Amalfitano who put the home side in front with a shot from distance. As the game wore on, it seemed the goal wouldn’t come, but then out of nowhere, Osswald pounced on a long clearance by Ferrier and slotted it past the Cannes goalkeeper to salvage a draw.

We ended January on a high, with two wins. First we beat Caen in a very dull game. Pujol hit the bar in the opening stages and just before half time, it was a Rodrigo Defendi free kick that made the difference between the two sides. We did suffer a bit of an injury blow when Marin limped off injured eight minutes into the match, but it didn’t matter much in the end. Plus Marin’s injury would be covered by Nicolas Millan, who finally joined up with the team after his Chile team had won the South American U20’s Championship. The youngster made it onto the bench for the final match of the month against Brest. Unlike the first match of the month it wasn’t a goalfest, but we still came out on top, thanks to two goals by Gregory Pujol, both of them assisted by Florent Osswald.

We ended January with a whopping 1.03 Million loss, which was enough to draw some sour faces from the board as their approval rating dropped to satisfied.

It probably didn’t get any better when we gave away a three-nil lead away at Gueugnon and contrived to lose 3-4 somehow. Victor Sikora had given us the lead seven minutes in, rounding the goalkeeper and Florent Osswald doubled the margin ten minutes later from a Nicolas Millan cross. Pujol made it 3-0 on 34 minutes and the game seemed done and dusted. At least, that’s what the players seemed to think as a minute later, it was 3-1, Carbelo giving the home side a glimmer of hope. But it turned out to be more than that as he scored two more in the second half and Diarra added a late winner to condemn us to an embarrassing loss at the start of February.