retired_Brenniepooh

The midweek match arrived and Madrid made the trip to Ferrol for the 1st leg of the 4th round Spanish Cup. On paper the League B1 team had no chance against Smith’s team. He had decided to keep the team that had won so emphatically against Racing 3 days earlier. Even with Beckham returning from suspension the form Cardenas had meant that Beckham was going to have to make do with a place on the bench.

It took no more than 56 seconds for the first name to be put on the score sheet. From kick off Van Nistelrooy had run forward with the ball and Paraguay International Acuna had decided he wanted to swap shirts a little to early, resulting in a free kick 25 yards from goal. Up stepped young Cardenas who bent the ball around the wall and into the back of the net. Only two minutes later and Ferrol were picking the ball out of their goal again when Cassano took the ball round two defenders before slotting past the diving keeper. Ashley was pleased, to be 2-0 up after the 3rd minute. it meant that he could relax and enjoy the match. The lower league side never looked threatening in front of goal and rarely got out of their own half. The game was over when in the 15th minute another free kick taken by Cardenas found it’s way past the keeper and into the back of the net. The young Colombian was proving to be an excellent signing for Smith, with 5 goals from the 9 appearance’s he had made he was really proving his worth to the team.

Ferrol 0

Real Madrid 3
Cardenas (1,15)
Cassano (3)

retired_Brenniepooh

The next mornings papers were full of quotes regarding Cardenas. Praising him for his recent performances. Smith had released a quote stating although he was delighted for the young 17 year old he would make sure that he would keep his feet on the ground and not let his ego get bloated by all the media praise. When asked about the future of David Beckham due to Cardenas’ placement on the right wing Smith responded by stating that the of course the Englishman had a place at Real, and if he performed well in training there was no reason why he wouldn’t get games.

retired_aloramin

great story. been following since the very 1st day you did it. but please keep it goin.

retired_Brenniepooh

glad your enjoying it. Got plenty more updates coming. I'm fifteen hours into playing this and I've not even got to new year yet. Lol

retired_sesmith0116

glad to here there's more to come. One thing, not hearing so much about Smith's life away from matchday eg training and his blossoming romance with Charlotte (thats what it is, be honest).

retired_randi

Real Madrid is my favorite team! And I love a good story so this is as said before my cup of tea ;-)

Cardenas is proving to be a monstrous signing!
Pushing Beck's out of the 1st team o_o

Anyways what I wanted to say was that I agree with the poster above me, Mike7077, that you should continue with more about Smith's life, situations with players etc

But I am sure thats the plan :-)

Wouldn't be much of a story with only enchanced game situations, if you know what I mean..

retired_Brenniepooh

Thanks for all the comments guys. Glad you wanting more insight into Smith's life, there is plenty to come do don't worry

retired_Brenniepooh

“Hello”

“Hello Ash, It’s Charlotte”

It had been a while since he had spoken to her so a friendly voice was more than welcome.

“How are you”

“I’m ok thanks, things are going ok out here, you should come over some time, would be nice to see you”

“Yea, that would be nice, things have been quiet here, nothing much happening. I think a nice little holiday is on the cards”

“That’s great, when do you fancy coming over?”

“Well, I’m a bit busy this weekend, it’s mums birthday so we’re all going out for a family meal, shame you can’t make it as you know how much mum likes you”

That was true, he’d always got on with Charlottes mum. Every time she saw him she would always comment on why he hadn’t taken her daughter out for “proper” date”

“Pass on my birthday wishes to her, you should both come over here some time, would be a nice change from Walsall”

“I’m sure she’d like that, I’ll have a word with her and see what she says. So, still holed up in the hotel over there?”

“Yea, haven’t had the chance to go look for a permanent place yet to be honest, and with the reputation that Madrid have for sacking coaches when things are going wrong I don’t want to tempt fate and get somewhere to be sacked the next week”

“I thought you said things were going ok”

“Oh, they are, I’m just saying, knowing me I’ll sign on the dotted line for an apartment and then end up with no job”

“Haha, well I’m sure if things are going ok then it won’t hurt to look”

“I suppose not, maybe when you come over that’s something that we can do then”

“Ooo, sounds like a plan to me Mr, you know me, I like a good nose around”

“Well, let me know when your free we’ll sort something out then”

“Sure, that would be nice. I’m sure it won’t be long before I can get out there”

“Sounds good to me, I’ll look forward to it"

With that they said their goodbyes.

It had been nice speaking to her. Not only was she his agent but they had been friends for a few years
now. Meeting each other through a mutual friend they had hit it off straight away but the friendship had never progressed to anything but that.

The conversation had cheered Ashley up. He had found life hard in Spain. Although on the public side of things he had shown a happy face he was still trying to adjust to life outside of England. He had never spent so long away from home, he had never bothered to learn another language and to say he was finding Spanish a little hard to learn would have been an understatement. He hoped things would improve for his private life soon and he didn’t want this to affect his job.

retired_Brenniepooh

The team arrived at for the visit to play Osasuna. The players were looking good, team spirit was high and the media predicted that Real would walk away with the 3 points.

“Mr Smith, your team have now won their last 5 games, scoring 17 goals. Do you feel that the players are now settled with you as a manager?”

“I think that whenever a new manager comes into a club it’s always hard for the players. They need to get to know the new manager, know how he likes to play. The last 5 games have shown that things are now clicking into place and we’re starting to show the form of the Madrid of old. “

“With the form of Sherman Cardenas on the right side of midfield keeping Beckham out of the squad is it true that he is looking to move clubs if he doesn’t get more time on the field.”

“David knows that competition for places if high. We’ve got players here of such good quality that no-one is guaranteed a place in the side week in week out. If David continues to train well like he has been then he’ll get his chance.”

“With Osasuna lying 18th in the table with only 6 points from their 10 games this season do you see this match as an easy win?”

“No match is an easy win in my opinion. Osusuna will be a hard team to beat despite their league position. But we are in fine form at the moment, and if the players remain focused and aren’t complacent then I can see us coming away with the win today.”



By half time Smith’s team were 1-0 down. A lapse of concentration by Ramos had allowed Osasuna forward Valdo to sneak in behind him and put the ball past the diving Casillas. The first half display from Madrid had Ashley confused. The form and creativity they had shown in previous matches wasn’t there and the home team had defiantly had the better of the chances and deserved to be ahead.

C’mon lads, where’s the commitment, where’s the spirit. That display was embarrassing

The players acknowledged Ashley’s comments. They knew their first half display hadn’t met his expectations. They knew they could play better, that had shown they could.

On the 53rd minutes a half chance by Nistelrooy had ended up in the back of the net. The scramble in the area resulted in the Dutchman toe poking the ball over the line. Once Madrid had equalised the home team changed to a defensive formation, seemingly happy to play for the draw. It looked as if Real players were happy with this as well, despite Ashley screaming and shouting at the them from the sidelines to get the ball forward. He was far from happy. He knew the team could play better than they had shown and for them come away with a draw was deemed an unacceptable result in the eyes of the fans as the chorus of boos told them. The trip back to Madrid was a strange one, the team bus was quiet, almost as if the players knew they hadn’t given it their all.

Ashley thought that maybe the recent success they had enjoyed had gotten to their heads, and that maybe the team thought a win was already banked before even kicking a ball. He decided that changes would be made for the next made to guard against this complacency.

Osasuna 1
Valdo (30)

Real Madrid 1
V.Nistelrooy (53)

retired_Brenniepooh

The return visit of Shahktar in the Champions League fell on the last day of October. Throughout the month Madrid had remained unbeaten and Ashley wanted to end with a win. Changes were made from the previous game. He decided to rest Diarra, Cardenas, Ramos and Francia and with Nistelrooy suspended both Robinho and Ronaldo would start upfront. With Reyes still out injured and the lack of another left sided midfielder other than Francia Cassano was moved to the left wing. With effectively 3 strikers on the pitch he hoped that goals wouldn’t be hard to come by.

Real Madrid 2
Cassano (27)
Helguera (73)

Shahktar 0

The resting of players that hadn’t performed in the last match certainly seemed to shake things up. With Ronaldo setting up Cassano in the 27 minute to put Real 1-0 up the players that had come in were certainly showing they were keen to be first choice.

It was another of the fresh players that scored the second. Helguera picking up a loose ball and shooting from all of 35 yards, curling the ball past the oppositions keeper.

Ashley was happy. With their 4 wins from 4 they had qualified from the group with 2 games to spare. This meant the pressure was off of him as far as Europe was concerned until the draw for the knockout stages were drawn. It also meant that he could rest players in the next 2 group matches if he needed to.