Mike..

Cheers Spave, it's always hard to respond to comments about the in-game situation when you're already four years down the road from what's been posted. Suffice to say that the real problem is (was?) the inability to bring in much depth to the squad and certainly the consolidation part is likely to be the priority for at least the first couple of seasons in D2

Mike..

The visit of Amiens finally saw a goal for the N’Diaye family, but with Séga out injured it was the midfielder, Leyti, who took on the mantle of free-kick taker and curled home a fifth minute effort into the top corner of the net. With only one goal in the previous five games Ed was hopeful that a corner had maybe been turned – eighty-five minutes later he knew that he couldn’t be more wrong – his defence being gradually dismantled by a determined front line.

Whilst their league position was still very good, Ed was beginning to have concerns over the morale of the players. The simple fact was that in the duration of his tenure they had never really had a poor spell and now, six games without a win, he could see heads dropping and a little less of the carefree happy-go-lucky swagger that he’d got used to on the training ground.

With most of the injury-struck players returning to full fitness what he needed was a win, it didn’t have to be big, it didn’t have to be stylish, and it just had to be three points.

-----

By the end of their game at Créteil his side were hanging on grimly, but they were hanging on to a good lead. They’d started brightly, Bindi firing through a crowd of people from the edge of the area to eventually give them a much awaited lead, but with the injury problems they’d had it was clear that some of them were struggling for the full ninety minutes – most of the midfield looked about ready to drop. Ed had been worried about the probability of Millereau scoring against them, but it seemed that he was having the same problems as Séga in settling to his new club and when he was withdrawn with ten minutes to play, the manager breathed a quiet sigh of relief.

There was little respite though, he could tell that his players knew what they wanted to do, but consistent pressure from the home team, allied with rapidly tiring legs, saw them pinned into their own area for long periods. Never mind he thought to himself we’re ahead and we can probably hold this. Hold it they did, and with two minutes of normal time left they went one better as Cami launched a long ball and Bonnel used his fresh legs to race on to it and slide it home.

The run was at an end, their first win in seven games, and their first away win in over two months. What was more, they had a break in the schedule now, two weeks before the French Cup tie with non-league Orléans. Ed was determined to get his squad back to fitness – he would sit the coaching staff down and get them doing extra stamina-based sessions to make up for the lack of on-pitch action.

retired_embartl

A welcome relief then, once the runs'ended it all seems to change ( usually ) Still, I suppose managing your own expectations is difficult, even when you know promotion was possibly a shock.

Good luck though, seems the efforts there, and the defence isn't leaking too badly - just the firepower. Great read as always :

Mike..

It certainly was a relief, one thing I've noticed with FM2K5 is that a run, once it gets going, is very difficult to break (be it winning or losing). Like you say, it's goals that are lacking



He’d made a last-minute decision, with the break in the schedule he could afford to take a few days out so he’d left instructions with Naïmi and booked a flight – if he went to see his parents now he could probably avoid having to travel at Christmas too.

As usual he’d found his mother in contrary mood, finding something to complain about seemed to be a full-time occupation – at first she’d made a comment to Ed about how the central heating boiler was playing up. Of course, being a mother, she’d made it at a calculated moment and at a calculated volume – Ed knew what this meant, she’d already mentioned it to Dad two or three times but he’d not got around to sorting it out yet. Predictably his father had then proceeded to sort out the boiler, with the occasional help of Mum pointing at things and offering her expert opinion.

It was all Ed could do not to laugh out loud the following morning, Dad – always the early riser – had been up since 6am, pottering around doing some odd jobs. When his mother came down, a couple of hours later, the central heating had the house nicely toasty,

“Bloody ‘ell, it’s a bit warm in here isn’t it?” she said, striding into the kitchen and clicking the boiler off.

That summed Mum up perfectly for Ed.

Thankfully, despite all of his mother’s little quirks, and his father’s gradual evolution into the sort of person who can spend six daylight hours sleeping in an armchair, things were actually pretty happy in the house and Ed enjoyed a pleasant few days with them. He reached an understanding, it was a long time since his folks had met as youngsters, and fallen in love – in that time things obviously change and the little ‘digs’ at each other, the sighs and rolled eyes, the mumbled profanities (under the breath, because good help Dad if Mum should hear them!) were actually their way of letting each other know that they still actually cared – weird as it was, without that interaction Ed was sure they’d have parted company years ago.

-----

He kept his thoughts on the matter to himself of course, if he’d mentioned them to Dad during their pilgrimage to the Galpharm he could be pretty sure he’d have got a stream of obscenities wrapped up in a ‘don’t talk so bloody soft lad’ type of sentiment.

As it was Dad just accused him of being a jinx, having taken the task of returning to the old Division 2 (or even Division 3 - Ed still couldn’t get used to this ridiculous new set of names for the football league) the Terriers were taking the lowest league by storm and he’d been promised a treat as they looked to extend their twelve game unbeaten run in the campaign. 90 minutes later, and with Swansea having carried out a 3-1 demolition job, Dad had jokingly told him to ”bugger of back to France and don’t come back here again”

Despite the poor result on the day Ed had been particularly impressed with the performance of Lilian Nalis in midfield – being French, Ed thought, should the opportunity arise to try and sign the midfielder he might have a better chance at agreeing terms, a return to the homeland perhaps – Ed made a note to have one of his scouts keep an eye on him during the next UK assignment.

-----

Once again he’d intended, as he had on his last visit, to get down to London and see some of his old friends from Spurs but time had caught up with him and he’d simply not had the chance. It was probably for the best, on reflection, things weren’t going well at White Hart Lane – Jacques Santini had dragged his former club into a mid-season relegation battle and, if the press were to be believed, he was on the verge of experiencing a full-scale player revolt – Ed was surprised that the former French national coach hadn’t walked away already. It was a sad sight for Ed, though he’d never considered himself a card-carrying supporter of the club he had played some of the best football of his career there and the fact that Arsenal were ‘struggling’ in fifth place would be of no comfort to the fans.

Mike..

He returned to the club to find everything looking pretty healthy, the injury problems had finally cleared up and the imminent game in the cup would leave only Cami unavailable, due to suspension. This didn’t trouble him greatly, against non-league opposition he’d already made the decision to give a few second-string players a run, mixing them up with the regular starters – one thing was for certain, Séga was going to start and, by God, Ed wanted to see him celebrating his first goal.

His instructions were simple, go out fast and aggressive, throw everything at Orléans and keep them under constant pressure. His words sunk in, from the kick-off Gaël Bonnel almost had the ball in the net and Ed watched as his side didn’t have to retreat into their own half for the opening ten minutes. The pressure eventually paid off, Bonnel’s pace took him into the box for the umpteenth time and a rash challenge from Nomede saw the referee point to the spot – as cool as ever, Bédani stepped up and side-footed the ball home. The rout had begun…

…at least that’s what he thought, but despite their pressure his side had failed to extend their lead by the break. He wasn’t about to panic, their hosts hadn’t managed anything threatening – restricted to long range efforts – and the longer it went on the more he could see his side finding the net again.

With 20 minutes to play he made some changes, he wanted to give Tchami some pitch time to keep him sharp and he considered withdrawing Séga. The man was an enigma, an anomaly, the coaching staff all said that he should be their best striker by far and Ed had seen him do things on the training ground that made Tchami look ordinary, but he just couldn’t seem to convert a chance. Overriding his instinct he left he Senegalese on and called for Bonnel to take a rest – with time running short Orléans were bound to start taking risks and he was sure that Séga would find his mark eventually. Sure enough the non-leaguers started to push more bodies into attack, opening up the midfield, but they continued to defend well and Ed was beginning to regret his changes when another chance was spurned by the new man.

With two minutes left on the clock Orléans forced a corner and Ed was on the edge of his seat, even the home keeper came up to try and add to their chances. The cross came over and Valverde collected it well – distributing it quickly to Séga who was out near the right flank. The striker turned the defender who had been left on him and took off toward goal – Ed was up on his feet and screaming for him to shoot, the keeper was still in the wrong half of the pitch – there was no-one between ball-carrier and goal – Hit it, come on you big ox, HIT IT!! but Séga seemed reluctant to do so and continued his run down the flank. By the time he crossed the ball, admittedly finding Tchami well, there were nearly fourteen people in the box and the chance was spurned with the last kick of the game.

Ed applauded his players off the pitch, whatever had happened with Séga they’d still won the game and would be in the hat for the draw. As the striker trudged off, looking somewhat sheepish, Ed reached up and put his arm around the big man’s shoulders

“Don’t worry about it, it’ll come soon enough, you did well out there today – but we’ve got to get you working on your finish more, you can’t be Emile Heskey your whole life you know”

There was the slightest flicker in the striker’s eyes, and a thin smile spread across his face.

Mike..

The win in the cup had been a good thing, he couldn’t deny that no matter how he felt about their finishing, but the loss of Julien Labat meant that they’d have no real fullback on the right for a few days – despite the problems that every other club seemed to face, Ed was swamped with left-sided players.

When Khalifa Ba, standing in on the right, earned himself a straight red card in the seventeenth minute of the game against Nancy Ed had a feeling they could be in trouble. With no-one else to take to the flank Ed narrowed the defensive line and urged his players to sit a little deeper than usual but his words didn’t seem to sink in. The penalty, from Ba’s infringement, gave their visitors the upper hand and they played with the confidence of a team in front.

In stoppage time, after a particularly hard game for the home fans to watch, Gaël Bonnel finally crafted a telling chance for Pau – his blistering run took him clear of the defence and into the box. He stood his ground, daring Christophe Marichez to come off his line, and when the keeper did Bonnel cleverly flicked the ball to Tchami, whose run brought him to the penalty spot at the perfect moment to bury it.

It was a great goal, probably one of the best that Ed had seen scored at this level, but with the battering that they’d taken in the preceding 90 minutes it meant little on the day.

Mike..

NOVEMBER 2005 SUMMARY

Pau 1 (Leyti 5)
Amiens 3 (Abalo 22, Diaw 51, Custovic 90+)
Man of the Match: Luiz (Amiens)

Créteil 0
Pau 2 (Bindi 35, Bonnel 88)
Man of the Match: Cami (Pau)

Orléans 0
Pau 1 (Bédani pen 12)
French Cup
Man of the Match: Bindi (Pau)

Pau 1 (Tchami 90+)
Nancy 3 (De Freitas pen 17, Curbelo 41, Ducan-Darcheville 43)
Man of the Match: De Freitas (Nancy)
News: Ba (Pau) sent off 17)

Mike..

With Labat still missing, and Ba suspended, there were no options left on the right side of defence and Ed decided to shake things up a bit. Pulling the defence in tight, asking them to play three across the middle, he gave Sartolou a start in a three man attacking line-up. He was perfectly aware that his change left the flanks vulnerable to the wingback system that Guingamp had adopted, but with no options wide right he preferred to take the chance and pack the box.

It quickly became apparent that the gamble was not going to pay off, several of the team looked a little out of sorts in trying to adapt to the narrower formation and the home side took full advantage winning an early penalty when Tchmogo broke into the box and was bundled over by Bikoyoi. Eventually Ed conceded that it wasn’t going to work, Kangu was pushed out onto the flank and things were restored to their usual shape – the familiarity of the layout allowed his players to relax a little but Guingamp were in the running for a promotion spot and the strength of their squad showed why – second half goals making it three-nil, a fully deserved scoreline for their share of possession and chances. Once again Ed was looking to a Cup tie with non-league opposition to boost their dented confidence.

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Séga missed the opportunity to open his account at Thouars – his two yellow cards at Guingamp resulted in an immediate suspension which had Ed seething, he was running out of ideas and the non-league opposition was the best he had with regard to helping the youngster break his duck.

It wasn’t a difficult match for the Division Two side, Tchami got back into scoring form as early as the 4th minute, and from then on their hosts struggled to get into the last third of the pitch. As ever Ed found it uncomfortable to watch his side defending a one goal margin, no matter how dominant their performance, but a moment of brilliance settled any nerves he may have been suffering – a rare flash of pure talent from Romain Testas. Just ten minutes after being introduced to the game, Testas broke into the box from wide and ran at the keeper – an audacious nutmeg left him clear through and Guillemet’s impressive sliding challenge could only steer the ball into his own net.

Mike..

The winter break had crept up on Ed, it hardly seemed a matter of days since his trip to England but now his side faced two games in four days, and then an empty schedule over the festive period. The squad was at full strength, the opposition difficult though – in the shape of the top two sides - if he could engineer a point or two he’d be content.

A straight red card for Di Bartolomeo, late in the first half, made things look hard in the home game against Châteauroux. Not the ideal position with the visitors already ahead, but a strong performance actually saw Pau fight back to take the advantage before the runaway leaders pulled it level, shortly before they were reduced to ten men. Testas’ strike was worthy of note though, racing between two defenders to latch onto Tchami’s ball and curl it past the keeper from range – it was a goal that would earn him second place in the goal of the month awards.

After the strong showing at home Ed was hoping for a similarly gutsy performance at Montpellier, particularly after a second yellow card saw them down to ten men early in the second period. Pau did take the lead, albeit not until the game was almost into its final minutes, Colombo’s backpass was woefully short and left Viviani with little choice but to race out of his area to clear – it wasn’t a great touch that he got and, with the keeper back-pedalling, Cami’s delightful lob dropped just under the bar from forty yards out. It actually looked like Pau were going to nick it, they had the goal and the man over, but Montpellier had earned their second spot and they showed how, fighting back to grab a draw.

He’d said that a point or two would be satisfactory, but having been ahead in both games there was a hint of disappointment about the results, no matter who the opposition was. At least the players could grab a rest now, recharge their batteries and prepare for the restart in the new year, for Ed it was time to consider the squad again.

Mike..

DECEMBER 2005 SUMMARY

Guingamp 3 (Jouffre pen 3, Tchomogo 58, Bardon 83)
Pau 0
Man of the Match: Fiachez (Guingamp)
News: Séga (Pau) sent off 69

Thouars 0
Pau 2 (Tchami 4, Guillement o.g. 80)
French Cup
Man of the Match: Bindi (Pau)

Pau 2 (Tchami 47, Testas 62)
Châteauroux 2 (Gueï 14, Kamata 77)
Man of the Match: Leyti (Pau)
News: Di Bartolomeo (Pau) sent off 37, Kamata (Châteauroux) sent off 83

Montpellier 1 (Chakouri 83)
Pau 1 (Cami 78)
Man of the Match: Leyti (Pau)
News: Moullec (Montpellier) sent off 53



Writer's note: at the time of writing this I'm still waiting on the patch to et me add league tables mid-season.