24 replies to this topic

[Funkenstein]

12 January 2013

The team are finally beginning to implement some stability into their form, as highlighted by the fact that they have developed a comfortable margin ahead of fourth place and until the match against the Black Leopards they were only three points behind league leaders Kaizer Chiefs. Their performances are now underlined by a growing confidence as opposed to nervy wins and the structured passing game that saw them dominate teams in the NFD is slowly becoming more prominent in their matches. This was characterised by Sahautsi’s goal and the team’s first against the Sundowns, in which he thundered the ball home from twenty yards following a twenty pass build-up stemming from the kick off. The end result of all of this is that they are engrossed in the three horse race for the title, although given their set of fixtures following the winter break I’d be greatly impressed if that status is intact by the time of the next update.

At the same time, their recent performances have also forced me to begin planning and organising the squad on the transfer front and ahead of the next campaign. Following yet another poor performance against the Black Leopards, Dube confirmed his status as the first departure come the summer and justified the fans’ claims that he has been an economical and poor signing. He has averaged a mere 6.40 from 3(3) appearances and has been responsible for disrupting many of the team’s attacks as a result of his wasteful passing and inconsistent crossing. I’m hoping that this will prove to be the only blip in an otherwise successful series of acquisitions and in the mean time I’ve promoted Ngwenya to the bench to judge if he is good enough to serve as Dlamini’s backup.

Away from the football pitch, both McCarthy and Bantam confirmed my predictions by announcing that they will retire at the end of the season. They’ve been brilliant servants to the club and consistent performers since I took control, and there is no doubt that the team will crave their influence and experience. I was again considering promoting from within and attempting to mould Masashe as a replacement for the former, although apparently that would be a decision unpopular with the fans:

For now, the team will be enjoying the winter break for the remainder of January and February and as per always friendlies have been organised to occupy them and maintain their fitness. In a series of away fixtures, they will face NFD outfits Golden Arrows, Blackburn and Thanda Royal Zulu before the slightly more difficult task of Bloem Celtic.

[Funkenstein]

13 February 2013

Two words. Musa. Ngwenya.

Following my suggestion that I’d begin utilising him as a backup for Dlamini, I offered him some playing time throughout the friendlies and put simply he was brilliant throughout. The match against the Golden Arrows featured his most spectacular performance as he volleyed home Sahautsi’s free kick to give the team a 2-1 lead before he embarking on a twenty yard run and crossing from the edge of the area to set up Nkambule for the third. Despite only playing fourty five minutes at a time, he successfully terrorised the wings and stamped his ability and pace onto every game. If he maintains this standard, I could be witnessing his transfer from the bench to the pitch far sooner than I was expecting.

On a broader level, the team performed well throughout the friendlies and exercised both their strength in depth and the strong working partnerships they’ve built up. Whilst being against a slightly weakened side, the game against Bloem Celtic confirmed that they have established themselves as PSL standard as they enjoyed 65% possession and tore the defence apart with their slick passing.

Monde Colin who?

[Funkenstein]

22 February 2013

Typical.

My promise for more first team football was offered before the set of friendlies the team just completed, whilst his request has come after he played forty five minutes in each one and featured in the final ten minutes in the most recent game against the Orlando Pirates. He was more impressive than Dlamini in that match and almost set up two goals, convincing me to start him for the next outing against Ajax CT even before this message appeared. Naturally I’ve rejected it on the basis that he is one of the most promising talents in Africa yet alone in the league, although this assessment is now juxtaposed by anxiousness that I am now forced to balance him and Dlamini in terms of playing time. Indeed, this news alerted our (far richer) rivals Bloem Celtic, although I’m certain the £5 million price tag I’ve placed on his head will put clubs off him for a long while.

[Funkenstein]

9 March 2013

Following my exploits with the Ivory Coast Under 23s my craving for international management increased immensely, and ever since then I’ve kept an eye on every major tournament to see if a vacancy opened up. After this year’s African Cup of Nations, the job security for both Angola and Algeria was listed as ‘very insecure’ and so I decided to declare an interest in both. Only expecting a slim chance of a response, the former ignored me although as the pictures above demonstrate, the latter gladly hired me as their manager.

Currently sitting at 46th in the world rankings, the team exited the tournament at the group stages with three narrow defeats to their name before incurring an embarrassing 1-1 draw against Northern Ireland. Despite this, they currently lead their group in the Second Round of the World Cup Qualifiers after two games having defeated Burkina Faso and Somalia away and home respectively with their next fixture coming against Uganda in eighteen days time.

These are the best three players according to the overview screen and they underline the fact that the raw ability in the squad can be found in its younger areas. Overall both the team and the national pool demonstrate that Algeria contains a palpable amount of strength in depth, as highlighted by the fact that no position is presently undergoing a crisis and choosing a squad should be a relatively easy task.

My only concerns are that those plying their trade away from Algeria within a top division are a rare commodity, implying that certain members of the squad are not being exposed to a quality of football as strong as their international counterparts. At the same time, their recent poor results have been sustained whilst using a 4-2-3-1 tactic similar to my own, meaning a change in technique is required on my part. However, these don’t retract from the excitement that I’ve finally managed to land an international job and new competitions and opportunities are open to me.

[Funkenstein]

3 April 2013

The team have witnessed an inconsistent set of results since returning from the winter break characterised by the fact that their status as one of the strongest sides in the league is now hanging by a thread and the Kaiser Chiefs and Orlando Pirates have increased their leads to unconquerable extents. The latter successfully inflicted the first home defeat of the season after they scored on the six minute mark and despite the fact that their subsequent red card offered an opportunity for a comeback that our fruitless attackers were unable to capitalise on. This was followed by a draw which highlighted the team’s tendency to concede immediately after they scored before they obtained stability with fairly impressive and routine wins. However, they then displayed their worst performance since I took charge in a match where a Shongwe goal was sandwiched by the Witbank Spurs taking an early lead and Makhathini gifting them a second after he dropped a feeble shot from outside the box. An admittedly impressive header from a free kick sealed the win as our shattered conviction consolidated that any chance of a comeback would be slim. An away visit to the league leaders followed as they demonstrated their desire to overcome our 3-0 win earlier in the season, although this only provided them with a one goal lead undone five minutes from the end when Dlamini slotted home October’s brilliant long pass. However, this was spoiled when Ace Bhengu hacked down their striker in the box, offering them a penalty and the winner and ensuring that the team enter the business end of the season with only a fraction of the confidence they had in February remaining.

Luckily, the youth players have also been active in this period and created distractions from the team’s performances. Since complaining that he wanted more first team football, I’ve rotated Ngwenya on the right wing with Dlamini although this has simply enforced the ongoing selection dilemma as they continue to match other. Whilst the former frightens defences with his sheer pace and dribbling, the latter is more involved in the play and effective in spraying out passes to his teammates which frequently set up goals. For the remainder of the season I’m willing to balance their playing time although come August I’ll be making a decision over who takes priority in the starting eleven. Masashe and Masanabo have also recently returned home after representing their country as part of the South Africa squad that won the Under 20 African Championships. Both played an instrumental role throughout the tournament despite the fact that the latter was utilised in a more reserved left midfield role, although this didn’t stop him netting an impressive goal against Algeria in the Semi Final. At the same time, the club has received their annual intake of youth candidates all vying for contracts and the chance to be promoted to the Reserves and Under 19s. Unfortunately unlike last year there are no major gems to speak of, although there is a promising striker in the form of Tsepho Mokoena:

The Nedbank Cup has also been introduced to the club’s agenda, although the First Round tie away to Maritzburg City simply served as an opportunity to offer the fringe players some playing time and exercise our quality over a lesser team. Ngwenya pounced upon Bantam’s defence-splitting passes to create a two goal lead within the first five minutes before sealing his hat-trick with an admirable solo effort that saw him run forty yards before tapping the ball in to complete an impressive counter attacking move. That goal sealed the win and prompted Maritzburg to convert to a defensive 5-4-1 formation which successfully kept the team out for the rest of the game and limited the damage we were inflicting. For the second time this year, we’ll face Santos F.C in the second round of a cup competition in yet another away fixture.

At the same time, I had my first game in charge of Algeria in a World Cup Qualifier against Uganda. Their opponents had defeated them 2-1 in the African Cup of Nations although they were considered heavy favourites to win and with this in mind I lined up with an attacking 4-3-3 formation. This initially worked in our favour as Mesbah’s cross from inside the box was turned in by a Uganda defender before he capped his international debut with a powerful strike following a twenty yard run. However, any opportunity to extend the lead further was then restricted by Ghezzal stupidly acquiring two yellow cards for diving and Uganda switching to a tight 5-3-2 outfit that marked our attackers of the game. Overall, it was a good win that extended our lead at the top of the group and highlighted the raw ability within the squad, although it didn’t teach me much about tactics and indeed which the team are most comfortable with. Luckily their next match isn’t until June so I have plenty of time to consider them.

For now, the focus is on the Aces and ensuring that they have a strong conclusion to the season. Next up is SuperSport United before successive fixtures against Santos F.C. in the league and cup respectively and relegation candidates Jomo Cosmos.