Hello everyone, greetings from ABT FM and welcome to Chapter 2 of the Creators Community League. The CCL is a league that organised by Oblique Kick Gaming, which he gathered 16 Football Manager content creators to participate in the league. The whole league will be stimulated, however, us the creators have the chance to draft the players that we want, as well as setting up our own tactics for the assistant manager. Today, we are playing Donmaster Rovers whose manager is one of the FM Creators The Don Gaming. He had a number of great players like Erling Haaland, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Andrew Robertson. Now, let’s see how the ABT Boys did in the game!
Expectation vs Reality
In my expectation, I would play Kerem Demirbay and Son Heung-Min. However, my assistant manager decided not to include them in the starting line-up. He replaced them with Saul as the Mezzala and Thomas Lemar as the Inverted Winger. Well, it was a great choice though. Lemar provided 2 key passes in the game while Saul had a decent game as well.
Final Result & Highlights
It was an away game for us, but we managed to get the 3 points in the first game of the season. Donmaster Rovers’ Angel Correa received a red card after an awful tackle in the 10th minute in the game, which made them only had 10 men on the pitch. Neither teams had scored a single goal in the first half, but in the last 15 minutes, 3 goals were scored.
Thomas Muller (74’) – We scored the opener at the 74th minute. Renan Lodi received a pass from Achraf Hakimi and crossed the ball into the box. Thomas Muller then scored an incredible header without any defender marking him.
Erling Haaland (79’) – However, we conceded a goal in the 79th minute. Eder Militao blocked Erling Haaland’s shot and the ball bounced back to the opposition’s Ruben Neves. The midfielder made a through pass and found Haaland again, and this time the ball was at the back of the net.
Alisson Becker (85’) – Our Brazilian goalkeeper Alisson Becker was definitely one of key players in this game. Erling Haaland managed to beat the offside trap at the 85th minute after receiving an incredible pass from Joel Matip. The Norwegian had the chance to score the one-on-ones, however, Alisson Becker stepped up and made a crucial save. The score line remained 1-1.
Koke (91’) – The winning goal came in at the 91st minute. Renan Lodi was bringing the ball forward at the left flanks. Most of our players were running towards the opposition box as well. Lodi realised there were too many defenders inside the box. He then made an amazing decision, passing the ball to Koke who arrived late to the box. Koke aimed at the bottom right corner, smashed it hard and low in the net. 2-1! Game over!
Match Analysis
I thought it would be good to look at the match highlights to identify whether or not my tactics work. I scanned through the key highlights myself, but in this chapter, I would be focusing more on the goals.
Thomas Muller’s goal – Muller was playing as the right wing. His role was Raumdeuter. What a Raumdeuter mainly does is moving into channels in a very hard-core way. A Raumdeuter will be paying attention to the spaces available on the pitch. Some of the key attributes are off the ball, decisions and work rate. Thomas Muller is the perfect player in this particular role. In the first goal, I was very happy with the way we played. The Pressing Forward Ciro Immobile (green) dragged two defenders away, leaving a big space (red square) in front of the six-yard box. One defender is marking our Mezzela Saul (purple). Here, Renan Lodi made a great decision, sending the ball to the empty space out there. Thomas Muller, as expected, moved into the space and scored a header.
Erling Haaland’s goal – We didn’t manage to keep a clean sheet, however, I wasn’t too angry at conceding this goal. Raphael Varane was chasing Erling Haaland putting pressure on him. Eder Militao did well in blocking Haaland’s shot. Unfortunately, the ball bounced back to Ruben Neves, who can simply play a through ball Haaland. The defenders did the right thing in this defensive play.
Alisson Becker’s save – This concerned me more than the goal we conceded. We were playing with offside trap, but Erling Haaland just broke through the defensive line easily. Joel Matip sent a long ball forward and our defenders can’t perform the trap. Fortunately, Alisson Becker saved the shot and allowed us to stay in the game.
Koke’s goal – I love this goal. My boys never give up! This was another great decision made by Renan Lodi again. We had 5 players in the box, so did the opponent, which was 1v1 situation for my attacking players inside the box. Koke was the Deep Lying Playmaker, which is why he arrived late to the box. Lodi did a cutback and passed the ball to Koke. Koke finished it with a perfect long shot. I thought the reason that we scored the goal was because they only had 10 men on the pitch. Luckily, their attacking midfielder (yellow) wasn’t following Koke.
Conclusion
Overall, it was a great feeling to get a win in the first game of the season. Next game, we are facing How I Met Your Mata in the Community League Cup. I hope we can keep on deliver a performance like this and try our best to go as far as we can in the competition. Thank you guys for reading the ABT Boys Dairies and I will see you all next week. Take care!
ABT Football Manager 