Going into this month we were feeling very confident as a result of our great form in the friendlies. However, friendlies are a not the real thing and you can never tell how good you will do until you start playing proper game, thats when the pressure really starts.

I have to say this month went amazingly for us, i couldn’t of asked for a better start to the season. Not only did we win all our games we also played really well and out classed our opponents.

We got my home team Middlesbrough in the League Cup and I thought for sure we would get beat. Hammond was injured for this match and so I went with a flat 4-4-2 formation. This is the first time we had played this formation, in fact we had only played with the diamond up until now, so it was a risky move. Heres the team I went with:

This was a chance for the wingers to shine and show me what they could do. The tactics paid off and we won 3-0, but the thing is that the wingers were actually the worst players for us and were the only two players to get under 7 rating, which was a shame really. Still though I now know that I can switch to the 4-4-2 if needed and we can play really well, even against better opposition.

So that was our highlight of the month for sure, special mention to Saganowski who has been our star player this month with 8 goals from 6 games and also Scheiderlin who has been a maestro in midfield 5 assists in 7 games. Here is the full list of fixtures with goal scorers for August:

So, we won all 5 of our home games, but because of the -10 deduction we end August sitting in 16th place in League 2:

So thats it for this little update, all in all I couldn’t want more from the team, I just hope we can keep this amazing run going. Thanks for reading be back with another update soon.

Here is the formation with the player roles and duties:

The fullbacks Harding & Murty will be expected to give us width and get in crosses.

With his passing, first touch & technique, Booth makes for a good ball playing centreback.

Soley will sit in front of the back four and offer protection.

Hammond is a good all rounder and will get up and down the pitch, defending when needed, but also helping out the attack.

Scheiderlin & Lallana will both pull the strings in midfield. Schneiderlin will sit deeper and pick out passes, whereas Lallana will look to create attacking chances for the front two and will be our playmaker.

Up front Lambert will be our target man and will come a little bit deeper with a support duty, Saganowski will be on the shoulder of the last defender and will be our “fox in the box”.

These are the team instructions:

As you can see, this will be a disciplined rigid formation with players expected to stay in position and hold shape.

When not in possession we will hassle the opponent, this along with hard tackling will disrupt their play and make sure they don’t have much time on the ball.

When we do have the ball we will play direct football and try and get it forward quickly.

I think this type of quick direct football works well in England, especially in the lower leagues, where the pitches and weather aren’t great.

I must say I really like the “Box to box” role, it really does what it says and your player does literally go from box to box defending and attacking. Here is an example of Dean Hammond my box to box midfielder doing just that. Not only do he make great runs into the oppositions box and even score goals (he got a hat-trick in this game) he also can be seen in his own box defending too!

So onto the results. Pre-season couldn’t of went better to be honest we didn’t concede any goals in all 7 games and we scored a total of 24!

I was so delighted with how we were playing that I kept with the diamond system in all the friendlies even after our signings were made. Saganowski in particular has been amazing so far, which surprised me a little. This was our strongest team:

So going into the season off the back of a 7-0 win, our confidence couldn’t be higher. I decided to stick with the 4-1-2-1-2 diamond as it was doing so well. As for my new winger Ze Rui, I will keep him on the bench for now and will switch to a flat 4-4-2 if I feel we need to change things up a bit, this will allow him to play as he doesn’t fit into this wingless formation. I will also re-train him to AMC so that I can play him in this system. I know this is a waste, but I was planning to play a 4-2-3-1, which he would have no problem fitting into, however this diamond formation is doing too good and the striking partnership is amazing so i want to keep 2 up top. Saying that if one of our central midfielders gets injured I will have to change it anyways and Ze Rui will get in then. I will write a post up about my tactics next.

I sold 5 players all together for a total of £195k and loaned out 7 players. Heres the full list:

Players In

I brought a lot of players in during the transfer window, however most of them will be just for cover, only a couple will go straight into the first team. As you know from my last post I was looking for the following:

• A young up & coming keeper as backup for Davis.
• A centre-back to come straight into the first team to partner Radhi Jaidi at the back.
• Some cover for the right-back.
• Some quality wingers.
• Another creative attacking midfielder to give us more options (I didn’t mention this in my last post, but after playing a few friendlies I realised we needed another AMC incase Lallana is injured or not fit).
• A DMC to play in the first team, although we have Dean Hammond & Schneiderlin they will be playing M C as that is their natural position (Again I only thought about this after a few friendlies as I was playing Lloyed James in this position).

So, with this in mind I went off and scoured the market with the help of my scouts. Firstly I went and looked around at all the players currently available on a free transfer. There were many great options here, however a lot of players I offered contracts too either didn’t want to join us or wanted too much wages. Anyways in the end i signed 3 players on a free, they were:

Alex (M C) 16 years old

Alex had just been released by Real Madrid, so he must have potential…right? Anyways the kid only wanted £55 a week and he will go straight in my under-18s. Could turn out good, could be useless, but worth a punt anyways.

Seyfo Soley (D C, DM, M C) 29 years old

This player had been out of contract since he left Preston in 2007, not really sure why, he has great stats. He is a beast at 6’4″ very strong and great in the air, he’s a natural DMC and will be my first choice in this position.

Ze Rui (AM L) 26 years old

A lot of clubs were after Ze Rui, so I was delighted when he decided to sign for us. Great stats for a winger, he will slot right into the team on the left wing.

I also made 2 loan signings:

Rhys Williams (D RC, DM, M C) 21 years old

Im a Boro fan and Rhys has been quality for us this season so I signed him on loan for cover and if he does well I might sign him up. He is versatile being able to play in 4 position which I like.

Gael Kakuta (AM LC) 18 years old

Kakuta is a very promising young lad currently at Chelsea. Touted as the next big thing, there was a lot of controversy over his move to Chelsea resulting in Chelsea getting a ban on transfers sometime in the future. Hopefully he can show some of this talent while he is with us.

Now I had £1.5m to spend on players, however I didn’t spend it all. I only spent £725k, but I managed to get everything i needed:

Matthew Booth (SW, D C) 32 years old – £120k

For me, this is the best signing I made. Booth is a massive player in South Africa, If you watched the World Cup draw he was one of the people picking the balls along with Beckham. A real leader with lots of experience and a really good defender, Booth is now the best player at the club. I know its not always the best thing to make a new signing the club captain, but Booth is a special case so he is now out captain. All the team were delighted that he was made the captain so Im glad I made that decision.

Kenny Pavey (D/AM R) 30 years old – £18k

This was a player one of my staff flagged up in our first backroom meeting. He looked pretty good and for just £18k I couldn’t go wrong for a backup right-back, also he can play on the wing, which is a bonus.

Kiko Femenia (D/WB/AM R) 18 years old – £240k

Another player recommended to me by my backroom staff, although I had already signed Pavey, I thought it would be best to buy this lad as well. At only 18 he is a great prospect, a fast, exiting, attacking full-back and again can play on the wing. Plus he only wanted a “backup for the first team” contract. With Murty being old, his fitness may mean he will miss some games so Im happy that Femenia or Pavey can step straight in.

Emilio Viqueira (AM C) 34 years old – £90k

After deciding that I wanted another creative attacking midfielder for when Lallana was injured or i just wanted to sub him or whatever. I wanted a really technically gifted player who was very creative and I certainly got that in Viqueira. As you can see his technical stats are superb and his mental stats are great too. Obviously at 34 his physical stats aren’t going to be great, but he wont be playing week in week out so his fitness shouldn’t be a problem.

Jason Steele (GK) 19 years old – £250k

Being a Boro fan I know that Jason Steele has a lot of potential indeed. My staff all agree with me too and all think he will become better than Davis in the future. He is certainly the young, up & coming keeper I was looking for. My most expensive signing so far, though it was a bargain in my opinion.

I also loaned Michael Tonge, however I terminated his loan soon after, as I signed Viqueira and didn’t want to pay Tonge wages as I was already over the wage budget at the time. Heres the full list:

So, overall I’m very pleased with my signings. None of them are perhaps “obvious” signings, most of them are unknowns really which could backfire, but it meant I got a lot of players for not a lot of money. I got everything I set out to get and even some more. I did go over the wage budget by £4,000 p/w, however I have adjusted transfer budget a little and now I’m £2,960 p/w under and i still have £494k to spend.

There are three keepers in the first team and of them Kelvin Davis is easily the best, he’s also the club captain. In my opinion he is one of the best keepers in the league and at 32 he is in his prime and has lots of experience under his belt.

Behind him are Bartosz Bialkowski & Tommy Forecast, they are both about as good as each other, I couldn’t really say who is the better of the two. However they’re both not very good, decent as backup I suppose, but I don’t need the two of them so one will definitely be sold. If possible I will sell both and bring in a young up and coming backup keeper who can take over from Davis in the future.

Defenders

Our best defender is definitely Radhi Jaidi the ex Bolton centre back. Very strong and great in the air, the only negative is that he is 33 so I will need to think about replacing him soon, still he will be good for another season or two. Plenty of experience. Will be my first choice centre back.

Chris Perry again, a very experienced centre back, currently the club vice-captain. At 36 his best years are definitely behind him, though he does have very good mental stats. Will be used as backup and i will give the vice captaincy to someone who will play more.

Wayne Thomas, at 30 he is the youngest centre back in the first team apart from the loanee. Not sure if he will be first choice to partner Jaidi yet though, I’ll see how he does in the friendlies.

Neal Trotman, adds a bit of well needed youth in the defence. On loan from Preston he looks a decent player, again I will see how he does in the friendlies.

At left back we have three players in the first team. Firstly Dan Harding will be my first choice with good all-round stats for his position and still young at 25.

Behind him is 19 year old Joseph Mills, a pacey attacking full back, definitely good enough to step in if needed.

Finally we have Lee Molyneus, not as good as the other two by a long way even though he is quick, will only be used in emergencies.

For the right back role we only have two players. Graeme Murty will be our first choice and with 17 influence & 18 determination I think i will make him my vice captain, maybe eve captain. Good technical and mental stats, but at 34 his physical stats are poor.

Lloyd James will be his under study. Only other right back in the squad, though its not his natural position. If possible I will try and bring someone in to cover this position.

Overall I think we have a good enough defence to get promoted, but I will still try and bring in a quality centre back if possible to partner Jaidi and some cover for right back as well.

Midfielders

We have many options for the centre of the park, most of them being more defensive minded midfielders though. Probably the best of these is Morgan Schneiderlin in my opinion, he could play the deep lying playmaker role with good creativity, flair, technique, passing etc. At only 19, he will get better in years to come, one to watch for sure, he will be my first choice centre mid.

Dean Hammond is my assistants favourite midfielder, a little more defensive than Schneiderlin, but not as creative. He will either be backup for Schneiderlin or first team regular depending on what formation I play.

Paul Wotton & Simon Gillet who are also defensive midfielders will be used as backup.

We have a good creative attacking midfielder in Adam Lallana who can also play on both wings though his crossing isn’t very good to play in that role. Good creativity, flair, technique passing & finishing as well as decent pace make him my first choice to partner Schneiderlin in the centre of midfield or maybe just behind the strikers, again depending on what formation i go with.

Behind him we have Jacob Mellis on loan from Chelsea, at only 18 he has a lot to learn, which I guess thats what he is here for, will be used as backup.

Out wide is where we are weakest I feel. Our best winger is probably left sided Lee Holmes, decent pace and dribbling, but overall I don’t think he is good enough.

On loan Papa Waigo can also play on the left as well as the right, he is very quick, but has very poor technical attributes and would be better up front probably as he has decent finishing, but poor crossing.

Jake Thomson is our only other winger and he plays on the right flank, only young at 20, but not good enough.

I will have to bring in some quality wide players as these players just don’t cut it. Failing that I will play without wingers as we have plenty of options in the centre of midfield.

Strikers

We have three strikers in the first team with Rickie Lambert being the best in my opinion. He will be my first choice striker. Good all-round stats he could play many different roles upfront like a target man if needed or a deep lying forward etc.

Marek Saganowski is also a good all-round striker and will be first choice to partner Lambert if we play two up top, if we only play with one striker he will be backup.

Finally we have David Connolly, a proven goal scorer down the years, however his poor physical stats with fitness in particular being a problem I cant see him playing too often, only if the other two are injured.

Also I have Matthew Paterson in the reserves who looks a promising player at only 19, I will keep an eye on him for sure.

I am happy without he forwards I have and unless I have the chance to bring someone with real quality in I wont be buy any strikers.

Assistant’s Report

So that is my analysis of the squad. Here is what my assistant manager thinks:

As you can see, he also thinks the flanks are the weakest part of the team. In the backroom advice meeting the assistant recommended that we play a 4-1-2-1-2 (Narrow 4-4-2 diamond). Here is his analysis of the team using this formation:

As you can see by the star ratings, this formation suites our team more and will get the best out of the players we have. It enables us to play our three strong central midfield players with Lallana pushed up to AMC where he is much more effective.

Whats fascinating to me though is that with this diamond, even though we still play with two strikers upfront, the ass man now picks Connolly over Saganowski as our best attacker. I have no idea why this is, maybe it has to do with player roles? Or maybe its something to do with having an AMC and no wingers? If you have any ideas as to why this is, please leave a comment about it below.

For now I will go with this 4-1-2-1-2 diamond formation, however I will try and sign some quality wingers and maybe go with a 4-2-3-1. I will do a post on my tactics soon when I set them up properly.

Next post will be about my transfers.

I chose Southampton because they already have everything in place to be a really big club with the 32,000 stadium etc. They’re somewhat sleeping giants being in League 1, but I feel it will be a good challenge to try and turn Southampton into a big force in European football. That will take many years I’m sure, so for now I will just concentrate on getting back into the Championship, then take it from there. Saying that, I will still be keeping an eye out for young talent and try to get a solid youth set up to stand us in good stead for the future.

The board expect the club to reach the Playoffs as a minimum and have given me £1.5m to spend on transfers with a wage budget of £98k p/w. I feel quite confident that I will be able to achieve this in my first season as in my opinion we have one of, if not, the best team in the league. The media don’t really agree with me and predict that we’ll finish 6th.

The first thing I will do as always will be analyse my squad and see whats what. Pinpoint which areas we’re weak and need strengthening in as well as which players aren’t good enough and will be sold. Work out what tactics will best suite the players I have etc.

Squad analysis to come soon…