And now for something completely Different

I've tried more than once to sneak a preview of this, but with the Winter Break less than a week away, it's a great time to unveil the centrepiece of our Winter break discussions (That is, other than transfers and the search for a new manager). Yes, I'm trying my hand at running the club this season, albeit on FIFA 08.

Now, before we dive into the season, I just need to make sure everyone knows that I am hopeless at this game. I've tried to play it on normal difficulty, but despite my best efforts I can only win when it's Arsenal-TuS Koblenz or some other ridiculous mismatch. As a result, I have to take it back a notch to Easy difficulty, which means that if/when I get the lineup like I want it and start rolling up the score, it isn't because I'm that good, but rather I've gathered enough talent to finally get the leg up on the AI to compensate for my ineptness.

So with that said, let's look at the financial situation as well as the Board's expectations:

Opening Budget: $1.3 million

Sponsor: $120,000 per match with 50% win bonus 

Expectations: 

(1) Don't get relegated

(2) Don't spend more than $920,000 on player transfers 

(3) Sign Jonas Kamper to a 3 year extension 

(4) Get to the 2nd round of the DFB-Pokal 

Yikes. Financially we're in good shape, especially if we get on a good run with the win bonus. However, being handcuffed on transfer spending is not good (albeit pretty realistic), so if I want to get some players, it's going to have to be on some free transfers. And yes, I'm looking to shake up the squad a lot. Like in real life, priority one is to fix the back line, which is old, slow, and not that great.

With the advent of friendlies in Manager Mode, I'll see exactly how bad they are and try to get some players before the transfer deadline. As a result, I scheduled four friendlies with some pretty straightforward opposition.

Friendly #1: Rapid Wien 0-2 Arminia Bielefeld

Scoring: Rapid Wien: None Arminia Bielefeld: Christian Eigler (17'), Sibusiso Zuma (90')

What Happened: Arminia controlled the flow of play against the T-Mobile Bundesliga's 4th Place team from the previous season for the entire match. The score could have been 0-5 if anyone from Arminia could hit a barn door from three paces, which is proving to be an issue already. 

Friendly #2: Columbus Crew 2-3 Arminia Bielefeld

Scoring: Columbus Crew: Rogers (45'), Moreno (55') Arminia Bielefeld: Robert Tesche (8', 47'), Zuma (41')

What Happened: The match was nowhere near as close as the scoreline indicated, as Arminia put 11 shots on goal to Columbus' 3. Robert Tesche put Arminia up in the 8th minute with a shot from 35 yards which beat goalkeeper Will Hesmer. Two more goals had Arminia up 3-0 shortly before halftime, and Columbus got one back shortly before halftime after walking past a stoic defence (Get ready to hear this a lot...). Despite Columbus cutting the lead down to one in the 55th minute, Arminia faced no further challenges for the rest of the match.

Friendly #3: Arminia Bielefeld 1-0 Los Angeles Galaxy 

Scoring: Arminia Bielefeld: Eigler (75') Los Angeles: None 

What Happened: The Galaxy, ever looking for new and exciting ways to make money off of David Beckham, came to Bielefeld to take on Arminia in a friendly. The match was quite chippy, with tackles flying on both sides. Beckham wowed the crowd with two sensational free kicks from 30 yards, both hitting the crossbar despite beating Rowen Fernandez. Unlike LA, Arminia converted on their chances when Christian Eigler scored from a pass from a Jorg Bohme free kick. After the match, Galaxy manager  Frank Yallop complained about Arminia's incessant tackling against Landon Donovan. Arminia's manager quipped "Landycakes needs to man up and take his tackles like a man."

Friendly #4: Arminia Bielefeld 5-1 Slavia Prague

Scoring:  Arminia Bielefeld: Leonidas Kampantais (11', 60' [Penalty]), Tesche (38'), Artur Wichniarek (44' [Penalty]), Jonas Kamper (66') Slavia Prague: Vicek (57')

Sendings off: Slavia Prague: Brabec (44')

What Happened: Evidently Slavia Prague were looking ahead to their Champions League Qualifying Matches against Ajax Amsterdam, as Arminia pounded Slavia Prague 5-1 in their final preseason friendly. Leonidas scorched the Slavia back line with a 40 yard run to score in the 11th minute, and Arminia did not look back. It was 2-0 in the 44th minute when Artur Wichniarek was taken down by a professional foul, resulting in a red card for the Slavia defender. Wichniarek converted the penalty, and after that Arminia dominated possession despite Slavia getting a goal back. All and all, a great way to end the preseason.

With the preseason done, I tossed the three youth team members that I had signed (All with forgettable names) and shipped them off on loan deals to 2. Bundesliga sides. Knowing how players fatigued, I levelled my medical staff up three times, and looks to start bulking up my squad. I placed a $900,000 bid for Munich 1860 striker Markus Schroth, only for 1860 to turn me down. Looking around on the Free Agents list, I saw striker Nicola Amoruso (Reggina) and Moises Hurtado (Espanyol) sitting there. Amoruso would provide me with a real striker with pace that would be a great stop-gap whilst I look for some younger striker since Zuma and Wichniarek's days are numbered. Moises, despite being sent off in last year's UEFA Cup Final, would be a great fullback who's young, fast, and still has room for improvement. In the end, I was only able to sign Moises, and only after the third match of the season. To finish up the transactions, VfL Osnabrück offered nearly $500,000 for defender Markus Schuler, a full $100,000 over his listed value. Considering I has just signed a defender 4 years younger than him with a better rating, he was sent packing.

The Bundesliga's season opened up with Arminia on the road for two of its first three matches. As of now I've just finished the third match.

Match #1: Hannover 96 1-1 Arminia Bielefeld

Scoring: Hannover 96: Pinto (47') Arminia Bielefeld: Zuma (20')

What Happened: Arminia had shown in its friendlies that they were going to be a side with a relentless attack, since its back line had proven to be weak against weak opposition, much less full Bundesliga sides. They established this right off the bat with three corners within the first 10 minutes. Zuma made it 1-0 with a great pass from Siyabonga Nkosi, leaving Arminia in control at halftime. Immediately after halftime Hannover levelled as Pinto walked past the Arminia back four. *ugh* Despite Arminia's best efforts, the match ended 1-1.

Match #2: Arminia Bielefeld 2-1 Energie Cottbus

Scoring: Arminia Bielefeld: Leonidas (68') Rudiger Kauf (78') Energie Cottbus: Aloneftis (26')

What Happened: A packed Alm were shocked as Cottbus pressed the Arminia defence, ending up with a 1-0 lead after Mathias Hain let in a soft goal, which lasted well past halftime. As the second half wore on, the crowd became more and more dejected until the manager switched formations from a 4-1-2-1-2 to a 4-3-3 and brought on Zuma to help out Leonidas and Abdelaziz Ahanfouf. It worked as planned as immediately after Zuma fed Leonidas a sweet pass which he converted into a goal. 10 minutes later a gaffe by a Cottbus defender put the ball at Leonidas' feet, who passed it to Kauf, whose volley from 25 yards would not be denied. Of course, the crowd treated the manager like the genius he is as Arminia took the 3 points.

Match 3: Karlsruher SC 5-3 Arminia Bielefeld

Scoring: Karlsruher SC: Iashvili (18', 50' 68'), Timm (53', 61') Arminia Bielefeld: Leonidas (39'), Kauf (56'), Eigler (76')

What Happened: The good feeling from the previous week's win were washed away in a hurry as KSC went up 1-0 on the first of five occasions where the back line simply let a player walk through them and score on a shocked Mathias Hain. Arminia leveled up from Leonidas via a great pass from Wichniarek, but two goals in a 3 minute span made it 3-1. Yet another volley by Kauf made it 3-2, but another pair of goals in a short span made it 5-2. In a desperate bid to draw level, the manager took off Kauf and brought on Zuma in the 70th minute, switching from a 4-3-3 to a 4-2-4 formation last seen in the 1950s by the Mighty Magyars. It seemed to work as Eigler made it 5-3, but Eigler missed two more sitters in the final 15 minutes to ensure KSC's victory.

After three matches Arminia sit in midtable with 4 points, and the manager is at a loss as to how to fix the leaky defence. Part of the problem is unavoidable (The defencive AI is shambolic), but I'm still looking for a solution. There's plenty of depth in midfield so I may be tempted to go to a 3-5-2 or a 3-4-3 to keep opposing attackers from the back line. We will see.