Before you continue, make sure you’ve read the last post in the series covering SBN United’s first preseason.
SB Nation United FC: The season kicks off
The first three months of SBN United’s inaugural season were full of wins and injuries.
With the preseason completed, it was time to venture forth into the turbulent waters of the regular season, finally getting a chance to see just how my team would hold up in competitive matches. But before we even kicked the first ball of the season, I got this wonderful bit of news in my inbox.
WELL ISN’T THAT JUST %^#%$# WONDERFUL.
Nothing like losing your first choice goalkeeper for at least the first month of the season ... stupid game. Fortunately, all hope was not lost as Michael Vorm -- our backup goalkeeper -- would be a more than capable replacement. They’d both played well in the preseason and while it certainly left me a little discouraged, I remained confident of a strong start.
BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE!
Stupid game.
August 2014
My first official match in charge of SBN United went splendidly, as the Mustached Gentlemen crushed Stoke City 6-1. If possible, I would've taken a victory lap around White Hart Lane, because when's the last time so many goals were scored at that hallowed ground? Well...by the hosts, anyway.
Sorry Spurs fans, that was a low blow.
Anyway, it was a nearly flawless performance, with four players boasting a match rating of 9.0 or higher. Memphis Depay led the way with two goals, while Jan Vertonghen, Younes Kaboul, Roberto Soldado and Mousa Dembélé all scored. The real key, though, was Christian Eriksen, who despite not earning a goal or assist, completed 96 out of 107 passes, serving as the focal point for our attack. This was just what I hoped would happen and left me feeling good about how the season would go...if I could keep everyone healthy.
Next up was the first leg of our Europa League playoff round tie against AaB Fodbold. And of course, MORE INJURIES!
Stupid game.
Roberto Soldado's brace led us to a 4-1 win over AaB, but our return to Premier League action led to SBNU's first hiccup of the season, held to a 1-1 draw by Southampton. Depay's third goal of the young season was our only goal, as for the first time since I took over in the summer, a team managed to outshoot us. I was a bit shocked and a little concerned, but figured it was just one of those games.
Fortunately my concern was misplaced as we rebounded well in the second leg against AaB, earning a 3-0 win to claim the tie by an 8-1 aggregate score. Soldado netted two more goals -- increasing his season total to five.
Yes, that’s five goals in three games for Soldado.
To put that in perspective, the real life Soldado has scored 12 goals TOTAL since joining Spurs in the 2013 summer transfer window.
One match remained in our brutal opening stretch of four games in two weeks -- going up against defending champions Manchester City at White Hart Lane. This was my first big test in charge of SBN United, our first truly big game against a team better than my squad, from top to bottom.*
*I chose not to say this at my press conference
Going into the City match I would've been more than happy to get a draw, hell, even a loss would've been acceptable as long as the team played well. Well, we didn't draw, and we didn't lose, we HULK SMASHED City 4-1! Memphis Depay was amazing yet again, scoring his fourth and fifth goals of the season, while Andros Townsend had a brace in the first 25 minutes of the match as well. Townsend had earned the starting right attacking midfield spot during the preseason, outplaying Erik Lamela, Nacer Chadli and Aaron Lennon in the process.
This is awesome! Townsend’s play was a big step forward, not only for him but for the side, who now had two highly effective wingers, along with strong backups.
Then in the 33rd minute, Townsend went down with broken ribs and would miss the next five weeks.
STUPID GAME.
But we won, and SBN United closed out August undefeated in the league, sitting fifth with seven points. Depay was also named the EPL player of the month ... not bad for a 20-year-old making his debut.
More importantly, we’d qualified for the group stages of the Europa League. Speaking of that, here’s the result of the group stage draw.
September 2014
Remember all those injuries in August? Yeah, that trend continued.
First we lost Etienne Capoue for three weeks with a groin strain ... another groin strain? There’s a sex joke to be made here.
Then, in our first game back from the international break against Aston Villa, Paulinho went down with a hamstring injury.
If my fitness coaches were real people, and not little creations of ones and zeros, I might have started hitting them all with a rolled up newspaper. We won the match 2-0, but the roster was starting to look a little thin.
Fortunately the injuries didn't slow down our momentum as SBN United opened Europa League group stage play with a 3-0 win over Apollon, knocked off Chelsea 2-0 and advanced to the 4th round of the Capital One Cup with a 2-0 win over Wigan. We closed out September with a 3-0 away win over West Ham, improving our league record to 5-1-0, good enough for first place.
Memphis Depay scored two more goals during the month, earning him the PL Young Player of the Month award. Our virtual Dutch winger is on pace to out perform the real Depay, who’s scored 13 goals for PSV so far this season.
I was honored as the EPL coach of the month. Woo!
Usually the sack race lasts until Christmas, but in our little virtual world, it was won on September 21st by Sunderland's Gus Poyet.
October 2014
The big news from October was yet another injury as our big money signing Mario Gomez stubbed his toe in our 1-1 Europa League draw against FC København. Oh wait, that was just his first injury of the month.
After two straight draws, I was worried injuries were taking their toll and the lack of depth was exhausting the players. But the team bounced back against Newcastle, smashing the Geordies 5-0 as Soldado scored twice to lead the way. We went on to defeat Sloven Liberac 3-0 in the Europa League and Burnley 3-1 in league play.
Liverpool were in our way yet again as we closed October against the Reds in a Capital One Cup fourth-round match. With the board putting no value on the league cup, I made the determination that resting my starters to stay fresh for league and European play was more important.
The decision was ultimately the right one, in my opinion, despite the fact it produced a rather ugly 3-0 loss, our first of the season and my first as manager of SBN United. I did my best to tell the team not to worry about the result, playing it off as an unimportant match. I hoped that when November began, they would return to their excellent form without missing a beat.
Mario Gomez twisted his ankle in the loss and was set to miss the entire month of November. With Gomez having scored just three goals before his injury, I was definitely starting to wonder why I signed this guy. Plenty of people had told me to the same thing, and at this point i was just hoping to get him back and see if he could do enough to draw some interest in the January transfer window.
Erik Lamela was injured as well in the loss to Liverpool suffering a twisted knee that would keep him out for three weeks.
STUPID GAME.
Yet we ended November in pretty good shape overall. Our league record was 7-2-0, good enough for a two point lead at the top over Arsenal. Memphis Depay won his second straight Young Player of the Month award, having increased his goal total for the season to eight.
Sunderland hired Chris Hughton as their new manager during the month, while Queens Park Rangers became the second team to sack their manager, giving Harry Redknapp his marching orders and appointing Glen Hoddle as caretaker boss.
Next week we’ll move ahead through the winter break and find out how SBN United finished out the first half of the season. Plus, we’ll begin 2015 with a busy schedule and my first mid-season transfer window.
Who will get sold? Who will we buy? Find out next Thursday!
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