{"id":10680,"date":"2017-05-18T16:00:27","date_gmt":"2017-05-18T15:00:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thehighertempopress.com\/?p=10680"},"modified":"2017-05-18T10:33:21","modified_gmt":"2017-05-18T09:33:21","slug":"run-forest-run-part-10-ides-march","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thehighertempopress.com\/2017\/05\/run-forest-run-part-10-ides-march\/","title":{"rendered":"Run, Forest! Run! Part 10: Ides of March"},"content":{"rendered":"

March is the penultimate full month of regular competition football. It is therefore vital we secure a top six position. April will be very busy with 7 matches in 29 days and we have to compensate for the inevitable loss of points due to fatigue. This month we will face Brighton & Hove Albion, Brentford and Burton – three sides who are virtually stuck in mid table security and are both safe from regelation and far from playoffs participation. Even so, we know we have to work hard for every three points because we don\u2019t have the quality to underestimate any team in this league.<\/p>\n

\"\"Meanwhile, my assistant David Byrne has brought something crucial to my attention. It appears 14 of 31 assists against us has been coming from the left side of the pitch, were Dani Pinillos plays as a wingback on support duty. It seems that he\u2019s so caught up in the attacking play, he isn\u2019t back in defensive position fast enough to prevent crosses from happening. To remedy this, I have turned to the FM Slack community, where the wise and powerful bestow advice on the weak and unworthy. And it was there I got the advice the turn my 4-1-2-3 DM in a 4-1-4-1, i.e. bring the wide players back to the MC strata. This wil solidify the flanks. Unfortunately, there is no inside forward role at left midfield, so I adjusted the wide midfielder role to act like an inside forward. So, my formation going forward is going to be something like pictured on the left. We face Brighton without Dominic \u2018I\u2019m on fire\u2019 Solanke, because he\u2019s 87% fit. This means Assombalonga will return as a striker, with Lic\u00e1 taking over his position on the right side.<\/p>\n

\"\"Well, this has not been a very pleasing first outing for our new formation. Assombalonga was his usual self, and despite scoring the opening goal, he missed quite a lot of real chances. Also, Walker\u2019s sight was not on point as he also found it difficult to find the net. But as far as I could see, there was nothing really wrong with the formation. And to be honest, even though Wigan is a few places below us, they have the same quality players we have, so I\u2019m not particularly displeased either. We simply lack the quality to blow fish like Brighton out of the water.<\/p>\n

The draw against Brighton still leaves us only one point out of the top six, because of Birmingham drawing at home to Leeds. Our refusal to overtake The Blues when they lose points is quite infuriating. Next up we face Brentford at home in a midweeks fixture. Solanke returns as our lone forward, and Assombalonga will take his place as a winger. Hopefully, our young Chelsea loanee can repeat his perfomance against Wigan for us. The Bees travel to the City Ground full of confidence after a 1-2 away win against Ipswich Town. They have one of the most lethal strikers in their side in the form of Lasse Vibe. The Dane has already scored 15 goals. We\u2019ll have to be super careful.<\/p>\n

\"\"We can be frustratingly inconsistent, but when we\u2019re good, oh boy\u2026 we ARE good. We give The Bees a show they\u2019ll not soon forget. Walker, Osborn, Lansbury, and Solanke toy with Brentford like a cat with a mouse. One fluid attack after another strikes the Londoners\u2019 defence and they are run ragged. This is the sort of perfomances that help me sleep at night, thinking it will all be alright. Of course, Birmingham City also win and so we\u2019re still out of the top six. The top six looks like a very elite country club where we\u2019re not allowed because we have a Lithuanian owner and we smell vaguely of elder berries.<\/p>\n

For the last match against teams starting with a \u2018B\u2019, we travel to lovely little Burton Albion. Nigel Clough\u2019s side have slipped down the table since we first met at the beginning of this season and find themselves in the relegation zone, 4 points from safety. There\u2019s nothing more dangerous than a relegation candidate in March, however, so we have to be careful. Before the match, a belated Christmas miracle happens. Assombalonga informs me he is happy to stay at the club, since Watford are no longer interested in him. This is great news, since he\u2019s been very important for us with 14 goals and 11 assists. For the match against Burton, we\u2019ll be without Mr. Dependale, Eric Lichaj, who\u2019s serving a 2 match suspension for collecting 10 yellow cards. His place will be taken over by Browning. At the other end of my defence, Fox will replace Pinillos, who has been suffering from an abdominal strain.<\/p>\n

\"\"And there it is! After so many weeks of fruitlessly looking for a place in the top six, where all the cool kids are, we are finally there. We manage a good, solid victory against Burton Albion and elsewhere Birmingham City succumb to a 3-1 loss against Cardiff City. We were kept at bay for the first 45 mins, but a fine run by Assombalonga down the right flank and a Solanke finish was all it took to break the deadlock. The game was put beyond doubt by a mighty Hobbs header. This was a very solid perfomance in a match we used to draw and perhaps even lose. We\u2019re unbeaten in 5 games now and have found our heading once more.<\/p>\n

But the next challenge is going to be difficult. We face the Dinkleburg to our Mr. Turner, the Newman to our Seinfeld, the Derby County to our Nottingham Forest. Our nemesis has been doing very well and find themselves in 3rd position, five points above us. But they still have Steve McClaren as manager, so an end-of-the-season-give-it-all-away-slump is inevitable. And I\u2019ll be able to start this. We face The Rams without Jack Hobbs, our captain since Cohen went and got himself injured. His place will be taken by Matt Mills. The many injuries and suspensions incurred by our defenders have made room on the bench for youngster Anel Ahmedhozic, who gave a good showing of himself against Sporting CP during pre-season.<\/p>\n

\"\"This has been one of the finest matches I had the honour of guiding from the sidelines. A vital win against our arch rivals. The 1-0 score is totally deserved, since we completely dominated the first 45 mins. Derby were nowhere to be seen and when that penalty hit the net, it was nothing short of poetic justice. \u00a0In the second half, I decided to tell the lads to retain possession. As long as we have the ball, the other team can\u2019t score, right? Right?! And that turned out to be true. We hold the line and even had the opportunity to give Cohen a comeback after months of injury and hand Ahmedhozic his official debut.<\/p>\n

Elsewhere, Birmingham City manage to defeat Newcastle United. This means we haven\u2019t put them at a distance, but also that automatic promotion is only 3 points away. And seeing the performances we have put in this last month, we could be a contender. April is going to be very tough, that is for sure. We have no less than seven matches waiting for us. Two of them against top six teams and the others against teams near the bottom of the table. Both categories present its own difficulties. But I\u2019m really starting to believe this team can take it all the way.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

March is the penultimate full month of regular competition football. It is therefore vital we secure a top six position. April will be very busy with 7 matches in 29 days and we have to compensate for the inevitable loss of points due to fatigue. This month we will face Brighton & Hove Albion, Brentford […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":10069,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[103,90],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nRun, Forest! Run! Part 10: Ides of March - The Higher Tempo Press<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thehighertempopress.com\/2017\/05\/run-forest-run-part-10-ides-march\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Run, Forest! Run! Part 10: Ides of March - The Higher Tempo Press\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"March is the penultimate full month of regular competition football. It is therefore vital we secure a top six position. April will be very busy with 7 matches in 29 days and we have to compensate for the inevitable loss of points due to fatigue. This month we will face Brighton & Hove Albion, Brentford […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.thehighertempopress.com\/2017\/05\/run-forest-run-part-10-ides-march\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Higher Tempo Press\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TheHigherTempoPress\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/profile.php?id=100009986285115\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-05-18T15:00:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2017-05-18T09:33:21+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.thehighertempopress.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/run-forest-run.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"750\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"350\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Thomas Roode\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@LeonTrotsema\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@thehighertempo\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Thomas Roode\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.thehighertempopress.com\/2017\/05\/run-forest-run-part-10-ides-march\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.thehighertempopress.com\/2017\/05\/run-forest-run-part-10-ides-march\/\",\"name\":\"Run, Forest! Run! Part 10: Ides of March - The Higher Tempo Press\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.thehighertempopress.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.thehighertempopress.com\/2017\/05\/run-forest-run-part-10-ides-march\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.thehighertempopress.com\/2017\/05\/run-forest-run-part-10-ides-march\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.thehighertempopress.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/run-forest-run.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-05-18T15:00:27+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-05-18T09:33:21+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.thehighertempopress.com\/#\/schema\/person\/961199c1f930cca11997bdf9e2b23c76\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.thehighertempopress.com\/2017\/05\/run-forest-run-part-10-ides-march\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.thehighertempopress.com\/2017\/05\/run-forest-run-part-10-ides-march\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.thehighertempopress.com\/2017\/05\/run-forest-run-part-10-ides-march\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.thehighertempopress.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/run-forest-run.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.thehighertempopress.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/run-forest-run.png\",\"width\":750,\"height\":350,\"caption\":\"Run Forest Run\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.thehighertempopress.com\/2017\/05\/run-forest-run-part-10-ides-march\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.thehighertempopress.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Run, Forest! Run! Part 10: Ides of March\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.thehighertempopress.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.thehighertempopress.com\/\",\"name\":\"The Higher Tempo Press\",\"description\":\"Football Manager Community\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.thehighertempopress.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.thehighertempopress.com\/#\/schema\/person\/961199c1f930cca11997bdf9e2b23c76\",\"name\":\"Thomas Roode\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.thehighertempopress.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/www.thehighertempopress.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/avatar_user_84_1490461752-96x96.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\/\/www.thehighertempopress.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/avatar_user_84_1490461752-96x96.jpg\",\"caption\":\"Thomas Roode\"},\"description\":\"My name is Thomas and I've been playing FM since the 2005 edition with not a lot of success but tons of fun. I'm thirty years old and a fervent FC St. Pauli supporter.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/profile.php?id=100009986285115\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/@LeonTrotsema\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.thehighertempopress.com\/author\/thomas-roode\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Run, Forest! Run! Part 10: Ides of March - The Higher Tempo Press","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.thehighertempopress.com\/2017\/05\/run-forest-run-part-10-ides-march\/","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"Run, Forest! Run! Part 10: Ides of March - The Higher Tempo Press","og_description":"March is the penultimate full month of regular competition football. It is therefore vital we secure a top six position. April will be very busy with 7 matches in 29 days and we have to compensate for the inevitable loss of points due to fatigue. This month we will face Brighton & Hove Albion, Brentford […]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.thehighertempopress.com\/2017\/05\/run-forest-run-part-10-ides-march\/","og_site_name":"The Higher Tempo Press","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TheHigherTempoPress\/","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/profile.php?id=100009986285115","article_published_time":"2017-05-18T15:00:27+00:00","article_modified_time":"2017-05-18T09:33:21+00:00","og_image":[{"width":750,"height":350,"url":"https:\/\/www.thehighertempopress.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/run-forest-run.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Thomas Roode","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@LeonTrotsema","twitter_site":"@thehighertempo","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Thomas Roode","Estimated reading time":"6 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.thehighertempopress.com\/2017\/05\/run-forest-run-part-10-ides-march\/","url":"https:\/\/www.thehighertempopress.com\/2017\/05\/run-forest-run-part-10-ides-march\/","name":"Run, Forest! Run! Part 10: Ides of March - The Higher Tempo Press","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thehighertempopress.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thehighertempopress.com\/2017\/05\/run-forest-run-part-10-ides-march\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thehighertempopress.com\/2017\/05\/run-forest-run-part-10-ides-march\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.thehighertempopress.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/run-forest-run.png","datePublished":"2017-05-18T15:00:27+00:00","dateModified":"2017-05-18T09:33:21+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thehighertempopress.com\/#\/schema\/person\/961199c1f930cca11997bdf9e2b23c76"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thehighertempopress.com\/2017\/05\/run-forest-run-part-10-ides-march\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.thehighertempopress.com\/2017\/05\/run-forest-run-part-10-ides-march\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/www.thehighertempopress.com\/2017\/05\/run-forest-run-part-10-ides-march\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.thehighertempopress.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/run-forest-run.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.thehighertempopress.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/run-forest-run.png","width":750,"height":350,"caption":"Run Forest Run"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.thehighertempopress.com\/2017\/05\/run-forest-run-part-10-ides-march\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.thehighertempopress.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Run, Forest! Run! Part 10: Ides of March"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.thehighertempopress.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.thehighertempopress.com\/","name":"The Higher Tempo Press","description":"Football Manager Community","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.thehighertempopress.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.thehighertempopress.com\/#\/schema\/person\/961199c1f930cca11997bdf9e2b23c76","name":"Thomas Roode","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/www.thehighertempopress.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"http:\/\/www.thehighertempopress.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/avatar_user_84_1490461752-96x96.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/www.thehighertempopress.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/avatar_user_84_1490461752-96x96.jpg","caption":"Thomas Roode"},"description":"My name is Thomas and I've been playing FM since the 2005 edition with not a lot of success but tons of fun. I'm thirty years old and a fervent FC St. Pauli supporter.","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/profile.php?id=100009986285115","https:\/\/x.com\/@LeonTrotsema"],"url":"https:\/\/www.thehighertempopress.com\/author\/thomas-roode\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thehighertempopress.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10680"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thehighertempopress.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thehighertempopress.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thehighertempopress.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/84"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thehighertempopress.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10680"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.thehighertempopress.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10680\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10687,"href":"https:\/\/www.thehighertempopress.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10680\/revisions\/10687"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thehighertempopress.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10069"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thehighertempopress.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10680"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thehighertempopress.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10680"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thehighertempopress.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10680"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}