FMFA Manager

Tough home tie against the mighty Hammers!

Wolverhampton Wanderers vs Queens Park Rangers

My first game sitting in as Wolves manager and I come up against QPR. I haven't faced Joe a lot in my career but my Villa side did manage two wins over them last season.

Taking charge of Wolves is however a very different prospect to leading a Villa side. The team has been neglected for a few seasons and the focus has been very much on quantity not quality. We have started to resolve that but the squad is very much a work in progress and there is still a lot to do. We urge patience from the fans and ask them not to expect immediate results.

A lot of the building of this squad has centred around brining in some faces familiar to me. This is because I built up a squad at Villa that were either moved on for a better player or didn't quite make the top flight grade. But they can all do a job in a second tier squad as we try to move them forwards. Cameron Carter Vickers was a key player for Villa U23s for a few seasons as was Jayden Mitchell Lawson who we have brought in but converted from a DM to an out and out defender at this level. Yuri Ribeiro was a Villa scout who was then moved on to Man City at the end of season 20 but had a good career at the club. The history of Sam Lammers - who joins as new club captain - at Villa Park is a well known one.

Outside of the ex-Villa players, there are another seven potential debutants. Marc-Andre ter Stegen comes in as our new number 1 GK and Cedric Kipre will join what could be an all new back 4. Nathan Redmond, Maxwell Cornet, Mohamed Sylla and Harvey Gilmour could be an all new midfield whilst Giovane Simeone will partned Lammers in attack. It is possible therefore that the club could field an entire starting XI of debutants! But, with work to be done on a few of these they will likely start off more as squad players.

The goal for this Wolves side is to get them promoted and make them an attractive squad for a new manager to take on. They had nearly 60 players across senior and youth when I came in. That is now being reduced with quality added.

QPR are a dangerous side with Connor Bradley the obvious star. He gives them the edge in defence and they have it in midfield as well with GK and FWs roughly equivalent. We know this won't be an easy game. But we have home advantage and a side now eager to prove themselves. Plus I have experience of being the underdogs and so hopefully can bring that to this side.

There will be a few sides scrapping in this division and we can't get ahead of ourselves. A loss here isn't the end of the world as this side still has some way to go. Even if we don't get promoted this season it's not the end of the world. The fans need to have belief and, if I get the time, I will get this club back to where it belongs.

Eagles v Whites

A lot has happend at Selhurst Park this offseason but the team is still some way off being rated as one of the best in Division 2.

We’ve signed Lewis Hall and Savinho from auction and they are without a doubt the two star players at the club. I expect a lot from them two as well as Guglielmo Vicario in goal. Our whole season really on these three to perform at the highest level. The squad overall is improved thanks to different gifts from McScrooge, AEM and end of season abs. But there is still weakness to this side. Defensively we lack higher rated players, in midfield we lack players with good secondaries and teritarys while up front we could do with a top striker. These players isn’t at the club and we have to manage with what we got.

The Whites is about the same quality as us and we got every chance of getting off to a good start. They lack depth in defence and we need to take advantage of it. I’m positive before the season opener and as long as I’m caretaker at Selhurst Park we’re hoping for a top 6 finish. The team isn’t ready for Division One football but we’ll to our best to improve the team overall thanks to good performances.