Article:My first games in charge of England

Last time, I became manager of England, and picked my first squad. I am in third place, here are the standings:

So, my game against Bosnia & Herzegovina. Things started badly, as we gave away a free kick on the edge of the area, and Muslimovic's shot went through the fingers of Robinson into the net. 1-0 down after 4 minutes. Robinson looking shaky. England were still 1-0 down at half-time, and by that stage, Turkey were thumping San Marino, but Scotland were still 0-0 with Slovenia. I replaced Neville with Richards, and Wright-Phillips with Beckham. Success was instant after half-time. A Beckham cross was headed in by Owen, goal #53 for England, and England were level at 1-1. By the hour mark, it was 2-1 to England, Downing with a shot from the left edge of the penalty area that beat the Bosnian goalie. I then brought Carroll on to replace Owen, due to his fatigue. B & H through everything at England towards the end, but Wayne Rooney scored a breakaway goal in stoppage time, and England won 3-1. Scotland were held 0-0 in Slovenia (England drew 1-1 in the same fixture), but Turkey whopped San Marino 6-0.

So, Turkey had now extended their lead against me in the group, by four goals! Scotland were only three points clear at the top.

June arrived, and so did a friendly at Wembley against the USA. I picked an unchanged squad, and an unchanged team from the B & H match:

G	Paul Robinson LB	Ashley Cole CB	John Terry CB	Rio Ferdinand RB	Gary Neville (c) LM	Stuart Downing CM	Steven Gerrard CM	Frank Lampard RM	Shaun Wright-Phillips CF	Michael Owen CF	Wayne Rooney

S1	David James S2	Micah Richards S3	Leighton Baines S4	David Beckham S5	Michael Johnson S6	Andy Carroll S7	Ashley Young S8	Dean Ashton S9	Joe Cole S10	Gareth Barry S11	Sol Campbell S12	Jermaine Defoe

I thought you might be interested in the US team, so here it is:

G	Tim Howard LB	Carlos Bocanegra CB	Jonathan Spector CB	Frankie Hejduk RB	Steve Cherundolo LM	Eddie Lewis (c) CM	Landon Donovan CM	DaMarcus Beasley RM	Bobby Convey CF	Clint Dempsey CF	Bryan McBride

S1	Marcus Hahnemann S2	Oguchi Onyewu S3	Danny Califf S4	Jimmy Conrad S5	Paulo Mastroeni S6	Brad Davis S7	Benny Feilhaber S8	Michael Bradley S9	Taylor Twellman S10	Josh Wolff S11	Eddie Johnson S12	Freddy Adu

I set them to be more attacking, and pass it around more than they did against B & H, where I was more direct. Within 10 minutes, Rooney had put England 1 up. At half-time, I made five changes (allowed in friendlies, and brought on Baines, Beckham, Johnson, Caroll and Young for Cole, Wright-Phillips, Gerrard, Owen and Downing. England extended their lead to 2-0 when Caroll slipped home his first England goal. Towards the end, a pull back from Young found its way to Frank Lampard, who scored to give England a 3-0 win.

I kept the same starting lineup for the third match in a row against Turkey in the World Cup Qualifier. This was the big match, the must win fixture to stay alive in the group. Scotland would surely win in Bosnia & Herzegovina, so they looked set to pull away at the top.

Against Turkey, England played wonderfully. They were in complete control. Downing curled in a free kick to give England a 1-0 lead early on, and Rooney doubled the advantage later on. I took off Rooney at half-time in favour of Richards, and set the formation to 4-5-1, with Richards at Defensive Midfield, a position he can play. Turkey offered nothing, and England won 2-0 at a canter. Job done for the summer! I was still three points behind Scotland, but Turkey were now in fourth place in the group, behind even Slovenia!

In September, I had San Marino at home. I fancied my chances of victory! Scotland meanwhile had a home fixture against Turkey. I had to win big and hope Scotland made a mess of things. I changed my squad for the San Marino fixture, I started a few squad players such as Ashley Young, Michael Johnson, and Leighton Baines, and a hat-trick from Wayne Rooney, as well as goals from Owen, Terry somehow, and Young gave England a 6-0 win. Usefully, Scotland did slip up against Turkey, losing 2-1! Tuncay scored two goals for Turkey!

So, going into the final game at home to Slovenia, things were much improved! I was top of the group, but only three points ahead of Turkey in fourth place! A loss to Slovenia would almost certainly see me eliminated. I was tied with Scotland on points, so if we both won our games, goal difference was key. Scotland had a better head-to-head record, so I couldn't afford a goal difference tie either! I was five goals ahead of Scotland, but while I had the tricky game against Slovenia, Scotland would be routing San Marino. I reckoned that Scotland would struggle to beat San Marino more than 7-0, so if I could win 2-0 or 3-0, it ought to be enough.

As a result, I picked a very attacking side for the Slovenia game, and altered my formation accordingly. It's a sort of 4-3-3, but the wingers would drift in off their wings. If I needed goals, I planned to bring on Owen for one of my defenders and play 3-3-4. I had a plan!

G	Paul Robinson LB	Ashley Cole CB	John Terry CB	Rio Ferdinand RB	Gary Neville (c) CM	Steven Gerrard CM	Michael Johnson CM	Frank Lampard LW	Stuart Downing RW	Ashley Young CF	Wayne Rooney

S1	David James S2	Micah Richards S3	Leighton Baines S4	David Beckham S5	Shaun Wright-Phillips S6	Andy Carroll S7	Michael Owen

In the game itself, things began badly. Neville was injured, and I brought Richards on to replace him. After early domination, we struggled after Richards came on. I then altered the formation again, switching to a 3-5-2:

G	Paul Robinson CB	Ashley Cole CB	John Terry CB	Rio Ferdinand DM	Micah Richards LM	Stuart Downing CM	Michael Johnson RM	Steven Gerrard AM	Frank Lampard CF	Wayne Rooney CF	Ashley Young

The midfield was almost a plus shape. Within minutes, the floodgates opened towards the Slovenian goal. Young blasted over, and Gerrard was having success on the right side. I switched to the Latest Scores screen to find that Scotland were already 3-0 up on San Marino! Fortunately, nerves were settled when Rooney finally opened the scoring five minutes before half-time. At half-time, I brought Beckham on for Lampard who was tired, sending Gerrard to AM, and Owen on for Downing, with Young going to the left wing. Shortly afterwards, Gerrard scored from the edge of the area, and it was 2-0. I continued to push, and within moments, Owen had scored goal #54 for England, 3-0! I then settled back to a conventional 4-4-2. I coasted to a 3-0 victory. Scotland could "only" beat San Marino 4-0. I had won the group!

Here are the final group standings:

I was 4-0 as England boss as I headed to the Intercontinental fixtures with Australia and South Korea. Fielding the same sort of teams as earlier, I was disappointed to draw 1-1 with South Korea, but I then beat Australia 3-1. This had put me up to #5 in the World Rankings, behind Brazil, Argentina, Germany and Spain. Meanwhile, the European playoffs were taking place, and Scotland didn't make it, losing 5-2 on aggeregate to the Dutch (despite winning 2-1 at Hampden Park... They lost the second leg 4-0). Scotland had blown it!

For Taytay 24's benefit, here's how the Australian team lined up against me (12 subs because it was a friendly):

G	Mark Schwarzer LB	David Carney CB	Lucas Neill CB	Brett Emerton RB	Jade North LM	Harry Kewell (c) CM	Jason Culina CM	Tim Cahill RM	Mark Bresicano CF	Mark Viduka CF	John Aloisi

S1	Michael Petkovic S2	Matthew Spiranovic S3	Scott Chipperfield S4	Nikolai Topor-Stanley S5	Michael Beauchamp S6	James Holland S7	Kristian Sarkies S8	Carl Valeri S9	Vicenzo Grella S10	David Williams S11	Archie Thompson S12	Scott McDonald

I then had to vote in the World Footballer of the Year. I was presented statistics from shortlisted players, and went for Spain's Raul (I can't vote for my own players), and indeed Raul won the title.

Coming up in 2010, the draw for the World Cup proper, and the World Cup itself!