Andria Challenge: Season 3 Middleseason Update

This weekend I was at home and spent a lot of time playing Football Manager 2009 and doing my best for my Andria team, recently promoted to the Italian C1/B division.

With a glourious media prediction of "last placed" and finances going down instead of up, I can say that I did the best I could with my team which is performing above all expectations and now, at half-season, we are comfortably standing away of the relegation zone, at number 12.Actually the season started even better for Andria who was well motivated by increased bonuses and the two new signings: we recorded two draws and 2 wins in the first four matches, but then an incredible six games without a win followed.The team managed to get back on track after I made a few changes to the lineup and small tweaks to the tactic (the winning FM 2009 tactic I presented you), mainly turning it into a bit more defensive one. Also, my new signings started to make an impact, with Vincent Beduer - the wingback I presented in the previous post starting to make my defense more solid, while on the other end Marco Di Matteo started to score goals. However, both have to blend into the squad...Unfortunately, I can't say the same thing about Oscar Djellilahine, the attacking midfielder I had purchased as a wondermaker - he proved to be unfit for my tactics and with his low ratings is the biggest disappointment I had since starting playing Football Manager 2009. Unfortunatelly, things are not looking too good for my last season's second top scorer Eugen Nita, who was plagued by injuries and played very poor, only scoring 1 goal in 16 matches...But my confidence is high and I do believe we have the strength to stay in the Italian Serie C1/B after the season's end. Wish me luck!