They say good advice is hard to come by. Quite true, as Sir Brown Knight would attest to. The Indian-Malaysian manager was facing a dilemma of sorts until two weeks ago, as his Johor Jaguars were struggling to keep their form.
Despite having no less than five hard trainers on the squad, The Jags were going into every league match with a less than perfect line-up. "It was frustrating, more than anything, to see the form fluctuating like that," Sir Brown reminisced. "Having such great talent in the squad, and not being able to use it, was somewhat limiting our performances."
The wake up call came after a demoralizing defeat to title contenders Beam Boomers, Sir Brown's first official loss as manager. The narrow 1-0 loss all but ended his side's promotion hopes, which were eventually doused by the 3-3 away draw against table toppers Stryn IL.
"The loss against The Boomers brought us back down to earth to some extent. We were riding high after such a strong run, and the lads, and the fans, were beginning to think we were invincible."
On both occasions, Sir Brown fielded a lone forward and a thick midfield. "Possession is two thirds of the game, and we were gunning for possession. Our goals can come from anyone, and it's not a must we have three strikers to finish the deal," the gaffer told reporters after The Boomers match.
Back home, however, the manager decided to take a breather and investigate the cause of the sudden drop in his squad's form. In particular, top forward Alexander Geitskaret and midfield talisman Koruhime Aizawa, both of whom have not been seen on the pitch since their 5-0 friendly win over Damned Redemption.
In fact, Aizawa only appeared as an injury time substitute in the 1-3 win over FC Bayern de Múnich, the last official match where Geitskaret was in the starting 11. The question was, why were these talents not being utilised by the gaffer in his hunt for the illusive promotion spot?
"We realised that our weekend friendlies were having a more negative effect on our players. Having been eliminated from the Cup early on, I made it a regular fixture to have a friendly on the extra matchday."
The custom of having friendlies on vacant cup days was an age old tradition that Sir Brown started at Kuantan Knights FC and Malaysian Mustangs. "Back then, we didn't have to worry about development value. We only saw form and average form, and one way to increase them was having a friendly."
Unbeknownst to the manager, however, things had changed since his days in the Power League. "I had noticed that mid season friendlies are few and far between nowadays, but I hadn't quite figured out why. Until the drop in form became obvious, that is"
Having the habit of playing a reserve team in the friendlies, losses were at times inevitable, and with the manager giving little importance to winning friendlies, things turned south, and quick.
"Every time we lost a friendly, our form dropped, a lot. But our average DV (Development Value) didn't go up by much, in fact, maybe just one or two players increased their DV by a single point. Given the unproportionate rise and fall, we were at a loss, and it proved to be the reason why we eventually lost out on promotion."
Confused, Sir Brown turned to the Ultimate League Scribble for advice. Division 5 side Cellar Door's manager Quercus offered some friendly advice and Sir Brown was more than willing to take note. "Many a times, we see managers are too proud to admit that they need help. But Sir Brown is different," Quercus reflected when asked about the conversation.
"When he feels he needs advice, he asks around, either on the Scribble Board, or in the forums. It's good to see such an experienced manager still willing to learn and improve his game like this."
Quercus shared his vast experience with his counterpart, explaining how friendlies are only useful when the majority of players are on low form, as they are right after the change report, and more than often detrimental to the player's form, as his form is more likely to suffer due to missed chances and other events during the friendly.
Taking his advice, Sir Brown suspended all further friendlies, hence resting the players on weekends. As expected, the more relaxed schedule saw an improvement in the players' form, just in time for the visit to The Sterns.
The Jaguars' inferior form and determination saw them come from behind to take the lead, only to be denied a win by Giragos Kafafian's last minute equaliser. Nonetheless, The Jags were the first club to avoid defeat at Stryn Stadion this season, which is an achievement in itself.
Now out of the race for promotion, and safe from relegation, Sir Brown's main concern would be giving his reserves the chance to earn much needed match experience, hence giving their development value a boost before the change report.
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