EFC Manager (for PC & Mac)

(F) loan him out to get first team experience somewhere else.

G - get him a leg transplant to hopefully get him some pace.

First of all it was no surprise to me that the players did not do well in the first half at Leeds.

It was a cup tie atmosphere and required experienced players who could win the right to play.

It is totally inconceivable that 2 young lads (Gueye and Junior) could come into a shambolically put together team of strangers and be expected to do well.

As regards EFC manager I believe it is too early to judge Junior and Barkley but IMO Gueye is a decent fringe player who needs help stepping up to the Premiership pace.

The gap between reserve football and the premier league is a chasm and needs to be thought about in players development.

My first move would be to reintroduce the cushions on the top balcony.

NOT (A) "Keep playing him until he gets better (if that ever happens)". I assume this option is continue to play in 1st team. I think he's had enough opportunities to show and he hasn't.

YES (B) "Give him more game-time in the reserves and work him harder on the training ground – eg, practicing crosses (will that work?)". It might just work but I'm doubtful. But in the meantime it keeps him out of the 1st team, and does provide at least some cover should we have a mas of injuries - our squad is thin. And Oviedo would come in before Maggie May if we did have a mass of injuries. So, short term, Option (B) but medium term Option (C) - sell.

NOT (C) "Sell him now (for not much money)". The (small) amount gained doesn't bother me. But thin squad, so cover needed.

NOT (D) "Play him a bit more then sell him for a decent fee as soon as he starts playing well (profitable but rather self-defeating)". Playing him more just continues to show others how poor he is so we won't get a decent fee. He won't start to improve. Playing him means leaving eg Peanuts out! Seriously weakens the team.

NOT (E) Play him in a different position or with different players around him (risky and it involves messing with the team). I think his deficiency lies in basic skills not being played out of position. He's had our best players around him so no others will improve him.

Michael - the cushion concept is revolutionary! Superb insight. The thing is, where are we going to get the money from? Sell Jelavic? That would leave us a bit over for an extension to Mucha's contract. Uh-oh. Or we could let Mucha go (Boo-hoo), get some low quality budget cushions and invest in a primitive time machine so we could go back to Tuesday afternoon, pick a different team for Leeds and get them to play like eleven men who have met each other before and know the rudiments of the game. [Woozy special effect fade...]

Ian - the leg transplant idea is an excellent one, but surely financially ruinous?

Mike - yes, a genuine option. But, as I said, loaning players out doesn't seem to particularly pay off for us. True, it worked for Osman a few years back. Coleman, too, but maybe that just showed that Seamus is a top-quality Championship player? I fear that might also be true of Duffy and Bidwell. Garbutt is better than that, from what I can tell.

Jay - I agree, but that's the problem isn't it? How do Junior and Gueye improve if they don't play? Does a 15 min sub appearance help all that much? (In my school, youth club and Sunday League career, I only appeared as a sub once - and I scored the winner! But not everyone can be a super-sub like me!) It's not always easy to get into the game, I imagine, and you're more likely to get on the pitch if the team is either chasing a winner/equaliser or two up and cruising - and neither of those conditions are normal

The 'debate about whose fault it was – manager or players'?

The HT substitutions lay the blame firmly at Moyes' feet. He picked the wrong team and should have hooked them after five or ten minutes - but that will never happen. Even then, there's a difference.

Putting Junior in that position was clearly DM's fault, but Gueye's faults had to be his own. He's been with us a long time now and he has been given game time. For me, I can only hope that Moyes has had a 'Saha' moment - when he subbed him after an hour against Blackburn I thought - he's on his way out. He was.

Leg transplant? I think I saw his first GP sub appearance and he looked lean, fast and sharp - like Drenthe was, a good prospect. For whatever reason, being with us seems to have done him not much good. I generally complain that we (and most English clubs) train our players to be marathon runners then wonder why they can't sprint any more. Any special promise Gueye had may well have been ground out of him as he has been put through the same mincer as everyone else.

And that, Kevin, is my two-penneth about development policy. It may well be one area where we get things very wrong.

Football clubs are not democracies, but cushions on the balcony at least give some the opportunity to register how they would vote if they had one. But apart from the expense of providing them, surely these days safety helmets would also have to be provided for those in seats below. Nice idea. Non-starter.

Not that proud of this but in the case of someone like Gueye, if things were dire then I would sometimes be tempted to take over another club temporarily like Man City and then buy Gueye for say 10m and then resign once the transfer went through. Option H?

Sam - that is ingenious. Are you resigning as EFC Manager, then executing Mancini? Or ever so slightly going against the rules by managing two teams at once? Also, if you do resign at EFC to go to Man City, we'll have to appoint someone else won't we? (Marcelo Bielsa? Neville Southall?) If they made Joe Royal caretaker manager and he was prepared to step aside when you resigned from Man City then it might just work. Otherwise, I have my worries.

Brent - you say: "NOT (C) "Sell him now (for not much money)". The (small) amount gained doesn't bother me. But thin squad, so cover needed." But that's my point, mate - if you're playing a football management game, the books HAVE to balance - or you've lost! It's not a question of just gaining a small amount, it's the fact that so much money has already been spent on Gueye, for example, that it's kind of necessary (?) to recoup some of that with a decent transfer.

Keith - although I imagine Michael was kind of joking there, the cushion idea is not as daft as it first sounds. Again, if EFC Manager was a real game then YOU (The Boss) would have to take into account everything, including the comfort of the fans. I mean, it's not something that would occur to DM or BK in a million years, is it? But fans have a different perspective. Maybe some people's enjoyment of the game is ruined by having an aching arse! If that gets bad enough (and we're not winning the league and cup double), maybe some will stop coming to the game. It's a tiny detail, but not 100% irrelevant.

Kev, I see your point. I might not sure of the accounting conventions in our virtual game, but I guess I was following real life (I know, bloody dangerous!) where what's been spent has been spent, so now the challenge is to balance minimising spend, maximising income and getting the best results on the pitch. So I suppose in real life (shit, there I go again, dreaming, getting away from virtual reality) I'd (if you allow me to continue as manager, pipelagger etc!) be making other decisions in a holistic way, which would hopefully (NO, DEFINITELY, FACT, END OF, IN CAPS, IN ENGINEERS' SPEAK) balance any "loss" on Maggie May.

Have to return to real life now, the "War Office" is calling from the kitchen. She wants me to wash the dishes. I keep saying I'm not that multi-talented.

Kev, to my shame I would in a way be managing two teams at once. Technically there would be a puppet manager managing City, but he would be under my control. Perhaps we could get them to hire Stubbs as director of football and then buy Gueye for £10m and then resign...or keep him there as a shadow operative!

"The 'debate about whose fault it was – manager or players'?
The HT substitutions lay the blame firmly at Moyes' feet."

I disagree, to pick one implies the others aren't to blame. Manager and players were all equally culpable for that performance. A manager should be able to bring players in and expect them to be more motivated as they have a chance to prove themselves. This didn't seem to happen.

Mike - what I added to that, as I'm sure you've already read, is that I would question DM for throwing Junior into this one, with so much responsibility, so early in his time with us.

Gueye, however, has much more experience and should have put in a performance of some kind. He produced nothing. He let his manager and the rest of us down. As others have said, even given the chance to play with our strongest line-up he brings nothing, one good goal - nada mas.

I firmly believe that Moyes has to learn from this, as I said, have another 'Saha moment'.

Love this piece!!

Have to develop him in the reserves and loan him out for sure. Can't go selling him while he's still a diamond in the rush. We usually take advantage of teams who are throwing away players they don't feel have what it takes!

You make a very good point regarding the spending on the development of a player from a young age. It's funny though, take out Rodwell I can't remember anyone since Rooney who has come out of our academy and been capable playing first XI consistently. Hopefully there's Barkley and many more to come!

Yessar - Arsenal, who have kept themselves in the top 4 for 10 years, have rarely used a home grown player. Their policy has been to buy, relatively cheaply, from French speaking overseas clubs, often in Africa. I don't advocate this policy; Wenger has kept his job on results, nada mas.

But Keith, how much money do you think Arsenal has made from selling players like Clichy, Song etc. after developing them ? They have Gibbs and Wilshere who I believe are home grown, but I think there is a market for developing young players (whether they are home grown, or foreigners) and selling them for handsome profits.

Mind you, much easier said than done.

Talking of loaning youngsters out, I see Shef Wed lost again yesterday. Ho-hum. I was rather hoping Ross B would lead The Owls to the top of the Championship perch. (See what I did there?)

Yes, Kev. I'm hoping its just a conincidence that since he has arrived they have gone from a 19-match unbeaten streak to 6 consecutive losses and now sit just above the relegation zone!

I've been following the Sheffield Wed fan forums since Barkley's got there to see what they're making of him. Pretty mixed reviews overall.

Generally, they're impressed by his technique/range of passing, but the problem seems to be that he's playing in a two-man central midfield in a struggling team, and so is having to drop incredibly deep where he isn't half as effective. There's been some talk of needing to change the system to accommodate him by playing him off the striker.

He apparently is absolutely woeful at corners (not sure if he takes them for our reserves, but he seems to take them all for Wednesday), but got a lot of praise for stepping up and banging in a good penalty against Bolton.

Overall, the comment I keep reading is that he'd be absolutely quality in a team with other talented players, but right now is just not what Wednesday need. He doesn't yet have the confidence, the experience, or the physical presence to run a game from the centre of midfield in a poor team.

Dunno if Everton will agree to extend his loan which must run out fairly soon, but it does seem to be a better deal for us than them. Dave Jones seems to have unwavering faith in him (or Moyes has demanded playing time as part of the deal) so he is getting 90 minutes each week which has got to be good for his fitness.

And while I'm not sure playing for a sinking ship is a great thing for the confidence, it should hopefully toughen him up a bit, and convince him to up his game so he doesn't end up playing for teams like Wednesday permanently...

Evening all.

I'm late because I seem to have been seduced by footballing delights - Barcelona is only up the road from here - but luckily my internet service wasn't disrupted by the violent storms and I saw at least half an hour of football as it should be played. Don't tell me it was only Southampton. Their mistake was that they tried to play football against us. Might have worked a long time ago, not now.

And last night in the 'Si Tapas Bar and Lounge' might account for part of this note from me mum too.

Yessar - you do make it sound a bit like the slave trade. I dislike agents with a vengeance, and I suspect Moyes comes from a similar Salvation Army type background to mine. I also suspect that he hopes his way into heaven is by doing good works with Magaye Gueye. God bless the lad, but hands up anyone who is pleased to see his name on the team sheet.

And then there's the Barkley thing. When I grace Fallowfield with my presence, my MCFC mates (and they are very good lads) ask me deep searching questions like 'why have we bought Rodwell?' There's quite a few French persons around here and I have become adept at the gallic shrug. Don't ask me pal, in a gesture. And I can't help but think that Ross B, different though he is, was also the biggest lad in his year, got into the team, played more, got better.

While all the time, little Leo Messi was being totally overlooked.

There's a reference to Newton in there for those who also think deeply about physics. It seems to be Si Tapas time. See you next Wednesday, with a bit of luck.

Alex - top scouting work there!

God knows why Barkely is taking corners. He's pretty good in the air, I think, so he should be trying to get on the end of them not taking them. Note to Dave Jones: playing him off the striker is the way to go.

As you say, Alex, at the very least the experience will toughen him up.

Keith, maybe George Green is going to be the next big thing? I mean, the next small thing. No, that's wrong: the next big small thing... Or maybe it's the next small big thing? At any rate, the next thing.

Top work, Alex. Looking at BBC, Wednesday lost 1-0, in a game with 2 shots on target (one from each side). Hope it toughens the kid up.