So we have completed the 2020 Season, our first full one, with a Cobh Ramblers team that inspires joy & rage in equal measure. I’m really waiting on Shelbourne to see if they get promoted – if not I’m pretty sure the Manager’s job will become available there. If it isn’t there just isn’t much about at this time of year with most leagues in the middle of their seasons. Will it be Head or Heart?
Before we get to going from November 2020 onwards we have a raft of glourious stats and all the end-of-season gubbins to go through. Get ready for a novel!
October 2020 was a good month from attribute rises – not liking the determination drops though…
3 People had movements of +2 attribute points, 1 (Kev Taylor & his Bravery) of -4, everything else is just +1 (117) or -1 (81) – A net gain overall.
Looking at the 2020 Season we finish bottom of the xG chart… 6 goals down. Interestingly runaway champions Drogheda re just above us… We only score once every 11 shots on average… U.C.D were best at 1 in 7.5.
Adam comes 4th of the Keepers that played most/all of the season, at 3 goals saved more than average. Luca Gratzer was the star all year, almost 9 goals saved more than average, only letting in a goal every 6.5 shots on target. Mikey Quinn of Cabinteely let in 1 every 3… And almost 12 goals more than he should have. Cabinteely would have been challenging for the playoffs with an Adam Mylod in goal…
Eoin McCormack finishes top of the tree at the player level, scoring almost 6 more goals than his shots should have given him on average, scoring just under 1 in 6 shots. Unfortunately this is offset by Ian Turner & David Hurley – 6.5 goals less scored by these 2. The feeling of profligacy in front of goal was a real downside of last season. So what’s the issue?
With regards to shots we shoot quite a lot less from Zone 6 (Outside the box in front of the 18 yard box to about 40 yards. -5.7%) but we shoot from Zone 5 almost half the time (Inside the box, not in front of goal from 6 to 18 yards out), 5.61% more than average. Wingers coming to the back post anyone??? That would be Ian Turner (2nd worst xG in the league) and Lyamine Mihoubi (6th worst)….
With regards to actual xG we are unremarkable – Only better than average from Zone 3 (In front of the goal, 1.74%), worse than average in Zone 5, where we shoot from the most. As such I will need to look at the formations and tactics – I love Lyamine Mihoubi to bits, and he’s going to be a star, and Ian Turner can be spectacular – but If we can improve our finishing there we could be in good stead to go for the playoffs (Obviously If I’m still with the team…..)
Next are the stats – I won’t bother with last months, we shall look at the year as a whole.
PASSING – Only 3 guys with > 80% passing completion, and we’ve been playing shorter passing for a lot of the season. If we can improve this just a tad and get another player over 80% that would be superb.
HEADING – Kane Lewis is the king, a completion 6% more than anybody else and the only one over 80%. That might be because my tall defenders all love an attacking corner (Ben O’Riordan definitely – 65 key headers, 2.46 per game!! Eoin McCormack at 50% as a TM is just a tiny bit low – A good TM gets 60%+, something we will need to look at – maybe he’s in the wrong role.
CROSSING – Ian Turner rules the roost – 24% completion is amazing, and he’s completed more crosses than all but 2 of the lads attempted in 2020. More of the same, especially if we Cobh can get someone a bit more deadly in the air up top.
DRIBBLING – Both left wingers over 3 attempts per game, Lyamine especially deadly when he runs at the opposition, 16 Acc 15 Pac is pretty high for this level.
TACKLING – A really good showing with 7 lads over 90% who had attempted more than 10 tackles.
FOULS – Alex Byrne (who’s being released anyway) was a bit foul-y for a BWM. Good to see Our primary wingers and striker drawing a good number per game, allowing us to go at the set pieces.
MISTAKES – Not too bad, only the wingbacks and Lyamine over 2 a game. I expect Kane Lewis to improve in his first full season with the club.
INTERCEPTIONS – All our defenders are very solid at over 5, Carrick Hill (Now 4* CA) almost at 8, which is exceptional.
OFFSIDES – Nobody who played a decent number of games at > 0.8 per game, showing the lower forward line having that effect.
SHOOTING & GOALS – Eoin McCormack was the standout – 21 goals, 54% shots on target, well over half a goal per game. Ben O’Riordan weighing in with 7, almost all from set pieces is brilliant.
ASSISTS & CHANCES – Ian Turner the daddy with his free kicks, just under an assist every 2 games. Both left wingers creating a chance every 1.7 games also great.
And so we get to all the end of season gumph.
Understandably Eoin McCormack player of the season, goal of the season his free kick in the last game v Cabinteely (Seriously!!! They’d not seen Victor Ekanem’s Yeboah v Cork City), Kane Lewis the signing (What about Carrick Hill!!!) and a 23yo as Young Player…
Pretty much the first team plus Daire Doherty in the Best Eleven – Paul Hunt, Greg Henry & Brian Murphy in the subs who are no longer with Cobh.
And that free kick came 3rd in goal of the month.
Eoin made team of the week for his brace.
And we come to the FAI Cup Final & league play-offs – the p[lay-offs are pretty much key to where I will be (or try to be) next season.
Cork City won the FAI Cup 1-0 – That’s 3 final losses for Limerick this season.
The first playoff (3rd v 4th) was won by 3rd place U.C.D. 2-1 over the 2 legs – Cobh will face Limerick next season, not particularly worried by that as we always seem to do well against them.
The second play-off (2nd v 3rd) was won 4-2 on aggregate by Shelbourne (Boooooo!) – Cobh will face U.C.D. again next season, again, not a big worry.
And lastly Shelbourne have gained promotion, beating Galway 3-2 on aggregate, a late fight-back securing them a spot in the Premier Division for 2021. Bugger, that’s that avenue gone for me. Cobh will face Galway in the 2021 season.
Over the course of the next few weeks I tried to barter a better deal with Cobh (Not one Irish job was now even insecure) and the only thing I got (after 2 rounds of bickering) was to drop the Club Compensation down to 80% from 90%, but I’ve signed with Cobh for another year. WE GO AGAIN LADS!!!!!!!
The Wage Budget is up £600/wk – £3,353/wk now. I will try to keep it a way below that, but have noticed all the kids that came in are on £30/wk – As such they are taking up about £400/wk of the budget, which isn’t ideal… So, we are just at the start of December now and the transfer window has opened. Let’s start strengthening 🙂
NEW SIGNING
Jason Abbott
- 26yo, 5ft 8in
- DM/M(C), BWM
- 3* CA, 3* PA
- Signed on a free from rivals Cobh Wanderers, after starting his career at Cork City, followed by time at U.C.C. & Cobh Ramblers (2015-17)
- At Cobh Wanderers IRL
- https://www.extratime.ie/player/11111857/jason_abbott/
Jason comes in a something we’ll need going forward – a really decent ball winning DM. Naturally fit, good mentals, really solid technicals he will be a starting DM at the very least.
Liam Doyle has joined as Chief Scout – 9’s for Ability & Potential, very good at this level, Cobh now has the best scouting in the league 🙂
NEW SIGNING (STAFF)
Kevin Jenkins (Right)
- 57yo Assistant manager from Wales
- Ex GK, 14’s for all GK Coaching
- Played as recently as 2019 in the Welsh 2nd tier aged 56!!
- A one-club man his entire career, 1981 to 2019/20 (Penrhyncoch in Ceredigion, near Aberystwyth) – Still there as Chairman IRL.
We welcome Kevin Jenkins to the club. A Keeper by trade, this is his first appointment, our previous AM wouldn’t rejoin. Saving £110/week as well 🙂 As you can see below he played recently as well, whilst Chairman of Penrhyncoch!!
NEW SIGNING
Dean Ebbe
- 26yo, 6ft 4in
- ST(C), though can play anywhere AM as well – AM (RLC)
- 3.5* CA, 4* PA
- Started at Shamrock Rovers, played for a few clubs in Ireland before a season at Inverness CT in the Scottish Premiership. From there ended up at TNS in Wales – still there IRL.
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dean_Ebbe
NEW SIGNING
Jack Funge (Left)
- 17yo, 5ft 10in
- D(C)
- Started with Bohemians, Shelbourne paid £5.5k in game but then released him… IRL he’s with Bohemians U19’s
- 3* CA, 3.5/4.5* CA
- 14 Marking, 13 Tackling, 14 Decisions – solid for a 17yo
- Pay as you play (£110/game) – Here as a back-up
We welcome Jack from Shelbourne on a Non-Contract deal as our 3rd best defender after Carrick Hill & Ben O’Riordan. Very solid defensively for his age but a tad on the short side. Will be interesting to see how he progresses.
NEW LOAN SIGNING
Dara Costelloe
- 18yo, 5ft 9in
- Play anywhere down the left, mainly an AM(L) as a Winger
- Comes in from Galway, where he started his career. IRL he’s still there with the U19’s
- A very solid winger for this level, 4/4.5* CA, 4/5* PA – Currently ranked as our best player
We welcome Dara Costelloe for a season-long loan from Galway. Very solid indeed for an 18 you, he will be our starting winger on the left. A really good loan signing.
On we’ve reached New Year’s Day 2021. The following players & staff have all been released:
- Orla McSweeney (Head Physio)
- Ethan McCarthy (U19’s Manager)
- Declan Coleman (Coach)
- Brian Bermingham (Scout)
- Peter Duffy (Scout)
- Victor Ekanem
- Alex Byrne
- Jordan Harmon
- Ben Hanrahan
- Cian Leonard
- Jamie O’Sullivan
- David O’Brien
- Tom Barrett
Young Keeper Liam O’Donovan has also moved to Bohemians on a free, a deal that was concluded some months ago.
Looking a bit better this season again – now 6th favourite/ The Board want’s mid-table… Should be doable. Really need to sneak into those playoff spots. Galway will be the ones to beat I think.
We are £40k in the Red. We have just received £32k for TV Rights for 2021. We have about £550/wk in wages left.
The staff positions are starting to be filled a bit cheaper than before:
- Adrian Harper (U19 Manager) – £35/wk. 19 Working With Youngsters.
- Ryan Evans (Head Physio) – £35/wk. 10 Physio plus amazing GK Coaching Stats….
- James Slater (Coach) – £30/wk. 12 Mental, 11 Tactical, 11 Technical.
- Luke Lewis (Scout) – £15/wk. 8/8 PA/PP
- Alex Hughes (Scout) – £15/wk. 10/10 PA/PP
Another bit of money – £12k/year being an affiliate of Shamrock Rovers.
And so we are at the start of pre-season 2021 (11th January). We welcome the squad back for training. Next time we will go through the pre-season where we have 5 friendlies arranged, plus maybe some new faces (Who knows….). See you soon.