Rise of the Academy is a Football Manager game where we imagine a world in which Roman Abramovich has grown tired of waiting for Chelsea youth players to break through. He has sacked all the players who aren’t youth academy products and put us in the hotseat to try and manage Chelsea back to glory with only home grown players.
In the first part, which you can read HERE, we assessed the squad, built a tactic and prepared for a tough first season.
In this second part, the season proper begins…
After some morale boosting preseason talks with the players and with my solid, deep 433 ready to take on all comers, we began our brave new world with a home game against reigning champions Leicester. Within 5 minutes we are behind thanks to a Jamie Vardy run off the back of Terry, and half an hour later Danny Drinkwater adds a second when his weak shot somehow squirms past Matej Delac in goal.
This confirms both of my fears for the team: Terry is too slow and Delac not reliable. But with a desperate lack of experience in the team and no superior keepers in the youth ranks, there’s little I can do beyond casting my net into the lower league with renewed vigour to find the brightest young keepers in the country. I end up signing two young regens: Marvin Adams from Hull and Josh Dixon from MK Dons. Just two or three years to go till they’re ready for the first team then.
Things don’t improve after the first game. I grab a lucky late equaliser against Man City in my second game in charge, but after that lose to Huddersfield in the cup and Watford in the league. I am given a brief respite by a first minute goal from Nat Chalobah against Boro. Scoring first gives my fragile young team a boost of confidence and we storm to a 2-0 win. With minutes on the clock things are finally looking up, before disaster strikes: Jeremie Boga has broken his leg.
I lose the next three games 1-0 and plunge to 17th in the table. I have one win and one draw to go with my 5 league losses. I have kept one clean sheet. The board issue me an ultimatum, informing that a drastic turnaround is needed. I can see their point. It’s mid October and Chelsea are just a point above the relegation zone.
Then comes the defining four minutes of the season. I hold Everton to 0-0 in the first half, before Solanke, Abraham and Kasey Palmer lash in a devastating three goal torrent between the 53rd and 57th minute. Everton battle back to 3-2 by the 70th minute, but we hold on for the final 20 and grab our second win of the season.
This proves to be a turning point, and flush with confidence we start a run of 8 wins, 1 draw and three losses (two of which were from a single late goal against Arsenal and Southampton). Despite its continuing inability to keep clean sheets, the team shows great attacking potential.
The key man in the revival is Lewis Baker. The youngster embodies the benefits of the loan system, returning from Vitesse as a mature player ready to play in a top division. He averages a 7.26 rating through the first part of the season, contributing an astonishing 5 goals and 6 assists. He is rewarded with a massive new contract, which only serves to boost his performances further.
With just 3 clean sheets all season, clearly defending is an issue. The total lack of defensive cover from midfield doesn’t help, so I begin hastily retraining Ruben Loftus-Cheek as a defensive midfielder, but that can’t be more than a stopgap. I begin trawling the youth ranks in search of a long term solution.
Despite poor defensive performances I recognise the need to keep JT around and hand him an extra year on his contract. With Todd Kane still rehabilitating his cruciate problem, when Nathan Ake injures his ankle I move Ola Aina to left back and bring in Tomas Kalas at right back. The Czech impresses – winning MOTM in a statement 1-0 victory over Liverpool – and I make the call that he is ready to take over at centre back from Terry next year. To this end I start JT tutoring Kalas – another benefit of having the icon stick around.
Another thing that still concerns me is that battle between Tammy Abraham and Dom Solanke for the striker spot. Both are very inconsistent and streaky, and neither plays well when pushed out wide, making it tough to pick one to play up front regularly. Abraham has the edge as his stats are slightly more developed, but it’s a battle that may go on for years.
With half the season gone, we have bounced from the edge of the relegation zone up to 9th, and the pressure has eased on the players. While the mental fragility of the team is a huge problem, players like Charly Musonda and Nat Chalobah are starting to benefit from the rush of first team football they are getting, and performances are going the right way. Now we enter the second half of the season, and begin to find out how some of these players with little senior football under their belts deal with the gruelling slog of the January fixtures and beyond. With little depth in the squad and injuries mounting, we’re not out of the woods yet…
You can read the third part of ROTA HERE.
