End Of A Century?
By Rami Niblick in Zoloroni, Mercedini
AS one noose loosens, another becomes ever tighter. Elidyr Lyndainium eased the pressure on himself as Mercedini head coach after a fine home win; for opposite number Valrauncion, however, the vultures are circling after an embarrassing defeat.
The worst thing about the defeat, though, isn't the hole it puts the Dragons in, or even the fact that the game was barely a contest from start to finish. It's that Valrauncion, and assistant manager Alex Sampson, just don't appear to have learned their lessons. The confidence of Messrs Brannan, Gray, Joel, and Scott must be through the floor right now, and though it would be wrong to say the defence were entirely blameless, they're not helped one bit by the player-manager's insistence to play a midfield press when they just don't have the personnel in the middle of the park to pull it off.
Mercedini, meanwhile, had no problem with this. It seemed that almost every possession began with either Josh Coquelin getting caught in possession and/or Roberto Juliano caught out of position, leading to the Krytenian defence overwhelmed in the numbers game. Three goals came in the first half; Daniel Dostalok's opener was clinical, slotting the ball past the overworked Marcus Washington. The second, from strike partner Ben Chillotov, was sublime as the Lajuno striker lashed the ball home from fully thirty yards and bast the dumbfounded Krytenian 'keeper. Things just got sad for the third, as though Thomas Scott managed to track back and tackle Dostalok, it was a clumsy one, and the Starling star despatched the penalty mercilessly. A fourth was addded on the hour, Johannes Nymark's effort just reward for his tireless efforts in midfield, and though the Golden Eagles sat on their lead and allowed Chris Naismith a scrappy consolation late on, the damage was done.
Well, most of the damage, anyway. Valrauncion's post-match press conference was a sight to behold. The obdurate elf was completely unapologetic about his team's performance, saying that it was a rebuilding process and that the press should trust him and the team to deliver, before refusing to answer questions from the press.
Valrauncion: "We keep going, we trust the process"
In a scant three minutes, Valrauncion seemingly turned a whole country against him. It's now not just his tactics, but his loyalty being called into question. The elf may have been a Krytenian citizen for almost exactly a full hundred years, but this display, in the words of one journalist, was "proof that his inner arrogance, his holier-than-though Starblaydiness, never went away." It seems to have struck a chord with a number of fans, with #sma - the hashtag representing the "Smug Mode Activated" movement that announced Valrauncion's arrival - being replaced by a new three-word phrase for those initials, of which "Starblaydi" is the only one printable.
One thing is for certain. If things don't improve drastically against Kandorith, it could be curtains for The Cock. Onward?
MERCEDINI - 4
Dostalok 18, 42 (pen)
Chillotov 29
Nymark 61
KRYTENIA - 1
Naismith 79