Day 3 - Palace Casuals report.

After the Cup debacle, the Management decided to lighten the playing squad, and right-back Sergey Fetisov, midfielder Paul Clayton and striker Konstantin Kirchev were released, taking the squad down to 17 players.

The overnight League draw seems to have been kind to the Casuals, they find themselves one of the stronger sides in a League full of ftp (failed to promote) teams, tankers and other ne'er-do-wells. [5* = 145.0-149.9]

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The first game was away against Arsenal FC, and the Casuals produced a great performance in a 4-0 win, all goals being scored in the first half. A 7th minute opener from left-midfielder Juan Manuel Ramirez set them on the way, and after midfielder and club captain for this season Mario Dinamarca lashed home a loose ball from a free-kick, fellow-midfielder Miguel Saez produced a MoM-earning double strike. Casuals coasted through the second half to earn a first League win of the season.

I suppose I had to take this - bearing in mind previous seasons, probably the only chance I'll have:

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The performance of strikers is causing particular angst at the moment - Casuals two (remaining) strikers are both 6* and are producing pitiful performance ratings this season.

9 Philip Deery 6.4 6.4 6.5 (last season average rating was 6.93, 27 appearances, 5 goals, 5 assists)
16 Mehmet Serif 6.4 6.4 6.6 (last season average rating was 6.76, 20 appearances, 2 goals, 2 assists)

Previous strikers have been similarly poor (recently released Kirchev was rating 7.07), having tried them in various combinations, singly and in pairs, last season and failed to find a successful formation, I will probably have to use them in single-striker formations for their nuisance value and let the wingers and midfielders do the work of creating and scoring...