The Medics face the much stronger Greenfield Gremlins today. Can they make it 3 wins on the bounce and is this the side that can do it.

For the second year running the Medics have managed to make it out of the group stage in The General Managers Club cup.

Three straight wins now leaves them with a tricky game against the Barbados team Car Colours. With a difficult league game coming up against the Greenfield Gremlins this week-end it’s more than likely Art Frisson will be concentrating on the league rather than the cup. Still, stranger results have happened.

Southwick Meerkats : Arzt Schnell   0 : 3
Aston Rangers : Arzt Schnell   1 : 6
Arzt Schnell : Cleveland Crunch   4 : 1

Lucas Löwensteinwas not the only player making a move during November as the table below shows.

These are unlikely to be the only changes we will get to see in the coming weeks. With Schnell definitely locked into a relegation struggle this season, Art is keen to shuffle the deck a little in an effort to make his squad leaner, meaner, and younger. The sale of Steven Crespo was a difficult one for the Schnell manager who had hoped to keep him at the club a lot longer, however as there was little money in the bank Art had no real choice in the matter.

Matti Remekselä is also on the current transfer list hoping for a new home, or he could be called upon to retire just as Harro Post did. There are also rumours around the ground that suggest Faaborg and Varela could be going, and even wilder rumours that Valkenberg and Hengcheng could be on their way.

Dutch defender Lucas Löwenstein, Arzt Schnell’s newest signing, turned up at the Medics Red River Arena today in an ambulance. No it wasn’t a publicity stunt; just hours before he was due to put pen to paper he decided to have one last game for his old club and picked up a 3 week injury.

Art Frisson the Schnell manager tried to be philosophical about it all saying “at least it put off the other managers who might have out-bid us at the last moment”.

“I was actually at the game scouting some of the other players at The Rampaging Raccoons when it happened and so I alerted the medical team in advance when I saw him being stretchered off.”

That's Sall folks

Schnell’s Lars Sall announced today that he intends to retire as coach at the end of the season. Sall was one of the first players to join Schnell after their promotion into Div V and his experience and talent as a player and a coach have helped ensure their survival at that level.

Recent issues with team spirit lead to discussions with Art Frisson about the future of the club, and it was agreed that a new face and new tactics would be required to help Schnell promote as soon as possible.

At the press conference Art stated “Lars has done a wonderful job here and the players, staff and the fans are all tremendously grateful. This season our series has been rated in the top 10 of 256 and his leadership and coaching skills have ensured our comfortable survival yet again. No one will ever forget his accomplishment in season 45 when he took as all the way to 2nd place.”

Is Jan the man?

There was no announcement regarding who would replace Lars Sall although rumours abound that it may well be Jan Pindelak who will take the reins on a one or two season contract. Pindelak has been out of favour on the field recently, despite his obvious midfield talent there are many who have thought his contribution to other areas of the field have been lacking. Despite that his experience will be of great value to the team who almost to the man look up to him.

TMNT are just a bit too flashy up front

Schnell do battle once again with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles at the week-end but Art Frisson is confident that by the end of the game it will be Schnell who will walk away victorious.

“We know TMNT have high stats but they are just a little too top heavy to outclass us across all areas of the field. As long as we take our chances we should end up on top.”

In their previous fixture 3 weeks ago Schnell ran out 3-1 winners, and despite giving up home advantage this time they are favorites to do the same again.

Ready for anything?

Schnell face Major Pain again this week and are hoping not to repeat the errors they made last week when they threw away a golden opportunity to beat the league leaders.

Encounters between these two are rarely short of goals and Art Frisson has intimated that he won’t be shutting up shop in a vain attempt to avoid defeat.

“Training has gone well this week and we are confident that we have a good chance of winning here at the R’s Arena. We have a 1st round GMC cup game following this one, so a win would be certain to boost our confidence going into that one.”

On the youth side Pfleger Schnell have made a promising start to their season after being relegated from II.1 to III.3, with two wins in their opening games. The departure of Melvin Gaddis and Brian Darnell seems to have inspired some of the other boys to greater efforts. José Alfonso Rendón has particularly shone and there are rumours that the National Scout for the USA U20s was at the game against the Flying Fruitbats.

Art Frisson wasn’t available for comment after last week-ends defeat away to Major Pain. Rumours from inside the stadium said that the Schnell dressing room doors were locked and there were sounds of a very unpleasant barbeque going on inside. When we finally caught up with Art you could tell he was still a little unhappy.

Art Frisson giving us his best smile after last week-ends defeat

Q. So what did you say to your players in that dressing room?

A. I told them what a shambles they had been and how they had let themselves down. Major Pain are tough enough to beat without helping them out along the way. I told the lads we were likely to get more chances through the middle and yet for some reason they simply didn’t listen.

Q. The game didn’t start to well with that missed penalty after 8 minutes did it?

A. No it didn’t, but I can’t really say that it changed the game that much. Eric (Booth) hasn’t missed a penalty for over 2 seasons now, sometimes luck doesn’t go your way, and I know Eric feels just as bad about that miss as anyone.

Q. So do you think luck was against you in that match?

A. I know it’s a cliche but you make your own luck at times and sometimes it just falls into your lap. We have been lucky in some of our past encounters and maybe this time it was their turn. They spent most of the game running around the pitch in disarray and if we had stuck to our game plan I think we could have taken them.

Q. So what about the return leg?

A. Well it’s a lot harder coming back at a team after a defeat like that. Even with a home advantage you’ve got to hope that your coach can raise their spirits up enough to give yourself a fighting chance.

Q. Any changes to the line-up?

A. Well the doctors have reported that Aggie (Siegfried Aigner) will be out for a minimum of 3 weeks and with Enrique (Enrique Oster) also out for a few weeks we’ve decided to dip into the transfer market and bring in another winger in the shape of Giulio Sabia. We’re hoping that should shore up our flanks until at least the end of the season. We’ll see how he performs mid-week and go from there.

This week sees the departure of two of Pfleger Schnells youth stars as they both have a birthday this week making them ineligible to play in the youth leagues. The 1st is Melvin Gaddis who has his 19th birthday after tomorrows clash against Dolphins Juniors. It will be his 31st game for the club where he has spent most of his time on the wing, scoring 3 goals in the process.

Melvin Gaddis

First day with club: 7-3-2011 21.38 (162 days ago)

Speciality: Technical

The second is Brian Darnell who will complete his 47th game on Thursday (the 3rd most number of appearance for the club). Brian has been a rock for Pfleger, playing mostly as a wing-back and central defender. His leadership skills will be sorely missed.

First day with club: 4-15-2011 07.04 (241 days ago)

Brian Darnell