Moonshine Posted March 18, 2014 Share Posted March 18, 2014 Afternoon. Having played FM14 all the way from before it was released (I was a QA human over the summer) you'd think I'd be semi-decent at it. Turns out I'm ****. Now that I'm not playing the Beta version of the game, however, I can regale you all with some exploits. As a result, I give you Moon Correia: I have managed 5 teams prior to this. In my first season, at Riberao I was promoted in second position to the Portuguese Second Division. For some reason the board wanted me to gain a second consecutive promotion (I probably clicked the wrong expectation...) and I was fired. From there I moved to Antwerp in the Belgian Second Division. 8th place and in administration when I joined them, I was fired after just 15 games. Next came Tamworth. Just relegated from the Blue Square Premier, they were predicted to go up the first time of asking. 13 games in, languishing in 24th with just a win and two draws I resinged. Next up? Ovarense in the Portuguese Second League. Two mediocre seasons, and I resigned. Fifthly came Stalybridge Celtic. First season I came 6th, two points from the playoffs. The board threatened to sack me (I'd promised promotion...) and gave me 11 points in 5 games. I won manager of the month and then lost, and was sacked. In 2018 I joined FC Vitebsk. Season 1 we dropped from 3th to 4th in the six games which I was in charge for. Season two finished with a 6th place finish, despite being second for most of it. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moonshine Posted March 18, 2014 Author Share Posted March 18, 2014 FC Vitebsk Situated in the town of Vitebsk, Belarus’ fourth largest city, FC Vitebsk are a Belarussian Second League club. Never before crowned champions, they have won the Belarussian cup once, way back in 1998. They have been solidly mid-table since being relegated to the Belarussian Second Division in 2010. The club maintains minor rivalries with Vedrich Rechitsa and Dnepr Mogilev. The Vitseblyane, as they are affectionately known, play their football at the 8,350 capacity CSK Vitsyabski. The all-seater stadium has under-soil heating for those cold winter months. The club also has adequate training facilities and average youth facilities, though it does have an established youth recruitment system which has seen some excellent prospects in my two seasons at the club. This year, the board and media expect me to finish a respectable position. The media think 5th, which I’d take, though I feel we could be challenging for the top two. Oddly, while the Belarussian league system runs April – November, the Cup follows a European September – May system. As a result of this, we start the 2020 season in the quarter final of the Belarussian cup, following wins over non-league Neman Mosty in the second round and Isloch on penalties in the third round. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moonshine Posted March 18, 2014 Author Share Posted March 18, 2014 FC Vitebsk Belarussian First League 2020 Pre Season Expectations First League: Respectable Position Belarussian Cup: Second Round Bookmakers: 2-1 Transfers Fairly busy summer. Most of the sales were free transfers with the obvious exception of Dmitry Shabunya. A striker a signed last season on a free as a prospect played just 7 times for the club, mostly in the AML position. I have two other 5* potential strikers in Alexandr Shilo and Alexandr Platonov, so £125k plus 30% of next sale wasn’t to be sniffed at. Away he went. Gennady Vlasov was last season’s first choice DR. I couldn’t persuade him to sign a new contract so Luch poached him. Coming in were mainly young players who can do a job. Ledenev should slot in as third choice centre back and has 5* potential to boot. At 17 he’s potentially lethal for this division. Kovalevskiy and Kuchyuk are replacements for Gennady Vlasov at right back – and Kovalevskiy’s 3 month injury prompted me to sign Kuchyuk. I now have three potential first-choice DRs. Vladimir Ledenev Dzimitry Goncharenko Artur Kovaelskiy Igor Maslovskiy Alexey Kuchyuk Squad Results A decent pre-season, with Alexandr Shilo shining up-front which prompted a start against Dnepr Minsk in the cup. Belarussian Cup We went one down after just four minutes but defended well and, despite injuries forcing us down to ten men on 62’ pulled one back from the spot in the last minute. Sadly Minsk scored in the second half of extra time, but a 2-1 loss to last season’s second place in the Highest League is something to be proud of. Plus… Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
WonkaWilson Posted March 18, 2014 Share Posted March 18, 2014 Ouch, sounds like you've had a tough start so far.. Have you tried to tweek your tactics to help improve results? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moonshine Posted March 19, 2014 Author Share Posted March 19, 2014 Tactics changed with each club to suit the team's build. At Vitebsk I inherited a squad with barely any wingers - as you can see above that's still the case. So I'm playing either a 4-4-2 narrow diamond or a 4-1-1-3-1 with 3 AMCs an MC and a DM to suit the opponent. It's still not working Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moonshine Posted March 19, 2014 Author Share Posted March 19, 2014 FC Vitebsk Belarussian First League 2020 April A good start to the season in a game we should have won by more was followed by a less-than-good match against Isloch. Behind to a penalty we were sent down to ten men by a second yellow for Yegor Matveev, which left us without a recognised left back for 65 minutes. Unsurprisngly all three of Isloch’s goals that followed came down their right wing. Our goals were just consolation. Favourites for promotion straight back to the Highest League Granit had a player sent off and missed a penalty before we could equalise. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moonshine Posted March 19, 2014 Author Share Posted March 19, 2014 FC Vitebsk Belarussian First League 2020 May God knows how Loban is performing like this. The 25 year old has really stepped up, already scoring more than he did all of last season. I managed to renew his contract until 2022 as well. Huzzah! Against Kibuk we played marvellously, outplaying them from first minute to last – which is a good thing really, as that last minute goal was splendid reward. Against Beryoza, we fought back superbly from 3-1 down to make it 3-3 before succumbing in the 80th minute. Final game was a good result, but I really need to get my strikers firing. Oh, and this happened (sadface): Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moonshine Posted March 20, 2014 Author Share Posted March 20, 2014 FC Vitebsk Belarussian First League 2020 June We seem to be scoring a lot in the last few minutes. Whether that’s down to our stamina, our youth (at an average age of just 22 we’re one of the youngest teams in the league) or just luck I don’t know. Anyway, it helped out with victories in the first two games. A thrashing of SKVICh in the last game made for a perfect month. For some reason I’m yet to fathom, Beryoza can’t get promoted, which means third is the new second, and second is the new first (\o/) Belarussian Cup A good performance (and another last minute goal) sent us through to the second round, just a few months after being knocked out… We play at home to bottom-of-the-Highest-League Belshina in the next round. In transfer news, we loaned out misfiring Attacking Midfielder Maxim Palienko for £500pm and his £675pw wages in full. Our highest paid player by some margin, Palienko averaged just 6.63 last season and in 3 appearances this has managed just 6.50, with not a goal to his name. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moonshine Posted March 24, 2014 Author Share Posted March 24, 2014 FC Vitebsk Belarussian First League 2020 July After last month’s form, the Manager of the Month curse struck hard. Disappointing losses to Smolevichi and Zvezda sandwiched an appallingly dull 0-0 against league whipping boys Livadia. To add insult to injury, Gorodeya took until the 5th minute of 3 minutes of stoppage time to score a long range shot which hit the post, hit the back of the keeper, and went in. Belarussian Cup And then another loss. 7-6 on penalties. Joy. Transfer News Stanislav Pilyutik, my 18 y/o first-choice MC and youth product has been the subject of multiple transfer bids. A £280k bid came in which I decided to negotiate up to £500k to try and scare away the bids. They responded and we came to a deal where I get £450k upfront with another £30k over 12 months, 35% of the next deal and I get Pilyutik back until the end of the season. Wowzers. I’ll also be looking around for a new club for my GK Igor Khatskevich, who has decided that a Bosman is his way. Well, bugger that. Further, one of the first player’s I’ve fallen for on this save, Maxym Lisovyi, will retire at the end of the season. Sadface. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moonshine Posted March 25, 2014 Author Share Posted March 25, 2014 FC Vitebsk Belarussian First League 2020 August A change of focus on training paid dividends with a few more goals scored after another bore-draw with ****sk. The victory over Isloch was deserved, and the draw with Granit hard-fought, with superlative goal-keeping. However the obvious stand out was the match away at Slonim. 2 early own-goals were followed by a change in shouts, prompting Platonov and Loban to run riot. In the second half, an early red for a Slonim midfielder should have allowed me to dominate even more, and I was disappointed with the second half result of 1-1. A fantastic performance away at second place Khimik Svetlogorsk followed, coming back from behind to dominate, before another high-scoring game ssaw me beat Osipovichi in a match that was much more even than the result suggests. Transfer News Like Pilyutik, Alexandr Platonov has been the subject of some silly bids. However, with the money in the bank for Pilyutik I felt no need to sell Platonov. Plus, goals. My only delving into the transfer market was to sign Aliaksander Shkabara, who will hopefully replace Pilyutik in the long run, while youngster Vladimir Ledenev went out on loan. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
withnail316 Posted March 25, 2014 Share Posted March 25, 2014 Interesting stuff so far. Belarus is one of those leagues I always load, but I've never played there - am I right in thinking you can only have 5 foreign players in your match squad? KUTGW, anyway. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moonshine Posted March 25, 2014 Author Share Posted March 25, 2014 You are. Plus you have to have 3 u-21 players in the match squad, of which one has to be in the first team. The foreign rules aren't affecting me yet as the only foreigners I have are Russians, who don't count. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
withnail316 Posted March 25, 2014 Share Posted March 25, 2014 You are. Plus you have to have 3 u-21 players in the match squad, of which one has to be in the first team. The foreign rules aren't affecting me yet as the only foreigners I have are Russians, who don't count. Ah interesting. Is it only Russians who don't count? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moonshine Posted March 25, 2014 Author Share Posted March 25, 2014 Russians and, bizarrely, Kazakhs. Shame there are no good Kazakhs in the game though Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moonshine Posted March 25, 2014 Author Share Posted March 25, 2014 FC Vitebsk Belarussian First League 2020 September A month that looks average at first sight, but was a little above as we played 3 of the top 5. A draw with Beryoza was no more than we deserved, Patsko and Loban pulling us back from two down in an excellent second half display. Against Slavia Mozyr we again need to come back from behind, but this time it was no more than we deserved. A dodgy penalty from Lisovyi and a goal from Platonov sealed it. At Lida we were outclassed, and, lacking in width, outplayed. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moonshine Posted March 26, 2014 Author Share Posted March 26, 2014 FC Vitebsk Belarussian First League 2020 October A poor month that was helped by poor performances by those around me. A draw to Vedrich Rechitsa wasn't deserved, even as Patsko put me ahead. By contrast my 3-0 victory over SKVICh was, and providedcontinued evidence of my lack of a true goalscorer as all three goals came from different players again. However the 1-0 loss to bottom-of-the-table Livadia was awful. We managed just two shots all game, and played appallingly. The win against Zvezda was necessary – with Platonov scoring seconds after coming on and turning the match around when we were on the back-foot at 2-1 up. 3 points clear with 2 to play. Lida are away at Beryoza on the last day of the season. Don't count your chickens... (Beryoza can't go up remember. Who knows why.) A New Contract I signed a new contract at Vitebsk, a 1 year extension for a pay rise of £125p/w and a larger increase if we get promoted – which is looking more and more likely. Youth Candidates An exceptional crop. My youth academy really helps. Pavel Karasev Alexandr Kuzminich Artyom Pogodin Valeriy Osipovich Aleksey Saplin Mikhail Savitskiy Evgeniy Shostak Pavel Lobatsevich Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
withnail316 Posted March 26, 2014 Share Posted March 26, 2014 That's an excellent batch of youngsters.... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moonshine Posted March 26, 2014 Author Share Posted March 26, 2014 FC Vitebsk Belarussian First League 2020 November A 3-2 loss from 2-1 up meant we went into the last game of the season knowing a point would get us into the playoff – as opposed to fighting for the automatic promotion spot. Patsko was superb, but we were defensively poor. We went in missing some key players in first choice DC Denis Nikitin and first choice MC Stanislav Pilyutik on international duty, and despite Lida pulling off an upset to win 2-0 away at Beryoza, and despite 17 shots on goal, a 0-0 draw is enough to see us through to the playoffs! \o/ The Playoffs I couldn't have written it better. Fan favourite Maxym Lisovyi in his last ever game with two goals and an assist to take us up. They'll be dancing in the streets of Vitebsk tonight. Playoff draw also broke my highest attendance and highest gate receipts with a sellout 8,350 crow. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason the Yank Posted March 26, 2014 Share Posted March 26, 2014 For some reason I’m yet to fathom, Beryoza can’t get promoted, which means third is the new second, and second is the new first (\o/) Apparently they're basically a reserve side for Dinamo Minsk. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FC_Bereza-2010#Current_status Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moonshine Posted March 26, 2014 Author Share Posted March 26, 2014 Indeed, and yet they were promoted in 2011.... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moonshine Posted March 27, 2014 Author Share Posted March 27, 2014 FC Vitebsk First League 2020 End of Season First League A very good season in the end, despite stumbling blocks, culminating in a 6-4 aggregate win in the promotion playoffs. We were lucky to be competing with an excellent – an un-promotable – Beryoza. Belarussian Cup A trip to the quarter finals in the early part of the season was thwarted by Highest League Champions Dinamo Minsk, before I exited in the second round for this season’s competition on penalties Finances A new sponsorship deal of £900k per year has massively boosted the finances. We are £2m in the black, with a £15k wage budget and £600k for transfers. Squad Squad players whose contracts are expiring will go, but despite the massive financial boost of getting promoted I’m looking to keep the squad as close to the promotion-winners as possible. It’s a young squad, and another year should do us well. I’m looking to sign the Highest League’s top scorer to lead my line, as well as a couple more midfielders and a first choice DC. If we go down again, I don’t want the team ruined. Top Rating: Ignat Dostanko, 7.03 Top Goalscorer: Robert Loban, 12 in 31 league games. Fans Player of the Season: My Player of the Season: Also Robert Loban. His goal-scoring was magnificent, and he dominated the midfield. Honourable mention to Ignat Dostanko who made the number 1 spot his own despite stiff competition and had 8 clean sheets in just 24 games. My Young Player of the Season: 9 Goals in 24 is a good return in itself for a striker – made even better when you consider that 14 of those appearances were from the bench. He’s been the subject of even more bids over the winter, up to £400k so it’ll be a struggle to keep him. Seasons Honours: Highest League : Champions: Dinamo Minsk Champions League: Minsk Relegated: Belshina and Smorgon Championship: Champions: Beryoza Promoted: Khimik Svletlogorsk and Vitebsk Relegated: Osipovichi and Livadia Dzerzhinsk Belarussian Cup: Winners Torpedo Zhodino Runners Up: BATE Belarussian Super Cup: Winners: BATE Runners Up: Gomel Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moonshine Posted March 27, 2014 Author Share Posted March 27, 2014 European League Winners Belgium: Genk (x6) England: Man Utd (x8) France: PSG (x3) Germany: Leverkusen Greece: Olympiakos (x4) Hungary: Ujpest (x2) Italy: Inter Milan (x4) Netherlands: Ajax Portugal: Porto (x5) Romania: Steaua Buchaest (2) Russia: CSKA Moscow Scotland: Celtic (x9) Spain: Real Madrid (x6) Sweden: AIK Stockholm Switzerland: Basel (x5) Turkey: Fenerbahce Ukraine: Dynamo Kiev (x2) Champions League: Atletico Madrid 1-0 Manchester United Hosts: Old Trafford, Manchester, England Europa League: Schalke 3p-3 Shakhtar Hosts: Friends Arena, Stockholm, Sweden European Super Cup: Winners: Southampton 3p-3 Bayern Munich Hosts: Ramon de Carranza, Cadiz, Spain Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moonshine Posted March 27, 2014 Author Share Posted March 27, 2014 Euro 2020- Hosts Turkey, Holders Italy Out in group stages: Czech Republic, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Switzerland, Greece, Montenegro, Russia, Poland, Scotland Second Round: Germany 3-0 Italy France 1-2 Ukraine Serbia 2-0 Belgium Spain 0-1 Croatia Romania 0-2 Austria England 2-0 Portugal Holland 1p-1 Denmark Ireland 3-2 Turkey Quarter Final: Germany 3-0 Ukraine Croatia 1-1p Serbia Austria 1-1p England Holland 1-0 Ireland Semi Final: Germany 1-0 Holland Serbia 1-2 England Final: Germany 3-0 England Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moonshine Posted March 29, 2014 Author Share Posted March 29, 2014 FC Vitebsk Belarussian Highest League 2021 Pre Season Expectations Highest League: Avoid Relegation Belarussian Cup: N/A Bookmakers: 100-1 Transfers Most of the players out were at the end of their contracts – away went Back DM/MCs Gadjiev & Litvinyuk, Backup DC Yurasov, an AMR who doesn’t fit my formation in Tishkevich, second choice GK Khatshevich and aging AMC Urupin. All the loans are young players, and Novik was my second-choice DL, and not quite up to Highest League standards. In came last season’s top-scorer in the First League. Sergey Lebedev scored 24 in 21 for Beryoza last season, and I was after him the whole time. Hopefully he can help solve my goal-scoring issues this season. With Pilyutik gone, and both Vitaliy Kibuk and Andrey Kukharenok the wrong side of 30, Merab Sakhvadze and Ilja Apshev were brought in to improve the midfield. Sakhvadze is a Georgian international, and in particular should make a difference. Arseniy Bondarenko is a top class centre back, and Alexandru Dumitrache was Novik’s replacement, and should prove a good attacking full back, while Andrey Yakimov is one for the future. Sergey Lebedev Arseniy Bondarenko Merab Sakhvadze Andrey Yakimov Ilja Ashpev Alexandru Dumitrache Squad Results Bizarre decision to play Dnepr Mogilev twice – their signings of Pilyutik and Dmitry Shabunya both had ‘arrange friendly’ clauses, so I guess it’s probably a bug that both friendlies were arranged this season. We played OK – as good as I expected – and it will no doubt be a struggle this season. We start at home to the reigning champions. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moonshine Posted March 30, 2014 Author Share Posted March 30, 2014 FC Vitebsk Belarussian Highest League 2021 March/April After a disastrous start at home to the reigning league champions, we pegged Torpedo Zhodino back to 2-2, before deservedly conceding twice more. I was disappointed against Gomel – the match was far more even than the score suggests, and Gomel ae one of the teams I feel can take points from. What I need, however, is to continue my form against the bottom two. All I need is to not finish last, and that means beating Shakhter Soligorsk and Khimik Svetlogorsk. A win and a draw are close seconds. We’re not looking for miracles, just survival. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moonshine Posted March 30, 2014 Author Share Posted March 30, 2014 FC Vitebsk Belarussian Highest League 2021 May Naftan was more of the same – a deserved 2-0 loss, before we entertained Bate. It took an 83rd minute winner for them to pull off victory, and I was proud of the result. Away at Brest we were fantastic. We need to keep performances like that up, and we didn’t as we were humiliated by Neman Grodno – a result given extra credit by 3 goals in the last 20 minutes. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moonshine Posted March 31, 2014 Author Share Posted March 31, 2014 FC Vitebsk Belarussian Highest League 2021 June Away at Minsk the 3-0 result really flatters them – we had 3 clear-cut chances to their none, and 5 half chances to their 2. Poor finishing, basically. It then took Mogilev until the 88th minute to equalise in an excellent point away to third. Goncharenko’s first ever goal for the club a thing of beauty – perfectly catching a volley from 30 yards. This was followed by an embarrassment at Dynamo Minsk, converting our only real chance. A 2-1 loss to Torpedo Zhodino was admirable as we experimented with a new formation – one that came to fruition as we led Gomel 3-0 before an inspired 8 minute hattrick pulled them level. Transfer News Facing a bit of an injury crisis I turned to someone I already know – following his sale, and subsequent loan back last season, I decided to resign Stanislav Pilyutik, for £600k up front, £150k over 18 months and £250k after 50 more appearances. Of course, I receive 35% of that back, meaning I only actually spent £125k on him – unless he doesn’t make 50 appearances, in which case I make money. He joins on July 1st. Good business. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moonshine Posted March 31, 2014 Author Share Posted March 31, 2014 FC Vitebsk Belarussian Highest League 2021 July Two great home results to start the month – a 1-1 draw with a resurgent Shakhter Soligorsk, with Apshev playing fantastically, before thrashing Khimik Svetlogorsk 4-2, with Apshev scoring 1 and creating 2. The only disappointment was that we couldn’t increase the lead. An undeserved 2-1 loss to Naftan served to show our lack of ability up front, while we played well against top-of-the-table BATE – goals in both matches scored by Robert Loban in the Trequartista role, and once more not my strike partnership. The month ended with right back Artur Kovalevsky snatching a draw from the jaws of defeat – a defeat that would have been incredibly unjust as we dominated the game but, again, failed to score. It’s looking less and less likely that we will finish bottom, as Khimik are awful. If it takes a playoff to keep us up, it’s something I’ll be happy with as our young squad is continually improving. Belarussian Cup Drawn away at Livadia Dzerzhinsk, I took the opportunity to play a second string and we dominated, deserving far more than our 3-1 scoreline reflected. A fortuitous draw away at Khimik in the next round. Transfer News Coming in we have a 17 year old centre back Vitaliy Pavlovets from Dinamo Minsk for £170k. With interest from everyone under the sun, including Bordeaux in France, we are paying him through the nose. However, he looks a bit special – already capped at under-21 level for Belarus, and predicted to be one of the best players in the Highest League by my scouts and coaches. A twisted ankle in his debut against fellow relegation candidate Khimik Svetlogorsk put him out of contention for 2 months, however. Outgoing is returning loanee Maxim Palienko, who I had forgotten about. He was **** on loan, he was **** for us, and no doubt he’ll be **** at Beryoza where he can see out his £975pw (that’s nearly a tenth of our entire budget!) contract with us. Also outgoing is Alexandr Shilo on loan to Highest League Zvezda. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moonshine Posted March 31, 2014 Author Share Posted March 31, 2014 FC Vitebsk Belarussian Highest League 2021 August Against Minsk we just could not score – again – having consistently outplayed them in the middle. A red card for Robert Loban, two penalties for Neman Grodno – our 5-0 defeat couldn’t have been any worse. However a point at home to Dnepr Mogilev was what we deserved, and our performance at last matched the result, with Lebedev especially playing well. We’ve been playing very well, just letting ourselves down in the final third. Plus, our full-backs are awful. Entering the split – the bottom 6 teams will face each other twice more to end the season – and we’ll need a miracle to not finish 11th. However, if we perform as I know we are capable, and perhaps if the strikeforce does something – i.e. if Lebedev keeps his form up – then we may have the slightest of chances. Khimik are going down, so I expect 6 points off them. Belarussian Cup Khimik really aren’t good. We dismantled them at their own patch, Lebedev with a goaland both assists in a 3-0 win. We play Neman Grodno next season in the Quarter Final Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moonshine Posted April 1, 2014 Author Share Posted April 1, 2014 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moonshine Posted April 1, 2014 Author Share Posted April 1, 2014 FC Vitebsk Belarussian Highest League 2021 September A loss away at Minsk and then a bore draw where I dominated at home to Naftan and, after a brief period of actually scoring, our goals seem to have dried up again. Against Brest again we couldn’t hit a barn door, and were completely destroyed. Their three could have and perhaps should have been more. Khimik won a game! I’m oddly proud of them, even though if they continue they may threaten me. They went 35 matches without winning in the Highest League, including 2018 when they got relegated last. Contract Talks Interestingly things may be at an end soon for me at Vitebsk. My contract runs out at the end of the year and, despite promotion, the board are refusing a pay rise and demanding I accept a % reduction if I get relegated. I can cope with the latter – I’m not taking less money. I’ve a (fictional) family to think of! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moonshine Posted April 2, 2014 Author Share Posted April 2, 2014 FC Vitebsk Belarussian Highest League 2021 October Disappointing draw with Gomel where we led until the 92nd minute – but at least we scored! Against Khimik we left it late, but a great shot on the turn from Sakhvadze limits them to just the one win this season, before we went 4-1 down to Minsk, including two penalties, change tactics and allowed Kirsanov to pull us back to 4-3. Expect some odd result in the next few games as I test this new tactic. Which immediately fails miserably as Naftan put four past us, with a hattrick for their lone striker who destroyed my offside trap. We tried hard to get relegated, but we are now in the relegation playoffs for certain. Only three wins out of three can save Khimik. Youth Candidates: Meh year really, though Matveenko looks pretty tasty as a support striker. Anton Matveenko Igor Sulim Sergey Fomin Vladimir Melnikov Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moonshine Posted April 2, 2014 Author Share Posted April 2, 2014 FC Vitebsk Belarussian Highest League 2021 November A 1-0 loss to Dinamo Brest was unfortunate, but we consigned Khimik to relegation with a thumping 3-0 win. Two from a resurgent Platonov and one from substitute Apshev completed the rout. Any chance of taking some momentum into the playoff petered out with a disappointing 1-0 loss to end the season. A decent first season. We were poor, points-wise, yes – in fact the lowest total to not be automatically relegated, ever – but we have a young squad, and, provided we survive the playoff, should sit higher next season. Survival was key. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moonshine Posted April 2, 2014 Author Share Posted April 2, 2014 FC Vitebsk Belarussian Highest League 2021 December The Playoffs All too easy destruction of Smorgon, which suggests I’m in the right league now – particularly as Smorgon got to the playoffs on 62 points, 12 more than the total I got into the playoffs on last season. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted April 2, 2014 Share Posted April 2, 2014 Tough season but good to see you survive the playoff so comfortably. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moonshine Posted April 4, 2014 Author Share Posted April 4, 2014 FC Vitebsk Highest League 2021 End of Season Highest League Decent. We survived, which is all we could have hoped for. Now we’ve got to take a squad, whose first 11’s average age is just 21, further. Belarussian Cup We’re in the quarter finals next season, where I expect to lose. Finances We blew most of our sponsorship on transfers this season, though a big chunk of money – nearly £500k – went on scouting. I’ve cut back a little, mainly focussing on Eastern European countries, with the hope of signing some talented youngsters for not a lot this season. Another £1m sponsorship deal for this year has done wonders for the bank balance. Squad A whole bunch of players will be moving on, particularly at full-back and up-front, where striking remains an issue. My two aging AMCs will be moving on –Kukharenok is retiring, Kibuk hasn’t played all season. I have a large amount of midfielders, so it should be fine. Of my four full backs, I doubt I will keep any – Dumitrache is costing a fortune at £1.1kp/w, and the others are ****. Up front will see the departure of Nikita Patsko (1 goal in 22) and potentially Ivan Kirsanov (3 in 3(14)), with a 2nd/3rd choice being looked for. In, we want top drawer full backs, potentially a first-choice DM and a goal-scoring striker. Fans Player of the Season: My Player of the Season: Ilja Apshev as well. The young Russian played superbly, pushing fan-favourite and captain Robert Loban to the bench with some stellar performances in the Trequartista role. 3 goals and 3 assists in the playoffs againsty Smorgon didn’t exactly hinder his cause. My Young Player of the Season: While Apshev is a young player, he shouldn’t be greedy. Alexandr Platonov takes this again, with his 4 goals in the playoffs bringing him to 9 for the season, in 21 games. A couple of injuries and a spell where I preferred Nikita Patsko ahead of him shortened his time on the field, but when he played, he played well. His form was rewarded with 3 u-21 caps as well. Seasons Honours: Highest League : Champions: BATE Borisov Champions League: Dinamo Minsk Relegated: Khimik Svetlogorsk Championship: Champions: Relegated: Vedrich Rechitsa and Neman Mosty Belarussian Cup: Shakhter Soligorsk 0-1 BATE Borisov Belarussian Super Cup: Winners: Torpedo Zhodino 1-2 Dinamo Minsk Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moonshine Posted April 4, 2014 Author Share Posted April 4, 2014 European League Winners: Belgium: Genk (x7) England: Arsenal France: AS Monaco Germany: Leverkusen (x2) Greece: PAOK Hungary: Ujpest (x3) Italy: Inter Milan (x5) Netherlands: PSV Portugal: Sporting Romania: FC Vaslui Russia: Lokomotiv Moscow Scotland: Celtic (x10) Spain: Real Madrid (x7) Sweden: IFK Gotenberg (x3) Switzerland: Basel (x6) Turkey: Fenerbahce (x2) Ukraine: Metalist Champions League: Man City 1-3 Manchester United Hosts: Olimpico, Rome, Italy Europa League: Reading 0-2 AC Milan Hosts: Ernst Happel Stadion, Wien, Austria European Super Cup: Winners: Atletico Madrid 0-2 Schalke Hosts: Stade Maurice Dufrasne (Sclessin), Liege, Belgium Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moonshine Posted April 4, 2014 Author Share Posted April 4, 2014 FC Vitebsk Belarussian Highest League 2022 Pre Season Expectations Highest League: Avoid Relegation Belarussian Cup: Third Round Bookmakers: 80-1 Transfers Players out of contract left, and Alexandru Dumitache was released from his £1.1k p/w contract following a terrible first season. Roman Klimenko was the victim of two young 4.5-5* potential goalkeepers. He was older and less current ability stars, so a good bid came in and out he went. In came a first choice striker Igor Volkov for £14k from recently relegated Khimik, where he scored 9 in 13 as they went down. Dominic Oduro and Mauro Riquicho are going to be first choice DR and DL respectively. Finally, Vladislav Sadovskiy comes in as a backup MC, and some much needed experience, again from Khimik. Oh, and I climbed down and resign Alexey Kuchyuk, after realising I had a distinct lack of decent full backs. He’ll do a job, I suppose. DominicOduro Igor Volkov Mauro Riquicho Vladislav Sadovskiy Alexey Kuchyuk Squad Friendly Results Good wins all the way through. The 6-1 away at Gorodeya was great, how we want to play this season. Belarussian Cup: A good loss to be honest – Neman Grodno are a good team, and we played well, losing only in the 75th minute. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moonshine Posted April 5, 2014 Author Share Posted April 5, 2014 FC Vitebsk Belarussian Highest League 2022 March/April A great first month or so, to be honest. Opening at home to newly promoted Belshina was good, with Platonov on song, before a draw at Dinamo Brest was deserved. Against Minsk we deserved far more, going one up before Minsk pulled 2 back. With both Platonov (2 months, broken toe) and Lebedev (Pulled Hamstring then thigh strain, 6 weeks) out, we were excellent against Shakhter Soligorsk, youngster Yakimov setting up Igor Volkov for our only goal. Alexey Kuchyuk was then sent off, and we played with our backs to the wall for 43 minutes and a fantastic victory. Finally away at Neman Grodno, Arseniy Yakimov has the game of hislife – he wouldn’t even be on the bench if Ledenev and Platonov were fit – smashing two in and setting up a third as we hammer Neman away. After 5 games we have nearly half the points we had over 32 last season. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted April 6, 2014 Share Posted April 6, 2014 Looking very promising so far this year How far up do you think you can finish? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moonshine Posted April 6, 2014 Author Share Posted April 6, 2014 FC Vitebsk Belarussian Highest League 2022 May Three draws in a row – and three games we perhaps could have won. Naftan was a dull game, enlivened only by goals from them in the 74th minute and Ledenev in the 79th. We led Torpedo Zhodino 2-1 until the 93rd minute, when they equalized and then did the same against Gomel, before a second yellow card for Dzimitry Goncharenko in the 83rd minute, and a Gomel equalizer in the 85th. In the final game of the month we were in inspired form defensively to keep Dnepr Mogilev to 1 goal. They had 23 shots on goal and their only clear-cut chance was the penalty from which they scored, whilst we converted both our clear-cut chances to win 2-1. Fantastic. Unbeaten in six, this is a world of difference from last season. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moonshine Posted April 6, 2014 Author Share Posted April 6, 2014 Looking very promising so far this year How far up do you think you can finish? We've drawn (in the last minute) away at Zhodino and beaten Dinamo Mogilev away, and have Dinamo Minsk at home and BATE away in our next two matches... so I think I have to be looking at the top six before the split at this rate. I'm impressed with my team Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moonshine Posted April 7, 2014 Author Share Posted April 7, 2014 FC Vitebsk Belarussian Highest League 2022 June A draw at home to Dinamo Minsk was excellent – we played superbly and deserved the result. However, the match that followed was truly special. Away at champions BATE, we harried and hustled and played superlatively, with Loban scoring twice and Volkov once to win 3-0. The 2-0loss – our first in 8 – against Belshina was, therefore, disappointing. What the result doesn’t say is that we conced in the 89th and 92nd minute of what was otherwise a decent game. We went 2-0 down to Dinamo Brest before transfer-listed right back Alexander Kuchyuk score his first ever goal for the club before Ilja Apshev equalised. A deserved, if poor, loss to Minsk followed to end the month. We now have the same points we finished last season with. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moonshine Posted April 8, 2014 Author Share Posted April 8, 2014 FC Vitebsk Belarussian Highest League 2022 July A 2-2 draw to start was good before we defeated fierce rivals Naftan 3-2 away. Going behind twice we pulled back successfully both times before Baba Asare score on his debut to give us the win. Asare scored again against Shakhter Soligorsk, to no avail as we conceded twice in the last ten mintues to lose 3-1. A 2-1 loss Torpedo Zhodino was a poor display by all accounts, before beating Gomel 1-0 when it should have been more, Igor Volkov the goalscorer. Belarussian Cup We paid the price for playing a second string squad with an awful loss Transfer News Sergey Lebedev will be leaving on a free at the end of the season. He chose to sign for Dinamo Brest over myself, basically because I forgot to offer him a new contract earlier. In reaction to this I’ve signed a new striker. Baba Asare comes on a free with a good scoring record in Romania. This also means that a bunch of players, including young striker Andrey Yakimov, have moved out on loan. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moonshine Posted April 10, 2014 Author Share Posted April 10, 2014 FC Vitebsk Belarussian Highest League 2022 August Two good results to start the month against first and second. The BATE result looks great – until you realise we went 3-0 up… A loss to Dinamo Minsk was fine, as we were already in the Championship group at the split. Made the Championship group \o/ - 6th is the lowest we can now finish. Transfer News A player we sign in pre-season, Sultan Korotaev, joined. The 18 y/o should be a good back-up full back, and we’ll look for him to improve over time. My scouts in Portugal also found this gem of a player – Fabio Freixo looks absolutely brilliant and a complete steal at £1k. While he won’t be joining until he’s 18, he looks astonishing. (Bear in mind I’m Portuguese in game, which may well have helped.) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moonshine Posted April 10, 2014 Author Share Posted April 10, 2014 FC Vitebsk Belarussian Highest League 2022 September An early loss to Torpedo Zhodino was helped on its way by a red-card for Sultan Korotaev. They caused me all sorts of problems down their right, with two of their goals coming from crosses (the other two from corners) as well as the red card. Platonov played well, however, scoring twice. Loban then scored a penalty and a special, special goal to beat a Dnepr Mogilev team that came from behind twice. Against Dinamo Minsk? The less said the better, I think… Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moonshine Posted April 10, 2014 Author Share Posted April 10, 2014 In amongst all that I got distracted by some jobs. I can't see Vitebsk making it amongst the riches of BATE or Dinamo Minsk (who are currently rebuilding their stadium - while they dod so, they are playing in the national stadium and attracting crowds of 33,000. As a reference, I attract an average of just 5,000). Their popularity combined with the money from Europe will sit them pretty for a long long while. So I applied for the Gefle job, in Sweden. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moonshine Posted April 11, 2014 Author Share Posted April 11, 2014 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moonshine Posted April 11, 2014 Author Share Posted April 11, 2014 FC Vitebsk Belarussian Highest League 2022 October Hmm. The 4-0 loss to BATE makes it 16 goals conceded in my last four games – more than half what I had conceded in the 22 games before that. A reshuffle at the back needed methinks. Then losses at Shakther Soligorsk and at home to Torpedo Zhodino made everything worse. Apparently I’m unwilling to experiment. It’s odd – I know the patch hasn’t touched the ME, but it feels like it has. Final match of the month was at Dnepr Mogilev – we managed to peg them at 2-2, but 3 goals in 4 minutes meant they won 5-2. I’m dropping my keeper! Youth Prospects Decent lot this season, Klimovich will go straight into the first team as backup. Alexandr Klimovich Oleg Rogovik Artem Ignatovich Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted April 12, 2014 Share Posted April 12, 2014 Painful month Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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