[FM10] From Clairfontaine with love...

[wesleysonck]

DECEMBER 2012

ZARAGOZA 1-3 LEVANTE La Liga Att. 28484

Zaragoza Scorer: Lafita (90+2)

Levante Scorers: Gorka Larrea (3, 88) Xisco (11)

The press before this game said I faced an ‘impossible’ task to beat Zaragoza, which I thought was disrespectful of my players. The lads obviously agreed as they came out of the blocks with vim, firing us into a two goal lead. The first was particularly beautiful, with my team passing the ball in wonderful triangles before teeing up Larrea to fire in from the edge of the area. Larrea wrapped the game up in the 88th minute, and despite a late consolation for the home side we notched up a well deserved win. We dominated completely, never once looked like conceding, let alone losing, and this bodes well for the future.

VALLADOLID 3-0 LEVANTE La Liga Att. 22587

Valladolid Scorers: Hector Font (16) Rubio (57) Diego Costa (90+4)

After a good win in our last game I went into this one with confidence, optimistic about our chances of beating a team below us in the league. I was unfortunately left red in the (type)face when Font put the home side into the lead after a quarter of an hour. Rubio netted their second shortly before the hour and it looked like we would be defeated. Costa scored deep into stoppage time to give Valladolid a 3-0 win and render our win in the last match irrelevant. This isn’t strictly true - I will never turn my nose up at three points - but it does seem like we take one step back for every one we take forwards.

LEVANTE 1-0 MALAGA La Liga Att. 17689

Levante Scorer: Miguel Perez (83)

Well after last weeks step backwards we took another forwards, although it was a long time coming. Malaga are one of the few teams below us in the league, having amassed a pitiful six points so far. For this reason I considered defeat to be a disaster. We had fifteen before the match, and a victory would see us open a large gap over potential relegation rivals. For the longest while it looked to be heading for a nil-nil draw. My team really is dour - solid defensively on the whole, but lacking any kind of flair. Unfortunately I’m too scared to try and remedy this, as it looks like we should be able to avoid relegation playing a stultifying style of football. Pragmatism rules in this instance I feel…

LEVANTE 0-4 AT. MADRID La Liga Att. 21799

Atletico Scorer: Sanchez (30, 76) Cabrera (81) Reyes (88)

To finish the first half of the season we had a tough home tie against league leaders Atletico. I hoped we could go into Christmas on a high, but I wasn’t confident. We did alright, nothing exciting of course, but when we fell behind it was to a wonderful goal by Alexis Sanchez, a £30m signing from Udinese the previous year. Our difficult task was made almost impossible five minutes into the second half when Anthony Vanden Borre was sent off. The Belgian is struggling to settle in Valencia and despite his talent and the month’s leave I allowed him he still seems to be struggling. I’ll attempt to remedy the situation over January, but I doubt he has a long term future with us, which is a shame as he certainly has ability.

Sanchez netted his second after good work from Forlan, and Cabrera made the scoreline embarrassing with a header from a corner. Reyes; free kick late on rounded of a miserable day for us.

DECEMBER REVIEW

Any month which sees us win fifty percent of our matches is a good month, although two thrashings which saw us ship seven goals in two games. We certainly saw the best and worst of Levante during this month, but with new players arriving for the second half of the season the side which takes the field for our game against Hercules on the fifth of January should be stronger than the one which capitulated so easily in our final match of this month. Best player of the period was our Basque midfielder Gorka Larrea, who notched two goals in the game against Zaragoza.

JANUARY SIGNINGS

IN

Nicklas PEDERSEN - £750k - Groningen

Twenty five year old Danish striker joins from Dutch side Groningen to bolster our weak front line. A good all-round attacker, Nicklas started his career in his native land with Herfolge before moving to Nordsjaelland. With forty-five career league goals I hope he will up his strike rate, but with an under-performing Xisco ahead of him I hope he will be able to impress.

Sergey SOKOLOV - £1.5m - Dnipro

Twenty one year old Ukrainian midfielder. Not necessarily a position I was looking to improve as I already feel my midfield is excellent but Sergey has a talent I couldn’t ignore. He burst straight into the Dnipro first team as an eighteen year old and has already earned seven caps for the Ukrainian national side.

Laurent CIMAN - £65k - Almeria

Twenty Seven year old Belgian defender. Purely purchased to hopefully provide companionship for an unhappy Anthony Vanden Borre. Will it work? Probably not, but it’s worth a try.

[paperclips]

A good read again. Nice to see that you have got a new attacker into the team, lets hope he score's some goals.

[Suggy33]

That was a very good read, will be keeping up to date with further updates. Shame that you left Hansa. Looks like you're having a torrid time at Levante, look forward to see where you end up next, my bet is Ajaccio (random, I know). Good luck!

[wesleysonck]

Thanks for the kind words paperclips and Suggy33. Update is painfully slow as I've just become a Dad and found my FM time severely restricted! I hope Pedersen can get some goals too, and I don't think I'm having a torrid time with Levante, should we avoid relegation it will be a major achievement for such a small team. Where will I go next? Ajaccio would be nice, it was my aim at the start of this career to get into club management in France.

JANUARY 2013

HERCULES 1-3 LEVANTE La Liga Att. 21444

Hercules Scorer: Beasley (54)

Levante Scorer: Larrea (35) Xisco (81) Pedersen (90+4)

Both my sensible signings started the game (no disrespect to Ciman of course, he’s a *****y player and I can’t wait to see him dribble, but it’s Pedersen and Sokolov that should improve my side) and neither of them had anything to do with the opening goal, which was a long range pile driver from Gorka Larrea. Amercan DaMarcus Beasley headed an equaliser for Hercules ten minutes into the second half, but the much maligned (by me) Xisco netted with only ten minutes to go, but Gorka Larrea’s dismissal threatened to spoil our day. The sun came out however and shone down on us, with Pedersen scoring a debut goal to ensure we would be victors. An important win away to relegation rivals, and confidence grows at Valencia’s second side.

LEVANTE 0-1 TENERIFE Spanish Cup Fifth Round First Leg Att. 12834

Tenerife Scorer: Martinez (45+1)

What a tedious game. Levante really are a team lacking any form of flair or excitement. I wonder whether my job should really be focused purely on avoiding relegation, or whether I should attempt to give the people who pay their hard earned Euros to watch us a show. My lack of width is a problem I am aware of. None of my wide players are custom made for the role, and my dearth of half-decent central midfielders mean my hand is somewhat forced. I have looked in the transfer market for width, but there was nothing good enough for the right price. Defeat in a cup is never nice, defeat in such a torpid manner even more so, but the worst thing is knowing that next week I’ll have to watch this dross all over again.

LEVANTE 0-3 BARCELONA La Liga Att. 22028

Barcelona Scorer: Milito (20) Messi (24) Ibrahimovic (51)

Sick of boring rubbish football I revamped my formation, urging my players to express themselves, and setting them up in a 4-3-3 formation which would hopefully make the most of my attacking players. The wisdom of attempting this semi-revolution against opposition of Barcelona’s quality was debateable, but I couldn’t sit through another 90 minutes like my last game. It seemed to work as well, as the gulf in class wasn’t as apparent as I feared it would be. Barca took the lead through a corner, and Messi doubled it shortly after. I had a sinking feeling in my stomach, but there was no going back now. Ibrahimovic increased Barcelona’s lead early in the second half but there were no more goals, and I didn’t blame my formation change as I’d been thrashed by lesser teams than this in the past.

TENERIFE 2-1 LEVANTE Spanish Cup Fifth Round Second Leg Att. 19033

Tenerife Scorers: Azoye (41) Kome (84)

Levante Scorer: Xisco Nadal (88)

This would be a good test of whether my attempt at a more adventurous formation was folly or genius, as in the two games between us and the islanders so far this season there had only been one goal. We looked more interesting in attack, with the two inside forwards cutting in and looking dangerous, but it was Tenerife who opened the scoring, firing into the roof of the net from the edge of the area. I got the goals I wanted late on, but unfortunately it was Tenerife who doubled their lead, and Xisco Nadal’s consolation with two minutes to play was no good at all, we were out of the cup.

SEVILLA 2-0 LEVANTE La Liga Att. 36705

Sevilla Scorer: Ciman o.g. (11) Luis Fabiano (75)

This was always going to be tough, so after two defeats I wound back on my efforts to play expansive, exciting football - it just wasn’t going to happen with these players. I persevered with my two Xisco’s out wide, and new signing Pedersen as the point of my attack, but made the general outlook of my players a little more conservative. It did little good as my January signing Ciman - who had failed to bond with Vanden Borre and help him settle - scored an own goal ten minutes in. We seemed to settle after that, although we were quite clearly toothless. Luis Fabiano secured Sevilla’s winner with a quarter of an hour to go.

LEVANTE 1-1 MALLORCA La Liga Att. 16630

Levante Scorer: Ibarra (18)

Mallorca Scorer: Alvarez (45+1)

A tight and edgy game, as you would expect from a team level pegging with us in the league. We took the lead in the eighteenth minute after a powerful driving run from midfield by Vicente Iborra, but Mallorca levelled things up in first half stoppage time with a lethal 35 yard strike. It was a goal worthy of winning a match to be honest, but here it only secured a draw.

JANUARY REVIEW

I’m not much of a table watcher. I try and win every game, or at least lose as few as possible, and have a look towards the end of the season to see where I lie. This season is a little different however. It is a pure relegation dogfight for Levante, and staying in the top flight would be a massive achievement for a team who have only spent a total of four years here in their history. Malaga are bottom with six points, surely already relegated. Osasuna are 19th with thirteen points, and Hercules occupy the final relegation spot with sixteen points. In 17th and 16th are Mallorca and ourselves respectively, both on twenty one points. This means - in my opinion - that barring a major collapse on our part and a massive improvement in the form of one of the sides below us we should be safe. Bumbling along picking up four points a month is now my aim, and one that should be attainable.

[paperclips]

Congratulations on being a dad.

You have had some tough teams in La Liga this month but you got the points in the games that you could of.

Lets hope some more of your team start scoring.

[wesleysonck]

FEBRUARY 2013

Parenthood has taken its toll, and I am no longer able to devote as much time to football management as I would like. So it is with a heavy heart I tender my resignation as Levante manager. I will now fully focus on international management, and the summer holds the European Under-21 Championships, where my Holland side have been drawn in Group A with Poland, Ireland and Denmark. I was soon linked with a Deportivo side languishing in the Spanish second tier, but I wasn’t interested. The sporadic nature of international management is all I can fit in to my hectic schedule now.

First up was a friendly match against a Bulgaria side featuring Schalke’s much vaunted fifteen year old prodigy Biser Kunchev. My squad looked rather unfamiliar when compared to my previous Dutch Under 21 sides, as the cut-off point for eligibility was now players born after the first of January 1992.

12/02/13 Amsterdam ArenA, Amsterdam. U21 Friendly

Holland U21s 3-1 Bulgaria U21s Attendance 13551

Holland U21 Scorers: Cherkaoui (19) Elzinga (21) Sweres (60)

Bulgaria U21 Scorer: Todorov (48)

Holland U21 lineup

01 Nicky THOMASSEN (Newcastle)

02 Wilbert DE GEUS (Anderlecht)

03 Remco DE RIJK (Ajax)

04 Jan DE LANGE (Rostock)

05 Kelvin SCHREUDER (sub 64) (Ajax)

06 Nicky VAN DIJK (sub 45) (Feyenoord)

07 Abdeslam CHERKAOUI (sub 64) (De Grafschap)

08 Ozcan ER (Tottenham)

09 Bennie ZONNEVELD (PSV)

10 Jorn SWERES (off 76) (Schalke)

11 Wesley ELZINGA (sub 64) (AZ)

15 Gerrit ADEMA (on 64) (Cardiff)

17 Danny KONIG (on 76) (Anderlecht)

18 Jan ZEVENBERGEN (on 45) (Vitesse)

20 Bart Jaliens (on 64) (Bordeaux)

23 Guus HUPPERTS (on 64) (Caen)

A slow, patient build-up saw us take the lead in the nineteenth minute through an Abdeslam Cherkaoui free-kick from thirty yards out. Two minutes later Wesley Elzinga seized on a defensive error from Stoyne Manolkov to put us two ahead. We were well in control. An injury shortly before half time saw Nicky van Dijk hobble off, to be replaced by Vitesse’s sturdy midfielder Jan Zevenbergen. Shortly after half time Ivan Todorov headed home from a corner to make a game of it once again, but Jorn Sweres scored on the hour to restore our two-goal advantage. This prompted me to begin an Eriksson-esque spell of mass substitutions. As usual, this effectively ruined the game, and the match petered out.

My rivals in the group stages of this summers tournament were also in action, with Poland beating Georgia 3-2 despite playing with ten men for three quarters of the match. Sascha Engel of Wuppertal was particularly impressive for the Poles and Denmark beat Iceland 3-0 after a virtuoso performance from AaB Odense’s Khalid Majeed. My squad will now return to their clubs until we meet up again in a months time for a friendly in Romania.

[paperclips]

Only 2 months for an update ... Hope you do well in the European Under-21 Championships. I think you could win this or be in the top 3 at least.

[wesleysonck]

Indeed it has been a very long time paperclips, this parenting lark is hard work! Got the little fella into a sleeping routine now, so I'm able to play FM whilst the missus watches her soaps!

MARCH 2013

John van den Brom was sacked as the Vitesse manager, and their chairman, the magnificently named Alberto Peroglio Longhin came knocking on my door. It was an appealing offer, but having only just left Levante due to family commitments I knew I wouldn’t have the time or the energy to resume full time club management. It was with a heavy heart that I turned them down.

With Cardiff’s Gerrit Adema and De Grafschap’s Abdeslam Cherkaoui out with injuries it would give some new faces a chance to impress before this summers tournament. One member of my squad performing particularly well at club level was Ronald Vorm. The FC Emmen centre-back was a mainstay at the back for the minnows seeking to secure their top-flight status.

26/03/13 Cotroceni, Bucharest. U21 Friendly

Romania U21s 1-2 Holland U21s Attendance 1194

Romania U21 Scorer: Stupar (66)

Holland U21 Scorers: Elzinga (8, 35)

Holland U21 lineup

01 Maurits SCHMITZ (Lens)

02 Danny KONING (Anderlecht)

03 Remco DE RIJK (Ajax)

04 Ronald VORM (sub 45) (Emmen)

05 Jan DE LANGE (Rostock)

06 Wilco BALKESTEIN (Cambuur)

07 Ozcan ER (Tottenham)

08 Bart JALIENS (Bordeaux)

09 Zakaria LABYAD (FC Eindhoven)

10 Tim VAN DER LINDEN (AZ)

11 Wesley ELZINGA (sub 64) (AZ)

15 Kelvin SCHREUDER (on 64) (Cardiff)

Comfortable victory, tedious game. A pair of Elzinga goals gave us the win, and the Romanian goal in the second half came through a comical mix-up between my keeper and substitute Kelvin Schreuder. What was truly bothering me, however, was the lack of first team action the cream of the Dutch youth were enjoying. With a paucity of goalkeeping talent, it is even more worrying that Maurits Schmitz - the best of a bad bunch - has not made a single solitary appearance for his club Lens at any level this season. Ozcan Er, by far the best player I have available has made only one reserve appearance and one first team appearance for Tottenham this season, and he’s twenty years old. If they aren’t going to play him why not send him out on loan? Star striker Wesley Elzinga has been banging them in for the Feyenoord Under 19s, but that is about it. Unless they start making the breakthrough and getting regular first team football this group of young players could well find their careers stagnating before they have even begun.

[wesleysonck]

SUMMER 2013

The winners of this seasons major European competitions.

CHAMPIONS LEAGUE : BARCELONA

EUROPA LEAGUE : LILLE

ENGLAND

League MANCHESTER CITY

Cup ARSENAL

Top Scorer Ismael BANGOURA (Chelsea)

SPAIN

League REAL MADRID

Cup REAL MADRID

Top Scorer Alvaro NEGREDO (Sevilla)

ITALY

League JUVENTUS

Cup JUVENTUS

Top Scorer AMAURI (Juventus)

GERMANY

League WERDER BREMEN

Cup WERDER BREMEN

Top Scorer Domingo SANCHEZ (Bayern)

FRANCE

League LYON

Cup RENNES

Top Scorer Lu YANG (Lens)

HOLLAND

League TWENTE

Cup AJAX

Top Scorer Raul NAVA (VVV Venlo)

BELGIUM

League CLUB BRUGGE

Cup CLUB BRUGGE

Top Scorer Mamatou N’DIAYE (AA Gent)

What really jumps out here is the emergence of two new superstars. Perhaps most surprising is the emergence of Lu Yang at Lens. Having been snapped up by Shakhtar without ever having played a game for his hometown club Beijing, Yang hit the ground running in the Ukraine, netting twenty one times in a season and a half, before being snapped up by Lens for an impressive £8.5m. With 24 goals in 35 matches the young Chinese lad has impressed, and will certainly attract the attention of Europe’s big boys, with one eye on his raw talent and the other on the marketing possibilities in his native land.

From one of the more established footballing nations comes 19 year old Spaniard Domingo Sanchez. His first season as a pro saw him earn a move from Vallecano in Madrid to the English Premiership with Blackburn for £2.3 million. Twenty-one goals and one year later the ambitious young man was on the way to Bayern for £23 million. Picking up where he left off he fired home twenty-seven times for the Bavarians. Not yet capped by the Spanish national side, it is only a matter of time before this pacy striker is gracing the biggest of stages - the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.

Meanwhile, nine days before the start of this years European U21 Championship it’s time to start qualifying for the next one with a tie away to Slovakia. Also in our group are Andorra, Georgia and Switzerland, and this competitive tie will be a good warm up for the real business in Austria.

07/06/13 Stadion Antona Malatinskeho, Trnava U21 Championship Qualifier

Slovakia U21s 0-1 Holland U21s Attendance 1194

Holland U21 Scorer: Sweres (75)

Holland U21 lineup

01 Maurits SCHMITZ (Lens)

02 Wilbert DE GEUS (Anderlecht)

03 Remco DE RIJK (Ajax)

04 Jan DE LANGE (Leverkusen)

05 Ronald VORM (Emmen)

06 Danny KONING (Anderlecht)

07 Rein VAN DER KRAAN (sub 83) (AZ)

08 Ozcan ER (Tottenham)

09 Wilco BALKESTEIN (Cambuur)

10 Reinier REKER (sub 70) (Groningen)

11 Wesley ELZINGA (AZ)

14 Gerrit ADEMA (on 83) (Everton)

18 Jorn SWERES (on 70) (Schalke II)

It was close this one, with Jorn Sweres goal with only fourteen minutes left all that separated us from a draw to a much weaker side. I will accept a great deal of the responsibility, as my Englishness showed itself in my attachment to the 4-4-2 formation. I feel justified in this, as my wide attacking midfielders are not only weak, but never play first team football, whereas Wilbert De Geus and Danny Koning are both regulars on the right hand side for Belgian giants Anderlecht. It had a massive effect on my side however, and I shall certainly resort back to the more fashionable 4-2-3-1 for the U21 Euros next week,

[wesleysonck]

EUROPEAN UNDER 21 CHAMPIONSHIPS - AUSTRIA 2013

Squad selection for this tournament was much easier, as I could select players who were of the requisite age when qualification started, so I welcomed back old friends as well as new faces who have really improved since I guided the team through the last few qualifiers. Here is the squad:

01 Jeroen ZOET (Manchester City)

02 Wilbert DE GEUS (Anderlecht)

03 Ronald VORM (Emmen)

04 Jan DE LANGE (Leverkusen)

05 Danny KONING (Anderlecht)

06 Georginio WIJNALDUM (Genk)

07 Leroy FER (Feyenoord)

08 Rajiv VAN LA PARRA (Charleroi)

09 Geoffrey CASTILLION (Ajax)

10 Serhat KOC (Livorno)

11 Rangelo JANGA (Willem II)

12 Nacer BARAZITE (Hoffenheim)

13 Gerrit ADEMA (Everton)

14 Ozcan ER (Tottenham)

15 Charlton VICENTO (Nantes)

16 Patrick VAN AANHOLT (Chelsea)

17 Wesley ELZINGA (AZ)

18 Jan ZEVENBERGEN (Vitesse)

19 Maurits SCHMITZ (Lens)

20 Remco DE RIJK (Ajax)

21 Rene DE NIJS (Feyenoord)

22 Ricardo KIEBOOM (Atalanta)

The first game of the tournament took place in Salzburg, and saw our Group A rivals Denmark and Ireland draw 2-2. This gave us a chance to take immediate control of the group, and looking at my team I was very excited.

16/06/13 Tivoli-Neu, Innsbruck European U21 Championships Group A

Holland U21s 3-2 Poland U21s Attendance 2379

Holland U21 Scorers: Fer (8, 44, pen 51)

Poland U21 Scorer: Koziel (35 pen, 69 pen)

Holland U21 lineup

01 Jeroen ZOET (Manchester City)

02 Wilbert DE GEUS (Anderlecht)

16 Patrick VAN AANHOLT (Chelsea)

03 Ronald VORM (Emmen)

13 Gerrit ADEMA (Everton)

14 Ozcan ER sub (80) (Tottenham)

07 Leroy FER (Feyenoord)

12 Nacer BARAZITE (sub 90) (Hoffenheim)

15 Charlton VICENTO (Nantes)

06 Georginio WIJNALDUM (Genk)

09 Geoffrey CASTILLION (sub 64) (Ajax)

08 Rajiv VAN LA PARRA (on 90) (Charleroi)

17 Wesley ELZINGA (on 64) (AZ)

18 Jan ZEVENBERGEN (on 80) (Vitesse)

We got off to a great start when man-mountain midfielder Leroy Fer fired us into an eighth minute lead. We continued to dominate the first half, but were pegged back when Ozcan Er gave away a soft penalty and Bartlomiej Koziel equalised from the spot. Parity lasted only ten minutes as a fine strike from Fer restored our one goal advantage. Things got even better both for the team and for Fer personally when Barazite was brought down in the box and Fer scored from the spot to complete his hat-trick. The big lad was making a big impact. The third penalty of the match went to Poland, after a Vorm foul, and the Poles were once again only one goal behind. And so the game ended a little bit more nervously than I would have liked, but we got the three points we deserved, and I go into the next game with confidence.

[wesleysonck]

The first two games of Group B saw Germany lose 2-1 to the Ukraine and France beat hosts Austria 1-0 following a goal from my old friend Mohamed Bathily. I think playing the French (and beating them) in the final would be my dream, as I have many happy memories at my time with the French Under 19s. First though, I had to beat the Irish…

19/06/13 Tivoli-Neu, Innsbruck European U21 Championships Group A

Ireland U21s 1-2 Holland U21s Attendance 2389

Holland U21 Scorer: de Geus (2) Ranga (8)

Ireland U21 Scorer: McGinty (77)

Holland U21 lineup

01 Jeroen ZOET (Manchester City)

02 Wilbert DE GEUS (Anderlecht)

16 Patrick VAN AANHOLT (sub 75) (Chelsea)

04 Jan DE LANGE (Leverkusen)

13 Gerrit ADEMA (Everton)

14 Ozcan ER (sub 75) (Tottenham)

07 Leroy FER (Feyenoord)

12 Nacer BARAZITE (Hoffenheim)

15 Charlton VICENTO (Nantes)

06 Georginio WIJNALDUM (Genk)

11 Rangelo JANGA (sub 59) (Willem II)

09 Geoffrey CASTILLION (on 59) (Ajax)

18 Jan ZEVENBERGEN (on 75) (Vitesse)

20 Remco DE RIJK (on 75) (Ajax)

Two minutes into our second game and another penalty gives us the lead after Rangelo Janga is hauled down in the area. The fourth penalty we’ve seen in 92 minutes of football. Crazy, but I’m not complaining. Eight minutes in and we’re two nil up courtesy of a vicious strike from the edge of the area by Rangelo Janga. The delightfully monikered striker has sneaked into the squad after some excellent performances for his club side. The remainder of the game was something of an anti-climax, and McGinty’s late goal made things rather nervy. Despite all that, we had won both our first two matches and were set to progress to the semi-final. In the other game the Poles beat the Danes 2-1.

[paperclips]

3 good updates there. Good to see that you can play on it more now. Also your doing well in the U21-Championship.

[paperclips]

Not had an update in a while.