[FM10] Hoppin' around Europe

[Jord @S]

Cheers for those screenshots Unlucky with Algeria, the luck will be on your side soon on the International scene so just be patient. Great thread and KUTGW

[CoachFlu]

Febr. 20, 2022

Marseille update:

A very busy month and a half, with lots of coupe and cup games, but we got through it relatively splendidly.

We're still in both of the cups, never really in trouble in any of the matches so far - unless you count going a goal behind against Valenciennes.

The most significant cup match was the one against title rivals Lyon. Though the board don't seem to care about the Coupe de la Ligue, I decided to play our strongest squad, minus a few Cup of Nations lads. Partly because, at this stage in my career, any chance to win a trophy isn't something to throw away lightly, but also because I wanted to put a chink in their undefeated armor.

I suppose it semi-backfired in a way, as we were the ones who ended up losing the next league match, where we played a few reserves - though that was no excuse, we still should have won that match easily. The loss against mid-table Saint-Etienne ended our two club record streaks at 31 undefeated / 15 won in a row. Guess it had to happen some time.

But that was our only slip-up. Olympique Lyonnais still haven't lost a league match, but since they drew three of their last six matches, we're actually in the lead now. Just by a point, so the tight race continues. We face them in our own Stade Vélodrome in a few weeks; hopefully we can repeat our league cup performance, where we beat them relatively easily.

But there are other important encounters on the calendar. We face Atl. Madrid soon in the CL, PSG in the League Cup final at the end of March, and we're still in the French Cup as well.

Considering our form so far this season, I'd be disappointed if we didn't manage to win a trophy or two. Obviously I'm not counting on winning the Champions League, but I definitely want the French title and at least one of the cups.

I also lined up two players for next season already. A quality French goalie who'll join us on a Bosman, and:

As half-expected, he indicated that he wasn't interested in joining OM, but I offered him a "what the heck" contract anyway, and to my surprise he accepted.

No new international job yet. Only Mali became available after the Cup of Nations, and that didn't interest me at the moment. But I'll have plenty to do the next few months, so I don't mind waiting until after the World Cup.

[CoachFlu]

April 10, 2022

Marseille update:

Hmmm. Not quite the results I had hoped for.

Well, most of them are still ok, obviously. But there were a few key results which didn't go our way.

I'm not terribly bothered about going out in the Champions League Quarter Final, though I wish we hadn't made our task so difficult. After a very fine performance against Atletico Madrid (who fired their manager right after the second leg) I fancied our chances against Bayern. But we got two players sent off in the home leg, the first one early in the second half, when the score was 1-1 in a very even match. Considering we had to finish the last 25 minutes with 9 men, the score wasn't too bad, but of course it left us very little chance for the return leg - where, incidently, we had another man sent off, but that was late in the match, after the match was effectively played.

So, not the best way to end our European campaign, but I can't be unhappy with reaching the Quarter Finals - for a French team, that's not too bad.

A much bigger disappointment was the league match against Lyon, as we played quite poorly and fully deserved the loss. So instead of going four points clear, we went two points behind again.

And then there was the equally disappointing Coupe de la Ligue Final, a match we really deserved to win, but somehow we found ourselves 2-0 behind at half time, and luck wasn't on our side. Robert even managed to miss a penalty, for the first time this season - and I think he converted about 7 or 8, all competitions combined.

The Coupe de la Ligue was the least important of the trophies - the board doesn't care about it at all - but I was quite eager to win it. For one, because it has been almost six years since my last trophy (with Feirense). And also because, as things stand now, the League Cup was probably our best chance at silverware this year. We had beaten PSG twice already this year, so we really should have finished it off.

We're still in the French Cup as well, but we'll be facing Lyon again in the Semi Final. We're 1-1-1 against them this season, hopefully we can get charged up for one more big performance.

Well, no, hopefully we can get charged up for several more big performances, because we still want to win the title as well. We're only two points behind with seven matches to go, so we're still very much in it, but two points behind Lyon is proving to be a substantial gap. They still haven't lost a league match all season.

We do have the better goal difference, so all we need is for them to get a draw. I expect we may have to win seven out of seven to stand a chance at winning the title.

[rancer890]

Keep fighting CoachFlu, just win (easy to type, hard to do ), Lyon will falter eventually...hopefully

[DSYoungEsq]

Internationally, I recommend choosing a country that has low expectations, so that, when you manage to qualify for a major tournament, that's a bonus, but you won't face too many recriminations for failure. Someone like, oh, say, Scotland.

[CoachFlu]

Actually, I almost mentioned Scotland alongside Belgium and Portugal in my post about which international job I'd go for next.

They're doing quite well in my game - ranked 25th in the world, and the 2022 World Cup is the first one they didn't qualify for (lost in the Playoffs against Russia.)

More so, in the three World Cups they qualified for, they made it through the group stage each time. 2nd round in 2010 and 2014, Quarters in 2018.

They only qualified once for the Euro's, but they made it to the Semi Finals that time.

Also have a Scottish defender at Marseille, and he's one of our stars at the back, especially now. Danny Wilson just scored the last minute winning goal in our French Cup Semi Final against Lyon, setting us up for a Cup Final against Stade de Reims, currently just above the relegation zone.

So, yeah, I'd take on Scotland if given the chance. Don't think their manager will get the sack any time soon though.

[psychonaut]

Scotland job is always a good move - you're never expected to qualify for anything .

Good luck for the run in to the end of season with OM.

[CoachFlu]

Thanks.

May 23, 2022

Olympique de Marseille - Ligue 1 - end of season 2021/22

Last results:

Mid-season table

End of season table

Position graph

Well, we finished the season in style.

After we lost the Coupe de la Ligue final at the end of March, I must admit that I was slightly worried we would come up just a tiny bit short in all three French competitions and end up with nothing. But instead it's Olympic Lyonnais who remain without a trophy this year.

Perhaps it was the French Cup Semi Final where we delt them the decisive blow which caused them to crack at the end. We were 1-0 down at half time, but managed to go up and over them in the second half, after a match which was very even and would have deserved to go to extra time. But our Scottish central defender headed home the winner off an indirect free kick in the 89th minute, setting us up for a Cup final we could hardly lose.

The French Cup Final versus relegation battlers Stade de Reims was merely a formality, and a chance for our star striker Jean-Claude Robert to set a new French Cup topscorer record (12) - just one of many records he broke this season.

And then we went on to win the title as well. In the previous update I stated that we'd have to win our seven remaining matches to stand a chance of passing Lyon, so that's exactly what we did. It turned out we had a bit to spare as well, as Lyon eventually cracked under the pressure, losing their first and only league match of the season against midtable OGC Nice at the end of April, and then drawing two of their next three matches to give us the title with a game to spare.

They pushed us to the wire though, and it was undoubtedly one of the more memorable title battles in the history of the French Ligue 1. We broke the league records for most goals and most points. The previous points record was set by Marseille last season when they (without me) finished with 89 points, 7 points clear of 2nd and 12 points clear of 3rd. This year second placed Lyon finished with 91 points, also breaking the old record, which says it all. In recent history, 80-84 points was usually enough to win the league, while PSG won the title in 2012 with a mere 70 points.

So it's been a brilliant season, and Olympic Lyonnais made it far from a boring one.

It will be hard to top this next year. The League Cup will be a bit of a goal, as we failed to win that this season. The League Cup Final was one of our few slip-ups this year, as we failed to convert our dominant performance into goals and lost out to rivals Paris Saint-Germain, to the devastation of the fans.

And of course there's quite a bit of progress to be made in Europe as well. We cruised through the group stage, then solidly knocked out Atletico Madrid, but lost the plot a bit against Bayern with three red cards in both legs combined. That makes it the third time in five years that OM went out in the Quarters, the furthest they got (in recent history) was the Semi final in 2013. I guess that'll be next year's goal.

The squad.

A very solid bunch, with no real weak points in the squad, and driven forward by a few top notch players. Six of our lads made it into the Ligue 1 Best XI:

A notch or two above the rest, however:

Jean-Claude Robert - ST

Well, the numbers say it all, really. This is probably the best striker I've ever had at a club in FM (though to be fair, I don't manage at top level very often).

Granted, 11 of his 71 goals were from penalty kicks - only missing the one in the Coupe de la Ligue final... I'm still frustrated about that one, heheh. But still, he had very few poor matches, and very few matches in which he didn't score. Nine hattricks this year, and two occasions where he scored 5 goals in one match, including the Cup final.

He broke a whole bunch of records and won a long list of rewards this year. Ligue 1 Player of the Year, Ligue 1 topscorer, Champions League topscorer, World Footballer of the Year, and I can go on a bit. I can't think of any offer high enough for which I would sell Robert in the near future. Hopefully the board feel the same way.

Jonathan Cristaldo - ST

Our backup striker - a multiple award winner/record breaker from some years ago - obviously had a more limited role in the club's success, but still an important one, as he stepped up and produced the goods whenever Robert needed to take a short break from our busy schedule. A cliche but true: the quality on the bench can make or break a season.

Sinan Bolat - GK

I made only a few signings last summer, but this was the most important one. We started with veteran French ex-international Steve Mandanda in goal, but he conceded 3 goals from 4 shots on target in the first two matches, so out he went, in came Bolat, and we never looked back. Voted the Ligue 1 GK of the Season. Felt very comfortable with him in goal, and feel almost bad that I have a (better, my scouts say) replacement lined up for next season. I'll keep Bolat around though, in case the new guy doesn't work out.

Of course a goalie is only as good as his defense. I could list all four defenders here, but I'll stick to the two center backs:

Juarez is the other player which all the big teams are monitoring and regularly enquire about - sorry guys, not for sale - while experienced Scotsman Danny Wilson's attributes may not look quite as impressive, but he performed brilliantly. Mostly used as a DC, he was a bit of a last ditch tackle kinda guy, and occasionally chipped in with an important corner/free kick header as well.

José Antonio - AML

Our January signing for the left wing immediately produced the goods, as I hoped he would. 8 goals and 11 assists in half a season - looking forward to what he can produce next year.

Ivan - MRL

But Ivan on the right wing was our assist king this year - always a menace with his mad pace, just the way I like my wingers. Slightly disappointed with his direct free kick productivity - just two goals that way - but can't have it all.

Next season...

Finances - looking good, so there should be a bit of money to strengthen the squad for next season. But apart from the new goalie joining on a Bosman - an opportunity I couldn't pass up - and former Feirense youth product Victor Lameiras on his way as our new nr.2 striker, I don't think there'll be a lot of "key player" signings. Most of the transfer action will probably be on the squad depth level, as a few of our backups are getting old, and a few others are moaning about first team football.

I already brought in a few extra youngsters in January, some for free, some for a bit of cash - Patrick Fabre from Murcia was the most expensive one. I'll probably continue to look for talented youth to fill out the squad for next season, as that will give us a few more options for the Europe squad, and they generally don't start moaning as fast.

As mentioned, doing better than this year will be quite hard. But as long as we manage to succesfully defend our title, I'll be pleased - not too bothered about breaking records.

Personally, I'll favor the Coupe de la Ligue over the French Cup next year, though I'm sure the board will disagree. But since we missed out on that one this season, I'd really like to win it next year, to have won all the French trophies at least once. (Well, there's the Champions Trophy as well, but I'm not losing sleep over that. And we do have another shot at that one as well.)

I suppose that could be a long term goal for this career: to win every (top flight) trophy in every one of the ten nations I have loaded. I don't think I'll let that "drive" my career just yet though, but it might be something I'll start working towards when opportunities present itself. Since my manager reputation went up to World Class now - manager profile - I guess I'm pretty close to getting my pick of jobs when they become available.

So if we do manage to win the Coupe de le Ligue next season, there might be a good chance that I'll move on after that. I haven't fully decided yet though. But the odds that I'll move clubs this season already are pretty low. This was a fun and tight season, and I'm curious to see if Lyon can put up another good fight next year. I'm not ruling out a new job completely, but it would have to be an offer that gets me really interested.

With the reputation going up to World Class (which happened sooner than I expected, by the way, I haven't won all that much yet), I might try to go for one of the big European nations after the World Cup and gear up for Euro 2024. But that'll depend on what becomes available.

[rancer890]

Keep fighting CoachFlu, just win (easy to type, hard to do ), Lyon will falter eventually...hopefully

Nice to see you followed my advice CoachFlu!

Real jealous you got someone to score 70 goals for you! I would be happy if my whole team scored 70...

[CoachFlu]

Yeah, 71 goals was a reasonably okay-ish goal total for our striker, heheh.

July 17, 2022

World Cup 2022 - Hosts: Mexico

A slightly surprising World Champ, but considering the nations they eliminated along the way, they didn't get it handed to them on a silver platter.

And a week after the Final...

Another new language to learn!

A few jobs became available throughout the tournament.

The hosts - Mexico - were the first to sack their manager, after a 6-0 trashing by Australia in the last group stage match. I seriously considered applying, but eventually decided against it. For one, their first competitive match was almost a full year away (Gold Cup), but I also didn't like the look of their squad very much. They only had one non-grey goalie in their World Cup squad, for instance.

Not much later, the Brazil manager got the sack (after getting knocked out in the Second Round by Croatia). They also have a full year of friendlies ahead until next summer's Copa America - chances are I'd get sacked before that, heheh. And I also noticed that Spain didn't survive the Second Round either, so I decided to wait until the end of the tournament.

Surprisingly, the Spain manager (Antonio Tapia) was not sacked. Three jobs became available: Ivory Coast, Denmark and Croatia.

I applied for the Denmark job as well, but it was a backup application, in case Croatia picked someone else. They didn't.

Slaven Bilic's shoes will be tough to fill. He was in charge of Croatia since 2006, and got them to the 2020 European Ch'Ship Final, and now to World Cup glory.

The nation's track record before that (since the start of the game) was pretty much non-existant. Failed to qualify for Euro 2012 and 2016. Failed to qualify for World Cup 2010 and 2014, and out in the group stage in 2018.

So, while I'm now managing the current world champs, ranked 3rd in the world, they're not exactly a consistent, established top nation. I'm taking charge at the peak of a mid-level country's golden generation, and my challenge will be to delay the decline of that peak for as long as possible, hopefully past Euro 2024.

The squad does look quite nice, with just a few 33 and 34 year olds whose shoes will have to be filled before Italy 2024.

The star players according to the Croatian FA:

Marko Livaja, Matej Delac, Dejan Lovren

Soon to replace one of them on that list, however, will be this guy: David Simic, who was holding out for Germany for some years - not smart in an "unadjusted" FM game like mine - but opted for Croatia earlier in the year, just in time to win the World Cup.

The FA expects "that the team qualify easily" for the European Ch'Ship. The group draw:

Some potential trickiness in that group, but we should get top spot, if I don't mess it up.

[CoachFlu]

Aug. 2, 2022

Olympique de Marseille - pre-season update

After a marvelous season, the board expect more of the same this year. Their expectations for the competitions are largely unchanged, except for the league - they expect the title this year, not just a challenge. Other than that, French Cup Final and CL 1st Knockout Round. League Cup and Champions Trophy not important.

Obviously a team which broke the league's points and goals records doesn't need a lot of strengthening, but I did spend a fair chunk of the transfer budget, mostly with an eye on the future.

Vitor Lameiras - ST

The Feirense youth product which was snapped up by Barcelona after a week, now snapped back up for a contractual buy-out sum of €8.75M. That's a decent chunk of change for a backup striker, but hopefully he'll be worth it in the long run. For now, he's pretty much on equal footing as our other backup striker, 33yr old club legend Jonathan Cristaldo. So he might not get a huge amount of matches yet this year, but it's a long season, so he'll certainly get some chances.

Alphonse Aréola - GK

Sinan Bolat did great last season, but I couldn't pass up this guy. Alphonse made himself a big fat blob on my radar when he almost singlehandedly held us to a 1-1 draw against Toulouse last season, and my coaches rate him top notch: 4.5 stars, "a lot better than Bolat." If they're correct, it's surprising that he's never been capped for France, but perhaps that's because he played for a mid-table team all these years. Signed on a Bosman, which I think will end up being a marvelous piece of business.

Justin Mazibuko - DM, MC

Signed for €9.75M from Espanyol, which isn't cheap, but it seemed like an acceptable price/quality/youth ratio. We're not exactly short on squad depth for center midfield, but although several of them have the "DM" tag, most of them are more suited in a more offensive minded midfield role. And with last season's DM being 32 and nothing special, I went looking for a replacement. The really top notch DMs were a bit out of my price range, so I had to settle for the merely "good, not great." Bit of a wait and see how he'll turn out.

Marouane Fellaini - DC, DM, MC

And if Justin doesn't work out, perhaps Fellaini can take up the DM role. Though, in truth, Fellaini was brought in as a veteran backup for the bench and I don't expect him to grow beyond that. After a long career at Everton, Marouane spent the previous two seasons at Inter, the last as a rotation player at best. Much like Vincent Kompany at Watford some years ago, he joins the club more because I like him than because of what he brings to the club. That doesn't mean he'll be useless though - I'm fairly confident he still has the quality to be a first team player, if needed. But we'll see how our young South African does first.

Anthony Pasqualini - D/WB/ML

In dire need of a third left back, I ended up spending the €8.5M minimum release fee for this kid, who joins us from Real Madrid. More a left mid than a left back, really, but I was semi desperate and had the budget for it, so what the heck. Don't think he'll challenge for a first team spot any time soon - or ever - but who knows, he might surprise me.

And the first little mini-trophy of the season is already on the shelf, as we won the Champions Trophy:

Olympique Lyonnais - OM: 0-1

We achieved the double last year, so we got to face our biggest rivals, who pushed us to the wire in the league. That suddenly gave this match some importance again - not for the board, but more so for the fans. It became a nice up-and-down cup match, with both goalies in a starring role, and a man of the match performance of our new goalie. It looked like the match would go to penalties, which would have been an appropriate way to decide this even contest, but Robert slotted home the winner, on the rebound, just into stoppage time.

Not a trophy to get hugely excited about, but the club lost this match three years in a row, so it was time to win it again. And more importantly, we dealt Lyon the first blow - hopefully more will follow.

[CoachFlu]

Sept. 7, 2022

Croatia update:

Two friendly matches were scheduled before the start of the qualifying campaing for Euro 2024. One in August, one a few days before the first qualifying match.

I considered cancelling the latter, but I decided an extra match to get to know the squad was more valuable than an extra 5% of fitness for some of the lads.

Mexico - Croatia: 2-3

Croatia - Uruguay: 1-0

Both deserved wins, but neither of them very convincing. In Mexico we got a solid 3-0 lead, and then just tuned out completely in the second half. The home match against Uruguay was better, apart from some abysmal finishing.

Euro Ch'Ship Qualifying:

Slovakia - Croatia: 2-2

Not the start to the campaign which I had hoped for.

Again we played a good first half, in which Marko Livaja showed that he'll be a crucial player for us the next few years, putting us two goals ahead. The Slovakians did give us the occasional warning in the first half, but nothing too serious. The second half was a lot more even, and they managed to force the draw with two scrappy goals - a scramble in the six yard box, and a questionable penalty kick in the last minutes of the match.

Can't really argue about the point though. We still edged it, but not by enough. Hopefully this is still just part of the World Champion's hangover. And with the Czechs slipping up in Macedonia as well, this is no disaster, but we'll certainly need to improve.

After three matches now, I'm left wondering how on earth Slaven Bilic managed to take this team to World Cup glory. It's definitely not a bad squad, and we should qualify from this group easily. But we're not Brazil or Germany or France or Italy either, and I'm not quite sure how they managed to beat those teams just two months ago.

[CoachFlu]

Sept. 18, 2022

Marseille update

One more additional bit of transfer news which happened shortly after my pre-season update:

The chairman finally accepted a bid for one of our players which he felt was too good to refuse. Luckily it wasn't one of the key players, but still annoying. Turkish international Ahmet Elmas moved to AC Milan for €12.5M. I brought him in an a free transfer last season, so that's a nice profit, but his value at the time of the sale was €7.5M, so I found the chairman's intervention a bit surprising - he has ignored bigger over-bids for other players in the past.

And the sale was useless as well, since I had to spend a chunk of the money to replace him anyway. He was a bit of a key rotation player, almost always on the bench - 11(10) appearances last season. Our third right winger is not of sufficient caliber to fulfill that duty.

So I spent €8M on a 30-year old Spanish guy named Kevin. He should be okay for the role required of him, but it's not a deal I would normally have made.

Ah well, it had to happen sooner or later, and at least it wasn't one of our really important players.

Apart from that, we'e had a perfect season start:

Nothing but wins so far. Since we ended last season with 7 wins as well, we're now on a 13 match win streak in the league. The league record stands at 16, so we have a little mini-goal now.

The match against rivals PSG was a rollercoaster. We were two goals down after three minutes, all square again after 12 minutes, and in the lead after 20. Not a good match to arrive late in the stadium.

Our great start to the season puts us in a much better position as last year, when we started with three draws and ended up having to chase Lyon for more than half the season before we caught up with them. Now we're only chasing them on goal difference.

Nevertheless, they started with six straight wins as well, which indicates that we might very well be heading for a repeat of last year's tight title battle.

We started the Champions League campaign with an easy 5-1 win at Rapid Wien. The other teams in our group are Portugal's Sporting CP and Switzerland's Sion, so we should easily make it to the knockout stages.

[CoachFlu]

Oct. 12, 2022

Croatia update:

Our two top players were out injured for the two October qualifying matches - Man City defender David Simic and Inter striker Marko Livaja. Not a big problem against Liechtenstein, but we could have used them against Czech Republic.

Croatia - Liechtenstein: 4-1

A solid and expected win, though the late own goal by veteran Dejan Lovren ended the match on a bit of a downer for us. We had done the hard work in the first half and were 4-0 up by half time. After the break the lads slowed down a bit, though we still had a few chances to extend our lead, if it hadn't been for their grey goalie in excellent form.

Croatia - Czech Republic: 3-3

A very poor defensive display against the team which is - on paper - our toughest opposition in this group, so I was really hoping for a win here. But their sneaky little through-balls caught our center backs by surprise several times, and only a great performance by our goalkeeper saved us from embarrasment. It wasn't all bad, as our attack was in good form in the first half and the 3-1 lead wasn't completely undeserved. But our second half was below average, and our defense couldn't cope.

So we have a slightly shaky start, but nothing to get too concerned about. We'll need to improve a little though.

[rancer890]

Good starts with Marseille and Croatia (although I'm sure you would prefer to be 3-0-0), you're unbeaten so far at least.

What tactic do you have with Marseille? I'm having an offensive drought in my game...

[CoachFlu]

Yeah, unbeaten so far, but in international qualifying campaigns I always seem to drop points against weaker teams. Hope it won't come back to bite us in the behind.

I'm not much of a tactical genius, so I tend to stick with one tactic as long as it works. Been using an offensive 4-5-1 for several seasons now. Well, the "preferred tactic" thing on my profile calls it a 4-1-4-1, I think. depends how you look at it. Basically a DM, two MCs, high wingers and one striker.

It's probably not the best tactic when facing stronger opposition away from home, for instance, but tends to work well when we're the stronger team. Though I've certainly had some scoring problems in the past as well, but at Marseille that's not a big issue with a world class striker in the squad.

[SwiftyBlade]

Nice read this Coach! Cracking season with OM and now you've got a good International job.

Good Luck!

[rancer890]

Cheers CoachFlu. Thought about going to the 4-5-1 ever since the World Cup...

Now, just need to find that world class striker lol...

[CoachFlu]

Oct. 27, 2022

Marseille update

Well, it's been a smooth sail so far. Relatively, at least; there were a few matches where we had to work hard for the three points, but heck, twelve league wins in a row (19 counting last season), so I'm not complaining.

Lyon stayed ahead of us on goal difference for the first ten matches, but in the 11th match of the season they finally slipped up against RC Lens. Still, it's pretty clear that this will be another tight season. Twelve straight wins and only two points clear. The match against Lyon next month should be interesting.

Of our wins, the 6-0 against Toulouse was the most satisfying, as it was one I had predicted in the press after their manager claimed we wouldn't be able to defend our title.

Those snarky exchanges are not rare in this Ligue. Apparently several of the managers have a fairly poor opinion of me. I had only encountered friendly managers before I joined Marseille; maybe it's a French thing.

The Toulouse match also saw Jean-Claude Robert's first hattrick of the season. Our world class striker has been in slightly less lethal form than last year, so far, but with 14 goals from 15 appearances, he's still doing okay.

We've broken (and counting) a few win streak records now. Obviously we'll try to continue this form a bit longer, but undoubtedly the run will end sooner or later. The league match against Lyon at the end of November is a potential streak-breaker, or perhaps the away match against Sporting a week later, as we only managed a narrow win against them at home.

But we shall see. We're in the lead now, finally, so as long as we slip up less often than Lyon, we'll be fine.

[DSYoungEsq]

Isn't always winning getting boring?? That's what I tell myself must be the case to console myself over my common losing streaks!

[CoachFlu]

Nope, not boring so far. Perhaps if I had a 15 point lead already, then it might be. But Lyon are right on our tail, so the pressure is on, every match.

If I end up winning title and cup again this season, though, I might go for a new challenge elsewhere.

[DSYoungEsq]

Heh, go manage your way out of Brazil's third division.

[CoachFlu]

Heheh, I haven't been quite succesful enough yet to head back down to some lower league club.

I'm not ruling that out for some point in the future though. But probably not the very near future. Though I still want to take charge of Club Brugge at some point, which would be a serious step down (especially since they've dropped to Belgian midtable status, it seems.) But preferably another "big" team first. Wouldn't mind one of the big Italian teams next. Might do a 3rd season at Marseille as well, not sure yet.

[Jason the Yank]

Heh, go manage your way out of Brazil's third division.

Or just manage Brazil.

[CoachFlu]

Yeah, I'll definitely have a go at managing Brazil at some point. Curious how long I'd last.

Dec. 19, 2022

Mid-season table

In the previous update I hypothesized that our winning streak might end at the end of November, against Lyon. Always dangerous to put something like that into writing - of course we failed to win our very next match after the update, a disappointing 0-0 against Lille. In fact, we got stuck with two more draws in this stretch, so after 12 straight wins, we now went 4-3-0 in the last seven matches.

But it's no disaster. One of the draws was against Lyon, who have made a few slip-ups as well. They lost their first league match this season against Stade Rennais, who are suddenly emerging as the third horse in the race after a faultless November and December, and have moved up to second place.

So, despite a rather marvelous first half of the season, our lead is far from comfortable, and every match matters. With French Cup and League Cup matches starting soon as well, the first few months of the new year will be crucial.

Still, the season is going according to plan. Last year around this time we were a few points behind, now we're a few points ahead.

I'm not planning to bring in any new players in January, our current squad should be quite capable of achieving our goals.

Like last year, we've cruised through the Champions League group stage, so now the hard work begins. We'll be facing Man Utd in the 1st Knockout Round. Not exactly the easiest of the available options, but I fancy our chances.

[XXXtreme]

Macedonia doing pretty well. They got some awesome re-gens I assume?

[CoachFlu]

Not so much, actually. A few decent ones and one very nice kid who plays for Arsenal, but most are rather mediocre. They shouldn't be a big concern. They won against Liechtenstein and Luxembourg, and against the Czechs, but they got lucky in that match. They should drop down the table again... I hope.

Feb. 8, 2023

Croatia update:

Just a few friendlies, one from back in November:

Croatia - Australia: 3-0

Poland - Croatia: 0-2

A bit of a weird match against Australia - mostly boring and poor-ish, but we got three decent chances and scored at 100% - defnitely a bit of a flattering score though.

The match against Poland was much better, as we had it firmly under control and ran out deserved winners. Promising performace for the rest of the qualifying campaign.

That campaign kicks off again next month with a trip to Luxembourg; the more important matches aren't until June, so I can keep the focus on the Marseille season for now.

[CoachFlu]

Feb. 19, 2023

Marseille update

It's been a near faultless 2023 so far, with the exception of the Coupe de la Ligue Semi Final against Lyon. They managed one **** poor little shot on target in the entire 120 minutes, while we had several chances to finish it off. But ultimately we failed to do that, and I knew we were out before the penalty shootout started - it was just one of those matches.

That was a disappointment, since I had my mind set on winning this cup after we lost the final last year. A missed chance too, since we would have faced OGC Nice in the Final - we easily demolished them 6-0 in the league a week later.

But apart from that, it's been nothing but sunshine and roses. Of course we're only just entering the business end of the season, where the prizes are won and lost, so there's plenty of time still to come away with nothing at the end. But so far we're doing what needs to be done - win pretty much every match.

Even with another six straight league wins though, we're not exactly pulling away from the pack. Lyon got six wins as well, only Rennais had to settle for one draw, so we're now four points clear. Looks like the matches among the top three might decide the title this year.

We're looking good to survive the First Knockout Round in the Champions League as well. A 1-0 lead to take into the home leg isn't decisive yet, but if we play as well as we did at Old Trafford, we should be fine.

[rancer890]

Great work as always with Marseille...how many league goals have you given up this season? You seem to have a better defensive record than me!

[CoachFlu]

18 clean sheets out of 25 so far in the league, 11 goals conceded. Yeah, we're doing quite well.

[CoachFlu]

April 5, 2023

Croatia update:

One more qualifying match on cruise control:

Luxembourg - Croatia: 0-4

One of the players called for a demolition job before the match, and after 4 minutes it looked like that's exactly what it would be. In the end we missed too many chances to drive up the score significantly, but I'll settle for 4 goals.

Nothing decided yet. We face Macedonia and Slovakia in June, which will hopefully see us move into the top spot.

Marseille update:

We seem to have a tendency to slip up in the first league match after an update, this time with a draw against relegation battlers Cesan Ardennes. We had an April Fools slip-up as well, unable to get the ball in the net against Lille, in a period where a handful of injuries and an important upcoming European match forced us to play a bunch of reserves.

Despite missing a few key players for both legs, we did great against Chelsea. The hard work was done in the Zola Arena, though I was slightly disappointed that we managed to let them claw one back from a two goal lead, twice. But we did enough to put us in a good position for the home leg, which was a scrappy game from both sides, and we managed to finish it off deep in the second half.

So, after Man Utd, we knock out another English club and move on to the Semi Finals for the first time in ten years. We'll face either Barcelona, Man City or Juventus. Of those three, I'd prefer Juventus (we won twice against them in the group stage last year.)

By winning the second leg against Chelsea, we've now remained undefeated for exactly one year (since last year's Quarter Final second leg against Bayern.) Unofficially, at least - for streak purposes, the penalty shootout loss in the Coupe de la Ligue put an end to our official run, apparently.

We're still on a 42-and-counting Ligue 1 undefeated streak though, as we haven't lost since early March last year. Again, it's quite amazing that we're only two points clear.

So, with seven league matches to go, we're still in three competitions, but far from certain of winning any of them. Last year around this time we were two points behind in the league and went on to win all seven remaining matches. I suppose starting two points ahead means we're in a better position now, but we still have to face the nrs. 2 and 3.

And since we're still in the Champions League, that will distract us a little from the league as well. Not that I mind.

Obviously we'll go all out in the Semi Final, whoever we'll face, though we'll be underdogs against either Barcelona or Man City.

We're still in the French Cup as well - semi final against Lyon coming up, in a final-avant-la-lettre, since the other semi final consists of two Ligue 2 teams.

So, after remaining undefeated for the entire season - apart from the one penalty shootout loss - the next six weeks will decide everything.

[CoachFlu]

May 21, 2023

Marseille - French Ligue 1 - end of season 2022/23

Mid-season table

End of season table

Position graph

Like last year, we kept it together at the end of the season when the trophies were handed out.

The first important encounter towards another trophy was the French Cup Semi Final against Lyon. A second yellow for one of our midfielders at the end of the first half almost messed it up for us, but we remained competitive even with the man down, and managed to get the winner in the last minute.

After that our second consecutive French Cup was just a formality, as we faced Ligue 2 team Sochaux in the Final, who didn't stand much of a chance.

Meanwhile, we kept going strong in the league. A draw against Lyon pretty much took them out of the race, and Rennais slipped up as well, giving us a five point lead to head into the final three matches.

The Champions League Semi Final draw gave us the opponent I had hoped for - we had won against Juventus twice last year in the group stage, and managed to do the same this time.

With three matches left in the season - two league matches, of which we had to win one to secure the title, and the Champ League Final against Barcelona - I received a new job offer:

Carlo Ancelotti had been in charge of Real for the past six years, and he chose a rather peculiar time to retire, a week before their last league match of the season, while they were 2nd in the league, a point behind Barcelona.

Obviously there was no way I could join them immediately, but I had been contemplating my future at Marseille. I hadn't decided yet, but my line of thought was along the lines of: if we win the Champions League, I leave; if we lose the Champions League, I'll probably stay another year.

The Real Madrid offer forced me to make a decision before the Final, but it wasn't a very difficult decision. Four times the transfer and wage budget, and more than ten times the manager wage (though I don't care much about that.) And again, I'd be starting a new job at a top club at the start of the season.

So I renegotiated to join Real at the end of the season, which they accepted. Quite excited about the move: another new language to learn! That'll be the 10th.

With my future decided, I went on to leave Marseille on a high. We secured the title against FC Lorient, leaving the last match against second placed Rennais somewhat meaningless. Well, not entirely meaningless. We went on to win that match as well, to finish our season undefeated in the league, and with more than 100 points.

Real Madrid's final league match, with the assistant manager in charge, ended gloriously as well, as they managed to hop over Barcelona to claim the title.

I saw this as a good omen for the Champions League Final, a chance to deal Barcelona - next season's main rivals - a serious blow even before joining Real Madrid.

And indeed, Barcelona was surprisingly mediocre, with an aging Lionel Messi playing very poorly. Not that we ran over them, but we had a clear edge, and with our two main strikers (Robert and Lameiras) out injured, it was veteran Jonathan Cristaldo who scored the only goal of the match.

And so I end my two year reign at Marseille on a bigger high than I expected - by giving the club its second European title, exactly 30 years after the first. They won their 1993 Champions League trophy with another Belgian in charge: the legendary Raymond Goethals.

Raymond is one of the club's legends, I only made it onto the "favoured personnel" list. But that is how it should be.

Marseille squad

Very few changes since last season, which is probably a part of the reason for this season's success. The assistant reports that our players are willing to die for each other.

The key players:

Alphonse Aréola - GK

Our new goalkeeper did brilliantly. He played every single match this season, so his stats are a good summary of our defensive record: 25 conceded in 61 matches, with 43 clean sheets. Obviously he was voted GK of the season and all that jazz. Still not capped for France, but he's been called up several times.

Danny Wilson - DLC

Like last season, our pacey Scottish defender was a rock at the back, while regularly getting up to score a goal as well - mostly from corner kicks. I made him team captain this year. If he was a few years younger, I might have tried taking him with me to Real.

Juarez - DC

Our other rock in the center of the defense, alongside Danny Wilson. Also tempting to recruit for Real, but he'd be expensive, and since he's been at Marseille for 8 seasons, he's one of the "trained at club" players for the Euro registration squad, so I think I'll leave him here.

Alexandr Kudey - DM, MC

Our Belarussian star, and one of our hard-working and creative midfielders. In the last stage of the season, he was in an assist-battle with our right winger, each breaking each other's new club record week after week. Alexandr eventually won out.

Ivan MRL

The above-mentioned assist-record-battling right winger won't be too disappointed that he lost out eventually, as it doesn't take away from a brilliant season. He scored a marvelous 25 goals as well, and especially his performances in Europe were crucial - he was deservedly voted the Champions League Best Player.

Jean-Claude Robert

Another outstanding season for our star striker. Not quite the 71 goals he scored last year, but there are a few reasons for that. A small reason being that he started on the bench a few times more often, to give Vitor Lameiras the occasional chance. But a bigger reason was that we got - from what I recall - just one penalty in all competitions all season, as opposed to 12 last year.

A bit of World Cup fatigue might have been a factor as well, as he started fairly slowly and only had 19 goals by January. But he was certainly on fire again in the second half of the season, and obviously a crucial part to our success - even if he did miss the Champions League Final.

Next season...

It's been a glorious two years at Marseille, with two titles, two French Cups and the Champions League trophy. I didn't win everything with them, as we missed out on the Coupe de le Ligue each time. That's a tiny little disappointment somewhere in the back of my mind, but it wasn't enough to keep me here a year longer, especially when Real Madrid came knocking.

So I'll be off to Spain then. Incidently, Madrid's recent record is almost identical to Marseille's when I joined them: they won the league three times in the past four years. My task there will be rather obvious... win more trophies. Looking forward to it.

[rancer890]

Nice way to end your Marseille career on a high.

Good luck with Madrid. I managed them in one of my many other Crazy Canuck Tours (the 'Life Outside the Lower Leagues' thread).

[CoachFlu]

Thanks. Was a great way to leave France indeed.

June 7, 2023

Croatia update

Euro '24 Qualifying:

Croatia - Macedonia: 4-1

Croatia - Slovakia: 1-1

More disappointment. We played very well against Macedonia, finally displaying a bit of World Champ worthy football, creating loads of good chances.

Against Slovakia we weren't quite as dominant, but we still should have finished off the match long before their last minute equalizer.

So we drop some more points which we shouldn't have dropped. That means our trip to the Czech Republic in September becomes crucial.

[CoachFlu]

Aug. 19, 2023

Real Madrid - pre-season update

Right then. So I landed at the richest club in the world.

I can't remember when I last managed a club with so much money to spend. I'm not even sure I ever have, actually. It feels a bit weird, especially for a frugal-ish player like me.

One thing I figured out quickly is that it's not as easy as I imagined. Yes, I know it's a luxury problem, but still. The thing is, there aren't all that many players who would be an added value to a squad like Real's. And clubs aren't usually willing to part with their top players. So I ended up spending way more than I imagined I would.

I spent a good 20 mil last year at Marseille, which already made me slightly dizzy. This year, I spent close to €100M of our €170M transfer budget.

About half of that was spent on (possibly overpriced) kids of 19 and younger, to give the squad some depth beyond the 25 player registration limit. A few were cheap enough, but for a few really juicy looking ones I ended up spending between 15 and 20 mil each. With surprisingly little talent in the youth squad, however, I judged it a necessary investment.

As for players who are expected to feature regularly in the first team squad, I made three signings:

Lionel Fonteneau - GK

Madrid's goalkeeper options were all in the "okay but not great" range, and all veterans. I targeted Marseille goalie Alphone Aréola for a while, but my old club didn't want to go below €75M for him, which I thought was a bit excessive, so I eventually settled for another French lad who was much cheaper, as he was released by Inter. Not quite as good as Aréola would have been, I think, but considering the price difference, he should be a good signing.

Klébson - DC

An extra defender was also needed, and after targeting a few established internationals in their mid-twenties and discovering that their clubs wouldn't let them leave for any sort of reasonable amount, I eventually went for the young and affordable option - €16M from Corinthians.

Dirk Vogel - DM, MC

Signed for 30.5M from Bochum, this is my new record highest fee signing. In this case, however, I had no problem paying that amount, as he looks worth it, and we needed an extra quality player for the center of midfield.

Obviously there were already a few stars present as well. I'll list, without individual comments, the key players of the squad which should, together with the above three, pretty much cover the ideal starting 11:

Roberto Garcia - DR

Kürsat Uyanik - DL

Jefferson - DC, DM

Matteo Vecchione - DC, DM, MC

Antonio - DM, MLC

Eden Hazard - AMLC

Jiri Drahno - AMR

Alexander Kocis - AMLC

Michel Henning - ST

Mauricio - ST

The coaches rate some of the defensive players the highest, with both full backs as well as Jefferson (DC) and Vecchione (DM) getting 4.5 stars.

The strikers aren't rated quite that highly, and since they're both quite young I considered trying to bring in a more experienced top striker, but I quickly discovered that my remaining €70M would not be enough to sign anyone better than them. So we'll start with the two 21 year olds and see how it goes - honestly, I think they'll do just fine.

After the top 14/15 players, the quality goes down significantly, and several of the backups are getting on a bit. By bringing in some much needed youngsters, I took a first step towards rectifying that, but there'll be some more work in that area next summer. For now, however, I'm quite pleased with the squad.

I'm not quite sure how strong we are compared to the other teams in the Liga, but I assume we'll be quite strong. Most of last season's squad remains, with the exception of a few veterans, so I expect to stand a good chance at defending the title.

Real Madrid's previous league seasons:

Obviously the board expects us to win the title again - no surprise there. That seems to be the most important objective for them, as they don't care at all about the Cup or the Super Cup, and the expectations for Europe are quite reasonable as well - Quarter Final.

With the exception of last season - when they played in the EURO Cup and went out in the Second Knockout Round - Real Madrid has not failed to reach the Quarters of the Champions League since 2014. They made it to the Final in 2017, but haven't won the competition since 2012, so I suppose that will be my goal the next few years.

While I'm obviously not yet thinking about moving clubs, I don't see Real Madrid as a club where I'll stay for many seasons. I have a four season contract, which I might see through until the end, but I doubt I'll be here longer than that.

Ideally, I'd like to win the Spanish title (this year) and the Champions League (this year or next year), and then stay on for one more season to compete in the European Super Cup and the Club World Championship. After that it'll be time to take on a bit more of an "underdog" challenge - not quite dropping below the top leagues necessarily, but perhaps bringing a midtable team to the top, or something along those lines. But I'm getting a bit ahead of myself now. Time to settle down at Santiago Bernabéu for a bit first.

[rancer890]

You have a really good squad there at Madrid. Good luck.

[PaUlHuNtInGtOnLuFcBoY]

Again your still carrying on where you started working wonders... I was just wondering. How are Watford doing?

[CoachFlu]

Watford are doing reasonably well. They finished 10th and 11th in the Prem since I left, predicted to finish 11th again this year.

[CoachFlu]

Sept. 13, 2023

Croatia update

Friendly:

Croatia - Belgium: 1-1

We invited the Belgians over for the August friendly, and played reasonably well but neglected to convert our chances into goals. A goalkeeper fumble allowed them to take the lead just before half time, and eventually we needed a penalty to level the match.

Euro '24 Qualifying:

Liechtenstein - Croatia: 2-4

Not quite the demolition job I hoped for; in fact, we only just avoided embarrasment. They managed to draw level twice, the last time with not many minutes to go. Luckily young left winger Marko Crnjak made the difference in the final minutes with a goal just before full time and an assist in stoppage time.

After this display, however - with our goalkeeper and two defenders out injured - I didn't feel very confident for the trip to Czech Republic, a match we kinda had to win.

Czech Republic - Croatia: 2-2

And indeed, our defense messed up early in the match, with a choice between two of them to take the blame for the first goal - one who gave possession away in a dangerous position, another with the "missed header" in the six yard box.

We played quite well after that and it looked like we deservedly rectified the situation, but they managed the equalizer in the last seconds of stoppage time. Nobody to blame for that goal, really - a 25-yarder in off the post - but it's a goal which makes a world of difference for us.

With two matches left to play (Macedonia and Luxembourg), we now have to hope for a major Slovakian slip-up to still top the group. But since they still play Liechtenstein and Macedonia (at home), we might be looking at a playoff match.

[DodgeeD]

Just catching up here after my hols. Looks like you had a great couple of seasons at Marseille! And now on to Real Madrid - who'd have thought it after those days of struggle in Sweden?

Hopefully, you can get the results you need with Croatia. That group looks really tight now!

[CoachFlu]

Yeah, the career really took off lately. It's a big fat "up yours" to all those clubs who didn't want to give me a job in the 29 months after resigning the Torslanda job.

Oct. 18, 2023

Croatia update:

Our task for the last two qualifying matches was fairly simple - win both, and hope that Slovakia slipped up against either Liechtenstein or Macedonia.

FYR Macedonia - Croatia: 1-2

Croatia - Luxembourg: 5-0

Two dominant performances, though we needed two corner kick goals to defeat the in-form Macedonian keeper.

We needed to score heavily against Luxembourg to make up the goal difference on Slovakia, should they be held to a draw by Macedonia in their last match. I didn't really expect that would happen, since the Slovakians have a fairly strong squad (including the Real Madrid left and right wingers). But for once, we got lucky. Slovakia lost the match 1-2, and so we avoid the playoffs and qualify for Euro 2024.

A bit of a relief, there. I had expected this to be much easier, and was starting to think that missing tournaments by dropping points against lesser opponents was to be my fate in international management.

Real Madrid update

Results:

We won the Super Cup, confidently rectifying an away match slip-up. But our start in the league was a bit shaky, and highly reminiscent of my start at Marseille two years ago.

Two points from the first three matches was a bad start. The two points we did get were good value, against Sevilla and Barcelona, but obviously losing against Las Palmas was not part of the plan. Three confident wins after that has put us on the right track again, but it looks like we'll be chasing Barcelona for a while.

Despite the improved results, I don't really expect that I can repeat what I did with Marseille, where we went on a long undefeated streak after the shaky start. At Marseille, once super-striker jean-Claude Robert got warmed up, it was pretty much smooth sailing from there on. At Real, I don't really see any of our two strikers scoring 71 goals in a season.

They both look like quality players, but so far they haven't impressed yet, scoring three goals between them. Our goals have come from all over the pitch so far. Eden Hazard scored a hattrick against Zaragoza which instantly made him joint topscorer, alongside right back Roberto Garcia, who has scored three goals from more than 20 yards so far.

I don't really care where the goals come from, but I'm hoping one of the two strikers steps up as a goal-getter soon. I have a feeling we might need one of those to avoid more lost points like against Las Palmas.

We've had some injury issues as well, which has given some of the youngsters some playing time already. Our top class Turkish left back is out until Jan or Feb with a torn calf muscle. Bad news, but at least it has removed some of the second thoughts I had had about spending so much money on Ton Persoons and Antonello Conte.

Persoons had already been capped for Belgium when I signed him, so the €17.5M didn't seem overly excessive. I felt that I probably paid a bit too much for Conte though (€21M), but he just got his first senior cap for Italy, which makes me feel a bit better already.

In any case, with our left back out, they should both get plenty of playing time in the first half of the season.

The Champions League group stage should hopefully be fairly straight forward. Arsenal isn't exactly an easy opponent, but I'm hoping we can handle PSV and AEK without too many problems.

[CoachFlu]

Nov. 22, 2023

Croatia update

Having avoided the playoffs, we didn't have to cancel our scheduled November friendlies:

Italy - Croatia: 1-2

A trip to the Host nation of Euro'24 seemed like a good test. The press labeled this a fortunate win, but I disagree, as the quality of our chances was much higher than Italy's, who relied mostly on harmless long shots.

Not much action in the first half, until we got a penalty after a foul by Real Madrid youngster Antonello Conte. We doubled our lead in the second half with a lovely counter attack, and had a few great chances to extend our lead even more. Barcelona keeper Matej Delac looked to keep a clean sheet in his 100th international match for Croatia, but the Italians managed to claw one back in stoppage time.

Iceland - Croatia: 0-2

After Italy we traveled a bit further north for a "cool down' match, literally. As expected, we managed an easy if slightly underwhelming win. The most notable fact about this match was the debut of backup goalie Joaquin Diaz - born in Spain but gained Croatian nationality this summer, and I was getting bored with the constant press conference questions about his debut, so I was glad to get it over with.

With the playoffs decided, here are all the qualifiers for Euro 2024:

A few surprises. The biggest team which failed to qualify was undoubtedly defending European champions England, but also Holland and Portugal won't be participating. Neither of those three even made it to the playoffs, each finishing 3rd in their qualifying group.

[CoachFlu]

Dec. 6, 2023

Real Madrid update

The spanish season lags a bit behind most other leagues - already December and we're just 12 matches in. But we're doing well so far. Six straight wins in the league in this stretch, with only one goal conceded. The table is slightly skewed, with Barcelona a match behind and Valencia a match ahead, but we're back where we belong.

In the Champions League, the home draw against PSV could be considered a small slip-up, but it's no disaster. We're certain of progressing to the knockout stages, with the last match against Arsenal left to decide who wins the group and who finishes second.

We continue to be hit with serious injuries to key players. Left back Kürsat Uyanik has been out for most of the season so far and won't be back until some time in January. We also lost experienced center back Jefferson, who picked up a torn hamstring while on international duty with Brazil, and record signing midfielder Dirk Vogel is visiting a specialist for a hip injury; both will be out for another month or two.

So far we can still cover those injuries, but hopefully it doesn't get worse.

On the bright side, one of our two young strikers - 21yr old Brazilian Maurico - is starting to find his scoring feet. Not quite at the level of Jean-Claude Robert at Marseille the previous two seasons, but 12 goals in 13(4) appearances isn't bad, and has earned him a few more call-ups from Brazil. Our German striker hasn't managed to find the net very often, so it looks like Mauricio will be our first pick for now.

So, after a slow start, we're up to speed now and pretty much on course. It looks like this'll be one of those seasons where the matches against the top opponents/rivals will be decisive. No surprises in the top six so far.

[CoachFlu]

Jan. 22, 2024

Real Madrid mid-season update

Mid-season table

The situation is largely unchanged since the previous update. The 2-2 against Mallorca wasn't according to plan, and we needed a late goal against Mallorca to avoid another home draw against lesser opposition, but all in all, we've continued our good form. We've been top of the table for a few weeks, but Barcelona has a game in hand, so in effect we're still trailing by two points.

The first leg Cup match against second tier Malaga was a bit of a snafu - one of those matches where we were clearly the better team, but somehow ended up losing 3-0. I had been using the cup to let some of the key players get a bit of a rest and let some of the youngsters and backups get some play time, but I lined up our strongest squad for the return leg, and they managed to rectify the situation in style.

The 1-1 against Arsenal was our third draw in the Champions League group stage, but it was enough to top the group on goal difference. We'll face Saturn, from Russia, in the First Knockout Round, which shouldn't be too much of a problem.

No transfer action for us in the January window; I figured we had spent plenty already in the summer. We were a bit thin on central midfielders for a moment, with a few short term injuries adding to our long term ones, but it wasn't enough of a crisis to bring in an extra player.

The squad is fine, really, especially with the injured players just a week or two from returning. We've generally played quite well so far. All we need is a bit more team gelling to get those few extra percent of sharpness and turn the draws against the bigger teams (like Barcelona and Arsenal) into wins.

Croatia update

The group draw for Euro 2024 has been made:

Group D for Death, I guess. We pretty much got the toughest opponents from each of the bowls. Spain instead of Turkey, Serbia or Russia; Belgium instead of Ireland, Denmark or Hungary; and Ukraine, well, that one's debatable I guess.

We'll have our work cut out for us, but that's ok. I'm just glad to play in a tournament again. It's been a while.

[rancer890]

You're doing a good job with Madrid CoachFlu. Just need to win the games you should win.

Good luck in your Euro 2024 group too...it looks tough.

[DSYoungEsq]

I'm predicting Croatia v. Italy in the final.

[CoachFlu]

I could live with that prediction.

March 6, 2024

Croatia update

Just the one friendly this year before the European Championship next June:

Croatia - Portugal: 3-0

A reasonably successful last test against fairly strong opposition. Then again, maybe not that strong, they only finished 3rd in their qualifying group. And the score was slightly flattering.

But I suppose we're pretty much ready for Euro '24. I would have liked one or two more friendlies before June, but it probably wouldn't change much; the final squad will mostly be decided by injuries.

One small question I still had was whether or not to take veteran right winger Ivan Tomecak along. The match against Portugal made him the all time most capped Croatian, and he keeps performing well, so we'll take him along for his last tournament.

Real Madrid update

We're still in the lead - actually, the win against Barcelona put us in the lead for real now, as they no longer have a game in hand. But it's one of those seasons where the football gods aren't with us. At least not the god which handles the injury department.

We already had three key players out injured for months. They're back now and in the process of getting match fit again, but now we're without our two strikers for the rest of the season - broken foot and torn harmstring. This leaves us with a 34 year old former legend on the decline - who can only handle one match a week, and isn't registered for Europe - and a few youngsters who aren't ready for this level of football yet.

The problem immediately manifested itself in the match against Valencia - our first match in a long time where we failed to score, and in fact failed to get a shot on target.

So I'm not hugely optimistic about the rest of the season. I don't think we'll drop out of the race - our wingers, for instance, are scoring well. But I think we might have lost enough of an edge to win the race. Then again, we've already faced the toughest opponents in the league, so who knows.

With nothing but strikers who are "good players for the LIGA adelante" though, I don't see us going far in the Champions League. Though I might try to play one of the midfielders in the striker position instead and see what happens.

Perhaps our best chance at a trophy this season will be in the Cup, as we managed to get past Atletico and Barcelona to reach the Final, where we'll face Sevilla. Not giving up yet for the league either though, but we'll have to do better than we did against Valencia.

[DSYoungEsq]

Can you get an emergency loan? Or is it too late for that?

[rancer890]

Can you get an emergency loan? Or is it too late for that?

Don't think CoachFlu can get an emergency loan in. But don't you have some good young talent at Madrid that can help you out, since U21's don't have to be registered in the Champions League.

[CoachFlu]

Yeah, too late for a loan now. I did look into it when our first striker broke his foot, two days before the end of the transfer window, but the players available for loan weren't really any better than the youngsters we had, and buying one who would be an added value would have been expensive (the standard is pretty high here, heheh). And since I still had one great striker, one decent backup, and a few youngsters then, I figured we'd be alright. But of course two weeks later the other great striker went out as well, leaving me with just the decent backup and the two youngsters.

This would be the "decent backup": Pato

He's okay, really; still getting capped for Brazil, so can't be too terrible. But he can't handle two matches per week, and we have a pretty busy schedule.

He's also not part of our Europe squad, but I suppose that's partially my own fault. The first striker got injured before the second euro squad registration date, but I couldn't swap him because we don't have enough players who trained in Spain (the reason why Pato didn't make the squad in the first place.) In hindsight, I could have taken out one of our defenders or something. But again, this was before the second striker got injured, so I figured we'd be okay.

So for the Champions League, this is what I have at my disposal: Gabriel and Juan José.

(These are youth products from a few seasons ago. Nothing better is available in the youth team at the moment, this year's crop was rather poor.)

I realize that they're not terrible - for most other clubs than Madrid. Especially Gabriel, Juan José is really not good enough. But still, as strikers nr. 4 and 5 in a one-striker system, they're fine, considering they don't take up a spot in the registration squad (for the league, at least - I had to use them in the CL squad to make up the home grown numbers.)

But as strikers nr. 1 and 2 in the latter stages of the Champions League, they're not quite good enough, heheh.

But who knows, maybe Gabriel will be okay. He did just score in the return leg against Saturn, so I'll give him a shot in the next round as well.