Nathan Pike Posted June 21, 2012 Author Share Posted June 21, 2012 Good more to Hungary! Decent wage budgets for lower leagues too. Solid move. Good luck . Better luck this time. Good luck in Hungary Good luck this time, nice to see a hard struggle to start with! Felt the rough, now time to feel the Victory! Thanks for the best wishes everyone. Hopefully Hungary will be more cheerful than Austria. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nathan Pike Posted June 21, 2012 Author Share Posted June 21, 2012 Szolnoki MÁV FC – 2012/13 Season Preview Szolnok chairman Gabor Ferencz is a man who knows what he wants – and that is top flight football. Here are the board's expectations: When my predecessor Janos Romanek could not provide the chairman with what he wanted, he was sacked immediately following the final match of the 2011/12 season. Romanek’s failure was to finish in second place on the NBII Kelet table, 7 points behind champions Eger who took the only promotion spot as a result. Historically Szolnok were promotion contenders for several seasons until they won the NBII Kelet in 2009/10. Their first season in the top flight – the OTP Bank Liga – resulted in a last place finish in 2010/11 and they were relegated back to the NBII Kelet. The board had expected an immediate return, but that had not happened. This season 2012/13 both the board and the media expect us to win the NBII Kelet and return to the top division of Hungarian football, so my mission appears to be pretty simple – win the title or get the sack!! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JackJCFC Posted June 21, 2012 Share Posted June 21, 2012 Unfortunate last season, good luck in Hungary! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
cerud Posted June 21, 2012 Share Posted June 21, 2012 Your Chairman sounds like the owner of Chelsea Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted June 21, 2012 Share Posted June 21, 2012 Sounds simple Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nathan Pike Posted July 26, 2012 Author Share Posted July 26, 2012 My apologies for the stop-start nature of this career thread, but real life has reared its head on a couple of occasions recently. Hopefully I’ve sorted things out and my “paddling” can now continue uninterrupted. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nathan Pike Posted July 26, 2012 Author Share Posted July 26, 2012 Szolnoki MÁV FC – 2012/13 Pre-Season Friendlies I got in a full pre-season with my new club and was delighted when the team went undefeated throughout the friendlies, winning five out of six matches. I’ve continued with the 4-3-3 formation that bought me some success at the end of my First Vienna career, but I think that I have better players here at Szolnok to fit the requirements of that tactic. A key player will be last season’s top scorer David Kocsis (ST) who found the net on 13 occasions. The first team has a reasonable quality to it (as you would expect for a club that were runners-up in the league last season), so I didn’t feel the need for a major revamp of the squad. I had one signing foisted upon me by my predecessor and made four of my own. Istvan Csoban (DC, DM) was already lined up to join when I arrived and then Sandor Ambrus (DR), David Wittredi (AMC, ST) and Tamas Kovacs (MC) were all signed on free transfers by me. All of these players are Hungarian. In early August 2012 I completed my final free transfer with the signing of Slovenian midfielder Damir Marijan (DM). The deal was quite a coup for Szolnok as I beat of several other clubs to his signature. Marijan’s attributes are far above those of his team-mates and I hope to train him as my deep-lying playmaker. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nathan Pike Posted July 27, 2012 Author Share Posted July 27, 2012 Szolnoki MÁV FC – August 2012 Update 22.08.2012 v. Baja (Magyar Kupa 2nd Round) (a) 1-2 My first official game in charge of Szolnok was a Hungarian Cup 2nd Round match away to fellow NBII Kelet side Baja and it was the first match in which all my new signings appeared. A well-constructed breakaway after 16 minutes saw Wittredi feed Kocsis for the opening goal for us, but Baja were level with four minutes as Balazs waltzed through our defence to set up Szauter for a close range finish to make it 1-1. We struggled to match our opponents as they hit the woodwork three times after that and we succumbed to a second goal after 56 minutes as Tortei shoved Szauter for a penalty which Zahorecz slotted home for the eventual 2-1 winner for Baja. It wasn’t the start I had hoped for and I immediately disappointed the Szolnok board as their minimum expectations had been for the club to reach the 4th Round of the competition. 25.08.2012 v. Vac (h) 4-0 The league season kicked off at home to Vac and new signing Wittredi notched his first goal with a header from Antal’s free-kick after 16 minutes to give us the lead. Last season’s second-top scorer Zsolnai then finished well from an acute angle after 55 minutes to double our lead. We produced some excellent football after that, keeping Vac from getting a single shot on target for the entire match. The scoreboard was made all the prettier by late goals as Kocsis (83rd) and veteran defender Szalai (89th) made the final margin 4-0 in our favour. It was also a great moment for the 34yo Szalai as that was his first-ever goal in a career that had seen him remain loyal to Szolnok for the past sixteen seasons. Table: Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted July 27, 2012 Share Posted July 27, 2012 Can't complain so far Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nathan Pike Posted July 29, 2012 Author Share Posted July 29, 2012 Szolnoki MÁV FC – September 2012 Update 01.09.2012 v. DVSC II (a) 2-1 DVSC II are the B team for top league side Debrecen and they took the lead after just 2 minutes with an absolute scorcher from 35 yards by Spitzmuller. We worked hard to get back into the match, but it wasn’t until the 51st minute that Kocsis earned us a penalty that Zsolnai converted to make it 1-1. Kocsis then made the winner as well, pulling the ball back from the bye-line in the 76th minute for Wittredi to sidefoot us 2-1 in front. I was pleased with the comeback as we definitely deserved the win. 05.09.2012 v. REAC (Magyar Ligakupa Group E) (a) 1-0 The Hungarian League Cup begins with five groups of four teams with the five group winners and three second-best team going on to become the eight quarter-finalists. I rested several players for the trip to fellow NBII Kelet side REAC, but we were rewarded for our efforts and overall dominance by a fine 68th minute strike by Pinter from twenty yards that gave us a 1-0 win. 08.09.2012 v. REAC (a) 1-0 Three days later we were back in Budapest to face REAC again – this time in the league – but we struggled to get on top of them. Keeper Zoltan Toth was our man-of-the-match with a several fine saves. Our best spell came midway through the second half and it was then that we scored as Zsolnai glanced home a header via the post from a 68th minute cross from right-back Ambrus. It wasn’t our best performance, but it ensured we kept our 100% record in the league. 12.09.2012 v. Paks (Magyar Ligakupa Group E) (h) 0-0 Our opponents Paks are in the other second division – the NBII Nyugat – and had already lost their opening League Cup match 4-0 at home to Pecs. They came to our Tiszaligeti Stadion in a defensive frame of mind and managed to steal a point in a 0-0 draw. Paks did have all the luck though as Pinter had what seemed to be a perfectly good goal unfairly ruled out for offside after 40 minutes. We also twice struck the woodwork through second half free-kicks from Marijan. 15.09.2012 v. Ujpest II (h) 1-0 The B team for top league side Ujpest were our visitors in a frustrating match that we controlled, but one where we just couldn’t convert our chances. Despite the efforts of Kocsis and Zsolnai in particular it took a 40th minute penalty from our veteran skipper Antal to break the deadlock after Lengyel had questionably gone down perhaps just outside the penalty area. That turned out to be the game’s only goal and the ensuing 1-0 win kept our perfect record intact. 22.09.2012 v. Bekescsaba (a) 5-2 Away at Bekescsaba we finally got it right as the goals flowed in a performance that had me smiling from ear to ear. Wittredi scored the opener with a fine run from just inside his own half before cleverly clipping the ball over the sprawling keeper after 29 minutes. The home side did equalise through Laurinyecz five minutes later, but centre-half Papp restored our lead in the 37th minute with a fine header from a Marijan corner. We went into the break 3-1 up after Zsolnai finished well from a tight angle in the 44th minute. Our lead went out to 4-1 early in the second half as Kocsis raced clear and finished calmly after 51 minutes. Papp then had the misfortune to head into his own net after 57 minutes to pull it back to 4-2, but the on-loan centre-half redeemed himself in the 80th minute by heading on his second goal to make the final score 5-2 to Szolnok. 29.09.2012 v. Baja (h) 2-2 Baja are the only team to have beaten us so far this season – that was in the Hungarian Cup – and they came close to achieving that again. Just like in that earlier cup match Baja scored from the penalty-spot through Zahorecz after Tortei fouled Szauter in the 8th minute. We came back to dominate the play, but our equaliser didn’t arrive until the 51st minute as our half-time substitute Szepessy strode clear to blast us level at 1-1. On a rare attack Baja retook the lead after 66 minutes as Toth saved well from Covic’s shot but Terjek was well placed to slot home the rebound. Again the team responded well, but it took until the 88th minute for the excellent Kocsis to rifle home an equaliser and snatch us a deserved point with a 2-2 draw. My preferred front three – David Kocsis (4 goals and 5 assists), David Wittredi (3 goals) and Robert Zsolnai (3 goals) – have all been excellent so far whilst midfielder Damir Marijan, defender Szilard Papp and keeper Robert Toth have also performed well in our unbeaten start to our league campaign. There’s still a long way to go yet, but I’m finally enjoying this journeyman save. Table: Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
B.W.G Posted July 29, 2012 Share Posted July 29, 2012 Very god start to the season so far. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SRL88 Posted July 29, 2012 Share Posted July 29, 2012 Cracking start. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.