FM13 - Like Icarus to the Sun, the rise and (hopefully) rise of Jozef Prochazka

[b101]

November 2016 - Sporting Lokeren

Domestic:

A slight change to the format of this (belated) update, as it seems to make sense to have a separate European section, like so many other threads. In any case, domestically this was a slow month - Guerra's hat-trick secured a comfortable win over bottom of the table Beerschot, but he then proceeded to go on a barren run for the rest of the month. Granted, there were some tough fixtures here, but we should be doing better; the 1-0 loss to Genk was deserved and had been coming for a while. Then came the most bizarre game against KV Mechelen, with a scent of match-fixing about it... A 0-0 draw against Anderlecht was disappointing but fair before a sole Marilia strike gave us the points over a Vizé side who are well above expectations. We remain first, with a small cushion over Anderlecht - but badly need some reinforcements in January as there are a lot of very tired legs at the moment!

League Table:

---

Champions League:

A 1-0 win over Liverpool and two harsh losses had left us bottom of the group at the end of October, needing a miracle to pull anything out of it. We took the lead in Italy through a Franca header, but Juve pegged us back and scored twice in the final three minutes to give us another hard lesson about the level of the Champions League. We then went away to Liverpool and actually outplayed them. Our golden chance came through Guerra, but he missed a 70th minute penalty. Happily for us, Franca rounded Reina in the last minute to snatch all three points and put us into third, and the Europa League spot! However, things were soon to get even better with the visit of group leaders Porto. Knowing that a win could put us into the top two, whilst a loss wouldn't definitely mean bottom spot, we went all out and took the lead with a neat finish from that man Franca, before a Guerra strike from a rebound put us two up. Thankfully, Porto kept passing it to Iturbe and Banega, who would send piledriver after piledriver into Row Z. They got better after the break, but my concern was all on the match in Turin, where we needed Liverpool to take points off Juve. Juve went 1-0 up in the 48th minute, but were pegged back by a Coates (now at Juve) own goal - and so it stayed! Lokeren, somehow, had finished second!!!

Champions League Group:

---

Man of the Month:

In a poor attacking month for us (exemplified by a 3-0 win in which we scored none of the goals), the main man had to be a defender. Xuxa has been outstanding at the back and a major improvement on De Bock's somewhat haphazard approach to clearing the ball. Reliable and ever-improving!

[b101]

So, aside from me, how many people saw this one coming?

The full draw:

[b101]

December 2016 - Sporting Lokeren

Domestic:

The lack of Champions League fixtures this month was a welcome relief as fatigue has been plaguing the squad - particularly the front two. The sole draw against Brugge was entirely due to this - at 2-0 up, with 65 minutes played, I rested a shattered Xuxa and our DMC to shuffle a few non-starters in and keep us fresh. One of them (a terrible youth striker), gave away a penalty from a corner, and they then scored from another corner, with the ball rebounding off the bar, onto Perticarari, and into the net. Ugh. On the plus side, we then won our next four games comfortably (much more so than the scorelines suggest) whilst Anderlecht struggled to a number of draws, giving us a nice 8 point lead going into Christmas.

League Table:

---

Man of the Month:

We haven't exactly set the world alight recently, but Franca keeps popping up with the odd goal. He still misses more than I'd like, but he's definitely getting there - just need that pace to become dangerous and he'll outstrip where Vukusic was when he left us.

[b101]

January 2017 - Sporting Lokeren

Transfer News:

Quite a few ins and outs, which I'll let the news feed summarise.

---

Our new arrivals:

Van der Vloet has been signed for two reasons. Firstly, he's one of the highest rated Belgian prospects around and can cover a number of positions. Secondly, I'm fed up with having to field rubbish youth on the bench to meet the Belgian trainee quota of 6 players... might as well have a useful player. Jaime has been signed by our Director of Football, and certainly looks decent if his composure and first touch can be pushed up a bit.

Domestic:

We were excellent against Standard and rubbish against Zulte. Leaves a bitter taste in the mouth, so we'll move on quickly!

League Table:

---

Man of the Month:

Franca scored all our goals this month. End of.

[b101]

February 2017 - Sporting Lokeren

Domestic:

The main focus this month was always going to be the huge match with Barcelona, but we did pretty well in the league too. The first game against Sint-Truiden was a bit frustrating - Vinicius prodded home his only goal of the season, but other than that we just couldn't score - Franca being the main culprit, wasting lots of chances. For the next game against Cercle Brugge, I swapped in a lot of fresh legs ahead of the big European game and we ran riot with no fewer than five different scorers - including a first goal for Len Van der Vloet (love that name...). After the Barca game, we had another tough match with Anderlecht and a draw was probably a fair result. Finally, a tweak to the formation resulted in another big win, this time over Mouscron and a pleasing return to the side for Franca, who had been injured since the first match of the month.

League Table:

---

Champions League:

Whilst it would be ridiculous to say that this was the only match that mattered this month, it was by far and away the most important; so much so that the game was moved from Daknam to a larger stadium (take note please Lokeren board!). I didn't really know how to approach this match and decided on a similar philosophy - attack! This wasn't necessarily the worst option, as we looked threatening, and whilst they had a lot of the ball, they were only really passing it around 25 yards out. A comedy of errors resulted in Ugochukwu heading into his own net under no pressure whatsoever, but Marilia would go on to equalise with a well-struck shot from the edge of the area after 23 minutes. We would go into half time 2-1 behind though, Messi grabbing possession 25 yards out from a corner, dancing his way to the byeline and cutting back for their £44m striker to slot home. A few tweaks at half time and a lot of encouragement later, and Rodrigo Guerra found himself 10 yards out to drive the ball home from a Marilia cutback. 2-2 it would finish, and that's not a bad result at all.

---

Man of the Month:

Marilia has been key to all of our good play this month and was man of the match in the Barca game. He's currently playing at Left mid to accommodate Diallo in CM, but I may swap formations a bit to put him at AMC next season. All fun and games!

[B.W.G]

Good to see your still going strong in Belgium.Also,that is a very creditable draw against Barcelona,hopefully the away leg won't be too bad.

[AK22]

That's a commendable draw against Barcelona. Just need to win in Camp Nou now

[b101]

March 2017 - Sporting Lokeren

Domestic:

March is always the month when Belgium goes quiet, and this is no exception. The Beerschot game was our last of the league proper, with Guerra making short work of them. This was a precursor to an abysmal performance against Visé. We were unspeakably poor, and the 2-1 scoreline was totally deserved. We cannot afford this given that we only had a six point advantage going into this group stage...

Championship Group:

---

Champions League:

Again, this was the big match of this month, and we just came up short. We were actually heading through for over 40 minutes thanks to a Franca header, but eventually the Barcelona pressure told. Their first goal through Fabregas was a debatable offside, and the others were two rebounds - a bit frustrating, but they did deserve it over the two legs. Even so, I'm very proud with how we performed and didn't disgrace ourselves in any way.

---

Man of the Month:

Franca doesn't seem to want to show his face, but again, he's been our star player over these few games. Clearly our best striker and becoming one of the hottest prospects in Europe, crowning it with a goal in the Camp Nou.

[b101]

Good to see your still going strong in Belgium.Also,that is a very creditable draw against Barcelona,hopefully the away leg won't be too bad.

That's a commendable draw against Barcelona. Just need to win in Camp Nou now

Cheers guys, sadly it wasn't quite to be, but definite progress being made in Belgium!

[deltablue]

Tough luck against Barca.

[iHeadHunta x]

Tough luck against Barca.

Agreed, unlucky mate!

[b101]

April 2017 - Sporting Lokeren

Domestic:

A tough month in the Championship Group, this one, and not overly aided by my decision to change formation halfway through the month based on the simple fact that I want Guerra, Franca and Villegas to play together. Two quick goals saw off Genk, before the latest of late goals, deep into Jozef time, saw us take a vital three points away from Brugge. And then came the slump. A 1-1 draw at home to Kortrijk was bad enough, but we then followed that with a 2-1 loss away at rivals Anderlecht. We dominated Visé, and finished the month somehow drawing at home to Genk, conceding from two set pieces. Frustrating, but still all to play for!

Championship Group:

---

The run-in:

These are pretty comparable, and it looks like it might well come down to the very last game... Exciting!

Our last three fixtures:

Anderlecht's last three fixtures:

Man of the Month:

The Brazilian just doesn't want to let this award go. Five goals this month is another fantastic return, and he just edges out Diallo as this month's star performer.

[b101]

May 2017 - Sporting Lokeren

Results:

Well, we made tough work of this. A home loss to Brugge put Anderlecht in front in the title race for the first time in the season. The new system was looking good, but we were struggling to finish off our chances. A routine win over Kortrijk followed, before the game which would define our season. In spite of having won more games over the season, the fact that our points were halved before the Championship Group meant that we needed to win to secure the title. We were knocking on the door for most of the first half, with them mostly threatening from long range. Thankfully, Marilia broke the deadlock just after half time with a snapshot from the edge of the area. On 71 minutes though, disaster struck - Diallo sent off for a second yellow. However, five minutes before the end, we countered, with Marilia cutting in from the left to lay the ball on a plate for Franca, who nodded home. Still, we couldn't do it the easy way - they pulled one back immediately leading to a nervy last 5 minutes. We held on though, to make it two titles in a row!

Players of the Season:

Xuxa - Ugochukwu's new partner at the back proved a great addition, giving our defence a bit more muscle.

Bonaventure Diallo - Another superlative season from our midfield engine. Continues to develop too, and the new formation should bring out the best in him.

Rodrigo Guerra - Yet another player who had a great season, it really showed when he was injured in the run-in.

Franca - Topped Vukusic's scoring record with 30 goals across all competitions. An excellent front man, and one I plan to make even more dangerous.

Marilia - Still yet to find his best, the Brazilian is an outstanding player on his day. Just needs a bit more space created for him and I'm sure he'll run riot.

Overall thoughts:

Phew! We just crept over the line, but it was far too close for comfort, with Anderlecht pushing us all the way. Shows that we can't afford to become complacent in the league and that there are still areas of the squad to strengthen. That being said, our European adventure was awesome - breaking out of a group containing Porto, Juventus and Liverpool then taking Barcelona the distance before eventually succumbing to a 3-1 loss in the Camp Nou. Not bad Mr Prochazka!

|Season  | Club         | Country | Division      | Pos   | Other                                  | 
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|2011-12 | Curicó Unido | Chile   | Primera B     | 2nd   | promoted                               |
|2012-13 | Curicó Unido | Chile   | Primera       | 2nd   | playoff semi, resigned                 |
|2013-14 | Lokeren      | Belgium | Jupiler Pro   | 10th* | won European Qualifying Group          | *took over in December, 12th
|2014-15 | Lokeren      | Belgium | Jupiler Pro   | 3rd   | 5th in League, 3rd in Champ. Group     | 
|2015-16 | Lokeren      | Belgium | Jupiler Pro   | 1st   | won league and cup double              | 
|2016-17 | Lokeren      | Belgium | Jupiler Pro   | 1st   | Reached Champions League 1st Knockout  | 

[AcidBurn]

Good performance against Barcelona, do you find the league split a bit annoying?

[b101]

Yep, especially when you consider that - had I drawn against Anderlecht, they would have won the league in spite of earning 5 points fewer than us. I just think that it's a far fairer system to have the league calculated over the season as a whole.

[AK22]

Nothing straight forward in Belgium

[b101]

A couple of interesting bits of news post-season:

A good fee for him, although he has been playing very well. As a result, this also led to the next news item:

There is bigger news yet to come though, having loaded up a number of new leagues (Italy, Germany, Spain, England and France), there were a number of jobs that I had my eye on, but there was one standout...

[deltablue]

At least you got it in the end.

[b101]

Season 2017/8 - Stade Rennais

Rennes is a club that I've always wanted to manage on FM, mostly due to their exceptional youth and training facilities that has seen them produce some brilliant regens on some of my past games. As a result, when I saw them fire their manager (shortly after he bought Marilia from me), I applied for the job as soon as possible - after a tense 10 day period waiting for the league to load on the 20th June! France should be a nice change as I've never managed there properly and the squad is quite well-placed for a top 4 finish. They finished third last season, and to top it all off, have just completed the pre-arranged signing of one of my favourite players - Gokhan Inler. The long-term aim will be to topple PSG... bring on the challenge!

---

The squad:

The squad seems well-balanced, and at first glance there doesn't seem to be much wrong with it. I'd like to get another speedy striker in, and maybe another big centre back, but otherwise all looks well. There are some standout players, however. Obviously, Marilia will be key to my plans, but these three look very useful as well.

• DRC - Walid Derouiche
  
• DMRC - Nir Biton
  
• ST - Paupol Ngoyi

Additionally, there are a lot of good (3x 4.5* potential and 7x 4* potential) youngsters in the squad. The future is looking good...

[AcidBurn]

Great move, good luck!

[B.W.G]

Best of luck in France

[AK22]

Good luck with Rennes!

[deltablue]

Really didn't want to be apart from Marilia did you?

[b101]

Best of luck in France

Good luck with Rennes!

Great move, good luck!

Thanks all, really excited at the prospect of bringing through a number of new players!

Really didn't want to be apart from Marilia did you?

Nope!

Not just him either...

[JackJCFC]

Done very well in Belgium, looking forward to seeing you in France. Already raiding you former club!

[b101]

Pre-Season 2017/8 - Stade Rennais

Transfers:

There was a lot of dead wood to shift here, with a huge number of average players on over £30k per week. This was the reason that accounted for every departure in July - earning us a healthy £27m in the process. Naturally, my focus was still to bring in young players for the future whilst, as a couple of you have spotted, raiding Lokeren for some of my previously-acquired best talents.

Those coming in:

• Daniel Wegner - DRC - Very young, but shows good potential, even if those mental stats need a lot of work...
  
• Gokhan Inler - DMC/MC - A pre-arranged transfer, but one I'm very happy with. Should add some quality and composure to our midfield play.
  
• Lennart Hartmann - DMC/MC - Has the 'Arrives Late in Box' PPM. That's the only reason for this and it's easy to see why.
  
• Walber - DMC/MC - Lokeren's Brazilian holding mid was the first name on my list of transfer targets
  
• Jérémy Ménez - AMRL - We needed a winger, and he was available for £27k p/week wages. A no-brainer.
  
• Alfredo Cortellini - AMC - I scouted a lot of youngsters and settled on Cortellini as my AMC (long term plan is for Marilia to go to AML and cut in. I think I may have got a steal here.
  
• Marília - AMC - Part of the reason why I'm here really. Continues to develop well and I'm convinced he'll become an incredible player.
  
• Gianluigi Fortina - AMC - This lad will probably end up as a striker, but those stats at 16 were too good to pass up on! Lots of heavy work on pace I think!
  
• Júnior - ST - Santos pushed for a lot of money, but he looks the real deal - can't spot any issues with his stats at the moment, and he has 3 1/2 stars of potential yet to fill. Scary!

---

The tactic:

A slight change from the Lokeren days, but there's a lot to like here. Júnior will need a bit of retraining to make the Inside Left position his own, but he's got all the skills to make it there. Marília drops a little deeper to form a double pivot with Inler, whilst the defensive core is centred around Walber, Kana-Biyik and Lucas. Our full backs are very good, and we have another excellent left back in Ngata who is a more defensive option than Diego Renan. This will probably require a lot of tweaking as pre-season is never that helpful really... Still, a good start.

One final note from Belgium:

Very happy with this - Here's hoping they're in safe hands.

[b101]

August 2017 - Stade Rennais

Fixtures:

One of my worst months in this career so far. After a very good pre-season, nothing clicked in the league, with the team looking lost for ideas. The opening game away at Le Mans should have been winnable (although they are quite good now), but they scored late on. Can't say it was undeserved though. Then came the real killer, a 1-1 home draw with Lens, who had one shot after Diego Renan (who has been terrible so far) gave away a needless penalty. Although Ngoyi equalised late on, we again looked toothless up front. Thankfully we drew minnows Astra in the Champions League qualifier who proved cannon fodder, sandwiching a 4-2 away loss at PSG who were just better man-for-man than we were. With a home match against Le Havre next up, we desperately need three points and more than anything, a good performance!

[b101]

September 2017 - Stade Rennais

What a great start to the month. Couldn't have been any worse and probably means we'll finish bottom, especially with the run of form we've been on. Sunderland, incidentally, have just won the Premiership with a team including Adam Johnson. Football eh?

Fixtures:

A definite improvement, although we aren't making things easy for ourselves! We were two goals up against Le Havre and tried to bottle it before sealing a priceless 3-2 victory to take us out of the relegation zone! A tough 1-1 draw away at Saint Etienne was merited before another 1-1 draw against CSKA. The main theme this month has been that we've played much better than the results suggest... which I suppose is a good thing. I worry that we aren't quite creating enough, but I'm sure that will come. Finally, we edged out Bordeaux at home, again going 2-0 up before an own goal from keeper Santos made the second half a slightly nervy affair. Still, the game in hand should hopefully see us into the top half. That being said, it is against Lyon...

Man of the Month:

Ngoyi has had a great start to the season, but we do rely on him more than perhaps we should. The two inside forwards really need to step up and help him more, although he's doing pretty well on his own!

[iHeadHunta x]

Great start mate, keep it up!

[b101]

October 2017 - Stade Rennais

Fixtures:

Domestically, great. Continentally, atrocious. A double from Ngoyi saw off Lyon, with both sides being reduced to 10 men. We thoroughly deserved this, and whilst we aren't slaughtering teams, we only tend to be conceding as a result of mistakes. Weirdly, I take this as sort of a good sign. We then endured a painful game at Sunderland, being the better team by far, yet conceding three times in the last 10 minutes with two mistakes from keeper Rafael Santos, who was promptly dropped. Replacement Assembe kept a clean sheet at Sochaux to earn us a point, then another as we eased past Lorient. We were abject, as expected, against Barca, but a win over Le Mans in the Cup and another Ligue 1 victory at Auxerre saw out a great month, leaving us well-placed in the league - great news considering that we've not even come close to hitting top form.

Man of the Month:

To be honest, this should still be Ngoyi, but I have to find a way to give it to someone else. Junior has had a tough start to his career at Rennes, but 2 goals in the last 2 games suggests that he might be finally learning the Inside Forward role I have him earmarked for. Just needs to score more regularly really!

[b101]

November 2017 - Stade Rennais

Fixtures:

We exited the Champions League with a whimper, in spite of a spirited 1-1 draw against Barcelona. Whilst the team held up well domestically during the transitional period in which I meddled with the tactics, the better teams on the continent sussed us out, and to be honest, I'm not too concerned by this. The wins in Ligue 1 were pleasing though, especially the greater attacking intent demonstrated by our 6-3 win over Marseille. That being said, we only seem to be conceding three types of goals at the moment: own goals (lots), penalties (lots), and centre backs not clearing the ball (enough to annoy me). The 3-0 win over Lens sent us to a Semi Final with PSG... ugh. We then crumpled at Caen inexplicably, before the inevitable 1-0 loss to CSKA meaning we would remain rock-bottom no matter what we did in our final game against Sunderland.

Man of the Month:

Júnior was obviously spurred on by October's somewhat unjust Player of the Month award and has made it two in a row with a series of excellent performances as he adapts to his new role cutting in from the left. The obvious highlight was his hat-trick in the crazy game against Marseille - more of the same please!

[B.W.G]

Doing quite well,can't say I'm too surprised that P.S.G are looking so strong.

[AK22]

Bit mixed at times, but win your games in hand and you'll be right in the race for second

[b101]

Doing quite well,can't say I'm too surprised that P.S.G are looking so strong.

Yeah, their team is fairly scary:

GK: Sirigu

DR: Corchia

DC: Sakho

DC: Thiago Silva

DL: Alex Sandro

MC: Agyei

MC: M'Vila

MC: Nainggolan

AMC: Lucas Moura

AMC: Pastore

ST: Javier Hernandez

And then there's the host of £10m + players on the bench. Ugh

Bit mixed at times, but win your games in hand and you'll be right in the race for second

Cheers, we've been a lot better recently, but should improve further once all the new signings have gelled

[b101]

December 2017 - Stade Rennais

Fixtures:

We still look far from invincible, but strong showings against 2nd placed Lille and Toulouse early in the month demonstrated the quality that is there in the squad. The loss to Montpellier was bitterly disappointing - we were comfortable until the ridiculous sending off of Ngoyi after a dive from one of their players; they then went on to score in the final minute. I then rested almost everyone for the visit of Sunderland... and it showed. Happily though, we edged past Stade Reims thanks to two more goals from a rejuvenated Marilia, meaning that we end the month in a good place.

Man of the Month:

An excellent month from our playmaking centre mid sees Marilia grab this month's award. He is a fantastic talent, and I'm trying desperately to nudge his creativity and flair up to 16 before working on the composure to make him a truly outstanding player. 4 goals this month though suggests that he is on the right track!

[deltablue]

Decent shot for a CL place with 1-2 games in hand.

[b101]

January 2018 - Stade Rennais

Transfer News:

One major move for us, with Eduardo Anderson joining for a fee of £5.5m. I had been tracking him for ages and he requested a transfer in November. With the end of his contract approaching, it seemed a good time to pick him up. Should bolster our attacking options nicely.

However, our board immediately decided that they didn't like this idea of spending money, taking this (quite drastic) action! Not sure I approve...

The final piece of transfer news came from just across the border, and genuinely brought a smile to my face.

---

Results:

A solid win over Monaco was spearheaded by Ngoyi, who was back to his best. We did extraordinarily well to hold PSG into extra time and could have won it in the final minutes, but their class told as our legs ran out. Still, a semi final is an excellent performance. We faced a double-header against Troyes and won the one I wanted, before exiting our second cup in as many weeks. A frustrating draw with Lens followed before we held PSG for another 90 minutes. Quite a good performance in a very tough month.

League Table:

---

Man of the Month:

The hat-trick against Monaco saw him back at his best, seeing Ngoyi back with this award.

[JackJCFC]

Going well in the league so far, PSG obviously out of reach but the fight for 2nd is on!

[B.W.G]

Going strong in the league,hopefully you can clinch 2nd place.

[AK22]

Definitely going to be a good race for second!

[b101]

February 2018 - Stade Rennais

Fixtures:

This month started off well, with an excellent performance against lowly Le Havre keeping us in touch with Lille in the battle for second spot. We then hosted a strong Saint Etienne outfit, but two neat goals from Junior and Ngoyi gave us another priceless three points. In the next game, however, we started to stutter, with a last minute Saivet goal handing Bordeaux victory. We missed an opportunity to stake a big claim for second with an unfortunate draw against Lille, before repeating the same scoreline in Lyon. Not bad from a tough month, but we'd have hoped for better.

Man of the Month:

Another purple patch for Júnior this month with four goals in five games ensuring his presence here for the fourth time this season. The problem is still that he can go totally missing in matches though, and we really need him to become a bit more consistent.

[b101]

Going well in the league so far, PSG obviously out of reach but the fight for 2nd is on!

Going strong in the league,hopefully you can clinch 2nd place.

Definitely going to be a good race for second!

Cheers all. PSG look invincible, but I'm definitely hoping for second. We've been far from perfect, but seem to be hanging on in there

[b101]

March 2018 - Stade Rennais

Fixtures:

We finally made our bid for second spot this month, with a number of games against teams in the bottom half. The opening 2-0 win over Sochaux was comfortable, which was a good effort against a decent side. Next, we struggled to a 1-1 draw at Lorient, finding it hard to get into gear. With Ngoyi suspended, reserve striker Abdoulaye Sané scored the only goal with a drive from the edge of the area to see off Monaco. We then had a very bizarre double-header against Evian TG. First time around, we conceded after 8 minutes and proceeded to do everything but score. Enter Gokhan Inler - the second-half substitute scoring two late strikes before Júnior smashed in a free-kick to secure the win. In the return fixture, we quickly went ahead through Júnior, before Ngoyi made it comfortable, despite a late free-kick from their striker. Finally, we played host to Auxerre and again, we struck first. They then equalised early in the second half, before our centre-back Rafael Lucas was harshly sent off. However, we laughed last, with Inler again popping up to lay a neat ball across the box for Júnior to give us a vital three points.

Youth Intake:

We've done pretty well here, thanks to the outstanding facilities here. As you may recall, I really want to bring through a lot of young prospects, and so it's good to see we'll have the chance, with Salaun looking particularly impressive. Ramos may eventually make the cut, but I have doubts about Mathieu.

Johann Salaun - DC, 5* potential

Serge Ramos - AML, 4* potential

Roland Mathieu - DMC, 4* potential

---

Man of the Month:

Júnior seems to have responded to my demands for consistency, scoring another three this month. Hopefully he can keep this form going into the final seven games of the season.

[JackJCFC]

Recovered well from the drop in form the previous month. Got a nice 3 point bumper now.

Those youths don't have great mental stats do they

[b101]

Recovered well from the drop in form the previous month. Got a nice 3 point bumper now.

Those youths don't have great mental stats do they

They are just awful aren't they? Hopefully a bit of tutoring should sort it but still...

[b101]

April 2018 - Stade Rennais

Fixtures:

I mentioned the game against Auxerre in last month's update, and we continued our excellent form with an outstanding win away in Marseille thanks to a late strike from Gokhan Inler after yet another ridiculous red card, this time for Derouiche... A 3-1 win over Caen followed, with a surprising double from Ménez giving us the win before Júnior wrapped it up with a free-kick. Frustratingly, we then blew our 3 point gap with a poor loss away at Toulouse, in which we just couldn't get the ball on target. Our last four fixtures are all winnable, although there is one tough game against Montpellier to negotiate. We'll need Lille to drop points somewhere though, and their toughest games are away at Monaco and Auxerre, although we've seen that Evian are no pushover.

Man of the Month:

Marilia pulled the strings this month, particularly in the win over Caen, and also scored against Marseille.

[b101]

May 2018 - Stade Rennais

Fixtures:

With four games to play, we were effectively one point behind Lille on goal difference, mostly due to the free-scoring nature of their striker Ishak Belfodil (who would go on to win the European Golden Boot with 30 goals). This meant that our draw to Montpellier came as a hammer-blow, with Júnior's goal quickly cancelled out, whilst Lille beat Lorient 5-4 thanks to a 92nd minute strike from Nolan Roux, putting them 2 points and 11 goals clear. Then we hit rock bottom against Reims, losing pitifully to the bottom team in the league. Thankfully, Lille had a tougher game, away at Monaco, and also lost 1-0 to keep the gap as it was. We then overhauled them in the next match; as Lille lost at home to Evian, we put 3 past Troyes thanks to a superb performance from Ngoyi. This meant that equalling Lille's result in the final game would secure second spot. Lille took the lead against Auxerre early on, whilst it took us a little longer before Ngoyi got in on the act once more - another double giving us second spot.

Players of the Season:

The spine of our team was solid, if unspectacular, with the main players that have impressed being the wingers and striker. So, here they are:

Third Place: Walid Derouiche

Walid Derouiche had a great season at centre back, forming a great partnership with Rafael Lucas. Should continue to improve for a number of years yet.

Second Place: Marília and Júnior

Our Brazilian contingent played very well this season, with Marília pulling the strings in the centre of midfield, and Júnior cutting in from wide to score a number of goals for us. Hopefully they can both kick on and get even better as they settle into life in France.

First Place: Paupol Ngoyi

I'm still not convinced I've found his perfect role yet, but it's hard to argue with the number of goals he scored this season; Paupol Ngoyi had a fantastic year. Hopefully he will stay next season, with a number of clubs sniffing around the predator.

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The first of our new recruits arrived in the form of keeper Djamel Aiche. Given that I only have £1m to play with after the board slashed our budgets last year, there probably won't be much happening unless someone big comes in for Ngoyi.

And on a final note, we are soon to be re-united with an old friend... Can't say I'm looking forward to seeing him that much though!

[deltablue]

Excellent 2nd. PSG look miles ahead of anyone else though.

[B.W.G]

Congrats on the 2nd placed finish,good luck in trying to bring people in on a reduced budget!

[b101]

Pre-Season 2018/19 - Stade Rennais

State of Play:

In order to consolidate on last season's second placed finish, we would have to sell before buying after the board yanked the budgets out from under us last Christmas. Happily, Rennes have a lot of fringe players that are valued quite highly and I don't mind getting rid of. As a result, we said goodbye to backup striker Sané, backup keeper Assembe, average 21 year-old Braun and elder statesman Adrien, whilst bringing in a few more youngsters and the aforementioned Aiche.

Transfers In:

As mentioned in the last update, keeper Djamel Aiche was our first recruit, with Assembe leaving to free up some wages and first team space. He looks young, with bags of potential and is someone my scouts rated very highly. Consequently, I made my interest know in about March, and he refused to sign a new contract. So here he is on a free transfer - great news given our financial strife!

Our next recruit is a very exciting one, with Kazuma Nakai joining from Osaka for a fee of £7.5m. There's certainly a touch of the Kagawas about him, with the huge work ethic and two-footed nature being two of the major reasons I wanted him. Additionally, he also has a lot of potential left to fill, and I'm hoping that he can make the right wing spot his own this season. He might need a bit more time than usual to settle in, but my hope is that he'll develop quickly.

Finally, we add two exciting youth prospects for the future. You may remember that last season I brought in two young AMCs in Fortina and Cortellini, and further down the line, I'd like to make a formation with 3 AMCs work. As a result, I've added two more exciting AMCs this season, and they seem to make by far the best regens in my save. The first, Sebastian Rashwan, arrives from Werder Bremen for £3m and is a bit of a set piece specialist. As always, there's a lot of potential to fill, and I'll be making his finishing a top priority.

The next and possibly most exciting AMC to grace our youth side is a young lad from Saint Etienne by the name of Jimmy Brossard. Already blessed with some excellent mental attributes, he also shows some raw pace and decent technical stats as well. Whilst a tad selfish, he looks like he could make an outstanding Inside Forward in our future attacking midfield trio, and I'll get him tutored by Marilia as soon as possible to raise those attributes yet further. If our Youth team don't win this season, it'll be absurd.

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Other News:

Two more incidents of note occurred this summer. For the first, I will let the screenshot do the talking...

And as for the second, I have finally returned to the International fold. With the best team in the world, no less!