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

[DazRTaylor]

I had a brilliant time managing Lokeren in FM12. Once you get your head around the mental league split in Belgium, it is a fun place.

[b101]

August 2014 - Sporting Lokeren

Transfers:

The initial budget of £440k didn't excite me too much, but I scoured the market nonetheless. However, the big sale of star player Nill De Pauw for £3.3m freed (no pun intended) me up to start restructuring the squad. Mostly, I think we've done pretty well, but judge for yourselves!

• Logan Bailly - GK. The most high profile of our signings, and should be an able stopper to replace last year's loanee Coozemans.
  
• Wim Claus - D/WBR. Following the exit of De Roover on a freebie, this was desperately needed. Probably isn't ready just yet, but I can shift Galitzios over in the meantime.
  
• Ahmed Ugochukwu - DRLC. Aside from the awesome name, the big Nigerian brings us a great deal of options at the back, and has quite a bit of potential to fill (if you believe my Assistant. Which I don't).
  
• Vinícius - DLC. Another centre back was desperately needed, as this was by far the weakest area of the squad. Vinícius isn't going to set the world alight, but he'll do as a stop gap.
  
• Bonaventure Diallo - MC. One of the 'big money' signings, Diallo looks like a great Box-to-Box midfielder in the making. There's a few areas for improvement, but generally looks very good.
  
• Adam Dudas - M/AMR. Basically brought in for cover, but should do a decent enough job.
  
• Abdallah Yaisien - M/AMRC. A decent loan signing that should help replace Badibanga on the wing (not that Ziguy was ever anything other than a very fast headless chicken). Should be a good outlet.
  
• Rodrigo Guerra - ST. Couldn't say no to this lad on a free, although there is certainly work needed on those hideous mentals and passing. Excited by the 19 for flair though!
  

Finally, with the new ability to scout the World, I also managed to sew up a few future transfers thanks to low-ish release fees and a very good Brazilian scout. Exciting much?!

• Marília - M/AMC. (£1m) A really great find, he has outstanding attributes for a 16 year old - just the creativity to improve and he'll be frightening.
  
• Walber - DMC. (£575k) Another who would walk straight into my team already, this lad has a great spread of attributes and a wealth of improvement left.
  

Results:

A very frustrating start to this season. After the great end to last year, I thought we'd step up and start flying. The Getafe game just came a little too soon for us as the restructuring was nowhere near finished. We actually outplayed them in the away leg, conceding a long ranger early on. We pressed and pressed, finally getting our reward with a penalty in the 82nd minute for a handball from their CB. Omar Wade (on as a sub after moaning constantly that he wants to play) typically put it straight at Moya. They then scored from a corner a minute later, the same CB heading home. Although we won in the return leg, the damage was done - the only highlight being Vukusic's two good strikes. In the midst of this, we contrived to lose 2-1 at home to newly promoted Mouscron. Strangely, we weren't playing that badly and so I wasn't massively worried. A 1-1 draw away at Genk was lucky, they had 20 shots, although very few of any worth. Another Vukusic goal saw off Zulte to give us our first league win of the season before we finished with two more losses against Anderlecht and newly promoted Leuven. Against Leuven we were crap, but we actually bested Anderlecht - their goals coming from a mistake from Bailly and a free-kick. Ugh.

In all honesty, these results don't reflect the performances, and I'm sure it's just because the new signings are yet to gel. 13th never looks good though.

[b101]

September 2014 - Sporting Lokeren

Results:

There was only one way to go after a bleak August, and it was all change at Lokeren. Harbaoui had an astounding month, scoring 4 goals, whilst we also saw the first of (hopefully) many for Guerra against Kortrijk. In all honesty, this should have been three wins from three, but we allowed Kortrijk two very sloppy goals. It all clicked against 4th placed Beerschot though, with 4-0 not flattering us in the slightest. I feel I'm starting to get to grips with this squad, and hopefully things will go from strength to strength in the next few months.

[b101]

Former Club Watch:

Curicó Unido (managed 2012/13)

2013 - 4th (2nd in Apertura, 10th in Clausura). No, I still have no idea how this league works.

[b101]

October 2014 - Sporting Lokeren

Results:

We opened this month (a slow one in sleepy Belgium) with a game away at bottom placed Waasland. Helpfully, top scorer Hamdaoui got himself sent off for an elbow after two minutes which didn't exactly help (he would go on to be banned for a further two games). However, a neat volley from Diallo and a late strike from sub striker Guerra saw us sneak away with the points. I'm not exactly sure what went wrong against Mechelen. Suffice to say that they took their chances, whereas we didn't. Really need a striker of genuine quality - Guerra and Vukusic are a bit too young to carry the team on their own. Finally, we cruised past Tournai in the Belgian Cup - my first experience of the competition having joined midway through last season.

[b101]

November 2014 - Sporting Lokeren

Results:

A flawless month which looks great at first viewing, but even better when you realise who we actually faced in this run of games, with our little bunch putting Anderlecht, Gent, Genk and Bruges to the sword. We started with the easiest looking of the bunch, a game against middling Charleroi. A first goal for Ugochukwu set us on our way, with Guerra adding another late goal from the bench to make the scoreline more comfortable. We then travelled to leaders Gent, and took an early lead thanks to a great run from Jenniker to set up Vukusic for a tap-in. An own-goal from Brockaert within 10 minutes made things even better. They would go on to pull it back to 2-1, then 3-2, but we thoroughly deserved the win with confidence starting to flow throughout the team. I weakened the team slightly for our trip to Anderlecht, but we played outstandingly to triumph 4-0. The last three goals added a bit of shine to the result given that Anderlecht were throwing everything at us, but the win was totally merited.

We then produced a routine win away at Cercle Brugge before the absolute destruction of Mouscron at their place. I've even uploaded the video, I'm that proud. Also, well worth checking out the Vukusic goal in it's entirety for some Barcelona-esque play out of defence. We then really toughed it out against Club Brugge, but again the victory was totally deserved, with their goal coming from a corner (not that I've scored many of them....). Finally, we saw the Vukusic show as we came from a goal down to beat Genk 3-1. This run of wins takes us up into third, within striking distance of 1st. Not getting carried away, but this is going pretty well!

Boris Vukusic - bought for just £6k

Highlights:

[video=youtube;XjNd9wulKdY]

[video=youtube;ALimUdPKddc]

[JackJCFC]

Great work so far, your looking good to being the championship playoff.

[b101]

Great work so far, your looking good to being the championship playoff.

Thanks, that's definitely the aim for now, although December has proved to be tougher with a few injuries.

Wow that's good form. Interestingly, Lokeren are the only non-British side I've ever seen in the flesh.

I love the aims, I've already done the Bebe about 5 times!

Haha, the Bébé Achievement is a great justification for a hit and hope signing. I actually might have already completed it with Curicó actually - will need to go back and check. Edit: I signed Ilifo Ilonga for Curicó without knowing all of his attributes, but don't have a screenshot. Ho hum.

[b101]

December 2014 - Sporting Lokeren

Results:

The results look pretty poor compared to last month, but in fact they weren't totally surprising. Last month's Player of the Month Vukusic was injured during the opening game at Zulte, putting him out for 5 weeks, whilst Guerra was called up for international duty for this month as well. Nevertheless, we secured a gritty win at Zulte thanks to a 20 yarder from Diallo. We then faced Anderlecht at home and went 1-0 up early on, only for them to peg us back with a poor shot that Bailly really should have saved. We then sneaked past Sint Truiden, but the various injuries (add Yaisien, Riveros and Tolimir) meant that our attacking threat was greatly diluted. Guerra rejoined us for this one game, but jetted off again immediately afterwards - thankfully he scored an outstanding header to give us three valuable points. The dip in form this month had threatened then struck as a lagging squad failed to breach an average Leuven outfit. In the final league match, Marcos Riveros made two hideous backpasses straight to their striker. Hence 2-0. No real complaints as we were comfortably second best. In the midst of all this, we pulled out a very poor 2-2 draw against Sint Truiden leaving us a lot to do in the return leg.

----------

January Window opens:

Two new signings already, and another career aim completed with an FM legend joining the club. Sadly, it's not Sindre Loe Bing, Daniel Bierofka or Porcellis, but he should prove useful in the coming months as it strengthens a weak-ish position.

• Sherman Andrés Cardénas - Oh yes. Sherman may not retain all his FM07 might, but he's certainly good enough to add some skill to our right flank. With Dudás homesick, this could prove a very useful signing.
  
• França - Easy to work out what my philosophy is going to be with Lokeren. França will join the club in a year or so for a fee of £350k (those release clauses are amazing) as a probable first-teamer. Looks amazing already though!

Probably more to come in the summer, and it'll be interesting to see who we can grab on Bosmans.

[b101]

Another aside, this was a pleasing news item - evidently Prochazka hasn't gone unnoticed back in the old country.

Came second in the end to the Banik Ostrava manager. Still, there's next year!

[b101]

Hands down the most astounding signing that FM has ever brought me. Jozef Prochazka is rumoured to have broken a lot of items in his outburst of rage at this news item and has threatened to kill that darned Spaniard (Guardiola manages Man Utd now)

[DazRTaylor]

Bizarre signing.

[AK22]

After a slow start, good to see you recover. Just need to keep it going now

[b101]

January 2015 - Sporting Lokeren

Got a bit ahead of myself once again (surely a good sign!) so the league table will be missing for the January update. A few updates to come though

Results:

The assistant took charge for the needless friendly against Diest. He did quite well. Our patchy form in the league continued with a poor 2-0 loss away at Standard. We were a bit unlucky here, but this run typifies our young side; they just don't have the experience to turn it round or really dig in. We missed a chance to end the barren streak against Kortrijk, with Guerra spurning a glorious chance late on. Finally though, we got Vukusic back, who scored two to give us a valuable win against Beerschot. After the poor first leg performance, it wasn't totally surprising to see us exit the Cofidis Cup, but it seems a shame that we fell to such poor opposition having bested Anderlecht in the previous round. The month closed with another strong victory overly lowly Waasland.

[b101]

February 2015 - Sporting Lokeren

Results:

A very short month in contrast to January and we still aren't quite getting the breaks. Again, we were outplayed totally by KV Mechelen and the lack of squad depth is a bit of a worry at the moment. A great team goal from Ali Maalool secured a 1-1 home draw with Standard. The fact that I'm disappointed by draws against the top sides says a lot for how well we're doing this season. Finally, everything clicked in a 3-0 drubbing of Charleroi at the end of the month, with our strike duo both getting themselves on the score-sheet. We're pretty much destined for the Championship Playoff now, so it's basically a case of getting as many points on the board as possible so that there isn't too much of a gap between us and the others come the end of the season.

[b101]

March 2015 - Sporting Lokeren

This month started with a really interesting managerial appointment. This is Capdevila's first post, and it'll be fun to see what he does with a Genk team that are pretty much in freefall and underachieving massively.

Results:

Another short month with a nice international break. Typically Hamdaoui and Guerra are actually in Belgium now that we have no games... Still, we finished off the league in style, bar the 0-0 draw with high-flying Gent. Vukusic really ran riot in the last game with Cercle Brugge, giving us a welcome boost in both points and goal difference before the start of the Championship Group next month. It'll be tough, but if we get a few points on the board early on I'd back us to push for the top three. Hopefully, our strikers can stay fit from here on in as we looked lost without them back in January.

Final Table and Championship Group:

[b101]

April 2015 - Sporting Lokeren

Results:

A flying start saw us eat up the 5 point gap in the first two games, with Standard sent packing by Vukusic and two well-worked goals leading to a narrow win at surprise leaders KV Mechelen. Unfortunately I had no answer to Club Brugge's annoying 4-4-2 with two holding mids, and an error from Logan Bailly led to a simple goal for Tchité. This knocked our momentum slightly, and we couldn't quite see out the games against Anderlecht or Gent. Ideally, I'd have thought we could have beaten Gent, but conceded an annoying goal from one of those mazy dribbles. Still, we came back strongly, doing the double over Standard thanks to a late Diallo penalty. That goal was the difference between us being 3rd or 5th. This league is toight... toight like a toiger.

Championship Group:

In an ideal world, Gent and Brugge would draw. Our last four fixtures are Mechelen (h), Brugge (a), Anderlecht (h) and Gent (a). No room for error here, and we could easily finish anywhere in between 1st or 6th, it just depends which Lokeren side turns up.

[Astrix]

Cracking thread man!

Really good read!

[b101]

Cracking thread man!

Really good read!

Cheers pal, glad you're enjoying it!

Another reason to love Lokeren:

[video=youtube;3zzsIiYoc4Y]

[b101]

I'm starting to warm to this Championship Playoff idea. Look at how close this is with three games left!

[JackJCFC]

Some great results in the championship playoff, neve easy. Lets hope you can push on in your last 3 games, its very close!

[b101]

May 2015 - Sporting Lokeren

Results:

So, it all came down to the final four games, with the league insanely tight, we ideally needed at least 3 wins from a tough last four games to secure the title. We started out very well against KV Mechelen, dominating and taking a deserved early lead thanks to two headers from Vukusic. The one downside from this was Riveros picking up his 15th yellow of the season meaning that he would miss our last three matches. Unfortunately the next game against Club Brugge was a step too far. I actually overthought this one, trying to change my tactic to stop them rather than simply going out and playing our game. I really struggle against their deep 4-2-2-2 though and will be thinking about this over the summer. In actual fact, once we switched to our usual tactic, playing on the counter, we created 4 clear chances and probably did enough for a draw, but Aidan Jenniker's finishing really let us down. All hopes of the title went with our 0-0 home draw to Anderlecht in the next game - we were clearly still struggling for confidence and again fluffed our lines when it mattered. Thankfully, we put all that behind us on the final day, beating Gent 3-1 at theirs thanks to a great performance from on-loan Yaisien who I will definitely try to bring back on a permanent basis. As a result of Standard surprisingly beating Anderlecht, we finished third and thus qualified for the Europa League!

Players of the Season:

Ahmed Ugochukwu - Developing well and is turning into a solid centre back.

Bonaventure Diallo - Won every award going: Young Player of the Year, Ebony Award and Highest Average Rating. Makes a great partnership with Riveros and still improving.

Marcos Riveros - Performed exceptionally in the holding mid role, breaking up play very well. A few too many yellows ruled him out of the crucial games at the end though, and he was sorely missed.

Abdallah Yaisien - The loanee winger did really well and it'd be great to grab him full time if possible.

Hamdi Harbaoui - The striker performed well when he was fit and we badly missed him when he was at the African Cup of Nations. I think we can still do better for the DLP position, and his agent is refusing to budge from £4k per week for a new contract which I'm not sure I want to give him. Food for thought certainly.

Boris Vukusic - Lead the line excellently and continues to improve. £6k for him was an absolute steal.

Rodrigo Guerra - The third of our attacking triumvirate, Guerra is coming on leaps and bounds. Mentals could be better, as could his passing, but he's getting quicker and chipped in with quite a few goals in Harba's absence.

Overall thoughts:

Well I'd have certainly taken third at the start of the year. This shows how much progress we are making as a club, and I think we're only a few signings away from cracking it. I probably need a better formation for the big games, or at least need to be a bit wiser about how I approach them, but otherwise we performed pretty well. Currently, Harbaoui, Galitzios and Jenniker will be leaving on frees as they are demanding too much for what they are - I'm certainly not about to pay them the £8k a week they're after! Over the summer therefore, the priority will be a new Deep Lying Forward with genuine class, a decent left winger and probably another centre back. Then again, I may stretch seeing what's out there.

|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 | 

[b101]

Rest of the World Update

Given that we're 3 seasons in, I figured it'd be interesting to see how things have panned out elsewhere and who's been doing what.

England

The status quo pretty much remains. Man City won the title in the first two seasons, but Chelsea wrested it off them this year. Man Utd have been there or thereabouts, with Guardiola taking the helm after Sir Alex's retirement. Unsurprisingly, the relegated clubs have tended to be those most recently promoted, although Everton came close this year, finishing 17th with two points to spare. The major surprise thus far has been QPR who have pushed into a top six club, with Faurlin and Granero ably supported by a few sensible signings such as Ashley Williams and... Billy Sharp?! The FA Cup has gone to Spurs, City and Villa, in that order, with City completing a sickening treble in 2013-14.

Spain

The usual again here. Barca have dominated - Real came within 3 points of catching them in 2012-13, but since then the gap has been 9 points then 15 points. Almeria made a surprise re-entry into the top flight, finishing 5th in 2013-14 and Atletico were only 3 points away from breaking the top two this season. Otherwise, it's nice to see Villareal back, and the majority of transfers show that Spain is still a selling country. The Copa del Rey has been slightly more interesting, lifted by Athletic, Barca then Sociedad this year.

Italy

Serie A has also failed to provide any shocks, with Juventus lifting the last two trophies. AC Milan added to their haul back in 2012-13 in a remarkable finish, beating Inter by 2 goals. The next season saw an even closer finish, with Juve edging AC based on the results between the two sides. The major shock has been Fiorentina's relegations, in 2012-13 and in 2014-15. Palermo have also strengthened, coming second this season. Udinese however are looking poor, in spite of spending £30m this season, they could only finish 15th, with manager Aguirre somehow rewarded with a job at Inter... He also bought Denis Stracqualursi for £10m - madness! The Coppa has gone Milan, Juve, Napoli.

Germany

Finally a nation with a slight surprise - Schalke won the Bundesliga back in 2012-13. Admittedly it's been all Bayern since then, but hey. No other shocks really apart from Werder getting themselves relegated in 2013-14 and Hannover finishing 3rd in the same season, having placed 15th the year before.

France

Unsurprisingly, all PSG, although they did only beat Lyon to the title by 1!!! goal this season - a 5-2 victory over Évian in the penultimate game doing them the world of good. Lyon however will be kicking themselves, having lost to Nimes (17th) and Reims (19th) in the last 3 games. Ouch.

Brazil

Not masses to report here either, with titles going to Internacional, Sao Paulo and Corinthians respectively. The only proper shock has been Cruzeiro getting relegated in 2012-13, but they bounced straight back up.

Argentina

Even more boring here, with Boca winning every league comfortably as well as a Libertadores in 2014. River are languishing in mid-table - that might be a nice career move at some point...

---

European Competitions

The Champions League has seen Barcelona dominate again, reaching all three finals and winning two. They beat Man Utd 2-1 in 2012-13 thanks to Villa and Iniesta, and City by the same margin in 2013-14 - this time goals coming from Busquets and Pedro. This year, though they were beaten by a Kun Aguero hat-trick, and in spite of City's Cheick Tioté being sent off, the Sky Blues won their first ever Champions League. Marseille and Spurs both made it to the Semis in 2013-14, but otherwise there have been no big shocks.

The Europa League has been more varied, with Chelsea, Lyon and Sporting lifting the trophy. Newcastle made it as far as the Semis in 2012-13, but otherwise it has tended to be the early exits from the Champions League who have gone on to lift the trophy.

---

World Cup 2014

Somewhat of a shock here, with Slovenia making it all the way to the final before being upstaged by Lionel Messi, who scored the only goal in a drab final. England made it as far as the semis, besting arch-rivals Germany en route, but lost in cruel fashion to a Kyle Walker own goal. They did beat Uruguay to come third though. Go Roy (who has since been replaced by Brendan Rodgers... hmm)!

---

Regen Watch

Always interesting to cast an eye over the stars of the future. None are massively prominent yet, but there are signs of a few breaking into the first team. Also, this list is based on the most valuable regens, so that's probably why there are so many English players...

• Dean Moncur - Arsenal
  
• Tanser Orhan - FC Bayern
  
• Karl Brabin - Man Utd
  
• Nicolas Audren - Lyon
  
• Pedro Carvalho - Lyon
  
• Walid Derouiche - Rennes
  
• Hassan Benali - Lyon
  
• Paupol Ngoyi - Rennes
  
• Tom Russell - Man Utd

Traitor Watch

Wayne Rooney

Finally, a look at our least favourite man this year. Looks like Man City paid £17m purely to p*** Man Utd fans off. Quite amusing actually.

---

Former Club Watch:

[u][color=#CC0000]Curicó Unido (managed 2012/13)[/color][/u]

2013 - 4th (2nd in Apertura, 10th in Clausura). 
2014 - 13th in Clausura. 

Gradually slipping down the league.

[deltablue]

Great improvement this year.

[B.W.G]

Congrats on finishing 3rd place and good luck in Europe next season

[SRL88]

Solid work on qualifying for Europe.

[AcidBurn]

Well played getting into Europe, it's obvious that Diallo is going to just keep getting better.

[b101]

Great improvement this year.

Congrats on finishing 3rd place and good luck in Europe next season

Solid work on qualifying for Europe.

Well played getting into Europe, it's obvious that Diallo is going to just keep getting better.

Thanks all, have been a bit tied up with the start of Ri's competition but I hope to get through the summer tonight. And yes Acid, Diallo is amazing - unfortunately he has a few admirers....

[b101]

July 2015 - Sporting Lokeren

Transfers:

Not many coming in, which shows how happy I am with the squad at the moment. I'll talk about the incomings in a second, but it was equally good to get a few off the wage bill. Maric and Wade really weren't adding anything to the club and I'm happy to get anything for them really. On the contrary, we lost homesick Dudas, who never really fitted in. Shame, but with one of the new signings, he's easily replaced.

• Michihiro Yasuda - D/WBRL - Finally we have a RB who can give us solidity. Since the departure of De Roover, I've been using Galitzios as a stop-gap, and he's just not that great. This guy gives us two class full backs for this level.
  
• Simon Franks - WB/M/AML - I happily watched this lad's contract wind down before snapping him up. Has good potential and should oust money-grabbing Jenniker from the ML spot.
  
• Roy Beerens - AMRL - This season's main signing. Coming in on a free, Beerens adds some much needed pace and trickery to our right flank.
  
• Ibrahima Touré - ST - We were one striker light and whilst I was ideally looking for a Deep Lying Forward to replace De Pauw, I couldn't pass this lad up. Strong, quick and lethal - shame he's a bit of a selfish bugger.
  

And a reminder of who's coming in

• Marília - M/AMC. (£1m)
  
• Walber - DMC. (£575k)
  
• Franca - ST (£350k)
  

With this in mind, we've moved to a new tactic, and you'll see the results shortly. It's basically with the long term aim of integrating the three Brazilians easily and having a system ready made to get the best out of them. I'll have to retrain Diallo - no idea what I'll do with him when they arrive, but it works fairly well.

The one interesting thing I've done is to make Maaloul an attacking WB, and he has been running riot so far.

Results:

Flawless in every respect. The odd edit to the image is because the Uerdingen match was actually at the end of June - yes, that's how early our season has started! The new tactic has bedded in superbly, with an average of 3-4 clear cut chances per game. Vukusic's 7 minute hat-trick (and double hat-trick) was a highlight - how I wish that had been a competitive match - but to be honest, we've slaughtered everyone so far. We were supposed to be second best to Plzen, and probably should have done even better than our 2-0 win. Still, the acid test will come in the league, but great so far!

[AK22]

Some quality signings there- should be a good season ahead.

[b101]

Bit left field this one...

Sadly Falcao has retired

[b101]

August 2015 - Sporting Lokeren

This month started with Jozef's appointment as Colombia manager. Sadly, not everyone got the message:

We were also rocked by the news that star new signing Roy Beerens would be out for at least two months with a hip injury - a shame given his good start.

Results:

We started this month fairly slowly, labouring to a win over an average Sint Truiden side. This month contained one common feature - conceding long range strikes. Whether this is down to Bailly (I doubt it) or just the game endeavouring to irritate me, I'm not sure, but it's getting a bit annoying to see them fly in so regularly. Vukusic gave us the lead with a nice strike from just inside the area before Milos Maric (yes, the one I let go) equalised from 25 yards. Happily, a nicely worked goal from sub Patosi gave us the points. We then saw out the tie with Plzen meaning that Jozef had a successful return to the homeland. A tired side took to the pitch against Leuven, who again scored a screamer to deny us the points. How we drew this I will never know. Between 70 and 90 minutes was constant highlights of our pressure and finally Guerra got the goal we deserved. Should have won though.

We were more comfortable at home to struggling Beerschot, and a surprise goal from Riveros set us on our way. Then we went up against Guimaraes in the final qualifying round of the Europa League, putting two past them and more crucially, keeping a clean sheet. Again, it could and should have been more. An early Vukusic goal earned the points against Cercle Brugge before the return leg in Portugal. Here, we somehow lost to two more stunners from their centre mid with 8 for long shots. Sigh. That being said, we were wasteful again but once we scored it was fairly comfortable. Finally, we put Mouscron to the sword, in spite of two missed penalties from Diallo - needless to say he won't be taking them again in a hurry.

League Table:

A strong start although we are yet to come up against any of the big teams. Our profligacy in front of goal is slightly concerning, but I'm sure they're just saving it for the big games. The month ahead sees us play Genk, Gent, Standard and Mechelen - three of whom were in our Championship group last year, so we need to perform well. Even better after that; Anderlecht and Club Brugge. Yay.

[iHeadHunta x]

Awesome career so far, keep it up and a bit strange to see city sign Rooney !

[JackJCFC]

Good work last season and a great start for you this year. Good to see you made it to the El group stage too, although the games may make the league a bit harder.

[b101]

September 2015 - Sporting Lokeren

Results:

Well this couldn't have gone any better. Annoyingly my laptop crashed so I had to replay the Mouscron game, which was a less comfortable 2-0 win featuring an own goal and a wonder strike from Sherman Cardenas - one of those long dribbles along the byline. Our tough run of games then began, all away from home as well! Genk were well beaten first of all - they took the lead from a corner but our pressure eventually told, with Diallo cutting in to score a low strike and Vukusic nabbing the winner. We were then dispatched with ease by Rubin - Logan Bailly had a shocker, spilling two easy shots straight to Salomon Rondon, and was beaten to a cross for the third. No complaints though, as we were dominated. We then returned to the league, where two goals from Vukusic in as many games gave us two priceless wins. It may not be the attacking football the board craves, but we're top of the league, and with a nice gap too!

League Table:

Man of the Month:

A new feature, this. The obvious winner is Vukusic. I've said it before, and I'll say it again, £6k for him is up there with the best buys I've ever made on CM/FM. He's undervalued (in my opinion) by the game and is a really good player for leading the line. Still has two and a half stars left to fill as well, which is exciting! (ignore the random orange arrows, not sure why they're there - as the second screenshot shows...)

[JackJCFC]

Great start to the league so far, hope you can keep it up!

[deltablue]

Great start, hopefully you'll have a comfortable advantage for the Championship group.

[b101]

After a long break due to work starting up again, here we go again!

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October 2015 - Colombia

Results:

A few poor friendlies started my tenure - we were good against Trinidad, then just got worse, culminating in an awful performance against Jamaica at home. The first fixture in the CONMEBOL qualifiers was hardly the one I'd have picked either; World Number 1 side Argentina away. We started well there though, with Pabon giving us an early lead. Unfortunately, we had no answer to the introduction of Higuaín, who scored twice (one a dubious offside call) to give them the points. Revenge was taken on Ecuador however, who never had a look-in, and it could have easily been more. All in all, a solid start to our campaign.

League Table:

The month finished with a nice notification as well. Progress already

[b101]

October 2015 - Sporting Lokeren

Results:

The match away to Steaua was hugely frustrating. Not only did we hit the woodwork repeatedly, but we then conceded a late goal to leave us on just 1 point from 4. We then handed 12th placed Vizé a thrashing to move 8 points clear, although Vukusic sustained a knee injury which would keep him out until the end of the month. Next saw us comfortably ease past Anderlecht, going 3-0 up easily before allowing them to score twice in the final minute. We again dominated Fulham in the Europa League but conceded another late strike with Bailly deciding that it made more sense to stay on his line than intercept a cross that landed two yards out... Club Brugge proved stoic opposition, and yet again we missed a chance to win, with Touré missing the game's two best chances. We finished on better terms however, easing past lower league Diegem with a mostly second string side. All in all, a good month, but could and should have been better.

League Table:

Man of the Month:

With Vukusic spending much of this month on the sidelines, the other strikers needed to step up. Whilst Guerra struggled for the first half of the month, Touré more than managed it, notching 4 priceless goals to keep the points coming in and linking the play well in general. A really strong loan signing thus far.

[JackJCFC]

Great work so far, Toure should do really well in that league.

[deltablue]

Looking very good indeed.

[B.W.G]

Great work in the league so far

[withnail316]

Great progress.

[shnen]

glad to see you back, very good thread.

boris vukusic, I wonder if he's related to ante? he's scoring like mad on my empoli save and it seems that your vukusic is every bit his match!

[b101]

wow, amazed to see this many are still following! Cheers all, it's going extremely well so far, and as far as I can see it'll be tough to eventually leave Lokeren. shnan - Vukusic has been wonderful, it's no surprise that we we a lot less effective when he was absent! Glad to hear cousin Ante's doing a good job for you too

[AcidBurn]

Going very well so far, hopefully you can start to build up a lead over the next couple of months.

[b101]

November 2015 - Sporting Lokeren

Results:

Again, perfect in the league. Vukusic's two goals in two minutes saw off Kortrijk. However, we flopped again in Europe in a match we should have drawn. Qualification is now looking very very difficult. We romped back to form in the league against Charleroi, with Vukusic adding to his great tally in the league with another 3 goals. We outplayed Club Brugge in the Cup, taking an early lead, which they overturned. With us staring at an exit, Patosi took the ball 30 yards out, beating a man before sending a rocket into the top corner. Penalties came, and with them, a 4-1 victory. The final two matches of the month were tough fixtures, and two headers from our two centre backs secured the victory. 3rd placed Sint-Truiden came and went thanks to a couple of goals from our wingers. As a result, we are well clear with a game in hand and a hope of building a big lead before the Championship Group.

League Table:

Man of the Month:

A great month from Diallo, this. Didn't get any assists or goals, but he was integral to the team's performances, often making the pass before the assist. Lots of interest in him now though, which isn't exactly great news.

[deltablue]

Not surprised he's much in demand.

[b101]

December 2015 - Sporting Lokeren

Results:

A tough start against Rubin saw us eliminated from the Europa league, paying the price for not taking our chances in the earlier matches. Again, they were ruthless, with Salamon Rondon again ruining any hopes we had. A home match against OH Leuven was a nice way to bounce back, with centre back Ugochukwu scoring goals either side of a strike from Beerens (before he got injured again...). A sole finish from Touré saw us take three points from Zulte, and our profligacy was finally punished against Beerschot as a result of a poor error from keeper Bailly. Again though, we bounced back well, with a weakened side beating Steaua before consecutive 4-0 wins over KV Mechelen and Genk. Another solid win was a good way to round of the month - and another improved lead in the League table.

League Table:

Man of the Month:

3 goals from a centre back is a great return, and he was also instrumental in our great defensive run - I give you Ahmed Ugochukwu.

---

In other news, long awaited signing Marilía finally signs, and doesn't he look worth it!

In addition, Diallo also won the CAF Young Player of the Year and Belgian Golden Boot awards. With interest from AZ, Twente, Dortmund, Hertha, Leverkusen, Marseille, Rennes and Saint-Etienne mounting, it's hard to see him staying - although I'm hoping that the £100m price tag will do it! I can probably accept losing him at the end of the season, but at the moment it could do irreparable damage to our campaign.

[DazRTaylor]

Dominating!