[FM15] Esbjerg - The Home of My Father

[Bhoy]

My Esbjerg Career

So this is my first ever FM game I'll have posted in the career section I think. The career starts as of the second season but I will post a first season review on the next post. I chose Esbjerg as it is where my dad currently lives and works so he goes to see them a few times and I find myself keeping an eye on there results so I thought as my first save for FM then why not this team! They are very much a small fish in the league but with a good history, having great success in the 60's winning 4 league titles and then again in 1979 but haven't had much success recently other than a Danish Cup win in 2013.

Esbjerg History

My Ambition

First of all I want to have Esbjerg a solid league team, consistently up there with the top teams. I then hope to start to dominate Danish football and break out into the European scene and ultimately becoming the top team in Europe. It will take a while no doubt, I've not been any good at this game since 2011!

If there is any suggestions or improvements you think I could make then let me know! The next post will be a summary of my first season in charge.

Save Summary

2014 - 3rd and last 32 of Europa League

[Bhoy]

Season 2014/15 Summary

So I went into this season not sure what to expect. I knew we were definitely good enough for a mid-table position and to be honest, as my first ever FM15 save I was happy to take mid-table expecting a few slip ups along the way so when we finished 3rd, comfortably, I was extremely happy. It could have been better if I had not had a really inconsistent run after the winter break which set me back a good bit.

However, I picked it up near the end of the season and finished with 5 straight wins after a few tactical changes to suit my players rather than to suit the way I want to play and ended up with a very successful third place finish.

I also surprisingly made the EL group stages with a long qualification period, just scraping through vs Goteburg. I then had a very successful group stage, the highlight being an amazing late 1-0 away in Spain against Sevilla! Was going mad in my living room! I didn't expect to get any further once I had got past the group stages, but bravely fought against Plzen and succumbed to a 5-4 aggregate defeat. Overall delighted with my European performance.

In terms of my squad for the first season, I only made one signing before the start of the season and then strengthened in January with a few good, young Scandinavian players mostly. Uronen, Thern and Shala have been particularly impressive. Uronen was needed as the board went over my head and sold my best left back Knudsen who had a storming start to the season, and Thern was there to replace an ageing but still solid Lekven. All in all, I was happy with my first season signings. The last three signed in March were not able to play till the start of the second season as the league registration was closed but there is definitely more to come from them.

And here is my best eleven. Pusic really came into his own near the end of the season, preferred to play Van Buren for his physical presence during the season.

I don't want to delve too much into my first season, was mainly using it as a platform to see if it will be a game I will enjoy and it has made such an impression that I want to continue.

[JD nawrat]

Will follow this Bhoy Been following your posts in the OTF thread so it'll be nice to see proper updates etc

[Bhoy]

Will follow this Bhoy Been following your posts in the OTF thread so it'll be nice to see proper updates etc

yeah, had an itch to create one of these threads and have always read all the career threads aswell. Looking forward to posting my progress.

[Bhoy]

Second Season Preview

So with a few signings and releasing a lot of deadwood who were out of contract, I have high hopes for this season. I really want to properly challenge for the title and ultimately just have more consistency in my performance the whole way through the season, not just the beginning and end. My three players signed on a free near the end of the first season - Elano, Koch and Stracqualursi can finally play. The first two were mainly just for squad depth but I'm expecting big things from Big Stracq. It means I will have to bench Van Buren and the in form Pusic, thinking about even selling one as you'll see I brought in another top striker for £500k aswell. Which brings me nicely on to a summary of my transfers.

Nuno Assis, like Elano, was brought in for a bit of squad depth. He has some real quality on the ball but being 37 years of age, will not see too much action this year. I am very happy with my two loan signings, Lingard brings a great bit of quality with him and some much needed pace on the ball. Very happy with him. Opare was brought in for some competition for a young Laursen, who was the cause of a lot of good last season but we conceded a lot of goals from the right due to him aswell. Blabjerg is a 20 year old centre half, brought in after a decent season at title winners Aalborg. Scouts were raving so I am happy to trust them at a cost of £350k and last but not least, Leke James was my biggest signing of the summer in terms of money. Still only 22, he is very promising with good finishing and good pace. Will be there for squad depth again, need to decide who to sell between Van Buren and Pusic I think though as 4 strikers for 1 position is too many.

The Season So Far

Quite disappointed with my start really. Happy with the EL results but they're games I expected to win, and the Stracq proving exactly why I brought him in but the massive disappointment was the opening day loss to Vestsjaellend. We were shocking. We only had 1 shot and 45% possession at half time losing 1-0, completely changed it making three subs bringing on Pusic, Elano and Andreasen for a bit of attacking beef and we did improve but not enough. These are exactly the type of games we should be winning, and we played okay against Kobenhavn but couldn't fully make our dominance count on a flurry of goals but instead 37 year old Nuno Assis stepped up with a screamer of a free kick for the opener and then a 20 yard screamer late on for the win. Couldn't be happier for him, certainly making a claim to be more involved than I thought. We now need to continue getting wins in the league, and hopefully qualify for EL groups again. We'll see.

[FlickJ]

Nice start to the season, here's hoping for group stage European football!

[Bhoy]

Cheers FlickJ, hoping for a lot better though.

Season 2 Update

The month really started to pick up towards the end with all the players pulling through despite injuries to Pusic and Ankersen, one of my best players last season, not back from injury yet. I was really disappointed with the loss to Midtjylland, we didn't deserve anything despite taking the lead and I was even more disappointed with the home draw to Randers but we came storming back with a great win over Brondby. The main aim of the early season however has to be now the Europa League which we eased through. A decent 0-0 at home, I knew if we scored the first goal away then we'd be hard to beat and that was proven with our performance. Dominated from first to last.

And here is how we're sitting so far, I'm lucky that other teams have lost aswell but we have a very tough game against Champions Aalborg next.

[Bhoy]

Europa League Group Draw

The media thinks this is a hard group but I actually think it is very possible to get through, we will definitely be competitive.

Also had to say goodbye to Van Buren, sold to Groningen for a lowly £200k but there was simply no more space. Sad to see him go, great servant last season.

[Bhoy]

Season 2 Update

A decent month, especially in the Europa League with 2 comfortable wins from 2 to put us in a great position to qualify so early on. Happy with the result against Aalborg as we were 2 down after 20 minutes but fought back brilliantly and could have won it in the end. The only disappointment was the loss to Nordsjaelland, with them getting an 84th minute winner but all in all happy with how it's going. A front line of Big Stracq, Lingard and Omoijuanfo coming into their own. Hopefully it continues.

[Bhoy]

Season 2 Update

Delighted with this month, 3 wins in 4 in the league to see me up to 3rd place. If we hadn't have lost to Midtjylland we would have been top. Another win in the Europa League aswell, this time away to Metalist who had also won 2 from 2 so I'm delighted with our form there and an easy win in the Danish Cup where Pusic started for the first time in a wee while and slammed home a hat-trick. Delighted.

[john1]

Fantastic start in Europa League

[Bhoy]

And it gets even better john.

[john1]

Yes \o/

Any good regens through the academy?

[Bhoy]

Yes \o/

Any good regens through the academy?

Here's a few who look most promising. I like the pace and determination Nielsen has, would prefer to improve his finishing and other mental attributes. Jensen looks the more complete striker to me, but Nielsen has more time to improve than Jensen. Clausen just looks a solid left back prospect.

[john1]

Some looking promising youngsters there

[Bhoy]

Winter Break Update

A disappointing month in the league, only winning 1 of 4 but we were totally outclassed against Aalborg and didn't show up against Randers, while dominating OB at home we conceded to their only shot on target. Very disappointing. However, delighted with my Europe showing. 5 wins and 1 draw from 6, dominating the group and marching to the last 32. We need a break and hopefully I'll be able to make some signings. Elano has been released as he was unhappy with playing time, £95k he cost me to agree to a mutual termination so he didn't upset the squad. Pusic has also been making noises about leaving but hopefully with a few starts he'll be happy to continue being a back up to the Stracq.

[Dexter_Morgan]

Is the poor league form this year down to the Europa league do you think? Plenty of time to turn things around anyway though

[Bhoy]

Is the poor league form this year down to the Europa league do you think? Plenty of time to turn things around anyway though

I wouldn't necessarily put it down to being in the Europa League, I'm not sure what it is. We have been struggling with injuries, had to release Elano and our style of play seems to be struggling away from home and against smaller teams at home which I'm trying to fix. Hopefully a few January signings should beef us up a bit. Would be happy with top 3 considering the first half of the season but everyone is very close to one another in terms of quality.

[john1]

Good to see you have finished top of the group Hopefully you can improve your standing in the league.

[Bhoy]

Good to see you have finished top of the group Hopefully you can improve your standing in the league.

Cheers, I'm confident we will finish top 3 again.

[Bhoy]

Winter Transfer Window

Transfers In

Transfers Out

Overall I'm reasonably happy with my transfers other than the fact Laursen went for £850k, his minimum release clause to foreign clubs. He was great competition at right back for Opare and had a sensational breakthrough season last year. Andreasen was 37 years old, wouldn't have much of a future here so I let his contract run out, Zaragoza actually signed him to a pre contract in the summer. Leke James was my expensive signing of the summer and hasn't done anything of note, so happy to let him leave on loan and Rapid Wien are covering all £4k of his wages p/w. For my transfers in, Leali is a very promising 22 year old Italian goalkeeper to replace a younger goalkeeper of mine who won't sign a new contract. I can see him breaking into the team soon. Esgaio was a cheap replacement for Laursen, only on £1.3k a week so happy to bring him in. The same goes for Patinho, more for squad depth than anything on £975 p/w and my best signing of January is 22 year old Egyptian international Rami Rabia to replace Andreasen.

[Bhoy]

So my first game back after the winter break is the first leg of EL last 32, a first start for my big winter signing Rami Rabia.

Get beat 3-0 and this happens.

[Bhoy]

Season 2 Update

Out the Europa League as expected, very happy to get where I got to. I then had a promising start to the league after the winter break with 3 wins in a row, I'm thinking 'yes, we're challenging' then it all went to ****. No wins in 5, dropping points from winning positions, Stracq doesn't have a goal in 2 months. Very, very disappointed but surprisingly I'm not down and out of it yet. The next few games will make or break my season. I was clear from 5th and now I'm only 3 points ahead but I am determined to get 3rd. Putting this behind me, going with a change of tactics I think as this one is not working as well as I'd hoped and we'll go from there.

[john1]

Gutted to see you crashed out to Dnipro But good achievement getting to knockout round

Alot of draws there.

[Bhoy]

Gutted to see you crashed out to Dnipro But good achievement getting to knockout round

Alot of draws there.

Yes, very happy to get to the knock out again. Very good to keep my finances topped up! Not too disheartened by the draws, atleast they are not losses. The cup draw was a win on penalties aswell, my January signing Leali saving 3.

[Bhoy]

Season 2 Final Update

What an end to the season, there were two disappointing losses but we were never in those games. I really believe it was due to the change in tactics, went to a more fluid possession based tactic and we got our rewards for it, dominating a lot of games and ultimately getting the wins we desperately needed. My highlight of the season has to be the Danish Cup run though. We did really well to get to the final, overcoming Aalborg in the semi finals in extra time with Pusic coming on and becoming the hero and then beating Champions Midtjylland 2-1 in the final very comfortably.

In the league with the improvement at the end of the season we managed to secure third on the final day of the season which after our poor form in the middle of the season (much like last season), I was delighted with. Midtjylland and Aalborg were just too good for everyone else, I am hopeful that I can get a bit closer next season though.

Overall, I'm content with how the season went. Delighted with Europa League and Danish Cup but I really want to improve our league form and fight for the title. In terms of players, the front line came into their own this season. The Stracq did exactly what I expected him too, Lingard was my player of the year and Omoijuanfo improved a hell of a lot. Will need to replace Lingard and I want to improve our defense, sell Leke James, bulk up my midfield and possibly sign another striker. Stracq and Pusic may do however.

[john1]

Decent ending to the season Hope you can catch other 2 next season.

Surprised to see FC Nordsjælland and OB relegated

[Bhoy]

Decent ending to the season Hope you can catch other 2 next season.

Surprised to see FC Nordsjælland and OB relegated

Nordsjaelland were awful all season, not surprised to see them go down. Had a surprising start to my 3rd season, will post an update over the weekend.

[Bhoy]

Will have a big update tomorrow. A lot has changed since last season.

[john1]

Looking forward to it

[Bhoy]

Season 3 Preview and Update

So this season I hope to put up more of a challenge and to do that I have to keep all my best players and improve the squad quality. So what do my board do? Sell one of my best players Simon Thern to Rayo for just over a million pound. Great start. I had a fantastic transfer window apart from that though, bringing in some real quality for real cheap. The two loans from Chelsea are top quality, Rodriguez definitely a striker I have confidence in playing in any match and Musonda already a key player for me on the left wing after Lingard went back to Man Utd. The two loans from Man Utd are mainly there for squad depth and Bigirimana is a good rotation player to have, fits in very well in the midfield. Very similar player to Thern. Bech and Gemmer are two young players signed from my main rivals and I got an absolute bargain for both of them, two key players in my team already. Bech is a great winger, very skillful and good goalscorer. Gemmer is a solid midfielder, possibly an upgrade on Thern. Signing of the season though is Hamedallah, I have even agreed to sell the Stracq in Janury because of this guy. Top, top player with great stats and even an international star for his native Morocco.

Now on to my season so far.

Unbelievable start. We are dominating games, scoring freely and the defense is solid. A lot of the goals we have conceded have been very late on. The result I am most proud of is actually the 1-1 draw with AC Horsens. We had two red cards by the 60th minute and 1-0 up after scoring after the first red card. Then we held out amazingly, conceded a really poor goal from our corner but I was so pleased to see us not lose. Just an amazing start all in and exactly what I was looking for this season, let's hope we can keep it up. If there is any specific games anyone would like to see then let me know, I can post them up. ESBJERG!

[john1]

Awesome start Good loan signings

I also have Hamedallah for my West Ham and is utterly useless! What role do you play him as?

[Bhoy]

Play him as a false 9 (support) up top himself. He has been incredible thus far.

edit - and the very next game he gets injured. ****.

[john1]

Play him as a false 9 (support) up top himself. He has been incredible thus far.

edit - and the very next game he gets injured. ****.

Gutted

[Bhoy]

Season 3 Update and January Round Up

So a bit of a big update this one, managed to play a bit over the weekend so I'll post my transfers after the results as the results is the best part for me this time haha!

An unbelievable run of form we are on. Only 1 defeat in the league in 21 games, playing some really nice football and scoring a lot of goals. Not too disappointed with not getting further in the Europa League, Monaco completely out classed us and being honest I am quite happy just to concentrate on keeping up our amazing league form. Norgaard and Hamedallah have been unbelievable in front of goal with Norgaard being a midfielder aswell, Musonda and Bech are playing on the wings exactly how I want them to and Fabio Sturgeon came in on January and has really given Musonda a break he probably needed as he had played pretty much every game. Let's hope we can keep it up until the end of the season, would absolutely love to win the title.

January transfer window was a busy one for us aswell, with a lot of players leaving. Had to say goodbye to the Stracq and Pusic, two players I love but just couldn't find a place for them as Hamedallah is my best player and we have a good back up loanee from Chelsea. The same goes for Shala, awesome last season but again couldn't find a place and he was kicking up a fuss. Had to go. In coming were Sturgeon as I mentioned earlier, and then two defenders for squad depth as I lost a few older ones in January. Happy with my business.

In

Out

[Bhoy]

Season 3 Final Update

Well, well, well - what can I say. We were absolutely unstoppable, absolutely steam rolled the final part of the season destroying teams left, right and centre. I cannot describe how happy I am to have won the league and cup double so comfortably in only my third season and finally be able to have a crack at the CL. If we do get in, the money should be able to make us too dominant in the league for years to come. Norgaard, Hamedallah, Bech, Sturgeon and Musonda just tore defences apart and our defense was solid only conceding 19 goals throughout the season. I'll let the pictures do the talking.

[gibbo11]

Congratulations on the double!

[john1]

Awesome season What's next for you?

[Bhoy]

Congratulations on the double!

Thanks man, delighted with it.

Awesome season What's next for you?

Definitely going to stay with Esbjerg. I want to qualify for the CL this coming season, my favourite part of the game is definitely buying youngsters for small prices and watching them grow before eventually selling them on so I can see myself being here for a while.

[john1]

Not bad target that I'm doing the same with West Ham, so I will scout Scandinavian clubs and nab youngsters

[Bhoy]

Not sure they will all be Scandinavian, love bringing players in from all over the world and increasing my scouts knowledge.

[Bhoy]

Season 4 Transfers

In

Out

Very, very happy with my transfer dealings. Brought in Bigirimana and Rodriguez on frees after successful loans last year proving they had what it takes to play for my team. All my loans are squad players to boost the quality of my team and I am very pleased to have them on board for the season. Last but not least is a 20 year old Brazilian midfielder Neto, signed for £140k and I have high hopes for him. Looks quality already.

[john1]

Wow he looks immense!

[Bhoy]

Season 4 Mid-season Update

So the league is going pretty well. Absolute walk over already, can't see me losing it from this point - we've been unstoppable. The great thing is that as of next season Denmark's league ranking goes up so the winners of the league go straight into the group stages of the CL so automatic £6m/£7m through that which we can exert our dominance with. Delighted.

And on to the CL, delighted that I qualified. It was hugely tight in the HJK game, a game I really should have seen out much more comfortably but the main thing is we qualified and got that CL money. The group went as expected. Two unlucky losses against Bayern, the first I lost in the last minute after going down to 10 men which I was so gutted about but we finished 3rd and are in Europe after Christmas for the 4th season in a row. As a side note I'm also easily into the QF of the Danish Cup. Let's hope we can keep this run of form going.

[Bhoy]

Season 4 Final Update

Well what a season we have had in the league and in Europe. We broke the league points record, league goals record, league unbeaten record - just unbelievable. So proud of my guys.

So we did it. We went the league season undefeated. We had a few dodgy moments like the away game to Kobenhavn when Musonda came on and got the late equalizer but our squad quality was just far, far too good for the rest of the league and that is hopefully set to continue. We just dominated from start to finish, I can't believe the progress we have made already.

It's just incredible to look at. Just pure dominance.

So after finishing 3rd in our CL group we dropped into the last 32 of the EL which we have reached and subsequently left in each of the last 3 seasons but we got to the last 16 this season after comfortably seeing off Porto but then finding ourselves 4-0 down after 24 minutes at home to Inter. I was really disappointed in that, we could have got through this round but we choked. Happy with the draw in the San Siro though.

Our only domestic loss of the season was in the quarter finals of the Danish Cup against Midtylland after going a man down and losing a penalty after 10 minutes. We just couldn't get back into it but that isn't really important to me. We had far too good a season for me to worry about the Danish Cup. Next season I aim to get to the last 16 of the CL since we have automatic group stages for winning the league and ofcourse continuing my league dominance.

[john1]

Wow unbeaten in the league Fantastic to see you got to Knockout round in Europa League

Is there any interest in Hamdallah?

[Bhoy]

Wow unbeaten in the league Fantastic to see you got to Knockout round in Europa League

Is there any interest in Hamdallah?

Yeah, even I can't quite believe it. And we've got to the knock out round every season so far, just never past the last 32 so it's definitely progress on that front!

There was one bit of interest a while back and an offer of £6m for him, but he is far too important for me. I have spotted an absolute wee gem of a player that I have just spent pretty much all my transfer budget of £7.75m on (and that's with adjusting the budget!). I will post him at some point tomorrow, very excited about him.

[Bhoy]

Will have an update tomorrow, finished all of season 5.

[Bhoy]

Season 5 Review

So season 5 was very much a transformation season. We brought in a lot of youngsters and sold on a good bit of dead wood, overall net spend was £8m though so was very hopeful we'd have a good season, although not quite as good as last which was just an unbelievable run of consistency.

Salgado is one of the most promising players I have ever had, a solid midfielder who can play DMC, MC and AMC and very good in all of them. He was well worthy of my record transfer. Excited by Quinteros and Hurtado aswell, Quinteros a Chilean centre half. Solid, typical hard man and Hurtado a player who can play just in front of the defence but has good qualities going forward aswell.

The league went well, we pretty much dominated from start to last but not the same consistency as last season. Kobenhavn improved and beat me twice, showing some real good form and will be a threat next season. We were never in danger of losing or getting caught, standard league season and exactly how I want to continue in the transformation of my team to a younger one.

The Champions League was quite disappointing however. We automatically qualified for the group stage and drew a group of Arsenal, Leverkusen and Fenerbahce. We made a very good start beating Fener 3-1 at home but it all went down hill after that. By the last game we'd confirmed our bottom place and lost a 4-2 lead against Arsenal to lose 5-4 to rub salt into the wounds so for the first time under my management we didn't qualify for Europe after Christmas.

We continued our domestic dominance by winning the Danish Cup aswell. Won it pretty comfortably in the end, getting a wee scare in the final but scoring twice in extra time to bring it home.

And here is my best 11. Christian Johnson was signed the season previous, a Nigerian winger come striker came into his own near the end of the season and will have a huge part to play in my next season. Hamedallah a machine as always, nearly a goal per game but did suffer a few injuries but Rodriguez was a perfect back up to have getting 13 in 24.

All in all, a decent season but very much the start of a transformation. Excited about the up coming season but can see it being another transformation season as I had a lot of out goings and consequently in comings.

[john1]

Won the league with ease No surprise to see Hamdallah banging goals in for fun