dllu Posted December 5, 2015 Author Share Posted December 5, 2015 …and a new one begins While we were busy trying to get out of the Second Division, the World Cup was in full swing down in the southern hemisphere. I sent my players on a well-deserved holiday so they could go home and watch the knock-out matches – sadly without Danish participation: No huge surprises, I guess – the biggest one being Bafana Bafana’s place in the quarter final and Brazil’s early exit. In the end it was business as usual: 32 times 23 players kicking the ball around for a month or so, and in the end the Germans won it. And of course England disappointed as always. Back home, preparations for life in the First Division are underway: The board expects us to avoid relegation, which seems realistic. No reason to risk my job by promising anything more. Another thing we’re not used to is prize and TV money. A substantial amount for a club of our stature which will hopefully see our finances improve considerably this season – combined with this: The sale has more than tripled and we actually sold more season tickets than our highest attendance all last season! Should be just what our suffering coffers need. The extra money combined with my “develop own youth” clause meant I was able to persuade the board to invest in our junior coaching. They also let me hire two more coaches to assist Peter and myself and raise the general training level, as well as two new scouts. In fact, I have just been given a whole lot more responsibility. DOF Steven Christensen decided not to extend his contract this summer. Apparently he got a better offer from a local retail company who offered him a management position – which he took. The board aren’t too keen on hiring a replacement, so for now it seems I will be doubling as manager and director. I guess I won’t be doing any temp work at the school this year. On the plus side, it allowed me to control our transfer policy. I immediately set our new scouts to looking for talent. We looked at a few possibilities but in the end only snatched up one guy, newly released from our division colleagues Viborg: I was very happy to get a talent like Kevin for free. Our staff rate him as a future Superliga player and he will soon give our first keeper Kristian Kirk a run for his money. Might be starting a few games already this season. I also spent a bit of the increased wage budget on renewing a couple of contracts and promoting a couple of our amateurs to semi-pros. I’m still a bit worried about our defence, though, so I will keep looking for reinforcements throughout the transfer window. Our friendlies went pretty well. A nice draw in our rematch against SønderjyskE, two expected wins against local minnows and a slightly disappointing but acceptable draw against our feeder club Lindholm – I wonder if they will get the money to hire a graphic designer now that they’re in the Second Division? It also bodes well for our offensive qualities that our eight goals were scored by as many different players! What an opening program – six games in the first two and a half weeks! I am really anxious to see how my squad will cope physically. I might have to rotate some of the youngsters in right from the start, if only to keep the key players fit... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
dllu Posted December 8, 2015 Author Share Posted December 8, 2015 July-August 2014 Our start to life in the First Division proved just as difficult as expected. It began so well, but then harsh reality came knocking. With our defence unfortunately unchanged (and unstrengthened) from last season, I decided that it didn’t matter if you concede a lot of goals – as long as you score even more. So we threw caution to the wind and came out all cannons blazing for our first match against AB from Copenhagen. We were ahead 2-0 after 11 minutes and completely overwhelmed the old university club, their only goal a gift from Jesper Overgaard. A perfect debut! Randers are newly relegated from the Superliga, so this away game was always going to be one of the toughest of the season. That being said, we certainly didn’t embarrass ourselves. We continued our unimpressed approach and matched our professional opponents for the first hour, but in the end they ran away from us. Consequently, confidence was fairly high before the game against our almost-neighbours Viborg. This time we were the ones being run over in the first half hour, and we spent the rest of the match playing catch-up. A missed penalty from Daniel Kristensen meant a missed chance to equalize, and an very disciplined Viborg side was just impossible to get past. We finally found that bit of luck again when HB Køge came to visit Lerpytter. Or so it looked for about 91 minutes. Ultimately it was disappointing to throw away a win like that, and we only have ourselves to blame for losing focus. Hopefully those two points won’t turn out to be crucial come May. The next day we finally got another addition to the squad – and a defensive one at that! Chris comes to us as a free reject from Viborg’s academy, but if you ask me they made a mistake letting him go. At 17, he won’t slide right into the first team, but he does have Superliga potential and should give our ageing centre-backs a run for their money soon enough. I’m especially impressed by his aerial ability. Another promising performance against Fredericia ended in another disappointment. We started by going behind, then slowly worked our way back into the match and actually looked like winning – before two late goals ruined our day. So close at the bottom! Five more points in those last two matches would have meant fifth place and one point from promotion. Instead we find ourselves one point from relegation. Still, early days – and the last couple of performances looked promising enough that I remain confident, even though my tired players threw it away towards the end. Curiously, our gung-ho style means we have actually scored the most goals so far, but also conceded second-most. Our first cup game against non-leaguers Frederikshavn was a good opportunity to rest a couple of old-timers and give a couple of youngsters some playing time, and still win comfortably. Letting them score twice was unnecessary, though. One of the old-timers who needed a rest was captain / ass man Peter Bechmann. He probably doesn’t have the stamina to play every single game anymore, but when he does play he’s still our key man. With 3 goals and 3 assists he gets his umpteenth Player of the Month nod. Our new keeper Kevin Mendoza impressed me enough in training and friendlies that I made him first choice sooner than I had planned. His good form didn’t quite carry into the league games, but to be fair his talent makes it hard for him to live up to my expectations. Still, despite making him the Flop of the Month I am going give him the chance to redeem himself in the next period. Our schedule for the rest of August. Our rivals Skive away at Egeris Kampstadion is always a challenge. Copenhageners HIK at home is a game that could very well earn us some important points. Fremad Amager are currently 9th in D2 East and should be taken seriously as well. Upwards and onwards... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
dllu Posted December 12, 2015 Author Share Posted December 12, 2015 August 2014 Well, that went better than expected. Much better! I had secretly dreaded our not-so-long away trip to our south-eastern neighbours from Skive. They have always been the annoying older brother in our relationship. On the other hand, we sent them out of the cup last year and they haven’t had the best start to the season. Turns out my fears were completely unfounded! We came out like a whirlwind and completely took them by surprise. They did equalize due to a mistimed tackle from Nicolai Andersen, but once we scored our second goal they completely deflated. Nothing beats the sweet, sweet feeling of demolishing your rivals like that! Next up: A visit from bottom-of-the-barrel HIK. The big city boys from Copenhagen are known for their rough style which worked very well for them in throwing us off and not allowing us our usual fluid attacking style. It worked less well for them when they were reduced to 10 men early on. After that I told the lads to take it easy, hang on to the ball, and just be patient. It turned out to be harder than I would have liked, and we never managed to extend the lead we got from a trademark Daniel Kristensen free kick before the break. Never mind, HIK never posed a real threat at our end and the 3 points are worth the same no matter how you get them. Now it was our turn to take the long trip across the country to face Fremad Amager in our nation's capital. The mid-table Second Division side turned out to be an easier task than expected as we dominated from start to finish, only gifting them a goal towards the end. So suddenly the table looks like this! We’re as close to the top as we are far from the relegation zone. Don’t worry, though. Our season goal of just surviving hasn’t changed and we certainly won’t be getting ahead of ourselves. Still a long way to go. We very much have Sead Gavranovic to thank for our winning streak. 3 goals and 4 assists in 3 matches leaves no doubt as to the Player of the Month (or rather “period”). Also, we played so well that no one really deserves to be named a Flop. Looking at our September schedule, those six points could turn out to be very important. Three tough away games, including one against division leaders Esbjerg. I do not expect our streak to become any longer. Also a no less tough home game against my old club from my student days. Aarhus Fremad have done surprisingly well with very limited resources since they were promoted a year ago. An example for us to follow! We finish off the period with a cup game against non-league side Rishøj, so a good chance to exceed expectations again this year... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted December 13, 2015 Share Posted December 13, 2015 Good getting a decent gap up early on. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
dllu Posted December 13, 2015 Author Share Posted December 13, 2015 September 2014 Close to the worst possible month. We just about managed to scrape through to the fourth round of the cup; everything else was utter bollocks. We took league leaders Esbjerg by surprise with an early goal from Sead Gavranovic, but after their equaliser the difference in quality was evident. They were just in a different class than us in every way. Vestsjælland, on the other hand, were in last place when we travelled to Slagelse, so naturally we expected more from this game – and we did manage to keep them at bay for about an hour. Then four goals in five minutes and the game was effectively over. Our luck did not return when we came home to Lerpytter. An unstoppable Edo Sarajcic propelled Aarhus Fremad to victory in a game where we deserved better. Sadly, it wasn’t to be. I don't think I've ever seem us hit the woodwork so many times in one match. Our three defeats in a row became four on another tough day in Horsens. They completely pummeled us in the first half and then went on cruise control in the second, as we failed to get a single shot on target throughout the match. Finally – a game where we were the favourites! Little did it help. We just couldn’t seem to pry open Rishøj’s airtight defence, so instead they got a somewhat lucky goal and looked like pulling off the upset until the last ten minutes when we threw everything at them and got the equaliser from Emil Antonsen. In extra time, Peter Bechmann finally scored the winning goal. We are through, but our already tired players could have done without those additional 30 minutes. Nothing seems to be working for us at the moment! I tried a few tactical tweaks during the month, but didn’t find that magic trick. With a third of the season over, we are still above the red line but definitely looking downwards rather than up. Interestingly, although not surprisingly, I guess, we have conceded the most goals in the division – but also scored the most (tied with Esbjerg)! Well, that’s what the board get for wanting attacking football. Player of the Month: Amongst all the negatives, Tommy Markussen was just about the only positive. Our experienced centre-made an encouraging return from injury, as he only played the last three games but actually didn’t disappoint – unlike all of his teammates! Flop of the Month: The worst of the bad bunch was midfielder Allan Høvenhoff. He practically didn’t do anything right this month. Horrible passing, horrible tackling, and just generally exuding a complete lack of confidence. I had a little one-on-one with him and he seems to have got the point: he has to pull himself together right now, or he is off the team. I very much expect us to get more points in October than we did in September – impossible to get less, at any rate. I also very much expect us to beat another non-league side in Frederikssund and make it to the quarter final for the second year running... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BoxToBox Posted December 14, 2015 Share Posted December 14, 2015 Here's hoping for some better results next month. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
dllu Posted December 16, 2015 Author Share Posted December 16, 2015 October 2014 A weird mix of a month. Started out great, ended – well, not so great. Still, 9 points are 9 more than last month, so not complaining. Two of the worst defences in the division clashed in the Copenhagen suburb of Gladsaxe. Luckily, although our defence may be among the worst, our attack is among the best and AB had no way of stopping us. Viborg are one of the bigger clubs in the First Division and have really nice facilities for this level – I would love to see Thisted playing our home games in a stadium like that someday. Little did it help them, though. As semi-local rivals, we always have an extra incentive to do well against them, and today was no different. The fact that we have a couple of their former players in our roster helps too. Another day and another episode of the ever-popular Sead Gavranovic Show. I dare say we would have beat Fredericia without him, but his hattrick certainly made things a lot easier. Our good form looked to continue against another big club, but once again Randers got the better of us in the dying seconds. We really deserved to get something from that game, so it took all of my pedagogical skills from my teaching background to pick up the players after that late kick in the teeth. The HB Køge game was more or less a repeat of the Randers game. We did our best, but ultimately the difference between top and bottom showed as our opponents had just that extra bit of luck. Hopefully those two narrow defeats have at least been good learning experiences for the lads. Our midweek trip to North Zealand was another performance we’re better off just forgetting about. Frederikssund took their chances and made us work a lot harder for the win than I had hoped for. We’re through, but at what cost? That long, dark, cold winter break is looking more and more attractive right about now! Even though we got 9 points from a possible 15 this month, the other relegation candidates seem to have gotten just as many, so we are not much better off. Player of the month: With 4 goals and 4 assists, including a hattrick against Fredericia, this award can only go to Sir Sead. Flop of the Month: Our Icelandic wing Arnar Aðalgeirsson keeps asking for more playing time. This month he got four appearances – three as a sub plus 90 minutes in the cup game – and he still didn’t perform. I don’t know whether to give him more time or just write him off as a bad investment. The remainder of the fall schedule. We already equalled last year’s cup run, but unlike last year we really have the luck of the draw this time around. With Second Division side Skovbakken in the quarter final, we have every chance of going one step further... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted December 20, 2015 Share Posted December 20, 2015 Keep on going and you'll still be fine. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
dllu Posted December 20, 2015 Author Share Posted December 20, 2015 A new offer and some international news It is still nice to be wanted. But Næstved are 9th in the Second Division East, and the proposed wage budget is much smaller than what I have to work with now. Same goes for the salary they’re offering me. A smaller club than Thisted in every way – and it’s at the other end of the country. Nothing to be considered seriously at all – but once again, the press is already spreading the rumour, so I might be able to use it as leverage with my own board to get another extension. In international news, our very own Hans Henrik Johansen made his Denmark U19 debut in a friendly against Ireland. Another sign that the future is looking bright for our best youth prospects! The national A side could use some new blood too, it seems, with the less than impressive year they’ve had. Looking at those opponents, seven wins really wouldn’t have been unrealistic. Instead they only got two wins. All the losses came in friendlies, but still – new head coach Glen Riddersholm has not had the start he must have been hoping for. Can't stand the guy, so can't say that I'm not just a little bit pleased. At least they (partly) delivered when it mattered and have had an OK if not overwhelming start to their EURO 2016 qualifying group. Believe it or not, my gamble paid off again. I managed to squeeze another year out of the board – and I even got them to remove the “play attacking football” clause. I’m thinking we need to spend the winter working on a slightly more cautious tactic... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
dllu Posted December 21, 2015 Author Share Posted December 21, 2015 November 2014 The saying “you win some, you lose some” applies perfectly to us this season. Our form in the last 20 games reads: WWWW-LLLL-WWWW-LL-WW-LLL-W (!) HIK are clearly the weakest team in the division, so I expected us to win fairly comfortably and we did – despite going behind early. A really bad habit that we need to get rid of, the sooner the better! I’ll just group the three defeats together, as there is nothing much to remark, really. Horrible performances all over, with most of the goals scored after individual mistakes from our defence. Ironically, our best showing was against top team Esbjerg. Little did it help, though. Another cup tie where we went into the game as favourites against a lower ranking team and struggled to ultimately come out on top. For the first 70 minutes, it was a stalemate, with Skovbakken parking the bus and us trying to break through their defence. When they scored on a counter attack, I pretty much tore up my notes and threw caution to the wind. We managed to equalize, though, and in extra time their batteries were just empty and we were able to score some easy goals. Young Martin Bonde really saved our bacon there! So we face the long winter break in 9th place, which is definitely approved. A good rule of thumb is that more than one point per game on average will see you safe. Right now, we are keeping just above that red line. We are still scoring plenty of goals – second-most in the whole division, in fact – but conceding way too many – we are joint first with HIK in that less attractive statistic. But a slightly more defensive tactic and maybe a player or two to strengthen the back four, and I am still cautiously optimistic. Somehow we seem to be getting the points we need, when we need them. Player of the Month: No one really stood out positively in the league games, so I have picked Magnus Bonde, arguably our biggest homemade talent. He only came on as a sub three times in the league, but played 120 minutes in the cup game and managed to score two important goals to put us through to the semi-final. Flop of the Month: Another talented youngster in the squad is right back Jesper Møller Krüth, on loan from SønderjyskE. He has been doing all right this fall, but made two costly errors this month and is beginning to look a bit tired. I will probably keep him around in the spring – doesn’t look too good if I send him back before time anyway – but hopefully the winter break will do him good. And who did we get in the semi-final? None other than AGF from my old home town Aarhus, currently 5th in the Superliga. The choice was between three top division teams, though, so we were going to be the underdogs no matter what. And they have a large following, so we can hope for a nice crowd at Lerpytter in the spring. The semi-finals are played over two legs, so a chance to play at the 20,000 all-seater Aarhus Stadion should also be as nice experience for the boys. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
dllu Posted December 21, 2015 Author Share Posted December 21, 2015 Winter 2014/15 Not the most eventful winter break for us, so let’s throw in a piece of news that isn’t directly related to us, but interesting none the less, as an unknown Canadian businessman suddenly shows an interest in Danish football: As you may recall, Esbjerg are currently in 3rd place in the First Division, just one point from the promotion spots, so this is a very big deal for the former multiple champions. 320 million kroner (ca. £ 30M) may not sound like a lot, but it is by Danish standards. It more or less multiplied their value by a factor of 10, making them the second-richest club in the country: As you can see, our parent club SønderjyskE are worth less than a tenth of that at 18M, while Thisted itself is valued at only 700k in comparison, so exciting times ahead in Esbjerg for sure! Back home, our youth intake was less impressive than in previous years, although this is of course partly due to our squad being stronger than before, so some of the regens look weaker in comparison: The top two look like this. We have been lacking talent in midfield, so Lars and Troels could very well be our future dynamic duo: Our friendlies went fairly well, except for an annoying loss against our arch nemesis Blokhus and an expected loss against Swedish top division side Häcken who visited Denmark and Lerpytter as part of their pre-season preparations: I used the friendlies to work in a new and slightly more defensive (although still not very defensive) formation. We went from a 4-2-4 to a 4-3-3, moving captain Bechmann backwards. Hopefully this will stop us from being overrun so often in midfield... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted December 23, 2015 Share Posted December 23, 2015 I have high hopes for Bertelsen. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
dllu Posted December 26, 2015 Author Share Posted December 26, 2015 I have high hopes for Bertelsen. Me too! Dribbling, passing, and technique (not to mention flair and decisions) all in double digits at 15 is really very good at this level. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BoxToBox Posted December 26, 2015 Share Posted December 26, 2015 Looks like he could be a wee gem. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
dllu Posted December 27, 2015 Author Share Posted December 27, 2015 March-April 2015 Our new tactic seemed to work quite well in the first couple of games. Our strengthened midfield made it easier to retain possession, although we were still struggling to create enough decent chances. We got a very nice – and surprising – win against Aarhus Fremad at my old home ground Riisvangen in a match made difficult for both sides by torrential rain. This was followed by a visit from fellow relegation candidates AB, a home game where a win would have done wonders for us. Both sides were clearly affected by the importance of the game and afraid to lose, so it became a nervous affair marred by way too many fouls. An away game against the top team in the division is of course always going to be one of the most difficult of the year, and our trip to Randers was no different. Not much to say, really. The gulf in quality was evident, and we tried our best but they fully deserved their win. I was less than pleased with our effort against Viborg, however. I really felt we could have gotten something from that game, but we gifted them an early goal, followed by direct red card for winger Mads Westh as he pulled the brakes on Viborg striker Jeppe Kjær after just over half an hour. That effectively removed our chances of getting back into the match and allowed our opponents to cruise to a comfortable victory, almost without breaking a sweat. Once again, Lerpytter is suffering under the Danish spring weather, so our cup game against AGF was postponed – I keep asking the board to relay the pitch, but we just can’t afford it at the moment. This meant that our next fixture was another league game away against Fredericia. Sead Gavranovic pretty much won us the game singlehandedly, as he got us off to a flying start and also scored the winner before half time. Another very important win in our battle for survival! Which leaves us with this table. It looks like Randers are more or less promoted already, while no less than five teams are fighting for that second spot. At the other end, it will take a miracle for HIK to stay up, but although we – together with Fredericia – have a lead on AB now, none of us can feel safe just yet. Also, Esbjerg must be disappointed that their newfound wealth hasn’t bought them success yet – in fact, quite the opposite. They won’t get relegated, but their form has been appalling since the spring season started. Player of the Month: Goes to our left wing Martin Nielsen. I have been playing him as an inside forward, as that is his preferred role, and our right wing Mads Westh as winger, but as part of my tactical tweaks I tried making Martin a “true” winger as an experiment – and it paid off. His form has been great this month, creating a number of chances and contributing with a goal and two assists himself. Flop of the Month: Well, this is a first! Captain Peter Bechmann is usually one of our best players – not so after I moved him down to midfield. I really hope it is just him struggling with getting used to a less familiar position and not his age finally beginning to show. Our upcoming fixtures for the rest of April: Two interesting cup games against AGF – of which I expect absolutely nothing – with a league game against HB Køge in between – of which I expect little but for hope for something at least... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Northwood_dk Posted December 27, 2015 Share Posted December 27, 2015 Fantastic as a fellow Dane to get to follow this story. Another four points should keep you safe from relegation. Will be interesting to follow the Esbjerg storyline as well. KUTGW Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
dllu Posted December 27, 2015 Author Share Posted December 27, 2015 Fantastic as a fellow Dane to get to follow this story. Another four points should keep you safe from relegation. Will be interesting to follow the Esbjerg storyline as well. KUTGW Thank you! And although a final and a trip to Parken would be awesome, after the two AGF games we should realistically be out of the cup and able to focus on the league for the rest of the season, so I am confident we will get the points we need. Yes, I am also curious to see what Esbjerg will do with all those millions! I went back and had a look at their transfer history, and they only bought one player in January, a cheap academy reject from Midtjylland. I guess they might have to get back up to the Superliga before Mr. Johnson really starts splashing out the cash... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
dllu Posted December 27, 2015 Author Share Posted December 27, 2015 April 2015 Well, this was unexpected to say the least. Beating a Superliga side over two legs – and three precious points in between to top off a wonderful week in the life of one happy manager! How to approach our underdog role in these two games? Should I throw caution to the wind and just try to take AGF completely by surprise? That is what the old, all-out-attack me would have done, but I opted for the defensive approach, being patient and relying on counters. In what was easily the most well-attended game at Lerpytter during my reign, we still took the lead after just four minutes through Martin Nielsen’s scorcher of a long shot. AGF really struggled to create any decent opportunities, and despite Bertolt’s equaliser after half an hour we still had a chance, albeit a very slim one, going into the second leg. First we had to pay host to HB Køge in the league, though. Unlike the AGF game, we dominated this one and should have won by more than the one goal by Sead Gavranovic. The lads really took the confidence they got from midweek into the weekend and got us three vital points that might just have bought us another season in the First Division, looking at the current standings: Nine points above the line – and a game in hand on AB – with 6/7 rounds to go. I have a feeling Northwood’s prediction and my own rule of thumb (1 point per game = survival) will hold true. Also, as you can see, rich boys Esbjerg have taken a giant leap up the table by winning their last three games and now occupy the second promotion spot. We then went to my old home town of Aarhus and the biggest venue we have played at so far, for undoubtedly the biggest game of my career. I know people have different opinions about multipurpose stadiums like this one, but IRL this 20,200 all-seater actually has a much more intimate feel to it than you might think: And what a game for us! Once again, we took an early lead through a beautiful goal by Sead Gavranovic and then proceeded to park the bus. A double-decker, in fact. AGF piled on the pressure for 65 minutes before they were able to break down our defence and equalise. Our third extra time in this amazing cup run and the lads were looking very tired. Luckily for us, though, our opponents had bigger problems than that. Bergvold had to be taken off in injury time, and having already used up their substitutions, AGF had to play the first extra half with ten players on the pitch. Ten then became nine in the second half, as Mogaadi was also carried off just after switching sides. We weren’t able do to much more than just play the ball around slowly and carefully at this stage, but being short two men, neither were AGF. For the shootout, I decided to let goalkeeper Kevin Mendoza take our first penalty. A little quirk of mine, but I guess the philosophy is that if the keeper scores, it will give him that extra bit of confidence to maybe save a shot afterwards. Of course he missed! Still, it didn’t matter in the end as two of their players missed the goal by miles – clearly affected by nerves – while the rest of our lads placed their shots so coolly you’d think this was early February and not late April. So the foreseeable future looks like this. An even bigger game at an even bigger stadium awaits us – the chairman might even make me wear a suit and tie for that one. But first, five league games in two weeks. That’s what you get for doing so well in the cup, I guess! Hopefully we will have secured our survival before then, so I can rotate the squad a bit and keep our key players fit for the final... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted December 27, 2015 Share Posted December 27, 2015 Good luck with the end of the season. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
dllu Posted December 28, 2015 Author Share Posted December 28, 2015 April-May 2015 One of our homegrown Thisted boys getting his first international call-up is always good news and a sign that we must be doing something right in the youth department! I know we started out by losing to our rivals Skive, but I am still very pleased with these seemingly mixed results for a number of reasons: We scored more goals than we conceded, which is always a good thing. Our own regen Magnus Bonde is really beginning to show his potential and has celebrated his 18th birthday this spring by becoming a first team regular. We beat already relegated HIK, thereby removing the last vestige of doubt as to our own survival. We then went on to beat nouveau riche Esbjerg away in a game that meant nothing to us but was very important to them. But paradoxically, what I am most proud of is probably our draw at Vestsjælland. Because of weather-induced postponements, we had to play two games within four days before the cup final on the 14th, so since the game was without importance for us, I decided to rest more or less the whole first team and start with 9 reserves out of a possible 11 – including 5 debutants. And change my tactic completely to fit the new players. Which makes that draw a great result in my book! A wonderful sight to look at, is that table. We have bought ourselves another season in the First Division – and very possibly cost Esbjerg their promotion in the process. Player of the Month: Our loyal centre-back, fan favourite Mojo has been very stable and, together with his partner-in-crime Tommy Markussen, is very much responsible for our newfound solid defensive record. Flop of the Month: In midfield, on the other hand, Allan Høvenhoff has been slacking off a bit. He hasn’t been really bad, though, just slightly less good than the rest. Only three games to go. Coming up: It’s the big one, the one we’ve all been waiting for... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DodgeeD Posted December 28, 2015 Share Posted December 28, 2015 Congrats on reaching the cup final. How are OB doing in the league? Any chance that they qualify for Europe through the league and you get a Europa League spot regardless of the result? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
dllu Posted December 28, 2015 Author Share Posted December 28, 2015 Nope. they're 6th with two rounds left, best they can finish is 4th - and Denmark only has a single Champions League spot at the moment, which FC København pretty much have a permanent reservation on these days... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
dllu Posted December 28, 2015 Author Share Posted December 28, 2015 Cup Final 201514th May 2014THISTED v OBParken, Copenhagen Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BoxToBox Posted December 28, 2015 Share Posted December 28, 2015 Damn shame. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
dllu Posted December 29, 2015 Author Share Posted December 29, 2015 May 2015 Well, the cup final went as expected. We put up a good fight, but in the end we were just overwhelmed by an OB team that were stronger than us in every aspect and fully deserved their win. Kudos to them and good luck in the Europa League qualifying next season! I have nothing much to complain about. The only thing I was slightly disappointed with was the right side of our defence. Jesper Overgaard and Tommy Markussen are two of our most experienced players and I had really expected more of them on this important occasion. But I guess I shouldn’t be surprised, as that right-back position has been our Achilles heel all along. At the other end, Sead Gavranovic and Martin Nielsen both exceeded expectations and capped off their performances with a goal each. Had it been up to me, the PotM award – “Cup Fighter of the Year”, as it is called in Denmark – should have gone to Sead. It went to Jacob Laursen, who scored twice for OB – fair enough, I guess. I may be slightly biased. All in all, it was a great setting and a great experience for the club and for the players, though – and for me, despite having to wear that stupid tie all day. Like I told the press, I can’t wait to try this again! Meanwhile, Chris Kristiansen was off on his first international adventure. Denmark didn’t do too well in the U19 qualifying and neither did he in his one appearance as a substitute, but you have to start somewhere, right? Obviously not the best way to end an otherwise good season with three defeats in a row, but it doesn’t ruin the overall impression. The lads were clearly suffering from post-final fatigue, physically and mentally – you can’t really blame them for that, so I rested a few first team regulars and gave some playing time to some reserves. We had one goal: survival. Mission accomplished. Our cup run was just icing on the cake, despite missing the fairytale ending. The semi-final and final also came with a much needed financial boost in the form of extra gate receipts and TV money, so it was well worth it prioritizing the cup. Add to that the First Division prize money and increased attendances (our average more than tripled from last season!) that came with the promotion, and for the first time since my arrival our bank balance is actually in the black. On the downside, I am not happy about this Superliga table, though – and I’m not just talking about the continued FCK dominance. Our parent club SønderjyskE fought bravely, but in the end they are going down – which I assume means their link with us will be cancelled. I am only waiting for the official confirmation after the season update. Player of the Season: Not much doubt about this one. Sead Gavranovic played in 38 of our 41 games, spent the whole spring season alone in front, and lead the way with 21 goals and 11 assists. And he got the best shots on target rate in the whole division! Flop of the Season: Again our problems come down to that cursed right back position. Jesper Overgaard had a few good games, especially in the cup, but just couldn’t find his stride in the league. Jesper turned 30 this year and has hinted that he would like to focus on his career as a banker. He has been a faithful servant to the club, but his contract is running out and I think we will agree not to renew it. Our other option at right back, loanee Jesper Møller Krüth, only performed slightly better, and with our SønderjyskE affiliation seemingly over, he isn’t likely to be coming back next season anyway. So I guess I know where our focus in the transfer market will be this summer... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted December 31, 2015 Share Posted December 31, 2015 Comfortable survival and a cup final Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
dllu Posted January 1, 2016 Author Share Posted January 1, 2016 Summer 2015 – part 1 The fans agreed with me that Sead Gavranovic was our most valuable player this season, so no surprises there. No real surprises in the Team of the Year either, except maybe Magnus Bonde in the starting XI. He has been very impressive, though, delivering pretty much every time I gave him the chance. He is by far our biggest talent right now and I have a feeling he will be giving Sead a run for his money already in the coming season. Great progress on the financial front as well, thanks to our cup run in particular. The First Division prize money should help us consolidate further next season. The pitch at Lerpytter has been in a terrible condition for most of the season, so I have been pestering the board since before the winter break to have it relaid. With the extra money in the bank, they finally gave in and we now have a beautiful new playing field waiting for us in the season opener. At the same time, they also agreed that we need to give our junior coaching top priority if I am to fulfil our ambition to supply the first team with our own homegrown talent. This means that we now have some of the best facilities in the countryin this department. The board have the same modest expectations as last season, which seems realistic. We definitely need more time before we can seriously consider looking upwards in the table: Personally, I just want us to do better than last season (9th place, 40 points), so top 8 and 41 points or more will do... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
dllu Posted January 2, 2016 Author Share Posted January 2, 2016 Summer 2015 – part 2 SønderjyskE sacked their manager Kent Nielsen this summer after their relegation, as did Esbjerg and Canadian tycoon Johnson after failing to win promotion. I must admit I seriously considered applying for both jobs but in the end decided not to. I doubt I would have been seriously considered for either anyway. Meanwhile, I received no less than two unsolicited offers from somewhat smaller clubs. The one from B93 was very easy to reject. The one from Viborg made me think for just a few seconds – twice the salary and almost thrice the wage budget I have now – before sending off another rejection. We said goodbye to a number of players. As expected, Jesper Overgaard left the club by mutual consent. I am a bit disappointed that he signed for our fierce rivals Blokhus, but at least he will be playing in a lower division. Kristian Kirk has been displaced as first choice keeper by Mendoza, so no reason to keep paying his salary when our youth keeper will do just fine as backup. Arnar Aðalgeirsson turned out to be a poor investment and just never really fit into the squad. The rest are youth prospects who don’t look like breaking into the first team and were given the chance to try their luck elsewhere. Our only addition (so far) is a new attempt to find a solution to that cursed right back problem. Victor Nielsen comes to us from a one year stay in Hobro, but is a product of the AGF talent school. We will see if more opportunities present themselves before the window closes at the end of August. Generally good displays in the friendlies, albeit mostly against weaker opposition. The first guests to try out our newly relaid pitch in a tournament match will be Aarhus Fremad in a repeat of the last game of last season, followed by our now former parent club – and my alma mater – SønderjyskE. Our attempt at a new cup run will start at Hobro from the Second Division West, so will be looking to our new man Victor for some pointers on his former club... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
dllu Posted January 3, 2016 Author Share Posted January 3, 2016 July-August 2015 I couldn’t have asked for a much better opening to our sophomore season in the First Division, as we went undefeated for the first four games. We dominated against Aarhus Fremad and took an early lead, and they were lucky to equalize. So I brought on Magnus Bonde and he scored a late winner. Beautiful. Similar stories against both Viborg and SønderjyskE, except that we were up against better teams and they were able to keep us from scoring after they equalized. Birkerød are newly promoted from the Second Division East and surprising everybody by sitting at the top of the table after four rounds. They didn’t offer us much resistance, though, so maybe we should be glad that we caught them on their first bad day. The cup game against Hobro turned out to be a very one-sided affair. I started some reserves and one of them, 18-year old left winger Brian Sørensen, scored two goals. Good to know we have a replacement ready for Martin Nielsen who recently turned 30. Can’t complain about this table. Birkerød as mentioned are the big surprise at the top so far, SønderjyskE of course less so. Esbjerg spent a bit more of their precious money in the summer transfer window, but maybe their new players need time to get to know each other, because they got off to a slightly rocky start. Still, surely those two clubs must be the favourites for promotion this season. Player of the Month: After playing the role of super-sub in the first game, I decided to make Magnus Bonde our sole starting forward – and boy did he repay my confidence! 5 goals in 5 games. Last season’s fan favourite Sead Gavranovic really needs to up his game and fast if he wants to take back his position. Everybody played their part in us staying undefeated – we don’t have a single player with an average rating below 7 so far – so it doesn’t seem fair to name a Flop this month. A hopefully easy game against still pointless Fredericia and a presumably much harder game against Esbjerg awaits, but confidence is high and non-leaguers Greve should be a manageable task in the cup... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
dllu Posted January 3, 2016 Author Share Posted January 3, 2016 August 2015 The Fredericia game turned out not to be as easy as we had hoped for, when Daniel Kristensen got his second yellow just before the break. Luckily we had totally dominated the match up to that point, so we were able to defend our lead throughout the second half. The Esbjerg game, on the other hand, turned out to be just as difficult as expected, despite the close scoreline. Ball possession was also very even, but our opponents created many more chances. Still, considering how they only made one of them count, I can’t help but be a little disappointed that we weren’t able to extend our unbeaten run further. Finally, a comfortable away win in the cup against Greve saw some reserves get some more playing time and sees us progress to the third round, thus meeting the expectations of the board. We stay in the top half, Birkerød stay in first place, and Fredericia are still searching for their first point of the season. Early days, though. Player of the Month: The revelation of the season so far! Magnus Bonde continues his fine form with another 2 goals (and an assist) in 3 games. Flop of the Month: Being relocated to midfield hasn’t really been good for Peter Bechmann. Or maybe I just need to realize that our captain and club legend is beginning to show his age? The first “battle of North West Jutland” coming up again Skive. And things get a bit tougher in the cup with Roskilde, currently in 3rd place in the Second Division East. An extra piece of good news this period as keeper Kevin Mendoza gets his first international call-up. Well deserved... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted January 5, 2016 Share Posted January 5, 2016 Good start this year Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
dllu Posted January 6, 2016 Author Share Posted January 6, 2016 August-September 2015 Another addition to our defence, this time with plenty of experience! Mads Agesen was apparently deemed too old and slow at Randers when they were promoted, but he is still a valuable supplement for us and can play both in the centre and on the right. The main reason for signing him, though, is anything but rational: He is a former player returning to the club and a Thisted lad born and bred. In fact, although I have never met the man IRL, I feel a kind of spiritual connection with him as he literally grew up in the house I now own and live in – no kidding. After losing our affiliation with SønderjyskE, we were in need of a new parent club – and just before this month’s cup game, my chairman came to me with this announcement. Brøndby are currently second in the Superliga and look like they may be slowly returning to their former glory. Hopefully some of that will rub off on us! Again a great month! We started out with our second defeat in a row against HB Køge, but on the plus side, captain Bechmann scored his first goal in ages – and added to that just a couple of weeks later. Good to see him finding the net again on occasion. Everything just clicked in the derby against Skive and in the Brønshøj game. They finished dead last in the Superliga last season and are really struggling, as the table will show. Seven goals in two matches – and what’s more, they were scored by seven different players(!). Maybe the lads became overconfident, but I was slightly disappointed that we weren’t able to make it three in a row against relegation-threatened Næsby. At least we kept them from scoring. Roskilde from the Second Division East provided no serious challenge as we sailed into the fourth round on cruise control. The two pre-season favourites are slowly beginning to consolidate at the top. Fredericia, on the other hand, seem to be sinking without a trace. Things are still looking very good for us, though. If we can keep this up until the winter break, I will have to adjust my goals for the season. A top half finish seems within reach – mind you, there are still two thirds of the season to play, so let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Player of the Month: Veteran centre-back Tommy Markussen was solid all month and played a big part in our three clean sheets. And he even scored a rare goal of his own! Flop of the Month: A good thing he did, too, because our other centre-back Mojo was anything but solid and pretty much cost us the HB Køge game singlehandedly with a number of glaring mistakes. A tough month ahead, as we face three of the other top-half teams before going up against Mads Agesen’s old club – and our nemesis from last season – Randers in the cup. They are in last place in the Superliga at the moment, though, so here’s hoping their form doesn’t pick up just yet... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
dllu Posted January 9, 2016 Author Share Posted January 9, 2016 October 2015 As much as I can’t stand the man, Glen Riddersholm must be doing something right, because he is slowly getting the national team back on the right track. Denmark qualified directly for the EURO next summer in France – I expected no less with the group they were in. A weird month, but ultimately a good one. We lost narrowly to both Vestsjælland and Birkerød. The former was deserved, the latter was harder to take as we were in control for much of the game but failed to capitalize. In between, we recorded three wins in a row. I had not expected us to go to Aarhus and thump Fremad the way we did. Against Viborg, we went behind early, but an incredible last 15 minutes of the first half – including a marvelous hattrick from Magnus Bonde – saw the game turn around completely, and our opponents went down for the break in chock. We followed this up by going to Haderslev and coming home with three hard-earned points. Bonde put us ahead, but SønderjyskE quickly equalized and looked a lot closer to scoring the winning goal than we did – when a slightly lucky penalty and a finely placed shot from captain Bechmann turned things around again. Finally, we will be watching the cup final on TV at home next spring. We played very well and fought hard against a Randers team that is still struggling at the bottom of the Superliga, so there is no faulting the players for their efforts. Ultimately, they just had that tiny bit of edge that booked them a place in the quarter finals, though. Looking at the table, I don’t know whether to consider our cup exit a blessing in disguise or not. On the one hand, we are still clinging on to the top teams. On the other, Esbjerg and SønderjyskE both look very strong for this level, so even if we’re able to concentrate fully on the league from now on, I doubt we will be able to keep up with them. And another thing: Even if we were hypothetically – very hypothetically – to get promoted, we are in no way ready to take that step up just yet. Realistically, we need at least another year in the First Division, maybe two. Player of the Month: Well, you saw the results. Magnus Bonde scored in every game this month, hitting the target 8 times in 6 appearances. There is no doubt that he is our most valuable player and at just 18, it’s only a matter of time before the big boys start showing an interest in him. Maybe already this winter? Flop of the Month: Fan favourite Mojo gets the less coveted prize again. A bit unfair, maybe, in such a strong month overall, but of all our regular starters he was the least stable. Four games remain before the usual long winter break. I don’t expect anything from our trip to Esbjerg, but the others are all winnable. Would be extra nice to end the fall season by repeating the thrashing we gave Skive in our last encounter... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
dllu Posted January 10, 2016 Author Share Posted January 10, 2016 November 2015 – extra I just want to mention a couple of extra news items that caught my eye in November: Vestsjælland got a new manager, and it is a face that will be familiar to many of our British readers from his long years of service in the Premier League and the Championship, as the second most famous goalkeeper in Danish football history makes his first steps into the world of management. Welcome Thomas! As already mentioned, Denmark finally managed to qualify for an international tournament again under new head coach Glen Riddersholm. Looking at their 2015 results, they have actually had a really good year, losing only a friendly against Ukraine and the last qualification game against the Czech Republic – after they had secured their place at the finals. So maybe the EUROs in France next summer will be worth watching after all... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
dllu Posted January 10, 2016 Author Share Posted January 10, 2016 November 2015 I told you the other three were all winnable, didn’t I? As expected, we went to Esbjerg and lost, although we delivered a decent performance and weren’t embarrassed. As for the rest – well, things just got better and better as the month progressed. Fredericia have finally managed to scrape together some points at the bottom by employing an ultra-defensive tactic, but once we managed to breach their hull, they had no answer. HB Køge fell victim to the one-man phenomenon that is Magnus Bonde. I really don’t have word to describe the leaps that lad has made in his development this fall. Another big win in a derby against Skive of course pleased both fans, board, and myself no end. We didn’t dominate as much as the scoreline might imply, but just look who bagged the last two goals. That’s right, Kevin Mendoza. Just like some of my fellow writers here (shoutout to Jimbokav1971!), I have a thing for goalscoring goalkeepers. Since our set piece specialist Daniel Kristensen has declined to the point where he has played himself out of the starting XI, and since Kevin in actually has a decent free kick ability (and the second highest in the squad), I’ve started letting him take free kicks. And lo and behold: [video=youtube_share;sZrmocSXIOA] [video=youtube_share;v3aIHKOP6po] I was literally speechless on the sideline and made sure to give Kevin some well-deserved praise after the game. Those might be the only two goals he’ll ever score, but he will certainly remember them for the rest of his life! Suffice to say I had not expected to head into the winter break in third place – and closer to second than to fourth! Player of the Month: I would have given this to Kevin, but once again it was impossible to overlook Magnus Bonde. He added another 6 goals to his unbelievable tally, which now stands at 19/18 in a pretty competitive league (making him the topscorer so far) and 4/3 in the cup. So 21 goals in 23 matches – and he just turned 19 years old! Flop of the Month: November was just too good to name a flop, with very stable performances all round. Right now that promotion race is looking more like a three-horse than a two-horse one, but considering the strength of the top 2, I don’t want to build up our expectations too much, only to see them shattered in the spring. One thing is certain, though: We don’t have to worry about relegation at all this season. A top-half finish must be the realistic goal now. Although we might have to get promoted sooner rather than later, if only to be able to hold on to Magnus... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BoxToBox Posted January 10, 2016 Share Posted January 10, 2016 Hopefully you'll be able to hold on to Magnus, one way or another. It's fantastic when a kid comes through like this. Also, gotta love a goal scoring goalie! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted January 10, 2016 Share Posted January 10, 2016 Do you think you might be able to make a push for the top 2? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
dllu Posted January 11, 2016 Author Share Posted January 11, 2016 Hopefully you'll be able to hold on to Magnus, one way or another. It's fantastic when a kid comes through like this. Hopefully. I am just past the winter break (update to follow) and no clubs have shown an interest in him yet. If he keeps this up, though, it can only be a matter of time. I did manage to sign him on a long senior contract, so if/when we lose him, we should at least be able to get a decent amount out of it! Also, gotta love a goal scoring goalie! I know! And the best part: Kevin actually plays for Thisted IRL. He transfered here after FM13 came out, so I was especially pleased to be able to get him in the game as well. Haven't seen him display those kinds of free kick talents IRL, though. Do you think you might be able to make a push for the top 2? I honestly don't know. I feel like realistically both Esbjerg and SønderjyskE are just too strong for us, but if we do get a real shot at promotion, we'll take it! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
dllu Posted January 16, 2016 Author Share Posted January 16, 2016 Winter break 2015/16 With Nielsen and Agesen we have finally stabilized our defence, so I feel that the midfield is now our weakest link, despite our surprisingly successful fall campaign. At the same time, both Bechmann and Kristensen are beginning to look a bit old. So that was my focus on the transfer market and I managed to bring in two new faces: Nikolaj Christensen can play both on right wing and in central midfield. He should be a good replacement for our two veterans next season, but will get probably get some playing time in both positions already in the spring. Nikolaj comes from the AGF youth setup and last played for Skovbakken in the Second Division West. He joins us on an amateur contract so he can focus on his education as a teacher. Apparently the college here in Thisted has a better reputation than the one in Aarhus! Malthe Nygaard, on the other hand, already knows his way around the club as an old Thisted boy returning to his roots. The fans haven’t reacted too kindly, though, as he spent the last 5½ years at our rivals Blokhus. He’ll just have to work extra hard to prove his loyalty. If he impresses me in pre-season, there could be a starting position for him very soon. As mentioned we actually have a pretty good youth setup for this level, and once again it shows in the youth intake. Not bad at all. The bottom five were released immediately and the rest given youth contracts. Kusk should become a good backup for Mendoza in goal, and Nielsen has a lot of promise as well. The best of the bunch, however, is Anders Carlsen. At 16, he already has 15(!) First Touch – as well as double digits in both Dribbling, Passing, and Technique. With him and Bertelsen from last year's intake as a future midfield duo, creating the chances for Bonde, the future is looking bright! The friendlies went very well. An expected, but respectable loss against our new parent club Brøndby who were much further along in their pre-season at the time (it was their last game before the Superliga started up again). A surprising but very encouraging win against Häcken from the Swedish top flight. And three compulsory wins against affiliates and local minnows. Nygaard also scored his first goal and already looks like a good investment! A good March schedule ahead. With three home games in a row and none of the top teams, we have every possibility of continuing our fine form from the fall... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
withnail316 Posted January 16, 2016 Share Posted January 16, 2016 Just caught up with this, you've made outstanding progress since I last checked in! Good luck with the promotion push Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BoxToBox Posted January 16, 2016 Share Posted January 16, 2016 Carlsen looks fantastic! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
dllu Posted January 16, 2016 Author Share Posted January 16, 2016 Just caught up with this, you've made outstanding progress since I last checked in! Good luck with the promotion push Thank you! Carlsen looks fantastic! He does. I have high hopes for him! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
dllu Posted January 16, 2016 Author Share Posted January 16, 2016 March 2016 It was only a question of time... Even Magnus wasn’t his usual self this month, though, with “only” 3 goals in 4 games. The same was true for the rest of the squad. We just barely snatched a win with against Brønshøj with a last-minute goal from Gavranovic. Then two disappointing performances which somehow still resulted in two points, but only because the opposition wasn’t stronger. Finally, a complete collapse against Aarhus Fremad. We were down 0-2 after half an hour and 0-3 after an hour, “thanks” to a hattrick by Edo Sarajcic. At least we managed to improve a bit on the final score. Still in third place, and somehow still no more than six points behind SønderjyskE, who also threw away some points this month as well. You may also have noticed that Birkerød seem to have lost the steam they had at the beginning of the season. This month they played - and lost - against all of the other three top 4 teams, so a tough periode for them which means they still can’t relax completely just yet. Player of the Month: Pretty much the only player to have an acceptable month of March was Allan Høvenhoff. Unfortunately, one man alone seldom does it. Flop of the Month: Our disappointing capitulation at the hands of Aarhus Fremad was in no small part due to Emil Antonsen’s atrocious performance. To be fair, I had moved him to left back because Nicolai Andersen really needed a rest. He is perfectly capable of playing that position, though, and has done so before with moderate success, so still disappointing. If Birkerød had a tough month of March, we might very well be in for a tough month of April, as it is now our turn to face the other three top 4 teams – plus Birkerød, who really need to get their act together again. Let’s hope they don’t pick the game against us to start doing that... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dexter_Morgan Posted January 17, 2016 Share Posted January 17, 2016 Hopefully you can pick up some wins in that run in and you have the advantage of playing the toughest 2 sides at home, if you can get through those unscathed then 2nd is a real possibility. Carlsen looks like he could become a really good player for you too! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
dllu Posted January 18, 2016 Author Share Posted January 18, 2016 Yes, SønderjyskE haven't been able to pull away for us for good yet - even though we gave them the chance, they have been just as unstable as us coming back from the winter break. Either way, April will decide whether we're still theoretically in or definitely out of the promotion race... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
dllu Posted January 28, 2016 Author Share Posted January 28, 2016 April-May 2016 April may not look too good, but I’m actually quite satisfied with the results, considering the teams we met. Keeping clean sheets against both Viborg, Birkerød, and SønderjyskE was especially satisfying – scoring only one goal ourselves was less so. Our defence continued their fine form in May, and conceding only 4 goals in 9 games – two of them against Esbjerg – is actually pretty darn excellent. As the results show, Magnus Bonde was once again the main reason for our (relative) success, and he broke another club record in the process. So where does that leave us with just one game to go? Incredibly, despite our erratic form in April it turns out SønderjyskE’s form was even more erratic as we are only trailing by two points before the last round. And our better goal difference means that if we beat Vestsjælland away (which is far from impossible) and SønderjyskE fail to win at home to Esbjerg (not too improbable), we are promoted. Couldn’t have written that ending to the season... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
withnail316 Posted January 28, 2016 Share Posted January 28, 2016 Oof, what a way to finish. Best of luck! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BoxToBox Posted January 29, 2016 Share Posted January 29, 2016 Good luck, looks set for a nail biter. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
dllu Posted February 2, 2016 Author Share Posted February 2, 2016 May 2016 – last round Turned out not to be much of a nail biter after all. We crumbled under the pressure of actually having a real shot at promotion. Vestsjælland beat us fair and square, with Bondes’s late goal a poor consolation. And in the end it didn’t matter anyway, as SønderjyskE showed why they deserve to return to the top tier at the first instant. It doesn’t even look like Esbjerg fielded anything less than a full-strength team. Despite the anticlimactic ending, for once the cliché holds true: We really can look back on the season with a lot of pride. We finally seem to have put together a decent defence, including our keeper Kevin who finally seems to have found his stride after a slow start. Combined with our new and home-made star striker – who scored more than half our goals – I have high hopes for next season. Player of the Year: No contest. Including cup games, Magnus Bonde scored 31 goals in 36 games(!). And 3 assists, just for the record. And the lad is just 19. I have him on contract for another two years, so if we can get promoted before then, I think we stand a decent chance of holding on the him. Flop of the Year: In a sudden reversal of fortune, Sead Gavranovic goes from being the strongest link in the last season to the weakest link in this one (as they say). Due to Magnus’ unexpected and massive success, Sead found himself reduced to a substitute. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that he didn’t take too well to his new role. I’m now pondering whether to let him go or at least try to loan him out next season... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
dllu Posted February 7, 2016 Author Share Posted February 7, 2016 2015/16 – season wrap-up Of course the fans agreed with me that Magnus Bonde was the outstanding player of the season. As mentioned, Magnus bagged more than 31 goals along the way, most of them in the league. And had the good grace to thank me for my part in his breakthrough. Truth be told, I am just as surprised and amazed as everyone else at the season he’s had. It is no surprise that Magnus was also an obvious first choice for the First Division Team of the Year. Veteran Mickey Berg had a very solid season and was the other Thisted name in the select XI. On the negative side, Danish clubs must have been doing really poorly recently. 44th?? Really...? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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