FM16: The Frozen Throne

[Rikulec]

Quick announcement - I'm going home for Christmas in a couple of hours and won't be back until the 27th, so there won't be any updates before Sunday.

[Maaka]

Quick announcement - I'm going home for Christmas in a couple of hours and won't be back until the 27th, so there won't be any updates before Sunday.

Merry Christmas, "Elvar"

[Rikulec]

Merry Christmas, "Elvar"

Merry Christmas to you as well.

[glennuk]

Great thead - Just caught up. Hope you have a good Christmas and come back strong with KR

[deltablue]

I imagine you were hoping things would go rather better.

[Rikulec]

Great thead - Just caught up. Hope you have a good Christmas and come back strong with KR

Thank you very much.

I imagine you were hoping things would go rather better.

I was, but on the other hand this kind of a transition season was needed so that I could identify the team's weaknesses and act properly during the next winter break. Next year could actually be our year.

[Rikulec]

Elvar Björgvinsson's Management Career - Pre-Season - 2024 - Knattspyrnufélag Reykjavíkur

Friendlies



Not exactly spectacular, but I'm not really fussed.

Transfers



Quite a lot of money spent on a total of eight players, but some of them are really great quality.

Dragutin Gajovic - he would make a good winger, but I hope he can make an even better attacking full back. He'll be starting on the left side of our backline in front of Islamovic.

Blagoja Nikolovski - the guy is a decent backup option as a strong central midfielder already, but if he develops properly, he could shine in the league, the guy really has bags of potential.

Birkir Valur Jónsson - yay, an Icelander! And at the same time a decent choice for a backup central defender who'll surely get his chance in our rotation system.

Joël Nana - what a player this guy could become. He'll be a starter for us at the mere age of 18, but he needs to learn to play on the right wing as soon as possible.

Magni Þórðarson - I have no idea why ÍBV let this guy out on a free, but their loss is our gain. Another very good Icelandic player to join us.

Auðunn Gunnarsson - definitely one for the future, but if Gestsson goes on another goal drought, he will get his chance to shine.

Michael Kouamé - Vujica Kojic decided to leave us, so we needed to replace him on the left wing. Kouamé looks like an even better player than the Serbian, the problem is he's the fourth player that will count for our foreign limit.

Jóhann Sigurðsson - the final player to join us during the transfer period. At 17 he's already a starter for the U-21 national team, for us he should be a good enough second choice goalkeeper.

[Rikulec]

Elvar Björgvinsson's Management Career - February 2024 - Knattspyrnufélag Reykjavíkur

Deildabikar





Two wins to set off our campaign in what could be one of the easiest groups in the Deildabikar history.

Our first competitive game in 2024 was against Grótta, a 1. Deild karla side. Our tweaked possession tactic worked out quite well as the possession stat eventually stopped at 63-37 for us, but there were some problems with creating chances. This could be down to a few things like new players needing time to fit into the team or relatively low tactic familiarity. Nevertheless, we got what we wanted thanks to one of the new signings, Magni Þórðarson. In the 56th minute after a nice passing move the midfielder was sent one on one with their goalkeeper by a nice through ball from Gestsson and finished with a cool head. What's also worth mentioning is that we didn't allow the opposition to take a single shot that counted as a shot on goal.

Next up, Þróttur Reykjavík, a side I've been doing my best to forget after the not-so-glorious initial period of my career. And again it was a confident win with us controlling the flow of the game rather comfortably. The 17th minute brought what could be described as a replay of the previous goal we've scored. Gestsson, Þórðarson, 1:0. Our striker added a goal to his assist five minutes before the break, finding himself at the end of a nice cross by our new left winger, Michael Kouamé. And in the 65th minute everything came full circle as Þórðarson assisted Kouamé with a nice cross that flew over their goalkeeper's head and set the Ivorian up for an easy shot. We slipped up seventeen minutes later and got caught on the break - a decent counter attacking move was finished by Þorládur Ásgeirsson. That was also their only shot on goal of the whole match, which means that after two full matches Uros Matic still hasn't made a successful save. Oh, and how many players do you know that completed 125 passes on their debut for a club? Well, Blagoja Nikolovski has just joined that group.

[Rikulec]

Elvar Björgvinsson's Management Career - March 2024 - Knattspyrnufélag Reykjavíkur

Deildabikar





Easy.

In the first game of March we faced Fjallabyggð. If you look at the stats - 21-7 shots, 60-40 possession - you may think it was an easy and comfortable win for us. But it was... weird, that's the best word to describe it I guess. There were no early signs of trouble and in the 14th minute we got in front. Marko Keca put in a cross from a free kick and Yann Songo'o headed the ball home pretty much unobstructed. And then something went wrong. Even though the development of all statistics seemed to indicate our domination, it was Fjallabyggð whose actions were presented in highlights and finally seconds before the break they equalised. Þorsteinn Jóhansson beat Uros Matic with a header from like 15 yards out. Our goalkeeper should have done much better to stop that. On the other hand, he did finally get his first save of the season before letting that in and it was a perfectly executed defensive one on one. In the second half we finally stopped them from dangerous attacks, but also struggled to break down their defence. Luckily we had the great Snæbjörn Valur Gestsson. In the 71st minute he took a placed shot from well outside the box, the ball hit the crossbar and bounced off the ground just across the goal line. What a fabulous goal it was. We carried the result until the final whistle with barely any trouble.

A week later we faced our toughest opponent in the group, at least on paper - Valur. They've been looking strong for a couple of seasons and last year they even managed to snatch European qualification. And they started strong - after a few dangerous attacks they got in front in the 15th minute through a nice turn-and-shoot move by Filip Mihajlevic. We responded immediately - Joël Nana's free kick was nodded on by Gestsson for Tin Salatovic to smash it home from point blank range. That goal pretty much stopped our opposition in their tracks and we could finally slowly build our advantage. Seconds before the break a nice cross by Ómarsson landed at the feet of Michael Kouamé who had no trouble banging it in. The second half was the awakening of Ante Mrmic who yet again performed a couple of fantastic saves against us. Valur had one great chance to equalise in stoppage time, but Matic was there to save a dangerous effort from just inside the box. A good win in the end and definitely an important game for our confidence levels.

Next up, Fjarðabyggð. This was by far the most straightforward game of the month. 8th minute, Blagoja Nikolovski gets dispossessed in the box, the ball rolls over to Kouamé, empty net, 1:0. 25th minute, a nice passing move sets up Nana for a penetrating run into the box, he squares it to Gestsson, 2:0. The second half was very slow and probably quite boring to watch for the neutrals, but next to no danger from the opposition and 68% possession are things that certainly brought a smile to my face after the game.

I was surprised to discover that since the beginning of this career KR faced Fram three times and lost each of these games. I thought it was time to finally give them a beating, especially as there's a rivarly going on between these two teams. And the first half was just about as dull and uninspiring as it gets. We struggled to keep the ball for longer periods of time and were painfully inaccurate in pretty much everything we attempted up front. Finally a breakthrough came in the 57th minute. Kouamé square ball was met with a sublime effort by Gestsson and we were in front. And just as I was starting to think it would be a boring win, but still a win, in the 83th minute a cross which seemed rather easy to deal with caused a misunderstanding in our back line. Oliver Rothaug made perfect use of that by tapping the ball into an empty net. Frustratingly, a silly goal like that denied us a perfect record in the group stage.

[tyler16]

Great transfers and a good start there.

[Rikulec]

Great transfers and a good start there.

Thanks, the first two months were certainly decent, but the real fight begins in April when we'll be facing some proper opponents.

[Rikulec]

Elvar Björgvinsson's Management Career - April 2024 - Knattspyrnufélag Reykjavíkur

Deildabikar





Certainly not the finish I'd expect, but we had already done the job anyway.

Pretty much like against Fram, again we struggled to find our rhythm and HK were simply too weak to exploit that. They did next to nothing throughout the whole game, their shot stat which reads two taken, one on goal tells the whole story. And the 38th minute was one of the most ridiculous things that can happen to a player on FM I think. An overhit deep cross was sent flying towards the far post, Matic took way too much time to make any move, and when he did, he deflected the ball right in front of him while falling on his arse and again taking ages to get up. This combined with a complete lack of any reaction by the defence left Mads Andersen with the easiest of chances. Despite the relatively big amount of time to pursue the equaliser, my players didn't really seem to care. What a stupid way to end a decent unbeaten run.



That was close, but two 120 minute games within three days was just too much.

The first half of the Stjarnan game really made me dread a long term crisis which at this point would probably cost me the job sooner rather than later. Maybe we weren't completely bad, but we got off on the wrong foot and were quite lucky to carry the 0:0 until half time. That's when we finally woke up. In the 52nd minute a cross by Keca was met by a close range finish by Gestsson and we got the lead. That didn't last long though, just two minutes later a brilliant through ball caught our defenders out and Árni Vilhjálmsson equalised with a calm finish. Despite our advantage we couldn't get the lead again within 90 minutes of football, so extra time was needed. That put us in a bad position before the semis already, but since we got there, we had to fight. And the extra time produced a story that will certainly bring a smile to some faces. In the 101st minute Gestsson was replaced by Auðunn Gunnarsson, a youngster we bought from Stjarnan back in November. And guess who fired us to the Semi Final. Two assists from Joël Nana and two goals from Gunnarsson in the 108th and 113th minute were something they simply couldn't reply to. In the other pair FH beat KA 1:0 within 90 minutes, so we knew we were about to face an extremely tough challenge.

And we were close. Just as Stjarnan did, FH launched a full scale attack in the first half and at times we were quite lucky to hold them off. After the break we started to find our feet and just as the tiredness started to slowly get to us, in the 60th minute Snæbjörn Valur Gestsson unleashed a beautiful left-footed effort from just outside the box which landed almost perfectly in the upper 90. From then on it became all about somehow holding on. It was going to be extremely hard though as our defenders' stamina was around 60% levels at the hour mark. And we simply didn't make it - in the 82nd minute a deep cross from the left sliced through our penalty area for Goodness Ajayi to smash it home. The Nigerian could have even denied us extra time shortly after in a very similar situation, but he hit the post from a very tight angle. The opening minutes of extra time saw two exceptional saves from Uros Matic, one included stopping an absolute thunderbolt from close range which somehow hit our goalkeeper right in his outstretched hand. And then there was a moment that simply left me wondering how much bad luck can one guy accumulate. In the 95th minute we conceded a goal which looked exactly the same as the one we conceded against HK, this time Nikola Radovic was the scorer. Matic seriously needs to work on his handling, that was beyond awful. At least knock it away for a corner ffs. Our hopes got smashed eight minutes later when Radovic made it 3:1 with a simple tap-in, the defenders just couldn't come back to their positions on time after we lost the ball near their area. And in the 110th minute... something happened. Suddenly FH went into complete meltdown, but frustratingly we failed to exploit that. Gunnarsson could have become a hero, but in the 113th minute he was stopped by their goalkeeper in a one on one situation and two minutes later the same happened to Karlo Muhar. We gave it our best, but it simply wasn't to be. I'm not even mad.

Transfers

Zvonimir Milic - on the last day of March Haugesund came in with a £70K offer for Tin Salatovic which I simply couldn't say no to. This guy comes in as a much cheaper replacement.

[Rikulec]

Perhaps I should be paying more attention to this, now that my job status has been insecure for something like six months or so.

[Rikulec]

Elvar Björgvinsson's Management Career - May 2024 - Knattspyrnufélag Reykjavíkur

Pepsideildin





This could be turning into a two horse race very quickly.

First up, ÍA. Relatively easy on paper, but history has already proven that it could be tricky. And it turned out to be a very, very strong season opener for us. Their only response to our 20 shots was one weak long range effort. But despite our absolute domination the first half ended with no goals and I was slowly starting to sweat, remembering our last season's struggles against this particular opponent. But this time we came out on top. In the 51st minute a cross by Marko Keca was met by Michael Kouamé on the far post and the Ivorian made it 1:0 for us. 25 minutes later our left winger celebrated his second goal which looked very similar to the first one, this time it was Magni Þórðarson with the assist though. All in all it was a very confident performance and a good way to kick off a new season.

Five days later we faced Stjarnan. Their squad is now significantly weaker than it used to be, but still, it's Stjarnan. And, as you can see, we battered them. Our first goal came from Yann Songo'o in the 20th minute - Nana crossed from a corner, Pejo Pejic nodded it on and the Cameroonian smashed it home with a close range header. Nine minutes later Ómarsson delivered a pinpoint cross from the right for Kouamé to double our lead. Just before half time the winger made it 3:0 for us and 4 goals from 2 games for himself, Ómarsson with the assist once again. It was quite difficult to motivate the players for the second half after such a hammering and we let our foot off the gas a little bit. Even that didn't stop us from scoring though. In the 77th minute Keca found Þórðarson with a brilliant pass, the Icelander dribbled past two opponents and exploited their goalkeeper's poor positioning with a powerful strike at the near post. Six minutes later Songo'o got his second goal of the game, shame it was an own goal though. A cross was drilled in from the right, the defender probably thought Matic would come out and collect it, but he stayed on his line and Songo'o was hit by the ball which he completely didn't expect. It was the only downside to an otherwise fantastic performance though.

When I saw Valur lining up with two players in the DM spots and two players in the CM spots, I knew exactly what kind of a game to expect. After some initial stuttering from us which allowed the visitors to create an opportunity or two, we gained control in the 20th minute. Joël Nana crossed from the right, the ball bounced off their defender, Ante Mrmic deflected it to the post, but Snæbjörn Valur Gestsson was there to smash it in from point blank range. Four minutes later our striker doubled his goal tally. This time it was a proper assist from Nana and a beautiful turn-and-shoot move which unleashed an absolute thunderbolt which went in at the far post just under the crossbar. After that we just kept the ball moving around and disrupting Valur's attacks before they could get dangerous, slowly strolling for another three points.

Borgunarbikar



It took us much longer than it should have.

I decided to field a few second choice players against a much weaker side, Tindastóll, but still they should have been strong enough to beat the opponents without the unnecessary struggle. The problem was we very often attempted shots from difficult positions instead of playing one more pass to set up a teammate for a much better opportunity, which probably boosted our stats and the number of highlights quite significantly, but wasn't very effective. After 90 minutes of such frustration it was still 0:0, so extra time was needed to decide the winner. And in the 102nd minute we finally did it. A good pass from our youth striker Davið Sveinsson found Karlo Muhar coming into the box from deep. The Croatian was one on one with their goalkeeper and knocked the ball past him with a soft, placed effort. Just before the final whistle there was some nerve as Tindastóll tried their luck twice, but Uros Matic did well to keep both the attempts away.

In the next round we're travelling to Breiðablík.

[Rikulec]

The quest for the penultimate badge has begun.

[Rikulec]

Elvar Björgvinsson's Management Career - June 2024 - Knattspyrnufélag Reykjavíkur

Pepsideildin





Please don't melt down now!

We started the month with a home game against relegation strugglers, Vikingur Reykjavík. And it couldn't have started better for us - in the 6th minute Blagoja Nikolovski scored his first ever goal for the club with a nice long range effort. After such an opening I believed we'd go on to knock a few more past them, but the lowly side turned out to be a surprisingly tough opponent. We had to resort to shooting from half prepared position and needed to remain concentrated until the final whistle as they looked quite dangerous on the counter. After some trouble we managed to maintain the result and continue our great start.

Three days later we travelled to Fylkir and looked quite comfortable for a change. Another problem emerged though - our finishing was really bad. We controlled the game and maintained a good possession stat of 61%, but despite being able to create chances with that we simply struggled to find the net. In the 74th minute we got lucky though. Nikolovski let out a rather scruffy shot from 20 yards out that didn't really make me rise in my chair at first, but their goalkeeper made a very poor save attempt and somehow let it in. Massive, massive sigh of relief was let out - we weren't going to screw that up. And we didn't, for the second time in a row a goal by our Macedonian midfielder was enough to win us the game.

And then came the big one. Similarly to us, ÍBV had won all five of their opening fixtures and looked just as strong as we did. And there were two sides to that game really. Personally, I was hyped as hell and sat at the edge of my chair, trembling for pretty much the whole match. But for the average Joe (or the Icelandic equivalent) who decided to spend a cold evening at the stadium watching that, it was probably quite boring. Pretty much as expected, both teams did a good job shutting each other out and the game turned into a tough midfield battle. It was the hosts who looked slightly on top in the first half, but neither side managed to get in front before the break. The first goal of the match came in the 58th minute. Nikolovski put the ball in the net for the third game in a row - this time it was the wrong net though. A corner swung in at the near post and the Macedonian attempted to clear it away with a powerful header. Pressured by two opponents though, he made a mistake. A move was made immediately - Dragutin Gajovic was moved from the left back spot to the left winger position as Michael Kouamé was replaced by Adnan Islamovic. Gajovic found himself in a good chance shortly after the goal, but his header skimmed just over the bar. In the 69th minute he couldn't miss though - a great drilled cross by Nana was met by a finish by the Serbian. After a nerve-wrecking match, both sides had to settle for a draw that probably did them both justice.

A week later we hosted Breiðablik. Their lengthy absence in the top flight made me forget how difficult can breaking them down be. The match quickly turned ugly and after a few warnings in the opening minutes the referee started dishing out yellow cards - he eventually stopped at 10. The visitors' approach to the game made finding our rhythm extremely hard for us, they would let us into their half and then they'd immediately hassle us, making it next to impossible to play fluid football. The breakthrough came just before the break. We finally managed to play a few passes near their penalty box and a fantastic drilled effort from just outside the box by Snæbjörn Valur Gestsson put us in front. Our lead was doubled in the 58th minute as a cross by Joël Nana was met by a header by Kouamé which went in off the crossbar. Five minutes later Breiðablik put together their only sensible attacking move of the match. And it was enough to score - after a nice through ball Kristinn Freyr Sigurðsson found some space at the near post and squeezed the ball there. It was their only shot of the match though - another day, another win for us.

Next up, a sentimental trip to the Akureyrarvöllur. KA beat us twice last season and I expected them to be a tough opponent that honestly they didn't turn out to be. In the 12th minute their defence was torn to pieces by a cross from the left wing and their central defender Silvério ended up putting it in their own net. And minutes before the break absolute chaos erupted in their box after a free kick from the right. I didn't count, but we took four or five shots that got either blocked or saved before finally Zvonimir Milic found the way to score. It was a very comfortable 2:0 win at the end of the day and it could have been much bigger than that, but Antonio Carlos delivered a good performance in goal for the home team and prevented us from humiliating them.

We've come to a point where FH come to our ground and get torn apart. Believe me, we should have smashed them right there. The sole reason why they got away with a point was poor finishing from us and good goalkeeping from Marko Donovic. Only bad luck prevented us from extending our advantage in the league to five points. We did get lucky once though, just before stoppage time we made a mistake in defence and Nikola Radovic was sent one on one with Uros Matic, but he missed the target completely. All in all, it was a point I'd probably be happy with if I didn't know the circumstances of the game.

Borgunarbikar



Job done, move on.

After a failed attempt to wipe us all out in the league game, Breiðablik players were much more calm when we came to their ground three days later. That finally allowed us to put together some nice offensive moves. We could have grabbed the lead on a few occasions in the first half, but their goalkeeper Skúli Magnússon did a great job on his line, performing a few fantastic saves against Gestsson's shots. In the 51st minute Birkir Valur Jónsson was brought down in their box after a corner. Karlo Muhar stepped up to the spot and sent us to the Quarter Final with a confident shot. Breiðablik posed pretty much no threat over the course of the game.

In a repeat of last year's Quarter Final we're hosting ÍBV.

[Rikulec]

Elvar Björgvinsson's Management Career - July 2024 - Knattspyrnufélag Reykjavíkur

Pepsideildin





Another unbeaten month and our advantage in the league grows, still a long way to go though.

To start off we travelled to Ólafsvík for a potentially tricky tie with Víkingur. And it was constant balancing on the edge of our comfort zone. We looked confident in control, but I couldn't shake off the feeling that we could fall victim to a well executed counter attack at any moment. Inside the first 20 minutes we hit the post twice - first Gestsson and then Nana. Finally in the 36th minute we got in front - Kouamé crossed from a free kick and Zvonimir Milic headed the ball home. Our left winger got his second assist of the game in the 70th minute, setting up Auðunn Gunnarsson for his first goal for us in the league. The second goal calmed things down and it turned out to be another fairly easy win.

ÍA, oh, ÍA. After the comfortable opening day win at their place I thought our problems with that particular team would be over. Nope. What a beautiful thing it is to concede a goal against a team that has 0 shots on target. But first things first. There were no early sings of trouble - in the 14th minute a nice through ball from Þórðarson sent Gestsson one on one with their goalkeeper and the striker made it 1:0 with a calm, placed shot. We went on to waste a few good chances to extend the lead before the 45th minute came. That's when a sequence of poor defensive decisions that stretched over something like half a minute finally resulted in an explosion of chaos right in front of our goal. This ended by Yann Songo'o sliding past the line with the ball - his second own goal of the season. Out of the four goals we conceded, three were own goals. Whether it's a good or a bad thing, I have no idea. The second half wasn't as good as the first on our part, but still on a couple of occasions we could have got the lead back. A disappointing draw in the end.

I'm shocked to see how comfortable we've been against Stjarnan this season. Well, that could be down to the fact that I've discovered how good the set of team instructions we've been using this season works exactly against Stjarnan back in the Deildabikar. I think I'm going to call it "lethal anti-Stjarnan weapon" or something. This match itself was a one man show really and this man was Snæbjörn Valur Gestsson. In the 13th minute Nana played a cross from a free kick and the Icelander was there at the far post to smash the ball into the net. He doubled his goal tally half an hour later, this time it was Ómarsson with the assist from the right after a nice passing move. And finally after a foul in the box on Þórðarson he completed his hat-trick from the spot in the 55th minute. I kind of feel sorry for the Stjarnan fans who certainly remember their glory days and must have been sad to watch such a horrid performance by their team.

A week later we travelled to Valur. I expected a difficult game there, but I certainly didn't expect them to absolutely batter us in the opening minutes. Uros Matic performed two brilliant saves within the first 120 seconds of the match, but in the 5th minute he had nothing to say when Þorsteinn Ingason scored with a close range effort after a cross from the left wing. It took us fifteen minutes to stop their wave of attacks, but we couldn't find a way to launch our own. We got quite lucky with the equaliser - after a cross from the right in the 58th minute Michael Kouamé attempted to control the ball instead of just shooting. His first touch was so bad though that he literally walked the ball in. Both teams had their chances to grab a winning goal, but the two goalkeepers performed very well and kept everything away. All in all I'm happy with the point.

And the Keflavík game was another case of a result that doesn't reflect the circumstances. With the chances we had, it should have been much more confident. Again it was Kouamé who turned out decisive for us - in the 26th minute he successfully rebounded his own shot after a corner. The stoppage time brought two heart stoppers - two horrific defensive mistakes, first an underhit headed backpass by Pejo Pejic and then a missed header by Birkir Valur Jónsson. On both occasions it was Yu Dong-Gu who could have become Keflavík hero, but first he was stopped by a sensational save by Matic and then his lob attempt missed the target. It's good that we managed to win, but it shouldn't have been so shaky.

Borgunarbikar



Every good cup run needs its thriller!

The first half wasn't very eventful really. There were a couple of good saves by ÍBV goalkeeper Simon Sluga and a few potentially dangerous long throw-ins by their right back Aaron Benzel. And in the 44th minute one of them became our undoing. The German threw the ball to Ulises Salinas standing unmarked 30 yards out, the American made a good first touch and immediately launched an effort which skimmed just above everyone's heads in the box and hit the upper 90. What a hit, if that was in the league, it would be a very strong goal of the season candidate. We punched back in the 54th minute - Þórðarson with a great opening pass and Gestsson with a confident finish. There were three minutes of added time and as it ran out, I was slowly starting to think how to approach the extra time. And them with just seconds to go Kouamé launched a long pass into space along the left wing which was reached by Gestsson. The Ivorian ran 50 yards at full speed without the ball and finally received it back before launching a fantastic cross which landed on the head of Joël Nana. Our right winger couldn't have chosen a better time to score his first ever goal for the club really. I might have celebrated this one a bit excessively in front of the screen.

In the Semi Final we'll face Grindavík at a neutral stadium.

[Rikulec]

Let's hope for more!

[Rikulec]

Elvar Björgvinsson's Management Career - August 2024 - Knattspyrnufélag Reykjavíkur

Pepsideildin





I got a bit carried away after such an eventful month and played one game of September already, which denied me a wonderful screenshot of top three teams sitting level on points. As you can see, Player 3 has joined the game.

August started with a home match against Fylkir, definitely something we should be winning. We were missing a couple of players because of suspensions. One of them was Snæbjörn Valur Gestsson who was replaced by Auðunn Gunnarsson. And the young Icelander really should have had at least one goal to his name after 20 minutes of the game. First, his wonderful placed effort from 25 yards out was denied by the crossbar. Then he was set up with a good through ball for a one one one situation, hit the goalkeeper, and finally his own rebound ended up smashing the far post and not going in. After that creating chances didn't come as easy to us anymore, as time passed there were less and less highlights and finally before the final whistle I accepted the fact that we simply weren't going to score.

When Branimir Jocic got booked exactly 17 seconds into the ÍBV game, I knew my players were motivated just fine. And the first half was a wonderful showing from us - the only problem was we couldn't hit the damn target. We kept the possession level well above 60% and created chances from time to time, but ended up with no shot on goal in the whole match. Finally in the 68th minute we got caught on the break. Jakob Ómarsson was caught out of his position with a through ball and Ulises Salinas gave the visitors a lead with a weak shot that Matic really should have done better to keep away. When they almost repeated the same thing four minutes later to make it 2:0, we were down and out. ÍBV found their flow, which they confirmed in the 83th minute with a Krzysztof Malinowski goal. The result looks horrendous, but the performance really wasn't all that bad. It brought a painful end to our great unbeaten run though.

We travelled to Vikingur Reykjavík just three days after a cup game, but still it looked like a decent opportunity to recover from the ÍBV result. But it wasn't to be - we found ourselves on the back foot pretty much straight from the start, in the 2nd minute Yngvar Werner made it 1:0 for the hosts and we knew we were in for a pretty bumpy ride. When Andrzej Wroblewski doubled their lead just before half time, I thought we'd need a miracle. And for a moment it seemed possible. Five minutes after the break Joël Nana restored some hope, delivering a classy finish to a Dragutin Gajovic cross from the left. Three minutes later Gestsson found himself in a wonderful chance after a very similar ball and I thought we had them, but the striker smashed it straight at the goalkeeper. "Disappointing" doesn't really cover it. Despite finally finding our feet in the game, the pursuit of the equaliser turned out unsuccessful. This was our second defeat in a row and the threat of ÍBV stealing the top spot was really starting to loom over us.

Breiðablik... as I sometimes like to do, I'll start with presenting you the match stats. Shots - 22-2 for us. Shots on target - 8-1. Possession - 61-39. And everything in our game looked just so good up until a certain point. In the 14th minute we got in front - Marko Keca played a through ball into the box and Auðunn Gunnarsson gave us the lead with a nicely placed effort. Our domination was never really questioned and Breiðablik made it even harder for themselves in the 50th minute when Baldur Benediktsson received his second yellow card for a really dumb and unnecessary foul in the middle of the park. But obviously in such a month things still had to go balls up. In the 76th minute their striker Guðmundur Gunnlaugsson received a pass in the corner of the six yard box. Seemingly marked by two defenders, he really didn't have much space, but still he managed to bloody score. Uros Matic didn't really help as even before the shot he had already been sitting flat on his arse for no apparent reason. And we still should have won the game, but after a magnificent cross by Ómarsson Michael Kouamé failed to find the open net and smashed the ball straight at their goalkeeper instead. Let's just all forget about that match.

Ten games unbeaten run, seven straight wins - KA looked extremely strong when they came to the KR-völlur. I don't think I've ever managed to mount such a run with them. On the other hand, we hadn't won in our previous four games and conceded six goals, scoring only two. So obviously the famous law of football's reverse logic worked there, because we should have wiped the floor with them. The result doesn't reflect the flow of the game at all. We shut the visitors off completely and continuosly posed a threat to their defence. Shame our offensive form is so bad right now, a higher result could have done wonders to our dipping morale. The only goal of the game was Branimir Jocic's penalty in the 41st minute after a handball by Jan Sedlak.

Borgunarbikar



It feels so good to finally win something!

I was happy to draw Grindavík in the semis as they were probably the weakest of all four sides there. Not that the pair of Haukar and Vikingur Ólafsvik looked particularly strong, but surprisingly the former of these two have participated in the last two Borgunarbikar finals, even winning one of them. Now that's a cup team if I've ever seen one. Moving on to our match, it really should have ended half an hour earlier. Our inability to hit the target even from seemingly easy positions was almost criminal. Blagoja Nikolovski got subbed off in the 62nd minute only because he kept frustrating me so much with his somewhat forced shots from 20 yards out that always ended up blocked. Out of the 24 shots we took over the whole 120 minutes, only five were on target. One of them was Dragutin Gajovic's goal in the 99th minute. It was a cross from Ómarsson and an easy tap-in. We made it harder for ourselves than we should have, but the place in the final was booked.

And it was exactly the performance I had expected. Just three minutes in Yann Songo'o put us in front, rebounding his own shot after a corner. In the 36th minute Snæbjörn Valur Gestsson went on an individual mazy run and somehow ended up getting away from two defenders and finding the net at the near post with a FIFA-esque finish. This guy has already shown on multiple occasions that he can produce moments of magic, but he's so painfully inconsistent... well, nevermind. Vikingur barely ever reached the vicinity of our penalty area throughout the game that turned out to be probably the most comfortable one we've played in the whole competition. We were simply the best.

Youth Intake



Nothing spectacular, one player with the potential to become somewhat decent.

Eiríkur Ari Kristjánsson

[Rikulec]

The usual set of messages that makes up for a very pleasant read.

[Jason the Yank]

Congrats on the double.

[Rikulec]

Congrats on the double.

I hope to win the double, but so far I've only won the cup.

[DodgeeD]

Congrats on the cup win and good luck for the remainder of the league campaign

[Rikulec]

Congrats on the cup win and good luck for the remainder of the league campaign

I can already tell you that the final day was something that will probably be remembered for many years in Iceland...

[Rikulec]

Elvar Björgvinsson's Management Career - September 2024 - Knattspyrnufélag Reykjavíkur

Pepsideildin





By some incredible luck, we did it!

After beating KA in the first game of September we travelled to FH for another tough match. Similarly to our first confrontation back in June, we were the better team and had the advantage, but the hosts looked slightly more dangerous than last time around. Surprisingly they had to fight for their life as after a horrendous season they found themselves in the relegation battle. Despite our advantage we couldn't break the deadlock - we did create decent chances, but once again our finishing was below standard. This wasn't helped by the fact that the hosts' defence was sitting quite deep and they managed to block five of the twelve shots we took. The breakthrough came in the 84th minute. Blagoja Nikolovski received a wonderful pass on the left side on the box and laid the ball out for Branimir Jocic. The Serbian let off a scruffy shot, the FH goalkeeper got his hand to it, it deflected off the post and finally found its way in the net. There was some nerve in stoppage time, but we got away with a vital win.

Next up, Keflavík, always a tricky tie, especially at their place. And we started this one in the worst possible way - the first highlight of the game was their corner in the 11th minute which ended up as a Marko Mirkallo goal. Luckily we managed to respond nine minutes later. Snæbjörn Valur Gestsson's individual run won us a penalty which was converted by Karlo Muhar. From then on we launched a massive wave of attacks. Massive, yet painfully ineffective. A great performance by Nikola Mirkovic between their sticks denied us a winning goal on a few occasions. Keflavík also looked quite dangerous on the break, but our defence dealt with any trouble with relative comfort. After the final whistle we received disastrous news - ÍBV won a six-point clash away at KA, which put them in front of us on goal difference.

It was all straightforward on the final day. In order to become the Champions of Iceland. We hosted Vikingur Ólafsvik and ÍBV also had a home game against relegation battling Breiðablik. We needed either to top their result or win by three more goals than they do. Some morale-crushing news arrived just four minutes after the final whistle - our title rivals made it 1:0 very early into their game. Our match was quite similar to the Borgunarbikar final - we were in full control and the visitors never really threatened us. This time our finishing was a massive letdown though. From the chances we created, we could have actually got 4:0 up and make our goal difference better than ÍBV's. Instead we kept wasting opportunites up until the 78th minute. An amazing through ball by Nikolovski somehow squeezed through three opponents and set Gestsson running free on goal. A calm finish put us in front, but that still wasn't enough. As you can see, we carried the result to the final whistle. And ÍBV?



All hail Guðmundur Gunnlaugsson! \o/ \o/ \o/

[Rikulec]

Well and thoroughly deserved.

[Rikulec]

Elvar Björgvinsson's Management Career - Season Review - 2024 - Knattspyrnufélag Reykjavíkur

Pepsi-deildin

Results

Competition Performance: Winners

There was a brief period of stutter, but all in all this was a brilliant campaign. Maybe we didn't finish the season unbeaten, smash the record points total or keep our goals conceded to a single digit - all of which seemed achievable after two thirds of the season! - but we achieved exactly what we wanted.

Deildabikar

Competition Performance: Semi Finals

With some better luck we could have got further, but two 120 minute games within three days was just too tough for the players. Can't blame them for that.

Borgunarbikar

Competition Performance: Winners

Maybe we shouldn't have taken two games into extra time, but on the other hand we only conceded one goal in 510 minutes which is a brilliant record. A well deserved trophy.

Squad

Even after a couple of late departures (see below) I believe we had the best team in the whole division. Loads of strength in all areas of the pitch.

Transfers - Finances

I'm delighted with how the transfers went. We spent quite a lot of money in the winter period, but the team was seriously strenghtened and we managed to cash in big on Nana and Gunnarsson late into the season which meant that in the end we turned a huge profit.

Unsurprisingly, the finances were largely boosted by player sales and we maintained in the black, again making profit over the whole season. Just look at the budgets the next manager will be allowed to operate with!

Player of the Season

1st - Magni Þórðarson - the ex-ÍBV midfielder did wonders to our frontline performance. Without him, we were a much weaker team. It's also very pleasant for me that in a team full of foreigners I can place an Icelander on top of the list.

2nd - Pejo Pejic - the one who kept it all together. His average rating may not reflect that, but our experienced defensive midfielder contributed to our great defensive record massively. Keeping the proportion in mind, he was the Sergio Busquets of our team.

3rd - Michael Kouamé - after the amazing start he made in the league, scoring 4 goals in 2 games, I thought he could go on to achieve big things. Well, he didn't, but he was a very important player for the side throughout the whole season and definitely won us a fair few points.

Next Season

The temptation to stay is strong, but there is a clear aim to this save. Finland, here I come!

[Rikulec]

Even more evidence that we had a truly magnificent season.

[Rikulec]

I've had some great time at KR, but it's time to move on now.

[Rikulec]

That didn't last long - IFK Mariehamn came knocking on November 11th. They sacked their manager after finishing 5th in the Veikkausliiga, so they're obviously quite an ambitious club.

[Rikulec]

November 16th and an offer comes in. A no brainer really.



Elvar Björgvinsson's Management Career - New Club - IFK Mariehamn



Just as I thought, they are a very ambitious club indeed. A massive step up for me as I finally walk through the door of professional football.

Club Name: IFK Mariehamn

Nickname: Grönvitt

Year Founded: 1919

Status: Professional

Stadium: Sjölund Arena (6,441 all-seater)



Not much history to shout home about really, they won the title once in 2015 and they also laid their hands on the Liigacup in 2020.



I should mention that the league has been absolutely dominated by HJK. They have won it nine times in a row, which includes the recently finished season.

[Rikulec]

Elvar Björgvinsson's Management Career - Season Preview - 2025 - IFK Mariehamn

Board Expectations:

Veikkausliiga: Qualify for Europa League

Veikkausliiga Liigacup: Not important

My Expectations:

Veikkausliiga: I hope to meet the board's expectations, luckily the squad is good and the chairman seems to be very resourceful.

Veikkausliiga Liigacup: Like in Iceland, this will be a good opportunity to get to know the team better.

Budgets:

Transfer: £1,561,924

Wage: £26,879 (currently spending £18,900)

Balance: £2,532,538

[Rikulec]

Only one left.

[Jason the Yank]

See, I knew you had it wrapped up.

Good luck in Finland.

[Northernpilgrim]

Good luck with the Finnish adventure

[deltablue]

Good to see you finally have some success.

[Rikulec]

See, I knew you had it wrapped up.

Good luck in Finland.

Alright, next time I'll trust you.

Good luck with the Finnish adventure

Thanks, the start has been really exciting so far, I thought the jump from Iceland to Finland wouldn't really be big, but it turned out this is a whole different world.

Good to see you finally have some success.

Yeah, it was about time.

[Rikulec]

Elvar Björgvinsson's Management Career - Pre-Season - 2025 - IFK Mariehamn

Friendlies



Business as usual.

Transfers



Only free transfers and loans are possible before February in Finland, but I already have two more transfers confirmed and at least one of them is quite likely to blow you out of your shoes.

Diogo Monteiro - a decent backup option with the possibility of breaking into the first team. He'll certainly be helped by his versatility.

Özkan Yardımcı - we needed a defensive minded midfielder, so we asked our parent club Beşiktaş for one. Amazing quality in that young lad.

[Bracken]

Just read the whole thing (took a while!), superb thread mate, glad to see you have some success, you've earned it!

[dllu]

Good luck in the Åland Islands.

[Rikulec]

Just read the whole thing (took a while!), superb thread mate, glad to see you have some success, you've earned it!

It was such a massive relief when we laid our hands on that title, especially given that we were very lucky not to bottle it!

Good luck in the Åland Islands.

Thank you very much.

[ashton321]

Fantastic so far pal. Good luck in Finland

[Rikulec]

Fantastic so far pal. Good luck in Finland

Thanks, it's started quite well I can tell you.

[Rikulec]

Elvar Björgvinsson's Management Career - January 2025 - IFK Mariehamn

Friendlies



Keeping the fitness during the ridiculously stretched out Liigacup.

Liigacup



That was a real breeze.

To start off, I decided to go with a bog standard 4-4-2 after seeing how much quality in attack we possessed. We lined up with a 20-year-old Norwegian Torgeir Heggland and a 16-year-old Finnish academy product Stefan Nilsson up front. The former got his first goal of the season in the 18th minute. A great ball to the right flank by Nilsson was received by our Turkish attacking right back Özgur Özkul who immediately put in a wonderful cross to the far post and Heggland scored with an easy header. Eleven minutes later Nilsson made it 2:0 with a very composed finish after a nice through ball by our Moroccan supporting midfielder Mohamed Yildrim. The final goal was scored by Heggland again in the 56th minute. We controlled the game throughout and strolled to a very comfortable win. I couldn't have asked for a better start.

[Rikulec]

Elvar Björgvinsson's Management Career - February 2025 - IFK Mariehamn

Friendlies



Still sweeping them up.

Liigacup





We've comfortably secured the Quarter Finals passage with one game left to play.

With some better luck we could have gone for some kind of a goal record against KTP. We hit the crossbar three times inside the first 45 minute, including a marvellous effort from Nilsson who received the ball on the left side of the box with his back to goal, turned after some struggle and immediately unleashed a curled shot, way out of the keeper's reach. What a goal it would have been. But despite our domination, at half time we were trailing. In the 26th minute a seemingly not dangerous situation ended up with Johan Leskelä putting the visitors in front. The second half was the great awakening, even though it started off quite wild. There were three goals in the space of less than 120 seconds - Alexander Bakkehaugen gave us the equaliser in the 52nd minute, Isaac Padilla got KTP the lead back in the 53rd and in the same minute Stefan Nilsson made it 2:2. Mohamed Yildrim gave us the lead five minutes later, but it only took the visitors two minutes to equalise again through Padilla. From then on it was a show of strength by my players. 65th minute, Nilsson, 4:3. 86th minute, Heggland, 5:3. 89th minute, Donato Gasperoni, 6:3. A fantastic game for the fans and an important win for us.

After two great results in the first two Liigacup games, it was a surprise for me that RoPS turned up very tough for the third match of the group. We had to wait quite long for the first highlight, but when it came, it was a goal by Bakkehaugen that put us in front in the 24th minute - the talented Norwegian left winger received a nice cross by our loanee Turkish right back Özgur Özkul. RoPS equalised straight from the kick off though - a good through ball wasn't stopped by either of our central defenders and reached Jarno Käsnäkoski who had no trouble slotting it past our goalkeeper Frédéric Götte. From then on the game turned quite ugly with barely anything dangerous on either side. A disappointing draw.

Transfers

Sami Ojanperä - we needed to transfer £60K to HJK in order to acquire this left back. He's only 19, but with these attributes he'll surely slot into the first team right away.

Niclas Alexandersson - £50K for this guy from VPS... wow. Incredible stats at 17 already, I don't even want to guess where this guy could end up in a few years with the right development.

[Rikulec]

Elvar Björgvinsson's Management Career - March 2025 - IFK Mariehamn

Friendlies



We slipped for the first time before a nice morale boosting win.

Liigacup





It wasn't really much more than simply formal.

We didn't start the game well and fell behind in the 7th minute to a Petteri Ek goal. The response came almost straight away - Bakkehaugen did well to get away from his marker before laying the ball out for Nilsson who got his fourth goal of the tournament. The Norwegian got his second assist in the 21st minute with a good cross that landed on the head of Özgur Özkul. We seemed to gain control from that point, but we lacked concentration after the break and conceded in the 48th minute, Matias Ojala with the goal. Despite our domination we couldn't get in front again and dropped points for the second time in a row. Not that it really mattered at this stage.



Surprisingly strong at the back and we're in the Final.

The AC Oulu game started off quite even, but time passed and our domination grew gradually. Donato Gasperoni was absolutely bossing the left flank and ended up with a 8.4 rating and PoTM award. Despite clearly being the better team, we struggled to convert the opportunities we created. The situations included two occasions of our players getting denied by the post. Finally the 62nd minute came. Alexander Fagerholm put in a cross from a free kick on the left hand side for our experienced centre back Leonardo Piala to head it home. We were hardly ever threatened by the opposition and got the win without much struggle.

Next up, FC Lahti. It was a match where Stefan Nilsson could have become a hat-trick hero, but kept getting denied by a good performance by their goalkeeper Magnus Zettenberg. To cut the long story short, it was a rather boring 0:0. I was surprised there was no extra time, but the match went straight to penalties. Lucas Lingman stepped up first for the hosts and his shot was saved by Götte. Everyone else scored, which gave us the win after five rounds of penalties.

HJK await us in the final.

[DodgeeD]

Good start to life with your new club.

[Rikulec]

Good start to life with your new club.

Thanks, it certainly hasn't been too bad.

[tyler16]

Going to need to catch up in full, but it looks like you've come a long way in the past week.

[Rikulec]

Going to need to catch up in full, but it looks like you've come a long way in the past week.

Yeah, it's been quite eventful.