deltablue Posted March 9, 2016 Author Share Posted March 9, 2016 One of the reasons why I'm set to leave Vasas at the end of the season is that it's impossible to get a grip on expectations because we're all over the place. We can be amazing but we can never keep it up and it can go wrong against anyone and everyone in the league. It's nice to know where you stand, good or bad, that's all I'm saying. This year we've been everything at some point or another. We started off very effectively indeed (though rather dull) before suddenly being incapable of doing anything for a while. After the winter break the gears shifted once again. I was very worried that our first match back was at a Debrecen side who had gone 6 points ahead of us but I was amazed as we had by far the better of the match from that start and I'd have been really disappointed if we hadn't finally got the win that Nagy gave us. Given that 'starting' position it was amazing that it took us just a few games to turn the tables and be back on top, a position we haven't looked like losing ever since, with the loss of a 2-0 lead at MTK being the only blip. Still at least we didn't lose the points with a 97th minute penalty that ended up being the last kick of the game like Ipswich last night. We also finished off the Diosgyor tie in the cup surprisiny easily. Unlike our earlier run we were looking a lot more convincing, Nagy in particular. You'll remember how worried I was when Vereb was sold above my head but having managed to find Nagy as a replacement I had nothing to worry about in the end. It was like watching Ramiro Linias from my last Ipswich team, except without the epic dribbling skills. Unfortunately he went off injured in the league game against Videoton, and when I saw the inbox afterwards... Erm, this isn't good! The cup game against the same opponents didn't give me much confidence either. While it was unlikely we could get anywhere near repeating our performance just a few days earlier anyway, the especially mediocre performance from Viragh (Nagy's backup) doesn't bode well for being able to keep it up during what will be a very hectic last month or so of the season. It at least looks like it might be a very exciting one. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
noikeee Posted March 9, 2016 Share Posted March 9, 2016 Looking a hell of a lot better now, get someone to impersonate Nagy and you're good to go to retain the title. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dexter_Morgan Posted March 10, 2016 Share Posted March 10, 2016 Good turnaround there delta Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted March 11, 2016 Author Share Posted March 11, 2016 Looking a hell of a lot better now, get someone to impersonate Nagy and you're good to go to retain the title. That'll be a neat trick Good turnaround there delta Cheers but we didn't quite keep it up. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted March 11, 2016 Author Share Posted March 11, 2016 There's nothing like a cliffhanger update We continued to do well for a while with Vukcic being the one to step up for the most part. We managed to beat Ferencvaros and Ujpest, though it was a pity we lost the lead twice at Diosgyor in between. However we were still 5 points clear of Debrecen with 4 matches left and hoped to take a big step closer to sealing the title when we played them at home the following weekend. Unfortunately we had the second leg against Videoton in between. Viragh may have unimpressed as Nagy's replacement but he had still got a couple of goals in very limited game time before, and important ones at that, giving us a late point against Ujpest early in the season and a last gasp winner at Bekescaba in March. As he was advancing on goal I even thought 'Is he finally going to...' when he slotted home, making it a 3rd crucial goal, not least since extra-time might have left us too drained. The real cost of that match though was Latu's injury, just for about a week and half but that still 2-3 matches and he was one of the few people (along with the already-out Nagy) I was worried to lose. As it happened when we came to the Debrecen game we were so poor that we had just 2 shots, both off-target and suddenly they were just 2 point behind us. We managed to bounce back against Honved but not against ZTE. That was rather nerve-wracking as even with most teams playing on Saturday, matches are at different times so with Debrecen playing slightly later I was kept in suspense over where we'd be ahead of the final day, and was very relieved when a draw meant we stayed ahead, especially when I saw that Debrecen were at home to Videoton, which really wasn't a match I had confidence in them dropping points in if we were relying on it. With the small matter of the cup final against Ujpest (a very close one to call), time will tell if I end up leaving Hungary with a double or nothing at all. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dexter_Morgan Posted March 12, 2016 Share Posted March 12, 2016 Good luck, going to be tight Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted March 12, 2016 Author Share Posted March 12, 2016 Title Showdown So here we have it folks. For the first time in this career I'm going back into more detail to try and bring you a bit more of the drama of this final day. The situation is pretty simple in that we go to mid-table Kisvarda needing to just match Debrecen's result at home to a Videoton side looking like relegation, which probably means needing to win. Their far superior GD means that they will win if they beat our result, including if they draw and we lose which would put us level on points. So here we go... Kisvarda ?-? Vasas (HDI) If Debrecen scored before we did, I'd be getting worried so I was glad we started positively and we struck in the second minute. Latu passed to Reynoso in the centre, squaring it to Olvera who crossed it near the line for Viragh to knock home. Nagy? Who he? 1-0 to Vasas! It only took a few more minutes for Debrecen to go 1-0 up in their game which made us feel a lot more vulnerable as Kisvarda started testing Calvo in goal. Debrecen score another meaning it we were almost certainly needing to win to take the title, just as I expected. Our strong first 15 minutes turned into more even exchanges and disaster struck as a cross was headed in past Calvo in the 25th minute. 1-1! The game didn't let up. We immediately had a couple of close chances before they had a period of pressure that forced Calvo to make a few saves, we kept on pushing. Debrecen were now 3-0 up so we definitely needed a win of our own now and another Olvera cross (after receiving the ball deep from Petrescu) was knocked in at the far post by Latu, the Romanian's 50th career league goal. 2-1 to Vasas! The second-half started out evenly enough but then Kisvarda started to take some sort of control, thankfully with less accurate shooting than earlier in the match. By this point Debrecen had a 4th goal and eventually got a 5th. You can't fault them for trying to do their bit. Our match quietened down for a bit, and we even had a speculative chance or two but they gave us a brief scare when forcing a stoppage time corner. However we otherwise comfortably survived and suddenly it was all over. 2-1 to Vasas and the title was ours once more! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted March 12, 2016 Author Share Posted March 12, 2016 Good luck, going to be tight It was indeed, which is great because it made it a lot more interesting. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dexter_Morgan Posted March 12, 2016 Share Posted March 12, 2016 It was indeed, which is great because it made it a lot more interesting. Well done, least you have the big one before you leave Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
noikeee Posted March 12, 2016 Share Posted March 12, 2016 Congrats! Ferencvaros almost went down! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted March 12, 2016 Author Share Posted March 12, 2016 Well done, least you have the big one before you leave Congrats!Ferencvaros almost went down! Well the cup final is coming right up (It's almost half-time) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted March 12, 2016 Author Share Posted March 12, 2016 Hungarian Cup Final 2034: Vasas vs Ujpest The cup final would pit 1st vs 3rd. We had a tricky path to the final, comfortably beating a Division III side before winning only one of our home games in the 2-legged rounds, relying on away wins in the second leg to get past Ferencvaros in the last 16 and Videoton in the semi-finals, as well as managing the same feat in the Quarter-finals against Diosgyor, though we didn't need a win in that one. Ujpest had an easier ride, albeit a longer one. Semi-final opponents Bekescaba (who they beat in both legs) were their only Division I opponents and Mezokovesd were the only other side in the top 2 divisions they faced, in the Quarter-finals. I named an unchanged line-up from the final league game, reading: Calvo; Olvera, Velazquez, Szekeres, M.Szabo, Salas; Petrescu, Reynoso; Latu; Vuckic, Viragh. Ujpest had the first couple of chances but we started applying a lot more pressure, forcing a bunch of corners. They still had a couple of chances acting as warning signs that they could really punish us so I was glad when Vukcic received the ball from Latu inside the penalty area and paused briefly before firing confidently home in the 28th minute. 1-0 to Vasas! It didn't last. They broke just a few minutes later with Calvo managing to block a shot after advancing out of his goal but the ball rebounded sideways to their star forward Mogulkin (who was on 28 goals for the season, 24 in the league) who knocked into the exposed net to equalize. 1-1! The news got worse as Mogulkin made it 30 for the season 10 minutes later. Again Calvo was left exposed as he managed leap up to stop a long wide shot but was left helpless on the ground afterwards leaving it easy for the Russian (and a team-mate) to advance and compete to tap it in. 2-1 to Ujpest! We struggled to get back into the game early in the second-half as they either kept it quiet or had what chances they were but we grabbed our opportunity in the 58th minute when Vuckic played the ball through the Ujpest defence to Viragh who was completely unchallenged and free to level it for us 2-2! The match was quiet for the next 10 minutes but it was Ujpest who pushed forward and after a few efforts in the same attack knocked a cross. Szekeres messed up big time as he failed to control the ball right by the goal-line and it rebounded off an Ujpest player right next to him. 3-2 to Ujpest! With the clock ticking we really pushed forward and soon got our reward. Petrescu played the ball to Latu, and even though an Ujpest defender only just beat him to it, he couldn't control it and it bounced towards the goal Viragh pounced in the space and we were level once again. Cracking cup final this. 3-3! Extra time started off pretty uneventfully but soon Ujpest were showing the attacking ambition, and Petrescu was showing it the wrong way. He had been booked in the middle of the first-half, had a let-off in the second and I knew he wouldn't get another so when the referee summoned him again after 100 minutes I knew we were going down to 10 men. Thankfully Ujpest weren't able to do anything with their advantage so it went to penalties. Madjaric for Vasas... 1-0! Simons for Ujpest... Calvo saves! Latu for Vasas... Saved! Kunsagi for Ujpest... 1-1! Balazs for Vasas... Saved! Novothny for Ujpest... 2-1! Salas for Vasas... 2-2! Zhvachkin for Ujpest... 3-2! Olvera needs to score here... he does! 3-3! Mogulkin can seal it for Ujpest... Calvo saves!!!!!!!!! We're in to sudden death now! Vuckic for Vasas... Saved! Toth for Ujpest... Yet another save from Calvo! (Every failed penalty for both sides so far has been aMc save instead of a miss) Viragh for Vasas... 4-3! It's Michael Kalu vs Victor Manuel Calvo... Saved! Vasas do the double! Wow! That was a heck of a climax to the season, and indeed I'm glad that both matches served up so much excitement. In a way it's a pity to be leaving after doing the double but it's always nice to bow out on a high like this. A few of us were mentioning in noikeee's thread that FM doesn't always inspire the same enthusiasm as in the past for us old folks but this morning has really showed what it can still do at its best. I was worried for large parts of that match... both times we went behind in the 90 minutes, when we went behind in the shootout and only just managed to level it in the nick of time, and finally when we missed at the start of sudden death. It's been a fantastic adventure in Hungary (at least sometimes) and my next club will have a hard act to follow. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dexter_Morgan Posted March 12, 2016 Share Posted March 12, 2016 Well done, looked a topsy turvy mate from the report and goal times. Bet you feared the worst when you went down to 10 Pleased after such a hard start at the club your hard work paid off, any idea where next? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted March 12, 2016 Author Share Posted March 12, 2016 Well done, looked a topsy turvy mate from the report and goal times. Bet you feared the worst when you went down to 10 Pleased after such a hard start at the club your hard work paid off, any idea where next? It was topsy turvy for a while but I have to admit that aside from the little spell that allowed us to make it 3-3 they were probably the better side from half-time onwards. I wasn't actually that worried about the sending off because while it wasn't helpful, at that stage of the game I felt there was a good chance that they wouldn't be able to take advantage of it, and indeed they barely threatened afterwards. It didn't take long to get a new club, and I was delighted with who I managed to get. I've still got a few little updates to do so I won't reveal who it is quite yet but they're probably near the top of the list of available clubs (especially given I'm now counting Russia as a 'big league' and therefore out of bounds) and one of the ones I most wanted to get at some point. If I succeed with them I can pretty much choose what I like after that. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason the Yank Posted March 13, 2016 Share Posted March 13, 2016 Excellent work on the double. Players showed some real fight needing to win to secure the league, and coming back twice in the cup final. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
LEEMOD Posted March 13, 2016 Share Posted March 13, 2016 Good read this, well done mate, have you checked out my thread mate? 'journals of humpus widgren'? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
noikeee Posted March 13, 2016 Share Posted March 13, 2016 Leaving on a high. Random guess for your next club: Red Star Belgrade? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted March 13, 2016 Author Share Posted March 13, 2016 Excellent work on the double. Players showed some real fight needing to win to secure the league, and coming back twice in the cup final. In some ways that made it feel even more rewarding than if we'd strolled to either. Good read this, well done mate, have you checked out my thread mate? 'journals of humpus widgren'? I certainly keep an eye on it. Leaving on a high. Random guess for your next club: Red Star Belgrade? Not a bad guess, but no, I'm not in Serbia. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted March 13, 2016 Author Share Posted March 13, 2016 Season Summary There is very little I could add that hasn't already been said. We were a mixed bag throughout, starting off being effective, then slipping badly before starting to really shine which gave us just enough momentum to push ourselves over the time. In the cup we had an early exit from Europe and struggled to take control of cup ties before suddenly pulling a rabbit out of the hat in the away leg, not to mention that fabulous final. It was still frustrating and I hope to be able to build something a lot more exciting and consistent at my next club. My time in Hungary was very much been a success throughout but still not without its frustrations so while I chose very well for a first club, I've still been longing to move on for something else. Star Player: He may have been absent for the climax of the season but it's hard not to recognize Nagy's contribution to help us to the double. Squad Stats Vasas Record Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted March 13, 2016 Author Share Posted March 13, 2016 European Roundup: 2033/34 CL EL Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted March 13, 2016 Author Share Posted March 13, 2016 World Cup 2034- Japan Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted March 13, 2016 Author Share Posted March 13, 2016 So, my new club then... Chapter 2: Greece is the Word (Panathinaikos) Greece... A country of, and in, ruins. This seems to apply to Panathinaikos as well who have a loan debt of 24.5M, though that's less than a value of 31M. I actually came close to joining another Greek club earlier in the summer. There's a club called Lamia who start off in the B division but are now very much one of the big boys with a recent league title among a bunch of 'there or thereabouts' seasons, enough to have a competitive rivalry with ourselves and AEK and with over double our value at 66M (though that's still way behind AEK on 111M). Olympiakos won the first 4 titles in the game but otherwise ag far behind with just a single title since as AEK, Lamia and ourselves seem to have formed a 'Big 3' for the time being... The expectations are high early on, and they are to challenge for the title. I generally steer clear of high early expectations but it paid off at Vasas and it could well pay off here. We're in a good financial situation (for now, the other time I was at Panathinaikos on a career save was in FM10 and I left fairly quickly after losing 1M a month that I couldn't do much about) with a balance of almost 11.5M, a transfer budget of over 6.5M, a wage budget of over 180kpw with just 110kpw being used, and that's after re-adjusting the budget towards transfers. We can also offer individual players up to 20kpw and we're in profit almost 40M for FFP purposes. Panathinaikos finished 5th last season but won the European playoff to get the second CL spot, the fact that I qualified with Vasas last season making it seem deserved on a personal level rather than inherited. The squad is rather unbalanced with too few defenders and a wealth of young player who won't amount to much and defensive midfielders so as usual there's a lot to do to get a side I feel happy with but there's plenty of time and money to help do so from the start, so well see how far I can get to building a more competitive team in the short-term. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
noikeee Posted March 13, 2016 Share Posted March 13, 2016 Well that's quite a promotion, even on the back of 2 Hungarian titles I'm sure Panathinaikos is still a much bigger club than Vasas. Good luck in Greece (and here's another nation I've been meaning to manage in for a while too, and never got to!). Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dexter_Morgan Posted March 14, 2016 Share Posted March 14, 2016 Good luck with Panathinaikos, like noikeee i've not really had any time in Greece apart from an uncompleted Gundo challenge with AEK when they were relegated for financial reasons, IIRC you shouldn't lose as much money there as in real life in the latest editions of FM. You're at a big club so attendances ect; should help keep you above water along with the fact your wage bill isn't too big Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cardiovascular Posted March 14, 2016 Share Posted March 14, 2016 This was a great read, fantastic work on capturing the league and the cup this year. Best of luck in Greece. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
dan_simmonds Posted March 17, 2016 Share Posted March 17, 2016 Nice double there for you Delta, Greece should be easy... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted March 18, 2016 Author Share Posted March 18, 2016 Well that's quite a promotion, even on the back of 2 Hungarian titles I'm sure Panathinaikos is still a much bigger club than Vasas. Good luck in Greece (and here's another nation I've been meaning to manage in for a while too, and never got to!). Oh it is a really big step up, a much bigger one that I was expecting to achieve but I was never going to say no to a club like that Good luck with Panathinaikos, like noikeee i've not really had any time in Greece apart from an uncompleted Gundo challenge with AEK when they were relegated for financial reasons, IIRC you shouldn't lose as much money there as in real life in the latest editions of FM. You're at a big club so attendances ect; should help keep you above water along with the fact your wage bill isn't too big I've been there a few times before but only brief scattered appearances and not for a while. We'll see how things go financially but I found a few potentially good players in the youth team already and if more come along than that'll help on the financial side of things. This was a great read, fantastic work on capturing the league and the cup this year. Best of luck in Greece. I don't think I could have done it without the double so hopefully that'll make things count. Nice double there for you Delta, Greece should be easy... Way to jinx me before I've started! My laptop's been out of action all week until this morning (the charger went on Monday but I had already ordered a replacement that arrived today) so hopefully I can get going in Greece soon. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted March 20, 2016 Author Share Posted March 20, 2016 Summer 2034 Right, finally time to get down to business in Athens. My first view of the squad wasn't a very good one, which was an especially bad thing with the Champions League looming and very little time to bring in players in time for them to play in the 3rd Qualifying Round. I mentioned before that we were rather short on defenders. We were also short of any senior keeper and even among the players we did have, there were a startling number of young players, to the point I had to register one of them to reach the minimum registered squad size for the CL. That's why it didn't matter as much as you'd expect because even if it didn't go well, the fact that it would be a considerably under-strength side meant there was no need to be too concerned about that alone. There were a few players with a promising future or who would at least be decent short-term backup options but now wasn't the time to be relying on such players in any position, only when I had built up a far stronger core would it be right to take the potential short term hit of less-developed players. It was clear where the priority would be. There needed to be a keeper, a full-back for each side and multiple central defenders. I couldn't even begin to look elsewhere until those were sorted and while I can't complain about the budget it had to go pretty far indeed which still meant being potentially careful with it. It was still nice to be able to cast my net rather wider than in Hungary and I took full advantage in being able to attract players from bigger leagues. Once the 'essential' signings were done we were a little over wage budget and with some re-balancing we only had enough money for one player. Thankfully we did have a good first-teamer in the midfield and forward positions (depth was another matter entirely but that will have to wait) but I was able to identify a poacher as the focus to get a new player in. By this point I had recruited a DoF (among an Ass Man and other staff members) who after sending numerous youth team players on loan to St.Johnstone (causing shares in local Greek restaurants to surge) got in another on loan from Uruguay, and keeps chasing a few more loans which haven't come through, though there's still time for another addition this way. Signings Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted March 27, 2016 Author Share Posted March 27, 2016 Oct 2034 So I've finally managed to get going in Greece and it's been a bit of a mixed bag, which isn't good with high expectations. It certainly started poorly. Our attempts to do anything in the CL were a little hindered by the timing in relation to what I had to do to the squad and registration deadlines, which made a big difference as I made a lot of moves quickly enough that they would have arrived in time to play if it wasn't for that. As it stood I was only able to add one change on the eve of the first leg itself. I guess that's why it didn't bother me as much as it should, given it wasn't my 'proper' team. The league didn't start very well either as we went to an Apollon side who were mid-table last year, found ourselves 3-0 down after just over half-an-hour and ended up with 10 men. Not that the last point made any difference as it was late on and they'd scored all their goals long before but it added to the sense it being a really bad day. I suspect that there was an element 'not really bothering with a midweek European tie coming up' which I see pretty often and that seems to be born out by the way we thrashed Cluj away in that second leg, which was a surprise as while we were definitely a superior side, the gap on paper wasn't that massive. There's also the ease with which we dispatched Panachiaki, also a mid-table side from last season. It's a bit of an imperfect comparison but still. Things did seem to pick up for a while after that, which we really needed it to. Lamia are comfortable early leaders but we were at least getting into the 'best of the rest' pack without too much trouble, despite having an early game in hand, which added to the pressure of getting up the table before the board started getting a little unhappy. That made the defeat at home to Panatoilikos rather disappointing but I guess the midweek Old Trafford trip took a lot out of us. Speaking of Europe, our Europa Group is rather interesting. I though we'd be in a big fight for second with Man Utd but their defeat to Salzburg in the first week coupled with our win at Chaves (the second-strongest side in the group) opened up all sorts of possibilities. It's such a pity that we then fell narrowly at home to Red Bull (a weaker side on paper than the Portuguese) which does put us on the back foot somewhat, and my plan to try and keep Man Utd at bay lasted just 5 minutes, so we'll probably need to step up in Austria and get a result in the second Chaves game to go through. If we're close than it would still be a respectable showing. There won't be anything next week as I'll be in France from Wednesday to Sunday but I'll see if I can get another update (to December of January) in before then. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
noikeee Posted March 28, 2016 Share Posted March 28, 2016 Chaves! How random. Been a very very long time since they last were in Europe in real life. 2nd / 3rd tier side for many years now. The league position isn't as bad as it looks at first glance thanks to the game in hand, but you need to pick up form quickly not to let Lamia get away. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted April 8, 2016 Author Share Posted April 8, 2016 Chaves! How random. Been a very very long time since they last were in Europe in real life. 2nd / 3rd tier side for many years now.The league position isn't as bad as it looks at first glance thanks to the game in hand, but you need to pick up form quickly not to let Lamia get away. Interesting seeing things like that develop. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted April 8, 2016 Author Share Posted April 8, 2016 December 2034 It's good to get back into things again. It started off looking shaky as we went behind against Atromitos in the cup (though we ended up winning) and suffered a lame defeat in the league at home to Veroia. After that I decided that I had probably been too ambitious with the tactical setup and while we didn't return to the direct approach of Vasas, it was still a lot simpler and more rigid. It certainly seemed to take effect at home to Man Utd as we took the lead and trying to hold on to it late on backfired (it is useful at times but it otherwise cedes control of the game to the opposition and I had a bad feeling about it even while doing it) as they scored a stoppage time equalizer that made a massive difference to the European situation. We had been ahead of them in second while level on points (on head-to-head away goals presumably) but with the draw they were 3 points ahead with the head-to-head advantage. Things went our way in the next round with progression in our hands after beating Chaves as Man Utd beat Red Bull and we could progress with a win, which wouldn't be easy but it was a lot better than needing Man Utd to slip up against Chaves as well. That being said the Portuguese side did actually take the lead in the final round of matches. In our game we actually managed to go ahead twice and I was getting pretty excited but they firmly dominated in the second-half and trying to be brave and all-out after their second equalizer just left us open to an eventual heavy defeat. It was a shame to go out when progression was clearly in our grasp but we had at least been competitive in a very open group. Domestically things really clicked with the tactical change. After we started winning again I looked at the league table and although our position didn't look that great position-wise due to a tight pack at the top and a game in hand, I saw we were only just off 2 points a game so we had been going better than I realized even before the improvement in form took effect and we now look closer to a potential title challenge than I expected us to be. With high expectations and so much to be done to the squad I've mostly been focused on doing well enough to not be under too much pressure from the board, rather than aiming to be successful in the short term. Lamia have dropped off a little after their fantastic start leaving the title-race very open. However I should just point out that due to matches being moved (including Olympiakos twice), the home game against PAOK is the only 'big game' we've had at what would otherwise be the half-way point, in fact before our last few matches before Christmas were moved (for a single cup match, which makes no sense especially as there was an almost-full round of league fixtures on the 23rd that we could have played in) we were due to have Olympiakos (admittedly weak these days), holders AEK (though underachieving so far this season) and Lamia back to back so we've still got both matches again all of them and PAOK (with their nose in front at this stage) away, indeed some of those are set to be the games in hand so we haven't got as easy a path to the top of the table (or at least near it) with the games in hand, our form and points margin as it may appear. In fact the Olympiakos league games are set to be played within just a few days with each other. I'm sure the chief of Athens police is really looking forward to that week! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
noikeee Posted April 8, 2016 Share Posted April 8, 2016 Much better. What's up with the massive amount of games in hand? Has Greek football became so bad the calendar isn't prepared for the possibility of a team reaching the Europa League groups? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted April 8, 2016 Author Share Posted April 8, 2016 Much better. What's up with the massive amount of games in hand? Has Greek football became so bad the calendar isn't prepared for the possibility of a team reaching the Europa League groups? Nope Greek football seemingly isn't prepared for the possibility of a Superleague team being in the second round of the cup. I think being in the Europa League is also a factor in terms of taking up alternate dates but the first derby game was genuinely moved after the cup draw (giving us a game in hand from early on), then all those December games were moved just because of the first leg of the last 16 appearing in the fixture list. What's especially strange is the round of matches the weekend afterwards where we could easily have played but didn't (and there wasn't anything else going on at the time for any potential opponent as far as I can tell). Presumably other clubs were in Europe at the same time (and are year on year) so I have no idea why it's mainly our fixtures that are affected but there clearly isn't any logic to it anyway. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
withnail316 Posted April 11, 2016 Share Posted April 11, 2016 That's an excellent move, DB. Good luck. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted April 12, 2016 Author Share Posted April 12, 2016 That's an excellent move, DB. Good luck. Cheers, not really coming together yet though. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted April 12, 2016 Author Share Posted April 12, 2016 April 2035 Going into Christmas things looked pretty optimistic but with a note of caution attached given the games we had coming up. I really didn't expect things to drop off as badly as they did in the new year. There were all sorts of factors involved, one at a time. In January it was like all our defenders had sneaked off on holiday and made life-like dummies of themselves to play in their place. Then came the penalties conceded. Gross managed to save two in quick succession in the first derby with Olympiakos to prevent it from getting even worse but he had no such luck with a few more in the following games. Then came the own-goal equalizers, and this is probably one of the more justified occasions for 'If you could just turn a few of those draws into wins' comments. It all added up to a team that was capable of so much more than they were able to show. Thankfully we were able to step up a notch later on. First we faced the three bottom teams in succession and it was nice to get a few wins again, no matter who they were against. What was far better was getting 4 points from the final two games against AEK and Lamia, which I expected very little from and enabled us to finish the regular season with a slightly better record than last year. 4th with 53 points compared with 5th with 50 (though for a lot of the AEK game I imagined us probably ending up with the exact same record with it staying 0-0 and probably losing at Lamia). There isn't really much to play for as depending on the cup (which I forgot to check) we're all going to be in Europe, it just depends which competition and starting in which round. Starting on a point for managing to hold on to 4th (which looked severely under threat in the final weeks) and our improved results against teams in here with us give hope that we might be alright, even if I don't expect to clinch the second CL spot. This is why I feel like having a bit of the usual end-of-season look back now, treating the playoff as more of a 'post-season' thing. As I mentioned above there were a lot of frustrations to deal with but also signs that we were capable of better, not just in the way we finished the regular season but also with two comfortable victories against champions PAOK. It was never likely to be an easy ride as I took over a squad that had lost a few of its best players already, filled with young players with a slim (at best) chance of being good enough. Even with all the work I managed to do there was still a rather long list of unwanted players who I can't wait to let go in the summer. However with a handful of (mostly attacking) players still available and mostly defensive reinforcement I still managed to get a first XI that looked reasonably good, along with a few of those youngsters that did have potential star quality, and I'm glad injuries/suspensions were few and far between. It still looks some distance away from the sort of side I want to have but it's still a decent skeleton to hopefully add some flesh to. There is definitely a weight of expectation to being here. Aside from the actual board expectations of challenging for the title (which we were nowhere near), though they were happy enough with the rather firmer ground of being in the European places, my sights are obviously set rather higher at a club like Panathinaikos and maybe I'd have felt a lot more satisfied with a season like this at most other clubs. With a rather weak starting hand, the short-term was mostly going to be focused on doing well enough to be able to build something a lot better and so far I've succeeded (with a slight improvement on last season to point to as well) but that's not likely to last long so we'll see how quickly we can build on this reasonable start. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
noikeee Posted April 12, 2016 Share Posted April 12, 2016 Well at least you finished on good form. Need to figure out what did you do differently in those final 2 months, and repeat it. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
dan_simmonds Posted April 13, 2016 Share Posted April 13, 2016 It's a strong finish, but given your regular season results against those teams, that second Champions League spot will be hard to come by. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted April 14, 2016 Author Share Posted April 14, 2016 Well at least you finished on good form. Need to figure out what did you do differently in those final 2 months, and repeat it. Basically we stopped finding new ways to mess up at the back. It's a strong finish, but given your regular season results against those teams, that second Champions League spot will be hard to come by. Even more so next season as there won't be a second CL spot any more! There are a few updates coming tomorrow up to the end of the summer transfer activity. Just a minor spoiler... I've now got one of my former Vasas players with me in Athens now. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted April 15, 2016 Author Share Posted April 15, 2016 European Playoffs - May 2035 As I thought, there really wasn't much more to add to what I wrote last time. Hopes were raised by the AEK win at the start but even in the defeats we looked pretty good for at least a decent chunk of each match so all things considered I think we were worth quite a bit more result-wise. Everyone finished in their relative league position which adds to the impression of 'nothing new to see here'. Next season will be more interesting as Greece has lost a European place so while winning the European playoff won't give you CL football, the team at the bottom definitely won't be in Europe at all. Unfortunately building on this is going to be very hard indeed. We're a bit over wage budget and with a loss of 8.5M (a vast majority of it due to loan repayments) so the initial transfer budget for next season in just 200k, and i'm going to have to sell a bit to get the budgetary wiggle room to do anything, not to mention the risk of being rather short-handed in terms of numbers. Star Player: From the start I've been blessed with a some good youth around, even if they're not hanging around very long as you'll see. Spanos did a good enough job to keep one of the team's best players on paper out of the team for a decent chunk of the season. Squad Stats Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted April 15, 2016 Author Share Posted April 15, 2016 European Round-up: 2034-35 CL EL Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted April 15, 2016 Author Share Posted April 15, 2016 Summer 2035 Pre-season started off with some bad news. The board had the same 'near the top' expectations as last season, though I already knew that being in the European qualification places would probably be alright. That wouldn't be easy to achieve however since I'd need to sell a few valuable high earners and then be very careful how I used the money (both with transfer fees and wages) to replace them given we'd have a lot of potential gaps in the squad to fill. An especially big problem was thrown up with the midfield playmaker position. Spanos had done so well that I felt comfortable selling Lappas, who was very much the sort of player I needed to sell. Unfortunately Spanos had a rather low release fee in his contract (and he was so set on leaving that I couldn't renegotiate a new one) so I soon found myself losing both. To replace them I turned to an old friend from Vasas, Oscar Reynoso. He was decent enough (though no more), for this level, not much worse than any other 'vaguely in the realms of being affordable' options and much cheaper, as well as being especially suited for the role so he was a lot better than nothing. The potential emergence of another good young player also cleared the path to sell Aguirre, which also freed up a non-eu slot (only being allowed 5), with the DoF working wonders this summer including a loan for a winger (one of two great signings from him early on that eased the pressure considerably) that allowed me to cave in to bids from Germany for Liguori, making a 3rd big sale. There was going to be a 4th as the board accepted a bid for one of or key defenders above my head but that fell through because of the potential buying club not having enough budget for it. This was both a good and a bad thing. I really didn't want to lose the player but the money would have potentially come in useful, however at this stage it wasn't essential. I was also bringing in a player who would have acted as a replacement but having both was even better and as it turned out I was able to make enough signings that squad numbers wouldn't be the problem I thought it might turn out to be, even if we might have to make do in a few positions if the regular guy can't play for any reason. With the pressure still on to do well in the league, this season could still go all sorts of ways, though I'm cautiously optimistic that we can improve on consistency and do at least as well as last season. I'll probably still have to keep a closer eye on the finances in future transfer dealings, which may include more sacrificial lambs if need be. I guess it was inevitable given the first summer I needed to really stretch the budget to the max and have to lower my sights considerably. It very much remains to be seen how well things work out under the circumstances. Signings Promoted Youth Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted April 20, 2016 Author Share Posted April 20, 2016 October 2035 There was a little more transfer activity to round off the summer. As expected we experienced a 4th major sale (a previous deal having fallen through) to take our transfer revenue for the season over 10M. I decided we had the depth that I didn't need to be hurried into a replacement and even sold another young wantaway defender to finish things off. Coming the other direction was a free agent Nigerian winger who I had been considering all summer after a knock to Pennisi during one of the Europa League qualifiers reminded me that I had no back-up in that area. Trimming the fat off the squad doesn't seem to have done us much harm at all, and indeed I wouldn't have offered up the players I did to be sold if there was much risk that it would. I feel the Europa League has played its part as it offered us a decent warm-up but then threw up a tough tie against Bursaspor, our defeat meaning we had a much easier autumn schedule. Not that there wasn't at least a bit of regret at going out, especially after coming close to turning it around in the second-leg, but I went into that tie with low expectations and already was prepared for the potential silver lining. From the start things looked more promising, overcoming a few potential away bananaskins early on and being the only team with a 100% record after just three matches. It could be even better as we let slip a 2-goal lead at Apollon and could have easily put surprise early front-runners Ethnikos in their place. However we're still talking about just 4 points dropped after 8 matches which is still pretty good going and we still hold a decent advantage over our potential rivals. There is also an element of merit as Lamia are the only team in the top 6 (both current and last season's finishers) we haven't played yet, and we're at home to them next so if we win we'll be in a good position for the time being. Vazquez and Blanchard have really hit it off so far this season. The early Europa League matches may have helped them stock up on goals early on but they've still managing to do it in the league as well. I very nearly vetoed the Vazquez transfer on the grounds of his relatively high wages (at a time when I want to exercise a lot more control over the wage bill) and that it was still early on with a forward being low-priority. I might well have done so if he didn't have Spanish as a second nationality meaning he wouldn't take up one of the 5 non-eu slots. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
noikeee Posted April 20, 2016 Share Posted April 20, 2016 Woah, this season is going much, much better. Are the real Panathinaikos back? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted April 24, 2016 Author Share Posted April 24, 2016 Woah, this season is going much, much better. Are the real Panathinaikos back? Hopefully, it would be a shame to blow it after this start. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted April 24, 2016 Author Share Posted April 24, 2016 Dec 2035 We've certainly kept up our excellent form so far, and have now won 17 out of 24 matches in all competitions, with just a single defeat. After winning all three matches in November there were signs of a very minor slowdown in December. First came Aris which a dominant performance ruined by too many shots at or close to the Aris keeper, yet again two rare points dropped feeling disappointing. Xanthi wasn't as convincing as it should have been and that was followed by the derby with Olympiakos, where we were genuinely in a tight spot. They had a goal disallowed shortly after our equalizer and unlike the other draws in the league this season I was glad to get anything at all. Pydna Kitrous (both a cool name and a cool kit) seemed like a super-easy draw in the cup but we failed to take them down in the home leg, though we still should manage to do so comfortably in the return. We've been consistently comfortable rather than particularly superior, as well as being at least as lucky as we were last season in terms of having hardly any injuries and just a single non-critical suspension. We do have better depth on paper (at least in some areas) to deal with such things but there's been no denying the impact of our ever-present (pretty much) attacking trio of the on-loan Pennisi on the wing (well into the teens in assists) and Blanchard/Vazquez up front with 20 goals each so far this season, even if the Scotsman has benefited a bit more from the cup and early European games. Regarding Vazquez I'm amazed that the DoF got him for just 165k! AEK and Lamia have games in hand (like us last year, probably a consequence of being in the Europa League group stage) which means that our lead isn't as comfortable as it may look, especially as we've still got to go to both of them, plus PAOK are the form team right now (having hammered AEK 4-1 away in the last match) and could well draw much closer themselves if they keep it up. As good as the situation is at the moment it won't take too much of a slip-up for the pressure to really be on to stay ahead, so I'm still being cautious. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
noikeee Posted April 26, 2016 Share Posted April 26, 2016 Did your Photobucket album get deleted or something? I can't see any pics. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason the Yank Posted April 26, 2016 Share Posted April 26, 2016 Must have just been a glitch. I can see them. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted April 26, 2016 Author Share Posted April 26, 2016 Did your Photobucket album get deleted or something? I can't see any pics. They're showing just fine for me this morning. I know sometimes (on forameuss' and Dexter Morgan's threads in particular) a lot of pictures I'm expecting to see don't load (though refreshing the page can help to a point) and LEEMOD seemed to briefly have an issue with not seeing any pictures on his own thread last week so I guess it's just the forum being a bit unreliable occasionally. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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