deltablue Posted June 13, 2016 Author Share Posted June 13, 2016 Chapter 3: Czeching Out the International Scene (Czech Rep) I've always had a love/hate relationship with international football, especially when it comes to combining it with club football. This wouldn't be a problem as I did indeed decide my time was up in Athens and was prepared to wait a bit as I had missed the main end-of-season managerian changes. I had considered a couple of international offers before (including this very summer) but Czech Rep seemed more promising than most, and indeed having wanted to quit international management on a high after that Mexico World Cup win in the last career it would have taken a lot to tempt me back, even though I was warming back up to it given the great international career threads we've got on here, the excitement of an international tournament and the fact that since I get though seasons at a fraction of the pace that I used to, it would be a good way to progress quickly. As for the Czechs, I wouldn't have taken the job if I wasn't very happy with the quality of the squad, as well as the fact that the country usually produces a good standard of players in FM, even if top class players are rare. I was surprised at the standard of player not in the squad or national pool which gives me some tough selection decisions to make. They had managed to win a group featuring England and Brazil (the second most suprising early exit after Mexico) at this year's World Cup but met and lost to France in the next round. That made me worried at the expectations but the fact that my predecessor resigned rather that being fired helps put me at ease that expectations won't be too high (though as there aren't any for the upcoming international league it's hard to tell) and combined with the quality of the squad it hopefully won't be anywhere near as much of a gamble as such a move usually would be, but only time will tell. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nobby_McDonald Posted June 13, 2016 Share Posted June 13, 2016 Small crowd for a World Cup final. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
lewis999 Posted June 15, 2016 Share Posted June 15, 2016 Another title win in Greece, well done mate. Congrats on the Czech job too and unlucky to face a team like France (Who always seem to have top players) so early in the competition. Would Martin Vesely and Jiri Bilek be of any use mate? :thup: Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted June 15, 2016 Author Share Posted June 15, 2016 Another title win in Greece, well done mate. Congrats on the Czech job too and unlucky to face a team like France (Who always seem to have top players) so early in the competition. Would Martin Vesely and Jiri Bilek be of any use mate? :thup: Well I wasn't actually in charge in the World Cup, I just took the screenshots after I became Czech manager As for your suggestions, I'm good for forwards as it happens... Plus there is plenty of depth beyond that, including a lot of young players so I think we'll be fine This is what my 'first choice' squad looks like... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted June 15, 2016 Author Share Posted June 15, 2016 European League The first test came in the European League, my first experience of the competition. It was a tight group with Greece and Norway and for a while I'd have to deal with the effects of making a few changes to the squad, few very young players (put in as near-equals to more experienced rivals where it was a tight call, which we had in abundance in defence with a lot of 'average' options but no one that great) and the time it would take to get familiar with the 'Mattersburg'. Injuries didn't help either. We managed a respectable 0-0 in Greece before struggling to beat Norway with a very late goal that bounced in off the crossbar, a match that was harder work than I felt it should have been but both 'comeback' goals in the second half were the first senior international goals for the respective forwards, which tells a story. Players were missing for the home Greece game and after easily going 2-0 up but indiscipline threatened to be costly as they got a goal back from a penalty and Novak marked his debut with a sending off. Thankfully holding on to the win coupled with a previous win for Norway over the Greeks ensured we would go up to Division A, which was just as well as we lost (perhaps a little unluckily) to Norway in the final match. Definitely a team to file under 'work in progress'. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted June 15, 2016 Author Share Posted June 15, 2016 European Championship Qualifying Draw The draw really hasn't been kind. We were second seeds for the draw and out of the 10 potential top seeds we got the team ranked second in the World! I know we're 9th but I think that flatters us a little. The other teams aren't the easiest either. We already have recent experience of a Norway side that could prove to be tricky, and Slovakia can't be taken for granted either. Even Moldova aren't too bad as far as 'minnows' go though I doubt well have too much of a problem. I still think we should manage to be second and hope that a potentially tight group doesn't mean we miss out with the worst record. Oh and this is how the top part of the World Rankings look as of March 2039. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jabba Posted June 15, 2016 Share Posted June 15, 2016 This is one of my favourite threads. Fantastic mate really enjoyed reading this Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted June 16, 2016 Author Share Posted June 16, 2016 This is one of my favourite threads. Fantastic mate really enjoyed reading this Thank you very much Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted June 16, 2016 Author Share Posted June 16, 2016 European Round-up: 2038/39 CL EL Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted June 16, 2016 Author Share Posted June 16, 2016 June 2039 So far, so very good indeed. The opening game against Slovakia was expected to be a win and we managed it a lot more convincingly than the 1-0 score suggests. The next round saw things swing in our favour as we went to Oslo and beat Norway, just 4 months after losing in the same venue. This was the reverse of the previous match in that it was much closer than the scoreline suggests, however it was vital for a few reasons. I had been worried that they'd be tough challengers for the top 2 or that some dropped points against them and Slovakia would give us the worst record of the 2nd placed teams (and therefore no Euros) and the situation now looked brighter on both counts. Since they hadn't played in the first round of matches that put us 6 points ahead with the away match dealt with, and even though they had the game in hand it was still good to open up a big lead. There was also the fact that England were held to a 0-0 in Bratislava so we now had a realistic prospect of topping the group. In June they had the semi-finals of the international league while we took advantage of back-to-back Moldova matches to open up a big lead. Again they can close in with games in hand (or even strong results against us) but we still hold the advantage and as things stand we're looking well-placed to easiy qualify. Next we are at home to England and while a failure to win will open it back up again, we'd probably have one foot in next year's finals in Portugal (who are also hosting the next World Cup, just as Germany are the holders of both) if we do pull it off. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
dan_simmonds Posted June 16, 2016 Share Posted June 16, 2016 Can you parachute any of your strikers into my next youth intake? Please? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted June 17, 2016 Author Share Posted June 17, 2016 Can you parachute any of your strikers into my next youth intake? Please? It would be nice if we could lend each other players, I'm sure your youth would be handy Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted June 17, 2016 Author Share Posted June 17, 2016 Nov 2039 Pride goeth before destruction and haughty spirit before a fall, as it actually goes (I think). The first England game was fantastic as we managed to go ahead, then 2-1 and a man down, fighting back not just to equalize but get a late winner. Unfortunately it all went downhill from there. We went behind in Bratislava and after equalizing really should have taken advantage of our dominance to get a winner. At home to Norway we went ahead but they were soon 2-1 up from a penalty and we really should have come back and got something. That allowed England to draw level ahead of the final match which I had a feeling wouldn't go well but it ended up even worse than I dreaded, including another red card for the same player who got sent off in the first England game (and who has already received his marching orders at least 3 times while I've been in the post!) However after the England win I felt confident that even if we lost top spot, we already had enough points to make it through as runners-up and so it proved. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted June 17, 2016 Author Share Posted June 17, 2016 European Championship Draw 2040 Once again we drew some of the shortest straws. Even Slovenia have some handy players. In fact in my experience a lot of European nations have strong national sides after a while (even those like Georgia, who have a highly rated defender at PSG even if there isn't that much quality beyond that), probably because those are the leagues I'm mostly running, and looking a little around the draw this time it looks like we're in that position now. Even if there are theoretically easier groups out there, having looked around a little bit and seeing a few quality players in the 'weaker' nations I doubt we'd have really had it easy whoever we got. The minimum expectation (Both the FA's and mine) is to get out of the group and anything else would be a bonus. Hopefully we can get a result from the opening game against Croatia and beating Slovenia should otherwise do it. Our Jeckyl and Hyde approach in the qualifiers leaves it open as to whether we'll struggle and get knocked out early or go through comfortably and maybe go a bit further. Here is the full draw... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
lewis999 Posted June 17, 2016 Share Posted June 17, 2016 Haha turns out you are very well stocked mate. Good luck in the Euros. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted June 19, 2016 Author Share Posted June 19, 2016 Haha turns out you are very well stocked mate. Good luck in the Euros. Oh indeed. Just been selecting the final squad and found it incredibly hard cutting 6 forwards down to 4 as there was so little between any of them Czech Squad A couple of players who had only narrowly missed out of previous squads make the cut this time. We also have the youngest squad in the finals which isn't too much of a surprise as a lack of quality in defence has opened the door to far more promising players, with more waiting in the wings. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted June 19, 2016 Author Share Posted June 19, 2016 European Championships: Group Stage Czech Rep V Croatia Assuming we could probably beat Slovenia and not get much against the Dutch, the opener against Croatia was a key game. We both had strong attacking players and exchanged chances throughout the first-half. We had the best ones yet they took the lead in the 41st minute when a ball was whipped in from out wide to be comfortably knocked in. We still had the time to go for it before the half-time whistle blew and got our reward. We repeatedly played balls in until Furios managed to head one down for Srom to tap in for 1-1! We kept up the pressure after the break and eventually got our reward. They conceded a free-kick which saw them go down to 10 men, Soukup whipped in the free kick for Srom to convert. Soukup had a few opportunities to seal it with a 3rd but we conceded a stoppage time penalty and had to share the points, which was still a decent enough result even if I thought we really should have won. Final Score: Czech Rep 2-2 Croatia Czech Rep V Netherlands After our hammering by England in the last qualifier I was worried the same would happen here but we managed to bear the pressure very well. We were even able to show some ambition ourselves and could easily have won. They upped the pressure late on but we held on for a draw that put us in a good position ahead of the final game against Slovenia, assuming we were able to get the win. Final Score: Czech Rep 0-0 Croatia Czech Rep V Slovenia A win against Slovenia would comfortably see us through, probably in 2nd. However it wouldn't be that easy, as Croatia only sneaked a win with a stoppage time goal when they played the Slovenes and they threatened us early on. We were then able to bombard them with chances but as the clock kept ticking and we failed to make a breakthrough I started getting very worried. 3 points may or may not be enough. Finally Soukup played the ball across for Dvorak to convert and I celebrated wildly. Croatia and the Netherlands drew which put us all level on 5 points. We still managed to be 2nd with Croatia topping the group and the Dutch ending up 3rd. Final Score: Czech Rep 1-0 Slovenia Second Round Draw Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted June 19, 2016 Author Share Posted June 19, 2016 European Championships 2nd Round Czech Rep V Ukraine I was reasonably confident heading into a tie with Ukraine, but I had mentioned before that even the weaker teams in the tournament had some good players and Ukraine would certainly not be easy opponents. The first-half was tight and the chances were evenly spread but we took the lead when Soukup fired a long free-kick into the penalty area for Furios to convert. From the start of the second-half they were hitting us with chances that came close, while we only had the occasional opportunity to break it up with a few shots of our own that came to nothing. Unfortunately they managed to get an equalize with 10 minutes left and while we might have grabbed a late winner, we had to endure extra-time. In extra-time we seemed to get a little bit of energy back and while it was hardly end-to-end stuff we had the best of the chances and felt agrieved to end up having facing penalties, especially with a poor set of takers. Penalties Dvorak for Czech Rep... 1-0! Smalko for Ukraine... 1-1! Michal for Czech Rep... Missed! Chkareuli for Ukraine... Saved! Soukup for Czech Rep... Saved! Petrov for Ukraine... 2-1! Franc for Czech Rep... 2-2! Bilyk for Ukraine... 3-2! Plasil must score... Saved! Final Score: Czech Rep 1-1 Ukraine (Ukraine win on penalties) Czech Rep are out Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted June 19, 2016 Author Share Posted June 19, 2016 Rest of the Euros Ukraine actually went all the way to the final, so fair play to them. I have very mixed feelings about our showing. We met expectations, technically remained undefeated (I remember many years ago seeing a table in a magazine of each team's records in the World Cup which counted penalties as draws so I've done the same ever since) but at the same time only managed a single 1-0 win. It was very much a case of what might have been, or rather what might be since tactical familiarity is still low and we've got a group of young defenders who will mature while are more attacking stars are still in their prime so we should look a lot better eventually. Next up is the International league with England and Germany which isn't going to be fun, though at least expectations will be low. After that we'll be looking to return to Portugal for the World Cup in a couple of years time and see how far we've progressed. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted June 19, 2016 Author Share Posted June 19, 2016 European Round-up: 2039/40 CL EL Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted June 23, 2016 Author Share Posted June 23, 2016 International League - 2040 Having got promoted to Division A I anticipated being a bit of a yo-yo nation, especially when the draw was made. Germany were the top-ranked team before the Euros having been both reigning European and World Champions and England replaced them afterwards having already been 2nd. It's fair to say that I didn't expect much but we did manage to take the lead against the Germans in the first game and I wasn't too disappointed at getting a draw since a win would have been a mild robbery. Unfortunately we then went to England and recieved a second hammering in a row at Wembley. Given that I was surprised at how comfortably we managed to win the return at home. Clearly we had nothing to fear against anyone at home (and maybe even on neutral ground) but that didn't stop us potentially from being lambs to the slaughter in away games against the top sides I decided to go full-on defensive for the final match in Germany, only breaking it briefly after going behind which produced a quick equalizer, and I might do that in similar matches for the time being. Aside from mostly managing to get a respectable set of results against the toughest opposition possible, there were clear signs of improvement over the Euros and our final qualifying games for that tournament. The young defence is developing nicely, we're better at turning pressure into good chances and discipline has improved after a bunch of red cards and penalties conceded in my first couple of seasons. We've also got a queue of good young forwards stretching round the block as well as various others who have appeared on my radar to give us some good players in the long-term, so the talent production line will continue to deliver anyone I need it to. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted June 23, 2016 Author Share Posted June 23, 2016 2042 World Cup Qualifying Draw After a few tough draws we finally got a more favourable one in our quest to return to Portugal for next year's World Cup. Ukraine could still be very tricky opponents in our quest to win the group (with only the top 3 runners up qualifying), especially having beaten us on the way to making the final of the Euros, but that's still my target. I don't expect too many issues from the others. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted July 2, 2016 Author Share Posted July 2, 2016 2042 World Cup Qualifiers From the start our qualifying group didn't go as it expected. We did open up with a routine win against Albania but Bosnia beat Ukraine, the team we were expecting to fight with. Unfortunately we often seemed to struggle in away games and this time was no exception as we then lost in Ukraine and Bosnia. We couldn't have too many complaints about the first result but the second was unlucky as we were ahead for a while, still looked good for a point only to see them power a late winner. After an expected win against Moldova things got worse as we had a shock defeat in Albania! This took us briefly down to 4th in the group and 30th in the World Rankings. This was the start of a big run of form from the Albanians who up to that point had been doing as expected but then went on to get all 6 points from trips to Kiev and Sarajevo. On the same day as the latter result, Ukraine managed to lose to Moldova condemning last year's Euro runners up to second-bottom and the group had really gone crazy. For our part, after the Albania defeat we had our home games left against Ukraine and Bosnia with the only trip being Moldova. It was almost all over against the Ukrainians as we needed to win but conceded a stoppage time penalty, which Kraus thankfully saved. Moldova didn't cause too much trouble leaving us a point behind Albania and Bosnia with a match left to play. We comfortably beat the Bosnians as I hoped but results elsewhere didn't go in our favour. Albania were never likely to mess up against Moldova so they were real surprise winners of the group and we missed out in the runners-up table, though agonizingly just another point would have done it, and we were left regretting the Bosnia and Albania defeats. Thankfully I was still safe after the narrow failure to qualify, and after sitting out next summer's World Cup we'll be facing a potentially tough international league group before hoping to qualify for the next Euros and do better than last time. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted July 3, 2016 Author Share Posted July 3, 2016 World Cup 2042 - Portugal Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted July 3, 2016 Author Share Posted July 3, 2016 International League Draw Last time around we got Germany and England, the top 2 teams in the world at the time but we survived. This time the draw wasn't anywhere near as bad, and qualifying from the group is a possibility. It will be hard fought as we were in a group with Croatia in the last Euros and we were very evenly matched, while Scotland had an excellent World Cup so could be just as strong themselves. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted July 5, 2016 Author Share Posted July 5, 2016 International League 2042 I was expecting it to be a tight group but it proved to be anything but. The first game against Scotland was one I knew we'd need to win to avoid having a bad time and it was confidently done. With our poor away record in mind I decided to shut up shop against teams like Croatia as well as the very top sides and it paid off as we still managed to apply enough pressure to win 2-0 again. Scotland looked a lot weaker for the away game so we went for it and it worked with a crushing win. Their goal was one of the most comic I've ever seen in the game as the ball was softly knocked around in our penalty area, they couldn't convert it and we couldn't clear it, before an own goal did the job. By the time of our final game against Croatia we were already through to the semi-finals and Scotland were relegated so it was a dead rubber and it showed, with Croatia managing to draw some very early blood as the only real moment of note. Dvorak turned 32 on the day of the first Croatia game, as I'm starting to consider the futures of a couple of older first-teamers. With the depth we had I was wondering about moving him aside but there wasn't any outstanding replacement so I decided he was still good until the next Euros and he certainly repaid the faith. He has 36 goals in 69 internationals, a decent chunk of which have been scored under my management and hopefully his indian summer can continue. In some ways Turkey was the favourable draw but while they haven't got the best squad depth, they still have some top quality talent, and we're playing away (I had previously been under the impression that it was 2-legged, and it seems very unusual for any international or even international club tournament not to be without a set host nation). It already feels like a big achievement to have made it to the final 4 but at the same time we might have a chance of winning. It feels odd that I've now been with the Czech national team for longer than Panathinaikos, and it's amazing how time flies with international management. It also helps that the change of team coincided with a new laptop which is only being used for FM for the time being and the speed difference is much greater than I expected it to be, probably more to do with nothing else competing for memory as any spec improvements which are only minor) so I haven't even had to play that much to fly through those 4 1/2 years. I feel we're definitely in a stronger position than when I took over. Only the defence has seen much change, with younger players coming in to give it more quality than the established set of mostly average defenders I inherited, especially with the benefit of the development of those younger players. The rest of the team has remained as it is, at least regarding the first-choice lineup and the issue of players getting old has only just become an issue with Dvorak and 34yr old keeper Kraus (who was injured for the entirety of the international league). On the other end of the age spectrum, each year I've found a handful of young players to add to the national pool but getting into the squad itself is another matter entirely. We don't have any genuine top class talent but the bar is still high, as is the competition to fill any openings. One of the unfortunate things about updating on an international side as opposed to a club side is it's more difficult to provide information about a lot of the players without overdoing it on screenshots with a lack of new signings, an annual squad stat snapshot or a featured 'player of the year'. I was intending to at least partly do that by showing the squad for each major tournament but the failure to qualify for last year's World Cup means that didn't happen. However there are a couple of players of note worth introducing you to... It seems hard to believe that Vejvoda is already 22 as it seems like just yesterday that he looked like one of the answers to the lack of genuine defensive quality, joining a few players I had spotted and selected right after taking over to form an improved defence. Soukup confusingly has the same name as our winger (a common problem in a lot of foreign national teams) and is very much the new boy in the side. He was already almost as good as the incumbent Frimmel and soon got his opportunity when the Inter man needed a rest in the first Croatia match, then again when he was injured for the return. I would also have brought him on for a bit more experience during the hammering of the Scots but he was out with his own injury for that international week. With his potential he could be the world-class player we lack (in contrast to a surprising number of other nations) but Stejskal (also a Barcelona B player at first) stagnated to the point of losing his position as first-choice left back to Novak despite having a couple of years head start on the current Tottenham man so fingers crossed the same doesn't happen to Soukup. Anyway here is what the first-choice squad looks like now... It's not actually that much different to the initial squad I posted from over 4 years before in terms of who is in it but there has definitely been a gradual evolution going on beneath the surface. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted July 5, 2016 Author Share Posted July 5, 2016 2044 European Championship Qualifying Draw Another pretty decent draw. Having only just faced Scotland in the International League I don't feel we have a massive amount to fear from them, even if they won't be a piece of cake either. Bulgaria actually look like potential rivals to ourselves and the Scots in any battle for 1st/2nd with a few very strong players while Slovakia are much weaker and Estonia look like the clear whipping boy. Having finished runners up in both qualifying groups so far it would be nice to make it 3rd time lucky. We actually start off against Bulgaria and with the trip to Scotland in the first set of fixtures which could put us in a strong postion early on. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted July 7, 2016 Author Share Posted July 7, 2016 International League Semi-final: Turkey vs Czech Rep We got off for a storming start in our European Championship qualifying which we needed to give us a boost ahead of this game. Turkey away was set to be a tough game and given our away record I knew we'd have to keep it tight and hope we didn't concede early on otherwise we might end up on the receiving end of a proper hammering. Kraus was finally fit to play for the first time this season and his return in goal meant we had a completely first-choice team, and I felt we were going to need it. Early on we were able to get a couple of attacking runs in but we conceded a penalty (from Koci, who as captain really should have known better) after just 5 minutes which was converted, meaning we needed to open up. Unfortunately were unable to do much as they controlled the game, whizzing a few shots past our goal while we were unable to get much more than a sniff of theirs and they rifled home for 2-0 in the 20th minute! We managed to show a bit more ambition after that but couldn't close the gap before half-time. HT score: Turkey 2-0 Czech Rep We managed to keep up the pressure early in the second-half, but even though I decided not to over-commit and leave us too exposed at the back, as a 3rd goal would kill us off, that's precisely what happened as they fired home from outside of the box, followed just a few minutes later for a 4th as it was all going horribly wrong. We actually managed to keep up the pressure until late on as it was a far better performance than the score suggests, even defensively it wasn't a disaster (Kraus got a 7.6 rating!). Turkey were still the superior side but it was a particular lethal touch that made the difference. The early penalty was a killer as that meant we needed to push (not necessarily a costly move if we can equalize before too long) and the result demonstrated precisely why I wasn't going for it from the start. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted July 7, 2016 Author Share Posted July 7, 2016 2044 European Championship Qualifying The first two qualifying games looked critical as we faced Bulgaria before going to Scotland, and I was surprised that we got easy 3-0 wins in each, putting us in a great position already. We had that hammering by Turkey (who went on to beat Spain in the final) in the international league before normal service was resumed with a 3rd 3-0 qualifying 3-0 win in a row, against Slovakia. Afterwards we seemed to have a bit of a blip. We conceded a fluke goal in Estonia (the sort that you can never decide was meant as a cross or a shot) and while Dvorak managed to ease the nerves a bit with an equalizer before half-time, we still had to settle for a point. Things looked good early on on Bulgaria as Dvorak gave us the lead while we were already set-up to contain. Unfortunately unlike Turkey this was a very weak defensive performance and they came back to hammer us, despite our tight tactics. That left us 3 points behind the Bulgarians but we still had a game in hand (and an away goal that gave us a superior head-to-head record) and things swung sharply back in our favour just a few days later. I have no idea how Scotland managed to reach the World Cup semi-final as we easily beat them for the 4th time in just over a year. Dvorak even missed a penalty at 1-0 and before their consolation I felt that it we should easily have been at least 5 goals up. Meanwhile Slovakia did us a favour by beating Bulgaria (and in fact before the match I felt that might be a potential banana skin for them) and we knew the group was pretty much ours, sealed with a home win over Slovakia, while Scotland drew with Estonia. I know we did too but we didn't need a last gasp equalizer! I needed to make some changes for the last game anyway (as I often need to for the second match of an international week) but decided to focus on giving a couple of newer faces a bit more of an opportunity, which led to a goal for one of them, Lostak, featured below... It's nice that having relied on the Tomas' for our goals for so long, we're getting them from a much wider range of scorers. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted July 7, 2016 Author Share Posted July 7, 2016 2044 European Championship Draw Oh you've got to be kidding me! Portugal are the reigning World Champions, albeit benefiting from being hosts (for the second major competition in a row) and with Ivory Coast as their final opponents. England seemed to have dropped off a little bit but were a top-ranked side just a short time ago, and have given us multiple hammerings (even if those were away games and I think we can handle such occasions a lot better) while Bulgaria have already shown they have enough quality to punish us if we don't properly turn up. This is comfortably the toughest group and once again I feel happy to get out of the group and see how it goes, having hoped to raise my sights a little higher otherwise. Here is the full draw... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted July 8, 2016 Author Share Posted July 8, 2016 European Championship 2044 - Belgium Squad Group Stage Czech Rep v Portugal There were easier ways to start a tournament than by facing the reigning World Champions. I wonder if they had benefited massively from home team advantage but their side looked genuinely scary. They had a few chances before going ahead in the 26th minute but it only took us a couple of minutes before Vanek crossed for Michal to convert, despite not having had much of a sniff before that point and we were able to push a little more after that until half-time. They retook the lead early in the second-half when a corner was knocked far enough away and firmly controled the game after that, however I felt we had given a decent account of ourselves. Final Score: Czech Rep 1-2 Portugal Czech Rep v England I was hoping to get a result against England after the Portugal defeat, and their own defeat to Bulgaria threw the group wide open. Unfortunately we started very badly, conceding pretty much at the start of the match and going another goal down from a penalty in the 7th minute. We were free to attack after that but no goals were forthcoming and they even started to threaten again late in the first-half. We managed to have another strong spell in the second-half but somehow couldn't find a way through and we left the field feeling shocked that we lost. Final Score: Czech Rep 0-2 England Czech Rep v Bulgaria Bulgaria's win over England in the first round of matches had complicated things considerably for us and it looked like we needed a big win to go through. a 2-goal win would be enough to overtake the Bulgarians and be 3rd in the group but we'd still be on negative goal-difference unless we got more. A large win for Portugal against England might work in our favour as well but we'd need at least a 4 goal swing. I knew we were capable of it if we turned up, but we really hadn't so far in the tournament, or even the last time we played Bulgaria so it was quite an 'if'. It would also be the 500th match of the career. A few injuries and suspensions gave me the opportunity to shake the team up but it didn't seem to do much good.It took us a a while to get going and even when we did, they were able to block us. They also started to threaten more as the first-half wore on and it would have been a disaster if they scored. By the second-half we looked good value for the lead but it was continuously a case of 'close but no cigar', which in some respects summed up our experience nicely. In the 68th minute they managed what we couldn't and slotted past the defence to score simply and effectively. We really went for it as we had nothing to lose, even if I knew we weren't going to do it, and that just let them get another (though not before a few more close chances at the other end). Final Score: Czech Rep 0-2 Bulgaria What was really frustrating is that I went into the match having already known that just beating Bulgaria into 3rd was enough, giving the records of a couple of 3rd placed sides in groups already finished. 'Not bad, but not good enough' seems to sum up our experience in a devil of a group, and indeed that of my 6-year spell at the Czech Republic. We were just about good enough in the first European qualifiers, made one costly mistake too many in the World Cup qualifiers, and didn't have too much competition in our last European qualifying group, mixed in with admittedly promising International League performances but also two European Championship campaigns where we failed to click. I appeared on the verge of sacking after the Bulgaria result and was planning to step down anyway when the pulled the trigger right after the tournament ended. A return to club football awaits. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted July 8, 2016 Author Share Posted July 8, 2016 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greyfriars Bobby Posted July 8, 2016 Share Posted July 8, 2016 It will be interesting to see where you end up next. I'll definitely be following. I'm hoping to enjoy a long-running career save like this one. I never seem to find one that captivates me for more than a few years' worth of game time. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted July 8, 2016 Author Share Posted July 8, 2016 It will be interesting to see where you end up next. I'll definitely be following.I'm hoping to enjoy a long-running career save like this one. I never seem to find one that captivates me for more than a few years' worth of game time. Well lets just say I haven't gone very far Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sherwinriga Posted July 9, 2016 Share Posted July 9, 2016 The Czechs are performing better, but it didn't get out through. What's the ranking of the Czech Republic? I'm interested that you will coach another club, probably in the Czech league? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted July 9, 2016 Author Share Posted July 9, 2016 The Czechs are performing better, but it didn't get out through. What's the ranking of the Czech Republic? I'm interested that you will coach another club, probably in the Czech league? The Czechs are currently 18th. And I am indeed still in the Czech Rep. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted July 9, 2016 Author Share Posted July 9, 2016 Chapter 4: Popping some Plz (Viktoria Plzen) After leaving the Czech national team I did wonder if an opportunity would come up in the First Division. Having specific countries in mind doesn't necessarily mean I'm going to go there as I always keep an eye out for what I think are good opportunities but this time that's what happened. I had 1 1/2 stints with Slavia Prague (I lost a lot of seasons due to a broken laptop and irregular backing up and resumed early on at Slavia) a couple of careers ago and really enjoyed it. 16-team leagues are perhaps my favourite in terms of season length balance and there was a lot of local young talent to tap into, as born out by my experience with the national team, making the Czech Rep one of my favourite FM nations. Plzen were a club that caught my eye as a decent outfit with a fantastic red/blue kit. As you might have gathered from the timing, the Plzen job was available because their previous manager took the vacant national team post, so we're swapping sides. At the moment it looks like he's getting the better end of that deal... Plzen finished 4th last season but still hold mere mid-table expectations, so there isn't as much pressure to immediately recover and shoot up the table. I have a decent budget to work with as well, just over 1.8M and 42.2kpw, of which only 24.5kpw is being used and there is still a bit of time until the end of August to try and do something with it. The stadium has a capacity of 23,250 which is actually more than I had with Slavia. One thing that caught my eye is that Znojmo were the reigning champions, and the 'past winners' list makes interesting reading... Sparta Prague usually dominate so it's really surprising to see a different story this time. It's nice to see a more open league but it does make it tricky to identify who the tough teams are in the short-term. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted July 11, 2016 Author Share Posted July 11, 2016 August Transfer Update Ah, the day-to-day duties of club management, that'll take a bit getting used to again. The current situation didn't help. I usually like to get everything sorted before the season starts, even if I haven't really managed it in this career. Hungary's season started rather early and European qualifying ties were then added into the mix, both there and Greece (which otherwise has a much later start). The season had already started with two defeats and while there was still plenty of time to add much-needed reinforcements, we might have to wait at least a couple of matches before we started looking stronger. This is also perhaps my weakest club start of the career with the standard a little lower than I expected, much weaker than Greece and pretty similar to Hungary. Past experience and even having faced Czech clubs once or twice in Europe gave me a slightly false impression. There was also the fact that Vasas and Panathinaikos were among the strongest sides in the leagues I took them over in, contrasting with where Plzen were and modest mid-table expectations, creating more of a challenge. I wasn't too impressed with the potential standard of new signings either, even simply as improvements on the current squad. One of the reasons why I was so willing to cap off the spending with so much for Urban was that I couldn't miss the opportunity to sign someone who was a clear step up. However I at least managed to plug a few weak spots, especially regarding the full-back positions. Essentially in the short-term it will be all about steadying the ship and keeping comfortably clear of trouble. I hope we can do better but that will have to wait and I feel that this summer's activity has at least been a decent start in building something a lot better. It helps that we just have a single non-EU player (with an allowance of 5 on the pitch at any one time), the backup keeper who is potentially expendable. In fact aside from a brief smattering of Serbians and Slovaks on and off the pitch there are very few foreigners at all. Unfortunately unlike FM11 only EU nationals count as EU, where as at Slavia on that previous save any European counted, handy with key players who were Moldovan and Ukrainian. Thankfully there were only 3 signings made prior to my arrival so we don't have as many new signings for the year to deal with than we might have. Apologies for the blurred names, it's something that's often occured for years and seems to happen just after I save some screenshots and with a red/blue colour scheme like Plzen does make names hard to make out. Signings Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted July 16, 2016 Author Share Posted July 16, 2016 Oct 2044 So far, so mediocre. The team had lost the first two matches without scoring at the point I arrived and upcoming matches against Taborsko and Usti nad Labem provided an opportunity to change that. We only managed a 0-0 in the first match which at least gave us a first point of the season, followed by two more as we broke our duck, then managed to get something from a trip to Brno, last season's runners-up. I hoped that a comfortable cup win against Postorna would help give us the kick-start we needed (and our opening scorer was getting his first goal in over 20 hours!) but it wasn't to be. I didn't expect much from champions Znojmo but Jablonec was a different matter. The first half featured a few 'how the blazes did we not convert that!' chances only to see them slip ahead at the start of the second half, and even get another late on. Thankfully beating Blsany in the next round of the cup did what beating Postorna didn't as we went on to claim our first win at Sigma Olomouc in the next match, and you can imagine how much it was a case of doing whatever possible to help hold on near the end. We couldn't follow it up against Slovan Liberec but did managed to beat my previous Czech side Slavia Prague to make it 2 wins from 3. For a while it looked like we could get something against Sparta as well as despite going behind, we equalized and kept it level but not for anywhere near long enough. We took the lead at Slovacko and it looked like we were giving ourselves a little more breathing room but a failure to take anything kept us in deep trouble. Like with Jablonec I was really not happy. As you can see from most of the scorelines, the margins have been pretty narrow in most league games and we've now had two opportunies with thrown away that might prove to be costly. With the Czech window continuing on beyond the usual 'End of August' deadline the DoF took the opportunity to remain active, and like Vasas it looks like we're building a Mexican community, either on frees or loans. I'm now convinced that my DoFs at both clubs are influenced by my second nationality, which should also provide enough of an explanation for those who might question the realism of Hungarian/Czech clubs having a relative abundance of Mexican players. Luis Ernesto Vallejo Edson Abundis Israel Gutierrez Aldo Arredondo Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
withnail316 Posted July 18, 2016 Share Posted July 18, 2016 Good to see this is still going on, DB. Hopefully things click in the coming weeks and you shoot up the table. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted July 19, 2016 Author Share Posted July 19, 2016 Good to see this is still going on, DB. Hopefully things click in the coming weeks and you shoot up the table. Thanks Withnail316. I'm not sure how much longer it's going to last though as I want to go back to FM13 soon for something much longer-term. Unless it goes badly wrong, Plzen are likely to be my last team in this career but I still hope to do a decent stint with them first. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted July 19, 2016 Author Share Posted July 19, 2016 Dec 2044 2044 really hasn't been a year to remember fondly, but it at least picked up a bit near the end. As I expected, we beat Varnsdorf in the home leg of the cup 4th round to reach the quarter-finals, with no word on potential opponents just yet. It doesn't really help us in the league but any positive news is welcome. That meant we had won more cup games than league games at that point in the season but that was about to change. Going to a Teplice side in 3rd (both then and now) didn't seem promising at all, especially when we went behind but we were able to grab an equalizer (which makes such points seem especially valuable), even if that only maintained the status quo in the relegation battle. We then had a golden opportunity to improve our position with two games against teams around us, and unlike my first couple of matches in charge, we took full advantage. Jihlava were only just above us and fell to an early goal from top scorer Suchy, though we were good value for another. Olomouc-Holice were in that all-important (in terms of keeping ahead of) 15th position and we comfortably went 2-0 up in the first-half, causing us to switch to 'hold on to the lead' mode after the break and they rarely threatened. Those back-to-back victories doubled our league win tally for the season, taking us up to the heady heights of 9th, 7 points clear of the drop zone instead of just 1 as we were in what could be considered something resembling good form. The final match before the winter break was at title-challenging Mlada Boleslav and while our attempts to keep them out didn't last long, we at least gave a decent account of ourselves after being forced to open up, despite the lack of an equalizer. It still hasn't been fantastic as we've only got exactly a point a game, but thankfully it seems the survival bar is pretty low at the moment. There's also the fact that since they had no points (or goals) after 2 matches when I took over, I can claim an infinity% improvement . Olomouc-Holice are dropping like a stone at the moment having lost their last 8 games in a row (half the season played so far) while Usti nad Labem have been scraping near the bottom since the start of the season and with just 3 points from their last 7 matches are now in a position where they have a lot of catching up to do. As long as we remain out of immediate danger, that'll do nicely for this season. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
withnail316 Posted July 19, 2016 Share Posted July 19, 2016 Thanks Withnail316. I'm not sure how much longer it's going to last though as I want to go back to FM13 soon for something much longer-term. Unless it goes badly wrong, Plzen are likely to be my last team in this career but I still hope to do a decent stint with them first. It'll be good to see another 13 thread in here. Sounds interesting. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted July 24, 2016 Author Share Posted July 24, 2016 May 2045 It was an eventful spring. We started off pretty well after the winter break, winning 2 and drawing 2 of our first 4 matches (I think I missed the first result out in the screenshot), and we had 3 players sent off in those 2 draws. Suddenly from fighting for survival we looked to break into the top half. Unfortunately the red cards kept coming, with one each in the next two matches, both ending as 1-0 defeats. It's even worse than the Czech national team. I think part of the problem is that over time I've been focussing on more players for opposition instructions, including hard tacking with I stopped doing after the Brno defeat. With the top-half looking unlikely, focus turned to the cup. With a poor league start the cup had provided some much-needed good news, and it continued to deliver. In the quarter-finals we drew Pardubice, the only team left from the lower divisions. We saw them off in the away leg and comfortably won at home without really trying to. I predicted that we'd get Brno in the semi-finals both because we were just about to play them in the league and as the best side left on paper, and I was right! I was worried heading into the away leg but we came pretty close to coming away with a 0-0 and even a late 1-0 defeat wasn't the end of the world, as we proved when we were able to take them down surprisingly effectively in the second leg. We faced Taborsko in the final and which looked like a very good opportunity to add yet another trophy to a club career that has been surprisingly successful for its short length. However Taborsko proved to be a lot more competitive from the start and only Vallejo in goal stopped them wrapping it up long before their eventual penalty victory, which would be more disappointing if it wasn't for the fact that we otherwise never really rose above mediocre during the match and deserved nothing on the basis of that performance. Back in the league, our run to the cup final and defeat seemed to have taken a lot out of us. Slovan Liberec beat us, the first time we hadn't won a league game with 11 men since the break, and we were never going to get anything from Sparta just before the cup final. Spirits were lifted when we mounted a surprise late comeback to beat Teplice but otherwise we had shifted back down a gear or two. We had what looked like an easy end to the season which would have given us good momentum to finish on but we only just grabbed a point against Slovacko, failed to hold on against Olomouc-Holice and looked like finishing with another draw at Jihlava before Suchy gave us a narrow win to end on. When I arrived at a side that was point-less and goal-less after 2 matches (and both proving hard to come by for a while) I'd have been delighted with 9th and a cup final, and still am. From December we moved on from relegation fighters to a decent mid-table side, moving from 1 point ahead of the drop zone to 15 in what roughly corresponded to the second half of the season. I didn't really rid of anyone after arriving, and with the new signings, a bunch of players from the youth teams and a few more from this year's intake we easily have enough for two full matchday squads. Some players are no-brainers to leave (even if only some of their contracts were up this year), but there are also enough young players that some will have to miss out but it's hard to take the risk of discarding any of them. We've clearly got a solid base for what should be a better season next year, which unless it goes particularly well or badly will be the last of the career. I like to go out on a high like last time but my 'Delta's Darlings' career ended on a good mid-table Championship season at Charlton after promotion and something similarly low-key and stable would also do nicely. A minor improvement on this season's finish could be considered a short-term job well done at Plzen. Squad Stats Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted July 27, 2016 Author Share Posted July 27, 2016 Summer 2045 At the start of the summer we had precious little to work with, being deep enough in the red to only have a little over 200k and a small percentage of transfer income retained. However we had a long list of players to get rid of which would give me some more wiggle room. Usually unwanted former youth teamers bulk up the 'out' list in the transfer history screen but this time it was firmly made up of those who were in the first team squad last time, and I was surprised that I was able to trim it to a more normal size. As expected, I did get a lot more to work with once the early bunch of players had been booted out of the door. Unfortunately with a much smaller budget than last year, outstanding options were very thin on the ground. This was especially frustrating when minimum fee release clauses once again became the bane of my existence. I got better with spotting and increasing clauses on vulnerable players at Panathinaikos but after the relief of not having to worry about such things with the Czech national team I had sort of forgotten about them, and anyway you can only do so much, and what you can do can be very expensive. In the absence of standout options to improve the team, it wasn't easy to choose potential targets, however I managed to find a few who would still add a little something for very little, and as an improved financial situation (partly due to early cash injections) meant we got more money back into the budget, even when we lost players later on (having previously been satisfied at 4 signings, instead of the 7 eventually), decent replacements were available, even if we'd lose the advantage of a settled side I hoped we'd get. Expectations are low. The board just want another mid-table season while I'd be very happy if we would make the top half. After taking the team to survival last season, a more comfortable and low-pressure season would be a nice way to finish off. Signings Oscar Moran Tomas Hrcka Daniel Nosek Ivan Kocic Arten Vasyliv Jozef Horvath Vidoje Ugrenovic Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted August 2, 2016 Author Share Posted August 2, 2016 Nov 2045 OK, this is going to be a little unorthodox. The season seemed to start well enough. I would have posted a screenshot for the transfer update but I forgot. However after August things really went downhill badly, and by October I was under serious pressure, having to survive 2 board meetings by mid-November (though the first was only about a specific defeat). Having managed to buy more time I was wondering how to proceed as a way of drawing the career to a close but that's when I saw something that gave me the perfect way out... Chapter 5: Return of the Green Ranger Yep, I'm back in Athens to finish things off, and suddenly it's looking potentially a lot brighter. The finances have gone to pot (even the transfer budget is in debt) but that doesn't matter. The expectations are to be close to the top, which I already know means 'European playoff places', and I've got my sights set on potentially getting another title. The attacking options are very strong but defenders of legal drinking age are hard to come by, so I'll need to cross my fingers that the experienced players remain free from injury or suspension. There are also a few familiar old faces around... Arias was a great young prospect I managed to get on a free transfer from Argentina in my last season, and it's great to have him in his prime. Jones is a real veteran who was well-established and has been around ever since, while Rice left at the same time as I did (in fact it was Man Utd's double clause-activating swoop for him and Aakvik that caused me to quit in the first place) and has just returned to Panathinaikos on a free after decent spells both there and Aston Villa. Interestingly enough I succeed my own successor, Salvatore Sirigu, who took the Greek national job after holding down the fort all this time. He ended his career in-game at PAOK which I guess helps explain the Greek connection, even though he's managed in plenty of other places as well. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
withnail316 Posted August 2, 2016 Share Posted August 2, 2016 Great move! Best of luck back in Greece. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
noikeee Posted August 3, 2016 Share Posted August 3, 2016 Catching up after a couple of months. FM16 is hard and a bit of a pain, isn't it? I don't think ultimately you did badly in the Czech Republic (club and nation) but I can see how tough it is to get some consistency in. Definitely a good move to go back to Panathinaikos as that was a place you found some success and also must have more resources than Plzen. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted August 3, 2016 Author Share Posted August 3, 2016 20 hours ago, withnail316 said: Great move! Best of luck back in Greece. Cheers. Hopefully it will be a good end to the career after all. 7 hours ago, noikeee said: Catching up after a couple of months. FM16 is hard and a bit of a pain, isn't it? I don't think ultimately you did badly in the Czech Republic (club and nation) but I can see how tough it is to get some consistency in. Definitely a good move to go back to Panathinaikos as that was a place you found some success and also must have more resources than Plzen. I wouldn't say it was hard. I had plenty of success at Vasas and Panathinaikos the first time, Czech Rep didn't go too bad but it was just a case of being regularly on the wrong end of narrow margins. Plzen really went wrong at the end with just 3 points from the past 8 league games (and all of those in the last 4) but was good otherwise. It is very frustrating though. They're not so good on resources. The wage budget is several times larger but the club is 25% over that wage budget, almost 5M in the red, and with a -600k transfer budget. This is just a short ride until the end of the season, nothing more. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted August 4, 2016 Author Share Posted August 4, 2016 Jan 2046 The first match back in charge was a simple cup game at Kerkyra, the final match of a group stage we had already qualified from. It was a decent if unconvincing win which set the tone for a disappointing start to my return, as we only took 1 point from 2 winnable league games and managed to throw away qualification from the Europa League group. In some ways is was impressive as we were 2 points ahead of Real Madrid and with a better head-to-head record, facing what should have been the easiest game, but defeat combined with Madrid beating group-winners Tottenham meant we we were out. I didn't mind too much as I had only a single short-term objective in mind. After beating Veroia in the cup I realized what the problem was. One thing I've liked since FM13 is that when you return to a former club, the remaining players are in their old positions and that gave me the mis-impression that the team settings were the same as well, when in fact they were set to the simpler setup of Plzen. Going more ambitious paid quick dividends and with AEK threatening to run away with it (with a points lead and multiple games in hand), they stumbled from new year's eve and we had overtaken them by the time we played them, a draw maintaining the advantage. We built up on it despite key injuries starting to stack up (and we really couldn't afford to sustain those) and a late defeat to Lamia with 10 men meant we were still 4 points ahead, with 9 games left. However Olympiakos away is next and if results go against us it could turn into a very tight battle. That being said, out of the current top 5 we'd only have to play Ionikos after that and they appear to be overachieving so we'd at least have a favourable run-in. As an interesting little side note, facing Lamia in the quarter-finals of the cup (and with one foot in the semis) means that's the 3rd time we've played them at this stage under my management, out of a maximum possible 5. Lamia, we really much stop meeting like this. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.