[FM16] The Last Great City: Building Berlin

[oneronaldo]

Ah good old Sven Bender, one of my all time favourite FM players. He was brilliant for me in FM12, pretty much cleaned up all the mess in midfield that my dysfunctional team created

[JD nawrat]

Building Berlin - January 2018



A tad disappointing restart to the season but overall not bad. Leipzig were 1-0 down, down to 10 men for the final 20 minutes, and they still managed to grab a goal on the 88th minute. Such a stupid waste of points.



Still in a very strong position though so all is good. Hopefully pick up a few more wins to solidify our spot at the top, I have a feeling Bayern are going to start hitting form and will catch us up if we don't win the majority of our games from now til the end of the season.

Standout Players:

3. Sinan Kurt - A class performance against Ingolstadt sees Sinan Kurt come into the top three. He's having a very decent season and I think I'm at the point where he should be considered ahead of Stocker, who is having a very average by his usual standards.

2. Timo Werner - Two goals against Ingolstadt meant he was going to get in here very easily. Top player etc

1. Pierre-Emille Hojbjerg - Hojbjerg keeps up his impressive season with three assists in two games. What a player. He's having a top season despite not having a lot of goals nor assists (although 6 assists ain't bad given the way everyone chips in with assists).

Looking ahead to next month:



Honestly, this is a month where I expect us to win every game. Bremen might be a tad difficult and I could be underestimating Celtic, but our home form has been sublime so far this season (only Real Madrid have stopped us from winning at home, I believe) and Celtic are...well, the inferior half of Glasgow Should be a good month, though.

[JD nawrat]

We seem to bring in quite a lot of good youths, probably since we're from a major city and are the biggest club there, plus we have great facilities...

Anyway, we've just had another potential world class ST come in, this kid looks like the best player of the lot to come through my youth system.

[JD nawrat]

Building Berlin - February 2018



So I opened my big mouth and expected to win every game, and we only won two. Terrible month when you look at the results, but the bigger picture is less troubling. We got a great win in Europe and dispatched of Celtic in Glasgow, basically ending the tie before we hosted them in Berlin. We also managed to keep a strong position in the League despite dropping a few points. Although I was furious at the Braunscweig result... Paderborn and Bremen were disappointing as we were at home, but losing a game was frustrating.



As you can see, Leverkusen have worse recent form than us and Bayern's is identical, so despite dropping points, we still hold a very healthy lead over both and things look great going into the final two months. Hopefully we can keep up the top form and win the title for a second straight season.

Standout Players:

3. Panzu Ernesto - Okay so if I go entirely on average ratings (which I usually do), then Ernesto should not be up here, but relatively speaking he's been phenomenal. A 7.33 average in his three games for the month made him stand out because I honestly didn't expect him to do so well. Also a future spoiler - he scores his first ever goal for the club against Leverkusen

2. Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg - This guy and Werner are starting to somewhat dominate the standouts, really. And it's easy to see why. An 8.02 average rating in 5 games is a fantastic return and the newboy at the Olympiastadion is proving to be worthy of breaking the transfer record for. Superb stuff.

1. Timo Werner - The thing I love most about this guy is that he doesn't just score, and he doesn't just assist... his general involvement is unreal. 25 key passes in 5 games is a great return for any player, nevermind the main scoring threat of the team. That's something you'd expect to see from Darida or Hojbjerg. But no, this kid has it all. 8.08 average for February. Brilliant.

Looking ahead to next month:



The month looks extremely difficult, and it contrasts greatly to last month where I expected many wins, whereas this time I don't have the same expectation. However, a bit of luck might see us take more wins than we'd hope, as they are even match-ups and we have proven, we're capable of going anywhere and winning (just about). If (when?) we dispatch of Celtic, we will have a Qtr Final match between Wolfsburg and Frankfurt, so that will also be difficult because in the final 8 there really aren't any 'easy' ties to speak of.

[JD nawrat]

In fact, I may as well post it. I did dispose of Celtic, and the tie gave us this:

We face PSG for the second season in a row, albeit we were against them in the groups last year, where we drew 0-0 in Berlin and lost 1-0 in Paris, but probably should have won and drawn respectively. Hopefully our improvement in these last 12 months is reflected in this tie.

Some other interesting notes:

Bayern were dumped out by Benfica 5-1 on aggregate, losing 3-0 in Portugal and 2-1 in Bavaria.

Barcelona suffered defeat to Juventus, having won 2-1 in Catalunya, but losing 4-1 in Turin to go out 5-3 on aggregate.

Schalke were the only other Germans in the KOs (bar us and Bayern), but they suffered 1-0 losses in Gelsenkirchen and, interestingly, Paris, to go out 2-0. Hopefully we don't follow suit.

Chelsea were smashed 5-1 on aggregate by Real Madrid, losing 3-0 in London and 2-1 in Madrid.

Shakhtar beat Atletico 1-1 on away goals and Tottenham advanced by beating Valencia 4-2 on aggregate, after drawing 2-2 in Spain.

Oh and Man Utd won 4-1 on aggregate against PSV.

[JD nawrat]

A tough game but importantly we didn't lose! Chances for both sides but ultimately Kraft was the difference, taking MOTM, as he did in Berlin against Paris 18 months ago. Hopefully when we travel to Paris we can take a score draw at least, although it is undoubtedly going to be tough.

[JD nawrat]

So near Probably shouldn't have gone so defensive after taking the lead... we had to do something to deal with their counters (because, believe it or not, we were absolutely dominating them for the first 20 minutes), but I think I went TOO defensive, it just invited pressure and eventually it cost us. Gutting.

[ReggaeBwoy]

London, Paris, Rome, Milan, Madrid, Barcelona, Munich, Manchester, Glasgow... Great footballing cities, littered with teams with a great history and a prominent name in European and domestic football. Absent from the list? Berlin.

Ah, Berlin... a great city, home to over three and a half million citizens; a city wrought with a deep and tremendous history and yet lacking in the one thing that makes it stand out from the rest of the cities mentioned... it lacks the presence of a glorious footballing side.

For years, the city of Munich has dominated the German football scene. Undeniably, Munich is home to a great club and is worthy of its name at the forefront of German, and by extension, of European football. But Berlin... Berlin hasn't yet made that mark on the sport.

Until now. Meet the man determined to change the face of football in Berlin and Germany forever. Meet Jörg Rosenberg.



Born in the city of Berlin, Rosenberg is a product of all the city has to offer, but he also holds the drive and determination to make Hertha Berlin great. Born in April of 1974, the 41 year old is set to take up management for the first time in his career. Having previously never played at a level higher than professional mid-table and enjoying a relatively quiet playing career, Rosenberg has worked his way through the coaching system and enjoyed a fruitful career at Hertha, working with multiple levels of the youth team and a short seasonal spell as a first team coach.

So here we are. The tactical setups of our manager. The man who plans to change the fortunes of Hertha and German football.





And the early results:

A pretty fleeting OP, just getting to the point. Will be posting some more in-depth stuff shortly.

But just a few quick pointers: I tried a similar save with Union Berlin last season's version of FM but it didn't work out in the end. I'm going to do something similar but I didn't want to use Union again, so I've opted for Hertha.

I'll be doing monthly updates with results, stand out players etc - if you've ever read one of my FMCU threads, it'll be the same as those.

The Aims:

- Qualify for European Football - Achieved 2015-16

- Qualify for Champions League Football - Achieved 2015-16

- Win the DFB-Pokal

- Win the Bundesliga - Achieved 2016-17

- Win a European Honour

- Win the Champions League

- Establish Hertha as a major force in German football, where victory in most games is expected

- Establish Hertha as a major force in European football

 Season | Bundesliga | DFB-Pokal | European Football | Other Notes
--------|------------|-----------|-------------------|-----------------------------------------------
2015-16 |     3rd    | 2nd Round |        N/A        | Qualified for CL
--------|------------|-----------|-------------------|-----------------------------------------------
2016-17 |     1st    |   Semis   |  1st Rnd KO of EL | Bundesliga Champions, Manager of the Season
--------|------------|-----------|-------------------|-----------------------------------------------

I typed in the manager to see if he was real or not? was not sure. Do you usually make random managers during your FM saves? I usually base it on myself and just add more years to make it realistic. What do most people do whwen choosing a manager etc.

[JD nawrat]

Not a real manager (that I'm aware of). I use my real name if I'm managing in the UK, otherwise I make a native, entirely made up name. I went for Jorg Rosenberg as Jorg is fairly close to Jord (nickname) and Rosenberg means Rose Mountain which is cool af

e: always make the date of birth 7/4 (my irl DOB) and the year 74.

[JD nawrat]

Building Berlin - March 2018



A big month sees us take 4/6 victories, including 3/4 in the Bundesliga! Progression in the CL was massive for us as well, especially to do so in such an emphatic fashion, beating Celtic 6-1 on aggregate... we were losing at home, too The win against Leverkusen was a massive and totally unexpected one, but one I am very proud of. It felt like we sort of weren't at our best (after failing to win our previous two), and then BOOM, 0-4 against title challengers. It's somewhat reminiscent of the time we smashed Bremen and Bayern last season to put us in a commanding position to win the title... History to repeat itself?



Seven games remaining, seven points clear. We still have to face Bayern so it isn't exactly a great lead, but it's certainly not a bad position to be in at this point in time

Standout Players:

3. Marvin Plattenhardt - As usual, Plattenhardt is one of our standouts for the season and it is showing again with a bunch of great performances, where he averaged 7.8 in 6 games for the month. Top player.

2. Timo Werner - Three assists, four goals, 7.88 average rating. It's Timo Werner

1. Vladimir Darida - The only guy who is really rivalling Werner as a major standout this season is probably this guy. And an average rating of 8.00 in 6 games makes it easy to see why he's one of my best assets.

Looking ahead to next month:



If we can beat Bayern I think the title is ours, anything else will make it very difficult to win the title imo. The rest of the games are must-wins if we don't beat Bayern tbph. I've already spoiled what happens in the CL, so no point pretending we can do something there

[JD nawrat]

Building Berlin - April/May 2018



Losing to Hoffenheim meant that losing to Bayern would put them only 4 behind us, but thankfully we came up trumps and dominated them at home again - I just need to figure out how to make this happen away from home and my plans for domination will fall neatly into place. I've shown May here also as the league was won before May, so I figure I might as well show it all.



#Back2BackChampions

Delighted to have retained, and its no less than we deserved tbh. Proves that it wasn't a fluke last season because of Bayern's complacency. IRL, this points tally would only see us about 3rd (well, 2nd with Dortmund still having two to play before the season ends), but it's the highest points tally in this save for League Champions, so I am still extremely happy. If we can make it three in a row I'll be chuffed, but my focus is now going to shift onto making an impact in the CL. Quarter Finals were great progress but I feel we can go better than that with the right additions, so I'll be looking to bring in some real quality with our massive budget in order to put us in a position to challenge the European stage but also to dominate the German game.

No standouts as I'm going to do a season review just shortly. Will be covering transfers and the full squad before starting the next season also

[JD nawrat]

Building Berlin - 2017-2018 Season Review

Bundesliga

Standings

Fixtures 1 | Fixtures 2

This season went even better than last, and that is hugely satisfying. We thoroughly deserved to win the title and thanks to runs like we had at the beginning of the season, it's easy to see why we won it again. The only perhaps frustrating thing was the two losses besides the Bayern game, we robbed ourselves in all honesty.

DFB-Pokal

Fixtures

The DFB-Pokal was a major disappointment for us this season, for two reasons. First off, I hoped we would make the final and could maybe even win it, and we didn't come close, losing in only the 2nd round. And secondly, we didn't just lose, but we lost to our biggest rivals who aren't even in the same league as us. It's pretty embarrassing how it all went to be honest, so next season I'll be doing everything I can to win this competition.

European Football

Fixtures

Our second attempt at Champions League football was fantastic. We made it into the Quarter Finals and although we failed to win either leg in that particular round, we did ourselves proud and may have managed to get through on another night. A fantastic showing though, including topping our group. Next season I want to go one better (at least!) and make the semi-finals. A huge ask but if we buy wisely I don't see it won't be possible.

-----

The Squad & Stats

The 'Best' Stats

The Notables of the Season

2017/18 Season Review

-----

The Standouts

I feel it's more appropriate to cover five players this season, as we had so many standouts...

5. Adam Ounas - I spent 7M bringing this kid from Bordeaux and it's proven to be a great signing, in my opinion. A load of assists and generally being a danger, he was definitely our best wide man this season and like most of the team, he's still so young and still has so much room for improvement. I'm almost certain this kid is going to be a Ballon d'Or winner for me someday. He is that good.

4. Niklas Sule - The big man at the back finally got a full season to impress after poor fitness troubled him throughout his debut season. And what a season he had, bagging an impressive 6 goals but generally being a rock at the back. A more consistent partner (I switched between Kempf and Langkamp far too much) and he would've only been even better. I look forward to seeing what Sule can do next season as he continues to improve furthermore.

3. Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg - Our signing of the season, Hojbjerg has been a revelation. His ability to dominate the midfield is spectacular and it isn't hard to see why I've got him up here. He broke his ankle near the end of the season but he should be back in time for next season, thankfully, where he'll hopefully continue to improve and build upon his fantastic debut season.

2. Vladimir Darida - Big Vlad. What a man. He's once again been the second 'guy' at the club. He's been incredible and has scored so many huge and important goals that it was an easy decision to put him in 2nd place. He's in his prime at 27 and I feel these performances will only continue, so I'm not even considering moving him on or entertaining any offers for him. He'll be here for another few seasons at least, unless something huge happens but I can't foresee that.

1. Timo Werner - For the second season in a row, Timo Werner is my player of the season. He scores too many goals for him to not be the top man, really. And he assists in buckets too. The top scorer and top assister for the season, and although his average dropped somewhat compared to last season, he still absolutely bossed it. The task is once again hanging onto him, but I genuinely don't think we'll have a problem with this - our reputation is big enough, his contract and wages are definitely big enough, and he's playing so well for us that I doubt he'll want to go if someone does even come sniffing around.

-----

Overall Hertha XI



Some interesting choices, such as Skjelbred being in the Starting XI but no Hojbjerg (not even on the subs bench lol). Most they are good choices, though.

----

2018/19 Season Objectives:

- Challenge the Bundesliga title once again

- Make the final of the DFB-Pokal as an absolute minimum

- Make it into the Semi-finals of the Champions League

[JD nawrat]

 Season | Bundesliga | DFB-Pokal | European Football | Other Notes
--------|------------|-----------|-------------------|-----------------------------------------------
2015-16 |     3rd    | 2nd Round |        N/A        | Qualified for CL
--------|------------|-----------|-------------------|-----------------------------------------------
2016-17 |     1st    |   Semis   |  1st Rnd KO of EL | Manager of the Season
--------|------------|-----------|-------------------|-----------------------------------------------
2017-18 |     1st    | 2nd Round |   Quarter-Finals  | Manager of the Season

The Board have bought our Stadium, so it is no longer owned by the Council

The Board have agreed to upgrade our facilities for the second time in two years

4 of our players make the Player's Team of the Season

5 of our players make the Team of the Year

Timo Werner also won Player of the Year, although not Player's Player (Lahm took that).

And I won manager of the year for the second season in a row

[JD nawrat]

Announced an affiliate link with Kobnhavn - a choice I made myself. I wanted a Polish, Danish or Dutch set-up and from the teams available, I figured Kobnhavn were the best side there. Hopefully bring in a couple of their youngsters as the seasons progress. Should be a useful link for the future

[JD nawrat]

Transfers Update

First through the door is Timo Horn. A player I've had my eye on for a few seasons, it was time to finally take the plunge and purchase. I feel that Kraft is a top GK, but the fact he's kept 47 CS in 89 games and is still only valued at £2.9M says it all - he's never going to be a top GK in the truest sense of the term. I'll probably look to move him on as I'd be surprised if he stayed for a season and didn't complain about lack of football. But onto Horn - he has all the attributes to be a top GK, and for only 7.5M I can't knock it. A deal I'm extremely happy with.

Coming from Dortmund for a record breaking 17.25M, Matthias Ginter will hopefully be the guy to make our defence complete. At both FBs we are solid, but Langkamp and Kempf have never quite been on the same level as Sule, so hopefully Ginter will fill that role. He's also a complete defender, able to pass and read the game very well, so this is exciting. His lack of pace is the only concerning issue but Sule is very quick himself.

Coming from Leverkusen for a measly 2.2M, this is probably one of the best deals I'll do. He's still young and has potential, and according to my coaches, he's already the third best midfield at the club, behind Hojbjerg and Darida. Unfortunately he'll be behind them and won't start most games, but with me looking to rotate more and keep the side as fresh as possible, he will definitely be getting games. He's going to be a top midfielder and I think his versatility will help a lot, because he can play either of my CM roles.

Our fourth and possibly final signing of the summer sees Marvin Bakalorz come in from Paderborn for 2.5M. He's not great, I realise, and he's not young, either. But he will gladly back-up Stark and with Bender out for another 4 months with a broken leg, it was important that I brought someone in. Come January I'll probably look to sell Bakalorz on or loan him out, unless he proves a bigger hit than I anticipate.

So far nobody has been sold. However, Valentin Stocker, Per Cjilian Skjelbred and Thomas Kraft are likely to be moved on. Nico Beyer will be loaned out to get solid first team experience and then will replace Langkamp soon I hope, also. Klaas Jan Huntelaar was released as well, because he was on a fairly big wage, wasn't good enough to play for us and would likely moan as well. Had to do something with him

Bayern are sniffing around Werner, and while he has admitted he is flattered, he's also said he wants to see out his contract (4 years remaining).

[noikeee]

I'm really quite astonished at how good your Hertha side has been, you have plenty of good players but perhaps not amazing players, and you'd need them in theory to beat the likes of Bayern to the title. I reckon a couple of truly top signings is the one thing you're lacking to start dominating Europe now.

I take it that you're limiting yourself to signing only German players with the somewhat random exception for Hojbjerg?

[JD nawrat]

I'm really quite astonished at how good your Hertha side has been, you have plenty of good players but perhaps not amazing players, and you'd need them in theory to beat the likes of Bayern to the title. I reckon a couple of truly top signings is the one thing you're lacking to start dominating Europe now.

I take it that you're limiting yourself to signing only German players with the somewhat random exception for Hojbjerg?

Cheers I ain't quite sure how we're doing so well myself, I think the system I'm using lends perfectly to a great defence, despite not having great defenders (although that's hopefully about to change), so it gives us a great chance of winning most games. Then with someone like Werner who can just beat players and score for fun, it makes it quite easy. Had I not been able to sign Werner I genuinely don't think we'd have won the Bundesliga.

As for the German players, absolutely. I was thinking of conducting a Bayern-like policy where they only break it to sign top, top players that aren't German, but then I thought about it some more and looked at the teams. Bayern have 15 non-Germans, compared to 14 Germans, in the first team. Which is really surprising as I thought they were much more German-orientated than that. Whereas my first team atm, I have 91% domestic player bias, with the only non-Germans being Hojbjerg, Haraguchi, Darida, Ounas, Sinan Kurt (has German nationality, being born to a German parent and a Turkish parent in Monchengladbach, and has played for the German U21 side irl, but chose Turkey in my save) and Enes Aykol, who is also German and is actually from Berlin itself, having come through the youth academy, but again chose Turkey. Of those 6 who haven't actively declared themselves for Germany (or can't), I've only signed two of them (Ounas, Hojbjerg). I did also sign Huntelaar but he lasted 6 months before being loaned then released, so he barely even counts. I'm definitely trying to keep it German. I think as a general rule I'll aim for 85% domestic player bias.

Although I am looking likely to break my policy in the coming days, as I've scouted this guy:

And he looks incredible for only 7.5M. He's a whole star (4) CA ahead of Plattenhardt and two years younger. And although Plattenhardt is a German international and I love him dearly, if I can further improve the defence then I certainly will. It'd probably spell the end for Enes Aykol though, unfortunately. Never enjoy moving on first team youth academy products, but I get the feeling he isn't really offering enough to the team. If Plattenhardt gets injured, I don't feel I could rely on Aykol to step in and be as good as Plattenhardt, whereas on the opposite side, I feel Ernesto can do that for Jung, even though attributes-wise, the gap between Plattenhardt and Aykol is a lot closer than the gap between Jung and Ernesto.

[JD nawrat]

[JD nawrat]

Some more transfers.

Zeca is the first to come in since my last update on transfers. As I said, he looked incredible for his price and he's generally a complete defender. Only sort of niggle is that he's a right footed LB, but then that doesn't really matter much. He'll rotate plenty with Plattenhardt, but it is nice to have said rotation. I think it was a 7.5M deal, I cba checking aha.

This signing was a last minute thing. Genki Haraguchi broke his leg in a friendly aginst Reggiana and is out for 7-8 months I think (again, cba checking), which will take him out for a long time. He might not even return himself, and so I've decided to purchase a German winger as a temporary replacement at the very least, but most likely a long term replacement. Bittencourt is a strange player, he's someone I remember being very highly rated in real life when he was originally signed by Dortmund. But then they sold him after just two seasons and it seemed like he wasn't gonna make it. I'm not sure how he's doing in real life anymore, but he looks very decent on FM and for just 5M I can't knock it. I signed him from Dortmund (who, funnily enough, signed him for 10M in my save after he was at Hannover (obviously) and Koln). Kade was really impressive at the tail-end of last season so I think Bittencourt and Kade will do a lot of rotating.

[JD nawrat]

Interesting group. Fancy us to get top two for sure - United won the CL not last season but the season before (semi-finalists last season though, before losing to PSG, who knocked us out of course. PSG finished as Champions of Europe btw), so they are very good now. Will be tough to face them but I fancy us against the other two sides at least.

Decided to merge my August and September fixtures together because I've literally played one Bundesliga game and the Cup and Supercup games, so not worth typing up.

[JD nawrat]

Building Berlin - August/September 2018



A lot of matches played because I didn't realise just how busy September was until I got halfway through Anyway, on the whole, a lot of good results. Bayern was frustrating because they got a man sent off after 3 minutes, which only hurt us because we couldn't get a half decent chance due to them parking the bus They managed a massive 3 shots, and managed to block 8 of ours (we had 15 shots all in) Frustrating as hell. Karlsruhe saw us rest all but Horn and Werner due to playing Inter then Bayern one after another, and it didn't pay off. We were extremely lethargic and got hit on the counter late on. Thankfully we got bailed out by a late peno. Also the win against Inter was highly pleasing. We probably could have won more comfortably - they had chances but so did we, and they were chances we'd usually take to be honest.



Results in Europe haven't really been going Germany's way, so we've lost our 4th spot in European football to Italy - they owe that to the fact they've had Juventus make the final two years in a row (or two of the last three, I forget). So we really need to get top 3 as a minimum, but given our start and previous two seasons, I fully expect us to be top 2 at the end of the season. Unless Koln pull a Leicester



Good start in Europe for us, fairly happy with this. Obviously United pasted Anderlecht but I expect we'll do something similar and Inter are good at attacking, so I wouldn't be surprised if they got something out of United. Either way, a win in Milan means that if we can win all of our home games, top 2 in the group is guaranteed.

Standout Players:

3. Sebastian Jung - Towards the end of August I was fighting off bids from Bayern Munchen for this guy, and I'm pleased he didn't even ask me to leave after I rejected bids as high as 18M for him. Jung has been sensational so far this season, but given how good he was last season, this isn't really a surprise. I hope he keeps this up because performances like what he's given us so far will definitely go a long way to retaining the league and challenging the CL.

2. Sinan Kurt - Making a decision between Sinan Kurt and Adam Ounas is like asking a parent to choose their favourite child - it's just not fair! But unfortunately Adam Ounas struggled with fitness after the pre-season break and got a couple of injuries (he is back now, thankfully), which opened the door for Kurt to play in all games, albeit one from the bench where I was resting him. But man, has he impressed. 5 goals and 2 assists already this season is great going and hopefully he will keep this up.

1. Timo Werner - Probably not surprising to see Werner here, given how frequently his name appears in the results image above. Last season he started quite poorly and was missing pens, not really assisting and his average was way below the first season he had (I say way below, it was about 0.5 less, but that put him at around 7.6 instead of 8.1+). This season, Werner is back to what we expect. 9 in 9, 3 assists, 8.29 average. Long may it continue and Werner will guide us to glory. Glory be to Timo.

Looking ahead to next month:



A month of huge games. Hopefully we can beat Bayern and repay them for taking two points from us last month, and progression in the CL would be all but guaranteed if we win the two games this month, so I'm aiming for that to try and get everything sewed up nice and early. Trips to Hamburg and Dortmund could be difficult so we're not really gonna get a break between games, everything is tough here. And with the way Koln have started the season, it'd be silly to overlook them, although with us at home I fully expect a win.

[JD nawrat]

Building Berlin - October 2018



Kinda struggling for goals at the moment. Not happy with this month but we've managed to keep going in all of our competitions - progress in CL could've been much easier looking ahead unlike it does after these results, but at the same time, we didn't lose and other results give us a good chance of progression. Beating Bayern was fantastic - we smashed them first half (12 shots to 2 for us) and were unlucky to only take a 1 goal lead... second half they had 12 shots to our 6. So yeah, definitely a tough second half. But we done well and got a much deserved win. Dortmund win was also big - previously we'd drawn 5 in a row (won the 6th) and to finally win again was so good. Koln was disappointing but given their early season form and our lack of goals this month, I'm happy enough to at least avoid defeat



So it's beginning to look like a three horse race at the top, but the true question is whether or not Koln can actually keep this up. Don't get me wrong, they're doing very well and I of all people know that smaller sides can make shocks at the top... but surely they won't? I lived off of Timo Werner and let him carry us, I don't see a Werner-like player at Koln. There's no real standout players there... So I'm intrigued to see how they do, but yeah, I fully expect that in another month or two it's going to be Bayern and us at the top.



In a decent position and capable of winning the group which is what I expected, although I thought we'd be far in front at this point if I'm being brutally honest... Not beating Anderlecht was a blow but I put out a full rotation side near enough so I wasn't entirely surprised if I'm honest. Just need to make sure we beat Inter and Anderlecht at home and it's basically done.

Standout Players:

3. Leonardo Bittencourt - He only averaged a 7.34 but Bittencourt had a very good month I feel, especially because of his performance against Bayern. He tore them a new one (like he did in the league), and he's having a top season for us so far. Well worth the signing.

2. Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg - A top month for the great Dane, as he average 7.63 and scores the winner against Bayern. He's been one of our best players for the last 15 months and I love having him in midfield. Huge change from the days when Skjelbred and Cigerci would run it here

1. Sebastian Jung - Maybe a surprise, but yeah...Seb Jung has KILLED IT. An 8.02 average rating, a goal, a bunch of key passes, and generally speaking a top month. He's once again proving to be one of my best and most valuable signings so far. Top top player

Looking ahead to next month:



I really hope this is a case of W/W/W/W/W. I don't see any reason why we can't do it to be perfectly honest, Gladbach might be tough and there will no doubt be somewhere we drop points because lately that's what we do... Going to be an interesting month

e: just realised I talked about Koln like we had drawn - mis-read the Koln result as the HSV result. My bad

[JD nawrat]

Building Berlin - November 2018



Loss to Gladbach is gutting to be honest. We would be top otherwise, and instead we're in third. I feel this just puts more pressure on us, because there's an expectation for us to be challenging/winning the title and with the rich vein of form Bayern and Koln are in, it feels like every game is a must-win. And I don't feel comfortable with that. Even though I want to win every game, I don't like feeling that dropping 2 maybe 3 points could see us start to drop right off... Inter was annoying. We're not doing well enough in Europe atm. We were 2-0 up and drew 2-2 - they had 1 shot on target, the other goal was a damn OG



One point behind Bayern and 4 behind Koln (with a game in hand; their game was on Friday 30th, mine is Saturday 1st, only reason for them playing one extra), not a bad situation. But I feel like we should be doing better. Dropping more points and scoring less goals than I hoped to be honest.



Done well enough to get through the group, but I felt this was a winnable group and to not be able to win it and still have a game remaining is frustrating. Drawing at home to Inter and United and being the only team to draw with Anderlecht has killed us. Stupid failures to win as per.

Standout Players:

3. Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg - Not much to say... he was one of the few bright sparks in a somewhat disappointing month and I'm pleased that he continues to be one of our top players even when the rest of the team isn't performing as it should be.

2. Adam Ounas - The young Frenchman hasn't really been what I was hoping he would be in his second season, but mostly I think this is down to Sinan Kurt being so good that Ounas can't get in the team. But now he's doing well and I'm very happy for him.

1. Timo Werner - 6 goals in 5 games and an 8.08 average rating. Timo Carries.

Looking ahead to next month:



A lot of big and tough games this month to wrap up 2018... not sure how it'll go. Hopefully we can find form!

[oneronaldo]

Timo Goal-ner be like "Are y'all gonna give me some help or do I have to do this myself, again?"

[JD nawrat]

Timo Goal-ner be like "Are y'all gonna give me some help or do I have to do this myself, again?"

He got Ballon d'Or nominated again. This time, he is 4th most goals, 5th most assists, most MOTMs and 4th best avg rating. But his name doesn't even appear in the mini-list of "frontrunners" on the news item Needs to make a better impact in Europe I think, previously not really done anything... having said that, this season he's scored 5 goals in 5 CL games, so he's definitely improved there. And internationally he's starting to make a name for himself too - 17 goals in 16 Germany games.

[JD nawrat]

My laptop has broken due to crappy Windows 10 errors. I can't even reset it because I get the error when I try the factory reset might be the end of this save unfortunately.