[FM16] Partisan (adj) strongly supporting a person, principle, or political party,

[Jimbokav1971]

I was looking for a bit of an unusual update so I saw this and thought..... "that'll do nicely".

This is a list of players, (no longer at Partizan), who have come through the Partizan academy and who are classed as HG. There are 19 players visible here and this is the top of the list, (ranked by PA).

#2 is Zivkovic. The board sold him for £7.75M and he is currently valued at 20.5M.

#4 is Strahinja. The board sold him for £4.9M and he is currently valued at £4M, (because he has hardly played and is now out on loan and still not playing).

#6 is Stevanovic. I sold him very early in my tenure for £2.4M and he is currently valued at £4.3M.

#11 is Bogosavac. I sold him for £2.1M and he us currently valued at £3.9M.

#12 is Nem Glavcic. I sold him for £2.9M and he is currently valued at £3.7M.

#14 is Ivan Saponjic. I sold him for £4.7M and he is currently valued at £5.75M, (after just being sold for £3.7M).

#18 is Babovic. I sold him, (I think), for £875,000 and he is currently valued at £750,000.

[Jimbokav1971]

Well this looks promising.

I know it's only the Serbian SuperLeague, but that's where we are from and it's what we've got. We have produced 67 players at top flight clubs in Serbia and this compares favourably to OFK Beograd, surprisingly in 2nd, and our rivals Red Star with 32 in 3rd

[Jimbokav1971]

Red Star sack their 4th Manager during my tenure.

It's not really a surprise as Red Star find themselves 13th of 16 in the SuperLeague after 13 games. They lost in the Europe League Playoffs to Mainz (GER) and we have just knocked their U19's out of the U19's Cup.

[leonavich]

You may get your goal of forcing them to the foot of the table sooner rather than later!

[Jimbokav1971]

Elections looming.

I'm not really sure what the significance of this is.

[leonavich]

They have differing philosophies and preferences I imagine, so if one or the other wins, they may decide to bring in certain players,, staff or perhaps even a new manager?

Never heard much on this, so I would say your position is safe and on the transfer front, there are usually promises but from my recalling, they hardly if ever follow through with any of them.

[Jimbokav1971]

You may get your goal of forcing them to the foot of the table sooner rather than later!

I'm astonished that they have been as poor as they have been. I'm not saying they should be winning the league, but they should be comfortably near the top.

[Jimbokav1971]

The shortlist for the 2018 World Golden Ball has been announced and the only Serbian on the list is 30yo Nemanja Matic (still of Chelsea).

He didn't come through our system, (he came through at lower league Kolubara). It would be good if we could see some more Serbs on this list in future.

[Jimbokav1971]

Boban (SRB) (Pro) is my best GK.

He's only valued at £185,000 (which I can't get my head around), but actually it doesn't make much difference because he is going nowhere. He's only 20 years old and we have him for 4 more years at least

This was the 1st season that we didn't have Vanja in on loan from Man Utd, (well other than our 1st season that is), so he has done well to make as many appearances as he has. If I'm realistic, I hope to keep him for 3 more years before flogging him on for big money.

He's actually the oldest GK at the club, (despite being only 20), and I wojld obviously love to keep him at the club long-term to make use of him as a tutor, (but unless we make great strides in Europe over the next few years I don't think that's very realistic.

We do have a few other decent young GK's at the club though, so losing him, (eventually might not be the disaster it might initially appear).

Busnic (SRB) (F.Amb)is obviously next best on the list, (and they were both already at the club when I started I think), so I really can't take any praise for finding either of them.

Boban plays in all the league games and Busnic plays in Europe, (after we have qualified for the Group stages, or if the tie is particularly easy), and in Cup games. I may have to review that though as we have just crashed out of the Cup on pens while fielding a completely rotated side and with Busnic in goal.

Even if we look beyond Boban & Busnic, we have 2 more with decent PA who could do a job at a push, so at the moment I'm not even really looking for a GK unless something spectacular catches my eye, (or an ex player or Serbian International becomes available in the twilight of his career).

[leonavich]

Are you going to consider using him as a goal scoring keeper?

[Jimbokav1971]

Are you going to consider using him as a goal scoring keeper?

He has free-kicks of 8, composure of 11 and finishing of 3, so I did consider it. I just think I want to try something new in this save. I haven't had a striker score a shed-load of goals in ages, so I will probably put my best striker on them before too long. At the moment it's just on default.

[leonavich]

He has free-kicks of 8, composure of 11 and finishing of 3, so I did consider it. I just think I want to try something new in this save. I haven't had a striker score a shed-load of goals in ages, so I will probably put my best striker on them before too long. At the moment it's just on default.

I'm attempting the 1000 games with a second player after achieving it with Morra... This time its my in game son

[Jimbokav1971]

I'm attempting the 1000 games with a second player after achieving it with Morra... This time its my in game son

I've never done 1,000 goals or 1,000 games. I'm not sure that I play quickly enough for that.

I suppose I will just have to make up goals and targets as we go.

[Jimbokav1971]

I've been having a think about tutors and as I have restricted myself to Serbs, it seems to be a bit of a problem area as, (backing up the point that someone else made earlier in the thread), Serbian players don't seem renowned for their professionalism.

There are of course some Professional Serb players, but I am yet to find a single Serb Model Pro in the database, (but that could be because of the limited database I used).

So if we haven't got Model Pro's available to us to sign, (and of course I'm still hoping that we get some through the Youth System but as nobody else seems to either, I suppose it's probably unlikely), we are going to have to make our own.

The question that needs to be asked is.... how do you get a Pro player to become a Model Pro player? What's the difference?

Well actually the difference is minimal, and it makes me think that there is actually little difference, but in terms of body language on pitch during a game, I always used to be able to tell when my captain was a Model Pro or not, so I'm guessing that it does make a difference.

Anyway, A Pro player will have Professionalism 18-19 & Temperament 10-20.

The only difference in a Model Pro is that his Professionalism is always 20. (His Temperament is also 10-20).

Considering only players who have Serbian as a 1st or 2nd Nationality....

0 Model Citizen's. (I've never seen one of those in any game).

0 Model Pro's.

52 Pro's.

9 Resolute's.

0 Born Leader's.

0 Charismatic Leader's. (Never even heard of that one before).7

17 Determined.

0 Driven.

99 Fairly Determined.

85 Fairly Pro's.

0 Iron Willed.

0 Leaders. (That's a surprise!)

That didn't make good reading at all because without a single Model Pro or Model Citizen, how am I ever going to produce a Model Pro myself? It's impossible!

Oh no it's not!

A Perfectionist will have Professionalism 18-20, (so 20 is still an option), but their temperament will only be 1-9, (and this is what separates them). That's not ideal, but improve the temperament of a Perfectionist and what are you left with......? A Model Pro hopefully.

So how do you improve the professionalism with tutoring and is it possible to do so without reducing the Professionalism that is the vital attribute that needs to be kept?

Well the obvious answer is tutor with a Model Pro or a Model Citizen, but obviously that's a problem, so are there any other options?

Well actually a Resolute has Professionalism 15-20, Determination 15-20, Pressure 1-16 & Sportsmanship 5-20, so theoretically it should be possible in some instances to improve some attributes by a Resolute tutoring a Perfectionist. The problem is that in some situations, you will actually be lowering the Professionalism of the Perfectionist and that's not what we are looking for at all.

If we instead look at it the other way around, what happens if you have a Resolute and you tutor him with a Perfectionist? Well the reality is that I don't actually know, (but plan on finding out!).

Resolute's would seem to be the key to whatever I am going to attempt with tutoring, so I am immediately scouting the 9 Resolute players not owned by me, (and as it happens we have 1 Resolute at the club), so I will certainly be looking at that in the future.

Something else to consider of course is the recruiting of more Professional staff, who might have an influence on young players coming through the Academy, but of course I am still leaving that to the DoF or Chairman, (or someone), at the moment.

I will attempt to document who I am tutoring from now on and why, and see what results I manage to achieve.

[Jimbokav1971]

Red Star woes.

I mentioned earlier that another manager had been sacked, (the 4th sacking during my tenure), and a 3rd caretaker manager is in charge now.... actually no. They appointed a new permanent manager 5 days ago and I didn't notice. He is 52yo Stevan Mojsilovic and he looks decent. It's the winter-break so he has some time before his 1st competitive game, but if it were down to me, I would have given the job to the last Caretaker Manager, (the 2nd time that he has stepped in when asked).

Nebojsa Stamenkovic is his name and he's actually an U19's coach when he is not saving Red Star from ignominious defeat. As I said, he seems to have done well each time he has been asked and I would have been tempted to give him the job full-time. (What do I know!).

Anyway, let's see if I can get rid of Mr Mojsilovic before the season ends!

[Edit]

Red Star are currently in 11th position at the winter break and they are only Radnicki in 8th. An 8th placed position will see them sneak into the top half league for the latter part of the season. They always seem to just sneak in so it's important that they get diddly off us when we play, (and is it cruel of me to already be wondering if I should throw points against their rivals even if it disadvantages us just to screw over Red Star?)

[Jimbokav1971]

Model Pro OCD.

So where are we now in terms of my "Model Pro OCD" you may wonder? Well I would class it in the "seriously aggitated" stage. We haven't got any, there are none available to buy, (to such an extent that I keep considering buying in non-Serbs just to act as tutors without ever playing), and I have taken to writing this post as some sort of attempt at therapy. (Yes, really).

It's not all doom and gloom though.

Resolute. This is a young MC who I like. He's not properly HG, but I bought him for £60,000 as a 16/17 year old, so he will at least be classed as HG for the purposes of European competition. As he has the best personality in my squad and will surely be a vital tutor in the future I will obviously be giving him preferential treatment from now on and playing him possibly more than I otherwise might. He has 3.5-4.5 PA, and I'm feeling in a glass half-full mood so lets take it as 4.5 PA shall we.

Professional. We have 5 here and that's a decent starting position. Before I look at who they are, (I don't know), I just hope that they are in a variety pf positions or that some of them are skilled in multiple positions themselves. I also have to hope that they have a decent enough PA that I am going to be able to continue to use them in the future.

Ok. This is decent actually.

#1 is my excellent young GK Boban. He will hopefully stay at the club and tutor at least 1 with equal or better PA to Pro before he leaves for big bucks.

#2 is an 18yo striker (Mihajlo Petrovic) who started off 2nd choice this season but will probably be at least on an equal 1st choice footing by the start of next season, (because his competition has the plays with back to goal ppm and I have so far been unsuccessful getting him to un-learn it). Again, he's not HG from the academy, (we paid £500,000 to get him), but he joined as 17 year old so as long as I don't send him out on loan, should be classed as HG at club gor European purposes.

#3 is an 18yo SC who has come through the academy, but I'm not overly keen and he's a TM and not suited to the way I play so I will probably look to get him to his potential by loaning him out and then just using him to tutor very young players.

#4 is a 17yo MC, (that's a 3rd different position which is great), and he is another product of our academy. He has 2.0-3.0 PA, (which is decent if unspectacular), and certainly good enough to be considered good enough for long-term development when you add in his personality. We play with 2 in the middle and with 2 games a week it means that we usually have 4 rotating in and out at any 1 time so there should be the potential to give him some extra game-time. Although he is a MC, he's actually more suited to an AMC role, (I think), so I will probably look to re-train him as an AMC, and possibly on 1 flank too so that he can tutor more players there too. (Got to plan ahead!)

#5 is a 19yo DL with only 0.5-1.5 PA. That's really not good enough for me to keep him, but as long as the youngster I want him to tutor are coming through with a lower CA than his, then he will stay and get some tutoring done. I'm hoping that our youngsters will soon out-strip him though so his impact may be limited. Again, he is a product of our academy.

So that's GK, DL, MC, AMC, (MC has already been trained to accomplished and I think that's good enough), and SC positions filled in terms of potential Professional tutors. Add in that I will probably ask the DL to re-train as a DR when he returns from loan and that's a decent starting point.

Really need to find a DC and wide players on both sides from somewhere though.

Fairly Professional. I wouldn't usually even class these players as Professional, (I'm a Model Pro snob!), but we have to adjust our expectations in line with circumstances. At the moment these players are very valuable.

#1 is Vulicevic is our 33yo 1st choice DR and he has already been tutoring some of the youngsters. He only has 3.0 PA, but is coming to the end of his career so it doesn't really matter anyway. He's already in his 6th season with us, (and is skipper), so it's quite possible that with that personality and natural fitness of 14, he might be able to play longer than average, (albeit sporadically).

#2 is Stevanovic is our 28yo 1st choice AML and again he has been tutoring already. He's great because he can play on both flanks and also in the hole. He's already reached his PA of 3.5, but that's plenty good enough to play in the team and also tutor future youngsters.

#3 is Pavlovic is a 20yo AML and has already been tutored by Stevanovic since joining for £300,000. I don't think he joined in time to be considered HG at club, (which is a shame), but with a PA of 3.5-4.5 he is already on the verge out surpassing the ability of his mentor Stevanovic and I'm sure he will be 1st choice next season.

#4 is Miljojko is an 18yo AML who we signed aged 16/17 so he will eventually be classed as HG at club. He again has been tutored by Stevanovic and he has a PA of 4.0-5.0 He has already started to feature in the senior team. We paid just £100,000 for him and it is looking like a bargain at this stage.

#5 is a 16yo AML who again is currently being tutored by Stevanovic. His name is actually (18f) Nedeljkovoc (SRB) (L.Det) which tells is that he came thrugh our academy, (ranked 6th in that intake by PA), and that before this tutoring session his personality was "Low Determination". His PA is actually decent 3.0-4.0, but when we have better players ahead of him, I'm not sure we will see much of him despite his academy produced status.

#6 is another AML that has come through the academy, (this time he hasn't been tutored by the prolific tutor that is Stevanovic and just came through the academy that way). He only has PA of 1.0-2.0 and with so much competition here, I can't see a place for him as a tutor never mind a player. I also don't see him able to convert to DL, so this bloke will probably leave once I have developed him as far as I can.

#7 is an AMR and although I'm not positive, I think he came through our academy that way. He is an AMC, but can cover both flanks too so could be a decent short terms tutor once he comes of age.

#8, #9 & #10 are all out on loan. They are 2x DR's and an AMR respectively.

That's it as far as Professionalism goes, but I have also noticed that I have a a decent number of Determined players.

Determined.

João is a 17yo Portugese DR who came through our academy and stood out immediately as the first non-Serb, (he has Serb as a 2nd Nationality), to come through. While I would much prefer to have Pro players, while I don't Determined might just have to be a best option stop-gap. He has 3.0-4.0 PA.

Fairly Determined.

I feel a bit dirty even mentioning this but, at this stage it's better than balanced so it's all I've got to work with. If I can't make them more Professional, then I might as well make them more determined.

We have a pretty good spread of positions covered but if I am honest I would find it psychologically damaging to use a F.Det player as a tutor. Luckily, only 1 player is aged 24 or over, (and he is on loan so can't tutor anyway).

[Jimbokav1971]

This has just happened in training during the winter-break.

This could have serious repercussions, but thankfully he is a centre-half rather than a speedy striker or wide attacker.

[Edit]

He did have 4.0-5.0 PA. It remains to be seen what it will be when he regains fitness.

[leonavich]

I've been having a think about tutors and as I have restricted myself to Serbs, it seems to be a bit of a problem area as, (backing up the point that someone else made earlier in the thread), Serbian players don't seem renowned for their professionalism.

There are of course some Professional Serb players, but I am yet to find a single Serb Model Pro in the database, (but that could be because of the limited database I used).

So if we haven't got Model Pro's available to us to sign, (and of course I'm still hoping that we get some through the Youth System but as nobody else seems to either, I suppose it's probably unlikely), we are going to have to make our own.

The question that needs to be asked is.... how do you get a Pro player to become a Model Pro player? What's the difference?

Well actually the difference is minimal, and it makes me think that there is actually little difference, but in terms of body language on pitch during a game, I always used to be able to tell when my captain was a Model Pro or not, so I'm guessing that it does make a difference.

Anyway, A Pro player will have Professionalism 18-19 & Temperament 10-20.

The only difference in a Model Pro is that his Professionalism is always 20. (His Temperament is also 10-20).

Considering only players who have Serbian as a 1st or 2nd Nationality....

0 Model Citizen's. (I've never seen one of those in any game).

0 Model Pro's.

52 Pro's.

9 Resolute's.

0 Born Leader's.

0 Charismatic Leader's. (Never even heard of that one before).7

17 Determined.

0 Driven.

99 Fairly Determined.

85 Fairly Pro's.

0 Iron Willed.

0 Leaders. (That's a surprise!)

That didn't make good reading at all because without a single Model Pro or Model Citizen, how am I ever going to produce a Model Pro myself? It's impossible!

Oh no it's not!

A Perfectionist will have Professionalism 18-20, (so 20 is still an option), but their temperament will only be 1-9, (and this is what separates them). That's not ideal, but improve the temperament of a Perfectionist and what are you left with......? A Model Pro hopefully.

So how do you improve the professionalism with tutoring and is it possible to do so without reducing the Professionalism that is the vital attribute that needs to be kept?

Well the obvious answer is tutor with a Model Pro or a Model Citizen, but obviously that's a problem, so are there any other options?

Well actually a Resolute has Professionalism 15-20, Determination 15-20, Pressure 1-16 & Sportsmanship 5-20, so theoretically it should be possible in some instances to improve some attributes by a Resolute tutoring a Perfectionist. The problem is that in some situations, you will actually be lowering the Professionalism of the Perfectionist and that's not what we are looking for at all.

If we instead look at it the other way around, what happens if you have a Resolute and you tutor him with a Perfectionist? Well the reality is that I don't actually know, (but plan on finding out!).

Resolute's would seem to be the key to whatever I am going to attempt with tutoring, so I am immediately scouting the 9 Resolute players not owned by me, (and as it happens we have 1 Resolute at the club), so I will certainly be looking at that in the future.

Something else to consider of course is the recruiting of more Professional staff, who might have an influence on young players coming through the Academy, but of course I am still leaving that to the DoF or Chairman, (or someone), at the moment.

I will attempt to document who I am tutoring from now on and why, and see what results I manage to achieve.

This is interesting and I will follow this. I have never really looked into tutoring other than for professionalism or stat boosting into a style. If you can do this, you are truly the king of tutoring! A Football breeder of sorts.

[Jimbokav1971]

Youth Day 2019.

It's a pretty impressive intake if I'm honest. Not 1, not 2 but fully 3 players with max 4.0-5.0 PA.

As if that wasn't enough, 5 more players with PA of 3.0 or greater.

Kriss Djord (F.Det) (2019).

He's an AF which is my preferred role at the moment and he really looks decent. I love the fact that he is a proper ginga and it should really make him stand out during games.



I'm going to also post pictures of the other 2 players rated at 4.0-5.0 PA, because there is no guarantee who will actually be better. There can only be 1 Kriss each year however.

(19b) Nikolic (SRB) (Det).

He actually looks better than Kriss Djord if I'm honest. The problem is that he's a DF rather than an AF, although of course there is little difference at this stage and plenty of time to change. Interestingly, he is the only player of the 3 to be classed as "promising".

(19c) Mujkic (SRB/BIH) (Pro).

At 6'5" he is already a giant of a man and I quite like the fact that he has dual nationality. The chances are he will soon be playing for the full Bosnian side looking like that.

[Edit]

Something else that struck me was the number of PPM's within the intake.

Of the 16 players promoted, 9 of them shared a total of 14 PPM's. That seems quite impressive to me.

[Bedese]

Just read through this all now, loving it so far!

[Jimbokav1971]

This is really frustrating.

We had to sell our best striker last season when I failed to renew his contract after the crash and someone matched his £2M min fee release clause.

My best striker is 20yo Djorde (F.Det) * who I have been playing as an AF(a). It says he is most suited to a CF(s) role, followed by AF(a), but my preference in this side is AF(a) so I have been sticking with it. The problem is that we haven't been scoring the number of goals I want and I think this is the reason.

It's a bloody PPM that I can't seem to get rid of. I've tried twice now without success. At the moment we are still winning in spite of this, but if can't get him to turn round and face the bloomin goal I am going to have to sell him.

[Edit]

Yes, he has indeed recently gone from Balanced to F.Determined personality.

[Jimbokav1971]

New Feeder club, (or not as the case may be).

So earlier in the season, I asked for a new Feeder club and was surprised when the board told me that results hadn't been good enough and they were not prepared to consider my request. At the time I think we were 2nd in the league and had again reached the Group stage of European competition, (although we had crashed out of the Cup early).

I was a bit surprised, but expectations are high here, (at least domestically), and I suppose I have to give more consideration to how we do in the Serbian Cup from now on. I bided my time and after results improved and we were again top of the league, I asked again for a new feeder, (with a view to attracting foreign youngsters), and the board agreed and they gave me a selection to choose from.

The one that immediately caught my eye was O'Higgins FC in Chile. There were 2 from Bulgaria, India, Thailand, Malaysia and somewhere else I think were represented, but O'Higgins of Chile pipped both the Bulgarian teams to top of the list. The board had offered to let me choose, so I thought it was a done deal, only to then get this message a few weeks later.

I've never seen this before.

They agree to us having a feeder club with this type of relationship.

They give me a shortlist of clubs to choose from, (one of which was O'Higgins).

I choose O'Higgins which was on the list they provided me with.

They say no.

Oh well. Will try again next year and maybe go for one of the Bulgarian clubs this time. I might even just let the board pick.

Before my game crashed during the close season, I had activated the Uruguay and Belarus structures to populate River Plate and Torpedo Zhodino, (my affiliates), with players. When I had to go back over that period it seems I had forgotten to do this, (so have just done it again). We will see if that assists us in getting some Uruguayans through our academy.

[Jimbokav1971]

Rivalry with Red Star.

Season 2015/16.







Season 2016/17.











Season 2016/17.

Season 2017/18.

Game 1.

Game 2.

Game 3.

In terms of the development of this save, it was good to give them nothing in the normal league season, but I was frustrated not to beat them in the Final Phase. Although I chose NOT to rest players despite having already won the league by that stage. That we sent other teams packing around that period with significantly a weakened team certainly raises the question of player mentality towards the end of the season. In my experienced players often seem to under-perform when there is little/nothing on the line. Players on the verge of breaking into the first team, (or indeed being given an opportunity before they are really ready on the other hand, seem to often, (not always), really grab the opportunity with both hands. I'm not saying that this is 100% set in stone. Of course it isn't and of course there are loads of contributing factors such as captain, personality, (captain personality is a biggy for me and I mean the captain on the day not the club captain), fitness, match fitness, morale, and of course the overall ability of the team that you send out. There is no point sending out a team of kids that are not going to be able to compete at all. They must have the overall ability to carry out the match strategy and if they don't have the ability to do that then you have to alter the strategy until they do. I usually like to blend young players into a squad a few at a time where it is easy to carry them with more experienced players in games where you expect to be dominant, (especially at home). In a save like this however, when the league is already won, (or in the Group stages of European competition that our best team is not going to progress from, then I really just consider these games freebies. We might lose coefficient points and cash in Europe, but I find that it's almost like putting the brakes on the save a little. There is no point progressing really quickly and raising board expectations that we then struggle to match in future seasons. We have lost significant players in the last couple of seasons and although we are improving, the absence of players such as Ozzy, (striker), and Zivkovic (winger), mean that we are certainly poorer in those areas. I think that we have to be realistic and there will be seasons, (such as this one), where we just want to achieve minimum expectations, (to keep the board happy), and progress the development of players so that we are in a stronger position next season. This season was very much one of development rather than of achievement, (although it was not too shabby either). I just decided at the outset, (after I lost Ozzy), that we couldn't hope to hit the heights of last season. As a result younger players would be given more of an opportunity.

Red Star only just barely qualified for the the top group in the Final Phase section of the league. They snuck 8th by 1 point after a change of Manager, and I must admit I thought they had little chance of making it. They always seem to come good in the 2nd half of the season though and this season was no different.They somehow dragged themselves up to 4th and I can't believe it but I think they even get a Europa League spot for that because..... well I don't know why actually. The Cup Final was fought out between 2 First Division teams, and my initial reaction was that the Serbian FA won't put forward teams who are not in the 1st Division but I'm sure that a First Div side had already won the Cup in this save and was allowed into Europe. I will have to wait and see what happens and see if I can work out why.

[Edit]

Red Star History Managers.

The current manager of Red Star has done ok since taking over. Better than ok actually.

16 games played, 8 games won, 5 games drawn and 3 games lost is the sort of level that Red Star should be performing at on a regular basis. For whatever reason, a succession of managers have been unable to replicate this. It will be interesting to see how Red Star start next season under Mojsilovic.

[Edit2]

In most areas we compare quite favourably to Red Star, but my interest was piqued this season when I saw a media comment saying that Red Star had broken the Serbian SuperLeague attendance record, (that they already held I might add). They were obviously playing against us, so I wondered why we didn't hold the record, so I went looking for the average attendance info, and found this.

We have had a few fan days since I took over, and all have seemed quite successful, (even when we lost which was surprising). As this save is all about competition with Red Star, (and they aren't competitive in many areas barring end of season performance), I think I am going to take attendance seriously and see what I can do about this. I'm still surprised that there is such a gulf between the 2 clubs and.... well in fact I'm going to go and check that it's accurate.......

Interesting....

We have a capacity of 32,710 and the stadium was only recently rebuilt in 2010, (and held 50,000 before it was converted to an all-seater). The stadium condition is "very good".

Red Star have a capacity of 55,538 and it is another all-seater and was rebuilt in 2008. It's condition is good.

Red Star got 50,298 fans in to see the game against us in the Final Phase this season and there was 49,943 in the normal away leg this season. Compare that to 32,173 and that's an extra 62,068 fans getting whacked straight on their totals. Even next season when we have 2 home games against them to their 1, they will still get 50k fans through the door compared to our 64k(ish) over 2 games. I need to sort this out because this isn't good!

[Jimbokav1971]

Season Summary May 2019.

We got what we wanted out of the season I suppose. We won the league which is a minimum expectation and I'm still convinced that if we finished 2nd, then I would be given my marching orders immediately. As I mentioned in the previous post, it was a season of consolidation and development and it's likely that we will have a number of them throughout this, although hopefully not too many in a row.

League Stage Table.

4 losses is more than I would like, but 3 of them were before the Winter break while we were also playing in Europe, (not that I can really use that as an excuse because I was prioritising, (or attempting to at least), the league fixtures throughout the season.

League Stage Graph, (with Red Star comparison).

This shows what a poor season Red Star had and.... oh... I've clicked on Runners Up Spartak by mistake. Sorry.

Final Phase Table.

A 13 point winning margin at the top is pleasing, but we were 2nd for long periods of the regular season and we need to be more efficient next season. Drawing games is ok, but we should really be attacking opposition and putting them to the sword with more ease than is happening at the moment.

League Fixtures to Winter break.

This was a really poor period for us and we really need to do better next season. I would like to almost have the season done and dusted by Christmas.

League Fixtures after Winter break.

I can't remember when, but at some point I decided that something had to change and started looking to change things tactically. During the run-in, I just pretended I was at home in all games and played the attacking-wide tactic, but earlier in the season, while we were still in 2nd, (and I was starting to feel just a little bit of pressure), I upped the tempo and asked the team to retain possession. Because I am not actually playing/watching games, (I'm just pressing the IR button remember), I'm very reluctant to make more than 1 change at a time because I have no idea what is working and what's not working otherwise. As it would happen, performances seemed to improve immediately, and but for the Metalec/Dinamo blip, performances were much improved after the change.

Final Phase Fixtures.

This period was a stroll in the park and I often weakened/rotated the team. It's good to know that when the chips are down we can produce if needed, and our good run of form here probably makes the final league table look overly-flattering, (in exactly the same way as it does with Red Star).

Champions League Fixtures.

I really went for it against Olympiakos, but despite a decent performance in the 1st leg, the score-line didn't reflect this and the tie was effectively over. We gave it a good go in the 2nd leg, but ultimately lost to a better team over the 2 legs.

Europa League Fixtures.

Much as it has been with the Champions League the last couple of seasons, my goal is just to get there and then not worry too much, (if at all), about the results once we are there. This season, the only difference is that it was the Europa League rather than the Champions League. Lyon were obviously strong, but an away draw against PSV and an away win against Panathinaikos are good results. It's just a shame that we didn't also get a result at home to either, (although both were close games).

Europa League Group.

Serbian Super Cup.

Serbian Cup.

[Jimbokav1971]

End of Season Awards.

Fans Player of the Season.

As well as being my skipper, he already has a staff profile, (but not yet been offered a dual role yet). I will be keeping an eye on the situation and now that I have updated the responsibilities page, (I had been slack), if the DoF doesn't deal with it then I will step in and deal with it myself.

Goal of the Season.

Signing of the Season.

I'm not usually one for bringing in loan players, but we lost Stef Jankovic (F.Det) HG for 4 months to a damaged achilles tendon and I couldn't risk going through that much of the season without a senior AP(a) if the other got injured. We had youngsters to step in, but I didn't want them to be 1st choice.

Add in that Danilo was actually a product of our academy and it was a no-brainer. I used him sparingly because to be honest, I wanted to give game-time to our own players a lot of the time.

Young Player of the season.

I often think of him as one of the elder statesmen of the team, (and he probably is really), but he also happens to be only 24 years old. He is a product of our academy, but I had to pay £500,000 at the beginning of the save to bring him back from Spartak after he had been released by us previously without making an appearance.

Stats.

Facilities.

Affiliates.

Finances.

Transfers In.

I tried to hold off just a little on transfers because I was struggling to deal with the enormous squad if I'm honest. I was happy to buy if I thought someone was special and had huge potential, but I didn't want someone who was going to be just "good". I'm hoping that all 3 of these will be a good investment at least.

Transfers Out.

The only big out this season was the £2M deal for Ozzy that I was forced to accept because of a minimum fee release clause that was still in place as a result of my game crash. (I thought I had him signed to a new deal without it, but that was before the crash).

It's worth mentioning that while the transfers out only came to £4.62M for this season, (still decent), we actually received a total of £5.05M, as £426,000 came our way as a result of a total of 23 different fee-paying loan deals.

Confidence.

Last season the club philosophies part of the summary was at 100% due to the large number of players we had signed. The problem this season was that we signed so many that it was hard to keep them all happy.

We have 7 in the B Team, (still not sure if they got promoted back to playable yet but keeping my fingers crossed), and a total of 43 others out on loan elsewhere.

I have just looked and we have 126 players on the books at the moment, (only 2 of which are loaned in).

Tactics.

I'm no tactical guru, but putting this in here each season at least allows be to go back and remember how I changed things and why. We were winning too many games by a single goal and although I am loathe to rely on a stat that I don't know the definition of, we were creating far too few ccc's, so I opted to increase the tempo. I also opted to retain possession as I felt we weren't dominating matches as much as I thought we should.

[Jimbokav1971]

Meet the Kriss'.

#1. Kriss Macesic (F.Sport) (2016). (Striker).

Frustratingly, (for him), he was the 3rd choice striker this season and the other 2 didn't collect a single injury or suspension between them. As they both have better PA, (to go with their better CA of course), then his opportunities were extremely limited. Add in the fact that the new Kriss (2019) has better PA than him too now, (and he scored 2 goals on his debut), and Kriss (2016) will now drop further down the pecking order. Unless someone dies, he will be going out on loan next season for a full season of competitive football.

Season 1. 2015/16. 1 appearance after coming through the academy.

Season 2. 2016/17. 3 appearances and his 1st goal for the club, (against Benfica in the Champions League Group stage).

Season 3. 2017/18. 1(1) appearances in a season where opportunities were extremely limited.

Season 4. 2018/19. 5(1) appearances, (mostly in Europe), but no club goals, (although 2 for Serbia U19's).

#2. Kriss Rat (F.Det) (2017). (Left back).

Although he featured less than last season, (surprisingly), he had a good season and as he is the left back with the highest PA at the club, I would expect to see even more of him next season.

Season 1. 2016/17. 1 appearance after coming through the academy.

Season 2. 2017/18. 18 appearances including 1 goal and 1 assist.

Season 3. 2018/19. 15 appearances including 1 goal and 3 assists.

#3. Kriss Vulic (F.Amb) (2018). (Centre-Half).

What a real shame this is. His season was absolutely decimated by a serious injury, (damaged cruciate ligaments), and it remains to be seen what sort of impact this has on him when he eventually returns. He missed most of the season and is estimated to be out for another 3-5 months, so it could be October before he is fit to train again and I won't be rushing him back when he does start training. I will have a look at the situation just before the Winter break next season and see how much his PA has been impacted by this serious injury.

Season 1. 2017/18. 2 appearances after coming through the academy.

Season 2. 2018/19. 9 appearances and his 1st club goal was all we saw of him after damaged cruciate ligaments kept him out for most of season.

#4. Kriss Djord (F.Det) (2019). (Striker).

A brace of goals on his league debut is a fine way to announce yourself to the fans and I don't think they will be forgetting about him anytime soon with his bright red hair. He really stands out in the game, (which I love), and he will be featuring in games next season without a doubt.

Season 1. 2018/19. 1 appearance and 2 goals on the last day of the season saw him announce his arrival in style.

[leonavich]

Love the detailed post about the formation and the Kriss'es. A shame about the serious injury too.

It's good to see another persons approach and reasoning behind their formations and how they organically form.

I recently changed my formation too, the first season to give my two key strikers more game time, the second season to allow my son to get on the pitch, whether starting or otherwise. It has had an impact as we lost the title last year and are currently second this year, but we are banging the goals in. It is leading me to tweak little bits of our defense here and there and I think I am slowly finding out what is working and what isn't. I am hoping that by the time my son gets to 20, he would of developed enough and I would of found a decent enough formation to base the team around his play. The Danny Roberts Challenge has always been too hard of a task for me (I am not well equipped to score massive amounts of goals with a player), but I figure the 1,000 appearances challenge is, and achieving it once before, and having to change the formation around to protect him as he grew was key to that.

I'll be following on if you do try any challenges in this save, but loving the output you present in your updates!

[Jimbokav1971]

5th Red Star Manager sacked!

With Red Star languishing in 13th place, (of 16), The President has decided that enough was enough and he has sacked a 5th Manager during my relatively short tenure.

He actually didn't have an appalling record with 10 wins, 9 draws and 6 losses, but so far this season Red Star have been poor and 2 wins, 5 draws and 3 losses just isn't good enough for a club like that.

So Red Star have now gone through 5 permanent Managers and now have their 4th different Caretaker Manager at the helm. The new Caretaker is very attacking and very determined, (he is yet another internal U19's coach), and I fancy him to improve things before being replaced.

[nie jem frytek]

Pretty sure that Koroman played for Portsmouth.

[Jimbokav1971]

Pretty sure that Koroman played for Portsmouth.

I had never heard of him but yes he did.

2 loan spells from Russian side Terek, consisting of a 4 league appearances and 1 goal.

He came through the Red Star academy but left without making an appearance, but after leaving his 8th club, (Portsmouth), he spent 4 seasons as a regular back at Red Star as a regular

[Jimbokav1971]

Wonderkid #1.

We have our 1st wonderkid at the club during my time here.

Although he isn't a product of our academy, I am at least rewarded for my bravery in the transfer market after I made the bold move to splash the cash and pay £2.1M for him, (when £2.1M was a LOT of money to us).

We haven't yet had a wonderkid that has come through the academy, but that's obviously the hope for the future. In that respect we have a total of 10 players at the club with a 5.0 PA.

Boban is our 1st choice GK and if I'm honest I thought he was going to be the 1st wonderkid.

Djorde has been our 1st choice striker, but I have been unable to get him to un-learn the ppm "plays with back to goal", and that is limiting his effectiveness in the AF(a) role.

Strahinja is in on loan from Lille in France, and he is one of the players that came through our academy, (but before I took over).

Mihaljo I've just noticed that he is also a wonderkid. Again, he didn't come through our academy, but this time I managed to nab him for a snip at just £500,000. he started off the season as 2nd choice striker, but as mentioned above, he has become 1st choice as a result of the Djorde ppm.

Miljojko is a really exciting young winger, and in what is probably our strongest area of the squad, he is only our 4th choice left wing.

Kriss Vulic (2018) has just returned from damaged cruciate ligaments and I was worried that his PA would be affected, but it seems not at the moment.

Jovo Zoric is a bit of a weird one. I had to actually go and look to see who he was and what position he played. He is a recent £190,000 signing from Vojvodina. How he is going to get into the team however, I just don't know.

Nikolic was the 2nd best player who came through the 2019 intake, and I didn't immediately warm to him because he was a DF rather than my preference of an AF, and there seems a huge difference between the 2, (even at this early stage). To give you an example of how hard it is for him to get a game at the moment, he has scored 3 goals from 4 sub appearances for the U19's. He can't even get a start for that team!

Kriss Djord (2019) is one that I have huge hopes for. I will be gutted if he doesn't gain wonderkid status and then go on to huge things.

[Edit]

I'm a little annoyed with myself that I have bought so many players. There is no doubting the quality of some of them, but what am I doing buying the likes of Zoric, when he can't even get a game for the U19's? What I was thinking at the time was that I wanted my U19's to be winning the league each season, (even without their best players who would be in the senior squad), but I don't think I have the balance quite right. The thing is that I'm not used to managing a club that has facilities like this and has the ability to produce players of this quality. This season I have attempted to rein myself in and sign fewer players, but at the same time I'm still on the lookout for a young future star, (like Zoric). You will be.... happy to know that I am giving preferential treatment to HG academy produced players, and I am being ridiculously favourable to anyone called Kriss, (obviously).

[Jimbokav1971]

I'm watching the real life Champions League Final while playing FM and it turns out that we play Real Madrid in the group stages while they are playing Atletico in the Final. We are in a group with Man Utd and Dortmund so I again just opted to use the 6 games for experience and play a weakened young team.

Ronaldo, Kroos, a big Argentianian winger and a centre-back Laporte, (who is currently with Atletico in real life), put our young team, (including 3 called Kriss), to the sword.

[Edit]

I did the same in the away game against Real, and they handed me my biggest FM spanking of all time. EVER!

That's 13-1 on the night. It's not a 2-legged tie. It's an absolute battering.

[Jimbokav1971]

There are no Serbians on the shortlist for the World Golden Ball 2019.

[Maw74]

13-1 ouch.

The draw was cruel though, getting those 3 teams.

[Jimbokav1971]

This record may take some beating.

[Jimbokav1971]

13-1 ouch.

The draw was cruel though, getting those 3 teams.

Yep. I was all set to give the Group stage of the Champions League a right good go this season, but when I was drawn against those 3 I just didn't bother. I played youngsters in every single game, played my attacking domestic tactic and just used the games as experience.

I would never have qualified so really don't care. We did well just to get there, and that will do me nicely thanks.

[Jimbokav1971]

I've got a problem that although of my own making, is not of my choosing.

My best 2 strikers have scored 14 goals from 26(16) appearances between them. One has 10 from 15(6) and the other has 4 from 11(10).

On the other hand......

My best 2 right wingers have scored 27 goals from 31(3) appearances between them. One has 17 from 17(2) and the other has 10 from 14(1).

I'm going to leave it as is for this season, but next season I am going to change the AMR(a) to an AMR(s), and I'm not completely sure what I'm going to do about the AML(a). I don't want to change too much at once because it's really quite difficult to work out what's working and what's not when you are not actually watching games.

In any case, while the current situation isn't bad, it's not what I want either.

[Jimbokav1971]

I have managed to secure another Affiliate club with a view to getting foreign players coming through our academy.

Black Aces of South Africa join River Plate as our 2nd Feeder club for this purpose.

We are yet to see a benefit of this in any intake, (although it is early days). South Africa as a structure has been activated, (and will start at the beginning of next season), and Belarus starts in about 6 weeks time. The only other active structure is Uruguay which is active, but not yet started yet.

[sherwinriga]

It seems that the 1-13 defeat was surprising to me. Congratulations on acquiring Black Aces as an affiliate. Anything good in Serbian NT after the Euro 2020 qualifiers?

[Jimbokav1971]

Left Back Squad depth.

Our best left back is out injured at the moment, (3 months with a damaged achilles tendon), and actually, this is an area where we have little depth currently.

Milosevic (F.Amb) HG. is our best left back and he was one of my 1st signings at the start of my tenure here. He actually came through the youth system here, but moved to Spartak without making an appearance. I spent £500,000 to bring him back and it was money well spent. Not only did he help with our HG at club quota in Europe, but he has also developed into an important part of the team.

Aleks Zdravkovic (F.Pro). is a bit of a strange player. He's not a left back at all but rather a good utility player with a good personality that I want to use as a tutor in the future. He isn't the sort of player I would usually buy, (I spent £100,000 on him), because he is neither a centre-half nor a full-back, so although he can do a job at both, he excels at neither. Because a player playing in multiple positions takes it's toll on the CA of the player, a muiti-positioned player like this would usually be seen as a negative, however in this respect it just means that he will be able to tutor players in multiple positions. Take away his professionalism and I wouldn't have even signed him for that money.

Jo Nikilic (Bal). and Ranko Jokic. are both decent young players with good PA who are out on loan. I particularly like Nikilic, but as neither are HG at club, I think they will both end up being loaned out to develop and then sold as I concentrate my resources and match-time on other players.

Lazr Sajcic (Bal) (SRB/MNE) is a pretty average player who probably would not have been kept if he didn't have a 2nd Nationality. He is another who is versatile in that he can play both full-back and centre-back, but his versatility means that he actually isn't good enough at either.

Obradovic (Bal) HG. is an experienced player who I signed on a whim as back-up after he was released on a free. He is a product of our academy, (before Zaragoza paid £3.3M for him in 2009). He played a few times last season, but he wasn't going to feature this season so I farmed him out to our B Team in the hope that his reputation if not his ability, might help them get promotion back to a playable league.

(17a) Kriss Ratt (F.Det) (2017). started off the season as the 2nd choice DL, (largely because of his name), but with the injury to Milosevic he has jumped tp the top of the pile and is now 1st choice in that position. Although he is behind the likes of Nikilic and Jokic in terms of his CA, his PA tied in with his personality, (and of course his name and the status that comes with it), make him a better long-term option.

Nikola Dukic is really just a back-up squad player who is loaned out and my plan is to send him to Teleoptik if I can get them back playable again.

(18b) João (POR/SRB) (Det) is actually a right back rather than a left back.

(18i) Og Stamenic (F.Det) was almost released, but I like the way he is developing and have decided that he might be worth keeping.

The last 4 are not really worth even mentioning, however in view of his Pro personality, I might be keeping Lazic as a possible 1st time tutor.

[summary]

Compared to the rest of the squad, it's actually quite a weak position once you take out 1st choice Milosevic, but because his injury gives an opportunity to a Kriss, I am more than happy to invest in the future by playing him now.

[Jimbokav1971]

Youth Day #5 2020.

Maybe I'm being greedy, (I think I am in hindsight), but I was initially underwhelmed when I saw the intake. While it looks good at the top end, it's also a little shallow with only 3 players with greater than 3.0 PA.

You will see that we have had no player produced as a result of our link with River Plate (Uruguay), or Black Aces (South Africa), although it is early days yet and if we get 1 player from each feeder within a 10 year period of their league becoming active, then I will call that success, (so no rush as yet).

Kriss Kruc (F.Pro) (2020).

If I had to pick which position I wanted this years Kriss to be, it would have been a MC, (with possible leaning towards a DM rather than an AMC). What I got was a proper proper MC and I wonder if he is possibly one of the best youth players I have ever produced in FM. That passing attribute keeps jumping out at me, but when I look at a him in a little more depth, there are a lot of relevant attributes nearing double figures. He looks a very very good all-round player.

The next thing to mention is that he has got a decent personality (F.Pro). While it's not the Model Pro that I am used to, (I know nobody believes me but I really and truly and honestly suffer from Model Pro OCD while playing FM nowadays), it's certainly an improvement on balanced or some of the other more negative personalities that we have available.

Lastly, I know that "media description" can often be a bit off, (ok, it can often be waaaay off), but there is also the fact that this is an indication of..... something. It's a an alert for me and yes I know I have to train him, (looks easy from here with that starting base and that starting personality), but I think I have just unearthed a potential star. The only concern is how I give him enough game-time to develop him while not actually managing games. Usually I would bring him on as soon as the game was won, (possibly still in the 1st half), but because I'm not actually managing games, I'm restricted to either playing him from the start, or letting the AI Ass Man decide when and if to introduce him. As we usually have 2 central misfielders on the bench, I can't see many opportunities for this guy. That is unless...... I actually bite the bullet and start actually managing games, (and I think that's something that I will be doing in Europe anyway), so maybe I could play properly in Europe and just speed through domestic games on ultra-fast mode or something.

Lastly, after quite a while of not using the Octagon graphic for quite a while, I've actually become quite a big fan of it now. It doesn't replace any of the other tools that I use to judge a player, but it does tell me at a glance what type of player I am looking at, (something that you can miss when looking at just the position the player plays in). This particular octagon is not one that I am too au fait with, to such an extent that I am sat here just wondering why and how I have never seen one of it's type before. The thing is that he is small, with heading of 4 and jumping of 3, (so that leaves a gap in the aerial section, and his other area of weakness is attacking, (he has finishing of 4 and heading of 4, and even long shots of only 7). This is just screaming out at me "prefers to pass rather than shoot", (or whatever the hell that ppm is that I have never ever looked at in a positive light before. (It was made for this bloke).

When I compare him to the rest of the squad, (all positions), and look at just the 5.0 PA players, this is what I see.

(Except that this is not all Serbian players at all, but just Serbian players who are deemed to be "within my scouting and knowledge range").

While this looks great, (and I'm not moaning at all), I have to remember that we are still "Little Partizan" at this stage and forget winning the Champions League, we are so far off getting out of the Group Stages that I haven't even been attempting to compete as yet. What I really need is a comparison with all Serbian players in the database to see where he might come in.

This is a comparison of all Serbian MC's ranked by PA.

(Except that it's not all Serbian MC's, just the one's that appear on my list).

There are a few things that jump out at me here.....

1. He is ranked 2nd on the list of all Serbian players in the database, (ranked by PA), who can play MC.

2. The only player above him has a maximum asking price of £1.1M, (and we currently have a transfer budget of £26M+). Olympiakos bought him from Red Star for just £110,000 (eegits ), and he is currently being loaned back to Radnicki, (who sit 2nd bottom in the league). I have immediately banged in a bid of £1M up front for him.

3. There is a player on this list, (aged 20), who is not at a club. Who is he, why is he not at a club and what is wrong with him? Well he is very weak physically, and has a balanced personality. He was released by Napredak after just 2 league appearances in 5 seasons and to be honest I can see why. He is very lightweight for senior football, but with that sort of PA, (and the fact that I expect us to become more dominant in domestic football as time goes by), surely there is an opportunity for me to develop this player into at least a technical ball-player that can have others do his grafting for him? He only wants a pretty basic wage and I have managed to get him on a 2 year contract with an option for 2 more. That will take him through to 24 years old and he will have either made it by then or not, so it's all the time I need. This should be an interesting little side issue to follow, (for me anyway).

4. There are 4 other Partizan players on the list, (excellent), but I have absolutely not a clue who 17 year old Dobrivije (Sporting) is. [Goes to look]. Ahhhh. I have just signed him for £110,000 from Zemun in the 1st Division where he has already broken into the senior team aged just 17. I must have signed him.... no idea actually but who cares! He's gonna be good.

5. This shows me the PA of players, but it really doesn't give me a comparison with the players who's ability he is likely to one day match, (ok, possibly rather than likely). While it doesn't show the big guns in the (SRB) National team, (Gudelj, Zdjelar & Savic started in the middle in the last game), I can at least compare to the 2 Hoffenheim guys and the guys at Marseille and Schalke. They are currently valued at £16M, £17.5M, £15.75M & £11M That's a hell of an indication. As I will have him for an initial 4 years and 3 more after that, (I hope), that takes him through to 24 years old, (or 23 if I need to flog him). Well that's the bulk of his development done by then so...... interesting.

Anyway, I'm well well well chuffed with him. Can you tell?

Why can't I ever get a son like him!

[Edit]

Needless to say, the bloke I signed on a free..... turned out to be not quite as good as I hoped.

[Bedese]

New Kriss looks very promising

[Jimbokav1971]

We now have 147 players at the club. I really need to sort this.

[nie jem frytek]

Get 3 more on free transfers and that will become healthy squad of 150!

[leonavich]

Another large squad!

[Jimbokav1971]

Well in my defence, I did just sell/release 13 players before the window closed in February, but unfortunately that#s 3 less than the number of players in the Youth Intake so the number still rose.

We have brought in 7 players this season, (+16 youth players), and it's hard to get rid of 23 in 1 go.

[Adelaidean]

147 players!!! I thought I had a problem with just over 60 players in Spain...

Good read and keep up the good work

[sherwinriga]

147 players can be a massive change to do the roster rearrangement. There's no problem that you can loan players to somewhere else. I have enjoyed reading the update, but I hope you will get the right choice. So, what's news in Serbian NT?

[Jimbokav1971]

So, what's news in Serbian NT?

2014 Fixtures. No scorers in 1-0 wins suggest that these games were simulated.

2015 Fixtures. Unbeaten in the competitive games that matter, but perhaps should have done better still.

2016 Fixtures. Competitive results seem to be better than friendly results.

EURO 2016 Group. Got out of the group but beaten by rivals Croatia in 2nd Rnd.

2017 Fixtures. I'm not sure what is worse. A 1-0 loss away in Austria, or a 1-1 home draw against Georgia. Both pretty pants.

World Cup 2018 Qualifying Group.

2018 Fixtures. A bit of a mixed bag, but there is a reason for the poor World Cup results.

World Cup 2018 Group C. When I first progressed through this period, Serbia progressed to the Final only to lose to England. When I re-loaded after a crash and progressed through again, they didn't get out of the Group stage.

European League. Div B. Group 4. I think that means that they are promoted to one of the Div A Groups in the top tier.

2019 Fixtures. This is more like it. 10 wins from 10 qualifying games, but really only Czech Rep. and Poland were decent opposition.

(SRB) U21's got to the Semi-Final of the 2019 U21 EURO's, but were beaten 4-2 by Scotland.

(SRB) U20's got to the Semi-Final of the 2017 U20 World Cup, but were beaten by Italy before beating England in the 3rd Place Playoff..

(SRB) U19's got to the Semi-Final of the 2016 U19 EURO's, but were beaten by England on pens.

[Jimbokav1971]

Not a bad start to the derby with a new fastest goal record.

[video=youtube;lect05MXXyw]

(It looks like 18 seconds to me, but the record books say 17 seconds so it must have been rounded down or something).

Either way, 1-0.