noikeee Posted September 3, 2016 Author Share Posted September 3, 2016 1 hour ago, DB08 said: Been a pretty tough season for you but at least you haven't been cut adrift completely. If you get something going in the ast 10 games, I think you have a good chance of finishing 2nd. Ludogorets are just too far ahead though, unfortunately. You're good at this guessing thing! Now, as for this... 1 hour ago, deltablue said: I like the look of Prenga I didn't play him much but he ended the season with a 6.48 average rating, the worst of my entire squad. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
noikeee Posted September 3, 2016 Author Share Posted September 3, 2016 2016/2017 - End of season update - CSKA Sofia "A" PFG We needed something special to turn this season around in the final 10-match mini-league between the top 6. It started relatively slowly. A 2-2 draw away at Levski was okay at best, with their veteran Spanish striker Añete seemingly unstoppable. Slavia Sofia were the first victims as we gave the first signs of recovery, by beating them 4-1; but we were the victims next as we couldn't survive Ludogorets and picked up a 4-1 defeat ourselves. It was the right time to find our scoring boots as Botev and Litex were next - our closest opponents in the battle for 2nd. With two spectacular performances, we completely outplayed Botev, and were remarkably clinic vs Litex even with Ádám Vass sent off early, and beat them both 3-0. Scoring boots were still on as we hammered Levski and Slavia in super open matches, our defence looking like clowns but our attack unstoppable - 5-2 and 4-3 wins. In this phase of the league everyone loses points to each other as it's the top 6 playing against each other, so throughout our sequence of 4 wins, Botev and Litex had dropped back and we now had a healthy lead for 2nd. A 1-1 draw with Ludogorets in a tight match pretty much clinched it mathematically. We ended up finishing the season losing to both of our opponents for 2nd, but we were ridiculously unlucky in the trip to Plovdiv and there's no way Botev should've won that, and as for the final match vs Litex that's explained because I gave a go to quite a few youngsters as we already had 2nd in the bag. Kupa Bulgaria In an eventful match we pretty much guaranteed qualification from the quarter-finals as we went to Burgas to beat Chernomorets 4-2. That turned out to be key as with fixture congestion I had to rotate players, and our second string didn't do well in the return with just a 1-1 draw - the one highlight here was teenager and CSKA youth product Ivan Papazov's first career goal. The really positive news is that by now Ludogorets had dropped out of the cup so we had an open route to a trophy. Nevertheless we had to work for it. Away to our fierce rivals Levski we could only get a 0-0 in a cagey match, and on the return we had to overturn a 1-goal defficit to qualify, although we were by far the better side. This put us in the final vs Botev Plovdiv, one of our direct competitors for 2nd in the league. In the final we struggled to get going and the team was nervous, despite outplaying the opposition. Finally, shortly after the beginning of the 2nd half, a spectacular Denys Prychynenko freekick from far out opened the score. It also opened the gates of hell for Botev. We were suddenly remarkably inspired and Nikolic combined with Vutov for the 2-0, Vílceanu found Nikolic for the 3-0, and an early Predrag Luka cross found Vutov for the 4-0 and the young forward's brace. CSKA SOFIA RETAIN THE BULGARIAN CUP!!! Summary Well this was a hell of a lot better. We really picked up a notch in these final few months and still salvaged a pretty positive season, although comparing to last year it looks as if we stalled progress a bit and just repeated the same feats. The good news is I think I know what I did differently these last few months, I tweaked roles in the tactic slightly, and also finally found the confidence to go back to Attacking mentality, as this was the original setup for my wide diamond from my previous career, but it just didn't work here at first in the 1st season with the slow defenders I had. This squad now plays it a lot more convincingly. It's looking particularly difficult to catch Ludogorets, but for next year I really want to at least grab 2nd place earlier and break clear from the likes of Litex and Botev. It also looks like Ludogorets' manager Georgi Dermendzhiev might be moving to Germany so that may make them more vulnerable. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
noikeee Posted September 3, 2016 Author Share Posted September 3, 2016 2016/2017 - Season review - CSKA Sofia Coefficients and reputation A new feature here for season review. We take a look at how Bulgaria and CSKA is progressing within the game world, hopefully this will be interesting to compare over the years. As you can see, Ludogorets have a huge advantage in the rankings! Competition reputation "A" PFG: 18th in Europe (3/5 stars) Nation coefficients Bulgaria: 32nd in Europe (22.931 pts) Club reputation Ludogorets: National (3.5/5 stars) CSKA Sofia: National (3/5 stars) Litex: National (3/5 stars) Club coefficients Ludogorets: 57th (36.175) - this season: Europa League 1st KO round CSKA Sofia: 207th (8.675) - this season: Europa League playoffs Litex: 217th (8.175) - this season: Europa League group stage Finances (Finances) It was very refreshing to go through an entire season and not leak any money at all, retaining a positive balance from start to finish. To this contributed my decision to stay far away from the wage budget given to my board - it's set at 283K€/month but I'm only spending 207K€. However, incoming transfers for next season might change that. Player statistics Starting eleven GK: Jakub Divis (30, CZE) - Not a particularly brilliant season from Jakub with his average rating slightly dropping (from 6.93 to 6.87). I think he's hit his peak, whilst I still trust him and have no massive rush to replace him, I would be open to picking up a new goalkeeper if I found one in the market. DL: Tonci Kukoc (26, CRO) - Still one of our key players, maintaining the excellent 7.21 average ratings (the highest in the whole squad), and I'm in negotiations to renew his contract to the end of 2020. However, this season I felt he made a few mistakes, and also picked up far too many cards, a squad high of 15 yellows. DC: Denys Prychynenko (25, UKR) - Very similarly to Tonci Kukoc, I also think he's still clearly one of our better players, but I was also frustrated with the amount of mistakes he made this season, which gave away quite a few penalty kicks. This dropped his ratings from 7.23 to 7.16. His scoring boots were also missing for a long time of the season, although he found himself again later in the year and still made it to 10 goals - of course, as always, plenty of them were penalties he takes; but I can't also forget his amazing freekick that opened up the score in the cup final. Already renewed his contract up to 2020. DC: Roman Polom (25, CZE) (New signing) - Roman made a difference. It was refreshing to be able to field a relatively quick defender on his mid-20s, compared to all the talented but slow veterans I had been fielding for the past 2 seasons. Nevertheless, I'm not 100% convinced he's a top player, a 7.05 rating is good but not spectacular. He needs to look over his shoulder as an opportunity opened up for a new signing I've made for next year, so he'll have competition. DR: Josip Jurendic (30, CRO) - Having just celebrated his 30th birthday recently, I might have to start wondering about replacing Josip in the coming seasons already. However he improved compared to last year, specially coming forward with a very satisfying 9 assists, also improving his ratings from 6.96 to 7.05. He's safe in the squad for now, but if I find an opportunity to pick up a right-back... DM: Ádám Vass (28, HUN) - Ratings dropped slightly from 7.00 to 6.94, and I was also very unhappy with the 2 red cards he saw this season; but with Boris Galchev tanking his performances dramatically (down to 6.75AR and with a scarcely believable 12 yellow cards and 3 red cards in limited playing time) he now has little competition for the slot, and to be honest it'd be really tough in the current market with CSKA's current limitations to find a player better than him. Ádám might not be playing like a star but he most definitely is one of the most talented players I have. ML: Viorel Nicoara (29, ROM) (New signing) - I went completely against the advice of my staff by picking him up, and was also completely vindicated, as Viorel proved an excellent signing with 12 goals, 4 assists, 5 player of the match awards, and a 7.16 rating. He's not spectacularly talented but has just about the right skillset and helps the team immensely when on form. However, with the incredible progression of teenager Ivan Papazov, he might have competition for the place very soon... MR: Matej Podlogar (26, SVN) - Another decent season from the Slovenian on loan whose performances go beyond his skills, with 6 goals, 8 assists, and a 7.08 rating, but I'm starting to think if I want to move forward I need a better right-winger. The better right-winger was supposed to be Predrag Luka, who was also here on loan this year, but he flopped quite badly early in the year, although Luka picked up his performances later and I found myself picking him up over Podlogar for the final few matches of the season. AMC: Robert Vílceanu (20, ROM) (New signing) - Another loanee, and one of the better additions to our squad as he is dramatically talented. Nevertheless, it wasn't quite a clear success as AMC's rarely pick up good ratings for me, although a late season switch from AM/A role (with "play more through balls") to AP/A role (with "get further forward") seemed to help. Robert's best contribution were most definitely his 15 assists, and they could have been more had I not switched him around a bit with Antonio Vutov, and with the spectacular flop Niko Kranjcar who didn't live up to his fame at all with a 6.61 rating. I also played Robert a bit on the right-wing with less success. ST: Kostadin Hazurov (31, BUL) (New signing) - I have been struggling a little with the 2nd forward slot, which has featured a number of faces over the years already - last year Marius Niculae filled-in in here, but was immediately gone. Kostadin was a decent replacement repeating Niculae's mark of 10 goals, although I felt he was a slight downgrade. Later in the season, as he picked up an injury, I also found myself playing Nikolay Signevich a lot, and whilst Nikolay's ratings and goal numbers weren't as good, his sheer presence with the switch to a target man/support role seemed to make a very positive difference, and I may just switch to target man role permanently over DLF. ST: Stefan Nikolic (27, MNE) (Player of the season) - Stefan is back to his best. 26 goals was just short of the 30 he scored for us 2 years ago, but a 7.20 average rating is the finest of his career, and he also contributed with 7 assists and 8 player of the match awards. Happily, he also agreed to renew his contract up to 2020. Our main poacher, I am starting to occasionally play him as target man/support also, which opens up a poacher slot for players like Antonio Vutov. Other notable players and future prospects Antonio Vutov (20, BUL) - This versatile forward I started loaning from parent club Udinese midway through last season, has struggled for a place in the team with poor ratings, and just a sheer indefinition as to which position fits him best - left-winger, attacking midfielder, deep-lying forward, or poacher. However, he's been starting to come good as poacher lately, scored a brace in the cup final, and if I can renew his loan he might well grab a place in the starting lineup for next year. Ivan Markovic (22, SRB) - Probably the last time I write about him, a season out on loan to Cherno More seemed to do him no favours whatsoever, still hasn't come any close to meeting his potential and had dreadful ratings (6.61). Pol Aleksandrov (21, BUL) - Definitely the last time I write about him. Overtaken as the next big thing in the left-wing by Ivan Papazov, and complaining repeatedly about lack of first team football, I've agreed to sell him to Vereya with a 50% profit of next sale clause. Ivan Papazov (18, BUL) (2015 Youth) - Now this is the player I want to write about. His progression this season has been nothing short of absolutely sensational, his skills already look like a clear first team player, and I obviously started giving him appearances on the left-wing. His ratings have been for now quite a bit off Viorel Nicoara's, but I don't think it'll be long until he's a key player... Emilijus Jankauskas (18, LTU) - This fullback I picked up on a free last season is the main face of a series of defenders I have, who look to have great potential but whose attributes are too unbalanced for me to consider giving first team duties. It's a shame as he's been improving dramatically and my staff are huge fans. Emilian Koev (18, BUL) (2015 Youth) - Outshone in the '15 generation by the talents of Papazov, Emilian has also been improving rapidly, and also hindered by unbalanced attributes - still lacks vision to be a midfielder, finishing to be a forward and crossing to be a winger, although I'm turning him into right-winger as the least misfitting. Kiril Penkov (17, BUL) (2016 Youth) - Further away from the first team but I have greater hopes of him making it - continue improving that poor quickness, improve a little in concentration and you might just start getting occasional games in 1 or 2 years... Career progress table Season League Cup Europe Other --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 14/15 3rd ("A" PFG) Finalists Europa League Playoff 15/16 2nd ("A" PFG) Winners Europa League Playoff Bulgarian SC winners 16/17 2nd ("A" PFG) Winners Europa League Playoff Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
noikeee Posted September 3, 2016 Author Share Posted September 3, 2016 Fantastic news! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
noikeee Posted September 3, 2016 Author Share Posted September 3, 2016 Just a glimpse of the new season - I'm speechless! We just beat Porto on away goals with a 93rd minute winner with 9 men! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
noikeee Posted September 3, 2016 Author Share Posted September 3, 2016 2017/2018 - Pre-season - CSKA Sofia Transfers (Transfers) We again managed to hold on to all of our key players bar one - Steaua recalled Robert Vílceanu back and there was no way they'd let us extend his loan. To replace him, I raided Armenia's Pyunik and brought in Ghukas Poghosyan, who's started his stint for us on brilliant form; and I also poached his team-mate Varazdat Haroyan who looks an excellent centre-back. But the big news of this transfer window was the massive (for our standards) 1.3M€ fee I splashed all on Slovakian winger Nikolas Spalek - I may have overpaid a little but he's 20, looks class, and has a professional personality. Whilst these were our 3 big signings, I also did my usual wheeling-and-dealing and brought in another 6 players. Three strikers arrived at once: Aleksandar Kolev, Filip Vorotovic and Mihai Roman, although I think I got a little carried away here and already loaned out Kolev as I had too many strikers. Vorotovic should be the most promising of the lot. Doncho Nikolov is the new backup keeper, Preslav Petrov the new backup left-back, and Rumen Rumenov the new backup attacking midfielder. For the first time I made a loss rather than a profit with transfers, due to the large fee paid for Spalek and the lack of big sales. Nevertheless, backups Niko Kranjcar, Nikola Petkovic, Anatoliy Gospodinov, and underwhelming youngsters and Ivan Markovic were all sold. (Full squad for the 2017/2018 season) Europa League The season kickstarted with an easy match vs Montenegro's Mladost CKB. There was very little to talk about in these matches, we won comfortably 4-1 at home and 5-0 away. Much more of a concern was the draw for the following round - we were paired against FC Porto, a ridiculously difficult team to be drawn against at this early stage. I prepared my exit from the competition but surprisingly we were competitive already away in Portugal. Porto scored twice first, but we had clearer chances than them and Stefan Nikolic got us the away goal. In Bulgaria the match was split but worryingly we kept on picking up yellow cards... until Jurendic saw his 2nd yellow and minutes later Roman Polom was sent off too with a straight red card. Down to 9 men, I just expected to run down the clock and not concede too many, but the match kept 0-0. Stupidly, Porto committed loads of men forward despite having 2 extra men and being ahead on the tie, and I watched in disbelief as we outmanned them in a counter in the 93rd minute and Nikolay Signevich didn't miss his shot. It was a remarkable victory and our first great European win under my command. However UEFA just won't give us a break and now we're up against Marseille. Can we pull off another miracle? If we do, it'll be without Stefan Nikolic as he picked up a bad injury in that crazy match vs Porto and will stop for 5 weeks to see a specialist for shin splints. "A" PFG Typically we bottle it in the league early on, due to all the fixture congestion with European matches. Considering this, I'm pretty happy with our form so far. Straightforward 2-0 win over Beroe, two 1-1 away draws at relatively difficult grounds vs Botev and Levski, and a slightly tame 1-0 victory over recently promoted Lokomotiv Plovdiv, which is worth 3 points and that's what matters. Superkupa We wanted to claim back the Supercup, but matches vs Ludogorets have tended to be a bit random over the years - we've beat them a few times, but we've also been absolutely hammered a couple of times as well. This time we went 1-0 up thanks to a penalty kick just before half-time, but didn't resist their chances in the 2nd half as they turned the match around and beat us 2-1. Summary A pleasing start to the season sees us pull off a sensational European win, start the league on acceptable form, and do our best in the Supercup which we lost but isn't our priority. I reckon we are already better than last season with the introduction of Haroyan and Spalek; and Poghosyan has been replacing Vílceanu (who should've been a major loss) rather well. Considering this, I fancy our chances of coming closer to Ludogorets this year, and if we can get 2nd place, this season that's now good enough for Champions League football. Less positive is the injury to Stefan Nikolic which will hinder us for the coming few weeks. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
withnail316 Posted September 5, 2016 Share Posted September 5, 2016 Solid start to the season, and a great result in Europe! Best of luck against OM, you may need it! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
noikeee Posted September 5, 2016 Author Share Posted September 5, 2016 29 minutes ago, withnail316 said: Solid start to the season, and a great result in Europe! Best of luck against OM, you may need it! We were ****. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
noikeee Posted September 5, 2016 Author Share Posted September 5, 2016 2017/2018 - Mid-season update - CSKA Sofia Europa League We just weren't as good vs Marseille as we had been vs Porto. We did resist for the first half in France, but they eventually scored twice and rather deservedly won the match. On the return, there was a glimpse of hope as we got the first through Nikolay Signevich, but Marseille equalized still within the first half, ruining any hopes we had of turning the tie around, and got their 2nd goal shortly after half-time. Ultimately we were competent and far from humiliated in either match, but the better team went through. Kupa Bulgaria Apparently, beyond pur rivals Levski Sofia, there's another team called Levski who are based in... Levski. So they're named Levski Levski. They're not too terrible as they're in the 2nd tier, but we were inspired this time, particularly young striker Filip Vorotovic, who's keen to prove he deserves first time duties (god, players are such whiney bitches in FM15, he's just arrived and is already complaining he doesn't play enough) - got the hat-trick. Uncharacteristically, we got a tough draw early in the cup campaign and will face Botev Plovdiv next. "A" PFG So, I was like, super confident going back to the attacking tactics would help us demolish the smaller teams. Works fine in FM15, right? Well we did score goals... but so did they. 3-3, 3-3, 2-2, all draws vs easy opponents. That's 3 times we dropped points and shouldn't. It got worse. Cherno More (who are weirdly back to surprise team status) beat us at home in a match we just didn't turn up. Thankfully the league has been silly open this season and even after this sequence we didn't fall into an abyss outside of contention, but now we had really tough matches vs early leaders Litex and then vs Bulgarian football dominators Ludogorets. Fear not, we aced them. Well technically we only just scrapped 2 wins, but I'm not gonna complain - they were absolutely vital. However we were back to playing under the Benny Hill theme song as we got a 2 goal lead at Vereya and again, let them draw 2-2 in just the dying minutes. Annoyed and fed up with these results, and specially fed up with the striking underperformance of my huge signing Nikolas Spalek (he's on 0 goals, 2 assists, and a 6.75 rating), I took the chance of dropping him from the AMR position and fielding Poghosyan as an inside forward in there instead, with a couple other major tactical tweaks elsewhere. It finally let us beat a crap side as we went to Beroe win 4-1 (although we were unconvincing and 2 goals only came after they were down to 10 men); but then we comically had a ton of shots vs Botev but these shots were crap, and it came down to a bad defeat as they had the better chances. I think this new tactical setup has some potential but it needs further tweaking. Summary Not great. I don't think it's a coincidence this run of lesser form shows up at the exact same time it did last year - maybe it's the consequences of participation in Europe, as we had excess fixtures for a while and then the Marseille losses dropped morale. The Spalek signing flopping hasn't helped, neither did an injury to Stefan Nikolic who has been back for while and still doesn't look back to his best. Nevertheless, the good news is the rest of the league has also been crap, and I also think I'm on a new, interesting path tactically that looks mildly promising. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
abulezz Posted September 6, 2016 Share Posted September 6, 2016 I like all the transfer signings you made at the beginning of the season, and I am surprised at your struggles, although you are still only 4 points from the top! Papazov is turning out wonderfully - your Intake players that you put so much effort into developing are always the ones you care about most! I also have high hopes for Penkov, he is looking quality. I wish I had him in my save! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
noikeee Posted September 6, 2016 Author Share Posted September 6, 2016 35 minutes ago, abulezz said: I like all the transfer signings you made at the beginning of the season, and I am surprised at your struggles, although you are still only 4 points from the top! Papazov is turning out wonderfully - your Intake players that you put so much effort into developing are always the ones you care about most! I also have high hopes for Penkov, he is looking quality. I wish I had him in my save! Papazov has been an absolute revelation this season (which is even more impressive when you consider how badly we've been playing). Already relegated Nicoara to the bench and from memory, I think he's got the 2nd highest average rating in the squad this season. My staff now rate him at 4 stars of CA. I'm really quite amazed at how quickly he progressed from that intake 3 years ago. Penkov I'm a bit disappointed with, he's stalled a little. I've been betting everything on quickness training because I play a very high line, and he's only just made it into a 10 in pace and acceleration. So I can't even afford to give him matches as he'll just expose my whole defence. Maybe it's time for a loan. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
noikeee Posted September 6, 2016 Author Share Posted September 6, 2016 2017/2018 - Late-in-the-season update - CSKA Sofia Transfers (Transfers) January was marked by the shock decision I took of selling Nikolas Spalek. The expensive pre-season signing (at a 1.3M€ price) was proving a massive flop and I now had different plans for his position. Happily, I managed to sell him at a profit - 1.6M€, AND a 50% of next sale clause. Spalek being a 20 year old with a personality prone to developing well, even if he plays badly, I can have serious hope for further profit. Other players to leave the club this transfer window were backup defenders Radoslav Dimitrov (170K€) and Herdi Prenga (165K€). Other two backup defenders - Vasil Popov and Preslav Petrov - were loaned out, as well as teenage winger Marin Petrov. The Spalek profit allowed me to go splash cash in 3 players for similar fees - 525K€/525K€/625K€. This brought us in two players capable of playing either as inside-forwards on the right, and also provide cover for the middle, namely Slavcho Shokolarov and Bogdan Gavrila, both from Slavia Sofia. I might have slightly overpaid for Shokolarov but Gavrila had been shining brightly for them this season. The third big fee signing was Croatian right-back Karlo Bartolec, who being 8 years younger than Josip Jurendic may seriously threaten his position in the starting 11. Finally, another Croatian fullback named Marko Pejic joined us on a free, to add depth to the left-back position; and I picked up an incredibly promising 18 yo centre-back on loan from Sparta Prague, Ales Kolar - I didn't need even more centre-backs as we've got plenty of quality in the position, but the reasoning is I'll try whatever I can to activate the 1.9M€ transfer clause I managed to bundle in with the loan deal - we don't have the money right now, but it'd be a steal for such an incredible player... Kupa Bulgaria We continue to do well in my favourite competition, the Bulgarian Cup. Drawing Botev at this stage looked tougher than usual, but we turned the match around in Plovdiv after they went 1-0 up, scoring the final 2 goals in the very last minutes down to 10 men after Varazdat Haroyan saw a red. We had deserved this win after being by far the superior side, but didn't quite dazzle the same way in the return match. Still, we confirmed another win with 2 early goals and are through to a quarter-final vs Beroe. "A" PFG A period of adaptation to our new tactical setup with a IF on the right, and loads of tweaking everywhere to compensate for it, backfired for quite a while as we looked inconsistent. The defeat to Levski was ridiculous - we were having loads of chances but soon Levski was 3-0 up having done nothing. In Plovdiv vs Lokomotiv we didn't show up which was much more concerning; yet vs the other Lokomotiv, from Sofia, we obliterated them 6-0. Trip to Montana? Another class of glorious football that ended in undeserved defeat. A home draw with Slavia was much the same. Baffling and frustrating. We were falling into midtable abyss, but it got better though as bit by bit I started learning the little details of what clicked and what not under the new setup. 4-1 away win at Cherno More killed their surprise team status right before the winter break. And we returned on the exact same note, 4-1 win again, this time over Litex. However, it's not as if I've performed magic with the tactics, and we got an old school thumping at Ludogorets, 3-0 defeat, even if Ludogorets have been dismal this year for their standards. The last match before the league split put us against the highly surprising league leaders Vereya, and a win was absolutely compulsory if we were not to let them build a huge lead. How about another masterclass and a 5-1 victory, then? Summary What a bizarre season. 35 points is the worst I've had at this stage in all my 4 years at the club, yet we're also probably closer than ever to genuinely put in a title challenge until the end, thanks to everyone else being rubbish and having a bad season. We're also performing a weird act of being inconsistent, yet when we click we're utterly unstoppable and annihilate opponents - as shown by the very positive goal difference of +18. If the tactic keeps clicking as it seems to have done in recent matches, and if Ludogorets keep on not showing up (their new manager did "help"!), we have a very real shot to be champions but that's two big ifs. Either way I'd be happy enough with 2nd as this season that's enough for Champions League football - and I've promised a few key players that we'll make it... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
noikeee Posted September 7, 2016 Author Share Posted September 7, 2016 2017/2018 - Youth intake - CSKA Sofia You can't pull a Papazov every year. Tsanislav Marinov - I think his attributes are much better rounded than a couple previous midfielders we've pulled in the past like Koev (3 years ago) and Nikolov (2 years ago), but it's still quite not that exciting, and the lack of PA stars leads me to think this guy is going to be a backup at very best, and that's if the club doesn't progress by the time he's made it to the first team. Krasimir Dimov - Decent keeper but competition from Miroslav Penchev who came up in the intake 2 years ago, will make it difficult for him to progress. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
noikeee Posted September 10, 2016 Author Share Posted September 10, 2016 Unfortunately, the end of the season is going very wrong. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
noikeee Posted September 10, 2016 Author Share Posted September 10, 2016 2017/2018 - End of season update - CSKA Sofia Kupa Bulgaria I wasn't too concerned with Beroe who were having a crap season and were eventually relegated, and we were 1-0 up very early in the 1st leg, but failed to add more goals and they later drew. I still thought this was just a blip and we had a bloody good chance of going through, but the reality in the return match was very harsh. The match was even but they were scoring and we were not. 3-0 defeat and for the first time in my career we don't make the cup final. Cup winners? Beroe, despite dropping down a division. "A" PFG This was going so well at first. We continued on the back of hammering Vereya in the final regular season league match, by going to Cherno More's home and smashing them 4-0, and then facing Vereya again where a late comeback gave us a 3-1 win. More importantly, it also meant that Vereya finally (or so I thought) abandoned the table lead. The new leaders? CSKA Sofia. Surely this was the perfect timing to climb to first, this had to be our year, our time to become champions? It all very quickly turned into a nightmare. Ludogorets were recovering and so a 1-1 draw away there wasn't a bad result, even if we conceded a 89th minute equalizer. A 1-1 home draw with Lokomotiv Sofia was worse - a new pattern of us failing to score our plenty of chances was starting to emerge. Then a 2-1 home loss to Litex... uh-oh, this is bad. A very late goal by Nikolic saved us vs Cherno More in what was to become our final win of the season, but by now I was noticing something was clearly wrong. The following 2 matches vs our title rivals Vereya and Ludogorets would decide everything, on both the title AND the 2nd place and subsequent Champions League qualification which was also a must for us. They were both frenetically open matches at both ends, and in both our opponents we were scoring more than us - 2 defeats, season ruined. Failure to win at Lokomotiv Sofia was just another cherry on top of this sour cake, and we had dropped to 4th below Litex, our final opponents, we had to beat them if we still wanted to salvage 3rd. Not happening - 4-1 defeat and a dismal performance to finish off this season as badly as it gets, with my arse on the firing line. Meanwhile Vereya still pulled off an incredibly surprising title. With a negative goal difference, and after being hammered 9-0 by Ludogorets a few weeks ago. Summary I think it's time to face up to the reality that my tactical changes for this season were a failure. It's not as if it had been going great before the changes, but I don't think it helped. We ultimately squandered a great opportunity to become champions or even to make it to the Champions League and now I have to deal with the consequences. Now how do I deal with them is the question. I am now "very insecure" and could be sacked at any minute. Key players Stefan Nikolic, Denys Prychynenko and Tonci Kukoc all want to leave due to our underperformance and my failed promises that we'd win things or at least make it to the Champions League. My squad has been moulded in recent months to fit my new tactics and needs to be reassessed again. I am divided on whether to stick to this and try to calm the storm, as I've done in the past, just to not have to go through the hassle of starting from the very beginning (and I've grown attached to a few players and a few things in this club); or to just give up and restart the challenge in a new club, and not have to go through the hassle of the massive squad harmony meltdown incoming. Some advice would be welcome. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
noikeee Posted September 10, 2016 Author Share Posted September 10, 2016 2017/2018 - Season review - CSKA Sofia Coefficients and reputation Going up, as shown earlier (this is relative to last year, as I write the season review just after my fixtures have ended but before these ratings have been refreshed). Competition reputation "A" PFG: 14th in Europe (3/5 stars) (moved up 4) Nation club coefficients Bulgaria: 14th in Europe (27.750 pts) (I think I consulted the national team coefficients last time by mistake so can't compare) Club reputation Ludogorets: National (3.5/5 stars) (no change) CSKA Sofia: National (3/5 stars) (no change) Litex: National (3/5 stars) (no change) Club coefficients Ludogorets: 43th (46.550) (moved up 14) - this season: Europa League group stage Litex: 146th (14.050) (moved up 71) - this season: Europa League playoffs CSKA Sofia: 181st (10.050) (moved up 26) - this season: Europa League playoffs Finances (Finances) The signing-then-sale-at-a-profit of Nikolas Spalek helped a little to stabilise our finances, as our wage spending rised substantially this season. At the moment we don't seem to be making either a profit neither a loss over a season, it's all very stable. Player statistics Starting eleven GK: Jakub Divis (31, CZE) - Almost no change in his ratings, from 6.87 to 6.86. I could do with a new keeper already... DL: Tonci Kukoc (27, CRO) - His performance dropped from one of a star player (7.21 last year) to a relatively average 7.06 this year. Ultimately the all-round poor performance of the team didn't help but he no longer looks like an undroppable player, although I don't have any clear alternative. I also believe he can and should contribute with more than 3 assists. Wants to leave to play in the Champions League. DC: Denys Prychynenko (26, UKR) - One of the few players whose ratings improved, from a 7.16 to a career high 7.25, also contributing with his routine share of goals, 11, 6 of them penalties, as he remains one of our stars. Also wants to leave to play in the Champions League. DC: Varazdat Haroyan (25, ARM) (New signing) - An absolutely excellent free transfer signing who eventually cemented himself in the starting 11 pretty clearly ahead of Roman Polom, with a 7.22 ratings, despite the Czech centre-back being valued more than 3 times his market price. DR: Karlo Bartolec (23, CRO) (New signing) - This winter signing went straight into the first team due to the surprise underperformance this season of the experienced Josip Jurendic. Karlo started his CSKA career brilliantly with a few dazzling performances, but as the team went into a negative results spiral, he started looking like a liability. Still finished with a barely positive 7.05 ratings, considerably better than Jurendic's. DM: Ádám Vass (29, HUN) - I get the feeling he's never truly shown his best for the club over the years, as he has the talent to do so much extra, and this persists. 6.91 AR which was a slight drop from last year's 6.94. More concerning were the 2 red cards and 13 yellows he picked up, although he finally scored his first goal for the club. ML: Ivan Papazov (19, BUL) (2015 Youth) - One of the few positive stories of this season. I couldn't have possibly imagined that by season 4 of this challenge I'd already be listing a youth product as one of my key players, as Ivan's rise to prominence has been absolutely remarkable and he barged his way decisively into the first team this year, shoving Viorel Nicoara aside. At a point he was looking like a serious candidate for player of the season, but a slight drop in performance at the end of the season (together with almost everyone else, it has to be said), and the fact his 6 goals and 7 assists just isn't as great a end product as other offensive players, made me think otherwise. Still, very good season with a 7.23AR. AMC: Rumen Rumenov (24, BUL) (New signing) - A surprise, as I picked him up to be a backup but eventually he grabbed a starting place. Still, his emergence was more about my decision to push Poghosyan out wide (more on that just in a second), and he never really fully convinced, as I also tried other players in here such as Antonio Vutov. 3 goals, 8 assists, 6.96AR. AMR: Ghukas Poghosyan (24, ARM) (New signing) (Player of the season) - The direct playmaker I picked up on a free from Armenia quickly became one of our stars, and I've got little doubt to name him as player of the season. Dazzling at first at AMC (putting in by far the best performances I've had yet from any player in that position), the complete flop signing of Nikolas Spalek on the right and the lack of other options in there, made me try Poghosyan in there instead, turning the position from a MR winger to a AMR inside forward. At first it seemed to work well enough as Poghosyan's performances improved even further, but ultimately it sent me into a tactical dead end that created more problems than solved. Still, a superb season from him with 6 goals, 17 assists, and a 7.31AR. ST: Filip Vorotovic (20, MNE) (New signing) - 2nd forward persists a problem position over the years as I never quite figure it out right. This year I used a multitude of players and also a multitude of roles as I tried to balance things tactically. If earlier in the year the Belarussian Nikolay Signevich had been a decent support target man, and at other times Antonio Vutov was also used as DLF or false nine, occasionally even Nikolic was pulled from 1st to 2nd forward, eventually I settled on a duo of Montenegrin forwards bringing in the young Filip Vorotovic. He did okay with 8 goals and a 7.02AR. ST: Stefan Nikolic (28, MNE) - Not his best season as he only scored 19 goals (has reached tallies of 30 and 26 in previous years) but to be fair to him, he did benefit more from the more direct setup we used to play before. I now have a problem as I promised him we'd win a trophy this year and we didn't, it's particularly concerning because it's been 4 years and I still haven't found a better poacher than him. Other notable players and future prospects Boris Galchev (34, BUL) - Farewell crazy Boris, I and our fans will miss your psychotic two-footed challenges, as he retires from football. I didn't play him much this season, but I will forever remember the 52 yellow cards and 4 red cards he picked up in the 120 appearances (the majority of them from the bench or substituted midway) I gave him over the last 4 years. Antonio Vutov (21, BUL) - Two and a half years at the club on loan from Udinese and I still haven't figured him out. On paper he should be one of our stars, but just doesn't deliver, regardless of whether I try him as poacher, DLF, AM, inside forward, winger, whatever. 6 goals and 6 assists was not enough for the playing time I gave him. Maybe I should ask the Bulgarian national team manager as he's got 6 goals in 6 games for them. Unlikely to still be here next year as we cut our link with Udinese and he's been given much higher wages. Ales Kolar (18, CZE) (New signing) - Another underwhelming loanee that on paper looks spectacular. I think there's a future world class centre-back in here but the few times I tried him the performances were concerning, and I'm not sure I should make the huge financial effort to activate his 1.9M€ sale clause. Emilijus Jankauskas (19, LTU) - You know what, I'm starting to think there might be a player in here. He doesn't quite have the perfect balance of skills I want in a fullback, but he keeps up on a rather continuous and steady improvement, and whilst his performances this season on loan to Beroe didn't impress, he isn't a million miles off becoming a first team player. My staff already rate him at 2.5 stars of CA. Emilian Koev (19, BUL) (2015 Youth) - Still a frustrating player as he still looks brilliant in a handful of skills but frustratingly isn't anywhere near the complete package for any position, really. He's improving and he's got the potential but I just don't know what to do with him. It's probably time for a loan. Kiril Penkov (18, BUL) (2016 Youth) - Continues unlikely to break into the first team purely due to his lack of pace, as otherwise he's class - probably another candidate for a loan. However, there's another problem: injuries. Those have stiffled his progress. Miroslav Penchev (17, BUL) (2016 Youth) - Improving under the radar as he never looked a future star, but his model professional personality is undoubtedly helping as he already looks the equal of my 3rd choice keeper. I'm sure he'd be very handy in the future to meet our homegrown quota. Career progress table Season League Cup Europe Other --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 14/15 3rd ("A" PFG) Finalists Europa League Playoff 15/16 2nd ("A" PFG) Winners Europa League Playoff Bulgarian SC winners 16/17 2nd ("A" PFG) Winners Europa League Playoff 17/18 4th ("A" PFG) Quarter-final Europa League Playoff Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
noikeee Posted September 10, 2016 Author Share Posted September 10, 2016 This is not how I like to play the game but I reckon I just want to have fun, so I'll just give up trying to make my tactics work and download one. I've searched around the web for a FM15 downloadable tactic that won't make me have to make too many changes in personnel and found this: https://mrkeysirensie.wordpress.com/2015/06/26/fm15-rensies-4-2-3-1-tactic-with-spartans-fc/ . If I reverse it left-to-right to switch the IF with the winger it's pretty identical to my current formation except it moves the DM up to MC, and fields another MC instead of a striker. This is actually handy for me as I'm struggling to find strikers to justify playing with 2 of them, and I think I'll find more midfielders in the market. So if I don't get sacked that's what I'll play for next season. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
noikeee Posted September 11, 2016 Author Share Posted September 11, 2016 A bit of good news to brighten things up: Meanwhile I saved my job by promising we'll get 11 points in the first 5 fixtures in the new season. That'll largely depend on whether the new tactic is a magic potion or not. After the first pair of friendlies I'm not so sure. The advantages in ball circulation in having the extra midfielder are absolutely clear (and I think it seriously outweighs the advantage the presence of the 2nd forward brought), but something's still a little off. I don't quite understand what he was trying to do with so many instructions, obviously when you load someone else's setup it'll always be more fitting to the original players than your own; but I already had to tweak the shooting instructions, we do seem to camp on the opposition's area very effectively but wasted far too many balls with hopeful shots from far out. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
noikeee Posted September 11, 2016 Author Share Posted September 11, 2016 Hey, this just came up and I think this is seriously good news too: With the Bulgarian league restrictions that we can only register 5 non-EU players, and only field 3 non-EU players in the match squad (and my own restrictions on only signing Eastern European players) any break like this is a godsend. I'll be sure to scout both countries more extensively now. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
abulezz Posted September 11, 2016 Share Posted September 11, 2016 Papazov has really turned out class - I would say invest as much as you can in developing Koev and Penkov, because they look like they could be contributors very soon. This has been a pleasure to follow thus far! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
noikeee Posted September 11, 2016 Author Share Posted September 11, 2016 53 minutes ago, abulezz said: Papazov has really turned out class - I would say invest as much as you can in developing Koev and Penkov, because they look like they could be contributors very soon. This has been a pleasure to follow thus far! Koev is more likely because I've got far less depth at AM than I do at centre-back where I'm stacked with quality now. Don't forget this isn't a youth challenge. I'm no Mourinho only thinking of the short-term, but I do want to win more than I want to develop youth players, even if that's always a nice extra. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
abulezz Posted September 11, 2016 Share Posted September 11, 2016 LOL - I keep forgetting its not a youth challenge. My recommendation then is to scour Germany and Brazil for as much talent as you can find - they always seem to be loaded. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
noikeee Posted September 11, 2016 Author Share Posted September 11, 2016 2 minutes ago, abulezz said: LOL - I keep forgetting its not a youth challenge. My recommendation then is to scour Germany and Brazil for as much talent as you can find - they always seem to be loaded. Can't do that neither. I decided from the beginning of the career to only sign players with Eastern European nationalities. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
abulezz Posted September 11, 2016 Share Posted September 11, 2016 15 minutes ago, noikeee said: Can't do that neither. I decided from the beginning of the career to only sign players with Eastern European nationalities. LOL - oops. Well in any case, this has been an exceptional save thus far Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
noikeee Posted September 11, 2016 Author Share Posted September 11, 2016 So... Lokomotiv Sofia beat us 2-1 despite our 23 shots to their 4. That was very bad news because this happened. Uh-oh: But... good news! Nothing happened, carry on... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted September 11, 2016 Share Posted September 11, 2016 I can't see the images at all, just little random file names. The previous fixes for this don't seem to be working either. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
noikeee Posted September 11, 2016 Author Share Posted September 11, 2016 5 minutes ago, deltablue said: I can't see the images at all, just little random file names. The previous fixes for this don't seem to be working either. That's very strange, everything shows up right here whether I browse it with the laptop or my phone. Maybe Imgur is working funky with your ISP? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted September 11, 2016 Share Posted September 11, 2016 Possibly, it seems to work on my phone, at least when it's not connected to the home network. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ceching You Out Posted September 11, 2016 Share Posted September 11, 2016 Images look normal to me; no issues here. Best of luck to the nothing-to-see-here Alegrovski! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
noikeee Posted September 11, 2016 Author Share Posted September 11, 2016 4 hours ago, Ceching You Out said: Images look normal to me; no issues here. Best of luck to the nothing-to-see-here Alegrovski! Alegrovski sends thanks. As for Alegrov, he went on a massive tantrum post the sacking and decided to immediately retire from football permanently. Rumors say he's switched careers to his true vocation, and became a plumber. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
noikeee Posted September 11, 2016 Author Share Posted September 11, 2016 2018/2019 - Pre-season - CSKA Sofia Transfers (Transfers) For my usual standards, this was a very quiet Summer transfer window with only 6 signings and one of them was here already. I am talking about the massively talented Czech teenage centre-back Ales Kolar, whose loan from Sparta Praha I had renewed, on the condition we kept a 1.9M€ buy-out clause. Clause kept, clause activated, and he just became our most expensive signing ever. This is a bit of a gamble as he seemed to underperform for us last season, but he's so incredibly talented I reckon the worst case scenario we'll still make a profit on him. To fund this transfer, our other Czech centre-back Roman Polom was sold to Lorient for 1.2M€. Speaking of loans from Sparta Praha, there's now another 2: we brought in another CB in the shape of Michal Siplak (should be a backup) and another hugely talented teenager, Pavel Ptacek, for central midfield, as we need more players for that position in the switch to 4-2-3-1. He also comes with a buy-out clause of 2.2M€, we'll see if he's worth it as the season goes. But this window's big bargain was the other midfielder we poached, from Belarus which is looking like a great market much like Armenia, he's the delightfully named Alexey Legchilin, hired by 275K€. There was also quite a lot of transfer movement regarding forwards, this was the reverse of midfielders, as we switch from 4-4-2 diamond to 4-2-3-1 we need less strikers. Kostadin Hadurov left on a free, Antonio Vutov's loan ended, Mihai Roman was sold by 500K€ (I already regretted this, only after agreeing to the transfer did I notice he had a ratio of minutes/goals for us similar to Nikolic), big man Nikolay Signevich sold by 250K€, and fringe youngster Grigor Dolapchiev by 85K€. With so many strikers leaving, I ended up having to hire one, and it's a return! He was here on loan briefly a couple of years back, and now arrives permanently for a 650K€ fee: say hello again to Tsvetelin Chunchukov. Finally, a young forward named Marius Juozaitis arrived on a free as a long-shot for a future prospect. (Full squad for the 2018/2019 season) Europa League Feeling the pressure of a potential sacking in the horizon if we didn't get enough points in the league, I played weakened sides in Europe to save the big boys for the league. Nevertheless, we still beat Slovakia's Senica 2-0 and resisted them in the return leg to only lose 1-0 which was good enough. This qualified us to face Brondby. We were looking good to beat them in Denmark as we scored first, but capitulated in the second half. The return leg was Klaren Alegrovski's debut match as manager. It couldn't have gone any better. An owngoal early in the 1st half already gave us the necessary away goal, and as Brondby pushed forward spaces appeared for us to add another 2, and frankly they were deserved. For the playoffs, we will face Saint-Étienne - as always those pesky French teams are in our path. "A" PFG 11 points in 5 matches was a tough goal for Alegrov to meet, but the board was understandably fed up after last year's dismal end to the season. A 1-1 draw away at Levski with a very late conceded equaliser was a decent start, but that meant points lost already - and now any defeat in the coming 4 matches would mean a direct sacking. Lokomotiv Gorna were not much a problem, brushed aside casually 2-0 (although the 2nd goal came very late), but at Lokomotiv Sofia the dreaded defeat happened. It was daft, our former forward Kostadin Hazurov opened the score, Lokomotiv added another in a penalty, and basically did absolutely nothing else all match as we pushed and pushed and pushed and squandered opportunities after opportunities. Poghosyan could only add one goal, and Klaus Alegrov's managerial career was over. Reinvigorated by the new manager as if nothing had happened, a tame 1-0 win over Montana returned things to normal. Summary A tumultous pre-season saw Klaus Alegrov get sacked on the basis of the lingering impatience that had remained from last season. Football is a funny old game however, and what coincidence as a similarly named manager, Klaren Alegrovski, with similar background of no previous managerial experience, takes over the job from Alegrov! This is a cheap way to continue but I felt it was the most fitting. This was never meant to be a journeyman, and for all the lack of progress in terms of results over the last 4 seasons, there's been a load of work drastically improving the squad that I just didn't want to throw away, and I've grown fond of all of these players and the club anyway. The reset button I've just activated brings good and bad things - I've lost tactical familiarity, scouting knowledge, number of staff allowed by the board, some good relations with players; but I've also lost all of Alegrov's bad baggage such as failed promises to players and the pressure on his back. What will eventually decide this season's fate is how good our new 4-2-3-1 is (another option that could be potentially seen as cheap, to poach someone else's tactics, but this challenge is more about squad management than tactics). There are some promising signs, as the defence looks dramatically improved, but I'm unsure whether there's a clear path to scoring goals, and I'm also confused about all the dozens of player and team instructions, which makes it hard to adapt on the go. Results have been mildly promising and should get better with better familiarity. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
noikeee Posted September 12, 2016 Author Share Posted September 12, 2016 2018/2019 - Mid-season update - CSKA Sofia Europa League It was clear from the very first kick Saint-Étienne meant business. We resisted for 45 minutes in the 1st match until they scored right before half-time, but then they blew us apart in the 2nd half in what was our heaviest European defeat yet. Back in France 2 Saint-Étienne goals within the first 12 minutes made me fear another similar result, but they slept on it and we still managed a consolation draw with 2 goals in the 2nd half. This match won't be remembered much, apart from the fact teenager and CSKA youth product Emilian Koev nicked his first goal for the club. Kupa Bulgaria Away to 2nd division's Pirin Blagoevgrad, we took advantage through a penalty kick, and then let the match play out as we failed to convert any more chances despite Pirin having had a man sent off. This was boring but effective, and amateurs Minyor Pernik are next in our path. "A" PFG A 3-0 away win at Slavia looked highly promising, we were starting to find form. However, we were dismal vs Cherno More with a single shot on target (despite attempting 23) in a ridiculously dull match. This was a bad sign but a 3-1 away win at Litex, even if Litex were a man down, was much better. Surely, another glimpse of finding form? Eh, what about no. What would follow was possibly the most ridiculous match of my career. Home vs recently promoted Kaliakra, we attempted 38 shots, 20 of them on target, 4 of them clear chances... we didn't score, and missed a penalty, and they scored their own penalty, one of 3 shots. Surely this was just a desperately unlucky match, an all-time one-off? Indeed, luck sometimes can smile on us and it did at Ludogorets - 1-0 win despite being vastly outplayed. But when I witnessed something that was almost the repeat of the Kaliakra match, this time vs reigning champions Vereya, I started getting worried. Is this a pattern? By now I was well away from the original downloaded tactic and doing my own tweaks. A 1-1 away draw at Botev was okay. I reckon a 1-1 draw with Levski even if at home, isn't horrendously awful neither, although I didn't like our performance. A 4-0 win at Lokomotiv Gorna was suddenly much better, but it was helped greatly indeed by 2 red cards to the home team. Summary Holy crap, we're SO DULL this year. And the results aren't much better, although they've not been disastrous. Say bye-bye to the wild style of the past 4 seasons as we play cagey football with very few conceded goals, but often look toothless upfront as well. Our top scorers? Tsvetelin Chunchukov, Bogdan Gavrila and Ghukas Poghosyan, all on... 3 goals. This is nowhere near as crazy and exciting as the 4-4-2 diamond, but I still retain some vague positivity. I've now gotten rid of all the conflicting instructions and I feel I understand the tactics better, and have been trying to make them slightly more positive to try to nick more goals. The best thing is that we've FINALLY hit full fluidity in it, so on that basis you could excuse my naivity for being positive and hoping for better performance from here onwards.. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
noikeee Posted September 13, 2016 Author Share Posted September 13, 2016 2018/2019 - Late-in-the-season update - CSKA Sofia Transfers (Transfers) This winter transfer window saw the departure of a familiar face as club captain Josip Jurendic left us, after a few seasons as our main right-back. Lately he'd been complaining of little playing time as both Karlo Bartolec and Emilijus Jankauskas overtook him in the pecking order, so I sold him a few months before his contract ran out. We also picked up 350K€ for the sale of midfielder Rumen Rumenov who was a regular starter last year but lost room this season; and 100K€ for defender Preslav Petrov. As for incoming transfers, we continue to explore the Czech market. Attacking midfielder Herolind Shala is yet another loan from Sparta Praha - we've agreed a 800K€ fee if he impresses me enough; and I took the club into debt to splash 700K€ on 18 year old forward Milan Hlavaty from Sigma Olomouc as I think he looks worth it. Kupa Bulgaria There was finally a pair of properly satisfying wins as we completely decimated Minyor Pernik 5-0 and 7-1, in two matches most notable for Stefan Nikolic's return to goals as he'd been noticeably absent this season. We won't have such luck in the quarter-finals as unusually we drew Ludogorets a little early. "A" PFG You might notice there's more goals in this screenshot, compared to the previous months. Fed up with dull matches, I turned up the mentality and watched them fly in. We turned around a 0-2 defficit vs Lokomotiv Sofia (2 goals by my former forward Kostadin Hazurov, clearly willing to prove me wrong after letting his contract run out), only to still concede a 95th minute equaliser. There was no such luck for Montana as we barged them 5-2, but Slavia Sofia were effective at our home and beat us. It seemed as if we were as inconsistent as ever, but then we went on a great run just before the winter break: a slightly flattering 2-1 win at Cherno More, an insane goalfest in which we hammered Litex (who aren't bad themselves) 6-3, and a good win at Kaliakra, 4-2. I came back from the winter break very optimistic but soon there was two downers. I wasn't too surprised to lose to Ludogorets, although we could've gone 1-0 up had Alexey Legchilin not missed a penalty - perhaps karma for my option to sit our usual penalty taker Denys Prychynenko on the bench? And Legchilin missed ANOTHER penalty vs Vereya, when we were 1-0 up despite Ádám Vass having seen a red card, as we capitulated in the final minutes to a quick Vereya turnaround. A standard 2-0 win over Botev put us in a slightly better mood as the league splits. Summary This may not look particularly different at first glance, but I'm way more optimistic now. I feel we're grinding out slightly more points on average, and, almost equally as important, we're no longer painful to watch and have become quite entertaining again. Who knew increasing the mentality from Standard to Attacking would have this effect, heh? Sometimes it's the simplest things. I would back us to come 2nd and finally get into the Champions League now. But hey, I've had pie in my face too many times in this (these) career(s) before. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
noikeee Posted September 13, 2016 Author Share Posted September 13, 2016 2018/2019 - Youth intake - CSKA Sofia Not as good as this looks like at first. Veselin Kirilov - Yes the PA looks good, but I don't know what to do with these ridiculously unbalanced skills. He's certainly no AMC/ST with a 4 at both finishing/composure. Perhaps right-winger is the best fit, but I use an inside forward for that position on my tactic now. I think I'll just go mental and try to make him into a ridiculously attacking right-back, despite him being a dwarf. Ivo Rusinov - Not exciting at first glance, but he's a pretty complete centre-back who's either footed. I don't know about a first team star, but I can imagine him becoming pretty useful in a few years. Kaloyan Gotsev - What the hell is up with my youth and the loads of intelligent or physically powerful midfielders who are technically completely crap? So frustrating. I'll try to make him into a future option for MC but I hate players with crap technical skills for these positions. Tervel Dyulgerov - More youth keepers is hardly ever a bad thing because it's a good position to have homegrowns. I reckon he looks pretty complete, but he needs some serious tutoring to sort out his personality. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted September 14, 2016 Share Posted September 14, 2016 Shame the new tactics haven't been working out. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
noikeee Posted September 14, 2016 Author Share Posted September 14, 2016 1 hour ago, deltablue said: Shame the new tactics haven't been working out. That's relative. It's not been working out great, but it's not been rubbish neither. I'd say the current 4-2-3-1 setup seems about as competitive as the original 4-4-2 diamond I played in the first 3 seasons (season 4 I started messing with it, which got me sacked at the end). Although we've got better players now, too - but it's hard to compare because I honestly believe the opposition has strenghtened over the years as well! Ludogorets definitely has a better squad than we do, and I've noticed some of Litex's attackers are more gifted than ours too. Ultimately I think what's holding me back is the Eastern Europeans-only restriction. I often come across some excellent Brazilian players in these teams that I can't pick up, so I'm disadvantaged in the market. But I reckon if we can luck into 2nd place it would be a big breakthrough because of the Champions League money. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
setzel Posted September 15, 2016 Share Posted September 15, 2016 Bloody Ludogorets , i am patient and waiting for the day you destroy them ! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
noikeee Posted September 15, 2016 Author Share Posted September 15, 2016 1 hour ago, setzel said: Bloody Ludogorets , i am patient and waiting for the day you destroy them ! I'm losing my own patience, the end of the season was tough to take, we had done the most difficult only to choke at the last minute, the new manager's job in danger again. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
setzel Posted September 15, 2016 Share Posted September 15, 2016 Eastern European owners short tempered Yea i know that oh wait its because it's happening in Real Life time and time again Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
noikeee Posted September 15, 2016 Author Share Posted September 15, 2016 2018/2019 - End of season update - CSKA Sofia Kupa Bulgaria Ludogorets were just better. Neither match was horribly one-sided but they had a little edge in clearer chances and it shown in both matches, as they won both by a single goal. This means we drop out of the cup in the quarter-finals again. "A" PFG The final 10 matches pit the top 6 teams in Bulgaria against each other, and it made for some really balanced, tense matches from start to finish. We opened with a very important away win at rivals Levski, and managed to hold off Ludogorets to a draw, as well as nicking a draw away at Litex which I class as a good result. But I could've done without extending the run of draws at home vs both Vereya and Montana, which were the teams we should be beating at this stage. Another win over Levski meant we recovered a little, as we were still in contention for a Champions League spot. Unfortunately we were unable to hold on to a 1-0 lead away at Ludogorets, crumbling apart in the 2nd half to end up defeated, and the home match vs Litex was very much going the same way, as they had overturned a 1-0 lead for us, only for us to turn it around again with an extremely late brace by Bogdan Gavrila in minutes 88 and 92. This was extremely important as it gave us back the advantage for 2nd and Champions League football, but we still had 2 away matches to go. We passed the first hurdle with top marks, Ghukas Poghosyan with an early brace, and I was disappointed to only win 2-1 after we had vastly outplayed what's usually our bogey team in Vereya. This put us in an excellent position for the final match - with a 2 points lead over both Montana and Levski, I could either win, or draw and hope Levski wouldn't beat Litex. Things looked great at first - we scored the first goal, and Levski were losing to Litex. However Montana drew, and we were playing pretty badly. It got much worse in the 2nd half - penalty kick committed by Varazdat Haroyan, and it was a straight red card for a professional foul. Montana scored and we were a man down, as they later added a 3rd goal. It was a epic meltdown in the very final match to miss out on Champions League football. Summary Wow, this was hard to take. I really did think we had done the most difficult by beating Levski and Vereya, and I wasn't expecting to get undone by that final match. Cue "very insecure" status again, and now I also have got to let our star striker Stefan Nikolic go, as I've stupidly promised to let him go and he's my captain so I can't break a promise and risk a squad mutiny... (good news is he hasn't been scoring much so we shouldn't miss him much). I'm starting to have some serious doubts about this career. We should be more competitive by now, I'm just not advancing enough, and there's only so many periods of board pressure and squad harmony meltdowns I can endure. I reckon I'll give it another go for another season, but giving up is starting to come across my mind. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
noikeee Posted September 15, 2016 Author Share Posted September 15, 2016 2018/2019 - Season review - CSKA Sofia Coefficients and reputation Still seriously on the rise. Feels weird to see this being more motivated by the AI than by my performances! Competition reputation "A" PFG: 12th in Europe (3.5/5 stars) (moved up 2, and gained half a star) Nation club coefficients Bulgaria: 12th in Europe (31.875 pts) (moved up 2 as well) Club reputation Ludogorets: National (3.5/5 stars) (no change) Vereya: National (3/5 stars) (no change, but they were below us and Litex) Litex: National (3/5 stars) (no change) CSKA Sofia: National (3/5 stars) (no change, but we were above both Vereya and Litex) Club coefficients Ludogorets: 42nd (49.375) (moved up 1) - this season: Europa League group stage Litex: 134th (16.375) (moved up 12) - this season: Europa League playoffs CSKA Sofia: 167th (11.875) (moved up 14) - this season: Europa League playoffs Tactics (Tactics) This career was supposed to be, load up the 4-4-2 diamond and leave it there, don't talk about tactics ever again. Of course my careers are hardly ever that simple. As you can see my current 4-2-3-1 is now already very different from the one I downloaded. I just didn't like how it played out, the original tactic was too wasteful for my taste with a insane amount of long shots, and after toning that down it became horrendously dull. I reckon the source of my problem is that I'm trying to combine a winger in one side and a IF on the other, I've searched around for all the "miraculous" FM15 tactics, specially the 4-2-3-1 variants, and most people either go with a pair of wingers feeding central players who are supposed to score; or a pair of attacking IFs supposed to score all the goals, supported by the central players. Indeed, it all started going wrong last season when I started trying to incorporate a IF in my 4-4-2 diamond. It does makes more sense to have a W and a IF in a 4-2-3-1 (hence the slightly better results than the same in the diamond), I thought this would help us give our attack more variety, but what tends to happen instead is that I'm kinda caught in no-mans-land between both things. I've also noticed most tactics around with wingers play a more cagey, counter/standard mentality, and the IF tactics use attacking setups. I've decided I like to attack more, but we should've scored more goals in proportion to the conceded goals, for it to work, and it's not happening. Finances (Finances) The winter signing of Milan Hlavaty pushed us into the red, but it's easily manageable. Player statistics Starting eleven GK: Jakub Divis (32, CZE) - At the same level as ever (6.85AR), although he moaned early in the season he was starting to miss home in Czech Republic, but he seems to have gotten over it now. Might finally lose his place in the team next season as I've lined up a new goalie. DL: Tonci Kukoc (28, CRO) - Dreadful!! Unlike previous years when he used to be a key player, his performance tanked big time to a 6.74AR, unfortunately I don't have any serious alternative. DC: Ales Kolar (19, CZE) - One of the few positives this season, as he justified the gamble I took in signing him permanently after an unconvincing loan here last year, by picking up a first team slot rather decisively, dropping Denys Prychynenko to the bench. At a point he had one of our highest ratings, however I am not quite 100% confident in him yet, I feel he's a little inconsistent and later in the season dropped to a 7.07AR. DC: Varazdat Haroyan (26, ARM) - A drop in ratings from 7.22 to 7.02, although that seems to be common across the whole squad. I still keep my trust in him but I could've done without the 2 red cards, specially the one in the final match that ruined our qualification for the Champions League. DR: Emilijus Jankauskas (20, LTU) - With neither Karlo Bartolec or Josip Jurendic fully convincing, this kid finally got his chance, and whilst he wasn't great (6.85AR) he was better than the other alternatives. A very rare breed of player - the kid you take an optimistic punt on at a very young age on a free transfer, and actually comes good. DM: Ádám Vass (30, HUN) - Played slightly further up as MC earlier in the season, but I later dropped the position to a DM, also switched roles first from CM/S to BWM/D then DM/D. Being paired up in the middle of the pitch by Legchilin under the new tactics helped him pick up fewer cards. Decent but unspectacular 6.90AR as usual. MC: Alexey Legchilin (27, BLR) (New signing) - It was a good thing that in the switch from 4-4-2 diamond to 4-2-3-1, I found an excellent bargain for the MC position, as Legchilin was easily one of the first names in the team sheet all year, contributing with a bit of everything, defending and attacking. Still, he wasn't quite "brilliant", and 2 penalty kicks he missed were costly. 3 goals, 5 assists, 6.92AR. AML: Ivan Papazov (20, BUL) (2015 Youth) - Slightly better end product this year with 11 assists (and 5 goals), but his AR dropped from 7.24 to 7.11 - nevertheless, that's the highest in the whole squad out of those who played regularly (players with hugely inflated ARs due to playing vs crap sides on the cup don't count). I feel unfortunately he's stalled a little in his progression and my staff think he's reaching his potential already. The good news: he's now a full Bulgarian international and has even already scored for his country. AMC: Ghukas Poghosyan (25, ARM) (Player of the season) - Again I was divided between him and Papazov for player of the year, and again I felt the Armenian was more important due to his more direct contributions - 11 goals, 8 assists, 5 player of the match awards (and a 7.10AR which is high for this year's standards). Early in the season I switched him and Gavrila quite a lot between AMR and AMC, but eventually I settled on him centrally as I made the AMC a Shadow Striker role which seems to suit him really well. AMR: Bogdan Gavrila (27, ROU) - Didn't impress in the half season he did for us last year, but picked up a place this season and I felt he was quite important with 9 goals and 8 assists, although his 6.99AR wasn't amazing. ST: Stefan Nikolic (29, MNE) - Miles away from his best with just 12 goals, and 4 of them were against total minnows in the cup. Nevertheless I felt we still played better with him at striker compared to the other alternatives, given he also contributed with 10 assists. He's now our new captain after Josip Jurendic left us, and it's going to be time for him to leave as well, as not only he's becoming too old for me to cash in on him; I've also promised him a move and I don't want to annoy the rest of the squad if I resist the captain's wishes. 7.04AR. Other notable players and future prospects Denys Prychynenko (27, UKR) - What the hell happened here??? Terrible season by one of our former key players, with a 6.78AR. I always thought he was a little overrated due to all the penalty kick goals he scored, but this season he lost his place as centre-back to the more reliable Kolar and Haroyan, and although I've also tried him at DM, he didn't convince neither. He's also dropped in value a lot, and isn't wanted by any other teams anymore - we might've lost the chance of making a big buck with him. Pavel Ptacek (19, CZE) (New signing) - This hugely talented young midfielder we loaned from Sparta Praha unfortunately didn't fully convince, as the more defensive Legchilin did better as box-to-box; and he doesn't seem well matched to Shadow Striker neither. I think we won't activate his 2.2M€ buy-out clause, but I might renew his loan to give us more cover for another year. Milan Hlavaty (19, CZE) (New signing) - Another Czech talented youngster that didn't convince, but we did splash 700K€ on this guy. Hired in the hopes he'd replace Nikolic upfront as striker, the few times I gave him a go he was awful, and unfortunately my staff says he's inconsistent and doesn't like big matches. Kiril Penkov (19, BUL) (2016 Youth) - Suddenly starting to come really good, I gave him a couple of matches and he excelled, although mostly in the easier cup ties. I still remain unconvinced by his lack of pace in our high line defence, so I'm retraining him to DM. Emilian Koev (20, BUL) (2015 Youth) - I also threw him into the first team this season, and although his poor finishing makes me uneasy about giving him that many matches at Shadow Striker, I felt he was surprisingly useful, particularly in matches when we're winning and the opposition is pushing forward hence opening loads of space - his combination of very quick pace, dribbling skills, and off the ball movement is great. Miroslav Penchev (18, BUL) (2016 Youth) - Now our 3rd keeper, and also did very well in the cup matches as he continues to progress considerably. Still some way far from troubling our starting goalie, but it's great to see homegrown depth in this position. Stoyan Nikolov (19, BUL) (2016 Youth) - A loan at Montana, who beat us to Champions League football, went very well and he's improving at a great rate too. I still don't know what to do with a midfielder who is crap technically, but he's a great player otherwise. Todor Dimitrov (18, BUL) (2017 Youth) - The younger generations are also starting to come good and he does look a nice fit for Shadow Striker. Still a little way from the first team but could be a backup in the future, maybe. Tsanislav Marinov (17, BUL) (2018 Youth) - Yet another MC/AMC coming good, but more on a playmaker mould. We don't use any of them at the moment, but you never know... Career progress table Season League Cup Europe Other --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 14/15 3rd ("A" PFG) Finalists Europa League Playoff 15/16 2nd ("A" PFG) Winners Europa League Playoff Bulgarian SC winners 16/17 2nd ("A" PFG) Winners Europa League Playoff 17/18 4th ("A" PFG) Quarter-final Europa League Playoff *** Sacked, respawned as new manager *** 18/19 3rd ("A" PFG) Quarter-final Europa League Playoff Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
abulezz Posted September 16, 2016 Share Posted September 16, 2016 As always, I am fixated on the youth prospects - I love that Papazov has turned into one of your best players, and that Penkov is starting to develop. I would definitely nurture Marinov, he has the look of being a very very good player. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
setzel Posted September 16, 2016 Share Posted September 16, 2016 Papazov is looking incredible and from all the teams to get the 2nd UCL spot was Montana WOW , two teams from little towns meh Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
noikeee Posted September 16, 2016 Author Share Posted September 16, 2016 5 hours ago, abulezz said: As always, I am fixated on the youth prospects - I love that Papazov has turned into one of your best players, and that Penkov is starting to develop. I would definitely nurture Marinov, he has the look of being a very very good player. My problem is I'm picky with what I want from each of my players. Out of those 3 young AMCs, I like Dimitrov the most, over Marinov and Nikolov, but he's also the one with less potential... 42 minutes ago, setzel said: Papazov is looking incredible and from all the teams to get the 2nd UCL spot was Montana WOW , two teams from little towns meh That was a shock yes, but even weirder was Vereya being champions last year. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
setzel Posted September 16, 2016 Share Posted September 16, 2016 2 minutes ago, noikeee said: My problem is I'm picky with what I want from each of my players. Out of those 3 young AMCs, I like Dimitrov the most, over Marinov and Nikolov, but he's also the one with less potential... That was a shock yes, but even weirder was Vereya being champions last year. It's time for the trophy to come back home to Sofia Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
noikeee Posted September 16, 2016 Author Share Posted September 16, 2016 2019/2020 - Pre-season - CSKA Sofia Transfers (Transfers) An extremely quiet transfer window for my standards with just 4 signings which must be some sort of record. And freakishly, after 5 years searching for a better keeper... I hired two of them. Polish Jakub Wrabel who arrived on a Bosman was supposed to be my new keeper, but once the opportunity opened up to pick up Georgi Kitanov there was no way I could pass it up - I believe a 1.1M€ fee is nothing for a guy who's probably the best in his position in Bulgaria. This surplus for the position meant we sold both our main keeper for the last 5 seasons, Jakub Divis, shipped off to Everton for 475K€, and his backup Doncho Nikolov. The other two signings were a new left-back in Alin Tosca, a guy that was very briefly here a few years ago on loan but I quickly terminated it before he could play a game - he arrives as an alternative for Kukoc as I sold his backup Marko Pejic; and the talented Czech midfielder Ondrej Vanek on a free. Winger Viorel Nicoara left as his contract ran out. Notably there was a player that was supposed to leave, but didn't - star striker and captain Stefan Nikolic, who I had promised a transfer. I offered him out and nobody was interested, so the promise was kept open for the next transfer period. (Full squad for the 2019/2020 season) "A" PFG The season opened with the Sofia derby away at Levski - a doubly important match with my job on the line. We were much the better team, although Levski carved out a couple better chances, but our persistence paid off with a single Ghukas Poghosyan goal. The next match at home vs Lokomotiv Gorna was supposed to be easier, but we reached half-time goalless, and worse, Alexey Legchilin had been sent off for a double yellow. Remarkably, we pulled a brilliant 2nd half and scored 3 with 10 men. And we bettered that off with a 4-0 win at Montana now with a full 11 men. We were flying, but the Bogdan Gavrila show hadn't even started. Hat-trick vs Slavia Sofia. Brace vs Cherno More, after Filip Vorotovic had scored a sublime goal from the halfway line. And then another hat-trick vs Marek as we make it a scarcely believable 6 wins in 6 to start the season on epic form. Summary This is... different. And unexpected. After 5 rather underwhelming seasons and 2 managers, it feels great to actually go through a period of stellar form. I think this is genuine progress as I've done some further slight tweaks to the tactics and I feel it's a major reason why it's going better. However, there are a few other things: a) the lack of signings compared to other years means we don't start off the season still trying to gel; b) bar the Levski derby, the calendar has been absurdly easy; and c) we've not been in Europe yet, which allows us to field a full strength side every match unlike some opponents. So let's see if this really lasts or not... Speaking of Europe, thanks to Bulgaria's rankings having improved and the fact we finished 3rd - we're straight into the Group Stage of the Europa League, where we'll face Valencia, Twente and Brondby. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
setzel Posted September 17, 2016 Share Posted September 17, 2016 This has to be the year !! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
withnail316 Posted September 17, 2016 Share Posted September 17, 2016 Brilliant start, man... hope you can keep up this early form. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
noikeee Posted September 17, 2016 Author Share Posted September 17, 2016 13 hours ago, setzel said: This has to be the year !! 13 hours ago, withnail316 said: Brilliant start, man... hope you can keep up this early form. Cheers lads. I've played one more month and we've kept up, let's see for the rest of the season. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
noikeee Posted September 17, 2016 Author Share Posted September 17, 2016 2019/2020 - Mid-season update - CSKA Sofia Europa League We started our European campaign with a confident 2-0 home win over Brondby, repeating our performance last year (we faced Brondby in the qualifiers) in what was the easiest tie in theory. But I didn't expect us to retain this level in the trip to Holland - despite an early conceded goal, we then missed a penalty kick, equalized, and went back home feeling we could and should've won after outplaying Twente. Valencia were a whole new level of opponents, though. On this match we finally struggled, and eventually capitulated to a Álvaro Negredo goal after resisting for 69 minutes. Still, it's been a positive run so far and we retain a very much realistic chance of qualifying from the group, which would be brilliant. Don't forget this is already the furthest we've ever been in the competition, we might've qualified for the groups automatically this year thanks to the improved Bulgaria rankings, but that comes after 5 seasons of losing in the pre-group-stage playoffs. Kupa Bulgaria The cup started with very much a routine win, 3-0 away at Sozopol with 3 first half goals, a match that will be better remembered for the fact 19 year old Czech striker Milan Hlavaty finally scored his first 2 goals for the club. Next opponents are Kaliakra, who got relegated from the "A" PFG to the "B" PFG last year. "A" PFG Still flying in here. Early September finally presented us with a pair of difficult fixtures, away at Litex then home vs Ludogorets, and we weren't fussed by either. We did leave it very late to overturn what would've been a 1-0 loss at Litex into a 3-1 win, but Ludogorets didn't even have a chance, smashed 3-0. Away at Vereya, our regular bogey team, we finally lost our first points. It wasn't our best day, we weren't inspired, and Tonci Kukoc saw a red card. A dull 1-0 win over Botev wasn't much more inspiring neither, although we remained unbeaten. A 3-1 away at Burgas set up the return of the Sofia derby better. Levski this time seriously rattled us, even after going down to 10 men themselves, and it took a pair of equalizing penalty kicks for us to get a draw. A much happier, routine 3-0 away win over Lokomotiv Gorna closed October, as we still remain unbeaten in the league after what's been a glorious first 13 matches. Summary We definitely seem to have turned a corner as this has been by a mile our best season yet. Forget merely challenging for 2nd place and Champions League qualification - we're seriously targetting the Bulgarian title this time. Levski are already 8 points back, Litex 12 points, and Ludogorets 13 points. Is this our year? And what about Europe, qualifying out of the group is looking achievable, can we surprise a little there? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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