Shadow Manager: Learning My Lesson In Essen

[Carambau]

Back in Germany, it is time to take over the wheel at Rot-Weiss Essen in the German Regionalliga, the 4th tier in the football pyramid and bring back former glory to them, which mostly happened way back in the 1950s when they won the German Championship title and the German Cup. They have been down the leagues for quite some time now and often failed very narrowly to get promoted.

I am here to change that. Working in the shadows though, I will leave my assistant manager in charge of the squad on match days.

 

TROPHY CABINET

Spoiler

 

Edited March 14, 2022 by Carambau

[Carambau]

LEARNING MY LESSON IN ESSEN

SEASON 2021/2022

 

THE SQUAD 

This is a strong squad who should be able to achieve the goal of promotion this season. Especially our attack is looking very good, with proven goalscorers Janjic & Engelmann and our young academy talent Kesim. We in fact promoted quite some young talents from our U19 team to the first team roster: Right back Veli Cetin, central defender Mustafa Kourouma, winger Oguzcan Buyukarslan and said striker Timur Kesim. We have to be honest too and admit that the age of some important players is one downside of this squad: Davari, Grote, Bastians & Janjic seem well past their prime and will most likely leave us after the season. But the whole package is looking good for now to help us achieve our ultimate goal for this season: Promotion to 3. Liga.

 

THE TACTICAL APPROACH

We are looking to attack, with short passing & counter pressing.

 

THE KEY PLAYERS

Yannick Langesberg

27 year old Langesberg is a former Borussia Dortmund youth academy product and will lead from the back.

Luca Durholtz

Passing, Technique, Dribbling & Flair. The central midfielder got it all.

Simon Engelmann

The journeyman striker has been prolific throughout his career thanks to his great finishing and seems to have finally found his home in Essen.

 

 

Edited February 11, 2022 by Carambau

[SixPointer]

Love a good German save, my favourite game I’ve attended (outside my beloved heart of Midlothian) was a Union Berlin game vs Bochum and the whole day blew me away. Which led me to my Kaiserslautern save a few editions back and I loved it. 

Interesting club also having won the Bundesliga & DFB Pokal, following closely your progress. Strong squad and a like the tactical philosophy! 
 

best of luck my man!

[Carambau]

Thank you, @SixPointer ! Nice to read from you again  German saves are always fun as there are mostly no restrictions and the money is good too!

Funny you mention Kaiserslautern, as this was the other "fallen giant" I was considering starting a save with 

Rot-Weiss Essen´s glory days lie far, far back though, they were great in the 50s ....

This save is going to be a bit different though, as I will leave the matchdays to the assistant manager (who I will try to get the best man possible for as well) and will mostly act like a director of football. Let´s see where this will go, it is great to have you on board  

Edited February 11, 2022 by Carambau

[SixPointer]

1 hour ago, Carambau said:

Thank you, @SixPointer ! Nice to read from you again  German saves are always fun as there are mostly no restrictions and the money is good too!

Funny you mention Kaiserslautern, as this was the other "fallen giant" I was considering starting a save with 

Rot-Weiss Essen´s glory days lie far, far back though, they were great in the 50s ....

This save is going to be a bit different though, as I will leave the matchdays to the assistant manager (who I will try to get the best man possible for as well) and will mostly act like a director of football. Let´s see where this will go, it is great to have you on board  

Interesting concept!! Best find a like minded ASS Man

[LowestLeagueHero]

RWE!

Great club to manage!

Despite not being overly successful in the past and being buried down in the lower leagues since the early eighties I consider them to be one of the most intriguing clubs to reestablish.

Good luck, will follow here.

Edited February 11, 2022 by LowestLeagueHero

[Carambau]

LEARNING MY LESSON IN ESSEN

SEASON 2021/2022

THE SEASON

 

THE LEAGUE

 

In the end it was easy. We dominated the league from the beginning and managed to lose only 3 times. Durholtz and Langesberg were the pillars of the team and up front we had veteran Janjic scoring the goals. We scored 90 goals and conceded only 29, both the best figures in the league. Next destination: 3. Liga!

Janjic gets the golden boot at the age of 36! I know he won´t be able to repeat that so we will let him go after this season. Durholtz tops the assists table.

 

THE CUPS

We did not play in the DFB-Pokal, but took part in the Niederrhein-Pokal, the regional cup competition, where we reached the final but lost 0-1 after extra time against 2. Bundesliga side MSV Duisburg in a close game. A very good showing by the lads. Next season we will play in the DFB-Pokal too.

 

THE YOUTH TEAM

Our U19 was very successful as well. They reached the German Youth Championship final against Borussia Dortmund U19s and gave them a good fight despite losing. Our academy is showing good results. We also took in some talented new players from this years intake but I forgot to take a screenshot of them.

 

THE SEASON STATS

Player of the Season: Luca Durholtz, without any doubt. His stats tell most of the story. Tarnat also did a great job playing alongside him in central midfield, doing the dirty work there. Then there was our skipper Yannick Langesberg who orchestrated our defence with class and scored 10 (!) goals alongside oldie Felix Bastians. On the wings played mostly Isaiah Young and striker Simon Engelmann, giving Zlatko Janjic the support he needed to score 22 goals overall. We have to look into the future though and therefore we made some staff changes after promotion.

We sign former Germany international Stefan Effenberg as our new Director of Football...

...and former Ottmar Hitzfeld assistant Michael Henke as our new Assistant Manager.

The future is bright.

 

Edited February 15, 2022 by Carambau

[theBlackPrince]

Know very little about German football outside the top flight, be following along with interest!

First season was a good one I see, that seems some huge money for the roles, damn!!

[Carambau]

36 minutes ago, LowestLeagueHero said:

RWE!

Great club to manage!

Despite not being the club with the most trophies and being buried down in the lower leagues since the early eighties I consider them to be one of the most intriguing ones to reestablish.

Good luck, will follow here.

Welcome and Thank You 

Nice to have you on board  

[Carambau]

1 minute ago, theBlackPrince said:

Know very little about German football outside the top flight, be following along with interest!

First season was a good one I see, that seems some huge money for the roles, damn!!

Thank You! Nice to have you following  

[Carambau]

LEARNING MY LESSON IN ESSEN

SEASON 2022/2023

 

THE TRANSFERS

Davari, Grote & Koczor left on free transfers. Including Bastians they were too old and wanted to much money.

 

In comes our new backup striker, Ugandan international Derrick Nsibambi, a technical gifted player. Oumar Diakhité brings more physicality to our defence. South African keeper Khulekani Kubheka will be backup for Hubert Gostomski, our new first choice keeper from Poland, Stephan Fürstner strengthens our midfield with more experience. Lucas Hufnagel should provide our attack with great assists. Sadik Fofana is a defender talent who has to learn a lot still but we give him the time.

 

THE SQUAD 

We lost a lot of last seasons´first team players but I think we were able to improve the squad even more with the new signings. We did not extend Davaris nor Koczors contract as I thought we could do better than having some aging keepers in our goal. Gostomski will be our new number one, with Kubheka his backup.  Diakhité brings 2. Bundesliga experience and will surely make a great pairing with Langesberg. Stephan Fürstner, a former FC Bayern academy prospect with lots of experience in the german 2nd and 3rd tiers, will bolster our central midfield. Lucas Hufnagel will take the central AMC role. Derrick Nsibambi will be the backup to Simon Engelmann who will move into the central striker position. Arnis Osmani joined from our U19 team.

 

THE TACTICAL APPROACH

We are once more looking to attack, with short passing & counter pressing.

 

THE KEY PLAYERS

Yannick Langesberg

Langesberg proved his fantastic leadership last season.

Passing, Technique, Dribbling & Flair. The central midfielder still got it all.

Lukas Hufnagel

The Georgian national team player should provide assists with his great technique, passing and vision.

Edited February 12, 2022 by Carambau

[SixPointer]

Great first season!

[Carambau]

1 hour ago, SixPointer said:

Great first season!

Thank you, it was much smoother than expected  

[Carambau]

LEARNING MY LESSON IN ESSEN

SEASON 2022/2023

THE SEASON

 

THE LEAGUE

We managed to make to playoffs! This gave us 2 games against Holstein Kiel who finished 16th in the 2. Bundesliga. Their manager is quite well-known:

 

THE PLAYOFFS

Spoiler

This was not a good home game from us. Also it didn´t help that Langesberg was out injured. Despite the fans giving it all we just were not able to score. Then they scored. Then we scored. And all we got out of it was a draw.

 

Klinsmanns team showed us that there is still a huge gap between an estalished 2. Bundesliga team and a modest 3. Liga outfit. We drowned without having learned to swim. But we will try again next season.

 

A good season for our players again in the league, but not as dominant as last season. Luca Durholtz again being our best player, closely followed by Langesberg.

 

THE CUPS

We were drawn against Hamburger SV in the DFB-Pokal, so it was not a big surprise that we went out. We lost 1-3 which we could be proud of a bit. In the Niederrheinpokal however, we managed to lose 1-3 against Oberliga (which is 2 tiers beneath the 3. Liga) team VGB Homberg already in the 3rd round. Looks like this was not our Cup-year.

 

THE YOUTH TEAM

Our U19 again had a great season. They reached the semi finals of the German Youth Championship and lost to the winners FC Bayern U19. 

 

THE SEASON STATS

We have to hand the Player of the Season award to Durholtz again. Although he is closely followed by our central defenders Diakhité and Langesberg who build a wall in front of our goal, so that new keeper Gostomski had it much easier. The goalkeeper position is of some concernt though, I think we are not good enough in that department and will look to strengthen it for next season. We signed former Swedish international (9 caps) Niklas Hult on a free in January and he made our defense even more solid. New man Hufnagel also was a big factor in our great season, the Georgian international scored 9 and assisted 8 goals. Engelmann was injured for a long time during the season so he wasn´t able to contribute that much. New signing Nsibambi had to jump in and he did a nice job, scoring 14 times. Again, a lot of players will have to leave as we continue our way of strengthening the squad and try to get better every season.

 

Edited February 13, 2022 by Carambau

[Carambau]

LEARNING MY LESSON IN ESSEN

SEASON 2023/2024

 

THE TRANSFERS

Quite some former first teamers have gone. Kefkir, Holzweiler, Herzenbruch wanted to much money for too few good performances. Talents Cetin and Kourouma just didn´t develop the way I thought and didn´t make the cut either. Keeper Kubheka could not settle in Germany. The rest are youth players from our U19 team.

 

Samson is a versatile player and can both play in central defence and midfield. Malec scored 23 goals in 48 games last season in Polands 2nd divison. Slovenian Bajde is a quick left winger. Nicolas & Unger are both backup goalkeepers, Anang is a right back talent and Biankadi is an experienced central midfielder.

 

THE SQUAD 

Gostomski gets another chance in goal, but I am still not convinced. Unger seems to have better chances in the long run. I will let them fight for that number one spot. Samson could replace Diakhité in central defense. Biankadi will surely play a big role in our midfield this season with his 2. Bundesliga experience for Heidenheim and Braunschweig. With Bajde we have more options on the wings. Engelmann has retired, so Malec will be our first choice striker, relegating Nsibambi to the bench. Kesim & Osmani are the young attacking talents.

 

THE TACTICAL APPROACH

We are once more looking to attack, with short passing & counter pressing.

 

THE KEY PLAYERS

Yannick Langesberg

 Our captain. An example of consistency.

Louis Samson

The new signing Samson is very good at destroying the opponents game.

Lukas Hufnagel

The Georgian international will surely shine again.

Edited February 13, 2022 by Carambau

[john1]

Good luck against Holstein Kiel  

[Carambau]

15 hours ago, john1 said:

Good luck against Holstein Kiel  

We already played them in the playoffs. Its appears on screen if you click  "Reveal hidden contents" in the post before the last post  

Thank you nevertheless  

Edited February 13, 2022 by Carambau

[Carambau]

 

LEARNING MY LESSON IN ESSEN

SEASON 2023/2024

THE SEASON

 

THE LEAGUE

No playoffs this year, instead we qualify directly for the 2. Bundesliga! The lads were eager to make up for last season´s failure but it was a very very close finish with us earning 2nd place only by goal difference as we scored 8 more goals than Kaiserslautern who went on to lose the playoffs against Dynamo Dresden. 

 

Competition got tighter in the league. But still Yannick Langesberg continues to perform as one of the best. FSV Zwickau had a great attack this year despite only finishing 6th in the end.

 

THE CUPS

We win the Niederrheinpokal!  Granted, we played only lower division teams on our way but still a nice achievement. Finally some silverware for us. In the DFB-Pokal we lose 0-1 against Bundesliga outfit Borussia Mönchengladbach.

 

THE YOUTH TEAM

Our U19 finished only on 4th place in the A-Junioren-Bundesliga West and could not qualify for the playoffs this season.

 

THE SEASON STATS

New striker Malec did what he was supposed to do and scored 20 goals in 43 games. In general, most of our new signings exceeded my expectations: Samson made sure we only conceded 35 goals alongside veteran Langesberg. Biankadi scored 14 goals as a midfielder. Bajde also played a good role on the left wing. Only Anang did not get many games and could not perform that well. Of the 2 new keepers only Unger got some games, mostly in the cups. Luca Dürholtz once more had a great season with 11 goals and 15 assists, but he will leave after the season as we were not able to meet his demands during the contract talks! 

 

Edited February 13, 2022 by Carambau

[john1]

3 hours ago, Carambau said:

We already played them in the playoffs. Its appears on screen if you click  "Reveal hidden contents" in the post before the last post  

Thank you nevertheless  

****  

[Carambau]

LEARNING MY LESSON IN ESSEN

SEASON 2024/2025

 

THE TRANSFERS

Dürholtz is gone. We could not persuade him to stay at Essen as he was looking for a new challenge. Hult is gone too but thats ok for he was already getting too old. Nsibambi didn´t see a chance in attack for him anymore and did not prolong his contract. Keepers Gostomski & Nicolas had to go as we have gone for better options in goal. Anang just was not the talent we thought he´d be. Same goes for some other talents who didn´t make it.

 

Eike Bansen is a good new keeper for our number one spot. Oliver Hüsing bolsters our central defense Sascha Härtel gives Niemeyer some competition on the LB position. Now for our new young talents: Joao Conceicao comes from the Benfica Academy and young striker talent Leonardo Rossi joins from the AC Milan Academy! I hope they can live up to their potential. Kone is the obligatory emergency backup in goal. To his credit, he got 5 caps for Guinea.

 

THE SQUAD 

Season one after Luca Dürholtz. We finally got a proper Number One is goal again in Bansen.  Hüsing gives us more stability and options in central defense, as does Härtel on the LB position. I am really looking forward to our right back talent Joao Conceicao and how much competition he will give Plechaty. Rossi also looks like a very exciting prospect. All in all the team seems prepared for the new season in 2. Bundesliga. At least I hope so.

 

THE TACTICAL APPROACH

We are once more looking to attack, with short passing & counter pressing.

 

THE KEY PLAYERS

Yannick Langesberg

 Our captain. Despite getting older, he is still our main man.

Louis Samson

The Midfield Destroyer.

Eike Bansen

The new Number One.

Edited February 17, 2022 by Carambau

[LowestLeagueHero]

Quite the progress here, wow!

Essen finally back in the 2. Bundesliga, I'm quite excited to see how you'll fare there.

 

Like your tactical approach but unfortunatly you posted only half of it. (Maybe I missed the other parts like player duties and TI's?)

If it's not too much of an extra effort, would you be so kind and post the ingame tactics screen so that we can have a look at the duties and TI's, too?

 

And of course good luck for the new season, it's about time that RWE knocks at the Bundesliga doors again.

(Looking forward to a proper "Pott Derby" against BVB)

[Carambau]

5 hours ago, LowestLeagueHero said:

Quite the progress here, wow!

Essen finally back in the 2. Bundesliga, I'm quite excited to see how you'll fare there.

 

Like your tactical approach but unfortunatly you posted only half of it. (Maybe I missed the other parts like player duties and TI's?)

If it's not too much of an extra effort, would you be so kind and post the ingame tactics screen so that we can have a look at the duties and TI's, too?

 

And of course good luck for the new season, it's about time that RWE knocks at the Bundesliga doors again.

(Looking forward to a proper "Pott Derby" against BVB)

Thank You  

Here you go:

[Hootieleece]

Interesting 4-2-3-1 Wide.....how is the AMC-AP treating you is he getting assists?  I tend to like Trequarista in that position. Also, a DLP and AP maybe too many play makers? I am working with a CM-D and CM-S in my current save with PPM's to replicate a DLP-D and Mezzala-S, but easily changed to BBM-S.

Otherwise Great Work getting promoted.

 

Tell me you are looking for CM's with Long shots capability? Just because Essen was known for Krupp (Artillery) ?

 

[Carambau]

8 minutes ago, Hootieleece said:

Interesting 4-2-3-1 Wide.....how is the AMC-AP treating you is he getting assists?  I tend to like Trequarista in that position. Also, a DLP and AP maybe too many play makers? I am working with a CM-D and CM-S in my current save with PPM's to replicate a DLP-D and Mezzala-S, but easily changed to BBM-S.

Otherwise Great Work getting promoted.

 

Tell me you are looking for CM's with Long shots capability? Just because Essen was known for Krupp (Artillery) ?

 

Nice to see you here, @Hootieleece  The AP has been getting around 8-9 assists per season while the DLP got more (around 18 in average). It´s going ok, so i see no need to change the tactics (I am not a tactics genius anyway...)

The Artillery thing about "Krupp Stahl" - I did not think of this to be honest when deciding for a save  The best in long shots is our winger Gregor Bajde with 12 atm.

Edited February 13, 2022 by Carambau

[LowestLeagueHero]

vor 56 Minuten schrieb Carambau:

Thank You  

Here you go:

Thanks a bunch! Very kind.

Looks quite "classic" but with a couple of twists.

I like.

[SixPointer]

Flying up the tables 

[Carambau]

14 hours ago, LowestLeagueHero said:

Thanks a bunch! Very kind.

Looks quite "classic" but with a couple of twists.

I like.

Yeah, it´s not my own tactic either... (thanks to the world wide web

5 hours ago, SixPointer said:

Flying up the tables 

It sure looks like, but I guess we are gonna hit the wall soon...

[Carambau]

LEARNING MY LESSON IN ESSEN

SEASON 2024/2025

THE SEASON

 

THE LEAGUE

Our first season in 2. Bundesliga was a success. We were never in danger of getting relegated and steered to a safe mid-table finish. In February we lost 4 games in a row and we were rattled a bit but managed to keep our heads up and went back to win the next 2 games, so no panic. 

Young & Hufnagel among the top 3 assist providers in the league. 

 

DFB-POKAL

Again, we went out in the first round. This time we lost 1-2 at home against Bundesliga outfit Hertha BSC.

 

THE YOUTH TEAM

Not much to report this time apart from this daylight robbery by Union Berlin! I can´t find the player on their player roster though, maybe we will see him emerge some time in the future. Our U19 team did not qualify for the playoffs after finishing 5th in the German Youth League West and the Youth Intake was mediocre.

 

THE SEASON STATS

It is so nice to finally have a proper Number One in goal. Bansen had an outstanding season and really saved us some games during the campaign. Sadly, it showed that our captain Langesberg is slowly showing signs that he can´t keep up the pace on this level. Samson & Hüsing were the more secure option in central defense most of the time and it seems he will only be a bench player next season. Right Back Talent Conceicao mostly came from the bench this season but showed his ability. He will get more time next season as Plechaty will leave as his contract will not be extended. The season was made by our wingers: Young & Hufnagel made the most assists and Rossi scored 13 goals, not bad for his debut season. Malec however will go back to his homeland. In January we signed winger Julio Cesar Mejia on a free transfer. The talented Colombian fit right into our team and he some really good games. 

 

Edited February 17, 2022 by Carambau

[LATB]

I have been to Essen and indeed watched RW Essen romp home to a 4-0 win whilst there, one of the biggest cities in Germany by population so big potential there!

[Carambau]

3 hours ago, LATB said:

I have been to Essen and indeed watched RW Essen romp home to a 4-0 win whilst there, one of the biggest cities in Germany by population so big potential there!

Nice! I envy you  only heard good things about the atmosphere at Stadion an der Hafenstrasse!

[theBlackPrince]

Great first season in Bundesliga 2, well safe from going down and not a million miles away from the top spots for spending nothing on transfers!

[Carambau]

16 hours ago, theBlackPrince said:

Great first season in Bundesliga 2, well safe from going down and not a million miles away from the top spots for spending nothing on transfers!

Thank you  Yeah money´s too tight to mention here in Essen, so don´t expect any star signings in the near future 

Edited February 16, 2022 by Carambau

[Carambau]

LEARNING MY LESSON IN ESSEN

SEASON 2025/2026

 

THE TRANSFERS

Freiburg came for Eike Bansen on deadline day! He was of course unsettled and we had to let him go so we had to look for a new first choice keeper in one day! Malec went back home. Hoffenheim snapped up Leonardo Rossi paying his release clause, but were so generous to loan him out to us for this season.

 

Marcus Dewhurst is our new first choice keeper. Not bad for a deadline day purchase. Edmilson Dove joins from South Africa to be our new left back. Mariano Pieres bolsters our central defense and Kevin Schade is our big signing this season: He joins from Freiburg for a hefty sum of 275K! Isaac Mareval is another technically gifted winger who joins from the French Ligue 2. Julian Korb & Budimir Janosevic both bring experience but will only be backups.

 

THE SQUAD 

We are prepared for our second season in 2. Bundesliga. We managed to fill the gaps mostly, providing cover for each position. Edmilson Dove seems like a very good signing for our left back position. Looking forward to see Kevin Schade & Isaac Mareval on our wings and enjoy the swan song of Leonardo Rossi for us.

 

THE TACTICAL APPROACH

We are once more looking to attack, with short passing & counter pressing.

 

THE KEY PLAYERS

Julio Cesar Mejia

 The technically gifted winger can play anywhere in attack.

Louis Samson

The Midfield Destroyer.

Leonardo Rossi

One last season for us.

Edited February 18, 2022 by Carambau

[Carambau]

LEARNING MY LESSON IN ESSEN

SEASON 2025/2026

THE SEASON

 

THE LEAGUE

Progress! We take one step at a time and finished 6th in 2. Bundesliga this time. We even flirted with promotion at the beginning of the year but obviously could not keep up the pace with the promoted teams. Nevertheless a good finish and our young players are getting better and better and the oldtimers will have to leave.

Leonardo Rossi did us one last favor before leaving for Hoffenheim.

 

DFB-POKAL

This time it was different. We made it to the quarter finals! On our way we defeated Regionalliga outfit Energie Cottbus, Bundesliga team VfB Stuttgart and SC Freiburg from our 2. Bundesliga. Then we met FSV Mainz at home and our run came to an end. Still proud of the lads!

 

THE YOUTH TEAM

Nothing to report this time. Our U19 team did not qualify for the playoffs after finishing 6th in the German Youth League West and the Youth Intake was mediocre once more.

 

THE SEASON STATS

We signed midfielder Lasse Fabricius and young goalkeeper Daniel Olsson (who we put into our U19 team for the rest of the season) in the January transfer window and sold Julio Cesar Mejia to Hoffenheim for 1.5M as they matched his release clause. But let´s get on to the season summary.  Marcus Dewhurst was our transfer of the year! We did not expect him to be as convincing as that. He played every game and I can´t think of any bad game. Hopefully we can hold on to him for longer than our last first choice keeper. Edmilson Dove also had a very good season for us, showing all his experience. Joao Conceicao continued his development nicely, there is more to come from him surely. So did Isaac Mareval. Kevin Schade proved extremely efficient in attack, contributing to 22 goals. And how can we forget Leonardo Rossi who scored his final 19 goals for us. Those youngsters have a bright future!

 

 

Edited February 20, 2022 by Carambau

[Carambau]

LEARNING MY LESSON IN ESSEN

SEASON 2026/2027

 

THE TRANSFERS

Lucas Hufnagel is the most prominent name here. But he was getting too old and we are trying to become a more youthful club so he did not fit in anymore. Long-time servant and RW Essen Icon Yannick Langesberg also had his quiet goodbye after the season. Those were the days in the lower leagues... Oliver Hüsing wanted a new challenge and he got it. Sadik Fofana never developed the way we hoped. The rest was deadwood.

 

Some young anglo-saxon blood here! Mason Craddock is a beast in central midfield and at 20 can play also in central defense and attack! Joe Joyce also joined from England but this time we paid a record sum of 2.8M! He is going to be the new deep lying playmaker of our team. Veteran Marvin Duksch will be our new lone striker and Derick takes the places alongside Pieres in our central defense. The rest are young talents with lesser chances of playing regularly. At least for the coming season. It all depends on themselves.

 

THE SQUAD 

Season number 3 in 2. Bundesliga. We finally feel prepared to challenge for promotion. The squad should be good enough for a top 3 finish in my opinion. The only concern is if our attack is scoring enough and if our new midfield with the new additions Craddock & Joyce gels quickly. But I am fairly optimistic that we can do that. Bring on the new season!

 

THE TACTICAL APPROACH

We are once more looking to attack, with short passing & counter pressing.

 

THE KEY PLAYERS

Marcus Dewhurst

Our solid keeper. He keeps getting better every day.

Mason Craddock

The new Midfield Destroyer, aka The Beast. He does all the dirty work there.

Joe Joyce

The Artist who plays alongside the Beast. Please welcome our Deep Lying Playmaker.

Edited February 21, 2022 by Carambau

[Carambau]

LEARNING MY LESSON IN ESSEN

SEASON 2026/2027

THE SEASON

 

THE LEAGUE

We did it! We finished first and won the 2. Bundesliga to get promoted to the 1.Bundesliga as Champions! What looks like a comfortable margin wasn´t like that until matchday 28 when 5 clubs were still able to get promoted. But then started a series of 5 winning games and that no one could keep up with us. So finally we achieved our first milestone: Getting back to the league where we belong, Form there, we have to build slowly now. One step at a time.

It was our winter transfer window activity that secured us promotion: Petar Musa, a 30 year old veteran Croatian striker, joined from Hradec Kralove for 65K. He went on to score 14 goals in only 15 matches and helped us on our decisive winning streak. The other second signing was young American defender talent Aaron Kaemmerle, who was immediately loaned out to Tacoma for the rest of the season. We also sold Lasse Fabricius to Werder Bremen as they matched his low release clause but he was loaned back to us for the remainder of the season.

 

DFB-POKAL

It was back to our usual ways in the DFB-Pokal, where we went out in the second round against 1. FC Nürnberg, losing 1-2 in extra time.

 

THE YOUTH TEAM

 Our U19 team finished 3rd in the German Youth League West and the Youth Intake was a bit better this time. Those players were signed. Hopefully they will develop nicely.

 

THE SEASON STATS

As mentioned, winter signing Petar Musa was key in our promotion bid. He turned things in our favour in the second half of the season, scoring many decisive goals in crucial matches against promotion rivals to help us massively on our way to the top. Kevin Schade also had a great year, scoring 13 and assisting 12 goals. New aggressive leader Mason Craddock was our second best player this season AR-vise and he really was the signing we needed, nipping the opponents attacks in the bud. Fellow Englishman and our Deep Lying Playmaker Joe Joyce had his hands in 12 goals but there is still room for improvement. I was also very happy with the contribution of our AMC Francisco Samudio. Last years winter transfer window signing at the young age of 19 is already playing a big part in our attacks and he is developing at a fast speed. Sadly, some players are already declining because of their age, like most of our central defenders. We will have to build a whole new central defense for next season because right now our players there do not meet 1. Bundesliga standards. 

Edited February 23, 2022 by Carambau

[Deisler26]

Ooh! Bundesliga friend! Good luck with this!

How did you get your Regionaliga kit pack? Been looking everywhere for it!

[Carambau]

25 minutes ago, Deisler26 said:

Ooh! Bundesliga friend! Good luck with this!

How did you get your Regionaliga kit pack? Been looking everywhere for it!

Thank You

I´m using my graphics folder since FM2016 I think, always copying it every year to the new FM folder, so I must been from that time when there was one still available I guess... But I took a look and found this site: https://sortitoutsi.net/content/31231/germany-regionalliga-full-ss201617-new-140217-not-sskcc-yet

Edited February 20, 2022 by Carambau

[SixPointer]

What a rise up the leagues 

[LowestLeagueHero]

Whoohoo!

Congrats, great achievement!

 

(And sadly way better than RWE does in real life, just recently they had an aborted match in the Regionalliga, due to a "fan" throwing fireworks and injuring a player of the visiting team, they will most probably get points deducted and thereby missing promotion yet again )

 

Anyway, good luck in Bundesliga!

I did a journeyman career once where I took RWE from fourth to first tier, too.

I was fired in the first season after losing the first 10 games straight, though.

 

Here's hope you'll do way better.

Edited February 21, 2022 by LowestLeagueHero

[Carambau]

13 hours ago, SixPointer said:

What a rise up the leagues 

It is indeed unbelievable, I thought this would take way longer

13 hours ago, LowestLeagueHero said:

Whoohoo!

Congrats, great achievement!

 

(And sadly way better than RWE does in real life, just recently they had an aborted match in the Regionalliga, due to a "fan" throwing fireworks and injuring a player of the visiting team, they will most probably get points deducted and thereby missing promotion yet again )

 

Anyway, good luck in Bundesliga!

I did a journeyman career once where I took RWE from fourth to first tier, too.

I was fired in the first season after losing the first 10 games straight, though.

 

Here's hope you'll do way better.

Yeah, I have read about that... bad luck again for RWE

Thanks a lot, we will need it  Hopefully I will last the first 10 games !

[Carambau]

LEARNING MY LESSON IN ESSEN

SEASON 2027/2028

 

THE TRANSFERS

There are some players among the departures that were on board for the whole ride (like Young and Diakhite). But we had to look for more quality now that we are in the top flight and so a lot of players had to go. Good riddance!

 

Celis is a right back we had already signed 2 years ago, but his move was delayed until he was 18. Pieper & Carstens will be our central defender pair. Petterson comes as the backup keeper and Rosenfelder & Schönweitz are young talented players who will not expect to play much this season.

 

THE SQUAD 

Our first season in the Bundesliga. I really don´t know if we are prepared for it but we have to be anyway. I think our new signings were sensible ones, filling the gaps where it was needed. It is good to see players like Joyce, Samudio & Craddock continue their development. And I expect Petar Musa to add to his goal tally in the top tier, he is capable of that. With the new tactics he should get more opportunities and the new role of poacher suits him perfectly. 

 

THE -NEW- TACTICAL APPROACH

We decided to change to a more cautious approach in the new league, with more conservative defenders, with the role of enganche in midfield and poacher in attack. 

 

THE KEY PLAYERS

Petar Musa

The striker had a bombastic impact in the last half of the season.

Mason Craddock

The new Midfield Destroyer.

Joe Joyce

The Deep Lying Playmaker.

Edited February 25, 2022 by Carambau

[Carambau]

LEARNING MY LESSON IN ESSEN

SEASON 2027/2028

THE SEASON

 

THE LEAGUE

We survived! And by a great margin too. In the end we finished 8th. We played our hearts out, even beating Dortmund 2-1 at home. In January we were even placed on 5th position, but slipped in the following months as we could not keep up our own pace. But still, an amazing achievement for the 1st season here. And, you may wonder how that "UEL" icon beside our team name came to be but we will come to that later...

Our central midfielder is among the best in the league, alongside Mbappé! He was only narrowly beaten by the French Icon in the assists section.

Now why does that not surprise me? 3 of our players were voted among the 5 best signings of the season. Our central defendes plus our new right back Hector Celis. Amos Pieper even was voted the best of the bunch. It was mostly down to them that we had such a good season, conceding only 44 goals (10 of which were in the 2 games against Bayern). 

 

DFB-POKAL

Now lets get back to that "UEL" icon above: We won the DFB-Pokal, thats why! No one expected that but that played to our advantage I guess as our opponents most likely underestimated us and played their second team in the cup against us. We trashed Regionalliga team Kickers Offenbach away in the 1st round 4-0, then beat M´Gladbach at home 5-4 after penalties. In February we won at home against Eintracht Frankfurt 3-1 and overcame SC Freiburg at home 6-5 after penalties again, pitting us at home against Werder Bremen in the semi finals. There, we needed extra time to beat them 3-1. We made it to Berlin! The final was the biggest match of Petar Musa´s career and he will tell his grand children about this. After trailing 1-2 at half time, we took more risks and equalized after approx an hour. The 90 minutes were almost over and everyone was preparing for extra time, when Musa headed in our last corner of the game. That clinched it. And we were DFB Pokal winners!

 

THE YOUTH TEAM

 Our U19 team finished 5th in the German Youth League West and the Youth Intake was indeed better this time. Those players were signed. Hopefully they will develop nicely. Especially King Ndlovu looks like an excellent prospect in goal.

 

THE SEASON STATS

As mentioned, our defense kept us in the league. Pieper & Carstens were the solid base of our games. Keeper Dewhurst behind them, Celis & Conceicao on the side were excellent too. Derick & Oppegard most likely will have to leave as they proved they are just not good enough at that level. Definately good enough at that level was our central midfield: Craddock, Joyce & Samudio ruled and had their hands (or feet) in many goals. Schade scored 15 goals as a winger which is no small feat and Musa scored 2 more, his highlight being the DFB Pokal final. Still, to progress we will need to strengthen our squad for next season. Europa League, here we come!

Edited February 27, 2022 by Carambau

[Carambau]

LEARNING MY LESSON IN ESSEN

SEASON 2028/2029

 

THE TRANSFERS

What a steal for Chelsea! Stupid as I am, I forgot the low initial release clause in Craddocks contract over time and then they came in with this pittance of an offer and we had to accept it. Well, hopefully a lesson learned! Otherwise the departures were not hurting us.

 

A new transfer record for us - 39M! So who are the new signings? We needed another strong center back and in came England U21 capped Ben Nelson, a very determined defender. He will play alongside Pieper. Matias Godoy is a striker who can play on the wings too. Andreas Andersson already has 5 caps for Sweden at the age of 21. He is the successor of Craddock in central midfield. Another central midfielder is playmaker Nejc Kolar (21), he joins us from Dortmund. Mats Nöthe (22) is a German U21 player for both our wings. Gustavo Cortez will be our new left back. The other signings should be more or less backups or talents who will be loaned out for match practice.

 

THE SQUAD 

Looking good. We have a bunch of players with great potential and I can´t wait to see them develop into really good players. This is an exciting team. Let´s rock Europe!

 

THE TACTICAL APPROACH

The new tactics worked well, so we stick with them. 

 

THE KEY PLAYERS

Petar Musa

The striker won us the cup last season.

Ben Nelson

He should lead from the back.

Joe Joyce

The Deep Lying Playmaker.

Edited February 28, 2022 by Carambau

[Carambau]

LEARNING MY LESSON IN ESSEN

SEASON 2028/2029

THE SEASON

 

THE LEAGUE

We finished in 6th, qualifying for the Europa Conference League. It was a close race until the finish, with Köln, Hertha & Wolfsburg on our heels but we stood our ground. It might have helped that we loaned Jesus Hernandez from Chelsea for the second half of the season, as Musa could not replicate his strong performances from last year and he scored more efficiently, helping us to this great finish. Recent signings Poulsen & Nazaryna were sold again in the january transfer window as they were not good enough and even complained for not playing. Off you go!

Our keeper among the best keepers in the league. 

This was the best ever finish for RW Essen! We made history.

 

THE CUPS

We got to play in the Supercup as we had won the DFB Pokal last season. But we we trashed by Bayern. 

In the DFB Pokal we reached the semi finals this time, losing against eventual winners Köln. Again a great run, although we mostly had to face lower league teams. 

In the Europa League we qualified from a not-so-easy group to reach the knockout rounds. There, we managed to defeat Roma over 2 legs before going out against fellow italian team Inter. We can be proud of our european showings indeed.

 

THE YOUTH TEAM

 Our U19 team finished 6th in the German Youth League West. The Youth Intake was rather cr*p.

 

THE SEASON STATS

Hector Celis established him as one of our best players at the age of 20 already. Ben Nelson held our defense together and we only conceded 35 goals in the league. Andersson, Joyce & Samudio formed an outstanding attacking midfield triangle, creating/scoring 32 goals together. Winger Godoy had to play in attack in quite some games and so became our topscorer with 20 goals. If Hernandez played the whole season for us, he would have scored far more I am sure. It seems this is the end of the road for Musa in Essen though as he did not score ONE goal. Not only Musa had an underwhelming season, but also Carstens, Maier and Tarnat. They will most likely have to leave next season.

 

Edited March 3, 2022 by Carambau

[Carambau]

LEARNING MY LESSON IN ESSEN

SEASON 2029/2030

 

THE TRANSFERS

Former cup-winning striker Musa has left for his homeland as he declined more and more and so it was the best decision to let him go. Long time servant Tarnat wanted a new challenge and we said yes. Maier was a complete misunderstanding and both sides were glad when the transfer went trough. Cortez was a good player though, but we have Sosa now and he would have been only a backup.

 

Borna Sosa joins for our left side, Manuel Jimenez can play on both sides and in the center of defense. Vagnoman should be our right back backup. Vinhas will most likely be a first teamer for our central defense as Pieper is getting older. Sola Maecky is a young striker we signed from big Real Madrid. He got bags of potential, let´s see if he can fulfill it here. Pirja & Calvillo are young winger talents who will serve as backups or will be loaned out for match practice.

 

THE SQUAD 

Especially our defense looks more solid now with the acquisition of Sosa, Jimenez & Vinhas. Our central midfield stays the same and on the wings we got even more talent now. Hopefully Maecky can live up to his potential and score some goals.

 

THE TACTICAL APPROACH

The new tactics worked well, so we stick with them. 

 

THE KEY PLAYERS

Andreas Andersson

Our Box-To-Box-Midfielder.

Ben Nelson

The leader from the back.

Joe Joyce

The Deep Lying Playmaker.

Edited March 3, 2022 by Carambau

[LowestLeagueHero]

Hells!

 

I have to take a look into your thread more often it seems - what a run you are on!

 

Mit only managing to establish RWE as a top-half team in the Bundesliga ...

... but einningvtge DFB Pokal against fellow "Revier" Side (and top dogs) Dortmund is quite superb!

 

You've quickly turned Essen into a real force.

Love it.

[Carambau]

On 28/02/2022 at 14:25, LowestLeagueHero said:

Hells!

 

I have to take a look into your thread more often it seems - what a run you are on!

 

Mit only managing to establish RWE as a top-half team in the Bundesliga ...

... but einningvtge DFB Pokal against fellow "Revier" Side (and top dogs) Dortmund is quite superb!

 

You've quickly turned Essen into a real force.

Love it.

Thank you  

Yes, it has been a very fast ride... Let´s hope it goes on like this  

[LowestLeagueHero]

vor 1 Stunde schrieb Carambau:

Thank you  

Yes, it has been a very fast ride... Let´s hope it goes on like this  

(Sorry for the serious typos - only realized it just now.

Bloody automatic spelling correction.

That mess: "einningvtge" was meant to mean "winning the", for example )

 

I'm fairly sure you'll keep it up - Essen will be a wellknown team in european competitions, too.

[Carambau]

LEARNING MY LESSON IN ESSEN

SEASON 2029/2030

THE SEASON

 

THE LEAGUE

A wonderful Bundesliga finish! We will play in the UEFA Champions League next season! We had a great streak in from November to January, where we did not lose a game and thats what let us end that high up in the league in the end I guess. And we beat Bayern 2-1 at home! 

 

THE CUPS

As we seemed to concentrate only on the league, there is really not much to write about our cup adventures this season. In the DFB Pokal we went out in the second round against RB Leipzig. And also in Europe we made an early exit, in the qualifying rounds against Celtic. 

 

THE YOUTH TEAM

Out of the blue, our U19s win the Viareggio Cup Coppa Carnevale. Not that I had ever heard of that before but well, congratulations!?

 Despite that cup success, the Youth Intake was meh again.

 

THE SEASON STATS

We conceded 34 goals and scored 61, which in fact seems a bit low, but it was the important goals that counted as we often won 1-0 or 2-1. Jimenez established him as an undisputable first teamer this season, he was incredible alongside Nelson in defense. Nöthe also had a surprisingly good season and had his hand in 16 goals. Striker talent Maecky scored 16 and is getting better and better. Looks like the times of Pieper and Carstens are coming to an end. 

Edited March 3, 2022 by Carambau