FM22: A JOURNEY DOWN THE DANUBE

[DefinitelyTaylor]

A massive win against Podbrezova that will certainly make a statement in the all-important run-in. You're the ones setting the pace which is always the ideal scenario. It means you can focus on yourselves without worry of other results.

A bit of a mixed-bag with two games you'll really fancy yourselves in and two which could provide a bit more of a challenge. Best of luck!

[GIMN]

7 hours ago, MattyLewis11 said:

A wonderful display of your point earlier in the thread about teams lacking mentality at this level.  Match momentum and 4 yellow cards in the last 10-15 minutes suggests Podbrezova lost the plot at the end.  Great win, and sets up an exciting end to the season.  Shame about Niarchos, but just creates an opportunity to find someone even better!

[13th Man]

Not surprised you’ve turned those early season draws into wins as the season progressed and you learned about the players and they learned the system.

Nice cliffhanger at the end too…

[SteinkelssonFM]

A tough game for FC Kosice would open this round of fixtures as they travelled to the Zelpo Arena, the home side had only lost one game in Podbrezova this season (Rohoznik). 

The result came as a little surprise, could FC Kosice have suffered a serious dent in their title ambitions, conceding a flurry of goals late on. Another sign of a lack of the mental resilience in the playing squads at this level @GIMN

There are eighteen locks on the Danube, these locks are used to work the elevation change of about 400 ft. in 106 miles of river. These locks function with the chamber being filled or emptied via sluices to create a channel. The ship enters the lock, the lock is filled or emptied, and then the ship continues on its course. FC Kosice's defeat has now put FC Petržalka firmly in the lock, if we can secure victory over HFC Humenne we will be in prime position for our target destination the Fortuna Liga.

Looking at the xG match story, you will see how flat the first-half of football was, with both teams struggling to generate any chances of high quality. Given our need to win, I opted to make three changes at the break to add energy to the squad.

Sliacky was one of those three players introduced at the break in the role of the wide midfielder (never played in this role before) and boy oh boy did he deliver. The 18 year old completed 100% of his passes (nine from nine), two of which were key passes (one assist). This made him have a 22% key pass to pass ratio (impressive), the youngster took two shots and scored with both attempts. he also won all seven of his aerial duels. 

Dukla also suffered a shock defeat (hammering) away to MFK, this result is HUGE, it means that we now hold a five point gap over second place and need just the single victory to guarantee a top two finish! 

 

 

[GIMN]

55 minutes ago, MattyLewis11 said:

Sliacky was one of those three players introduced at the break in the role of the wide midfielder (never played in this role before) and boy oh boy did he deliver. The 18 year old completed 100% of his passes (nine from nine), two of which were key passes (one assist). This made him have a 22% key pass to pass ratio (impressive), the youngster took two shots and scored with both attempts. he also won all seven of his aerial duels. 

That is one hell of an impact!  Made even sweeter by your rivals faltering.  Out of interest what is the tie breaker?  Is it head-to-head or goal difference?

[SteinkelssonFM]

13 hours ago, GIMN said:

That is one hell of an impact!  Made even sweeter by your rivals faltering. 

The funny thing is, I wouldn't have thrown him on if I didn't carry out that analysis into the midfield.

My thinking was that given his ability to complete passes at a higher rate than the rest, it would help to increase our attacking momentum.

I certainly wasn't expecting him to single handedly turn the game on its head with such an impressive performance.

Certainly providing me with food for thought going forward.

@GIMN it's head to head, goal difference and then away goals scored.

 

Edited March 20, 2022 by MattyLewis11

[SteinkelssonFM]

Main title challengers FC Kosice are starting to show the reason why they were made early season favourites as they secured an important three points at home against HFC Humenne.

Sport Podbrezova also managed to pick up a massive three points, which enabled them to leapfrog Dukla into third place. The home side initially went three goals down, fighting back to leave an exhilarating final 10 minutes but couldn't find the luck needed to pull of what would have been an immense comeback.

Moving onto our game, we managed to sell out the stadium in what looked like it would be a day to remember for the fans, we knew that three points would be massive and we could even afford a draw. Let the battle of Bratislava commence!

Unfortunately, we didn't perform to the script and were beaten by the better side, who dominated the attacking momentum. Looking at the action zones you can see that the visitors had a greater impact in the middle of the pitch which no doubt had an impact on their result.

Looking into the data, I was unable to find any trends which popped out which I could pin the result on.

Looking at the above heatmap you will see that we didn't have much of a presence in the attacking third. However, this isn't against our usual trend as most heat maps follow a similar trend, given our favouritism to play on the counter, we need that space.

We did however only win possession five times in the opponents half, a figure which is down on the norm which usually is around the nine mark. Although this doesn't sound much it is nearly a 50% drop off which could have swayed that midfield battle.

We also picked up another injury in this game which will see us without our favoured right-winger for the rest of the season.

Oh how a week can change things, this is going to the wire! 

 

[SteinkelssonFM]

The penultimate game week

The tensions are growing and the nerves can be felt within the squad, which was reflected in the players body language during the last game (7 of the 11 players).

Could we bounce back from the surprise defeat against our local rivals? Our next opponent was Komarno (Away), who have only suffered two defeats on home turf for the season, this would no doubt be a tough fixture, especially given that we finished the reverse fixture 1-1.

We didn't start the game well, in fact we really struggled to impose ourselves in advanced positions during the first half of the game, which can be seen in the below image.

You will hopefully note that there was an increase of passes in the opponents half during the second period, which is reflected in the increased density of passes on the pass maps. 

Looking at the number of yellow cards received, it highlights how desperate our side were to win the ball back in order to secure the equaliser, which finally came in injury time from the penalty spot.

Unfortunately the other teams all played out their fixtures with minimal complications, FC Kosice's result was enough to bring them back level on points with us and Sport Podbrezova could theoretically still win the title if results go their way in the final game. (Serious Kudos to Pablo Villar, who will be getting my vote for 'Manager of the Season').

To find calm in this storm, we at least know our final game is against FC Samorin, who Kosice had just battered. 

[13th Man]

Wow - tied on points with a +1 GD.  Tight!  BUT, crazy to get a penalty in the dying seconds to at least get that potentially crucial point!

[SteinkelssonFM]

ALL OR NOTHING

The title of this post quite literally sums up the potential outcomes which we could face after the final 90 minutes of football.

A victory would guarantee us the title, whilst defeat and victories both FC Kosice and Sport Podbrezova would see us knocked outside of the top two, unknown territory for us since game week 17.

Looking at the above attacking momentum for 38 minutes we were in the driving seat, those 38 minutes of dominance stood for absolutely nothing when David Bangala opened the scoring. 

The goal changed everything, we were now hanging on by a thread as both other games were tied at this point and at half-time, we knew that victories for both FC Kosice and Sport would be enough to demote us into third place.

We had dominated the first-half in terms of shots, we had taken 11 (10 from inside the box) whilst FC Samorin had taken five, again the goal at this point was the statistic which mattered. 

Changes needed to be made, I made the call and made a triple substitution. On came Sliacky, Obrocnik and Hurny for Harba (6.4) Hronec (6.8) and Nagy (6.5).

 

Within two minutes of his introduction Sliacky had got us back on level terms, the man of the moment finding a little space in the box to slam the ball home.

This propelled us back to the top of the league. However, the joy was short lived as Kosice has scored three goals in a six minute period to send them back to the summit.

Sport Podbezova at this point were leading against Slavoj Trebisov, if we were to concede again we would again be staring down the barrel of a third place finish.

We had taken 13 shots since equalising, despite now playing on an all out attack mentality we had limited our opponents to just the five chances. However, it was starting to look like we could huff and puff as much as we wanted and we would not break the resilience of our opponents.

With less than two minutes owe were resigned to the fate of the playoff to secure our passage into the Fortuna league. 

Momentum had now changed and the opposition had started to see a little more of the ball, taking control as they looked to take the sting out of the game. 

 

Sliacky had not only just delivered the club the 2. Liga title, he had just etched his name into the clubs history! 

Looking at both goals as I sit here and write tonight's update, I have just noticed that they both stemmed from throw-ins deep in the attacking third.  Now I can see why the likes of Brentford and Liverpool spend significant amount of time working on these set-pieces and even go to the lengths of hiring a specialist coach to work with the players. Obviously I have not even looked at developing a throw-in routine of FM22, my corner routine is as far as it goes, but it might well be worthwhile exploring. 

2. Liga Champions, I am going to leave this one on that note! A bit of a review will follow and a spotlight on our Goalkeeper (forgot he hasn't had the limelight as of yet) and I will also cover our best eleven with a few of their key stats for the season. 

I hope you have all enjoyed the first season of my 'Journey Down The Danube' there will be plenty more ups and downs no doubt as we navigate the Fortuna Liga. 

 

 

[DefinitelyTaylor]

It rests in your hands and against an opponent who should have their confidence shot after a recent hammering. Dare I say it, I fancy your chances!

EDIT, I posted this just as you updated again. 
 

SECOND EDIT, get in! 

Edited March 20, 2022 by DefinitelyTaylor

[SteinkelssonFM]

@DefinitelyTaylor I was just about to message and say, fresh off the press...@13th Man @GIMN @SixPointer

[SixPointer]

Congratulations on the title win! 
 

I personally set up all the set pieces as I find it can often lead to that marginal gain, just as you’ve found out! I have 3 corner routines for each side with different posts. I also have a short and long throw set up. I do find it a task and I think it’s an area SI really need to improve and make more fluid. It’s very rigid and things like it being the position that dictates the role in them rather than a player.

IRL if you sub a shorter player on for a taller player he wouldn’t go in and man mark a tall player in the game it would be a pain to change this up, if it was perhaps like penalty takers and you could list players who you want to be doing what and that’s how the order would be sorted would help…. So yes I agree you should look into as I find it rewarding when they come off and helps with more immersion and enjoyment however SI could improve it as that’s why I feel so many don’t.

 

what’s the plan now? Are you looking at any other clubs at the minute or do you feel you want a crack and the top tier?

 

 

[SteinkelssonFM]

3 minutes ago, SixPointer said:

I personally set up all the set pieces as I find it can often lead to that marginal gain, just as you’ve found out! I have 3 corner routines for each side with different posts.

Corners is the only set piece which I have invested time in. However, in sport set pieces are often a key to how the rest of the structure of play is built and therefore I will be looking at throw ins and free kicks, especially given the need for that marginal gain.

In terms of my future plans, I would like to have one season in the Fortuna to see if I can keep the side up.

I will be paying more of an active role in terms of looking at the job centre to see what clubs come up which align with the ethos of the save.

I am going to request from the board that they invest in me to also further my career in terms of coaching badges, which will hopefully help me secure that next position.

[GIMN]

YEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS! Sliacky coming up big when it matters most.  And what a thunderous finish to win you the league.  A few Slivovitzs were had that evening, I imagine.

[_Ben_]

21 hours ago, MattyLewis11 said:

However, in sport set pieces are often a key to how the rest of the structure of play is built and therefore I will be looking at throw ins and free kicks, especially given the need for that marginal gain.

Would very much be interested in reading your breakdown on this. 

Congrats on the title!

[SteinkelssonFM]

FC Petržalka Team of the Season 2021/22

The individuals who were announced in the 'Team of the Season'

GOALKEEPER

Goalkeeper (Defend) - Vadym is performing way above average in key goalkeeping statistics, his conceded per 90 of 0.87 was the second best figure in the league, only to be beaten by Richard Ludha of Sport Podbrezova.

THE DEFENSIVE UNIT

Wing-Back (Attack) - Simeon had an excellent season for us and it came as a suprise to me when he rejected our contract offer in favour of joining Zemplin Michalovce. Kohut impressed with his passing ability, clsong the season with a 94% pass completion rate. 

Left-sided Central Defender (Defend) - Jakub was an absolute rock in the heart of the defence, as you can see he has completed a significant amount of tackles compared to all central defenders in the league and is an outlier when looking at blocks. Considering he wasn't a natural in this position to begin with, I really couldn't be more impressed with just how natural he has been in this role. Jakub completed the third highest amount of key tackles in the league (9) and was in the top ten for both key headers and clearances.

Right-sided Central Defender (Defend) - I am a little surprised with Redeky's inclusion given the fact that he has performed below average for a range of metrics. Despite losing his place in the starting line-up to Dominik Spriak, Patrik did feature in more games which could be why he has been awarded a place in our TOTS. 

Full-Back (Support) Matus completed 2,752 minutes of football across the season making him the players with the most game time. Matus finished 3rd place in relation to interceptions made (109 compared to 114 in 1st place) and out performed all creative defenders against all metrics. 

 

THE MIDFIELD

Left-sided Wide-Midfielder (Support) - Haris' radar doesn't stand for much due to him being our utility player, that in itself is credit to the 33 year olds technical ability which enables him to pretty much play in any position on the park across the midfield and even up top. 

Centre Midfield (Attack) - Viktor was the surprise package, often neglected at the beginning of the season, utilised most from the bench. However, the value of carrying out a mini analysis on the squad brought him into the limelight where he seized the opportunity given. Viktor despite playing well under the average amount of attempted passes in the league has excelled in his key passes, assists and outperformed his xG, thanks to his conversion rate of 35% which was the best in the league. A real explosive player who I am excited to see how he performs in the Fortuna Liga.  'Young Player of the Season'

Centre Midfield (Defend) Jakub was one of the most consistent performers in the side which seen him become favoured over Michal Obrocnik in the centre of the park, he has swiftly become a fans favourite. Despite him not excelling when looking at his radar he is a player who performs the basics very well and as I previously stated he is extremely reliable, think Gilberto Silva from the Invincibles. 'Fans Player of the Season'.

Right-sided Winger (Attack) - Simon contributed above many of the attacking wingers in the division in relation to his ability to deliver a key pass from the flank. He like Hronec secured the majority of minutes due to his ability to be consistent, unlike Boris Turcak who was very much hot or cold.

 

THE STRIKE PARTNERSHIP

Target Forward (Support) - my target forward, Marko showed everyone that despite being labelled an advanced forward, he is well suited to play as the target forward, his ability in the air was a massive factor in our play, enabling us to progress the ball up the park. His physical presence was reflected in him being the most fouled player, he also finished as our leading scorer. 

Advanced Forward (Attack) - Despite finishing under his xG of 8.47, Nagy was the best partner for Marko which is reflected in his 15 goal contributions, at 21 I am hopeful that he will improve his composure in front of goal which will take his game to the next level. 

 

OFF THE FIELD

 

[13th Man]

Get in! What a final day!

[SteinkelssonFM]

9 minutes ago, 13th Man said:

Get in! What a final day!

Unbelievable scenes Jeff! 

[SteinkelssonFM]

THE OFF SEASON

For me this is a period of FM which I never enjoy, I just want to get back into competitive fixtures. However, the cycle exists for a reason and the break enabled me to take a few days away from the save and enjoy the lovely weather which we are experiencing here in the UK.

Given the break would provide me with some downtime I requested that I would like to use my free time to study towards my next level of coaching qualifications, unfortunately the board rejected my approach stating that they needed to be selfish, fearing that my continued professional development would see the club lose me to bigger and better opportunities. 

Not exactly the way to reward a coach who has just exceeded the clubs five year plan in his first year of management. This decision spurred me on to look for any vacant positions in the labour market.

I couldn't believe my luck when I found there was a vacant position in Hungary at ETO, who are based in the city of Győr , just over 20km from the Danube. I submitted the application, which was unsuccessful, not even making the shortlist.

The message wasn't doom and gloom, despite opting against shortlisting me due to the strength of other candidates, the board stated they would like to place on record that they felt I would have been an acceptable fit for the club vision.

Looking at the season preview, it is clear to see that we have a mammoth task ahead, the 800-1 odds are four times worse than FC Kosice who came up via the playoff. There was a need to strengthen the squad, although our finances really only made it possible to bring in one player.

 The 36 year old Ukrainian Left-sided Wing-Back was the area which I looked to strengthen, given the loss of Simeon Kohut. Polyovyi has played 440 games in the Ukrainian footballing pyramid, most of which have come from the FavBet Liha (top division).

The player comparison shows how he lines up against Timotej Toth, excelling in all attributes other than speed. Volodymyr pro's are that he is a leader, team player, versitile, fairly sporting and he possess a long throw. 

He is drawing down £550 per week making him the clubs leading earner, I need him to deliver, whether he does, we will find out. 

Our opening two fixtures, both of which are in late July. 

[13th Man]

36 minutes ago, MattyLewis11 said:

fearing that my continued professional development would see the club lose me to bigger and better opportunities. 

I mean…they aren’t wrong!

Anyway, looking like a good challenge this year. Hopefully you can escape relegation and continue to grow your reputation - leaving Petzalka much better than you found it.

[GIMN]

3 hours ago, MattyLewis11 said:

Our opening two fixtures, both of which are in late July.

You'd struggle to find a more polarised set of opening fixtures.  3rd favourites for the title, then 2nd favourites for relegation.  Should be a real barometer for where the team is at for this level.

[SteinkelssonFM]

A NEW CHAPTER

A new season, a new narrative, can what potentially be our final season with the club be one which just like the All Blacks or Japanese culture it is about making a mark and leaving the club in a better place than when we took over. @13th Man

We were under significant pressure for the majority of the match with our worst period between minutes 1 and 26, fair play to Spartak Trnava, they really made our opening day in the Fortuna a baptism of fire. 

The quality of opposition on display was a clear step up from the norm, this was reflected in Kelemen's aerial statistics which historically have been immense, today he only won 58% of his aerial duels, the lowest since starting the save. 

I must not beat myself up too much about the result, despite the opposition having 16 shots (13 of which came from inside the box), we only conceded one clear cut chance and went 81 minutes before conceding (to a penalty).

The second match seen the return of Kunik (suspension) and Spiriak (injury) to the team, which boosted the partnerships between the players within the squad. 

We started the game well and Martin Adamec came close to becoming our first scorer of the season when he fired a shot (0.54 xG) which cannoned back off the foot of the post in the 25 minute.

Our next shot didn't come again until the 38th minute, only this time Simon Stefanec headed the ball past Henrich Ravas from newly appointed captain Jakub Nemec.

A superior second half, the players showing that there is no substitute for hard work, with Erik Hurny ensuring the three points were secured scoring in the 94th minute.

In total we amassed 18 attempts on the opponents goal, 10 coming with the head and eight from the foot, with Matus Kunik leading our creative stats with five key passes, pictured above.

1 hour ago, GIMN said:

Should be a real barometer for where the team is at for this level.

The results shown today show that we can indeed pick up points in this division if we apply ourselves right. The thread won't be as pretty as it was last season but I am expecting our grit and resilience to shine through in our attempts to beat the drop. 

One thing which I forgot to mention was that after each team has played each other twice, the league splits into a Championship Group and Relegation Group for the final 10 games (both playing each other twice). This will enable us to play out the final stage of the season against the sides who finish in and around ourselves in the table, making for some seriously competitive matches. 

Last season 31 points would have kept you safe, and for that reason that is our initial target to achieve those 31 points, if we can get anywhere close to that before the league splits we would have done a fantastic job. 

[SixPointer]

Can’t believe they knocked back your coaching badges out of fear you could move on! I would be away to the Union rep 🤣

[SteinkelssonFM]

Fortuna favours the brave

Our next fixture would see us return to play in front of our own fans, could we reward them with our first goal scored at the Sklodowska?

Confidence most certainly breeds confidence, which is reflected in just how dominant we were against MSK Zilina across the first half, despite taking the lead through Viktor Sliacky in the 15th minute our hard work could have been erased when Elvis Sukisa's shot in the dying minutes of the first half was blocked, if it had gone in, it could well have lead to a different outcome.

I opted to bring on Jakub Hronec at the break, ensuring that last season's fans favourite continued to draw down minutes, Jakub returned the favour with a 'Man of the Match' performance.

The above analysis shows how Hronec impacted play from the role of CM (defend) progressing play down the right-hand side of the field and contributing with a block in our box. Hronec contributed with two key passes (one assist) and also scored a driven shot from the edge of the area. The four goal victory certainly flattered us, especially given our xG of 1.00. Swings and roundabouts though, we will no doubt be victim of this at some point this season. 

AS Trencin were to visit next, the side from Trencin had won two of their opening fixtures and drawn the other, favouring a fluid counter attacking style of play, which I feel is accurately represented in our analysts report on their entries into the final third, over 20% coming from goalkeeper Dejan Iliev.

We secured our third win on the spin with a 1-0 victory over AS Trencin, recording our third clean sheet on the bounce. 

Dominik Spiriak held a massive impact in securing the result, he completed four key headers (orange) on the edge of our six yard box, completed many progressive passes (green) and scored the all important vital goal from a set-piece.

We received the news of the injury of Branislav Spacil, fortunately his loss will not impact the team with any significance due to his squad status of being an impact sub.

Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end and boy oh boy didn't Dunajska Streda teach us a micro lesson, that there is no room for complacency in this division.

Vadym Shevchuk scored the highest rating in this game of 6.7, he faced nine shots and saved five (one held, one parried and three tipped) which shows the quality of shots which he was facing.

Our final game of the month was an away trip to play SKF Sered, who found themselves in 10th place in the league

You can see from the above just how a red card can impact a game, Obrocnik was sent his marching orders on the 41st minute for a horrible two-footed challenge. This imapcted the flow of the game and allowed our opponents to completely dominate, there were some positives to take away from the match. Firstly, we finished with an overall higher xG, I know that if we would have kept 11 men on the pitch we would have more than likely won. Secondly, Erik Hurny scored a brace and is our leading goal scorer at this level, I will continue his integration into the squad after Tomas Nagy dropped the bombshell that he wants to explore his options at the end of his contract.

We find ourselves sitting in sixth place after our first full month of Fortuna fixtures and already are six points clear of the drop zone.

In terms of our performances we are over achieving, albeit only slightly. 

September will see us face fellow promoted side FC Kosice and Ruzomberok which the target must be to take three points from those fixtures, before we face off against local rivals Slovan Bratislava in our first big derby, bring it on! 

 

Edited March 24, 2022 by MattyLewis11

[13th Man]

Nice solid start to the season going here. You are outperforming xG, but with such a small sample size that there’s only so much you can take from that. I also don’t see xG as an absolute, infallible stat - it doesn’t take into account things like mismatches or having all the time in the world to pick your spot a yard outside the box. A very useful tool, and I appreciate its presence in the last two FMs, but, like any stat, it’s all about how you interpret the info.

Edit- in case this looks like a rant, it’s more just something I find interesting!

Edited March 24, 2022 by 13th Man

[SteinkelssonFM]

4 hours ago, SixPointer said:

Can’t believe they knocked back your coaching badges out of fear you could move on! I would be away to the Union rep 🤣

This made me really unhappy, hence filing an application out of rage! 

23 minutes ago, 13th Man said:

Nice solid start to the season going here.

Yes, I would agree we have started at a much better rate than our 800-1 odds provided at the offset.

We seem to be struggling with taking control of matches over a sustained period of time, which is a given considering the jump of standard.

I am going to wait until the usual midpoint to gather an improved spread of data before making any tactical changes. However, given the uncomfortable viewing I think there will no doubt be some.

[SixPointer]

Loving the analysis Matty! Are you going down the route of taking your footballing philosophy all the way along the river or is it going to be make do with what you have at your disposal? 

[GIMN]

7 hours ago, MattyLewis11 said:

This result makes me unbelievably happy.  I have an ex from Zilina.  She was and still is a great person, but I literally met her 2 days after 10-man MSK beat Aston Villa in the Europa League, and she never let me forget about it!

[SteinkelssonFM]

A CHANGE OF SYSTEM

We started the month with a fixture against Jozef Vukusic's FC Kosice, who are our most familiar opponents in the league. Given the fact that Jozef would have expected us to play our familiar 4-4-2, I opted to spring a surprise on him  by lining up in a 5-2-3. 

Now to some this may seem as if the tactical shift is a negative move by adding an additional player to the backline. However looking at the average positioning above you can see that when in possession it is an aggressive tactic, aiming to overload the opposition. 

The use of the Libero should give us the extra defensive cover, as Obrocnik will look to take possession of loose balls from deep. Whilst when in possession he can step into the midfield and use his technical ability to play through balls to teammates.

The tactical switch up paid dividends as we took complete control of the first-half in which we scored the only two goals of the game.

A flavour of the pass-map.

I opted to keep the same tactic as used against FC Kosice going into the match with MFK and the gamble worked. We took the lead through Haris Harba in the 14th minute, the midfielder scoring from a volley from close range.

Kelemen was then forced off the field of play in the 31st minute, post game we were informed that the striker had picked up an injury which would keep him on the side-lines for 5-6 weeks. 

There was only a few days left before the transfer window closed and we would need to bring in someone who had the ability to operate as a target forward. (watch this space)

Viktor Sliacky scored a curling effort in the 67th minute to give us a two goal cushion before the opponents scored in the 81st minute to provide a nervous last few minutes, we held on and the result moved us (relegation candidates) up into third place.

Bosnian Kenan Muslimovic was available on free-transfer and a player which my scouts recommended (B) he wanted a wage of £1.1k which would not be possible, I used my inner Del Boy to negotiate him down to £775 p/w becoming our highest earner. His ability to fill the void left by Kelemen and then shift to the role of Advanced Forward or Pressing Forward was one of massive appeal. We didn't have time to look at any targets in greater detail, this was very much a needs must.

The cup provided an opportunity to rotate the squad to give some our key performers a much needed rest, you will note that our new signing marked his debut with a goal which is always nice. 

The final game of the month was the big one, the local derby against last seasons champions Slovan Bratislava, who had not impressed with their performances so far in the league, if there was any good time to play them, this was certainly it! 

We enjoyed an extremely strong first half and dominated this period, which isn't very derby like! We imposed ourselves well on the game which is reflected in our xG charts which show that we didn't have a period where we weren't a threat, unlike Slovan who's xG timeline baselined for pretty much the entire first -half. 

Tomas Nagy was the best player on the park, the 22 year-old rounded off his performance with a goal and an assist, he was unlucky that he didn't add another to his tally when Slovan's keeper made an impressive double save. 

We are on cloud nine, given our start to the season I was not expecting to have already picked up 19 points, given the targets set prior to the season starting. 

There is no doubt that the tactical changes have aided this run of good form as we have taken all games this month by the horns and are playing on the front foot, rather than playing in spells. 

October is a busy month, one from hell, given that we play ALL bar the final game away from home! The finances are going to take yet another hit. 

 

[SteinkelssonFM]

17 hours ago, SixPointer said:

Loving the analysis Matty! Are you going down the route of taking your footballing philosophy all the way along the river or is it going to be make do with what you have at your disposal? 

I think the players at your disposal will always shape/influence the footballing philosophy. However, saying that I would like to build towards a model which leans towards a fluid system where individuals withing the team all hold significant technical ability and are grafters. 

Workrate IMO is a characteristic which should flow through all good teams, it can be achieved by all without the need for technical ability. 

[13th Man]

The Libero is a nice role if you have the player for it - defensively solid without the ball, but adds a different dimension in possession. The tactic is performing very well it seems!

Btw, how'd you get those with possession/without shots? I haven’t seen that option but would love to use it! I get a pretty good idea from the matches but that’d be useful for comparing one match to the next.

 

Edited March 25, 2022 by 13th Man

[13th Man]

4 hours ago, MattyLewis11 said:

Workrate IMO is a characteristic which should flow through all good teams, it can be achieved by all without the need for technical ability. 

Definitely an attribute that doesn’t get the love it deserves, along with determination. Both massively important. Players that are otherwise average can perform much better than expected, or, if lacking, otherwise great looking players will flop because they lack the mentality. 

[SteinkelssonFM]

5 hours ago, 13th Man said:

Btw, how'd you get those with possession/without shots?

Alright mate, they can be found under the analysis section for any individual match and are within the team analysis rather than the individual player. 

A real good tool for looking at your shape and assessing individual roles. 

[GIMN]

Great start, and glad to see Sliacky continuing to perform at this level.  Shocking start for Sered - are they still in European competition?  Or have they already been knocked out?

 

14 hours ago, MattyLewis11 said:

October is a busy month, one from hell, given that we play ALL bar the final game away from home! The finances are going to take yet another hit. 

Whose idea was that schedule!?  I suppose it will even out by the end of the season, but that seems particularly ill-spirited at best.

[DefinitelyTaylor]

An excellent start to the season! A bit of a gap is forming even though it’s still fairly early days too. 

[13th Man]

17 hours ago, MattyLewis11 said:

Alright mate, they can be found under the analysis section for any individual match and are within the team analysis rather than the individual player. 

A real good tool for looking at your shape and assessing individual roles. 

Funny. Never ran into that one. I’ll have to dig around.

[SixPointer]

Like the tactical shift and it certainly paid off. I love the libero role but I’ve always found it takes a special player to make it lethal!

Rough run coming up but if you can navigate it and keep the solid form going relegation battle won’t need to be considered! 

[Hootieleece]

Nice use of the Libero for an excellent result against FC Kosice as much as it pains me.......

[SteinkelssonFM]

On 27/03/2022 at 05:08, SixPointer said:

Like the tactical shift and it certainly paid off. I love the libero role but I’ve always found it takes a special player to make it lethal!

The shift has certainly paid dividends, I must admit we don't really have a libero within the squad if looking purely at the attributes. However, playing our best DLP in the role seems to be doing the trick, given the role being on support, there isn't the demands to make an impact in the attacking third. 

[SixPointer]

2 hours ago, MattyLewis11 said:

The shift has certainly paid dividends, I must admit we don't really have a libero within the squad if looking purely at the attributes. However, playing our best DLP in the role seems to be doing the trick, given the role being on support, there isn't the demands to make an impact in the attacking third. 

I think that’s wise, would be the exact same route I would go. Unless I had a supreme ball playing CB I would always convert a DLP. 

[GIMN]

3 hours ago, SixPointer said:

I think that’s wise, would be the exact same route I would go. Unless I had a supreme ball playing CB I would always convert a DLP. 

I'd second that.  I've never had any joy with playing defenders as Libero's - even when their attributes suggest they'd be better suited to the role than anyone else in the club.  Plug in an average DLP, however, and he's the second coming of Franz Beckenbaeur!

[SteinkelssonFM]

Being busy and being productive are two different things 

Apologies in advance for what has been a quiet week in terms of FM content and updates, work has taken over, which has meant FM has had to take a back-seat.

I have literally had to limit FM to the single match per day and couldn't devote time to providing a detailed update, so here we go for October 2022.

Two late goals from Hronec and Harba was enough to secure the three points in our first game of the month.

The game against FK Pohronie had to be the most dominant performance we had achieved, we outplayed our opponent, limiting the home team to  an xG of 0.36 and only seeing 40% possession. 

This cracking performance was followed up by a performance of 'Champions' as we managed to secure a victory even though we didn't play well. Spartak Trnava preety much won EVERY statistical battle apart from the one which mattered, which goes a long way to showing that statistics aren't always the be-all and end-all.

Again we were fortunate to escape the claws of defeat against MSK...

Shevchuk managing to keep the ball out of our net despite facing nine shots on target, the 24year-old holding seven attempts and parrying/tipping the others as he secured his eighth clean sheet of the campaign.

Another three points were added in our first home game of the month, which has seen us enter the winter break two points off the top of the league, sitting in third-place.

Can you believe it! The frustrating thing is that we have not had the one but two job applications knocked back.

An opening at FC Juniors  who play their trade in Hpybet 2.Liga was rejected, whilst my second application in the space of six months at Gyori ETO was again refused, leaving me with a bit of a conundrum.

With my current club refusing to invest in coaching qualifications for me and my contract running out at the end of the season, I could well end up unemployed again! 

Time will tell.

There are 62 days until the next fixture, we play Dunajska Streda at home before a further two months of football before the league splits. 

 

[ManUtd1]

62 days... I hate breaks like that 

Hopefully work/life allow you to get stuck in more often, we all get how that can be. I'm itching to get my save rolling once we're caught upñ

[DefinitelyTaylor]

It feels somewhat a little perplexing that those two clubs haven’t at least given you an interview, especially with the job you have done with Petrzalka. It’s their loss! I hope the board change their mind and allow you to get out on those coaching courses sharpish. 

You’re doing a stellar job!

[GIMN]

That defence is looking mean!  Is it as dominant as the results suggest or is Shevchuk just proving to be unbeatable?

I'm sure the job opportunities will come.  Possibly after a surprise Fortuna Liga championship catapults your reputation!

[SteinkelssonFM]

3 minutes ago, GIMN said:

That defence is looking mean!  Is it as dominant as the results suggest or is Shevchuk just proving to be unbeatable?

I'm sure the job opportunities will come.  Possibly after a surprise Fortuna Liga championship catapults your reputation!

I think this visual really goes a long way to showing who the key member of the squad has been to-date in what has been a surprising campaign. We are currently outscoring our xG (+3), xGA (-4) and xPTS (+9) so I am expecting the run of good form to take a dip at some point. 

However, I must admit the new tactic is great and given the high importance on individuals roles it makes substitutions easier as I am just keeping an eye on individuals performances/stats. 

10 minutes ago, DefinitelyTaylor said:

I hope the board change their mind and allow you to get out on those coaching courses sharpish. 

I hope they do as it is getting embarrassing, there are nine other members of the staffing team who hold higher coaching qualifications than me now! I wish there was an ultimatum I could offer the board, the fact that Analysts and Sports Scientists hold higher badges is a bit of a **** take! 

 

[SteinkelssonFM]

Third time lucky

Finally the Board have seen the light and decided that the investment of £1.2k into their Manager was the right move to make, obtaining the Continental B License will hopefully go a long way to raining my profile, opening doors to vacancies in other distant lands.

Oh and other important news...

England just don't do penalties. 

[keeper#1]

62 days between fixtures?!?!?!?!

[GIMN]

1 hour ago, MattyLewis11 said:

I think that might be the very definition of an outlier.  Incredible stuff!

50 minutes ago, MattyLewis11 said:

Finally the Board have seen the light and decided that the investment of £1.2k into their Manager was the right move to make, obtaining the Continental B License will hopefully go a long way to raining my profile, opening doors to vacancies in other distant lands.

Ironically the only way the investment will turn out to be good for the club is if they tie you up to a decent contract so they get compensation when you eventually leave!