[FM 21] Hajduk! The masters from the sea - a youth only in Split

[DaNascimento]

Freshly back from holidays inspired me for an new adventure (the Davids/Willem-Save is on a break)

We landed in Split, a football enthusiastic city. Let's see, if we can challenge our big rival and serial champion Dinamo Zagreb. Despite as further challenge and the fact that Croatia is a country full of gems, this will be a youth only save.

I will play as my alter ego here.

And basically, because it's an youth only save, there are some restrictions

1. I do not sign any players from other clubs. Only exception is Hajduk II, because they act as an stand-alone club and i don't have access to it. The rest i focus on the players, which are coming through the intake.
2. Keep an eye on the finances. Hajduk is not a rich club, so that means, that i probably have to sell some star players in the future - but just for the right amount.
3. Trying to build several players for the croatian national team. Aim is, that some of our intakes will be key players for the kockasti in the future.

So, let's start this adventure!

[DaNascimento]

The Beginning - Summer 2020

Facilities and youth coaching looks good. But hopefully we can improve it in future.

The Squad

A first look at the squad gives me confidence. We allready have a bunch of young croatian players which will be key players. But let's look a bit closer on the positions.

Goalkeepers

Three really good choices in goal. On option is the former croatian national keeper Danijel Subasic. After more than ten years in Monaco he came back home to this season. He would be the experienced option. Lovre Kalinic is probably the best option, but he's just on loan from Aston Villa and will go back after the season. And then there is Josip Posavec, who definitely would be the option for the future. 

Defenders

Here we will allready have a problem after the first season. Our best defender, Nikola Katic is also just on loan and will leave back to Scotland. With Josip Elez, Kristian Dimitrov and Stefan Simic we have three other options, but as i play with 2 CDs i like to have an 4th option here.

Next problem is on the right back. With Gergö Lovrencsics we just have on option here and the hungarian is actually on the offensive wing at home. Left side looks better. With Dario Melnjak and David Colina there are to players on league level.

Midfield

On the defensive part will play Josip Vukovic. Infront of him we have with Filip Krovinovic, Mario Cuic, Jani Atanasov and Marco Fossati several options.

Wings

On the right side former swedish international Alexander Kacaniklic will be the first option. His replacement will be Samuel Eduok. The nigerian i like, because he can play all three positions in the front row. Left side we have with Marko Livaja our best player. Ivan Dolcek will get also the minutes.

Attack

Here we have Dimitris Diamantakos and Jan Mlakar. Sadly no croatian player (Livaja could also start here), but i will try to integrate a youth player also.

 

Youth

A quick look at the U19 and there is a massive bunch of potential. For the attack spot i will have an eye on Marin Ljubicic. Rokas Pukstas could become soon an option in midfield and Toni Silic i will definetly integrate in the goal-team next season.

I will start with the actual HoYD. His abilities looks ok, but probably i will have to replace him soon, because he's allready 65 years old.

[DaNascimento]

August 2020

What a pre-season. We played against a bunch of slovenian teams and except the game against Maribor we won all with 2-1. Happy to see Ljubičić scoring twice in his first starter for the senior squad. 

In the league we showed a stabil defensive with not conceding a single goal in the first three games. In the starting one, we smashed our dalmatian rivals Sibenik with 4-0. At home against Istra it was Livaja, whos playing as left winger, who scored the only goal. In the first qualification round for the Europa League we faced armenian side Artsakh FC, which wasn't a hard step for us. Best thing came at the end. In the first face off of the season we beat Dinamo Zagred through a goal from Kačaniklić. Didn't reckon on such a start, but quite happy with it.

Not that that table is really reliable, but i like to see where Zagreb stands after the first three games!

[DaNascimento]

September 2020

Well, could it become better than in August? Yes, it could!

In the league we still didn't concide any goal after six games. And we've got a good balance in our scoring players. Livaja, Diamantakos and Dolček all scored twice in september. In the qualification for Europa League we surprisingly had a bit problems at home against Glentoran. In a tight game we won 1-0. But then in Greece i allready thought that we won't have great chances against AEK, luckly the team had another opinion. After the greeks went in front, we gave them five goals and won 5-1! That allready means the first qualification for Europa League in this save. But there i'm not expect much. We're the weakest team in the group and just try to give our best.

[DaNascimento]

October 2020

Well, i just noticed, that i withheld you the last qualification round for the Europa League in the previous post. But doesn't matter, with BATE Borrisow we had as less problems as with AEK  Diamantakos becoming our international scorer with four goals in four matches - greek power! 

In the league we lost the first points with a draw against Rijeka. The first round in the cup - well nothing to talk about. I rotateted and gave some young players a chance. Unfortunately they didn't paid back the trust and we had to go to penalties to win. Back in league business we secured two 1-0 wins against NK Lokomotive and HNK Gorica.

And in europe, as i said, we try to give our best. In Sevilla we did pretty good and lost just 1-2 seeing Mlakar scoring late his first goal this season. At home against Frankfurt Livaja made it from the spot before half-time to 1-2. But we weren't able to turn things around in the second half-time seeing the germans scoring the definetly winner in extra time. That leads us the the last place with no points after two games.

We're allready doing our own things at the top of the table. But we benefit from a horrible start from our rivals in Zagreb.

In another table Dinamo is still infront of us. They produced by far the most croatian national players in their club. We're following with a big gap on place two. Hopefully we can change this in the near future!

[DaNascimento]

November 2020

By far the worst month since we arrived in Split. It started well with another win against Sibenik, but then things turned around. In Braga we couldn't score and lost 0-1. And also in the league we suddenly became harmless infront of the goal. No goals in Istra and then we badly lost to Dinamo. 

So we wanted to rehabilitate with a win in the Europa League. Against Braga we were on the right track, leading 1-0 till six minutes before the end. Then the portuguese increased the speed and scored two goals in the last five minutes of the game. So after four games with no points were allready out of the Europa League. And with that bad mood, we weren't also able for three points in Osijek. So just one win through this month, probably we were playing on a high run at the beginning of the season - or is it just a little knick?

We're still on top, but Dinamo is chasing us and gets closer.

 

[DaNascimento]

 

December 2020

Did we get the curve after the horrible november? Well, we've made it to part. Started with an usual loss in the Europa League against Betis Sevilla. Then at home against Slaven Belupo we finally scored goals - and no less than four! That gave us a little moral boost, that we managed to get a point in the last EL-Game against Frankfurt!

The draws against Rijeka and especially against Hrvatski Dragovoljac Zagreb let us fall back into old patterns. A wild game we had in the second cup round. Facing with Osijek allready a tough opponent. Leading by 2-0 we managed to let the guests come back to the game. But in extra-time it was a clear business. We scored three more goals and made it with a 5-2 win to the next round.

Still in pole position for the title, but Dinamo is getting closer and closer.

And now the most important message for this year: The preview for the youth intake. Unfortunately no golden generation, but a good group of players. And the best: some nice prospects in positions we're in need. Plenty of wingers, a defensive midfielder who could go far, a promising full back and hot prospect from Kosovo!

So, that we need new talents to develop shows this table. 

We just produced seven players, who are playing in the Prva Liga - Dinamo Zagreb has 27! Much work to do in the coming years!

 

[DaNascimento]

January 2021

After two wins in the test games, we coming back to strong form in league. First we got a draw against HNK Gorica, where the guests equalized with ten men. But against Lokomotive and Sibenik it went better. We won with 2-0 and 3-0 and once again didn't conceded a goal.

Still three points before Dinamo, but Zagreb has one game less.

[DaNascimento]

February 2021

The month started perfect with a 4-0 victory over Istra. But then came the top game and once more, we lost to Dinamo! They went in front early in the game. Livaja scored the equalizer from the spot after an hour, but ten minutes before the end, the guests stroke back and scored the 1-2 winner.

After that defeat we had some problems. Against Slaven Belupo and Osijek we just get draws - thanks to midfielder Jani Atanasov who scored all three goals. Against Rijeka we had the luck on our side, when Čuić scored the very late winner. Against Hrvatski Dragovoljac Zagreb i decided to bring Ljubičić into the starting eleven. And he thanked it with two goals!

[Swaban]

In interested to see how this goes, a couple of years ago I have a Zagreb save where I focused on bringing youth players through as well as buying cheap young players, developing them and selling them for a profit.

 

Good luck!

[TelcontarTargaryen]

Good to see someone breaking domination of Dinamo.

[DaNascimento]

vor einer Stunde schrieb Swaban:

In interested to see how this goes, a couple of years ago I have a Zagreb save where I focused on bringing youth players through as well as buying cheap young players, developing them and selling them for a profit.

 

Good luck!

Thank you!

vor 32 Minuten schrieb TelcontarTargaryen:

Good to see someone breaking domination of Dinamo.

Thanks, i will try my best 

[DaNascimento]

 

Youth Intake 2021

So, we were waiting long for our first intake. An important one, because it will be a will be a cornerstone for future success or failure. The preview spotted some good players, unfortunately no golden generation, but there should be some talents, who could play a role in our senior squad in some years. So lets look at the boys.

Well, i allready mentioned, that we will have an kosovan midfielder. Leonard Ademi is also our top prospect from this generation. A balanced player, with a decent first touch and a high workrate! Bazdaric and Kulas looks also nice and are pacy wingers. But Bazdaric we need to retrain to an attacking winger, because wir not playing with normal wingers. And Kulas unfortunately has a bad personality. Bartul Jordan on the other hand could become our defense chief in near future!

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For the statistic lovers and some flag chasing.

[DaNascimento]

March 2021

What a month! 5 games and 5 wins! In the cup we get through to the final. In the quarter final we won 1-0 after a though fight against Rijeka. In the semi final we came back late through an equalizer from Dolcek and an late winner from Mlakar. In the final we face now... Dinamo Zagreb!

In the league we beat Gorica, Lokomotive and Sibenik. The team is now in a good shape. Livaja and Eduok were the players in best form this games.

8 games left and should we allready start to dream? No, because Dinamo has still three games less than we and is just three points behind!

Also nice to see: Our U19 has won the championship! 22 wins after 22 games - 4 games left to play - what a dominating statistic!

[DaNascimento]

April 2021

Another outstanding month from the team! We started with the most important game in Zagreb. Probably an early championship-decider. Nervosity? Nope! With 3-0 we smashed our rivals at their own stadium. Livaja again with two scores, what a season from the former talent! A week later he also scored the only goal in a 1-0 win over Istra.

Slaven Belupo we also beat 2-0. Again Livaja found the net and also defence-boss Katic with a goal. The month ended with two victories over Osijek and Hrvatski Zagreb.

Zagreb still has one game more left, but we're 12 points infront now. This should it be... But we have games against Osijek and Rijeka infront of us. Dinamo just have Osijek and teams from the the lower table.

[DaNascimento]

May 2021

Well, we didn't even had to play. Because Dinamo didn't do their homework and lost to Osijek on 1st of May we became champions on the couch!

Didn't expected that on the first season, but it's nice to allready achieve it. Because after this season probably some harder times are coming, till our youth players are finally developed.

 

So after our little champions party, we probably were a bit tired in the game against Rijeka and it became a goalless draw. But the last two games of the season we could win again without a doubt.

Only downer: The cup final we lost to Dinamo trough a goal from Petkovic. But i prefer to take the championship. I mean, you can't win everything on the first season. 

Statistics & Awards

Livaja wins the goalscoring award.

Veteran Subasic is awarded as best goalkeeper.

Melnjak, Fossati, Atanasov, Livaja and Diamantakos were voted in the best eleven of the season.

[DaNascimento]

End of the Season Review 2020/21

5-1 over AEK and a 3-0 win in Zagreb. Really nice games to remember!

 

Fossati, Subasic and Livaja settled new records. Simic also, but probably he's not proud of it.

Diamantakos not really with a great season. I would have tought Kacaniklic on the right wing and Eduok in the front spot.

Great team performance this season! Kalinic and unfortunately Katic will leave again this summer. Hoping, that we can hold together the team and bring in some new talents from our U19. Livaja is allready been chasing after his 19 goals this season.

 

[DaNascimento]

Season 2020/21 - U19 Review

Well, it was also for our U19 a wonderful season. 25 wins out of 26 games and scoring 81 goals - that's a dominant thing! 

I picked out the five best players of the season: Marin Ljubicic, Stipe Buik and Marko Domancic builded up a good attacking duo, scoring together over 60 goals. Luka Buble was the chief in midfield with 17 assists and next to him we have the very talented american Rokas Pukstas. So for next season Ljubicic and Buik will be promoted to the senior squad. Domancic and Buble will be loand out to Druga Liga and Pukstas is on the verge of the senior squad.

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[DaNascimento]

July 2021

Our facilities our good, but they could be better. So i after the good run this season, i tried to upgrade them. But unfortunately both were rejected. The youth facilities the board allready believes as good enough and for the training facilities we don't have enough money.

Because we started early into the Champions League Qualification we didn't had a long pre-season. On 7th of july we allready played the first international game this season. With Europa FC from Gibraltar we had a doable go and we won it with 13-1 in total score. Especially Marin Ljubičić had fun and scored 8 of the 13 goals. 

Between that two games, we had the Superkup against Dinamo Zagreb. That game was thougher, but thanks to a goal from Marco Fossati, we have won our first trophy for this season!

Then totally out of nowhere we had the first league game (the second one is one month later). Livaja continued there, where he stopped last season and scored twice at the 2-0 victory! 

The Champions League campaign afterwards received a big damper. We faced serbish champion Red Star Belgrade and in the homegame we managed nothing. Losing 0-2, even if we had 12 shots and the serbians just 5. So we needed to success in serbia. Livaja brought us shortly before the break infront. But that wasn't the half-time score. In the extra-time the homeside got a penalty, which they scored to 1-1. Ten minutes after the break, we also get a penalty and Livaja made it to 2-1. But in the remaining time we didn't managed to score another goal and have to continue now in the Europa League Qualification.

[DaNascimento]

August 2021

First a quick look on the outgoings this summer. Posavec we sold to Hoffenheim, because we focus on Silic in the nearer future and a million is good cash for the 25-years old Keeper. Mlakar will join him in the Bundesliga. Actually didn't thought of selling him, because he has massive potential. But the slovenian is not a homegrown player and the offer from Hoffenheim worth of 3,5 millions and 20% of the next sale profit was a good sale. And also Darko Nejasmic was leaving. The 22-years old had a good loan year at Osijek and i could use him in defensive midfield. But then Udinese came with a new investor and a nice offer, so we took the cash and try to develop Franjo Lazar in this position, who has bigger potential.

Squad 2021/22

Keepers

A good pair. With Subasic and experienced veteran goalie and with Silic a bright talent. Both will get their playtime in this season.

Defenders

The new central defender pair will be Elez and Dimitrov. Behind them we promoted 18-years old Robert Pelivan to the senior squad. 

On the wingbacks nothing changed. Right side will play Simic and Lovrencsics and on the left side Melnjak and Colina. Dolcek will play on the wing.

Midfielders

Here we have some new faces. Lazar and Pukstas were promoted from the U19. Cubelic and Teklic returned from a loan spell and will get their minutes. Both with massive talent. Atanasov developed really good in the last season and will be now a key player in midfield. Same for Cuic. Fossati, as key assist player last season, will also get much minutes. Vukovic is the first option in the defensive part. So many good options, that we get into a dilemma, because actually we don't really need Krovinovic anymore. But i didn't sold him this summer, because we need one or two experienced players in central midfield.

Attackers

Livaja is still the key player in the offensive, playing as left wing. Behind him Stipe Biuk came up from U19. Right side we have with Kacaniklic and Eduok some more expierenced options. In the front row Diamantakos and Ljubicic will fight for the one spot. The 19-years old striker made his arguments with allready 12 goals and the season didn't even start.

Summarised we can say, that we have a really balanced and young team. Probably the squad is a bit weaker than last season, but that's okey, because we need to let the young players a bit time to develop.

So back to business. Romanian side FCSB wasn't a big problem, wining 7-1 in aggregate. In Borrisow we had than our problems, losing 2-3. But in the reverse game at home, we won 4-0, thanks to a hattrick from Livaja and qualified for Europa League. There we face again a though group unfortunately.

In the league we made it out to 3 wins out of 3 games. A good start!

[DaNascimento]

September 2021

Not the start we wanted. After an win in Istra, we lost the premier game in the Europa League in Valencia with 0-3. Three days later we faced another crucial defeat in Rijeka, while the hosts scored in the 92. minute. 

In the cup we could win against Varazdin before we draw in the league against Gorica. And the last lost hurts the most. At home we lost 1-2 against Sorja Luhansk. While we were a bit the better team in a tight game, the ukrainans scored the winner in the 89. minute. So we start the international campaign again with zero points.

One point behind Dinamo and Osijek. Now we need to power up a bit.

[DaNascimento]

October 2021

So this month was a bit better, but still not good. First we got a tight win over Osijek. In the top game against Dinamo, we could secure a late equalizer through Atanasov which rescued us a point. Also a late equalizer got us our first point in the Europa League. Against Monaco Kacaniklic scored the 3-3 in the 94. minute!

Back in league business we got another, and really disappointing draw against Slaven Belupo. In the cup Stipe Biuk scored our only two goals against Croatia Zmijavci. And in the last game of the month, we throw away a 2-0 lead against Lokomotive. Hard times in croatia at the moment.

It's probably all down to the last game against Luhansk for the 3rd place.

We need to find back to winning, because Dinamo is allready five points ahead of us!

[DaNascimento]

November 2021

That looks actually much better! Despite the two really close defeats against Valencia and Monaco we could win all our league games this month!

In the derby against Sibenik Elez, Ljubicic and Cuic get their names on the scoreboard. In Opatija Cubelic scored his first Prva Liga goal and against Istra Livaja was the MotM with a hattrick!

In the Europe League is, like i expected, all down to the last game in Luhansk. But playing in december in Ukraine is never easy.

We had a good month, but unfortunately our opponents Rijeka and Dinamo had also three wins.

[DaNascimento]

December 2021

Heading into 2022 with a really short, and a total disappointing month. First we secured a tight win in the cup over Istra, thanks to a doublette from Filip Krovinovic. Then two really bad games followed. First we lost in the top game at home against Rijeka. And if that wasn't disappointed enough, we travelled to Ukraine, where Luhansk beated the hell out of us in the cold winter with a 2-4 win. So the ukrainians qualify for the Conference League and we are out of Europe again in the group stage.

Two games less but it doesn't look as good as last season. We are nine points behind leader Rijeka!

Lots of wingers, a good centre-back and two for the central midfield. Not the most promising preview, but i take everything that helps us!

[DaNascimento]

January 2022

Just one league game this month, but a really important one against Zagreb. And after we were defeated by Rijeka before the winter break, we can seal a 1-0 victory now in this crucial fixture! A penalty from Livaja was the only goal on that evening.

The friendly games were nothing to mention. But unfortunately Filip Krovinovic suffered a horrible knee injury in training. He will be out for more than half a year, a huge miss for us!

We didn't do any transfers in winter. But some young prospects signed a new deal, so we can build up the team around team hopefully.

[DaNascimento]

February 2022

Well this month we didn't play great football, but luckly an effective one. Five wins, one draw and one loss. Seven goals and two goals conceded - if you want to watch spectacular football, mind Split at the moment 

[DaNascimento]

Youth Intake 2022

Overall a bit weaker intake than the first one, but still some decent talents. Unfortunately with Lukic and Šušnjara two of the most promising talents have a really bad personality. This could become a problem, but lets hope, they will develop in our U19.

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Adding Bosnia and North Macedonia to our flag sheet.

[DaNascimento]

March 2022

March we started with a 4-1 victory over Osijek. Tonio Teklic came from the bench and straight scored two goals. In Rijeka a goalless draw followed and in Koprivnica Marin Ljubicic was the match winner with two goals.

In Gorica we won 1-0 by a late goal from Rokas Pukstas. And then came the debacle: In Zagreb we lost 1-6 (!) against Dinamo! A totally failure at all levels. At least the team gave the fans their money back.

After the international break we could then we could make it up again - at least a bit. A tight 2-1 win over Sibenik is nothing we can really celebrate.

Three points behind Zagreb and Rijeka. This is going to be a thriller in the last 8 games!

[TelcontarTargaryen]

Wow, where did that came from? Seems like one of those games that FM just wants you to lose.

[DaNascimento]

Am 8.9.2022 um 16:34 schrieb TelcontarTargaryen:

Wow, where did that came from? Seems like one of those games that FM just wants you to lose.

Yeah, that one was terrible. I forgot to mention, that Vuckovic was sent off after 24 minutes and then the disaster began. Even when Dinamo scored three of the six goals in the last ten minutes. 

[DaNascimento]

April 2022

The month of the truth! We started focused and the team delivered, what we were expecting from it. A 1-0 win over Lokomotive and a 4-0 victory against Opatija was a good start into the month. Things got even better because Rijeka drop some points in Opatija in the first game and Dinamo lost to Sibenik! 

But then we throw the situation away with a draw against Gorica. Dinamo made a close win to Istra and Rijeka drop again points with a draw in Osijek. On the 33rd game day we scored three goals in the last 15 minutes for a 3-0 win over Istra. Zagreb and Rijeka were also able to get three points.

Between the high noons, all three teams had to play in the semi-finals of the cup. Rijeka was able to win 1-0 against Osijek. We failed to took revenge over Zagreb and lost to an early goal from Theophile-Catherine.

At the end of the month, two games where sheduled, which probably decided the championship. First we had the direct duel against Rijeka. A week later Dinamo and Rijeka clashed each other. And yeah, against Rijeka we were the better team, but couldn't find a way into the net. 12 to 2 shoots and Livaja missed from the spot before the break. A totally unlucky result and it got even worse, because Dinamo did it better a week later and won through a late winner with 1-0. 

One game less, but Dinamo is seven points infront. I think, we can gratulate them for the championship.