[FM23] & [FM24] Ernst Happel Challenge - If at First You Don't Succeed, Try, Try Again

[13th Man]

Not surprised that your side are top for final third passes and maybe a bit low on passing %. Key thing, though, is whether the passes are worth the risk, and it certainly seems like they are!

[Jogo Bonito]

Surprised (but pleased) to hear your rookie keeper has taken the jersey from the summer signing. But you're getting great performances out of him.

I've had Jovan Milosevic in my Stuttgart 2nd Team for several seasons (pre-arranged deal from the start of the save). He does look good & scores goals, but just never had a chance to give him first team chances. Maybe when Silas leaves in the summer, if I stay on. Glad to hear he is doing well for you.

[SixPointer]

7 hours ago, Hootieleece said:

I found a progressive pass stat that and key passes combined should get what your looking for I think.

Yes that’s sort of my bases. Plus what am seeing on the pitch am very happy with how quick we transition and play through the lines. Especially after dropping POD. 

[SixPointer]

6 hours ago, 13th Man said:

Not surprised that your side are top for final third passes and maybe a bit low on passing %. Key thing, though, is whether the passes are worth the risk, and it certainly seems like they are!

That’s it in a nutshell, risk Vs reward. I wish there was stats for passing length with have to troll through individual matches. It’s why I like to show the key passes maps on individual game updates.

The passes aren’t all big launches. Like I said most come from raskin breaking the lines. Or our wing backs once they have been isolated 1v1.

 

[SixPointer]

6 hours ago, Jogo Bonito said:

Surprised (but pleased) to hear your rookie keeper has taken the jersey from the summer signing. But you're getting great performances out of him.

I've had Jovan Milosevic in my Stuttgart 2nd Team for several seasons (pre-arranged deal from the start of the save). He does look good & scores goals, but just never had a chance to give him first team chances. Maybe when Silas leaves in the summer, if I stay on. Glad to hear he is doing well for you.

To be honest Matteo done a great job the second half of last season but did have some moments of madness. I was so close to keeping him as number one but when Vandevoordt became available I thought i had to make my move.

Vandevoordt started so well against Genk but made a few costly errors in consecutive games and if that happens anywhere else on the pitch I would swap a player so was only fair to give Matteo his chance. I feel this is the best way to build a competitive squad with players fighting each other for starting slots. 

[karanhsingh]

10 hours ago, SixPointer said:

The Numbers Game

I have conjured up a small amount of free time this evening so I thought I would quickly run through some of the key stats off the season so far.

I don’t anticipate another update from now until the end of the season, provided the January window stays as quiet as I have planned. At a very basic level , we score the most and concede the least but how?....

In the beginning I spoke about a style of play similar to that of Ralf Rangnick and Nagelsman, Gegenpressing. I feel one of the key elements of these types of systems is progressive passes, breaking the lines, and quick transitions, and all at high intensity.

There is no overall metric for progressive passes so I’m going to base this of final third passes, as you can see, we lead the way. Also creating the most chances, with our highly aggressive attacking approach. Our midfielders lean on the more progressive side, but don’t waste the ball, but with only 83% pass completion and the lowest number of completed passes in that top six we certainly don’t favour passing for the sake of it.

Out of possession is arguably the most crucial element of the system for true gegenpressing, winning the ball high up in transition is crucial in that sense. That’s exactly what happening, 3.73 passes before we make a defensive action (I know there is issues how this is measures in fm) however the fact still stands we are the highest pressing team in the league with our front three. Which forces long balls into our defence.

Raskin likes to join in with the front three and is usually the first player to join them, he ranks 7th for pressures, he is also our most creative player in the middle, he is more often than not the man to launch the offensive after a turnover. In fact, the club captain has been sensational all season, his all action style in the SV role has been a remarkable sight.

Marvellous Matteo

In the summer there was a big arrival between the sticks, but he has failed to settle and the new kid on the block has again repaid the faith shown in him by Franz.

Of course, the whole team as a defensive unit plays its part, but he leads the way for clean sheet per 90 for a start. He out scores his expected goals prevented by 0.18, concedes one goal every 0.45 minutes all with a save percentage of 85%.

He never done a bad job last season but I felt I needed a more of a presence between the sticks but he has again proven his worth, the Standard academy graduate has for kept Vandevoordt out the side and knocked his countryman into the Europa/Belgian cup side and he doesn’t look like giving it up any time soon.

Joyous Jovan

I was optimistic when Jovan Milosevic joined in the winter window last year, Franz has an eye for a strikers and Jovan looked to fit the bill. He took his time to settle making the switch from Serbia to Belgium but towards the end of last season he started to find his feet, well this year he looks like the player Franz believed he could be.

24 goals in 16 starts are phenomenal rate of hitting for hitting the back of the net, and it was enough to bag him the Golden boot. His performances where enough to seal his first young player of the year, runners up Charlier and Matteo made for great viewing for the club.

The Serbian sensation is outperforming on all fronts and has transformed himself into a complete forward, holding up play, going in behind, headed goals. He beats his XG by 5.61, and he has averaged an XG of 14.39 in 14 appearances. He is well out in front when it comes to the scoring forward metric, an aggressive shooter but was you would imagine high quality at the same time. 
 

See you at the end of the season........ Hopefully unless players are snatched from us.

I didn't even know some of these stats existed in the game 

Great stuff, making me want to try a front 3 at some point soon...

[SixPointer]

2 hours ago, karanhsingh said:

I didn't even know some of these stats existed in the game 

Great stuff, making me want to try a front 3 at some point soon...

Certainly makes for exciting football but our defensive record shows it’s about getting the balance behind the front three correct as well. 

[SixPointer]

Yesterday I managed to play up-to the league split. I feel like this is a good point to update before getting into the nitty gritty business end of things. So tonight I’ll start my next update!

[Jogo Bonito]

5 hours ago, SixPointer said:

Yesterday I managed to play up-to the league split. I feel like this is a good point to update before getting into the nitty gritty business end of things. So tonight I’ll start my next update!

Looking forward to reading it. By the way Milosevic secured me the Europa League trophy at Stuttgart in 2026 after being called up to (and from) the bench due to injuries. Promoted him to the main squad for the 2026/27 season but he wants to move on instead.

[SixPointer]

17 hours ago, Jogo Bonito said:

Looking forward to reading it. By the way Milosevic secured me the Europa League trophy at Stuttgart in 2026 after being called up to (and from) the bench due to injuries. Promoted him to the main squad for the 2026/27 season but he wants to move on instead.

He’s been a machine this season for me! Managed to sign him to a new deal with 40 million release clause should stave of the interest for now. 

[SixPointer]

Things are getting interesting

As suggested it was an incredibly quiet January, only Nathan Ngoy would leave. The young centre back threw his toys out the pram when I rejected an offer from Bournemouth for 1 million euros. In the end he went for 1.5 million and a decent sell on. I’m not getting in the habit of keeping players around who don’t want to be here. There was a gap to be plugged but I’ve opted to wait until the summer.

We picked up where we left off before the winter break, smashing Genk 4-0 in the 1/4 of the cup. Milosevic broke the goalscoring record for goals in a season, but it was this superb counter-attack that captured us at full tilt perfectly.

Locko wins the ball back on the touchline and plays into midfield, Matazo knocks into Dragus who slots in Rauta to finish, three passes and the balls in the back of the net after cutting through Genk like a hot knife through butter.

The rest of the month was solid enough, our winning streak in the league ended with poor draw at Denize. Sevilla also dished out a defeat which is no shame considering they are the Europa League specialists. Our 3-0 victory of Rennes was enough to secure 11th place and a playoff place against FCSB from Romania. 

A famous five in Bucharest, Eugen Rauta the Romanian wonderkid turned on the style in the capital city of his homeland. Five goals at any level are an exceptional return in one match but in a playoff match in Europe is special at the age of 19.

Three of the five goal really highlight our counter attacking prowess, also Rauta ability to work the space in behind and making use of 1v1's in overloads.

fellow Countrymen Dragus wins the ball and instantly hits the ball in behind for Rauta to run onto, he lifts the ball over the keeper. Dragus again with the assist, this time Raskin intercepts the ball just inside our half and plays forward into Milosevic, the front three combine with quick passes and the result is the same. The last goal highlights the turnover in play, but it gives a fitting example of the defence been drawn to the overload on the right and leaving Rauta free to roam into a huge gap.

A cup final place looks all but secured, a commanding 4-0 lead from the first leg should see us over the line, much like our commanding first leg in the playoff but we followed that up to make it 9-0 on aggregate! Our reward the toughest tie in the draw, Atletico Madrid.

It wasn’t all plain sailing though, two big defeats in the league. Anderlecht stopped our unbeaten run in the classic, and rightly so. We threw away an early lead but, in all truth, we weren’t at the races at all. Club Brugge was a different story however as we wasted chance after chance while out opponents looked like scoring every time they attacked, tough lessons to be learnt.

You would think I was crazy if I were to say this was our third goal in a three zero victory against the Spanish giants, with a rested team! Youthful indeed, Benny and Charlie linking beautifully to put us into the driving seat before heading to the Spanish capital. Another example of the AF utilising the space in behind.

With our fate in the championship group in the league secured I opted for the big guns to try get this over the line.

A thrilling encounter, but a famous two legged victory over the Spanish giants. The choice to go with the big hitters vindicated. Had we scored six goals against Atletico and went out I would have been devasted. Is this the time to dream of European glory? up next its RB Leipzig, Red Bull was home for Franz in Austria before it became his nemesis as a manager, now he goes up against the German version!

Paid the price in the next game against Genk but bounced back to secure a Cup final place against Gent who stopped Anderlecht in the semi, was close to the classic in the final, but now a better chance of back to back Belgian cups.

4-0 in both the other league games, with two different strikers getting hattrick’s. Our ability to score goals freely is something else this season, which makes firing a blank against Genk an even more disappointment.

The end of the regular season, three big defeats in this last phase of play has cost us our huge gap, now only six points of a buffer. In terms of goals scored we are miles Infront of everyone else, only OH Leuven concede less than us, remarkable when you consider how outrages people considered my system. Sometimes the best form of defence is attack, but it is well balanced we do play on the break more often than not.

In the Championship group the points are halved so we only lead the table by three points, which is scandalous considering our winning streak, yes we took the eye of the ball with three big defeats and got caught up in Europe, but it would be cardinal sin to lose the title after the season we have had so far, so re focus is needed.

[warlock]

1 hour ago, SixPointer said:

scandalous considering our winning streak... took the eye of the ball... got caught up in Europe... cardinal sin to lose the title

Agreed, agreed, agreed, and agreed . So you just need to recover that winning form and bag all the trophies. No problemo!

[karanhsingh]

Brilliant stuff! The young romanians are really doing the business for you. It's very hard to keep a challenge going on 3 fronts so very well done. Hope you can keep it up. 

[Lestri]

Six goals against Atletico! Magnificent stuff.

[SixPointer]

9 hours ago, warlock said:

Agreed, agreed, agreed, and agreed . So you just need to recover that winning form and bag all the trophies. No problemo!

If only it was that easy 

2 hours ago, karanhsingh said:

Brilliant stuff! The young romanians are really doing the business for you. It's very hard to keep a challenge going on 3 fronts so very well done. Hope you can keep it up. 

Rauta has really came onto a game he’s made that AF slot his own. Think he will be tough to hold onto but we will make a huge profit. Thanks to him having a release clause when we signed him so there was no sell on for his club.

1 hour ago, Lestri said:

Six goals against Atletico! Magnificent stuff.

Crazy!!! Things have started well against RBL! 

[Jogo Bonito]

An excellent season until now, and hopefully you can see the job through. 

I watched the dramatic final day in the real Belgian season. Going in to stoppage time three different clubs all 'had the title' and it kept changing hands.

Belgian football is amongst my preferred leagues, and now that my time with VfB Stuttgart has come to an end, the pull of Belgium is quite strong. Ironically given how great the real season ended, it's the end of year split that kind of puts me off managing there in FM. 

Back on topic, best of luck for the business end of the season. You already raised the Standard at Liege way above where they have been for many years - I have every faith in you completing the task.

Edited June 21, 2023 by Jogo Bonito

[SixPointer]

April, no fooling around

While its not quite the crunch month, but its could Standard once again in a European semi-final. The league is still the focus, and the form needs work, but it’s hard not to dream of European glory at this stage.

How often does a player return to his old club and play a blinder. Vandevoordt has had a mixed first campaign back in Belgium he’s been in and out the side and Matteo has run him all the way for the number one jersey. This time out he had a stormer, making eight saves, holding three of them, and preventing 1.08 expected goals to give us a valuable 1-0 first leg victory to take back to Liege.

My favourite part was when Mourinho (strange Leipzig appointment) spat his dummy out after the first leg, he has a cheek saying someone else is doing all the talking, special one my A**.

The Second Leg

Massive result!! Taking the club to its first European semi-final since 1982! Jose Silenced again.

The match was of a very poor standard, our job was done though. Frustrating Leipzig and disrupting there build up play with however means, 23 fouls included. A super counterattack split us wide open and I though the Germans would come flying at us, but it never materialised. 

Just after the break the magnetising Milosevic pounced on rebound of the bar and finished into an empty net, all we need to do is take care of the ball. The plan worked for the next 20ish minutes until Matazo decided to get two bookings in a three minute spell, backs to the walls now, but again the Germans didn’t carve anything out. 

AS Roma up next, dare to dream?

April signalled the start of something special but by the end it left many questions left to be answered?

• The main one who would win the title race?
• Was the 1-0 away defeat in the Italian capital a good enough result?
• Is dominant performance in the classic against Anderlecht a better reflection of our true form than the 3-2 defeat at Genk?

I’m aware that updates are lacking the punch and depth at the minute, you will be happy to hear that all the 12 hours will be finished for the summer in the next two weeks. The Ernst Happel Challenge is on! Thanks for sticking by me through these boring times

[SixPointer]

31 minutes ago, Jogo Bonito said:

An excellent season until now, and hopefully you can see the job through. 

I watched the dramatic final day in the real Belgian season. Going in to stoppage time three different clubs all 'had the title' and it kept changing hands.

Belgian football is amongst my preferred leagues, and now that my time with VfB Stuttgart has come to an end, the pull of Belgium is quite strong. Ironically given how great the real season ended, it's the end of year split that kind of puts me off managing there in FM. 

Back on topic, best of luck for the business end of the season. You already raised the Standard at Liege way above where they have been for many years - I have every faith in you completing the task.

Thanks man. Belgian football is decent and I loved that last minute title win. Toby in his home town! I think we get the EPL fed down our throats a lot. Personally I prefer Scottish football and I like my German stuff but naturally i love any football. Anyone who doesn’t is worth the watching in my book 🤣

[Jogo Bonito]

17 minutes ago, SixPointer said:

Thanks man. Belgian football is decent and I loved that last minute title win. Toby in his home town! I think we get the EPL fed down our throats a lot. Personally I prefer Scottish football and I like my German stuff but naturally i love any football. Anyone who doesn’t is worth the watching in my book 🤣

Yes an unlikely scorer in Toby and a fine goal too. Agree about the over-saturation of the EPL especially if you live abroad and have the chance to see literally every game! Mola TV do a great job with the Dutch & Belgian leagues online, really hope they keep those rights for next season.

Back to important matters. Love that you beat Jose, really not my kind of manager. A decent first leg in Italy too, a close one to call when you get back to Belgium. It's good to see you are still holding top spot in the league, take care of your own business and you are there. Nice to see a different challenger in Cercle!

[warlock]

46 minutes ago, SixPointer said:

Thanks for sticking by me through these boring times

Never boring mate. Keep up the good work!

[SixPointer]

9 hours ago, Jogo Bonito said:

Yes an unlikely scorer in Toby and a fine goal too. Agree about the over-saturation of the EPL especially if you live abroad and have the chance to see literally every game! Mola TV do a great job with the Dutch & Belgian leagues online, really hope they keep those rights for next season.

Back to important matters. Love that you beat Jose, really not my kind of manager. A decent first leg in Italy too, a close one to call when you get back to Belgium. It's good to see you are still holding top spot in the league, take care of your own business and you are there. Nice to see a different challenger in Cercle!

Holland is definitely one of my favourite places to manage as well!

It’s great to see Cercle overshadowing Club in Brugge. Jose was sent packing, I think coming back from Rome on trailing by a goal is unbelievable considering the performance, they really should have coasted to victory. Hopefully home advantage should bring us and edge

9 hours ago, warlock said:

Never boring mate. Keep up the good work!

Thanks mate 

[karanhsingh]

Amazing result over Leipzig and Jose! It's the best feeling to be going into May still in multiple competitions. Best of luck! 

Yes the last day of the Belgian championship was absolutely crazy! Toby finally getting those Spurs genes out of him  I quite like the Belgian structure of the championship group even if the halving of the points feels quite arbitrary. 

[SixPointer]

5 hours ago, karanhsingh said:

Amazing result over Leipzig and Jose! It's the best feeling to be going into May still in multiple competitions. Best of luck! 

Yes the last day of the Belgian championship was absolutely crazy! Toby finally getting those Spurs genes out of him  I quite like the Belgian structure of the championship group even if the halving of the points feels quite arbitrary. 

Halving the points is a strange one to me tbh, Austria is the same. Suppose it helps keep it competitive but I can’t help but feel it’s a bit unfair. 

[karanhsingh]

52 minutes ago, SixPointer said:

Halving the points is a strange one to me tbh, Austria is the same. Suppose it helps keep it competitive but I can’t help but feel it’s a bit unfair. 

Its making it like a hybrid between a league & cup competition, where the latter matches towards the end basically "matter" more. I can see some logic to it.

Conversely, they can do something like give 4 points for a win and 2 points for a draw in the championship stage.

[Hootieleece]

A lot of smaller countries in the old eastern bloc do it. I know that both the Czechian and Slovakian Leagues split near the end of the season. Also, Wales.

So, I guess those are places you won't try in the future.

 

Premier League Mornings on USA and Peacock Networks are the Highlights of my Weekends while playing FM of course!

I don't watch the Bundesliga or La Liga because I don't have ESPN+ and now I have to start paying for peacock next month to watch a lot of the Premier League matches.

Edited June 22, 2023 by Hootieleece
added words I forgot

[SixPointer]

17 minutes ago, Hootieleece said:

A lot of smaller countries in the old eastern bloc do it. I know that both the Czechian and Slovakian Leagues split near the end of the season. Also, Wales.

So, I guess those are places you won't try in the future.

 

Premier League Mornings on USA and Peacock Networks are the Highlights of my Weekends while playing FM of course!

I don't watch the Bundesliga or La Liga because I don't have ESPN+ and now I have to start paying for peacock next month to watch a lot of the Premier League matches.

Scotland splits as well but the points remain the same. 
 

 

[SixPointer]

Next four games, things are about to get really intresting 

[Jogo Bonito]

3 hours ago, SixPointer said:

Next four games, things are about to get really intresting 

Indeed so. Good luck against all those opponents. Especially hope you beat Capitoline just because of their name  

[SixPointer]

6 hours ago, Jogo Bonito said:

Indeed so. Good luck against all those opponents. Especially hope you beat Capitoline just because of their name  

I played the first three games last night will try get a mini update out over the weekend as am working 

[SixPointer]

The season is done I’ll be writing it up in stages over the next few days…..

[SixPointer]

The Road to Success is Paved with Lessons Well Learnt

Let’s get down to business. This could become a legendary Standard Liege team that will go down in history, with the Belgian cup final up and then a semi-final of a Europa league which they have a serious chance in the second leg.

The league is still in the balance and that was always the main aim, anything else is a bonus but when you get to these stages you can’t help but the desire to win at all costs.

Ghent would be fired up for this one, coming off the back of a huge turnaround in the semi against Anderlecht. 

In the league this season three of the four encounters have ended 0-0 with both teams cancelling each other out, the other game was a classic, 3-2 win for Standard in an electric match. 

We knew Ghent would sit deep, with a PPDA of 4.58 making them 10th in the league they didn’t really commit to a press, there average possession of 47% showed nor did they care for keeping the ball, what they did care about was being solid at the back, only Standard conceded less goals this season.

On the break they have two pacey wide men, led by the industry of danger man Cuypers and the guile of Chakvetadze. At the back they have two powerful centres back who have their heart set on spoiling our potent front threes day.

Back to back Belgian cups for the second time in the club’s history, having achieved the same feat in 1966 & 1967. This was the club’s 10th Belgian cup which now matches the number of times they have been runner up, something I would like to rectify with a third cup on the bounce. We also now hold the record of most wins in a row with eight.

The match as you would expect wasn’t a classic, both teams struggled to break each other down, XG of 0.85 being the best either side could muster. In the end it was a set play that decided our fate, the hours of work Franz puts in om the training ground makes it all worth it in a moment of triumph like this.

Next could Franz mastermind a comeback from 1-0 down against Roma and take standard to only their second ever European final, the last being the cup winners cup final in 1982.

Armed from the knowledge of the first leg we knew Roma would look to dominate the ball, something we can turn to an advantage for us and look to break on them, being at home and with nothing to lose our risk level can be raised. More direct passing and even higher tempo were utilised.

Gallo is going to bomb down the flank which can leave a space to be exploited, Kardsrop a little more conservative but both are used to dominate the ball so our wide forwards will be man marking them. Pellegrini makes them tick so I’m going to ask the anchor to man mark him.

Thirty nine minutes on the clock, a trademark Franz corner gets Standard back on level footing. A hanging ball to the far post to the target who is 1v1 after the opponent feel into the overloaded near post trap. Milosevic doesn’t miss those ones.

Fifty two minutes and Standard lead for the first time in the tie!! Milosevic’s tame finish beats Elle Caprille who is tipped for such great things, the Serbians 5th goal in the competition could prove pivotal, and its game on in the road to Dortmund.

Ten left and its heart break for the Belgians, carved open by some clever play from the Italians. Pellegrini’s fantastic run goes untracked, and he squares for Auour who has stolen a mark on Cruz at the back post. As it stands, we are heading to extra time in what’s already been fantastic spectacle.

Two minutes into extra time Standard are back in the driving seat! A beautiful example of Franz's gameplan coming to light, Matazo the anchor breaks the lines on the counterattack and KVDB plays a ball you would expect from the Manchester city legend but no its was Van de Berghe, Matazo latches onto it and chips the goalkeeper as if he is Francesco Totti!

Where did it all go wrong?

Both teams had a real go in this one, but it was the home side that dominated all the second half and looked like they had done enough. The early goal in extra time looked like there would only be one winner but disaster struck. All subs had been made and Milosevic and KVDB both picked up injuries.

With Standard down to nine men Roma took the game to the home side, Ibanez headed home a corner much to the dismay of Franz. He watched on as his decision to make his subs dismantled his team, they looked to have done enough to hold on for penalties, when the evergreen Dani Carvajal rifled one in at the back post.

Not one, but two bruised f*****g ankles had cost Standard a European final, how can you not play on with a bruised ankle in a European semi-final is beyond me. A harsh but valuable lesson learnt for Franz as his decision making ultimately cost him and his side.

Edited June 26, 2023 by SixPointer

[Hootieleece]

5 minutes ago, SixPointer said:

how can you not play on with a bruised ankle in a European semi-final is beyond me. A harsh but valuable lesson learnt for Franz as his decision making ultimately cost him and his side.

Those players probably never faced any real adversity in life so thought it was fine to leave the match to someone else or go through the motions.

[Lasson]

Man, that’s brutal!

[keeper#1]

Heartbreaking!

[Jogo Bonito]

Well done on retaining the Belgian Cup, a good achievement for Standard these days.

I feel your pain in the Europa League exit. Really unlucky, and I agree with you that there is no way a bruised ankle should see even one (let alone two) hobble off in such an important match. Now it's time to secure the league title, right?

[SixPointer]

11 hours ago, Lasson said:

Man, that’s brutal!

10 hours ago, keeper#1 said:

Heartbreaking!

Was tough pill to swallow. Especially as we had took control from the second half and got the early goal in extra time. 

 

11 hours ago, Hootieleece said:

Those players probably never faced any real adversity in life so thought it was fine to leave the match to someone else or go through the motions.

If I was a teammate in the dressing room I would be going through then like a tonne of bricks! Imagine Roy Keane’s take on this 🤣

7 hours ago, Jogo Bonito said:

Well done on retaining the Belgian Cup, a good achievement for Standard these days.

I feel your pain in the Europa League exit. Really unlucky, and I agree with you that there is no way a bruised ankle should see even one (let alone two) hobble off in such an important match. Now it's time to secure the league title, right?

Belgian cup seals the double if you include the super cup at the start of the season. And any trophy is always welcomed, especially with some many strong teams capable in Belgium.

The Europa league is a tough one to take, winning it was never at forefront of my mind. The fact we made it out the league often playing a rested side to prioritise the league shows out strength in depth. So overall a semi final appearance is actually a huge success but it’s the manner which we went out that makes it hurt.

Yes the league needs to come home now, it’s the main desire, the club, the players, the manager and most importantly the fans need it!

[karanhsingh]

Ouch that's some horrible luck! I know from experience that even knowing a europa league semi final place was a great outcome does nothing to lessen the blow. Having to play with 9 men due to injuries is just rotten luck. Head up and fight for the league now. 

[SixPointer]

2 hours ago, karanhsingh said:

Ouch that's some horrible luck! I know from experience that even knowing a europa league semi final place was a great outcome does nothing to lessen the blow. Having to play with 9 men due to injuries is just rotten luck. Head up and fight for the league now. 

Was sickener but if anything put more fire in our bellies for winning the league 

[warlock]

Football, eh? A real heartbreaker against Rome.

But congratulatons on another trophy, and all eyes on the league now.

[Jogo Bonito]

Agree what you said. The aim was not to win the Europa League, you over- achieved. The fans need that Belgian title though, good luck.

[SixPointer]

4 hours ago, warlock said:

Football, eh? A real heartbreaker against Rome.

But congratulatons on another trophy, and all eyes on the league now.

Certainly was bud! But we need to bring the title home. That’s the bread and butter at this moment in time!

4 minutes ago, Jogo Bonito said:

Agree what you said. The aim was not to win the Europa League, you over- achieved. The fans need that Belgian title though, good luck.

Villa in the final would have been more than doable but like you said the fans need to summit Belgian football again and regain power on the domestic front 

[Hootieleece]

4 hours ago, SixPointer said:

Villa in the final would have been more than doable but like you said the fans need to summit Belgian football again and regain power on the domestic front 

Take care of the Homefront first then really venture into Europe once your house is in order.

[Lestri]

Echoing everything everyone has said so far. Great stuff and hope the season ends on a high!

[SixPointer]

6 hours ago, Hootieleece said:

Take care of the Homefront first then really venture into Europe once your house is in order.

Agreed bud. That was always the plan, but with an shock run to the semi it was hard to not to dream and the way in which we missed out on a final appearance was a bitter pill to swallow.

2 hours ago, Lestri said:

Echoing everything everyone has said so far. Great stuff and hope the season ends on a high!

Thanks man. I’m doing my last 12 hour shift of the summer today so things should hopefully ramp up soon!

[SixPointer]

A Sting In The Tail

There would be no time for sulking after our devasting Europa league exit, league games would be coming thick and fast and it was time to regroup, re focus and bring the title home back to Liege for the first time since 2009.

Far from a classic as the top two battled it out, both sides new the sakes and both looked like they would rather not to lose than win.

Bafodé Diakite broke the deadlock, a goal from a back post corner. Again, it felt like I was relying on a set play to dig my underperforming strikers out a hole, even if the Cercle keeper had a great game, I felt like we had lost the potent edge.

Hotic had been Brugge's dangerman, 4 key passes and 3 shots in the first half was enough for me to try mark him out the game, low and behold he coasts in at the back to score. A poor result and mediocre performance but for both which was the only bonus.

A monumental result

Anderlecht came into the game in better form than us, it was must win after Cercle had went level points with us after their result the day earlier.

The decision to change shape back to the 3-5-2 paid dividends in terms of result, but it more so brought out our clinical nature again. Anderlecht dominated the initial stages and the latter part of the match but at the end of the day it’s all about who puts the ball in the onion bag.

Despite Anderlecht early dominance Raskin drove us into an early lead, he ghosted between the two forwards in behind the Anderlecht defence and smashed one home. The hosts equalised after some sustained pressure, which was more than merited and had been coming.

However, we got our noses back in front instantly, Benny this time latching onto the Cruz through ball, an almost carbon copy of the first with the young Algerian making no mistake. The three points were all but wrapped up when the first two goal scorers combined to again exploit the space between full back and CB Again.

Battering Brugge

High five and it leaves us one point away from our first league title in eighteen long years! if the Anderlecht match showed our ability in behind this match showed the effectiveness of our not so secret weapon, set plays!

KVDB started the rout by picking up on a loose ball and finishing well. Then what followed is only what I can describe as the perfect storm, time spent on the training ground (setting up corners) and the player executing said plan perfectly against a weak opponent.

First up the front post decoy headed home by magic Milosevic, everyone loads the back post and allows the front post runner to get across his man. He follows this up with the exact same goal out jumping the man at the near post once again. Diakite wanted a slice of the action and out jumps Milosevic as well as the weak near post of Brugge and gets himself on the scoresheet. Three near post corner goals, SATSIFYING!

The fifth and final nail in coffin comes from a thrown in routine on the right, I like my centre backs taking the throws this allows me to free up the wing back and near side midfielders to get the ball intro the box when coming short and that’s just what they do.

There you have it folks, Standard Liege back on the summit of Belgian football, and with famous treble to match. Franz secures his first league title after a drab 0-0 with Gent, but no one will remember that. They will remember a Belgian super cup, Belgian cup and a Jupiler league title all in the same year.

At times it looked like Franz had taken his eye of the ball risking the gap they had created to go all in for Europa glory, and it nearly cost him but his switch in system for the last games worked wonders for a side devoid of confidence.

A boisterous away end watched on as their title heroes took apart the home side. This win leaves us one short of the league record for wins and its our great rivals who hold it, with one match to play!

Route one football with Stoisavljevic cashing in on sum poor defending off the long ball. Rauta linked with Cruz, the Romanian wonderkid with his trademark run on the shoulder, Cruz with his trademark through ball and it’s a match made in heaven. Rauta ensured it was party time as he bagged himself a brace again playing on the shoulder.

Record breakers, another 3-1 victory confirms that, unfortunately it doesn’t see a record points total, I would presume because of the league split which hasn’t always been a thing with half points. We did break the club record for goals scored.

Milosevic hit his 30th league goal of the season and boy did he hit it. Rauta made it 18 in the league in his maiden season with a brace, two goal that each showed his different strengths and variation. One a real poachers goal the second another fitting example of his superb ability to break in behind the defence line.

I will be back tomorrow with a more in depth look back at the season as a whole, Im off to the Aalesund vs Roseborg match this evening so ill have a plenty time to think over the season before i cast my eye on it tomorrow.

[Lestri]

Get in!!!

[Rikulec]

What a great season domestically! Well done mate.

[karanhsingh]

Wonderful stuff , congratulations on the domestic treble!

[Jogo Bonito]

Many congratulations. A domestic treble is excellent, but it's the Pro League that really matters. Well done!

Hope you enjoy the Aalesund-Rosenborg game. I'll be watching Lillestrom-Tromso 

[SixPointer]

3 hours ago, Lestri said:

Get in!!!

Got there in the end bud!

2 hours ago, Rikulec said:

What a great season domestically! Well done mate.

Thanks dude. The league and cup double does take the sting out of the manner of the Europa exit. 
 

2 hours ago, karanhsingh said:

Wonderful stuff , congratulations on the domestic treble!

Thanks mate! They call it a treble but I know the super cup isn’t a huge deal but I’ll certainly take it and I suppose it’s the only way to do it with there being no league cup.

1 hour ago, Jogo Bonito said:

Many congratulations. A domestic treble is excellent, but it's the Pro League that really matters. Well done!

Hope you enjoy the Aalesund-Rosenborg game. I'll be watching Lillestrom-Tromso 

Thanks mate. Yeah the league was always the main aim anything else was a bonus!

hope Lillestrom v Tromso is better than this. It’s my third match this season here as I work here. The only game we have won was again molde in the derby and we played quick. Again I feel the football is very slow. I need some Franz.

I’m Scottish and used to the fast paced, direct, physical nature of our game. I get Norway is more technical but it’s seriously lacks penetration, both teams defenders hold the ball for an age and let the opponent transition into defensive shape.