[FM23] Ports of Call

[keeper#1]

2027 Youth Intake

It was a very top heavy class with one elite talent and two top talents.  The rest of the class has some potential but I see their ceiling as squad rotation options and getting starts when the first XI player is injured or tired.

Silvio Lagonigro is a fast right winger who doesn't let anyone stand in his way of success.  He wants to win.  But he also still needs to put in some work to improve his game.  Has the potential to be a very good  crosser of the ball and one of the most technical players on the field.  Hard to get off the ball.  Needs to work on his decision making and keeping his cool but he's young and that will come with match experience.

Joaquin Cuervo has the potential to be a tough hard-nosed defensive midfielder.  Not a strong technical player but he is willing to put his nose in and try to win the ball.  Not the fastest player but he could become one of the best tacklers on the team.  Naturally fit but needs to put in the work to improve his overall stamina and speed.

Enrico Rutigliano is a solid defense-first right back.  Not very fast so we won't see him running up and down the right side of the pitch and getting involved in both the offense and defense.  Not strong in the air so he's not a natural center back where we could hide his lack of pace.  Could become a good solid #2 right back and getting games when we need an extra stay at home defender on the pitch.

[keeper#1]

2026-27 Season Review

We had a solid start to the winter half of the season after a strong showing in the Winter Cup with wins over Steaua Bucurest and Bielefeld.  But as the winter turned to spring, teams were starting figure out and exploit our 5-2-2-1 formation.  We only had one player manning the wings.  Teams started to overload our wings and play down the flanks which put us under a lot of pressure.  The defense started to crack under the pressure and we were losing our grip on the European places.  In an attempt to save European football for next season, I moved to a 4-2-3-1 formation.  Putting two players on the wing to prevent the overload.  We rebounded with four wins in our last five after Hertha smacked us around the pitch.

We were able to save European football but not able to get back into the Champions League places falling just two points behind Eintracht Frankfurt.  We will see three new teams next season as Stuttgart, Hannover and Karlsruhe all go down.

Defender of the Year: CB Sebastiaan Bornauw - Bornauw is our best defender across all categories.  The man is a rock in our defense.  He's not one of the elite Bundesliga defenders but he's in the next tier down.  We can't afford the elite defenders in their prime but we can afford players like Bornauw.  92% headers won.  83% tackles won.  I'd like to see the tackles won percentage to be a bit higher in the 85%+ range.  Has become a force on corner kicks now that I've finally got the set pieces sorted out.  Five goals all in the second half of the season and all from corner kicks.

Midfielder of the Year: DM Mattias Sandberg - Sandberg evolved into a force in the midfield especially after we switched to the 4-2-3-1 formation.  Poured in six goals and added a team-high 11 assists.  Good enough on the defensive end but definitely needs to be paired with a more defensive-minded midfielder to cover for his offensive production.  A good passer of the ball who does not make the risky pass but will make that pass if it is needed.  

Attacker of the Year: CF Dzenan Pejciovic -Pejciovic did exactly what I wanted from him this season.  He improved his shots on target rate to 48% (up from last season's 45%) which in turn saw his conversion rate increase to 23% from last year's 13%.  On the whole, Pejciovic scored 22 goals in all competitions.  And, most importantly, I was able to lock him up through the 2032 season with no minimum release fee clause.  He claimed Players Player of the Year honors for this season.

 

Budgets are about the same as we had last year.

[keeper#1]

2027 Summer Transfer Activity

The summer window was not as active as last summer.  I've got most of the pieces, that I want, in place and most of the signings were depth signings.  We had some big sales.  The biggest sale was Mattias Svanberg who left for Aston Villa.  Hertha Berlin activated his Champions League release clause which was 28 million euros and then the mid-tier EPL clubs came in for his services offering above what Hertha Berlin was offering.  He had bids in from Hertha Berlin, Aston Villa and Fulham.  He took the 43 million offer from Villa.  21.5 million upfront and 21.5 million over the next two seasons.  Holmgren Petersen was getting upset about his lack of playing time so he was shipped out.  He had multiple offers and settled on Rayo Vallecano for 12 million.  We definitely came out ahead in this window.

This was the biggest story of the window.  Inter Milan and Leipzig both activated Duchesne's 65 million euro release clause.  He shockingly turned down both clubs and opted to sign a new contract with us.  His release fee only goes up by five million to 70 million euros which is disappointing.  I wanted to get rid of it altogether but the agent would none of it and locked in a 70 million euro release clause.

Jesper Andrell was a late signing to give us a true rotation piece at left forward behind Jonas Wind.  Andrell fits the bill.  He's not a true winger but wants to cut inside and put pressure on the right back and drag him inside to create space for Duchesne barreling down the wing.  He has some first team experience with Malmo.  18 appearances in his young career and three goals.  He's a player that meets what my scouting focus is going to be this season: players under 18 who have first team experience with a club in highest division of the nation in traditional feeder nations to Germany.

Noah Mbamba is more defensive-minded than Svanberg who he is replacing which leaves us a bit unbalanced in the defensive midfield. Still a solid player who can definitely help us this season.

Norbert Klein is a young and hungry replacement for Mangus Holmgren Petersen.  He can play both wingback positions like Petersen but unlike Petersen isn't going to complain about a lack of playing time like Petersen had started to do.  With the right development, he has the potential to be an elite defense-minded wingback.

The last two summer transfer windows have provided us with a nice young core of players at all layers of the formation.

 

[Sonic Youth]

I was looking forward to seeing Mattias Sandberg with a more defensive partner stepping it up this coming season. Now I’ll be watching for where the playmaking is coming from as it looks like you now have more of a double pivot-ish instead of a Sandberg character in the heart of your midfield.

When was the last time Wolfsburg qualified for Europe?

[keeper#1]

1 hour ago, Sonic Youth said:

I was looking forward to seeing Mattias Sandberg with a more defensive partner stepping it up this coming season. Now I’ll be watching for where the playmaking is coming from as it looks like you now have more of a double pivot-ish instead of a Sandberg character in the heart of your midfield.

When was the last time Wolfsburg qualified for Europe?

The previous manager qualified them for the 2025-26 Europa Conference Season.  He got fired in November 2025 and I took over.  I took them to the semifinals where we lost to Manchester United.  We did not qualify for European competition last season and in the Europa League this season.  Before the 2025-26 trip to the Europa Conference, you have to go back to their real life Champions League appearance in the 2021-22 season when they finished 4th in their group (Lille, Sevilla, and Salzburg).

Losing Cajuste and Svanberg in back to back season has really made me rethink my midfield.  I've got a lot of similar players in the midfield right now so it's been hard to find a midfield trio that compliment each other.

Edited February 14, 2023 by keeper#1

[keeper#1]

2027-28 Midseason Update

We currently lead the pack chasing the top five (Dortmund, Bayern, Leipzig, Frankfurt and Hertha) and, to be honest, that is about where we should be.  Our defense is nowhere near the level that I want it to be at.  We are middle of the pack when it comes to xGA (25.39) and our xG (26.38) is only just ahead of it.  Our defense, especially, early in the season was awful.  Teams were pressing us early and we were giving away too many early goals causing us to play from behind.  This led to another tactical change and some on the fly tweaks as the initial effort still left acres of open space for the opposition to exploit.

Our foray in the Europa League has been slightly better.  We sit in 11th place which is good enough for the opening knockout round if the league phase ended today but we still have winter matches (at Braga and home to Athletic Bilbao) to look forward to.  If we can claim six points from those matches, we could get into the top eight but I think that three or four points is a more likely outcome than six points.

It was during the three game stretch of Midtylland, Mainz and Bayern which caused me to think about making a tactical switch away from the 4-2-3-1.  A pair of draws in winnable games against Rennes and Gladbach confirmed to me that a switch was needed.  I didn't think a switch back to the 5-2-2-1 would help us because it would leave us to exposed on the wings so settled for a more traditional 4-3-3 which gives us two players on each wing and some defensive stability in the middle.

Hertha have always been a bogey team for us so I sort of discounted the result against them as "we just have a mental block against them" and no changes were needed.  Against Koln, who is struggling at the middle of the table, caused me to make the final changes.  I was playing, on the left side, with an IF (a), MEZ (a), and a WB (a).  Koln was the first team to capitalize on the vacant space behind the surging left back.  The MEZ wasn't tracking back nor was the inside forward.  Teams just exploited this space.  I switched the WB (a) to a WB (s) and the MEZ (a) to CM (a).  This tempered some the wingbacks forward runs and left him in a more holding role on the left side.  Switching the MEZ (a) to a CM (a) gets rid of the "roams from position" instruction.  We would get caught out when the MEZ would drift into the right side of the formation to support the play, we would lose the ball, and long diagonal ball would get played over the left back which left us exposed.  Just not defensively sound.  Playing him as a CM (a) gets rid of this and allows him to help the left back in snuffing out the opposition's attack down that flank.

Defender of the First Half: RB Gabriele Zappa - Zappa has been in excellent form and doing an excellent job as a two-way wingback on the right side.  He is the only player on the defense who is 90%+ on headers won and 80%+ on tackles won.  He has helped the offense with only one assist but has paired well with right forward Bryan Gil.  Zappa has not directly created a lot of chances but he has indirectly helped with his 89% pass completion rate and nearly 1 open play key pass per 90 minutes.

Midfielder of the First Half: RF Bryan Gil - Gil has been the player of the first half of the season.  Without his offensive contributions, we would be in an even worse position.  He leads the teams with 12 assists double the second place Maximillian Arnold who has six assists.  He has completed 30% of his crosses and created over one chance per game by making almost 2.5 open play key passes per 90 minutes.

Forward of the First Half: CF Christian Mosegaard - On a per 90 minutes basis, Mosegaard has been our most productive forward.  He's only second on the team with nine goals but he's pouring in almost one goal per 90 minutes.  The only stat that gives me pause about moving him into the starting role for the second half of the season is his current conversion rate (20%) is outperforming his expected shot xG (15%).  I would expect some regression to the mean for Mosegaard but in the first half of the season there was no one better on the team at scoring goals and leading the line than Mosegaard.

[keeper#1]

Six points from Braga and Athletic Bilbao see Wolfsburg just sneak into the top 8 of the Final Europa League Stage Table

Seven of our eight opponents qualify for the knockout phase.  The only opponent who did not qualify was Viking, who placed 32nd out of the 36 teams.

[keeper#1]

2028 Winter Transfer Window - Addition by Subtraction

Not a lot of incoming players and it looked like we lost a lot of major players from the senior team.  Starting off Sorin Ursu, who was our major signing of the Winter 2026 transfer window, was shipped to Shakhtar for 10.75 million and another 6.5 million in future payments plus a 30% profit from next transfer.  Ursu is a quality player, however, I had a hard time finding a role for him to fit into and he did not like starting one game and then sitting two.  He was becoming more or more upset so instead of letting that attitude infect the locker room...I shipped him to Shakhtar for a decent profit.  He will be joining there by aging Yannick Garhardt who was only in the squad because of Europa League home grown requirements.  He did not want to sign a new contract when his current contract expires in June so we made a little money off of him when Shakhtar came in for his services.

Daniel Ruiz was in a similar situation to Ursu.  A good player with no real position in my tactical plans.  He was even more vocal about his lack of playing time than Ursu.  As a result, I finally put him on the transfer list and had accepted offers from both Brentford and Roma.  He chose Roma which I had hoped as their offer was less incentive laden than Brentford's.  Another minor deal saw just spin Jules to Dynamo Dresden for an amount similar to what we had bought him for.  No big loss as he was not going to be a major contributor for us....a scouting fail but no real loss on the balance sheet.

Lunin and Radukovic both had minimum release clause activated by Hertha Berlina dn Freiburg respectively.  Kyohei Goto, who we bought in last winter's window, returned to the club after he completed his loan with Sapporo and will become the new #1.  Radukovic was a disappointing loss as he was starting to come into his own for us.  A good player at both center forward and right forward and was still willing to come off the bench or take a spot start.  Gustavo Periera was brought in as his direct replacement.

Goto returns from his season long loan with Sapporo where he was firmly established as their #1 goalkeeper.  His excellent form and lots of playing time (171 career appearances at just 21 years old) as seen him become the Japan #1 goalkeeper as well.  He will take over our #1 goalkeeper job from the departed Andriy Lunin.  

I forgot to mention Slobodan Jeremic in the transfer dealings section.  Jeremic is a player that, I think, allows us to create an ideal midfield trio.  Jeremic is a poised deep-lying playmaker that wants to sit deep and pick out passes.  Because of this, he allows us to move Maxmilian Arnold from the play making role into the box to box midfielder role which we have struggled to fill in the first half of the season.  Michael Dorler will stay in the attack minded central midfield role.  Jeremic joins us for a low fee only 2.5 million upfront with some payments over the next couple seasons.  A solid buy for us.

Pereira is our direct purchased replacement for the departed Milos Radokovic at the right forward position.  Pereira is someone who can play both the right forward and center forward position.  He has plenty of pace and can beat his marker both with and without the ball.  Not a great passer but an elite finisher who should make a big push for playing time in the second half of the season.

Even though Varela was purchased last season, he is the player that I have marked to be our primary sub at all three midfield positions with the departure of Ursu.  He was a big money buy and wants to get some playing time.  He is definitely ready for that playing time.  He will start out as the primary sub and claim a spot start when any of the starters needs a rest.  A valuable asset to have on the roster.

 

[keeper#1]

Tactical Evolution

I'm not big when it comes to the tactical side of the game.  I'm a former goalkeeper so I never really paid attention to the tactical discussions because my involvement was typically "just save the ball and get it to player who can do something with it."  But in my time at Wolfsburg, I've had to constantly shift my team's shape to account for my team's own weaknesses and the opposition attacking the weak points in the formation:

When I got to Wolfsburg, I played in a 3-4-2-1 formation.  We started out slow as the players were in poor spirits and unhappy players don't play well.  As the results started to turn positive, the morale improved and the results continued to improve.  Things were looking good with this formation.  But on the second and third time seeing the same formation, the opposing managers started to overload the flanks and swamp our lone wing players with bodies.  They couldn't cope.  The results started to turn sour.  We couldn't get out of our defensive half.  The offense, when it got the ball, were isolated and not well supported because the defender were too tired from defending to get into the attacking phase.  I decided to make a tactical switch.

In comes the 4-2-3-1.  This gave a second player on each wing to prevent the wing defenders from getting overloaded by the opposition.  After a brief breaking in period, we played really well with this formation.  The attacking four were supplemented by a midfielder surging into the attack.  It worked really well.  Then teams started to pack the box against us.  The low block was hard to break down with this tactic because we had an attacking five and a defending five.  Wins started to turn into draws and draws into losses.  Teams like to push against us early and claim a lead against us so they could move into their low block.  We moved into another shape.

Finally the 4-3-3: this is final result of tweaking the initial concept behind the switch.  We started with a MEZ (a) paired with the BBM.  Ahead of him was an IF (a) and behind him was a WB (a).  This started out okay....at first.  Managers quickly exploited the space behind the MEZ (a) which was made even larger by the WB (a).  The CB (c) and DLP (d) couldn't cover that space.  Teams dumped the ball into that space and created overloads.  Our answer to that: we tweaked the formation to make it a bit more balanced.  The MEZ (a) still attacks but now attacks as CM (a).  The WB (a) is now WB (s) to crunch down that space even further and put himself into a more supporting role.  The IF (a) stayed as an IF (a).  The passing triangle still exists between himself and the AF (a) and CM (a) - the passing angles have just changed.  The angles have changed in the triangle between the IF (a) - CM (a) - WB (s) combination.  It's been a lot of work but I think we have a good tactical shape...for now.  We will need to see to change to combat how the opposition attacks it.

[Blarney]

Finally getting around to reading some things I've missed.  Excellent save so far and great idea.

[keeper#1]

1 hour ago, Blarney said:

Finally getting around to reading some things I've missed.  Excellent save so far and great idea.

Thanks.  Glad you are enjoying the save.

[keeper#1]

Europa League Knockout Rounds

We had a relatively easy Round of 16 draw against Young Boys.  A pair of 2-1 victories saw us through to the quarterfinals.  There, we met a much tougher opponent in Benfica.  We had the benefit of getting the first match at home and we took complete advantage shutting them out 3-0.  Another 2-1 victory in Portugal and our run continued into the semifinals against Newcastle.  They gave us a tough match in Germany and we went to England needing a win to advance to the final.  We blitzed them in a thirteen-minute stretch where we poured in three goals and claimed a famous victory to advance to our first European final in club history.

In the final, we faced Chelsea at the Stadion Rajko Mitic in Belgrade.  We got our first goal off of a set piece when Maximilian Arnold picked out Sebastiaan Bornauw on a deep crossing free kick to give us a 1-0 lead.  Chelsea pushed hard for a game-tying goal against a tiring Wolfsburg squad.  They got that goal on a 87th minute corner kick and we were headed to extra time.  Chelsea had to feel like they had the advantage.  We were tiring and out of substitutions.  They had a spring in the step and ready to push for thirty more minutes.  We were lucky enough to earn a free kick deep in Chelsea's half of the pitch on the right wing.

Maximilian Arnold is out wide taking the kick.  From here, it appears Chelsea are in a good position.  They have the short option marked as well as the three options lined up at the near post.  However, that is not where the kick is designed to go.  Arnold has Sebastiaan Bornauw in his sights on the back post.  Chelsea should be good here too.  They have the 3v2  on Bornaux and the lurker in the penalty box.  However, Chelsea's manager has to be concerned about the gap between the defender to Bornaux.  There's way too much space given up there.

The kick is in the air and Chelsea are still in good shape.  All three near post options are blanketed by defenders.  The penalty spot runner isn't making a deep run into the box.  This leaves three defenders to mark Bornauw.  The goalkeeper is flying to the back post because he sees that none of the defenders are going to Bornauw on the back post.  They are just marking space.  Chelsea's manager should be very concerned right now.

One of the defenders has finally reacted to Bornauw on the back post.  But it's too late.  Bornauw is already in the air preparing to pound a header on goal.  The goalkeeper is in good position to make a save.  Chelsea are playing 5 v 4 if there is a rebound in front.  But Bornauw is the biggest worry.

Bornauw rips the header back across the face of the goalkeeper and it finds the back corner of the goal and we have a 2-1 lead with just 10 minutes remaining in extra time.

 

[keeper#1]

2027-28 Season Review

Our season turned after a 1-0 loss to Mainz.  We went on a ripping run of form after that loss.  A five-match stretch where we beat Dortmund twice, Bayern once, Bremen once and finally got over the hump against Hertha.  We dropped just three points from our final nine league matches.  That run really helped us in our push for the Champions League places.  We, finally, ran out of gas in the DfB-Pokal final where Bayern beat us 5-2.  We just didn't have anything left in the tank and Bayern had a full two weeks off leading into the match.  That said, I will take the Europa League title over the DfB-Pokal title.

We finished in fourth place and earned a spot in the Champions League based on our 4th place league finish just finishing ahead of Dortmund, who will go into the Europa League joined by Gladbach.  Mainz claim the Europa Conference place.  Hertha claimed a 3rd place finish while Leipzig finished runners-up to champions Bayern.  Union Berlin, Hamburg and Kiel will go back down into the 2.Bundesliga.  Union lost the playoff to Hannover.  Stuttgart moved up as the 2.Bundesliga league champions and Augsburg come up as league runners-up.

Defender of the Year: CB Sebastiaan Bornauw - Bornauw was the clear cut choice for the club defender of the year honors.  I can't say enough about him.  A beast on the ground winning 90% of his tackles and in the air winning 86% of his headers.  He has used that success in the air to finish the season as our second leading goalscorer with 14 goals.  He is putting himself into consideration for taking the captain's armband in the coming seasons as Maximilian Arnold will be turning 34 in a few days.

Midfielder of the Year: CM Maximilian Arnold - Speaking of Arnold, he earned the Midfielder of the Year award in a tough competition.  He claimed the award by being the best all around midfielder on the roster this season.  A solid defender (71% tackles won rate), a good passer (88% pass completion rate), and able to unlock a defense (1.10 open play key passes per 90 and 0.45 chances created per 90).  Other players were better on offense.  Others were better on defense.  But no one combined the two in one package like Arnold.  A great player for the club and our captain.

Forward of the Year: CM Dzenan Pejcinovic - Pejcinovic is one of the best center forwards in the Bundesliga.  28 goals in all competitions including a 5th best 17 goals in the Bundesliga.  Led the line in a great fashion.  A dynamic option that can beat defenders in the air or on the ground.  At only 23, he's already a veteran presence in the roster with 175 career first team appearances.  Usually flanked on the left by Jonus Wind or the emerging Jesper Andrell and new signing Gustavo Pereira on the right.

[SixPointer]

Congratulations on the Europa win!

[keeper#1]

27 minutes ago, SixPointer said:

Congratulations on the Europa win!

Thanks.  It was an exciting time when I played the match this morning.  I'm just glad no one else was home to hear the screams when Bornaux scored in 110th minute.

[Sonic Youth]

That’s some form you had. It’s great you got a reward for the season, winning the Europa League 

Getting fourth on top of that is excellent too 

[keeper#1]

Thanks. Hopefully, the squad is ready to go again when I get from holiday on Sunday. 

[keeper#1]

Summer 2028 Transfer Window

We spent big this window.  We needed to improve the depth of the squad heading into the Champions League.  We are going to have a lot of tough two match weeks in the fall that we need to be ready for.  My goal is to do our best in the Champions League but make sure that we are in a position to win the weekend match following the Champions League.  Champions League in one season is nice but I want us to be a consistent fixture in the Champions League.  We were also forced to make some buys when Arsenal came in with a big money bid for left back Achiel Duchense.  Duchense had a big minimum release fee clause which Arsenal chose not to activate so I took advantage and made sure there was a profit from next sale clause on the sale.  I sold GK Kyohei Goto, who led use to Europa League glory last season.  In the long term, he wasn't going to develop into the goalkeeper of the future plus I needed to free up a slot on the Champions League roster for a homegrown talent.  Right back Gabriele Zappa was a late sale to Fulham but he was replaced with youngster Carl Martensson.

Attributes for all players can be found by clicking on the player or on the player name in the breakdown.

Brandon Lopez is a lethal finisher who comes to us from Cruz Azul in Mexico.  Lopez is a product of our intense scouting of the youth teams from big nations around the world.  Lopez can lead the line and at only 20 years old has nine caps for the Mexican national team and 15 goals in 27 appearances in club play.  He can finish and has just enough speed to pull away from the opposition's center backs.  He is a player that is ready to play in the Bundesliga and push for playing in the Champions League as well.  

Center back Gerard Smarth is a center back for the future.  He isn't quite ready to play for us yet and we have lots of depth at the center back position.  But he was too good of a talent to pass up from Slavia Prague and the Haitian national team.  He is spending the 2028-29 season at Shakthar where he will get quality minutes in both the Ukrainian Premier League and the Champions League.

Adrian Bernabe will provide us with plenty of depth and experience in the center of the midfield for us this season.  We brought him in from relegated Bournemouth where he was one of their bright spots last season.  Bernabe can play a variety of roles in the midfield and is an elite passer of the ball which will go a long way in our system.  A quick midfielder who will be in the right place at the right time.  A player who will see a good amount of minutes for us this season.

Center back Goncalo Inacio will step into the starting lineup right away.  He is an elite defender and would be an asset for any team in any league.  For some reason, Dortmund did not want to play him and he wanted a place to get playing time.  He cost us a hefty sum at 40 million euros but we feel that he will be worth it.  Solid in the tackle and always on his marker.  A great passer of the ball too which will help us set up our attack.

A German goalkeeper who will be a direct replacement for Kyohei Goto.  Alexander Nubel came to us on a discount from Lyon.  He will alternate playing time with young German goalkeeper Jamal Ulshofer.  Nubel will be the #1 goalkeeper for us this season while acting as a bridge to the developing Ulshofer.

Owen Wijndal is the direct replacement for the departed Achiel Duchesne.  Wijndal is the developed and more experienced version of Duchesne.  Wijndal is a terror on the left wing.  He can run up and down the wing with pace both with and without the ball.  Knows when to go forward and when to stay back.  A great crosser and passer of the ball.  A solid replacement for Duchense.

Will Overgard is a creative attacking midfielder from Atlanta United where he will finish the season on loan.  A player who needs to do some developing but another player that I felt was worth taking a risk on to help the attacking balance of the midfield.  We have a lot of box-to-box and defensive midfield types on the roster but not a lot of midfielders who want to get forward and attack.

Daniel Romero has absolute star potential written all over him.  I sent him on loan back to Sao Paulo for the next nine months to continue his development and we are overloaded with attackers.  Romero is a fast forward who will be an elite finisher in the next couple seasons.  Already has six appearances with the Uruguayan national team and 73 club appearances.  Can play the both the center forward and right forward positions.  He will be a great addition to our attacking lineup next season. 

Carl Martensson is a stay-at-home full back who is a direct replacement for Gabriele Zappa. Martensson will need a season or two of development to unlock his full potential.  He will get that development time with us this season.  He has the potential to be one of the best defending right-backs in the league by the time he turns 21.

[keeper#1]

Not the easy road in the Champions League especially after the 0-2 start.

[keeper#1]

2028-29 Season (Through October 2028)

We've had a great season, thus far.  We had some early struggles in the Champions League against Ajax and Newcastle.  We've righted the ship against RB Salzburg and Getafe to give us a chance at qualifying for the knockout stages.  The top 8 is out of the question but we can finish in the 9-24 places.  We can probably lose one of our last four matches to qualify.  I think we need 10 points to advance to the knockout rounds.  In league play, we are flying.  We haven't lost a match yet and that includes a match against Bayern in those 10 league matches.  Only Leverkusen and Freiburg have earned points by drawing against us.  The DFB-Pokal was a disappointment as we were knocked out in the 2nd round against a tough Mainz team.

We sit in at the top of table with a three-point lead over Hertha Berlin, who we play in our next match.  We've got two clear cut relegation candidates in Augsburg and Werder Bremen.  Bayern Munich lurk just four points us and one point behind Hertha.  It's looking like the three-horse race between ourselves, Hertha and Bayern for the league title.  There will be a tough battle for the remaining European places and midtable.

We hold the last qualifying spot to the knockout round over Rangers based on the goal scored tiebreaker (4 to 2).  We have some tough matches to close out the knockout round:

home to Rangers (25th), Braga (17th) and Porto (19th)

away to Chelsea (21st)

We need, in my opinion, six points from those three home matches.  The Rangers match is a huge one and could determine who advances to the knockout round and who spends the spring European season at home.

We've had a lot of injuries to start the season.  Sebastiaan Bornauw, Brandon Lopez, Dzenan Pejcinovic, Michael Dorler, and Carl Martensson have all missed significant time in the first few months of the season.  Jonas Wind has been the bright spot in the early days of the season.  His seven goals have been huge and his veteran presence on the pitch has been just as significant.  Goncalo Inacio has been a great addition to the squad especially in Bornauw's absence.  I can't wait until I can roll out a center back partnership of Bornauw and Inacio as the season progresses and Bornaux becomes match fit.

A tie against Hertha kicks off the second quarter of the season.  We get some easier matches against Hoffenheim and Hannover before our two Champions League matches against Porto and Chelsea.  We are finally starting to get healthy and ready to push into another gear this season.

[keeper#1]

2028-29 Midseason Report

It was a tough two months with a lot of tough matches and a lot more injuries to deal with as I tried to get the players who missed the first quarter of the season with injuries back into the squad.  A red-hot Leipzig picked us apart after we earned a tough draw at Porto.  We righted the ship before we threw in an absolute clunker to close the first half of the season.  The defense decided to not make the trip to Gladbach.  Bornauw did all he could with a hat trick from set pieces but it was not enough.

We are still in first place but our grip on the position is very shaky.  Bayern have a game in hand which comes against Mainz.  A win in that game and they will take the lead on goal difference.  The three-team race has turned into a four-team race with Leipzig and Hertha Berlin sitting just behind us and Bayern.  Augsburg and Werder Bremen should start making plans for life in the 2.Bundesliga next season.  Hannover and Hoffenheim will battle to see who has to go into the Relegation Playout and who is safe from that two-legged tie at the end of the season.

I said in the last post that we are going to need six points from our remaining four Champions League fixtures to make the knockout stage.  That statement still stands.  Even though we drew against Porto, I still feel that we need six points to advance to the knockout stage.  We've got a pair of home matches to close out the league phase: Rangers (18th) and Braga (12th).  They will both be tough opponents but two wins would give us 11 points which has qualified in every season since the switch to the league phase.  Nine points (win-draw combination) might be enough but it would be close.

Defender of the First Half: RB Norbert Klein - Right-back Klein has been our best defender this season.  We have had a lot of rotation in the center back position which has caused some disjointed performances from quality players at that position.  Klein has been a two-way beast at the right back position.  80%+ in both tackles and headers won.  Has chipped in with a goal on the offensive end as well.  Gaining some interested from Hertha Berlin and Atletico Madrid.

Midfielder of the First Half: CM Maximilan Arnold - Arnold has been a set piece creator in the first half.  His indirect and corner kick service has led to a team-high eight assists.  He has led the team in key passes/90 at over 4.5/90.  Arnold is not afraid to get involved in the defensive half of the game.  At age 34, he is putting possibly one last good season under the sun for us and we are reaping the benefits of his age-less work.

Forward of the First Half: CF Brandon Lopez - Jonus Wind was in line for his honor but he got injured and has missed most of November and December.  Brandon Lopez has stepped up in Wind's absence to provide us with offense.  A team-high eight goals and close to a 1.0 goals/90 minutes.  He gets his shots on net.  He just needs to miss the goalkeeper more and find the back the net.  When he does that, the sky is limit for this Mexican forward.

A good but top heavy youth intake coming this spring.

[keeper#1]

A Ship Leaves Port

Alfred Schreuder, who has been the Ajax manager since the beginning of the save, left the Ajax post to take the Dortmund job.  I had passing interest in the Dortmund job.  However, I have A LOT of interest in the Ajax.  It's in a major port city, it's a big club that will compete for trophies both in Holland and in Europe, and it's one of my favorite clubs.  It's a no-brainer to throw my hat in the ring for the available Ajax job.

[keeper#1]

So, I went back and forth on accepting the Ajax when it was offered to me.

It ticked a lot of the boxes for the save: major port city, top team in the port city, my favorite team

However, I just couldn't accept the offer and switch clubs.  Why?

1) Ajax wouldn't not let me finish out the season at Wolfsburg and I really wanted to see this season out.  Wolfsburg have a good chance at winning the Bundesliga and while I would win the Eredivisie, this season, with Ajax...it's not a major feat compared to winning the Bundesliga with Wolfsburg.

2) Ajax is my favorite team.  I would want to see them win everything and get mad at even the smallest loss.  

3) Ajax is a team in transition at the moment.  They are winning but they are an old team.  I really didn't want to be the manager in charge of the roster turnover while trying to keep them at the high level of success that they are accustomed to.

[keeper#1]

January 2029 Update

We had a solid month.  A bit shaky defensively but we were able to secure two huge results in the Champions League while going 2-1-1 in the Bundesliga.  Not pleased with the lack of clean sheets though and the defense really fell off against Dortmund - albeit that was a highly rotated side after the must-win Champions League match against Braga earlier in the week.  Need to right the ship domestically as we head into February and March to keep our Bundesliga title hopes alive.

The two wins over Rangers and Braga were just enough to propel us into the top 24 and earn a spot in the Champions League Knockout Stages.  A draw in either of those matches would have dropped us to nine points and just outside the top 24 needed to reach the knockout rounds.  Our reward is a tie against Newcastle, who already beat us in the group stages.

Our dip in league form has seen us drop into third place.  It's a four-team race for the title.  Should be fun as the spring breezes bring warmth to the heart of Germany.

Not a busy winter transfer window.  One deal to bring in youngster Maikel Onker who was loaned back to Bochum for the remainder of the season and disgruntled midfielder Federico Varela shipped out to Hertha Berlin.

[Sonic Youth]

Tough call on the Ajax job. Got to bring that attitude to Wolfsburg for the rest of the season now.

Facing Newcastle this time will be a different proposition, as both teams will have changed hoe they are. Where is Newcastle in the PL?

[keeper#1]

Newcastle are underperforming in 6th place but should be in 3rd based on the xG stats.

[keeper#1]

Posting this a lot later than I planned.  I had planned weekend trip to Florida to watch some spring training baseball.  That went great.  So great, that some food poisoning decided to return home with me.  After spending the last 24 hours with food exiting my body at high rates of speed from both ends, I have enough energy to post about the end of the 2028-29 Wolfsburg season:

2028-29 End of Season Update

We fell just short of our goal of winning the Bundesliga.  We couldn't keep our form from the first half of the season going in the second half.  We slid as far down as fourth place before getting back into good form and surging into second place but by then Bayern had put distance between themselves and the rest of the pack.  Augsburg finish the season winless but finished with the second worst goal difference (-45).  Relegated Werder Bremen finished with the worst goal difference at -49.  RB Leipzig and Dortmund will join us in the Champions League.

The losses to Schalke and Koln helped Bayern put distance between them and us.  The March loss to Bayern was the nail in the coffin in terms of our title hopes.  We could make no mistakes and we made those mistakes at Dusseldorf and Hannover.

We had a massive injury crisis this season.  For some reason, this chart includes all players at the club but sifting out the Wolfsburg II and Wolfsburg U19 players.  I'm left with the following injuries:

• Forward Jonas Wind - out for 5 months (key rotational player)
• Center Back Sebastiaan Bornauw - out for 4 months (starter)
• Forward Dzenan Pejcinovic - out for 3 months (starter)
• Right Back Karl Martensson - out for 3 months (key rotational player)
• Midfielder Michael Dorler - out for for 2 months (key rotational player)
• Forward Brandon Lopez - out for 2 months (starter)
• Forward Christian Mosegaard - out for 7 weeks (key rotational players)
• Left Forward Jesper Andrell - out for 7 weeks (starter)
• Center Back Tim Oermann - out for 6 weeks (key rotational player)
• Forward Gustavo Pereira - out for 5 weeks (key rotational player)

That's a lot of players out with injuries.  Caused a lot of disjointed-ness within the team but got lots of players playing time that helped with their development.

Defender of the Year: Right Back Norbert Klein - Klein was one of the few first team players that didn't miss significant time due to injuries.  He was a bright spot all season.  A solid defender and a good passer to help kick start the counter attack.  He was routinely one of the first names put on the team sheet.  A good player who has the potential to be a great player in a few seasons.

Midfielder of the Year: Center midfielder Maximillian Arnold - Old man Arnold had what most think was his last season as a starter.  At age 34, they may be right.  But Arnold is dangerous from a set piece situation and still has just enough pace to keep up with Bundesliga play and has the guile to beat most players with his smarts.  

Forward of the Year: Center Forward Brandon Lopez - This was the hardest position group to choose from because we had so many injuries during the season.  Lopez did just enough to earn the award over Dzenan Pejcinovic (6G 7A).  Lopez is a pure goal scorer with his 12 goals and one assist in his brief amount of time in the starting lineup.  If he was healthy for the entire season, he could have easily been a 20 goal scorer for the season.  Hopefully, he stays healthy next season.

Looking to next season, I think we need more help in the center back and center midfield positions.  

[keeper#1]

You have to take this call.

I didn't expect to get the job but I also didn't expect Real Madrid would run it back with Zidane.

Edited March 15, 2023 by keeper#1

[Sonic Youth]

6 hours ago, keeper#1 said:

You have to take this call.

I didn't expect to get the job but I also didn't expect Real Madrid would run it back with Zidane.

That’s a nice confidence boost 

Head turned now, should we expect you to loose form  

[Sonic Youth]

12 hours ago, keeper#1 said:

Posting this a lot later than I planned.  I had planned weekend trip to Florida to watch some spring training baseball.  That went great.  So great, that some food poisoning decided to return home with me.  After spending the last 24 hours with food exiting my body at high rates of speed from both ends, I have enough energy to post about the end of the 2028-29 Wolfsburg season:

Glad to hear you’re better and have stopped being a two-way player.

Congrats on the season. Pretty decent effort, especially with that injury list!

I’d add a forward to the mix of signings, especially if the forwards have a history of injury.

What’s the goal for next season?

[keeper#1]

5 hours ago, Sonic Youth said:

Glad to hear you’re better and have stopped being a two-way player.

Congrats on the season. Pretty decent effort, especially with that injury list!

I’d add a forward to the mix of signings, especially if the forwards have a history of injury.

What’s the goal for next season?

Topple Bayern and win the league.

Advance to, at least, the round of 16 in the Champions League

I've got a Brazilian forward, who spent last season out on loan, coming back and will add that depth to the front line.

[keeper#1]

The Champions League draw was not kind to us.  Our coefficient is 35th.  We only play two teams with lower coefficients than us.  We drew two of the toughest Pot 3 teams in Napoli and PSV.  Monaco and Ajax are tough Pot 2 teams as well.  Going to be hard to get into the top 24.

[Sahaj Oberoi]

Great concept for a save. Really good work.

[keeper#1]

4 hours ago, Sahajpal Oberoi said:

Great concept for a save. Really good work.

Thank you!

[keeper#1]

Summer 2029 Transfer Dealings

We shipped away some depth at the forward positions.  Bryan Gil and Jonas Wind, both missed significant time with injury last season and were making a lot of money, were sent to play for other clubs.  Tim Oermann was one of our center backs that was on the outside looking in for playing time and Standard came in with an offer that we could not turn down.  The only other big name move was Henrik Ben Hansen, a forward in the Wolfsburg II team, left after Leverkusen offered an team-friendly clause-heavy bid.  Three other players left the club on minor moves.  Players who I did not expect to have much of a future impact.

When the season ended, I made center midfield and center back my offseason priorities.  We needed to improve the spine of the team if we are going to knock Bayern off their perch as Bundesliga champions.  We also need depth to handle the big Champions League fixtures we have in the first half of the season.  @Sonic Youth suggested adding a forward to that list but I had a forward returning from loan and some exciting talent coming through the academy so opted not to go that route for this season.

The most interesting move of the window was bringing in veteran midfielder Leon Goretzka.  This is an atypical move for me.  I don't like to bring in older players on transfer deals because money can't be made from them down the road.  However, Goretzka wanted to come home to Germany and we needed some midfield help after some dealings, earlier in the window, fell through.  13.5 million is a heavy price to pay but if he can help win the Bundesliga, then the move will be worth it.  The fans support the move as well.

Centerback Charlie Cresswell was another deadline day deal after some other bigger deals fell through as we lost on players to other clubs.  Cresswell is in the peak of his career and he is improvement over the current centerbacks on the roster.  Plus, he comes from Bayern, so we give them a little cash, but we strip them off some veteran depth.  I'm sure they have three youngsters just as good as Cresswell who can step into their lineup.  That said, we need one Cresswell to step into our lineup.

Midfielder Eyup Aydin was bought early in the window from Hoffenheim.  He had a very inexpensive relegation release clause from Hoffenheim.  He will be a great depth option for us.  He can play both the central midfield and defensive midfielder position allowing us to flex between a 4-3-3 and 4-2-3-1 formation this season.

Lastly, there is a trio of younger players that were brought in: Filip Hottek is the only one who will play for us this season.  He is a young attack-minded midfielder from Slavia Prague.  His agent brought him to our attention on deadline day and he had a decent minimum release clause of 8.25 million and has the ability to a quality depth option for us this season.  A good value deadline buy.  Jeremais Grozinger is another buy from Bayern.  An attack-minded player like Hottek.  Grozinger needs some refinement this season playing for the Wolfsburg II squad before hopefully getting called up to the senior side next season.  The last purchase is centerback Jan Bugala, who has the potential to be a great center back.  However, his game is not quite ready for the Bundesliga.  So, we loaned him back to seller - Dunajska Sterda.  He has the chance to play some European football for them this season and continue to grow as a defender this season.

Internal Forward Options

The biggest improvement to the attack is Brazilian center/wing forward Daniel Romero.  He was bought, last summer, and I loaned him back to his parent club of Sao Paulo.  He went on to win Brazilian Golden Boot.  He will join our attack this season and will hopefully bag 15+ goals for us.  

We also have two internal wing forward options to replace Gil and Wind.  On the left side, we bought Kristian Tingager from FC Kobenhavn a few years ago.  Tingager spent a couple of seasons developing his game in the Wolfsburg II squad.  We had a need to bring in a left forward to back-up Swedish sensation Jasper Andrell.  Tingager should fit that need while commanding a low salary allowing us the flexibility to bring in players like Goretzka and Cresswell.  On the right side, we have budding academy product Silvio Lagonirgo.  He spent a couple of seasons with the Wolfsburg II squad before scoring four goals on loan with 2.Bundesliga side Hamburg last season.  He has great positional flexibility.  He can play center forward, right forward and even right wing giving us a lot of options in terms of our starting formation and salary flexibility like Tingager.

[Sonic Youth]

Romero looks ace. Goretzka is a good bit of business. I like your additions to midfield and defense too 

 

[keeper#1]

Start of Season-October International Break

 

We've gotten off a good start in both competitions (Bundesliga and Champions League).  We have yet to lose in the Bundesliga but we have three draws which has prevented us from sitting atop of the table.  A home-away split in the Champions League has given us a good base to go forward for the final six matches of the league phase in the competition.

We kicked off the season with a penalty victory of Bayern in the Supercup followed with a testimonial draw and a win the opening round of the DfB-Pokal.  That great platform was ruined by Hannover who ground out a draw against us.  We switched back to a 4-3-3 when we traveled to Leipzig and worked out a draw of our own before smashing Stuttgart.  The match against Monaco was a midfield battle that seemed destined to be a 0-0 draw.  Monaco squeezed out a goal and claimed the victory.  From there, we have gone unbeaten including a victory over Celtic in the Champions League but more importantly a win in the match after the Champions League.

Everyone on the roster has seen the field, even if it's just 18 minutes, thus far in the season.

[Sonic Youth]

Decent start. Hopefully you’ve turned the results around after cup/European games with a good win against Schalke 04.

Is depth looking better this season so far?

[keeper#1]

Depth is definitely improved over last season. We have a lot of players which positional flexibility so if we lose one player we can juggle players around and still have a top team. 

[keeper#1]

October International Break-Winter Break

Our league form as we hit the winter break has been excellent.  We sit atop of the table, like we did last season, with a two point lead over chasers Bayern.  Leipzig, Dortmund and a surprising Gladbach side sit just behind them creating a five team race for the four Champions League slots.  At the bottom of the table, Hamburg has been just dreadful scoring just one draw and zero wins in their first sixteen matches.  They should just plan for relegation and work on building a competitive 2.Bundesliga team for next season.  After them, it's a four-team race for the other slot and playout slot with Fortuna Dusseldorf the likely candidate to go down automatically though Ingolstadt and their -26 goal difference could have something to say about that.

Barring a complete collapse, we should finish in the top 24 of the Champions League League Phase to earn the right to enter the Knockout Phase.  The question could become do we push for a top 8 place and an automatic slot into the Round of 16 or do we settle for a 9th to 24th place finish and enter in the opening knockout round.  That question likely hinges on the outcome of the Ajax match.  Win that and we push for the top 8.  Lose and we settle for 9th to 24th.

November was a tough month for us with our only win coming against the hapless Hamburg side.  We had two tough Champions League matches which were complete opposites of each other.  We jumped out to an early 1-0 lead against Barcelona and had to  settle for a draw.  Against Napoli, we fell behind 1-0 early and had to equalize on a late corner kick to earn the point.  In between were tough league matches against Bayern (draw) and Gladbach (loss).  December was a much better month where we allowed only two goals in six months, earn three valuable Champions League points and gave the fans a nice Christmas present with a 7-0 victory over Ingolstadt.

Everyone is seeing the field in some capacity.  The biggest moves in the first half of the season was locking down wing forwards Jesper Andrell (6G, 4A) and Gustavo Periera (10G, 4A) to contract extensions which kick in at the end of the current season as some big name clubs were starting to send scouts to watch their matches.  It has been a total team effort in the first half of the season and we are going to need to continue that team effort in the second half if we are to win the league and make a decent run in the Champions League.  The DfB-Pokal is not a priority this season.

[keeper#1]

2030 Winter Transfer Window

It was a very quiet transfer window.  I was in the market for another midfielder but couldn't agree to terms to bring someone in.  Outgoing, we lost one defensive midfielder from the Wolfsburg II team who wasn't going to make the senior team and rotational centerback Thomas Babatz who was upset with his playing time.  We shipped him off to 2.Bundesliga side Hoffenheim for a decent payday.  In the end, the transfers in and transfers out come out to a wash which is always a good thing given our salary constraints given the size of our stadium...one of the smallest in the league.

Leipzig pulled us apart in the DfB-Pokal as we played mainly a reserve side due to the important fixtures coming later in the month.  We got payback on Leipzig where it matters most in the league and Daniel Romero absolutely pulled apart Ajax putting us in a great place heading into the Manchester City match.  We gave City a great match but they got the lone goal and escaped with a 1-0 victory.

We finished a very respectable 13th place.  Even a win over Manchester City would have put in the opening knockout round.  We would have finished in a tie with Arsenal and Barcelona and would have finished behind Arsenal on goal difference and Barcelona on goals scored.  We drew 18th place Juventus in the opening knockout round.

We are starting to put some distance between ourselves are the pack.  Can we stretch that lead as the calendar turns to February and March?

[keeper#1]

Round of 16 Champions League Draw

[keeper#1]

2030 Youth Intake

Not a lot to write about here.  Only one elite talent and two top talents.  Hopefully, those can be used to add roster depth for homegrown slots when it comes to the Champions League.

Our elite talent

Has the makings of a solid left winger which is a position where we are lacking some depth especially when it comes to homegrown talent.

We squeaked by Manchester United, 5-4, in the Round of 16,  We move on to place Inter Milan in the quarterfinal round.  On the domestic front, we dropped a 4-3 match to Bayern who shrunk on lead in the Bundesliga down to just three points with six matches remaining.

[Vakama2619]

Braga in the QF 

[keeper#1]

2029-30 Season Review

WE DID IT!

With two games to spare, we lifted the Bundesliga Plate as league champions!  I am so proud of this group of players.  They worked all year of this moment and took home the title.  Great team!

In the last two matches, we beat Hertha and drew against an inspired Ingostadt team who was fighting against automatic relegation and that point they earned sent Dusseldorf down along with Hamburg.  Bayern finished runner-up.  Dortmund and Leipzig will join us in the Champions League next season.  Mainz and Herth will go into the Europa League while Gladbach really fell off in the second half of the season.  They finished seventh and will go into the Europa Conference.

Our Champions League run ended in the quarterfinals at the hands of Inter Milan.  We lost only four matches in the last 3.5 months of the season (Leverkusen, at Manchester United, at Bayern and home to Inter Milan).  

The first of many accolates for our players in the offseason.  Player bio available by clicking on the picture.  Attributes here

Just absolute boss of a squad.  Very deep.  Only a few players didn't see 1,000 minutes on the field and even they found a way to contribute to team effort.  Four 10+ goal scorers.  Three players with 10+ assists.  

Defender of the Year: CB/RB Carl Martensson - Martensson was a versatile defender for us this season.  He was mainly used at right back but when we suffered an injury crisis at the center back position, he was able to slide inside and play the center back position without missing a beat.  He is solid both in the air (89% headers won) and on the ground (87% tackles won).  He provides us the interesting question of where to play him going forward.  We have some decent center back depth.  We also have Norbert Klein who can play at the right back but is a more natural left back (where we also have decent depth).  It's a good problem to have.

Midfielder of the Year: CM Eyup Aydin - Aydin was one of the three players who had 10 or more assists for use this season.  He is a good two-way player.  He can track back and break up the opposition attack (67% tackles won, 1.91 tackles/90).  He can get forward and create chances (3.66 key passes/90, 0.66 chances created/90, and 0.55 assists/90).  One of many great players for us in the midfield this season.

Forward of the Year: CF Daniel Romero - Romero came close to being a 20 goal scorer for us this season hitting the back of the net a team-high 18 times.  He was also instrumental in setting up others with 10 assists.  He averaged over a key pass per 90 minutes (1.64) and averaged an assist every third game (0.33/90).  He only averaged just over one shot per 90 minute but he made up for with a 22% conversion rate.  A great all-around forward.

 

Finances are not a concern for the club.  We have plenty of spare wage budget and a hefty transfer budget to bring in just about whoever we want provided they are interested in joining the club.

Right now, my main priority is upgrading the midfield.  We are old in the center of park with Arnold and Gortzeka both on the wrong side of 35.  I just can't count on them for a full Bundesliga and Champions League campaign.  We need some fresh legs in there.  Desire Dore is my top target to upgrade the position.  I tried signing Dore but could not agree to terms on the product from the Rennes Academy.  I would also like to improve my depth on the attacking left side of the formation but do not have targets identified yet for that position.

I also have my eye on the potential of the AC Milan managerial job opening open.  I also will be watching to see what club jobs open up after the 2030 World Cup held in Spain.

 

 

[keeper#1]

2030 Postseason Info

We did not suffer a massive injury crisis this season.

Owen Wijndal was the lone major injury and that was a four-week calf strain which allowed me to put both Martensson and Klein on the field at the same time in the full back positions.

I only asked to expand the stadium.  The ownership have bigger plans which I'm perfectly okay with....new stadium, thank you.

And we are going to expand the current stadium while the new stadium is under construction...YES PLEASE!

11 important players and three players who are out of on loan will be heading to Spain for the 2030 World Cup.

I knew Daniel Romero was going to be an important player for us.  I didn't realize that he was going to be this important and this good.  Great addition to the squad.

Two Germans LB/RB Norbert Klein and GK Alexander Nubel make the Bundesliga Team of the Year.

The Milan job has become available and like @_Ben_ I'm going all in for the job.  If this falls through, hopefully something opens up after the World Cup.

I mean, come on, I've won everywhere I've been.  Gimme me the job, MIlan!

[keeper#1]

I use both a 4-3-3 and a 4-2-3-1 formation, Mr. Press Officer, but I'll willing to commit more to the 4-2-3-1 for club.

[Sonic Youth]

It’s almost like Mourinho moving to Real Madrid from Inter  

Congrats on a fantastic season winning the Bundesliga. You did it leading the league for most of the season too 

As for player stats, having 2 players reach double figures for goals and assists I’d excellent. Having a bunch more get close shows your team had good depth.

No place for Romero in team of year? 

Is the league an open league, what with the high goals conceded.

Milan is going to be a new challenge. I didn’t realise it had a port though.

[keeper#1]

2 hours ago, Sonic Youth said:

It’s almost like Mourinho moving to Real Madrid from Inter  

Congrats on a fantastic season winning the Bundesliga. You did it leading the league for most of the season too 

As for player stats, having 2 players reach double figures for goals and assists I’d excellent. Having a bunch more get close shows your team had good depth.

No place for Romero in team of year? 

Is the league an open league, what with the high goals conceded.

Milan is going to be a new challenge. I didn’t realise it had a port though.

Thank you.  To answer your last question, in theory, Milan does have a port just not a very active one.  It's grown old and stale much like the AC Milan team.

"The basin of the Darsena, the old mercantile port of the city and a node of the vast fluvial system of ancient Navigli canals, extends between viale Gabriele D’Annunzio and viale Gorizia. A recent restyling of the old port, including the renovation of its two banks, with new pedestrian paths and green spaces, and the addition of landing stages for cruise boats, have once again made this district a symbol of Milan."

Genoa is the main port for Milan.  All cruise ships use the port in Genoa to access Milan.

Edited March 24, 2023 by keeper#1

[Sonic Youth]

17 hours ago, keeper#1 said:

Thank you.  To answer your last question, in theory, Milan does have a port just not a very active one.  It's grown old and stale much like the AC Milan team.

"The basin of the Darsena, the old mercantile port of the city and a node of the vast fluvial system of ancient Navigli canals, extends between viale Gabriele D’Annunzio and viale Gorizia. A recent restyling of the old port, including the renovation of its two banks, with new pedestrian paths and green spaces, and the addition of landing stages for cruise boats, have once again made this district a symbol of Milan."

Genoa is the main port for Milan.  All cruise ships use the port in Genoa to access Milan.

Ah yes, Genoa. Forgot about them. A big part of the Milanese power during the renaissance period.