KlaaZ Posted January 26, 2023 Share Posted January 26, 2023 Hello and welcome to another edition of my journals! After quite a long hiatus, I picked FM22 up again (no FM23 for me yet due to budget cuts/building a house) and finally found myself another interesting challenge. I've been looking at German clubs for a long time now and had finally narrowed it down to a shortlist with the following candidates: Dynamo Dresden, FC St Pauli or Hannover 96. However, since all of these teams start in the Bundesliga 2, I felt it might be too easy and instead I took a look at the Bundesliga 3. And that's where I found Kaiserslautern. A true fallen giant with four Bundesliga titles (the latest in 1998), two cup wins and a very good spell in one Champions League edition where they were eventually eliminated by Bayern Munich in the quarter finals (under the famous Otto Rehhagel if I'm not mistaken. The club where Miroslav Klose and Michael Ballack first made their mark on the footballing world and where Klaus Topmöller is still an icon to this day. The club is predicted to finish first, and has a very decent squad although I feel that there are quite a few others who could challenge as well, namely Braunsweig and 1860 Münich. So we have good hopes of going up, but will take nothing for granted! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
KlaaZ Posted January 26, 2023 Author Share Posted January 26, 2023 The squad As stated earlier, the squad itself is in a pretty good shape. On the right captain Zimmer stands out, I would like to keep him all the way to the Bundesliga although that may be difficult as I reckon we'll spend a few years in the twilight zone. Central defense also looks ok with young Tomiak and experienced Kraus forming a stable duo. Hendrick Zuck is a great option on the left but we'll need to bring in a backup player in case anything happens to him. In central midfield, Ritter and Klingenburg are both great players but not that strong defensively. Aging Wunderlich is a backup option, and there's also loanie Götze from Augsburg, who can play both in central defense and midfield. We're probably weakest on the flanks where there are pretty much no options apart from Redondo and the same goes for the right flank where we'll either have to play striker Hanslik or a full back (Schad). Up front, we have strong American striker Terrence Boyd and a young German Turk, Muhammed Kiprit, with Lucas Röser as a rotation player. Ideally, we'll bring in another polyvalent striker, maybe someone who can play on the wing as well in case of necessity. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
KlaaZ Posted January 26, 2023 Author Share Posted January 26, 2023 (edited) Season 2021-2022: Transfers We move a few redundant players out on a loan and as we have only a bit of wage budget left, we're creative for new players. We signed veteran midfielder Samil Cinaz on a free for a year, and also brought in Arne Feick as a rotation option for the left back. Up front, we loaned a left winger from Rijeka and a flexible striker, Sontje Hansen, from Ajax. During the winter break, we also brought in an additional defender from Feyenoord on loan, Denzell Hall. Spoiler Spoiler Spoiler Spoiler Spoiler Edited January 26, 2023 by KlaaZ Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
KlaaZ Posted January 26, 2023 Author Share Posted January 26, 2023 (edited) Season 2021-2022: Season overview Bundesliga 3 We have a flying start of the season with five narrow wins, but lose our first points at home to Mannheim after throwing away a comfortable 2-0 lead in the 94th minute. Thing become a little more erratic after that draw, with a narrow win in Verle and a narrow loss at home against Insnabrück. Two more wins get marred by a home loss again surprising promotion contenders Duisburg. We only manage to win three of our next seven games, drawing three times and losing against Türkgücü München. Feeling our opponents crawling closer, we change from a 4-3-3 to a more conservative 4-4-2, with success. We win the next eight games, grabbing us a ten point lead in the league. But overconfidence and a few injuries (including goalkeeper Spahic which forced us to play a youngster) hurt us badly and we lose two of our next three games, putting us under pressure for the first game of April at home against second place Duisburg. We go 2-0 up but once again throw away a lead, although a draw means we keep the gap to five points. Three wins out of the next four games have us promoted and a win in one of the two remaining games would assure us of the title. We botch the first attempt by losing 2-0 in Köln but finish the job in a spectacular game against Münich. Spoiler DFB Pokal We start the cup with a home draw against Bundesliga 2 team Karlsruher, a great game to test ourselves. In a very even game, we turn around going 1-0 down in the last ten minutes of the game, scraping a 2-1 victory and a second round game against Mainz. The Bundesliga team proves too much for us and although we manage to keep it respectable defensively, we fail to record any chances and only have one shot (off target). Spoiler Finances and facilities We start with a balance of almost 7M and manage to keep the losses throughout the season to a minimum, ending with a 2.5M balance. These losses should be offset by our 4.2M sponsorship and the season tickets, which will probably bring us back to around 8M. Any financial worries should disappear next season anyway as the Bundesliga 2 offers some good prize money, with even the last place netting more than 7M. Our solid training facilities get an unfortunate downgrade but we manage to improve our youth recruitment, which will come in handy. Youth intake Good news from the youth intake, with tree great prospects, one of which will presumably become a first team regular next season. Spoiler Spoiler Spoiler Spoiler Edited January 26, 2023 by KlaaZ Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
KlaaZ Posted January 27, 2023 Author Share Posted January 27, 2023 Season 2022-2023: Transfer news For once, our homework was done even before the first of July. It became quite clear somewhere in February/March that we were going to be promoted so we moved fast as most of our transfers would have to be players on a free or with a contract running out. And competition is stiff! On the outgoing front, seven players leave on a free. The most important one is Samil Cinaz. It's possible that we will offload some more players before the end of the transfer window. Terrence Boyd was a bit disappointing last year and didn't get the playtime he wanted so we moved him off to Jablonec for 70k. On to the incoming side, with eleven new players joining us at the start of July. An overview! Name: Lukas Gugganig Nationality: Austrian Age: 27 Team: Osnabrück Position: Central defender, defensive minded midfielder Transfer price: Free Comments: Signed to play in central defense but depending on how things turn out, he could also become a controlling midfielder. Great free kick taker, apparently! Had a great season in the Bundesliga 3 last year. Spoiler Name: Marco Hiller Nationality: German Age: 25 Team: 1860 München Position: Goalkeeper Transfer price: Free Comments: First choice GK of 1860 last season, quite an upgrade from Spahic. Will become our number one right away. Very all round, little to no weak spots, could go on to defend our goal for years to come. Spoiler Name: Heinz Mörschel Nationality: German/Dominican Republic Age: 24 Team: Dynamo Dresden Position: versatile midfielder, can also play on the left (which is something we are sorely lacking still). Transfer price: Free Comments: Was a rotation player at Dresden but I'm unsure why. Great playmaking skills and good all round set of skills. Considering replacing Redondo with him on the left and playing him either as an inverted winger or a playmaker from the flank. Spoiler Name: Phil Neumann Nationality: German Age: 24 Team: Holstein Kiel Position: Right back, can also play as a central defender Transfer price: Free Comments: Similar situation to Mörschel, rotation in the Bundesliga 2 at Holstein. Will provide some competition for Zimmer (who can potentially also move up to midfield), looks perfect for the attacking full back/wing back role. Spoiler Name: Richard Neudecker Nationality: German Age: 25 Team: 1860 München Position: Central midfielder with an option to play on the left. Transfer price: Free Comments: Had an excellent season at 1860 last year, with three goals and eleven assists. Only thing that worries me a little is that he's not that good physically but I hope he can put in some great performances for us nontheless. rated as a good Bundesliga 2 player. Spoiler Name: Calogero Rizzuto Nationality: German Age: 30 Team: Hansa Rostock Position: Can play both right back and right midfield, signed to become first choice in the latter position. Transfer price: Free Comments: Regular in the Bundesliga 2 last year, quite all round and a very defensive profile for a wide midfielder. Suits me just fine as my full back is my main attacking option on the right, with the wide midfielder being more of a holder. Spoiler Name: Lukas Marecek Nationality: Czech Age: 32 Team: Teplice Position: Central midfielder Transfer price: 64k Comments: Had been on my list for a while, as a great all round midfielder. Paid a small transfer fee for him because he didn't want to negotiate if I just offered him an end of contract deal. Spoiler Name: Stefan Kutschke Nationality: German Age: 33 Team: FC Ingolstadt Position: Striker Transfer price: Free Comments: Will replace Boyd up front. Aging but nontheless very impressive target striker at 194cm. Good jumping, heading, bravery and anticipation will hopefully prove a lethal combination. 17 goals in 31 games in the Bundesliga 2 last season. Spoiler Name: Mitja Lotric Nationality: Slovenian Age: 27 Team: Würzburger Kickers Position: Right wing or striker Transfer price: Free Comments: Pacey winger with a great set of attacking skills. Not sure yet if i'll play him on the right or next to Kutschke. Spoiler Name: Tim Handwerker Nationality: German Age: 24 Team: FC Nürnberg Position: Left back Transfer price: Free Comments: Another former Bundesliga 2 regular. Tim will gradually take over from the aging Hendrick Zuck at left back. Spoiler Name: Törles Knöll Nationality: German Age: 24 Team: Türkgücü München Position: Striker Transfer price: 70k Comments: Striker who was really impressive against us in both games last season. Hard working, good in the air, great bravery so will make a good rotation option for Kutschke. Spoiler Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
KlaaZ Posted January 30, 2023 Author Share Posted January 30, 2023 Probably the highlight of the season already, away at league leaders Werder. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
KlaaZ Posted January 31, 2023 Author Share Posted January 31, 2023 Season 2022-2023: Season overview Transfers One last minute outgoing, we sold Muhammed Kiprit to Karlsruher for 575k. Apart from that, only average youth players leaving on a free, and Sontje Hansen being recalled by Ajax because I was playing him as a striker instead of an attacking midfielder. Bundesliga 2 We were expected to stay up through the playoffs but I felt we had the quality to at least achieve a lower mid table position. We started out in the 4-4-2 that got us promoted last year but after only one win in five games (an undeserved one in Düsseldorf at that), we changed to a 3-5-2 of sorts that, after some tweaking, clicked really well. It led to an unbeaten September, winning three out of four and drawing at home against Paderborn. October was a mixed face, starting with two losses, but we recovered with a 1-5 trashing of Regensburg, drawing Dresden and beating Greuther Fürth at home. We picked up four out of nine points in the remaining three games before the World Cup, sitting us comfortably in 9th place halfway. January started off badly with a defeat in Heidenheim but we came back with two 3-0 wins, including an illustrious one away at league leaders Werder Bremen. Two wins, a draw and a loss in February slowly moved us up the table in a very close contest to sixth place, just outside of the playoff spot. Three unbeaten games, including a great 2-1 win away at Paderborn, actually had us dreaming of a direct promotion spot but we lost the last game of March away at Karlsruher, who would end up to be the surprising league winners this year. Nontheless, we had everything to play for and an unbeaten April, including a win over Hamburg, finally moved us into third place, with games against relegation threatened Braunsweig away and Duisburg at home. We choked in the first game but managed to sneak away with a point, which meant it would all be down to the last game of the season. We were one point ahead of Bremen, who played away at Paderborn. Only a win would ensure us of two more playoff games against a Bundesliga team, and Duisburg provided a willing victim: A hattrick by Knöll secured a 3-0 result, and on top of that Bremen only laboured to a draw at Paderborn. Spoiler Spoiler The playoff pitted us against Darmstadt 98, a team on a low of form after five defeats in their last seven games. Knöll once again led the way in the away game with a brace and two assists, securing a huge 2-4 result. This broke the back of our opponent and we freewheeled to victory at home in a 2-1 victory, which was kind on the Lilies. Spoiler Spoiler DFB Pokal A very unkind draw at home against Borussia Mönchengladbach where we actually fought valiantly to penalties but eventually couldn't keep our cool. Knocked out in the first round. Spoiler Finances and facilities We were leaking money throughout the season but the competition price money more than compensated for that. We used part of the money to invest in training and youth facilities and on top of that we expanded our youth recruitment and junior coaching. Oh, and we also asked for a senior affiliate and got Dortmund, but that linked will be severed after only a few months because of the unexpected promotion. Despite being in a good place financially, we only get a 2.1M transfer package and 273k as wage budget. So we'll once again will have to be create as next season is going to be very, very tough. Youth intake A very nice intake with four or five potentials. Lazar Milicevic looks like the brightest prospect, but there are a few others who could turn out to be interesting as well. Last year's Opoku has remained with the U19 for now as he's only eligible to play for the first team once he turns 17 (in October 2023). Unfortunate. Spoiler Spoiler Spoiler Player performances Our success was built on two pillars. Our striker duo with Knöll making a remarkable impact, becoming the Bundesliga 2 top goalscorer with 26 roses. The second pillar was Marlon Ritter, who played the most key passes in the league, 155. Zimmer had the unfortunate honour of picking up a whopping 17 yellow cards in 30 games (as he was suspended in the other four). Mörschel became joint second in the assists chart. Spoiler Spoiler Marecek was the biggest disappointment, never living up to expectations and throwing a fit once he was benched. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
KlaaZ Posted February 2, 2023 Author Share Posted February 2, 2023 (edited) Season 2023-2024: Transfer news Getting promoted to the highest level means we'll need to strengthen the squad in order to survive. That said, with a wage budget of only 280k and 2M as a transfer kitty, we'll have to be creative to say the least. Once we had the confirmation of our budgets, we got to work. Quite a few players leave the club. Marecek goes on loan, Spahic leaves as well and Klingenburg, Schad, Kraus, Zuck and Röser don't see their contracts renewed. More movement on the incoming side, as we needed strengthening in every department. Name: Oliver Norwood Nationality: English Age: 32 Team: Sheffield United Position: Central midfielder Transfer fee: Free Comments: Norwood is a former favourite of mine as I recall him being an amazing long shot/free kick midfielder about eight or nine years ago in another version of FM. Although he's slowly on the way back now, he's still a very interesting all round midfielder who looks good for the more holding role. As a plus, he didn't really ask for a high wage which definitely helped as we're on a limited budget. Spoiler Name: Angelo Marques Nationality: German Age: 16 Team: Meppen Position: Left winger Transfer fee: 100k Comments: Young potential recommended by my scouts. Signing players from lower level divisions is one of the objectives of the board as well, and this kid certainly has a lot going for him. Will retrain him to a wing back as we're not employing wingers right now. Spoiler Name: Francesco Antonucci Nationality: Belgian Age: 24 Team: Feyenoord Position: Attacking midfielder Transfer fee: Loan Comments: Looks like a great rotation option for Mörschel, and as he's in his last year of contract with Feyenoord we'll probably try to snag him up at the end of his deal if he performs well enough. Spoiler Name: Mario Gila Nationality: Spanish Age: 22 Team: Real Madrid Position: Central defender Transfer fee: 200k Comments: Another former favourite, Gila performed very, very well for me in two other saves in the past, becoming a very solid ball playing defender. Also the perfect player for taking the armband in the future with high leadership, determination and teamwork. Spoiler Name: Dion Drena Beljo Nationality: Croatian Age: 21 Team: Slavia Prague Position: Striker Transfer fee: Loan Comments: Will replace the ageing Kutschke up front, and hoping to making this a permanent deal at some point. We actually tried signing him last season too, but he chose Slavia over us back then, which means he'll be more costly now. Spoiler Name: Korbinian Burger Nationality: German Age: 28 Team: Union Berlin Position: Central defender Transfer fee: 135k Comments: We were very much in the market for a left footed central defender. Burger is also very comfortable on the ball, which is a huge plus in our three man defense. Spoiler Name: Nikolas Nartey Nationality: Danish Age: 23 Team: Released by Stuttgart Position: Central midfielder Transfer fee: Free Comments: Should become the replacement of Ritter in the mezzala role in a few years time, but will get plenty of game time in the meantime. Spoiler Name: Muhammed-Cham Saracevic Nationality: Austrian Age: 22 Team: Klagenfurt Position: Winger Tranfer fee: Loan Comments: originally a left footed right winger, but will actually provide coverage on the left wing back position. Spoiler Name: Philippe Kühn Nationality: German Age: 30 Team: Osnabrück Position: Goalkeeper Transfer fee: Free Comments: Had two excellent seasons in the third division with Osnabrück and we needed a backup for Hiller with Spahic leaving the club. Signed with the promise of first choice though, so I'm assuming we'll have to look for a new one at the end of this season. Spoiler Name: Ante Palaversa Nationality: Croatian Age: 23 Team: Released by City Position: Central midfielder Transfer fee: Free Comments: A very all round player with room to grow, Palaversa will go straight into the first team, playing a holding position next to the more adventurous Ritter. Expensive wages though. Spoiler Screenshots will follow as I need to leave for work now. Edited February 2, 2023 by KlaaZ Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
KlaaZ Posted February 2, 2023 Author Share Posted February 2, 2023 Screenshots added! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
KlaaZ Posted February 7, 2023 Author Share Posted February 7, 2023 Season 2023-2024: Season review Transfers Unusually, a bit of news during the winter break. Norwood was unhappy with his playing time so we allowed him to leave for Linfield for 30k. Neudecker also found himself out of the first team and we sealed a deal with Nordsjaelland for 600k, freeing up some wage budget. We compensated this by bringing in La Masia product Jandro Orellana for a fee of 375k. Spoiler The worst news came at the beginning of February. Beljo, who had been putting in some great performances and was our top goalscorer (11 out of 19 games), was recalled by Slavia Prague, presumably because I didn't often play him as an AF. Strangely, I had several talks with their manager and he assured me that he was ok with this after some explanation from my side. As this happened outside of the transfer window, we were unable to procure a replacement. Bundesliga We almost opened with a win but a silly conceded penalty held us to a 2-2 draw at home against Hertha Berlin. A narrow 4-3 loss in Hoffenheim (including two blunders by Hiller, who would have a very average season) set us up for another four games without a win, picking up one point only before we finally and narrowly beat Karlsruher at home. The win gave us a boost and we actually beat Freiburg away and Hamburg at home before almost doing the stunt of the decade away at giants Bayern Munich. We were 2-1 up at the Allianz Arena until Handwerker picked up a second yellow and convicted us to defeat. Spoiler The remaining games until the winter break were ok, with two wins and three draws in seven games. Our main problem was that we only managed to keep a clean sheet twice. January began badly with a loss at relegation threatened Hertha, which was the start of eight games without a win. Where we before looked comfortable to avoid relegation, our margin became smaller and smaller until we were only three points above the drop spots. Things slowly started turning though, first with three draws in a row including a very important one at Karlsruher, and finally with a long overdue win at Hamburg. Three draws later, an impressive 0-0 against Bayern at home and two spectacular 3-3 draws against Mainz and Schalke, we got nervous again. Losing in Köln and at home against Leipzig put a lot of of pressure on our final three games. We were playing Frankfurt (H), Mönchengladbach (A) and Hannover (H), needing three points to mathematically stay up. We had a very good game against Frankfurt but needed a penalty to drag the game over the finish line. With the pressure off, we got trashed at Mönchengladbach but finished off in style against Hannover, who had everything to play for as they could still move from 17th to 15th place, soundly beating them 4-1. This meant we finish the season in 14th place, three spots above the pre season prediction. Spoiler Spoiler DFB Pokal An easy first round trashing of Türkspor Kiel with 7-1, but then we were unlucky to get an away game at Bayer 04 at a moment where our form was just horrible. A well deserved 3-0 exit was our fate. Finances and facilities We ended the season in the red but the competition prize money gave us a healthy 33M buffer to start the next season. This also means that we get some more budget ot play with. We'll be trimming some of the heavier wages for players that are no longer making the first team as well, to overhaul the squad a bit and hopefully bring in some more quality. There are eight players currently at the end of their contract, making up one fifth of the current wage budget. Spoiler I'll also start integrating more youth players, as this season's intake was a very pleasant surprise with two prospects that are very close to playing time already. In regards to our facilities, we now have probably the best possible youth recruitment but there's still progress to be made on other fronts. We also set up partnerships with Slovakian Zilina and Serbian Vojvodina. I'm looking to build a network of clubs from close by countries (mainly Eastern and Central Europe) with good youth facilities, which will hopefully lead to some interesting youth prospects. Youth intake The screenshot speaks for itself, with two players who are quite ready for the first team, bar for age restrictions but I think Miralles will be elegible next season as he turns 17 in February. I'm unsure what to do with Richter, he's a natural AM but has the perfect profile to become a box to box or a BWM with high teamwork, determination and aggression (something we sorely lack in the first team). Spoiler Spoiler Spoiler Player performances Beljo was the main reason we did so well and you can clearly see from the seasonal progress how we started to drop down the table once he was gone. We may be looking into signing him permanently if our budget allows it, as we desperately need a striker. Apart from that, it was an average season across the board which isn't unexpected as a lot of players were not really up to the Bundesliga's standards. Handwerker did very well on the left and proved a reliable penalty and free kick taker. Ritter also did well as he covered the striker position after Beljo left, but threw a fit when I fined him for a bad performance. He decided to leave at the end of the season so we'll be looking for a replacement there as well. Zimmer was ok on the right and 'only' picked up 14 yellows this year. And finally, although his performances weren't all that great, Opoku emerged from the youth ranks to play quite a lot of games, making some valuable progress. 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KlaaZ Posted February 7, 2023 Author Share Posted February 7, 2023 Season 2024-2025: Transfer news As stated in my previous update, we had a bit of a squad overhaul with a fair amount of players leaving the club. This meant we were in the market for: A versatile player on the left, who can ideally play both the back and wide midfield position, as I'd like to give some game time to youngster Miralles as well. A central defender, who also has the ability to be a rotation option at right back. At least one all round holding midfielder. At least one attacking midfielder with some playmaking skills. Someone who can play on both wings. Two strikers, as we'll be looking to offload Knöll. Right before the start of the competition, our homework is done! On the left, we signed Abdu Conté, a 26-year old Portuguese from Torino in an 1.8M deal. He's slightly better than Handwerker, so I'm assuming that he'll replace the latter in due time. Spoiler In central defense, we snapped up a young Jamaican after his contract at Man United ran out. Di'shon Bernard is a physical powerhouse with hopefully a bit more room to develop, and will provide some competition for Gila. Spoiler Our new holding midfielder has been on our radar for a while, but we were waiting for his contract to run out. Daouda Peeters joins on a free from Juve. Low wages and not too high a team status makes him an ideal addition to the depth of the squad. Spoiler In our search for a new attacking midfielder, we missed out on De Vega from Barça who preferred Almeria over Germany. We then went for young Finnish playmaker Onni Valakari in a loan deal with Napoli. He's end of contract in the summer of 2025 so if he lives up to expectations, we'll try to move him permanently. Spoiler Our most recent signing is the versatile winger we were looking for. Young Dutchman Couhaib Driouech joins us from Excelsior in a 3.4M deal, making him the most expensive signing so far. A natural on both wings with high dribbling, technique, flair and speed, so we're hoping he'll excel with us. Spoiler Finally, in the striker department, we actually tried to dislodge Karim Konaté from relegated Karlsruher but they wouldn't go below his 5M+ minimum release fee so we had to look at alternatives. It comes as no surprise that we decided to bring in Beljo from Slavia Prague for 2.2M, and also brought in 25-year old Nigerian Josh Maja from Montpellier in what I consider to be a bargain deal at 425k. Spoiler Spoiler And for the future (and to please the board), we brought in two young players, one from Hansa Rostock and the other a young Austrian striker on a free. Spoiler Spoiler Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
KlaaZ Posted February 8, 2023 Author Share Posted February 8, 2023 Season 2024-2025: Transfer news Some more late minute transfer news now that the market has finally closed. We found a solution for Knöll, he moves to St Pauli on loan with an optional 2M fee. On the incoming side, we're joined by a young Brazilian for half a season until he moves to Hannover at the end of his contract. I was seriously considering signing him as well but was both too slow and rather unimpressed by his personality. Spoiler Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
KlaaZ Posted February 12, 2023 Author Share Posted February 12, 2023 Season 2024-2025: Season overview Bundesliga August An unbeaten month of August sets the start of an excellent campaign. We beat Union and Hamburg away and should have won at home against Hoffenheim when Driouech put us ahead in the 93rd minute but we still managed to concede straight from the kick off. Spoiler An undeserved loss at home against Stuttgart didn't put a dent into our plans as we bounced back with two wins, over Werder Bremen and Wolfsburg. October would prove to be difficult, with games against Dortmund and Bayer 04. We grabbed a point against the former and were looking on track to do the same in the game against Leverkusen until Gila gave up a penalty in the 94th minute. Stoppage time dropping of points costing us for the second time now after Hoffenheim. We finished October with a 1-0 win over Hertha. November was bad. We lost in Mönchengladbach and after beating Mainz 2-0 went on to receive a hideous trashing from Bayern, 5-0. A busy five game December rewarded us with three wins before the winter break, including a 4-1 beating of RB Leipzig. Losing at home against Köln would unfortunately prove vital at the end of the season. At the halfway point we were in fifth place with fourth still within reach. January and February were marred with a lot of unnecessary draws because we had a hard time finding the back of the net. Both Beljo and Maja had a simultaneous spell of over 11 hours played without a goal. We also managed to pick up a point in Dortmund though, and because of results elsewhere remained firmly in fifth place. March began excellently with a 2-1 revenge win over Leverkusen but we followed it up with three winless games, only picking up a point at home against Mönchengladbach. With six games to play, we dropped down to 7th place. Next up was the Bayern home game. In an amazing performance, Gila put us ahead after only 8 minutes and we held on firmly to grab three very important points. We almost threw it away again in the 93rd but Gnabri's equalizer was ruled out for offside. Wins against Freiburg and Leipzig, broken up by an unfortunate home loss against Frankfurt, put us only a point away from fourth place and secured European football. Spoiler On the prelast day of the season, we beat Düsseldorf at home while fourth placed Köln dropped two points in Stuttgart, meaning we moved to fourth again. And the last game of the season was... At home against Köln! One point would virtually clench us the Champions League, and when Mörschel put us ahead right before the half time break, everything looked like it was going to plan. Shkiri equalized in the 84th but we were still on the money until Beljo decided to try a long range shot in the 94th minute instead of just holding on to the ball. It was blocked, Köln picked it up and 10 seconds later, Sorloth scored their winner, pushing us back to a final fifth place in the competition. Spoiler So close.. Spoiler Spoiler DFB Pokal We needed extra time in the first round against third division Ingolstadt and in the second round, our rotated squad got deservedly beaten at home 3-0 by Mainz. Finances and facilities We were about 12M in the red at the end of the season but the prize money again boosted us up to a healthy 56M balance. I'm also very much looking forward to the money from European football. Part of our mid season losses were due to improvements to the training facilities, which are now being upgraded to the highest level. Hopefully, with the new money we can also improve our youth facilities as we've had two players poached in the past two years by other Bundesliga teams before they came through the youth ranks. The good news is that we'll now finally get money to spend, with 33M of transfer budget and 600k wage budget. It's still one of the lowest wage budgets in the league, but that's okay. Spoiler Youth intake Hard to judge, this one, but supposedly a few good players. Hopefully the GK will be something special because Hiller is still not convincing in my opinion. Spoiler Player performances We went into the season in a 4-2-3-1 formation with Mörschel on the right as an AP, which did wonders for our performance as a team. The back four did very well with Opoku breaking into the first team and averaging 7.29 in his first season. Gila and Zimmer also did well, while Conte has some room to improve. In central midfield, Palaversa made great progress and it showed on the pitch. Valakari was a great loanie and will join the club permanently next season, scoring seven and assisting 12. Driouech scored 15 goals from the left, Mörschel hit six goals and eight assists in his right playmaker role. Spoiler Spoiler And we also occupied the entire top three of the U17 POTY award, with Güzel being a loanie. Spoiler Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
KlaaZ Posted February 13, 2023 Author Share Posted February 13, 2023 Season 2025-2026: July and August 2025 Going forward, I'll try to breakdown the seasons into smaller sections. Starting with the summer months of 2025. Transfer news As usual, we start with a breakdown of the transfer window. After last season's success story, we got a very decent 33M budget to play with, and I believe we put it to good work. Atypically, we'll start with the incoming as they resulted in some players being sold afterwards to avoid unhappiness down the line. First and foremost, after an excellent season on loan, we snapped Onni Valakiri up on a free from Napoli. He'll be our main man behind the striker, although we have other options in the form of Mörschel and another new signing. That other new signing is Amine Adli, a player who had been on our radar for a while after an excellent season on loan from Leverkusen to Werder in the Bundesliga 2 when we also participated. Adli, who meanwhile moved to Dutch outfit PSV, is picked up for 5M, and can play all attacking midfield positions and even up top. Spoiler Spoiler In central midfield, we brought in three new players who have a lot of potential. Our main target was 19-year old Ismael Goitea, a model citizen from River. He'll be a direct replacement for Orellana who will need to find a new club, but more on that later. He'll be a tandem with another 19-year old, Slovakian Martin Majoros who joins us from SPAL for 8M. And finally, we pick up a rotation option in Croatia on a 2.1M bargain with Zoran Telebar. Spoiler Spoiler Spoiler At the back, there's a new left back in town. Velimir Radisavljevic will be our first choice there now, joining from Partizan in a 5.75M deal. This also means that Miralles will go out on loan to get some experience and playing time. And finally, we loan young central defender Spitzer from Köln to provide some depth in central defense. Spoiler Spoiler As a result, we restructured the squad a little. Gugganig moves to Willem II in a 400k deal, while unhappy Daouda Peeters goes back to Italy where he'll represent Brescia, who pay 5M for his services. We also find a permanent solution in Italy for Knöll, who moves to the Serie B. Nikolas Nartey never broke into the first team, mostly because of injury, and is offloaded to Bielefeld for 240 while Burger, who lost his spot to Opoku last season, also moves to the Bundesliga 2. Finally, Orellana goes on a Mexican adventure with América snapping him up for 12.75M. As we expanded the squad, we move Miralles, Richter and Güzel on loan to ensure their playing time doesn't suffer. Contract news Mörschel and Zimmer both sign new, improved long term deals. Zimmer turned 31 so a right back replacement will be our top priority next season, together with a goalkeeper and maybe a striker. On a more important note, I had a chat with Opoku who had the idea that it was time to move to a bigger club but I talked him out of it and in turn, he also signed a new deal. This will keep him at the club until 2030 with a release clause of 74M. Facilities We talked to the board about improving the youth facilities and after some negotiating, they approved. The new setup will be ready in November, in time for the youth intake. Bundesliga We start the season at home against Mainz, a team that we're somehow uncomfortable against. Last year, they trashed us at home in the cup and in their ground 3-0. We started off terribly, as shown by the xG progress bar, and quickly went 2-0 down. Two goals by Driouech and Palaversa put us level and despite being the better team, we went behind again on a rare counterattack. Beljo saved us a point in the 85th but we can't be happy with this result after dominating a lot of the game. Top performers: Beljo, Driouech, Mörschel and an excellent sub appearance from Palaversa. Flop performers: Majoros was average and Valakari didn't do too well, but Gila was downright terrible. I had also expected more from Radi on the left. Spoiler This result put a lot of pressure on the home game against recently promoted Karlsruher. We had a nervous first half but were the better team in the second. Despite that, we needed a KSC red card and a corner goal from Gila to secure the three points. Top performers: Mörschel again, and an excellent central duo. Radi also showed his quality. Flop performers: Beljo had a tough day, as did Driouech on the left. Spoiler Next up was Werder away. Once again our start wasn't the best (I'm starting to see a pattern here) and Werder was the better team throughout the first half. Pepi deservedly put them ahead about halfway. We performed better in the second, creating at least three one on ones but failing to convert. Beljo in particular should have found the back of the net at least once. Top performers: Opoku did well, and Adli did great from the bench. Flop performers: Driouech, again. Despite his excellent season last year, he has too many games where he just doesn't turn up. A problem with consistency, perhaps? Spoiler Four out of nine isn't bad, but I had expected more and although it's still early, we're underperforming both our xG for and against at this point. Chance conversion remains an issue. Spoiler DFB Pokal One game in the cup, where we destroyed the semi-pro's from Garching. Spoiler Europa League No games yet, but the draw has been done. We'll compete against Feyenoord, Anderlecht and Red Star to survive the winter in Europe. A doable group, I believe. Spoiler Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
KlaaZ Posted February 13, 2023 Author Share Posted February 13, 2023 September 2025: Back to Europe Four games in September, three in the league and our return to Europe for the first time in over 25 years. Bundesliga We picked up from the disappointment in Bremen at home against Leipzig. Two goals, from Driouech and Beljo, in the first fifteen minutes set us on our way and Laimer made our lives even easier two minutes later when he got sent off for a twofooted tackle. With everything under control, Gila put the icing on the cake on a corner midway through the second half, with RB failing to register a single shot on target. Top performers: Everyone. The back two, Zimmer and Beljo being outstanding. Flop performers: Our opponents, for once. Spoiler Next up was Hertha away. And as has happened before, we were the better team, by far, but if you concede four goals, it gets very hard to win games. We were 2-1 up halfway through the first half but then completely imploded. Driouech pulled one back in the second half but despite having plenty of chances, we couldn't grab the equalizer, again. Top performers: Beljo mostly, with our three in attacking midfield also doing well (despite the lack of finishing). Flop Performers: Bernard, who was just unable to handle Tyukavin, who scored a brace to lead the way. Spoiler Final game of the month was Freiburg home. We weren't at our best but for some reason that's the kind of game we usually do turn into a win. Being 3-0 up after half an hour of play helped, as did some shoddy defending from Freiburg. Pellistri pulled one back right after the break but lucky for us, our opponents were rather wasteful, only getting one more shot on target. Top performers: Driouech with a brace, Beljo with an excellent assist and Valakari for seizing on an opponent's mistake to open the score. Neumann also did very well on the right but unfortunately ran into an injury which will keep him sidelined for about a month. Flop performers: Gila wasn't at his best but that's it really. Spoiler This leaves us in fifth place, level with no less than four other teams and with four others following at most three points behind. The Bundesliga is a very interesting league indeed. The main takeaway is that we're still conceding too much. Spoiler Europa League We opened our European campaign at home against Feyenoord. An interesting game, not in the least because they have a young Icelandic striker that I would love to make part of our team at some point and I was happy to see him perform live (despite him having a stinker this time). We heavily rotated as I felt our B-team would be capable of pulling off a result and they did. Maja put us ahead after nine minutes of play and we held on maturely to pick up the three points. Spoiler Top performers: Scoring the winner always saves you a spot in this accolade, so Maja's a given. Handwerker did well on the left as a winger, and Neumann put in a great performance on the right. Flop performers: None, solid across the board. Other news Nothing special here. Richter scored on his loan debut for Bielefeld, I feel that his move will do wonders for him. Miralles is playing badly but nontheless improving, which is what matters most. And Güzel is solid enough as well, which makes me believe that he may future as a sub in the first team from next season onwards. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carambau Posted February 14, 2023 Share Posted February 14, 2023 This is great stuff So much success in that short time, wow! I love the layout , mind if I take inspiration for my next career update? 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
KlaaZ Posted February 14, 2023 Author Share Posted February 14, 2023 6 hours ago, Carambau said: This is great stuff So much success in that short time, wow! I love the layout , mind if I take inspiration for my next career update? Thanks! And feel free to, obviously Happy to provide ideas. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
KlaaZ Posted February 15, 2023 Author Share Posted February 15, 2023 (edited) October 2025: Horror month October will be one hell of a month. We have two games before the international break, and then four more games in a space of ten days. Bundesliga A month with three very tough games, away at Bayer leverkusen and high flying Borussia Mönchengladbach, who are sitting in second, and at home against league leaders Dortmund. We kick off in Leverkusen, a team that really doesn't suit us. We're on the backfoot for most of the game and two goals from Patrick Schick put the home team comfortably and deservedly ahead. Goitea brings us back into the game with a great header but the final score remains 2-1. Top performers: Opoku was solid at the back and both Goitea and Mörschel performed well too. Hiller also kept it a respectable score, really. Flop performers: Majoros was very disappointing, and up from everyone bar Mörschel pretty much didn't turn up. Spoiler Next up is our home game against Dortmund. Beljo put us ahead on 21 minutes after an excellent piece of attacking play but Reyna drew level three minutes later. Despite having the slight upper hand, we can't conceal that we're not in a rich vein of form and thus only secure a point. Top performers: Beljo, both full backs and once again Mörschel. Flop performers: Valakari had a quiet game and Palaversa also didn't put in the kind of performance we've come to expect from him. Spoiler Finally, we finish our league month in Mönchengladbach, where we once again suffered and ran into a (in the end kind) 1-0 defeat. No complaints as they were the better team throughout the game. Top performers: Opoku, Palaversa also bounced back after his average game against Dortmund. Flop performers: Something that happens more often than I'd like, my entire front line might as well have stayed at home. Spoiler Only one out of nine in a very rough month is obviously disappointing. I forgot to take a screenshot but this means we're sitting in 13th, only four points above the degradation playoff spot. Next up is Düsseldorf at home, a game that we really have to win as they are in 16th and struggling. Europa League Two games in the Europa League, away at Anderlecht and Red Star. We started off badly in Brussels and Siri put the Mauves ahead just before the half time break. We came out of the dressing room with intent and in fifteen minutes, Valakari and Adli (each with a goal and an assist) turned the game upside down. It had been a while, but once again we gave away two points in the final minutes of the game, Wesley Hoedt scoring the equalizer on a set piece in the 90th minute. A fair draw, but nontheless sour when you have the win within your grasp. Top performers: Valakari and Adli, obviously, but also a fair mention to Zimmer and Goitea. Flop performers: Maja got another chance up from as Beljo could do with some rest but didn't score any points I'm afraid. Spoiler Red Star, the smallest team in the group on paper, was pretty powerless to resist. Nontheless, we needed a spot kick from Handwerker to secure us the win in Belgrade. Top performers: Most of the team really, quite consistent this time. Adli, Handwerker, Gila and Telebar were outstanding. Flop performers: Quiet games from Valakari and Maja (again). Spoiler DFB Pokal An unfortunate second round draw away against recently relegated Stuttgart, who were in good form and sitting on top of the Bundesliga 2. A heavily rotated squad of mine gave them a fair fight but in the end, we had to throw in the towel. In all honesty, my squad's not good/big enough to fight on three fronts. Top performers: Beljo with an excellent goal today. Gila also did well at the back. Flop performers: Maja (AGAIN), and both Conté and Zimmer at the back positions. Edited February 15, 2023 by KlaaZ Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
KlaaZ Posted February 16, 2023 Author Share Posted February 16, 2023 November 2025: Unbeaten Another month with six games, four (easier?) games in the league and two important European matches. Bundesliga We start the month with a very, very important home game against struggling Dusseldorf. It's one way traffic from the start and Adli, playing as a striker, opens the score on the half hour mark. Because we fail to make the second goal, it stays close until the final whistle but as Düsseldorf fail to register a single shot on target, we scrape the (deserved) victory to move up in the table. Top performers: The entire back line, with Neumann on the right being the best man on the pitch. Very good performance by Adli as well. Flop performers: Quiet game from Valakari. Spoiler Next up, Wolfsburg away. We're not at our best but for once defy our performance by scraping the win, Beljo netting the only goal of the game around the hour mark. Top performers: Second league clean sheet in a row for Hiller, and great performaces from Bernard, Zimmer and Beljo. Flop performers: Mörschel and Adli didn't turn up. Spoiler One week later, we had another good game against Frankfurt at home. Hiller is in good form and kept a clean sheet, while Driouech and Valakari finished the game off between the two of them. Top performers: I already mentioned Driouech and Valakari, but the entire team turned up really. Flop performers: None, which makes me happy. Spoiler The last league game of the month was against Hamburg, who were in last place. Unfortunately, we had some very tired legs which resulted in us being on the backfoot for most of the game. We did keep our fourth consecutive league clean sheet though, saving an undeserved point. Top performers: Hiller was my man of the match, while Palaversa and Gila also did well. The entire back line did well really, resulting in a lot of average shots for Hamburg. Flop performers: Beljo and Driouech, mainly. Spoiler The progression chart shows how much difference a win or a loss can make in the table. It's been like that for the past few seasons, with everything apart from the top three being really, really tight. Spoiler Spoiler Europa League Two fixtures this month, at home against Red Star and Anderlecht. Four out of six will guarantuee us European football after the winter break. We had a very easy game against the Serbs, although they play a very annoying 4231 narrow formation. Beljo and Palaversa gave us a comfortable lead with two goals in stoppage time before the break, and Valakari took away any doubt three minutes into the second half with a penalty kick. Also, another clean sheet, good month for us there! Top performers: Everyone, with Adli, Palaversa and Neumann shining brightest. Flop performers: Nobody this time around. Great performances across the board! Spoiler The game against Anderlecht was closer than the final score showed. Beljo put us in front after only six minutes but the team from Brussels equalized three minutes later and continued to provide stiff opposition in the first half. A quick goal by Valakari gave us some leeway but it was only when Beljo completed his hattrick with two more roses that we put the game to rest. A 91th minute goal from Adli (not our Adli) set the final score, 4-2. Top performers: Beljo scored a hattrick and provided the assist for the fourth goal, so kudos to him. Valakari also did really well behind him with a goal and two assists. Radi had a great performance on the left, helped on by a great cross that was converted by Beljo. Flop performers: Adli had a quiet game, but that's about it. Spoiler Group winners with one game to spare! Spoiler Player performances A great month for Beljo with lots of goals, and some improvement as a player to boot. Academy product Opoku has also been making some remarkable progress, as shown in the screenshot below. I'm happy he signed a new deal and Gila has a solid influence over him so I'm hoping that I can keep talking him out of outgrowing the club. Spoiler Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
KlaaZ Posted February 17, 2023 Author Share Posted February 17, 2023 December 2025: The last straight line to rest Five games in December, and then finally a much needed winter break. Bundesliga We start off at home against Hoffenheim. In an open game two very even teams both have their chances to grab the three points, but in the end it's Zimmer who secures victory in the 87th minute, assisted by Beljo. Top performers: Zimmer with the goal, Beljo with the assist and a very surprising great performance from loanie Spitzer, with Gila suspended and Bernard injured. Flop performers: Adli on the left, not for the first time. Very on and off, and might be better suited to the central role. Spoiler Next up we play giants Bayern away. This is still the most difficult game in the league for us, and we have no chance as we are on the end of a well deserved 2-0 defeat. Top performers: Hard to find someone. Opoku and Neumann were okay, I guess. Hiller was solid in goal and spared us of worse. Flop performers: Pretty much everyone else. The four up front were downright horrible, as was Radi on the left. Spoiler After the result in Münich, we needed to bounce back against Köln, a team that had been haunting us for a while. We've played them four times since returning to the highest level and only once managed to walk away with a point. No such thing this time though. In a fairly even game, we grab the three points through a penalty, converted by Valakari. Top performers: Opoku as per usual, Valakari by scoring the winner and Neumann on the right. Majoros also did well. Flop performers: Mainly Adli, again. Spoiler One more game, in recently promoted Schalke. They're currently sitting somewhere at the bottom but these are for some reason the hardest games for us to play. We have a lot of possession but fail to break them down and their counters prove more dangerous. Nontheless, Driouech puts us ahead around the half hour mark. In a nervous second half, it feels like we'll walk away with three points but once again we throw it all away in added time, conceding an unnecessary equalizer in the 94th minute. Top performers: Driouech, Valakari (with the assist) and Zimmer. Hiller also looked well and was on the verge of another clean sheet until that damned stoppage time. Flop performers: Nightmare game for Beljo really. Spoiler This leaves us in a very satisfying fourth place halfway through. I'm quite happy with our defensive work, outperforming xG against but up front, we're still the worst team in the top ten together with Hertha. My focus will be on finding better patterns to create chances. Spoiler Europa League We end our group stage with a game where we have nothing left to play for but glory (with a rotated squad, off course), in Rotterdam where we face Feyenoord who are level with Anderlecht and can qualify with a win. We don't start too well but in the 29th minute, Beljo is clean through on goal and gets caught in the penalty area by an already booked Puertas. Second yellow means red, and the penalty is converted by Handwerker. Surprisingly, three minutes later it's all equal when a lapse in concentration allows Maeda to come one on one with Hiller. In the second half we have plenty of chance to score the winning goal (and a few extra on top), but finishing was apparently not on the books this time. Feyenoord was happy to defend and did nothing but pick up an additional six yellows. Final score, 1-1. Top performers: Spitzer and Gila at the back, Mörschel behind the striker, Maja with a decent performance for once and Handwerker from the penalty spot. Also a very satisfying debut for young academy defender Gezer, who got his first 25 minutes in Europe and did well. Flop performers: Conté had a bad game at left back. Spoiler Spoiler Youth intake A very promising load of players again it seems. Finally some interesting wingers, a position that is very understaffed, and a solid goalkeeper would also be welcome. Spoiler Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
KlaaZ Posted February 20, 2023 Author Share Posted February 20, 2023 January 2026: Winter break Three games in January, all in the league. Bundesliga We start the second half of the season in Mainz. We're the better team but go behind twice and only manage to salvage a point in the end. Unfortunate, but it happens. Top performers: An excellent Driouech with a goal, Valakari scored from the spot and Adli was also solid. Opoku once again our rock at the back. Flop performers: Not for the first time Gila, with Neumann also not really turning up on the right. He wanted more playing time which he's been getting but it's really on and off. Spoiler Next up is Karlsruher away. For those that don't know, this is a rival game, which is obviously extra important. But we've got a bit of a sloppy record against them, and this game is no different. A bore draw in a game where we barely created anything, the only plus is the clean sheet. Top performers: Central defense was very tight tonight, Opoku and Gila both doing well. MotM was Hiller though, with nine saves made. The midfield duo with Majoros coupled to Palaversa also worked well, and will probably be my main setup this season. Flop performers: The entire front line might as well have stayed home. Spoiler Finally, we meet Werder at home. We almost go behind after less than a minute played but Hiller saves the day and after that, we take over and are rewarded with an excellent cross from Telebar and Beljo who heads it home from close range, his first goal in eight games. When Adli makes it 2-0 with an amazing long range free kick, we're set for the three points and in the second half we put the icing on the cake with two more goals from Bernard on corner and Handwerker on a counter. Finally a solid result, 4-0. Top performers: When everyone turns up, you get results like these. No flops this time! Spoiler I forgot to take a screenshot so this one is from one game into February, but it's pretty similar. We're still in fourth place but it's tight and there are a lot of teams chasing us. It's only a five point gap with 11th place. Spoiler Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
KlaaZ Posted February 21, 2023 Author Share Posted February 21, 2023 (edited) February 2026: Picking up the form Four league games in February, plus a draw for the Europa League Second Knockout Round! Bundesliga February first sees us play away in Leipzig. In an even game Kluivert opens the score after 25 minutes but Driouech equalizes just before halftime. 10 minutes before the end of the game, Palaversa seems to secure us the three points, but we once again concede an equalizer in the added time, in the 98th minute after we're reduced to ten men because of an injury. Frustrating! Top performers: Driouech, Majoros and Bernard were the top pick today, with Palaversa also having a great one off the bench. Flop performers: Gila... Which is slightly worrying me now, as he's good enough to play at a better standard than this. Spoiler We bounce back at home against Hertha with an excellent performance and an overly deserved 2-1 win. Despite going behind after only six minutes, we put in an amazing performance and goals from Beljo and Palaversa secure us the vital three points. Top performers: Mörschel was excellent on the right, Adli and Beljo also put in a great combination performance in the center of attack. Another great cameo performance of Palaversa (who is playing off the bench because I promised Telebar game time). Flop performers: Very quiet game from Driouech. Spoiler Halfway through February, we meet Freiburg, who are trailing us by four points. We're on a high of form after the Hertha game and are 0-2 up after only 15 minutes played, Valakari and Adli getting themselves on the scoresheet. Lucca pulls one back two minutes later but Telebar, on a corner, once again makes the gap two goals right before the break. We have everything under control in the second half and in the 92th minute, Mörschel puts the icing on the cake, making it a heavy 4-1 beating of a direct opponent for European football. Top performers: The entire team, great collective one this. Valakari, Driouech and mostly Opoku really stood out. Flop performers: Absolutely nobody. Spoiler The final game of February is at home against Leverkusen, another direct competitor for Europe. We go behind after 17 minutes but equalize on the 32nd through Adli. Despite the second half being one way traffic, we fail to find the winner and will have to settle for the draw. Still a very good performance. Top performers: The entire front four, with Adli being the best thanks to his goal. But in general, everyone did quite well again today. Flop performers: Hard to pick someone, really. No real bad performances but Majoros could perhaps have done better. Spoiler This leaves us solidly in fourth place at the end of February, with one game less played than the rest (as for some reason we didn't play in the final weekend of Feb despite there being a match day?), and unbeaten in nine consecutive league games now. Spoiler Europa League We're into the final 16 of the Europa League. If we're lucky, we'll strike an easier team like Racing Genk or AZ, but in the end we end up somewhere inbetween. We avoid Barcelona, Arsenal and Dortmund and will play Portuguese Sporting. Edited February 22, 2023 by KlaaZ Typo Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
KlaaZ Posted February 22, 2023 Author Share Posted February 22, 2023 March 2026: Unbeaten Five games in March, another draw in Europe and the arrival of the latest batch of academy prospects! Bundesliga Three domestic games, with the first one being a very important one at home against Mönchengladbach. A team that doesn't seem to suit us, but we're on a high of form and it shows. Despite going behind after only four minutes, we're not bothered and Adli equalizes quickly. Right after the break, he also provides the assist with Handwerker heading it home to put us ahead. And we're not done, with Valakari and Driouech, both on assist by Palaversa, extending our lead further. Ndombele scores the final goal of the game in the 87th minute to make it 4-2. Top performers: The entire front four turned up, Palaversa was excellent in midfield and Opoku our rock in defense. Flop performers: Well, Gila was quiet again.. Spoiler Halfway through March, we travel to struggling Düsseldorf. We have a blitz start with two goals scored in the first seven minutes, Radi finally opening his account with us. After that, Düsseldorf tried and deserved more, but Hiller had a fine game and wasn't planning on giving up his clean sheet. A stolen victory, but valuable nontheless! Top performers: A very all round performance, with Hiller Radi, Bernard and Handwerker (playing as a left winger) being the standout players. Flop performers: Beljo was a little quiet, but that's just me being picky. Spoiler Our final league game of March is at home against Wolfsburg. We have some very tired legs due to fixture congestion but once again, an early lead helps us on our way. A beautiful piece of play has Valakari as the final station, who puts it in the back of the net after only three minutes. Wolfsburg have one big occasion right after the break but Hiller saves the day. After that it's mostly quiet with us being the more threatening team on the break but we fail to score again which keeps it nervous until the final whistle. No mistakes in added time this game though, so another three big points! Top performers: Valakari was the best player on the pitch. Driouech provided the assist, and Hiller kept a clean sheet. Shoutout to a very good Gila this time as well, just like Radi. Flop performers: Zimmer came back after a spell of flu and didn't really get it going. Spoiler With a game in hand and seven to play, we're looking very, very good for the Champions League right now. But a lot can still happen, and football is unpredictable. Nontheless, we're comfortable in 4th place, eight points ahead of Hoffenheim with one less game played. Spoiler Europa League A double confrontation with Sporting turns into a shooting gallery. We secure a very deserved 3-1 win in Portugal and even our B-team plays them off the pitch at home in Germany, resulting in another 3-1 victory. Spoiler Spoiler The draw for the quarter final is not too bad for us, with Marseille as the opposing team. They comfortably beat PSV but looking past the scorelines, they actually played two very even games against the Dutch top team. Youth intake At first glance, the youth intake is less spectacular than the past few seasons, but apart from the fact that we've been spoiled so far I believe there's quite a bit of potential there, with three players standing out. Spoiler Spoiler Spoiler Spoiler Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
john1 Posted February 22, 2023 Share Posted February 22, 2023 Wow, insane progress right from start to now! Don't know how I missed this thread! Shame the youth intakes seems to be getting poor season after season! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
KlaaZ Posted February 22, 2023 Author Share Posted February 22, 2023 34 minutes ago, john1 said: Wow, insane progress right from start to now! Don't know how I missed this thread! Shame the youth intakes seems to be getting poor season after season! I was wondering if you were still around. The youth intakes aren't too bad really, we hit the jackpot with Opoku in the first batch, who is already looking like he'll be world class. Apart from that, there's a young striker out on loan who will probably start getting some game time next season, having scored 14 goals this year in the Bundesliga 2, and Ruben Miralles will also become part of the first team squad at left back, as a standin for Radi. I also think it's a bit linked to reputation. I've seen another two youth player poached messages, which is because I'm one of the few teams in the league without a continental rep. It'll get better, especially now that we've had a good run in Europe so far. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
KlaaZ Posted February 22, 2023 Author Share Posted February 22, 2023 April 2026: Dragging ourselves over the finish line No less than eight games this month.. This is going to hurt! Bundesliga Fives Bundesliga games, starting with an away game against league leaders Dortmund. We didn't play too badly but the yellow and black were just hyperefficient in the first 25 minutes, going 2-0 up with another disallowed. We never recovered from that and in the second half, we conceded two more to make it a very sobering 4-0 defeat. Top performers: Hiller, maybe. Flop performers: A complete team offday. The front four were especially awful. Spoiler Only three days later, we had another away game, this time in Frankfurt. We have some very tired legs and even rotation isn't cutting it anymore. Despite that, we didn't start too badly but gradually, Frankfurt took over. Either way, we hung in there and when Maja put us ahead in the 84th minute, I thought we would scrape the win but once again, stoppage time was not our friend with Koïta equalizing (deservedly) in the 94th. Top performers: A very good Neumann, the central duo also did well and a great cameo from Maja, who scored off the bench. Flop performers: Beljo, who's form has dropped dramatically recently.. Spoiler No rest for the wicked, after a European game we play Hamburg at home. In an even game, they went ahead through Marmoush just after the break. Despite the exhaustion, we actually fought tooth and nail and were rewarded in the 89th and (surprisingly, in stoppage time) 92nd minute when Driouech and Adli turned it completely around. A very deserved victory! Top performers: Adli and Driouech, obviously. An excellent Neumann on right back. Beljo started on the bench and did well when coming on. Flop performers: Academy prospect Richter got a start and was disappointing, but he's still young so I'll forgive him. Spoiler The next game was away at fifth place Hoffenheim. A very important one, this, as a draw will keep them well away from threatening our Champions League spot. But once again, we play this off the back of a European game and everyone is just dead tired. We also have three players out injured, and three players suspended, which means half of our bench is filled with youth players. Nontheless, we started well and were in fact the better team, but got punished by two screamers. You can see from the xG progress how we just fell apart after half an hour and couldn't keep up with Hoffenheim anymore. In the end, it's a bitter 3-0 loss. Top performers: Bernard did well, Radi was also solid on the left. Not a bad game from Beljo either. Flop performers: A horrible Majoros tonight, Adli didn't turn up either. But there's the tiredness excuse off course. Spoiler And finally, the biggest game of the season, our home game against Bayern. Luckily, we had almost a week of rest this time. Bayern had the upper hand in the first half but forgot to score the goal they deserved. In the second half, everything was more even and we also had our chances. In the 78th minute, Beljo put us 1-0 up and eight minutes later, Valakari secured the three points, making it 2-0. Top performers: Our entire front line turned up for once, and Opoku was once again the star at the back. Honorable mention for Hiller's clean sheet! Flop performers: Zimmer on right back. Spoiler This puts us in third, six points ahead of fifth with two games to play. Whilst technically, we could still drop down to fifth, chances are slim that Leipzig will overcome the gap in goal difference so we've all but secured Champions League football next season. As you can see though, it's still a huge gap between us and the two giants. Spoiler Europa League We start our quarter final away in Marseille, where a tight game turns into a tight result, the French winning 2-1, scoring the winner in the 82nd minute. Everything to play for in the return, where we turn in a far better performance and run them off the pitch in a 3-0 whopping. On to the semis, where we'll meet Tottenham, currently in third place in the Premier League. Spoiler Spoiler We play our first game away again at the end of April and secure a very credible 0-0 draw. A game which could actually have been won, especially since Tottenham were down to 10 for the last bit of the game but sometimes things don't go your way. In fact, they probably had their chance to win as well near the end of the game so all in all, it was a fair result. Spoiler Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
KlaaZ Posted February 22, 2023 Author Share Posted February 22, 2023 May 2026: Wrapping up It's time to finish a very exciting season, so follow along! Bundesliga Two more games to play, with one point enough to mathematically seal Champions League football next season. We play the first one away at Köln, and with an important European return leg against Tottenham three days later, I decide to play a rotation squad. Youngster Miskovic makes his debut with another academy player, Richter, playing behind him. Despite this, we play an excellent game. Telebar opens the score with a tap in after Gila heads a ball through on a corner. Right before the break, we score two more goals through Handwerker and Richter, who nets his first senior goal. Köln tries in the second half, but Hiller has a good game and Telebar puts everything to rest with his second after 58 minutes. Securing CL in style! Top performers: Another great team performance, special shoutout to Telebar with a brace. Happy to see a good performance from Richter as well. Flop performers: Miskovic was a little quiet on his debut but all in all, everyone was okay really. Spoiler We end the season at home against already relegated Schalke. With all the pressure off, we play a solid game but our finishing lets us down. We only hit one shot on target and unfortunately, the woodwork thrice, , resulting in a boring 0-0 draw. Top performers: Adli and Neumann formed an excellent duo on the right, and Bernard was excellent in the center, taking over from Gila who unfortunately broke his arm and missed the end of the season. Also, another solid performance from Richter. Flop performer: Conté was disappointing on the left back. Spoiler This means we finish an excellent season in a well deserved third place, clearly being the 'best of the rest'. I'm very happy with our defensive record, exceeding the 43 xG against. We also did better than expected up front with 53 goals against an xG of 47. Spoiler Europa League Our return game against Tottenham couldn't have started worse when Bernard lost possession after only 10 seconds of play and another 12 seconds later, Kane hit the back of the net. Only three minutes later however, Opoku squared things with an excellent header from a corner. In a very even second half, it looked like we would go into extra time but the game ended like it started, this time with sloppy loss of possession from a Tottenham player. Driouech kept his cool and slotted it home, securing us a European final against... surprise package Freiburg. Spoiler In a very even game, it once again looked like we were going to extra time as both goalkeepers were set to keep a clean sheet. On top of that, Freiburg had a goal ruled out in the 83rd minute for offside. But in the 93rd minute, our subs pulled it over the line. Great buildup play from the back through Opoku and Majoros, with Beljo dropping deep to receive the ball. He played it square to Mörschel on the right, who hit a great one touch long ball over the top to Telebar, who timed his run perfectly and put it past Merdet. Our first trophy secured! Spoiler Spoiler Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
KlaaZ Posted February 22, 2023 Author Share Posted February 22, 2023 I'll probably do an end of season wrapup tomorrow. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
KlaaZ Posted February 23, 2023 Author Share Posted February 23, 2023 2025-2026: Wrapup and looking forward General After a bit of a wonkey start, we had a very consistent season, which kept us almost consistently in a top four spot with the exception of game day 18. I'm also very happy that we outperformed both our xG for and against, although it would be nice if we can bring in some extra quality to improve these numbers next season. Spoiler Tactics We line up in what can be described as a pretty standard 4231. The exception is probably the right flank, where we employ a playmaker. This is a position where, going forward, I may like to try playing a Treq once we get a more dominant team. We're sometimes vulnerable against flat 442 formations, in that case we usually push the defensive line up even further to try and limit the space between the stratas. Spoiler Players I think our new signings made the difference this year. Young Radi had a solid debut season and is only getting better, as is Majoros in midfield. Opoku recently made his debut for the German national team and I'm hoping to keep him around for a long time. Either way, he's tied up until 2030 for now, with a 74M release clause. Spoiler Spoiler Spoiler We're probably still weakest up front. Beljo has made some nice improvement but will never be a profilic goalscorer apparently, and I feel the squad lacks depth in all of the attacking positions. We'll dive into the transfer market to improve this. We'll also be on the lookout for a new right back. Despite Neumann and Zimmer's performances, I feel we lack quality here. In the academy, Eren Güzel had a very productive season at Magdeburg in the Bundesliga 2 and we're considering having him join the first team squad next year. If not, we'll loan him out again. Spoiler Spoiler Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
KlaaZ Posted February 23, 2023 Author Share Posted February 23, 2023 June 2026: Starting homework Not that much to mention, but we do already have some transfer news. We've gotten a solid transfer budget thanks to the CL qualification, but the wage budget remains low (600k). This means we shifted a bit between the budgets to create some room, while leaving about 30M to spend. I'm also not ruling out any player sales. Beljo wants to leave for example, and is transfer listed by request, as he was asking for a new contract and we couldn't reach an agreement. So far it's quiet on the outgoing side, with a few youth players leaving the club. On the incoming side, we have two transfers arranged. We found a new right back in Neco Williams, a 25-year old Welshman who was currently playing for Leverkusen. He's been on my radar for a while and we almost snapped him up for free last season, but he opted for the other German team instead. We pay 9.75M for his services. Up front, we find a new attacking midfielder in Argentina. Oscar Caballo had been on our shortlist for years as well, but he opted to move from River to Racing Club in 2025 which made him impossible to sign at that point. It's different now though, and we moved in quick to secure his services as there was no competition from the big clubs (yet). The only bad news is that his release clause is a bit on the low side with 57M. Speaking of release clauses, Opoku signed a new deal until 2031 with a release fee of 150M. If he ever goes, it'll have to be worth our while. Spoiler Spoiler That said, we're still looking for another striker, maybe a winger and potentially a goalkeeper as well. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
KlaaZ Posted February 23, 2023 Author Share Posted February 23, 2023 July 2026: Trying to finish our homework Not that much to say, really. Scouting is struggling to find decent options up front (that are affordable too), but we did manage to strengthen the team. First things first though, we loan out our three brightest prospects to the Bundesliga 2. Richter and Miralles will represent Augsburg while Güzel goes to Bochum. This will be the last time I loan them out, next year they'll permanently join the team and get some football. On the incoming side, we find our new goalkeeper in Florian Kastenmeier, the 29-year old German joining us from Düsseldorf, who were relegated but where he still managed to get a 6.93 average rating (despite conceding 63 goals). Spoiler At the back, we pick up a young Dane from Feyenoord in a 4.5M deal. Frost will start as a rotation option and needs to work on his technicals, but he brings some depth to the team, and a great personality to boot! Spoiler We're also still in talks with a striker from River but face competition from Chelsea, so don't get your hopes up. My main target is actually a Feyenoord product, but he has a 75M price tag on his head so I don't think I'll ever be able to bring him in. Spoiler Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
KlaaZ Posted February 23, 2023 Author Share Posted February 23, 2023 August 2026: The beginning, again Lots of stuff going on this month, with the first round of the DFB Pokal, the European Super Cup against Chelsea and three league games. And some transfer news, without a doubt! Oh, and there's also the draw for the CL group stage! Transfer news Well, as predicted, we missed out on our striker target. Kühn was unhappy about the signing of Kastenmeier, so he leaves on loan to Mönchengladbach. On the final day of the season, we do a bit of a swap. First, we sign Jonas Wind in a loan deal from Leverkusen, and once that deal was sealed, Maja left the club for Rangers in a 3.8M deal. Wind's a different profile from Maja but overall, he's a better player and he's an amazing DLF to link play. Beljo still wants to leave, but as nobody offered us the 20M we want, he's going nowhere. He also signed a new deal in the meantime, which is a bit confusing. Spoiler All in all, I'm very happy with this transfer window. I feel like we strengthened our weakest areas, between the stakes and at right back, and pretty much kept the rest of the squad together. Bundesliga We kick off the season at home against RB Leipzig, a big team but one that we have a very good track record against. We start with a bang and Radi opens the score after only six minutes, with Driouech doubling it about halfway after a great cross from new signing Williams. Leipzig wasn't too bad up to that point but the second goal really stopped them dead in their tracks. It's smooth sailing in the second half, with Driouech netting another goal around the hour mark and Beljo putting the icing on the cake in added time. Inbetween, Yuri Alberto saves the opponent's honour with a tap in, also their only real chance in the second half. Top: Excellent performances from both full backs, Driouech with a brace and Beljo with a goal and a great assist. Flop: None, great all round game. Spoiler Next up is Hertha away, who were on the wrong end of a beating from Freiburg last week. We dominate the game from start to finish but only manage to score one goal, when Beljo profits from a bad back pass to their goalie to put it into the back of an empty net. The game is marred by an unncessary red card for Telebar in the 89th minute, but even that didn't put a dent into our performance. Top: Beljo as a match winner and Opoku in the heart of defense. Two solid full backs as well, again. Kastenmeier had only one save to make but it was an important one, considering the thin margin we had. Flop: Not the best of games from Majoros. Spoiler Finally, we host Köln at home. Starting like a whirlwind again, it's 3-0 after only half an hour of play. Valakari nets a brace and Driouech scores inbetween as well. An efficient Köln pulled one back right before the break and when we refuse to finish off the game by scoring a fourth, they make that gap even smaller in the 64th. That's as far as they got though, with only one shot registered afterwards, but because we fail to broaden our lead again, it remains nervous until the final whistle. Top: Valakari and Driouech excelled, Palaversa bossed the midfield and the entire back line looked solid despite the conceded goals. Flop: Kastenmeier dropped the ball on the first Köln goal. Unfortunate. Spoiler Perfect record after three games played and we're at the upper end of the table with the two big boys for now. Good, because I'd rather be leading than chasing! Spoiler DFB Pokal One game, away against third division team Mannheim in the Südwest Derby! An important game for the fans, so I field our best eleven and they get the job done. Adli scores both goals, in a result that could have been bigger. Mannheim only have one shot, off target. Dominant! Spoiler European football Four days later, we play Chelsea in the Supercup final, as they won the CL last year. We face a strong opponent, with a spearhead of Lukaku and Gabriel Jesus. We play a game without any pressure, and that seems to suit us because we remain on the same footing of the Blues and are even the slightly better team. When Connor Gallagher gets sent off after 70 minutes, it looks like we'll just drive over the English giants but we fail to score and it's in fact them who get a great opportunity right before the final whistle but Kastenmeier saves the day. Into extra time we go and our second big chance of that extra time is the right one when Williams floats in a cross to the far post and Beljo can't miss. Chelsea's on the canvas and we easily see out the game to grab our first trophy of the season! Top: Great game from Carballo and Kastenmeier but the man of the match is an outstanding Williams at right back. Flop: Adli had a quiet game and my experiment with Valakari in the striker position also didn't really turn out as expected. Spoiler Finally, there's the CL group stage draw. We're seeded first, possibly because of our Europa League win last season, so I can't complain. Teams coming out of the head are Real Sociedad (who finished third in the Primera Division last year), Galatasaray and Sporting, who we absolutely demolished on our way to the final in the previous edition. A manageable group, which means that I can hopefully rotate a bit. Spoiler Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
KlaaZ Posted February 23, 2023 Author Share Posted February 23, 2023 September 2026: A very mixed month.. September would prove to be a month just to survive, with away games at Dortmund AND Bayern, and a tricky away game in Sociedad who are leading La Liga, with 19/21... Bundesliga We start the month in Dortmund, where we face that very annoying narrow 4312 formation, and striker in form Moukoko. We get completely run over and are 3-0 behind after only half an hour of play. Opoku pulls one back right before the break and in the second half, we have a little bit more control but that's about it. Six minutes before the end of the game, Moukoko completes his hattrick to make it 4-1. Top: Kastenmeier, despite four goals conceded. Says it all really. Opoku also gets a decent rating thanks to his goal. Flop: Almost everyone else. Spoiler Next up was that other Borussia, Mönchengladbach, at home. We bounce back with a really good performance, running them over with a goal from Adli and a brace from Carballo. Only bad note is Majoros who runs into an injury which will keep him sidelined for a month. Two days later, Palaversa will twist his ankle, which leaves us really thinly staffed in the center of midfield for a while. Top: Everyone, with an outstanding Carballo. Flop: I'm happy to say, nobody. Spoiler Finally, we travel to Münich where we'll face Bayern. Despite going ahead twice and leading at the break, we fail to see out the game, conceding three more goals in the second half. We had our moments though, with Driouech missing a one on one at 3-2 and Beljo doing the same at 4-2. A deserved win for the giants, but a game which could have looked very different. Top: Pretty much everyone was quite solid, except for.. Flop: Our entire back line. Spoiler This leaves us in fourth place, but the good news is that we've had both away games against Dortmund and Bayern, so hopefully things are looking up. Spoiler Champions League We start the group stage at home against Galatasary, a must win. The rotation squad does its job in style, Wind scoring his first goals in a Kaiserslautern jersey and Handwerker scoring a brace as well. Top: Everyone, really. Flop: No weak links this time! Spoiler Next up is Real Sociedad away, on the back of the defeat in Bayern. We're not our usual selves and are on the backfoot the entire game but still could have grabbed something if it weren't for the fact that we conceded from two corners. It also didn't help that Zimmer got himself sent off with a second yellow after only 54 minutes.. A game to quickly forget. Top: Kastenmeier kept it respectable. Flop: Everyone else can go have a long, good look in the mirror because this was the most awful game we've played in two years. Spoiler Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
KlaaZ Posted February 23, 2023 Author Share Posted February 23, 2023 Well, it's still early days but this is going to be an annoying season it seems. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
john1 Posted February 24, 2023 Share Posted February 24, 2023 Looks like going to be tough season ahead for you Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
KlaaZ Posted February 24, 2023 Author Share Posted February 24, 2023 1 hour ago, john1 said: Looks like going to be tough season ahead for you Yeah, overperforming is all fun and games but it's hard when reality comes crashing down. 😅 Board is expecting European football too so the bar is set quite high. I do think the squad is good enough to consistently be in the top six though. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
KlaaZ Posted February 25, 2023 Author Share Posted February 25, 2023 October 2026 The season's well underway, with six games this month. Four in the league, a European game and the second round of the cup. Bundesliga It's October 3rd, and we play Frankfurt who are sitting midtable. We go behind early, again, when Balogun scores from their first opportunity on target, but turn it around before halftime through Carballo and Beljo. We control the second half although we do get another score right before the end when another goal from Balogun gets chalked off for offside. It's a deserved victory, but we really need to start putting these games to rest earlier. Top: Driouech and Beljo were excellent up front, while the back line also turned in some quality. Opoku had an excellent assist on a through ball that wouldn't look amiss on a number ten. Flop: I'm happy to say nobody, really. Carballo wasn't that good but his goal made up for it. Spoiler Next up was the rival game in Karlsruher. We're the better team but, as it has been the entire season, we concede way too easily. And shipping goals means it gets hard to win game, so despite controlling most of the game, we lose 3-2. I'm still not sure if this is just rotten luck or rather something tactical, but numberswise we're doing everything right.. Top: Beljo and Carballo had a good game up front, as did Driouech. Williams was also ever present on the right. Flop: Gila had a rotten game at the back and Kastenmeier also didn't play well. Spoiler This put a lot of pressure on the home game against Mainz. Luckily, we came of the back of a moral boost after a solid victory in Europe (more on that later), but despite outplaying them start to finish we once again managed to go behind first. A red card for Mainz should have given us a boost but despite that, we needed to wait until the 65th and 71st minute to grab the win we so desperately needed. If we keep playing like this, it will get easier though. I hope. Top: An excellent Carballo and Wind up front set up the equalizer, and Majoros scored a beauty to give us the win. His first goal for us, too. Great game from Conté on the left, with Radi getting some well deserved rest. Flop: Goitea had a quiet game in midfield. Spoiler Finally, we finish the month away at recently promoted St Pauli. In a very boring affair, neither team does enough to deserve the win. Not good enough, this one, but we came off the back of a very tiring cup game, so there's that excuse at least. Top: The back line held firm. Flop: The front line might as well have stayed home, Adli being the only one who held his ground a bit. Absolute stinker from Driouech. Spoiler This leaves us in fourth place with ten games played, which is satisfying enough. On the other hand, it's only three points above ninth place so as usual, it's very tight. Spoiler Champions League Only one game, where we want to wash away the loss in Sociedad. We do so in style against Sporting, completely demolishing the Portuguese in a three nil victory. Only downside is that we actually should have scored more, but no complaints from me. Top: Only top performers this time, the screenshot speaks for itself. Flop: None. Spoiler DFB Pokal The second round of the Pokal is once again not kind on us with a draw against league compatriots Köln. As we always do, we play very well but go behind after 26 minutes. We bang on the door for the rest of the game and in a batshit crazy end of the game, Wind equalizes in the 89th, Köln goes ahead again in the 92nd and Mörschel again equalizes in the 95th minute to take us into extra time. No goals there, so penalties will be decisive and it's Hiller who saves attempts from Thielmann and Churlinov while we remaing faultless. It's with a scare, but we're on to the next round where we'll play relegated Düsseldorf away. Spoiler Transfer news When looking for young talent, we stumbled across two players who could be very interesting indeed. The first is Steinar Magnusson, a young Icelandic who is already an established first team player at Kalmar in Sweden. Left footed and a great mentality, I would love to pair him with Opoku in a few years if we can hang on to our academy starlet. At 950k, he seems like a bargain. Spoiler Our second signing is young Nigerian midfielder Chidiebere Dede (what a name), who is currently already getting first team football in Austria. We pay 3.2M for his services. Both players will join us during the winter break. Spoiler Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
KlaaZ Posted February 25, 2023 Author Share Posted February 25, 2023 (edited) November 2026 Five games in November, which looks relatively okay until you realize that there's an interland break in between, so it's once again a hectic schedule. We also have some more transfer news. Bundesliga We play our first game of November at home against newcomers Union Berlin. They're struggling in the league and it shows in their performance, as we have them on the backfoot most of the game. Telebar opens the score halfway through the first half after Opoku heads the ball through on a corner and four minutes later, Driouech puts the ball into the top corner to make it 2-0. In the second half we refuse to make it a landslide win, but in the end it's the three points that matter. Top: Driouech was in great form and scored a real beauty. Opoku and Gila were iron in central defense and Zimmer excelled on the right. Flop: None, great team performance. Spoiler Right after the interland break we meet Leverkusen away, a team that is right behind us in the league. They start off well and push us back, resulting in one great chance. After that, we have the better attempts but we have a horrid time finding the target. Even a red card for Bensebaïni doesn't help us grab the lead, despite another huge chance in the second half. 0-0 after some disappointing finishing from our side. Top: Kastenmeier kept us in the game in the beginning, and Opoku also shone. Flop: Zimmer never really got it going on the right, and Driouech didn't either on the other side. Spoiler Finally, we close off the month at home against Werder Bremen. We finally find our scoring boots again, ironically in our worst game of the month. In an efficient first half, we are 3-0 up at the break after goals from Zimmer, Beljo (ending an eight game dry spell) and Bernard. In the second half, we relax a little too much and when Roberts pulls one back in the 79nd, I get a little nervous. Luckily, Beljo scores his second of the game in what is pretty much our only chance in that second half, putting the game to rest. Werder pulls another one back in extra time, making it 4-2. Top: Beljo with the brace, finally scoring again. A very good Zimmer and Telebar, and a good corner goal from Bernard. Flop: Quiet game from Majoros but that's just me being nitpicky. Spoiler Still fourth, with the gap towards the non-European places being a little bigger. Good month, all in all. Spoiler Champions League Two games in the CL, away in Sporting and at home against Sociedad. We go 2-0 behind against the Portuguese after a dramatic first 15 minutes but rectify the situation before the game is over, goals from Carballo, Handwerker and Valakari securing an in the end deserved victory. The game against Sociedad is quite even until the Spaniards are reduced to ten men. After that it's one way traffic until the final whistle but just like in the Leverkusen game, our finishing is just not there. A disappointing 0-0 considering how the game evolved. Spoiler Spoiler Transfer news Scouting is working overtime and we are reaping the results. We found a young defensive midfielder in Chile who looks like he could become very, very good indeed. He has the interest of Liverpool but we move quickly to match his 3.6M release clause. He'll join in the winter break and will go straight into the first team squad, meaning we might offload a midfielder (Goitea being the main candidate) to compensate. Spoiler Edited February 26, 2023 by KlaaZ Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
KlaaZ Posted February 26, 2023 Author Share Posted February 26, 2023 (edited) December 2026: Making it to the break, in style An additional five games in December, four of them in relatively short time. Let's get to it! Bundesliga December begins away at struggling Hoffenheim, probably the trickiest games. We enjoy a good start but it's the home team that takes the lead in the 24th minute. We're not phased though, and rectify the situation before the break with Handwerker, Wind and Valakari putting us comfortably ahead. We control the game in the second half and have the best chances to improve our lead but the score remains as is. Top: Handwerker, who is our rotation option for Driouech, and Adli bossed the flanks. But all in all, everyone turned up today. Flop: Conté was a little quiet, perhaps. Spoiler Next up we play fifth place Wolfsburg at home, a must win game with our eye set on another Champions League campaign next season. This is probably our weakest game of the month. We start off reasonably well but fail to score and halfway through the first period, we just stop playing, giving Wolfsburg the opportunity to get back into the match. At a moment where they seem more likely to score, it's Opoku who put us ahead with a header from a corner. Wolfsburg are stunned and fail to react, but when we give away a silly penalty, it looks like we'll drop two costly points. Telebar says no however, netting the winner in the 89th minute on another corner. Top: Telebar with the winner, Driouech with an assist brace and Opoku with a goal and a generally impressive performance. Flop: Quiet game from Beljo up front. Spoiler We play away at Stuttgart before we'll finally get a full week of rest. We dominate from start to finish but in the end need a clutch goal from Gila to secure the win. We once again fail to kill off the game in the final 25 minutes, having plenty of chances to do so, but as we gave nothing away at the back, it's another three points in the bag! Top: Impressive defensive performance with Gila turning in a MotM performance. Flop: Not really anyone to single out today. Spoiler The last game before the winter break is another important one (aren't they all though?). Freiburg are currently sitting a few spots down in the league, and we want to keep them there. We have a bit of a slow start but in the end do get the best chances in the first half but forget to take the lead so it's a logical 0-0 at the break. We start off well in the second with Beljo heading it home in the 54th and securing the win in the 89th. Litnitov pulls one back for Freiburg but that's all it is, three points to die Roten Teufel! Top: Beljo with a brace, bringing his league tally to eight in 14 games. With this, he equals last season's production so it looks like he'll have a good season, despite goalscoring not being his main task on the pitch. Also a very good Driouech and Palaversa. Flop: Average performances from Gila and Williams. Spoiler This leaves us in fourth place, as usual, halfway through the season, with a perfect report in December. We have Dortmund and Bayern ahead us of, also as usual, and surprise package Leipzig who only lost one game so far, their opener against us. Spoiler Champions League Final game of the group stage, away in Turkey, while Sociedad play Sporting at home. We need a win and things to go our way in Spain to win the group, but it's not to be. At the break, we're virtually there thanks to a 30 yard screamer from Beljo and Sporting keeping it 0-0 in Sociedad, but the Spanish highflyers break them down eventually and win their game 3-0. Either way, ending second in this group with 13 points and another European winter is pretty much what I aimed for, so no complaints. This also meant that we weren't seeded for the knockout stage draw, and we'll have a very tough two legs against Manchester United if we want to progress further. Spoiler Spoiler Transfer news We're currently in talks with a young striker from América Cali, but as Liverpool also put in a bid I think we'll once again fail to secure a potential forward. On the outgoing side, there's low level interest for Adli and Driouech (who won't leave). Finally, Arsenal might make a move for Majoros. If he goes, it'll be in a big big money deal that we'll use to bring in new talent. Spoiler Spoiler Another Manchester United was also interested in someone, but obviously, I said no. Spoiler Youth intake Great prognosis this time, especially looking forward to the winger and full backs. Spoiler Edited February 26, 2023 by KlaaZ Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
KlaaZ Posted February 26, 2023 Author Share Posted February 26, 2023 A walk through the youth setup Now that we've perfected our youth facilities, it's time for a bit of a walkaround to show you how we work. The intakes and the staff This is a fairly interesting one. The chance of a better youth intake is improved by quite a few factors. Pretty much everybody knows of the impact of facilities, junior coaching and youth recruitment. But there's also the relevance of attracting the right personnel. The head of youth recruitment doesn't necessarily direct impact the potential ability of your new academy prospects, BUT he will influence them in other ways. His style of play will show in the attribute distribution of your intake and his personality will also influence the kids making their way into the first team. So what does this mean practically? In our case, we brought in Jean-Sébastien Mérieux in the summer of 2023. JS is a model citizen, has high working with youngsters, great determination and motivating skills and excellent JPP. Furthermore, he prefers the 4231 wide we currently play and has 433 DM wide (which is my second go to formation) as his second formation. He also likes controlling possession, which could imply better technical attributes for the academy players. Spoiler Another important aspect when it comes to staff is the ability of your youth coaches. They need to be capable of working with kids, and they need the right personalities. Fun fact, the quality of my youth training is possibly better than that of my first team! As an example, take Romain Danzé, our current U19 assistant. Another model citizen, with great attributes and who is very well suiting to training youth players. And he's not the only one. Spoiler Spoiler Spoiler Spoiler The training schedule In the past, I've usually just grabbed @Rashidi his excellent BTN schedules, but in this season I've started experimenting with my own template, focusing more on technical attribute progression as I believe physicals will also develop naturally anyway. We have one quickness and one resistance session, one tactical that focuses solely on the mental part of the game and then two attacking and two defending focused seshes throughout the week. On top of that, we'll have one physical training midweek too. So far, this is looking very promising, although I may need to tweak it a little going forward. Spoiler Spoiler Finally, meet Eren Güzel. On loan for the last season and a half in the second vision after he completed his academy training, and will look very good for the DLF role in the future. Spoiler Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pearomaniac Posted February 26, 2023 Share Posted February 26, 2023 (edited) On 26/01/2023 at 20:00, KlaaZ said: Hello and welcome to another edition of my journals! After quite a long hiatus, I picked FM22 up again (no FM23 for me yet due to budget cuts/building a house) and finally found myself another interesting challenge. I've been looking at German clubs for a long time now and had finally narrowed it down to a shortlist with the following candidates: Dynamo Dresden, FC St Pauli or Hannover 96. However, since all of these teams start in the Bundesliga 2, I felt it might be too easy and instead I took a look at the Bundesliga 3. And that's where I found Kaiserslautern. A true fallen giant with four Bundesliga titles (the latest in 1998), two cup wins and a very good spell in one Champions League edition where they were eventually eliminated by Bayern Munich in the quarter finals (under the famous Otto Rehhagel if I'm not mistaken. The club where Miroslav Klose and Michael Ballack first made their mark on the footballing world and where Klaus Topmöller is still an icon to this day. The club is predicted to finish first, and has a very decent squad although I feel that there are quite a few others who could challenge as well, namely Braunsweig and 1860 Münich. So we have good hopes of going up, but will take nothing for granted! Trully a fallen giant, i know of times when Kaiserslautern played Red Star Belgrade in the UEFA Cup Winners Cup. EDIT: This cups names sounds even better on Serbian "Kup Pobednika Kupova" Edited February 26, 2023 by Pearomaniac 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
KlaaZ Posted February 26, 2023 Author Share Posted February 26, 2023 4 hours ago, Pearomaniac said: Trully a fallen giant, i know of times when Kaiserslautern played Red Star Belgrade in the UEFA Cup Winners Cup. EDIT: This cups names sounds even better on Serbian "Kup Pobednika Kupova" Must mean we're getting old, eh? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
KlaaZ Posted February 26, 2023 Author Share Posted February 26, 2023 January 2026: Picking back up A transfer window and four league games, let's go! Bundesliga Four games for us, two of them being against teams above us. We start away at high flying RB Leipzig. We could have been ahead after only a few minutes but Driouech missed the clear cut opportunity. After that, the game became more even but no goals at the break. In the second half, it's Valakari who opens the score with a screamer from distance and in the 82nd minute, Carballo does the same to extend the lead further. Gouiri pulls one back a few minutes later but we hold onto the lead until the final whistle. Top: Very happy with the goalscorers, and Telebar for providing twice. A solid team performance at the back too. Flop: Driouech should always have gone home with a goal. Spoiler The three points we won on Leipzig by our victory are immediately lost again. We go up deservedly at home against Hertha through a converted penalty kick by Valakari, but concede two goals in the 88th and 94th minute. Not the first time this happens, we have a really hard time holding on to (comfortable) leads. Top: Carballo and Telebar were very good, and Valakari almost became the match winner through his goal. Flop: A horrid time at the back. Opoku and Gila both really didn't play well, neither did Radi on the left. Kastenmeier also should have done better. And Driouech had another stinker. Spoiler Next up is Köln away, and this time we don't bounce back. We do go ahead through Driouech but Köln level right before the break and actually have us on the backfoot in the first sixty minutes. It's only when we turn our midfield triangle around that things improve, but we fail to score the winner and have to settle for a draw. A fair results over the entire game, truth be told. Top: Driouech had a goal, but Zimmer put in the best performance of the night for us. Flop: Carballo was subbed at halftime, something I rarely do. Beljo also very quiet. Spoiler We end the month at home against Dortmund. Opoku finds the net on a corner after only eight minutes but we once again struggle with the pace of their forward duo and in their fourth chance, Moukoko equalizes. I react by once again turning the triangle around to neutralize their shadow striker and pull the defensive line back, stabilizing the game. In the second half, it's efficiency that wins the day for the Dortmund giants. Nunez twice finds the space and punishes us accordingly, while we fail to take our chances. A disappointing loss in a performance that merited more, and the end to what I feel was quite the horror month with only one win. Top: Driouech maybe, nobody outstanding apart from that. Flop: Telebar and Carballo didn't put in the kind of performance expected of them. Spoiler We're still in fourth place, five points ahead of Leverkusen and six behind Leipzig. I think we deserve to be where we are. We're not good enough to threaten the top three, let alone the top two, and the numbers prove that. In fairness, we're conceding far too many goals to even get there at this point, twice as many as Leipzig for example. And it's because of underperforming as we've taken five more goals than we should according to the xG table. Spoiler Transfer news Our recently arranged signings arrive, with Magnusson going back on loan and Cortes joining the first team right away. Frost also moves on loan to Hamburg as he's unhappy with his playing time. There's a 56M offer from Ajax for Driouech, which we refuse as we can't replace him yet. I've got my sights set on a young Argentinian but that will be summer business. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
john1 Posted February 27, 2023 Share Posted February 27, 2023 Brilliant youth coaches you currently have for U's19. I always go for Jean-Sébastien Mérieux for HOYD when I start new save on FM23. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
KlaaZ Posted February 27, 2023 Author Share Posted February 27, 2023 2 hours ago, john1 said: Brilliant youth coaches you currently have for U's19. I always go for Jean-Sébastien Mérieux for HOYD when I start new save on FM23. I didn't know him, but I'm very happy I found him now. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
john1 Posted February 27, 2023 Share Posted February 27, 2023 25 minutes ago, KlaaZ said: I didn't know him, but I'm very happy I found him now. Wait what? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
KlaaZ Posted February 27, 2023 Author Share Posted February 27, 2023 February 2026: Tired legs The shortest month of the year, but seven (!) games to play. And some 'bad' news from the transfer front. Bundesliga A tough month, let's go into detail. We start with an away game in Mönchengladbach on the back of a very tiring cup game. It shows as we're on the backfoot for most of the game but we hold on strong until Williams scores an unfortunate owngoal. The home team is still celebrating when Beljo makes it 1-1. We manage to hold on to the draw, a point which I'm very happy with considering the performance. Still, this is our fourth league game in a row without a win.. Top: Beljo saved a point today. Flop: Williams with the own goal, and Carballo who is completely out of form. Spoiler Next up we face Bayern at home, once again on the back of a midweek game. Musiala puts the record champion ahead after only 13 minutes. Luckily, we manage to hold onto the narrow gap until the break and in the second half, we start slightly better. Driouech rewards us in the 70th minute with the equalizer, which wakes Bayern up again and we're luckily to survive their final offensive. Another good point, but we really need to get a win soon. Top: Our left flank. Also happy with the contribution from Adli on the right. Flop: Carballo needs a rest, I think. Spoiler Finally, after another midweek game (what else is new, with seven games in a month), we face a struggling Frankfurt in their home ground. A good moment to finally get that win after five games without, and Adli and Driouech put us 2-0 up before the break to make it so. The home team tries to fight back in the second half but all in all, we see out the game relatively easy. Top: Excellent Kastenmeier between the stakes, Adli with a goal and another chalked off, Carballo finally with the kind of game we expect from him and Telebar with a good assist. Flop: Beljo never really got it going. Spoiler Finally, after a week of rest we face our rivals, Karlsruher, at home. We need revenge for the loss in the first half of the season but, despite starting better, we go behind through a silly penalty foul by Neumann. Driouech equalizes right after the break but when Muniz puts them back ahead a few minutes later, it looks all done and dusted. In six crazy minutes, we turn the entire game around though, with Neumann scoring in the 73rd and Valakari in the 79th. In the final minute of added time, Majoros completes the victory on the counter with his second of the season. Top: Our flanks. Also a great Majoros and Neumann, despite his penalty conceded. Flop: Quiet game from Carballo, I hope his previous game wasn't a one off. Spoiler We're still in fourth place, and European football looks certain already. The only question is whether we'll end up in the CL or rather the EL. Spoiler DFB Pokal We face Düsseldorf in the third round of the Pokal at a time when we're not exactly in great form. However, it's our surplus quality that makes the difference as we take our chances through a chip from the edge of the box by Palaversa and and excellent goal by Valakari. Spoiler In the quarter final, we play Leverkusen away, who are currently right behind us in the league. It's 2-0 for the home team halfway to the break and after that, they just see out the game. A disappointing exit, but we had some very tired legs so it may be a good thing in the long run. Spoiler Champions League Finally, we receive the great Manchester United in the first leg of the CL knockout round. In an even game, it's Beljo and Gila who, in three minutes, put us up 2-0 all of a sudden. Memphis Depay pulls one back in the 64th and an immediate 3-1 by Handwerker gets ruled out due to previous offside of Williams, but they get no further as we deny them firmly to take a narrow lead into the return game in March. Spoiler Transfer news It's not really transfer news maybe, but we lost Wind. Leverkusen withdrew him without warning, maybe because he didn't play enough. Unfortunate. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
KlaaZ Posted February 27, 2023 Author Share Posted February 27, 2023 March 2026: The new kids, and other things A calm month of March with only four games, and another youth intake to discuss! Bundesliga Form is picking up again with a draw against Bayern and two wins afterwards, so we meet Mainz away on a bit of a high. We almost get knocked off of our cloud right away but Raymond's goal gets chalked off for offside. We're patient and after half an hour and four yellows for our opponent, Adli breaks the deadlock from close range after Carballo's shot gets blocked. Mainz mount a bit of an offensive in the beginning of the second half but it quickly dies down and we maturely see out the game. Top: Our flanks, both up front and at the back, and Opoku once again. Also happy with Kastenmeier keeping a clean sheet. Flop: No standout underperformers! Spoiler Next up is St. Pauli at home. They're out of the relegation zone and not doing badly, but still no match for us on this night. Two set piece goals from Bernard secure us another clean and well deserved win. Top: Team win, this one. Flop: Beljo a little quiet, maybe? Spoiler Finally, we end the month against Union Berlin, who are sitting in last place. They keep an even footing for the first half hour but a quickfire double from Driouech and Beljo puts an end to their hopes. In the second half, Beljo (scoring his first two in quite a long time) and Adli make it four, but we fail to keep a clean sheet when we concede again in added time. Top: Beljo with the brace, but really everyone turned up for this one. Flop: Maybe Radi, but even he wasn't too bad. Spoiler So, we're in third with six games to play (screenshot was taken a little late again). We play Leverkusen in our first game of April, which will be very important in deciding whether it's Europa League or the honeypot of the Champions League. Speaking of which.. Spoiler Champions League On March ninth, we travel to Manchester to defend a narrow lead against the Reds. They're not doing too well in the Premier League, sitting in seventh, so I feel this may just be the right time to break the glass ceiling. We start off well and Valakari is unlucky when his opening goal gets chalked off after only eight minutes, but gets his revenge in the 14th when he puts us ahead. In the second half, United increases the pressure and scores a deserved equalizer but we reassert control and in the end had the best chances to kill off the game. But it remains 1-1, and we go through to the quarter finals! Spoiler And in an interesting draw, we get to test ourselves against.. Bayern München. Youth intake It's a good one. Not the winger I hoped for unfortunately, but there's a very, very good striker prospect coming through. Spoiler Spoiler Meanwhile, we have four players in the NxGn top 50, with Radi being the brightest prospect in the world. Spoiler Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
KlaaZ Posted February 27, 2023 Author Share Posted February 27, 2023 April 2026 A Frustrating month of April is over, here's how it went. Bundesliga The month started off reasonably well when we beat Leverkusen at home and then picked up three points in Bremen with a bit of a holdup. That's where our luck ended though, We managed to salvage a draw after going 0-2 down at home against relegation threatened Hoffenheim, but at the end of April we weren't so lucky when we ran into a 2-1 defeat at Wolfsburg. These last two games are showing exactly why it will be a very long time, if ever, before we can think about winning the championship. Even worse, I feel like we're just making the same mistakes over and over again, despite having a better quality squad. Spoiler Spoiler Spoiler Spoiler Either way, we were comfortably third before those last two games and now we're back to being threatened by Leipzig, who trail by only a point. Needless to say, I'm not happy. I think next season I'll give up on the 4231 and turn the triangle around. It's working, sometimes, but we're WAY too vulnerable at the back. Spoiler Champions League The dream is over. We did well in Münich until Conté committed a completely unnecessary penalty foul. The Bavarians then continued to drive over us in the return game in Kaiserslautern, thanks to another mistake from Gila who, not under pressure, just gifted the ball to Isak. End result 3-0 on aggregate, and we can have no complaints. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
KlaaZ Posted February 27, 2023 Author Share Posted February 27, 2023 May 2026: All done, just in time Bundesliga Going to keep this short and do a proper end of season writeup later. We beat Stuttgart at home 2-0 in an excellent performance and thanks to Leipzig losing at home to Freiburg, sealed third place. Two weeks later, we completely turned off and got destroyed 4-0 by that same Freiburg. Funnily, Leipzig lost again, this time in Mainz, not that it mattered anymore. A good season offensively I think, with more goals scored than previous year. But on the other hand, we also conceded way too many, and more than our xG conceded showed. We also finish eight points higher than last year, but the gap with champions Bayern is still a whopping 20 points. Spoiler Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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