eikig

July and August 2022 We start July in third place after 12 games and two games against the top teams, Hammarby and Häcken, coming after away game against Mjällby. The month start with me in BIG panic. Christoffer Nymans contract situation has somehow completely gone under my radar, until I get the usual message in my inbox about players in their last six months of their contracts. And there he is! The man who has scored nine goals in ten starts so far this season. He is currently on 2300 euros a week and the best I can offer him is a 100 euros raise. I swiftly offer him the contract which he accepts, but the next day Werder Bremen comes in with an contract offer. I'm banging my head at any hard thing I can see. I'm pretty sure Bremen from the 1.Bundesliga can easily offer him a better deal than I. So I'm getting my self ready for the decision if I keep hold of him for the rest of the season after he accepts their offer or if I should try to get something from them and let him go early. The result against Mjallby should have made me glad, and it did. To a point. My dearest Nyman scores all four in a game we were actually under a bit of pressure until we scored the first goal. Jóhannes Bjarnason gets a second chance in the starting 11 and does pretty well. But I'm sure this performance from Nyman are the FM-gods taunting me before he leaves for Germany. However, the day before the big game against Hammarby, Nyman accepts to extend his stay at the club for another two years. Which makes me a very happy man. Nyman celebrates his new contract by getting us the winner just before half time after a beautiful counter attack. Hammarby were unbeaten coming into the game, having only drawn two games in thirteen. I dropped my two central midfielders down to the DM line, and choose a little more coutious approach. Up until our goal Hammarby was probably the better team without creating very good chances. The goal gave my boys a boost for the second half, and we were the better team until Eriksson got a straight red card after a stupid tackle from behind in the middle of the pitch. We got even more cutious down to 10 men but held very well although Hammarby had one really good chance to equalize. Great performance by the team and we go second in the league. Ari Freyr Skúlason accepts a pre-contract with Genk in Belgium. He had come to me and told me he wanted to explore his options, and although he has been fine for us I see this as a chance to save some money and decide to let him go straight away. Genk pay us 10k for him, but it's the wage we'll save that I'm thinking about. Also with Agardius coming back from injury I still have two left backs available. I decide to keep the same approach against Häcken as I did against Hammarby, which was probably a mistake. Even though they are third in the league and could take our second place with a win they don't seem as strong as Hammarby. But I am quite happy with a draw, the first goalless draw under my watch. But more importantly it's now three clean sheets in a row. You have probably noticed that I haven't posted any league tables, and the reason for that is I have already played the season and simply forgot that I would not be able to screenshot any tables after the fact. Except for this one, the first half of the season table. As you can see we are the high scorers so far and our defence isn't actually that bad either, though we are nowhere near Hammarby's standard there. Hammarby went into schock after the defeat against us and lost the next game also. So the gap is "only" four points, but I'm not really thinking about the title yet. I'm still focused to just finishing in the top half of the league. There are four european places up for grabs through the league (depending on the cup winner) and it would be very nice to be challenging for that at the end of the season. Ortmark kicks off the second half of the season for us with a 30 yard screamer against Helsingborg. They equalize with a standard goalkeeper-kicks-the-ball-upfield-to-the-striker-who-scores, soon after.Nyman put us in front again after a lovely Sema assist, who then scores our third just before the 30 minutes mark. The following hour nothing happens, but I don't care! The three points are ours. Another home win, 2-0 against Degerfors follow. It's not our best game but the win is never in doubt. Nyman scores, so it's all business as usual. There is a late drama against AIK, just like in the first match against them. There Arnór Sigurðsson missed a 90th minute penalty in a 1-1 draw. This time Arnór scores, not from the spot but after linking up with his namesake and fellow iceman Arnór Traustason. Both teams had not produced anything up to that point so it was very frustrating when Ring equalized for AIK just a few minutes later. Two frustrating draws against AIK this season. At the halfway point of the season, being in second place and performing above expectations, I decide to cash in on Jonathan Levi, who wants to explore his options after his contract ends in 2023. I could wait until after the season, but Maic Sema has been good when called upon lately, and I feel this is the right time to get the most money for Levi. Copenhagen comes in for him for 1,2 million euros, which I gladly take. Before that I have bought the 18 year old Kári Daníel Alexandersson, as a Right-Back he is one for the future and is send to Brage on loan in the second tier. We have no trouble putting away Varbergs, especially when Nyman is in this kind of form. A very nice first half hat-trick. We take another iceman on loan. Kristian Nökkvi Hlynsson joins us from Ajax until the end of the season. He will compete with Sema for the right wing position. The swedish cup has a peculiar format. It starts in July but finishes in May the next year. We got a favorable draw against Umea, which are in the third tier. I rotate the team heavily and we have no problems. Hlynsson scores a hat-trick of penalties on his first start. A fresh and rested Norrköping team dominates Göteborg. Nyman scores a goal that is chalked off for offside but that doesn't get my boys down. We just keep going and our visitors must have been relived when the referee whistled for full time. s As good as our performance against Göteborg was, our next game against Sirius is not good. The earlier game against them was a 3-3 thriller, this one a dull goalless draw. Sirius are doing alright in the league, somewhere in the middle, but we seem to have really hard times when we play against them. We end the month still in second place. 45 points from 21 game is not bad at all. Only nine games left and we have probably done enough to secure top half finish. Now it's time to try and secure that European place. The end of the season will be revealed in the next post

May and June 2022 We start the month of May in 3rd place with 12 points from six games. We have been playing pretty well overall, especially on the attacking front, with Christoffer Nyman netting 6 goals already. My one concern is the lack of clean sheets though. The first game this month is a very tough away game against one of the powerhose of swedish football, IFK Göteborg. Our unbeaten streak stops with a 2-0 defeat, in a game where we didn't stand a chance really. We rectify that in the next game with our first clean sheet of the campaign, against Kalmar FF. Very pleasing win, although it took us long enough to find the winning goal, and ofcourse it was Nyman who scored. The game against Elfsborg is one hell of a ride. We were not that bad, but find ourselves 2-0 down shortly after half time. Laorent Shabani comes on and sets up the goal to make it 2-2 and then scores the winner late in the game. A great comeback against a fine team. I'm still worried though that our opponent doesn't seem to have to do much to score against us. Last game of May is at home against the giants of swedish football, Malmö FF. Kiese Thelin puts the visitors ahead at the start with a header from a Christiansen corner, who then scores a free kick not long after. We are much better after the break but Godswill Ekpolo gifts Thelin his second goal. I guess you could say that is was not Godswill that we would get anything from this game. A goal from Nyman does nothing to change that. What I've realised is that a fair few of the goals we have conceded come from set pieces. As I dwelve further into this it's maybe no surprise as my tallest defender is 187 cm, and the only player taller than that in the squad is Andri Lucas Guðjohnsen (son of Eiður Smári Guðjohnsen) but he is not getting too much game time as Nyman is scoring for fun. In fact probably half of my regulars are under 180 cm. That is no excuse for bad marking though so I fiddle a little bit with my defending set pieces and put extra work on the training ground on defending corners especially. Hopefully that will pay off. I will also keep an eye out for adding height in the defense, at least, in the future. There are only two games in June due to international brake. Värnamo causes no problems for us. Jonathan Levi scores a hat-trick but only one of them is allowed to stand. Arnór Sigurðsson even scores another penalty which is nice. I'm glad I stuck with him on the spot. Andri Guðjohnsen comes on as a substitute and scores his first goal for us which makes me very happy. At 19 he has time suddenly on his side as well as the genes, being son of the all time greatest icelandic player Eiður Smári and grandson of Arnór Guðjohnsen who himself could be considered in the top 10 maybe. With Nyman being ten years older I'm hoping he can slowly replace the forward, but with Nyman's form this season he will have to be patient. We end the month at home agianst Sundsvall. Arnór Sigurðsson has been playing alot both for me and the national team and needs a rest, so I decide to give Jóhannes Kristinn Bjarnason his debut. The 17 year old is son of Bjarni Guðjónsson, former icelandic national who played for Coventry, Plymouth, Stoke, Genk and Bochum. Jóhannes grandfather, Guðjón Þórðarson was the national team coach 1997-1999 and then went on to manage Stoke, Barnsley and Notts County for example. Jóhannes also has uncles; Jóhannes Karl, Þórður and Björn Bergmann who all have played professionally and been in the national team. His cousin is Ísak Bergmann, who now plays for FC Copenhagen but made his name in Norrköping. So you could say that Jóhannes Kristinn comes from a footballing royal family in Iceland and it only takes him 25 seconds to score his first goal for the club and after 24 minutes he has scored again making it 3-0. Sundsvall has not be doing that good in the league but ofcourse they score from one of their two shots on target. 3-1 win is good though and should not be snubbed at I guess. Ari Freyr Skúlason comes to me in June and tells me he wants to explore his options at the end of his contract at the end of the season. Apart from losing one iceman I'm not too bothered. He is getting on in years and though he has been solid so far he is not indespensible to me. More worryingly was the talk I had with Jonathan Levi, my right winger who has been excellent this season. He also wants to explore his option, feeling he needs another challenge. Giving that this is only his third season at the club I feel he's a little bit impatient. He is under contract through next season although he got very pissed at me when I tried to persuade him into staying, so I will have to find out what I can do about that. We are still in third place with 24 points after 12 games, which I'm very happy about. We are still to play the top two teams, Hammarby and Hacken before we are halfway through the season. So I guess the real test is on it's way soon!

Pre-Season/April March is the month of friendlies where we play 7 games, which overall went very well. The only defeat was a home game against Besiktas. The other games were mostly against Norwegian clubs. I took Rúnar Sigurjónsson on trial to try to bolster the midfield. He would've been a great addition to the squad but unfortunely he wanted to much money. Instead I splas out on two new signings, both for midfield. Alex Þór Hauksson joins from Östers for 425.000 euros. He is 22 years old and my scouts tell me he has the potential to play in the division. I'm aware that this season might be too soon for him though. Filip Ottosson joins from Landskrona for 500.000 euros. The 25 year old midfielder will play quite alot I imagine. I let two players go out on loan, Binaku and Tello are both left backs who I just hope I never have to play in my team. They simply aren't good enough. They both leave on loan to clubs in the division below us. We kick off the season with a 5-1 away against Helsingborgs IF. It could have been bigger win because Arnór Sigurðsson misses a penalty. We were helped by a Helsingsborgs red card on 14th minute, but can be very happy with our attacking performance. The four attacking players I outlined in previous post, Traustason, Sigurðsson, Levi and Nyman, all scored. Our first home game against IK Sirius showed that my fear about the defence were accurate. Nyman is our saviour at the end though. We play very well against Degerfors but only manage to score once, and then concede at the death. Very disappointing draw in a game we dominated. We have to start getting clean sheets. Clean sheet doesn't come against Varbergs, but a 4-1 victory is nothing to complain about. Nyman keeps scoring and is fast becoming my favorite player. Out biggest test to date comes away against AIK, which are one of the big boys of swedish football. I would have taken a draw before the game but missed penalty from Sigurðsson, his second of the season, leaves a bitter taste in the mouth. We have a saying in Iceland "Allt er þegar þrennt er" ("Everything is when there is three") and that proves to be right when Arnór Sigurðsson steps up and converts his first penalty of the season, in his third attempt. Nyman seems to score whenever he sees the goal. Djurgarden score a consolation goal, which means we still haven't kept a clean sheet in the six first games. We end the month in 3rd place and unbeaten.

Thanks. I think I will definitely play him. He is one of the best players on the team although he obviously doesn't warrant so much of the wage bill. CSKA doesn't have the clause to recall him so I'm not sure if that would work, and if I didn't I would just be benching a player who is on huge money.

Introduction Welcome to my first save update EVER. I have been playing FM/CM for over 20 years but would describe myself a fairly average player. I'm not one of those that has to create his own tactic in my saves, although I have done so from time to time. In all honesty that fact did keep from writing my own updates because I felt that somehow I was lesser player because I didn't always make my own tactics. But now I'm finally saying f''' it. This is how I play the game and it isn't in any way less then any other way. So, having told you about the battle against my "inner demons", let me introduce the save to you. The challenge/objective of this save is trying to make a playing squad largely/exclusively consisting of players from my home country Iceland. Obviously without managing a club in Iceland, that would not by much of a challenge is it? Also I obviously don't want the results to suffer either. When I was choosing a club to take on this challenge with I looked at those that have a history of looking to icelandic players. The first club that came to mind was LIlleström in Norway, but there has 21 Icelanders been contracted to that club at one time or another. Another one was Lokeren (10 icelandic players have played for Lokeren) in Belgium, a club that ceased to exist a few years ago, but has a different name now and is in the lower leagues of Belgium. Other clubs that I considered were: Stoke (previously owned by icelanders, 17 past-players from Iceland) Bolton (7 past-players from Iceland) FC Copenhagen (8 past-players from Iceland) But if you read the title you know that I ended up with IFK Norrköping in Sweden. 18 icelanders have at one time or another been at the club, which makes Iceland the most popular foreign country for Norrköping to get players from. One of the supporters culture is also to sign players from Iceland, which is nice. The best thing thoughis that at the start of the game there is already five icelanders at the club. The rules in Allsvenskan (the swedish top division) states that there must at least be 8 homegrown players in matchday squad. So I won't be able to fill the team with my countrymen quite yet. The home grown rule by the way is that any player who have spent three years between ages 18-21 in sweden qualifies as homegrown. The club celebrates it's 125 year anniversary in 2022 and has won the top tier of swedish football thirteen times, most recently in 2015. The most famous former players of Norrköping are probably Gunnar Nordahl and Nils Liedholm. 2/3 of the famous Gre-No-Li trio. I take over in February and I'm quite happy with the five year plan. The board only wants a top-half finish, which I think is doable. The Swedish Premier Division has 16 teams and the media predicts that we end in 6th place. The squad itself looks pretty good to me. First off, there is a good number of Icemens like I said before. The attack should not be a problem with Jonathan Levi, Arnór Sigurðsson, Arnór Ingvi Traustason and Christoffer Nyman. I'm more concerned about the quality of our defence although Egnell looks good. It will also be pretty vital for us that Oscar Jansson doesn't get injured because our backup for him is pretty useless and the other decent young keepers are out on loan. The depth is good apart from in the middle of the pitch. We are also little bit overloaded on left full backs where I intend to use my countrymen Ari Freyr Skúlason. It's the position he played in the national team during it's golden years. The financial side of things looks pretty healthy although there isn't much room in the wage budget. It didn't take too much time for me to figure out why! Arnór is currently on loan from CSKA Moscow and we are paying 24.000 euros per week, which is 30.7% of our whole wage budget!!! I can't terminate the loan, and it doesn't end until July next season. I have never seen such a big percentage of the wage bill go to just one player. But I guess there is nothing for me to do about that other then work around that somehow for the next year and a half approximately. The next post will be about the pre-season and hopefully the start of the season.