Trophy 4 is in the cabinet: the TOTO KNVB Beker (Dutch Cup)
After leaving China, I didn't really want to go to Europe, but I did want to join a club in the top division in their country, and I wasn't getting many offers. I got offered the QPR job but was determined not to go to England, so I took a job at De Graafschap - a Dutch yo-yo club who were hovering above relegation with five games left.
I had lots of reservations - their playing style is direct, which isn't a style I've ever successfully used in FM (since the CM days, where direct football was all conquering), and I've gone fairly old school with my tactics. I've created a 4-1-2-1-2 formation, with a 6'4 target forward Emanuele Pecorino the focal point. To date, he's got 27 goals in 32 games - pretty much all headers. Old school can still work!
Anyway - we're not really pulling up trees in the league, currently 6th and still in the middle of a big rebuild (there are superb young players here), and our cup run has been extremely fortunate. We played lower division opposition in ever round, scraping through two of them via penalties and extra time. We got lowly Fortuna Sittard in our only top flight match-up, before PSV in the final.
PSV is a team we've come close to cracking in our league meetings, so I had some confidence. I changed shape to a 4-3-3 to try and give us a bit more solidity, and it was a very cagey first half. Pecorino nabbed one shortly before the break, before wonderkid Fedde van Bergen got himself sent off on 55minutes.
Cue: pretty desperate defensive performance. Told in the story of the match:
PSV onslaught: culminating in a 85minute equaliser.
Extra time came, and I thought we wouldn't hold out for another 30, so pushed us to give it some in the first period of extra time. Sontje Hanson scored a free kick immediately, and them we battered down the hatches.
The result: 3.49 xG plays 0.64. I feel like I FM'd FM, and a first cup in the Netherlands is secured.
Next up: I'm not sure I can stay at De Graafschap. There's very little chance of this little club upending Ajax, PSV et al any time soon to win the league, so I'm keeping an eye out on other opportunities. They are funding my coaching badges, and a run in Europe could do wonders for my reputation so I'll stick it out here in the meantime. It's the World Cup this year too, so no doubt there'll be some good national team opportunities up for grabs.