Alma Mater

Grazer - preseason and transfers. While the scouts are working hard to identify recruitment targets for our limited budget, I set up an intense pre-season. The matches are a mix between lower level Austrian teams to boost morale, and a few from Bundesliga 2 to give us more of a challenge. Once the first friendlies are close, I bring in a few players on trial - specifically ones who would be available on free transfers or for very little money. I'm looking primarily for mezzalas, a back-up DLP and a back-up striker, although if I find a good cheap winger I'll consider it. In the very first game, against a Regional League team from Vienna, two of our trial midfielders show that they can produce goals. It's David Philip from Germany, who could play as either mezzala or winger, who scores in the 7th minute, and Alem Pasic, potential back-up for DLP or mezzala, who scores in the 86th. Between the two of them comes a goal from our own striker Philipp Ablinger. First Vienna only manage one goal. Two goals come from a header following a cross, and the first from Philipp's wrist finding the ball after a header following a cross. Too early to talke about a pattern, of course, but it's interesting. In the next game, David Philipp once again performs well, although our two goals come from Ablinger and an injury time header by Gantschnig. I start to think about twin mezzalas played by Filip and Philipp, despite knowing that Filip would prefer to be a winger. But I have other wingers, and those matching names are hard to resist. Just think what the fans could do with a set-up like that! Next, we test ourselves against Bochum from Bundesliga 2, and we're completely trounced. Their team was simply much better in every way, while I was trying out teenagers and trialists. After these first three matches, we reach the opening of the transfer window, and I make several hires right away. Aside from Philipp and Pasic, I pick up a potential DLP/mezzala, one mezzala/winger, and one winger/striker. All three are fairly young with good potential, but more back-ups than first eleven players at this point. In our first July game, we meet another Bundesliga 2 team, Magdeburg. I start my double Philips as mezzalas, and my two new wingers Keiblinger and Marte, mostly because everybody else is tired. We somehow manage to come away with a 1-0 win without playing well. Next is a lower-ranked Austrian team, so I rotate quite a bit. Among other things I move Huber into the DLP slot and bring in Fritz as a CD, while Mujkanovic and Ostermann take on the mez roles. Goals come from veteran midfielder Nutz and young striker Kiedl as we dispatch our opposition easily. Then we take on Shalke 04, and they're definitely not what they used to be. We dominate the game throughout, although it's not until the last few minutes that Kalajdzic snaps up a sloppy pass between their defenders and chips the ball into the top far corner, out of reach of their keeper. The final two matches of the pre-season are against Regional League teams, and we have no trouble with either. So we end the pre-season with a team that's won five matches in a row without conceding a single goal. Everybody's match sharpness is high, and there's no doubting our form. The only player I'm still looking to recruit is a back-up striker, and I have my eyes on someone there. We're ready for the season to begin!

From Botosani I travel almost straight west, through Hungary and into Austria, to the city of Graz in Styria. But not to manage the best-known team from there, Sturm Graz - no, I'm taking on their local rival, Grazer Athletiksport Klub, or GAK. They've had an interesting time of it over the past 20 or so years: In the early 200s, they were doing really well in the Austrian Premier League, even winning a double in 2004. Only a couple of years afterwards, financial troubles struck them hard. They went into bankruptcy twice, and in 2012 the club was dissolved. A phoenix club was started by supporters, which eventually took on the old name, and the reborn GAK won a new promotion every year until they reached the First Division, where they've been sitting since 2019. The board's vision is fairly modest - they want to remain in the top half of the First Division for the next five years. I have my own ambitions, which involve a promotion to the Premier League either this year or next, so I can add that to my CV. Last season they finished 9th out of 16. Only one team gets promoted each season, so it's not going to be easy. The squad is on holiday when I arrive, so I start in on hiring staff, organizing friendlies, and looking at what kind of tactic would suit the players we have. There's next to no transfer budget to work with, so any new additions would have to be free transfers or bargains. On the plus side, the rules are very generous - 99 players can be registered, and there are no restrictions regarding nationality or age. Current squad situation: What it all boils down to is that I have eight players ranging from decent to really good in the defense line, and the same amount for midfield/attack. Unless I want to rely on teenagers for rotation, I need to boost our numbers a bit, particularly in the midfield. As a team, we seem to be quick, good with the ball, and with generally high determination and decisions. I'm leaning towards a 4-3-3 with a DLP and twin mezzalas, using underlaps since we're unlikely to see much forward contribution from our FBs/WBs, although I will set up their training to try to work up to at least a supportive role. Something like this:

Yeah, the top three seem to be running away with it. Beating the teams from Riga is always difficult, their resources are simply better.

Great job! Let's see how the Europa League goes.

Nice tactic! When you move the DM up to striker, do you change any duties on others to compensate, like WBs to support or similar? Or maybe you just use that version when you expect to be dominant? Auda has been doing well for years now in your save. I like when the smaller teams creep up the table like that.

Clearly, Sabala is a little worried by the arrival of Krollis, so he decided to show he was the better goalscorer. Five in one game! (I'm assuming Rezekne is a much lower rated team.) You have some very nice teamwork and technique on those teenagers, and Liepins is clearly a leader already while Giabiconi could probably make his way through the entire opposing midfield and defense all on his own... Impressive!

Botosani - accomplishments. In a year and a half, I fixed their finances and won the double. Oh, you want more than that? Look under the cut. And so I bid farewell to Botosani, and head west.

Botosani 23/24 - end of season. The schedule for May is packed with important games. First up is Petrolul Ploiesti, one of our main competitors for the title. Win this, and we'll only need three more points from tha last three points to be sure of beating them; lose, and both teams will be on the same number of points. It's a cool and overcast evening when the players come out onto the field. 18 minutes in, Mateus Santos on the right crosses the ball to Airam who's cutting in from the left. The teen stops, turns around, passes back to Toma who's coming up from the midfield. Their defenders are split between covering Latte Lath up front and converging on Toma - so he sends the ball back to Mateus Santos, who blazes it in right under the cross bar. 25 minutes later, another lovely bit of tiki-takaing back and forth gets Latte Lath the opening he needs for another hard ball from just inside the box into the back of the net. They spend the second half trying to catch up, but when one of their CDs gets a straight red in the 51st minute, the writing is on the wall. We're so close now... And the news from Bucharest is also good - FCSB only managed a draw against Arges, so we're now five points ahead of them and six points ahead of Ploiesti. A week later we're up against Cluj, who have been struggling since the league split, with two wins, one draw, and four losses. It's hardly the most entertaining match ever. As usual by now, we dominate possession, but spend a lot of time passing back and forth between defenders and midfield without much happening. At half time, I try to fire them up, and it works. Almost right away, we get a free-kick just outside their box, and Dican curves it into the net while their keeper watches helplessly. 20 minutes later, Florescu produces a real screamer from even further away, and we have our third win in a row. What's more, FCSB lost against Petrolul Ploiesti, which means they cannot possibly catch up to us. We've done it! We've won the league! We lift the trophy right then and there, in front of a home crowd of about 2,000 people. Only three days later, we need to re-focus for the second leg of the cup semi-final. This time, I don't rotate as much; after all, the remaining league matches are irrelevant now, but the cup... Could it be possible? I do still bring on some players who have been slightly unhappy with their playtime, like Remacle and Balan. They reward me by scoring a goal each, which leads to our fifth clean sheet and third 2-0 result in a row. We've reached the cup final, and with it, the possibility of a double. Considering Botosani has never won either league or cup before, that would be absolutely amazing. First, a league game against Voluntari, which my players are clearly struggling to marshal any interest in. I give my best players a rest, hoping the benchwarmers will want to prove themselves, but it's no use. Voluntari score the only goal when their winger comes free with Blazevic, and all in all it's a thoroughly dull affair. Everybody's holding their breath for the next game. Cup final! And it's against Sepsi, who didn't make the Champions Playoff group, who we've defeated handily the two games we've played against them this season. Of course, that's no guarantee of anything. They start out cautiously, while we push them back, keeping possession not only in our own half but theirs too. Half an hour in, it pays off. Florescu sends a beautiful cross up to Mateus Santos, who gets pushed out wide by their defense, so he turns around and passes it diagonally backwards to where Daniel Toma comes up to neatly and tidily put it away. A few minutes later, Airam has the ball out on the left, knoocks it back to Dragu coming up behind him, who crosses it to Latte Lath, who curls it in behind the keeper. 2-0 at half time, and it's out top two goalscorers who have done it. They press harder in the second half, and after they bring on a second striker they managed to pull one back in the 89th minute, but we manage to hang on to our lead. And it's official - Botosani has won the double. (There's one last league game against FCSB, but my players have mentally checked out on their summer break already. We lose 2-0 and pick up seven yellow cards.) It's a brilliant end to a brilliant season, and I'm very proud of my team. I'm also packing my bags, if with a bit of a lump in my throat, because the only way I could take this team higher than this would be to invest several more years in it, and I'm ready to move on. After several applications are turned down due to my lack of experience in gaining promotion / avoiding relegation, I make the strategic decision to take a bit of a sideways step, to a team in a second-tier league that I can work to get promoted, and possibly stay to keep them up. But first, a retrospective!

Botosani 23/24 - spring. We start March off with the last two pre-split matches. One is against Concordia Chiajna, who we should beat fairly easily, and the other against Sepsi, who are dancing on the line of the split. All we need from these two games to make it into the Champions Playoff group is one point, but of course we want to do better than that. As usual, we control possession and take far more shots. In these two games, we also score goals while keeping clean sheets - 1-0 against Concordia Chiajna (Florescu, assisted by Toma) and 2-0 against Sepsi (Latte Lath with a chip over the keeper, and an injury time free kick by Dican headed in by Dawa). Unfortunately Toma picks up an injury which will keep him out for a few weeks. Good thing we have all those young midfielders eager for a chance. These two wins bring us up into second place in the final result for the first part of the league. Now we just have to play two games against each of these top teams! We start with Arges at home, and dispatch them easily, with Latte Lath scoring both goals. Away against Petrolul Ploiesti, though, we're the ones being dispatched - they score two goals from overloading the area right in front of the goal. That means they pass us in the table nad we drop down to third place. We also get our youth intake for the year, and while it's termed a golden generation, I consider it to be more "many potentially good players, but no real superstars." In April, we take on Cluj away. in the third minute, Airam scores off a corner from Florescu, and that result stands all the way through. Once again we control the play without scoring many goals. The match also sees the return of Toma, who starts but is subbed off early to give him an easy first day back. I bring on Fratica instead, as I often do - but that kid is starting to frustrate me. He's played quite a bit this season, but shows no sign of improving. Maybe it's unfair to compare him to Airam, but... Meanwhile FCSB have lost two games in a row, which means Petrolul Ploiesti pass them to take the lead, and we are a single point behind FCSB. Our match against Voluntari is fairly even for the entire first half, but early in the second half Latte Lath and Toma score goals a few minutes apart, both assisted by Florescu. Blazevic chalks up another clean sheet, his fifth in the last six games. This win, combined with FCSB and Ploiesti both only managing draws, means we and Ploiesti are on the same number of points with FCSB one point behind us. I expected goal difference to decide who was in front, but a closer study of the rules tells me it's where we were placed at the time of the league split - which means Botosani holds first place! And now, we face FCSB. I fire up the team with talk of revenge for that painful loss the last time we played them, and off we go. FCSB get the first goal, after a corner 15 minutes into the game. A few minutes afterwards, Airam sends the ball into the box, where Toma passes it forward to Latte Lath, who just nudges it past the keeper into the far corner of the goal. Then, just before halftime, a brilliant pass from their playmaker sets their striker free with Blazevic, and it's 2-1 to them. The second half is scrappy, with my players picking up a number of yellows - including four in the space of five minutes - until shortly before the end, Airam sends a cross to Mateus Santos, who scores his third goal for the season. Despite being the far better team according to the stats, we're relieved to come away with a point. Only a few days later, we have a cup semi-final against FC Rapid, who are in the relegation group - where they've produced one win and four draws. Neither team plays well. Perhaps I shouldn't have rotated as much as I did, but I wanted to give the youngsters another game, and I thought we'd win fairly easily. Instead, it's a 0-0 affair, and we get to do the whole thing over again in three weeks. We're back to facing Arges again in the league, with most of my best players back on the pitch - Pirvulescu is recovering from pulled knee ligaments, so Opara comes in for him, and I need a Romanian U21 player so Fratica get one more chance in the midfield. Latte Lath opens the game by scoring before two minutes have passed, so Arges are forced on the offensive. With our usual overwhelming possession, this means they spend a lot of time chasing the ball and wearing themselves out. As time goes on, we get more and more openings, and towards the end we get two more goals, first by Doru Tudor (who was subbed in for Fratica) and then Florescu. And that win, while Ploiesti lose their game and FCSB draw theirs, means we now have a three-point lead ahead of both of them, with only four league games left in the season. On top of those games, we also have the semi-final rematch and, hopefully, a cup final, all in the next four weeks.

Your team looks to be in great form! And I see your experience of the Conference was much like mine. Against those bigger teams, all you can do is fight bravely, and Liepaja clearly did. Getting to that part of the season where injuries start to become more frequent and influence outcomes - but on the other hand, the schedule should slow down now. (My poor Valmiera down in fifth... I hope they recover.)

Botosani 23/24 - winter. There's a four week winter break from Christmas onwards, and a transfer window from mid-January to mid-February, so I pause to take stock of what, if anything could be improved in the team. We're doing really well, so I certainly don't want to change much, but tweaking or bringing in young players for the future could be an option. We have 8or 9 of our first eleven pretty much nailed down right now - striker, wingers, CBs, right-back, and two out of three spots in the midfield. As for keeper, I like Blazevic a lot and he's been solid, but he's not a star quality player, and (at least on paper) we probably could upgrade. I don't think messing with a good thing is the best idea right now, though. I bring in some keepers on trial, to see if any of them look interesting for the future, but the ones I like all demand either higher wages or more play-time than I'm willing to offer them at this point, so nothing comes of it. In the midfield, Florescu and Toma are super-stars, and the only question is who takes the third spot centrally. We have several teenagers with high potential (although not improving as much as I'd like, at least not yet), two first team players with less potential but more experience, and a loanee from Braga who wants more play-time than he's been getting. The issue in midfield is not a lack of options, more like the opposite, so I'm not looking to buy here. Finally, there's the left-back spot which has been an issue for a while now. Our first choice there, Dragu, has decent attributes and is only 24, so there's room for improvement. The problem is his lack of consistency. He'll get ratings at about 7.3 for several games in a row, then suddenly pull a 6.2 and a 6.4, then back to 7.6. He's unpredictable, which makes me a little uneasy, He also tends to get a lot of yellow cards. His back-up, Neciu, is dependable but will never be more than a back-up. Among the youngsters, there's Solonariu (1,5 stars, 18yo, unambitious), Burlacu (1 star, 17yo, casual) and maybe Satco (1 star, 16yo, fairly ambitious but perhaps better as a CB). So if I went for anything, it would be a new LB - but I can't seem to find someone good. In the end, nothing changes in my first team during the winter window. Some young players go out on loans or are released, but otherwise it's a fairly quiet time off-pitch. On-pitch, late January is, well, drab is probably a good word for it. Three away games, three games with poor weather, three games where we miss the target a lot, three draws. Farul Constanta and Chindia Targoviste are both far below us in the table, while Petrolul Ploiesti have been this seasons unexpected success - newly promoted, predicted to be in a relegation struggle, but currently in the running for a top spot. We've dropped down to third place, although the top of the table is still very tight. We're now up to 15 undefeated games in a row, although I'd prefer if they weren't half draws. Our first February game, against Hermannstadt, sees us back in form again. Several of our best players perform at the top of their ability, more than half our shots are on target, we're up 3-0 early in the second half - and then they get a man sent off. Naturally, this is followed by another goalless draw, because that's just how it goes. At least with Arges it's against one of our main competitors. Next we come up against another top team, Voluntari. This feels like it should be a dramatic match, but it's really not. We score two goals early on without impressing, several of their players have a really bad day, and while they do manage to pull one back, it happens when there's only a few minutes left to play, and the game ends 2-1 for us. That brings us up to second in the table and drops Voluntari down to sixth, but there's still only a few points difference. And then, the big one, against FCSB who have been at the top of the table since December. The absolute star of the game is, unfortunately for us, their keeper Andrei Vlad. We keep shooting and he keeps saving. Nothing gets past him. And then, one of the few times their team ventures up past the midline, one of their wingers sends a cross to the far post where the other one is waiting to head it in. Our undefeated streak stops at 18 games in a row. This one stings. We were by far the better team in every aspect except goalkeeping - and, well, actually scoring goals. We played just as well against the team leading the league as we do against much lower level teams, we simply didn't score. Ugh. We drop one place in the table, but that doesn't feel very important at this point. It's only two more games until the league splits, and it would take a disastrous two match days for us to not get into the Champion's Playoff group. After the split, only half the points gained up to that point will be counted. Right now, FCSB at the top are sitting on 61 points and we're in third on 49 points, so if the split happened at this point we'd be six points behind with ten matches left to play. We're far from out of this race.

It's very even! Seven points between second and ninth, and I'd say only the bottom six are completely out of it. No comment on how things will go, of course, wouldn't want to spoil anything... Thank you! I find journeyman style suits me, I can swoop in to be a hero then move on before it gets to be too much of the same year after year.

Oooh, Latvia! I have a soft spot for saves there since I managed Valmiera in my journeyman save. Liepaja were our fiercest competitors for the title... I remember Lucas Villela, but also Seydina Keita being their brightest stars in the games I played against them. I'm not certain exactly who will be in the Valmiera team since you started earlier than I did, but if you're looking for strikers and a keeper, you may want to have a look at them. Matrevics did a brilliant job for me in goal, and my striker pair from Senegal, Sow and Guéye - Guéye at least should already be there - scored about 20 goals each for me in a season where I rotated a lot due to the heavy schedule. Looking forward to following your story!

Botosani 23/24 - end of 23. November began with a cup game. Now, normally I accept defeat where it comes, because it makes things more interesting, but not when said defeat comes from a player's mistake. I accidentally spacebar-ed too far so the game began before I had rotated out tired players, and we promptly lost 1-0. So I save scummed, rotated, and we went on to trounce Petrolul Ploiesti 2-0, all produced by the players I'd rotated in. First goal was by teenaged striker Maftei after an assist by third-choice winger Tisdell, and the second by Tisdell in a beautiful free-kick from just outside the box. Inbetween the two, Latte Lath - playing shadow striker again - had missed a penalty. It wasn't as if we were the far better team, in fact, were it not for the penalty our xGs would've been almost the same - but this time we were the ones who converted our chances and the opposition did not. A few days later, we faced Concordia Chiajna (who had been down in the relegation battle for the whole season) in what was probably the most boring match of the season. We had 65% possession, they didn't have a single shot on target, the rain was pouring down, and it all ended 0-0. The best that can be said about that day is that nobody was injured, and at least we didn't lose due to a stray ball or keeper's fumble. Next we faced Sepsi, the team we had sold Petkovski to. Expected by both media and bookies to finish in fifth place, they had started the season well but had suffered bad form though most of the autumn months. We outplayed them quite thoroghly. I gave Fratica a start in the midfield, hoping to stir something in the unambitious teenager that would spur him to live up to his potential, and towards the end of the first half he did score our first goal. Latte Lath secured the result near the end of the second half after an assist by Airam. Two weeks later, we faced another team from the very bottom of the table in Arad, and once again failed to produce any goals. Having nearly 70% possession was nice and all, but against teams that backed home to defend we seemed to find it very difficult to score. Two wins and two draws in November, sixth in the league, and six games in a row without losing was enough for the journalists and fans to start talking about a streak. In our first December match, we faced FC Rapid, yet another team in the relegation battle. This one we had drawn 1-1 against with a team full of teenagers at the very beginning of the season, but surely we could do better now? And we did, although it took over 80 minutes before the first goal, scored by Neciu who had come in as a substitute, recently recovered from a minor injury, and Latte Lath finalised the score in injury time. Both were assisted by PotM Airam. The quarter final of the cup was against CFR Cluj, who had recovered after a truly horrible beginning of the season to have stellar form during the autumn, but had been a little more uneven recently. We were awarded a penalty early on in the match, and then defended our lead in an almost Italian style. Semi-final, here we come. Yet another game against a team fighting to avoid relegation, CS Mioveni. While we were by far the better team, and did take the lead early on, they did manage to counter in an equaliser at the sixty-minute mark. It took a late penalty to secure the win for us, but win we did. Last year's winners Universitatea Craiova has been pouring their energy into European play, and perhaps as a result were only sitting mid-table in the league. (They'd been knocked out of the Champion's League by Legia Warszawa, then out of the Europa League by Midtjylland, and had just secured a win in the group stage of the Conference League, where they'd been drawn against Luzern, Hapoel Be'er-Sheva, and Helsingin Jalkapalloklubi.) They rotated heavily against us, but despite this it was a close game, with several good chances by both teams but only one goal, scored by Latte Lath after a brilliant pass from Balan left him alone with the keeper. A narrow win, but it was enough to push us up into second place in the table! We then faced Cluj again, in the league this time, and again we settled the outcome early on in the match - Maftei scored the first after only 40 seconds, and Tisdell the second fifteen minutes in. They never really came back from that double blow. In the final game before the winter break, we came up against Dinamo Bucuresti, in another one of those matches where we played well but no goals were scored. And so we end 2023 with a very positive trend: second in the league, 12 games in a row without losing, and qualified for the semi-final of the Cupa Romaniei.

Botosani 23/24 - autumn. The autumn months were a much easier matchload than the late summer. September began with a game against Dinamo Bucuresti, who had been the opponents in my very first league game with Botosani. That had ended with a draw, but later in the season we had defeated them. This time we fought each other to a stand still, with each team managing to hit the woodwork but not the back of the net. After that, we had two weeks until the next fixture. That period saw the end of the transfer window, so we did our final business for 2023: Madalin Sturzu went out on loan, and we brought in a young midfielder on loan from our new senior affiliate Braga, named Dinis Gama, to add some more depth since we had suffered earlier when Tavares was injured. He'd be a good DLP if we used one, but could do decently in any of our midfield roles. The next game was against Chindia Targoviste, who had surprised everyone by finishing third last season. Ten minutes in, Mateus Santos lost the ball to a tackle while on the attack, Balan snapped up the loose ball, rounded the defense, and shot from a narrow angle. 1-0 for us. Fifteen minutes later, Chindia Targoviste had a disastrous minute: first one of their players was given a second yellow and sent off, then Balan picked up the ball out on the left again and sent in a low cross to Toma, who struck true. They did pull one back a few minutes later, but in the second half Mateus Santo passed it back to Pirvulescu, had it smartly returned to him, and crossed it into the box where Balan was waiting. No debate about Balan being PotM, with two goals and one assist. After that, Hermannstadt, who had finished in tenth place last season but who had held us to a draw in the only game under my management. It turned out to be the kind of match you want to forget ever happened. Ten minutes in, the otherwise so reliable Blazevic let a shot slip between his fingers, resulting in an own goal. After that, we kept attacking and missing, while they bided their time and counter attacked when the opportunity arose. Two more goals from then near the end of the second half rounded off a very bad day at the office for us. Four days later, we had our first cup game for the season, against third league team Odorheiu Secuiesc; a perfect chance to both restore morale and give some other players a start. This one was never in question. Less than two minutes had passed when Remacle scored the first goal. A few minutes after that, we were awarded a penalty which Lupu tidily put away. Another half hour, and Tisdell crossed the ball in for Maftei to head into the goal. After that, the tempo slowed down. Towards the end of the seond half, they had two players sent off to boot, one from a straight red and another due to two yellows - the only two yellow cards of the match. Our first fixture in October was against Petrolul Ploiesti, the newly promoted team we had defeated in a pre-season friendly. They had been doing very well so far and were currently sitting in the spot right above us (fifth to our sixth). But against us they stood no chance - Toma scored the first goal before a minute had passed, and then Balan (20) and Dawa (39) each added one. They managed a consolation goal from a long shot towards the end, but that was all. Arges was another of those days when nothing went our way. We dominated possession, we had the better chances, but they scored the only goal, and with ten minutes left Andrei Dragu was sent off when he received his second yellow. Then again, Arges were outstripping all expectations: the media had predicted them to end up in 9th place, the bookies had put them in shared 7th with us, but they had been sitting in second and their win over us brought them up to first place. Next we faced Voluntari, who had surprisingly been leading the league, and only recently slipped down to second place, while we had been bouncing between fourth and sixth since late August. Here, too, we scored before a minute had passed, when a corner kick by Florescu was followed by headers from first Opara, then Latte Lath. Towards the end of the first half, Latte Lath passed up to Daniel Toma, who coolly lobbed it over the keeper. In the 69th minute, a quick one-two between Latte Lath and Mateus Santo gave our striker his second goal of the day. The clock said 88 minutes when they put the ball in the net, and that gave them hope. They managed one more in injury time, but that was it. 3-2 for us, in a game the statistics say we dominated but which had a dramatic finish. The last match of the month was against FCSB, last season's runner-up. They had made it all the way to the Conference League group stage, where they had lost to Shamrock Rovers at home only a few days before facing us. And while this meant they rested some players against us, their wealth of good players meant that the squad they fielded was high quality. Their 4-4-1-1 proved very difficult for us to break through, which resulted in us dominating possession but not producing many good chances. They for their part had even fewer chances, and only one on target. Inthe end both teams walked away with a point but no goals. Now we had dipped down to seventh place. The board might consider that good enough, but I did not. I knew we could do better. Three of the teams above us were big surprises; only Cluj, FCSB and maybe Voluntari had been predicted to be in the top positions. Of course, we were not even halfway to the league split, and only seven points separated first place from tenth. Anything could still happen.