DaneBramage

The one time I'm glad of play-offs.

Winterthur - May 2022 In a reversal of fortunes we're facing Servette in the play-off, the same side that we beat at this time two years ago to secure promotion. They lost their final game of the season, but prior to that had won 10 out of 16 since the start of the year. -------------------------- The first leg was away at Servette, and it could have been a nervy one when we went behind early on. But we hit back almost immediately, and from there held the game at one-apiece to put us in a decent position going into the home tie. And from there we coasted. We scored just before the quarter-hour mark to go into the lead, and a dominant first-half saw us double our advantage. Servette hit back just before the break, but we didn't let up in the second-half and added a couple more, running out convincing winners. --------------------------

Winterthur - May 2022 Individual mistakes were our downfall this month. We led against Young Boys, but a 40th minute dismissal and subsequent penalty allowed them to draw level, and we did well to hold on for a point. We had plenty enough chances to beat Zurich, but useless strikers meant that didn't happen. Even if we had converted the draws into wins though, it wouldn't have been enough. Thun opened up a five point gap above, sending us into the relegation play-off.

Winterthur - April 2022 We extended our run to seven games without defeat, but too many of them were draws rather than wins. We've narrowed the gap to Thun to just one point, and really we should have gone above them. But our strikers were typically rubbish against Lugano and we got FMed, before a predictable whooping from champions Basel. Three games left, we need to outperform Thun in May and hope they get nothing from their game in hand,

Winterthur - March 2022 Wahey! Much better. We came out of our slump with victories over both Zurich sides, and have given ourselves a fighting chance. Hero of the month was right-back Nils von Niederhausern, who pretty much singlehandedly earned the points against Zurich with a hat-trick. He's now our second highest scorer this season, with a total of five.

Winterthur - 2022 Youth Intake No players at 5.0, but two at 4.5 and another at 4.0. 22b Valon Korri looks half-decent already, if we end up relegated and down in the Challenge League next year he's probably ready to do a job there.

Winterthur - January + February 2022 We've reached 11 games without a win. Even Grasshopper beat us to earn just their second win of the season. We're now in the relegation play-off position, and Lugano and Thun ahead of us are both in decent form.

Winterthur - November + December 2021 Zero wins from five games, the only side in the division that didn't get a victory in this period. Only three points from a possible fifteen. Even more dropped points against a team in the bottom two. Heading towards relegation?

Winterthur - September + October 2021 I must have said something that upset the FM Gods in my last post, because since then we've been an absolute disgrace. We're letting in goals by the bucketload, and our goal difference has gone horribly in the wrong direction. At the other end we rarely look like scoring, and Sebastian Musiolik has been shooting blanks since I raved about him last time. We were knocked out of the cup by a Thun side in the relegation area, and even worse than that was the fact they hammed us 4-0 in the league just two games prior. We were aquaplaning so against Basel I switched formations hoping to stop the rot. And somehow we pulled off a surprise win, though it was very much against the run of play. Aljaz Ivacic was the hero, having a rare good game, making 17 saves on the way to earning the man of the match award.

Winterthur - July + August 2021 Sebastian Musiolik has taken to Switzerland like a duck to water, with a goal on his debut helping us start the season with a bang. He then added a handful more over the next few weeks, to make it six goals in six games. The rest of the team has also started well, and as one of just three teams who've won half of our games so far, we sit 3rd in the table. In between this there was also the first round of the Swiss Cup, where the second-string smashed a third tier side.

Winterthur - 2021/21 Pre-Season The expectations for the coming season are pretty low again, last year's 5th place finish hasn't given anyone any more confidence in us. I'd like us to solidify our position in the Super League. I don't know if we can end up in the top-half again, but I don't think we should be in the relegation discussion. -------------------------- We've started upgrading our youth facilities, but it won't be until next season that these are completed. This should help us with giving academy graduates a better chance of making it to the senior squad. -------------------------- The main departures were a couple of midfielders. Remo Arnold had annoyed me last year by moaning about not playing enough, then being crap when used. So he'd been on the transfer-list a while and getting cash for him was a bonus. Luca Radice had been an important player in the promotion season, but with age against him he didn't get much gametime last year and decided to hang up his boots. -------------------------- The big money signing of the summer was Sebastian Musiolik from Rakow Czestochowa. None of our strikers from last year were truly consistent so I wanted another decent option up front. Over the last two seasons he's had a one-in-two record in the Polish top tier, so hopefully he can bring that form over to us. At the other end of the pitch we brought in Omar Beckles on a free, to hopefully shore up our defence. He was available after his contract with Shrewsbury had expired, where he'd been playing well, and he impressed on trial. Rok Grudina is the third player who will go straight into the starting line-up. He was a key player in ND Gorica's promotion from the Slovenian second tier, and also played an important part in them qualifying for the Europa Conference League the following season. Denislav Mitsakov will provide cover in both full-back positions. Fatih Yuksel is on loan from Basel, and will provide cover up front. Joao Oliveira will provide cover on both wings. David Marques and Donfack Fosso Ymefack were brought in by the Director of Football to join up with the under 21 squad. -------------------------- I don't feel 100% convinced by the squad I've ended up with, but with a new starting centre-back, midfielder, and striker the core of the team has (hopefully) been strengthened, so we'll see how it goes. And although they're not listed above, we also managed to extend the loans for Mihailo Stevanovic and Luis Encarnacao for another year. --------------------------

Winterthur - 2020/21 Season Review Luka Sliskovic was voted our player of the season. He managed 13 goal contributions (7 goals, 6 assists), and was one of just two players to hit an average rating of 7.00 or above. Anas Mahamid was very stop-start with his 11 goals, with five of these coming in just two games. He'd often go six or seven games at a time without troubling the scoresheet. Luis Encarnacao matched his total, an 18 year old on loan from Basel, so I'll be looking to get him back again next year. Aljaz Ivacic was my January signing with the aim of not letting in so many goals. He went on to concede at a rate of 2.0 per game, compared to 1.78 beforehand. Earning £4.2k a week, looks like that was a bit of a stinker of a decision. Big money flop. A very good first season in the Super League, as we just about managed to scrape a top-half finish. The first half of the season was undeniably a lot better than our post-Christmas form, but coming into the season I was hoping for 8th or 9th, so ending up 5th was above all expectations. The clear problem is that we concede way too many. We had the second best attack in the division, but the worst defence. That needs to be addressed over the summer. Our bank balance was rapidly dwindling, but £1.9 million for the league finish made this more comfortable.

Winterthur - May 2021 I didn't expect much from the final two games, so getting a point was a bonus. Not enough to make up for throwing away two points in stoppage time against St. Gallen though. The high point of the month was the big win over Thun, where Anas Mahamid made the difference with a hat-trick.

Winterthur - March + April 2021 At least this wasn't as bad as the last couple of months, and we've now got enough points on the board to guarantee safety. The upset win over Young Boys was the big story of March, though fitness more than anything else defined the victory. They had a cup game on the Wednesday so were tired, and we had the fresh legs to take advantage of this. We managed a rare win over Lausanne-Sport (overall record = 3 wins, 5 losses), with Luis Encarnacao scoring the winning goal. He followed this up with three more in April to reach double-figures. The draw against Sion was annoying, more points thrown away against a team down at the bottom.

Winterthur - 2021 Youth Intake At first glance the top end of this looks pretty good, two at 5.0 star PA and another two at 4.0. But all four of these lads have the unambitious + low determination combination. The news item called this a golden generation, but the personalities have probably ruined any chance of that.

January + February 2021 Our youth recruitment and junior coaching were both improved up to an excellent standard. We got a big chunk of money for one of our young players, but I'd have preferred to keep Bernhard Alphand. The transfer offer came in right before the deadline, so there was no chance to protest it. We brought in one player ourselves, picking up Aljaz Ivacic on a free transfer. He's spent the last couple of years in America, and looks like he should be an upgrade in goal. Spoiler - he concedes four on his debut. Ugh. Our return to action after the winter break has been utterly pathetic. Conceding at least twice in every game is terrible, in some of these it seemed like we were actively trying to lose. In the last update I moaned about getting just one point from the teams in the relegation area, and we've gone and done the same thing again. We're hanging on in mid-table, but my earlier optimism about avoiding a relegation battle appears misplaced. Our attempts at defending are just abysmal, and without a drastic improvement we could very easily get dragged into the mix.

Winterthur - November + December 2020 We didn't have much consistency over these two months, but with more wins than losses it turned out well. The points didn't necessarily come when I expected them to though. Earning only one point from the pair of games against the sides in the relegation area, Sion and St. Gallen, was infuriating. But immediately afterwards we bounced back to hammer top-of-the-table Basel. We're just past the halfway point of the season, and about to go into the winter break. Barring a catastrophic second half of the season we're safe from relegation, so we'll be aiming for a mid-table finish, and possibly sneak the last Conference League qualifying spot.

Winterthur - September + October 2020 Had a bit of unexpected interested this month when offered an interview with Sion, but it was swiftly turned down. I'm not ruling out the possibility of this turning from a one club save to a journeyman save at some point, but it's definitely too early for that at the moment. The results over these two months tell an interesting story. We played all four sides above us in the table, and gained just one point from them. A sterling effort from Raphael Spiegel between the sticks restricted Young Boys to just the one goal, which allowed us to steal a fortunate point. But we weren't up to par in the other three games, in particular putting in a terrible performance against Lausanne-Sport. We also played the two sides directly below us in the table, defeating both of them. Roberto Alves impressed against FC Zurich with two goals, one from the spot and the other a free-kick. As expected we've slipped a couple of places, but there's still a comfortable buffer between us and the teams at the bottom.

Winterthur - July + August 2020 We nearly made the perfect start to life in the Super League as a brace from Luka Sliskovic gave us the lead over Luzern, but a second-half collapse including a howler from our goalie allowed them to level the game and restrict us to just the one point. Against Lausanne-Sport it looked like the game was going the same way, leading and then being pulled back, until Cedric Mariette came off the bench to grab a winner just five minutes into his debut. Our third game of the season, away at FC Zurich, was the first one where we really looked out of our depth. We were handily beaten 3-1 and it could easily have been more. Next time against Sion we were again second best by a long way, but luck was on our side. Two long-range efforts from midfield were enough to give us the win. Then came the first round of the Swiss Cup. It was a disaster. A rotated side was selected, but it still should have been good enough to beat third division Echellens Region. Instead we let the lead slip three times, then got knocked out on penalties. My back-up goalie was the main scapegoat, conceding four times from just seven shots on target. Transfer-listed with immediate effect. My first-choice eleven came back in for the league match with St. Gallen and showed why they're the main men. It was a hard-fought game but we didn't give up, and Nicola Suter snatched all three points late on with his first goal for the club. A draw with Lugano ended the month, where we came back to 2-0 down to rescue a point. It's still early, and other teams have a game in hand, and I'm sure things will level out over the coming months, but I'm very happy with how we've started the season and sitting in 3rd place. Relegation looks like it shouldn't be a worry (touch wood), but I am still angry about the cup exit.

Winterthur - July + August 2020 I think my Director of Football is on the take. Either that, or him and the scouts are just lazy. He made three more loan signings this month, all from Basel, to made it a total of five players we now have from them. Luis Encarnacao will likely be competing for a starting role up front, while Luis Mestre and Mihailo Stevanovic will be rounding out the bench. Also joining on a permanent basis was Rrezart Hoxha, for just over £90k from Kriens. He'd started the season with two goals in five games for them.

Winterthur - July + August 2020 Our finances were going in the right direction due to the Super League TV money, but this was a nice boost. Will give us something to play with in the winter transfer window, or help to secure an upgrade or two. a

Sub goalies are for cowards. Impressive month, certainly put yourself in a good position to retain the title.

Winterthur - 2020/21 Pre-Season No one is expecting much of us going into the Super League, so the pressure's off. The board, media, and bookies all expect us to finish bottom and get relegated. Could be a long old season, I'll be happy if we get into 9th place and the relegation play-off. In good news though we did get some improvements approved over the summer, with junior coaching and youth improvement both upgraded to a good quality. The biggest departure over the summer was Roman Buess, for £250k to a Hungarian side. I was happy to get rid of him for a decent chunk of cash as he'd been transfer-listed for a while. At 35 years old Davide Calla wasn't given a new contract. Also leaving but not listed here were Luca Tranquilli and Nuno da Silva at the end of their loan deals. Between the four of them they managed 27 goals and 23 assists last season, so replacements will definitely be needed up front. My Director of Football is in charge of signings, and he brought in five players. Two are on permanent deals, and three on loan from other Super League clubs. Jan Elvedi is the main signing, costing £70k from Kriens. He can play in centre defence or at right-back. He'll start the season as first back-up in each of those positions. Nikola Gjorgjev can play on either wing, and was available on a free after being let go by Grasshopper Zurich. Nicola Suter and Cedric Mariette are both on loan from Basel, and will be back-up for the attacking positions. Zeki Amdouni is on loan from St. Gallen, and may well take one of the starting striker spots.

Winterthur - 2019/20 Season Review I might have led Winterthur to promotion, but I clearly don't have a clue about judging individual players. Anas Mahamid scored 16 goals this season (15 in the league), and he did indeed win the Challenge League's top goalscorer award. Nils von Niederhausern also won individual honours, being voted the Challenge League player of the season. He only came third in the club voting though, as Luca Radice was selected as the Winterthur player of the season. In addition to those three, Tobias Schattin, Gabriel Isik, and Nuno da Silva also made the Challenge League team of the season. We received over £550k for our league finish, but we bled money throughout the season. Could really use a new sponsorship deal to help us with reinforcements for the Super League.

Winterthur - May 2020 We're playing Servette in the play-off. Their first half of the season was pretty good, but the second half was a disaster. Just one win in 21 games, and only seven points from the final 10 games. First Leg 1st minute - "It's an early corner to Winterthur. The ball bounces free... oh WHAT A HIT! Top corner! 1-0! Take a bow Gezim Pepsi!" 32nd minute - "It's another corner, the ball's floated in..., and someone's on the ground! Was there a push? We wait for VAR... the penalty's given! Luka Sliskovic steps up... 2-0!" 79th minute - "It's a short throw-in, Luca Tranquilli finds Nuno da Silva on the edge of the area. Lays the ball off to Luka Sliskovic, oh it's 3-0! Winterthur are running away with it!" 80th minute - "Maybe I spoke too soon! The Winterthur manager won't be happy with that one. Straight from kick-off Servette surged towards goal, and that was a good finish. The lead has been reduced to 3-1." Second Leg 63rd minute - "Good catch by Raphael Spiegel, and he releases the ball quickly to Luca Tranquilli. He beats his man, gets the cross in... Nuno da Silva! 1-0 on the night and a three goal lead on aggregate, surely Winterthur can't be caught now?" 70th minute - "Or maybe they can? A quick break and Servette have levelled the score at 1-1." Final whistle - "IT'S ALL OVER! WINTERTHUR ARE PROMOTED!"