Hoppin' around Europe... for now.

[From Perth to Paisley]

A good read! Given me some inspiration for my Norwegian game!

[CoachFlu]

Thanks. It could have gone worse...

Oct. 20, 2014

PoPa, Finnish Premier League, end of season 2014

Summary:

Media prediction: 6th

Final position: 3rd

Finnish Cup: Quarter Final

League Cup: Final

Results:

End of season table

Position graph

As this last stretch of the season went on, it didn't feel like we finally performed consistently and up to our standard, but when looking at the results, that's pretty much what happened. It was only just enough to get the job done though. The competition for the Euro places remained fierce until the end, and we had a tense last match day again, with a decisive trip to KuPS to hold on to our top 4 spot.

As it happens, the result turned out not to matter as FC Inter screwed up, but still, better 3rd than 4th place, as that means we'll enter the 2nd Qualifying Round of the Euro Cup rather than the 1st Qual. Round. And mainly, unlike the previous two seasons, we didn't choke at the very end this time. I would have been quite frustrated if we had thrown it away in the last few matches again.

So, in short, we reached our goal and can consider this a successful season, but it took a bit more hard work than I had hoped it would. Starting the season with 4 defeats obviously didn't help, but even after we bounced back and rectified that, we had some stretches where things just didn't go our way. Conceding 52 goals in 33 matches is simply too much for a team finishing in 3rd place.

Well, obviously it is part of our tactic and philosophy that we simply want to score more goals than we concede, but still, we conceded 13 more goals than last season - not a good trend considering our defense is supposed to be stronger now.

So I've been debating whether to stick with the current tactic or switch to a different approach. I've mostly been a 4-4-2-guy in previous years, really, and I only went for this tactic because of the limited players I had available when taking control of the club with 9 matches remaining in the season. Then again, the tactic has worked for us and we've been doing better every season, so I'm a bit reluctant to change a winning - sort of - formula. I'll have a think about it.

Squad and tactic

And obviously there's some more squad building to be done as well. Last winter's reinforcements, especially the defensive ones, don't particularly show in our results. It was only because of our offensive improvements compared to last season that we managed to score some more goals and finish a few spots higher in the ranking.

Several of our best players are quite young and still have some growth margin though, so we're on the right track, but not quite there yet.

Our key players this season:

Declan Dalley - DC

Clearly young Declan still needs to evolve some more, but I stand by what I said at the start of the season - with a bit of time, he'll grow into a key player for this squad. He's already a standout player in our squad, though occasionally for the wrong reasons - a few too many yellow cards to my liking.

Joel Pohjanpalo - AMC

One of the other new youngsters I had high hopes for stood out even more. The occasional poor match, but that goes for the entire squad. When he was in form though, it put a big smile on my face knowing that he'll still get better, and will be at the club for several more seasons.

Osahon Eboigbe - ST

With three strikers of roughly equal quality, we started them on a sort-of rotation system, and perhaps that was part of why we struggled - our goalscoring during the League Cup wasn't convincing, and then we lost the first 4 league matches. So the decision, quite early on, to go with Eboigbe as first choice and stick with him, might have been one of the most important decisions of the season. He ended up scoring 20 goals in 25 matches, becoming the league's top scorer.

Next season...

Finances

Alright, so we qualified for Europe now. Obviously it'll be a while before we'll actually play in Europe - in the 2015/26 season, a good 10 months from now.

I don't think we have to worry quite yet that the Euro Cup matches will continue after the end of the Finnish season, when all the players are supposed to go on Holiday. Realistically, the chance that we'll qualify for the group stage is pretty damn low. It will either take a big dose of luck or a few more seasons of steady, gradual progress before this squad is ready for that.

So, while "qualifying for Europe" was the big goal of the season, and qualifying for the Euro Cup group stage would be the answer to our financial prayers, it's important now to put that to one side, see what happens, but mainly stay focused on domestic goals.

And, after finishing 5th and 3rd, I suppose winning the title should be the next goal. There, too, I'm not sure if we're ready for that. With Honka winning the title two years in a row, each time by a considerable margin, we'd have to improve significantly to stand a chance - much more than we improved this season compared to last season.

Then again, a better start and a bit more consistency, and who knows. It's certainly not an insurmountable gap in quality, but I don't know if we can close it by next season.

And so, with potential success here looking more and more like a "few more seasons" project, I find myself actually thinking about potentially moving clubs. Which is kinda weird, having just finished 3rd and qualified for Europe for the first time.

I still have a contract for two seasons here, and obviously I'm not just looking to move to just any other club, so there's a good chance I'm not going anywhere just yet. There have been a few rumors though, mostly around the start of the season, linking me with a few interesting Belgian clubs. If or when an offer eventually comes, I might have some serious thinking to do.

But until further notice, I'll continue to improve the PoPa squad for next season. A few veterans and fringe players will have to be replaced over the winter months, so there'll be plenty to do to keep me busy. Maybe I'll just have to hope an interesting offer doesn't come quite yet.

[deltablue]

Yes! well done for managing that.

[HotChocolate]

Good finish to the season! Good luck in Europe next season!

[CoachFlu]

Thanks. We'll need luck in Europe.

November 19, 2014

Belgium U21 update:

I briefly mentioned at some point that I took charge of the Belgium U21 squad. That was about a year ago now.

There's a bug in my game due to which the Euro U21 Qualifying matches for the 2015 tournament were never scheduled, so it's been all friendlies for now. The qualifiers for Euro U21 2017 will start next June. Hopefully.

So there's not much to update about, apart from the results of this year's friendlies, which is a bit of a mixed bag. When I became the U21 manager last year there was some very nice quality in the squad, but many of them were 21, so about half the squad became ineligible in the summer. As it stands now, I don't think we have the quality to go particularly far, but who knows. Euro 2017 is still a while away. We'll see how it goes.

[CoachFlu]

Jan. 31, 2015

PoPa, Finnish Premier League, pre-season 2015

No offers from other clubs as of yet, so I start the new season still in charge of PoPa. (To be clear, I didn't really expect otherwise.)

This will be our third season in the Finnish top flight. After a 5th place and a 3rd place in the league, and two League Cup Finals, it would be a good next step to actually win a trophy.

I don't know if we're strong enough yet to win the title. That's a bit of an open question, and to be honest I'd be quite happy already if we can comfortably qualify for Europe again - as opposed to having to battle for it until the last match day, like last season. But perhaps we can continue our short tradition of doing well in the League Cup, and maybe cross that final hurdle this time. I wouldn't mind lasting a bit longer than the Quarter Finals in the Finnish Cup as well.

Winning some sort of trophy would be nice, if only because it might go some way towards keeping our key players. Two of them in particular have been making noises about bigger clubs since last season already - our Nigerian striker Eboigbe, and our star goalkeeper, Tuomi. So far I've been able to keep it more or less under control with some lucky guesses during private conversations, but I fear that may not fly for much longer. Tuomi, in fact may get unhappy tomorrow already - hard to tell, I'm getting some mixed signals about my "efforts to strengthen the squad to match his ambitions."

I certainly have made some efforts, as there were a handful of players to replace. I'm a bit underwhelmed by the quality of the defenders I managed to bring in, though. Very few quality, affordable options were available, so I had to go for a decent Finnish backup and two youngsters with potential, but perhaps lacking some maturity.

Irakli Tsenteradze, from Georgia, will probably start the season in the first eleven, as a center back. We have some other options if he doesn't seem up to the task.

Our replacements for the midfielders who left the squad, however, are much more promising and can be expected to make an immediate impact.

Thomas Kula - MC/AMC

Released by RoPS, Thomas will fill a bit of a utility role. Equally comfortable as MC and AMC, he'll start on the bench covering both those positions when everyone's fit, but considering that's rarely the case, he should see plenty of action this season.

Hakan Arslan - AMC

This Turkish lad, released by Samsunspor, will certainly be one of the first names on the team sheet. He's a bit of a "decent across the board" gamble - because that sometimes translates to "mediocre across the board" - but I have a feeling he'll do quite well in the Finnish Premier League.

Jean Carlos Chera - AMC

Quite comparable to our new Turkish lad, except this young Brazilian still has quite a bit of growth margin in him. I expect he'll be nagging about a bigger club as well in a year or two, if that. Has a few weaknesses he'll need to work on, and can use some first team experience - he never made the grade at Genoa - but I have high hopes for him to produce the goods this season already.

It wasn't a conscious choice to go for significant reinforcements in midfield and just 'make do' in the defense, but maybe that's the way forward anyway. Score more than the opposition, that'll remain the task this season.

Belgium U21 update:

The qualifying groups for the 2017 Euro Ch'Ship have been drawn:

A tricky group, but certainly doable. Finishing top of the group won't be easy - we'll have to do well against Russia for that - but second place to head into playoffs should be within our capabilities. Group matches start next June.

[CoachFlu]

April 2, 2015

League Cup update:

Well, we're not winning the League Cup this year either. We didn't even make it to the Final this time. That's quite frustrating - well, not so much that we didn't win it, but the way we went out.

Our new attacking midfielders hit the ground running, both of them scoring on their debut. We were so offensively dominant in the first match, that I started dreaming about the title after the first half, heh. My feet are back on the ground now.

We did remain offensively dominant throughout the competition, though. But, as is football (and FM), creating the most chances doesn't always result in a win.

We just ran into RoPS as our "bogey man" team. We played them twice - in the last group match and then again in the Quarters - totaling 38(11) shots vs. their 9(4). Yet we only scored once, and they scored 4 over those 180 minutes combined.

Actually, that's not entirely correct. We scored three times in the Quarter Final, just twice in the wrong goal, heh.

It's a bit frustrating to go out like that, but it's nothing to lose sleep over. Time to put it behind us quickly and hope for a bit less bad luck in the league.

[HotChocolate]

If we are being honest you should have beat LiPa by more than what you did, I know it was only a friendly but surely that result dissapoints you?

[CoachFlu]

Yeah. Especially our striker was disappointing there. He only scored 7 goals before he was substituted in the 60th minute.

[HotChocolate]

Yeah. Especially our striker was disappointing there. He only scored 7 goals before he was substituted in the 60th minute.

I'd fine him a weeks wages for a poor performance!

[CoachFlu]

June 12, 2015

French Youth Invitational 2015

Well, this is a nice bonus. After a year and a half of friendly matches with the Belgium U21s, just before the start of qualifying for Euro 2017, we get to play a little tournament in France.

We start the tournament with a bit of a "oh, alrighty then" feeling. Not much at stake, nothing to lose, no clear "ideal first 11" in my head yet either.

Croatia U20 - Belgium U21: 0-1

Considering the other teams in our group - Argentina and El Salvador - this match against Croatia was the key match for us, so I was glad it was our opening match. With only 20 players in the selection, one of them already out injured before the start of the tournament, it was pretty clear we'd get fitness issues later in the tournament, so it was good to be able to play this one with everyone still fresh. Though that didn't exactly show in the quality of the match. It was a bit of a scrappy one, but we edged it and came away with the three points - plus two more injuries and a load of bookings.

Belgium U21 - Argentina U21: 0-3

Just two days after the first group match, this was a case of playing whoever was fit. I didn't expect much from this match, but the result was quite harsh on us. Argentina certainly deserved the win, but the three goal margin was a bit over the top.

El Salvador U21 - Belgium U21: 0-2

I had assumed El Salvador would be the weak team of the group, but they convincingly beat Croatia and kept Argentina to a 0-0 draw, which meant we needed a win here to go through. Those previous results needn't have worried me though. This turned into a fairly easy win.

France topped the other group, ahead of three teams with 3 points. Norway went through in second place, Egypt and China finished 3 and 4.

Semi Final:

France U21 - Belgium U21: 2-0

Not much of a contest, to be honest. Had we converted the early penalty, it might have been a different story, but after that one was blasted straight at the keeper, we never felt like we could win this. Hardly any real chances, just a number of balls blasted over and wide.

3rd Place Playoff:

Belgium U21 - Norway U21: 1-0

With a few injuries, two suspensions and a whole lot of tired lads, this wasn't a pretty match. Everyone too tired to run, I guess, so a whole lot of long shots. One of them deflected into the net, which turned out to be enough for the deserved win.

And so we finish 3rd. (Argentina beat France in the final.)

I'm quite happy to finish 3rd behind those two, to be honest. We didn't exactly over-perform. Considering the teams we played, we pretty much exactly performed according to expectations. But I guess that's an achievement in itself.

[CoachFlu]

June 22, 2015

Results:

Looking good so far.

The previous two seasons, our start of the season was always a bit shaky. Last year's start was just awful with 0 from the first 4, and the year before we started undefeated, but with 7 draws from 10. This time we're finally getting it close to right and we're top of the table. With a game in hand as well, against Haka.

The Finnish Cup, however, was another kick in the teeth. We did last longer than ever before, but RoPS - again - managed to spoil our day, big time. Seconds away from reaching the Final, they equalized in the 93rd minute and then went up and over us in extra time.

We're out of both cups, so if we want to win a trophy this year - and I do want to win a trophy this year - then we'll have to do it in the league. So far, we're nicely on schedule to achieve that, and I have a good feeling about it, but it's certainly not in the bag yet. We still have a tendency to 'switch off' in some matches. If we can avoid that from happening too often, we definitely stand a chance.

[deltablue]

Excellent start to a title challenge.

[CoachFlu]

Aug. 9, 2015

Results:

Oomph. So friggin close. I'm referring to the EURO Cup, obviously...

With the Euro Cup qualifying matches scheduled smack dab in the middle of an already congested and crucial stage of the season - especially considering we look to be mounting a title challenge - I wasn't really too bothered about them at first. Half-considered fielding reserves and focusing completely on the league. But when I saw the draw, that kinda changed.

Not that I got my hopes up straight away. Rostov may not be the toughest Russian club one might encounter in the Euro Cup, but they're still a Russian club, so we were still major underdogs. But with the home tie scheduled first, I decided to have a go at that one.

PoPa - Rostov: 3-1

Rostov - PoPa: 2-1

And it worked out better than expected. We played a cracker of a first half, and a pretty good match in general, sending us to Russia with a very decent chance of surviving the round.

In the away match, admittedly, we got very lucky. They came at us with all they had, and it was a miracle we were only 1-0 down at half time. Many of their off-target shots - and there were a lot of them - were only narrowly off target. They scored again early in the second half, putting them through on away goals, and after that they slowed the pace, giving us a few half chances, but we really didn't seem strong enough to claim anything. But then we got one good chance late in the match, and our 19-year old AMC didn't screw up.

That was a great goal, because by then I already knew we'd be seeded for the next round, and who the next opponent would be. And M. Petach-Tikva, from Israel, seemed like a notably easier draw than Rostov was.

PoPa - M Petach-Tikva: 3-2

M Petach-Tikva - PoPa: 4-2 aet

And even though we were still considered total underdogs for both matches, M.Petach-Tikva was indeed an easier opponent. We felt more in control at home, and evenly matched in Israel. But we basically got sucker-punched, over and over again, by their young, 17-pace striker, who'll probably move to a bigger club pretty damn soon, I'd dare to predict. He scored 4 times against us in those two matches, the last one in extra time to finish us off.

After taking the lead with less than a half hour to play and thinking it was as good as in the bag, that loss hurt.

It hurt a little less after I discovered that the winner didn't qualify for the group stage yet, as I had thought. Turns out we'd have faced Inter in the 4th Qual Round, so we wouldn't have made it anyway. Still, would have been nice to go one round further.

Meanwhile, we managed to limit the damage in the league and kept our title hopes very much alive.

We were a little bit lucky that our league matches in between the Euro Qualifiers were mostly against easier opponents, and we still managed to get the results while resting some key players.

The only "points thrown away" were against KuPS, where we rested all first team players except the goalie. Despite a very poor performance, we still managed a lucky draw, so it's safe to assume our A-squad would probably have brought home the three points.

Those two extra points would have been very welcome, because the opposition is not throwing away points either. Especially Honka - who won the title the past two seasons - have been impossible to shake. They were in Europe as well, but only lasted one round; meanwhile, they won ten league matches in a row, before they faced us in the last match of this update.

That was a huge win for us, especially considering it was just three days after a 120min. match in Israel, so several of our key players needed to sit this one out. But despite being reduced to 10 men early in the second half, we managed a 2-0 win. It's the difference between going 9 points behind or reducing the gap to 3 points, with still two games in hand.

Obviously the job is far from done. With a few matches to catch up on, the two-per-week schedule will continue for a while longer, and it's still a three horse race at this point. Every match will be crucial now.

[Deisler26]

Unlucky (or perhaps lucky!) with the EURO Cup!

[deltablue]

It's still in your hands.

[HotChocolate]

Lets hope you can take advantage of those two games in hand, although I've always said it's better to have the points on the board!

[CoachFlu]

Oct. 19, 2015

PoPa, Finnish Premier League, end of season 2015

Summary:

Media prediction: 4th

Final position: 1st

Finnish Cup: Semi Final

League Cup: Quarter Final

Results:

End of season table

Position graph

I suppose if you win the title by a seven point margin, breaking the league's points and goals records in the process, it's a bit inappropriate to go "whew, that was close." The seven point gap only came at the very end of the season though. For a long time it was pretty close.

We got a few frustrating draws along the way, but luckily Honka lost some points here and there as well. We kept it in our own hands the whole time, but it did get a bit tricky when we lost against FC Inter at the end of September. That changed the situation from "a point ahead with a game in hand" to simply "a point ahead." Not only that, FC Inter came back to within 3 points of us as well. And our last two matches of the season were against Honka and FC Inter, nrs. 2 and 3. Our tendency to choke at the end of the season was very much on my mind at that stage.

It didn't quite turn into a classic direct confrontation for the title though. We beat Honka with surprising ease, and that settled it right there and then. The last match against FC Inter was a bit of a gala match, and Honka lost again, hence the 7pt gap at the end.

I don't really care by how many points we win though. After disappointing exits from both Cups - damn RoPS! - and briefly getting my hopes up in Europe, I'm mainly relieved that we didn't end up screwing this up.

Squad and tactics

A handful of blue names in that list. Those are mostly guys who were promised last season that they could leave at the end of the season, but I couldn't get rid of them even by offering them out for free. Eventually most of them got loan offers though, so I settled for that. I've made a few similar promises this season; hopefully I'll have more luck getting rid of those.

One of our players didn't settle for "at the end of the season" - Sakari Mattila, our big Finnish international signing from two seasons ago, wanted to leave immediately. A bit weird considering our position in the league, but whatever. His performances, while decent, didn't really justify his high wage anyway, so I gave in, and he left to Zürich in the middle of August for €110k. He was quickly forgotten.

To be honest, I'm a little bit surprised that we managed to play so well and win the title this season. Not so much offensively - with our reinforcements in the midfield, I was hoping we'd be a bit stronger in that area. But our defensive reinforcements weren't all that impressive, on paper, so I'm a bit surprised we held up so well on that end of the pitch.

Some of our key players:

Irakli Tsenteradze - DRC

This young Georgian defender doesn't look that spectacular on paper, but apparently he slotted in perfectly to make our defense click, next to our young Welsh center back. His wage demands are quite reasonable as well. I'll have to do some more shopping in that part of the world, I think.

Hakan Arslan - AMC

Our new Turkish attacking midfielder has significantly more maturity, and he hit the ground running this season, "aiding our cause" with 12 goals. It's really the entire midfield which did its part though, and with the heavy match schedule that's quite a few players who have to step up regularly. It was the quality in width more than one specific player which put us on top this season.

Osahon Eboigbe - ST

Then again, if we do have to pick one player who had the biggest impact, it's this guy. Our Nigerian striker broke all sorts of goal scoring records this season.

He's one of the guys occasionally moaning about a bigger club, and with 12 months left on his contract, it might be time to sell him. Then again, if he has another season like this one, that'll be worth more than any money we could get for him.

Finances

Our participation in the Euro Cup halted our financial decline for a month or two, but basically it's still the occasional cash injection from the board which makes us hover between -1 and -2mil.

Breaking even on domestic income seems almost impossible here - unless we start filling our 11k stadium, perhaps, but that's not likely to happen within the next decade. Only reaching a group stage in Europe can sort out the finances. I don't think that's likely to happen within the next decade either, though.

Next season...

Well, despite some talk about contracts and signings for next season, I think I'm actually pretty much done here. Mentally, at least. I still have a contract for next season, so I might be here a bit longer. Might even see out the contract, if that's what it comes down to. But I'm pretty sure I won't be signing an extension, and I'm actually hoping that this season's success will be enough to get me a few random job offers from slightly bigger clubs.

This was certainly a fun club to start out with, but having won the title now, it feels like the end of the line. Any further progress will be too much of a long term project, and this is a journeyman career after all. Time to journey onwards sooner rather than later.

[deltablue]

Great way to sign off in Finland.

[CoachFlu]

Thanks.

I very well might be in Finland for another year though. Waiting for random, out-of-the-blue job offers is a bit like watching paint dry.

Well, I did get one job offer already, but not quite what I'm hoping for:

They finished 9th in our league, so obviously I didn't accept this one.

If a very interesting job opens up for which I think I stand a decent chance, I might actively apply. Otherwise I might stay at PoPa for one more year.

[Amethyst21]

Great start to a career and a great read.

Not much left to do in Finland, so probably the right move to leave

[CoachFlu]

Aye. I'm a bit hesitant to just resign though. That didn't always work out very well in previous versions.

I did decide to test the waters a bit:

They're sub-top in Denmark, and I was named as one of the candidates (one of the three, not the favorite), so I decided to apply, and got this. Pffft. Looks like I shouldn't hold my breath just yet. A Belgian club might be my best shot.

On the other hand, the PoPa chairman declared that he hoped I would stay, once the news of my application leaked, which was kinda nice. (Better than clubs where you're forced to apologize or leave, at least.) So maybe I'll stay for one more season. I'll see.

Nov. 17, 2015

Belgium U21 update:

Meanwhile, qualifying for the 2017 Euro U21 Ch'Ship has progressed nicely:

Before the start of this campaign, I assumed that Russia would be our main competition for the top spot, with perhaps Poland in the mix as well. I didn't quite expect Hungary to perform this strongly.

Obviously I'm quite pleased with how this campaign is going so far. Too bad that we didn't manage to pick up something in Hungary, or we'd have been certain already.

Two more matches left to play. In Azerbaijan next March, and then at home against Hungary in June, which might turn out to be the decider.

[deltablue]

The game is a bit mean regarding unrealistic applications, and when you're applying to a few places.

[CoachFlu]

Aye. But maybe I'll get a chance at some point to be mean back to FC Midtjylland.

Jan. 29, 2016

PoPa, Finnish Premier League, pre-season 2016

No new job yet. Unlike last season, I'm very much keeping my eyes open for one, but without making hasty moves. Basically, if an interesting job opens up for which I'm named as favorite, I'll apply for it, but other than that I'll just see what happens. I'd rather stay one more season at PoPa than risk getting the sack and eventually having to settle for another lower league job.

So for the time being I remain at PoPa, in a sort of "might be gone next week, might stay all season" situation.

More and more of the PoPa key players also want to move to a bigger club. A few of them are willing to stay, for now, but after our Finnish international last August, we're about to lose our left back, Daniel O'Shaughnessy as well. He's still at the club, but depressed and on the transfer list after I first tried to sweet talk and then tried to bully him into staying another year. (Yes, hypocritical, I know.)

His replacement: Jonas Gronner - DLC

It's a bit of a reluctant replacement, since he's more a DC than a DL, and his wage demands are rather hefty, but the free transfer options for that position were very limited.

A much better price/quality combination is our new MC (replacing Mattila who left last August, and veteran Dema whose contract ran out).

Jimmy Karlsson - MC

Another talented Finnish youngster who'll fit straight into the first 11 and will undoubtedly want to move to a bigger club before his contract is up.

Those are the only two important signings. The rest of our transfer activity concerns youngsters with some potential, to fill out our squad. A few more signings of that nature may follow, as we still have a few "let you go at the end of the season" guys on the transfer list.

For the first time since I started this job, the board has slightly reduced the wage budget. Considering our financial situation, I can hardly blame them.

The media predicts another three-horse race for the title this season (Honka, FC Inter and us.) Since I may not be here that long, I'm not too bothered about it at the moment.

I'm even less bothered about our participation in the Champions League - the group stage will be utterly out of reach, so the best we can hope for is welcoming a big club to our stadium and getting some nice ticket sales.

I would, however, like to win the League Cup. Mainly because that competition is finished in April, so there's a decent chance I'll still be here until then. Or maybe not. I shall see.

[CoachFlu]

April 6, 2016

Results:

Yet again we failed to win the League Cup. Not for the first time, we did very well in the group stage but then had a lot more trouble in the knockout rounds. Trouble finishing it off, mainly. We scraped through on penalties in the Quarters, but in the Semi final we weren't efficient enough to overcome two corner kick goals by VPS.

I think it's fair to say that we're not much of a cup team.

No progress on the job front yet, so it looks like I'll still be in Finland for the first league match.

It's a bit of a weird feeling, expecting - or at least hoping - to leave soon, but not knowing when, if ever, an interesting job offer will come. Motivation for the PoPa tasks at hand is certainly significantly lower than last year, though. Hopefully that will come back a bit as the season progresses.

[HotChocolate]

Maybe you shouldn't have turned down VPS

[CoachFlu]

June 12, 2016

Results:

Well, it's not a totally awful start of the season, but we can pretty much forget about another title already. Honka had an absolutely stormin' start, winning the first ten in a row until they finally lost their first points at our stadium.

We only lost once, but five draws is way too much to challenge for the title.

We've had the traditional trouble to finish it off in some of the matches. That's partially because our Nigerian star striker, Eboigbe, is out with a broken toe. Our backup striker, Emre Asik, isn't quite reaching the same productivity. At least not in the league; he's had some very productive cup matches.

So it looks like our only potential trophy this year will be the Finnish Cup. We've made it to the Final for the first time.

The Final will be played in September. Given my "want to move on" attitude, I'm not sure I'll still be around for it, but it's looking more and more likely, as most seasons in Europe have ended now. Of course there's still the weekly bunch of "might leave" rumors where my name comes up from time to time, but I'm not holding my breath for any of those.

I thought I was on my way back home when the Beerschot job became available in May. I was named as favorite, declared interest, applied etc, but Jan Ceulemans was picked instead.

That's not giving me a lot of confidence about finding a suitable new job any time soon. I'll wait until after the summer before I'll start getting nervous though.

[deltablue]

Do you still want to leave that much? Surprised you haven't resigned if you do, might find it easier to go somewhere new.

[Deisler26]

Unlucky on the Beerschot job. I also find that if they have to pay to get you out of your contract, they generally won't.

[CoachFlu]

They paid Westerlo to hire Ceulemans though, probably more than they would have had to pay to hire me, since my contract was up in 6 months.

I have a - perhaps slightly irrational - fear of becoming unemployed, based on my experiences in the previous versions of the game.

In my 2010 save I did a few years in Sweden, I think, and then resigned and couldn't find a job anywhere for more than a year. In last year's save I started in the Belgian top division for three and a half seasons, and after that the only job I could get was at a Belgian 3rd division club, effectively "starting from scratch."

I'm not too ambitious; I'll settle for pretty much any decent club in pretty much any top division - a 'logical next step in my career' type job. It'd be a bit frustrating to be forced to take a lower league job somewhere again and start over.

I do have a Finnish title on my resume now, so hopefully that counts for something and I won't be considered a nobody anymore.

Resigning now isn't really an option for me, mostly on principle. Not that I've never ever done it, but still, it would feel a bit wrong to break a contract without good reason.

And in this case certainly, with a Cup final and some Champions League matches still to come later in the season, it'd be a bit silly to quit now.

So I'll probably just finish the season and then take the plunge into unemployment (though admittedly, my above-mentioned irrational fear is making me consider prolonging my contract if it comes down to that.)

[CoachFlu]

July 10, 2016

European Championship 2016 Hosts: France

England are on a roll in this universe - their third major tournament in six years!

Russia was the only surprising casualty of the group stage, scoring 0 points in a group with Turkey, Slovenia and Czech Republic.

Holland continues to disappoint as well - scraping through in 3rd place in their group and then going out in the next round - but Jan Jansen seems to have friends in high places, as again he keeps his job. Many others did not; eight national managers are out the door, including those of Spain, France, Italy and Russia.

[HotChocolate]

I'm surprised you haven't been approached by anyone yet. I got a message (in FM12) after applying for a job that said 'they would be delighted to have someone like me in charge but they just couldn't pay the compensation'. I quit and re-applied but before they got back to me I'd accepted another job. Have you ever got that message before? I'd be surprised if they hadn't have taken me.

[CoachFlu]

Nope, never had that message yet.

I think there's a decent chunk of bad luck/bad timing involved in my case. Last season, during our title run, I was named as favorite for several clubs - three Belgian clubs at least, and I think one or two foreign clubs as well. Never got an offer though (didn't apply or declare interest either.)

But this season, since October, there has only been one job for which I was named favorite - Beerschot, the only Belgian Pro League club which sacked their manager since then, I'm pretty sure. And I think I was just unlucky that Ceulemans - who's a pretty big name in Belgium - declared interest in that job as well.

It's July now, so it'll be a while before any more jobs become available, but maybe something will pop up around October or so.

With the Finnish Cup Final coming up at the end of September, I'm not as bothered about it as my frequent nagging about it may indicate.

[AK22]

Well done on the league title, going to be hard to defend it after the average start you made this time around.

Good luck on the job hunting front, someone's bound to take a punt on you soon enough

[CoachFlu]

Thanks. Yeah, title's gone.

August 10, 2016

Results:

Quite a few red dots there. Some are from Europe, but far too many are from league matches as well. 6-0-4 in this stretch. Not quite enough to call it a complete crash of form, but certainly below our expectations and capabilities.

The difference with last season is mainly up front. Our defensive record isn't spectacularly worse than last season at this stage - though we did have some injury/suspension issues which have cost us a few goals here and there.

Up front, it would be harsh to call 41 goals from 21 matches a goal scoring crisis, but the number is significantly lower than last August (53 from 20). Much of that is down to the injury of our star striker, Eboigbe. He's back now, though he mainly featured in the European matches since his injury.

We had a tough stretch there while we were playing in Europe, with 4 losses from 5 league matches. Our last two matches were two great wins against teams ahead of us though, so hopefully that'll set us on the right path again.

The only goal remaining in the league is to finish in the top 4 to ensure Euro Cup football for next season - in case we lose the Cup final. Obviously that Cup final will be the most important match of the season for us.

Our Champions League adventure this season has gone pretty much according to expectations. Unlike last season, where there was some frustration after going out in extra time to some Israeli club, there will be no regrets this year.

Videoton - PoPa: 0-6

PoPa - Videoton: 4-2

Hungarian club Videoton turned out to be a much easier opponent than the media made them out to be, in part because they made our job slightly easier by scoring 4 own goals - two in each leg. Three of them by the same player, as it happens. That must be some kind of record.

Genk - PoPa: 2-1

PoPa - Genk: 0-2

As a reward, we got to travel to Belgium, where I knew we didn't stand much of a chance against Genk. Considering the circumstances - red card after a half hour etc. - we got a great result there, with an injury time goal giving us half a chance for the return leg.

We didn't play very well at home though. Some bad luck with a few balls against the woodwork which might have changed the course of the match, but ultimately our guys chose way too often to try a harmless long shot rather than do something useful with the ball. Occasionally we have a match where we get that balance completely wrong; this was one of them.

This isn't the end of the line yet, as we now head into the Euro Cup 4th Qual. Round. That's the last round before the group stage, so there's potentially a lot at stake there, but we really shouldn't get our hopes up, as we'll be playing Dinamo Moscow. That may not be the toughest opponent we could have drawn, but it's certainly not the easiest either and we'll be major underdogs.

[HotChocolate]

Unlucky on the CL but good look in the EL

[CoachFlu]

Oct. 11, 2016

Belgium U21 update:

Results:

A smooth qualifying campaign, really. Our last two group matches didn't pose any real difficulties and we easily finished top of the group.

We avoided the big names in the draw for the playoffs, and Israel turned out to be an opponent we could handle. We did play rather poorly in the return leg, but we had already finished it off in the home leg.

And so we participate in the U21 European Ch'Ship next June, along with these teams: (and hosts England)

[CoachFlu]

Oct. 17, 2016

PoPa, Finnish Premier League, end of season 2016

Summary:

Media prediction: 3rd

Final position: 3rd

Finnish Cup: Winners

League Cup: Semi Final

Results:

End of season table

Position graph

As expected, we didn't stand much of a chance against Dinamo Moscow. The 4-0 in Moscow was a bit harsh on us, but at least that settled the matter, so I didn't have to get too worked up about the Finnish scheduling committee forcing us to play one of our games in hand two days before the return leg. I guess they're not used to Finnish clubs making it that far in Europe, heh.

No group stage, then, which was also just as well, as that makes it a bit easier to let my contract run out.

Those two matches against Dinamo were our only two defeats in this last stretch. In other words, we finally found our top form again, with 12 wins and 2 draws in the last 14 league matches. Unfortunately we lost too many points along the way to catch up with the leaders. Honka seemed absolutely unbeatable for a while - they started with a 17-1-0 before they finally lost their first match - but they completely crumbled at the end and missed out on the title.

Basically though, it was a strong season from all the top teams. We finished with 70 points, only two less than last season when we finished well clear on top with a new points record. Before that, the points record was 65 points; this season, 4th placed HJK finishes with 69 points.

So we can't really be too disappointed about the season, especially since we got another trophy:

Finnish Cup Final:

FC Inter - PoPa: 1-3

We went a goal behind after less than 5 minutes, but after that we took control of the match and battled to a well-deserved victory. Obviously this made a big difference to our season, and it makes it more than just the "one extra season while I kinda wanted to leave already."

Squad and tactics

Apart from a few tweaks a few years ago, we've stuck with the same tactic throughout my 5+ seasons here. That's the way I like it - one tactic, no messing about.

We've made this tactic work reasonably well - our results pretty much speak for themselves - but I'm not sure if this is really a suitable "all purpose" tactic. It's a "get out there and win" tactic, really, which isn't always the best attitude against significantly stronger opposition, like Dinamo Moscow.

Pretty much with that in mind, I did let the team train a backup 4-4-1-1 tactic as well, since back in 2011, but we never actually used it. Perhaps with my next club, wherever I end up, I might look at 'starting over' with another, more balanced tactic. Then again, I do like the attacking "surround their penalty area" type of football this tactic produces, so I'll see.

Squad-wise, this was largely the same squad as last season. Left back Daniel O'Shaughnessy changed his mind about wanting to leave fairly early in the season, but signing a replacement for him already didn't turn out to be a waste at all, especially with the European matches adding to an already somewhat congested Finnish season.

Our defensive record was pretty much the same (even slightly better) as last season. The main difference was that we scored ten goals less (in the league) than last season. 73 goals is still a very nice total though. Last season we had one clear top scorer, this year the goals are spread out a bit more between several players.

Some of the key players:

Juha Tuomi - GK

Our undisputed nr.1 goalkeeper for the past five seasons. In fact, I'm pretty certain he played every minute of every match for us, until he missed one match last week due to an international call-up. He's been occasionally part of the Finland squad for the past two seasons, and finally got his senior international debut in September.

Declan Dalley - DC

Still only 21, Declan has been one of our starting center backs for three seasons now. No senior cap for him yet, but the Wales boss has been at our stadium quite regularly recently, so it's just a matter of time. It's always been clear that PoPa was just a "career launching" club for him. His contract is up, but he's not interesting in renewing it, so he'll leave soon.

Bradden Inman - MC

In his four seasons at PoPa, Bradden has turned into one of our key players, even if usually his stats don't stand out all that much. He had a great season this year though, with two goals in the Cup Final undoubtedly a highlight. Much like Dalley, he has been regularly scouted by the Australia boss but has yet to be called up.

Jean Carlos Chera - AMC

One of our more recent signings. Last season was one with mostly injuries and misery for Jean Carlos, but this season he certainly flourished, contributing with a nice amount of goals and assists. Like many other players in the squad, he's already making noises about a bigger club.

Osahon Eboigbe - ST

Injured for almost half the season, but his goals vs. appearances average is still very good. Mainly though, he's in this list because he has undoubtedly been our most key player of the past five seasons. He was a backup during our first season in the Premier League, but that was mainly a mistake from me. He fought his way back into the first eleven, and then stayed there undisputed. At age 27, he'll finally make his big move to AS Monaco soon. He might not play as big a part there as he did here in Finland, but I wish him well.

Finances

This graph has been pretty much the same since I joined the club, with the exception that in the last two years the occasional cash injections from the board have been replaced by our income from Europe. As I've said before, only qualifying for a group stage in Europe can reverse this graph... but that's no longer my problem, really.

Next season...

Well, that's still an open question. At least, where I'll be managing. The question where I won't be managing is less open: my contract at PoPa ends next month, and I won't be signing an extension. I've had a very enjoyable and very productive 5+ seasons here, but now it's time to move on.

Move on... hopefully upwards, but that remains to be seen. I did get one job offer at the end of September...

I did think about it for a few minutes - because it would at least have been a new challenge - but it didn't take me very long to turn down the offer. Moving to a relegation battler in the Czech Second Division would not exactly be a step up. Granted, they were a "yoyo-team" between First and Second until a few seasons ago, so they should be capable of better... But so should I.

My name did pop up as favorite for a job just now, on the morning of our last league match, so I'm hoping to be on my way out of Finland very soon.

[CoachFlu]

Oct. 20, 2016

Chapter 2: Les Rouches

Standard Liège, Belgian Pro League

And so, with perfect timing, just a few days after the end of the Finnish season, I move back to Belgium to take charge of Standard.

Standard is the most successful 'Walloon' club in recent history. (the southern, french-speaking region of Belgium.) They've had a bit of a rocky history, but the last (real life) decade they can be considered as one of the "big clubs" in Belgium, consistently competing in the battle for the European spots. They won back to back titles in 2007/08 and 08/09.

In the game, they won back to back titles again in 2012 and 2013, when the Belgian leagues were not active. Since Belgium was added into the mix, they finished 3rd, 3rd and 5th, missing out on European qualification last season.

They're currently in the bottom half of the table, with 11 of the 30 matches of the regular season played:

After my adventures in Finland, this is a great next step - pretty much spot on to what I was hoping/expecting. Basically, a club with which I can aim for short term success in Belgium.

And it will have to be short term success, actually. Standard supporters are not the most patient bunch, and based on recent history, neither is the board of directors.

In the three and a half seasons since the Belgian leagues became active, I'll be the 4th Standard manager. José Riga was sacked in December 2013, Michel Preud'homme lasted less than a year, until November 2014, and after that Marc Brys lasted almost two years. Especially the Preud'homme sacking is worrisome, since that clearly indicates managers are not given a lot of time here to rectify a mediocre start of the season (based on their results from that period, which weren't that terrible, they were probably not lower than 7th-9th when he got sacked.)

So there's definitely some risk to this new assignment, but I assume I'll at least have until the end of the season to sort the team out before I'll be judged heavily. I'm hoping it won't take as long as that; it's a tight table so this season is certainly not completely lost yet. Squad morale is a bit of a mess though, I'll need to organize a team meeting soon and hope that works out.

The quality of the squad will take some closer examination. There's no assistant manager at the club to provide a first glance impression based on star ratings.

Squad depth, at least, should not be a problem this season. I count no less than 45 players in the senior squad, plus a few guys out on loan, and a number of youngsters in the U21 and U19 squad. It'll take some serious work to streamline the squad. I wonder if Standard had the same problem as I had at PoPa, where it was almost impossible to offload players, even for very cheap prices or for free.

Plenty of sorting out to do, then, while also trying to hit the ground running. First league match tomorrow, a cup match four days later. A good start would be helpful.

[deltablue]

Definitely a well-earned step up.

[CoachFlu]

Aye, I would say so.

Dec. 18, 2016

Results:

I'm through my first two months at the new job, and it has been hard work so far. I can't really complain about our results though.

We started with a few promising results, but they were scrappy ones; we only started playing good football in the last three matches or so. Before that, we had a rough stretch, with disappointing results against Charleroi and Westerlo, and we got painful football lessons from Club Brugge and Anderlecht. Granted, there was some hope against Anderlecht, as we were 3-2 up and being competitive, until our goalkeeper got sent off for sliding out of the penalty area with the ball in his arms, and they slammed 4 goals past our crappy homegrown bench goalie in the last 20 minutes.

Hopefully the improved play in the last three matches has put us on the right track. Those results were against what can be considered 'weaker opposition' though. It remains to be seen how we'll do against some of the better teams.

I stepped away from the 4-2-3-1 formation I've used the past five seasons at PoPa - there simply aren't enough AMCs in the 45+ senior squad at Standard. We're playing an attacking 4-4-2 diamond now. I'll probably stick with that until the end of the season and evaluate then.

The squad really needs sorting out sooner rather than later. In the 2 months since I joined, I've had at least 15 private conversations with players - requested by them - about wanting to leave the club. Surprisingly, at least two thirds of them wanted to leave to a bigger club, with only a handful wanting first team football. I pretty much promised all of them they could leave at the end of the season - with morale all over the place, this isn't the time to cause more unhappiness - and will look to offload some of them in January already.

With all that in mind, I'm reluctant to specify a goal for this season still, as far as final league position is concerned. We're 8th now and really just a few points below the top (though the top three has a game in hand, and Anderlecht three games even.) Finishing in the top six to reach the Champions playoff group would be nice, qualifying for Europe would be even nicer, but I'll see what happens. It'll depend on if our performance keeps improving, especially against the big teams.

Belgium U21 update:

The group draw for Euro 2017:

Neither group is easy, really, but I'm quite content that we've been put in group B, to be honest. We'll start the tournament with the realistic goal of reaching the Semi Finals.

[City2000]

Good read, good luck with Standard. Sounds like you will have some work to do with that squad over the coming months!

[HotChocolate]

A very good step up, but you've earned it!

Patience is a virtue.

[CoachFlu]

Thanks.

March 5, 2017

Results:

League table - end of regular season

Well, so far Standard's choice to replace their manager back in October seems to have been the correct one. I wouldn't exactly call it a "miraculous recovery" - the gap with the top wasn't that large - but we certainly managed a very strong second half of the regular season, putting us right back near the top.

We now head into the Champions Group playoff stage, where the top six basically play a new 10 match mini league, starting with the points of the regular season halved.

In short, everything is still wide open. The top five are within three points of each other, with ten matches to play.

Given our recent form - undefeated in 13 league matches, with 11 wins and 2 draws - it might be tempting to consider us favorites for the title at this stage. Personally I'm not nearly that confident, though: that 13 match streak doesn't include the two losses just before it, against Club Brugge and Anderlecht, which I still consider the two main favorites for the title. We recently played Brugge in the Cup, and struggled against them.

In other words, that streak wasn't exactly special. The only 'strong' result in it was the 3-1 home win against defending champs Genk; the other results hardly raised any eyebrows.

Still, it was a fine run, and now we'll just have to step it up and try to do the same against the big teams. The main goal at this stage will be to qualify for Europe. What spot that translates to depends a bit on the Cup etc, but it probably means finishing top three, with the team in 4th playing a playoff match against the winner of the "7th-14th place playoffs" for the last Euro Cup spot.

In a way, however, this may be the best chance we'll get to win the title in the next few years. Our squad at the moment is pretty strong, but more than half of the first team regulars want to move to a bigger club and have been promised they can leave this summer. That, plus a whole chunk of backups to offload, means we'll be facing a serious squad rebuild, and we might not be quite ready for a title challenge yet next season.

With that squad rebuild in mind, I already made two new signings, despite having a ridiculously large squad at my disposal. I picked up a young Spanish keeper in the first week after my arrival - we had one good one and three crappy ones, so a decent backup in case of long term injury was quite necessary.

And on the last day of the January transfer window, I decided to spend some of the transfer budget on this guy: Vadim Kurlovich - AMC/ST

We lacked some quality for the AMC position, so this Belarus international - unhappy at Slavia Prague - seems like a decent option to fill that gap. He's been largely unimpressive in his 4 match starts so far, but hopefully he'll find his form this season still to help us win a trophy.

[Deisler26]

Good luck with the mini-league!

[deltablue]

It's up for grabs now.

[CoachFlu]

May 22, 2017

Standard Liège, Belgian Pro League, end of season 2016-17

Summary:

Media prediction: 4th

Final position: 2nd

Belgian Cup: Semi Final

League table - end of regular season

Position graph

I joined Standard in October and pretty much succeeded in rescuing the season. An impressive run of form saw us climb up the ranks, and we headed into the Champions Playoff Group in second place, just a point behind Club Brugge.

But moving ahead of Club Brugge was not in the cards this year. We managed to extend our undefeated (league) streak for a while longer and stayed close behind them, but they were too consistent. They remained undefeated in the group stage, with seven wins and three draws - two against us - so once we lost against Cercle the race was effectively over. Can't really be disappointed about that - we lost out to a deserved winner.

By the time we lost against Cercle, we had already built a nice gap and easily managed to hang on to second place, which will put us in the Champions League next season. Considering we were 10th when I took charge of the club, I can only be pleased with that. In fact, it's a bit unfortunate that the board/supporters are ignoring our league performance in their evaluation of me, which means they're only satisfied.

Squad and tactics

A massive squad when I joined, but it didn't take me very long to settle on a preferred first eleven and a 4-4-2 diamond, which worked out quite well.

Some of the key players:

Tiago Machowski - GK

Quite a few Brazilians in the squad, and this is one of them - joined from Gremio last summer. Had a morale crisis when I joined, but recovered well and ended up being chosen as Best Goalkeeper of the league.

Yannick Janssen - DC

A kid I knew from the Belgian U21s. He's a Standard youth product, so with homegrown issues in mind I quickly made him one of our starting center backs, in hopes of keeping him at the club long term. He shows concern about wanting to move to a bigger club though, and only has a year left on his contract. Hopefully he'll change his mind now that the club is back in the Champions League.

Lucas Zen - DMC

Another Brazilian, and the bottom corner of our diamond; probably one of the most talented lads in our squad. After 5 seasons Standard, he wants a bigger club as well, and his contract expires soon. He rejected a few clubs the past few months though, and seems willing to negotiate, so I might try to offer him a big contract to stay a bit longer.

Ziguy Badibanga - AMR

Paul-José Mpoku - AML

Our two Congolese wingers, with the right winger regularly chipping in with a goal and the left winger mostly excelling in assists, and both with a nice amount of pace.

They're both "homegrown," which isn't just important for Europe, but for the domestic competitions as well (need 6 homegrown-nation players in the match squad.) Mpoku - a Standard youth product - seems happy to stay, but Badibanga - ex-Anderlecht - wants to move on and has been transfer listed/promised he can leave. A replacement for him has already been arranged though, and at a cheaper wage, so I can live with that.

Oscar Santos - ST

The most key of the key players. He joined the club in late August from Colombian club Once Caldas, and already triggered the clause where we had to pay them an extra chunk of cash after 20 league goals. Broke Standard's top scorer records and finished top scorer in the league as well. Great pace and dribbling, which results in some very nice goals. Hopefully he'll be in equally lethal form next year.

Next season...

The season has gone very well, but the real work starts now. A significant squad rebuild will have to take place over the summer. I'm hoping to keep a decent chunk of the core squad intact, but several of them want to leave, and have been promised they could leave, so there will certainly be some changes. A whole helluva lot of backup players will have to be offloaded as well, to streamline the squad significantly, and make some room in the wage budget to replace the key players. A few guys have been offloaded in January already, and a few others are end of contract, but there's quite a lot of offloading to be done still.

A significant squad rebuild is always a bit risky, and considering - as I mentioned above - I'll start with just a 'satisfied' board, I'll have to hope we won't take too long to get upto speed next season. But if I can find the right players to bring in and strengthen the squad, I can still be relatively optimistic.

Finances

The finances are still in good shape, though even with a nice chunk of prize money added, the balance is significantly lower than when I joined (it was around €20 mil then.)

But that €7 mil loss in 6 months isn't all that dramatic, taking into account that there was no European football this season, I spent €3.4mil on a player in January, and another €1mil or so went to a few transfer clauses which were activated. With just a bit more bean-counting, this club should be perfectly capable of breaking even or making a profit. I should be able to bring in a bit of cash over the summer as well by selling off a bunch of players - though most will probably go for peanuts.

A trophy - cup or league - will be next season's goal. Whether that'll be realistic remains to be seen, but it shouldn't be too far off.

[HotChocolate]

You've done very well in the first season, good luck in Europe next year

[abulezz]

Champions League is a good start - your core certinaly looks talented enough, especially Oscar Santos!

[deltablue]

Stong showing.