JD nawrat Posted October 31, 2014 Share Posted October 31, 2014 Initially the concept behind this thread was simple: take Union Berlin and turn them into a European powerhouse; competing for honours both in Germany and on a European front, making the city of Berlin a great footballing city, something it lacks at the moment in real life. However, after around 21 months in charge, Union Berlin sacked me (despite doing well) because I lost the dressing room. I believe that if I could have got to the end of the season and sold the disruptive forces, then I could have continued with my ultimate goal in Berlin. Alas, it wasn't to be. So off I went and left Berlin, in search for a new club. Eventually I stumbled across one - Torino FC of Italian fame. That's where this story picks up (post #84 is the exact spot I get the Torino job)... ----- Profile Information Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 I have taken the A License on the recommendation of the game. The game also recommended I take Professional Player at a National Level but I felt this was a tad too high so I changed it to a Regional Level, which also fits in nicely with the level Union are at/have been at. I went for real details (bar year born because a 21 year old manager isn't possible) with the exception of my ability to speak German; chosen purely as it makes my life a little bit easier to begin with, being based in Germany and all. Below are my chosen nations and the leagues used for them and below that are my goals and ambitions with Union England | League 2 and above France | Ligue 2 and above Germany | 2.Bundesliga and above Italy | Serie B and above Scotland | League 2 and above Spain | Liga Adelante and above Database | Large Start | Germany (July 2014) Career History Year | Team | League | Cup | Europe | Other --------|--------------------|----------------|--------------|---------------|------------------ 2014-15 | Union Berlin | 1st (2.BuLi) | 2nd Round | N/A | 2015-16 | Union Berlin | 11th (BuLi)* | 2nd Round | N/A | *-Sacked on 16/3/2016 whilst 11th 2016-17 | Torino | 6th (Serie A) | 4th Qual Rnd | N/A | Qualified for Europa League 2017-18 | Torino | 2nd (Serie A) | Qtr Finals | EL Groups | ------- 2018-19 | Torino | 1st (Serie A) | 1st Round | EL 2nd KO Rnd | 3rd in CL Groups 2019-20 | Torino | 2nd (Serie A) | Semi-Finals | CL Last 16 | Italy U23s Olympic Games Silver Medalists Goals For Union Berlin Earn promotion to the Bundesliga - Achieved in 2014-15 Beat Hertha Berlin in a Berlin derby Finish above Hertha Berlin in league standings Defeat BFC Dynamo, our greatest rivals Win the DFB-Pokal Win the Bundesliga Become the most successful club in Berlin Win the domestic double Win the Champions League Win the treble (Bundesliga, Pokal, Champions League) Become the most successful club in Germany and put an end to Bayern's dominance Goals For Torino Beat Juventus in the Derby della Mole - Achieved 28/4/2018 Win the TIM Cup Finish above Juventus in Serie A - Achieved in 2018-19 Win Serie A - Achieved in 2018-19 Win the Domestic Double (Serie A + TIM Cup) Win the Champions League Win the Treble (Serie A + TIM Cup + Champions League) Establish Torino as a force in both Italian and European football Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JD nawrat Posted October 31, 2014 Author Share Posted October 31, 2014 So, first day on the new job. First things first - the squad. Really light at RB and LB so those positions are my priority. I've already had a scan of the transfer list and looked towards scouting players for both positions. I prefer to buy but if I have to loan I won't hesitate to do so. Loans may even be beneficial if I can find someone worth bringing in from a top club for a season with a view to a permanent move etc. As you can see, we don't have a big budget. The team has a little debt so I guess money will be tight for a couple of seasons at least. We have a few players in on loan whose contracts I may terminate in order to help with bringing in more important players (I have a winger who is injured for 4-5 months on loan taking up almost 5k per week). The other thing I want to share with you at this point is my tactics. Now, I know that not everyone likes to share their tactics when it comes to Career Update threads and I respect that, but I'm going to share for a couple of specific reasons. The first one is, that I love the tactical side to the game. I enjoy trying to help others out and I enjoy trying to create something from nothing with fresh ideas. The other reason is that, in line with what I've just said, I am going to be creating a thread over in the Tactics sub-forum on here, detailing my system with Union Berlin and how it adapts as we (hopefully) become a bigger side. The two threads will, for the most part, remain totally separate. But now and again things will cross over, and right now is one such time. My idea behind this is simple - make us hard to break down, break at pace, look to score goals, hopefully win lots of games. Will it work out like that? We'll see I'm not going to detail all of my tactical changes in this thread (that's where the yet-to-be-made 442 thread comes into play) but I may drop in and out of it at times. The only ever-present style that will remain with Berlin is the 442. As things progress I might become more insistent on dominating games etc, but for now I want to play this way. It's appropriate for the level I am at. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JD nawrat Posted October 31, 2014 Author Share Posted October 31, 2014 Board Expectations 2.Bundesliga - Respectable League Position DFB-Pokal - Second Round Personal Expectations 2.Bundesliga - Top 6 (of 18) DFB-Pokal - Be competitive I'm predicted to finish 8th in the Bundesliga and that's probably about fair. I hope to finish higher than that to be honest and I fancy us to have a title fight on our hands, but as long as we get into the top 6 it'll set us up for promotion next year if we miss out this season. The 2.BuLi is a competitive league and I'm under no illusions that it could be tough to do well in my first season at the club. The Pokal is fairly unimportant to me at this point in time tbh, but it would be nice to put a decent run together. Key Players These are not strictly my best players, but they are the players which I feel will have a big say in the season for me and achieving the aims I've outlined above. Fabian Schonheim - Defensively solid centre back (although his heading is questionable) who is good at passing the ball. His composure and bravery concern me a little considering his position but I think he is still the best CB at the club so I hope he'll do well. Soren Brandy - There's a couple of good strikers at the club (probably our deepest/best position) and this guy is the pick of them. He's not spectacular at anything but he can do it all. I'm a little concerned by his Natural Fitness but besides that, he should play an important part in our season. There's some interest in him from other clubs, notably 1860 Munchen from the same league as us, so I'll probably have to fend off an offer or two. He's only got a year left on his contract and he'll be 30 by then too, so if a decent offers comes in for him (upwards of £1M) then I'll probably be forced to sell. Damir Kreilach - This guy looks fantastic. Club captain and defensive stalwart in a rather offensive-looking midfield four. Will play a large part in our season, I'm sure, but the coach report raises a couple of concerns. Despite being touted as good enough for most Bundesliga sides, my Assistant Manager also notes that his marking and tackling can let him down often. He has decent stats there so I'm a little surprised by that... I just hope the AssMan has it wrong as he's a player I feel will be with the squad for many years to come. I'm aware that some of the numbers on player profiles are a bit dodgy looking (the red numbers). I'm not sure why as they look completely fine in-game, but the screenshot resolution seems to make them unreadable. I'll look to change it to a clearer colour before I post any player profiles in the future. I've got some more stuff to post but that'll probably wait until tomorrow (Saturday). I wanted to get this stuff posted quickly though to allow me to crack on properly with the game Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason the Yank Posted October 31, 2014 Share Posted October 31, 2014 Took my suggestion. I win. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JD nawrat Posted October 31, 2014 Author Share Posted October 31, 2014 Haha yes I got to reading a little about the club and they seemed too much of an attractive prospect. Reading about their fans irl and the way the club is run is brilliant - the fans have literally given blood to keep the club going. A few years back there was a huge fan campaign to get people to give blood to hospitals in Berlin and donate the money from the blood drive to the club to help their financial troubles. Fantastic. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted October 31, 2014 Share Posted October 31, 2014 There was at one point two 'Union Berlin' clubs in the different parts of the city. Great irony I wonder what became of the 'western' one. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
B.W.G Posted October 31, 2014 Share Posted October 31, 2014 Interesting team to pick,best of luck with Union Berlin Also I did laugh with what the Union Berlin fans did against RB Leipzig this season Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JD nawrat Posted November 2, 2014 Author Share Posted November 2, 2014 August 2014 2.Bundesliga Results The season really could not have started tougher for us - Dusseldorf are the bookies' (joint) favourites to win the league and are the media's predicted winners, so to travel at the start of the season was not a good prospect, understandably. We did not do well, but we did win, and that's what I value more than anything else at the minute. Dusseldorf's second goal was an absolute worldly - their winger crossed it in from the left flank but it was overhit and started to curl away from goal. Their striker ran backwards to meet it and smashed it first time on the volley into the far corner, hitting the bar and dropping it into the net. I wish I could share it (if I remember I will do so upon full release). Despite that, we hung on and managed to sneak a brilliant first win of the season. Furth are the bookies' (joint) favourites also (and media's predicted runners-up), so them as the second game/my first home game was a tough start for us. I fancied our odds as my tactics are built to help us against sides more likely to sit deeper (something I expect most sides will do in the 2.BuLi). It turned out to work a charm - Furth had almost zero chances and we should have scored a couple more than we did. I was actually a little annoyed to be drawing at HT so ripped into the side and it worked a charm. Pleased with a big win. Frankfurt - ahhh, finally, a team that we should dispose of easily. Well, not quite, in the end. We hit the woodwork twice and took the lead right around the half-hour mark, but besides that we didn't look like scoring once. They were quite a good side defensively. I tried to rile the boys up and tore into them at half time, but it had a reverse effect and we played really poorly in the second half. Frankfurt probably deserved a point in the end but we defended valiantly and held on for another big three points to continue our 100% start in the league, which leaves the table looking like this: DFB-Pokal Results A good cup tie saw us avoid all of the Bundesliga sides in the draw and get a fairly straight forward away match against lower division Trier. We disposed of them easily as I rotated most of the side and romped to a 4-1 victory. The goal we conceded was amateur at best, comical at worst - as two centre halves both went for the ball and allowed the opposition striker to nip in and nod it down for the marauding winger. He smashed it across goal to make it 2-1, but we then found the net another two times in the second half to take a good victory. Our reward was an away tie to fellow 2.BuLi side, RB Leipzig. The game has fallen right before we play Leipzig in the league, so at the very least it will be a good test of what we need to do against them in what I value as the more important contest. We've matched the board's wishes so I'm not too concerned, but having drawn same-division opponents, I really want to try and progress to the next round at least. Transfers In Matthias Zimmerman - £115k from Borussia Monchengladbach - Very pleased with this signing. The young German was transfer listed at Gladbach so I had to act quick because there was a lot of interest from 2.BuLi sides and even a couple of the newly promoted Bundesliga sides were interested. I blew the majority of my budget to sign him, knowing that RB was a priority for me. We managed to secure him, fending off other offers from notably Kaiserslautern, who would go on to chase one of my players instead (the result of which you'll see below...). He's already played in each of my league games and impressed me. His lack of ability going forward concerns me slightly but defensively he's a rock and hasn't put a foot wrong so far, and that's exactly why I signed him. Antonio López - Free - On paper this signing is great. A free agent, a former Spanish international and played for Liga BBVA teams throughout his entire career. So far it hasn't worked out for me, but I have hope that he will improve as he settles. It's not easy for him to walk straight into my team. He's a big name signing though, so I'm pleased to have him. Another priority position for me, so I had to get him really. He played in the first two league games and didn't impress. He was okay against Trier but nothing to rant about, so I gave him a little time off and preferred to start Parensen, back from injury at last. Marnick Vermijl - Loan (future fee: £300k) from Man Utd - After the departure of Kopplin (below), I needed a back-up RB and preferably someone with the versatility I lost from selling Kopplin. Vermijl was perfect for what I wanted - no monthly fee, no wages to pay, happy to be a rotation option. I could afford to buy him outright for 300k but decided to wait until the end of the season. A lot can happen in a season and why pay money now when I get him for free anyway? Only played around 100 minutes in total but seems pretty solid. Mentally he is a bit fragile so hopefully he develops and I may make his move permanent. Transfers Out Bjoern Kopplin - £600k to Kaiserslautern - My back-up RB behind Zimmerman and he had only a year remaining on his contract. His value was 550k, so at 600k I got good value for him. I wasn't planning to sell but when news hit that Kaiserslautern were interested, he demanded a move. I'm not one to keep unhappy players so I got rid ASAP. Good riddance. He's doing well at Kaiserslautern so I may be proved the fool but at the end of the day, he wasn't going to be a starter for me barring injury to Zimmerman so I had no reason to hold onto a moany, unhappy little bitch like Kopplin Overall Thoughts I can't be anything other than very happy with this month. Four straight wins and, besides the Frankfurt game, we're finding the net. Dusseldorf were always likely to score against us and two clean sheets in our other games is brilliant. A tad disappointing to not keep the clean sheet in the Pokal but it happens and I'm just glad to get the wins. Football is a results business, so I can't complain if we're getting them (not at the minute, anyway ). Transfer wise, things were pretty damn good. I've got a side that I'm really happy to have and feel we don't really need any immediate improvements. In particular I am enjoying the depth and options I have up front - four choices (was five but I cancelled one loan deal) all of which are good enough to start. Next month we have a home tie against 1860 but besides that, we have a set of fixtures I hope will be rather comfortable. I'm hoping to win at least three of my five games next month (all 2.BuLi games). Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rancer890 Posted November 2, 2014 Share Posted November 2, 2014 Good luck with Union Berlin JDownie. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JD nawrat Posted November 2, 2014 Author Share Posted November 2, 2014 Good luck with Union Berlin JDownie. Thank you Will post one more update just shortly and it'll likely be my last until Monday... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JD nawrat Posted November 2, 2014 Author Share Posted November 2, 2014 September 2014 2.Bundesliga Results Eeesh. What to say. We should have had a clean sweep of five victories but...nope. So first up was Aalen. We got off to a great start with my winger Quiring scoring twice and that really eased us up. We went into pedestrian mode a little and that was fine because Aalen weren't a threat, but around the 70th minute they found the net and I began to get a little worried they would take a point. We pulled through at the end though with Ozbek scoring a tidy goal. The game I was worried about - 1860 Munchen. But there was nothing to fear. Pretty damn dominant. We struck the post a few times in what was a fairly one-sided game, despite them having almost the same number of shots (16-14) and us only having 52% possession. 5 CCCs to us was the difference though. We sliced them open a few times and they struggled to deal with our movement up top. Great win which really set the tone for the rest of the month, especially with the clean sheet, or so I had thought. Ingolstadt - second bottom when we rocked up to their place - shouldn't have posed as much of a threat as they did. In the end though we prevailed - they had 0 CCCs to our 4, which meant we ended up scoring twice. I was a little disappointed to only do it twice though. For a long time it was nervy until Nemec scored a great goal on the counter; his first of the season and in his first return from a couple of weeks out with injury. A solid win and two clean sheets in a row. Marvellous. A home match against, at the time, 10th place, made me pretty confident. We'd won our previous three attempts at home, why would this be any different... No idea, tbh, but it was. We offered literally NOTHING going forward. A three week lay-off for Brandy didn't help us but god damn, we don't rely on him to attack ffs. The breakthrough came on the 69th minute when we got a penalty. Fantastic. Victory impending... oh no wait Dausch - my best player this season - decides to skelp it straight at the GK. They then counter and cross the ball in, my GK makes a total **** of it and they score from a cross. 0 chances, 1 goal. It's all they needed. Game over. Couldn't have been angrier tbh. Despite our great start, I was making it a goal of mine to win every home game where possible. Instead we let that go within the first 4 home games. Pathetic. Let rip into a fair few players and a few got dropped. Not sure it made much difference... As you can see, Sandhausen aren't that great, but man did we make them look great. Gutless performance in which we offered just 2 shots on target (8 in total) to Sandhausen's 19! We got a flukey goal and we hung on. One thing is clear to me throughout the first two months - Skrzbyski and Nemec do not make a good partnership. Too static, Nemec is too slow and Skrz can't be relied on to score. Skrz works great alongside Brandy or Kobylanski (who you'll see a bit more of in October) because they offer a lot of great movement, but Nemec is so slow and lethargic. It hurts our attack big time. Still, a win is a win so I'll take it. Plus a clean sheet is nice, even if it was lucky as hell and we didn't deserve it in any way. It left the table looking (kinda) like this: [NB: Please note, I made an arse of this because I didn't realise the date so this actually includes one game from October (you can guess my result...)] Overall Thoughts Four wins out of five (I was aiming for three), three clean sheets, top of the league rather comfortably... a lot going great for us at the minute, but there's a lot I'm unhappy about. Particularly the lack of movement up front as I highlighted earlier. On the brightside, our MCs are great. I'm more happy with them than any other position atm (particularly Dausch who is my best player so far this season as a Roaming Playmaker). Whenever we have one of Brandy or Kobylanski we do well up front. Brandy is technically my best player if we go by match rating, but Dausch is more important (and more importantly, more fit...). Still, we're doing great. Seven wins in our first eight league games is not to be sniffed at. We're banging goals in and we're keeping clean sheets semi-regularly, which is encouraging because so far I think my defence has been rubbish. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted November 2, 2014 Share Posted November 2, 2014 Cracking start. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
CamillePunk Posted November 2, 2014 Share Posted November 2, 2014 Overreacting to one loss. Just like me. Hard to keep things in perspective with this game sometime. Off to a fantastic start and I'll be following. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
darren1983 Posted November 2, 2014 Share Posted November 2, 2014 Solid start mate Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JD nawrat Posted November 2, 2014 Author Share Posted November 2, 2014 Cracking start. Off to a fantastic start and I'll be following. Solid start mate Thanks guys Overreacting to one loss. Just like me. Hard to keep things in perspective with this game sometime. It was a really annoying loss tbf and pretty undeserved. If we didn't have the penalty I could have lived with it, but them scoring with a direct cross from a counter from the penalty was too much for me. I could have rage quit at that point, seriously What you say is true though. When I got the loss I started running scenarios through my head that we were ****ed and the season was over - five points clear at the top Just silly. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
XXXtreme Posted November 2, 2014 Share Posted November 2, 2014 There was at one point two 'Union Berlin' clubs in the different parts of the city. Great irony I wonder what became of the 'western' one. SC Union 06 Berlin currently play in the Landesliga Berlin 2 which is part of the 8th tier of Germany. Interestingly there was a third connected team called BBC Südost who were formed by players fleeing from the East who plied there trade in the lower reaches of West German football before folding in 1990. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JD nawrat Posted November 3, 2014 Author Share Posted November 3, 2014 October 2014 2.Bundesliga Results The new month got off to a flier. Our best performance of the season. I know we only won 3-2 and we compared to, say, beating 1860 3-0, it's not a great result by numbers. But we created seven CCCs and scored a separate one. Sure, it's frustrating that we only scored two of seven chances, but we played with such style and ease. It was pretty remarkable to see us playing as we were. At 3-0 up we were cruising, only 20 minutes to go and I told the team to take it easy. This was over... then they scored twice and I got panicky. We hung on for the win. I'll have to learn from my mistakes - ease up too early and it will cost you. I got away with it this time, but maybe I won't always be so fortunate. Next up was a tough match against then-third place Kaiserslautern. After 70 minutes we were totally out of the game. Didn't even look close to scoring... then BANG, from nowhere, three goals. I genuinely couldn't tell you where they came from. It was a fluke, I'm not going to lie. I did make the decision to bring on Jopek but I wasn't expecting him to have the impact he did. Kohler also netted his goal from 35 yards out - a delectable free kick And then Braunschweig. Well... they deserved the win, that much I can say. How they did it, I have no idea. No wins in about 5, sitting second bottom... we roll up to theirs and they dominate us big time. We almost stole a draw out of it but it wasn't to be. I was a tad annoyed at their first goal - clear offside but not given. Just have to get on with it I guess... not going to dwell on it, as Braunschweig are a good side despite where they were placed. The biggest difference maker was that Orhan Ademi came back from injuy and played the first game of the season for him/Braunschweig. He scored twice... so yeah, huge factor for them. Defensively they were solid though and that threw me - I did not expect such a tough time going forward (naive of me, I know). Anyway, it left the table looking like this Anyway, it left the table looking like this: DFB-PokalResults We didn't have our first shot of the match until...I don't know, around the 40th minute. We should have scored it and got straight back into the game but no - we let them go 2-0 up before HT. I tried to inspire something but Leipzig played us off the pitch. As you can see by the table, they're definitely a strong side and will be contending the title this season (I think, anyway). We scored late on to make the final few minutes interesting but it wasn't to be. I'm not too disappointed to be out of the cup but I feel we could and should have offered more than we did in the loss... also means two losses in a row. Not happy with that. Overall Thoughts Ehh, not sure. The way in which Braunschweig beat us is a tad concerning but I'm hoping it'll sharpen us up. Having said that, we didn't play particularly well after the Bochum game. We fluked a win against Kaiserslautern and then lost the two following...all that after an amazing start to the month, too. Bizarre really. The biggest factor - one I haven't mentioned so far - is that we cut Bochum open so easily thanks to Kobylanski who is quickly becoming one of my favourite players. He's on loan from Bremen with a view to making it permanent for 850k (something I will definitely be doing if I have the funds at the end of the season). The problem with Kobylanski being the main man in our victory over Bochum is that he got injured in the same game, so we lost a big edge after that. Brandy and Koby are definitely my two main men and I want to keep playing them, but Koby can't seem to keep fit and it's a tad worrying. I'm just hoping it's a dodgy start to life with us and he'll be fine throughout the season. I don't rely on him - he's only got 3(4) appearances so far this season! - but I do think we're a lot better with him. The cup loss is annoying because RB Leipzig were made to look like a Bundesliga side, but hey ho. We managed to make it challenging eventually, and with them visiting us in just three days I expect us to win. We have the quality to do so, anyway. We've got five games next month and I really want to be winning all of them. I know it's a big ask (especially as some of the ties are not going to be easy) but I believe we're good enough to beat anyone, especially now that Koby is back from injury (although not sure if he'll be able to start the next game). Two wins and two losses for October. Not great. But at least we're still top of the league Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JD nawrat Posted November 3, 2014 Author Share Posted November 3, 2014 Good news! Tried to get the contract to run until 2017 but they weren't interested. Oh well. Happy to be committed my future though, especially so early in the season (still in November, hence no update). Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JD nawrat Posted November 4, 2014 Author Share Posted November 4, 2014 November 2014 2.Bundesliga Results A strong month where we didn't lose once and came through three away games in a row with some decent results. The lack of clean sheets is a little annoying but oh well. Like I've said before - and I'll say it again - I want to win games, I don't care how we do that for now. The first game against Leipzig was important for the team. At the time, Leipzig were second in the league and a win would bring them joint on points with me. We managed to take the lead thanks to a Soren Brandy goal - a bit of a goalmouth scramble truth be told. Still, they all count A huge win for us which saw us move 9 clear at the top. The revenge against Leipzig for the cup loss was sweet too, of course. The next two games were both tough, for different reasons. Nurnberg were (and still are) the closest challengers to me and came into the game having won all of our their home games. As things transpired we were the first team of the season to go to Nurnberg and leave with something, which was pleasing. We did so coming from behind too, which made it even better. In the end I felt we could have won it - we had more possession and almost double the shots Nurnberg had, but we found difficulty going forward all game and it wasn't until the young winger pounced on a rebound that we found the net. St. Pauli was tough because they came into the game second bottom in the league. Yet to win again, they were obviously going to be fighting for the victory. Anything would do for them. And for us, as it happens, but preferably the three points. I took a bit of a risk in playing Nemec - who hasn't really played for me much - ahead of Kobylanski whose fitness has been a problem all season and ahead of Skrz who was in a huge goal drought (no goals in 8 games) . When I put it like that, it wasn't really much of a risk, but the prospect of bringing in an unfancied player to start didn't seem too great at the time. We took an early lead but a Florian Kringe wonderstrike from outside the box just 14 minutes later squared it up and then St Pauli took control of the game. We couldn't get the ball despite what changes I made but we managed to keep them out and hold on for a point. A good point, too. Only negative was that Nemec, after a great goal, got himself injured on international duty and missed the rest of the month, just when he was starting to show promise. After two draws in a row, a victory at Aue would be most welcome. We went there with a point to prove and quickly set about proving it. We took a quick lead and the first half was extremely comfortable - in fact, the whole match was rather comfortable on paper. We came out and found the net quickly in the second half and things were looking set to be a breeze, but then we conceded almost immediately and the final 40 minutes were nervy as hell. We kept creating chances and then missing and I genuinely believed we were going to concede late and leave with just the one point for the third game in a row. It wasn't to be as we held on to the victory which was fairly easy in the end, though there was a few hairy moments, especially with the game running into the 98th minute at the end haha. Last of the month was an overachieving Karlsruhe, who had been as high as second earlier in the season but, by this point, sat closer to 5th. Still, it wasn't going to be easy as they were doing well - something I made a point of to the media (was I blowing smoke up their ass? Possibly...). Karlsruhe didn't know what was coming to them - we hadn't been at home for almost four weeks and we were eager; eager to win, to impress the fans, to make a point that the dodgy performances of late were nothing more than a little blip. Within 23 minutes, our point was being made stronger than I could have envisaged! Karlsruhe nabbed one before halftime and then scored another straight from kick-off which had me with my head in my hands, til the offside flag came up and we took a 3-1 lead into HT. I told the players - in particular Jopek who had scored the first and assisted the other two - that I was pleased with them but wanted the midfield to show more and everyone responded negatively, seeming confused. Worried about what might happen, I started the second half and almost immediately we lost a goal. I'd ****ed it, hadn't I? Well apparently not. Thankfully. We hung on well. I made two changes - to rest Jopek after a great first 55 minutes - and to take off Koby for Skrz...he had to score eventually, right? Yeah, he did. Koehler - on for Jopek - played a delicious ball into the box and Skrz was on hand to tap it in. Our left side put on a phenomenal display to help us score all four goals (three assisted, one scored from the left flank). It left the table looking like this: Overall Thoughts An extremely good month, then. I was most enthralled with the performances of Bjoern Jopek who has gone from not even being on the bench for the first couple of weeks to my first choice winger and best rated player. He's so creative and his dribbling makes him a threat to any side. In particular I love his movement off the ball. I know his rating is 10 but the way in which he finds space (I tell him to Roam from Position tbf) and gets on the end of balls from Dausch and on the end of shots rebounding to him is fantastic We've made a brilliant start to the season and, just short of the halfway point, sit very comfortably at the top. There's still a lot of football to be played but, as it stands, I'm pretty confident that we can get top 3 and hopefully ply our trade in the Bundesliga next season. Next month we have only three games before the Winter break - two home ties and then an away trip to Furth (will be very tough I think). I think if we can win at least two of them and take a minimum of 6 points (I'm aiming for 7 though) then we can end the first half of the season on a massive high and spend the rest of the season planning our future in the Bundesliga, providing nothing goes tits up. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronald Posted November 4, 2014 Share Posted November 4, 2014 I'm such a hipster, I started the 2.Bundesliga craze Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
kingjericho Posted November 4, 2014 Share Posted November 4, 2014 Nice start and it's great to see some 4-4-2 love! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JD nawrat Posted November 4, 2014 Author Share Posted November 4, 2014 I'm such a hipster, I started the 2.Bundesliga craze Haha indeed! Just a shame that Leipzig aren't doing as well on my save as you managed with them (although they're definitely challenging promotion). Nice start and it's great to see some 4-4-2 love! Thanks! Yeah, it's a formation that I have very little experience with. By nature I go to 433 so the idea of going out of my comfort zone, as it were, intrigued me greatly. 442 seemed like the obvious choice, as I don't like the 4231 and the 442 offers the two up top, which is able to create great combinations. Speaking of tactics, I'll post my latest tactic in my next update because I haven't been playing with the same set-up as I did at the start of the thread. Still a 442 ofc but totally different shouts and roles. Changed after a couple of games but wasn't sure if I wanted to stick with it. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
kingjericho Posted November 4, 2014 Share Posted November 4, 2014 Speaking of tactics, I'll post my latest tactic in my next update because I haven't been playing with the same set-up as I did at the start of the thread. Still a 442 ofc but totally different shouts and roles. Changed after a couple of games but wasn't sure if I wanted to stick with it.Great! I'm always interested in seeing how people set up the 4-4-2 as I love the formation but can never get it working 100%. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JD nawrat Posted November 5, 2014 Author Share Posted November 5, 2014 December 2014 2.Bundesliga Results Not a bad month. Not a great month. I can't complain but I wanted more than this to be honest. The month couldn't have started any better as we found ourselves leading 2-0 within 10 minutes. I guess the bright start was extremely important as we then went on to contest an even match-up where it really could've been a loss had we not found those two early goals. Darmstadt provided a much sterner test than I expected but we managed to get away with the win. They managed more shots than us and created more chances (same amount of CCCs, more than double the HCs). The key was Darmstadt picking up a red card around the 70th minute. It completely killed them and we hung on for a massive three points to see us go 11 clear at the end of the halfway point of the season (we'd played every team once now). Next up was our third home tie on the spin and a return match against Dusseldorf who we played on the first day of the season. I wasn't sure what to expect as they'd fallen to mid-table in recent weeks, but they were still a quality side on paper and they demanded more respect from me than any other team that had travelled to Berlin this season, to be honest. The way in which we fluked our victory against them on the opening day was the decider in making me realise that they would be tough. Things got off to a nightmare start as Charlison Benschop scored within the first 60 seconds to take a lead against us. Total mare /o\ But it wasn't yet lost as we stormed back into the game with two goals before Half Time and looked set to go in ahead at the break, only for Golley to make it 2-2. Our defensive frailties were showing us up again... didn't help that first choice keeper Haas was out with the flu. But again, we showed our resilience to lead again immediately after, scoring on the 45+1st minute. 3-2 at the break, things were going as well as I could have hoped (well, kinda). It would continue as we looked strong throughout the second half and would probably stick with the 3-2 scoreline, until disaster - with 7 minutes to go Benschop scored a thirty-five yard scorcher, almost bursting the net I'd more or less given up by this point as our attack looked half of what it had been in the first half due to Martin Dausch being subbed out injured (out for 7-8 weeks which sounds nasty but he should be back before the end of the Winter break, thankfully) until Koby popped up with a scorcher of his own - around 25 yards out he turned his marker and cracked it down into the bottom corner. Made a little less spectacular by the goalkeeper making a total arse of his save but you won't catch this guy complaining Here's the match overview, which demonstrates the craziness of the goal times. Having won so many games already I was beginning to feel the team was unbeatable, especially since we had scored in every single game of the season barring one (the home loss v Heidenheim). Even when our defence was faltering (see: Dusseldorf above) we were smashing them in and scoring so many... Ranked as the top scorers and joint top defenders, I felt there was no reason we couldn't go on to win this game fairly comfortably, despite Furth being a really good side and me having to travel to them with a recent away record of only one win in the previous 5 games in all comps (one in the league). What happened was quite spectacular, as our attack was totally bereft of ideas for the entire game and we limped to a 1-0 defeat - our first failure to score in a total of 12 games and ending a run of four straight victories. We didn't deserve anything from the game and I won't pretend otherwise, Furth are challenging promotion and rightfully so. They have a strong squad, having been relegated just two seasons ago and missing out on promotion via the play-off last season, and they are leading contenders to go up this season. We also missed Dausch, as I said before, although new signing Marco Estrada did very well on his debut (more on him just shortly). Anyway, here is the league table as we begin the winter break: Transfers Transfer In: Just the one free transfer for me since the window closed back at the end of August - Marco Estrada on a free transfer. I'm probably going to try and use Estrada and Dausch together in central midfield (Estradausch/Dauschtrada? ) which could be stylish as hell but may lack a little defensively... We'll see how it works out. Anyway, Estrada is an expensive acquisition. He cost us 11k per week in wages as well as over 200k in sign on fees and agent fees, as well as matching the highest earner...so I'm hoping he'll help seal promotion (preferably the title) and have a big say in our future... Tactics I'm splitting this into separate screenshots instead of splicing it into one and posting a full-on image because...well, I'm lazy . That's the player roles and shape, this is the team instrcutions. Bit of explanation? Sure, why not? Okay so firstly, a fairly basic back four set-up. Your two CBs, standard support defender (behind the offensive wide man) and your marauding fullback (alongside your support wide man). Basic stuff. The midfield duo of Roaming Playmaker and Deep-Lying Playmaker is something I've not been 100% happy with. The Roaming Playmaker is my best player of the season so far - Martin Dausch. Not particularly good at anything, but he's a team player, he's composed, he can read the game and he's the perfect cog in my machine, to give a cliché. Everything he does, he does well. He's only had a couple of really poor games and those were, funnily enough, the two games he missed penalties in (yeah, I need a better pen taker haha). But still, he's suited to the role. In the other slot I needed someone capable of controlling the game more, someone who I could rely on to provide defensive cover but also bring the ball into midfield and spread play. I can't ask Dausch to do everything. Ozbek and Kreilach have both been average but then both have chopped and changed their roles all season - either CM/D or DLP/D, depending on how I feel things are going. I know, inconsistency won't help, but I'm really stuck for what is best. I think my options are a little inconsistent themselves, neither seems to be a consistent performer like Dausch is. It's because of how good Dausch is that I exploit the middle. Taking advantage of my best player, really. On the flanks, my thinking was that a Winger could spread the play and really stretch the defence, providing a lot of space for the strikers and Dausch to work with. Play Wider was a given because of this. It creates more room for those who make the difference to work their magic, which is obviously really important. On the left flank is Bjorn Jopek, who I have already expressed excitement about. And no wonder why - look at how he's been performing. According to the game he's my best player this season, although I think without Dausch we'd have half the we do, whereas another player on the left flank might still pop up with important goals/assists when needed. The right flank is a trouble position at the moment and something I will be working on - the idea behind it was to have someone supporting and giving options to the deeper midfielder and also to allow for opportunities for the RB to bomb forward, however it hasn't really worked as the MR is usually anonymous. Sometimes they have beast games but those are few and far between, I'm afraid. Up top we have the fairly simple DLF/S and AF/A partnership. My AF/A, Soren Brandy (a player I highlighted as possibly being key this season) has been doing what I need him to. Creating space, scoring goals, chipping in with assists. I need more goals on a more consistent basis from him before I decide whether his contract is worth renewing, but if he doesn't ask for silly wages I probably will renew it as he's an intelligent and dangerous player. Anyway, I like my DLF/S to drop deep and find space to, in turn, create space out wide allowing Brandy to make sharp runs and get in on goal. Conversely, I ask Brandy to work the channels as that helps the DLF/S pick the ball up in space himself. It's a very easy and simple system, but it is also extremely effective and one I'm fond of. Why the other shouts - Drop Deeper, Be More Disciplined, Work Ball Into Box and Short Passing? Simple - I don't like long shots so I try to limit them with WBIB. Short Passing seems to allow for a better possession game whereas my previous shout of Pass Into Space left us extremely shy of possession, averaging around 35-45%. Sometimes we don't get anything better than that, but it's rarer now than it was. Short Passing also breeds a more attractive game on the eye which is always a positive thing imo. Be More Disciplined and Drop Deeper work in tandem. It's designed to try and make us more solid defensively. You could question its effectiveness - I do - but I don't want to compromise my attack at the minute which I am worried that messing around with my defence may do. Besides, if we do get promotion, we will have to change our system big time anyway as this style of play simply won't be feasible. We'll lose too much possession and we'll get cut open too much... I'm aware this has been a fairly brief insight into my shape and I intended it to be so - around Saturday/Sunday I'll properly open a tactics thread over in the appropriate sub-forum where I'll be able to discuss my ideas better. Overall Thoughts This has been a long post so I'm keeping this short... A decent month and it sets us up brilliantly for the rest of the season. I think we'll do well for the rest of the season (despite my recent away form faltering) and I think promotion is highly likely, providing we don't implode. Tactically we're doing pretty well. Not great but I'm getting most of the decisions correct and it's working wonders for us atm, as we're well ahead of where we're supposed to be. I'm happy to have brought in Estrada, also. My biggest thought atm is what I'm going to do with the rest of the season... I need to try and tie up a number of contracts for next season but that's going to be difficult with very little in the way of wages (Estrada might have been a bad idea ). As a result I'm going to have to sell Eggiman, but that's fine because he's a moany **** and I don't play him. He's my second highest earner (after Estrada) so he definitely has to go. Think he's played twice so far this season. Waste of money. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason the Yank Posted November 5, 2014 Share Posted November 5, 2014 Bochum the draw kings. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JD nawrat Posted November 5, 2014 Author Share Posted November 5, 2014 Bochum the draw kings. haha yeah For a while it seemed like they planned on drawing their way to safety but then they beat St Pauli so maybe not Drawn again since that screenshot, but just the once. Got another update coming just shortly... by far my least favourite update yet. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JD nawrat Posted November 5, 2014 Author Share Posted November 5, 2014 February 2015 2.Bundesliga Results Happy New Year! Yeah, naw. Absolute joke. No idea what's going on but that's me taken just 4 points from my last possible 15. The wheels come falling off? I don't know. but we are missing all of our chances and we are so weak at the back... both flanks are being ravaged and we can't seem to stop the rot. Both keepers couldn't be in worse form. If they're not spilling easy shots they're getting battered at their near post. Don't even want to talk about this month. Did well to hump Frankfurt but the rest were a joke. I don't have too many qualms with a loss to 1860 but failing to win against Aalen and LOSING to Ingolstadt? Get to ****. Need to sort this out. That horrorshow leaves the table looking like this: Overall Thoughts Not much to say - sort this crap out and try and reignite our form. We've been so good up until now that we have a decent lead regardless of whether Nurnberg win their game in hand (it's on March 1st) or not. But still... to be dropping points like we are and to take only 4 from our last 5 games is very worrying. Not used to it with Union. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JD nawrat Posted November 5, 2014 Author Share Posted November 5, 2014 March 2015 2.Bundesliga Results Well, there's something worth talking about in this, I guess Three wins in a row, two clean sheets...small turnaround in fortunes. However we lost at the start of the month - which made it three straight losses - in a pretty humiliating manner. You may remember Heidenheim beat me at home (my first loss of my career) through a fairly flukey win...well this wasn't much different. At least this time we didn't have a missed pen, I guess They did score another ****ing lucky cross though. Twice in two games. Not even sure what went wrong. Just gotta accept that sorta thing and move on quickly. They didn't create a single chance but scored three times...just one of those days I guess. At last a victory! Saundhausen aren't doing too great and they even sacked their manager a week after I inflicted defeat on them, so a win was expected but with three straight losses and something like 4 points out of a possible 18 left me doubting my own abilities...we managed the win and that was satisfying. Bochum are amongst the worst in the league so another win was expected, no excuses. We actually played rather poorly but Bochum didn't threaten much and we found a great 15 minutes in ourselves to do enough for the win, so I can't complain. At this point I just want to get over the line and win as many games as possible. We did that, and that's great. Some more of it would be welcome! Biggest game of the second half of the season - hosting Nurnberg, bookies' favourite and media's predicted third place. Exciting. We scored early and hung on for dear life. We deserved nothing from this game. I have no idea how we kept Nurnberg out for so long tbh, but I am in no rush to bemoan our luck - its long overdue that we got some aha. The goal was a scrappy thing - Brandy hit the bar and then Koby bundled it over the line. It'll do. I'm not one to turn my nose up at goals, despite their scrappiness... And then we ended the month against fellow promotion-hopefuls Kaiserslautern. Away from home I had little confidence and that turned out to be an appropriate feeling as we were brushed aside with ease. In my defence, I was missing a huge number of people - Koby has broken his ankle and will miss the rest of the season; Nemec and Amsif were on international duty. Kohler was injured too. Our attack was poor and Brandy - who hasn't scored in 8 games now - had a shocker. Not surprised we lost. I just hope that Nurnberg don't gain on us anymore than they have recently... if they don't, we can rather comfortably take the title. Nurnberg winning might make it nervy...but with only 6 games left, I'm confident we'll go up now with such a sizeable gap. It's going to take a nightmare run of loss after loss after loss. That so-so month leaves the table looking like this: Overall Thoughts Finally turned our fortunes around, even if we did still lose later that month. We should have enough about us to win the league now, or get promotion in 2nd place at the very least. The table is healthy looking (although could have been much better) now and we're in a great position, so I can't complain. It will be tough with the injuries I have and we don't have the easiest run-in, but we should have enough about us to see us get there in the end...even if we have to crawl over the finish line. Another point is that my finances are dire. £1.8M loss so far and it's only going to keep decreasing for a while. Need to end the season and get that lovely prize money. My best hope of improving our finances. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted November 5, 2014 Share Posted November 5, 2014 Still got more than enough about you despite that slip in form. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
kingjericho Posted November 5, 2014 Share Posted November 5, 2014 Focus on winning the remaining home games and you'll win the league. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deisler26 Posted November 5, 2014 Share Posted November 5, 2014 That's a title if I ever saw it. Good luck! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
setzel Posted November 5, 2014 Share Posted November 5, 2014 Go on mate win that title ! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JD nawrat Posted November 5, 2014 Author Share Posted November 5, 2014 Still got more than enough about you despite that slip in form. I hope so! Focus on winning the remaining home games and you'll win the league. Indeed, this is what I'm hoping for. Got an update coming just shortly just ahead of the final three games. Will give a good picture of what's expected now. That's a title if I ever saw it. Good luck! If only I shared your confidence Thanks! Go on mate win that title ! Pep talk, yeah! Looking more and more likely we will win the title, so all is good! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JD nawrat Posted November 5, 2014 Author Share Posted November 5, 2014 April 2015 2.Bundesliga Results An undefeated month puts us into a great position here. The results look great but really it could have been very, very different... Braunschweig turned up and left empty-handed, despite controlling the majority of the game and looking more likely to make anything happen at any point of the game. As the game wore on, Braunschweig became more and more offensive to try and rescue something - at this point they were only a few points off of the play-off positions and a draw would have been enough to see them challenging the spot until the end of the season. As it turned out, they suffered defeat. We didn't deserve to win, and certainly not by three goals to nil. But it puts us so close to the title and I'm not going to complain about that! The undeserved form continues.... The last time we went to Leipzig we lost 2-1 in the DFB-Pokal. However we beat them the same week in a home tie, so it was up for grabs how this could go. Leipzig were another team challenging the top three positions, but we managed to pull off a shock victory and we robbed them. Another massive three points which prompted the news beneath. Thrilled, we moved onto the next game...a home tie against St. Pauli. St Pauli took an early league and it looked as if they would get the upset this time round, but instead we snatched a late equaliser - prompting Felix Magath to say we didn't deserve anything - and kept up an undefeated month. Disappointing to not take another three home points, but the victory over Leipzig meant that dropping points here was acceptable, even if not ideal. That undefeated month leaves the table looking like this: As you can see from the table, good news!: Overall Thoughts Great month where we've officially made promotion chances real. If we manage to allow things to go tits up then we will face off the 16th placed Bundesliga team - at the moment that is Hannover. Not an easy tie so hopefully we can seal the title in the run-in. From the three games remaining, we should be able to get more than enough to win the title, so I'm excited as hell here... The run-in looks like this: Stupid beta text... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
B.W.G Posted November 5, 2014 Share Posted November 5, 2014 Congrats on the playoff spot,hopefully you can finish the season off in style and win the league! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
kingjericho Posted November 5, 2014 Share Posted November 5, 2014 Almost champions! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason the Yank Posted November 5, 2014 Share Posted November 5, 2014 Should at least get something off of Aue and Darmstadt to seal automatic promotion. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
john1 Posted November 5, 2014 Share Posted November 5, 2014 Nearly there Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JD nawrat Posted November 6, 2014 Author Share Posted November 6, 2014 Cheers guys! I have some news to post, but I only have one game left to play so I'll just end the season then give a post to save myself the time/effort of two posts e: nature of this post is such a giveaway isn't it? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason the Yank Posted November 6, 2014 Share Posted November 6, 2014 You blew it, didn't you? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JD nawrat Posted November 6, 2014 Author Share Posted November 6, 2014 2014-2015 End of Season Review 2.Bundesliga Fixtures As you can see, I ended the season and the month of May undefeated, winning all three games. We deservedly won them all and actually did so comfortably, despite the scoreline suggesting it was close. At no point did I feel we were ever really under threat/possibly going to draw. I'm not going to go into individual matches because..well, I'm lazy. But anyway, a great season where we managed to win 23 of our 34 games, which is pretty remarkable. The board expected us to achieve a respectable position and later mount a title challenge - I went further than both and won it all. The ending league table looked like this: We won the title upon defeat Karlsruhe, which prompted the following: DFB-Pokal Fixtures The board wanted us to get to the Second Round and we got there. A poor cup run but not one to worry about - the lack of attention needed there allowed for us to mount a strong title challenge early in the season. We did pretty well as a result, although I can't lie that I would have preferred to have made it past the 2nd round, especially seeing how far Kaiserslautern got - they took on Bayern Munchen in the semi-finals (furthest non-1.BuLi team in the comp). Hopefully next season we'll be in a better position to challenge later stages but I wouldn't hold my breath as we'll be 100% focussed on not getting relegated The Squad Of the few standouts there, Martin Dausch is undoubtedly one of them. The creative force of my side, Dausch's passing was a joy to behold as he orchestrated our attacks from the centre of midfield, controlling our attacks and leading the way in almost all of our goals. Such was his importance to my side, I had to tie up a new contract for him as soon as possible. He only wanted a two year contract and that suits me to be honest. As good as Dausch is, he's not the calibre for challenging the Bundesliga's European spots, somewhere I hope to be in a few years time. Plus he's getting a little older, but he's still important now. He scored only two goals from open play, neither that important but both pretty spectacular shots from range. His penalty taking was dodgy but hey ho. Most impressive of all were his assists - he assisted more than anyone else for me, barring one (I'll get to him just shortly). Undoubtedly a key in this side - he actually ended the season as my top rated player in terms of Avg. Rating and also the top rated player in the 2.Bundesliga, so all is great with him! Another standout was the young upstart Bjoern Jopek. The 21 year old scored 10 goals - the second most of my side - and assisted five times off of the left flank, making a name for himself and becoming the third highest ranked player in the entire league. Most impressive. He actually started the season out as my back-up ML and played zero of the first five games, but injury gave him a shot and he grabbed it with both hands - he turned out to be phenomenal from the flank. He's been asking for a new contract lately and I'm going to have to give it to him...how can I say no to my brightest prospect and a lad who is the first name on the teamsheet every week? He has a bright future and I have to make sure it is with me. The third standout and my personal choice for Player of the Season (although I don't think he'll get it) is one Soeren Brandy. At the start of the season I highlighted him as being a potentially key player if I was to do anything this season I was spot on. The experienced forward netted a fantastic 13 times - the most of my team - and also assisted the same amount - also the most of the team. His rating made him my third highest rated player and the fifth highest rated man in the whole of the league, so it's not in question if he was as good as I think. I negotiated a new deal for him not long after Christmas as he is key to the system as my Advanced Forward. A three year deal is a bit longer than I would have liked as, at 30 years old, his physicality - which is already questionable - will only decrease. However I think that if I am to do anything in the Bundesliga and hope to survive, this man will undoubtedly have a say in it. Top player. Overall Thoughts A fantastic season and one that gave me much more than I expected. We got to the top and stayed there for the whole season, so I can't have any complaints. A few worrying losses here and there but a few fantastic wins where the lads dug in deep when needed. Many of the players had average seasons but at one point or another, many players stepped up when needed. I will post fairly soon outlining a few of my transfer targets and my finances, but I'm not in a rush to share either of those as my finances are hideous and thanks to that my transfer targets are sparse Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JD nawrat Posted November 6, 2014 Author Share Posted November 6, 2014 Transfer Targets Okay, so I've had a look at the squad and who is in/out and what I need. I'm lacking the following: 1 Goalkeeper (Amsif is a good back-up but Haas...haas to go) 1 Right Back (Vermijl isn't good enough for the Bundesliga) 2 Centre Backs (Puncec and Schonheim are good but Eggiman is leaving on a free and Leistner wants out) 1 Right Mid (Quiring will stay but Trimmel wants out) 1 Left Mid (Jopek is first choice but Kohler wants out) 2 Strikers (Skrz has already signed for Leipzig on a free and Koby is injured so I am unsure whether to sign him permanently or not) So yeah, that's worrying. I've got next to no money. There's a load of good cheap players bound to be available, especially after Hannover and Frankfurt both found themselves relegated... for starters, they have Ron-Robert Zieler and Kevin Trapp respectively in goals who I could prise away. Thing is, I have no money. So how I get them I don't know. I'm going to have to try and figure something out. Maybe a big sale of a young, highly talented winger... There's a few players I have identified but not sure I'll be able to afford any of them tbh. My biggest target atm is Johannes Wurtz of Furth - the attacking midfielder played a lot up front for them and ended up scoring 19 goals (second most in the league). He'd be ideal for the DLF/S role, but whether I can sign him or not remains to be seen. He'd likely cost me around £3M but I'm not sure where I could get that sort of money from. e: Damir Kreilach, my captain, also wants a new contract but he wants to be on 20k per week which is both too high and undeserved, so I will look to sell him on. Only problem is that because of the state of our finances, I get a whopping 30% of sales for myself...and that's after asking for more from the board (i was previously getting 15%). Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rancer890 Posted November 6, 2014 Share Posted November 6, 2014 Gotta get creative with loans and messing with the budget a bit! Good luck with your offseason. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavidBeckham Posted November 6, 2014 Share Posted November 6, 2014 Congrats on winning the league mate! KUTGW and good luck for the season ahead! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JD nawrat Posted November 6, 2014 Author Share Posted November 6, 2014 Gotta get creative with loans and messing with the budget a bit! Good luck with your offseason. Yeah, I've already got about 5 loans in this season and looking to seal another few before the season starts. It's not pretty... I hate loaning players too I don't like knowing that I won't manage the player after this season (always try to insert Future Fee clauses, but even some of these I've tried are insane (£24M for a rotation option CB etc). It's definitely going to be a tough season based on our pre-season...things aren't going as planned. I can't even offload the crap for some reason Congrats on winning the league mate! KUTGW and good luck for the season ahead! Thanks! I think I'm going to need it Predicted to avoid relegation, but only just. 15th place according to the media. e: Oh, bloody hell. Finally looked set to sign my only real target of the summer in Johannes Wurtz and part of the deal - Trimmel going the other way - has fallen through when it looked like the player in question was about to sign. Pissed to the extreme about that one Worst of it is that I can't even offer to pay for X amount of Trimmel's wages (the thing stopping him from leaving). Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
setzel Posted November 6, 2014 Share Posted November 6, 2014 Congratz mate just go with veteran freebies Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JD nawrat Posted November 6, 2014 Author Share Posted November 6, 2014 Congratz mate just go with veteran freebies Thanks! I contemplated going down that route but I found the vets wanted too much in wages so I've erred on the side of loaning in inexperienced youngsters and I'm just going to have to hope I strike lucky with them... risky, I know. It's the only way to get enough good talent in to stand a chance, as otherwise my squad would be so light. Got the pre-season update coming then I'll have the August update straight after, now that I'm in September e: Got through this pre-season update and I cba doing any more typing for now, so I'll post the pre-season update and the month of August can be posted later Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JD nawrat Posted November 6, 2014 Author Share Posted November 6, 2014 Pre-Season 2015-16 Transfers Out: A boatload of free players go out with only two being sold (I wanted to sell a couple more than this, truth be told). Haas managed to pull in a decent amount of money to go and be Bayern's back-up. Silly move but he had no future with me so not caring. You might remember I got all hyped about signing Estrada, but with Estrada came a Highest Earner Clause and that was not good news for what I had planned. In the end this caused a serious dispute with me and club captain Damir Kreilach who now wants out - he wanted 20k which I wasn't offering if it meant giving Estrada 20k. So by the time I sold Estrada Kreilach was outraged at no new contract. He wasn't going to be getting 20k regardless... tried to sell him on for at least £4M but nobody was interested, so he's still here. I stripped him of captaincy which angered him more but I'm past the point of caring. Schoenheim is the new captain. Transfers In: Asger Sorensen - Loan from RB Salzburg - A good young player who will be third choice CB this season. I've got an option to buy down the line for £2.5M. Quite costly but if I decide to go for him and he proves worth it then great. We'll see how it goes. Manuel Schmiedebach - Ln Fee 66k p/m from Hannover - A solid option in midfield who will be a big player for us this season hopefully with regards to breaking down the bigger teams. View to make it permanent for £2.4M down the line. Not sure how much he'll feature but he was signed to be first choice so he probably will be in the end. Sam Gallagher - Loan from Southampton - Great young player who I can sign permanently at the end of the season. It's for a whopping £11.5M and I have next to no chance of affording that but I'm pleased to have him. Fourth choice striker but he will get lots of chances this season. Mensur Mujdza - Loan from Freiburg - a solid option at RB and probably going to end up being first choice with us this season. Future fee of 125k but he'll only be signed if I become desperate. He's not a bad player but he's getting on a bit and there'll be plenty of better options in a year's time, no doubt. Sinan Kurt - Loan from Bayern - Extremely talented young winger from the reigning Bundesliga and Pokal champions. No view to making it permanent as he is far too costly, but he'll offer something big from the bench or if Jopek just isn't doing what I want/need from him. Very excited by him, though. Could be huge for us this season. Mario Gavranovic - £1.8M from Zuerich - When the deal to sign Johannes Wurtz fell through I had to find someone else to play up front. My scouts came back to me with this guy and he seemed worthy of taking a punt on. He's a talented player with previous BL experience so I'm sure he'll do well for me in his career. Versatile and highly rated by my scouts, so that's a huge plus... Oh yeah, and he's now the club's record signing! That leaves the squad looking like this: Goalkeeper: Mohamed Amsif - Steve Kroll Right Back: Mensur Mujdza* - Matthias Zimmerman Centre Back: Fabian Schoenheim © - Roberto Puncec - Asger Sorensen* Left Back: Michael Parensen - Hasan Tuzcu Right Mid: Christopher Quiring - Bryan Henning Centre Mid: Martin Dausch (VC) - Manuel Schmiedebach* - Baris Oezbek - Damir Kreilach Left Mid: Bjoern Jopek - Sinan Kurt* Striker: Mario Gavranovic - Soeren Brandy - Adam Nemec - Sam Gallagher* Board Expectations: Bundesliga: Midtable Finish DFB-Pokal: Second Round Person Expectations: Bundesliga: Anywhere upwards of 14th DFB-Pokal: Make it to the last 8 (Quarter Finals) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
kingjericho Posted November 6, 2014 Share Posted November 6, 2014 Good luck in the top league just hold on this season and the money will start pouring in. You have a tight squad, but that's not bad at all. I always aim for a squad of 22/23 + youth. How come you spent so much on a striker (maybe all your transfer budget?) on a striker when Brandy had a decent season? Is he losing the starting spot immediately? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
B.W.G Posted November 6, 2014 Share Posted November 6, 2014 Congrats on securing the title and the best of luck in the Bundesliga Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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