noikeee Posted October 1, 2016 Author Share Posted October 1, 2016 Latest international call-ups: CSKA has 5 players in the Bulgaria U19s, 9 players(!!!) in the U21s, and 4 players in the main squad including youth products Penkov and Nikolov who's just been called up for the first time. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
noikeee Posted October 1, 2016 Author Share Posted October 1, 2016 Even more upgrades. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benjoe Posted October 1, 2016 Share Posted October 1, 2016 Looks good with some of the young talent coming along and Kiril Penkov is some talent! Pure no nonsense and physicality in that one! I really liked the look of Ivan Papazov and is saddened to see him leave. I'm sorry if I've missed it but are you planning on moving away from a left winger since you sold him or what? I think he looks very fitting for a ML winger but don't know if you've changed system and I just haven't noticed. CHL looks tough and also a difficult group looking at club names alone but perhaps a good home game against Wolfsburg and a draw away at Celtic will be enough for at least third place. Then you can aim for the Euro League final this time around. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
noikeee Posted October 1, 2016 Author Share Posted October 1, 2016 4 minutes ago, Benjoe said: Looks good with some of the young talent coming along and Kiril Penkov is some talent! Pure no nonsense and physicality in that one! He's brilliant! At the beginning I wasn't too keen on him as I was playing a very high line and he was slow, but he improved immensely over the years and became quite a beast. Quote I really liked the look of Ivan Papazov and is saddened to see him leave. I'm sorry if I've missed it but are you planning on moving away from a left winger since you sold him or what? I think he looks very fitting for a ML winger but don't know if you've changed system and I just haven't noticed. Yes, I changed my system starting this season. I was playing a winger on the left and an inside forward on the right. This worked great, but meant all of my AMLs and AMRs had to be left-footed. On the long-term this is a weakness in squad management, because left-footed players are harder to find than right-footed, specially when I'm playing under the restriction of only hiring Eastern European players - the pool of players I can sign is already very limited. So I took the advantage of all the Champions League money I won last year to get rid of all the left-footed guys and bring in right-footed, whilst reversing my tactic side-to-side. Quote CHL looks tough and also a difficult group looking at club names alone but perhaps a good home game against Wolfsburg and a draw away at Celtic will be enough for at least third place. Then you can aim for the Euro League final this time around. Spoiler alert: nope. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benjoe Posted October 1, 2016 Share Posted October 1, 2016 2 minutes ago, noikeee said: He's brilliant! At the beginning I wasn't too keen on him as I was playing a very high line and he was slow, but he improved immensely over the years and became quite a beast. I am very envious! An aerially strong CB is really a invaluable asset to any defence imo. he looks really good and with a quick partner who got a bit of technique he is a monster. Kolar isn't exactly this technical type but he does posses a bit more pace and it seems to work! Quote Yes, I changed my system starting this season. I was playing a winger on the left and an inside forward on the right. This worked great, but meant all of my AMLs and AMRs had to be left-footed. On the long-term this is a weakness in squad management, because left-footed players are harder to find than right-footed, specially when I'm playing under the restriction of only hiring Eastern European players - the pool of players I can sign is already very limited. So I took the advantage of all the Champions League money I won last year to get rid of all the left-footed guys and bring in right-footed, whilst reversing my tactic side-to-side Ahh well it makes sense then, despite it still being sad. But sensible choice to aim for right-footed players even though you shouldn't overlook lefties completely of course. Quote Spoiler alert: nope. Oh. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
noikeee Posted October 2, 2016 Author Share Posted October 2, 2016 I felt like sharing this because this is a message I don't see often, with players in FM15 usually being insufferable miserable self-absorbed idiots. Cheers mate. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
noikeee Posted October 2, 2016 Author Share Posted October 2, 2016 So this is the player we've just lost to Real Madrid, because we couldn't be arsed to put a bid before half of Europe were doing so: He wouldn't quite fit us upfront (maybe as inside forward), was fairly inconsistent, and didn't like big matches. Still - consider this lesson learnt. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
noikeee Posted October 2, 2016 Author Share Posted October 2, 2016 2021/2022 - Late-in-the-season update - CSKA Sofia Transfers (Transfers) This transfer window's main story was the sale of another youth product. I gave Emilian Koev a serious chance in the league this season as classic right-winger, but he still didn't convince me - 6.80AR, 2 goals, 2 assists, in 21 matches. So when Partizan made a 2,3M€ bid, + 30% of profit of next sale, I really couldn't refuse as I was already planning to sell him sooner or later - if every youth player that doesn't make it gives me such a massive profit I'll be a happy manager. The other player we sold was backup keeper Valentin Cojocaru as I feel we don't really need a foreigner on the bench anymore, with the hordes of youth keepers we have coming out of our youth ranks. We did buy two players in January, but they're just long shots for the very long term future - 17 year old Montenegrin midfielder Marjan Rodic, and 16 year old Romanian winger Aurel Albu. Kupa Bulgaria We've been having a few defeats in the derbies vs Levski lately, not least when they knocked us out of the cup last year, so it was nice to get two wins over them this time. The first leg was a bit of a poor showing decided by a goal in the very first minute, the 2nd leg a goalfest but one in which we were always in control. This puts us in another derby, a less bitter one, vs Slavia in the quarter-finals. Champions League We were always unlikely to get a result in Paris, and whilst we went 3-0 down at some point, to be honest I was very happy with our performance as we pretty much matched PSG but just weren't as clinical in front of goal. It was still a defeat, and we had to get a serious result in Celtic Park if we were to salvage anything from this group. A 0-0 in other circumstances might've been a decent result, but unfortunately the way the group was set up, it already mathematically sealed our departure from Europe. I still fielded a full-strength side vs Wolfsburg, but that was not enough to prevent another defeat, a single goal confirming Wolfsburg's slight upper hand in the match. "A" PFG We'd been on inconsistent form in the league recently, and a win over Montana confirmed only with a 94th minute goal wasn't a very convincing way to put that behind. We beat Slavia a little more comfortably, but then were surprised by Cherno More who nicked a draw in our stadium. However, we were now out of Europe and could start fielding our strongest 11 in the league every single match. This has resulted in a sequence of 5 wins in 5 - Pirin were easily beaten, we needed a 82nd minute winner to beat Litex, but when we came back from the winter break, the lads were in the mood to hurt the opponents. Chernomorets were hammered 4-1 in a ridiculously dominant performance, and even more impressively, we went to Ludogorets to beat them 3-0 with a Igor Kasunic brace, and a cross by youngster Veselin Kirilov who was making his CSKA debut, ended in an owngoal. Vs Vereya we again needed a stupid late winner to get the 3 points, but what matters is we've opened a huge lead. Summary After last season's glorious European run, this was more like a return to reality - we're still quite a long way from truly being on the level of Europe's finest sides. On one hand I'm kind of happy we looked competitive in all 6 Group Stage matches, on the other hand 3 points isn't good enough and we should've done better specially vs Celtic. The good news is now we're out of Europe we can fully concentrate on the league, and I believe we'll be able to win it far more comfortably than last year's single point margin. And perhaps we can get our hands on the cup again? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
noikeee Posted October 2, 2016 Author Share Posted October 2, 2016 2021/2022 - Youth intake - CSKA Sofia A joke of an intake, I think this is my worst yet in 8 seasons, I'm very disappointed after all the investment we've put in this. Slavi Chipev - Got the most PA stars but I'm not really seeing it, even if a decent player comes out of here, there's a ridiculous amount of competition for the goalkeeper position at the moment. Mitko Shopov - Decent starting skills for a centre-back, but my staff don't see much PA in him. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
withnail316 Posted October 3, 2016 Share Posted October 3, 2016 Wow... that's a horrendous bunch of youngsters! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
noikeee Posted October 3, 2016 Author Share Posted October 3, 2016 8 hours ago, withnail316 said: Wow... that's a horrendous bunch of youngsters! It's odd, our best generations are still '15 and '16 with Papazov, Koev, Penkov and Nikolov, in '17 and '18 we got a couple mildly interesting players that are coming through now if unlikely to become starters (Marinov, T. Dimitrov, Penchev), but in the last 4 years the only standout talent is Georgiev although Kirilov and Gotsev may feature at some stage (screenies of who these guys are and how their development is going, will be posted at the season review). But our facilities, junior coaching, youth recruitment, staff, have only gotten better and better. I suppose it's just random. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
withnail316 Posted October 3, 2016 Share Posted October 3, 2016 It does go that way sometimes, plus the more your squad improves, the harder it is to bring in quality youngsters in the intake. A few years ago, some of these players may have had a future with you... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
noikeee Posted October 3, 2016 Author Share Posted October 3, 2016 41 minutes ago, withnail316 said: It does go that way sometimes, plus the more your squad improves, the harder it is to bring in quality youngsters in the intake. A few years ago, some of these players may have had a future with you... Yes this is true, also sometimes players surprise me and overachieve. When Penkov and Nikolov came up I thought both looked promising but were too misfitting/incomplete players, and yet now both have become starters for us. I'm already starting to see the same with Gotsev which is a player I haven't even bothered to mention in the season reviews the last few years, but is now starting to come good in the U21s. To be honest I can't really complain, I think the only time I've ever managed so many youth academy players, was with Lyon in my previous FM15 career, they had a world class setup and were producing crazy youngsters every year. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benjoe Posted October 3, 2016 Share Posted October 3, 2016 No bueno with your CL group, but immense form you've hit in the league! What a bunch of losers in that YI. Looking forward to see how the other youngsters are progressing. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
facman Posted October 4, 2016 Share Posted October 4, 2016 Just read from start to finish and now I'm emotionally drained! A real up and down story so far, and hopefully with the additional funding coming in from the CL you'll be able to almost guarantee winning the league each year. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
noikeee Posted October 4, 2016 Author Share Posted October 4, 2016 18 hours ago, Benjoe said: No bueno with your CL group, but immense form you've hit in the league! What a bunch of losers in that YI. Looking forward to see how the other youngsters are progressing. Will probably have the squad review up by tonight with all the kids. 19 minutes ago, facman said: Just read from start to finish and now I'm emotionally drained! A real up and down story so far, and hopefully with the additional funding coming in from the CL you'll be able to almost guarantee winning the league each year. Not sure if emotionally drained is good, but thanks. Yeah I think we're reaching that level where we can just guarantee blitzing the league. If the league gets boring I might start using "instant result" which I've never done before. But it also means a different kind of challenge from here onwards, because improving the squad becomes a lot harder, specially when we're restricting ourselves to the pool of Iron Curtain players. Even with our renewed financial power, there's just not that many star players around willing to sign for us. This is why I'm starting to purchase some 15/16/17 year olds before the Real Madrids and Barcelonas find them. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
noikeee Posted October 4, 2016 Author Share Posted October 4, 2016 2021/2022 - End of season update - CSKA Sofia "A" PFG We started the final league split with... 3 draws. If drawing in the derby vs Levski (where we fluffed a lot of chances) and in the difficult match vs Ludogorets (with Varazdat Haroyan getting himself sent off after 10 minutes and putting us on the back foot), was acceptable, drawing at home vs Beroe was not. Perhaps as karma for all the late winners we scored in previous months, we were shocked by an equaliser in the 93rd minute. Still, we retained the 9 point lead intact. And that was the last time we lost points. Botev were easily brushed aside 2-0, and Vereya 3-0, a match notable for all 3 goals being scored by youth products - Todor Dimitrov with a brace and Veselin Kirilov with his first for the club. We went into the return away derby vs Levski - our closest opponents in the league - knowing a win was enough for the title. And we didn't just win, we humiliated them, as we followed on an early owngoal with 3 more in the second half, by Poghosyan, Vílceanu and Kasunic. CSKA SOFIA WIN A THIRD CONSECUTIVE BULGARIAN TITLE!! Like 2 years ago, I took the remaining insignificant 4 fixtures to give playing time to youngsters, giving first team debuts to Valentin Georgiev (who also scored his first for the club), Kaloyan Gotsev, Marjan Rodic and Iliya Dimitrov. They did well, even if we conceded goals in every match, we also scored more than the opposition in all of them. At the end, we beat Ludogorets and Levski by 21 points and also made it our highest points total in recent years, with 80. Kupa Bulgaria The quarter-finals vs Slavia were just insane. Inspired like never, we made it a career highest win of 7-0 in the first leg - Robert Vílceanu particularly on a great day with an hat-trick by minute 21, and didn't have mercy for them on the 2nd leg neither with another 4-1 win. Pirin on the semi-finals were much tougher. They resisted for 90 minutes in the first leg, and for another 45 in the second leg, but as soon as we broke the deadlock the goals started flying in, and it was another 4-1 win. In the final we faced Vereya, once my bogey team and surprise champions a few years ago. We took the lead through Igor Kasunic, but surprisingly Vereya drew immediately, in one of the very few times they reached our area. We went into half-time facing 10 men, as their centre-back Xandao saw a red on minute 45+2, but still struggled to break them down, in an uncharacteristic wasteful performance. A highly controversial penalty converted by Andjelo Rudovic who had just come off the bench, finally sealed it midway through the 2nd half. CSKA SOFIA WIN THE DOUBLE!! Summary As mentioned in recent posts, the Bulgarian competitions are starting to look like not a challenge anymore, although we're yet to win all 3 (league, cup and supercup) in the same season, which is something I'd obviously like to do. The goalposts now move to the daunting challenge of trying to bring over the Champions League to Bulgaria, I feel there is a long, hard road ahead in that quest, as we're yet a long way from having the Iron Curtain Dream Team as I aim for. Let's see what happens next season. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
abulezz Posted October 4, 2016 Share Posted October 4, 2016 Its safe to say that you are now, by far, the best team in Bulgaria! Cant wait to see how some of your new signings did! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
withnail316 Posted October 4, 2016 Share Posted October 4, 2016 Another great season, man. Well done. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
noikeee Posted October 4, 2016 Author Share Posted October 4, 2016 55 minutes ago, withnail316 said: Another great season, man. Well done. Thanks. 1 hour ago, abulezz said: Its safe to say that you are now, by far, the best team in Bulgaria! Cant wait to see how some of your new signings did! Incoming... I need to learn to write less. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
noikeee Posted October 4, 2016 Author Share Posted October 4, 2016 2021/2022 - Season review - CSKA Sofia Tactics (Tactics) Quick update on tactics, to show how it looks like after this season's left-to-right reversal. I did make a new tweak - the striker became a DLF/S instead of the TM/A or AF/A roles we were using, to try to drag out the defence and open up space for the SS/A and the IF/A. I have considered going with two IFs in both wings so I can fit Vílceanu/Milanov/Poghosyan on the AM strata, as they're our 3 strongest AMs but they don't fit as it is, however I feel that would congest our playing style too much, and prefer to keep a winger to stretch play. Coefficients and reputation Looks kind of stalled, but we're now getting the benefits of last season's Europa League semi-final as we rised up the rankings dramatically (maybe we won't be bottom seeds anymore in group draws), which also improved the league reputation. Competition reputation "A" PFG: 13th in Europe (3/5 stars) (up 3 positions) Nation club coefficients Bulgaria: 15th in Europe (27.300 pts) (down 1 position but slightly higher in points) Club reputation Ludogorets: National (3.5/5 stars) (no change) CSKA Sofia: National (3.5/5 stars) (no change) Levski: National (3/5 stars) (no change but overtook Litex for 3rd) Club coefficients CSKA Sofia: 59th (36.960) (moved up 58) - this season: Champions League group stage Ludogorets: 75th (29.459) (moved down 8) - this season: Europa League 2nd knockout round Litex: 122th (17.959) (moved up 12) - this season: Europa League group stage Finances (Finances) Looks great again even after all the cash I spent in transfers, I have increased our wage spending substantially too, but it's still at a low enough level that making the Champions League group stage gives us a massive profit. Player statistics Starting eleven GK: Georgi Kitanov (27, BUL) - Up from a 6.88AR to a 6.93AR and also with a fantastic record of just 32 goals conceded in 43 matches, and 20 clean sheets. He's just been superb ever since he joined us 3 years ago - perhaps not a coincidence that's been our 3 title-winning years. DL: Silvio Anocic (24, CRO) (New signing) - I finally found someone able to win this place over Tonci Kukoc, and this was well-timed as Tonci had a dismal season with a record 4 red cards(!). Silvio wasn't entirely convincing at first, but got better and better and better and finished the year on a frankly great 7.23AR. DC: Ales Kolar (22, CZE) - Increased his performances from 7.16AR to a 7.25AR, making him the best performing player of my whole defence, although my staff now don't think he's our best centre-back anymore as he's rated below Penkov and Dragun. DC: Kiril Penkov (22, BUL) (2016 Youth) - A slightly off-year, down from a 7.16AR to a 7.11AR. I like him a lot but he needs to watch out because new signing Artem Dragun is starting to look over his shoulder with some great performances (7.24AR) when called upon - we continue to have an incredible amount of talent for this position. DR: Andrey Katunchev (20, BUL) (New signing) - I wasn't impressed at first and blamed his unconvincing performances on his "fairly inconsistent" trait, but as the year went on he relegated Karlo Bartolec to the bench. He's slowly becoming a star and should feature for the Bulgarian national team all across the next decade, but is the weakest link in my defence at the moment. 6.95AR. DM: Ionut Serban (26, ROU) (New signing) - For whatever reason seemed to do far better in Europe than in the league where he was nowhere near as good, but I still consider this a very successful signing. Most impressively, picked up only 8 yellow cards and no reds, a rarity for DMs in my systems. 7.02AR. MC: Stoyan Nikolov (22, BUL) (2016 Youth) - A breakthrough season, as he became my 3rd youth player (after Ivan Papazov and Kiril Penkov) to barge his way into the starting 11, and almost picked up an international cap too, as he was called up but then removed from the squad due to injury. That being said, I did still start Alexey Legchilin whenever we had tougher matches as Nikolov can't tackle and "doesn't enjoy big matches"; and I lost a lot of confidence in him as the year went on, as his excellent early season performances fizzled out to a decent but unspectacular 6.99AR. Watch out or you might lose your place in the team again. AML: Andjelo Rudovic (26, MNE) (New signing) - A strange situation as he's definitely not our best AML (that would be Vílceanu), but our strongest 11 includes him. He did okay with a 7.05AR, 9 goals and 6 assists, but 4 of those goals were penalties, and I know my IFs in my system can score a lot more than this. Also watch out for youngster Todor Dimitrov who might well take over here soon. AMC: Georgi Milanov (30, BUL) - An unprecedented situation in this career, as I had the massive luxury of fielding two superb players for this position, at a virtually indistinguishable level between them. That would be Milanov (7.21AR, 8 goals, 10 assists) and Ghukas Poghosyan (7.23AR, 7 goals, 8 assists). Milanov excels on big matches, Poghosyan excels on regular fixtures. This is great, I can just throw one of them out of the bench at any given time. AMR: Robert Vílceanu (25, ROU) (New signing) - A superb return to the club, Robert had an excellent season with 17 goals, 11 assists, and a 7.23AR. Has now become both our best inside-forward AML (the position I hired him for), and also surprisingly our best winger AMR (where I'd hired Nikola Grgic but Grgic proved a flop). I feel he's most useful on the right, where he performs an unpredictable game that no other of our common conventional wingers can provide. ST: Igor Kasunic (24, CRO) (New signing) (Player of the season) - A lot of players could claim "player of the season" this year - Vílceanu, Milanov, Poghosyan, even Kolar. I'm gonna give it to Kasunic, as whilst he started a little slowly and even had two short goal droughts, he became our most prolific goalscorer ever since we switched to a lone striker system with 21 goals, but also 10 assists, 7 player of the match awards, and a 7.23AR. I feel he's going to be a big part of our team in the next few seasons if we can hold on to him. Other notable players and future prospects Todor Dimitrov (21, BUL) (2017 Youth) - My idea of making him a AML inside-forward was looking misguided by mid-season, as he had some awful ratings. I thought that was it for him. Still, he was just only becoming accomplished in the position, and recovered with some excellent performances in the 2nd half of the season, to the point I'm now considering starting him over Rudovic next year, pending on whether I'll hire someone else better. 6 goals, 3 assists, in 21 matches, and a 7.03AR. Tsanislav Marinov (20, BUL) (2018 Youth) - Can't quite decide on whether he's a MC (where I tried him the most, but he was disappointing), a AMR (where I'm retraining him to, but haven't tried him yet), or a Shadow Striker AMC (where he looks misfitting but played surprisingly well at the end of the season). Whatever he is, he's a quality player in the making, I'm just not sure he fits our system anywhere. Miroslav Penchev (21, BUL) (2016 Youth) - Stalled a little, but is now our 2nd keeper and first in line of a massive queue of youth product goalies, all possible future backup players: see Ilya Dimitrov (18, 1.5* CA, 2+1* PA), Krasimir Dimov (19, 1.5* CA, 2+1* PA), and Tervel Dyulgerov (19, 1* CA, 2+1* PA). Veselin Kirilov (19, BUL) (2019 Youth) - After a long time of unimpressive training levels, I thought this was going to be potential gone to waste. Then I gave him a go in the first team and he just exploded way beyond what I expected. Insanely good performances (7.50AR), 5 goals in 9 appearances despite being rubbish at finishing in theory, and his attributes are finally going up everywhere. If he can meet his potential he can become an excellent classic winger for us. Valentin Georgiev (17, BUL) (2020 Youth) - My favourite player of the last 4 youth intakes is becoming a gem. Still a level or two below being useful for the first team, his retraining to DM is almost complete and I fully expect him to start featuring in a couple of years. Kaloyan Gotsev (19, BUL) (2019 Youth) - Reminds me of Stoyan Nikolov a couple of years ago - except perhaps a little less talented, but also a little more complete. His problem is that there's quite a bit of youth competition for the MC position, with both Nikolov and Marinov ahead of him. Marjan Rodic (17, MNE) (New signing) - I'm now starting to buy relatively cheap youth players from other sides in hope they become stars - this defensive midfielder is the first. My scouts weren't fully convinced at first, but now my staff see some potential in him, as I do. Aurel Albu (16, ROU) (New signing) - The other kid I bought. Looks miles off first team levels yet, but has all the skills of a proper old-school winger in the making. Former players This is a new feature, squad review is getting very very long so maybe I'll do this only every 5 years or so - but as I just sold our first 2 youth products it's worth checking out how they're doing. Ivan Papazov (23, BUL) (2015 Youth) (Kuban) - A decent first season in Russia, I think I did well in selling him, he continues to look as if he's hit his peak. Emilian Koev (23, BUL) (2015 Youth) (Partizan) - Surprisingly playing very well in Serbia with loads of assists, he never did this for us! I knew he had untapped potential though, and it paid off, as I already sold the 30% of next profit clause I had on him, by an excellent 925K€ (on top of the 2.3M€ fee we had received, the same fee as Papazov). Career progress table Season League Cup Europe Other ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 14/15 3rd ("A" PFG) Finalists Europa League Playoff 15/16 2nd ("A" PFG) Winners Europa League Playoff Bulgarian SC winners 16/17 2nd ("A" PFG) Winners Europa League Playoff 17/18 4th ("A" PFG) Quarter-final Europa League Playoff *** Sacked, respawned as new manager *** 18/19 3rd ("A" PFG) Quarter-final Europa League Playoff 19/20 1st ("A" PFG) Winners Europa League 1st KO round 20/21 1st ("A" PFG) Quarter-final Champions League Groups, Europa League semi-finals Bulgarian SC winners 21/22 1st ("A" PFG) Winners Champions League Group Stage Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benjoe Posted October 5, 2016 Share Posted October 5, 2016 It looks very good with increase in rep. and some interesting signings. Next season could be interesting in terms of a European campaign. You recon you can advance from the groups next year? Think the squad got what it takes? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
noikeee Posted October 5, 2016 Author Share Posted October 5, 2016 1 hour ago, Benjoe said: It looks very good with increase in rep. and some interesting signings. Next season could be interesting in terms of a European campaign. You recon you can advance from the groups next year? Think the squad got what it takes? Today was a bank holiday here in Portugal and I advanced a bit more in FM so I already know the group. It's going to be very hard because we were bottom seeds again, but you never know. We look slightly stronger. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
noikeee Posted October 5, 2016 Author Share Posted October 5, 2016 2022/2023 - Pre-season - CSKA Sofia Transfers (Transfers) We broke the club's transfer sale record... that stood for over 30 years, ever since Hristo Stoichkov was purchased by Barcelona back in 1990! The player? Andjelo Rudovic, for 4M€. Yeah I'm very happy with that deal. We also sold another winger, but at a loss, Nikola Grgic, went for 1.9M€ after I paid 2.8M€ for him last year. Meanwhile, a few names that gave a lot for the club over the years left. Tonci Kukoc is gone, after 8 seasons and 187 matches at left-back for CSKA (this means the only remaining player from the original squad is Denys Prychynenko), and so is centre-back Varazdat Haroyan, who played 102 times for us over the last 5 years. And finally right-back Karlo Bartolec also left, after 4,5 years playing for us. 5 first team players left, 5 first team players arrived. The standout signing is clearly winger Endri Çekiçi, who was given some crazy wages but seems to be worth it for now. Elvir Maloku arrived on a free for the other wing, whilst I also purchased the rather expensive but quite promising fullbacks Djordje Cvetkovic and Jakub Valenta, and defensive midfielder Matej Mezlik who looked better in the scout report. Meanwhile I continue my policy of compensating for poor youth intakes by signing teenagers from elsewhere, and this time I went raiding the other Bulgarian clubs: in comes Angel Kostov, Vasil Angelov and Ivan Iliev, all of them advanced players for playing either in the AM strata or as strikers. (Full squad for the 2022/2023 season) "A" PFG We started well. Endri Çekiçi picked up a goal on his club debut, and Igor Kasunic a hat-trick, in a 4-1 win over Beroe; and it was an all-youth scoring sheet vs Botev with Todor Dimitrov and Tsanislav Marinov in it. However, we were surprised in the derby with Levski, beaten and outplayed, which I'll attribute to rotating some players including several new signings that hadn't gelled. The response couldn't be any more positive - we beat the crap out of Lokomotiv Sofia, 7-0, featuring an incredible club record of 5 goals in this match by Todor Dimitrov from the AML position. Less impressive wins followed over Pirin and Slavia, the usual backup striker Vensan Klicic on good form scoring all the goals; but finished August better with another stunning goalfest, 6-1 over Marek. Still this hasn't been enough to reclaim 1st place, as Ludogorets so far have got a perfect start. Superkupa This might be the least important trophy we're in, but I really wanted to win it, after losing it last year to Litex, and also because we're yet to win league, cup and supercup all in the same season. This time it was very easy, we pretty much started the match 2-0 up and finished it within the half hour. CSKA RETAKE THE BULGARIAN SUPERCUP! Champions League We were blessed with some really favourable draws in the qualifying rounds. Qarabag from Azerbaijan were first, we beat them pretty easily 2-0 and 5-0; and Senica from Slovakia were next in the playoffs. The first leg was funny as we looked as if we had bought out the ref, he gave us 3 penalty kicks and also sent off 2 Senica players. After this 4-0 win, we went to Slovakia to win 2-0 and claim more coefficient points. Unfortunately, that's where the favourable draws end. Despite climbing massively on the UEFA rankings recently, we still didn't have good enough coefficients to move up from the bottom seeds. This gave us a group with Dortmund, Atlético and PSV. Summary Despite being 2nd in the league, I reckon we're just a little bit stronger this year, not many of the new signings have featured regularly but Endri Çekiçi is making a difference; and some of our kids have been getting better, Todor Dimitrov has been ridiculous too, whenever called upon to replace Çekiçi. Let's see if this gives us a push in Europe, I would like to beat PSV to 3rd place, but realistically until we can get out of the bottom seeds I don't think I can ask for much out of this team in the Champions League - I think we can beat PSV, but even them still have better players than us. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
LPQR Posted October 6, 2016 Share Posted October 6, 2016 great career, mate, I'm so glad Eastern Europe's getting some attention There are so many clubs around that are absolutely stuffed with great history and support in countries like Romania, Ukraine, Poland, Bulgaria. Steaua Bucuresti, Wisla Krakow, Budapest Honved, Red Star Belgrade....just to name a few. Sofia is a lovely city actually, I've been there a few times, just the right combo of dodgy and romantic Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
noikeee Posted October 6, 2016 Author Share Posted October 6, 2016 6 hours ago, LPQR said: great career, mate, I'm so glad Eastern Europe's getting some attention There are so many clubs around that are absolutely stuffed with great history and support in countries like Romania, Ukraine, Poland, Bulgaria. Steaua Bucuresti, Wisla Krakow, Budapest Honved, Red Star Belgrade....just to name a few. Sofia is a lovely city actually, I've been there a few times, just the right combo of dodgy and romantic Thanks. One of my mates went to Bulgaria this Summer - from what he told, the "right combo of dodgy and romantic" sounds about right. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
noikeee Posted October 6, 2016 Author Share Posted October 6, 2016 How fitting, I just found an article today in the Guardian about a Portuguese manager that recently managed in Bulgaria - Port Vale's Bruno Ribeiro: Quote Last July Ribeiro took over at the Bulgarian champions, Ludogorets Razgrad, only to leave after six weeks amid a stand-off over an alleged breach of contract that is still in Fifa’s in-tray. Ludogorets claim to have sacked him for disciplinary reasons relating to his contract; Ribeiro says he resigned and is not for budging on his reasons. “I didn’t sign one player myself,” he says. “The owner went to Brazil, found players, brought them over and I never knew a thing. One time I went into the dressing room and there was a new guy just sitting there, someone I’d never been told about. The others, I’d open the newspaper and see who was signing for Ludogorets. “Another day I went to take training at 10 in the morning and the sporting director was there. ‘You need to hold training at 7pm,’ he said. ‘Why?’ I asked, and he told me it was because the players’ wives needed to watch the sessions. Crazy! I couldn’t allow that, it’s a distraction and there’s no focus. I couldn’t work the way they wanted, so I said I was going home. It’s a big club with very good facilities but the people …” https://www.theguardian.com/football/2016/oct/06/bruno-ribeiro-port-vale-jose-mourinho-leeds-ludogorets Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
abulezz Posted October 6, 2016 Share Posted October 6, 2016 1 hour ago, noikeee said: How fitting, I just found an article today in the Guardian about a Portuguese manager that recently managed in Bulgaria - Port Vale's Bruno Ribeiro: https://www.theguardian.com/football/2016/oct/06/bruno-ribeiro-port-vale-jose-mourinho-leeds-ludogorets LOL - sounds like a place that takes its football seriously! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benjoe Posted October 6, 2016 Share Posted October 6, 2016 Hahaha amazing article about Ludogorets. But damn, not a dream CL Group. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
noikeee Posted October 6, 2016 Author Share Posted October 6, 2016 3 hours ago, abulezz said: LOL - sounds like a place that takes its football seriously! 1 hour ago, Benjoe said: Hahaha amazing article about Ludogorets. But damn, not a dream CL Group. With that level of organization, I find it amazing they've made the Champions League group stages twice. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
noikeee Posted October 6, 2016 Author Share Posted October 6, 2016 We've got another Bulgarian international, I'm really pleased for him and how he's improved recently, I couldn't see it coming just a few months ago. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
noikeee Posted October 7, 2016 Author Share Posted October 7, 2016 2022/2023 - Mid-season update - CSKA Sofia Kupa Bulgaria Sozopol were the unfortunate victims, as we decided to annihilate the "biggest win" record ever since the beginning of this thread. 8-0 with 6-0 by half-time, and backup striker Vensan Klicic making a serious claim for first team football as he's been crying out for it, and indeed he's been great this year whenever I've tried him - in this match he equalled Todor Dimitrov's record, set earlier this season, of 5 goals in a match. Lokomotiv Sofia, who are bottom of the league, are next. "A" PFG No problems here. Litex and Chernomorets were dispatched within the first half, a tougher match vs Ludogorets - our closest opponents this season - was decided with a Vensan Klicic brace, and so was the away match vs Vereya. Against Beroe we had our biggest scare as we conceded 2 and needed a 86th minute winner with a Georgi Milanov freekick, and again we conceded 2 vs Botev which didn't make me happy, but a poker by Igor Kasunic was nice. We concluded October with a 2-0 win in the derby, to make it 11 consecutive league wins (spoiler alert: that's 19 in all competitions) and a commanding lead of 7 points over Ludogorets, who even on a cracking season can't keep up with us. Champions League PSV at home was a must-win match, and we passed the test with distinction, all goals scored in the first half, and centre-back Ales Kolar with an unlikely brace, scoring twice in set pieces. A much tougher trip to Germany awaited, but to my amazement, we restricted Dortmund to very little danger, and as the match went on, we started taking the upper hand in it. It got even better when Endri Çekiçi scored in the 92nd minute - a famous victory! We were now in a great position, but this seemed unlikely to repeat itself when we conceded against Atlético in the very first minute. No problem - again we were surprisingly better than the opposition, and had the determination to eventually turn the match around, through Kasunic and an owngoal. It was another superb victory to make it a perfect record so far in this group. Summary A clean sweep in this 2 months, and when that includes meetings with Dortmund and Atlético, that's particularly impressive. We have a golden opportunity to get out of the Champions League groups for the first time, and this all speaks volumes of how much we've improved as a club over the last few years, even if it all seems slightly unbelievable for our current level of players. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
noikeee Posted October 7, 2016 Author Share Posted October 7, 2016 Another training facilities upgrade completed - now up to "impressive training facilities". Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darius1998 Posted October 8, 2016 Share Posted October 8, 2016 Superb job in the Champions League. Just get around 2-3 more points and you should easily get through. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted October 8, 2016 Share Posted October 8, 2016 Fabulous stuff in the CL so far. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
facman Posted October 8, 2016 Share Posted October 8, 2016 Wonderful stuff! Not wishing to tempt fate but you could make the CL semis with form like that! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
noikeee Posted October 8, 2016 Author Share Posted October 8, 2016 12 hours ago, DB08 said: Superb job in the Champions League. Just get around 2-3 more points and you should easily get through. Only 2-3 points? 7 hours ago, deltablue said: Fabulous stuff in the CL so far. 7 hours ago, facman said: Wonderful stuff! Not wishing to tempt fate but you could make the CL semis with form like that! Thanks. Not too sure about CL semifinals, but it's been nice so far. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
noikeee Posted October 8, 2016 Author Share Posted October 8, 2016 2022/2023 Champions League - first knockout round, 1st leg The reward for sensationally topping our Champions League group (I'll elaborate on this with the usual more detailed update later), was to be top seeds, and therefore get drawn against the 2nd placed teams, which included the likes of Anderlecht, Olympiacos and... Stromsgodset. So who do we draw then? Barcelona. #drawisrigged That would be the same Barcelona who are reigning European champions, and who prior to that won 4 consecutive Champions Leagues from 2015 to 2018. They still retain 2 of the brightest stars from that legendary side, Neymar, now 31, and Lionel Messi, now 35 and still scoring for fun. Both start for Barcelona. We come into this match straight from the winter break, without key players Ales Kolar (suspended) and Igor Kasunic (injured). They were far too strong whenever they came near our area, showing a level of individual ability we've hardly ever come across. However, I'm delighted with our effectiveness going forward as we managed to get 3 away goals, the first in a counter-attack, the other 2 through penalty kicks, and the final goal was after we had gone down to 10 men. The dream is very much alive coming back to Bulgaria. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
noikeee Posted October 9, 2016 Author Share Posted October 9, 2016 2022/2023 Champions League - first knockout round, 2nd leg We field an almost full-strength side for this match of extreme importance, with defensive midfielder Ionut Serban the only missing player after his red card at the Camp Nou. We need to win, which is a daunting challenge in itself, but almost any kind of win should be enough after the 3 away goals. It was a dramatic match at Balgarska Armiya. We kicked off with a superb long range goal from Igor Kasunic who put us winning on away goals from minute 5. However Barcelona dominated the rest of the first half and scored two intricate tiki-taka goals both finished by their midfielder Júnior - only for Robert Vílceanu to make it 2-2 right before half-time. The 2nd half was more even, and midway through it Igor Kasunic scored another, and there was time for him to make it an hat-trick on a counter-attack later on. We held on and we did it! Knocked out the European champions and we're off into the quarter-finals! Not even a 4 week injury to Tsanislav Marinov can spoil the party. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
withnail316 Posted October 9, 2016 Share Posted October 9, 2016 Three away goals at the Camp Nou is amazing.... hope you do them at home! EDIT: posted at the same time as you.... get in there!! Amazing result. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
noikeee Posted October 9, 2016 Author Share Posted October 9, 2016 2022/2023 - Late-in-the-season update - CSKA Sofia Transfers (Transfers) The only move was the loan of young midfielder Kaloyan Gotsev to Litex. Kupa Bulgaria It wasn't the most convincing win ever over Lokomotiv away, as we needed goals in minutes 84 and 93 to confirm it. A 4-0 win on the return cleared up any doubts on who deserved to go through. Kaliakra are next. "A" PFG A 1-1 away draw at Lokomotiv - days before facing them in the cup - stopped our lengthy run of wins, but not the run of unbeaten matches, and heavy wins over Slavia and Marek, and another comfortable one over Pirin, further extended it. However, we were shocked away at Litex, outplayed and beaten, and we were given the whole winter break to reflect on it. Slowly we came back to form when returning - 1-0 over Chernomorets, 2-0 over Ludogorets (very handy in the title fight, they've dropped to miles behind us thanks to this), and 3-0 over Vereya. Everything's looking very comfortable heading into the league split. Champions League After a dream start to the group stage, we were down 4-0 by half-time in the trip to Madrid, a reminder that these teams have resources immensely superior to ours - we still scored 2, but obviously lost the match. Nevertheless we now only needed a single point to qualify, and in Eindhoven we got more than that, after going a goal down rather undeservedly, we turned the match around and won it. We were now top of the group before hosting Dortmund, and another excellent performance resulted in a 2-0 win, Georgi Milanov scoring both, we were through and top. (Group standings) The following tie against Barcelona resulted in all the chaos and goals I have reported - an effective performance at the Camp Nou saw us minimize the damage with 3 away goals, and we capitalized on that with a 4-2 win in Sofia, Igor Kasunic supremely inspired to knock out the European champions with a hat-trick. Summary How far can we go? We were blessed with a little hint of fortune against Barcelona, but we have beaten the likes of Atlético and Dortmund genuinely, clearly on merit this season. This has been a huge breakthrough season for the club, and I'll do my best to continue the run. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
noikeee Posted October 9, 2016 Author Share Posted October 9, 2016 2022/2023 - Youth intake - CSKA Sofia The dramatically rising squad standards in recent times means this isn't as bad as it looks at first glance, but it's still not great. Ivaylo Iliev - Yay, yet another quick dribbler! Can't finish, can't tackle, can't cross, and can barely pick out a pass, but he's going to be brilliant at dancing past defenders, I guess. Is this Emilian Koev or Veselin Kirilov reincarnated? Radoslav Gigov - We appear to have a neverending production queue for goalies. I've been more impressed with previous goalies, though. Tihomir Dimitrov - Decent fullback. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
noikeee Posted October 9, 2016 Author Share Posted October 9, 2016 2022/2023 Champions League - quarter-finals, 1st leg Liverpool are our quarter-finals opponents, led by main star Luis Suárez, 36, who came back from Barcelona 2 years ago, and Raheem Sterling. They are 3rd in the Premier League at the moment, after finally winning it 2 years ago, ending a 31-year long drought. We field our strongest 11 with no issues. We were punished in the first half by a scrappy Suárez goal and then by a quick transition. However, later Kasunic took advantage of a poor backpass by a Liverpool defender to get the all important away goal. It was a good showing in England as stats show both teams were about equal, and we're essentially in the same position we were in the previous round when we returned from the Camp Nou. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darius1998 Posted October 9, 2016 Share Posted October 9, 2016 Great job beating Barcelona. Not sure if I will say the same thing if you turn this one around though. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
noikeee Posted October 9, 2016 Author Share Posted October 9, 2016 2022/2023 Champions League - quarter-finals, 2nd leg Again CSKA bring out the strongest 11 to try to turn around this tie, and make it to Champions League semi-finals for the 3rd time in the club's history, after 1967 and 1982 (when curiously it happened thanks to beating Liverpool in the quarters). This was an exceptionally open match in the 1st half, with Liverpool looking very slick with their passing game, but we looked dangerous as well when going upfront. This type of match suited as we wanted goals, but by half-time it was still 0-0, and the 2nd half turned out much duller. With time running out, Liverpool got a goal through Mamadou Sakho in a corner and killed off the tie. This year's adventure is over - but we can be proud of it. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
noikeee Posted October 9, 2016 Author Share Posted October 9, 2016 16 minutes ago, DB08 said: Great job beating Barcelona. Not sure if I will say the same thing if you turn this one around though. Still bitter about 1982, heh? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darius1998 Posted October 9, 2016 Share Posted October 9, 2016 I can't be bitter about something I wasn't even born to witness. Good effort though and a fantastic display overall in the Champions League. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
noikeee Posted October 10, 2016 Author Share Posted October 10, 2016 2022/2023 - End of season update - CSKA Sofia "A" PFG Our form in the league split wasn't actually that great this year. We started off with a shock home defeat to Ludogorets - 2-4 after we were losing 0-3 at some point. Nevertheless, for a while we met the standards. Narrow win over Levski, extremely late win over Litex with a 90th minute winner, and two 2-0 wins. As we faced Ludogorets again, a draw would seal the championship. ... except we melted against them again - 0-3 defeat which was completely incomprehensible as we'd been the better side on stats. However, that merely delayed the party - a 4-0 hammering over our rivals Levski was still a sweet way to celebrate. CSKA WIN A 4TH CONSECUTIVE BULGARIAN TITLE! In the remaining 3 matches, unlike previous seasons, the youngsters I threw onto the pitch as usual didn't do that well - a draw (Vasil Angelov did score on his league debut), a defeat, and a narrow win with an owngoal. Still, it doesn't really matter. Kupa Bulgaria The Bulgarian Cup took an unusual importance this season as this was a chance to win league+cup+supercup all in the same season for the first time. The quarter-final vs Kaliakra was pretty much decided in the first minutes of the first leg, 5-0 win, the return was just a 0-0 draw but didn't matter. In the semi-finals Ludogorets were the toughest possible opponents, but unlike our later matches against them in the league, we won both, the 2nd leg we did have a scare as they had drawn the tie, but we turned it around with 3 goals in the last 15 minutes. The final was against Botev, a repeat of 2017, which we won pretty easily 4-0 then. It was very much a repeat as we sealed the match with 3 goals before half-time. CSKA RETAIN THE BULGARIAN CUP! Champions League We met Liverpool in a repeat of the 1982 quarter-finals, a good omen for us as we'd won then. Unfortunately we were unable to repeat the feat 41 years later. A Igor Kasunic away goal kept the hopes alive for the return to Bulgaria, but despite putting in a very competitive effort, we were ultimately unable to beat their defence and even conceded a goal 10 minutes from the end. Summary A very pleasing season saw us finally break past the Champions League groups, beat the reigning European champions, reach the quarter-finals for the first time since 1982, and claim all 3 Bulgarian trophies in the same season for the first time since the beginning of this career. We are going in the right direction to complete this challenge, but I feel there's a way to go yet - despite higher budgets for next season, I wonder if we are already reaching a ceiling in terms of squad and transfers, as it's now very hard to find Eastern European players that can improve our side. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
noikeee Posted October 10, 2016 Author Share Posted October 10, 2016 2022/2023 - Season review - CSKA Sofia Coefficients and reputation Went down as a reflection of a poor season last year, which unfortunately means we'll start a round earlier in the Champions League qualifiers, I expect things to improve after our quarter-finals run this season is taken into account. However I'm amused that Ludogorets still have a higher reputation than us. Competition reputation "A" PFG: 17th in Europe (3/5 stars) (down 4 positions) Nation club coefficients Bulgaria: 17th in Europe (24,725 pts) (down 1 position) Club reputation Ludogorets: National (3.5/5 stars) (no change) CSKA Sofia: National (3.5/5 stars) (no change) Levski: National (3.5/5 stars) (won half a star) Club coefficients CSKA Sofia: 50th (41.945) (moved up 9) - this season: Champions League quarter-finals Ludogorets: 82th (26.944) (moved down 7) - this season: Europa League group stage Litex: 166th (13.444) (moved down 44) - this season: not in Europe Finances (Finances) 31.4M€ in the bank is a little insane. Player statistics Starting eleven GK: Georgi Kitanov (28, BUL) - Despite a season in which we had to face Dortmund, Atlético, Barcelona and Liverpool, all twice, managed to increase his average rating from a 6.93AR to a 6.98AR, with also 27 clean sheets in 49 matches. Just an excellent goalkeeper at the top of his game. DL: Silvio Anocic (25, CRO) - Slightly lesser but still satisfying performance on a 7.20AR. Has a serious challenge now from new signing Djordje Cvetkovic, who appears to be the most talented of the two, but is "fairly inconsistent" and "doesn't enjoy big matches", which makes it hard for him to dislodge Silvio from my real starting 11 that I mostly save for the European matches. DC: Ales Kolar (23, CZE) - One of his finest seasons for us yet on a 7.33AR, however there is some serious competition for this place now and he hasn't quite become the world class centre-back I thought he'd become at some stage - I think he's performing but my staff don't rate him all that high. DC: Kiril Penkov (23, BUL) (2016 Youth) - Better season with a serious increase in performance to a 7.27AR, did exceptionally well in Europe and is rated by my staff as our best centre-back. However he continues under serious pressure for the place by Artem Dragun, whose AR was even better than my both starting centre-backs (7.35) but didn't convince in Europe, I might give him another shot next year. DR: Andrey Katunchev (21, BUL) - This was better (7.09AR up from a 6.95), but he's still the weakest link in our defence. What saves him is that he "enjoys big matches" and I love players with that characteristic as they overachieve so much in Europe, however the new alternative for the position, the hugely talented Czech teenager Jakub Valenta, also has this trait, and I believe he'll gain this place very soon. DM: Ionut Serban (27, ROU) - A superb season, he is the #1 example for how much better a player becomes in the Champions League thanks to "enjoys big matches" and this made him absolutely a key player in our European campaign with some wonder performances, overall his AR was 7.32, which is fantastic for a defensive midfielder. MC: Tsanislav Marinov (21, BUL) (2018 Youth) - Youth product displaces youth product, as Marinov broke into the first team to the expense of Stoyan Nikolov who's been disappointing. However there's a common problem to both of these players as both can't tackle, and I need them to in the box-to-box role - which is why in a lot of European matches I put my trust in other, lesser players instead. I also just don't think either are at the level required, and would be open to a new signing for this positiohn. 7.06AR, 2 goals, 5 assists for Marinov. AML: Endri Çekiçi (26, ALB) (New signing) - A brilliant first season for the club, with 11 goals and 17 assists, and a 7.39AR, he looked particularly unplayable earlier in the season, as he was pretty much our best player before the winter break and put in wonder performance after wonder performance in Europe. However, past the winter break he didn't quite perform at the same level and I'm now starting to wonder whether Todor Dimitrov - who scored even more goals - is the best option here. AMC: Georgi Milanov (31, BUL) - Slightly down in AR to an average 7.14, however the experienced midfielder had his goalscoring boots on this season, with a sensational 16 goals (and 8 assists), and even if 8 of those goals came from penalty kicks, this was what made me keep him on the side more often, as previously I tended to rotate him more with Ghukas Poghosyan. Another of those "enjoys big matches" players, which explains why he scored 8 goals(!) in the Champions League. AMR: Robert Vílceanu (26, ROU) - A weaker season that saw him score a lot less (just 6 goals this season) and drop his average rating to a rather mediocre 7.04. I believe this is due to the fact he stopped playing on the left at all, and I put him exclusively down the right-wing. He still picked up a satisfactory 14 assists, however when backup Elvir Maloku also managed 11 assists (and a much higher rating) in much lesser playing time, I wonder if I really should stick with him... ST: Igor Kasunic (25, CRO) (Player of the season) - Our strikers just couldn't stop scoring this year, and at the end Igor managed to be our top scorer on 28 goals, and also picked up the highest AR of the team (7.40). A truly sensational season that saw him score a hat-trick vs Barcelona, and in Anfield. It only wasn't the perfect season because this year he had some serious competition from Vensan Klicic, but we'll get down to that... Other notable players and future prospects Vensan Klicic (27, BIH) - Worthy of his own separate write-up. By now you must've realised I give an enormous playing time to my backups, that's because I rest every single field player ahead of European fixtures, effectively playing a different, 2nd team in the league. Vensan took advantage of this to put in an extraordinary season for a backup striker with 25 goals(!!!), 6 assists, and a 7.39AR. Todor Dimitrov (22, BUL) (2017 Youth) - Holy crap. He just exploded beyond anything I could possibly imagine, finally completely repaying my trust in the idea of adapting him to the AML position and make him an inside-forward. 20 goals, 17 assists, 7.38AR. It was an immense season that saw him be named Player of the Season in the league, and break into the Bulgarian national team. However, I still just about trust Endri Çekiçi that little bit more in the big European matches - but for how long? Veselin Kirilov (20, BUL) (2019 Youth) - After that little bit of excellent form at the end of last season, I gave him a few more minutes but he didn't really back that up - 2 goals and 5 assists in 15 appearances was still alright, but just not enough considering the competition he's up against for the AMR position. Also, as you're about to see, our standards have rised so much, all of your youth players have lost a lot of stars in potential ability. As such, he only looks like a decent player at best for the future now. Iliya Dimitrov (19, BUL) (2020 Youth) - Has now overtook Miroslav Penchev as first backup keeper, however seems to have reached his potential. Valentin Georgiev (18, BUL) (2020 Youth) - I'm starting to wonder whether he's really all that big a prospect in the making, my staff are doubting him too. His first team performances haven't impressed, and he's always going to be the centre-back that can't jump and the defensive midfielder that can't pass. Kaloyan Gotsev (20, BUL) (2019 Youth) - Sent on loan to Litex as there just wasn't any space and he was complaining. The good? He's becoming a more complete player than Marinov and Nikolov, which is exactly what I want for the position. The bad? He doesn't have more potential than they have, and I'm already searching for a better player than them for the MC position. Marjan Rodic (18, MNE) - I really quite like the look of him and I'm glad I took the gamble to sign him last year, against my scout's recommendation, but still doesn't have quite enough potential, and a DM should tackle better. Boyko Rumenov (17, BUL) (2021 Youth) - Suddenly coming good, but is a misfitting player - much like Emilian Koev or Veselin Kirilov before him, he's amazing at dribbling very quickly, but not that great at everything else. And doesn't have star potential. Vasil Angelov (16, BUL) (New signing) - Now my most exciting youngster both in terms of potential, and his skills that look very fitting for the Shadow Striker role I use, bar a poor first touch. Scored his debut senior goal vs his academy club Litex! However there are two very big problems: lacks professionalism, and lacks consistency big time according to my staff. Career progress table Season League Cup Europe Other ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 14/15 3rd ("A" PFG) Finalists Europa League Playoff 15/16 2nd ("A" PFG) Winners Europa League Playoff Bulgarian SC winners 16/17 2nd ("A" PFG) Winners Europa League Playoff 17/18 4th ("A" PFG) Quarter-final Europa League Playoff *** Sacked, respawned as new manager *** 18/19 3rd ("A" PFG) Quarter-final Europa League Playoff 19/20 1st ("A" PFG) Winners Europa League 1st KO round 20/21 1st ("A" PFG) Quarter-final Champions League Groups, Europa League semi-finals Bulgarian SC winners 21/22 1st ("A" PFG) Winners Champions League Group Stage 22/23 1st ("A" PFG) Winners Champions League quarter-finals Bulgarian SC winners Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted October 11, 2016 Share Posted October 11, 2016 Your early struggles much seem like a long time ago. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.