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[FM17] FC Rostov - from one-season wonder to the new force?


Koetzer

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December 2019

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FM in its best. Have a chance to increase the lead, get 18 shots on goal, lose in result. Not even surprised.

Trip to Siberia in December, what can be better for preparing to the decisive European match? :D However we managed to win confidently while resting most of the regular starters. 

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Tyumen finally got their first win, and who knows, maybe with 9 points from 14th place they still can fight for staying? We got 5 points gap from Spartak, leading the large group where even CSKA can move to European places with the only win.

PAOK defended well until Kace got a straight red card in the end of first half. After that we dominated on the pitch, scoring four and securing our first ever Champions League knockout rounds. Lyon won against Man Utd too, but 1-0 was far from what they needed.

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We evaded the strongest teams, though Leverkusen is not weak too (well, they won their group at least).

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Mid-season 2019/20

Transfers in

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Fabian Gomez – nothing to say, noticed him browsing the national teams and was amazed. Wonderkid, professional, scoring a goal in a game for Mexico, and joined us for free as his contract expired.

Moise Vlad-Paul – was signed about 2 years ago. Impressive physical skills, could be a good striker for us potentially (though the competition between the strikers will be really tough).

Noboru Ogasawara – another talent found while searching current internationals. 29 games already at 19 years, even though Japan has a well-known database issue, it’s still impressive.

And another decent youth intake. No future stars, but Frolov, Gusev and Hasanov can potentially be useful.

 

Dante was selected as best African defender of the year.

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February-March 2020

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Bayer surely used the advantage of better competitive match fitness at the start, winning a penalty in their first attack (saved by Djanaev though) and scoring few minutes later. After that both teams had chances, and closer to the end we managed to equalize, Soares set up a goal for Vlahovic. Not the ideal result of course, but giving us some chances in return leg.

Probably the most easily predicted win. Both Ogasawara and Gomez got their first goals for us against poor Tyumen.

Krasnodar became a very tough opponent for us. Once again we had more shots, spent the whole extra time with a man advantage, but needed a shootout to decide the winner. Luckily, Djanaev was able to save twice and guided us to semi-finals.

In addition to overall tiredness after a cup match, we had to play with 10 men since 26th minute, when Fernandez received a straight red. In such circumstances a home draw with second-placed Spartak was almost equal to a win.

Confident win over CSKA. They couldn’t hit a target at all, while our attackers were clearly outpacing their aged defense and could score more than only goal.

Classic :D  Leverkusen seemed to control the game, scored first, but then we replied with a goal from our first shot. Second half went in similar way, opponent’s advantage – our second goal with second shot :D Extremely lucky, but who cares? We advanced to quarter-final and will play Barcelona there.

The score can make you think that Lokomotiv had a real chance to get points there, but actually they just managed to reduce our lead to only goal and didn’t threaten our defense more.

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7 points already look like a good lead, can feel more confident before even tougher schedule in April.

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April 2020

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3 days before a trip to Barcelona I gave a rest to the whole supposed starting 11, but the second squad was strong enough to beat Fakel easily.

After conceding on 2nd minute from Pique I was ready for heavy loss, but we hold on quite creditable away result. Still don’t see us advancing on overall, but anything can happen. If only Gomez and Vlahovic could convert one of their few chances…

Equal game and not the worst result for us in the tough schedule.

I underestimated the fact that Barcelona is now managed by Ancelotti, never saw them playing so defensively. They finished the game with 3 nominal DM’s, that’s truly not the tiki-taka we are used to :D However they advanced to semi-finals, and we finish the European season with the best achievement so far. 

Zenit had a whole week for rest, but couldn’t use their advantage. We were a much better side in St.Petersburg, the shots on target stats say everything – 11 against 2, so actually home team should feel lucky not to concede more. 8 points lead with 7 games to go, not a guarantee of course, but a great chance to defend the title.

Early goal by Yamlikhanov eventually appeared as the only one in this semi-final. Going to play Anji in the final, that's a good chance for a domestic treble this season.

Revenge for breaking our unbeaten run :D That was a really tough schedule, with playing currently 2nd and 3rd teams on their grounds (and a cup match between), and I’m glad to pass it without dropping points.

Despite getting 20 shots on goal, we couldn’t break solid Dinamo defense. However, our advantage in the league is still obvious, only a really bad luck can prevent us from winning second title in a row.

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Some other good news as our facilities will be upgraded soon.

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May 2020

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Not so fast, says FM. Second goalless draw at home and +6 from Zenit.

So far Gomez disappoints me a bit. In the game against Tom he missed in three one-on-one situations, had 6.1 rating and I already wanted to substitute him, but then the Mexican finally scored from Terentjev’s cross, giving us the crucial win, as Zenit played day before and got 3 points.

Zenit played few hours before us and drew with Dinamo, so we already knew that a win would make us champions. Knowing this added our players extra confidence, and the game was done already in first half. We’re winning the league second time in a row! And Gomez, criticized for the recent games, got a hat-trick here, hope not the last one.

Our second squad couldn’t break Anji defense. Well, more motivation for the cup final.

Only 3 shots on target from 15, our strikers played like they are already on holiday.

The same problems with shots accuracy appeared in the cup final too, but there we at least were able to score an early goal. Yamlikhanov once again became a cup joker, his goal was decisive in semi-final against Lokomotiv, and now we lifted the trophy with his only goal!

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Four points less than season before, but it was enough to win the title confidently. Lokomotiv won all their 5 games in May and qualified to the Champions League, great run for them. Tyumen got the same 8 points, as in their previous RFPL season, don’t think their fans liked that stability.

 

Awards

Best Player: Joaozinho (Krasnodar)

Players’ Select: Joaozinho (Krasnodar), Poloz (Rostov), Hassan (Zenit)

Top Goalscorer: Hassan (Zenit) – 16, Jonathas (Rubin) – 13, Vlahovic (Rostov) - 12

Goalkeeper of the Year: Djanaev (Rostov)

Young Player of the Year: Grulev (DInamo)

Manager of the Year: me

Team of the Year

Goal of the Year: Vlahovic against Kuban, well really deserved.

 

Four teams promoted from FNL this season, for Dinamo St.Petersburg it will be first top-flight appearance since 1963.

 

European Review

Champions LeagueMourinho guided Man Utd to the third consecutive final, lost to PSG and was sacked :D They also finished 4th in Premier League, but still that decision seems very strange.  Djanaev was selected into the team of the season.

Europa League – fully English final, second year in a row.

 

England – Man City, Arsenal, Tottenham

Spain – Real Madrid, Atletico, Barcelona            

Germany – Bayern, Dortmund,  Leverkusen

Italy – Juventus, Napoli, Roma

France – PSG, Monaco, Lyon

Netherlands – Feyenoord, Ajax, PSV

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Will be interesting to follow the Euro. Strinic was a first-team player on loan in Alaves, and despite their relegation, our defender was noticed by national team manager.

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Nice win! Great season. You are definitely turning Rostov in a Russian stalwart.

I wouldn't be too worried on the early returns from Gomez. Clearly very talented but might be taking time to settle in. I assume he doesn't speak Russian yet. He will be lethal in Russia, especially if a few of his attributes like Off the Ball continue to grow.

Interesting that Joaozinho won all the plaudits, despite the fairly disappointing finish of Krasnodar. Is he a fully capped Russian now? That often happens in my saves.

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On 28.03.2017 at 23:07, Bigpapa42 said:

Interesting that Joaozinho won all the plaudits, despite the fairly disappointing finish of Krasnodar. Is he a fully capped Russian now? That often happens in my saves.

He only got one friendly cap in 2018. Seems strange, as he's not worse than Shatov and Cheryshev, who are in the squad at same position, and plays better (had 10+7 and 7.3 rating last season).

 

Pre-season 2020/21

Transfers out

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Sold some players who are not starters anymore (or never were). Gutierrez was recalled from loan very soon, as Gomez, Vlahovic and Ogasawara were called to Olympics and we needed more depth in attack.

Transfers in

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Vitaly Lystsov – the best Russian central defender joined us for a quite modest fee (especially from a title rival), will certainly be a starter in domestic games.

Marko Grujic – another Serbian in our squad, and another ex-Liverpool midfielder joined for free.

Scott Smith – simply was free and too good to allow him go anywhere else.

 

Euro-2020

Spoiler

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Spain won the cup, defeating England at Wembley. Duarte played 2 games for Portugal, sharing 3rd place. Russia failed to advance from the group, not a big surprise to be honest.

 

Super Cup

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Had to rely on penalties, but managed to defeat Zenit once again and won our second Super Cup.

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Two titles in a row were enough to make us favourites.

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13 hours ago, tyler16 said:

What is the current first choice XI? Seems you've built up a very nice squad at this point.

 

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That's the best available squad (in opinion of my assistant), central defenders and central midfielders actually have an equal backup and can be replaced easily. The main issue is that I can use all of them only in European matches, league rules demand at least 5 Russians from starting 11. Also for next season I'll need a new starting GK, as Djanaev is 33 already and started declining (that's a problem too, as most of good Russian keepers are either 30+ too or newgens, not ready for first team yet, and a foreigner would most likely play only in European competitions, not sure that's good for match fitness and overall happiness).

 

August 2020

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Gutierrez proved the decision to recall him from loan was right, coming from the bench at 1-1 and scoring twice.

Zenit accepted us as favourites and started to play clearly defensive against us, so far it works. In Super Cup they lose on penalties, but there it’s only 90 minutes and they got a point.

While our top strikers are still playing in Japan, others try to step on their place. Took quite long to break Amkar’s defense, but later in the second half Gutierrez and Yamlikhanov gave us the win.

Argentina won the Olympics, Spain came second and Mexico third with Gomez as best goalscorer. Japan and Serbia were knocked out in quarter-finals.

Mordovia started the season with two wins, but here they couldn’t get even a shot on goal. Though once again we had to wait till second half to start scoring.

Finally we were able to score an early goal and then confidently controlled the game till the final whistle.

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The starting schedule was quite easy, so our early lead was predictable. Poor start for Zenit, though it’s still only 5 games played and everything will surely change.

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Not bad, should qualify along with Dortmund.  Milan was the last team remaining, that probably will be the toughest group.

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September 2020

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Extremely bad start, we conceded twice in first 30 minutes. Luckily, their defender soon was sent off, allowing us to create more in second half. But even having a man advantage, we managed only to get a draw.

Dusan Vlahovic is a nightmare for German teams, 3 goals to Leverkusen in spring and now a hat-trick against Dortmund! Before his first goal visitors controlled the game, but conceding shortly before half-time lowered their confidence dramatically. Two mistakes in second half, and our striker used them to make our win really big.

Dinamo SPB home stadium was too small to host RFPL matches, but instead of sharing Zenit arena or moving to old Petrovsky they decided to play home matches in Cherepovets, 500 km from St.Petersburg. Why not Vladivostok then? :D However, they played quite well at ‘home’, a penalty was the only chance we created before half-time.

Last season’s cup hero Yamlikhanov secured another win for us, scoring two before half-time.

A counter after opponents’ corner ended with a header from Maksimovic, and that goal actually set the game in our favor.

That should have happened, though I didn’t expect such a poor performance in this match. Celtic wasn’t better though, just one lucky long shot.

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At least going strong in the league, hope that loss in Glasgow won’t damage morale too seriously.

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 October 2020

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The first notable attack ended with a goal, Gomez scored a header after Terentjev’s cross. That goal remained the only one, though both teams had opportunities to change it in an overall equal game.

Not even close to getting points. The only chance was created on 72th minute, and Yamlikhanov shot right into the keeper, while CSKA could score a lot more.

Another tough game in Champions League, though that time we managed to get an advantage early and were more confident after it. Leading the group with half of matches played, hope we'll hold it till the end.

All the attacking power simply disappeared after September :( Couldn’t even score against Yenisey at home.

Played poorly again, but somehow won, and even without extra time. Long shot from Vlahovic few seconds before final whistle guided us to quarter-finals.

Slowly getting better, scored two before half-time against Terek and held this advantage.

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Despite not the best performance in October, we retained the same 3 points gap from Spartak, and even increased from all others.

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November-December 2020

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Destroyed Dortmund, then lost to Celtic and barely saved a home draw against Feyenoord on 90th minute. FM will make me insane some day :D  At least we are still leading in the group, being ahead Dortmund on a head-to-head result.

Even against 15th team we had huge problems after conceding on 2nd minute. Hope international break will help us regain better form.

6.3, 6.5, 6.6. Another bad day for our strikers.

Conceding on 1st minute is certainly not the way you want to start any match, especially away at Dortmund. But we regained control of the game, and later in the first half Gomez equalized from Olaleye’s cross. Second half started in a similar way, with Schurrle’s goal, but again we equalized and even went ahead with another goal by Gomez! Unfortunately, closer to the end Guerreiro scored his second with a rebound, getting a draw for his team. Before the last matchday we, Dortmund and Celtic all have 8 points, so a home win will certainly bring us into knockout rounds.

We had only 2 shots on goal in the first half, but both were successful. A massive win, as Spartak remained our only real opposition before the winter break, and with this result we increased our advantage to 4 points.

Lystsov simply gifted a goal to Dinamo in their first attack, but our attacking players coped with a tougher task. Poloz equalized with a penalty, and after half-time two Serbian goals sealed our win. With a few seconds remaining Dinamo scored again, but that was too late.

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Spartak lost once more, increasing the gap to 7 points. Zenit so far is out of European places, with Berdyev’s position under threat. Wonder if they are going to approach me then :D 

The early goal was crucial. Celtic would advance to knockout rounds in case of a draw, and their defense would be extremely hard to beat other way. That game wasn’t easy in the end too, they clawed one back on 80th minute and threatened with endless crosses, but our defenders held the lead.

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We finished first, thanks to that opening game against Dortmund. Maybe the luck will be on our side in the draw and we’ll get Ludogorets? They managed to beat Porto and Zenit in their group (btw, Berdyev was sacked after losing the last match, and now they are going to hire Yenisey manager, 66-year old Vladimir Mukhanov. Really weird).

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No, Benfica this time. Leverkusen were lucky, though I bet, they felt like that last year too :D  And some very familiar rivalries around. 

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Our youth team also advanced and will play Hungarian side Ferencvaros in first knockout round. 

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23 hours ago, EvilDave said:

Surprised to see Dinamo St Pete's doing so well!

Yes, before the season I saw them somewhere near last year's Tyumen result, but they exceed the expectations so far.

 

Mid-season 2020/21

Transfers out

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Earned 85M on these transfers, but there was one huge downside – bid from Chelsea, which matched release clause for Gomez came just before European deadline, so I simply had no time finding a replacement to be registered for Champions League. The only thing I managed to do is recalling Vlad-Paul from loan, but he’s nowhere near the Mexican in terms of skill :( As for Strinic and Gutierrez, they also were sold for release fees, which were far higher than nominal values (and anyway they weren’t starting players yet).

Vlahovic almost went to Schalke the same way for 25M, but decided to accept a new deal with 40M release fee. Not sure we’ll hold him for long even with that, unfortunately.

 

Transfers in

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Roar Oien – we don’t really need another central midfielder, but I can’t go past such players on free transfer. Sent on loan for the remaining season, will see how he plays in France.

Felipe Solano – replaced Strinic as a backup defender.

Emma Kabiru – if only Chelsea came with their bid few days before, we would register him for the Champions League, but now will be able to use him only in domestic matches so far.

 

We signed an agreement with Chertanovo, one of the best Russian youth academies, and that seemed to influence our youth intake positively.  Mikhail Frolov is touted as one of the best players from recent years, Solovjov, Melnikov and Vedeneev also have good potential.

 

Dante was called into Mali squad for the African Cup of Nations and helped his team to reach quarter-finals (lost to Cameroon on penalties there), conceding only one goal and finishing the tournament with the best average rating of 7.8. South Africa won the cup, smashing Zambia 6-1 in the final.

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February-March 2021

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Forgot to check set pieces takers after Gomez departure, it turned out that Djanaev had the best attributes and took all free kicks :D Wonder if he will score once, or at least get an assist? Anyway one of his free kicks led to the first goal, Duarte won a header and Dante was unmarked on the 6 yard line. And soon after that Vlahovic added another in a counter. 2-0 in Lisbon despite the loss of our star striker, that’s an impressive start!

Unusual misunderstanding between Djanaev and defenders allowed Panyukov to score into open net shortly before half-time, but actually that was the only chance they had. Easy 3 points for us.

Three goals in first half and the game was done. We got Mordovia in semi-final, so far it looks like the easiest cup route we could hope for. Frolov set a new record as the youngest player appeared for our team.

First minutes went with visitors’ advantage, they have several chances, hit the post from a free kick, but conceded immediately after it. Fernandez shot from outside the box and scored with a help of deflection. His first goal this season, and it came in such an important moment. And when Vlahovic doubled our lead, Benfica simply gave up, allowing us to score two more. That massive win guided us to quarter-finals second time in a row, let’s see what we can do there.

How it sometimes happens, after a big win comes not so impressive game. We were too poor in hitting the target against Mordovia, the bottom team currently.

Zenit is in deep crisis, and manager change didn’t help so far. They couldn’t get even a single shot on target, and only Lodygin’s efforts saved them from a bigger loss.

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Hoped for Leverkusen of course, but instead we got the defending champions, who have just eliminated Barcelona. Though can’t say they are unbeatable this season, currently going 2nd in Ligue 1 behind Monaco and lost to America in Club World Cup semi-final.

Couldn’t break Krasnodar defense in the first half, and just after half-time Lystsov picked his second yellow card, so we had to play more carefully and were held to a draw as a result.

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Still a good lead above Spartak and all others. Dinamo SPB continues surprising, so far they are even better than Zenit! And while one Dinamo is overachieving, another slides down to relegation zone, seems balanced :D 

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On 3/20/2017 at 18:19, Bigpapa42 said:

I completely forgot that Rostov are one of the clubs benefitting from the World Cup. A shiny new stadium is pretty awesome.

Speaking about a shiny new stadium: How are Baltika doing in your save? Do they even get a new arena? I managed them on FM15 and then quit when I found out that they were not getting a new arena (not yet programmed into the game at that time)

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@CRM2009 they have a new stadium, built in 2017, but doing not so well, so far facing relegation from 2nd tier.

 

April 2021

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Yamlikhanov’s goal few seconds before half-time was decisive, in second half we easily scored two more on counters.

Not the best game for us, but that was enough to advance into the final. And there we’ll play Krylja Sovetov, seems like all top teams decided to ignore the cup this season.

Well, at least we won the first half :D Playing against a much better side, was hard to expect more, Isco equalized soon after half-time, and then Morata scored the winner from a penalty.

Disastrous start, Lokomotiv scored an early goal and had several more chances, but after half-time we managed to recover and overturned the game. Even though the winning goal was scored from a deflection, we deserved that result.

Not outclassed at least. Mourinho’s new side is going further, and we can now concentrate on the league.

Sad to say, but Djanaev really declined and needs to be replaced for next season. Long shot from Smolov wasn’t dangerous at all, but he fumbled it into the net. Our attacks weren't as dangerous as usual too.

Tough away game against Rubin, but we scored an early goal and held the lead then.

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Only 2 points remained, though we have a game in hand. Dinamo SPB already climbed up to European places, they really exceed all the expectations this season!

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May 2021

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That was close to upset. Vlahovic suffered an injury, Yamlikhanov had a poor game, so I decided to substitute him with 15-year old Frolov, and he justified this decision, scoring the winner with a few minutes remaining! With that goal Mikhail beat both club and league records as youngest scorer.

Third 1-0 win in a row, with a questionable penalty, but still we got 3 points in a postponed match, increasing the gap to 5.

Conceded an immediate equalizer and dropped points as a result. 3 points from Spartak, and we play each other on the last matchday in Moscow. With such unimpressive form I can’t guarantee anything…

Finally were able to score more than one, and that was really crucial for a win, as Anji had the only shot on target on 81st minute and it went in! Same 3 points above Spartak with 2 games remaining, and their recent form (9 wins out of 10) really makes me nervous.

We already knew about another Spartak win, so generally there was no difference between win and draw for us, just needed to get a point for being ahead before the final day. However, the quality of our football was disappointing.

First minutes of the decisive game were really tough for us, Djanaev was forced off with an injury, and substitute keeper Filtsov played nervously, allowing Spartak some real chances, luckily for us, they were unsuccessful. After that we managed to get the game under control and deny their attacking moves (especially paying attention to Ovchinnikov, RFPL best goalscorer of the season). In the second half Spartak started to take more risks, but our defense played confidently, and counters became even more dangerous. The resolution came on 90th minute. Allan crossed from a free kick, Fernando tripped Smith in the box, and Vlahovic converted a penalty. With that goal he set a new club record for goals scored in one season, but I doubt anyone actually paid attention to this, as that was truly a golden goal, giving us the third consecutive title.

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Zenit managed to move up to Europa League places at least. Dinamo SPB couldn’t sustain that form and lost all of their games in May, but that was enough to secure the top tier place for the next season.

 

Oh, typical FM. 30 shots on goal and instead of smashing the opponents we concede a late equalizer after our best defender simply misses a header, allowing forward to run one on one. And of course, lose on penalties after that. Missed a chance for another domestic treble with more than favourable draw :( 

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And that came immediately after the final. Are you serious? We got 112 million transfer budget, but can’t use it with that embargo…   Just hope this won’t last for long.

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Upd: Took only about a week to make a deal. New board immediately agreed to upgrade youth facilities and junior coaching, though rejected training facilities and cut the link with Chertanovo (hope to reconsider it soon).

 

Awards

Best Player: Promes (Spartak)

Players’ Select: Promes (Spartak), Ovchinnikov (Spartak), Maksimovic (Rostov)

Top Goalscorer: Ovchinnikov (Spartak) – 21, Ponce (Dinamo M) – 16, Jelic (Krylja) - 13

Goalkeeper of the Year: Djanaev (Rostov)

Young Player of the Year: Ovchinnikov (Spartak)

Manager of the Year: me again :D 

Team of the Year

 

Kuban and Fakel returned after a season in FNL, play-offs ended with both RFPL sides winning that time.

 

European Review

Champions LeagueMourinho now won the trophy with four different teams, and PSG became the first club since 1990, which managed to win it twice in a row. Atletico should probably ask UEFA to remove injury time, they again conceded the equalizer with seconds to go and lost the shootout.

Europa League – England dominated it again, even West Brom advanced to semi-final. And this run by Porto means that Portugal returned to 6th place in coefficients table, overtaking Russia, so we lost one CL place for the next season. Our sole efforts were not enough, 4 of 5 other teams even couldn’t qualify from their groups…

 

EnglandArsenal (Zidane), Chelsea (Jardim), Man City (Pep). Man Utd (Emery/Prandelli) finished only 5th, went out from CL in quarter-final… do they still think sacking Mourinho was a right decision? :D 

SpainAtletico (Simeone), Barcelona (Low), Real Madrid (Allegri)      

GermanyBayern (F.de Boer), Leverkusen (Schmidt), Wolfsburg (Stendel)

ItalyRoma (M.Laudrup), Fiorentina (Stramaccioni), Juventus (Conte)

FranceMonaco (Ranieri), PSG (Mourinho), Bordeaux (Gourvennec). Oh well it’s Claudio, not so surprising to see Monaco winning then :) 

NetherlandsAjax (Hasselbaink), PSV (Stevens), Feyenoord (van Bronckhorst)

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Pre-season 2021/22

Transfers out

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Decided to sell Ezzatollahi, he’s 25 and unlikely to improve more, and with league regulations it would be better to use Russian player as a backup. Dante and Ogasawara are chased by European top teams, and I’m afraid they may activate their release fees, though no bids made so far.  

Transfers in

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Anton Mitryushkin – will be our new starting goalkeeper (for long time, I hope). Not a world-class level, but best of available.

Igor Sergeev – a backup defensive midfielder instead of Ezzatollahi, another option for rotation and fitting foreigner rules in domestic matches.

Corentin Jean – thought it would be better to have a bit more experienced striker than our youngsters, especially as he’s consistent and enjoys big matches, according to our scouts.

 

International tournaments:

Confederations CupArgentina defeated Spain in the final. Japan (with Ogasawara in squad) finished 3rd in their group, losing to Spain and Uruguay only on goal difference.

Gold CupUSA (Smith) lost to Costa Rica in the final.

U-21 EuroPortugal defeated Ukraine in the final, Norway (Oien) lost all 3 matches, but our midfielder somehow had the best average rating.

U-19 Euro – no our representatives, but a very interesting outcome. The golden generation of Kazakhstan arrives? 

 

Super Cup

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A revenge for the cup final and really impressive debut for Corentin Jean, he’s really great in finding and converting chances (well, at least on this level).

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Still slight favorites ahead of Zenit, Spartak and CSKA.

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August 2021

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After a great start in Super Cup Jean continued the same way in the league, scoring twice and actually securing the win against Amkar.

Another confident win. Jean continued his goal streak, and Oien scored his first for our team. What’s interesting, it was a header won after corner cross despite a poor jumping attribute. 

Really easy schedule for us so far, game against Fakel was done in first 6 minutes with two goals from Vlahovic. Later in the injury time Dusan sealed his hat-trick, can be wrong, but think it’s his first in competitive games for us.

Krasnodar seemed to be a tougher opposition, but we didn’t care. A great teamplay goal on 4th minute set all the game in our way, and in second half we added two more on counters.

For the first time in this season we scored less than three, though played as strong as before, and only impressive saves by Selikhov prevented more goals in his net. Lokomotiv had only 3 long shots on our goal, and all were too far from target.

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5 out of 5, perfect start. September will provide first real tests – matches against Spartak and CSKA, and of course European fixtures.

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The last team we got was Austria Wien.

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September 2021

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Can’t say we played so much better than Spartak, but got a massive win. Jean added two more to his overall stats, and third goal from Schennikov actually secured 3 points for us.

Jean suffered a shoulder injury in training, so had to miss our European opening, but even without him we smashed the Austrian side. Yamlikhanov fully replaced the Frenchman, scoring a hat-trick and winning a penalty.

CSKA defeated us twice last season, so there was another motivation to beat them. The only goal came in the middle of second half, Ogasawara’s long shot hit the post and Yamlikhanov added into the empty net. 

Didn’t plan to start Vlahovic in the cup match, but Poloz was injured and I haven’t many options. Dusan got a hat-trick as the result, all three assisted by our top prospect Frolov.

It should have happened some day. Early penalty and fierce long shot from Muto gave Wolfsburg a solid lead, and despite our advantage in remaining time and several real chances, we managed to score only once. Next two matches against Juve will be crucial for our qualification.

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Still no single point dropped in the league, and already a good advantage above all others. Surprised to see Dinamo Moscow on 3rd place, and Zenit started poorly again.

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October 2021

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Both teams finished the game with 10 men, Dante was forced out with injury and Mamaev got second yellow card. With more free space on the pitch we managed to set up a decisive attack, Terentjev crossed from right wing, and Vlahovic easily finished.

Wasn’t so easy to find our form after international break. Poloz finally beat visitors’ keeper on 81st minute, but that wasn’t all. In the injury time Terentjev gave them a chance to equalize, conceding a penalty, but Mitryushkin saved a shot from Kouassi.

That was impressive. After a boring start we earned a free kick with 25 meters to goal, and Grujic fired the ball through Asenjo’s hands into the net! Before half-time Jean added two in counters, easily overtaking Bonucci, and in the second half Grujic doubled his tally too, and again from a direct free kick. Lucas Moura got one back shortly before the final whistle, but that was only a small consolation for Juve.

Early goal and easy win, making it ten in a row. So far the league is very much one-sided, but it all could change in a moment.

That’s how last season’s final should have ended. Even though our usual starters stayed on bench, we still scored four and easily advanced.

Well, I predicted this. Penalty from out of nowhere, opponent’s sending off with 20 minutes to go doesn’t influence the match at all… Agreed that we started too strong and had to be slowed down :D 

 

Forgot to make a screenshot, but even with that loss and a game in hand we had a 5 points lead in the league.

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November 2021

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Feeling like PSG. Conceded first goal on 3rd minute from a deflection, and all the game went down after it. 0-4 at half-time, and all we could do there is to score twice. Anyway that’s not a knockout match yet, two wins in the remaining fixtures will guarantee a qualifying place. Just hope that loss won’t be too devastating for our form.

No, the team is destroyed. A late equalizer from Yamlikhanov saved us from another loss, but still it was a disappointing result. Luckily we have a break now, time for some morale-raising friendlies.

13 goals in 2 friendlies certainly helped us to regain the good form. And luck was on our side too, not so dangerous cross from Savchenko led to an own goal, and so we got an early advantage.

Scored in the very first attack and controlled the game after it. Unfortunately, lost Jean for 2 weeks due to an injury, so he may be not fit for last group match.

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Despite that 7-2 win, Juventus now depends on our result before the last match day. We need to defeat Wolfsburg, any other result would most likely send us to Europa League.

Minimal, but confident win on a snowy Siberian field. Equaled all other teams in matches played, and leading with 8 points gap.

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Zenit sacked Mukhanov. His appointment was a very strange decision from the start, so not surprised.

Our youth facilities were upgraded to great (3.5 stars), and immediately started the upgrade of training facilities (also 3.5 currently).

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December 2021

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Another free kick goal from Grujic, fourth already this season. Can’t remember such performance from anyone in our team (maybe Noboa in first seasons was close).

Sergeev scored his first goal for us, but later in the second half was sent off, giving Amkar a chance to equalize. However, he still was selected as player of the match :D 

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10 points before the winter break, amazing result so far. Though remembering last season, I wouldn’t make any predictions. Zenit escaped relegation zone winning the last match, would be a tough task for newly appointed Shota Arveladze to guide them to European places. Also a strong start from Krylja Sovetov, considered their cup win as just luck, but they seem to build on it.

Tough start, Malcom gave visitors an early lead, and after than Muto had two more chances, both saved by Mitryushkin. But closer to half-time we regained an advantage, and Jean (recovered from injury just a few days before) fully used it, scoring two and overturning the game. In second half we had to defend again, and with some memorable saves from Mitryushkin held the lead. 1-6 on clear cut chances, but who cares? :D 

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Damn. Seems like finishing second was a better option this year.

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Horrible luck with the draw, given how tough a group you had.  Have the Catalans replenished their side?  I often see Spain fall by the wayside relatively early (including in my current save), with one of the big 2 also struggling.

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@ManUtd1 well their squad is getting older, but still strong. Messi is 34 and playing with about 8 average rating, Neymar just won the Ballon d'or. Busquets, Pique and ter Stegen are still there too. Added Bailly, Salah, Ziyech and some already great newgens. So don't think they'll face a huge decline soon.

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Mid-season 2021/22

Transfers out

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We were the victims of deadline day and release fees once again. And as Russian transfer window closes in late February, our incoming transfers don’t speed up then and we’re simply out of time to register a replacement for Europe.

Transfers in

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Greg Muldoon – spotted last year at U-20 World Cup, needed to wait until he turned 18 though.

Junior – managed to secure that loan few hours before registration deadline. Not an equal replacement for Dante, of course, just a depth option.

Jose Ramos – another Chilean international for free, either he’ll become a valuable squad player or we’ll make cash on him, like it was with Gutierrez.

Ibrahim Diawara – already 20, so don’t think he will reach all that potential, but at least can be sold with profit.

 

Our youth academy continues producing attacking prospects. Nobody has Frolov’s potential (he already attracted attention from Real Madrid, btw), but Shikunov and Yankovskiy can develop into valuable players.

Upd: Korneev’s potential was reassessed to 5 stars :eek:

 

Oh, and those news came:

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Yedunov is quite good for 18 years and surely has potential, but 50M? Really? And what’s even weirder, Lokomotiv eventually rejected this bid :D 

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@kidthekid we just have too much competition on his position, so he's unlikely to break into first team so far.

 

February-March 2022

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Despite the result, I’m satisfied with our performance. We managed to equalize twice at Camp Nou, but the only moment when Messi was allowed to receive the ball inside the box ended with a winning goal. However, this score still gives us a chance to advance.

Had a huge advantage against Fakel, but scored only one after a free kick and almost were punished for that. The only hosts’ dangerous attack in the match ended with a goal, luckily disallowed due to offside.

Started the strongest available squad (including foreign restrictions, of course), but managed to break Lokomotiv defense only in injury time, having the man advantage after Yedunov (yes, that guy who almost became the most expensive Russian player ever) was sent off. Will play Dinamo Moscow in semi-final.

Rested all leaders before Champions League, but anyway scored five even before half-time.

A very strong start from us, Grujic played one-two with Vlahovic, ran to the penalty area and shot past ter Stegen. Jean had an excellent chance to double our lead soon, avoiding the offside trap, but that time German keeper saved his team. After half-time Barcelona played better, and the most real chance was missed by Neymar, he was against open net, but somehow Olaleye blocked the shot. We held the lead till the final whistle and advanced to quarter-final, third time in a row!

Was hard to get into domestic game after a win in Europe, but after half-time we finally scored and then secured a confident win. 16 points gap from CSKA now, looks like the title is ours.

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Some seasons ago we were able to draw twice against Man City, but that was in a group stage.

With that advantage we can afford to leave all key players on the bench and keep them fresh in Europe. Our second loss in the league, will see if it was a right decision.

For the third time we face City, and still no one could score. What’s encouraging before the return leg, we actually were close to that, with Rulli saved two one-on-one attempts from Jean.

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14 points from Krylja, actually need to win only a half of remaining fixtures to secure the title.

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Get in! Great result against Barcelona! And walking the league again. Love the consistency.

Not surprised by the huge bid by Zenit - seen them pay big money for Russian players in a few saves. But definitely agree that Yedunov doesn't look remotely worth that amount of money. I've often seen Zenit pay something in the 25-40m range to Lokomotiv for Miranchuk in several different test saves. Interesting that Lokomotiv turned it down - they must have quite a bit of cash to say no.

Speaking of which, how are the finances looking? I imagine they are quite sound, with the transfer fund you mentioned and the player sales. I find the sponsorship deals for top Russian clubs are quite lucrative as well, especially if the runs in Europe are raising your club reputation.

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Not a bad chunk of money to be sitting on. Not bad at all lol

Getting those deep runs in Europe helps a ton. And obviously those big value player sales. The league doesn't pay all that much, compared other bigger leagues in Europe. I've never seen the prize money go up notably.

I found sponsorships to be relatively lucrative in saves with Lokomotiv, but that was in the early going and player wages are relatively reasonable there (a couple of exceptions aside). You didn't get stuck in that fun situation where the board negotiated long term sponsorship deals when you were at a lower reputation, did you? That is never fun.

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April 2022

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Savchenko scored on rebound in the middle of first half, allowing us to win without spending too much energy before matching Man City.

Awesome start of the return leg, we set up an attack from a kick-off, Vlahovic provided Jean with a great through pass, and Corentin scored from off the post! Man City had a chance to equalize really soon, referee gave them a penalty on 7th minute, but Mitryushkin saved twice (well, actually Stones just hit him standing in the middle :D ). But one wasn’t enough, another penalty just after 5 minutes, and Morata was more successful. The equality didn’t last long, Grujic took a free kick, and Vlahovic scored with a powerful header. But the first half ended with a draw, in injury time our defenders allowed Griezmann to receive the ball and shoot, no chances for the keeper. Man City kept the slight advantage, time was running out, and then I substituted defender Solano with third forward. That worked almost immediately, Yamlikhanov provided the ball to Maksimovic, who fired it right to the net from the edge of area! 10 minutes with weakened defense and no more substitutions were extremely hard to withstand, but we did it. From the third attempt we advanced to the best four of Europe!

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Well, that’s probably the best draw, Bayern and Real both look stronger. 4 years ago Liverpool stopped us in Europa League semi-final, and now the same stage, just a step higher.

Again scored in the first attack, controlling the game after it and easily leading it to the win.

Vlahovic was forced out with a head injury early in the game, but Poloz was a good replacement, setting a goal for Yamlikhanov almost immediately and scoring later. We’re in the final against Krasnodar, and other good news that Vlahovic will be out only for a week.

Another confident win against the bottom team, and only one remaining for securing the title.

Failed to win the league from the first attempt, both goals were scored within a minute, and the score was kept till the final whistle.

Olaleye suffered an injury in training. Decided to give him injections, as he’s anyway out for second leg, but could then play in first…

A quite boring match was decided in the end, actually with two moments. Jean couldn’t hit the target from a close distance, and Berahino scored almost identical one few minutes later. Surely less chances to advance than in two previous rounds, but not over yet.

Had to promote Ustinov from reserves, he was transfer-listed for whole season and his contract is expiring in June, but Olaleye’s injury gave him a chance, and one of crosses resulted in the only goal. The golden goal actually.

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No time for celebrating, the return leg against Liverpool is just in few days.

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Bad news for our top prospect. Hope this won’t halt his development too much.

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May 2022

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We really played better, but luck wasn’t on our side this day. Vlahovic and Maksimovic hit the woodwork, Karius made some great saves, and so our impressive run ended just one step before the final…

Without any motivation already, we still were far better than currently 3rd team of the league. Maybe will beat some club or league records if continue playing like this.

Zenit looked hopeless against us, they clearly need to rebuild the squad. Vlahovic scored the only goal from a corner and actually it was enough.

Conceded after first corner, and then Junior got a stupid red card on 10th minute. Can’t even fine a loaned player for that, so just sent him into U19 squad for the rest of season :D 

Avoided a poor start that time and confidently led the game to the winning outcome. Vlahovic was the best on the pitch, actually making both goals.

Celebrated the last home game of the season with a solid win. And yeah, two records were beaten – no one before won 25 matches in Russian top division, and Mitryushkin set a new club landmark with 27th clean sheet during one season.

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21 points from second place is most likely a league record too.

 

Krasnodar got an early lead after our poor delivering of free kick and an excellent counter, but Vlahovic soon managed to equalize with a header. Second half went with our advantage, and eventually we converted it into goal. Grujic crossed from left wing, Vlahovic won a header and scored his second, beating a club record in goals during one season (21) and bringing another cup win for us. Also that was the last match in Djanaev’s playing career, great way to retire.

 

Awards

Best Player: Dzagoev (CSKA)

Players’ Select: Vlahovic (Rostov), Dzagoev (CSKA), Smolov (CSKA)

Top Goalscorer: Kramaric (Krasnodar) – 14, Romanov (Krasnodar) – 13, Belov (Kuban) - 13

Goalkeeper of the Year: Mitryushkin (Rostov)

Young Player of the Year: Savchenko (Rostov)

Manager of the Year: any doubts? :D 

Team of the Year

 

FNL season ended with Tyumen and Mordovia return to the top flight, Dinamo SPb and Fakel retained their RFPL places in play-offs. Tosno relegated to 3rd tier, quite a surprise as few seasons ago they were a mid-table RFPL side.

 

European Review

Champions LeagueLiverpool won both European titles consecutively, and that’s with caretaker manager Pepijn Lijnders (Ancelotti left for Roma in December). After that success he was offered a full contact though.

Europa League – fourth consecutive title for English teams, Leicester (Benitez) this time. And Porto (Villas-Boas) once again reached the final, bad news for us as Portugal increased advantage in the ranking even more.

 

EnglandChelsea (Jardim), Man Utd (Prandelli), Man City (Pep). Champions and Europa League winners were only 8th and 9th respectively, I wonder how many teams England will have next season then? Our former player Fabian Gomez became the top goalscorer with 22 goals.

SpainBarcelona (Low), Real Madrid (Emery), Atletico (Simeone). Top-3 was separated with the only point (87-86-86).               

GermanySchalke (Hasenhuttl), Wolfsburg (Stendel), Dortmund (Espirito Santo). Bayern (R.de Boer) finished only 6th, so the Champions League finalists won’t participate there next season.

ItalyJuventus (Conte), Roma (Ancelotti), Milan (Alessandro Pane)

FrancePSG (Mourinho), Marseille (Moldovan), Monaco (Ranieri)

NetherlandsAjax (M.Laudrup), Feyenoord (van Bronckhorst), PSV (Fitzel)

 

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Russia didn’t qualify for the World Cup, but we still have a solid representation there. Also there will be 4 our former players – Gomez (Mexico), Dante (Mali), Azmoun and Ezatollahi (Iran).

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I just finished the first season of a save in Russia with another club. Rostov finished dead last and were relegated. It made me think of this and how well you have done. And also how well Berdayev did last year with them. But they were really poor all year and were on barely half the points of the club above them. So lest anyone think that because Rostov finished 2nd last season that they are an "easy" club to manage and turn into a powerhouse like you have managed, Koetzer... its quite an accomplishment what you have built them into.

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@Bigpapa42 yes, starting with almost no funds at all was hard. I think, getting into CL group stage in the first season was key to develop.

 

Pre-season 2022/23

Transfers out

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Actually I expected this. Vlahovic wanted to play in a better division for quite long, and this time Man City matched his release fee, and luckily not on a deadline day. Allan suffered several injuries and declined a bit, so I decided to sell him (not a bad profit from a free signing though).

Transfers in

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Joseba Perez – this guy is Basque, born in San Sebastian, but came through CSKA academy and so has Russian second nationality. Without it I’d never pay 5M for him, of course. Just hope Spanish manager won’t go insane and give him a full cap.

Vitaly Cherentaev – best player of that sensational Kazakhstan team, which won the U19 Euro last year. Hope he’ll get close to this potential.

Miamuli Shongwe – scouts gave him more potential than it’s shown after a transfer, but still he has a room for developing.

Robert Larsson – a rotational option for the defense so far, but already can challenge for a regular spot in starting 11 too.

Patrick Mangena – we won a battle for him against Benfica and Tottenham, hope he would step into Vlahovic’s place as soon as possible.

Ousmane Ndiaye – professional player with a good potential and such a small compensation? Surely a reason to sign :D 

Stephane Ruffier – he’s not officially in yet, but should sign a contract as a player/goalkeeping coach just in a few days. With his skills and experience he’s likely to be a starting goalkeeper in Europe for this season.

 

World Cup 2022

Spoiler

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Fifth title for Italy, they now equaled Brazil as the most successful team in the world. Great runs from Uruguay and South Korea, and a massive disappointment for some European top teams. Verratti won the Golden Ball, Origi finished as top goalscorer with only 4 goals, Donnarumma was selected as the best goalkeeper.

Also there wasn’t a tournament to remember for any of our players. Only Duarte was able to reach knockout stage, and he didn’t get any playing time at all.

 

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Not a great trophy, but still hurts losing like that. We were better, but couldn’t convert our chances and conceded from a free kick late in the game.

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A bit more distance in odds between us and all others now.

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July-August 2022

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Despite a minimal score, the opening game went with our total control. Funny that only goal was scored with a help of deflection from… Moustapha Cisse, who was sold to Loko just some weeks ago.

Our finishing is quite a concern at start of the season, Vlahovic departure surely had some influence on it, but I hope soon the team will find a way to score without him.

Finally we scored more than once, destroying Spartak defense with late counters. Great revenge for defeats in two last meetings.

Awful performance from all our strikers, luckily a left wing-back was able to score and saved a draw. Lystsov suffered a shoulder injury and will be out for 2 months, a big blow as he’s a key starting player for domestic matches.

Mangena finally found a way to goal and scored a hat-trick in 10 minutes, securing our big win.

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Leading with a minimal gap from CSKA and Zenit, who seems to be a serious contender without being distracted on European cups this season.

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Kobenhavn remained the last team to be drawn. Man Utd is obviously the strongest opposition in our group, both Anderlecht and Sparta have some promising youngsters and famous veterans (like Cavani and Hulk) in their squads, but actually team of our stature should beat them.

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September 2022

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We dominated the game, but couldn’t hit target at all, only 3 times from 20. And Rubin was lucky in their only attack, a deflection from a free kick gave them 3 points.

Impressive start of the group. We got an early lead after Jean finished a strong sole effort with a goal, and were in total control after that.

Don’t know what happens with our attackers in the league. Poloz missed a penalty, and closer to the end Jean had a perfect chance with only open net against him, but hit the bar.

Not the best match in terms of scoring, but the only goal from Mikhail Frolov was enough to advance into net round.

Another disappointing result in the league. Mangena scored with a long shot, but we couldn’t hold the lead.

Man Utd was better in the first half and scored first from a corner, but few seconds before half-time Florenzi got his second yellow card and so gave us a chance. We used it soon, Kabiru headed the ball in after Schennikov’s cross. That was his first competitive goal for us, hope now he’ll start to score regularly (as he did it last season, while playing on loan in Nancy).

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Tougher start than was expected, we need to play better domestically.

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  • 2 weeks later...

October 2022

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Could only score from penalty and keeper’s mistake, but still broke that bad run, getting our first league win in a month.

Krasnodar responded immediately after first goal from Maksimovic and tried to protect that result till the final whistle, but with 10 minutes to go Savchenko joined the attack and scored the winner after a throw-in.

Mangena gave us the early lead, scoring from Ogasawara’s pass, and that was the key to our confident win. Belgians only managed to get a consolation goal in injury time. Halfway through the group stage, and so far we and Man Utd sharing the lead with 7 points.

4-0 on clear cut chances, and we couldn’t even get a draw despite leading at half-time. The whole start of season in one match, FM just doesn’t want give another title easily.

And then we were close to a disappointing exit from the cup, but Tyumen defender saved us, getting a red card with 10 minutes to go. Having a man advantage, we went all out attack and managed to score three.

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Still we can reach the top by winning the postponed match. And only 2 points between leaders and 6th place, that’s rare even for that stage of season.

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November-December 2022

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Could easily won with a greater margin, especially having a man advantage for almost whole second half, but Anderlecht goalkeeper saved a chance for his team till the final whistle. However, we got 3 points and already qualified to playoffs.

Five of our former players were in Mordovia squad for this match. No one could prove the decision to sell them was wrong, though.

Tough away game against Krylia, fortunately one goal from Yamlikhanov was enough to get 3 points. Poloz made his 250th league appearance for the club, only 9 remaining to set a record.

Fernandez left us in a tough situation by getting a straight red on 16th minute, but still we were a better team in this match. Mangena scored two within a minute and gave us fourth group win. Before the final game at Old Trafford both we and Man Utd have 13 points, so 1-1 or higher scoring draw will send us top of the group.

Well, that red card motivated Fernandez in a right way. Two goals from our defensive midfielder helped us to defeat rivals and return to the top position.

Maksimovic may be not a key player for us now, but still plays on top level and is able to make a result. He scored two against Anji and added an assist for Sergeev.

Dmitry Poloz is playing his 12th season for our club, and his experience is still helpful in league games. Two goals against his former team allowed us to finish the autumn part on top.

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And we even have a decent gap from Zenit and all others, things certainly seem better than a month ago. Lokomotiv is in relegation zone, a big surprise to see them so low.

Early free kick goal from Tielemans was decisive. After that Man Utd was in complete control, and all we could get was a consolation goal by Jean. Hope luck will be on our side during a knockout draw.

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Well… that’s surely better than what we got when were first seeded. Leicester is only 13th in EPL currently, and what’s funny, they sacked Benitez and tried to approach me just few days after the draw :D 

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Youth team won the group confidently, hope they will progress far in knockouts.

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Mid-season 2022/23

Transfers out

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Nobody left from the first team, despite a sufficient interest to Olaleye and Ogasawara. They both have release clauses, but luckily no one could meet them.

Transfers in

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Haruki Aoki – young Japanese keeper with 2 caps, will be tutored by Ruffier and hopefully replace him in the future.

Youth intake gave us a top potential player, but he’s too far from reaching it and his position doesn’t fit in our tactics. Center-back Kirsanov maybe has even more chances to develop.

 

International tournaments involving our players:

Asian CupAustralia defeated Iran in the final, Japan (with Ogasawara and Aoki in squad) lost to eventual winners in first knockout round.

African CupSenegal won the final against Gabon, South Africa (Mangena) finished third. Nigeria (Olaleye) lost in quarter-final, Mali (Diawara) failed to advance from the group.

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February-March 2023

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Leicester started the match slightly better, but one of their attacks on 18th minute ended with our quick counter, Jean just needed not to miss the empty net after Mangena’s pass. Soon they managed to equalize, using a poor clearance from Smith, but American defender excused for that mistake with winning a penalty few minutes later. Jean scored his second goal, and later after half-time helped Mangena to set the final score. 3-1, quite a comfortable result for the first game at home.

Couldn’t play as concentrated against Dinamo, and lost in the result with the only goal in injury time.

Cup wasn’t our priority, but still it’s second loss in a row, and as morale influence is sometimes overpowered, that’s really concerning…

Very important win, the only goal from Yamlikhanov prevented us from continuing that bad run and losing the leading spot.

Wasn’t impressed with our defending, two goals conceded from Tyumen is too much even for not the strongest squad. Luckily, our attack looked better in that match.

We confidently held our advantage in return leg. Jean received a red card shortly before half-time, but soon referee equaled the squads, and playing 10 against 10 we managed to win this game as well.

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Few chances, judging from our group matches… but who knows? Youth team meanwhile defeated Crvena Zvezda and will play Barcelona in the quarter-final.

Scored two goals in the end of first half and actually ended the match with that, Fakel didn’t even get close to our area.

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Title rivals made their mistakes as well, so we even expanded the gap. Tyumen and Dinamo SPb seem hopeless, while Lokomotiv climbed up from direct relegation zone.

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April 2023

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Once again we lost to Rubin, despite playing the strongest squad this time. Zenit meanwhile won their match, and our advantage is only 3 points now.

I bet, Terek had something to say about the referee. Penalty and two red cards in one moment – that’s not happening too often (even though the decisions were assessed as correct).

We made too many mistakes in defense in first half, ending with two goals from Icardi, and couldn’t convert any of our chances in second half, so most likely we are out. Our youth team played on the same day and lost to Barcelona. 

CSKA looked better in first half, probably trying to exploit out tiredness after European game, but after half-time we appeared to have more in the reserves and managed to score two.

At least we made a battle. Man Utd probably were not ready to an attacking start and defended panically, two our crosses resulted with goals after their defenders’ mistakes. The overall score was equal after 30 minutes, and who knows how it all would have ended, if Sergeev wasn’t sent off before half-time. We tried our best to hold the result, Ruffier made some impressive saves, but in the end visitors finally were successful. Pogba and Martial scored in last 15 minutes and guided their team to semi-final.

Two goals from Jean, and we are keeping the 3-point distance from Zenit. The head-to-head game is very soon, and it’s important to have advantage before it.

We already knew that Zenit lost their game, but getting 3 points from Krasnodar wasn’t so easy. They scored first with a corner, and then we had extremely bad luck, hitting the woodwork four times during first half! After half-time I brought Jean as a substitute, and that was key to winning. First he scored a with a fierce long shot, and then helped Yamlikhanov to set the final score. 6 points before the probably decisive game of the season.

Total domination, nothing to add. We were far better than Zenit, and actually are one step from another title now. Also we set the new attendance record with 43220 people watching the game.

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May 2023

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Three goals before half-time actually clinched our title. It wasn’t announced officially, as FM still can’t check tie-breakers in advance, but with 9 points and our head-to-head advantage Zenit won’t be able to overtake us anyway.

OK, now it’s official. Fifth title in a row, and the only goal was scored after a pass from Dmitry Poloz, who played his 260th league match for us and so set a new club record.

And two more wins after the cup was already ours. Mordovia almost took points from us, but Frolov managed to score a late winner.

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Zenit lost 5 of their 6 last matches and dropped from second Champions League place. CSKA failed to fit into FFP rules, so the Europa League spot went to Dinamo Moscow.  Lokomotiv will have to contest their top tier place in play-offs.

Awards

Best Player: Maksimovic (Rostov), Kramaric (Krasnodar), Dzagoev (CSKA)

Players’ Select:  Maksimovic (Rostov)

Top Goalscorer: Kramaric (Krasnodar) – 23, Hassan (Zenit) – 15, Barikhashvili (Mordovia) - 13. A new record from Slovenian striker, despite his club only finished 8th.

Goalkeeper of the Year: Mitryushkin (Rostov)

Young Player of the Year: Stepanov (Dinamo M/Krylja)

Manager of the Year: Yermakovich (Dinamo M)

Team of the Year

 

Two Dinamos played each other in the cup final, and St. Petersburg team won the trophy, so they will be in next season Europa League despite relegation from RFPL.

Amkar and Ural returned from FNL directly, while Lokomotiv and Kuban retained their RFPL places in playoffs. Also surprised to see Tom relegated.

 

European Review

Champions League I think it needs to be renamed as another EPL cup. Four English teams in semi-finals, and looking at other results we were the only team who didn’t lose too heavily.

Europa League – in contrast to Champions League, English domination ended here this season. Fiorentina (Stramaccioni) became the first Italian winner since 1999.

 

EnglandMan Utd (Prandelli), Chelsea (Jardim), Man City (Pep)

SpainReal Madrid (Emery), Atletico (Simeone), Barcelona (Low)

GermanyLeverkusen (Klopp), Schalke (Hasenhuttl), Bayern (Allegri). Klopp didn’t find any success abroad, but won a domestic title in the first season after returning home.

ItalyJuventus (Conte), Roma (Ancelotti), Napoli (Paulo Fonseca)

FrancePSG (Mourinho), Marseille (Moldovan), Bordeaux (Gourvennec)

NetherlandsFeyenoord (van Bronckhorst), Ajax (Art Langeler), Utrecht (van den Brom)

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Hey mate on question.. I remember I played with Rubin Kazan in fm 2015 and i didn't like Russian league because they had 2 games every week plus European games.. Is this exists in fm 2017?

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