[FM18] The Dynamics of telling you to shove your transfer request up y- a journeyman career

[noikeee]

2 hours ago, Rikulec said:

Funny to see you snap up Barbosa. He's done just about fine for me in my debut season at Olympiakos, not much more than that though.

Interesting. Dunno if that's a good or a bad sign, on one hand the Russian league is more competitive than the Greek so that doesn't bode well, on the other hand Olympiakos is a stronger team with bigger ambitions than mine...

[noikeee]

Tactics review

 

So after a couple more unconvincing results, I decided to do a 180º on what I've said before, throw away my tactics and go do something radical from scratch instead! I'm absolutely certain that if I insisted with what I was doing I'd eventually find form again. But even at our best I wasn't 100% happy with how dull we could be under it, even if this season we somehow seem to be scoring and leaking goals all over the place. Last year it worked but it was too ugly. I'm looking for something more exciting. And if it fails, I can just revert back to my trusted systems.

I've seen a few different versions of attacking 4-4-2s around, generally successful. So I've mashed them all up into my own take on it:

 

 

You will find elements in here of:

1. @smp20's Sacchi-style
2. @Warg92's wild setup which dominates Malta
3. @knap's FM18 take on the flat 442

 

Now, I haven't actually tried any of these tactics to know what makes them tick, or under which conditions do they thrive/struggle, so I'm entering unknown territory. But by picking elements from successful tactics I already know I'm near the sweet spot, and I've thought up what I feel is a cohesive plan for it:

• I've always been much more of a fan of possession-based, intricate football than the old just-run-down-the-wings-and-ping-a-cross style, so I've opted for inverted wingers. This leads me, of the 3 tactics that inspired me, overall closest to Knap's vision for the formation. However, I like smp20's simpler combination of TIs more than Knap's, and I feel they fit my style of play.
   
• I prefer using alternate duties from flank to flank to add variation, so opted for the roles/duties that Warg92 is using for all 4 flank players (FBs/IWs), rather than Knap's boxier, more symmetrical setup. Although Warg's is the most different context of the 3 tactics as he's on a wildly different direct, highly structured setup, so let's see if this bit clicks with the rest.
   
• The way I imagine my tactic playing out is, besides the obvious extremely compact, aggressive defending; an attack that focuses on exploiting the spaces on the edge of the box, and the half-spaces/channels behind the defence which is an area that feels extremely dangerous in FM18. I imagine both strikers on support duty, the IWs rushing from deep, and the right-back slightly wider, all tending to occupy areas around the edges of the box, horizontally and vertically. However under attacking mentality and roaming instructions, they should all take turns running into finishing positions so we shouldn't lack penetration. I've already used CF/S-F9/S in the past in my 4-3-3 with some success...
   
• I've decided to start with slightly less extreme defending with no extra defending TIs other than tighter marking (like more closing down and/or offside trap), as I suspect my players wouldn't handle it.
   
• Whether this system fits my side it's hard to say, on one hand I think the roles are a perfect match for Kakaras/Dolgov upfront (and we have healthy depth for ST so it's great to have 2 of them); the keeper Petruzzi loves to rush out of goal so fits a SK on high line. On the other hand it might be harder to fit the excellent, influential Shavaev, and all the hordes of midfielders I've signed.
   
• An intriguing prospect is, do I use wingers on their preferred foot flank even if they're inverted? I've used this in the past to occasional devastating effect, as they can double up as narrower wingers, exploiting that nice vulnerable channel closer to the area. The left flank should be Zuev's, who is right-footed; but I'm thinking of picking the right-footed Shavaev on the right. Or maybe even better, the either-footed Machavariani...

This is all fascinating on paper, but it's time to actually test it on the pitch to see what happens!

[noikeee]

First match and after going a goal down I immediately need to increase our closing down, as we're too deep and cornered in our area. We're on attacking mentality!!! WTF 

[noikeee]

This is a brilliant offer - I've already managed to successfully protest a much weaker bid that came in previously that the board had accepted! - but I'm not gonna get a better Russian CB and he's key to my plans. Reluctantly rejected.

[noikeee]

****ing hell!! 

I'm gonna have to take it. I hate hate hate hate having to lose him, but there's no words, this is an insane offer.

[noikeee]

Smashed all records.

To think the board was about to let him go for... I think it was 6M€ guaranteed, reaching 16M€ after all future fees?  I had to beg them twice not to accept that.

[noikeee]

Oh **** off. No option to protest transfer this time.

This guy was absolutely critical to my new system.  

[noikeee]

August 2022

(Transfers)

I wasn't expecting to do ANY deals in August! ****ing hell! With the insane sales of Sergey Galimov (24,5M€, possibly reaching 30,5M€) and Daniil Utkin (7,25M€, might reach 10,25M€), both to Spartak Moscow, we had money coming in and splashed it on a few players. Not least because I had to replace them (although Utkin went on deadline day and I decided against picking up a direct substitute on a rush). We also loaned out a couple of guys, most notably Croatian midfielder Toni Jovanovic.

I ended up hiring 5 players, although really that's 3 because the other 2 are just kids that I'm not considering part of the 1st team. Let's start by them:

The 3rd Georgian teenager I pick up this Summer. I let him go on a loan to Switzerland straight away. My staff don't think he has potential, I disagree, I think he looks really good.

Released by PSG, might have a future. 

Now the real reinforcements start. I had missed this guy earlier otherwise I might not have hired that other left-back, Georgy Tigiev. Whilst a better fit for the right flank, this guy might solve our issue at left-back which lacks a solid player. I paid 1,4M€.

Best I could get to replace Galimov, he costed an almost comical 675K€ (compared to Galimov's massive fee). Okay he's not as good at all, but certainly adds depth, I'm thinking the starting duo of CBs will probably be Nastusenko and Kaplenko.

Boom! Now this is a signing! This is what happens when you have loads of transfer budget to play with, I splashed 5,75M€ on this wizard of a dribbler/playmaker that looks a brilliant fit for the IW role on either flank in my new tactic.

There was no real need for a tactical revolution - although we were still yet to get a single win, the first two matches in August weren't that alarming: an away draw, and a loss to Spartak. Routine stuff with a side that didn't have its morale at its best and with a few signings still gelling.

But hey, I was suddenly motivated by the tactical change, it had to happen. What better day to do it than against the reigning 3-times league champions Krasnodar, heh? We lost but looked mildly promising once I fixed my defensive line. Against Rostov, the first win, although not very convincing. And against Ufa, damnit, a loss again, but quite frankly this will simply never happen again: we were the better side and conceded a goal ON A FREAKING BACKPASS THE KEEPER LET IN. Come on, Pablo Petruzzi, you're better than that.

We're still a dismal 14th but I'm stubborn and I believe in the new tactic, which is still under progress and the players still learning. Plus.. we have already played Lokomotiv, Spartak and Krasnodar. There should be a couple nicer matches to come.

 

[noikeee]

[noikeee]

September 2022

Gah, so close to the perfect month! We have suddenly really kicked off as things are clicking fine in the new setup. We essentially dominated all 4 matches here, smashing Krylja Sovetov and Dinamo SPb in the cup, comfortably beating CSKA even if the result doesn't show it, and looked on course for a very easy win over Kuban when we conceded 2 goals against the run of play. With this we've finally started climbing in the league, to 8th (although some teams have less matches played than us). And we're not even all that gelled yet with the signings and the tactic - opponents, fear us!

As for the tactic this is what I've changed from my initial idea:

• added close down more (we were too deep/passive)
• added pass into space (we were surprisingly not incisive enough even on attacking, i suspect it was because of the shorter passing+all the support duties)
• added play much narrower (IWs were too wide and not influencing inner game enough)
• changed left-back from FB/S to FB/A (provides that nice width on that flank as well, with the IW now narrower under the much narrower TI)
• changed keeper from SK/D to SK/S (to try to help with through balls fed to the backs of our defence)

This essentially puts me much closer to Knap's tactic which is less original, but I'm enjoying it.

 

 

[BoxToBox]

1 hour ago, noikeee said:

Oh **** off. No option to protest transfer this time.

This guy was absolutely critical to my new system.  

Eww, that's even crap money for a player like Utkin.

[noikeee]

2 minutes ago, BoxToBox said:

Eww, that's even crap money for a player like Utkin.

I think you like him more than I do, he hadn't been that great for us. It's a reasonable fee.

I'm only annoyed because I thought he could do well in the 4-4-2, since it asks a lot from the CMs which need to be complete both defending and attacking. That's him.

[BoxToBox]

6 minutes ago, noikeee said:

I think you like him more than I do, he hadn't been that great for us. It's a reasonable fee.

I'm only annoyed because I thought he could do well in the 4-4-2, since it asks a lot from the CMs which need to be complete both defending and attacking. That's him.

I probably do, to be honest, but young, Russian, versatile and at first team level, I'd consider that near priceless with Russia's strict squad regulations. Unless I had 4-6 CM's better than him, depending on tactic.

Heck, had he a yard of pace more, I'd even train him as a full/wing back.

[noikeee]

12 hours ago, BoxToBox said:

I probably do, to be honest, but young, Russian, versatile and at first team level, I'd consider that near priceless with Russia's strict squad regulations. Unless I had 4-6 CM's better than him, depending on tactic.

Heck, had he a yard of pace more, I'd even train him as a full/wing back.

I've got Shavaev, Leonov, Kaplenko, maybe even Poluboyarinov, all Russians to play as CMs. Though none as complete as Uktin was. The starting duo now is Balewski (Polish, CM/D) and Shavaev (CM/S).

It's true that quality Russian players are hard to come by and very precious given the rules. It's why I hesitated so much in selling Galimov too, we'll basically never pick up a Russian CB as good as him again. I forgot saying it, but a big factor there was that Galimov also had a 8,5M€ release clause for foreign clubs. So I preferred selling him now for 4x the amount to a Russian rival, than risk losing him later.

[noikeee]

[ManUtd1]

On 12/18/2017 at 03:19, noikeee said:

*Beslan tweets is a feature partially inspired by certain other threads  

Beslan and Bozidar would be mates, no question.  

[noikeee]

October 2022

 

Ah, a 4-1 win over our rivals where each of my front 4 (the STs and the IWs) scored. Have I told you guys I'm enjoying the new tactic? Away in St. Petersburg we resisted on a 1-0 lead with 10 men from minute 12 to minute 94, when they scored (seriously); and the rest of the month was just wins. We climb to 7th 1 point from an European spot, although we seem to be the only team around that can be arsed to actually play all their league matches, so that's misleading.

Meanwhile this is October and Charalabos Kakaras already has as many goals as last year's top scorer Rafa Hernández. This is WAY more exciting.

 

 

[noikeee]

[noikeee]

November 2022

A mediocre month and the honeymoon period of my new tactical system is over. Against Lokomotiv, it was our first defeat in a long while, finishing a sequence of 9 undefeated matches (7 in the league). We then beat Dinamo (suck it, Rafa), but in the crazy 7000km trip to the far end of Asia to face Khabarovsk, we let a 2-0 lead slip to lose 3-2.

I feel as if the sheer intensity of our tactics is starting to backfire a little, we've conceded a few late goals and we're also starting to have a few injuries. This seems nicely simulated in FM18 but it's not welcome when I've decided to go attacking style!! Might be time to try to come up with an alternate, less intense, slower version of this system to try to hold on to leads?

Nevertheless we're still 7th, but have a real challenge in our hands if we're to get into Europe. We're 6 points back and have played 1 match more...

 

[noikeee]

December 2022

A pretty good way to end the calendar year. Against Akhmat we turned the game around to smash them, and against Spartak we dominated completely (a good sign against a superior team that has poached our 3 best players the last 2 years - Gasilin, Galimov and Utkin), but couldn't get the goal. We move up to 6th as the winter break holidays begin.

 

  

[noikeee]

I'm a little disappointed, I expected bigger job offers by now. I'm sure this is a nice and realistic tiny step-up to a slightly more reputable and slightly more ambitious club, but there's nothing in there to make me want to move. We're 1 place above them on the table, and a quick glance at their squad even leads me to think we're considerably stronger in talent. Rejected.

[noikeee]

Ballon d'Or 2022

Haha, I told you all Lemar had a chance. Just look at the average ratings (and the number of assists), that seems to have decided it, plus beating PSG to the title might've helped. But just how pissed off must Neymar be. Takes PSG to the Champions League title, wins the World Cup for Brazil, wins the award for best player in the World Cup, plays an absolutely wonderful season at individual level even disregarding the trophies, and STILL doesn't take the Ballon d'Or. He must be absolutely goddamn fuming. 

Meanwhile I'm not sure who did Verratti bribe to come 3rd, with mediocre ratings. 22 assists tho, that's solid. Plus he did make the CL final against Neymar's PSG, and won the Premier League.

Also, Man City has been rumoured to sign Lemar for ages, I'm guessing a 100M€+ transfer is coming soon.

[noikeee]

I believe this is the Olga that Beslan invited for a date. They met at a Amkar ultras gathering. By gathering I mean that one time they set up an ambush in an alley in Perm, to throw stones to Ural fans. Olga was picking up a broken bottle from a trash can, locked eye contact with Beslan, and it was love at first sight. Or was it just lust? Either way, it was a flaming spark that they could not ignore.

[noikeee]

 Youth intake 2023

 

The keeper is surprisingly interesting for someone the staff give so few stars of potential to, the rest aren't even worth showing.
 

[noikeee]

This guy is an absolute knob. Misses training. I fine him. Feels fine is unfair. Repeat over and over and over.

He's got 2 more years of contract... and doesn't want to leave the club. Nobody's interested in him neither. I can only hope he retires meanwhile, he's 31 and fading fast.

[noikeee]

Winter break 2023

(Transfers)

And the new faces are.... *drumroll* .....   no-one. We didn't hire anyone new. We did, however, splash 3.9M€ on a player! How good is it to have all that cash from the Summer sales! We finally convinced 16 year old striker Sarkis Grigoryan, who was here on loan since the start of the season, to sign permanently, so activated the clause in his loan contract. This is brilliant, the kid's got a great future, and we usually have very little chance of hiring such promising Russian players. The only issue is that I see him best as an alternative to Kakaras (of all players, the one that's killing it this season and is the absolute 1st name on the team sheet), yet I promised him a "key player" status. Uh-oh.

Meanwhile we sold left-back Alexandr Smetskoy to Ufa for 500K€. First choice last year to third choice this year... he had to go.

 

Decent pre-season. We didn't play anyone good, but did smash everyone.

As the season restarts now, we're 6 points off an European spot and that's if Lokomotiv don't win their game in hand. Looks tough to break into that top 4 then, but could there be an alternate way of reaching the Europa League? Our first match after the winter break will be the cup quarter-final against Tyumen, who are struggling not to get relegated in the league below us. So you'd expect us to win and then... that's 2 games away from a Russian Cup trophy. We've never won the cup, but could there be an outside chance of doing just that this season?

[noikeee]

New feeder club.

Meanwhile we've also started building upgrades to our training and our youth facilities which were both "below average".

[noikeee]

For the 2nd year running, doesn't seem to be giving me any noticeable reputation boost though.

[noikeee]

March 2023

A perfect month as we came out of winter break with high morale, ready to bulldoze everyone. The highlight here was the 4-1 win away against a Krasnodar side who look likely to get their 4th consecutive Russian title. And although we struggled more than it might look like in the match against Ufa, Charalambos Kakaras' performance was epic: involved in every goal by scoring 3 of them and assisting the other 2. The Greek forward is absolutely irresistible at the moment.

We're still up against it in our optimistic fight for Europe, but have shrunk the gap to Lokomotiv to 4 points - CSKA still remain between us - and on our current form it doesn't look an impossible task anymore! We're also against Lokomotiv in the cup semi-final.

 

[noikeee]

"Hey boss, you should've fined my colleague. I'm pretty unhappy you didn't and I think that's not right."

I'm unsure whose the biggest asshole here. He's a "professional", but would you want to work with Matviychuk?

[noikeee]

Completely deserved, he's been amazing lately. Nice to see his striker partner Dolgov up there as well.

[Rikulec]

Nice to see a Greek player do well for you.

[noikeee]

April 2023

Another good month, although following a slightly weird pattern of doing great against the big teams and struggling in the easier matches. Beating CSKA with a sensational 2nd half turnaround seems to have been a pivotal moment, as we overtook them for 5th in the table, and we also excelled against Zenit; but losing points to Kuban and our rivals Ural (ending a long undefeated run) means we now look unlikely to claim 4th place.

However, the great news is that despite this, we're almost guaranteed a place in the Europa League. As we smashed Lokomotiv 3-0 we booked a cup final place, and now if we win the cup we're in Europe of course; but if we lose the final to Krasnodar, the place goes to the 5th placed in the league... which should be us. So all we need to do is finish ahead of CKSA in the battle for 5th (almost certain - we're 5 points clear with 2 matches to go). Winning the cup would be fantastic though, the club has never done it (been in the 2008 final but lost). It would also be the first major national trophy of my career.

 

 

[noikeee]

14 hours ago, Rikulec said:

Nice to see a Greek player do well for you.

He's a legend. Best player in this career so far. And he's still only 19.

[noikeee]

Also, I don't usually post updates on what's going on in the rest of the league but this was absolutely remarkable:

Krasnodar on course for a 4th straight title (if they can fend off Zenit), CSKA in freefall below us in 6th, doing even worse after they sacked a manager midseason. How things change!

I might even be interested in the CSKA job if they decide they should get rid of this new guy too.  

[noikeee]

Kubok Rossii 2022/2023 - Final - Build-up

 

 

Welcome to the Russian Cup final of the 2022/2023 season, live from the surprise location of Vladimir, in the local Torpedo stadium (?!), a little known place but this stadium does host 18000 people. This year's final sees Russian 3x champions Krasnodar face buzzing underdogs Amkar, who have been dazzling Russia for the last few months with some freakishly attacking football. Despite recent domination in the league, Krasnodar are yet to win this cup (even if they were losing finalists in 2014 and 2018), so are desperate to clinch the trophy for the first time. Amkar are in a similar position, having only been in the final once in 2008, an edition they lost to CSKA Moscow. So we're guaranteed a first time cup winner here.

 

 

Amkar are at almost maximum strenght and field their regular starting 11, after resting them all last weekend in the league fixture against Tosno. Krasnodar are also not missing any key players, but are fighting for the championship so did not have the luxury of resting legs in the weekend.

[noikeee]

Kubok Rossii 2022/2023 - Final - 1st half

Minute 9: First chance for Krasnodar! A through ball frees up Denis Glushakov down the right channel but faced off with Petruzzi, the Argentinian keeper saves for a corner.

 

Minute 11: GOAL FOR AMKAR!! 0-1!! A quick play down the left suddenly unravels the champions' defence as Matviychuk releases Zuev who crosses low for Kakaras to score an easy goal!

 

Minute 14: 2-0 FOR AMKAR!!! It's two quick blows to Krasnodar, and it's Kakaras again! Rafael Barbosa's through ball finds the Greek forward now roaming slightly to the right, and he doesn't miss!

Minute 23: Great chance for what would've been the 3-0, Machavariani finds Chernov free as we insist after a corner, but the centre-back fires straight at Kritsyuk who holds the ball easily.

 

Minute 27: Antonio Marin (who we nearly signed in the Summer) goes off injured for Krasnodar... things are really going wrong for the champions.

 

Minute 42: Danger in the Amkar area! Sylvester Igboun beats the Amkar defence in a corner but Petruzzi makes a tricky save.

 

HALF-TIME: It's not been a particularly dominant performance by either team but Kakaras' efficiency with the 2 chances he was given, puts Amkar in a healthy advantage come the break.

[noikeee]

Kubok Rossii 2022/2023 - Final - 2nd half

Minute 62: It's been a quiet start to the 2nd half with no major chances for neither side, apart from a couple of shots from the 'D' of the area in both ends.

 

Minute 64: Danger now, Krasnodar could've reduced. A nice play down the left wing finds Dzagoev within the area but the experienced international puts it just slightly high and wide.

 

Minute 65: Krasnodar still feisty. A new passage of play starts from the left and ends on the right half-space with Ivan shooting for a tricky save by Petruzzi.

 

Minute 68: We have our best chance of the 2nd half yet, as we find space through the middle, whip it to the left for Zuev, who fires it for a save for a corner. Subs happening, Krasnodar do their last 2 whilst we swap Leonov for Balewski.

Minute 71: GOAL FOR AMKAR!!! 3-0!!! And it's an absolute blinder for Alexandr Zuev!! We were insisting down the right, it was crossed and cleared, it fell to left-back Matviychuk who assisted Zuev just within the area for a screamer to the top corner!!

 

Minute 77: With the game as good as won, Verde and Bazanov come in for Machavariani and Dolgov.

Minute 81: Best chance yet for Krasnodar! Okriashvili is freed by a through ball but Petruzzi deals with it again.

Minute 83: Krasnodar playing pinball in our area! Fedor Smolov hits the crossbar, hits our keeper, another defender blocks a shots, it's mayhem but we come off unhurt!

Minute 85: Nearly the 4th for us, on the break Kakaras feeds Bazanov but the teenager misses.

 

Minute 89: Again Bazanov with a good one, fed by Verde and free in the area. He shoots it wide again.

 

 

FULL-TIME: We've done it! We've won the Russian Cup! Absolutely no business winning it by 3 goals when Krasnodar had several excellent chances throughout the match, but we'll take it!

 

 

 

[noikeee]

More great news, the CB we sold for stupid money at the start of the season is still earning us more stupid money.

[noikeee]

May 2023

We rotated the whole team against Tosno and still won 4-1, which mathematically gave us an Europa League spot already ahead of the cup final, even if FM didn't recognise it. We also went into the final match with still a chance of nicking 4th or even 3rd place, but although we dropped points, a win wouldn't have been enough as Spartak and Lokomotiv won.

I'm at a crossroads in my career now. With the form we've been in the last few months, and if we can hold on to most players, I think we've got a great chance of fighting for the league next year. And there's some players here I'd like to see develop. However, with a cup win and qualification for Europe, I feel as if I've already achieved something important for this club and could move on. The cup has increased my reputation and I suspect I could get a nice job this Summer. Stay or go?

 

[noikeee]

Amkar - 2022/2023 - Season review

The club's first ever cup win, the 2nd time ever qualifying for Europe, and 2nd best ever performance in the Russian league with a 5th place. I'm satisfied with that.

Statistics, best 11, and top 5 players of the season

 

 

Honourable mention to midfielder Rafael Barbosa who won his place during the season and ended up with superb ratings at MC as CM/S, after an earlier failed experiment to adapt him to the right-wing.

5. Pavel Dolgov (ST) - One half of the most fearsome striking duo in the league... just not the better half. Although a switch to a 2-striker system definitely benefitted him and at times he was excellent, summing up a total of 8 goals and 10 assists, by the end of the season I had the sneaky feeling perhaps the 17 year old Georgy Bazanov was already better.

4. Erekle Machavariani (MR, ML) - It was a bit weird that I splashed a club record fee for Daniele Verde to play as the IW/S on the right-wing, yet this teenager Georgian picked up on a free eventually won the place over him. Dazzlingly quick, he didn't catch the eye by his pace, but by knowing when to pick his runs and score a few goals - 6 of them.

3. Alexandr Zuev (ML) - It's perhaps not a surprise that on the attack role on the left-wing, the Russian scored more goals than the right-wing alternatives on support. Yet the IW/A role definitely suited him. 10 goals and 5 assists.

2. Nikita Chernov (DC) - Surprisingly sensational in an attacking side where defenders don't shine, the experienced CB that I picked up to replace Galimov, without putting too high expectations on him, ended up excelling as our better defensive player by some margin.

1. Charalabos Kakaras (ST) - This season's unquestionable superstar, the teenage Greek adapted himself to Russia and to my new 4-4-2 system spectacularly well, with impressive numbers: 24 goals, 11 assists, and 8 player of the match awards, most of the team in all 3 categories. Was also the league's top scorer, and made it to the Greek national team and stayed there regularly. What a year for Kakaras.

 

Major youth prospects

Georgy Bazanov (17, RUS) (ST) - Superb in a few cameo performances as false nine, with 6 goals, I feel that if I stay for another year with Amkar he's going to explode and form an incredible duo with Kakaras, in the false nine role.

Sarkis Grigoryan (17, RUS) (ST) - Cost us a 3.9M€ fee midseason, he's definitely worth that with bags of potential, but doesn't suit the false nine role (I've tried anyway!) and I can't bench Kakaras for him.

Alexey Nastusenko (19, RUS) (DC) - On loan from CSKA, I have a 4,6M€ clause on him as part of the loan (like I had with Grigoryan) but he hasn't wanted to join. He's a starting CB for us and has the potential to be a star, but has been just a bit too inconsistent for now.
 

Career progress table

Season   League                  Cups                              Continental                    Other
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Panserraikos (Greece)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
17/18    League - 15th           Kupello Hellas - 1st round                                       Relegated, sacked 1 match to go
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Naestved (Denmark)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
18/19    2.Div - 3rd G2, 3rd PS  DBU Pokalen - 1st round                                          Lost promotion on goals scored
19/20    2.Div - 4th G2, 1st PS  DBU Pokalen - Quarter-finals                                     Champions, promoted
20/21    1.Division - 1st        DBU Pokalen - Semi-finals                                        Champions, promoted
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Amkar (Russia)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
21/22    Prem'er Liga - 7th      Kubok Rossii - 6th round
22/23    Prem'er Liga - 5th      Kubok Rossii - winners                                           Won the cup

[noikeee]

... and Nastusenko signs after we activate the clause in his loan, like we'd done with Grigoryan:

 

 

It's looking quite likely that I could leave the club now, but if I do at least I'll leave this deal as a parting gift. With Nastusenko, Grigoryan, Bazanov, all as promising domestic players, the club's got a nice future covered up.

[noikeee]

The job offers start flying in. Crotone have become an established Serie A side over the last few years, so would be quite an interesting step up, however for sentimental reasons, after Amkar, I don't think I want another club whose best years in history have all been very recent. So although it's a logical career progression I'm not so sure this is the right fit for me.

[noikeee]

I didn't want the job anyway, but... they chose Petit over me?! Petit?! He has just been sacked from Marítimo midseason, they ultimately got relegated. This hurts. 

[Rikulec]

Great stuff this season! Shame about the failed interview, but you deserve better than that.

[cplpeters1900]

Where will you end up, the tension is killing me!

[noikeee]

16 minutes ago, Rikulec said:

Great stuff this season! Shame about the failed interview, but you deserve better than that.

I'm thinking of moving to a worse job than that... technically. From a sentimental point of view, it's a more interesting destination.  

13 minutes ago, cplpeters1900 said:

Where will you end up, the tension is killing me!

Well I don't know yet neither, haven't signed anything. 

[noikeee]

European football - 2022/2023

UEFA Champions League

Liverpool v Tottenham!!! It's the revenge of the Premier League but who saw this final coming? In classic Ancelotti fashion, the Italian manager takes his Liverpool side to Champions League glory despite languishing 5th in the league. The trophy only comes on penalties as they deny Pochettino's Spurs side the ultimate coronation of winning both European and (spoiler alert) domestic glory.

 

As expected the Dream Team is packed full of Liverpool players, with the star here being Lincoln - the Brazilian striker hired for 34,5M€ from Benfica at the start of the season. Although he had a poor first season in the Premier League, he bagged 8 goals in the CL to help Ancelotti's side to the title. Salah and Firmino still feature heavily for them. Meanwhile Jamaican winger Leon Bailey is starting to come seriously good for Man Utd.

England

 

If Spurs just barely fail on penalties in the CL, they get crowned again in the Premier League, Pochettino bagging his 2nd Premier League trophy as the league keeps swinging wildly every year. Harry Kane gets his 5th Premiership Golden Boot after scoring 21. Portuguese managers Jorge Jesus and José Mourinho, in charge of either end of Manchester, come closest to Spurs. Bruno Genésio's Chelsea fades in importance after his previous European and English titles, and the French manager is at risk of getting sacked after coming 4th. Newcastle get relegated.

Spain

 

Messi ends his career with the league's highest ratings at the age of 36, as Barça win the 3rd consecutive title, now under a returning Luis Enrique who replaced Klopp (left Barcelona to manage the German national team), with a massive 15 points gap over Real. Young striker Mario Escudero, top scorer in the league, emerges as the closest thing to a Messi successor for Barça. Cristiano Ronaldo seems to want to go on for yet another year, although he's scoring less than ever, 8 in the league this season.

Italy

 

It's a massive power shift, as Milan emerge under Ernesto Valverde management to take their first title in 12 years! Brazilian forward Luan is their major star, finishing as top scorer in the league. Juve miss out on the title by just 4 points, as Napoli lose steam, probably due to the previously highly successful manager Marcelino leaving to go manage Leverkusen. Roma sink to 9th with a dreadful season.

Germany

 

Leverkusen just about retain the title for a 3rd straight year, now under Marcelino command as Jorge Jesus left for Man City. Schalke just miss out by 3 points. Bayern and Dortmund are best of the rest as this becomes the league of the great strikers - Werner for Dortmund (25 goals), Pellegri for Leverkusen (24) and Vietto for Bayern (17).

France

 

PSG reovertake Monaco, beating them by a 8 points margin, re-energised by last season's Champions League trophy.The architecht? A certain Pep Guardiola... but he must be wondering what the hell did he move to, as the owners start scaling down their massive funding of the club. Mbappé, Neymar and Kovacic dominate the average rating table, after Monaco's triple Ballon d'Or Thomas Lemar leaves for an astonishing 165M€ midseason - he's now managed by Jorge Jesus for Man City. Despite PSG's ridiculous amount of talent nobody scores goals - top scorer is Marseille's Giovanni Simeone with just 16.

Portugal

 

Benfica lose star striker Lincoln (to Liverpool) and manager Rui Vitória (to the Portuguese national team)... but claim the 4th consecutive title, under Frank de Boer - although Sporting ran them close. Argentinian striker Darío Herrera is their new phenomemon, hailed as the best player in the league now.
 

[noikeee]

Derby, England - 29th of May, 2023

 

I might've just done a pretty stupid thing career-wise. I've abandoned a team with all the momentum in the world to attack the title in one of Europe's top 10 leagues. A team qualified for Europe, when I've not played in European competitions yet. I've left behind exciting young talents in development like Kakaras, Machavariani, Bazanov, and a squad I've moulded to my liking. What did I leave them for? A team that just finished 12th in the second level of their country. That sounds dumb, doesn't it?

You could say I left for the money. They will be paying me marginally higher, and have more wage budget to work with. You could say I joined with an eye on the league above, currently ranked as the top in the world (and that would be partially correct, it's one of the attractive things about this job). I say I left for the facilities ("superb" training facilities, "excellent" youth facilities, "good" junior coaching, "above average" youth recruitment), and above all, for the history. Derby County F.C. are, after all, the 1972 and 1975 English champions.

 

 

Not that "English champions" is a sentence that has been heard often recently about Derby. The last 20 years see a pretty stable club... in the Championship, the 2nd tier of English football, with only 2 fleeting appearances in the Premier League, in 01/02 and 07/08. Of course, the 2007/2008 season was particularly famous as they claimed the record for the worst points total in the Premier League era, just 11 points and 1 win in 38 matches.

 

I'm at a strange place in my career finances-wise, I've now moved to a club that has nowhere near as much money as Amkar did after all those player sales.... but a much higher wage budget. 2M€/month? That's almost twice as much as I had to play with in Russia.

 

And of course everyone knows that Derby play in a white kit with black details:

 

As for the squad, I'll leave that for later as I need to have a serious look, but what I already know is that with the Brexit I had, ANY player I hire from outside the UK is gonna need a work permit... that will be quite the challenge. Perhaps time to ramp up the scouting budget and get international players from wacky nations?

[noikeee]

Squad overview

 

I'm not hugely thrilled looking at the squad but it doesn't look incompetent neither. Just a big fat "meh".

Goalkeepers

 

Not too bad. Not too good neither.

Fullbacks/wingbacks

Jesus Christ what's with the AI stacking up on bags and bags of fullbacks? This is good but there's too many of them.

Centrebacks / sweepers

Pretty good, Engels in particular is class. Sheaf might have to play higher up, he's just too good to be a CB, he can do EVERYTHING on the pitch. He looks more like a CM tbh.

Midfielders / defensive midfielders / attacking midfielders

Sorted? Thorne-Poha looks like a very good duo for my midfield.

Wingers / wide forwards / wide midfielders

This is where things start going downhill. We need upgrades, and fast.

Strikers

I'm also unhappy with my strikers. Metcalf looks great, but will I be able to renew his loan? Vydra is good but too old, Martin is far too old, and I need more depth for my 2 striker system.

Conclusions

• We seem to be well stacked in FBs, CBs and CMs
• We badly lack quality wingers and more depth in strikers
• Too many fullbacks, could do with less
• A Brexit that needs work permits from EU players, means a much more limited pool of players to hire from
• I have asked for the "develop youth players" philosophy, we have a great youth setup. In fact I just noticed I have a couple of interesting kids including a striker and a winger that I will be promoting. Getting kids from our academy will be a key goal, and a club strength as well.

Goals

Go up. The board only wanted to be in the top half of the league this season (not sure what will they ask for 23/24), I'm more ambitious and want to get promoted to the Premiership. And see no reason why we can't pull it off in year 1 of my reign already. Even if we'll face teams like Newcastle who went down.