[FM18] Brescia was just the beginning - Lucescu's legacy

[IL Luce]

6 hours ago, john1 said:

Good to see the chairman improving the club  

47.3M in summer, 53.42M now...I just love this guy

[IL Luce]

 

January Transfers:

I needed new fullbacks and I splashed the cash for a lot of them:

 

1. Herve Ntolla: transfer listed by Man United he was a must buy for us. Pretty solid and very brave fullback, he will be my first choice on the right flank.
2. Nicolas Luna: A fast, hard working Argentinian that I can rely on anytime. He will be Ntolla’s backup.
3. Ridvan Altintas: A very hard working Turkish DL that will be my first choice on the left flank. I gave him a huge salary but, based on his attributes, I think he deserve it. 
4. Eneko Seguin: A 21 years old bargain that will be Ridvan’s backup. I think he has the potential to develop pretty nicely.
5. Selahattin Deveci: It wasn’t my intention to buy a new CM but, being unhappy at his club, I immediately saw a potential good deal. An amazing hard working, all round player that can defend and pass the ball properly. His strength it may be a problem. He will be my DLP for now but, he fits in any of my 3 CM’s roles.

 

December & January fixtures:

• Champions League:

 

Nice to see Brescia in First Knockout Round. Their new boss in charge is Eusebio di Francesco and they are 4th in Seria A right now, 4 points away from 1st place. Glad that di Francesco is doing a good job there.

 

• Super Lig & Turkiye Kupasi:

Yap, you’re seeing well: 11-1 against Gent in a friendly game . Don’t ask, I don’t know what happened there but, they played with their best team.

 

Match of the month:

Well, I know how Klopp is feeling right now after today's game against WBA. A very unlucky 2-2 draw against our fierce rivals Galatasaray but we managed to smash Fenerbahce after that.

 

 

League table:

 

February & March fixtures: 

[IL Luce]

 

I don’t know what my board intentions are but, so far, I don’t see any new contract from them. Maybe they are waiting for the end of the season to see how things are going on but, I’m really thinking of leaving at the end of the season if I’m gonna win something first, of course.

 

February & March fixtures:

• Champions League:

We managed to turn the game in our favor after that 1-0 defeat away from home but, eventually, one own goal after a corner kick destroyed our dreams. Totally unlucky, as usual.

 

• Super Lig & Turkiye Kupasi:

 

Match of the month:

 

League table:

I think is the first time this season when we are finally sitting on the first place. Now it’s up to us to carrying on like this and be first at the end of the season.

 

April & May fixtures, the end: 

[davehibb]

Nice to see some more updates mate! 

Any ideas where the next step of the journey might be, if you do leave at the end of the season?

[IL Luce]

9 hours ago, davehibb said:

Nice to see some more updates mate! 

Any ideas where the next step of the journey might be, if you do leave at the end of the season?

As I follow Lucescu's steps, after Besiktas he went to Shakhtar, so definitely Shakhtar will be next, where I intend to mimic exactly what he has done there in matter of squad management, tactic etc.

[john1]

Damn that own goal  Would have been great if you beat Chelsea!

[IL Luce]

 

 

April & May results:

We had some bumps here and there but luckily, we managed to maintain that 2 points advantage between us and Kaspimpasa and win the league.

 

Match of the month:

It would have been nice to do the double but unfortunately, we couldn’t past Sumudica’s Kayserispor and so they won the cup two years in a row.

 

League table:

 

Top key players this season:

1. Mehmet Taskin: 50% shots on target ratio; 1.93 shots on target; 47% headers won ratio; 76% pass completion ratio, 26.21 passes completed; 30 goals; 10 assists and an average rating of 7.33.
2. James Smith: 40% shots on target ratio; 1.83 shots on target; 2.61 dribble made; 80% pass completion ratio, 42.81 passes completed; 15 goals; 14 assists and an average rating of 7.40.
3. Fatih Kutlu: 82% pass completion ratio, 70.36 passes completed; 11 assists; 13 goals; 78% tackle completion ratio and an average rating of 7.58.

 

Tactic & first eleven:

 

Board confidence & budgets:

 

Finances:

 

Europa League & Champions League:

 

Brescia:

 

Season         League               League Finish                   Achievements
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2017/2018       Serie B                 1st             Promoted, Champions
2018/2019       Serie A                 8th             Europa League Qualification
2019/2020       Serie A                 5th             Europa League First Knockout Round
2020/2021       Serie A                 6th             TIM Cup Winners, Europa League First Knockout Round
2021/2022       Serie A                 3rd             Supercoppa, Europa League First Knockout Round, UCL Group Stage Qualification
2022/2023       Serie A                 2nd             UCL Quarter Final
2023/2024       Serie A                 1st             Champions, UCL Quarter Final
2024/2025       Serie A                 1st             Champions, UCL First Knockout Round
2025/2026       Spor Toto Super Lig     2nd             Turkcell Super Kupa, UCL First Knockout Round
2026/2027       Spor Toto Super Lig     1st             Champions, UCL First Knockout Round

 

Update

I usually gave myself another year after winning the league to prove a point but right now I’m really excited about what is coming next and I must say goodbye to Besiktas.

I don’t have Ukrainian league loaded yet but even so, let’s take a look at what is going there and at Shakhtar:

 

Past Winners:

It seems that Dynamo Kyiv is dominating the league, wining it 5 years in a row.

 

Shakhtar's squad:

From the start I saw a player that I really wanted at Brescia and I couldn’t brought in: Dorin Rotariu, but oh Lord, Donetsk is a massive elephants’ graveyard. 

 

Manager in charge:

It seems that will be easy to get the job, but even so it’s totally unrealistic to not have a manager in charge for so many years.

 

Next, I will add Ukrainian and Brazilian league, because we all know what Shakhtar mean and I will continue from there. 

[IL Luce]

 

 

I applied for Shakhtar job and while I was waiting for an interview response, their rivals Dynamo tried to hijack me:

 

But eventually they offered me an interview:

 

And few days later I signed a 3 years contract:

[IL Luce]

 

A little bit of history

Football Club Shakhtar Donetsk, is one of the most decorated football clubs in Ukraine, ten-time Ukrainian Premier League Title Holders, eight-time Ukrainian Cup Winners, seven-time Ukrainian Super Cup Winners, 2009 UEFA Cup Winners and regular participants in the UEFA Champions League.

The club draws its history from the very start of the Soviet football league competitions and is one of the oldest clubs in Ukraine. The team of Donbas Pitmen was founded in accordance with the decision of the All-Union Soviet (Council) for Physical Culture and Sports on April 3, 1936 and was originally named Stakhanovets. The team played their first competitive match on May 24, 1936. In the mid-1940, the Sports Club of Donbas Coal Miners changed its name to Shakhtar (Ukrainian for Miner) and in 1960 the club chose its kit colours as orange and black which is a traditional colour combination for the region.

Shakhtar’s home ground is Donbas Arena whose seating capacity is 52.898, however, due to the conflict in Eastern Ukraine, the team relocated two times: first in 2014 on Arena Lviv and since 2017 to the Metalist Stadium in Kharkiv.

 

Shakhtar under Lucescu

After multiple managerial changes, in 2004 the Romanian Mircea Lucescu was invited to build a team in Shakhtar. Akhmetov wanted Lucescu since he was at Galatasaray in 2000 but he refused his offer. After another rebuffed invitation, the Shakhtar’s president went in person to Istanbul to convince him. "No other president would do that," said Lucescu, being very impressed by Akhmetov little gesture and after another offer he was the new Shakhtar’s manager. After ten days at the club, he won the 2003–2004 Ukrainian Cup and after three months, for the first time in club history, the club made it to the UEFA Champions League group stage, which won him the 2004 Romania Coach of the Year title.

When Lucescu arrived at Shakhtar, they had only one Brazilian: Brandão. A year later, he had been joined by Matuzalém, Elano and Jádson. A pattern had been set. The strategy chosen was looking for young talented players in Brazil, which was to form the base of the attack, while the defence would supplied by largely Ukrainian talent in order to adjust to rules forcing teams to have a certain number of local players on the field. Lucescu had fallen in love with Brazilian football during his playing career; he swapped shirts with Pelé while playing for Romania at the 1970 FIFA World Cup finals in Mexico. His vision at Shakhtar was to be a first port of call for Brazilian talent in Europe. It was not initially a popular move, but – with the club doing everything they could to make new arrivals welcome – it soon proved to be a wise plan. The large amount of Brazilians arriving to the club through the years earned Shakhtar the nickname "the most Brazilian club in Europe".

Lucescu's great skill was his ability to regenerate teams; he has managed to find replacements for world-class players like Fernandinho, Willian, Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Luiz Adriano and Douglas Costa, with the flow of trophies – and his teams' trademark aggression, speed and creativity – remaining consistent.

 

• They won their second Premier League title in the 2004–2005 season, but they finished as runners up in the Ukrainian Cup, losing to Dynamo in a penalty shoot-out.
• They retained the Premier League crown in the 2005–2006 season and managed to avenge the defeat to Dynamo in the previous Super Cup by defeating them on penalties to win their first-ever Super Cup title.
• In the 2006-2007 season, the Pitmen became the runners up in the domestic league and lost the Cup in the final game.
• In 2008, Shakhtar claimed the domestic treble: the Premier League, the Cup and the Super Cup.
• In the 2008-2009 season, Shakhtar did not make it to the Champions League knockout stage and continued in the UEFA Cup. They played against rivals Dynamo Kyiv in the semi-finals of the tournament and an away draw (1-1) and a home win (2-1) paved the way tot the final, with Werder Bremen as opponents. They claimed a 2-1 win with goals scored by Luiz Adriano and Jadson in extra time, winning their first major European trophy.
• In 2009-2010, Shakhtar claimed once again the Ukrainian league title, its fourth in six years.
• In the 2010-2011 season, Shakhtar claimed its third golden double in history and also reached the Champions League knockout stage for the first time in history, losing to Barcelona in the quarterfinals.
• In the 2011-2012 season, they finished fourth in the CL group stage and once again become the domestic league and Cup winners.
• The 2012-2013 season was a record one for Shakhtar. The team became the Super Cup winners and won all the matches in the first half of the season, enjoying the longest winning streak of 24 games and longest scoring streak of 34 games. They also won the league four rounds before the end of the season, Ukrainian Cup and reached CL round of 16.
• Prior to the 2013–14 season, many of the club's main players were sold after Shakhtar accepted high bids for them – Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Fernandinho and Willian brought the club over €100 million. Shakhtar spent the following summer trying to integrate new young players into the team, who along with the remaining players were to form the backbone of the renewed Shakhtar. At the end of the 2013–14 season, Shakhtar won the Ukraine Premier League, while Luiz Adriano was the league top scorer. Shakhtar also won the 2014 Ukrainian Super Cup, holding the trophy for the sixth time. Manager Mircea Lucescu was named the 2014 Romania Coach of the Year, receiving the award for the fourth time.
• In the 2014–2015 UEFA Champions League, Shakhtar finished second in the group stage, therefore qualifying to the next stage. Striker Luiz Adriano equaled both Lionel Messi's record of five goals in a Champions League match and Cristiano Ronaldo's record of scoring nine goals in the group stage; as a result, UEFA named him MVP of the competition's group stage. Shakhtar finished the season second in the 2014–2015 Ukrainian Premier League after playing the whole season away from Donbass, won the Super Cup and became runners up of the domestic Cup.
• Shakhtar started the 2015-2016 season with a a 2-0 Ukrainian Super Cup victory over Dynamo. During the 2015–2016 Ukrainian Premier League, on 16 October, Shakhtar beat Dynamo Kyiv 0–3 in Kiev and set two new records. One record was that for the first time during a Ukrainian derby game in Kiev a team scored three goals. The other record was that for the first time Shakhtar had more Ukrainian derby victories, 26, than Dynamo. In the middle of the season, Alex Teixeira moved to Chinese club Jiangsu Suning for a fee of €50 million, breaking both the Asian and Ukrainian transfer record. After passing two qualifying rounds, the team advanced to the CL group stage, where they competed with PSG, Real and Malmo. Based on the CL group stage performance, they continued in the EL. The club finished the 2015-2016 season as runner up.

After the 2015–2016 season, long-time manager Mircea Lucescu moved on to Zenit Saint Petersburg; he was replaced by the Portuguese Paulo Fonseca, previously at Braga.

 

After he met with Akhmetov this month, there are rumours that Lucescu or his son Razvan is going to replace Fonseca this summer and it seems that his legacy is yet to continue at Shakhtar.

[IL Luce]

 

 

Squad Management:

 

In matter of squad management, I don’t think it is too much to say: I will follow exactly how Lucescu built his squad. Ukrainian and Eastern European players will supply my defense, while Brazilian players will form my base of the attack. The age of the players, especially the Brazilian ones is really important. They will arrive at the club before their twenties and will leave at the age of 25-26 after they developed enough and of course for a big profit. For example: Douglas Costa has arrived at Shakhtar at the age of 19 and left at 25, Willian the same and so on.

Because the squad will be split in two, I’m also gonna split the DNA I’m looking for, in: Eastern European DNA and Brazilian DNA:

 

Eastern European DNA

Concentration

Bravery

Positioning

Anticipation

Tackling

Strength

+

First Touch

Work Rate

Acceleration

Stamina

(especially for fullbacks)

 

Brazilian DNA:

Determination

First Touch

Technique

Passing

Composure

Decisions

Off the ball

Team Work

Acceleration

Stamina

 

Unfortunately, I can’t fully apply Lucescu’s philosophies from my first year in charge because I’m out of time for massive changes into the squad. I took charge of the team on 13th July and the league is already starting, with our first game in the Super Cup on 17th July and our first league game on 23rd July. Also, our first CL game is on 4th August so, I’m really out of time of building the squad as I want. I will rely on my grannies at least till January and I will just fill the major squad gaps right now.

 

There were some players that wanted to leave that eventually I convinced to stay but there are still 2 of them that are moaning about.

 

My very first action at the club was to recall Sergey Kleimenov from his loan, being a pretty good young Ukrainian defender that I want to develop further. The second one was to promote Dmitry Malyshev from my U21s, Alexandr Kolesnikov and Ivan Shishkin from my U19s, all of them looking very promising.

 

I’m gonna rebuild my "Lucescu tactic" that I created in my Brescia period and it will be a 4231 this time. That being said, let’s look at who I’m gonna rely on this season:

 

Goalkeepers

Bingourou Kamara is my best goalkeeper but one of his big problem is that he is occupying one of my foreigner’s slots and he may leave -with not so great, but full of potential, Ukrainian - Alexandr Goncharov, taking his place.

 

Defenders

CDs: The 34-years-old, Jannik Vestergaard will be my first choice in defence, with veteran Yaroslav Rakitskyi beside him. From the start I must say that I have a very slow team.

DR: The 21-years-old, Konstantin Samokhvalov is my first option on the right flank.

DL: Unfortunately, on the left flank I have two very slow and also injured 34 and 35 years old players that I will not rely on them anymore. I need to find quickly some replacements.

 

Midfielders

MCs/DMs: Tanguy Ndombele will be my key player in the middle with veteran Taras Stepanenko helping him.

AMR: The 31-years-old, Dorin Rotariu is my first choice on the right flank for one more year.

AML: Unfortunately, on the left flank I can only rely on Gerard Delofeu.

AMC: Gaston Pereiro is my first choice here, with Sergey Lazarev being a promising young player as his backup.

 

Forwards

Denys Arendaruk will be my first option as a striker - even if he is more of a winger – with Youssef En Nesyri as his backup.

 

Looking back now, my left flank is really exposed and I will enter in the transfer market for 2x DLs and at least 1x AML. These positions are my first options right now but I will see how can I improve my squad till our first CL game. We need to improve our performances, especially in CL because right now it seems that I can’t attract quality Brazilian players.

 

Finances & Board transfers:

Financially we are looking amazing: no long term debts, some really good money from sponsors…I must keep this situation like this.

 

Unfortunately, my board sold one solid Ukrainian central defender to Derby before I arrived here, something that is not going to happen anymore in the future, because I need good Ukrainian defenders for what I want to build.

 

In the next post we will gonna talk a little bit about the tactic.

[dnlwrd]

This might be my favourite career threads of FM18 so far (and there have been some great ones on here), amazing work.

[IL Luce]

On 28/04/2018 at 23:34, dnlwrd said:

This might be my favourite career threads of FM18 so far (and there have been some great ones on here), amazing work.

Thank you. I really appreciate it. 

There’s more to come, at least 12 years at Shakhtar.

[IL Luce]

 

Lucescu’s tactical masterpiece – Shakhtar Samba School [second attempt]

 

My first attempt on creating Lucescu’s tactic was at Brescia where I developed a 4411 started from the defensive positioning. I’m gonna keep some ideas from there but I’m also gonna try something just a little bit different.

 

Key characteristics of Lucescu’s tactic:

• a fluent and attacking 4231;
• fluid interchange and quick low passing;
• Angelo Niculescu’s philosophies: hybrid approach, able to both control the ball for long periods trying to make the opponents closing down more, creating gaps and then counter attack at pace;
• calm retention of the ball, with short passes, no more then 2-3 touches on the ball and quick breaks on flanks
• double pivot: one more static and a hard working one able to shuttle forward to connect the midfield to the attack;
• 2 very aggressive fullbacks that constantly bomb forward to create overloads down the flanks;
• 2 very fast wingers able to score plenty of goals;
• 1 hard working striker able to be a real treat in the box but also able to open up space for the wingers to drive towards goal on their preferred foot;
• fairly narrow attack.

 

Tactical Analysis

 

I took as game of reference the 2-1 victory against Chelsea from 2012. Sorry for the low quality of the images, I didn’t find the full game in a much better quality.

 

Defensive Positioning & Pressing style

Shakhtar defend in a compact 4411 formation and even much more compact in some situations, with their wide players coming really deep.

 

They deploy a medium block with a not very aggressive zonal pressing. They usually let the opposition advance in their half before they start to press with the pressing intensifying around the box. The only one who is allowed to press aggressively is Mkhitaryan (the AMC), as in the image above, with Fernandinho (DMCR) helping him in some situations. In the image above, Mkhitaryan is leaving his defensive position and start to press the opposition CD and then quickly move to press the DM, with Fernandinho starting to run from deep to help him, anticipating that the CD will pass to DM.

 

Attacking Positioning

Shakhtar attack in a very aggressive 4231 formation with almost 3 constant players early in the box. We can see how high and wide are fullbacks positioning, with Willian coming very deep and central to get the ball. Beside him is Fernandinho, with Hubschman way back providing cover. In the box we have Luiz Adriano, Mkhitaryan and Teixeira.

 

Goalkeeper

Pyatov: Is a classic goalkeeper designed not to do fancy thinks like modern Sweeper Keeper. He usually passes the ball shortly to central defenders or take long kicks to Luiz Adriano or Teixeira.

 

Central Defenders

Rakitskiy – Kucher: Solid defenders, they need to be able to play short and long passes when receiving the ball. They usually play short to DMs but are able to play it long in certain situations. Usually Rakitskiy is the one who try some long passes.

 

Fullbacks

Rat – Srna: In attack they give the width to the team but they need to be also solid in defence.

 

They are very aggressive only when the ball arrives in the opposition half, when Shakhtar play out of defence - like in this situation - they usually stay deep providing a wide passing option and don’t venture too early in attack.

 

They usually switch their attack duty, but Razvan Rat seems to me much more aggressive in some situations. Here we see how aggressive he overlap Willian, being a really presence in the box. Also, they rarely cross from deep, instead they prefer to pass the ball around till they arrive in the opposition half.

 

Midfielders

Hubschman – Fernandinho: One more static and defensive oriented and one able to link the midfield with the attack, being also a presence in the box but only in some situations and right time and not always.

 

Hubschman

He is designed to be more defensive oriented and more static and he don’t close down too early. In this situation he dragged back so much that the Chelsea player eventually managed to pass to the striker.

 

Also, he is not a deep playmaker and maybe - in the FM - not with any defensive duty because he is not coming deep to get the ball and he is not just sitting very deep in front of defence.

 

Instead, he is moving forward, letting Fernandinho to come deep and collect the ball.

 

And while the ball and Fernandinho are moving up, he usually stops going forward, this being the area where he operate, remaining static here in the middle, providing cover.

 

Fernandinho

He is a hard working and intelligent midfielder, the link between defence, midfield and attack as we saw in some of the images above.

 

Also, he is aggressive but is not a constant presence in the box, instead he is picking the right opportunity to arrive in the box. An attack duty - in the game, as I thought in my first attempt - is out of question, I guess. Here Srna is crossing the ball to Teixeira and we see Fernandinho positioning himself way out of the box where he usually operate. 

 

Attacking midfielders 

Willian – Mkhitaryan – Teixeira: Speeders and creative, able to do the unexpected. Lethal inside the box, hard working outside of it, able to track back and defend.

 

Willian

He is a constant presence in the build-up, always coming very deep to get the ball. Also, he positions himself more central and is able to pass short or long all over the field. He is not too early into the box, instead he prefers to be a constant passing option.

 

Mkhitaryan

He is an early and constant presence into the box and one that can press aggressively as we saw above. He can interact amazing with Luiz Adriano in attack creating space for him and also scoring plenty of goals. In some defensive situations he stays very close with the opposition DM as we see in the second image.

 

Teixeira

A constant and early presence into the box as well. He is similar to Willian but he tends to receive the ball in positions wider and higher up the flank before cutting inside.

 

Striker

Luiz Adriano

Hard working striker able to be lethal into the box but also to create space for his teammates. Here he is dropping deep making space for more advanced Willian and Teixeira.

[IL Luce]

Translating into Football Manager (a work in progress)

 

Mentality and Defensive Style / Mentality and Attacking Style

 

I really like Control’s default tempo, I think it mimic exactly Shakhtar tempo but Control mentality have some characteristics that we may never find in Lucescu’s way of play.

• First of all, the medium-high block and pressure in opposition half are out of question. The team don’t deploy a high block and don’t press so much in the opposition half.
• Second, the transition quickly and stretch play more are the same out of question. The team’s width is provided only by the fullbacks, the wingers are positioning pretty narrow with Willian even more central.

 

Instead, the Standard mentality offer much more characteristics that we may find in Lucescu’s way of play.

• First of all, the medium block and balance pressure intensity. The team don’t press like crazy, instead deploy more of a medium-zonal pressing.
• Second, the build attack judiciously. The team deploy a hybrid build-up style, being able to control the game for long periods of time but also to counter at pace. Also, a lot of balanced areas means that I can adjust some things by team instruction or team shape.

Also, Counter – besides some characteristics - with its “wait for opening” build-up style may be an option?

 

Team Shape and Expressiveness

 

Here I’m between Fluid and Very Fluid for that compact defence, but because the team is going to improvise so much more with the very fluid mentality, I’m going with the Fluid one.

In conclusion Standard-Fluid may be the way, with Counter to be tested.

 

Tactic

 

 

 Goalkeeper - Goalkeeper (Defend): Pass It Shorter

I gave him only pass it shorter PI and let him decide where to distribute the ball.

 

Centre Back Left - Centre Back (Defend): Pass It Shorter

Centre Back Right - Centre Back (Defend): Pass It Shorter

I want them to pass shorter to DMs.

 

Left Back - Complete Wing-Back (Support): None

Right Back - Wing-Back (Support): Stay wider

I gave them support duties to not run very early in attack, instead they need to be a passing option when we play out of defence and be aggressive when the ball is advancing in opposition half. They are still very aggressive this way, with the DL being more aggressive.

 

Defensive Midfielder Central Left - Defensive Midfielder (Support): Hold Position; Fewer Risky Passes

The anchorman is too static, the DM(d) is closing down more by default; both are staying way too deep. I gave him support duty to advance forward but not too far (hold position) and I want him to pass the ball around him to VOL or AP.

 

Defensive Midfielder Central Right - Secundo Volante (Support): Close Down More

The attack duty is way too aggressive, I guess and much more present into the box, I think the Volante support is the way here, although I was tempted to move him up in a BTB role. Closing down to help with pressing as in the second goal against Chelsea.

 

Attacking Midfielder Left - Advanced Playmaker (Support): Sit Narrow

I want him to come deep and central to get the ball and be a constant passing option.

 

Attacking Midfielder Right - Inside Forward (Attack): None

Here I’m between IF and IW because I want him to be early into the box but also to track back well.

 

Attacking Midfielder Central - Attacking Midfielder (Attack): Close Down More

I think is the only option here. A playmaker role may not suit his moves and a shadow striker may be too aggressive.

 

Striker: Complete Forward (Support): None

The all round and hard working CF role.

 

Similarities in play?

• Defensive Positioning

 

• Attacking Positioning

 

Few results

 

Luckily, besides being slow, I have the players that fit into the system, but is way too early for a full evaluation. The team is yet to learn the tactic and I'm still making changes to the squad.

 

Coming Up Next

• Champions League

 

• August Fixtures & Transfers

 

Two very long posts but I hope you enjoyed. Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

[davehibb]

Fantastic updates

Looking forward to the next ones 

[bsanchezb]

I join to the previous comments. Great job! My favorite story so far. 

[Marbah]

stop make me want to play the game even more! god damn it.

i just realized that after I've read your thread, about 2-3 weeks after, I changed my tactic in a save, and somehow ended up with 3 man midfield and it all seemed so familiar :))) now i know why

[IL Luce]

On 02/05/2018 at 11:37, davehibb said:

Fantastic updates

Looking forward to the next ones 

 

On 02/05/2018 at 13:54, bsanchezb said:

I join to the previous comments. Great job! My favorite story so far. 

Thank you guys!

 

On 02/05/2018 at 17:33, Marbah said:

stop make me want to play the game even more! god damn it.

i just realized that after I've read your thread, about 2-3 weeks after, I changed my tactic in a save, and somehow ended up with 3 man midfield and it all seemed so familiar :))) now i know why

Glad that the thread produces this kind of effects

[IL Luce]

Season I 2027/2028

 

 

Small tactical tweaks:

• Added “Move Into Channels” to CF(s);
• Added “Roam From Position” to AM(a).

I made a small mistake at the beginning and forgot to add move into channels to CF to resemble Luiz Adriano movement, also I added roam from position to AM, also for more movement. The AM with his attack duty is early in the box but was too static, creating a big gap between midfield and attack. Now with roam, he is still early in the box, but when AP or MCs don’t have a passing option he usually come a little bit deep, or as the PI description says “find pockets of space in which they can be more effective”, reducing that gap.

 

Season expectations & Preview:

 

Transfers:

Because West Ham decided to buy my 32 years old Gaston Pereiro for 10M, I decided that I can’t trust my defenders with 5 pace and acceleration and I invested all the money in a more stable Ukrainian/East European defensive line. Also, it seems that I can’t attract quality Brazilians, but we made 2 Brazilian transfers:

1. Petro Zakharchenko: I usually don’t buy 27 years old players but, Ukrainian quality players are hard to find and expensive and I will make an exception in this compartiment. Not so fast, but at least he doesn’t have 5 as pace and aceeleration. He will be in my first eleven. Very brave also.
2. Illya Pylypchuk: Another brave defender that will be in my first eleven. I don’t know if this matter, but I guess I’m lucky because they played in the same team and they know each other.
3. Josef Matejka: Unfortunately, there are no quality Ukrainian players for DL position and I eventually appealed at my Czech friends. I don’t like his personality but he will be in my first eleven.
4. Martin Urban: Again, another team mate, Matejka’s team mate from Sparta Praha. He will be his backup.
5. Yaroslav Mazur: 6M for a 27 years old backup I think is very much but, he is a decent Ukrainian player that will help me with my team management and how I want to build the team.
6. Alexon Messias: Our first Brazilian sign. He is more of a playmaker but if we can help him improve his attacking attributes he may develop into something. Even so, he already has 4 goals in 8 games for us. He will be a backup but will get plenty of minutes.
7. Uallace: Our second Brazilian. I wanted to sign him on a permanent basis, but he already signed a new contract with Santos and eventually I loaned him with a future transfer fee. This time he is more attacking, but he got speed, he got flair, he got playmaker traits, we just need to improve his passing game.

 

Squad:

 

Top key players:

1. Tanguy Ndombele
2. Denys Arendaruk
3. Dorin Rotariu

 

First eleven:

Our defensive line resembles exactly Lucescu’s one, we need to work at our Brazilian attack in the future. Tankovs'kyy can only play in MC position that's why is red for suitability, but is not a problem.

 

August results:

• Champions League

I must be honest I didn't expect to past Porto and definitely I wasn't expected such a score, it seems that I underestimated my team. Amazing result in my opinion.

 

And my first personal objective was achieved: to take Shakhtar in the CL groups after 2 years where they didn’t manage to pass the qualifying phases. And what a group…but looking at our rivals draw I think I was a little bit lucky. We will fight for the 3rd place that’s for sure.

Now we need to improve our league because we dropped 2 places and we are on 14th as reputation right now and even if we win the league we need to pass champions third qualifying round.

 

• Premyer-Liha

I really like that we scored in every match. I want that "scoring" to be the foundation of the team. Why? Because having my defensive line formed only by Ukrainian and East European players it means that I will not be able to always find quality players and they will lack some attributes here and there and eventually we are gonna concede goals because of that, especially in Europe. Managing to score more than our opponents is crucial.

 

Match of the month:

 

League table:

 

September fixtures:.

 

 

Segundo Volante in action: 1-2 touches counter-attack

 

Because we are gonna talk also about Lucescu’s tactic, I’m gonna post from time to time how the roles act in the tactic. Today we gonna talk about Fernandinho's role, Segundo Volante, the support one (in my opinion, of course).

Quote

“My responsibility, at the end of the day, is much the same as it was, control the midfield and organise the team."

“In Ukraine I played a little further forward, and so I contributed to the team in a different way, by attacking more. At City I’m positioned further back and so I concentrate on my defensive responsibilities. Those are probably the main differences."

 

When I was looking at the role and especially support duty in my first fixtures, I thought that is too conservative and not so aggressive as I wanted. I even thought to move him up in a BTB role, but the Porto game convince me that in some situations he can be a real danger. 

 

Here, my DL (nr 5, Matejka) intercept Porto’s pass and because of the TI's “dribble less” and "higher tempo" he immediately passes to my ST (nr 42, Arendaruk).

 

Arendaruk hold the ball a little bit and wait for my AMC (nr 37, Messias) to advance and after that he pass the ball to him. Pay attention at nr 12, my Segundo Volante, who will run from deep.

 

Messias is immediately closed down by 3 Porto’s players but he doesn’t hold the ball too much and pass immediately to my DL who runs from deep.

 

Messias quick pass attracted with it 2 Porto’s players, leaving gaps in the box. Matejka is doing what the rol instruct him to do: cross from byline. And look how aggressive my Segundo Volante (nr 12, Ndombele) decided to run from deep, taking my ST place who made him space.

 

And eventually Ndombele scores.

 

Here you can find a gif with all the action.

[IL Luce]

 

September fixtures:

• Champions League

I rested almost all my players before City game and we managed a huge win for our club. A positive result against Olympiacos could have given us a serious advantage, unfortunately we couldn’t do it. Everything can happen in this group.

 

• Premyer-Liha

Mix results this month but I will take the blame for some of them. I rest my players before City game and played with a lot of 16 years old kids in the game against Chornomorets and we barely managed to get away with a draw. 

It’s unbelievable how our affiliates, Mariupol, managed to defeat us with our own players. We can say that we beat ourselves. Guess who learned his lesson and will never loan players in the same league? 

We finished the month with 2 defeats, hopefully is not a sign that our form will drop.

 

Match of the month:

Two huge mistakes almost cost our victory, only Rotariu didn’t agree with that and brought us the victory after a beautiful long kick outside the box in the 88 minutes.

 

League table:

 

October fixtures: 

[IL Luce]

 

October fixtures:

• Champions League

Look away and don’t laugh, nothing to see here. PSG smashed us playing with a “realistic”, “real life inspired”, bloody 3 STs formation and I couldn’t do anything about it. Curiously, the board seams not to be bothered with the result, I’m still Shakhtar’s manager and my job security is very secure…pfffiu.

 

• Premyer-Liha & Kubok Ukraini

After that disastrous result I immediately tweaked the tactic a little bit. Maybe I rushed a bit cuz the tactic worked fine till I faced a 3 STs formation but I don’t want to get through this kind of results anymore.

I changed DM's duty into a defensive one, I took off close down more from Volante and after I saw Rakitskyi’s traits again, I changed the DCL into a BPD. 

We will face PSG again in the next month and I will see if I’ve made the right decision.

 

Match of the month:

 

League table:

 

November fixtures: 

[john1]

Ouch!! What happened against PSG?!  

[walterjocoski]

Hey! Nice save, dude.

 

I'd like to ask you the best regens profiles from your save. 

[IL Luce]

On 05/05/2018 at 21:21, john1 said:

Ouch!! What happened against PSG?!  

Always 3v2 in defense and not having a Plan B, I guess.

[IL Luce]

9 hours ago, walterjocoski said:

Hey! Nice save, dude.

 

I'd like to ask you the best regens profiles from your save. 

Thanks.

Looking through my old screenshots, definitely the best regens I had were at Besiktas.

 

Hakan Ulusoy, who is now at Real Madrid.

 

Selahattin Deveci, who is still at Besiktas.

 

Cihat Turksever, still at Besiktas.

 

Herve Ntolla, the same, still at Besiktas.

 

And at Brescia:

Definitely, Antonio Tagliaferri, who is now at Man United.

 

And Tomas Hounago, who is still at Brescia.

 

So far none to deserve mention from Shakhtar.

[IL Luce]

 

November fixtures:

• Champions League

PSG played a 4231 formation this time and we managed a draw. No more 11 goals this time. 

Another win against City secured us the EL place but if PSG will win against them and we will also manage a win against Olympiacos, then is CL what we gonna talk about. Very, very tough but not impossible. 

 

• Premyer Liha & Kubok Ukraini

 

Beautiful November. I’m far from being a tactical expert, I’m still learning a lot of things, but I like to watch games, try to figured out what is going wrong and find different solutions. The tactic is far from being perfect, is still have issues that I’m trying to correct:

1. DMCL: First of all, I don’t like my DMCL. I thought Hubschman role will be an easy one but it seems that is not or I just complicated it by myself. With defend duty is sitting too deep and with support is going too far leaving me exposed. Btw, I played it with a defensive duty in the PSG draw.
2. AM: The attack duty creates a huge gap between it and my midfielders and because of the high tempo and dribble less, my DMs usually lose the ball stupid trying quick long passes. 
3. CWB: The cwb with its roam from position create me a lot of trebles so far.
4. Possession: So far, I really like how we play that quick passes combinations sometimes ...but, we don't have a high possession. The possession is usually between 47-49%.

 

Solutions???

1. DMCL: The only solution that I see so far is moving him up in the CM position with a defend duty, so that he will be in a higher position and I hope he will stay in the middle as Hubschman.
2. AM: Giving him a support duty will reduce the gap but he will not be early in the box as I want. The second solution is moving both DMs up in the CMs positions and so they may be closer to the AM, reducing that gap. And that’s exactly what I tried - with the cost of conceding yet another 11 goals – in the City game. The plan worked perfectly and I think this may be the way to go from now on: CMs instead of DMs. Moving them up may create another problem: a gap between defence and midfield but hopefully the fluid shape and the BPD will reduce it cuz I’m not going to push the defensive line.
3. CWB: Changing it into a WB(s) as my DR.
4. Possession: Right now, I don’t know how to gain more possession. I tried in my first attempt to play with retain possession and high tempo and it didn’t went too well. The roam from position will definitely help but I don’t think that I want this TI. But, playing with a high tempo, dribble less and 3 players early in the box, I think it is normal not to have a huge possession.  Maybe when I will bring in players with high first touch, decisions and off the ball things will be different, but for now, no changes here.

 

Match of the month:

 

League table:

 

December fixtures: 

 

Well, it seems that our possession is based on what opponents we face. Just played the Volyn and Dynamo games and we had 65% and 56% possession. Now at half-time against Olympiacos we have 52% possession and definitely I’m not worried about it anymore. 

And guess what, PSG is leading 1-0 at half time.

[IL Luce]

 

December fixtures:

• Champions League

 

Yes! PSG done their job wining 3-0 against Man City and we took revenge on Olympiacos. Tactical tweaks responded pretty well so far and right now I’m glad that PSG destroyed us cuz I learned my lesson from that game.

 

We will gonna meet Milan next, 3rd in Seria A and with a Brazilian manager. Glad to see Besiktas in the first knockout round and their new manager in charge is.....Antonio Conte.

 

• Premyer Liha & Kubok Ukraini

Unfortunately, we lost our derby and our little advantage in the league.

 

Match of the month:

 

League table:

 

February fixtures: 

The league will take a winter break till February. Unfortunately, our first game will be in CL and I need to arrange a lot of friendlies to get the boys fit and ready for it.

I have 5.95M transfer budget remained from summer and I will enter into transfer market for at least 2 CMs. We are really vulnerable in the middle right now, with Tankovs’kyy out for 3 months and the rest of them old and slow. Right now, I can only rely on Ndombele who is the most solid of all the CMs I have.

 

[IL Luce]

 

Quote

“The club’s strategy was to build on young Brazilian talents between 18 and 20 years old.

Lucescu made the decision to build an all-Brazilian team from midfield on in order to avoid mixing nationalities. In this way, he wanted to create immediate cohesion and automatisms.”

“At the beginning it was difficult [to attract the Brazilian players], I had a big job to make them understand the project, explain the Ukrainian championship, the philosophy of the club. The players were afraid of getting lost in a country like Ukraine, of not being in the window anymore and that they are quickly forgotten.”

                                                             Franck Henouda, the French agent behind Shakhtar’s Brazilian niche

 

January Transfers:

 

With a lot of players retiring and to be released at the end of the season I tried to find and bring in some players that I can rely on next season:

1. Ivica Miladin: Young all round midfielder with a lot of potential. He is in my first eleven already, in a defensive role of course, being Croatian.
2. Laercio: Another midfielder with a lot of potential, this time Brazilian. For now, he is a backup but next season will take Ndombele place. He is on loan with a future transfer fee cuz he signed a new contract before my offer and didn’t want to enter in contract negotiations.
3. Andrey Fedoseev: I decided to recall him from Mariupol. He performed pretty well for them having an average rating of 7.05 in 14 games. I think it is time to develop further with us.
4. Luiz Henrique: I intend to sell Rotariu at the end of the season and he will take his place. I had some troubles in signing him: the club accepted my offer but he didn’t want to hear about a move at us. After I declared my interest as a top target and send my chief scout watching him (it seems that this impressed him), he accepted.
5. Thiago Capixaba: He may not look great right now but I hope he will improve.

 

The squad starts to resemble Lucescu’s more and more. Of course, some of Brazilian players are backups for now but I intend forcing them in my first eleven next season. Hopefully, I will not fail with a such amount of young players.

 

February fixtures:

• Champions League

Solid performance from my boys. Milan didn’t have a chance, literally speaking, they only had 1 shot on target and that was in the last minutes of play. If we can replicate this performance in away leg will be amazing.

 

• Friendlies & Premyer Liha

Our hard work started in friendlies…a lot of them.

 

Match of the month:

 

League table:

 

March fixtures: 

[IL Luce]

 

Youth Intake:

 

Only 3 of them deserve to continue with us, with one of them to be monitored further:

 

March fixtures:

• Champions League

 

In matter of possession they totally dominated us but luckily, we manage to get a late draw and continue in quarter finals where we gonna meet Chelsea.

 

 

 

• Premyer Liha 

It was the month of draws for us.

 

Match of the month:

 

League table:

From now on the league will split in two, with first 6 teams playing in Championship Group and bottom 6 in Relegation Group. Each team plays each other twice.

 

April fixtures: 

Wow, a lot of games in just one month.

[IL Luce]

 

April fixtures:

• Champions League

First at Besiktas now at Shakhtar, fixtures against Chelsea are unbelievable… just look at the first leg.

 

• Premyer Liha & Kubok Ukraini

At least we destroyed our rivals and took a little advantage in the league.

 

Match of the month:

 

League table:

 

May & June fixtures, the end: 

[IL Luce]

 

 

After 6 seasons without a trophy I managed to took the team back where it belongs and end Dynamo supremacy.

The PSG game was crucial this season and after it and after changes that I made, the team start slowly perform beautiful. Sometimes you need a disastrously game to wake you up and make you understand that something is not working as you expect.

 

May & June fixtures:

If you look back, I usually struggle at the end of each season, can't get the results that I need and eventually finish as runner up, but this time was different. An unbeaten run brought us 2 trophies.

 

Match of the month:

 

League table:

 

Kubok Ukraini Final:

4 goals by Luiz Henrique shows me that my right flank is in good hands next season.

 

Team of the Year – Team of the Season - Top key players of the Season:

 

1. Dorin Rotariu: 12.9km distance/90; 284.0km distance covered; 86% pass completion ratio, 41.71 passes completed; 44% shots on target ratio; 1.32 shots on target; 13 goals; 10 assists and an average rating of 7.39.
2. Tanguy Ndombele: 90% pass completion ratio, 83.13 passes completed; 64% tackle completion ratio; 1.40 tackles won; 5 assists; 6 goals; and an average rating of 7.33.
3. Denys Arendaruk: 52% shots on target ratio; 1.74 shots on target; 41% headers won ratio; 81% pass completion ratio, 32.38 passes completed; 15 goals; 10 assists and an average rating of 7.34.

Oldie but goldie. I don’t know why CL stats are missing, I guess have been reset before I took the screens.

 

Tactic:

Under development all season, trying to adjust mistakes and gaps, I must recognize that the tactic played a big part in our achievements this season. I definitely didn’t have the squad for CL quarter final and looking at Dynamo and Vorskla squads, definitely nor for winning the league. The next season will be the real challenge for tactic and club, cuz I intend to rely more on youngsters.

I dropped some of PIs trying to keep it more simple but never changed the way Lucescu play:

I know that the right flank is really aggressive and may be exposed but that’s the way Lucescu play. I wish I could make the IF drop much deeper, as Teixeira, but I guess you can’t have it all. I could drop him in an IW role but I don’t think I want that.

 

GK(d): Pass it Shorter

2x CD(d): none

2x WB(s): none

CM(d): none

BBM: none

IF(a): none

AP(s): Sit Narrower

AM(a): Close Down More

CF(s): Move Into Channels

 

Board confidence & budgets:

Not Besiktas budget but can be adjusted to 40M and beside that, I have a lot of players that I hope to sell for some money. It will be a hot summer with a lot of changes in the squad.

 

Finances:

 

Europa League & Champions League:

 

Brescia & Besiktas:

 

 

Season         League               League Finish                   Achievements
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2017/2018       Serie B                 1st             Promoted, Champions
2018/2019       Serie A                 8th             Europa League Qualification
2019/2020       Serie A                 5th             Europa League First Knockout Round
2020/2021       Serie A                 6th             TIM Cup Winners, Europa League First Knockout Round
2021/2022       Serie A                 3rd             Supercoppa, Europa League First Knockout Round, UCL Group Stage Qualification
2022/2023       Serie A                 2nd             UCL Quarter Final
2023/2024       Serie A                 1st             Champions, UCL Quarter Final
2024/2025       Serie A                 1st             Champions, UCL First Knockout Round
2025/2026       Spor Toto Super Lig     2nd             Turkcell Super Kupa, UCL First Knockout Round
2026/2027       Spor Toto Super Lig     1st             Champions, UCL First Knockout Round
2027/2028       Premyer-Liha            1st             Champions, Superkubok, Kubok Ukraini, UCL Quarter Final

 

[IL Luce]

Season II 2028/2029

 

 

Commercial Summary & Finances:

 

Season expectations & Preview:

 

Transfers:

The transfer window is not closed yet but we will not do any deals anymore. I promised to Rotariu that will let him go home and he will be the last player that will leave us this summer.

We managed to sell some old players for good money in China and Turkey but also two youngster that not fit into my tactic.

The problem in signing only Brazilian and Ukrainian players is that the quality ones are rare and expensive. The good Brazilians between 18-20 - as I’m looking for - are rare and clubs don’t want to sell and usually I need to activate their release clauses. I find myself overspending for a player that may not develop as I want. The quality Ukrainians - because of the league rule - are also really expensive and I need to overspend so that clubs to accept my deal.

I massively invested in improving my defense but now we have some problems in attack cuz I couldn’t find a young solid Brazilian CF.

 

1. Ivan Forsyuk: He wasn't first on my list but because the other deal fall, I signed him immediately. His speed attracted me in the first place.
2. Oleg Kornev: Another Vorskla player. I told you that Vorskla have some pretty good players. Hard working and fast fullback, really good in defense. His minuses are personality, crossing and maybe off the ball, but beside that, for a Ukrainian player he’s amazing.
3. Andrey Semenov: Another hard working and pretty solid fullback. He’s 23 years old and will be a key player for us for many years to come.
4. Georgy Shevchenko: Playing a 4231, the midfielders are - let’s call – the engines of the tactic, especially the defensive one. Good first touch, defensively solid, he will be my defensive wall.
5. Laercio: I activated the future transfer fee clause and now he is our player. An all-round midfielder that I hope he will develop further.
6. Antonio: The best bargain of the save I guess. Pretty amazing player for his age and in my opinion, he can develop into next Fernandinho. I was surprised to see his 100k release clause. For sure a key player for us.
7. Uallace: He was a key player for us on his loan last season. I activated the future transfer fee and I’m glad to see that he is improving his passing game. I will see if he can develop his passing game further, if not I will move him up in ST position.
8. Elias: He also need to improve his passing game. It will be Uallace’s backup for now, but he has some huge potential.
9. Eder Luiz: I’m really excited about this one. I think him and Antonio can really develop into something. He already has 22 games for Roma while was on loan there. We need to improve some of his attributes to be more lethal inside the box but I really like him.
10. Carlos: Believe it or not, he is my number 1 striker. He is more of a poacher, maybe I demand too much from him, but I will force him in the CF role.

 

Squad:

The second thing on my list is done: the squad is similar to Lucescu’s. Now let’s win more trophies.

 

Top key players:

1. Georgy Shevchenko
2. Antonio
3. Eder Luiz

 

First Eleven:

 

Friendlies & July results:

We have a rough start of the season, mainly because of so many new players...I guess. That's the problem with the Ukrainian league: it starts too early and it not give time to make massive changes to the squad. The transfer window start on 1st July and the first game is on 15th July, even if you finalize all the transfers on 1st July you only have time for 3 friendlies. Not too much time for team cohesion and tactical learning for new players.

 

Superkubok:

 

Champions League Playoff draw:

 

August fixtures:

[IL Luce]

 

August fixtures:

• Champions League

 

My beloved Brescia, we finally meet.

 

• Premyer Liha 

We are back on track, boys…back on track.

 

Match of the month:

 

League table:

 

September fixtures: 

[IL Luce]

 

September fixtures:

• Champions League

The student has become the master. The encounter with Brescia didn’t went too well, with two of my former players scoring against me after 2 corner kicks. On the other hand, I’m glad that they continue my good work and that they even bought some of my former Besiktas players. Good job boys!

What can I say about Barcelona game? An unbelievable performance from my boys, with Carlos proving me that he deserves to be in my first eleven, in a period when I was thinking of dropping him for his bad performances. 

 

• Premyer Liha

 

Match of the month:

 

League table:

In the league, those two losses from the start of the season still count, with Olexandriya having a good start so far.

 

October fixtures: 

[IL Luce]

 

October fixtures: 

• Champions League

Unbelievable…we can smash Barca but we can’t beat Basel. We are out of Europe right now.

 

• Premyer Liha & Kubok Ukraini

Unbeaten, but not a great month overall.

 

Match of the month:

 

League table:

 

November fixtures:

[IL Luce]

 

November & December results:

• Champions League

 

With a little help from Brescia and a lucky 92 minutes equalizer against Barca, we are gonna continue in Europa League this season.

 

• Premyer Liha & Kubok Ukraini

Our form is not looking good at all and it seems that it may be Dynamo’s year. We are not as lethal in attack as before, my striker being very inconstant.

 

Luckily, the winter break is here. 

 

Match of the month:

 

League table:

My board expectation is just to qualify to CL this season too, that means at least 2nd place. Vorskla already sacked theirs manager, hopefully Akhmetov is not so crazy and our form will improve after the break. I’m looking for a new striker this winter, that’s for sure.

 

Europa League Draw:

 

February & March fixtures:

[IL Luce]

 

January Transfers:

There’s a lot of great 22-23 years Brazilian strikers but I’ll not break my rules and I tried to improvise a little bit. 

A lot of money involved this year. 3 in, 3 out and a small transfer mistake:

1. Murat Romanov: A much defensive solid, WB backup. I know, 9M for a backup is a lot, but these are the prices.
2. Boni: Here I made a little mistake. I didn’t pay attention and signed him in December before his birthday and so he arrived at us at 21 years old. He can play in both ST and AMC positions but I’m gonna play him as AMC cuz of his traits.
3. Thiago Rosan Junior: He’s mainly an AMC but I’m gonna play him as ST. Good finishing, technique, passing attributes and I expect him to score but also provide assists. He already has 2 goals and 1 assist in 3 games for us and I hope will continue like this. 22 games in Ligue 1, while he was on loan at Lille, it’s a big bonus in his development.

 

I already received some 18M offers for him but no way he will be leaving. It’s not the right time and definitely nor the right price. He has a 22.5M release clause that I need to get rid of in the near future.

 

January & February results:

• Europa League

We managed to progress past Feyenoord but we are gonna face a much tougher team in next round:  

 

 

• Friendlies & Premyer Liha

 

Match of the month:

 

League table:

 

March fixtures: 

[IL Luce]

 

Youth Intake:

It seems that we can produce goalkeepers…I have 4 right now.

 

March results:

• Europa League

We were very lucky in the first leg, they missed a penalty and a lot of chances. In the second leg a corner kick and a counterattack made the difference and we are gonna meet Valencia next. Unfortunately, I lost my DL for 2 months.

 

 

• Premyer Liha

We finally start to be more constant in winning, or is just a good month, anyway I’ll take it.

 

Match of the month:

 

League table:

6 points differences between us and Dynamo, 4 from Olexandriya, a lot of games to go and it seems that anything can happen in the end.

 

April fixtures:

[IL Luce]

 

April results:

• Europa League

Our European journey ends in Valencia this season, after a disastrous performance in second leg .

 

• Premyer Liha & Kubok Ukraini

Our form looks amazing so far, too bad that Valencia ended our 2 months unbeaten run, but we still remain unbeaten for 3 months in the league.

 

Match of the month:

 

League table:

We still have some chances in winning the league, but it not depends on us. We will wait for Dynamo to make a mistake and hopefully we will get a positive result in our next direct encounter. Very tough… they are in a good season so far, beating Man United in their way to the CL quarter final.

 

May & June fixtures, the end: 

[IL Luce]

 

 

The bad luck, bottle job or call it how you want is back. 3 months in which we smashed everyone were ruined by just one game. 

 

May & June fixtures:

 

We lost every chances of winning the title in the game against Vorskla. After that was just about squad rotation and playing around with the tactic.

Well, at least we won the cup and super cup.

 

 

Match of the month:

 

League table:

 

Some very good news for the next season!

 

Kubok Ukraini Final:

 

Team of the Year – Team of the Season - Top key players this season:

 

1. Uallace: 13.9km distance/90; 411km distance covered; 87% pass completion ratio, 101.51 passes completed; 32% shots on target ratio; 0.81 shots on target; 9 goals; 9 assists and an average rating of 7.34.
2. Antonio: 89% pass completion ratio, 86.17 passes completed; 74% tackle completion ratio; 0.81 tackles won; 7 assists; 10 goals; and an average rating of 7.28.
3. Eder Luiz: 13.1km distance/90; 380km distance covered; 82% pass completion ratio, 37.43 passes completed; 39% shots on target ratio; 1.27 shots on target; 13 goals; 1 assists and an average rating of 7.23.

 

Board confidence & budgets:

I don’t think I’ll gonna do any transfer this summer. The first task is to renew some of my Brazilians contracts and get rid of any release clauses and then focus only on developing them further.

 

Finances:

 

Europa League & Champions League:

 

Brescia & Besiktas:

 

 

Season         League               League Finish                   Achievements
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2017/2018       Serie B                 1st             Promoted, Champions
2018/2019       Serie A                 8th             Europa League Qualification
2019/2020       Serie A                 5th             Europa League First Knockout Round
2020/2021       Serie A                 6th             TIM Cup Winners, Europa League First Knockout Round
2021/2022       Serie A                 3rd             Supercoppa, Europa League First Knockout Round, UCL Group Stage Qualification
2022/2023       Serie A                 2nd             UCL Quarter Final
2023/2024       Serie A                 1st             Champions, UCL Quarter Final
2024/2025       Serie A                 1st             Champions, UCL First Knockout Round
2025/2026       Spor Toto Super Lig     2nd             Turkcell Super Kupa, UCL First Knockout Round
2026/2027       Spor Toto Super Lig     1st             Champions, UCL First Knockout Round
2027/2028       Premyer-Liha            1st             Champions, Superkubok, Kubok Ukraini, UCL Quarter Final
2028/2029       Premyer-Lyha            2nd             Superkubok, Kubok Ukraini, EL Quarter Final

 

[IL Luce]

Season III 2029/2030

 

Commercial Summary & Finances:

 

Season expectations & Preview:

 

Transfers:

I’m still trying to get rid of some of the players, but only one in for us this season:

1. Dejan Radic: A fast Serbian DL that will only be a backup for us.

 

Squad:

 

Top key players:

• Antonio

 

• Uallace

 

• Eder Luiz

 

Tactic & First eleven:

Well, I finally dragged my IF into IW role…let’s see how things will go this season.

 

Friendlies & Superkubok results:

No Super Cup for us this season.

 

Superkubok:

 

Champions League:

 

August & CL fixtures:

[superbowl145]

Just started following this carrer and already read all in a couple of hours...

[IL Luce]

14 hours ago, superbowl145 said:

Just started following this carrer and already read all in a couple of hours...

Thanks

[IL Luce]

 

August results:

• Champions League

The Belgians from Kortrijk gave us a challenge, or at least they scared us a little bit in the first leg. Even so we are in the CL groups once again, something that I can’t say about our rivals.

 

This season’s Champions League will see us traveling to England, Spain and Romania in a tough encounter against Chelsea, Atletico and Dinamo.

 

• Premyer Liha 

 

Match of the month:

 

League table:

 

September fixtures: 

[kidthekid]

I'm really enjoying this thread. It was a really fun read.

[IL Luce]

On 16/05/2018 at 01:12, kidthekid said:

I'm really enjoying this thread. It was a really fun read.

Glad you like it.

[IL Luce]

 

September results:

• Champions League

 

• Premyer Liha 

 

I really like how my team is moving this season it's like a totally different team. Yes, I made some minor tactical adjustments this season like changing the IF into IW with cross less often; changing the BBM into CM to get rid of that roam from position; adding move into channels and roam from position to AM for totally freedom and given an attack duty to my CF. Right now, I feel like we can beat every team we face, but let’s see how long this can go.

We deserved to win against Atletico, unfortunately a free kick ruined an even better result.

 

Match of the month:

 

League table:

Dynamo is having a good start so far and it seems that is up to us to stop them.

 

October fixtures: 

[IL Luce]

 

 

October results:

• Champions League

Chelsea played a 424 and we couldn’t resist under their continuous pressure. Our fullbacks were constantly caught out of position and because of that, their fast wingers punished us.

 

• Premyer Liha & Kubok Ukraini

We maintain our winning streak with 9 wins in a row and 11 in total, but the most important win is of course against our rivals, Dynamo and because of that we are now sitting top of the league. Is way too early but is nice to see us top.

 

Match of the month:

 

League table:

 

November fixtures:

[IL Luce]

 

November results:

• Champions League

 

 

• Premyer Liha & Kubok Ukraini

 

Awful month in CL saw us kicked out of competition, also we are out of Ukrainian Cup and all of that because of injuries. I needed to improvise in defense cuz I could only rely on 1 CD that usually is a backup. My DR is also injured and because of the lack of CDs I needed to play the backup DR as CD cuz is the only one who can properly play there and one of my DL as DR. Yap, a lot of improvisations in defense. Should I say that my defensive CM is also injured? 

I expect the next month results to drop the same, but we really need at least a draw against Dinamo Buc. to continue in EL.

 

Match of the month:

 

League table:

 

December fixtures: 

[IL Luce]

 

 

I don’t think I’m gonna buy someone this winter, but it’s nice to have it there.

 

December results:

• Champions League

Definitely it wasn’t an easy game. We just needed a draw, but till 69 minutes we were out of Europe.

 

It may be the end of the journey.

 

• Premyer Liha 

 

Match of the month:

 

League table:

 

January & February fixtures: