[FM 18][Closed] Chip chip chip away in Lithuania

[rodesire]

OH HAI THERE

I have been lurking on the forums for a decade now, so might as well join in on the fun.  This will be an attempt at Gundo + YA only challenge since I have done a few seasons with the new scouting system and still can't get a good hold of it.

My journey will take me to the glorious land of Lithuania.  Another Lithuanian save, you might think (FK Tauras), but no, there is so much more to this.  I'll be using my very own db that's on steam workshop if anyone fancies a go.  In a nutshell, Lithuania youth rating is upped by 10 to 74 and some new real teams are added for the bigger towns (so hopefully, bigger crowds).  The biggest change is the reshuffle of the league system.  IRL, Lithuania has a 9 team top division dominated by a Celtic-like club followed by a 16 club division monstrosity beneath that.  All of this is revamped in the db, there are 4 tiers, top tier with 8 clubs and a championship playoff for top 6.  The second division has most of the B teams, 14 B+A teams in total. Third division has two groups, 9 clubs each and bottom tier has 3 groups, 9 clubs each.

With 3 extra teams, this adds up to 64 teams that compete in the cup for that elusive European spot.  Speaking of Europe, Lithuania only has 1 CL spot and 3 EL spots and the coefficients are not going up any time soon.  Top division is pro/semi-pro, second division is semi-pro/ama and everything below consists of amateur and B sides.

Now, I started in July 2017 and simmed the game until New Year's, which is Lithuania's season reset date.  Upon starting a new season, I created a new manager (No badges, SL experience), two new teams got promoted to the bottom and one of them even accepted my application.

NB:  The first couple of attempts were buggy, so I had to restart over.  Head here for a proper start.

 

A very warm welcome to FK Druskininkai (Derived from lithuanian word for salt - druska)

All the facilities are at 1 as you can see but at least we got a fairly nice stadium and it's located in a 14k pop town.

My chairman seems to be fairly understanding too and after a bit of negotiating let me do my coaching badges,

The finances look great for this level, we have £30k in the bank and are not bleeding being amateur side

Finally, the squad.  There is only word to describe it - abysmal.  Noone is fast or strong or good in any way.  We only have 15 players, so I better hold on to these useless guys until the first intake.

 

The aims for the save are two-fold.  Short-term:

• Survive first season
• Upgrade the youth coaching,  there are no facilities, so CA is king.
• Make a cup run at any cost.  Cup provides a tiny bit of money but this level this is the difference between extra level in YC.

Long term:

• Promote from the bottom division all the way to the top
• Become semi-pro/professional club
• Have players represent the national team
• Win the cup
• Win the league
• Qualify for group stages of a European competition
• Win a European competiton

Considering, the side is amateur and there isn't much to start working with, this is going to take a while..

[rodesire]

My save experienced the same issues as Sheriff7 has had in his Lithuanian save, so I went back to the drawing board, recreated real Lithuanian football system and going to give this another go.

Starting in 2017 June, simming to 2018 and hopefully taking over the lowest team available at the time..

[rodesire]

It's now June 2018 and this is yours truly:

 

No badges, Sunday League experience, what could possibly go wrong..

Let's have a look at last season's bottom tier in Lithuania

As you can see 4 our of 6 jobs in bottom tier are with the bottom 4 teams in each group, so I reckon I better start applying

[Minuy600]

Seems like Lithuania is increasing in popularity, very cool to see a custom DB like this. Will of course be following.

[rodesire]

1 minute ago, Minuy600 said:

Seems like Lithuania is increasing in popularity, very cool to see a custom DB like this. Will of course be following.

Thanks buddy!  Hope you enjoy your stay

[rodesire]

2 months later I finally got some interviews with teams ranging from top to bottom division in Lithuania, ultimately ending up at...

Kretingos Grudai.

Who are they, you might ask.  Well, they seem to be an amateur side in sleepy town of Kretinga.  Pop is around 20k which bodes well for the future.  In real life the club is bankrolled by a local grain company, hence the name and the colours.

Unfortunately, that doesn't seem to be the case in game, as the facilities are terrible and the trophy case is, well, empty.

  

Let's have a look at the finances then.

Not too bad at all and it's an amateur side too, so we shouldn't bleed too much money.

The cashflow last year was decent.  We're a coastal side in Lithuania, so our travel costs are quite significant. However, luckily we should be able to afford at least one more YC level which is great news.

 

Now, the squad.

Well, ****, we only have 4 outfield players, so I will have to pick up free agents until we can field at least a full 11.  I know this is supposed to be a YA only challenge, but there isn't much I can do if I can't even field a full squad.  I also have no staff, so I have got a job on my hands.

[rodesire]

Bugs and yet another restart

After the last post I started wondering why our travel costs were so exceptionally high for an amateur club.  That wonder became dread when I realised I had only played home games in a month, yet my travel costs were approaching £300.  I started looking for culprit and found this:

Now that is absolutely unacceptable, so I am afraid I have to restart again.  I will fix the youth bug, and restart in second season yet again with the same team, hopefully. Sorry guys

[rodesire]

New dawn, new players

We start off as a newly promoted side in Lithuania's 4th division.  The division has 3 groups, 9 teams each with top team promoting and bottom one going down.  We play 32 matches all in all + whatever cup brings.

Board's expectations are minimal which is great!

Squad is actually huge this time round, we have 30+ players!

Only 3 goalies in the club, looks like the casual one has the best key attributes (my assMan sucks) but I will need to get him tutored to at least balanced personality asap.

Defensively we're fairly sound, fullbacks are fairly quick for this level and have enough tackling in them.  Centrebacks are okay but I hate the personalities in this group.

midfield is vastly overcrowded and I am not sure who even to play.  Wings are fast and can sort of cross, midfielders are all a mixture of bog standard, so it will take a few friendlies to figure it all out.

Similar issue in attack, several very reasonable prospects here, I might end up playing 3 up front if I can't decide who to relegate to U21s.

 

Our immediate fixture list is quite relaxed as you can see and I will hopefully see enough to decide who's starting for me in the league.

[Sheriff7]

Good luck mate!!

[rodesire]

July - August 2018

Our pre-season went okay considering the circumstances, I was trying out different tactics and we seemed to do well against league level opposition, losing only to higher division teams.

We also sold a massive 26 season tickets, shame about them only costing £2 with the matchday tix going for £0.42 which is by far the lowest I have ever seen in FM.

Just before the start of season, I settled on a fairly stiff 4-4-2 and that clearly did not work.  We barely created a chance in two games, only converting a Vazquez-level penalty.  This abysmal start has left us rooted to the bottom of the table and there will only be 4 more matches next month, so I am a bit worried the morale will drop before we play the first of them two weeks in.

I had to do something, so I went even deeper in midfield whilst pushing up the wings and that worked out beautifully for the 2-0 away win with two long ball finishes settling the game.  We will be entertaining a second division FC Vilniaus Vytis, so that should be the end of the cup journey for us.

[rodesire]

On 4/12/2018 at 15:56, Sheriff7 said:

Good luck mate!!

Thanks! You brought me quite a bit of luck 

September & October 2018

Hacing replayed the league matches i got the idea that my defense was struggling and I needed more defensive cover.  As a result I shifted one of my midfielders a bit more back. I also decided we should try soak up pressure and hit opponents on the break using the following tactic (btw, suggestions are super welcome)

We started September with a bunch of friendlies against higher league teams and whilst we lost all 3 games, the signs of progress were there. We then proceeded to maul the side above us 4-1 costing us our left-back, unofrtunately.

We then went on a little run that was only interrupted by an second division cup match.  Frankly, they are so much better that we didn't even get a shot until 70th minute. The rest of the fixtures was a mixture of close games and us grinding us results.

We're almost halfway down the season now and sitting comfortably in mid-table

Here's our playing staff, except for wingers no-one has really done that well recently

Finally, the board agreed to pay my coaching badges, so I can finally get that off the ground and also improved our JC from basic to fairly basic (1-3/4?)

[Dexter_Morgan]

Hopefully you've sorted all the bugs out now. Good luck  

[rodesire]

32 minutes ago, Dexter_Morgan said:

Hopefully you've sorted all the bugs out now. Good luck  

Thanks, Dexter.  The bugs do seem to be gone now and I relish the prospect of competing in proper regional U21 divisions against my local rivals.

[rodesire]

Nov-Dec 2018

November started with our board approving youth recruitment expansion, I think that's as high as we can go before we start bleeding too much money for an amateur side.

Pretty much right after that we got the news of a really soft Brexit, so it looks like EPL will stay ultra competitive for a while.

I have also tweaked the tactics a bit. Looking through highlights and most match analysis it was quite obvious that the two central mids were pretty much in each other's way. I split them laterally and we seem to have a bit more space on the pitch whilst  still protecting vulnerable defense.

That tweak (or maybe just settled formation led to unbeaten couple of months in the league, so we're breathing down the neck of early leaders there

Interestingly, despite getting the results, the ratings do not reflect that in the slightest with only two wingers and a goal-per-start poacher averaging 7

I am expecting youth intake around mid-feb.  Really hoping for a new goalie, 2-3 defenders and and a centre mid. Frankly, I'd be happy with one of each  

[rodesire]

Youth intake 2018

Transfer window has been fairly quiet for us, with a couple leading guys attracting bids but no-one leaving.  However, one of Lithuania's top regens left for Newcastle. He's already got capped at 18, so I can't wait to see how he develops with great training facilities.

Our own youth intake was fairly solid, no stand-outs, especially by CA but vast majority have excellent personalities

We also played a league game during winter break (due to waterlogged pitches it was postponed twice :o ) that we duly won 2-1

[Sheriff7]

Good run mate,happy to help.. What else did you find as bug (except this contract/types not have been set)?

[rodesire]

33 minutes ago, Sheriff7 said:

Good run mate,happy to help.. What else did you find as bug (except this contract/types not have been set)?

Game itself is fine, I think.  I had setup youth competitions stupidly and ended up with 105 game league for my U21s 

[Sheriff7]

4 minutes ago, rodesire said:

Game itself is fine, I think.  I had setup youth competitions stupidly and ended up with 105 game league for my U21s 

 Well if you keep it you will have best and most physical talents in the world.....

[rodesire]

March-April 2019

Having received a bunch of youngsters it was high time we got better staff.  Unfortunately, nobody decent was available, so I got training courses for myself.

The thing about letting youngsters play is that whilst they have amazing potential, their CA is nowhere near to be found.  That, inexperience and some untimely injuries plunged us deep into horrid form.

Still, the rest of the league is not doing amazing either, so we're holding that P3 for now. We got 6 more matches before the end of the season, so whilst promotion is highely unlikely, we have already overachieved by getting to upper-mid table.

Our defence is basically all 16-18y old now who concede at least a pen a game.

[Dexter_Morgan]

Don''t think i've seen a youth intake like that before  Looks like you should get a few that will make it for the time being at least 

[rodesire]

2 hours ago, Dexter_Morgan said:

Don''t think i've seen a youth intake like that before  Looks like you should get a few that will make it for the time being at least 

It just goes to show how poor we are as a club. I think our rep is around 160-180/10k atm and everyone bar a couple guys is pants.

End of season 2018-19

If you thought we were doing poorly last time round, here's how we closed out the season

Absolutely appalling finish. Despite all that we still managed to finish safely in P5, beating media expectations, but only just.

Here's the team of the season and our key players:

20 goal penaldo/tapinaldo

star left-back wanted by half of the teams in the country

wing runner

temporary goalkeeper

 

Progress so far

TF

YF

YC

YR

Season Tix

Price

Avg Crowd

Ticket price

Rep

Tier/Status

Exp/Result

Cups

Europe / Coef

EoS bank

TV + prize

Sponsors

2017

Poor

Poor

Minimal

Limited

12

£1

0

£0.42

0.5*

5 (SFL)/amateur

-

LC 1st Rd

-

24.6k

0.0k

6.2k

2018

Poor

Poor

Fairly basic

Basic

26

£2

78

£0.42

0.5*

4 (Group C)/amateur

6th / 5th

LC 2nd Rd

-

26.6k

1.2k

6.2k

 

[Sheriff7]

4 hours ago, rodesire said:

It just goes to show how poor we are as a club. I think our rep is around 160-180/10k atm and everyone bar a couple guys is pants.

End of season 2018-19

If you thought we were doing poorly last time round, here's how we closed out the season

Absolutely appalling finish. Despite all that we still managed to finish safely in P5, beating media expectations, but only just.

Yeah this is my opinion too. My regens in Lithuania have so many stars and I am pretty sure it happens because first squad isn't good.. Anyway just like me a bad run and you are out from top flight clubs. It seems in Lithuanian leagues like IRL you can't have many bad results  because there are 1-2 good clubs and all the other are awfull.... But you use only homegrown players so your results are very good.. 

[rodesire]

Pre-season 2019

Having suffered a truly disappointing collapse at the end of the season, I had to do something.  Obviously, in true Mou style, I blamed the physio goalkeeper coach and ass-man and fired them both.  Luckily for me, I found "better" replacements with a (6) physio and (6)(6) JA/JP ass-man and some goalkeeping coach, that's how poor we were before that.  Somehow, my ass-man has continental C license and had already been studying for B license when I hired him, so I can't wait to enjoy him training my amateurs like a continental pro.  In the process, all the training categories now have at least 1.5* rating, up from 1-1.5* last season.

In other news, I finished my National B license...

... got offered a few jobs... and rejected them promptly...

and got expectations for new season

Easy peasy, literally impossible to fail.

However, that's when the disaster struck.  In the very first friendly, last's season's top goalscorer got this:

Yep, that's him out till after the winter break. Ouch.

Then again, it gave me an idea to try and have a look where my full squad (main + U21) is right now. For the record, 5* CA is good player for my current league, according to my ass-man. 4* is decent for the league and 3* is leading star for the unplayable tier below.

GOALKEEPERS

Well, it's uninspiring.  I have a  putrid 28y old who kept the goal last season. Jarmalavicius would normally get the place between the sticks but he's missing all the key attributes and is unambitious.  Jurevicius, surprisingly made a tiny bit of progress in U21s last season, so if there is any chance Lukosevicius tutors him (refused twice already), he'd be my main choice. Simonas 1d has 4 in reflexes but is decent overall and I will look out for him in U21s.

DEFENDERS

We have a star in Alisauskas, who gets the job done but is a bit inconsistent. All of these guys are in my first team goes to show just how bad we are. Even their personalities are terrible but that's where Aivaras 1e and Martynas 1b stand out.  They have done okay so far in limited minutes and I hope they can become good rather quickly.

MIDFIELDERS

Probably the only area I am quite happy with.  Stankevicius is an ok option at DM despite his lowly rating but Tomas 1f will probably never make it.  On the left Paskevicius has grown from strength to strength and made position his own. We have 5! more players in that role, all of whom are quite good for this league.  On the right, Stankevicius is our other 5* player with Stonkus a decent deputy. Lukas 1i provides depth and he'll hopefully get a few games in U21 cos I really like his mentals. Down the middle, Evaldas 1h and Arlauskis are dueling for the spot in starting 11. Evaldas is more creative and is the only one in the squad with passing of 10 or better but Arlauskis is a better defensive option. Martynas 1g is a little bit away from the first team yet but he's professional, so he should develop well.

STRIKERS

We have a lot of depth but not a lot of quality.  None of these came from the last intake, so I might just rotate the guys until something sticks here.

[rodesire]

July - September 2019

We opened the season with a little friendly cup with second and first division local teams. We did not win a game and we also lost our main striker in the very first match for about 5-7 months, it seems.  We then went 2-0-2 against our division opposition, 0-1-1 against the division above and rounded off the pre-season with the splendid 2-0 victory over Palanga, a top division club.

We started the season slowly, just about staying in the game thanks to a penalty before exploding with 3 quick goals in the last 20min to win 4-1.  We then faced Utenis B and won 2-1 after each team scored after 85min mark.  Then we blew away Utenis B, leading 4-0 after 27 minutes.  Garliava hosted us in the cup and conceded two good team goals, to set us up with second division Dziugas in round 2.  A couple friendlies kept us match fit before another hammering, this time against Atmosfera.  This match was special for a couple reasons, we hoofed a ball up the pitch with our second pass to score my fastest ever FM goal...

.. and I found out our fans are bigger divas than Madridistas.  They're disappointed with less than exciting football after winning 5-1

We got a solid win against Sirvinta before falling away to Dziugas 0-1.  The scoreline really flattered us, we had no business staying as close as we did.  We closed the month against our closest competitors who had 100% before meeting us.  Well, no more, we won 4-0 after some clinical finishing all around the team.

All these wins in the league have propelled us top of table, mind you, only on goal difference atm, but we do have a game in hand and P3 is already 7 points behind.

The squad has been amazing so far with teenagers really stepping up and delivering incredible performances all across the board.

 

[Dexter_Morgan]

Great start

[Sheriff7]

Amazing start, very annoying when another team has almost perfect results, who is Granitas Vilnius? 

[rodesire]

On 4/17/2018 at 09:45, Dexter_Morgan said:

Great start

 

On 4/17/2018 at 11:52, Sheriff7 said:

Amazing start, very annoying when another team has almost perfect results, who is Granitas Vilnius? 

Thanks, guys!

Granitas Vilnius is a fellow div4 side, they finished 4th and 3rd in the previous campaign.  Last off-season they got just a few players and it seems they have gelled just right to make a run  

[rodesire]

Mid-season 2019

It was all a bit of a disaster, really.  We mostly kept grinding out the results but the fluid style of early season is well gone.  That was brutally exposed by Granitas, who hit us for 5 in the first half alone.

It seems like other clubs don't really understand the meaning of friendlies, there is our other significant friendly loss.

Ouch!

In the meantime, my ass-man takes out 3k to pay for his badges, what a ******..

I get mad and go for badges too cos who cares about finances any more

Oh wait, actually, I do.  Even get a lucrative affiliate deal!

All in all, we're doing okay midway through the season, though I doubt, we'll actually promote now that Granitas is on a roll

[rodesire]

Youth intake 2019

Winter break is ending and so is the career of this player

Meanwhile, a new bunch of young guns is joining us:

As usual, no standouts here from CA but a decent goalkeeper at last!

The rest of the guys look pretty bad, tbh.  Maybe my assman will find some gems but I am not sold on this intake  

[Dexter_Morgan]

Still going well, hopefully you'll see off Granitas

[rodesire]

3/4 Season update 2019

We warmed up with B teams to build fitness before the restart of the season, matches went fairly well but we could not create a lot of chances which worried me. We then squeezed past Utenis courtesy of a late brace.  Then we demolished Adiata and I thought I found the way to salvage the championship before losing a drab affair to Atmosfera.  To make matters worse we conceded twice from corners against nevezis and really sucked against Sirvinta.  Luckily we managed to snatch a lucky draw vs the leaders Granitas.  There we were behind whole game but woke up in the last 5 minutes.  We had 4 CCC, yet failed to get the winning goal that may have decided the title...  We then rounded this quarter with a boring win thanks to an own goal.

 

The league table is not particularly inspiring.  We probably won't fall below P2 as we already surpassed last season's point total.  However, Granitas powered by a super striker are 5 pts ahead with a game in hand  They haven't lost since we defeated them early in the season and picked up 36 out of last 42 pts possible.

 

[rodesire]

End of season 2019 update

We screwed up.  As soon as the winter break was over the team couldn't connect too passes together, the strikers were missing everything they could and defenders were making childish blunders.  It all came back to haunt me yet again. I am not even sure what to say about the fixtures, except they were lifeless, really.

We finished the season a whopping 21 pts adrift of runaway leaders and the players almost revolted before the last game.

Luckily, it all came back to normal once they realised they finished second when predicted 8/9.

Thinking of it, we had a fairly decent season. I found a new keeper, got some depth in defense and midfield and got around getting the best out of my useless strikers.

Nobody really stepped out over the course of the season, they all had a few highs and many many lows.

Seeing that I am not really progressing in youth department, I requested an upgrade to youth coaching and that went through with minimal grovelling on my side.

We were selected as league's overachievers but the league leaders on the right will tell you just how much Granitas dominated it all - top goalscorer with 42 goals in 30 and 13 assists in 28 for their key men is something we could not compete with at all.

I was also linked with no fewer than 5 jobs, all from the bottom division.

Our finances remain steady for now but I am worried we are not really making any progress.  After the season update, we became the least reputable club in Lithuania having been 7th from the back last time around.  No increase in season ticket sales is also appalling.  Our new sponsor deal is a measly 6.2k a year whereas most of the league is on at least 12k pa deals  the new YC will cost around 6-8k more than last season, so if we don't promote within a couple seasons, we could be in for a lot of financial trouble.

Player-wise we got a huge squad, so I got my work cut out trying to keep them all happy.

In goal, Vilius and Andrius are supposed to be my two key men but they're both a bit rubbish at shot-stopping and I don't really trust them.  I will probably let them walk as they're not good tutors either. Mantas has an awful personality but did okay last leason, Simonas HG 1d is lagging behind and not progressing whilst Mantas HG2a did really well in few outings he had last season.  He'll probably be my no.2 and may def end up as starter before too late.

In defence, we got a bunch of options, none of them ready for first team football except Titas.  He, however, was horrid in second half of last season and had he been able to raise any money, i'd sell him in a heartbeat. I may bounce the 20yo guys if they don't start improving by new year's

I am truly blessed with options in midfield and starting to toy with an option to play x-5-x or even x-6-x formations.  Vacys has arguably been the player of the season at the tender ago of 20 and keeps improving, Evaldas had a career threatening injury but seems to have come back from it okay.  There are lots of youngsters all over and I may have to trim the numbers a bit to make sure they get game time.

Offensively, we are very very strong.  We have no fewer than 5 first teamers capable of sometimes putting the ball into the back of the net.  The youngsters may have to wait another season before claiming a place even on the bench there.

[Sheriff7]

Well this situation is something happened all the time mate (bad run, playing worst when you catch board expectations)  and I can understand you, it happened in my save too and yours is  more difficult because is youth save. Have patient and succes will come. Plus you have Barca in your league (Granitas Vilnius)......  80???!!!! points??? 

[rodesire]

19 hours ago, Sheriff7 said:

Well this situation is something happened all the time mate (bad run, playing worst when you catch board expectations)  and I can understand you, it happened in my save too and yours is  more difficult because is youth save. Have patient and succes will come. Plus you have Barca in your league (Granitas Vilnius)......  80???!!!! points??? 

Thanks, bud.  Yeah, Granitas had one of those out of your mind seasons and, frankly, we had no business even being in the mix.  I worry that this season is going to be a rude awakening.

[rodesire]

July - August 2019

It's the first day of pre-season and my personal assistant looks like he had no holiday.  He wearily gives me the media snippets...

We're predicted to go down. As the worst team across all divisions.  Now that's going to be fun...

He also tells me we developed a rivalry with a club we only shared a division once.  It seems to be one of those things where by finishing closely we develop a rivalry.

Armed with this knowledge I fend off a thousand contract offers to my key players.  No, you cannot have them for free, you bastards.

We play a friendly cup... Long gone are days of a cheeky TV crew arriving to film followed by a few sacks of cash.  Not even our fans bother to record this. We're dire.  We play our parent club, and beat them, somehow helping them to crash out of Europe early.  Then we proceed to play B teams but the feeling is not there. We barely manage a shot on target and the only reason we keep it tight are late goals.  Something has to give... There has to be more hope..

Oh my god, what is this abomination?!1 If we're about to face relegation, I might as well go swinging to keep fans satisfied..

We draw our first game in the league after a poor poor performance.  More of those and the sack will follow.  But then a miracle happens. A newly promoted team comes over.  We score one, two, miss a pen, get another brace.  It's 4-0 at the half.  Could we have finally clicked?  Gudaitis completes his hattrick on 67 minutes. He has 5 after 76. A penalty! i am not letting anyone else take it.  Double hattrick on 77 minutes!  He ends the match with 8, we got 11 overall.  My biggest ever competitive win in FM..

 

We obviously follow this up with a dreary performance in the cup, only just edging out a non-league team after a goalkeeper mistake.

[Sheriff7]

I like your odds,I'll bet on you... 

[rodesire]

On 4/23/2018 at 23:13, Sheriff7 said:

I like your odds,I'll bet on you... 

You fool, we're doing okay but overall nowhere near the opposition level.

[rodesire]

October 2019 mini update

We started September with a couple more friendlies, getting a feeling for new tactic, doing okay, but not spectacular.  Minija visited us for a league game and came away with a draw after we wasted 2 goal advantage. We then happily smashed Prienai away 5-3 and it could have been 7 easily.  Once again, 2 goal advantage was wasted in the following match, losing to Sirvinta.  Nevezis inflicted further misery in the cup thanks to a 85min winner.  Squad bounced back with a solid 3-0 win over Radviliskis before wasting yet another 2 goal advantage. and losing to Garliava.

I really felt like I was playing too attacking, so I reduced the mentality and magic happened.  We are not as crazy going forward but we do have space and we're really tight at the back having now won 5 league games on the trot.

This puts us just top of the table with a game in hand.  All the teams are dropping lots of points this year, so we may just have a chance to fight for the title.

[rodesire]

End of 2020 mini update

I think I just got FM'd.  We haven't won since October even though we have either been level or even better than the opposition.  We have conceded 3 corner and 5 off-the-post goals in this period whilst adjusting to some formation changes.  It just hasn'tt been pretty at all.

Meanwhile, all other teams are still dropping points, so we're within a touching distance of the lead despite our best attempts.

 

[rodesire]

I just had a look at A lyga when I noticed that Zalgiris, the champions of Lithuania, not only have qualified for EL group stage but also made it to knockout stages!

That's going to be huge for their financial power as well as coefficients

[Sheriff7]

13 hours ago, rodesire said:

I just had a look at A lyga when I noticed that Zalgiris, the champions of Lithuania, not only have qualified for EL group stage but also made it to knockout stages!

That's going to be huge for their financial power as well as coefficients

Ohh!Amazing achievement and huge boost for nations coefficients....

[rodesire]

Youth intake 2021

Oh. My. God.

What a stunning intake having upgraded our facilities at the close of last season.  Most of the kids will be signed and start competing for first team right away, really.

This may be a golden generation but some kids did stand out

This guy could solve our goalie needs all the way until we go to Europe.  Really hope noone poaches him too early.  Amazing handling and reflexes and solid positioning.

He may not be the fastest guy on the planet but he should do really well at the top of our 4-2-3-1.  If his bravery goes a bit up we may have a star in the making.

Looks like we have the heir for Alisauskas, if only his personality was a tad better...

 

[Dexter_Morgan]

Still have a great chance of going up there  Looks like your intake may save you a lot of money too 

[rodesire]

4 minutes ago, Dexter_Morgan said:

Still have a great chance of going up there  Looks like your intake may save you a lot of money too 

I am running youth only save, so yeah, getting up the divisions would be a huge moneysaver!

[rodesire]

3/4 Season update 2021

New blood has done really quite well ever since arriving this year.  In fact, it's the first time we don't have a post-winter break slump and I am rather happy with it.  We keep grinding out the results in the league, often with help of late goals and new kids have scored almost all of them now that I play 5-8 of them at a time.

This fine form finally put us top of the table but it's real close.  I think Radviliskis is not a threat anymore but anyone in top4 can still win it with only 8 matches to go. It's similarly tight at the bottom with any of the bottom 3 sides as likely to go down.

[rodesire]

End of season 2021

We've done it! We rolled the sleeves, got all the luck in the world and wrapped up the title two matches early.

 

Can't say it was very deserved but I'll take it.  The results were very close and had it been any other year we would have finished 3rd-4th after another calamitous collapse.

We had a huge player turnover mid-year, so the best eleven is probably the best way to show who did well overall.

The stand-out players this season..

Overall, we have improved significantly as a club and the things are definitely looking up!

[rodesire]

Guess what we're doing this off-season..

Got to get through a season without losing all my key players and then we should be okay

[shaunvamos]

Nice work getting promotion, those intakes are only going to get better!

[rodesire]

23 hours ago, shaunvamos said:

Nice work getting promotion, those intakes are only going to get better!

I just asked for more junior coaching, we'll either sink or swim really high up!

[deltablue]

How did Zalgiris do in Europe?