Whims of Fate - A Journeyman Career

[wynter]

Third Division Germany... Why you might ask? The answer to that is I've got no idea but it's fun and with that in mind let's get cracking.

This'll be a basic, one club save with the aim to take Rostock as far as I can as quickly as possible, if things start to get a tad boring then we'll adapt as we go.

So far though, it's been surprisingly pleasant.

Some nice results have given us a strong start to the season, even with the lack of a right back as both of our players were out injured until after the match vs Jena.

2nd to kick things off, sitting above pre-season expectation of 5th and a top half finish.

Tactics

My main tactic, theoretically speaking the Volante, Inside Forward interconnect with the Enganche to create a solid front 3/4 (factoring the enganche himself) while the wingerprovides some wide play to change the angles of attack. BWN sits in front of the Defence for solidity.

Just a random experiment I thought up on the fly for a back-up tactic. I think it needs some minor adjustments so I'll be looking at it intensely over the course of the season when it's used. Thinking the DLP plays in the onrushing Mezzala/BBM and the Enganche offers an additional pivot for them further up the field. The Anchor anchors the backline allowing the wing backs to throw themselves forward.

 

And that's it for now, cheers for reading!

[wynter]

Didn't have a TB to speak of so we haven't made many moves, the best one we have though is

Mats Kohlert

19 Year old LW who's incredibly versatile. We've picked him up for 24 months and he's both a Leading D2 Player in his own right and I also snuck in a 2mil Release Clause, so if everything works out well I might also be able to snag him onto a full time contract and hopefully turn him into a long-term team member.

Also through in the First Round of the German Cup - Splendid win over Mainz where we never really looked like losing.

[withnail316]

That 3-4-3 makes my teeth itch. Solid start though.

Best of luck with the save. 👍

[wynter]

17 hours ago, withnail316 said:

That 3-4-3 makes my teeth itch. Solid start though.

Best of luck with the save. 👍

Hahaha, how so? 

And thanks

[wynter]

Moving into September and we're starting to slow down a little bit. Late goals against us have seen us draw the last two matches.

Magdeburg have been imperious so far, the game between us was incredibly even though. We've also put an early buffer between us and the rest of the pack as well while we chase.

Not the best team to draw, but I'm confident we can give them a game. Home Ground Advantage will be vital.

[wynter]

First loss in the league after 15 games. 

Putting the two together we've now lost 2 in a row for the first time and it's gonna have to be us making sure this doesn't trigger a run of poor form. As for the game vs RBL we matched them very well for the large portion of the game before a late goal, and then a further late one after we pushed forward for the equaliser. Outclassed but not demolished in the end.

[wynter]

Poor form and injuries to key players gave sent us into a tough period for the club heading into the winter break.

Still flying high and beating expectations... But we're falling back into the pack while Magdeburg have managed to propel themselves even further in front at the top.

[wynter]

I admit, originally I said this was going to be a one club save. But I realised earlier this week that there's a lot of clubs and nations I've been interested in playing in this year but I was too swept up in Bulgaria to really sink my teeth into. Sion is one of them and when the offer came up I decided to jump on it. Admittedly I wasn't expecting to actually get offered the position but when the interview worked in my favour there was no reason to say no and with that this save is now a journeyman.

What clubs I elect to join will seem random, but there's something about them that's attracted my attention for some reason throughout the last twelve months and there's a tentative list in my mind as to where we'll be going. Sion for example, interested me with their Youth Set-up and Dimarco and Mitruyshkin having been lured in recent years. Added factor of the interview being  a request for me to develop youth and to encourage attacking play and they're a club playing right into my hands.

I just have to get the players on board...

[Sheriff7]

Sion is a very interest choice mate,they were always competitive in my Swiss saves..

[withnail316]

Best of luck at Sion. They had an owner who was a complete mentalist, if I recall correctly.

[wynter]

Transfers

We have a small window and some limited funds to get players in. Immediate crisis area is CB with a lack of both depth and quality.

Petko Hristov

Bulgarian CB that Fiorentina were looking to hand off for some development. No costs associated with the deal at all and a step up compared to the players we have. Short-term option which'll give us everything we need as we scour the market for some long-term solutions.

Ben Folami

Australian Striker, was available on compensation and Australia REALLY needs a striker to lead the line in the future. So if I can fast-track his development then I'd personally be incredibly happy.

Johann Berger

Rostock player I picked up, was interested in developing him back in Germany and we needed more depth at CM so I was happy to get him in. Cheap and set for a bright future.

[wynter]

Work to do to save this season. Title's definitely gone but with some good results we can definitely look at a Top 4/5 finish.

[wynter]

Strong start. Two horror teams to kick off my Switzerland career. With morale at an all time low, and questions already being asked over whether I had the dressing room or not we've managed to since find a leg to stand on and used it to propel ourselves back into the mix. Or at the very least, far away from the relegation battle as Luzern drop horrifically.

 

[wynter]

Bit of a tricky run... Zurich and Lugano are looking to be our main rivals in the battle for Europe alongside Lausanne. Basel and Young Boys are exactly who they are so the month was more than difficult and the 1-0 win over YB to cap off the period was a nice bounceback after an excruciatingly tough period. With 7 games left and neither of the Top 2 to face off against, the rest of the league is hunting season.

[wynter]

Tight games and not ideal results. Lausanne and Gallen are beatable and the fact that we didn't get past them, even conceding in stoppage vs Lausanne makes things a little bit tougher to stomach. Of course, drawing with them also means we don't lose points so at the very least that worked in our favor in preventing us from dropping down the table.

A Europa League Spot in sight. Lugano and Zurich amongst our foes in the final 3 matches. We could easily sink or soar at this stage.

[wynter]

Minor mistake with a corrupted file and we got sent back to March. With everything being fair I played the first few games to get the tactics back on track and then we holidayed back to our time period and finished off the season.

We admittedly did better than we did previously win wise. We did lose more than we had in the previous edition though and didn't draw any matches either but the win rate was higher and we finished with a slightly higher points total than we would have before.

Nothing majorly noteworthy out of it, we ended one spot higher and still play the Europa League, just entering one stage higher than we would have.

With no one putting faith in me though, and squad harmony critical I got the clearance from the board to radically overhaul the squad and anyone who opposed me has been removed.

Incoming transfers next.

[BoxToBox]

Guess Kevin wasn't constantly in the team.

[wynter]

Transfers In

You may force the man out of Bulgaria by way of an utterly **** bug, but the man may take Bulgaria with him! And that's what I've decided to do with this window, relying on some personal favourites and a little bit of curiosity to see if they can develop even further in a better league.

Stergiakis

Mitruyshkin refused to trust me and he was sold, Stergiakis isn't on his level yet but boy does he have potential and coaxing it out will be a great challenge for the immediate future. I've always invariably sold him 2-3 seasons in and this time I'm doing the buying. Hoping he stays here long-term.

Velkov

Leader at the back, once trialling with some of Europe's best clubs until a torn cruciate set him back and in turn killed off all interest in him. Can he still unlock the potential that had him the talk of Bulgaria's future oh so short a time ago?

Dobrev

17 Years old and has all the goods to be amazing. Inside Forward on the right hand side is my intention and hopefully with better facilities and coaching than he'd have at his previous club I can push him along nice and easy. 53k is also a complete steal.

Kusej

Noticed him at Dresden while i was at Rostock, I've never tried him before and he wasn't getting gametime for the Germans so I thought maybe I could help him unlock his talent. Looking at a long-term Shadow Striker to provide a threat from deep.

Gaspar

Wonderful player already and an absolute steal. Hopefully the spine of our midfield alongside Berger for the duration of my spell in charge.

[wynter]

Decent start, ignoring the travesty that was the Young Boys match. Basel and YB still have better squads than ours, even if we closed the gap a fair way over the course of the window. Our team is very youth focused though, and given a season of development maybe we can start contesting them on the regular in the second half of this season leading into a push next year.

4th is decent given the 50/50 record we've got so far. Have the best For and the Worst Against which is always entertaining. Hopefully we can iron out the defence as Velkov and our latest signing work on their partnership.

(Jorge says hi)

Shoutout to Johann Berger, looking like the makings of a very tidy midfielder in the near future.

Despite his finishing, I'm leaning towards a Regista/DLP role given his low dribbling.

Solid qualification ties, and a medium group, Leverkusen are of course the major issue. Confident we can contest PAOK and Wien though.

[wynter]

...

Were actually even deadlier with 10 men than we were with 11, Succar ran them into the ground.

[wynter]

What a way to seal qualification to the Knockout Round. We had 4 shots on target and scored 4 goals, efficiency to the max. Rode our luck a lot as Leverkusen got forward but our attack was impressive.

[wynter]

Heading into the Winter Break and things are going well.

Consistent league form, winning against the teams we should be beating and while we're struggling a bit vs other mid-table sides we aren't dropping points to them which is a nice bonus.

Gallen have had a great start to the season and roping them in over the second half of the year will be our massive test. Also aiming to get some good results vs Young Boys and Basel, we're not going to be competing with them for a few more seasons, but if we can start making some progress this season it'd give cause to be a little more optimistic.

Our R32 Opponent for Europe has also been announced.

Has the makings of a great match, a team we can definitely beat but also one that could run over us if we're not careful. Hope we can make some inroads in Europe this year.