[FM19] Completing Europe Lvl 1: Crimea River

[Motlhen]

I would like to thank Claassen, Loki Doki, TheFMEditor85, Lollujo & the real life Supat Rungratsamee for creating the platform & inspiration for my fun.

 

Objective: Win each European domestic top division title with a team that has not won the competition previously, starting in Crimea (lowest rep nation) up to Spain (highest rep nation).

Chance of objective completion: Definitely zero.

 

Some extra rules:

• Signings can only be made through the Scouting Centre (attribute masking is on).
• I will also not look at attributes for any players at all (including my own players). Starting XI selection will be based upon attribute analysis screen, scout/coach reports, training rating, form etc.
• I will not be spending any money. Every signing will be a freebie. And I'll try to sell when it is realistic to do so. 
• Staff can only be signed through applications to Job Centre ads.

Edited December 29, 2019 by Motlhen

[Motlhen]

The Manager:
No coaching qualifications
No previous experience
CM03/04 Wonderkid with a point to prove

Supat Rungratsamee

Edited December 29, 2019 by Motlhen

[Motlhen]

Crimea

The Crimean Premier League is made up of 8 teams and has only been running since the 2014/15 season.
In this time 3 teams have won the domestic title.
This leaves us with 5 possible teams eligible for management:

Crimean Premier League
FK Inkomsport Yalta
Gvardiets
Krymteplytsya
Kyzyltash Bakhchysaray
Okean Kerch
Sevastopol
TSK-Tavria
Yepatoria

 

I will be taking any opportunity from any of the 5 teams to get into management, but will be expecting the team to be considerably under performing in the league & desperate for them to hire someone with a no coaching experience or qualification. 

Edited December 29, 2019 by Motlhen

[Motlhen]

6th Apr '19

FK Inkomsport Yalta have sacked their manager.

5 points adrift with 7 games left.
If I get the job, it's going to take a miracle to stay up.

 

 

But we are ignored.

 

 

1st Jun '19

Okean Kerch sack their manager.

TSK-Tavria claim another title, meaning the list of eligible teams does not change.

 

 

In the off-season, we are offered our first interview with Okean Kerch.

Edited December 29, 2019 by Motlhen

[Motlhen]

With promise of a good changing room atmosphere and a mid-table finish, we have landed our first job!

 

Okean Kerch

 

Squad Overview

 

Key Players
   

 

I have offered all of our youngsters non-contract, pre-contract deals to take them off of the fixed wage budget & Oliynyk is the only other player being paid a wage and as the best player in the club, we will be looking to keep him here and build our attack around him.

We have no backroom staff, so I have immediately put out ads for each of the main roles we are looking for, with emphasis on ensuring we get scouts in as soon as possible so that we can start to identify transfer targets for the upcoming season.

Edited December 30, 2019 by Motlhen

[Motlhen]

August 2019

We lost one of our two best midfielders to a swift non-contract deal swap & I was made suddenly aware of the fragility of the squad. A few bad results or any other reason for unhappiness could lead to a mass exodus that we cannot do much about. Luckily we could convince other players who had been offered contracts from other clubs to stay.. for now.

Out

 

From our initial squad overview, I did not need to wait for coach reports to tell me that we were thin in all defensive areas. So as soon as a couple of half decent scout reports were sent to my inbox, I decided to bring the players in. We also brought in a high-potential forward before and I must say I am very happy with my scouts first few foray's into the market.

In
 

 

Pre-Season

 

We have developed a couple of very similar tactics. One for attacking & one for counter-attacking. They will start similar, but as we adapt each to their individual needs I imagine they will diverge to be two completely separate tactics. Anyway, from the same original tactic at the start of pre-season we have developed both of the below.

Tactics
 

 

 

We started our campaign against Yevpatoria who were one of the ineligible clubs in Crimea, meaning they'd won the league in the past 4 seasons. Last season they finished 4th and off the pace of the front runners, but I still knew it was going to be a tough place to start. We relied on a 91st minute equaliser to get anything from the game, which was more than I was expecting!

Game 1
Yevpatoria vs.  Okean Kerch 

 

Our second fixture was against newly promoted Berkut. As an unknown I was happy we could overcome them for our first victory.

Game 2
Okean Kerch vs. Berkut

 

 

The end of August was also the end of the Transfer Window. With our scouts struggling to produce many scout reports with much information in time, we gambled on a couple of attacking midfielders & a goalkeeper. The GK will be going straight into the first team!

In
  

 

But we also lost a couple of starters who performed well in the first two games & will be missed.

Out
 

 

Hopefully we can push on in the league & gauge our core first team squad.

Edited December 30, 2019 by Motlhen

[Motlhen]

September 2019

A month where the aim was to settle on a formation and core squad. Looking through our results this month, we went unbeaten in the games that we didn't go down to 10-men in. So next month we are looking for less red cards. We ended the month with a smash-and-grab win against TSK-Tavria and managed a hard fought draw against Sevastopol, two solid results against who I consider to be the top two teams in the league.

Games 3-7
Krymteplytsya vs. Okean Kerch

Okean Kerch vs. Gvardiets

Kyzyltash Bakhchysaray vs. Okean Kerch

Okean Kerch vs. TSK-Tavria

Sevastopol vs.  Okean Kerch 

 

After the first 7 games, we have now played each team in the league once. We sit 4th, one-quarter of the way through the season, but there's plenty to build on.

Edited December 30, 2019 by Motlhen

[Motlhen]

October 2019

Yevpatoria were too strong for us this time of asking, but a strong month otherwise. My only worry is that we are not convincing in our wins. We've only one by more than a one-goal margin once so far this season. Maybe I shouldn't be complaining about wins?

Games 8-11 
Okean Kerch vs. Yevpatoria

Berkut vs. Okean Kerch

Okean Kerch vs. Krymteplytsya

Gvardiets vs. Okean Kerch

 

After the 3rd win, we jumped from 4th to 1st in the league which shows how tight things are at the moment! We press on - November is the last full month before a winter break where we start playing competitive football next in February and only return to the domestic league in March!

[Motlhen]

November 2019

Another red card cost us any chance of a comeback against TSK-Tavria, then we put Kyzsch Baskyfdcds (sp?) to the sword with our biggest win and most convincing performance of the season. Sevastopol showed their class before we finished off the pre-winter break with the same results we started the season with. The 3-3 with Yevpatoria was a magnificent comeback after an abysmal opening quarter of an hour.

Games 12-16
TSK-Tavria vs. Ocean Kerch

Ocean Kerch vs. Kyzyltash Bakhchysaray

Ocean Kerch vs. Sevastopol

Yevpatoria vs. Ocean Kerch

Ocean Kerch vs. Berkut

 

League Table at the mid-season break

 

 

What we've learnt about the squad so far:

 

• We have been heavily reliant on defenders who are not highly rated. Specifically Igor Ivanov who has a low average rating to couple with his low current ability rating. We will be looking for a left-back in the upcoming transfer window.
• Olexandr Oliynyk has not been performing up to his expectations. 15 apps with 3 goals & 3 assists is a poor return so far, maybe he is past his best? This is reflected by his training rating. Can we rely on Sekret & Osmanov up front instead?
• Anton Vinogradov has, quite unexpectedly, been the star of the squad. With the 2nd highest average rating so far the CM(A) has been called up by Russia's U21 squad 4 times already this season which is the only reason he has not featured in all 16 games.
• Vladislav Gromov, Artur Gerasimov & Igor Khorin (two of our summer signings) have been identified as the 3 worst performers from the first half of the season and we will be looking to strengthen in the areas they have featured to phase them out of the squad.

Edited December 30, 2019 by Motlhen

[Motlhen]

December 2019 - February 2020

I decided to approach the board about ensuring we increase our chances of producing the best players through our youth ranks. We do not have enough budget to upgrade our facilities, but the board did agree to increase the Junior Coaching budget & also set up an affiliate link with Kafa in the Crimean lower leagues.

 

In
Majority defensive players, including 3 full backs & two who can play CB. We have tried to strengthen the depth of Ball Winning Midfielder in the squad too and brought in players that can cover on the wing and up front whose playing time is dependent on the form of our "best" player Oliynyk among others. Both Gazzaev & Kusaev were signed from our new affiliates.

        

 

Out
We also lost two key players from the first half of the season who will be very much missed. Their loss also explains what may have seemed like an overkill of signings above.

 

 

 

Crimean Super Cup

The Crimean Super Cup consists of the Crimean Premier League's 8 teams split into two groups, where the top two from each group (after playing each other once) progress to a single-leg knockout semi- & then final. We are not expected to progress beyond the group.
 

Group A

Outclassed in the first game. The new signings in the squad didn't come near to making a mark.

Krymteplytsya vs. Okean Kerch

 

A draw thanks to our new CB driving in a header in an otherwise stale game.

Okean Kerch vs. Gvardiets

 

This result keeps hopes of progress from the group alive, but only just. We either need to beat Yevpatoria & Krymteplytsya beat Gvardiets by a combined goal difference of 4 OR we need to beat Yevpatoria & Gvardiets beat Krymteplytsya by a combined goal difference of 5. A tall order.

Spoiler

Okean Kerch vs. Yevpatoria

Gromov's 88th minute goal got us through to the semi finals after Krymteplytsya did us a favour in beating Gvardiets.
 

Group Standings

 

Semi-Final

Spoiler

Sevastopol vs. Ocean Kerch

We held our nerve on penalties with 5 out of 5 converted to set up our first chance of silverware!

 

Final

Spoiler

Ocean Kerch vs. Kyzyltash Bakhchysaray

 

We didn't turn up.  No tactical change would seem to have any effect. Highly disappointing to get this far and lose in the manner we did, but this cup run has been encouraging.

 

 

 

 

 

Squad Overview

• New signings Aliev & Danishevskiy are both considered key players.
• Osmanov's form has dropped off.
• Smetanin has started very well at CB, although we will be hoping his training rating starts to improve.
• Yegorov & Gusev have also been capped at U21 level by Russia & we should give them an extra chance to shine as the Russian scouts will probably (definitely) have better JPA than my scouts.
• Anton Vinogradov is the squad's overachiever so far, but Igor Pakhomov also deserves a mention for featuring in the most games of all & turning in an average rating way ahead of his current ability rating.