[FMT20] Journey to the top of Europe

[Koetzer]

Season 2040/41 – part 2

Awful start, we lost two games after a lot of defensive and goalkeeping mistakes, and I decided to change our keeper. Farkas, whose contract was expiring anyway, was sold to MTK, and Krasnodar reserves player Pavel Kozlov joined us on loan. So far we won all four games with him in goal.

Before the game against Fehervar we lost our key playmaker Owusu for two months, and Nikoltsis was only able to play with protective equipment, but Davies and Krajnc gave no chances to the opponents! We are leading with two point advantage, but the season isn’t over yet and there will be more tough games later.

That big win over Fehervar actually decided everything, their form went downhill with only four points in four games while we didn’t drop any points and secured the title with three matches to go! And also we’ll have a chance to win the cup before moving.

We finished the league with fifteen wins in a row! Time for the cup final now.

Should have scored two or three in the first half, but instead allowed them to equalize after a poor backpass and return to the game. Anyanwu almost won the trophy for Fehervar in the end, but Davies responded with his double, taking the game to extra time. The result was decided in shootout, where Kozlov saved two shots, and Fedotov, who recovered from his long-term injury, netted the winning penalty.

Squad stats

Both our first choice wingers, Krajnc and Nikoltsis, had double digits in goals and assists, and Davies improved his scoring stats a lot after the winter break. Actually our backup attacking trio Polenyi – Forgacs – Criado had quite impressive stats as well.

Currently there is one good vacancy in Greece, so most likely I’ll go there. Belarus and Poland are other options.

[Koetzer]

New job

Actually there were two vacant jobs in Greece. The second was Panathinaikos, obviously the bigger name with similar starting conditions, but they didn’t respond even after I asked Aris for delay. The latest league title was won in 1946, I hope it won’t take more than a century for one more  

The attacking line of Chionidis, Baeza and Chapuis is the strongest side of the team, though I think a lot of changes can happen in pre-season – the club has a debt of 7 million euros, so some high paid players can leave (that especially relates to those with contracts expiring in 2042).   

 

Transfers

Kyriakidis and Tselios were first team players but asked too much for extending their contracts.

Asloquer was signed by previous manager, will be a backup option so far.

Sayer, Hughes and Ziyu were in my shortlist before. One of the center-backs will be a starting player (more likely it will be Hughes).

Aleksandar Mijatovic – we didn’t get much money in transfer budget from the sales, but that was enough to sign a good Serbian defender.

Giacomo Palermo and Adel Boulaiche – two loans, Palermo will be a key midfielder and Boulaiche should provide more depth to the attacking line.

[Koetzer]

Season 2041/42 – part 1

Good start, though the first game almost ended with a disappointing draw after we couldn’t keep the 2-0 lead.

September schedule was much tougher, with only one point from two trips to Athens.  Still we are going in the leading group not far from the top spot.

We saved a draw in a derby against PAOK and confidently defeated leading Olympiacos later. These two games helped us to reach second place, two points behind leaders. Also we had a great start in the cup, despite being drawn against a top tier team.

With three wins in November we are now sharing the top spot with Olympiacos. And we have a chance to keep this lead further as December schedule isn't the hardest too.

High scoring wins alternated with games when we struggled to convert our chances, and that gives Olympiacos an opportunity to overtake us with winning their postponed match. However, we managed to break away from other teams, so qualifying for the top group is almost secured.

Edited October 14, 2020 by Koetzer

[Koetzer]

Season 2041/42 – part 2

We certainly made the fans happy with defeating PAOK both in league and cup, and then travelled to Piraeus for probably the most important game at this stage. It was really boring to watch, and 0-0 would have been a fair outcome, but Chapuis (who actually didn’t play well and I was ready to substitute him) fired a long shot and gave us the win!

Our cup draws aren’t lucky at all – PAOK, Olympiacos and now AEK in semi-final. A least the final (if we advance there) will be against the team from bottom group. The league form is also good, we are six points ahead of Olympiacos with one game remaining on the first stage. Baeza had an exceptional month, scoring nine goals in six games, hopefully he’ll keep it up.

Olympiacos managed to shorten the gap defeating us in the opening second stage game, but still we are seven points ahead and also have a great chance for the cup final.

How unpredictable, FM doesn’t want us win the title easily. Two losses in a row with some ridiculous plays from our defenders and goalkeeper, and our advantage is now only four points with four games to go.

Not the best games to finish the season, but Olympiacos ended with three losses and couldn’t even keep the second place. The cup final wasn’t easy too, Panaitolikos scored with their first shot and almost kept this score to till the end, but Asloquer saved us (actually he only scored two goals for us, and both were really important in the end of season).

 

Squad stats 

Mijatovic’s signing surely paid off, he scored 8 goals and had the best average rating in our team.

Well, with ten league titles won I feel it’s time to stop. The game processing is starting to freeze often, and with FM21 being not far away I’m not going to start somewhere else. Thanks to everyone who read and commented this thread  

[Motlhen]

Awesome thread Koetzer!

[Hootieleece]

Great Thread Koetzer! Where are you thinking for FM21?

I'm personally going to start in England with Preston North End and try and become the anti-Burnley with British youth even if I half to buy it. 

I am playing with them now as my last save. 

[Koetzer]

15 hours ago, Hootieleece said:

Great Thread Koetzer! Where are you thinking for FM21?

I'm personally going to start in England with Preston North End and try and become the anti-Burnley with British youth even if I half to buy it. 

I am playing with them now as my last save. 

I'll probably start a home-grown career with Chertanovo (will wait for a full version with editor to recreate them as they are actually unplayable in default DB due to being hardcoded not to sign any players, including own youth intake).