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Post by chaodck on Jun 28, 2020 7:30:20 GMT
NEC Nijmegen2020-21 Midseason ReportOverviewSo midseason has come and we've surprised everyone with a great start to our Eredivisie campaign plus a few interesting surprises regarding player development and the forming of this new superteam, which I will not humbly at all dub The Avengers only because I like Marvel Comics and the MCU. TransfersA few new faces came in, mostly players who had been signed before and we were waiting for them to turn 18 and be able to get to the club. First a Brazilian blind bet in the form of Wendel Lessa who came up on a scouting report and I liked how he looked at first and signed him for €10k and an amateur contract to try him, only for him to arrive 18 months later and be decent, yet nothing spectacular, I guess it's what you get for that price. Having gone through that, things get more interesting with Japanese forward Keiichi Mori who came in from F Marinos and cost us €200k (plus €150k after 40 league games and €150k after qualifying for the Europa League), I felt he could've been better specially given his Non-EU salary, but as of now he's as good as António Ferreira our current starting forward (and top goalscorer), and with a much much better personality and will surely be a top selling jersey (specially once we do Japan tours in a future Summer). Finally the third player that arrived at January 1st was our first properly scouted Brazilian, in Arthur a classic mold of Ball Playing Defender (only missing the Vision) who can become a star down the road, he came from Botafogo for €150k (plus €100k after 40 league games). There are a few other confirmed transfers that'll arrive in coming windows, a Guatemalan defender prospect from the San José Earthquakes academy will join us in July and an Argentinean CB in January 2022. We also are in talks with a couple other interesting players for this window, if anything comes to fruition I'll show them on the next update.Eredivisie So yeah, unbeaten in the first 5 games was an amazing start, but I feared it wouldn't last that long, specially as it was a super gentle start, with 3 home games and facing all either midtable teams or lower. And in fact we struggled against bigger sides, with September being another unbeaten month where we thrashed Roda 4-1 with goals from Sabak, ter Haar Romeny and another brace from Ferreira, then relinquished a 3-2 advantage over Vitesse on the Gelderse derby to tie the game with goals from Proper, Musaba and Ferreira and beat Den Haag 3-1 from behind, with goals from Tenas, Sabak and Overtoom. And well, then came October and the tough games. We lost our unbeaten record obviously against Ajax in a game where we played particularly well and deserved more, in the end a 2-3 loss with goals from Labriola and Musaba, then lost again, versus AZ 0-1. We narrowly beat Heerenveen to 1-0 with a goal from Musaba avoid a winless month, then lost 0-1 against Gronigen to close out a terrible month. November started hard again, with a 1-2 loss against Feyenoord with a goal from Ferreira, in another game we could've even won but then kept our cool and snatched the bad run with two good wins, a 2-1 over Emmen with goals from Ferreira and Musaba, then a terrific 3-0 win over AZ with goals from ter Haar Romeny, Ferreira and Kvida. December saw us again dip in form, with two straight losses a 1-3 against Ajax with a single goal from Ferreira, then a 1-3 against Utrecht with a goal from Proper. Then we again elevated our play and being carried by an amazing Proper we closed out the semester with 7 points in the final 3 games, courtesy of a terrific 3-0 win over PSV with a brace from Proper and a goal from ter Haar Romeny, a 2-1 win over AZ with goals from Proper and Ferreira, then wasted a two goal lead to tie 2-2 against VVV with goals from Ferreira and Ter Haar Romeny.
So, we're 7th in the fight for European Qualification with 34 points. As I predicted we have never been on the relegation battle and seeing as last season the 17th placed team had 27 points I can safely say we survived the drop. With the addition of the UEFA Europa Conference League come next season I'm not really sure on how the qualification will go. In the "Rules" section there's an European Qualification Playoff for teams placed 4th-7th but also the 4th says "UEFA Europa Conference League Third Qualifying Round" beside the European Qualification Playoff. As of last season the league boasts 1 Group UCL spot for the Champion, 1 3rd Qualifying Round UCL spot for the runners-up, 1 3rd Qualifying Round UEL spot for the 3rd place and 1 2nd Qualifying Round UEL spot for the Playoff Winner. Don't know how the UECL will change things.
KNVB TOTO Beker We had to face Eerste Divisie side Den Bosch on the First Round a draw tougher than what I expected, and we struggled despite playing on a full strength team, taking it all the way to penalties, where we won 4-3 after a 0-0 draw. In the Second Round we were a lot more lucky and drew a Fourth Tier team, ASDIAJ which allowed us to rotate a bit and still get a tough 3-0 win with the two later goals coming in the last 5 minutes of the match. With these wins we've achieved the goal from The Board of a 3rd Round appearance where we'll play FC Utrecht right after the winter break.
Youth Intake Preview Another possible "Golden Generation", but I'm more encouraged by the words on the players descriptions (lot of wingers, a great GK, a fine forward who might or might not be the good Danish striker who caught the eye) and also by the improving of both the Coaching and Recruitment during the Summer and also the new HoyD who has a "Perfectionist" personality.Player Performances We've had our share of good performers, but clearly our top player has been Dirk Proper who in 20 games has scored 6 goals and had 8 assists with a 7.36 rating. He's already valued at €5M and recently renewed his contract with us until 2025, albeit with an €8M minimum release fee which I'll be looking to remove or raise before the end of the season. According to our AM report he still "could improve a lot in the future". Paolo Sabak has also been a nice surprise taking over the AM spot and being our second best player with 2 goals and 10 assists in 22 games with a 7.30 rating. Other great performers have been veteran CB Rens van Eijeden (21 games, 2 goals, 7.18 rating), CB partner Josef Kvida (19 games, 1 goal, 1 assist, 7.17 rating), goalscorer António Ferreira (19 games, 11 goals, 1 assist, 7.13 rating) and centre mid Tom Overtoom (22 games, 4 goals, 2 assists, 7.10 rating). After the window the squad makeup changed a bit, with the promotion of some of our best players from the "B" team and the demotion of a few that were out of their depth on the higher level, plus the addition of Mori who'll start on the bench but I plan on going with the hot foot regarding the starting ST.
Forecast and Future - We've steadily kept losing money, and currently our bank account has €4.3M. It's not good but we'll get a good paycheck on the bonus money, plus all our sponsorships run up at the end of the season and I expect a nice cash injection from them. Finally there have been some rumors about a Board Takeover, but nothing has happened yet. - During the season we improved both the Junior Coaching and Youth Recruitment, who now stand at Good and Adequate respectively. We've also been approved the upgrade of our Youth Facilities, that currently boost a "Good" level. They will open their doors October 2021. - Next report will come near the end of February and the beginning of March.
I'm having a blast lads, it's 3:30 AM and here I am posting this to keep on playing! #JustOneMoreGame
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Post by dalenichol on Jun 28, 2020 9:01:58 GMT
That's a really solid mid season point there chaodck, you've got to be happy with that. I know the concern is the financial side of things, but with just over 4m in the bank and potentially challenging for Europe, that's really not a bad position to be in at all. Facility upgrades coming along, a good youth intake preview and a squad of talented young players has this save set up for success, absolutely.
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Post by Nick on Jun 28, 2020 10:30:50 GMT
You know, I'm always amazed that someone like Chaodck, who makes such amazing, easy on the eye kits, uses such an eye bleedingly bad skin so consistently. On a more serious note, that's a great start to the season and one that should see you remain in the Eredivisie, but for a monumental tail off in terms of consistency. Some classic Chaodck moves in the transfer market, which is good to see. It's good to see you building a more eclectic squad rather than the usual home-grown stance that I'm more guilty of. Good luck for the rest of the season mate.
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Post by chaodck on Jun 28, 2020 17:45:29 GMT
That's a really solid mid season point there chaodck , you've got to be happy with that. I know the concern is the financial side of things, but with just over 4m in the bank and potentially challenging for Europe, that's really not a bad position to be in at all. Facility upgrades coming along, a good youth intake preview and a squad of talented young players has this save set up for success, absolutely. Yeah mate, it's a great place to be right now. We'll get some decent money at the end of the season and if we manage to sneak into an European competition I think we'll be set. I think we're set for a bit of spending as the stadium will need to either be expanded or build a new one as we're 98% filling it this season. Hopefully a bigger ground allows us to balance things regaring our increasing payroll, which cuts into our budget month after month. You know, I'm always amazed that someone like Chaodck, who makes such amazing, easy on the eye kits, uses such an eye bleedingly bad skin so consistently. On a more serious note, that's a great start to the season and one that should see you remain in the Eredivisie, but for a monumental tail off in terms of consistency. Some classic Chaodck moves in the transfer market, which is good to see. It's good to see you building a more eclectic squad rather than the usual home-grown stance that I'm more guilty of. Good luck for the rest of the season mate. Heeeey!!!!! What's wrong about that skin??? (Seriously). I like Flut and have used it since a few editions now. What you don't like? Care to reccomend one? I'm always looking to improve As I said to Dale it's a good place to be in right now, hopefully we can maintain the form and finish somewhere among the top 7 to get at least into the European Places Playoff. Regarding my transfers, well the saying goes: "once a wheeler, always a dealer". The idea for the future is though to try and bring them in more slowly, but when the incoming players are better than your own, and know they're better it's hard to keep them happy and away from football.
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Post by Nick on Jun 28, 2020 17:51:18 GMT
That's a really solid mid season point there chaodck , you've got to be happy with that. I know the concern is the financial side of things, but with just over 4m in the bank and potentially challenging for Europe, that's really not a bad position to be in at all. Facility upgrades coming along, a good youth intake preview and a squad of talented young players has this save set up for success, absolutely. Yeah mate, it's a great place to be right now. We'll get some decent money at the end of the season and if we manage to sneak into an European competition I think we'll be set. I think we're set for a bit of spending as the stadium will need to either be expanded or build a new one as we're 98% filling it this season. Hopefully a bigger ground allows us to balance things regaring our increasing payroll, which cuts into our budget month after month. You know, I'm always amazed that someone like Chaodck, who makes such amazing, easy on the eye kits, uses such an eye bleedingly bad skin so consistently. On a more serious note, that's a great start to the season and one that should see you remain in the Eredivisie, but for a monumental tail off in terms of consistency. Some classic Chaodck moves in the transfer market, which is good to see. It's good to see you building a more eclectic squad rather than the usual home-grown stance that I'm more guilty of. Good luck for the rest of the season mate. Heeeey!!!!! What's wrong about that skin??? (Seriously). I like Flut and have used it since a few editions now. What you don't like? Care to reccomend one? I'm always looking to improve As I said to Dale it's a good place to be in right now, hopefully we can maintain the form and finish somewhere among the top 7 to get at least into the European Places Playoff. Regarding my transfers, well the saying goes: "once a wheeler, always a dealer". The idea for the future is though to try and bring them in more slowly, but when the incoming players are better than your own, and know they're better it's hard to keep them happy and away from football. Haha, I'm just yanking your chain mate, you're the one that's got to look at it, and if you like it that's all that matters. It's just a bit bright and in your face for me. I'm very particular when it comes to skins. I could go without the logos, facepacks, kits, real name fixes, but if I was forced to use a skin I didn't like, I honestly couldn't play the game. I think I must have downloaded the majority of skins available so far on FM20, but the ones I've kept are: - Dark Polish Skin
- Material Skin 2.0 (current one I'm using)
- OPZ Elite 2020
- SSD Gold
- TCS v1.5
I'm going to try and get into skinning for FM21 and see what I can produce.
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Post by chaodck on Jun 28, 2020 18:14:36 GMT
Yeah mate, it's a great place to be right now. We'll get some decent money at the end of the season and if we manage to sneak into an European competition I think we'll be set. I think we're set for a bit of spending as the stadium will need to either be expanded or build a new one as we're 98% filling it this season. Hopefully a bigger ground allows us to balance things regaring our increasing payroll, which cuts into our budget month after month. Heeeey!!!!! What's wrong about that skin??? (Seriously). I like Flut and have used it since a few editions now. What you don't like? Care to reccomend one? I'm always looking to improve As I said to Dale it's a good place to be in right now, hopefully we can maintain the form and finish somewhere among the top 7 to get at least into the European Places Playoff. Regarding my transfers, well the saying goes: "once a wheeler, always a dealer". The idea for the future is though to try and bring them in more slowly, but when the incoming players are better than your own, and know they're better it's hard to keep them happy and away from football. Haha, I'm just yanking your chain mate, you're the one that's got to look at it, and if you like it that's all that matters. It's just a bit bright and in your face for me. I'm very particular when it comes to skins. I could go without the logos, facepacks, kits, real name fixes, but if I was forced to use a skin I didn't like, I honestly couldn't play the game. I think I must have downloaded the majority of skins available so far on FM20, but the ones I've kept are: - Dark Polish Skin
- Material Skin 2.0 (current one I'm using)
- OPZ Elite 2020
- SSD Gold
- TCS v1.5
I'm going to try and get into skinning for FM21 and see what I can produce. Cheers Nick, downloaded them all and will try them. What I really like about the one I use is the custom panels and shit, it was the first I saw with those and never really changed it. Great to know you're interested in getting onto skinning I think it's a great way to imrpove upon the experience of the game by bringing more information for the player.
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Post by dalenichol on Jun 28, 2020 20:04:21 GMT
I'm glad I wasn't the first person to mention the skin Nick. Haha
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Post by Nick on Jun 28, 2020 20:27:42 GMT
Someone had to tell him and we've all known each other long enough now to take the piss a bit. I wouldn't have done it someone new.
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Post by chaodck on Jun 29, 2020 3:32:05 GMT
Fuck off the both of you... Just kidding, I appreciate you enlightened minds guiding me towards the more elegant, fashionable side of FM skinning. Haven't played at all today, as I woke up early and cooked (an amazing 4-hour Ossobuco braised in Red Wine) and after lunch I just wanted to sleep, which I did after watching an episode of Dark (still on the first season though). Good thing is I can stay up until late today as tomorrow is a holiday here. So, maybe with a bit of luck I finish the season in one sitting and leave you guys with an update.
EDIT: I ended up starting way later, it's almost 3 AM and I'm only amid February. Will do a short report before going to bed though.
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Post by chaodck on Jun 29, 2020 8:39:19 GMT
NEC NijmegenMarch 2021 ReportOverviewWith the season entering its final third, this update brings some interesting news on the transfer market while also updating us on the European race for 2021-22. TransfersWell, the shutting of the winter window saw us lose an important mentoring player in the looks of Etien Velikonja who had lost his place on the pitch, but still was important as a mentor to Antonio Ferreira and Marc Tenas in an effort to improve the lads' shit awful personalities. Anyways, his contract ran up at the end of the season, so when I received an €36k offer from Maribor for him I just accepted it as he would've left the team either way on a free at the end of the season and would bring morale down with his bitching about lack of playing time. We also lost a kid (I lost the kid, Steve...) Ibrahim Cissoko to Heerenveen as we had him on a youth contract, but I really never saw his potential really. We were paid €450k, plus some juicy clauses in case he gets any good.
Regarding incoming transfers I managed to bring in 3 new faces to our crowded youth teams. Alessio Greco came from Piacenza for €75k a good keeper prospect who despite not knowing how to kick a ball to save his life has a "Model Citizen" personality, then Ghanian Caleb Taiwah came in from Hearts of Oak for €65k, another decent player with 8-10's everywhere who could become pretty good if he develops correctly and finally, on a deadline day whim I "splashed" the cash on Japanese Takahito Ōta who came in from Trinita for €525k and another massive Non-EU wage (I really don't understand this rule...). Ōta ended up being overvalued, specially compared to other players I've brought, but has the right attributes in the right places and might become an interesting player as well.
I feel pretty happy with the transfers from this season. A lot of new talented players for little-to-no money at all. If we take out Ōta from the equation, we brought in 15 players for €1.2M, which is great in my books.Eredivisie So, after the break we hit the ground running and managed to spurt a terrific 5 wins in 6 games, scoring 19 goals in total while only allowing 5. Unfortunately we lost the derby against Vitesse in what could've been a truly perfect start to the second half of the season, but we shot into the European places again and we're starting to show in the pitch what I want the team to show. Possession attacking football. We started off beating MVV 1-0 with a single goal from Cuoco, then bashing Gronigen 6-0 with a magnificent 25 minutes where we scored five of the six goals, ter Haar Romeny, Kvida, a brace from Proper and a goal each from our East Asian lads Mori and Min. We then beat Feyenoord 2-1 with goals from Ferreira and Musaba, and Emmen 5-0 with goals from Sabak, van Eijden, Proper and a brace from Mori. As I said our only defeat came from rivals Vitesse with a goal from Mori again, before we bashed Den Haag 4-2 with braces from ter Haar Romeny and Mori.The table is quite close for the last European positions, with two defined tiers for the top places. 1-3 between the usual suspects Ajax, PSV and Feyenoord, then 4-7 between AZ, Utrecht, Twente and us, and then midtable and down. Seeing that we're 13 points clear from the 8th the European Playoff is quite almost secured, with even direct qualification for the UECL (if effectively the 4th placed qualifies directly to the competition) being possible. With 8 games to go in the season, we cannot let go of the target.KNVB Beker The Cup had started off slowly and we needed penalties to overcome the First Round and then struggled against a lower league team in the Second. In the Third Round though we dominated Utrecht and duly qualified with a 3-0 win with goals from Ferreira, ter Haar Romeny and Sabak. Feyenoord was our rival in the Quarter-Final and again as in our league game, we played amazingly to beat them 2-1 with goals from Cuoco and ter Haar Romeny. In the semifinals we'll face VVV-Venlo to try and book a place in the Final.Forecast and Future - The finances keep dwindling, but seeing as we've almost but secured a top 7 finish, we'll get paid at the end of the season, besides what we'll get from the Cup run. We currently have €4M in the bank. - As I said above I don't really understand the foreign wage rule in this save. I've had to pay big bucks to the 3 east asian players we bought, Mori, Min and Ōta, but not to all other foreign players that arrived including lads from Brazil, Ghana, Australia, South Africa, USA, and Colombia (none of them is EU National or even has a second nationality). - The training schedules have been amazing during the season. I haven't had any players become jaded and needed a rest, injuries have been few, most of them light and far between and development at least on a first glance (haven't seen the numbers yet) has been terrific. Also training performance from all 3 teams averages near an 8 for a weekly basis, without any players in the bad performance charts. - I changed the skin (cc @ Nick and @ dalenichol ). I settled for one named "Tad Twenty", I'm still not convinced at all. I disliked OPZ in the end because I couldn't find the personality on the player overview screen, and all the others Nick reccomended I had issues with the backgrounds transparency blocking letters. Opinions? Does this one satisfy your needs lads?
Thanks for reading!
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Post by dalenichol on Jun 29, 2020 8:47:41 GMT
That's a really solid update there Chaodck, and even more importantly, it's much more pleasing on the eyes Now, it's almost 5am there, so please get some sleep! I really, really like your transfer dealings throughout this save and I'm loving how cheap you're getting your business done, it's quite remarkable. I always seem to have to pay through the nose for any decent talent, but you're finding them at a really good price. What's the deal with this non eu wage you mention though, is that a rule in Holland or just something you're finding players demanding when you sign them from these regions? I've definitely seen it here in Saudi Arabia, I mean Christ, I'm paying one of the players I got through intake 10k p/w I think your finances shouldn't be too much of a worry, I know you say they're dwindling, but with the cup, league position and potential european money starting next season, there really isn't a whole lot to worry about.
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Post by Nick on Jun 29, 2020 10:28:22 GMT
Now that's much better isn't it? It's a nice skin the Tad Twenty one, my only issue was that I couldn't change the attribute colours as they seem to be hard coded.
You're working miracles at the moment Chaodck, which is great to see. I'm not sure what this non-EU wage is about though. I've not managed in Holland loads, but had a fairly long save with Groningen a few years back and don't remember anything like that.
Out of interest, who are the other teams in the semi final of the cup? Any chance you can get someone that isn't Ajax or PSV in the final?
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Post by chaodck on Jun 29, 2020 18:04:35 GMT
That's a really solid update there Chaodck, and even more importantly, it's much more pleasing on the eyes Now, it's almost 5am there, so please get some sleep! I really, really like your transfer dealings throughout this save and I'm loving how cheap you're getting your business done, it's quite remarkable. I always seem to have to pay through the nose for any decent talent, but you're finding them at a really good price. What's the deal with this non eu wage you mention though, is that a rule in Holland or just something you're finding players demanding when you sign them from these regions? I've definitely seen it here in Saudi Arabia, I mean Christ, I'm paying one of the players I got through intake 10k p/w I think your finances shouldn't be too much of a worry, I know you say they're dwindling, but with the cup, league position and potential european money starting next season, there really isn't a whole lot to worry about. Cheers mate, I'm also amazed regarding the transfers and quality of lads. I've set up my scouting network to go periodically to certain parts of the world and I have been able to find good players on those great academies around the world, I think loading all those leagues will surely help in getting better talent around the world. The finances yeah I think we will be set at the end of the season, with prize money for both competitions, plus the new sponsorships and the money from Europe next season, I'm hoping I can get the stadium expanded, that's the main financial goal for the offseason. Now that's much better isn't it? It's a nice skin the Tad Twenty one, my only issue was that I couldn't change the attribute colours as they seem to be hard coded. You're working miracles at the moment Chaodck, which is great to see. I'm not sure what this non-EU wage is about though. I've not managed in Holland loads, but had a fairly long save with Groningen a few years back and don't remember anything like that. Out of interest, who are the other teams in the semi final of the cup? Any chance you can get someone that isn't Ajax or PSV in the final? Yeah the attribute colors thingy also bothered me, but it's what works best for me so far. I'm still trying to either eliminate backgrounds from other skins or trying to fix the opacity percentage at 50-60%. Miracle season yeah I never thought we'd do that good, specially after the break where we've really clicked offensively. I'm right now booting up the Semifinal against VVV, if we win we'll face PSV on the Final who beat Heerenveen on the other semi. Now, onto the foreign rule you both asked about (and to see if you help understand it haha). In the "rules" section of all league competitions from Holland I've loaded (until the Derde Divisie Zondag, 5th level I think), under "Financial Rules" there's this "wages rules". I expected to have to pay those wages to all foreign non-EU players I brought in, as all of them would be over 18 by the time they arrived here. But I've only had to pay those kind of wages to the 3 East Asian lads that came, both Japanese and the South Korean. As I've said on the post above, lads from Brazil, Ghana, Australia, South Africa, USA, and Colombia haven't had to abide by the rule, and I'm paying them normal wages, despite not them being EU Nationals or even having a second nationality. I don't really understand, maybe I'm being obtuse and it's correct the way it is.
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Post by chaodck on Jun 29, 2020 18:34:21 GMT
Well this is what happens when you think of cleaning your arse before you take the shit. We had a great first half, but then folded in the second and ended up getting knocked out. Still, if PSV wins the Cup, the European places will drop one place down as they are secured on a top-3 finish and will qualify through the table. Here's hoping VVV doesn't win it. Obviously there were 5 minutes of aggregate and we lost on the 6th.
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Post by Dirk Nowitzki on Jun 29, 2020 19:40:20 GMT
Oof, that's a tough loss! I'm sure you'll be back though and I'm with you in hoping that PSV will win the cup Surprised they didn't screw up against some Keuken Kampioen Divisie team like they often do... You're doing great in the league, your goal difference is even better than the leaders!
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Post by chaodck on Jun 30, 2020 5:11:10 GMT
NEC Nijmegen2020-21 Season ReportOverviewAnyways, second season done, first in the Eredivisie and a huge success overall specially on the pitch, where we managed to turn a promotion in the first season into a upper mid table finish and in contention for European Competitions come 2021-22. It was overall an amazing season, a miracle one where we managed to score a ton of goals and display flowing offensive football. EredivisieI'd left you at the start of March and we were off to a terrific start to the second half of the season winning 15 out of the 18 points in January and February. We kept the good times rollin' with wins over Roda, 2-1 with a brace from Musaba, then a 4-0 bashing of Heerenveen with a brace from Cuoco, and goals from Sabak and Duits, and then beating Heracles 3-1 with goals from Proper, Musaba and Duits. We were in contention for 4th place at that point and direct qualification for the UEFA Europa Conference League, until we hit a huge wall. PSV beat us 0-4 and the following week Sparta beat us 1-2 with a goal from Overtoom. We managed to draw against Willem II 0-0 in the next game avoiding a third straight defeat, but we left the door open for AZ to surpass us at 5th in the last two games. Fortunately we recovered our composure and finished with two great wins over Twente 2-0 with a brace from Mori and 4-0 over Utrecht with goals from Mori, ter Haar Romeny and a brace from Musaba. In the end we finished 5th on the table, a mere 1 point behind Utrecht in 4th who qualified directly to the UECL 3rd Qualifying Round. By finishing 5th we qualified as first seeds into the Eredivisie Euro Places Playoff, which is played over two-legged ties in a Final Four tournament. We faced Willem II in the Semifinals, drawing 1-1 on the first leg with a goal from ter Haar Romeny, and winning 1-0 at home with a goal from Proper. In the Final, we faced AZ Alkmaar, losing 2-3 in the first leg with goals from Proper and Mori, then winning 1-0 at home with a goal from Mori to win the Playoff on away goals and qualify for the UEFA Europa Conference League 2nd Qualifying Round.
It was an amazing performance in the Eredivisie and I hope we can keep building from this terrific base.KNVB BekerI had already forwarded this info as we lost in the Semifinals of the Cup against VVV-Venlo 1-2 to get eliminated. It was a good run though and I'm sure we'll come back and win it sometime down the road.Youth IntakeI was pretty happy with the intake with a terrific prospect in Hansen, plus 9 other prospects who could end up being a decent squad player. Ten signees, that will boost our U-19's for next year, with Hansen most probably jumping onto the B Team as he's ready for it.Here are the best of the bunch, Andreas Hansen, Yogi Sembiring, Taylan Turhan and Marco van Wonderen.Squad, Performances and Development I will make a case for our top youth prospects here, but first we'll talk about the performance of the squad during the season. Dirk Proper bossed the game around, he was a master midfielder for the season and ended up winning the League's Best Young Player and was runner-up for the League's Player of the Season. He played 37 games, scoring 12 goals and had 15 assists with a 7.45 rating. Behind him, and despite playing only half of the season, Keiichi Mori was our second best player, the Japanese lad played 20 games, scoring 12 goals and had 1 assist, with a 7.30 rating. In third place, also came a player who only featured in the second semester being promoted after being far the best player of our B team, Fabio Cuoco who played 20 games, scored 4 goals and had 3 assists with a 7.24 rating. Other great performers include Paolo Sabak (43 games, 5 goals , 14 assists, 7.23 rating) and Jonas Clein (22 games, 0 goals, 8 assists, 7.23 rating).Bart van Rooijvan Rooij had a tough season, with a few injuries (he's listed as injury prone) that hampered his development, but he still managed to improve a few key abilities, specially on his acceleration, marking, passing, strength, jumping and anticipation. He played 34 games, and had a 6.97 rating. Ole ter Haar Romenyter Haar Romeny again had a strange season, he played better, averaging over a 7 and scored 14 goals, but again he didn't develop much attribute wise. I think he might get a loan for next season to see if it helps with development. He played 41 games, averaging a 7.04. Dirk ProperProper had a star quality season. He has been our best player by far and is one of the top players of the country. Technically, he won a point in almost all attributes, and mentally also won a few, making also leaps on the physical side of things. His stats are on the paragraph above. Cas OdenthalOdenthal didn't play much and kind of regressed as well, he's due for a loan move come next season to have him playing regular football and see his development. Played 9 games, with a 6.74 rating. António FerreiraFerreira started out being our starting striker and had a great first half of the season, but when Mori arrived he was quickly demoted to the bench and had few games on the second semester. He's another player due a loan move for next season, but I'm guessing his awful personality will get in the way of his development in the end.
Vittorio LabriolaLabriola was one of our good players off the bench but despite getting a lot of games off the bench didn't do great in the minutes he played nor he improved a lot attributes-wise. He's still a useful bench option for next season.
Fabio CuocoThe biggest surprise of the season, Cuoco started off in the B Team and after being the best player on the first half of the season was promoted to the senior squad and ended up being the starting CM alongside Proper. He improved a ton and still has a lot of room to grow, this one might be a keeper. Cuoco's stats are in the paragraph above.
Vince DuitsDuits was another of our key players off the bench and despite using a lot of his PA in training for a new position, he managed to improve a bit as well attributes wise. I think he might be our top striker of the team but I'm fixed on seeing him as an inside forward, so here's hoping he manages to make the change and learn fully his new position. Duits played 29 games, with a 6.67 rating.
Keiichi MoriAnother one of the good stories of the season, the Japanese arrived at the winter window and quickly made his name on the starting 11. He scored key goals, despite being fairly inconsistent at times and had a few spells without scoring. In 5 months he didn't improve at all, but has a lot of room to grow and will surely get better.
Lee MinFinally I thought I'd include Lee Min as he played a few games for the senior squad despite being assigned all season to the B Team. Min is also training for a new position as I want him to play as inside forward on the other wing, to take advantage of his right foot on the left flank. Min played 8 games with a 6.63 rating.
Here's the full squad stats:Forecast and Future - We improved a lot on the financial side during the end of the season with the prizes and sponsor money. We currently have around €10M in the bank. The Commercial summary saw our two Japanese players Mori and Ota in the top 5, despite Ota still not playing a game for us (and not even having a shirt number). Still the number of shirt sold wasn't that high. - The Board expanded the stadium out of their own volition by 4,121 seats due December 2021. This will raise the capacity to 16,621 seats and it'll be reduced to 10,750 until the upgrade is completed. The expansion will cost us €5.75M which will be funded by a Bank Loan to which we'll have to pay €51k per month until 2031. The Youth Facilities will also be upgraded for next season and be ready in December as well. - Regarding the squad, I'm quite happy with it overall, I think our position of need is on both wings as Musaba seems to have peaked and ter Haar Romeny isn't developing enough. I might try and bring a couple of readier players to fullfill those roles in the squad within the 21 years limitation. Our main problem though is Dirk Proper who has an €8M minimum release fee clause and a couple of bigger teams snooping around. If I get a bid below the fee I'll try to negotiate a future % and a loan back, but most probably he'll be offered the €8M right away. Also, he doesn't want to renew his contract due to him feeling the squad isn't good enough for him to fullfill his expectations. - The Board gave us €3M to spend in the summer, plus a nice €150k per month extra on wages (we're currently spending €311k per month).
Terrific season and good improvement for the squad.
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stouters
New Member
@stouters79
Posts: 117
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Post by stouters on Jul 1, 2020 13:12:52 GMT
Bit of a late response to your update, that is one hell of a season. What will your approach be to the Europa Conference League? Will you give some of the younger players game time or stick with the main team?
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Post by Nick on Jul 1, 2020 17:34:36 GMT
That's a bloody amazing season Chaodck, both from the team and Dirk Proper. I do hope that it wasn't too good. The amount of times I've had seasons like that and then follow it up with second season syndrome is unbelievable. It's an unforgiving game in that sense. You won't be able to keep Proper this summer surely?
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Post by chaodck on Jul 1, 2020 18:02:12 GMT
Bit of a late response to your update, that is one hell of a season. What will your approach be to the Europa Conference League? Will you give some of the younger players game time or stick with the main team? Cheers stouters, indeed it was an amazing season the second semester we just clicked and when locked in our game we just outplayed anyone. The idea in the UECL is to try and give it a good go, I don't think the level will be too high, at least until the group stage, maybe even beyond that, so I think I can play the kids a bit as well. Unfortunately starting on the Second Qualifying Round means almost no pre-season with all the problems that bring down the road specially as I can't start it earlier. I'll go about this a bit on the next update which should come today. That's a bloody amazing season Chaodck, both from the team and Dirk Proper. I do hope that it wasn't too good. The amount of times I've had seasons like that and then follow it up with second season syndrome is unbelievable. It's an unforgiving game in that sense. You won't be able to keep Proper this summer surely? Proper proper carried us at times, he's just an amazing player. Unfortunately just as you said I just wasn't able to hold on to him, selling him to PSV for €7.5M, plus 50% of the next transfer, in the pre-season update I'll complain about what led to him leaving us. The good thing is he will be back on loan for the season at least. Here's hoping we don't get the second season syndrome.
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Post by chaodck on Jul 1, 2020 21:35:02 GMT
NEC Nijmegen2021-22 Pre-Season and Summer Window ReportOverviewLast season was a terrific success, at a level no one really expected. I knew we weren't gonna struggle with relegation and I even said on this thread that the team wasn't gonna be in a relegation battle, but I would've considered myself crazy to even think to have qualified for the European Places Playoff, let alone doing it while finishing 5th in the League and getting to the Cup's Semifinals. Good thing is both The Board and the squad still think we're not good enoug and thus expectations have been low with the squad even telling me that I was crazy for asking them to not be a part of the relegation battle for this season. The media, on the other hand have been more complacent with us putting us at 13th with 350-1 odds to win the title, which are far better than the teams 14th-18th (900-1 and 1000-1). With the addition of the UEFA Europa Conference League, our pre-season was quite short and we had to accomodate both the training and friendlies (specially with no option to move the start date earlier). Fortunately the draw for the UECL qualifiers was pretty gentle for us and allowed us to treat those games as part of the pre-season. We had a busy summer lads!Competitions, Facilities and FinancesSo, for the first time ever, we'll play on three competitions for the season. The Eredivisie will be the main focus and it'll be tough to repeat the magnificent performance from last season. I think we're good enough to be placed among the top 8 teams and my own personal objective is to qualify for the Playoff again. We'll also play on the KNVB Beker, where we'll start on the First Round and try to defend our Semifinals position from last season. Barring a horrible draw, I think we could sneak onto the Quarter-Finals which means winning 3 games. Finally as I said above, we'll start our European journey from the lowest of the lows in the brand new UEFA Europa Conference League. We'll start on the Second Qualifying Round, which means we'll need to win three ties before getting onto the Group Stage.
Regarding the facilities, the stadium is being upgraded by around 3,800 seats, which will bring its capacity to 15,879. Not great but a good step still, here's hoping we can fill it up soon and get another expansion or even better a new stadium. We'll have to play in a 10,750 reduced capacity until December though which will hurt the receipts a bit. The rest of the facilities is decent with Good Training and Good Youth Facilities, Good Academy Coaching and Adequate Recruitment. The latter will be our main focus of upgrading this season, as the Youth Facilities are also amidst an upgrade.
Finally, regarding finances, we're in a great shape. We had a summer where we sold a few players including our top prospect Dirk Proper (details below), who left us a good amount of cash to re-invest (hopefully on youth development, if the Board allows). We currently have €19M in the bank account.Transfers and SquadSo, the main news piece during the offseason was Dirk Proper's status. He signed a new 5-year contract on September 2020, which included a set non-negotiable €8M minimum fee release clause. He was already valued at €5M at that point so I knew the clause was no good but decided to sign him either way as his contract ran up at June 2022 and waiting any longer might trigger him to not re-sign in order to test the open market. I tried renewing the contract on a monthly basis, but he didn't want to, stating that "the squad lacked the quality required by his future expectations". At the end of last season he budged and I tried renewing it, but the agent again included a non-negotiable MRF, upping it to €9M, so I decided not to renew him as he had still a long contract and I felt confident as no team "wanted" him. In the summer, both Norwich and PSV approached for him with offers below the release fee, so I negotiated both of them to €7.5M straight, 50% of his next transfer fee and a loan-back until the end of the 2021-22 season. Norwich backed down and PSV accepted, and as he wanted to go to Norwich and "didn't even want to talk" to PSV I was happy, but the Di(r)ck accepted PSV's offer and finally left the team, only to get back on loan. In the end it was a decent piece of business though as we weren't going to have him happy. I wish he develops well and leaves us another hefty bunch of bills down the road. Other players to leave were Bas Kuipers, to Steaua București for €170k, Ole ter Haar Romeny to Willem II for €775k, Niek Hoogveld to Fortuna Sittard for €135k, Lucas Veenendaal to Cambuur for €500k and Joep van der Sluijs to Emmen for €250k. None of them will be missed, bar ter Haar Romeny, whom I really wanted to loan out and see if he developed as I kind of had lost faith in him after two good seasons on the pitch but with little-to-no development on his attributes, Willem came in with a decent offer and I pulled the plug on him.Some interesting players came in as well, with the highlights being the wingers, as they were two players I was pursuing for a while. Thai Ekanit Panya joins us and brings a ton of versatility and talent to the team, he cost us €225k from Chiangrai Utd, and on the right came in Nkosingiphile Ngcobo (yeah, writing his name will get old pretty soon) from Kaiser Chiefs for €550k. Panya is a quite known FM talent being around several saves and Ngcobo really surprised me as he was being snooped around by Feyenoord and Marseille last season. Both are under 21, and thus fit our rule, will get into the senior squad right away (and starting). The other interesting transfers were two CM's I brought in to try and replace Proper on the long run as we didn't have much cover for the position. I looked for a defensive minded CM, who will pair greatly with Fabio Cuoco a much more offensive CM, and settled for two candidates, german Manuel Wiesner who came from Karlsruhe for €215k and italian Andrea Butturini from Brescia for €400k. Both need work (and aren't nowhere near Proper's ability), and will be developed for the BWM position on the "B" team.
UEFA Europa Conference LeagueWe drew Armenian side Pyunik on the Second Qualifying Round, an abysmal side compared to us so I treated those two games as part of the pre-season as I said above, and only played 3 friendly games before them. Still, we absolutely demolished them I don't think I've ever been so dominant on a Continental Competition game in the last few FM's. We won 9-0 in Armenia then closed out the deal 12-0 at home to win the tie 21-0. The goals don't fit on the screenshot, Panya scored 5, Lee Min 4, Ngcobo 3, Proper 3, Mori 2, with Labriola, Cuoco, van Eijden scoring 1 each, plus an own goal. Merciless. On the Third Qualifying Round we drew Saint Gallen from Switzerland and I was prepared to face a true team, I was even a bit nervous, but we dominated the first leg, winning 4-1 at home with goals from Ngcobo, van Eijden and a brace from Panya to seal the qualification after a 0-0 boring draw at the home of FIFA. This led to the final, Fourth Qualifying Round which pitted us against Turkish giants Galatasaray where I really expected a hard draw as they are a big powerful team. Fueled by a brace from Proper and another goal from CB van Eijden, we won 3-1 in Turkey, which made the 1-2 defeat at home, with another Proper goal, insignificant and we were onto the UEFA Europa Conference League's Group Stage. There we'll face an easy group alongside Lokomotiv Moskow, Qarabağ from Azerbaijan and Sarajevo from Bosnia and Herzegovina. I expect we will qualify easily topping the group.
EredivisieSo, we had a bit of a mixed bag to start the Eredivisie, specially as all games where in between the Third and Fourth Qualifying Round of the UECL. We started off in the same way we were showing on the UECL beating Willem II 3-0 with goals from Mori and a brace from Panya, before Champions Feyenoord beat us at home 1-3 with a goal from Mori. We then beat Roda 2-1 with goals from Arthur and Ngcobo, before again falling at home, this time against Heerenveen, 2-3 with goals from Cuoco and van Eijden. Finally we recovered our composure after having qualified for the UECL group, beating NAC 3-0 with another brace from Panya and a goal from Zondi.Tight start to the League with us beating lower rated teams, but struggling against the two better ones we faced. High powered offensive, but a frail defense so far, there's something to work on.Forecast and Future - Quite a few new sponsors came in the Summer. We signed a 1-year main kit sponsor for €1.2M which is quite good as we'll need to renew it at the end of this season. We also signed a Training Kit Sponsor for €94k per year and 4-years, a Continental Sponsor for €150k per year and 4 years and a General sponsor for €130k and 3 years. - We took a loan to pay for the stadium expansion, which will see us pay €48k per month until 2031. Regarding attendance, we sold out all 9,701 season tickets and are averaging almost a full house per game with 99% on average. - Both newcomers Panya and Ngcobo have required almost no time to adjust to the team and their teammates. Panya has scored 11 goals and had 3 assists in 10 games, while Ngcobo has scored 5 goals and had 5 assists on 11 games.
Thanks for reading mates!
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Post by dalenichol on Jul 1, 2020 21:38:06 GMT
That's a really, really solid season from you so far, Chaodck. Considering you're fighting on multiple fronts, the team are doing well and don't seem to be overawed, at least not yet. I like the look of Ngcobo and Butturini, and we've already discussed how good Panya can be. I'm excited for the rest of your season!
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Post by chaodck on Jul 1, 2020 22:46:18 GMT
That's a really, really solid season from you so far, Chaodck. Considering you're fighting on multiple fronts, the team are doing well and don't seem to be overawed, at least not yet. I like the look of Ngcobo and Butturini, and we've already discussed how good Panya can be. I'm excited for the rest of your season! Cheers mate, I'm excited as well, specially as we're getting some decent money in which will help improve the facilities and staff to start developing the talented players we're getting.
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Post by chaodck on Jul 3, 2020 3:22:21 GMT
NEC Nijmegen2021-22 Midseason ReportOverviewThird season in Holland underway and our first delving into the depths of Continental Competitions. A lot of matches and thus a lot more playing time than expected before being able to spurt out an update, but heck here it is (and fortunately before tomorrow as I'll have a watching party for the Hamilton Film). TransfersNot much happened transfer wise to kickstart the winter window with just two players incoming in the looks of Darío Lindstedt an Argentinean CB who came from Argentino for €250k (plus €200k in future clauses), yeah he's not that good actually and has one of those shit personalities, but he looked way better when we were a second tier team and I jumped at him. If he develops, he can be a decent squad player or sold for maybe the same we bought him, most probably he'll end up released sometime down the road, good one Alfonso. Now, the second player that arrived might be the real deal as Iranian Reza Mousavi came in from Sepahan for just €16.5k and a fairly big contract for his age. But hey, the kid is good enough to battle for a first team position, and with his lower rated abilities somewhere near the 7-9's he might become a terrific mixed CM. He requested to go out on loan to develop so he's being shipped back to Iran right away until the end of the season. I think we definetely found a proper replacement for Proper.Eredivisie I'd left you with a tricky start we had, with 3 wins and 2 losses and I complained about us conceding a ton of goals? Well, we improved. For purposes of establishing a streak, I'll count the NAC game even if it was a part of those 5 already reported. We had 2 wins and 2 losses, scoring a good 8 goals, but conceded 7 on those same 4 games. Well, after that? Eleven wins, 4 draws, 24 goals for, 4 against. I decided to change the pressing a bit, pushing us a click down as we were leaving too much space for counter attacks and we really locked down the house, despite also losing a bit of attacking mentality.We beat Fotruna Sittard 2-1, with goals from Min and van Eijden, then smashed Gronigen 4-0 with goals from Mori, Arthur and a brace from Panya, before a 0-0 borefest with Den Haag close out September. October started off with a 1-0 win over PSV with a goal from Panya, then we drew 1-1 against Vitesse on the derby with a goal from Proper. We finished them month with a 2-0 win over Twente with goals from Proper and an own goal. November was another short league month, with 3 games, a 2-1 win over AZ with goals from Panya and Mori, a 0-0 draw with Emmen in a really horrible game, and a 2-0 win over VVV with goals from Panya and Mori.December was surely busier, and we started off with a 1-1 draw against Den Haag, with a goal from Proper, then beat Utrecht 2-0 with scores from Ngcobo and Cuoco, then a terrific last minute 1-0 win over Ajax with a goal from van Eijden, a 1-0 win over Vitesse with a goal from Cuoco, finally beating our rivals after 2 losses and 1 draw, and we closed out the 2021 year with a great win over Feyenoord, 2-0 with goals from Mori and Proper.So yeah, we're in the hunt for the Title alongside Ajax and Feyenoord. Fortuna Sittard are taking our place in the "surprise team" having just being promoted this season and now standing 5th, while PSV has struggled a lot.UEFA Europa Conference League After acing throught the qualifying rounds of the UECL I anticipated the group would be a cakewalk as we didn't really drew any decent teams. And well, it ended up being just that way as we won all six games en route to a perfect 18 points and +18 goal difference. We started off with a 4-0 win over Lokomotiv Moscow with goals from Cuoco, Proper, Mori and an own goal, then repeated the 4-0 this time over Qarabağ, with goals from Min, Cuoco, Duits and Labriola. Then we beat Sarajevo 6-3 (we conceded 3 goals after we were 6-0) with goals from Ōta, an own goal and 4 goals from Ngcobo, then beat the Bosnians again 2-0 with goals from Ngcobo and Panya. We then beat Lokomotiv again, 3-0 with goals from Sabak and a brace from Ōta, before finishing the group with a 2-0 win over Qarabağ with goals from Butturini and Ngcobo.
It's been an easy ride so far, but I don't know what will happen now in the Second Knockout Round to which we qualified directly (bypassing the First Knockout Round) due to being 1st placed. We still don't have a rival for that game, as the draw hasn't been made yet.KNVB TOTO Beker Short-lived Cup run as we weren't able to defend our Semifinals appearance from last season, losing in the Second Round. We beat AFC in the First Round 2-0 with goals from Butturini and Ōta, before falling in the Second Round against PEC Zwolle (from Eerste Divisie) 0-1.
Youth Intake Preview I didn't get the "Golden Generation" promise, but I'm still pretty excited with what's in store for this year. Some good flanks players in fullbacks and wingers, and at least a good GK and CB. Here's hoping they are good.Player Performances We've been great so far. Newcomers Panya and Ngcobo have bossed the opposition, and leading the team in goals, with 17 and 12 respectively, with Proper being close behind with 11, then Mori with 9 and Cuoco, Lee Min and surprisingly CB van Eijden with 6 goals each. Proper has been our best player so far and he will be missed next season. I still think I had no choice and I'm doing the club a big favour on the long run by accepting an offer where I could negotiate the 50% of the next fee, instead of waiting and having a team cash out his MRF clause. Fabio Cuoco has been amazing in midfield as well and I'm guessing he'll reap the benefits of not having a player of Proper's influence beside him in the middle of the pitch and finally, we've been having some issues at the ST and AMC positions, with Mori losing a lot of PA expectations, while Zondi has never really got it going and Sabak losing his starting job against Ōta with neither of them being consistently good.
Forecast and Future - Financially we're on a solid state, with €17M in the bank. - We've finished the stadium expansion and now seats 16,379 fans per game. Here's hoping we get to that capacity soon and get a new expansion or a new ground. We also finished upgrading the Youth Facilities and now are "Great", with Good Training Facilities, Excellent Academy Coaching and Good Youth Recruitment. I have available the option to upgrade all four again, but will probably do it during the second half of the season, bit by bit. - I'm trying a new training approach as I had a ton of complaints of not doing enough "quickness training" across all three teams. So I programmed a Quickness session for all Attacking and Defending weeks, and a Endurance session for all Transitions weeks, plus a General Physical session for the two games weeks. All of them have a respective "Recovery" session that same day to plaiate fatigue and are usually on the first training day of the week (meaning M-5 in normal weeks).
This is going great, can we challenge for the title???
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Post by chaodck on Jul 4, 2020 1:57:36 GMT
NEC NijmegenMarch 2022 ReportOverviewUpdates have been flying off lately as I'm really into this save and thus updating frequently as well, sorry for the amount you'll have to read. I thought about not doing this update as it'll cover just a few league games (I didn't have any further activity on the transfer window), but I made a few tactical and personnel tweaks after coming back from the break with a bit of a funk.Eredivisie As I said, just 7 games to report here. We started off slow, with a bare 1-0 win over Heracles with a goal from Cuoco, then drew 2-2 against Willem II, with goals from Panya and Mori before losing 0-1 against AZ. I wasn't happy with what I seeing on the pitch, specially on attack as we struggled to generate chances. I decided to push a bit more, changing the IF's to Attack duty, and subbing in Zondi for Mori in the ST position and Sabak for Ōta as AM, as they struggled a bit. And it worked, we started being a better offensive team, beating Emmen 2-0 with goals from Zondi and Lee Min, then Gronigen 2-0 with goals from Proper and Zondi, Heracles 4-2 with goals from Ngcobo, Cuoco, Ōta and an own goal, and a great win over PSV 2-1 with goals from Duits and Cuoco.I think we lost the oportunity to fight for the title on the start of this semester, the draw against Willem and the loss against AZ, as Ajax is 7 points ahead of us and looking invincible. We need to beat them at AmsterdamArenA, and have them lose points on two more games. We're good to get into Europe again next season, most probably directly this time, though I'm not confident Feyenoord will overcome us at 2nd and drop us onto the Europa League.Forecast and Future - We're good on the money front, despite losing between €500k and €1M per month. The account currently holds €15.5M. - The draw for the UEFA Europa Conference League's Second Knockout Round has been drawn and we'll face Osijek from Croatia. I don't want to get ahead of ourselves, but I think it's a very affordable draw and we've got good chances of getting onto the Quarter-Finals. - Despite modifying the training schedules and adding a 3 Quickness sessions per month and 1 Endurance, players are still complaining about having not enough Quickness training. Mesa no understands.
Onto the last third of the season. We need a championship push!!!!
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Post by chaodck on Jul 4, 2020 17:59:40 GMT
Lads... Massive turnaround is an understatement. The first leg result was super unfair. We weren't deep enough on our attacks and settled for long shots, while they had 3 CCC's and scored on all of them. The return leg was dominated completely by us and despite it being 3 AM I celebrated Min's goal at 90+2 as if it was a real La U goal. One in the Extra Time I knew we'd win it. We'll face Braga in the Semifinals, a weaker opponent on paper (knocks on wood...).
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Post by chaodck on Jul 5, 2020 7:11:53 GMT
NEC Nijmegen2021-22 Season ReportOverviewSo this is a wrap for season three. Second season in the Eredivisie, first season in our European foray. Some things never change though, despite the new flashier kits, more money, bigger sponsors and bigger expectations and still I keep shitting the bed after reporting how good things are at a given point. More to follow. EredivisieWe had a good March, with two good wins over NAC 2-0 with goals from Min and Cuoco, and 3-0 over Roda, with goals from Min, Zondi and Ōta. April was rough and we only managed to get 4 points in 4 games, a 0-0 draw against Twente, a 1-2 loss against Ajax with a goal from Zondi, a scrawny 1-0 win over Fortuna Sittard with an own goal and a 1-2 loss against Heerenveen with a goal from Zondi. At this point, we were effectively out of the Championship race, and pretty much hanging onto the direct qualification for the UEFA Europa Conference League, as the Cup was won by AZ a team out of the first 4 league spots, meaning only a top 3 place ensured Continental football for next season, and the Playoff was 4th-7th. With 2 games to go, we were 3rd, two points behind Feyenoord in 2nd and three points above Utrecht in 4th. A 2-2 draw against VVV with goals from Ngcobo and Panya and a 0-2 loss against Utrech left us in 4th place, a disappointing collapse after being in 2nd place almost all the second half of the season. So, we had to go through the European Places Playoff again. We found our scoring boots and led by a fantastic Andile Zondi we managed to beat Fortuna Sittard in the semifinals, with 3-1 and 4-2 wins (Zondi x4, Min, Proper and Ngcobo) and then managed a terrific win over PSV in the Final, 4-2 and 2-3 (Zondi x2, Proper x2, Cuoco and Panya), to qualify for a second consecutive year to the UEFA Europa Conference League.
We ended up improving a position on the table, but as AZ won the Cup and ended in 7th position we had to go through the Playoff again.UEFA Europa Conference LeagueSo, after a great group phase, we qualified directly to the Second Knockout Round, where we beat Osijek from Croatia, 1-0 with a goal from Zondi and 4-0 with goals from Kvida, Min and a brace from Cuoco. Then as I had showcased we went through Werder Bremen after losing the first leg 0-3 at home and turning it around magnificently in Bremen 5-0 with goals from Ōta, Ngcobo, Min, Duits and Mori. But yeah, right after I posted that our next opponent was Braga a much more easier team on paper, we got what we deserved and lost after a 1-1 draw at home, with a goal from Zondi and a 2-3 loss in Portugal with a brace from Panya. Again, me and my big mouth.Youth IntakeI forgot to take the big picture of the Youth Intake, but it wasn't that good overall, despite we getting a great GK prospect in Albert Raven an Aruban eccentric mold GK who could become a great player down the road. I signed four other players Jelle Bank, Geert Brons, Bernard Mustapha and Albert Kock, despite only Kock being the only other attractive prospect.Squad and PerformancesSo I decided to separate the Development part of this report to do it on a different post between the season report and the next pre-season report as it was starting to get too big for one post. So yeah I'll start talking here more about performances and how the squad did during the season. Dirk Proper was our best player again, and we will freaking miss him come next season, he had a magnificent year playing in 46 games, scoring 12 goals had 12 assists with a 7.44 rating. Closely behind him was Fabio Cuoco his midfield partner and who will have to fill Proper's shoes, the Italian played 55 games, scoring 13 goals with 10 assists and a 7.39 rating. Nkosi Ngcobo was third best with 16 goals and 18 assists and a 7.29 rating. Keiichi Mori was 4th in average rating, with a 7.19 with 11 goals and 6 assists in 31 games, but his development stunted and lost a ton of PA, so he lost his position to Andile Zondi, who struggled a bit at first but really came alive in the Playoffs scoring 6 goals in 4 games to aid us get into the UEFA Europa Conference League, Zondi played 32 games, scoring 14 goals with 4 assists and a 7.13 rating. Similar numbers, but Zondi is the better player and I can safely say that the Mori experiment came to an end and he will most probably be sold in the summer. Thai newcomer Ekanit Panya played 50 games, scoring a top 22 goals, with 7 assists and a 7.18 rating, but he had a bad second half of the season after a terrific first semester.
Regarding the squad makeup for next season there are a few youngsters who have developed into decent options for the senior squad so we'll need to assess whether we'll sell some players from the current first team. Unfortunately team vice captain Rens van Eijden retired, despite still able to play a good role for us and being a terrific mentor, so we'll need to replace a starting CB, besides a CM as Proper is leaving. The other two positions I'm worried about are the AM and the ST position, as in both roles we had players struggling, Mori and Zondi on the striker and Sabak (31 games, 6.83 rating) and Ōta (48 games, 7.02 rating) on the AM role. As I said, Mori will be sold and most probably Sabak as well, while Zondi and Ōta could go on loan to aid their development. That means we'll most probably be on the look for a striker and an AM on the market during the summer, using exceptions. I know I said I would bring the players through the system, but the only way to do it is to keep improving first.
Forecast and Future- So, money? Well we have €17M in the bank. Sounds not much right? Well, let's talk about facilities first. We improved the Recruitment to Excellent and the Coaching to Exceptional during the season, and The Board just decided to upgrade the Training and Youth Facilities (which stood at Good and Great respectively), spending around €8M across all upgrades. - Also, The Board went for another Stadium Upgrade, this time spending big bucks €8.75M to be exact to leave us with a 22,500 stadium, to be opened in November 2022. Unfortunately, The Board again decided that the best way to finance the project was with a bank loan, which means we'll pay €77k per month until 2032. This makes us paying €125k per month on loan repayments for both loans to upgrade the stadium. - Regarding budgets, The Board gave us a €3.8M transfer chest (after I diverged a bit to the scouting budget), but added a lot of money to the wage budget, elevating it to €580k per month (we currently spend €390k).
We had a good first half of the season but didn't finish it off like we would've wanted it to. In April-May we had a horrible run, with 14 games played and a 5-3-6 record which ended up sealing our fate for the season. We need to improve and part of it is building a deeper squad to have more alternatives for when individual performances dwindle at some point during the season.
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Post by Marshdweller on Jul 5, 2020 10:11:06 GMT
All progress is good though - this will help lay foundations for a proper title challenge next season surely?
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Post by Nick on Jul 5, 2020 10:45:08 GMT
Excellent stuff Chaodck. It's great to see you so invested in the save and flying through the season. You have plenty to be happy about at the end, despite the slight dip in form. I actually think that your side is slightly better than finishing fourth would suggest and I don't think it'll be long before you're qualifying for Europe directly.
Great to see Panya doing so well for you. He's a top player and I wish I could have got more out of him. Is there any chances of you getting Proper back on loan for another season or is this the end of the road?
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Post by chaodck on Jul 5, 2020 17:50:16 GMT
All progress is good though - this will help lay foundations for a proper title challenge next season surely? Yeah, I'm only downhearted (and thus the tone of the post) due to the last couple of months being really bad, at least until the playoffs. I don't think we can beat Ajax yet, but I do think they can beat themselves, so yeah if we have a good good season, I think we can fight for the title until the end and see what happens. We were in the race up until March in this season. Excellent stuff Chaodck. It's great to see you so invested in the save and flying through the season. You have plenty to be happy about at the end, despite the slight dip in form. I actually think that your side is slightly better than finishing fourth would suggest and I don't think it'll be long before you're qualifying for Europe directly. Great to see Panya doing so well for you. He's a top player and I wish I could have got more out of him. Is there any chances of you getting Proper back on loan for another season or is this the end of the road? Yeah, I'm pretty happy with it and binging a ton of the game. I'm re-watching the MCU with my little brother who hadn't seen any movies and that lets me play while watching the movies, which aids to keep the game flowing fast as well. As I said above I'm happy with the season, we jumped a spot in the table, but we were 2nd comfortably until that horrible April-May and I really thought we'd make either the UCL or the UEL. At least we found our game in the playoffs which really had me scared as PSV was in them. I think we're good enough to consistently beat PSV and Feyenoord, but not still at Ajax level as I said above as well. Regarding Panya, he had a terrific first semester, yet somehow dwindled in the second half. I had to use him at CM at some times due to injuries, which might have led to a drop in goals (he scored 17 in August-December, then 5 in January-June) but it was more than that, he kind of disappeared for some time. Finally I don't think I'll bring back Proper, if I wanted I think I could, but I have good alternatives for him in the middle, I want to push the Iranian kid I got in January as he looks terrific and Cuoco is already a proper Proper replacement. Besides I think he'll sell quicker if he stays at PSV and I want my 50% share of that.
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Post by chaodck on Jul 5, 2020 19:55:24 GMT
NEC Nijmegen2021-22 Player Development ReportOverviewSo, I decided to branch out this part of my annual report from the season report as I'm starting to track more players and it'd clutter the main season report that is meant to, well report about the season goings and how we fared on the competitions. So yeah I'll try doing it here, separately and see if it bodes well. I'll divide the players according to their squad participation during the past season and in the end I'll mention a few players who were not tracked during the season and they have become decent alternatives for the future.StartersCuoco has quickly become the team's second best player behind Dirk Proper. Playing alongside him in our terrific midfield pairing I expect the young Italian to take Proper's position and lead the team from next season on. He will be the team's vice-captain and I'm still not sure whether he'll play in what has been his usual position so far as CM or move into the AM spot where we have a big need and he has himself developed a better undestanding for the position (he's being trained as a BBM). He won a few attribute points during the season, but nothing too crazy really and I think I'm gonna shift his training to a playmaker regime. The biggest problem? He has a shitty €7.25M release clause imposed by his agent (I renewed his contract mid last season) for Clubs in Continental Competitions. Here's hoping nobody acts on it.Nkosi Ngcobo was our main attacking force last season, where he scored or assisted in 34 goals (16 & 18). The South African is a great player for us and I still can't believe that we got him so cheap. He improved a lot during the season, specially on his finishing (+2) and he got his first 3 caps for his national team, where he scored two goals. He still has room to grow and will without a doubt be a key player for us next season not only due to his immense quality but also for his versatility. He has an €8M release fee for foreign clubs, something I'll try to eliminate as soon as I can.Panya had a good season, despite falling asleep during the second semester. He still is a great player became a bit better during the season, and still has a bit of room to keep improving. We need him to be more consistent, despite him being our top goalscorer for the season. As with Ngcobo his versatility makes him super useful to cover positions during the season, and he showed it last season playing a lot at CM.Mr. Consistent, van Rooij is nothing too spectacular but fullfills his role and has improved steadily (albeit not that much) year after year. I would want him to become a more offensive player, but he's pretty decent on those attributes while also being sold defensively. Last season he had over 10 assists and won over 87% of his tackles, which proves he's a great dual threat fullback. The big issue with van Rooij is that he's injury prone, but when healthy he's good for what we need.I wanted to give review for Proper, despite him leaving the club. He's been our best player for the last couple of seasons and I would've loved to keep him longer, despite acknowledging we did get a good deal for him despite the imposed MRF clause. He had a solid improvement on his mental skills during the season and most probably he would've been named team captain if he had stayed with us.Key BackupsArthur was our first CB to come off the bench and as Rens van Eijden retired from football he is the appointed successor for his role. He improved a good deal on his mental skills and is becoming a well rounded player overall. He played a total of 26 games last season and even scored a couple of goals and I expect him to keep developing as his playing time will increase considerably.One of my personal pet projects, Vince Duits finally completed his re-training and became an Inside Forward. The positional change has stunted his development a bit (as it uses CA as far as I know), and he should be able to start improving much more from next season on. He has the right attributes to become a good player for the role, despite being well behind Ngcobo and thus not getting much playing time. Now that he completed the positional change I will start using him a bit more at ST though.I had high hopes for Ōta when I bought him back in January 2021. This was his first season with the senior squad and despite starting from the bench he quickly won over the AM starting role from Paolo Sabak. But he never really found consistency and ended up the season regressing and losing some attribute points while also being demoted on his PA expectations from my (20 JPA) Asistant Manager. I've labeled the AM position a position of need and thus Ōta will either be sent on loan or a backup for us next season. I'll see how pre-season goes and act accordingly.Min, another re-training project and one of my asian experiments has become quite a good player. He still isn't 100% re-trained to be a LW IF, but the change hasn't come at as big a price as for Vince Duits. He's improved a lot and he was great on pitch for us at times, scoring 12 goals while also adding 7 assists during last season. A good loan offer came for him in between seasons and he will play at Cambuur (recently promoted to Eredivisie) for next season, hopefully he doesn't lose the AML position, and the added playing time helps him improve faster as he has a ton of potential.Maybe the biggest disappointment of this save so far. Mori came in alongside Min and I had bigger hopes for him than for the Korean as he was highly rated by my scouts. And he was a bust, an Anthony Bennett type of bust. We paid him a lot of money and his PA expectation dwindled every season reaching a point where my AM doesn't think he'll improve much at all. He did have a couple of decent seasons with us, scoring 23 goals in around 50 games, but his development and specially his lack of potential makes him super disappointing. He will leave the club most probably for good on the next transfer window as he doesn't justify his big salary.Fringe PlayersVillani started off last season in the senior squad, and got to play around 13 games in the first semester before a good loan offer from ADO Den Haag led to him going there and become a solid starter for them until he lost the lasst month of the season due to an injury. He still improved solidly during the season and he is a good alternative for the starting XI come next season as I'll most probably sell our starting LB to push Villani or Javier Toledo an Uruguayan LB we bought last season.Wiesner arrived at the deadline last season to make up for Proper's exit, as I was looking for a more defensive minded CM and Wiesner fits the role despite being a natural DM. He hasn't made the positional change still, but I'm sure he will get there soon, specially as he gets some playing time in the position. He will be promoted to the senior squad for next season and we'll see if he ends up being what we need.As Wiesner, Butturini also arrived on deadline day to make up for Poper's loss, and he has improved quite a bit during the season. He doesn't have as much potential as Wiesner and thus he'll be loaned out for next season most probably, even though the comparison is unfair to him as he's being compared to the likes of Cuoco and Proper, while Wiesner is our only natural DM of the team. Still I like the look of both and I think the loan spell will do him wonders.Other Tracked ProspectsMousavi lands here as he still hasn't played a game for the club. He was bought in the winter window and as part of his transfer promises he wanted to go on loan right away so I duly sent him back to Iran where he surprisingly developed and improved a lot more than what I expected. He's a great player and will fit right along the starting XI for next season as a midfield playmaker. I have great hopes for this lad as I really like his look.
I didn't want to include players so young on this kind of report, but Hansen looks like the real deal. At 17 he's already a part of his U-21 National Team and he might be better than Zondi and Mori both our starting forwards for last season. I planned on playing him up front for next season, but in the end decided to try and look for a player on the transfer market and stash Hansen on the U-19's for another season, bringing him in slowly. But hey, that's the idea and I don't know whether I'll find the player I want on the market, so a pairing of him and Zondi for next season is still a backup plan.Other PlayersI've failed to track a few players that have become somehow interesting players and I'll give them a shoutout here and see if I track them from now on haha. The first is Andile Zondi who after Mori's fallout last season quickly secured the starting ST position and despite a slow start, he ended being key for us with 6 goals on the 4 Playoff games. Next comes Michael Fürthaler a LW inside forward who will take advantage of Lee Min's loan and jump into the senior squad for next season. Finally, Javier Toledo is the other LB prospect that will fight for the starting job alongside Villani if I end up selling our starting LB.
So, that's it lads. That's our current status of development. I think we're doing a good job overall with some interesting lookiing players.
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