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Post by jt on Jan 27, 2019 11:30:42 GMT
Cracovia Takeover So Poland is my destination for a little break from Woking as i try and find my Football Manager mojo back. I haven't strayed too far though with the clubs colours being exactly the same as Woking with Red and White stripes. Why Poland and Krakow? Well i am getting married this year and my stag do is coming up and although the boys tried to keep it a secret, i have found it we are off to Krakow in what no doubt will be a trip that will take some part of my soul. So, with much naivety i thought providing some fictional success to one of its football club, might mean the City takes it easy on me. So with Krakow chosen, i had three playable clubs to choose from (Cracovia, Wisla Krakow and Garbarnia). Garbarnia are in the 2nd flight and i thought it would be a little too small and maybe a little too similar to Woking whilst Wisla are a traditional big side and Cracovia ended up being something in the middle. It has History and i have the chance to build a dynasty here. HistoryCracovia are a football club based in Krakow, Poland and are in fact the oldest football club in Poland having been formed in 1906. With a club that old you would expect some history and you wouldn't be disappointed as the club have 5 League titles to their name. However, the slight catch is the last of them league titles came in 1948! Other than them 5 league titles, it is just a small smattering of lower league Championships which gives you an indication of what happened to the side. Just 6 years after winning their last league title, the club found itself in the 2nd flight having been relegated. Throughout the 60's the club became a true yo-yo side winning promotion 3 times but getting relegated the very next season. The last relegation from the top flight in 1970, saw the side slip to its worst ever position finding itself demoted to the 2nd tier, than the 3rd and than the 4th tier. It's worst ever position. The club quickly got itself back into the 3rd tier but found itself stuck at this level for a number of seasons. In 1978 the club finally returned to the 2nd flight and it was just 4 years later in 1982 that the club finally won promotion to the top flight after 13 long years away. It was a short lived joy though as just 2 years later the club suffered relegation to the 2nd tier and than quickly to the 3rd tier. The rest of the 80's was a grim time as the club suffered financially and it didn't get much better in the 90's as the club yo-yo'ed between the 2nd and 3rd tiers. In Mid 2002, the club finally caught a break attracting a rich sponsor (Comarch) finally giving the club some money for development finallly getting itself back into the top flight for the 2004-05 season where the club has remained other than a small spell in the 2nd flight for 1 season in 2012-13. So that brings us to the modern day and my takeover. The Manager & ExpectationsSo i have made myself a Polish national and i have decided to go heavy on the mental attributes as well as youth development as i look to build from my own set up. Technical skills are also something i want to do as i want to try and play decent football. Both of these play into what the club want to do as they look for a top half finish (Media Predicting us 7th) whilst playing possession football and developing players from our own academy. Both of which i can get on board with and will play a factor into how i set up the side. In order to finish in that position they have given me an additional £4k per week in the wage budget as well as £460k to spend on some new faces. So what do you think? Good move or no?
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Post by jawzy on Jan 27, 2019 12:54:45 GMT
Poland, a nation that people rarely play. So im glad to see it
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Post by jt on Jan 27, 2019 14:45:26 GMT
Cracovia Squad, tactics & Pre-season The SquadFirst impressions, it is a big squad, possibly too big but it gives me loads of options as a lot of the player's can play in many different positions. The second thing that hit me was i had never heard of any of these players and the third thing was we had no superstar at our disposal. Our success would be based on the whole and not the individual which means the tactic was going to be even more crucial to our success. From the squad, i could see 3 first teamer's that would help create the spine of the team. Croatian Niko Datkovic is a big 6"3 centre half with lots of strength but a bit lacking in pace. Still he is solid in all of the crucial stats and as long as we protect the lack of pace he should be a rock at the back. Damian Dabrowski is currently injured but looks to have decent stats all around and some potential left to grow into. I suspect his current injury has knocked his stats down a bit so once he returns we will see an even better player. On-loan Spaniard Airam Cabrera is easily our best striker with good overall coverage in all areas which should mean he is pretty versatile when it comes to roles. Interestingly with Polish football there doesn't seem to be a reserve side or an U23 side and insteaad it goes straight into an U18 side after the first team. It means the youth either need to be ready at 18 or have somewhere to go in order to get ready. With no affiliate set up, i asked the board to get me one and local side Garbarnia Krakow will become my new affiliate and will likely be the main destination for promising players to learn their trade. I have also revamped the whole of the 1st team's backroom staff with just the medical team remaining for now whilst also increasing the number of coaches meaning we have one of the best coaching set ups in Poland and hopefully will allow me to develop the players into my chosen tactic. TacticsThe Board want possession football and i plan on attempting to give them that. The squad isn't overly excellent in passing so i think it will need to be a simpler form of possession football, hence why i have gone with the below as my main stating tactic. The aim is to take our time with the ball, keep the tempo down as we dont have the greatest fitness or pace and to dominate possession of the football. I would normally say Ball playing centre halves are the right move but none of my centre back's are that comfortable at passing (Most have around 9-10 for this stat) so i am just going to keep it a little simple with normal CD roles. I am however, trying to improve all of their passing through training in the hope i could switch at least one role in a BPD. The full backs are going to play as wing backs to give us extra width and men in the attacks with the wingers coming in as inside forwards to allow the extra space for the full backs. Right back Rapa is pretty comfortable with this whilst our best left back will need a little work. It is relatively simple roles in the midfield with Cabrera asked to be a deep lying forward to allow him to also get involved in the build up play. By coming a little deeper it should open up room around him for the Inside forwards to get behind the defence. A second tactic is also being looked at with the AMC switching to a DMC role and will be more counter attacking in nature so will likely be used in the games against the bigger sides and potentially Europe should we get there at some point. With the tactic in play we are going to need to look for a new striker for when Cabrera's loan runs out as well as potentially some ball playing centre halves, and a natural left wing back. However, as we moved to the first game of the season there were no incoming transfers Pre-season FriendliesA relatively straight forward pre-season as we went undefeated whilst keeping clean sheets in all but one of the games. Defensively we look solid with the only goal conceded being from 20+ yards whilst we look very comfortable with the ball. The final 3 games saw us have a minimum of 55% possession and dominate the game in terms of shots on goal. I guess the only concern right now is the number of goals compared to our dominance as the analysis seems to show a possible predilection to trying to walk the ball in to the back of the net. All of this ties in with the analysis from the matches. I think right now, i am going to leave it for a little bit longer but i am sensing the removal of the work the ball in to the box instruction could mean we are a little bit more decisive in the final 3rd.
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Post by jt on Jan 27, 2019 19:41:39 GMT
July & August 2018 On the pitchMy Polish adventure is now officially in full swing as the season starts here in Poland and we are now 6 games into the season. For those that don't know the league structure, there are 16 teams in the league and we play each other twice. The league is than split into two and you play the other 7 teams in your half. There is no point halving like in other leagues but it just carries on. So pretty similar to the Structure in Scotland. So how did we get on? A slightly mixed bag on face level but there has been some very pleasing aspects to the style of play that is on show. Airam Cabrera has been the clear highlight of the team banging in 6 goals from the first 4 league games and being a major reason why we won 3 of our first 4 league games. In the one game we lost to Lech Poznan who were playing at home infront of no fans we dominated with 67% of possession but we just couldn't make our dominance count and we were hit on the counter far too easily. Ironically in the next game against Arka we did the exact opposite, scoring from all 4 of our shots on target and hitting them on the counter time after time. The final two games saw our most worrying performances with the Zaglebie Lubin game almost an exact replica of the Lech Poznan game where we dominated possession and had 21 shots on goal but failing to score. The Piast match started well with an early goal but after that we just seemed a little toothless. Lots of possession but without the end product. In fact we lead the league on possession with 60% and before the final two games we were also leading in terms of chance conversion but the final two games have seen us drop down heavily on these charts. It means in the actual table that matters we sit in 6th A tight table at the top as everyone is dropping points right now. If we can hit a nice bit of form in the next few months we might be able to keep ourselves in the pack. TransfersSo the transfer window closed and i almost went the whole window without making a single transfer as i decided to take my time and really think about what we need. We have a big squad and i dont know any of the players so i feel like i need to bide my time and see what works and what doesn't work. The main priority was to scout players for future windows and i was mainly looking at ball playing centre halves and left wing backs as i know the current players dont quite fit the mould but should be ok for now. In the end i bought a goalkeeper. So a little detour but i was also looking for goalkeepers for next summer and when Osman Hadzikic was available on a free transfer i snapped up the young Austrian. I have worked with him in previous saves so i know he has decent potential and with my first choice picking up an injury (Another reason to make the move) i moved a summer early. I will probably try and shift one of the keepers on in the winter to make permanent room for him. Other than that the only outgoings were a lot of the U18 side on loan plus a 19 year old striker that was never going to make it in a permanent £8k deal. AnalysisSo far i am pretty happy. We knew we wouldn't walk the league as we just don't quite have the quality here. What has become evident is that we need Cabrera a lot and if he doesn't play well than we do struggle to score as is evident from the analysis of the matches. We need to turn our touches into goals and we need to be more compact in the centre of the defence. I am going to remove, work the ball from the box for a little bit to see if that helps whilst keeping the passing short so we should still keep possession.
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Post by Nick on Jan 28, 2019 18:17:30 GMT
Decent choice of club, JT. There was a TV program, on years ago now, about the rivalry between Cracovia and Wisla. I was sure it was Ross Kemp that did it, but it turns out it may have been Danny Dyer and the "real football factories" series he did. It was really interesting - the Poles are a mental bunch, particularly the ones from Krakow!
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Post by jt on Jan 28, 2019 21:44:49 GMT
September On the pitchA month of two halves on the pitch as we struggled in the first two games of the month before making a switch and seeing some better performances in the final 3. To be fair, the first game of September was against Legia Warsaw who have won 4 of the last 5 league titles so were always going to be a tough match. It was a debut for Osman Hadzikic but also a debut of our 2nd formation (AMC switched to a DMC). We lost 1-0 thanks to a penalty but in truth it was a bland match and one we actually struggled for possession in it. I have to admit i wasn't entirely convinced by the formation so i think some tinkering will be needed. Back to a our main formation for the game against Jagiellonia we had a 1st half where we scored first but went into half time behind 2-1. Plenty of possession but no end product meant i removed work the ball into the box as an instruction, hoping we would get a bit more direct in the final 3rd and we finally got our equaliser when a lofted ball over the top was latched onto my Cabrera. The game ended 2-2. For the rest of the month, i kept "Work ball into the box" off and we picked up 3 victories on the spin. None overly impressive but we certainly seemed to be getting more chances even if we were not always taking them. The Wisla Plock game started and ended with free kick goals whilst the Cup game saw me rest my 1st team squad and give Damian Dabrowski a 1st start since his ACL injury. We ended the month with another victory to keep us moving up the table. So far so good and its still incredibly tight in this league. A poor patch and you could be dropping down the table but a good little run and you could be right in the hunt for the title. Osman Hadzikic has been excellent since his arrival getting 3 ratings of over 7 which in my world is unheard of for a Keeper. Next up is the Krakow Derby and i might just write up about why this derby is a little special
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Post by jt on Jan 28, 2019 23:12:09 GMT
The Holy War Wisla Krakow and Cracovia is not like most derbies. It is one of the most violent and passionate derbies in Europe and these teams have been at it for over 100 years. The name of the Derby was coined by a Cracovia defender Ludwik Gintel who before one game told his teammates "Come on guys, let's win this holy war". The phrase was than put into a song and the rest is history. The two clubs grounds are just 1km apart, are serviced by the same bus stops yet the away fans still take a coach to the other stadium due to the violence that is often seen. It probably doesn't help that the two firms Wisla Sharks and the Anti-Wisla are the only two firms in Poland not to sign the "Poznan Agreement" which is an agreement not to bring weapons to any fights. So why the anger? Well Wisla was owned by the Communist Police force for over 40 years whilst Cracovia have Jewish roots and with Poland's history, you can kind of see why that might be a big deal. That heated rivalry has seen some of the ugliest and craziest scenes in Poland. In 1942, the derby didn't take place because the Nazis were informed of the time and place of the match. When the German forces arrived, the game was abandoned. The following year, over 10,000 people came to see the Holy War back in full force. After the referee gave Cracovia a penalty kick four minutes before stoppage time, Wisla players attacked him. The players, not the fans. Can you believe that? As a result, the whole audience was engaged in a huge brawl. In the early 1970's, Cracovia began to be relegated into the lower leagues and so the Krakow derby had to be put on hold. Supporters couldn't stand this thought though, so they convinced authorities to have an annual anniversary derby. The matches had nothing to do with points. It was all about bragging rights. These matches took place until 1990, when possibly the most unbelievable set of events took place in Polish football history. Police officers went at it with supporters. That wasn't shocking, but the actions of the police were considered too brutal. Therefore, they were counterattacked by supporters of both teams. Wisla and Cracovia fighting the cops side by side. Eventually, the USSR consulate was trashed that day because some of the policemen ran there for safety. The Krakow derby for shits and giggles was banned for good this time, and no Holy Wars have taken place since. In 2006, the 100 year anniversary match was played between Wisla Krakow and MKS Cracovia. Eight fans died in the events leading up to the derby. Water cannons, riot vans, choppers, dogs, and nearly 1,000 cops were on hand during the game. Wisla scored a minute into the game and one of the supporters was about to burn a Cracovia scarf. The police took it away, so a battle ensued with the cops. Cracovia fans were in the away section and there was a huge fence to separate the two firms. At halftime, hundreds of Cracovia scarves were burnt along the fences by Wisla fans. This is while winning, imagine what happens if they lose. Cracovia supporters tried to break through the fence but the police intervened. Chairs proceeded to be ripped out and thrown at the cops. The match ended 3-0 for Wisla Krakow. So there you have it. The Holy war and it is up next...
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Post by jt on Jan 29, 2019 19:47:39 GMT
October The Holy WarThe Holy war is some way to start a month and we were straight into it as we entertained our arch rivals Wisla Krakow. Things started off with a bang as Italian Antonini Culina rifled in from the edge of the box after just 8 minutes. Strike 1 to us but things only got better as a goal mouth scramble was turned in by Airam Cabrera to double our lead and put us in the driving seat. 2-0 up in our first derby and life was good or so i thought as we were hit on the counter to see our lead halved before a late goal sent the Wisla fans into pandemonium as the game finished 2-2. Gutting based on where we were but at least i didn't lose. Rest of the monthQuite simply it goes, League = good, Cup = very bad. Two tight 1-0 wins against Gornik Zabrze and Korona thanks to Cabrera's coolness under pressure have really pushed us up the league but there is still a little problem which is we can sometimes dominate matches but just not dominate the result and eventually we could make a mistake and for all we know it we get punished. However, i will take the good when it comes and 7 points from the league was enough to see me win Manager of the month but more importantly put us in a great league position Now onto the bad as in the 2nd round of the cup we lost to lower league opposition with a rested side. It was 0-0 at full time but we were down to 10 men and the extra man advantage saw them come out 3-0 winners and we were on the end of a giant killing. I could use the cliche of now only having to concentrate on the league and that will be great but to be honest... i am more than pissed as the cup could have been a good route for silverware. Anyway... let's move onto the league
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Post by jt on Jan 31, 2019 19:10:26 GMT
November On the pitchWhat i have noticed with Cracovia, is that after a loss we can sometimes take our time getting back into form. A hangover of some sort as we came off the cup loss to take on Miedz in the league. One of the weaker sides in the league and what should have been a fairly comfortable victory. Stat wise it looked the case as we had 75% posession had 19 shots to their 7 but we still came out 2-1 losers. That than led to two draws against Lechia and Slask before we finally got a victory in November against Lech Poznan. Who ironically were the toughest side to play as we raced into a 3-0 lead before eventually winning the game 4-2. What was even more interesting is that 3 of our 4 goals came from outside the box as we scored screamer after screamer with Janusz Gol banging in two of them. In fact Gol's performances in November won him player of the month for the league. So 5 points from 4 games would see us slip down the table right? It is certainly an odd little season in Poland where no team/s are breaking way and in theory the race is wide open. 9 Points between the top 11 is crazy and shows another dodgy little run and we could fall out of the top half. The others game in hands will see us drop down a little but at this stage i am still just dreaming of a top half finish. AnalysisWith the winter window coming up, i am now starting to evaluate everything we are doing to see what can help us kick on in the back half of the season. What has become evident is that we are scoring from outside the area a lot evidenced by Culina's placing in the goal of the month. Now whether this is because i have taken the work ball into the box instruction off i dont know but we seem to have gone from one extreme to the next. Before we were taking too much time in the box and not getting enough shots and now we are just trying to crack them in from everywhere. I wanted to see the team get behind the defence but we are just not doing it and Airam Cabrera is struggling for goals now up top. Which also highlights a problem. We just don't have a Plan B if certain players are not playing well. Cabrera is our only decent striker and we have just 1 really good option in the AMC slot whilst our back up wingers are average and dont seem to be able to change the game if they come on. So i think changes will happen and i am now scouting around for options. My preference is going to be loan's as i have a couple of players who were loaned out in game before i took over who would go straight into the first team and i don't want to give myself too much of a bloated squad in the summer. We have around £4k per week to play with in wages and around £230k in transfer fees plus any money we make from sales. More work to be done in December i think.
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Post by jt on Feb 2, 2019 7:52:43 GMT
December On the pitchA short month to end 2018 and move us into a winter break but 3 more league games have been played and they went pretty well as you can see from the league table. The first match against Arka was by far our worst showing as a drab highlight less 0-0 draw was played out. I couldn't help but think that was 2 points dropped as we showed nothing. For the next 2 games, my assistant pointed out we should go more attacking and switch our mentality to that. I gave it a go and 6 goals and 6 points later i have to say it worked. We attacked well, got people in the box and scored some good goals. Even out of form Airam Cabrera scored albeit it was a shot that just hit him but it stopped his goal drought and we looked good, possibly the best we have all season. Which means the winter break is a little disruptive. Even more so when you look at the fact a little breakaway has started to happen as the league finally starts to stretch out. The pack contains runners up for the last 2 years Jagiellonia, arch rivals Wisla and joint top league titles holder Gornik Zabrze. The main surprise comes in Legia Warsaw not being in that group as they have dominated Polish football for the last 5 years. Can we hold on? If we click like we did in the last 2 games after the winter break than yes but i think we need some reinforcements to help with a plan B and to allow some rotation over the next few weeks. So i was already planned to start to scouting in earnest in January, make some offers and get some new faces in before we start again, only to find out the transfer window doesnt open till February! Why have a winter break if you can't buy anyone in that time?! RecognitionOff the field, there was some recognition for both myself and for one of my players. I personally sealed a new contract which when it is done quite early in the first season highlights you are doing a pretty decent job. Whilst more impressively midfielder Janusz Gol picked up best player in the league for that year. Based on timing i guess that is calendar year and not the season itself but i can't disagree with how good he has been for me. Now off to play a month of friendlies... but not buy anyone
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Post by jt on Feb 2, 2019 11:04:40 GMT
Winter Break Goings onAs per my last update, the winter break in Poland is a little strange with the transfer window opening right at the end of it meaning the month is just about playing some meaningless friendlies. Joy! As you can see it was a mixed bag as we played our reserve team 3 times (Although they don't exist) as well as games against Spal, Hertha Berlin and Viktoria Plzen. The Spal game was probably the highlight whilst we showed spirit against a stronger Hertha Berlin side. Viktoria Plzen just counter attacked us 3 times to beat us but we showed some promise. What the games did become though was a testing ground for both Triallists and also some of the U18 squad to see if they could make a difference in the back half of the season. The likes of Lassina Traore were bought in on trial with youngsters Pik, Racokzy, Feret and Bala all getting a chance to see if they were good enough for the first team. The Triallists didn't work out but the youngsters in particular Racokzy and Pik looked like they could be of use. In the upcoming window, we were looking for options on the right flank, No.10 and striker positions all on either a short term loan or short term contract. That is harder than you think when FM19 doesnt allow you to see potential loan options outside of the window. To help i also added another affiliate club in the form of Puskas Akademia of Hungary who will allow us to loan players to them but also get first option on their side. They have good facilities and in previous FM's i have seen them develop some decent youth.
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Post by jt on Feb 2, 2019 11:41:15 GMT
February TransfersThe window finally opened and it was time to scour the market for new players. It was also a window that saw us send out more youth players on loan whilst letting winger Wdowiak leave when his contract expired. He wasn't getting game time and to be honest the youth players coming through were not far off being on par so it was time to cut my losses. In terms of incomings it was the loan market that was going to work out best for us and i was happy to bring in just one man. Monaco have loaned us Samuel Grandsir for the rest of the season. The French U21 is a step above what we have right now and is easily our best player in terms of star ability and he gives us an injection of pace whilst also being able to play in a few positions. On the pitchLet's just take a look at that league table. Top after 23 games and the breakaway group is starting to shrink to just 3 teams. I was worried about the break ruining our run of form but i was completely wrong as we eased past Piast 3-1 before pulling off our best result yet - a 3-1 win over current champions Legia. The game saw two crucial moments. Grandsir made his debut only to get sent off after two yellow cards and young Michal Rakoczy came on to score his first goal in just his 2nd senior appearance. Jagellonia were the final game and with both teams at the top it was just a case of not losing. Something we did thanks to Serder Serderov's brilliant goal which allowed us to draw 1-1. In fact the Russian Serderov is starting to really come into his own and was the player of the month. Youth IntakeOh! Not a great intake but than again my facilities are not great yet. Only two players look like they have some potential but they are a long way away from getting near the first team. Krzysztof Zaba can finish and has composure so that is a start but his physicals are awful and that might just stop him making it as technically he could be ok. Kamil Kuczek is better physically but is lacking in some key areas on mentals and technicals and again that might just stop him progressing further. No superstars here but right now it is all about the present.
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Post by jt on Feb 3, 2019 13:30:24 GMT
March On the pitchA rollercoaster of a month that included the 2nd part of the Holy War but somehow we still sit top. Any other season we would be way out of this title race. It started well enough as we bottom of the table Wisla Plock 1-0 in an admittedly tougher than i expected match but it was once again the Russian Serderov who got our winner. We than entertained mid table Zaglebie Sosnowiec and again i was confident that we could win this game but it turned into an almighty battle as we at first went 1-0 down before going 2-1 and 3-2 up before finally getting pegged back for a 2nd time to leave us with a 3-3 draw. I had never seen us defend that badly until we got to the Holy war where it was a bloodbath and we were shipped by rivals Wisla 3-0. This was a Wisla side that had dropped down to 7th having been in a rut since the Winter Break. A shocking and a horrible result that saw me lose my cool with the team. We didn't even respond as in the next game against Gornik Zabrze we were poor and it was only down to Gerard Oliva scoring an equaliser having just returned from injury that had kept him out all season. So 5 points from 4 games and somehow we are still top. If we could have just picked up two more wins we could have opened up a lovely little lead going into the league split. I am not sure what quite has happened, sure there have been a couple of injuries but in reality we should be able to cope well enough but weirdly i think it might be down to the fact that we are now mathematically guaranteed to be in the top half and the boys have just switched off thinking the job is done.
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Post by jt on Feb 3, 2019 20:38:31 GMT
18/19 Regular Season End & Championship group On the pitchThe first half of April sees us end the regular season ready for the league to be split into 2 with a final 7 games to play for the Championship. The last 3 league games saw it all - A draw, a win and a loss as we somehow clinged onto top spot. It is still incredibly tight at the top and with 7 more games to decide the title it seems like every single team could just about do it. The amount of draw's is ridiculous and it is simply going to be down to who gets into the most form as the season ends. If you look at the group it seems to be that Lech, Lechia and potentially Wisla are the most in form sides whilst we have only 1 win in the last 5 games. So these are the 7 games we have to try and win our first major domestic trophy since the 1940's. When i go through these fixtures, earlier in the season we picked up just 10 points from these exact fixtures which based on our lead is probably not going to be enough. I think if we can get around 16 points from the 21 we should see ourselves champions but that will be tough. I need to pick up the boys for one more push.
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Post by jt on Feb 4, 2019 19:01:07 GMT
It is going down to the final game of the season and we have Gornik in the last game of the season in a title shootout. We are at least guaranteed European football next season. Will it be Champions League or Europa League?
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Post by jt on Feb 5, 2019 8:36:32 GMT
18/19 Championship group On the pitchSo as you saw i was 1 game away from clinching an unlikely title but before i go into that final deciding game. What happened in the preceeding 6? Well we didn't score in the first 3 games of the Championship group, that's what. Two 0-0 draws draws against Legia and Lechia before losing another Holy War to Wisla 1-0. In all three games we had more possession and more chances but we were lacking something crucial and that was goals. Back to the tactics screen and more tweaking was needed as i enforced the overlap option on both wings and doubled down on playing the ball into the box. It worked as we than beat Korona 3-1 before drawing with Jagellonia 1-1. It took a dramatic 96th minute winner to beat Lech 2-1 but suddenly we had found some sort of form (Or what has counted for it this season in Poland) to leave us level on points with Gornik Zabrze who had also just won the Polish Cup. So how did it go? We did it! A comfortable 3-0 win thanks to a Serder Serderov double saw us win our first Championship for 71 years! So the Champions League is our destiny and the board want to pump some money into the side. Doubling our wage budget and giving us a couple of million to spend on some new faces.
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Post by jt on Feb 5, 2019 9:33:24 GMT
Season 1 Review What a first season it was as we won a league title despite being predicted to just come 7th. Certainly we were helped by what proved to be a year of the draw as none of the big sides came into any form and i have no doubt that the points total of 64 points will be the lowest winning points total. However, Champions we are and it is time to look at how we did it. Well somehow we outscored everybody which still shocks as me as in some games we looked completely toothless. What we also did was dominate possession (60%) and also keep possession (83% pass rate) which was a good sign that the possession football was working. We were though the worst when it comes to shooting accuracy which kind of follows. In may game we had 20+ shots but scored just the once or not at all. So Where can we improve? Let's look at it by role GoalkeepersWe started the season with Gostomski as No.1 but an injury meant i bought in Hadzikic to be the new number 1 and we never really looked back. The Austrian for a long time had over a 7.00 average rating which is almost unheard of in FM but he eventually dipped under a 7. However, i have no qualms here. Gostomski started whinging about lack of game time and even missed training so i suspect he will get moved on and i will look for a younger back up to compete with Hadzikic who was voted into the leagues team of the year. DefendersOnto the defence and despite not having the best defence in the league by any shot we had 3 of the team make the Leagues team of the year. Cornel Rapa was solid in the RWB slot but i think i need to tweak some instructions to get the best out of him moving forward. At one point we didn't have the right left back but as soon as we moved Bulgarian Diego Ferraresso to the LWB slot we looked a lot more balanced and he ended up being a good outlet for us. Olexiy Dytyatev was the shock for me this season as i initally wrote him off as being the back up centre-half all season but he ended up being our best defender and even won the fan's player of the season. Still we were leaky at times in the back and some work i think is needed. We play posession football but no one at centre half is good at passing and although we have an abundance of height and strength, we do lack pace. A Ball playing centre half will be on the shopping list whilst i will probably loan out young Kruppa to give him more game time. MidfieldersA mixed bag here as well. Serder Serderov was the standout benging in 12 goals and winning the League's player of the season. He is one of the only players in the attacking part of the team with any pace which probably highlights where we lack. Javi Hernandez started the season well but he dropped off and i think there is certainly a call for a new AMC with more creativity as 4 assists for a man that was in a playmaker role all season isn't strong enough for me. Grandsir was generally average coming in on loan whilst Culina was up and down with his particular strength being set piece goals. However a lack of pace for a wide man isn't great and he could be moved on. Further back, Janusz Gol despite being 33 was a constant presence in the midfield and boy was he able to score from outside of the box. The rest of the central midfield did little to impress. Budzinski never quite looked right whilst Dabrowski kept the ball well but struggled to make any impact scoring just once and assisting just twice. Dumin and Serafin were rarely used along with Danek and it could be argued all three get replaced with a mixture of youth players coming up and maybe a new face. I am certainly undecided whether to freshen it up but i can probably imagine at least one MC coming in with a couple moving out. ForwardsAiram Cabrera was an almost ever present because we lacked genuine competition and although he finished with 18 goals and 2nd in the league for goals, the Spaniard could go missing for long stretches. However, i can't deny his goals and his loan deal is due to expire. If he was younger i would be tempted to renew it but at over 30 i think we will need a new striker. Oliva returned from a long injury lay off but lacks the quality whilst Pisczek isn't going to be strong enough moving forward. A new striker or two is a must. SummaryLot of areas to improve and the scouting work has begun to see who we can bring in to improve the side which is weird to say when we had 5 players in the team of the season and won the league. Still we can not rest now and it will probably be quite a busy summer as my main targets will be A New striker to replace Cabrera along with a young back up. A New AMC to replace Hernandez A pacy Inside forward to go on the right A ball playing centre half Potentially a new MC Time to crack on with pre-season
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Post by jt on Feb 7, 2019 22:39:41 GMT
19/20 Pre-season A different sort of summer for us as we go into the new season as Champions and we have our first ever attempt at Champions League football (although we will have to get through some qualifiers first). The Media predict us to come 4th though and the board are just expecting a top half finish so pressure hasn't mounted as much. So what have i done to the squad? TransfersLet's start with the outgoings. Not a huge amount just yet but with the window closing in another 5 weeks there could still be some more. Back up keeper Gostomski was becoming a whingeing nightmare so he was moved on to Jagellonia for a little bit. Milan Dumin didn't play much last season and also moved on with the only other permanent signing making a surprise move to Roma. He was a keeper out on loan who didnt look great so i wasn't too upset in letting him go. The rest of the loans are all kids with potential with my Director of Football finding them some new clubs to play for to get game time. Outside of this a number of the fringe players from last season have been transfer listed and dropped to the U18's in the hope i can move them on, whilst i didnt take up the offer to keep Cabrera here for another season. Now onto the ins. Four players who were out on loan last season have been added to the first team squad. Michal Zieba is a young right back prospect and will be the understudy for Rapa this season, He looks relatively solid, it is just whether i can get him to fill a wing back role but he should get some game time this season. Radoslaw Kanach is another youngster with lots of potential and takes the place of Dimun. We dont tend to play with a DMC but i can see myself putting this kid on to help close out games we are winning and has a bit more potential to unlock as well. Slovakians Jaroslav Mihalik and Tomas Vestenicky come in and can make an instant impact to the side. Mihalik though does want to move to a bigger club which i am happy to allow based on some of my new signings but is a shame as he adds pace. Vestenicky will be the back up striker to another new signing but is already better than my previous two back up strikers. So onto the real ins. Well first of all i decided to extend Samuel Grandsirs loan. The Frenchman didnt do a lot in his loan spell last year but his quality is there and i think with a pre-season under him and moving him to an Inside forward i can get the best out of him. With Gostomski leaving i needed another goalkeeper so Bosnian Azmir Muminovic was signed for £375k from some Bosnian Side. He is a solid No.2 to Hadzikic who will play the cup games and probably some league games against the weaker sides as he has the potential to be a No.1 should Hadzikic get spotted by a bigger club. A ball playing centre half with pace was high on the list and i found my man. German Alexander Hack signs from Mainz for £950k ( A new club record) and he ticks every box. He is even 6"4 so keeps our height at the back. Some work to do on mentals potentially but i have a good feeling about this guy. The German leagues also were the source for my new striker as Swedish International Branimir Hrgota signs on a free transfer from Frankfurt. I wanted pace up top and now we have a pacy striker to aim for and allow us to stretch teams a bit more. The final signing before the start of the season is a big one. I think it is a coup as Ademola Lookman joins on loan for the season meaning we have some very frightening wingers at our disposal this season and means we can cope if Mihalik does leave. However, it hasn't been complete plain sailing as both Javi Hernandez and Antonio Culina ruptured their ACL's ruling them out for the season. It could mean at least one more new signing particularly in the AMC slot before the window shuts. TacticsHaving reviewed last season, i dont think a lot needs changing so we are going to stick to the same shape but there will be some changes to the roles. Hack comes in as a BPD which i think naturally fits the possession based football we play whilst Grandsir will stat on the right flank but as an IF with Lookman the other side. Hrgota's role is up for debate, i have currently gone with a poacher but i am not sure if that is right for a team that works the ball in the box. Thoughts? On the PitchWell three friendlies where Grandsir absolutely played his way into a loan extension bagging a 10.0 rating against Baltika whilst Hrgota also bagged 4 in another game. Goals were flying and we looked good. That led us to the Champions League 1st Qualifying round and we were unseeded as expected. We got Qarabag of Azerbaijan, which had the potential to be tricky but we destroyed them 4-0 away from home before wrapping up a 1-0 win at home. We now have Albanian champions Kukesi which should be an easier game. Sandwiched inbetween we had the Polish Supercup against Gornik Zabrze and it went all the way to penalties before new keeper Muminovic saved two of their spot kicks to give us the Cup. So far so good and we are about to start the league campaign.... in the Holy war vs Wisla. What a way to start
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Post by jt on Feb 10, 2019 10:22:32 GMT
July & August 2019 TransfersWith the season upon us we still had the chance to add a few more new faces to the squad to round it up but in the end i only added only one more new face. With Hernandez's season ending injury i thought we were a little short in the AMC slot so 30 Year old Italian Cristian Pasquato was signed on a 1 year contract to cover us for this season. He has lots of experience of the league having been playing for Legia Warsaw before his release. It means we can now rotate between Pasquato and young Rakoczy. There were 3 more permanent outgoings littered inbetween a gluttony of loan deals. The biggest being Mihalik who leaves for France and Strasbourg in an £800k deal. Alongside him both back up strikers Oliva and Piczsek were moved on. Champions LeagueSo in my last update we had got past Qarabag in the 1st Qualifying round after a 5-0 aggregate victory over the Azerbaijani's to set up a 2nd Qualifying round tie against Albanians Kukesi. So off to Albania we went and in the first leg we really struggled to get into the game and it didn't help we went down to 10 men and a 0-0 draw meant we couldn't relax in the 2nd leg like i had hoped. So when it came to the match in Krakow, we had to play a strong side and in the first 16 minutes we were already 3-0 up. A 4-1 victory played itself out and we were now in the 3rd Qualifying Round. Our opponents there were Cluj of Romania in what was our toughest test yet. The first leg was at home and we were 1-0 down within a minute. Luckily this side has some heart as we thought back to take a 5-2 victory and to give us a real chance of getting into the final Qualifying round. In Romania it was just the case of closing the game out but we had it wrapped up in the first half with 2 fluky goals to seal a 7-2 aggregate victory. Now we just had 2 games between us the Champions League group stages. As an unseeded team it was always going to be tough but we probably had the best tie we could have hoped for against Young Boys from Switzerland. We went to Bern needing to stay in the tie and somehow we found ourselves 3-1 up thanks to a Pasquato free kick and Hrgota hitting a penalty and scoring a 2nd just after half time. However, another red card from Siplak turned the game on it's head and we were pegged back to a 3-3 draw. 3 Away goals is lovely but 3 away goals and a 2 goal lead is even better. At home, we struggled and we went 2-0 down. A hail mary helped us get a goal back and it came down to the 92nd minute and we had the ball in the back of the net. The only problem was the referee called a foul and the game ended in our 2-1 loss. So the Champions League had to wait another year but the Europa League was now our European focus. We got this group All things considering, it isn't awful and we have a chance, a slim chance of getting into the knockouts. LeagueSo whilst that was all going on, we also had 7 league games to contend with in what was a very busy period. It meant rotation after rotation to keep a fit 11 out there and it had the recipe for an awful start to the season. Instead we have got this A nice tidy little start where we have dominated in some games and in others probably had a little European hangover. The nicest result though was victory in the season opener against Wisla to give me my first victory in the Holy War. The other thing you will see from the squad stat is the gluttony of players averaging over a 7.00 which compared to last season where we just had a handful getting to that level. It is also good to see the new players making a difference. Grandsir struggled last season on loan but this year he has 3 goals and 7 assists to be our most creative player. Hrgota has half the goals that Cabrera got last season and is justifying bringing him in over Cabrera for a 2nd season. Even Pasquato is doing pretty well and between him and Rakoczy they have 5 goals and 4 assists which already beats Hernandez's total and we are producing a lot more in the AMC slot. Alexander Hack is already a genius signing at centre back with the only one disappointing being Lookman who needs to improve if he is going to get into the first team.
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Post by jt on Feb 15, 2019 19:47:28 GMT
September 2019 On the pitchA quicker snappier update this time around as i first show you the month of September in terms of results. The stand out result is pretty obvious right? A quality 1-0 win over Zenit in Russia sees us get off to a flying start in the group with a very unexpected result. The match though was very even and Lookman looked sharp for the 2nd match in a row and was able to beat the defender to a rebound to turn in the winner. The pressure did mount in the 2nd half and we had a quality chance to score on the counter to put the game to bed but in the end the defence held strong and we got a brilliant 3 points that has suddenly got me dreaming of doing something quite nice in this group stage. The match before against a newly promoted side saw us go 2-0 up, blow a 2 goal lead before demolishing them in the 2nd half but that was the only highlight in an otherwise poor domestic showing. The FA Cup saw us once again go out in extra time to a side we should have walked all over whilst the two 1-1 draws saw us look lacklustre but somehow remain undefeated in the league. Three points better off than this time last year and undefeated compared to having lost three times after 10 games. It is a positive start but we are still marred by draws as we struggle for consistency. The European campaign hasn't helped as i have had to rotate more but in fact everyone bar a handful are averaging more than a 7.0 so we don't really have an excuse other than the fact we can either demolish a side or struggle to a draw so there is a consistency challenge for sure. I think in my next update i might start doing a deeper analysis as to what we could improve to try and turn more draws into wins. On a side note... How are you guys finding the save. Not getting a lot of interaction, so not sure if there is something i am missing. Let me know if there is anything else you think i should be doing
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Post by jt on Feb 17, 2019 12:10:05 GMT
October 2019 On the pitchAnother relatively quick update as we start to get a little more inconsistent with our results. It started well enough as we wiped the floor with Rijeka in the Europa League going into a 3-0 lead before half time to seal us our 2nd victory in the Group stages and actually put us top after 2 games. Zaglebie Lubin played well but Cristian Pasquato played better as he single handedly beat them with two solo goals to give us our last win of the month. From there we blew leads late on against Lechia and more surprisingly Lazio as we played out a 2-2 draw in the former before losing 2-1 late on to a much stronger Lazio side. Once agan we took the lead in that match with Pasquato curling in a free kick before we were battered down with 2 goals in the last 15 minutes to give us our first defeat in Europe. That than led to our first league defeat of the season as an own goal gave last year's runners up Gornik a 1-0 victory over us. We have lot our top spot in the league and in the Europa League but we are still looking good. Top scorers in the league we can demolish teams but we can also become lazy and fail to win even when we dominate. Our possession and passing stats are in the top 2 performers but sometimes we can do more with the ball. However, when you look at the squad screen, i don't see any obvious weakness in the stats. Is there something i should be looking for that i am missing? How can i get consistency up? These are the questions i need to answer and is where i turn to you guys for help
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Post by Nick on Feb 17, 2019 13:32:20 GMT
I'm still reading every word, JT. Keep going mate.
I've really struggled with consistency recently with Servette, and I still don't have a secret formula to fixing it. I notice that my defenders had quite low concentration, and we often conceded just before half-time, or late in the second half. Something else I have found with this version is that morale is everything, as is your relationship with each player. Build bonds. Praise training, every good performance, but criticise as well when it's deserved. 9 times out of 10 they'll react positively to it.
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Post by jt on Feb 17, 2019 18:35:51 GMT
Thanks Nick. On the save, i have definitly taken my time to praise training and performances and that i think has really made a difference compared to my Woking save where i just ignored it all.
The one thing i have noticed is my leadership is not rated particularly high so that is certainly something i might look at in the next window or two even if the incoming players are of the same level if i focus on high leadership and teamwork stats it might help us see out more matches
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Post by ttgb on Feb 22, 2019 9:07:03 GMT
Just popping in to say I am also reading and well done on the excellent progress.
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Post by jt on Feb 23, 2019 11:41:26 GMT
November 2019 On the pitchAnother month down in the league with 3 league fixtures played and 7 points picked up as we got a good little victory over Lech thanks to a late Hrgota goal. However, it still sees us drop down to 3rd in the table but we have our game in hand coming up and hopefully we can get back on level points. But it hasn't all been about the league as we had our 4th and 5th Europa League group games and things went quite well Well enough that we qualified for the knock out rounds thanks to a stunning 1-1 draw in Rome against Lazio and a hard fought 0-0 against Zenit where we absolutely dominated and should have won. The knock out rounds are going to be tough but it is a massive boost to our own coefficient and help us in future years. Things are still going well out here in Poland. Long may it continue
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Post by jt on Feb 27, 2019 19:01:42 GMT
December 2019 On the pitchThe year 2019 has finished and ended with what was a poor final 4 games of the year. We had our dead rubber in the Europa League against Rijeka where we lost 1-0 . Meaning all we had to look forward to was the draw for the 1st knockout round and its Hoffenheim that stand in our way of further progression. A tough draw and one we are unlikely to get past but so far we have shocked in this tournament and we could do it again. Meanwhile the league saw just 2 points picked up in 3 games with another defeat to Wisla to boot. An awful showing and it sees us slip further down the league into 4th. Still very much in the title fight but we have to stop drawing and start picking up a run of victories to try and take control of the league campaign. We have the ability and for January i am going to have to re-evaluate the squad as we play a host of friendlies with the window opening in February. Looking through the squad screen the wall of 7.00+ ratings is starting to disappear and we need to have a look at how we can re-energise the squad. The obvious position is out on the flanks where our back up options are poor and don't really offer us anything should Lookman and Grandsir play badly. With both on loan, i need to find another option. Our back up striker Vestenicky has struggled too and Hrgota is good but can be a little patchy so that is another option whilst the centre of midfield could do with an injection of quality meaning we might just have 3 new faces in the winter window. Much to ponder as we head into 2020
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Post by Nick on Feb 28, 2019 18:37:09 GMT
Hoffenheim will be tough, as you mention, JT. With that in mind, hopefully with just two 'extra' matches to play, you can concentrate your efforts solely on the league. How do you approach the winter break in Poland? In Switzerland, we go back into training about 10 days before the first league game, so I play a couple of friendlies only, but that means less time to train. Is it similar where you are?
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Post by jt on Feb 28, 2019 19:04:05 GMT
Hoffenheim will be tough, as you mention, JT. With that in mind, hopefully with just two 'extra' matches to play, you can concentrate your efforts solely on the league. How do you approach the winter break in Poland? In Switzerland, we go back into training about 10 days before the first league game, so I play a couple of friendlies only, but that means less time to train. Is it similar where you are? Poland just seems to continue. There is about two weeks off at the end of December and than i have friendlies all of the way through January so the squad never stops. The weirdest thing is the transfer window starts in February when the league games kick off again. So essentially i have let my Assistant select some friendlies (he has done well this year) as we have home games against Ajax and Club Brugge thrown in with some lower league sides. I basically than spend the rest of January scouting intensely so i am ready to make a decision as early in Feb as possible as to signings which at this time of the year are more likely to be loan deals than anything else.
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Post by chaodck on Mar 11, 2019 17:29:55 GMT
Caught up with this JT, good first years in the save, are you planning on making this into a C&C sometime down the road?
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Post by jt on Mar 11, 2019 19:50:01 GMT
January & February 2020 I have finally recovered from my stag do and now i am ready to update you to On the pitchFor those that remember, January is a weird month in Poland as you take a winter break which is essentially a break from competitive football and instead a whole host of friendlies and no actual break. With no transfer window until February you also can't try and buy new players and get them ready through the friendlies. During the friendlies, we were undefeated with a lovely victory over Hajduk and our reserve side along with nice draws against Club Brugge and Ajax showing we can at our best compete against some half decent European sides giving me some hope for the future of this save. So onto the competitive matches and we kickstarted the year with a battling 1-1 draw with Legia which at least ensured we were not going to lose ground against this fellow highflyer. In between our Europa League matches we had an easier tie against Arka where reserve striker Vestenicky got a rare start and showed his potential with 4 goals in a 6-2 victory. He carried that form on in the final league match of the month as two goals against Zaglebie saw us win 2-1 meaning we had 7 points from our 3 league games leaving the table like this A 5 point gap continues as we head to the end of the regular season. It looks like we will finish in the top half with a healthy 12 point gap over 9th placed Wisla but we need to ensure we are within 3 points when the Championship group kicks off as that tends to be a draw fest (Well it did last season). In fact draw fest is generally how you can describe our season with 10 draws from 22 games and if we could convert just 30% of them games into wins and all of a sudden we would be top. I will finish the on the field recap with the games against Hoffenheim. A tough tie as all have noted but we put up a great fight against the Germans. At home, in the first leg, i needed to be level or potentially ahead by a goal to have a real shout in Germany and unfortunately we conceded quite early to go 1-0 down. That is how things ended as we lost 1-0. Back in Germany we scored a goal from a corner with Datkovic to send me into raptures as we had an away goal but it was short lived as Hoffenheim scored 3 before Vestenicky scored a consolation meaning we lost 3-2 in Germany and 4-2 on Aggregate A brilliantly enjoyable run and i just hope we are given the chance to go on another next season. TransfersOne new face was added as Dutch International Winger Jean-Paul Boetius to our ranks having fallen out of favour at Mainz. With both of our first choice wingers here on loan it was time to look at a new face on a more permanent basis for next season. Slightly slower than i would have liked but he has the dribbling and crossing skills that can cause some issues cutting in from the left. A total fee of £1.7m was agreed and the Dutchman is now in Poland. Youth IntakeBy far the worst thing i have ever seen I mean what am i meant to do with that...
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