Here we go. A very busy month at ASTANA. We'll know the results of our European qualifying campaign. I'm excited about how Europe will go while we have a busy domestic campaign.
After the first leg, I was slightly worried. Winning 3-2 at home was concerning but here we turned that around and had a really smashing match. Despotovic really put the club on his back, bashing an all-important early goal to put the pressure on APOEL and then again putting one passed APOEL about 15 minutes after the halftime. Once again, young prospect Lovro Majer scores a late goal after APOEL pulled one back and put some fear in me. Getting into the Champions League playoffs is key as now the worst I can do is qualify for Europa League and that means I'll be making some money!
And now for our draw in the Champions League playoff match.
This is very concerning. A disaster perhaps. Olympiakos is a very good club and they have a lot of quality that I'll have to deal overcome. I think we can do it with counter-attacking football and some timely goals. Excited for this match-up but a little sad I didn't get a more favorable draw.
This was a very hard fought match. Possession was so even and yet Olympiakos seemed to be able to get all the shots off, constantly harassing my backline. When they finally got a goal at the 33rd minute mark, I was worried their constant harass had finally broke my defense and we would collapse. Ibraimi then responded heroically. Winning a freekick in Oylmpiakos territory, he scored a very deftly taken free kick and brought us even. Excited about the away goal but concerned with how often Olympiakos was able to take shots with even possession while my attack really struggled to turn possession into opportunities. Hopefully, the second leg being at home will provide us with the extra advantage necessary to push ourselves into the Group Stages and get that sweet, sweet cash injection!
SIMPLY STUNNING RESULT! The entire match, Olympiakos had more possession and, much like the first leg, was able to turn that possessional advantage into opportunities. However, the counter-attacking tactics I have been instilling in me club for the very purpose of continental competition bore ENORMOUS fruits. First, right before the break, we broke on the counter after almost 3 minutes of Olympiakos possession in our half, driving into Olympiakos territory and then capitalizing on a defensive mistake to jump on a loose ball in front of the Olympiakos net and Despotovic smashing it home. Made me halftime talks much easier, eh? Olympiakos came out after the break hellbent on putting an away goal in and held the lionshare of possession for over 15 minutes before they were able to equalize and put some fear into this ASTANA manager. A defensive lapse from Olympiakos again turned into a penalty opportunity and Ibraimi came through in the clutch to score from the spot, putting us ahead for good, before Despotovic banged one off the posted and cleaned up his own miss to put the match away for good. It was an intense few minutes after the penalty as I knew an Olympiakos equalizer would end us on away goals so the Despotovic second goal really calmed my nerves and sent the home fans into waves of jubilation. I'm so very excited to being playing in the Group Stages, both financially but also the experience will be invaluable as my domestic campaign is not the most challenging.
And speaking of the financial benefits of Champions League football...
Two nice paydays refill my coffers and put the club back into a stable financial position. Some of these funds will go towards improving the facilities needed to establish a long, successful career at ASTANA and it's nice to get the funds to start improving right away.
EUROPEAN GROUP STAGES DRAWING.
Ouch. I had zero hopes of competing much in the Group Stages so my real hope was for three very high profile clubs that could bring large groups of fans to ASTANA. Well well well, these three definitely fit that billing. Al three absolute juggernauts of their respective leagues, hopefully they can provide the necessary excitement to drive some extra cash into my bank account while they destroy my little Kazakhstani club 6 times. Hopefully, we can get a lucky draw against one of them at home for some extra cash but I don't have high hopes.
6.25m spent in the window and a good influx of talent balanced between players who can contribute now and young guns who will be instrumental to the future of ASTANA.
Some of the transfer window highlights not mentioned in previous updates.
Jovica Blagojevic - WBL, AMCL, MLC
Very young, very promising. Also, capped at U19 but hopefully he finds it hard to break into the Serbian squad with how talented Serbia is at midfield right now. I signed him with a look to the future. He has a 10m release clause so he will either provide me a cash injection in the future or hopefully slip through the cracks and become a Kazakh national in five years. Fingers crossed.
Not a very good goalkeeper but young, largely ignored by the Brazilian national team and some upside. He was free and so I wanted to get him into Kazakhstan now and let him begin nationalizing for us. He'll be a backup at my team but provide some quality for the rest of the league when I sell him to my domestic rivals later. It's all about the good for Kazakhstan in this signing. He'll be the starting GK for my reserves for a bit and then perhaps go out on loan domestically before I finally loan him out with a cheap buy option to a domestic rival.
The final piece to arrive in this transfer window, Frazan is really just coverage for my backline as well as possibly a future purchase. I have a 2m option on him and if he developes and shows promise, I might take that option up. He has the upside, has the good attributes but we'll see how he performs. His contract is so cheap and I really like his fitness and positioning. At worst, he'll be a domestic rotational player and European backup for me and we'll see how it goes. But if his development explodes with regular football, I like that I have a relatively cheap option on him.
Technically part of this transfer window, Masovic won't arrive until December 29th but I wanted to show him now. He'll end up costing me 400k but he's so very young and his phyiscal development really excited me. He's been capped at U19 but I think he'll be another Serbian who could fly under the radar long enough that he can play for Kazakhstan and make a difference for us five to seven years out. Hopefully, he last months in Serbia can bring hime some more development and he'll arrive ready for first team playing time. We'll see.
Another successful month but very congested with fixtures and the wear and tear on my players started to show with the 3-2 result at Taraz as we struggled with fitness throughout the match. Hopefully, this becomes less of an issue but it is concerning to see my players slowing a bit with so many fixtures. Also, now having qualified for the Group Stages of Europe, we won't have two legs over 7 days anymore like with the Qualifying Stages.
Another Manager of the Month award. 8-2 goal difference, four good wins domestically. Not a shook but appreciated nonetheless.
Hope you all enjoyed reading, let me know if others cannot see the images as well as post links to your stories so I can return the favor! More to follow