Hi everyone, I'm back! Sorry I've been away for a couple of weeks...returning to work after Christmas, our work laptops were taken away from us for 'updates by IT' and so I've been without mine for a little while. The most annoying thing about the whole thing though, is that our IT department took it upon themselves to delete Football Manager and all associated files from my laptop! However, after a few hours of downloads, the game and all logo, facepacks and skins are reinstalled and I'm good to go again! It does mean that I need to kick off a new save though.
The save I've chosen to begin is a build a nation style save in Norway. The top clubs in Norway are very well known to most football fans with the likes of Rosenborg (26 Eliteserien titles, 12 Norwegian Cups), Molde (4 Eliteserien titles plus 10 times runners up, 4 Norwegian Cups) and Lillestrom (5 Eliteserien titles, 6 Norwwegian Cups).
However, I'll be playing my save as the lesser known second tier side, Raufoss Fotball. This will be a 1 club save as I look to build Raufoss into one of the top clubs in the country and go on to challenge the big boys for top tier league titles, and eventually the plan will be to dominate Norwegian domestic football. I will have my work cut out as this is a club that hasn't played in the Eliteserien since 1974, instead fluctuating up and down through the lower leagues of Norwegian football for the past near 50 years. They've also NEVER won the top flight or the Norwegian Cup, so if I can achieve either even once, I should cement my place in Raufoss history as a club legend.
In the long term, once we have become one of the best clubs in the country (hopefully), the aim will be to make our mark on Europe. I know I'm aiming high when I say this but naturally the goal is to be the first Norwegian side to lift the infamous Champions League Trophy! An almost impossible task I know, but should definitely keep me interested for a long time and not something I will achieve any time soon! Especially as I am going to impose a rule on myself that will make things even harder....we'll be playing the entire save by signing only Norwegian players!! Yep, as if it won't be hard enough to take Raufoss to the very top, I decided it wasn't hard enough! In time, if the Norwegian national job comes up, I'll also throw my hat in the ring for this and see if I can conquer the international scene as well.
Raufoss don't offer the worst facilities in the world, but there is still plenty of improvement and investment into these areas will be encouraged over the coming years, assuming we can bring some money into the club.
And talking of money, the club are actually in a pretty decent position with nearly £1.5 million in the bank. I'll have 10% of that to spend on improving the squad and with only lower league Norwegian players targeted, this should be plenty for now.
Our home is the Nammo Stadion with a 2,500 capacity....which is predominantly crammed into one stand down the side of the pitch. Again, in the long term I would like the club to be building it's profile enough over the coming years that we will be planning a new stadium at some point....we'll need to in order to compete with the big boys I'm sure.
So there's my intro. In my next post, we'll be looking at the squad, potential tactic and the board's present vision for the club (fair to say they won't have the same lofty ambitions as me).
We have one good keeper and one not so good. Ole Kristian Lauvli will, for sure, be our number 1 keeper this season and doesn't need replacing in the transfer market. He has a really nice mix of good all round stats and should prove to be decent enough for us between the sticks for a couple of seasons at least. That is assuming we can keep hold of him as we have both Sarpsborg and Stabaek from the Eliteserien sniffing around him.
Defenders
I have bunched all of our defenders together for the simple reason that nearly all of them can play across the whole back line, which is something I've not really ever seen before, and most of them can even push up into central midfield or winger roles if required. It does mean that we have cover in all areas at the back which is a huge benefit in itself, but on the flip side, there is definitely room for improvement in our defence, although none of the defenders in the team are outright terrible!
The best of the bunch is most certainly Edvard Race. Although not the tallest of centre backs at 6ft, he's still big enough, and is a brave and determined character to have at the heart of the defence. Although not the quickest, he isn't slow either and can tackle as well as play the ball out with decent enough passing. A good centre back for this level.
I do love an attacking full back/wing back as well, so I'm going to give a mention to Sivert Westerlund, who will definitely be a threat for us down the left. Again, another player who doesn't set the world alight with his attributes, but is solid enough in most areas to make him a good player at this level. His main strength is his crossing ability and we'll be looking to utilise that!
Central Midfielders
Through the centre of midfield, I have a lot of options to be fair, with both defensive and attacking minded players. The best of the bench is one that plays right in the middle and with his attributes, looks perfect for a box to box type role. Markus Johnsgard is only 22 as well, so has all of his best years ahead of him and could still develop into an even better player for us. Potentially someone I can build the squad around over the next few years.
I'm likely to partner him in the middle with Nicolai Fremstad who will play a more defensive role for us, sitting in front of the defence and looking to break up the attacking moves that come through the middle of the park from our opponents.
Wide Midfielders
As we look at the wider midfielders, a lot of these have already shown up above in the defenders and centre mids categories. However, it is worth pointing out Emile Dadjo at this stage as he is easily our strongest winger in the team. He brings more pace than most of our players and adds some flair with his dribbling ability. He'll be encouraged to run at the defence and cause panic in the final third.
Strikers
Although we have a few players that can cover up front, we only really have 2 out and out strikers. Although they look OK, neither look like they'll be absolutely amazing and it's likely that when I dip my toe into the transfer market, it's another front man I'll be looking for first of all.
Overall, it's a decent squad though and I'm generally pretty happy with my starting place. With only 3 non Norwegian players in the squad as well, it means I don't need to be having a major clearout over the next couple of seasons to make the squad entirely of Norwegian nationality.
Although I am pretty happy with the squad though, it seems that the bookies have us pegged as easily the worst team in the league and expect us to struggle this season and we're predicted to finish bottom and go down!!
Although the board are expecting a bit better than that with a mid table position demanded from my first season in charge.
So in my last post, we had a look at the first team squad, but now I want to take a minute to point out one of the most promising youngsters at the club. 17 year old Tobias Sagstuen Andersen looks absolutely mustard for his age and is almost certainly going to be introduced to the first team throughout this season. He can play both centre back or defensive midfield and will likely develop into one of, if not the best player at the club!
And the fact he can play both centre back and defensive midfield roles is perfect for the formation I have set up for us. We have centre backs who are comfortable on the ball, so it makes sense to play ball playing defenders (something I normally don't do with both of them). They can play out from the back and the half back will be there to link the play with the supporting wing backs who are encouraged to get forward at every opportunity and stretch the play. The half back will sit in to almost form a back 3 when the wing backs push forward too so as not to leave us open at the back. With an attacking setup and a high press, I wanted a midfield that were all encouraged to get forward with the plan be to overwhelm our opposition, playing on the front foot and hassling opposing defenders into mistakes for us to capitilize on. We have two wide inverted wingers who will cut inside and support the lone striker...they won't leave gaps out on the wings though as we have the full backs pushing up and having the mazzala role in centre mid encourages more support out wide, especially on the right. Also, with the striker being designated an advanced forward role, he will also interchange places with the inverted wingers and push out wide when they cut in. With so many players in the attacking positons interchanging their roles and crossing over each other, the plan is to confuse the opposition with attacks coming from multiple areas of the pitch and we should be mixing it up so often that we will be extremely hard to read.
And if pre season is anything to go by, we could have a half decent season and with friendly wins over the likes of Lillestrom, it's hard at this moment in time to see why we are the bookies favourite to finish bottom of the league.
The player of our pre season campaign was left back, Jakob Nyland Orsahl who recorded a very impressive 7.62 average rating across his 6 appearances, with a goal and an assist added in for good measure.
With the start of the league campaign just around the corner, it was time for a new signing to be announced. 30 year old Abdisalam Ibrahim was available as a free transfer after his release from Italian club, Bisceglie, and he immediately becomes one of my best options in central midfield and could have a real impact on the season ahead. He could turn out to be an absolute bargain considering we didn't pay a penny for him!
Our first league game of the season (and my first competitive game in charge) would be against FK Jerv, another one of the sides expected to finish in the bottom half this year. It would present an opportunity to kick start our season with a win against one of the weaker sides in the division, and it wasn't long before we were in front - 9 minutes in fact as our first competitive goal under my management would be from the penalty spot. Hakon Hammer doubled the lead on 22 minutes with a thunderbolt from 23 yards and we were firmly in control of the game. The chances kept on coming as we went on to dominate the entire game, 30 chances in fact! But only one more goal would follow and that would be a debut strike from Abdisalam Ibrahim as he scored a headed effort from an inswinging corner to seal the opening day win.
In our second game, it was again a set piece that delivered the goods when centre back, Fremstad, headed home from an indirect free kick swung into the box at pace. He neatly got up and gently guided the ball into the bottom corner to give us the lead just before the half hour mark. Sander Werni wasn't started for our first game, but came into the lineup for this one and rewarded my decision with an absolute worldie for our second goal as he volleyed home an effort before half time, although we didn't go into the break too comfortable as our opponents got one back just a minute later. The comeback was short lived though as we came out all guns blazing in the second period and with 2 goals in the first 10 minutes, the win was assured.
Now we were fully aware that our next fixture would present an altogether different proposition, as we took on league favourites Aalesunds FK, who had also won both their opening games.
We were right to expect a tougher game, but everyone else was wrong in assuming we'd get our a***es handed to us! A fantastic win and a massive statement!
Another 2-0 win followed and 4 wins from 4 ensured I took the Manager of the Month award in my first ever month at the club!
Although the manager of the month curse struck as we suffered our first defeat of the season in our very next game! A late penalty (which was soft in my opinion) was the defining factor between us taking 1 point to zero!
Still, for a team that is predicted as the worst in the league, this hasn't been a bad start at all!
It's probably worth mentioning at this early stage of our journey where Norwegian football currently sits in Europe. The national team's world ranking is currently 42nd and there is no denying that we have one of the world's best strikers gracing our national team at the moment.
The top tier of Norwegian football currently sits 23rd in the European competitions rankings, with leagues in Czech Republic, Austria and even Cyprus considered more reputable.
It means that from the top tier of Norwiegen football, only the champions get to the Champions League and even that is only to the qualifiers. 2nd and 3rd go into qualifiers for the Europa Conference League, with nobody from the division getting into the Europa League! The winners of the NM SAS Braathens Cup do also get into the qualifying rounds for the Europa Conference League too.
Anyway, back to our own action for now as we need a promotion to the top tier before we can even start thinking about all of the above. And I'm not too sure if it's too early to start thinking about potential promotion as we won our next two games, scoring 6 goals in the process, which moves us to the top of the league.
Which set us up nicely for a meeting with one of our biggest rivals, HamKam. We all know these games are the ones that mean the most to the fans and a win would help get them on my side in these early stages of my career.
So that should keep the Raufoss faithful happy! A very competitive game between two sides who really wanted it, but it was us who come out on top on our rivals turf as well, to take all the bragging rights.
Our next match would pit us against a team I have a little history with. I managed IK Start for a while on FM21 and became quite fond of them and loved the save (it was one of the reasons I returned to Norway for this story/save). With their relegation last year, they are one of the favourites to go straight back up again this season and sat 3rd just behind us at kick off. You wouldn't have thought it based on their first half performance though as we were all over them for the first 45 minutes, but just couldn't find the back of the net. In the second half, they were a lot better after clearly getting a b0110cking at half time. The longer the second period went on, the feeling that a single goal would seal the points grew, and it was us who finally broke the deadlock on 78 minutes when Markus Aanesland was put through on goal expertly by Teodor Haltvik and he slotted past the onrushing goalkeeper. That was enough to secure a big away win and widen the gap between us and one of the title favourites.
We followed that up with another solid win with another clean sheet, against relegation battlers, Bryne. The result was never really in doubt here as our opponents didn't really offer anything and we probably should have won by more.
And that makes it five straight wins in the league. We were meant to be battling relegation this season...
But instead, we find ourselves top of the division and 6 points clear after 10 games!!
We kick off this update with another Manager of the Month award for me! That's two out of two!
Which only boosts the board's confidence in me even further. It's fair to say I've made a pretty awesome start to my Raufoss career...if I do say so myself!
Last time I took the manager of the month award, we lost our first immediate game after. I was keen not to repeat that again as we took on Grorud IL who found themselves in the same boat as us this season...they were predicted to finish 15th but are hugely overachieving and currently sit 7th in the table.
Now we didn't lose this time, but you could say the curse of the award struck again as it is only the 2nd time this season we have failed to win and it is the 1st time we haven't scored in a game.
We immediately bounced back though with a win over Strommen who are in the bottom half still struggling on single figure points.
Fair to say we deserved the result with how much we dominated them!
Despite being just as dominant in our next game against Fredrikstad, we could only manage a draw, which was only just saved with a very late goal from Andreas Helmerson!
But if you're looking for the perfect fixture to bounce back from a disappointing result, then a cup game against lower league opposition is the perfect platform to do so! However, things didn't exactly go to plan and we crash out after failing to score despite having 32 shots at their goal!!
With the transfer window opening, it was time for a new signing to rejuvenate the side. Ahmed El-Amrani comes in and offers us more options down the right side, with the ability to play as an attacking full back or as a winger. He has a bit of pace about him, can cross a ball and will bring some aggression to the side as someone who will stick the boot in where needed. We paid £4k for him to sign from Honefoss in the lower divisions.
I demanded a better showing as we got back into league action, and the boys gave it to me with a hard working performance to get the victory over Sogndal, despite having to play the last half hour with 10 men! Great character shown here and a bigger win than it initially looks on paper!
It was especially important to go into our next game on the back of a victory as we had a top of the table clash against Ranheim who have only been beaten once so far this season!
And the game proved to be one of our most competitive all season and it could have swung either way. As it stood, the match finished in a draw, which we have to be happy with considering again we had to play a fair period of the game with 10 men!
It means that we are top of the league at the half way stage, but that 6 point lead we had a few games ago has now been cut to just 2. At this stage it looks like the title challenge will be between just 3 teams, although there is a long way still to go.
It has been quite an incredible season so far. I still can't believe how well we are doing considering we were predicted to finish bottom, but the lads keep showing up and putting in great performances week after week! I have to admit I'll be disappointed if we are not playing top tier football next season
Thomas Elsebutangen joins the club on a free transfer. The striker has played 15 times this season for overachieving Grorud in our division and he has scored 4 times. It's not the greatest record but he will mainly act as a backup for us and I feel he has enough ability to make an impact from the bench.
Plus, we needed to bring in a new striker after I decided to offload Mame Mor N'Diaye for a fee of £7.25k. He was one of our players not of Norwiegan decendency, so was never going to be here long term.
Our new front man introduced himself in perfect fashion as he came off the bench to bag the goal to put us 2-1 up against Jerv which was the catalyst for us to go on and take all three points against the playoff contenders.
He continued his great start by appearing from the bench to score twice in our next game as well. Fair to say that Elsebutangen is currently looking like a fantastic signing for us!
Off the pitch, the board agreed to invest a bit of money into the youth recruitment as well. This is something we really need to focus on for the future development of the football club and in turn Norwegian football as we look to bring youngsters through the club who will one day go on to represent the national team. It seems like a way off right now, but that is the ultimate goal here.
And then came our best performance of the season by far. Away from home against 2nd in the league, and in all honesty the result never looks in doubt. We were as comfortable as you like here and showed real class to extend our lead at the top and now, for the first real time this season, I believe we could win this title!
Asane were the first and still remain the only team to have beaten us in the league this season! So we had revenge on our minds going into this one and the game plan was executed to perfection as we ran out comfortable winners.
Sander Werni was the star man for us in that game as he bagged a brace. He is a player that I didn't expect to be a regular starter for me when I took over at the club, but his form this season has meant that I can't leave him out! He's featured in 17 of our 19 league games and leads the club's goalscoring and assists charts this season! What a revelation he has been!
We were disappointing against mid table Stjordals and only took a point from a game that we probably didn't deserve anything from. A fine save from our keeper in the 89th minute saved our blushes and ensured we at least took something away.
Our first major injury of the season struck at that point as we lost one of our best players for the next 6 weeks! Markus Johnsgard has been a wizard for us in central midfield and with 7 goals and 6 assists to his name, he will be sorely missed over the coming games.
Our next two games also finished in draws and our form is taking a dip! But what is more worrying is the manner in which we drew both these games...twice we threw away 2 goal leads against teams in the bottom half of the table!
So with 8 games of the season remaining, our lead at the top is down to a single point, although we do have a game in hand to give ourselves the upper hand again. It definitely looks like a two horse race from here on out and both ourselves and Aalesund will surely be bitterly disappointed if we don't both go up (top 2 get automatic promotion).
Our Under 19s have had an amazing season, winning their regional division and gaining promotion to the National U19 Championships.
The star man for our U19s has been 17 year old striker, Sander Svingen, who has scored an incredible 56 goals in 33 appearances this year!! I probably need to be trying this kid in the first team at some point in the near future as he could have a huge future for us!!
And our 2nd team won their division as well!
And we apparently have plenty to look forward to in the youth department with a potential golden generation coming through.
Our recent dip in form continued as a very disappointing performance resulted in our 2nd league defeat of the season, at the hands of Bryne. We were awful and the relegation battlers were good value for their win - we can have no complaints!
Thrashing my arms around in the dressing room, before we'd even kicked off, I demanded an improved showing from the lads against Grorud! And they duly delivered with our best performance for a while now as we ran out comfortable winners! Hopefully we can build on this for a final push in the last few games of the season.
Wins against HamKam and Start quickly followed and all of a sudden, we were right back on track!
Although Aalesund were matching us and are pushing us all the way to the very end for this league title! Both of us are on the brink of promotion and if Ranheim lose their next game and we both win, we're up!
Ranheim could only manage a draw, which meant that a win against bottom side Strommen will secure guaranteed promotion for us!
Job done! We have pulled off the impossible (based on pre season predictions) and won promotion to the top tier!
And with promotion, comes professional status!
And bigger budgets! The wage budget has nearly trebled for next season and I'll have a cool half a mil to spend!
Now to try to win that league title...and it's fair to say it's ours to lose now!
Our next game had the potential to be a banana skin as we took on playoff chasing Fredrikstad, but as it was we registered a nice little win on the road.
Whilst Aalesund could only manage a single point away at Grorud!
Which means the title is within touching distance...just poking out our tongues, we can taste that silverware!!
And we wrapped it up in our very next game with an easy win over 3rd placed Ranheim, who simply couldn't deal with us! To win the title away at one of the best teams in the league is a great way to do it and it caps off a wonderful season for us.
And on the same day, our U19s completed a double as well!
Our last game was just a formality as we finish the season with a draw. It's always hard to keep motivated when a title is already won, so I'm pleased we didn't lose complete focus and suffer a final day defeat.
So there it is...champions by 6 points in the most incredible first season in charge. Despite being predicted to finish bottom, we actually come out top of the pile!
The whole squad put a shift in this season and the average ratings all round are pretty **** good! Enoch Banza is the only remaining non Norwegian player in the squad and he'll likely be moved on during the next transfer window as he barely played for us this year anyway.
Our best 11 and it's easier to see here that our goals and assists were very much spread amongst all of our attacking players. Basically, we were dangerous from multiple areas of the pitch and this is something I hope to continue year upon year!
Markus Karlsbakk cleaned up on awards night, taking both the fan's player and young player of the season! Incredible really, that our title rivals Aalesund allowed him on loan here all season! Although when they agreed to the deal, they initially thought he would pose no threat at a relegation battling side! Naturally, I'll be looking to make his deal permanent before next season begins!
Although at the moment, he has other ideas!
I really won't be letting up on this deal just yet though as Karlsbakk was handed the league's player and young player of the year awards too! I have to sign this kid!!
The star man for me this season though and someone I'm sure we will have no problem holding onto, was Sander Werni, who managed to reach double figures in both goals and assists this season.
On a personal note, after only a single season in charge, I have become one of the club's favoured personnel. Obviously, as part of the long term goal in this save, I will be looking to one day become a club legend!
Roll on next season! I really can't wait, after what has been one of the greatest season's I've ever had on FM!
What an absolutely fantastic season you've had across the board!
Under 19s, Reserves & First Team all winning their divisions! Now that's how you build continued success! Looks to be a strong future ahead as you now embark on the professional journey!
What an absolutely fantastic season you've had across the board!
Under 19s, Reserves & First Team all winning their divisions! Now that's how you build continued success! Looks to be a strong future ahead as you now embark on the professional journey!
Think it's the first time I've ever had a team win all their respective leagues. With a potential golden generation youth intake coming through, the future looks bright for sure! As long as I can consolodate our place in the top tier this coming season, we will have something to build on for the years to come. I genuinely think we have a solid base of players to work from in the higher division as well and don't need to be bringing in 15 new players to compete. Probably 5-6 good additions will be enough and I'm very keen to sign Karlsbakk on a permanent deal as long as I can get him to agree personal terms...he will be key for us for years to come!
Herman Haugen was an integral part of our title winning team last season so I was keen to renew his loan deal from Viking and I'm pleased they agreed to honour another year for him to stay with us.
The acolades are still coming in from last season as I am awarded the Manager of the Year.
January 1st...opening day of the transfer window...and we confirmed the best news for our fans. I have managed to convince Markus Karlsbakk to move to the club on a permanent deal. The midfielder won every award possible last season and was absolutely unbelievable for us! This was the one deal I wanted to make sure I got done and I'm delighted to get it over the line.
He was voted as the signing of the season last year in the entire league, and I wonder if he could potentially win that award two seasons in a row now we have effectively signed him again.
In the same day, we also had our first departure from the club as Shola Akinyemi leaves for Israel. He played 23 times for me last season and was an integral part of the team...I didn't exactly want to lose him, but couldn't convince him to stay. On the flip side, we can sign better.
And I believe the centre back I brought in, is better. Jonas Gronner joins on a free from fellow promoted side, Aalesund, where he played in every single league game this season, maintaining a decent average rating. A good addition to the back line.
Our next signing can also play centre back, but I've brought him in primarily to play my DM half back role. With a fantastic work rate, great determination and good tackling ability, he is perfect for that position and will strengthen us defensively without a doubt! Christian Landu-Landu joins on a free from Sandnes Ulf.
Next up is a new left back in the form of Simen Kind Mikalsen who joins on a free transfer after being released by Lillestrom. He brings some welcome top tier experience, having featured well over 100 times in the Eliteserien for them.
I'm very happy with my first choice goalkeeper, but felt like we didn't have someone to push him for his position and keep him on his toes last year. That will be the job of new backup keeper, Amund Wichne who comes in on a free transfer from Start.
My biggest signing of the window is midfielder, Eirik Schulze, who comes in from Start for a fee of £60,000. Schulze can cover several attacking positions on the pitch and is a talented player for us to have in our squad. He is a bit older so offers some valuable experience too and has played a few seasons in the Eliteserien too!
The youth intake lived up to expectations as a potential golden generation is coming through!
Vidar Lie-Nilsen looks like the most promising.
Talking of promising, my biggest transfer of the window so far (in terms of fee) is the signing of 18 year old striker, Albert Braut Tjaland, who comes in from Molde for £90,000. It's unlikely he will make a single appearance for the first team this season, as I have added him to the development list immediately and intend to get him out on loan. I'm keen on this kid though and with a 4 star potential rating, he could lead the line for us in future years.
Our pre season schedule was an unbeaten one, capped off by a decent win over Belgian side, Standard Liege.
With our first season in the Eliteserien about to kick off, it's no surprise to see us as the rank outsiders and expected to finish rock bottom of the league. Hmmm, we've been here before! Rosenborg, who finished 3rd last season, are the favourites for the title, which was lifted by Brann last year.
The board are in line with the bookies and only expect us to fight bravely against relegation this season.
Our first test in the division will be against an Odds team that finished just outside the top 6 last season. As we look at last season's final table, it's interesting to see that a team that lost 7 games lifted the trophy and only 5 points seperated the top 5. Either this is an ultra competitive or extremely weak league - my guess is it's probably ultra competitive between relatively weak sides.
And we started the season in perfect fashion!
We made it back to back 1-0 wins as we went away to Valerenga in our 2nd game. To open the season with maximum points in our first couple of games, without conceding a goal, gives me hope that we can and will compete at this level this season.
And a 3rd straight 1-0 win followed. It was a very tightly contested game with Viking and both teams had missed some good chances in the match, before Helmersen came off the bench to score a superb headed effort to ****** victory for us. What a start to the league campaign we have had!!
So we turned our attention to the cup competition. Last season we went out to lower league opposition in the first round and I was keen not to repeat that! We didn't! In fact it was an absolute rout as we thrashed Syril with our opponents only managing a single shot on our goal!
Back in the league, another win and another clean sheet as we kept up our incredible start to the campaign.
Our first injury blow of the season comes as we lose Eirik Schulze for the next 6 weeks after he twisted his ankle in training. He will be a big miss as he's been ever present so far this season and already chipped in with a goal and an assist!
The timing of the injury couldn't be any worse as we were about to take on the only other side in the division with a 100% record.
So someone's 100% record had to go...and in actual fact, it was both of ours!
Still, 13 points from our opening 5 games isn't to be sniffed at! The biggest shock so far this season is the awful start made by Molde who have only mustered up a single point so far and have the worst defence in the league.
Yea I was gutted about the injury as I thought he'd be our best player this season and certainly has the most experience up at this level, so he'll be a big miss whilst he is out.
We kick off this update with another comfortable cup win over lower league opposition. Making it to the 3rd round means we have met the board's expectation in the competition this season. Happy days!
We followed that up with another win in the league, by our favourite scoreline. We've now won four league games this season by a 1-0 scoreline. Not the most exciting, but we are solid!
It was very quickly back to cup action and some rotation was required as we'd played 3 games in 7 days. However, it didn't effect us as again, we sail through comfortably, although I wouldn't have expected any less as again we were handed a kind draw against lower league opposition.
The next round will offer us a proper test though as we've drawn fellow Eliteserien opposition.
Talking of proper tests, our next 3 league games are against 3 of the best in the division and will show us how we match up against the top sides!
Although we fell to two defeats against Rosenborg and Molde, we held our own and were never dominated at any stage of either game. In fact, we were only minutes away from victory against the most successful team in the country's history, only for a lapse in concentration late on to allow them to ****** the 3 points from us.
We were better away at Lillestrom and took a good point from the game. Our next game will see us repeat this fixture, but in the cup, with neither side going into it with a psychological advantage.
And in the cup game, we played out another 1-1 draw in 90 minutes. However, extra time saw me introduce Eirik Schulze on his return from an injury layoff and he changed the game for us assisting our 2nd and scoring our 3rd to see us into the next round! Welcome back Eirik!
And to celebrate our cup win, there was a new 2 year deal on the table for me, which I obviously accepted. It increases my wages by £400 per week as well.
Back in the Eliteserien, we took 3 points against mid table, Stromsgodset, to win our first league game in 4.
We only had a 3 day gap before our next game against Stabaek. They are struggling and find themselves battling relegation, but despite that, they gave us a real game here and actually dominated us for large periods. However, a couple of counter attacks produced a couple of goals for us and that was enough to steal the victory.
And an important win it was, as it saw us move back into the top 3 and within touching distance of leaders, Valerenga. There's some massive teams right on our tails though with the likes of Rosenborg and a resurgent Molde bidding to get themselves into the title race as we approach the half way stage of the season.
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