Dan's east european adventure

[Jack Fulham]

You can sort out Moscow, great budget but don't you need a certain amount of Russians in league games, so don't go too mad when buying the Brazilians

 

[James_Art46]

wow ... nice story 'bout you leaving Cluj matey ...
hope you get success too in Russia ...

 

[Tomrok]

The East European adventure hits Part 2! Hope FC Moscow treat you well Dan. Quick question though, isn't the competition called the Europa League? Or are you playing a different version?

 

[rewhi9p]

whoa, this is a gripping story! I want to read more! Sad about U.Cluj but u were right to leave considering the situation the club was in! I'll be following this story until u give up and start fresh! COME ON FC MOSCOW!!!

 

[Pompey_Dan]

You can sort out Moscow, great budget but don't you need a certain amount of Russians in league games, so don't go too mad when buying the Brazilians

You're right Jack, for league games a club can only play with six foreigner's in the first team... that's quite a lot but FC Moscow already have loads of foreigners without me adding any brazilians! I can see a bit of a clear out coming up, I need to start scouting for the best young russians.

wow ... nice story 'bout you leaving Cluj matey ...
hope you get success too in Russia ...

Thanks James, fingers crossed eh? I'll be posting more story later today, hope you enjoy!

The East European adventure hits Part 2! Hope FC Moscow treat you well Dan. Quick question though, isn't the competition called the Europa League? Or are you playing a different version?

Well done Tomorok, you spotted the deliberate mistake!
Of course, I got it wrong really and I will make sure I refer to the proper name as the story further unfolds. (Due to legal rights, FM2010 actually refers to the competition as the Euro Cup!) Thanks for your support mate.

whoa, this is a gripping story! I want to read more! Sad about U.Cluj but u were right to leave considering the situation the club was in! I'll be following this story until u give up and start fresh! COME ON FC MOSCOW!!!

Glad you're enjoying it buddy, you'll be pleased to hear they'll be a further update later today. Thanks for reading.

 

[loyal royal1]

lol i think theres something wrong with him lol

 

[rewhi9p]

when are we getting updated? i need more!!!!

 

[Nick.]

i think pompey_dan is on holiday lol, sorry westie (rewhi9p)

 

[Pompey_Dan]

Sorry guys been a busy few days for me... but be posting real soon!

 

[Pompey_Dan]

Dan Lake’s first task as manager of FC Moscow was to sort out the backroom staff, and assistant manager Vojislav Calov was soon replaced by Dmitry Los’kov. Two more coaches found themselves out in the cold as Lake brought in three more of his own team at the Eduard Streltsov Stadium.

Next on the agenda were the playing staff and Dan Lake wasted no time in making bids for playmaker Victor Faizulin of FC Timisoara (€5.25million) and striker Dmitry Sychev of Krylja Sovetov (€4million).
Although each transfer bid was duly accepted the competition for both Faizulin and Sychev’s signatures was fierce. Victor Faizulin turned down FC Moscow in favour of a move to French team Olympic Lyonnais. Meanwhile, Lake fared no better in his attempts to sign Dmitry Sychev, with the player accepting a contract to play for Espanyol of Spain.

Dan Lake was beginning to understand the enormity of the task he had taken on, sitting just outside the relegation zone the FC Moscow squad is overloaded with foreign players. Furthermore, morale amongst the playing staff is extremely low and a turnaround in futures is required, and fast!
The first oppourtunity for FC Moscow’s new management team to show what they can do came against Tobyl Kostanay of Kazakhstan in the Europa League 1st qualifying round.

won 2-0 v Tobyl
There was little to concern FC Moscow’s new manager as they enjoyed near total domination over a distinctly average Tobyl Kostanay side. Experienced midfielder Branislav Krunic gave Moscow the lead with a placed shot in the 13th minute, and livewire winger Ilja Kukharchuk capped an energetic display by scoring from close range on 30 minutes.

lost 0-3 v Spartak Moscow
Next up were local rivals Spartak Moscow, and this was to be a far sterner test of FC Moscow’s credentials. Underdogs FC Moscow never threatened to cause an upset as they succumbed to a 3 - 0 defeat to Spartak. Italian forward Davide Di Gennaro got Spartak off to a flyer by scoring after just 2 minutes. Captain Martin Jiranek then made it 2-0 to the home side with a screamer from the edge of the area on 53 minutes. Spartak put the game beyond doubt in the 72nd minute when winger Ruslan Rotan scored with a sublime curling shot from 20 yards out.

won 2-1 v Tobyl
FC Moscow had 65% of possession and managed 21 shots in today’s Europa League 1st qualifying round. Goals from Moscow’s Branislav Krunic and Nemanja Nikolic came either side of an effort from Tobyl’s Alexandr Akhmetjanov. FC Moscow will face FC Gomel of Belarus in the next round of games.

won 5-0 v Tom
A virtuoso performance today from FC Moscow captain Vartan Masalov as his team won by 5 goals to nil. Of the five goals FC Moscow scored against Tom Tomsk, Masalov had a hand in all five of them as he scored two and claimed 3 assists!
In the first half Masalov crossed for Ilja Kukharchuk to claim a fine goal, and then Masalov stepped up to cooly dispatch a penalty in the 41st minute. Tom's Roman Hubnik gave away the penalty and received the red card for his troubles (professional foul).
Just two minutes after the restart Nemanja Nikolic scored with a fine header from point-blank range, before Kukharchuk added his second of the match as he got on the end of another fine cross from Masalov. And finally, on 83 minutes, there was that man again, Vartan Mazalov popped up to score with a well placed shot from close range.

Next up, FC Moscow are in Europa League qualifying action and face early pace setters Zenit St Petersburg in the league.

 

[Pompey_Dan]

won 1-0 v Gomel
By no means a classic, but FC Moscow did enought to win 1 - 0 against FC Gomel of Belarus during their EURO Cup Second Qualifying Round game at Eduard Streltsov. On the stroke of half-time FC Moscow took the lead when Nemanja Nikolic played Vartan Mazalov in on goal and his powerful shot beat the keeper. Moscow had a number of attempts at goal but their profligacy meant they didn't score as many as they maybe would have liked.

lost 0-1 v Zenit St Petersburg
Many predicted an easy win for Zenit today but FC Moscow stood firm and came close to snatching a memorable draw. Zenit found their opponents difficult to break down, and indeed their winner did not come until the 87th minute. Even then Vartan Masalov had a great chance to level the score in injury time, but Zenit ‘keeper Dmitry Borodin clawed the ball around the post.

won 2-1 v Gomel
Striker Alexandr Klimenko worried the Moscow fans and gave Gomel an early lead with a close range finish in the 16th minute. Forward Ilja Kukharchuk then equalised for Moscow in the 35th minute and the game remained locked at 1-1 until centre-back Tomasz Jodlowiec sealed a win for FC Moscow with a thumping header in added on time.

FC Moscow were happy to avoid some big names in the next qualifying round. Instead of drawing one of the more dangerous teams such as Dinamo Bucharest, Sparta Prague or Villareal, FC Moscow will play little fancied Austrian side SK Austria Kärnten in the Europa League 3rd qualifying round.

FC Moscow celebrate their win in Belarus

 

[Jack Fulham]

Showing some goods form Dan, hopefully you will be able to compete with the bigger teams in the League once you sort your squad out, good luck in the Europa League.

 

[James_Art46]

not bad mate ... keep up the good work ... (H)

 

[Pompey_Dan]

Don't think that this will be a classic season, it's like Jack says... I really need to sort the squad out, I have too many foreigners and am being forced to play 4-5-1 by virtue of not having the right blend of players in key positions. It's also becoming increasingly obvious that I am going to struggle to attract important players here and so I need to revisit my transfer strategy. The board have agreed to improve facilities but I can't realistically expect to see any youngsters come through for a few seasons yet, my scouts are going to have to work overtime to unearth some gems! Targets for this season must be to stay up first and foremost, whilst reaching the group stages of the Europa League should bring in a bit of revenue.

Posts will be a bit slower over the xmas period, but I'll try and keep the interest going as often as I can!

 

[s7eve]

Fantastic read, has kept me occupied start to finish for the last 4 hours of work, and at times i've actually forgotten i was here joining the army of fans of U. Cluj at the Cup Final and biting my finger nails to death the season before on the last day of the season, very disappointed to see you go, but one more season could have been tragic given the circumstances and sure given time we'll have an amazing FC Moscow team to watch over.

 

[Div_Muzza]

Get to know your squad and I'm sure you will be able to sort out whats needed.

 

[Tomrok]

Fantastic read, has kept me occupied start to finish for the last 4 hours of work, and at times i've actually forgotten i was here joining the army of fans of U. Cluj at the Cup Final and biting my finger nails to death the season before on the last day of the season, very disappointed to see you go, but one more season could have been tragic given the circumstances and sure given time we'll have an amazing FC Moscow team to watch over.

Lol careful s7eve, don't want to get caught out reading forums at work ;-)

Hope you survive relegation Dan. If you don't then you'll have to travel all over Russia for away games, and that just isn't nice.

 

[Nick.]

well done, the results are looking very good

 

[Pompey_Dan]

Thanks again for the kind words of support, hope everyone had a good xmas and I'll be posting more news shortly!

 

[Pompey_Dan]

In an interview with Russian newspaper Sovetsky Sport, FC Moscow manager Dan Lake told fans that they hadn’t yet seen the team playing football as he wanted them to. When asked if he had a football philosophy Lake replied “yes, it’s true that I have a vision of how I want my teams to play. But here I haven’t been able to line up the team as I would like as we are missing the right players in key areas. This is something we aim to address as soon as the transfer window opens.”
So far Lake has been in charge of FC Moscow for seven matches, five of which his team have won.

won 2-0 v Terek Grozny
A highly polished performance from FC Moscow saw them run out comfortable 2 - 0 winners over Terek Grozny at the Eduard Streltsov Stadium. On 49 minutes Terek’s keeper Andrey Dikan’ made a fine save from Alexandr Belozerov’s diving header but couldn’t stop Vartan Mazalov from tapping home the rebound. Then on 77 minutes Branislav Krunic sent in a deep cross and Martin Jakubko met the ball with a towering header to make it 2-0.

won 5-0 v Austria Kärnten (Europa League 3rd Qualifying Round, 1st Leg)
FC Moscow turned their superior possession into goals with a majestic 5 - 0 win over SK Austria Kärnten. The highlight of the game was undoubtedly a superb hat-trick from Moscow's Vartan Mazalov.

lost 0-2 v Krylja Sovetov
FC Moscow struggled to get going in this match and Krylja striker Alexandr Kokorin gave his team a deserved lead with a powerful effort in the 37th minute. There wasn’t much for FC Moscow’s fans to shout about, but they made their feelings known when the referee dismissed calls for a penalty after Dmitry Yatchenko brought down Martin Jakubko on the edge of the area. Krylja forward Michael Eneramo sealed the win in the 80th minute with a well placed shot following a nice one-two with Kokorin.

August 1st 2011 and the Russian transfer window opens!
As the mid-season transfer window opened the FC Moscow fan’s anticipated changes. Manager Dan Lake wasted no time in shipping out five players for a combined fee of €6.9million, before bringing in a total of seven new faces.
Lake oversaw the transfers of four midfielders Roman Shirakov (€1.9m), Pavel Komolov (€575k), Dasin Tadic (€5.75m), and MIhai Roman (€6.5m). He also brought in a central defender, Dmitry Belorukov (€6.5m), and two strikers Hector Bracamonte (€3.1m) and Jan Blazek (€2.7m).
It has been widely reported that, even when the money recovered from players sold is taken into account, Lake has spent over €20m in this transfer window. The board will surely expect a return for such investment.

won 3-0 v Khimki (6th round of the Russian Cup)
Before the match, many pundits believed that recently relegated Khimki could spring the surprise of the round in their game against struggling FC Moscow. They were wrong, however, as it was the Premier League side that enjoyed near total domination. After 16 minutes, the FC Moscow captain Vartan Mazalov was left unmarked to volley home Ilaj Kukharchuk’s cross. Then Mazalov made it 9 goals in 8 games as he latched onto Pavel Komolov’s pinpoint pass and drilled the ball past the ‘keeper in the 51st minute. The third, and final, goal of the game was scored when young Khimki centre-back Arseny Logashov put the ball into his own net on 77 minutes.

lost 0-2 v Austria Kärnten (Europa League 3rd Qualifying Round, 2nd Leg)
A 5-0 aggregate lead seemed to make the FC Moscow players complacent in the second leg of this tie, and Austria Kärnten deserved their win. Goals from Sebastian Lackner and Petr Hlinka were not enough to prevent the Russian Premier League side from progressing to the next round, however.

won 2-1 v Locomotiv Moscow
FC Moscow were victorious as Lake’s charges gave a masterclass in counter attacking football. In the 8th minute Vartan Masalov gave FC Moscow the lead after losing his marker in the box to finish Ilaj Kukharchuk’s good through ball.
Locomotiv then turned the screw and applied the pressure as they went looking for an equaliser, but could not find a way through Moscow’s rearguard until the 65th minute. Moscow ‘keeper Yury Zhenov spilt Diego Tardelli’s shot into the path of Oganes Goaryan, who kept his cool to apply the finish. Locomotiv enjoyed this parity for only 3 minutes as Gia Grigalava won the ball in midfield and played in Masalov. Masalov wrong footed the Locomotiv keeper to drive home what would prove to be the winning goal.

New signing Bracamonte in action against Locomotiv


lost 2-0 v Dinamo Moscow
After beating local rivals Locomotiv 2-1 last week, FC Moscow were scheduled to play in another derby today, against title chasing Dinamo Moscow. Dinamo proved to hot too handle for FC Moscow as they enjoyed near total domination over their neighbours. Dinamo scored two goals for no return courtesy of a brace from Brazilian Cleo.

won 2-0 v Espanyol (Europa League 4th Qualifying Round, 1st Leg)
Fans of FC Moscow are pinching themselves after their unfancied side came away from Spain with a famous victory. This was not a game for the purists, however, try as they might R.C.D. Espanyol de Barcelona could not break down their opponents yet they proved to be vunerable to the counter attack.
Experienced striker Martin Jakubko was recalled to the Moscow side for this match and, in the 33rd minute, it was his powerful header from Gia Grigalava’s deep cross that gave them the Russian team the lead. Moscow’s talismanic captain, Vartan Mazalov, then made it 2-0 on 46 minutes after Mateusz Cetnarski played him through with a defence splitting pass. The game ended 2-0 although, in the 48th minute, Espanyol did have a strike questionably chalked off as Ivan Alonso was judged to have pushed Alexandr Belozerov in the build up to the goal.