Ernie Allan Takes On 'The Dutch Challenge'

[FM_TNSSO]

Ernie Allan Takes On 'The Dutch Challenge'

I've created a brand new challenge and will be tackling it with my alter ego manager Ernie Allan! I'm calling it 'The Dutch Challenge'.

There's no doubt that Holland has been a breeding place for young football talent for a number of years now, with some big clubs who have had their success in Europe's top competitions as well.

However, things seem to have gone off the boil recently, with no Dutch club winning a European Trophy since Feyenoord lifting the UEFA Cup in 2002, beating Borussia Dortmund in the final. And when it comes to the national side, the less said the better! Failing to qualify for the 2018 World Cup was seen as simply unacceptable for the Dutch football fans!

So what is the challenge here....well it's not an overnighter and it will take a committed manager who is in it for the long haul!

The only initial rule to who you can take over is that it has to be a club that is predicted by the media to finish in the bottom half of the table this season. That gives you the choice of VVV, NAC, Excelsior, Sparta, Roda JC, Willem II, Heracles, FC Groningen or ADO Den Haag.


So what's the challenge, well there's a few....

1. Eredivisie has been dominated by Ajax, PSV and Feyenoord for over 50 years, so the first part of this challenge is to overhaul them and win Holland's top division.
2. The Dutch Cup is a little more shared between different teams but the big boys Ajax, PSV and Feyenoord appear on the honours list more times than any others again. So the 2nd part of the challenge is to win the Dutch Cup.
3. Exert your dominance as the 'new' top team in Holland by winning the Eredivisie 3 seasons in a row.
4. Win Eredivisie more times than any other Dutch team - at the start of the game Ajax are the record holders with 33 titles (told you that you'd need to be in it for the long haul).
5. Win the Dutch Cup more times than any other Dutch team - again it's Ajax that have the record at the start of the save with 18 cups to their name.
6. Become the highest valued club in Holland - Ajax begin the game with the highest value (£136 million).
7. Have the largest stadium in Holland - surprise, surprise, it's Ajax again with a capacity of 54,033 at the start
8. Kings of Europe - Win the Champions League
9. Take over Europe - Win the Champions League more times than any other team (Real Madrid lead the way with 7 at the start of the save)

The National Side:

1. At some point during the save, get the Holland national job!
2. Win the European Championships with Holland
3. Win the World Cup with Holland


I, playing as Ernie Allan, will attempt to achieve as much of the above as possible! Wish me luck!

​

 

[Linecoigne1998]

That's a lot of different challenges that would take a LONG time to complete but will be following! Good luck interesting to see who you pick to start the game off with as well!

 

[FM_TNSSO]

That's a lot of different challenges that would take a LONG time to complete but will be following! Good luck interesting to see who you pick to start the game off with as well!

I love a long term save, so thought this would keep me going for a while lol! If I'd have made it to just win the league and cup, then potentially could of been over in 3-5 seasons. Thanks for following....much appreciated!

 

[FM_TNSSO]

Willem II

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WILLEM II

So from the list mentioned above in the opening post, it was Willem II that I decided to go with! A club that hasn't won a major trophy in Holland for more than 50 years, when they lifted the Dutch Cup in 1963! Yes, the club have picked up a couple of Jupiler League titles since then, but as we all know, winning that only gives you the platform to go on and play the Dutch elite in the Eredivisie.

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As we look back over the club's league history, it's obvious that this is a club that fights against relegation every season, and if they can achieve a respectable mid table finish then it's seen as an achievement. The highest the club have finished in Eredivisie in over 20 years is 7th back in 2003/04!

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As I take over, the club are worth less than £10 million, have good training and youth facilities, with a national reputation.

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We play our home games at the 14,500 capacity Koning Willem II Stadion.

And here's the main reason I chose Willem II as my club. I just love that home kit!

So as I start my new role here, this is where we stand on the challenge:

Win Eredivisie	Not yet complete
Win the Dutch Cup	Not yet complete
Win Eredivisie 3 Seasons In A Row	Not yet complete
Win Eredivisie More Times Than Any Other Team	Not yet complete - Currently 3 (1916, 1952, 1955)
Win The Dutch Cup More Times Than Any Other Team	Not yet complete - Currently 2 (1944, 1963)
Become The Highest Valued Club In Holland	Not yet complete - Currently £9.88 million
Have The Largest Stadium In Holland	Not yet complete - Currently 14,500
Win The Champions League	Not yet complete
Win The Champions League More Times Than Any Other Team	Not yet complete - Currently 0
Get The Holland National Job	Not yet complete
Win The European Championship With Holland	Not yet complete
Win The World Cup With Holland	Not yet complete

​

 

[FM_TNSSO]

The Squad

The Squad

Before we take a look at the squad, let’s have a look at Ernie Allan first of all. This is his first job in management and I have given him the coaching badges (Continental A Licence) and playing experience recommended for this club.

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The Willem II squad is a decent size on first glance, with cover in almost every position. We have good height in the team, with most of the players over 5ft 10” tall, and there is plenty of Dutch players in the squad. I also have a relatively young team with hardly any players over 30.

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According to my assistant manager’s team report, I also have ‘great’ players in most positions on the pitch. I seem to be extremely strong through the middle of the park with plenty of good players at CB, DM and MC positions.

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My best three players would appear to be central midfielders Eyong Enoh and Thom Haye, and 21 year old German goalkeeper Timon Wellenreuther!

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As far as the staff go, I don’t want to rock the boat too much, and it looks like the club have a decent standard of coaching staff already compared to other clubs in the league. However, mutual contract terminations have been offered to the Director of Football, Head Physio and both physios and I will look to replace them roles.

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With regards to improvements to the team, I'll be on a tight budget with the board making only £66k available for transfers and the club already £1,000 per week over our wage budget too!

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​

 

[dporter8999]

Really looking forward to this after the heartache of your other save crashing! Wellenreuther in goal can't be bad, and I'm with youon the kit, that is a cracker!

 

[Raaritsgozilla]

Good luck! I followed the other save and hope for success in this one too!

 

[Brane_Orsou]

Right I'm here, what have I missed so far? Looking forward to this already, that kit is well wicked!

 

[FM_TNSSO]

Good luck! I followed the other save and hope for success in this one too!

Cheers mate! Thanks for switching over and following this story as well. Hope you enjoy!

Really looking forward to this after the heartache of your other save crashing! Wellenreuther in goal can't be bad, and I'm with youon the kit, that is a cracker!

The kit is nice!! If I can keep Wellenreuther here, he could be between the sticks for the next 10 years! He's **** hot!!

Right I'm here, what have I missed so far? Looking forward to this already, that kit is well wicked!

The kit sealed the deal for me! Cheers for switching over and following

 

[rock45]

Really looking forward to this after the heartache of your other save crashing! Bellwether in goal can't be bad, and I'm with you on the kit, that is a cracker!​

 

[FM_TNSSO]

July 2017

"The club is named after Dutch King William II of the Netherlands. He was commander of the
Dutch Army and had his military headquarters in Tilburg where the club is based"


July 2017


My first piece of news to offer up as Willem II manager is not good news! We have a 19 year old Belgian on loan from Wolfsburg here called Ismail Azzaoui and he’s pretty **** hot to be fair! But he’s picked up an injury in pre season that is going to keep him out for 4-5 weeks.

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As we work our way through the pre season campaign, the injuries are starting to mount up and I’m wondering how many players I’ll actually have available come the opening day of the season! The latest players added to the injury list are striker Etien Velikonja and centre back Jop van der Linden. Both will be out for up to 5 weeks!!

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It was time to set the squad win bonuses before the season kicks off next month. I’ve kept the league one at the ‘normal’ level but reduced the domestic cup bonus to ‘low’. This freed up a bit of money on the transfer budget, which I was then able to adjust with the wage budget meaning we are now not overspending on wages as we were before.

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Here’s the tactics I’ve been creating over the pre-season games. The first and probably most common that I’ll use will be a deep 4-4-2 as I have an abundance of defensive midfielders at the club – some of my best players actually play that position and I’ve always liked to build a formation around my best players initially. Although it is very defensive looking, its actually very attacking with both RB and LB set to attacking wingers, and both wide men in midfield set to attack as well! I also have one of the DMs on an attacking Segundo Volante role! So yes on paper it looks defensive, but there are 5 players with attack duty on to counter that! Individual player roles will change depending on who is picked for the team as I like my players to play a role they are comfortable with (although it may not always be their best role if I don’t think it’s right for the team).

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The second tactic is more attacking and will probably be used at home and against weaker opposition, or when we are chasing a game and need a goal we could switch to this! It’s a 3-2-2-1-2 which allows us to attack from all angles. We can utilise the wing backs to get crosses in for the strikers, or filter play through the middle with the creativity of the attacking central midfielder. This tactic is much more focused on the team acting as a unit with all players set to a support mentality and playing in a ‘very fluid’ system. Again, this may get tinkered with as for different games, I might want to make certain players more attacking or more defensive depending on the threat from individual players on the opposite team. The more player roles I change individually, the more structured the team shape will be changed as well. For example, if I change the mentality of 2-3 players, I’ll change it to fluid, but if I change 4-5 players I will change it to flexible.

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The final tactic I will be using is a 4-1-2-3. This will mainly be used when I favour us to win but the opposition may have a very dangerous attacking midfielder who could cause us problems. I can also switch up to this if they have weak full backs for our wide men to exploit. I’m sure I will begin to favour one of these three formations as the season goes on, but I’m sure there will be situations for all 3.

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So how did the pre-season friendlies go. Well it was a mixed bag with some good and some bad. We kicked off with a decent 2-1 win against Danish club OB, before a disappointing draw against German semi-pro club Verl! We were then well beaten at home by French club Auxerre before a massive 6-0 victory over Dutch part timers JVC! We finished off pre-season with a game against Juliper league side MVV, who beat us 2-1! I did a lot of tinkering with tactics, players and roles so I'm not too worried about the results. What I am still worried about is that going into my first season, I still don't know what my best formation or first 11 is.....far from it in fact!

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Player of Pre-Season
Karim Coulibaly

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Coulibaly featured in 4 of the 5 friendlies and gave a couple of star performances as he fights for a spot in the starting lineup! Worth noting that his goal against OB was an absolute cracker - cut in from the right and struck a left footed effort into the far top corner from about 25 yards!



Looking ahead to August and the Eredivisie kicking off! My welcome to Dutch football will be a tough one as we start away at PSV!! Three other games in August will follow against NAC, FC Utrecht and PEC Zwolle! The NAC game has got to be seen as a must win with them predicted to be fighting relegation this season!

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​

 

[JamesScott2908]

Looking forward to seeing this progress!

 

[FM_TNSSO]

Looking forward to seeing this progress!

Cheers mate

 

[FM_TNSSO]

August 2017

"John Feskens has the most league appearances for Willem II with a total of 483.
He is now the Chief Data Analyst at PSV"


August 2017

As the season draws closer, the board send me their expectations for the upcoming competitions. I’ve just got to avoid being drawn into a relegation battle to satisfy them in the Eredivisie and they’ll be happy with 3rd​ round of the cup as well. Both should be achievable.

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The anticipation rises for my first game in charge as Willem II manager.

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Looking at the season preview, it’s Ajax who are favourites for the title, but only just ahead of holders Feyenoord. PSV and AZ are seen as the only real dangers to the top 2! The media’s dream team is made up entirely of Ajax, Feyenoord and PSV players with the only exception being sc Heerenveen’s Stijn Schaars.

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The club have sold 10,000 season tickets for the upcoming season!

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Sunday 6th​ August 2017
PSV vs Willem II
Formation: 4-4-2 Deep
Lineup: Wellenreuther, Lachman, Meissner (Heerkens 68), Peters, Tsimikas, Lewis, Rienstra, Enoh, Coulibaly (Croux 45), Sol, El Hankouri

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So close to the perfect start!! The lads gave me a valiant effort against one of the best teams in the league and very nearly nicked all 3 points! We started ridiculously well and were all over them in the opening 15 minutes, taking a shock lead through Eyong Enoh! But after that opening quarter of an hour it was all PSV and their persistence paid off when they bagged an equalizer with virtually the last kick of the game!



A number of players made their debuts for us in the PSV game with all eyes on ex Ajax player Eyong Enoh as he made his return to Dutch football.

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NAC Breda are our fierce local rivals, so naturally the stadium will be a sell out for the game. I hope to announce myself to the home fans by giving them the result they want!

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Friday 11th​ August 2017
Willem II vs NAC Breda
Formation: 4-4-2 Deep (changed to 4-1-2-3 after 65 minutes)
Lineup: Wellenreuther, Lachman, Meissner, Peters, Tsimikas, Lewis, Rienstra, Enoh (Chirivella 75), Coulibaly (Croux 45), Sol, El Hankouri (Haye 65)

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A great second half turnaround ensured we beat our fierce rivals! It was Jordy Croux who really turned the game on it’s head for us as came off the bench to score one and he was the player brought down for the penalty and 2nd​ goal.



Sunday 20th​ August 2017
FC Utrecht vs Willem II
Formation: 3-2-2-1-2
Lineup: Wellenreuther, Meissner (Lachman 76), Heerkens, Peters, Lewis, Tsimikas, Urbanski, Chirivella, Haye (Velikonja 64), Sol, El Hankouri

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Bit gutted with this result as I don’t think we deserved to lose the game 3-0! The stats were pretty even, but the best passages of play definitely came from us. We just struggled to take our chances and Thom Haye didn’t have a good day at the office from a creativity point of view in the AMC role. Fair play to them I suppose who were very clinical in front of goal.



A couple more players made debuts for the club against FC Utrecht. Bartlomiej Urbanski had a decent game with a match rating of 6.90.

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We’ve been handed an away tie in the 1st​ round of the Dutch Cup against Jupiler League side FC Emmen.

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Saturday 26th​ August 2017
Willem II vs PEC Zwolle
Formation: 4-4-2 Deep
Lineup: Wellenreuther, Lachman, Meissner, Peters, Tsimikas (Wijnaldum 11), Rienstra, Enoh, Lewis, Coulibaly (Croux 70), Sol, Velikonja (El Hankouri 59)

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We finish the month with a good home win against Zwolle. A close fought game with both sides creating plenty of chances but ours were more clear cut and we finished them well too! Fernando Lewis was electric down the right wing and the left back couldn’t cope with him as he bagged himself 2 goals!



Kostas Tsimikas twisted his ankle in the game against Zwolle and will be forced out of action for up to a month with the injury.

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Ismail Azzaoui has not long been back from an injury sustained in pre season and he has already picked up another knock, which will see him out for another 3 weeks!

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With limited funds, it was always going to be difficult to bring another striker to the club, but we desperately needed one. So I turned to the loan market and the best I could get on deadline day was 18 year old Renat Dadachov who joins us for the season from Frankfurt.

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Our man of the match from the last game, Fernando Lewis, is the latest player to pick up a niggling injury that will see him out for a couple of weeks. None of these injuries (so far) are long term, but it’s still a concern that we are getting so many of the small ones keeping players out for 1 or 2 games at a time. I hope it improves as the season goes on!

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As I finish my first competitive month in charge of the team, we find ourselves slap bang in the middle of the table after 4 games. Winning both our home games and picking up a point away at PSV has got to be seen as a good month and it ensures we are 6 points clear of that relegation zone we need to stay away from to keep the board happy.

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Player of the Month
Eyong Enoh

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September will see us play 4 league games and my first taste of the Dutch Cup. We will play 3 sides in the league who are expected to finish in the bottom half so we’ve got to be looking at these as games we can definitely take points from. The game at home to Feyenoord will be our biggest challenge of the month by far!

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​

 

[Klippybo]

Good luck!!!

 

[FM_TNSSO]

Good luck!!!

Cheers mate....probably gonna need it....mediocre squad, no money, no fantastic youth development programme......Lucky I love a tough challenge! lol

 

[FM_TNSSO]

September 2017

"Dmitri Shukov is the club's record transfer signing.
He joined from Vitesse in 1999 for a fee of £1.8 million"


September 2017

As far as the Dutch transfer window goes, it was extremely quiet with not a lot going on at all! The biggest incoming deal was Giorgos Efraim joining PSV for only £1.8 million – guessing there ain’t a lot of money in Holland! PSV raked in over £7 million for Jorrit Hendrix who moved to Germany to join Leipzig. Apparently we were the most active team signing 2 players – the other was some kid my DoF signed for free who didn’t excite me enough to post about him on here!

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Friday 8th​ September 2017
Heracles vs Willem II
Formation: 4-4-2 Deep (changed to 3-2-2-1-2 at half time)
Lineup: Wellenreuther, Lachman, Meissner, Peters, Wijnaldum, Rienstra, Enoh, Croux (Heerkens 45), Coulibaly (Haye 45), Sol, Velikonja (Dadachov 64)

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We were done by another stoppage time goal which is disappointing. Especially as Heracles were down to 10 men at the time after they had an injury in the 87th​ minute and had used all their subs. Overall you could say they deserved the win as they were the better side, but it’s still gutting to lose in injury time.



Friday 15th​ September 2017
Willem II vs Roda JC
Formation: 4-4-2 Deep
Lineup: Wellenreuther, Lachman (Dankerlui 86), Heerkens, Peters, Wijnaldum, Rienstra, Enoh (Chirivella 20), Lewis, Coulibaly, Sol, Velikonja (Dadachov 45)

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What a defensive performance that was from us, limiting Roda to only 2 shots on goal in the whole match! A single goal from Coulibaly in the first half was enough for us to take all 3 points.



Another injury but this time it’s not a little one. One of our best players, Eyong Enoh will miss 6 months with a damaged Achilles tendon suffered in the Roda game!

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Tuesday 19th​ September 2017
Dutch Cup 1st​ Round
FC Emmen vs Willem II
Formation: 3-2-2-1-2
Lineup: Wellenreuther, Heerkens, Meissner, Peters, Lewis (Dankerlui 71), Wijnaldum, Urbanski (Rienstra 83), Chirivella, Haye, Sol, Dadachov (El Hankouri 45)

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**** poor performance against the lower league side and we crashed out of the Dutch Cup at the 1st​ round stage. We were really poor!



Saturday 23rd​ September 2017
Willem II vs Feyenoord
Formation: 4-1-2-3 Wide (Changed to 4-4-2 Deep after 22 minutes)
Lineup: Wellenreuther, Lachman, Meissner (Rienstra 22), Peters, Wijnaldum, Heerkens, Haye (Dadachov 22), Urbanski, Croux (Lewis 58), Coulibaly, Sol

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When we were 2-0 down inside 15 minutes against the reigning champions, I was really worried this was going to turn into an embarrassing scoreline. A drastic change in formation and personnel on 22 minutes ensured it wasn’t! We were much better after that but unfortunately still not good enough to ever threaten to get back into this game.



Wednesday 27th​ September 2017
ADO Den Haag vs Willem II
Formation: 4-4-2 Deep
Lineup: Wellenreuther, Lachman, Heerkens, Peters (van der Linden 64), Tsimikas, Rienstra, Chirivella (Lieftink 24), Croux, Coulibaly, Sol (Dadachov 57), Velikonja

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A tight game which just went their way. We played some nice stuff and created 4 clear cut chances, but my strikers struggled to take their chances.



Pedro Chirivella picked up an injury in the Den Haag game that will keep him out for the first couple of weeks in October.

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We had a tough month and drop down to 13th​ in the table. However, it’s still early days and a couple of wins can easily propel us back into the top half next month…..think positive!!!

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Player of the Month
Darryl Lachman

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Darryl was the best of an average bunch this month. Unfortunately, nobody stood out with any fantastic performances but Lachman was one of the most consistent across the month.



We must start October well with the games against Heerenveen and Sparta, as we have two tough games against FC Twente and AZ that will be hard to get anything from!

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​

 

[danjames101]

Mixed start mate but don’t be disheartened, you’ve played 2 of the best teams and I’m confident you’ll pick up a couple of wins in the new few games and get you into the top half comfortably. Gutting to lose Enoh for 6months though!! Looking forward to seeing you Progress in this!

 

[FM_TNSSO]

Mixed start mate but don’t be disheartened, you’ve played 2 of the best teams and I’m confident you’ll pick up a couple of wins in the new few games and get you into the top half comfortably. Gutting to lose Enoh for 6months though!! Looking forward to seeing you Progress in this!

When you're not a very good team and you literally lose your best player for most of the season it's tough not to get disheartened......but I've never been one for giving up! Just need my other lads to step up now!

 

[FM_TNSSO]

October 2017

"Willem II moved into the Koning Willem II Stadion in 1995 and have played there ever since.
The stadium can hold a maximum of 14,700 people"


October 2017


Sunday 1st​ October 2017
Willem II vs sc Heerenveen
Formation: 4-4-2 Deep
Lineup: Wellenreuther, Lachman, Meissner (Heerkens 70), Peters, Tsimikas, Rienstra, Lieftink, Lewis, Coulibaly, Sol (Dadachov 62), Velikonja

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Renat Dadachov came off the bench to grab a late equalizer and earn us a valuable point. When we are playing these other sides in and around mid table, it’s probably more important we don’t lose the game even more than winning it. I know it sounds silly, but if we can stop the mid table points forging 3 points ahead of us every time we play them then it’s a bonus – it just means we have to focus more on beating those teams at the bottom end. Special mention for Wellenreuther in goal today as he pulled off an amazing penalty save to keep us in the game shortly after half time.



Renat Dadachov followed up his first goal for us, with his first international strike for Azerbaijan.

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Friday 13th​ October 2017
Sparta Rotterdam vs Willem II
Formation: 4-4-2 Deep
Lineup: Wellenreuther, Lachman, Meissner, Peters, Tsimikas, Rienstra, Lieftink, Lewis, Coulibaly, Dadachov, Velikonja

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We were uttely embarrassed by Sparta here as they completely ran riot in the first half. After the bollocking of a lifetime, the team did go out and win the second half 1-0, but I think it was more down to the fact that Sparta eased off, than us picking up our game!



The tactics I worked on in pre season don’t seem to be doing the business at the moment, so I decided to try putting something new together. This is another idea I’m working with but I’m sure this is going to be a season of tinkering a lot with formations and tactics (whilst trying to survive the drop) and hopefully I’ll find something that is working by the end of the season. This formation will be referred to as 4-5-1 Flat on my matchday posts.

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Saturday 21st​ October 2017
Willem II vs FC Twente
Formation: Flat 4-5-1
Lineup: Wellenreuther, Dankerlui (Lackman 62), Meissner, Peters, Tsimikas, Lewis, Chirivella, Rienstra, Haye, Azzaoui, Sol (Dadachov 72)

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A fantastic result against FC Twente earns us a massive 3 points! We were under the kosh for large periods of the game, but stood our ground well and Wellenreuther did well when called upon between the sticks. We didn’t create much going forward, but the odd chances we did muster up, we took well!



With the amount of injuries we have suffered this season, I needed to increase the numbers in the squad and we had one good player out on loan that could definitely do a job for us. Dan Crowley….some of you may recognise him as an Arsenal youngster who didn’t make it with the Gunners. Well it turns out he moved to Holland to rebuild his career. I’ve recalled him from his loan spell at SC Cambuur in the Jupiler League.

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Saturday 28th​ October 2017
AZ Alkmaar vs Willem II
Formation: Flat 4-5-1
Lineup: Wellenreuther, Lachman, Meissner, Peters, Tsimikas, Lewis, Haye, Rienstra, Chirivella (Crowley 76), Azzaoui (Coulibaly 63), Sol (Dadachov 68)

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We followed up the cracking result against FC Twente with a very respectable draw against another top side in AZ. This time we fought back from behind as well, which always takes tremendous character against the better sides as you can easily roll over and be ****** all over (as we have been a couple of times already this year). Another performance from the lads which leaves their manager proud!



Immediately after returning to the club from his loan spell, Dan Crowley was handed his debut for us. I brought him on for the last 15 minutes in the hope he might be able to create something out of nothing (whilst we were doing our best to hang on) but it wasn’t to be.

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Jop van der Linden asked me to terminate his loan deal immediately after we earned the draw against his club AZ. He has only made one appearance for me this year and I grant his request…..after all I have no interest in keeping players here who don’t want to be.

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We picked up 5 points from our 4 games this month, and if we could do that every month, we’d be sure to secure a mid table finish this season. It means that we rise one place in the table to 12th​ but things are still very tight. A couple of wins and we could be in the top 7 or 8, a couple of losses and we could be in the relegation zone. At the top, it’s the three big boys that we’d expect to see battling it out!

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Player of the Month
Kostas Tsimikas

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Four very good performances from the left back, chipping in with a couple of assists too! Tsimikas work rate down the left flank is plain to see in every game and it’s a shame he is only here on loan (from Olypiakos)!



It’s the big one next month as we take on Ajax!! Before that, we have some games we have a chance of picking up some more points from. VVV and Groningen both find themselves in the bottom 4 so these are two big, big games for us!

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