It was the late, late show against Dukla but Tambe produces the goods right at the death to mean we get a valuable 3 away points. The stats reflect the dominant performance, and that’s 3 straight wins.
There’s very little transfer business needed, but in an attempt to get it done early, promising U-19 international Svoboda comes in and looks to be the long term for successor for Baris, although he’s only 31 so not on the scrapheap just yet.
I also keep an eye out for any bargains to be picked up with players out of contract in the summer, although it looks like slim pickings and no available options who are improvement on the current squad despite the wingback positions being weakest.
It’s a good job the friendlies were more about the fitness than the results as, despite a nice symmetry to them, there wasn’t a great deal of joy to be had, other than a very nice win against my ex-employers; FC Midtjylland.
Just the one game of the month and we travel to mid-table Jihlava, although we fail to come up with the goods despite making increasingly aggressive tactical and personnel changes as the game wore on. All in all, that’s a pretty disappointing game to come back to.
Other than that, the transfer window closes without any further surprises, despite some interest in my WBR Jedlicka, although nothing that comes anywhere close to even meeting his value even if I did want to sell.
Baudry was outstanding in this game and even more so after Schuler’s reckless challenge. Even with 10 men, we should have won it at the end as we threw everything and the kitchen sink at them but couldn’t make the breakthrough.
Most had been leading the league previously and are the surprise package of the beginning of the season, but a series of poor results has seen them slip down the table to fifth as they come to us. Baudry, again, is great with 2 assists, but the result is jeopardised by DM Prochazka who concedes the penalty although we finish the game stronger and should have scored more at the end. Despite Petrovikj’s goal, the strikers have been less than convincing so far this season.
A really tough ask as we travel to the league leaders by 6 points. After conceding an early goal, we spend the rest of the first half playing catch up. Tambe scores an outstanding goal after a well worked team effort just after half time. For the second game in a row, the tough tackling approach causes us an issue as we concede another penalty, though it is something of an occupational hazard with this system - up until that point, we were holding our own.
A good number of my players, 11, are called up for international duty and there’s a bit of a break between the games. Both Baudry & Petrovikj get injured over the break, so there’s an opportunity for Baris and Adilovic who come in as replacements.
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Brno sit in 3rd place, just one point ahead so this is a great opportunity to leapfrog them up the league. Tambe scores to continue his reasonable run, but Adilivoc is shocking, missing a number of good chances as we just about edge a tight game.
A number of club vacancies are available, although none of any real interest although in terms of reputation, Sion and SC Heerenven would both be major steps up from Slovan.
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The cup quarter finals are drawn and we’re well in the mix with Sparta Prague having been knocked out in an earlier round, any one of the remaining teams stand a pretty good chance. With 9 games of the league left, Sparta are clear by 10 points and will surely win their first league since 2018/2019. The holders, Plzen, who have won the last 4 titles, are struggling down in 7th although the gap between us in third and them is small - not a good time to be slipping up.
April brings voting for the Czech players of the year. Baudry is shortlisted for the player of year & the foreign player of the year and, unusually, I can vote for my own player…which I do. Chovan is shortlisted in goalkeeper of the year and Baudry, again, for midfielder of the year but other than that, it’s a bit scarce on the honours front as, despite the club’s relatively good position, there has been a serious lack of individual quality and consistent performances through the season.
Top scorer Petrovikj returns to the starting line up after injury and makes no impact whatsoever as the game peters out into the very definition of boredraw, with the only moment of note being a pretty reckless challenge from Civic as the game drew to a close.
A very winnable cup game is next in the offing although, we are missing a number of first team players through suspension and injury. Our strikers are, once again, wasteful, despite having enough opportunities to win the game - really disappointed in going out in this game as I thought we had a good chance of winning the cup. We’re not going to win the league, so the aim for the rest of the season is to finish as high up the table as we can.
The goalscoring stats for my strikers are pretty poor at the moment and clearly an area where improvement is needed and the addition of at least one clinical striker is a must so the search starts now.
Bohemians have only won 3 games all season so we decide to generously gift them another. The game was finished by the time Jezdik gifted them a man advantage towards the end as we just didn’t turn up. Just a very, very poor performance.
Bosnian striker, Demirovic signs on a free after a promising trial and I’m hoping he can add some much needed quality at the business end of the pitch, as well as some balance, being left footed.
A tough away game to the team one place below us and Demirovic is thrown into the starting line up as Adilovic is relegated to the reserves squad for the time being. Demirovic provides the assist for Tambe’s opener and is then fouled for the penalty dispatched by Hipp. A massive win given our recent poor performances and our first win in 4.
View attachment 84235 Tambe picked up a knock in the previous game and is replaced by Dolidze although he’s hardly been prolific and hasn’t scored since November. Playing Demirovic in the left hand slot of the 2 strikers pays off as he finishes clinically from a position where all my right footed strikers have put the ball into the side netting. As well as his goal, Dolidze is the catalyst for the own goal as the CB puts the ball into his own net tackling from behind.
Another glance at the job centre reveals the managers of Besiktas and Heerenven (still) are both in an insecure situation - both would be opportunities too good to pass up.Some outstanding striking prospects come in on loan, but we are restricted by our relatively low wage budget and unable to get any over the line.
Five games of the season left, with 4 of them being at home gives a really good opportunity of finishing in the top 4, which would mean European football next season, even if only starting in the qualifying rounds of the UEFA cup (yes, I still call it that).
Top scorer Petrovikj and his usual strike partner Tambe are restored to the starting line-up and Petrovikj wastes little time adding to his season’s total. Despite having the majority of the possession and chances, it’s a bit of the same old story as we fail to do enough to win the game.
Baudry is suspended and Demirovic is recalled to the starting line up in place of Tambe. Hadhria, on paper our best CB, has not been the best performer recently is also put into the starting 11. Demirovic scores the opener after some fine work by Dolidze and after a sticky spell in the middle of the second half, Schuler provides a worldy of an assist for Tambe to head in from 12 yards. Sparta Prague win the league with 3 games to spare and a goal difference which I’m jealous of.
We absolutely batter them but it takes 40 minutes to make the breakthrough before Sejidili is the unlucky party gifting them a goal, which is something we seem to be making a habit of recently.
Demirovic and Tambe combine beautifully for our first goal and then, having changed the tactics to attacking and throw the crosses in, I thought we’d won it when one of them bounced off their defender to roll into the net. However, once again, we don’t defend properly from a corner and make it easy for them to grab a point. A Jablonec victory means that we’re guaranteed fourth position and European football as a result.
A great opportunity against already relegated Zlin to give the fans something to cheer in the final game of the season, which we do as we record our biggest league win of the season. Tambe leaves it until the last game of the season to show what he’s actually capable of.
No real surprises with the season awards as Baudry was head and shoulders the best player of the season and buying the extra quality has paid dividends. It’s not a great surprise that GK Chovan is runner up either, although some way behind, as he put in some great performances through the season.
Only Tambe got into double figures in the goalscoring charts, although Demirovic put in a good cameo towards the end of the season. 11 different goalscorers and 13 players contributing assists does show a good spread across the team. Disappointingly, only 5 of the players are Czech and it has proved a real challenge to attract the quality to the squad to increase this.
My thoughts on that season - we definitely outdid ourselves and achieved a higher league position than I expected, particularly when you consider the relative quality of our players to those in the teams around us.
The strikers were, generally, not clinical enough and didn’t get enough goals - though this is probably more to do with Fila and Prokopec not being as good in the AMC advanced playmaker position as I would have liked. Had they had better support from the wingback positions, they may have scored more too.
Midfieders were generally solid, although Baudry would probably appreciate some additional quality next to him.
The defence were also pretty solid most of the time - paradoxically, the CB’s are the best players in the squad but it doesn’t always come across that way on the pitch. We conceded a lot of penalties, although this was more to do with the way we played than the CB’s being poor.
Improvements are needed all over the pitch so it could be a busy transfer window with a preference for players who can make an immediate impact and Czech players if available.
These two prospects are in the reserves team and were on loan last season. Curry is already better than Gyamareh so replaces him in the first team squad. Svoboda was been brought in to replace Baris but this looks like it might be the right time to promote him as well.
One of my targets is acquired as we sign Dutch midfielders Kadiri & Hajji on free transfers and in outgoing transfer news, bids of £3m are accepted for Vazda from Chelsea, PSG, Man Utd and Arsenal. He signs for PSG in the end.
18 year old Hrdlicka comes in to replace Vazda for a fee considered excessive by the media, but time will tell. He won’t be a first team starter, but will be expected to grow into the first team and playing with 3 centre-backs allows the option for rotation as well.
The UEFA cup gives us a tough qualifying round draw against Hungarian opposition in Debrecen. Just as I’m looking forward to the start of the season, 3 massive jobs become available. I’m probably not experienced enough for any of them, but apply in any case.
I also put some of the Vazda transfer to very good use and sign Krejci from Most, although I think that should be the transfer business completed. Krejci was the media's favourite to the be league's top goalscorer this season, so hopefully this will turn out to be shrewd business.
Not as many friendlies as I would have liked due to the European involvement, but they go well, winning the expected ones and making money from the Liverpool & Red Bull Leipzig games.
Debrecen rather played into our hands with a narrow formation allowing Schuler and Jedlicka in the wingback positions to flourish and all 3 goals come from wide crosses. Good to see Demirovic continuing his fine goalscoring form from last season.
With this game coming so soon after the Debrecen game, a number of changes are needed, although its one of the players I don’t change; Demirovic who comes up with the goods. CB Chambon is the deserved man of the match with an outstanding defensive display.
Neither Ajax or Basel were interested in my applications for the available jobs so it’s time to knuckle down here and see if I can build my reputation this way.
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A 3-1 lead going into the second leg gives some cause for optimism and Dolidze’s goal on his first start of the season is enough to take us through.The playoff round pitches us against Portugese outfit, Vit. Setubal before the group stages.
Valencia have been sniffing around WBR Jedlicka for a while and I’ve been batting the offers away, although it would appear that the board had different ideas.
Again, there’s just 2 days between the games and it’s taking it’s toll on the condition of the team as I have to make a number of changes. It looks as though we have found in Demirovic the consistent goalscorer we were lacking last season and in Kadiri, the advanced playmaker. Krejci gets his first for the club with a simple tap in after good work from WBL Schuler. Demirovic’s contract is extended.
Krejci starts against his former club and, as is usually the case, scores although nothing of any interest happens until 10 minutes from the end. Having taken the lead we shut the game down, go into full defensive mode and make the changes to keep the clean sheet. We were outplayed in parts and Most had the better of the chances so a bit of a fortunate win.
Jedlicka confirms his move to Valencia, so 19 year old Turkish wingback Korkmaz is recalled from his loan to take his place in the squad.
Setubal have 12 shots during the game, all on target so it’s something of a surprise that we managed to keep them down to 1, but it leaves us with a really tricky away game.
After the optimism of the last league games, this was a bit of an anticlimax. Korkmaz didn’t cover himself in glory on his debut and it needed Krejci to spare his blushes.
Again, their stats were ridiculous with 10 of 11 on target, although apart from a loose Chambon OG in the first half we contained them up until a silly 15 minutes after half time. When we changed the formation and tactics on the hour mark, we started to play a bit but the 2 goals from Chambon & Krejci were too little too late to make a difference.
Demirovic makes the difference and is clinical, putting away his only chance and getting us the 3 points in a tightly fought game against Kralove, although the plaudits should be going to the defence as they were outstanding as the pressure mounted towards the end of the game.
The win takes us, temporarily at least, to the top of the table.
My persistence with the board pays off as they either finally succumb to my request for improved training facilities, or simply agree to it just to get rid of me.
Bohemians only created one chance from a cross which we couldn’t defend properly. The fact that their goalkeeper was man of the match and we missed a penalty indicates we had plenty of chances to win the game but were sloppy at the business end of the pitch. Given Demirovic’s recent fine goalscoring run, this was disappointing!
A number of teams are sniffing around my first choice keeper; Chovan, so in an attempt to be pro-active, I sign transfer listed Jedlicka from Sparta Prague in the expectation that Chovan will move before the end of the transfer window.
Jedlicka comes in and makes his debut and my strikers pay the price for the inability to find the net in the previous game as Demirovic and Krejci are replaced by Petrovikj and Dolidze. A really poor result in which we couldn’t string 2 passes together - one to forget.
The transfer window closes with a healthy profit having been made. Of the incoming players, Kadiri is the most exciting in the AMC position. Of the outgoing, losing Vazda was disappointing but we also managed to get rid of a number of fringe players for reasonable fees and reduce the wage bill as well - all in all, a pretty good transfer window.
Hopefully, a cup game against lower league opposition can provide some respite from the poor recent league performances - the team is rotated to allow some fringe players some game time
In terms of stats, this was the most one-sided game I have ever seen. How we didn’t score more than just 1, I don’t know…and how we didn’t score until added time, I don’t know either. In any case, a win is a win and we’re through to the next round.
A tough away game to the league champions to complete the month and, despite a much improved performance from us, and Demirovic’s glimmer of hope, we can’t do enough to get the draw. 3 straight losses in the league has hurt our form considerably and we fall to 6th position from leading the league.
Jedlicka’s poor form means he is replaced in goal by Chovan. Kadiri is given a more attacking duty which pays off as he scores his first for the club, forces the own goal and then assists Kober’s second half goal before he’s taken off with an injury. I wasn’t anticipating such an improved performance after last months very poor results.
A bit of a disappoiniting game after the previous performance - I thought we did enough to win it, making the better chances but they just fell to the wrong people in the box. A clean sheet is never a bad result but it could have been better. The 4th round of the FA cup draws us against top league opposition in Brno which will be a tough game, although being drawn at home makes it a little easier.
Neither Demirovic or Krejci have scored in the last 2 games so they’re replaced by Petrovikj and Dolidze and CB Hadhria replaces Hrdlicka at the back. An top drawer counter-attacking performance brings home the three points with Kadiri’s 30 yard free kick being the outstanding moment of the game. Petrovikj’s first goal of the season ensures he’ll be starting the next game too.
It took an absolute age for Prochazka to seal with the win against his old club as last years losing finalists make us work for the win. Once again, the probable dominant team, Sparta Prague have been knocked out so the competition looks open to all.
Dukla Prague, firmly rooted to the bottom of the league come to town and the fans are expecting a comfortable win. The strikers are rotated again and the points are desperately needed as the top 7 in the league are separated by just 3 points. Dolidze is the outstanding performer with a goal and 2 assists and WBR Curry rounds off the scoring with his first for the club. A nice result.
Kadiri wins his first international cap and is rapidly becoming my key player in the AMC role - considering he was picked up on a free he is proving to be something of a bargain and my assistant manager is telling me is a leading player for the league.
As a result of their good performances against Dukla, Demirovic & Dolidze keep their places as we hope to maintain the pressure on the top 3, if not the league leaders. Kadiri is obviously listening to my praise as he assists and knocks in a penalty and the win takes us back to the top as we approach the halfway point of the season.
Ostrava are currently sitting in 13th and again, the media and fans are expecting a comfortable win. Demivoric is replaced by Petrovikj but the victory fails to materialise as we are unable to make the final pass good enough to provide any goalscoring opportunites. Chambon scores from another Kadiri free-kick meaning that he has either scored or assisted in each of the last 4 games.
Normally I’d be looking at renewing contracts over the winter break, but there aren’t any that expire in the summer in the first team so I’m content that I’m not going to lose anyone that I want to keep. A number of contracts in the reserves are due to expire which will free up another £2.5k a week.
Unfortunately, my relatively low wage budget is prohibiting the sort of players I could attract to make the team better and there is no-one in the squad that is not wanted so it would have to be an opportunity too good to turn down for someone to come in over the transfer window, although a left-footed poacher would fit the team’s structure perfectly.
The team’s value & turnover compared to others show we are probably hitting above our weight in terms of league position. I’m sure a couple of seasons in the Champions League would help here, but its something of a vicious circle as its proving difficult to break the Sparta Prague / Viktoria Plzen duopoly.
The final game before the winter break sees us travel to Jablonec.
The injured Schuler is replaced by Jezdik and the strikers are rotated again which pays off as Krejci scores from fine wingback play by Curry and retraining him from a DR is clearly paying dividends now.
A pretty terrible result to come back to. Not sure what was wrong with the players, but they just didn’t seem to get their act together and missed a couple of fantastic chances as well. By the time I had made tactical changes to attempt to deal with the issue, it was too late, although it led to a nice finish from Demirovic, again proving the benefit of the left footed striker in the left hand slot of the 2…and hopefully why new signing Marin will fit in so well.
The winter break finishes with some transfer business. My GK Chovan, who I was expecting to move in the summer, leaves along with reserve player Karapetyan. French youngster Marin is brought in. He fits the template of what I want my strikers to look like but is perhaps 2 or 3 seasons away from a first team place. I spent most of the window rejecting bids for Hrdlicka, Curry and Baudry.
Kadiri, surely too good for this level, is again the saviour as he produces a couple of goals out of the top drawer in a game that both teams really did enough to win.
The 3 points are vital as Sparta Prague seem to be pulling clear again, and again the teams positioned in 2nd and 7th are seperated by just one win. The top 3 will enter the European qualification places so that has to be our aim after a third place finish last season.
Baudry is missing due to suspension and with Prochazka and Svoboda injured, Hajjii has to come in and play in an unfamiliar position. I aso give back-up GK Bozik his first start of the season. An entirely scrappy win which was only sealed at the end thanks to a late, late goal from that man Kadiri.
Bozik keeps his place and Prochazka returns from injury to make a goalscoring return. We managed to restrict Bohemians to a solitary off-target shot on goal in an utterly dominant display which led to a very comfortable win in the end. The only disappointment is that we couldn’t score more than just the two goals.
The board expectations for this season were to qualify for the European Cup - that’s a top 3 finish - and, at least, to reach the quarter final of the cup which I’m on target to do. However, I’m struggling to see how I can progress this team with the limited funds available and I’m wondering whether I can take the team any further…
A game that was as tight as the scoreline suggests was only lit up by Demirovic’s 10th goal of the season and he is on his way to chasing Milan Baros’s 2016/17 record of 15 goals in a season.
Remarkably, league leaders Sparta Prague lose to the bottom club Dukla Prague and we go to second position on equal points with Sparta helped by the three straight wins this month.
We’re drawn at home to Dukla Prague in the quarter final of the cup, which is the stage we reached last year. Dukla are currently bottom of the league, but their result against Sparta shows they won’t be a walkover.
Dolidze comes in for Krejci and a couple of other changes are made, including the promotion of Jedlicka back into goal. Something of a ding dong battle and the margin would have been even better if Hadhria hadn’t have missed an early first half penalty. Dolidze takes his league total to 5 goals which represents his best in a Liberec shirt.
It was at this stage last year when I went out of the cup, having played a weakened team. I’m determined not to repeat that mistake, although I do give a debut to 18year old Marin who was signed in the summer. Marin had a solid, if unspectacular game, but was overshadowed by 20 year old Dutch AMC Hajji who scored and provided the assist to take us through to the Semi finals.
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…we set a new record relating to games won, although this is in danger of not being added to as we have Sparta coming to us next…
The league is tight at the top and this is a huge game against the team in second. It’s a very even game and we were unlucky to concede as a result of a defensive error early on in the game. After that we were much better though and they didn’t look like like scoring, although it took a long time to make the breakthrough - trawling through Bosnia & Herzegovina to find Demirovic is paying off.
The top 3 are all now on equal points and this could be a scintillating run in with 7 games left, 4 at home, 3 away.
Hajji gets a start as a result of his good performance in the cup, but is largely ineffectual and it’s his replacement; Kadiri, who makes an instant impact with his first touch being a pinpoint through ball for Demirovic to tuck away. Surprisingly, neither Boleslav in second, or Sparta in third can manage a win so we end the weekend with a slight 2 point cushion as we sit, amazingly, at the top of the league.
The draw for the semi final has been kind, pitching us against Sokolov, the only lower league team left in the competition in a game which we should win, but need to be wary of complacency. Our good form has not gone un-noticed as I am shortlisted for the Czech manager of the year which is pretty cool.
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At home, to the team in 13th, who have only won in the last 5…although we make easy work of it and it would have been even more comfortable had Kadiri scored his penalty in the first half. For once, Krejci takes the limlelight from Demirovic and, whilst he’s not living up to the pre-season media prediction of being the league’s top scorer, he’s certainly making a valuable contribution.
A place in the final is at stake as we travel to Division 2 team Sokolov, with a slightly changed team, although still a strong one as I’ve hopefully learned my lesson from previous games. We were shocking and despite a number of clear chances, hitting the woodwork and having 2 goals disallowed, Sokolov took us all the way to penalties. Plzen await in the final.
So, here we are - the final month and the final 5 games of the season and a cup final to look forward to. We’re 3 points clear at the top and due to play 3 of the 5 games away from home, including to third placed Mlada Boleslav and fourth placed Plzen. We’ve already exceeded board expectations to get to the final of the cup and the league tarted is to finish in the top 3…let’s see how we get on.
Boleslav’s last result was a convincing 4-0 win which was enough to push them into second place so this is a must win first vs second game. An outstanding smash and grab performance, culminating in 5 minutes of the most effective keep-ball session I’ve seen us have. Boleslav managed to hit the woodwork 4 times but couldn’t beat MoM Jedlicka in goal, although of his 13 games in goal that’s only his second clean sheet. The win puts us 4 points clear with a bit of breathing space.Dukla are fighting for their first division lives and embroiled in a relegation battle. Sitting in 14th just 2 and points above 15th placed Banik Ostrava and 16th placed Hradec Kralove. At this stage of the season, any points they can pick up will be vital so this is not a foregone conclusion by any means.
An utterly frustrating game. We didn’t create that many chances, but those we did were good enough to win the game and we hit the woodwork twice with, surprisingly, Demirovic being the main culprit.
Having not appeared in the final of the competition since 2014/2015 (which they won) this is a great opportunity to add my first silverware of my reign, although the odds make Plzen slight favourites on the day and they have the head-to-head advantage. Plzen have serious pedigree, having reached the knockout stages of the Euro Cup, although their league form doesn’t back this up, with them languishing in 7th place.
It would be sod’s law that we’d save our worst performance of the season for the cup final. We really should be compensating the fans who came to watch that as, even when we went to a stupid 2-4-4 formation with 10 minutes left to grab a goal, we still only managed 2 shots, neither of which were on target. A horrible performance which probably got the result it deserved.
View attachment 82420 - he may have only been brought into the first team squad this year but with high leadership and determination stats, the 22 year old is already a pretty good example to the rest of the team.
Hoping to get the result of the crappy cup final out of their system, we have 2 home games. Kadiri and Schuler both need a break so are replaced for this game. A very frustrating game, and the stats pretty much say it all. Their penalty was an odd one…the ball was crossed in from the wing, my keeper came out and fouled the forward whilst attempting to claim the ball, which he completely missed - the ball rolled over the line, the ref blew for a penalty.
So here we are - the final game of the season against the team in 15th. A win will guarantee the unlikeliest of league wins. A draw or loss would, obviously, not be ideal but if results go our way elsewhere may be enough. Hopefully we’ll avoid the gamble and just win it to make sure…
As has so often been the case this season, Kadiri comes up with the goods powering in a 30 yard freekick and securing a MoM performance in the process. A solid defensive show after that secures the 3 points and a very unlikely league title in the process - Slovan’s first since 2011/12. All things considered, although a great title win which makes up for the cup loss, that was an odd month as we scored just 4 goals in the last 5 league games.
Unsurprisingly, Kadiri was the oustanding player of the season and well deserved is award as he led with assists. Demirovic was, more or less, consistent in front of goal and was definitely the pick of the strikers. Petrovikj was disappointing with just one league goal in 12 games and, to be honest, with youngster Marin in the reserves, could go if the right offer comes in.
Kadiri is the most effective player of the season - a great return of both goals and assists from the AMC position. Schuler and Curry in the wingback positions provided a good return in terms of assists and Krejci and Dolidze supported Demirovic with a number of goals too.
My assistant manager tells me that there are weaknesses in terms of leadership (which I’m surprised about), aggression and passing so this would be good to deal with in the transfer window if possible.
I have great delight in turning down an approach from Sparta Prague - reputationally, they’re probably a step up but it’s taken me nearly 3 years to get this Liberec team how I want it, so I’m not leaving just yet, and if I do, it won’t be to stay in the same league.
A number of contractsare extended to push players beyond 2028 - the two that aren’t are Bozik, my reserve GK and Petrovikj, who I’m looking to replace with a better option.
These seem reasonable, although the board haven’t been especially generous with their transfer allocation, so let’s hope for a reasonable Champions League campaign to boost the coffers. The media’s pre-season prediction puts to finish 3rd as well.
In 2022 when I was managing FC Midtjylland I qualified for the Champions League but left before playing any games, so this will be my first game in the competition as we face Bosnian opposition in the second qualifying phase.
View attachment 82257 The 2 goals come from corners which gives us a very good chance of progression.
View attachment 82256 Lots of possession, but utterly wasteful in front of goal - disappointing not to get at least one goal out of that but the most important thing is that we’re through to the next round to face…FC Midtjylland…hmnnnn - one of those coincidences that seems to come up in football regularly.
View attachment 82255 Its nice to see some of the lads again and a good number of my signings are still there, including Damgaard, who was always a player with high potential and he shows he’s on his way to achieving it with an unbelievable hat-trick of 3 efforts from outside the box. Demirovic partly recovers the situation for us, but it’s likely to be a very tricky home leg, made even more tricky by Demirovic’s 3-4 week layoff with a pulled hamstring.
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Newly promoted Blsany are the meat in the Midtjylland sandwich and it’s a completely impotent, frustrating display as we dominate possession, but fail to get anything like enough shots on target…again.
The last few games have resulted in plenty of possession, but few shots on goal and very few on target so some changes are needed to improve this and they’re put into place ahead of the second leg of the Champions League qualifying round.
View attachment 81659 Baudry has 3 freekicks in the first 25 minutes, each one getting gradually closer and he duly scores the one right on the edge of the box. The increase in tempo and the more direct approach seems to pay off as it unsettles Midtjylland, but it’s a tight win in the end that puts us through to the playoffs on away goals.
No easy games await in the Champions League playoff, and we are by far and away the smallest team in the draw…and we get… View attachment 81658
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Krejci has the perfect opportunity to score against his old club but fluffs his lines missing a penalty in the first half. Luckily for him, 19 year old French striker Marin scores on his debut with a calm finish that belies his lack of experience.
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Demirovic’s absence is severely denting our offensive proficiency, but Kadiri, all round saviour last season, seals the victory for us. We were a bit wasteful and didn’t play particularly well, but 3 points is 3 points and it takes us to the top of the league, albeit it still being early in the season.
And then, ahead of the most important game of the season we have a major blow when first choice keeper Jedlicka is ruled out for 2-3 months with a knee injury and it happens too late to bring in a replacement. This leaves us with Bozik who, frankly, is a reserve keeper for a reason…
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Basel’s experience and Champions League pedigree shone through, even before Schuler’s red card and this, combined with having Bozik in goal, really did us no favours. Gifting them 2 penalties was obviously not in the script either.
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Schuler does his best to make up for his indiscretion in the last game and scores his first league goals for the club. For whatever reason, after the goals, we completely went to pot and Slavia took full advantage of the situation.
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The damage was done in the first leg, but the two games just go to show how far we are from competing with the better teams in Europe, with my old player Tuanzebe rubbing a bit of salt into the wounds - the keeper got what looked to be solid hands to both efforts but couldn’t keep them out.
On the plus side, we get nearly £3m to add to the bank account and proceed to the UEFA Cup group round for the first time, after being knocked out in the playoff last season…
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Napoli are surely touted to be comfortable winners, but I see both Braga and Djurgardens as winnable games - particularly at home.
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The title defence continues to stutter with a thoroughly unconvicing performance away at Boleslav. We’re punished by 2 defensive errors and Boleslav take full advantage of our slack defending to record their win. League-wise, that was a rather disappointing month.
A replacement is sought for Bozik and Dutch keeper Van Der Hart looks to be the business as he comes in on a free.
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Van Der Hart makes his first start straight away and the tactics are tinkered with to speed the play up and take advantage of their narrow formation. First Kadiri, then Hipp are the recipients of the extra width being exploited and we managed to hang on despite their late goal. The result would have been even more comfortable had it not been for another missed Demirovic penalty.
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Krejci finally discovers his shooting boots this season and his brace sees us past Djurgardens, albeit with a nervous last 20 minutes when defensive reinforcements were brought on to withstand a full on onslaught. A great result, made even better by the fact that Napoli and Braga could only manage a draw.
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Back to league business and Krejci starts again. Svoboda is given a BBM role in CM to provide another option and the shackles are let off the team generally, which results in a comfortable victory with Demirovic leading the way.
The transfer window closes with very little business done - only a GK brought in as my first choice is on the injury list and will be for some time. A combination of a tiny wage budget and there not being the players I wanted/needed on the market, meant it was quiet.
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Second division Taborsko should have been a relatively easy game, but we just didn’t have the guile to break through the two parked buses and couldn’t manage to make the breakthrough or have the composure to make the most of being taken to penalties. Considering we reached the final last season, it’s hugely disappointing to be out knocked out at the first hurdle.
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Another disappointing toothless display destroys the momentum built up from the previous good results and not good preparation to face European middleweights; Napoli.
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Despite taking an early lead and dominating the first half an hour, we couldn’t add to the Demirovic goal in front of a ful stadium - the ticket sales are really helping the club finances. A valiant effort against a good side, but we weren’t outclassed.
View attachment 81062 Misfiring AF Dolidze has to come in for the injured Krejci and a number of other changes are needed as there has been little time to recover after the Napoli game. As it happens, it’s Dolidze who makes the breakthrough with his first goal for a remarkable 18 hours. A comfortable win in which we really should have won by a bigger margin.
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Dolidze keeps his place, although it’s Hipp who was outstanding in defence, who manages to get forward to bag the crucial effort. Not quite sure how we didn’t score more, or earlier, after it felt like we spent the full 90 minutes peppering their keeper with efforts.
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A tough away game in store so I I add an extra DM and set the team up to play for a draw. WBL Jezdik scores after some corner pinball and the game stays that way. Absolutely delighted with 3 points from that one and this month is already looking better than the previous one. Quite rightly, after the game, I field questions about GK Van Der Hart’s performances since he’s come in as that’s 3 clean sheets on the trot.
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The complete opposite to the previous game as we play 15th placed Brno so we revert to a more attacking system. The top 7 teams are separated by just 2 points so a win would be crucial and it’s the forwards who do the business in a comfortable victory. Demirovic takes his league total to 4 (9 overall) to become the clubs top scorer this season.
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Another home game against a team in a lowly position gives the team the opportunity to go out and enjoy themselves which they do, with Demirovic leading the troops. We were already comfortable by the time of the sending off, but after that we dominated and the win takes us top on goal difference.
An outstanding month with 5 straight wins and not even a goal conceded, which makes Septembers results even more frustrating. Demirovic gets into double figures for the second consecutive season and CB Hipp has added 5 goals to the mix as well.
Morale is good, the team are playing well, the results are flowing...this football managing malarkey is easy!!
Octobers fantastic result bring about a well deserved (in my humble opinion) manager of the month award, though it’s the players who really deserve it…
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Given our recent good form, and the away result against Braga I may have got a bit overconfident and forgot who we were playing in as we were astonishingly lucky to get even a point out of this game. Braga dominated, hitting the woodwork twice and missing clear cut chances as we failed to land too many punches.
The competition is doing the finances the world of good though as we have already made 8 times what we made last year in prize money: View attachment 80755
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The unbeaten run continues, but not the clean sheets in a game we had to battle for in a below par performance. 18 year old Marin comes off the bench to force the point for us after some great work from WBL Jezdik whose third assist in 6 games means he’s already had his most productive season.My contract expires at the end of this season and having already been here for the longest period of my career, I think it will be time to move on regardless of what happens for the remainder of the season.
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Marin gets a start as a reward for his point-taking goal in the last game but otherwise the team is unchanged. AF Krejci misses the best chance of the game in an otherwise uneventful performance, albeit one in which we were second best for most of. The gap to the top increases and we have a must win game against Slovacko, currently leading the table, coming up...
...but before that, we have the small matter of a European game against winless Djurgadens. A couple of suspensions and injuries mean that it’s a slightly changed team. Their narrow formation also means that the tactics are tweaked to try and take advantage of the space that will be wide that our wing-backs will, hopefully, find themselves in. View attachment 80752
One of those tweaks; giving Baudry into a more attacking role pays off as he times a late run into the box to perfection tap in a Kadiri cross. Kadiri’s free kick doubles our total and Dolidze drills in a third before halftime. It all started to go a bit wrong just after halftime, but the boys held on to secure a very important 3 points and, unbelievably, progression to the knock-out stages with a game to spare.
Sitting 4 points behind the league leaders; Slovacko, means this is a critical game. View attachment 80751
Knocked on the door for 90 minutes….couldn’t make the breakthrough.
Krejci, with 6 goals and 6 assists, is restored to the starting line-up along with Jezdik at WBL and we travel to bottom placed Bisany. View attachment 80721 Nothing happens until the 51st minute, then Demirovic bags himself a quickfire hat-trick and it stays that way.
On the one hand, the game against Napoli doesn’t matter as we’ve already progressed…on the other, I definitely don’t want the team to lose morale by getting battered. Someflair is sacrificed in the middle of the park as Baudry is replaced by true DM Svoboda. View attachment 80720
So, the stats don’t make good reading but considering that was a) against Napoli; and b) in front of nearly 60,000 people which none of these players have encountered before, that is not a result to be embarrassed by. On the plus side, the winter break gives the chance to put that result out of their minds.
****…View attachment 80718...there are a few teams in the draw I felt we could have competed against, but these aren’t one of them and that’s a harsh draw against the club I grew up supporting, and hope to manage one day.
View attachment 80717 - although it looks like there’s no need to keep an eye on those jobs as Galatasaray make the first move. A massive reputation, a significant wage and transfer budget and the fact that my contract is up in 6 months means this move is something of a no-brainer.
It seems like I’m leaving another pretty good team behind. The league win was a great achievement, especially in a league as tight as this, but the cup results were disappointing. I’m disappointed by the lack of player bias in the profile, but having looked back through my transfers, the minority have been Czech.
Despite being the league holders, Galatasaray are currently languishing in 11th position, although only 8 points behind the league leaders; Trabzonspor. With still 19 games left, this should be easily surmountable and the top 5 qualify for Europe in one form or another. We’re already out of the Champions League this season (knocked out at the group stage) although dominating the group stage of the Turkish cup before the knockout rounds.
The squad looks balanced with plenty of quality, which you’d expect from a team that has just won the league. There seems a large number of foreigners, but it’s consistent with the other top teams in the league and what looks to be a good mix of experience and youth. The only thing that looks to be missing is a really strong dominant DM.
I’m not used to managing players on £92,000 a week and worth £9m though…
The players fit a 4-2-3-1 formation, which I’m generally not a fan of, but will give it a crack as its most suitable at the moment. It’s heavily weighted to attack down the right hand side as that’s where my slightly stronger players are. I’m not sure about having just the one sole striker - Ive not had much success with this - but trial and error will see how we get on. I’m also going to keep any eye on the middle two as we risk being exposed, particularly with midfielders who have better passing stats than tackling. [TABLE="width: 900"]
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[TD]In the first of 5 consecutive away games, Sarl makes sure that my opening game goes to plan with 2 goals and an assist each from the AMC role, one in each half. Although Osmanlispor are one of the weaker teams in the league I’m impressed with how the tactic held up and it was reassuring to note that we weren’t exposed on the right hand side. [/TD]
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If Sarl is able to keep getting into those positions and continues to be as clinical as this, then it bodes well for the rest of the season.The only position I don’t have back up for is the AMR position so 17 year old Mehmet is recalled from his loan for the time being. I could also do with increasing the tackling qualities of the central midfielders. [TABLE="width: 900"]
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[TD]Australian striker Smith is given a start for the group stage game and Mehmet replaces the suspended Guler but it’s Berkay who makes the breakthrough. Despite pushing on after the red card, we couldn’t add to the solitary goal although Alorcan has a goal disallowed.[/TD]
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[TD]Some rotation is needed due to the hectic schedule. There’s also a slight formation change as Van De Beek is dropped into a DM position to help strengthen the area in front of the defence although it doesn’t seem to make a difference as we can only manage a draw. [/TD]
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[/TABLE] The narrow mentality and the different roles of the front 4 all make a huge difference as there is a variety of movement and runs going on - this coupled with the roam from position instruction means that, offensively at least, there always seems to the spare man to pass to. [TABLE="width: 900"]
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[TD]Having already qualified from Group G with today’s opponents, the chance is taken to allow some fringe players some first team action. However, without Sari scoring and Berkay pulling the strings behind him, we are nowhere near as incisive or clinical. Smith got into some great positions but failed repeatedly in one-on-ones. [/TD]
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[TD]We travel to the same team again, although in the league this time and, as 8 points behind the leaders, a win is essential, which only just comes with 2 goals right at death. It looks like we were lucky, but in truth we battered them but couldn’t make the breakthrough. AML Alcorcan was the standout player with 2 assists. Sarl nets his tenth of the season.[/TD]
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[TD]View attachment 80588[/TD]
[TD]I finally get to experience a home game as we welcome Karabukspor to Istanbul in the cup. Smith gets another chance as he starts the game and Van de Beek and Junior are pushed into support roles. Smith works hard, but it’s Guhler and Alcorcon with 2 assists that take the plaudits.[/TD]
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