Red Bull Rising - RB Leipzig in the Bundesliga?

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Red Bull Rising - RB Leipzig in the Bundesliga!

Red Bull Rising
RB Leipzig in the Bundesliga!
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Note: This is my first story.
My screens are in Danish but I hope you will be able to understand anyway.

Introduction:
Making my entrance at this forum I have to introduce myself. My name is Kasper, I'm from Denmark and am 23 years old and normally I'm a fan of Danish team OB (Odense Boldklub).

A while ago searching for challenges I stumbled upon RB Leipzig. I have been wondering a lot about why young Dane Yussuf Poulsen didn't want to transfer when I was playing with greater teams in other saves. So I was curious about what made him stay in the German lower league club rather than changing to a team like e.g. Everton.

So I choose RB Leipzig for a new save. And now I've been playing for two seasons which went pretty well. Therefore I thought it was time to share my experiences with all you guys. I will try to recap a little from the beginning of the 2013/2014-season where RB Leipzig was new in German 3. Liga - promoted from Regionalliga Nord.

The goal is to get the team to the top tier of Germany - Der Bundesliga!

Status:
2013/2014-season: 3. Liga - Done & sum-up written (see comment #2).
2014/2015-season: 3. Liga - Done & sum-up written (see comment #3).
2015/2016-season: 2. Bundesliga - Done & sum-up written (see comment #4 & #6).
From here on it will be monthly "live" updates.
2016/2017-season: Bundesliga - Done - writing in progress.
July - pre-season (see comment #7)
August (see comment #8)
September (see comment #9)
October (see comment #10)

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[Kapzlock]

2013/2014-season

2013/2014-season

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First thing first!

Over the past few saves I've began to get success with the formation 4-1-2-1-2 so naturally I had to rearrange the whole setup of the team.

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GK, RB, 2xCB, LB, DM, RM, LM, OMC, 2xST

Well, now the new formation was set - then I had to improve the staff as the facilities was pretty good. I let go of my assistant Tamas Bodog and replaced him with Wolfgang Funkel (earlier assistant at Kaiserslautern). Furthermore fitness coach Christof Elser and the scouts Heinz Eisengrein & Sebastian Barth was released. Elser was replaced with experienced Rolf Herings - a former javelin thrower from Germany. Then I hired a new physio, American Rick Guter that has been with the NY Red Bulls, and a new tactical coach, Italian Mirko Antoci. Antoci has been with Catania U/20 where he was a fitness coach.

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Next step was to get the squad fitted in the new formation.
Off course some of the players didn't fit in. So I started the summer transfer window with sending GK Benjamin Bellot, LM Sebastian Heidinger and ST Federico Palacios-Martinez on loan with Regionalliga teams. Then I let DM Henrik Ernst, CB Tim Sebastian and Benjamin Schmidt go on free transfers.

Now it was time for some reinforcements! I'm a sucker for trials as I think they give the best picture of the players' abilities and potential.
First new face in Leipzig was English Mark Howard on a free transfer - a strong CB with experience from the Danish Superliga with AGF. Next up was Danish OMC Nikola Saric on free transfer - a former Liverpool youth player. Last buy in the pre-season was Serbian RB Milan Savic on free transfer. Didn't have any knowledge about him but he seemed to have potential. Furthermore I got German DM Ayo Simon Okosun from Danish AB & Austrian RM Patrick Pfennich from Austiran Wolfsberger on loan.

I had Jurgen Macho, Vasilis Pliatsikas, Dariusz Dudka, Andreas Ibertsberger, Remco van der Schaaf & Christopher Schorch on trials, but they were either to expensive in wages or didn't make the cut.

I started off with three loses in a row in the 3. Liga, but then regained a better streak towards the winter break placed around the middle of the league.

A middle position wasn't of cause good enough for me and the board had set a goal of a position in the top of the league. With other words I had to make some more changes. It have became clear that I had to let go of more players in the winter transfer in order to attract players with higher wages. So I let the following go on free transfers: ST Matthias Morys, GK Erik Domaschke, CB Niklas Hoheneder, Felix Neuer, Fabian Schossler & GK Robert Wulnikowski. Florian Felke made a free transfer to Halberstadt and Okosun wasn't good enough, so he went back to AB. Young DM Joshua Kimmich went on loan to Sportfreunde Lotte along with Fabian Franke. The new signing Milan Savic joined Palacios-Martinez on loan at Fortuna Koln (my feeder club) and last but not least I sent Paul Schinke on loan at Wuppertal.

To strengthen the squad I chose to lend CB Lukas Grill from my mother club Bayern Munchen and furthermore important player RB Patrick Owomoyela from HSV. Last act of the first team was the signing of GK Benjamin Siegrist, whom I bought from Aston Villa for 157K DKK. He turned out to be my first choice goalkeeper - leaving Fabio Coltorti as a backup for the rest of the season.

I am also very fond of youth development and as I required an upgrade on the youth training it was approved by the board. Then I had to spice my youth squad up. I signed only free players: The young Frenchman LM Hector Martinez, and the Italians GK Alessandro Vitiello, RB Luca Pellegrino, DM Andrea Peroni, CB Antonio Auriemma, ST Simone Lai, ST Francesco Grazioso & LB Diego Fratto. I also got new youngsters from regen:

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RB Leipzig 4+ star players born 1999: RM Gunther Schutz (4) & OMC Thorsten Hamidovic (4).

I had a strong streak towards the end of the season and ended 4th - just short of the playoff game.

Transfer overview:
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Best 11:
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3. Liga result:
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Matches & results:
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3. Liga Best 11:
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[Kapzlock]

2014/2015-season

2014/2015-season

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Finishing 4th I was determined to gain promotion from 3. Liga. So the goal was set as playoff for promotion. And it turned out to be a season out of proportions with very strong streaks for the team - both in the league and the cup.

Staff-wise I was sad to see some strong faces leave as they didn't want to negotiate new contracts. GK coach Perry Brautigam left to Braunschweig, Philipp Laux left to join Stuttgart as a U/19 coach, fitness coach Tim Lobinger left for Chemnitz, scout Wolfgang Geiger left for Augsburg, reserve team manager Tino Vogel became a free agent and U/19 coach Lars Weissenberger joined Babelsberg as reserve team manager. Especially Brautigam, Lobinger and Geiger were faces I was sad to see go.

Naturally the empty spots had to be filled - and with low budgets I went looking for great free agents. I went nuts in the effort of having the best coaches possibles for the players to develop and play up to their potential.
For the first team GK coach, Michel Piersoul, was hired. Piersoul had a brief career in lower Belgian leagues and have been coaching goalkeeping in RWDM Brussels for a short stint. Next up was fitness coach: Benjamin Genton. The Frenchman turned out as a defender for French clubs Lorient & Le Havre. Moving on to the new ball control coach: Ivan Zauli. The Italian briefly turned out for Sammarinese club Tre Fiori before coaching to U/19 Cesena.

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New reserve team manager is Italian Franco Semioli, former player with stints in Sampdoria, Fiorentina & Chievo and act as shooting coach. And for the U/19 staff Portuguese Jorge Andrade was acquired. Andrade is a former player with big clubs like FC Porto, Deportivo la Coruna & Juventus and manages offensive coaching.

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New scout in the staff is Iranian Mogi Bayat - former member of the Belgian Charleroi board.

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Transfer-wise I had to see Mark Howard leave fro Brigthon fo 6 mil. DKK leaving a big gap in my centre defense. DM Dominik Kaiser went to Cottbus for 2,3 mio. DKK leaving the starting spot open for Diego Demme. Fabio Coltorti was headhunted by Bayern(!) for 630 DKK - presumingly going to be used as backup or at their reserve team. Sebastian Heidinger signed permanently with Trier and Timo Rottger left for Viktoria Koln. RB Christian Muller left on a free transfer along with Andreas Kerner, Paul Schinke and Christos Papadimitrou (now at Ergotelis).

My youngster ST Vincent Rabiega was loaned out to Berliner AK, ST Tom Natterman alongside with Joshua Kimmich to feeder club Fortuna Koln & Palacios-Martinez to Elversberg. Though I had to withdraw Kimmich and Palacios-Martinez because of 3. Liga's U23-regulation restricting teams to have at least 4 U23 players in the match squad. OMC Nikola Saric didn't get his break-through in the starting 11 and wasn't doing any good as sub either - so he went on loan at RW Essen.

I had a lot of people on trial. Amongst others Twente's Thilo Leugers (went to Al-Sadd), Chateauroux's Ludovic Guerreiro (now at Le Mans), Jonathan Benteke (Christian's brother), Chateauroux's Phousseyne Diaby (who was long set for being my new DM), Las Palmas' Ayoze (now at Lausanne), Heidenheim's Marcel Titsch-Rivero, Bayern's Patrick Weihrauch (now at Recreativo Huelva), old friend Patrick Owomoyela (lost the spot to Ruud), Bordeaux's David Bellion (now at Le Mans), Parma's Fabiano Santacroce (now at Al-Rayyan), Bolton's David Ngog (now at Chicago Fire), Mainz's Petar Sliskovic (now at NY Cosmos), Hull's Abdoulaye Faye (now at Crystal Palace), Zenit's Vladimir Bystrov (now at Columbus Crew), 1860 Munchen's Christopher Schindler (not at Al-Sadd), Juventus' Marco Motta (now at Portland) & Fausto Rossi (now at Blackburn), Anzhi's Marcel Eger, FC Midtjylland's Marco Larsen (now at OB), PSG's Romauld Lacazette (now at WS Bruxelles), Stuttgart's Kevin Muller (now at Lugano), Lyon's Nabil Fekir (now at CSKA Sofia), Dortmund's Johannes Focher (now at Atvidaberg), good-old Josip Simunic (lost the battle against Moras as new starting CB), Manuel Friedrich, Florian Jarjat, Joseph-Desire Job, Rene Aufhauser, Bernard Mendy, Benjamin Lauth & Albert Streit, but they all didn't make the cut.

BUT these new first team players did and they even did on free transfers:

Norweigian RB Espen Ruud. I know Ruud from Danish OB, he's an experienced player with lots of international caps. So I was more than delighted that he signed the contract until June 2016. And as the statistic shows - he played well for OB last season:

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Greek CB Vangelis Moras. I did not now a lot about this guy, but in comparison to Simunic he won because of his age and speed. The internationally capped player was earlier with Hellas Verona and both has experience from Italian and Greek top leagues.

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Italian LB Cristian Molinero. I didn't have to think before signing this player. His experience with Juventus and Stuttgart was something my young squad could benefit of.

Furthermore I was snatching some upcoming talents on free transfer, that could be future starters:
Nantes' Congolese OMC Aristote Ndongala & Moroccan ST Jawad Boukabous
Sevilla's Spanish DM Miguel Angel Garcia Cera
PSG's French CB Alvin Arrondel & ST Alexis Sainrimat
Genoa's Italian ST Said Ahmed Said

Sainrimat & Ndongala was instantly sent on loan at Fortuna Koln in order to advance their skills.

Off the season was and I was excited to see young talent ST Yussuf Poulsen in action. He already scored 14 goals last season so captain ST Daniel Frahn should look over his shoulder. I was very keen to see Yussuf bombing away from the start. He should turn out to be my MVP this season.

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The pre-season went well and 10 games into the season I was still undefeated - knocking out 2. Bundesliga-team Aue from the cup with an outstanding score.

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The squad quickly gained good grades sending 8 players in the weekly best squad:

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Next up in the cup was Bundesliga-team Wolfsburg. I was of course an underdog, but it turned out that I was wrong.

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5-1 with two goals from Yussuf - the young Dane was flying leaving him with an incredible streak and at the top of the top-scoring list - 10 league matches/10 league goals:

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Now it was time for cup again - next opponent was another Bundesliga-team. This time Werder Bremen. Once again I was underdog. And once again I won(!) leaving me with a pretty good feeling for the winter break and placed 1st in the 3. Liga. And RB Leipzig was carrying on towards the quarter-final as the last 3. Liga team in the cup.

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Halfway through the season the goal was changed to win the league and I was provided more money by the board. As usual I strengthened my staff with a couple of new guys:

Another scout, Italian Gaetano Manco, was acquired. Manco had 13 years of playing experience from Italian lower league clubs.

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Italian Cesare Baggi was hired as reserve team fitness coach. Beggi was formerly with Hellas Verona as U/19 coach. Last but not least the U/19 staff was increased with two new faces. Firstly French Tony Lucatelli who acts as tactical coach. Secondly Italian Matteo Lucchese who acts as GK coach. He was formerly a fellow colleague with Beggi as a U/19 GK coach in Hellas Verona.

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The transfer window was used to send more youngsters on loan to gain experience.
Boukabous & Savic went to Zwickau, Said to Viktoria Koln, Arrondel to Grossaspach, Lai to Goslar and Fratto joined Rabiega at Berliner AK. And apparently two of my 1999-regens had made themselves valuable enough to get contracts with Austrian Rapid Wien. Siljak & Matip therefore left for 500K & 460K DKK.

A new man for the starting eleven was Slovenian CB Dominic Maroh on loan from FC Koln, whom replaced CB Tobias Willers and succeeded a very solid defense for the rest of the season. And filling in the role as backup goal keeper came Bosnian talent Osman Hadzikic as a free transfer from Austria Wien. Last man to sign was CB Baptiste Aloe opting in for a starting 11 position possibly already next season - he signed on a free transfer from French Marseille.

The new regens this year:

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RB Leipzig 4+ star players born 2000: CB Patrick Gralla (4), OM Tobias Baal (4), ST Mario Kriegshauser (4), ST Alexander Julich (4), LB/RB Jarno Kurth (4,5), RB Kevin Daum (4), LM Aleksandar Matic (4)

Carrying on with the league I was extending the lead with over 10 points to next opponent.

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I had reached the quarter final in the cup. The opponent was - surprise! - another Bundesliga team. This time Augsburg who at this point was fighting for survival at the top tier. They were DEFEATED! And RB Leipzig was carrying on towards the semi-final together with 2. Bundesliga team Eintracht Frankfurt and the two Bundesliga teams Kaiserslautern & Dortmund.

With 11 matches left in the 3. Liga the standings was like this in the different German leagues:
(from left to right: Bundesliga, 2. Bundesliga, 3. Liga)

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Back to the cup. My hope was high! Kaiserslautern was set to visit Leipzig for the semi-final of DFB-Pokal. My team was a little tired after playing against HSV II just two days before the match. And even though getting in front by an own goal by Kaiserslautern, I lost in the overtime - and even got a red card for Aloe. So finally I was knocked out of the cup. Well fought my boys! (Later on Kaiserslautern lost the final to Dortmund.)

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Ending the season with 29 wins, 83 goals and 21 points down to Chemnitz as number two - breaking the 3. Liga record for most points and goals in a season. A season of great play and overwhelming performance by the team. High hopes for staying up in 2. Bundesliga next season!
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Transfer overview:
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Best 11:
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3. Liga result:
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Matches & results:
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3. Liga Best 11:
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[Kapzlock]

2015/2016-season until winter break

2015/2016-season
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Work in progress!

Finishing 1st in 3. Liga I was determined to stay up in 2. Bundesliga. But my board was aiming for a middle position. Therefore I had to improve my team once again.

Director of football Ralf Rangnick didn't want to get a new contract so he left. My good old fitness coach Rolf Herings was retiring. And I wanted to improve my staff further so I let go of assistant manager Wolfgang Funkel, whom else was quite decent, Head of youth development Marcus Behrens, U/19 manager Jens Hartel (now U/19 Manager at Schalke) and scout Thomas Schlieck (now at Bochum).

Off course I had to do some replacement so I snatched the following:
New assistant became English Warren Joyce - former player and manager for Hull as long as coach for Tranmere, Leeds and Man U. He also have managed Antwerp so he has a lot of experience! Warren is currently defending coach.
Next up is Danish Brian Laudrup, former international player and younger brother of Michael Laudrup. He played in big clubs such as Bayern Munich, Fiorentina, Rangers, Chelsea & Ajax and now acts as shooting coach.
I also got a second GK coach in Dutch Dorus de Vries. The former Swansea GK has a lot of skill to pass on to the new talents in the club. Now the first team staff was all specialized up and ready to take on 2. Bundesliga!

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The youth squad was also reinforced:
New head of development is former manager of Atalanta: Italian Giancarlo Finardi. Finardi also has a good experience with youth teams and coaches ball control.
New U/19 manager is French Yoan Oswald. He has experience as a player in the lower French leagues and stopped his career in Ligue 2 with CA Bastia.
His new assistant will be the famous "Il Muro": Argentine Walter Samuel! With 10 seasons at Inter he has a lot to teach - he shares the act of defending coach with Oswald.

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New scout is Danish Jesper Thygesen, whom was released by Danish Hobro. Thygesen played in the Danish top tier for teams like Silkeborg, Brondby and Randers.

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From the starting 11 I had two end of contracts, which I considered not would be able to continue as starters at a higher level. Therefore I had to let go of Brazilian OMC Thiago Rockenbach and German CB Tobias Willers, who went to newly relegated Saarbrucken. Other end of contracts was Finnish LB Mikko Sumusalo (now at SJK), GK Benjamin Bellot and youngsters ST Tom Nattermann, OMC Aristote Ndongala (now at Duisburg), ST Jawad Boukabous, RB Milan Savic (now at Rostock) & LB Diego Fratto (now at Aachen). Furthermore the following got their loans prolonged as permanent transfers: Vincent Rabiaga (Berliner AK), Fabian Franke (Lotte), Alexis Sainrimat (Fortuna Koln) & Nikola Saric (RW Essen).

Austrian backup RM/LM Georg Teigl did not play that well as he was better as offensive wings. Therefore I didn't think twice when FC Koln offered him a contract. He left for 6,25 mil. DKK. Young gun CB Antonio Auriemma was getting attention from Italian Genoa and was also released for 4,25 mil. DKK. And 1999-regen Kadir Kalafatoglu signed a contract with Fenerbahce - however the transfer date is not until 1/1-2018.

This time I didn't have the minimum of 4 U23-regulation to have in mind. So loan-wise I shipped off the following:
DM Diego Demme to Bochum.
Unhappy GK Osman Hadzikic to Braunschweig.
DM Joshua Kimmich to Hansa Rostock.
ST Federico Palacios-Martinez to Wehen Wiesbaden.
CB Alvin Arrondel, LB Anthony Jung and ST Said Ahmed Said to Sportfreunde Lotte.
GK Alessandro Vitiello to Avellino - returned again during the fall season due to not getting any caps.
ST Simone Lai to RW Essen.
ST Francesco Grazioso to Aachen.
DM Andrea Peroni to Wuppertal.
RB/LB Luca Pellegrino to Meuselwitz.

As trial king I continued testing potential players:
Amongst others Danish Anders K. Jacobsen from Aab. He's nicknamed "AK-47" from his goal scoring skills but signed with FC Copenhagen. Furthermore FC Porto B's Francisco Ramos, Leverkusen's Roberto Hilbert, Sochaux's Loic Poujol (now at Clermont), Karlsruhe's Manuel Gulde, Ajax's Gino van Kessel (now at NEC), Le Mans' Anthony Derouard (now at Sedan), Frosinone's Daniele Frabotta, Hellas Verona's Francesco Zampano (now at Novara), Brondby's Mikkel Thygsen, FC Copenhagen's Jakob Busk (now at AGF), Nordsjaelland's Uffe Bech, Zinedine's son Real Madrid's Enzo Zidane, Wolfsburg's Rasmus Jonsson, Inter's Simone Benedetti, Lazio's Milos Antic, FC Sion's Gaetan Karlen, Fulham's Mesca (now at Derby), Hertha's Johannes van den Bergh (now at Cottbus), Palermo's Daniele Di Gennaro (now at Telstar), Nurnberg's Willi Evseev (now at Munster), Fiorentina's Saverio Madrigali, Gremio's Robertino Canavesio, Torino's Mattia Aramu, Milan's Rodrigo Ely, Bordeaux's Younes Kaabouni (now at Laval), Botafogo's Kerlyson, Real Madrid's Ivan Saez, Chievo Verona's Radoslav Kirilov, Zaragoza's Joel Valencia (now at Volga) & Aston Villa's Alan Hutton (now at Al-Rayyan), but they didn't make the cut or signed with other clubs.

New faces in the first team is:
New starter Danish RM Jens Stryger Larsen signed from FC Nordsjaelland for 9,25 mil. DKK. He broke the record as the most expensive buy in the club ever. Stryger has 7 season with Brondby before going to Nordsjaelland and is capped at the Danish U/21 national team. I have mixed expectations from this player - but he seems to have potential.

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New starter German LM Kevin Wolze signed from Duisburg on a free transfer. Wolze was a regurlar starter for Duisburg in the two past seasons and he'd got some good experience from that. He is a former Wolfsburg youth player and also has a stint in English Bolton. His potential unfortunately dropped when I was promoted to 2. Bundesliga (I signed him without a trial). So I actually used former season starter, Andre Luge, in the first few matches. Wolze then proved his worth and gained his starter status.

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New starter Belgian DM Charni Ekangamene signed from Man U on a free transfer. I have high expectations for this guy as he was bought as clearly first choice for the DM position. He has experience form one season in League 1 with Carlisle besides his youth team experience in United. He has gained caps for the Belgian national U/21 team, but strong competition from Chelsea's Charly Musunda has kept him mainly as a sub.

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Dutch LB Mitchell Dijks signed from Ajax on a free transfer. The Dutchman has gained 3 U/21 national caps. He has experience from a loan spell at Heerenveen and spend last season at Jong Ajax in Jupiler League before getting dumbed. Originally signed as future starter but quickly replaced Molinaro on LB.

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Austrian DM Peter Michorl signed from Austria Wien on a free transfer. Bought as young backup and originally signed by director of sports Ralf Rangnick. I was actually determined to use Joshua Kimmich as a backup for Ekangamene, but with that signing I had to send Kimmich off as clubs didn't want Michorl on loan. Hopefully I can generate some money of this guy later on.

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Ghanaian RB Nii Nortey Ashong signed from Fiorentina on a free transfer. Bought as a backup for Ruud on RB but can also play LB. He is capped two times for Ghanaian U/20 national team and has experience from Serie B & C with Spezia and Trapani. I still think this unpolished diamond have something to show.

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Loan-wise I signed Man U's Belgian OMC Andreas Pereira for the starting 11 and Fiorentina's Italian CB Michele Camporese as backup. Pereira has experience from English Championship from a loan spell at Leicester and replaces stable Thiago Rockenbach.

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I was also snatching some upcoming talents on free transfer:
Atletico Madrid B's Spanish ST Hector
Man U's English GK Dean Henderson
Chelsea's Ivorian OMC Victorien Angban

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Hector was instantly sent on loan at Fortuna Koln in order to gain experience.

For the youth squad I signed only Danish talent regens: CB Jannik Vorret from Brondby, ST Nicklas Pedersen from AaB, RB Henrik Andersen & LM Kasper Andersen from AGF and ST Rene Borg from Lyngby. All playing for Danish U/19 squad and all together bought for roughly 8 mil. DKK.

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Now the scene was set for the 2. Bundesliga with new teams St. Pauli & Braunschweig from Bundesliga and RB Leipzig and Chemnitz from 3. Liga.

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After a great start in the league, I was knocked-out of the cup by Bundesliga team Augsburg after extra time. Then followed a loss to Hannover in the league, but then things turned around and a streak began. A streak with 12 unbeaten games leaving me on top of the league! Overwhelming performance by the new 2. Bundesliga team I think.

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My boy Yussuf is still playing well, but has got a little megalomania alongside with Siegrist, asking for transfers to bigger clubs. I hope I can retain them with a possible promotion to Der Bundesliga.

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Now the winter break is getting closer - leaving Leipzig, Paderborn and Eintracht Frankfurt in the top of the league with good air down to the next competitors. At this point we only have one loss in the league(!) - as newcomers in 2. Bundesliga.

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Celebrating my 100th match as manager for RB Leipzig, I won 2-1 against Greuther Furth. 8 wins in a row and without defeat in 14 matches.

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Sadly the streak went cold in the next game against Karlsruhe. I lost 1-3 and was furious that my team suddenly lost to a team placed in the bottom of the league.

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The final match of the fall season ended in a draw against Aue - not approved at all compared to the rest of the fall. But I'm still leading 2. Bundesliga as newcomer.

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Right now I speculate how to use the transfer window in order to remain leader of the league.

Will continue after the winter break...​

 

[Kapzlock]

I hope you enjoy my story and I will continue after the upcoming winter break in 2015/2016-season 2. Bundesliga.

 

[Kapzlock]

2015/2016-season after winter break

Just before New Years Eve 15/16 I got the opportunity to sign Xabi Alonso on free transfer(!). I couldn't turn down a name like that and this guy don't need any introduction. He would now act as starter DM and offensive coach, which will be his first job as playing coach.

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He would be the first signing of five during the winter break. The other four was:

Japanese CB Maya Yoshida. Yoshida was the second player to have played in the 2014 World Cup and was acquired from Southampton on a free transfer.

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Finnish youngster CB Nils Salomonsson. Nils came from Finnish HJK and was acquired by my head of youth development. He was instantly send on loan at Osnabruck in 3. Liga. He will not play for my first team I think.

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Algerian ST Islam Slimani. As both strikers Poulsen and Frahn were having bad streaks due to unhappiness and decreasing abilities I had to take action. 3rd 2014 WC player was acquired. Slimani was playing well for Sporting's B Team - scoring 13 goals in 16 matches so he seemed as a good bomber up front.

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Brazilian youngster LB Jorge. Jorge was acquired as backup LB Molinaro had announced his retirement. Jorge will act as backup from next season. He was immediately send on loan to Sao Paulo in Brazil.

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As usual I had some players on trial:
Scottish Alan Hutton formerly with Aston Villa - he signed for Al-Rayyan, once again I tested Roberto Hilbert, Benfica's GK Jan Oblak, Sporting's RB Bernardo Carlos, Porto's ST Andre Silva, Eintracht Frankfurt's Sonny Kittel and Standard Liege's Daniel Opare but they didn't make the cut or still had contracts with their clubs.

With the signing of Xabi Alonso I had to many players on DM and ST, so I shipped off Michorl to Aachen and Thomalla to Dresden. Furthermore GK Vitiello was send out again - this time to Hannover and Nii Nortey Ashong was lend by Italian Novara by request.
The new regens this year:

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RB Leipzig 4+ star players born 2001: LM Adam Grimm (4,5), ST Agim Sabic (4), CB Celestine Etoundi (4), DM Fausto Gatti (4), CB Christoph Kolan (4), LM Muamer Zupic (4), CB Bernd Weirauch (4), OM Sven Banduhn (4)

Carrying on with the league I started out losing 1-4 home to Hannover. The following matches went better as I won three times in a row. In one of them, against Chemnitz, I watched a fabulous goal from LM Kevin Wolze scoring almost from the midfield area:

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The following two matches ended as draws before meeting up with Paderborn, which went terribly wrong with two red cards - sadly enough given to my new signings:

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Having a relatively decent run towards the end of the season I found myself in the lead, but the competition getting really close with two matches left:

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Losing the next match against Eintracht Frankfurt I lost my position and went down to 3rd place. My season was about to go terribly wrong. It would be devastating to lose the promotion so close to the end of the season. Now there was only 2 points between number 1 and number 4 in the league with just one match left! This was too exciting before the last match!

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It was a thrilling last round of matches! Sigurdarson started off scoring for Hannover sending my hopes down the drain, but Pereira put Leipzig in front minutes after. Furth GK Mannel was assigned as an own goal scorer putting Leipzig in front with 2 goals. Elsewhere Eintracht Frankfurt was leading against Dresden leaving them out of the equation for winners. At halftime the standing was the following: 1st Hannover, 2nd Leipzig, 3rd Dresden and 4th Paderborn. Furth scored quickly in 2nd half getting me very very nervous. It was very important to land all 3 points. And with just 4 minutes left of the Hannover game Gerrit Wegkamp of Dusseldorf scored the equalizing goal sending Leipzig back at the top of the league as WINNERS of the 2. Bundesliga in their very first season at that tier!

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Transfer overview:

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Best 11:
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2. Bundesliga result:
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Matches & results:
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2. Bundesliga Best 11:
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​

 

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RB Leipzig - Bundesliga 2016/2017 - July

RB Leipzig - Bundesliga 2016/2017 - July

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Some of the first news from July was the retiring of
GK coach Michel Piersoul. The Belgian had a great spell in Leipzig and will be missed. His replacement though was quickly found in American star Tim Howard. Howard ended his active career in Everton with 427 club matches played. In his early years he played for MetroStars (now NY Red Bull) and would fit in my international setup of the club very well.


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A few days later head scout Hans-Jurgen Kreische didn't got his contract extended alongside the two scouts: Detlev Dammaier and Ronny Kujat. They served Leipzig well finding several potential good players. But times has changed from 3. Liga until now, and the staff level has to match the tier-level.

They were replaced by the following:
Head scout Welsh David Williams. Williams was formerly with Manchester United and must have some great players in his scout report database. At least he has the skills to find new fine players. He was joined by new scouts; German Norbert Elgert - the former Schalke player and assistant manager & English Tony Banfield former scout of Arsenal.

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Furthermore fitness coach Benjamin Genton and U/19 coaches Jorge Andrade & Matteo Lucchese was ending contracts.
Genton was replaced with new Leipzig II fitness coach: Austrian Josef Gehmaier. Gehmaier was bought in Mainz U/19 and has formerly been in a Red Bull setup in Salzburg. Therefore he was handpicked for the job as he can coach both first team and youth team. Last new face in Leipzig was Norwegian physio Bard Ove Homstol. Homstol is also working as physio for the Norwegian U/21 team. He has experience as assistant manager in Stromsgodset and Stabaek.

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The pre-season was coming up and I had a lot of players ending contracts - mainly from my youth squad. The following was therefore led go:
Croatian RM Elvis Osmani, Italian LB Cristian Molinaro (had announced his retirement), Austiran DM Peter Michorl (he didn't develop as fast as Kimmich), English GK Dean Henderson (didn't want to extend his contract - now at Bolton), Italian ST Francesco Grazioso, French CB Alvin Arrondel (he didn't get as good as Aloé - now at Chateauroux), German and stable RM Clemens Fandrich (he didn't have the skills for the top-tier), German GK Nikolas Tix, German LB Anthony Jung (now at 1860 Munich), French RM Hector Jimenez (now at Viktoria Koln), Italian RB Luca Pellegrino signed permanently with Meuselwitz, Italian DM Andrea Peroni signed permanently with Wuppertal and Italian ST Simone Lai signed permanently with RW Essen. Faithful captain ST Daniel Frahn leaves on free transfer to Aue, Algerian ST Islam Slimani didn't breaktrough as wanted and was shipped off to Hannover for 20 mil. DKK and Japanese Maya Yoshida was transferred to Modena for 10 mil. DKK as he was not as good as I wanted.

I also saw the following youngsters go on loans:
RB Nick Schumann went to LOK Leipzig, CB Florian Pohl went to Saarbrucken, ST Federico Palacios-Martinez went to SV Grodig, LB Nii Nortey Ashong went to Duisburg, ST Sais Ahmed Said went to Aalen, GK Alessandro Vitiello went to Trier, DM Miguel Angel Garcia Cera went to Offenbach, CB Nils Salomonsson went to Karlsruhe, ST Wesley Said went to Fortuna Koln & ST Hector went to Las Palmas (his first club).

I saw the opportunity to test out some potential and new players in the pre-matches against Fortuna Koln, Wiedenbruck, Reading, Clermont, PAOK, Ast. Tripolis & Sheffield Wednesday.

Firstly I had some new opportunities to attract way more famous players than before. Therefore I got the following on trials:
Dutch LM Jean-Paul Boetius
formerly with Feyenoord, German OM Sebastian Maier (now at Heidenheim), Belgian OM Julien de Sart (now at Bochum), Swansea's Dutch OM Kenji Gorre, Ukranian OM Vladyslav Kalitvintsev formerly with Dynamo Kiev, Atalanta's Italian RB Andrea Conti, Dutch ST Joel Donald (now at Den Bosch), Auxerre's RB Diacko Fofana, Senegalese LB Moustapha Seck formerly with Lazio, Mexican RM Paul Aguilar formerly with America, Slovenian GK Jan Oblak (now at Levadeiakos), Bolivian OM Samuel Galindo (now at Academica), English CM Jermaine Jenas, Brazilian OM Victor da Silva, Colombian DM Carlos Sanchez, Serbian LM Filip Malbasic, Portuguese DM Gabriel, Senegalese ST Abdoulaye Sane, Italian OM Nicolas Claveria, Italian RM Riccardo Fiamozzi, German ST Lukas Podolski(!), English OM Steven Davis (now at QPR), English OM Ravel Morrison (now at Hoffenheim), Australian GK Mitchell Langerak (now at Furth), English LM Scott Sinclair, Turkish DM Robin Yalcin, German GK Max Grun, Argentinian CB Federico Fernandez, Peruvian OM Junior Ponce, Canadian ST Junior Hoilett (now at Levante), Danish CB Frederik Sørensen, Russian OM Victor Faizulin, Icelandic CB Hordur Magnusson, Hondurian BM Andy Najar, Austrian CB Lukas Spendlhofer, Italian CB Giuseppe Bellusci (now at Mainz), Croatian OM Niko Kranjcar and Danish CB Mathias "Zanka" Jørgensen.

New signings for the Bundesliga buildup:
Scottish ST Alex Jakubiak. Signed on free transfer from Everton. This guy is still under 20 and have a finishing better than any of my players. I have high hopes that he will develop even further to a newborn star.

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French ST Wesley Said. Signed on free transfer from Rennes. I've bought this guys in earlier saves and he has great potential as common goal scorer in e.g Premier League. He was immediately send on loan to Fortuna Koln.

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Hungarian CB Akos Kecskes. Kescskes was signed on free from Atalanta and will act as backup for the starters.

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Polish OM Sonny Kittel signed on free from Eintracht Frankfurt. He will act as backup.

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Polish GK Mateusz Kuchta signed on free from PSV. He will act as 3rd GK.

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Furthermore I signed the following of my trialists:
German ST Lukas Podolski. Yes you heard right! Podolski is replacing Slimani and signed a lucrative contract keeping him in the club for 3 years. He have a lot of experience we will welcome in the club. He was formerly with Arsenal.

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Danish CB Frederik Sørensen. Sørensen is replacing Yoshida and was formerly with Juventus & Bologna. I really wanted to sign a new Dane for the first team and Sørensen was chosen.

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Italian RM Riccardo Fiamozzi. Fiamozzi was formerly with Varese and has also a spell in Milan. He has good grades from his Serie B matches.

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Dutch LM Jean-Paul Boetius. Boetius was formerly with Feyenoord and is signed as backup for Kevin Wolze.

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Senegalese LB Moustapha Seck. Seck is signed as new talent for the future.

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Last signing is Slovakian OM Albert Rusnak on loan from Man City. He will act as starter.

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The pre-matches went fairly well - managed by my assistant coach.
Started off with a loss to Fortuna Koln 1-3 (very very bad result) - Poulsen was the goal scorer.
Wiedenbruck was defeated 3-1 - Dijks, Morrison & Bellusci scored.
Draw against Reading 3-3 - Goals by Sane, Malbasic & Davis.
Draw against Clermont 3-3 once again - Goals by Morrison, Sane & Stryger Larsen.
PAOK was defeated 1-0 - Own goal.
Tripolis was defeated 5-2 - Goals by Malbasic (x2), Jakubiak (x3)
Sheffield W was defeated 5-1 - All goals by Leipzig: Claveria (1+1 OG), Sinclair (x2), Ponce & Faizulin.

Last game of July was in the German cup: DFB-Pokal.
It was a matchup against 3. Liga side Duisburg - our old competitor.
Ended with a 3-1 win - Goals by Jakubiak, Poulsen and Fiamozzi

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Next up is Schalke in the league! Exciting stuff!​

 

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RB Leipzig - Bundesliga 2016/2017 - August

RB Leipzig - Bundesliga 2016/2017 - August

First event of August was the signing of Angolan RM Geraldo. Geraldo was bought for 16 mio. DKK as starter on RM from Austrian sister club RB Salzburg. Born in 1991 he already have a lot of international experience. He has signed on a long-term contract keeping him in the club until 2020.

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The bookmakers gave me as good as no chance of winning and thereby staying in the Bundesliga:

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And I would soon get a feeling if they would be right. First league match was against Schalke 04.
Ended with a 1-0 loss - we only had 1 attempt on target and a possession of 34%. CB Frederik Sørensen took man of the match though.

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Next up was FC Koln. This time way better possession of 44% and 3 attempts on target. One of them went in as ST Lukas Podolski was noted as RB Leipzig's first goalscorer in the Bundesliga - ever. The match ended 1-3 to Koln.

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Next match was against Leverkusen. Ended in a 1-0 loss. Low possession of 36% and no attempts on goal. Pretty bad. Thankfully they didn't manage to score more than one goal. Man of the match ended up to be GK Osman Hadzikic who replaced an injured Benjamin Siegrist after 23 minutes.

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After the loss to Leverkusen, RB Leipzig was noted for the 3rd loss in a row, which was a new club record(!).

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Last matchup in August was against Hoffenheim. Podolski scores his second goal of the season on a penalty kick. Sadly LB Mitchell Dijks was sent off in the 1-2 home loss. Possession was 43% and 3 attempts on target.

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At the end of the month I chose to send some players on loan. It included the following young players:
Ivorian OM Victorien Angban to Burghausen in German 3. Liga
Senegalese LB Moustapha Seck to Murcia in Spanish Liga Adelante
German U/19 OM Thorsten Hamidovic to Grossaspach in German 3. Liga
German U/19 RM Addy Ndongala to Unterhaching in German 3. Liga

All in all a bad start of the season ending up with 4 losses in 4 matches.​

 

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RB Leipzig - Bundesliga 2016/2017 - September

RB Leipzig - Bundesliga 2016/2017 - September

Starting September with RB Leipzig's first win ever in the Bundesliga, when they won home against Borussia Monchengladbach on an own goal by their GK Yann Sommer in the over timer. With 4 attempts on target and a possession of 40%. CB Frederik Sørensen was nominated man of the match once again.

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Next match was away against Stuttgart losing 0-1 with only 2 attempts on goal but with 46% of possession. Best percentage so far in the season.

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Halfway through September it was time for another new signing. Bringing Argentinian OM Juan Iturbe in on a free transfer after being released by FC Porto. The young player has already lots of international experience with the U/20 squad. He signed for 2020 like Geraldo. He won the spot against the other trialist Moroccan Adel Taarabt who later went to Dutch Vitesse.

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Iturbe was signed just in time for the cup game against Erzgebirge Aue from the 2. Bundesliga.It should turn out to be Geraldo's match scoring hat-trick and taking man of the match. This time we had 8 attempts on goal and 49% possession.

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Last match of September was away against Nurnberg. The game ended up with a 0-3 loss with 4 attempts on goal and a possession of 49%. Leaving RB Leipzig positioned as 16th in the league.

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RB Leipzig - Bundesliga 2016/2017 - October

RB Leipzig - Bundesliga 2016/2017 - October

First up in October was Kaiserslautern at home. Ended up with a 0-1 loss although we had 5 attempts on target (one more than 'Slautern) and 46% possession.

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Things had to change - new formation. I needed to do a change now as I new my players had to adapt the new system during the league games. Though I was a bit sad that my 4-1-2-1-2 formation didn't outsmart the other Bundesliga teams. Instead I found a new formation that fitted my players even better: a 4-2-3-1.

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GK, RB, 2xCB, LB, 2xCM, OML, OMC, OMR, ST

Next match was against Hannover away. With an equal attempts on goal ( 6 ) I was sad to see Hannover take the 1-2 win. Especially when the possession was higher than ever this season reaching 57%. It seemed like the new tactic already had done something positive. RB Leipzig goalscorer was Stryger Larsen.

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Next up was tuff Bundesliga leaders Bayern Munchen at home. With only 1 attempt on goal I was pleased to see Yussuf Poulsen bring Leipzig in the lead with his first Bundesliga goal. Unfortunately it only lasted to second half where Bayern put in two goals. The possession was 39% - but all in all an acceptable loss to a team in the completely other end of the league.

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Last game of October was Hamburger SV away. An even game with 48% of possession where Iturbe & Geraldo scored with 9 attempts on goal.

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At the end of the month there was some new staff signings - I had to improve where I could and they are set to replace coaches which contracts ends in after this season.
For the first team GK coach, Marco Savorani, was hired. The Italian had a career in Italian leagues Serie A, B & C playing for teams as Como and Pescara. He was a youth player in AS Roma and have been coaching goalkeeping in great clubs like Piacenza, Chievo Verona, Atalanta and lately Siena. Next up was French shooting coach: Nicolas Bouvier. The Frenchman turned out for French side club Angers. Moving on to a new physio: Claudio Sprenger. The Italian have experience as physio in AlbinoLeffe.

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Moving on to the U/19 staff:
Italian GK coach Massimo Cataldi was hired. He is completely unexperienced though. Next new face is
English ball control coach Paul McGuinness. McGuinness is a former Man U youth player, youth coach and youth manager. He is set to take over the role as head of youth development when Finardi's contract ends after the season. Last one to join the U/19 staff is Italian physio Alessandro Sforza. He was formerly with Ascoli as U/20 physio.

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2 new scouts was also acquired:
Spanish Jose Luis Lorenzo. Lorenzo is former U/18 manager for Russian side Volga NN and scout of Spanish side Hercules. The other one is American Daniel Karbassiyoon. Karbassiyoon is a former Arsenal youth player and have 10 mathces in English Championship with Ipswich and Burnley. He has also experience as scout for Arsenal.

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Ending this month last in the Bundesliga with only 3 points wasn't though very satisfying. It was a little annoying that we couldn't take the one point in any of the games we lost - all of them only with one goal. I was hoping and relying on my new tactic to get some things started.​