The Quest for European Dominance - A Red Star Belgrade Story

[Klippybo]

2028 UEFA European Championships

Hosts - Spain
Holders - Norway

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Group F

Lineup - Rajkovic*, Markovic, Milenkovic, Pavlovic, Sehovic, Melovic (Maslac), Milinkovic-Savic, Kikic, Deric, Stevanovic (Radonjic), Jovic (Joveljic)

We left it late here as we score a last minute penalty to get the only goal of the game. I dont know how Rajkovic got the MOM award as we dominated throughout but I wont argue lol.

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Lineup - Rajkovic, Markovic (Milic), Milenkovic, Pavlovic, Ristic, Melovic, Milinkovic-Savic, Kikic (V.Vlahovic), Deric (Joveljic), Stevanovic, Jovic

We were absolutely robbed here. Croatia are Serbia's biggest rivals so this was a huge game and we controlled the game from the first minute and took the lead when Jovic finished but they scored with the final kick of the ball when a defensive mix up allowed Marin to score from a seemingly impossible angle.

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Lineup - Rajkovic, Markovic (Milenkovic), Duric, Pavlovic, Ristic (Milic), Maslac, Milinkovic-Savic (Bogdanovic), Kikic*, Deric, Stevanovic, Jovic

A fantastic win but at a cost as both Ristic and Markovic got injured and will miss the remainder of the tournament. We battered Iceland though and the result means that we win the group.

Croatia's last minute equaliser against us proved to be the thing that sends them through!

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2nd Round

Lineup - Rajkovic, Milic, Duric, Pavlovic (Ivetic), Sehovic, Melovic, Milinkovic-Savic, Kikic*, Deric (V.Vlahovic), Stevanovic, Jovic (Mladenovic)

Filip Mladenovic is the hero here as he scored a stoppage time goal to send us into the quarter-finals. Russia proved to be tough opponents here though.

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Quarter-Final

Lineup - Rajkovic, Milic, Milenkovic, Pavlovic, Sehovic, Maslac (Bogdanovic), Milinkovic-Savic, Kikic (V.Vlahovic), Deric*, Stevanovic (Radonjic), Mladenovic (Joveljic)

The draw may have been kind to us but Wales took us to extra-time here which is the last thing that we wanted. We won through in the end though with Igor Deric starring with 2 goals.

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Semi-Final

Lineup - Rajkovic*, Milenkovic, Ivetic, Pavlovic, Maslac, Melovic, Milinkovic-Savic (Bogdanovic), Kikic (Radonjic), Deric (V.Vlahovic), Stevanovic, Jovic (Joveljic)

WE REACH THE FINAL!!!!

What an achievement! We went 2-0 up early on and we looked comfortable and although they pulled a goal back I wasnt overly concerned but with 15min to go I went super defensive and it almost paid off but I was gutted when they levelled with a minute to go. Into extra-time we went and we took the lead when Joveljic finished but they equalised again and it was onto penalties.

It didnt start off well for us as Joveljic missed and they scored but we scored our next 3 via Vlahovic, Radonjic and Stevanovic while they missed one and then Pavard stepped up and Rajovic saved and we were victorious!!!

I should point out that I didnt have 2 full backs available here so I changed my formation to a 3-1-2-3-1 formation.

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Final

Lineup - Rajkovic*, Milic, Milenkovic, Pavlovic, Sehovic, Melovic (Ivetic), Milinkovic-Savic, Kikic (V.Vlahovic), Deric (Maslac), Stevanovic (Radonjic), Jovic

WE ARE WORLD AND EUROPEAN CHAMPIONS!!!!!!!!!!!!

Absolutely insane. How we won this I will never know. Nothing happened for 77min until they took the lead but Igor Deric immediately equalised just as I was preparing to sub him off. They promptly went 2-1 up and I thought it was game over but in the 2nd minute of stoppage time Milinkovic-Savic scored to send the game into extra-time but before that happened we went down to 10 men when Pavlovic got sent-off so it seemed that we had no hope as my players were already our on their feet.

Maslac was dropped back to CM and I subbed off Melovic who was shattered and put on Ivetic so I was playing a 4-2-2-1 formation and somehow we ended up winning. They piled on the pressure but Rajkovic kept them out in a MOM performance and amazingly we took the lead when Vanja Vlahovic struck and unbelievably we scored again early in the 2nd half of extra time when Jovic sprung their offside trap to score.

Astonishing.

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SUMMARY

We had an easy ride up until the semis as we got the draw that my Red Star team craves in the Champions League but it was my Serbian side who got the luck of the draw this time. We cruised through our group and then edged out Russia before knocking Wales out after extra-time. In the semis we got France and defeated them on penalties which set us up with a final tie against Holland.

Having been taken into extra-time in our last 2 matches I didnt give us much hope for the final but despite falling behind twice late on we battled back to level however in the 6th minute of stoppage time we had Pavlovic and it was seemingly game over but no! Vanja Vlahovic scored against the run of play and then as Holland bombarded our goal Luka Jovic broke free to win us the tournament.

The win lifts Serbia up to 6th in the national team rankings and with so many Red Star Belgrade players in my side it shows me that we can be winning the Champions League at club level.

​

 

[Klippybo]

JULY

Lineup - Vandvoordt, Wague, Duric, Propadalo, Simic, Bogdanovic, Doyle (Rajkovic), Vlahovic, Obradovic, Conceicao, Grisales*

Well now! That is some way to start the season as we batter Macva 7-0! Grisales carried on his form from the end of last season as he scored 4 goals while Vanja Vlahovic struck twice on his debut and Conceicao picked up the other. The Euros ended 5 days before this fixture so I have given my Serbian starters 2 weeks off.

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Lineup - Vandevoordt, Wague, Duric, Propadalo, Simic (Sehovic), Bogdanovic (Rajkovic), Doyle, Vlahovic, Obradovic, Conceicao, Grisales*

Another 2 goals for Hector Grisales here but we struggled for the most part despite ending up with 3 goals.

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Lineup - Vandevoordt, Wague, Duric, Pavlovic, Simic, Melovic, Doyle, Kikic*, Deric, Conceicao, Grisales (Mladenovic)

I welcomed back my victorious Serbian players here and we duly put on a show. Kikic scored a hat-trick in a MOM performance but Grisales missed a penalty unfortunately.

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SUMMARY - PRE-SEASON SIGNINGS

We have started the season brilliantly by winning all 3 games with an aggregate score of 15-0! With the Euros ending just days before the start of the season I decided not to do the usual pre-season post as I didnt really have one! That and the fact I was pretty drunk last night lol.

Anywho I have sold a few players. Predrag Rajkovic has left the club permanently to join Watford for £5m. He was my first choice keeper for 6 seasons and he made 320 appearances for us. Also joining Watford was Alejandro Balde for an initial £5.5m and Milivoje Mitrovic for £2.8m.

Yan Couto also left the club to join Al-Hilal for an initial £7.25m. He didnt really do as well as he should have done and was a bit of a disappointment in truth.

The only other permanent sale was that of my young Mexican striker Sergio de la Torre who joined Atalanta for £5m. Other than that it is all loan deals.

Regarding incomings I signed 4 players on free transfers to either help out my B team or to be loaned out to sell on for a profit so I wont bother you with them but I did sign 3 players for the first team.....

Vanja Vlahovic was a pre-arranged deal and he joins us from Man City on a free transfer. The RW scored in the European Championship final for Serbia and he was the reason why I let Vidosavljevic go. He will be backup to Kikic.

With Yan Couto and Balde leaving I needed to bring in 2 full backs to replace them and I had one youngster on my shortlist who I moved heaven and earth to get........

Mihovil Simic joined us from Dinamo Zagreb for £34m to become our 2nd most expensive signing. He has just turned 19 and looks like he will be a world class LB. Because he is Croatian he already has the ability to speak Serbian so that is an added bonus and I expect big things from him.

With the arrival of Simic I have decided to move Pete over to RB and Wague will now be my backup RB so I therefore needed another LB and I ended up bringing back Zlatan Sehovic back to the club for £7.5m. He had 1 season with us previously but having looked around I couldnt find any decent young LBs so I decided to bring in my LB for the national team which can only make us stronger.

Dragan Rajkovic has been promoted to the first team squad to take the place of Mitrovic and Bojan Vujic will be my new backup keeper while Lazar Cepzanovic has returned from his loan spell at Marseille and will be part of my first team squad but with Grisales and Mladenovic in front of him game time may be hard to come by.

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PLAYER OF THE MONTH
HECTOR GRISALES

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SUPER LIGA

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[Klippybo]

AUGUST

Lineup - Vandevoordt, Wague, Duric, Pavlovic (Markovic), Simic, Melovic (Bogdanovic), Doyle, Kikic, Deric (Stevanovic), Conceicao*, Grisales

2 more goals for Hector Grisales and he even had 1 disallowed!

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Lineup - Vandevoordt, Pete (Markovic), Duric*, Pavlovic, Simic, Melovic, Doyle (Bogdanovic), Kikic (Vlahovic), Deric, Conceicao, Grisales

A comfortable derby victory and another 2 goals for our Colombian marksman! It was Andrej Duric who got the MOM award though as he got an assist and he is performing so well that Markovic cant get into the side at the moment.

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Lineup - Vandevoordt, Pete, Duric, Pavlovic, Simic, Melovic, Doyle*, Kikic, Deric, Conceicao (Stevanovic), Grisales (Mladenovic)

Vojvodina have just been knocked out of the Champions League and we piled on the misery here. Grisales had a goal and I took him off and then Tommy Doyle scored with a penalty and a free-kick which he wouldnt have taken if Grisales had still been on the pitch!

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Lineup - Vandevoordt, Pete*, Duric, Pavlovic, Simic, Melovic, Doyle, Kikic (Vlahovic), Deric (Stevanovic), Conceicao, Grisales (Mladenovic)

For the 2nd game in a row Tommy Doyle benefits from me having subbed off Grisales lol.

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SUMMARY

We carried on winning this month and Grisales carried on scoring the goals. We got a derby win over Partizan Belgrade which was a boost and generally we look as if nobody can get close to us which is quite surprising given that my players havent had a rest yet.

In the Champions League we were actually a 1st seed for the first time and we were put in a group alongside AC Milan, Celtic and Olympiakos.

Regarding AC Milan - they signed one of my youngsters for £4.7m. He is a Bosnian international and never played a first team game and was never going to so I let him go. Alaspahic I think his name was.

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PLAYER OF THE MONTH
TOMMY DOYLE

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SUPER LIGA

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[Klippybo]

SEPTEMBER

Lineup - Vandevoordt, Pete, Markovic, Pavlovic, Simic, Melovic (Rajkovic), Doyle*, Vlahovic (Stevanovic), Deric, Conceicao, Grisales

Grisales fails to score for a change! All 3 of our goals were superb. Pete finished from an angle, Melovic powered one home and Doyle scored with a free-kick.

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UEFA Champions League Group E

Lineup - Vandevoordt, Pete (Wague), Markovic, Pavlovic, Simic, Melovic, Doyle, Vlahovic (Stevanovic), Deric (Rajkovic), Conceicao, Grisales*

Fantastic. We were 2-0 up and cruising but AC Milan fought back to draw level in the 2nd half but we got the winner when Stevanovic pulled the ball back for Grisales who slammed the ball in to the roof of the net to give us a great victory.

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Lineup - Vandevoordt, Pete, Markovic, Pavlovic, Simic, Melovic (Bogdanovic), Doyle, Kikic, Deric (Stevanovic), Conceicao, Grisales*

Hector Grisales was outstanding and put Novi Pazar to the sword with 4 goals including 2 penalties and a free-kick. Bogdanovic got the goal of the game though with a low drive from 25 yards.

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Lineup - Vandevoordt, Pete, Markovic, Pavlovic, Simic, Melovic, Doyle, Kikic, Deric (Vlahovic), Conceicao*, Grisales (Mladenovic)

Not our best performance but we got the win and thats the main thing. Kikic bagged 2 goals while we kept anohter clean sheet - 6 in a row now in the league.

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Lineup - Vandevoordt, Pete, Markovic, Pavlovic, Simic, Melovic (Bogdanovic), Doyle (Obradovic), Vlahovic (Stevanovic), Deric, Conceicao, Grisales*

We put on a show in the first half here as we scored 4 goals with Grisales helping himself to a hat-trick. Not adding to the scoreline in the 2nd half is annoying though.

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UEFA Champions League Group E

Lineup - Vandevoordt, Wague, Duric, Propadalo, Sehovic, Bogdanovic (Brabec), Rajkovic, Vlahovic*, Obradovic, Stevanovic, Mladenovic (Cepzanovic)

I rested my first teamers and put out my backups here and they were fantastic as we banged in 5 goals past hapless Celtic. Vanja Vlahovic scored a hat-trick and assisted another while Mladenovic got his first goal of the season as did Obradovic. I will probably play my backups for the remainder of the group tbh.

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Lineup - Vandevoordt, Pete, Markovic, Pavlovic, Simic (Wague), Melovic*, Doyle, Kikic (Vlahovic), Deric, Conceicao, Grisales

A fine performance and for once the goals were shared around the team as we had 5 different scorers in this match.

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SUMMARY

My fears at the start of the season was that we would struggle due to my players being involved in the Euros and that they would be shattered without having much of a break but as it turns out we have had the best start to a season ever! We are destroying just about everyone who we come up against and I am absolutely loving it!

This month we had some big victories over Novi Pazar and Vozdovac and we are already 10pts clear, almost averaging 4 goals a game and we have only conceded 1 goal!

We are doing great in Europe too!!! We beat AC Milan in the San Siro with a last minute winner and then my backups went out and beat Celtic 5-1! I will play my backups for the remaining 4 group games as I fancy their chances of getting the results plus they need games!

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PLAYER OF THE MONTH
HECTOR GRISALES

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SUPER LIGA

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SERBIA

UEFA Nations League Division A Group 1

Lineup - Rajkovic, Markovic, Ivetic, Duric, Sehovic (Zivojinov), Melovic, Milinkovic-Savic*, Kikic, Deric, Stevanovic (Vidosavljevic), Jovic (Mladenovic)

With England and Italy in our group it was imperative that we beat the Czech Republic and we did so thanks to 2 goals from Milinkovic-Savic. Luka Jovic won his 100th cap and had a goal disallowed while I handed a debut to Nebojsa Zivojnov of Partizan Belgrade.

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UEFA Nations League Division A Group 1

Lineup - Rajkovic, Markovic, Milenkovic, Pavlovic, Sehovic, Melovic (Bogdanovic), Milinkovic-Savic, Kikic (V.Vlahovic), Deric (Maslac), Stevanovic, Jovic*

Fantastic. Luka Jovic got the goals as we beat England to take charge of the group. The clean sheet is particularly pleasing as we have been leaking goals of late.​

 

[Klippybo]

OCTOBER

Lineup - Vandevoordt, Wague, Markovic*, Pavlovic, Simic (Sehovic), Melovic (Rajkovic), Bogdanovic, Kikic, Deric (Stevanovic), Conceicao, Grisales

I expected a bigger winning margin here if I am honest but hey ho. Another win, another clean sheet and 2 more goals for Grisales.

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UEFA Champions League Group E

Lineup - Vandevoordt, Wague, Duric, Propadalo, Sehovic*, Bogdanovic, Rajkovic, Vlahovic, Obradovic, Stevanovic, Mladenovic (Cepzanovic)

Out came the backups as promised and they did what was required. Mladenovic has been on at me to start more games but I can hardly drop Grisales just now can I so I am going to have an unhappy striker on my hands very shortly.

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Lineup - Vandevoordt, Pete, Markovic, Pavlovic, Simic, Melovic (Bogdanovic), Doyle, Kikic, Deric, Conceicao, Grisales*

While I am delighted that we smashed in 8 goals here with hat-tricks from both Conceicao and Grisales I am seriously ****** off that we conceded 2 goals after a run of 9 clean sheets in a row.

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Kup Srbije 1st Round

Lineup - Vandevoordt, Wague, Duric, Propadalo, Sehovic, Bogdanovic, Rajkovic (Brabec), Vlahovic*, Obradovic (Marjanovic), Stankovic, Mladenovic (Cepzanovic)

Not bad. Vanja Vlahovic scored a fine hat-trick and he has had a great start to his Red Star career so far as he has 9 goals already and is actually our 2nd top scorer!

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Lineup - Vandevoordt, Pete, Markovic, Pavlovic (Duric), Simic, Melovic*, Doyle, Kikic (Vlahovic), Deric, Conceicao, Grisales (Mladenovic)

Now here I am pleased with the result and annoyed with the goals conceded but more ****** off that after scoring 6 in the first half we didnt add to our tally in the 2nd half.

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SUMMARY

The goals continued to flow this month and we even conceded a few too! Amazingly after 15 league games we are averaging over 4 goals a game and when our last 2 matches were 8-2 and 6-2 victories which boosts the average further!

We progressed in the cup and in the Champions League the group is all but won with 3 games to go so everything is going great.

Not for my B team however. They are still in the cup but they find themselves in a relegation battle for the first time because most of my youngsters have went out on loan and they have sacked their manager. I may spend a couple of million to strengthen their side to help them out in January.

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PLAYER OF THE MONTH
DORDE MELOVIC

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SUPER LIGA

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SERBIA

UEFA Nations League Division A Group 1

Lineup - Rajkovic, Markovic, Milenkovic, Pavlovic, Sehovic, Melovic (Maslac), Milinkovic-Savic, Kikic*, Deric, Stevanovic (Vidosavljevic), Jovic (Joveljic)

This is a missed opportunity as we really should have won this match but we will take a draw and we still top the group by 1pt.

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UEFA Nations League Division A Group 1

Lineup - Rajkovic, Markovic, Milenkovic, Pavlovic, Sehovic, Melovic (Maslac), Milinkovic-Savic*, Kikic (V.Vlahovic), Jovic, Stevanovic, Mladenovic (Joveljic)

A comfortable victory and it is now between ourselves and England for the group as they beat Italy. We are on top on 10pts while England are on 9pts and Italy have 4pts.​

 

[Klippybo]

NOVEMBER

UEFA Champions League Group E

Lineup - Vandevoordt, Wague, Duric, Propadalo, Sehovic, Bogdanovic, Rajkovic, Vlahovic, Obradovic*, Stevanovic, Mladenovic (Cepzanovic)

My backups are finding this Champions League malarkey quite easy! Another 4 goals with Obradovic scoring a great free-kick.

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Lineup - Vandevoordt, Pete, Markovic (Duric), Pavlovic, Simic, Melovic, Doyle (Bogdanovic), Kikic*, Deric, Conceicao, Grisales

This win makes it 36 wins in a row in the league and it is a new record. Another game and it will be a seasons worth but I want to do it in a complete season! Grisales scored his 30th goal of the season here.

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Lineup - Vandevoordt, Pete (Wague), Markovic, Pavlovic, Simic, Melovic, Doyle, Kikic, Obradovic, Conceicao, Grisales*

Grisales is just ridiculous and to think towards the end of the season I was thinking of selling him if I got a decent offer for him. Not now though! His opener came after just 14secs which is a new record.

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UEFA Champions League Group E

Lineup - Vandevoordt, Wague, Propadalo, Duric, Sehovic, Bogdanovic, Rajkovic, Vlahovic, Obradovic, Stevanovic, Mladenovic

Meh. We didnt deserve to lose this match at all but we were defensively poor. Hector Rossi, the scorer of their opening goal, is some player who I considered signing but chose not too because of the foreigners rule but if I had accepted the £190m bid for Kikic he would have been his replacement.

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Lineup - Vandevoordt, Pete (Wague), Markovic (Duric), Pavlovic, Simic, Melovic (Bogdanovic), Doyle, Kikic, Deric, Conceicao, Grisales*

Back to back hat-tricks for Grisales as we easily beat Kabel. This was a fan day and apparently it was a resounding success although the 2 late goals added a bit more gloss to the scoreline.

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Kup Srbije 2nd Round

Lineup - Vandevoordt, Wague, Propadalo, Duric, Sehovic, Bogdanovic (Brabec), Rajkovic, Vlahovic, Obradovic (Cepzanovic), Stevanovic, Mladenovic*

Our opponents are in the 2nd division and managerless so I expected a comfortable victory and I got one. Mladenovic scored a hat-trick which is pleasing as it shows that he is still on top of his game as he has had only 5 sub appearances in the league this season.

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SUMMARY

We actually suffered a defeat this month! My backups unluckily lost to AC Milan 3-2 in the Champions League but I will let them off with that. The weak Champions League group has really played into our hands as it means I get to rest my first team players pretty much every other week considering they havent played in the Serbian Cup either so when my big boys arrive they are fully fit and raring to go.

I appointed the new manager of my B team and results have picked up thankfully but they will be in the bottom group after the split so they better not get relegated! Speaking of relegation I have just realised that my U19 side got relegated last season which is an absolute disgrace but having said that if you are half decent you get chucked into my B team but it is still embarrassing.

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PLAYER OF THE MONTH
HECTOR GRISALES

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SUPER LIGA

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SERBIA

UEFA Nations League Division A Group 1

Lineup - Rajkovic, Markovic, Milenkovic, Pavlovic, Sehovic (Zivojinov), Melovic, Milinkovic-Savic, Kikic, Deric (Maslac), Stevanovic, Mladenovic (D.Vlahovic)

We probably wont win the group now as England leapfrog us and top it by 2pts. Mladenovic had an equaliser disallowed which could have changed everything had it been allowed. Zeljko Kikic won his 50th cap here.

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UEFA Nations League Division A Group 1

Lineup - Rajkovic, Markovic (Milic), Duric, Ivetic, Sehovic, Melovic, Milinkovic-Savic (Bogdanovic), V.Vlahovic*, Deric (Maslac), Stevanovic, Mladenovic

I am not too upset about throwing away the 2 goal lead as England were never likely to slip up against the Czech Republic so I am pleased that we didnt lose 2nd spot.

 

[Klippybo]

DECEMBER

Lineup - Vandevoordt, Pete, Propadalo (Duric), Pavlovic, Sehovic (Wague), Melovic, Doyle, Kikic, Deric, Conceicao, Grisales*

Grisales scored 4 more here and he has scored a hat-trick in our last 3 league games. Kikic had a chance for a hat-trick but he had a penalty saved. One worry though - I was going to play Duric instead of Propadalo but the rules state that you need 2 U21 players to start and with Grisales turning 22 in the summer there will have to be one change coming!

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UEFA Champions League Group E

Lineup - Vandevoordt, Wague, Propadalo, Duric*, Sehovic, Bogdanovic, Rajkovic, Vlahovic, Obradovic, Stevanovic, Mladenovic (Cepzanovic)

Meh. I would have liked to have won the game for the extra money but we still end up as group winners so well done my backups who played 5 out of the 6 games!

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Lineup - Vandevoordt, Pete, Markovic, Pavlovic, Simic, Melovic, Doyle, Kikic, Deric, Conceicao (Stevanovic), Grisales*

No hat-trick for Grisales? He did get 2 though and he is averaging 2 goals a game for the season as he now has 42 goals and we are a fortnight away from Christmas!

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Lineup - Vandevoordt, Pete, Markovic, Pavlovic, Simic, Bogdanovic, Doyle, Kikic*, Deric, Conceicao (Stevanovic), Grisales

What the actual ****? - NO GOAL FOR GRISALES??????????????

Unbelievable, especially when you consider we scored 5 goals here. Kikic got a hat-trick while my 2 CBs popped up with their first goals of the season. Kikic has gone under the radar tbh but he has scored in 7 out of the last 8 league games!

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SUMMARY

We had 3 league games this month and dished out 3 spankings so I will take this opportunity to just put into perspective how well we have done....

16pts clear
90 goals scored in 21 games
Grisales has 40 league goals in 21 games - imagine if he played in the cups!!!!!
Only 7 goals conceded

****** ridiculous.

Grisales probably has won the Golden Boot award before Christmas!!!!!!!!!!!!

In the Champions League we drew with Celtic which was slightly disappointing and we have drawn against Atletico Madrid for the 2nd year in a row in the next round.

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PLAYER OF THE MONTH
ZELJKO KIKIC

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SUPER LIGA

​

 

[Klippybo]

FEBRUARY

Lineup - Vujic, Wague, Markovic, Pavlovic, Sehovic, Melovic, Doyle*, Kikic, Obradovic, Stevanovic (Conceicao), Grisales (Mladenovic)

We come back from the winter break full of injuries! Vandevoordt, Pete, Simic, Deric and Conceicao were all missing or unfit and our performance duly suffered as we only scored the 1 goal from Tommy Doyle's 2nd half header.

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Lineup - Vujic, Wague, Markovic, Pavlovic, Sehovic, Melovic, Doyle, Kikic, Obradovic (Deric), Stevanovic (Conceicao), Grisales*

We were back in amongst the goals here as we notched another 5 with a hat-trick for Grisales - his 8th hat-trick of the season!

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UEFA Champions League 1st Round 1st Leg

Lineup - Vandevoordt, Wague, Markovic, Pavlovic, Sehovic (Propadalo), Melovic, Doyle, Kikic (Stevanovic), Deric, Conceicao, Grisales (Mladenovic)

We were awful here and are fortunate only to be 1 goal behind as our performance was a disgrace and we never threatened their goal at all! We have it all to do in 2nd leg now.

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Lineup - Vandevoordt, Wague, Markovic, Pavlovic, Sehovic*, Bogdanovic, Doyle, Kikic (Vlahovic), Deric (Obradovic), Conceicao (Stevanovic), Grisales

Meh. A win but we struggled mostly. I am playing Conceicao and Deric while they are not fully fit and my first choice full backs are still out injured. Hey ho.

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Lineup - Vandevoordt*, Markovic, Propadalo, Pavlovic, Sehovic (Pete), Melovic, Doyle, Vlahovic (Stevanovic), Deric (Obradovic), Conceicao, Grisales

This year it is Partizan's turn to deny us the perfect league season as they take advantage of us not returning from the winter break on form and also a weakened side. Because of the U21 rule Propadalo came into the side and it is something I need to look at for next season for sure.

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Kup Srbije Quarter-Final

Lineup - Vandevoordt, Wague, Duric, Propadalo, Sehovic, Bogdanovic*, Rajkovic (Brabec), Vlahovic, Obradovic (Olivera), Conceicao, Mladenovic

By god we are struggling just now. Our winning goal here was an absolute screamer though which was a nice moment and I gave a debut to my winter signing - Olivera.

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SUMMARY

I am not happy at all about our return to football after the winter break. For some reason we came back with several players either unfit or injured and our performances have been largely well off the required standard. We dropped our first points of the season away to Partizan so that is 1 aim for the season blown and in the Champions League we lost our 1st leg away to Atletico Madrid 1-0 so that aim is on a shoogly peg too! I expect better.

The makeup of my squad is going to have to change because of the rule that I must have 2 U21 players in the starting XI every week. This season it is Simic and Grisales but Grisales turns 22 in the summer so I will have to find another youngster to come in for somebody but who? Simic, Pete, Deric, Kikic, Melovic and Grisales are certainly going nowhere while all the other 1st picks (Vandevoordt, Pavlovic, Markovic, Doyle and Conceicao) have all been immense so what do I do? Even if I do sell and find another prospect somewhere in a couple of years time when Simic turns 22 I will have to find someone else!

I love having youngsters and having them involved with the 1st team but being forced to start 2 every week is a bit of a nuisance. I build my sides with a young base, say dynasty players, who I can trust for 6 or 7 seasons but it is basically forcing me to sell one or sideline one.

Rant over.

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PLAYER OF THE MONTH
STRAHINJA PAVLOVIC

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SUPER LIGA

​

 

[Klippybo]

MARCH

Lineup - Vandevoordt, Pete (Duric), Markovic, Pavlovic, Simic (Wague), Melovic, Doyle, Kikic*, Deric, Conceicao, Grisales (Mladenovic)

Thats a bit better. We played some nice stuff here and Melovic's goal was a great team move with quick one touch passing. Lets hope we get 4 in our next game!

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UEFA Champions League 1st Round 2nd Leg

Lineup - Vandevoordt, Pete (Wague), Markovic, Pavlovic, Simic (Sehovic), Melovic, Doyle, Kikic, Deric, Conceicao (Obradovic), Grisales*

We make it through thanks to a terrific hat-trick from Hector Grisales. His 1st goal was a 35 yard free-kick which was just amazing and he now has 50 goals for the season.

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Lineup - Vandevoordt, Pete, Duric*, Pavlovic, Simic, Melovic, Doyle (Bogdanovic), Kikic (Vlahovic), Deric, Conceicao, Grisales (Mladenovic)

This game was scheduled 2 weeks ago but the weather meant that the game was postponed. This is actually Mladenovic's first league goal of the season!

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Lineup - Vandevoordt, Pete, Markovic, Pavlovic (Duric), Simic, Melovic, Doyle* (Bogdanovic), Kikic, Deric, Conceicao, Grisales (Mladenovic)

Not bad. We were cruising at half-time but didnt add any more goals in the 2nd half which was mildly annoying. Grisales has failed to score in his last 3 league games now!

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Lineup - Vandevoordt, Pete, Markovic, Duric (Propadalo), Simic, Melovic (Bogdanovic), Doyle, Kikic*, Deric, Conceicao, Grisales (Mladenovic)

Another 3-0 win and yet again we score all our goals in the first half and couldnt be bothered scoring anymore in the 2nd half!!!

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Lineup - Vandevoordt, Pete, Markovic, Pavlovic, Simic, Melovic (Bogdanovic), Doyle, Kikic (Vlahovic), Deric, Conceicao (Stevanovic), Grisales*

CHAMPIONS!!!!!

We retain the league title in fine style! This time we were 3-0 up at half-time but managed to add another 2 goals in the 2nd half as Grisales completed yet another hat-trick and he now has 54 goals for the season!

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SUMMARY

We sealed the title this month, yet again on the final matchday before the league split as we defeated Radnicki 5-0. We won all 5 league matches easily without conceding a goal and we tend to blow teams away in the first half. I now have to decide whether or not to play my backups for the final 7 games of the season. That appeals to me as it means my players are rested for the Champions League fixtures but it would mean that Grisales could be denied scoring 60 plus goals!

Speaking of the Champions League and Grisales it was his hat-trick that sent us through into the quarter-finals to play Man City. They will be the favourites for the tie but we have defeated them before so we have no fear!

The youth intake was pretty ****.

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PLAYER OF THE MONTH
HECTOR GRISALES

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SUPER LIGA

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SERBIA

UEFA World Cup Qualifiers Group C

Lineup - Rajkovic, Markovic, Duric (Bukvic), Pavlovic, Sehovic, Melovic, Bogdanovic (Maslac), Kikic, Deric*, Stevanovic, Mladenovic

I had a bit of fun here and apart from the keeper (who used to play for us) every one of the starting outfield players play for me at Red Star and they had a great time. Deric scored 4, Mladenovic 5, Kikic 3 and even Sehovic got in on the act. Vanja Vlahovic didnt come off the bench though lol. Bukvic made his international debut.

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UEFA World Cup Qualifiers Group C

Lineup - Rajkovic, Markovic, Ivetic, Pavlovic, Sehovic, Melovic, Milinkovic-Savic, Kikic (V.Vlahovic), Deric (Jovic), Stevanovic (Joveljic), Mladenovic

If we had won 8-0 that wouldnt have flattered us here but we have to be content with 2. Mladenovic has certainly enjoyed his recent starts and has 7 goals in his last 3 internationals.​

 

[Klippybo]

END OF SAVE

I played against Man City in the Champions League and after drawing 3-3 away and being 2-0 up at home we still went out and that coupled with me being forced to sell a player to replace him with someone nowhere near their class in the summer has meant after 8 and 3 quarter seasons I think it is time to start somewhere else. I was thinking of it for the last couple of days or so and need a slight refresh.

My last 2 saves have lasted 15 or so seasons and nearly 9 seasons so I do a job!!!

I may have failed in regards to winning the Champions League or any league title but just 1 or maybe 2 defeats (in the same season) in the league and winning the World Cup and European Championships means that I have done amazing methinks.​

 

[Froug]

Wonderboy Kikic finally wanted out?

 

[Klippybo]

Wonderboy Kikic finally wanted out?

No no. Not at all. He, grisales, melovic and deric are all happy. Pete and mladenovic were the disgruntled ones.