"The Titan" <---> OLIVER KAHN is back!

It's a predicament, how often we see a number of talented youngsters fail to make their mark, take the step up! They do not reach their potential or that promise that they showed only some time ago..

These lads, some of them who played in U21's while they were just 15, 16 or 17! And by the time they are 20-22 after having been picked by a bigger club and never been given the same opportunity as earlier, they degrade, regress, and end up being the could have beens!

How the fans adore a young 16yo lad coming on to the pitch in a cup game or in the league, the warm applause and standing ovation... short lived when they are either constantly shifted out on loans, or when they just rot in the reserves.

Ruben Loftus-Cheek when on loan with Karlsruhe a year earlier showed absolutely that promise. He played a few games, but had that hunger to leave a mark and grab that opportunity!
A year later now, Chelsea don't see any promise in him and he seems to be on his way out to a League 1 club, or a Championship club at best.

Jordan Rossiter at Liverpool has suffered more or less the same fate. Highly touted, but not given a fair opportunity. Now the team doesn't seem likely to have a place for him with a high number of 1st team players brought in for that place Rossiter was supposed to fill in at!

Lewis Baker has seen a meteoric rise in his game at Karlsruhe. He has played against the biggest oppositions as well- Bayern, Dortmund, Schalke, Leverkusen among others, Oliver Kahn always believed in his young teenage midfielder on loan from Chelsea.
Baker has not missed a single penalty do far at KSC, with him being the first choice spot kick taker.
Despite being on loan for the last two years, Kahn developed Baker like one of his own. The time and effort clearly shows in Baker's game who can now walk into the midfield of a number of top clubs!
And as a result of this maturity, Oliver Kahn has sanctioned KSC's most expensive signing- Lewis Baker makes his loan into a permanent transfer, costing KSC $14.5m plus another $5m in add ons which should materialize in the next couple of years.
Chelsea would be happy with a potential $20m coming to them, but it's definitely KSC and Kahn having the last laugh!

What can game time and faith from the manager do to the confidence and career of a young player?
Santi Mina is a prime example.
A product of Celta FC in Spain, Mina has been out on loan for the last two years at Karlsruhe. Being the main striker for the club in the 2.Bundesliga the first year, Mina retained his position at the club on loan for another year, this time in the 1.Bundesliga!
Such was Kahn's faith in the young lad that he refrained from buying another striker to replace Mina.
Providing competition for the place and support, was another young striker on loan, James Wilson.
Goran Pandev was signed on a free as a short term option when Mina was out injured for a short period, but when fit and available, Mina had started most of the games, scoring invaluable goals, assisting many more goals, and winning accolades for his overall play- his MOTM awards to show for it in spite not even scoring in some of those games!
This hasn't escaped the eyes of Real Madrid, who have spent $15m plus more in and one to prise Mina away from Celta in a long term contract.
Mina was also wanted by Kahn at KSC, but they simply couldn't compete financially with the Spanish giants!

Ylli Sallahi is now the first name on the team sheet at KSC. The young left back renowned for his attacking style of play and prowess has earned admirers from all over Europe.
Liverpool and Juventus are among the teams interested in his services, but Kahn has issued a hands off warning for his talented young player!
Another season in the top flight playing in the Bundesliga under Kahn should do wonders for the lad, who has stated his desire to play for a bigger club, but admits he would not go against Kahn's wishes and definitely stay on for another year.
Compared to Gareth Bale, Sallahi has had a similar impact at KSC thus far.

Mitchell Weiser, signed on a free from Bayern last year, is a wanted man. KSC appear to be making a $10m profit on the young winger. Weiser scored and assisted a dozen goals last season, and he created havoc with his pace for the oppositions.

Youth is the way forward at KSC now.
 
Babacar is an absolute monster! Scored 50+ goals in his debut season for me (second season ingame).

Some fantastic signings, should hopefully put in a good run in the league this year!..Bayern wont know what hit them.

Great to see some class backroom staff.
 
Disclaimer89 said:
Babacar is an absolute monster! Scored 50+ goals in his debut season for me (second season ingame).

Some fantastic signings, should hopefully put in a good run in the league this year!..Bayern wont know what hit them.

Great to see some class backroom staff.
Click to expand...

Thanks mate! Babacar hopefully shall be good...
But I guess he'd be my 4th choice striker now!
And only the last year I'd have made him my 1st choice! strange...

Backroom staff... I guess they could make a pretty decent team themselves!

Let's hope we can continue our form from the latter end of last year into this as well...
 
AUGUST REVIEW


We met Bayern in the Super Cup to kick-start the new season, and were just not clinical up front.
A whole new team, so it would understandably take time... Missed on a trophy though!
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German Cup First Round game against a pretty weak opposition, and it absolutely showed the way we dominated this game. Easy as it gets!
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This game had me anxious, nervous! Was sure we would lose at 4-3 towards the end, but Lisandro Lopez scored 1 in injury time to level the score, and we left with our heads held high. 1 point away from home against a tough opposition, 1st league game of the season... I'd take it, absolutely!
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And here we go! I am not expecting much from the CL group! Maybe we finish 3rd and go to the EL and then let's see!
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The Board too doesn't expect any miracle from us in the CL!
We are expected to make it to the CL again for the next year- ie, a top 3 finish in the league!
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Morata- take a bow!! Solid performance from the striker- a hat-trick!
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Friendly games, wins, losses, draws... just getting to full fitness and form!
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Transfer close, player sales and buys around the top leagues in Europe!
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Two top, top strikers for the future arrive! Jovic & Zivkovic!
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This was a difficult decision to make. But we have significantly strengthened in the CB area, and Lopez wanted a higher pay, which I wasn't convinced by. We make huge profit for the player we spent $1.1m on!
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At times, the football aspect of things are to be considered more than anything else, and the following deal was just about that. I wanted a few HG players trained at the club for CL this season- barely any in our ranks worth CL football... So I wanted to go for one of the biggest names who was trained at our club a few years back, and that meant I had to sell a player he would displace!
Out went Quintero for a decent profit!
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And in came one of the finest footballers of this generation- Hakan Calhanoglu!!!
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​
 
LINE UP FOR THE NEW SEASON


Jeronimo Rulli (SK-S)


De Sciglio (FB-Au) Manolas (CD-D) Juan Jesus (CD-D) Sallahi (CWB-A)

Arzura (BWM-D)

Baker (DLP-S)

Arda Turan (AP-S) Calhanoglu (EG-A) Ocampos (IF-A)

Morata (TM-S)​
 
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SEPTEMBER REVIEW


Wasn't an easy game as I might have expected, and we struggled to score. Yanga-Mbiwa scored a header from Sallahi's cross to secure the 3 points!
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Sensational, exceptional!
We took an early lead, and went into half-time 1-1, and I just hoped we would keep it that way through.
We played on the counter, soaking up the pressure- it shows in the MOTM- awarded to our GK, Jeronimo Rulli who finished with a rating of 9.2!
Just when I was glad we were coming home with 1 point, securing a draw, Calhanoglu scored a wonderful goal from distance to earn us all the 3 points! We robbed Chelsea!
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A new contract for me..
I went for a higher expectation for a larger wage bill.
If we succeed, it'll be wonderful...
if not, well, we are still going to try our best, nonetheless!
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We earned a late victory!
Karma- we were on the other end of silly draws and losses due to conceding goals late into games last season.
This time, it's been the other way around! No complains though.
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Absolute domination. And another victory to go against our rivals.
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This game we conceded late.. 2 dropped points, but 1 point gained against a stronger opposition...
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4 wins, 2 draws in a month with tough games!
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DAVID KAHN PROGRESS

David will be turning 14 this March (2017), and he has improved immensely over the last few years, being around the 1st team, playing in friendlies, learning from experienced players, with our coaches, and so on...

Here is a look at his profile 2 years into the game.
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Ballack and Lucho Gonzalez are among our back-room staffs, and me, Oliver Kahn, the head coach!
So all his favorite stars are already at the club.
He will definitely be among the best CM's in the world in a few years!
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Strengths and weaknesses..
I didn't realize he was being tutored by someone with a lower determination (Arda Turan)!
Cancelled the tutoring now.
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This is his profile when the save began.
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OCTOBER REVIEW


Ocampos has been a revelation this season for us! Scoring goals for fun.. He was honestly bought as a rotation option, but he has become a key player now! A hat-trick against Kaiserslautern to make this a comfortable win!
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We had a total of 19 shots, and about half those on target.
Nurnberg had 5 shots, 0 on target.
And we drew 1-1!! Failed to take our chances, and we take a disappointing 1 point at home.
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A 50/50 game, where we were absolutely clinical and sharp. Defended well, and attacked with intent. 3 points away, and we are on track to qualify to the next round!
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Domination, and total attack!
3 more points away against a decent team..
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We got the 3 points and dominated the game, but wasn't an easy game this one!
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3 more points... It's not easy winning games now, but we are becoming a much better unit defensively, which is a huge plus in case we can take our chances!
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A perfect month- 5 wins, 1 draw... couldn't ask for more anyway!​
 
NOVEMBER REVIEW


First game this month was the CL game against Besiktas at home. And we played like a dominant home team!
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Unfortunately, Calhanoglu will be out till January end! A huge blow.
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The victory takes us through to the next round! DREAM!!!
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Leverkusen's always a tough opposition, but we go back with all 3 points, courtesy a solid performance from Arda, assisting both the goals in a 50/50 game!
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Bayern are right above us in the league table, and they are the team to beat domestically. A team of super stars, high earners, world class players, and so on... We challenged them and made them run for their money, but in the end, it was a disappointment! We failed to get any point inspite of playing a good game of soccer!
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Having already qualified for the knock out stages, and already defeated Chelsea at Stamford Bridge, we went on a counter attacking/defensive strategy, soaked the pressure like the previous away game, and got away with all 3 points courtesy 2 well taken first half goals! We qualify as group leaders, whatever happens in the final group game.
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Another 50/50 game, where we were clinical in front of the goal to get all 3 points against a tough team... The match featured some players who hadn't played much, and surprisingly, those 3 scored the goals to stake a claim for regular soccer!
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I was trying to search for a new senior center back and thought of taking a look at ex-Liverpool player Dan Agger...
and my surprise! He had retired and took up coaching. Well, a player like him deserves to be in our backroom, and so it was.
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The final group game in CL, and we travelled away to face Napoli. We led, then conceded, led again, conceded again. It seemed we would go home with a point, but substitute Zivkovic scored a late goal that won us the match! (Albiol's red card helped us take control late on)
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Another unfortunate injury- Niklas Stark out till February end!!
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DECEMBER REVIEW


The last month of the calendar year, 5 games before we go for the winter break, and enter the transfer window to strengthen!

Mainz came to play for an away point. It was hard to break them down, but 1 goal was enough to win us the game!
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Oliver Kahn taking charge of his 100th game as manager of KSC-
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And well, an absolutely dominant performance to win the game and go through the quarters of league cup!
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50/50 game this one, and we lost a player at the half way mark, but kept our concentration up and kept a clean sheet to secure a priceless victory!
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This was unexpected! Shocking result at home. I started with a number of fringe players, and they disappointed big time! Allowing the visitors more possession and more shots- this should never happen!
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And my 1st choice team delivers, and delivers big time! A huge win against Dortmund! We absolutely dominated them- look at the number of shots!!!
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