Wagner Love - A SpVgg Bayreuth Story
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Micky Pain
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Yeah, but my fingernails will never be the same.....
And a lot of the credit goes to JPWoody for the "Clough tactics", although I modified them a bit since I first started using them.
Updates as soon as work eases off a bit more, probably not before Saturday.
Micky
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Micky Pain
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Updates later today....took a while longer than I thought, but I'm forcing myself not to work today so there should be some time.
Micky
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Updates later today....took a while longer than I thought, but I'm forcing myself not to work today so there should be some time.
Micky
________________________________________________ _______________________
Micky Pain
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________________________________________________ _______________________
Thanks for reading all.
So, here's some more updates, hope you enjoy reading it half as much as I enjoyed playing it.
Micky
________________________________________________ _______________________
PLAY-OFFS 2013
So here we are, close to beating the best club finish ever, a second place in 1979 and I do feel the pressure now more than ever.
Whatever happens, we will have more money in the bank as ever before, a hefty 7 Million Euro just for coming in third, and it can only help to make this squad the best it can be.
With nothing else to say or do, on to the play-offs.
________________________________________________ _______________________
Boy ,where we ever outplayed in this match. Although we had much of the possession in the game, as soon as we lost it it was only a fantastic goalkeeping performance that kept it out of the goal. Initially I went into the game with hopes up, thinking we had the advantage in morale for finishing strong over a bottom-table Bundesliga team, but they certainly came out to play.
We went down two goals late in the first half, and just when I was about to reach for my skillfully concealed bottle of Vodka to make the rest of the game enjoyable, Davis Curiale pulled one back to give us a glimmer of hope.
Being played over two legs, this away goal could prove vital, but our ambitions were knocked back once more as Bonaventura was sent off early in the second half.
The rest of the half can only be described as "Bamboo-football" - we bent, but never broke, and suddenly snaped back to score a dramatic equalizer when Robert Zeher took it upon himself to outplay the defense and score a low placed shot for the final score.
________________________________________________ _______________________
The biggest and loudest crowd we ever had in our own stadium saw a hard-fought second leg of the play-offs, one in which all we needed to do was not concede a goal.
Bonaventuras absence was felt throughout the game, as our midfield was missing its biggest asset. It was a game of high temper, with hard tackles on both sides and a vast number of small knocks and two injuries to our opponents. Although we limited the danger on goal to some very rare long-shots, we never looked likely to make anything happen on the other end, and it was all we could do to hold on to the draw.
With time running out, we took what looked like the death blow as our defense looked completely clueless during Adrian Ramos' solo-effort to score.
Throwing caution to the wind, I threw everyone forward, and we racked up a number of chances close to the end, but it was ultimately Robert Zeher that looked most likely to make anything happen. Being clean through on goal, he was ultimately brought down in the box in injury time, and didn't look nervy at all as he stepped up and calmly buried the ball in the corner of the net.
In certain corners of town, you can still hear the echo of the fans after this late score....
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POST SEASON 2013
I can't honestly say that I did see this one coming, and despite being overjoyed, I am still a little bit concerned that it might have been too much too fast.
My initial plan for the season was to finish as high as possible and use the league bonus to build a stronger squad to challenge for the title next year.
Now with the promotion we have our work more than cut out for us, and if we fail to stay in the league coming season, my long-term plan will be set back by at least one year.
On the other hand, even if we fail to score a single goal, get a single point, it will still be the most successful season this club has ever seen.
In any case, seeing as how much we struggled against a relegation candidate of the highest league, there will be a lot of improvement work to be done in the coming season, but fear not, my scouts and myself are on the case.
As is tradition, let's finish this amazing season with giving honor where honor is due:
Once more, Robert Zeher was beaten to the top spot in the Player of the Year award, but even if his two goals in the play-offs had been his only goals of the season, I couldn't have been happier with his performance in the recent campaign.
I would have liked to see more of my players here, as our midfield was a driving force behind much of this seasons success, but c'est la vie....
This team is legend in this town, and if it were up to me, every single one of them would have their number retired right here and now.
________________________________________________ _______________________
No rest for the wicked, as they say.
I should get a stamp by now that says "The coming season will be the toughest challenge we ever faced" as I seem to say the same thing every June anew.
I am glad to see that my success here has been recognized by the board who offered me a substantial pay-raise in my new contract, and the persistent offers I received from high-profile clubs seem to indicate that my fame has leaked outside of Germany as well.
I hope I can capitalize on that by signing some strong players for the upcoming new season and stay clear of relegation - I am not done yet with this club.
________________________________________________ _______________________
---------- Post added at 02:11 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:30 PM ----------
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---------- Post added at 03:03 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:11 PM ----------
JULY 2013
Not much happening in July this year, a small number of pre-season friendlies will shape the team that has seen very few additions to the squad.
The performances I have seen leave me hopeful to stay put in the league after some good games and especially after holding league-mates Nurnberg to a draw.
Although we still have a very small squad, and the youngest in the league at that, I do believe we have enough going for us to shave vital points of other teams to help us stay afloat in this coming campaign.
I recon we need between thirty and thirty-five points to stay in the league, and I will surely count every single point we make.
After long and drawn out refinements, we played our first few matches in our new formation.
I opted to drop the so-far successful 4-4-2 we were playing for the last four years for a new experimental line-up, basically an attack-minded narrow 4-4-2 diamond formation with added support in the form of two wing-backs.
The team seems to be taking to this new formation rather well judging by the few friendly fixtures we played.
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AUGUST 2013
August will see the first round of the DFB Pokal and games against a very strong opponent and two teams that I consider beatable this year. Let's see how it all works out.
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DFB POKAL 2013 - ROUND 1
What should have been a no-contest turned into a highly exciting and close-fought battle against Regionalliga team Feucht.
We were surprised from the kick-off by the tenacity of this lowly team, conceding within the first minute, and although being limited to only three shots on goal, they managed to score twice. Team veteran Bruels scored the equalizer before Andre put us ahead with his first ever competitive goal. Petar Skuletic finally showed his merit with the winner after we were once more forced to concede an equalizer.
It was a tough game, one I was hoping to use to build confidence for the coming fixtures, but as it stands I can't really be happy with the way we performed, despite moving on in the competition.
________________________________________________ _______________________
While I was contemplating adding an extra digit to the scoreboard for away goals, this match turned into one **** of a battle between two very equally matched teams. Admittedly, they were expecting a walk in the park, judging by their second-rate line-up, but we were still playing strong and outperforming Dortmund over wide stretches of the game.
The chances were even on both sides, but it was the strength of Davis Curiale that prevailed in attack to give us the lead.
Having seemingly lost their steam, we dominated Dortmund over much of the second half and were ultimately rewarded when Josue beat the keeper with a beautiful curled shot frm the edge of the area to complete the scoring.
Undoubtedly, a fantastic start to the season.
________________________________________________ _______________________
Coming of a high from last week, I was hoping for a second win in a row against Furth, a team certainly not one of the strongest in the league.
It started great with Petar Skuletics' first league goal for us, but despite having a number more chances we were unable to capitalize on the drop in confidence on our oppositions side after going down one goal.
We were forced to watch the equalizer late in the first half to level the score. We had a number more chances, but so did Furth, and just when I was feeling robbed by yet another shot of the woodwork, we were punished by a spot kick.
In the end, despite having hoped for a win, Wilmer Mezas' fantastic save of the penalty leaves me rather satisfied with getting the point today.
________________________________________________ _______________________
Promotion-buddies Karlsruhe were always filed under "must-win" in my game book, but it became rather clear right from the kick-off that they were thinking the exact same about us.
Only a man-of-the-match performance by Wilmer Meza saved us a point today after stopping more than sixteen shots, some of which he had absolutely no right to even get close to. It doesn't surprise me one bit that he's first-choice for his national team at only nineteen years of age.
A performance of that caliber leaves the goals by Schaefer and Zeher as merely a side-note.
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The first month has ended in the Bundesliga, and so far it's not looking all that bad. I was secretly hoping for six points from the first three games, although I wouldn't have dreamed of thinking that three of the points we did get would be the result of the Dortmund game.
All in all, the spirits are still high.
________________________________________________ _______________________
Thanks for reading all.
So, here's some more updates, hope you enjoy reading it half as much as I enjoyed playing it.
Micky
________________________________________________ _______________________
PLAY-OFFS 2013
So here we are, close to beating the best club finish ever, a second place in 1979 and I do feel the pressure now more than ever.
Whatever happens, we will have more money in the bank as ever before, a hefty 7 Million Euro just for coming in third, and it can only help to make this squad the best it can be.
With nothing else to say or do, on to the play-offs.
________________________________________________ _______________________
Boy ,where we ever outplayed in this match. Although we had much of the possession in the game, as soon as we lost it it was only a fantastic goalkeeping performance that kept it out of the goal. Initially I went into the game with hopes up, thinking we had the advantage in morale for finishing strong over a bottom-table Bundesliga team, but they certainly came out to play.
We went down two goals late in the first half, and just when I was about to reach for my skillfully concealed bottle of Vodka to make the rest of the game enjoyable, Davis Curiale pulled one back to give us a glimmer of hope.
Being played over two legs, this away goal could prove vital, but our ambitions were knocked back once more as Bonaventura was sent off early in the second half.
The rest of the half can only be described as "Bamboo-football" - we bent, but never broke, and suddenly snaped back to score a dramatic equalizer when Robert Zeher took it upon himself to outplay the defense and score a low placed shot for the final score.
________________________________________________ _______________________
The biggest and loudest crowd we ever had in our own stadium saw a hard-fought second leg of the play-offs, one in which all we needed to do was not concede a goal.
Bonaventuras absence was felt throughout the game, as our midfield was missing its biggest asset. It was a game of high temper, with hard tackles on both sides and a vast number of small knocks and two injuries to our opponents. Although we limited the danger on goal to some very rare long-shots, we never looked likely to make anything happen on the other end, and it was all we could do to hold on to the draw.
With time running out, we took what looked like the death blow as our defense looked completely clueless during Adrian Ramos' solo-effort to score.
Throwing caution to the wind, I threw everyone forward, and we racked up a number of chances close to the end, but it was ultimately Robert Zeher that looked most likely to make anything happen. Being clean through on goal, he was ultimately brought down in the box in injury time, and didn't look nervy at all as he stepped up and calmly buried the ball in the corner of the net.
In certain corners of town, you can still hear the echo of the fans after this late score....
________________________________________________ _______________________
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POST SEASON 2013
I can't honestly say that I did see this one coming, and despite being overjoyed, I am still a little bit concerned that it might have been too much too fast.
My initial plan for the season was to finish as high as possible and use the league bonus to build a stronger squad to challenge for the title next year.
Now with the promotion we have our work more than cut out for us, and if we fail to stay in the league coming season, my long-term plan will be set back by at least one year.
On the other hand, even if we fail to score a single goal, get a single point, it will still be the most successful season this club has ever seen.
In any case, seeing as how much we struggled against a relegation candidate of the highest league, there will be a lot of improvement work to be done in the coming season, but fear not, my scouts and myself are on the case.
As is tradition, let's finish this amazing season with giving honor where honor is due:
Once more, Robert Zeher was beaten to the top spot in the Player of the Year award, but even if his two goals in the play-offs had been his only goals of the season, I couldn't have been happier with his performance in the recent campaign.
I would have liked to see more of my players here, as our midfield was a driving force behind much of this seasons success, but c'est la vie....
This team is legend in this town, and if it were up to me, every single one of them would have their number retired right here and now.
________________________________________________ _______________________
No rest for the wicked, as they say.
I should get a stamp by now that says "The coming season will be the toughest challenge we ever faced" as I seem to say the same thing every June anew.
I am glad to see that my success here has been recognized by the board who offered me a substantial pay-raise in my new contract, and the persistent offers I received from high-profile clubs seem to indicate that my fame has leaked outside of Germany as well.
I hope I can capitalize on that by signing some strong players for the upcoming new season and stay clear of relegation - I am not done yet with this club.
________________________________________________ _______________________
END OF SEASON 4: 2012/2013
---------- Post added at 02:11 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:30 PM ----------
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SEASON 5: 2013/2014
BUNDESLIGA
BUNDESLIGA
PRE-SEASON 2013
Although we scouted high-and-low for new talent, this pre-season saw us with the least amount of new player additions of our recent history.
Despite being awarded record money for the last seasons' finish and a record profit overall, I was given just under two million to spend on transfers, a sum that could lure no player to our side and was already diminished substantially by being used to cover the wage bill.
Our ties with Nurnberg were cut as we are now playing in the same league, and the board refused to let us look for another parent club as we are apparently of too high a stature to do so now. That means loans are pretty much out of the picture as most players that would add anything to the squad would already require more fees to be loaned than we can spend.
We struck a few good deals to offload some of our own players that had outstayed their usefulness and signed three more players for free, best among them hot prospect Erman Celik and former Celtic striker Petar Skuletic. Probably the biggest signing was a young Brazilian striker by the name of Andre - I cannot believe we got him for so cheap, looking at the attribute sheet that my scouts filled out for me, but if he works out, my scouts will all get a raise.
With the players sold and the cheap deals we struck, I cashed out on a record transfer for yet another Brazilian, a wing back named Franca, for a total sum of 7 Million Euros. We struck a deal for about 2 Million up front and monthly payments over the next four years and boy do I ever hope he works out.
We actually found him late last season, and my scouts very salivating over his potential. I send every scout I had at my disposal after him, and every single one came back and told me I need to sign him, whatever the price, as he was destined to be probably the best in his position there is, a leading star for any football team. I managed to chat him up leading up the offer, and apparently it worked as he even turned down an offer from Dortmund to sign for our side.
Being only seventeen, he will only be allowed to join us at the start of the next season, so it's certainly a gamble to spend almost all of our money on a player we can't even sign yet.
________________________________________________ _______________________
The board has finally decided to improve our training facilities, which probably means that they fix the cracks in the asphalt of the parking lot we use right now, as it apparently doesn't cost any real money to make the improvements and will be done very quickly.
New board, PLEAAAAAAAAAAAASE!!!!!
Not much to do now other than waiting for the season to get underway.
________________________________________________ _______________________
Although we scouted high-and-low for new talent, this pre-season saw us with the least amount of new player additions of our recent history.
Despite being awarded record money for the last seasons' finish and a record profit overall, I was given just under two million to spend on transfers, a sum that could lure no player to our side and was already diminished substantially by being used to cover the wage bill.
Our ties with Nurnberg were cut as we are now playing in the same league, and the board refused to let us look for another parent club as we are apparently of too high a stature to do so now. That means loans are pretty much out of the picture as most players that would add anything to the squad would already require more fees to be loaned than we can spend.
We struck a few good deals to offload some of our own players that had outstayed their usefulness and signed three more players for free, best among them hot prospect Erman Celik and former Celtic striker Petar Skuletic. Probably the biggest signing was a young Brazilian striker by the name of Andre - I cannot believe we got him for so cheap, looking at the attribute sheet that my scouts filled out for me, but if he works out, my scouts will all get a raise.
With the players sold and the cheap deals we struck, I cashed out on a record transfer for yet another Brazilian, a wing back named Franca, for a total sum of 7 Million Euros. We struck a deal for about 2 Million up front and monthly payments over the next four years and boy do I ever hope he works out.
We actually found him late last season, and my scouts very salivating over his potential. I send every scout I had at my disposal after him, and every single one came back and told me I need to sign him, whatever the price, as he was destined to be probably the best in his position there is, a leading star for any football team. I managed to chat him up leading up the offer, and apparently it worked as he even turned down an offer from Dortmund to sign for our side.
Being only seventeen, he will only be allowed to join us at the start of the next season, so it's certainly a gamble to spend almost all of our money on a player we can't even sign yet.
________________________________________________ _______________________
The board has finally decided to improve our training facilities, which probably means that they fix the cracks in the asphalt of the parking lot we use right now, as it apparently doesn't cost any real money to make the improvements and will be done very quickly.
New board, PLEAAAAAAAAAAAASE!!!!!
Not much to do now other than waiting for the season to get underway.
________________________________________________ _______________________
---------- Post added at 03:03 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:11 PM ----------
JULY 2013
Not much happening in July this year, a small number of pre-season friendlies will shape the team that has seen very few additions to the squad.
The performances I have seen leave me hopeful to stay put in the league after some good games and especially after holding league-mates Nurnberg to a draw.
Although we still have a very small squad, and the youngest in the league at that, I do believe we have enough going for us to shave vital points of other teams to help us stay afloat in this coming campaign.
I recon we need between thirty and thirty-five points to stay in the league, and I will surely count every single point we make.
After long and drawn out refinements, we played our first few matches in our new formation.
I opted to drop the so-far successful 4-4-2 we were playing for the last four years for a new experimental line-up, basically an attack-minded narrow 4-4-2 diamond formation with added support in the form of two wing-backs.
The team seems to be taking to this new formation rather well judging by the few friendly fixtures we played.
________________________________________________ _______________________
AUGUST 2013
August will see the first round of the DFB Pokal and games against a very strong opponent and two teams that I consider beatable this year. Let's see how it all works out.
________________________________________________ _______________________
DFB POKAL 2013 - ROUND 1
What should have been a no-contest turned into a highly exciting and close-fought battle against Regionalliga team Feucht.
We were surprised from the kick-off by the tenacity of this lowly team, conceding within the first minute, and although being limited to only three shots on goal, they managed to score twice. Team veteran Bruels scored the equalizer before Andre put us ahead with his first ever competitive goal. Petar Skuletic finally showed his merit with the winner after we were once more forced to concede an equalizer.
It was a tough game, one I was hoping to use to build confidence for the coming fixtures, but as it stands I can't really be happy with the way we performed, despite moving on in the competition.
________________________________________________ _______________________
While I was contemplating adding an extra digit to the scoreboard for away goals, this match turned into one **** of a battle between two very equally matched teams. Admittedly, they were expecting a walk in the park, judging by their second-rate line-up, but we were still playing strong and outperforming Dortmund over wide stretches of the game.
The chances were even on both sides, but it was the strength of Davis Curiale that prevailed in attack to give us the lead.
Having seemingly lost their steam, we dominated Dortmund over much of the second half and were ultimately rewarded when Josue beat the keeper with a beautiful curled shot frm the edge of the area to complete the scoring.
Undoubtedly, a fantastic start to the season.
________________________________________________ _______________________
Coming of a high from last week, I was hoping for a second win in a row against Furth, a team certainly not one of the strongest in the league.
It started great with Petar Skuletics' first league goal for us, but despite having a number more chances we were unable to capitalize on the drop in confidence on our oppositions side after going down one goal.
We were forced to watch the equalizer late in the first half to level the score. We had a number more chances, but so did Furth, and just when I was feeling robbed by yet another shot of the woodwork, we were punished by a spot kick.
In the end, despite having hoped for a win, Wilmer Mezas' fantastic save of the penalty leaves me rather satisfied with getting the point today.
________________________________________________ _______________________
Promotion-buddies Karlsruhe were always filed under "must-win" in my game book, but it became rather clear right from the kick-off that they were thinking the exact same about us.
Only a man-of-the-match performance by Wilmer Meza saved us a point today after stopping more than sixteen shots, some of which he had absolutely no right to even get close to. It doesn't surprise me one bit that he's first-choice for his national team at only nineteen years of age.
A performance of that caliber leaves the goals by Schaefer and Zeher as merely a side-note.
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The first month has ended in the Bundesliga, and so far it's not looking all that bad. I was secretly hoping for six points from the first three games, although I wouldn't have dreamed of thinking that three of the points we did get would be the result of the Dortmund game.
All in all, the spirits are still high.
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Micky Pain
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SEPTEMBER 2013
In our position, every month will be a tough one, and September will be no difference.
Five games will be played, among them the second round of the DFB Pokal, a game we need to win against last year's league-mates Hansa Rostock.
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A heavy defeat, and no less a deserved one as we never got anything going, and even the consolation goal by Zeher was almost too much to ask for.
I can't really say much more than that we were dominated from start to finish, and I suppose the HSV goalie was too busy calculating how many minutes it has been since he last conceded a goal to stop our only shot on goal in the entire match.
Not good, but I hadn't expected a lot more either.
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A good crowd came out to watch a game against a team very much in the "beatable" category, but the tenacity of this Bochum side proved almost too much for us to walk away with anything.
It was a hard-fought battle, mostly taking place in midfield, and a quick-fire back-to-back strike saw the only two goals of the match, ours coming courtesy of young striker Andre.
I certainly would have liked to win today, more so in front of our home crowd, but it was not to be.
Objectively, a fair result, but one that I hope won't come back to haunt us.
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We did play rather well for large portions of the game in front of a crowd a few hundred people short of our entire city's population. The raw speed of Neymar proved too much for my inexperienced defensive line to handle, being beaten time and again and only saved by Meza in goal.
We had a few chances on goal, but on the whole we appeared too awestruck by the skill and attacking prowess of reigning league champions Bayern Munchen.
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DFB POKAL 2013 - ROUND 2
Despite ending with only two goals in regulation time, this match was a battle of the ages.
A capacity crowd of 20.000 fans saw us battle last years close contender Hansa Rostock - undoubtedly coming here to take revenge for missing the play-offs through our doing in the last match. A combined total of over forty shots culminated in an exciting penalty shot-out after Bonaventuras first goal of the season was negated late in the second half.
Wilmer Meza did brilliantly stopping the last spot-kick of the match to see us through to the next round.
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Once more a very tough game, but one in which we held our ground and never allowed Werder Bremen to increase their lead after having scored early in the first half.
We fought back bravely and accumulated a number of good chances, and when Vladimir Weiss scored his first goal of the season I don't think anyone could deny a draw was a fair result.
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Another challenging month has ended, and by my personal expectations, we fell one point short.
I was banking on a victory over Bochum to help us stay afloat, but on the plus side, nicking a point of Bremen might very well do more for my teams morale than defeating a similar team.
We are still doing okay, and seeing how the new formation is starting to become second nature to my squad leaves me hopeful for the coming months.
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---------- Post added at 04:43 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:55 PM ----------
OCTOBER 2013
October will see only three league games, but also the third round of the cup tournament.
After my estimate that we need about thirty points to stay in the league - roughly one point each match by average - we are still on track with seven points from seven matches.
I am a little bit worried by Andre not settling in, but I don't have the adequate cover to let him sort this out outside the match-day squad, so he will need to stick it out for now.
I can only hope we get some results this month.
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BREAKING NEWS
Can't say that I'm surprised that the old geezer is stepping down, pushing hard towards eighty years old. I can only hope that whoever takes charge has a less "great-depression" inspired take on club finances.
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A very even match, and I dare-say one we really should have won. We were simply better in all areas but the taking of chances. Josue scored a beautiful bullet from the edge of the area to give us the lead, but yet again we were punished by inexperience in both our defense and the linesmen, as they apparently assumed that two players in an offside position would cancel each other out and allowed Koelns first goal to stand.
Our spirit seemingly broken, we looked uninspired for stretches of the second half and were powerless to resist a quick spell of dominance that saw us loose the match.
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I cannot for the life of me understand how me managed to loose against a Schalke team that finished the match with only nine men after a red card and another injury.
We had better possession, better passing and way more shots on goal than our opponents, and as seems to be the norm these days, were unable to get anything past the keeper.
On that note, remind me to have a request send to check Manuel Neuer for performance enhancing drugs, there is no way that a normal human being can jump like that.
Time and again we pressed and threatened and were in turn punished on the break or simply viciously fouled in a game that saw nine cards being handed out for this Schalke side.
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BREAKING NEWS
No clue who that Marek guy is, but it can only be better than what we have now.
Nice to see the club has increased substantially in value form what it used to be.
________________________________________________ _______________________
I can't say much of this game as I was banned to the side-lines after getting riled up over last weeks stupid penalty decision. I couldn't be bothered to watch, but here's what my assistant manager had to say:
"We could have won, but didn't."
Well, what can I say - he's a man of few words, part of the reason why I like him.
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DFB POKAL 2013 - ROUND 3
I am glad for a rather weak opponent to break up our loosing-streak in this cup tie.
3.Liga team Osnabrueck certainly played their hearts out, but for one we were able to convert our dominance on the pitch into goals, winning by a comfortable margin after Skuletic, Bonaventura and Weiss scored their goals.
The injury we picked up is certainly a moot point, because although Tagliani is only second string right now, his versatility makes him the only viable choice back-up for my defensive midfield, a position that is very testing on the stamina of Bonaventura.
________________________________________________ _______________________
Despite a solid performance in the DFB Pokal, a very disappointing month for us.
We failed to get a single point out of three matches, and with only a thimble full of luck we had a chance to win any or all of them.
Even after the cup tie victory, team morale is at an all-time low, and my latest signings in the strike department aren't performing anywhere near an acceptable level.
My biggest hope is that we can retain a somewhat salvageable league position until December and then use a few very low-profile friendlies to recover some of the lost confidence.
As it stands, here's where we are at:
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---------- Post added at 04:51 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:43 PM ----------
Yeah, they look great. I particularly like the look on Skuletic's face - like he's wondering how on earth he agreed to sign for only 775 Euros a week.
Although by now -not to spoil anything- he is one of the top earners in the team.
And Andre.......boy, best buy ever. I am at mid-season in 2015/2016 in game time, and I can only say, the next Torres....
Anyway, will try to finish this season today, but first I gotta buy cat-food.
Micky
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---------- Post added at 06:39 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:51 PM ----------
NOVEMBER 2013
Just barely hovering above the relegation zone, we need a win quickly, not only for the league but almost more importantly, for the low morale.
If things continue as it is now, I can already see the scavengers trying to pry to best talent out of the club, and I have no idea yet what the new chairman will do if we receive another "offer that was too good to turn down".
As for job security, I am not really concerned right now. The board didn't even expect us to stay in the league at the start, and after the success of seasons past, I doubt that a new chairman would look into replacing me anytime soon.
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BREAKING NEWS
Great, out with the old, in with the new, and yet, everything remains the same.
No new money for the club, no plans to improve the training facilities after the last half-assed job - we went from "basic" training facilities to "fairly basic" - and no new sponsorship deals or any other revenue enhancing changes.
Just replacing mister Magoo with a thirty-something yuppie that gives little and expects great rewards. Argh!
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Being held to a draw by one of the few teams lower in the table than ourselves can count as nothing more than just another giant disappointment in a long line of such.
What's even worse than a goalless and boring draw was that it never even looked like any team would score, and all I can take out of this game is a sore throat from screaming at my team at full-time.
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At long [explicit deleted] last a victory in a very tight game. Chances were plenty on either side, but the defenses were mostly up to the task just as well.
We came out flying and scored within the first few minutes through Petar Skuletic, but the game ebbed down a bit after that until we were punished by a lapse in concentration to go into half-time all level.
Giving a long and understanding talk to my highest hope Andre in the few bits and pieces of Portuguese that I picked up over the years seemed to have helped lift his spirits, as he was a constant threat in the second half.
Ultimately his great display was rewarded when he scored the match winner with only ten minutes to go, giving us our first league victory since all the way back in August.
________________________________________________ _______________________
High-flying Wolfsburg proved a formidable opponent, and their cursed 3-4-3 formation seemd impossible to break down, even with only three defenders.
We were slightly outplayed for most of the match, but never really dominated. We held our ground admirably, although the early injury to our strongest defender Bacci left a big hole in defense.
Unearthly fast Martins managed to beat everyone to score Wolfsburgs only goal of the match, but a superb team-effort had us draw level close to the end with Davis Curiales' strong header.
I might be tempted to consider the draw somewhat lucky for us, but not entirely undeserved.
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Coming off a high from the strong Wolfsburg performance I was hoping for an upset victory here, but it was not to be.
We played like we came to win, and certainly came close after Zeher gave us the lead and Andre reclaimed it later, but while we were never outplayed we were certainly outfouled by a physical Hoffenheim side.
We ended the match with four short-term and one long-term injury while Hoffenheim finished with 9 cards and still somehow managed to steal the game from us in the closing minutes.
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So far the best month we had since the start, with six points from four games, including a few high-profile clubs being held to a draw, although the Hoffenheim fixtures should have been ours.
We're getting back on track with the "one point per game average" goal I set, and we are starting to get a small buffer to the relegation zone.
Morale also seems to be picking up a bit and my scouts are still all over the world to find new talent.
We cashed out with just about the last bit of transfer money left to sign a highly-recommended young Serbian defender for one million and signed two more players on free transfers:
A young American midfielder, Jamie Walsh, that will be joining us in January, and Belgian winger Radja Nainggolan, who had been let go by PSV after his contract expired.
Both will be available soon, although Radja is already training with the squad.
Currently we are in 14th place in the league.
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---------- Post added at 07:02 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:39 PM ----------
DECEMBER 2013
Three more fixtures will bring the first half of the season to an end before the winter break - two tough fixtures and a must-win against Gladbach.
So far I am still hopeful we can stay where we are, and except for one long-term injury we have a clean bill of health among my starters, so I believe we can keep it up.
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No doubt the surprise result of the season against league leaders Stuttgart. It was a tough and physical game, and twice in the first half we were frustrating the VfB with impeccable defense before hitting them on the counter, allowing Curiale and Bruels to score their goals.
Stuttgart pulled one back in the second half, and looked very much threatening until a strong header by Nils Teixeira from a corner kick found the net to put the game in the books.
As many times before this season, the result could have been a whole lot different without Wilmer Meza in goal.
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Of all the boring draws I have ever seen, this was not one of them.
It was back-to-back attacking football with great chances on both ends, yet another man of the match performance by Meza in goal, but far too many bad tackles on both sides.
I considered this a must-win for us, but after coming out of the Stuttgart game with the victory, I 'll take this, and I'm more than happy that for once the other team was the one that picked up all the injuries.
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A fairly even game that looked nothing like the heavy defeat everybody was anticipating for us. We played evenly, dominated at time, were pushed back at others, and despite leaving it until very late in the game to equalize, a draw was always the most likely outcome for this match.
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At the end of the first round of games, we are somewhat safe out of the relegation zone.
I can say, we are right about where I expected us to be at this point of the season - although lower than I hoped certainly higher than I feared.
The team is coming together better, and I hope that a few more friendlies can boost our fledgling team morale to a level that can help us compete when the season restarts in late January.
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---------- Post added at 07:47 AM ---------- Previous post was yesterday at 07:02 PM ----------
JANUARY 2014
Time to dip our toes some more into the transfer pool to strengthen the squad. Most of the dealings were already completed in the previous weeks and months, so now it's just waiting for the new additions to be registered.
As mentioned earlier, we got two new hot prospect signings, Jamie Walsh and Denis Stevic, as well as seasoned midfielder Radja Nainggolan and a wing-back cover in Carletti.
In the outbox we have Billy Clifford, a young English midfielder that we picked up a few seasons back, but who never managed to develop to a satisfactory level to be viable for the first team, and Alimov, who is too old for the youth squad now and hopefully can polish his skills to be a first team-option after returning from his loan spell.
Here's the transfers at a glance, as well as an in-depth look at the key-signings:
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There will be four friendlies played before the second half of the season gets underway with three fixtures in quick succession at the end of the month.
I am still busy with my scouts trying to find players that would be willing to sign up for us after the end of their current contracts in the coming months, so it's time once more for my assistant to take the helm during those matches.
On the whole, it seems we did rather well with a few quite convincing victories against admittedly weak opposition.
It can only serve to build confidence for what lies ahead.
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Revenge is a dish best served in Dortmund, I suppose, and so we were hit hard by a team itching to set the record straight after their defeat int he season opener.
Although it took them almost until the end to score the second goal, except for a few brief moments of playing well, we never looked likely to draw level let alone take the game.
Not the greatest start to the month for us for sure.
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A sizable crowd, close to capacity, saw us play in a match that was effectively over after just seven minutes.
Furth came out and had the first chance of the game, but Andre hit them hard on the counter in just the first minute for the goal. Only moments later Robert Zeher capped some pin-point passing moves in midfield with the second goal of the match, at which point Furth simply relinquished the game.
We had a number of chances throughout the rest of the game, but were mostly thwarted by a solid defense, but in turn managed to keep Furth from attempting anything more than some uninspired long-shots.
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Dead-last Karlsruhe was certainly another must-win situation for us, and we duly delivered.
Although we were somewhat unlucky to concede an early goal as a long-shot was deflected off of Baccis' head, we never let it influence our performance and responded immediately with a goal by Vladimir Weiss and looked very much threatening throughout the rest of the game.
Davis Curiale finally gave us the lead in the second half and Andre increased it a few minutes later before Karlsruhe managed to pull one back.
But we pulled ourselves together and denied any feeble attempt by Karlsruhe trying to steal the match in the closing minutes and so got rewarded with our second straight victory.
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Things are starting to look better this season, with six points from the last three matches, and even more importantly, a solid buffer between us and the relegation zone - more than four games difference to the dreaded last three places in the league table.
I am happy to see that Andre is starting to play with a lot more confidence and getting some goals, and the new signings are fitting in quite well and providing much needed cover for some key positions.
As it stands, we are in 12th position with fourteen matches to go.
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In our position, every month will be a tough one, and September will be no difference.
Five games will be played, among them the second round of the DFB Pokal, a game we need to win against last year's league-mates Hansa Rostock.
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A heavy defeat, and no less a deserved one as we never got anything going, and even the consolation goal by Zeher was almost too much to ask for.
I can't really say much more than that we were dominated from start to finish, and I suppose the HSV goalie was too busy calculating how many minutes it has been since he last conceded a goal to stop our only shot on goal in the entire match.
Not good, but I hadn't expected a lot more either.
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A good crowd came out to watch a game against a team very much in the "beatable" category, but the tenacity of this Bochum side proved almost too much for us to walk away with anything.
It was a hard-fought battle, mostly taking place in midfield, and a quick-fire back-to-back strike saw the only two goals of the match, ours coming courtesy of young striker Andre.
I certainly would have liked to win today, more so in front of our home crowd, but it was not to be.
Objectively, a fair result, but one that I hope won't come back to haunt us.
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We did play rather well for large portions of the game in front of a crowd a few hundred people short of our entire city's population. The raw speed of Neymar proved too much for my inexperienced defensive line to handle, being beaten time and again and only saved by Meza in goal.
We had a few chances on goal, but on the whole we appeared too awestruck by the skill and attacking prowess of reigning league champions Bayern Munchen.
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DFB POKAL 2013 - ROUND 2
Despite ending with only two goals in regulation time, this match was a battle of the ages.
A capacity crowd of 20.000 fans saw us battle last years close contender Hansa Rostock - undoubtedly coming here to take revenge for missing the play-offs through our doing in the last match. A combined total of over forty shots culminated in an exciting penalty shot-out after Bonaventuras first goal of the season was negated late in the second half.
Wilmer Meza did brilliantly stopping the last spot-kick of the match to see us through to the next round.
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Once more a very tough game, but one in which we held our ground and never allowed Werder Bremen to increase their lead after having scored early in the first half.
We fought back bravely and accumulated a number of good chances, and when Vladimir Weiss scored his first goal of the season I don't think anyone could deny a draw was a fair result.
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Another challenging month has ended, and by my personal expectations, we fell one point short.
I was banking on a victory over Bochum to help us stay afloat, but on the plus side, nicking a point of Bremen might very well do more for my teams morale than defeating a similar team.
We are still doing okay, and seeing how the new formation is starting to become second nature to my squad leaves me hopeful for the coming months.
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---------- Post added at 04:43 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:55 PM ----------
OCTOBER 2013
October will see only three league games, but also the third round of the cup tournament.
After my estimate that we need about thirty points to stay in the league - roughly one point each match by average - we are still on track with seven points from seven matches.
I am a little bit worried by Andre not settling in, but I don't have the adequate cover to let him sort this out outside the match-day squad, so he will need to stick it out for now.
I can only hope we get some results this month.
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BREAKING NEWS
Can't say that I'm surprised that the old geezer is stepping down, pushing hard towards eighty years old. I can only hope that whoever takes charge has a less "great-depression" inspired take on club finances.
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A very even match, and I dare-say one we really should have won. We were simply better in all areas but the taking of chances. Josue scored a beautiful bullet from the edge of the area to give us the lead, but yet again we were punished by inexperience in both our defense and the linesmen, as they apparently assumed that two players in an offside position would cancel each other out and allowed Koelns first goal to stand.
Our spirit seemingly broken, we looked uninspired for stretches of the second half and were powerless to resist a quick spell of dominance that saw us loose the match.
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I cannot for the life of me understand how me managed to loose against a Schalke team that finished the match with only nine men after a red card and another injury.
We had better possession, better passing and way more shots on goal than our opponents, and as seems to be the norm these days, were unable to get anything past the keeper.
On that note, remind me to have a request send to check Manuel Neuer for performance enhancing drugs, there is no way that a normal human being can jump like that.
Time and again we pressed and threatened and were in turn punished on the break or simply viciously fouled in a game that saw nine cards being handed out for this Schalke side.
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BREAKING NEWS
No clue who that Marek guy is, but it can only be better than what we have now.
Nice to see the club has increased substantially in value form what it used to be.
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I can't say much of this game as I was banned to the side-lines after getting riled up over last weeks stupid penalty decision. I couldn't be bothered to watch, but here's what my assistant manager had to say:
"We could have won, but didn't."
Well, what can I say - he's a man of few words, part of the reason why I like him.
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DFB POKAL 2013 - ROUND 3
I am glad for a rather weak opponent to break up our loosing-streak in this cup tie.
3.Liga team Osnabrueck certainly played their hearts out, but for one we were able to convert our dominance on the pitch into goals, winning by a comfortable margin after Skuletic, Bonaventura and Weiss scored their goals.
The injury we picked up is certainly a moot point, because although Tagliani is only second string right now, his versatility makes him the only viable choice back-up for my defensive midfield, a position that is very testing on the stamina of Bonaventura.
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Despite a solid performance in the DFB Pokal, a very disappointing month for us.
We failed to get a single point out of three matches, and with only a thimble full of luck we had a chance to win any or all of them.
Even after the cup tie victory, team morale is at an all-time low, and my latest signings in the strike department aren't performing anywhere near an acceptable level.
My biggest hope is that we can retain a somewhat salvageable league position until December and then use a few very low-profile friendlies to recover some of the lost confidence.
As it stands, here's where we are at:
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---------- Post added at 04:51 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:43 PM ----------
Yeah, they look great. I particularly like the look on Skuletic's face - like he's wondering how on earth he agreed to sign for only 775 Euros a week.
Although by now -not to spoil anything- he is one of the top earners in the team.
And Andre.......boy, best buy ever. I am at mid-season in 2015/2016 in game time, and I can only say, the next Torres....
Anyway, will try to finish this season today, but first I gotta buy cat-food.
Micky
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---------- Post added at 06:39 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:51 PM ----------
NOVEMBER 2013
Just barely hovering above the relegation zone, we need a win quickly, not only for the league but almost more importantly, for the low morale.
If things continue as it is now, I can already see the scavengers trying to pry to best talent out of the club, and I have no idea yet what the new chairman will do if we receive another "offer that was too good to turn down".
As for job security, I am not really concerned right now. The board didn't even expect us to stay in the league at the start, and after the success of seasons past, I doubt that a new chairman would look into replacing me anytime soon.
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BREAKING NEWS
Great, out with the old, in with the new, and yet, everything remains the same.
No new money for the club, no plans to improve the training facilities after the last half-assed job - we went from "basic" training facilities to "fairly basic" - and no new sponsorship deals or any other revenue enhancing changes.
Just replacing mister Magoo with a thirty-something yuppie that gives little and expects great rewards. Argh!
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Being held to a draw by one of the few teams lower in the table than ourselves can count as nothing more than just another giant disappointment in a long line of such.
What's even worse than a goalless and boring draw was that it never even looked like any team would score, and all I can take out of this game is a sore throat from screaming at my team at full-time.
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At long [explicit deleted] last a victory in a very tight game. Chances were plenty on either side, but the defenses were mostly up to the task just as well.
We came out flying and scored within the first few minutes through Petar Skuletic, but the game ebbed down a bit after that until we were punished by a lapse in concentration to go into half-time all level.
Giving a long and understanding talk to my highest hope Andre in the few bits and pieces of Portuguese that I picked up over the years seemed to have helped lift his spirits, as he was a constant threat in the second half.
Ultimately his great display was rewarded when he scored the match winner with only ten minutes to go, giving us our first league victory since all the way back in August.
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High-flying Wolfsburg proved a formidable opponent, and their cursed 3-4-3 formation seemd impossible to break down, even with only three defenders.
We were slightly outplayed for most of the match, but never really dominated. We held our ground admirably, although the early injury to our strongest defender Bacci left a big hole in defense.
Unearthly fast Martins managed to beat everyone to score Wolfsburgs only goal of the match, but a superb team-effort had us draw level close to the end with Davis Curiales' strong header.
I might be tempted to consider the draw somewhat lucky for us, but not entirely undeserved.
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Coming off a high from the strong Wolfsburg performance I was hoping for an upset victory here, but it was not to be.
We played like we came to win, and certainly came close after Zeher gave us the lead and Andre reclaimed it later, but while we were never outplayed we were certainly outfouled by a physical Hoffenheim side.
We ended the match with four short-term and one long-term injury while Hoffenheim finished with 9 cards and still somehow managed to steal the game from us in the closing minutes.
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So far the best month we had since the start, with six points from four games, including a few high-profile clubs being held to a draw, although the Hoffenheim fixtures should have been ours.
We're getting back on track with the "one point per game average" goal I set, and we are starting to get a small buffer to the relegation zone.
Morale also seems to be picking up a bit and my scouts are still all over the world to find new talent.
We cashed out with just about the last bit of transfer money left to sign a highly-recommended young Serbian defender for one million and signed two more players on free transfers:
A young American midfielder, Jamie Walsh, that will be joining us in January, and Belgian winger Radja Nainggolan, who had been let go by PSV after his contract expired.
Both will be available soon, although Radja is already training with the squad.
Currently we are in 14th place in the league.
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---------- Post added at 07:02 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:39 PM ----------
DECEMBER 2013
Three more fixtures will bring the first half of the season to an end before the winter break - two tough fixtures and a must-win against Gladbach.
So far I am still hopeful we can stay where we are, and except for one long-term injury we have a clean bill of health among my starters, so I believe we can keep it up.
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No doubt the surprise result of the season against league leaders Stuttgart. It was a tough and physical game, and twice in the first half we were frustrating the VfB with impeccable defense before hitting them on the counter, allowing Curiale and Bruels to score their goals.
Stuttgart pulled one back in the second half, and looked very much threatening until a strong header by Nils Teixeira from a corner kick found the net to put the game in the books.
As many times before this season, the result could have been a whole lot different without Wilmer Meza in goal.
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Of all the boring draws I have ever seen, this was not one of them.
It was back-to-back attacking football with great chances on both ends, yet another man of the match performance by Meza in goal, but far too many bad tackles on both sides.
I considered this a must-win for us, but after coming out of the Stuttgart game with the victory, I 'll take this, and I'm more than happy that for once the other team was the one that picked up all the injuries.
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A fairly even game that looked nothing like the heavy defeat everybody was anticipating for us. We played evenly, dominated at time, were pushed back at others, and despite leaving it until very late in the game to equalize, a draw was always the most likely outcome for this match.
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At the end of the first round of games, we are somewhat safe out of the relegation zone.
I can say, we are right about where I expected us to be at this point of the season - although lower than I hoped certainly higher than I feared.
The team is coming together better, and I hope that a few more friendlies can boost our fledgling team morale to a level that can help us compete when the season restarts in late January.
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---------- Post added at 07:47 AM ---------- Previous post was yesterday at 07:02 PM ----------
JANUARY 2014
Time to dip our toes some more into the transfer pool to strengthen the squad. Most of the dealings were already completed in the previous weeks and months, so now it's just waiting for the new additions to be registered.
As mentioned earlier, we got two new hot prospect signings, Jamie Walsh and Denis Stevic, as well as seasoned midfielder Radja Nainggolan and a wing-back cover in Carletti.
In the outbox we have Billy Clifford, a young English midfielder that we picked up a few seasons back, but who never managed to develop to a satisfactory level to be viable for the first team, and Alimov, who is too old for the youth squad now and hopefully can polish his skills to be a first team-option after returning from his loan spell.
Here's the transfers at a glance, as well as an in-depth look at the key-signings:
________________________________________________ _______________________
There will be four friendlies played before the second half of the season gets underway with three fixtures in quick succession at the end of the month.
I am still busy with my scouts trying to find players that would be willing to sign up for us after the end of their current contracts in the coming months, so it's time once more for my assistant to take the helm during those matches.
On the whole, it seems we did rather well with a few quite convincing victories against admittedly weak opposition.
It can only serve to build confidence for what lies ahead.
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Revenge is a dish best served in Dortmund, I suppose, and so we were hit hard by a team itching to set the record straight after their defeat int he season opener.
Although it took them almost until the end to score the second goal, except for a few brief moments of playing well, we never looked likely to draw level let alone take the game.
Not the greatest start to the month for us for sure.
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A sizable crowd, close to capacity, saw us play in a match that was effectively over after just seven minutes.
Furth came out and had the first chance of the game, but Andre hit them hard on the counter in just the first minute for the goal. Only moments later Robert Zeher capped some pin-point passing moves in midfield with the second goal of the match, at which point Furth simply relinquished the game.
We had a number of chances throughout the rest of the game, but were mostly thwarted by a solid defense, but in turn managed to keep Furth from attempting anything more than some uninspired long-shots.
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Dead-last Karlsruhe was certainly another must-win situation for us, and we duly delivered.
Although we were somewhat unlucky to concede an early goal as a long-shot was deflected off of Baccis' head, we never let it influence our performance and responded immediately with a goal by Vladimir Weiss and looked very much threatening throughout the rest of the game.
Davis Curiale finally gave us the lead in the second half and Andre increased it a few minutes later before Karlsruhe managed to pull one back.
But we pulled ourselves together and denied any feeble attempt by Karlsruhe trying to steal the match in the closing minutes and so got rewarded with our second straight victory.
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Things are starting to look better this season, with six points from the last three matches, and even more importantly, a solid buffer between us and the relegation zone - more than four games difference to the dreaded last three places in the league table.
I am happy to see that Andre is starting to play with a lot more confidence and getting some goals, and the new signings are fitting in quite well and providing much needed cover for some key positions.
As it stands, we are in 12th position with fourteen matches to go.
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Micky Pain
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FEBRUARY 2014
February will be a rather congested month with four league fixtures and the quarter final in the cup to keep us busy. I can only hope we can keep the performances of the previous month up against some very tough opposition.
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Almost an exact replica of our first meeting with HSV, only this time around it was held respectable by outstanding goalkeeping in the form of Wilmer Meza, adding another man of the match performance to his growing collection.
We had a few chances, some rather threatening and even a crossbar save, but on the whole not enough to justify even thinking about a draw.
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Getting a rather weak opponent after last weeks fixture was a much needed change in pace, I thought. It was a lot harder than I anticipated, an entirely attack-minded battle of the bottom so to speak, with almost the entire game being one continuous highlight. Andre and Curiale scored both shortly before and after the halftime to give us a two goal lead, but Bochum never let go of the game, and managed to pull one back.
At times it looked quite likely to end in a draw with a number of clear-cut chances for our opposition, but in the end we held firm.
About the only thing that denied Wilmer Meza yet another man of the match award was an even more impressive performance by Joe Hart on the Bochum side.
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DFB POKAL 2013 - QUARTER FINAL
This cup fixture marked our exit, and a sad one at that as it was a very even affair throughout, and on the whole very winnable for us.
We went down in the second half, but ever-present Bonaventura managed to score the equalizer for our side in regulation time. It is clear to me that only three days since the last match was simply too much for my guys, and our rather small squad simply lacked the depth to provide any fresh legs to put up anything more than a valiant but futile fight against league leaders Stuttgart, and so we were forced to watch the match-winner in extra time.
Although we had a one-man advantage for the closing minutes, by then there we were simply out of breath and unable to put anything past the defensive line, let alone the keeper.
The only real positive was some sizable prize-money to go with the quarter final.
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Bayern came to town leaving no doubt they intended to take all the points today. It was a fairly evenly matched affair for much of the proceedings, and at times it could have gone either way, but yet again the relative inexperience of my attacking force had them falter in front of goal, and so Christian Bruels equalizer in the first half remained the only one for our side.
It could have easily ended in a draw, as we were pushing hard and testing the Bayern keeper time and again, but ultimately it was Bayern scoring on the counter in injury time.
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I refuse to comment on this game.
Look at the score, do you honestly expect me to relive that? **** no. Next.
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February held some of the most painful results to date, and only one win in five games is harsh.
About the only good thing I can take out of this month is that we now have three strong teams less to face for the rest of the season and still remain in 12th place.
Ten games to go, and I might very well be right with my estimation of needing thirty points to avoid the drop.
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---------- Post added at 01:55 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:55 PM ----------
MARCH 2014
Last month marked the biggest defeat in club history since I took the helm, and I can only hope it is not the beginning of an awful run, as the dressing room morale is at an all-time low at the moment. Only one way to find out: Match day 25
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I can only describe this game as snatching defeat out of the jaws of victory - we had the game, and we let it slip away. It took us until the second half to get the goals, but it was a long time coming, and well deserved to say the least. We rarely ever let the game get past the half-way line throughout much of the first half, and had a number of very clear chances before we finally got the lead through an own goal.
Bonaventura added his mark on the game with a stunning screamer, but we played too overconfident after that and let the two goal lead wither away in only five short minutes, holding us to a draw.
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Wilmer Meza is back with another man of the match performance, the only thing standing between Schalke and another heavy, heavy defeat. I wish I could say we put up a fight and were close to drawing level or anything, but in truth, we never even hit the target with our miserable three shots all game long.
Apart from the five guys at the back, the rest of team was simply outclassed during the entire match.
________________________________________________ _______________________
A sell-out crowd of 20.000 fans saw a very spirited match between our two neighboring cities, and one in which the draw was a bout the only fair result. It was not like none of the teams deserved to win, but none deserved to loose. Beautiful and precise passing marked a game that was played mostly in mid-field, but had great chances and even better saves on both ends. Skuletic gave us the lead early in the first half, but about the only sloppy moment we had in defense all game cost us the three points just after the game restarted.
Thankfully, the injury to Robert Zeher, who has been putting up a great fight for his first-team spot, is only short-term.
________________________________________________ _______________________
The final result completely belies the story of the game, as we simply stole the game with one of our only two shots on goal all day long.
Davis Curiale was about the only bright spot in our attacking play, bagging the goal just before half-time.
When I tell you we faced close to twenty shots on target, I don't think I need to mention who picked up yet another man of the match award this time.
Even better then the result, and our first win in quite some time, is that following the three points today we are officially clear of the relegation zone, and so with six games left to play, I can breath freely now and allow some more of my back-ups to either pick up match experience or try to increase their value before I sell them in the next season.
________________________________________________ _______________________
Already in a situation where a relegation play-off spot is the best to hope for, Frankfurt came to town to fight for their tenure in the Bundesliga.
We played fresh and inspired football, with the new-found confidence of knowing we won't go anywhere at the end of the campaign, but what Frankfurt lacked in attacking play, they more than made up for in fouls, and at times I was seriously concerned about the health of my players.
Although we went down one goal early, the performances on the pitch never had me doubt we would take the game in the end, and after being denied twice by the crossbar, Igor Korotetsky finally capitalized from a corner kick - his first goal ever for our side.
With the momentum now completely on our side, we added one more when Andre raced past the entire defensive line to bury the ball in the corner of the net, giving us a second victory in a row.
________________________________________________ _______________________
I'm glad to have been so spot-on with my prediction of needing around thirty points to stay put, and I am glad that for the first time ever the season is decided for us with nothing left to loose or win before the very last game of the season.
From what I have seen so far, nothing suggests that we are an only recently promoted team, putting up great performances against the seasoned big boys, and with the pressure effectively off now, I can play some of my hot prospects and start planning for the new season.
That should not mean, off course, that I will relinquish any game just because I can afford it, as there is still a substantial amount of league bonus on the table, depending on our final position.
________________________________________________ _______________________
---------- Post added at 04:11 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:55 PM ----------
APRIL 2014
As mentioned before, only five games left to play our final position is pretty much decided, with maybe two places higher or lower being in the books. I am certainly not letting go of the run we are having now, and a difference of over five million Euros in league bonus between 10th and 15th place I still intend to finish as high as possible.
A minor moot point - A few weeks ago we managed to strike a deal for Ronaldinho to join us in the coming season, but just a few days ago he announced his retirement at the end of the season. A good thing for our wage budget, but I would have really liked to have him play at least one season in our team, to lend his experience, and almost more importantly, his name to boost merchandise sales and club stature.
Well, I still have a few aging superstars on my radar, so I guess I'll hope for better luck next time.
________________________________________________ _______________________
Not having the biggest of hopes against a strong Wolfsburg side - more so against their 3-4-3 formation, the one line-up we seem to struggle most against - I was rather surprised by our strong showing.
My guess is that we played under less pressure, as Wolfsburg was still in the theoretical running for an European Competition spot, and so the stunned home-fans witnessed this one-man show that was our striker Andre. He was a constant threat with his running and passing, and most importantly his finishing. After going down one goal he immediately equalized, added one more and finally scored the match-winner after we conceded once again.
________________________________________________ _______________________
I am very please with this result in a match that we started with the biggest number of substitutes we lined up all season. Despite dominating in the chances department, we conceded twice in quick succession in the first half before strike partners Zeher and Andre each put their name on the scoresheet to draw level.
Once more we went down one goal, but it was an all-out attacking display from that point on, testing the keeper and the stability of the goal frame tima and time again, until Korotetsky left it very late to equalize off a corner kick.
________________________________________________ _______________________
Secretly hoping to take revenge for our DFB Pokal defeat, we came very close to beating high-flying Stuttgart once again, after Christian Bruels gave us the lead in the first half.
The game was mainly played in the middle of the pitch, with chances few and far in between, but evenly spaced on both ends.
The decision to take out Korotetsky after he picked up a card proved to be a costly one, as it was his inexperienced replacement that let the Stuttgart attackers get past him to score the equalizer.
All in all, still a good showing against a strong team.
________________________________________________ _______________________
With only two games left to be payed, we actually managed to climb up in the table a little more. We didn't loose any of our last games despite playing a lot of second-stringers and now it's only two games that separate us from a very respectable final position in our first ever Bundesliga season.
________________________________________________ _______________________
MAY 2014
The sprint to the finish line, with pretty much all of the winners and losers decided and only some minor shuffling in the mid-table regions still to come will be the story of this month.
Not much has been happening outside of match-day, with the only notable exception being the signing of a highly rated Chilean goalkeeper, Miguel Vargas, who will be joining us at the end of his current contract in June.
________________________________________________ _______________________
So much for cementing our 11th place in the league table, as we were completely overrun in the first minutes of the match, rendering the fixture effectively over and done with after just thirteen minutes. Although we tried to pull ourselves up and played more composed attacking football, Hannover was well aware that the three gals they put up would be enough to see them through, and so they tightened their defense and called it a day.
Tagliani only managed to not let us be shut out, but it was no more than consolation.
________________________________________________ _______________________
The final day of the regular season featured a very entertaining match-up between two very evenly matched teams. Although we got the lead twice in the game and were forced t see the game draw level both times, we were somewhat on the back-foot during the closing minutes and so I consider the draw a little fortunate but not entirely undeserved.
A brace from Andre was enough to secure us one point and securing our final position in the table.
________________________________________________ _______________________
A long, and exciting season has ended, and with no big news items, good or bad, there really wasn't any headline about our team worthy of being added here.
As an added bonus to my team, we played a friendly game on our home-ground against one of my favorite teams, Leeds United, that we won comfortably 3-1.
I was trying to get Leeds approved by my board as a new feeder club, due to their great youth academy and great track record of producing talent, but I was beaten to the punch by Athletico Madrid who they chose over us.
With the last whistle blown, the Bundesliga looks like this:
________________________________________________ _______________________
We finished with a respectable position, and even better, raked in record numbers in cash though gate receipts as well as league and cup bonuses - the current balance is in access of 30 Million Euros.
I can only hope we can strike a few more sponsorship deals as we are currently quite embarrassing in that regard - not trying to ask for too much, but seeing that the difference between the highest earners in the league through sponsorship and our minute income of 235k is more than 35 Million Euros makes me want to cry.
With our mid-table finish, none of our players managed to break into any of the award categories for the season, so all that's left for me to do before I head out on vacation is to show you the best line-up we had this past season.
_______________________________________________ _______________________
SpVgg Bayreuth: A Retrospective 2009 - 2014
I am not done yet, not by a long-shot, but I think after five years in the run, it would be nice idea to have a look back over the last few seasons.
Off course, to get the full view you need to read from the start, so here is only a brief "What happened, and where are they now?" moment to take the place of the usual newspaper and player award dance.
Bayernliga 2009/2010
Predicted: 1st
Finished: 1st (Champions)
A very tough campaign with Grossbardorf putting up a great fight for the title until the very end. We had no transfer budget and only pocket-change for wages, but pulled it off to get promoted.
Regionalliga Sued 2010/2011
Predicted: 17th
Finished: 1st (Champions)
Knowing I had more talent on my hands than we were given credit for, I was more hopeful than the media pundits, but still no less surprised that we gained the promotion once again.
No transfer budget and just a little more for wages made this a tough season, our first as a professional football club.
We signed a few great players for free and the loaned talent from Nurnberg helped immensely.
3.Liga 2011/2012
Predicted: 20th
Finished: 1st (Champions)
A tough season once more, and the start of the deterioration of my relationship with the chairman as he sold my star defender and left me with little money from the deal to find a replacement. My scouts were on the case, however, and we were yet again able to fill our roster with various free agents and our biggest transfer spending up to this point: Robert Zeher, a club icon since.
Two more loan players filled the ranks and helped us claim the title in a very dramatic season.
2.Bundesliga 2012/2013
Predicted: 15th
Finished: 3rd (Promoted in Play-offs)
A season that started very rough against teams that with star players whose value was greater than our entire squad saw us pull together as a team and make a push for the top, culminating in a play-off spot for the highest tier, won by away goals after two dramatic draws against Hertha BSC Berlin.
We had a slightly bigger budget, both for wages and for transfers, but nothing near what I was hoping for, or thought I needed. Good relations with young and rising stars saw us sign a few vey good prospects for little or no money, and some of our past stars provided good income through transfer deals.
Bundesliga 2013/2014
Predicted: 14th
Finished: 11th
No summary here, you just read that.
_______________________________________________ _______________________
In summary, it has been a thrilling ride so far, and my biggest regret is that I can't even remember who first scouted Leonardi Bacci for us - we found him at fifteen years of age, signed him for free and he is the most senior member of the squad in terms of games played, being with us since Regionalliga days and still being one of the best defenders in the squad.
Before I get all emotional about the seasons past, I leave you with these thoughts before the next seasons gets underway.
Thanks all for reading and commenting so far.
I still got another season and a half to update here to catch up to my save, so there will be quite a few updates coming soon.
I don't see myself quitting this career anytime soon, so if you are enjoying following this so far, there's plenty more to come.
The only concern that I have is that the save game size might get out of hand, as I loaded quite a few leagues, and I don't know how much my laptop can handle.
For now, I think I will hit at least ten seasons and hopefully lift a few trophies on the way.
That's all for now, must buy cat food and toilet paper - what a combination....
Micky
_______________________________________________ _______________________
---------- Post added at 06:24 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:11 PM ----------
February will be a rather congested month with four league fixtures and the quarter final in the cup to keep us busy. I can only hope we can keep the performances of the previous month up against some very tough opposition.
________________________________________________ _______________________
Almost an exact replica of our first meeting with HSV, only this time around it was held respectable by outstanding goalkeeping in the form of Wilmer Meza, adding another man of the match performance to his growing collection.
We had a few chances, some rather threatening and even a crossbar save, but on the whole not enough to justify even thinking about a draw.
________________________________________________ _______________________
Getting a rather weak opponent after last weeks fixture was a much needed change in pace, I thought. It was a lot harder than I anticipated, an entirely attack-minded battle of the bottom so to speak, with almost the entire game being one continuous highlight. Andre and Curiale scored both shortly before and after the halftime to give us a two goal lead, but Bochum never let go of the game, and managed to pull one back.
At times it looked quite likely to end in a draw with a number of clear-cut chances for our opposition, but in the end we held firm.
About the only thing that denied Wilmer Meza yet another man of the match award was an even more impressive performance by Joe Hart on the Bochum side.
________________________________________________ _______________________
DFB POKAL 2013 - QUARTER FINAL
This cup fixture marked our exit, and a sad one at that as it was a very even affair throughout, and on the whole very winnable for us.
We went down in the second half, but ever-present Bonaventura managed to score the equalizer for our side in regulation time. It is clear to me that only three days since the last match was simply too much for my guys, and our rather small squad simply lacked the depth to provide any fresh legs to put up anything more than a valiant but futile fight against league leaders Stuttgart, and so we were forced to watch the match-winner in extra time.
Although we had a one-man advantage for the closing minutes, by then there we were simply out of breath and unable to put anything past the defensive line, let alone the keeper.
The only real positive was some sizable prize-money to go with the quarter final.
________________________________________________ _______________________
Bayern came to town leaving no doubt they intended to take all the points today. It was a fairly evenly matched affair for much of the proceedings, and at times it could have gone either way, but yet again the relative inexperience of my attacking force had them falter in front of goal, and so Christian Bruels equalizer in the first half remained the only one for our side.
It could have easily ended in a draw, as we were pushing hard and testing the Bayern keeper time and again, but ultimately it was Bayern scoring on the counter in injury time.
________________________________________________ _______________________
I refuse to comment on this game.
Look at the score, do you honestly expect me to relive that? **** no. Next.
________________________________________________ _______________________
February held some of the most painful results to date, and only one win in five games is harsh.
About the only good thing I can take out of this month is that we now have three strong teams less to face for the rest of the season and still remain in 12th place.
Ten games to go, and I might very well be right with my estimation of needing thirty points to avoid the drop.
________________________________________________ _______________________
---------- Post added at 01:55 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:55 PM ----------
MARCH 2014
Last month marked the biggest defeat in club history since I took the helm, and I can only hope it is not the beginning of an awful run, as the dressing room morale is at an all-time low at the moment. Only one way to find out: Match day 25
________________________________________________ _______________________
I can only describe this game as snatching defeat out of the jaws of victory - we had the game, and we let it slip away. It took us until the second half to get the goals, but it was a long time coming, and well deserved to say the least. We rarely ever let the game get past the half-way line throughout much of the first half, and had a number of very clear chances before we finally got the lead through an own goal.
Bonaventura added his mark on the game with a stunning screamer, but we played too overconfident after that and let the two goal lead wither away in only five short minutes, holding us to a draw.
________________________________________________ _______________________
Wilmer Meza is back with another man of the match performance, the only thing standing between Schalke and another heavy, heavy defeat. I wish I could say we put up a fight and were close to drawing level or anything, but in truth, we never even hit the target with our miserable three shots all game long.
Apart from the five guys at the back, the rest of team was simply outclassed during the entire match.
________________________________________________ _______________________
A sell-out crowd of 20.000 fans saw a very spirited match between our two neighboring cities, and one in which the draw was a bout the only fair result. It was not like none of the teams deserved to win, but none deserved to loose. Beautiful and precise passing marked a game that was played mostly in mid-field, but had great chances and even better saves on both ends. Skuletic gave us the lead early in the first half, but about the only sloppy moment we had in defense all game cost us the three points just after the game restarted.
Thankfully, the injury to Robert Zeher, who has been putting up a great fight for his first-team spot, is only short-term.
________________________________________________ _______________________
The final result completely belies the story of the game, as we simply stole the game with one of our only two shots on goal all day long.
Davis Curiale was about the only bright spot in our attacking play, bagging the goal just before half-time.
When I tell you we faced close to twenty shots on target, I don't think I need to mention who picked up yet another man of the match award this time.
Even better then the result, and our first win in quite some time, is that following the three points today we are officially clear of the relegation zone, and so with six games left to play, I can breath freely now and allow some more of my back-ups to either pick up match experience or try to increase their value before I sell them in the next season.
________________________________________________ _______________________
Already in a situation where a relegation play-off spot is the best to hope for, Frankfurt came to town to fight for their tenure in the Bundesliga.
We played fresh and inspired football, with the new-found confidence of knowing we won't go anywhere at the end of the campaign, but what Frankfurt lacked in attacking play, they more than made up for in fouls, and at times I was seriously concerned about the health of my players.
Although we went down one goal early, the performances on the pitch never had me doubt we would take the game in the end, and after being denied twice by the crossbar, Igor Korotetsky finally capitalized from a corner kick - his first goal ever for our side.
With the momentum now completely on our side, we added one more when Andre raced past the entire defensive line to bury the ball in the corner of the net, giving us a second victory in a row.
________________________________________________ _______________________
I'm glad to have been so spot-on with my prediction of needing around thirty points to stay put, and I am glad that for the first time ever the season is decided for us with nothing left to loose or win before the very last game of the season.
From what I have seen so far, nothing suggests that we are an only recently promoted team, putting up great performances against the seasoned big boys, and with the pressure effectively off now, I can play some of my hot prospects and start planning for the new season.
That should not mean, off course, that I will relinquish any game just because I can afford it, as there is still a substantial amount of league bonus on the table, depending on our final position.
________________________________________________ _______________________
---------- Post added at 04:11 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:55 PM ----------
APRIL 2014
As mentioned before, only five games left to play our final position is pretty much decided, with maybe two places higher or lower being in the books. I am certainly not letting go of the run we are having now, and a difference of over five million Euros in league bonus between 10th and 15th place I still intend to finish as high as possible.
A minor moot point - A few weeks ago we managed to strike a deal for Ronaldinho to join us in the coming season, but just a few days ago he announced his retirement at the end of the season. A good thing for our wage budget, but I would have really liked to have him play at least one season in our team, to lend his experience, and almost more importantly, his name to boost merchandise sales and club stature.
Well, I still have a few aging superstars on my radar, so I guess I'll hope for better luck next time.
________________________________________________ _______________________
Not having the biggest of hopes against a strong Wolfsburg side - more so against their 3-4-3 formation, the one line-up we seem to struggle most against - I was rather surprised by our strong showing.
My guess is that we played under less pressure, as Wolfsburg was still in the theoretical running for an European Competition spot, and so the stunned home-fans witnessed this one-man show that was our striker Andre. He was a constant threat with his running and passing, and most importantly his finishing. After going down one goal he immediately equalized, added one more and finally scored the match-winner after we conceded once again.
________________________________________________ _______________________
I am very please with this result in a match that we started with the biggest number of substitutes we lined up all season. Despite dominating in the chances department, we conceded twice in quick succession in the first half before strike partners Zeher and Andre each put their name on the scoresheet to draw level.
Once more we went down one goal, but it was an all-out attacking display from that point on, testing the keeper and the stability of the goal frame tima and time again, until Korotetsky left it very late to equalize off a corner kick.
________________________________________________ _______________________
Secretly hoping to take revenge for our DFB Pokal defeat, we came very close to beating high-flying Stuttgart once again, after Christian Bruels gave us the lead in the first half.
The game was mainly played in the middle of the pitch, with chances few and far in between, but evenly spaced on both ends.
The decision to take out Korotetsky after he picked up a card proved to be a costly one, as it was his inexperienced replacement that let the Stuttgart attackers get past him to score the equalizer.
All in all, still a good showing against a strong team.
________________________________________________ _______________________
With only two games left to be payed, we actually managed to climb up in the table a little more. We didn't loose any of our last games despite playing a lot of second-stringers and now it's only two games that separate us from a very respectable final position in our first ever Bundesliga season.
________________________________________________ _______________________
MAY 2014
The sprint to the finish line, with pretty much all of the winners and losers decided and only some minor shuffling in the mid-table regions still to come will be the story of this month.
Not much has been happening outside of match-day, with the only notable exception being the signing of a highly rated Chilean goalkeeper, Miguel Vargas, who will be joining us at the end of his current contract in June.
________________________________________________ _______________________
So much for cementing our 11th place in the league table, as we were completely overrun in the first minutes of the match, rendering the fixture effectively over and done with after just thirteen minutes. Although we tried to pull ourselves up and played more composed attacking football, Hannover was well aware that the three gals they put up would be enough to see them through, and so they tightened their defense and called it a day.
Tagliani only managed to not let us be shut out, but it was no more than consolation.
________________________________________________ _______________________
The final day of the regular season featured a very entertaining match-up between two very evenly matched teams. Although we got the lead twice in the game and were forced t see the game draw level both times, we were somewhat on the back-foot during the closing minutes and so I consider the draw a little fortunate but not entirely undeserved.
A brace from Andre was enough to secure us one point and securing our final position in the table.
________________________________________________ _______________________
A long, and exciting season has ended, and with no big news items, good or bad, there really wasn't any headline about our team worthy of being added here.
As an added bonus to my team, we played a friendly game on our home-ground against one of my favorite teams, Leeds United, that we won comfortably 3-1.
I was trying to get Leeds approved by my board as a new feeder club, due to their great youth academy and great track record of producing talent, but I was beaten to the punch by Athletico Madrid who they chose over us.
With the last whistle blown, the Bundesliga looks like this:
________________________________________________ _______________________
We finished with a respectable position, and even better, raked in record numbers in cash though gate receipts as well as league and cup bonuses - the current balance is in access of 30 Million Euros.
I can only hope we can strike a few more sponsorship deals as we are currently quite embarrassing in that regard - not trying to ask for too much, but seeing that the difference between the highest earners in the league through sponsorship and our minute income of 235k is more than 35 Million Euros makes me want to cry.
With our mid-table finish, none of our players managed to break into any of the award categories for the season, so all that's left for me to do before I head out on vacation is to show you the best line-up we had this past season.
_______________________________________________ _______________________
SpVgg Bayreuth: A Retrospective 2009 - 2014
I am not done yet, not by a long-shot, but I think after five years in the run, it would be nice idea to have a look back over the last few seasons.
Off course, to get the full view you need to read from the start, so here is only a brief "What happened, and where are they now?" moment to take the place of the usual newspaper and player award dance.
Bayernliga 2009/2010
Predicted: 1st
Finished: 1st (Champions)
A very tough campaign with Grossbardorf putting up a great fight for the title until the very end. We had no transfer budget and only pocket-change for wages, but pulled it off to get promoted.
Regionalliga Sued 2010/2011
Predicted: 17th
Finished: 1st (Champions)
Knowing I had more talent on my hands than we were given credit for, I was more hopeful than the media pundits, but still no less surprised that we gained the promotion once again.
No transfer budget and just a little more for wages made this a tough season, our first as a professional football club.
We signed a few great players for free and the loaned talent from Nurnberg helped immensely.
3.Liga 2011/2012
Predicted: 20th
Finished: 1st (Champions)
A tough season once more, and the start of the deterioration of my relationship with the chairman as he sold my star defender and left me with little money from the deal to find a replacement. My scouts were on the case, however, and we were yet again able to fill our roster with various free agents and our biggest transfer spending up to this point: Robert Zeher, a club icon since.
Two more loan players filled the ranks and helped us claim the title in a very dramatic season.
2.Bundesliga 2012/2013
Predicted: 15th
Finished: 3rd (Promoted in Play-offs)
A season that started very rough against teams that with star players whose value was greater than our entire squad saw us pull together as a team and make a push for the top, culminating in a play-off spot for the highest tier, won by away goals after two dramatic draws against Hertha BSC Berlin.
We had a slightly bigger budget, both for wages and for transfers, but nothing near what I was hoping for, or thought I needed. Good relations with young and rising stars saw us sign a few vey good prospects for little or no money, and some of our past stars provided good income through transfer deals.
Bundesliga 2013/2014
Predicted: 14th
Finished: 11th
No summary here, you just read that.
_______________________________________________ _______________________
In summary, it has been a thrilling ride so far, and my biggest regret is that I can't even remember who first scouted Leonardi Bacci for us - we found him at fifteen years of age, signed him for free and he is the most senior member of the squad in terms of games played, being with us since Regionalliga days and still being one of the best defenders in the squad.
Before I get all emotional about the seasons past, I leave you with these thoughts before the next seasons gets underway.
END OF SEASON 5: 2013/2014
_______________________________________________ _______________________
Thanks all for reading and commenting so far.
I still got another season and a half to update here to catch up to my save, so there will be quite a few updates coming soon.
I don't see myself quitting this career anytime soon, so if you are enjoying following this so far, there's plenty more to come.
The only concern that I have is that the save game size might get out of hand, as I loaded quite a few leagues, and I don't know how much my laptop can handle.
For now, I think I will hit at least ten seasons and hopefully lift a few trophies on the way.
That's all for now, must buy cat food and toilet paper - what a combination....
Micky
_______________________________________________ _______________________
---------- Post added at 06:24 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:11 PM ----------
SEASON 6: 2014/2015
BUNDESLIGA
BUNDESLIGA
PRE-SEASON 2014
After some much needed rest I returned to find that the board has finally decided to improve our facilities even further, or at all, depending on whether you have any standards or not.
It can certainly only get better.
We still haven't been able to find a new sponsor to boost our finances, but following last seasons record income I was allocated a sizable transfer and wage budget.
I am not sure if "Penny-Pincher" Kessler has rubbed off on me, but after scouting high and low I couldn't find any player that I was willing to cash out on.
We found talent, yes, but nowhere near enough to justify the high transfer sums their respective teams were asking for.
We finally signed Franca, although the deal was sealed up during the last season already, only delayed due to the restrictions on underage Brazilians signing abroad. Being almost begged by my scouts to sign him, this hot prospect is one of the main reasons I opted to employ a tactic with wing backs last season, hoping that my squad would adapt and be ready when this new star arrives.
Another free signing is Mariano Fernandez, a high-hopes striker prospect that we actually signed up almost two years ago.
The story of his transfer was one of overzealous signing, as my scouts unearthed him at 15 years of age, and I rushed to offer him a contract before reading all the way to the end of the scouting report, only to find out, once he agreed to join us, that he will not be allowed to move before his 17th birthday.
My scouts had since warned me that he might not be up to our current standard, but I held on to my offer, thinking that at the very least I could sell him off for a million or two if he doesn't work out. So I guess you can understand my excitement when he arrived and the media rushed to congratulate me on this bargain, a player touted as the next Carlos Bianchi.
My scouts were right about his standard being slightly sub-par at the moment, compared to my star line-up at least, but I have high hopes for him and will keep an eye on him when he competes with our youth squad.
Completing last years signings is Miguel Vargas, another free signing completed late last season, who at 21 years of age is already in the first team of his countries national squad.
The only transfer that we actually spend any money on was what might very well be the bargain of the season:
Sophian Feghoulie, a midfielder that I always considered a rising star and who had somehow found his way to Ukrainian outfit Dnipro after being released by his former club following their relegation from the highest league in France. Forced to the bench and unhappy for the entire last season, he was available at a knock-down price, and it took me no second thought before I faxed his agent a contract offer.
On the other side, we released or sold a number of players.
Nils Teixeira was loaned out, as he is simply not good enough but might come in handy in the off-chance that we qualify for any European competition and need to fulfill the home-grown status.
Sergey Vernigorov has failed to play a single game for us, having been loaned out for two previous seasons, and never developed enough to become a first team member. I decided to sell him as my newest striker prospects would make it very hard for him to break into my first team, and I'd rather see him play somewhere else than wither away on my bench.
Most famously, I decided to sell Curiale. He is still a top striker, and from what everybody tells me a lot more talented than Robert Zeher, but I made up my mind that after all that Robert has done for us in the past three seasons he will always have a place in my squad.
He is already an icon for this team, and I want the Bayreuth jersey to be the last he ever wears.
On the whole, we hardly spend any money, the large sum for Franca was already deducted last year and continues to cost us some monthly payments, but for the first time ever I have more money on my hands than I know what to do with.
Depending on how we are performing I intend to pester the board some more for improved facilities and even a possible stadium expansion.
To summarize, here is the key signings this season:
Note: The screen is from the end of the season, hence the drastic increase in value over what we paid for him. I knew beforehand that it will be a monster-bargain, and the rapid increase in nominal value only proves my point.
Micky
________________________________________________ _______________________
With not much evaluation of the squad to do - only very little has changed from last years match-day squad - we played only a handful of friendlies to regain match-fitness, but not to exhaust or even injure any of my key players.
I have no idea what happened in the Groningen game, I was still busy trying to find new players to sign, but the rest of the matches were rather dominant affairs, and leave me quite hopeful for the coming season.
The campaign will once again start off with the first round of the DFB Pokal against a rather weak opponent before we head out on the pitch to test our might against the powerhouses of German football.
The media predicts a 10th place finish for us, I told the board I am confident of a top half finish, but secretly I am aiming for getting one of those European Qualifying spots.
The coming weeks and month will shape which of the four predictions is on target with what I have at my disposal:
On a side note, in what might very well be a record for non-bias towards local players, this season we will not have a single German national in our first team.
________________________________________________ _______________________
After some much needed rest I returned to find that the board has finally decided to improve our facilities even further, or at all, depending on whether you have any standards or not.
It can certainly only get better.
We still haven't been able to find a new sponsor to boost our finances, but following last seasons record income I was allocated a sizable transfer and wage budget.
I am not sure if "Penny-Pincher" Kessler has rubbed off on me, but after scouting high and low I couldn't find any player that I was willing to cash out on.
We found talent, yes, but nowhere near enough to justify the high transfer sums their respective teams were asking for.
We finally signed Franca, although the deal was sealed up during the last season already, only delayed due to the restrictions on underage Brazilians signing abroad. Being almost begged by my scouts to sign him, this hot prospect is one of the main reasons I opted to employ a tactic with wing backs last season, hoping that my squad would adapt and be ready when this new star arrives.
Another free signing is Mariano Fernandez, a high-hopes striker prospect that we actually signed up almost two years ago.
The story of his transfer was one of overzealous signing, as my scouts unearthed him at 15 years of age, and I rushed to offer him a contract before reading all the way to the end of the scouting report, only to find out, once he agreed to join us, that he will not be allowed to move before his 17th birthday.
My scouts had since warned me that he might not be up to our current standard, but I held on to my offer, thinking that at the very least I could sell him off for a million or two if he doesn't work out. So I guess you can understand my excitement when he arrived and the media rushed to congratulate me on this bargain, a player touted as the next Carlos Bianchi.
My scouts were right about his standard being slightly sub-par at the moment, compared to my star line-up at least, but I have high hopes for him and will keep an eye on him when he competes with our youth squad.
Completing last years signings is Miguel Vargas, another free signing completed late last season, who at 21 years of age is already in the first team of his countries national squad.
The only transfer that we actually spend any money on was what might very well be the bargain of the season:
Sophian Feghoulie, a midfielder that I always considered a rising star and who had somehow found his way to Ukrainian outfit Dnipro after being released by his former club following their relegation from the highest league in France. Forced to the bench and unhappy for the entire last season, he was available at a knock-down price, and it took me no second thought before I faxed his agent a contract offer.
On the other side, we released or sold a number of players.
Nils Teixeira was loaned out, as he is simply not good enough but might come in handy in the off-chance that we qualify for any European competition and need to fulfill the home-grown status.
Sergey Vernigorov has failed to play a single game for us, having been loaned out for two previous seasons, and never developed enough to become a first team member. I decided to sell him as my newest striker prospects would make it very hard for him to break into my first team, and I'd rather see him play somewhere else than wither away on my bench.
Most famously, I decided to sell Curiale. He is still a top striker, and from what everybody tells me a lot more talented than Robert Zeher, but I made up my mind that after all that Robert has done for us in the past three seasons he will always have a place in my squad.
He is already an icon for this team, and I want the Bayreuth jersey to be the last he ever wears.
On the whole, we hardly spend any money, the large sum for Franca was already deducted last year and continues to cost us some monthly payments, but for the first time ever I have more money on my hands than I know what to do with.
Depending on how we are performing I intend to pester the board some more for improved facilities and even a possible stadium expansion.
To summarize, here is the key signings this season:
Note: The screen is from the end of the season, hence the drastic increase in value over what we paid for him. I knew beforehand that it will be a monster-bargain, and the rapid increase in nominal value only proves my point.
Micky
________________________________________________ _______________________
With not much evaluation of the squad to do - only very little has changed from last years match-day squad - we played only a handful of friendlies to regain match-fitness, but not to exhaust or even injure any of my key players.
I have no idea what happened in the Groningen game, I was still busy trying to find new players to sign, but the rest of the matches were rather dominant affairs, and leave me quite hopeful for the coming season.
The campaign will once again start off with the first round of the DFB Pokal against a rather weak opponent before we head out on the pitch to test our might against the powerhouses of German football.
The media predicts a 10th place finish for us, I told the board I am confident of a top half finish, but secretly I am aiming for getting one of those European Qualifying spots.
The coming weeks and month will shape which of the four predictions is on target with what I have at my disposal:
On a side note, in what might very well be a record for non-bias towards local players, this season we will not have a single German national in our first team.
________________________________________________ _______________________
Micky Pain
Member
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- 438
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- 0
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AUGUST 2014
Not much left to do other than waiting to see how the season progresses.
I am reasonably assured that I have a strong squad, but a good team is more than the sum of its parts.
________________________________________________ _______________________
DFB POKAL 2014 - ROUND 1
Not too long ago we were sharing the league with Wormatia Worms, and today we returned to their pitch to teach them all that we have learned on our way up.
It became clear from the first whistle that this will be a no-contest, and a fantastic performance has seen us dominate a game in which we prevented even a single shot to threaten our own goal.
At the other end, we saw goals by Zeher, Weiss, Andre and Skuletic, and a debut goal by Feghoulie, already proving his merit.
I could go on about how much we were in control, but I don't want to risk bad Karma by bragging.
________________________________________________ _______________________
The season opener proved to be one tough fixture for us, with Wilmer Meza in goal frustrating the Koln strikers time and again, leading to lapses in their own defensive line that allowed us to capitalize on the other end.
Feghoulie almost added to his goal total, but the deflected ball was credited as an own goal to give us the lead. During another break on goal, Andre was brought down in the box, allowing Zeher to tuck it in from the spot.
Koln was always threatening, but our defense held firm until the referee seemed to take pity and letting the game go on way past the announced injury time for Podolski to score the consolation goal.
________________________________________________ _______________________
A repeat of last seasons home-fixture against Dortmund, one in which we played a lot more confident than only a short season ago.
Dortmund seemed to have learned from last years mistakes and fielded a strong line-up, but after solid build-up plays on our side, it was youngster Andre and veteran Zeher that scored the goals in our shut-out victory.
________________________________________________ _______________________
It was a very spirited affair, with more chances overall for Schalke, but more threatening looking attempts on goal for our side.
The game was great to watch while it was flowing, but it was marred by too many fouls and cards on either side, making me fear once more for the well-being of my squad.
A draw is certainly a fair result as neither team deserved to get all the points today.
________________________________________________ _______________________
The fixtures have been kind t us so far, pitting us against a rather weak team, recently promoted Aachen.
While I was going into the game with fears of complacency, all doubts were quickly washed away right from the kick-off.
It was beautiful, free-flowing attacking play, at times almost toying with the outclassed Aachen defense and deadly accurate in the finishing department.
Vladimir Weiss started the rout with a precise curled shot from the edge of the area, before Andre found the channel and broke down the defense to score with only the keeper to beat.
A sloppy clearance from our box allowed Aachen to pull one back, but it ultimately only served to make our strike-force even more determined to take the game to them.
Zeher increased the lead just before half-time, and Christian Bruels made his claims for a first-team spot after coming off the bench and hammering an unstoppable volley from the edge of the box to finish the scoring.
Shockingly, Andre picked up an injury, but the reports tell me he only got the wind knocked out of him, so he will be good to go for the next match.
________________________________________________ _______________________
I don't think we could have wished for a better start to the season, dropping only two points in our first four games, and beating some very good teams while doing so.
Although it is only early in the season, I am very much liking what I have seen so far.
In my youth squad, new signing Fernandez is ripping the other teams to shreds, already scoring seven goals in only three games. He will certainly be a force to be reckoned with in years to come.
As it stands, we are right up there in the table.
________________________________________________ _______________________
Not much left to do other than waiting to see how the season progresses.
I am reasonably assured that I have a strong squad, but a good team is more than the sum of its parts.
________________________________________________ _______________________
DFB POKAL 2014 - ROUND 1
Not too long ago we were sharing the league with Wormatia Worms, and today we returned to their pitch to teach them all that we have learned on our way up.
It became clear from the first whistle that this will be a no-contest, and a fantastic performance has seen us dominate a game in which we prevented even a single shot to threaten our own goal.
At the other end, we saw goals by Zeher, Weiss, Andre and Skuletic, and a debut goal by Feghoulie, already proving his merit.
I could go on about how much we were in control, but I don't want to risk bad Karma by bragging.
________________________________________________ _______________________
The season opener proved to be one tough fixture for us, with Wilmer Meza in goal frustrating the Koln strikers time and again, leading to lapses in their own defensive line that allowed us to capitalize on the other end.
Feghoulie almost added to his goal total, but the deflected ball was credited as an own goal to give us the lead. During another break on goal, Andre was brought down in the box, allowing Zeher to tuck it in from the spot.
Koln was always threatening, but our defense held firm until the referee seemed to take pity and letting the game go on way past the announced injury time for Podolski to score the consolation goal.
________________________________________________ _______________________
A repeat of last seasons home-fixture against Dortmund, one in which we played a lot more confident than only a short season ago.
Dortmund seemed to have learned from last years mistakes and fielded a strong line-up, but after solid build-up plays on our side, it was youngster Andre and veteran Zeher that scored the goals in our shut-out victory.
________________________________________________ _______________________
It was a very spirited affair, with more chances overall for Schalke, but more threatening looking attempts on goal for our side.
The game was great to watch while it was flowing, but it was marred by too many fouls and cards on either side, making me fear once more for the well-being of my squad.
A draw is certainly a fair result as neither team deserved to get all the points today.
________________________________________________ _______________________
The fixtures have been kind t us so far, pitting us against a rather weak team, recently promoted Aachen.
While I was going into the game with fears of complacency, all doubts were quickly washed away right from the kick-off.
It was beautiful, free-flowing attacking play, at times almost toying with the outclassed Aachen defense and deadly accurate in the finishing department.
Vladimir Weiss started the rout with a precise curled shot from the edge of the area, before Andre found the channel and broke down the defense to score with only the keeper to beat.
A sloppy clearance from our box allowed Aachen to pull one back, but it ultimately only served to make our strike-force even more determined to take the game to them.
Zeher increased the lead just before half-time, and Christian Bruels made his claims for a first-team spot after coming off the bench and hammering an unstoppable volley from the edge of the box to finish the scoring.
Shockingly, Andre picked up an injury, but the reports tell me he only got the wind knocked out of him, so he will be good to go for the next match.
________________________________________________ _______________________
I don't think we could have wished for a better start to the season, dropping only two points in our first four games, and beating some very good teams while doing so.
Although it is only early in the season, I am very much liking what I have seen so far.
In my youth squad, new signing Fernandez is ripping the other teams to shreds, already scoring seven goals in only three games. He will certainly be a force to be reckoned with in years to come.
As it stands, we are right up there in the table.
________________________________________________ _______________________
---------- Post added at 07:20 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:17 PM ----------
Thanks mate.
Liked it too, especially looking up all the players from the past seasons, where they are playing now and how they are doing. Almost got choked up looking at some of those past moments too....
Last edited:
Wolves4Eva
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Great story mate,just read it from the start.One of the best stories on the site.
Micky Pain
Member
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- Aug 6, 2009
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- 438
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SEPTEMBER 2014
September started with two weeks off, as the first match had to be re-arranged due to the increasing number of national players in my squad - although mostly for the youth teams, it is great to see the amazing talent I know I have on my hands being appreciated outside of our own team.
Most notably, wing back Vitaliy Gryschenko has seen his first cap for the Ukrainian national team this month.
I decided against a hastily arranged friendly to keep my squad free of injuries.
________________________________________________ _______________________
HSV came out to play on this fine day, and certainly looked like the stronger team for much of the proceedings after getting the lead very early in the game.
We put up a great fight in defense and never allowed the lead to increase. We played a very precise attacking play at the other end, and although we had only a handful of shots, all of them found the target before being denied by great goalkeeping.
Bacci scored following a corner kick, and it almost looked like we might be able to steal the game after wonderkid Andre cut through the defense and was not denied by the keeper, but with only little time left we were punished on the break for the equalizer.
________________________________________________ _______________________
A very lackluster Hoffenheim side never looked likely to take the game as we dominated this home-fixture in an almost sold-out stadium.
Zeher proved that his best years are far from over yet by taking on two defenders before burying the ball in the corner for the lead.
Weiss added one more close to the halfway mark on a clinical counter attack before Korotetsky rose above everyone else to re-direct a corner kick for the final score.
All in all, a very solid showing, with a result that tells the tale.
Events like this only get to show why this man is still very much first choice for me.
________________________________________________ _______________________
DFB POKAL 2014 - ROUND 2
2.Bundesliga outfit St.Pauli boasted to the press before the match that they intend to take the game, but failing to even hit the target with only three attempts put the foot firmly back into their own mouth.
While we should have scored more than just the two goals by Bacci and Skuletic, I am very happy with the iron curtain we pulled up in defense, shutting down everything before it even developed into a glimmer of a threat on goal.
________________________________________________ _______________________
Coming from last weeks solid performance, I am somewhat disappointed in the draw today, once more dominated in almost all areas but the conversion of chances.
We had the game firmly in our hands, but every spell of dominance was punished at our end by conceding a goal, although strike-partners Andre and Zeher managed to draw level both times.
A very winnable game, and I can only consider this as loosing two points.
________________________________________________ _______________________
Although still somewhat upset about the last game, we are nonetheless in great shape so far, and are still on an unbeaten run after seven games in the season.
Our success so far is starting to show signs outside of our own area, as more and more transfer speculations seem to surface, mostly surrounding the "wonderkid" that is Andre.
So far, he has declared himself happy to stay, but once the big boys come knocking, this might change very fast. I hope my insanely high asking price of 60 Million Euros will deter even the most persistent suitors.
Wilmer Meza and Vladimir Weiss are also starting to make noise about wanting to move, and have so far refused to respond to any new and improved contract offers, despite my attempts to sway them with some very substantial signing fees.
As of now, they are still performing well and I have both tied down to long-term contracts, so there is no eminent threat of loosing them, but it is certainly some cause for concern.
Both are among the best players at my disposal.
At the end of September, we have dropped a few spots in the table, but not by many points.
________________________________________________ _______________________
September started with two weeks off, as the first match had to be re-arranged due to the increasing number of national players in my squad - although mostly for the youth teams, it is great to see the amazing talent I know I have on my hands being appreciated outside of our own team.
Most notably, wing back Vitaliy Gryschenko has seen his first cap for the Ukrainian national team this month.
I decided against a hastily arranged friendly to keep my squad free of injuries.
________________________________________________ _______________________
HSV came out to play on this fine day, and certainly looked like the stronger team for much of the proceedings after getting the lead very early in the game.
We put up a great fight in defense and never allowed the lead to increase. We played a very precise attacking play at the other end, and although we had only a handful of shots, all of them found the target before being denied by great goalkeeping.
Bacci scored following a corner kick, and it almost looked like we might be able to steal the game after wonderkid Andre cut through the defense and was not denied by the keeper, but with only little time left we were punished on the break for the equalizer.
________________________________________________ _______________________
A very lackluster Hoffenheim side never looked likely to take the game as we dominated this home-fixture in an almost sold-out stadium.
Zeher proved that his best years are far from over yet by taking on two defenders before burying the ball in the corner for the lead.
Weiss added one more close to the halfway mark on a clinical counter attack before Korotetsky rose above everyone else to re-direct a corner kick for the final score.
All in all, a very solid showing, with a result that tells the tale.
Events like this only get to show why this man is still very much first choice for me.
________________________________________________ _______________________
DFB POKAL 2014 - ROUND 2
2.Bundesliga outfit St.Pauli boasted to the press before the match that they intend to take the game, but failing to even hit the target with only three attempts put the foot firmly back into their own mouth.
While we should have scored more than just the two goals by Bacci and Skuletic, I am very happy with the iron curtain we pulled up in defense, shutting down everything before it even developed into a glimmer of a threat on goal.
________________________________________________ _______________________
Coming from last weeks solid performance, I am somewhat disappointed in the draw today, once more dominated in almost all areas but the conversion of chances.
We had the game firmly in our hands, but every spell of dominance was punished at our end by conceding a goal, although strike-partners Andre and Zeher managed to draw level both times.
A very winnable game, and I can only consider this as loosing two points.
________________________________________________ _______________________
Although still somewhat upset about the last game, we are nonetheless in great shape so far, and are still on an unbeaten run after seven games in the season.
Our success so far is starting to show signs outside of our own area, as more and more transfer speculations seem to surface, mostly surrounding the "wonderkid" that is Andre.
So far, he has declared himself happy to stay, but once the big boys come knocking, this might change very fast. I hope my insanely high asking price of 60 Million Euros will deter even the most persistent suitors.
Wilmer Meza and Vladimir Weiss are also starting to make noise about wanting to move, and have so far refused to respond to any new and improved contract offers, despite my attempts to sway them with some very substantial signing fees.
As of now, they are still performing well and I have both tied down to long-term contracts, so there is no eminent threat of loosing them, but it is certainly some cause for concern.
Both are among the best players at my disposal.
At the end of September, we have dropped a few spots in the table, but not by many points.
________________________________________________ _______________________
Micky Pain
Member
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OCTOBER 2014
October is once more littered with international fixtures, giving us almost two weeks with nothing to do before hitting us with three games in the space of one week towards the end.
Luckily, we are facing some teams that I consider quite beatable, so I can keep a few of my key players rested during one or two of those games.
So far, everything is going according to plan, but there will still be some of the top teams to be faced in the coming weeks.
________________________________________________ _______________________
The return of the cursed 3-4-3 formation, and I still am clueless as to how to effectively break it down.
The final score is a good representation of the match itself, with loads of chances on either side, great midfield plays and stellar goalkeeping. Our defense held firm for most of the attacks by the three insanely fast Wolfsburg strikers, and although we had a number of great chances I am still in disbelief as to how effectively they defended on their own end with only three center-backs.
We were going into the lead in the second half in one of those rare moments when our striker was clean through on target, but a quickfire double on the other end saw us concede two goals in less than five minutes.
Drawing level in the closing moments was only fair to both teams in this spirited battle.
________________________________________________ _______________________
Fully rested and determined to get all the points, we took the game to Dusseldorf right from the kick-off.
Although we neglected the defense in favor of more attack-minded play, it never looked likely to be a close game, even after conceding the equalizer through a questionable call by the referee. Andre and Skuletic took turns scoring in the second half to put the game firmly into our grasp, and we never left any doubt that four goals on our tally was still a somewhat flattering result for our opposition.
________________________________________________ _______________________
A second seemingly easy fixture in a row, although I was more aware of a possible Bielefeld threat caused by their fantastic start to the season, sitting firmly in the top half of the table.
But fresh legs and high confidence let my worries fade quite fast once the game got underway, although we only managed to score once in the first half through Petar Skuletic despite numerous great chances. Andre's run on goal was stopped in the box in the second half, allowing Bonaventura to score from the spot to increase the lead.
We conceded a goal not much later, but continuing and persistent dominance throughout much of the remainder, ultimately rewarded with a Vladimir Weiss goal, ended any hopes of Bielefeld for a comeback.
________________________________________________ _______________________
DFB POKAL 2014 - ROUND 1
2.Bundesliga powerhouse Augsburg came out to exact revenge for our previous meetings in the league only two seasons ago. But soon after kick-off they were quite aware that we have grown quite a lot since our last meetings, and so the quick start they had to the match with some great chances soon remained the only bright spots for them in a game that was firmly in our control.
Petar Skuletic started the scoring early in the first half, and added yet another after Korotetsky increased the lead with his head from a corner.
Unshaken by the media frenzy surrounding him, Andre completed the scoring with a cool finish belying his young age.
The injury to Bruels, late in the game, thankfully proved to be only fairly minor.
________________________________________________ _______________________
After yet another great month we have reclaimed one more spot towards the top of the table.
Although we were somewhat lucky with our easy fixtures, the draw against Wolfsburg was a great showing for our side, and as it stands, we remain the only team still undefeated.
With ten games played, we are in great shape and things are looking great in the squad, both in terms of morale and in the injury department.
________________________________________________ _______________________
---------- Post added at 09:00 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:52 PM ----------
Thanks all for the comments and the reading.
Been trying to catch up to the game in the little bit of spare time I have before our own game launches, so don't think I didn't read it when I don't respond to every comment.
Will probably be a little less updates in the coming days as I am swamped at work, but I am sure I can make some time. Been enjoying writing this journey a lot, and I don't intend to quit anytime soon.
If you like it, rate it, comment on it and spread the word.
So far I enjoy it enough to keep it going even if no one reads it, but some appreciation is always nice.
Micky
---------- Post added at 04:26 PM ---------- Previous post was yesterday at 09:00 PM ----------
NOVEMBER 2014
At long last our new training facilities have been completed, although still far from any standard that I would consider appropriate for our current stature.
The board has immediately agreed to improve them further, but construction is unlikely to commence before the current season draws to an end.
While we are still scouting for new talent to sign, we have been unable to find any sufficient targets for the upcoming transfer window.
However, I began compiling a list of talented players whose contracts will be expiring at the end of the current campaign, and started to build good relationships with them that might convince them to sign for us after the end of their current engagement.
Fernandez is still cruising in the youth squad, a big part for our Under-19 team being first in their league, and alone racking up more goals than the second and third placed team combined. He is showing great signs of improvement at the same time and might soon be a viable option for the first team.
________________________________________________ _______________________
The first defeat of the season saw us playing in a game in which any other outcome would have anything but reflected the performance.
Although we had a tight grip on the midfield, the front line was simply toothless while the defense was shaky to say the least. It was not a pretty game to watch for us, and never seemed likely to let us leave with anything than a bruised ego.
________________________________________________ _______________________
Once more the fixtures were kind with us, allowing us to face rather weak opposition to rebuild our momentum after a tough one, and right from the kick-off we came out to show that we deserve our lofty position in the league. Although we did allow a number of shots on our own goal, the defense was tight enough to shut down anything but the most ambitious attempts, and the few that did get through found the thankful hands of Vargas, starting in goal in his first league game.
Two doubles by Andre and Korotetskyi gave us a four goal advantage before the first half came to a close, and after Bochum managed to pull one back, both had a chance for a hat-trick, when Andre was brought down on the box during a clear chance, and Korotetskyi missed from the spot.
I couldn't have wished for a better performance after last weeks defeat.
________________________________________________ _______________________
A game that ended much closer than it should have saw us being surprised during the first attempt on goal, and then faced with a Hannover side that seemed determined to simply sit it out. Although Andre pulled one back in the first half, our opposition was set on getting whatever they could out of the game, be it only one point.
It was all pounding on their goal, but facing a Hannover side that seemed to have completely withdrawn to to within their own penalty box made it near impossible to connect those final passes for another goal.
Ultimately, our tenacity prevailed as Andre took it upon himself to outplay two defenders and the goalkeeper to literally dribble the ball into the net for the three points.
________________________________________________ _______________________
A very even match in all departments, with great passing play and a respectable number of great chances on both sides.
Just when everybody seemed to have agreed upon that a draw was the most representative result, Andre surprised everyone by scoring with a stunning curled shot from more than 30 yards out to literally steal the game in the closing minutes.
________________________________________________ _______________________
A rather good month, nine points from four games, but yet again we were unable to find a way to beak down the 3-4-3 formation enough to make anything happen.
In summary, the team is looking in great shape, and I am more than pleased to see that Andre is finally living up to his potential, compared to last seasons rather mediocre showing.
We are looking good in the league table, and more importantly, have a nice buffer to seventh place, the cut-off line for the European Competition qualifier spots.
________________________________________________ _______________________
---------- Post added at 05:13 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:26 PM ----------
DECEMBER 2014
Three more games until half-time, and all is well so far.
We have avoided any major injury scares, although I am getting a bit worried that we have yet to see the almost obligatory drop in form that we had experienced every other season so far.
I tied down both Wilmer Meza and Andre with new contracts, but Vladimir Weiss is not to be swayed to stay so far. I can only hope that a good run in the season will change his mind and convinces him to stay.
He has still two years left on his current contract, but it is only a matter of time until his general unhappiness starts to impact his performances.
________________________________________________ _______________________
League leaders Stuttgart were clearly the victim of their own complacency, as they opted to field a rather second-rate team despite having no injuries to worry about.
The game started as a rather even affair, but was soon firmly in our grasp and turned to complete dominance after Feghoulie scored his first goal in a long time for the lead.
Stuttgart used all their substitutions in the first thirty minutes, switching reserve players for their starters in an attempt to salvage the game, but were forced to concede once more in the closing minutes of the first half.
Zeher added his second goal of the match after the game restarted, and Stuttgart was simply giving up at that point.
Bruels and Skuletic increased the lead even further, summing up what I have to consider one of the best games we ever played.
________________________________________________ _______________________
Nurnbergs fall from grace continued as we welcomed them on our own turf in front of a sell-out crowd of 20.000 roaring fans.
After having complete control over the midfield, hardly ever allowing any ball to cross the half-way line if it wasn't in our possession, leading only by one goal at halftime was somewhat flattering for our opposition.
It took almost another hour before Andre added his second of the game and then created a gap in the defense big enough for Sribnyi to score his first ever goal for our team.
A very strong performance against a rival team, and while we scored less than we could or should have done, I am particularly impressed with the strong defense.
________________________________________________ _______________________
Coming out of a good run was not enough on this rainy December afternoon. Despite some good play in midfield, we were simply too slow of the mark to prevent the leathal counter threat of Leverkusen, and got punished by two goals in quick succession in the first half.
The game restarted with our side fired up, determined to take the game back, but maybe too fired up as sloppy play saw us get called for a penalty kick - thwarted only by cat-like Meza in goal.
All hopes for a come-back were ended as Bonaventura left us short-handed following an overzealous tackle, and the late third goal we conceded only added the icing on the cake that was this days miserable performance.
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Despite the heavy defeat, it was a rather good month, mostly marked by the convincing showing against Stuttgart, and although Leverkusen embarrassed us on our own turf, they managed to do the same to Stuttgart the week before, and so allowed us to leap-frog to the top spot to finish the first half of the season.
So far, a brilliant season, with great threats up front and tight defending in the back, culminating in a respectable goal difference to see us in the drivers seat.
We were unable to put any new targets are on the radar for the upcoming transfer window, but I am not sure which position I would really like to improve at this point.
I might just stick with what I got and not risk upsetting the fragile team chemistry.
First in the league so far, with almost as many points as during the entire previous season is certainly a great place to be.
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---------- Post added at 11:01 AM ---------- Previous post was yesterday at 05:13 PM ----------
JANUARY 2015
In light of a rather congested fixture list over the coming two months, we opted for only two quick friendly fixtures.
With no new signings that needed adjustment time, everyone agreed we should concentrate on training, and more importantly, on avoiding any unnecessary injuries.
In terms of transfers, we failed to find any good additions to the team, with the exception of Anthony Annan - although our offer was accepted, we were beaten to his signature in the last minute by Stuttgart. I can only consider this a revenge signing for us beating them earlier in the season, as their squad already has sufficient depth in midfield with no true need for a natural defensive midfielder.
The search goes on as, although Bonaventura has developed into a stellar Anchor man, we have no adequate cover in that area in case of injuries - or suspensions like we have to deal with now after he was sent off in the last game.
We will have to pull together as a team, as two of our star members of the first team squad, Franca and Andre, will be unavailable for a few weeks due to their participation in the Juventud de America 2015.
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A thrilling start to the new year, with an entirely attack-minded match in which neither side managed to avoid sloppy play in defense.
After going down two goals early in the first half, a capacity crowd saw a spirited battle from our team to draw level just before half-time. After conceding once more, and getting the equalizer through a strong Korotetskyi header, it was ultimately the Koln keeper being credited for the winning goal, after a strong Feghoulie long-shot came back from the crossbar and hit him in the back before crossing the line.
Not a game for the purists, and certainly a testing fixture for a manager on edge trying to bounce back with a win.
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It seems to me that we are starting some sort of a new tradition here, with either team taking the game with a 2-0 victory at home during our last four meetings.
Hopeful to keep the run going, we were simply outplayed during the entire match and never threatened enough to make even a draw look likely, let alone deserved.
Only thing left to do is pick ourselves up and perform a lot better next time around.
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After a disappointing last week, we came out with a strong performance in front of yet another sold out stadium at home. Being the slightly stronger team it still took us until well into the second half before Robert Zeher started the scoring.
As Schalke switched to more offensive play, we were able to beat them time and again on the counter, allowing Feghouli to add yet another goal and Josue completing the rout in the closing minutes.
I am very happy that we managed to bounce right back from the defeat, against a very strong team no less.
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Relegation-threatened Aachen put up a brave fight during the first few minutes, even managing to get one past an otherwise faultless Vargas in goal.
A quick double by Zeher and Skuletic put the game back in our hands, and we never let go after that. Sergiy Sribnyi increased the lead close to the half-time mark before Zeher popped up once more to complete the scoring rout.
An otherwise great performance was marred by Korotestkyi picking up a bad injury - he will be receiving specialist treatment for at least two month after he damaged his spine following a hard tackle.
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On the whole, a good month, and we managed to keep the attacking play alive even with our top scorer away on international duty.
The loss of one of our best defenders is certainly a blow to our ambitions, but it seems that some of our back-ups are progression rather well and will leave us not lacking much in areal dominance in the back.
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FEBRUARY 2015
With the season progressing to the later stages, we are still in great shape.
I am confident that we can hold out to claim one of those European Competition qualifier spots and end the season with yet another great success - and more league bonus to go with it.
Apart from the heavy injury to Korotetskyi, the other bad news is that Vladimir Weiss is simply not responding to any attempt to sway him to stay. Not even a contract with wages three times his current pay seems enough, and I might just as well count this as a lost cause.
I will give it another few weeks to make up my mind.
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A very dominant game, but one in which the nervous play of Korotetskyis replacement in defense cost us two goals, and in a way ultimately the win.
I don't want to put the blame on a single player, as both the midfield and the lackluster attacking play added to the dropped points, but we were certainly missing the confidence in the back to take the game.
After Zeher had equalized for us, and Skuletic gave us the lead, it was a glaring hole in defense that allowed Hamburg to draw level.
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DFB POKAL 2015 - QUARTER FINAL
2.Bundesliga outfit Freiburg tried their best to put up a fight, but we were simply too fired up to allow the game to ever slip out of our control. After Skuletic gave us the lead only a few minutes in, it was a Vladimir Weiss one-man show for much of the rest of the game.
His dribbling, pin-point passing and remarkable teamwork was ultimately rewarded with his hat-trick, adding his third goal from the spot.
With time -and home-fans - running out, it was a bizarre diagonal cross from more than 40 yards out that fooled defense and keeper alike to allow Franca to score his first ever goal for us
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A goalless draw on this cold February day doesn't tell the story of what was really going on:
It was an all-out attacking play from our side, at times absurd in our grasp on the midfield, and only a stellar goalkeeping performance by Timo Hildebrand, stopping no less than 21 shots, that allowed Hoffenheim to take anything out of the match.
Dropped points no less, but after a solo-performance like that I am inclined to consider a draw a fair result.
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Yet another sell-out crowd saw a spirited and very physical game against underachieving Gladbach. Beautiful to watch at times, the flow was disrupted too many times for my liking by late tackles on either side. Scoring with the fastest ever goal in team history when Skuletic beat the defense, we were forced to watch our ambitions take a hit as Bonaventura was send off.
Despite conceding the equalizer not much later, the one-man disadvantage was rarely felt, and allowed us to regain and even increase the lead through two Feghouli goals both before and after the half-time whistle.
Gladbach managed to pull one goal back after negating the man-advantage with their very own red card, and their inability to equalize the match resulted in yet another careless challenge for their second sending off.
I am only glad that after all the hard hitting in this game we managed to emerge not only with the points but also unscathed in the injury department.
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Despite playing more than half of the match with more players on the pitch, we were still unable to effectively break down the Wolfsburg defense, although less for a lack of trying and more for a stunning Benaglio performance in goal, stopping anything that came near him.
By the performance alone we should have left with a sizable winning margin, but it just went on to show how much a top-class goalkeeper can influence the outcome of a game.
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Another strong month has ended, with us progressing to the semi-finals in the cup, and still going strong in the league, although having given up the top seat.
We added two champions to our team, as Brazil won the Juventud de America 2015, featuring our very own Franca and Andre, the latter even picking up the Best Player award.
The more sad event is that Vladimir Weiss is now officially a lost cause.
Even after his hat-trick performance, his morale was seeing no increase, even less so after he forced my hand to issue a fine for his absence in training.
The silver lining, if there is one when you have to let go one of your best players, is that we managed to strike a deal with Palermo worth close to twice his actual market value at the end of the season.
With only nine games left to play, we find ourselves in second place.
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October is once more littered with international fixtures, giving us almost two weeks with nothing to do before hitting us with three games in the space of one week towards the end.
Luckily, we are facing some teams that I consider quite beatable, so I can keep a few of my key players rested during one or two of those games.
So far, everything is going according to plan, but there will still be some of the top teams to be faced in the coming weeks.
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The return of the cursed 3-4-3 formation, and I still am clueless as to how to effectively break it down.
The final score is a good representation of the match itself, with loads of chances on either side, great midfield plays and stellar goalkeeping. Our defense held firm for most of the attacks by the three insanely fast Wolfsburg strikers, and although we had a number of great chances I am still in disbelief as to how effectively they defended on their own end with only three center-backs.
We were going into the lead in the second half in one of those rare moments when our striker was clean through on target, but a quickfire double on the other end saw us concede two goals in less than five minutes.
Drawing level in the closing moments was only fair to both teams in this spirited battle.
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Fully rested and determined to get all the points, we took the game to Dusseldorf right from the kick-off.
Although we neglected the defense in favor of more attack-minded play, it never looked likely to be a close game, even after conceding the equalizer through a questionable call by the referee. Andre and Skuletic took turns scoring in the second half to put the game firmly into our grasp, and we never left any doubt that four goals on our tally was still a somewhat flattering result for our opposition.
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A second seemingly easy fixture in a row, although I was more aware of a possible Bielefeld threat caused by their fantastic start to the season, sitting firmly in the top half of the table.
But fresh legs and high confidence let my worries fade quite fast once the game got underway, although we only managed to score once in the first half through Petar Skuletic despite numerous great chances. Andre's run on goal was stopped in the box in the second half, allowing Bonaventura to score from the spot to increase the lead.
We conceded a goal not much later, but continuing and persistent dominance throughout much of the remainder, ultimately rewarded with a Vladimir Weiss goal, ended any hopes of Bielefeld for a comeback.
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DFB POKAL 2014 - ROUND 1
2.Bundesliga powerhouse Augsburg came out to exact revenge for our previous meetings in the league only two seasons ago. But soon after kick-off they were quite aware that we have grown quite a lot since our last meetings, and so the quick start they had to the match with some great chances soon remained the only bright spots for them in a game that was firmly in our control.
Petar Skuletic started the scoring early in the first half, and added yet another after Korotetsky increased the lead with his head from a corner.
Unshaken by the media frenzy surrounding him, Andre completed the scoring with a cool finish belying his young age.
The injury to Bruels, late in the game, thankfully proved to be only fairly minor.
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After yet another great month we have reclaimed one more spot towards the top of the table.
Although we were somewhat lucky with our easy fixtures, the draw against Wolfsburg was a great showing for our side, and as it stands, we remain the only team still undefeated.
With ten games played, we are in great shape and things are looking great in the squad, both in terms of morale and in the injury department.
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---------- Post added at 09:00 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:52 PM ----------
Thanks all for the comments and the reading.
Been trying to catch up to the game in the little bit of spare time I have before our own game launches, so don't think I didn't read it when I don't respond to every comment.
Will probably be a little less updates in the coming days as I am swamped at work, but I am sure I can make some time. Been enjoying writing this journey a lot, and I don't intend to quit anytime soon.
If you like it, rate it, comment on it and spread the word.
So far I enjoy it enough to keep it going even if no one reads it, but some appreciation is always nice.
Micky
---------- Post added at 04:26 PM ---------- Previous post was yesterday at 09:00 PM ----------
NOVEMBER 2014
At long last our new training facilities have been completed, although still far from any standard that I would consider appropriate for our current stature.
The board has immediately agreed to improve them further, but construction is unlikely to commence before the current season draws to an end.
While we are still scouting for new talent to sign, we have been unable to find any sufficient targets for the upcoming transfer window.
However, I began compiling a list of talented players whose contracts will be expiring at the end of the current campaign, and started to build good relationships with them that might convince them to sign for us after the end of their current engagement.
Fernandez is still cruising in the youth squad, a big part for our Under-19 team being first in their league, and alone racking up more goals than the second and third placed team combined. He is showing great signs of improvement at the same time and might soon be a viable option for the first team.
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The first defeat of the season saw us playing in a game in which any other outcome would have anything but reflected the performance.
Although we had a tight grip on the midfield, the front line was simply toothless while the defense was shaky to say the least. It was not a pretty game to watch for us, and never seemed likely to let us leave with anything than a bruised ego.
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Once more the fixtures were kind with us, allowing us to face rather weak opposition to rebuild our momentum after a tough one, and right from the kick-off we came out to show that we deserve our lofty position in the league. Although we did allow a number of shots on our own goal, the defense was tight enough to shut down anything but the most ambitious attempts, and the few that did get through found the thankful hands of Vargas, starting in goal in his first league game.
Two doubles by Andre and Korotetskyi gave us a four goal advantage before the first half came to a close, and after Bochum managed to pull one back, both had a chance for a hat-trick, when Andre was brought down on the box during a clear chance, and Korotetskyi missed from the spot.
I couldn't have wished for a better performance after last weeks defeat.
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A game that ended much closer than it should have saw us being surprised during the first attempt on goal, and then faced with a Hannover side that seemed determined to simply sit it out. Although Andre pulled one back in the first half, our opposition was set on getting whatever they could out of the game, be it only one point.
It was all pounding on their goal, but facing a Hannover side that seemed to have completely withdrawn to to within their own penalty box made it near impossible to connect those final passes for another goal.
Ultimately, our tenacity prevailed as Andre took it upon himself to outplay two defenders and the goalkeeper to literally dribble the ball into the net for the three points.
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A very even match in all departments, with great passing play and a respectable number of great chances on both sides.
Just when everybody seemed to have agreed upon that a draw was the most representative result, Andre surprised everyone by scoring with a stunning curled shot from more than 30 yards out to literally steal the game in the closing minutes.
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A rather good month, nine points from four games, but yet again we were unable to find a way to beak down the 3-4-3 formation enough to make anything happen.
In summary, the team is looking in great shape, and I am more than pleased to see that Andre is finally living up to his potential, compared to last seasons rather mediocre showing.
We are looking good in the league table, and more importantly, have a nice buffer to seventh place, the cut-off line for the European Competition qualifier spots.
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---------- Post added at 05:13 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:26 PM ----------
DECEMBER 2014
Three more games until half-time, and all is well so far.
We have avoided any major injury scares, although I am getting a bit worried that we have yet to see the almost obligatory drop in form that we had experienced every other season so far.
I tied down both Wilmer Meza and Andre with new contracts, but Vladimir Weiss is not to be swayed to stay so far. I can only hope that a good run in the season will change his mind and convinces him to stay.
He has still two years left on his current contract, but it is only a matter of time until his general unhappiness starts to impact his performances.
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League leaders Stuttgart were clearly the victim of their own complacency, as they opted to field a rather second-rate team despite having no injuries to worry about.
The game started as a rather even affair, but was soon firmly in our grasp and turned to complete dominance after Feghoulie scored his first goal in a long time for the lead.
Stuttgart used all their substitutions in the first thirty minutes, switching reserve players for their starters in an attempt to salvage the game, but were forced to concede once more in the closing minutes of the first half.
Zeher added his second goal of the match after the game restarted, and Stuttgart was simply giving up at that point.
Bruels and Skuletic increased the lead even further, summing up what I have to consider one of the best games we ever played.
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Nurnbergs fall from grace continued as we welcomed them on our own turf in front of a sell-out crowd of 20.000 roaring fans.
After having complete control over the midfield, hardly ever allowing any ball to cross the half-way line if it wasn't in our possession, leading only by one goal at halftime was somewhat flattering for our opposition.
It took almost another hour before Andre added his second of the game and then created a gap in the defense big enough for Sribnyi to score his first ever goal for our team.
A very strong performance against a rival team, and while we scored less than we could or should have done, I am particularly impressed with the strong defense.
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Coming out of a good run was not enough on this rainy December afternoon. Despite some good play in midfield, we were simply too slow of the mark to prevent the leathal counter threat of Leverkusen, and got punished by two goals in quick succession in the first half.
The game restarted with our side fired up, determined to take the game back, but maybe too fired up as sloppy play saw us get called for a penalty kick - thwarted only by cat-like Meza in goal.
All hopes for a come-back were ended as Bonaventura left us short-handed following an overzealous tackle, and the late third goal we conceded only added the icing on the cake that was this days miserable performance.
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Despite the heavy defeat, it was a rather good month, mostly marked by the convincing showing against Stuttgart, and although Leverkusen embarrassed us on our own turf, they managed to do the same to Stuttgart the week before, and so allowed us to leap-frog to the top spot to finish the first half of the season.
So far, a brilliant season, with great threats up front and tight defending in the back, culminating in a respectable goal difference to see us in the drivers seat.
We were unable to put any new targets are on the radar for the upcoming transfer window, but I am not sure which position I would really like to improve at this point.
I might just stick with what I got and not risk upsetting the fragile team chemistry.
First in the league so far, with almost as many points as during the entire previous season is certainly a great place to be.
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---------- Post added at 11:01 AM ---------- Previous post was yesterday at 05:13 PM ----------
JANUARY 2015
In light of a rather congested fixture list over the coming two months, we opted for only two quick friendly fixtures.
With no new signings that needed adjustment time, everyone agreed we should concentrate on training, and more importantly, on avoiding any unnecessary injuries.
In terms of transfers, we failed to find any good additions to the team, with the exception of Anthony Annan - although our offer was accepted, we were beaten to his signature in the last minute by Stuttgart. I can only consider this a revenge signing for us beating them earlier in the season, as their squad already has sufficient depth in midfield with no true need for a natural defensive midfielder.
The search goes on as, although Bonaventura has developed into a stellar Anchor man, we have no adequate cover in that area in case of injuries - or suspensions like we have to deal with now after he was sent off in the last game.
We will have to pull together as a team, as two of our star members of the first team squad, Franca and Andre, will be unavailable for a few weeks due to their participation in the Juventud de America 2015.
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A thrilling start to the new year, with an entirely attack-minded match in which neither side managed to avoid sloppy play in defense.
After going down two goals early in the first half, a capacity crowd saw a spirited battle from our team to draw level just before half-time. After conceding once more, and getting the equalizer through a strong Korotetskyi header, it was ultimately the Koln keeper being credited for the winning goal, after a strong Feghoulie long-shot came back from the crossbar and hit him in the back before crossing the line.
Not a game for the purists, and certainly a testing fixture for a manager on edge trying to bounce back with a win.
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It seems to me that we are starting some sort of a new tradition here, with either team taking the game with a 2-0 victory at home during our last four meetings.
Hopeful to keep the run going, we were simply outplayed during the entire match and never threatened enough to make even a draw look likely, let alone deserved.
Only thing left to do is pick ourselves up and perform a lot better next time around.
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After a disappointing last week, we came out with a strong performance in front of yet another sold out stadium at home. Being the slightly stronger team it still took us until well into the second half before Robert Zeher started the scoring.
As Schalke switched to more offensive play, we were able to beat them time and again on the counter, allowing Feghouli to add yet another goal and Josue completing the rout in the closing minutes.
I am very happy that we managed to bounce right back from the defeat, against a very strong team no less.
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Relegation-threatened Aachen put up a brave fight during the first few minutes, even managing to get one past an otherwise faultless Vargas in goal.
A quick double by Zeher and Skuletic put the game back in our hands, and we never let go after that. Sergiy Sribnyi increased the lead close to the half-time mark before Zeher popped up once more to complete the scoring rout.
An otherwise great performance was marred by Korotestkyi picking up a bad injury - he will be receiving specialist treatment for at least two month after he damaged his spine following a hard tackle.
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On the whole, a good month, and we managed to keep the attacking play alive even with our top scorer away on international duty.
The loss of one of our best defenders is certainly a blow to our ambitions, but it seems that some of our back-ups are progression rather well and will leave us not lacking much in areal dominance in the back.
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FEBRUARY 2015
With the season progressing to the later stages, we are still in great shape.
I am confident that we can hold out to claim one of those European Competition qualifier spots and end the season with yet another great success - and more league bonus to go with it.
Apart from the heavy injury to Korotetskyi, the other bad news is that Vladimir Weiss is simply not responding to any attempt to sway him to stay. Not even a contract with wages three times his current pay seems enough, and I might just as well count this as a lost cause.
I will give it another few weeks to make up my mind.
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A very dominant game, but one in which the nervous play of Korotetskyis replacement in defense cost us two goals, and in a way ultimately the win.
I don't want to put the blame on a single player, as both the midfield and the lackluster attacking play added to the dropped points, but we were certainly missing the confidence in the back to take the game.
After Zeher had equalized for us, and Skuletic gave us the lead, it was a glaring hole in defense that allowed Hamburg to draw level.
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DFB POKAL 2015 - QUARTER FINAL
2.Bundesliga outfit Freiburg tried their best to put up a fight, but we were simply too fired up to allow the game to ever slip out of our control. After Skuletic gave us the lead only a few minutes in, it was a Vladimir Weiss one-man show for much of the rest of the game.
His dribbling, pin-point passing and remarkable teamwork was ultimately rewarded with his hat-trick, adding his third goal from the spot.
With time -and home-fans - running out, it was a bizarre diagonal cross from more than 40 yards out that fooled defense and keeper alike to allow Franca to score his first ever goal for us
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A goalless draw on this cold February day doesn't tell the story of what was really going on:
It was an all-out attacking play from our side, at times absurd in our grasp on the midfield, and only a stellar goalkeeping performance by Timo Hildebrand, stopping no less than 21 shots, that allowed Hoffenheim to take anything out of the match.
Dropped points no less, but after a solo-performance like that I am inclined to consider a draw a fair result.
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Yet another sell-out crowd saw a spirited and very physical game against underachieving Gladbach. Beautiful to watch at times, the flow was disrupted too many times for my liking by late tackles on either side. Scoring with the fastest ever goal in team history when Skuletic beat the defense, we were forced to watch our ambitions take a hit as Bonaventura was send off.
Despite conceding the equalizer not much later, the one-man disadvantage was rarely felt, and allowed us to regain and even increase the lead through two Feghouli goals both before and after the half-time whistle.
Gladbach managed to pull one goal back after negating the man-advantage with their very own red card, and their inability to equalize the match resulted in yet another careless challenge for their second sending off.
I am only glad that after all the hard hitting in this game we managed to emerge not only with the points but also unscathed in the injury department.
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Despite playing more than half of the match with more players on the pitch, we were still unable to effectively break down the Wolfsburg defense, although less for a lack of trying and more for a stunning Benaglio performance in goal, stopping anything that came near him.
By the performance alone we should have left with a sizable winning margin, but it just went on to show how much a top-class goalkeeper can influence the outcome of a game.
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Another strong month has ended, with us progressing to the semi-finals in the cup, and still going strong in the league, although having given up the top seat.
We added two champions to our team, as Brazil won the Juventud de America 2015, featuring our very own Franca and Andre, the latter even picking up the Best Player award.
The more sad event is that Vladimir Weiss is now officially a lost cause.
Even after his hat-trick performance, his morale was seeing no increase, even less so after he forced my hand to issue a fine for his absence in training.
The silver lining, if there is one when you have to let go one of your best players, is that we managed to strike a deal with Palermo worth close to twice his actual market value at the end of the season.
With only nine games left to play, we find ourselves in second place.
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Micky Pain
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Well, these days I forget about the friendlies until I get the emails that my assistant has arranged some. I used to be more involved when we needed the revenue badly, but in recent seasons it's more about match-fitness.
I do cancel a few friendlies my assistant has set up if I see that the fixture list is too congested, and mostly it's again weaker teams to allow any new signings to blend in.
Revenue is not that much of an issue anymore for the games, and since I don't have a reserve team, my squad is rather small (18-23 players altogether at the bets of times), so at the moment I try to avoid anything that might add injuries to the squad before the "real"fixtures begin.
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