World Super League - Shakhtar Donetsk

[DanosFC]

Welcome to my first ever FM Base Football Manager story. Before we get into things theres a few things I would like to say:

1. I haven't really played much about FM this year.
2. I don't consider myself to be any good at the game what so ever.
3. This is my first thread, so my 'story' skills, and the overall layout, may not be up to scratch.

These are 3 things I hope to improve on through this story and in conversation with you guys. Without further ado let me present to you my chosen team.....

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SHAKHTAR DONETSK

Shakhtar are one of the most successful teams in Ukraine. In the World Super League database they are in the World First Division (2nd tier).

 

[DanosFC]

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Pre-Season - First Thoughts

Shaktar is a team i've never managed before (or to honest never thought of managing before.) On arrival I was quite impressed with the training and youth facilities and the players we had on board at the club. The finances were also in quite a good state and I was afforded a transfer budget of 73 million.

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Overall I was pretty happy with the depth of my squad. Perhaps a centre mid as we seem a little light there may be needed and maybe a striker due to Ferreya being out on loan to Newcastle. I had a look at my various reserve teams and noted a few players that could make the step up into the first team at a later date. The squad mainly consists of Ukraine and Brazilian players and the squad is quite large.

Pre-Season - Key Players

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Wellington New - Right Wing
- Will be my starting right winger this season. Good young Brazilian (one of many) who can fill anywhere a position anywhere along the front third.

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Fred - Attacking Mid
- I will be playing a 4-1-2-2-1 this season so Fred will slot in at centre mid. I have the option to play him at CAM if a decide to change formations. Should be a key component of my side especially due to our weakness in midfield.

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Darjo Srna - Right Back
- Probably my best player in terms of both experience and ability. One of the oldest players in my team but still shows great ability both defensively and in attacking sense down that right hand side. I'm hoping him and Wellington can from a good combination this year. Srna will be my captain for this season.

 

[DanosFC]

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Pre-Season - Signings

Just two signings in the transfer window so far. Due to the size of the squad I might look to offload some players.

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Lars Stindl - Centre Mid
- Valued at 17.75 million but I was able to pick him up for 6.25 million due to his release clause. Looks a decent enough player to act as a backup in the central midfield area.

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Victor Wanyama - Centre Mid
- Wanyama sets me back 30 million so could be considered quite a risk. Hopefully in my case he is not and he is able to forge out a good career at Shaktar.

Still on the lookout for a striker and a back up centre back.

 

[DanosFC]

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Pre-Season - Schedule


I really couldn't care less about the results of these matches. My aim was to just familiarise the squad with my tactic and build up match fitness. Hence, I let my assistant manager take control of these friendly matches. I was very happy too about progressing through the pre-season camp without any injuries also!!!

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As you can see I have drawn Sparta Prague away in the 1st round of the World League Cup. This tournament is basically a cup competition involving all league divisions from the 19th to the 1st (I think.)

Season Expectations

I'm predicted to finish 9th this season with odds of 50-1 to win the title this season. Realistically, I hope I can finish in the top 8 and perhaps push on for promotion next season. In the cup, all I want to do is experiment new players and formations and beat teams I am expected to beat. I don't place a big important on this cup yet but still like to have a decent crack at it.

Note - I'm in the FIFA World Division One which is the league just below the FIFA World Premier League. In my league, the top 3 get promoted to the Premier League with the bottom three relegated to the World Division Two.

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Next update will be update soon with a closer look at the tactic being employed, end of the transfer window and my first few games in charge!!!​

 

[DanosFC]

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Transfer Window Round-Up

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Ended the transfer window with just the two singings I previously talked about. I was still on the lookout for a centre back right up till the last minutes but I was not able to find any to settle on. I also learned that the amount of foreign players in your match day squad mustn't exceed 11 so that caused me a bit of problems. In this data base, non-foreign are British or Ukrainian (in my case) so I aimed to find a centre back that fitted that bill. Unfortunately I couldn't find any that were both good enough and at a relatively cheap price.

These rules also affected my departures. Douglas Costa wanted to leave the club. I'm pretty stacked up in the attacking third so I was quite happy to let him leave on loan. I will return in January where he might be sold. While the other two losses weren't too hard to stomach. Shevchuk was never going to be anywhere near my first team and Ilsinho complained about game time in a position a didn't plan to use. No brainers really.

Overall I was quite happy with the transfer window. We brought in cover in a position we needed it in (centre midfield) and got rid of a couple of players that were causing a lack of harmony amongst the squad. Hopefully next transfer window I am able to make a few more signings to continue improving this squad. The net spend is a little bit of a worry though, especially since the majority of that was spent on one player.

Rating: B

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Not really much to talk about in regards to transfers around the league. My signing of Wanyama was easily the highest spent, I also surprisingly topped the most active with just 2 transfers. Elsewhere, Iborra joined Real Madrid from Sevilla and Hatem Ben Arfa joined Monaco on a free transfer.

Tactic

This is just a rough visual representation of how I want my team to play this season. I am still playing around with the player roles and team instructions at the moment.
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So the basic formation I am going to play is 4-1-2-3. The first team will mainly consist of:
GK - R. Khudzhamov
RB - D. Srna (C)
CB - O. Kucher
CB - Y. Rakitskyi
LB - M. Azevedo
DM - Fernando
CM - Fred
CM - Wanyama
RW - Wellington
LW - Bernard
ST - L. Adriano

The back four will stay pretty rigid in this formation with my full backs pushing up to a degree. Fernando will play that defensive midfielder role where I hope he can put a stop to any opposition attack. Fred and Wanyama will be my double-pivot in the centre mid positions with Fred offering a more attacking outlay with Wanyama slotting in behind as defensive cover. At the moment, I have the wingers of Bernard and Wellington operating as wingers and supporting Luiz Adriano in the middle, who is set at complete forward. I also have quite strong depth on the bench with the likes of Taison, Texeria and Stindl pushing for inclusion in the squad. ​

 

[DanosFC]

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World League Cup - First Round

I'm really excited to make my managerial debut albeit in a cup match. We are the favourites for this match and i'm hoping for a strong performance away from home. No changes to my starting lineup in which I outlined above.

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I couldn't have asked for a better result in my first match. Not only did we manage to score 4 goals but we also kept a clean sheet. Luiz Adriano scored 2, Kucher tucked away a penalty and the 4th was through an own goal. Great Stuff!!!

Shakhtar Man of the match goes to Luiz Adriano with a match rating of 9.4. He scored a double, was brought down in the box for the penalty and forced the own goal. Marcio Azevedo and Olexander Kucher both were impressive also.

World League Cup News

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We draw Palermo away for the second round of the World League Cup. I believe they're in the 7th division so we would be favourites for the match up. Although all teams are good in this database and it should be a tough contest.

World Division One - Round 1

We take on Sau Paulo at home in our first match of the World Division One season. A match where we are favourites for the win. No changes to squad from previous game. Come on Shakhtar!!!

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Another pleasing result as we manage to defeat Sau Paulo 3-0. Despite applying lots of pressure in the first half we were unable to break through a stubborn Sau Paulo defence. Finally, Wanyama opened the scoring in the 49th minute with a bullet header off a corner. Goals soon followed in the 61st and 74th minutes through Luiz Adriano and Alex Texeria who had come on for Wellington.

Man of the match goes to Victor Wanyama (8.2) for his goal and also his defensive work in sustaining our clean sheet. Honourable mentions go to Bernard and Yaroslav Rakitskyi.

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Coming up will involve matches against AS Monaco, Fiorentina and Sporting Portugal!​

 

[DanosFC]

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World Division One - Round 2

I go into this game hoping to keep up my winning start to the season. Monaco are a good side so it should be a tough match. Starting 11 is unchanged from the previous match.

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A good 1-0 victory for the lads which gives us 6 points from 6. Get in! The goal was scored by Kucher who calmy slotted away a penalty in the 78th minute. I thought this game would fizzle out to a boring 0-0 draw but luckily I was wrong.

Man of the match goes to Fernando who stopped any threatening Monaco attacks. Both centre back Rakitskyi and goal keeper Khudzhamov played well also in preventing an equaliser.

World Division One - Round 3

2 for 2 so far this season and the teams looking strong. Hopefully we can keep that up in this match against a strong Fiorentina side. Alex Teixeria starts ahead of the injured Wellington.

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2-2 it ends what an exciting/frustrating game for us as both teams throw caution to the winds. We started off the better of the two sides and were rewarded when Micah Richards directed the ball into his own net. No joke, less than a minute later a quick counter attacking move lead to a work shot from Valero which somehow Khudzhamov fumbled it into his own net. The game slowed down a bit after this and the score remained 1-1 leading into the break. The second half started just like the first with lots of first pace action. We scored our second through Bernard who beat who few defenders and then slotted it into the bottom right hand corner. I changed my mentality to more defensively but unfortunately they found the equaliser through Giardino. Good game, and we remain unbeaten.

My pick for man of the match goes to Luiz Adriano (7.1) who looked good playing in a more supporting role. Goal scorer Bernard and captain Srna both had strong performances.​