Failed Blue Turned Red - RB Salzburg

CLUB BIO
FC Schalke 04 is one of the most well-supported football clubs in all of world football, having over 150,000 members to date. Despite this overwhelming support, Die Königsblauen – the royal blues – have been without league glory for 60 years, with their last being in 1958. Their last league title was in Bundesliga 2 in 1991. Not a great record, but there is history here that I want to reignite. One other big omission from their trophy cabinet is that of the Champions League, the holy grail of European football, a trophy that I will be setting my sights on in the coming years. Boasting excellent training and youth facilities I will be looking to make use of these and hopefully discover some future club legends. FC Schalke 04 have always intrigued me as a club, and I believe I have the ability to turn them into another German football powerhouse.
5 Year Plan
I know the board puts a 5-year plan in place, but I like to set my own plan as well to guide myself along the way. Hopefully, I can achieve these goals.
Year 1
- Top 5 finish whilst playing competitive football and replacing weak links in the squad
- Challenge for a Cup
Year 2
- Top 4 finish (Champions League Qualification) remain competitive and grow players at the club
- Win a cup
Year 3
- Begin to challenge for the title, current prospects should be at the prime age to impact
- Be competitive in the Champions League
- Win a Cup
Year 4
- Legitimate title challenge with all prospects reaching mature age and squad should be on the up
- Quarters/Semis in the Champions League
- Have produced talent through own academy that are regular starters
Year 5
- Bundesliga Title
- Champions League Final at minimum
- Established youth players

How Will I Achieve This?
I am looking to be smart in the way I use the transfer market and how I intertwine it with Schalke’s impressive youth set up. First of all, each season I will look to find where our weakest areas are, mainly based on match ratings and how I feel they have performed in their role. Other issues such as age and star rating will come secondary. Each position I will aim to have two players who are both capable at Bundesliga and later champions league level, with the third player being a youth prospect who can come in and fill the void if injuries or other issue occur. Key attributes I will look for in all players is determination and work rate. A team of determined, hard-working bastards will always beat a team of less willing tricksters. Or at least that’s what I think.

For my scouting approach, I will be mainly focussing on leagues that can often be overlooked, these being Norway, Denmark, Austria and so on. Avoiding the ‘big four’, as their players can often be overvalued. I also will only sign players based on what my scouts bring up, I feel this adds to the realism of the game and makes it more challenging. My Director of Football will get his chance to sign some people as well (provided they're not duds ).

Tactically I will set up in a possession-based pressing tactic with a focus on maintaining possession and being defensively sound. Of course, I have to press, it is Germany after all. I’ll set up with three tactics, two main ones. The first being my possession-based pressing system, the second a more restrained defensive system and then a tertiary tactic that can fill the needs of all-out attack or parking the bus. Finding players that can suit these tactics will also be the key.

Finally, for my youth players, I want to give any prospect a real chance at making an impact as it is great for the club. Every prospect who reaches 18 years old, who is up to scratch, will be given at least 5 games to prove their ability. If they perform well, they will be given a permanent role, if they do not, they will be loaned out to find experience. This is one of my key focusses in this save and I hope it can be beneficial.

The Squad


Key Players
Amine Harit M/AM (LC) 21, young left sided inverted winger who is already one of our better players. I can imagine him having a very important role in our squad for the coming years.
Matija Nastasic D(C) 26, Former Manchester City reject who has found solid ground here at Schalke. A sturdy defender who will be a good base of which to form a good back line around.
Benito Raman M/AM(RL), ST(C) 24, Pacey winger who I will look to throw further forward on that right wing to create a bit of panic in opposing defenders minds.

Under 21 Talent
Weston McKennie DM,M(C) 20, Lots to like about this young American, hard-working, determined and Physically gifted. Some work into his technical side and he will be star for us.
Ahmed Kutucu AM (C), ST(C) 19, Another determined and hard-working youngster, Ahmed has solid technical ability and will only grow going forward. Most likely my back up striker, who will likely develop into my number one.
Ozan Kabak D(C) 19, Turkish defender who extremely strong for his age and has the technical defensive abilities to go along with it. Some work into his mental side of his game and he will be a stalwart in ‘the Royal Blues’ defence.

Areas to Improve
Both full-back slots need a complete overhaul, with our two starters being loanees and the other players being 30 years of age. One of these slots will need to be replaced this season, and the other might have to be saved for next year. We could do with some work upfront as our current starter is in on loan, but I don’t want to get in the wat of Kutucu’s development. It will be touch and go. A goalkeeper is another area that could be improved but I will give Schuber a season to prove himself as he is only young.

Tactics
My main tactic will be a 4-1-4-1 that focuses on a high tempo possession system, which will hopefully upset opposition defense and provide goal scoring opportunities. My creativity will come mainly from the advance playmaker and the inverted winger on the left, with the right-sided winger and advanced forward carving out space. The box-to-box midfielder will support our midfield, which will be held together by the anchorman. A defender set to cover will allow us to press higher up the pitch with more confidence, helping us win back the ball.

My defensive tactic will be a more restrained 4-1-4-1, with the winger sitting back to form to banks of four, with a defensive midfielder sitting in between to clog up any opposition attacks. This allows me to push the wingers forward in a situation where we need a goal. I still want to maintain possession whilst defending hard, as the opposition cannot score if they do not have the ball. Guardiola eat your heart out. I guess

Pre-Season
Pre-season started unconvincingly, with a 1-0 win against our U19s, most of the best members were apart of our senior squad, which had me worried. We then followed up with a 1-0 away loss to Legia Warsaw. Still, I stuck with my formation and it started to show results. 3 straight clean-sheets and 7 goals scored gave me more faith in my tactical ability. A 3-1 win against Lugano would mark our 2nd goal conceded and would remain as our last for the remainder of Pre-Season. 24 goals scored and only 1 conceded is impressive. We will be sticking with this tactic for the foreseeable future.

A match against St Gallen brought a player to my attention, Leonidas Stergiou. 17-year-old Swiss center-back who showed plenty of promise. A handful of scout reporters later and I snapped him up for $6 million. He was sent back on loan to St Gallen to develop and will return after a year. I will be following his development closely. I’ve made no more signings prior to matchday one. Based on our friendly results, this could be a good season for the club.

August – Early Scalp
First up, we had a round 1 cup tie against Kaiserslautern who found themselves dwelling in Liga. 3. After a fairly quiet first half, with no team looking like scoring, we broke the deadlock in the 56th minute and held a 1-0 lead for the rest of the game. My first professional win. Our first match in the league came against Borussia Monchengladbach, fellow European favorites. An unlucky 2-1 defeat, as their two strikers scored some absolute blinders, not a great result as our next opponent was the all-conquering Bayern Munich. Our first game of the year at home, so it was important to set a standard, and that we did. Amine Harit scored in the first 2 minutes and we locked down for the rest of the game. Keeping a clean sheet against the German Juggernaut. Amine Harit, unfortunately, picked up a knock so would miss the next match. Home again, we dispatched Hertha Berlin again 1-0 being the result. Picking up 3 wins from 4 and 3 clean sheets in the month of August. Hopefully more of the same in September.

September - Scoring Drought
I'm starting to realize why this squad only scraped 8 wins together last season. We suffer from a severe lack of creativity. September was definitely a month to forget. Going goalless in all three games and losing to SC Paderborn 2-0, who were expected to get relegated may I add. We managed just three shots. Three. Well, it was a one-off I thought and we'd go on to roll Mainz in the next fixture. However, no luck, more of the same boring football, only one highlight for the whole match and it was Gregortisch getting his goal disallowed. 0-0 draw typical FM. Our final match of the month was against RB Leipzig, I was gearing up for a 6-0 drubbing based on our performance against Paderborn, but we actually looked solid, creating some chances and not conceding any. A panic tactic change into 5 at the back may have something to do with it. Still, we managed a 0-0 draw, if we hadn't drawn and lost our two previous matches, that would have been a great result. Anyway, we move forward into October only a game out of European spots so it isn't panic stations yet. ignore the Tactic change, that was just good management heh .

October - Mediocrity
Switching to 5 at the back seemed to sure us up defensively however, we still cannot find the back of the net. 2 wins, a 1-0 loss to Dortmund and a 1-1 draw to Hoffenheim again, on the surface is not that bad of a month. 2 wins in 7 matches though is poor for a team expecting to reach the European spots. We are 3rd in the league for goals conceded, but 16th in the league for goals scored. That right there tells me we lack teeth. Amine Harit has disappeared after a good first couple of games and we have no other creative outlet. WIthout funds a large budget as well, it's going to be hard to find improvements. we move on to next month.

November - Tactical Genius
Now I am not one to speak to soon but, I think I have figured it out. In 4 games we had 2 wins and two draws. It should have been three as FC Augsburg stole a draw with a Pirloesque ball over our backline from Marco Richter. If there was going to be a way to concede, it would be a bloody ball over the top. Our two wins came at home, both convincing 2-0's against Union Berlin and Fortuna Dusseldorf. Gregortisch scored 3 in 4 and has been our only shining light, he might be someone who we look to keep on a permanent basis once his loan is up. Young Welshmen Robbie Matondo has also been putting in some solid performances, which pleases me greatly. Confidence is slowly growing in this squad so hopefully, we can find ourselves in a European spot in the coming months.

My new look tactic is a counter-attacking 4-4-1-1. I thought we may as well stick with defensive solidity as that's the only thing we can do at the moment and hopefully we can end up with some goals of the backs of our hard-working defenders. It seems to be solid so far.

December - Over Confident, to Say the Least
Well, after a good November month, I was actually looking forward to our upcoming fixtures even if we were facing Bayer Leverkusen for the first game. Away from home as well. We confidently drew 0-0, making it our 5th 0-0 draw of the season. Hmmm I wouldn't want to be a fan watching this drivel. Taking the positives though, a draw away from home against good competition is what we are looking for, its just a shame we can't win, at all, against anyone. Our lack of ability was hammered home the very next match, losing 1-0 at home to Eintracht Frankfurt. Another 0-0 bore draw against Wolfsburg and i was just about ready to pull the plug until, we hosted Freiburg, a team we quickly dispatched. I honestly didn't know what to feel, were we getting it? or were Freiburg just shitter then we were. Luckily i have the winter break to think about my tactics and decide on some transfers to help bolster the squad. There is hope still, plenty of football left.

January - Hope of New players
As I January grew nearer and nearer I was gaining more and more confidence in saving this sinking ship. My scouts had found some potential targets to add some teeth to our currently toothless front line. Marcos Paulo from Fluminese looked to be a good fit, only 18 with 2 caps for the Portuguese U21s. Oliver Batista Meier was also available for a very low price, he would be more of a future option. Left-Back Ludwig Augustinsson also looked a good option to improve our defense. January 1st arrived and a bid for Marcos Paulo came with it. That was the only positive of the 1st of January, as I was called into a board meeting. I knew what this meant, 5 games to get 9 points or something along those lines. But no, straight sacking. I'm pretty sure they just brought me in there to laugh at me. So that's it, sacked, teamless, unemployed, whatever you may call it. Not a great first season in management. BUT, this won't be my last.

It's nice to see that other people have careers that look like mine!

Unlucky mate, Schalke are always a batsh*t club anyways, I've never done well with them in a save. Where next for you?

Yeh was a real shame, I was looking forward to a good long save with them. Shame I don't know how to make a tactic .

I'm not sure what's next, I might turn it into an impromptu Journeyman around the leagues I have loaded. Hopefully, I can find some better success

Unemployment - All Cashed Up and Nowhere to Go
After copping the sack from Schalke I pondered whether to wait out the end of the season and go on holiday with my hefty contract payout or, get right back on the horse and find a club that would require my services. I picked the later, plus I planned to holiday in Italy but half the country has contracted coronavirus. So, the search for a job commences, an impromptu journeyman has begun.

A handful of managerial positions were available straight after I got dismissed, some I was actually quite keen on investigating. I first applied for three roles. FK Austria Wien, one of if not the biggest club in one of the most liveable cities in the world, Vienna. Their success has been hampered by the introduction of Red Bull Salzburg, who have won the last 6 titles. They would be a fun club to take over and halt the Salzburg freight train. Standard Liege was the next club that piqued my interest, winning their last title 10 years ago and one of Belgium's famed clubs. A club I could bring to the top. Finally, Bayer Leverkusen, a team I don't see very likely to pick me, but I thought id try as they have a great squad. So who did I end up with?

MY NEXT CHALLENGE
After spending 6 months unemployed, 3 of those living the high life, I finally decided to apply for some management roles. A handful of teams approached me, including Hoffenheim, who I quickly dismissed, as I can’t bring myself to return to Germany after my last failed effort. A couple of Swiss jobs popped up and even some Norwegian roles. All believed I was not fit for the role. I was starting to think no one wanted me. However, everything changed when Jesse Marsch got sacked.

Thats a great job to get, exciting times moving forward

I'm looking forward to the European challenge, hopefully all my youngsters don't get poached

August - Too Busy To Lose
August, my favorite month, this is where you get to see if that tactic you spent hours on actually works and work it did. 6 Straight league wins, 15 goals scored, 1 conceded. We were on an absolute tear and that was just the league. Euro Cup Qualifiers were just as good, Dispatching Dutch side VItesses 4-1 on aggregate and then Ukrainian side Zorya 5-2, hurling us into the group stages - We also managed a pretty easy group consisting of FC Astana, Cercle Brugge and AZ Alkmar. My tactic has been working a treat, creating some lovely goals, lots of passes and plenty of clear cut chances. Patson Daka was my player of the month, scoring 9 and assisting 3 in 11 games. Dominik Szoboszlai was a close second with 6 goals and 5 assists in 9 games played. I hope we can keep this form up for the rest of the season. We sit top of the table with 18 points from 6 games.




TRANSFERS

TRANSFERS IN
We bought in 6 players in total in the transfer window, for a total of $24.5 million. Most transfers were for improvement of the first team, however we signed 2 youngsters that look like they could make an impact in the future.

Malik Haußler, 18 - Young Austrian defensive midfielder, who I will be training to play in that deep-lying playmaker(defend) role. He has great technical skills and makes good decisions, a bit of work into his physicals and his defensive side and we will be a very solid playmaker for us and maybe Austria in the future.

Sebastian Walukiewicz, 20 - Polish international at just 20 years of age, this youngster has all the tools to become a superstar central defender. Tall, strong, quick and a capable passer, he will be a rock in my defense for years to come. Provided he doesn't get poached.

Karamoko Dembele, 17 - I sent my scouts out to the UK and the first report that came back was his and considering I needed improvement on my right-wing, I swiftly snapped him up. U21 international at just 17, Dembele has plenty of talent and with a fairly determined mindset, he will go very far.

Marko Grujic, 24 - Transfer listed at Liverpool for $9.5 million and was the exact player I needed as two of our midfielders didn;t cut the mustard. Serbian International and coming off a fairly solid season on loan at Hertha Berlin, I'm hoping he can come here and make a strong impact.

Jorge Aßmus, 16 - A young goalkeeper who I brought in cause I believed he had some talent, and at just 16 he has plenty of room to grow. Austrian as well, so it satisfies my aim of snapping up all the young Austrian.


TRANSFERS OUT
We did have several players leave the club and we even ended up making a profit of all our transfers, but sadly it was due to the loss of one of our best players. Jerome Onguene left for FC Bayern after kicking up a fuss that he wasn't allowed to leave. The same happened with young Malian Mohamad Camara who couldn't resist an offer from Juventus and left for the Italian giants, he is now out on loan the poor bloke. ZlatkoJunuzovic and Patrick Farkas also left the club as they weren't good enough and getting to the age where they were starting to decline. We also had a plethora of loans far to many to list and comment about. Overall a pretty successful transfer window in my opinion.


Next month brings half the amount of games, giving our young squad a bit of a rest, but this does not mean we can drop off. Onto the next one.

NEXT POST SEPTEMBER

September - The Train Keeps on Rolling
Another great month in charge of Salzburg, again going undefeated with 4 wins and one draw. We started off with an unconvincing win against SCR Altach, the only thing separating us was a world-class strike by Karomok Dembele, a strike that would make him the youngest ever scorer for RB Salzburg, shame it went to an Englishmen. Next, we had our first group match in the Europa League, and it was away to AZ Alkmaar, our biggest test so far. We started like a house on fire, Daka scoring in the first minute, enticing out a Klopp like air punch, however, AZ quickly put me back in my place pegging one back only 30 seconds later. The game continued with us firmly in the drivers and we put the game away with 2 goals in 18 minutes from Daka and Koita. A 3-1 away win against our biggest challengers, in Europe. I walked away a very happy man. The European hangover was well in effect as we drew our next game 2-2, tripling our league goals conceded to 3. We followed this disappointment, with a 2-0 win away in the cup and a 4-1 thumping of Wolfsberger AC in the league. We continue to roll in the league sitting six points clear of our next challenger.







In other sad news, Dominik Szoboszlai has left the club as his release clause of $38 million was met by Chelsea. Of course, this happened on deadline day so I could not sort a replacement for him leaving us a bit in the lurch on our left side. Noah Okafor and Okugawa are going to have to step up. I also rejected offers for Nissen Kirstensen and Luka Meisl as again I didn't have replacements lined up and i also did not want to sell them.

October - European Goal Fest
Continuing our winnings ways, October brought 4 wins and a draw, again no losses, despite some scares. FC Astana visited us for the first European match of the month and I bet they wished they stayed in Kazakhstan. 5-1 was the final result, which should have been 5-0 despite a 35-yard screamer by their unknown center mid. Continuing our form of playing like utter tripe after Europe, we drew 0-0 with title rivals LASK, our first scoreless game of the season. Rapid Vienna was our next league match, and what a game it was. Vienna grabbed an early goal from a defensive error, but we were able to grab one back 5 minutes later. The game continued in deadlock, with neither team creating any real chances. As the 91st minute approached Hwang Hee-Chan found the ball out wide on the left-wing, under pressure, he crossed into youngster Malik Haußler 35 yards out in the center of the pitch, flanked by two Vienna players, Malik thundered home a wonder strike into the top right corner, giving us the win at the death. What a game, what a goal, what a player. He would only go and score a late winner again just two games later, wrapping up the month with a 3-2 win to progress in the Austrian FA Cup. Karomoko Dembele was the standout performer this month scoring 3 in 5 and continuing to announce himself on the world stage. We get closer to the halfway point and murmurs of an invincibles season are starting to creep out from the bleachers. Onto November.






NEXT POST NOVEMBER

November - Injuries
As our volume of games continues to be high, our injury tallies continue to rise. Both left-wingers have gone down with month-long injuries (back strain to Okugawa and a sprained ankle to Noah Okafor) and right-winger Enock Mwepu snapped his ankle, possible knocking him out till January, Ousmane Diakite is still out with sprained knee ligaments, leaving us very short in the midfield. Youngster Malik Haußler continues to take advantage of his extra opportunities, making 5 appearances in the last 6 games. The left-wing has been filled with youth-prospect Lukas Schneider who has proven to be serviceable so far. Despite the injuries, we continue to storm the league as well as Europe, going unbeaten in all competitions. We almost went the whole month without conceding a goal, if it wasn't for a pesky header in the 91st minute by Austria Wien to rob us of a win. After 15 games, we're 3 points clear on top of the league, with 2 games in hand, and have also qualified for the next stage of the Europa league.



In other club news, academy prospects Jorg Aßmus and Sebastien Allwicher both achieved u19 caps for Austria and are showing pleasing progress. Hopefully, we can get another crop of good youngsters coming through in our next intake to compliment these two talents. Our board, at my request, has also begun construction on improvements of the Academy, reaffirming it as the best in the world. Exciting times to be a Salzburgien.







NEXT POST DECEMBER

December - Festive Season
Compared to our passed months, December was quite disappointing, only picking up one win out of the available three. Admira Wacker Modling put up a considerable fight, taking the lead early with a pearler from their striker Markus Pink. We pulled back to 1-1 but couldn't push on to get a win. We then went away to FC Astana in the Europa league and quickly dispatched them 3-0. Academy prospect Sebastian Allwicher produced a man of the match performance as he controlled the midfield. Our final game of the month came against 3rd placed SCR Altach, a match I knew we would struggle with as we only flew back from Kazakhstan 2 days prior. And struggle we did. Not once did we take control of the game, Altach were on the front foot and eventually took the lead in the 54th minute. My heart sunk as i saw our hopes of an undefeated season slipping away. As the 90th minute approached I ran out of options and accepted my fate until 19-year-old Lukas Schneider (filling in for our injured wingers) found room on the left side and fired in a low cross that Hwang Hee-Chan tucked into the right corner. Salvation. Undefeated we remain. Disspointlignly only 2 points clear on top, as we failed to make use of our games in hand.





Other club news, our youth preview came through and it does not look like we will be producing any wonder kids, so we might go raiding other Austrian Sides soon enough. We have also drawn Everton in the first knockout round of the Europa League. A team i feel confident we can get passed.

January - New Signings
January brought the winter break, giving the players and staff 5 weeks to rest and recuperate in order to come back for a final sprint to the finish. Although everyone else was on holiday, I was busy at work finding ways to improve our already potent squad.

Transfers In

Jose Juan Macias, AM(L), ST(C) - 21 year old Mexican international, Macias comes in for a fairly big price tag for us, bought off of Chivas for $9.5 million. I felt we needed to bolster our second striker spot as Koita has left on loan and Hwang Hee-Chan just is not consistent enough for me. Great technical ability and also fantastic mentals, he could be a worldbeater if we manage to hold onto his services. We may also have to watch his card count .



Bjorn Englert, ST(C) - Young Austrian that I managed to steal for free off of SV Mattersburg, Englert has plenty of potential and at just 17 will have the time to realise it. Already solid technically and standing 189cm he could really be a force upfront. Needs to work on his mental side of things but if he can get that going I can see a long career ahead for him. I'm slowly beginning to hoover up all the young Austrian talent.



Florian Kainz, M/AM(L) - An experienced Austrian winger bought from FC Koln in the BUndesliga, Florian had 2 very solid seasons at the German outfit and can come in and play a solid role for us as a mature head. He also gives us more depth in our left midfield spot as Noah Okafor has sadly left us. Kainz has all the tools to be a success at our club.



Transfers Out

We ended up moving on 4 players in the window, all but one of the players I was happy to lose. Darko Todorovic was first to leave for $6.5 million to competition rivals LASK, ideally, I would have sent him to a different club but I could not refuse an offer 2x his value. He also rarely played for us and never performed when he did. As alluded to earlier Noah Okafor left for Borussia Monchengladbach, he kicked up a fuss when I rejected their first offer, So after negotiating a fee of $6.25 million, I had to let him go, it was a shame to let go of a youngster. Sekou Koita went out on loan to find some experience as he wasn't really doing the job here and he would find less time as Macias arrived. Next to go was Lukas Schneider, an academy prospect who I don't think will ever make it at this level, obviously LASK had a different opinion, sold for $600k.



Games start back up again in February, where We look to hit the ground running, hopefully we can keep this undefeated run going.

NEXT POST FEBRUARY

February - Failed European Adventure
After a long lay off to avoid the Austrian winter, we returned with a cup tie against Austria Wien a good test to see if we came back fit. After conceding two goals to none is the first half I was convinced we left half our squad on holiday. After a half time screaming match, the players came out looking a completely different squad, scoring 4 unanswered goals and securing the win advancing us to the semi-finals. We had a full week turn around to prepare for 5th placed TSV Hartberg, a team I wasn't particularly worried about. We didn't start well at all, but neither did they, we looked set for a boring 0-0 draw, and as the 80th minute approached I was happy to take that result. Until they were awarded a free-kick, which was delivered in De Bruynesque fashion and dispatched by their 5'9 winger. Despicable. Our 31 game unbeaten run had come to an end, now I know how Liverpool felt. It was made worse by losing our first leg to Everton away from home in the Euro Cup. A quick 3-0 away win against Wolfsberger AC gave us some respite (a goal and 2 assists to new boy Macias as well), but we were unable to get past Everton in the next game, drawing 1-1 and losing the tie 1-2. Our European dream had ended for the season, but we can go again next year if we continue our pace. February wrapped up with a good 1-0 win at home against title rivals LASK, giving us an important cushion with 1 game still in hand.