Deleted Account #1094108

After playing in the Eredivisie for 4 seasons, and narrowly avoiding relegation in most of those, owner Işıtan Gün had enough. The wealthy businessman decided that he wanted to take Fortuna to the next level. An ambition that is clearly shown by the signing of ‘King' Burak Yilmaz on a 5-year deal. He will keep on playing for 2 more years, after which he will replace me as the manager, taking the club to greater heights. The mission is to set a strong basis for that transformation in the time that we have here. With the signings of Oguzhan Özyakup, Iñigo Cordoba and Rodrigo Guth, a European spot should even be achievable in the first season.

Deleted Account #1094108

Pre-season went relatively well, this is the formation we will use in the first few league games. In real life Fortuna are rock bottom after losing all of their first 5 matches, let's see if we can do better than that!

Deleted Account #1094108

Fair to say this was a decent start. 13 points from 5 games, including an impressive 0-2 win away at PSV. If we can hold this position, Sittard will have Champions League football next season!

Batuhan Gülşen
2 years ago
10 hours ago
1

Hello, good day, can you send me the link of the skin you are using?

Deleted Account #1094108
By Batuhan Gülşen 06 September 2022 - 05:47 AM UTC 

Hello, good day, can you send me the link of the skin you are using?

 

I use the Rensie skin. It's not available on our website, but with a google search you should find it 👍

Proctives
10 years ago
1 day ago
152

The first matches are very good. Good luck.

Deleted Account #1094108

Winter break has come, and the Champions League is all of a sudden very far away…

Unfortunately injuries have cost us some games, as our squad isn't very large in terms of quality. It's been a weird competition so far, but we still have every chance to at least get into a European play-off spot (8th place).

 

Burak is still going strong, and is currently the top scorer in the league.

We've also signed a new player already. We have our goalkeeper Pandur on loan from Verona, he's quite decent, but made some key mistakes as well. Right around that time my scout came up with this Swedish guy, that in the end only cost us 700k in total. He's over 2 meters tall, has good attributes for this level, and already has experience playing European football with his old club Elfsborg. I'm hoping he can give us an extra edge in the second half of the season (maybe together with more new players?…)

 

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It's the 19th of January, but our transfer window is basically already over, since we are out of budget 😅

 

We managed to get in 3 more signings:

 

The first is Pirolito (great name) for €100k. I didn't have much knowledge about his attributes, but saw that a lot of decent clubs were in for him, so took the gamble. In the end I think it worked out well, we desperately needed more depth in the defensive midfield position.

Next up is Mario Suárez, who we managed to steal for €36k (only 6 months left on contract). I would say this is a typical signing that Fortuna would make in real life right now. A player with loads of experience in the top competitions, we'll have to see how long it takes before he will really start declining.

And last but not least, Víctor Pastrana for €400k. The player that I wanted to sign the most this window, he was approached by La Liga teams as well. Solid attributes for this level, and I really like that he can play on both wings. This has to be the guy that assists Burak into getting to the 30+ goals mark this season!

This is our remaining schedule. 3 away matches in a row at the moment, let's see how the squad has come out of the winter break.

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A horrendous start for Tim Rönning there, conceding a total of 10 goals in his first 3 games…

The board are getting impatient now, we really have to make sure we get some results in this February month.

 

Proctives
10 years ago
1 day ago
152

Too bad you were eliminated from the cup, but you're not bad in the league.

Deleted Account #1094108
By Proctives 20 September 2022 - 14:38 PM UTC 

Too bad you were eliminated from the cup, but you're not bad in the league.

 

The board have set the objective to finish in the top half, so we still need to do some work. Been quite busy lately, I'll post a new update in the coming days!

Deleted Account #1094108

We scraped 7 points from the 4 games in February, but more satisfying is that we played very strong in all of them.

Even this crazy loss against NEC isn't that bad, given that it seems like their team has been on steroids this whole season. It's only their second year in the Eredivisie after being promoted, and now they're already battling with Feyenoord for 2nd place and a Champions League ticket!

Deleted Account #1094108

The Dutch teams are also doing well in Europe, with 4 teams reaching the last 16 of the EL and ECL. If one of them would go as far as winning the cup, that would be good news for us as well, as they would automatically receive a group stage ticket for next year. The European play-offs in the Eredivisie would then be between the teams in places 6 to 9, instead of 5 to 8.

However this is under the assumption that the KNVB Beker is won by a team that's already in a European qualifying place. This is almost always the case, but this year second-division team Almere CIty have wrestled themselves into the final (they also knocked us out in the third round). So we will have to keep a close eye on that.

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Another 7 points picked up in March

Things are still tense with 5 games to go, technically we could even still finish in 4th place.

The youth intake has also come in and seems to be promising, with Francis Schols being ranked the highest.

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With 3 games to go this is how things are looking:

Notice that rise of PSV, winning 10 of their last 12 matches after a horrendous season start. It will be very difficult to get a result against them. Luckily for us the fairytale of Almere has ended by Feyenoord taking the cup, including the Europa League ticket.

This means that it's still possible for us to get into the European play-offs with a 9th place finish. Let's take a look at the continental results:

 

Europa League:

Conference League:

This means there's still every chance for a Dutch Conference League final, that would be incredible!

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Going into the last matchday:

As Utrecht have nothing to play for anymore, we should be able to get the 3 points and claim the 8th place. There are still some interesting games: NEC will do everything they can to retain the 2nd position, while their rivals Vitesse are still in danger of being relegated the season after they had an impressive run in the Conference League.

Europa & Conference League:

A Dutch final it is! Very impressive and it will be interesting to see if PSV can still give their season some shine

The Keuken Kampioen Divisie has already finished, with Roda JC and PEC Zwolle securing direct promotion. Some big name teams will now start fighting for that 3rd spot.

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A comfortable 4-0 win on the last matchday, of couse with a hattrick from Burak.

The final table:

Quite some surprises, with NEC doing an incredible job of finishing 2nd. In the end I think we can be content with 8th place, it's right about where we would be expected to finish. 

As you can see Dimata was the man of fire for NEC this season while on loan from Espanyol, with 34 goals in all competitions. Due to a bug they do have a buy option of €2.3 million, which is way too low of course…

What's left now is 2 legs against Cambuur for a place in the final against PSV or Twente, playing for a ticket for the 2nd qualifying round of the Conference League. For Cambuur it has also been an impressive season. Just like NEC it's only their second season in the Eredivisie after being promoted, but they have already went as far as finishing in 5th place. We did beat them 2 times before however, so hopefully we can at least make it to the final.

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A tightly contested win over Cambuur after losing the first leg 0-1 at home. We will now play PSV, with them only having had 2 days rest after their Conference League final loss against Feyenoord. Hopefully that can give us a slight advantage.

Deleted Account #1094108

A 2-leg final full of action. After the home tie we thought it was over, with a missed pentalty from Burak in the 96th minute and the away goal rule still being applied here.

But the return was even crazier. We already evened out the 2-3 defeat at half time and kept it steady until the final whistle. The PSV players were exhausted during extra time, and we could easily slice through and finish the job.

This means we will enter the 2nd qualifying round of the Conference League next season, and bring European football to Sittard for the first time since 1998!

wfm18
5 years ago
13 hours ago
2,924

A lot of fun to read through Bram! Congrats on reaching the UECL!

Deleted Account #1094108

Stats from the players I used regularly this season:

Turned out to be a great winter signing and has provided the stability this team needed. For the upcoming international break he's even been called up for the Swedish national team for the first time
The club has sold him in real life because apparently he caused some clashes within the squad. With 6 teams being interested I will probably also look to move him on this summer
The second right-back is still able to perform at Eredivisie level for another season
Only missed 2 matches, has a good partnership with the more experienced Siovas at the centre of defense
Even at 34 the captain still bosses out the young and fast strikers, we'll see how long he can keep this level
Young talent from Bayern making an impression from day one, we might be able to get some good money for this guy in a few years
We're still a bit lost in the defense midfield position, Piro did play there regularly and did a decent job
Suárez was definitely not the solution for that spot, I don't think I've ever seen a highlight with him on the ball
Expected a little bit more in terms of goals and assists, but no complaints
Started off well, but injuries blocked him a little bit. Still a good squad player
Another big name that came in. He should be one of the players that carries us in the upcoming European games
A magnificent signing for only €400k. Has had 6 months to adapt and hopefully will turn his quality into even more goal contributions next year
The entrance of Pastrana has crushed his development a little bit, he still has a lot of talent so we should find a solution for him
A stable factor on the left hand side, 1 assist in a season is really not that great tho
The king up last, carried us in basically all games. Ironically 11 clubs are now interested in a transfer, they might not have caught up yet on his plans to become a manager here.
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Some results from other competitions:

Stumbled across Turkey as well, look at that from Weghorst! Burnley fans won't be happy with him though, they could have used his goals as they have failed to secure promotion now
Deleted Account #1094108

Full attention is on the new season now, however we quite unexpectedly got the news that our competitive season starts a few weeks earlier. Due to a bug in the game we have to start in the first qualifying round instead of the second…

That means our European journey starts in Posušje, Bosnia.

With the transfer window being opened rumours are now also starting to kick in (I told you we could get good money for him)

And also the first offer, quite an interesting one. I wouldn't be against selling Córdoba for some good money. He hasn't been that great, and it would free up space for our talented winger Embaló to develop. With 9 other teams being interested, we can take some risk in negotiating. I've set up a counter offer for about €5 million in total.

 

Deleted Account #1094108

Córdoba was sold to Salzburg for €5 million. We negotiated another deal with Stoke City for €6.5 million, but he wanted to play CL football…

 

July has arrived so some players have departed and I've tried to get in better replacements for them. Two notable ones:

 

Our back-up striker Gladon was sold to Viborg, so we got in Cullen. Overall in stats he's an improvement, it's also nice that he can play in multiple positions.

A talent I might have overpaid for a little with €850k, my scout really liked him so I took the gamble.

In other news: Arne Slot gets rewarded for leading Feyenoord to 2 European finals in a row. Barcelona finished in 3rd place last year, will be interesting to see how far he can take them.

We totally dominated in our first European tie, but in reality the scorelines should have been much higher. We will really struggle if we can't even beat a team like this at home.

Next round has us tied up against the number 3 from Moldova. 

Deleted Account #1094108

Another team that looked like they were playing football for the first time in their lifes, however this time we did convert more chances into goals.

Next up is Linfield, at least a recognisable name. If we beat them, there's only 1 round left until the group stage.

Right-back Mickaël Tirpan was sold to Galatasaray for €2.1 million, a fee we can now re-invest.

 

Like I said before the previous back-up Pinto is good enough to be the first choice now, so we just got in a back-up in the name of Denzel Hall. The Feyenoord youngster comes on loan for a year, also gives some more depth at the centre of defense.

Ivanildo Fernandes was brought in for €300k as another centre-back option. Left-footed, and will be the future replacement of Siovas who is aging. All though with these attributes he is already good enough to be a starter in most games.

Now the Eredivisie is starting again as well. The bookies have us down to finish in 11th place (which is quite insulting)

The board demands a bit more than that, which I think is fair.

Due to the incredible performance of the Dutch clubs in Europe, we have now overtaken Portugal in the coefficients table. We are even on track to take the 5th spot from France next year.

Which means that this season there will be 6 continental qualification places up for grabs, 3 of which for the Champions League.

The schedule with us facing AZ and PSV in the first 2 games.

In real life the club is recovering as well. Ultee was sacked after the bad start and Spanish manager Julio Velázquez was appointed. He's won his first 2 games in charge, yesterday it was thanks to this belter from Embaló.

Deleted Account #1094108

A very comfortable night at Windsor Park, which caused the players to lose a bit of focus in the return leg.

The last hurdle before the group stage is a big one. Lech finished in 2nd place last year and are in impressive form. It will also be a meeting with a Dutch manager named John van den Brom, who is annoying as hell in real life, so that would give an extra meaning to a possible victory.

It's already confirmed we are the only possible Dutch team in the Conference League group stage, as FC Utrecht have typically been knocked out in the qualifying rounds.

NEC are still impressing though, a very nice penalty shoot-out win over Basel. Slavia Praha is a tough opponent, but definitely not impossible.

Two more players have come in:

 

Bryan García was a steal at €100k, all though we do have quite an influx of talented wingers now.

Juan Carlos Portillo turned out to be a bit more expensive at €2 million (a club record), but I think he will be worth it. We've been searching all of last season for a quality defensive midfielder, plus the fact that he can play in all defensive positions makes it a really good signing.

Deleted Account #1094108

This went much smoother than I thought it would, we're into the group stage!

The teams we're drawn up against aren't very glamorous, an away trip to a club like Leicester or Napoli would have been more fun. On the other hand we have a very realistic chance of competing for the first 2 places.

 

Ludogorets - Finished 2nd in Bulgaria

PAOK - Finished 5th in Greece

Thun - Finished 6th in the Swiss second division (won the cup)

Bad news is that one of the key players is out for 3 months, meaning he will miss the whole group stage.

This is what the schedule looks like. We've only secured 4 points from the first 4 league games as the focus was fully on Europe. Because of the world cup everything is compressed, it will be interesting to see how the squad deals with having 2 games a week.

Deleted Account #1094108

Sadly NEC lost out on the huge CL prize pot by losing on penalties

This is their EL group:

Ajax had automatically qualified as champions and won't be sad about this draw:

And Feyenoord will be playing against Lazio in the EL, just like in real life:

We will have to outperform ourselves together with these 3 teams, to make sure that The Netherlands takes that 5th spot in the coefficients ranking!

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Biggest transfer deals:

First game facing Thun was awful, being 2-0 up after 12 minutes and then still losing points is unacceptable.

During the one against PAOK we adapted a more conservative tactic, which worked pretty well. They surprised me with some big names in the squad, 2 Dutchies in there as well.

And then in the last one away at Ludogorets we got absolutely trashed.

Which gives this standing after 3 games. We now get Ludogorets and PAOK at home, if we get a result against either of those and then beat Thun in the final game, we should be able to progress to the next round. Big difference in how the games develop as opposed to the qualifying rounds though!

As expected the squad is really struggling with only having 2 or 3 days rest between games, and we are losing lots of points in the league. Twente and Ajax are up next.

Standings of the other Dutch teams:

It seems like that 5th coefficients spot is far away…

Deleted Account #1094108

This game it was the other way around and we trashed Ludogorets, but couldn't convert it into a win unfortunately.

Then the PAOK game was a thriller. 2-2 at half time, and it long looked like that would be the final score as well. Until PAOK got a corner in the 90th minute and for some reason decided to throw all players forward, giving Duarte an easy way through on goal. This win meant we were basically already qualified for the knock-outs.

But the last game still needed to be played. Embaló was terrible throughout the whole evening, but in the last second he got us the winning goal.

That winning goal got us the 1st place, which means we have now avoided the first knock-out round and are already in the last 16!

Ajax will be disappointed with only picking up 10 points in this group, but them advancing is a good thing.

Then NEC and Feyenoord were both finished last in their EL groups, meaning only 2 Dutch teams will still be competing in Europe after the winter break…

 

2 league games were played since the last update, a win against Twente and a loss away at Ajax. This is how the league is looking right now:

The World Cup is going to be played now, meaning we will have a break of 50+ days. Burak is the only player in the squad that's going to be playing in Qatar, his Turkey is lined up against Spain, Senegal and Jamaica.

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