[FM12] Pentagon

October 2020 - March 2021

(or: 5 months of utter boredom and a transfer window)

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Clearly there was a winter break in the league and the players were supposed to go on holiday, but that didn't happen.
Instead we played 5 months of friendlies.

Most of the opponents were lower-league unknowns, with the highest-profile match being a narrow loss too Metalist Kharkiv.

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Then the winter transfer came along:





Leyrielton's a flamboyant, experienced rightback who has come to the club to provide much-needed quality to the right of our defence.
Except 1. He's foreign (and only 3 foreigners can be in the starting 11), 2. I didn't sign him (previous manager did), and 3. he's our highest earner.
I'm looking to convert him into a playmaker, but he can't stay fit for long enough to train in that position.



Sumaila's one of my old boys from Eleven Wise, who left for Uruguay on a Bosman right after I left.
Rather bizarrely, he's already been transfer listed and available for a pre-contract deal.
And yes he's foreign as well, but due to the shocking lack of left width in Ukraine I decided to bring him in on loan (with a 10k fee too).



Nifty player, offering cover for 3 positions.

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During this time I've also become China's Under-19s manager:



Not an encouraging start, I know.

April 2021

(With a wee bit of March)

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We resumed from the break all guns blazing, with 10 goals from 2 matches, both against promotion contenders.
A couple of tight wins followed by another 2 easy points meant that we could end this month with a perfect record against Stal Dnipropetrovsk.

But is wasn't to be - 1st starts to new arrivals Sumaila and Leyrielton backfired terribly as we found ourselves 2 down before the interval, and never recovered.



We could have been in the promotion spots had we won that last match, but we're very, very much in the promotion race, having been relegation fodder at one point.
We're also the league's top scorers, which is nice.

May - June 2021



Good old Mr. Murphy letting his Law go all out on me this time round - 2 senior DMs out for the season, Valek struck down as well, a spastic injuring both senior GKs, my best defender getting himself sent off, and stupidly letting 3 kay players leave for youth international duty.



Don't really want to talk about the penultimate matches, just note that we didn't manage to get promoted.



Though as a whole, with the bitter comes the sweet - we didn't get relegated.

Key Players

Ariel Parrado


I don't quite know where we would be without him, our most important player by a country mile.
Biggest challenge next season will be to find a team who can adequately replace his 16 goals.


Andriy Ivanov


The most pleasant surprise in my time here - playing out of position the whole season, Ivanov showed grit as he worked the right flank to great effect, playing at a level higher than his attributes suggested.
I was delighted when he eventually decided to renew his deal, as he showed resistance to sign a new contract previously.


Ilja Kalashnikov


A reliable DM, his role as a deep-lying playmaker enabled him to contribute offensively whilst still imposing himself in defence.
The only peeve I have is his lack of determination as captain, which proved to be a real issue when he started losing focus towards the end of our winning run.

Transfers


Eugene's a signing for the future, with coaches and scouts alike rating him highly.


He's clearly not good enough to contribute to the team consistently - and far too aggressive for my liking - but as I've mentioned before, there's a distinct lack of orthodox left wingers in Ukraine, and coupled with our financial troubles, he had to suffice.

July - August 2013

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Pre-season



Bollocks - Parrado did far more, but didn't win probably because he was only on loan.
He's just earned himself a move to France too, good for him.



As can be seen, Parrado deserved the aforementioned award.



Minimum requirement there, no pressure then.



Due to my preoccupation with trying to plug the gaps in the team I neglected to organise a proper set of pre-season-fixtures.

Not the most encouraging set of results anyway.

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Transfers



Wage budget freed up, ageing players released, the moron who wrecked both GKs last season was given the boot as well.



Offers cover at left-back, semi-reliable so far.



An option for the roles of Deep-Lying Playmaker AND Advanced Playmaker, what's not to like??



Another one for the future, though still a bit raw, which does beg the question of his slightly high wages.

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League

(NB: rant below)



I doubt I've ever been as infuriated more by this team than any other (well maybe Fovu, but they were fatally ill-equipped anyway).

We start this season the way we ended last - against the team that barely managed to escape relegation last time round.
Different result though, as our sheer ineptitude causes us to suffer an opening home defeat, which does set the tone for this campaign.

We have a strikeforce that can score 10 goals in 2 games but fail to nick a winner in 4 close encounters, a defence which fucks up in the 1st half before stabilising in the 2nd period only for said strikeforce to show their incompetence, and a team with only 1 clean sheet to its name despite having only worked at defensive phases of play since the end of last season.

And yet:



We find ourselves in 6th, still in the promotion race (though 8 points off the lead).
And it is the defining sign of the utter randomness of this league that newly-promoted Lviv are cruising at the top.

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Cup



Comfortable enough, though not without some jitters.

We meet Premier League side Metalurg Donetsk next.

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Bitter Schadenfreude

(Basically, how the Eleven Wise Guys are doing)




Yes, the utter genius of my successor ripped the heart of this squad and sold it for a total of 4 million, without ever adequately replacing some of those guys - for instance, he once has to play 4 CBs on a back four.



As a result they tumbled out of the championship and the continental places.
Alas it is the lack of ambition of this club ("upper-midtable is fine, thanks" that he wasn't sacked, I should have stayed longer and created a lasting dynasty.
They're still financially healthy (2nd richest in Ghana), but the lack of continental will prove to be a huge blow.

Now for some proper schadenfreude:



The reclusive Finnish billionaire has finally given up! After being in our shadow for so long, he couldn't even win the title after I left, so he can now bring his blood money away from Ghana.

September 2021



An unbeaten month, and nothing to be angry at for once.
We showed a superior attacking edge in these encounters, and managed to apply a clinical touch to 4 of them.
I can't even fault the team for the 5th - we were up against a goalkeeper with a man-of-the-match performance.



Brings us ever so closely to the promotion spots, a couple more wins and we can make it our own.

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I've also a transfer that I failed to mention the last time:



17 with those attributes? Sign him up!

But there's a downside - precisely because he's 17, we will have to wait till he's 18 to get him officially.

October - November 2021

(I seem to have forgetten to include a load of information in previous posts)

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League

The set of matches before the league heads into its hibernating months:



And rather incredibly, we head into it with our unbeaten run still intact!
As can be seen we went on a small 'big-win, tight-win' type of run, which does show that the attack is still somewhat a work in progress in terms of consistency.
Then 2 consecutive draws, and heading into the break with a thrashing and another nervous win.



7 points clear at the top, with the challengers closely packed, so if we falter we could be gazumped very quickly.

Cup



Went for a 442 DM set-up, scored an early goal, then decided to sit back.
Playing with 2 up front did mean numbers on the counter, but the chances created weren't converted, unfortunately.
They then pounced when our defence was absolutely knackered.

We were unlucky not to get the win, though with a more proactive approach I might have gotten something ore out of this tie.

Transfers



Offers quality backup in central defence, and when he was agreeable to sign a ($65) youth contract, I couldn't say no.

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China

Missed a few months of this, so here goes:



Things have to go down before they can go up; likewise with this team, whose nadir was to lose to Indonesia in a toothless performance.

We picked ourselves up after that, securing our 1st win under me, and a draw against the (supposedly) superior Israelis.

Then, it was off the to Asian Under-19s Championship Qualifiers:



A farcical start to the campaign, as we put in an insipid performance against the Thais.
It was the kick up the backside that we sorely needed though, as we secured a vital win against favourites Japan.
It was cruising all the way after that, no way back after the team started to click.



Could've been top if it wasn't for that blip, but it was a blip that was sorely needed, in hindsight.

Wow, great form for both Kryvbas and China! Do you play the same tactics with both those teams?

Yeah, it was quite unexpected really, but I'm playing a 4-2-3-1 for both teams.

I've found that there's more quality in DM than in CM, and it (theoretically) offers more cover to the defence.

November 2021 - March 2022



Yes, another massive set of friendlies for the squad that doesn't go on a holiday.

Played quite a few more (Ukrainian) Premier League sides this time, the were (expected) losses to the Big Two of football around these parts (Shakhtar and Dynamo Kiev), but we managed some impressive wins against the other sides (Illichivets, Arsenal Kiev and Metalist Kharkiv).

Transfers

Couple of Bosmans on the way:

Deyneko will arrive on a permanent deal after his parent club transfer listed him then offered him a new deal.
I took advantage of this PR cock-up and signed him on.



Voronin adds quality to the centreback and DM positions, and he will in all likelihood replace Andreev, who has been very good this season, but will not likely return on loan should we get promoted (same league as parent club and all that).



As usual, couple of useful ones, but no world beaters from this lot.

March - April 2022



We managed to continue our unbeaten run after the winter 'break', but gradually our cohesion in attack eroded as we depended on clutch headers from set-pieces to salvage points.
And I knew that our run wouldn't last, but I certainly didn't expect to end so hilariously.

Our defence just went to bits, all 4 guys just switched off all at once, and of course we paid dearly for it - but I'm not even mad, our defending was really comical.
(What makes it even better was that the hat-trick hero (Batov) broke his leg in the same match and will be out for 5 months.)



Our lead was 9 points at one point, but it's been reduced to 4 since our slight dip.
But crucially, we're still 7 clear of the 3rd-placed team.

Squeaky-bum time, this.

Breaking:



2nd biggest team in China, 2nd biggest team in Guangzhou.... Tempting, especially with the money involved.



Finished 2nd in the league last season, so their start might seem slightly disappointing.

In any case I've delayed it for one week, very intriguing scenario this.

May - June 2022

First off:



So it's pretty clear that we've choked our way to losing the title, but will we still get promoted?



No.



Forget Benitez, forget Keegan, we're the biggest chokers around.



Emphasis.

And if you ask me if I can handle going on a great unbeaten run - playing some exhilarating football in that run, then completely lose form when it mattered most, then see it happen again the next season:



No - last season was bad enough, but twice is ridiculous.



54% win ratio, make of that what you will.

Back to Ghana:



If I'm honest this is now just messing about before FM14 comes out, but it wasn't supposed to be this way - was looking forward to getting promoted to the Ukrainian top flight only a few (ingame) months ago.