A.E.I.O.U. - An Austrian Adventure

Game Details:

• I followed all of the guidelines of the challenge to create the game: Sunday League reputation, only Austria loaded, and holidayed to June 2014 to pick up one of the promoted clubs to Austria's second tier
• As always, my philosophy is to buy smart, buy young, and play quick, direct football

After holidaying to June 2014, I took over the only promoted team: Linzer Athletik-Sport-Klub, better known as LASK Linz. A club with some success in the 1960's, LASK suffered two successive relegations and found itself in the third tier in 2012. With a 20,000 seat stadium in the beautiful northern Austrian city of Linz, the club have a decent financial advantage over its rivals in the Erste Liga second tier.

Club Background:


Season Expectations:
We've got quite a bit of room to spend, and the defense will be target area number one


Initial Squad:
The team is particularly weak in defense, with the left and central defenders both lacking in quality. Markus Blutsch is the hot prospect at 19 (although already quite the player!), while attacking midfielder Faisal Al Badri is the star man. The Erste Liga's foreign-players restriction will be tough to deal with, though: each match-day squad is only allowed three foreigners.


Tactics:
I've gone with two striker-less formations to start, with a three-man defense variety when playing against two opposition strikers. The aim is to use quick passing and runners from deep to break through the opposition lines. We'll be playing mostly with a Counter Mentality and a Very Fluid strategy, while pressing high and looking for opportunities to break in the opposition half.

Summer 2014 Transfers


Key players in:

• Christoph Martschinko: The 20-year-old left-back is the first man in, coming from relegated SV Grodig for a hefty fee. A pacy, strong tackler, Martschinko will hold down the left-back spot for the foreseeable future.
• Toni Kolehmainen: Versatile and technically strong, the Finn will play a huge role as the controlling player in midfield. He's on high wages, but was out of contract, so he's a tidy signing.
• Sedin Torlak: I needed a leader in the back, and the big Bosnian was available for free. Strong and dominant in the air, I want Torlak to take charge of the defense.

Good luck mate, will be following!

2014/15 First Half


Top of the league at the winter break! Led by Daniel Kogler's 8 goals and the league's best defense, we overcame a inconsistency to post a solid start to life in the second tier.

Very good opening mate and very good start in the league, keep this coming!

Thanks, Sam! Will be tough but I'm looking forward to the challenge.


Thanks, Dan! Looking forward to taking this opening form into the second half of the season.

Winter 2014 Transfers


Lars Gulpen, out of contract from Dutch side Fortuna Sittard, is the star man in this window. Young, technical, and a silky passer, Gulpen is a tremendous capture for us. Stefan Lainer is a solid Austrian right-back to give us some flexibility with the foreign players rule.


Al Badri played well in the first half of the season, but the offered price were too good to give up, especially considering his high wages.

2014/15 Second Half - Part 1

My first youth intake produced just one player of note: Philipp Siegl, a speedy, tricky winger from the Alps. He'll be one to stash away while we challenge for promotion.


Speaking of which, that challenge has gone fantastically, as we went unbeaten in the month of April and through most of May. Defense led the way, as we conceded just four goals (!) in that ten-match run. Markus Blutsch, the teenage midfielder, is starting to come into his own, scoring in three straight matches playing as the midfield runner.

Unfortunately, SV Grodig had an equally incredible run, and we went into the last match-day with the league, and promotion, still within reach.

2014/15 Second Half - Part 2

Mattersburg, with nothing to play for, came in to frustrate us, and we just could not find a way through in front of nearly 15,000 home fans. Mattersburg, the team we'd beaten 3-1 at home earlier in the season. It was heart-breaking stuff, too, as SV Grodig lost their last match. In the end, a simple win would have seen us through to the Bundesliga! Absolutely gutted.

Wow missed out by just three points! Thats unlucky man but its the heartbreak that makes it feel sweeter when you get the success down the line!

Unlucky to miss out fella but an encouraging first season indeed!

Thanks, guys! Definitely looking forward to pushing for promotion this season--that's the expectation at least!

Summer 2015: Gearing Up for a Promotion Push

After last season's close call, the expectations this year are very clear: promotion at all costs. That's the expectation by both the media and the board. I told the team exactly that, and I think we're fully capable of doing so. Considering our finances, we really should be getting back to the Bundesliga.

Unfortunately, our budget hasn't really improved without the promotion, so I'll have to sell in order to bring in new players. Luckily, a few big contracts were expired, and a few aging squad players were let go to make room for some young blood. I'm pretty excited about a few of the young talents we were able to bring in.





Transfers:

• Local Linz boy Sebastian Wimmer returns home on loan from FK Austria Wien. The 21-year-old is versatile and a workhorse in the heart of defense, but can step out into midfield if needed. We have a purchase option at the end of the year, which we'll eagerly exercise if he proves successful on loan.
• 18-year-old Dominik Baumgartner is an athlete beyond his tender years. I sure as hell hope our scouts are correct about his potential, because we spent a hefty sum to bring him to Linz.
• Versatile Dutch midfielder Niek Vossebelt was out of contract at Willem II, and I enticed him to join Lars Gulpen as our highest paid player. Strong, tireless, and intelligent, Vossebelt will be a handful in midfield.

Initial Squad:
Our Dutch duo should lead us in midfield, while Markus Blutsch is developing nicely, and should be a force making runs from deep. I'm very optimistic about this squad with our 4-3-3-0 system.

Everyone's expecting promotion this season. It's up to us to make it happen.

2015/16 First Half: A Star Rises

We took a while to get going with just 7 points out of our first 5 matches, but we were just unstoppable in August and September. A 10-match unbeaten run took us firmly to first place by the end of October, and the mood was fantastic. We were taking care of business, as expected. Each match was machine-like, and after we'd brush our hands and get ready for the next. 5 goals against in that 10 game span showed the defense was just spectacular.

But then came the inevitable November dip: a 0-3 bashing to FC Liefering saw the doubts begin to creep, and suddenly we found ourselves second.

After hearing the U18s Manager rave on and on, I decided to change things up a bit. I gave 16-year-old Philipp Siegl a debut. The kid is small and very young, but I figured his burst of pace and trickery of dribble might liven up the team a bit and get the fans excited for the future. And boy did he deliver. An assist and a fine performance in his debut saw us run out 4-0 winners in Vienna, and a stoppage-time minute winner in his second match sealed his place in fans' hearts. The win put us in front at the winter break by a hair, and gave us a boost to push on in the second half.

Remember that name: Philipp Siegl.

Decent start to the new season mate, its very very tight though!

2015/16 Second Half: Like Clockwork

The second half of the season was quite unremarkable in the end. We didn't need to go on any great winning runs, but instead kept pace and slowly pulled away from the pack, winning the league by a comfortable six points. By March, promotion was practically guaranteed bar a major meltdown, and we still managed a comfortable margin despite just two wins in our last six matches. The team ticked along like clockwork.

New signing Niek Vossebelt was the star man, leading the team with 17 goals and 8 assists. Young midfielder Markus Blutsch cemented his first team spot with great creativity and 8 goals from deep, while teenager Philipp Siegl continued his hot form in the second half.






As the end of this season was quite uneventful, I figured I'd talk a bit about our tactics. We have a very defined style that I'm committed to, no matter the system: quick passing, fluidity and team football, incisive passing, packed midfield, and quick transitions from back to front. The system I relied on this season is shown below. It is pretty much a 4-4-2 diamond, and the whole idea is to make and exploit space and to attack in layers with unpredictability.

There are pairs to accomplish this all over the field. The AP(S) drops deep to dictate play and the CM(A) charges forward into that space as the tip of the midfield diamond from deep. The two shadow strikers work the channels and look to latch on to balls played into space, although the Very Fluid style means they often drop deep as well to help possession. When they do make their runs against the defensive line, they open up space for the BBM(S) and the full-backs to support play and retain possession in the midfield area. The anchor man and the central defenders stay deep to keep some measure of stability in the back.

The one weakness in this system is quick balls played down the flanks on the counter, though the FB(S) duty means that the full-backs don't charge forward at every opportunity, so counter opportunities are a bit controlled. That said, we do occasionally struggle against teams strong on the flanks with speedy wingers who can beat our full-backs.

Thats a superb season mate! Brilliant work well done!

Thanks Dan! Looking forward to the top flight challenge for sure

Summer 2016
Well, that was anti-climactic. It turns out that getting promoted in Austria doesn't come with a financial boost. In fact, it comes with a negative impact as all of my players were given hefty bonuses. And that's why we're starting life in the top flight already overspending our wage budget. The goal, of course, is to stay up by whatever means possible, which is pretty much the same squad that got us up. The first thing I did was to bring Sebastian Wimmer back on a permanent basis, before offloading contracts to try to bring at least some additional quality into the team.



Then came the inevitable: after a solid debut season, our young star Philipp Siegl began to get linked with Europe's giants. The dollar offers coming in the door were eye-popping from the likes of PSG and Dortmund, and the temptation was almost impossible to resist... But the chairman did not force the sale, and Siegl was remarkably loyal to us. So we did not sell.



Transfers:


Nothing spectacular in terms of transfers this summer given the budgetary constraints. Charlton was nice enough to overspend on Noordhoff, which allowed us to make a deadline-day swoop for Porto academy graduate Luis Tavares, a technical and talented young midfielder. The kid is a pitbull on the field: tireless, vocal, gritty, but with silky touch and a good turn of foot. He'll be introduced slowly into midfield, but should help us keep play ticking under pressure.

Season Objectives:
We have to stay up this year. That's the only objective, really: stay up and put ourselves in a good position to make the top flight our home. We've got a lot of young, talented, hungry players: Lars Gulpen is 23, Markus Blutsch is 21, Sebastian Wimmer is 22, Dominik Baumgartner is 20, and, of course, Philipp Siegl is just 17. If we make sure we stay in the top flight, the future is very bright indeed.

Congrats on the promotion Are you tempted to sell Siegl? even if they offer big money for him?

A few clubs interested in Siegl then. Well done on the promotion!

Thanks Johno! Right now the highest bid was €3.4M, and while that would literally double our bank balance, I think we can hold out for more in a year or two!

Thanks, Sam! Just a few

2016/17 First Half

It definitely didn't start off like we dreamed. We earned just one point in our first three matches, with two tight losses and an unfortunate draw. But then it picked up. Five wins in six, with a 93rd minute winner adding the exclamation mark on a dramatic win over 24-time champions FK Austria Wien. It certainly took a while for the boys to get into their groove, but once they did, it was fun times in Linz.



After ten matches, we were joint top of the league. There was a real belief in the team and with the fans that survival had become an after-thought. Continental football was now a real possibility. Four games without a win in November put a damper on things, but a second win over FK Austria Wien in Vienna brought the mood back up, and we went into the winter break in an incredible position. Second in the table, 8 points from first, 3 points from seventh. Tight battle!



Philipp Siegl failed to reproduce his brilliant form, scoring just two goals and showing some inconsistency, but Markus Blutsch and Lars Gulpen more than made up for it. The team as a whole was inconsistent and streaky, which was no surprise given how young the boys are across the board, but a few more winning streaks could provide us with an unlikely qualification to European competition!

One of my favorite stories going so far, fantastic work thus far this season pal

2016/17 Second Half

The winter break and transfer window was fairly uneventful. We took advantage of our newly expanded scouting range to bring in two Americans for free after their MLS contracts expired: talented sweeping keeper Dave Gomez and speedy striker John Perez.

On the outbound side, we dropped some expiring contracts (who weren't getting played anyway) by mutual consent to clear up wage budget for the pair of Americans. The offers continued to come in for Philipp Siegl despite his slow start to the season. PSG raised their bid to an amazing €5.25M. I had to reject though. In our first year in the league, we just didn't have the reputation to attract players of that caliber and potential, even with an extra 5 million (which would have trebled our current cash balance...). Siegl did not complain, and with 1.5 years left on his contract, I figured we could always sell him for that, or more, in the summer.



The season resumed with a fury: 4 wins out of 5 brought us right back into contention not just for European football, but for the league itself. Incredible performances from Lars Gulpen and new-boy John Perez saw us reel off a six-match unbeaten run in March. We were playing some fluid stuff, and each home game brought more fans to see their local team soar back into the Bundesliga.

With four games left, we were an incredible two points from the top of the league.



It's not going to be easy though... our last four games are just brutal. Three trips away to top-half teams, while the only home game is to top-team SK Sturm Graz. It's improbable, but if we can take points off of Sturm Graz, the unthinkable may actually become reality.

Surprised he didn't complain.

Tough games coming up

Me too, Johno! He didn't even ask for a new contract--just kept on working hard. Loyal kid, indeed.

2016/17 Season End
Boom. Three games, zero losses, including two unbeaten against leaders SK Sturm Graz, cutting their lead at the top to just one point. It remained insanely and incredibly tight going into the final fixture of the season, with just three points separating first from fourth; European competition from nothing. Just one fixture, away to giants Austria Wien, separated us from a fantastic first season in the Bundesliga.



But we let it slip. A 0-3 whipping left us fourth, and Rapid's win in the cup the following week saw us fail to qualify for that last Europa League spot. Words can't describe the feeling of lost opportunity. It's easy to look back at our expectations at the beginning of the season and call this a success, but to come so close to the title and not even qualify for Europe is hard to take.



On the bright side, Siegl signed a three-year contract extension, with a club option for another two beyond that, locking him in for the long-term. That didn't stop the giants of Europe from returning to their sniffing, nosy ways though...




Final Stats:
Lars Gulpen was our star man this season, contributing 12 goals and 7 assists from his advanced midfield role. John Perez started his LASK career extremely well, but faded towards the end of the season. 7 goals from 11 appearances remains a phenomenal return. And finally, star youngster and fan-favorite Philipp Siegl recovered well from his shaky first half. However, he'll need to improve greatly next season to continue his development.

Summer 2017

After a disappointingly successful first season in the top flight, it was time to build on that and make a real push to be contenders in Austrian football. With a lauded brand of blitzkrieg-fußball that's surprised the Austrian world of 4-4-2 and 4-3-3, we needed to bring in some more young, hungry talent to bolster the ranks. With the success last season bringing in new sponsors and greater matchday income, it was going to be a busy summer.



Transfers:

Let's start with the out-bound players. We managed to raise a cool €3.725M by selling off some players, some of them key. €2M for Lars Gulpen was the toughest sale, but at his age and wages, I just could not refuse Elche's offer. Right-back Stefan Lainer was out for an outrageous €825K (triple what his value is), and keeper Cican Stankovic was sold for €725K, already replaced by American Dave Gomez.



On the flip side, we went on a spree, bringing in no less than six players who could make an immediate impact on the first team.

• First in was Honduran Olman Paz. The 18-year-old was offered by his agent, and we snapped him up for just a tiny compensation fee. Intelligent beyond his years, Paz will be a solid squad player in the back, at least initially.
• Next was Dutch defensive midfielder Arjan Huisman, in for a paltry €75K after being transfer listed by his hometown club PSV. Huisman is a man-child and a tremendous tackler in midfield, a destroyer we don't really have in the squad yet.
• This one was a coup: 21-year-old midfielder Javier Ruiz on a free after his contract expired at Monaco. He's not polished, but his athletic ability should help drive our midfield forward.
• Another transfer-listed player I was extremely pleased to pick up on the cheap, Croatian Andrej Grgic is a little magician, with the technical ability to wave his wand of a right foot or ghost about with his awesome dribbling ability.
• Patrik Farkas, a versatile Austrian midfielder, joined after a month of media attention linking him to LASK. In the end, he asked to leave his club, and we were more than happy to pick him up.
• And last, but most definitely not least, was the crown jewel of our summer haul: 20-year-old Jose Miguel, convinced to leave Real Madrid for just €275K. A tough but steady central defender, Miguel looks to be a fixture in the heart of our defense for years to come.

Final Squad
Despite the summer spree, our fortunes this season still ride on the backs of players who are returning from last season. Attacker and wonderboy extraordinaire Philip Siegl leads the line ahead of new captain Luis Tavares's box-to-box role. John Perez and Markus Blutsch complete the attacking trio. Baumgartner and Wimmer make up our Austrian back-line, while Dave Gomez is given the clear #1 shirt to boost his confidence and development.

The team is extremely young, but are determined to show the country that winning with kids is not a pipe dream.

You've built a very good, young squad mate and if they all live up the their potential you could have a dominant side in a coupleyears to come!

I hope so too, Dan! I'm sure my boys can rise to contend in Austrian football, but who knows if we compete in Europe?

2017/18

Oh, the frustration. I suppose this is what you get with a team led by teenagers and young stars, many of them new to the side--consistent inconsistency. A dominant winning streak, followed by streaks where we couldn't find the 6-yard box, let alone the goal. This was the glaring issue with this season, highlighted by the second half of the season, when a four-game winning streak was followed by an 8-game winless streak. That was the streak that killed off all hopes for the title, as we dropped in the standings to a distant third, behind a rampaging RB Salzburg.

In the end, we did achieve European football, qualifying for the 2nd qualifying round of the Europa League. I've still got bright hopes for the coming seasons, but this one a huge let-down and one heck of a lot of frustration. We achieved one place higher than last year on the same number of points--we'll need to really make progress next term to keep our momentum going.










Our front three performed very well. Darko Jevtic's form was solid throughout the season, and he relegated a misfiring Perez to the bench. He was supported by Philipp Siegl's blinding pace and hot shooting, and player-of-the-year Markus Blutsch, who had a team-leading 47 key passes. Our defense was pretty good all year, mostly thanks to outstanding performances by the full-backs (who are extremely important in our narrow system) and the young American keeper.

Player of the Season: Markus Blutsch (23, Austria, M/AM(C))

Cracking season Shame you couldn't nick 2nd place /o\ Roll on next season!

Well done buddy, top season! Roll on another good season to come!