Gendo
12 years ago
1 year ago
1,194
Premium
It's refreshing to see someone else is managing in Australia, in a Pentagon no less (I'm currently at Victory's rival, Melbournce City).

The FFA Cup run was stellar up until the Olympic FC match. How the hell did that happen, mate?! I thought for sure the final match was in your grasp.

Regarding the youth, I see the name "Morten Andersen" and the first thing that came to mind was the old NFL placekicker. And they're both Danish to boot!

League form looks fine for now, you aren't that far off from the top. Gotta string some wins together, I believe in you!
Pippadoc
15 years ago
3 years ago
386
End of Regular Series 2019


http://i961.photobucket.com/albums/ae92/Pippadoc/FM15%20Pentagon/2019-04-20%20A-League%20Results.jpg

http://i961.photobucket.com/albums/ae92/Pippadoc/FM15%20Pentagon/2019-04-20%20Standings.jpg

Things are finally started to click with the side, and it ended up with us going unbeaten over the final 9 games of the season. Thanks to Perth Glory taking a miserable 2 points from the final 6 games of the season I even managed to win the Regular Series by a single point (I was second on goal-difference going into the final game of the season. I've got the top seed for the Final Series so I'm guaranteed to play at home in any games we play.

I've continued to make some tweak to player roles, and I think I may have found a good combination finally! I even managed to get some good performances from Joey Gibbs (the third choice striker). Unfortunately ten minutes into Milevskyi's 3rd appearance he managed to injure his hip putting him out for the rest of the regular series.

For the Semi-Finals of the Final Series we're up against Adelaide United who we've managed 2 draws and a loss against so far this season. It should be a tough game and it's looking like Milevskyi will only be fit enough for the bench, but our recent form has me hopeful we go on and reach the Grand Final.

----------------------------

It's refreshing to see someone else is managing in Australia, in a Pentagon no less (I'm currently at Victory's rival, Melbournce City).

The FFA Cup run was stellar up until the Olympic FC match. How the hell did that happen, mate?! I thought for sure the final match was in your grasp.

Regarding the youth, I see the name "Morten Andersen" and the first thing that came to mind was the old NFL placekicker. And they're both Danish to boot!

League form looks fine for now, you aren't that far off from the top. Gotta string some wins together, I believe in you!


Cheers Gendo! I'm enjoying it, but I wish there was an injured reserve list like the MLS. It'd be nice to free up squad position when you have player who won't be fit for the rest of the season!

I've got no idea's what happened in the cup! One of the most frustrating moments of this career for sure

You must be my good luck charm! We definitely had a great run of form to end the regular series
Pippadoc
15 years ago
3 years ago
386
Final Series Semi Final


http://i961.photobucket.com/albums/ae92/Pippadoc/FM15%20Pentagon/2019-05-12%20Semi-Finals.jpg

It was a tougher game for us that ended up with three players going off injured by the 65 minute mark. Milevskyi was fit enough to start on the bench and had to come on when Guilherme Finkler went down injured. It paid off fantastically as well, he netted the equaliser before setting up the winner late in the game.

http://i961.photobucket.com/albums/ae92/Pippadoc/FM15%20Pentagon/2019-05-12%20GF%20Draw.jpg

So we play Wellington Phoenix and the league-leading goalscorer in Kwame Yeboah! We've done pretty well against them having won our last two games against after losing the first match-up of the season. I've got to admit I feel like we can do it now after only expecting to make the final series before the season.

We do have some disappointing absences for this game. Finkler picked up a thigh strain against Adelaide and won't be available. Also, Kremenovic or goalkeeper will also miss the game as he will be with the Australia U20's at the U20s World Cup.
Pippadoc
15 years ago
3 years ago
386
Grand Final 2019 and Season Review


http://i961.photobucket.com/albums/ae92/Pippadoc/FM15%20Pentagon/2019-05-19%20Grand-Final.jpg

So close, but not close enough! It's a shame to lose out in extra-time, especially after we took the lead in the second half. Overall, I'm very happy with how the season went and next year hopefully we can make get over the final hurdle!

http://i961.photobucket.com/albums/ae92/Pippadoc/FM15%20Pentagon/2019-05-19%20CL%20Qual.jpg

Most importantly we've made it into next seasons Champions League. I'm hoping for a good run into the knock-out stages, but I suspect we won't have the quality to win it all just yet!

http://i961.photobucket.com/albums/ae92/Pippadoc/FM15%20Pentagon/2019-05-19%20MOTY.jpg

A great year for us won me my first Manager of the Year award (they didn't have them in Singapore)

http://i961.photobucket.com/albums/ae92/Pippadoc/FM15%20Pentagon/2019-05-19%20Squad.jpg

Finally, here's the squad that got us here.

I'm really happy with how Djordje Kremenovic has come on this season. He managed 7 clean sheets in 30 games this season and only conceded 30 goals in total. All in all a very promising first season.

I like that we've spread our assists across many players. However, I'm a little disappointed we couldn't replace Andersen particularly well after he got injured. Hopefully, we can keep him fit next year and not have to worry about that.
Johno
17 years ago
1 week ago
2,643
Premium
Ooh, bad luck in the final
Pippadoc
15 years ago
3 years ago
386
Pre-Season 2019


http://i961.photobucket.com/albums/ae92/Pippadoc/FM15%20Pentagon/2019-10-21%20Transfers.jpg

It was a quiet transfer window for us. After our great season last year and the promising youngsters we have to bring through, I didn't feel the need to add any major signings this transfer window.

http://i961.photobucket.com/albums/ae92/Pippadoc/FM15%20Pentagon/2019-10-21%20Brad%20Collins.jpg

Brad Collins could end up being our long-term striker. For the time being he will play predominantly from the bench and will hopefully get a good amount of game time from the FFA Cup as well.

http://i961.photobucket.com/albums/ae92/Pippadoc/FM15%20Pentagon/2019-10-21%20Hrvoje%20Djukic.jpg

I wasn't planning on signing Djukic to begin with. However, Kostas Barbarouses has been caught by the international call-up bug and won't be available for the ENTIRE season (f*cking New Zealand ) and I needed some cover at ML, he's got a decent amount of potential as well. He could even be a starter down the line as well.

http://i961.photobucket.com/albums/ae92/Pippadoc/FM15%20Pentagon/2019-10-21%20Squad%20Depth.jpg

Overall I'm happy with the squad depth and particularly with the defence which is definitely our strongest area. I'd like to have more depth in the midfield, but it's a struggle to find quality Australian players at a reasonable wage. Overall, I'm expecting another good season and an appearance in at least the Final Series Semi-Finals.

http://i961.photobucket.com/albums/ae92/Pippadoc/FM15%20Pentagon/2019-10-21%20FFA%20Cup%20Results.jpg

We made a good start to the FFA Cup campaign and have been drawn against another non A-League side in the quarter finals so we should make another Semi-Finals appearance. Although I was expecting to beat a similar rated team last year in the Semi-Finals so it's not guaranteed by any means.

------------------------------------

Ooh, bad luck in the final


Cheers Johno, we're in the Champions' League next year which is the most important part. To be fair, I need exceed my pre-season expectations so I can't really complain with how the season went.
Pippadoc
15 years ago
3 years ago
386
Mid-Season Report - December 2019


http://i961.photobucket.com/albums/ae92/Pippadoc/FM15%20Pentagon/2019-12-07%20A-League%20Results.jpg

http://i961.photobucket.com/albums/ae92/Pippadoc/FM15%20Pentagon/2019-12-07%20Standings.jpg

A very promising start to the League campaign. we took 18 points from a possible 27 to see us top of the table with 1 third of the games played so far. Obviously I'm pretty happy with how things are going, particularly how well we've been doing defensively - I'm very hopeful Kremenovic is on his way to becoming a fantastic Goalkeeper for us for years to come.

The one downside so far is the lack of goals from Morten Anderesen. He has been playing a mixture of ST and AML which doesn't help, but he's not been scoring at all and hasn't created many chances either. I'm a little worried about him and may have to drop him if he doesn't show some improvements in the coming weeks.

http://i961.photobucket.com/albums/ae92/Pippadoc/FM15%20Pentagon/2019-12-07%20FFA%20Cup%20Results.jpg

We did it this year !

We got a similarly easy route to the final but this time we took advantage of it and put us in position to earn the first piece of silverware on offer this season. Perth Glory will be a tough opponent for us, they beat us in our one game so far this season. If we can get Morten Andersen scoring I'd feel a lot more confident about everything!
Pippadoc
15 years ago
3 years ago
386
FFA Cup Final 2020


http://i961.photobucket.com/albums/ae92/Pippadoc/FM15%20Pentagon/2020-01-26%20FFA%20Cup%20Final.jpg

That's certainly a disappointing loss for us! We created some decent chances and both the goals we conceded came from set plays (one corner and one penalty) which is very frustrating. We'll have to go again next year and hope we can win that final game, on the plus side we should get the draw for the Champions League group stage in the next few weeks which I'm excited.

I can't feel too unhappy with the team, we have 5 players away on international duty at the Under-22 Asian Nations Cup where Australia are doing disappointingly well (at least for my interests!). We've got 3 starters missing in those 5 players as well, Kremenovic in goal, Brimmer who has been our starting DMC, and Daniel Pettit whose seized his opportunities when others got injured to claim the MC (Advanced Playmaker Attack) role. So I feel we didn't do too badly considering the circumstances.
Pippadoc
15 years ago
3 years ago
386
Mid-Season Report - February 2020


http://i961.photobucket.com/albums/ae92/Pippadoc/FM15%20Pentagon/2020-02-01%20A-League%20Results.jpg

http://i961.photobucket.com/albums/ae92/Pippadoc/FM15%20Pentagon/2020-02-01%20A-League%20Standings.jpg

Not quite as strong a run of games for the middle third of the season, but we're comfortably in the playoff spots so things are still going ok. We've had the 5 players on international duty since start of January, but they'll be back for the final third of the season. This will hopefully give us the boost we need to get ourselves back into top spot.

Worryingly Morten Andersen is still struggling massively. He's completely shot of confidence and his missed a few sitters in the past few games. He's currently got had 21(2) Appearances in the League and Cup and managed a grand total of 1 goal and 5 assists. With Brad Collins returning from international duty, I will be moving Andersen out to AML or possibly even benching him for the time being. Hopefully he'll get back to form at some point, but I can't really rely on him at the moment.

http://i961.photobucket.com/albums/ae92/Pippadoc/FM15%20Pentagon/2020-02-01%20Tom%20Corry.jpg

I brought Tom Corry in during the transfer window to add some depth to the team at AML. He's not particularly promising, but we were desperate for depth due to a couple of injuries. He's only signed until the end of the season, so we won't be keeping him around long-term. Just a stop-gap until we can find some better Australian players for the position/get Barbarouses back.
Pippadoc
15 years ago
3 years ago
386
http://i961.photobucket.com/albums/ae92/Pippadoc/FM15%20Pentagon/2020-02-16%20CL%20Draw.jpg

It's a tough draw in the Champions League for us. I was really hoping we'd get at least one minnow from some backwater country. China, Japan, and Korea are 3 of the bigger nations in Asia so we should be in for quite a challenge! We're expected to reach the Semi-Finals of the Champions League, so we're gonna have to get ourselves out of the group.

One major plus of this is the financial side of it. We've been losing about 400k-500k so hopefully the added gate receipts should help us to make a profit come the end of the season.
Dan
12 years ago
4 months ago
16,964
Doing very well mate, a good season last year!
Pippadoc
15 years ago
3 years ago
386
End of Regular Season - April 2020


http://i961.photobucket.com/albums/ae92/Pippadoc/FM15%20Pentagon/2020-04-22%20A-League%20Results.jpg

http://i961.photobucket.com/albums/ae92/Pippadoc/FM15%20Pentagon/2020-04-22%20A-League%20Standings.jpg

We had a great final third of the season after getting our players back from international duty. We managed to take 18 points from a maximum of 27 and claimed out second consecutive Regular Season Title. We've earned ourselves a free ticket to the Final Series Semi Finals and hopefully we can go all the way this time and win that as well.

Perhaps, most importantly we've managed to get Morten Andersen scoring and creating goals in the past 9 games. With him a goal threat again we've got a good chance against any opposition in the Finals Series.

http://i961.photobucket.com/albums/ae92/Pippadoc/FM15%20Pentagon/2020-04-22%20CL%20Results.jpg

http://i961.photobucket.com/albums/ae92/Pippadoc/FM15%20Pentagon/2020-04-22%20CL%20Standings.jpg

Awful, awful Champions League campaign! I have no idea what happened here. Sure we missed Kremenovic for a game or two due to injury, but we were still terrible in most of our games. Hopefully we'll be back in the Champions League again next year, I'm still not sure how the qualification places work :s.

Maybe with another season of development and a couple of key signings this off-season we can manage a much better showing of ourselves last time. If not, it might be a long time before I manage to get my first Champions League title!

--------------------------------------

Doing very well mate, a good season last year!


Cheers Dan!

Thanks for commenting
redwest159
10 years ago
3 years ago
7
This has been a joy to read. I like your tri-annual reports. I've always thought of doing a pentagon challenge but just do not have the time (I am only in my 5th season with Brighton & Hove Albion FC from last seasons game which I bought on release...) . So your story is a nice taste of what I am missing. Looking forward to reading more!
Pippadoc
15 years ago
3 years ago
386
Final Series Semi Finals


http://i961.photobucket.com/albums/ae92/Pippadoc/FM15%20Pentagon/2020-05-10%20Semi%20Final.jpg

Very disappointing way to the end the season. We just couldn't seem to get that one goal to take it to extra-time. I was hoping to win the Final Series' this season, so this loss coupled with our dire Champions' League performance has left me pretty disappointed with how the season went overall!

http://i961.photobucket.com/albums/ae92/Pippadoc/FM15%20Pentagon/2020-05-10%20CL%20Qual.jpg

On the plus side we'll be competing in the Champions League again. We need to make a better showing next year, as this year's performance was truly awful.

http://i961.photobucket.com/albums/ae92/Pippadoc/FM15%20Pentagon/2020-05-10%20Squad.jpg

On to the squad. Mortensen finally came on well in the last third of the season and ended up leading the team in assists. Finkler, had a superb year for us as well, creating 9 and managing to scoring 16 predominantly as an AMR (Winger A), I was also very happy with Andrew Taylor's performance as our DL (Wing Back A) seven assists seems like a pretty decent return.

Brad Collins had a reasonable return, given he played mostly from the bench. I've also been very pleased with Daniel Pettit and Jim Tanner's improvements this season, Pettit in particular is establishing himself as one of our starting MC's.

Finally Djordje Kremenovic made fantastic strides this year conceding 19 and keeping 11 clean sheets in 24 games. He's definitely going to be the future of the club in goal, although I'll be looking for some veteran cover for Kremenovic as I expect him to miss more games over the coming season due to his involvement in the Australian national team set-up.

http://i961.photobucket.com/albums/ae92/Pippadoc/FM15%20Pentagon/2020-05-10%20MOTY.jpg

http://i961.photobucket.com/albums/ae92/Pippadoc/FM15%20Pentagon/2020-05-10%20GKOTY.jpg

http://i961.photobucket.com/albums/ae92/Pippadoc/FM15%20Pentagon/2020-05-10%20TOTY.jpg

Finally, the end of year awards.

I'm delighted to see Kremenovic's huge strides rewarded with the Goalkeeper of the Year award. Almost, our entire defence got into to the team of the year, as well as Finkler being reward for his amazing form this year. It's nice to win Manager of the Year as well, although I'd much rather have a Grand Final trophy or still be in the Champions League!

------------------------

This has been a joy to read. I like your tri-annual reports. I've always thought of doing a pentagon challenge but just do not have the time (I am only in my 5th season with Brighton & Hove Albion FC from last seasons game which I bought on release...) . So your story is a nice taste of what I am missing. Looking forward to reading more!


Thanks for the comment, I'm glad you're enjoying it!

The nice thing about doing the Pentagon, is you end up in a lot of countries with much less games per season than England. You can end up getting through the seasons pretty quickly depending on where you end up.
Pippadoc
15 years ago
3 years ago
386
Pre-Season 2020


http://i961.photobucket.com/albums/ae92/Pippadoc/FM15%20Pentagon/2020-10-01%20Urbaniak.jpg

First off, we got one reasonable prospect through the youth system this year after last years dreadful bunch of no-hopers. Urbaniak will be going straight into the senior squad and I'll hopefully maybe to give him a decent amount of game to speed his development along nicely

http://i961.photobucket.com/albums/ae92/Pippadoc/FM15%20Pentagon/2020-10-01%20Squad%20Depth.jpg

In terms of transfers the only thing I've done is bring in a backup goalkeeper and let a couple of players leave when their contracts expired. After seeing some younger players develop nicely and getting Kostas Barbarouses back from sojourn with New Zealand national team (that's like a new signing!) I think we should have more than enough about us to compete for another league title. Plus, the level of available Australian talent isn't awfully high

http://i961.photobucket.com/albums/ae92/Pippadoc/FM15%20Pentagon/2020-10-01%20Takeover.jpg

http://i961.photobucket.com/albums/ae92/Pippadoc/FM15%20Pentagon/2020-10-01%20Takeover%202.jpg

Perhaps, the most interesting part of this summer! Nothing too much to note here, they've invested a fair bit but the transfer budget didn't go up too much and I don't have a spare marquee player slot to make a big splashy signing. A bit of an anti-climax really!

http://i961.photobucket.com/albums/ae92/Pippadoc/FM15%20Pentagon/2020-10-01%20FFA%20Cup%20Results.jpg

Finally the early rounds of the FFA Cup, and as in previous years we gave some lower league opposition a hiding. I'm glad to see Andersen on the score sheet already, fingers-crossed that will carry over into the League this year! Also, I've been pleased with how some of our younger players have seized their opportunities in these early rounds - particularly Dan Pettit in central midfield and Hrvoje Djukic as an inside forward. Hopefully they can continue to impress against stronger opposition in the weeks to come.
Dan
12 years ago
4 months ago
16,964
Another good domestic season matey! shame about the semi final defeat though!
Pippadoc
15 years ago
3 years ago
386
Mid-Season Report - December 2020


http://i961.photobucket.com/albums/ae92/Pippadoc/FM15%20Pentagon/2020-12-05%20A-League%20Results.jpg

http://i961.photobucket.com/albums/ae92/Pippadoc/FM15%20Pentagon/2020-12-05%20Standings.jpg

Very good first third of the A-League campaign. We've been scoring well so far, and Andersen is fortunately in much better form than last season. Our defense hasn't been so good, but Kremenovic was away with the Australia U19s for October and we've been dealing with injuries to defenders and defensive midfielders al season so I'm pretty confident we can improve that as the season goes on.

http://i961.photobucket.com/albums/ae92/Pippadoc/FM15%20Pentagon/2020-12-05%20FFA%20Cup%20Results.jpg

Again, we got an easy draw through to the FFA Cup final (I have no idea how we haven't played an A-League side outside of the Final yet ) and we made easy work of it.

We play Brisbane Roar in the final this time around and we better win this time after coming so close next year!
Pippadoc
15 years ago
3 years ago
386
Mid-Season Report - December 2020


http://i961.photobucket.com/albums/ae92/Pippadoc/FM15%20Pentagon/2020-12-05%20A-League%20Results.jpg

http://i961.photobucket.com/albums/ae92/Pippadoc/FM15%20Pentagon/2020-12-05%20Standings.jpg

Very good first third of the A-League campaign. We've been scoring well so far, and Andersen is fortunately in much better form than last season. Our defense hasn't been so good, but Kremenovic was away with the Australia U19s for October and we've been dealing with injuries to defenders and defensive midfielders al season so I'm pretty confident we can improve that as the season goes on.

http://i961.photobucket.com/albums/ae92/Pippadoc/FM15%20Pentagon/2020-12-05%20FFA%20Cup%20Results.jpg

Again, we got an easy draw through to the FFA Cup final (I have no idea how we haven't played an A-League side outside of the Final yet ) and we made easy work of it.

We play Brisbane Roar in the final this time around and we better win this time after coming so close next year!
Gendo
12 years ago
1 year ago
1,194
Premium
Superb run of form. Shame that a loss had to creep in there, but top of the table is awesome! Also, congrats on making the FFA Cup final, taking an easy path with all those non-league teams. Keep it up!
Pippadoc
15 years ago
3 years ago
386
Superb run of form. Shame that a loss had to creep in there, but top of the table is awesome! Also, congrats on making the FFA Cup final, taking an easy path with all those non-league teams. Keep it up!


Cheers Gendo! Finger's crossed we can stay and get our third Regular Season title.

Haha, I'll take the easy path as long as we can get it ;p. Although we've had an easy path to the final twice so far and have no trophies to show for it
Pippadoc
15 years ago
3 years ago
386
FFA Cup Final 2021


http://i961.photobucket.com/albums/ae92/Pippadoc/FM15%20Pentagon/2021-01-24%20FFA%20Cup%20Final.jpg

YESSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!

After last years disappointment in final, and losing out to a non A-League side in the semi's the year before I'm relieved to get our hands on the trophy this year! We were comfortable throughout the game as well, dominating in shooting and possession - to be honest we should have scored more goals. Only need a Grand Final victory to have earned every domestic trophy on offer in Australia - hopefully this will be the year!
Pippadoc
15 years ago
3 years ago
386
Mid-Season Report - February 2021


http://i961.photobucket.com/albums/ae92/Pippadoc/FM15%20Pentagon/2021-02-06%20A-League%20Results.jpg

http://i961.photobucket.com/albums/ae92/Pippadoc/FM15%20Pentagon/2021-02-06%20A-League%20Standings.jpg

Not the best middle third of the season for us, we dropped quite a lot of points. Fortunately none of our competitors managed to take advantage of our missed opportunities! We really need to improve defensively for the final third of the season. Particularly if we would like to have a better Champions League or Finals Series campaign.

Not really sure how to go about doing that. On paper we should be defending very well and we do have one the top defense in the league, but we seem to concede a lot of silly late goals that are costing us points. I'd certainly like to see us conceding under 1 goal a game on average!

http://i961.photobucket.com/albums/ae92/Pippadoc/FM15%20Pentagon/2021-02-06%20Gian%20Mendez.jpg

I made one signing during the transfer window. Mendez is a great Australian talent, exactly the type of player I've been saving cap room for. I'm looking forward to him being part of the team for years to come!

http://i961.photobucket.com/albums/ae92/Pippadoc/FM15%20Pentagon/2021-02-06%20CL%20Group.jpg

Finally, our Champions League draw. Again it's another tough draw, but we MUST do better than last year. The board expect us to reach the Quarter Finals and I expect to at least make it out of the group stage this time round.
Pippadoc
15 years ago
3 years ago
386
Player Highlight - Daniel Pettit


http://i961.photobucket.com/albums/ae92/Pippadoc/FM15%20Pentagon/2021-02-09%20Daniel%20Pettit.jpg

http://i961.photobucket.com/albums/ae92/Pippadoc/FM15%20Pentagon/2021-02-09%20YPOTM.jpg

I talked Pettit up after our initial FFA Cup Games to open the season, and he's really progressed far beyond what I though was possible this year. He's phenomenal so far, both creating and scoring goals whilst operating as our MC (Advanced Playmaker Attack). With THREE consecutive Young Player of the Month awards he's being recognised outside the club as well, which is great. Fortunately for us, I have him signed for another three seasons after this one .

He, alongside Kremenovic, is the highlight of my stay here in terms of player development. When I brought him in Summer 2018, he was no where near being a starter for us. Now my coach reports say he's a star player in the A-League. Hopefully I can repeat this success with some of other promising youngsters.
Dan
12 years ago
4 months ago
16,964
Hopefully that slip in your league form doesn't last long!
Pippadoc
15 years ago
3 years ago
386
End of Regular Season - April 2021


http://i961.photobucket.com/albums/ae92/Pippadoc/FM15%20Pentagon/2021-04-21%20A-League%20Results.jpg

http://i961.photobucket.com/albums/ae92/Pippadoc/FM15%20Pentagon/2021-04-21%20A-League%20Standings.jpg

A very frustrating final set of games for us. We may not have lost, but we drew far too many games, culminating in us drawing the final game of the season when a win would have given us the Regular Season title. We have managed to earn a first round bye in the Finals Series at least, and with no Regular Season title anything less than a Grand Final victory will be a disappointment for me! I think it all comes down to us conceding in most of our games, we have been dealing with niggling injuries to various defenders, but we should still be keeping more clean sheets than that.

http://i961.photobucket.com/albums/ae92/Pippadoc/FM15%20Pentagon/2021-04-21%20CL%20Results.jpg

http://i961.photobucket.com/albums/ae92/Pippadoc/FM15%20Pentagon/2021-04-21%20CL%20Standings.jpg

Now one to some happier news! We made it out of the group stage of the Champions League this time . I'm happy with how we played and we could have got points against Hiroshima if it wasn't for a red card in the first game I think we would definitely have taken a point. In the second game, we were qualified so I used it as an opportunity to give some of our promising youngsters some game time. Given that, a narrow loss was a pretty reasonable result.

http://i961.photobucket.com/albums/ae92/Pippadoc/FM15%20Pentagon/2021-04-21%20Antonio%20Molina.jpg

Finally, our latest signing. Molina came in on a free transfer and kicked off his Melbourne Victory career with a bang managing him to get himself a hat-trick on his debut! He's been brought in as Morten Andersen wants to leave and there is major interest from Brondby (unfortunately for me I had to give him a £1.8 million release clause in his last contract). I'm very pleased with him so far and Molina should become a starter at either ST or AML depending on whether Andersen stays and how Brad Collins develops as a striker.

-------------------------------------------

Hopefully that slip in your league form doesn't last long!


Unfortunately it did . But it's a lot to ask to win the Regular Season three years in a row!
Pippadoc
15 years ago
3 years ago
386
Knockout Round Draws


http://i961.photobucket.com/albums/ae92/Pippadoc/FM15%20Pentagon/2021-04-21%20Final%20Series%20Semi%20Finals%20Draw.jpg

Wellington is going to be a tough draw in the Semi Finals, we've managed 1 win and 2 draws against them in the league this season. We should have everyone back to full fitness for the game, so I'm expecting us to make it through to the Grand Final!

http://i961.photobucket.com/albums/ae92/Pippadoc/FM15%20Pentagon/2021-04-21%20CL%202nd%20Rnd%20Draw.jpg

I don't know what to make of this draw to be honest. Al-Ain were very impressive in their Group, winning 5 of 6 and scoring a ton of goals. However, the game seems to think I'm heavy favourites for the tie. We need to get through to meet the boards minimum expectations for the competition so hopefully we'll manage it!
Pippadoc
15 years ago
3 years ago
386
A-League Semi Final 2021


http://i961.photobucket.com/albums/ae92/Pippadoc/FM15%20Pentagon/2021-05-08%20Semi%20Finals.jpg

We made hard work of it, but we snuck a win against Wellington in extra-time. Molina is certainly proving to be a great signing for us, earning us a crucial win with his late goal! We must be better in the finals though or it'll another year without winning Australia's biggest prize.

http://i961.photobucket.com/albums/ae92/Pippadoc/FM15%20Pentagon/2021-05-08%20Grand%20Final%20Draw.jpg

The toughest draw possible. We face the league leaders and a team we've only managed to take 1 point from in 3 attempts this season. It's going to be a tough match, especially as we have to play the second leg of the Champions League second round in midweek before the game.

http://i961.photobucket.com/albums/ae92/Pippadoc/FM15%20Pentagon/2021-05-08%20Canak%20Quits.jpg

http://i961.photobucket.com/albums/ae92/Pippadoc/FM15%20Pentagon/2021-05-08%20Muscat%20Hired.jpg

Things have been a bit odd at Central Coast Mariners since the season ended. Their coach quit just before the Finals Series begun, which seems like a really odd decision. Then on the day of the Grand Final they hired Kevin Muscat, the man I replaced at Melbourne Victory! Fingers crossed, this will give us the advantage we need to record our first win against the Mariners this season.
Dan
12 years ago
4 months ago
16,964
Wow what a twist, this could be a huge final now!
Pippadoc
15 years ago
3 years ago
386
Grand Final and End of Season 2021


http://i961.photobucket.com/albums/ae92/Pippadoc/FM15%20Pentagon/2021-05-16%20Grand%20Final.jpg

We did it !!!

Jesus Christ, I thought we'd lost this one! We gave away the extra-time penalty, then Daniel Pettit went and got his second yellow card arguing with the referee about it (moron). Then Barbarouses goes off injured after we'd used all three substitutes. We went to an overload strategy and Morten Andersen scored his most important goal for the club with a 120th minute (!!!!!) goal to get us a penalty shootout.

I hate watching penalty shoot-outs on FM, there's so much tension for what is still just a game . But we managed it with Djordje Kremenovic scoring the winning penalty for us! I'm delighted and relieved we didn't throw away another final appearance.

http://i961.photobucket.com/albums/ae92/Pippadoc/FM15%20Pentagon/2021-05-16%20Squad.jpg

Here's the squad that got us a title.

Attacking wise the trio of Daniel Pettit, Morten Andersen and Guilherme Finkler were phenomenal for us. All contributed with a good amount of goals and assists and were really the foundation of the team this year with all the little injuries the defence picked up. I'm hoping we can keep Andersen this summer, although I suspect he could be on his way back to Europe, hopefully Molina and Collins can provide enough goals between them to replace him well. Finkler is getting on in age, he'll be 36 by the time the next league campaign begins, and I am not looking forward to replacing him! He's got a great mix of technical skills and excellent mental skills.

Defensively we had some good performers, notable Ansell (by far our best defender) and Andrew Taylor who once again excelled as attacking wing-back for us. Having said that Taylor is now 33, and I'll be looking to find a long-term replacement for him over the coming months. Kremenovic had a pretty decent season for us, although we seemed to give away a lot of important goals, he managed to concede 37 goals in 37 appearances and keep 10 cleansheets.

http://i961.photobucket.com/albums/ae92/Pippadoc/FM15%20Pentagon/2021-05-16%20YPOTY.jpg

http://i961.photobucket.com/albums/ae92/Pippadoc/FM15%20Pentagon/2021-05-16%20GKOTY.jpg

http://i961.photobucket.com/albums/ae92/Pippadoc/FM15%20Pentagon/2021-05-16%20MOTY.jpg

http://i961.photobucket.com/albums/ae92/Pippadoc/FM15%20Pentagon/2021-05-16%20All-Star%20XI.jpg

Award season, and Daniel Pettit more than earned his Young Player of the Year award. He won 4 of 7 Young Player of the Month awards!!!.

Nice to see Kremenovic and myself end up runner-up in our respective awards. In particular, it was nice to see us get 6 players in the All Stars XI, including all of our starting defenders.

http://i961.photobucket.com/albums/ae92/Pippadoc/FM15%20Pentagon/2021-05-16%20Youth%20Facilities.jpg

Finally, we got a Youth Facilities upgrade on the way. Which will be great for my board goal of developing youngsters into first team players!
Pippadoc
15 years ago
3 years ago
386
Wow what a twist, this could be a huge final now!

Somehow missed this comment . It might well have been a crucial factor in us getting the victory over Central Coast Mariners in the most important meeting between the two clubs.

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