Benniewijs - Comments

Comments

#49289 Travelling across Europe - proving I'm better than Dan!

Benniewijs

14 years ago

5 years ago

228

31 Jan 2013 04:51:16

Good run in the league. Pity of the cup loss. Good luck after the break

#49072 Holliday game

Benniewijs

14 years ago

5 years ago

228

30 Jan 2013 13:50:44

Good luck ! And indeed screenies are welcome!

#49071 Getting Around Europe Quicker Than Shedender

Benniewijs

14 years ago

5 years ago

228

30 Jan 2013 13:49:17

Very close end off the season. Excited to see if you will make it!

#290934 Keeping up with Shedender and Dan - If it's not to late!

Benniewijs

14 years ago

5 years ago

228

30 Jan 2013 13:46:11

After a promising end of last season I started the first complete season at Surm Graz.

To strengthen my squad now and in the future I brought in some new faces. Erivaldo is a young talented striker that can fit into my squad directly; Vincius is a leftwinger/midfielder als young/talented and directly usable, Lukac is a talented back up for midfield-central, Tiago is the needed strenght for defence-central and Ivancea is another young goallie since my other back-up goallie was moaning and getting a loan (or some punches

)

Some more dead wood was going out. Most for free and some on loan. Got some pocket money for Strobl, Kainz, Pinnitsch, Schmerböck and Okotie and I got a good offer for Klem from Bologna I couldn't refuse. He wasn't first choice for me anyway.

After this I am happy with my squad. There is a good balance between talent and experience. I was hopefull for the start of the season and wanted to bring the title to Graz.

Expected but still something to mention. My first 100 games are played in Austria.

The first half of the season wasn't easy. With 4 losses and 5 draws I was way behind Rapid Wien. At one point I was only 2 points behind but Rapid Wien needed to play 3 matches more than me since they had an European campaign and had to skip some matches to waterlogged pitches.

The second half of the season was better with only 1 loss match. Rapid Wien was my rival for the title the rest of the season.

The semifinal of the FA Cup was made more exciting than it really was due to the precision of my strikers. Hitting woodwork can happen but 5 times in 1 match is a bit too much for me.

As you could see in my fixtures I won the FA Cup this season. I was on top the whole match but my team scored just before time. Very happy with the win of the cup.

The last week of the season was a very hard time for my players. I had to play 4 matches in 7 days including the cup final and the away match against Rapid Wien. It was far in March when Rapid Wien lost his first match. They had a lot of draws but didn't lose before. After they lost one there came more and the margin was just 2 points when I had to play them away. First I scored 0-1 and then the made 1-1 and 2-1. At that time I got a red card and was down to ten men. Due to condition problem I had Maazou in my starting line up for the first time this season. He is a fast player with quite a good shot. I changed my formation to 3-4-1-1 with one three central defenders. I played attacking and luckely I scored two goals to bring me the win. After that I played subsituted the two most offensive players for defensive midfielders and killed the game. After this it brought me the title. Rapid Wien lost there last match too so my win was not needed anymore.

I did it. The double. At least my players did it. I watched them an got frustrated a lot when there was another message like wastfull with chances, forgot to score, unlucky in defeat. But in the end there was only a big party!

Since there were no jobs available jet in Belarus I decided to stay at the club until the start of the season in Belarus (02.2017) I was in the qualifying round of the CL and had a good squad and wanted to see what next season would bring me.

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

Thanks for your comments Dan ! Austria is behind me soon. I can leave after Belarus is loaded next season. Didn't see this title coming so I forgot/decided not to load Belarus. I will stay in Austria but will do a lot of Instant Results and only play CL matches myself.

#49050 Getting Around Europe Quicker Than Shedender

Benniewijs

14 years ago

5 years ago

228

30 Jan 2013 12:31:43

You can still get the title. The biggest problem is that you have two contenders for the title. They both have to make mistakes and you can't anymore. Good run in Europe. To bad it ended. But it was no goal so nothings lost there. Good luck the last months of the season.

#49009 Around Europe Backwards - from Wales to Austria

Benniewijs

14 years ago

5 years ago

228

30 Jan 2013 08:01:40

Two more wins and Wales is done. Good luck with it.

#49008 Travelling across Europe - proving I'm better than Dan!

Benniewijs

14 years ago

5 years ago

228

30 Jan 2013 07:45:30

Great start of the season with lots of goals. Good luck and go for the promotion!

#49007 Getting Around Europe Quicker Than Shedender

Benniewijs

14 years ago

5 years ago

228

30 Jan 2013 07:44:19

You won't have a chance against my Sturm Graz ! Kiddin..... but good results for you. Difficult to get the title if every year there is another big contender for the title. Hope you can further close the gap and bring the title home. Good luck with it.

#48862 Travelling across Europe - proving I'm better than Dan!

Benniewijs

14 years ago

5 years ago

228

29 Jan 2013 16:01:02

Good preseason and good signings. Left backs are also my problem in this FM. In RL there are also not so many leftbacks I guess.

#48837 Maiden Europe

Benniewijs

14 years ago

5 years ago

228

29 Jan 2013 14:41:50

Congrats on winning the double in Austria and good luck in Belarus!

#48794 Travelling across Europe - proving I'm better than Dan!

Benniewijs

14 years ago

5 years ago

228

29 Jan 2013 11:19:46

Good luck in Group B of Bulgaria. Seems to be a good club to me. But I don't recognize the team.... he wasn't in League A of B with Dan.

#48485 Travelling across Europe - proving I'm better than Dan!

Benniewijs

14 years ago

5 years ago

228

28 Jan 2013 11:08:29

Good results in the league. Good luck after the break.

#48484 Getting Around Europe Quicker Than Shedender

Benniewijs

14 years ago

5 years ago

228

28 Jan 2013 10:51:01

Great to see you still have chance to win the league. Good luck with it.

#48479 Keeping up with Shedender and Dan - If it's not to late!

Benniewijs

14 years ago

5 years ago

228

28 Jan 2013 10:39:33

Update finished later than expected. A bit busy weekend I had and no time for writing my post.

#290933 Keeping up with Shedender and Dan - If it's not to late!

Benniewijs

14 years ago

5 years ago

228

25 Jan 2013 16:00:37

As said I took the job and indeed it was a bit of a surprise for my readers. But Kapfenberger was overachieving and Sturm Graz was underachieving so I thought now is the time to step in the big club and leave the small one.

When I looked at the squad I had already an idea why the club was underachieving. There are some good players but a player like Judt is best at three or more places and I can only select him once in my squad.

First I had to cut some dead wood. Over 50 players I had and most of them where below my standard for this team. Some notable transfers are Guyon Fernandez, Wolf and Rusz. I also loaned Sulimani and Grgig for some cash. But most of them where free transfers to free wages and get some serious improvements

And Improvements I brought in. For the first eleven I brought Mitrovic (GK still young and a lot of talent), Galindo (old but reliable), Tamasi (CM, young and can play also on DM and CAM) Naylor (RB actually back-up but played almost all matches) and Maierhoffer (ST long strong header who has to bring me goals)
The other players are for back-up and talented (Olinga ST, Obert DC/DM/MC, Mihart (MC, de Groot GK, Baroveanu AML and Demirci AMC from my old club)

After this my squad was starting to become more the way I liked it. With the budget I had to spend I was happy with it.

In the competition I played 19 matches and won 9 of them, 5 draws and 5 losses. A lot of these losses and draws I got the message Unlucky, failed to make chances and other messages like that. It was quite frustrating and the board almost sacked me due to bad results. I'm glad they didn't do that and have still some faith in my managing capabilities.

Finished 6. Luckely one point short for EC. Didn't want to lose my focus next year with a lost campaign in Europe.

The team had to get used to my system and I got to some other conclussion I had to change to system so my team played better. I started to train a flat 4-4-2 in April and wanted to get some results with that next season.

Thanks for reading this update again. I will make a new update later today or tomorrow.

#47553 Travelling across Europe - proving I'm better than Dan!

Benniewijs

14 years ago

5 years ago

228

25 Jan 2013 15:44:42

Great start of the season.

One goal against and a lot goals scored is always a good start but indeed don't dream before it's way past christmas.
But with the first points in the bag your season gets a lot easier.

#47544 Getting Around Europe Quicker Than Shedender

Benniewijs

14 years ago

5 years ago

228

25 Jan 2013 15:28:57

Great to see your succes in Czech. Long winterbreak just like Austria (and many other countries) is a bit annoying. But when I play friendly matches in that period it is always snowing and very cold. Good luck after the break. Like to see if you bring in some new players.

#47479 Getting Around Europe Quicker Than Shedender

Benniewijs

14 years ago

5 years ago

228

25 Jan 2013 11:33:22

You can see on the first page of this topic that there are 4 trophies to win.

#47478 Getting Around Europe Quicker Than Shedender

Benniewijs

14 years ago

5 years ago

228

25 Jan 2013 11:32:27

Good results this month. Only one loss. If you have some more of this months you will make quite a gap before christmas. Good luck with it!

#47439 Around Europe Backwards - from Wales to Austria

Benniewijs

14 years ago

5 years ago

228

25 Jan 2013 07:37:15

Good signings I guess with the budget and the fact you are in Wales. Brought the title to Bow Street last year so I know how hard it is to get good players to your club. I know I used quite a lot of regens since it was 2014-2015. Good luck this season.

#47438 Europe, from A to Z (or W, actually)

Benniewijs

14 years ago

5 years ago

228

25 Jan 2013 07:31:23

Great run at the end of the season. Becoming Champion of every country is a very big goal to do. Good luck with it!

#47437 Travelling across Europe - proving I'm better than Dan!

Benniewijs

14 years ago

5 years ago

228

25 Jan 2013 07:28:55

Good preseason and a bit of fun in Europe. I like it when my team comes back from behind and wins on aggregate. But it is also nice to win easy ofcourse. Good luck in the League !

#47436 Getting Around Europe Quicker Than Shedender

Benniewijs

14 years ago

5 years ago

228

25 Jan 2013 07:26:24

Good start 4 out 5 and still in the cup. I don't know this competition either. I of course know the place Prague and recognize also Usti and Olomouc but this clubs I don't know. I think you can go for the top places this year. Good luck with it.

#46720 Travelling across Europe - proving I'm better than Dan!

Benniewijs

14 years ago

5 years ago

228

23 Jan 2013 15:08:38

Good results. Confidence and fitness are great factors in FM2013.

#46705 Keeping up with Shedender and Dan - If it's not to late!

Benniewijs

14 years ago

5 years ago

228

23 Jan 2013 14:44:28

By DanW19 | Permalink | On 23 January 2013 - 14:26 PM

Wow thats a surprising switch after you done so well in your first half of the season in the top flight!

Supprising indeed yeah...... Maybe I am to focused by the 4 big clubs in Austria. And I got a bit frustrated by the lack of goals I scored the first half. I had to play quite defensive and got a lot of injuries the last two months. I hope I won't regret the switch.

#46703 Getting Around Europe Quicker Than Shedender

Benniewijs

14 years ago

5 years ago

228

23 Jan 2013 14:41:46

Good luck in the Czech Republic ! Always a good feeling when you accomplish a hard job !

#290932 Keeping up with Shedender and Dan - If it's not to late!

Benniewijs

14 years ago

5 years ago

228

23 Jan 2013 14:07:08

Thank you for all your responses

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After the promotion I had to prepare for my first season in the Premier League of Austria. The board didn't expect to much of it.

But I was sure I could stay clear of relegation. There were at least two clubs worse than me. And three other clubs were even. Like said before I don't expect to beat Salzburg, Graz, and the two clubs of Wien in this season. So if I get place 5 or 6 this season I am happy.

To achieve my goals I brought 3 additional players in my squad. Demirci I already signed at the end of last season as addition to my attacking midfield. Now I signed Helly (talented striker) and Maninho (Left midfield and Defensive midfield) for free. I took a big risk by buying € 1,2M for Mikulanin. He is already good enough for my squad and my best rightwinger, but it was a lot of money. And he was already 3 times injured in the first months of this season.

The first 3 matches were hard. I had to learn how to play at this level and with a start against RBS and Rapid Wien After that I had a good start of the season. The only problem was scoring goals. I had only 4 matches with 2 or more goals and a lot of boring 1-0 .

After 17 matches I was on the 6th place with a good view up the table. And there was not much danger for relegation.

What else happened meanwhile

I saw the manager of SK Sturm Graz was under fire. He was expected to become second on the league table but was below me and out of the cup already. I said I wanted the job. Not everyone was happy with that. Sturm Graz are the Rivals of Kapfenberger. I can't blame the fan for this.....

After a while the manager got sacked and I got the following message.

And of course I couldn't resist this offer and accepted it.

So I am now manager of SK Sturm Graz. I start just before the winter break and can prepare myself 3 months for a storming second half of the season. I will tell about that in my next update but for now I can say there is a lot of dead wood to cut before I can shape my squad how I like it. I got a good budget for this to do, so I am excited to start with this.

#46591 Getting Around Europe Quicker Than Shedender

Benniewijs

14 years ago

5 years ago

228

23 Jan 2013 06:46:33

Good finish of a tough month. Still only one point after Cibalia. It must be possible to grab the promotion but it looks like a long, hard and sometimes frustrating run. Good luck with it.

#46346 Me Vs The World

Benniewijs

14 years ago

5 years ago

228

22 Jan 2013 13:51:57

Great story so far with many successes and also many frustrations. I like both of them, since I recognize them in my own FM careers. Indeed a very tempting offer from Sao Paulo. You can always get to lower jobs later on.

#46342 The Humanitarian

Benniewijs

14 years ago

5 years ago

228

22 Jan 2013 13:38:00

Great season and good that you turned some job offers down. Especialy the one in Bolivia..... I don't think I would let that one go, but it's better to stay on path in Africa first. Good luck next season!