Chin up, old boy, it could be worse…
As much as I love this save, I have to admit we are in the phase where our performances are going to vary wildly, and there are multiple reasons for this, but the primary reason is that we are a young team, our average age is 21, and the Ability Curve of the ability of the squad is a bit…pronounced. We are good enough to win the League in Romania, and beat some other European clubs, but we aren’t in a position to compete with the bigger European Clubs on a consistent basis because we do not have the team to do so, we are waiting for the Youth Academy to produce it. Which means going forward, instead of the medium to big leaps we used to get to where we are now, the next few years are going to be only incremental improvements, or no improvements at all, or in some cases, stepping back a bit.
This season was one of those cases…
There were some bits of good news though:
And some Middling News:
The biggest loss here was Fieraru (Class of ’31). He has the ability to be a solid striker, either a #2 on our squad, if I ever switch to a Two Striker Formation, or a good player on a lower club. He had one year left on his contract, and Rapid pushed hard for him, and he wanted to go, and nothing could keep him here. Secreteanu (Class of ’26) was a solid option on the left side, but I have equally capable younger players who can take his place. Butoiu (Class of ’31) I had high hopes for, as did the Youth Coaches. The next 4 years he barely improved. Stancu (Class of ’25) has had a solid career for us as our D/WB(L), but Sepsi’s offer was too good to pass up, and I have younger capable replacements.
I was hoping for a good European run this year. I knew we weren’t going to go far in the Champions League, and also felt pretty confident that if we fell to the Europa League, we could do a credible job there, and if for some reason we fell to the Conference, thats fine, we could do a credible job there to. The preseason started well, the friendlies were good, the season kicked off, and we shat the bed.
I played mostly rotated sides in the friendlies, especially once I saw who we were playing in our CL Qualifying game. I needn’t have worried. Midtjylland’s quality was apparent from the first whistle, they scored their 1st goals in 10 minutes. And if beating us 4-1 wasn’t bad enough for our home crowd, they beat us 4-1 in front of their home crowd as well…where they scored in the 1st minute. If you take into account the 6-2 drubbing Cluj gave us, also at home, we lost by a 14-3 aggregate score in those matches….to face Mechelen in the Europa League. I don’t have Belgium loaded, but they fished 4th I think, because they didn’t show up in the 1-3 slots, and while we did well to hold them to a 1-1 draw, 16 y/o Rocky Jivan (Class of ’34) clawing the draw back for us in the 81st minute, a Stancu own goal and all around poor effort meant we lost in the 2-1 away match. So we fell to the conference league, where we met our new nemesis: Austria Wien. A 4-3 aggregate loss late, and we were out of Europe.
It has been our worst European performance to date…
I would like the think our lackluster efforts in Europe, with a heavy dose of yelling by me, spurred the guys onto start doing well. Or maybe they just didn’t want to play in Europe, I am not sure.
We went the entire month of September without conceding a goal, which was a good accomplishment. A close loss followed by a last gasp win was too exciting for me, I called it a night after those two matches, as we find ourselves part of a group of eight or so teams that could finish 4th or 12th, and noone would really be surprised with either result. Not losing in November was also nice, but the wheels wobbled in December, and we went into the break mid table. It was going to take quite a bit for us to make our way back into the Top 6.
And we stumbled just enough at the end to finish 7th, and go into the Relegation Group.
So Of Course we turned it on, lost only the one game, six shutouts and PK’s against FCSB see us finish 8th, and claim another European spot. We’re going to do better next year.
The Youth Intake
Last years Intake was really good, Jivan, Oprea, Mif, Vieru, Croitoru could be a Golden Generation. Jivan at 16 is already playing for the Romanian U21 squad, which is both good and bad. This years intake preview got my hopes up, but then:
Alin Munteneau
His Bravery is the standout attribute, but his Aggression, Tackling, Fitness and Work Rate are nothing the laugh at either. I suspect a lot of his “Average” scores are in the 9-10 range, and if he doesn’t meet his 4 1/2 star potential, he should still become a very solid midfielder.
Dennis Macanu
How a person with Good Determination and decent Teamwork can be Unsporting is a mystery, I am pretty sure it means his ‘under the hood’ attributed are pretty meh. He has a good foundation to build on, the problem is I have quite a few players that can play at D(L). At this point the best course of action is to get him into a good mentor group, then get him as many games as possible, maybe a loan spell or two, and see where we are in 5 years. But his potential isn’t enough for me to outweigh the Personality.
Alin Oltean
If he improves his Stamina, Strength, Concentration and Positioning, I think Oltean could have a long term future at the club, despite the Injury issues. What I am hoping is that he’s not another one of those players who comes in with their CA at 70, and their PA is 85. Another one to keep a closer eye on.
Nikolay Tuntev
The question isn’t “How Good is Tuntev going to be?” but rather “How good is Tuntev going to be before he leaves for ‘Gr€€n€r’ pastures. He’s only been eligible for a few months, yet already has a Bulgarian U21 Call Up, and a goal. I think he has wonderkid (160+ IMO) potential, and we are going to do what we can to get him there. I strongly suspect he will be getting first team playing time next season, and honestly, with his physicals and Ball Control attributes, and his overall Attacking Attributes, I don’t think we would be hurting the squad. Clearly the best of this years good intake.
Alexandru Olteanu
His Attacking and Possession attributes are already on the right side og good for the most part, if his defensive skills pick up, to where he is merely ‘Average’ as opposed to ‘Bad’, I think he’ll be a great DLP. As it stands, he has a couple of other players ahead of him on the depth chart, but they bring more issues to the table than Olteanu does. And having to many good players for a position is a problem I think a lot of FM managers would love to have.
Vlad Bălan
At 6′ 2″, he already has the height for the position, and while his Fitness is currently lacking, his solid physicals and defending means he has a good foundation to build on, and the Fairly Determined personality will help him there. He has a little bit of an injury problem, but that doesn’t worry me. What does is that he’s currently 8th on the D(C) depth chart, and how do I shepherd his growth to try and make sure he gets a chance at starting for us?
Teodorescu had 17 assists. 17 Unambitious assists to go with 8 Unambitious Goals and 3 Unambitious Player of the Match awards. If only her were a bit more ambitious…
Despite the teams overall performance, the players as a whole did really well IMO. I love that were aren’t relying on one or two players to do everything for us, and we had quite a few youngsters get some playing time, and contributing. It’s something we need to keep on doing, especially if we want more success. Our European campaign this year was a disaster, I am hoping we will do better next season. The last couple of Youth Intake have also been very good, I am hoping that’s a trend that’s going to continue.
Until then, we’re going to keep plugging away, and hoping and praying we keep the rock in front of us.
Thanks for reading!
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