Laying the foundation, one brick at a time…
There are a couple of different ways to start a save in my opinion, but choosing which route to take when it’s your first day is dependent on one thing. That one thing however, is comprised of multiple parts, because why wouldn’t it be? And what is that one thing?
Finances.
You could be the biggest team in the world, yet your financial situation might so so bad that making wholesale changes might not be possible. And what goes into that financial equation? Club Reputation, Where you are, salary limits…Now, I understand the urge is great to come in, clear house, and hire the best talent you can, but what if the best talent you can hire is no better than, or possible even worse than, the people you just let go. So, my advice, in a long terms save, don’t make wholesale changes across the board right away. Pick and choose, because your immediate priority isn’t assembling the best coaching and back room staff you can, it’s avoiding relegation, or staying up, or getting promoted. Once you’ve achieved that goal, then you can start making bigger changes.
Lucky for me all I have do do is worry about the coaching staff. Unlucky for me, the ones I have are not good, but the spot’s I have to fill I think we can get some good suggestion for. An Assistant Coach, 2 Coaches and a Set Piece Coach later, our coaching staff it…well, bad, but not the worst:
AS HOYD’s go, Daniel Mahu Moisii is pretty decent for this level of Football:
I tend to be agnostic when it comes to formations, I know what I prefer, but I also know I am not going to try and fit a square peg into a round hole and play a high tempo high line gegenpressing when I don’t have the squad for it. But the squad is actually, and I am not sure why I am typing this, pretty decent, except in one position, Striker:
This is the senior squad, at the end of the season, because like a numpty I didn’t take one at the beginning of the season, but it’s a good mix of solid older players and youngsters with potential.
Transfers I am a bit conflicted on this first season. The rules on the forum are that if your board brings in a player you have to sell him, but the game had already signed Răzvan Matiş, and try as I might, he didn’t want to be sold, and the board wouldn’t let me release him. I’ll try again next season. Emil Pancu was sold to FCSB, but they offered a loan back, and I took it. My logic on this is that he was already part of the squad, and wasn’t someone I actively went looking for, and he’s going to be leaving in six months, so I treated it like a pending transfer.
The Pundits picked us to finish 16th. I think we can finish top half, with an outside chance of finishing top 6. That will get us to the Playoff, and after that who knows what could happen?
As you can see, we got off to a quick start, with 13 points out of our first seven league games. And we did it by using a concept I rarely play with: Strikerless. This was necessary, because we have no good options up top, and I am loathe to experiment to much the first season, especially with youngsters. So I ended up using this formation almost all season:
It was a pretty solid formation for us. We gave up 2 or more goals only three times the first half of the season, and won two of those games, one a 5-3 victory and the other a 3-2 victory. In fact, in my opinion the only let down the first half of the season was our performance in the Cupa României Betano. I attribute most of our struggle there to depth, because you can see in September in October, we had a lot of games, and as I am more concerned with staying up than winning the cup, for many of those games I played a fairly rotated side, but that gave the youngsters some playing time, and that’s not a bad thing either. I think we did a respectable job, even if we finished 5th in the Group:
After a winter break, the season started up again, and we finished strong, finding our way into 6th place, grabbing the last spot in the promotion group.
Before that kicks off though, we had the Youth Intake:
I’ll be honest, this intake is a bit confusing. My ‘Best’ candidate is Goran Simedru, a 3 star current 5 star Potential player who is UNAMBITIOUS? I can’t make sense of that.
The Best
In Addition to being Unambitious, Simedru is 5′ 9”, can’t pass, and is injury prone. Something tells me he’s not going to get much better than this…
Darius Niculcea is quick and pacy, with a good work rate as well. Skills wise he’s Average at passing and crossing, but I think with his personality he will have the ability to meet his potential.
Octavian Ciobanu is probably good enough to start for us now. Physically not the best (but the stamina helps) he has good marking and tackling skills, is a good decision maker, and his technique isn’t too bad either. The fact he is also 5’9″ and has no bravery means he will most likely be the person crossing the ball, not jumping up in the scrum for it.
The Potentials
Tiberiu Alexandru may end up being the best player of the bunch. He will probably be the first too see a lot of playing time, because I have no idea how or if I can hold onto my current keeper. The only thing about Alexandru is his potential ability, but I think with a decent amount of game time he will improve quickly.
As a Defensive Mid, Milan Precupanu is already pretty decent, average defending attributes, Decision Making, Good Technique and Fitness. The injury proneness is a concern, but him being Fairly Professional should help his development.
From a Physical Point of View, Bogdan Stancu is already a pretty good Wingback for this level of competition. But the Unambitious personality is giving me chest pains, hopefully sticking him in a good mentoring group will help him grow out of that.
At first glance Ciprian Bălan doesn’t look like much. But look down, and you will see a 5’6″ Temperamental teenager who has good (13+ already) Technique, Passing and Flair, is very Brave (In a Fight in the Dog sort of way), and will most likely get good enough Physically to be a first teamer by the time he’s 18. If he can last that long.
Horea Ursan a bit…well, to be honest, if he does meet his 5 Star PA we won’t be able to keep him, and that’s fine, but something just seems…off. I can’t explain it, why would a 6’3″ 165 pound 16 year old who is Physically Solid, solid defensively and with OK Composure, Decision Making with an OK Personality send the negative waves? I don’t know, but I think the 5 star PA for him is a chimera…
Outside Looking In
Of the two ‘fringe’ players, Marius Marinescu has the best chance of being decent, and I say that not only because he is a Realist whose Flair, Off the Ball, Technique and First Touch are already decent, but when adding in the good Finishing and Determination, but because when you look at Robert Păunescu, while he is physically more gifted, Skills wise he is very, very lacking. I think he will not get much better than where his physicals are now, but by the time he’s ready for first team ball we need to see some improvement.
All things considered, not a bad youth intake. There are a couple of kids there with some potential to be full time first teamers for sure.
We did a very good job in the Playoffs:
What helped us was that everyone else was beating up on everyone else as well, and when it was all said and done we finished in 4th place, good enough to meet Universitatea Cluj in the Liga I/Liga II playoffs:
We did Well enough to hold them to a 1-1 draw the first game, but in the away game, their quality showed, and they beat us 4-2 on aggregate.
It was a very good season, one in which the team can be very proud in how they did. We stayed financially solid, we have a ton of payroll to work with, now is the time to jettison some of the backroom deadweight we have, and when I tell the boys (and they are mostly boys) I’m aiming for a midtable finish they all pitch a fit, I am placing too much on their shoulders.
Well, the good news is the offseason is only about 3 weeks long, and I see a lot of windsprints, burpees, and running up hills until they agree with me in our future.
But it is a good start.
Thanks for Reading!
THE FOOTBALL MANAGER BLOG OF FM_JELLICO 