FM Pentagon Challenge Thread

[hedger_14]

hmm, that or this game. Not sure which one was better. A 2-2 draw away to a 10 man Sofia or a 3-3 draw at home against their full strength side. Shame to go out on away goals but we did incredibly well. I would have liked to see what we could have ended up doing if Rino Karanikos, an Australian U19 international, had joined for the match. Instead, we're still awaiting a work permit for him and god I hope it's successful because he is one quality player. Surprised that he turned down contracts from Wellington Phoenix and Central Coast Mariners though. Maybe the fact that he probably won't get a work permit is FM's way of teasing me. But anyway, an incredible performance. Things looked grim early as they raced away to a 2 goal lead. They gave away a stupid penalty though to let us back in it, the defender sliding in on Noble who had his back to goal on the edge of the penalty area and he made no mistake in converting it. The red card gave us a real chance and Esau made no mistake with a clear cut chance inside the box. We had the chance to win it as well, when Noble headed the ball over the bar from 6 yards with minutes to play. In the end, a 2-2 draw would send us out on away goals, but two spirited draws against a tough Sofia side was really promising and maybe in the next few seasons if I decide to stay, we may get further than the second qualifying round.

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But that has really helped our finances. Now we're 125,000 in the blue. Not sure what we're going to be able to do with it. I think upgrading our non-existent youth facilities would cost a lot more so I'll see if I can come up with any ideas otherwise it can just waste away as we pay excessive wages and don't get any money coming in due to playing in Northern Ireland where playing in a qualifying EURO Cup Round earns you more money than you do playing a year in the top division in Northern Ireland.

 

[treva]

Just turned down an offer to manage Burnley. Really don't fancy another Championship challenge, want a top league club.

 

[hedger_14]

haha, well I won't be managing in a top league apart from Northern Ireland for a long time, I feel. I think I might end up just revoking the 'must manage in the bottom division of a nation' rule, because I think I'm going to get bored having to start from the bottom in every nation. Although I think I might just move to England if I can find a decent youth facilities BS N/S side and try and do a youth only challenge. I haven't tried any of those before so I'd like to give that a shot. Considering most of my talent in the lower leagues comes from signing unknown skillful players, that will be a real challenge.

Anyway, I have an exam tomorrow so I should probably get some sleep

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England or Sweden, I think. I've been linked to enough jobs in Sweden (I think coming up to about the 20th in the last month...) so I'm pretty certain every second division club in Sweden would accept an application

 

[treva]

Our draw for the next round of World Cup qualifying has been completed and we have been handed the tougher of two groups.

Group A: Japan (1), Iran (2), Saudi Arabia (3), Bahrain (4), South Korea (5).
Group B: Australia (1), Oman (2), Uzbekistan (3), Qatar (4), Jordan (5).

How South Korea are seeded 5 I'll never know. They topped their group with ease. For some reason their world ranking is 92!

 

[treva]

Done the unthinkable and decided to balance international management with club management. Hannover came calling after a poor season in the Bundesliga and they seem like a side who could really improve to contend for European places. Our first three matches in the World Cup Qualifying final stage come during the summer so I can re-assess following those results.

 

[ste_mc_efc]

Think i might cave and order fm2013 now

 

[hedger_14]

Pre-Season Update​

It wasn't such a busy pre-season. I wasn't able to find many players that would improve our squad, surprisingly. Not many new overseas players came up on my list which I usually look at to see if we can improve our squad. Our central midfield, while having a lot of depth was still lacking a bit of quality. I signed 18 year old Scottish midfielder, George Conway to hopefully improve the central midfield, and he will start alongside Esau this season. He's already shown that he's a talented young player with his goal against Sofia in the EURO Cup. Central defender, Josh Langley was our only other transfer in. His aerial ability is very promising, and he is close to the quality of Corbin-Ong, so our central defence is now well sorted with Kehoe providing decent backup. Also searching through some national U19 squads, I found Australian attacking midfielder, Rino Karanikos available for a free. He's accepted our contract offer but still needs a work permit. If he does, there's going to be some major changes to our tactics so this guy can fit in.

After a very impressive showing in the EURO Cup against Sofia, hopefully we can have some success in the league. The goal is to avoid relegation but if I can get a top 8 finish, I'll be happy (12 teams). Ryan Noble will be key to any chance of doing well in this division.


Transfers:


Josh Langley


George Conway


Star Players:


Ryan Noble - This guy has been exceptional since joining the side and will continue to be a main factor this season. Put simply, he needs to score goals if we're going to do well this year.


La'Vere Corbin-Ong - He won the Fans' Player of the Year last year for our club and has become the first player to be on our club's favoured personnel list. With support from Langley, our defence looks like a major force even for the Premier Division and keeping the goals down will be a lot easier with these guys.


Steven Esau - He didn't really show what he was capable of at the end of the last season but his goal in Bulgaria showed that he is definitely here to prove something. If he plays to his potential, he will be one of the best players going around the league, and our success might well depend on his ability to move the ball throughout the midfield.

 

[hedger_14]

After losing against Coleraine, we recorded our first win against Glenavon in a dominant performance.

 

[treva]

Unbelievable start to the World Cup qualifying final stage. Having drawn against South Korea 0-0 in a friendly at the start of the year we came out and battered the Koreans in the first 20 minutes. We went 3-0 up and it could have been more. Comprehensive 3-1 win in the end sets up the group nicely. A Japan draw versus Bahrain was a pleasant surprise also.

 

[hedger_14]

Our home form has been pretty great early in the season. 11 points from our 5 games at home has really put us on our way. Just a solitary point in 4 away games though has meant we're in 7th, still well above expectations. Although to be fair, we played Linfield and Glentoran away from home who we never had much chance against, losing 2-0 and 5-2 respectively. Coleraine defeated us as well in the first game of the season and our point came against Ballymena Utd, who are currently in 9th, although we got lucky with a 92nd minute from a corner But attack has been very good so far this season. Just our defence that's letting us down. The last four results have been 2-2, 3-2, 2-2, 2-2, the 3-2 win coming against Portadown thanks to another late goal

Hopefully we can keep this form up and finish 7th or 8th. Would be very pleased with that. I think we're going to have to start picking up some points away from home if that's to happen though.

 

[treva]

Just beaten Japan 1-0 away from home. So very glad I stayed on as Saudi manager. Probably need a couple more wins and we should be through to the World Cup Finals, which would be a great achievement.

 

[treva]

Beat Japan and South Korea, lose to Bahrain at home. How the hell does that work?!

 

[hedger_14]

Easy, it's called choking

 

[hedger_14]

Just extended my unbeaten league run to 4 games with a win against Donegal Celtic, just a shame the other 3 results were draws... so we're still only just out of the relegation zone with only Crusaders and Glentoran (they're doing ----...) below us. We now have a bit of a break at the start of December before we play Linfield at home, where our unbeaten run will come to its end. Crusaders and Ballymena Utd are games we can win though if we play well, before we will go to Portadown and get hammered again

 

[hedger_14]

End of Year Update​

Premier Division:

Well we're sitting in last place and we're going to need to pull off something special if we're to turn our season around. Our inability to turn draws into the full 3 points has really cost us, with only 5 wins from 21 games, with 7 draws. Our defence has been awful. We've conceded 45 goals this season. The next worst is Coleraine with 34. Our attack on the other hand has been pretty impressive, with 32 goals, the second most in the league. Victor Zapata-Caicedo has been the standout, scoring 11 goals so far this season, second in the league. Noble has put in another good season with 8 goals, tied 4th in the league. Although we've been performing a little worse than what was expecting us, we still have a good chance of avoiding relegation and if we can solidify our defence and bring in a couple of new signings, we should be able to put up a good fight and hopefully stay up. I think no matter what happens though, this will be my last season in Northern Ireland.


Co. Antrim Shield:

Well our performances in the league hadn't been great but a good cup run saw us take the Co. Antrim Shield for the first time in the club's history. It was goals galore in the first game, as a Breen double helped us to a 5-3 win over Ballymoney Utd. Cliftonville played well against us but didn't make the most of the few chances they got, while goals from Noble and Kehoe helped us on our way to a 2-0 win in the quarter final. In a very conservative semi final with limited chances, we came out 1-0 winners against Ballymena Utd, Victor Zapata-Caicedo scoring in the 84th minute to grab us a spot in the final. We were up against struggling Premier Division side, Glentoran in the final, who were in last somehow, despite a prediction that they'd be finishing second. Their poor form continued in the final as Morgan's header gave us the lead right on half-time. O'Hanlon leveled things up in the 58th minute but Zapata-Caicedo responded instantly taking back the lead. Colm Smith sealed the win in the 82nd minute with his 4th goal of the season and we held on for a 3-1 win, meaning we would at least have something to cheer about in what's likely to be my final season with the club.


League Cup:

Was a competition I didn't care about and we were knocked out in the second round. I would have liked to have beaten rivals, H & W Welders though, so the loss was a little disappointing but mainly due to who we played rather than being knocked out of the Cup.


League Table:

| Pos   | Inf   | Team           |       | Pld   | Won   | Drn   | Lst   | For   | Ag    | G.D.  | Pts   | 
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 1st   |       | Portadown      |       | 21    | 13    | 2     | 6     | 40    | 19    | +21   | 41    | 
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 2nd   |       | Distillery     |       | 21    | 10    | 5     | 6     | 26    | 24    | +2    | 35    | 
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 3rd   |       | Linfield       |       | 21    | 9     | 7     | 5     | 30    | 16    | +14   | 34    | 
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 4th   |       | Dungannon      |       | 21    | 9     | 5     | 7     | 26    | 24    | +2    | 32    | 
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 5th   |       | Glenavon       |       | 21    | 10    | 2     | 9     | 27    | 30    | -3    | 32    | 
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 6th   |       | Cliftonville   |       | 21    | 8     | 5     | 8     | 27    | 28    | -1    | 29    | 
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 7th   |       | Ballymena Utd  |       | 21    | 7     | 6     | 8     | 24    | 20    | +4    | 27    | 
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 8th   |       | Coleraine      |       | 21    | 7     | 5     | 9     | 28    | 34    | -6    | 26    | 
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 9th   |       | Crusaders      |       | 21    | 7     | 5     | 9     | 22    | 33    | -11   | 26    | 
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 10th  |       | Donegal Celtic |       | 21    | 7     | 3     | 11    | 27    | 32    | -5    | 24    | 
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 11th  |       | Glentoran      |       | 21    | 6     | 4     | 11    | 20    | 24    | -4    | 22    | 
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 12th  |       | Dundela        |       | 21    | 5     | 7     | 9     | 32    | 45    | -13   | 22    | 
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

Transfers:


Shay McCartan - McCarton has been an important player so far since joining the club in August. He is leading our assists in the league and has been a threat on the right wing. He has been one of the stand-outs in an otherwise ordinary squad.


Mid-Season Top Player:


Victor Zapata-Caicedo - There is no doubt that the young Colombian striker has been the best player of the season so far. He has scored some great goals, and without him, we'd be struggling to score goals. Before this season, he was struggling to get a spot ahead of Breen but he has quickly shone and has been outplaying Noble. The two are a very strong force upfront and if they can continue to score goals, if the defence is sorted out, then there will be a very good chance we avoid relegation.