FM Pentagon Challenge Thread

[treva]

Another impressive month and we now have a serious chance of winning the league as we enter the last 4 months. December started well with a 2-0 home win over Charlton, as was expected, but once again our away form let us down, despite battering Derby with 19 shots to 6, as we lost 1-0. Back at the King Power Stadium we secured a late win over Leeds before being incredibly lucky at second placed Forest. We went 2-0 up midway through the first half and then stopped playing. Thankfully we held on and it could be the most important three points of the season. Took a second away win in a row with a comfortable 3-1 victory at Watford and then dropped two points at home to Barnsley, who are also fighting for promotion, but we definitely should have come away with 3 points.

Next up we attempt to knock the Championship leaders Southampton out of the FA Cup and two big games against Millwall and Brighton, both a fair way below us, before Blackburn at home.

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Also, most importantly, the transfer window is open and we are in desperate need of a new striker. Nugent is out for a couple of months, Beckford has been woeful and Futacs is inconsistent. Moved a young U18s striker into the first team and looked good in the second half against Barnsley, but we need a proven finisher.

Would love to sign Grant Holt who is transfer listed but with an over flowing wage budget already I'd have to off load the ridiculously high salary of Beckford. Nobody wants the bastard.

 

[hedger_14]

Going well there. Should be able to push on for promotion. And another update coming soon.

 

[treva]

Just signed Grant Holt for under ?700k. Very happy. Also hope Beckford will be off to Charlton on loan for the rest of the season. Annoyingly only for 20% of his ?30k a week contract.

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Boom, he's off to Charlton.

 

[hedger_14]

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. Just did all the tweaking update and then pressed back -_______________________________-

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Closing Stage:

| Pos   | Inf   | Team                      |       | Pld   | Won   | Drn   | Lst   | For   | Ag    | G.D.  | Pts   | 
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 1st   | Pl    | Everton (CHI)             |       | 17    | 11    | 6     | 0     | 41    | 21    | +20   | 39    | 
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 2nd   | Pl    | Colo Colo                 |       | 17    | 10    | 4     | 3     | 39    | 21    | +18   | 34    | 
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 3rd   | Pl    | Santiago Wanderers        |       | 17    | 9     | 3     | 5     | 26    | 18    | +8    | 30    | 
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 4th   | Pl    | Universidad Cat?lica      |       | 17    | 8     | 5     | 4     | 26    | 14    | +12   | 29    | 
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 5th   | Pl    | Universidad de Chile      |       | 17    | 8     | 4     | 5     | 24    | 23    | +1    | 28    | 
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 6th   | Pl    | Audax Italiano            |       | 17    | 8     | 3     | 6     | 27    | 22    | +5    | 27    | 
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 7th   | Pl    | Uni?n Espa?ola            |       | 17    | 7     | 6     | 4     | 26    | 21    | +5    | 27    | 
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 8th   | Pl    | La Serena                 |       | 17    | 8     | 2     | 7     | 26    | 20    | +6    | 26    | 
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 9th   |       | Magallanes                |       | 17    | 6     | 7     | 4     | 24    | 26    | -2    | 25    | 
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 10th  |       | Universidad de Concepci?n |       | 17    | 7     | 3     | 7     | 34    | 23    | +11   | 24    | 
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 11th  |       | Cobreloa                  |       | 17    | 6     | 6     | 5     | 25    | 19    | +6    | 24    | 
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 12th  |       | Deportes Concepci?n       |       | 17    | 6     | 5     | 6     | 26    | 27    | -1    | 23    | 
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 13th  |       | Uni?n La Calera           |       | 17    | 6     | 4     | 7     | 24    | 29    | -5    | 22    | 
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 14th  |       | Palestino                 |       | 17    | 5     | 6     | 6     | 19    | 23    | -4    | 21    | 
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 15th  |       | Santiago Morning          |       | 17    | 4     | 7     | 6     | 26    | 27    | -1    | 19    | 
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 16th  |       | Uni?n San Felipe          |       | 17    | 2     | 4     | 11    | 11    | 32    | -21   | 10    | 
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 17th  | R     | O'Higgins                 |       | 17    | 3     | 0     | 14    | 13    | 42    | -29   | 9     | 
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 18th  | R     | Deportes Temuco           |       | 17    | 0     | 3     | 14    | 11    | 40    | -29   | 3     | 
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

League Table:

| Pos   | Inf   | Team                      |       | Pld   | Won   | Drn   | Lst   | For   | Ag    | G.D.  | Pts   | 
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 1st   |       | Everton (CHI)             |       | 34    | 19    | 10    | 5     | 74    | 51    | +23   | 67    | 
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 2nd   | C     | Universidad de Concepci?n |       | 34    | 19    | 7     | 8     | 81    | 40    | +41   | 64    | 
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 3rd   |       | Universidad Cat?lica      |       | 34    | 18    | 10    | 6     | 63    | 26    | +37   | 64    | 
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 4th   |       | Colo Colo                 |       | 34    | 17    | 12    | 5     | 61    | 30    | +31   | 63    | 
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 5th   |       | Audax Italiano            |       | 34    | 17    | 7     | 10    | 67    | 47    | +20   | 58    | 
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 6th   |       | La Serena                 |       | 34    | 17    | 5     | 12    | 57    | 41    | +16   | 56    | 
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 7th   |       | Uni?n Espa?ola            |       | 34    | 15    | 10    | 9     | 64    | 48    | +16   | 55    | 
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 8th   |       | Universidad de Chile      |       | 34    | 15    | 9     | 10    | 60    | 49    | +11   | 54    | 
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 9th   |       | Santiago Wanderers        |       | 34    | 15    | 8     | 11    | 53    | 51    | +2    | 53    | 
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 10th  |       | Uni?n La Calera           |       | 34    | 12    | 8     | 14    | 46    | 55    | -9    | 44    | 
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 11th  |       | Santiago Morning          |       | 34    | 9     | 10    | 15    | 53    | 61    | -8    | 37    | 
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 12th  |       | Magallanes                |       | 34    | 9     | 10    | 15    | 41    | 66    | -25   | 37    | 
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 13th  |       | Deportes Concepci?n       |       | 34    | 10    | 6     | 18    | 47    | 75    | -28   | 36    | 
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 14th  |       | Cobreloa                  |       | 34    | 8     | 11    | 15    | 40    | 54    | -14   | 35    | 
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 15th  | Pl    | Palestino                 |       | 34    | 8     | 11    | 15    | 36    | 50    | -14   | 35    | 
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 16th  | Pl    | Uni?n San Felipe          |       | 34    | 8     | 11    | 15    | 37    | 54    | -17   | 35    | 
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 17th  | R     | O'Higgins                 |       | 34    | 9     | 5     | 20    | 32    | 65    | -33   | 32    | 
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 18th  | R     | Deportes Temuco           |       | 34    | 2     | 8     | 24    | 27    | 76    | -49   | 14    | 
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

blah blah blah, we extended our unbeaten run in all comps to 30 games (scored in the last 32). Narrow win against Rangers (CHI) in the Qtr Final of the Copa Chile, winning by a single goal in both legs. Rivals Santiago Wanderers couldn't do a thing though as we beat them 8-3 on aggregate in the semi's to book ourselves a spot in the final, after beating them 2-0 in the league a couple of games earlier. A win against Cobreloa secured us top spot in the closing stage but our final match against Universidad Catolica was a very important match. We sat 3 points ahead of them, and Colo Colo on the league table but behind on goal difference, and as neither team won the opening stage, it was important we secured top spot to make sure we were playing continental football next season just in case we lost in the playoffs. We were in deep trouble as we were down 2-0 in the 73rd minute needing a draw to secure top spot and as I sent everybody forward to make something happen, it was substitute Maureira who inspired the come-back as he scored a decent goal on the edge of the area two minutes later before scoring an 86th minute equaliser as Ramirez slid in on Parot, as the ball rolled towards the goal, only for Maureira to smash it against the post, but the rebound fell kindly and he tapped it in past the helpless keeper to secure top spot on the league table.

We now play La Serena in the quarter finals of the Closing Stage. We will also play Union Espanola in the Copa Chile final.

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Uh, I'm apparently on the verge of a sacking o_O

Didn't know being unbeaten in 30 straight games asked for your sacking...

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"Their biggest disappointment is, without doubt, the team's poor showing in the First Divison"............

Going to competitions, our Close Division is only okay... And the board are disappointed at my First Division Open performance. They expected mid-table and I'm pretty sure 7th/18th is mid-table...

 

[hedger_14]

And now my job status has gone from Insecure to Untouchable...

My First Division Open is now Good confidence for some reason and yeah, now First Division Close is Very Good.

Not sure what happened then..

 

[hedger_14]

End of Season Update

First Division Close Qtr Final

24.11.13 - La Serena (A) - Drew 1-1
27.11.13 - La Serena (H) - Won 3-0

First Division Close Semi Final 1st Leg

1.12.13 - Universidad de Chile (A) - Won 2-1

Copa Chile Final 1st Leg

4.12.13 - Union Espanola (A) - Drew 1-1

First Division Close Semi Final 2nd Leg

8.12.13 - Universidad de Chile (H) - Drew 2-2

Copa Chile Final 2nd Leg

11.12.13 - Union Espanola (H) - Won 3-1

First Division Close Final

15.12.13 - Colo Colo (A) - Lost 3-2
22.12.13 - Colo Colo (H) - Won 2-0


So in the end, we took out the title. La Serena fought hard for their draw, but at our home, we were just too good as we dispatched them 3-0 as defender, Valesquez scored a double, with Munoz adding yet another goal. Mhadeb and Helha scored crucial goals away from home to give us a big advantage over Universidad de Chile, who could only manage a draw in the second leg, and only drew because of Luis' 95th minute strike. The Copa Chile final was a tough clash in the first leg but again, we proved too good at home, as our second half performance was very good, as Ragusa chose the perfect time to score his first goal from the club calmly putting the ball past the keeper after 67 minutes before Novoa put Mhadeb in behind the defence and the winger put the game beyond all doubt in the 84th minute.

Our unbeaten run was finally brought to an end in the final away leg, as we gave away a 2-1 lead, as the home side scored twice in the final ten minutes including a stoppage time goal, after Mhadeb and Munoz added goals for us. At home, we hit back strongly and secured the title, as Parrado headed home Salazar's corner in the 37th minute before Helha added a second in the 48th minute to make sure of the win, as our defence held out, as we won 4-3 on aggregate.

Top Goalscorers (All Comps):

Jose Luis Munoz (ST) - 34 goals
Walid Mhadeb (AMR) - 15 goals
Daniel Parrado (DC) - 10 goals
Antoinne Helha (ST) - 10 goals
Alejandro Maureira (ST) - 6 goals
Adan Vergara (DC) - 5 goals
Marcos Velasquez (DC) - 4 goals
Carlos Salazar (AML) - 4 goals
Jonathan Novoa (ST) - 3 goals
Fernando Saavedra (DL/DR/MC) - 2 goals
Francisco Silva (MC) - 2 goals
Rodrigo Ramirez (DR) - 2 goals
Diego Reynoso (DC) - 2 goals
Franco Ragusa (ST) - 1 goal
Carlos Herrera (DL) - 1 goal
Gonzalo Novoa (MC) - 1 goal


Most Assists (All Comps):

Carlos Salazar (AML) - 39 assists
Walid Mhadeb (AMR) - 11 assists
Jose Luis Munoz (ST) - 8 assists
Gonzalo Novoa (MC) - 7 assists
Alejandro Maureira (ST) - 6 assists
Carlos Herrera (DL) - 4 assists
Jonathan Novoa (ST) - 4 assists
Fernando Saavedra (DL/DR/MC) - 3 assists
Antoinne Helha (ST) - 2 assists
Luis Pacheco (MC) - 2 assists
Nicolas Penailillo (DL) - 2 assists
Rodrigo Ramirez (DR) - 2 assists
Franco Cabrera (GK) - 1 assist
Francisco Silva (MC) - 1 assist
Adan Vergara (DC) - 1 assist


Awards:

Jose Luis Munoz - Tied Top Goalscorer - 24 league goals

Daniel Parrado - Third Place in Young Player of the Year - 42 apps, 10 goals, avg rating 7.17


And I was runner up in the Manager of the Year Award.

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The new season will be very tough as we will be focusing on the continental competitions. I think this will be my last season in Chile for a while, as it doesn't look like we'll be able to resign star striker, Munoz, while I'm also losing our skipper, Saavedra for next season which is a huge blow and means we'll really need to strengthen our central midfield. We have a few new players coming in already. Our attack is predominantly overseas based with Munoz the only Chile player that is in our regular front 4 (2 Strikers and 2 wingers). I'm not sure whether the continental comp allows 5 OS players in the starting XI like the Chile league but if it does, that would be good, allowing us to play the 3 up front with Parrado at the back and hopefully we'll be able to bring in a quality central midfielder. Our goalkeeping has improved now with two quality goalkeepers in Cabrera and now Wirth will join the club, both Chilean. Our local defence is solid with Herrera, Ramirez and Vergara, and the very highly skilled Parrado will lead that defence. Our central midfield is lacking, but 18 year old Paraguayan, Julio Florentin will come into the side next year signing a free transfer although is not great just yet, but Salazar is probably the best left winger in the division, despite his preference for a central position. He'll have backup with Chilean player, Patricio Rubina who we've brought in for the new season as his contract with Antofagasta expired, also signing strikers, Jose Luis Villanueva (CHI) and Daniel Arismendi (VEN) from that club. Antonio Mercado is the other player we've brought in, a promising Colombian striker who'll probably rotate with our second striker. I'll be looking to improve the squad a little more going into next season and hopefully we can do well in the continental competitions, before moving on.

 

[hedger_14]

Audax Italiano approached me during the off-season but I have no intentions of managing elsewhere in Chile so turned the offer down to have one last season with Everton. Squad looking good. Saavedra's transfer ended up being cancelled due to the team he was being transferred to had too many foreign players. So he'll play for us until another team snatches him up as his contract is expired and he won't sign a contract with us. Biggest signing was experienced midfielder, Milovan Mirosevic who signed on a free transfer after being out of contract at Crewe. With 25 international caps, he's going to be a vital part of our central midfield. Also signed a new right winger to replace Mhadeb, who I've dropped from the side due to only allowing to register 7 OS players. Signed a Mexican left back, Manuel de la Torre as well for our 7th foreign player. It was a tough choice choosing which of our 7 OS players to register but in the end, decided upon one left back, one central defender, two strikers, one right winger, one left winger and one central midfielder.

So our current lineup is looking like this:

GK: Reiner Wirth - 4 star

DR: Rodrigo Ramirez - 3 star
DC: Daniel Parrado (Fgn) - 4 star
DC: Adan Vergara - 3.5 star
DL: Manuel de la Torre (Fgn) - 4 star/Carlos Herrera - 2.5 star

MC: Milovan Mirosevic - 4 star
MC: Fernando Saavedra - 4 star

AMR: Mrisho Ngaasa (Fgn) - 4 star
AML: Carlos Salazar (Fgn) - 3 star

ST: Daniel Arismendi (Fgn) - 4 star
ST: Jose Luis Munez/Jose Luis Villanueva - 3.5 star

So squad looking strong atm. Don't think I'm going to be making any more transfers.

 

[hedger_14]

And also turned down an offer from Sydney FC as well. As much as I would like to manage my local side, I really want to see how I go in the continental competition(s) depending on whether I stay past the Copa Libertadores.

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And btw, to make it easier for you, we were Copa Chile Champions, First Division Close Champions and League Champions. Don't know which one of those count towards the achievements but those are what I won.

 

[hedger_14]

I feel like murdering the random draw. We were second seeds yet we pretty much got the best team of all seeds so we're up against Boca, Sao Paulo and Chivas. Yeah, I may as well resign now.

 

[treva]

Tough draw that. Good work on winning the league and cup comp, good turnaround after the end of the opening stage.

 

[hedger_14]

We were disappointing early in the season. We lost our Chilean striker to injury, who only just returned from injury for our clash with Boca. Our star Colombian striker then got injured meaning he missed both our continental games. We just could not play well though. Chivas destroyed us 4-1 and although we didn't do too badly against Boca at home, we went down 3-0 and we really had no chance of getting anything.

Our league performance has been abysmal. We got off to a horrible start with a poor draw against Palestino and only just edged out Union San Felipe. We weren't too bad at home but we couldn't take a single win at home with the draw at Palestino the only point we managed away from home and even went down to newly promoted side, Coquimbo Unido. And despite sitting in 5th place after 9 games, we really were not looking like a competitive side.

I decided that it wouldn't be worth continuing on. It was going to be impossible to gain anything out of the Copa Libertadores and I had no care about the league so I resigned from my position on the 13th March 2014.

Now the search for a new job. Don't know what I want yet so just going to see what I can get.

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And also just a reminder that I've removed the Scottish leagues and have added Argentina (Premier Division).

 

[hedger_14]

11th June 2014

After a few months out of a job, I finally got an offer from Melbourne Victory. Surprisingly the previous manager resigned after guiding them to a Hyundai A-League win. I turned down an offer from Beijing as the Victory job came available and was offered a 2 year deal worth ?140k p/a. I'm happy that I will have the chance to play Champions League football in the first season with the club so hopefully can maybe even win that.

Unfortunately I need to bring in a new assistant manager which will be a lot of fun finding a decent one.

 

[hedger_14]

(13th July 2012 - 14th June 2012)

Hmmm, didn't know that was possible I'll just fix that up for you.

 

[treva]

My bad, haha.

 

[hedger_14]

Everything going well so far. Brought in a new assistant manager and another scout. Our striking force was lethal so I didn't need to do any work there and sold our overseas marquee player, Leo Itaperuna for ?525k due to the fact he was on such an inflated wage when he isn't even one of our top 2 strikers, with Brent McGrath and Ronieli to be leading that force. With the sale of him, I brought in a new Brazilian Marquee player, central midfielder Everton for ?900k on a ?475k p/a deal, a bargain. Also signed a new foreign goalkeeper, Eduardo Gottardi due to our lack in that position. We snapped up Jason Culina on a free transfer as he surprisingly didn't have a club and despite being 33 years old, he's going to be key in our success this season. We brought in former Brisbane Roar defender, Matthew Jurman on a free transfer who will provide backup for Franjic and also South African defender, Aaron Mokoena on a free transfer to improve our defence further. We tried to bring in Scott Neville but he signed for Western Sydney Wanderers to annoy me as he would have really been an asset on the right side of defence. Also released Jonathan Bru due to his lacking skill as an overseas player, and sold foreign central midfielder Dardo Miloc to Lanus in a deal worth ?825k to make way for Everton.

So now, our goalkeeping is sorted, our central defence looks much stronger, our central midfield is probably now the best in the league, while our attacking force has lost one of our key players, we've still kept our 2 best strikers. We do however lack in our wide defence, with Matthew Foschini and Adama Traore the only decent fullbacks, and although I wasn't really planning on registering Traore for the new season, I might have to now and drop Hugo, our backup striker who with his pace and finishing ability could have really made a difference backing up McGrath and Ronielli. Our right wing also lacks massively, with Chris Payne the only player with above one star in that position and he isn't even a natural winger. So I really need to find a local player to fit into that position.

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Was going to bring in Bresciano once his contract expired at the end of December but he was demanding too much more than what I could pay so I had to pass on that.