Team News
Mia san mia
With the season 22 just finished, I decided to look back at my time in Bayer till today and write short story about it.
I joined Bayern in the middle of the season 11. In second half of the season, we managed to get club to Top 3 after disaster that happened in season 10, when they finished record low at 9th place. After this season I had to decide how to progress with the club. Bayern had done, in seasons before, some of the deals that they were not ideal for a manager who is thinking in long term and see club like a project and not just temporary step in career. Club had a lot of players that they were in late 20s and beginning of 30s. Slowly we started to buy players with lower age and began with systematic scouting for potential future stars that could help Bayern in long term development. At the same time we had to be really smart and also careful. There was contracts/goals to achieve set by bosses of GW. Most of the contracts that we signed had goal set at minimum Top6 or one of the Cup wins. How hard was the system of contracts, having always in mind present and future, can tell us just a quick look where we can nowadays find some of the big names in football. Is just few clubs that they are still there in top 10 if we compare it with the beginning of Top100 GW. On the other side there are some big clubs, institutions in world of football, that we can see today in lower divisions or having hard time in D1.
Even with this challenging task we managed to finish in next ten full seasons three times in Top 4, managed to win Top100 Cup in first full season in charge (season 12) and again in season 17. In following season 18, we managed to win Charity Shield and season later, 19, we won Top100 Shield. In all season under my work here in Bayern we always finished in Top7 (1x 3rd, 3x 4th, 2x 5th, 2x 6th and 4x 7th). Some may call me “Mister Consistency” but I would rather call myself “Mister Stability” which is hard job to achieve in Top100 GW.
This season, 22, we managed to finish 7th. We were hoping for something more, but I can be satisfied with performance and results of the team after Turn 21. Just short statistic input: till end of Turn 21 Bayern had in average 1,476 points per game (31 points). From this Turn till the end, we managed to achieve (next 17 Turns) 2.0 average points per game, 34 points (small input info - title winner this season, Verona, had 2.05 point in average per game in 38 Turns). This significant difference in average points came when we changed our tactic and arrival of Harry Kane, who will be instrumental in next seasons.
Future of Bayern looks bright. This season we said goodbye to Muller and Griezmann - will be big job to replaced them in starting 11. Loosing 92 and 94 player is bad for now but for the future is right decision. Next season will be last one for our servant Kroos so we are preparing that our young players will get more chances and more responsibility in seasons ahead.
Our attack for next season will lead our new captain Harry Kane (30 years), Kroos (34) will be our co-captain. On RW will start Kubo (23) and on LW Doku (22), which goes hand in hand with our policy of development young players and get them ready for future. Substitutions for those three positions will be CF Evanilson (24 years), LW Gibbs-White (24) and RW Brennan Johnson (23).
In midfield will be our wizard Kroos together with Onana (22) and Goretzka (29). Behind are waiting for opportunity three players that we’re really looking forward how they develop in next reviews. Bilal El Khannouss (20), Habib Diarra (20) and Marlon Gomes (20).
In defence experience is always a key factor of stability. Tomiyasu (25) on RB and Robertson (30) on LB will assist our attackers and beside on CB positions we will see Rudiger (31) and Le Normand (27). For the cup games there will be ready players like Dedic (21), Gabbia (24), Lacroix (24) and Mauro Junior (25).
In GK position we are trusting that Onana (28) can keep his head on right place and continue with performance from last two season.
As seen there is a lot of young players that will get a chance in first team in following seasons. But this not all talent that we have in youth team. Amazing youth development department and scouting department managed to bring in some names that are already well know in world of football. Names like Camarda (16), De Cat (15), Cocchi (17), Lewis-Skelly (17), Zeze (18), Guiu (18), Guilherme (18), Uzun (18), Goes (19), Kumbedi (19), De Winter (21) and Rohl (21) are just some of the biggest stars of our youth squad that will represent us in youth competitions in next season and hopefully one day replaced players like Kroos or Kane.
I am proud of story that I managed to do in 519 games in charge. Future of the club is looking bright, and the potential of the team is much higher than when I came to the club. Hopefully our project will develop in right direction and that one day we will be proud on this team when they win Division 1 title - with me being in charge or someone else. It’s a long shot, but we seen already that some of this project, like Verona for example, are working when you give them time. Stability is a key to success in Top100.
Mia san mia (We are who we are)
D5 Back Pages (Matchday 1)
Transfer News
Jesús Navas joins Lazio
Veteran leaves Rotterdam for Rome
Sergi Roberto to Brugge!
Versatile Valencia midfielder signs for Belgians
Newcastle sign Santi Mina
Club hopes new prisoner can play on day release
Manager Reactions
Kyiv attacks Donetsk
Derby deadlock in Ukraine
Derby tonight! New season with first match against Shakhtar!
Not a result we wanted but a fair one. Dovbyk did the job we brought him for! Diaz with the assist as a substitution!
We expect more from Traore as he made a lot of effort in the pitch but he had some sloppy decisions on last actions! When he is 100% ready he should be a key player for us!
Chris Baggio (Dynamo Kyiv manager)
Brugge bounce back
Flying Donkeys grounded
After the 4-0 loss in the friendly game against Chievo Verona, we take back our pride with a 3-0 victory against the same Chievo.
No Sweat/No Glory
Davy Vandendriessche (Club Brugge KV)
Club News
Basel bolster squad
Boss hails new signings
Not many changes going into the first team apart from Terans 87 and Balde 86.
Timber joined towards end of last season and so did Bard so they are like new signings.
A massive external scouting operation has been happening this summer for the youth side.
Josh McMillan (FC Basel)
Party's off for Partizan
Wynne loss leaves club in disarray
Fans sing "Who ate all the pies?!" as new manager Wynne loses first game in charge, then quits.
Independiente seeking winger
Must be young, fit and ready for action
Pedrinho, Jesus Ferreira and Cajuste available in exchange.
Gianluca Ghio (Independiente)
D2 Back Pages (Matchday 1)
Manager Reactions
Muller Delight!
Mullan masterminds win in Milan
A Crucial 1-0 away win. This is a tough place to come to get a result, but in the end we probably did enough to deserve the win and put an early 3 points on the board. It was pleasing to keep a clean sheet with our youthful defence, whilst creating plenty of chances at the other end.
glen mullan (RCD Espanyol)
United Start with a Bang
Hamburger Thrashed
4-1 home win over Hamburg, a big surprise, as we start the season with a win, much more attacking style this season with, hopefully we can keep scoring goals as last season that was a disappointment, up next Spurs.
Niall Taylor (Manchester United)
Our performance wasn't too bad, just outclassed.
David Marsden (Hamburger SV)
Levante Suffer Disappointing Defeat to Celtic
Hoops come back from two goals down with last minute winner
As a game and match stats I am very satisfied, we dominated but we were not lucky… we have time.
Salvatore Zerbo (Levante UD)
Standard Liege Languish in Relegation Zone
Shocking performance and start - Reynolds
Always good to get 3 points on the board, we overcame a strong Liege side with a brace from Che Adams and a goal from El Shaarawy in a 3 - 1 away win. I wasn't expecting it, I think it's the most shots on target I've had since I joined.
Carl Martin (TSG 1899 Hoffenheim)
We were shite.
Lee Reynolds (Standard Liege)
Werder Win Under New Manager
DouDou's Bremen Start With Lucky Win
Transfer News
Celtic Strengthen Defence with Bednarek Signing
Aaron Martin moves to Fenerbahce
Finally we have signed a left back. . . . Cheers for the deal Hugo.
simon thomas (Fenerbahçe SK)
Espanyol Sign Zabarnyi from Leicester City
Manager Mullan "delighted to bring in a very long term target"
Crysencio Summerville Joins Hamburger
Lafont will follow with Kepa going to United
Sule and Manadava both available
looking for younger replacements
2 players for Sule. PM me if interested.
Lee Reynolds (Standard Liège)
Draxler and Pulgar both available
to pre-deal
Can be sold individual or together.
Pedro Vilar (Tottenham Hotspur)
D4 Back Pages (Matchday 1)
Around the Grounds
Feyenoord say goodbye to key players
Regarding the signings, we brought young players to contribute something to the team but unfortunately we had to say goodbye to very good players from the team
Sheene Ralspunsky (Feyenoord)
Mister TRX: We'll prove the doubters wrong
Sevilla return to Division 4, favourites to go straight back down
It is likely to be a tough season.
Ospina will be under pressure from a talent trio of understudies at least 2 should get a big rise this season and will likely replace him.
A new look defence will have to prove themselves this season. The midfield is more settled with no changes from last season with Caputo leading the line upfront.
The youth team sees a number of talents perhaps none more so than Bryan Zaragoza. He may well pick up some 1st team game time here towards the end of the season.
Mister TRX (Sevilla)
Division of Death
Division 4 will prove to be very entertaining this season
Torino start their season at home against fellow Italian side AS Roma, a side that was relegated from D3 last season - providing a stern test for their manager upon his return to Top 100.
The media keep asking questions about predictions for the season, but the only answer they've been met with is: "We will see."
L H (Torino)
Manager Reactions
Il Toro off to a winning start
Morales stars as Torino beat Roma 2 - 1 on opening day
An encounter that proved to be very close with little differences - including the most important one. José Luis Morales picks up the MOTM award; Captain Brice Samba is the unsung hero!
L H (Torino)
Stuttgart edge out Feyenoord
Isco turns back the clock!
Narrow win. 37 games to go. One game at a time :)
Tharanidharan (VfB Stuttgart)
We started the season on the wrong foot but I know very well that we will recover in the next games.
Sheene Ralspunsky (Feyenoord)
Augsburg hold favourites Malaga
Will take that for the first game given they are favourite to go up.
paddy d (FC Augsburg)
Transfer News
Olympiacos bring in Rakitic and Doekhi
Albiol moves to Manchester United, Riquelme to WBA in exchange
Rodrigo Moreno joins Málaga
Bebou moves to Southampton in exchange
For Sale/Wanted
Juanmi for sale
Centre back wanted in exchange
Juanmi (88 rated) is for sale. I need a 88+ CB as a replacement. I am ready to throw in few of my squad players to help the deal if needed
Master T (Olympiacos)
Stuttgart eye defensive midfielder and winger
Maycon available
Happy to give 3 or 4 players for 1. U24 - 86 and above rated.
Tharanidharan (VfB Stuttgart)
D3 Back Pages (Matchday 1)
Manager Reactions
Schalke Smash Four Past Twente
Immobile brace on debut
Immobile nearly scored as many goals in one game as En-Nesyri did all season!
Steven Allington (FC Schalke 04)
Black Cats Sink Swans
Opening day win for new Sunderland boss Ioli
22 total shots (like Swansea) and 54 percent ball possession… Zappa and Dunk gave 3 important points to us.
Alessandro Ioli (Sunderland)
Narrow defeat first game of the season, even game, their keeper MOTM but was very even all except the 2-1 scoreline. We go again and we got the red card! Not much changed from last season then!
andy vh (Swansea City)
Crystal Palace Beat CSKA in Thriller
McLean sticks it to "Putin's Army"
Kevin Volland with the 2 assists marks the wisdom of selling Biraghi! Great win for Palace!
Alex McLean (Crystal Palace)
Palace had too much firepower.
Chris Meida (CSKA Moskva)
Ajax Start New Season with Comfortable Win
"A great way to start" - Syed Shah
A great way to start the tenure at Ajax as we've beat the gatekeepers of Div 3 in a comfortable 3-1 win. Scouting was done well as all the goals were scored by the new boys. Debuts: Casco, Diaz, Darmian, Vieira and finally Sancho.
Syed Shah (Ajax)
Keeley "Glad to be Bach"
Belotti brace keeps The Wolves at bay
A narrow win in my first game in charge. Stats marginally in our favour but shots on target 5 each.
⭐️Ken Keeley⭐️ (Borussia Mönchengladbach)
Sassuolo Slump
Start with a 2-0 loss at home to Dinamo Zagreb
Not ideal but we can improve.
Hugos Monkides (Sassuolo)
Transfer News
Köln Sign Free Agent Kellyman
Gaffer Gursi signs highly thought of new player as his Youth Shield prize pick
Galatasaray Open to Offers
Part exchange only
Please look at squad and make a DECENT offer or pm me.
King Kev the Daddy (Galatasaray SK)
D1 Back Pages (Matchday 1)
Porto Beat Champions in Charity Shield
After a balanced match and a 1-1 draw, the Cup Winners won on penalties
Porto did not miss and ended up lifting the trophy, adding one more title to the cabinet! That's the start we were looking for!
Very happy to win this tittle! Hellas went full force on this, which makes our win even more worthy! And more so as we still saved some players tonight in order to also field a competitive team in 2 days against Real Madrid in Division 1 opener!
Hopefully we can enjoy a good start this time.
André Guerra (FC Porto)
Porto Lose to Madrid
Gulacsi the Hero for Real
Not the start we were looking for, but we're used to it. Goalkeepers made the difference really, Ederson was very poor, Gulacsi was very good and MOTM. . . Charity Shield match 2 days ago also did not help us. . . Anyway, good game Rob and congratz on the win. We'll try to bounce back next match.
We have improved our defence massively, but we're still missing a stronger left-side attacking midfielder, a key position in my view. Additionally, competition is insanely strong, Hellas, Chelsea and Dortmund should be the main runners I believe.
André Guerra (FC Porto)
Benfica Stun Leverkusen
Evergreen Ronaldo shines
Even match settled by 2 CR7 goals. The guy is a legend.
Delighted with the start, long road ahead tho.
It’s been tough so far. Transfers hard, really hard. When you get offered under 75 rated players for CR7 it’s tough to read. But hey ho. We look like we go for one season with the ratings, but never say never that they won’t be sold.
Gregg Robinson (SL Benfica)
Dortmund Thrash Aston Villa
Vinicius Impresses as "false nine"
Nice start of the season with Vinicius getting MOTM in his new position as falso nueve.
Dario Saviano (Borussia Dortmund)
The gulf in class was far too great for us to compete really. Lost some big ratings in the pursuit of longer term success, it showed in this result. Lots of work to be done at Villa. Well done Dario.
Adam (Aston Villa)
Barcelona Beat Genoa
Mahrez steps up despite transfer specualtion
Despite intense speculation about Mahrez's future at Barca, he stepped up with two goals to help us secure an opening-day victory! A lovely start against strong opposition sent the Barca fans home happy.
It's back to basics now for Barca. D1 is packed at the top with high-rated squads, so we know, realistically, we won't be dining there this campaign. However, we will look to have fun, maybe push for a cup run if the wind is behind us, and seek one or two more players to come in at La Masia.
Dan Wallace (Barcelona)
Juventus Cruise Past Everton
Comfortable win in the end
At 1-0 for such a long time I was fearing a draw on cards. Happy with a 3 points start.
kevin mcgregor (Juventus)
Valencia Draw with Southampton
Zaha impresses on debut
Valencia took a point away to Southampton with the match finishing 2-2 in a very even game. Zaha scored and assisted on debut and was awarded MOM. Will take a point in any game in Div 1 so happy with the start.
Ash L (Valencia CF)
Harmer: "Bruno G Came Back to Haunt Us"
Atleti lose 2-1 to Chelsea
Bruno G came back to haunt us with a winning goal , Pickford had a nightmare in goal with a 4 rating!
Gav Harmer (Atlético Madrid)
Transfer News
West Bromwich Albion sign Riquelme
Youngster Novoa also joins, Doekhi goes to Olympiacos
Firmino available
2 players wanted
Open to different options. PMs preferred.
Marco G (Bayer Leverkusen)
Flipping Hamburger
We're one third of the way through S17, so it's as good a time as any for a quick review and update of how things are going here in northern Germany.
This is Hamburger's second season back in D3 after relegation from D2 in S15. It feels like a long time since we hit the heady heights of promotion to D1 all the way back in S11.
We had a miserable time in the top flight, finishing bottom with a record low points total. Not entirely unexpected, and not much fun.
We lost in the playoffs in S13, and then avoided relegation to D3 in the final game of S14, before plunging back down the following season.
We knew back then that we needed to do some work flipping an aging first team - an aging first team that had been assembled from trading younger players for higher ratings to get promotion after years in the D3 midtable wilderness.
Since our D1 (mis)adventure, I'd been building my youth team (which I'll come back to), while trying (and failing) to maintain a aging higher rated first team to sustain at least D2 football. Our first season back in D3 saw my aging team floundering in midtable again, so I sold off most of them for some younger lower rated players... and then also started getting better results.
Which got me thinking....
Now, most seasons I like to start with some new-fangled formation and tactics that is finally going to blow the notorious SM match engine wide open, before reverting back to the tried and trusted 4231B attacking-direct-down-both-wings formula that staves off inevitable relegation and puts you back in with a decent chance of promotion, but not quite.
Last season was no different. 4222 (which I've used successfully in one other game world) was my stupid, stupid choice for S16.
In a nutshell, my stupid formations yielded a weedy 28 points from 26 games, while good old-fashioned 4231B produced a sturdy 27 points from just 12 matches - title-winning form!
It was a no-brainer. Like DP 91 before me, I had proved what everyone already knew. S17, therefore, I would stick with 4231B, with a few tactical variations for playing home or away against stronger or weaker teams and collect my D3 title. Mission accomplished!
Thankfully in SM, nothing ever works out quite like you expect it to, and with just 9 points from 8 games religiously sticking to Plan 4231B at the start of this season, something had to change.
We switched to Plan 442 (short passing), which we used successfully in friendly games at the end of S16. Can't remember who I stole that idea from, but fairly certain it's not something I can claim any credit for.
Since then, we had four straight wins, including at then second placed Wolfsburg, prompting disbelief and self-loathing from the Wolves' gaffer.
Anyway, early doors to get too carried away, and disappointed to manage only a draw at home to second bottom Napoli on Sunday when a win would have put us in second place. Especially after being two goals up. But delighted to be up there and in contention at this stage.
Back to my youth team. Another good start in the Youth Cup. We've sacrificed a lot to try to build a strong and successful youth setup over the past five or six seasons (youth squad highlights from a year ago: U21, U20, U19, U18).
But it had to be done, and while there are others who could have, and have done, better jobs - and faster - at their clubs, I'm still pleased with the work here.
We got to the Youth Cup semi-final last season, and the aim has to be the final this season. Even though this looks like the strongest Youth Cup competition I can remember. No doubt SM will now have me heading for the Youth Shield at the earliest opportunity!
Hamburger U21 Development Squad
Cristhian Cásseres Jr.
Another uncontested cash pick-up from an external club in Top 100.
Maxence Lacroix
Another one picked up for cash from an external club in Top 100, while still at Sochaux irl. Probably my best ever find.
Sead Haksabanovic
Another lad signed from an external club in Top 100.
Alessandro Plizzari
A rare internal deal - Lynaco and Mihailovic in exchange - and a good rated keeper for my Youth Cup team.
Ante Palaversa
Part of an internal deal that saw Lucas Alario, Tony Jantschke, and Moussa Djitte move to Hamburg in exchange for Stephan El Shaarawy.
I've got a few other 21 year olds - Bordeaux winger Mehdi Zerkane, new RB Salzburg keeper Nico Mantl, new Vancouver Whitecaps winger Deiber Caicedo, new NYRB CB Andres Reyes, and - newly recovered from an ACL injury - River Plate winger Benjamin Rollheiser, all acquired for cash from external clubs in Top 100. Not saying they're all world beaters, but some decent real life potential and playing time among them.
Hamburger U20 Development Squad
Abner Vinicius
14th most promising 2000-born player in the world... Signed in Top 100 from Ponte Preta (before he signed for Athletico irl), uncontested (iirc).
Alessandro Cortinovis
Another one I'm very hopeful about, from the Atalanta Academy. Great hair, too... Signed in Top 100 as a free agent, uncontested (iirc).
Odilon Kossounou
Big lad in defence, big future ahead of him... Signed in Top 100 as a free agent, uncontested (iirc), while he was still at Hammarby irl.
Richard Ledezma
Breakout season stopped by ACL injury irl. Signed in Top 100 from Lyon for cash when The Godfather was manager there (possibly as part of a larger deal, but I honestly don't remember).
Milutin Vidosavljevic
Looks a neat and tidy player, bought in Top 100 for cash (uncontested, iirc) after let go by Anderlecht, mainly for this season's Youth Cup.
Tomas Tavares
Youth right backs are hard to get hold of in Top 100, so I was happy to negotiate hard in for Tavares (along with Tanganga, Sibley and Zarzana) as part of my sale of Diogo Dalot to Levante last season.
Brenden Aaronson
Didn't have to think too hard, or too long, when accepting Adam's generous offer to swap goalkeepers with me in Top 100.
