Conquering Europe

[oneteaminglasgow]

FK Berane - Meet the Team

4 stars is decent player for top flight, 3 stars is good player for second tier

Orlovic is clearly the standout player, and to be honest he's clearly the best player in my squad by an absolute mile. He's having quite a shite seasojn though, he got 11 goals and 7 assists last season, and he's on 3 and 0 respectively this time round. I have very little back up to him, Durakovic is a striker with worse finishing than most of my centre halves, so that's fun.

I have decent wingers in Lukic and Karamatic, but my attacking midfielder is poor and, once again, there's a glaring lack of depth. Well, I have a lot of players who can technically play in the positions I suppose, it's just that they're all pish. 

Hmm. Draskovic is probably just about ok, and I can make do with Miladinovic for the time being, but this really isn't good enough. Karamatic can also play here, but he's naturally a right winger so I'd rather have him there if possible.

I think I'll just about be able to string together a passable back line by going Stojanovic - Djordjevic - Sesar - Jelic, but that's some really poor options, particularly with the same player being my best option in all four positions...

And now, the magnum opus. Two goalkeepers who would be lucky to get a game in the division below me. I'm going to play Mihajlovic, purely because he's 16 and might get better, and because I've already had a look and there's f**k all players wanting to get on board my relegation express.

So aye, my squad needs some major work. The board are only expecting me to fight bravely against relegation, which I suppose is realistic, but I'm going to have a major rebuild regardless of whether I can stay up or not. 

[AsimButtHitsASix]

Seeing as we use similar tactics there's been something bugging me. Opposition instructions. Do you tightly mark the opposition AMC? Or close them down? I'm always caught in two minds because, without a DM, I find that often it's a defender that comes out to meet them rather than my preference of a midfielder dropping back. Makes gaps in the back line.

[oneteaminglasgow]

13 minutes ago, AsimButtHitsASix said:

Seeing as we use similar tactics there's been something bugging me. Opposition instructions. Do you tightly mark the opposition AMC? Or close them down? I'm always caught in two minds because, without a DM, I find that often it's a defender that comes out to meet them rather than my preference of a midfielder dropping back. Makes gaps in the back line.

I usually don't bother with that, as you say if it's the centre half going out to meet them that just leaves a huge hole in the defence. I try to have at least one of my centre midfielders playing with a defensive mentality, either as a BWM or DLP. 

[oneteaminglasgow]

January 2057

NEW.

MANAGER. 

BOUNCE.

It should have been two wins - Orlovic missed a penalty against Bokelj - and we were playing two of the poorer sides in the division, but four points from my first two is an outstanding result for a side as poor as we are. Delighted.

Cut the gap down to three points, still plenty of work to do but a solid start for me. 

[oneteaminglasgow]

February 2057

Brought in my first signing for the club, 30 year old midfielder Tapani Salo. He looks pretty good, and certainly he should improve us going forward. I'm only allowed three foreign players, so need to make the most of those signings and I think he'll be good enough to make it worthwhile.

Spoiler

That's more along the lines I would expect from a team dicking about at the bottom of the league, especially playing against some of the better sides in the league. Still, we've managed to pick up four points from twelve without scoring from anything other than a penalty, so I can't complain about that too much.

That, combined with just one point picked up by Bokelj takes us off bottom spot.

Plenty of work still to do in the ten games left this season, but it's been a very solid start. 

[oneteaminglasgow]

March 2057

With the notable exception of getting pumped silly by top of the league Iskra, that's more like it with some great wins over the sides directly above us. We should have beaten Bokelj, but our final ball was dreadful and they equalised with not long left. Still, 7 points this month. Ideal.

If we'd held on to that win over Bokelj, I'd say that we have a good chance to get out the bottom three entirely, but that draw makes it more difficult. 

 

[oneteaminglasgow]

April 2057

Much worse stuff.

We were playing against some pretty decent sides, but even still. Not good enough.

In theory, we can still avoid the relegation playoff but the reality is I'll be facing that, best case scenario. Oh well. 

[oneteaminglasgow]

May 2057

Ah. we're not very good really. Failing to win both of these means that we're in the playoff, but oh well.

We were done for anyway with the teams above us picking up some points, but Bokelj haven't so it's into the playoff we go.

One more game to go in the league. 

[AsimButtHitsASix]

Relegation play offs are a fucking doddle. Just ask Robbie Muirhead

[oneteaminglasgow]

June 2057

Well, that was unexpected. A good, and very much deserved, win against the champions.

We're in the playoffs, but my points per game was 1.19 - which over the course of a full season would have kept us up. I'll take that as a crumb of comfort. 

Anyway.

[oneteaminglasgow]

Relegation Playoff - 2057

The playoffs in Montenegro seem to be a one off tie at a neutral venue. Our opponents, Rudar, have been playing in the second tier for a while now, but were just one point off winning it this season. I'd like to think we have a decent chance, because their form has been really poor recently - one win in eight, although six draws in there as well to throw away the title.

Spoiler

We're staying up.

It really wasn't pretty, but one goal does it for us, and we'll be a top flight side next season. Thank f**k for that. They weren't up to much, not sure if that's just their poor form continuing or if they're just genuinely quite bad. Doesn't matter either way to be honest.

We set a couple of pretty dodgy records - lowest points to stay up, and the least goals scored by any Berane team. Fortunately, we didn't set the record low goals, which was 12. 

 

[oneteaminglasgow]

Transfers - Summer 2057

Loads of players sold, almost exlusively to teams in lower divisions, which I suppose kind of shows the nick of the squad I had last season. The board were a bit pissy about Saric getting sold as they seemed to think he was the future of Montenegrin football, but he looked pretty pish to me so f**k it.

Not as many incoming players as I was really after, and it's a mix of depth and guys who'll genuinely improve my starting 11, but it's what I could get.

Nenad Radovanovic is a central midfielder, and a very technically gifted player. Defensively, he's a bit of a man down, but I'm hoping I'll have him in a sort of Ross Forbes' role of just spraying passes about and letting my other centre midfielder do all the running and tackling and stuff.

Spoiler

Savo Radenkovic is an attacking midfielder, and is another technically gifted player, and has plenty of flair and his movement should mean he's able to effectibely support my striker with some goals. I only scored 23 league goals last season, and Orlovic got 11 of them, so spreading that load a bit is crucial for me.

Spoiler

Semir Tomic is a centre half, and I misjudged this one. My scouts claimed he was better than he was, and I brought him in without having a proper look at his stats which look... iffy. His positioning is good, and he can jump, but aye, I'm not sold. Will probably still play quite a lot of games for me, as my squad is still dodgy.

Spoiler

Morko Bojovic is a right back/centre half and he's here to add some squad depth. He's pretty solid defensively, but has absolutely nothing at all going forward. Should be fine, he'll mostly be on the bench in any case.

Spoiler

Sandor Numuquita is my new goalkeeper, and means that I'm now at my full quota of three foreign players. He's decent enough, and a significant improvement on the two jokers I had last season, so that's all I was really after.

Spoiler

Milija Zivanovic is here as a back up striker. He's young and an excellent finisher. Like, genuinely great. He doesn't have an awful lot else though, and he'll improve and should be fine to sit on the bench.

Spoiler

 

[oneteaminglasgow]

August 2057

Mixed, although beating league champions Iskra was a lovely surprise. We didn't show up at Petrovac though.

 

[oneteaminglasgow]

September 2057

Bit of a weird month. The results were certainly much better than the performances, cup game aside, and we shouldn't really have beaten either Kom or Budocnost. Annoyingly, our best performance was against Sutjeska...

Overall though, I'm pretty pleased with how the season is going so far.

Currently sitting in the European spots, that'll never last but whatever lead I can build up over the relegation spots is appreciated. 

[oneteaminglasgow]

October 2057

Another relatively decent month, extremely comfortable against bottom side Drezga, and through in the cup no bother. 

A draw and a loss to round it out, but I'm not bothered about that.

Down to fifth after the first round of games. Would absolutely take that at the end of the season. 

[oneteaminglasgow]

November 2057

Our inconsistency continues. 

Better than last season where we were, basically exclusively, shite.

Sitting in midtable. I'm pleased.

[oneteaminglasgow]

December 2057

Probably the best month of the season so far, with a bizarre yet delightful game thrown in. Through to the quarters of the cup, where we face Petrovac so we'll probably lose, but still.

That Zeta game was strange. We were seven up at half time, having had seven shots, and not really being particularly dominant. The rest of the game settled down as we cancelled each other out, but job was firmly done by that point.

A good month there sticks us back up to fourth. I think Iskra will pick up in the second half of the season, and we won't catch Petrovad, Sutjeska or Buducnost, so fifth is my target.

[oneteaminglasgow]

January 2058

Plenty of goals, both for and against us, but I'll take that. We got an absolute shagging from Buducnost, but a couple of good wins over Podgorica and Petrovac, and we're in a good position from the first leg of the cup quarter.

Milija Zivanovic finally got his first goal for me as well, which is nice. as he's been largely dreadful when he's played.

I think I can safely say that I won't be getting relegated this season, so that's my job done as far as I'm concerned. Anything we get from here is a bonus. 

[oneteaminglasgow]

February 2058

Bit of transfers business this month, as the Montenegrin winter window goes from mid January to mid February, for some reason.

First up, Mladen Jovovic. He's here because my second choice goalkeeper wanted to leave, so I let him, and thus needed someone to sit on the bench. Not up to much, but he'll be fine.

Spoiler

Lazar Marjanovic is a striker, here because my backups have been pretty poor and I want someone who can contribute some goals. I think he'll do fine, his finishing isn't great but has pretty good other stats.

Spoiler

Brilliant month. Tapani Salo continued his goalscoring form from last month, and we generally played very, very well. Even the Sutjeska game we were down to ten after four minutes, but defended really well. Into the semi final of the cup as well.

The season has gone really well so far.

Into fourth again, and it looks like it's becoming a straight shootout between us and Iskra for that position.

I don't think we can get any higher than that, unfortunately. 

[oneteaminglasgow]

March 2058

We've really hit some excellent form in the last two months, much to my surprise. Don't really know what's happened, it's the same players and I haven't changed anything tactically, we've just clicked it would seem. Lovely.

We're now five points clear in fourth, and actually in with a shot at third - remarkable stuff. Left myself with too much to do for a title challenge, but hopefully able to do that next season.