Conquering Europe

[oneteaminglasgow]

January 2073

No games this month, but the transfer window was open and there was a bit of business conducted.

Two young shite loanees out, but the main news is losing a couple of my best players to PSG and AC Milan.  Zoric is back on loan until the end of the season, so that's all good, but the loss of Bogdan is a big one. They'll both have good careers.

I brought Wilson in to replace Bogdan. He's worse than him, but should still be up to the standard required for this division, so that's good. Should do fine for the rest of the season while I look for a long term replacement.

Spoiler

 

[oneteaminglasgow]

February 2073

Disappointing first game, although we were unlucky not get an equaliser, but we bounced back brilliantly with the 6-0. We were somewhat aided by them getting a red card, but it was already 3-0 at that point. 

The 4-4 was a pain, but not much I can really do when one player fires in four goals. 

And finally, we have a decent lead in the quarter final of the cup - second leg still to come, but we're in the driving seat.

I think a shot at the title has slipped out of our reach, but we're looking good for a top three finish at least.

[oneteaminglasgow]

[oneteaminglasgow]

March 2073

Title challenge definitely over with that loss at Sarajevo, and further compounded by the draw with Zrinjski.

We did, however, make it through to the semi final of the Cup, and we're the only top flight side left in the competition, so we should be favourites to win that.

And we're definitely favourites for second place.

Will be nice to play in European competition for the first time in a while.

Lithuania

Not ideal.

I experimented a bit tactically in the Estonia game, and it never worked, so have ditched that now for good. We were unlucky not to score against Scotland, and then we were even more unlucky not to hold out for a point against Serbia. Once they opened the scoring with about 15 minutes left, we had to open up again and they caught us out late on for the second. Gutted.

Not the best start, but not unexpected either.

[oneteaminglasgow]

April 2073

Well, other than an inexplicable humping from mid table Siroki Brijeg, it was a pretty good month. Nothing special but we were doing enough to get the results we needed.

And we got through to the Cup final - unfortunately a two-legged affair, but we have a shot at some silverware in y first season which is nice.

Three games left, and we're seven points ahead of third placed Zeljeznicar. One more win and we're guaranteed second place.

[oneteaminglasgow]

Bosnian Cup Final - 2073

The Cup final is upon us, and it's a two legged affair which I always hate in finals but whatever, nothing I can do about it.

We're playing Rudar Prijedor, a team from very nearby us, who play in the second tier (although they've just won it, and will be joining us in the top flight next season). They're also the club that spent big on a couple of my cast offs, and as everyone knows former players raise their game against you, so need to be wary of that. We should be favourites though, and the first leg is at home so hopefully we'll lay down a marker.

Spoiler

And we did lay down a marker.

Vila has been in and out of the team this season, and hasn't really done an awful lot when he's played, but he seems to know how to pick a good time for a performance. Delightful stuff.

Still the second leg to navigate, but I think we should be seeing this out and winning the cup.

 

Spoiler

And it's job done.

Raced into a 3-0 lead fairly quickly, and then totally relaxed - which is probably understandable at 6-0 on aggregate. Their two goals meant little though, and we've got my first piece of silverware in Bosnia.

 

[oneteaminglasgow]

May 2073

Obviously we had the cup final as detailed above, but on league duty seven points from nine to round out the season is good with me.

And the final table looks like this.

Sarajevo are miles ahead of us and we were the only side they lost to all season. Might be a case of needing to hope they have a bad season, alongside us having a very good one.

Still, second place and a cup win in my first season here. Got to be pleased with that. 

[oneteaminglasgow]

June 2073

Couple of really decent results here. Beating Andorra at home is to be expected, but we got a very credible draw with Austria, and we missed a penalty in that game so probably unlucky to win.

Beat Bosnia away in a friendly, which while only a friendly is a really encouraging result too.

Decent stuff.

[oneteaminglasgow]

Europa Conference League 2073 - Second Qualifying Round

For the first time since 2066, I'll be leading a club into European competiton. As always, it's the Europa Conference League, and we'll be playing APOEL Nicosia. I don't think Kozara have ever played in Europe before either, so this is a fairly big deal for them.

Spoiler

Bit of a nothing game - both sides basically created one half chance each, and never took it.

Still, we're not behind going into the second leg, and with it being at home that should give us a decent chance of going through to the next round.

Spoiler

Pished it in the end.

Far better than them in this game, created a few other chances as well while they had basically nothing at all. We got a really high attendance, and made decent bit of cash out of it as well, which is always nice.

Austria Vienna in the next round. They'll be a tough game, I'd have thought.

 

[oneteaminglasgow]

Europa Conference League 2073 - Third Qualifying Round

Spoiler

A good win coming back from one down at half time - although that was against the run of play, and a shot from about 35 yards out. But in the second half, we were outstanding and fully deserved the goals we got and to get the win. 

I wasn't expecting to have too much of a chance here, but we've given ourselves a good platform to go through. If we can grab a draw in Vienna, then I'm buzzing.

Spoiler

Absolute fucking scenes with those last five minutes. We were heading out despite being the better team for much of the game, and then Husic scored to take it to extra time. Then in the final minute, Sabic did this...

Aye, it was a cross but f**k it. Scenes.

We're heading to the final qualifying round, where we'll be playing Ukrainian side Desna. 

We're pretty close to the group stages.

 

[oneteaminglasgow]

Europa Conference League 2073 - Fourth Qualifying Round

Spoiler

Well, it's not the worst result but I was really hoping we could get something to protect in Ukraine. We now need to go there and get the job done, which is more difficult.

We probably deserved to win the game, had a couple of half chances and defended fairly well by limiting their chances, but we didn't take advantage so it's all on the away leg now. Will we be playing in the group stage?

Spoiler

YES WE WILL.

A genuinely fantastic defensive performance, and we took our chances when they came. Our penalty was some laugh, looked pretty soft to say the least, but I'll take it for sure. Desna will be pretty pissed off to be going out, as they had the majority of the ball but couldn't do anything with it.

We're in the money though, and in the 52nd (I think) season of the save, I'll be managing in a European group stage for the first time.

Absolutely magic.

 

[oneteaminglasgow]

And there's out reward for all of that - a group we've not got much chance if getting through. Albacete will be, presumably, massive favourites to top the group, and following them I'd expect Malmo to be second best.

Between us and Vardar for third place, hopefully us but who knows.

[oneteaminglasgow]

Transfers 2073

A lot of guys out the door this summer, mostly guys who were hanging around the youth team without any chance of ever making it here. Mladenovic and Isailovic were my fourth choice striker, and third choice right back respectively, but they were the only first team players to leave.

And much fewer players coming in - I also extended the loan of Pat Wilson until mid January, which covers me at centre half until then when I'll need to have a think about what to do.

Anyway, first up we have Vahid Music. He's a left back, who can also cover at right back, and he's here to provide depth in those positions. Wouldn't expect him to be starting all that often, but with Europe I thought I needed the depth. He's a very solid defender, a decent enough technical player and should be able to get up and down the wing quite well, so I'm pleased with him.

Spoiler

Aleksandar Popovic is an attacking midfielder, and he's a very technically gifted player. Not the fittest, and defensively he's a waste of space, but I'm not expecting him to do much defending. Should be more than good enough at picking passes, and popping up with a few goals.

Spoiler

Radojica Zoric is back for another season on loan. I think I've done very well out of that deal so far - almost 2 million quid off AC Milan and I get to keep him for another 18 months, delightful. Anyway, he was, by some distance, my best player last season so I'm hopeful for more of the same.

Spoiler

Mateo Handanovic is a centre half, and looks a very decent one. Not the best header of the ball, but he's good at marking, tackling, positioning, he's strong and he's really quick for a centre half too. All in all, I'm very pleased with him, he should make my defence better.

Spoiler

And it's another familiar face last up, with Lewis Clarke joining permanently. He scored ten goals and got five assists for me last season, if he can repeat the feat then he'll be well worth the money I've spent. Will be playing mostly on right wing this time round.

Spoiler

 

[oneteaminglasgow]

August 2073

Leaving aside the European games, which I've covered above, we've had an ok start. I don't think we've quite clicked yet, needing a last minute winner against Sloboda and unable to score against Mladost (where we were fortunate not to lose). We did draw with Sarajevo, which is a decent result, and we've not been playing badly, just not as well as last season yet.

European stuff was, obviously, wonderful.

That's about right, thus far. I think we'll be up around the top few places again, but I don't know if we're quite there yet to win the league.

[oneteaminglasgow]

September 2073

An easy game in the cup, against a fourth tier side, to start the month was nice. Had a fair few guys on international duty as well, so pleasing that it was quite so comprehensive.

We followed that up with a late win against Radnik, and then a fucking remarkable result against Albacete. For context, they were seventh in La Liga last season. We got an early lead, were hanging on to it and then they just completely collapsed in the last few minutes where we grabbed another three goals. Delightful stuff. Honestly thought they'd beat us quite comfortably in both games, but that makes it interesting.

We also beat Malmo away from home with a late goal, which I didn't see coming either. They lost to Vardar as well, so we might have a shot at making it through if we can do the business against them.

League form is still a bit patchy, but we're still unbeaten.

Sarajevo are starting to build up a bit of a lead at the top, so we'll need to start winning games more consistently to make up the ground on them.

But it's been decent enough so far.

This, meanwhile, has been remarkable stuff. Win home and away against Vardar, and we're in the knockouts, baby.

Lithuania

Won't waste my time on the Albania game - we were unlucky, but didn't deserve more than a draw - but the Scotland game was amazing. We had 2 shots all game, while they had over 20, so it was smash and grab but there was never any other way we'd beat them.

Wonderful.

We have four points more than I thought we would, so I'm very pleased with how it's going.

Scotland still in pole position despite me beating them, so I don't feel too bad about it.

[Cheese]

This remains the best thread on the entire forum imo.

[oneteaminglasgow]

October 2073

We're really struggling with the schedule and having very little time between games. It's my fault, I simply haven't built a squad with enough depth to handle it, but it's still a total pain in the arse.

We're still doing very well in Europe, which is good, with another win to put us on the brink of the knockout stages. Delightful.

League form has been poor mind, not scored in three so really need to sort that out.

Thirteen points behind already. We'll no be winning the league this season.

We will, almost certainly, be playing continental football after Christmas though.

Magic.

Lithuania

Two great results.

Well, scraping by Andorra definitely isn't a great result really, but we got the win and that's all that matters. Serbia but. Fucking sensational. A lot like the Scotland game, they had far, far more chances than we did and really should have won the game, but equally they needed a 89th minute equaliser to grab the point.

We're doing much, much better than I though we'd do. Which is nice.

Remarkably, going into the final two games (Albania at home, Austria away) we have an outside chance at a playoff spot.

We won't get it, but still that's incredible for us.

[oneteaminglasgow]

November 2073

That's more like it.

A loss away in Albacete the only blemish, but that was thoroughly expected. Main thing is that our league form has finally picked up, with good wins over Mladost and Siroki Brijeg, and comfortable ones over the bottom two sides in the league.

A couple of very easy wins in the cup to send us through to the quarter finals too.

Aye, I'm pleased with that.

We've made a very small amount of ground on Sarajevo, but as I said, I think we've given ourselves too much to do.

In the hunt for second again though,

And we're playing in the knockout stages of the Europa Conference League. A win against Malmo in the final game and we'll top the group.

This has gone better than I ever expected.

Lithuania

Ah it wasn't to be. A good draw against Albania, which means we've only lost one of our home games through this campaign, and then we were desperately unlucky not to get another draw in Austria.

Our draw with Albania meant that they didn't qualify, and Scotland did. You're welcome, lads.

I also think fifth is pretty unfortunate given how well we did - we were comfortably the best performing side in that position.

Encouraging stuff overall. 

[The Moonster]

When I saw you take the Lithuania job and get drawn against Scotland I thought "if the game is realistic you'll be guaranteed 3 points at home there". Even Sports Interactive ken that Scotland shite the bed in these places. 

Those Sarajevo b*****ds look a tough nut to crack. 

[DG.Roma]

Not checked in here for months so it's taken a while to get caught up, thoroughly entertaining and intriguing reading as always. I love the wee bit of background on each new bunch of diddies you take over!

Absolutely delighted that you're going to continue this and not just abandon it for the new game. Long live One Team, the completely inaccurately named nomadic World Cup Winner - totally baffling Germany offered you the job, what a great wee side project!