All Activity
This stream auto-updates
- Today
-
@SirBalonI have seen some shocking clothes in here but that Reiss Cuban shirt number, I’ve got my eye on one of those bad boys 😍😍
-
-
I wish I was still blonde
-
FM17 (2017/18 Squads) - VfL Bochum. How far can moneyball take a provincial German club?
Dan replied to Dan's topic in Football Manager Forum
Season One | 2016/17 | 2.Bundesliga Transfers As stated, I felt like we were weak at centre half and this was my priority for my low budget. I went in for Sporting's transfer listed defender Tobias Figueiredo but he turned us down for Panathinaikos which was a real kick in the teeth, because there really wasn't a great deal else out there and he would've been perfect - cheap, good and young. In-fact, it would transpire that very little would happen in this window for us. We did sign 15 year old defender Lars Franz who was a risk free signing, before the first real bit of moneyball took place on deadline day as left back Timo Perthel was sold to Freiburg for £1.4mil. He was my second choice left back, about to turn 28 and I had other cover in this position, so selling him made total sense and I had a little bit left to play with. In came Spanish goalkeeper Nestor from Celta Vigo for £165k, he was rated at 3 stars with potential to go up to 4.5, aged just 24 he was a perfect cover for first choice Riemann and there was a view to him eventually replacing him.Two bits of business that see me strengthen one area by more than I weaken another, yet I make over £1million in the process. This is essentially moneyball. The problem however is we don't really address our problems at centre half, although I spot a very tidy youngster in Tom Baack who I move to the first team squad aged just 17, whilst still having him playing for the U19s but training with the first team with him being called upon when needed. For now we had Felix Bastians, Tim Hoogland and Patrick Fabian who could play there, so Baack became 4th choice, and 3rd choice in the interim as Fabian was injured. In: Lars Franz (free), Nestor (Celta Vigo, £165k). TOTAL: £165k Out: Timo Perthel (Freiburg, £1.4mil). TOTAL: £1.4mil Time for some actual football I settled on a 4-2-3-1 formation with my strongest XI going into the season as... Riemann / Celozzi - Hoogland - Bastians - Danilo / Merkel - Losilla / Sam - Eisfeld - Stoger / Diamantakos. We kicked off the season with a bland 0-0 draw at Darmstadt which I'd probably take assuming we won our home game with Union Berlin. We didn't. 1-1 draw after throwing away the lead late on. We picked up our first win in our third game by beating Dynamo Dresden away 0-2, a very satisfying win followed by progression in the cup away at lower league Viktoria Koln. Our first loss came to Nurnberg with a late, and in my eyes undeserved winner. We bounced back with a 1-0 victory over Sandhausen but went on to bottle a 2-0 lead at home to 10 man Braunschweig in our next game, a shocking result. The next two games were no better, another late goal costs us away at Heidenheim for another draw, before we're beaten comfortably by high flying St Pauli leaving me around 8th in the table. Not good enough really, our defending not up to scratch. This seemed to be the catalyst for an improvement as we went on to win 6 of our next 7 games in all competitions, beating Aue in both the league and the cup and sending us into the last 16 of that while propelling to around the top spots of the league. The good form went into December and we turned up in our biggest game of the season to beat league leaders (and historical rivals) Arminia Bielefeld 1-2 from a goal down to take top spot. We then blew another lead at home this time to Duisburg with quite possibly the least deserved goal I can remember, before bouncing back by doing the exact same to Darmstadt the following week with only ten men on the field. We lost to Union Berlin away before the winter break and went in in 2nd, annoyingly still behind Bielefeld. Winter transfers This is where the controversy would kick in. We did have a little bit more money than before due to the Perthel sale and while I didn't think we needed loads, we were still for me a centre half and a left winger short. In came 23 year old Dario Zuparic from Pescara and 22 year old Juan Camara from Barcelona for £300k and £210k respectively. Zuparic was unlikely to start (Fabian had been surprisingly brilliant upon his return) but we needed the cover, and Camara was likely to challenge Stoger for the left wing spot as Stoger is actually a number ten by trade. And then deadline day hits. In come Hamburg with an offer for Felix Bastians. He is my best defender attributes wise (although he had been outperformed by Fabian) and my only left sided one. He's worth £2.2mil and aged 28, but we manage to negotiate Hamburg up to £4mil and, sadly, he's a goner. We do need the money as well really, this Sidney Sam contract is eating away at us and we're losing money. It was a very tough decision because we got more than he was worth, and we really could've done without losing him for this season but in the long-run, it made sense, his decline was soon to come and I backed us to be able to replace him. This is where I was wrong, and the scouts let me down. We managed to bring in Croatian defender Igor Bubnjic from Udinese for £230k who was like Bastians, left sided, good in the air, but he wasn't really as good. He was younger and there was a view to him progressing, but it did feel like a big gamble given we were in the promotion mix. Still, these are the rules and I had to follow them, although I do appreciate that there was a good case for criticising this move. We also brought in Daniel Owusu from St Pauli, a 16 year old centre half. We also sold Greek youngster Vangelis Pavlidis to Olympiakos for £400k, no loss at all, he's rubbish although I did manage to get a 50% of the next fee clause thrown in there on the off chance they've spotted something I missed. You would have to say, on the whole, the squad is stronger than it was when I took over and yet we have money in the bank from the process. In: Lars Franz (free), Nestor (Celta Vigo, £160k), Juan Camara (Barcelona, £210k), Dario Zuparic (Pescara, £300k), Igor Bubnjic (Udinese, £230k), Daniel Owusu (St Pauli, £79k). TOTAL: £975k Out: Timo Perthel (Freiburg, £1.4mil), Vangelis Pavlidis (Olympiakos, £400k), Felix Bastians (Hamburg, £4mil). TOTAL: £5.4mil Back to the actual football We went into the second half of the season with a home game against bottom club Dynamo Dresden. Surprise surprise, we drew 0-0. We followed this up with another draw at Sandhausen, and a last gasp victory in the cup away at third tier Paderborn meaning we were into the quarter finals, with a number of the big hitters already out. This prompted another three league wins on the bounce including revenge on Braunschweig by beating them away with a last second goal, although they sadly were to have the last laugh as they knocked us out of the cup at our place, despite me taking a late lead, absolutely gutting given it was a favourable tie at such a late round. We softened the blow with resounding 1-3 and 3-0 victories over St Pauli and Ingolstadt (pre-season title favourites) and we really did look good for promotion as we sat on top of the pile. Felix who? Nor Zuparic or Bubnjic had really played as well as Bastians but we were still good enough as a team to cope, or so I thought... Eight games remained and we were around 7 points clear of 4th. For those who don't know, the top two go up and third place face a two legged play-off with 16th (third bottom) of the Bundesliga. I don't think the squad's really good enough to be trusted to beat a Bundesliga side over two legs but I did think we'd manage to get a top two place, although it'd be nice to finish above Bielefeld as they're completely over-achieved so I don't want them taking all the plaudits. Disaster would strike in the form of a 4 game run which saw us only take a point - at home to a dreadful Aue side. We lost at Dusseldorf and allowed an abysmal Jahn Regensburg to complete an unlikely double over us, before the criminal loss which was a 2-0 defeat at Kaiserslautern - the side in 4th place. Questions were being asked of the Bastians sale and I have to admit, this is where I thought I'm seeing the true downside of this method here, and the irony is should it cost us promotion, well, that does us absolutely no favours financially either. Maybe it was worth keeping him. We arrested the slide in style however, thumping Greuther Furth 3-0 with three late goals following an extremely frustrating opening 70 from a side fighting for their lives. We then went and produced the same result away at Holstein Kiel, ahead of the big one. Arminia Bielefeld at home. Victory could guarantee us promotion, and would put us top of the pile going into the final day. We won 1-0. But we weren't up, Kaiserslautern won again. We were guaranteed a top three finish regardless but we wanted that top spot really, although you'd take 2nd too even if it does mean you've been fortunate. The final day.... We bottled it, but so did Kaiserslautern and theirs was truly spectacular, going down 5-3 to a side who had scored under a goal a game all season. Our result was a disgrace given the struggles of Duisburg and the fact we played against ten men for the majority of the game - even more astounding to think we'd registered over 50 shots to Duisburg's 6 over two games and won neither of them. Bielefeld pinched the title from us but we had ultimately achieved our aim, we were promoted! Any other business Though I've criticised him a lot, Sidney Sam regularly delivered the goods and was easily our best player all considered. I still think despite this, I'd let him go on the cheap purely because his wages are astronomical, but he did what he could so it's hard to slate the bloke. The signings all played their part with Nestor, Zuparic, Bubnjic and Camara all getting runs in the side, although I do question how much use they'll be in the Bundesliga. A lot of it is budget dependant for me now. We kept an impressive 17 clean sheets out of 34 games which kind of supplements the theory about clean sheets being worth over 2 points a game on average. Diamantakos didn't really score enough but I do think his game is largely about more than just that and I was satisfied with his overall contribution. The likes of Eisfeld and Wurtz also turned up when it mattered. We were in the mix and got what we wanted, a shame we couldn't win the league and a shame we didn't win when the pressure truly was on, but by hook or by crook, we made it. -
The hobbit. The desolation of Smaug. 6/10 A bit shit, but a consistent narrative, and an excellent turn from Cumberbatch make this much improved over the first. Tauriel is an incredibly unnecessary character, we're talking black widow levels of achieving nothing that couldn't have been written into the parts of other characters (namely Legolas). The barrel riding scene is aids. Overall however this is an okay movie.
-
Stan's Prediction League - Week 17 Fixtures
Raja1991 replied to Stan's topic in Stan's PL Prediction League
Saturday: Crystal Palace 1-1 Leicester Fulham 2-1 West Ham Huddersfield 1-2 Newcastle Man City 3-1 Everton Tottenham 4-0 Burnley Watford 0-0 Cardiff Wolves 2-1 Bournemouth Sunday: Brighton 0-2 Chelsea Liverpool 1-1 Man Utd Southampton 0-3 Arsenal -
Absolute banker for the drop sadly. What an absolute shambles.
-
Vamos, vamos America!! Que esta noche tenemos que ganar.
- Yesterday
-
Away Fans Pub Guide Premier League 2018/19
Smiley Culture replied to The Palace Fan's topic in Premier League - English Football Forum
I know some places are home only on matchday over there, no idea what they’re called mind. -
HSV produced their advent calendars at the same enterprise, where Werder Bremen produced produced theirs. Something went wrong in the production chain of these HSV calendars and now exemplars of HSV calendar exist with HSV outfit and the give aways of Werder Bremen's advent calendar. As you might have already thought some of these faulty calendars were already sold, when HSV officials noticed it. Imaging buying a HSV merchandise with content for Werder fans of all clubs.
-
Streisand effect at its best. Glorious!
-
Formula One - Prediction League 2018 - Nudge's Biergarten
Cannabis replied to Cannabis's topic in Cannabis' F1 Prediction League
Nobody catching you @BartraPique1932 -
Formula One - Prediction League 2018 - Nudge's Biergarten
BartraPique1932 replied to Cannabis's topic in Cannabis' F1 Prediction League
-
Cordons a little hit or miss but I love me some Anna Kendrick, the battle was pretty good.
-
Group L - Matchday 6 - Thursday 13th December, 2018
Cannabis replied to Stan's topic in Group L - Chelsea, PAOK Salonika, BATE Borisov, Vidi
Didn't Raheem Sterling play for them as a kid? -
Group F - Matchday 6 - Thursday 13th December, 2018
The Palace Fan replied to Stan's topic in Group F - Olympiacos, AC Milan, Real Betis, Dudelange
Of all the teams to ruin my accumulator this evening... dudelange? Really? -
Wow google translate made a mare of that. Literally no idea what happened. Anyone care to give a general idea, that I too, might lol at HSV?
-
Group L - Matchday 6 - Thursday 13th December, 2018
Harvsky replied to Stan's topic in Group L - Chelsea, PAOK Salonika, BATE Borisov, Vidi
-
And all the news reports about it even increased it. Just type idiot in google image search
-
Group C - Matchday 6 - Thursday 13th December, 2018
Stan replied to Stan's topic in Group B - RB Salzburg, Celtic, RB Leipzig, Rosenborg
Celtic losing. Fortunately for them Leipzig only drawing. -
Group F - Matchday 6 - Thursday 13th December, 2018
Stan replied to Stan's topic in Group F - Olympiacos, AC Milan, Real Betis, Dudelange
AC Milan heading out as it stands. Losing 3-1 to Olympiakos. -
Karl Darlow Wanted by Championship Clubs
Harvsky replied to The Palace Fan's topic in Transfer Rumours
Deserves to be playing, in general I mean, not ahead of Dubravka -
-
-
Thorgan Hazard Linked With Liverpool & Bayern Munich
Batard replied to The Palace Fan's topic in Transfer Rumours
Chelsea have a buy back option, confirmed by the player himself. Could be a Hazard for Hazard merry-go-round this summer
.thumb.jpeg.ebd288161cea21c4197c7f95d6ec5d5a.jpeg)
-
Advertisement