Dan does the Pentagon Challenge

[Dan+]

@Toinho as somebody who follows football in this region, do you think it's a shame that they don't mix the east and west sides a little earlier in the Champions League? I agree with regionalising it but not until the final. I reckon the knockouts, or maybe the quarters onwards should be an open tournament.

[Toinho]

18 minutes ago, Dan said:

@Toinho as somebody who follows football in this region, do you think it's a shame that they don't mix the east and west sides a little earlier in the Champions League? I agree with regionalising it but not until the final. I reckon the knockouts, or maybe the quarters onwards should be an open tournament.

I assume it's for a few reasons, including distance, Asia is huge. Imagine flying from Melbourne to Saudi Arabia for a midweek game! I would like them to meet a bit earlier. I really don't know how strong the WEST sides are, however history shows on par if not better than some of Japan and Korea's best recently. Which does seem to surprise me sometimes.

 

South Korean teams have been champions 12 times, Japanese sides 7, Saudi Arabia 6.

 

It's interesting that in the early history Israel were part of it. Which they should probably still be lol

 

I really hope they keep it as one leg too, like the past two seasons.

[Dan+]

KOREAN CHAMPIONS

No big build up this time, I'll cut to the chase. We won the league.

We got a draw at Incheon, held on a little but that virtually sealed it, then Seoul dropped points in their game meaning that a win over them would guarantee us the title.

 

In-fact in the end, we did it with ease. We blew the others away late on and ended up winning the league by 16 points, which is the biggest margin anybody has won the league by since the game started.

It really was a remarkable performance on the pitch. We were great in every department in the end - by a mile the top scorers, by a mile the best defence (with only 6 conceded in our final 14 games). It's another trophy onto my CV and probably my best yet, depends if you rate the K-League or AFC Cup higher.

The others did underperform but we put up a points tally that competes with any previous side. I think our recruitment has been bang on. We must've now brought in a good 6/7 players aged about 21-23 from other K-League teams who've slotted into the side and made an impact. Del Mastro to me has really raised the bar here but even without him we look good.

Next years objective is very simple - win the Champions League. It will be very, very hard, but the Korean champions should always be a contender. I think we'll lose a player or two but we aren't totally short of money by this leagues standards and I've got a few players I have my eyes on.

The first loss is winger Kim Kyun-Hi, who is one of those players I bought from another side in the league - he was terrific this season and displaced long serving winger Kim Dae-Won (who actually with a goal on the final day became the clubs record goalscorer with 50 league goals), but unfortunately it's time for his military service and he's off to Gimcheon for 18 months, although I already have somebody in.

Guzman is now classed as South Korean, Gunnarsson off, so the foreigner situation going into the new season is as follows:

Foreigner 1: Goktug Unuvar (Turkey)
Foreigner 2: Carlo Del Mastro (Australia) - He's classed as Asian (not South East Asian like I claimed before, it's quite confusing)
Foreigner 3: free
Asian player: Rio Kanno (Japan) - joining in January, he's an attacking left back and plugs a gap I think we've had a little while
South East Asian player: free

Bringing in a South East Asian who really adds to our squad is solid. There's a couple of Malaysians and Singaporeans that have caught my eye a bit but nobody I think I'd 'really' look at if they were Korean if I'm totally honest. Unuvar is attacting interest and I think it would be prudent to sell him to be honest. I quite like him but he's not irreplaceable, and he's also our highest earner.

I have my eye on an Ivorian centre half but I'm thinking there may be a bit more of a priority in midfield. It's tough to weigh up.

I think we'd do very well to retain the league but like I say, the CL is the priority. Just simply qualifying for next years is the aim in the league, although we've shown such authority that it would be nice to retain it.

One last word about our old friends Jeonbuk. Out of the CL to Beijing Guo'an a round after beating us. Their new manager is under pressure after just 36 days in the job, although is about to lift the Korean FA Cup meaning they'll go into the CL at the expense of Ulsan.

[Dan+]

1 hour ago, Toinho said:

I assume it's for a few reasons, including distance, Asia is huge. Imagine flying from Melbourne to Saudi Arabia for a midweek game! I would like them to meet a bit earlier. I really don't know how strong the WEST sides are, however history shows on par if not better than some of Japan and Korea's best recently. Which does seem to surprise me sometimes.

South Korean teams have been champions 12 times, Japanese sides 7, Saudi Arabia 6.

It's interesting that in the early history Israel were part of it. Which they should probably still be lol

I really hope they keep it as one leg too, like the past two seasons.

Yeah I can imagine it's a logistical thing and I think in Europe we're probably very guilty of not appreciating the size of Asia. We consider it a hard journey to go to Moscow.

I just think it'd be nice to mix things up a little. Absolutely keep it one leg given the travelling but I think it's a shame in some ways that you could never have a say Korean v Japanese final.

Speaking of Russia, it looks like they're planning on joining the Asian confederation anyway. I'd imagine if Zenit hold their side together they'll likely walk it for a while, and I think that's Russia virtually guaranteed at the next World Cup.

[Dan+]

 

[Bluebird Hewitt]

14 hours ago, Dan said:

 

Had to have a double check on that as I thought your left mid was also up front for a different team. 

[Dan+]

2 hours ago, Bluebird Hewitt said:

Had to have a double check on that as I thought your left mid was also up front for a different team. 

The names are very confusing I must admit. It doesn't help that there's so few names to choose from - I swear half of the league is called Park, Choi, Kim or Lee.

[Dan+]

2029 - NEW SEASON, OLD RIVALRIES, CL RUN NUMBER 2

The Korean champions are back for more. We were superb last season but I can't lose sight of the bigger picture. We got the big one. But we want the even bigger one. This seasons objective is very simple - win the Champions League. The other absolute requirement, at least, is qualify for next seasons by finishing in the top 4 or winning the cup (I'd quite like the latter actually as I've not got it yet).

We lost a couple of players to Gimcheon again. It's so infuriating but what can you do. It's a specific rule in South Korea but we're all subject to it. Given the way I build my squads we're often quite heavily penalised, and I find I'm having to spend a bit of money every season just to replace the players I'll lose. But at least Gangwon do have money. Nothing major, but we have enough to get me by, and I do find in this league that clubs aren't ridiculously expectant with their transfer fees.

The biggest takeaway is that nobody 'that' key left other than Kim Kyun-Hi to Gimcheon. Choi from Incheon is the replacement for him. How Del Mastro is still here is beyond me. I've got an agreement with him to sell him if a team offers £4.6mil but it doesn't seem to account for the fact if a foreign side offers £1.7mil he's free to leave, and these European clubs seem to offer just short of it every time. One team, I think it was Genk, offered £1.7mil but a clause that we had to pay 10% of his wages for the remainer of his Gangwon contract, which hilariously meant we could turn it down. It's absurdly lucky but it's forever a worry given how such a key player is on such a tightrope.

The signings now mean our foreigner situation is this:

Foreigner 1: Goktug Unuvar (Turkey)
Foreigner 2: Carlo del Mastro (Australia)
Foreigner 3: Lassana Diarrassouba (Ivory Coast)
Asian: Rio Kanno (Japan)
ASEAN: -

Del Mastro can also be classed as the Asian in this instance but it's irrelevant really. We still have a slot free. I went for this fairly versatile Thai player who is classed as South East Asian (ASEAN) but his wage demands was absurd for somebody who'd never played outside of Thailand. I felt our squad had been suitably upgraded though, more depth and a little more quality. Kanno is a big signing as he's the proper left back I've wanted a while. Diarrassouba is a thuggish, bull of a centre half and also left footed which has been lacking.

No qualifying rounds this season. Straight into the Champions League proper. We had it far tougher than last year and were presented with a group of Shandong Luneng (China), Melbourne City (Australia) and Cerezo Osaka (Japan). A mix of the four best leagues in East Asia that includes the Korean and Chinese champions. A bit of a group of death. I think I fancied us to pass it, but we could not take it lightly.

We were fine.

I think the Cerezo Osaka situation is interesting because Japan really isn't that poor a league, but the fact Japan isn't in the game or active means their sides are a little compromised and this is going to be a real issue in Africa.

We opened with a draw at Shandong which was a really good result in my opinion, having played very little before that game I did take a couple of risks in my selection but an even game ended all square. We beat Melbourne City 3-0 at home and Cerezo Osaka 0-3 away (hilariously 0-3 after 12 minutes).

We picked up a tough draw in Melbourne in my third trip to that ground (and still no victory) that ended 0-0, but the real crucial game was at home to Shandong on matchday 5. This really was a battle. We won it 3-2 and we really were hanging on, dead on our feet at the end of the game. Melbourne's surprise draw in Japan left us on 11 points, 3 clear of Melbourne in 2nd and head to head being the rule meant we were already through, safe to change 10 players and still beat Cerezo 2-0 at home.

Once again, I top a group where 2nd place is unable to join us as Melbourne's win at Shandong proves to not be enough. They'll be badly regretting that draw at Cerezo.

No sooner are we handed this years first knockout round.

This really was the best draw on offer by a mile. They're a Thai side who finished on 11 points as runners up in a pretty kind group. Yet again we get a home tie but this time I'm confident. I won't take them lightly because Thai sides do have some talent in them, it's probably the 5th best East Asian league, but given the other options I'm happy. This is the full round of 16 draw.

Three Aussie sides going through is a bit of a turnup as I think it's a touch weaker than Korea. No Jeonbuk, and Seoul didn't even make it into the group stages having lost the qualifier at home to Cerezo, hilariously given what the latter served up against us.

But this is later season's business. We've done our bit for now.

-------

The league is your bread and butter. I suppose in Asia you are kind of forced to prioritise the league for large parts as we spend so long of it not actually playing continentally. I've gone a little earlier with the update this season because it's quite interesting.

Jeonbuk are back good again. They're ominous. But we are giving this a proper go. We're on yet another brilliant unbeaten run which streches 21 games, but up next is the big one - Gangwon v Jeonbuk, which I really do feel is becoming a bit of a rivalry at this point. A competitive rivalry if you like.

We've been pretty excellent at times, a couple of seriously eye catching wins.

Del Mastro has been terrific again. The centre halves imperious. Shin terrific.

Jeonbuk think they're buying Shin and Del Mastro. They've even publicly said it just before our game, which is very funny and totally the kind of shithousery I can get behind even if I'm meant to hate them for it. The shithouse knows the shithouse. Del Mastro has no interest in them however because he wants a better league, which is totally fair enough and it suits me, although I wish this clearly brilliant player would bag us more than £1.7mil when the horrible deed finally goes through.

All to play for. Up the Kodiaks.

[Toinho]

On 12/04/2022 at 03:00, Dan said:

2029 - NEW SEASON, OLD RIVALRIES, CL RUN NUMBER 2

The Korean champions are back for more. We were superb last season but I can't lose sight of the bigger picture. We got the big one. But we want the even bigger one. This seasons objective is very simple - win the Champions League. The other absolute requirement, at least, is qualify for next seasons by finishing in the top 4 or winning the cup (I'd quite like the latter actually as I've not got it yet).

We lost a couple of players to Gimcheon again. It's so infuriating but what can you do. It's a specific rule in South Korea but we're all subject to it. Given the way I build my squads we're often quite heavily penalised, and I find I'm having to spend a bit of money every season just to replace the players I'll lose. But at least Gangwon do have money. Nothing major, but we have enough to get me by, and I do find in this league that clubs aren't ridiculously expectant with their transfer fees.

The biggest takeaway is that nobody 'that' key left other than Kim Kyun-Hi to Gimcheon. Choi from Incheon is the replacement for him. How Del Mastro is still here is beyond me. I've got an agreement with him to sell him if a team offers £4.6mil but it doesn't seem to account for the fact if a foreign side offers £1.7mil he's free to leave, and these European clubs seem to offer just short of it every time. One team, I think it was Genk, offered £1.7mil but a clause that we had to pay 10% of his wages for the remainer of his Gangwon contract, which hilariously meant we could turn it down. It's absurdly lucky but it's forever a worry given how such a key player is on such a tightrope.

The signings now mean our foreigner situation is this:

Foreigner 1: Goktug Unuvar (Turkey)
Foreigner 2: Carlo del Mastro (Australia)
Foreigner 3: Lassana Diarrassouba (Ivory Coast)
Asian: Rio Kanno (Japan)
ASEAN: -

Del Mastro can also be classed as the Asian in this instance but it's irrelevant really. We still have a slot free. I went for this fairly versatile Thai player who is classed as South East Asian (ASEAN) but his wage demands was absurd for somebody who'd never played outside of Thailand. I felt our squad had been suitably upgraded though, more depth and a little more quality. Kanno is a big signing as he's the proper left back I've wanted a while. Diarrassouba is a thuggish, bull of a centre half and also left footed which has been lacking.

No qualifying rounds this season. Straight into the Champions League proper. We had it far tougher than last year and were presented with a group of Shandong Luneng (China), Melbourne City (Australia) and Cerezo Osaka (Japan). A mix of the four best leagues in East Asia that includes the Korean and Chinese champions. A bit of a group of death. I think I fancied us to pass it, but we could not take it lightly.

We were fine.

I think the Cerezo Osaka situation is interesting because Japan really isn't that poor a league, but the fact Japan isn't in the game or active means their sides are a little compromised and this is going to be a real issue in Africa.

We opened with a draw at Shandong which was a really good result in my opinion, having played very little before that game I did take a couple of risks in my selection but an even game ended all square. We beat Melbourne City 3-0 at home and Cerezo Osaka 0-3 away (hilariously 0-3 after 12 minutes).

We picked up a tough draw in Melbourne in my third trip to that ground (and still no victory) that ended 0-0, but the real crucial game was at home to Shandong on matchday 5. This really was a battle. We won it 3-2 and we really were hanging on, dead on our feet at the end of the game. Melbourne's surprise draw in Japan left us on 11 points, 3 clear of Melbourne in 2nd and head to head being the rule meant we were already through, safe to change 10 players and still beat Cerezo 2-0 at home.

Once again, I top a group where 2nd place is unable to join us as Melbourne's win at Shandong proves to not be enough. They'll be badly regretting that draw at Cerezo.

No sooner are we handed this years first knockout round.

This really was the best draw on offer by a mile. They're a Thai side who finished on 11 points as runners up in a pretty kind group. Yet again we get a home tie but this time I'm confident. I won't take them lightly because Thai sides do have some talent in them, it's probably the 5th best East Asian league, but given the other options I'm happy. This is the full round of 16 draw.

Three Aussie sides going through is a bit of a turnup as I think it's a touch weaker than Korea. No Jeonbuk, and Seoul didn't even make it into the group stages having lost the qualifier at home to Cerezo, hilariously given what the latter served up against us.

But this is later season's business. We've done our bit for now.

-------

The league is your bread and butter. I suppose in Asia you are kind of forced to prioritise the league for large parts as we spend so long of it not actually playing continentally. I've gone a little earlier with the update this season because it's quite interesting.

Jeonbuk are back good again. They're ominous. But we are giving this a proper go. We're on yet another brilliant unbeaten run which streches 21 games, but up next is the big one - Gangwon v Jeonbuk, which I really do feel is becoming a bit of a rivalry at this point. A competitive rivalry if you like.

We've been pretty excellent at times, a couple of seriously eye catching wins.

Del Mastro has been terrific again. The centre halves imperious. Shin terrific.

Jeonbuk think they're buying Shin and Del Mastro. They've even publicly said it just before our game, which is very funny and totally the kind of shithousery I can get behind even if I'm meant to hate them for it. The shithouse knows the shithouse. Del Mastro has no interest in them however because he wants a better league, which is totally fair enough and it suits me, although I wish this clearly brilliant player would bag us more than £1.7mil when the horrible deed finally goes through.

All to play for. Up the Kodiaks.

Why is Japan not on the game or inactive? Did you choose a bunch of leagues before you started? I haven’t played FM for years - can you add leagues as you go?

[Dan+]

On 13/04/2022 at 03:51, Toinho said:

Why is Japan not on the game or inactive? Did you choose a bunch of leagues before you started? I haven’t played FM for years - can you add leagues as you go?

I think it's to do with licensing and Japan for some reason just isn't even included as a league you can play as. You can on different databases although there's a case that doing this invalidates the whole challenge as you can't use the editor. Thailand is the same actually so it's quite surprising how good some of their sides are.

Japan seems especially restricted though. Their teams are still not rubbish but they're slightly weaker than they are in reality within the game, which I always think is a bit of a shame, probably to discourage the possibility of a 'greyed out' team winning anything substantial. As I said in Africa this is a real issue as South Africa is the only playable league, though the Egyptians do seem to still be holding quite good sides.

I activated every Asian league I could, so South Korea, Australia, China, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Hong Kong, India and then just South Africa too. I've also activated the big 5 in Europe as I don't want them to descend into farce by the time I get there. When I move to South Africa I'll activate probably all the North American leagues then turn off all the Asian ones with the exception of Malaysia and South Korea as I want to see how my old clubs get on. Terengganu already seem to have undone virtually everything I've done, which is a shame but great for the ego of course!

[Dan+]

HE'S GONE

It's been an inevitability as we all knew but after what felt like years of rejecting cheeky bids, two clubs finally activated Del Mastro's release clause of £1.7mil meaning he was free to go. He turned down Nurnberg to join Marseille - a move I'm happy with because that really does vindicate the level of player we had.

35 goals and 15 assists in 79 appearances largely from midfield. Average rating around 7.40. MOTM in 14 games - so he was MOTM in more than a sixth of the games he played in. An absolute star who really did transform this side from an organised one to a dangerous one.

The job of replacing him is something we're prepared for, but a couple of other departures, as well as some returns from Gimcheon after their 18 month loans means we're doing a bit of restructuring and I'm thinking of potentially introducing another system to work on as I believe we're good in both 4-1-4-1 and 4-2-2-2, but we could bring in players to play something else as well.

The first to arrive is Darwin Parra from La Equidad of Colombia.

He's a different type of player but he's a real coup for a club of our stature. It's a similar situation to Del Mastro I think where we have acquired a player too good for us, on a deal that's not given us a tonne of security, nor will we make big money when we lose him - but we'll reap the benefits of having a player of his quality in the squad. He had interest from Lyon and Porto so getting him is mental. I'm looking at a couple of others as well. Unuvar has gone back to Turkey so we're in a pretty healthy position when it comes to foreign players now, with only Diarrassouba, Parra and Kanno our foreign players, all three comfortably first team quality, and even then Kanno being Asian keeps another spot free.

I have my eye on a young left back from one of the ASEAN countries, I believe it's Singapore, who'd take up that slot.

-----

The performances - well, we're great, but there've been some seriously odd games involved as well.

Where on earth to start on that?

We won the first crunch game of the season against Jeonbuk which is always nice, before going and beating an abject Anyang 0-8! They're absolutely shocking to be fair but that's still some scoreline.

The real oddities kicked in in May. We were 1-5 up at Suwon, absolutely fell to bits late on and allowed them chance after chance of which they took two, but I failed to heed the warning and a Gimcheon side who'd somehow beaten Jeonbuk with 10 men would come here and end our 26 game unbeaten run in style, largely orchestrated by a player of ours as well. We were 2 down early on, turned it around then got absolutely destroyed in the second half.

It's quite infuriating that we've fallen short of beating the longest unbeaten K-League run by 1 or 2 games twice now, but that's what you call being picky.

Jeonbuk have gone back off the boil and to be honest, another title looks inevitable. Will be interesting to see how well Parra adapts and how quickly we react to losing Del Mastro, but the Busan game showed encouraging signs even if the defence disappointed. 

Anyang at home next. You'd fancy us to absolutely romp it but I've got a funny habit at Gangwon of losing the absolute gimme home games. Daejeon won here last season which was an absurdity and Gimcheon really aren't a side who should be coming here and sticking 5 past us. Gwangju have had some results here as well. It wouldn't be totally unthinkable for Anyang to go and do it if that's anything to go by. It's the likes of Seoul, Pohang, Incheon etc... the mediocre sides that we hardly ever seem to drop.

In all seriousness I'm joking, these really are another level of shit, I'm baffled that they've come up.

You'd have to fancy us for the title but it'll hinge on how well we fill in for Del Mastro. We can win games without him but he could drag us out of the shit on his own.

[Dan+]

WE REALLY COULD CHUCK THIS...

Since the last update, well frankly it's been a bit of a disgrace I think. It started excellently, but things have taken a real wobble and I'm really a bit concerned that we're going to pay the price for a fairly mediocre summer window in the end.

It was all going swimmingly. After the Jeonbuk win away, another comfortable showing against that lot where I thought this was going to be a procession. The thought that we could blow the title was laughable - nobody looked really capable and we were just clearly capable of getting the better of the others.

The Suwon game I took as a bit of a blip like the Gimcheon loss and I wasn't concerned, and even the Incheon game, sadly our first loss to them under my management (in 11 attempts) I put down to an early red card to my best striker. Likewise did I think after beating Asan we'd be fine.

But the last two league games have made me seriously wonder if we're going to blow it. I could forgive one freak against Gimcheon, but to go and lose 3-0 there is unbelievable - and plenty of the side that hammered us away here have moved on as a result of the military service (they sign a batch of players every January on 18 month loan deals basically). To say that we'd gone 15 months without an away loss in any competition, stretching back 26 competitive games (which is frankly unbelievable) to then go and lose three in a row, all to pretty mediocre sides. Something's gone wrong.

---

The elephant in the room is the loss of Del Mastro. I genuinely don't believe it's solely tactical and I feel his sheer presence helped matters. It seemed to happen when he arrived and no sooner has he gone, we've looked a shambles. Not only did he possess real quality, but he had the best personality as well. Maybe something's gone with his loss. It's not like Parra has even been poor. He's been probably 7/10 so far - a couple of eye catching games (and an absolutely amazing goal v Anyang) but he's not Del Mastro. Likewise we never actually got this extra winger in despite identifying the target.

A month ago I really did fancy us to win the Champions League.

As it stands I'm not convinced we'll take even a league we were 15 clear in, or the Korean cup. We might even lose to Pathum if this garbage continues.

September is enormous. It starts with the next game against Jeonbuk. Lose that and I really will fear the worst.

[Dan+]

BG PATHUM NO MATCH - ALL KOREAN AFFAIR

We played our round of 16 Champions League game and had no issues at all. It was done as a contest in no time at all and our opposition were particularly susceptible to set pieces.

Diarrassouba getting a hattrick was the real hilarity. He's a centre half!

Incheon's result was a surprise for me, and it's them we'll face in the next round.

The other quarter final on our side is an all Australian tie. The path to the final has been laid out.

So we'll face Incheon at home before them facing an Australian side at home in the semis should we get there.

Incheon are a side we have a very good record against for the most part, but we have struggled with them somewhat this season and in our last two games, lost 2-0 away and drew 0-0 at home. But it's a tie I'm fairly comfortable with and I think we'll progress.

The potential semi final - we beat Melbourne Victory at home last season. Sydney seem to do really well in this competition so they do concern me a little. I check the match stats of other games and they seem to really gun for sides, I think they'd be a tough game. The good news however is it's two home games to the final.

The obvious drawback however is we'd be away from home in the final. Once again the final goes to West Asia. Al-Ain are the current holders and for me, the likeliest opposition should we get there.

We are three wins away from the first relic and two of them are at home. It's getting interesting now.

[Dan+]

TITLE BATTLE + CL QUARTER FINAL

September was reassuring as much as anything. We breezed our CL game and we picked up some much needed form in the league as well - our win at Seoul putting a halt to the miserable away form and their managers reign in the process. Daegu we had in the FA Cup semis away from home so it was nice to lay down a marker just ahead of it.

But this, unfortunately, is where the positives must end and we must address the worrying reality of what's going on.

October is proving to be an utter disaster. In every way you can imagine.

FA Cup: We go away to Daegu and it's a shocker. We're unlucky in the game, but a terrible display from my goalkeeper and an amazing one from Yaya Kone of Daegu means it's yet another disappointing exit in the semi finals. This one the worst of all really given this was against such beatable opposition. FT - Daegu 3-2 Gangwon. Out.

Champions League: It's heartbreak. We play out a cagey 120 minutes without a goal and lose on penalties. Incheon limit us to loads of pot shots whilst barely leaving their own half themselves and it's pretty much exactly the right way to go about it. Given we spent years beating Incheon and have taken two of their attacking players in recent years it's quite worrying when we can't score past them anymore. We even hold a 1-0 lead in the shootout after they've taken their opening two and we've taken just the one, but it all goes wrong and Won Du-Jae misses the crucial penalty in sudden death. Totally gutting and probably the worst I've felt about any result in the entire pentagon. It's they who go on to face Melbourne Victory at home. Another year at least it will be. We went one further, but this felt like a chance blown.

League: What's making it even harder to take is we've gone back to shit in the league as well.

Nothing sums up our plight more than needing a late Jun double to get a point against a side we've beaten 8-0 and 6-0 this season.

Against Suwon we went ahead after 89 minutes and threw it away under virtually one attack.

Ulsan we were behind within a minute yet could not break them down. We're conceding a lot from very little and scoring little from a very lot. The worst possible combination.

The goalkeeping performances of late have been an utter disgrace. It's been a bit of a problem position this season. I have a goalkeeper, Lee, who has been good for us - a good distributer and a big game player, prone to a bad game but at this level I think anybody is. However in Kim we have an absolute star in the making potentially. I'm genuinely talking somebody who could play for a Real Madrid or a Bayern Munich if he hits anything like his potential. With somebody of that talent you just cannot not play them. But when I have he hasn't really been very good. Lee has spent most of the season playing but he's hit a real rough patch, and Kim's had another run but I'm probably going to have to drop him again already because he's getting 6.4 virtually every game. The Suwon and Ulsan games just laughable - we faced one shot on target in both games and both of them went in.

The season isn't done and dusted, but Jeonbuk have caught us.

We were 15 points clear and we've thrown it away. That is just criminal.

If we win our last three however, we are champions, because we do have to actually play Jeonbuk (which has conveniently fallen on the final day). But it's hard to have faith that we'll see it through. We've just lost crunch games against Daegu and Incheon as well.

It's quite hilarious that a side that broke the all time K-League record for most goals in a season in our 34th game might end up coming 2nd.

I think it's pretty clear the level Del Mastro was carrying us.

[Dan+]

Yikes.

[Dan+]

FEAR NOT - IT'S TWO STRAIGHT

Big game players. It's such a thing for me. I need players who can be relied upon when the heat is on. Who step up when things are going wrong. Who don't have those dreaded orange emoji faces on their profile when a big game is taking place.

Jun Se-Jin, you are a legend of this club, as far as I'm concerned.

The horror as I received a pre-match injury to star striker Park. But what was good about this game is that I did only need a draw and we're quite good at playing that way as the defensive system is quite reliable and won't concede many, and Jun has still got it in his locker to lead the line on his own.

Quite frankly I think I've underused him. He's still got it to a degree.

Another title in the bag and that is trophy number 10 for me!

But we want that Champions League next. We have £4mil to play with this summer. I want a bit more quality added.

[Toinho]

Well done. How do you motivate yourself for the ACL next season and the league again? I mean, I think I’d struggle. But, I guess you got so close this season!

[Dan+]

14 minutes ago, Toinho said:

Well done. How do you motivate yourself for the ACL next season and the league again? I mean, I think I’d struggle. But, I guess you got so close this season!

I'm still enjoying it simply, although I must admit I'm starting to find the league a little tedious like at latter Terengganu.

I don't really like the format of the season (and I may have said otherwise earlier in the thread but I've decided I'm not a fan). You play 90% of your league season before you kick off the knockouts of the ACL. I wish it was spread a bit better.

Our cup performances concern me. We've been great in league campaigns but nearly every cup campaign has ended up in disappointment. I don't think there's been a single cup exit where I've thought 'fair enough' other than losing to Jeonbuk early doors. Losing to Incheon is galling.

Persepolis beat Melbourne Victory 1-0 in the final in Iran, so another victory at home for the West Asians. Melbourne had a great run though - for a side we thumped last season.

[Toinho]

15 minutes ago, Dan said:

I'm still enjoying it simply, although I must admit I'm starting to find the league a little tedious like at latter Terengganu.

I don't really like the format of the season (and I may have said otherwise earlier in the thread but I've decided I'm not a fan). You play 90% of your league season before you kick off the knockouts of the ACL. I wish it was spread a bit better.

Our cup performances concern me. We've been great in league campaigns but nearly every cup campaign has ended up in disappointment. I don't think there's been a single cup exit where I've thought 'fair enough' other than losing to Jeonbuk early doors. Losing to Incheon is galling.

Persepolis beat Melbourne Victory 1-0 in the final in Iran, so another victory at home for the West Asians. Melbourne had a great run though - for a side we thumped last season.

Hopefully next season you grab the ACL, and then move on. You’ve achieved well in Korea! Yeah the league format seems interesting also it’s such a long season compared to the a-league (26 games) haha. Although we then have finals BS

[Dan+]

1 hour ago, Toinho said:

Hopefully next season you grab the ACL, and then move on. You’ve achieved well in Korea! Yeah the league format seems interesting also it’s such a long season compared to the a-league (26 games) haha. Although we then have finals BS

Yeah it's been great, but when a 38 game season is made up of something you've little desire to really achieve again it can get a little dull. I wouldn't have minded a go in the A-League but just wasn't to be. Got interviewed by Adelaide Utd but it never happened.

[Dan+]

DUST YOURSELVES OFF - SEASON 2030

The year 2030, not the 2030th season in Asia, much as it may feel like it.

I think the objective goes without saying, but as has been stated before, the format of the season makes it harder to not focus on the league as you'll play the bulk of it before the business end of the continental season arrives anyway.

Gimcheon have turned up and taking half of my defence which is an absolute pain in the arse, so once again I'm spending money just to replenish the squad for players I didn't expect to lose. I bring in Spanish utility man Juanlu as one of my foreign players meaning along with Parra, Diarrassouba and Kanno, we only have room for a South East Asian foreign player.

We also have no real luck finding a good Korean winger. I mean we do, we find a nearly ideal one, but Porto steal him at the last minute and he doesn't fancy joining us on loan either. So I've decided to switch to a diamond this season. It feels a gamble but I think our squad is good enough for this level now to play around with systems a bit, and I've had success on 22 with this. I bring in a Korean striker from Bremen (yet another player called Park, my 4th in the squad) and a defender from Ulsan, and I feel we're quite well set.

---

Our Champions League group sees us face...

Beijing Guo'an (China)
Kawasaki Frontale (Japan)
Yadanarbon (Myanmar)

Beijing are tough, the Japanese sides I've covered by now and they just don't worry me, and as for the others, bloody hell, they must be about the worst side I've ever seen at this level, how on earth they've got here is beyond me, I'd fancy Terengganu to beat them soundly.

We are flawless. We don't drop a single point.

Despite dropping a clanger and not registering any of my new signings, we make no errors at all and sail through with ease. We're ruthless against Guo'an and beat them 3-1 and 1-4, with new boy Park absolutely stealing the show in both games. We only beat Yadanarbon 0-3 and 4-0 but we're met by the Burmese Buffon in the away game, as he turns in an extraordinary display, picking up a 9.7 we had 44 shots to their 1. Frontale are easy pickings and for the third year running, I win my group and nobody else from our group comes through with us, which is odd given only two groups out of five should have this situation.

Though very bizarrely, on the West Asian side, there was actually a group that saw three teams progress as the team ranked 3rd somehow finished on a higher points tally than every other groups 2nd placed finisher, which is pretty mental. 

The Koreans have had another mediocre performance with just 2 of the 4 making it to the last 16. Jeonbuk bottling it yet again (and somehow incredibly losing 5-0 at BG Pathum Utd, the team I beat 5-0 in the round of 16 last season) and Incheon somehow coming 3rd in their group. Only us and Suwon progressed, but who will we meet?

That's a tie I'm comforable with. The lesser of the two Melbourne evils and yet another home tie. The Australians seem to be picking up in this competition and Melbourne Victory are probably the toughest team on the Eastern side, and I expect them to get by Sanfrecce. Can't really call the other two.

Holders Persepolis are out in the groups. Al-Ain are the team that worry me though. I think we'd have to do superbly well if we had them away in the final. They're better than us I think. Tishreen of Syria are also bizarrely good.

But as ever, long, long time until this takes place. Over to the K-League.

---

We've made another excellent start, and once again, we sit top of the pile.

It's the usual suspects. Jeonbuk are looking ominously good and will push us all the way again I think. Suwon not a million miles behind but they just don't really worry me. The bizarre side in this league I think are Ulsan, who have a very good, albeit very small squad yet a manager who plays such a restrictive game. They force themselves out of it.

Giving us Jeonbuk on the opening day again was funny, and a Park Jin-Hyeon red card didn't stop us getting a point.

We've largely been excellent again though. We give little away at the back and score loads of goals. Every attacking player contributing, the young goalkeeper (posted below) is progressing excellently and has started the majority of our games, though we're likely going to face an issue as I've pissed off my other keeper and the big clubs have cottoned onto Kim. I've gotten him another new deal but only a £1.9mil release clause. Man Utd and Spurs interested and he's also now starting for South Korea. I'm serious I think we've produced an absolute world class player here. I'll be tracking his progress throughout the save.

Park Min-Woo, the new striker has been quality. He's a really classy player, different to the others in that he's a creator as much as a scorer, but there's a real touch of class in his game.

We do lack depth in wide areas both in defence and midfield but we've already proven we can take a hit or two this season. Sim got another serious injury and it's a matter of time until he's out of the squad I think.

I feel similarly to how I did a year ago, title contenders and looking strong all over the pitch, but we've not really been tested in the areas we're weakest in yet and that could cost us. Still though - to say we've played 17 competitive games in 10 weeks it's some effort to have won 14 and drawn 3 of them. We've a really nice squad for the most part, loads of really talented players who I think could step up to the likes of Europe.

PS I fucking hate Gimcheon. Steal our players and steal the least deserved point ever at our place in injury time!

[Dan+]

IT'S ALL A BIT SILLY

The format of the league changes a bit year to year based on international tournaments, and it being 2030 means it's the English World Cup (actually being played in Germany) this year. What it leads to is the first half of the K-League season being utterly mental and I think I've cost myself a little by not signing a couple more players. We are struggling badly with this schedule now. I fail to believe we're the only ones but you play literally half of your league campaign, as well as continental games, in the space of about three months.

By the end of May I'm changing about 6/7 players a game, having to play all sorts of players out of position etc... we're struggling a bit now and I consider myself to be quite good at squad rotation for the most part.

Still very much in the three way title race but we were looking comfortable at one point and now we aren't.

Most worryingly of all is how poor we seem to have become at the back. We let in 5 goals in our first 10 games. To go from that to 19 in the next 11 is quite a worrying drop off.

But we're scoring loads. The new striker Park Min-Woo is excellent, Park Jin-Hyeon still as lethal as ever and even Jun Se-Jin is rolling back the years. In-fact the latter two are in a bit of a battle to be the clubs record ever league goalscorer. Jun has broken the record twice.

The Ulsan game needs addressing. 8-1 at half time was a shame we added no more but goodness me. Like I said before, I rate them as probably the 4th strongest team in Korea and they're just so mis-managed. They've no organisation at all.

This could turn into a seriously interesting title race. The modern day big three all very close together and all within 2 points of each other. It makes things very interesting but I think we may miss out this year as I prioritise other competitions. The Champions League is the priority regardless of what happens in the league. 

I do expect us to be stronger again now that the fixtures calm down a bit, although the next two games you may have noticed are against the two just below us, both at our place.

All to play for but cannot accuse this league of not being interesting, even if it is a bit full-on.

[RandoEFC+]

It's cool that you're still enjoying the domestic side. I had something similar when I did a career run through Africa. It wasn't actually a Pentagon challenge but I think I'd won 4 titles in 5 seasons across the Algerian and then Tunisian league but never managed to win the African Champions League, ended up moving on to South America because I got a bit bored of the domestic scene and didn't have it in me to stick around season after season just for another pop at the continental trophy that was taken up by about 15% of the games each season with the rest being a bit repetitive.

Good luck!

[Dan+]

16 hours ago, RandoEFC said:

It's cool that you're still enjoying the domestic side. I had something similar when I did a career run through Africa. It wasn't actually a Pentagon challenge but I think I'd won 4 titles in 5 seasons across the Algerian and then Tunisian league but never managed to win the African Champions League, ended up moving on to South America because I got a bit bored of the domestic scene and didn't have it in me to stick around season after season just for another pop at the continental trophy that was taken up by about 15% of the games each season with the rest being a bit repetitive.

Good luck!

It's testing my patience a bit I must admit. I am enjoying it but I'm still playing through most of my season just waiting for those CL knockouts. It does make them more tense within the game though which I quite like as you feel like you're actually under a bit of pressure, albeit self-imposed, to win it.

I'm also not at all confident I'll win it this season either. I've enjoyed Asia but I do fancy getting out of there now. It's a world tour not Asia tour.

[Dan+]

THREE WAY BATTLE

We're approaching the business end of the 2030 season now and it's getting tense. This is actually probably the best title battle I've seen on FM22 to date because there's us, Suwon and Jeonbuk that haven't been more than 5 points apart virtually all season.

There are times where I think we've got the last two and we'll win this one as well. Notably the double header at home to them both - I won both games. I came out of that thinking we're still the top dogs and we're still the ones to beat.

But since that we've been dodgy again. Three things particularly concern me.

The first is that pathetic loss at Jeju. While the Korean FA Cup is not a top priority, albeit something I'd still like to win before I leave, to go out to lower league opposition, shipping another 3 is pathetic. I don't know if I'm reading too much into things here but we don't seem to hit the same heights in cup games and I include Champions League in that. We've exited in the last two years in fixtures I thought were winnable and it's a bit of a theme. We're more of a league team than a cup one and given the objective is the Champions League, this is worrying. We were without five Korean players due to the World Cup but even still, awful.

The second is just the abject defensive record in general. Just look how many times we're letting in 3. I felt so assured after that Jeonbuk win that all we really needed was a rest, but the Suwon game, while a great result brought back fears about our defending and piss poor losses to Daegu and Ulsan compounded that.

The elephant in the room is unfortunately the goalkeeper Kim Dae-Ryoon. Immense attributes but he's just not really doing it. He's so inconsistent but you have to expect it at his age I guess. It's a tough one. I brought back my other keeper ffor the Gwangju game although I'm not expecting any fireworks from him given his morale is shot, he's out of contract and he's not 100% reliable himself.

The final one is European teams taking our players. We're coming under serious pressure now to lose players and our own window shuts in late July, which is utterly useless given we can't replace anybody we lose until January, which will almost certainly blow our CL campaign to pieces. Chelsea want the keeper and he wants to leave which is totally fair enough, but I'm getting offers for a few players now and I only expect this to intensify as this month progresses. We're in a tough position because I'm going to either end up with pissed off players or no players at all.

I think the realities of the size of this club are starting to kick in now. We have progressed a lot but we aren't big enough to hold onto our better players like this. It's really adding to the challenge and when I've got such a lofty ambition it's really making this hard.

The only thing that's working out is that we've not got any release clauses (other than Darwin Parra who hasn't actually been amazing anyway) and a lot of them are willing to accept me asking for money quite a bit above what they're worth, but I do still fear we're going to lose somebody.

Oh and finally, the league table: