Pitalo Posted December 27, 2012 Share Posted December 27, 2012 Hi to all! As a starter I want to mention I am Dutch, and therefor my grammar will not be top notch. I am open for pointers and will try my darnest to make a great thread you"ll enjoy! This is my first recording of a journeyman save! After reading AK22's post, which I thoroughly enjoyed. It gave me that last "push" to start my own. I'll be trying to mimic the same style as AK22 does, with a mixture of my own tasting. Gamestyle: To start from scratch and move on from there. I want to play a realistic game, starting at the bottom moving my way up. That means starting unemployed and as in nature starting with a sunday league reputation. I'm only using club and teamlogo's, no editors. Leagues: I loaded most leagues I like or know. All leagues mentioned are playable and dropped down to their lowest leagues, which will be shown below: Argentina - 2nd division Australie - Hyundai A-league Austria - First Division Belgium - Third Division Brazil - Third Division Denmark - Second Division England - Blue Square Bet N/S France - CFA Germany - Third Division Greece - National B Division Holland - Jupiler League Ireland - First Division Italy - Serie C2 Mexico - Promotion League Northern Ireland - Second Division Norway - Second Division Portugal - Second Division Russia - First Division Scotland - Third Division Spain - Second Division B Sweden - Second Division Switzerland - Challenge League Turkey - Second Division USA - Major League Soccer Wales - Corbett Sport Welsh Premier I am using a large database. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DazRTaylor Posted December 27, 2012 Share Posted December 27, 2012 All the best mate. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AK22 Posted December 27, 2012 Share Posted December 27, 2012 Good luck! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pitalo Posted December 28, 2012 Author Share Posted December 28, 2012 Good luck! All the best mate. Thanks!! Just received a contract offer from a team, so you'll be hearing from me soon... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pitalo Posted December 28, 2012 Author Share Posted December 28, 2012 Glentoran F.C. October came and the first job I applied for gave me an offer. It wasn't for November that Glentoran gave me an offer. Having managed in Northern Ireland on previous FM's I knew Glentoran is a major force within the nation. My love for Glentoran made me accept the offer within a heartbeat. Hoping to chase after some silverware in the coming year. The contract is an one-year deal. Northern Ireland. Don't know much about it. The one thing I do know is the religous war between catholics and protestants. Hopefully I can give the people some joy with some Dutch humor or Dutch football-style. What a great stadium for a semi-proffesional club! I have to say I am really impressed. Attendance of 12.000. I don't think we'll sell out most of the games. Therefor we should've been in a different competition. Club Overview | General Club Info | Club Facilities | Club Background | Club Finances I didn't expect much from a semi-proffesional team. It did suprise me that Glentoran has declined over the latest years. I believed they were always tittle-challenger. Hopefully I can get them back at the top. It all depends on how good the squad is. I will probably inheret a team with low-morale and 1 or 2 quality players. With no money to spend and wages over wage-budget, I have a major challenge ahead. Certainly with my hopes to bring them back up. Atleast I am not the only one with these hopes. The board made sure we're at the same level of understanding. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted December 28, 2012 Share Posted December 28, 2012 Not a bad place to start. Might win a few things there. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pitalo Posted December 28, 2012 Author Share Posted December 28, 2012 Glentoran F.C. Key Players So I took a look at the squad depth and what kind of players there are in the club, also looking in the "B' and "u19" squads. Things don't look bad! It certainly isn't the material I hoped for, but with 4 key players I could play for the higher/highest regions no problem. Behind the 4 key players there are some massive youth players, but they need time and match experience to grow to become a key player. With any good striker missing, I am going for a 4-5-1 attaking tactic. Elliot Morris - My no.1 goalkeeper for the season. Jay Magee - A solid defender. Colin Nixon - An experienced defender. Also captain of the team. Together with Magee they will be a wall in my defence. Stephen Carson - My highest rated player and a good winger. Funny fact: Left winger, but he's favoured foot is his right one. I am not a big fan of wingers cutting inside. I am curious how this is gonna work out November 2012 4 wins in a row! As predicted the defence is my quarterstone to succes! The only worry I have is that we can't beat opposites with more then 1 goal. With exception to my opening game as a manager against local rivals Crusaders. With no good striker available I am more then pleased we score with great ease at the moment. We also keep possesion really good with the majority of the games in 60%, which is, obviously, very pleasing. I hope this momentum will last, because this is a good start as a manager. After joining Glentoran, they sat on 6th. After the great run of result I've managed to get them to 3rd, only 6-point of league leaders and bitter-rivals Linfield. Local rivals Portadown are 2nd with 4-points away. A string of good results will help me in my pursuit of silverware. Not quiete sure how good opponents are in Northern Ireland, my 1st games weren't easy, but they weren't hard either. I think it will be touch and go from here. ---> December 2012 December will bring no less then 7! league fixtures. Portadown will be the first match in December and we'll be playing Linfield aswell. I am not asking for an unbeaten run from my players, just to beat 1st and 2nd placed would taste sweet. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pitalo Posted December 29, 2012 Author Share Posted December 29, 2012 Not a bad place to start. Might win a few things there. I totally agree with you Deltablue. There are worser places to start. First signs are great, can't wait to see this unfold Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pitalo Posted December 29, 2012 Author Share Posted December 29, 2012 Glentoran F.C. December 2012 Reflecting back on this month is have strong mixed feelings. I hoped to beat Portadown and Linfield who are 2nd and 1st in the league. The Portadown game was away and I can see that could be a reason we lost the game. The Linfield home fixture showed me how wrong I was about the strength of my team. Linfield proved me in this single match why the're the major force the last couple of years. Every single player has more quality then my own. After these results the fog about the strenght and depth of this league started to fade. It would be a mere miracle if we could beat Linfield to the throne. So second would be the highest to reach for me now. However I am pleased to see that of the 7 fixtures played we managed to win 5. Some with an excellent score. Another 4 games win a row, made this manager pleased. At this point it's not who we play, beating teams low in the division, but more important is to get points to challenge for no.2 spot in the competition. Still third behind Linfield and Portadown. Winning the fixtures against them would help me in my challenge. Linfield is now 10-points clear from us. Showing the force they have, I think they will win the competition, but I have seen stranger things happen. 7-points away from us sits Portadown. To calculate this means, 3 games win for us and Portadown needs to lose 3 games. With only 21 games played and 12 games to play for until the league splits up, I still have hope for the best. ---> Januari 2013 The transfer market opens! I sincerley hope that my scouts will find me a decent striker or by some chance an agents will offer one of their clients. 8 fixtures to come up. 7 for the Danske Bank Premiership and 1 for the Irish cup against Lower Maze. Going to face local rivals Crusaders, which we hopefully win. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pitalo Posted December 29, 2012 Author Share Posted December 29, 2012 Glentoran F.C. Januari 2013 10 games unbeaten! Just the result we could use to chase second place. However, I can't say I am all too happy how we play our away games. 5 played, 1 won, 2 draws and 2 losses. It's really frustrating to admit Linfield are the best side this season. We lost again, but maybe as justification, we played at their turf. With away games being won scarcely , maybe I am asking too much from the lads. Winning in the Irish 4th round against Lower Maze proved to be easy, just as the pundits claimed. I really feel the Cups could be our only chances of winning any silverware this season. The gap between us and Portadown seems to get less and less. Only 3 points separate us from them. I think, given some good results, we can beat them in the race to second. Linfield is starting to show their supremacy in the league. Being on top with a gap of 14 points to the no.2 in the league. Transfer Update The only activity in this period was us loaning out 3 players and letting one go on a free transfer. To no avail I set my scouts out to find a decent striker for me. With no transfer budget and our wages still over budget it has proven impossible for me to sign anyone. No agents trying to sell their clients to me either. Januari has proven to be cold in Northern Ireland. ---> Februari 2013 - 7 fixtures ahead. One of the fixtures is against Portadown current no.2 - 3 games in a row agains Cliftonville. 2 for the All-Ireland Cup and 1 for the Irish Cup - I am hoping that we can win some more games and starting to pile up the pressure. That 2nd spot in the League is what I want! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AcidBurn Posted December 30, 2012 Share Posted December 30, 2012 Pity about those last two losses in the league otherwise you could have caught up with second place. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DazRTaylor Posted December 30, 2012 Share Posted December 30, 2012 Unfortunate end to the month. Very clear and easy to follow thread mate. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted December 30, 2012 Share Posted December 30, 2012 Good luck catching Portadown. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pitalo Posted December 30, 2012 Author Share Posted December 30, 2012 Good luck catching Portadown. Unfortunate end to the month. Very clear and easy to follow thread mate. Thanks for the feedback. If we can keep the wins going, then we should be able to catch them. Losing against rivals still suck. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pitalo Posted December 30, 2012 Author Share Posted December 30, 2012 Glentoran F.C. Februari 2013 An excellent month! Beating second placed Portadown was a real good result, one I was after. Beating Cliftonville 3 times in a row, was special aswell. Loosing away against bottom placed Donogal was really bad. It seems we have much growing up to do. We can easily beat opponents, but the difference is all about playing home or away. We are too lethargic away. While at home we can beat almost anyone. My predictions that the only silverware possible to fetch this season should be cups turns out to be a good call. We're off in the quarter-finals of the Irish Cup and the All-Ireland Cup. Nothing much has changed. But our result against Portadown made us only 1 point behind them! 2 more games before the split and probably playing them again in the split, made my hopes of a second placed finish, high. Linfield is still 13 points clear of any serious competition. At this point I'm declaring them winners of the league ---> March 2013 - 5 fixtures to go. 2 Danske Bank Premiership matches, 2 All-Ireland Cup matches and 1 Ireland Cup match. - 2 more games before the split, hopefully we can make the best out of the 2 remaining games against; Ballymenna Utd and Dungannon - Hoping to get go through in the Cups. Our only chance of silverware. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
b101 Posted December 30, 2012 Share Posted December 30, 2012 Fingers crossed for the end of the season Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pitalo Posted December 30, 2012 Author Share Posted December 30, 2012 Glentoran F.C. March 2013 This month proved we aren't a stable, consistant team. Losing against Ballymenna Utd. was like a kick to the teeth. Luckily we drew against them next match, taking a replay for the Irish Cup quarter final, but hardly the result I was after. Some good display from our part saw us move on in the All-Ireland Cup beating Portadown in 2 matches. Some good results against them, considering they're second in the league, also this means we're off to the semi-finals. Suprise, Suprise! We're second. Portadown had a bad string of results and our 1 match win against Dungannon sees us getting second spot in the league. Only 1 point separating us and Portadown. Still 5 more games to come, but playing against Portadown in the split could give us an advantage. At this point the league splits in half. Top 6 play against eachother once and bottom 6 play against each other once. ---> April 2013 - 8 fixtures coming up. Including 1 League Cup Final against Linfield. 1 Irish Cup quarter final replay and 2 All-Ireland Cup semi-finals against Linfield. - No expactations against fierce rivals Linfield. As they're the major force. - Getting good result in the last Danske Bank Premiership matches. 3 fixtures planned in April. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AK22 Posted December 30, 2012 Share Posted December 30, 2012 Good luck with all the cup matches. You've got a very busy April ahead!! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pitalo Posted December 30, 2012 Author Share Posted December 30, 2012 Good luck with all the cup matches. You've got a very busy April ahead!! Thanks! April is indeed a busy month. I was hoping April would be a slow month, but due Cups it's action packed. Let's hope for the best. Players need a rest Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pitalo Posted December 30, 2012 Author Share Posted December 30, 2012 Glentoran F.C. April 2013 This has been a month with up and downs. Having to play Linfield 4 times has been difficult, only getting 1 draw. As I predicted, we lost the league final. Linfield deserved to win, we were simple outplayed by their quality. They had such a good run at us, they even kicked us out of the All-Ireland cup aswell. I felt really sorry to the fans, but I can't do anything at this point, Linfield are simple better. On the brighter side, we're in the League Cup final! After winnig the replay, which we played away, we beat Ards in the semi-finals. Our win against Portadown was a major result and something we needed to get. Just to make that second spot secure. Playing Linfield again in the league was one too many confrontation for my players. They need a rest, being a small-squad and played too many games. Cliftonville had a good run and made sure the last remaining games in the league are nerve wrecking. Only 1 point separate us, we have one game more to play and I feel that could be to our advantage. Portadown was unable to get good results this month. Which reflects on the table. 2 more games to go, will we be able to keep that 2nd spot? Linfield are champions. 22-points clear, what a great season they had. ---> May 2013 - 2 more league fixtures. The last game will be against Cliftonville, who are trying to get to second. - 1 more game in the League Cup. The Final against Dungannon. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pitalo Posted January 1, 2013 Author Share Posted January 1, 2013 Glentoran F.C. May 2013 We won the League Cup against Dungannon! It hardly was a difficult match, because we played really well, which pleased me as a manager. My first piece of silverware and making the fans and club, proud of me. I signed an one-year extension on my contract, so hopefully I can bring some more silverware to the club next season. The last 2 results in the Danske Bank Premiership ended with a win for me. Meaning second place in the league is ours and completing the goal I had set for us this season. Overal not a bad season. The only thing worrying me is that Linfield is such a force, that it will take some years to get any close to their level. But he, never say never. With our good results saw us firm on the second place. 17-points away at League-leaders Linfield and 7-points away from 3rd place Cliftonville. Maybe next year things will be more exciting or tighter at the top. Because this year there was no real tension. End of Season 2012/2013 This season was about me getting to know the team, the league and the cups. I think we did a good job finishing 2nd and winning the Irish Cup, therefor qualifying for the Euro Cup. I have to admit the league is more competive then I thought, with Linfield being the one club ascending all this season. Hopefully next season, with some luck and some consistancy on our part we could make a more exciting and competitive league. My aim is to make Linfield work harder for the title than this season. Danske Bank Premiership - 2nd place (winners Linfield) Irish Cup - Winners League Cup - Runners up (winners Linfield) All-Ireland Cup - Semi-final (winners Linfield) Topscorer - Ricky Gibson 16 goals Most Assist - Stephen Carson 13 assists Highest Average - Jay Magee 7.19 Fans Player of the Year - Colin Nixon Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JackJCFC Posted January 1, 2013 Share Posted January 1, 2013 Congrats on finishing 2nd. A good season, hope you do ok in the Euro cup next season. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pitalo Posted January 1, 2013 Author Share Posted January 1, 2013 Congrats on finishing 2nd. A good season, hope you do ok in the Euro cup next season. Cheers!! I was delighted with it in the end. For Euro Cup, we hopefully draw a team that is equally good or less then us. *keeping fingers crossed* Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JackJCFC Posted January 1, 2013 Share Posted January 1, 2013 Cheers!! I was delighted with it in the end. For Euro Cup, we hopefully draw a team that is equally good or less then us.*keeping fingers crossed* If your lucky you'll be one of the seeded teams and get an easier 1st round draw! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DazRTaylor Posted January 1, 2013 Share Posted January 1, 2013 A solid season. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pitalo Posted January 1, 2013 Author Share Posted January 1, 2013 A solid season. thanks m8 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pitalo Posted January 1, 2013 Author Share Posted January 1, 2013 Glentoran F.C. Pre-season 2013/2014 Pre-season started early this year. The first 2 games are against Rosenborg for the Euro Cup. I really didn't get lucky with the draw. We weren't seeded, so we drew Rosenborg. One of the major forces in Norway. After the draw was over I decided to treat the Euro Cup games as friendly's. To my suprise we did really well against Rosenborg! The league in Norway was already halfway, so I expected a well oiled machine. I think they underestimated us. The home game was totally different and I bet the Rosenborg players got smacked against there heads for the first game. They overrun us. Which is no shame, still the shattered my hopes. The board seemed to enjoy theirselfs with us being able to par with Rosenborg. They never blamed for anything, on the other hand, they never expected me to amount anything in the Euro Cup. Great, no expectations. I personally don't care much for friendlies and want to get over them as quick as possible. The Celtic result showed me I had some transfer business to do. 12 players out, 7 players in. That should press the wage budget down. 5 players were given an amateur-contract to prove me they had it in them to go semi-professional. After signing a Dutch scout, he inmediatly suggest I sign 3 young Dutch players. Which I did and they could prove a valuable addition to my team. They had to proof theirselfs first ofcourse. Aaron Mceneff - Hot prospect for the future. He has 5-star potential. Cathair Friel - Back up as right winger. In case the starting winger get's injured. Ciaran Boyd - back up for left full back. Not much expected from him. Tom Kerkhof - 5 star potential goalkeeper. Hot prospect for the future. He won't start this season, but I can see him challenge for the first spot. Martijn Kok - Hot prospect and competition for Marty Murray. Not a starter, but in time an ace striker. ---> August 2013 - Start of the competition! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JackJCFC Posted January 1, 2013 Share Posted January 1, 2013 Tough draw in Europe but you done very well to get the results you did. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pitalo Posted January 1, 2013 Author Share Posted January 1, 2013 Tough draw in Europe but you done very well to get the results you did. Thanks m8, I was really shocked drawing Rosenborg, but only coming short so little made me proud . ?Better luck next time? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JackJCFC Posted January 1, 2013 Share Posted January 1, 2013 An easier draw next time would be better! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AK22 Posted January 1, 2013 Share Posted January 1, 2013 Well done on the cup win! Next, the league title. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pitalo Posted January 1, 2013 Author Share Posted January 1, 2013 An easier draw next time would be better! Hopefully next season lady luck will be much more friendly Well done on the cup win! Next, the league title. Thanks! My next season aim! only 2 hurdles, Linfield and away-games Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pitalo Posted January 2, 2013 Author Share Posted January 2, 2013 Glentoran F.C. August 2013 Board Expactation - Title challenge Media Prediction - 2nd What a good start to the season! We lost against Portadown which was unfortunate and yet another away-game we lost. It was pleasing to see we won 5 games of the 6 fixtures. This will propel us to the top of the league. Easiest match was against Glebe for the Co. Antrim Shield. Our second away-game was won and therefor I was happy that we did. The only game which showed some difficulties was against Portadown. A good start of the season means we're in the top of the league. Suprisingly Ballymena Utd. had even a better start then us. They only drew one of their 5 league-fixtures, were we lost one. Quite the shocker, that Ballymena Utd. are on top. I'll bet they can't hold on as they're mediocre at best. Linfield did make a horroble start to the season, only winning 2, losing 2 and drawing 1. Hopefully this means the league will be more exciting this season. It turns out to be a great season. ---> September 2013 - 3 Danske Bank Premiership fixtures coming up. - 1 Co. Antrim Shield quarter final. - League Cup 2nd round. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JackJCFC Posted January 2, 2013 Share Posted January 2, 2013 Great start to the season, hopefully you can get some good results against those top teams around you. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pitalo Posted January 2, 2013 Author Share Posted January 2, 2013 Great start to the season, hopefully you can get some good results against those top teams around you. Cheers! We've got a great start to the season, hopefully keeping the momentum and get going. Already a 4-point gap with Linfield. I'll be keeping my eye out on them Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted January 2, 2013 Share Posted January 2, 2013 Good effort against Rosenborg. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pitalo Posted January 2, 2013 Author Share Posted January 2, 2013 Glentoran F.C. September 2013 Overal not a bad month. Lost again to Linfield, again away. Beating Crusaders away is a better result and a therefor a slight improvement from last season. The hardest game this month was against Linfield, the other games should be easy, which we proved. Co. Antrim Shield was won and we're moving on to the semi-finals. Hopefully the silverware will come early in The Oval this year. Still a semi-final to play, but things seem bright for us this season. I am glad we show some consistancy and even a slight improvement on last year. Winning some away-games will definitely help in my aim to gain championship this season. Good results means a good league spot. We're first! and for the first time I managed the Glens. I really want to take a moment and enjoy this with a fine bottle of champagne....Oh wait, season not over yet!? I guess I was already daydreaming for the near future. It's only September and 1-point ahead of Linfield. Ballymena Utd. couldn't keep up with good results and sitting on third this time. Hopefully the team will perform consistant in the coming games and if that happens I will be a happy manager. ---> Oktober 2013 - 3 league fixtures. - Co. Antrim Shield semi final. Linfield is the opposition, winning this means winning the cup - League Cup 3rd round. Linfield again!?? yes, Linfield again. The NIFA most really love these derby's. I can't see the fun of it. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pitalo Posted January 2, 2013 Author Share Posted January 2, 2013 Good effort against Rosenborg. Thanks m8. It was pleasing to lose with such a narrow result Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pitalo Posted January 3, 2013 Author Share Posted January 3, 2013 Glentoran F.C. Oktober 2013 Good month overal, too bad we lost against Linfield in the semi finals of the Co. Antrim Shield, but we finally beat them in the League Cup! They only thing that is bugging me the most is that we aren't capable of scoring more. Plenty of possesion, enough shots and even on goal, yet we only win with 1-0. The away game to Ballymena Utd. wasn't great, but considering my squad has an average of 23 years, I am willing to forgive their inconsistancy at away games. Hopefully the scoring and away games will improve, but all in all, not a bad month. Also in October we're no.1, but as you can see, Linfield has on game in hand and only 2-points away from us. If Linfield manage to win that game then we're second. Still, it's close at the top of the league. I think it's going to be us with Linfield challenging for the title this season. ---> November 2013 - Only 3 fixtures, all for the Dankse Bank Premiership Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SRL88 Posted January 3, 2013 Share Posted January 3, 2013 Going to be very tight at the top. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pitalo Posted January 3, 2013 Author Share Posted January 3, 2013 Glentoran F.C. November 2013 What a lovely month November turned out to be. I enforced some pressure on my young team and it seemed to work. I ask for 3 wins and the lads did it! Asking for more goals seemed to work aswell, they did give me a little scare in the first game against Distillery. But winning an away game is always good, specially with our luck. The games against Portadown and Ards showed we're title candidates. Still at the top! 3 points separete us from 2nd placed Linfield. Linfield failed to win their game in hand and sitting 3 points away from our rivals did give me a comfortable feeling. Given the last results my hopes of becoming champions got up. Still it's early in the league, but he, were already at the top. ---> December 2013 - 8 fixtures. 7 for the Danske Bank Premiership, futuring 3 home games, with one against 2nd placed Linfield and 4 away games. Wonder if we can win some away games for our challenge to the title. - 1 League Cup against Portstewart, who play in the First Division. It's an away game. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pitalo Posted January 3, 2013 Author Share Posted January 3, 2013 Going to be very tight at the top. It is! hopefully we can keep up the pace we're setting at the moment Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pitalo Posted January 3, 2013 Author Share Posted January 3, 2013 Glentoran F.C. December 2013 What can I say after these results. These aren't the results we need to gain championship. Only 3 wins, with some poor performances. At first it doesn't seem bad, but I get annoyed that we maintain to have 55+% possesion and yet don't look good in front. Goalscoring seems to get harder and if we score, it seems we score by sheer luck. 1 positive moment in December, we drew against Linfield, still a better team than us. The win in the League Cup was expected, only scoring 1 was dissapointing. I am seriously considering to change tactics, but I'll push our luck one more month and see what luck we still have left. Even after a poor string of results nothing really changed in the Danske Bank Premiership. We're still first in the league. Linfield got closer this month, only 1-point separating us. I truly hope things turn out better in Januari as I can feel the hot-breathe of Linfield in my neck. Unable to win any away games in this month. This should change dramatically if we want to win the league this season. ---> Januari 2014 - 7 fixtures up in Januari. 6 games for the Danske Bank Premiership. 4 at home, 2 away. - Irish Cup 4th round against Cliftonville Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AcidBurn Posted January 3, 2013 Share Posted January 3, 2013 Not the greatest set of results were you closer to losing or winning the matches you drew? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pitalo Posted January 3, 2013 Author Share Posted January 3, 2013 Not the greatest set of results were you closer to losing or winning the matches you drew? Opposition came 1-0 up, so we had to chase them for most of the game. Only to draw in the end...happened almost every game. Made me disappointed, enough shots on goal, but when they park the bus it's hard. Maybe Januari is favourable for us Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pitalo Posted January 3, 2013 Author Share Posted January 3, 2013 Glentoran F.C. Januari 2014 What a struggle Januari proved to be! Ok we've won 5 games, drew 2, but I never thought we had to fight so hard for it. Lady Luck is still on our side, but we need to improve. All games we came behind and I had to pull out all kinds of tricks to get a result. I am glad we did wint the Irish Cup, making us go through to the 5th round. But I feel this isn't going to last nor that these are good signs, but in the end, we're getting the 3 points. It really worries me, that we keep getting behind. It seems that the opposition knows our flaws and they keep pressing on it! We can't handle Kick and Rush football... Hopefully our shortcomings won't undo all the hard work, but I fear for the worse. Still at the top. This time 2-points ahead of Linfield. It looks like Crusaders wants in on the battle for championship. Only trailing behind 5-points. It's going to be extremely close, narrow and tight at the top, just as I hoped earlier in the season. But somehow I hoped it would be somewhat different. I can still feel the lurking eyes of Linfield in my back, waiting for us to make a misstep and on top of that Crusaders want in on some action. I rather would be at a save distance away from this all and let Linfield and Crusaders battle for second. All this pressure can't be any good to my average 23-years old squad? Transfer No transfers were made this period as I believe we have enough dept in the squad. Not having a transfer budget and pressing our wage budget doesn't help much either. Board Since we're first and the board wanted us to battle for the title at the start of the season, I had to opportunity to make changes to these aspirations. However I am still considering us to battle for the title, then we're gonna be title-challengers. In the end it didn't matter much to the wage budget or transfer budget. ---> Februari 2014 - 5 fixtures this time, maybe less games and more rest between games will do us some good. 3 fixtures for the Danske Bank Premiership including 2 away games against no.2 Linfield and no.3 Crusaders. - 1 League Cup semi-final against Ballinamallard Utd. and that's an away game. - Irish Cup 5th round against Portstewart, who play's First Division, also an away game. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DazRTaylor Posted January 3, 2013 Share Posted January 3, 2013 So far so good. Go Glentoran! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JackJCFC Posted January 3, 2013 Share Posted January 3, 2013 Going well so far, looks like a 2 horse race now. Hope you can hold it! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pitalo Posted January 3, 2013 Author Share Posted January 3, 2013 So far so good. Go Glentoran! Keep feeling that our luck is turning, but 100% agreeing with you , so far so good! Go Glens!! Going well so far, looks like a 2 horse race now. Hope you can hold it! If Crusaders are lucky and have a good run it will be a 3 horse run , hopefully I can shatter their dreams Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pitalo Posted January 3, 2013 Author Share Posted January 3, 2013 Glentoran F.C. Februari 2014 My premonition has come true! What an afwul month it was. Well not totally, only salve to the wound was us getting on in the League Cup and Irish Cup. That should comfort me to some extend. The tone was set in the end. There is no turning back now, losing against Linfield and Crusaders, away... The managers seem to exploid our weakness. We can't defend high balls. Not from the touchline nor from the back... We're abandoning ship and take on a whole different approach for the remaining of the season. There is only one option really: ATTACK! Without beating around the bush, I jumped to an offensive 4-2-4 tactic. I'll employ this in March, but like I said, the last 2 result drove me to this resort. I am gutted... Being in front with 2 points at the top of the league last month and now left behind with 4-points to league leaders Linfield. To make it even worse Crusaders are above us 1-point. Our lack of goals are showing aswell, +22. Linfield and Crusaders have done a much better job at it. It pains me to see us 3rd, being first all these months before. A new offensive tactic and 8 more games to come we should be able to make it exciting. I hate to admit this, but this could mean: I have to make Linfield work for their money... ---> March 2014 - 7 fixtures. 3 fixtures for the Danske Bank Premiership and then the split happens, winning these are crucial for the championship - Irish Cup Quarter Final against Dungannon - All-Ireland Quarter Final against Limerick F.C., a 2-legged game Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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