a little less demanding please

[sebs]

Apologies for the ugliness of this, I'd rather type this up on a tablet and use the pc for FM, so no pictures, not much typefacing and tables may be an issue too...

Leagues loaded: Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia

...the story so far

I started unemployed and holidayed, taking the first job that became available. I resigned after two days. It was an accident that it got accepted. So I holidayed again with different options and then I took charge at Sencur in Slovenia.

When I joined them it was 13 games into a 27 game season and they were rock bottom of the second division in Slovenia. We started with three draws, which somehow scraped us out of the relegation zone, but then started winning and pulled away to safety. However, safety soon became an outside shot at a promotion push. With four games to go a loss against Zavrc seemed to have us out of it, with Smartno 1928 being 4 points clear, and despite us winning the next game they won too. We had two games left, away to the top of the league and then a home tie against none other than Smartno themselves.

We smashed Bela krajina 3-0 at their place, and Smartno failed to beat relegation threatened Krsko at home, which set up the dream finale to the season. We went a goal behind early on, but two goals from midfielders saw us turn it around and clinch the second place playoff spot against a team from the division above. An amazing turnaround from when I joined the club, we'd lost one match with me in charge.

1. Bela krajina +7 50

2. Sencur +8 42

3. Smartno 1928 +8 41

4. Dob +2 40

The playoff was against Celje, who had a far superior line up, and the first leg at home we fell 2 goals down before half time, before we grabbed what could have been a crucial late consolation. In the second leg I went attacking from the off and the results were beyond belief. Within 20 minutes we were 3-0 up, a quick early goal sparking Celje to panic and leave themselves exposed at the back, just after half time it was 5-0 and we ended up winning 6-1 in the most devastating spell of counter attacking play I'd ever seen. Clearly something had clicked.

The First Division season started with similar aplomb, our first game was away to former champions and last season's third place finishers Koper. We slaughtered them 6-1 and my young striker Zalaznik scored five of the goals. The rest of this half the season was going similarly, we beat champions Domzale 5-3 in a spectacular, we dumped Olimpia Ljubljana out of the cup and by the tenth game of the season we had won 6, drawn 2 and lost 2 and were flying at the top of the division.

Then it hit the skids, we lost 7 in a row, including going out of the cup to Dob from the league below, and it looked like teams had finally worked out our 3-4-3 formation. However we didn't fall away positionally and maintained a strong position in the league, as only heavyweights Maribor and Domzale pushed away from the division. We eventually turned our form around and with four wins out of five going into the winter break, we found ourselves third in the league and in serious contention of making Europe.

1. Maribor +24 49

2. Domzale +16 36

3. Sencur +6 33

4. Rudar Velenje -3 28

5. Bela krajina -3 27

6. Aluminij -8 25

7. Triglav -3 23

8. Mura 05 -3 23

9. Olimpija -8 21

10. Koper -18 18

...and this is where you join us, in the winter break with 16 games left in the season.

[sebs]

Squad

Goalkeepers: Matej Radan (23), Tilen Zlebnik (21)

Radan was signed from Maribor for the new season and has been an ever present and immense. He doesn't keep many clean sheets, but that's more to do with our gung-ho tactics rather than his ability

Defenders: Janez Aljancic (31), Peter Kramar (17), Dejan Kern (24), Bernard Stjepanovic (25)

Stjepanovic has been incredible so far this season as the centre of the back three. Kern is a converted defensive midfielder and Aljancic is a right back, but plays as part of the back three. Kramar broke into the first team this year and should be a regular for years to come, should we not outgrow him.

Midfielders: Rok Dolzan (28), Damir Marijan (23), Albin Kotnik (26), Anze Kosnik (22), Rok Brezaric (25), Jure Ajdovec (26), Dejan Grabic (33), Matej Sekoranja (27)

Kotnik is the club captain, Dolzan switches between central midfield and right midfield, Marijan is becoming more influential in midfield. Kosnik is a regular on the left wing.

Forwards: Jure Slomsek (25), Marko Zalaznik (19), David Bunderla (26), Zan Rant Roos (23), Srdjan Arsic (20)

First three there are brilliant. Zalaznik and Bunderla especially - Bunderla just picked up Slovenian player of the year for his goals and assists in getting us to the position we are - a remarkable achievement.

[sebs]

Update April 2014

nb when results are given, Sencur score first

Aluminij H 0-0

Rudar Velenje A 3-1 (Bunderla 3)

Domzale H 2-2 (Rant Roos, Bunderla (pen))

Maribor A 2-0 (Zalaznik, Kosnik)

Olimpija H 1-0 (Kosnik)

Triglav A 0-3

Mura 05 H 1-2 (Rant Roos)

Koper H 2-0 (Slomsek, Grabic)

A topsy turvy first part of the second half of the season, it started with a disappointing home draw, but then turned. We looked to be beating Domzale to take their second place before a second half collapse saw us rely on a late Bunderla penalty to see us back into the match. Then we had a historic victory over runaway champions elect Maribor, which was remarkable not only for the shoreline but also for the four players we ended up with injured after that match, most crucially young talent Zalaznik. We survived to grab a hard fought win over Olimpija, but came a cropper against Triglav and Mura. A win against bottom of the table Koper saw us back on our way.

Meanwhile, Domzale fell to pieces. They got only five points since the mid season break and have plummeted down the table, leaving us to move into a secure second place with European football beckoning for our young squad. With 8 games to go, Maribor have already secured European football and we are the only team that could possibly catch them for the title - we won't.

1. Maribor 68

2. Sencur 47

3. Bela krajina 43

4. Domzale 41

5. Triglav 39

6. Aluminij 37

7. Rudar Velenje 36

8. Olimpija 31

9. Mura 05 31

10. Koper 21

[sebs]

End of Season 2013/14

Bela krajina A 2-1 (Rant Roos, Kotnik)

Aluminij A 3-2 (Slomsek, Bunderla 2)

Rudar Velenje H 2-0 (Slomsek, Arsic)

Domzale A 0-1

Maribor H 2-4 (Bunderla, Arsic)

Olimpija A 2-3 (Kotnik 2)

Triglav H 1-2 (Kern)

Mura 05 A 2-0 (Zalaznik, Bunderla)

It looks like we almost screwed it up, but by the time we lost to Domzale, we were already 8 points ahead of them and they continued to have patchy form. The game against Bela krajina was the key one, Rant Roos came on at half time after we'd just conceded a late penalty in the first half that Radan had saved. Rant Roos scored an own goal, then scored one of his own, before setting up Kotnik to smash one in and send us clear.

1. Maribor 87

2. Sencur 59

3. Domzale 51

4. Bela krajina 51

5. Rudar Velenje 51

6. Triglav 49

7. Olimpija 44

8. Aluminij 42

9. Mura 05 40

10. Koper 33

The remarkable thing this season has been the dominance of Maribor, last year they managed 57 points, this year they got 30 more. We got a fantastic haul of points and maintaining it next season will be a very difficult task, our tactic is based primarily on sitting back and countering and next season we will see more teams sitting back and letting us do the work, or exploiting our weaknesses better - something we are vulnerable to is teams that play an attacking midfielder and we need to counter that.

Aims for next year:

Requalify for Europe through either cup or league

Develop a pressing position based tactical shift to exploit weaker opponents more effectively