Unleashing the Hoffe - A random FM Career.

[WITW]

Intro

So, first of all, howdy folks! I've been a reader on these forums for quite some time but, inspired by reading some of the career updates here, I decided to sign up today and post some updates of my own. I'm usually a bit of a "one club man" on FM, but I do always try to have a career game going. I hadn't been able to get into one on this version but this weekend I sat down and, determined to stick to it, loaded up a new save. I'm sure you'll notice that the format is very similar to other threads here. I figured it would make it easier to follow what worked well for others - I'm sure it will develop over time but hopefully no one is offended if I 'copy' their format. Anyhow, enough of that... onto the game, thanks for reading!

Setup

I'll start by saying that this won't be a career game spanning a lot of weird and wonderful countries, playing with minnows and working my way slowly to the top. Admittedly, those careers are great fun to read about - I've read a few excellent ones on here - but lower league management isn't really the direction I wanted to go with this particular game. So with that in mind, I loaded up a large database with the following leagues;

England - Conference North/South

Spain - Segunda B

Germany - 3. Liga

Italy - 2a Divisione

I wanted to manage in a top division, but didn't have a particular team in mind. Rather than starting unemployed, I went down the route of randomising until I got a top division side. I'll probably add other leagues as I go but I felt like playing with some more familiar leagues to begin with. I'll start the updates in my next post, and will keep this post updated with my career history as the game progresses. The only thing to bear in mind is that, at the point of starting this thread, I have already played through to December. As such, the first couple of updates will be written retrospectively.

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Current Club:

TSG 1899 Hoffenheim

2014-2015 Season

Managerial Career

2013/2014 - TSG 1899 Hoffenheim. (Bundesliga: 3rd Place, DFB-Pokal: Winners)

[WITW]

2013/2014 Season

TSG 1899 Hoffenheim

Nickname: Hoffe

Founded: 1899

Stadium: Wirsol Rehin-Neckar-Arena

(31500 capacity, 21000 seated)

League: Bundesliga

Media Prediction: 10th

Board Expectations

Bundesliga - Respectable League Position

DFB Pokal - Quarter Final

I decided, for once, to be confident in my predictions so told the board that I could go one better and finish top half. This got me a slight increase to my wage and transfer budgets. As for the cup, whilst a good run would be nice, it definitely won't be the priority.

Budgets

Transfer: £5.0m

Wage: £500k

This was a pleasant surprise, and even better was the fact that we were 100K+ under our wage budget. This meant I could up the transfer budget to around £8.5m, which I quickly went about investing as you'll see below.

Squad

(note: Screenshot taken in December)

Of my initial squad, the first thing that struck me was the average age (Under 24). I had no players under the age of 30. Kevin Volland, Roberto Firmino and Niklas Sule were the three who really stood out as future stars, while I quickly established veteran (at 29!) midfielder Sejad Salihovic as my captain and key player. It was apparent, to both me and my oh so helpful coaches, that we had a weakness in goal. I also needed to strengthen at left back and, to suit my formation, I needed a tough tackling midfielder.

Transfers

I was very happy to get Alex McCarthy in and, though it took a bit of fiddling around with future fees etc, I was reasonably happy with the price. We really needed a good goalkeeper so this was my main focus. Guede and Ostrzolek were both transfer listed by their respective clubs, but fit in nicely with my planned tactics. The transfers out were fairly irrelevant. I've inherited a pretty bloated B team, so will look to offload some deadwood as I go. The only player of note to leave was Fabian Johnson, who was leaving on a free at the end of the season anyway, so pleased to at least get some money for him.

Tactics

I've had some success with a narrow 4-2-3-1 on other games, so decided to stick with what I know. Made a few tweaks to try and make it a bit more defensively solid, as I've only used it with top sides in the past. I was looking to play a quick passing game which will hopefully suit my technically gifted youngsters.

Pre-Season

Despite being smashed in our first game, pre-season went pretty well. No injuries and some good performances with a very unfamiliar tactic. I have no idea what happened in the Kyiv game - we had more possession and they had 5 shots in the first half, and yet we went in 5-1 down at half time. A better second half followed, but not a great way to start off - had to just put it down to a new manager, new tactics and lack of fitness. Fortunately, we recovered from that and won 5 of our other 6 pre-season games. The only loss coming to Atletico Madrid in a game we really should have won.

All in all, I was reasonably confident going into the season. Though, the fixture list had not been particularly kind, with Schalke(H), Leverkusen(A) and Bayern(A) all to play within our opening 5 games.

[WITW]

2013/2014 Season

TSG 1899 Hoffenheim

August 2013

Bundesliga

I was expecting a tough start and a tough start is what we got. We were well beaten at home to Schalke and then unfortunate to lose in Leverkusen. Despite a decent draw at Frankfurt, the Hannover match was a game we really needed to win (given that we had Bayern away up next) to avoid a tough start becoming a very bad start. Luckily, Kevin Volland found some form and bagged twice to give us a comfortable first win of the season.

DFB-Pokal 1st Round

Before our Bundesliga campaign even got underway, we headed to 2nd tier Bielefeld for this cup tie. We ran out comfortable winners – more so than 4-2 suggests. Disappointed to concede two sloppy goals but pleased to get a first win under the belt.

September 2013

Bundesliga

Beaten in Munich as expected. What I didn’t expect was to have more possession and create more chances. They created very little and led 1-0 most of the game, scoring twice late on as we pushed for the equaliser. I was impressed with the performance and we continued in that vein winning well in our next two. A solid start overall. Pleasing to see an improvement in defense as the team gets more used to the tactics

DFB-Pokal 2nd Round

Another trip to lower league opposition and another comfortable win. Kevin Volland starting to hit some real form.

[WITW]

2013/2014 Season

TSG 1899 Hoffenheim

October 2013

Bundesliga

Just 3 games again this month, due to international fixtures (where Kevin Volland won his first Germany cap). 3 wins from 3, including a late win against Dortmund! They were on top but, like Bayern, didn’t really create too much. They led through Mkhitaryan just after half time but somehow we fought back to win it in injury time. I was in a room full of people at the time so a mere fist clench had to suffice as my celebration! These fixtures had us in the dizzying heights of the top 6. Suddenly, it was becoming an excellent start to the season.

November 2013

Bundesliga

I don’t like to say ‘disappointing’, because we’ve made a great start, but these first two games were a little frustrating. We threw a lead 2-0 away against bottom club Braunschweig, before coming from 2 down to draw at home to Stuttgart. Two winnable games, but we redeemed things somewhat with a fine 4-1 win at HSV and a goal fest of a win over Augsburg.

[WITW]

2013/2014 Season

TSG 1899 Hoffenheim

December 2013

Bundesliga

A month that looked tough on paper. I had hoped for 6 points to send us nicely into the winter break, but we went one better and won all three. All very tight in the end and our third injury time winner of the season against Nurnberg, in a game which we trailed after 70 minutes. So, what have these results meant for our league position? Well, amazingly….

Top! Loving it. I don’t for one minute think we’ll finish there though. We’ve relied heavily on Volland’s goals (18 in 20 games), and on the odd inspired performance by Alex McCarthy, but if we can keep this up a little while longer we’ll have an outside chance of Champions League football next season and, at the absolute worst, a place in the Europa League.

DFB-Pokal 3rd Round

As well as we’ve done in the league, this might be the highlight. We matched Bayern for 120 minutes before two Alex McCarthy saves put us through in the shootout! Bottom club Leverkusen at home next in the Quarter Finals. With Dortmund and Bayern already out, this competition is now very open.

So, that’s me caught up. What next? We’ve got a winter break and three friendlies in Belgium to negotiate, before our next league game at the end of January. I don’t think I’ll be delving into the transfer market, but you never know, the board might decide to be generous now that they’ve given me this….

[deltablue]

Great start!

[Nobby_McDonald]

The Hoff... oh yes...

[WITW]

Great start!

Thanks man - really enjoying it so far! Most I've been into a game on this version.

[WITW]

Nice to see we lasted all of 6 posts before a Hasselhoff video!

2013/2014 Season

TSG 1899 Hoffenheim

Winter Break

I said I didn’t think I would delve into the transfer market during the January window, and I didn’t. The board did offer me this;

I would've been tempted if the budget differences were more significant, but as it is I don’t want to put undue pressure on myself. The existing prediction of top half finish is already more than what the board were asking for!

Mid-season friendlies

A successful mini-tour of Belgium saw us win three games without conceding. A nice bit of game time for some fringe players and fitness and morale maintained for my starting eleven.

Really, a very quiet winter break. No injuries though, which is always a bonus. The only player currently missing is Sebastian Ruby, who is still 6 weeks away from recovering from a broken ankle.

The only other point of interest from the winter break was this;

First time I’ve seen Ronaldo or Messi beaten to the award in the first season. Mata won World Player of the Year too!

January fixtures

Bundesliga

The league campaign resumed in late January and the first of two games this month saw us run out comfortable winners against a struggling Leverkusen side, who beat us earlier in the season. We went behind here too, Sidney Sam netting after 15 minutes as Leverkusen dominated the early going. The award of a penalty swung the game in our favour though. Elyounoussi stuck it away and we never looked back. Elyounoussi finished with a hat trick (including a second penalty), and although Leverkusen briefly pulled it back to 4-2 in the second half, we were never in trouble.

I have absolutely no idea how we won the Schalke game. A Schalke team managed by Andre Villas Boas no less. The first half was fairly even and saw us take the lead as Elyounoussi capitalised on a goalkeeping mistake. They levelled shortly after, but once again we made the most of a rare early chance as Kevin Volland converted from close range. We took control for the remainder of the half and missed a couple of glorious opportunities. Andreas Beck then rattled a post at the start of the second half, before we finally got the third goal through Sejad Salihovic. From here though, it was all Schalke. They pulled one back almost instantly from the spot and, but for the heroics of Alex McCarthy, they would’ve won the game. McCarthy made 3 or 4 saves from point blank range, as we hung on for a huge win. We look frail defensively, but we are banging in the goals. We also didn’t rely on Volland here, with two man of the match displays from Elyounoussi.

Somehow our run continues. 14 unbeaten in the league and 6 wins on the bounce! We remain top, and it remains to be seen how long we can keep this form up. But Schalke away is a tough fixture out of the way. February will bring us some winnable games, but also a huge home game against Bayern, as well as the cup Quarter Final. If we’re still in this position come March, I might just start to believe!

[SRL88]

Hoffenheim

[WITW]

2013/2014 Season

TSG 1899 Hoffenheim

February 2014

Bundesliga

By our own high standards, a poor month. Poor defending cost us dearly at home to Frankfurt as we fell two behind inside half an hour. We were slightly better second half, Salihovic netting to get us back in it, before going down with a pulled hamstring. We struck a post, and missed a couple of chances as we tried to get level, but Frankfurt hit the woodwork twice themselves. Overall we didn't deserve anything from the game and, even worse, we lost Salihovic (our captain and main playmaker) for 4 weeks. Without our skipper, we then travelled to Hannover and again went behind early on when Niklas Sule gave away a penalty after just 11 minutes. Hannover scored but this proved to be their only shot on target all game. We bossed it after this, with Firmino equalising on 29 mins. At this point, it looked like we would run out comfortable winners. However, despite our possession, we struggled to create any clear chances – even when Hannover’s Christian Schultz was dismissed, for a professional foul, with 11 minutes remaining. Just as it looked like the game was petering out into a disappointing draw, Eugen Polanski popped up after a scramble from a corner, to fire home a 93rd minute winner. Much needed.

The Bayern game was a bit frustrating. The outcome was expected, but we were the better side for large parts. Ultimately though, we didn’t create enough and the game was settled by Mattias Ostrzolek’s own goal on 9 minutes. Another tight affair followed at Wolfsburg. Again we were undone by some poor defending, conceding after Volland had levelled the game at 1-1 midway through the second half.

So 1 win and 3 losses. Not the best of times, but still right up there in third. Starting to fall behind the top two though, and in danger of being caught by the teams below us. It would be a shame to blow a Champions League spot now, but I suppose I should remember that our expected finish was 10th.

DFB-Pokal – Quarter Final

Leverkusen have struggled this season, which made it all the more annoying when they took the league here in just the 2nd minute. Once more, it took us 20 minutes to get going but once we did, Leverkusen had no answer. Eugen Polanski equalised from the spot, with Kevin Volland rifling home the winner just after the hour mark. 2-1 flattered Leverkusen. We squandered chances while they struggled for possession, thus creating very little. A cup semi-final to look forward to, a bright spot in an otherwise forgettable month.

DFB-Pokal – Semi Final Draw

(Leagues in brackets)

Hoffenheim (1B) vs. Freiburg (1B)

1.FC Koln (2B) vs. Wolfsburg (1B)

(Ties to be played 15th/16th April)

Apparently you can be drawn at home in German Cup semi-finals. I, for one, have learnt something today!

[DavidBeckham]

Not the best February, but still within touch. Good luck for the remaining games of the season mate!

[WITW]

Not the best February, but still within touch. Good luck for the remaining games of the season mate!

Thanks!

I kinda don't feel like I should be disappointed, since we are performing so far above expectation, but darn it if I'm not a tiny bit gutted! Especially at the home defeats.

[WITW]

2013/2014 Season

TSG 1899 Hoffenheim

March 2014

Bundesliga

A slightly better month overall. But it didn’t start that way as it took a late equaliser, from substitute Sven Schipplock, to rescue us a point at home to Freiburg in a dress rehearsal for next month’s cup semi final. With Volland’s goals drying up, we were suddenly becoming that team that dominates games but fails to win them. Despite Volland scoring, the next game away at Mainz looked to be following a similar pattern as we twice had to come from behind. However another late goal from a sub, this time Kai Herdling, snatched us all three points!

A narrow win over Hertha Berlin followed before a 4-2 defeat to league leaders Dortmund. In truth, we were outclassed and 4-2 probably flattered us a bit. If that didn’t put us out of the title picture, the next game certainly did as we twice lost the lead in a 2-2 home draw with relegation-threatened Braunschweig.

The good news? We’re still third, and the away win at 5th placed Mainz means we still have an 8 point cushion in the Champions League places. Oh, and Salihovic is back playing too. The bad news? We’ve only won 1 in our last 5 at home in the league, which doesn’t bode well when you have a semi final coming up, at home.

Youth Intake

That time of year where the club announces its intake of youth players. Average at best really. Two and a half stars being as good a player as we could muster, which is a shame as our youth facilities are rated as ‘excellent’. No one worth linking I'm afraid!

In other news this month, Kevin Volland decided to annoy me...

I had no choice but to buy his loyalty with promises of winning the cup. Win the cup or lose your best player and future star... no pressure lads!

Aaannnd finally, in further bad news...

Cripes! I hadn’t checked my finances in a while. That’s not good, but a top four finish should bring in a fair sum surely?

*checks the League rules*

£33.8 million for 4th place? That’ll do. Crisis averted, I hope.

[WITW]

2013/2014 Season

TSG 1899 Hoffenheim

April 2014

Bundesliga

What a month! And I was still disappointed with the 1-1 draw at home to HSV (which took our home record to 1 win in 6!). Luckily, it was preceded by a terrific away win in Stuttgart, which meant that Champions League football was almost assured. I really want to finish third though and we took huge strides towards doing that with thumping wins in Augsburg and then at home to Gladbach. I don’t know how we managed to concede three in that game – we were even behind after 2 minutes – we scored 5 and missed countless clear cut opportunities. We never looked like losing though and continued that form into the Gladbach game which we dominated from start to finish. Definitely one of the most one sided games we’ve played this season.

So, the results this month mean that....

Hoffenheim will play Champions League football next season! Okay, so we knew it was coming – comfortable in the end – but I’m still delighted with it. Especially as we’ve kept up with the big two throughout most of the season. I’m sure this message came a game late though... Must’ve been some confusion with Bayern still in Europe or something.

Confirmation that we have secured Champions League football for next season. 1 win from our final 2 games will see us clinch third and avoid having to play in the qualifying rounds. Mathematically we can no longer win the league, and Dortmund need just 3 points to clinch the title. We also have an outside chance of pipping Bayern for second.

DFB-Pokal - Semi Final

A great month in the league, made even better as Hoffenheim reached their first ever DFB-Pokal final! It looked like we were on our way out after Niklas Sule’s calamitous own goal on 16 minutes. Sule played the ball blindly back to Alex McCarthy, only for McCarthy to already be on his way out to collect it. You’ve all seen them on FM. You know they’re coming and watch in slow motion as the ball rolls agonisingly in. Again, I was in a room full of people so my anger at my young Centre Back had to be kept to a classically British “tut”.

We dominated after this, creating at least 4 glorious opportunities, but couldn’t find an equaliser. Kevin Volland was hauled off, replaced by Anthony Modeste, a man with just one goal to his name all season. Within two minutes he was on the scoresheet, latching on to a Salihovic through ball and smashing a shot straight through the Freiburg keeper. We were back in it.

We were on top for the last 20 minutes, but it kind of fizzled out and into Extra Time. Within a minute of the restart, Jiloan Hamad, again played in by that man Salihovic, went through to put us ahead. We controlled Extra Time really, and Hamad added a third (and his second) in stoppage time. With more than a little help from my fringe players, we are in the final!

And..... Annnnnnddd....

We’ll play lower league opposition! With Koln upsetting Wolfsburg surely Hoffenheim are looking at their first ever top level trophy? SURELY?

[Nobby_McDonald]

Well done Witw.

[WITW]

2013/2014 Season

TSG 1899 Hoffenheim

May 2014

Bundesliga

2 league wins from 2 in May meant we clinched third spot. We were 2 up inside 12 minutes in Nurnberg and 3 up by half time. The second half was comfortable with Nurnberg down to 10 men. Karim Guede got himself dismissed in injury time to put a blemish on an otherwise good outing. The final game was a bit of a non event really – neither side had anything to play for. We ran out 2-1 winners with Salihovic. We did manage to hit the woodwork 3 times in this one!

Sadly, two wins weren’t quite enough to beat Bayern into 2nd, but finishing one point behind them, and eight behind the eventual champions, is a terrific effort.

Of course, once third was secured, all focus shifted towards Hoffenheim’s big day out...

DFB-Pokal - Final

Road to the Olympiastadion

We sailed past lower league opposition in the early rounds, before coming up against Bayern Munich in round three. Unlucky not to win in normal time, we made it through on penalties. Alex McCarthy was the hero here saving from Schweinsteiger and Javi Martinez in the shootout. We benefitted from home times again in the latter rounds. First, a come-from-behind victory against Leverkusen and then, Antony Modeste was the unlikely hero in the semi final. Off the bench, and with almost his first touch, Modeste scored just his second goal of the season to take the game into Extra Time. Fellow substitute Jiloan Hamad then scored twice in Extra Time, to seal our place in the final.

Koln were not to be underestimated, having beaten two top division sides to make it this far. With this in mind, I sent out my strongest team. Karim Guede’s sending off in the league cost him though. Whilst he wasn’t suspended, I opted to leave him out in favour of in-form Sebastian Rudy.

So the big game – could Hoffenheim land their first major trophy?

They could!!! Just!

This game was unreal. We were absolutely coasting. 2-0 up at half time with goals from Salihovic and Volland and we were on our way. Or so I thought. The players must have thought it too as they slackened off after the break. Out of nowhere, Koln were level. Two goals via the head of Slawomir Peszko, exposing some woeful defending. Koln suddenly had the momentum. It looked like we might just lose our first major final.

Then, for some inexplicable reason, Koln withdrew their two goal hero. His replacement, Marcel Risse, had been on the field just four minutes when Kevin Volland broke down the left, in behind the Koln right back. All he had to do was hit the right area with the cross. He did that and meeting it just ion the edge of the 6 yard box was substitute Jiloan Hamad, heading low to the goalkeeper’s right. Hamad has come off the bench to win the Semi Final, now he’d done it in the final too! We saw the game out for the remaining 12 minutes until the ref blew his whistle to give TSG 1899 Hoffenheim their first ever major trophy!

And there was much rejoicing!

Delighted! 3rd in the league and a trophy to my name! One of my favourite FM seasons in recent memory, really enjoyed playing it. Gonna be tough to top that next season without a bit of investment, but Champions League football to look forward to as well. Here’s hoping this is the first step in being able to challenge the big two!

My next post will be a Season Review. In the meantime, I’ll finish this one off with some rather nice news items.

Manager of the year! Yay!

Player’s Manager of the Year? Really?

Yuss!

Finally, I had to post this when I saw it...

Last day of the Premier League season. Spurs started the day in Third and look what City and United managed to do...

[WITW]

Well done Witw.

Thank you my good man - for reading and for the comment.

[WITW]

TSG 1899 Hoffenheim

2013/2014 Season Review

Bundesliga

Third Place

Predicted to finish 10th at the start of the season, I told the board the best we could hope for would be a top half finish. The way the season started it looked like I was right. We took just 4 points from our opening 5 games and, at that point, I couldn’t really envisage the season finishing the way it has.

But an amazing run of 14 unbeaten (12 wins, 2 draws) put us top of the league at the half way mark. Sadly, we couldn’t maintain that form, but we did more than enough in the second half of the season to comfortably finish third. In the end, a point behind Bayern and eight behind champions Dortmund. The fact that we stayed in and around Dortmund/Bayern for most of the season was the most pleasing aspect. We didn’t finish way behind in third and very nearly beat Bayern into second. Champions League football next season will be huge for the club.

Highlight:

Kai Herdling’s 91st minute winner against eventual champions Dortmund back in October.

This win really helped to spark our great early season run of form, and a win over the league champions is no mean feat.

DFB-Pokal

Winners

When you put out Bayern, you probably deserve to go a long way in a competition. We coasted through the early rounds and really should’ve beaten Bayern in normal time. But we got through and, to be fair, my hard work of it. We fell behind in both the Quarters and the Semis and let a 2 goal lead slip in the final!

In the end we were worthy winners though, and this achievement probably beats finishing third in the league, given that Hoffenheim had never previously won a major trophy.

Highlight:

Has to be Jiloan Hamad, on as a substitute, arriving in the box to power home a header and seal victory in the final!

Players

Top Goalscorers

Kevin Volland – 26 (20 League)

Tarik Elyounoussi – 13 (13 League)

Roberto Firmino – 10 (9 League)

Most Assists

Kevin Volland – 14

Roberton Firmino – 13

Sejad Salihovic / Tarik Elyounoussi – 12

Highest Average Rating

Sejad Salihovic – 7.38

Kevin Volland – 7.29

Tarik Elyounoussi – 7.15

Transfers

All 3 signings – McCarthy, Ostrzolek and Guede – made themselves first choice in their respective positions. McCarthy was probably the best signing, winning us some games on his own. But for what we spent, these three were exceptional buys.

Fabian Johnson was allowed to leave the club , as he was leaving on a free anyway. At least we got some money for him and we didn’t miss him at all.

I expect a lot more outgoings this summer. We have a very bloated B squad, none of which will ever break into the first team. We’ll no doubt strengthen too, with Champions League money coming in.

Finances

We were over £3million in debt in March, which came as a bit of a shock. Fortunately our league position has put our bank balance way back in the black, and the addition of Champions League TV money should improve things no end.

Next Season

It’s difficult to know what success would look like next season, as this one will be tough to beat. Obviously I’d love to challenge for the title, but the distraction of Champions League football may have an impact.

A lot will depend on the funds we have available to strengthen. One of the major issues we had this year was our depth. As soon as our top players weren’t performing, we didn’t have the replacements to come on and make a difference.

Personally, I’m looking for a similar League performance to solidify us as a “top four” side. A run in the Champions League would be nice, but we’ll be 4th seeds I would think so could be tough. We’ll just look to enjoy the experience (and the money!).

As for myself, I will of course be staying with Hoffenheim. Can’t guide a team into the Champions League and then not stick around to find out what happens!

What do you guys think? What would be classed as success next season?