FM22: A JOURNEY DOWN THE DANUBE

[SteinkelssonFM]

They say a journey of a thousand miles begins with a step, what better way to explore the delights of the Danube than through a FM22 save.

The Danube is one of the world’s most famous rivers, standing alongside the likes of the Nile, the Yangtze, and the Mississippi as places of great natural beauty and theatres of human history and culture.

From its source in Germany, the River Danube flows through, or along the borders of, ten different countries before it reaches the Black Sea, passing through some of Europe’s most exciting cities as well as beautiful and dramatic landscapes on its 1,790-mile-long course.

Interestingly, it’s not called the Danube in any of the countries it passes through; in Germany it’s called the Donau, the Dunaj in the Czech Republic, and the Duna in Hungary. The Romans called it Danubius, based on an older Celtic name from which all the modern names derive.

It’s been the site of human habitation for millennia, dictating the course of many historical events and defining historical borders. It was once the northern border of the Roman Empire, almost for the whole of its length, providing a defensive line as well as a way to transport troops and materials to Roman settlements downstream.

It will now become the focus of my Football Manager 'Journeyman' save, as inspired by the likes of @B.W.G  and FM Athlete, who have walked a similar path.

Database

I have opted to load up the following additional leagues (Czech Republic, Italy, Poland, Slovenia and Switzerland) using @B.W.G methodology that these countries contain Drainage Basins from the Danube to hopefully provide the save with an additional layer of realism.

For those of you who are interested I have created an interactive map which identifies clubs across the selected leagues which sit less than 20km from the river. 

The Danube Football Teams

League Rankings

Given the selected database you can see from the above that using FM22 in its vanilla form enables nine of the 10 countries that the Danube flows through to be loaded, providing a 20 league ladder to ascend. 

The lowest ranked reputation leagues are from the Ukraine and Slovakia (one and a half stars), all the way to the Bundesliga (four star) at the summit. 

The game will begin in Slovakia, due to opting to navigate away from Ukraine given the country’s current situation and suffering. My thoughts are with anyone who has been impacted by the heart-breaking/infuriating scenes which have shocked the world over the last few weeks. 

Goals

Given the scope of the task in hand I feel that goal setting will need to be set at each and every club along the journey, given that the stature of club should improve as we get deeper into the save.

Saying that I do believe there is an importance of setting some long-term goals to ensure that we continue to build towards the bigger picture.

1. Continental Pro coaching license
2. Secure a title within a nations top domestic league
3. Win a major European competition (UEFA Champions League or UEFA Europa League)

I would also like to build a tactic over time transitioning from the basic 4–4–2 to a more advanced 3–6–1 which will integrate some more specialist player roles such as the Libero, Inverted Wing Back, Half-Back and Mezzala into the side as we progress.

Inspiration taken from this excellent piece on Spielverlagerung, The 3–6–1: A logical step.

---

Bratislava and the Danube

The river enters Slovakia where the March joins the Danube and, briefly forming the border between Austria and Slovakia, makes its way to the capital of the young republic. Here, at the foot of Bratislava Castle, the river reaches the Danube lowlands (Podunajská rovina) and then serves as the Slovakian-Hungarian river border for 172 kilometres as it travels eastward. 

The Danube shapes Slovakia’s landscape only in the southern part of the country — and while its main course may appear to cover a short distance here, countless branches of the river wend their way extensively through this fertile region. 

As a result, Europe’s largest river island was formed between the Little Danube and the Danube: known as Žitný ostrov (Rye Island), it covers a length of 84 kilometres and width of 15–30 kilometres. Covered in forests and grasslands, this unique area is populated by diverse flora and fauna and also enjoys a pleasant climate: due to its exposed position adjacent to the Little Hungarian Plain, this region is among the warmest and driest in Slovakia. 

The Danube served as an intersection for trading routes even in ancient times, and this is also evidenced by a number of Slovakian cities along the river: Galanta, Sereď, Komárno (on the Hungarian side: Komaróm) and Nové Zámky are interspersed by small nature reserves until the river makes a curve at Štúrovo (on the Hungarian side: Esztergóm) and enters Hungary in its entirety.

FC Petržalka

Football has been played in Petržalka since the 19th century, the football club was established in 1898, but the sports club itself existed six years earlier. The clubs biggest achievements include two championship titles in 2005 and 2008 and three victories in the Slovak Cup (1988, 2004 and 2008). 

In 2005, the club fought its way to the main stage of the Champions League after matches with Kajrat Almaty, Celtic and Partizan Belgrade. They were drawn in a group against the likes of Inter, FC Porto and Glasgow Rangers, finishing in a respectable third place with six points, which meant advancing to the UEFA Cup., from which they were eliminated by Levski Sofia.

Since 2008, the club have been on a downward trajectory travelling from the highest competition to the third league. The club changed several owners, but none of them were able to get the club out of its bad financial situation. 

The end of the old entity came in the summer of 2014. The FC Petržalka Akadémia club was established and the club was reassigned to the bottom of Slovakia’s football pyramid, achieving three back to back promotions secured their place back in the Second Division for the 2018/19 season, where they finished a respectable 8th.

The Danube test: Petržalka is the largest borough of Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia. Situated on the right bank of the river Danube, the area shares a land border with Austria, and is home to around 100,000 people. Stadium FC Petržalka is situated just 500metres from the banks of the Danube.

Facilities

As you can see from the above the club are lacking any form of infrastructure, this will not only have an effect on the development of players within the club but also impact the potential pull of the side in respect to its youth intakes. 

Especially given the fact that less than two kilometres separate them from the powerhouse of Slovakian football, ŠK Slovan Bratislava.

The Squad

Short-term Goals

The club culture is to strive to make progress both on and off the pitch, the plan will be to do this through securing positive results on the pitch and also through the recruitment of staff which will improve the quality of key areas from within the clubs infrastructure. 

The five year plan set out by Owner Marek Mojto is to establish FC Petržalka as a side who consistently finish within the top-half (1st to 4th)of 2. Liga. 

We are currently working at the top end of our wage budget and therefore there is no wiggle room at present to improve the squad within the market, especially given the club has an overall balance of £2,134. 

Media predictions have the club down to finish in 9th place, therefore performing in line with the expectations will be enough to secure the mid-table finish as set out in the initial plan.

Now let the journey begin.

Edited March 15, 2022 by MattyLewis11

[GIMN]

Requested access to the interactive map.  If there's one thing I love more than Football Manager, it's novel ways of communicating information!  Looking forward to seeing how you get on in Bratislava.

[SteinkelssonFM]

Finding our feet 

The opening month would provide me with a good idea as to where we stand in relation to the clubs expectations, the fixture list throwing out a varied range of opposition. The opening two fixtures against FC Kosice (media prediction 2nd) and Dukla Banska Bystrica (3rd) is followed by 11th, 14th, 13th and 16th. 

As with any new save when managing a club where you have minimal knowledge of the league, its players and rivalries, this will provide an accelerated learning journey for myself.

Despite the media's early prediction (8th) we have shown in our first three matches that we possess both the resilience and grit needed to go toe to toe with some of the more favoured teams in the league. 

In fact looking purely at the results, it could be argued that we deserved to take more than the three points from the opening three games. Taking the lead in Kosice in the 96th minute through Kelemen would normally result in victory, unfortunately for us Erik Pacinda scored from the final highlight of the game, which resulted from their kick-off to resume play. we also took the lead twice in our first fixture at home, only to see an underwhelming Dukla Banska Bystrica  pull the game back, ending in a draw. 

However, when looking at the xG match stories for the three games it paints a different narrative. We finished only one of the three games with a higher xG and arguably could/should have secured only a single point, given the gaps in xG in some of those matches.

The pass maps from the three games are starting to take shape, given the lack of position/role/duty familiarity at this stage they will only improve over time. It is refreshing to see that Michal Obrocnik already looks to be the heartbeat of the side in his role on the right-side of central midfield. The 30-year-old is a natural deep-lying playmaker (Passing 12, Technique 13 and Vision 11)  especially when comparing his attributes to the league average (Passing 9.95 , Technique 10.5 and Vision 9.13 ) for midfielders.

We secured our first victory of the season at home (Kelemen grabbing the match ball) which was followed up with a well earned away victory. Unfortunately despite our dominance at home to MSK our ability to convert chances was disappointing, we managed to create a good number of clear cut chances, however our average shot quality was poor...is this something which I should expect at this level?

Tomas Nagy was the main culprit, the 21-year old left the field with an xG of 0.6 from his five shots, three of which came from outside the box.

Focus on Marko Kelemen

Marko has been the stand-out player and therefore I felt I would provide a little focus on his individual performances. 

Despite scoring 40% of goals for FC Petržalka so far in the league our Target Forward (preferred position in game Advanced Forward) has caught my eye for some of his other underlying metrics.

Here are his stats for the first six games, which ones pop out for you?

Marko has impressed me with his ability to advance play up the field, he is often the target for our midfielders to hit when in transition. It is here that his 87% pass completion brings real value to the team.

Marko also has an exceptional headers won ratio (79%) and on two occasions has managed to win 100% of his headers. 

The above analysis is from the MSK game in which Marko won all 11 of his aerial duels, you will see that five of these are in the middle of the pitch which again highlights his importance and effectiveness at relieving pressure from our defensive unit. One of these headers was a key pass, Marko flicking the ball on for the advanced forward to exploit space in behind. 

2. Liga

I am sure you will agree we have made a solid start to the season, we are one of four teams to yet experience defeat (long may that continue). You will note our goal difference is nowhere near as superior as other sides in the league, a given considering we aren't one of the stronger sides. 

Septembers fixtures will bring us up to the 900 minute mark, which will trigger my usual dive into the data hub to explore and trends which raise my eyebrow.

Off The field 

Geremi was a surprise candidate who applied for a coaching vacancy within the club (all staff will be recruited via application) the ex-international player will add significant experience to the staffing team and alleviate some of the coaching responsibilities.

Edited March 13, 2022 by MattyLewis11

[DefinitelyTaylor]

Excellent couple of posts mate. I absolutely love how this site has an ability to be more than just a place to share saves. You have educated me tremendously with your OP and it brings an extra layer to the save. The fact you have taken the time to study up on the river Danube to produce such an excellent intro, kudos. Love the interactive map, too! 

Now, delving into the start you have had with Petrzalka, an excellent starting club I must add, there are encouraging signs. Kelemen really caught my eye for the goals he has brought to the team but a deeper focus into his statistics shows that his influence far exceeds chipping in with goals. 

Looking forward to more.

[john1]

Good start

[GIMN]

Great start.  Drawing away at Kosice is no easy task, regardless of how gutting a 97th minute equaliser might feel.  How are you feeling about the squad now you're a few games in - do you feel the original depth chart is a fair reflection, or has anyone forced themselves into the starting lineup?

[SteinkelssonFM]

2 hours ago, GIMN said:

do you feel the original depth chart is a fair reflection, or has anyone forced themselves into the starting lineup?

The depth chart was made based off my initial interpretations when conducting my squad analysis (attributes, pro's and cons and player traits) which doesn't take into account any statistical outputs (obviously) which normally leads to changes in the hierarchy. 

Early signs are that Lukas Gasparovic doesn't look comfortable playing as an Inverted winger on the left whilst Simon Stefanec looks like he will be my preferred choice as Winger (Attack) on the right.

Haris Harba could also be deployed as the Advanced Forward, he is superior in terms of both technical and mental attributes but lacking the physicals (explosiveness) at 33. Hence why I have opted to play him in midfield to get e his involvement in the game and build-up. 

4 hours ago, john1 said:

Good start

Vd'aka (Thanks) 

19 hours ago, GIMN said:

Requested access to the interactive map.

This should be good to go now also btw, I have made it public. 

4 hours ago, DefinitelyTaylor said:

The fact you have taken the time to study up on the river Danube to produce such an excellent intro, kudos. Love the interactive map, too! 

My aim is to also treat this save as a means to educate myself on some of the history surrounding the countries/cities and how the river has played its role. I will try and keep it involved in the thread for those of you interested.

As for the map, I am glad that you took the time to explore the link...that literally took me all Thursday night to create. You can see how the Danube has played it's role though, as many of the sides would have been established through workers many moons ago, who would likely to have been working in organisations close to the banks, positioned for the logistical advantage of import/export. 

 

[DefinitelyTaylor]

30 minutes ago, MattyLewis11 said:

As for the map, I am glad that you took the time to explore the link...that literally took me all Thursday night to create.

How could I not? It's an excellent idea and tool!  

[GIMN]

1 hour ago, MattyLewis11 said:

The depth chart was made based off my initial interpretations when conducting my squad analysis (attributes, pro's and cons and player traits) which doesn't take into account any statistical outputs (obviously) which normally leads to changes in the hierarchy. 

Early signs are that Lukas Gasparovic doesn't look comfortable playing as an Inverted winger on the left whilst Simon Stefanec looks like he will be my preferred choice as Winger (Attack) on the right.

Haris Harba could also be deployed as the Advanced Forward, he is superior in terms of both technical and mental attributes but lacking the physicals (explosiveness) at 33. Hence why I have opted to play him in midfield to get e his involvement in the game and build-up. 

Stefanec was the reason I asked, as I noticed he picked up the PotM award for the Rohoznik game.  The Harba/Hurny battle could be interesting.  The classic argument of whether pace or movement is better.

1 hour ago, MattyLewis11 said:

This should be good to go now also btw, I have made it public. 

Yeah, I had a gander earlier - it's bloody brilliant.  Are there any teams in particularly you're hoping to get a shot at?

[Toin]

Amazing idea for a save and love the map! Will certainly follow with interest.

[SteinkelssonFM]

900 Minutes 

10 games deep into the save and we currently hold the fifth best form in 2. Liga and remain one of three sides yet to suffer a loss. However, our inability to put sides to the sword seems to be our achilles heel. 

You can see from the above screenshots, spanning the four league games, that Haris Harba  has secured 'Man of the Match' in both of the fixtures which resulted in victory.

We have also finished three of the four games with a higher xG which is also can be seen as a positive, we aren't struggling to create quality chances. In fact we currently have created the second highest chances in the division with 29, only MFK Skalica with more on 32. 

My instinct serves me right, or maybe it was the countless chances on the highlights reel which had left me scratching my head in disbelief. A shot on target ratio of just 39% has us in 12th place in the rankings, for context the other teams around us are those which find themselves 13,14,15 & 16th place in the league (Sport Podbrezova lead the way with 50%).

Are my strikers the problem or are we generally **** poor at hitting the target?

Looking at the player data for the forwards it is clear to see that our two up top are actually clinical in relation to their shooting, both taking above average shots per 90 and both having an above average shots on target ratio. 

Our problem is that we have too many 'trigger happy' wasteful midfielders, the main culprits being Boris Turcak, Simon Stefanec and Jakub Hronec.  

Carrying over some of the player data goes to show that some players such as Turcak really should not be allowed to take shots. Therefore there is an easy fix which can easily be applied. 

For the others I am going to look to add in a few more chance conversion (technical sessions) to the teams training regime with the view to work on converting chances into goals. This training impacts attributes such as finishing, technique, anticipation and composure for the attacking unit.

If we don't see an improvement after a few months, we do have another option to trial.

 

A focus on Jakub Nemec

The player who has impressed me the most over the past month has been 29 year old Jakub Nemec, the Slovak who I have opted to convert from full-back to a left-sided central defender. 

As you can see from his radar, the lad is doing a stellar job, performing above average for all metrics, apart from his foul count....we don't mind a little aggression! 

Nemec is a beast in the tackle, winning 100% of his challenges in eight out of the ten league games to date. The coach report states that he has good timing in the challenge as one of his pros, oh boy they delivered. 

In fact only one other central defender has attempt more tackles per 90 and have a higher win ratio, Michal Jonec of FC Kosice. 

 

October 2021

There are six fixtures which span the month of October, on paper the month is sandwiched between the toughest games, a tough away trip to Podbrezova against the leagues top scorers and closes at home against third place Komarno.

 Spacil is the first player of the save to pick up an injury of any significance, the youngster was often used as an option from the bench and therefore his absence will provide minutes to another impact player. 

Edited March 14, 2022 by MattyLewis11

[SixPointer]

Catching up!! great to see you back and great choice. A path I’ve followed others on and always found it very interesting and the fact I love your writing and knowledge I feel this is going to be very enjoyable and judging by the start you’ve made my assumptions are correct. 

[Muttley84]

Good luck with this.

Curious to see what you achieve in Romania, as both Dacia Braila and Dunarea Calarasi (that is a club actually bearing the Romanian name of the Danube) are destined for relegation from 2nd league in real life. So is Astra Giurgiu (which somehow you missed from your map, and is arguably the biggest of them). Lucky for you most often you will find Otelul Galati promoted and they are elligible too. 

P.S. I still think you should aim to manage Dunarea Calarasi... I mean, they have Danube in the name. So does Dunav Ruse (Bulgaria).

[SteinkelssonFM]

9 hours ago, Muttley84 said:

Curious to see what you achieve in Romania, as both Dacia Braila and Dunarea Calarasi (that is a club actually bearing the Romanian name of the Danube) are destined for relegation from 2nd league in real life. So is Astra Giurgiu (which somehow you missed from your map

Thanks for the heads up (added), there is a whole host of leagues which have two star reputation, which my aim is to be my next stop. However, out of the range of countries available I think Bulgaria, Hungary (quite fancy a 'Battle of Budapest' given the density of clubs) or Romania would indeed be the favoured destinations due to their top leagues holding a value of three starts or less.

The ideal journey would then see me make the jump to maybe the second tier in Austria or Germany...this is just my initial thoughts and things will no doubt change. 

[SteinkelssonFM]

10 hours ago, SixPointer said:

Catching up!! great to see you back and great choice. A path I’ve followed others on and always found it very interesting and the fact I love your writing and knowledge I feel this is going to be very enjoyable and judging by the start you’ve made my assumptions are correct. 

Appreciated, always good to have you on board for the ride mate! Let's hope this one can be something special, especially given the fact this style of save will enable me to freshen things up when I move between countries/clubs. 

[ForzaItalia]

Great idea for a save Matty! Be one great achievement if you can bring some European glory to a club. Are you analysing any distance from the ground to the river to decide on possible clubs?

[SteinkelssonFM]

Attack Momentum

I have opted to display the attack momentum for our October matches, the visual is a good indicator to highlight who has been the most dominant in relation to the ebb and flow of the game, this visualisation was potentially benchmarked from SofaScore, which is where I first came across the aid.

Against Sport Podbrezova, we found ourselves under significant pressure for the majority of the match, which is reflected in their superior shot count and xG. This was one of those games where in all honesty the opponent could easily have scored four or five. Erik Grendel left the pitch with nine key passes, all stemming from corners, the central midfielder also completed the most passes and left the field with the highest rating (8.2).

Strangely enough our only periods of possession ended up with Richard Ludha picking the ball up from the back of his net. How clinical lucky were we?! 

Given that the next game was facing Slovan Bratislava's B team, I was dissapointed in our ability to hold onto the ball, as we finished the game with only seeing 35% of the ball. Again the spirit of the side shone through as we twice came from behind to secure the draw, thanks to goals from Erik  Hurny and Haris Harba. 

Different day, same ****. I am starting to think the results are a subliminal message, 'You should have tried harder at University'. As you can see from the momentum we dominated the attacking pressure for the majority of the match, yet HFC Humenne scored during both spells of their attacking pressure. Given our defence hold one of the highest concentration scores in the league I am not going to initially point the finger until I notice this become a re-occurring trend. 

Three games, three draws...we have scored plenty of goals which is always promising...we just need to work out how to keep those all important clean sheets.

Bottom of the league, FC Samorin visited Bratislava in our fourth fixture of the month. It was finally our turn to express ourselves on the pitch, a performance fuelled by Jakub Hronec's ability to keep the ball and opposition moving (97 passes completed) and Simon Stefanic's creativity from out wide.

The winger managed to tally up nine key passes, all from open play, unfortunately he wasn't able to get an assist to his name, predominantly due to the eventual goal scorer Tomas Nagy only scoring from one of his eight shots.

Nagy's shot map above shows that the advanced forward is taking the majority of his strikes from areas which generate a high xG. His best effort 0.57 xG was saved by Erik Gyurakovics who had a solid game in the opponents goal. ( 7 saves held, 1 parried and 1 tipped)

Komarno (third in the league) were completely outplayed in our final fixture of the month. We managed 18 attempts at goal, 11 with feet, six with the head and one from a direct set-piece. 

This time it was Marko Kelemen who left 0.9 xG on the field of play, again his individual shot map leads us to believe there is nothing to worry about as again all bar one of his attempts came from within the box. Maybe just maybe this is the standard we should expect from players at this level.

Half of the season complete and despite our nine draws we have continued our run. However, come the end of the season will we be wishing we were a little more ruthless, as there is a big difference between points gained from a win compared to a draw. 

Looking at the expected points/goals table we actually are performing pretty much bang on expectations, we can be happy with our performances. I am taking from this that in fact I shouldn't be too worried about our tactics and therefore am not going to be making any changes to the style of play. If we had scored more at this point the goals would have outperformed our expected goals, we are in a good place.

This statement is amplified by the fact that we are leading the division in relation to expected goals. 

 

Welcome Dominik Spiriak

22 year-old centre-back Dominik Spiriak has opted to join FC Petržalka on a deal worth £220 per week. The youngster has experience playing top level Slovakian football with FK Pohronie (32 games) which is exactly the profile of player we are looking to secure in the attempt to raise the standards on the pitch.

Looking at Dominiks attribute radar compared to our best defender (Jakub Nemec) you will see that our new signing is better across four of the eight data points. Given that Spiriak is right-footed he will be integrated into the team to partner Nemec in the centre of our defence. 

Dominik is a smart player and his ability to make the right decisions on the pitch is one of the main reasons as to why I have opted for his signature. 

 

We now enter a very strange part of the league's calendar where we play three games across a four month period, the winter break. 

 

 

 

Edited March 15, 2022 by MattyLewis11

[SteinkelssonFM]

4 hours ago, ForzaItalia said:

Are you analysing any distance from the ground to the river to decide on possible clubs?

All clubs within the interactive map are within 20kn of the banks of the river, these clubs are the ones which take preference in relation to future vacancies as I feel they fit with the narrative of the save.  

[corinthiano]

Great concept, will be following! I lived in Ingolstadt for a year and watched FC Ingolstadt play (before the fancy Audi Sportpark was built), so do hope you end up there at some point

 

[SteinkelssonFM]

We have also secured the signature of Martin Adamec (again ex FK Pohronie) the 23 year-old has already played his trade in both the Ekstraklasa (Jagiellonia Bialystok) and the Fortuna Liga (30 appearances) with both FK Pohronie and FC Nitra.

Given current CM (Attack) Haris Harba is now 33 years old this signing is another move in the right direction for the club, both signings will add both strength and depth to the teams spine, an area which I believe a strong foundation is needed.

Adamec is a technical player and possesses a killer first touch (16), given his age there is still plenty of room for development. He is less well rounded than Harba, which is clear in the comparison radar, what he offers is speed and technical ability.

These two signatures now enable us to shift the focus on recruitment to two more specialist roles within our system the left wing-back on attack and the advanced forward. 

[DefinitelyTaylor]

Love the use of the attack momentum graphic! A very good start to the season albeit with plenty of draws in the mix. I’m sure you’ll be able to turn them into wins and continue your push for promotion. Two very tidy acquisitions too!

[SteinkelssonFM]

The defensive unit - statistics 

I wanted to take a little time to focus on the outputs of our defensive unit, you will note that the players have been sorted in relation to the amount of minutes which they have secured this season, Matus Kunic (our only right-sided full-back) and Jakub Nemec leading the way, whilst our back-up breakthrough prospect Simon Kozak has secured himself 534 minutes. 

One thing you will note is that all players (excluding Timothy Toth) have a pass completion rate of 93% or above, again it would be great to see how many of these passes are progressive. However, we can establish that the defensive unit are adept at playing the ball from the back.

We have already touched on Nemec's tackling ability in his player focus, he isn't the only individual who is good in the tackle, Matus Kunik is completing an average of two tackles per game and winning 84%.

One statistic which jumped out to me was that of Nemec and his ability to intercept the ball, this metric is usually dominated by wing-backs who often anticipate the pass to an isolated winger as sides look to progress the play into the attacking third, not a statistic which is usually won by a central defender.

Watching a few highlights of these interceptions show Nemec often covering the space in the channels, the defender reading play and securing possession for us...kind of acting like the cover role. 

When comparing the statistics of Redeky and Kozak our breakthrough prospect is in fact completing more passes per 90 at the same completion rate, completing more tackles with a better win ratio, winning more headers per 90 and completing more interceptions.

There is certainly a case that he deserves more time in the starting role and that guys is why it is important to take 30 minutes of your time to look into the outputs of players. 

[SteinkelssonFM]

1 hour ago, DefinitelyTaylor said:

Two very tidy acquisitions too!

Both secured on a free, which makes the deals even better! 

Too many draws IMO, I am certain they will come back to bite us in the backside.

[SteinkelssonFM]

The Winter Break 

Since 1900, the Danube has frozen over about 28 times. According to locals, it takes a total of -100 degrees over a ten day period to freeze the might river into ice. Night temperatures need to be around -10 degrees, daytime temperatures must not be higher than zero.

The longest period the river was frozen was during the winter of 1953-54 (89 days).

Typically, it is just before this point that our performances on the pitch have heated up. Our run of now four straight league wins is our best form to date, we have also managed to keep clean sheets in three of these four games which again is our best performance.

Our victory relinquished FC Kosice from top spot in the league, an early error from Kosice's Peter Kavla allowed target forward Marko Kelemen to score a rifled low drive. We were reduced to 10 men as captain Michal Obrocnik picked up a second yellow for a bad tackle in the 55th minute. Debutant Martin Adamec scored a close range shot in the 90th minute to cap off his debut with a goal. 

The pass map shows how central our other debutant Dominik Spiriak was on the day as the defender made a total of 172 pass combinations, providing a strong link to Obrocnik in the midfield.

The result was the second time we have manged to put five goals past our opponent, in a game in which we created significantly more high quality chances than the opponent. 

Keleman was at the heart of the performance, the target forward managed to link up with all eleven players. However, it was Boris Turcak who stole the show.

Boris Turcak's performance against Slavoj Trebisov was the most comprehensive individual performance to date in this save, the right midfielder showed his credentials from the off as he opened the scoring in the first minute.

Turcak simply was unplayable, setting up three goals and contributing to seven key passes. He finished the game with 82% pass completion, completing four tackles, three interceptions and two dribbles. 

Please bear with me, I now have three months to get through prior to our next game. 

Edited March 15, 2022 by MattyLewis11

[Hootieleece]

On 13/03/2022 at 13:00, GIMN said:

Great start.  Drawing away at Kosice is no easy task, regardless of how gutting a 97th minute equaliser might feel.  How are you feeling about the squad now you're a few games in - do you feel the original depth chart is a fair reflection, or has anyone forced themselves into the starting lineup?

FC Kosice can be a sleeping giant in Slovakia. I used them to great success in FM21.

[SixPointer]

Progressing nicely matty, I love the geographical stats and quotes and the things linked to the river!

[DefinitelyTaylor]

1 hour ago, MattyLewis11 said:

Typically, it is just before this point that our performances on the pitch have heated up.

Smooth transition.  You’re certainly fighting in a very closely contested division.

[13th Man]

Got to echo @SixPointerhere.  Love getting some education while I'm reading updates, plus a nicely placed Jimmy McMillan meme is always a plus.  Also, of course, good stuff on the pitch.  So much not losing.  Would be nice to also win a bit more, but your can't rush the river (or something like that, I'm sure there's a metaphor like that somewhere...).

[SteinkelssonFM]

10 hours ago, Hootieleece said:

FC Kosice can be a sleeping giant in Slovakia. I used them to great success in FM21.

They are living up to the expectations of the media as favourites to secure the league title.

9 hours ago, SixPointer said:

Progressing nicely matty, I love the geographical stats and quotes and the things linked to the river!

Appreciated mate, I am enjoying educating myself...I never studied geography in school past the mandatory year nine so the background reading is pretty interesting stuff. 

9 hours ago, DefinitelyTaylor said:

Smooth transition.  You’re certainly fighting in a very closely contested division.

That had to be one of my finest, the league is pretty tough which makes every three points secured, massive. I really hope the winter break doesn't de-rail our momentum. I will use the opportunity to continue the norm (one game per week) with fingers and toes crossed.

The friendlies will also go a long way to generating the club some much needed revenue, we are currently taking in roughly £12k per month,  whilst our outgoings sit closer to £60k.

Player wages alone are at £19k which is higher than our average monthly income, this is before taking into account the other large cost £15k p/m (staff).

The payment for securing first place in the league is only £17k, therefore I will also now need to pay closer attention to the finances, we don't want to grow too big, too fast and end up kneecapping ourselves.

In the words of  @13th Man "You can't rush the river."

I like that! 

 

 

 

[SteinkelssonFM]

In other news, I have opted to renew my contract with FC Petržalka, the one year deal offered by the board will enable me to continue to build on the foundations which I have laid, with the view to secure the side a return to the Fortuna Liga.

[SteinkelssonFM]

The high-water mark of gold gathering in the Danube came under the Romans. Hunting for gold in the river continued thereafter with a method called “panning” (using a large metal pan to agitate gravel from the river bed with a generous amount of water so that the gold particles, being more dense than the other material, settle to the bottom of the pan. The lighter material such as sand, mud and gravel are then washed over the side of the pan, leaving the gold behind). This is a common method used by gold-hunting hobbyists to this day.

Gold-panners were already on historical record around Linz in the 15th century, and the following century would be very productive for gold collecting from the Danube River Basin. By the 18th century, it is estimated that from the Danube main stem and the Inn river, as much as 50 grams of gold was being found in the riverbed annually. Also estimated is that between the 15th and 18th centuries, a total of 20 kilograms of gold was panned out of these sources.

With the colonisation of the Americas by European powers, and the subsequent discovery and mining of gold there, mining gold in the region of the Danube River Basin became ever less profitable. Even panning for gold in the rivers and streams became unprofitable by the 19th century for all but a few private gold-hunters. However, there was still gold to be found, and in 1924 in Austria, 40kg of gold was collected from various sources (mostly mining).

It is still possible to find gold nuggets or grains, although gold specks and dust are far more common these days. The number of larger gold nuggets found around the Danube has decreased over the years...

 

Edited March 16, 2022 by MattyLewis11

[GIMN]

2 hours ago, MattyLewis11 said:

The high-water mark of gold gathering in the Danube came under the Romans. Hunting for gold in the river continued thereafter with a method called “panning” (using a large metal pan to agitate gravel from the river bed with a generous amount of water so that the gold particles, being more dense than the other material, settle to the bottom of the pan. The lighter material such as sand, mud and gravel are then washed over the side of the pan, leaving the gold behind). This is a common method used by gold-hunting hobbyists to this day.

Gold-panners were already on historical record around Linz in the 15th century, and the following century would be very productive for gold collecting from the Danube River Basin. By the 18th century, it is estimated that from the Danube main stem and the Inn river, as much as 50 grams of gold was being found in the riverbed annually. Also estimated is that between the 15th and 18th centuries, a total of 20 kilograms of gold was panned out of these sources.

With the colonisation of the Americas by European powers, and the subsequent discovery and mining of gold there, mining gold in the region of the Danube River Basin became ever less profitable. Even panning for gold in the rivers and streams became unprofitable by the 19th century for all but a few private gold-hunters. However, there was still gold to be found, and in 1924 in Austria, 40kg of gold was collected from various sources (mostly mining).

It is still possible to find gold nuggets or grains, although gold specks and dust are far more common these days. The number of larger gold nuggets found around the Danube has decreased over the years...

 

This might be the single greatest post I've read in my short time on this sub-forum.

[SteinkelssonFM]

Happy New Year! On Sunday the 2nd of January 2022, we received a lovely inbox message which notified us that the board had injected £130k into the club to help with the club's running costs, also known as the wage bill.

This from our earlier brief analysis will see the club over the next three months, yes it's a help but not a saving grace! 

[SteinkelssonFM]

We go again

The return to football after what felt like an eternity, we up the river to Austria to play the first two of our three friendlies, before returning to Bratislava to complete the final 90 minutes of non-competitive football. 

The only league fixture of February was a trip away to Banska Bystrica, the largest region by area of Slovakia's eight regions, Dulka were second place in 2. Liga. However, they lost manager Stanislav Varga over the winter period to MFK Ruzomberok of the Fortuna Liga. 

New manager Rastislav Bozik was hired and his first game would be against us, the most in-form side in the league.

Our biggest fear going into the game, would we be able to pick up where we left off three months ago? The answer, a simple yes. 

We dominated possession 55/45, had the superior xG and came away from the fixture with leading the most important statistic, the score. 

You can see from the opponents shot map that we managed to limit them to six shots within the box, the majority of which came from headers (a lower xG), in fact the average xG per shot in the box was 0.06, highlighting our effectiveness at nullifying their threat.

Matus Kunik picked up the 'Player of the Match' accolade and rightly so, the right sided full-back completed 100% of his 64 passes, contributing three key passes. 

The below image shows his completed passes on the left, compared to all passes which were played forwards which were medium to long. This drill down shows how effective Kunik was at playing those progressive passes which helped to relive the pressure off the back four and move play up the field into the middle of the park or the attacking third (2 passes).

Without the ball he also showed his effectiveness, clearing the ball 10 times, along with completing 100% of his tackles (3/3) and making four interceptions.

The result took us to the summit of the table for the first time this season, with 12 games left, could we have peaked too soon? Time will tell my friends.

March

The Loan-Shark

We did make one final signing of the window, securing the signature of 19 year-old Greek forward, Giannis Niarchos on loan from FK Senica. Giannis was a product of the Panathinaikos Academy, despite not cutting it in his homeland, the striker has performed well in the Fortuna Liga, he had scored an impressive seven goals in the league for them this season from his 16 appearances (14 from the bench). 

There is no fee or wage contribution included in the deal and the players contract expires in six months. Therefore, if he proves himself there will be an offer on the table. If not we haven't had to pay a penny for his services.

Can we mix it with the bigger boys?

A third round cup fixture placed us up against FK Pohronie, who find themselves in fifth place of the Fortuna Liga. The game was a close encounter which is reflected in the even split of the possession and xG, we had more shots which is expected given the fact we were the home side. With the game looking like it would go the distance up stepped Obocnik to score his first goal of the season...Beckham who?

 

 

 

[GIMN]

1 hour ago, MattyLewis11 said:

I use the time sliders, and the pitch area selectors all the time.  Up until now, I didn't even know you could select direction and length of pass.  It's right there.  I feel like an idiot, but owe you a massive thank you!

Also...cracking free kick.  Something about the shape of the body as he strikes the ball is so satisfying.

Finally, is there a plan to focus your friendlies on teams along the river where possible/practical?

[SteinkelssonFM]

3 minutes ago, GIMN said:

Finally, is there a plan to focus your friendlies on teams along the river where possible/practical?

This could well be something I can explore, it will help give me a flavour of future destinations. However, at present the revenue will drive the choice of opposition as quite frankly every penny counts! 

[GIMN]

14 minutes ago, MattyLewis11 said:

This could well be something I can explore, it will help give me a flavour of future destinations. However, at present the revenue will drive the choice of opposition as quite frankly every penny counts! 

Understandable.  There's not really much wriggle room for novelty at this level.

[ForzaItalia]

As this will very much be a journeyman, are you accepting of signing older players for a year or two to get the best out of them or is the goal to leave the clubs in a better position than when you joined? I tend to find when I do journeyman's I'll still be signing youth which feels counter productive when it's all about the current and next season.

[SixPointer]

What a freekick that is! David Beckham like whip on the run up!
 

Things are flowing on the river! 

[SteinkelssonFM]

8 hours ago, ForzaItalia said:

As this will very much be a journeyman, are you accepting of signing older players for a year or two to get the best out of them or is the goal to leave the clubs in a better position than when you joined? I tend to find when I do journeyman's I'll still be signing youth which feels counter productive when it's all about the current and next season.

The aim is to sign players ideally who can do the job on both fronts, obviously I want to hit the short-term goals for the clubs and ideally take them as far as I can during my reign. However, I would like to leave a legacy so that the sides can continue to compete after I have given them strong foundations. 

Whether or not the AI can do that is a different story! 

Also I haven't stipulated how long I will stay with each club, I am not going to set a specified time...it will be more of a case of when I believe I have taken the side as far as I can, or a offer/vacancy is on the table. 

6 hours ago, SixPointer said:

What a freekick that is! David Beckham like whip on the run up!

One of the best I have seen in this edition of FM. 

[_Ben_]

This is fantastic!

I think you've found it! I actually really like how you post about lower league, poorer quality, unknown players. I've read your tactical stuff and I love that but this is really painting a picture of what you'd see at this level and you're doing a wonderful job of it, too.

How many steps do you think it'll take to reach Germany?

[DefinitelyTaylor]

On 16/03/2022 at 11:22, GIMN said:

This might be the single greatest post I've read in my short time on this sub-forum.

This!

[DefinitelyTaylor]

Picking up from where you left off in absolute style. Beautiful stuff, my friend! 

A free-kick that Morten Gamst Pedersen would be proud of from Oborcnik. 

[SteinkelssonFM]

March 

With our success in the cup March would be a real test for our side on a physical level, as we had six games spanning the month. Our most since October, which seen us draw three and win three

Roman Marcok's side were minutes away from securing an all important draw for his side (Namestovo) who find themselves well and truly in a relegation battle. Although, I am sure the manager will admit that the final result was well deserved, as we dominated the game and were by far superior in the second half. Looking at the xG match story we had a significant number of high quality chances, the majority falling to Giannis Niarchos who failed to hit the back of the net from his 11 shots.

You can see from the above snippet that three of our goals came from low quality shooting positions, yes we scored all three from outside the box! 

The result meant we secured our sixth victory on the bounce, we are well and truly firing on all cylinders! it is in fact the first time that we now hold more victories over draws. 

The game against Rohoznik was a real Jekyll and Hyde performance from ourselves, we came out of the blocks faster than Usain Bolt, scoring three goals and having a penalty saved. Complacency then veered its ugly head as we let the visitors cmpletely dominate us. Given our current form this was an ugly victory and something which I do not want to see from my team.   

On a positive Dominik Spiriak secured the 'Man of the Match' award, he chalked up two assists (key passes above) using his vision to play the ball over the opponents defence, with two pretty much identical passes for Kelemen and Nagy to finish off. 

I opted to rotate the squad for the cup quarter-final, now I know some of you will think I am mad for my choice, so here is my reasoning. Only the winner of the cup is rewarded (UEFA Conference League First Qualifying Round) and I do not think we are ready to compete at this stage. The further two games adds additional injury risks for my team and could seriously dent our league form/chances of finishing in the top two.

Given the fact that we are now in March, I don't think I have done a bad job for this result to be my first defeat as manager. 

Partizan Bardejov were next to visit Bratislava, given our draw with them in the reverse leg (coming from behind twice) we knew this would be a test and show us again how far we have come as a team.

We started the game well and were awarded a penalty in the third minute, up stepped Harba, the midfielder missed his last penalty and this one was also saved. Despite missing his last two penalties Harba has scored his previous five and will still remain our designated taker...for now.

I have noted a trend in the amount of goals we score in the first 15 minutes, in fact we often score a large proportion of our goals first which is a great psychological advantage, especially in a league where players lack the mentality (determination) to continue to fight for the side when behind. 

Regardless of the result, any game where the goalkeeper secures the 'MOTM' you have to applaud them, knowing that on another day you would have probably walked away with all three points. (we haven't had a draw in a while lol).

It took two late first-half goals to secure the victory in our final game of the month, with performances like the above from Jakub Hronec, it won't be before long that our team passing numbers see us move from below average to above average in relation to our passes attempted per 90. 

We already are above average in relation to our pass completion ratio. I think I will look into the midfielder stats in a separate piece, to follow. 

Remember how earlier on in the season I was worried about our finishing, well look at us now! We hold the highest goals per game output and aren't far off being the most clinical! You will see from the individual graph that Kelemen is one of the most prolific strikers in the league. 

There was bad news from the game, Timotej Toth picked up an injury (sprained knee ligaments) which will leave him side-lined for the vast majority of the remaining games, this leaves us with no defensive cover at left wing-back.

I still feel that the league is anyone's for the taking, FC Kosice are like a bad smell that just won't go away, whilst Sport Podbrezova are making a late surge, their form has sky-rocketed and are six without loss. (Partizan Bardejov are eight without loss).

Three away games over the next month, we need to deliver. 

 

Edited March 17, 2022 by MattyLewis11

[SteinkelssonFM]

1 hour ago, DefinitelyTaylor said:

Picking up from where you left off in absolute style. Beautiful stuff, my friend! 

I am glad you are enjoying the story so far mate

1 hour ago, _Ben_ said:

This is fantastic!

I think you've found it! I actually really like how you post about lower league, poorer quality, unknown players. I've read your tactical stuff and I love that but this is really painting a picture of what you'd see at this level and you're doing a wonderful job of it, too.

How many steps do you think it'll take to reach Germany?

Thoroughly enjoying this one mate and I think you can tell from the content, as for your question I think Germany could well be 6-7 clubs away, here is my logic.

I don't think I will be strong enough to win the Fortuna with my current team so that's one more side in Slovakia. 

I explained earlier that I feel that either Hungary or Romania should be my next step before either Serbia or Croatia before going to Austria and then Germany.

I'm not quite sure how exactly it will pan out and I may have to look to expand the distance from 20km to 32km (20 miles) from the river bank to get a bigger range of clubs, but that's my initial thinking. 

Thanks for taking the time to comment, always nice to get a compliment from a writer who you see as one of the best at what they do...means a lot. 

 

[DefinitelyTaylor]

Losing Toth is a massive shame at such a crucial point of the season. Delighted to see that the goals are flowing for you now, too. There just seems to be no let up when it comes to just how tightly-contested this league is. I’m just hoping that the number of draws don’t come back to bite you. 

[GIMN]

I know this isn't the point of the save, but I'm becoming a little obsessed with how many Petrzalka players all have the exact same pose.

[SteinkelssonFM]

8 hours ago, DefinitelyTaylor said:

Losing Toth is a massive shame at such a crucial point of the season. Delighted to see that the goals are flowing for you now, too. There just seems to be no let up when it comes to just how tightly-contested this league is. I’m just hoping that the number of draws don’t come back to bite you. 

I have compared the outputs of both players above, this goes a very long way to show just how big a loss this is for the us, give the fact that Toth is superior in five of the six metrics for a wing-back on attack.

The left wing-back is a role which holds significant value in our current system, providing attacking width down the left flank. 

19 minutes ago, GIMN said:

how many Petrzalka players all have the exact same pose.

 The boys were briefed well...

[SteinkelssonFM]

A FOCUS ON CENTRE MIDFIELD

As promised, I spent a little time taking a deeper dive into our centre midfield, with the aim to look at individual metrics in the view to attempt to increase our possession. 

This is in preparation for our potential promotion, I know that keeping the ball will be a key factor in our bid to minimise the oppositions threat as if we are to go up. The quality of player in the Fortuna Liga is higher than in the current division and therefore limiting the time they have on the ball is one way in which I feel we can maximise our chances of success. 

As you can see from our lovely data hub, currently we hold a good pass completion ratio but are 150+ passes per game down on the leading side. I know possession without purpose isn't exactly effective and we don't want to be a side who pass the ball 1000 times horizontally. However, if we can increase the passes per 90 to 700 that is progress.

Our 610 passes per game is actually four passes off the league average, we are making the majority of our passes just before the half-way line, this is often our central midfielder on defend, the holds position hard-coded player instruction pretty much ensured this player/role operates as a central hub linking the defence and midfield. 

We are also losing the most ball in the middle third, this could be linked to our 'In transition' set-up having the distribute quickly, combined with the counter. This often sees us pump the ball long to Kelemen using his physical ability to win the ball and link play. However, saying that he is winning over 75% of his aerial duels so pinning the blame on him isn't exactly fair.

Who wins the 'Blue Steel' pose?

Looking at the individual stats it comes as no surprise that the players with the highest passes completed percentage or the individuals who often play in the role of the CM (d), interestingly Viktor Sliacky is completing the highest percent of his passes, a useful insight, especially considering he often features from the bench to replace the more physically demanding player in the role of CM (a). 

Harba is producing the highest key pass to pass completed ratio, his figures are heightened due to his time operating as the advanced forward. I feel that these figures are extremely consistent when removing him from the sample, the range is around 0.5%.

Looking at the attribute average (Decisions, Anticipation, Passing, Vision, Technique, First Touch, Teamwork) strangely the individuals who hold a lesser value are completing a larger volume of passes attempted! Maybe just maybe given the fact they have a lower score these individuals are just focusing on playing more basic passes instead of looking to push their individual boundaries, that's me clutching at straws! 

In order to increase our ball retention I might look to add the take fewer risk, this instruction asks players to retain possession first and foremost, playing a sensible and patient passing game without unnecessarily conceding possession tot he opposition. 

 

Edited March 18, 2022 by MattyLewis11

[SteinkelssonFM]

The Penultimate Month 

Unfortunately a few days prior to the first game of the period we received notification from our medical staff that Matus Kunik, our only right-sided full back had picked up a gash on his upper leg and would be unavailable for the next fixture. This injury forced our hand and we would need to field a centre-back on the flank. 

Our excellent run of 19 games without defeat came to an end against Matador Puchov. Pass completions were generally completed in deeper areas of the field as we struggled to progress the ball up the field. This caused for two individuals Niarchos and Turcak (both on attack duty) to become isolated (24 passes completed, combined).

After studying the match stats it looks as if the oppositions route to success came in the air, we lost 50 headers compared to their 21. Stefan Hollis (6'2" CF) and Stanislav Lacko (5'11" CB) showing their aerial prowess by winning a combined 40 headers. 

 

Normality was resumed as we showed our bouncebackability in the match against MFK, what was most impressive was the fact that we limited the opponents to just the three shots inside our penalty area, none of which managed to hit the target.

To make these three points taste even sweeter, both Dukla and FC Kosice conceded late goals away from home, both sides travelling home with just the single point. This provided us with some much needed breathing space at the summit (2 points from Kosice in second place). 

A display of attacking football saw Giannis Niarchos pick up the MOTM award during the 3-1 victory over MFK Dubnica. The on-loan striker bagged the best goal of the game to round off his performance by skinning an opponent on the way to scoring a driven shot.

Niarchos has been in fair form since joining on loan, hitting the target with 17 of his shots, and scoring 4 goals in 9 appearances. He has now chalked up four gaols contributions (3 goals, 1 assist) in his last four games, I have seen enough and will be offering the 19 year old a contract. 

The next game would be make or break as we played the in-form side of the league, Sport Podbrezova, who are on an impressive nine game without loss streak and doing everything possible to ensure they are involved in the title race. 

Pablo Villar's side love a cross and are the outliers in the league when looking at this metric (top tip is to go into the data hub and click on the next opponent tab, then next opponents performance, this will show you all their data including thigs such as possession gained for example), 

Using that metric we can see that they only have gained 2% of the ball high up the pitch, favouring a low/mid-block. 

Both sides like to come out the blocks with both sides scoring first on more occasions or not, could this be the classic case of first goal wins!

One thig was for sure with ALL of the chasing pack winning, this certainly was THE one game we really couldn't afford to lose. 

This wasn't our finest victory, but it didn't need to be! Both teams struggled to carve out any high quality shots which reflected in the xG story. Our savour was Nagy who showed everyone at the club that he still has a role to play with the side, the 21 year old now has eight goals to his name. Dominik Spiriak picked up MOTM and rightly so, the defender won 17 aerial duels two of which were key headers as he single handily nullified the attacking threat from wide. (FYI we also limited them to six crosses)

The gloss of the victory was taken off as GG opted to join FK Pohronie over us, his reason being that he felt they had a stronger squad than ours. 

I am actually going to stop this update at this point, we all have four games left and I feel that given the heightened anticipation regarding the possible outcome it makes sense to do an update on each game on a game by game basis.