[FM23] Never Say Neverkusen Again

[duff33]

Having achieved Premier League success with Newcastle United, I decided it's time for a new challenge in FM23; so I'm off to Germany looking to earn Bayer 04 Leverkusen their first ever Bundesliga title in...

 *drumroll* 

Never Say Neverkusen Again!

Coming soon to an FM Story near you!

 

Edited February 17, 2023 by mark wilson27
Picture removed as per House Rules

[mark wilson27]

Hi Duff and welcome to our little corner of these forums, please take note of the House Rules regarding pictures.

Onto the story good luck with it and trying to break the Munich dominance

Cheers Mark

[duff33]

16 hours ago, mark wilson27 said:

Hi Duff and welcome to our little corner of these forums, please take note of the House Rules regarding pictures.

Onto the story good luck with it and trying to break the Munich dominance

Cheers Mark

Thanks, Mark - duly noted; it'll be the first and last for the thread. Think of it as the book cover 

Anyway, I'm underway at the BayArena - here's your first chapter:

 

Guten Morgen - Day One to Game One

“We don’t really talk about 2002.”. And with that, I feel like an ass. My first day at the BayArena and I’ve already put my foot in my mouth; 20-years on and that season remains raw around here. General Manager Fernando Carro takes it in his stride, and is gracious enough to move the conversation quickly on as he shows me around my new home.

Sandwiched between Cologne, and North Rhine-Westphalia state capital Düsseldorf, Leverkusen is best known for two things: pharmaceutical company Bayer, and its sports club Bayer 04 Leverkusen. It is the latter that brings me here. The club has never won the Bundesliga; its last trophy came in 1993 (the DFB-Pokal); and, aside from a couple of Oberliga Nordrhein titles in the 1970s, the only other silverware in the tiny cabinet in the stadium's reception is the 1988 UEFA Cup, which is accompanied by a couple of certificates for when Michael Ballack was voted ‘Most Erotic German’. It’s been a lean few years that’s for sure.

Despite a good track record of producing talent (Kai Havertz being the most famous recent example), regular finishes in the Bundesliga’s top-four, periodic Cup runs, and frequent jaunts into Europe, things have just never fallen into place for Leverkusen. I’m here to change that. 

My aim is to build a team around young star Florian Wirtz, one capable of toppling Bayern at the summit of the Bundesliga, and challenging for European honours again. I’ve inherited a squad which should at least be capable of securing Champions League football for another year, whilst perhaps making a run at another DFB-Pokal win.

Wirtz is the one I want to focus on, at least once he is back from a cruciate ligament injury in 4-5 months time; but Patrik Schick, and Moussa Diaby are quality attacking options, while Edmond Tapsoba (if I can hold on to him), Jeremie Frimpong, and Exequiel Palacios provide quality options elsewhere on the pitch. I decide a couple of extra fullbacks wouldn’t hurt though, and sign Ridle Baku from Wolfsburg, and pickup Faouzi Ghoulam on a free transfer. Annoyingly, we lose Callum Hudson-Odoi to shin splints just a week into the project (estimated recovery time: two months), so I move to sign Alexis Saelemaekers from AC Milan too.

It’s something of a gamble, it has to be said; the signings push me way over the wage budget, and I find myself seriously considering selling Tapsoba, worth approximately £50 million, when Chelsea start sniffing around. Long term I want to focus on the development of local talent, but first want a solid foundation to build from - I think these transfers, combined with the current playing staff, support that aim.

In the end I manage to shift Timothy Fonsu-Mensah, Daley Sinkgraven, and Paulinho (the latter two being on expiring contracts anyway) to help re-balance the books, whilst also putting a little bit of cash back into the transfer kitty.

An overhaul of the club’s backroom staff also gets underway. Brian Kidd joins me as Assistant Manager, Dennis Bergkamp brings his experience to the project, while former Liverpool Director of Football also comes in. By the end of the preseason, my coaching staff is considered the best in the league, as is my scouting department; we’re also pretty strong on the Sports Science front too. The Under-19 staff also get a bump, which I hope will help in respect to the whole ‘developing talent’ thing.

—

We suffer a classic FM defeat in our first preseason game; Duisburg have one shot on goal, and score - we have five, with an xG of 1.99, and 62% possession, and a goal disallowed, and lose 1-0. It’s frustrating to say the least; both Schick and Hložek underperform as strikers, Demirbay is rubbish in the AMC role. Is 4-2-3-1 right for us?

A much improved performance against Romanian side FC Rapid, combined with a shift to old faithful, 4-3-3 DM, gives me heart; but we suffer another long term injury as Ghoulam is ruled out for 3-4 months with a hip problem. He joins Wirtz (still 3-4 months), and Hudson-Odoi (now 4-7 weeks) on the long term injured list. At least Amine Adil, and Karim Bellarabi are back in light training, even if they are still a month away from being passed fit to play.

When Denizlispor catches us on the break in our next game, I decide it’s time to drop that high defensive line. Whilst we came back to beat our Turkish hosts 3-1, this is the third game in a row we’ve given up the first goal in this fashion. The preseason is as much about getting me up to speed as it is the players…

We trounce Sivasspor in our final preseason game; next up it’s Magdeburg in the DFB-Pokal First Round - it should be an easy start to the new season proper, but football is a funny old game.

[duff33]

Welcome to the World Cup...

Well, the first half of the season could not have gone better.

With Ghoulam out injured, I opt to bring in another left back, signing Micky van de Ven from Wolfsburg. As it's year one, I decide to focus on the DFP-Pokal, and drop the bonuses back to 'low' for the Bundesliga and Champions League, using the extra money to sign Andreas Schjelderup and Matheus França on transfer deadline day (França is primarily for the future, and will play for the U19 side for most of this season). German U21 keeper Lino Kasten is also added, on a free transfer, freeing me up to sell Andrey Lunev, given that his contract is up next summer anyway.

On the field, a Patrick Schick hattrick helps us see off Magdeburg in the first round of the DFB-Pokal, before the Czech striker scores not once, not twice, but thrice to help us win away at Dortmund in our first Bundesliga game of the season! We proceed to win six BuLi games on the bounce to move into first, eventually running into the BayernWall in Munich.

Before our big clash with Bayern, both Patrick Schick (fractured toe, 3-4 weeks) and Adam Hložek (sprained ankle ligaments, 3-4 weeks) are injured on international duty (in the same game!!!); to say I am unimpressed would be an understatement. To add salt to the wound (no pun intended), Kerem Demirbay pulls his groin (no sniggering at the back) during training. Biggest game of the season so far, two starters and a key option from the bench ruled out. At least the expectation of the Board, and the fans, is that we’ll lose I suppose...We give it a fair old go, but a red card for Alexis Saelemaekers doesn't make our task any easier and we eventually succumb to the defending champs, losing 2-0.

We're soon back on top however - and when I say soon, I mean a week later! - as we beat a spirited Schalke side, while Bayern lose at Dortmund thanks to a late Jude Bellingham goal. Apart from a 1-1 draw at Leipzig, we win all of our other domestic games leading up to the World Cup break, leaving us top of the BuLi on 40 points from 15 games, while Bayern are second on 35 points from 14 games., and into the DFP-Pokal 3rd round; we play away at Leipzig in the next round at the end of January.

In Europe, we open our Champions League Group H account with a 0-0 draw at home to Juventus, before trouncing Marseille in their own backyard. A 2-0 win at home to Porto puts us top of the group, and we're unlucky not to knick a later winner during the return game in Portugal, final score 0-0. An 89th minute penalty sees Marseille beat us at the BayArena, but a point in our final game against Juventus will be enough to see us through the Last-16. After a cagey first 70 minutes, in which Schick scores for us and Vlahović scores for Juve, all hell then breaks loose. Thomas Lemar puts Juve ahead in the 75th minute and I fear the worst; the kitchen sink is thrown onto the pitch and much to my delight Schick finds the net almost immediately (well, 79th minute), only for Lemar's 81st minute shot to squirm away from Lukás Hrádecky and into the net. An extra sink is found in the kit bag and tossed onto the field; Schick understands and duly equalises again in the 84th minute. When the Czech bags his fourth of the night in the 89th minute I nearly fall off my chair. A stunning result to see us through to the knockout stages.

 

[duff33]

F U February.

Well, in the space of a month, we've gone from high flyers to flippin' useless. Truthfully the early signs came in late January, as we more or less lucked out with wins at home to Dortmund, and away at Leipzig in the DFB-Pokal, before struggling to beat Augsburg. We seemed to be creating chances, but our finishing had largely abandoned us. We slipped to a 1-0 defeat at Hoffenheim, spanked Mainz 7-1, but then played poorly at Milan in the Champions League. A humbling loss at Freiburg put Bayern right on our tail, and when we failed to beat Werder Bremen a fortnight later we relinquished top spot. 

With a home loss to Milan in the second leg of our Last-16 tie we were out of the Champions League, and had surrendered a 7-point lead at the top of the Bundesliga. I feel a bit sick.

Our next game is at home to Bayern, and there are nine more league games after that - we are still in the DFB-Pokal too, with a home QF tie versus Wolfsburg to come - but I am undoubtedly in one of those FM funks where I just cannot seem to get my team to tick again. 

[duff33]

Football is a Cruel Misstress

After February's funk, I feared the worst heading into our game against Bayern; I made some tactical adjustments in the hope of revitalising things, or at least lining up in a more solid formation to limit any damage. When Dani Olmo scored after just six minutes for the visitors, I swallowed hard. But a light appeared at the end of the tunnel, Alexis Saelemaekers raced in at the back post to latch on to Moussa Diaby's teasing cross. 1-1 at half time. What followed I could scarcely believe. Patrick Schick found space in the Bayern penalty area, 2-1; in the 73rd minute the Czech striker grabbed his second from an improbable angle. As Bayern pushed forward, holes appeared at the back, with Schick completing his hat trick, and a 4-1 rout, in the 81st minute. Were we back?

Schick scored a hat trick in the next game too, a 5-1 drubbing of Schalke - it opened up a small amount of daylight between us and Bayern again. Could we? COULD WE?

We beat Wolfsburg in the DFN-Pokal Quarter-Finals, before defeating Frankfurt in the Bundesliga. Then the wheels began to wobble again. We struggled to make anything tick in the final third at Wolfsburg, succumbing to an 89th minute goal. A scrappy 3-2 win in Leipzig, in which both teams had a player sent off, was followed by a **** poor performance at Union Berlin. We saw another player sent off, and lost 2-1, with our hosts scoring either side of half time. The door was open, and Bayern stepped right on through.

Bayern then knocked us out of the DFB-Pokal, before a brief uptick at Koln, beating our local rivals 2-0. These would be the last goals we scored this season. We fire blanks at Stuttgart, and again versus Gladbach, before a horror show at Bochum to finish the year - we have 64% possession, but do naff all with it; they have five shots on target, and score three of them. We also see another red card.

We finish a comfortable 2nd, securing Champions League football, but in truth I feel a bit sick knowing we were at one stage 7-points clear at the top, only to finish a whopping 8-points behind Bayern. A 15-point swing through the final dozen-ish games of the season. I'm unsure what I did wrong; tactics? Too much faith in our younger players? Those three red cards during the final run of games didn't help... Our defence was the best in the league, just 22 conceded, whilst we scored 70 goals in the BuLi (only Bayern scored more); those two cold streaks killed us ultimately.

Schick won the Golden Boot at least, his 27 goals are the highest in the league, and his 36 in total the best in Europe - beating Haaland, Mbappe et al. That's something I suppose.

I shift focus to next season, lining up deals for Luca Netz, Romeo Lavia, and Yusuf Demir to bolster our squad. I'd like to add some experience somewhere maybe, but will see what comes up. It's a marathon, not a spring, and we have some good young talent here.

We go again.