[FM24] Baltic Blitz – Lechia Gdansk

[rkosatiy]

Season 8/Fall 2030 – Domestic Results 

Following the challenging start of the season and the devastating UCL exit, the team continue to suffer on the pitch for the wins. For quite some time, we managed to earn 3 points time and time again, only letting the game slip away once vs. Cracovia to the late-game screamer. 

However, playing in three competitions caught up with us in early November—first, the cup game vs. the second-level team leading at half-time and forced Pomorski to deploy all leading attackers from the bench to save another embarrassment in the cup. This shocking development (an opposing keeper having the game of his life with David missing from the spot didn't help) cost us dearly in the Baltic derby vs. Pogon.


 

A mid-week game in Europe tired us out even worse. Then, we put out our worst display in months against Lech. We were exhausted and helpless that night.

To pile up on the disappointment, our record unbeaten streak had come to its bleak finale. 



It was time for a team meeting. So Pomorski thought at least. His sentiment had not been shared by the players AT ALL. 

We had lost the lead in the league to Jagellonia and players dared to care so little even though the next game after the break was against our primal competitive rival, Legia.

Luckily for us, we only missed one of the three penalties granted that night. An impressive turnaround by David secured the win.

The next game away vs. Rakow was the combination of the two. We were down 2 goals after an hour of play, but two corner goals allowed for our comeback, jeweled by a fabulous free kick from David in the 94th minute! 

What a breathtaking turn of events it was! I would rather not call it well-deserved though...



After all this trouble, we finally stabilized to rush through the last opponents as well as to the 1/4 the cup against Lodz (they are 17th and fired the manager, whereas Lech will play Legia at the same stage).


 

Strangely enough, the incredible 16+5 with all the heroics from David and a wonderful late form from Jajkowski equalled a minimum lead in the league standings so far

.


It may have something to do with Jagellonia's historic overperformance instead since we are 11 points clear of them in the XPts table. 



Europa League next! 

[rkosatiy]

2030/2031 Europa League 

43 seconds in the first game and we are already one down at home to Galatasaray. A decent display from our side, but no goals – a rough start to stomach. 



David put up a solo spectacle vs. Ludogorets, including a beautiful free-kick early on.



The game against Aarhus, Eric Kahl's former side, was extremely defense-oriented. An away draw is never a bad thing but could've shown more against such a level of opposition.

Losing in Hungary put us at a real risk of not progressing out of the League Phase this year. The opposition was going to get much tougher, and Lechia only had 4 points after 4 games. Time to show some character!



We were dominating in Rome, but the win slipped away late. Finally, Jajkowski's domestic form translated to Europe. People must be watching!



In Round 6, Lechia was facing Atalanta, which utilised the same 4-1-2-1-2 narrow formation. Fighting against incredible pressure, we were able to punch back and pull out an improbable draw.



After 6 games, we are at the 25th, right outside the last qualification spot. Luckily, we have two more games in January, both at home, to try to get through. Any points would also improve the Polish standing in the rankings. This year so far has been grim: the Polish are 32nd in the race and almost guaranteed to lose the second team in UCL for 2032/33 if we aren't able to keep the league in the top 15. 



But before we gamble with our European fate at the Polsat Arena, a mysterious development has to be revealed. Stay tuned!

[rkosatiy]

Shocking Winter Departures – January 2031

Once again, a transfer window has begun almost everywhere, but not in Poland. We might lose key players with no chance to replace them immediately.

And this time we did!

Our main star, Idan David, has agreed to join PSG. Montolio will replace him as a captain till the end of the season. David is our first player to join the truly elite club. Pomorski made a promise to sell David for 6M, so bagging 25M with a 50% share of a future transfer fee is a mad deal for the club. Wish him all the best in benching Moukoko and Mbappe there.




A few days later Idan's partner in the attack, Oscar Jajkowski,  left too. 17M for a Polish player is the biggest fee we have received to date.

Our finances are in excellent shape, but what are we going to do in the Europa League now without our two best strikers?

[rkosatiy]

EL League Phase Final Rounds – 2030/2031

In addition to David&Jajkowski, we were missing our two starting defenders, Montolio and Kahl, both of whom collected 3 yellow cards earlier. Pomorski decided to stick to the same tactic, replacing the missing players with direct positional substitutions.

We were in control early, but could not create many chances. Near the end of the hour of play, a weird series of ricochets inside our box after a free-kick led to the Athletic goal.

The increased pressing intensity provoked a mistake from the opponent and we equalled the score rather soon. An incredible cross from Lyons to Antiste got us crucial 3 points. Our reserves showed their strength and resilience. With 9 points our chances to qualify for the next round looked pretty well.

 

We were down 3-0 after 13 minutes against Panathinaikos in a deciding game at home. There are no words to describe what a game Bogdan Florica had. He led the team and made us not to lose. The 3+1 performance goes straight into pantheon with his second-half hat-trick against Lechia last year. Our defence, though, clearly needs improvement, both tactical and talent-wise.

We are in the Playoffs! Rematch vs. Galatasaray is next!

[rkosatiy]

February 2031 – EL Playoff, Domestic Battles, Transfers, and Tactical Shift

A season-high 26390 spectators visited the second home game against Galatasaray, this time in the playoffs. We took the lead early thanks to Laird's incredible strike and were solid defensively after that. Pomorski tried to push the team offensively late, but that, unfortunately, led to a successful through pass to our box and an equalizing goal. Now we had to win an away game against the best Turkish team.



And what an away game it was! We started with 5 at-the-back, aiming to contain the opposing 4-4-2 with threats on the wings and in the attack. Unfortunately, our defensive focus did not help to prevent a goal after the corner. Paradoxically, we tied the score after another Galatasaray corner – our central defender Abdalas took the ball in our box and ran with it to the opposing one to assist Zendejas's strike. 

We conceded again in 5 minutes but continued to create chances for ourselves. One of them resulted in Florica's goal in 90+1. We are going to have extra time!

You can't call it anything else but Total Demolition. In his first game on a European stage, Balalz Antal scored a deciding hat-trick! In extra time! Add to that 2+2 from Zendejas, who controlled the game after getting on the pitch – that's how renewed Lechia got its most impressive away win. We were better than the opponent and it finally made a difference. 



A trip to Bruges ahead. Not the easiest draw, but getting Chelsea or Tottenham at the Round of 16 would've been much worse for us. We have a realistic chance to come back to the EL quarter-final this spring!


On the domestic arena, Musial collected 3 clean sheets in 3 games. The key match was vs. second-place Jagellonia. Antal dispatched them in a cold-blooded manner. He is not as talented as David and doesn't have the most competitive personality, but he scores GOALS like a true striker.

I consider 500K as an investment with exceeding returns in him already.

Our other novice from Greece assisted Antal with the cross, and I'm counting on that continuing. 4.9M is our new highest fee for Morales. If only he could shoot...


, 
 Through three February games, we took a commanding 10-point lead in the league table, leaving Jagellonia far behind.

We also got to the cup semifinal for the first time in 4 seasons. A 19 y.o. Kisiel, who joined us from Cracovia just a couple of weeks ago, scored beautiful headers to put us through. Blazej doesn't seem to have the greatest potential but he's ready to contribute right away. 



I attribute recent success (especially on the defensive end) to the new tactical approach. 

 

[rkosatiy]

EL Round of 16 – 2030/2031

A home domination turned into a stinky loss.

How the hell are we still doing it?! THREE ASSISTS by Zendejas after coming in after halftime! Another clutch shot from our 28 y.o. veteran Antiste completed a huge away comeback!

The favourable draw can extend our run to record heights. We are a far more talented team than LASK but let's not get ahead of ourselves.

 

Chelsea will play Tottenham in the 1/4 and they are on the side of the bracket. 

 

But what's going on with our keeper? Musial has to be better for us to have any chance against the European elite!

[Carambau]

Good progress going on here! Keep it up  

[rkosatiy]

Europa League Hurts – 2030/2031

An international break put a shade on our lucky draw – both Elliott and Morales picked up muscle injuries and are expected to miss the entirety of April and probably more.



 After a series of blockbusters in the previous rounds (and during the League Phase), the quarter-final ties were surprisingly dry, anticlimactic even.

A long shot in each game from our Romanian duo – Antal and Florica – saw us progressing to the semis for the first time in history. 


 

The semis were another rematch from the groups – a crazy 3-3 late-minute draw in Bergamo was an enticing prelude for the main dramatic play. The first game of the round was in Bergamo again. We were still without Elliott and Morales, and because of the late transfer window, Kisiel and our reserve winger Copso could not be featured either. 

All these absences made aggressive mirroring 4-1-2-1-2 that earned us the draw last time far too risky. So we've decided to start with 5-at-the-back aiming to dry out all the action. Then we were up 3-0 in the away semifinal after 3 shots on target. I could not believe what was happening, our counters were deadly time after time.

It was almost time to celebrate. Then a cross, a corner and a long shot – we are tied in just 8 minutes. 3-3 in Bergamo, again. But this time it was who collapsed. Almost collapsed though – we managed to stabilize the defence and Florica finished another counter-attack after Antal's beautiful run and assist. FOUR THREE WE HAVE WON

Despite the win, Laird, our starting right-back was done for the season, and Antiste, the joker striker, was going to miss the game too. There was some optimism for Elliott to be ready for at least some action for a home crowd. So 5-2-2-1 it is again, with Alilovic instead of a real playmaker.

The home game started fairly well – Atalanta only bothered us from the corners and we attempted to bite back too. In the 83rd minute, the zeros were still there, and I decided to put more midfielders in for Alilovic and Florica, who were both exhausted. Right after the substitution Atalanta throws the ball in, put the cross up and it's 0-1 now.

Another extra time. We had no legs and were considerably worse, but made it to the pens.

I only have four facts to tell you the story of the shootout:
1) Antal, our best striker, had already scored 4 penalties for us in 3 months – and missed the first shot
2) Elliott, whose penalty miss against Slavia led to our elimination from UCL Qualis this season, missed the shot number two
3) At the same, PAOK managed to come back against Tottenham and shoot penalties too to progress to the Final
4) With this loss we are now 0-4 in the penalty series in the European competitions, all of them played at home, in front of our own crowd. Despite missing the Finals, our second-round loss to Lugogorets 5 seasons ago, when my keeper broke his hand in the extra time and we lost 10-9 on pens playing the centre-back as a keeper stays my favourite disaster, at least for now.

It's extremely heartbreaking to go out like this, but let's look at the positive as well. This run earned us 22 points in the rankings and this heroic season is a solo reason why Poland will continue to be considered a top 15 league. For the first time in forever, Poland will be represented by 5 teams in the 2031/2032 and 2032/2033 European seasons. And we'll come back stronger than a 90s trend. 

Need some advice on how to stop missing penalties tho 

[rkosatiy]

Season 8 – Domestic Treble and Threepeat – 2030/2031

Playing in the late stage of the European competition was hard, but we were on fire in the league, repeating the longest winning streak of the legendary Widzew-96 at 13 wins. The 14th game was away against 3rd place Cracovia and we managed to only save a draw at the last minute. No breaking records for now.

Another draw in the cup after a mindblowing mistake by Musial rectified by two saves in the shootout – we got to the cup final for the second time in Pomorski's era.

After that, we only showed up for games twice – securing the title in Round 32 at home against Lech in a dominating fashion and destroying them again in three days in the Cup final. 

Florica has become a top scorer in the cup, whereas Antal scored the second-most number of goals in the Ekstraklasa, sharing the honour with David (both scored 16 in a half-season). David's move was a blast: he is starting every game at PSG and made an assist in the UCL final (which they lost 2-3 to Barcelona in ET). Barcelona will face Atalanta in the UEFA Super Cup.

The treble-winning season and the 5th national title in the 7 last season is the peak of Pomorski's career at Lechia. Dariusz is now considered the greatest manager in Polish history.

The club is financially stable as ever and the installed payments from the transfers will keep coming. 

Five teams representing Polish club football internationally is a huge achievement for the league that will impress the sponsors during the new TV deal negotiations next spring.

It was also agreed that Lechia will make a move to buy and solely own Polsat Gdansk Arena, with the deal expected to be signed after EURO 2032 next summer.

[rkosatiy]

Season 9 – Building the Press

After a long Europa League run last season, Lechia is getting ready to jump back into the Champions League. Although Pomorski always sets his team to play an active, attacking brand of football, next season we will go all-in as a high-pressing, dynamic group with depth enough to sustain the physicality in all competitions. We already have fantastic Florica and Antal at the front, Abdalas and Savu to take the ball back, Laird and Moralis provide speedy runs on both flanks and hopefully, Musial will recover from his bad form.

In case he does not bounce back, we brought a talented reserve keeper from Romania, David Silaghi, who will occasionally get his starts. The squad was concerned about the lack of depth at this position, so we finally introducted some competition for the role.
 

Another reinforcement is at the right-back, where Laird just turned 30 and picked up a few ill-timed injuries last season. He still intends to start, but Filip Nenkov with incredible pace and crossing will have a word or two to say about that. 

After drawing a lot of interest during the winter transfer window our captain Montolio wanted to move on to a stronger league and a bigger paycheck. Replacing our best long passer in the centre was always tough – there are not many regen centre-backs with vision above 7 who dream of playing in Poland. This was going to cost us – and we were willing to pay a record 8.4M for 28(!) y.o. Clemens Riedel, activating his relegation release clause. He jumps high, pretty fast too, has a great personality and is good on the ball – a ready-now key contributor, not some kind of project. 



His new partner in the centre was a teenager last year, but Abbott is a true intellectual on the pitch – who will spend a season with us on loan, as he did with many sides already in his short career.

Moses Ahmad was probably the best non-Lechia player in the league, featuring in Poznan for 4 seasons. He is very fast and dribbles like Dembele, but willing to work hard on the pitch. Let's win some silverware, Moses! (feels like I'm running a local Bayern after all)

We were impressed first-hand with another player last season, Claudiu Bota from Panathinaikos. He is tall but agile, creative but always willing to run an extra mile. Our pressing system will go as far as he takes it. He is just 20 years of age, man! If only he had a bit of natural ceiling...

There was a fight for Tomas Suk and we won it! He can pass, dribble and shoot – a rare triple-threat combination in a young guy. 



This summer we were spending real money on players, let's see if it would a difference on the pitch. 

Stop. Why have we loaned in Moralis when he joined us just a few months ago?

First of all, we still kept our transfer balance in the positive numbers. The Arsenal offer was not the greatest, but we are dead set on not forcing players to stay with us. But now happy Moralis will stay till the end of the season, and it's not gonna cost us a single dime.
Our club legend Antiste left too after winning four titles and scoring many unforgettable goals in UCL and Europa League. All the best to you, Janis.

All set on personnel, tactics and games next?

Edited July 2 by rkosatiy

[rkosatiy]

Season 9 – Summer 2031

The season traditionally started with the Superpuchar, replaying the last cup final against Lech. Despite finishing 8th in the league, the Poznan club still holds the 7 Supercup titles, the most in the country. 

We were not in perfect shape for an early July game. Even though this was the third straight Superpuchar played in Polsat Arena, our weakened squad was not able to control the ball well enough. As often happens to us in cups, the game was decided by penalties. Florica, our best player and newly appointed captain, got his shot shot by the opposing keeper. It was Silaghi's greatness and his two saves that granted us the 6th Superpuchar win. Now we can tie the Lech's lead the next year.

The league season began with an away game at Legia. We lost to them late last season, conceding two from corners, and had no desire to repeat that. A dominant win in Warsaw showed the potential of 4-2-3-1 Gegenpress (ha-ha!).

For now, we are running through the league, winning all 7 starting games by 2 goals or more. Florica netted 8 goals already, and Elliott, who took charge of free kicks, mastered 7 assists.

Champions League Qualification Playoff

Thanks to our high club rating, we had to go through a single round against Dinamo Zagreb. Lechia has beaten them in the past and has only grown strong in the 4 years since then. 

A 0-0 draw in an away game gave us a very good chance to progress. 

Indeed, we took care of the business at home, with Florica scoring twice in the first half.

For the second time in history, a club from Gdansk will feature in the UCL League Phase. The draw looks pretty strong, but this season there are truly no weak sides in the groups.

Once again we will host Arsenal coached by Pep and try to hold our own against the original Bayern at Allianz Arena.

Returning to the League Phase improved our financial stature and helped us prepare for the acquisition of the stadium.

Staying in the top-15 league will be a tall task – only Jagellonia managed to continue playing after the qualification (they dropped to the Europa League), three other sides got eliminated, Cracovia and Legia losing in penalties. Seems like a nationwide problem. Thank God there will be no shootouts in the League Phase at least. Two seasons ago almost all of the games were close, but we finished with 4 points.

Can we do better now?

Edited July 3 by rkosatiy

[rkosatiy]

Season 9 – Tactics

Pomorski had two tactical issues to resolve: 1) how to implement attacking players on the wings and 2) what to do with Harvey Elliott.

Lechia started the last two seasons in a 4-1-2-1-2 narrow formation with a Shadow Striker (who is our best player now). As a result, the club got rid of all wingers, leaving the width for wing-backs. However, it would be nearly impossible to build a pressing system without active wingers, so bought two of them this summer – Bota and Ahmad, and we still have Moralis.

The Elliott issue is more complex: he is our highest-paid player by a mile and very talented for our level with the special touch and passing. Harvey is willing to work hard together with the team, but he can not jump, run fast or dribble/finish at the highest level. Since Florica is at his best as a shadow striker and we have 2 wingers already, the only place for Elliott is one of the two centre midfielders. And while he would be perfect in a deep playmaker role against weak Polish teams, relying on him to cement the centre of the pitch vs. Porto or Bayern is clearly beyond reasonable. 

Thus we are prepping a few formations. The first one is more attacking, with Elliott in RM Xabi Alonso's role (he is also in charge of corners and free kicks, remember?).

The second starting plan implies having two defending midfielders (Abdalas is in), Elliott in advanced playmaker role and Florica as a sole striker. Antal, our hero of the day during the spring, started the season slow. Ramon, our vice-captain, will start on the left, creating the 3-at-the-back during the build-up.

The third formation is a variation of 4-4-1-1 we used after Moralis had joined. This is the more defensive and direct idea, with Elliott playing deeper and wider and 190 presser Bota at the top. 

The team is upbeat and cohesive. Hope it stays that way. 

[rkosatiy]

Season 9 – Fall 2031

Right after closing the transfer window, Lechia played Pogon in the Pomorza derby. Florica gave us an early lead, but then two free kicks changed the nature of the match. The first one led to a penalty, and in a few minutes, Sapuha finished a combination for a close range. Pogon gave us the first loss of the season and the second consecutive in Sczcecin.

 

The Champions League started in Porto for us. Sadly, our second League phase campaign started with a loss. We conceded early after an unbelievable through-ball and couldn't get back in the game. 

Our second opponent, Rennes, had struggled in the Ligue 1, so the media gave us a decent chance to fair well at home. We were the more active side and created a few chances, but overall it was a pretty dry 0-0. 

Two days later, our rotated squad earned a tough victory in Poznan. We were massively out-possessed but defended well and successfully protected the first-half lead.
 

In Round 3 Lechia was facing another French team, this time from Cote d'Azur. It is impressive how unlucky we are so far. Nice managed to score their first 3 goals from corners. They are indeed the team of physical specimens on the roster, and there is little we can do on a night like that. Florica gave us a tiny chance to come back, scoring his second goal of the night, but as soon as we got riskier, Nice completely destroyed us on the counter. 

After such a dreadful performance, I've decided to rotate the keepers to give Musial some time to recover emotionally. The next was at home against the silver-winning Jagellonia. We established a minimal lead and prevented the opponent from doing anything with the ball before a shot from 35m allowed Silaghi to make a costly mistake and parry it into his own goal. We are losing 2 points in Jagellonia's game again.

Our cup journey started with a final rematch! We only had 1 day to rest after the Jagellonia game, but rather easily managed to hand over the 5th loss in the last 5 months to Lech. Strangely enough, in the next round Lechia will face Legia, again at home, which gives us a good chance to progress.

In the last game of this part, we challenged Arsenal led by Guardiola. They finished in 2nd place for 3 seasons in a row. Two years ago, we've already played them in Gdansk, losing 0-2 with no chances at all. That game also was a record attendance in the Pomorski era with over 35k.

The attendance record we managed to beat (36169), the Arsenal we did not. This time we did not give up the territory so easily, but little moments decided everything. It's tough to win with 0 shots on target anyway...

Overall, we are having quite a bipolar performance, if I might say that. The lead in the league is a solid 6 points and it looks even better in the XG table. We are not winning every game yet, but we don't need it to stay ahead.

 

The Champions League, however, brings a bit of a Deja Vu impression. We fight hard, we defend, we stay in every game and just continue to lose. We only have 1 point after 4 Rounds and the second 2 opponents are Bayern which won 19 (NINETEEN!) consecutive Bundesligas and Napoli which won three of the last 4 (and finished second last year). The level of competition is so much higher than in the Europa League (btw, Jagellonia has 0 points after 4 games there, it would be a dreadful season for Poland's place in the coefficients table). 

It's pretty depressing trying to compete against the big boys when all luck is also on their side. No wonderkids are coming in soon (our scouts aren't generating many options atm), and Moralis has gone on a bender!

Tough times ahead! 

[RoguPL]

Congrats on League dominance ! You can put more focus on Europe now since the league becomes walk in the park. 

I wonder if buying out the stadium will affect season ticket sales? 

Also do you have any waiting list for season tickets?  

[rkosatiy]

@RoguPL Thanks man! Finally, I have some decent guys on the bench who can be trusted, which helps a lot. Would be nice to give more playing time to youngsters but I don't have many candidates atm. The scouting really dried out, and our academy has not generated anyone decent since Repka in the first season (who's barely getting on my bench). 

All of that hardly helps in Europe. Seems like my tactics this season are somewhat off, my best striker from last season isn't getting any chances and overall even vs. domestic competition we often scrape to score 1 goal. Adding more talent to the defence would def help in UCL, but for now, Riedel seems like a flop for the price (although he scores headers vs. 18th-place teams rather well). 

Last season I felt two matches a week, but now I can easily focus on UCL – it just has not helped us so far

I wonder about the effect the stadium purchase would have too. The avg attendance is twice as much (~20k) as we had in the first season, but the season tickets are still at a proud number of 515! The waiting list is 50 times that

We shall see what happens next July. The new TV deal is coming as well.

I'm so disappointed with the other clubs' performance in Europe so far.  If the trajectory does not change, it would be impossible for the league to rise in the ranks before Lechia consistently appears in the UCL semifinal year after year or smth like that. Despite reaching 1/4 and 1/2 in two of the three last seasons, we will def be out of the top 15 next year, which means no UCL money for anyone but us. We are not strong enough to start loaning starters to our rivals, but something has to be done to increase the club's reputation.

I envy your progress lately – keep up the great job leading your golden Youths  

Edited July 4 by rkosatiy

[RoguPL]

3 hours ago, rkosatiy said:

@RoguPL Thanks man! Finally, I have some decent guys on the bench who can be trusted, which helps a lot. Would be nice to give more playing time to youngsters but I don't have many candidates atm. The scouting really dried out, and our academy has not generated anyone decent since Repka in the first season (who's barely getting on my bench). 

All of that hardly helps in Europe. Seems like my tactics this season are somewhat off, my best striker from last season isn't getting any chances and overall even vs. domestic competition we often scrape to score 1 goal. Adding more talent to the defence would def help in UCL, but for now, Riedel seems like a flop for the price (although he scores headers vs. 18th-place teams rather well). 

Last season I felt two matches a week, but now I can easily focus on UCL – it just has not helped us so far

I wonder about the effect the stadium purchase would have too. The avg attendance is twice as much (~20k) as we had in the first season, but the season tickets are still at a proud number of 515! The waiting list is 50 times that

We shall see what happens next July. The new TV deal is coming as well.

I'm so disappointed with the other clubs' performance in Europe so far.  If the trajectory does not change, it would be impossible for the league to rise in the ranks before Lechia consistently appears in the UCL semifinal year after year or smth like that. Despite reaching 1/4 and 1/2 in two of the three last seasons, we will def be out of the top 15 next year, which means no UCL money for anyone but us. We are not strong enough to start loaning starters to our rivals, but something has to be done to increase the club's reputation.

I envy your progress lately – keep up the great job leading your golden Youths  

Personally, I would not buy Riedel as there is not any real selling potential and I don't think he will develop. I would rather buy more, cheaper young players
All other transfers seem to be good picks so maybe the scouting is not really dry  

Unfortunately the coefficients  and reputation is a grind as you need to rely on all other teams doing well. Especially if you get more places its more difficult as the nation coefficient is then split by more teams. ( I suffered this recently when we went up to 6 teams in europe) . But carry on doing well and getting that league phase, at some point it will work out.  

What are your facilities like ? Maybe by investing the money there you will be able to produce better youths in few years time. 

Waiting list is absolutely crazy in relation to the sold tickets. I really hope that this will improve for you as it will boost your finances. 

Thanks for following ! Yes we have been in good shape in my save lately  I just wish I had more time to progress  Real Life is just too busy and I can usually only fine an hour here and there to play (unless I get sucked in and go on until the night) 
 

[rkosatiy]

2 hours ago, RoguPL said:

Personally, I would not buy Riedel as there is not any real selling potential and I don't think he will develop. I would rather buy more, cheaper young players
All other transfers seem to be good picks so maybe the scouting is not really dry  

Unfortunately the coefficients  and reputation is a grind as you need to rely on all other teams doing well. Especially if you get more places its more difficult as the nation coefficient is then split by more teams. ( I suffered this recently when we went up to 6 teams in europe) . But carry on doing well and getting that league phase, at some point it will work out.  

What are your facilities like ? Maybe by investing the money there you will be able to produce better youths in few years time. 

Waiting list is absolutely crazy in relation to the sold tickets. I really hope that this will improve for you as it will boost your finances. 

Thanks for following ! Yes we have been in good shape in my save lately  I just wish I had more time to progress  Real Life is just too busy and I can usually only fine an hour here and there to play (unless I get sucked in and go on until the night) 
 

Funnily enough, I kinda feel my finances are in perfect shape for at least 3 seasons or something. That's the main reason I went after the stadium (still no idea how much it's gonna cost in the end, maybe I'll talk differently after that ). We are at 30M now in the transfer budget, and a lot of instalments are coming in while we're not paying out any. To add to that, we got a 50% future fee clause dealing the former captain David, who now starts for PSG alongside Mbappe and Musiala. I can get 10M out of that right now, but since his market value is 250M, I'm in no rush. 


 

Riedel was a strange transfer at this stage, I agree, but all the regens centre-backs I scouted either have 7 vision and passing or 5 jumping reach. Maybe in a couple of years I'll embrace a true Bayern mentality and opt to start someone like Kimmich or Alaba in that role 

All of the facilities have been maxed out but the Youth ones, we're at the 4 stars now (and I'm requesting the next upgrade this very minute). Our regen HoYD got hunted by Ajax during the summer, but his replacement is okay, I guess. We even won the U-19 league last season for the first time! 





I just looked up how our U-19s are doing in UCL – to say the least, much better than I do  Maybe youngsters are the way to go indeed!

Other clubs are terrible in Europe so far. There were seasons when Legia and Lech even got to the Playoffs in the Conference League, but lately, no one even gets through the summer. Well, Jagellonnia did this season, at least they've got 5M in bonuses. We'll keep 5 teams for the next season, but not after that. The troubling part is that Ekstraklasa's reputation is still 3 stars, so the club is stuck around that too, unless I get lucky enough to win the Europa League soon.

[rkosatiy]

@RoguPL Another little thing on the academy: I wonder what would you say about my two guys? How would they fare in your squad? 



My coach considers both good Ekstraklasa players, but I can't decide whether it tells more about the state of the league. They are barely bench players for me, and I can easily replace them with better options, just don't feel the need to do that for the domestic season. 

[RoguPL]

Idan David is an absolute unit. I would wait for him to move, as he should at some point. That will give huge huge bump. 
If you can't find a CB, you might want to see if you can find a DM with inclination to play as a CB, If they are pretty young they should easily adjust to new position if they get game time  
 

If I was looking at your youth players within my team? Probably

I would sell Repka, at 23 he wants already to be a Leading Ekstraklasa player and is unlikely to improve, so he would either be a deep backup or sell and give game time to younger players.
Nowacki would probably fit in my rotation as AMC, he needs game time I think to develop more. 

For comparison, 
This is my starting AMC 
 

 

This is my rotation AMC, although it says his PA is 3* I don't really believe that. he still improves. 

 

But again, I have different type of save ;D I get incoming transfer window every March and got to find out a way to deal with what I have  and its not always what you need or what you want  
 

[rkosatiy]

Thanks for the advice! I tried a DM thing a couple of times already, first with Montolio – originally brought in as a DLP, but I moved him into defence for the last season. The other one is Abdalas, but has improved technically by such a margin that I'd rather see him in midfield for 4-2-3-1 now

Understand that the saves are different, but anyway, I'd like Lechia to feature more home-grown guys even when I'm not restricted with movements all the way like you are (ignoring South America with the current club rep complicates matters enough for me )

[rkosatiy]

Season 9 – Highs and Lows 

Our struggles in the Champions League continued at Allianz Arena. Round 5 became our lowest point – Bayern dominated completely throughout the game, so we are okay to take the minimal loss here. Corners kill us again and again this year. We are at 1 point after 5 games with almost no chance of progressing.

The cup was where we had a decent chance to reach the next round. The home game against Legia became a rollercoaster – we scored and went ahead 3 times but each time it took our opponent just a few minutes to even the score. The game was slowly arriving at the penalty shootout but 1 shot decided it all. After a questionable referee decision, Harvey Elliott got a chance to rectify his 2 misses from the last season – his right corner shot took us to the 1/4, where we will face Ruch in late February next year.



Two days later we were set to play in Krakow against a top-5 Cracovia team. After 120-minute blockbuster in the cup and ahead of facing Napoli in the UCL, some rotations were in order. Antal saved the day! He had been scoreless for 10 games or so but finally his finishing is back!



After such a turnaround, Pomorski opted to play aggressively against the superior opponent. We were pressing extremely high, even after Florica gave us the lead. Only in the last 10 minutes Napoli created chances, but Musial had a great game and deservedly took the MotM trophy. Our first win in Europe this season and just the second one ever in the UCL, witnessed by 35000 in attendance.



Regretabbly, the first part of the season ended with a stinker. Legia were not better than us in any capacity, but gave us the second home loss of the season (the first one was against Arsenal). 

We are still leading in the league, but the form Radomiak is in right now becoming scary. We only managed to get a draw at home against them, so the title is absolutely in play as well as all 5 European spots for the next season. 

Edited July 7 by rkosatiy

[rkosatiy]

Season 9 – January 2032

While the Ekstraklasa restarts only in February, we have two important events in January. With 4 points after 6 games, Lechia's chances for playoffs are slim, even though the last two games arguably are the easiest ones – against Benelux teams – away vs. Anderlecht and home vs. PSV.

Before we get to them though, our squad has to survive the biggest challenge of all – the winter transfer window 

In August, Pomorski promised Savu, our top BWM, that we would be able to join PSG for 8M. The offer never came before the deadline but on the first week of January, we saw a bidding war. Since Lechia is never in the business of crushing our players' dreams, we welcomed the auction. Elliott as DLP only left one place in midfield and Abdalas fits there perfectly (if only not for the Cup of the African Nations).

One offer superseded the other and our great friends from Leipzig placed the highest bid of 35 million Euros! Crazy good deal for us!

Our luck on the pitch is of course different. Anderlecht scored their first shot on target and once again our attack has been fruitless. For the second game in a row, our player got a red card out of frustration, not a good sign at all. Anyway, this loss leaves us with 4 points and officially out of contention for the playoffs.

The elimination from the UCL only intensified the rumours that started circulating before the game – Abdalas and Florica, our captain and best player, also want out and they want out now. There was speculation in the press that the club took a tough stance this time and was not willing to let the leaders leave immediately. 

Amid the mess, the last UCL game lost the last bits of importance. It's pretty difficult to win against two penalties even when PSV can't create anything else. Musial saved the first penalty shot and we got a draw at home.

5 points is our new best result in the UCL. We improved gradually in the Europa League and expect some progress to be made in the most demanding competition of all. We were clearly worse than the opposition for 100 minutes – the last 10 in Nice and during the whole game in Munich. Maybe it's too soon for us to become giant slayers, but Lechia deserved more.

A woeful Europa League performance by Jagellonia – ZERO points with 3-18 GD – cemented this season as the worst for Polish football in the last decade. The clubs earned 3.4 points together, that's a disgrace.

Right after the PSV game ended, it became clear that the tough pose was a negotiating tactic – the highest bid strategy was on for both Abdalas and Florica. 

Abdalas left first to continue his career in Spain. Saying goodbye was sad – this guy can truly develop! He came as a free agent but now the club becomes 20M richer with his departure. 


 
The interest for Florica was of course much higher. The early contender was Inter and then the mighty Real Madrid joined the race. However, the result shocked many experts –Bogdan is joining Ajax! FORTY MIL for us!



Now we literally have A HUNDRED MILLION EURO in our transfer budget. What's next, what are we going to do? Yeah, we are still favourites both in the league and in the cup, but there is no way this team is going to be competitive in Europe next season with the remaining level of talent. We are fully prepared to buy out the arena, that's true. But Harvey Elliott, a career loser who could not make it in the serious leagues, is our now vice-captain and the main star. Are we the Clippers or what? 

I've also followed the advice and let Repka go. He put up some beautiful performances in the minutes he had though. 

 

 Kamil Kurzawa, who you just saw, is our first addition to the squad. He will get a rotation place when Moralis joins Arsenal and hopefully will develop his game a little bit. He can shoot and he is a great guy – the first Model Professional in a green T-Shirt!

Everyone's hyping up South America, but what have you heard of South Africa? Amos Mokhehle will be the new starting BWM for the second part of the season.

It's more and more difficult to procure elite talent even though we now have all the money we could've asked for. Can we stop the degradation of our football culture on the European fields?

[RoguPL]

Some decent change picked up there ! 
Unlucky with the Champions League, full focus on the league to retain te title now ! 
 

[rkosatiy]

On 08/07/2024 at 01:18, RoguPL said:

Some decent change picked up there ! 
Unlucky with the Champions League, full focus on the league to retain te title now ! 
 

Let's see if the pile of cash can help us on the field

[rkosatiy]

Season 9 – Records, Records – 2031/2032

Despite some unfortunate results in the first half and a complete transformation of the central axis after 3 key departures, Lechia returned stronger than ever. 



The only equal thing about the Radomiak game was the total score.

In April Lechia showed off its clutch gene like never before. First, a late goal from the captain took us to the second consecutive cup final. 

During the last week of the month, a double strike against Jagellonia was a glorious repeat from the previous season (vs. Lech). In the league game, the late breakthrough from Suk clinched the fourth consecutive league title for us! 




Jagellonia put up a fabulous battle in the Final, but after a few early (and late) misses, Antal finally managed to put the ball into the net. 



The second domestic treble is ours for the second year in a row! 

Our U-19 team arguably put up an even greater season – the young lads are among the final four teams in European club football! It was an incredible run, during which they eliminated PSG and Atalanta from the playoffs!

After the senior and the U-19 both clinched their respective titles, a few of the youngsters got the chance to impress the Ekstraklasa opponents right away. Among them was Piotr Kwasnik, a fan favourite from the latest youth intake, who already played 4 league games and even made an assist before turning 16!



Lechia 2031/2032 broke the record for League Points – now it is set at 90!

And the number of wins too! 



Unbelievable, but the followers apparently did not share and enjoy our success...



A truly dominant style of play and fantastic performance gave us a season to remember!






Let's celebrate all the players who achieved this once again!



Lechia's reputation around the world finally took a step forward and I hope it will give more opportunities to strengthen the team for continental glory.



In the meantime, the ownership finalized the acquisition of the stadium. Lechia will enter the next season playing at home. Our own, at last.



 

[rkosatiy]

Season 10 – Summer 2032

Following the record-breaking season, Pomorski had no major changes in mind for the summer. Surely, a few veterans were set to leave, but all the key pieces are young and have room to grow. 4-2-3-1 suits the squad perfectly, even though our DM situation is not as stable as it was a season ago.

Since Ekstaklasa's stature has declined, Lechia would have to go through 3 rounds in UCL qualification, giving us 4 extra games in July and August. 



The season started with two confident wins: in Superpuchar against Jagellonia and then in the home Pomorza derby.



We were looking strong in the UCL too, smashing teams in their houses and containing them in the second ties. The home game vs. Malmo in the last round got unexpectedly close: we were up 2-0 at the half time (4-1 on aggregate), but the Swedes scored two after the break. We sustained the aggregate lead and progressed to the League Phase.



Finally, a fairly mild draw occurred. I like our chances to improve upon the 5 points we earned last year. Legia and Rakow fared well in the qualies, both reaching the League Phase of the Europa League. Let's hope they get points there.



Our form in the league declined: first, a major rotation in the Gornik game resulted in a late tying goal and a week later Bota (who was forcing a transfer at the time) missed a penalty in Poznan, so the leading Lech is keeping the pole position (for now).


 

[rkosatiy]

@RoguPL Our supporters could not care less about the stadium deal! 

 

[rkosatiy]

Summer 2032 Transfers

We continued to spend fortunes on defenders. This summer, they are at least young 

On the opening day, all the scheduled deals went on, the most important one being Mathias Karlsen from Scandinavia, for a record-breaking 9.8M. He is physical and smart but his technique far from perfect. We need a defensive-minded left-back for our tactic, and now we have one for years to come.

It took us nine days to break the transfer record again – 12.25M were required to pay off the Swiss. Jean Nsangou is on the brink of breaking into the national team from our starting lineup. We struggled against crosses heavily in the past against the very best team and the 198cm defender was brought to help with that. Hopefully, he'll learn how to pass the ball someday



All other transfers were for clear rotation guys, so I'll introduce them at later points when any of them stands out on the pitch. 



Weirdly enough, Adrian Church has already been recalled by Bayern despite starting all but one league game. I've explored the loan market for a bit but decided that Kurzawa will continue to start in his stead.

We've let go of most of the influential players who led us to four consecutive titles. Elliott was the best assist man last season but only had 1 year left on his deal, the highest salary matching clause and a tough agent. 

Laird, Ramon, Ahamada lost their starting places in the second half of the season and the infusion of youngsters will be able to replace them in rotation. Kahl is over 30 and much worse than Karlsen even right now. Ahmad and Kisiel were too good of deals to turn down because of finances. We don't expect them to start and 50M for a useless stadium aren't going to pay for themselves.



Despite a significant interest in their services from top clubs, Bota, Musial and Riedel all stayed with the team. Silaghi is back for the season after a wonderful spring with Werder, but is growing upset because I was not able to register him for the UCL. I expect to rotate the keepers in the league, while Musial plays in UCL and Silaghi in the Puchar.



The new hierarchy looks a bit weird tho...

Edited July 16 by rkosatiy

[RoguPL]

3 hours ago, rkosatiy said:

@RoguPL Our supporters could not care less about the stadium deal! 

 

This must be broken for sure. 

they sell x3 your amount IRL and they have just been promoted from First Division

[rkosatiy]

Mid-Season 10 – 2032/2033 – Domestic Challenger Reborn

As usual, let's take a look at domestic results before the winter break. This season has been special for Lech, they have managed to drop only 10 points in 19 games so far. We are enjoying an unbeaten streak of 34 games – our last loss in the league is dated December 2031, more than a year ago! A few of the games were close, including some barely deserved wins away. In the last game of 2032, we were incredibly close to dropping the streak, being a man down in Pomozsa Derby, but hung on to draw thanks to our defence.



So far everything points out to it being the closest title race the league has seen in years. In the past, the challengers often crumbled right after the break. Will Lech repeat their fate? We wiped the pitch with them in all tournaments before an August draw, so their comeback is even more impressive. 



We had little issue progressing in the cup, beating Gornik and Stomil (they are in the 1. Liga now!) respectively. In the quarterfinal, we are set to face Ruch for the second year in a row.



Our quality of play was not that far ahead of the competition due to massive rotation, we are only 4.5 expected points ahead of Radomiak, who looked stronger and stronger in the last two seasons. 



We find ourselves significantly behind Rakow in the final third passes created. We're playing more vertical and intense football, but surrendering some control to the opposition on more occasions. 



Our attacking talent is incredible though. Antal, Suk and Bota are topping the league in goals, while Mokhehle is an assist leader (Elliott whooo?).

[rkosatiy]

2032/2033 UCL League Phase – We Can Do It

As you remember, we have finally received a favourable draw in the UCL and, to add onto that, the first 4 out of 5 are at home. Our squad is extremely young, Riedel is our only player older than 23 y.o.

It was important to start with the win and we managed to achieve just that against Dinamo Zagreb. We were playing rather poorly during the first half, but an excellent strike just before halftime by Bota put us in control of the game. Not the first time we beat Dinamo though.



The second game started with the shock – Rangers took the lead after a cross. Twenty minutes later we were already ahead – Antal finished from close range and then a loanee Rose connected his shot from the edge of the box. Controlling the ball proved itself an effective tactic and we hung on to the lead. 6 points in 2 games is our new record in the UCL!



Then we were destined to face the Big Boys! First, another rendezvous with Bayern awaited! The home crowd gave us strength and Mokhehle gave us an early lead. The situation started to look fantastic after a red card from Davies! However, the first shot on target from Bayern equalised to score and the game ended in a draw. A bit disappointing given the situation, if you ask me!



Anfield trip was next! Liverpool dominated through the whole game, but unfortunately for us, the winning margin came in the form of two long shots by 34 y.o. Darvin Nunez.  We took an expected loss, even though the Reds were not at their best.



The final home game started disastrously. Two shots on target – both successfully converted. Our hopes of getting to the playoffs started to look grim at the moment. Antal saved us, completing two of our many second-half attacking attempts. 8 points, 3 away games to go!



Well, it's getting difficult to play up the drama. Our captain single-handedly destroyed Levski at their home! Now Lechia is nearly guaranteed to progress to the next stage!



An early header from Kurzawa was important, but the deciding factor in the game was a referee's decision late in the game. The last time we played in Eindhoven, two penalties were awarded to the hosts, but this time we kept our minimal lead.



An extremely defensive approach in Turin's game resulted in a corner goal exchange. This was the only League Phase game we lost by XG. 



Our fans will cherish the 2032/2033 season as the best League Phase performance ever. We earned 15 points and finished 10th, the same exact results and position we had 3 years ago (but in the Europa League, the UCL is on the whole other level). Lechia, which only had 2 UCL main stage wins in its history, now proudly has 6!




What's even more fascinating, we will face one of the two teams we beat before this season, competing for the Round of 16 spot. See you at Diego Maradona stadium!



The Polish representatives in the Europa League were not as terrible as last season's Jagellonia, but sad display nonetheless. We must do it alone! And surely can!

[rkosatiy]

Winter Transfer Window 2033 – A New Challenge

Lechia lost 1 game through the whole 2032 calendar year. Paradoxically, the vibes are off now. An AVERAGE atmosphere?!



Of course, this could be caused by none other than a massive coordinated raid for our best players. But instead of continuing to lose them like I lost Nielsen, David and Florica, we are giving in no more! Lechia has money, owns the stadium, won 4 titles in a row and competes in UCL. The players believe that Ekstraklasa is a weak league – well, THEY ARE WRONG. From now on, no one leaves our glorious club until we want them to. Let's see where this new policy brings us. 



Musial has to go, though. I'm grateful for all the times he saved us in the last 6 years. Robert has overtaken a starting role in the national team, but I have to admit I prefer Silaghi.