Daniel Evensen

Domination I suppose we’ve got a good team. I mean, we didn’t just beat Neimenggu. We crushed them. We pulverized them. We won the match 8-0. We beat them so easily that we scored 8 goals before the 60th minute. We didn’t score any afterwards, and it didn’t matter. We’re turning this league into a joke. We’ve got an absolutely amazing side, and I simply can’t believe my eyes. Han Yu finally made his debut in goal for us, and, naturally, kept a clean sheet. He looks good, though there are rumblings in the squad that the players are hoping for more depth in goal. I guess it probably wouldn’t help if I told them that we still had our 15-year-old goalie with no self confidence. We’ve had a great start to the season, and it looks like things can only get better from here. We’ve got great depth to the squad, and we’re playing well even though the players haven’t really learned how to play as a team yet. It’s remarkable. The 8-0 thrashing of Neimenggu is a new division record for the largest margin of victory. It beats the 7-0 scoreline that we put up in our last match, which itself matched what Beijing University did against Qingdao on the first day of the season. And it just so happens that we play Beijing University in a few games. The Hat Trick Wonderkid Huang Bowen is still worried about our new North Korean signing taking away his lunch. He’s gone to the press with his concerns. Nobody seems to be paying much attention to him, though. He apparently didn’t notice that I had him play the entire game against Neimenggu, nor did he seem to care that he wound up scoring. I shouldn’t pay too much attention to Huang Bowen, though. We’ve got a much better striker at the club already — and he’s younger, too. Luciano Parra is a 19-year-old Chilean wonderkid, and is such a good player that my scouts demanded that I sign him. I thought it was a bit excessive considering how many strikers we’d already signed, but I went for it anyway. Parra has played 2 games for us so far. He’s scored hat tricks in both of them, easily earning two player of the match awards. And he seems simply unstoppable. In my opinion, he’s already the best player in the entire Chinese league system — and he’s only 19 years old. And the best part is that he’s not whining to me after I try to make a signing to give us more strength in depth. He’s not flashy, nor does he have that gorgeous face that starts up grassroots fan clubs and steals attention from the rest of the squad. He’s focused, he’s quiet, he does his work, and he’s nothing but quality. I can’t believe he’s playing for us. First Real Test We face our first real test in our next game, the first round of the Chinese FA Cup. We’re up against the Cangzhou Mighty Lions, who are in the Chinese Super League, two divisions above us. Cangzhou is in 18th place and isn’t playing well. The pundits think that we’re going to win this one handidly. I don’t think it will necessarily be so easy, though. We might have a good side, but I’m not certain that we’re quite at the Chinese Super League level yet. We won’t sell out the stadium, but they tell me to expect about 25,000. I just hope we do well. And I’m not sure I’ll be able to sleep tonight.

After being utterly schooled in my attempt to create my own tactic in my last save, I decided to give in and grab a Knap special. I didn't put much thought or analysis into it. I saw this one, thought that having two Segundo Volante roles was hilarious, and decided to go for it. In retrospect, I kind of wished I had waited for one of the more unusual formations that was posted afterwards, mostly for the lulz, but I think this choice will turn out just fine. I'm playing a lot slower than the rest of you. You can follow my progress on my blog, if you wish, or on my YouTube channel. We're playing in Yanji, China, using a team that actually went bankrupt a few years back in a crazy database that has China participating in Europe. It's a riot. I also, umm, might have made a few changes to help out our finances a tad. Anyway, big thanks as always to Knap for the great tactic! I know that some frown on "downloaded tactics." Frankly, I fail to see the difference between using this and just going with a slightly modified form of the built-in 4231 Gegenpress SI provides in the game. At least here we can see success and learn about the match engine without losing every single game and feeling like utter fools.

Amazing Gansu showed up to their match against us, though you can’t be blamed for thinking that we played that one all alone. We gave up 0 shots and 0 chances to them. Gansu had an xG of 0.00. Meanwhile, we scored 7 goals on 42 shots, dominated possession, and looked like a team playing a completely different game. New signing Luciano Parra completed his debut hat trick in the 67th minute. I brought Huang Bowen on, mostly as an apology for signing Kim Yong-Il (who also scored, of course). Huang scored a goal in the 72nd minute. I hope he realizes that I do want to play him from time to time, and that we make transfers to win games, not to play favorites with our players. I’m amazed at how well we played. No fewer than 8 players made their debuts for us, and yet we still won by a huge margin. We looked like we’ve always played together. The crazy thing is that our squad cohesion can only improve from here. There’s not much more you can say about this match than that we dominated. We shouldn’t be the third tier; that much is for sure. It won’t be long before we start moving up. Monthly Review We’ve had an interesting month. After 4 games and a total of 16 goals for and 2 goals again, I suppose we can make some conclusions about our performance. We tend to score our goals deep inside the penalty area. We’ve been able to simply move the ball inside and score, which is absolutely fantastic. We’re good at getting the ball into the final third, which is a lot better than we were doing in that other reality that I’d just as soon forget. We’re scoring goals about 1/4 of the time when we enter the final third of the pitch. I mean, we’ve just been absolutely dominant on offense; there’s no other way to put it. As for negatives — well, it turns out that Lee Jin-Yong is leading the squad in losing possession. That’s right: the fan favorite, the baby-faced young South Korean wonderkid, the man whose picture is in all the local tabloids, Mr. Lee is playing worse than our other defensive midfielders. I’d love to tell Charlotte this news, but I can’t find the time to talk with her. She’s been busy organizing a fan club for Lee Jin-Yong, along with an army of housewives, college students, and teenage girls from Yanji and the surrounding area. “이진용 화이팅!” (Go Lee Jin-Yong!) is their rallying cry, and none of them seem to mind that her Korean is heavily accented and sounds odd. She still doesn’t know what hospital he’s staying at. We’ll see how long I can hold that bit of information secret. We’re the best team in the league at attacking movement, and by a really high margin. We attract a lot of fouls, mostly because of the sheer quality that we possess up front. Our crossing is also excellent — easily best in our division. I would wager that we have the best crossing in the country, actually. Anyway, our finances look good. We’re still rich. In fact, I think we’ve been making money despite our wild spending. It turns out that we get 1.4 million RMB for each win, which is absolutely silly. And yet I still can’t convince Chairman Guo to improve the training facilities, despite the fact that I promised half the squad that we’d do so. Come to think of it, I can’t even meet with Chairman Guo if I want to. He seems to spend all of his time out on the town, riding around in his Tesla, or flying to random parts of the country in his private jet. I don’t care. I’m fine with focusing on the football, thank you very much. The board seems mildly happy with how we are doing. Perhaps they are upset by the two goal we’ve conceded in four matches. The fans are also mildly pleased. I know that they want a big signing, but we simply can’t do that yet — not at this level. That will come later, I hope. Our squad heirarchy is pretty well set. Fan Xiang, who I’ll introduce you to tomorrow, is clearly the squad leader, and Ye Jie is right behind him in terms of squad influence. We’ve got a good number of influential players, and the dressing room atmosphere is excellent. All of that is impressive when you consider how many changes we’ve made. We’re into the beginning of September now. The transfer window has closed. We brought in 46 players, easily most in the country. We weren’t able to match the 790 million RMB that Shanghai Port spent — but that’s because we’re so far down the league pecking order. Once we make it up to the Chinese Super League, we’ll likely outspend them. Shanghai’s not that hot anyway. Who would want to go to such a bland, plastic, commercial city? Why go shopping on the bund at overpriced stores when you can hang out in the border area and visit the Korean restaurants? Yanji might be a small city, but it’s a city with heart. I’m still convinced that it’s the best city in the country, and I defy anyone to prove me wrong. Mr. Kwon For a little while this summer, Kwon Hyeok-Kyu (권혁규) was our record transfer. We broke our own record, of course — Chairman Guo simply wouldn’t have it any other way. Signing Kwon, who has been capped at the under 20 level, was still a great coup on our part. At only 21 years old, he is an excellent player who is sure to improve. Mr. Kwon is simply a natural for the Segundo Volante role. Sure, he’ll tell you that he wants to play as a deep-lying playmaker, but watching him for only a few minutes will convince you that he should be the Volante. His ability to hold the ball back a bit and make the critical pass in between the defense is simply amazing. He’s kind of like a young Tom Brady out there, holding the ball back a bit and reading the fullbacks and centerbacks before making an extremely precise pass to push the attack forward. Seriously — Kwon Hyeok-Kyu’s passing statistics are really something for midfielders at this level. He’s got a few problems with inaccuracy, but I think that’s mostly caused by the sheer number of new players we have on the squad. Once we start gelling a bit more, I think he’s going to emerge as one of the greatest players in all of Asia. Now, I am worried about Kwon’s lack of consistency. He’s been good so far, but he’s also playing at a level far beneath his actual ability. We’ll see whether he can keep his good streak up once we start moving up the table. He might quite have the boyish looks and charm of Lee Jin-Yong, but his stats are much better than Lee’s. He’s not a tackler or an interceptor, but he is very good at making incisive, key passes that cut the defense in half. When we do start working together as a squad, his pass completion statistics will only improve — and then we’ll really be a force to reckon with. Our 7-0 victory will seem like nothing then. Inner Mongolia We’re off to Inner Mongolia (Nei Meng Gu; 內蒙古) to face their representative. Everybody think that we’re sure to win. We’ll see if anybody shows up at the Hohhot City Stadium for this Friday afternoon kickoff. I think it’s going to be extremely hot. The little bit of good news that has come our way is that Huang Bowen was selected for the China Under 21 squad. The press is still speculating that he wants out. I think we can keep him on, though, and am planning on starting him this afternoon. Fingers crossed.

I think I'm going to make her the official head of the Lee Jin-Yong fan club... much to my dismay.

Disaster You could hear the crunch echo throughout the mostly empty Olympic Sports Center in Nanjing. There was the crunching sound of ribs breaking, and then a moan, an awful moan that the entire stadium could hear. I didn’t see who smashed him, but I did see who the victim was. Lee Jin-Yong, our young superstar, lay on the ground writing in pain. It wasn’t until after the match that I heard our trainer’s diagnosis. Broken ribs. The plan was to send Lee out to a specialist for about two months to heal. Fortunately, we have more than enough defensive midfielders to cover for him. Still, I hate to see a kid with so much talent get injured like that. The Fan “When is he going to be back?” Charlotte asked as soon as I stepped in the apartment. It was a little after midnight, our plane had just landed, and I wasn’t in the mood to talk about anything. I took off my shoes, left them at the doorway, and tried to make a beeline for the bedroom. “Answer me!” she said, half sobbing and half shouting. I sighed. “The physios tell me it’s not as bad as it looked,” I said. “Two months, maybe. He’ll be back in no time. He’s young; he’ll heal.” A temporary look of comfort washed over Charlotte’s face. The fire in her eyes quickly returned, however. “How in the world could you put him out there against those savages? You should have left him on the bench and put that new Spanish kid out instead.” There was a strong accusatory tone in her voice, as if I had deliberately smashed one of her prize vases. “You mean Borja Calvo? He just got here yesterday. And, besides, weren’t you upset with me the other day for not starting Lee?” I was too tired for this argument anyway. And why was she still fawning over this 21-year-old kid? “I just hope he’ll be okay” was her reply, and she left me in peace. Jiangsu We did play a match in Nanjing, by the way. We won, too, 3-2. We didn’t play particularly well, though we dominated throughout. Jiangsu didn’t have a shot on goal, but they did grab one after an errant cross managed to hit our young Scottish center back Aidan Quinn on the back of the foot and made its way into the net. Wu Ping didn’t have a great match, and our defense has some clear holes. We’re bringing in a bunch of new faces to try to plug the gaps, though. I think we’ll be just fine moving forward. Charlotte’s not the only one who ignored the match and focused on Lee Jin-Yong, by the way. Lee’s face has been all over local television and in all the local newspapers. I’ve declined several interview requests to talk about him, and I’ve had to face all sorts of sly attempts by supporters to find the name of the hospital he’s been staying at. Yanbian FC fever is starting to catch as we continue to win. Someone told me the other day that we added 4,500 followers on social media, which I suppose is important to some. Chairman Guo is still upset that we can’t sign the likes of Haaland and Mbappe, though, and I worry that he’s going to hold it against me. I also really hope that Lee gets better soon, by the way. We’re paying him 465,000 RMB per week, which would be a ridiculous salary at any other Chinese club. Chairman Guo has no problem with that; in fact, he wants to see us sign more good players on big wages. Still, I can’t help but be frustrated at the thought of all that money going to a guy sitting in a hospital bed. Strife Huang Bowen, one of our new strikers, came up to me upset the other day. Huang is a 22 year old native of Kunming in Yunnan Province. We picked him up off of Yunnan FC for just under 4 million RMB a few weeks back. He’s already played very well for us, scoring once in his only match so far, and looks like a great signing for the future. Well, if we can keep him happy, that is. “Why’d you have to go do a thing like that?” he asked me with his somewhat awkward southwestern Chinese accent. I had to strain my ears a bit; they tend to drop the “h” sound in the south. “A thing like what?” I replied cautiously. “The new guy. Why’d you sign him?” I almost started laughing. I didn’t know which one he was talking about. We had just had 5 new players come through in the last two days, and that doesn’t count all the young trialists. “You’ll have to be more specific…” I said, trying to keep a diplomatic tone. “The old one, you know, the one from across the border.” And then I knew what the problem was. Kim Yong-Il is his name, a name that gives you a pretty good hint at where he’s from. He’s a starter for the North Korean national team, a good striker who the scouts were excited for. He was also a mistake, in retrospect. I say that not only because Huang got upset. If Huang Bowen gets the game time he wants, he’ll get over it in a jiffy. And if he stays upset, we’ll just loan him out. No — it turns out that Kim Yong-Il had a few signs of trouble that I didn’t care to check up on when I signed him. In particular, he seems somewhat frail for a 28-year-old — and there are rumors that he tends to fall apart in the big ones. We still think he’s worth taking a chance on. And he only cost us 150,000 RMB. We’re not thinking about the long term future here. We just want some strength in depth, somebody who can help push us through this stage and into the next league. But try explaining that to Huang Bowen. I didn’t handle it well, I’m afraid. I just hope he doesn’t raise too much of a stink around the locker room. Gansu There’s not much time to worry about these trivialities, of course. We’ve got a game coming up, our 4th in 11 days. We’re hosting Gansu Tianma. We should win. We’ve got excellent quality and good depth, even if we did lose a key piece to an injury. We also are expecting a large crowd, which is exciting. They tell me we might have as many as 23,000 show up for this match. Maybe Chairman Guo doesn’t care much for my signings, but the fans sure seem to be interested. As for my wife? I’m sure she’ll get by.

On A Roll Beijing Renhe was no problem for us. I thought we might have a slow start, but then our attacking left winger Han Jin scored in the 9th minute, and it was all downhill from there. Our recently signed 21-year-old North Korean striker Kim Kuk-Jin scored a goal in the 37th minute, and had an excellent debut in general, including several crucial passes that really opened up the game for his teammates. We wound up running away with a 4-0 victory, the second in a row by the same margin. We dominated every single aspect of the match. Wu Ping’s lack of confidence in himself was no handicap whatsoever, as we gave up only 4 shots in total all game long. It looked like men against boys out there — even though our squad was younger on average. Winning always feels good. Babe I’ll never figure Charlotte out, and it’s not just because of those strange, mystical powers that she has. One moment she’s the embodiment of some long-forgotten Taoist deity, and the next, well, she’s like a schoolgirl. “Why didn’t you start my 어빠?!” she demanded of me in Chinese as I walked in the door that evening. Her Korean pronunciation of the term of endearment — technically “older brother,” but often indicating a crush more than an actual family tie — was like something straight out of a bad Korean drama. “Your what?” I asked, stunned and hoping that I had misheard some other word. “You know,” she said. “Defensive midfield. You’ve got two slots, and you didn’t start my Lee?” Lee Jin-Yong — that’s who it was. The baby faced 21-year-old — the one we signed for 5.5 million RMB from Daegu. I didn’t think much of giving him the day off. I wanted to see how Cong Zhen, another new defensive midfield signing, would work in that role. Lee hails from Daegu, down in the south-central part of South Korea, and a considerable distance from Yanji. We had to offer him a number of enticements to leave his hometown team to come north. Most importantly, we were forced into promising improved training facilities, though we did weasel our way out of promising to bring in another South Korean player to help him settle in. Of course, we wound up signing Kwon Hyeok-Kyu a week later, so I guess we would have been okay with that second point. Lee really shouldn’t be playing on a team of our stature, if you ask my opinion. He’s already playing at a China Super League level, and will likely be a big star for us if we can keep him happy. His contract does come with a 6 million RMB release clause for domestic clubs in a higher division. If we do have to sell him, we’ll make a small profit, I suppose. However, my guess is that we’ll win the league this year and will sign him to a better contract before next season even starts. And now the only trick is keeping Charlotte away from him. Jiangsu We’re up against the reformed Jiangsu Football Club in our next match. You might have heard that Jiangsu Suning was dissolved in early 2021 due to financial difficulties. Actually, Jiangsu had won the league only a few months earlier, leading to widespread questions about the financial stability of Chinese football. I don’t know what happened to those questions. All that I know is that Jiangsu is back, and they’re in the same division that we are. And now I’ve got a plane to catch to Nanjing.

If you think that's impressive, just wait until I get to our young North Korean signing.

Yeah, and not just any Asian story — this one comes based off of a really interesting Chinese-language mod I found on the Steam Workshop. I think it will work. I hope it will work. I hope the finances aren't screwed up... and there's only one way to find out!

Taking Care of Business The nerves came back to my stomach before that first match. I had nightmares the night before: dream after dream of Ingolstadt, of upset players wanting to leave, of goal after goal going in during that 7-0 thrasing against 1860 München. Charlotte finally punched me in the back around 2 in the morning, frustrated by my night of tossing and turning. I think I muttered something to her about the poor quality hotel Wuxi hotel bed. She didn’t want to hear any of it, and muttered a somewhat vulgar equivalent of “sort yourself out” back at me. Needless to say, I was a mess the next afternoon. But, as it turns out, the match against Wuxi wasn’t exciting in the least. We scored early and often. We made it look easy, starting with an opening goal by recently acquired 24-year-old left winger Liu Yue in the very first minute. Both strikers scored, and we ended the half with a comfortable 4-0 lead — and Wuxi hadn’t even managed a shot on goal yet. The second half was much quieter. We threatened throughout, but did not manage to score. We didn’t give anything up, of course, and we came away with the dominating and deserved victory. Everybody was happy. Both our recent signings up front, the Chinese veteran Gao Yang and the Italian wonderkid Peter Rovaglia, scored goals. So did Kwon Hyeok-Kyu, the 21-year-old South Korean midfielder who made huge headlines when we paid 5.5 million RMB for him, a record for our club. Little do they know that we’ve got 300 million more to spend. It was a great day to wear the red and white. Emergency Goalkeeper What the public didn’t realize is that we narrowly averted a major disaster. When I came in to this team, the first choice goalkeeper was a 15-year-old kid named Wu Ping who couldn’t even look me in the eye. Wu Ping hails from Longquan, a small city in Zhejiang province that would take at least a day to reach via train from Yanji. Maybe it was being on his own for the first time that was getting to him. Maybe it was the wheat-based northern cuisine and the harsh, gutteral sound of the local accents. I don’t know what the problem was, but he sure seemed depressed. The coaches told me that they thought he had good enough natural talent to play at this level, and that he might advance. However, Wu Ping had so little faith in himself and his own abilities that I wondered if he’d ever amount to anything. I went out in search of more help in goal, signing 31-year-old veteran Hou Yu from Meizhou Hakka, as well as a 25-year-old backup, Zhang Yan, who came over from Chengdu Rongcheng. I figured that we’d keep Wu Ping on the under 19 squad until he started to develop some confidence, or until we could loan him out. Of course, as fate would have it, both Hou Yu and Zhang Yan managed to injure themselves shortly before our first match. And so it was that we started the 15-year-old kid. We had no other choice. We simply had no other goalkeeper with the ability to play at this level. It feels like poetic justice that he managed to keep a clean sheet in the end. Fast and Furious We’ve got a lot of games to play in this league — 46 in all, to be exact. They come fast and furious, with only a few days in between. Charlotte warned me about spending too much time at work. She never talked about Ingolstadt directly; she only warned me about “you know what” and “that one time.” It took me a few days to realize that the children had absolutely no memory of our German adventures, as if our life were some sort of director’s cut from Men In Black. That manilla envelope she handed me at the start of the season seems to have helped. Still, I can’t help but think about transfers while I wander around the house. And, well, Charlotte herself doesn’t help things. She keeps asking me questions about what our other 21-year-old Korean midfielder, the baby-faced Lee Jin-Yong, was like in person, as if he were some sort of movie star. I’ve got a bad feeling about this. Beijing Renhe We’re up next against Beijing Renhe, one of several teams from Beijing in this version of the Chinese league. This will be our home opener, and we’d better put on a good show for the fans. Beijing Renhe also won its first match 4-0. This should be a good early test of our squad’s ability to measure up against good competition. And, you guessed it, we’ll have Wu Ping back in goal. I can’t help but root for the kid.

Moneyball This was better than Christmas morning. It was better than anything I’d ever experienced, actually. It turns out that Chairman Guo Kang is rich. Rich as in billionaire rich. Rich as in endless transfer budget rich. And he had just put me in charge of his new hobby: trying to get this club to the top. The transfer budget technically wasn’t endless. The numbers weren’t entirely clear, but I gathered that it was somewhere around 360 million renminbi, which is probably about $60 million USD. Our wage budget was a cool 12 million renminbi per week, or about $2 million USD. It was a dream come true. I pinched myself several times that first day to make sure it wasn’t a dream. I was there, all right, as present and as real as I had ever been at any point in my life. I ate lunch, I drank, I used the bathroom, I stubbed my toe on the corner of my desk, and I spoke to everybody around me. It was real, and I was really there. The problem, of course, is that I had no idea how in the world I’d arrived. It just, well, it just happened, I guess. Another problem soon made itself manifest. It wasn’t October 2022 anymore. We were back to early July, as if nothing had ever happened. Almost like somebody pushed a reset button. Europe Waking up to find yourself on the other side of the globe is one thing. Time travel is another. But that was nothing compared to the next surprise. I looked at the memos that were laid out on my desk. One explained new changes to the Chinese football structure. And it simply didn’t make sense to me. The document was written in a very bureaucratic tone, like something that had gone through multiple hands and clearance levels to obfuscate as much as possible. The gist of it was clear enough, however. Due to some sort of political negotiation — perhaps some kind of international incident? — UEFA had come to a sudden and unexpected agreement with the Chinese Football Association. From now on, there would be a path to European competition for the best teams in China’s top flight. In the current season, the Chinese Super League winners would advance to the Champions League First Qualifying Round. The second, third, and possibly fourth place teams would have the chance to enter the Conference League through the Second Qualifying Round. In a messy cursive style at the bottom of that memo was a note to me. “We win!” is what I made out after looking closely for a few minutes, followed by the traditional Chinese “加油” (“let’s go!”) underneath. And it was signed “Chairman Guo.” I learned as I thumbed through the other documents that China had made a number of concessions to open that door. Chinese teams could now field a number of foreign players; we could register up to 20 in the first team in our division. No more than 8 foreign players could be on the pitch at once, which was a little less than ideal — but still struck me as more liberal than any of the other Asian football associations. The restriction against non-Chinese goalies remained, but I figured we could work within those parameters. This was going to be an adventure like no other. New Home I spent most of my first day getting to know the squad. It was a messy squad at best. Most of the players were unambitious. We had a great looking 15-year-old goalkeeper, Wu Ping, who seemed clinically depressed to me. And so I went to work, trying to figure out how to spend all of this money, and hoping not to disappoint Chairman Guo. It was no easy task, by the way. If you think you’re good at negotiations, you try convincing an up-and-coming young superstar that he should leave the clubs of Europe for a Chinese third tier club that nobody’s ever heard of. I heard more laughter from agents on the phone than I’ve heard at comedy clubs. When 5 o’clock hit, I suddenly realized that I didn’t know where home was, or how to get there. You can imagine my shock when my staff assistant told me that my car was ready. Chairman Guo had thought of everything — including the fact that I didn’t know how to get home. And so I found myself in the back of a black Audi with special license plates, being whisked through the busy streets of Yanji. Yanji Yanji is the sort of city that simply has to be real. No writer, no matter how drunk, would ever dare to concoct such a ridiculously multicultural town in such a sensitive part of the world. The city of Yanji is only 45 kilometers away from North Hamgyong Province, the northernmost province in North Korea. As such, Yanji, and the surrounding Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture of Jilin Province, has been the site of countless international incidents over the years. Yanji and the surrounding area itself is also home to the majority of China’s Korean minority group (朝鲜族). Far from North Korean defectors, these are Chinese citizens of Korean ethnic origin, most of whom descended from families that crossed into Chinese territory during the Japanese occupation of Korea, back when the border wasn’t quite as clear as it is today. As such, Yanji has a real Korean flare for a Chinese city. South Korean shops abound, and it’s easy to find North Korean restaurants all around town. It’s also a pretty crazy place to raise a family. The drive wasn’t long, of course. We lived in a high rise apartment building in Renping, a small residential section of town very close to the stadium and the team offices. We were also close to the airport, which I soon learned offered daily flights to Beijing, Shenyang, and Pyongyang, with occasional flights to Seoul and Hokkaido. And that was it — a far cry from taking those Bavarian trains to Munich! Magic? Charlotte wasn’t surprised to see me ride up at all. “How was your first day?” she muttered matter-of-factly, as if nothing had changed at all. “Why are we here?” I asked her. “What happened?” “Oh, that,” she said, as if I were bothering her about some silly triviality. “You wanted a new beginning, right? Here’s your new beginning.” “Yes, but… how?” “Oh, wait,” she exclaimed, and handed me a manilla envelope. “Take this with you to work tomorrow. I’m sorry — I forgot.” There was something written on the outside in some language I didn’t quite know — Danish, or perhaps Norwegian? I could make out the letters “Knap” etched on the seal. “And one more thing,” she said. “I kind of… I might have exaggerated your resume a little bit. Just act the part — they won’t know the difference.” And that was the last we spoke about any of it. The Season Begins More transpired during the offseason than I can cover here. Instead of boring you with our numerous transfers, I’ll just cut to the chase. We can go over that later, of course. After a month and a half of cajoling and making false promises, I managed to piece together a side that will hopefully be a bit less embarrassing than what we had before. And so we find ourselves in mid-August, ready for the newly resurrected Yanbian FC to play its first match against Wuxi Wugou. Everybody expects us to win, of course. The press thinks that we’re shoe-ins to win the entire Chinese National Second Division Northern Group (that just rolls off your tongue, doesn’t it?). Chairman Guo demands victory right from the get-go. And I think we might be able to make it happen. That envelope Charlotte gave me just might be the dose of medicine that I needed. I don’t understand exactly how this happened, and I don’t know what to expect next. All I know is that it’s time for us to show what we’re made of. It’s time for football.

Note: this story is a continuation from my last thread. I considered keeping them as one thread, but decided in the end that a second chance needed a second thread. Here’s hoping that we have a bit more success this round! Second Chance That cold, dark October night in München haunts me to this day. We didn’t just lose. We were annihilated. And I found myself out of a job. What were we going to do? Could we simply uproot our entire family again and move? Would anybody hire me in the football world after my embarrasing defeat? And that’s when Charlotte’s nose twitched. I can’t explain what happened next. It makes no earthly sense, that’s for sure. All I wanted was a way to restart, a way to make things right again. I must have told her a hundred times during that losing streak that I felt that I was set up to fail, that there was no way to succeed with this squad, that I was about to lose my mind trying to meet the board’s expectations while working with a bunch of injured and uninspired players. And, well, I got my chance. When Charlotte’s nose twitched, a huge shaft of light eminated from somewhere behind her. I didn’t have a chance to see anything clearly. Pure whiteness covered me — whiteness and light that you could touch, a warm and satisfying energy that you could feel. I guess I fell asleep. Dream I had a very strange dream as I slumbered. I stood in front of a large stone archway, done in the classical Chinese style. There was a couplet written on either side of the archway, sort of like what you’ll see around the door of a traditional Chinese home during the Chinese New Year. The right side read “假作真時真亦假.” The complementing left side read “無為有處有還無.” I must have looked at that poem for hours in that dream. I couldn’t make heads or tails out of it. I guess it means something like “When lies are true, the truth becomes false; when nothing turns into something, something becomes nothing.” But what sense does that make? And why do I feel like I’ve read that somewhere before? Besides, who in the world would write such a cryptic poem in such a place? Usually the poems written on both doorposts have some sort of wish for propserity, for good fortune or good luck. Anyway, since it was a dream, I finally gave up on solving the puzzle and just walked through the archway. Next thing I knew, I was awake. The Office I could smell the leathery cigar before I even opened my eyes. It smelled like the crowd at one of the baseball games I had attended as a child. It stank — a foul, musty, humid aroma that I felt I could touch just as much as that ray of light that attacked me. When I opened my eyes I had a headache, a hangover that surprised me. The lights above my head paled in comparison to that light I had just seen. I wanted to go back to sleep, to close my eyes again, to reenter that strange world with the strange doorway. “Did you have a nice nap?” asked a thick, deep male voice — in Chinese, no less. And then I saw the owner of the cigar. I nodded meekly, wondering what truck had hit me, and looked casually around the office. The office was huge, immaculately clean, and seemed to be coated in gold. Football jerseys hung in picture frames along the wall. In front of me, behind a wooden desk that seemed impossibly large, sat the man with the cigar. He looked unimposing and kind, perhaps 20 years my senior, with a light greying beard and a thinning, receding hairline. A shiny golden nametag on the front of the desk read “GUO KANG, CHAIRMAN,” with the equivalent in Chinese and Korean underneath. Behind him was a huge red and gold club emblem. The word “YANBIAN” lept out of the center, followed underneath by “연변” in Korean. Truth and Illusion I knew it couldn’t be true. It had to be a dream. I knew about this team. I’d always been fascinated by it. Yanbian FC were the representatives of the Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture in the Chinese footballing world. Their rise to the top of Chinese football without spending insane money on famous European players was the stuff of legend. And their fall in 2019 due to tax issues was an absolute tragedy. “I thought… I thought the club was dissolved,” I managed to say in Chinese, my head aching. Mr. Guo just laughed. “Your wife is very pretty,” he said, “and is quite convincing. We’re happy to have you on board.” Now I was more confused than ever.

Sorry about how this one is going to end, lol. New thread and story coming soon — but we'll keep the family together, of course. ;-)

1860 München I actually don’t want to talk about the match. It was that bad. We weren’t just beaten. We were pulverized. We lost 7-0. Nothing we tried worked. We had no offensive attack, no answer on defense, and I wanted to leave the stadium by the 60th minute. I know that we haven’t had a good season so far, but the truth is that we were closer to even on paper, even given our young squad. Nobody showed up, nobody felt like trying, and on we went to the worst defeat I’ve seen yet. It was painful. The End I knew that was the end for me. I didn’t even respond when Peter asked for a meeting to discuss my future. I deserved the sack, and knew that I couldn’t convince the boys to win after all that. Or is it? There was a chill in the air that early October evening in southern Germany. The wind felt cold and foreboding, as if a storm were brewing. I didn’t know what to do. Should we stay and look for another job? Should we kick out our renters back in Virginia and move back? Should we look for something elsewhere? I had been moping around the house for a few days, driving Charlotte absolutely nuts. “You men with your silly games,” she would scold me for a while before engrossing herself in her cell phone. That night was different, however. “I just wish…” I began after dinner, as we sat in the living room, pondering the unknown. “I just wish I had a new beginning, that’s all.” Charlotte laughed. It wasn’t a sarcastic laugh or a cruel laugh. It was an ironic laugh, a sort of “why didn’t you ask me sooner” response. “I think I can arrange that,” she began, and twitched her nose. And then… Then something happened that simply defied reality. (To be continued)

The Long Road Downhill I don’t see how this season can get any worse. We lost to Zwickau, 2-1. We gave up an early goal, as usual. Justin Butler came back with a great goal to tie us at 1 each. It wasn’t enough, however, as we the game winning goal in with under 15 minutes left to play. We’re in 19th place now, and show no signs of recovering. I hate to say it, but it’s only a matter of time before the board takes action. Now, I can still find some silver lining in the dark clouds that approach. Butler has looked fantastic in the last few matches, and seems to be developing into the sort of player we thought he could become. We’re scoring goals now, which is better than what we were doing to start off the season. However, the risks we are taking are leaving us far too open in the back — precisely the problem that saw Ingolstadt relegated last season. The pressure is mounting, and I don’t like where this is heading. What Went Wrong? So what went wrong? What is to blame? I’ve got a few ideas. Tactics: My tactics at the start were far too conservative. We did a good job at not conceding goals and not losing. However, we weren’t playing to win, which was a problem. I may have overcompensated by introducing too much of an attacking approach in hopes of gaining back lost points, which is why we find ourselves losing so frequently. Honestly, though, I think our current tactics are fine, and I think we’ve got the right players to fill those roles. The fans and even the board might criticize the tactics. However, what they are really upset about is the results, not the plan. If we parked the bus after scoring an early fluke goal in every match, I’m sure they would all be delighted with our “attacking approach.” Reputation: In all honesty, my reputation and experience isn’t high enough for a club at this level. I probably should have looked for a club further down the ladder for my first experience. With no respect from the players, any change I try to make is immediately unpopular and only makes matters worse. Morale: Even if you ignore my lack of reputation, there is a huge morale problem at this squad. The ugly specter of poor morale seems to be raised with each passing day, and I don’t see how it can improve if we don’t win. Squad cohesion will continue to be a problem as long as the players don’t want to be here. Even our most reputable and influential players are willing to leave at this point. Injuries: This is the other big killer. 4 first team starters were out with injuries when I arrived at the club, and we’ve been plagued by recurring injuries ever since. It is extremely difficult to field a cohesive side capable of winning anything with so many injuries and unavailable players. Budget: I’m not necessarily angry about coming on with no transfer budget at all. However, paying Visar Musliu €21,500 per week for 4 starts at center back and to spend the rest of his time hurt is absolutely ridiculous. In retrospect, my first move should have been to sell him. More Month in Review The board have given me a C- grade, despite our losing streak and continual problems. The fans, on the other hand, have given me a C grade, and seem to be happy with the good form that many players are in. That’s impressive when you consider that we were favorites to win this league back at the start. The dressing room atmosphere has improved slightly, and nobody has any support for me. We have a lack of highly influential players, though I’m not really all that concerned. I’d be much more worried if our more surly players wound up having more influence at this club. Marcel Costly The worst thing about losing is that you start trying to find scapegoats. I’ve already started playing this game. My sights are now set on Marcel Costly, our 26-year-old winger who also plays right back for some strange reason. Costly’s statistics this year are far below average. He hasn’t had a single good match for us this season, and I can’t find a place to play him. He trains poorly, responds poorly to my feedback, and seemed delighted when I threatened to put him on the transfer list. Of course, nobody wanted to pick him up. I’m not surprised. Who wants to buy a 26-year-old grouch who can’t tackle, can’t pass, can’t shoot, and doesn’t want to improve? Marcel likely won’t stay here long, and I don’t think he’ll be the only one to leave. If I’m able to say on board through some miracle, it will likely be because of widespread and sweeping changes in personnel. And that’s not going to be pretty. 1860 München We’re off now to face our bitter rivals. 1860 München, who were once a prominent team in German football, are now the darlings of every underdog-loving Football Manager fan around. 1860 München aren’t exactly having a dream season of their own, and are currently in 13th place, far away from the leaders. This shouldn’t be too surprising if you’ve followed their progress in recent years, of course. The fans are excited for the match. The pressure is on me, however. If I can’t figure out some way to get these boys to win, I’m not likely to last as manager for much longer. There must be something we can do to turn the ship around, though I’m not sure what it is. Fortunately, Peter told me that he doesn’t expect us to win. This is one of the few times in my life that I’ve been relieved to face such low expectations. I’m not sure how long that will last, of course. We’ll find out soon enough.

Kutschke We were done in by one of our own. Stefan Kutschke, a former Ingolstadt player who was sold before my time, did one over on us. He scored 2 goals for Dresden to help power them to a 3-1 victory. I was excited at the start when Justin Butler scored a surprise goal on an excellent strike. However, it was all for naught, as our battered and bruised defense didn’t put up much of a fight at all. Dresden absolutely dominated the match, winning almost 60% of possession and outshooting us, 18 to 4. It looked like we didn’t even show up. We seem to have gone full circle in the beginning of this season, going from a squad more than willing to dominate possession but unable to attack to a squad eager to attack but unable to retain possession or defend. Our passing remains excellent, but our defending is extremely poor — and there doesn’t seem to be any relief in sight. 14 of those 18 Dresden shots came from inside the box, which is a huge problem. Misliu’s injury proneness is a major issue, and I’m very upset that he was brought on in the first place with such a high wage. I don’t know where to go for answers. Monthly Review Our club finances look good at the moment, though our financial status isn’t all that great. This is due in large part to the transfer debt I had to take on, which itself is a byproduct of our lack of a transfer budget. I’ve discovered that Ingolstadt 04 in 2022 is quite literally playing football on hard mode. The only bright aspect of this month is that Justin Butler somehow managed to place third in the September Player of the Month running. That’s not bad for a 21-year-old who has a lot more potential than actual talent. Aside from that, there sadly isn’t much to smile about. Inauspicious Signs There are whisperings afloat that my job is in grave danger. Nobody’s said anything about it to me directly, of course, but that feeling is in the air. Staff members try to avoid looking directly in my eyes. Nobody wants to talk about the future anymore. Malte, our Director of Football, keeps showing me 26-year-old players that he’s stumbled across. I suppose he could sign them on somewhat good deals, though I’d much rather stick with the board’s instructions to bring in players under 22. We don’t need another Misliu situation on our hands, thank you very much. Charlotte, meanwhile, has stopped eating out, and the children don’t talk about school anymore. We just might wind up moving again after all. As for the squad, well, winding up in the relegation zone in a league that we’re supposed to dominate isn’t exactly helping the morale situation. Zwickau Our next match is at home against FSV Zwickau. Peter thinks that we’re going to draw, but hopes for a win. All he really seems to care about at this stage is that we figure out a way to attack. I’m convinced that our tactic is where it needs to be. As for the quality of our players, however, I’m starting to wonder if my transfer policy wasn’t a bit too aggressive. Is the end near?

Straubing Peter doesn’t care about the Bayrischer Pokal, but I do. I don’t want to lose any of these cup matches, even if the board doesn’t judge me on it. We can’t afford any losses to teams far below us. We need our players to believe in themselves and to start playing as a team. And that’s what we got against Straubing. It started out poorly, just like all good stories do. After a few good offensive attempts in the opening seconds, we gave up an absolutely ridiculous goal in the second minute of the game. Lino really should have been able to grab it; the Straubing player really didn’t shoot it all that well, and it was the sort of shot he’s handled before. I was seriously worried that the poor cohesion had impacted the entire team. And then it started to turn around. Jalen Hawkins, who the media has started to turn on, had a little “excuse me” header to nod hom the equalizer for us. And then came our young Spanish maestro, Fabián Luzzi, the 18-year-old wonderkid, to put us ahead. Luzzi had the game of his young career. He wound up with two goals and came inches away from a hat trick. He ran Straubing ragged, and looks like a good purchase after all. We won in the end, 4-2, and should have probably had one or two more. It was another one of those matches where we dominated possession and simply looked like the better side from start to finish. We passed better than they did, we shot better than they did, we maintained a constant attack from start to finish, and we started to look like a team that is going places. Of course, Straubing aren’t exactly world beaters. They’re far below us in the ladder, and never really expected to compete against us. Going down 1-0 against them was a really bad sign. But I don’t mind. A win is a win. Luzzi Fabián Luzzi is his name, or Fabián Roberto Luzzi Rangel, if you want to be technical about it. He’s a wonderkid, and he ceratinly looks the part. He’s got the hair, the face contours, and the natural style to succeed with the fans, and he’s got the skills and the mentality to compete at the highest levels, provided that he gets the chance. If it feels like just yesterday that we picked him up, that’s because it was only a few weeks ago. He was hidden in the Barcelona B side, one of the big Barcelona signings from a few years back that managed to blend his way in with all the other young players. Technically speaking, our scouts shouldn’t have ever found him. We had such a paltry scouting budget at the beginning of this season that we weren’t looking any further than southern Germany. It was the Franke sale that allowed me to increase that scouting budget, and it was the Franke sale that helped finance the purchase of this wonderkid. In other words, if your unhappy players ask to leave, it might not be a bad idea to agree and sell them. Luzzi’s got the looks and the name to succeed. He’ll also see a huge wage rise if he manages to get an international cap. I don’t think he’s in any danger of doing that coming from the German third tier, but we might have to worry about that contingency if he really starts putting on a show soon. Luzzi’s pace is impressive, and he has this ability to do things that the defense simply does not expect. He seems to think that he’s a left winger, but he’s not going to touch that position in this squad. It’s center forward for him, and I expect that he’ll put away those silly notions of playing on the wing over the next few weeks. Oh — he also speaks absolutely no German at the moment. He’s got a bit of basic English, so he can talk with me. Otherwise, it’s just a bunch of grunting and head nodding. And, no, there’s no worry about Charlotte becoming enticed by the young handsome Spanish star. If we manage to get our scouts out to Asia, though, I’d better watch out. Dynamo Dresden We’re playing up in Dresden in our next match. Peter told me in our last meeting that he expects us to lose. He didn’t blame anybody or cast any aspersions my way. He just came flat out with it: “I expect us to lose the next match.” Honestly, I think we can win if we get the cohesion going in the right direction. Dresden are in 8th place, which is disappointing for their fans, and have experienced the same kind of surprisingly disappointing results that we have this season. The sad news is that we’ll have to play without Angelo Brückner, who pulled his hamstring while doing attacking drills in training the other day. It’s not particularly serious, though. He’ll be out for a couple of weeks, but should be back to normal before long. In all honesty, I think we can cause an upset in this next match. Things are turning around, and momentum is on our side. I can feel it.

Mannheim Excitement turned to disappointment again as we blew yet another lead. Sulejmani and Butler both scored after we went down 1-0 early, showing that we can indeed score goals when it counts. However, Mannheim managed to pull one back 31 minutes in, and we couldn’t break their defenses. The 2-2 draw leaves us in a very frustrating position in the league, and leaves me searching for answers. Is the tactic really working? Do we have players who simply can’t finish? Is there a way we can get this turned around with no remaining transfer budget? Do we just need time for cohesion on our squad to improve? For the first time this season, we did not dominate possession. Our offense was a sight to behold, however. We threatened Mannheim at every stretch, and played like a team really looking to score. I told you that Charlotte was right all along. Tell the boys to attack and they’ll play like an attacking team. We could use some better momentum in our matches, however. We seem to pile on the momentum in chunks, and then spend the rest of the time playing catch-up. But I’m not sure if this is a tactical issue or something about our lack of squad cohesion. Gossip A few assorted points for your reading enjoyment: Markus Ponath, the 21-year-old who was the starting goalkeeper when I arrived, received a red card during his most recent loan game. Ponath has been playing for Würzburger, which is really where a Regionalliga goalkeeper like him belongs. I never thought he’d wind up with a red card, though. Articles in the media have come out questioning Jalen Hawkins now. Hawkins has started 7 games for us, and yet has only managed to score the single header goal that came in our very first match. He’s had a low average rating, and doesn’t really seem to be present. Unlike Butler, we don’t have an extended contract with him, and I’m wondering if we should move him on in December. Straubing We’re playing on the road against Straubing in the Bayrischer Pokal. We should win this match, though you never know with this squad. I’m hoping that a win will get the morale up a notch. Maybe I’ll finish up this coaching course one of these days, too.

Breaking Through Charlotte was right. I don’t like to admit it. It hurts my pride. It’s too simple, after all. She doesn’t know anything about the sport. She knows nothing about tactics. She doesn’t spend the time pouring over Jonathan Wilson books, scouring the internet for tactical recommendations, or searching through endless scouting recommendations. But she was right. All we had to do was tell the boys to attack, and they attacked. We weren’t brilliant against SC Freiburg II. We did have our moments, though. Justin Butler finally broke through with a goal in the 35th minute. Valmir Sulejmani followed up with a second two minutes later, and I thought we were really going to make it. Our defense fell apart in the second half, however. Freiburg was able to score two more in short order, and came dangerously close to scoring a third. Butler should have had that third goal, actually. He had several chances inside the box, and, well, he just flubbed them. I’m not sure if it’s the pressure or his finishing, but whatever it is, that intangible thing prevented him from putting us over the top. No worries, though. Butler got the Man of the Match, and even wound up with the Player of the Week award. A 2-2 draw isn’t brilliant, but it’s a lot better than what we’ve been doing so far. Maybe I’m not a failure after all. Hey — it beats losing. Defensive Crisis In place of the constantly injured Visar Musliu, we decided to bring up a young player named Luca Lechner. He’s young and home grown, and looks like he has quite a bit of potential. He’s also not quite 17 1/2 years old. Schröck might wind up having to play centerback for us from time to time, unfortunately. The Musliu saga is really concerning, and I feel sick to my stomach every time I think about how much we’re paying him to sit in the infirmary. My plan is to sell Musliu once the winter comes around. I just hope he’s healthy. If he remains injured, we might have to keep him around until his contract expires. What a mess. Domestic Bliss “You’re a genius, honey,” I said at dinner, hoping to smooth things over a bit. Things had been topsy-turvy at home up until the end of transfer deadline day. I’ve only recently begun to convince myself that I might be able to keep this job after all. She glared at me in silence. “I mean it,” I continued. “You were right about attacking. We drew, sure, but at least we scored. That’s a lot better than where we were.” “Did you really think you’d score by passing the ball around in your own half?” she replied, with more than a hint of sarcasm in her voice. “Well… I just…” It’s not easy to compliment somebody who doesn’t want to be complimented. “I mean,” I stammered, “maybe I should have hired you to be my assistant after all.” She laughed at that, with a hint of scorn in her voice. “I’ve got more important things to do than worry about that silly game,” she said. “And you should have gone for that 4-2-3-1 Gegenpress from the start. Everybody knows that.” I couldn’t argue with that. Mannheim We face SV Waldhof Mannheim next, in a game that we really ought to win. If we don’t win this one, I’m going to start regretting buying a house. I still think that our poor run has more to do with dynamics than with tactics. A win or two might be just what we need to get things running right around here. And if these young players develop like I think they will, we’ll be unstoppable before long. Hope springs eternal.

SV Wehen Weisbaden I had a good feeling coming into this match, I really did. I felt that we got most of the complainers and toxic players out of our squad. Our younger players were hungry and eager to go, and I thought for sure that this would be the day our fortunes would turn around. Well, the good news is that we scored again, finally. The bad news? Tobias Schröck, our defensive midfielder, scored the goal. Schröck is now our leading scorer with 2 goals. And I’m starting to worry that I really might not have much of a future at this club. Schröck’s goal came at a great time. Wiesbaden went up 1-0 right before halftime, and we didn’t seem to have much of an offensive attack at all. We were able to get the ball forwards, and the players were finally starting to take some chances, but it didn’t seem to have much effect. Our team lacks offensive cohesion. We did dominate possession again, holding onto the ball 64% of the time. As usual, that possession largely consisted of passes to ourself in our own half. There were a few bright spots. Angelo Brückner became the latest in our series of young players making their debuts. Brückner played well, and looks to be a good signing for the future. Schröck’s heroics won him Player of the Week, which I think was a bit overstated. I’d probably feel better about this designation if we had actually won. Injury Woes Remember how I told you a few days ago that we’d regret paying Visar Musliu all that money? Well, I was right. Musliu injured himself in training and will be out for 7 weeks. We’re paying about 1/5 of our wage budget to a player who hasn’t started in half of our games this season because of his injury problems. I tried to offload him right before the end of the transfer window, but nobody would take him — because of the injury problems, of course. I hate blaming our struggles on things like injuries, but it’s really hard to ignore with a squad like this. We’ve got too many injury prone players, our highest paid player is rarely fit enoug to play, and the older players have a major attitude problem. It’s really hard to win under these conditions. I really don’t think the tactic is the problem; I think it’s the locker room atmosphere. Monthly Review I’ve been seeing a lot of Robert Deising, our head performance analyst. He came up to me again with a few notes on how we looked statistically in August. There aren’t a whole ton of surprises. Lino is performing extremely well in goal, which we already knew. If we hadn’t signed him on a free transfer we’d probably be last in the league. Marcel Costly has played poor in defense when we’ve used him at right back. I knew this before our latest match, and decided to play him as an attacking midfielder on the left. He played poorly there as well — and, of course, nobody seemed interested when I tried to sell him on transfer deadline day. Tobias Schröck is probably the best player in the league at his position, which also isn’t surprising. He is still our captain. I love watching him play, but am also very much aware of his age, and will likely move him on after this season — assuming I’m still around, that is. On the flip side, Benjamin Hemcke has performed particularly poorly in the attacking mezalla role in midfield. We’ve been forced to start him there anyway, since David Kopacz, who really should be starting there, only just came back from an extended injury. I think we’ve done all we could to stop the bleeding. The board and the fans seem to recognize that, though they’re not going to have much more patience with me if things keep going south. SC Freiburg II Next up is another match against a reserve team. We’ll be in Freiburg taking on SC Freiburg II. Everybody hopes that we’ll start attacking and scoring goals. I’m most worried about Justin Butler, who we’re going to start up front yet again. He hasn’t scored at all this season, and I’m really starting to regret signing him to a contract extension right after I arrived.

Overwhelmed — Again Well, not much changed against Rot-Weiss Essen. They attacked us from all angles, dismantling our defense and scoring two goals in the process. I’ve got to blame Nikola Stevanovic for both goals. He completely misplayed his man on the first and let the defender in on the second. He’s played poorly for us so far this season, and I’m tired of it. He counts as a foreign player (we’re only allowed to have 3), and I think it’s time to simply move on. In all honesty, though, we weren’t competitive in the slightest this time around. The only positive statistic we had were passes completed — and even that was problematic. Yusuf Kabadayi played well in his debut, but suffered a slight hamstring injury that should keep him out for two matches. I think we’ll manage without him for the time being. Raiding Bayern As our poor performances mount, my desperation for something winning continues to grow. We finalized the Pavolvic deal, which I talked about briefly yesterday. However, that simply didn’t feel like enough to me. And so I went back to the scouting desk to look for another player recommendation. This time we picked up Angelo Brückner, our third signing in a row from FC Bayern München’s II squad. The scouts like everything about him. He’s got a good personality, is consistent, is quick, and should give us some better quality in the fullback positions. We also made some rather crazy promises to lure him in. Like I said, I’m desperate. Wiesbaden We’re hosting SV Wehen Wiesbaden tomorrow, a match that we really should win. I’m really worried about my future here if we manage not to win this one.

I've had players who have had to be released after being put on "sell or release" instructions on the unwanted list. I don't think I ever had that with previous versions of FM.

Apologies - I'll take it out going forward if it helps. I was just going off what was written on your blog.

Surviving In retrospect, the Saarbrücken game was a success. No, we didn’t score. However, we did put up an offensive threat. We were also able to combat their high-octane, high-flying offensive attack. Unlike the Dortmund II game, this 0-0 draw felt like a small victory. It was especially nice not to be destroyed despite the fact that we had two players make their debuts. Fabián Luzzi, he of the dreamy name, is apparently the youngest player in FC Ingolstadt 04 history. He did well, in my opinion. I think we have something here, provided that we can learn how to set up opportunities for him. Robert Deising was there once again, showing me the match stats and charts. Luzzi was isolated from the other players, a problem that we’ve had all season long. The back of the rotation can find each other with passes, but nobody seems to know how to push the ball forward. However, we absolutely were able to neutralize the Saarbrücken attack. I consider that quite a feat against a team that is near the top of the league table. Focusing our efforts on closing down Rizzuto was the key. Even though we didn’t win, we came out of it looking like the better side. I’m optimistic for the future again. My Problem I’m afraid that I’m addicted. No, no, I’m not back on Football Manager again, not like I was in the old days. The days of playing for 8 to 10 hours a day while pretending to be in work meetings are long gone. Why play it when you can live it? My problem is youth players. I can’t stop signing them, and I just can’t bring myself to play with the older guys instead. It always happened to me while playing on the computer. No matter which team I chose, I always found myself wanting to pass up on the experienced players in favor of the youth. I think I’ve got a good excuse for acting that way around these parts, of course. Everybody was surly and upset when I came on board a few months back. It’s natural to let the players who want to leave go elsewhere and find replacements for them. But it just doesn’t end. I ran to Sebastian Knosp, our head scout, and asked him if he had any left wingers in mind. All he said was “Kabadayi,” and I knew right away who he meant. Yusuf Kabadayi is a top player on FC Bayern’s II squad. We’ve been looking at him for a few weeks now. He’s expensive, but I think he’s worth it. He just might be the piece of the puzzle that we’re looking for. And, well, I did something that only an addict would do. I sort of “paid” for him on credit — using future installments. As if that’s not bad enough, we’re trying to do the same thing now with his former teammate, Aleksandar Pavlovic - who I see as a potential replacement for Schröck next season. Perhaps there’s a “wonderkids anonymous” meeting I can find somewhere. Rot-Weiss Essen We’ve got the first real big test of the season coming up. We’re playing on the road against Rot-Weiss Essen, a team that is playing absolutely superbly. We need to score goals, and we need to score them soon. I know that the boys have it in them. They just need to take a few more risks and we’ll be there. I spent a bit of my preparation time reading the latest from Cleon Hobson about attacking. No, we’re not going to do a crazy 3-at-the-back formation with attacking wingbacks in a defensive position like he does. We’ll stick with the 4-3-3 and the vertical tiki-taka, thank you very much. The last thing I want to do is confuse these boys any further. However, Hobson does make some excellent points. We’ve got the possession down. We now need to make sure we’re winning the ball in midfield, we are moving the ball forward, we are using our width on the wings appropriately, and that we’re setting up our striker for success. I think we can do it with this setup. We just need to have better cohesion. We also need to pay attention to our pre-match scouting. The dangermen are Felix Götze, who I remember from my days playing with Augsburg on FM, and Clemens Fandrich. If we can shut them down, I think we have a chance. Maybe tomorrow is the day our season turns around.

Frustration The Osnabrück game was a disaster. It all went wrong. We dominated possession as usual, but Osnabrück hit us hard on the counter attack. Felix Higl had an incredible match, scoring a goal and frustrating us at every level. We were able to hold onto the ball, but kept it in our own end for whatever reason. We didn’t make any real effort to attack, and found ourselves under constant pressure for the entire match. At times I wonder if the boys remember what the purpose of the game is. Desperation The long bus ride back home was pretty hard to stomach. I sat next to Robert Deising, our Head Performance Analyst. He had quite a few things to show me, most of which were things I really didn’t want to see. Some of it was pretty basic. We’ve got a pass completion ratio of over 90%, which is insane. And yet we’re only expected to score 0.59 goals per game based on our positioning, which is a real problem. I hate to say it, but part of this problem is probably my mentality. After seeing all those video clips of Ingolstadt suffering in the 2. Bundesliga last season, I thought the best approach would be to bolster the defense first before worrying about the offense. I’m starting to think now that we need to simply attack and let the rest sort itself out. Robert showed me that most of our passes have been in our own half, which is a huge problem. We’re talking about well over 70% of these wonderful passes we’ve made taking place in our half of the pitch. We can’t score goals if we don’t get the ball forward, and we need to do whatever we can to move that ball forward. Advice “You boys always make this so complicated,” Charlotte told me one evening as I was hurridly sketching out play diagrams. I glanced up at her quickly. She smiled and shook her head. “If you want them to attack, just tell them to attack. It’s that simple. Stop trying to be fancy and just attack.” Normally I’d pass this off as the silly rantings of an outsider who doesn’t understand the game. However, I’m ready to try anything at this point. The board has made it quite clear how upset it is with our lack of offensive attack, and I’m sick of watching us play far below our level. “You’re a genius, honey,” I said, folding up my papers. “Time for bed.” Personnel I’ve learned something in my years of Football Manager fiddling. If you’ve got toxic players, get rid of them. I went over the squad from top to bottom. Those players I had flagged as unreliable or heavily injury prone found themselves suddenly in the II squad and on the transfer list. We’re going to go with youth and new faces from now on, and we’re only going to play the players that actually want to be here. Speaking of which, we do have some new faces to report. Fabián Luzzi, who has the sort of name that makes the Western girls swoon (but no effect on my wife, thank goodness), comes in from Barcelona B. He’s 18, he’s got a good attitude, he’s got a good amount of pace and a high upsie, and he might be the striker that we so desperately need. We also convinced him to sign for very little, offering him huge bonuses for goals and international appearances. If he hits those bonuses, we’ll be in great shape. If not, we won’t have to pay him. Tiago Matos comes in from Radomiak, a 21-year-old centerback with a bit of an upside in his future. Again, we got him on a low contract, promising to pay him a huge wage after a signle international appearance. I don’t think he’ll ever start for Portugal, but you never know. We did have to pay a bit over the odds for Matos, though. We’ll see how this one goes. Jean-Marie Nadjombe is a left back who also has a pretty high upside. We signed him chiefly to play behind Härtel, who has started every single game for us so far as our only left back. The scouts say that Nadjombe is quick and is a good jumper, which could help us on corners. Finally, I went ahead and picked up a Brazilian striker named Saldanha, after hearing my scouts rave about him for a few weeks. I was worried because we can only register 3 non-EU players in the 3. Bundesliga. However, it turns out that Saldanha won’t come on until the end of the season, at which point we (hopefully) will be entering the 2. Bundesliga. There is no restriction on non-EU players once you rise up to that level. Plus, Saldanah was free. Not bad for a 22-year-old Brazilian striker. Saarbrücken Saarbrücken is next. They come to visit us. Everybody expects goals and a win. I changed up the tactic, but only slightly. Instead of breaking everything apart and starting over, I decided to keep the vertical tiki-taka, but made a few changes to try to inspire more offensive play. We have a bunch of new faces in our squad, so I’m not really expecting all that much. All I want to see is us come up with some kind of offensive threat during the game. Anything would be better than yesterday’s match. Robert came up to me the morning of the match, muttering something or other about some guy named Calogero Rizzuto and his crossing ability. We’ll focus on trying to shut him down defensively. We’ll see how this works. I need some sort of result soon, or it’s my neck.

Wasserburg We need help. We didn’t lose. However, we also didn’t dominate the way we should have. We went the full 90 minutes with Wasserburg without really threatening. We had 12 shots, but only 2 were on goal. We went to penalties after 90 minutes. We won the shootout, but it feels like a loss. The fans are up in arms, claiming that the problem is the tactic. We continue to dominate possession, but we can’t seem to get any meaningful shots in. Our performance analyst showed me yet again that our passing tends to focus in our own half of the pitch. Perhaps we should think about playing with a higher defensive line after all. I don’t want the players to necessarily take on more risk than they should, but, honestly, at some point we do need to move the ball forward. I’d also like to see fewer shots from right outside the box. I’m not sure if the problem is the players or the tactics. It’s hard to say with such a small sample size. Injury Update Our injury crisis is almost done, and we’re seeing player debuts left and right. Tobias Bech, the young Danish winger that the club purchased before I arrived, made his debut against Wasserburg. Bech is supposed to be a high quality player, but he didn’t seem to mesh with the offense right away. I’ll give him some time. N’landu and Alysson also both made their debuts, and actually played quite well. Domestic Bliss It’s also time for me to focus on my home life again. Charlotte is busy getting things prepared for our move in a few days. She asks me questions every evening about everything possible: the finances, home decorations, the local school system, the language — everything except for football. Of course, football is the only thing I’ve got on my mind. I do my best to feign interest in the mundane and ordinary topics that she wants to talk about. I think she knows, though, that my mind is elsewhere. She gave me an angry glare at dinner the other night. I guess I was acting a tad strangely now that I think about it. We were having homemade “fengzhen” noodles, and I guess I was steering chunks of meat along in my bowl in a certain pattern, trying to replicate passing patterns in search of an opening. And don’t even get me started on the scouting issues. We’re limited to 3 non-EU players on the roster at this level. The 19-year-old Alysson is our third — but our coaches think that he should be playing at a lower level. The scouts, meanwhile, keep telling me about a 22-year-old Brazilian striker who apparently looks excellent and is available on a free transfer. You can imagine how Charlotte felt the other night when I started muttering in my sleep about young South American boys. Osnabrück We’re up in Osnabrück for our next match, another 3. Bundesliga contest. The drive is long enough that it makes sense to stay in a hotel. Of course, this means more time away from home for me. As usual, we are expected to win. We’ll see how it goes. I’m starting to really feel the pressure of these expectations.