**FM22**
Ittihad Riadh Baladiat El Hadjar (IRB El Hadjar) (Championnat National de Football Amateur, Tier 3 Algeria)
On The Pitch
Championnat National de Football Amateur Group C: 5th Place (of 16)
Coupe d'Algérie: 2nd Round
Entering the season we were tipped to be relegated. I don't blame the bookies for that prediction because I entered the season with only 17 players on the roster, and the bookies didn't know I wasn't going to be signing anyone! By the first game of the season we actually only had 11 players, just enough to field a full squad, as my team is semi-pro so and many of my non-contract players got quickly snapped up. So I headed into the first game expecting a struggle for the season. Well, to my surprise we ended up comfortably upper mid-table, and even flirted with the promotion playoff spots for most of the first half of the season. We hit some bad form midseason but I am more than happy with a 5th place finish, all things considered.
In the Algerian Cup we got embarrassed 0-6 in the first round we played, as we had a tough draw against WA Tlemcen who were a recently relegated team from the 1st division (and ended up comfortably getting promoted from the 2nd division this season).
In terms of individual performances, considering we only had 11 players everyone pulled their weight for the most part (we'll get to the one part that didn't). Bilal Houhou was the main star for us, picking up 27 goals in the season for us despite only having a finishing of 4! Our goaltender Dalil Zidane was also great, and if you look closely you can see he picked up 11 goals as I put him on PKs and direct free kicks for a laugh and he excelled.
The one weak spot on the roster is Karim Dahmani. As I said, we only had 11 players on the team, and unfortunately none of them were left backs, so Dahmani took the short straw and became my designated left back on the squad since he was also the only left footed player on my squad. Well his lack of ability defending showed and he played terribly, the most remarkable thing though is that he picked up 5 red cards over the season, along with 9 yellow cards. I don't think I've ever seen a player pick up that many cards in a season, and when you lack the players those suspensions sure are felt. Thankfully our youth intake has some players that can play left back (although no long term options imo).
Off the Pitch
Transfers: No transfers in of course, but we lost 6 players against our will on frees
Finances: -$17,213. Slowly leaking money, but not super concerned yet.
Youth Intake
An incredible youth intake with two obvious standouts in this class: Mohamed Saïdi and Abdelmalek Amrouche. Unfortunately they play in a position that is already a strength for the team and they play a similar type of game, but I won't say no to them replacing the players I was using prior as they both already are better options. I signed everyone from the intake, as I've been repeating, we only had 11 players on the squad so I'll take any reinforcements I can get.
Next Season's Expectations
Based on the surprise 5th place finish, I don't see why we can't push for a promotion playoff spot this year. We already were a young team and now we have some reinforcements on the squad to rotate players in and at least make some substitutions. I'm optimistic about a top 3 finish this year.