The Last Ride - RSC Anderlecht to Frankfurt

[Derek]

The Last Ride - RSC Anderlecht 

So I've decided that my last FM22 save will take me to Belgium for the first time in many years. Randomly I've ended up with Anderlecht and I'm quite happy with that to be honest.

Media Prediction

Well the media are writing us off for sure with an expected 6th place finish but I'd be hopeful we can do a bit better than that.

Expectations

We are expected to finish within the top three which is against the 6th place media prediction but it is certainly one which I would have been aiming for anyway.

Star Player

Possibly not our star player on paper as the likes of Hoedt, Gomez and perhaps another 7 or 8 players will be fancied ahead of him but I feel Fabio Silva could have a good season if given enough opportunities.

Finances

In terms of finances, we've got €4m to spend outside of generating income by selling off some players.

[Tempelman]

Nice team to play with, I think! Anderlecht has become a sleeping giant as of late...

[Derek]

So far so good as we're sitting second in the table albeit we did exit Europe early on with a tough draw against Nice which we lost 4-3 on aggerate.

In terms of signings we've got Fabio Carvalho, Billy Gilmour and Kamenovic in on loan.

 

[Derek]

So we are at the halfway point and we are cruising up until this point in the league. Fabio Silva has been indeed the star player as I had thought, although Gomez is a close second.

Some awards like manager of the year already was a nice bonus. 

 

 

[Derek]

 

The season has come to a close and we walked our way to the title. I rested most of the star players for the last 6 games of the season to develop some of the younger talents. Fabio Silva and Gomez were absolutely amazing all season and were the main reasons behind our success

However, having brought in a number really decent loan signing I overstretched the finances and will need to move Gomez on. I'm hoping to improve the squad overall too but there simply are no funds available without sales.

Great season though! 

 

 

[Derek]

So I completely forgot to update this after the start of the season but it's been up and down to say the least.

Between resting players each for CL games and choosing not to take any loan players, we find ourselves 7 points behind Club Brugge with 7 games to go. It's going to be difficult to turn things around but we will give it a shot.

We went into the final CL group game needing a win to progress to the Europa League at least but a Kana red card was enough to hand Sporting an advantage. We beat group winners Celtic but drew with Sporting (Another red card) and Atletico despite dominating both games.

 

[Derek]

Well this was frustrating to say the least with it being so close. I will be ruthless this summer and try to bring in some experience into a very young side.

I had a €9m bid accepted for Trincao but €100k a week wages scrapped that move unfortunately. I've a bit of cash from the €60m Tottenham spent on Gomez but I only received 35% of that.

I'm coming back next year for the double. 

 

[Derek]

It's been a busy pre-season and tricky CL qualification but we've made it through. We battled our way past Slavia Praha, Young Boys and last seasons group winners Celtic to qualify for the CL proper. Delighted to make it past Celtic and should have won both games but to say we got a difficult challenge ahead is an understatement!

We'll be lucky to get a point 

Champions League

Transfer

 We signed some really good young players but in particular Patrick Denis, a 17-year-old Belgian wonderkid striker and 21-year-old Belgian Hugo Siquet at right back to replace Murillo. We made a €1.5m profit in the window which was great and I feel we are stronger coming out of it for sure.

Hugo Siquet

Patrick Denis

[Johno]

Frustrating to see you cruising in the league but struggles in the Championship group Tough group you are in but will be tough!

[Derek]

So I've got back into the game today and we had done quite well by closing the gap on Club Brugge to two points in the league but unfortunately dropped out of the CL after losing a 0-2 lead at RB Leipzig in the final group game.

We had progressed in the Belgian Cup though after winning at Club Brugge in the last round to reach the semi finals against Antwerp. I had been approached by Leverkusen and Hamburg to interview for vacant managerial roles but chose to interview at Leverkusen only.

 

Unfortunately it was unsuccessful but in the end I'm quite happy it was as another option presented itself which I decided to take on.

 

I have decided to take up the role as Eintracht Frankfurt manager with the team sitting in 14th position at the half way point of the season. It will be a difficult task as the team has been obviously performing quite poorly but I felt myself coasting in Belgium playing my second XI each week ahead of CL games. 

The squad is quite large with 50 first team players and 25 more in the under 19's which will be my first challenge. My star players are Mahmoud Dahoud, Jens Petter Hauge, Djibril Sow and the ageing Mario Gotze.

 

 

[Derek]

The transfer window is closed and it's been a great one with Poku (AMR), Lafont (GK) and Rovella (CM) coming in for the starting XI. Rovella is on loan but we have an option to buy for €26.5m which we will take up if funds are available. We've also signed two promising German CB's in Schillings and Bolkow who could well be the starting partnership in a couple of seasons.

I was particularly delighted to sell Trapp (33) for €10m and bring in the younger and possibly already better Lafont (25) for €7.5m.

We've done well since coming in by winning 4 of our 6 games and have even managed to knock Bayern out of the cup and hand them their first league defeat (20-1-1) of the season in back to back games. Rovella, Alario and Kostic have been fantastic in those games which hopefully can continue until the end of the season. 

Things could get trickier soon with 3 cup games coming up in the DFB-Pokal and Europa League but we've risen slightly to 12th in the league.

 

[Johno]

Wow, interesting move to Frankfurt. What made you take their offer?

Good win over Bayern in cup and league!

[Derek]

4 hours ago, Johno said:

Wow, interesting move to Frankfurt. What made you take their offer?

Good win over Bayern in cup and league!

Honestly I would have walked the Belgian league with the team I had mate so fancied a tougher challenge. I was alternating side every week too using the main XI and second XI and still sat just behind Club Brugge.

It's a big ask in Germany with Bayern just claiming the title with 7 games to go.  They've only been beaten once with five games to go now.

[Derek]

I wanted a challenge and I've certainly got it 

We ended up finishing in 10th place which wasn't too bad considering where we were and one point off 8th. We were never in contention for a European spot but did progress to the German Cup final only to be beaten by RB Leipzig in the 120th minute of extra time.

We didn't make it past Valencia in the Europa League Second Knockout round after losing 2-1 on aggregate.

I'm optimistic for the summer window ahead and would honestly sell anyone in the squad for the right money apart from the five signings I've made.

[Derek]

It was an interesting window and ultimately one I'm quite happy with in the end. We sold 21 players in the window which saw incredibly 11 first team players leave including Sow, Henrichs, Anton, Uremovic, Gotze, Oliveira, Kostic, Jakic, Raum and Holer. I was amazed to get a great offer for Gotze on the final day and snapped it up. We sold on a lot of ageing, overrated and underperforming players and got a good return for them by taking in €131m.

We then spent €107m of that by bringing in some young and promising players. Most notable signings were Gabbia, Veiga and Gutierrez who will make the starting XI but also Pfeiffer who is a young wonderkid CM from Hamburg. Ultimately I think the squad in the short term is slightly weaker but greatly improved in the long term.

 

 

We've made a decent start to the season so far despite a tricky start and sit in 7th place with a game in hand. Bayern are playing as usual and even managed to get Mbappe on a free 

The highlights so far have been beating Dortmund and progressing in the cup.

 

[Johno]

Decent money for your outgoing players! Not bad finish last season and hopefully you can do better this season

[Derek]

Currently two points off 5th place in 8th. I've a tough tie in the cup against Dortmund but I've played well against them previously this season.

I always saw this season as one of transition with players settling etc. The aim for the next window is to get a top striker in and the only signings going forward would be for the starting XI.

[cameosis]

hehehe, you picked one of the greatest clubs, my friend! welcome!

your log so far sounds like niko kovač's first season at the club.

on another note, big thumbs down for si regarding the short names in the league table, however ... all the club names are correct save for »frankfurt« ... the club is called eintracht, that's the main part of the name. frankfurt plays in the fourth tier regionalliga südwest. one would have thought that the developers would get it right after the win in the europa league, but alas ... the website is also a dead giveaway, eintracht.de

look forward to reading more and go grab some trophies!

[Derek]

I've now finished the season and I'm delighted with how it has gone with so many new young players. We really finished the season strong by winning our final 11 games in a row and 15 out of 17.  

We finished in 5th place, just two points off RB Leipzig so we narrowly missed out on CL football. However, we did reach the final of the DFB-Pokal and this time we claimed victory in an impressive manner with a 4-1 thumping of Koln.  

Some early transfer news was RB Leipzig bid €35m for our RB Morey which was an insane amount for what his ability actually. I accepted and replaced him with one of the best young RB's in the game Joao Andre Mousinho of Sporting for €33m. Not a bad deal at all with some change to spare. 

 

[Johno]

Cor blimey! you must got a super fast laptop or computer to finish the season so quickly! Decent season and what a signing in Mousinho.

[Derek]

@Johno It's called insomnia mate 

This happened....

The red card really was a turning point but I've had plenty of luck go the other way so I'll take it.  

I haven't seen a side crumble like that after a red card in a while but it was very early on. It could have been the other way around the way the game was going up until the red.

Bayern's front four by the way is Mbappe, Musiala, Vinicius Junior and Adeyemi 

 

[Johno]

What a epic win! Especially they got Mbappe!

[Derek]

Just turned down the Sevilla job.

[cameosis]

3 hours ago, Derek said:

@Johno It's called insomnia mate 

This happened....

The red card really was a turning point but I've had plenty of luck go the other way so I'll take it.  

I haven't seen a side crumble like that after a red card in a while but it was very early on. It could have been the other way around the way the game was going up until the red.

Bayern's front four by the way is Mbappe, Musiala, Vinicius Junior and Adeyemi 

 

it’s always sweeter against munich 

[Derek]

The window is now closed and it's been a quieter one than normal which I expected. We've now managed to move to on, in my opinion, two over-rated player in Morey and Pongracic to RB Leipzig for €35m each. I'm delighted with the Pongracic move as I had been laying the foundations all summer for this by taking the captaincy and making him a squad player. Finally on the final day of the season it was RB Leipzig who jumped in to sign him to renew his partnership Anton who they signed last summer for €34m 

A really nice start to the season so far and I'm optimistic of qualifying for the CL this time around.

I have to mention Frank Pfeiffer who I had signed last summer as a huge prospect for €22m from Hamburg. I started to play him in the final 15 games of the season and his impact has been unbelievable since then with our side mainly unbeaten. He can play on the right wing which is his natural position but so far he's been great at CM.

We have begun to develop somewhat of a heated rivalry with RB Leipzig despite our transfer dealings due to meeting so much in competitions and unfortunately piping us to 4th last season. They have spent a lot of money this summer compared to any other team so if we manage to finish ahead of this team it will be some achievement.