Welcome back. It’s been a while since the last post as I took a break from the save for a while. This will be the third season review post and the seventh post in the series. If you haven’t had a chance to read the previous 6, you can catch them here.
Pre-Season
Pre-season saw us mostly face second division sides in a hope to be dominant in the games and make minor tweaks. We were less than impressive at the start but I felt we started to play better even if the results weren’t the most remarkable.
Transfer Business
Riley Reemnet was a first piece of buiness, securing the younster on a free transfer. Hezze arrived from affiliate Man Utd on loan to bolster the midfield. Llansana was released by Ajax so he was brought in on a free. Strong centreback Ava Dongo arrived to strengthen the defence.
There were no plans to offload anybody but PSV approached one of our youngsters who I foolishly left on an amature contract. Then this happened…
Our star player departs but we couldn’t refuse that sort of money. We were also offered a loan back straight away so we have a year to prepare for a replacement.
Results – August to December
The season started with a three losses and a draw before back to back wins made things look more positive. However it was to be all downhill from there as 5 points from 33 saw us sit just outside the relegation zone going into the winter break. Things had to change.
Bolstering the Squad
Just before the January window opened we brought in Phil Jones and Sonny Kittel, who were both free agents, on low risk short term deals until the end of the season. Kittel actually grabbed a goal in the game against NAC just after signing.
Sontje Hansen was signed from Ajax on an initial loan with option to buy for €400k. Italian centre half Andrea Carboni was acquired on loan from Man United to aid our defensive frailties. Sidney van Hooijdonk arrived for a few of potentially €1.9M. Konate was just not deliering and found himself behind youngster Zeefuik. Van Hooijdonk gives us a little more physical presence up top as well as being a set piece specialist Handy when we have the best defenders in the air within the division.
Despite our goalkeeper Barry Lauwers looking okay on paper, I found him to be a fundamental reason to our poor form. We were not able to extend Stankovic into a third season. The Serb had conceded 42 goals in 27 games in our first season back in Eedivisie. Lauwers managed to match that in 18 games this season. In came Marius Adamonis for a fee of €145k to hopefully add a bit more security.
The plan was for Konate to be shipped off should we find a suitor but I wasn’t going to offer him out. We had paid €170k for his services. As we approached deadline day, I noticed Brighton (who had already signed Twigt off us) were interested. They came in with an offer late in the day and with it being deadline day, I negotiated the deal to a potential €12.5M which they agreed to. They instantly offered us a loan back which I accepted. So Brighton have potential bankrolled us up to €24M for two players. Diamanka and Silvestre also left the club as they were unhappy with their playing time. I called up Joran Geenan, who was a year one scholar, to the first team to alleviate any midfield troubles.
Results – January to May
I made some tactical tweaks to try improve our fortunes. The main thing was dropping the mentality to Balanced as I felt we were conceding too early in most games. The plan would be to leave this for 10-15 mins to see how the opposition was playing before moving to positive or attacking.
We started off with a draw which I was happy with but after that we just turned on the style as we began to smash through everything in our path picking up 38 points from a possible 51. Van Hooijdonk returned 9 goals from 11 starts. Younster Max Boateng returned 12 league goals and finished as our top scorer. Joran Geenen justified the call u to the first team ending the season with 5 goals and 6 assists from 18 starts.
The second half of the season form saw us climb up the table and finish in 8th place and thus entering a place for a European playoff.
We faced Vitesse in the semi finals and cruised to a 4-0 first leg victory. I decided to rest some players and play a less intense tactic in the second leg. This nearly cost us as we went 3-0 down before I made some changes to pull back two goals.
The games were coming fast and we faced Groningen in the final. We battered them in the first leg but only came out 1-0 victors. We went 2-0 down in the second leg but we continued to create lots of chances. Max Boateng then popped up to pull one back and see us win the final on away goals and qualify for the Europa Conference League.
Youth Intake
For the third year in a row, we got a Golden Generation youth intake. (Seems a bit of a bug to me)
Other Notable Events
During the fine run of form, AZ approached me to take the reigns. I have to admit, I was tempted.
Geeren and Boateng finished second and third respectively in the Young Player of the Year Award
New stadium plans have been finalised.
Some nice boosts to sponsorship deals.
Outlook for Next Season
I’ve been bouyed by the sharp upturn in form and hoping we can continue to show it next season. If we can, I am being ambitious and think we can qualify for Europe through our league finish. I doubt we will be able to renew loan deals of Hezze or Carboni but we will look to activate the €400k deal in Hansens loan deal. Other than that I will be looking to bring in a centre half, a backup winger who can play either side and a centre midfielder.
Once again, thank you for reading.
Bradz
Bradz FM 