Dinamo Bucaresti - Stand Your Ground

August would definitely be a tough month for us. I and the team had a very hard to start to the likes of Steaua Bucharest and Rapid Bucharest who are of course from the same city as us, as well as massive rivals, so the pressure would certainly be on although I am sure I can get a good few points out of the three matches we'd be playing.

I'm aiming for a total of six points from Tirgu Mures and Rapid, but I think for now, Steaua is a bridge to far for us to really know or expect a win. So I won't really be expecting anything as they are such a good team. I've a lot of faith in the boys though and I am sure they can impress us, but let's see how it goes.


Before we took to playing Rapid and Steaua, we had a slightly easier game to play away from home. Taking nothing for granted though, I sent out our best team in search of a win in my first game. It's what we need, and I do not want them picking up a surprise win against us. Not in my first game.

For the first twenty minutes or so, the game was very tight and evenly matched. Neither team had any real chances to score. The tempo was high, which meant both teams found it difficult to keep hold of the ball, which was presumably why it was so even. We went into the second half with the scoreline we went out with at the start, and I sent the boys back out with the intention of slowing the game down and retaining the possession for the first few minutes.
They did it well and kept possession a lot better, but still there was no way through. It took me up to 80 minutes before I decided to risk the point(s). We threw everything forward and straight away, we scored. A blinder Boubacar Mansaly which lobbed the keeper and ended up in the left top corner of the net sent Dinamo home with their first three points of the season.


A chance to earn the respect from the fans now as we became hosts to our rivals Rapid Bucharest. Just like us, they were a historic team, but it was time to stamp our down our authority by beating them at home. We had a very good game, even before it we were touted as "Overwhelming favorites" but I really wasn't sure about that. Once again, I took advantage of nothing and put out the best team possible, and I soon realized why we were rated so highly when compared to Rapid. We dominated them 60 to 40 in possession whilst taking our shots tally up to 15. They made just 4 chances for themselves. Unfortunately, despite tearing them apart in almost every aspect of the game, the only bit we couldn't do was finish - The most important aspect to the game and we couldn't do it. Saying that...We did score but only the once. Our finishing was no where near good enough and that's why I slate them so much in the above sentences but we scored in the 30th minute through a shot which was almost impossible for Martinetti to miss. Keeping his dignity, he did score, and we stole the points in an important match.


The last game of the month saw us welcomed to Stadional Steaua, the biggest stadium in Romania which would be the venue for our toughest match of the season against our most fierce rivals, Steaua Bucharest.

having won our last two matches, I was confident. Somehow, they'd slipped up twice by drawing their first to games. Probably because of the Super Cup and four champions league play off games they had to play through, so I was thankful for the congestion they had. After being knocked out of the Champions League by Legia, I'm even more thankful because now they will have six more games to play in the Europa League.

Clearly, the lads were confident too. I sent them out to counter their attacking style and they impressed me a lot in defense which was a key factor to our win in the last game. Our wingers were our down fall though, and we just couldn't attack well enough to provide Martinetti. Both players put in poor performances and didn't work near as hard enough as I expect them too. Steaua took the lead in the 23rd minute which was hard to take, we'd been brilliant for the other 22 minutes, and we were brilliant for the remaining 22. Come half time, I decided to change it up a little, I thought if we tried to retain the ball instead of go route one, we might get something. What we got, was pretty much nothing in terms of goals and a result, but performance wise we were absolutely brilliant and I cannot tell you how we didn't equalize or go onto win the game. We ripped them apart at home, they just got the rub of the green which was a bitter pill to swallow.

August would be much easier than July. Despite having one more game to play, they were considerably easier and we would be looking to take points from every single one. There were easier games but every one would still be tough. I have come to realize that a lot of teams in this league are very hard to beat, and those teams usually appear as the smaller ones.

We start the month off in 5th place after taking six points from the last three. The top five teams are quite surprising. Of course we've only just started but not one of the teams expected to finish 5th and above are there except for ourselves and Petrolul.

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Our month started with a third away game against Otelul who are currently a few places below us. A beatable team, but we still had to perform to our best ability. Sadly, that's the one thing we couldn't do and we had to put up with just a point from 11th placed side. It's a disappointing result because we should have been winning the game. We were the better of the two in terms of our performance, we kept a lot of the possession and had quite a few points stray away from the goal. We were lucky to get the point in the end, because they were up 1-0 right from ten minutes, all the way up until 75 which was when Gelu Velici scored the equalizer.

I didn't want to settle for a point because we were the better team, and it seems our downfall so far has been our finishing. Defensive wise, we've been ok. Actually, the play we broke the bank on (Sarghi) has performed no where near what I think he is capable of, and our younger players have been so much better. Nedelcearu replaced him as a sub in this game and was a breath of fresh air.

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Another hard match to play, this time at home though which I was thankful for. We'd now be playing a team who had already beaten Steaua in the Super Cup, and lost just once in their first four games of the season. They'd won the rest and were currently two points better off than us. So three points would surely put us higher in the league.

There were some inspirational performances here too. Rotariu and Velici who really hadn't been playing up to standard played to out of their skin and helped us to win our tenth point of the season. In fact, nearly all of the team played well and we out did them in every area of the field. Velici scored the only goal of the game in the 20th minute after a cross from Rotariu fizzed into the box and planted right on his head. We had 11 shots and 5 of them were on target. I think we are improving a little with getting our shots on target but clearly the keepers aren't being tested enough. I want to win by more, goal difference is very important in my eyes.

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Another game at home where we could really show our potential. CS U Craiova came to town and that could mean pretty much only one thing for a Bucharest side in this form. Three points. And three points was exactly what we got, including three goals. Once again we performed to the highest quality and finally we were putting our chances to good use by scoring more and winning much more comfortably.

The 14th placed team are already dicing with danger around the relegation zones so it'd be disappointing not to win the game. Once again, Rotariu worked his magic and tucked away two fine goals in the late minutes of both halves. He really put in a lot of hard work in this game and for a 17 year old I am amazed at the quality he is showing.

He started off with 2-3 average to poor performances but he's really put it behind him and got on with his football. Craiova were given hope a few minutes after Rotariu's second, but it was too little too late. They went home with nothing as Alexe scored a 90th minute goal.

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What was thought to be the challenge of the month turned out to be nothing more than another routine win. FC VAslui are a very good side, considered a top team in this league and predicted 7th place. Ten places higher than where they currently sit. 17th. A place off bottom and three places into the relegation zone.

I really did not want Vaslui to find their form against us, so we went out as normal. Tough, confident, and motivated. Put all of those together and it produces wins, and in some cases goals. Which was a problem again.

We won by a single goal, kept most of the ball and they really didn't have much to offer expect nine shots off target. Marius Alexe scored his second in two games upon 25 minutes which was the goal to see us out with three wins.

A lot of work was still to be done though. But we performed admirably throughout the game and defended very well, keeping them out at every sign of trouble. Again...I'm disappointed we couldn't continue our goal flurry at Craiova but three points are three points.

With a fine start to the season, we were heading into September on top of league. Another fairly easy month to go through too, with only Petrolul appearing as a realistic threat to our place in the league.

We would also be meeting CS U Craiova again in the Romanian Cup 6th round, of course I set the target of getting to the Romanian cup semi finals so a win is a must against Craivova. They're a team I really want to beat.

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Firstly though, we were to play Viitorul. Viitorul are a team that many of you will be aware of. I've seen many take them on in FM, attempting to use their incredible facilities as something to build the team from. They have some of the best facilities in the country but weirdly, aren't a very significant team in this league.

They're also in the spot they're predicted for. 10th. It's not like they're a great team and we should be beating them. And that's exactly what we did. They were no challenge for us, and we brushed them aside with no mercy scoring four goals and winning all three points.

Unsurprisingly, Rotariu scored again. His was the first goal of the game, and Valentin Lazar cut the opposition defense apart twice as he sealed the game in our favor. It was just rubbing salt in the wounds when Nedelcearu scored in the final few minutes.
Valentin Lazar picked up man of the match for his two goals, and one assist.

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So, as mentioned above Petrolul are the main threat to us this month other than CFR Cluj who I think are easily beatable. Petrolul have started well just like us and it was always going to be hard to get anything from the game. Even if we were playing on home soil. They sit in third place, below ourselves and Cluj.

As I said, it was always going to be hard, and that was proven as both sides went home sharing the points after a disappointing 0-0 bore draw. Our attackers had their chances, and that's proved by the poor average ratings they got from the game.

The players I am impressed with though, are the defenders who all got over a 7.1 average rating. Including our keeper Cristian Balgradean who earend himself a bottle of champagne, picking up the man of the match award.

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Too the Romanian cup now. The 6th round, and my debut in this competition would see us host CS U Craiova, who we'd already beaten once already this season.We accomplished our second highest win over them in the last game so the pressure was on to perform, but we handled it brilliantly, winning the game 2-1.

This time round, it was more of an even game. We still scored first in the 20th minute through Cosmin Matei, and Marius Alexe scored the second on the brink of half time. Two goals were enough for us to earn safe passage through to the next round as they could only manage to score one goal 20 minutes before time. We will be playing Chiajna in the next round next month. A team we haven't played as of yet, so I'm trying to figure their game out.

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Cluj are definitely a big side in this league, and at the start of the month they were second to only us. Yes, I said they'd be easier than Petrolul, and that became a fact. I never really thought they had it in them to be a threat to us. Most of their victories have either been very lucky, or against some of the smaller teams in the league.

We are Cluj's first real test of the year, and they failed to provide. Especially down that left side, where Marius Alexe was able to slice open the defense on three occasions, earning himself the match ball, a hattrick, man of the match, and our three points.

Overall, it's been a brilliant month. Three league matches, and seven points out of nine isn't all bad. Plus, our progression in the cup is a bonus, one which I am happy with because I believe we can win it. The points we did drop mean that we have been taken over at the top of the table and we sit two points from Astra Giurgiu, however we have a game in hand. Win that, and top spot is ours for the time being.

How on earth are Astra top?