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Big Dreams

Started on 14 January 2010 by saplingg
Latest Reply on 2 February 2010 by saplingg
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saplingg's avatar Group saplingg
15 yearsEdited
29 Mar 2015

Can't Fight Fate

5th minute: Persibat wins a dangerous throw in in the Kendari Utama final third, it's thrown towards the corner flag and for a second everyone must've thought they were going to try and win a corner kick, but no, it's crossed to Hartono, he makes a surge forward into the far corner of our penalty box and drives it in low and hard! It gets a touch off our defender which must've confused goalkeeper Gunawan and it bounces in!

Goal Persibat!

28th minute: Persibat wins the corner and they float it in towards the far post, the Persibat centre back has got his head to the ball! It hits the underside of the crossbar, and bounces... In!! Half an inch higher and Kendari would be breathing relief!!

Goal Persibat!

Kendari Utama seem to be crumbling under the pressure, their efforts for the past season will have all been for nothing if they lose it here, can they redeem themselves?!

34th minute: Edi Suwondo pushes forward and tackles well as he wins the ball off a Persibat striker, he plays a lob throughball ahead of midfield dynamo Roni Basri, Roni Basri surges down the Persibat left flank, can he make it past his man?!

Yes, he beats the defender and puts in a far post cross from the Persibat byline. Mahmud Soputan, Kendari's top goalscorer is within reach, can he score one more for his team? He gets his head to the ball! The header drops in low, the keeper dives but it evades him!

Goal Kendari Utama!

They've pulled one back! Can they make it count?

75th minute: Corner for Kendari Utama taken by Agus Salim Setiawan the young fullback, he aims for the far post but it falls short, poor delivery! Persibat defenders are on it in an instant but Edi Suwondo reads the game well, pulling the ball back and sending it back to Setiawan for another go, he crosses the ball first time, this time the delivery is good! Rahmad Prasetyo, Edi's explosive defense partner is in the area... He jumps, great contact with the ball! And it flies into the corner of the goal!

Goal Kendari Utama!

A superb fightback! They've drawn level, from 2-0 down to 2-2!


Final score: Persibat 2 - 2 Kendari
Whahaha xD
7 Jul 2015

Getting Closer


Did we make the second phase?

Yes we did! Unfortunately, the second phase was difficult for us and we came away with a very poor result.

[IMGw]http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y177/saplingg/secondphase2015.png[/IMGw]

No biggie, I am pleased that we qualified. Because this means that on top of the 85,000 we received for our first phase performance, we got another 85,000 for participation! This gives us a grand total of 170k in prize money, which is the most that this club has ever earned in its entire history.

Well, moving on to the new season, I've had a look at our group draws, and unfortunately we are pitted against a very very tough group. Here are who I believe will be challenging for qualification this season.


Recently relegated, Gresik United is a well supported and financially strong team, which has spent 4 of the 6 past seasons in the Super League.

Persiba Bantul, who have performed consistently well in the past 7 seasons they spent in the Premier League (we've met them 6 times the past couple of seasons, won 3 lost 3.

Persih, also relegated from the Super League, they are spending 6000 per week on wages. Comparatively we are spending 2800, so they can afford much better players and I think we are at a stark disadvantage here.

Lastly there is Produta FC, who were qualifiers last season with us, but also did poorly in the second phase. Despite that they should prove stiff competition.


These four teams will be making life hard for me, which is why I am not so confident of qualification this season. So I've told my board we can achieve a mid-table position, but personally I believe we can get in the top 4, and depending on the other 2 groups possibly achieve qualification if we're lucky. They've given me a 4.6k wage budget, very generous thank you.

My scouts have been very active during the previous season and I've made a bunch of new signings, the pick of them being Ismail Bahri, a stunningly fast striker who I think can give us what the retired Christian Gonzalez couldn't - speed and urgency on the break. Also, Miguel Angel Lever, a Chilean centre back who will provide excellent cover to the current defense pairing of Rahmad Prasetyo and Eddy Suwondo. Lastly we have Wawan Santoso, who looks to be an extremely promising striker, and he will give Ismail and Mahmud a run for their place on the starting 11.

[IMGw]http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y177/saplingg/tr1.png[/IMGw]

[IMGw]http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y177/saplingg/tr2.png[/IMGw]

[IMGw]http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y177/saplingg/tr3.png[/IMGw]

[IMGw]http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y177/saplingg/tr4.png[/IMGw]

[IMGw]http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y177/saplingg/tr5.png[/IMGw]

[IMGw]http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y177/saplingg/tr6.png[/IMGw]


We have our guns loaded and we're ready to go for another run at promotion, and despite all odds being against us with the two recently relegated teams, I believe we can do the unexpected once again.
Will look foward to hearing the outcome of the season ahead.
8 May 2016

PROMOTION!!!!!!!

Yes, you've read it correctly. This season was fantastic for us. Despite a media prediction of 7th place, we've confounded the pundits once again with our ability to defy all odds and mount a promising campaign for the trophy.

[IMGw]http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y177/saplingg/leaguetable2016.png[/IMGw]

Here is how we looked after the first phase, clearly we did not make it into the top 2 but a record of 10-10-2 from 22 games put us ahead in points of everyone else and thus we made it into the 7th and 8th "best two teams" qualification spots.

The season started off slow, with us earning 9 draws and 2 wins from the first 11 games, but midway through the season I reworked some of our tactics.

One thing to note is that according to my backroom staff, we have the best passing and best technique in the league, our weakness would have to be our low flair.

So when we were unable to win much in the first half of the season I decided to change things up - adopting a more direct passing style and a deeper back-line. Also, I had decided on very extreme pitch dimensions - 116m long and 55m wide. Yes, that is extremely long and narrow. I think the EPL standard is 102m by 65m. So as you can see we used our passing ability and the speed of young striker Ismail Bahri to our advantage, playing a very fluid game which aimed to utilize the considerable space behind the opponent's defense. Killer throughballs and incisive break aways were a common thing after we made some changes to the tactics, and we came away with a 8-1-2 record in the final 11 games. Not bad at all!

[IMGw]http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y177/saplingg/clearcutchances.png[/IMGw]

I think this illustrates our ability to get players in behind the opponent. Unfortunately we couldn't finish all our chances but I'm very proud of winning 4-2 against Persih, who only lost twice this season - one of those times to us.

[IMGw]http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y177/saplingg/secondphase2016.png[/IMGw]

The second phase was a tough match, putting us in the same group as Gresik Utd and Persijap, both of whom topped their groups in the first phase. Thankfully we scraped a couple of draws draws and well there you have it, promotion.

Kendari Utama in the Indonesian Super League… Who would've thunk it!
http://www.the-spiceislands.com/Images/Indonesia/Jakarta/Popside1a.jpg

8 May 2016

JC: Abraham great to be able to welcome you back, it's been an amazing season for you and your side Kendari Utama, how are you feeling?

AT: I'm feeling good, happy that this has finally happened. I know you might be surprised by this but I knew that this was within our reach, and I'm thrilled that the players have met my expectations this year.

JC: In the First Division as well, you took the country by surprise when you achieved promotion. Do you think you will be able to surprise us once again in the Super League?

AT: I think compared to the Premier and First Division, the Super League is really a cut apart. You're up against teams like Sriwijaya FC and Persik and Persija, who have amazing support as well as funding. It's really much more competitive the higher up you get, and it might take us awhile to establish ourselves with the same sort of support and finances that those top teams have.

JC: What do you think will be the biggest obstacles for you?

AT: I think the biggest problem for the club right now is fan support. We've not been doing well at the gates, the stands are never more than half full. Also, our reputation is not up there, we're still little fish in the ocean, which means it might be hard to attract talent in the first few seasons.

JC: How do you hope to change these problems?

AT: There's nothing I can do that I haven't already done. We play the most attractive and attacking football in the league, the statistics prove that. We were the top goal scoring team this past season and we're also topping the charts for pass completion and I believe this is what attracts people to football - seeing flowing, attractive football. It's beautiful to me, and I know to the fans too. So they will come, once they see us play, they will come and buy tickets to watch us again.

JC: Ismail Bahri has been amazing for you this season, scoring 19 goals in 25 appearances. With many of the top Indonesian clubs keeping an eye on him, what do you see in his future?

AT: Ismail is going nowhere. Let me tell you this, when I first saw him play on Trial's Day with my assistant, I told my assistant, "Lim. We are signing that boy. Whatever pay he wants, I am going to double it."

We offered him a contract the next day, and it's no surprise to me that he took it. I knew he was going to be a star, and I have given him the exposure and the confidence that he needs. He has an incredible future ahead of him, but I am sure that if we continue our success, he will have no doubts at all in spending it here.

JC: Abraham thank you for speaking to us and I wish you all the best in the Super League next season.

AT: (makes a peace sign with his hands) Peace.
WELL DONE GREAT ACHIEVMENT. Hard work payed off, lets see what the season ahead brings you.
Huge update below, guys, it looks pretty intimidating even to me but I hope you'll take the time to read it and leave a comment if you get the chance


17 Jun 2016

Money


Holy shit! Sriwijaya FC (the Indonesian equivalent of Man Utd) just made a huge bid for one of my players, who I just signed on a free last season. His name is Slamet Rahmat. They offered an initial 150k with 30% from next profit and "Arrange Friendly"… I put in a couple clauses, 60k over 12 months, 40k after his first league game and 10k after 10 league goals, and they went for it!

Incredible… Potential value of transfer is 270k. Last season's turnover was 393k. I'm rich, motherfackaaaaas!!






15 Oct 2016

Defying All Odds

The season started off tenuously, with Kendari Utama seeing a few new faces but also losing a few in the form of Aji Nugroho, Fajar Saputra, Fandhi Fuadhi, and Taqwa Ihlas, the combined time spent at the club by these four long-serving members of the Kendari squad was 20 years.

I was sad to see them go, as they had all played their part somehow or another in Kendari's rise to glory, but the tragic part about promotion is that sometimes the people who delivered you this success may become redundant to your search for progress.

But that is football, and it is a ruthless sport.


[IMGW]http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y177/saplingg/transfersfirsthalf2017.png[/IMGW]


The highlights of this transfer season would have to be Slamet Rahmat, going out for a record breaking fee of 275k, and incoming Agus Novianto, who I've taken to calling "August", don't ask me why, for another record breaking fee of 120k.


[IMGW]http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y177/saplingg/trb1.png[/IMGW]


August will give us some great strength in defense, our fullbacks have been lacking in the past few seasons but with him on the left we will have no problems there. Rahmad "Flash" Prasetyo, the blindingly fast centre back has been retrained and will now be featuring on my right, where I feel his speed will be much more useful in dealing with those pacey wingers.

The rest of the incoming transfers are as follows.


[IMGW]http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y177/saplingg/trb2.png[/IMGW]

[IMGW]http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y177/saplingg/trb3.png[/IMGW]

[IMGW]http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y177/saplingg/trb4.png[/IMGW]


As we came into the season, suddenly my players started dropping like flies, picking up loads of injuries. At one point the injury crisis was so bad that I even had to rework my formations. Both Santoso and Bahri were out to long term injuries, and without any adequate backup I had to play Soputan alone up front. Also, Eki Pujianto, our backup attacking midfielder, was suspended for 5 league matches due to a violent foul which was a bullshit call but what are you gonna do. My squad was reduced to 14 active players, and without any backup at all I was afraid as one more suspension or injury would deeply affect our chances for the next month or so.


[IMGW]http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y177/saplingg/injurycrisis2017.png[/IMGW]


Thankfully the injuries stopped, and my players slowly regained their match fitness. I train my players hard, but I think what caused the problem here was inadequate pre-season preparation. The Super League season starts almost a full month earlier compared to Premier or First Division, and it's my fault that I wasn't prepared enough.

As the players came back to fitness, our form picked up and suddenly we were doing very impressive things in the league, even beating Sriwijaya FC, the clear cut favorite for the title. These were the guys willing to spend 275k on an unaccomplished youngster, the resources available to them are immense, so coming away with three points here is fantastic stuff for me.


[IMGW]http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y177/saplingg/fixturesearly2017.png[/IMGW]


We've just secured our fourth straight win in the league, beating out Persebaya with a scintillating performance and the scoreline says everything: Kendari 4 - 0 Persebaya.


[IMGW]http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y177/saplingg/4-0matchsummary.png[/IMGW]



The highlight of the match would have to be an incredible solo effort from budding striker Wawan Santoso. Santoso was often left in the shadow of star striker Ismail Bahri last season, which at times made me question his importance to the team. My strikers were mostly played as Harry Redknapp plays his forwards. Bahri, the blindingly fast poacher moving into channels and picking up throughballs, much like Defoe does. Soputan, the towering complete forward who uses his aerial dominance and physical power to hold up balls and set plays up for his partner - the Peter Crouch in my Kendari Utama side. And lastly, we have Wawan Santoso, usually making only a substitute appearance. He is quick, determined and hardworking, but somehow he wasn't able to break his way into the starting 11 last season. The Robbie Keane of the gang.

Well this season things have changed, with Santoso scoring a fantastic 4 goals in 4 starts despite being plagued by injury. And in this match against Persebaya, he truly showed his worth.

The play started off with a throw-in about 25 yards out from the opponent's goal. Novianto, our solid left back took the throw and gave it straight to Santoso, deep into Persebaya's territory. He ran back, getting past his marker and made a straight parallel run across the penalty area. The defense was poorly organized and didn't communicate well, and nobody committed to Santoso, who balanced the ball well and clearly confounded them with his trickery. He found a gap, moved the ball out well and struck a thunderous 20 yard drive which bulleted past the keeper into the corner of the net. The 3000-odd crowd was stunned for moments before the final uproar came, audience off their feet to salute this moment of footballing brilliance.


Well after this match the press released a comment on us in the post match review, all I can't say is haven't these idiots learned their lesson yet?

[IMGW]http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y177/saplingg/4-0mediaresponse.png[/IMGW]

"a team with their limited resources will surely not be able to keep it up until the end of the season."

Watch it pal… With Kendari Utama, you never know.
Good news to hear about some more money coming in the club, but unlucky with picking up injuries, I know what its like having to re-do your formations :wink. Well done so far, your doing really well. I like the way you compare Indonesian teams and players to English sides, it makes it that much easier to understand. Santoso seems to be pulling the strings for you so far and I think you can keep up your run of form. Also LOVE the quote at the end:

"a team with their limited resources will surely not be able to keep it up until the end of the season."

Watch it pal… With Kendari Utama, you never know.

Yeh, you show them :beer
Looking forward to the next update
Thanks for the comment mate!


17 Jun 2016

Like A Virgin

[IMGw]http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y177/saplingg/fixturelist2017pt2.png[/IMGw]

[IMGw]http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y177/saplingg/leaguetable2017pt2.png[/IMGw]

Despite the season nearing an end, it's still an extremely tight matchup in the Indonesian Super League. If we earn 4 points, we can take first place, but if we drop just two points, we're back down to 8th.

The press might say something like, the next 10 games are the most important ones for us this season. But then again the press are dimwitted fools.

I was never one to believe that the last few games are the most crucial. It doesn't make sense, really. Every game is just as important as the next, it's just a matter of how you look at it. If Rahmad Prasetyo didn't fuck it up and give away that injury time penalty in the last fixture against Persijap, we'd have taken all three points instead of getting a draw.

And this may be the difference between a successful season and a mediocre one. Every point matters in this league, there are no free lunches here.

The next couple of months are going to be intense. We have Sriwijaya, Persikabo, Persija, PSDS and Persipura. These guys are tough to beat, but if we come away with results here, it'll put us in a very good position for the league.

In other news, we were knocked out in the Indonesian Cup. No big deal, we haven't made it past the third round in the 8 seasons that I've managed here. Cups are a bloody crapshoot anyway.

You are reading "Big Dreams".

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