Having a Crac Ovia here in Poland

Transfers

A 3rd summer window and a chance to find the players that can wrestle back the league title having lost it on the last day. First things first we secured Samuel Grandsir for a 3rd loan spell extending his stay here and meaning a right winger was no longer a must, but we still needed to add some new players to the side.

The free transfer market is always a good place to start and we added two bosman signings. Young Spanish midfielder Manu Garcia was signed from Man City. Some nice dribbling and technical attributes means i hope the Spaniard can provide some creative flair from the centre of midfield. The second new face was Pawel Dawidowicz, a polishman who had recently been in Portugal from Benfica. He is another ball playing defender and after the success of Alexander Hack last season, i feel a 2nd ball playing defender can really help us with playing out from the back.

My final three signings all did end up being wingers and all for different reasons. Venezuelan Yeferson Soteldo was on loan at Sampdoria last season but found himself back in South America after that deal ended. Good pace and technical skills as well as being 23 this South American could end up being one of them players that fetches big money in a few years. At £1.6m he was the most expensive signing but one that could make an immediate impact to the side. Milosz Sadowski was a player of the future and my first regen signing as the 16 year old looked impressive with the right attributes and personality that could turn him into a future star. For this season he will be in the U19's and might make an appearance in the cup. The final new face was a loan for the season as Yacine Adli was bought in to give us good coverage on the wing and in the centre of the midfield.

In terms of the outgoings it was generally a case of trying to trim down the U19 squad of players who were getting too old and not good enough to make the first team. Both Culina and Hernandez were out with ACL tears last season and were deemed surplus to requirements so i let their contracts run out. Budzinski and Dytyayev were both the wrong side of 30 and i felt that youth was going to be the way forward.


On the Pitch

So onto the football. Well with the window shut we have been battling on two fronts (The league and the Europa League) and it has largely been a success. However, i will start with the less good and that was in Europe as it was hard to replicate the form we showed last season. Personally i always find the Europa League qualifying a lot harder than the Champions League qualifying and so when you don't get seeded, it was always going to be tough.

We started off in the 1st qualifying round with Zeljeznicar Sarajevo of Bosnia and that was comfortable enough winning 1-0 and 2-1 to set up a tie against Norrkoping of Sweden. That is where we fell apart as we got smashed 4-0 in Sweden killing the tie meaning our 3-1 victory in the 2nd leg was just to make the aggregate score look a bit more respectable.

I am gutted but i want Domestic success and so far it has been pretty good in the league as we won our first 5 games before drawing the last two before the window shut leaving the table like this


Our best start to a season so far and that is all i could have hoped for as we hunt down our 7th league title.

Manu Garcia will hopefully be a great signing for you

I'm not too familiar with many of those players, however I look forward to seeing how they all perform. Your campaign in Europe is a shame to read about, though. Good start in the league nonetheless and just two draws so far - not bad!

On the Pitch

Doubling up on months as i played through September and October. There is good news and there is bad news. First of all the bad news, as we once again crashed out of the Polish Cup early losing in the 1st round to Legia Warsaw 3-1. The good news is that we are top of the table after 14 games


Oh and we are 8 points clear as well as we have quietly beating the opposition in our most consistent season so far. Branimir Hrgota has been excellent hitting 11 goals in the league and 14 in all competitions as the Swede continues to impress. The same can't really be said by the new players in the team as apart from centre half Dawidowicz, they have been subpar. Manu Garcia isn't producing much in the centre of midfield whilst Soltedo and Adli have offered little on the wings when used. As although we have been winning, we haven't been dominating like i hoped we could. We lead the charts for possession, passes completed and pass success stats but i fear we are just keeping the ball rather than trying to kill games off. Perhaps we are a little too Sarri-ball? However, i cant be too harsh when the league is going as well as it is.

The other new signing that is shining is youngster Sadowski who has been playing in the U18's and with 10 goals and 4 assists in 18 games. If i can't get Soteldo and Adli to improve, i might just call him up to the 1st team

To face Legia in the first round of the cup was a poor draw and an unfortunate one

Disappointed to read about your early exit from the cup, however it has clearly allowed you to focus your attentions on the league campaign. An excellent start, with a lot more consistency in results. Whilst not everyone is on form, I'm pleased to read about Hrgota especially and hope he can continue his form.

On the Pitch


A very quiet 2 months with just 5 games over the period. That is what no cup football does to you. Still it is a perfect time to win my 2nd league trophy of the save and we are looking pretty good despite some mixed results.

The challenge is, that we are not playing that well and the wheels do feel like they could fall off at any point. The 2-1 defeat to Lech was a classic case of we dominated possession, shots and pretty much every stat but didnt have that killer instinct that you need to win trophies. I know they are the reigning champions but they absolutely suck this year and we should be doing better.

The real killer is that without Hrgota's goals we would be a world of problems as none of the attacking midfield 3 behind him are producing on a regular basis with the AMC slot a real challenge as Pasquato is showing his age whilst Rakoczy is young and not really progressing as i had hoped. So expect a new AMC for the back half of the season.

The other shining light has been Jakub Serafin who is outperforming his average attributes and was even voted Polish player of the year for the league. He just seems to be at the center of everything we do and he loves to score a free kick even with an 11 rating in that area.

We are now off for the winter break and the transfer window will open soon but in the mean time i was offered this.


I of course rejected their advances but it is the Polish National team job i want next if i can.

There is a lot of pressure on Hrgota to perform by the sound of things, which isn't ideal. Hopefully the rest of the team can carry their weight and produce a few more goals in the coming games, else you face the risk of dropping off.

Transfers

A relatively quiet transfer window but i did add the new AMC that we were looking for to help us with our title tilt. That man was Arsenal's Kelechi Nwakali who joins on loan for the rest of the season with a small monthly fee. The Nigerian has some real quality for this level and is an instant upgrade on Pasquato and the now injured Rakoczy (Out for 3 month).

There were no major outgoings either with a couple of prospects leaving on loan for the rest of the season.


On the Pitch


I think the above tells you how it has gone with a flawless mid season friendly spell against lower league Polish sides whilst picking up maximum points in the league with newboy Nwakali hitting two goals already and giving me hope we can get more from that spot. Manu Garcia has also scored his first goal for the club and is now starting to get a few assists with Garcia and Nwakali starting to link up nicely in the midfield. All in all it means the table looks like this.


A 9 point gap at the top and we are looking like a lock on for a title. Our best ever points total at the 30 game mark was 57 points and to be just 3 points off already gives me real hope. Legia and Lechia who are probably the strongest sides anywhere near us and they are even further behind in what has been a poor year for the top sides.

A fantastic month that puts you in a great position. The loan signing of Nwakali has paid off already it seems and hopefully he can continue to add to his strong start.

On the Pitch


We are now at the stage where the season breaks into two and even though inconsistencies have crept in to the team we are still an almighty 9 points clear at the top of the table as the other sides fail to mount a challenge.

All i can really take from this period is that we still have some work to do if we are going to dominate this Country for years to come. Inconsistencies need to be ironed out and we need more from our attacking midfielders who are still failing to really click on a regular basis. Jean Paul Boetius is the only one performing on a regular basis and he has been here longer than Soteldo and Adli. However, Grandsir is having his worst season so perhaps it is time to look at other options on the right wing.

Nwakali has looked good but than he picked up an injury meaning we will not have him until the final few games in the Championship phase so i am back to Pasquato who is just not doing it for me.

Still 64 points is more than what any other team has achieved at this stage in the last few seasons and we should finish on our highest ever points total as our defence has done the business this year and allowed us to pick up the tight little victories we would normally just draw.

Youth Intake

Another season of utter turd. I need to improve the facilities and get a new Head of Youth Development as clearly something is not right.

Disappointing to hear about the lack of performances from some players, as well as some injury news which will weaken your squad going into the next stage of the league season. However, you're in a prime position to capture the gold at the end, currently, so it'll be a case of ensuring there are no major slip-ups. Best of luck!

You really managed to turn around all the draws you had last season, well done.

Championes championes ole ole ole

On the Pitch

Easy! Easy! Champions once again as we saunter to my 2nd League title and Cracovia's 7th.


We were never in doubt as the table shows with 76 points being a record haul for the club and our 10 point gap shows our dominance. To be honest we could have won the league 2 games earlier than we did but in two seperate we blew a two goal lead which was very unlike us. We got back in the groove though in the next game winning 7-3 over Lechia to clinch the title at home.

Our dominance showed in the team of the season selections as we had 8 players selected. So back in the Champions League and hopefully we can have a better run than last season as we are in the need of the finances.

Which leads me to perhaps the only bum note of the save and that is the fact that Cracovia are not in a better financial position and it is going to make improvements harder. We have a transfer budget of just £1.3m to make improvements and there will need to be some if we want to truly dominate Poland. We have 3 players on loan (Nwakali, Adli and Grandsir) and i will hope to bring back Nwakali and Grandsir but i wouldn't be surprised if their parent clubs want to keep them next season. Adli on the other hand can go back to PSG as he didnt do a lot and i would like to get a new right sided winger. However, if Nwakali and Grandsir are not here next season than we will need 3 new players.

Our back up keeper Muminovic is starting to whinge about first team football, so i might move him on and Vestinicky and Pasquato could both be shipped on as i look to inject some new life into the squad. Defensively it was our best year so other than a more natural left wing back as the current two (Siplak and Ferraresso) are not naturals for that role.

That could be a big ask with the budgets we have