Representing A Continent

The arrival of Passlack is a real game changer at the back in my opinion that will really sure up the defence and wing play. Super start to the campaign with the first piece of silverware secured too!

Sehovic looks a fantastic prospect and could be the next big star coming out of Serbian football. I look forward to seeing him. It's interesting the other 'top' clubs seem to be neglecting investing into their squad.

Congratulations to Luke on winning the Super Cup and hopefully he can get off to a good start in the league. A tough ending to the month.

Some good additions to the side this year should put your rivals on the back foot before you even start!

Passlack has great potential, remember using him in the the previous edition of FM, really great wingback!

Also nice cup win to add another trophy in the cabinet!

CSKA Moscow kicked off their season as Champions in what will surely go down as the craziest opening day in Russian footballing history, winning 7-4 away from home against Krylya Sovetov.

Following what many have called the worst Superkubok final in history, in which CSKA Moscow beat Zenit St. Petersburg on penalties, the complete opposite was witnessed today in their league opener.

It took just five minutes for the theme of the day to emerge, with Fedor Chalov opening the scoring. Chalov, who was reportedly close to signing a contract at English side Bournemouth earlier in the transfer window following a £35,000,000 bid being accepted by CSKA. However, the allure of Champions League football saw Chalov reject the deal.

The second of the game didn’t take long either as just two minutes after Chalov’s opener, new signing Roman Yevgenjev rose highest from a corner to give his side the two goal cushion. But Krylya Sovetov weren’t ready to bow down to the Champions and Paul Anton hit back to cut the deficit in half in the twelfth minute. The neutrals were loving every minute this early into the season and again Roman Yengenjev rose highest at a corner, using all 6”4 of his height to extend his team's lead.

Arnór Sigurðsson then got in on the act to open his season's tally, as the CSKA top scorer from last season made it 4-1 in just over twenty minutes. With just twenty-two minutes on the clock, Paul Anton once again got a goal back as a poor mistake from the usually highly reliable Igor Akinfeev, saw Anton have a tap in. Once again it was Krylya who scored next just thirty-one minutes into the game, to make the tie just a one goal game.

As halftime approached, another CSKA debutant got an early goal in his club career, as Zlatan Sehovic scored the game's eighth goal all within the first half. A half that sent both managers into the changing rooms scratching their heads, unsure of what they had really witnessed.

The game then slowed down with it taking a whole fifteen minutes for the next piece of action when Arnór Sigurðsson doubled his tally. The game sat at an astonishing 6-3 to CSKA Moscow, when debutant Zlatan Sehovic capped off his crazy debut, assisting Chalov’s opener and scoring the eighth goal of the game, by receiving his second yellow card of the game seeing him sent off.

Sovetov felt they had a chance of getting back into the game having a man advantage set forward and went on the attack. However, little came of it and it allowed CSKA to hit them on the break with Fedor Chalov scoring his second of the game.

With the full time whistle being raised to the referee’s mouth to signal the end of the craziest opening game of Russian footballing history, Krylya were afforded one more chance. A chance the duly took, ending off a truly incredible game off football. The game wasn’t so incredible according to Luke Hendricks.

Luke Hendricks:

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“I have mixed feelings. Yes it’s great we scored seven goals, but to concede four in the way we did, we are going to need to put in a lot of work this week. If we play like that every week it won’t be long until the team is exhausted and won’t be able to out score the other side. We got fortunate in a way today and we are going to have to do better in the future. I’m happy for the win, just not as pleased as I could be for the way in which we defended.”

Luke will have time to now prepare his team for what many would consider an easier task for his side. In the next two games, CSKA will play two of the teams who were promoted from last season and many will be expecting a much better overall display against Baltika Kaliningrad next weekend. Following that game they will play Yenisey Krasnoyarsk before two massive clashes against Lokomotiv Moscow and Zenit St. Petersburg at the end of the month.

Replies

Jack:Passlack give us a great option now. We aren't so reliant on Fernandes at right back and he can also play the more attacking right midfield role which is great. He's still young so should be able to develop here.
Scott:I wasn't intending on adding a left back in all honesty, but when he popped up I couldn't pass it up. He seemed to start well until that second yellow An ok start to the league is how I'd put it.
Griffo:Unfortunately with defending like that we are putting ourselves on the back foot.
OneMoreGame:Yes the cup win sets us up nicely and breeds a winning culture so I am happy with that one!

crap, I wasted my hockey-related joke with another story

plenty of goals today, eh

Seems like you have similar stumbling blocks to Cobh here! A great win all-in-all with a three-goal margin and great news to hear Chalov turned down Bournemouth to stay in Russia! It sure seems like he's enjoying his time at CSKA

Despite the emphasis on defensive recruitment over the summer, a 7-4 game explodes out of nowhere! Some work to do on getting the new defenders in to shape, even if the attack is as free-scoring as it appears to be in that game!

A quite stunning result. Chalov will certainly be playing with plenty of expectation given his decision to reject a move to Bournemouth. The money would have allowed Hendricks to reinvest but the striker needs to prove his worth now. Yevgenjev already looks to be a menace in the box, too.

Hopefully that defensive performance was a one-off, but your ability to score goals was simply breath taking. Chalov scoring a brace is incredible in itself, hopefully this is the season where he shows some consistency in front of goal. Now, time for Luke to go yell at his defenders

That is certainly a shootout, my god

18th July 2021

“We appreciate you attending our interview and we were very excited about your plans for the future at the club but we have unfortunately opted for Diego Simeone as the next manager. We want to wish you well and with some more experience to your name and continuing to improve at the highest level you will be with one of the best clubs in the world soon enough we are sure” said Zhang Jindong, the Inter Milan Owner.

“Thank you for the call Mr Jindong, I appreciate you taking your time to speak to me and wish you all well in the future.” I replied.

“Same to you Luke, goodbye”

It was rejection. No matter how you put it I had been rejected as the new Inter Milan manager and they had decided to go with a man with tons more experience at the top flight. In all honesty I wasn’t sure how to feel. I had applied for the job almost a month ago after I began to worry about my family's safety.

That note that had been passed onto myself at the pub had worried me, even more so when nobody turned up at the meeting spot. The Inter job would have put space between myself and whoever was supposedly watching me in Russia. It would have also been a brilliant job to go into. The league over there is about to change big time. Juventus are ageing, with just two players under the age of thirty in their best eleven. Napoli finally capitalised on that last season and they would be the biggest challengers to any title.

Inter also had a ridiculous amount of money behind them following the sales of Lukaku and Martinez and I was excited about what I could do there, no denying that. But it wasn’t to be.

Simeone going to Inter did mean that the Atlético job was open and again that would mean I could get away from any potential danger over here. But I don’t want to go to a job purely out of fear. They are miles away from challenging Barcelona and Real Madrid having finished twenty-two points off the title winners Real last season. They also have an ageing squad and with José Giménez looking likely to leave to Liverpool the job would be potentially career suicide at this point.

I’ve also built something here at CSKA. We have a very talented squad who showed how good they were last season and despite being very open at the back against Krylya with time this new defense we have will become a cohesive unit. We also have room to grow here. The squad is young, at an average age of just twenty-three. Not only that but with the recent sales of Sergiy Bolbat and Radovan Pankov going on loan, our foreign player numbers are in line with the league rules.

The room for growth and development is massive with the possibility for another league title is enough to keep me here for the time being at least.What we could achieve here is something of dreams and would cement myself, Igor Akinfeev, Georgy Schennikov and Alan Dzagoev, as icons of the club. I also don’t want to be run out of this place, it’s somewhere I have come to love and it would also mean taking Lada away from the place she was born and has a stable job. If the right job was to come available of course I would have to look at it, but for now, I am happy here.

We have a lot of work to do but I have full faith in this squad and in my backroom team. The theme of last season was progression. This year it is domination.

Replies

Tango: Only a few
Jack:It's an interesting one, winning well but conceding way to many against an average side. Improvement is needed for sure.
Justice:Probably slightly naive to head straight into game one of the season with half the backline never playing together before. Thankfully the attackers bailed us out.
Scott: He has started well with two in the opener, but after last season he needs to show more consistency this year. Hopefully he rejected the move to prove himself!
James:Indeed, as I said to Scott, Chalov needs to prove himself this season and show some more consistency unlike last season. It's a good start going forward for sure but we need to be much better at the back.
Griffo:An exciting one to kick off the season!

Rejection can be tough but this could present Luke with a great opportunity to continue on furthering his legendary status with Moscow. It's an awful shame that he feels that he needs to dismiss the fact he would be accepting a job purely on a need to get away from Russia and what he's encountered.

Heartbroken, was really hoping for you to find a new club and get a fresh start, the weird and wonderful Russia continues!

Gutting not to see Luke not move to Inter but maybe something better is lying around the corner for him