Legenda - The career of Luka Elsner

2020-05-17 12:52#271281 Justice : The break appears to have come at the right time, as it turns out! Matuidi will be a big miss but hopefully ASSE will rally to fight back!

Yes, absolutely a good time for the break. We need to reassess everything with this squad at the moment.

2020-05-17 13:20#271292 ScottT : That's a very tough draw!

Absolutely - the bad news keeps coming!

• An excited match against Ipswich, we were in control throughout before allowing two late goals.
• We held Real San Sebastian to a rare bore draw. A fair results for both sides.
• The boys knock out Real Hispalis in the First Round of the Friendly Cup hosted by Borussia M'Gladbach. Seldom used Sam Johnson with the winner in the 84th minute.
• M'Gladbach wins it late as Lyle Foster scores his 2nd of the match in the 85th minute.
• A terrible own goal by Moukoudi on a terrible back pass gives away the match to Antalyaspor.

Blaise Matuidi
Our only injury at the moment is a big one. Matuidi is expected to miss 2 more months before returning to action. His injury will give Matthias Normann a chance to get more regular playing time, along with one of our best young talents - 18 year old Cedric Chabert.

Typical England. Bottling it in the semi-finals!

Think FM got all too excited about England winning a shootout for once. Guess everything went back to normal in the semi's though.

Some decent results in your friendlies there, I like the signing of Nkunku, a decent player.

Cool to see Croatia just doing their thing and making another World Cup final

Nkunku is a superb signing. The next month will be very important!

After an absolute thrashing from Rennes, the board finally had seen enough and decided to sack Luka Elsner prior to the Coupe de France match against OL. Earlier in the day the club had announced the signing of defender Issa Diop in hopes of boosting the leagues worst defense. As harsh as the sacking from Schalke last season was, this one was somewhat expected at this point. ASSE was underperforming with no end in site after rallying to draw Nantes 1-1 but losing at home to SM Caen 2-1 earlier in the month.

Wow have you any idea what you're gonna do next?

2020-05-18 18:43#271432 Wolf : Wow have you any idea what you're gonna do next?

Well Inter Milan offered an interview a week later but I decided not to attend it. It did not seem to make much sense, though it was tempting. I plan to go on vacation until May then start seeing what is available.

This save is amazing (and frustrating), as I have not been sacked since FM 2015. Now twice in 1 save!

More to come!

It's not going well lately for Elsner

Another disappointment, persistence will pay off for Luka one day though!

It happens to the best of us - no doubt Luka will bounce back from this!

Heading into mid-May, Elsner found himself a hot topic around Europe once again. With interest from Huddersfield, Fulham FC, Malmo FF, and AZ Alkmaar.

Elsner will turn 41 this summer and is coming off two sub-par stints after being sacked by Schalke and ASSE in the last 18 months. Interestingly enough, Schalke went on to win the Bundesliga this past season with primarily the squad that Elsner had brought in. It seems like years ago since Elsner was leading Union SG to back to back Promotion Playoffs in the Proximus League. In total, we has managed 184 matches while winning 87 (47%) with a goal differential of 82. His team's have been known for their dominating play and stiff defense.

At Schalke, the squad never bought into Elsner despite building one of the most stringent defenses in Europe. ASSE things were different though the squad bought in but his side featured one of the league's worst defenses. Meanwhile, Union SG have sacked 4 managers since Elsner has left trying to replace the magic that he brought during unquestionably the greatest period in their history.

First, Huddersfield had come calling. After failing to stay up in the Premier League they had sacked Dean Smith. However, their transfer budget was next to nothing and Elsner asked for more time to evaluate his options.

Then came Fulham, who had also was relegated to the Championship after finishing 20th in the Premier League. They had recently sacked Gert Heerkes, who was clearly not fit for the position. Their most exciting player has to be Luka Jovic but there is no guarantee that he would agree to stay after relegation. They also basically have a non-existent transfer budget heading into the summer.

Malmo presented an interesting option after Age Hareide left the club to manage Crystal Palace. Taking over a squad in the middle of the season is always complex and one that Elsner did not really want to explore with the other options available.

Huddersfield and Fulham both approached Elsner again but then AZ Alkmaar also approached. The position became available after Rini Coolen left for Feyernoord, Arnie Slot took over the interim position to finish the season and lead the team to a 2nd place finish - qualifying for European football. AZ offered a transfer budget of €10M and a wage budget of +€500K per month. Plenty of room to improve the squad to push against Ajax.

A difficult decision for Elsner in the coming days.

In the end, on June 12th 2023 AZ Alkmaar had announced the hiring of Luka Elsner to take over the squad effective immediately.