Vitesse: French for Speed.

Brilliant presentation, keep it up

Seems very nice

And nice pictures you found there

this is a cracking story so far thus will easily be followed..good luck with the 3 year plan on winning the league

October through November brought an incredible run of success having not lost since Oct 1st, that being the only loss of the season thus far. We have seen some impressive wins as well as reaching the Dutch Cup quarterfinals. Take a look at the matches…


…including a nice 6 match shutout streak to set a new Vitesse club record.


Here is a glance at the team sorted by top ratings. You will see that Wilfried, Bressan and Xulu are leading the charge.


The board and the supporters are pleased…


With my players out on loan, regardless of how I view them and their future at the club, I always try and get them in a place where they can get a good run of matches. Of the players I have out on loan, none will likely put up much challenge for a starting spot, but Van Ginkel and Propper could contribute in the future at some point and it’s nice to see Van Ginkel with 4 goals and Propper with 12 matches under his belt so far.


As for my tutoring, nothing went terribly and a few have already recived a little from their tutors. I will know more as they finish out in January and I will look to begin a a second round of tutoring where it makes sense to finish out the season.

On the training front, Xulu, Jali, Bressan, and Chanturia, have all made the biggest strides and I am very pleased. I put all of my CM’s to learn to “try killer balls” and so far have had success. The other has been my AML/R’s who I have been training to “place shots” and “cut inside”. As for the strikers, I have been training them to “place shots” So far everyone has learned or is learning. Very good news!

Here is a glance at my Reserve and U19’s sorted by rating if interested

Reserves

U19s

Moving forward into the 2nd half of the season I feel good. The board offered to adjust my expectations up for only a million or so more in transfer funds. I declined and have decided to stick with my expectations of Euro (top 8 finish) placement. I still have about 4-5 million euros left to spend and I will most likely look to spend it on something to help the 2nd half or youth.

One item of note is my starting DL and DR are out for 1-2 months. This may hurt and I am looking for some support there. I feel fine about my backup DR Yasuda, but unsure if I want to rely on Van Aanholt (loan from Chelsea), who offers very little defensively, as my backup DL.

So with that said, I may be looking for DL/R coverage, another DM for an anchorman role, and then youth with the remainder of my available transfer funds.

Stay tuned as I will most likely have a short transfer recap at the end of the January window. Again, thanks to everyone who is following!

Wow, Xulu with 7 goals! Keep up the good work. Maybe you can skip a couple of years in that 3 year plan.

Vitesse have made a surprise transfer move purchasing Brazilian (and Chelsea, PSG target) Oscar from Internacional for 12 million euros.

Oscar

The youngster will find himself in a rotational midfield with Bressan and Modise playing either DLP or more often an advanced playmaker role. Jali may find more time rotating with Annan in the defensive midfield, with capatain Hofs on the outside looking in.

Awesome signing there mate!:D

Thanks! I deferred 7.5 million, but with an owner who throws 10-25 million into the balance every few months, I am not too worried. I imagine a midfield with him and Bressan as his CM partner, with a more tough nosed anchorman in the back. Annan will be going back to Schalke. I have loan buyout clause for 2 million, but he won't do contract talks and quite frankly is an ass. Nothing seems to motivate him. What's confusing is I think he is resilient or professional but I will have to double check. This next offseason, I want to attract a good DM/Anchorman (maybe even one technical enough to play at DLP as well). Any good ideas for a club my size?

*(Minor Update)*

With 9 games left we sit in 1st place with only a slight lead. Things are looking good. More to follow later...

Mindblown. You got Oscar *thumbs up*

Vitesse continue on in their quest to surprise and take Eredivsie. You will see with 9 matches still to go, Vitesse sits in 1st place with a slim lead. PSV, FC Twente and Ajax have all been close behind.


After the January transfer window ended and getting knocked out of the Dutch Cup by Ajax (tough 2-1 loss at home), attention was turned to Eredivisie. With a run of tough matches ahead and without Wilfried, Jali, Xulu and Modise who were away on Interantional duty for the better part of a month, the next 7 games would go a long way towards deciding our fate. Could we escape a 2nd half collapse?


Tough losses away to SC Heerenveen , PSV and Feyenoord were offset by a good home win vs. FC Twente and two February romps of De Graafschap and Heracles. Others slipped and we found ourselves with a slim lead heading into the final quarter of the season.

Here is a brief look at the league stats sorted by ratings. You will see the dependence on Xulu in the back (8 goals, all set pieces) and Wilfried (13 goals) and having them back after International duty should help us along. Karim A’t Fana and Bressan continue to impress. The defense has continued to hold strong as, van der Struijk, van Aanholt , Van Gijseghem and Kashia have filled in well for injured starters Hagen (DR) and Rodriguez (DL). Oscar has struggled to find his way so far and we hope to see Modise and Jali pick up their play.


Time to finish off this season strong!

Are you buying FM13, Adonis? I hope not, so you can continue this story. Your project with Vitesse is going 10x faster than you had guessed. PSV, Feyenoord, Ajax and FC Twente should all have been above you, in my opinion. So the fact that you are in first spot baffles me.

..But the hard work has just started. Europe is going to be waiting. Vitesse side by side with the likes of Manchester United, Real Madrid and Bayern Munich in the 2012/13 season, who would've guessed?

Ha! Yes, I do plan on getting FM 2013, but I desperately wanted to have a long term FM 2012 to carry on. I am gonna do my best to keep it going long after.

As for my results, I must say having a wealthy owner is nice! I have been mildly surprised that the new squad came together so quickly with all those new starters. I figured my 2nd half would be strong but would be tough to overcome a hard 1st half. Luckily they performed great in the 1st half. I half made a few mistakes such as leaving myself so short for the Jan/Feb International break.

Next season will be tough. I don't want to build a Cinderella story...I would like to build a dynasty. I want Vitesse to be the name people think of when thinking Dutch football. Goals such as a yearly fixture in the top 3 of Eredvisie, thereby being a fixture in Champions League. Building a youth system...something that can raise the rep of Vitesse around the globe as well as Dutch football in general.

So if anyone has any ideas or pointers for long term rep building (besides obviously winning), I am all ears.

Thanks for all the support everyone!

Just a small update...

The 2011/12 Season has ended. Instead of posting a long season review, I will update later with a note on a few key players, how they did, how they trained, PPM's gained of note and anything else short and sweet I can think of. I am eager to get to work in this offseason and see if we can make good on our Eredivisie title and first trip to Champions League (or any European football) ever.

It will be a tall order! One thing is for sure...I will need more depth. Lots of depth with the added matches. My guess the transfer budget will be similar, maybe around 7-12 million.

I want to treat Champions League as an experience, but focus again on Eredivisie and finishing in the top 3.

I most likely will try and take my time over the next few days to scout, scout, scout and see what is available and where I can improve.

Wish me luck...

Good luck in the Champions Leagu! I was in a similar position not so long ago but managed to finish 3rd in the Group of Death so anything is possible.