http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q173/Nordskov_dk/CD%20Constancia/CDC_zpsfd0594e5.jpg
In the winter of 2021 I made a huge mistake.
Actually I made two.
When evaluating the team at the halfway mark it was obvious where the main problem was. We were allowing way too many goals to be scored against us. That we had adopted a horrible trend of allowing stupid/easy goals in the last ten minutes of games was even worse.
With four millions pounds left in the transfer budget I needed to strengthen up the defensive line.
In goal I had finally concluded that Dutch keeper Martijn Pot was simply no longer good enough. He had done a god job in the LIGA adelante but now in the LIGA BBVA it was clear that he was inn over his head. His first season in the top league he had allowed 53 goals in thirty-five games and had an AvR of just 6.92.
I had hoped that he would learn from his experience in the top division and improve and raise his level of play toward the level of the other keepers around the league, but that was not the case.
It was not because he made a lot of mistakes. He took the balls he was supposed to take but nothing more.
What I needed now was a keeper that could close the goal when needed and who could come up with the occasional magic needed to keep us in close games.
When the scouts first laid eyes on Hugo Lenaoardo and his potential they started to do backward somersaults and soon they had talked me in to doing the same thing. The flamboyant Brazilian was just the kind of talent I was looking for.
All forgotten was that I was looking for an experienced keeper with solid current ability.
Big mistake
http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q173/Nordskov_dk/CD%20Constancia/61D_zpsb641a88e.jpg
On paper we should have a solid backline with Lucas Hoyos, Raimond Zonneveld, Carlos Akapo and Cihan Polat as starters and backups in Eliado and Ergün Kaya. But in reality we struggled with poor communication and missed assignments and I decided to add a new player instead of Akapo in the starting lineup.
The player I found was very much an up and coming player. Caio César was the captain for the Brazilian U20 national team where he had played 24 games and he had played his team football with São Paulo and Botafogo and recorded and AvR over 7.00 in the last two seasons as a starter.
http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q173/Nordskov_dk/CD%20Constancia/61C_zpsea6ed50b.jpg
The mistake was not signing these two players as both had plenty of upside to warrant the purchase.
The HUGE MISTAKE was not realizing until it was too late that both of these players only held Brazilian passports and therefore would count as internationals. I was only allowed to have three internationals in the squad in the LIGA BBVA and I already had Andi Qosa, Diego Batista and Lucas Hoyos all playing regular first team football.
The two players were young and still learning and could gain valuable experience going away on loan deals but that was not the intention when I made the deals and spend the remaining of transfer budget. Now I had to make it thru the season with what already got on my roster.
Despite the huge blunder we did have a few things to celebrate. After a long losing streak we finally got back to winning and it was some hugely important games we won.
Before playing Real Sporting SAD we had dipped below the relegation line for the first time since we had arrived in the LIGA BBVA and the tension in the locker room was tense when we held a players meeting.
We won the next six games for our longest winning streak ever in the LIGA BBVA all against teams also involved in the relegation fight, and suddenly everything looked a bit brighter and the mood was a lot better around Inca.
http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q173/Nordskov_dk/CD%20Constancia/61B_zps7e87e377.jpg
http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q173/Nordskov_dk/CD%20Constancia/61A_zps04bc2f41.jpg
big mistake, HUGE MISTAKE
In the winter of 2021 I made a huge mistake.
Actually I made two.
When evaluating the team at the halfway mark it was obvious where the main problem was. We were allowing way too many goals to be scored against us. That we had adopted a horrible trend of allowing stupid/easy goals in the last ten minutes of games was even worse.
With four millions pounds left in the transfer budget I needed to strengthen up the defensive line.
In goal I had finally concluded that Dutch keeper Martijn Pot was simply no longer good enough. He had done a god job in the LIGA adelante but now in the LIGA BBVA it was clear that he was inn over his head. His first season in the top league he had allowed 53 goals in thirty-five games and had an AvR of just 6.92.
I had hoped that he would learn from his experience in the top division and improve and raise his level of play toward the level of the other keepers around the league, but that was not the case.
It was not because he made a lot of mistakes. He took the balls he was supposed to take but nothing more.
What I needed now was a keeper that could close the goal when needed and who could come up with the occasional magic needed to keep us in close games.
When the scouts first laid eyes on Hugo Lenaoardo and his potential they started to do backward somersaults and soon they had talked me in to doing the same thing. The flamboyant Brazilian was just the kind of talent I was looking for.
All forgotten was that I was looking for an experienced keeper with solid current ability.
Big mistake
http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q173/Nordskov_dk/CD%20Constancia/61D_zpsb641a88e.jpg
On paper we should have a solid backline with Lucas Hoyos, Raimond Zonneveld, Carlos Akapo and Cihan Polat as starters and backups in Eliado and Ergün Kaya. But in reality we struggled with poor communication and missed assignments and I decided to add a new player instead of Akapo in the starting lineup.
The player I found was very much an up and coming player. Caio César was the captain for the Brazilian U20 national team where he had played 24 games and he had played his team football with São Paulo and Botafogo and recorded and AvR over 7.00 in the last two seasons as a starter.
http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q173/Nordskov_dk/CD%20Constancia/61C_zpsea6ed50b.jpg
The mistake was not signing these two players as both had plenty of upside to warrant the purchase.
The HUGE MISTAKE was not realizing until it was too late that both of these players only held Brazilian passports and therefore would count as internationals. I was only allowed to have three internationals in the squad in the LIGA BBVA and I already had Andi Qosa, Diego Batista and Lucas Hoyos all playing regular first team football.
The two players were young and still learning and could gain valuable experience going away on loan deals but that was not the intention when I made the deals and spend the remaining of transfer budget. Now I had to make it thru the season with what already got on my roster.
Despite the huge blunder we did have a few things to celebrate. After a long losing streak we finally got back to winning and it was some hugely important games we won.
Before playing Real Sporting SAD we had dipped below the relegation line for the first time since we had arrived in the LIGA BBVA and the tension in the locker room was tense when we held a players meeting.
We won the next six games for our longest winning streak ever in the LIGA BBVA all against teams also involved in the relegation fight, and suddenly everything looked a bit brighter and the mood was a lot better around Inca.
http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q173/Nordskov_dk/CD%20Constancia/61B_zps7e87e377.jpg
http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q173/Nordskov_dk/CD%20Constancia/61A_zps04bc2f41.jpg
and great results in the league! You're definitely heading in the right direction!
