A New Start - Antwerp
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In 1900, most of the players left the club for the new neighbouring club of Beerschot AC, and this was the start of a long rivalry between both clubs. Antwerp have won 4 Belgian league titles so far, as well as 2 Belgian Cups. Antwerp FC is also the latest Belgian team to have played a European cup final, the 1993 European Cup Winners' Cup Final. They lost 3–1 to Parma FC at Wembley Stadium. They have been playing in the Belgian Second Division since 2004–05. They play their home matches at the Bosuilstadion since 1923. Antwerp colours are red and white.
Royal Antwerp have a long-term partnership with the English giants Manchester United, often taking their young players on loan so that their development can be aided with first team football, and young players who require European work-permits can benefit from Belgium's more relaxed laws. Despite being one of Belgium's best-supported clubs, Antwerp have floundered in the second tier of the league for several years and are perennial under-achievers.
After looking for a new challenge on FM and a some-what unique story I decided to go for Antwerp, at least it's not another story on a team in the English leagues. Bear in mind this is only my second story
Soon after becoming in charge of Antwerp I saw how much of a challenge this actually was going to be - I knew I had to win something this season. I was given just a wage budget of £3K, with the wage budget already being £19K, I also had £10M of loan to repay.
This season I have to aim for promotion, and maybe have a pot at the Belgian Cup for some extra income, my main objective of course being sorting out the finances. I don't know any long term objectives for Antwerp, maybe become a major force in European football, if I don't get bored.
Now, down to business - Pre-Season
Due to the rather big problem with the wage budget I can't really bring anyone in, I just had to release some deadwood as no one wanted to buy them, but I have still kept a lot of the original squad.
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These are the tactics I will be using to bring success to Antwerp, I went for a very narrow formation as that's what worked best with the players left, the difficulty being that the Antwerp players are used to wide football, so they aren't familiar at all with the current tactic. This picture also shows my starting 11.
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Some extra detail into the tactics:
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I believe this tactic works well due to players occupying the oppositions defence, a defender challenging the keeper and my other CB attacking the near post, where the ball is aimed, I also have a CM lurking outside the area to be on the end of any rebounds or loose balls.
Results - A very bad pre-season in my eyes, a lot of problems, we should of won the games we drew 2 - 2, in both games I would score and they equalise.
Some games we didn't even deserve to loose, I also increased the normal amount of friendlies to make sure my players get as familiar as possible with the tactic, hopefully this form doesn't rub off into the season, especially this goal scoring problem which seems to be occurring.
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Examples of our terrible finishing.
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In 1900, most of the players left the club for the new neighbouring club of Beerschot AC, and this was the start of a long rivalry between both clubs. Antwerp have won 4 Belgian league titles so far, as well as 2 Belgian Cups. Antwerp FC is also the latest Belgian team to have played a European cup final, the 1993 European Cup Winners' Cup Final. They lost 3–1 to Parma FC at Wembley Stadium. They have been playing in the Belgian Second Division since 2004–05. They play their home matches at the Bosuilstadion since 1923. Antwerp colours are red and white.
Royal Antwerp have a long-term partnership with the English giants Manchester United, often taking their young players on loan so that their development can be aided with first team football, and young players who require European work-permits can benefit from Belgium's more relaxed laws. Despite being one of Belgium's best-supported clubs, Antwerp have floundered in the second tier of the league for several years and are perennial under-achievers.
After looking for a new challenge on FM and a some-what unique story I decided to go for Antwerp, at least it's not another story on a team in the English leagues. Bear in mind this is only my second story
Soon after becoming in charge of Antwerp I saw how much of a challenge this actually was going to be - I knew I had to win something this season. I was given just a wage budget of £3K, with the wage budget already being £19K, I also had £10M of loan to repay.
This season I have to aim for promotion, and maybe have a pot at the Belgian Cup for some extra income, my main objective of course being sorting out the finances. I don't know any long term objectives for Antwerp, maybe become a major force in European football, if I don't get bored.
Now, down to business - Pre-Season
Due to the rather big problem with the wage budget I can't really bring anyone in, I just had to release some deadwood as no one wanted to buy them, but I have still kept a lot of the original squad.
These are the tactics I will be using to bring success to Antwerp, I went for a very narrow formation as that's what worked best with the players left, the difficulty being that the Antwerp players are used to wide football, so they aren't familiar at all with the current tactic. This picture also shows my starting 11.
Some extra detail into the tactics:
I believe this tactic works well due to players occupying the oppositions defence, a defender challenging the keeper and my other CB attacking the near post, where the ball is aimed, I also have a CM lurking outside the area to be on the end of any rebounds or loose balls.
Results - A very bad pre-season in my eyes, a lot of problems, we should of won the games we drew 2 - 2, in both games I would score and they equalise.
Some games we didn't even deserve to loose, I also increased the normal amount of friendlies to make sure my players get as familiar as possible with the tactic, hopefully this form doesn't rub off into the season, especially this goal scoring problem which seems to be occurring.
Examples of our terrible finishing.
