UNL - November was an improvement

The month of November was a slight improvement from October... at least we didn't lose any game, but I still feel that this season we have been struggling a bit. It is almost halfway through this season and we find ourselves in 11th place with 22 points (5-7-3), 17 goals for and 13 against.

In terms of players, Juan Graciano Arrua is still our strongest contributer, with an average of 7.72 from 7(1) games, including 8 goals, 2 assists and an impressive 83% passing success. Other players that should be highlighted are Jose Goncalvez, Zelimir Busic, Leo Lacroix and Dannis Gester.

October 2015

The month of October was a challenging one. We had a few very strong opponents and a little bit of bad luck. The Clube Paulista game was a particularly difficult one. We ended up losing the game despite a fairly good group effort from our side. In total we have played this team three times now, adding to 2 defeats and one tie.

 Another important game this month was the cup game against Atletico da Baixa, which was an important morale booster at the end of a difficult run. The other significance of this match is the fact that it was the return of Juan Graciano Arrua since his injury. He managed to score 2 goals in the 4x2 victory over the Portuguese side.

Here are the other games from this month:

Highlight goes to Juan Graciano Arrua, who had a great game (one just mentioned) but has 6 goals in the 5 matches he has played in. A very impressive form for this 18 year old.

A german match...

This next game is actually an exciting one. An all german match, where both teams could potentially jump up a few spots. All three german teams in the UN League have actually proven fairly successfull so far. And for this next game, Heidelberg will be playing our 41221 formation, in an attempt to rest some players before the cup game next week.

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Unfortunately we let in a goal and lost the game. It is a small blow, but nothing we can't overcome with a cup game win on Sep 23, 2015 against Glasgow Claymores.

So after that last big win this was our next few big days...

We beat Geneve on a 1x0 game (Ruan goal) and tied with ASS Riga on a 2x2 game (Takayasu and Busic goals).

Lastly, we played an incredible match against HSV. The game started with an early goal from Ivo Ilicevic for HSV. That was matched at 25 minutes by Tom De Mul, on his game back for us. Artjoms Rudnevs scored the next two goals for HSV, where Goncalves scored our 2nd and at 81 minutes, Resit Kucukkaya managed to squeeze an equalizer, allowing us to bring the tempo of the game right down. It was a great fun game, where there were several occasions I had no belief we would make it through. It was a spectacular effort by some of our players, including the central defender Jose Goncalves, and the superstar midfielder Gester.

EURO Cup success !

What great progress! We managed to achieve something I had little hope of doing. We tied a  contested leg 1 game. We started it with a lead, which we eventually lost. This first game did however give me a sense that we had a chance of moving to the next round.

Following this, we played a league game against Kyiv, which despite our victory, proved challenging, ending with a late goal by Busic. It was hard work, but this was our first league win this season and actually our first league goal as well.

Finally, a major game we need a result. Partizan started the game with the advantage that a goaless game would favor them. We went in with our traditional 4-4-2 formation instead of the 4132 I had used in the previous game. This allowed us a good early goal from Defederico. Partizan managed to tie the game halfway. Both teams ended up scoring again, and despite our lack of dominace during this match, we managed to hold a draw which gave us the away goal advantage, enough to reward us with the 1.8M prize, and the spot on the next round of the EURO Cup.

UNL - S04 Tactics for upcoming big game

Game 2 was against London United. It was a tough game to be sure, and the 0x0 result was not the worst outcome for us. We applied our standard 4-4-2 tactic that we used against Lombardia.

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Our next game however, will be an important one. We will be playing Partizan in our very first EURO Cup game. We were probably given a reasonable opponent for our first round, which could help get us comfortable in this new competition. For this upcoming game I intend to use the same 4-4-2 formation, with a few changes to our roster. I will be using Defederico as my Advanced Forward/Poacher postition. He may be the extra push we need to get our first real goal this season.
Along him, I am introducing Chappuis in the midfield. I'm hoping he will add some more defensive power to our side. Due to injury I also have a reserve quality defence, where Panoilias is playing the main role, with Hermannsson doing some of the covering. In the back wings we have Hrvoje Cale and Xavier Arellano, which are part of our rotation.
We may swap formations mid game depending on the situation. I fully intend to win this first game, so if I need an offensive boost, this could be the answer.
 

UNL: 15/16 season begins - The third year of our campaign

 After a reasonably positive pre season, we started this 15/16 season with a game against AC Lombardia. This is an Italian side that has been in the main league since its inception, attaining 11th place in season 1, 4th place in season 2 and a large drop to 13th place last season.

I decided to play our 4-4-2 tactic since I still feel that it offers the safest game for us, and I really wanted to make a good start this season. I feel I need that good start in order to maintain a good position while playing some of the other cup games this season.

 Now, just for good measure I thought I would show some of our players, including two new additions this season Sebastian Eguren and Oscar Ortega. Eguren, was a very cheap aquisition due to his age, however I felt that we could benefit from such an experienced player. Ortega is exactly the opposite situation. He is a strong player with an even stronger future ahead of him.

Retirement and 14/15 season summary

Even though he was not the most pretigious player in the team, he still had a great impact on the team.

Here is the season summary, just to finalize the 14/15 season. Supposedly, we were the overachieving team of the UNL season.

Season 3 is done, and despite my short summary of it, was a very exciting one. I had few expectations from the team, since this was our debut, and they surpassed all of them. In our first season playing the top league, we managed to come out in 5th place, certainly not a small feat.

It did not surprise me to see Minato as the top team either. This is a team that came out of League 2, in the first year, to rule. They have been doing well all from day one, getting first place in the second league's first year with 64 points. Even then, they were a strong team. In the second year they took the UNL title, just like they did this year. Minato has definitely been a well managed team with some of our big stars. They will likely become a difficult challenge in the future. Just as a side note, Minato was also in the "Champion's cup" this year, however they were only able to get 4 points in the group stage, where At. Madrid and Man. City moved on.

Anyway, enough of the Japanese club,here are the results from this season. As can be seen, we had a strong start, with a "no loss" spell for a while, an OK mid season and a shaky last stretch.

In terms of what players were successful, here are some stats. Special attention to our own Konan, who has been extremely effective so far for our side. His average ratings so far have been 7.22, 7.46 amd 7.51 this last season. A very strong carreer so far

In terms of awards, this is what we have:

Player of the Year:
Haris Seferovic (Minato)
Georgy Dzantiev (Minato)
Davide Chiumiento (Clube Paulista)

 Goalie of the Season
Esteban Andrada (84 Munchen, 6.9avg)
Benjamin Siegrist (Kobenhavn, 6.99avg)
Swen Konig (Minato, 7.05avg)

Defender of the Season
Gaetano Berardi (Clube Paulista, 7.61)
Giordano (Clube Paulista, 7.58)
Timm Klose (ASS Riga, 7.58)

Midfielder of the Season
Nicusor Stanciu (La Pichard, 7.24)
Fabian Frei (Minato, 7.49)
Sekou Sanogo (Celtic Tigers, 7.51)

Striker of the Season
Dzengis Cavusevic (Celtic Tigers, 7.51)
Axel Cedric Konan (Heidelberg, 7.51)
Marco Schneuwly (Anatolia SK, 7.34)

Playmaker of the Season
Georgy Dzantiev (Minato, 7.73)
Yohandry Orozco (Kobenhavn, 7.18)
Florian Berisha (Geneve FC, 7.22)

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Haris Seferovic (Minato, 8.08)
Georgy Dzantiev (Minato, 7.73)
Davide Chiumiento (Clube Paulista, 7.47)

UN's Goalscorer
Haris Seferovic (Minato, 34G/11A)
Dzengis Cavusevic (Celtic Tigers, 22g/2a)
Nico Abegglen (Clube Paulista, 21g/6a)

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Of course, here are some more stats about my team.

The UN Cup this year was won by Minato as well, after beating Kobenhavn (1x0) in the final, along with Beograd (3x0), Kalevipoeg (3x1), London United (2x0), Terror Australis (2x0)

Finally, just for curiosity, here are the results from Division 2 (league)