Hey everyone!!!
So having witnessed Spain lift their third tournament in a row I must admit I had a pretty good night on Sunday then a pretty bad morning after! ;)
Luckily I took the week of work to recover and as usual got a bit bored! So I decided to complete another season in my Belarus story and will bring it to you now.
Last time we made great strides in the league finishing a record fifth in the first division of Belorussian football looking to maybe a promotion to the top league.
It will be difficult but I am more confident in my team and believe with a bit of luck we might just make , but enough of this introduction and lets see how it actually went!!
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Club Information and Start of Season Finances
So no that many changes in our club info with only are value going up by £25 thousand pounds and our prediction going up a few places from 13th to 9th, financially and things still are looking pretty good as we are still in the black and even made a good profit last season so far so good and am pleased with the bank balance at the moment.
My Current Starting Eleven
Goalkeeper — Sergey Kostyukov
Right Back — Artem Tarasenko
Center Back — Maxim Khlebnikov
Center Back — Sergey Hleb
Left Back — Alexandr Gaponenko
Right Midfield — Andrey Koval’
Center Midfield — Igor Platonov
Center Midfield — Artem Ivanov
Left Midfield — Dmitry Gavrilov
Striker — Vladimir Tyurin
Striker — Dmitriy Kuznetsov
So after five years and a lot of changes I decided to post my first eleven to show you how the squad is developing, so please feel free to click their names to see some amazing player stats! ;)
I did make a few new signings but only left midfielder Gavrilov was good enough in my eyes to become a starter, but more on my new signings below.
Transfers In and Out — First Window
So along with Gavrilov I made another three new signings so here they are :
Ivan Bubnov, Igor Volkov and Alexandr Kotlyarov I am fairly pleased with these players and I feel they will provide good cover for the season ahead.
Results and Table — First Half of the Season
So am very pleased!
Those horrible run of defeats we have be prone to getting have turned to draws so at least we are picking up points rather than losing every time.
You could say we are in a promotion race! We are currently six points behind Mogilev and four behind SKVICh but as you can see we are as good as them as we have a very good goal difference so fingers crossed I guess!! :)
Transfers In — Second Window Finally Some Genuine Quality!
So finally!
I managed to track down some real quality players and now they want to join! One player I had tracked for a while was Yury Molosh who will easily replace Tarasenko and its easy to see why!
However my next two players are just genuine talented players and I would say good players for the top teams in Belarus!
The first is Illya Fastov I mean wow!! Released from BATE in the top tier I was very surprised to see him join us and on huge money but I feel he is worth it and he is good enough for the top division where my main ambition lies and as a teaser here is a goal he scored on his debut for Livadia!
The final player bought was Pavel Evseenko, again wow! Not the quickest I admit but technically so superior to any player we have and another released by BATE must make a note to have a look at their released players more often! :)
Results and Table With Three Games to Play
Now it gets interesting!!
We only three games left to play we are in the hunt for a promotion however its so close it really could go anywhere!
So lets see if it was a celebration season for little Livadia.
Vs Slonim Promotion Chase
So we were far superior against a poor Slonim side and were helped with a seven minute hat-trick from new signing Pavel Evseenko one loss was Molosh who will miss the remainder of the season through injury.
We are still in a great position with only two games to play can we win promotion?
Vs Slavia Mozyr Promotion Chase
Phew!!
A narrow victory leaving it a little late but a win is a win I guess so was pleased.
Evseenko finally scoring after missing a lot of chances and another new signing at the start of the season Gavrilov ensured this super tight finish would continue going into the final game.
Still far to close to call with only one game to play and a possible promotion.
vs Pinsk Promotion Chase Final Game
So close!!
But second it is and my favourite a playoff game……
Credit to SKVICh they held their nerve I guess in a very close run in so we still have a shot at promotion and must play oddly our parent club Torpedo Zhodino who had a terrible season so we do have a chance.
But can we take it?…….
Playoff for Promotion — First Leg
A good game that could have went either way, but we were not outclassed in any way and I do feel we have a real chance of beating them away.
We left it late to score but I did feel we deserved at least a draw so all to play for in the return leg.
So this is it, one game for promotion.
Playoff for Promotion — Second Leg
You didn’t think I would win a playoff game did you?! ;)
Heartbroken is all I can say and hence the title of this post Deja vu, its like a written script that I must lose playoff games the scoreline was probably a fair reflection of the game in our biggest game in the clubs history my team didnt turn up or play anyway near as good as I have seen all season.
Its hard to take but take it we must and build on a great season to make sure that we can push again for promotion next season.
Stupid playoffs!! :P
End of Season Round-Up
First off a massive apology but I was so disappointed in losing that playoff final I sort of stormed onto my next season and forgot to take pictures of my players end of season stats, our team records or player records or the end of season finances!!
Lets just say we did have a good season and the majority of our players had good seasons and financially we are still looking pretty good, all is good I guess!! :)
So instead here is a funny/odd thing that happened to me during a game against Slonim in the first half of the season, talk about bad luck/poor finishing!!
Anyone ever hit the woodwork more than six times? games like those can drive you mad but I do enjoy to see strange things like that sometimes!
So am still feeling very down losing in the playoff final, as I felt we had a real good chance of winning promotion especially with the second half season arrivals but just not to be and my jinx strikes again, just as I feel like I might have broken it. I just think I will never ever get rid of it!
So that’s it I’m afraid!
Slightly different approach as you can see as I have been linking my pictures into the text so let me know if you like it or if you would like me to post like I usually do but I feel it makes it look a lot cleaner and easier to read but just let me know what you think!
As always I look forward to your thoughts and comments, and I just wonder do you have any strange jinx’s that you suffer from like me on this game and has anyone ever lost more playoffs games than me?
Just let me know in the comments and until next time take care and bye! :)
Erbsademon
6 июля, 2012 at 21:31
Ouch the dreaded playoff hex strikes again! Throw out the final playoff game and you had a wonderful season. With the quality of players you’ve been signing I’m confident that next season you won’t need to worry about playoff’s and gain an automatic promotion. Well done and I’m looking forward to your next season. I do like the pictures being linked in the text.
My current jinx is with RC Strasbourg save is French Ligue 1. We will lead the league the entire season until April when we go without a win and PSG or OL pass me then we finish 1 point out of first. It’s so frustrating!
Ana Garcia
8 июля, 2012 at 12:31
Thanks. :)
I agree I did feel we could have won the league especially after buying well in the second transfer window so to miss out all together was very frustrating, but am used to that now! ;)
Thanks for the feedback on the layout I will continue in the same style as I like it more than my previous style, am really confident going into next season so fingers crossed!
Glad am not the only one with a jinx! Good luck in claiming the French title! :)
TheZiggy
6 июля, 2012 at 21:54
I can imagine you did a lot of celebrating on the Sunday, earning a big hangover. A great performance from Spain, which was a relief after the semi-final against Portugal. The highlight of the semi-final was seeing Ronaldo’s face at the end. :D
Good to see you’re finally starting to get some decent players willing to join the club. When I saw the title, I had a horrible feeling that you were going to suffer a defeat in a play-off.
I can’t imagine anyone has been in as many play-offs as you have. My one jinx in the game is penalty shoot-outs, having only won one. Thankfully they are rare, I’m almost rather just lose than go into a penalty shoot-out, which is never a good thing. Maybe the game needs an option where I can instruct the players to talk to the ball. ;) Can’t think that I’ve seen the woodwork hit so many times by one team.
Ana Garcia
8 июля, 2012 at 12:35
Thanks Ziggy. :)
There was a lot of celebrating done my head still hurts now! ;)
I was hoping to trick people with the deja vu title using Spain winning the Euro’s again but am sure as soon as you saw we were in a playoff we would lose anyways!
I had a similar jinx with penalties but that ended thankfully then playoffs took over. :(
Ronny
6 июля, 2012 at 22:07
I’ve had back-to-back 4 woodworks with none of them going in, so frustrating! Next match, CPU gets 2 woodworks resulting in two goals, typical FM!
Ana Garcia
8 июля, 2012 at 12:36
Thanks Ronny. :)
Ha! Yeah, times when you want to just quit but somehow it always draws you back!
Darren Smith
6 июля, 2012 at 23:25
As soon as I saw the title, I knew how this post would end…so, so close to success Ana, I honestly don’t know how you don’t have a nervous breakdown with all the bad luck you get on this game. But on the upside you have made massive strides and those players should propel you next season.
Ana Garcia
8 июля, 2012 at 12:39
Thanks Darren. :)
Ha! I guess am just patience or far too determined am not sure yet! It can get annoying but I try and take the positives and at least people reading can feel a little better knowing that there is someone out there with even worse luck than them!
Am looking forward to next season especially if we can keep a hold of our players.
saltwater
6 июля, 2012 at 23:28
Great post, and I did notice you changed your writing style ever so slightly and I did like it. To be honest whenever I see a Lividia post I go crazy happy, doesn’t matter if you wrote it like Shakespeare I’ll still read it! :)
It didn’t think it could realistically happen again — I deluded myself saying the play-off curse was over. Done well in the first leg, but I (and I’m pretty sure you) just couldn’t believe what happened in the second! Unbelievable! Maybe next year.
Hitting the frame of the goal 6 times in a game is ridiculous, and recently I’ve picked up a habit of as soon as I score, I concede. Very annoying.
Well done for Spain who probably were deserved winners over the course of the tournament and I seriously cannot wait for the next post! GOOD LUCK!
Ana Garcia
8 июля, 2012 at 12:44
Thanks. :)
Oh thanks for your kind words, It means a lot to me here you are enjoying my story. Me too, I thought that the law of averages or something would take over and I would win some playoff games, I guess I am excluded from that law. :(
I tend to get that to where you score and then from kick off a player just runs straight for your goal and either forces a save or scores annoys we too but nice when your team does it. :)
Next post will take a little longer as will be back at work, I agree I felt Spain we just little better than the other teams so am looking forward to the world cup now!
Kevin
7 июля, 2012 at 00:53
OMG Ana!!
I can’t beleive you have lost yet another play-off game. I’ve lost count on how many that is? On the positive though your team came on leaps and bounds this season and finishing second is just tremendous and great young signings in Illya Fastov and Evseenko which will aid youto become champions I feel next season. I like your new layout — very nice :)
Oh by the way Viva Espana!!
Ana Garcia
8 июля, 2012 at 12:46
Thanks Kevin! :)
Me too! I think I stopped counting as its far to depressing to think about!
Agreed, we have made good strides and with Fastov and Evseenko I feel we can compete again next season the hard part is keeping hold of them!
Gracias! ;)
Ronan Donovan
7 июля, 2012 at 01:20
wwll done Spain! Delighted for you and you have some really good players — Xavi, Silva, Iniesta etc. and spain is a great country so delighted for you!
A good season for Livadia! Very excruciating to miss out like that. Playoffs again!! But it’s a huge step forward and I’m sure next season will be definite 1st place and promotion.
You got good singings and those guys from BATE are really good. And that was a really good goal !! :P It’s a good sign you’re able to sign such talented players now anyway. Hope you get more soon :)
The woodwork thing is funny but unlucky of course. I had a game for New york red bulls yesterday where I played New england. I had 27 shots to 5 and lost 1-0 — frustrating! :/
I like the posting links to player pics too btw. Keep doing that in my opinion.
So good post again! Good luck next season. Hope to hear from you again soon. Bye! :)
Ana Garcia
8 июля, 2012 at 12:52
Thanks Ronan. :)
Spain is a nice country! And with all the financial worries its gives them something positive to celebrate!
Am used to losing them now! I agree we can look forward to next season as hopefully finish top to avoid those damn things!
BATE have won the last 22 titles or something! Its crazy there squad is pretty good also so its nice too see a few players slip through their ranks just glad my scout could find them!
There were a couple more but their wage demands were far to high for me to sign them, thanks for the feedback on the layout I will continue it that style.
thanks for the luck I know I will need it. :)
Tegar Triemanudigdo
7 июля, 2012 at 08:19
Ahh…the playoff irony. I guess it couldn’t help but hey, at least your team managed to get top 2 there and I reckon next year you have the chance to gain promotion there.
Until next time.
Ana Garcia
8 июля, 2012 at 12:53
Thanks Tegar. :)
Agreed always best to look to next season after a disappointment so fingers crossed. ;)
vaibhavc
7 июля, 2012 at 09:10
Anyone ever hit the woodwork more than six times? No, but I have 5 with AC Milan, in total from 4 games, I hit the woodwork at least 11 times. It gets so frustrating! Anyways, congrats on second but unlucky in the playoffs. Torpedo are in the first division?, so they will be better than you. Next season, you can get first place and automatic promotion.
Ana Garcia
8 июля, 2012 at 12:56
Thanks. :)
It can get very frustrating! Especially as the computer teams rarely hit the woodwork compared to how many times you do!
Yeah Torpedo are in the premiership if you like and we are in the championship as there are only two leagues in Belarus but there wasn’t that much between the teams despite the score but we did play very badly away.
Thats my aim then I can avoid the playoffs all together! :)
CsAtlantis
7 июля, 2012 at 13:30
Hello Ana,
Firstly congratulations on Spain winning the Euros (even Torres managed to nick the Golden Boot :P)
Some great players signed in the second half, Fastov and Evseenko look simply fabulous compared to most of your squad
Shame about the playoff loss, but I think next season you should be able to challenge for immediate promotion through winning the league
Ana Garcia
8 июля, 2012 at 12:58
Hello and thanks. :)
Yeah, I love Fernando! ;)
Agreed they can defiantly play in the top league maybe if we had signed them sooner we might have just finished top.
That my new aim to finish top and avoid the playoffs!
Johnny Karp
7 июля, 2012 at 14:38
Oh no… I really hoped that you were going to nail this play-off but it seems the curse lives on. You are by far the unluckiest manager ever, you should receive some sort of award. However, you have brought in some very good players this time and the quality of the squad should see you promoted next season.
Ana Garcia
8 июля, 2012 at 13:00
Thanks Johnny. :)
LoL! An award would be really nice! :)
Would cheer me up after all these playoff defeats but I agree with the players we have we should be pushing for top spot to avoid the playoffs if we can.
David Wiggins
7 июля, 2012 at 15:47
Gotta laugh really. I have never known anyone with your luck in the play offs! But as I said last time, you are still make significant progress! You will win it next season for sure ;)
Ana Garcia
8 июля, 2012 at 13:01
Thanks David. :)
Am looking forward to next season provided we can keep hold of our players we might just finish top (fingers crossed!!).
Victor
8 июля, 2012 at 00:40
First of all, I thought that the title Deja vu refers tot the fact that Spain won again a European Championship, but unfortunately it was about your play-off… :( .
Moving to your season, I think you did a great job this year by challenging promotion. After all these years your team finally grew in value and the results appeared. The winter transfers were really spectacular, but I think that you missed promotion mainly because you have a young squad and they still need some experience. I believe they gained the necessary experience this season and I hope you’ll have another good season and maybe win the league( so you won’t have to play a play-off game ).
Good luck and I hope the next post will be about your promotion.
Ana Garcia
8 июля, 2012 at 13:05
Thanks Victor!
Yay! That was my aim with the title! :)
I tried to use that to disguise my playoff woes looking back its has felt like a long journey so I have to proud of what the team has achieved its a good point about our young squad.
Restricting myself to signing only players born in Belarus has hindered the players available to me so hopefully they have learned from this defeats and can be better players from it!
Thanks for the luck I know I need it. :)
Malhar Bhadbhade
8 июля, 2012 at 04:10
Hey Ana,
first of all, congrats on spain winning the euros..they were my team after England, so I’m happy they won. They deserve to be talked about as one of the best international teams ever.
Moving on to FM12 :D, you did a really good job finishing second when you were predicted to finish 9th! and you signed some real quality players! so all is not lost! i’m sure you can get promoted next season! hard luck about the play-offs! good luck for next season!
cheers!
Ana Garcia
8 июля, 2012 at 13:07
Thanks Malhar. :)
It is an amazing team and am looking forward already to the next world cup!
True! Plenty of optimism and we have made fantastic progress so far and thanks for the luck also!
Martin F.M.J.S
8 июля, 2012 at 11:56
Hey Ana
So unlucky losing another play-off, your luck in play-off is like my luck in penalty shoot-outs but next season I think you will be promoted.
Ana Garcia
8 июля, 2012 at 13:08
Thanks Martin. :)
It horrible having a curse! I hope you can break yours very soon. :)
Dan
8 июля, 2012 at 14:42
Hey Ana,
I think I would have been banging my head off the computer if I were you! It’s almost like you’re brilliant at qualifying for play-offs but then the luck just isn’t there once you start playing! Anyway you’ve brought this tiny club a long way and I’m pretty confident that soon enough, if not next season, you’ll be promoted.
As for Spain, congrats, they deserve the trophy and may well be the best team ever. They’re definitely the best team I’ve ever watched! :)
Ana Garcia
9 июля, 2012 at 18:06
Hi Dan and thanks. :)
Sometimes I feel that doing that myself! I still cant see what I am doing wrong in playoff games I really dont change anything from what the team has been doing all season yet when that day comes around we just cant perform.
I am really at a loss I thought having experience is losing them what help me but not at the moment!
Agreed! The best team I have seen also! :)
Acss
9 июля, 2012 at 10:33
Oh damn! So close, now this is getting really frustrating. I bet many would have resigned and looked for another club if they were you, I admire your patience and determination to do well with your club. I myself find in the same situation sometimes when I just can’t find the key to success with my clubs and I keep struggling for a couple of seasons, but then when you finally reach it, it’s that great feeling when you know it was worth it ;)
I encourage you to keep trying, you’ve made some real progress during these seasons and I just know that promotion is close, real close you just need a little luck to grab it. So good luck! :)
Ana Garcia
9 июля, 2012 at 18:12
Thanks Acss. :)
Sometimes I have thought about maybe packing up and trying a different country but I really want to see just what I can achieve at Livadia (if anything). I really wanted a step away from winning the champions league which is my ultimate goal but I cant see me winning it anytime soon.
Agreed! The toiling is half the fun in my opinion instant success does not give me the same satisfaction as grinding for many seasons first to build a team into something. That’s why I like your stories also! :)
Believe me I wont give up! When I set out to do something I make sure to see it through which my two year pentagon will show!! ;)
Thanks for the luck I will need it!
Rod
11 июля, 2012 at 01:31
Ana, i didn’t comment since you were Vélez’s manager, but i just finished reading everything, and i must tell you that this story is getting better and better with every post. Great challenge you found here in Belarus, i’m surprised with the rule of zero foreign players, it’s a great way to improve your own team in relation with the others, but at the same time it’s a way to keep Belarus with a bit lower standards.
Talking about the team, i think that the third season was the key, with those «talented» players arriving the team, they boasted the club reputation and more of them accepted to join in the next two seasons.
The improvement from last season is giant, but that’s understandable because of the difference between the quality of the current players wanting to play for Livadia.
Bad luck with the playoffs, but you wouldn’t be Ana if you don’t lose, at least, in one playoffs round. I’m sure the next season is yours, and i’m eager to see the new players for the upcoming season.
Como siempre, mucha suerte, y que el equipo siga creciendo :).
Ana Garcia
11 июля, 2012 at 18:44
Gracias Rod. :)
Am really glad you are enjoying it, the all Belarus team was something I wanted to try as I have never tried it the challenge is a lot more trickier but I am really enjoying it.
Ideally I want to start producing my own youth players but with the real lack of finances am not sure if that will be possible for many years but i do plan on just playing this game until the new one comes out!
Agreed, once we started to attract a player that I would say is good enough for our league we started to make strides forward which was really nice.
True! Its like my trademark if you like! However I really would like to shake the curse off soon its so annoying! ;)
Muchas gracias por tus lindas palabras. :)
Eoin Cowen
11 июля, 2012 at 15:34
Very unlucky in the playoffs Ana, hitting the post 6 times!! Must be rigged lol..
Anyway good luck next season, hopefully you’ll get promoted :)
Ana Garcia
11 июля, 2012 at 18:45
Thanks Eoin. :)
I was amazed also! Six time seems a bit extreme but not sure if its bad luck or woeful finishing! :)
Thanks I will need that luck I think!
Vincent
13 июля, 2012 at 14:29
Hi Ana, been following your updates since you started on your pentagon challenge. Great stuff all the way till now. Hope you continue to update and we will continue to read!Cheers!
Ana Garcia
13 июля, 2012 at 20:00
Thanks Vincent. :)
Of course I will continue! I have so many aspirations for this game and for Livadia and will not be stopping any time soon.
Been a bit busy at work and in real life at the moment so my season isn’t quite finished yet so am hoping to get it done very soon, thanks for reading. :)