Hey Everyone!
I’d firstly like to apologies for not commenting on your posts and also not posting an update in over 2 weeks! The reason – I’ve been away on a much needed holiday. I did hope to post a mid-season update before I went away but you know what it’s like trying to get organized, packing, visiting people before you leave and before I knew it I was on the plane. So due to my neglect I thought I’d give you people a treat and bring you the whole of the season…yes in this very post :)
In the last post I brought you our results in the League and Cup in the opening two months of the season, our transfers, our Champions League Group and also our first Russian Super Cup victory. So on with the show…
Russian Premier League Results (Halfway Stage)
As you can see we dominated pretty much everyone, apart from the frustrating CSKA Moscow who always seem to turn in on against us. I was left a tad unhappy that we hadn’t got more clean sheets but how can I really complain. So with 13 wins from 15 games in the first half of the season…we had to be sitting at the top…
Oh yes a nice, healthy 9 point lead over Locomotiv Moscow who I was surprised to see in 2nd, but on the same points as CSKA Moscow. I also was surprised to see Rubin Kazan so far down the table as they were difficult to breakdown in our match.
Mid Season Transfers
IN
Samir Handanovic
I believed that Vladimir Gabulov was the weakest part of our squad and once Handanovic was interested in joining a I wanted him, well there was another keeper that I was interested in but Darren Smith talked me out of buying him, so in came Handanovic. He has monster stats his Handling, Positioning, Reflexes are amazing and as you can see his jumping improved during the season.
Roman Yemeljanov
Roman is a young Russian Defensive Midfielder, I signed him as cover for Pavel Mamaev who I wanted to be fit for Champions League duty. He not the best Russian player and I probably won’t play him enough to get the best out of him but at 900k he’s a bargin.
OUT
Someone made a comment on my last post about how I was managing two teams and selling my poor players for extra cash…I don’t see mega funds coming through sales…do you?
Russian Premier League Results (End of Season)
As in the first half of the season we managed to record 13 wins from 15 games but this time there we some demolition jobs on quite a few teams. The final two games of the season thought were the most extraordinary games I’ve ever seen in my Football Manager life…
Yes you’ve read it correctly…we were 3-0 down at half-time and I was livid. After a stern telling off they rallied together and recorded an amazing comeback win.
Again you’ve read correctly…9-1 and 7-0 at half-time. To beat any team 9-1 would have been amazing but to beat a team challenging for the title 9-1 was just crazy. So after those extraordinary games and with us only dropping 4 points in the second half of the season you’ve all guessed it…
We finished a massive 15 points ahead of runners up CSKA Moscow who were the only team we hadn’t beaten in the league…and I wasn’t impressed with that! the 107 goals in 30 matches was fantastic and 22 goals conceded is a great achievement too.
So with the Russian League Title in the bag…could we add the Russian Cup…
Russian Cup Results
With Kuban and Zenit already beaten back in July and August, we had to wait until April to play first division side Gazovik Orenburg, a second string side disposed of them with ease and then we had a derby match against Terek, they too were dominated and it felt like the easiest semi-final I’d ever had. So on to the final…
Russian Cup Final vs Lokomotiv Moscow (Central, Kazan — 30,000)
Starting Formations
I wasn’t expecting another 9-1 victory but I knew that my team had what it takes and was very confident in us grabbing our second Russian Cup title…
Yes we’d managed to secure a nice 2-0 win and our second Russian Cup Title and also completed our second Domestic Double :)
So with the Russian League and Cup titles in the bag we couldn’t add the Champions League and make it a Treble…could we…
Champions League Group Stage Results
Our first Champions League match nearly ended in victory but a goal 7 minutes from time gave Marseille a share of the points. After Marseille we had a trip to Madrid and that didn’t go well at all, Madrid showed us who were boss and inflicted a 5-1 defeat on us. We then travelled to Italy where we faced Juventus. I was expecting another defeat, but the lads dug deep and we recorded a 1-0 win. The second match against Juventus was a turning point, we recorded another win and we were looking good for a Europa League place…at least. I had confidence that a win against Marseille and we could possibly secure a place in the Knockout stage of the Champions League, forever Marseille had other plans and we lost 1-0. So with us guaranteed a Europa League position but a glimpse of a Knockout stage place still up for grabs we had to entertain Real Madrid. When the team line-ups were revealed I was shocked and a little smile grew on my face, Real Madrid had rested quite a few key players but still had good players within the team…could we sneak a victory…
We had we’d managed to win 3-2 and Real Madrid had got too big headed and underestimated us and dumped themselves out of the Champions League.
Champions League Knockout Draw
Our heroics in the final Group Stage match had handed us Liverpool. I was releaved not to have drawn Barcelona, Bayern or Manchester United.
Champions League First Knockout Round Leg 1 vs Liverpool (Dinamo, Makhachkala – 15,200)
I was now a firm believer that the Big European teams weren’t enjoying travelling to Makhachkala but I couldn’t believe that we’d recorded a 3-1 victory against Liverpool. I made a massive error though…I made 3 substitutions all at once and Samuel Eto’o picked up a knock which left us having to play the final 30 minutes with 10 men and that’s how Liverpool got there away goal. But the result left us in a fantastic position to qualify.
Champions League First Knockout Round Leg 2 vs Liverpool (Anfield, Liverpool – 44,653)
So this was it we were 90 minutes away from the Quarter Finals of the Champions Leagues league, we had a 3-1 aggregate lead…
We were knocked out in Extra-Time…but there is a sour twist to this result…
It was a blatant penalty and if we’d have score this Liverpool would have need to score 2 goals in extra time and not the one that they got. It could have also been a different story if Roman Shishkin hadn’t have been sent off, but there all ifs and buts and I was more than delighted by our Champions League heroics.
Youth Candidate Squad
I though I’d also share with you the Youth Candidate Squad…I don’t know if this is just a Russian League thing or if every team/league has it (please tell me) but here are the youngsters that have been selected for me to sign
As you can see only one player really has some potential to make it through the ranks and potentially make the Anzhi first team in the future, here is his profile…
He’s not brilliant but I’m hoping that with some first team football he can develop into something.
So that’s it for our second season and it was another trophy filled season with us retaining both the League and Cup and also adding the Super Cup title to our growing Trophy Cabinent. Again I’m really sorry for the delay in posting and I promise I’ll post the next upate quicker. Comments and requests are more than welcome and thank you for reading…I’ll leave you with a couple more screenshots…
Thanks again for reading :)
Martin Pickard
George Dobson
12 декабря, 2011 at 18:14
doing great decent young player too thats a new feature the pcking of youth players towards the end of the season
Martin Pickard
13 декабря, 2011 at 09:53
Cheers George, It was nice to grab the second title…now on for the third:). Oh cheers forletting me know about the Youth Candidate thing…thought it was just the Russia being crazier lol
Sears
12 декабря, 2011 at 18:21
Yippee!! I thought you and your amazing story had left us :( :( Great to see you back and I’m happy you enjoyed your holiday. Another superb season, dominated the league again. However, why did you only play 30 games as opposed to the 42 you played last season?? Shame Liverpool knocked you out in the CL, was hoping you would do well seeing as you finished above Madrid and Juventus!! Good luck next season ;)
Martin Pickard
13 декабря, 2011 at 10:01
Hahah…No i’m back fella…If it was up to me the laptop would have come away with us but I value my legs and arms :P. Yeah we had a fantastic season with lots of goals and we didn’t conceed too many. The league structure is baffling Sears…I have no idea why its reverted back to just 30 games…the season doesn’t start as early neither…I don’t know if there starting to follow the same fixture pattern as top nations. Yeah I was livid when we were given the penalty…but thats football and as for Juventus…pffft they had no backbone lol. Cheers Sears…i’m hoping for a better Champions League effort.
orestis
17 декабря, 2011 at 20:23
seriously???
i mean….seriously?? you write in fmstories…you play with anji…and you dont know why you played 44 games the 1st season and now you are back to 30??
omg…
Sears
29 декабря, 2011 at 01:24
^^
Lol
Darren Smith
12 декабря, 2011 at 18:26
Wow what a crazy season, you walked the league and cup without losing. But that 1st knockout round exit was harsh. I think there’s great things to come from your side especially in Europe.
Martin Pickard
13 декабря, 2011 at 10:05
Cheers Darren. I think our dominance in Russia will continue for a fair few years now…I believe i’ve got a young enough team to win the title for the next 5 years maybe more to be honest. The Champions League exit was horrible…It’s safe to say Shishkin got a boot up the a**e for his red card. Cheers again…I can’t wait to bring you Season 3 :)
Laxeyman
12 декабря, 2011 at 18:46
Great season Martin, unlucky in the CL, but absolutely brilliant in the league! You’re team are by far and away the best in Russia, and you’re improving in Europe all the time too :)
Martin Pickard
13 декабря, 2011 at 10:08
Thanks Laxeyman…the team bossed the Russian League and Cup and will do for a few years to come :). We need to try and reach the Knockouts again…the more times we qualify the better seed we’ll be.
Ana Garcia
12 декабря, 2011 at 19:58
Wow! Where to start!
First off welcome back, hope you had a great holiday while I have been stuck in my frozen house after a powercut at the weekend! :)
Second you knocked Real Madrid out, which now means I now love you! Nice to see Madrid keep there style in picking up a horde of yellow cards. ;)
Thirdly you are simply dominating Russian football and am sure its a matter of time before you claim the champions league.
Nice to see you back and good luck next season!
Martin Pickard
13 декабря, 2011 at 10:13
Hahah :P
We had a great holiday thank you…the Tenerife sun was fantastic…not an overcast day! Sorry to here about your powercut…and hope you’ve now thawed out :).
Hahaha wow thanks Ana I’m honour…what happens if I beat them in the final? :P. Hahaha yeah they definitely got fustrated against us.
Yep we’ll definitely win the title next year…our team is too good…as for the champions league…were a bit off but being in it is slowly increasing our reputation.
Thanks Ana and I promise it won’t be 2 weeks until the next update :)
Johnny Karp
12 декабря, 2011 at 21:39
You are really dominating Russian football now, there are no rivals that could match your strength. You did pretty well in the Champions League too, finishing second in that tough group surely wasn’t easy. I think you have made a great choice with Handanovic, he’s a great keeper. Better luck in the Champions League next season, the domestic league and cup are as good as won already :)
Martin Pickard
13 декабря, 2011 at 10:32
Cheers Johnny…I believe the future of Russian has ‘Anzhi’ written all over it! I was extremely happy with our performance in the Champions League being able to be 3-1 up in a leg shows that we have potential…but to loss on agg shows there is some strengthening still to do…but it was a really nice learning curve :). Handanovic is an absolute tank…he’ll definitely be number one…the only person I can see knocking off in Igor Akinfeev but I think he’s years off being interested in joining us. Cheers Johnny and the update will be quicker than the last one…PROMISE :)
CsAtlantis
12 декабря, 2011 at 23:14
Congratulations on winning the cup and league, unlucky in the Champions League, but Liverpool seem to have made some more big signings (Vagner Love and Shawcross?)
For a club that has so much money you have been prudent in the transfer market :D
You might want to keep improving your youth facilities/junior coaching/youth recruitment network and see if you can produce some good youngsters to fill your Russian quota
Martin Pickard
13 декабря, 2011 at 10:45
Cheers CsAtlantis, I hope we can do the same again next year. The Champions League was a nice learning curve…we could have potentially beaten Liverpool if it hadn’t have been for my poor decision in the first match and the Red Card and us not getting a penalty…but that football and that what make this game amazing at times. Liverpool have made some awesome signings…most of the prem teams have.
Yeah only one key transfer…mainly to do with our rep in all honesty…were not the best in Russia so big names aren’t attracted to us…just yet :).
I’ve tried to ask for the Youth Facilities to be upgraded but currently there ‘rented’ so I don’t know where I stand with that…i’m currently increasing the junior coaching and youth recruitment network…but were miles behind CSKA, Zenit, Spartak and Rubin.
Martin - F.M.J.S
13 декабря, 2011 at 10:47
Hi Martin, I know what its like thinking going to do stuff before you go and end up running out of time Lol but a Great season. Very unlucky with the result against Liverpool. You deserved to go further with such a hard group to get through in the first place. Hopefully next season you can go further in CL. Good Luck
Martin Pickard
13 декабря, 2011 at 12:19
Hi Martin! oh the amount of people we had to visit was just bloody crazy! It was I little disappointing to lose after getting a first leg lead but it was our first Champions League outting and I totally under estimated my teams potential. I’m hoping that too but I think we’ll need a little bit of luck to avoid the big teams. Cheers fella :)
vaibhavc
13 декабря, 2011 at 12:27
I was wondering were you were, its good that you are back! Great season again, you are conquering the Russian league easily. Great effort in the Champions League, you did well in the first leg.
Stromson
13 декабря, 2011 at 17:49
Great job on repeating as title winners, and a pretty impressive CL run! I didn’t see this mentioned in the other comments, but didn’t you have to play in a Championship Group last year for a total of 44 games? Was that just a one-off, and it’s now a normal 30 game schedule?
Kevin
14 декабря, 2011 at 00:29
Hi Martin
Well done in replicating another dominant season in Russian football and that was truly an amazing result over Lokomotiv. Tough luck in the Champions League but I’m sure you will be back stronger next season. At least you won the Russian cup. Well done!!
Matt Bland
4 марта, 2012 at 15:42
I am playing as Anzi and am about to start my 2nd season but my league as not kicked off? I am now in November? I was expecting the new league format to kick in, in line with other eurpean league. As far are im aware my game is updated to the most recent version. Any suggestions?