Hello friends! I hope I haven’t kept you all waiting too long. College has kept me quite busy so I haven’t had too much time to type up the latest post in my German adventure. So without further ado, here is the third season, 2015 — 16!
Pre-Season
So the post-season awards have come out:
Not included up there is that Allagui was rated the third best striker in the Bundesliga and
And here is the budget I’ve been given:
I would say that’s not too shabby :P I’m just kidding. I am very pleased to see a number that big but I didn’t really use it . . .
So I don’t really know what happened . . . I had received 2 mammoth offers for Ghazaryan and Franzino that I could not say no to. In my opinion, Ghazaryan is going to become one of the best central defenders in the game, but this was money I couldn’t turn down. In terms of transfers that I brought in . . . There were no real stellar names. There are certain targets that I have who I wasn’t able to get, so I decided to dip into the loan market for the first time. The big loanee was Christian Benitez. He was very expensive, I know I got ripped off, but I didn’t want to settle for buying a striker who I didn’t really want. The other crazy thing I did was signing two Indians! I am of Indian heritage and on a whim last season I had sent a scout who wasn’t doing much to India. He found a handful of decent players! I don’t know how well they can/will do on this stage but I decided to sign them anyway. It will be the first time that players from my home country will be showcasing their skills on a large scale like this since the Olympics of the 50’s! You will notice Dennis Wiesner up there, but I will not be discussing him until January, when I bought him.
Here is my squad for the first half of the season:
GK: ter Stegen and David Schalle
ter Stegen has been so solid between the posts. Schalle is a youngster I got for basically free. He supposedly has a lot of potential. I know at 15 it’s a little hard to see, but as my back-up he will probably never be called upon.
DC: Ghazaryan, Horn, Bamba, and Obih
So no changes from last year. I really saw little reason because they were all playing so well. Ghazaryan and Bamba/Obih make a great team and Horn stepped in with great ability. Oh, a point of clarification, Ghazaryan did not leave until January.
DR: Echevarne and Vandam
No changes here as well. Echevarne has really matured, like I expected him to. I am so proud of him. I think he will be my first choice for this season!
DL: Boris and Jiri Kocian
So Wendt who previously served as my first choice left and Carpentieri left even before he did. I promoted Boris to the first team in the middle of last season and the few outings he had, he performed adequately. Unfortunately, I could not find an acceptable left-back, not even loan so I had to settle for Kocian. Quality left-backs are so rare and expensive! I think Boris is better at the moment despite being 2 years younger. I am bothered by the current lack of quality — I know Boris will be great but he is still too inexperienced.
CM: Di Stefano, Mustafizur Rahman Hossain, Stevanovic, Abdulrahman, Soylemez, and Garvan
So Hossain is one of the two Indian players that I am very excited about. He is young and I think he has the potential to be a solid if unspectacular player. In any case, I have a solid midfield. Abdulrahman was my Xavi and while not as skilled he was a great distributor who had an eye for the goal-winning pass. Garvan is dependable and Soylemez will be joining the aforementioned two as a starter. He and Franzino really grew last season and are more than capable of challenging for the first team, which is why I had so much trouble letting Franzino go. Stevanovic progressed well as well and I think I can now rely on him to serve as a regular back-up; perhaps in the future he will earn a first team spot. Di Stefano has been a disappointment. I was expecting so much more from him. Don’t get me wrong, he is a fine player, but he is not fulfilling the potential I thought he had. He will probably leave soon, but for now he will have to deal with losing his first-team spot to Soylemez.
ST: Christian Benitez, Reus, Herrmann, Allagui, Vishal Kumar Prakash, Juhasz
So for Benitez I dropped a crazy £2.2mil, although I only have to pay 40% of his salary. I am sure he will be great alongside Reus and Allagui, who were phenomenal last season. Herrmann is a great back-up, but I am sorry for relegating him to the bench. Juhasz is part of that class of Soylemez and Franzino and he has developed accordingly, which is quite exciting. Sadly for him, I have the brilliant Allagui, Reus and possibly Benitez, so he will not have many chances to show-off. Lastly, but certainly not least, is my second Indian signing. He is better of the two and he has some decent stats. At the moment he will be at the bottom of the striker pecking order but I will definitely look to develop him. In addition, he can play anywhere on the right and the central midfield, while his fellow Indian, Hossian can similarly play all over the left. These two utility players give me some extra depth when I decide to play the Arsenal tactic up on the site.
So there is my team. Very similar to last season but so much better! And here is what the press think they are capable of:
OK, so at least we’re acknowledged at having some shot at the Bundesliga. And my Champions League predictions are at least not as bleak as Johnny’s ;)
July
We played easy teams and got the appropriate results, sadly we have a lost Allagui, Abdulrahman, and Juhasz for about a month each to injuries :(
Go to the next page to check out how the first half of our campaign fared!
Laxeyman
14 января, 2012 at 11:56
Great season Bhargav, congrats on the league win! You also did well to get as far as you did in Europe, and I don’t think it’ll be too long before you get to the final of that competition, with the amount of quality youngsters you’ve got, your team should keep getting better and better :)
Bhargav
15 января, 2012 at 10:10
Thanks Laxeyman! I’m hoping for some improvement next season.
Johnny Karp
14 января, 2012 at 11:58
Congrats on the title, the team did really well in the league! The Champions League campaign was not bad either but I expected you to go past Celtic, that was a bit of an upset. I’m sure you’ll do better next season though, good luck!
Bhargav
15 января, 2012 at 10:13
Thanks Johnny! I think my youngsters might not be mentally ready to be on that kind of stage but next year as they gain more experience I expect them to fare much better.
Sears
14 января, 2012 at 13:08
Congrats on winning the title mate, that was really impressive. Like Johnny said, losing to Celtic was an upset but playing at Celtic Park on a Champions League night is extremely difficult with the support they have. Best of luck next season pal
Bhargav
16 января, 2012 at 02:16
Thanks so much Sears! I hope next season we go farther. Hopefully the draw will work in our favor again.
Darren Smith
14 января, 2012 at 13:23
Good season there mate and the title was well deserved. I agree with Johnny, that loss to Celtic seemed like an upset to me but your inspired Winter signings look very good for sure.
Bhargav
16 января, 2012 at 02:18
Thanks Darren! It feels like a revolving door sometimes, all these players coming and going.
Kevin
14 января, 2012 at 13:44
Hi Bhargav
Well done on winning the Bundesliga! Based on your results I wasn’t sure how this would end up as I was reading through but then a brilliant April saw you home! Too bad about the Champions League but I’m sure you will come back stronger next season.
Bhargav
16 января, 2012 at 02:18
Thanks Kevin! I Schalke were with me every step of the way but after that second loss to me, they just fell apart and the title was ours.
vaibhavc
14 января, 2012 at 18:24
Great season Bhargav, your first title! Unlucky in the Champions League, Celtic are a team you should beat, but upsets happen. Our Indian friends did not play too well, Prakash only played 5 games, and Hossain did not play much either.
Bhargav
16 января, 2012 at 02:20
Thanks Vaibhav. I was surprised that we couldn’t put any dent in them. And I figured that the Indian players wouldn’t do very well during the first season because they are used to a much lower quality of game but with the training that I am providing I think they will grow into phenomenal athletes.
Woody
15 января, 2012 at 08:45
great season mate
good to see you win the league this year
next year with the right team i think you’ll be able to win the german cup and maybe the champions league
anyway good luck
Bhargav
16 января, 2012 at 02:23
Thanks Woody! The German Cup will be my top priority for the sake of progressing through the pentagon challenge.
CsAtlantis
15 января, 2012 at 09:30
Wow congratulations Bhargav, not sure what Bayern were doing, they barely qualified for the Europa League, but to win with such a healthy cushion is great
Reus is just sheer class, and Christian Benitez had a fine season too
Not sure how Celtic thumped you over two legs so neatly, didn’t know they were that good
But man, that is sure a big payoff you pocketed from winning the league, added to the Champions League money next season you should be assured of having plenty of money (and perhaps a lot of players will consider your team now that you are league champions)
Bhargav
16 января, 2012 at 02:24
Thanks CsAtlantis! You raise some great points. Benitez was totally worth the 2mil loan fee, especially since I was only paying 40% of his salary. I was surprised by the margin I won by. It seems during the second to last month all the other teams who were around me collapsed.
nielsneutron
15 января, 2012 at 18:58
You really did a coup in finding that Indian boy Prakash.
Great season overall but you might need some more experince for the high-profile games especially in the champions league.
nielsneutron
15 января, 2012 at 19:01
ups did not see that Prakash have only played five matches.
At least your loanny did you great.
Bhargav
16 января, 2012 at 02:26
Haha, yeah Prakash only got to play while the others were injured. He was unfortunate that Benitez, Allagui, and Reus were in such sparkling form.
Nik
16 января, 2012 at 07:11
Congratulations mate! Great season.
Bhargav
17 января, 2012 at 03:22
Thanks a lot Nik!
Ana Garcia
16 января, 2012 at 22:16
Well done you!
I manged in Germany once a few games ago and for some reason didnt really enjoy it that much.
However I am really enjoying this story and its great to see you claim some success in winning the league!
Best of luck on next season, are you planning on making Benitez’s loan permanent? seems he did really well for you. :)
Bhargav
17 января, 2012 at 03:25
Hey Ana, thanks for your kind words. I’m sorry your experience with the Bundesliga wasn’t fun. I am actually having a great time because of the lenient transfer rules. I doubt I will keep Benitez because he is an expensive player and at 29 he doesn’t have too many good years left in him.