Romanian FM 2012 Story: Finally Some Real Football

Hello friends and welcome to the latest episode of my Football Manager 2012 story! After a fairly successful pre-season in which I managed to sign a few good players despite the usual lack of money and after an exciting opening match in which we defeated last season’s runners-up FC Vaslui my Viitorul Constanta seemed to be prepared for an interesting season far away from the relegation worries. This update will cover the whole first half of the season so it will be pretty long but hopefully not too boring. Let’s see…

After the pleasing win against Vaslui the lads delivered another exciting performance against FCM Tg Mures, we won that game 5-0! Young centre back Ionut Putanu was on fire as he bagged the first hat-trick of his career with the help of a penalty kick but the other two goals were equally interesting: Joabe scored to wrap up a textbook team move and Mihai Onicas scored what was going to become the goal of the month! (click here to watch the highlights). The two thrilling displays were followed by a not so pleasing performance against newly-promoted Sageata Navodari but we still managed to clinch the three points courtesy of another goal from Brazilian striker Joabe.

Those last two games were fairly easy but the one to follow was going to be a test for my high-flying team: we were travelling to meet reigning champions Steaua Bucharest!

Steaua vs Viitorul (Liga 1)

Starting Line Up: Dragos Balauru — Ionut Peteleu, Chakib Benzoukane, Zarko Markovic, Lucian Filip — Dejan Danicic, Alexandru Lazar, Mihai Onicas — Joabe, Vlad Rusu, Marius Albu

It’s worth mentioning that my two young  South American players (Alvaro Casanova and Santiago Vazquez) were still unavailable since they were with their national teams at the Under 20’s World Cup while striker Valentin Simion was out due to a slight injury. The game was fairly quiet until the 22nd minute when a good counter attack move from my lads saw Albu picking Joabe with a fine pass and the Brazilian striker found the back of the net with some help from a deflection. Then we started playing our regular possession game, there was no threat from Steaua until half time but we didn’t create any danger upfront either.

Steaua started the second half with a bit more impetus and they came close to making it all square on a corner kick after just two minutes. Four minutes later it was our turn to waste a good opportunity but I wasn’t too worried as my lads were holding their ground very well. Our good display was rewarded by a touch of fortune again shortly after the hour mark, Steaua‘s goalkeeper fumbled a free kick cross into the path of Zoran Markovic and the Serbian giant tucked it in! Steaua were unable to do much mostly because our almost perfect defence and things got even tougher for them on 84 minutes when one of their players picked up a second yellow for diving. The game was wrapped up for good after two minutes when another good counter attack move saw Joabe squaring for substitute Corado Carstoiu who coolly slotted home. We could have added insult to injury during added time but substitute striker Zdenek Cervenka wasted a very good chance. It still was a huge result though :)

Match Highlights: click here to watch

We confirmed our good form in the following match as we calmly defeated newly-promoted CSMS Iasi courtesy of another great display from Joabe but our winning streak ended in the last game of the month as we fought hard to clinch a point at Astra.

Joabe was deservedly elected Player of the Month, he finally seemed to show the kind of performances I was hoping he would. I received an award myself, Manager of the Month, but that’s not too important.

The important thing was that we were top of the table at the end of August and we had a healthy 4-point cushion over champions Steaua! It’s also worth noting that we were one of the two unbeaten teams at that point, the other was FC Timisoara but they had a few draws too many to their name.

After such a delightful opening month it was hard to keep the players with their feet on the ground. They were enthusiastic but I knew that a defeat was bound to come sooner or later. Needless to say I was hoping for later… The first match of September saw us receiving the visit of strong 8th placed Rapid Bucharest, one of the biggest clubs in the country.

Viitorul vs Rapid (Liga 1)

Starting Line Up: Dragos Balauru — Ionut Peteleu, Zarko Markovic, Ionut Putanu, Lucian Filip — Dejan Danicic, Alexandru Lazar, Mihai Onicas — Santiago Vazquez, Valentin Simion, Joabe

The first few minutes of the game were a total nightmare, Rapid squandered a huge chance after just 40 seconds and then broke the deadlock four minutes into the game. Luckily we got back on level terms in the 10th minute when a good free kick cross from Santiago Vazquez was headed home by young defender Ionut Putanu! We dominated the game after the equaliser but there was a worrying lack of inspiration in our game. We were punished for that during stoppage time, a quick counter attack from Rapid and we were one goal behind at the interval.

The second half started in a better fashion for us, Mihai Onicas had a pretty good chance on 52 minutes but his effort was saved by the goalkeeper. The goal that we deserved did come on 74 minutes, a fine team move was beautifully finished by Joabe and it seemed that our unbeaten run was going to continue. Sadly that wasn’t the case, we made a total disaster out of a corner kick five minutes from time and Rapid won the game thanks to a bizarre own goal…

Match Highlights: click here to watch

That first defeat surely affected the lads and they were unrecognisable in the next game: we got beaten 3-0 at CFR Cluj at the end of a game in which I saw countless errors from my boys all over the pitch. Luckily we returned to good football just in time to advance in the Romanian Cup, the team played very well against Dinamo and grabbed a well-deserved 2-1 win. The month ended with a hard-fought 2-2 draw at Pandurii, Santiago Vazquez finally scored his first goal for the club it that match but we conceded a late equaliser…

It was a winless month for us in the league and our position in the table suffered as a result, we were down in third place at the end of September.

Fortunately we had two easier matches at the beginning of October and we made the most out of them, mostly thanks to Santiago Vazquez who finally seemed to have adapted to life in Romania. As you can notice there is a new name in the goal scorers section: Denis Alibec (click the name to view his profile). Yes, he’s a new signing and quite a surprising one. He was one of the hottest prospects in Romanian football a few years back and he was signed by Internazionale Milano at the age of 18. Sadly he failed to adapt there and now, at the age of 22, his contract ran out and was not renewed. I didn’t have any wage money left but I kindly asked the chairman for some and, to my delight, he agreed! Alibec made his debut against Ceahlaul and he scored!

The next game was going to be a lot tougher as we were going to visit strong FC Timisoara, the team that was leading the Liga 1 table at the end of September.

FC Timisoara vs Viitorul (Liga 1)

Starting Line Up: Dragos Balauru — Ionut Peteleu, Chakib Benzoukane, Zarko Markovic, Lucian Filip — Dejan Danicic, Alexandru Lazar, Mihai Onicas — Santiago Vazquez, Valentin Simion, Joabe

We got off to a pretty good start this time but unfortunately we didn’t capitalize on that as Vazquez squandered a big chance seven minutes into the game. Then things got worse as we handed Timisoara the lead on 20 minutes as Markovic played a poor pass inside our penalty area, it was intercepted and it led to a stupid goal. The lads regrouped quickly and we made it all square two minutes before the break when striker Valentin Simion powered one in from the edge of the area.

We were in control of the match after half time, the ball was mostly in our possession and Timisoara didn’t seem to have the strength to create danger. That proved false on 65 minutes when we got caught on an unlikely counter and found ourselves one goal down again… The match became a lot more intense after that, we were pushing forward with more determination and the reward finally came five minutes before the final whistle when Joabe volleyed home on a pinpoint cross from Santiago Vazquez. I guess it was an even game overall but I felt that we conceded those two goals much too easily…

Match highlights: click here to watch

We remained in 3rd place at the end of October but the situation was still pretty uncertain in the upper half of the table.

The month ended with a Romanian Cup clash, we met fellow Liga 1 side Sportul. I decided to rest a few players but eventually I had to send in Santiago Vazquez at half time and the Argentinian ace solved the game and saw us through to the quarter finals.

We still have November and December to worry about, please move to the next page to see what happened in the last two months before the winter break.

Go to the next page to read the rest of the story.

November started with a tough match as we were travelling to meet Dinamo Bucharest, a big team that was in trouble (down in 8th place) but certainly looking to make amends.

Dinamo vs Viitorul (Liga 1)

Starting Line Up: Dragos Balauru — Ionut Peteleu, Chakib Benzoukane, Zarko Markovic, Lucian Filip — Dejan Danicic, Alexandru Lazar, Mihai Onicas — Santiago Vazquez, Valentin Simion, Joabe

We witnessed an even game in the first half but we could have taken the lead on 28 minutes when Joabe smashed one against the upright with the goal at his mercy. That was just about all that had happened before the break…

Unfortunately one of Dinamo‘s top class players made his value count shortly after the break when he scored a sensational goal from 20 yards out. At that point I switched to the attacking version of my tactic and the move nearly paid off moments later but Mihai Onicas was denied by the woodwork. Things got trickier on 76 minutes when Joabe left the pitch due to an injury and we found our numbers reduced to 10 as I had no more substitutions available. We kept pushing forward though and the sweet reward came five minutes from time when Santiago Vazquez took advantage of a terrible blunder in Dinamo‘s defence to make it all square. We had to withstand heavy pressure during the final minutes but we pulled it off courtesy of some heroic defending, it was a very good result given the circumstances.

Match Highlights: click here to watch

Santiago Vazquez was definitely becoming a household name in Romania and he confirmed that by scoring a top class winning goal against Otelul Galati, a beautiful lob (click here to watch). Then it was Denis Alibec‘s turn to step into the spotlight, he bagged a brace against Petrolul to extend our unbeaten run to seven games. The month ended with another solid performance and a win, 2-0 against Petrolul with Alibec finding the back of the net again at the end of a beautiful team move (click here to watch).

The unbeaten run improved our position in the league table, we were back in the driving seat at the end of November!

Sadly that good streak came to an end after the first match of December, FC Vaslui finally got their revenge as they beat us 2-0 at the end of a largely wasteful performance from my boys in which we were punished by a penalty kick goal and an own goal… Luckily things went a lot better in the Romanian Cup quarter final match against Gloria Bistrita, defender Ionut Putanu bagged another hat-trick to see us advance to the semi finals!

There was just one more game to play but it was by far the most important: we were travelling to meet Liga 1 leaders Universitatea Cluj! They were just one point ahead of us before that game so we had a chance to go into the winter break as Liga 1 leaders!

U Cluj vs Viitorul (Liga 1)

Starting Line Up: Dragos Balauru — Ionut Peteleu, Alvaro Casanova, Zarko Markovic, Lucian Filip — Dejan Danicic, Alexandru Lazar, Nenad Grumic — Santiago Vazquez, Joabe, Denis Alibec

Unfortunately we had some medical problems and three important players were missing: defenders Chakib Benzoukane and Ionut Putanu plus midfielder Mihai Onicas. However, the game started well for us, we were dominating but there was no real sense of danger for the home side’s defence. Unfortunately the hosts scored on their very first threatening attack, Zoran Markovic was poorly positioned there and we let in the opening goal. That seemed to have thrown my lads a bit off-balance and we paid the price five minutes before the break when we conceded a rather stupid goal following a throw-in…

Luckily we managed to get back into the game just seven minutes after the restart, Joabe was tripped inside the penalty area and then converted the spot kick. We started to pile on the pressure but the opposition defence was very strong, they kept cool and clinched the three points. I wouldn’t say that we played badly but we should have done a lot more to get a result there…

Match Highlights: click here to watch

That defeat relegates us into third place but I am happy with the situation overall, if we manage to finish inside the top four we could play Europa League football next season. We still have a chance to win the title but the table is incredibly tight at the top, any of the top six could win the title in my view.

Defenders Zarko Markovic and Ionut Putanu are our best players so far but Denis Alibec has done very well after joining the club, five goals in eight appearances is not too shabby. Joabe and Santiago Vazquez have done a good job in attack so far but I know there’s more to come from them, especially from Vazquez. As far as the goalkeepers are concerned, Dragos Balauru was the man who played more but that was only because Octavian Ormenisan had some injury problems.

All is well at our small club except… the finances! We are over 2 million in red and that has got to change. I even have a plan now :) You see, we will have another exciting striker joining us for free from South America in January: Brazilian youth international Manoel! (click the name to view his profile). That creates a problem because we’d have too many non-EU players but it’s also an opportunity to sell one of the non-EU players in the current squad. Joabe is attracting some interest, a Mexican club is willing to pay around half a million, but I think that I will sell defender Chakib Benzoukane because I want to give Alvaro Casanova and Ionut Putanu a lot more playing time. I will also sell one or two of my current strikers, the top candidates are Valentin Simion and Vlad Rusu and I guess I can get some good money for them.

The post finally ends now folks, thanks for having the patience to read it. Who will win the title this season is anybody’s guess at this point, we do have a chance but we’ll have to be a lot more consistent in the second part of the season if we want to win it. However, I think that an Europa League spot is definitely on the cards since we also have the Romanian Cup route, we’re into the semi finals and we don’t have a tough opponent there (Second Division club FC Brasov). I guess we’ll have a busy winter break, I want to play quite a few friendlies to prepare the lads for a tough second half of the season ;)