Romanian FM 2012 Story — Longing For the Sun

Hello friends and welcome back to Romania for a chilly winter break episode of my Football Manager 2012 story. As you might remember we ended the autumn season in 10th place and we were five points clear of the relegation zone at the halfway point of the season. However, our financial problems prevented me from strengthening the squad during the winter break but I did promote a few youngsters.

Before announcing the squad changes I have some good news to share: the board decided to cover some of the club’s glowing red balance with a decent cash injection.

I added around 40,000 pounds to that through player sales as Visan Cretu, Marius Rusu, Romario Benzar and Nicolae Hertu were sold. Their replacements come from our own under 19s squad in two cases (click the names to see the profiles): midfielder Gabriel Iancu and striker Zdenek Cervenka. Since I didn’t have a good enough left back amongst my youngsters I decided to bring a backup from Africa, 18-year old Richard Asamoah.

We played no less than 10 friendly games, it was a long winter ;) The results were good enough, just one loss and three draws, but the performances were always decent and even good in some of the matches. The most important thing was that the squad morale was at a very good level before the first month of spring.

Well, spring doesn’t always come in March down here so we started the second half of the season under a cold rain against 7th placed Astra Ploiesti.

Astra vs Viitorul (Liga 1)

Starting Eleven: Alberto Cobrea — Ionut Peteleu, Chakib Benzoukane, Ionut Rada, Lucian Filip — Mihai Onicas, Alexandru Lazar, Georgian Marcu — Georgian Paun, Valentin Simion, Joabe

I decided to start this game with the attacking version of my tactic but that didn’t have any effect, the first half was a disgrace and both teams contributed to that poor show as there were no shots on target at all until half time. The second half was a bit different but sadly not because our contribution, it was Astra who showed a bit more determination but we held out for a point with a bit of help from the local carpentry as the home side was denied by the woodwork on two occasions.

That was a good result though and we managed to add another three points to that after a few days when we met hopeless Snagov at home. Our opponents had just 4 points in 19 games but we barely managed to beat them 2-1 thanks to a brace from Brazilian striker Joabe. Things were a lot different three days later when we faced in-form second placed Otelul, they scored the first goal just 25 seconds into the game and then never stopped…

I wasn’t hoping for points at Otelul though, we had to get the points against the weak teams in order to survive in the league. That made the next game very important as we were facing 14th placed Gloria Bistrita at home, a survival derby!

Viitorul vs Gloria Bistrita (Liga 1)

Starting Eleven: Alberto Cobrea — Ionut Peteleu, Alvaro Casanova, Ionut Rada, Lucian Filip — Mihai Onicas, Alexandru Lazar, Georgian Marcu — Georgian Paun, Vlad Rusu, Joabe

The opening half hour was pretty good in terms of possession, we were clearly dominating, but there was no inspiration upfront so our opponents were dealing with our attacks quite easily. Disaster was close on 39 minutes when Gloria nearly broke the deadlock on a free kick (you will see that in the match highlights). The first half ended goalless so our very good 70% possession at the break was… useless.

While we were waiting for the inspiration it was Gloria that found it 10 minutes after the break, they scored a superb goal and at that point I was already calculating how many positions we’d drop in case of a defeat. Luckily my state of mind changed after just two minutes when midfielder Alexadru Lazar rifled in a superb shot from 20 yards out to record his first ever goal for the club! That goal probably unlocked the players’ minds and we struck again after just five minutes when centre back Ionut Rada found substitute Gabriel Iancu with a perfectly weighed long ball and the young midfielder rounded the keeper before slotting home. We continued to press forward and the reward came on 71 minutes in the shape of a beautiful strike into the top corner delivered by Vlad Rusu. Gloria nearly got back into the game 8 minutes from time when a gaffe from Rada handed them a clear cut chance but goalie Alberto Cobrea did well to save. We clinched the three points and I guess I don’t have to tell you how important this win was.

Match highlights: click here to watch

The following match was away against 3rd placed Steaua so we had nothing to lose there… We defended our ground well, didn’t allow Steaua to create any clear cut chances, but unfortunately these big teams don’t need clear cut chances to beat you… They won the game 1-0 thanks to a fabulous shot from distance, I invite you to watch it by clicking here.

There was just one more game to play before the end of March and the sun was nowhere to be seen, we still had to face cold weather and rain as we were travelling to meet strong 7th placed Rapid Bucharest. They were the victims of our first big upset of the season as we beat them 2-0 before the winter break, I was fearing revenge…

Rapid vs Viitorul (Liga 1)

Starting Eleven: Alberto Cobrea — Ionut Peteleu, Chakib Benzoukane, Ionut Rada, Eduard Schuller — Mihai Onicas, Alexandru Lazar, Georgian Marcu — Georgian Paun, Valentin Simion, Joabe

I decided to start with the counter version of the Barcelona tactic this time, I was afraid of Rapid‘s speed and I also had a left back problem as Lucian Filip was suspended and Richard Asamoah was injured. My worries seemed totally unfounded just eight minutes into the game, a smart move from my lads released Georgian Marcu at the edge of the penalty area and he finished it with a spectacular lob that found the back of the net! Rapid reacted, they started to press forward but they didn’t pose a real threat until the 37th minute when a great shot from the edge of the area beat my keeper (it was their first shot on target…).

Rapid started the second half with even more determination and they nearly took the lead on 51 minutes when a good shot from distance bounced back off the post. The damage was done three minutes later though when the referee awarded them a rather harsh penalty kick and they came close to making it 3-1 on 59 minutes but we were saved by the woodwork again. At that point I switched to the attacking version of the tactic but the move was futile as Rapid doubled their lead on a corner kick 20 minutes from time. We were not doing much in attack but we were leaving space behind and the home side took the score to 4-1 on a counter attack. I wasn’t expecting anything from my boys at that point but they fought until the very last moment and even managed to score two goals: Valentin Simion on 88 minutes and Alexandru Lazar deep into stoppage time. It was too late to make a difference but I must say that I’m quite proud of that reaction.

Match highlights: click here to watch

The month is over, the sun still isn’t shining on the sky and it’s not really shining on the league table either: we were in 11th place now and our advantage over the relegation zone is unchanged.

There are 10 more games to play this season and if you look at the table and fixtures you’ll see that we will have quite a few crucial relegation battles coming up against the likes of Brasov, Pandurii, FCM Tg. Mures, CS Mioveni, and Gaz Metan. We should win at least three out of those five games to survive in the league, if we do better than that then we might have a chance to climb up the table and battle with Sportul and Timisoara for the 9th position.

There was a ray of sunshine at the end of the month though, the board decided to lend me a hand again as they injected another 650K into the pockets of our creditors. The financial balance still looks pretty sad but I guess it could have been far worse.

That’s all I had for today folks, not too much optimism available here but I am fairly confident that we will remain in Liga 1 for another season. Thanks a lot for reading and feel free to share this story with your friends and your thoughts in the comments.