Romanian FM 2012 Story: One More Try…

Hello folks and welcome to the much anticipated new episode of my Football Manager 2012 story! After a fruitful summer in which we spent around 8 million pounds on new players and following a solid start to the domestic season the stage was set for another try to get European glory in the Champions League group stage. The task was not easy as we were going to face Inter, PSG and Sevilla, but I was hoping to do better than last season when we got beaten in six games out of six.

The first match was away at Sevilla, let’s see how that went…

Sevilla vs Viitorul (Champions League Group F)

Starting Line Up: Octavian Ormenisan — Lubomir Cerny, Edward Motha, Juan Belencoso, Danut Gongolea — Mihai Onicas, Silviu Pana, Nenad Grumic — Rodolfo Oliver, Rastislav Benko, Raul Rusescu

I have to say that Sevilla‘s line up was quite impressive, especially the midfield line: Jesus Navas, Demy de Zeeuw, Clint Dempsey and Christian Eriksen. Despite that we surprisingly dominated the opening 15 minutes. Our domination didn’t pose major threats though and then Sevilla took control of the game. They didn’t create any major chances either and it was us who came close on 33 minutes when a good cross from Danut Gongolea was headed home by Rodolfo Oliver but the goal was disallowed due to a very close offside call. I was hoping to see the end of a goalless first half but that wasn’t the case as Sevilla‘s talented players manufactured a splendid move three minutes before the break and broke the deadlock through Navas‘ superb finish.

I wasn’t hoping for much at that point but there was one lad who was keen on proving me wrong: young striker Rastislav Benko dribbled past a defender and then coolly fired home from inside the penalty area! It was all square on 57 minutes and we managed to hold firm for around 15 minutes before suffering a major setback: right back Cerny had to leave the pitch on a stretcher and since I had already made all three substitutions we had to play with reduced numbers. The pressure mounted in our penalty area as a result and Sevilla didn’t need much time to bag two goals and settle the game. We did pull one back through Raul Rusescu three minutes from time but our courageous display didn’t give us more than the zero points we got used to last season.

Match highlights: click here to watch

You might remember that last season we had huge problems domestically after the Champions League games and sadly that was the case again. The CL syndrome struck as we had a very poor display in the following domestic matches, we barely went past a Second Division team in the Romanian Cup and then lost the first league match of the season against Astra.

After that poor run you can imagine that confidence was rather low before the game against group favourites Inter, a team that had easily defeated PSG 3-1 in the opening group match.

Viitorul vs Inter (Champions League Group F)

Starting Line Up: Octavian Ormenisan — Ionut Peteleu, Edward Motha, Michael Vesely, Danut Gongolea — Mihai Onicas, Silviu Pana, Nenad Grumic — Rodolfo Oliver, Rastislav Benko, Liviu Ganea

And since Inter had Carlos Tevez and Luc Castaignos upfront for this game you might understand why I wasn’t feeling too optimistic. In fact it was Tevez who struck after 25 minutes as a natural consequence of a pretty solid spell of domination from Inter. My lads made me proud though, they reacted well and tried to push Inter into the ropes but we didn’t have enough strength do change the score board.

We could have pulled level on 55 minutes when substitute Manoel was given a huge chance following a big mistake in the Inter defence but my striker totally blew it. The Inter bagged two goals on corner kicks and that was that… The other group match ended in a draw, PSG 1 Sevilla 1.

Match highlights: click here to watch

Fortunately we pulled off a good display in the following league match and dispatched Mioveni 3-0 but that win came at a huge price: Edward Motha out for 3 weeks, Rodolfo Oliver out for 3 weeks, Milton Mella out for three months! Without those three and with a rather complacent attitude we produced another disappointing display and lost 2-1 at CFR Cluj.

We were travelling to Paris with injury and performance worries on our minds and after seeing PSG’s line up the mood didn’t improve, on the contrary: Mario Balotelli upfront with Javier Pastore behind him as an advanced playmaker!

PSG vs Viitorul (Champions League Group F)

Starting Line Up: Octavian Ormenisan — Alvaro Casanova, Michael Vesely, Juan Belencoso, Danut Gongolea — Martin Lukac, Mihai Onicas, Nenad Grumic — Rastislav Benko, Liviu Ganea, Raul Rusescu

The French side didn’t show much coherence in the opening minutes though so the game was fairly quiet until the 18th minute when injured Ganea was replaced by Manoel. Then we started playing pretty well and nearly broke the deadlock on 37 minutes when Nenad Grumic‘s shot from the edge of the penalty area cannoned off the crossbar. The first half ended goalless and with no shots on target from PSG, you can imagine that I was quite pleased!

And I became even happier four minutes after the interval when Manoel found Lukac just inside the area at the end of a fine move and the Slovakian midfielder blasted it home at the near post for his first ever goal for the club! Then we kept possession very well for a while but just one moment was enough for PSG to pull level, substitute Asamoah Gyan was the man in charge on 69 minutes. Then PSG started pushing with more impetus but to my delight we managed to hold out and grab our first ever point in the Champions League group stage! Hurray!

Match highlights:click here to watch

Inter defeated Sevilla 1-0 in the other game of the evening and even though we were at the bottom of the table after three games I was quite pleased to see that we had a good chance of finishing third.

That point probably gave my lads a bit more confidence and our domestic form improved as a result, we could have grabbed three wins out of three but we got punished by a late equaliser in the game against FC Vaslui.

So, do you think that we grabbed that third place in the Champions League group? Well, if you have an answer you will find out if it’s right or wrong in the next page, just click on the little number «2» just above the comments section.

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

The next game was decisive as we were facing PSG in front of our home crowd, a win would have been almost a guarantee of that much desired third place. And since we had snatched a point in Paris I was quite optimistic to be honest.

Viitorul vs PSG (Champions League Group F)

Starting Line Up: Octavian Ormenisan — Lubomir Cerny, Edward Motha, Juan Belencoso, Danut Gongolea — Paul Anton, Mihai Onicas, Nenad Grumic — Rodolfo Oliver, Rastislav Benko, Raul Rusescu

This time PSG had Pastore and Kevin Gameiro upfront while I was happy to welcome back into the line up a few players that had returned to full fitness like Anton, Motha and Oliver. The game started well, we were the team in charge, and we came close after seven minutes when Paul Anton was denied by a superb save from Salvatore Sirigu. Unfortunately PSG launched an immediate and swift counter attack and they converted it into a goal… My boys were not giving up though and we created another chance on 16 minutes but Rastislav Benko ended a good move with a dismal shot. Then PSG managed to keep things a bit under control but we still could have nailed the equaliser during stoppage time when Benko was denied by another huge save from Sirigu.

The second half was a bit different, it seemed that we were lacking the strength that we had shown in the first half and it was PSG who came close on two occasions, on 50 and 73 minutes. One of their midfielders got sent off a few seconds after the 90th minute but it was too late to make a difference, we had a good first half but that wasn’t enough against a very clever team with a fantastic goalie between the sticks.

Match highlights:click here to watch

Fortunately the domestic form didn’t suffer as a result, we grabbed two consecutive wins in the following matches, both after enthusiastic performances on the pitch.

At that point Inter were leading the group on nine points, Sevilla were second with 7, PSG third with 5 points and we were last with that glorious one point. Our chances of finishing third were purely theoretical but I was determined to fight for our hopes, we had to beat Sevilla at home and then see what happens.

Viitorul vs Sevilla (Champions League Group F)

Starting Line Up: Octavian Ormenisan — Lubomir Cerny, Michael Vesely, Juan Belencoso, Danut Gongolea — Dejan Danicic, Mihai Onicas, Nenad Grumic — Rodolfo Oliver, Rastislav Benko, Raul Rusescu

There isn’t much to say about the first half, there were no fireworks. The game was even and quiet, no big chances on either end.

The start of the second half was way more pleasing for us as we took the lead on 52 minutes when defender Martin Caceres put one past his own keeper as a result of our pressing. But our joy was short-lived, we defending with clumsiness on a free kick cross after just five minutes and Sevilla pulled level. Then we let in an even stupider goal, my defence was surprised by a long goal kick… And that was that, we lost it 3-1 and our dream of finishing 3rd was over and done.

Match highlights:click here to watch

The remaining Champions League, away at Inter, was a total demolition as the Italian giants put four goals past us out of four frickin shots on target… But we had reasons to be happy on the domestic front, we pulled through to the Romanian Cup semi finals and also snatched a few more points in the league. We ended the first half of a season with a draw, 1-1 at Gaz Metan, but that was a good result considering that we had a player sent off after just five minutes.

We are top of the table before the winter break and I guess we’ll have to battle it out against our usual rivals, Rapid Bucharest, who sit just three points behind us.

I am pleased to report that two very young players, Rastislav Benko and Danut Gongolea are leading the average ratings table in our squad but I think that players like Manoel or Daniel Mazzoni can step up in the second half of the season because I will do my best to give them more playing time. In fact, I am thinking about selling the older strikers like Ganea or Rusescu to make room for the youngsters.

The finances are looking great, I might hope for some more transfer money but I might sort out some transfers even without the board’s help. The thing is I really want to sign just one player, a very good young Romanian centre back, and I reckon I’d need around 3 million pounds for that. The plan is to sell some players to get that money, those two and maybe another  older player ;)

Speaking about young Romanians, here are the results of my reign as the national Under 19 head coach: 9 matches unbeaten! We even pulled off a few upsets like the draw in England or the two wins in Portugal but the most pleasing fact is that we pushed through to the second qualifying round of the 2016 European Championship.

We’ll have to win a tough group to get to the final tournament, we’ll face Sweden, Denmark and Georgia but I guess we have a fair chance.

That’s all for now folks, we didn’t take the Champions League by storm as some of you might have expected but I’m pleased that we have made a small step forward compared to last season. Now it’s time to focus on the league and maybe pull off another double but that’s stuff for another post and for another few hours of playing the best game in the world ;) Thanks a lot for reading, I’m looking forward to reading your comments.