Romanian FM 2012 Story — Surviving Black October

Hello friends and welcome to the latest episode of my Football Manager 2012 story featuring Romanian club Viitorul Constanta. If you have read the previous chapter you already know that we were in 9th place after the first two months of our first season in the Romanian top flight (Liga 1), with 4 wins, 1 draw and 4 losses to our name. However, we have faced almost all the big clubs in these two months so I was hoping to record better results in the coming matches.

Well, I’ll tell you the bad news in brief: my hopes were totally shattered in October as we lost all three league matches! We started with a terrible performance at home against 13th placed Pandurii and we lost the game 1-0, both teams played quite badly but in my view we put on the worst showing of the season to date. Then, after an international break, we played a bit better away at 14th placed FCM Tg. Mures but still lost the game courtesy of a monumental miss from Vlad Rusu, probably the worst miss of the century — click here to watch

Then I organised a team meeting, not to boost the players’ morale but just to let them know that I wasn’t going to tolerate such awful displays. Well, the meeting was a total fiasco, the players apparently thought that they were playing well enough so my remarks made the squad morale sink quite badly. That probably had an effect in the last league match of the month, we lost at home against Timisoara and we conceded the dumbest goal I’ve seen so far — click here to watch

Coming from that terrible streak we had no hopes whatsoever going into the last game of the month: the Romanian Cup tie against the best team in the league at that moment, FC Vaslui. But I was secretly hoping for a miracle, I was hoping that Vaslui would underestimate us and that my lads would fight to the death and manage an upset.

Viitorul vs FC Vaslui (Romanian Cup 7th Rnd)

Starting Line Up: George Serban — Ionut Peteleu, Chakib Benzoukane, Ionut Rada, Lucian Filip — Mihai Onicas, Alexandru Lazar, Nenad Grumic — Joabe, Valentin Simion, Marius Albu

Well, my hopes were buried early enough as some really clumsy defending from my boys allowed Vaslui to break the deadlock after just five minutes. The second goal came soon enough, an equally embarrassing one and then Vaslui made it 3-0 at half time with a free kick goal.

The first half was completely forgettable but we did a bit better after the break, Valentin Simion scored shortly after the restart but it wasn’t more than a consolation goal. We recorded the fourth defeat of the month and we were out of the Cup. That was the least of my concerns though as the league table showed that we were in a relegation position at the end of the month, 15th to be precise.

Match Highlights: click here to watch

The poor run also brought a shameful new record for the club, six games without winning!

I was really worried at that point and the first game of the month of November was by all means a crucial one: a relegation derby at 17th placed CS Mioveni. Morale was at an all-time low, confidence was nowhere to be found and the form was absolutely terrible but our opponents were not doing much better so I was hoping to win this clash between the wounded.

CS Mioveni vs Viitorul (Liga 1)

Starting Line Up: Alberto Cobrea — Ionut Peteleu, Alvaro Casanova, Chakib Benzoukane, Lucian Filip — Mihai Onicas, Alexandru Lazar, Georgian Marcu — Georgian Paun, Vlad Rusu, Nicolae Hertu

The first five minutes were fairly promising as my team seemed capable of dominating but unfortunately it was the home side who took the lead on their first corner kick of the game. The lads reacted, not as they used to but still… We had a good chance on 30 minutes on a corner kick but the ball didn’t go in so we were trailing by one at half time.

The second half was almost identical, we were dominating and pushing forward but there was little confidence and creativity upfront. We needed some luck and thankfully we got it seconds before the final whistle and deep into stoppage time when a cross from substitute Visan Cretu was handled quite badly by the home defence and Joabe fired it in low to rescue a much needed point. Our winless streak was extended to seven games though…

Match highlights: click here to watch

And those seven games without a win soon became eight as we were totally demolished at home by leaders FC Vaslui. However, the point against Mioveni moved us up in 14th place, just above the relegation zone, and we maintained that position even after the dreadful defeat against Vaslui.

I arranged another team meeting after that devastating defeat and this time my goal was to encourage the players. I told them to keep their heads up and work hard because I was sure that we were perfectly capable of avoiding relegation and this time it went well, the lads reacted positively and squad morale was significantly improved. I was quite pleased with that because we had another survival derby coming up, at home against 13th placed Gaz Metan.

Viitorul vs Gaz Metan (Liga 1)

Starting Line Up: Alberto Cobrea — Ionut Peteleu, Chakib Benzoukane, Ionut Rada, Lucian Filip — Mihai Onicas, Alexandru Lazar, Nenad Grumic — Georgian Paun, Vlad Rusu, Joabe

This time the team seemed a lot more determined and we could have taken the lead after just four minutes but Joabe was denied by the post. The goal did come nine minutes later, the team produced a nice move and midfielder Mihai Onicas confirmed that he’s the leader of the squad by firing into the bottom corner from inside the penalty area. The domination continued and we could have doubled the advantage on 21 minutes but Georgian Paun headed just over the bar from a very good position. We regretted that missed chance four minutes later, Gaz Metan caught us on a counter attack and converted their first shot on target into a goal. That didn’t put my lads down, they resumed the attacks and we were finally rewarded when Joabe was tripped inside the area and Mihai Onicas converted the penalty kick.

Our opponents came very close shortly after the break when they squandered a very good chance but then we regained control of the match and Onicas nearly earned a hat-trick on 66 minutes when his good header came back off the crossbar. And two minutes later disaster struck: Gaz Metan made it 2-2! It was a crazy game but we still had time to make things right and we finally did thanks to Vlad Rusu who found the back of the net with a fine first time shot from inside the penalty area. Phew, we finally won a game again and moved up to 13th place!

Match highlights: click here to watch

There was no reason to celebrate though as we had another survival clash coming up, away at overachieving 10th placed Sportul.

Sportul vs Viitorul (Liga 1)

Starting Line Up: Alberto Cobrea — Miroslav Sedlak, Chakib Benzoukane, Ionut Rada, Lucian Filip — Mihai Onicas, Alexandru Lazar, Nenad Grumic — Georgian Paun, Vlad Rusu, Joabe

The game was played on a frozen pitch and that probably contributed to the poor quality of the match, there wasn’t much to see in the opening 15 minutes except a crossbar from Sportul. Things changed on 26 minutes when left back Lucian Filip somehow managed to put one away, that gave us more confidence and we nearly made it 2-0 a couple of minutes later but Joabe wasted a very good chance. We continued to attack and shortly after the half hour mark it was Nenad Grumic who came close but his header bounced back off the crossbar.

The good display continued in the second half and we were finally rewarded on 71 minutes when substitute Georgian Marcu found the back of the net with a good finish after a flowing team move. Sportul replied on a counter attack 8 minutes from time but Marcu eased our fears just three minutes later as he bombed home after receiving and great pass from playmaker Alexandru Lazar. We grabbed another three points and moved up in 10th place!

Match highlights: click here to watch

There were just two more games to play before the winter break and I wasn’t expecting any points out of them to be honest given the opponents we had to face. Well, I was in for a huge surprise in both games: first we produced a stunning display against reigning champions Dinamo and then we got thrashed by 8th placed Universitatea Cluj! The game against Dinamo was totally crazy, we fought back from 1-0 down, made it 4-1 at some point and then eventually held out for a 6-3 tennis score. (click here to watch the highlights) Then, against U Cluj, we fought back after an own goal to make it 1-1 but then conceded 4 goals on their only 4 shots on target!

Well, at least we are safely in 10th place before the winter break but the relegation zone is not too far away…

The player ratings are not looking too good at this point, only three of the top players have average ratings above 7 and one of those three has not played too many games. Vlad Rusu and Mihai Onicas are the only players that have proven themselves worthy of playing in Liga 1, everybody else is in big danger of being sold this winter (especially those older than 21).

The finances are looking worse, as expected, we’re nearly 2 million pounds in red. I will surely offload some players before spring but I doubt that those sales will turn things around regarding our finances. However, my plan is to slash the wage bill and maybe bring in a few more promising youngsters during the winter break.

That’s how it was folks… Not easy at all, ain’t it? :) I know that some of you were expecting me to work some magic and maybe win the title right away but that obviously won’t happen, there is a lot of work to do before even thinking about the title. At this point I’m not too sure that we’ll survive in Liga 1 but I am fairly confident that replacing some overrated 22 or 24-year old players with some youngsters from the under 19 team might give us a bit more ambition in the second half of the season. That’s my plan, what do you think about it?