Welcome back to The Boldklub! This post will cover the middle section of our Danish First Divison campaign, the Second Period, plus a little insight into how I utilized a three-month winter break that I didn’t know I was having! If you missed the last part and want to see how we started our campaign, click HERE.
The Winter Break
So as I said above, I had no idea that Denmark has a winter break! I probably should have done, if I had paid attention to the Schedule screen even a little I’d have noticed, but alas a surprise break!
I’ve very rarely played in a league where I’ve had to take a winter break, and at first, I didn’t really know what to do with myself. I could have just holidayed through it, but because there’s a transfer window in the middle of it I didn’t want any deals to happen without my input. I decided to use it as an opportunity to reassess the squad and see if we could find any gems by getting a load of trialists to play some friendlies.
The Friendlies
The Trialists
Most of the trialists came in just to get an idea of what they had to offer, but realistically weren’t going to be signed. A few, such as Pele, Højholt and Ait-Atmane, were players who I would have loved to have but couldn’t get deals over the line. We have, however, secured three players over the course of the second period. Two from the list above, and one who joined before the break, but now seems as good a time as any to introduce him too.
Jack Blake is one of many players that pointed out their availability to me through the Scouting Centre, but as he last played in America I was unable to scout him. His standout stat of 17 for long shots peaked my interest enough to get him in on trial, and he impressed enough for me to squeeze some money to do a deal for him. I see him playing more in the AMC role where he can have a bit of freedom and do some damage, but he can also drop deeper as part of the central midfield pairing.
Tobias Bjørnebye is a player who based solely on his attributes looks like he may be a waste of money, but he has a good bit of potential, always plays well and is very versatile. We took him on trial as Rosenborg had set him for release and after impressing as an attacking Central Midfielder we agreed a deal to take him when his contract expired.
Jordan Brown is the signing we made between the end of the First Period and the winter break, coming in to add depth in attacking areas. At first I saw him as a cheap young striker to fill a space, but he immediately found himself with chances in the first team due to the poor form of Jeppe Kjær. He’s repayed that faith with 2 goals and 3 assists in 7 games, and his pace and power have impressed.
The Main Departure
We managed to squeeze enough from the wage budget (well, we’re well over the budget, but I haven’t made it worse!) by letting Nicki Belle leave. At the start of the season, I wasn’t sure who my main striker would be as Belle and Kjær both offered a lot of quality. What Belle actually turned out to offer was very little goal threat, (in a 16-year career he’s scored 10 in a season once) a lot of whining, and a big drain on the wages earning over a grand a week. The deal for him to leave was settled a few months back, on a pre-contract agreement, but his departure has allowed me to give the squad a little bit more balance.
Danish First Division
We ended the First Period on top of the table, but it was very, very tight. We topped the table on goal difference, only two better than FC Fredericia, and only two points ahead of Nævsted and FC Helsingør who completed a top 4 breakaway group.
If we were going to continue to top the league and win the Second Division too, we would have to be near perfect.
Hmm. I wouldn’t say we were near perfect by any stretch, but my word it could have been worse. We needed a 91st-minute winner to see off struggling HB Køge, and then an 89th-minute goal to rescue a point at home to FC Helsingør, a game which we really couldn’t afford to lose. 4 points out of the opening 2 games when we could realistically only had one showed a spirit that I’m quite impressed with. After that we did okay, beating the teams we would have expected to beat, and avoiding defeat against the teams around us, apart from the blip at home to Nævsted, where we scored an 85th-minute equalizer only to concede a 96th-minute penalty!
To only lose 1 game in 11 is good form, although I’m disappointed with the number of draws. The big question though is whether it’s enough to win the Second Period and keep us top of the league.
It is.
So we do stay top of the league, again on goal difference. FC Fredericia are matching us stride for stride and realistically we’ll need to beat them at home in the Third Period. The two of us have pulled away from FC Helsingør and Nævsted, however, now 6 points clear of the former and a further 4 ahead of the latter.
The League Table
Other Business
Our First Youth Intake
We’ve had our first group of money-makers, sorry, young talents. A potential Golden Generation, I’ve been there before. They look okay to be fair, but as always, the group aren’t all going to make it. Unlike any other youth intake I’ve had before in years of playing FM, I’ve actually selected the best few and signed them, leaving the others to train for a couple of weeks and then head on to find a new club.
My Head of Youth Development rates Peter Harvig as our most promising player from this batch, but I’m actually more excited for Torben Kragh and Mathias Wieghorst, who have decent attributes in places and have decent determination. I’d like to see all of them perform well in youth football though, before hopefully being ready to train with the first team and get into some mentoring groups.
The most important thing with this group of young players though will be to hook them up with incredible new faces courtesy of @wtforkgaming
One player who won’t be developing at Lyngby though, is Adam Sørensen.
To lose Adam on a free transfer is a crushing blow. I tried to renew his contract and failed to agree a deal, mostly due to the lack of flexibility in the wage budget, and once interest from bigger clubs came in he had no interest in a second round of negotiations.
He was the player I was most excited about, straight into the first team at 17 and performing well, I said in our First Youth Assessment that he could make it to the very top of the game. I think the fact that a Championship club has come in for him shows that he is on a path to a big club, and although I’ll miss out on his development, he should still become one hell of a player.
So that’s it for the middle section of our season, the next post will cover the run in, it’s tight at the top so it should bring some excitement!
Thanks for reading.
Comments