The FM Library

It is new years day 2024 in Berlin and the pace of life has slowed as the festive period has taken over. The Bundesliga is on hold as the winter break takes control and Dave is enjoying the time off. It’s been a whirlwind 6 months for him at the helm at Union and the Christmas period has given him time to take it all in. It’s a time for reflection and as always he turns to his footballing diary to note down his thoughts.

“I think a break in proceedings has come at a great time for me. We’ve had an incredible first half of the season but we need to prepare and analyse if we are to build on our start. If we step off the gas now then our hard work will be a distant memory. The board, the fans, they only think of the here and now. We must remain on the front foot. We need reinforcements“.

Welcome back to the Statman Dave save and you join me in May 2024 at the end of our first season in charge at Union Berlin. If you haven’t read the last blog post where we assessed the first half of our debut season then you can read it here. When we last spoke we were heading into January and this is where we shall start.

January Transfer Window – “out with old and in with the new”

It was abundantly clear from the first half of the season that we needed to recruit in January if we were to maintain our performance levels. As we entered the January market we had a whopping £2 million available to spend. Great. However, who could we rely on to inject some cash into the coffers? Saudi, of course.

Cheers Saudi

Danilho was always going to have some interest during the window due to his high levels of performance this season. Al-Ittihad came in with a lowball offer and eventually agreed to pay £35 million for our Dutch centre back. Not quite the departure I had in mind considering how key he had been for us but I just could not turn down that amount of money for him. We wished him farewell.

Doekhi’s departure was one of three during January. Laidouni left for Al-Sadd for £2.8 million without even playing a single game for me. Kevin Behrens also departed as he full surplus to requirements. This gave us a nice sum to reinvest into the squad.

It’s safe to say that the money was well and truly spent. I needed to add quality to the squad and that’s exactly what we did. First up, we had to replace Danilho, which was certainly not an easy task. In the end, we picked up Kevin Akpoguma from Hoffenheim for £9.5 million. Whilst he’s not a world beater, he will add depth and can certainly do a job for the next 6 months. The January window is always cruel with inflated valuations and clubs unwilling to sell. This is the battle we had when looking for a central defender. I ultimately decided that the summer window would be a better time to sign a big name and Akpoguma arrives as a stop gap for now.

With a central defender sorted we were then able to focus our mind elsewhere. Top of my list was a striker to lead the line for us. Volland, Kaufmann and Beherns all had their chance to impress and all failed miserably. After extensive scouting and analysis the data, we were able to agree a deal with RB Salzburg to bring 20 year old Roko Simic to the club for £10 million. This boy has bags of potential and I have no doubt he will go on to be a world beater in this save universe.

My scouts rated him very highly which caught my attention. I had set up a scouting focus to look for a striker and he came top of the pile. The statistical data available to us also highlighted just how good he is already and pushed me towards making the deal happen. He was performing well above average for dribbles per 90, shots on target per 90 and conversion rate. Work to do in the aerial department but his attributes and scouting report was certainly backed up by the key data for the first half of the season.

With a little bit of money left in the bank we then went out and brought in a new central midfielder in the form of Florian Neuhaus. When I say a little bit of money, we broke the club’s record spend with this signing. A name known well by those in the FM world and when I saw he was available I just had to have him.

With our transfer business wrapped up, it was time to get back to competitive football and continue our first season with Union.

UEFA Champions League

In the last blog post, you will remember that we managed to finish second in Group B, with Atleti topping the group after a final matchday showdown in which we came out second best. Our reward was a double header against French giants, PSG.

As we finished second in our group, we were unseeded and had the pleasure of playing the first leg at home. Although as those with good eyesight will spot, we don’t actually play our European games at home. Instead, we play at Friedrich-Ludwig Jahn Sportpark.

Spirits were high in the camp ahead of the first leg and we were able to name pretty much our strongest eleven. I opted for midfield two of Khedira and Haberer, with Khedira offering more in the defensive third than if I had opted for Neuhaus over Khedira. The big miss for us was our skipper, Christopher Trimmel who was ruled out for 5 months at the end of December through injury. Josip Juranovic comes in to cover in his absence.

End to End

3-1. We were 3-1 up and threw it away. Gutting. We put in one hell of a shift in the first leg and looked to have PSG on the ropes. Despite keeping a certain Kylian Mbappe quiet, Ousmane Dembele and Vitinha were able to dig PSG out of a hole and bring the scores level heading back to France.

Defeat in Paris.

Our European adventure ends in defeat in Paris. We came so close and put up one hell of a fight but on the night, the brilliance and class of PSG shone through and we were unable to find the net. We weren’t even expected to progress through the groups so to have got this far and put up such an impressive fight is mightily encouraging. Until next time.

Bundesliga – a title charge?

Heading into the winter break in Germany it was all to play for. Bayern Munich and Dortmund were both off the pace with Leipzig pulling clear but could we truly be in the race? Well…yes and no. We had the chance but ultimately ran out of steam at the business end of the season.

April fools? Sadly not.

April absolutely killed us. Uncharacteristic losses to Augsburg and Monchengladbach set the tone and it became evident that we simply ran out of steam. Leipzig’s busy schedule saw them drop multiple points but we were just never able to capitalise.

Close but no cigar.

What a season it has been. Union’s highest ever finish in the Bundesliga. It is easy to forget just how far this club has come in recent years and Erkle has certainly made his mark. A second placed finish, 7 points behind champions RB Leipzig. Finishing higher than both Bayern and Dortmund. Had it not been for our poor form in April, it could have been so much more. The biggest thing playing on my mind as we head into the summer is, was this season an anomaly? Surely Bayern and Dortmund will be back to their best next season?

Player Performance – a brief overview

Always the bridesmaid and never the bride.

Strictly not player performance related but on a personal note, we managed to come second in the German manager of the year award, finishing behind Jurgen Klopp. Not bad for a debut season in management.

Top Performers

It’s hard to deny that our wing backs were our top performers this season. Perhaps the most surprising was our captain, 37 year old Christopher Trimmel. I’ll be honest, he’s not a name I had heard of before but he was key for us this season. His lengthy injury definitely hampered at the back end of the season. 5 goals, 9 assists and an average rating of 7.30 in all competitions. My only concern? Age is not on his side.

From the right hand side we move to the left. Robin Gosens, 5 goals, 7 assists and a 7.11 average rating from left wing back. Another key player and somebody who makes us tick. A tad more unreliable than Trimmel and subject to numerous injuries but he is one of our top talents. At 29 he is in his prime.

Edon Zhegrova joined us in the summer and I wasn’t quite sure how well he would fit in and adapt to life in Germany. It’s safe to say he’s doing just fine. 13 goals, 13 assists and he finishes top of the pile for both goals and assists. An impressive first season and our most lethal threat in the attacking third. Another who suffered from a dip in form at the back end of the season but on the whole a great season for the Kosovo international.

The last man to highlight is one who will often go under the radar, Janik Haberer. Another who I hadn’t much knowledge of but he’s had a standout season in central midfield. He’s switched between the RPM and BWM role a lot this season as we’ve struggled to settle on a first choice midfield pairing but his end product has been the standout. His attacking output included 9 goals and 6 assists and some of his goals were absolute thunberbastards!

Looking Ahead

There is no doubt it has been an incredible season. A remarkable second place finish in the Bundesliga and a Last 16 exit in the Champions League. We haven’t been able to tick off any of the Glory Hunter objectives in this season but we have certaintly put Erkle’s name on the managerial map.

Thursday 23rd May 2024 – “my initial year at Union is up and I don’t think it could have gone much better. There is a new deal on the table, it’s a no brainer to stay here and go again next season, right?“.

That’s a wrap for season one of the Statman Dave save. Thank you so much to all those that have read the blog posts so far, it really does mean a lot to me! It’s the first year of blogging for me but I am thoroughly enjoying it. See you all on the next one!

Socials – @ItalStallFM (twitter/X)