European Journeyman: TYCHY STRIKER

Thanks to FM_Stag for the title suggestion. It will all become clear soon.

Welcome back, In the last post I mentioned I’d left SKF Sered to move to Poland, Following my takeover here I made the decision that we would be changing the recruitment. No longer would the Director of Football be in sole charge. He will still be in full control of staff appointments and contracts but on the player side of things, we would now be using Recruitment Focuses and scouting assignments to find players and then tasking the DOF to do the transfers. If he fails then he will move on to the next target.

The first thing to do was to decide how we would be playing, the last time we got promoted we did so by being solid at the back and scoring just enough goals to stay up. This season I want to do that, The plan is to win and let the other team have the ball in their half but as soon as they enter our half and meet our mid-block, that would trigger presses for us to win the ball back. When we win the ball back I want us to keep the ball moving around with a series of fast passes creating space to then attack through.

To do this I decided to set up as a 4231

After assessing the squad stats and the coach reports I then Put the players into the starting XI. We could see where the gaps were. We needed a Centre Back, Defensive Midfielder, Attacking Midfielder, Right Winger and A Complete Forward. We then set up recruitment focuses. We were mindful that we do need to start with one Polish Under 21 in the starting XI. Armed with a €875,000 transfer budget we went to work.

The priority – A Goal scorer

As well as setting up the recruitment focuses, I went back and looked at the last season in this division. Who was the top scorer, a recently relegated side looking to get the best scorer in the division our TYCHY STRIKER (Thanks Stag) And then this guy showed up.

My number one target, the reports came back positive, his traits of plays with back to goal and moves into channels fit what I’m looking for so I set the DOF the task of buying him.

The DOF broke our transfer record by more than 3 times the current record to bring in my number 1 target. After the flop of Brankovic last year hopefully this one pays off.

The rest of the XI

Next up we wanted to ensure we were strong defensively so we looked at the best-performing CBs in the league last year and Szymanski appeared. At 24 he is a decent age profile and he’s played at this level. He seems a limited but smart CB based on his traits. Stays back, uses his stronger foot and doesn’t run with the ball.

Focusing again on being strong defensively, We needed a Defensive Midfielder, Now Krawczun only played there once last season, but his stats appealed to me. High possession won, high interceptions, and high passes completed were the main ones but he could also drop to CB if needed. His gets forward whenever possible trait suits what I’m looking for too.

Now, I need one U21 polish player to start each game for league rules and none of the coaches rated any at the club. So again using stats we identified Marczewski. Whilst limited to just 7 appearances last season his creative stats stood out and they were in the top flight. So hopefully he can come in and be our Attacking Midfielder.

The final starting spot was a right-winger. Klockner was brought to my attention by the scouts. Transfer listed with runs with ball down right and seems to be quick with knocks the ball past the opponent trait. Both footed as well. With no stats to draw on I trusted by scouts’ A+ recommendation and added him to the transfer targets.

Subs

As I mentioned we have to play 1 Under 21 polish player so to fill out the squad I looked for some loan signings. I wanted 3 players who could cover across the midfield and attack. Kodis came highly recommended and at 19 he meets the criteria. A backup to Klockner.

Moneta played 27 games in this division last season, scoring 8. A backup strike comes deep to get the ball trait.

Parzyszek will be our utility player. He can play across all 5 midfield positions as cover.

All 3 of these offer low-risk loan signings. Overall I’m happy with the business we got done and the DOF went about it well.

Complete tactic

With the players coming in our starting XI looks like this now. Biankadi and Zytek are 32 and 33 so we will have to see how they both perform this season and we have set up ongoing recruitment focuses to look at long-term replacements.

Winter Break

As you can see the season has started brilliantly, We’re top after 20 games 7 points clear of 2nd with just 14 games left. Turski leads the division with 15 goals in 19 starts. The stand out has been Zytek at 33 years old in the DM support role averaging a 7.46 rating, 4 goals, 2 assists and 10.88 progressive passes per 90.

Well deserved player of the year award for Zytek.

As you can see 5 our top 6 best performers so far have been new signings who advocate our summer recruitment. The board have seen enough and offered us a year extension and I agreed as it looks like we will be in the top flight next season.

We completed our National B licence and the board agreed to let us try and gain our National A.

As we approached the halfway stages I reviewed the squad and as previously mentioned we had the 2 older players 32/33. Biankadi hasn’t set the world alight on the left and whilst Zytek has been great we have no cover for him or Krawzcun in the defensive midfield slots. I set out and found 2 players who could make an instant impact.

Wojtkowski led the division with 5 assists from Left-wing and can play all across the front, with an average rating of 7 to take him from the team currently 2nd and weaken them appealed. At 29 he’s at his peak and would offer some experience as we go to the finish line. Celtik also has 5 assists and a 6.99 rating whilst he has mainly played centre midfield I’m confident he can drop into the DM slots. I added both these targets to the list for the DOF to try and sign and he got both across the line.

Both come in and will hopefully help us in the back end of the season and next year in the top flight barring a major slip from here. Next time we will come back and see how the rest of the season went and what business we did over the summer. A great start to life in Poland hopefully we can keep improving.