Before you can coach others you must learn to coach yourself
- Johan Cruyff
So here we are finally! In the first part of The Story Of Polonia Warsaw, we introduced the idea of the save (Go check that out if you haven´t).
Now we have a new copy of FM23, we downloaded the Polish lower league expansion, provided by FM Scout (bartekr & kajetanor) and we are ready to start our journey with the Polonia Warsaw in the Polish II league (3rd tier) which is also known as eWinner II Liga due to sponsorship reasons by eWinner. Do dzieła!
At first glance of the team, it looks like we have inherited a solid group of players that has some experience in it in the form of club legend Łukasz Piątek and some promising youngster such as Ukrainian youngster Mykyta Vasin
Last season Polonia gained promotion from the III Liga and the board is expecting us to do great things straight after the promotion. The goal for the season has been set to reach at least promotion playoffs in the league so this sets new pressure for the save. Also, the fans are expecting us to be competitive against Legia Warsaw if we get the chance. I am all up for that! #BeatLegia
One of the goals for the save was to find Nigerian players for the club to follow in the footsteps of club icon Emmanuel Olisadebe. We search the free agent market and also the Nigerian national team on all levels and snatched up a couple of youngsters.
Felix Donkor, a former youngster from Reggiana, arrives as a free agent. Still a bit raw around the edges, we loan him to his homeland Nigeria to Kano Pillars FC to get some playing time.
Another Nigerian striker arrives as well and he is Abba Bichi. I tried to Google him in real life and found out that he is the son of the Director General of the State Security Service in Nigeria. In one article he says that his football idols are Neymar, Ronaldo and Messi and he has copied his game from those players.
I have high hopes that he could become the next Olisadebe. He looks solid enough to be in the squad for the upcoming season at this level. Liga II rules also state that the squad can only have 1 non-EU player so he is our so-called designated player for that part.
Another interesting pick from the free-agent pool was Quentin Seedorf. At first, I thought he was the son of the legendary Clarence Seedorf but it turns out that he is a nephew. In real life, he has already played in Poland with the Zagłębie Sosnowiec so he has some knowledge of the country. Like the versatility as he can play as a winger and a wing back.
We were a little bit short of players upfront so we strengthened our attacking force with the final pick from the free agent list and that was Jan Łoś. Turns out that in real life, he has already retired at the age of 20 according to transfermark. He played for the Arka Gnydia youth team and 2017 joined the senior team. He played just two games in the Ekstraklasa in the 2019/202 season. Hopefully, he will have a more productive season with us.
Tactically our main thought at first was to set up as 4-3-3 with defensive wingers and deep-lying playmaker. Upfront the idea was to have an attacking midfielder in the number 10 role with two forwards.
That idea changed a bit as we went through the squad. We have a massive overload with centre midfielders in our ranks, some of them also attacking midfielders. Lining up as a classic 4-4-2 gives us the versatility to change the roles in the centre midfield area and we get to have two forwards upfront. Currently, our two main strikers Michał Fidziukiewicz and Krystian Pieczara are physically strong and with Łoś and Bichi as more technical forwards, we have some versatility in that area also.
We play high-tempo, high-press football with a compact formation. You got to be romantic about 4-4-2, right? I grew up with this formation in my childhood playing days and it´s just the perfect formation for me. One of the goals for the season was to play attacking football and this might just do the trick.
Thanks to JohnDaly for this tactic that replicates Brazil´s manager Tite´s tactic. Here is a link to his video about the tactic.
So up to the races then! The plan is to see during the preseason how this tactic is working and setting up the team ready for the season. I need to coach myself for the save so that we hopefully get everything ready for the big kickoff.
Now we move! #UpThePoloni
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